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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


/D^p^^'^s^'r 


THE 


HISTORY     OF    INDIA. 


BY 
THE   HONOURABLE 

MOUNTSTUAET    ELPHIN8T0NE. 


VOL.  I. 


LONDON: 
JOHN  MURRAY,  ALBEMARLE  STREET. 


MDCCCXH. 


I,--'  \^  •w' 
V.I 


London  : 

Printed  by  A.  Spottiswoode, 

New- Street- Square. 


CONTENTS 


THE     FIRST     VOLUME. 


Page 
Preface  --.__-     xvii 

INTRODUCTION. 

GENERAL    DESCRIPTION    OF    INDIA. 

Boundaries  and  Extent  of  India     -  -    '         -  -1 

Natural  Divisions  -  -  -  -  -     ib. 

Hindostan  and  the  Deckan  -  -  -  -     ib. 

Natural  Divisions  of  Hindostan     -  -  -  -       2 

Natural  Divisions  of  the  Deckan    -  -  -  -       3 

Superficial  Measurement  and  Population  of  India  -  -       4 

Climate  and  Seasons  -  -  -  -  -       7 

Natural  Productions  -  -  -  -  -       9 

Trees       -  -  -  -  -  -  -     ib. 

Spices,  &c.  -  -  -  -  -  -     11 

Agricultural  Produce        -  -  -  -  -     ib. 

Animals    -  -  -  -  -  -  -15 

Minerals  -  -  -  -  -  .  -     17 


HINDUS. 

BOOK  I. 

statr  of  the  hindus  at  the  time  of  menu's  code. 

Preliminary  Observations  -  -  -     19 

CiiAi>.  I.    Division  and  Employment  of  Classes. 

Bramins  -  -  -  -     23 

Cshetryas  _  _  .  _     30 

A    Q 


../ 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


Veisyas 
Suclras 
Mixture  of  Classes 


Page 
30 
31 
34 


Chap.  II.     Government. 

The  King  -  -  -  -  37 

Administration  of  the  Government  -  38 

Revenue  -  -  -  -  40 

The  Court  -  -  -  -  43 

Policy     -  -  -  -  -  44 

War        -  -  -  -  -  46 


Chap.  III.   Administration  of  Justice. 

General  Rules      -             -  -  -  49 

Criminal  Law       -              -  -  -  51 

Civil  Law            -            -  -  -  58 

Mode  of  Proceeding         -  -  -  ib. 

Law  of  Evidence              -  -  -  59 

Mode  of  Proceeding  resumed  -  -  60 

Debts      -             -             -  -  -  61 

Interest  of  Money            -  -  -  62 

Contracts              -             -  -  -  ib. 

Sale  without  Ownership  -  -  -  ib. 

Disputes  between  Master  and  Servant  -  63 

Disputes  about  Boundary  -  -  ib* 

Relations  between  Man  and  Wife  -  ib. 

Inheritance          -            -  -  -66 


Chap.  IV.   Religion. 

The  Vedas 

Monotheism 

Religion  of  the  Institutes 

Creation 

Inferior  Deities  and  Spirits 

Man 

Ritual  Observances 

Moral  Effects      - 


71 

72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
77 
86 


CONTENTS.  V 

Page 

Chap.  V.   Manners  and  State  of  Civilisation. 

State  of  Women  ■  -  -  88 

Manners               -  -  -  -  91 

Arts  of  Life         -  -  -  -  92 

General  Remarks  -  _  _  94, 

Origin  of  the  Hindus,  and  Formation  of 

their  Society    -  -  _  -  95 

Peculiarities  relating  to  Bramins  -  -  100 


BOOK  II. 


changes    since    menu,    and    state    of    the    HINDUS 
IN    LATER    TIMES. 

Chap.  I.    Changes  in  Cast. 

Changes  in  the  four  great  Classes            -  1 03 

Mixed  Classes     -            -            -            .  106 

Monastic  Orders               -             -             -  109 

Chap.  II.  Changes  in  the  Government. 

Administration     -             -             -             -  117 

Revenue  Divisions           -             -             -  ib. 

Description  of  a  Township            -             -  118 

Its  Privileges       -             -             -             -  119 

Government  of  a  Township  by  one  Head  121 

Duties  of  a  Headman       -             -             -  1 22 
Village   Establishment ;  the   Accountant, 

Watchman,  &c.             -              -             -  ib. 

Government  by  a  Village  Community       -  12i 

Classes  of  Inhabitants      -             -             -  125 

Village  Landholders         -             -             -  126 

Permanent  Tenants           ...  127 

Temporary  Tenants          -             -             -  129 

Hired  Labourers               -             -             -  ISO 

Shopkeepers,  &c.               -              -             -  ib. 
Probable  Origin   and  Decline  of  Village 

Communities    -              -              -              -  ib. 

Public  Land  Revenue       -             -             -  132 
A    3 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Property  in  the  Soil  -  -  -  137 
Other  Branches  of  the  Revenue  -  -  139 
Alienations  -  -  -  -  140 
Lands  alienated  for  military  Service  -  141 
Lands  for  military  Service  among  the  Raj- 
puts -  -  -  -  -  144 
Lands  for  Services  not  military  -  -  145 
Lands  held  free  of  Service  -  -  146 
Tributary  and  other  dependent  Territories  ib. 
Zemindars,  what  .  .  _  147 
Changes  in  War  and  Policy          -  -   148 

Chap.  III.    Changes  in  the  Law. 

Changes  in  the  written  Law         -  -  156 

Civil  Law            -             -             -  -     ib. 

Changes  in  Practice         -             -  -  158 

Criminal  Law       -              -             -  -     ib. 

Local  Laws          -             -             -  -  159 

Chap.  IV.    Present  State  of  Religion. 

Changes  since  Menu        -             -  -  161 

The  Puranas        -             -             -  -   164 

Present  Objects  of  Worship          -  -  165 

Siva         -             -             -             -  -  167 

Devi  or  Bhawani                -             -  -   169 

Vishnu  and  his  Incarnations          -  -  171 

Rama      -              -              -              -  -  173 

Crishna  -             -             -             -  -  174 

Other  Gods         -             -             -  -  177 

Good  and  bad  Spirits       -             -  -  179 

Local  Gods          -             -             -  -     ib. 
General  Character  of  the  Hindu  Religion  180 

Future  State        -             -             -  -  185 

Moral  Effects       -             -             -  -  186 

Sects       -             -             -             -  -  188 

New  Ritual         -             r             -  -.192 

Ascendancy  of  the  Monastic  Orders  -  194 

Religion  of  the  Baudhas  and  Jainas  -   196 
Comparative  Antiquity  of  those  Religions 

and  that  of  Bramu         ■              -  -  207 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

Page 

Chap.  V.   Present  State  of  Philosophy. 

Six  principal  Schools        -  -  ■•  214 

Sankya  Schools  (atheistical  and  theistical)  216 
Purpose  of  Knowledge      -  -  -     ib. 

Means  of  attaining  Knowledge      -  -  217 

Principles  -  -  -  -     ib. 

Constitution  of  animated  corporeal  Beings  208 
Intellectual  Creation        -  -  -  219 

General  View  of  the  Sankya  Doctrine      -  220 
Separate  Doctrines  of  the  atheistical  and 

theistical  Branches        -  -  .  222 

Yogis       _  -  -  -  .  224 

Vedanta  School    -  -  -  -     ib. 

God  the  sole  Existence    -  -  -  225 

Logical  Schools    -  -  -  -  229 

Their  Points  of  Resemblance  to  Aristotle      ib. 
General  Classification       -  -  -  231 

Heads  or  Topics,  and  their  Subdivisions  -     ib. 
Metaphysical  Opinions     -  -  -  233 

Doctrine  of  Atoms  -  _  .  234 

Resemblance  to  some  of  the  Greek  Schools, 
especially  to  Pythagoras  -  -     ib. 


BOOK  III. 

STATE    OF    THE    HINDtJS    IN    LATER    TIMES  CONTINUED. 

Chap.  I.     Astronomy  and  Mathematical  Science. 

Antiquity  of  the  Hindu  Astronomy  -  239 

Its  Extent  -  -  -  -  241 

Geometry  -  _  _  .  244 

Arithmetic  -  _  -  -  245 

Algebra  -  -  -  -  -     ib. 

Originality  of  Hindu  Science  -  -  247 

Chap.  II.  Geography.     -     _  _  _  252 

Chap.  III.  Chronology. 

Mythological  Periods        -  -  -  257 
A    4 


VIU 


CONTENTS. 


Chap.  IV. 
Chap.  V. 


Chap.  VI. 


Impossibility  of  fixing  early  Dates,  even 
by  Conjecture  -  -  - 

Solar  and  lunar  Races      _  -  - 

Materials  subsequent  to  the  War  of  the 
"  Maha  Bharat "  -  -  - 

Kings  of  Magada  .  .  - 

Chandragupta  contemporary  with  Seleu- 
cus,  and  Asoca  with  Antiochus 

Date  of  Nanda's  Reign    -  -  - 

Date  of  the  Death  of  Budha 

Probable  Date  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat "      - 

Dates  after  Chandragupta 

Coincidence  with  Chinese  Annals 

Obscurity  after  a.  d.  436 

Eras  of  Vicramaditya  and  Salivahana 

Medicine  .  _  -  - 


Language. 
Shanscrit 
Other  Languages  of  India 

Literature. 

Poetry     _  -  - 

The  Drama 

Sacred  Poetry 

Heioic 

Descriptive 

Pastoral 

Satire 

Tales  and  Fables 

Fine  Arts 
Music      - 
Painting 
Sculpture 
Architecture 


Chap.  VIII.  Other  Arts. 
Weaving 
Dyeing 
Working  in  Gold 


Chap.  VII. 


Page 

258 
259 

260 
ib. 

262 
267 
ib. 
267 
268 
269 
270 
271 

273 

276 

278 

280 
281 
290 

ib. 
294 
295 

ib. 

ib. 


-  297 

-  298 

-  299 

-  300 

-  310 

-  ib. 

-  ib. 


CONTENTS.  IX 

Page 

Chap.  IX.  Agriculture  _  -  _  312 

Chap.  X.    Commerce. 

External  Commerce          -  -  -  315 

Trade  from  the  West  Coast  -  -  316 

Coasting  Trade  -  -  -  318 

Trade  from  the  East  Coast  -  -  319 

Hindu    Settlements    in    Java    and   other 

eastern  Islands  ...  320 

Trade  in  Times  subsequent  to  the  Greeks  321 
Exports  in  ancient  Times  -  -     ib. 

Imports  -  _  .  .  322 

Inland  Trade       -  -  -  -     ib. 

Chap-  XL  Manners  and  Character. 

Difference  of  Indian  Nations         -             -  323 

Villages                ....  326 

Habits  of  Villagers           -             -             -  327 

Towns                  -             -             -             -  328 

Food  and  Manner  of  eating  of  all  Classes  330 

Indoor  Amusements         -             .             _  332 

Houses  ....  333 
Ceremonial  and  Conversation  of  the  upper 

Classes            -             -             -               -  ib. 

Entertainments  and  Pomp  of  the  Rich      -  335 

Fairs,  Pilgrimages,  &c.                  -             -  339 

Gardens  and  Natural  Scenery  -  -  340 
Manner  of  Life  of  the  Townspeople  and 

Festivals  of  all  Classes               -             -  SM 

Exercises             _             _             _             .  345 

Dress       -             -             -             -             -  347 

Women                 ....  34,8 

Slavery               *  -              -             -              -  349 

Ceremonies  of  Marriage                 -             -  351 

Education             .             _             ..             _  352 

Names                  -             ,             .             _  354. 

Funerals                .             _             _              .  355 

Sattis      -            .             .             .            .  357 

Hereditary  Thieves          -             -              -  361 

Bliats  and  Charans           ...  353 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

Mountaineers  and  Forest  Tribes  -  365 

Character  .  -  _  _  358 

Comparison  of  the    Hindu  Character   in 

ancient  and  modern  Times        -  -  382 


BOOK  IV. 

HISTORY    OF    THE    HINDUS    UP    TO    THE    MAHOMETAN 
INVASION. 

Chap.  I.   Hindostan. 

Races  of  the  Sun  and  Moon         -  -  389 

Rama      -             -             -              -  -     ib. 

War  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat "         -  -  390 

Kingdom  of  Magada  (Sandracottus)  -  392 

Mahva  (Vicramaditya,  Bhoja)      -  -  398 

Guzerat  -             -              •             -  -  399 

Canouj     -                          -             -  -  402 

Other  Principalities          -             _  _  403 

Table       -             -             -             -  -  404 

Chap.  II.   The  Deckan. 

Early  State  and  Divisions  of  the  Deckan     408 

Dravida,  or  the  Tamul  Country    -  -  410 

Carnata,  or  Canarese  Country      -  -     ib. 

Telingana,  or  Teluga  Country      -  -  411 

Maharashtra,  or  Maratta  Country  -     ib. 

Orissa,  or  U'rya  Country                -  -     ib. 
Kingdoms  and  Principalities  in  the  Deckan  412 

Pandya    -             -              -             -  -     ib. 

Chola       -             '             -             -  -  413 
Chera      -----  414 

Kerala     -             -             -             -  -     ib. 

The  Concan          -             -              -  -  41.'? 

Carnata  and  Telingana     -             -  -     ib. 

Belala  Rajas         -             -             -  -     ib. 

Yadavas                 -              -             -  -  416 

dial ukyas  of  Carnata       -             -  -     ib. 


CONTENTS. 

XI 

Page 

Chalukyas  of  Calinga 

-  417 

Kings  of  Andra    -              -             - 

-     ib. 

Orissa      ^             -             -             - 

-  418 

Maharashtra,  or  Maratta  Country 

-  421 

Tagara     -             -             -             - 

-     ib. 

Salivahana            .             -             - 

-  423 

Deogiri   -             -             _              - 

-  424 

Appendix  I.  On  the  Age  of  Menu  and  of  the  Vedas. 

Age  of  the  Vedas  .  _  _  427 

Age  of  the  Code  or  Institutes      -  -  429 

Appendix  II.  On  Changes  in  Cast. 

Doubts  regarding  the  Foreign  Descent  of 

any  of  the  Rajput  Tribes  -  -  432 

Scythian  Settlers  in  India  -  -  436 

Appendix  III.  On  the  Greek  Accounts  of  India. 

India  bounded  on  the  West  by  the  Indus     439 
Indians  to  the  West  of  that  River  -  441 

Greek  Descriptions  of  India  -  -  448 

Authorities  for  those  Descriptions  -     ib. 

Division  into  Classes         _  -  _  4.50 

Sanyassis  .  .  _  _  4.52 

Siidras     -----  4.5Q 
Absence  of  Slavery  -  -  -     ib. 

Number  and  Extent  of  the  different  States  457 
Manners  and  Customs      -  -  .  4(j0 

Favourable    Opinion    entertahied    by    the 
Greeks  of  the  Indian  Character  -  4G6 

Appendix  IV.  On  the  Greek  Kingdom  of  Bactria. 

Accounts  of  the  Ancients  -  -  468 

Further  Discoveries  from  Coins    -  -  470 

Appendix  V.  Notes  on  the  Revenue  System  -  -  476 


Xll  CONTENTS. 


MAHOMETANS. 


BOOK  v. 

FROM  THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  ARAB  CONQUESTS  TO 
THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A  MAHOMETAN  GOVERNMENT 
IN    INDIA. 

Chap.  I.     Arab  Conquests. 

A.  D.  Page 

622.    Rise  of  the  Mahometan  Religion    -  -  -  489 

632—636.   Conquest  of  Persia     -           -  -  -  496 

651.   Extended  to  the  Indus        -             -  -  -     ib. 

664.   First  Incursion  into  India      _          -  .  -  501 

711.    Conquest  of  Sind  by  the  Arabs      -  ~  -  502 

750.    Their  Expulsion     -             -             -  -  -  511 
Causes  of  the  slow  Progress  of  the  Mahometans  in 

India                    -             -              -  -  -     ib. 

Tartar  Nations       -             -             -  -  -514 

Turks  in  Transoxiana         -             -  -  -  518 

706 — 712.    Ai-ab  Conquest  of  Transoxiana  -  -  519 

Chap.  II.    Dynasties  formed  after  the  breaking  up 
OF  THE  Empire  of  the  Califs. 

820—872.   The  Taherites            -             -             -  -  521 

872—903.    The  Sofarides             -             -             -  -  522 

872—999.   The  House  of  Samani            -             -  -     ib. 

932—1055.    The  Buyades  or  Deilemites              -  -523 

Alptegin,  Founder  of  the  House  of  Ghazni  -  524 

961.    His  Rebellion         -             -             -             -  -  525 

976.    Sebektegin              -             -             -             -  -     ib. 

Invasion  by  Jeipal,  Raja  of  Labor               -  -  527 

Repelled     -           -             -             -             -  -     ib. 

Hindu  Confederacy  ....  528 

Defeated     -            -              -             -              -  -     ib. 

Sebektegin  assists  the  Samanis  against  the  Eastern 

Tartars                -              -             -             -  -  529 

997.    His  Death     -           -             -             -             -  -  531 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI 997    TO    1186. 


Chap,  III.     Sultan  Mahmud. 
(997—1030.) 

A,  D.  Page 

Disputed  Succession           -             -             _  -  532 

999.    Mahmud  declares  his  Independence            -  -  534 

1001.   His  first  Expedition  to  India           _             -  -  536 

1004.  Second  Expedition              _             -             .  .  537 

1005.  Third  Expedition  -  -  -  -  ib. 
Invasion  of  the  Tartars  under  E'Hk  Khan  -  -  538 
Defeated  by  Mahmud         -             .             -  .  539 

1008.  Fourth  Expedition  -  -  -  -  ib. 
Decisive  Battle      -----  540 

Temple  of  Nagarcot          _             -             .  .  54,2 

1010.  Conquest  of  Ghor  -  -  .  .  54,3 
Fifth  Expedition  to  India   -             -             -  -  544 

1011.  Sixth  Expedition  -  -  -  -  ib. 
Capture  of  Tanesar            -             -             -  -     ib. 

1013  and  1014  or  15.    Seventh  and  Eighth  Expeditions    -     ib. 

1016.  Conquest  of  Transoxiana     -            -             -  _  545 

1017.  Ninth  Expedition  to  India  -  -  -  ib. 
Canouj       ---._.  546 

1022  and  1023.    Tenth  and  Eleventh  Expeditions  -  549 

Permanent  Occupation  of  the  Panjab          -  -     ib. 

1024—1026.   Twelfth  Expedition              -             -  -  550 

Somnat     -             -             -             -             _  -     ib. 

Mahmud  sets  up  a  new  Raja  in  Guzerat     -  -  555 

Distresses  in  the  Desert  on  his  Return       -  -  557 

First  Revolt  of  the  Seljiiks             -             -  _  5qq 

1027.    Suppressed             -             -             -             -  -     ib. 

1029.  Conquest  of  Persia  by  Mahmud      -             -  -     ib. 

1030.  His  Death               -             -             -             ..  -561 
His  Character         -             -             -             -  -     ib. 

Composition  of  his  Court  and  Army            -  -  572 

Tfirks        -             -            -             -            -  -     ib. 

Persians     -----.  575 

Relation  of  the  different  Nations  to  the  Government  576 


XIV 

CONTENTS. 

Chap.  IV.     Other  Kings  of  Ghazni 

AND 

Ghor. 

(1030  TO  1206.) 

A.  D. 

Page 

1030. 

Sultan  Mohammed 

- 

-  580 

Sultan  Masaud 

- 

-     ib. 

Rise  of  the  Seljuks 

- 

-  581 

Their  Wars  with  Masaud 

- 

-  582 

1040. 

Deposition  and  Death  of  Masaud 

- 

-  584. 

Sultan  Modud 

- 

-  585 

104-9. 

Sultan  Abul  Hasan 

- 

-  588 

1051. 

Sultan  Abul  Rashid 

- 

-  589 

1052. 

Sultan  Farokhzad 

- 

-  590 

1058. 

Sultan  I'brahim       - 

- 

-     ib. 

1089  < 

or  1100.  Sultan  Masaud  II. 

- 

-  591 

1114. 

Sultan  Arslan         -             -             _ 

- 

-  592 

1118. 

Sultan  Behram        _             -             - 

- 

-     ib. 

Quarrel  with  Ghor 

- 

-  593 

Ghazni  taken  by  the  Ghorians 

- 

-  594 

Recovered  by  Behram 

- 

-     ib. 

Cruel  Execution  of  the  King  of  Ghor 

- 

-     ib. 

1152. 

Ghazni  destroyed  by  the  Ghorians 

- 

-  595 

House  of  Ghazni  retire  to  India     - 

- 

-  596 

1152. 

Sultan  Khusru        -             -             - 

- 

-     ib. 

1160. 

Sultan  Khusru  Malik 

- 

-  597 

HOUSE    OF    GHOR 1186    TO    1206. 


Ala  u  din  Ghori     -----  598 

Origin  of  the  House  of  Ghor           -             -  -     ib. 

1152.  Taking  of  Ghazni  by  the  Seljuks     -             -  -600 
Restoration  of  Ala  u  din     -             -             -  -     ib. 

1153.  Fall  of  the  Seljuks               -             -             -  -602 

1156.  Self  u  din  Ghori     -             -             -             -  -     ib. 

1157.  Gheias  u  din  Ghori  -  -  -  -603 
1176.  First  Expedition  to  India  under  Shahab  u  din  -  605 
1186.    Expulsion  of  the  House  of  Ghazni  from  the  Panjab     ib. 

Wars  with  the  Hindus        .             -             -  -  606 

The  RajpCits           -             -             -             -  -  607 

1191.    Defeat  of  Shahab  u  din      -             -             -  -609 

1193.    Return  of  Shahab  u  din  to  India     -             -  -610 


CONTENTS.  XV 

A.  D.  Page 

Conquest  of  Ajmir               _             .  .  .  611 

Conquest  of  Delhi                _              ,  .  _  612 

llO^.    Capture  of  Canouj                -             -  -  -     ib. 

Conquest  of  Oud,  Behar,  and  Bengal  -  -  Bl^ 

1202.  Shahab  u  dtn  (or  Mohammed)  Ghori  -  -  615 

1203.  Unsuccessful  Invasion  of  Kharizm  -  -  ib. 
Rebellions  in  India  .  .  _  .  616 
Subdued    -             -             -             -  -  -  617 

1206.    Death  of  Shahab  u  din       -             -  -  -     ib. 

Extent  of  his  Conquests  in  India     -  -  -  618 

Mahmiid  Ghori      -              -              -  -  -     ib. 

Dissolution  of  the  Ghorian  Empire  -  -     ib 


PREFACE. 


The  appearance  of  a  new  history  of  India  requires 
some  words  of  explanation. 

If  the  ingenious,  original,  and  elaborate  work  of 
Mr.  Mill  left  some  room  for  doubt  and  discus- 
sion, the  able  compositions  since  published  by  Mr. 
Murray  and  Mr.  Gleig  may  be  supposed  to  have 
fully  satisfied  the  demands  of  every  reader. 

But  the  excellence  of  histories  derived  from 
European  researches  alone  does  not  entirely  set 
aside  the  utility  of  similar  inquiries  conducted  un- 
der the  guidance  of  impressions  received  in  India; 
which,  as  they  rise  from  a  separate  source,  may 
sometimes  lead  to  different  conclusions. 

Few  are  likely  to  take  up  these  volumes  unless 
they  are  previously  interested  in  the  subject,  and 
such  persons  may  not  be  unwilling  to  examine  it 
from  a  fresh  point  of  view  :  if  the  result  suggests 
no  new  opinions,  it  may  at  least  assist  in  deciding 
on  those  contested  by  former  writers. 


Ill  the  choice  of  difficulties  presented  hy  the  expression 
of  Asiatic  words  in  European  letters,  I  have  thought  it 
best  to  follow  the  system  of  Sir  W.  Jones,  which  is  used  by 
all  the  English  Asiatic  Societies,  as  well  as  by  Mr.  Cole- 

voL.  I.  a 


XVlll  PREFACE. 

brooke.  Professor  Wilson,  and  various  oilier  writers.  But 
as  I  do  not,  in  general,  attempt  to  express  the  aspirates, 
gutturals,  or  other  sounds  which  are  peculiar  to  Asiatic 
languages,  I  have  not  found  it  necessary  to  copy  all  the 
minutiae  of  Sir  W.  Jones's  orthography,  or  to  distinguish 
particular  consonants  (as  k  and  c),  which,  in  his  system, 
would  represent  very  different  sounds. 

The  following  list  will  explain  the  powers  given  to  each 
letter :  — 

A"  as  in  far,  father. 
A  as  u  in  sun,  study  ;  o  in  son,   version  ;  and  a  itself  in 

unaccented  syllables,  as  in  collar,  Persian. 
E'  as  in  there ;  or  as  a  in  dare. 
E  sometimes  as  in  bell,  then  ;  but  much  more  frequently 

the  indistinct  sound  of  e  in  her,  murderer,  &c. 

V  as  in  machine,  or  as  ee  in  deer. 
I  as  in  hit,  imminent. 

O'  as  in  holy,  alone. 

O  as  in  obey,  symphony.  It  is  the  6  shortened  (the  other 
short  0,  as  in  hot,  moss,  is  not  known  in  Asiatic  lan- 
guages). 

U'  as  in  rude,  true ;  or  as  the  double  o  in  pool,  foolish. 

U  the  same  sound  short,  as  in  pull,  fuller. 

Y  as  in  young,  year. 
W  as  in  war,  will. 

Ei  as  in  height ;  or  as  i  in  bite. 
Eu  as  in  Europe,  feud. 
Oi  as  in  boil,  joiner. 
Ou  as  in  house,  sound. 

The  consonants  are  the  same  as  in  English :  except  that 
g  is  always  hard,  as  in  God,  give;  di  always  as  in  church 
(not  as  in  Christian,  anchor) ;  s  always  as  in  case,  solstice 
(not  like  z,  as  in  phrase)  ;  and  t  always  as  in  tin,  Latin 
(not  like  sh,  as  in  nation). 


PREFACE.  XIX 

In  well-known  words,  I  have  retained  the  usual  spelling; 
as  in  Delhi  (for  Dilli  or  Dihli)  ;  Bombay  (for  Mumbiii) ; 
Mysore  (for  Maheswar  or  Maisur).  Where  the  corrupt 
names  are  only  applied  to  particular  persons  and  places,  I 
have  limited  them  in  that  manner.  The  famous  rivers 
Indus  and  Ganges  are  so  called ;  while  others,  bearing  the 
same  Indian  names,  are  written  Sind  and  Ganga :  the 
Arabian  prophet  is  Mahomet,  but  all  others  of  the  same 
Arabic  name  are  Mohammed :  Tamerlane  is  used  in 
speaking  of  the  Tartar  conqueror,  but  Teimur  on  all 
other  occasions. 

There  are  other  irregularities  :  gutturals  and  aspirates 
are  sometimes  used;  and  double  consonants  arc  put  in 
some  cases  where  the  sound  is  single,  as  the  double  t  in 
Attoc,  which  is  pronounced  as  in  matter ;  while  in  general 
double  consonants  are  sounded  separatel}^,  as  in  book- 
keeping, hop-pole,  or  drum-maker.  In  names  with  which 
I  an  not  myself  acquainted,  I  am  obliged  to  take  the 
spelling  of  the  author  by  whom  they  are  mentioned. 


f^'''"^  [fou,^ 


HISTORY 


OF 


INDIA. 


INTRODUCTION. 

India  is  bounded  by  the  Hemalaya  mountains,  the    introd. 
river  Indus,  and  the  sea.  

n  r^       ^         /  Bound- 

Its  length   from   Cashmir  to  Cape   Comorin   is  ariesand 
about  1900  British  miles  ;  and  its  breadth  from  the  India. 
mouth  of  the  Indus  to  the  mountains  east  of  the 
Baramputra  considerably  upwards  of  1500  British 
miles. 

It  is  crossed  from  east  to  west  by  a  chain   of  Natural 
mountains,  called  those  of  Vindya,  which  extends 
between  the  twenty-third  and  twenty-fifth  parallels 
of  latitude,  nearly  from  the  desert  north-west  of 
Guzerat,  to  the  Ganges. 

The  country  to  the  north  of  this  chain  is  now  iiindostan 
called  Hindostan,  and  that  to  the  south  of  it,  the  DecUan. 
Deckan.* 

•  The  Mogul  emperors  fixed  the  Nerbadcla  for  the  limit  of 
their  provinces  in  those  two  great  divisions,  but  the  division  of 
Oie  tuitions  is  made  by  the  Vindya  mountains.  It  is  well  re- 
marked by  Sir  W.  Jones  and  Major  Rennell,  that  both  banks  of 
rivers  in  Asia  are  generally  inhabited  by  th»  same  community. 
VOL.  I.  li 


2  HISTORY    OF    INI)  [A. 

iNTROD.  Hindostan  is  composed  of  the  basin  of  the  In- 
^^~i  dus,  that  of  the  Ganges,  the  desert  towards  the 
divisions  of  Indus,  and  the  hi^h  tract  recently  called  Central 

Hindostan.  '  o  j 

India. 

The  upper  part  of  the  basin  of  the  Indus  (now 
called  the  Panjab)  is  open  and  fertile  to  the  east 
of  the  Hydaspes,  but  rugged  to  the  west  of  that 
river,  and  sandy  towards  the  junction  of  the  five 
rivers.  After  the  Indus  forms  one  stream,  it  flows 
through  a  plain  between  mountains  and  the  de- 
sert, of  which  only  the  part  within  reach  of  its 
waters  is  productive.  As  it  approaches  the  sea, 
it  divides  into  several  branches,  and  forms  a  fertile 
though  ill- cultivated  delta. 

The  basin  of  the  Ganges  (though  many  of  the 
streams  which  water  it  have  their  rise  in  hilly 
countries,  and  though  the  central  part  is  not  free 
from  diversity  of  surface)  may  be  said  on  the  whole 
to  be  one  vast  and  fertile  plain.  This  tract  was 
the  residence  of  the  people  who  first  figure  in  the 
history  of  India  ;  and  it  is  still  the  most  advanced 
in  civilisation  of  all  the  divisions  of  that  country. 

A  chain  of  hills,  known  in  the  neighbourhood 
by  the  name  of  Aravalli,  is  connected  by  lower 
ranges  with  the  western  extremity  of  the  Vindya 


The  rule  applies  to  Europe,  and  is  as  true  of  the  Rhine  or  the 
Po  as  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Nile.  Rivers  are  precise  and 
convenient  limits  for  artificial  divisions,  but  they  are  no  great 
obstacles  to  communication ;  and,  to  form  a  natural  separation 
between  nations,  requires  the  real  obstructions  of  a  mountain 
chain. 


NATURAL    DIVISIONS.  3 

mountains  on  the  borders  of  Guzerat,  and  stretches  introd. 
up  to  a  considerable  distance  beyond  Ajmir,  in 
the  direction  of  Delhi ;  forming  the  division  be- 
tween the  desert  on  the  west  and  the  central  table 
land.  It  would  be  more  correct  to  say  the  level  of 
the  desert ;  for  the  south-eastern  portion,  including 
Jodpur,  is  a  fertile  country.  Except  this  tract,  all 
between  the  Aravalli  mountains  and  the  Indus, 
from  the  Satlaj  or  Hysudrus  on  the  north  to  near 
the  sea  on  the  south,  is  a  waste  of  sand,  in  which 
are  oases  of  different  size  and  fertility,  the  greatest 
of  which  is  round  Jessalmir.  The  narrow  tract  of 
Cach  intervenes  between  the  desert  and  the  sea, 
and  makes  a  sort  of  bridge  from  Guzerat  to  Sind. 
Central  India  is  the  smallest  of  these  four  natural 
divisions.  It  is  a  table  land  of  uneven  surface, 
from  1500  to  2500  feet  above  the  sea,  bounded 
by  the  Aravalli  mountains  on  the  west,  and  those 
of  Vindya  on  the  south  ;  supported  on  the  east  by 
a  lower  range  in  Bundelcand,  and  sloping  gradually 
on  the  north-east  into  the  basin  of  the  Ganges.  It 
is  a  diversified  but  fertile  tract. 

The  Vindya  mountains  form  the  southern  limit  Natural 
of  Hindostan  ;  but  beyond  them,  separated  by  the  of  the 
deep  valley  of  the  Nerbadda,  is  a  parallel  chain 
called  Injcidri  or  Satpura,  which  must  be  crossed 
before  we  reach  the  next  natural  division  in  the 
valley  of  the  Tapti.  This  small  tract  is  low  ;  but 
the  rest  of  the  Dcckan  is  almost  entirely  occu})ied 
by  a  table  land  of  triangular  Ibrm,  about  the  level 
of  that  of  Central  India,  supported  on  all  sides  by 

1!     'J 


Ui'ckan. 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


iNTROD.  ranges  of  hills.  The  two  longest  ranges,  which 
ran  towards  the  south,  follow^  the  form  of  the  pen- 
insula, and  between  them  and  the  sea  lies  a  low 
narrow  tract,  forming  a  sort  of  belt  round  the 
whole  coast.  The  hills  which  support  the  table 
land  are  called  the  Ghats.  The  range  to  the  west 
is  the  highest  and  most  marked ;  and  the  low 
tract  beneath  it  narrowest  and  most  rugged. 

The  table  land  itself  is  greatly  diversified  in 
surface  and  fertility.  Two  parts,  however,  are 
strongly  distinguished,  and  the  limit  between  them 
.may  be  marked  by  the  Warda,  from  its  source  in 
the  Injadri  range,  north-west  of  Nagpur,  to  its 
junction  with  the  Godaveri,  and  then  by  the  joint 
rivers  to  the  sea.  All  to  the  north  and  east  of 
these  rivers  is  a  vast  forest,  spotted  with  villages, 
and  sometimes  interrupted  by  cultivated  tracts  of 
considerable  extent.  To  the  south-west  of  the 
rivers,  tlie  country,  though  varied,  is  generally 
open  and  cultivated. 

Guzerat  and  Bengal  are  regarded  by  the  natives 
as  neither  included  in  Hindostan  nor  the  Deckan  ; 
they  differ  greatly  from  each  other,  but  each  has 
a  resemblance  to  the  part  of  Hindostan  which 
adjoins  to  it. 

Though  the  Deckan,  properly  speaking,  includes 
all  to  the  south  of  the  Vindya  mountains,  yet,  in 
modern  practice,  it  is  often  limited  to  the  part  be- 
tween that  chain  and  the  river  Kishna. 
Superficial        Tlic  Superficial  extent  of  India  is  estimated  at 
menrand     1,287j4<83  squai'e  miles.     The  population  may  be 


EXTENT    AND    POPULATIONS  5 

taken  at  140,000,000  ;  but  this  is  the  present  po-    introd. 
pulation  ;  in   very   early  Hindu  times  it  was  cer-         ~~ 

^    ^  •'  -^  population 

tainly  much  less,  and  in  later  days  probably  mucli  of  India. 
greater.* 

*  These  estimates  cannot  pretend  to  accuracy.  Hamilton 
(^Description  of  Hindostcm,  vol.  i.  page  37.)  conjectured  the 
number  of  square  miles  to  be  1,280,000,  and  the  population 
1 34,000,000. 

An  official  Report  laid  before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  on  Indian  affairs,  October  11.  1831,  will  (if  certain 
blanks  be  filled  up)  make  the  extent  in  square  miles  1,287,483, 
and  the  population  140,722,700.  The  following  are  the  par- 
ticulars :  — 

Bengal  Lower  provinces  - 
Bengal  Upper  provinces  - 
Bengal  cessions  from  Berar 

Total  Bengal 
Madras     -  -  - 

Bombay    -  -  - 

Total  British  possessions         -      512,873  93,200,000 

Allied  States         -             -             -      614,010  (3.)  43,022,700 

Ranjtt   Sing  possessions  in  the  j^^  .^  g^^^Q^  3,500,000 

Panjab     -  -  -       J 

Sind         .             .             -             -      100,000  1,000,000 


Square  Miles. 

Population. 

153,802 

37,500,000 

66,510 

32,200,000 

85,700 

(1.)  3,200,000 

306,012 

72,900,000 

141,923 

13,500,000 

64,938 

(2.)  6,800,000 

Total  of  all  India  -1,287,483  140,722,700 


The  superficial  extent  of  the  British  territories  and  those  of 
the  allies  is  given  in  the  above  Report ;  the  former  from  actual 
survey,  and  the  latter  partly  from  survey  and  partly  from  com- 
putation. 

The  population  of  the  British  territories  is  also  from  the 
Report,  and  is  founded  on  official  estimates,  except  in  the  fol- 
lowing instances,  where  I  computed  the  numbers. 

(1.)  The  cessions  from  P>crar  amount  to  near  86,000  square 
miles  ;  of  these,  30,(X)0  on  the  Nerbadda  are  comparatively  well 

IJ    3 


6  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

iNTROD.  The  population  is  very  unequally  distributed. 
In  one  very  extensive  district  of  Bengal  Proper 
(Bardwan),  it  was  ascertained  to  be  GOO  souls  to 
the  square  mile.*  In  some  forest  tracts,  ten  to 
the  square  mile  might  be  an  exaggeration. 

Though  the  number  of  large  towns  and  cities 

peopled  ;  and  I  have  allowed  them  sixtj'  souls  to  the  square 
mile.  The  remaining  56,000  are  so  full  of  forests^  that  I  have 
only  allowed  twenty-five  souls  to  the  square  mile. 

(2.)  For  one  district,  under  Bombay  (the  Northern  Concan), 
the  extent  is  given  from  survey,  but  without  a  guess  at  the 
population.  I  have  allowed  the  same  rate  as  that  of  the  adjoin- 
ing district  (the  Southern  Concan),  which  is  100  to  the  square 
mile.  It  is  probably  too  much,  but  the  amount  is  so  small  as  to 
make  the  error  immaterial. 

(3.)  No  estimate  is  given  of  the  population  of  the  allied 
states,  some  parts  of  which  have  300  or  400  the  square  mile, 
while  others  are  nearly  deserts.  On  consideration,  I  allow 
seventy  souls  to  the  square  mile,  which  makes  the  population 
43,022,700. 

(4.)  The  area  and  population  of  Sind,  and  the  population  of 
the  Panjab,  are  taken  from  Burnes's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  286.  and 
vol.  iii.  p.  227.  The  extent  of  the  Panjab  is  little  more  than  a 
guess,  which  I  have  hazarded,  rather  than  leave  the  statement 
incomplete. 

The  extent  of  Europe  is  about  2,793,000  square  miles,  and 
the  population  227,700,000.  ("  Companion  to  the  Almanack  for 
1829,"  from  Walkenacr  and  Balbi.)  If  we  deduct  the  1,758,700 
square  miles  in  Russia,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  as  proposed  by 
Major  Rennell,  for  the  sake  of  comparison,  we  find  the  rest  of 
Europe  containing  1,035,300  square  miles,  and  India  1,294,602, 
being  nearly  a  third  greater  than  Europe.  But  Europe,  when 
freed  from  the  northern  wastes,  has  the  advantage  in  popula- 
tion ;  for,  after  deducting  Russia,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  about 
60,518,000  souls,  Europe  has  still  167,182,000  souls,  and  India 
only  140,000,000. 

*  Mr.  Bayley,  Asiatic  Researches,  xii.  549. 


POPULATION.  7 

in  India  is  remarkable,  none  of  them  are  very  introd. 
populous.  In  their  present  state  of  decline,  none 
exceed  the  population  of  second-rate  cities  in 
Europe.  Calcutta,  without  its  suburbs,  has  only 
265,000  inhabitants  ;  and  not  more  than  two  or 
three  of  the  others  can  have  above  200,000  fixed 
population.* 

A  tract,  extending  from  8°  north  latitude  to  35°,  ciimate 
and  varying  in  height  from   the  level  of  the  sea  to  sons! 
the  summits  of  Hemalaya,  must  naturally  include 
the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold ;  but  on  the  general 
level  of  India  within  the  great  northern  chain,  tlie 
diversity  is  comparatively  inconsiderable. 

The  characteristic  of  the  climate,  compared  to 
that  of  Europe,  is  heat.  In  a  great  part  of  the 
country  the  sun  is  scorching  for  three  months  in  the 
yeart;  even  the  wind  is  hot,  the  land  is  brown 
and  parched,  dust  flies  in  whirlwinds,  all  brooks 
become  dry,  small  rivers  scarcely  keep  up  a  stream, 
and  the  largest  are  reduced  to  comparatively  nar- 
row channels  in  the  midst  of  vast  sandy  beds. 

In  winter,  sliglit  frost  sometimes  takes  place  for 
an  hour  or  two  about  sunrise;  but  tins  is  only  in  the 
parts  of  the  country  which  lie  far  north,  or  are 
much  elevated  above  tlie  sea.     At  a  low  level,  if  to- 

*  For  Calcutta,  see  the  Report  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
October  11. 1 83 1 .  For  Benares,  see  Asiatic  Researches,  xvii,  474'. 
479.,  where  it  is  stated  tliat  200,000  constitutes  the  fixed  po- 
pulation of  the  city  and  suburbs,  and  that  100,000  more  may 
come  in  on  tlie  greatest  occasions  of  pilgrimage. 

f  The  thermometer  often  rises  above  100  during  part  of  the 
hottest  days.     It  has  been  known  to  reach  li'0°. 

B   4 


8  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

iNTROD.  wards  the  south,  the  greatest  cold  in  winter  is  only 
moderate  heat ;  and  on  an  average  of  the  whole  of 
India,  it  is  not  much  more  than  what  is  marked 
temperate  on  our  thermometers  ;  while  the  hottest 
time  of  the  day,  even  at  tliat  period,  rises  above 
our  summed'  heat.  The  cold,  however,  is  much 
greater  to  the  feelings  than  would  be  snpposed  from 
the  thermometer. 

In  the  montlis  which  approach  to  neither  ex- 
treme, the  temperature  is  higher  than  in  the  heat 
of  summer  in  Italy. 

The  next  peculiarity  in  the  climate  of  India  is 
the  periodical  rainy  season.  The  rains  are  brought 
from  the  Indian  Ocean  by  a  south-west  wind,  (or 
monsoon,  as  it  is  called,)  which  lasts  from  June  to 
October.  They  are  heaviest  near  the  sea,  especially 
in  low  countries,  unless  in  situations  protected  by 
mountains.  The  coast  of  Coromandel,  for  instance, 
is  sheltered  from  the  south-west  monsoon  by  the 
Ghats  and  the  table  land,  and  receives  its  supply 
of  rain  in  October  and  November,  when  the  wind 
blows  from  the  north-east  across  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 
The  intenseness  of  the  fall  of  rain  can  scarcely  be 
conceived  in  Europe.  Though  it  is  confined  to 
four  months,  and  in  them  many  days  of  every  month, 
and  many  hours  of  every  day,  are  fair,  yet  the  whole 
fall  of  rain  in  India  is  considerably  more  than 
double  that  which  is  distributed  over  the  whole 
twelve  months  in  England. 

The  variations  that  have  been  mentioned  divide 
the  year  into  three  seasons  :  the  hot,  the  rainy,  and 


NATURAL    PRODUCTIONS.  9 

the  cold,  or  rather  temperate  ;  which  last  is  a  good   introd. 
deal  lonsjer  than  either  of  the  other  two. 

The  fertile  soil  and  rich   productions   of  India  Natural 

produc- 

have  long  been  proverbial.  tbns. 

Its  forests  contain  many  timber  trees,  among  Trees. 
which  the  teak  is,  for  ship  building,  and  most 
other  purposes,  at  least  equal  to  the  oak.  The  sal 
is  a  lofty  and  useful  timber  tree  :  sandal,  ebony, 
and  other  rare  and  beautiful  woods  are  found  in 
different  quantities,  but  often  in  profusion.  Ban- 
yan trees,  cotton  trees  *,  sissoo  (or  blackwood 
trees),  mangoes,  tamarinds,  and  other  ornamental 
and  useful  trees  are  scattered  over  the  cultivated 
country.  The  babul,  (Mimosa  Arabica,  or  gum 
arable  tree,)  with  its  sweet-scented  yellow  flower, 
grows  in  profusion,  both  in  the  woods  and  plains, 
as  do  two  kinds  of  acacia  and  various  other  flower- 
ing trees.  Mulberries  are  planted  in  great  num- 
bers, and  are  the  means  of  furnishing  a  large  supply 
of  silk.  The  cocoa,  palmyra,  and  other  palms  are 
common.  The  first  of  these  yields  a  nut  filled  with 
a  milky  fluid,  and  lined  with  a  thick  coating  of 
kernel,  which  is  serviceable  as  food,  and  on  account 
of  the  oil  which  is  manufactured  from  it  to  a  vast 
extent.  The  shell  is  used  for  cu})s  and  other  ves- 
sels, some  of  which  are  in  universal  use.  The  thick 
husk,  in  which  the  nut  is  enveloped,  is  composed 

*  Tliis  is  not  the  low  shrub  which  bears  common  cotton,  but 
a  lofty  tree  covered  at  one  time  with  flowers  of  glowing  crimson, 
and  at  another  with  pods,  in  which  the  seeds  are  encased  in  a 
substance  resembling  cotton,  but  lighter  and  more  silky  in  its 
texture. 


10  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

iNTROD.  of  fibres,  which  form  a  valuable  cordage,  and  make 
the  best  sort  of  cable.  The  wood,  though  not 
capable  of  being  employed  in  carpenter's  work,  is 
peculiarly  adapted  to  pipes  for  conveying  water, 
beams  for  broad  but  light  wooden  bridges,  and 
other  purposes,  where  length  is  more  required  than 
solidity.  The  bamboo,  being  hollow,  light,  and 
strong,  is  almost  as  generally  useful  :  when  entire, 
the  varieties  in  its  size  make  it  equally  fit  for  the 
lance  of  the  soldier,  the  pole  of  his  tent,  or  the 
mast  which  sustains  the  lofty  ensign  of  his  chief; 
for  the  ordinary  staff  of  the  peasant,  or  for  the  rafter 
of  his  cottage.  All  scaffolding  in  India  is  com- 
posed of  bamboos,  kept  together  by  ropes  instead 
of  nails.  When  split,  its  long  and  flexible  fibre 
adapts  it  to  baskets,  mats,  and  innumerable  other 
purposes  ;  and  when  cut  across  at  the  joints,  it 
forms  a  bottle  often  used  for  oil,  milk,  and  spirits. 
The  wood  of  the  palm  is  employed  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  of  the  cocoa  tree  :  its  leaves  also  are 
used  for  the  thatch,  and  even  for  the  walls,  of  cot- 
tages ;  while  the  sap,  which  it  yields  on  incision  (as 
well  as  that  of  the  bastard  date  tree),  supplies  a 
great  proportion  of  the  spirituous  liquor  consumed 
in  India. 

The  mahua  (a  timber  tree  of  the  size  of  an  oak, 
which  abounds  in  all  the  forests,)  produces  a  fleshy 
flower,  from  which  also  a  great  deal  of  spirit  is  dis- 
tilled ;  while  it  is  still  more  important  as  an  article 
of  food  among  the  hill  tribes.  To  return  to  the 
palms,   another  beautiful    specimen    bears   a   nut, 


NATURAL    PRODUCTIONS.  11 

which,  mixed  with  the  pungent  and  aromatic  leaf  introd. 
of  the  bitel  vine,  and   the  gum  called  catechu,  is  ' 

chewed  by  all  classes  throughout  India.     Sago  is 
the  produce  of  another  kind  of  palm. 

The  mountains  of  Hemalaya  present  a  totally 
different  vegetation.  Pines,  oaks,  and  other  forest 
trees  of  Europe  and  Asia,  rhododendrons,  and  many 
other  magnificent  shrubs,  abound  throughout  the 
chain,  often  on  a  gigantic  scale. 

Pepper  and  cardamums  grow  in  abundance  on  Spices,  &c. 
the  western  coast,  and  cinnamon  on  Ceylon  :  cap- 
sicum, ginger,  cummin,  coriander,  turmeric,  and 
various  other  spices  are  every  where  a  common 
produce  of  the  fields.  We  are  indebted  to  India 
for  many  well-known  aromatics,  and  the  wildest 
hills  are  covered  with  a  highly  scented  grass,  the 
essential  oil  of  which  is  supposed  by  some  to  have 
been  the  spikenard  of  the  ancients.  Many  trees 
supply  medicines  —  as  camphor,  cassia  fistularis, 
aloes,  &c. ;  others  yield  useful  resins,  gums,  and 
varnishes. 

The  woods  are  filled  with  trees  and  creepers, 
bearing  flowers  of  every  form  and  hue  ;  while  the 
oleander,  gloriosa  superba,  and  many  other  beau- 
tiful shrubs,  grow^  wild  in  the  open  country.  The 
lotus  and  water  lily  float  on  the  surface  of  tlie 
lakes  and  ponds ;  and  there  are  many  sweet-scented 
flowers,  the  perfume  of  which,  though  otherwise 
exquisite,  is  in  general  too  powerful  for  Europeans. 

Whole  plains  arc  covered  with  cotton,  tobacco,   Afiricui- 
nnd  poppies  for  o])ium  ;   even  roses  are  grown,  in  ,"o,'i,K.e. 


12  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

iNTROD.  some  places,  over  fields  of  great  extent,  for  attar 
~~  and  rose-water.      Sugar-cane,   though   still    more 

abundant,  requires  rich  and  well- watered  spots,  and 
is  not  spread  over  the  face  of  the  country  like  the 
productions  just  mentioned.  Large  tracts  of  land 
are  given  up  to  indigo,  and  many  other  more  bril- 
liant dyes  are  among  the  produce  of  the  fields. 
Flax,  mustard,  sesamum,  palma  Christi,  and  other 
plants,  yield  an  ample  supply  of  oil,  both  for  culi- 
nary and  other  purposes. 

The  principal  food  of  the  people  of  Hindostan  is 
wheat,  and  in  the  Deckan,  jowar  and.bajra* :  rice, 
as  a  general  article  of  subsistence,  is  confined  to 
Bengal  and  part  of  Behar,  with  the  low  country 
along  the  sea  all  round  the  coast  of  the  Peninsula : 
in  most  parts  of  India  it  is  only  used  as  a  luxury.t 
In  the  southern  part  of  the  table  land  of  the  Deckan 
the  body  of  the  people  live  on  a  small  and  poor 
grain  called  ragi.t 

Though  these  grains  each  afford  the  principal 

*  Jowar  (Holcus  sorgum).  It  grows  on  a  reedy  stem  to  the 
height  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  and  bears  irregularly  shaped  clusters 
of  innumerable  round  grains,  about  twice  as  big  as  mustard  seed. 
It  is  common  all  over  the  Levant,  under  the  name  of  durra  (or 
dourrah)  ;  and  in  Greece,  where  it  is  called  kalambdki ;  there  is 
likewise  a  coarse  sort  in  Italy,  called  melica  rossa,  or  sorgo 
rosso. 

Bajra  (Holcus  spicatus)  resembles  a  bulrush,  the  head  being 
covered  with  a  round  grain,  smaller,  sweeter,  and  more  nourish- 
ing than  that  of  jowar. 

■\  It  was  probably  the  circumstance  of  our  early  settlements 
in  Bengal  and  on  the  coast  of  Coromandel  that  led  to  the  com- 
mon opinion  that  rice  is  the  general  food  of  India. 

\  Cynosurus  corocanus. 


NATURAL    PRODUCTIONS. 


13 


supply  to  particular  divisions,  they  are  not  confined    introd. 

to  their  own  tracts.     Bajra  and  jowar  are  almost 

as    much   consumed  as  wheat  in   Hindostan,  and 

are  grown,  though  in    a  less   degree,  in  the  rice 

countries  :  wheat  is  not  uncommon  in  the  Deckan, 

and  is  sown  in  the  rice  countries :  rice  is  more  or 

less  raised  all  over  India  in  favourable  situations, 

as  under  hills,  or  where  a  great  command  of  water 

is  obtained  by  artificial  means. 

