The Serpent's tooth eotm-5

by Alex Rutherford

  The trumpets sounded and, as precedence required, Tuhin Roy as the head of the embassy appeared first through the gateway. Elderly but still upright, his beard dyed black, he approached with slow, stately steps and bowed low before the throne.

  ‘Welcome back, Tuhin Roy. Did your embassy to the shah prosper?’ Shah Jahan knew perfectly well that it had — the envoy had sent regular despatches — but it was important to announce the success of his mission in public.

  ‘The shah sends you his greetings and calls you brother. I carry a letter from him. May I read it aloud, Majesty?’

  ‘Proceed, Tuhin Roy.’

  The envoy opened an ivory case and took out a paper. Unfolding it he began to read, starting with a flowery passage extolling the greatness of the Moghul empire at which Shah Jahan suppressed a smile — the Persian shah and the Moghul emperor had long been rivals rather than allies. But then the envoy came to the meat: ‘I, Shah Abbas, am graciously pleased to accept the trading rights you offer in Herat in return for which I pledge myself not to levy taxes on the merchants of the Moghul empire passing through my city of Isfahan.’

  ‘You have negotiated well, Tuhin Roy, and you will be well rewarded. But first you must rest, as you have had a tiring journey. For that I know I must blame my son and his eagerness to return to his family. Forgive me, but I am equally eager to be reunited with him.’

  Tuhin Roy looked a little hurt to be dismissed so quickly, but bowed and withdrew. At Shah Jahan’s signal a trumpet sounded and Dara Shukoh appeared through the gateway, the ranks of courtiers bowing like stalks of wheat in the breeze as he passed between them to acknowledge the return of the emperor’s eldest son. Dara was smiling as Shah Jahan descended his dais and enfolded him in his arms. Then taking Dara by the right hand he turned to his assembled courtiers. ‘To celebrate the safe return of my beloved son, I hereby present him with a yaks-tail banner — since the days of my ancestor Babur one of the highest honours an emperor can bestow.’

  That night, as darkness fell and a new moon cast its pale reflection across the fortress of Burhanpur, the haram was a place transformed. Burning wicks flickered in glass balls of red, green and blue suspended on chains from trees in the main courtyard, their light softening the austerity of the sandstone masonry. Shah Jahan sat cross-legged in the centre of a dais spread with rich Persian carpets — gifts from the shah. His three eldest sons were still eating. Mumtaz was lying back against a yellow brocade bolster, Jahanara and Roshanara beside her, heads close as they laughed together. Little Murad was on his back sleeping the deep sleep that comes only to the very young.

  Shah Jahan’s first thought on learning of Dara’s return had been to order a celebratory feast, but Mumtaz had taken him on one side. ‘Should we do such a thing during a famine?’ she had asked. ‘Won’t it seem uncaring if we feast lavishly? The smells from our cooking fires will waft over the walls of Burhanpur to those who may not know when they will eat again.’ He had realised at once that — more sensitive than he to what others might be feeling — she was right. She usually was. Instead of the great celebration he had planned, at Mumtaz’s suggestion he had ordered an extra issue of grain to the surrounding villages in Dara’s honour and instructed his cooks to prepare a plain meal for his family to share alone here in the haram.

  Shah Shuja was quizzing Dara Shukoh about the Persian court. It was good to see them so easy in each other’s company, Shah Jahan thought. How different from his own boyhood — even in his early years he and his half-brothers had never been close, and later ambition for the throne had severed any bonds there might have been. If he had had a full brother — as his sons were to one another — things might have been different …

  Something Dara was saying — Shah Jahan had been too caught in his own reflections to pay attention — was making Shah Shuja shake his head in disbelief.

  ‘What is it, Shah Shuja?’

  ‘Dara was telling us what the shah told him — that many years ago the Persians helped our great-great-great grandfather Babur in his struggle against the Uzbek leader Shaibani Khan … that the Persians rescued Babur’s sister from the Uzbeks and sent him a drinking cup made from Shaibani Khan’s skull. It can’t be true … When were the Moghuls ever in such thrall to the Persians, Father?’

