Khan-Khannan, having due notice of the storm preparing against him, practised with the Deccan sovereigns, who were at his devotion, to offer favourable terms of peace for a season, as he saw no other way of averting the cloud that hung over both him and them, unless by temporizing till the king and the prince were established farther off.  For this purpose, there came two ambassadors at this time to court, from the princes of the Deccan, bringing horses richly caparisoned as presents.  The king refused to listen to them, or to accept their gifts, and turned them over to his son, saying that peace or war rested entirely with him.  The prince was so puffed up by this favour, though informed that the proposed conditions of peace were highly honourable, that he declared proudly he would listen to no terms, till he was in the field at the head of the army, being resolved that Khan-Khannan should not deprive him of the honour of finishing that war.

The ambitious views of this young prince are quite obvious, and form the common talk of the country, yet the king suffers him to proceed, although he by no means intends him as his successor.  Sultan Cuserou, the eldest son, is highly beloved and honoured of all men, and almost adored, for his excellent parts and noble dispositions, with which the king is well acquainted, and even loves him dearly.  But he conceives that the liberty of this son would diminish his own glory, and does not see that the ambition of Churrum greatly more tarnishes his own fame than would the virtuous character and noble actions of the other.  Thus the king fosters division and emulation among his sons, putting so much power into the hands of the younger, which he believes he can undo at his pleasure, that the wisest here foresee much fatal division in this mighty empire when the present king shall pay the debt of nature, expecting that it will then be rent in pieces by civil wars.

The history of this country, for the variety of its incidents, and the many crooked practices of the present king during the reign of his father, Akbar Shah, and these latter troubles, were well worthy of being committed to writing.  But, as the country is so remote, many would despise such information, and as the people are esteemed barbarous, few persons would give it credit.  I content myself, therefore, with privately contemplating the singular history of this nation, although I could narrate so many singular and amusing state intrigues, subtle evasions, policies, answers, and adages, as could not be easily equalled in the history of one age or country.  One incident, however, that occurred lately, I cannot omit relating, as it evinces the wisdom and patience of the emperor, the incorruptible fidelity of a servant, the detestable falsehood of a brother, and the impudent boldness of a faction, ready to dare every infamous action, when permitted by the supreme ruler to exercise an authority beyond the limits of their condition, and contrary to the dictates of reason and true policy.