Barley  is  little  eaten,  and  oats,  till  lately,  were 
unknown  ;  but  there  are  several  smaller  sorts  of 
grain,  such  as  millet,  panicum  Italicum,  and  other 
kinds,  for  which  we  have  no  name.  Maize  is  a 
good  deal  grown  for  the  straw ;  and  the  heads, 
when  young  and  tender,  are  toasted  and  eaten  as 
a  delicacy  by  the  villagers  ;  but  I  doubt  if  the  grain 
is  ever  made  into  bread. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  pulse,  of  which  there 
is  a  very  great  consumption  by  people  of  all  ranks; 
and  a  variety  of  roots  and  vegetables*,  which,  with 
a  huge  addition  of  the  common  spices,  form  the 
ordinary  messes  used  by  the  poor  to  give  a  relish 
to  tlieir  bread.  Many  fruits  are  accessible  to  the 
poor  ;  especially  mangoes,  melons,  and  water  me- 
lons, of  which  tiic  two  last  are  growai  in  the  wide 
beds  of  the  rivers  during  the  dry  weather.  Gourds 
and  cucumbers  are  most  abundant.     They  are  sown 

*  As  the  egg  plant  or  brinjal,  the  love-apple  or  tomato,  yams, 
sweet  potatoes,  carrots,  radishes,  onions,  garlic,  spinach,  and 
many  other  sorts,  wild  and  cultivated,  known  or  unknown  in 
Europe. 


14  IIISTOllY    OF    INDIA. 

iNTROD.    round  the  huts  of  the  poor,  and  trailed  over  tlie 

■ '  roofs,  so  that  the  whole  building  is   covered  with 

green  leaves  and  large  yellow  flowers.  The  mango, 
which  is  the  best  of  the  Indian  fruits,  is  likewise 
by  much  the  most  common,  the  tree  which  bears 
it  being  everywhere  planted  in  orchards  and  singly, 
and  thriving  without  any  further  care.  Plantains 
or  bananas,  guavas,  custard  apples,  jujubes,  and 
other  fruits  of  tropical  climates,  are  also  common.* 
Grapes  are  plentiful,  as  a  garden  fruit,  but  not 
planted  for  wine.  Oranges,  limes,  and  citrons  are 
also  in  general  use,  and  some  sorts  are  excellent. 
Figs  are  not  quite  so  general,  but  are  to  be  had 
in  most  places,  and  in  some  (as  at  Puna,  in  the 
Deckan,)  they  are,  perhaps,  the  best  in  the  world. 
Pine  apples  are  common  everywhere,  and  grow 
wild  in  Pegu.t 

Horses,  camels,  and  working  cattle  are  fed  on 
pulse,  t     Their  forage  is  chiefly  wheat  straw  ;  and 

*  One  of  the  most  remarkable,  and  in  some  places  the  most 
common,  is  the  jack,  an  exceedingly  rich  and  luscious  fruit, 
Avhich  grows  to  the  weight  of  sixty  or  seventy  pounds,  directly 
from  the  trunk  of  a  tall  forest  tree. 

-j-  Several  Chinese  fruits  have  lately  been  introduced  with  suc- 
cess, and  some  European  ones,  of  which  the  peach  and  straw- 
berry are  the  only  kinds  that  are  completely  naturalised.  The 
apples  are  small  and  bad ;  and  pears,  plums,  &c.  do  not  succeed 
at  all. 

+  In  Hindostan  it  is  a  sort  called  channa,  of  which  each  pod 
contains  a  single  pea  on  a  low  plant,  from  the  leaves  of  which 
the  natives  make  vinegar.  It  is  the  Cicer  arietinum  of  bota- 
nists, and  exactly  the  Cece  of  Italy.  In  the  Deckan  the  pulse 
used  is  culti,  a  small  hard  pea,  which  must  be  boiled  before  it  is 
eaten,  even  by  animals. 


NATURAL    rUODUCTIONS.  15 

that  of  the  jowar  and  bajra,  which,  being  full  of  introd. 
saccharine  matter,  is  very  nourishing.     Horses  get 
fresh  grass  dried  in  the  sun  ;  but  it  is  only  in  par- 
ticular places  that  hay  is  stacked. 

There  are,  in  some  places,  three  harvests  ;  in 
all,  two.  Bajra,  jowar,  rice,  and  some  other  grains 
are  sown  at  the  beginning  of  the  rains,  and  reaped 
at  the  end.  Wheat,  barley,  and  some  other  sorts 
of  grain  and  pulse  ripen  during  the  winter,  and  are 
cut  in  spring. 

Elephants,  rhinoceroses,  bears,  and  wild  buf-  Animals. 
faloes  are  confined  to  the  forests.  Tigers,  leo- 
pards, panthers,  and  some  other  Avild  beasts  are 
found  there  also,  but  likewise  inhabit  patches  of 
underwood,  and  even  of  high  grain,  in  the  culti- 
vated lands.  This  is  also  the  case  with  wild 
boars,  hyenas,  wolves,  jackalls,  and  game  of  all 
descriptions,  in  the  utmost  abundance.  Lions  are 
only  found  in  particular  tracts.  Great  numbers  of 
many  sorts  of  deer  and  antelopes  are  met  with  in 
all  parts.  Monkeys  are  numerous  in  the  woods, 
in  the  cultivated  country,  and  even  in  towns. 
Porcupines,  ichneumons,  a  species  of  armadillo, 
iguanas,  and  other  lizards,  are  found  in  all  places  ; 
as  arc  serpents  and  other  reptiles,  noxious  or  inno- 
cent, in  abundance. 

There  are  horses  in  plenty,  but  they  are  only 
used  for  riding.  For  every  sort  of  draught, 
(ploughs,  carts,  guns,  native  chariots,  &c.,)  and  for 
carriage  of  all  sorts  of  baggage  and  merchandise, 
almost  the  whole  dependence  is  on  oxen.     The 


l6  HISTORY    OF    liNDIA. 

iNTROD.  frequency  of  rugged  passes  in  some  parts,  and  the 
annual  destruction  of  the  roads  by  the  rains  in 
others,  make  the  use  of  pack  cattle  much  greater 
than  that  of  draught  cattle,  and  produce  those 
innumerable  droves  which  so  often  choke  up  the 
travellers*  way,  as  they  are  transporting  grain,  salt, 
and  other  articles  of  commerce  from  one  province 
to  another. 

Camels,  which  travel  faster,  and  can  carry  more 
bulky  loads,  are  much  employed  by  the  rich,  and 
are  numerous  in  armies.  Elephants  are  also  used, 
and  are  indispensable  for  carrying  large  tents, 
heavy  carpets,  and  other  articles  which  cannot  be 
divided.  Buffaloes  are  very  numerous,  but  they 
are  chiefly  kept  for  milk,  of  which  great  quantities 
(in  various  preparations)  are  consumed*:  they  are 
not  unfrequently  put  in  carts,  are  used  for  plough- 
ing in  deep  and  wet  soils,  and  more  rarely  for 
carriage.  Sheep  are  as  common  as  in  European 
countries,  and  goats  more  so.  Swine  are  kept  by 
the  lowest  casts  ;  poultry  are  comparatively  scarce, 
in  small  villages,  from  the  prejudice  of  the  Hindus 
against  fowls  ;  but  the  common  fowl  is  found  wild 
in  great  numbers,  and  resembles  the  bantam  kind. 
The  peacock,  also,  is  common  in  a  wild  state. 
White  cranes  and  egrettes  are  extremely  numerous 
throughout  the  year  ;  and  grey  cranes,  wild  geese, 

*  The  commonest  of  these  are  clarified  butter  (ghi),  and  a 
sort  of  acid  curd  (dahi)  which  is  called  yourt  in  the  Levant. 
Cheese  is  scarcely  known,  and  butter  never  used  in  its  natural 
state. 


NATURAL    PRODUCTIONS.  17 

snipes,  ortolans,  and  other  birds  of  passage,  come  introd. 
in  incredible  numbers  at  their  season.  Eagles  are  "~" 
found  in  some  places,  as  are  various  kinds  of  fal- 
cons. Vultures  are  very  common,  and  kites  beyond 
number.  Most  English  birds  are  common  (except 
singing  birds) ;  besides  parrots,  or  rather  pero- 
quets,  and  various  birds  of  splendid  plumage,  for 
which  we  have  not  even  names. 

Fish  is  abundant,  and  is  a  great  article  of  food  in 
Bengal,  and  some  other  countries. 

Crocodiles  are  often  seen  both  in  rivers  and 
large  ponds. 

None  of  the  minerals  of  India  have  attracted  Minerals. 
attention  except  diamonds  and  iron.  The  steel 
of  India  was  in  request  with  the  ancients,  and 
is  celebrated  in  the  oldest  Persian  poem,  and  is 
still  the  material  of  the  scymitars  of  Khorasan 
and  Damascus.  The  inferior  stones  —  opals, 
amethysts,  garnets,  chrysolites,  beryls,  cornelians, 
agates,  &c.  —  are  found  in  considerable  quantities. 
Most  of  the  pearls  in  the  world,  and  all  the  best, 
are  taken  up  from  beds  near  Ceylon.  Rock  salt  is 
found  in  a  range  of  mountains  in  the  Panjab ;  and 
salt  is  made  in  large  quantities  from  the  water  of 
the  Samber  Lake  in  Ajmir,  and  from  that  of  the 
sea.  Saltpetre  is  so  abundant  as  to  supply  many 
other  countries. 

The  conformation  of  the  countries  and  the  pe- 
culiarities of  climate  and  seasons  have  great  ef- 
fect on  military  oj)crations  in  India.  The  j)asses 
through    the    chains   of    hills    that    intersect   the 

VOL.  I.  c 


IS  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

iNTROD.  country  regulate  the  direction  of  the  roads,  and 
often  fix  the  fields  of  battle.  Campaigns  are  gene- 
rally suspended  during  the  rains,  and  resumed  at 
the  end  of  that  season,  when  grain  and  forage  are 
abundant.  The  site  of  encampments  is  very  greatly 
affected  by  the  supply  of  water,  which  must  be 
easy  of  access  to  the  thousands  of  cattle  which 
accompany  every  army,  chiefly  for  carriage.  One 
party  is  often  able  to  force  his  enemy  into  action, 
by  occupying  the  water  at  which  he  intended  to 
halt.  A  failure  of  the  periodical  rains  brings  on 
all  the  horrors  of  famine. 


HINDUS. 


BOOK  I. 

state  of  the  hindus  at  the  time  of 
menu's  code. 

As  the    rudest   nations  are   seldom    destitute    of    book 
some  account  of  the  transactions  of  their  ances-         ^" 
tors,  it  is  a  natural  subject  of  surprise,  that  the  Preiimi. 
Hindus  should  have  attained  to  a  high  pitch   of  servations. 
civilisation,  without  any  work  that  at  all  approaches 
to  the  character  of  a  history.* 

The  fragments  which  remain  of  the  records  of 
their  transactions  are  so  mixed  with  fable,  and  so 
distorted  by  a  fictitious  and  extravagant  system  of 
Chronology,  as  to  render  it  hopeless  to  deduce  from 
them  any  continued  thread  of  authentic  narrative. 

No  date  of  a  public  event  can  be  fixed  before  the 
invasion  of  Alexander ;  and  no  connected  relation 
of  the  national  transactions  can  be  attempted  until 
after  the  Mahometan  conquest. 

*  The  history  of  Cashniir  scarcely  forms  an  exception. 
Thougli  it  refers  to  earlier  writings  of  the  same  nature,  it  was 
begun  more  than  a  century  after  the  Mahometan  conquest  of 
Cashmlr  :  even  if  it  were  ancient,  it  is  the  work  of  a  small  se- 
questered territory  on  the  utmost  borders  of  India,  which,  by 
the  accounts  contained  in  the  history  itself,  seems  to  have  been 
long  liable  to  be  affected  by  foreign  manners  ;  and  the  example 
seems  never  to  have  been  followed  by  tlu;  rest  of  the  Hindus. 

*C    2 


20  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         But  notwithstanding  this  remarkable  failure  in 

the  annals  of  the  early  Hindus,  there  is  no  want  of 

information  regarding  their  laws,  manners,  and 
religion  ;  which  it  would  have  been  the  most  useful 
object  of  an  account  of  their  proceedings  to  teach  : 
and  if  we  can  ascertain  their  condition  at  a  remote 
period,  and  mark  the  changes  that  have  since  taken 
place,  we  shall  lose  very  little  of  the  essential  part 
of  their  history. 

A  view  of  the  religion  of  the  Hindus  is  given, 
and  some  light  is  thrown  on  their  attainments  in 
science  and  philosophy,  by  the  Vedas,  a  collection 
of  ancient  hymns  and  prayers  which  are  supposed 
to  have  been  reduced  to  their  present  form  in  the 
fourteenth  century  before  the  Christian  aera  ;  but 
the  first  complete  picture  of  the  state  of  society 
is  afforded  by  the  Code  of  Laws  which  bears  the 
name  of  Menu,  and  which  was  probably  drawn  up 
in  the  ninth  century  before  Christ.  * 

With  that  Code,  therefore,  every  history  of  the 
Hindus  must  begin. 

But  to  gain  accurate  notions  even  of  the  people 
contemporary  with  the  supposed  Menu,  we  must 
remember  that  a  code  is  never  the  work  of  a  single 
age,  some  of  the  earliest  and  rudest  laws  being 
preserved,  and  incorporated  w4th  the  improvements 
of  the  most  enlightened  times.  To  take  a  familiar 
example,  there  are  many  of  the  laws  in  Blackstone 
the  existence  of  which  proves  a  high  state  of  re- 
finement in  the  nation  j  but  those  relating  to  witch- 

*  See  Appendix  I.    "  On  the  Age  of  Menu." 


I. 


rilELIMINARY    OBSERVATIONS.  21 

craft,   and   the   wager  of  battle,   afford   no  corre-     book 
spondent  proof  of  the   continuance  of  barbarism 
down  to  the  age  in  which  the  Commentaries  were 
written. 

Even  if  the  whole  Code  referred  to  one  period,  it 
would  not  show  the  rpal  state  of  manners.  Its 
injunctions  are  drawn  from  the  model  to  which  it 
is  wished  to  raise  the  community,  and  its  prohibi- 
tions from  the  worst  state  of  crime  which  it  was 
possible  to  apprehend.  It  is  to  the  general  spirit 
of  the  Code,  therefore,  that  we  must  look  for  that 
of  tlie  age ;  and  even  then,  we  must  soften  tiie 
features  before  we  reach  the  actual  condition  of 
the  people.  I  have  adhered  to  the  usual  phrase- 
ology in  speaking  of  this  compilation  ;  but,  though 
early  adopted  as  an  unquestionable  authority  for 
the  law,  I  should  scarcely  venture  to  regard  it  as 
a  code  drawn  up  for  the  regulation  of  a  particular 
state  under  the  sanction  of  a  government.  It  seems 
rather  to  be  the  work  of  a  learned  man,  designed  to 
set  forth  his  idea  of  a  perfect  commonwealth  under 
Hindu  institutions.  On  this  supposition  it  w^ould 
show  the  state  of  society  as  correctly  as  a  legal 
code ;  since  it  is  evident  that  it  incorporates  the 
existing  laws,  and  any  alterations  it  may  have  in- 
troduced, with  a  view  to  bring  them  up  to  its  pre- 
conceived standard  of  perfection,  must  still  have 
been  drawn  from  the  opinions  which  prevailed  when 
it  was  written.  These  considerations  being  pre- 
mised, I  shall  now  give  an  outline  of  the  inform- 
ation contained  in   Mcini ;   aiul,  afterwards,  a  de- 

c  .-> 


22  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     scription  of  the  Hindus  as  they  are  to  be  seen  in 
'        present  times. 

The  alterations  eftected  during  the  interval  will 
appear  from  a  comparison  of  the  two  pictures  ;  and 
a  view  of  the  nation  at  a  particular  point  of  the 
transition  will  be  afforded  from  the  accounts  which 
have  been  left  to  us  by  the  Greeks. 


DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  23 


I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES. 

The  first  feature  that  strikes  us  in  the  society  de-     chap. 

scribed  by  Menu,  is  the  division  into  four  classes*  

or  casts  (the  sacerdotal,  the  military,  the  indus- 
trious, and  the  servile).  In  these  we  are  struck 
with  the  prodigious  elevation  and  sanctity  of  the 
Bramins,  and  the  studied  degradation  of  the  lowest 
class. 

The  three  first  classes,  though  by  no  means 
equal,  are  yet  admitted  into  one  pale  :  they  all  par- 
take in  certain  sacred  rites,  to  which  peculiar  im- 
portance is  attached  throughout  the  code  ;  and 
they  appear  to  form  the  whole  community  for  whose 
government  the  laws  are  framed.  The  fourth  class 
and  the  outcasts  arc  no  further  considered  than  as 
they  contribute  to  the  advantage  of  the  superior 
casts. 

A  Bramin  is  the  chief  of  all  created  beings;  the  Bra 
world  and  all   in   it  are   his:   tint  ugh  him,  indeed, 

*  The  word  class  is  adopted  here,  as  being  used  in  Sir  W. 
Jones's  translation  of  Menu;  but  cast  is  the  term  used  in  India, 
and  by  the  old  writers  on  that  country.  It  is  often  written 
caste  in  late  books,  and  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  an 
Indian  word  ;  but  it  is  an  Knglish  word,  found  in  Johnson's  Dic- 
tionary, and  derived  from  the  Spanish  or  Portuguese  —  casta, 
a  breed. 

c  4 


24  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  other  mortals  enjoy  life";  by  his  imprecations  he 
'  could  destroy  a  king,  with  his  troops,  elephants, 
horses,  and  cars'';  could  frame  other  worlds  and 
regents  of  worlds,  and  could  give  being  to  new 
gods  and  new  mortals.'^  A  Bramin  is  to  be  treated 
with  more  respect  than  a  king/  His  life  and  per- 
son are  protected  by  the  severest  laws  in  this 
world  %  and  the  most  tremendous  denunciations  for 
the  next/  He  is  exempt  from  capital  punishment, 
even  for  the  most  enormous  crimes/  His  offences 
against  other  classes  are  treated  with  remarkable 
lenity",  while  all  offences  against  him  are  punished 
with  tenfold  severity.' 

Yet  it  would  seem,  at  first  sight,  as  if  the  Bra- 
mins,  content  with  gratifying  their  spiritual  pride, 
had  no  design  to  profit  by  worldly  wealth  or  power. 
The  life  prescribed  to  them  is  one  of  laborious 
study,  as  well  as  of  austerity  and  retirement. 

The  first  quarter  of  a  Bramin's  life  he  must  spend 
as  a  student *";  during  which  time  he  leads  a  life  of 
abstinence  and  humiliation.  His  attention  should 
be  unremittingly  directed  to  the  Vedas,  and  should 
on  no  account  be  wasted  on  worldly  studies.  He 
should  treat  his  preceptor  with  implicit  obedience, 
and  with  humble  respect  and  attachment,  which 

a  Chap.  I.  96.  100,  101.  ^  Chap.  IX.  313. 

"  Chap.  IX.  315.  '^  Chap.  II.  139. 

«=  Chap.  IX.  232,  and  Chap.  VIII.  281—283. 

f  Chap.  XI.  205—208.     Chap.  IV.  165—169. 

e  Chap.  VIII.  380.  ''  Chap.  VIII.  276.  378,  379. 

5  Chap.  VIII.  272.  283.  325.  377.     Chap.  XI.  205,  206. 

^  Chap.  II.  175—210. 


DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  25 

ought  to  be  extended  to  his  family.     He  must  per-     chap. 
form  various  servile  offices  for  his  preceptor,  and  ' 

must  labour  for  himself  in  brino-ino-  lo2:s  and  other 
materials  for  sacrifice,  and  water  for  oblations.  He 
must  subsist  entirely  by  begging  from  door  to 
door.' 

For  the  second  quarter  of  his  life,  he  lives  with 
his  wife  and  family,  and  discharges  the  ordinary 
duties  of  a  Bramin.  These  are  briefly  stated  to 
be,  reading  and  teaching  the  Vedas ;  sacrificing 
and  assisting  others  to  sacrifice;  bestowing  alms, 
and  accepting  gifts. 

The  most  honourable  of  these  employments  is 
teaching."^  It  is  remarkable  that,  unlike  other  reli- 
gions, where  the  dignity  of  the  priesthood  is  derived 
from  their  service  at  the  temples,  a  Bramin  is  con- 
sidered as  degraded  by  performing  acts  of  worship 
or  assisting  at  sacrifices,  as  a  profession. "  All  Bra- 
mins  are  strongly  and  repeatedly  prohibited  from 
receiving  gifts  from  low-born,  wicked,  or  unworthy 
persons."  They  are  not  even  to  take  many  presents 
from  unexceptionable  givers,  and  are  carefully  to 
avoid  making  it  a  habit  to  accept  of  unnecessary 
presents.''  When  the  regular  sources  fail,  a  Bramin 

'  These  rules  arc  now  only  observed  by  professed  students 
• —  if  by  them. 

"'  Chap.  X.  75,  76.  85. 

"  Chap.  III.  180.  Chap.  IV.  '205.  A  feelin-  which  still 
subsists  in  full  force. 

°  Chap.  IV.  HK  Chap.  X.  lOf),  110,  111.  Ciiap.  XI.  I<)1. 
-197. 

I'  Chap.  IV.  1S(J. 


26  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     may,  for  a  mere  subsistence,  glean,  or  beg,  or  cul- 

tivate,  or  even  (in  case  of  extreme  necessity)  he 

may  trade  ;  but  he  must  in  no  extremity  enter 
into  service  ;  he  must  not  have  recourse  to  popular 
conversation,  must  abstain  from  music,  singing, 
dancing,  gaming,  and  generally  from  everything 
inconsistent  with  gravity  and  composure. "* 

He  should,  indeed,  refrain  from  all  sensual  en- 
joyments, should  avoid  all  wealth  that  may  impede 
his  reading  the  Vedas^  and  should  shun  all  worldly 
honour  as  he  would  shun  poison."  Yet  he  is  not 
to  subject  himself  to  flists,  or  other  needless  sever- 
ities.' All  that  is  required  is,  that  his  life  should 
be  decorous  and  occupied  in  the  prescribed  studies 
and  observances.  Even  his  dress  is  laid  down  with 
minuteness  ;  and  he  may  easily  be  figured  (much 
as  learned  Bramins  are  still)  quiet  and  demure, 
clean  and  decent,  "  his  hair  and  beard  clipped,  his 
passions  subdued,  his  mantle  white,  and  his  body 
pure  ; "  with  a  staff  and  a  copy  of  the  Vedas  in  his 
hands,  and  bright  golden  rings  in  his  ears."  When 
he  has  paid  the  three  debts,  by  reading  the  scrip- 
tures, begetting  a  son,  and  performing  the  regular 
sacrifices,  he  may  (even  in  the  second  portion  of  his 
life)  make  over  all  to  his  son,  and  remain  in  his 
family  house,  with  no  employment  but  that  of  an 
umpire." 

1  Chap.  IV.  63,  64-.  ■•  Chap.  IV.  16,  17. 

^  Chap.  II.  162.  '  Chap.  IV.  34. 

"  Chap  IV.  35,  36.  "  Chap.  IV.  257. 


DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  27 

The  third  portion   of  a   Bramin's  life  he  must     chap. 
spend  as  an  anchorite  in  the  woods.     Clad  in  bark,  ' 

or  in  the  skin  of  a  black  antelope,  with  his  hair  and 
nails  uncut,  sleeping  on  the  bare  earth,  he  must 
live  "  without  fire,  without  a  mansion,  wholly  si- 
lent, feeding  on  roots  and  fruit."  He  must  also 
submit  to  many  and  harsh  mortifications,  expose 
himself,  naked,  to  the  heaviest  rains,  wear  humid 
garments  in  winter,  and  in  summer  stand  in  the 
midst  of  five  fires  under  the  burning  sun.'"  He 
must  carefully  perform  all  sacrifices  and  oblations, 
and  consider  it  his  special  duty  to  fulfil  the  pre- 
scribed forms  and  ceremonies  of  religion. 

In  the  last  period  of  his  life,  the  Bramin  is 
nearly  as  solitary  and  abstracted  as  during  the 
third.  But  he  is  now  released  from  all  forms  and 
external  observances :  his  business  is  contem- 
plation :  his  mortifications  cease.  His  dress  more 
nearly  resembles  that  of  ordinary  Bramins  ;  and  his 
abstinence,  tliougii  still  great,  is  not  so  rigid  as  be- 
fore. He  is  no  longer  to  invite  suffering,  but  is  to 
cultivate  equanimity  and  to  enjoy  dehght  in  medi- 
tation on  the  Divinity ;  till,  at  last,  he  quits  the 
body  "  as  a  bird  leaves  the  branch  of  a  tree  at  its 
pleasure."* 

Thus  it  appears  that,  during  three  fourths  of  a 
Bramin's  life,  he  was  entirely  secluded  from  the 
world,  and,  during  the  remaining  fourth,  besides 
having  his  time  completely  occupied  by  ceremonies 

'"  Chap.  VI.   1—29.  y  Cliai).  VI.  :V.i.  to  the  end. 


28  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  and  in  reading  the  Vedas,  he  was  expressly  debarred 
'  from  the  enjoyment  of  wealth  or  pleasure  and  from 
the  pursuit  of  ambition.  But  a  little  further  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Code  makes  it  evident  that 
these  rules  are  founded  on  a  former  condition  of 
the  Bramins  ;  and  that,  although  still  regarded  as 
the  model  for  their  conduct,  they  had  already  been 
encroached  on  by  the  temptations  of  power  and 
riches. 

The  King  must  have  a  Bramin  for  his  most  con- 
fidential counsellor^  ;  and  by  Bramins  is  he  to  be 
instructed  in  policy  as  well  as  in  justice  and  ail 
learning."  The  whole  judicial  authority  (except 
that  exercised  by  the  King  in  person)  is  in  the 
hands  of  Bramins''  ;  and,  altliougli  the  perusal  of 
the  sacred  writings  is  not  withheld  from  the  two 
nearest  classes,  yet  the  sense  of  them  is  only  to  be 
obtained  through  the  exposition  of  a  Bramin.'' 

The  interpretation  of  the  laws  is  expressly  con- 
fined to  the  Bramins'' ;  and  we  can  perceive,  from 
the  Code  itself,  how  large  a  share  of  the  work  of 
legislation  was  in  the  hands  of  that  order. 

The  property  of  the  sacred  class  is  as  well  pro- 
tected by  the  law  as  its  power.  Liberality  to 
Bramins  is  made  incumbent  on  every  virtuous  man% 
and  is  the  especial  duty  of  a  King.'     Sacrifices  and 

■'■  Chap.  VII.  58.  ^  Chap.  VII.  43. 

i'   Chap.  VIII.  1.  9,  10,  11.  and  60.         <=   Chap.  X.   1. 

'i  Chap.  XII.  108—113. 

•^  Chiip.  XI.  1—6;  Chap.  IV.  226—235. 

i  Chap.  VII.  83—86. 


DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  29 

oblations,  and  all  the   ceremonies  of  religion,  in-     chap. 

.  I. 

volve  feasts  and    presents  to    the  Bramins  ^,    and  ' 

those  gifts  must  always  be  liberal :  "  the  organs 
of  sense  and  action,  reputation  in  this  life,  happi- 
ness in  the  next,  life  itself,  children  and  cattle,  are 
all  destroyed  by  a  sacrifice  offered  with  trifling  gifts 
to  the  priests."  "  Many  penances  may  be  com- 
muted for  large  fines,  which  all  go  to  the  sacred 
class.'  If  a  Bramin  finds  a  treasure,  he  keeps  it  all ; 
if  it  is  found  by  another  person,  the  King  takes  it, 
but  must  give  one  half  to  the  Bramins."  On  failure 
of  heirs,  the  property  of  others  escheats  to  the 
King  ;  but  that  of  Bramins  is  divided  among  their 
class.'  A  learned  Bramin  is  exempt  from  all  tax- 
ation, and  ought,  if  in  want,  to  be  maintained  by 
the  King.™ 

Stealing  the  gold  of  Bramins  incurs  an  extra- 
ordinary punishment,  which  is  to  be  inflicted  by 
the  King  in  person,  and  is  likely,  in  most  cases,  to 
be  capital."  Their  property  is  protected  by  many 
other  denunciations  ;  and  for  injuring  their  cattle, 
a  man  is  to  suffer  amputation  of  half  his  foot." 

3  Cliap.  III.  123—146.,  especially  138.  and  11.3. 

•>  Chap.  XI.  39,  40.  Priest  is  the  word  used  by  Sir  W.  Jones 
throughout  his  translation  ;  but  as  it  has  been  shown  that  few 
Bramins  performed  the  public  offices  of  religion,  some  other 
designation  would  have  been  more  appropriate. 

i    Chap.  XI.  117.  128—139.  ^  chap.  VIII.  37,  38. 

1    Chap.  IX.  188,  189.  '"  Chap.  VII.  133,  134. 

"  Chap.  VIII.  314—316.;  Chap.  XI.  101. 

"   Chap.  VIII.  325. 


30  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         The  military  class,  though  far  from  being  placed 

, on  an  equality  with  the  Bramins,   is  still   treated 

Cshetriyas.  'with  honour.  It  is  indeed  acknowledged  that  the 
sacerdotal  order  cannot  prosper  without  the  mili- 
tary, or  the  military  without  the  sacerdotal ;  and 
that  the  prosperity  of  both  in  this  world  and  the 
next  depends  on  their  cordial  union. ^ 

The  military  class  enjoys,  in  a  less  degree,  with 
respect  to  the  Veisyas,  the  same  inequality  in 
criminal  law  that  the  Bramin  possesses  in  respect 
to  all  the  other  classes. '^  The  King  belongs  to  this 
class,  as  probably  do  all  his  ordinary  ministers. *" 
The  command  of  armies  and  of  military  divisions, 
in  short,  the  whole  military  profession,  and  in 
strictness  all  situations  of  command,  are  also  their 
birthright.  It  is  indeed  very  observable,  that 
even  in  the  code  drawn  up  by  themselves,  wath  the 
exception  of  interpreting  the  law^,  no  interference 
in  the  executive  government  is  ever  allowed  to 
Bramins. 

The  duties  of  the  military  class  are  stated  to  be, 
to  defend  the  people,  to  give  alms,  to  sacrifice,  to 
read  the  Vedas,  and  to  shun  the  allurements  of 
sensual  gratification." 
Veisyas.  The  rank  of  V^eisyas  is  not  high  ;   for  where  a 

Bramin  is  enjoined  to  show  hospitality  to  strangers, 
he  is  directed  to  show  benevolence  even  to  a  mer- 

p  Cliap.  IX.  322.  '1  Chap.  VIII.  267,  268. 

r  Chap.  VII.  54.  «  Chap.  I.  89. 


DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  31 

chant,  and  to  give  him  food  at  the  same  time  with     chap. 
his  domestics/  ' 


Besides  largesses,  sacrifice,  and  reading  the 
Vedas,  the  duties  of  a  Veisya  are  to  keep  herds  of 
cattle,  to  carry  on  trade,  to  lend  at  interest,  and  to 
cultivate  the  land." 

The  practical  knowledge  required  from  a  Veisya 
is  more  general  than  that  of  the  other  classes  ;  for 
in  addition  to  a  knowledge  of  the  means  of  breed- 
ing cattle,  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  all 
commodities  and  all  soils,  he  must  understand  the 
productions  and  wants  of  other  countries,  the 
wages  of  servants,  the  various  dialects  of  men,  and 
whatever  else  belongs  to  purchase  and  sale,  ^ 

The  duty  of  a  Sudra  is  briefly  stated  to  be  to  Sudras. 
serve  the  other  classes'",  but  it  is  more  particularly 
explained  in  different  places  that  his  chief  duty  is 
to  serve  the  Bramins^ ;  and  it  is  specially  permitted 
to  him,  in  case  of  want  of  subsistence  and  inability 
to  procure  service  from  that  class,  to  serve  a 
Cshetriya ;  or,  if  even  that  service  cannot  be  ob- 
tained, to  attend  on  an  opulent  Veisya.^  It  is  a 
general  rule  that,  in  times  of  distress,  each  of  the 
classes  may  subsist  by  the  occupations  allotted  to 
those  beneath  it,  but  must  never  encroach  on  the 
employments  of  those  above  it.  A  Sudra  has  no 
class  beneath  him ;   but,  if  other  employments  fail, 

t  Chap.  III.  112.  "  Cliap.  I.  90. 

V  Cliap.  IX.  329—332.  »   Cliap.  I.  91. 

"  Chap.  IX.  33 1.  ^  Chap.  X.  121. 


I. 


32  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

CHAP,  he  may  subsist  by  handicrafts,  especially  joinery 
and  masonry,  painting  and  writing.^ 

A  Sudra  may  perform  sacrifices  with  the  omission 
of  the  holy  texts  ^  ;  yet  it  is  an  offence  requiring 
expiation  for  a  Bramin  to  assist  him  in  sacrificing.^ 
A  Bramin  must  not  read  the  Veda,  even  to  himself, 
in  the  presence  of  a  Sudra.**  To  teach  him  the  law, 
or  to  instruct  him  in  the  mode  of  expiating  sin, 
sinks  a  Bramin  into  the  hell  called  Asamvrita. 

It  is  even  forbidden  to  give  him  temporal  advice." 
No  offence  is  more  repeatedly  or  more  strongly 
inveighed  against  than  that  of  a  Bramin  receiving 
a  gift  from  a  Sudra :  it  cannot  even  be  expiated 
by  penance,  until  the  gift  has  been  restored.  ^  A 
Bramin,  starving,  may  take  dry  grain  from  a  Sudra, 
but  must  never  eat  meat  cooked  by  him.  A  Sudra 
is  to  be  fed  by  the  leavings  of  his  master,  or  by  his 
refuse  grain,  and  clad  in  his  worn-out  garments.^ 

He  must  amass  no  wealth,  even  if  he  has  the 
power,  lest  he  become  proud,  and  give  pain  to 
Bramins.*' 


a  Chap.  X.  99,  100.  I  do  not  observe  in  Menu  the  permission 
which  is  stated  to  be  somewhere  expressly  given  to  a  Sudra  to 
become  a  trader  or  a  husbandman  (Colehvooke,  Asiatic  Heseta-c/fes, 
vol.  V.  p.  63.).  Their  employment  in  husbandry,  however,  is  now 
so  common,  that  most  people  conceive  it  to  be  the  special  busi- 
ness of  the  cast. 

b  Chap.  X.  127,  128. 

c  Chap.  X.  109,  110,  111  ;  Chap.  XI.  42,  43. 

'^  Chap.  IV.  99.  ^  Chap.  IV.  80,  81. 

f  Chap.  XI.  194,-197;  Chap.  X.  111. 

g  Chap.  X.  125.  "  Chap.  X.  129. 


DIVISION    AND    EMi'LOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  35 

If  a  Sudra  use  abusive  language   to   one   of  a     chap. 


superior  class,  his  tongue  is  to  be  slit.'  If  he  sit  on 
the  same  seat  with  a  Bramin,  he  is  to  have  a  gash 
made  on  the  part  oftending."  If  he  advise  him 
about  his  religious  duties,  hot  oil  is  to  be  dropped 
into  his  mouth  and  ears.' 

These  are  specimens  of  the  laws,  equally  ludi- 
crous and  inhuman,  which  are  made  in  favour  of 
the  other  classes  against  the  Sudras. 

The  proper  name  of  a  Sudra  is  directed  to  be 
expressive  of  contempt"',  and  the  religious  penance 
for  killing  him  is  the  same  as  for  killing  a  cat,  a 
frog,  a  dog,  a  lizard,  and  various  other  animals." 

Yet,  though  the  degraded  state  of  a  Sudra  be 
sufficiently  evident,  his  precise  civil  condition  is  by 
no  means  so  clear.  Sudras  are  universally  termed 
the  servile  class  ;  and,  in  one  place,  it  is  declared 
that  a  Sudra,  though  emancipated  by  his  master,  is 
not  released  from  a  state  of  servitude,  "  for,"  it  is 
added,  "  of  a  state  which  is  natural  to  him,  by 
whom  can  he  be  divested  ? "  ° 

Yet  every  Sudra  is  not  necessarily  the  slave  of 
an  individual ;  for  it  has  been  seen  that  they  are 
allowed  to  offer  their  services  to  whom  they  please, 
and  even  to  exercise  trades  on  their  own  account : 
there  is  nothing  to  lead  to  a  belief  that  they  are 
the  slaves  of  the  state  ;  and,  indeed,  the  exemption 

i  Chap.  VIII.  270.  •<  Chap.  VIII.  '281. 

'  Chap.  VIII.  272.  ■"  Cliap.  II. .'}!. 

"  Chap.  XI.  131,  132.  «  Chap.  VIIJ.  Ht. 

VOL.   I.  D 


I. 


34  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     of  Sudras  from  the  laws  against  emigration ",  shows 
'        that  no  perfect  right  to  their  services  was  deemed 
to  exist  any  where. 

Their  right  to  property  (which  was  denied  to 
slaves  '^  )  is  admitted  in  many  places  ' :  their  per- 
sons are  protected,  even  against  their  master,  who 
can  only  correct  them  in  a  manner  fixed  by-law, 
and  equally  applicable  to  wives,  children,  pupils, 
and  younger  brothers.' 

That  there  were  some  Sudra  slaves  is  indis- 
putable ;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
men  of  the  other  classes  were  also  liable  to  fall  into 
servitude. 

The  condition  of  Sudras,  therefore,  was  much 
better  than  that  of  the  public  slaves  under  some 
ancient  republics,  and,  indeed,  than  that  of  the 
villains  of  the  middle  ages,  or  any  other  servile 
class  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
Mixture  of       Thougli   the  line  between  the  different  classes 

ClclSSGS 

was  so  strongly  marked,  the  means  taken  to  prevent 
their  mixture  do  not  seem  to  have  been  nearly 
so  much  attended  to  as  in  after  times.  The  law 
in  this  respect  seems  rather  dictated  by  jealousy  of 
the  honour  of  the  women  of  the  higher  classes  than 
by  regard  for  the  purity  of  descents. 

Men  of  the  three  first  classes  are  freely  in- 
dulged in  the  choice  of  women  from  any  inferior 


p  Chap.  II.  24.  1  Chap.  VIII.  416. 

^  For  one  instance,  Chap.  IX.  157. 
Chap.  VIII.  299;  300. 


DIVISION    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF    CLASSES.  35 

cast^   provided  they   do  not  give  them  the    first     chap. 
place  in  their  family."     But  no  marriage  is  per-  ' 

mitted  with  women  of  a  higher  class  :  criminal 
intercourse  with  them  is  checked  by  the  severest 
penalties''  ;  and  their  offspring  is  degraded  far 
below  either  of  its  parents.  ^  The  son  of  a 
Bramin,  by  a  woman  of  the  class  next  below  him, 
takes  a  station  intermediate  between  his  father 
and  mother'' ;  and  the  daughters  of  such  connec- 
tions, if  they  go  on  marrying  Bramins  for  seven 
generations,  restore  their  progeny  to  the  original 
pnrity  of  the  sacerdotal  class  ^ ;  but  the  son  of  a 
Sudra  by  a  Bramin  woman  is  a  Chandala,  "  the 
lowest  of  mortals^,"  and  his  intercourse  with  women 
of  the  higher  classes  produces  "  a  race  more  foul 
than  their  begetter.*'* 

The  classes  do  not  seem  to  have  associated  at 
their  meals  even  in  the  time  of  Menu ;  and  there 
is  a  striking  contrast  betw^een  the  cordial  festivity 
recommended  to  Bramins  with  their  own  class, 
and  the  constrained  hospitality  with  which  they  are 
directed  to  prepare  food  after  the  Bramins  for  a 
military  man  coming  as  a  guest." 

But  there  is  no  prohibition  in  the  code  against 

t  Chap.  II.  238—240.;  Chap.  III.  i;5. 
"  Chap.  III.  14—19.  ^'  viii.  366.  374—377- 

"  Chap.  X.  11—19.  ^  Chap.  X.  6. 

y  Chap.  X.  64.  ^  Chap.  X.  12. 

»  Chap.    X.  29,  30.      All  marriages  with  women   of  lower 
classes  is  now  prohibited. 
•^  Chap.  III.  DO— 11.3. 

I)    '2 


I. 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  eating  with  other  classes,  or  partaking  of  food 
cooked  by  them  (which  is  now  the  great  occasion 
for  loss  of  cast),  except  in  the  case  of  Sudras;  and 
even  then  the  oflPence  is  expiated  by  living  on  water 
gruel  for  seven  days/ 

Loss  of  cast  seems,  in  general,  to  have  been 
incurred  by  crimes,  or  by  omitting  the  prescribed 
expiations  for  offences. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  in  the  four  classes,  no 
place  is  assigned  to  artisans  :  Sudras,  indeed,  are 
permitted  to  practise  mechanic  trades  during  a 
scarcity  of  other  employment,  but  it  is  not  said  to 
whom  the  employment  regularly  belongs.  From 
some  of  the  allotments  mentioned  in  Chap.  X.,  it 
would  appear  that  the  artisans  were  supplied,  as 
they  are  now,  from  the  mixed  classes :  a  circum- 
stance which  affords  ground  for  surmise  that  the 
division  into  casts  took  place  while  arts  were  in  too 
simple  a  state  to  require  separate  workmen  for 
each ;  and  also  that  many  generations  had  elapsed 
between  that  division  and  the  Code,  to  allow  so 
important  a  portion  of  the  employments  of  the 
community  to  be  filled  by  classes  formed  subse- 
quently to  the  original  distribution  of  the  people. 

c  Chap.  XI.  155. 


GOVERNMENT.  37 


CHAP.  II. 


GOVERNMENT. 


The  government  of  the  society  thus  constituted    chap 
was  vested   in  an    absolute   monarch.     The  open- 


ing  of  the    chapter  on  government  employs  the  '^''^e  King 
boldest   poetical  figures  to  display  the  irresistible 
power,   the  glory,    and    almost   the   divinity  of  a 
king.'' 

He  was  subject,  indeed,  to  no  legal  control  by 
human  authority  ;  and,  although  he  is  threatened 
with  punishment  in  one  place'',  and  spoken  of  as 
subject  to  fine  in  another ^  yet  no  means  are  pro- 
vided for  enforcing  those  penalties,  and  neither  the 
councils  nor  the  military  chiefs  appear  to  have  pos- 
sessed any  constitutional  power  but  what  they  de- 
rived from  his  will.  He  must,  however,  have  been 
subject  to  the  laws  promulgated  in  the  name  of  the 
Divinity  ;  and  the  influence  of  the  Bramins,  botli 
with  him  and  with  his  people,  would  afford  a  strong- 
support  to  the  injunctions  of  the  Code. 

Like  other  despots,  also,  he  must  have  been 
ke{)t  within  some  bounds  by  the  fear  of  mutiny  and 
revolt.' 

"  Chap.  VII.  1  —  13.  •>  Chap.  VII.  27—29. 

c  Chap.  VIII.  336. 

''  In  the  "Toy  Cart,"  a  drama  written  about  the  commence- 
ment of  ouraera,  the  King  is  dethroned,  for  tyranny,  by  a  cow- 

I)   :i 


38 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
I. 


Admini- 
stration of 
the  go- 
vernment. 


The  object  of  the  institution  of  a  King  is  de- 
clared to  be,  to  restrain  violence  and  to  punish  evil- 
doers. 

"  Punishment  wakes  when  guards  are  asleep." 

"  If  a  King  were  not  to  punish  the  guilty,  the 
stronger  would  roast  the  weaker  like  fish  on  a 
spit." 

"  Ownership  would  remain  witli  none  ;  the  lowest 
would  overset  the  highest.'"' 

The  duties  of  a  King  are  said  generally  to  be,  to 
act  in  his  own  domains  with  justice,  chastise  foreign 
foes  with  rigour,  behave  without  duplicity  to  his 
friends,  and  with  lenity  to  Bramins.^ 

He  is  respectfully  to  attend  to  the  Bramins,  and 
from  them  to  learn  lessons  of  modesty  and  com- 
posure ;  from  them,  also,  he  is  to  learn  justice, 
policy,  metaphysics,  and  theology.  From  the  people 
he  is  to  learn  the  theory  of  agriculture,  commerce, 
and  other  practical  arts.^ 

He  is  to  withstand  pleasure,  restrain  his  angry 
passions,  and  resist  sloth. 

He  is  to  appoint  seven  ministers,  or  rather  coun- 
sellors, (who  seem  to  be  of  the  military  class,)  and 
to  have  one  learned  Bramin  distinguished  above 
them  all,  in  whom  he  is  to  repose  his  full  confidence. 
He  is  to  appoint  other  officers  also,  among  whom 


herd ;  and  in  another  drama,  the  "  Uttara  Rama  Charitra,"  the 
great  monarch  Rama  is  compelled  by  the  clamours  of  his  people 
to  banish  his  beloved  queen.  —  See  Wilson's  Hindu  Theatre. 

e  Chap.  VII.  13—26.  ^  Chap.  VII.  32. 

s  Chap.  VII.  43. 


GOVERNMENT.  39 

the  most  conspicuous  is  the  one  called  "  tlie  Am-    chap. 

bassador,"  though  he  seems  rather  to  be  a  minister  . 

for  foreign  affairs.  This  person,  Hke  ah  the  others, 
must  be  of  noble  birth  ;  and  must  be  endued  with 
great  abilities,  sagacity,  and  penetration.  He  should 
be  honest,  popular,  dexterous  in  business,  ac- 
quainted with  countries  and  with  the  times,  hand- 
some, intrepid,  and  eloquent. 

The  army  is  to  be  immediately  regulated  by 
a  commander  in  chief ;  the  actual  infliction  of 
punishment  by  the  officers  of  justice  ;  the  treasury 
and  the  country  by  the  King  himself;  peace  and 
war  by  the  Ambassador.''  The  King  was  doubt- 
less to  superintend  all  those  departments  ;  but 
when  tired  of  overlooking  the  affairs  of  men,  he 
might  allow  that  duty  to  devolve  on  a  well  quali- 
fied prime  minister.' 

His  internal  administration  is  to  be  conducted  by 
a  chain  of  civil  officers,  consisting  of  lords  of  single 
townships  or  villages,  lords  of  ten  towns,  lords  of 
100,  and  lords  of  1000  towns. 

These  are  all  to  be  appointed  by  the  King,  and 
each  is  to  report  all  offences  and  disturbances  to 
his  immediate  superior. 

The  compensation  of  a  lord  of  one  towai  is  to  be 
the  provisions  and  other  articles  to  which  the  King 
is  entitled  from  the  town  ;  that  of  a  lord  of  ten 
villages  two  ploughs  of  land  ;   the  lord  of  100  is  to 

''  Cliap.  VII.  51—69.  '  Chap.  VII.  111. 

D   4 


40 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
1. 


Revenue. 


have  the  land  of  a  small  village  ;  and  of  1000,  that 
of  a  large  town." 

These  officers  are  all  to  be  under  the  inspection 
of  superintendents  of  high  rank  and  great  authority. 
There  is  to  be  one  in  every  large  town  or  city  ;  and 
on  them  it  depends  to  check  the  abuses  to  which 
the  officers  of  districts  (it  is  said)  are  naturally 
prone.' 

The  country  is  also  to  be  partitioned  into  mili- 
tary divisions,  in  each  of  which  is  to  be  a  body  of 
troops,  commanded  by  an  approved  officer"",  whose 
territorial  limits  do  not  necessarily  correspond  with 
those  of  any  of  the  civil  magistrates. 

The  revenue  consists  of  a  share  of  all  grain  and 
of  all  other  agricultural  produce ;  taxes  on  com- 
merce ;  a  very  small  annual  imposition  on  petty 
traders  and  shopkeepers  ;  and  a  forced  service  of 
a  day  in  each  month  by  handicraftsmen. " 

The  merchants  are  to  be  taxed  on  a  consider- 
ation of  the  prime  cost  of  their  commodities,  the 
expenses  of  travelling,  and  their  net  profits. 

The  following  are  the  rates  of  taxation  :  — 

On  cattle,  gems,  gold,  and  silver,  added  each 
year  to  the  capital  stock,  one  fiftieth ;  which  in 
time  of  war  or  invasion  may  be  increased  to  one 
twentieth. 

■^  In  the  first  case  the  compensation  is  derived  from  the  small 
fees  in  kind,  which  still  form  the  remuneration  of  the  village 
officers  ;  in  the  other  three  cases,  it  consists  of  the  King's  share 
of  the  produce  of  the  land  specified. 

1  Chap.  VII.  119—123.  m  Chap.  VII.  114. 

n  Chan.  VII.  137,  138. 


GOVERNMENT. 


41 


On  grain,  one  twelfth,  one  eighth,  or  one  sixth,     chap. 


according  to  the  soil  and  the  labour  necessary  to  . 
cultivate  it.      This  also  may  be  raised,  in  cases  of 
emergency,  even   as  far  as  one  foin'th ;  and  must 
always  have  been  the  most  important  item  of  the 
public  revenue. 

On  the  clear  annual  increase  of  trees,  flesh  meat, 
honey,  perfumes,  and  several  other  natural  produc- 
tions and  manufactures,  one  sixth. " 

The  King  is  also  entitled  to  20  per  cent,  on  the 
profit  of  all  sales. ''  Escheats  for  want  of  heirs  have 
been  mentioned  as  being  his,  and  vSO  also  is  all  pro- 
perty to  which  no  owner  appears  within  three  years 
after  proclamation."^  Besides  possessing  mines  of 
his  own,  he  is  entitled  to  half  of  all  precious  minerals 
in  the  earth. '  He  appears,  likewise,  to  have  a  right 
of  pre-emption  on  some  description  of  goods." 

It  has  been  argued  that,  in  addition  to  the  rights 
which  have  just  been  specified,  the  King  was  re- 
garded in  the  Code  as  possessing  the  absolute  pro- 
perty of  the  land.  This  oi)inion  is  supported  by 
a  passage  (VHI.  39-)  where  he  is  said  to  be  *'lord 
paramount  of  the  soil  ;"  and  by  another,  where  it 
is  supposed  to  be  directed  that  an  occupier  of  land 
shall  be  responsible  to  the  King  if  he  fliils  to  sow 
it.  (VIII.  243.) 

In  reply  to  this  it  is  urged,  that  the  first  quota- 

"  Chap.  VII.  127—132.  p  Chap.  VIII.  398. 

'1  Chap.  VIII.  30.'  ■■  Chap.  VIII.  39. 

»  Chap.  VIII.  399. 


42  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     tion  is  deprived  of  its  force  by  a  similar  passage 
.     ^'        (VII.  70»  where  the  King  is  said  to  be  "the  re- 
gent of  the  waters  and  the  lord  of  the  firmament." 

The  second  is  answered  by  denying  its  correct- 
ness ;  but  even  if  undisputed,  it  might  only  be  a 
provision  against  the  King's  losing  his  share  of  the 
produce  in  consequence  of  the  neglect  of  the  pro- 
prietor. A  text  is  also  produced  in  opposition  to 
the  King's  claim,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  "  land  is 
the  property  of  him  who  cut  away  the  wood  ;"  or, 
in  the  words  of  tiie  commentator,  "  who  tilled  and 
cleared  it."  (IX.  44.)  But  the  conclusive  argu- 
ment is,  that  the  King's  share  being  limited,  as 
above,  to  one  sixth,  or  at  most  one  fourth,  there 
must  have  been  another  proprietor  for  the  remain- 
ing five  sixths  or  three  fourths,  who  must  obviously 
have  had  the  greatest  interest  of  the  two  in  the 
whole  property  shared. ' 

It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  so  little  allu- 
sion is  made  in  the  code  to  the  property  of  indi- 
viduals in  land,  although  so  many  occasions  seem 
to  require  it.  It  is  directly  mentioned  in  a  pas- 
sage about  boundaries  (VIII.  262 — 265.),  and  in 
another  place  (IX.  49.  52  —  54.)  an  argument  is 
illustrated  by  supposing  seed  belonging  to  one  man 
to  be  sown  in  land  belonging  to  another  ;  and  in 
IV.  230.  233.,  gifts  of  land  are  spoken  of  as  if  in 


^  The  arguments  on  both  sides  are  stated  in  Wilkss  His- 
tory of  Mysore,  vol.  i.  chap,  v.,  and  Appendix,  p.  48.S. ;  and  in 
Mill's  History  of  British  India,  vol.  i.  p.  180. 


GOVEIINMENT.  4)3 

the  power  of  individuals  to  confer  them  ;  but  the     chap 
last  two  passages  may  be  construed  to  refer  to  vil- 


li. 


lages,  or  to  the  King. 

Jn  the  division  of  inheritances,  and  the  rules 
about  mortgages,  in  describing  the  wealth  of  in- 
dividuals, and  in  disposing  of  the  property  of 
banished  men,  other  possessions  are  mentioned, 
but  land  never  alluded  to. 