  But it was Aurangzeb, sitting a little behind the other two, who answered. ‘The story’s true, as you’d know, Shah Shuja, if you ever bothered to read the chronicles — especially Babur’s own account. You’d also know that one of the reasons Humayun finally won back Hindustan was because the Persians loaned him an army.’

  ‘I am impressed, Aurangzeb. Your tutors told me you were studious but I didn’t realise how much. Perhaps one day you’ll be a great scholar,’ said Shah Jahan.

  ‘A scholar? No — I’ll be a warrior like you!’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘I mean it, Father.’ Aurangzeb’s serious young face was flushed. ‘What I read tells me the Moghuls won Hindustan by the sword — not by the pen. That’s how we’ll keep it.’

  Shah Jahan suppressed a smile. Aurangzeb’s sense of humour was not strong and his feelings were easily bruised — something his brothers, who often teased him, understood only too well. ‘I’m sure you will be whatever you wish to be.’

  As Shah Jahan looked at his family, reunited once more, his eyes met Mumtaz’s and she gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod — her signal to broach the subject that they had talked of deep into the night.

  ‘Dara Shukoh, Tuhin Roy praised your tact and discretion in Persia. You acquitted yourself as a man, not a boy, and your mother has a suggestion for how we might declare this to all the world.’

  ‘What do you mean, Father?’ Dara Shukoh’s clear hazel eyes looked from Shah Jahan to Mumtaz.

  ‘It is time for you to marry. Your mother has suggested your cousin Nadira as your bride. She has noticed how much you like her …’

  Dara Shukoh’s somewhat abashed but delighted expression showed that Mumtaz hadn’t been wrong. So did the knowing grins on the faces of Shah Shuja and Aurangzeb. Even though he hadn’t been aware of the attachment till now, Shah Jahan was pleased. If one day Dara had to take other wives for dynastic reasons it was good that his first marriage should be to a woman for whom he cared. He hadn’t been much older himself when he’d been betrothed to Mumtaz. And it was a good alliance for the dynasty. Nadira was the daughter of his half-brother Parvez, whose passion for drink and opium had killed him at the age of only thirty-eight at a time when conflict had divided the dynasty. A union between Nadira and Dara Shukoh would heal at least some of the wounds of the past and bind the wider imperial family closer. She was also beautiful — short but voluptuous — and with a ready wit that she had already showed was a match for Dara’s agile mind at the family gatherings where Mumtaz had observed their mutual attraction.

  ‘Well, Dara, what do you say?’

  ‘It would make me very happy to marry Nadira,’ Dara replied, his voice betraying a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment — the latter doubtless fuelled by his brothers’ smirking scrutiny.

  ‘I’m glad you approve. I’ll start planning your wedding. It will be a welcome distraction during these final weeks of waiting for your new brother or sister to join us,’ said Mumtaz, looking down on her swollen belly.

  Shah Jahan lay back against the cushions, already visualising the splendour of the marriage procession. The ceremony would take place as soon as possible after their victorious return to Agra. It would mark not only the nuptials of a beloved son and an imperial prince but also the true start of his own reign when, with the rebels of the south subdued, he could begin to take the Moghul empire forward to new splendours and new conquests.

  ‘Majesty, Rai Singh has located a large Bijapuran force some thirty miles to the west.’ The messenger’s sweat-stained clothing showed the speed with which he had ridden to Burhanpur.

  Shah Jahan felt a shiver of excitement. At last this might be the opportunity to deal his elusive enemy a
decisive blow. For a moment his mind raced, but then it was made up. ‘Take a fresh horse and return to Rai Singh. Tell him I’m bringing a force of horsemen and cannon-equipped elephants to join him. You said the Bijapurans were thirty miles away? If I ride hard with the vanguard of the cavalry, I can be with Rai Singh in under three hours.’

  As he hurried towards the haram after giving the necessary orders, Shah Jahan was smiling. He was tired of being played with by a disciplined enemy who appeared now here, now there, in hit and run raids only to melt away again before he could engage them fully.

