Aurangzib's last letter to Kam Bakhsh

"My son, [close to my heart like] my liver!Although, in the days of my power, I gave advice for submission to the will of God and exerled myself beyond the limits of possibility,-God having willed it otherwise, none listened to me. Now that I am dying, ii will do no good. I shall carry away with myself the fruits of all the punishments and sins I have done. What a marvel that I came linto the world] alone and am [now] departing with this [large] caravan. Whenever I cast my eyes, no caravan-leader save God comes into my view. Anxiety about the army and camp-followers has been the cause of [my] depression of mind and fear of final torment. Although God will undertake the protection of His people, yet it is also obligatory on Muslims and my sons. When I was full of strength, I could not at all protect them; and now I am unable to take care of myself! My limbs have ceased to move. The breath that subsides, there is no hope of its return. What else can I do in such a condition than to pray? Your mother Udipuri [Begam] has attended me during my illness; she wishes to accompany me [to the next world]. I consign thee and thy children to God. I am in trepidation. I bid you farewell......Worldly men are deceivers (literally, they show wheat as sample but deliver barley); do not do any work in reliance on their fidelity. Work ought to be done by means of hints and signs. Dara Shukoh made unsound arrangements and hence he failed to reach his point. He increased the salaries of his retainers to more than what they were before, but at the time of need got less and less work out of them. Hence he was unhappy. Set your feet within the limits of your carpet.

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"I have told you what I had to say and now I take my leave. See to it that the peasantry and the people.are not unjustly ruined, and that Musalmans may not be slain, lest punishment should descend on me."