Were  it  not  for  the  passage  first  quoted  (VIII. 
262 — 265.),  we  might  conclude  that  ail  land  was 
held  in  common  by  the  village  communities,  as  is 
still  the  case  in  many  parts  of  India ;  and  this  may, 
perhaps,  have  been  the  general  rule,  although  in- 
dividuals may  have  possessed  property  by  grants 
from  the  villages  or  from  the  King. 

The  King  is  recommended  to  fix  his  capital  in  a  TheComt. 
fertile  part  of  his  dominions,  but  in  an   immediate 
neighbourhood  difficult  of  access,  and  incapable  of 
supporting  invading  armies. 

He  should  keep  his  fortress  always  well  gar- 
risoned and  provisioned.  In  the  centre  should  be 
his  own  palace,  also  defensible,  "  well  finished,  and 
brilliant,  surrounded  with  water  and  trees." 

He  is  then  to  choose  a  queen  distinguished  for 
birth  and  beauty,  and  to  a})point  a  domestic 
priest. " 

He  is  to  rise  in  the  last  watch  of  the  night,  and, 
after  sacrifices,  to  hold  a  court  in  a  hall  decently 
splendid,   and   to  dismiss   his   subjects   with    kind 

-  Cliap.  VII.  69— 7 s. 


44  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     looks  and  words.     This  done,  he  is  to  assemble  his 
'        council  on  a  mountain  or  a  terrace,  in  a  bower  or 


a  forest,  or  other  lonely  place  without  listeners  ; 
from  which  women  and  talking  birds  are  to  be 
carefully  removed.  He  is  then,  after  manly  ex- 
ercises and  bathing,  to  dine  in  his  private  apart- 
ments, and  this  time  and  midnight  are  to  be  allotted 
to  the  regulation  of  his  family,  to  considering  ap- 
pointments, and  sucli  other  public  business  as  is 
most  of  a  personal  nature.  ^ 

He  is  now,  also,  to  give  some  time  to  relaxation  ; 
and  then  to  review  his  troops,  perform  his  religious 
duties  at  sunset,  and  afterwards  to  receive  tlie 
reports  of  his  emissaries.  At  length  he  withdraws 
to  his  most  private  apartments  to  supper ;  and 
after  indulging  for  some  time  in  music,  is  to  retire 
to  rest. "" 

This  rational  and  pleasing  picture  is  broken  by 
the  mention  of  many  of  those  precautions  which 
must  take  from  all  the  enjoyments  of  an  Asiatic 
monarch.  His  food  is  only  to  be  served  by  trust- 
worthy persons,  and  is  to  be  accompanied  by  anti- 
dotes against  poison.  He  is  to  be  armed  when  he 
receives  his  emissaries  ;  even  his  female  attendants 
are  to  be  searched,  for  fear  of  hidden  weapons ; 
and  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  he  is  to  be  con- 
stantly on  his  guard  against  the  plots  of  his  ene- 
mies. 
Policy.  Foreign  policy  and  war  are  the  subjects  of  many 

V  Chap.  VII.  145—151.  "  Chap.  216— 225. 


GOVERNMENT.  45 

of  the  rules  for  government.     These  are  interest-     chap. 

II. 
ing,  from  the  clear  proofs  whicli  they  afford  of  the  ' 

division  of  India,  even  at  that  early  period,  into 
many  unequal  and  independent  states  ;  and  also, 
from  tlie  signs  which  they  disclose  of  a  civihsed 
and  gentle  people.  The  King  is  to  provide  for 
his  safety  by  vigilance,  and  a  state  of  preparation  ; 
but  he  is  to  act  on  all  occasions  without  guile,  and 
never  with  insincerity.  ^  The  arts  which  may  be 
employed  against  enemies  are  four  ;  presents,  sow- 
ing divisions,  negotiations,  and  force  of  arms  :  the 
wise,  it  is  said,  prefer  the  two  last.  ^ 

The  King  is  to  regard  his  nearest  neighbours 
and  their  allies  as  hostile,  the  powers  next  beyond 
these  natural  foes  as  amicable,  and  all  more  re- 
mote powders  as  neutral.^  It  is  remarkable  that, 
among  the  ordinary  expedients  to  be  resorted  to  in 
difficulties,  the  protection  of  a  more  powerful  prince 
is  more  than  once  adverted  to.'' 

Yet  this  protection  appears  to  involve  unquali- 
fied submission  ;  and,  on  the  last  occasion  on  whicli 
it  is  mentioned,  the  King  is  advised,  if  he  thinks 
it  an  evil,  even  when  in  extremities,  to  persevere 
alone,  although  weak,  in  waging  vigorous  war  with- 
out fear.'- 

Vast  importance  is  attached  to  spies,  both  in 
foreign  politics  and  in  war.  Minute  instructions 
are  given  regarding  the  sort  of  persons  to  be  em- 

y  Chap.  VII.  lO.'i,  lOi.  «  Chap.  VII.  109. 

''  Chap.  VII.  158.  ''  Chap.  VII.  160. 

<:  Chap.  VIII.  175,  176. 


46  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     ployed,  some  of  whom  are  of  the  same  description 
'        that  are  now  used  in  India,  — active  artful  youths, 
degraded    anchorets,   distressed    husbandmen,   de- 
cayed merchants,  and  fictitious  penitents.'* 
"^^'a'-  The  rules  of  war  are  simple  ;   and,  being  drawn 

up  by  Bramins,  they  show  nothing  of  the  practical 
ability  for  which  the  Indians  are  often  distinguished 
at  present. 

The  plan  of  a  campaign  resembles  those  of  the 
Greek  republics,  or  the  early  days  of  Rome;  and 
seems  suited  to  countries  of  much  less  extent  than 
those  which  now  exist  in  India. 

The  King  is  to  march  when  the  vernal  or  au- 
tumnal crop  is  on  the  ground,  and  is  to  advance 
straight  to  tlie  capital.  In  another  place,  100 
bowmen  in  a  fort  are  said  to  be  a  match  for  10,000 
enemies  ;  so  far  was  the  art  of  attack  behind  that 
of  defence  :  a  siege,  therefore,  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion y  but,  if  not  opposed,  the  King  is  to  ravage 
the  country,  and  intrigue  with  the  enemy's  chiefs, 
until  he  can  bring  his  foe  to  an  action  on  favour- 
able terms  %  or,  what  is  still  more  desirable,  bring 
him  to  terms  by  negotiation. 

Armies  were  composed  of  cavalry  and  infantry. 
The  great  weapon  of  both  was  probably  the  bow, 
together  with  the  sword  and  target.  Elephants 
were  much  employed  in  war ;  and  chariots  seem 
still  to  have  formed  an  important  branch  of  the 
army. 

Several  different  orders  of  march  and  battle  are 
d  Chap.  VII.  154-.  '  Chap.  VII.  181  —  197. 


GOVERNMENT.  47 

briefly  given.     The  King  is  advised  to  recruit  his     chap. 

forces  from  the  upper  parts  of  Hindostan,  where  

the  best  men  are  still  found.  He  is  in  person  to 
set  an  example  of  valour  to  his  troops,  and  is  re- 
commended to  encourage  them,  when  drawn  up  for 
battle,  with  short  and  animated  speeches. 

Prize  property  belongs  to  the  individual  who 
took  it ;  but  when  not  captured  separately,  it  is  to 
be  distributed  among  the  troops.  ^ 

The  laws  of  war  are  honourable  and  humane. 
Poisoned  and  mischievously  barbed  arrows,  and  fire 
arrows,  are  all  prohibited.  There  are  many  situa- 
tions in  which  it  is  by  no  means  allowable  to  destroy 
the  enemy.  Among  those  who  must  always  be 
spared  are  unarmed  or  wounded  men,  and  those 
who  have  broken  their  weapon,  and  one  who  asks 
his  life,  and  one  who  says,  "  T  am  thy  captive." 
Other  prohibitions  are  still  more  generous  :  a  man 
on  horseback  or  in  a  chariot  is  not  to  kill  one  on 
foot ;  nor  is  it  allowed  to  kill  one  who  sits  down 
fatigued,  or  who  sleeps,  or  who  flees,  or  who  is 
fighting  with  another  man.^ 

The  settlement  of  a  conquered  country  is  con- 
ducted on  equally  liberal  principles.  Immediate 
security  is  to  be  assured  to  all  by  proclamation. 
The  religion  and  laws  of  the  country  are  to  be 
maintained  and  respected ;  and  as  soon  as  time  has 
been  allowed  for  ascertaining  that  the  conquered 
peo])le  are  to  be  trusted,  a  prince  of  the  old  royal 

'  Chap.  VII.  9G,  97.  ?  Cliai).  VII.  90—93. 


48  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    family  is  to  be  placed  on  the  throne,  and  to  hold 
"        his  kingdom  as  a  dependence  on  the  conqueror." 

It  is  remarkable  that,  although  the  pay  of  the 
King's  household  servants  is  settled  with  some  mi- 
nuteness', not  a  syllable  is  said  regarding  that  of 
the  army,  or  the  source  from  which  its  support  is 
derived.  The  practice  of  modern  Hindu  nations 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  it  was  maintained 
by  assignments  of  land  to  the  chiefs ;  but,  if  that 
practice  had  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Code,  it  is 
impossible  that  so  important  a  body  as  those  chiefs 
would  have  formed  should  not  have  been  alluded 
to  in  discussing  the  internal  administration ;  even 
if  no  rules  were  suggested  for  regulating  their  at- 
tendance and  for  securing  some  portion  of  the 
King's  authority  over  the  lands  thus  alienated.  It 
is  possible  that  the  army  may  have  been  paid  by 
separate  assignments  of  land  to  each  individual 
soldier,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  local  troops  of 
the  small  states  in  the  south  of  India  (which  have 
been  little  visited  by  the  Mahometans)  are  still ; 
and  this  opinion  derives  some  support  from  the 
payment  of  the  civil  officers  having  been  provided 
for  by  such  assignments." 

From  one  passage  it  would  appear  that  the 
monarchy  descended,  undivided,  to  one  son,  pro- 
bably (according  to  Hindu  rule)  to  him  whom  his 
father  regarded  as  most  worthy. 

'■  Chap.  VII.  201—203.  '  Chap.  Vll.  126. 

^  See  Chap.  VII.  119.,  ah-eady  referred  to. 


ADMINISTRATION'    OF    JUSTICE.  49 


General 
rules. 


CHAP.  III. 

ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE. 

Justice    is  to  be  administered   by   the   King  in     ^hap 

''  HI. 

person,  assisted  by  Bramins  and  other  counsellors " ; 
or  that  function  may  be  deputed  to  one  Bramin, 
aided  by  three  assessors  of  the  same  class."  There 
is  no  exception  made  for  the  conduct  of  criminal 
trials ;  but  it  may  be  gathered  from  the  general 
tone  of  the  laws,  that  the  King  is  expected  to  take 
a  more  active  share  in  this  department  than  in  the 
investigation  of  civil  causes. 

From  the  silence  of  tlie  Code  regarding  local 
administration,  it  may  perhaps  be  inferred  that  the 
King's  representative  fills  his  place  in  the  courts  of 
justice,  at  towns  remote  from  the  royal  residence." 

''  Chap.  VIII.  1,  2.  "  Chap.  VIII.  9—11. 

«  The  early  practice  of"  the  Hindus  recorded  in  other  books 
leaves  this  question  in  some  uncertainty ;  for,  in  those  books,  it 
appears  that  there  were  local  judges  appointed  by  the  King  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  ;  and  also  a  provision  for  arbitra- 
tions, to  be  authorised  by  the  judges,  in  tiirce  gradations  —  first, 
of  kinsmen  ;  secondly,  of  men  of  the  same  trade  ;  and  thirdly,  of 
townsmen  :  an  appeal  from  the  first  lying  to  the  second,  and 
from  the  second  to  the  third.  Appeals  lay  from  all  three  to  the 
local  court,  from  that  to  the  chief  court  at  the  capital,  and 
from  that  to  the  king  in  his  own  court,  composed  of  a  certain 
number  of  judges,  to  whom  were  joined  his  ministers,  and  his 
domestic  chaplain   (who  was   to    direct  his   conscience) ;  but, 

VOL.   I.  K 


50  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


I. 


BOOK  The  King  is  entitled  to  five  per  cent,  on  alJ  debts 
admitted  by  the  defendant  on  trial,  and  to  ten  per 
cent,  on  all  denied  and  proved.*^  This  fee  probably 
went  direct  to  the  judges,  who  would  thus  be 
remunerated  without  infringing  the  law  against 
Bramins  serving  for  hire. 

A  King  or  judge,  in  trying  causes,  is  carefully 
to  observe  the  countenances,  gestures,  and  mode 
of  speech  of  the  parties  and  witnesses. 

He  is  to  attend  to  local  usasfes  of  districts,  the 
peculiar  laws  of  classes  and  rules  of  families,  and 
the  customs  of  traders  :  when  not  inconsistent 
with  the  above,  he  is  to  observe  the  principles 
established  by  former  judges. 

Neither  he  nor  his  officers  are  to  encourage  liti- 
gation, though  they  must  show  no  slackness  in 
taking  up  any  suit  regularly  instituted.*' 

A  King  is  reckoned  among  the  worst  of  criminals 
who  receives  his  revenue  from  his  subjects  without 
affiDrding  them  due  protection  in  return.* 

The  King  is  enjoined  to  bear  with  rough  lan- 
guage from  irritated  litigants,  as  well  as  from  old 
or  sick  people,  who  come  before  him.^ 

He  is  also  cautioned  against  deciding  causes 
on  his  own  judgment,  without  consulting  persons 


though  these  might  advise,  the  decision  rested  with  the  King. 
The  precise  date  when  this  system  was  in  perfection  is  not 
stated.  —  Colebrooke  on  the  Hindu  Courts  of  Judicature, 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  166. 

d  Chap.  VIII.  139.  "  Chap.  VIII.  41—46. 

f  Chap.  VIII.  307.  s  Chap.  VIII.  312. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  51 

learned  in  the  law"  ;  and  is  positively  forbidden  to     chap. 
disturb  any  transaction  that  has  once  been  settled  ' 

conformably  to  law.'     In  trials  he  is  to  adhere  to 
established  practice.'^ 

1.  Criminal  Law. 

The  criminal  law  is  very  rude,  and  this  portion  criminal 
of  the  Code,  together  with  the  religious  penances, 
leave  a  more  unfavourable  impression  of  the  early 
Hindus  than  any  other  part  of  the  Institutes. 

It  is  not,  however,  sanguinary,  unless  when  in- 
fluenced by  superstition  or  by  the  prejudice  of 
cast ;  and  if  punishments  are  in  some  cases  too 
severe,  in  others  they  are  far  too  lenient.  Muti- 
lation (chiefly  of  the  hand)  is  among  the  punish- 
ments,  as  in  all  Asiatic  codes.  Burning  alive  is 
one  of  the  inflictions  on  offenders  against  the 
sacerdotal  order ;  but  it  is  an  honourable  distinc- 
tion from  most  ancient  codes  that  torture  is  never 
cm})loyed  either  against  witnesses  or  criminals. 
But  the  laxness,  confusion,  and  barbarism  which 
pervade  this  branch  of  the  law  seem  to  prove  that 
it  was  drawn  from  the  practice  of  very  early  times  ; 
and  the  adoption  of  it  at  the  time  of  the  compila- 
tion of  these  Institutes  shows  an  unimproved  con- 
dition even  then,  though  it  is  not  unlii<ely  that 
parts  of  it  were  early  superseded  by  an  arbitrary 
system  in  ore  conformable  to  reason,  as  is  the  case 
in  Hindu  countries  in  modern  times  ;  and  by  no 

1'  Chap.  VIII.  390.  '     Cliai).  IX.  233. 

k  Chap.  VIII.  45. 


52  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     means  improbable  that  the  bloody  laws  m  favour 

'        of  religion  and  of  the  priesthood,  though  inserted 

in   the  Code  by  the  Bramin  author,  as  the  ideal 

perfection  of  a  Hindu  criminal  law,  may  never  have 

been  acted  on  by  any  Cshetrya  king.' 

The  punishments,  though  not  always  in  them- 
selves severe,  are  often  disproportioned  to  the 
offence  ;  and  are  frequently  so  indistinctly  or  con- 
tradictorily declared  as  to  leave  the  fate  of  an 
offender  quite  uncertain- 

Both  these  faults  are  conspicuous  in  the  follow- 
ing instance  :  —  Slaying  a  priest,  drinking  spirits, 
stealing  the  gold  of  a  priest,  and  violating  the  bed 
of  one's  natural  or  spiritual  father,  are  all  classed 
nnder  one  head,  and  subject  to  one  punishment.™ 
That  punishment  is  at  first  declared  to  be,  branding 
on  the  forehead,  banishment,  and  absolute  exclu- 
sion from  the  society  of  mankind  (unless  previously 
expiated  by  penance ",  in  which  case  the  highest 
fine  is  to  be  substituted  for  branding)  ;  and  this  is 
declared  applicable  to  all  the  classes."  Yet  it  is 
immediately  afterwards  directed  that,  when  expia- 
tion has  been  performed,  a  priest  guilty  of  those 
offences  shall  pay  the  middle  fine,  and  shall  in  no 

1  In  the  "Toy  Cart,"  the  earhest  of  the  Hindu  dramas,  and 
written  about  the  commencement  of  our  era,  this  extravagant 
veneration  for  Bramins  no  where  appears.  The  King  sentences 
one  of  that  class  convicted  of  murder  to  be  put  to  death ;  and 
though  he  is  afterwards  deposed  by  a  successful  rebelHon,  and 
although  the  Bramin's  innocence  is  proved,  this  open  defiance 
of  the  laws  of  Menu  is  not  made  a  charge  against  the  de- 
throned prince. 

"'  Chap.  IX.  235.  •'  Chap.  IX.  237. 

o  Chap.  IX.  240. 


ADMINISTUATION    OF    JUSTICE. 


53, 


case  be  deprived  of  his   effects  or  the  society  of    chap 
.                                                                    III. 
his  family  ;  while  it  is  pronounced  that  the  other  '_ 

classes,  even  after  expiation,  shall,  in  case  of  pre- 
meditation, suffer  death/ 

Still  more  inconsistent  are  the  punishments  for 
adultery,  and  what  are  called  overt  acts  of  adul- 
terous inclination.  Among  these  last  are  included, 
talking  to  the  wife  of  another  man  at  a  place  of 
pilgrimage,  or  in  a  forest,  or  at  the  confluence  of 
rivers  ;  sending  her  flowers  or  perfumes  ;  touching 
her  apparel  or  her  ornaments,  and  sitting  on  the 
same  couch  with  her''  ;  yet  the  penalty  is  banish- 
ment, with  such  bodily  marks  as  may  excite  aver- 
sion."" 

For  adultery  itself,  it  is  first  declared,  without 
reserve,  that  the  woman  is  to  be  devoured  by  dogs, 
and  the  man  burned  on  an  iron  bed'  ;  yet,  in  the 
verses  next  following,  it  appears  that  the  punish- 
ment of  adultery  without  aggravation  is  a  fine  of 
from  .500  to  1000  panas. ' 

The  punishment,  indeed,  increases  in  proportion 
to  the  dignity  of  the  party  offended  against.  Even  a 
soldier  committing  adultery  with  a  Brainin  woman, 
if  she  be  of  eminently  good  qualities,  and  properly 
guarded,  is  to  be  burned  alive  in  a  fire  of  dry  grass 
or  reeds. "  These  flat  contradictions  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  supposing  that  the  compiler  put 


p  Chap.  IX.  24 J,  212.  i  Chap.  VIII.  356,  357. 

■■  Chap.  VIII.  352.  ^  Chap.  VIII.  371,  372. 

t  Chap.  VII.  376.  382-385.  <'  Cliap.  VIII.  377. 

E   3 


54  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     down  the  laws  of  diifereiit  periods,  or  those  sup- 
'        ported  by  different  authorities,  without  considering 
liow  they  bore  on  each  other. 

There  is  no  express  punishment  for  murder. 
From  one  passage ""  it  would  appear  that  it  (as  well 
as  arson  and  robbery  attended  with  violence)  is 
capital,  and  that  the  slighter  punishments  men- 
tioned in  other  places  were  in  cases  where  there  was 
no  premeditation  ;  but,  as  the  murder  of  particular 
descriptions  of  persons  is  afterwards  declared  ca- 
pital^, it  remains  doubtful  what  is  the  punishment 
for  the  offence  in  simple  cases. 

Theft  is  punished,  if  small,  with  fine  ;  if  of 
greater  amount,  with  cutting  off  the  hand ;  but  if 
the  thief  be  taken  with  the  stolen  goods  upon  him, 
it  is  capital.  ^ 

Receivers  of  stolen  goods,  and  persons  who  har- 
bour thieves,  are  liable  to  the  same  punishment  as 
the  thief. ' 

It  is  remarkable  that,  in  cases  of  small  theft,  the 
fine  of  a  Bramin  offender  is  at  least  eight  times  as 
great  as  that  of  a  Sudra,  and  the  scale  varies  in 
a  similar  manner  and  proportion  between  all  the 
classes."  A  King  committing  an  offence  is  to  pay 
a  thousand  times  as  great  a  fine  as  would  be 
exacted  from  an  ordinary  person.*^ 

Robbery  seems  to  incur  amputation  of  the  limb 
principally  employed.     If  accompanied  with  vio- 

X  Chap.  VIII.  344—347.  >"  Chap.  IX.  232. 

^  Chap.  IX.  270.  «  Chap.  IX.  278. 

b  Chap.  VIII.  337,  338.  <=  Chap.  VIII.  336. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  5$ 

lence  it  is  capital ;  and  all  who  shelter  robbers,  or     chap. 
supply  them  with  food  or  implements,  are  to  be  ' 

punished  with  death. 

Forging  royal  edicts,  causing  dissensions  among 
great  ministers,  adhering  to  the  King's  enemies, 
and  slaying  w^omen,  priests,  or  children,  are  put 
under  one  head  as  capital. " 

Men  who  openly  oppose  the  King's  authority, 
who  rob  his  treasury,  or  steal  his  elephants,  horses, 
or  cars,  are  liable  to  capital  punishment ;  as  are 
those  who  break  into  a  temple  to  steal.'" 

For  cutting  purses,  the  first  offence  is  cutting 
off  the  fingers,  the  second  the  hand,  the  third  is 
capital.  ^ 

False  evidence  is  to  be  punished  with  banish- 
ment accompanied  by  fine,  except  in  case  of  a 
Bramin,  when  it  is  banishment  alone.  ^ 

Banishment  is  likewise  the  sentence  pronounced 
upon  men  who  do  not  assist  in  repelHng  an  attempt 
to  plunder  a  town",  to  break  down  an  embank- 
ment, or  to  commit  robbery  on  the  highway. 

Public  guards,  not  resisting  or  apprehending 
thieves,  are  to  be  punished  like  the  thieves.' 

Gamesters  and  keepers  of  gaming-houses  are 
liable  to  cor})oral  ])unishment. " 

'I  Chap.  IX.  '232.  «  ciiap.  IX.  280. 

f  Chap.  IX.  277.  «  Chap.  VIII.  120—123. 

''  Chap.  IX.  274.  If  this  law  does  not  refer  to  foreign 
enemies,  it  sliows  that  gang  robbery,  now  so  well  known  under 

the  name  of  decoity,  existed  even  when  this  code  was  com- 
piled. 

i  Chap.  IX.  272.  "^   Chap.  IX.  224. 

K    4. 


'O  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  Most  other  offences  are  punished  by  fines,  though 
'        sometimes  other  punishments  are  substituted. 

No  fine  must  exceed  1000  panas,  or  fall  short  of 
^50.' 

Defamation  is  confined  to  this  sort  of  penalty, 
except  with  Sudras,  who  are  liable  to  be  whipped. 
It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  this  class  is 
protected  by  a  fine  from  defamation,  even  by  a 
Bramin."' 

Abusive  language  is  still  more  distinguished 
for  the  inequality  of  punishments  among  the  casts  ; 
but  even  in  this  branch  of  the  law  are  traces  of  a 
civilised  spirit.  Men  reproaching  their  neighbours 
with  lameness,  blindness,  or  any  other  natural  in- 
firmity, are  liable  to  a  small  fine,  even  if  they  speak 
the  truth." 

Assaults,  if  among  equals,  are  punished  by  a  fine 
of  100  panas  for  blood  drawn,  a  larger  sum  for  a 
wound,  and  banishment  for  breaking  a  bone."  The 
prodigious  inequalities  into  which  the  penalty  runs 
between  men  of  different  classes  has  already  been 
noticed. "" 

Proper  provisions  are  made  for  injuries  inflicted 
in  self-defence  ;  in  consequence  of  being  forcibly 
obstructed  in  the  execution  of  one's  duty,  or  in 
defence  of  persons  unjustly  attacked.'' 

Furious  and  careless  drivinsr  involves   fines  as 


'O 


1  Chap.  VIII.  138.  »"  Chap.  VIII.  267—277. 

"  Chap.  VIII.  274.  »  Chap.  VIII.  284. 

p  Page  34.  i  Chap.  VIII.  348,  &c. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  57 

different  in   decree  as  the  loss  occasioned  by  the     chap. 

.                               III. 
death  of  a  man  and  of  the  lowest  animal. ""  . 

Persons  defiling  the  highways  are  subject  to 
a  small  fine,  besides  being  obliged  to  remove  the 
nuisance.  ^ 

Ministers  taking  bribes  in  private  affairs  are 
punished  by  confiscation  of  their  property.' 

The  offences  of  physicians  or  surgeons  who 
injure  their  patients  for  want  of  skill ;  breaking 
hedges,  palisades,  and  earthern  idols  ;  mixing  pure 
with  impure  commodities,  and  other  impositions 
on  purchasers,  are  all  lumped  up  under  a  penalty 
of  from  250  to  500  panas."  Selling  bad  grain 
for  good,  however,  incurs  severe  corporal  punish- 
ment'^ ;  and,  what  far  more  passes  the  limits  of 
just  distinction,  a  goldsmith  guilty  of  fraud  is  or- 
dered to  be  cut  to  pieces  with  razors.^ 

Some  offences  not  noticed  by  other  codes  are 
punished  in  this  one  with  wdiimsical  disregard  to 
their  relative  importance  ;  forsaking  one's  parents, 
son,  or  wife,  for  instance,  is  punished  by  a  fine  of 
600  panas  ;  and  not  inviting  one's  next  neighbour 
to  entertainments  on  certain  occasions,  by  a  fine  of 
one  masha  of  silver.  ^ 

The  rules  of  police  are  harsh  and  arbitrary.  Be- 
sides maintaining  patrols  and  fixed  guards,  open 
and  secret,   tlie  king  is   to   have   many  spies,  who 

r  Chap.  VIII.  290—298.  «  Chap.  IX.  282,  283. 

'  Chap.  IX.  231.  "  Chap.  IX.  284—287. 

*  Chap.  IX.  291.  >•  Chap.  IX.  292. 
»  Chap.  VII.  389.  392. 


58 


HISTORY    or    INDIA. 


BOOK 
I. 


are  to  mix  with  tlie  thieves,  and  lead  them  into 
situations  where  they  may  be  entrapped.  When 
fair  means  fail,  the  prince  is  to  seize  them  and  put 
them  to  death,  with  their  relations :  the  ancient 
commentator,  Culluca,  inserts,  "  on  proof  of  their 
guilt,  and  the  participation  of  their  relations  j" 
which,  no  doubt,  would  be  a  material  improvement 
on  the  text,  but  for  which  there  is  no  authority.  ^ 

Gamesters,  public  dancers,  and  singers,  revilers 
of  scripture,  open  heretics,  men  who  perform  not 
the  duties  of  their  several  classes,   and  sellers  of 
spirituous  liquors,  are  to  be  instantly  banished  the 
town.^ 


Civil  law. 


Blode  of 


2.    Civil  Law. 

The  laws  for  civil  judicature  are  very  superior 
to  the  penal  code,  and,  indeed,  are  much  more 
rational  and  matured  than  could  well  be  expected 
of  so  early  an  age. 

Cases  are  first  stated  in  which  the  plaintiff  is  to 
procee  ing.  ^^  noiisuitcd,  or  thc  decision  to  go  by  default  '^ 
against  the  defendant ;  and  rules  then  given  in 
case  the  matter  comes  to  a  trial. 

The  witnesses  must  be  examined  standing  in  the 
middle  of  the  court-room,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  parties.  The  judge  must  previously  address  a 
particular  form  of  exhortation  to  them,  and  warn 
them,  in  the  strongest  terms,  of  the  enormous  guilt 
of  false  evidence,  and  the  punishment  with  which 


^  Chap.  IX.  252—269. 
<=  Chap.  VIII.  52—57. 


^  Chap.  IX.  225. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  .59 

it  will  be  followed  in  a  future  state. ^     If  there  are     chap. 
no  witnesses,  the  judge  must  admit  the  oaths  of . 


the  parties. "" 

The  law  of  evidence  in  many  particulars  re-  Law  of 
sembles  that  of  England :  persons  having  a  pecu- 
niary interest  in  the  cause,  infamous  persons,  me- 
nial servants,  familiar  friends,  with  others  disquali- 
fied on  slighter  grounds,  are  in  the  first  instance 
excluded  from  giving  testimony  ;  but,  in  default  of 
other  evidence,  almost  every  description  of  persons 
may  be  examined,  the  judge  making  due  allow- 
ances for  the  disqualifying  causes.* 

Two  exceptions  which  disgrace  these  otherwise 
well-intentioned  rules  have  attracted  more  atten- 
tion in  Europe  than  the  rules  themselves.  One  is 
the  declaration  that  a  giver  of  false  evidence,  for 
the  purpose  of  saving  the  life  of  a  man  of  whatever 
class,  who  may  have  exposed  himself  to  capital 
punishment^,  shall  not  lose  a  seat  in  heaven  ;  and, 
though  bound  to  perform  an  expiation,  has,  on  the 
whole,  performed  a  meritorious  action. "^ 

The  other  does  not  relate  to  judicial  evidence, 
but  pronounces  that,  in  courting  a  woman,  in  an 
affair  where  grass  or  fruit  has  been  eaten  by  a  cow, 
and  in  case  of  a  promise  made  for  the  preservation 

<'  Chap.  VIII.  79—101.  ^  Chap.  VIII.  101. 

t  Chap.  VIII.  61—72. 

B  The  ancient  commentator,  Culluca,  inserts,  after  "  capital 
punishment,"  the  words  "  through  inadvertence  or  error;"  which 
proves  that,  in  his  time,  the  words  of  the  text  were  repugnant 
to  the  moral  feeling  of  the  community. 

''  Chap.  VIII.  103,  KM. 


60 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     of  a  Bramin,  it  is  do  deadly  sin  to  take  a  light 
'        oath.' 

From  these  passages  it  has  been  assumed  that 
the  Hindu  law  gives  a  direct  sanctioD  to  perjury  ; 
and  to  this  has  been  ascribed  the  prevalence  of 
false  evidence,  which  is  common  to  men  of  all  re- 
ligions in  India  :  yet  there  is  more  space  devoted 
in  this  code  to  the  prohibition  of  false  evidence 
than  to  that  of  any  other  crime,  and  the  offence 
is  denounced  in  terms  as  awful  as  have  ever  been 
applied  to  it  in  any  European  treatise  either  of 
religion  or  of  law. "^ 

A  party  advancing  a  wilfully  false  plea  or  defence 
is  liable  to  a  heavy  fine :  a  judicious  rule,  which 
is  pushed  to  absurdity  in  subjecting  to  corporal 
punishment  a  plaintiff  who  procrastinates  the  pro- 
secution of  his  demand.^  Appeals  to  ordeal  are 
admitted,  as  might  be  expected,  in  so  superstitious 
a  people." 


Mode  of 
proceed- 
ings re- 
sumed. 


i  Chap.  VIII.  ]12. 

^  "  Marking  well  all  the  murders  comprehended  in  the 
crime  of  perjury,  declare  thou  the  whole  truth  with  precision." 
—  Chap.  VIII.  101. 

"  Whatever  places  of  torture  have  been  prepared  for  the 
slayer  of  a  priest,  those  places  are  ordained  for  a  witness  who 
gives  false  evidence."  —  Chap.  VIII.  89. 

"  Naked  and  shorn,  tormented  with  hunger  and  thirst,  and 
deprived  of  sight,  shall  the  man  who  gives  false  evidence  go 
with  a  potsherd  to  beg  food  at  the  door  of  his  enemy." — 
"  Headlong,  in  utter  darkness,  shall  the  impious  wretch  tumble 
into  hell,  who,  being  interrogated  on  a  judicial  inquiry,  answers 
one  question  falsely."  —  Chap.  VIII.  93,  94-. 

1  Chap.  VIII.  58,  59.  "'  Chap.  VIII.  114—116. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  6l 

The  following  statement  of  the  principal  titles     chap. 
of  law  implies  an  advanced  stage  of  civilisation,  ' 

and  would  not,  in  itself,  be  deficient  in  clearness 
and  good  sense,  if  it  were  not  for  the  mixture  of 
civil  and  criminal  suits  :  —  1st,  debt  on  loans  for 
consumption  ;  2d,  deposits  and  loans  for  use  ;  3d, 
sale  without  ownership  ;  4th,  concerns  among  part- 
ners ;  5th,  subtraction  of  what  has  been  given  ; 
Ctli,  nonpayment  of  wages  or  hire ;  7th,  non- 
performance of  agreements  :  8th,  rescission  of  sale 
and  purchase  ;  9th,  disputes  between  master  and 
servant;  10th,  contests  on  boundaries;  11th  and 
12th,  assault  and  slander;  ISth,  larceny;  14th, 
robbery  and  other  violence  ;  15th,  adultery  ;  l6th,  . 
altercation  between  man  and  wife,  and  their  seve- 
ral duties  ;  17th,  the  law  of  inheritance  ;  18th, 
gaming  with  dice  and  with  living  creatures." 

Some  of  these  heads  are  treated  of  in  a  full  and 
satisfactory  manner,  while  the  rules  in  others  are 
meagre,  and  such  as  to  show  that  tlie  transactions 
they  relate  to  were  still  in  a  simple  state.  I  shall 
only  mention  a  few  of  the  most  remarkable  ])ro vi- 
sions under  each  head. 

A  creditor  is  authorised,  before  complaining  to  Debts. 
the  court,  to  recover  his  property  by  any  means  in 
his  power,  resorting  even  to  force  witliin  certain 
bounds." 

This  law  still  operates  so  strongly  in  some  Hindu 
States,  that  a  creditor  imprisons  his  debtor  in  his 

"  thai).  \'III.  1—7.  ">  Cliap.  VIII.  18—50. 


62 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
I. 


Interest  of 
money. 


Contracts. 


Sale  with- 
out owner- 
ship. 


private  house,  and  even  keeps  him  for  a  period 
without  food  and  exposed  to  the  sun,  to  compel 
him  to  produce  the  money  he  owes. 

Interest  varies  from  2  per  cent,  per  mensem  for 
a  Bramin  to  5  per  cent,  for  a  Sudra.  It  is  reduced 
to  one  half  when  there  is  a  pledge,  and  ceases 
altogether  if  the  pledge  can  be  used  for  the  profit 
of  the  lender.  ^ 

There  are  rules  regarding  interest  on  money 
lent  on  bottomry  for  sea  voyages,  and  on  similar 
risk  by  land  ;  and  others  for  preventing  the  accu- 
mulation of  interest  on  money  above  the  original 
amount  of  the  principal.'' 

Various  rules  regarding  sureties  for  personal  ap- 
pearance and  pecuniary  payments,  as  well  as  re- 
garding  contracts,  are  introduced  under  this  head. 

Fraudulent  contracts,  and  contracts  entered  into 
for  illegal  purposes,  are  null.  A  contract  made, 
even  by  a  slave,  for  the  support  of  the  family  of 
his  absent  master,  is  binding  on  the  master.' 

A  sale  by  a  person  not  the  owner  is  void,  unless 
made  in  the  open  market ;  in  that  case  it  is  valid 
if  the  purchaser  can  produce  the  seller,  otherwise 
the  right  owner  may  take  the  property  on  paying 
half  the  value.^ 

A  trader  breaking  his  promise  is  to  be  fined  ;  or, 
if  it  was  made  on  oath,  to  be  banished.' 


p  Chap.  VIII.  140—143. 
1  Chap.  VIII.  158—167. 
t  Chap.  VIII.  219,  &c. 


a  Chap.  VIII.  151.  156,  157. 
^  Chap.  VIII.  197—202. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE. 


6$ 


A  sale  may  be  unsettled  by  either  party  within     chap. 
ten  clays  after  it  is  made,  but  not  later."  


Disputes  between   master  and  servant  refer  al-  Disputes 
most  entirely  to  herdsmen  and  their  responsibilities  master  and 

1  .  , ,  1      X  servant. 

about  cattle. 

Boundaries  of  villaQ-es  are  to  be  marked  by  na-  Disputes 

^  ^  -^  about 

tural  objects,  such  as  streams,  or  by  planting  trees,  boundaries. 
digging  ponds,  and  building  temples  along  them, 
as  well  as  by  other  open  marks  above  ground,  and 
secret  ones  buried  in  the  earth.  In  case  of  dis- 
putes, witnesses  are  to  be  examined  on  oath,  in  the 
presence  of  all  the  parties  concerned,  putting  earth 
on  their  heads,  wearing  chaplets  of  red  flowers, 
and  clad  in  red  garments.  If  the  question  can- 
not be  settled  by  evidence,  the  King  must  make 
a  general  inquiry  and  fix  the  boundary  by  autho- 
rity. 

The  same  course  is  to  be  adopted  about  the 
boundaries  of  private  fields.'' 

The  rules  regarding  man  and  wife  are   full   of  Relations 
puerilities  ;   the  most  important  ones  shall  be  stated  man  and 
after  a  short  account  of  the  laws  relating  to  mar- 
riage. 

vSix  forms  of  marriage  are  recognised  as  lawful. 
Of  these,  four  only  are  allowed  to  Bramins,  which 
(though  differing  in  minute  particulars)  all  agree 
in  insisting  that  the  father  shall  give  away  his 
daughter  without  receiving  a  price.     The  remain- 

"   Chap,  VIII.  222.  '^  Cliap.  VIII.  229—234. 

y  Chap.  Vlll.  2i5— 265. 


64  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  ing  two  forms  are  permitted  to  the  military  class 
'  alone,  and  are  abundantly  liberal  even  with  that 
limitation.  One  is,  when  a  soldier  carries  off  a 
woman  after  a  victory,  and  espouses  her  against  her 
will ;  and  the  other,  when  consummation  takes 
place  by  mutual  consent,  without  any  formal  cere- 
mony whatever.  Two  sorts  of  marriage  are  for- 
bidden :  when  the  father  receives  a  nuptial  present^ ; 
and  when  the  woman,  from  intoxication,  or  other 
cause,  has  been  incapable  of  giving  a  real  consent 
to  the  union. ^ 

A  girl  may  be  married  at  eight ;  and,  if  her 
father  fails  to  give  her  a  husband  for  three  years 
after  she  is  marriageable,  she  is  at  liberty  to  choose 
one  for  herself. 

Men  may  marry  women  of  the  classes  below  them, 
but  on  no  account  of  those  superior  to  their  own.^ 
A  man  must  not  marry  within  six  known  degrees 
of  relationship  on  either  side,  nor  with  any  woman 
whose  family  name,  being  the  same,  shows  her  to 
be  of  the  same  race  as  his  own." 

The  marriage  of  people  of  equal  class  is  per- 
formed by  joining  hands  ;  but  a  woman  of  the 
military  class,  marrying  a  Bramin,  holds  an  arrow 

'■  There  is,  however,  throughout  the  Code,  a  remarkable 
wavering  on  this  head,  the  acceptance  of  a  present  being  in 
general  spoken  of  with  disgust,  as  a  sale  of  the  daughter,  while, 
in  some  places,  the  mode  of  disposing  of  presents  so  received, 
and  the  claims  arising  from  them,  are  discussed  as  legal  points. 

a  Chap.  III.  20—34.  "  Chap.  III.  12—19. 

c  Chap.  III.  5. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  65 

in    her  hand  ;   a   Veisya  "woman  a   whip  ;    and  a     chat. 
Sudra,  the  skirt  of  a  mantle/  ' 

The  marriage  of  equals  is  most  recommended, 
for  the  first  wife  at  least :  that  of  a  Bramin  with  a 
Sudra  is  discouraged  ;  and,  as  a  first  wife,  it  is 
positively  forbidden.'' 

Marriage  is  indissoluble,  and  the  parties  are 
bound  to  observe  mutual  fidelity." 

From  the  few  cases  hereafter  specified,  in  which 
the  husband  may  take  a  second  wife,  it  may  be  in- 
ferred that,  with  those  exceptions,  he  must  have 
but  one  wife.  A  man  may  marry  again  on  the 
death  of  his  wife  ;  but  the  marriage  of  widows  is 
discouraged,  if  not  prohibited  (except  in  the  case 
of  Sudras). 

A  wife  who  is  barren  for  eight  years,  or  she  who 
has  produced  no  male  children  in  eleven,  may  be 
^superseded  by  another  wife.* 

It  appears,  notwithstanding  this  expression,  tliat 
the  wife  first  married  retains  the  highest  rank  in 
the  family.  '^ 

Drunken  and  immoral  wives,  those  who  bear 
malice  to  their  husbands,  or  are  guilty  of  very  great 
extravagance,  may  also  be  superseded.'' 

A  wife  who  leaves  her  husband's  house,  or  neg- 
lects him  for  a  twelvemonth,  without  a  cause,  may 
be  deserted  altogether.' 

•'  Chap.  III.  44.  -■  Chap.  IX.  4G,  47.  101,  102. 

{  Chap.  IX.  81.  K  Chap.  IX.  122. 

''  Chap.  IX.  80.  i  Chap.  IX.  77—79. 

VOL.  r.  F 


66 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


,BOOK 

I. 


Inherit- 
ance. 


A  man  going  abroad  must  leave  a  provision  for 
his  wife.'' 

The  wife  is  bound  to  wait  for  her  absent  hus- 
band for  eight  years,  if  he  be  gone  on  religious 
duty  ;  six,  if  in  pursuit  of  knowledge  or  fame  ;  and 
three,  if  for  pleasure  only. ' 

The  practice  of  allowing  a  man  to  raise  up  issue 
to  his  brother,  if  he  died  witliout  children,  or  even 
if  (though  still  alive)  he  have  no  hopes  of  progeny, 
is  reprobated,  except  for  Sudras,  or  in  case  of  a 
widow  who  has  lost  her  husband  before  consum- 
mation." 

The  natural  heirs  of  a  man  are  the  sons  of  his 
body,  and  their  sons,  and  the  sons  of  his  daughter, 
appointed  in  default  of  heirs  male  to  raise  up  issue 
to  him." 

The  son  of  his  wife,  begotten  by  a  near  kinsman, 
at  some  time  w^hen  his  own  life  had  been  despaired 
of,  according  to  the  practice  formerly  noticed", 
(which,  though  disapproved  of  as  heretical,  would 


"  Chap.  IX.  74. 

'  Chap.  IX.  76.  Culluca,  in  his  Commentary,  adds,  "  after 
those  terms  she  must  follow  him  ;"  but  the  Code  seems  rather 
to  refer  to  the  term  at  which  she  may  contract  a  second  mar- 
riage. From  the  contradictions  in  the  Code  regarding  mar- 
riages of  widows  (as  on  some  other  subjects)  we  may  infer  that 
the  law  varied  at  different  places  or  times ;  or  rather,  perhaps, 
that  the  writer's  opinion  and  the  actual  practice  were  at 
variance.  The  opinion  against  such  marriages  prevails  in  mo- 
dern times,  and  must  have  done  so  to  a  great  extent  in  that  of 
Culluca. 

'"  Chap.  IX.  59—70.  «  Chap.  IX.  1 04-.  133. 

»  Chap.  IX.  59,  &c. 


III. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  6? 

appear  to  be  recognised  when  it  has  actually  taken     chap, 
place,)  is  also  entitled  to  inherit  as  a  son.^ 

On  the  failure  of  issue  of  the  above  description, 
an  adopted  son  succeeds  :  such  a  son  loses  all  claim 
on  the  inheritance  of  his  original  father  ;  and  is 
entitled  to  a  sixth  of  the  property  of  his  adoptive 
one,  even  if,  subsequently  to  his  adoption,  sons  of 
the  body  should  be  born.'' 

On  failure  of  the  above  heirs  follow  ten  descrip- 
tions of  sons,  such  as  never  could  have  been  thought 
of  but  by  Hindus,  with  whom  the  importance  of  a 
descendant  for  the  purpose  of  performing  obsequies 
is  superior  to  most  considerations.  Among  these 
are  included  the  son  of  a  man's  wife  by  an  un- 
certain flither,  begotten  when  he  himself  has  long 
been  absent,  and  the  son  of  his  wife  of  whom  she 
was  pregnant,  without  his  knowledge,  at  the  time 
of  the  marriage.  The  illegitimate  son  of  his 
daughter  by  a  man  whom  she  afterwards  marries, 
the  son  of  a  man  by  a  married  woman  who  has 
forsaken  her  husband,  or  by  a  widow,  are  also 
admitted  into  this  class  j  as  are,  last  of  all,  his  own 
sons  by  a  Sudra  wife.'     These  and  others  (ten  in 

!'  Chap.  IX.  14-5.  Perhaps  tliis  recognition  is  intended  to  he 
confined  to  the  son  of  a  Sudra  wife,  in  whom  such  a  proceeding 
would  be  legal ;  but  it  is  not  so  specified  in  the  text,  and  the 
language  of  the  Code  on  this  whole  subject  is  contradictor}'. 
The  practice  is  at  the  present  day  entirely  forbidden  to  all 
classes. 

<i  Chap.  IX.  lU,  142.  168,  169. 

r  Chap.  IX.  159—161.  167—180.  The  whole  of  these 
sons,    except  the  son  of  a  man's  own  body,  and  his  adopted 

F   O 


I. 


68  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

JBOOK  all)  are  admitted,  by  a  fiction  of  the  law,  to  be 
SODS,  though  the  author  of  the  Code  himself  speaks 
contemptuously  of  the  affiliation,  even  as  affording 
the  means  of  efficacious  obsequies." 

On  the  failure  of  sons  come  brothers'  sons,  who 
are  regarded  as  standing  in  the  place  of  sons,  and 
who  have  a  right  to  be  adopted,  if  they  wish  it,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  other  persons. '  On  failure  of 
sons,  grandsons,  adopted  sons,  and  nephews,  come 
fathers  and  mothers  ;  then  brothers,  grandfathers, 
and  grandmothers  " ;  and  then  other  relations,  such 
as  are  entitled  to  perform  obsequies  to  common 
ancestors  ;  failing  them,  the  preceptor,  the  fellow- 
student,  or  the  pupil ;  and,  failing  them,  the  Bra- 
mins  in  general ;  or,  in  case  the  deceased  be  of 
another  class,  the  King, " 

A  father  may  distribute  his  wealth  among  his 


sons,  are  entirely  repudiated  by  the  Hindu  law  of  the  present 
day. 

s  Chap.  IX.  161.  t  Chap.  IX.  182. 

u  Chap.  IX.  185.  217. 

^  Chap.  IX.  186 — 189.  The  dependence  of  inheritance  on 
obsequies  leads  to  some  remarkable  rules.  The  first  sort  of 
obsequies  are  only  performed  to  the  father,  grandfather,  and 
great  grandfather.  Preference  is  given  to  those  who  perform 
obsequies  to  all  three  ;  then  to  those  who  perform  them  to 
two,  then  to  one.  Those  who  perform  obsequies  to  none  of  the 
three  are  passed  over.  A  great  great  grandson,  by  this  rule, 
would  be  set  aside,  and  the  succession  go  to  some  collateral 
who  was  within  three  degrees  of  the  great  grandfather.  After 
those  who  perform  the  first  sort  of  obsequies  come  the  more 
numerous  body,  who  only  perform  the  second.  —  Oriental 
Magazine,  vol.  iii.  p.  179.     Colebrookes  Digest,  vol.  iii.  p.  623. 


ADMINISTRATION    OF    JUSTICE.  ^Q 

sons  while  be  lives,  (it  is  not  stated  whether  arbi-     chap. 


trarily  or  in  fixed  proportions  ;)  but  his  power  to 
make  a  will  is  never  alluded  to. '' 

When  a  man  dies,  his  sons  may  either  continue 
to  live  together  with  the  property  united,  or  they 
may  divide  it  according  to  certain  rules.  If  they 
remain  united,  the  eldest  brother  takes  possession 
of  the  property,  and  the  others  live  under  him  as 
thev  did  under  their  fatber.  In  this  case,  the  ac- 
quisitions  of  all  the  sons  (who  have  not  formally 
withdrawn)  go  to  augment  the  common  stock.''' 

If  they  divide,  one  twentieth  is  set  aside  for  the 
eldest  son,  one  eightieth  for  the  youngest,  and  one 
fortieth  for  the  intermediate  sons ;  the  remainder 
is  then  equally  divided  among  them  all.  Unmar- 
ried daughters  are  to  be  supported  by  their  bro- 
thers, and  receive  no  share  of  the  father's  estate  '' ; 
but  share  equally  with  their  brothers  in  that  of 
their  mother.  ^ 

This  equality  among  the  sons  is  in  case  of 
brothers  of  equal  birth ;  but  otherwise  the  son 
of  a  Bramin  wife  takes  four  parts ;  of  a  Cshetriya, 
three  ;  a  Veisya,  two  ;  and  a  Siidra,  one. 

One   such  share,   or   one   tenth,   is  the  most  a 

y  Chap.  IX.  104'.  Even  the  power  to  distribute  rests  only  on 
the  authority  of  Culluca. 

*  Chap.  IX.  10;i — 105.  There  are  exceptions  to  this  rule; 
but  it  is  still  so  effective  that,  in  recent  times,  the  humble  rela- 
tions of  a  man  who  had  raised  himself  to  be  prime  minister 
to  the  Peshwa,  were  admitted  to  be  entitled  to  share  in  his 
immense  property,  which  they  so  little  contributed  to  acquire. 

■'  Chap.  IX.  112—118.  ''  Chap.  IX.  192. 

F   3 


III. 


70  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     son  of  a  Sudra  mother  can  take,  even  if  there  are 

no  other  sons.^ 

Eunuchs,  outcasts,  persons  born  deaf,  dumb,  or 
bhnd  ;  persons  who  have  lost  the  use  of  a  Hmb, 
madmen,  and  idiots,  are  exchided  from  succession, 
but  must  be  maintained  by  the  heirs. 

The  sons  of  excluded  persons,  however,  are 
capable  of  inheriting.  "^ 

c  Chap.  IX.  151 — 155.  In  these  rules,  throughout  the  Code, 
great  confusion  is  created  by  preference  shown  to  sons  and 
others  who  are  "  learned  and  virtuous ;"  no  person  being 
specified  who  is  to  decide  on  their  claims  to  those  qualities. 

d  Chap.  IX.  201—203. 


RELIGION.  71 


CHAP.  IV. 


RELIGION. 


The  relio'ion  tauo;ht   in  the  Institutes  is  derived     chap. 

.  .  .  IV. 

from  the  Vedas,  to  which  scriptures  they  refer  in  " 

every  page. 

There  are  four  Vedas  ;  but  the  fourth  is  rejected  TiieVedas. 
by  many  of  the  learned  Hindus,  and  tlie  number 
reduced  to  three.  Each  Veda  is  composed  of  two, 
or  perhaps  of  three,  parts.  The  first ""  consists  of 
hymns  and  prayers  ;  the  second  part^,  of  precepts 
which  inculcate  religious  duties,  and  of  arguments 
relating  to  theology,  c  Some  of  these  last  are 
embodied  in  separate  tracts,  which  are  sometimes 
inserted  in  the  second  part  above-mentioned,  and 
sometimes  are  in  a  detached  collection,  forming  a 
third  part.  "^ 

Every  Veda  likewise  contains  a  treatise  explain- 
ing the  adjustment  of  the  calendar,  for  the  purpose 
of  fixing  the  proper  period  for  the  performance  of 
each  of  the  duties  enjoined. 

The  Vedas  are  not  single  works,  but  produced 
by  different  authors,  whose  names  (in  the  case  of 
hymns  and  prayers,  at  least)  are  attached  to  them. 
They  were  probably  written  at  different  periods ; 

"  Called  Mantra.  ''  Brahmana. 

<=  Colcbrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii.  p.  387. 
**  Upanishatl. 

F    4 


72 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
I. 


