Shah Jahan’s reign came to a dramatically premature end in 1657, when the emperor suffered a stroke and his son Aurangzeb staged a skilful coup d’état and imprisoned his father in the Red Fort of Agra, in a set of apartments looking out over the Taj. Aurangzeb then headed north from the Deccan with a battle-hardened army, and defeated his rival brother Dara Shukoh at Samugarh, a few miles from Agra. In 1659, he had his brother murdered a few days after capturing him. According to Manucci, he then sent his father a reconciliation present. When the old man opened it, it was found to contain the
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