Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/172

132 AURANGZIB THE PURITAN EMPEROR enjoyed during the heats. Two main streets, perhaps thirty paces wide and very long and straight, lined with covered arcades of shops, led into the " great royal square " which fronted the fortress, or palace of the emperor. This square was the meeting-place of the citizens and the army, and the scene of varied specta- cles. Here the Rajput rajas pitched their tents when it was their duty to mount guard; for Rajputs never consented to be cooped up within Moghul walls. Be- yond was the fortress, which contained the emperor 's palace and mahal, or seraglio, and commanded a view of the river across the sandy tract where the elephant fights took place and the rajas ' troops paraded. The lofty walls were slightly fortified with battlements and towers, and surrounded by a moat, and "small field-pieces were pointed upon the town from the embrasures. The palace within was the most magnificent building of its kind in the East, and the private rooms or mahal alone covered more than twice the space of any European palace. Streets opened in every direction, and here and there were seen the merchants' caravanserais and the great workshops where the artisans employed by the emperor and the nobles plied their hereditary crafts of embroidery, silver and gold smithery, gun- making, lacquer-work, painting, turning, and other arts. Delhi was famous for its skill in the arts and crafts. It was only under royal or aristocratic patronage that the artist flourished; elsewhere the artisan was at the merry of his temporary employer, who paid him as he