^■Mono- 
theism. 


but  were  compiled  in  their  present  form  in  the  14th 
century  before  Christ.  ^ 

They  are  written  in  an  ancient  form  of  the 
Shanscrit,  so  different  from  that  now  in  use  that 
none  but  the  more  learned  of  the  Bramins  them- 
selves can  understand  them.  Only  a  small  portion 
of  tliem  has  been  translated  into  European  lan- 
guages ;  and  although  we  possess  a  summary  of 
their  contents  (by  a  writer  whose  judgment  and 
iidehty  may  be  entirely  depended  on  *  ),  sufficient 
to  give  us  a  clear  notion  of  the  general  scope  of 
their  doctrines,  yet  it  does  not  enable  us  to  speak 
with  confidence  of  particulars,  or  to  assert  that  no 
allusion  whatever  is  made  in  any  part  of  them  to 
this  or  that  portion  of  the  legends  or  opinions  which 
constitute  the  body  of  the  modern  Hindu  faith. 

The  primary  doctrine  of  the  Vedas  is  the  Unity 
of  God.  "  There  is  in  truth,"  say  repeated  texts, 
*'  but  one  Deity,  the  Supreme  Spirit,  the  Lord  of 
the  Universe,  whose  work  is  the  universe."  ^ 

Among  the  creatures  of  the  Supreme  Being  are 


<=  See  Appendix  I, 

f  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii.  p.  369. 

g  Professor  Wilson,  Oxford  Lectures,  p.  11.  The  following 
view  of  the  divine  character,  as  presented  in  the  Vedas, 
is  given  by  a  learned  Bramin,  quoted  by  Sir  William  Jones : 
— "  Perfect  truth  ;  perfect  happiness  ;  without  equal ;  im- 
mortal ;  absolute  unity;  whom  neither  speech  can  describe  nor 
mind  comprehend;  all-pervading;  all-transcending;  delighted 
with  his  own  boundless  intelligence  ;  not  limited  by  space  or 
time  ;  without  feet,  moving  swiftly ;  without  hands,  grasping  all 
worlds  ;  without  eyes,  all-surveying  ;  without  ears,  all-hearing ; 
without  an  intelligent  guide,  understanding  all ;  Mithout  cause. 


RELIGION.  7^ 

some  superior  to  man,  who  should  be  adored,  and     chap. 

.  .IV. 

from  whom  protection  and  favours  maybe  obtained  ' 

through  prayer.  The  most  frequently  mentioned 
of  these  are  the  gods  of  the  elements,  the  stars, 
and  the  planets  ;  but  other  personified  powers  and 
virtues  likewise  appear.  "  The  three  principal 
manifestations  of  the  Divinity  (Brahma,  Vishnu,  and 
8iva),  with  other  personified  attributes  and  ener- 
gies, and  most  of  the  other  gods  of  Hindu  mytho- 
logy, are  indeed  mentioned,  or  at  least  indicated, 
in  the  Veda  ;  but  the  worship  of  deified  heroes  is 
no  part  of  the  system."" 

Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva  are  rarely  named, 
enjoy  no  pre-eminence,  nor  are  they  ever  objects 
of  special  adoration';  and  Mr.  Colebrooke  could 
discover  no  passage  in  which  their  incarnations 
were  suggested. 

There  seem  to  have  been  no  images  and  no 
visible  types  of  the  objects  of  worship."^ 

The  doctrine  of  monotheism  prevails  through-   Religion 
out  the  Institutes  ;  and  it  is  declared  towards  the 
close  that,  of  all  duties,  "  the  principal  is  to  obtain 
from    the    Upanishad    a   true    knowledge    of  one 
supreme  God."' 

the  first  of  all  causes ;  all-ruling ;  all-powerful ;  the  creator, 
preserver,  transformer  of  all  things:  such  is  the  Great  One."  — 
Sir  W.  Jones'5  Worhs,  vol.  vi.  p.  418. 

''  Colebrooke  on  the  Vedas,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii. 
p.  494-. 

'  Professor  Wilson,  Oxford  Lectures,  \).  12. 

^  Ibid.  p.  12.     See  also  Preface  to  the  VisJmu  Piirdna,  p.  ii. 

'   C'iiai).  XII.  85. 


74"  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         But  although  Menu  has  preserved  the  idea  of  the 
'        unity  of  God,    his    opinions  on   tlie   nature   and 
operations  of  the  Divinity  have  fallen  off  from  the 
purity   of  their    original,   and    have    injudiciously 
mingled  the  popular  and  philosophical  systems. 
Creation.  This  IS  chiefly  apparent  in  his  account  of  the 

creation.  There  are  passages  in  the  Vedas  which 
declare  that  God  is  "  the  material,  as  well  as  the 
efficient,  cause  of  the  universe ;  the  potter  by 
whom  the  fictile  vase  is  formed  ;  the  clay  out  of 
which  it  is  fabricated  : "  yet  those  best  qualified  to 
interpret  conceive  that  these  expressions  are  not 
to  be  taken  literally,  and  mean  no  more  than  to 
assert  the  origin  of  all  things  from  the  same  first 
cause. 

The  general  tendency  of  the  Vedas  is  to  show 
that  the  substance  as  well  as  the  form  of  all  created 
beings  was  derived  from  the  will  of  the  Self-exist- 
ing Cause.™ 

The  Institutes,  on  the  contrary,  though  not 
very  distinct,  appear  to  regard  the  universe  as 
formed  from  the  substance  of  the  Creator,  and 
to  have  a  vague  notion  of  the  eternal  existence  of 
matter  as  part  of  the  divine  substance.  According 
to  tliem,  "  the  Self-existing  Power,  himself  un- 
discerned,  but  making  this  world  discernible,  with 
five  elements  and  other  principles,  appeared  with 
undiminished  glory  dispelhng  the  gloom." 

"  He,  having  willed  to  produce  various  beings 
from  his  own  divine  substance,  first  with  a  thought 

'"  Wilson,  Oxford  Lectures,  p.  48. 


RELIGION.  75 

created  the  waters,  and   placed   in   them  a  pro-     chap. 
diictive  seed."" 


From  this  seed  sprung  the  mundane  egg^  in 
which  the  Supreme  Being  was  himself  born  in  the 
form  of  Brahma. 

By  similar  mythological  processes,  he,  under  the 
form- of  Brahma,  produced  the  heavens  and  earth, 
and  the  human  soul ;  and  to  all  creatures  he  gave 
distinct  names  and  distinct  occupations. 

He  likewise  created  the  deities  "  with  divine 
attributes  and  pure  souls,'*  and  "inferior  genii 
exquisitely  delicate."" 

This  whole  creation  only  endures  for  a  certain 
period  ;  when  that  expires,  the  divine  energy  is 
withdrawn,  Brahma,  is  absorbed  in  the  supreme 
essence,  and  the  whole  system  fades  away.'' 

These  extinctions  of  creation,  with  correspond- 
ing revivals,  occur  periodically,  at  terms  of  pro- 
digious length.'' 

The  inferior  deities  are  representatives  of  tlic  infeiioi 

'        r  Tr       /  deities. 

elements,  as  Indra,  an'  ;  Agni,  fire  ;  Varuna, 
water ;  Prithivi,  earth :  or  of  heavenly  bodies, 
Surya,  the  sun  ;  Chandra,  the  moon  ;  Vrispati 
and  other  planets  :  or  of  abstract  ideas,  as  Dherma, 
God  of  Justice;  Dhanwantara,  God  of  Medicine." 
None  of  the  heroes  who  are  omitted  in  the  Veda, 
but  who  now  fill  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  Hindu 
Pantheon  (Rama,  Crishna,  &c.),  are  ever  alluded  to. 

"  Book  I.  5.  7.  »  Chap.  I.  8—22. 

p  Chap.  I.  51—57.  ''  Chap.  I.  7.'^,  74. 

Chap.  IX.  303—311.,  and  other  places. 


76  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         Even  the  deities  of  which  these  are  incarnations 
are  never  noticed.      Brahma  is  more  than   once 


named,  but  Vishnu  and  Siva  never.  These  three 
forms  of  the  Divinity  occupy  no  conspicuous  place 
among  the  deities  of  the  Vedas;  and  their  mystical 
union  or  triad  is  never  hinted  at  in  Menu,  or  pro- 
bably in  the  Vedas.  The  three  forms,  into  some 
one  of  which  all  other  deities  are  there  said  to  be 
resolvable,  are  fire,  air,  and  the  sun.^ 

Spirits.  Altogether  distinct  from  the  gods  are  good  and 

evil  genii,  who  are  noticed  in  the  creation  rather 
among  the  animals  than  the  divinities.  ''Bene- 
volent genii,  fierce  giants,  bloodthirsty  savages, 
heavenly  clioristers,  nymphs  and  demons,  huge 
serpents  and  birds  of  mighty  wing,  and  separate 
companies  of  Pitris,  or  progenitors  of  mankind."' 

Man.  Man  is  endowed  with  two  internal  spirits,  the 

vital  soul,  which  gives  motion  to  the  body,  and  the 
rational,  which  is  the  seat  of  passions  and  good 
and  bad  qualities ;  and  both  these  souls,  though 
independent  existences,  are  connected  with  the 
divine  essence  which  pervades  all  beings." 

It  is  the  vital  soul  which  expiates  the  sins  of  the 
man.  It  is  subjected  to  torments  for  periods  pro- 
portioned to  its  ofi^ences,  and  is  then  sent  to  trans- 
migrate through  men  and  animals,  and  even  plants; 
the  mansion  being  the  lower  the  greater  has  been 
its  guilt,  until  at  length   it  has  been  purified  by 

s  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii.  395—397. 
t  Chap.  I.  37. 

Chap.  I.  H-,  15.;  XII.  12—14.  21,  &c. 


RELIGION.  77 

sufferinec  and  humiliations,   is  ag-ain  united  to  its     chap. 

.  ^.  IV. 

more  pure   associates",   and   again    commences   a  


scrvanccs. 


career  which  may  lead  to  eternal  bliss. 

God  endowed  man  from  his  creation  with  *'  con- 
sciousness, the  internal  monitor'";"  and  "made  a- 
total  difference  between  right  and  wrong,"  as  well 
as  between  pleasure  and  pain,  and  other  opposite 
pairs.'' 

He  then  produced  the  Vedas  for  the  due  per- 
formance of  the  sacrifice  ordained  from  the  begin- 
ning. But  it  does  not  seem  necessary  to  enter 
further  into  the  metaphysical  part  of  the  work  of 
Menu. 

The  practical  part  of  religion  may  be  divided 
into  ritual  and  moral. 

The  ritual  branch  occupies  too  great  a  portion  iiituai  ui,. 
of  the  Hindu  Code,   but  not  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  moral. 

There  are  religious  ceremonies  during  the  preg- 
nancy of  the  mother,  at  the  birth  of  the  child,  and 
on  various  subsequent  occasions,  the  principal  of 
which  is  the  shaving  of  his  head,  all  but  one  lock, 
at  the  first  or  third  year.^  But  by  far  the  most 
important  ceremonial  is  the  investiture  with  the 
sacred  thread,  which  must  not  be  delayed  beyond 
sixteen  for  a  Bramin,  or  twenty-four  for  a  mer- 
chant.'' This  great  ceremony  is  called  the  second 
birth,  and  procures  for  the  three  classes  who  are 

V  Chap.  XII.  16—22.  ^  Chap.  I.  14. 

»  Chap.  I.  26.  >   Chap.  II.  26—35. 

^  Chap.  II.  36—40. 


78  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  admitted  to  it  the  title  of  "  twice-born  men,"  by 
'  which  they  are  always  distinguished  throughout 
the  Code.  It  is  on  this  occasion  that  the  persons 
invested  are  taught  the  mysterious  word  6m, 
and  the  gayatri,  which  is  the  most  holy  verse  of 
the  Vedas,  which  is  enjoined  in  innumerable  parts 
of  the  Code  to  be  repeated  either  as  devotion  or 
expiation  -,  and  which,  indeed,  joined  to  universal 
benevolence,  may  raise  a  man  to  beatitude  without 
the  aid  of  any  other  religious  exercise.^  This 
mysterious  text,  though  it  is  now  confined  to  the 
Bramins,  and  is  no  longer  so  easy  to  learn,  has 
been  well  ascertauied  by  learned  Europeans,  and 
is  thus  translated  by  Mr.  Colebrooke'' :  "  Let  us 
meditate  the  adorable  light  of  the  Divine  Ruler  j 
may  it  guide  our  intellects." 

From  fuller  forms  of  the  same  verse,  it  is  evident 
that  the  light  alluded  to  is  the  Supreme  Creator, 
though  it  might  also  appear  to  mean  the  sun. 

It  is  not  easy  to  see  on  what  its  superior  sanctity 
is  founded,  unless  it  may  at  one  time  have  com- 
municated, though  in  ambiguous  language,  the 
secret  of  the  real  nature  of  God  to  the  initiated, 
when  the  material  sun  was  the  popular  object  of 
worship.^ 

>•»  Chap.  II.  74—87. 

i>  Asiatic  Researches,  vol  viii.  p.  400. 

c  There  are  many  commentaries  on  this  text,  and  some 
diiFerence  of  opinion  as  to  the  sense.  The  following  inter- 
pretation is  given  by  Professor  Wilson,  in  a  note  on  the  "  Hindu 
Theatre,"  vol.  i.  p.  184.:  — "  Let  us  meditate  on  the  supreme 
splendour  of  that  divine  sun,  who  may  illuminate  our   under- 


RELIGION.  79 

Every  Bramin,  and,  perhaps,  every  twice-born     chap. 
man,  must  bathe  daily  ;  must  pray  at  morning  and  ' 

evening  twihght,  in  some  unfrequented  place  near 
pure  water'' ;  and  must  daily  perform  five  sacra- 
ments, viz.,  studying  the  Veda  ;  making  oblations 
to  the  manes  and  to  fire  in  honour  of  the  deities ; 
giving  rice  to  living  creatures ;  and  receiving  guests 
with  honour.'' 

The  gods  are  worshipped  by  burnt-offerings  of 
clarified  butter,  and  libations  of  the  juice  of  the 
moon  plant,  at  which  ceremonies  they  are  invoked 
by  name  ;  but  although  idols  are  mentioned,  and 
in  one  place  desired  to  be  respected^,  yet  the 
adoration  of  them  is  never  noticed  but  with  dis- 
approbation ;  nor  is  the  present  practice  of  oflfer- 
ing  perfumes  and  flowers  to  them  ever  alluded  to. 
The  oblations  enjoined  are  to  be  offered  by  Bra- 
mins  at  their  domestic  fire,  and  the  other  cere- 
monies performed  by  themselves  in  their  own 
houses.^ 

Most  of  the  other  sacraments  are  easily  dis- 
patched, but  the  reading  of  the  Vedas  is  a  serious 
task. 

They  must  be  read  distinctly  and  aloud,  with  a 
calm  mind  and  in  a  respectful  posture.     The  read- 


standings."  And  the  following  is  published  as  a  literal  trans- 
lation by  lltim  Mohan  ]{ai  (^Translation  of  the  Vedas,  p.  117.): 
—  "  We  meditate  on  that  supreme  spirit  of  the  splendid  sun 
who  directs  our  understandings." 

''  Chap.  II.  101— 104-.  ^  ("hap.  III.  C9,  70. 

'  Chap.  IV.  130.  s  Chap.  III.  82,  &c. 


80  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  ing  is  liable  to  be  interrupted  by  many  omens,  and 
'  must  be  suspended  likewise  on  the  occurrence  of 
various  contingencies  which,  by  disturbing  the 
mind,  may  render  it  unfit  for  such  an  occupation. 
Wind,  rain,  thunder,  earthquakes,  meteors,  eclipses, 
the  howling  of  jackalls,  and  many  other  incidents, 
are  of  the  first  description  :  the  prohibition  against 
reading  where  lutes  sound  or  where  arrows  whistle, 
when  a  town  is  beset  by  robbers,  or  when  terrors 
have  been  excited  by  strange  phenomena,  clearly 
refers  to  the  second.'' 

The  last  sacrament,  that  of  hospitality  to  guests, 
is  treated  at  length,  and  contains  precepts  of  polite- 
ness and  self-denial  which  would  be  very  pleasing 
if  they  were  not  so  much  restricted  to  Bramins 
entertaining  men  of  their  own  class.' 

Besides  the  daily  oblations,  there  are  monthly 
obsequies  to  the  manes  of  each  man's  ancestors. 
These  are  to  be  performed  *'  in  empty  glades,  na- 
turally clean,  or  on  the  banks  of  rivers  and  in  soli- 
tary spots."  The  sacrificer  is  there  to  burn  certain 
offerings,  and  with  many  ceremonies  to  set  down 
cakes  of  rice  and  clarified  butter,  invoking  the 
manes  to  come  and  partake  of  them. 

He  is  afterwards  to  feast  a  small  number  of 
Bramins  (not  however  his  usual  friends  or  guests). 
He  is  to  serve  them  with  respect,  and  they  are  to 
eat  in  silence. 

"  Departed  ancestors,  no  doubt,  are  attendant 

''  Chap.  IV.  99—126.  '  Chap.  III.  99-118. 


IV, 


RELIGION.  81 

on  such  invited  Bramins,  hovering  around  them     chap. 
Hke  pure  spirits,  and  sitting  by  them  when  they 
are  seated."'' 

No  obsequies  are  to  be  performed  for  persons 
of  disreputable  or  criminal  life,  or  for  those  who 
illegally  kill  themselves^;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
there  is  a  striking  ceremony  by  whicli  a  great 
offender  is  renounced  by  his  family,  his  obsequies 
being  solemnly  performed  by  them  while  he  is  yet 
alive.  Jn  the  event  of  repentance  and  expiation, 
however,  he  can  by  another  ceremony  be  restored 
to  his  family  and  to  civil  life."" 

Innumerable  are  the  articles  of  food  from  which 
a  twice-born  man  must  abstain  ;  some  for  plain  rea- 
sons, as  carnivorous  birds,  tame  hogs,  and  other 
animals  whose  appearance  or  way  of  living  is  dis- 
gusting ;  but  others  are  so  arbitrarily  fixed,  that  a 
cock,  a  mushroom,  a  leek,  or  an  onion,  occasions 
immediate  loss  of  cast"  ;  while  hedgehogs,  por- 
cupines, lizards,  and  tortoises  are  expressly  de- 
clared to  be  lawftd  food.  A  Bramin  is  forbidden, 
under  severe  penalties,  to  eat  the  food  of  a  hunter 
or  a  dishonest  man,  a  worker  in  gold  or  in  cane,  or 
a  washer  of  clothes,  or  a  dyer.  The  cruelty  of  a 
hunter's  trade  may  join  him,  in  the  eyes  of  a  Bra- 
min, to  a  dishonest  man  ;  but,  among  many  other 
arbitrary  proscriptions,  one  is  surprised  to  find  a 
physician",  and    to  observe  that  this  learned  and 

K  Chap.  III.  189.  '  Chap.  V.  89. 

'"  Chap.  XI.  182—187.  "  Chap.  V.  18,  19. 

"  Cliap.  IV.  212. 
VOL.   I.  G 


82  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  beneficent  profession  is  always  classed  with  those 
which  are  most  impure. 

What  cliiefly  surprises  us  is  to  find  most  sorts  of 
flesh  permitted  to  Bramins^,  and  even  that  of  oxen 
particularly  enjoined  on  solemn  festivals."^ 

Bramins  must  not,  indeed,  eat  flesh,  unless  at 
a  sacrifice  ;  but  sacrifices,  as  has  been  seen,  are 
among  the  daily  sacraments  ;  and  rice  pudding, 
bread,  and  many  other  things  equally  innocent,  are 
included  in  the  v^ery  same  prohibition.' 

It  is  true  that  humanity  to  animals  is  every  where 
most  strongly  inculcated,  and  that  abstaining  from 
animal  food  is  declared  to  be  very  meritorious, 
from  its  tendency  to  diminish  their  sufferings  ;  but, 
though  the  use  of  it  is  dissuaded  on  these  grounds', 
it  is  never  once  forbidden  or  hinted  at  as  impure, 
and  is  in  many  places  positively  declared  lawful.' 

The  permission  to  eat  beef  is  the  more  remark- 
able, as  the  cow  seems  to  have  been  as  holy  in 
those  days  as  she  is  now.  Saving  the  life  of  a  cow 
was  considered  to  atone  for  the  murder  of  a  Bra- 
min " ;  killing  one  required  to  be  expiated  by  three 
months'  austerities  and  servile  attendance  on  a  herd 
of  cattle.^ 


p  Chap.  V.  22—36.  "J  Chap.  V.  41,  42. 

r  Chap.  V.  7.  s  Chap.  V.  43—56. 

t  "  He  who  eats  according  to  law  commits  no  sin,  even  if  he 
every  day  tastes  the  flesh  of  such  animals  as  may  lawfully  be 
tasted,  since  both  animals  which  may  be  eaten,  and  those  who 
eat  them,  were  equally  created  by  Brahma."      (V.  30.) 

^  Chap.  XI.  80.  ^  Chap.  XL  109—117. 


RELIGION.  SS 

Besides   these    restraints    on  eatinsr,  a   Bramin    chap. 

'^  .  IV. 

is  subjected  to  a  multitude  of  minute  regulations  

relating  to  the  most  ordinary  occupations  of  life, 
the  transgressing  of  any  of  which  is  neverthe- 
less to  be  considered  as  a  sin. 

More  than  half  of  one  book  of  the  Code  is  filled 
with  rules  about  purification. 

The  commonest  cause  of  impurity  is  the  death 
of  a  relation  ;  and  this,  if  he  is  near,  lasts  for  ten 
days  with  a  Bramin,  and  for  a  month  with  a  Sudra. 
An  infinity  of  contacts  and  other  circumstances 
also  pollute  a  man,  and  he  is  only  purified  by 
bathing,  and  other  ceremonies,  much  too  tedious 
to  enumerate.''  Some  exceptions  from  these  rules 
show  a  ffood  sense  which  mi"ht  not  have  been 
expected  from  the  framers.  A  King  can  never  be 
impure,  nor  those  whom  he  wishes  to  be  freed  from 
this  impediment  to  business.  Tlie  hand  of  an 
artist  employed  in  his  trade  is  always  pure ;  and 
so  is  every  commodity  when  exposed  to  sale. 
The  relations  of  a  soldier  slain  in  battle  are  not 
impure  ;  and  a  soldier  himself,  who  falls  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duty,  performs  the  highest  of  sacri- 
fices, and  is  instantly  freed  from  all  impurities." 
Of  all  pure  things,  none  im])art  that  quality  better 
than  purity  in  acquiring  wealth,  forgiveness  of  in- 
juries, liberality,  and  devotion.^ 

Penances,  as  employed  by  the  Hindus,  hold  a 
middle  place  between  the  ritual  and  moral  branches 

"    Book  V.  57.  to  the  end.  Chap  V.  9,'5— 98. 

y  Chap.  V.  107. 

G    2 


I. 


84  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  of  religion.  They  help  to  deter  from  crimes,  but 
they  are  equally  employed  against  breaches  of  re- 
ligious form  ;  and  their  application  is  at  all  times 
so  irregular  and  arbitrary  as  to  prevent  their  being 
so  effectual  as  they  should  be  in  contributing  to  the 
well-being  of  society. 

Drinking  spirits  is  classed  in  the  first  degree  of 
crime.  Performing  sacrifices  to  destroy  the  inno- 
cent only  falls  under  the  third. 

Under  the  same  penance  with  some  real  offences 
come  giving  pain  to  a  Bramin  and  "  smelling  things 
not  fit  to  be  smelled."^ 

Some  penances  would,  if  compulsory,  be  punish- 
ments of  the  most  atrocious  cruelty.  They  are 
sufficiently  absurd  when  left,  as  they  are,  to  the 
will  of  the  offenders,  to  be  employed  in  averting 
exclusion  from  society  in  this  world  or  retribution 
in  the  next.  For  incest  with  the  wife  of  a  father, 
natural  or  spiritual,  or  with  a  sister,  connection 
with  a  child  under  the  age  of  puberty,  or  with  a 
woman  of  the  lowest  class,  the  penance  is  death  by 
burning  on  an  iron  bed,  or  embracing  a  red-hot 
metal  image. ^  For  drinking  spirits  the  penance 
is  death  by  drinking  the  boiling  hot  urine  of  a 


cow.*" 


The  other  expiations  are  mostly  made  by  fines 
and  austerities.  The  fines  are  almost  always  in 
cattle  to  be  given  to  Bramins,  some  as  high  as  a  bull 
and  1000  cows. 

^  Chap.  XI.  55—68.  »  Chap.  XI.  104-,  105.  171. 

■^  Chap.  XI.  92. 


RELIGION.  85 

They,  also,  are  oddly  enough  proportioned  :  for     chap. 

kilHng  a  snake  a  Bramin  must  give  a  hoe  ;  for  kill-  

ing  an  eunuch,  a  load  of  rice  straw. 

Saying  "hush'*  or  "pish"  to  a  superior,  or 
overpowering  a  Bramin  in  argument,  involve  each 
a  slight  penance.  Killing  insects,  and  even  cutting 
down  plants  and  grass  (if  not  for  a  useful  purpose), 
require  a  penance  ;  since  plants  also  are  supposed 
to  he  endued  with  feeling.*^ 

One  passage  about  expiation  is  characteristic  in 
many  ways.  "  A  priest  who  should  retain  in  his 
memory  tlie  whole  Rig  Veda  would  be  absolved 
from  all  guilt,  even  if  he  had  slain  the  inhabitants 
of  the  three  worlds,  and  had  eaten  food  from  the 
foulest  hands''  '^ 

Some  of  the  penances,  as  well  as  some  of  the 
punishments  under  the  criminal  law,  relate  to 
})ollutions  which  imply  great  corruption  of  manners 
in  the  people,  or  great  impurity  in  the  imagination 
of  the  lawgiver " ;  but  they  })robably  originate  in 
the  same  perverted  ingenuity  which  appears  iti 
some  of  the  European  casuists. 

Others  are  of  a  more  pleasing  character,  and 
tend  to  lessen  our  impression  of  the  force  of  super- 
stition even  anion"-  the  Bramins.  A  man  who 
spends  his  money  in  gifts,  even  for  his  spiritual 
benefit,  incurs  misery  hereafter  if  he  have  left  his 
family  in  want.*     Every  man  who  has  })erformed 

c  Chap.  XI.  125.  to  the  end.  ■'  Chap.  XI.  262. 

-  Chap.  XI.  171—179,  .'vc.  f  Chap.  XI.  9,  10. 

G   3 


86 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
I. 


Moral 
eflfect. 


penance  is  legally  restored  to  society ;  but  all 
should  avoid  the  communion  of  those  whose  of- 
fences were  in  themselves  atrocious,  among  which 
are  reckoned  killing  a  suppUant  and  injuring  a 
benefactor.^ 

The  effect  of  the  religion  of  Menu  on  morals  is, 
indeed,  generally  good.  The  essential  distinction 
between  right  and  wrong,  it  has  been  seen,  is 
strongly  marked  at  the  outset,  and  is  in  general 
well  preserved.  The  well-known  passages  relating 
to  false  evidence,  one  or  two  where  the  property 
of  another  maybe  appropriated  for  the  purposes  of 
sacrifice  \  and  some  laxity  in  the  means  by  which 
a  King  may  detect  and  seize  offenders',  are  the 
only  exceptions  I  recollect. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  numerous  injunc- 
tions to  justice,  truth,  and  virtue  ;  and  many  are 
the  evils,  both  in  this  world  and  the  next,  which  are 
said  to  follow  from  vicious  conduct.  The  upright 
man  need  not  be  cast  down  though  oppressed  with 
penury,  while  "  the  unjust  man  attains  no  felicity, 
nor  he  whose  wealth  proceeds  from  false  evi- 
dence."^ 

The  moral  duties  are  in  one  place  distinctly  de- 
clared to  be  superior  to  the  ceremonial  ones.'  The 
punishments  of  a  future  state  are  as  much  directed 
against  the  offences  which  disturb  society  as 
against  sins  affecting  religion. 


e  Chap.  XI.  190,  191. 
'  Chap.  IX.  256—269. 
'  Chap.  IV.  204. 


h  Chap.  XI.  11—19. 
"  Chap.  IV.  17C— 179. 


RELIGION.  87 

One  maxim,  however,  on  this  subject,  is  of  a  less    chap. 

*^  IV. 


laudable  tendency ;  for  it  declares  that  the  men 
who  receive  from  the  government  the  punishment 
due  to  their  crimes  go  pure  to  heaven,  and  become 
as  clean  as  those  who  have  done  well.'" 

It  may  be  observed,  in  conclusion,  that  the 
morality  thus  enjoined  by  the  law  was  not,  as  now, 
sapped  by  the  example  of  fabled  gods,  or  by  the 
debauchery  permitted  in  the  religious  ceremonies 
of  certain  sects. 

From  many  passages  cited  in  different  places,  it 
has  been  shown  that  the  Code  is  not  by  any  means 
deficient  in  generous  maxims  or  in  elevated  senti- 
ments ;  but  the  general  tendency  of  the  Bramin 
morahty  is  rather  towards  innocence  than  active 
virtue,  and  its  main  objects  are  to  enjoy  tranquilhty, 
and  to  prevent  pain  or  evil  to  any  sentient  being. 

■"  Chap.  VIII.  318. 


o  4 


88  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


women. 


CHAP.  V. 

MANNERS    AND    STATE    OF    CIVILISATION. 

BOOK     In  inquiring  into   the  manners   of  a  nation,  our 
'        attention  is  first  attracted  to  the  condition  of  the 
State  of       women.     This  may  be  gathered  from  the  laws  re- 
lating  to  marriage,  as  well  as  from  incidental  regu- 
lations or  observations  which  undesignedly  exhibit 
the  views  under  which  the  sex  was  regarded. 

The  laws  relating  to  marriage,  as  has  been  seen, 
though  in  some  parts  they  bear  strong  traces  of  a 
rude  age,  are  not  on  the  whole  unfavourable  to  the 
weaker  party.  The  state  of  women  in  other  re- 
spects is  such  as  might  be  expected  from  those 
laws. 

A  wife  is  to  be  entirely  obedient  and  devoted 
to  her  husband,  who  is  to  keep  her  under  legal 
restrictions,  but  to  leave  her  at  her  own  disposal 
in  innocent  and  lawful  recreations.*  When  she 
has  no  husband,  she  is  to  be  in  a  state  of  similar 
dependence  on  her  male  relations^;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  husband  and  all  the  male  relations 
are  strictly  enjoined  to  honour  the  women:  "where 
women  are  dishonoured,  all  religious  acts  become 
fruitless;"  —  "where  female  relations  are  made 
miserable,  the  family  very  soon  wholly  perishes  j " 

«  Chap.  IX.  2,  &c.  ^  Chap.  V.  147,  &c. 


MANNERS    AND    STATE    OF    CIVILISATION.  89 

but  "  where  a  husband  is  contented  with  his  wife,     chap. 
and  she  with  her  husband,  in  that  house  will  for-  ' 

tune  assuredly  be  permanent."  The  husband's  in- 
dulgence to  his  wife  is  even  regulated  on  points 
which  seem  singular  in  a  code  of  laws ;  among 
these  it  is  enjoined  that  she  be  '*  constantly  sup- 
plied witli  ornaments,  apparel,  and  food,  at  festivals 
and  jubilees." " 

Widows  are  also  under  the  particular  protection 
of  the  law.  Their  male  relations  are  positively  for- 
bidden to  interfere  with  their  property.  (III.  52.) 
The  King  is  declared  the  guardian  of  widows  and 
single  women,  and  is  directed  to  punish  relations 
who  encroach  on  their  fortunes  as  thieves.  (VIII. 
28,  29.) 

There  is  little  about  domestic  manners  except  as 
relates  to  the  Bramins,  and  they,  as  usual,  are  placed 
under  austere  and  yet  puerile  restrictions.  A  man 
of  that  class  must  not  eat  with  his  wife,  nor  look 
at  her  eating,  or  yawning,  or  sitting  carelessly,  or 
when  setting  off  her  eyes  with  black  powder,  or 
on  many  other  occasions.** 

In  all  classes  women  are  to  be  "  employed  in 
the  collection  and  expenditure  of  wealth  ;  in  pu- 
rification and  female  duty  ;  in  the  preparation  of 
daily  food,  and  the  superintendence  of  household 
utensils." 

*'  By  confinement  at  home,  even  under  affec- 
tionate  and    observant    guardians,    they   are    not 

'    Chap.  III.  55—61.  ''  Chap.  IV.  43,  &c. 


90 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
I. 


Manners. 


secure ;  but  those  women  are  truly  secure  who 
are  guarded  by  their  own  incHnations."  ^ 

There  is  not  the  least  mention  of  Sattis  ;  indeed, 
as  the  widows  of  Bramins  are  enjoined  to  lead  a 
virtuous,  austere,  and  holy  life*^,  it  is  plain  that 
their  burning  with  their  husbands  was  never 
thought  of. 

The  only  suicides  authorised  in  the  Code  are  for 
a  Bramin  hermit  suffering  under  an  incurable  dis- 
ease, who  is  permitted  to  proceed  towards  a  cer- 
tain point  of  the  heavens  with  no  sustenance  but 
water,  until  he  dies  of  exhaustion^ ;  and  for  a 
King,  who,  when  he  finds  his  end  draw  near,  is  to 
bestow  such  wealth  as  he  may  have  gained  by  legal 
fines  on  the  Bramins,  commit  his  kingdom  to  his 
son,  and  seek  death  in  battle,  or,  if  there  be  no 
war,  by  abstaining  from  food.** 

Few  more  particulars  can  be  gleaned  regarding 
manners.  The  strict  celibacy  imposed  on  the 
Bramin  youths  seems  to  have  excited  a  just  dis- 
trust of  their  continence :  a  student  who  is  en- 
joined to  perform  personal  services,  and  to  kiss  the 
feet  of  his  spiritual  father's  other  near  relations,  is 
directed  to  omit  those  duties  in  the  case  of  his 
young  wife  ;    he  is   desired  to  be  always  on  his 

<"  Chap.  IX.  11,  12.  f  Chap.  V.  156—158. 

s  Chap.  VI.  31. 

''  Chap.  IX.  323.  It  is  singular  that  the  practice  of  self- 
immolation  by  fire,  which  is  stated  by  Mr.  Colebrooke  (^Trans- 
actions of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  458.)  to  have  been 
authorised  by  the  Vedas,  and  is  related  by  the  ancients  to  have 
been  practised  by  Calanus,  is  nowhere  mentioned  in  the  Code. 


MANNERS    AND    STATE    OF    CIVILISATION.  91 

guard  when  in  company  with  women,  and  to  be-     chap. 
ware  how  he  trusts  himself  in  a  sequestered  place  _ 
even  with  those  who  should  be  the  most  sacred  in 
his  eyes.' 

Some  notion  of  the  pleasures  most  indulged  in 
may  be  formed  from  those  against  which  a  King 
is  cautioned  (VII.  47.)-  Among  them  are  hunt- 
ing, gaming,  sleeping  by  day,  excess  with  women, 
intoxication,  singing,  instrumental  music,  dancing, 
and  useless  travel.  Some  little  light  is  also  thrown 
on  manners,  by  the  much-frequented  places  where 
thieves,  quacks,  fortune-tellers,  and  other  impostors 
are  said  to  haunt.  They  include  cisterns  of  water, 
bakehouses,  the  lodgings  of  harlots,  taverns  and 
victualling  shops,  squares  where  four  ways  meet, 
large  well-known  trees,  assemblies,  and  public  spec- 
tacles. 

Minute  rules  are  given  for  the  forms  of  saluta- 
tion and  civility  to  persons  of  all  classes,  and  in 
all  relations. 

Great  respect  is  inculcated  for  parents''  and  for 
age  ;  for  learning  and  moral  conduct,  as  well  as 
for  wealth  and  rank.  "  Way  must  be  made  for  a 
man  in  a  wheeled  carriage,  or  above  ninety  years 
old,  or  afflicted  with  disease,  or  carrying  a  burden, 
for  a  woman,  for  a  priest  (in  certain  cases),  for 
a  prince,  and  for  a  bridegroom."^ 

I  scarcely  know  where  to  place,  so  as  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  importance  assigned  to  it  in  the  Code, 

i  Chap.  II.  211—215.  k  Chap.  II.  225—237. 

<  Chap.  II.  130—138. 


92  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  the  respect  enjoined  to  immemorial  custom.  It  is 
'  declared  to  be  "  transcendent  law,"  and  "  the  root 
of  all  piety/""  It  is,  indeed,  to  this  day  the  vital 
spirit  of  the  Hindu  system,  and  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  permanence  of  these  institutions. 
Learning  is  greatly  honoured  throughout  the  Code, 
and  the  cultivation  of  it  is  recommended  to  all 
classes.  It  is  true  the  Vedas,  and  the  comment- 
aries on  them,  with  a  few  other  books,  are  the  only 
ones  to  which  the  student  is  directed  ;  but  he  is  to 
learn  theology,  logic,  ethics,  and  physical  science 
from  those  works  "j  and  we  know  that  those  sub- 
jects are  discussed  in  the  tracts  appended  to  each 
Veda  :  each  is  also  accompanied  by  a  treatise  en- 
tirely relating  to  astronomy ;  and,  from  the  early 
excellence  of  the  Bramins  in  all  these  branches  of 
learning,  it  is  probable  that  they  had  made  consi- 
derable progress  even  when  this  Code  was  formed. 
Arts  of  The  arts  of  life,  though  still  in  a  simple  state, 

were  far  from  being:  in  a  rude  one.     Gold  and 


'b 


gems,  silks  and  ornaments,  are  spoken  of  as  being 
in  all  families. °  Elephants,  horses,  and  chariots 
are  familiar  as  conveyances  for  men,  as  are  cattle, 
camels,  and  waggons  for  goods.  Gardens,  bowers, 
and  terraces  are  mentioned  ;  and  the  practice, 
still  subsisting,  of  the  construction  of  ponds  and 
orchards  by  wealthy  men  for  the  public  benefit, 
is  here,  perhaps,  first  enjoined.^    Cities  are  seldom 

™  Chap.  I.  108—110.  "  Chap.  XIL  98.  105,  106- 

o  Chap.  V.  Ill,  112.;  VII.  130. 
p  Chap.  IV.  226. 


MANNERS    AND    STATE    OF    CIVILISATION. 


9^ 


alluded  to,  nor  are  there  any  regulations  or  any     chap. 

officers  beyond  the  wants  of  an  agricultural  town-  

ship.      The   only  great  cities  were,  probably,  the 
capitals. 

The  professions  mentioned  show  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary to  civilised  life,  but  not  all  required  for 
high  refinement.  Though  gems  and  golden  orna- 
ments were  common,  embroiderers  and  similar  work- 
men, who  put  those  materials  to  the  most  delicate 
uses,  are  not  alluded  to  ;  and  painting  and  writing 
could  scarcely  have  attained  the  cultivation  which 
they  reached  in  after  times,  when  they  were  left 
among  the  trades  open  to  a  vSudra  in  times  of 
distress. 

Money  is  often  mentioned,  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear whether  its  value  was  ascertained  by  weight 
or  fixed  by  coining.  The  usual  payments  are  in 
panaSy  the  name  notv  applied  to  a  certain  number 
of  the  shells  called  couris,  which  are  used  as  change 
for  the  lowest  copper  coins. 

The  number  of  kinds  of  grain,  spices,  perfumes, 
and  other  productions,  are  proofs  of  a  liighly  cul- 
tivated country  ;  and  the  code  in  general  presents 
the  ])icture  of  a  peaceful  and  flourishing  com- 
munity. Some  of  the  features  which  seem  to 
indicate  misgovernment  are  undiminished  at  the 
present  day,  but  affect  the  society  in  a  far  less 
degree  than  would  seem  possible  to  a  distant  ob- 
server. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  frequent  alhisions  to 
times  of  distress  give  ground  for  a  suspicion  that 


94  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     the  famines,  which   even  now  are  sometimes  the 
'        scourge  of  India,  were  more  frequent  in  ancient 
times.     There  is  no  trace  of  nomadic  tribes,  such 
as  still  subsist  in  most  Asiatic  countries. 
General  Of  all  ancicnt  nations,  the  Egyptians  are  the  one 

whom  the  Hindus  seem  most  to  have  resembled  ; 
but  our  knowledge  of  that  people  is  too  limited  to 
reflect  light  on  any  other  with  which  they  might 
be  compared.'^ 

It  might  be  easier  to  compare  them  with  the 
Greeks,  as  painted  by  Homer,  who  was  nearly 
contemporary  with  the  compilation  of  the  Code  ; 
and,  however  inferior  in  spirit  and  energy,  as  well 
as  in  elegance,  to  that  heroic  race,  yet,  on  con- 
trasting their  law  and  forms  of  administration,  the 
state  of  the  arts  of  life,  and  the  general  spirit  of 
order  and  obedience  to  the  laws,  the  eastern  nation 
seems  clearly  to  have  been  in  the  more  advanced 
stage  of  society.  Their  internal  institutions  were 
less  rude  ;  their  conduct  to  their  enemies  more 
humane  ;  their  general  learning  was  much  more 
considerable  ;  and,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  being 
and  nature  of  God,  they  were  already  in  possession 
of  a  light  which  was  but  faintly  perceived  even  by 
the  loftiest  intellects  in  the  best  days  of  Athens. 
Yet  the  Greeks  were  polished  by  free  communica- 
tion with  many  nations,  and  have  recorded  the 
improvements  which  they  early  derived  from  each ; 

1  The  particular  points  of  resemblance  are  set  forth  by 
Heeren  —  Historical  Researches  (Asiatic  Nations),  vol.  iii. 
p.  411.  to  the  end. 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  95 

while  the  Hindu  civilisation  grew  up  alone,  and     chap. 
thus  acquired  an  original  and  peculiar  character,  ' 

that  continues  to  spread  an  interest  over  the  higher 
stages  of  refinement  to  which  its  unaided  efforts 
afterwards  enabled  it  to  attain.  It  may,  however, 
be  doubted,  whether  this  early  and  independent 
civilisation  was  not  a  misfortune  to  tlie  Hindus  ; 
for,  seeing  themselves  superior  to  all  the  tribes  of 
whom  they  had  knowledge,  they  learned  to  de- 
spise the  institutions  of  foreigners,  and  to  revere 
their  own,  until  they  became  incapable  of  receiv- 
ing improvement  from  without,  and  averse  to 
novelties  even  amongst  themselves. 

On   looking  back  to  the  information  collected  origin  of 
from  the  Code,  we  observe  the  three  twice-born  andform"^ 
classes  forming  the  whole  community  embraced  by  JiSr  soo- 
the law,  and  the  Sudras  in  a  servile  and  degraded  "'^^•^' 
condition.      Yet  it  appears   that  there  are   cities 
governed  by  Sudra  kings,  in  which  Bramins  are 
advised  not  to  reside ',  and  that  there  are   *'  whole 
territories  inhabited  by  Sudras,  overwhelmed  with 
atheists,  and  deprived  of  Bramins."^ 

The  three  twice-born  classes  are  directed  invari- 
ably to  dwell  in  the  country  between  the  Himawat' 
and  the  Vindya  mountains",  from  the  eastern  to 
the  western  ocean. 

'  Chap.  IV.  61.  s  Chap.  VIII.  22. 

'  Hemahiya. 

"  Still  so  called,  and  forming  the  boundaries  of  Hindostan 
Proper,  on  the  south,  as  Hcmalaya  does  on  the  north.  The 
legislator  must  have  had  an  indistinct  idea  of  the  eastern  ter- 
mination of  the  range. 


96  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         But,  though  the  three  chief  classes  are  confined 

to  this  tract,  a  Sudra  distressed  for  subsistence  may 

sojourn  wherever  he  chooses.'' 

It  seems  impossible  not  to  conclude  from  all 
this,  that  tlie  twice-born  men  were  a  conquering 
people  ;  that  the  servile  class  were  the  subdued 
aborigines  ;  and  that  the  independent  Sudra  towns 
were  in  such  of  the  small  territories,  into  which 
Hindostan  was  divided,  as  still  retained  their  in- 
dependence, while  the  whole  of  the  tract  beyond 
the  Vindya  mountains  remained  as  yet  untouched 
by  the  invaders,  and  unpenetrated  by  their  re- 
ligion. 

A  doubt,  however,  soon  suggests  itself,  whether 
the  conquerors  were  a  foreign  people,  or  a  local 
tribe,  like  the  Dorians  in  Greece ;  or  whether,  in- 
deed, they  were  not  merely  a  portion  of  one  of  the 
native  states  (a  religious  sect,  for  instance)  which 
had  outstripped  their  fellow  citizens  in  knowledge, 
and  appropriated  all  the  advantages  of  the  society 
to  themselves. 

The  different  appearance  of  the  higher  classes 
from  the  Sudras,  which  is  so  observable  to  this  day, 
might  incline  us  to  think  them  foreigners ;  but, 
without  entirely  denying  this  argument,  (as  far,  at 
least,  as  relates  to  the  Bramins  and  Cshetryas,)  we 
must  advert  to  some  considerations  which  greatly 
weaken  its  force. 

The    class   most   unlike    tlie    Bramins    are   the 

V  Chap.  II.  21—24. 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  97 

Chandalas,  wlio  are,  nevertheless,  originally  the  chap. 
offspring  of  a  Bramin  mother ;  and  who  might  ^' 
have  been  expected  to  have  preserved  their  resem- 
blance to  their  parent  stock,  as,  from  the  very  low- 
ness  of  their  cast,  they  are  prevented  mixing  with 
any  race  but  their  own.  Difference  of  habits  and 
employments  is,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  create  as 
great  a  dissimilarity  as  exists  between  the  Bramin 
and  theSudra;  and  the  hereditary  separation  of 
professions  in  India  would  contribute  to  keep  up 
and  to  increase  such  a  distinction."' 

It  is  opposed  to  their  foreign  origin,  that  neither 
in  the  Code,  nor,  I  believe,  in  the  Vedas,  nor  in 
any  book  that  is  certainly  older  than  the  Code,  is 
there  any  allusion  to  a  prior  residence,  or  to  a 
knowledge  of  more  than  the  name  of  any  country 
out  of  India.  Even  mythology  goes  no  further 
than  the  Hemalaya  chain,  in  which  is  fixed  the 
habitation  of  the  gods. 

The  common  origin  of  the  Shanscrit  language 
with  those  of  the  west  leaves  no  doubt  that  there 
was  once  a  connection  between  the  nations  by 
whom  they  are  used  ;  but  it  })roves  nothing  re- 
garding the  place  where  such  a  connection  sub- 
sisted, nor  about  the  time,  which  might  have 
been  in  so  early  a  stage  of  their  society  as  to  pre- 

"'  Observe  the  difference  which  even  a  few  years  can  produce 
between  two  individuals,  who  were  ahke  when  they  began  hfe ; 
between  a  soldier  of  a  well-disciplined  regiment,  for  instance, 
and  a  man  of  the  least  active  and  healthy  of  the  classes  in  a 
manufacturing  town. 

VOL.  I.  H 


98  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  vent  its  throwing  any  light  on  the  history  of  the 
"  individual  nations.  To  say  that  it  spread  from  a 
central  point  is  a  gratuitous  assumption,  and  even 
contrary  to  analogy  ;  for  emigration  and  civilisation 
have  not  spread  in  a  circle,  but  from  east  to  west. 
Where,  also,  could  the  central  point  be,  from  which 
a  language  could  spread  over  India,  Greece,  and 
Italy,  and  yet  leave  Chaldea,  Syria,  and  Arabia 
untouched  ? 

The  question,  therefore,  is  still  open.  There  is 
no  reason  whatever  for  thinking  that  the  Hindus 
ever  inhabited  any  country  but  their  present  one  ; 
and  as  little  for  denying  that  they  may  have  done 
so  before  the  earliest  trace  of  their  records  or 
traditions.  Assuming  that  they  were  a  conquering 
tribe,  we  may  suppose  the  progress  of  their  society 
to  have  been  something  like  the  following :  that 
the  richer  or  more  warlike  members  continued  to 
confine  themselves  to  the  profession  of  arms  :  that 
the  less  eminent  betook  themselves  to  agriculture, 
arts,  and  commerce :  that  the  priests  were,  at  first, 
individuals  who  took  advantage  of  the  superstition 
of  their  neighbours,  and  who  may  have  trans- 
mitted their  art  and  office  to  their  sons,  but  did 
not  form  a  separate  class :  that  the  separation  of 
classes  by  refusing  to  intermarry  originated  in  the 
pride  of  the  military  body,  and  was  imitated  by  the 
priests :  that  the  conquered  people  were  always  a 
class  apart,  at  first  cultivating  the  land  for  the  con- 
querors, and  afterwards  converted  by  the  interest 
and  convenience  of  tlieir  masters  into  free  tenants  : 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  99 

that  the  government  was  in  tlie  hands  of  the  niili-     chap. 
taiy  leaders,  and  probably  exercised  by  one  chief:  ' 

that  the   chief  availed  himself  of  the  aid   of  the 
priests  in  planning  laws  and  obtaining  a  religious 
sanction  to  them  :  that  the  priests,  as  they  rose  into 
consequence,  began  to  combine  and  act  in  concert : 
that  they  invented  the   genealogy  of  casts,   and 
other  fables,  to  support  the   existing  institutions, 
and  to  introduce  such  alterations  as  they  thought 
desirable  :  that,  while  they  raised  the  power  of  the 
chief  to  the  highest  pitch,  they  secured  as  much 
influence  to  their  own  order  as  could  be  got  with- 
out creating  jealousy  or  destroying  the  ascendency 
they    deriv^ed    from    the    public    opinion    of  their 
austerity  and   virtue  :   that  the  first  Code  framed 
was  principally  a  record  of  existing  usages  j   and 
may  have  been  compiled  by  a  private  person,  and 
adopted  for  convenience ;  or  may  have  been  drawn 
up  by  Bramins  of  influence,  and  passed  off  as  an 
ancient    revelation    from    the    Divinity  :    that,    as 
changes  arose  in  the  progress  of  society,  oj"  in  the 
))olicy  of  the  rulers,  alterations  were  made  in  the 
law,  and  new  codes  formed  incorporating  the  old 
one  ;    but  that,   at  lengtii,  the  text  of  the  Code 
became  fixed,   and  all  subsequent  changes  were  in- 
troduced in  the  form  of  glosses  on  the  original,  or 
of  new  laws  promulgated  by  the  royal  authority. 
To  all  appearance,  the  present  Code  w^as  not  com- 
])iled   until   long  after  tiie  community  had  passed 
the  earliest  stages  of  civilisation. 

II  2 


100  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         In  making  a  general  review  of  the  Code,  we  are 

'        struck  with  two  peculiarities  in  its  relation  to  the 

Pecuiiari-    class  of  Bramlns  by  whom  it  seems  to  have  been 

ties  relating 

to  tiie  Bra.  planned.  The  first  is  the  little  importance  attached 
by  them  to  the  direction  of  pubHc  worship  and 
religious  ceremonies  of  all  sorts.  Considering  the 
reverence  derived  by  the  ministers  of  religion  from 
their  apparent  mediation  between  the  laity  and 
the  Divinity,  and  also  the  power  that  might  be 
obtained  by  means  of  oracles,  and  other  modes  of 
deception,  it  might  rather  have  been  expected  that 
such  means  of  influence  should  be  neglected  by 
the  priesthood,  in  the  security  arising  from  long 
possession  of  temporal  authority,  than  renounced 
in  an  early  Code,  the  main  object  of  which  is  to 
confirm  and  increase  the  power  of  the  Bramins. 

The  effects  of  this  neglect  are  also  deserving  of 
observation.  It  was  natural  that  the  degradation 
of  public  worship  should  introduce  the  indifference 
now  so  observable  in  the  performance  of  it ;  but  it 
is  surprising  that  the  regular  practice  of  it  by  all 
classes  should  still  be  kept  up  at  all ;  and  that,  on 
some  occasions,  as  pilgrimages,  festivals,  &c.,  it 
should  be  able  to  kindle  enthusiasm. 

The  second  peculiarity  is  the  regulation  of  all 
the  actions  of  life,  in  a  manner  as  strict  and  minute 
as  could  be  enforced  in  a  single  convent,  main- 
tained over  so  numerous  a  body  of  men  as  the 
Bramins,  scattered  through  an  extensive  region, 
living  with  their  families  like  other  citizens,  and 
subject  to  no  common  chief  or  council,  and  to  no 


GENERAL    REMARKS.  101 

form  of  ecclesiastical  government  or  subordination,     chap. 