  Mumtaz was sitting on a stool while Satti al-Nisa combed out her long hair. Jahanara was sitting close by reading aloud from a volume of poems by the Persian Firduz that Mumtaz loved. Jahanara was as much of a scholar as Dara or Aurangzeb, thought Shah Jahan.

  ‘What is it? You look excited?’ Mumtaz asked, stretching out her hand to him.

  ‘Good news at last — at least I hope so. My men have encountered a large group of Bijapurans. If I am quick we may finally have the battle I’ve been hoping for.’

  Mumtaz’s smile faded. ‘You again mean to go yourself, don’t you?’

  ‘I must. This is too great a chance to turn the campaign decisively in our favour to neglect.’

  ‘I hope it is indeed the turning point … and I’m sure it will be. Take care.’

  ‘I will.’ He bent to kiss her warm lips, then, at her urging, placed his hand for a moment on her belly to feel the kicking of the new life within her. The child wasn’t due for another month. He would be back long before then and perhaps with his campaign over. As he half ran from Mumtaz’s room, his mind was already focused on the fighting ahead.

  Three hours later Shah Jahan, who had just ridden up with the main body of his troops, followed the pointing arm of Rai Singh. ‘The rebels have occupied the old fort on that rock-strewn hill over there, Majesty.’ On the crown of the low hill about half a mile away he could see the crenellations of a dilapidated mud-brick fort. Some stretches of the wall appeared to have collapsed completely. The small fort would provide only limited protection for the enemy horsemen and foot soldiers he could make out moving about on the slope, but the hilltop position was a clear advantage. Some of the rebels were stationing themselves behind the stronger, more intact-looking portions of the walls. Others were dragging brushwood into the gaps in the defences or trying desperately to pile up fallen bricks and other rubble into makeshift barricades.

  ‘How long have they been up there?’ Shah Jahan asked.

  ‘We clashed with some of their scouts at first light. Once alerted to our presence the enemy quickly began to move up to the hilltop.’

  ‘I’m surprised they did not simply retreat, disappearing into the countryside as they have before.’

  ‘They have more infantry with them than I have known previously, and those men would not have got far on foot.’

  ‘About how many of them are there?’

  ‘No more than two thousand or so.’

  ‘We outnumber them then, but that’s no bad thing … As we attack up the slope we will be much more exposed than they will be behind the walls.’ Shah Jahan turned to Ashok Singh. ‘Have our horsemen surround the hill. Then once the war elephants with the small cannon arrive we will advance. There is no point in delaying.’

  The elephants took longer than he had anticipated to appear, during which time he could see the rebels continuing to work feverishly with their hands as well as picks and shovels to strengthen their makeshift fortifications. Shah Jahan could not relax. He ordered small parties of his musketmen to scramble up the hillside, water bottles and spare ammunition slung across their backs together with their muskets, to take up positions behind rocky outcrops just outside the range of enemy fire so that they could join the action quickly when it began.

  Once the elephants had arrived and the gunners had loaded the cannon in their howdahs with powder and ball, sweating in the afternoon heat as they rammed the shot down the barrels, Shah Jahan gave the command for them to advance. They began to do so steadily and slowly, with groups of musketeers, archers and foot soldiers running along behind them, taking advantage of the protection afforded by their bulk. His scouts had told Shah Jahan that they did not believe the rebels had even small cannon. Nevertheless, he waited apprehensively for a crash and burst of white smoke from the hillside to show that they had been mistaken and he had once more underestimated his enemies’ strength and cunning. None came.

  By now, his leading elephants were more than halfway up the slope and the gunners in their howdahs were bringing their small cannon into action. Shah Jahan saw a long portion of the fortress’s brick wall collapse after being hit by some of the cannon balls. Some enemy horsemen who had been sheltering behind it rode out through the dust but Shah Jahan was sure others had been trapped by the falling debris. Still there was no answering cannon fire from the Bijapurans. His scouts must have been right — they had no cannon, he thought with relief. The assault was going well and now was the time for him to join it with his main body of horsemen. Waving his sword as the signal to attack, he began to gallop forward. As they saw him and his bodyguard advance, other horsemen surrounding the hill took up the charge until, green banners billowing, they were riding at the fortress from all sides.

