Mughal prince Aurangzeb jailed his father for eight years and executed his brother to take the throne

In 1657 Emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal, fell ill. His four sons each had an army. The eldest, Dara Shikoh, was his chosen heir. Aurangzeb, the third son, allied with his brother Murad, defeated Dara at Samugarh in June 1658, then took Agra and confined his father in Agra Fort. He had Murad arrested and later executed (1661). Dara was captured, paraded through Delhi on a filthy elephant, tried by clerics for apostasy and beheaded on 30 August 1659. Accounts say his head was sent to Shah Jahan^†. The fourth brother, Shah Shuja, fled to Arakan (Burma) and disappeared. Shah Jahan lived eight years in the fort, with a view of the Taj Mahal, and died in 1666. He was buried beside his wife Mumtaz Mahal. Aurangzeb ruled until 1707. The empire had no rule of succession, and every Mughal emperor after him also came to the throne through a war among sons.