& 


Various  causes  contributed  to  support  this  disci- 
pline, which,  at  first,  seems  to  have  been  left  to 
chance, —  the  superstitious  reverence  for  the  divine 
law,  which  must  in  time  have  been  felt  even  by 
the  class  whose  progenitors  invented  it ;  their  strict 
system  of  early  education  ;  the  penances  enjoined 
by  religion,  perhaps  enforced  by  the  aid  of  tlie  civil 
authority  ;  the  force  of  habit  and  public  opinion 
after  the  rules  had  obtained  the  sanction  of  anti- 
quity ;    but,  above  all,    the  vigilance  of  the  class 
itself,  excited  by  a  knowledge  of  the  necessity  of 
discipline  for  the  preservation  of  their  power,  and 
by  that  intense  feeling  of  the  common  interest  of 
the  class  which  never,  perhaps,  was  so  deeply  seated 
as  in  the  heart  of  a  Bramin. 

In  spite  of  these  forces,  however,  the  Bramin 
discipline  has  gradually  declined.  Their  rules  have 
been  neglected  in  cases  where  the  temptation  was 
strong,  or  the  risk  of  loss  of  influence  not  apparent, 
until  the  diminished  sanctity  of  their  character  has 
weakened  their  power,  and  has  thrown  a  consider- 
able portion  of  it  into  the  hands  of  men  of  other 
classes,  who  form  the  great  body  of  the  monastic 
orders. 


V. 


II  3 


102  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  II. 

CHANGES    SINCE    MENU,    AND    STATE    OF    THE 
HINDUS    IN    LATER    TIMES. 

BOOK     Though    tlie    Hindus    have   preserved  their  cus- 

II.  .  ^ 
toms  more  entire  than  any  other  people  with  whom 

we  are  acquainted,  and  for  a  period  exceeding  that 

recorded  of  any  other  nation  ;  yet  it  is  not  to  be 

supposed  that  changes  have  not  taken  place  in  the 

lapse  of  twenty-five  centuries. 

I  shall  now  attempt  to  point  out  those  changes  ; 
and,  although  it  may  not  always  be  possible  to  dis- 
tinguish such  of  them  as  may  be  of  Mahometan 
origin,  I  shall  endeavour  to  confine  my  account  to 
those  features,  whether  in  religion,  government,  or 
manners,  which  still  characterise  the  Hindus. 

I  shall  preserve  the  same  order  as  in  the  Code, 
and  shall  commence  with  the  present  state  of  the 
classes. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST.  103 


CHAP.  I. 

CHANGES    IN    CAST. 

It    is,   perhaps,  in    the  division  and  employment     chap. 
of  the  classes  that  the  greatest  alterations  have  ' 

been  made  since  Menu.  Changes  in 

Those  of  Cshetriya  and  Veisya,  perhaps  even  of  great 
Sudra,  are  alleged  by  the  Bramins  to  be  extinct; 
a  decision  which  is  by  no  means  acquiesced  in  by 
tliose  immediately  concerned.  Tlie  Rajputs  still 
loudly  assert  the  purity  of  tlieir  descent  from  the 
Cslietriyas,  and  some  of  the  industrious  classes 
claim  the  same  relation  to  the  Veisyas.  The 
Bramins,  however,  have  been  almost  universally 
successful,  so  far  as  to  exclude  the  other  classes 
from  access  to  the  Vedas,  and  to  confine  all  learn- 
ing, human  and  divine,  to  their  own  body. 

The  Bramins  themselves,  although  they  have 
preserved  tlieir  own  lineage  undisputed,  have,  in  a 
great  measure,  departed  from  the  rules  and  prac- 
tice of  their  predecessors.  In  some  particulars 
tliey  are  more  strict  than  formerly,  being  denied 
the  use  of  animal  food*,  and  restrained  from  inter- 

*  Some  casts  of  Bramins  in  Iliiulostaii  cat  certain  descrip- 
tions of  flesh  that  has  been  offered  in  sacrifice.  In  such  cir- 
cumstances flesh  is  everywhere  lawful  food;  but,  in  the  Deckan, 
this  sort  of  sacrifice  is  so  rare  that  proljubly  ^k;\\  Bramins  ever 
witnessed  it. 

H    4 


104  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  marriages  with  the  inferior  classes ;  but  in  most 
'  respects  their  practice  is  greatly  relaxed.  The 
whole  of  the  fourfold  division  of  their  life,  with 
all  the  restraints  imposed  on  students,  hermits, 
and  abstracted  devotees,  is  now  laid  aside  as  re- 
gards the  community;  though  individuals,  at  their 
choice,  may  still  adopt  some  one  of  the  modes  of 
life  which  formerly  were  to  be  gone  through  in 
turn  by  all. 

Bramins  now  enter  into  service,  and  are  to  be 
found  in  all  trades  and  professions.  The  portion 
of  them  supported  by  charity,  according  to  the 
original  system,  is  quite  insignificant  in  proportion 
to  the  whole.  It  is  common  to  see  them  as  hus- 
bandmen, and,  still  more,  as  soldiers  ;  and  even  of 
those  trades  which  are  expressly  forbidden  to  them 
nnder  severe  penalties,  they  only  scruple  to  exer- 
cise the  most  degraded,  and  in  some  places  not 
even  those.*  In  the  south  of  India,  however, 
their  peculiar  secular  occupations  are  those  con- 
nected with  writing  and  public  business.  From 
the  minister  of  state  down  to  the  village  ac- 
countant, the  greater  number  of  situations  of  this 
sort  are  in  their  hands,  as  is  all  interpretation  of 
the  Hindu  law,  a  large  share  of  the  ministry  of 
religion,  and  many  employments  (such  as  farmers 
of  the  revenue,  &c.),  where  a  knowledge  of  wTiting 
and  of  business  is  required. 

In  the  parts  of  Hindostan  where    the   Mogul 

*  Ward,  vol.  i.  p.  87. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST.  105 

system  was  fully  introduced,  the  use  of  the  Persian     chap. 
language  has  thrown  public  business  into  the  hands  ' 

of  Mussulmans  and  Cayets.*  Even  in  the  Nizam's 
territories  in  the  Deckan  the  same  cause  has  in 
some  degree  diminished  the  employment  of  the 
Bramins ;  but  still  they  must  be  admitted  to  have 
everywhere  a  more  avowed  share  in  the  govern- 
ment than  in  the  time  of  Menu's  Code,  when  one 
Bramin  counsellor,  together  with  the  judges,  made 
tlie  whole  of  their  portion  in  the  direct  enjoyment 
of  power. 

It  might  be  expected  that  this  worldly  turn  of 
their  pursuits  would  deprive  the  Bramins  of  some 
part  of  their  religious  influence  ;  and  accordingly 
it  is  stated  by  a  very  high  authority  t  that  (in  the 
provinces  on  the  Ganges,  at  least)  they  are  null  as 
a  hierarchy,  and  as  a  literary  body  few  and  little 
countenanced.  Even  in  the  direction  of  the  con- 
sciences of  families  and  of  individuals  they  have 
there  been  supplanted  by  Gosayens  and  other 
monastic  orders,  t 

Yet  even  in  Bengal  they  appear  still  to  be  the 
objects  of  veneration  and  of  profuse  liberality  to 
the  laity.  §  The  ministry  of  most  temples,  and  the 
conduct  of  religious  ceremonies,  must  still  remain 
with  them  ;  and  in  some  parts  of  India  no  dimi- 

*  A  cast  of  Siulras;  see  page  108.  of  this  volume. 
f   Professor  Wilson,    Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  310, 
311. 

\  Ibid.  vol.  xvii.  p.  311. 

§  Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.  i.  p.  GS — 71. 


106 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
II. 


Mixed 
classes. 


nution  whatever  can  be  perceived  in  their  spi- 
ritual authority.  Sucli  is  certainly  the  case  in  the 
Maratta  country,  and  would  appear  to  be  so  like- 
wise in  the  west  of  Hindostan.*  The  temporal 
influence  derived  from  their  numbers,  affluence, 
and  rank,  subsists  in  all  parts  ;  but,  even  where 
the  Bramins  have  retained  their  religious  authority, 
they  have  lost  much  of  their  popularity.  This 
seems  to  be  particularly  the  case  among  the  Raj- 
puts t,  and  is  still  more  so  among  the  Marattas, 
who  have  not  forgiven  their  being  supplanted  in 
the  government  of  their  country  by  a  class  whom 
they  regard  as  their  inferiors  in  the  military 
qualities  which  alone,  in  their  estimation,  entitle 
men  to  command. 

The  two  lowest  classes  that  existed  in  Menu's 
time  are  now  replaced  by  a  great  number  of  casts 
of  mixed,  and  sometimes  obscure,  descent,  who, 
nevertheless,  maintain  their  divisions  with  greater 
strictness  than  the  ancient  classes  were  accustomed 
to  do,  neither  eating  together,  nor  intermarrying, 
nor  partaking  in  common  rites.  In  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Puna,  where  they  are  probably  not 
particularly  numerous,  there  are  about  150  different 
casts. t  These  casts,  in  many  cases,  coincide  with 
trades;  the  goldsmiths  forming  one  cast,  the  car- 


*  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i.  pp.  511,  512. 

f  Ibid. ;  and  see  also  Malcolms  Central  India,  vol.  ii. 
p.  124'. 

X  Steele,  Summary  of  the  Laios  and  Customs  of  Hindoo 
Casts,  preface,  p.  xi. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST.  107 

penters   another,    &c.       This   is    conformable    to     chap 
Menu,  who  assigns  to  eacli  of  the  mixed  classes  ' 

an  hereditary  occupation. 

The  enforcement  of  the  rules  of  cast  is  still 
strict,  but  capricious.  If  a  person  of  low  cast  were 
to  step  on  the  space  of  ground  cleared  out  by  one 
of  the  higher  classes  for  cooking,  the  owner  would 
immediately  throw  away  his  untasted  meal,  even 
if  he  had  not  the  means  of  procuring  another. 

The  loss  of  cast  is  faintly  described  by  saying 
that  it  is  civil  death.  A  man  not  only  cannot 
inherit,  nor  contract,  nor  give  evidence,  but  he  is 
excluded  from  all  the  intercourse  of  private  life,  as 
well  as  from  the  privileges  of  a  citizen.  He  must 
not  be  admitted  into  his  father's  house  ;  his  nearest 
relations  must  not  communicate  with  him  ;  and  he 
is  deprived  of  all  the  consolations  of  religion  in 
this  life,  and  all  hope  of  happiness  in  that  which 
is  to  follow.  Unless,  however,  cast  be  lost  for  an 
enormous  offence,  or  for  long  continued  breach  of 
rules,  it  can  always  be  regained  by  expiation  ;  and 
the  means  of  recovering  it  must  be  very  easy,  for 
the  effects  of  the  loss  of  it  are  now  scarcely  ob- 
servable. It  occurs,  no  doubt,  and  prosecutions 
are  not  unfrequent  in  our  courts  for  unjust  ex- 
clusion from  cast ;  but  in  a  long  residence  in  India 
I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have  met  with  or  heard 
of  an  individual  placed  in  the  circumstances  which 
I  have  described. 

The  greatest  change  of  all  is,  that  there  no 
longer  exists  a  servile  class.     There  are  still  prae- 


108  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  dial  slaves  in  the  south  of  India,  and  some  of  the 
"  mountain  and  forest  districts  elsewhere.  These 
may  possibly  be  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Sudras, 
but  in  other  parts  of  the  country  all  classes  are 
free.  Domestic  slaves  form  no  exception,  being 
individuals  of  any  class  reduced  by  particular  cir- 
cumstances to  bondage. 

Though  scrupulous  genealogists  dispute  the 
existence  of  pure  Sudras  at  the  present  day,  yet 
many  descriptions  of  people  are  admitted  to  be 
such  even  by  the  Bramins.  The  whole  of  the 
Marattas,  for  instance,  belong  to  that  class.  The 
proper  occupation  of  a  Siidra  is  now  thought  to  be 
agriculture  ;  but  he  is  not  confined  to  that  em- 
ployment, for  many  are  soldiers ;  and  the  Cayets, 
who  have  been  mentioned  as  rivalling  the  Bramins 
in  business  and  every  thing  connected  with  the 
pen,  are  (in  Bengal  at  least)  pure  Sudras,  to  whom 
their  profession  has  descended  from  ancient  times.* 
The  institution  of  casts,  though  it  exercises  a 
most  pernicious  influence  on  the  progress  of  the 
nation,  has  by  no  means  so  great  an  effect  in  ob- 
structing the  enterprise  of  individuals  as  European 
writers  are  apt  to  suppose.  There  is,  indeed, 
scarcely  any  part  of  the  world  where  changes  of 
condition  are  so  sudden  and  so  strikino-  as  in  India. t 


'& 


*  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  v.  p.  58. 

f  The  last  Peshwa  had,  at  different  times,  two  prime 
ministers  :  one  of  them  had  been  either  an  officiating  priest  or 
a  singer  in  a  temple  (both  degrading  employments),  and  the 
other  was  a  Sudra,  and  originally  a  running  footman.     The 


CHANGES    IN    CAST  — INIONASTIC    ORDERS.  109 

A  new  cast  may  be  said  to  have  been  introduced     chap. 

by  the  estabhshment  of  the  monastic  orders.  

The  orio-in  of  these  communities   can   only  be  Monastic 

'-'  ^  orders. 

touched  on  as  a  matter  of  speculation. 

By  the  rules  of  Menu's  Code,  a  Bramin  in  the 
fourth  stage  of  his  life,  after  having  passed  through 
a  period  of  solitude  and  mortification  as  an  an- 
choret*, is  released  from  all  formal  observances, 
and  permitted  to  devote  his  time  to  contemplation. 
It  is  probable  that  persons  so  situated  might 
assemble  for  the  purpose  of  religious  discussion, 
and  that  men  of  superior  endowments  to  the  rest 
might  collect  a  number  of  hearers,  who  would  live 
around  them  without  forming  any  religious  com- 
munity. Such,  at  least,  was  the  progress  from 
single  monks  to  cenobites,  among  the  early  Chris- 
tians. The  assemblies  of  these  inquirers  might  in 
time  be  attended  by  disciples,  who,  though  not 
Bramins,  were  of  the  classes  to  whom  the  study  of 
tlicology  was  permitted,  each,  however,  living  inde- 
pendently, according  to  the  practice  of  his  own 
class.    This  would  seem  to  be  the  stage  to  which 


]hija  of  Jeipur's  prime  minister  was  a  barber.  The  founder  of 
the  reigning  family  of  Holcar  was  a  goatherd;  and  that  of 
Sindia,  a  menial  servant ;  and  both  were  Sudras.  The  great 
family  of  Riistia,  in  the  Maratta  country,  first  followed  the 
natural  occu])ations  of  Bramins,  then  became  great  bankers, 
and,  at  length,  military  commanders.  Many  similar  instances 
of  elevation  might  be  quoted.  The  changes  of  professions  in 
private  life  are  less  observable;  but  the  first  good  Hindu  minia- 
ture painter,  in  the  European  manner,  was  a  blacksmith. 
*   See  p.  27.  of  this  volume. 


110  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  these  religious  institutions  had  attained  in  the  time 
'  of  Alexander,  though  there  are  passages  in  the 
early  Greek  writers  from  which  it  might  be  in- 
ferred that  they  had  advanced  still  further  to- 
wards the  present  model  of  regular  monastic  or- 
ders.* Unless  that  evidence  be  thought  sufficient, 
we  have  no  means  of  conjecturing  at  what  period 
those  assemblages  formed  themselves  into  religious 
communities,  subject  to  rules  of  their  own,  distinct 
from  those  of  their  respective  classes.  The  earliest 
date  to  which  the  foundation  of  any  monastic  order 
can  be  traced  in  the  Hindu  books  is  the  eighth  cen- 
tury of  our  aera ;  and  few  of  those  now  in  exist- 
ence are  older  than  the  fourteenth,  t  Some  orders 
are  still  composed  of  Bramins  alone,  and  a  few 
among  them  may  be  regarded  as  the  representatives 
of  the  original  societies  adverted  to  in  the  last 
page ;  but  the  distinguishing  peculiarity  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  orders  is,  that  all  distinctions 
of  cast  are  levelled  on  admission.  Bramins  break 
their  sacerdotal  thread ;  and  Cshetryas,  Veisyas, 
and  Sudras  renounce  their  own  class  on  enterinir 
an  order,  and  all  become  equal  members  of  their 
new  community.  This  bold  innovation  is  supposed 

*  See  Appendix  III.  It  appears,  in  the  same  place,  that 
these  assemblies  included  persons  performing  the  penances 
enjoined  to  Bramins  of  the  third  stage  of  life  (or  anchorets), 
who,  by  the  strict  rule  laid  down  for  them,  were  bound  to  live 
in  solitude  and  silence. 

t  It  may,  perhaps,  be  construed  into  an  indication  of  the 
existence  of  such  orders  in  Menu's  time,  that  in  Book  V.  v.  89. 
funeral  rites  are  denied  to  heretics,  ivho  wear  a  dress  of  religion 
unauthorised  by  the  Veda. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST —  MONASTIC    ORDERS.  Ill 

by  Professor  Wilson  to  have  been  adopted  about    chap. 
tlie  end  of  the  fourteenth  or  beginning  of  the  fif-         ' 
teenth  century. 

The  Hindu  orders  do  not  present  the  same  re- 
gular aspect  as  similar  fraternities  in  Europe,  and 
do  not  so  easily  furnish  marked  characteristics  to 
distinguish  them  from  the  rest  of  mankind  or  from 
each  other.  There  is  not  even  a  general  name  for 
the  class,  though  that  of  Gosayen  (which,  in  strict- 
ness, should  be  confined  to  one  subdivision)  is 
usually  applied  to  the  whole.  They  can  all  be  re- 
cognised by  their  dress,  as  all  wear  some  part  of 
their  clothes  (generally  the  turban  and  scarf)  of  a 
dirty  orange  colour,  except  a  few,  who  go  quite 
naked  ;  all  are  bound  by  some  vows;  and  all  accept 
(though  all  do  not  solicit)  charity. 

These  arc,  perhaps,  the  only  particulars  which 
can  be  asserted  of  them  all ;  but  by  flu*  the  greater 
number  have  many  other  features  in  common.  An 
order  generally  derives  its  character  fi'om  a  parti- 
cular spiritual  instructor,  whose  doctrines  it  main- 
tains, and  by  whose  rules  of  life  the  members  are 
bound.  Many  of  these  founders  of  orders  have 
been  likewise  founders  of  sects  ;  for  which  reason, 
the  tenets  of  Gosayens  are  seldom  purely  orthodox. 
They  vary  greatly  in  numbers,  some  being  con- 
fined to  a  small  knot  of  votaries  in  one  part  of  the 
country,  and  others  spread  in  numbers  over  all 
India. 

Most  of  them  possess  convents,  to  which,  in 
some   cases,    landed   pro))erty   is   attached.     They 


112  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  derive  an  additional  income  from  the  contributions 
'  of  devout  persons,  from  money  collected  by  beg- 
ging, and,  in  many  cases,  from  trade,  which  is 
often  carried  on  openly,  but  more  frequently  in  a 
covert  manner.  Tliese  convents  are  all  under  a 
mohant  (or  abbot)  who  is  generally  elected  by 
his  own  community  or  by  the  other  mohants  of 
the  order  ;  but  who  is  sometimes  hereditary,  and 
often  named  by  his  predecessor.  Admission  into 
an  order  is  not  given  until  after  a  probation  of  a 
year  or  two.  The  novice  is,  in  a  manner,  adopted 
by  a  particular  instructor,  or  guru,  who  has  often 
several  such  disciples  ;  all  subject,  as  well  as  the 
guru  himself,  to  the  head  of  the  convent.  One 
order  in  Bengal  admits  of  males  and  females  living 
in  one  convent,  but  under  strict  vows  of  chastity. 

Many  of  the  Gosayens  who  belong  to  convents 
nevertheless  spend  much  of  their  lives  in  wander- 
ing about,  and  subsist  by  begging.  Other  Go- 
sayens lead  an  entirely  erratic  life  ;  in  some  cases 
still  subordinate  to  mohants,  and,  in  others,  quite 
independent  and  free  from  all  rules,  except  such 
as  they  impose  on  themselves.  But  among  these 
last  are  to  be  found  some  of  the  most  austere 
religionists  ;  those,  in  particular,  who  retire  to  the 
heart  of  forests,  and  live  entirely  unconnected 
with  mankind,  exposed  to  the  chance  of  famine,  if 
no  charitable  person  should  think  of  them,  and  to 
still  greater  danger  from  the  beasts  of  prey  that 
alone  inhabit  those  wild  and  solitary  tracts.* 

*  Mr.  Ward   on   the   Hindoos,   vol.  iii.   p.  34-2.  ;    where  he 


CHANGES    IN    CAST  MONASTIC    ORDERS.  113 

Few  of  the  orders  are  under  very  strict  vows;     chap. 
and  they  have  no  attendance  on  chapels,  general  ' 

fasts,  vigils,  or  other  monkish  observances.  Most 
are  bound  to  celibacy ;  but  many  allow  their 
members  to  marry,  and  to  reside  with  their  families 
like  laymen.  One  order,  particularly  devoted  to 
Crishiia  in  his  infant  form,  hold  it  to  be  their 
duty  to  indulge  in  costly  apparel  and  choice  food, 
and  to  partake  of  every  description  of  innocent 
enjoyment ;  and  these  tenets  are  so  far  from  lower- 
ing their  character  that  their  influence  with  their 
followers  is  unbounded,  and  they  are  amply  supplied 
with  the  means  of  living  according  to  their  liberal 
notions  of  religious  duty. 

Some  orders,  however,  differ  widely  from  these 
last :  such  are  those  of  which  individuals  hold  up 
one  or  both  arms  until  they  become  fixed  in  that 
position,  and  until  the  nails  grow  through  the 
hands ;  those  who  lie  on  beds  of  spikes,  who  vow 
perpetual  silence,  and  who  expose  themselves  to 
other  voluntary  mortifications. 

Some  few  affect  every  sort  of  filth  and  pollution, 
and  extort  alms  by  the  disgust  which  their  pre- 
sence creates,  or  by  gashing  their  limbs  with  knives. 

Others,  as  has  been  said,  go  naked,  and  many 
nearly  so.  Of  this  description  are  the  Nagas,  who 
serve  as  mercenary  soldiers,  often  to  the  number  of 
several  thousands,  under  their  own  leaders. 


states  tliat  lie  was  informed,  on  a  s])ot  on  Sagar  island,  tliat  six 
of  these  hermits  luul  been  carried  off  by  tigers  in  the  preceding 
three  months. 


VOL.  I. 


114  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  These  people  do  not  profess  to  take  arms  for  the 
"  advancement  of  thek  religion,  but  serve  any  chief 
for  hire ;  and  are,  in  general,  men  of  violent  and 
profligate  habits,  but  with  the  reputation  of  despe- 
rate courage.  Their  naked  limbs  smeared  with 
ashes,  their  shaggy  beards,  and  their  matted  hair, 
artificially  increased  and  twisted  round  the  head, 
give  a  striking  appearance  to  these  martial  de- 
votees. When  not  hired,  they  have  been  known 
to  wander  about  the  country,  in  large  bands,  plun- 
dering and  levying  contributions.  In  former  days 
the  British  possessions  were  more  than  once  threat- 
ened or  invaded  by  such  marauders. 

But  these  armed  monks  sometimes  assemble  in 
great  numbers,  without  being  formed  into  bands  or 
associated  for  military  service  ;  and  the  meeting  of 
large  bodies  of  opposite  sects  has  often  led  to  san- 
guinary conflicts.  At  the  great  fair  at  Hardwar, 
in  1760,  an  aflfray,  or  rather  a  battle,  took  place 
between  the  Nagas  of  Siva  and  those  of  Vishnu, 
in  which  it  was  stated,  on  the  spot,  that  18,000 
persons  were  left  dead  on  the  field.*  The  amount 
must,  doubtless,  have  been  absurdly  exaggerated, 
but  it  serves  to  give  an  idea  of  the  numbers  en- 
gaged. 

One  description  of  Gosayens,  of  the  sect  of  Siva, 
are  Yogis  (see  p.  224.) ;  and  attempt,  by  medita- 
tion, and  by  holding  in  the  breath,  and  other  mum- 
meries, to  procure  a  union  with  the  Divinity.  The 
lowest  of  this  class  pretend  to  work  miracles ;  and 
some  are  even  professed  mountebanks,  who  go 
*  Captain  Raper,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii.  p.  '^55. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST  MONASTIC    ORDERS.  115 

about  the  country  with  monkeys  and  musical  in-     chap, 
struments,  and  amuse  the  populace  with  juggling  " 

and  other  tricks  of  dexterity.  Another  sort  is 
much  more  remarkable.  These  profess  to  be  en- 
thusiastic devotees,  and  practise  their  imposture, 
not  for  money,  but  to  increase  their  reputation  for 
sanctity.  Among  them  are  persons  who  manage, 
by  some  contrivance  hitherto  unexplained,  to  re- 
main seated,  for  many  minutes,  in  the  air,  at  as 
great  a  distance  from  the  ground  as  four  feet,  with 
no  other  apparent  support  but  what  they  derive 
from  slightly  resting  on  a  sort  of  crutch  with  the 
back  of  one  hand,  the  fingers  of  which  are  all  the 
time  employed  in  counting  their  beads.* 

Among  the  Gosayens  there  are,  or  have  been, 
some  few  learned  men :  many  are  decent  and  in- 
offensive religionists,  and  many  respectable  mer- 
chants ;  but  many,  also,  are  shameless  and  impor- 
tunate beggars,  and  worthless  vagabonds  of  all 
descriptions,  attracted  to  the  order  by  the  idle  and 
wandering  life  which  it  admits  of.  In  general,  the 
followers  of  Vishnu  are  the  most  respectable,  and 
those  of  Siva  the  most  infected  by  the  offensive 
qualities  of  the  class.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the 
jrood  sense  of  the  Hindus  that  these  devotees  fall 
ofl'  in  public  esteem  exactly  in  proportion  to  the 
extravagance  and  eccentricity  of  their  observances. 

*  The  most  authentic  account  of  one  of  these  is  quoted  by 
Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  186.,  from  a 
statement  by  an  eye-witness  in  the  Asiatic  Monthhj  Journal  for 
March,  1829. 

I  2 


^Vi6  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  The  veneration  of  some  of  the  Vaishnava  sec- 
'  tarians  for  their  mendicant  directors  is  carried  to 
an  ahnost  incredible  pitch.  In  Bengal,  some  of 
them  consider  their  spiritual  guide  as  of  superior 
importance,  and  entitled  to  greater  regard  than 
their  deity  himself.*  The  want  of  a  common  head 
to  the  Hindu  religion  accounts  for  the  lax  discipline 
of  many  orders,  and  the  total  absence  of  rules 
among  single  Beiragis  and  Yogis,  and  such  lawless 
assemblages  as  those  formed  by  the  military  Nagas. 
The  same  circumstance  has  preserved  the  inde- 
pendence of  these  orders,  and  prevented  their 
falling,  like  the  monks  of  Europe,  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  ecclesiastical  body  ;  and  to  their 
independence  is  to  be  ascribed  the  want  of  concord 
between  them  and  the  sacerdotal  class.  The  rivalry 
thus  engendered  might  have  produced  more  serious 
effects  ;  but  the  influence  which  the  Bramins  derive 
from  their  possession  of  the  literature  and  law  of 
their  nation  has  had  an  operation  on  the  orders,  as 
it  has  on  other  Hindus;  and,  in  recognising  the 
Code  of  Menu,  and  the  religious  traditions  of  their 
country,  they  could  not  withhold  their  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  high  station  to  which  the  class 
had  raised  itself  by  the  authority  of  those  writings. 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  p.  119.  The 
above  account  is  chiefly  from  Professor  Wilson's  essay  in  vols, 
xvi.  and  xvii.  of  the  Asiatic  Researches ;  with  some  particulars 
from  Ward's  Hindoos,  and  some  from  the  account  of  the  Gosayens 
in  the  Appendix  to  Steele's  Summary.  See  Appendix,  on 
"  Changes  in  Cast." 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT' —  REVENUE^.  117 


CHAP.  II. 

CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT. 

The  modern  Hindu  government   differs  from  that    chap. 
described  by  Menu,  less  in  consequence  of  any  de-  ' 

liberate  alterations,  than  of  a  relaxation  of  the  sys- 
tematic form  which  was  recommended  by  the  old 
lawgiver,  and  which,  perhaps,  was  at  no  time 
exactly  conformed  to  in  the  actual  practice  of  any 
state. 

The  chief  has  no  longer  a  fixed  number  of  mi-  Admini- 
nisters  and  a  regular  council.     He   has  naturally 
some  heads  of  departments,  and  occasionally  con- 
sults   them   and  his    prime    minister,   on    matters 
affecting  the  peculiar  province  of  each. 

Traces  of  all  the  revenue  divisions  of  Menu*,  Revenue 
under  lords  of  10  towns,  lords  of  100,  and  lords  of 
1000  towns,  are  still  to  be  found,  especially  in  the 
Deckan  ;  but  the  only  one  which  remains  entire 
is  that  called  Perganneh,  which  answers  to  the 
lordship  of  100  towns.  Even  the  officers  of  the 
old  system  arc  still  kept  up  in  those  divisions,  and 
receive  a  remuneration  in  lands  and  fees ;  but  they 

♦  As  many  of  the  notes  on  this  account  of  the  revenue 
system  are  long,  and  not  required  for  a  general  understanding  of 
the  subject,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  place  them  in  an  Ap- 
pendix, to  which  reference  will  be  made  by  letters  of  the 
alphabet. 

I  3 


118  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     are  no  longer  the  active  agents  of  the  government, 


II. 


and  are  only  employed  to  keep  the  records  of  all 
matters  connected  with  land.  (A)  It  is  generally 
supposed  that  these  officers  fell  into  disuse  after 
the  Mahometan  conquest ;  but  as,  like  every  thing 
Hindu,  they  became  hereditary,  and  liable  to  divi- 
sion among  heirs,  the  sovereign,  Hindu  as  well  as 
Mussulman,  must  have  felt  their  inadequacy  to 
fulfil  the  objects  they  were  designed  for,  and  the 
necessity  of  replacing  them  by  officers  of  his  own 
choosing,  on  wliom  he  could  rely. 

At  present,  even  Hindu  territories  are  divided 
into  governments  of  various  extent,  which  are  again 
divided  and  subdivided,  as  convenience  requires. 
The  King  names  the  governors  of  tlie  great  divi- 
sions, and  the  governor  chooses  his  own  deputies 
for  those  subordinate. 

The  governor  unites  all  the  functions  of  admi- 
nistration ;  there  being  no  longer  military  divisions 
as  in  Menu's  time  ;  and  no  courts  of  justice,  but  at 
the  capital  (if  there). 

But  among  all  these  changes,  the  townships  re- 
main entire,  and  are  the  indestructible  atoms,  from 
an  aggregate  of  wliich  the  most  extensive  Indian 
empires  are  composed. 
Descrip-  A  towusliip  is  a  compact  piece  of  land,  varying 

township,  in  extent,  inhabited  by  a  single  community.  The 
boundaries  are  accurately  defined  and  jealously 
guarded.  The  lands  may  be  of  all  descriptions  ; 
those  actually  under  cultivation  and  those  neg- 
lected ',  arable  lands  never  yet  cultivated  ;  and  land 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT REVENUE.  119 

which  is  altogether  incapable  of  cultivation.  These    chap. 
lands  are  divided  into  portions,  the  boundaries  of  ' 

which  are  as  carefully  marked  as  those  of  the  town- 
ship ;  and  the  names,  qualities,  extent,  and  pro- 
prietors of  which  are  minutely  entered  in  the 
records  of  the  community.  The  inhabitants  are 
all  assembled  in  a  village  within  the  limits,  which 
in  many  parts  of  India  is  fortified,  or  protected  by 
a  little  castle  or  citadel. 

Each  township  conducts  its  own  internal  affairs,  itsprivi- 
It  levies  on  its  members  the  revenue  due  to  the 
state  ;  and  is  collectively  responsible  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  full  amount.  It  manages  its  police, 
and  is  answerable  for  any  property  plundered 
within  its  limits.  It  administers  justice  to  its  own 
members,  as  far  as  punishing  small  oifences,  and 
deciding  disputes  in  the  first  instance.  It  taxes 
itself,  to  provide  funds  for  its  internal  expenses  j 
such  as  repairs  of  the  walls  and  temple,  and  the 
cost  of  public  sacrifices  and  charities,  as  well  as  of 
some  ceremonies  and  amusements  on  festivals. 

It  is  provided  with  the  requisite  officers  for  con- 
ducting all  those  duties,  and  with  various  others 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  inhabitants ;  and, 
thougli  entirely  subject  to  the  general  government, 
is  in  many  respects  an  organised  commonwealth, 
complete  witliin  itself.  This  independence,  and 
its  concomitant  privileges,  though  often  violated 
by  the  government,  are  never  denied :  they  afford 
some  little  protection  against  a   tyrannical   ruler, 

I  4 


120  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     and  maintain  order  within  their  own  limits,  even 
"'       when  the  general  government  has  been  dissolved. 
I  quote  the  following  extract  from  a  minute  of 
Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  as  well  for  the  force  of  his 
language  as  the  weight  of  his  authority. 

"  The  village  communities  are  little  republics, 
having  nearly  every  thing  they  can  want  within 
themselves,  and  almost  independent  of  any  foreign 
relations.     They  seem  to  last  where  nothing  else 
lasts.     Dynasty  after  dynasty  tumbles  down  ;   re- 
volution succeeds  to  revolution ;   Hindoo,  Patau, 
Mogul,  Mahratta,  Sik,  English,  are  all  masters  in 
turn  ;  but  the  village  community  remains  the  same. 
In  times  of  trouble  they  arm  and  fortify  them- 
selves :  an  hostile  army  passes  through  the  country  : 
the  village  communities  collect  their  cattle  within 
their  walls,  and  let  the  enemy  pass  unprovoked. 
If  plunder   and   devastation    be    directed   against 
themselves,  and  the  force  employed  be  irresistible, 
they  flee  to  friendly  villages  at  a  distance  ;  but, 
when  the  storm  has  passed  over,  they  return  and 
resume  their  occupations.     If  a   country  remain 
for  a  series  of  years  the  scene  of  continued  pillage 
and  massacre,  so  that  the  villages  cannot  be  inha- 
bited,  the  scattered  villagers  nevertheless  return 
wdienever  the  power  of  peaceable  possession  re- 
vives.    A  generation  may  pass  away,   but  the  suc- 
ceeding generation  will  return.    The  sons  will  take 
the  places  of  their  fathers  ;  the  same  site  for  the 
village,  the  same  positions  for  the  houses,  the  same 
lands  will   be    reoccupied  by  the  descendants  of 


CHANGES  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT REVENUE.         121 

those  who  were  driven  out  when  the  village  was     chap. 


II. 


depopulated ;  and  it  is  not  a  trifling  matter  that 
will  drive  them  out,  for  they  will  often  maintain 
their  post  through  times  of  disturbance  and  con- 
vulsion, and  acquire  strength  sufficient  to  resist 
pillage  and  oppression  with  success.  This  union 
of  the  village  communities,  each  one  forming  a 
separate  little  state  in  itself,  has,  I  conceive,  con- 
tributed more  than  any  other  cause  to  the  preserv- 
ation of  the  people  of  India  through  all  the  revo- 
lutions and  changes  which  they  have  suffered,  and 
is  in  a  high  degree  conducive  to  their  happiness, 
and  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  great  portion  of  freedom 
and  independence."  * 

A   township   in    its    simplest   form    is    under  a  Govcm- 
Headman  (B),  who   is    only  spoken  of  in  Menu  township 
as  an    agent  of  the   King,    and  may  have   been  hLX^ 
removable   at   his   pleasure.     His  office  has  now 
become  hereditary  ;  and  though  he  is  still  regarded 
as  an  officer  of  the  King,   he   is  really  more  the 
representative  of  the  people.     The  selection  of  an 
individual  from  the  proper  family  rests  sometimes 
with  the  village  community,  and  oftener  with  the 
government ;  but  to  be  useful  to  either  he  must 
possess  the  confidence  of  both.     He  holds  a  portion 
of  land,  and  receives  an  annual  allowance  from  the 
government ;  but  the  greater  part  of  his  income  is 
derived  from  fees  paid  by  the  villagers.     So  far  is 
he  identified  with  the  village,  that  he  is  held  per- 

*   Sir  C.  T.  Metcalfe,  licpurt  nf  Select  Commitlee  of  House  of 
Comniom,  1832,  vol.  iii.  Appendix  81.  p.  331. 


122 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
II. 


Duties  of 
tlie  head- 
man. 


Village 
establish- 
ment ;  the 
accountant, 
watchman, 
&c. 


sonally  responsible  for  its  engagements,  and  thrown 
into  prison  in  all  cases  of  resistance  or  failure  of 
the  revenue. 

The  headman  settles  with  the  government  the 
sum  to  be  paid  to  it  for  the  year ;  and  apportions 
the  payment  among  the  villagers  according  to  the 
extent  and  tenures  of  their  lands.  He  also  lets 
such  lands  as  have  no  fixed  occupants,  partitions 
the  water  for  irrigation,  settles  disputes,  appre- 
liends  offenders,  and  sends  them  to  the  govern- 
ment officer  of  the  district ;  and,  in  short,  does  all 
the  duties  of  municipal  government. 

All  this  is  done  in  public,  at  a  place  appro- 
priated for  the  purpose  ;  and,  on  all  points  affect- 
ing the  public  interest,  in  free  consultation  with 
the  villagers.  In  civil  disputes  the  headman  is 
assisted  by  arbitrators  named  by  the  parties,  or  by 
assessors  of  his  own  choice.  His  office  confers  a 
great  deal  of  respectability  with  all  the  country 
people,  as  well  as  influence  in  his  own  village.  It 
is  saleable ;  but  the  owner  seldom  parts  with  it 
entirely,  reserving  the  right  of  presiding  at  certain 
ceremonies  and  other  honorary  privileges,  when 
compelled  to  dispose  of  all  the  solid  advantages. 

The  headman  is  assisted  by  different  officers,  of 
whom  the  accountant  and  the  watchman  are  the 
most  important. 

The  accountant  (C)  keeps  the  village  records, 
which  contain  a  full  description  of  the  nature  of 
the  lands  of  the  village,  with  the  names  of  the 
former  and  present  holders,   the  rent,  and  other 


CHANGES  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  REVENUE.         123 

terms  of  occupancy.     He  also  keeps  the  accounts     chap. 
of  the  village  community  and  those  of  the  villagers  ' 

individually,  both  with  the  government  and  with 
each  other.  He  acts  as  notary  in  drawing  up 
deeds  for  them,  and  writes  private  letters  for  those 
who  require  such  a  service.  He  is  paid  by  fees  on 
the  inhabitants,  and  sometimes  has  an  allowance  or 
an  assignment  of  land  from  the  government. 

The  watchman  (D)  is  the  guardian  of  boundaries, 
public  and  private.  He  watches  the  crops,  is  tlie 
})ublic  guide  and  messenger,  and  is,  next  to  the 
headman,  the  principal  officer  of  police.  In  this 
capacity  he  keeps  watch  at  night,  observes  all 
arrivals  and  departures,  makes  himself  acquainted 
with  tlie  character  of  every  individual  in  the 
village,  and  is  bound  to  find  out  the  possessor  of 
any  stolen  property  within  the  township,  or  to 
trace  him  till  he  has  passed  the  boundary,  when 
the  responsibility  is  transferred  to  the  next  neigh- 
hour. 

These  duties  may  seem  beyond  the  powers  of 
one  man  ;  but  the  remuneration  is  hereditary  in  a 
particular  flimily,  all  the  members  of  which  con- 
tribute to  perform  the  service.*  They  are  always 
men  of  a  low  cast. 

*  This  is  the  only  office  in  which  the  sort  of  joint  tenancy 
described  is  beneficial.  In  most  others  the  sharers  act  in  turn : 
in  that  of  the  accountant  the  evil  is  most  conspicuous,  as  the 
records  are  lost  or  thrown  into  confusion  by  frequently  changing 
hands,  and  none  of  the  coparceners  is  long  enough  in  office  to 
be  perfect  in  his  business. 


124 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
II. 


Govern- 
ment by  a 
village 
commu- 
nity. 


The  money-changer  may  also  be  considered  an 
assistant  of  the  headman,  as  one  of  his  duties  is  to 
assay  all  money  paid.  He  is  also  the  silversmith 
of  the  village.  Besides  these,  there  are  other 
village  officers,  the  number  of  which  is  fixed  by 
the  native  name  and  by  common  opinion  at  twelve ; 
but,  in  fact,  it  varies  in  different  villages,  and  the 
officers  included  are  not  always  the  same. 

The  priest  and  the  astrologer  (one  of  whom  is 
often  the  schoolmaster),  the  smith,  carpenter, 
barber,  potter,  and  worker  in  leather,  are  seldom 
wanting.  The  tailor,  washerman,  physician,  mu- 
sician, minstrel,  and  some  others,  are  not  so  ge- 
neral :  the  dancing  girl  seems  only  to  be  in  the 
south  of  India. 

The  minstrel  recites  poems  and  composes  verses. 
His  most  important  character  (in  some  places  at 
least)  is  that  of  genealogist.*  Each  of  these  vil- 
lage officers  and  artisans  has  a  fee,  sometimes  in 
money,  more  frequently  a  portion  of  produce,  as 
a  handful  or  two  out  of  each  measure  of  grain. 

This  is  the  mode  of  village  government,  when 
there  is  nobody  between  the  tenant  and  the  prince; 
but  in  one  half  of  India,  especially  in  the  north 
and  the  extreme  south,  there  is  in  each  village  a 
community  which  represents,  or  rather  which  con- 
stitutes,  the  township ;  the  other  inhabitants  being 


*  The  widely  extended  entail  o^  all  property  in  India,  and  the 
complicated  restrictions  on  the  intermarriage  of  families,  make 
the  business  of  a  genealogist  of  much  more  serious  concern  in 
that  country  than  it  is  with  us. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  REVENUE.  125 

their  tenants.  (E)     These  people  are  generally  re-     chap. 
garded  as  absolute  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  are  ' 

admitted,  wherever  they  exist,  to  have  a  hereditable 
and  transferable  interest  in  it ;  but,  as  the  com- 
pleteness of  their  proprietary  right  is  doubtful,  it 
will  be  convenient  to  preserve  the  ambiguity  of 
their  native  name,  and  call  them  "  village  land- 
holders." (F) 

Where  they  exist,  tlie  village  is  sometimes  go- 
verned by  one  head,  as  above  described  j  but  more 
frequently  each  branch  of  the  family  composing 
the  community  (or  each  family,  if  there  be  more 
than  one,)  has  its  own  head,  who  manages  its 
internal  affairs,  and  unites  with  the  heads  of  the 
other  divisions  to  conduct  the  general  business  of 
the  village.  The  council  thus  composed  fills  pre- 
cisely the  place  occupied  in  other  cases  by  the 
single  headman,  and  its  members  share  among 
them  the  official  remuneration  allowed  to  that 
officer  by  the  government  and  the  villagers.  Their 
number  depends  on  that  of  the  divisions,  but 
seldom  exceeds  eight  or  ten.  Each  of  these  heads 
is  generally  chosen  from  the  oldest  branch  of  his 
division,  but  is  neither  richer  nor  otherwise  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest  of  the  landholders. 

Where  there  are  village  landholders,  they  form  classes  of 
the  first  class  of  the  inhabitants  of  villages  ;  but 
there  are  four  other  classes  of  inferior  degree  :  — 
'2.  Permanent  tenants.  3.  Tenn)oraiy  tenants.  4. 
Labourers.  5.  Shopkeepers,  who  take  up  their 
abode  in  a  village  for  the  convenience  of  a  market. 


inhabit- 
ants. 


126  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         The  popular   notion    is  that   the  village   land- 

"        holders  are  all   descended  from  one  or  more  in- 

viiiage       dividuals  who  first  settled  the  villa«:e  ;  and  that 

land-  .  n  1 

holders.  the  Only  exceptions  are  formed  by  persons  who 
have  derived  their  rights  by  purchase,  or  other- 
wise, from  members  of  the  original  stock.  The 
supposition  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that,  to  this 
day,  there  are  often  only  single  families  of  land- 
holders in  small  villages,  and  not  many  in  large 
ones  (G)  ;  but  each  has  branched  out  into  so  many 
members,  that  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  whole 
agricultural  labour  to  be  done  by  the  landholders, 
without  the  aid  either  of  tenants  or  labourers. 

The  rights  of  the  landholders  are  theirs  col- 
lectively/ ;  and,  though  they  almost  always  have  a 
more  or  less  perfect  partition  of  them,  they  never 
have  an  entire  separation.  A  landholder,  for  in- 
stance, can  sell  or  mortgage  his  rights ;  but  he 
must  first  have  the  consent  of  the  village,  and  the 
purchaser  steps  exactly  into  his  place  and  takes  up 
all  his  obligations.  If  a  family  becomes  extinct, 
its  share  returns  to  the  common  stock. 

Their  rights  are  various  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  Where  their  tenure  is  most  perfect,  they 
hold  their  lands  subject  to  the  payment  of  a  fixed 
proportion  of  the  produce  to  government,  or  free 
of  all  demand.  When  at  the  lowest,  they  retain 
some  honorary  exemptions  that  distinguish  them 
from  the  rest  of  the  villagers.  (H) 

There  are  many  instances  where  the  govern- 
ment has  taken  advantage  of  the  attachment  of  the 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT REVENUE.  127 

landholders  to  their  land  to  lay  on  them  heavier  chap. 

.   .  II. 

imposts  than  other  cultivators  are  willing  to  pay.  ' 


Even  then,  however,  some  advantage,  actual  or 
prospective,  must  still  remain  ;  since  there  is  no 
tract  in  which  village  landholders  are  found  in 
which  their  rights  are  not  occasionally  sold  and 
mortgaged.  One  advantage,  indeed,  they  always 
enjoy  in  the  consideration  shown  towards  them 
in  the  country,  which  would  induce  a  family  to 
connect  itself  by  marriage  with  a  landholder  who 
laboured  with  his  own  hands,  rather  than  with  a 
wealthy  person,  equally  unexceptionable  in  point 
of  cast,  but  of  an  inferior  class  of  society. 

So  rooted  is  the  notion  of  property  in  the  village 
landholders,  that,  even  when  one  of  them  is  com- 
pelled to  abandon  his  fields  from  the  demand  of 
government  exceeding  what  they  will  pay,  he  is 
still  considered  as  proprietor,  his  name  still  re- 
mains on  the  village  register,  and,  for  three  ge- 
nerations, or  one  hundred  years,  he  is  entitled  to 
reclaim  his  land,  if  from  any  change  of  circum- 
stances he  should  be  so  disposed. 

In  the  Tamil  country  and  in  Hindostan,  a  tenant 
put  in  by  the  government  will  sometimes  volun- 
tarily pay  the  proprietor's  fee  to  the  defaulting  and 
dispossessed  landli older.* 

In    all    villages   there   are   two   descriptions   of  remiancnt 
tenants,   who  rent  the  lands  of  the  village  land-  *"''"'"''* 
holders  (where  there  are  such),  and  those  of  the 

*  Mr.  Ellis,  Report  of  Select  Commitlee,  1832,  vol.  iii,  p.  37G.; 
Mr.  Fortescue,  Sekctions,  vol.  iii.  p.  4:05. 


II 


128  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  government,  where  there  is  no  such  intermediate 
class.  These  tenants  are  commonly  called  ryots 
(I),  and  are  divided  into  two  classes,  —  permanent 
and  temporary. 

The  permanent  ryots  are  those  who  cultivate 
the  lands  of  the  village  where  they  reside,  retain 
them  during  their  lives,  and  transmit  them  to  their 
children.  (K) 

They  have  often  been  confounded  with  the  vil- 
lage landholders,  though  the  distinction  is  marked 
in  all  cases  where  any  proprietor's  fee  exists.  In 
it  no  tenant  ever  participates.  * 

Many  are  of  opinion  that  they  are  the  real 
proprietors  of  the  soil ;  w^hile  others  regard  them 
as  mere  tenants  at  will.  All,  however,  are  agreed 
within  certain  limits ;  all  acknowledging,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  they  have  some  claim  to  occupancy, 
and  on  the  other,  that  they  have  no  right  to  sell 
their  land. 

But,  though  all  admit  the  right  of  occupancy, 
some  contend  that  it  is  rendered  nugatory  by  the 
right  of  the  landlord  to  raise  his  rent ;  and  others 
assert  that  the  rent  is  so  far  fixed,  that  it  ought 
never  to  go  beyond  the  rate  customary  in  the  sur- 


rounding district. 


The  truth  probably  is,  that  the  tenant's  title  was 
clear  as  long  as  the  demand  of  the  state  was  fixed; 
but  that  it  became  vague  and  of  no  value  wlien  the 
public  assessment  became  arbitrary.     At  present, 

*  Mr.  Ellis,  Report  of  Select  Committee  of  House  of  Com- 
mons, 1832,  vol.  iii.  p.  385. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  REVENUE.  1 S9 

the  permanent  tenant  is  protected  by  the  interest     chap, 
of  the  landlord ;  he  will  pay  more  than  a  stranger  ' 


for  lands  long  held  by  his  family,  and  situated  in 
a  village  where  he  has  a  house ;  but  if  driven  to 
extremities,  he  could  easily  get  a  temporary  lease, 
in  another  village,  on  lighter  terms.  (L) 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  the  permanent 
tenants  are  the  remains  of  village  landholders  re- 
duced by  oppression  ;  others  think  they  are  tem- 
porary tenants  who  have  gained  their  rights  by 
long  possession.  It  is  probable  that  both  conjec- 
tures are  partially  right ;  as  well  as  a  third,  that 
their  tenure  was,  in  many  instances,  conferred  on 
them  by  the  landholders  at  the  first  settlement  of 
the  township. 

The  temporary  tenant  (M)  cultivates  the  lands  Temporary 
of  a  village  different  from  that  to  which  he  belongs, 
holding  them  by  an  annual  lease,  written  or  under- 
stood. The  first  description  of  land  being  occu- 
pied by  the  resident  tenant,  an  inferior  class  falls 
to  his  share,  for  which  there  is  little  competition  ; 
for  this  reason,  and  on  account  of  his  other  disad- 
vantages, he  gets  his  land  at  a  lower  rent  than  the 
permanent  tenant. 

There  is  another  sort  of  tenant  who  deserves  to 
be  mentioned,  though  of  much  less  importance 
than  either  of  the  other  two.  (N)  These  are  per- 
sons whose  cast  or  condition  in  life  prevents  their 
engaging  in  manual  labour,  or  their  women  from 
taking  part  in  any  em})loymcnt  that  requires  their 

VOL.   I.  K 


tenants. 


130 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


Hired 
labourers. 


Shopkeep- 
ers, ite. 


BOOK     appearing  before  men.     In  consideration  of  these 

'        disadvantages,  they  are  allowed  to  hold  land  at  a 

favourable  rate,   so  as  to  admit  of  their  availing 

themselves  of  their  skill  or  capital  by  the  help  of 

hired  labourers.  (O) 

The  services  and  remuneration  of  hired  labourers 
are  naturally  various  ;  but  they  differ  too  little  from 
those  of  other  countries  to  require  explanation. 

It  need  scarcely  be  repeated  that  each  of  these 
classes  is  not  necessarily  found  in  every  village. 
One  village  may  be  cultivated  entirely  by  any  one 
of  them,  or  by  all,  in  every  variety  of  proportion. 

Shopkeepers,  &c.  are  subject  to  a  ground- rent, 
and  sometimes  a  tax  besides,  to  the  person  on 
whose  land  they  reside.  They  are  under  the 
general  authority  of  the  headman  as  a  magistrate, 
but  have  little  else  to  do  with  the  community. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  the  first  villages 
founded  by  Hindus  were  all  in  the  hands  of  village 
communities.  In  the  early  stage  of  their  progress, 
it  was  impossible  for  single  men  to  cut  fields  out 
of  the  forest,  and  to  defend  them  against  the  attacks 
of  the  aborigines,  or  even  of  wild  beasts  j  there 
was  no  capital  to  procure  the  services  of  others ; 
and,  unless  the  undertaker  had  a  numerous  body 
of  kindred,  he  was  obliged  to  call  in  associates  who 
were  to  share  in  the  profits  of  the  settlement ;  and 
thence  came  the  formation  of  village  communities, 
and  the  division  of  the  land  into  townships. 