  Kicking his horse onward while taking care to avoid the scattered rocks, Shah Jahan soon came up with the war elephants. Suddenly one — a massive beast with three gunners as well as a small cannon in its open howdah — raised its red-painted trunk and began to trumpet in pain. A lucky musket shot had hit it not where the overlapping steel plates of its armoured surcoat gave some protection but in the right eye socket. With blood pouring down its cheek and running on to its curved tusk, it turned from the advance and slowly crashed to the ground, dislodging both the gunners and the bronze cannon. The weapon fell into the path of the mounted bodyguard immediately on Shah Jahan’s right, bringing his horse to the ground and trapping its rider by his leg between its flank and a large jagged rock.

  The bodyguard’s scream of agony reached Shah Jahan’s ears above the other sounds of battle. As it did so, he himself felt a sharp pain in his left ankle and his mount skittered sideways, half rearing. The fallen horse, thrashing its legs, had kicked both of them. Hot pain searing his ankle, Shah Jahan reined in his horse and tried to bring it under control, but for some moments it crossed the line of his advancing cavalry, slowing their charge up the hill, which was particularly steep at this point. Just as he regained mastery of his mount, Shah Jahan became aware of a party of at least thirty enemy horsemen galloping from the fortifications now no more than three hundred yards away, intent on exploiting the temporary chaos in this section of his advance.

  Musketeers firing from the elephant howdahs knocked two enemy riders from their saddles before the rest, benefitting from the impetus provided by the slope, crashed into Shah Jahan’s troops. One bearded rider, yelling wildly, thrust his lance deep into the cheek of a war elephant, which veered sharply away from the attack and crashed back down the hill, trampling some of the foot soldiers who had been following in its wake. Another rebel horseman caught the grey mount of one of Shah Jahan’s bodyguards full in the chest with his long lance, killing the animal almost instantly. A third spitted from his saddle one of Shah Jahan’s young qorchis, whose first battle and now almost certainly his last it was.

  Shah Jahan kicked his own horse towards the attacker, who was trying to extract his lance from the squire’s chest as the young man lay squirming and screaming on the ground. The rebel could not turn to face Shah Jahan in time and the emperor’s sword struck him hard above the knee before knocking his lance from his hand to land beside the dying qorchi. Leaving others to finish the rebel off, Shah Jahan attacked another man who was so intent on scything the head from an imperial musketeer that he did not notice the emperor’s approach until he felt the blow which split his own skull. Twisting in his saddle, Shah Jahan saw that the rebel attack had been blunted and his ow
n men and horses were advancing up the hill again. Despite the pain in his rapidly swelling ankle, he urged his mount forward once more.

  As his horse leapt one of the makeshift brushwood barricades, Shah Jahan felt another sharp impact, this time on the point of his left shoulder blade. A spent ball had caught the edge of his breastplate before thudding into his shoulder. A second ball hissed through the air close to his head. Then he was upon the musketeers, who were desperately trying to reload in the shelter of some rocks. One, reversing his musket, whirled it by its long barrel over his head in an attempt to knock Shah Jahan from his horse, only to be felled by Shah Jahan’s sword cut which laid open his cheek, leaving his teeth exposed.

  Within minutes Shah Jahan and his men were inside the mud-brick walls of the fort, hacking and slashing at their increasingly desperate enemy as the Bijapurans tried to retreat from one position to the next. Soon some rebels were throwing down their swords and falling to the ground to beg for mercy. Others, mainly horsemen, were trying to flee but in most cases were ridden down by the emperor’s cavalry or shot from their saddles by his musketeers. One rider — a large man in billowing white robes — fell from his horse only for his foot to be caught in his stirrup so that he was dragged behind his mount as it careered downhill, his head smashing to bloody pulp as it ricocheted from rock to rock. Another man who from the look of his garments was an officer was brought to the ground, arms flailing, by a shot fired by a musketeer at Shah Jahan’s side which must have travelled nearly two hundred yards. Shah Jahan was turning to congratulate the man and promise him a reward for his skill when from his hilltop vantage point his eye was caught by a small group of riders approaching fast from the direction of Burhanpur.