The  unoccupied  waste,  as  in  all  other  cases 
where  society  has  assumed  a  regular  form,  must 


Probable 
origin  and 
riecline  of 
the  villapre 
communi- 
ties. 


II. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  REVENUE.  131 

no  doubt  have  belonged  to  the  state ;  but  the  chap. 
King,  instead  of  transferring  this  property  to  the 
intended  cultivators  for  a  price  paid  once  for  all, 
or  for  a  fixed  annual  rent  or  quit-rent  (as  is  usual 
in  other  countries),  reserved  a  certain  proportion 
of  the  produce,  which  increased  or  diminished 
according  to  the  extent  and  nature  of  the  cultiva- 
tion. The  rest  of  the  produce  belonged  to  the 
community  of  settlers  ;  but  if  they  found  they  had 
more  good  land  than  they  could  tliemselves  till, 
they  would  endeavour  to  make  a  profit  of  it  through 
the  labour  of  others.  No  method  seemed  easier 
than  to  assign  it  to  a  person  who  should  engage  to 
pay  the  government's  proportion,  with  an  addi- 
tional share  to  the  community  ;  but  while  land  was 
plenty,  and  many  villages  in  progress,  no  man 
would  undertake  to  clear  a  spot  unless  he  was  to 
enjoy  it  for  ever;  and  hence  permanent  tenants 
would  arise.  Temporary  tenants  and  labourers 
would  follow  as  society  advanced.  The  subdivision 
of  property  by  inheritance  would  have  a  natural 
tendency  to  destroy  this  state  of  things,  and  to 
reduce  all  ranks  to  the  condition  of  labourers ;  but 
as  long  as  there  was  plenty  of  waste  land,  that 
principle  would  not  come  into  full  operation. 

But  for  this,  the  village  community  would  re- 
main unaltered  as  long  as  the  King's  proportion  of 
the  })roduce  was  unchanged.  When  he  raised  his 
demand,  the  profits  of  the  landholders  and  perma- 
nent tenants  diminished  ;  and  when  it  rose  above 
a  certain  point,  both  classes  cultivated  their  land 

K    '2 


]32  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     at  a  loss.     If  this  continued,  they  were  obliged  to 
______  throw  up   their  lands,  and    seek    otlier  means  of 

living. 

As  the  highest  proportion  claimed  by  the  King, 
which  at  the  time  of  Menu's  Code  was  one  sixth, 
is  now  one  half,  it  is  easy  to  account  for  the  anni- 
hilation of  many  village  communities,  and  the 
shattered  condition  of  others.  The  lands  aban- 
doned by  the  landholders  reverted  to  the  state. 

But  though  this  progress  may  have  been  very 
general,  it  need  not  have  been  universal ;  con- 
quered lands  already  cultivated  would  become  the 
property  of  the  Prince,  and  might  be  cultivated  on 
his  account  by  the  old  proprietors  reduced  to  serfs. 
Even  at  this  day,  the  state  constantly  grants  lands 
to  speculators,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  villages, 
without  recognising  a  body  of  landholders.  The 
terms  of  these  grants  are  various ;  in  general,  they 
provide  for  total  or  partial  exemption  from  revenue 
for  a  certain  number  of  years  ;  after  which  the 
payment  is  to  be  the  same  as  in  neighbouring  vil- 
lages. 

Other  processes  must  also  have  taken  place,  as 
we  perceive  from  the  results,  though  we  cannot 
trace  their  progress.  In  Canara,  Malabar,  and 
Travancore,  the  land  is  held  in  absolute  property 
by  single  individuals,  subject  to  a  fixed  payment 
to  the  state. 
ri.biiciand  The  Sovereign's  full  share  is  now  reckoned  at 
one  half;  and  a  country  is  reckoned  moderately 
assessed  where  he  only  takes  one  third. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  —  REVENUE.  133 

This  increase  has  been  made,  not  so  much  by     chap. 


openly  raising  the  King's  proportion  of  the  crop, 
as  by  means  of  various  taxes  and  cesses,  some 
falUng  directly  on  the  land,  and  others  more  or 
less  circuitously  affecting  the  cultivator.  Of  the 
first  sort  are  taxes  on  ploughs,  on  cattle,  and 
others  of  the  same  description  :  of  the  second, 
taxes  on  the  use  of  music  at  certain  ceremonies, 
on  marriages  with  widows,  &c.,  and  new  taxes  on 
consumption.  Besides  these,  there  are  arbitrary 
cesses  of  both  descriptions,  which  were  professedly 
laid  on  for  temporary  purposes,  but  have  been 
rendered  permanent  in  practice.  Of  this  kind  are 
a  cess  on  all  occupants  of  land,  proportioned  to 
their  previous  payments,  and  a  cess  on  the  emolu- 
ments of  village  and  district  functionaries. 

As  there  is  no  limit  to  these  demands  but  the 
ability  of  those  on  whom  they  fall  to  satisfy  them, 
tlie  only  defence  of  the  villagers  lies  in  endeavour- 
ing to  conceal  their  income.  For  this  purpose 
they  understate  the  amount  of  produce,  and  con- 
trive to  abstract  part  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  collector  :  more  frequently  they  conceal  the 
quantity  of  land  cultivated,  falsifying  their  records, 
so  as  to  render  detection  impossible,  without  a 
troublesome  and  expensive  scrutiny,  involving  a 
survey  of  the  land.  The  landholders,  where  tliere 
are  such,  possess  other  indirect  advantages,  the 
extent  of  which  the  government  is  seldom  able 
to  ascertain.  Some  degree  of  comiivance  on  the 
collector's  part  is  obtained  by  bribes,  which   are 

K   3 


ir. 


134<  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     levied  as  part  of  the  internal  expenses,  and  charged 
"        as    "secret  service;"  an  item  into  which  it  is  a 
point  of  honour,  both  with  the  villagers  and  with 
future  collectors  and  auditors,  never  to  inquire. 

It  is  only  by  the  existence  of  such  abuses,  coun- 
terbalancing those  on  the  part  of  the  government, 
that  we  can  account  for  land  yielding  a  rent  and 
being  saleable  when  apparently  assessed  to  the 
utmost  of  its  powers  of  bearing.* 

In  the  confusion  produced  by  these  irregularities 
on  both  sides,  the  principle  of  proportions  of  the 
produce  is  lost  sight  of;  and  in  most  parts  of 
India  the  revenue  is  annually  settled  by  a  refer- 
ence to  that  paid  in  former  years,  with  such  alter- 
ations as  the  peculiarity  of  tlie  season,  or  the 
occurrence  of  any  temporary  advantage  or  calamity, 
may  render  expedient. 

When  the  parties  cannot  agree  by  this  mode  of 
settlement,  they  have  recourse  to  a  particular  in- 
quiry into  the  absolute  ability  of  the  village  for 
the  year.  The  land  being  classed  (as  has  been 
mentioned)  according  to  its  fertility,  and  the  faci- 
lities it  possesses  for  cultivation,  the  surplus  re- 
maining after  the  expense  of  production  can  be 
conjectured:  a  sufficient  proportion  is  set  aside  for 

*  As  in  the  village  described  by  Mr.  Hodgson  (  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  ii.  p,  77.),  where  the  land- 
holders pay  57^  per  cent,  of  their  produce.  See  also  Mr. 
Chaplin  and  the  Deckan  collectors,  and  Mr.  Elphinstone,  for 
Guzerat,  both  in  the  selections  published  by  the  East  India 
Company;  Mr.  Hamilton  Buchanan,  for  Deinajpur,  and  other 
districts  under  Bengal,  in  his  separate  reports. 


II. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT REVENUE.  13.5 

the  maintenance  of  the  cultivator  ;  and  the  rest,  chap 
after  deducthig  village  expenses,  &c.,  goes  to  the 
government.  As  a  final  resource,  when  all  otlier 
amicable  means  fail,  an  appeal  is  made  to  an 
actual  division  of  the  crops :  but  this  mode  of 
adjustment  is  so  open  to  frauds  that  it  is  generally 
avoided  by  both  parties  ;  except,  indeed,  in  places 
where  long  connection  between  the  representative 
of  the  government  and  the  people  has  estabUshed 
mutual  confidence,  in  which  case  the  division  of 
the  crop  is  the  most  popular  of  all  settlements. 

If  the  result  of  the  contest  with  the  government 
officers  is  the  imposition  of  a  burden  beyond  the 
patience  of  the  cultiv'ators,  the  whole  body  by 
common  consent  abandon  their  lands,  leave  their 
village,  and  refuse  to  enter  into  any  engagement 
with  the  government.  The  public  officers  then 
liave  recourse  to  conciliation  and  intimidation, 
and,  when  necessary,  to  concession :  force  would 
be  reckoned  very  oppressive,  and,  if  used,  would 
be  ineffectual  :  the  most  it  could  do  would  be  to 
disperse  the  villagers,  and  drive  them  into  other 
jurisdictions. 

It  may  easily  be  supposed  that  such  modes  of 
settlement  cannot  be  carried  on  without  much 
interference  with  the  internal  constitution  of  the 
township.  In  general  the  government  officer  car- 
ries on  his  exactions  through  the  headman,  but 
interferes  when  necessary  to  support  him  against 
individuals  ;  and  he  sometimes  suspends  the  head- 
man from  his  duties,  and  takes  the  details  of  im- 

K     1' 


136  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  posing  and  collecting  the  public  revenue  for  the 
^^'  time  into  his  own  hands.  Appeals  and  complaints 
are  also  incited  to  afford  pretences  for  extortion  in 
matters  connected  witli  justice  and  police  ;  so  that 
under  a  bad  government  the  privileges  of  the 
townships  are  often  reduced  to  insignificance. 

All  these  evils  are  aggravated  in  many  parts  of 
India  by  the  system  of  farming  the  revenue.  The 
governments  of  provinces  in  such  cases  are  con- 
ferred on  the  person  who  engages  to  give  security 
for  the  largest  annual  payment  to  the  treasury. 
This  contractor  in  like  manner  farms  his  subdivi- 
sions to  the  highest  bidder  ;  and  these  last,  in  their 
turn,  contract  with  the  headmen  for  fixed  payments 
from  the  villages,  leaving  each  of  them  to  make 
what  profit  he  can  for  himself.  By  these  means 
the  natural  defender  of  the  cultivators  becomes 
himself  their  principal  oppressor  ;  and,  if  the 
headman  refuses  the  terms  offered  to  him,  the  case 
is  made  worse  by  the  transfer  of  his  office  to  any 
stranger  who  is  willing  to  accept  the  contract. 

It  is  by  such  exactions  that  village  landholders 
have  in  many  cases  been  reduced  from  masters  of 
the  township  to  mere  tenants  of  the  crown,  and 
in  some  have  been  obliged  to  fly  from  tlieir  lands, 
to  avoid  being  compelled  to  cultivate  them  under 
term-S  which  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  bear. 

Hitherto  each  sharer  in  the  village  has  been 
supposed  to  be  acting  on  his  own  rights  ;  but  the 
Kin"-  and  the  landholders  are  each  entitled  to 
alienate  their  share  in  the  advantages  derived  from 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  — REVENUE.  137 

it.      The  headman    and   accountant   also,    if  not     chap. 

others  of  the  village  functionaries,  can   sell  their  

offices  and  official  emolmnents.  Thus  a  new  de- 
scription of  persons  is  introduced  into  the  town- 
ship ;  but  the  new  comers  occupy  precisely  the 
station  of  their  predecessors.  The  grantee  of  the 
King's  share  becomes  entitled  to  I'eceive  his  pro- 
])ortion  of  the  produce,  but  does  not  supersede 
tlie  headman  in  his  local  duties,  still  less  inter- 
fere with  private  occupants  5  the  new  landholder 
takes  up  all  the  relations  of  the  old  ;  and  the  head- 
man, accountant,  &c.  must  henceforth  be  taken 
from  the  new  family,  but  his  functions  undergo  no 
change. 

The  purposes  of  the  King's  alienations  will  be 
explained  a  little  further  on. 

This  account  of  the  different  occupants  of  the  rropcty 

.  .  ,  in  tlie  soil. 

land  naturally  leads  to  the  much  agitated  ques- 
tion of  the  property  in  the  soil ;  which  some  sup- 
pose to  be  vested  in  the  state  ;  some,  in  the  great 
Zemindars  ;  some,  in  the  village  landholders  j  and 
some,  in  the  tenants. 

The  claim  of  the  great  Zemindars  will  be  shown, 
in  its  proper  place,  to  be  derived  from  one  of  the 
remaining  three  ;  among  whom,  therefore,  the  dis- 
cussion is  confined. 

Property  in  land  seems  to  consist  in  the  exclu- 
sive use  and  absolute  disposal  of  the  powers  of  the 
soil  in  perpetuity  ;  together  with  the  right  to  alter 
or  destroy  the  soil  itself,  where  such  an  o])eration 
is  possible.     These  ])rivileges,  combined,  form  the 


138  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  abstract  idea  of  property  ;  which  does  not  repre- 
'  sent  any  substance  distinct  from  these  elements. 
Where  they  are  found  united,  there  is  property, 
and  nowhere  else.  Now  the  King  possesses  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  a  proportion  only  of  the  produce. 
This  right  is  permanent,  and  the  King  can  dispose 
of  it  at  his  pleasure  ;  but  he  cannot  interfere  with 
the  soil  or  its  produce  beyond  this  limit.  If  he 
requires  the  land  for  buildings,  roads,  or  other 
public  purposes,  he  takes  it  as  magistrate,  and 
ought  to  give  compensation  to  his  fellow  share- 
holders, as  he  can  on  emergency  seize  carts,  boats, 
&c.,  and  can  demolish  houses  in  besieged  towns, 
although  in  those  cases  he  has  no  pretensions  what- 
ever to  property. 

As  much  of  the  produce  as  comes  into  the  hands 
of  the  landholder,  after  the  King's  proportion  is 
provided,  is  his  ;  and  his  power  to  dispose  of  his 
right  to  it  for  all  future  years  is  unrestrained.  The 
tenant  has  what  remains  of  the  produce  after  the 
King's  proportion  and  the  landlord's  rent  is  paid  ; 
and  this  he  enjoys  in  perpetuity;  but  the  right  is 
confined  to  himself  and  his  heirs,  and  cannot  be 
otherwise  disposed  of. 

Neither  the  landholder  nor  the  tenant  can  de- 
stroy, or  even  suspend,  the  use  of  the  powers  of 
the  soil :  a  tenant  forfeits  his  land  when  he  fails 
to  provide  a  crop  from  whicli  the  other  sharers 
may  take  their  proportions  ;  and  a  landholder 
guilty  of  the  same  default  would  be  temporarily 
superseded  by  a  tenant  of  the  community's  or  the 


CHANGES  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  —  REVENUE.         ISQ 

King's,  and,  after  a  certain  long  period,  would  be     chap. 
deprived  of  his  right  altogether.  

From  all  this  it  is  apparent  that,  where  there 
are  village  communities  and  permanent  tenants, 
there  is  no  perfect  property  in  any  of  the  sharers. 
Where  there  are  neither  communities  nor  per- 
manent tenants,  the  King  doubtless  is  the  fidl  and 
complete  proprietor ;  all  subsequent  rights  are 
derived  from  his  grant  or  lease.  The  extent  of 
those  grants  varies  with  circumstances  ;  but  when 
they  are  given  without  reserve  and  in  perpetuity, 
they  constitute  a  perfect  form  of  private  property. 

Many  of  the  disputes  about  the  property  in  the 
soil  have  been  occasioned  by  applying  to  all  parts 
of  the  country,  facts  which  are  only  true  of  par- 
ticular tracts ;  and  by  including,  in  conclusions 
drawn  from  one  sort  of  tenure,  other  tenures  totally 
dissimilar  in  their  nature.  Many  also  are  caused 
by  the  assumption,  that  where  the  government 
attends  to  no  rights,  no  rights  are  now  in  being. 
Yet  those  rights  are  asserted  by  the  sufferers,  and 
not  denied  by  those  who  violate  them  ;  and  often, 
in  favourable  circumstances,  recover  their  former 
efficiency.  Practically,  the  question  is  not  in  whom 
the  })roperty  resides,  but  what  proportion  of  the 
produce  is  due  to  each  party  ;  and  this  can  only 
be  settled  by  local  inquiries,  not  by  general  rules 
founded  on  a  supposed  proprietary  right,  nor  even 
on  ancient  laws  long  since  forgotten. 

The  King's  sliare  in  the  produce  of  all  land,  and  other 

111  I  i-  1  Iiranclics  of 

Ins  rent  on  such  as  belongs  to  tlie  crown,  lorm   by  the  King's 


140  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     far  the  greatest  part  of  the  public  revenue.     The 
II  .  . 

'        rest   is    derived    from    various    sources :   of  these, 

some  are  drawn  from  the  land,  as  the  cesses  and 
taxes  above  alluded  to  ;  and  others  from  classes 
unconnected  with  agriculture ;  as  taxes  on  shops 
and  trades,  and  houses  in  towns,  or  on  articles  of 
consumption,  market  duties,  transit  duties  on  the 
great  roads,  sea  customs,  and  a  few  others.  Most 
of  them,  especially  the  transit  duties,  are  fertile 
sources  of  oppression  and  vexation,  and  yield  little 
clear  profit  in  return  for  so  much  evil.  These 
revenues  are  generally  collected  by  the  village  and 
other  local  authorities  ;  but  some  of  them,  espe- 
cially transit  duties  and  customs,  are  often  farmed 
to  separate  contractors. 
Alien-  It  has  been  mentioned  that  the  King  can  alienate 

his  share  in  a  village.  In  like  manner  he  often 
alienates  large  portions  of  territory,  including  nu- 
merous villages  as  well  as  tracts  of  unappropriated 
waste.  But  in  all  these  cases  it  is  only  his  own 
rights  that  he  makes  over  :  those  of  the  village 
landholders  and  permanent  tenants  (where  such 
exist),  of  district  and  village  officers,  and  of  per- 
sons holding  by  previous  grants  from  himself  or  his 
predecessors,  remaining  unaffected  by  the  transfer.* 
These  grants  are  made  for  the  payment  of  troops 

*  Want  of  advertence  to  this  circumstance  has  led  to  mis- 
takes regarding  the  property  in  the  soil.  The  native  expression 
being  "  to  grant  a  village,"  or  "  a  district,"  it  has  been  inferred 
that  the  grant  implied  the  whole,  and  excluded  the  notion  of 
any  other  proprietors. 


ations. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  REVENUE.  Ill 

and  civil  officers,  for  the  support  of  temples,  the     chap. 
maintenance  of  lioly  men,  or  for  rewards  of  public  ' 

service.  Lands  given  for  tlie  two  first  purposes 
are  called  jagirs.  This  mode  of  remunerating  the 
services  of  certain  officers,  and  of  providing  for 
holy  men,  is  as  old  as  Menu.  When  it  came  to  be 
applied  to  troops  is  uncertain.  It  was  in  use  in 
Bijayanagar,  and  other  states  of  the  south  of  India, 
when  they  were  overturned  by  the  Mussulmans  ; 
but  the  more  perfect  form  in  wliich  it  is  now  found 
among  the  Marattas  is  probably  of  modern  date. 
Such  grants  originate  in  the  convenience  of  giving  Lands 

,  .  r     ^         alienated 

an  assignment  on  a  district  near  the  station  ot  the  for  military 
troops,  instead  of  an  order  on  the  general  treasury  ; 
a  mode  of  transfer  particularly  adapted  to  a  country 
where  the  revenue  is  paid  in  kind. 

These  assignments  at  first  were  for  specific  sums 
equal  to  the  pay  due  ;  but  when  they  had  long 
been  continued,  and  were  large  enough  to  swallow 
lip  the  whole  revenue  of  a  district,  it  was  natural 
to  simplify  the  arrangement,  by  transferring  the 
collection  to  the  chief  of  the  military  body.  This 
was  done  with  every  i)recaution  to  prevent  the 
chiefs  appropriating  more  than  the  pay  of  the 
troops,  or  exercising  any  power  not  usually  vested 
in  other  collectors.  The  system  adopted  by  the 
Marattas  gives  a  full  illustration  of  the  means  re- 
sorted to  for  this  purpose. 

According  to  their  })]an,  the  number  and  de- 
scription of  troops  to  be  maintained  by  each  chief 
was  prescribed;  tlie  pay  of  each  division  carefully 


142  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     calculated  ;  allowances  made  for  officers,  sometimes 
II.  ' 

even  to  the  extent  of  naming  individuals ;  a  sum 

was  allotted  for  the  personal  expenses  of  the  chief 
himself;  and  every  particular  regarding  the  terms 
of  service,  the  mode  of  mustering,  and  other  ar- 
rangements, was  laid  down.  A  portion  of  territory 
was  then  selected,  of  which  the  share  belonging  to 
government  should  be  sufficient,  after  deducting 
the  expenses  of  collection  and  other  charges,  to 
supply  the  amount  which  had  been  shown  to  be 
requisite  ;  and  the  whole  territory  yielding  that 
amount  was  made  over  to  the  chief.  The  chief 
was  now  placed  in  the  situation  of  the  governor  of 
a  revenue  division,  and  exercised  all  the  other  func- 
tions which  are  now  united  in  the  holder  of  that 
office. 

The  power  to  interfere  for  the  protection  of 
subordinate  rights  was,  however,  retained  by  the 
government,  as  well  as  a  claim  to  any  revenue 
which  the  tract  assigned  might  yield  beyond  the 
amount  for  which  it  was  granted.  Those  stipu- 
lations were  enforced  by  the  appointment  of  two 
or  more  civil  officers,  directly  from  the  government, 
to  inspect  the  whole  of  the  chief's  proceedings,  as 
well  in  managing  his  troops  as  his  lands. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  precautions,  the  usual 
consequences  of  such  grants  did  not  fail  to  appear. 
The  lands  had  from  the  first  a  tendency  to  become 
hereditary ;  and  the  control  of  the  government 
always  grew  weaker  in  proportion  to  the  time  that 
had  elapsed  from  the  first  assignment.     The  ori- 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  —  REVENUE.  143 

ginal  principle  of  the  grant,  however,  was  never     chap. 
lost  sight  of,  and  the  necessity  of  observing  its  con-  ' 

ditions  was  never  denied. 

These  grants  affected  but  a  moderate  proportion 
of  the  territory  of  the  state ;  the  rest  of  which 
was  administered  by  local  officers  directly  under 
the  prince,  according  to  the  form  laid  down  in 
Menu.  The  allotment  of  lands  was  adopted  as  a 
means  of  paying  the  troops,  and  not  of  governing 
the  country ;  so  that,  although  there  were  fiefs, 
there  was  no  feudal  system. 

But,  though  this  was  the  progress  of  landed  as- 
signments in  settled  countries,  they  took  another 
course  in  the  case  of  foreign  conquests.  In  some 
instances  a  chief  was  detached  by  the  invaders,  to 
occupy  a  remote  part  of  the  country,  and  to  sub- 
sist his  troops  on  its  resources  ;  and  was  allowed 
to  remain  undisturbed  until  his  family  had  taken 
root,  and  had  become  tenants  on  condition  of  ser- 
vice instead  of  mere  officers  on  detachment.  Ex- 
amples of  this  nature  may  be  found  among  the 
Hindu  governments  in  the  south  of  India,  and  in 
abundance  and  perfection  among  the  Marattas  of 
later  times. 

Even  in  these  cases  of  foreign  conquest,  how- 
ever, the  intermediate  tenure  is  the  exception,  and 
not  the  rule  ;  the  main  portion  of  the  territory 
remaining  under  the  direct  administration  of  the 
prince. 

But  a  course  of  proceeding  yet  remains,  which 
carries  the    principle   of  alienation   to  a  greater 


IH 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
11. 


Lands  for 
military 
service 
among  the 
Rajputs. 


extent,  and  leads  to  a  system  which  (with  every 
caution  in  applying  familiar  names  to  remote  in- 
stitutions) it  is  impossible  not  to  call  feudal. 

It  is  that  which  prevails  among  the  Rajputs. 
With  them,  the  founder  of  a  state,  after  reserving 
a  demesne  for  himself,  divided  the  rest  of  the 
country  among  iiis  relations,  according  to  the 
Hindu  laws  of  partition.  The  chief  to  whom 
each  share  was  assigned  owed  military  service  and 
general  obedience  to  the  prince,  but  exercised 
unlimited  authority  within  his  own  lands.  He,  in 
his  turn,  divided  his  lands  on  similar  terms  among 
his  relations,  and  a  chain  of  vassal  chiefs  was  thus 
established,  to  whom  the  civil  government  as  well 
as  the  military  force  of  the  country  was  com- 
mitted. (P) 

This  plan  differs  from  the  feudal  system  in 
Europe,  as  being  founded  on  the  principle  of 
family  partition,  and  not  on  that  of  securing  the 
services  of  great  military  leaders  ;  but  it  may 
not  always  have  originated  in  conquest,  and  when 
it  did,  the  clannish  connection  which  subsists  be- 
tween the  members  of  a  Rajput  tribe  makes  it 
probable  that  command  among  the  invaders  de- 
pended also  on  descent;  and  that  the  same  kins- 
men who  shared  the  chief's  acquisitions  had  been 
the  leaders  of  the  tribe  before  the  conquest  by 
which  they  were  gained. 

The  origin  of  present  possession  in  family  claims 
is  still  alive  in  the  memory  of  the  Rajput  chiefs, 
who  view  the  prince  as  their  coparcener  in  one 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT REVENUE.  145 

point  of  view,  though  their  sovereign  in  another,     chap. 

This  mixed  relation  is  well  shown  by  the  follow-  

ing  passage,  in  a  complaint  from  certain  chiefs  of 
Marwar  against  the  Raja  :  —  *'  When  our  services 
are  acceptable,"  say  they,   *'  then  he  is  our  lord : 
when  not,  we  are  again  his  brothers  and  kindred, 
claimants  and  laying  claim  to  the  land."  * 

The  rule  of  partition  was  adhered  to  after  the 
conquest,  and  each  chief,  in  succession,  was  obliged 
to  provide  an  appanage  for  the  younger  members 
of  his  father's  family.  When  any  of  those  claim- 
ants remained  inadequately  provided  for,  he  was 
assisted  to  set  out  on  military  adventures,  and  to 
found  new  states,  by  conquests  in  other  countries. 

(Q) 

The  example  of  granting  lands,  which  was  set  in 
the  case  of  the  Raja's  family,  came  to  be  extended 
to  strangers :  many  fiefs  are  now  held  by  Rajputs 
of  entirely  distinct  tribes  t ;  and  one  of  the  first 
order  seems,  in  later  times,  to  have  been  bestowed 
on  a  Mussulman. t   (R) 

From  the  accounts  given  by  the  Mahometans 
of  the  state  of  Sind,  during  their  early  invasion  in 
A.  D.  71 1>  it  seems  not  improbable  that  the  species 
of  feudal  system  preserved  among  the  modern 
Rajputs  was  then  widely  extended. § 

Lands  for  services  not  military,   besides   those  Lands  for 
already  noticed  to  local  officers,  are,  to  ministers  miHtary. 

*  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i.  p.  198.  f   Id.  ibid.  p.  166. 

t  In  1770.     Tod's  llajasUian,  vol.  i.  p.  200. 
§  See  Book  V.  Chap.  I. 

VOL.  T.  L 


14G  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     and  other  persons  engaged  in  the  administration  ; 
"        and  also  to  great  officers   of  tlie  household,  and 
hereditary  personal  attendants. 
Lands  held       Other  alienatioiis  are,  to  temples  or  religious  per- 

free  of  .         .  .  i  r  -a 

service.  SOUS,  or  to  meritorious  servants  and  to  tavountes. 
Though  very  numerous,  they  are  generally  of  small 
extent :  often  single  villages  ;  sometimes  only  par- 
tial assignments  on  the  government  share  of  a  vil- 
lage ;  but,  in  some  cases,  also,  especially  religious 
grants,  they  form  very  large  estates.  Religious 
grants  are  always  in  perpetuity,  and  are  seldom 
interfered  with.  A  large  proportion  of  the  grants 
to  individuals  are  also  in  perpetuity,  and  are  re- 
garded as  among  the  most  secure  forms  of  private 
property ;  but  tlie  gradual  increase  of  such  in- 
stances of  liberality,  combined  with  the  frequency 
of  forged  deeds  of  gift,  sometimes  induces  the 
ruler  to  resume  the  grants  of  his  predecessors,  and, 
more  frequently,  to  burden  them  with  heavy  taxes. 
When  these  are  laid  on  transfers  by  sale,  or  even 
by  succession,  they  are  not  thought  unjust;  but 
total  resumptions,  or  the  permanent  levy  of  a  fixed 
rate,  is  regarded  as  oppressive.  The  reaction  must 
have  begun  long  ago ;  for  the  ancient  inscriptions 
often  contain  imprecations  on  any  of  the  descend- 
ants of  the  granter  who  shall  resume  his  gift. 
Tributary  It  is  pvobablc  that  in  all  times  there  were  heads 
dependent  of  hiU  and  forest  tribes  who  remained  independent 
territories.  ^^  ^^^^  Hludu  monarchics  ;  since  even  the  more 
vigorous  governments  of  the  Moguls  and  the 
British  have  not  always  been  able  to  reduce  such 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  —  REVENUE.  147 

chiefs  to  subjection.     Tliere  were  certainly  others     chat. 

who,  though  they  acknowledged  a  sovereign,  and  

paid  him  a  real  or  nominal  tribute,  or  furnished  a 
regular  quota  of  troops,  or  merely  gave  general 
assistance,  yet  retained  the  internal  administration 
of  their  country,  yielding  different  degrees  of  obe- 
dience according  to  circumstances. 

The  number  of  these  half  subdued  chieftains 
was,  from  time  to  time,  increased  on  the  breaking 
up  of  different  Hindu  states,  when  the  governors 
of  districts  and  the  military  feudatories  were  able 
to  hold  out  against  the  conqueror,  and  to  maintain 
themselves  in  different  degrees  of  independence. 
Other  individuals  of  the  same  classes,  and,  still 
more,  persons  who  farmed  the  public  revenue,  con- 
trived to  keep  their  stations  by  rendering  them- 
selves useful  to  the  ruling  power  j  and,  without  the 
least  pretensions  to  independence,  were  admitted 
to  have  a  sort  of  hereditary  right  or  interest  in 
their  districts,  as  long  as  they  administered  them 
satisfactorily,  and  paid  the  revenue  demanded  by 
the  government. 

It  is  these  three  descriptions  of  persons,  together  Zemindars, 
with  others  who  have  risen  under  the  Mahometans, 
that  form  the  great  class  known  to  the  English  by 
the  name  of  Zemindars  *,  whose  rights  have  been 

*  Tlie  Persian  word  zcmni-dar,  means  haver,  holder,  or  keeper 
of  the  land,  but  by  no  means  necessarily  implies  ownership;  the 
termination  cldr  being  applied  to  a  person  in  any  charge,  down 
to  the  meanest ;  as  hhczdnch-ddr,  treasurer  ;  hella-ddr,  governor 
of  a  fort ;    chob-ddr,    mace  bearer  ;   db-ddr,   water  cooler,  &C. 

L    2 


148  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     discussed  with  so  much  heat  and  confusion,  and 
'        who  will  again  be  noticed  as  the  requisite  occasions 


arise. 
War.  The  art  of  war  is  greatly  changed.     At  the  time 

of  the  Mahometan  invasions  from  Ghazni,  the 
Hindus  were  capable  of  systematic  plans,  pursued 
through  several  campaigns,  and  no  longer  confined 
to  inroads  of  a  few  weeks'  duration.  The  use  of 
ordnance  afterwards  made  another  great  alteration ; 
and  the  introduction  of  regular  battalions  entirely 
changed  the  face  of  war.  Setting  aside  that  Eu- 
ropean improvement,  their  discipline,  so  far  as 
relates  to  order  of  march  and  battle,  is  worse  than 
that  described  in  Menu  ;  but  they  now  show  a 
skill  in  the  choice  of  ground,  an  activity  in  the 
employment  of  light  troops,  and  a  judgment  in 
securing  their  own  supplies  and  cutting  off  those  of 
the  enemy,  of  which  there  is  no  sign  in  the  long 
instructions  laid  down  in  the  code. 

The  spirit  of  generosity  and  mercy  which  per- 
vades the  old  laws  of  war  is  no  longer  to  be  found ; 
but  war  in  India  is  still  carried  on  wdth  more 
humanity  than  in  other  Asiatic  countries ;  and 
more  so  by  the  Hindus  than  the  Mahometans. 


It  is  said  by  Mr.  Stirling  (Asiatic  Besearches,  vol.  xv.  p.  239.) 
that,  until  Aurangzib's  time,  the  term  zemindar  was  confined 
to  such  chiefs  as  enjoyed  some  degree  of  independence.  In 
modern  times  it  is  not  limited  to  that  class ;  for  in  the  Deckan 
it  is  most  generally  applied  by  the  natives  to  the  district  officers 
(desmiiks,  &c.) ;  and  in  our  provinces  in  Hindostan,  to  the 
village  landholders. 


CHANGES  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT WAR.  149 

The  longer  duration  of  their  campaigns  renders     chap. 
the  military  part  of  their  life  much  more  marked  " 

tlian  it  was  formerly.  Some  of  the  Maratta  chiefs, 
in  particular,  have  lived  entirely  in  the  field,  and 
had  no  other  capital  but  their  camp.  From  this 
circumstance,  the  numbers  assembled  are  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  fighting  men  ;  and,  when  they 
move,  they  form  a  disorderly  crowd,  spread  over 
the  country  for  ten  or  twelve  miles  in  length,  and 
one  or  two  in  breadth,  besides  parties  scattered  to 
the  right  and  left  for  forage  or  plunder. 

The  main  body  is,  in  some  places,  dense,  and 
in  others  rare,  composed  of  elephants  and  camels, 
horse  and  foot,  carts,  palankeens,  and  bullock- 
carriages,  loaded  oxen,  porters,  women,  children, 
droves  of  cattle,  goats,  sheep,  and  asses,  all  in  the 
greatest  conceivable  disorder,  and  all  enveloped  in 
a  thick  cloud  of  dust  that  rises  high  into  the  atmo- 
sphere, and  may  be  seen  for  miles. 

Where  there  are  regular  infantry,  they  march  in 
a  body,  or,  at  least,  by  regiments ;  and  the  guns 
form  a  long  line,  occasioning  continual  obstruc- 
tions from  the  badness  of  the  roads  or  the  breaking- 
down  of  carriages.  The  rest  of  the  troops  straggle 
among  the  baggage.  Two  tall  standards,  accom- 
})aiHed  by  kettle-drums,  (all,  perhaps,  on  elephants,) 
represent  a  body  which  ought  to  be  from  500  to 
5000  horse,  but  are  followed  by  from  5  to  50.  The 
other  horsemen  belonging  to  them  are  riding  singly 
or  in  groups,  each,  perhaps,  with  his  spear  poised 
on  his  shoulder,  to  the  imminent  danger  of  those 


150  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     who  press  behind,  while  the  owner  is  joking  with 
II  .  .  ...  .       ' 

'        his  companion,  or  singing  in  a  voice  that  may  be 

heard  amidst  the  surrounding  din. 

The  whole  is  generally  so  loosely  spread  that  a 
horseman  might  go  at  a  full  trot  from  the  rear  to 
the  head  of  the  column,  and  have  way  made  for 
him  as  he  advanced,  except  at  passes  of  ravines,  or 
narrow  parts  of  the  road,  where  he  and  everybody 
else  must  often  suffer  most  tedious  delay. 

Partial  halts  occasionally  take  place  towards  the 
front,  when  the  quarter-master  general  is  nego- 
tiating with  a  village  how  much  it  is  to  give  him 
not  to  encamp  on  its  lands ;  and,  towards  the  rear, 
as  individuals  w4sh  to  smoke,  or  to  take  other  rest 
or  refreshment. 

Now  and  then  a  deer  or  a  wild  boar  runs  through 
the  line  :  shouts  and  commotion  precede  and  follow 
his  course  ;  sticks  are  thrown,  shots  are  fired,  and 
men  spur  through  the  crowd,  without  much  thought 
of  the  risk  of  life  or  hmb  to  themselves  or  others. 

With  all  this  want  of  order,  its  good  intelligence 
and  numbers  of  light  troops  prevent  a  native  army 
from  being  surprised  on  the  line  of  march. 

It  would  be  difficult,  in  our  wars,  to  find  an  in- 
stance even  of  the  baggage  of  a  native  army  being 
cut  off,  unless  when  fairly  run  down  by  a  suc- 
cession of  hard  marches.  On  the  contrary,  these 
apparently  unwieldy  masses  have  often  gained  great 
advantages  from  the  secrecy  and  celerity  of  their 
movements.  Heider,  Tippoo,  and  the  Marattas 
frequently  overwhelmed  separate  detachments  by 


II. 


CHANGES  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT WAR.  151 

attacking  them  when  beheved  to  be  in  some  dis-  chap. 
tant  quarter ;  and  as  often  have  they  sHpped 
through  difficult  passes,  and  ravaged  the  country 
in  the  rear  of  our  general,  when  he  thought  he 
was  driving  them  before  him  towards  their  own 
capital. 

When  they  reach  their  ground,  things  are  ar- 
ranged better  than  would  be  expected  in  such  a 
scene  of  confusion.  Conspicuous  flags  are  pitched, 
which  mark  the  place  allotted  to  each  chief  or  eacli 
department;  and  every  man  knows  what  part  of 
his  own  line  belongs  to  him. 

The  camp,  when  pitched,  is  a  mixture  of  regu- 
larity and  disorder.  The  bazars  are  long  and  re- 
gular streets,  with  shops  of  all  descriptions,  as  in  a 
city.  The  guns  and  disciplined  infantry  are  in  lines, 
and  the  rest  scattered  about,  without  any  visible  re- 
gard to  arrangement.  The  tents  are  mostly  white, 
but  often  striped  with  red,  green,  or  blue,  and  some- 
times wholly  of  those  colours. 

Those  of  the  poor  are  low,  and  of  black  woollen, 
sometimes  merely  a  blanket  of  that  description 
thrown  over  three  spears  stuck  in  the  ground  ; 
though  the  owners  of  spears  are  seldom  so  ill 
lodged. 

'i'he  tents  of  the  great  are  s})lendid :  they  are 
disposed  in  courts  formed  of  canvass  screens  ;  and 
some  are  large  and  lofty,  for  public  receptions  ; 
while  others  are  low,  and  of  moderate  size,  with 
(juihed,  and  sometimes  double  walls,  that  secure 
privacy,  wliile  they  exclude  the  dust  and  wind. 


152  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  They  are  connected  by  covered  passages,  and 
'  contain  every  accommodation  that  would  be  met 
with  in  a  palace.  A  Maratta  court,  indeed,  ap- 
pears to  much  greater  advantage  in  their  camps 
than  in  their  cities.  Yet,  with  all  this  magnifi- 
cence, there  is  some  of  their  usual  carelessness  and 
indifference  to  making  anything  complete :  these 
canvass  palaces  are  often  so  ill  pitched  that  they  are 
quite  incapable  of  resisting  the  tempests  of  par- 
ticular seasons.  Sindia's  whole  suite  of  tents  have 
been  known  to  be  levelled  with  the  ground  at  mid- 
night, and  his  women  obliged  to  seek  shelter  from 
the  wind  and  rain  in  some  low  private  tent  that 
happened  to  have  resisted  the  fury  of  the  elements. 
The  intended  proceedings  for  the  next  day  are 
announced  by  fakirs  or  gosayens,  who  go  about  the 
camp  proclaiming  a  halt,  or  the  hour  and  direction 
of  the  movement ;  and  who  stop  on  the  march  to 
beg,  exactly  at  the  point  where  the  welcome  sight 
of  the  flags  of  the  proposed  encampment  dispose  all 
to  be  liberal. 

The  armies  are  fed  by  large  bodies  of  Banjaras, 
a  tribe  whose  business  it  is  to  be  carriers  of  grain, 
and  who  bring  it  from  distant  countries  and  sell  it 
wholesale  to  the  dealers. 

Smaller  dealers  go  about  to  villages  at  a  moderate 
distance  from  the  camp  and  buy  from  the  in- 
habitants. The  government  interferes  very  little, 
and  native  camps  are  almost  always  well  sup- 
plied. 

The  villages  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  camp 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT  — WAR.  153 

are  sure  to  be  plundered,  unless  protected  by  safe-     chap. 
guards.     The  inhabitants  fly  with  such  property  as  ' 

they  can  carry,  the  rest  is  pillaged,  and  the  doors 
and  rafters  pulled  down  for  firewood  :  treasure  is 
dug  for  if  the  place  is  large  ;  and  even  in  small 
villages  people  try  if  the  ground  sounds  hollow,  in 
hopes  of  finding  the  pits  in  which  grain  is  buried ; 
or  bore  with  iron  rods,  such  as  are  used  by  our 
surveyors,  and  ascertain,  by  the  smell,  whether  the 
rod  has  passed  through  grain.  A  system  like  this 
soon  reduces  a  country  to  a  desert.  In  a  tract 
often  traversed  by  armies  the  villages  are  in  ruins 
and  deserted  ;  and  bushes  of  different  ages,  scat- 
tered over  the  open  country,  show  that  cultivated 
fields  are  rapidly  changing  into  jungle.  The  large 
towns  are  filled  with  fugitives  from  the  country  ; 
and  their  neighbourhood  is  generally  well  cul- 
tivated, being  secured  by  means  of  compositions 
with  the  passing  armies. 

The  most  important  part  of  the  Hindu  battles  is, 
now,  a  cannonade.  In  this  they  greatly  excel,  and 
have  occasioned  heavy  loss  to  us  in  all  our  battles 
with  them  ;  but  the  most  characteristic  mode  of 
fighting  (besides  skirmishing,  which  is  a  fav^ourite 
sort  of  warfare)  is  a  general  charge  of  cavalry,  which 
soon  brings  the  battle  to  a  crisis. 

Nothing  can  be  more  magnificent  than  this  sort 
of  charge.  Even  the  slow  advance  of  such  a  sea 
of  horsemen  has  something  in  it  more  than  usually 
impressive ;  and,  when  they  move  on  at  speed,  the 
thunder  of  the  ground,  the  flashing  of  their  arms, 


154  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     the  brandishing  of  their  spears,   the  agitation  of 

their  banners  rushing  through  the  wind,    and  the 

rapid  approach  of  such  a  countless  multitude,  pro- 
duce sensations  of  grandeur  which  the  imagination 
cannot  surpass. 

Their  mode  is  to  charge  the  front  and  the  flanks 
at  once  ;  and  the  manner  in  which  they  perform 
this  manoeuvre  has  sometimes  called  forth  the  ad- 
miration of  European  antagonists,  and  is  certainly 
surprising  in  an  undisciphned  body.  The  whole 
appear  to  be  coming  on  at  full  speed  towards  their 
adversary's  front,  when,  suddenly,  those  selected  for 
the  duty,  at  once  wheel  inwards,  bring  their  spears 
by  one  motion  to  the  side  nearest  the  enemy,  and 
are  in  upon  his  flank  before  their  intention  is  sus- 
pected. 

These  charges,  though  grand,  are  ineffectual 
against  regular  troops,  unless  they  catch  them  in 
a  moment  of  confusion,  or  when  they  have  been 
thinned  by  the  fire  of  cannon. 

Horse  are  often  maintained  (as  before  men- 
tioned) by  assignments  of  the  rent  or  revenue 
belonging  to  government,  in  particular  tracts  of 
country,  butoftener  by  payments  from  the  treasury, 
either  to  military  leaders,  at  so  much  a  horseman, 
(besides  personal  pay,  and  pay  of  subordinate  offi- 
cers,) or  to  single  horsemen,  who,  in  such  cases, 
are  generally  fine  men,  well  mounted,  and  who 
expect  more  than  ordinary  pay.  Some  bodies  are 
mounted  on  horses  belonging  to  the  government ; 
and  these,  although  the  men  are  of  lower  rank  than 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GOVERNMENT WAR.  155 

the  Others,  are  the  most  obedient  and  efficient  part     chap. 
of  the  army.  " 

The  best  foot  now-a-days  are  mercenaries,  men 
from  the  Jamna  and  Ganges,  and  likewise  Arabs 
and  Sindians ;  especially  Arabs,  who  are  incom- 
parably superior  to  most  other  Asiatics  in  courage, 
discipline,  and  fidelity. 

Their  own  way  of  carrying  on  sieges  is,  probably, 
little  improved  since  Menu  :  individuals  creep  near 
the  wall,  and  cover  themselves  by  digging,  till  they 
can  crouch  in  safety,  and  watch  for  an  opportunity 
to  pick  off  some  of  the  garrison  ;  batteries  are 
gradually  raised,  and  a  shot  fired  from  time  to  time, 
which  makes  little  impression  on  the  works  :  a 
blockade,  a  surprise,  or  an  unsuccessful  sally,  more 
frequently  ends  the  siege  than  a  regular  assault. 

The  modern  system  of  government  and  policy  Poiky. 
will  appear  in  so  many  shapes  hereafter,  that  it  is 
quite  unnecessary  to  enter  on  the  subject  in  tiiis 
})lace. 


156  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


CHAP.    III. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    LAW. 


BOOK     The  Code  of  Menu  is  still  the  basis  of  the  Hindu 
II-        .     . 
jurisprudence;  and  the  principal  features  remain 

Changes  in  unaltered  to  the  present  day. 

the  written  ^  '' 

la'"'-  The  various  works  of  other  inspired  writers,  how- 

Civil  law.  -       ,  .  , 

ever,  and  the  numerous  commentaries  by  persons 
of  less  authority,  together  with  the  additions  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  course  of  time,  have  in- 
troduced many  changes  into  the  w^ritten  law,  and 
have  led  to  the  formation  of  several  schools,  the 
various  opinions  of  which  are  followed  respectively 
in  different  parts  of  India. 

In  all  of  these  Menu  is  the  text-book,  but  is  re- 
ceived according  to  the  interpretations  and  modi- 
fications of  approved  commentators  ;  and  the  great 
body  of  law  thus  formed  has  again  been  reduced 
to  digests,  each  of  authority  within  the  limits  of 
particular  schools. 

Bengal  has  a  separate  school  of  her  own  ;  and, 
although  the  other  parts  of  India  agree  in  their 
general  opinions,  they  are  still  distinguished  into 
at  least  four  schools :  those  of  Mithila  (North  Be- 
har) ;  Benares ;  Maharashtra  (the  Maratta  country) ; 
and  Dravida  (the  south  of  the  Peninsula). 

All  of  these  schools  concur  in  abolishing  mar- 


CHANGES    IN    THE    LAW.  157 

riages  between  unequal  casts;   as  well  as  the  prac-     chap. 
tice  of  raising  up  issue  to   deceased  brothers,  and  " 

all  the  species  of  sons  mentioned  in  Menu,  except 
a  son  of  the  body  and  one  by  adoption.  Most  of 
them,  however,  admit  a  species  of  adoption  un. 
known  to  Menu,  which  is  made  by  a  widow  in 
behalf  of  her  deceased  husband,  in  consequence  of 
real  or  supposed  instructions  hnparted  by  him 
during  his  life.  Some  schools  give  the  power  to 
the  widow  independent  of  all  authorisation  by  the 
deceased. 

All  the  schools  go  still  further  than  Menu  in 
securing  to  sons  the  equal  division  of  their  family 
property.  Most  of  them  prevent  the  father's 
alienating  ancestral  property  without  the  consent 
of  his  sons,  and  without  leaving  a  suitable  mainte- 
nance for  each  of  them  ;  all  prohibit  arbitrary  di- 
vision of  ancestral  property,  and  greatly  discourage 
it  even  when  the  property  has  been  acquired  by 
the  distributor  himself.  The  Dravida  school  gives 
to  the  sons  exactly  the  same  rights  as  to  the  father, 
in  regard  to  the  disposal  of  all  his  property,  and 
puts  them  on  a  complete  equality  with  him,  except 
in  the  present  enjoyment.  * 

All,  except  Bengal,  in  certain  cases,  still  with- 
hold the  power  of  making  a  will. 

The  law  now  goes  much  more  into  ])articulars 
on  all  subjects  than  in  Menu's  time.  Land  is  often 
mentioned   under  a  variety  of  forms,  and  some  of 

*  Mr.  Ellis,  Transactions  of  Madras  Literary  Societi/,  p.  14-. 


158 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     the   relations    between  landlord    and   tenant    are 
"        fixed. 


Attornies  or  pleaders  are  allowed  :  rules  of 
pleading  are  prescribed,  which  are  spoken  of  wath 
high  praise  by  Sir  William  Jones.  * 

Different  modes  of  arbitration  are  provided  ;  and, 
although  many  of  the  rudest  parts  of  the  old 
fabric  remain,  yet  the  law  bears  clear  marks  of 
its  more  recent  date,  in  the  greater  experience  it 
evinces  in  the  modes  of  proceeding,  and  in  the 
signs  of  a  more  complicated  society  than  existed  in 
the  time  of  the  first  Code. 

The  improvements,  however,  in  the  written  law 
bear  no  proportion  to  the  excellence  of  the  original 
sketch  ;  and  the  existing  Code  of  the  Hindus  has 
no  longer  that  superiority  to  those  of  other  Asiatic 
nations  which,  in  its  early  stage,  it  was  entitled  to 
claim  over  all  its  contemporaries. 

Changes  in  Many  great  changes  have  been  silently  wrought 
without  any  alteration  in  the  letter  of  the  law.  The 
eight  modes  of  marriage,  for  instance,  are  still  per- 
mitted ;  but  only  one  (that  most  conformable  to 
reason  and  to  the  practice  of  other  nationsj  is  ever 
adopted  in  fact. 

Criminal  XIic  Criminal  law,  also,  which  still  subsists  in  all 

law. 

its  original  deformity,  has  (probably  for  that  very 
reason)  fallen  into  desuetude,  and  has  been  replaced 
by  a  sort  of  customary  law,  or  by  arbitrary  will. 
The  regular  administration  of  justice  by  perma- 

*  Colebrooke's  Digest,  preface,  p.  xii. 


CHANGES    IN    THE    LAW.  159 

nent  courts,  which  is  provided  for  in  Menu,  and  of    chap. 

Ill 
which  the  tribunals,  with  their  several  powers,  are  ' 

recorded  by  later  writers*,  is  hardly  observed  by  any 
Hindu  government.  The  place  of  those  tribunals 
is  in  part  taken  by  commissions  appointed  in  a 
summary  way  by  the  prince,  generally  granted 
from  motives  of  court  favour,  and  often  composed 
of  ])ersons  suited  to  the  object  of  the  protecting 
courtier.  In  part,  the  courts  are  replaced  by 
bodies  of  arbitrators,  called  Panchayets,  who  some- 
times act  under  the  authority  of  the  government, 
and  sometimes  settle  disputes  by  the  mere  consent 
of  the  parties.  The  efficiency  of  these  tribunals  is 
in  some  measure  kept  up,  notwithstanding  the 
neglect  of  the  government,  by  the  power  given  by 
Menu  to  a  creditor  over  his  debtor,  which  still  sub- 
sists, and  affords  a  motive  to  the  person  withhold- 
ing payment  to  consent  to  an  inquiry  into  the 
claim. 

On  the  whole,  there  cannot  be  the  least  doubt 
that  civil  justice  is  mucli  worse  administered  in 
Hindu  states  at  tlie  present  time  than  it  was  in  the 
earliest  of  which  we  have  any  certain  knowledge. 

Besides  rules  of  Menu  which  have  been  altered  Local  laws. 
in  later  times,  many  local  customs  arc  now  observ- 
able, of  which  no  notice  is  taken  in  the  Institutes. 

Most  of  tliese  are  unimportant  ;  but  some  relate 
to  matters  of  the  first  consequence,  and  are  pro- 
bably remains  of  the  laws  which  })revailed  in  the 

*  See  Mr.  Colcbrooke  on  Hindu  Courts  of  Justice,  Trans- 
actions of  Royal  Asiatic  Societ//,  vol.  ii.  p.  166. 


iCO  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  nations  where  they  are  now  in  force  before  the 
"  introduction  of  Menu's  Code,  or  of  the  authority 
of  the  Bramins.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  in- 
stance of  this  sort  is  to  be  found  among  the  Nairs 
of  Malabar,  where  a  married  woman  is  legally  per- 
mitted to  have  unrestrained  intercourse  with  all 
men  of  equal  or  superior  cast ;  and  where,  from 
the  uncertainty  of  the  issue  thus  produced,  a  man's 
heirs  are  always  his  sister's  sons,  and  not  his 
own.* 

*  Dr.  F.  Buchanan's  Journey  through  the  Mysore,  &c.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  411,412. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION. 


161 


CHAP.  IV. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION. 


The  principal    changes   in    religion    since    Menu     chap. 
are  — 


The  neglect  of  the  principle  of  monotheism  :         changes 

The  neglect  of  some  gods,  and  the  introduction  Menu, 
of  others : 

The  worship  of  deified  mortals  : 

The  introduction  (or  at  least  the  great  increase) 
of  sects,  and  the  attempt  to  exalt  individual  gods 
at  the  expense  of  the  others: 

The  doctrine  that  faith  in  a  particular  god  is 
more  efficacious  than  contemplation,  ceremonial 
observance,  or  good  works  : 

The  use  of  a  new  ritual  instead  of  the  Vedas ; 
and  the  religious  ascendancy  acquired  by  the  mo- 
nastic orders. 

The  nature  of  these  changes  will  appear  in  an 
account  of  the  Hindu  religion  as  it  now  stands, 
which  is  essential  to  an  understanding  of  the  ordi- 
nary transactions  of  the  peo])le. 

There  is,  indeed,  no  country  where  religion  is 
so  constantly  brought  before  the  eye  as  in  India. 
Every  town  has  tem})les  of  all  descriptions,  from 
a  shrine,  which  barely  holds  the  idol,  to  a  pagoda 
witli  lofty  towers,  and  s])acious  courts,  and  colon- 

VOL.  I.  M 


162  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  nades.  To  all  these  votaries  are  constantly  repair- 
'  ing,  to  hang  the  image  with  garlands,  and  to  pre- 
sent it  with  fruits  and  flowers.  The  banks  of  the 
river,  or  artificial  sheet  of  water,  (for  there  is  no 
town  that  is  not  built  on  one  or  other,)  has  often 
noble  flights  of  steps  leading  down  to  the  water, 
which  are  covered,  in  the  early  part  of  the  day, 
with  persons  performing  their  ablutions,  and  going 
through  their  devotions,  as  they  stand  in  the  stream. 
In  the  day,  the  attention  is  drawn  by  the  song,  or 
by  the  graceful  figures  and  flowing  drapeiy  of 
groups  of  women,  as  they  bear  their  offerings  to  a 
temple. 

Parties  of  Bramins  and  others  pass  on  similar 
occasions  ;  and  frequently  numerous  processions 
move  on,  with  drums  and  music,  to  perform  the 
ceremony  of  some  particular  holiday.  They  carry 
with  them  images  borne  aloft  on  stages,  represent- 
ations of  temples,  chariots,  and  other  objects,  which, 
thougli  of  cheap  and  flimsy  materials,  are  made 
with  skill  and  taste,  and  present  a  gay  and  glitter 
ing  appearance. 

At  a  distance  from  towns,  temples  are  always 
found  in  inhabited  places ;  and  frequently  rise 
among  the  trees  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  in  the 
heart  of  deep  groves,  or  on  the  summits  of  hills. 
Even  in  the  wildest  forests,  a  stone  covered  with 
Vermillion,  with  a  garland  hung  on  a  tree  above  it, 
or  a  small  flag  fastened  among  the  branches,  ap- 
prises the  traveller  of  the  sanctity  of  the  spot. 

Troops  of  pilgrims  and  religious  mendicants  are 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  l63 

often  met  on  the  road  ;  the  latter  distinguished  by     chap. 
the  dress  of  their  order,  and  the  pilgrims  by  bear-  ' 

ing  some  symbol  of  the  god  to  whose  shrine  they 
are  going,  and  shouting  out  his  name  or  watchword 
whenever  they  meet  with  other  passengers.  The 
numerous  festivals  throughout  the  year  are  cele- 
brated by  the  native  princes  with  great  pomp  and 
expense ;  they  afford  occasions  of  display  to  the 
rich,  and  lead  to  some  little  show  and  festivity  even 
among  the  lower  orders. 

But  the  frequent  meetings,  on  days  sacred  to 
particular  gods,  are  chiefly  intended  for  the  latter 
class,  who  crowd  to  them  with  delight,  even  from 
distant  quarters. 

Though  the  religion  presented  in  so  many 
striking  forms  does  not  enter,  in  reality,  into  all 
the  scenes  to  which  it  gives  rise,  yet  it  still  exer- 
cises a  prodigious  influence  over  the  people ;  and 
lias  little,  if  at  all,  declined,  in  that  respect,  since 
the  first  period  of  its  institution. 

The  objects  of  adoration,  however,  are  no  longer 
the  same. 

The  theism  inculcated  by  the  Vedas  as  the  true 
faith,  in  which  all  other  forms  were  included,  has 
been  supplanted  by  a  system  of  gross  polytheism 
and  idolatry  ;  and,  though  nowhere  entirely  for- 
gotten, is  never  steadily  thought  of,  except  by  phi- 
losophers and  divines. 

The  authors  of  the  Vedas,  though  they  ascended 
beyond  the  early  worship  of  the  elements  and  the 
])Owers  of  nature  to  a  knowledge  of  the  real  cha- 

M    2 


164 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK    racter   of  the  Divinity,    and   though   anxious   to 
'        diffuse  their  own   doctrines,   did  not   disturb  the 


popular  belief;  but,  actuated  either  by  their  charac- 
teristic respect  for  immemorial  usage,  or,  perhaps, 
by  a  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  priesthood  (from 
which  the  most  enlightened  Bramin  seems  never 
to  have  been  free),  they  permitted  the  worship  of 
the  established  gods  to  continue,  representing  them 
as  so  many  forms  or  symbols  of  the  real  Divinity. 
At  the  same  time,  they  erected  no  temple  and 
addressed  no  worship  to  the  true  God.  The  con- 
sequence was  such  as  was  to  be  expected  from  the 
weakness  of  human  nature  :  the  obvious  and  pal- 
pable parts  of  their  religion  prevailed  over  the 
more  abstruse  and  more  sublime  :  the  ancient 
polytheism  kept  its  ground,  and  was  further  cor- 
rupted by  the  introduction  of  deified  heroes,  who 
have,  in  their  turn,  superseded  the  deities  from 
whom  they  were  supposed  to  derive  their  divinity. 
The  Pu-  The  scriptures  of  this  new  religion  are  the  Pu- 

ranas,  of  which  there  are  eighteen,  all  alleged  by 
their  followers  to  be  the  works  of  Vyasa,  the  com- 
piler of  the  Vedas ;  but,  in  reality,  composed  by 
different  authors  between  the  eighth  and  sixteenth 
centuries,  although,  in  many  places,  from  materials 
of  much  more  ancient  date.  They  contain  theo- 
gonies  ;  accounts  of  the  creation ;  philosophical 
speculations  ;  instructions  for  religious  ceremonies  ; 
genealogies;  fragments  of  history ;  and  innumer- 
able legends  relating  to  the  actions  of  gods,  heroes, 
and  sages.     Most  are  written  to  support  the  doc- 


ranas. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  l65 

trill es  of  particular  sects,  and  all  are  corrupted  by     chap. 

sectarian  fables  ;  so  that  they  do  not  form  a  con-  

sistent  wliole,  and  were  never  intended  to  be  com- 
bined into  one  general  system  of  belief.  Yet  they 
are  all  received  as  incontrovertible  authority  ;  and, 
as  they  are  the  sources  from  which  the  present 
Hindu  religion  is  drawn,  we  cannot  be  surprised  to 
find  it  full  of  contradictions  and  anomalies. 

The  Hindus,  as  has  been  said,  are  still  aware  of  Present 

n         CI  rt    •  n  i  1 1     objects  of 

the  existence  or  a  Supreme  Being,  from  whom  all  worship, 
others  derive  their  existence,  or,  rather,  of  whose 
substance  they  are  composed  ;  for,  according  to 
the  modern  belief,  the  universe  and  the  Deity  are 
one  and  the  same.  But  their  devotion  is  directed 
to  a  variety  of  gods  and  goddesses,  of  whom  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  the  number.  Some  accounts, 
with  the  usual  Hindu  extravagance,  make  the 
deities  amount  to  330,000,000  ;  but  most  of  these 
are  ministering  angels  in  the  different  heavens,  or 
other  spirits  who  have  no  individual  name  or  cha- 
racter, and  who  are  counted  by  the  million. 

The  following  seventeen,  however,  are  the  prin- 
cipal ones,  and,  perhaps,  the  only  ones  universally 
recognised  as  exercising  distuict  and  divine  func- 
tions, and  therefore  entitled  to  worship*  :  — 

1.  Brahma,  the  creating  principle; 

2.  Vishnu,  the  preserving  principle  ; 

3.  Siva,  the  destroying  principle  ; 

With  their  corresponding  female  divinities,  who  are 

*  Kennedy's  Researches  into  the  Hindoo  Mythology,  p.  357. 
M   3 


166  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     mythologically  regarded  as  their  wives,  but,  meta- 
"       physically,  as  the  active  powers  which  develope  the 
principle  represented  by  each  member  of  the  triad ; 
namely,  — 
[4.  Sereswati. 
1 5.  Lakshmi. 
[6.  Parvati,  called  also  Devi,  Bhavani,  or  Durga. 

7.  Indra,  god  of  the  air  and  of  the  heavens. 

8.  Varuna,  god  of  the  waters. 
9»  Pavana,  god  of  the  wind. 

10.  Agni,  god  of  fire. 

11.  Yama,  god  of  the  infernal  regions  and  judge 
of  the  dead. 

12.  Cuvera,  god  of  wealth. 

13.  Cartikeia,  god  of  war. 

14.  Cama,  god  of  love. 

15.  Surya,  the  sun. 

16.  Soma,  the  moon. 

17.  Ganesa,  who  is  the  remover  of  difficulties, 
and,  as  such,  presides  over  the  entrances  to  all 
edifices,  and  is  invoked  at  the  commencement  of 
all  undertakings.  To  these  may  be  added  the 
planets,  and  many  sacred  rivers,  especially  the 
Ganges,  which  is  personified  as  a  female  divinity, 
and  honoured  with  every  sort  of  worship  and  re- 
verence. 

The  three  first  of  these  gods,  Brahma,  Vishnu, 
and  Siva,  form  the  celebrated  Hindu  triad,  whose 
separate  characters  are  sufficiently  apparent,  but 
whose  supposed  unity  may  perhaps  be  resolved 
into  the  general  maxim  of  orthodox  Hindus,  that 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  l6j 

all  the  deities  are  only  various  forms  of  one  Su-     chap. 

•^  IV. 

preme  Being.*  

Brahma,  though  he  seems  once  to  have  had 
some  degree  of  pre-eminence,  and  is  the  only  one 
of  the  three  mentioned  by  Menut,  was  never  much 
worshipped,  and  has  now  but  one  temple  in  India  t : 
though  invoked  in  the  daily  service,  his  separate 
worship  is  almost  entirely  neglected.  § 

His  consort,  Sereswati,  being  goddess  of  learning 
and  eloquence,  has  not  fallen  so  completely  out  of 
notice. 

It  is  far  different  with  Vishnu  and  Siva.  They 
and  their  incarnations  now  attract  almost  all  the 
religious  veneration  of  the  Hindus  ;  the  relative 
importance  of  each  is  eagerly  supported  by  nu- 
merous votaries ;  and  there  are  heterodox  sects  of 
great  extent  which  maintain  the  supreme  divinity 
of  each,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  his  rival. 

Siva  is  thus  described  in  the  Puranas.  ||  *'  He  siva. 
wanders  about,  surrounded  by  ghosts  and  goblins, 
inebriated,  naked,  and  with  dishevelled  hair,  co- 
vered with  the  ashes  of  a  funeral  pile,  ornamented 
with  human  skulls  and  bones,  sometimes  laughing 
and  sometimes  crying."  The  usual  pictures  of 
liim  correspond  with  these  gloomy  descriptions, 
with  the  addition  that  he  has  three  eyes,  and  bears 

*  Kennedy's  Researches,  p.  211.  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Bc- 
searches,  vol.  vii.  p.  279. 

f   Kennedy's  Researches,  p.  270. 

^  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i.  p.  774<. 

§    Ward  on  ihc  Hindoos,  vol.  iii.  p.  26. 

II   Quoted  in  Ketuiedys  Researches,  p.  291. 

M    4 


168 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  a  trident  in  one  of  his  hands  :  his  hair  is  coiled  up 
II  • 
'  hke  that  of  a  religious  mendicant  j  and  he  is  repre- 
sented seated  in  an  attitude  of  profound  thought. 
This  last  particular  corresponds  with  the  legends 
relating  to  him,  which  describe  him  as  always  ab- 
sorbed in  meditation,  and  as  consuming  with  the 
fire  of  his  eye  those  who  dare  to  disturb  him  in  his 
state  of  abstraction.  But  although  these  accounts 
accord  so  well  with  his  character  of  destroyer,  the 
only  emblem  under  which  he  is  ever  worshipped  is 
intended  to  mark  that  destruction  as  only  another 
name  for  regeneration. 

It  is  meant  for  the  same  symbol  of  the  creative 
principle  that  was  employed  by  the  ancients ;  but 
is,  in  fact,  a  low  cylinder  of  stone,  which  occupies 
the  place  of  an  image  in  all  the  temples  sacred  to 
Siva,  and  which  suggests  no  suspicion  of  its  original 
import.  Bloody  sacrifices  are  performed  to  Siva, 
though  discouraged  by  the  Bramins  of  his  sect ; 
and  it  is  in  honour  of  him,  or  of  his  consort, 
that  so  many  self-inflicted  tortures  are  incurred  on 
certain  days  in  every  year.  On  those  occasions, 
some  stab  their  limbs  and  pierce  their  tongues 
with  knives,  and  walk  in  procession  with  swords, 
arrows,  and  even  living  serpents  thrust  through  the 
wounds ;  while  others  are  raised  into  the  air  by 
a  hook  fixed  in  the  flesh  of  their  backs,  and  are 
whirled  round  by  a  moveable  lever,  at  a  height 
which  would  make  their  destruction  inevitable,  if 
the  skin  were  to  give  way.* 

*  Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.iii.  p.  15.;  and  Bishop  Heber's  Journal, 
vol.  i.  p.  77. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  RELIGION.  l69 

The  nature  of  Siva*s  occupations  does  not  indi-    chap. 
cate  much  attention  to  the  affairs  of  mankind  ;  and,  ' 

according  to  the  present  Hindu  system,  there  is  no 
god  particularly  charged  with  the  government  of  the 
world  ;  the  Supreme  Being,  out  of  whose  substance 
it  is  formed,  taking  no  concern  in  its  affairs :  but 
the  opinion  of  the  vulgar  is  more  rational  than  that 
of  their  teachers ;  they  mix  up  the  idea  of  the 
Supreme  Being  with  that  of  the  deity  who  is  the 
particular  object  of  their  adoration,  and  suppose 
him  to  watch  over  the  actions  of  men,  and  to  re- 
ward the  good  and  punish  the  wicked  both  in  this 
world  and  in  the  next. 

The  heaven  of  Siva  is  in  the  midst  of  the  eternal 
snows  and  glaciers  of  Keilas,  one  of  the  highest 
and  deepest  groups  of  the  stupendous  summits  of 
Hemalaya. 

His  consort,  Devi  or  Bhavani,  is  at  least  as  d^vI  or 
much  an  object  of  adoration  as  Siva  ;  and  is  repre- 
sented in  still  more  terrible  colours.  Even  in  the 
milder  forms  in  which  she  is  generally  seen  in  the 
south  of  India,  she  is  a  beautiful  woman,  riding  on 
a  tiger,  but  in  a  fierce  and  menacing  attitude,  as  if 
advancing  to  the  destruction  of  one  of  the  giants, 
against  whom  her  incarnations  were  assumed.  But 
in  anotiier  form,  occasionally  used  every  where, 
and  seemingly  the  favourite  one  in  Bengal,  she  is 
represented  with  a  black  skin,  and  a  hideous  and 
terrible  countenance,  streaming  with  blood,  en- 
circled with  snakes,  hung  round  with  skulls  and 
human  heads,  and  in  all  respects  resembling  a  fury 


II. 


170  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  rather  than  a  goddess.  Her  rites  in  those  coun- 
tries correspond  with  this  character.  Human  sa- 
crifices were  formerly  offered  to  her*  ;  and  she  is 
still  supposed  to  delight  in  the  carnage  that  is  car- 
ried on  before  her  altars.  At  her  temple,  near 
Calcutta,  1000  goats,  besides  other  animals,  are 
said  to  be  sacrificed  every  month,  t  At  Binda- 
bashni,  where  the  extremity  of  the  Vindya  hills 
approaches  the  Ganges,  it  used  to  be  the  boast  of 
the  priests  that  the  blood  before  her  image  was 
never  allowed  to  dry. 

In  other  respects  the  worship  of  Devi  does  not 
differ  much  from  that  of  the  other  gods  ;  but  it  some- 
times assumes  a  form  that  has  brought  suspicion  or 
disgrace  on  the  whole  of  the  Hindu  religion.  I 
allude  to  the  secret  orgies,  which  have  often  been 
dwelt  on  by  the  missionaries,  and  the  existence  of 
which  no  one  has  ever  attempted  to  deny.  On  those 
occasions,  one  sect  of  the  worshippers  of  Devi, 
chiefly  Bramins,  (but  not  always,  for  with  this  sect 
all  cast  is  abolished,)  meet  in  parties  of  both  sexes, 
to  feast  on  flesh  and  spirituous  liquors,  and  to  in- 
dulge in  the  grossest  debauchery.  All  this  is  ren- 
dered doubly  odious  by  being  performed  with  some 
semblance  of  the  ceremonies  of  religion  ;  but  it  is 
probably  of  rare  occurrence,  and  is  all  done  with 
the  utmost  secrecy  ;  the  sect  by  which  it  is  to- 
lerated is  scarcely  ever  avowed,  and  is  looked  on 
with    horror   and    contempt   by  all   the  orthodox 

*  Mr.  Blaquiere,  Asiatic  Ttesearche.^,  vol.  v.  p.  371. 
\  Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.  iii.  p.  126. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  I7I 

Hindus.     Besides  these  votaries  of  Devi,  and  en-     chap. 
tirely   unconnected    with  her  worship,    there  are  ' 


some  few  amouQ-  the  varieties  of  rehmous  mendi- 
cants  wlio  consider  themselves  above  all  law,  and 
at  liberty  to  indulge  their  passions  without  incurring 
sin.  These  add  to  the  ill  repute  of  the  religion  of 
the  Hindus;  and  it  is  undeniable,  that  a  strain  of 
licentiousness  and  sensuality  mixes  occasionally 
with  every  part  of  their  mythology ;  but  it  is  con- 
fined to  books  and  songs,  and  to  temples  and 
festivals,  which  do  not  fall  under  every  one's  ob- 
servation. A  stranger  might  live  among  them  for 
years,  and  frequent  their  religious  ceremonies  and 
private  companies,  without  seeing  any  thing  inde- 
cent ;  and  their  notions  of  decorum,  in  the  inter- 
course of  persons  of  different  sexes,  is  carried  to  a 
pitch  of  strictness  which  goes  beyond  what  is  con- 
sistent with  reason  or  with  European  notions. 

To  return  to  the  gods  of  the  Hindus:   Vishnu  visimuanci 
is  represented  as  a  comely  and  placid  young  man,  Ii'.^tionT 
of  a  dark  azure  colour,  and  dressed  like  a  king  of 
ancient  days.     He  is  painted  also  in  the  forms  of 
liis  ten  principal  incarnations,  which  I  may  mention 
to  illustrate  the  o-enius  of  Hindu  fiction. 

The  first  was  that  of  a  fish,  to  recover  the  Vedas 
which  had  been  carried  away  by  a  demon  in  a  de- 
luge ;  another  was  that  of  a  boar,  who  raised  on 
his  tusks  the  world,  which  had  sunk  to  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean  ;  and  another  was  a  tortoise,  that  suj)- 
ported  a  mountain  in  one  of  the  most  famous 
legends.     The  fourth  had  rather  more  of  human 


172  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  interest.  An  infidel  tyrant  was  about  to  put  his 
'  son  to  death  for  his  faith  in  Vishnu.  In  his  last 
interview,  he  asked  him,  in  derision  of  the  omni- 
presence of  his  favourite  divinity,  whether  he  was 
in  that  pillar,  pointing  to  one  of  those  that  sup- 
ported the  hall.  The  son  answered  that  he  was ; 
and  the  incensed  father  was  about  to  order  his 
execution,  when  Vishnu,  in  the  shape  of  a  man, 
with  the  head  and  paws  of  a  lion,  burst  from  the 
pillar  and  tore  him  to  pieces.  The  fifth  was,  when 
a  king,  by  force  of  sacrifices  and  austerities,  had 
acquired  such  a  power  over  the  gods  that  they 
were  compelled  to  surrender  to  him  the  earth  and 
sea,  and  were  waiting  in  dread  till  the  conclusion 
of  his  last  sacrifice  should  put  him  in  possession  of 
the  heavens.  On  this  occasion  Vishnu  presented 
himself  as  a  Bramin  dwarf,  and  begged  for  as  much 
ground  as  he  could  step  over  in  three  paces  :  the 
Raja  granted  his  request,  wdth  a  smile  at  his  dimi- 
nutive stature  ;  when  Vishnu  at  the  first  step  strode 
over  the  earth  ;  at  the  second,  over  the  ocean  ;  and 
no  space  being  left  for  the  third,  he  released  the 
Raja  from  his  promise,  on  condition  of  his  de- 
scending to  hell.  The  sixth  incarnation  is  Paris 
Ram,  a  Bramin  hero,  who  made  war  on  the  Cshe- 
trya,  or  military  class,  and  extirpated  the  whole 
race.  The  seventh  was  Rama.  The  eighth  was 
Balla  Rama,  a  hero  who  delivered  the  earth  from 
giants.  The  ninth  was  Budha,  a  teacher  of  a  false 
religion,  whose  form  Vishnu  assumed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  deluding  the  enemies  of  the  gods:   a  cha- 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  173 

racter  which  plainly  points  to  the  religion  of  Budha,     chap. 
so  well  known  as  the  rival  of  that  of  the  Bramins. 


The   tenth   is   still  to  come.      But   all   his   other 
forms  are  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  incarnations 
of  Rama  and  Crishna,  who  have  not  only  eclipsed 
their   parent  Vishnu,   in    Hindostan  at  least,  but 
have  superseded  the  worship  of  the  old  elementary 
gods,  and  indeed  of  all   other  gods,   except  Siva, 
Surya,  and  Ganesa.*     Rama,   thus  identified  with  Rama. 
Vishnu  by  the  superstition  of  his  admirers,  was  a 
king  of  Oud,  and  is  almost  the  only  person  men- 
tioned in  the  Hindu  traditions  whose  actions  have 
something  of  a  historical  character.     He  is  said  to 
have  been  at  first  excluded  from  his  paternal  king- 
dom, and  to  have  passed   many  years  in   religious 
retirement   in    a    forest.       His    queen,    Sita,    was 
carried  off  by  the  giant  Ravana ;  for  her  sake  he 
led  an  army  into  the  Deckan,   penetrated  to   the 
island  of  Ceylon,  of  which  Ravana  was  king,   and 
recovered   Sita,   after  a  complete  victory  over  her 
ravisher.       In    that  expedition  his  allies  were  an 
army  of  monkeys,  under  the  command  of  Hunman, 
whose    figure    is  frequently  seen  in  temples,  and 
who,  indeed,  is  at  least  as  much  worsliipped  in  the 
Deckan  as  Rama  or  any  of  the  other  gods.    Ramans 
end,  however,   was   unfortunate  ;   for,  having,   by 
his  imprudence,   caused  the  death  of  his  brother 
Lachmen,   who    liad    shared  with    him  in   all   his 
dangers  and   successes,  he  threw  himself,   in  de- 

*  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.  p.  280. ;   Wilson, 
Ibid.  vol.  xvi.  pp.  4.  20. 


174  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  spair,  into  a  river,  and,  as  the  Hindus  say,  was  re- 
'  united  to  the  Divinity.  He  still,  however,  retains 
his  individual  existence,  as  is  shown  by  the  separate 
worship  so  generally  paid  to  him.  Rama  is  repre- 
sented in  his  natural  form,  and  is  an  object  of 
Crishna.  general  adoration.  But  in  this  respect  he  falls  far 
short  of  the  popularity  of  another  deified  mortal, 
whose  pretensions  are  by  no  means  so  obvious 
either  as  a  king  or  a  conqueror.  He  was  born  of  the 
royal  family  of  Mattra,  on  the  Jamna  ;  but  brought 
up  by  a  herdsman  in  the  neighbourhood,  who  con- 
cealed him  from  a  tyrant  who  sought  his  life.* 
This  is  the  period  which  has  made  most  impression 
on  the  Hindus,  who  are  never  tired  of  celebrating 
Crishna's  frolics  and  exploits  as  a  child  —  his  steal- 
ing milk,  and  his  destroying  serpents  ;  and  among 
whom  there  is  an  extensive  sect  which  worships 
him  under  his  infant  form,  as  the  supreme  creator 
and  ruler  of  the  universe.  Crishna  excites  equal 
enthusiasm,  especially  among  his  female  worship- 
pers, in  his  youth,  which  he  spent  among  the 
gopis,  or  milkmaids,  dancing,  sporting,  and  playing 
on  the  pipe ;  and  captivated  the  hearts,  not  only 
of  his  rural  companions,  but  of  the  princesses  of 
Hindostan,  who  had  witnessed  his  beauty.t 

As  he  advanced  in  years  he  achieved  innumer- 


*  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i.  p.  533. 

■|-  See  Sir  W.  Jones,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i.  p.  259. ;  and 
the  translation  by  the  same  elegant  scholar  of  the  song  of  Jaya 
Deva,  which,  in  his  hands,  affords  a  pleasing  specimen  of  Hindu 
pastoral  poetry,  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  185. 


IV. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  175 

able  adventures,  and,  among  the  rest,  subdued  the  chap. 
tyrant,  and  recovered  his  inheritance  ;  but,  l)eing 
pressed  by  foreign  enemies,  he  removed  his  resi- 
dence to  Dwarika,  in  Guzerat.*  He  afterwards 
appeared  as  an  ally  of  the  family  of  Pandu,  in 
their  war  with  their  relations  the  Curust,  for  the 
sovereignty  of  Hastinapur;  a  place  supposed  to  be 
north-east  of  Delhi,  and  about  forty  miles  from  the 
point  where  the  Ganges  enters  Hindostan. 

This  war  forms  the  subject  of  the  great  Hindu 
heroic  poem,  the  "  Maha  Bharat,"  of  which  Crishna 
is,  in  fact,  the  hero.  It  ended  in  the  success  of  the 
Pandus,  and  in  the  return  of  Crishna  to  his  capital 
in  Guzerat.  His  end  also  was  unfortunate;  for  he 
was  soon  involved  in  civil  discord,  and  at  last  was 
slain  by  the  arrow  of  a  hunter,  who  shot  at  him  by 
mistake,  in  a  thicket,  t 

Crishna  is  the  greatest  favourite  with  the  Hindus 
of  all  their  divinities.  Of  the  sectaries  who  revere 
Vishnu,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  gods,  one 
sect  almost  confine  their  worship  to  Rama  ;  but, 
though  composed  of  an  important  class,  as  includ- 
ing many  of  the  ascetics,  and  some  of  the  boldest 
speculators  in  religious  inquiry,  its  numbers  and 
popularity  bear  no  proportion   to  another  division 

*  Abstract  of  the  "  Mahii  Blutrat,"  in  Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.  iii. 
p.  lis.;  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv.  p.  101. ; 
Colonel  Wilford,  Ibid.  vol.  vi.  p.  508. 

f   Ward,  vol.  iii.  p.  14-8. 

X  Tod,  on  the  authority  of  a  Iliudu  history,  Kajasthan, 
vol.  i.  p.  50. 


176  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  of  the  Vaishnava  sect,  which  is  attached  to  tlie 
______   worship  of  Crishna. 

This  comprises  all  the  opulent  and  luxurious, 
almost  all  the  women,  and  a  very  large  proportion 
of  all  ranks  of  the  Indian  society.* 

The  greater  part  of  these  votaries  of  Crishna 
maintain  that  he  is  not  an  incarnation  of  Vishnu, 
but  Vishnu  himself,  and  likewise  the  eternal  and 
self-existing  creator  of  the  universe,  t 

These  are  the  principal  manifestations  of  Vishnu; 
but  his  incarnations  or  emanations,  even  as  acknow- 
ledged in  books,  are  innumerable  ;  and  they  are 
still  more  swelled  by  others  in  which  he  is  made  to 
appear  under  the  form  of  some  local  saint  or  hero, 
whom  his  followers  have  been  disposed  to  deify. 

The  same  liberty  is  taken  with  other  gods  :  Can- 
doba,  the  great  local  divinity  of  the  Marattas,  (re- 
presented as  an  armed  horseman,)  is  an  incar- 
nation of  Siva  t  ;  and  the  family  of  Bramins  at 
Chinchor,  near  Puna,  in  one  of  whose  members 
godhead  is  hereditary,  derive  their  title  from  an 
incarnation  or  emanation  of  Ganesa.  § 

Even  villages  have  their  local  deities,  which  are 
often  emanations  of  Siva  or  Vishnu,  or  of  the 
corresponding  goddesses.  But  all  these  incar- 
nations are  insignificant,    when  compared  to   the 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  pp.  85,  86. 
f   Ibid,  vol,  xvi.  p.  86,  &c. 

\  Mr.  Coats's  Bombay  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  198.^ 
§  Colebrooke,  Asiatic   Researches,  vol.  vii,  p.  282.;  Captain 
Moore,  Ibid.  vol.  vii.  p.  381. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGIO.V.  177 

great  ones  of  Vishnu,  and  above  all  to  Rama  and    chap. 

.  IV. 

Crishna.  — 

The  wife  of  Vishnu  is  Lakshmi.     She  has  no 

temples  ;  but,  being  goddess  of  abundance  and  of 

fortune,  she  continues  to  be  assiduously  courted, 

and  is  not  likely  to  fall  into  neglect. 

Of  the  remaining  gods,  Ganesa  and  Surya  (the  other 

gods. 

sun)  are  the  most  generally  honoured. 

They  both  have  votaries  who  prefer  them  to  all 
other  gods,  and  both  have  temples  and  regular 
worship.  Ganesa,  indeed,  has  probably  more  tem- 
ples in  the  Deckan  than  any  other  god  except  Siva. 
Surya  is  represented  in  a  chariot,  with  his  head 
surrounded  by  rays. 

Ganesa,  or  Ganpatti,  is  a  figure  of  a  fat  man, 
with  an  elephant's  head. 

None  of  the  remaining  nine  of  the  gods  enume- 
rated have  temples,  though  most  of  them  seem  to 
have  had  them  in  former  times.*  Some  have  an 
annual  festival,  on  which  their  image  is  made  and 
worshipped,  and  next  day  is  thrown  into  a  stream  : 
others  are  only  noticed  in  })rayers.  t  Indra,  in 
j)articular,  seems  to  have  formerly  occupied  a 
nuicli  more  distinguished  place  in  popular  respect 
than  he  now  enjoys.  He  is  called  the  Ruler  of 
Heaven  and  the  King  of  Gods,  and  was  fixed  on 
by  an  eminent  orientalist  as  the  Jupiter  of  the 
Hindus  t ;  yet  is  now  but  seldom  noticed. 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  p.  20. 

-)■   Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.  iii.  p.  2<S,  kc. 

X  Sir  W.  Jones,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i.  p.  241. 

VOL.   I.  N 


178  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  Cama,  also,  the  god  of  love,  has  undergone  a 
'  similar  fate.  He  is  the  most  pleasing  of  the  Hindu 
divinities,  and  most  conformable  to  European  ideas 
of  his  nature.  Endowed  with  perpetual  youth  and 
surpassing  beauty,  he  exerts  his  sway  over  both 
gods  and  men.  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  even  the 
gloomy  Siva,  have  been  wounded  by  his  flowery 
bow  and  his  arrows  tipped  with  blossoms.  His 
temples  and  groves  make  a  distinguished  figure  in 
the  tales,  poems,  and  dramas  of  antiquity  *  ;  but  he 
now  shares  in  neglect  and  disregard  with  the  other 
nine,  except  Yama,  W'hose  character  of  judge  of 
the  dead  makes  him  still  an  object  of  respect  and 
terror. 

Each  of  these  gods  has  his  separate  heaven,  and 
his  peculiar  attendants.  All  are  mansions  of  bliss 
of  immense  extent,  and  all  glittering  with  gold 
and  jewels. 

That  of  Indra  is  the  most  fully  described  ;  and, 
besides  the  usual  profusion  of  golden  palaces 
adorned  with  precious  stones,  is  filled  with  streams, 
groves,  and  gardens,  blooms  with  an  infinity  of 
flowers,  and  is  perfumed  by  a  celestial  tree,  which 
grows  in  the  centre,  and  fills  the  whole  space  with 
its  fragrance. 

It  is  illumined  by  a  light  far  more  brilliant  than 
that  of  the  sun  ;  and  is  thronged  with  Apsaras 
and  Gandarvas  (heavenly  nymphs  and  choristers). 
Angels  of  many  kinds  minister  to  the  inhabitants, 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  ResearcJies,  vol.  xvi.  p.  20. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  179 

who  are  unceasingly  entertained  with  songs  and    chap. 
dances,  music,  and  every  species  of  enjoyment.  ' 


Besides  the  anojels  and  good  o-enii  that  inhabit  Good  and 

^  .  .         '>atl  spirits. 

the  different  heavens,  there  are  various  descrip- 
tions of  spirits  spread  through  the  rest  of  the 
creation. 

The  Asuras  are  the  kindred  of  the  gods,  dis- 
inherited and  cast  into  darkness,  but  long  struggling 
against  their  rivals ;  and  bearing  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  the  Titans  of  the  Grecian  mythology. 

The  Deityas  are  another  species  of  demon, 
strong  enough  to  have  mustered  armies  and  carried 
on  war  with  the  gods.  * 

The  Rakshasas  are  also  gigantic  and  malignant 
beings  ;  and  the  Pisachas  are  of  the  same  nature, 
though  perhaps  inferior  in  power.  Bliutas  are 
evil  spirits  of  the  lowest  order,  corresponding  to 
our  ghosts  and  other  goblins  of  the  nursery ;  but 
in  India  believed  in  by  all  ranks  and  ages. 

A  most  extensive  body  of  divinities  is  still  to  Local 
be  noticed ;  although  they  are  not  individually  ^°  ^" 
acknowledged  except  in  confined  districts,  and 
although  the  legality  of  their  worship  is  sometimes 
denied  by  the  Bramins.  These  are  the  village 
gods,  of  which  each  village  adores  two  or  three, 
as  its  especial  guardians  ;  but  sometimes  as  its 
dreaded  persecutors  and  tormentors.  They  bear 
some  resemblance  to  the  penates  or  lares  of  the 
Romans  ;  and,  like  them,  they  are  sometimes  the 

*  See  in  particular  the  legend  of  Jhalandara,  Kennedys  Re- 
searches,  p.  45G. 

N    2 


180  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     recognised   ffods  of  the  whole   nation   f  either  in 
II.  .  . 

'  their  generally  received  characters,  or  in  local  in- 

carnations) ;  but  much  oftener  they  are  the  spirits 
of  deceased  persons,  who  have  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  neighbourhood. 

They  have  seldom  temples  or  images,  but  are 
worshipped  under  the  form  of  a  heap  of  earth. 

It  is  possible  that  some  of  them  may  be  ancient 
gods  of  the  Sudras,  who  have  survived  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  Bramin  religion.  * 
General  Sucli  is  thc  outliuc  of  tlic  religiou  of  the  Hindus. 

thrHindu  To  give  a  conception  of  its  details,  it  would  be 
religion.  neccssaiy  to  relate  some  of  the  innumerable  le- 
gends of  which  their  mythology  is  composed,  — 
the  churning  of  the  ocean  by  the  gods  and  asuras, 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  the  nectar  of  immor- 
tality, and  the  subsequent  stratagem  by  which  the 
gods  defrauded  their  coadjutors  of  the  prize  ob- 
tained ;  the  descent  of  the  Ganges  from  heaven 
on  the  invocation  of  a  saint  ;  its  falling  with 
violence  on  the  head  of  Siva,  wandering  for  years 
amidst  his  matted  locks,  and  tumbling  at  last  to 
the  earth,  with  all  its  train  of  fishes,  snakes,  turtles, 
and  crocodiles  ;  the  production  of  Ganesa,  with- 
out a  father,  by  the  intense  wishes  of  Devi ;  his 
temporary  slaughter  by  Siva,  who  cut  off  his  head 

*  Dr.  Hamilton  Buchanan  paid  much  attention  to  this  sub- 
ject in  his  survey  of  certain  districts  in  Bengal  and  Behar.  He 
found  the  village  gods  were  generally  spirits  of  men  of  the 
place  vv'ho  had  died  violent  deaths ;  often  of  Bramins  who  had 
killed  themselves  to  resist  or  revenge  an  injury.  —  MSS.  at  the 
India  House,  published  in  part  by  Mr.  Montgomery  Martin. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION. 


181 


IV. 


and  afterwards  replaced  it  with  that  of  an  elephant,  chap. 
the  first  that  came  to  hand  in  the  emergency  ;  — 
such  narratives,  with  the  qiiari-els  of  the  gods, 
their  occasional  loves  and  jealousies  ;  their  wars 
with  men  and  demons  ;  their  defeats,  flights,  and 
captivity  ;  their  penances  and  austerities  for  the 
accomplishment  of  their  wishes  ;  their  speaking 
weapons ;  the  numerous  forms  they  have  assumed, 
and  the  delusions  with  which  they  have  deceived 
the  senses  of  those  whom  they  wished  to  injure ; 
—  all  this  would  be  necessary  to  show  fully  the 
rehgious  opinions  of  India  ;  but  would  occupy  a 
space  for  which  the  value  of  the  matter  would  be 
a  very  inadequate  compensation. 

It  may  be  sufficient  to  observe,  that  the  ge- 
neral character  of  these  legends  is  extravagance 
and  incongruity.  The  Greek  gods  were  formed 
like  men,  with  greatly  increased  powers  and  facul- 
ties, and  acted  as  men  would  do  if  so  circum- 
stanced ;  but  with  a  dignity  and  energy  suited  to 
their  nearer  approach  to  perfection.  The  Hindu 
gods,  on  the  other  hand,  though  endued  with 
human  passions,  have  always  something  monstrous 
in  tlicir  appearance,  and  wild  and  capricious  in 
their  conduct.  They  are  of  various  colours,  —  red, 
yellow,  and  blue ;  some  have  twelve  heads,  and 
most  have  four  hands.  They  are  often  enraged 
without  a  cause,  and  reconciled  without  a  motive. 
The  same  deity  is  sometimes  powerful  enough  to 
destroy  his  enemies  w^itli  a  glance,  or  to  subdue 
them  with  a  wish  ;  and  at  other  times  is  obliged 

N  3 


182  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     to  assemble  numerous  armies  to  accomplish    his 
II  .  . 

"        purpose,  and  is  very  near  faiUng  after  all.* 

The  powers  of  the  three  great  gods  are  coequal 
and  unlimited  ;  yet  are  exercised  with  so  little 
harmony,  that,  in  one  of  their  disputes,  Siva  cuts 
off  one  of  Brahma's  heads. t  Neither  is  there  any 
regular  subordination  of  the  other  gods  to  the 
three,  or  to  each  other.  Indra,  who  is  called  the 
King  of  Heaven  and  has  been  compared  to  Ju- 
piter, has  no  authority  over  any  of  the  rest.  These 
and  more  incongruities  arise,  in  part,  from  the 
desire  of  different  sects  to  extol  their  favourite 
deity ;  but,  as  the  Puranas  are  all  of  authority, 
it  is  impossible  to  separate  legends  founded  on 
those  writings  from  the  general  belief  of  all  classes. 
With  all  this  there  is  something  in  the  gigantic 
scale  of  the  Hindu  gods,  the  original  character  of 
their  sentiments  and  actions,  and  the  peculiar 
forms  in  which  they  are  clothed,  and  splendour 
with  which  they  are  surrounded,  that  does  not 
fail  to  make  an  impression  on  the  imagination. 

Tiie  most  singular  anomaly  in  the  Hindu  re- 
ligion is  the  power  of  sacrifices  and  religious 
austerities.  Through  them  a  religious  ascetic  can 
inflict  the  severest  calamities,  even  on  a  deity,  by 
his  curse  j  and  the  most  wicked  and  most  impious 
of  mankind  may  acquire  such  an  ascendancy  over 
the   gods   as   to  render  them  the  passive   instru- 

*  Story  of  Shiva  and  Jhalandara,  Kennedy  s  Researches,  p.  456. 
t  Kennedy's  Researches,  p.  295. ;  and  Wilson,  Asiatic  Re- 
searches, vol.  xvi,  p.  4.  note. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  183 

ments  of  his  ambition,  and  even  to  force  them  to     chap. 

submit  their  heavens  and  themselves  to  his  sove-  '. 

reignty.  Indra,  on  being  cursed  by  a  Bramin, 
was  hurled  from  his  own  heaven,  and  compelled 
to  animate  the  body  of  a  cat.  *  Even  Yama,  tlie 
terrible  judge  of  the  dead,  is  said,  in  a  legend, 
to  have  been  cursed  for  an  act  done  in  that  capa- 
city, and  obliged  to  undergo  a  transmigration  into 
the  person  of  a  slave,  t 

The  danger  of  all  the  gods  from  the  sacrifices 
of  one  king  has  appeared  in  the  fifth  incarnation 
of  Vishnu  ;  another  king  actually  conquered  the 
three  worlds,  and  forced  the  gods,  except  the 
tln'ee  chief  ones,  to  fly  and  to  conceal  themselves 
under  the  shapes  of  different  animals t  ;  while  a 
third  went  still  further,  and  compelled  the  gods  to 
worship  him.  § 

These  are  a  few  out  of  numerous  instances  of 
a  similar  nature  ;  all,  doubtless,  invented  to  show 
the  virtue  of  ritual  observances,  and  thus  increase 
the  consequence  and  profits  of  the  Bramins.  But 
these  are  rather  the  traditions  of  former  days,  than 
the  opinions  by  which  men  are  now  actuated  in 
relation  to  the  Divinity.  The  same  objects  which 
w^ere  formerly  to  be  extorted  by  sacrifices  and 
austerities  are  now  to  be  won  by  faith.  The 
followers  of  this  new  principle  look  with  scarcely 
disguised  contempt  on  the  Vedas,  and  all  the  de- 
votional exercises  there  enjoined.     As  no  religion 

*  Ward,  vol.  iii.  p.  31.  f   Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  58. 

J  Kennedy's  Researches,  p.  368.     §    Ward,  vol.  iii.  p.  75. 

N    4 


184  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


II. 


BOOK  ever  entirely  discards  morality,  they  still  inculcate 
purity  of  life,  and  innocence  if  not  virtue ;  but 
the  sole  essential  is  dependence  on  the  particular 
god  of  the  sect  of  the  individual  teacher.  Im- 
plicit faith  and  reliance  on  him  make  up  for  all 
deficiencies  in  other  respects ;  while  no  attention 
to  the  forms  of  religion,  or  to  the  rules  of  morality, 
are  of  the  slightest  avail  without  this  all-important 
sentiment.  This  system  is  explained  and  incul- 
cated in  the  Bhagwat  Gita,  which  Mr.  Colebrooke 
regards  as  the  text-book  of  the  school. 

It  is  an  uncommon,  though  not  exclusive,  fea- 
ture in  the  Hindu  religion,  that  the  gods  enjoy 
only  a  limited  existence  :  at  the  end  of  a  cycle  of 
prodigious  duration,  the  universe  ceases  to  exist ; 
the  triad  and  all  the  other  gods  lose  their  being ; 
and  the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  remains  alone  in 
infinite  space.  After  the  lapse  of  ages,  his  power 
is  again  exerted  ;  and  the  whole  creation,  with  all 
its  human  and  divine  inhabitants,  rises  once  more 
into  existence. 

One  can  hardly  believe  that  so  many  rude  and 
puerile  fables,  as  most  of  those  above  related,  are 
not  the  relics  of  the  earliest  and  most  barbarous 
times;  but  even  the  sacred  origin  of  the  Christian 
religion  did  not  prevent  its  being  clouded,  after 
the  decay  of  learning,  with  su})erstitions  propor- 
tionately as  degrading ;  and  we  may  therefore 
believe,  with  the  best  informed  orientalists,  that 
the  Hindu  system  once  existed  in  far  greater 
purity,  and  has  sunk  into  its  present  state  along 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  185 


state. 


with  the  decUne  of  all  other  branches  of  know-    chap. 
ledge.  ^'^- 

In  the  above  observations  I  have  abstained  from 
all  reference  to  the  religion  of  other  countries.  It 
is  possible  that  antiquarians  may  yet  succeed  in 
finding  a  connection,  in  principles  or  in  origin, 
between  the  mythology  of  India  and  that  of  Greece 
or  of  Egypt ;  but  the  external  appearances  are  so 
different,  that  it  would  quite  mislead  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  reader  to  attempt  to  illustrate  them  by 
allusions  to  either  of  those  superstitions. 

It  only  remains  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  belief  Future 
of  the  Hindus  relating  to  a  future  state.  Their 
peculiar  doctrine,  as  is  well  known,  is  transmigra- 
tion ;  but  they  believe  that,  between  their  different 
stages  of  existence,  they  will,  according  to  their 
merits,  enjoy  thousands  of  years  of  happiness  in 
some  of  the  heavens  already  described,  or  suffer 
torments  of  similar  duration  in  some  of  their  still 
more  numerous  hells.  Hope,  however,  seems  to 
be  denied  to  none  :  the  most  wicked  man,  after 
being  purged  of  his  crimes  by  ages  of  suffering  and 
by  repeated  transmigrations,  may  ascend  in  the 
scale  of  being,  until  he  may  enter  into  heaven, 
and  even  attain  the  highest  reward  of  all  the  good, 
which  is  incorporation  in  the  essence  of  God. 

Their  descriptions  of  the  future  states  of  bliss  and 
penance  are  spirited  and  poetical.  The  good,  as 
soon  as  they  leave  the  body,  jiroceed  to  the  abode  of 
Yama,  through  delightful  })aths,  under  the  shade  of 
fragrant  trees,  among  streams  covered  with  the  lotos. 


18G 


IIISTOIIY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  Showers  of  flowers  fall  on  them  as  they  pass ;  and 
'  the  ah'  resounds  with  the  hymns  of  the  blessed, 
and  the  still  more  melodious  strains  of  angels. 
The  passage  of  the  wicked  is  through  dark  and 
dismal  paths ;  sometimes  over  burning  sand,  some- 
times over  stones  that  cut  their  feet  at  every  step  : 
they  travel  naked,  parched  with  thirst,  covered 
with  dirt  and  blood,  amidst  showers  of  hot  ashes 
and  burning  coals  :  they  are  terrified  with  frequent 
and  horrible  apparitions,  and  fill  the  air  with  their 
shrieks  and  wailing.*  The  hells  to  whicli  they 
are  ultimately  doomed  are  conceived  in  the  same 
spirit,  and  described  with  a  mixture  of  sublimity 
and  minuteness  that  almost  recalls  the  "  Inferno." 

These  rewards  and  punishments  are  often  well 
apportioned  to  the  moral  merits  and  demerits  of 
the  deceased ;  and  they  no  doubt  exercise  con- 
siderable influence  over  the  conduct  of  the  living. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  efficacy  ascribed  to 
faith,  and  to  the  observance  of  the  forms  of  devo- 
tion, and  the  facility  of  expiating  crimes  by  pe- 
nances, are,  unfortunately,  prevailing  characteristics 
of  this  religion,  and  have  a  strong  tendency  to 
weaken  its  effect  in  supporting  the  principles  of 
morality. 

Its  indirect  influence  on  its  votaries  is  even  more 
injurious  than  these  defects.  Its  gross  superstition 
debases  and  debilitates  the  mind  ;  and  its  exclusive 
view  to  repose  in  this  world,  and  absorption  here- 


Moral 
effects, 


*  Ward  on  the  Hindoos,  vol.  iii.  p.  374. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  187 

after,  destroys  the  great  stimulants  to  virtue  afforded     chap. 

by   love  of  enterprise  and  of  posthumous   fame.   

Its  usurpations  over  the  provinces  of  law  and 
science  tend  to  keep  knowledge  fixed  at  the  point 
to  which  it  had  attained  at  the  time  of  the  pre- 
tended revelation  by  the  Divinity  ;  and  its  inter- 
ference in  the  minutiae  of  private  manners  extir- 
pates every  habit  and  feeling  of  free  agency,  and 
reduces  life  to  a  mechanical  routine.  When  indi- 
viduals are  left  free,  improvements  take  place  as 
they  are  required  ;  and  a  nation  is  entirely  changed 
in  the  course  of  a  few  generations  without  an  effort 
on  the  part  of  any  of  its  members  ;  but  when  reli- 
gion has  interposed,  it  requires  as  much  boldness 
to  take  the  smallest  step,  as  to  pass  over  the  inno- 
vations of  a  century  at  a  stride ;  and  a  man  must 
be  equally  prepared  to  renounce  his  faith  and  the 
communion  of  his  friends,  whether  he  merely  makes 
a  change  in  his  diet,  or  embraces  a  whole  body  of 
doctrines,  religious  and  political,  at  variance  with 
those  established  among  his  countrymen. 

It  is  within  its  own  limits  that  it  has  been  least 
successful  in  opposing  innovation.  The  original 
revelation,  indeed,  has  not  been  questioned  ;  but 
different  degrees  of  importance  have  been  attached 
to  particular  parts  of  it,  and  different  constructions 
])ut  on  the  same  passages ;  and  as  there  is  neither 
a  ruling  council  nor  a  single  head  to  settle  disputed 
])oints,  and  to  enforce  uniformity  in  practice,  va- 
rious sects  have  sprung  up,  which  differ  from  each 
other  both  in  their  tenets  and  their  practice. 


188  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         There  are  three  principal   sects*  :    the    Saivas 

1 (followers  of  Siva),  the   Vaishnavas  (followers  of 

Sects.  Vishnu),  and  the  Saktas  (followers  of  some   one 

of  the  Saktis ;   that  is,   the  female  associates   or 
active  powers  of  the  members  of  the  triad). 

Each  of  these  sects  branches  into  various  sub- 
ordinate ones,  depending  on  tlie  different  cha- 
racters under  which  its  deity  is  worshipped,  or  on 
the  peculiar  religious  and  metaphysical  opinions 
which  each  has  grafted  on  the  parent  stock.  The 
Saktas  have  three  additional  divisions  of  a  more 
general  character,  depending  on  the  particular 
goddesses  whom  they  worship.  The  followers  of 
Devi  (the  spouse  of  Siva),  however,  are  out  of  all 
comparison  more  numerous  than  both  the  others 
put  together. 

Besides  the  three  great  sects,  there  are  small 
ones,  which  worship  Surya  and  Gunesa  respect- 
ively ;  and  others  which,  though  preserving  the 
form  of  Hinduism,  approach  very  near  to  pure 
deism. 

The  Sikhs  (who  will  be  mentioned  hereafter) 
have  founded  a  sect  involving  such  great  inno- 
vations, that  it  may  almost  be  regarded  as  a  new 
religion. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  every  Hindu  be- 
longs to  one  or  other  of  the  above  sects.  They, 
on    the  contrary,    are    alone  reckoned    orthodox 

*  Almost  the  whole  of  the  following  statements  regarding 
the  sects  are  taken  from  Professor  Wilson's  essays  on  that  sub- 
ject, in  vols.  xvi.  and  xvii.  of  the  "Asiatic  Researches." 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  189 

who  profess  a  comprehensive  system  opposed  to    chap. 
the  exclusive  worship  of  particular  divinities,  and  " 

who  draw  their  ritual  from  the  Vedas,  Puranas, 
and  other  sacred  books,  rejecting  the  ceremonies 
derived  from  other  sources.  To  this  class  the 
apparent  mass  of  the  Braminical  order,  at  least, 
still  belongs.*  But  probably,  even  among  them, 
all  but  the  more  philosophical  religionists  have  a 
bias  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  contending  divini- 
ties ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  more  decidedly 
of  all  such  of  the  lower  casts  as  are  not  careless  of 
every  thing  beyond  the  requisite  ritual  observances. 
It  has  been  remarked  that  incarnations  of  Vishnu 
are  the  principal  objects  of  popular  predilection. 
In  all  Bengal  and  Hindostan  it  is  to  those  incar- 
nations that  the  religious  feelings  of  the  people  are 
directed  ;  and,  though  the  temples  and  emblems 
of  Siva  are  very  common,  the  worshippers  are  few, 
and  seem  inspired  with  little  veneration. 

Siva,  it  appears,  lias  always  been  the  patron  god 
of  the  Bramin  class,  but  has  never  much  excited 
the  imaginations  of  the  people.*  Even  where  his 
sect  ostensibly  prevails,  the  great  body  of  the  in- 
habitants are  much  more  attracted  by  the  human 
feelings  and  interesting  adventures  of  Rama  and 
Crishna.  The  first  of  the  two  is  the  great  object 
of  devotion  (with  the  regular  orders  at  least)  on 
the  banks  of  the  Jamna  and  the  north-western 
part  of  the  Ganges ;  but  Crishna  prevails,  in  his 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  p.  2. 
■\   Ibid.  vol.  xvii.  p.  169. 


190  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     turn,  along  the  lower  course  of  the  Ganges*,  and 

"       all  the  centre  and  west  of  Hindostan.t     Rama, 

however,  is  every  where  revered;   and  liis  name, 

twice  repeated,  is  the  ordinary  salutation  among 

all  classes  of  Hindus. 

The  Saivas,  in  all  places,  form  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  regular  orders :  among  the  people 
they  are  most  numerous  in  the  Mysore  and  Ma- 
ratta  countries.  Further  south,  the  Vaishnavas 
prevail ;  but  tliere  the  object  of  worship  is  Vishnu, 
not  in  his  human  form  of  Rama  or  Crishna,  but 
in  his  abstract  character,  as  preserver  and  ruler  of 
the  universe,  t  Saktas,  or  votaries  of  the  female 
divinity,  are  mixed  with  the  rest ;  but  are  most 
numerous  in  particular  places.  Three  fourths  of 
the  population  of  Bengal  worship  goddesses,  and 
most  of  them  Devi.§ 

In  most  of  these  instances  the  difference  of  sects, 
though  often  bitter,  is  not  conspicuous.  Europeans 
are  seldom  distinctly  aware  of  their  existence,  un- 
less they  have  learned  it  from  the  writings  of  Mr. 
Colebrooke,  Mr.  Wilson,  or  Dr.  Hamilton  Buchanan. 
Even  the  painted  marks  on  the  forehead,  by  which 
each  man's  sect  is  shown,  although  the  most  singular 
peculiarity  of  the  Hindu  dress,  have  failed  to  con- 
vey the  information  they  are  designed  for,  and  have 

*  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  52. 
f  Tod's  Rajasthan. 

X  Buchanan  MSS.  at  the  India  House.  These  may  be  either 
the  strictly  orthodox  Hindus,  or  followers  of  Ramaniij. 

§  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  210.  221. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  191 

been  taken  for  marks  of  the  cast,  not  the  sect,  of    chap. 

,  IV. 

the  wearer.  

Persons  desirous  of  johnng  a  sect  are  admitted 
by  a  sort  of  initiation,  the  chief  part  of  which  con- 
sists in  whispering  by  the  guru  (or  rehgious  in- 
structor) of  a  short  and  secret  form  of  words, 
which  so  far  corresponds  to  the  communication  of 
the  gayatri  at  the  initiation  of  a  Bramin. 

The  sects  are  of  very  different  degrees  of  an- 
tiquity. 

The  separate  worship  of  the  three  great  gods 
and  tlieir  corresponding  goddesses  is  probably  very 
ancient  *  ;  but  when  the  assertion  of  the  supremacy 
of  one  or  other  began  (in  which  the  peculiarity  of 
the  present  sects  consists)  is  not  so  clear.  It  is 
probably  much  more  modern  than  the  mere  se- 
parate worship  of  the  great  gods. 

It  seems  nearly  certain  that  the  sects  founded 
on  the  worship  of  particular  incarnations,  as  Rama, 
Crishna,  &c.,  are  later  than  the  beginning  of  the 
eighth  century  of  the  Christian  aera.t 

The  number  of  sects  has,  doubtless,   been  in- 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  218. 
The  same  gentleman  points  out  a  convincing  proof  of  the  early 
worship  of  the  spouse  of  Siva.  A  temple  to  her,  under  her 
title  of  Comtiri  (from  which  the  neighbouring  promontory,  Cape 
Comorin,  derives  its  name,)  is  mentioned  in  the  '•  Periplus," 
attributed  to  Arrian,  and  probably  written  in  the  second  century 
of  our  aera. 

f  They  are  not  mentioned  in  a  work  written  in  the  eleventh 
century,  but  professing  to  exhibit  the  tenets  of  the  different 
sects  at  the  time  of  Sancara  Acharya,  who  lived  in  the  eighth 
century.  —  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  p.  ll-. 


192  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     creased  by  the  disuse  of  the  Vedas,  the  only  source 
'        from  which  the  Hindu  rehmon  could  be  obtained 


New  in  purity.     The  use  of  those  scriptures  was  con- 

ritual.  1  ^  ^  1 

fined  to  the  three  twice-born  classes,  of  which  two 
are  now  regarded  as  extinct,  and  the  remaining 
one  is  greatly  fallen  off  from  its  original  duties. 
It  may  have  been  owing  to  these  circumstances 
that  the  old  ritual  was  disused,  and  a  new  one 
has  since  sprung  up,  suited  to  the  changes  which 
have  arisen  in  religious  opinion. 

It  is  embodied  in  a  comparatively  modern  col- 
lection of  hymns,  prayers,  and  incantations,  which, 
mixed  with  portions  of  the  V6das,  furnishes  now 
what  may  be  called  the  Hindu  service.*  It  is 
exhibited  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  in  three  separate 
essays,  in  the  fifth  and  seventh  volumes  of  the 
"  Asiatic  Researches." 

The  difference  between  the  spirit  of  this  ritual 
and  that  of  which  we  catch  occasional  views  in 
Menu  is  less  than  might  have  been  expected. 
The  long  instructions  for  the  forms  of  ablution, 
meditation  on  the  gayatri,  &c.,  are  consistent  with 
the  religion  of  the  Vedas,  and  might  have  existed 
in  Menu's  time,  though  he  had  no  occasion  to 
mention  them.  The  objects  of  adoration  are  in 
a  great  measure  the  same,  being  deities  of  the 
elements  and  powers  of  nature.  The  mention  of 
Crishna  is,  of  course,  an  innovation  ;  but  it  occurs 
seldom. 

*  Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.  ii.  p.  362. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  193 

Among  other  new  practices  are  meditations  on    chap. 
Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva,  in  their  corporeal  form;  ' 

and,  above  all,  the  frequent  mention  of  Vishnu 
with  the  introduction  of  the  text  *'  Thrice  did 
Vishnu  step,  &c.,"  a  passage  in  the  Vedas,  which 
seems  to  imply  an  allusion  to  the  fifth  incarnation  *, 
and,  perhaps,  owes  the  frequent  introduction  of  it 
to  the  paucity  of  such  acknowledgments. 

Mr.  Colebrooke  avowedly  confines  himself  to  the 
five  sacraments  which  existed  in  Menu's  time ;  but 
there  is  a  new  sort  of  worship  never  alluded  to  in 
the  Institutes,  which  now  forms  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal duties  of  every  Hindu.  This  is  the  worship 
of  images,  before  whom  many  prostrations  and 
other  acts  of  adoration  must  daily  be  performed, 
accompanied  with  burning  incense,  offerings  of 
flowers  and  fruits,  and  sometimes  of  dressed 
victuals.  Many  idols  are  also  attired  by  their 
votaries,  and  decorated  with  jewels  and  other  orna- 
ments, and  are  treated  in  all  respects  as  if  they 
were  human  beings. 

The  Hindu  ceremonies  are  numerous,  but  far 
from  impressive;  and  their  liturgy,  judging  from 
the  specimen  afforded  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  though 
not  without  a  few  fine  passages,  is  in  general 
tedious  and  insipid.  Each  man  goes  through  his 
daily  devotions  alone,  in  his  own  house,  or  at  any 
temple,  stream,  or  pool  that  suits  him ;  so  that  the 
want  of  interest  in  his  addresses  to  the  divinity 

*  See  page  172. 
VOT,.  J.  o 


194i  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    is  not  compensated  by  the  effect  of  sympathy  in 
others. 


Although  the  service  (as  it  may  be  termed)  is 
changed,  the  occasions  for  using  it  remain  the  same 
as  those  formerly  enumerated  from  Menu.  The 
same  ceremonies  must  be  performed,  from  con- 
ception to  the  grave  ;  and  the  same  regular  course 
of  prayers,  sacrifices,  and  oblations  must  be  gone 
through  every  day.  More  liberty,  however,  is  taken 
in  shortening  them  than  was  recognised  in  Menu's 
Code,  however  it  might  have  been  in  the piactice 
of  his  age. 

A  strict  Bramin,  performing  his  full  ceremonies, 
would  still  be  occupied  for  not  less  than  four  hours 
in  the  day.  But  even  a  Bramin,  if  engaged  in 
worldly  affairs,  may  perform  all  his  religious  duties 
within  half  an  hour ;  and  a  man  of  the  lower 
classes  contents  himself  with  repeating  the  name 
of  his  patron  deity  while  he  bathes.* 
Ascend-  The  iucrcasc  of  sects  is  both   the    cause   and 

monastiJ''^  consequcuce  of  the  ascendancy  of  the  monastic 
orders.  ordcrs.  Eacli  of  these  is  in  general  devoted  to 
some  particular  divinity,  and  its  importance  is 
founded  on  the  veneration  in  which  its  patron  is 
held.  They  therefore  inculcate  faith  in  that 
divinity  as  the  means  of  attaining  all  wishes  and 
covering  all  sins  ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  they 
claim  for  themselves  through  life  an  implicit  sub- 
mission from  their  followers,  such  as  the  Bramin 

*  Ward  on  the  Hindoos. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  195 

religious   instructor   in   Menu  required   from    his     chap. 
pupil  during  his  period  of  probation  alone.  ^^' 

To  this  is  to  be  ascribed  the  encroachments 
which  those  orders  have  made  on  the  spiritual 
authority  of  the  Bramins,  and  the  feelings  of  rivalry 
and  hostility  with  which  the  two  classes  regard 
each  other. 

The  Bramins,  on  their  part,  have  not  failed  to 
profit  by  the  example  of  the  Gosayens,  having 
taken  on  themselves  the  conduct  of  sects  in  the 
same  manner  as  their  rivals.  Of  the  eighty-four 
Gurus  (or  spiritual  chiefs)  of  the  sect  of  Ramanuj, 
for  instance,  seventy-nine  are  secular  Bramins.* 

The  power  of  these  heads  of  sects  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  innovations  in  the  Hindu  system. 
Many  of  them  in  the  south  (especially  those  of 
regular  orders)  have  large  establishments,  sup- 
ported by  grants  of  land  and  contributions  from 
their  flock.  Their  income  is  chiefly  spent  in 
charity,  but  they  maintain  a  good  deal  of  state, 
especially  on  their  circuits,  where  they  are  accom- 
panied by  elephants,  flags,  &c.,  like  temporal  dig- 
nitiu-ies,  are  followed  by  crowds  of  disciples,  and 
are  received  with  honour  by  all  princes  whose 
countries  they  enter.  Their  function  is,  indeed, 
an  important  one,  being  no  less  than  an  inspection 
of  the  state  of  morals  and  cast,  involving  the  duties 
and  powers  of  a  censor.! 

*  Buchanan's  Journey,  vol.  i.  p.  I4t. ;  vol.  ii.  pp.  74-,  75. 
t  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  21.,  and  other  places. 


O    !^ 


19^  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 

II  Religion  of  the  Bdudhas  and  Jdinas. 


There  are  two  other  reUgions,  which,  although 
disthict  from  that  of  the  Hindus,  appear  to  belong 
to  the  same  stock,  and  which  seem  to  have  shared 
with  it  in  the  veneration  of  the  people  of  India, 
before  the  introduction  of  an  entirely  foreign  faith 
by  the  Mahometans. 

These  are  the  religions  of  the  Baudhas  (or  wor- 
shippers of  Budha)  and  the  Jains. 

They  both  resemble  the  Bramin  doctrines  in 
their  character  of  quietism,  in  their  tenderness  of 
animal  life,  and  in  tlie  belief  of  repeated  trans- 
migrations, of  various  hells  for  the  purification  of 
the  wicked,  and  heavens  for  the  solace  of  the  good. 
T\\Q  great  object  of  all  three  is,  the  ultimate  at- 
tainment of  a  state  of  perfect  apathy,  which,  in 
our  eyes,  seems  little  different  from  annihilation  ; 
and  the  means  employed  in  all  are,  the  practice  of 
mortification  and  of  abstraction  from  the  cares  and 
feelings  of  humanity. 

The  differences  from  the  Hindu  belief  are  no 
less  striking  than  the  points  of  resemblance,  and 
are  most  so  in  the  religion  of  the  Baudhas. 
The  Baud-  The  most  ancicut  of  the  Baudha  sects  entirely 
Bu'dhists.  denies  the  being  of  God  j  and  some  of  those  which 
admit  the  existence  of  God  refuse  to  acknowledge 
him  as  the  creator  or  ruler  of  the  universe. 

According  to  the  ancient  atheistical  sect,  nothing 
exists  but  matter,  which  is  eternal.  The  power  of 
organisation  is  inherent  in  matter  ;  and  although 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  197 

tlie  universe  perishes  from  time  to  time,  this  quality     chap. 
restores  it  after  a  period,  and  carries  it  on  towards  ' 

new  decay  and  regeneration,  without  tlie  guidance 
of  any  external  agent. 

The  highest  rank  in  the  scale  of  existence  is 
held  by  certain  beings  called  Budhas,  who  have 
raised  themselves  by  their  own  actions  and  austeri- 
ties, during  a  long  series  of  transmigrations  in  this 
and  former  worlds,  to  the  state  of  perfect  inactivity 
and  a{)athy  which  is  regarded  as  the  great  object 
of  desire. 

Even  this  atheistical  school  includes  intelligence 
and  design  among  the  properties  inherent  in  every 
particle  of  matter  ;  and  another  sect*  endeavours 
to  explain  those  qualities  more  intelligibly  by 
uniting  them  in  one,  and,  perhaps,  combining 
them  with  consciousness,  so  as  to  give  them  a  sort 
of  personality  ;  but  the  being  formed  by  this  com- 
bination remains  in  a  state  of  perpetual  repose,  his 
qualities  operating  on  the  other  portions  of  matter 
without  exertion  or  volition  on  his  part. 

The  next  approach  to  theism,  and  generally  in- 
cluded in  that  creed,  is  the  opinion  that  there  is  a 
Supreme  Beingt,  eternal,  immaterial,  intelligent, 
and  also  endued  with  free  will  and  moral  qualities ; 
but  remaining,  as  in  the  last-mentioned  system,  in 
a  state  of  perpetual  repose.  With  one  division  of 
those  who  believe  in  sucii  a  Divinity,  he  is  the  sole 
eternal   and   self-existing   principle;     but   another 

*  The  Prajiiikas. 

f   Called  A'di  Biullia,  or  supreme  intelligcnee. 

o  3 


198  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     division  associates  matter  with  him  as  a  separate 

. deity,  and  supposes  a  being  formed  by  the  union 

of  the  other  two  to  be  the  real  originator  of  the 
universe. 

But  the  action  of  the  Divinity  is  not,  in  any 
theory,  carried  beyond  producing  by  his  will  the 
emanation  of  five  (or  some  say  seven)  Budhasfrom 
his  own  essence  ;  and  from  these  Budhas  proceed, 
in  like  manner,  five  (or  seven)  other  beings  called 
Bhodisatwas,  each  of  whom,  in  his  turn,  is  charged 
with  the  creation  of  a  world. 

But  so  essential  is  quiescence  to  felicity  and  per- 
fection, according  to  Budhist  notions,  that  even  the 
Bhodisatwas  are  relieved  as  much  as  possible  from 
the  task  of  maintaining  their  own  creations.  Some 
speculators,  probably,  conceive  that  each  consti- 
tutes the  universe  according  to  laws  which  enable 
it  to  maintain  itself ;  others  suppose  inferior  agents 
created  for  the  purpose ;  and,  according  to  one 
doctrine,  the  Bhodhisatwa  of  the  existing  world 
produced  the  well-known  Hindu  triad,  on  whom 
he  devolved  his  functions  of  creating,  preserving, 
and  destroying. 

There  are  different  opinions  regarding  the  Bud- 
has,  who  have  risen  to  that  rank  by  transmigra- 
tions. Some  think  with  the  atheistical  school  that 
they  are  separate  productions  of  nature,  like  other 
men,  and  retain  an  independent  existence  after 
arriving  at  the  much  desired  state  of  rest ;  while 
the  other  sects  allege  that  they  are  emanations  from 
the  Supreme   Being,   through   some  of  the  other 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  199 

Budhas    or   Bhodisatwas,    and   are  ultimately  re-    chap. 
warded  by  absorption  into  the  divine  essence.  

There  have  been  many  of  these  human  Budhas 
in  this  and  former  worlds  *  ;  but  the  seven  last  are 
particularly  noticed,  and  above  all  the  last,  whose 
name  was  Gotama  or  Sakya,  who  revealed  the  pre- 
sent religion,  and  established  the  rules  of  worship 
and  morality  ;  and  who,  although  long  since  passed 
into  a  higher  state  of  existence,  is  considered  as 
the  religious  head  of  the  world,  and  will  continue 
so  until  he  has  completed  his  allotted  period  of  five 
thousand  years. 

Beneath  this  class  of  Budhas  are  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  different  degrees,  apparently  consisting  of 
mere  men  who  have  made  approaches  towards  the 
higher  stages  of  perfection  by  the  sanctity  of  their 
lives. 

Besides  the  chain  of  Budhas,  there  are  innu- 
merable other  celestial  and  terrestrial  beings,  some 
original,  and  others  transferred,  unchanged,  from 
the  Hindu  Pantheon. t 

*  Mr.  Hodgson  (Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  p.  ^^G.)  gives  a 
list  of  130  Budhas  of  the  first  order. 

•j-  The  above  account  of  the  Baudha  tenets  is  chiefly  taken 
from  the  complete  and  distinct  view  of  that  religion  given  by- 
Mr.  Hodgson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvi.  p.  435 — 1-45. ;  but  I 
have  also  consulted  his  "  Proofs,  (Src."  and  his  other  papers  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  of  London,  and  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta  ;  as  well  as  those  of 
M.  Abel  Remusat,  in  the  Journal  cles  Savans  for  A.  D.  1831, 
and  in  the  Nuuveau  Journal  Asiatiquc  for  tlie  same  year  ;  those 
of  M.  Csoma  di  Koros,  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Cal- 
cutta ;  those  of  M.  Joinviile  and  Major  Mahony  in  vol.  vii.  of 

O    4 


200  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  The  Budhists  of  different  countries  differ  in 
"  many  particulars  from  each  other.  Those  of  Ne- 
pal seem  most  imbued  with  the  Hindu  supersti- 
tions, though  even  in  China,  the  general  character 
of  the  religion  is  clearly  Indian. 

The  theistical  sect  seems  to  prevail  in  Nepal  *, 
and  the  atheistical  to  subsist  in  perfection  in  Cey- 
lon, t 

In  China,  M.  Abel  Remusat  considers  the 
atheistical  to  be  the  vulgar  doctrine,  and  the  the- 
istical to  be  the  esoteric.  1^ 

The  Baudhas  differ  in  many  other  respects  from 
the  Bramins  :  they  deny  the  authority  of  the 
Vedas  and  Puranas  ;  they  have  no  cast ;  even  the 
priests  are  taken  from  all  classes  of  the  community, 
and  bear  much  greater  resemblance  to  European 
monks  than  to  any  of  the  Hindu  ministers  of  reli- 
gion. They  live  in  monasteries,  wear  a  uniform 
yellow  dress,  go  with  their  feet  bare  and  their 
heads  and  beards  shaved,  and  perform  a  constant 
succession  of  regular  service  at  their  chapel  in  a 
body  ;  and,  in   their  processions,  their  chaunting, 


the  Asiatic  Researches;  together  with  Professor  Wilson's  ob- 
servations in  his  history  of  Cashmir  (Asiatic  Researches., 
vol.  xvi.),  and  in  his  account  of  the  Jains  (vol.  xvii.)  ;  and  like- 
wise the  answers  of  Baudha  priests  in  Uphams  Sacred  and 
Historical  Boohs  of  Ceylon,  vol.  iii. 

*   Mr.  Hodgson. 

■\  See  answers  to  questions  in  Upham,  vol.  iii.  I  presume 
these  answers  may  be  depended  on,  whatever  may  be  the  case 
with  the  historical  writings  in  the  same  work. 

\  Journal  des  Savans  for  November,  1S31. 


IV. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  '201 

their  incense,  and  their  candles  bear  a  strong  re-  chap. 
semblance  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic 
church.  *  They  have  nothing  of  the  freedom  of 
the  Hindu  monastic  orders  ;  they  are  strictly  bound 
to  celibacy,  and  renounce  most  of  the  pleasures  of 
sense  t  ;  they  eat  together  in  one  hall ;  sleep  sitting 
in  a  prescribed  posture,  and  seem  never  allowed  to 
leave  the  monastery,  except  once  a-week,  when 
they  march  in  a  body  to  bathe  t,  and  for  part  of 
every  day,  when  they  go  to  beg  for  the  com- 
munity, or  rather  to  receive  alms,  for  they  are  not 
permitted  to  ask  for  anything.§  The  monks,  how- 
ever, only  perform  service  in  the  temples  attached 
to  their  own  monasteries,  and  to  them  the  laity  do 
not  seem  to  be  admitted,  but  pay  tlieir  own  devo- 
tions at  other  temples,  out  of  the  limits  of  the  con- 
vents. 

Nunneries  for  women  seem  also,  at  one  time,  to 
have  been  general. 

The  Baudha  religionists  carry  their  respect  for 
animal  life  much  further  than  the  Bramins  :  their 
priests  do  not  eat  after  noon,  nor  drink  after  dark, 
for  fear  of  swallowing  minute  insects  j  and  they 
carry  a  brush   on  all  occasions,   with  which   they 

*  Mr.  Davis,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  ii. 
p.  4-91 .  ;  Turner's  Tibet. 

t  Transactions  of"  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  iii.  p.  27;i. 

X  Mr.  Davis,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  495.  ;  and  Knox,  Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  277. 

§  Captain  Mahoney,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.  p.  42.  ;  and 
Mr.  Knox,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  iii. 
p.  277. 


202  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  carefully  sweep  every  place  before  they  sit  down, 
"  lest  they  should  inadvertently  crush  any  living 
creature.  Some  even  tie  a  thin  cloth  over  their 
mouths  to  prevent  their  drawing  in  small  insects 
with  their  breath.*  They  differ  from  the  Bramins 
in  their  want  of  respect  for  fire,  and  in  their  vene- 
ration for  relics  of  their  holy  men  ;  a  feeling  un- 
known to  the  Hindus.  Over  these  relics  (a  few 
hairs,  a  bone,  or  a  tooth)  they  erect  those  solid 
cupolas,  or  bell-shaped  monuments,  which  are  often 
of  stupendous  size,  and  which  are  so  great  a  cha- 
racteristic of  their  religion. 

The  Budhas  are  represented  standing  upright, 
but  more  generally  seated  cross-legged,  erect,  but 
in  an  attitude  of  deep  meditation,  with  a  placid 
countenance,  and  always  with  curled  hair. 

Besides  the  temples  and  monuments,  in  coun- 
tries where  the  Baudhas  still  subsist,  there  are 
many  magnificent  remains  of  them  in  India. 

The  most  striking  of  these  are  cave  temples,  in 
the  Peninsula.  Part  of  the  wonderful  excavations 
of  Ellora  are  of  this  description  ;  but  the  finest  is 
at  Carla,  between  Puna  and  Bombay,  which,  from 
its  great  length  and  height,  the  colonnades  which 
run  along  the  sides  like  aisles,  and  the  vaulted  and 
ribbed  roof,  strongly  recalls  the  idea  of  a  Gothic 
church,  t 

*  The  laity  eat  animal  food  without  restraint ;  even  the 
priests  may  eat  it  if  no  animal  is  killed  on  their  account. 

f  The  distinctions  between  the  Baudhas  and  Hindds  are 
mostly  from  an  essay  by  Mr.  Erskine,  Bombay  Transactions, 
vol.  iii.  p.  503,  &c. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  203 

The   Baudhas   have   a  very   extensive    body  of    chap. 
literature,  all  on  the  Bramin   model,  and  all  ori-  ' 


ginally  from  India.*  It  is  now  preserved  in  the 
local  dialects  of  various  countries,  in  many  of 
which  the  long-established  art  of  printing  has  con- 
tributed much  to  the  diffusion  of  books. 

Pali,  or  the  local  dialect  of  Maghada,  (one  of 
the  ancient  kingdoms  on  the  Ganges,  in  which 
Sakya  or  Gotama  flourished,)  seems  to  be  the 
language  generally  used  in  the  religious  writings 
of  the  Baudhas,  although  its  claim  to  be  their 
sacred  language  is  disputed  in  favour  of  Shanscrit 
and  of  other  local  dialects  springing  from  that 
root. 

The  Jains  hold  an  intermediate  place  between  TheJainas 
the  followers  of  Budha  and  Brahma. t 

They  agree  with  the  Baudhas  in  denying  the 
existence,  or  at  least  the  activity  and  providence, 
of  God  J  in  believing  the  eternity  of  matter  ;  in 
the  worship  of  deified  saints ;  in  their  scrupulous 
care  of  animal  life,  and  all  the  precautions  which 
it  leads  to  ;  in  their  having  no  hereditary  priest- 
hood ;  in  disclaiming  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Vedas  ;  and  in  having  no  sacrifices,  and  no  respect 
for  fire. 

They  agree  with  the  Baudhas  also  in  consider- 
ing a  state    of  impassive  abstraction   as   supreme 

*  Mr.  Hodgson,  Asiatic  Researches.,  vol.  xvi.  p.  433.  ;  Dr. 
Buchanan,  Ibid.  vol.  vi.  p.  194-.  225.,  and  other  places. 

f  Tlie  characteristics  of  the  Jains,  as  compared  with  the 
Baudhas  and  Bramins,  are  mostly  taken  from  Mr.  Erskine, 
Bombay  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  506. 


^204  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     felicity,  and  in  all  the  doctrines  which  they  hold 
II         . 
"        m  common  with  the  Hindus. 

They  agree  with  the  Hindus  in  other  points; 
such  as  division  of  cast.  This  exists  in  full  force 
in  the  south  and  west  of  India;  and  can  only  be 
said  to  be  dormant  in  the  north-east ;  for,  though 
the  Jains  there  do  not  acknowledge  the  four 
classes  of  the  Hindus,  yet  a  Jain  converted  to  the 
Hindu  religion  takes  his  place  in  one  of  the  casts  ; 
from  which  he  must  all  along  have  retained  the 
proofs  of  his  descent ;  and  the  Jains  themselves 
have  numerous  divisions  of  their  own,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  are  as  strict  in  avoiding  inter- 
marriages and  other  intercourse  as  the  four  classes 
of  the  Hindus.* 

Though  they  reject  the  scriptural  character  of 
the  Vedas,  they  allow  them  great  authority  in  all 
points  not  at  variance  with  their  religion.  The 
principal  objections  to  them  are  drawn  from  the 
bloody  sacrifices  which  they  enjoin,  and  the  loss 
of  animal  life  which  burnt-offerings  are  liable 
(though  undesignedly)  to  occasion. t 

They  admit  the  whole  of  the  Hindu  gods,  and 
worship  some  of  them ;  though  they  consider 
them  as  entirely  subordinate  to  their  own  saints, 
who  are  therefore  the  proper  objects  of  adoration. 

Besides  these  points  common  to  the  Bramins  or 

*  De  la  Maine,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  413.;  Colebrooke,  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  S^Q. ;  Buchanan,  Ibid, 
vol.  i,  p.  531,  532. ;  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol,  xvii.  p.  239. 

■\  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  248. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  RELIGION.  205 

Baudhas,    they    hold    some    opinions    peculiar    to     chap. 
themselves.     The   chief  objects  of  their  worship  " 

are  a  limited  number  of  saints,  who  have  raised 
themselves  by  austerities  to  a  superiority  over  the 
gods,  and  who  exactly  resemble  those  of  the 
Baudhas  in  appearance  and  general  character,  but 
are  entirely  distinct  from  them  in  their  names  and 
individual  histories.  They  are  called  Tirtankaras: 
there  are  twenty-four  for  the  present  age,  but 
twenty-four  also  for  the  past,  and  twenty-four  for 
the  future. 

Those  most  worshipped  are,  in  some  places,  Ri- 
shoba*;  the  first  of  the  present  Tirtankaras,  but 
every  where  Parasnath  and  Mahavira,  the  twenty- 
third  and  twenty-fourth  of  the  number.t  As  all 
but  the  two  last  bear  a  fabulous  character  in  their 
dimensions  and  length  of  life,  it  has  been  con- 
jectured, with  great  appearance  of  truth,  that 
these  two  are  the  real  founders  of  the  religion. 
All  remain  alike  in  the  usual  state  of  apathetic 
beatitude,  and  take  no  share  in  the  government  of 
the  world,  t 

Some  changes  are  made  by  the  Jains  in  the 
rank  and  circumstances  of  the  Hindu  gods.  They 
give  no  preference  to  the  greater  gods  of  the 
Hindus  ;  and  they  have  increased  the  number  of 
gods,  and  added  to  the  absurdities  of  the  system  : 

*  De  la  Maine,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Societi/, 
vol.  i.  p.  424-. 

f   Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol,  xvii.  p.  2t8. 
X  Ibid.  vol.  xvii.  p.  270. 


206  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     thus  they  have  sixty-four  Indias,  and  twenty-two 
'        Devis.* 

They  have  no  veneration  for  relics,  and  no 
monastic  establishments.  Their  priests  are  called 
Jatis;  they  are  of  all  casts,  and  their  dress,  though 
disthiguishable  from  that  of  the  Bramins,  bears 
some  resemblance  to  it.  They  wear  very  large 
loose  white  mantles,  with  their  heads  bare,  and  their 
hair  and  beard  clipped  ;  and  carry  a  black  rod  and 
a  brush  for  sweeping  away  animals.  They  subsist 
by  alms.  They  never  bathe,  perhaps  in  opposition 
to  the  incessant  ablutions  of  the  Bramins. 

The  Jain  temples  are  generally  very  large  and 
handsome ;  often  flat  roofed,  and  like  private 
houses,  with  courts  and  colonnades  ;  but  some- 
times resembling  Hindu  temples,  and  sometimes 
circular  and  surrounded  by  colossal  statues  of  the 
Tirtankaras.t  The  walls  are  painted  with  their 
peculiar  legends,  mixed,  perhaps,  with  those  of 
the  Hindus.  Besides  images,  they  have  marble 
altars,  with  the  figures  of  saints  in  relief^  and 
with  impressions  of  the  footsteps  of  holy  men;  a 
memorial  which  they  have  in  common  with  the 
Baudhas. 

By  far  the  finest  specimen  of  Jain  temples  of 
the  Hindu  form  are  the  noble  remains  in  white 
marble  on  the  mountain  of  Abu,  to  the  north  of 

*  De  la  IVIaine,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  422. 

t  There  is  a  magnificent  one  of  this  description  near  Ahmed- 
abad,  built  under  ground,  and  said  to  have  been  designed  for 
concealed  worship  during  the  persecution  by  the  Hindus. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  207 

Guzerat.     There  are  Jain  caves  also,  on  a  great    chap. 
scale,   at    Ellora,   Nassik,    and   other  places,    and  ' 

there  is,  near  Chinraipatan,  in  the  Mysore,  a 
statue  of  one  of  the  Tirtankaras,  cut  out  of  a 
rock,  which  has  been  guessed  at  different  heights, 
from  fifty-four  feet  to  seventy  feet. 

The  Jains  have  a  considerable  body  of  learning, 
resembling  that  of  the  Bramins,  but  far  surpassing 
even  the  extravagance  of  the  Braminical  cliro- 
nology  and  geography  ;  increasing  to  hundreds  of 
millions  what  was  already  sufficiently  absurd  at 
millions.  Their  sacred  language  is  Magadi  or 
Pali. 

A  question  has  arisen  which  of  the  three  reli-  Compara- 

tivti  aiiti- 

gions  above  described  was  first  established  in  India,  quity  of 

It  resolves  itself  into  a  discussion  of  the  claims  iigionsand 
of  those  of  Budha  and  Brahma.  Admitting  the  Brahma. 
common  origin  of  the  two  systems,  which  the 
similarity  of  the  fundamental  tenets  would  appear 
to  prove,  the  weight  of  the  arguments  adduced 
appears  to  lean  to  the  side  of  the  Bramins*;  and 
an  additional  reason  may  perhaps  be  drawn  from 
the  improbability  that  the  Baudha  system  could 
ever  have  been  an  original  one. 

A  man  as  yet  unacquainted  with  religious  feelings 
would  imbibe  his  first  notions  of  a  God  from  the 
perception  of  powers  superior  to  his  own.  Ev'en 
if  the  idea  of  a  quiescent  Divinity  could  enter  his 
mind,  he  would  have  no  moti\'e  to  adore  it,  but 

*  The  arguments  on  both  sides  are  summed  up  by  Mr.  Er- 
skine,  Bombay  Transactions^  vol.  iii.  p.  1-97. 


208  HISTORY    or    INDIA. 

BOOK  would  rather  endeavour  to  propitiate  the  sun,  on 
'  which  he  depended  for  warmth,  or  the  heavens, 
which  terrified  him  with  their  thunders.  Still  less 
would  he  commence  by  the  worship  of  saints  ;  for 
sanctity  is  only  conformity  to  religious  notions 
already  established ;  and  a  religion  must  have  ob- 
tained a  strong  hold  on  a  people  before  they 
would  be  disposed  to  deify  their  fellows  for  a  strict 
adherence  to  its  injunctions  ;  especially  if  they 
neither  supposed  them  to  govern  the  world,  nor  to 
mediate  with  its  ruler. 

The  Hindu  religion  presents  a  more  natural 
course.  It  rose  from  the  worship  of  the  powers 
of  nature  to  theism,  and  then  declined  into  scepti- 
cism with  the  learned,  and  man  worship  with  the 
vulgar. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Sankya  school  of  philo- 
sophers seem  reflected  in  the  atheism  of  the 
Baudha  ;  while  the  hero  worship  of  the  common 
Hindus,  and  their  extravagant  veneration  for  reli- 
gious ascetics,  are  much  akin  to  the  deification  of 
saints  among  the  Baudhas.  We  are  led,  therefore, 
to  suppose  the  Bramin  faith  to  have  originated  in 
early  times,  and  that  of  Budha  to  have  branched 
off  from  it  at  a  period  when  its  orthodox  tenets  had 
reached  their  highest  perfection,  if  not  shown  a 
tendency  to  decline. 

The  historical  information  regarding  these  re- 
ligions tends  to  the  same  conclusion.  The  Vedas 
are  supposed  to  have  been  arranged  in  their  pre- 
sent form    about    the   fourteenth    centurv   before 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  209 

Christ,  and  the  rehgion  they  teach  must  have  made     chap. 
considerable    previous    progress ;    while    that    of  " 

Budha  lays  no  claim  to  a  higher  antiquity  than  the 
twelfth  century  before  Christ;  scarcely  one  even  of 
its  most  zealous  advocates  goes  beyond  the  tenth 
or  eleventh  century  before  Christ,  and  the   best 
authenticated  accounts  limit  it  to  the  sixth. 

All  the  nations  professing  the  religion  of  Budha 
conciu'  in  refemng  its  origin  to  India.*  They 
uuite  in  representing  the  founder  to  have  been  a 
Sakya  Muni  or  Gotama,  a  native  of  Capila,  north 
of  Gorakpur.  By  one  account  he  was  a  Cshetrya, 
and  by  others  the  son  of  a  king.  Even  the  Hindus 
confirm  this  account,  making  him  a  Cshetrya,  and 
son  to  a  king  of  the  solar  race.  They  are  not  so 
well  agreed  about  the  date  of  his  appearance ;  the 
Indians,  and  the  people  of  Ava,  Siam,  and  Ceylon, 
fix  near  the  middle  of  the  sixth  century  before 
Christ t,  an  epoch  which  is  borne  out  by  various 
particulars  in  the  list  of  kings  of  Magada. 

*  For  the  Chinese,  see  De  Guignes,  M6moires  de  V Academic 
des  l7iscriptiofis,  vol.  xl.  p.  187,  &.C.;  Abel  Remusat,  Journal 
des  Savans  for  November,  1831  ;  and  the  Summary  in  the 
Nouveau  Journal  Asiatique,  vol.  vii.  pp.  239,  240. ;  and  likewise 
the  Essay  in  the  next  month,  p.  24-1.  For  the  Mongols,  see 
M.  Klaproth,  Nouveaic  Journal  Asiatique,  vol.  vii.,  especially 
p.  182.  and  the  following  pages.  For  Ceylon,  see  Tumour  s 
Mahdwanso,  with  which  the  scriptures  of  Ava  and  Siam  are 
identical.  (Introduction,  p.  xxx.)  For  Tibet,  see  M.  Csoma  de 
Kciros,  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta,  vol.  i.  p.  1. 

f  See  Tumours  Mahdivunso ;  Chronological  Table  from 
Crawford s  Embassy  to  Ava  (given  in  Prinsep's  Usefid  Tables, 
p.  132.)  ;  see  also  Useful  Tables,  pp.  77,  78. 

VOL.  I.  P 


210  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  The  Cashmirians,  on  the  other  hand,  place  Sakya 
'  1332  years  before  Christ ;  the  Chinese,  Mongols, 
and  Japanese  about  1000;  and  of  thirteen  Tibetian 
authors  referred  to  in  the  same  *'  Oriental  Maga- 
zine," four  give  an  average  of  2959;  and  nine  of 
835  * ;  while  the  great  religious  work  of  Tibet,  by 
asserting  that  the  general  council  held  by  Asoca 
was  110  years  after  Budha's  death  t,  brings  down 
that  event  to  less  than  400  years  before  Christ,  as 
Asoca  will  be  shown,  on  incontestable  evidence,  to 
have  lived  less  than  300  years  before  our  gera.t 

One  Chinese  author  also  differs  from  the  rest, 
fixing  688  years  before  Christ§;  and  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  tables,  which  make  the  period  of 
Sakya's  eminence  999  years  before  Christ,  say 
that  it  occurred  during  the  reign  of  Ajata  Satru, 
whose  place  in  the  list  of  Magada  kings  shows 
him  to  have  lived  in  the  sixth  century  before 
Christ. 

These  discrepancies  are  too  numerous  to  be  re- 
moved by  the  supposition  that  they  refer  to  an 
earlier  and  a  later  Budha;  and  that  expedient  is 
also  precluded  by  the  identity  of  the  name,  Sakya, 
and  of  every  circumstance  in  the  lives  of  the  per- 
sons to  whom  such  different  dates  are  assigned. 
We  must,   therefore,  either  pronounce  the  Indian 

*  See  their  various  dates  in  the  "  Oriental  Magazine,"  vol.  iv. 
pp.  106,  107. ;  and  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv.  p.  92. 

f  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta,  vol.  i.  p.  6. 

X  See  p.  264,  &c. 

§  De  Guignes,  Memoires  de  V Academie  des  Inscriptions, 
vol.  xl.  p.  195. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  RELIGION.  211 

Baudhas  to  be  ignorant  of  the  date  of  a  religion     chap. 
which  arose  among  themselves,  and  at  the  same  ' 

time  must  derange  the  best  established  part  of  the 
Hindu  chronology ;  or  admit  that  an  error  must 
have  occurred  in  Cashmir  or  Tibet,  through  which 
places  it  crept  into  the  more  eastern  countries, 
when  they  received  the  religion  of  Budha  many 
centuries  after  the  death  of  its  founder.  As  the 
latter  seems  by  much  the  most  probable  explana- 
tion, we  may  safely  fix  the  death  of  Budha  about 
550  B.  c. 

The  Indian  origin  of  the  Baudhas  would  appear, 
independently  of  direct  evidence,  from  the  facts 
that  their  theology,  mythology,  philosophy,  geo 
graphy,  chronology,  &c.  are  almost  entirely  of  the 
Hindu  family;  and  all  the  terms  used  in  those 
sciences  are  Shanscrit.  Even  Budha  (intelligence), 
and  Adi  Budha  (supreme  intelligence),  are  well- 
known  Shanscrit  words. 

We  have  no  precise  information  regarding  the 
early  progress  of  this  religion.  It  was  triumphant 
in  Hindostan  in  the  reign  of  Asoca,  about  the 
middle  of  the  third  century  before  Christ.*  It 
was  introduced  by  his  missionaries  into  Ceylon  in 
the  end  of  the  same  century,  t 

It  probably  s})read  at  an  early  period  into  Tar- 
tary  and  Tibet,  but  was  not  introduced  into  China 

*  See  Turnours  Mahdwanso,  and  translations  of  contem- 
porary inscriptions  in  the  Journal  of  (lie  Asiatic  Society  of  Cal- 
cutta for  February,  18.S8. 

f  In  307  B.C.  Tumour's  Mahdwanso,  Introduction,  p.  xxix., 
and  other  places. 

p  2 


212  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  until  A.  D.  65,  when  it  was  brought  direct  from 
'  India,  and  was  not  fully  established  till  a.d.  310.* 
The  progress  of  its  decline  in  its  original  seat  is 
recorded  by  a  Chinese  traveller,  who  visited  India 
on  a  religious  expedition  in  the  first  years  of  the 
fifth  century  after  Christ,  t  He  found  Budhism 
flourishing  in  the  tract  between  China  and  India, 
but  declining  in  the  Panjab,  and  languishing  in  the 
last  stage  of  decay  in  the  countries  on  the  Ganges 
and  Jamna.  Capila,  the  birthplace  of  Budha,  was 
ruined  and  deserted, — "a  wilderness  untenanted 
by  man."  His  religion  was  in  full  vigour  in  Ceylon, 
but  had  not  yet  been  introduced  into  Java,  which 
island  was  visited  by  the  pilgrim  on  his  return  by 
sea  to  China. 

The  religion  of  Budha  afterwards  recovered  its 
importance  in  some  parts  of  India.  Its  adherents 
were  refuted,  persecuted,  and  probably  chased 
from  the  Deckan,  by  Sancara  Acharya,  in  the 
eighth  or  ninth  century,  if  not  by  Camarilla,  at  an 
earlier  period  ;  but  they  appear  to  have  possessed 
sovereignty  in  Hindostan^^in  the  eighth  century,  and 
even  to  have  been  the  prevailing  sect  at  Benares  as 
late  as  the  eleventh  century  t,  and  in  the  north  of 
Guzerat  as  late  as  the  twelfth  century  of  our  aera.§ 

*  De  Guignes,  Memoires  de  I'Academie  des  Inscriptions, 
vol.  xl.  p.  251,  252.;  and  Histoires  des  Huns,  vol.  i.  part  ii. 
pp.  235,  236. 

•♦-  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  No.  IX.  p.  108,  &c., 
particularly  p,  139. 

\  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  282. 

§  Mr.  Erskine,  Bombay  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  533.,  wi^h 
Major  Kennedy's  note. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    RELIGION.  213 

They  do  not  now  exist  in  the  plains  of  India,     chap. 
...  .  IV. 

but  their  rehgion  is  the  established  one  in  Ceylon,  ' 

and  in  some  of  the  mountainous  countries  to  the 

north-east  of  the  provinces  on  the  Ganges.    Budh- 

ism  is  also   the  faith   of  the   Burman   empire,   of 

Tibet,   of  Siam,   and   all    the   countries   between 

India  and  China.     It  is  very  general  in  the  latter 

country,  and  extends  over  a  great  part  of  Chinese 

and  Russian   Tartary  ;    so  that  it  has  been   said, 

with  apparent  truth,  to  be  professed  by  a  greater 

portion  of  the  human  race  than  any  other  religion. 

The  Jains  appear  to  have  originated  in  the  sixth 
or  seventh  century  of  our  sera  ;  to  have  become 
conspicuous  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  ;  got  to 
the  higliest  prosperity  in  the  eleventh,  and  declined 
after  the  twelfth.*  Their  principal  seats  seem  to 
have  been  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  peninsula, 
and  in  Guzerat  and  the  west  of  Hindostan.  They 
seem  never  to  have  had  much  success  in  the  pro- 
vinces on  the  Ganges. 

They  appear  to  have  undergone  several  persecu- 
tions by  the  Bramins,  in  the  south  of  India,  at  least,  t 

The  Jains  are  still  very  numerous,  especially  in 
Guzerat,  the  Rajput  country  and  Canara;  they  are 
generally  an  opulent  and  mercantile  chiss  ;  many  of 
them  are  bankers,  and  possess  a  large  proportion  of 
the  commercial  wealth  of  India,  t 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  283. 

f   Buchanan,  vol.  i.  p.  81. 

\  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i.  p.  518. ;  Professor  Wilson,  Asiatic 
Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  29'1-.  See  also  Buchanaris  Journey, 
vol.  iii.  pp.  19.  76—84.  131.  410. 

1'   6 


214 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 

II. 


IX  prin- 


Si 

cipal 

schools. 


CHAP.  V. 

PRESENT    STATE    OF    PHILOSOPHY. 

The  subject  of  philosophy  is  not  one  upon  which 
Menu  professes  to  treat.  It  is,  however,  incident- 
ally mentioned  in  his  first  chapter,  and  it  has  oc- 
cupied too  great  a  portion  of  the  attention  of  the 
Hindus  of  later  days  to  be  omitted  in  any  account 
of  their  genius  and  character. 

The  first  chapter  of  the  Institutes  is  evidently 
an  exposition  of  the  belief  of  the  compiler,  and 
(unlike  the  laws  which  have  been  framed  in  various 
ages)  probably  represents  the  state  of  opinion  as  it 
stood  in  his  time. 

The  topics  on  which  it  treats  —  the  nature  of  God 
and  the  soul,  the  creation,  and  other  subjects, 
physical  and  metaphysical — are  too  slightly  touched 
on  to  show  whether  any  of  the  present  schools  of 
philosophy  were  then  in  their  present  form  ;  but 
the  minute  points  alluded  to  as  already  known,  and 
the  use  of  the  terms  still  employed,  as  if  quite  in- 
telligible to  its  readers,  prove  that  the  discussions 
which  have  given  rise  to  their  different  systems 
were  already  perfectly  familiar  to  the  Hindus. 

The  present  state  of  the  science  will  be  best 
shown  by  inquiring  into  the  tenets  of  those 
schools. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  THILOSOPHY.  215 

There  are  six  ancient  schools  of  philosophy  re-     chap. 

cognised  among  the  Hindus.     Some  of  these  are  

avowedly  inconsistent  with  the  religious  doctrines 
of  the  Bramins  ;  and  others,  though  perfectly  or- 
thodox, advance  opinions  not  stated  in  the  Vedas. 

These  schools  are  enumerated  in  the  following 
order  by  Mr.  Colebrooke.* 

1 .  The  prior  Mimansa,  founded  by  Jaimani. 

2.  The  latter  Mimansa,  or  Vedanta,  attributed 
to  Vyasa. 

3.  The  Niyaya,  or  logical  school  of  Gotama. 

4.  The  Atomic  school  of  Canade. 

5.  The  Atheistical  school  of  Capila. 

6.  The  Theistical  school  of  Patanjali. 

The  two  last  schools  agree  in  many  points,  and 
are  included  in  the  common  name  of  Sankya. 

This  division  does  not  give  a  complete  idea  of  the 
present  state  of  philosophy.  The  'prior  Mimansa, 
which  teaches  the  art  of  reasoning  with  the  express 
view  of  aiding  the  interpretation  of  the  Vedas,  is, 
so  far,  only  a  school  of  criticism  ;  and  its  object, 
being  to  ascertain  the  duties  enjoined  in  those  scrip- 
tures, is  purely  religious,  and  gives  it  no  claim  to  a 
})lace  among  the  schools  of  philosophy.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  remaining  schools  have  branched 
into  various  subdivisions,  each  of  which  is  entitled 
to  be  considered  as  a  separate  school,  and  to  form 
an  addition  to  the  original  number.  It  would  be 
foreign  to  my  object  to  enter  on  all  the  distinctions 

•  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  19. 
p  4 


QiG  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    between  those  philosophical  systems.     An  outline 

_  of  the  two  most   contrasted  of  the  six  principal 

schools,  with  a  slight  notice   of  the  rest,  will  be 

sufficient  to  give  an  idea  of  the  progress  made  by 

the  nation  in  this  department  of  science. 

The  two  schools  selected  for  this  summary  exa- 
mination, are  the  Sankya  and  Vedanta.  The  first 
maintains  the  eternity  of  matter,  and  its  principal 
branch  denies  the  being  of  God.  The  other 
school  derives  all  things  from  God,  and  one  sect 
denies  the  reality  of  matter. 

All  the  Indian  systems,  atheistical  as  well  as 
theistical,  agree  in  their  object,  which  is,  to  teach 
the  means  of  obtaining  beatitude,  or,  in  other 
words,  exemption  from  metempsychosis,  and  de- 
liverance from  all  corporeal  incumbrances. 

Sankya  School,  Atheistical  and  TJieistical. 

Purpose  of  Thls  school  is  dividcd,  as  has  been  mentioned, 
now  e  ge.  .^^^  ^^^  brauclies,  that  of  Capila,  which  is  athe- 
istical, and  that  of  Patanjali,  acknowledging  God  ; 
but  both  agree  in  the  following  opinions  *  :  — 

Deliverance  can  only  be  gained  by  true  and  per- 
fect knowledge.! 

This  knowledge  consists  in  discriminating  the 
principles,  perceptible  and  imperceptible,  of  the 
material  world,  from  the  sensitive  and  cognitive 
principle,  which  is  the  immaterial  soul.  X 

*  Mr,  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  31. 

t  Ibid.  p.  26.  X  Ibid.  p.  27. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  217 

True  knowledge  is  attained  by  three  kinds  of    chap. 
evidence  :  perception,    inference,    and   affirmation  ' 

(or  testimony).*  Means  of 

The  principles  of  which  a  knowledge  is  thus  de-  icnowielge. 
rived,  are  twenty-five  in  number  t,  viz.  :  —  Principles. 

1.  Nature,  the  root  or  plastic  origin  of  all  ;  the 
universal  material  cause.  It  is  eternal  matter ; 
undiscrete,  destitute  of  parts  ;  productive,  but  not 
produced. 

2.  Intelligence  j  the  first  production  of  nature, 
increatet,  prolific;  being  itself  productive  of  other 
principles. 

3.  Consciousness,  which  proceeds  from  intelli- 
gence, and  the  peculiar  function  of  whicli  is  tlie 
sense  of  self-existence,  the  belief  that  "  I  am." 

4.  to  8.  From  consciousness  spring  five  particles, 
rudiments,  or  atoms,  productive  of  the  five  ele- 
ments. § 

9.  to  19.  From  consciousness  also  spring  eleven 
organs  of  sense  and  action.  Ten  are  external  ; 
five  instruments  of  the  senses  (the  eye,  ear,  &c.), 
and  five  instruments  of  action  (the  voice,  the 
hands,  the  feet,  &c.):  The  eleventh  organ  is  in- 

*  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  28. 

f   Ibid.  p.  29—31. 

I  The  contradiction  between  the  two  first  terms  might  be 
explained  by  supposing  that  intelligence,  though  depending  on 
nature  for  its  existence,  is  co-eternal  with  the  principle  from 
which  it  is  derived. 

§  Rather,  rudiments  of  the  perceptions  by  which  the  elements 
are  made  known  to  the  mind;  as  sound,  the  rudiment  of  ether; 
touch,  of  air;  smell,  of  earth,  &c. — Wilson'*  Sankhya  Carika, 
p.  17. 


218 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


Consti- 
tution of 
animated 
corporeal 
beings. 


BOOK     ternal,  and  is  mind,  which  is  equally  an  organ  of 
"        sense  and  of  action. 

20.  to  24.  The  five  elements  are  derived  from 
the  five  particles  above  mentioned  (4  to  8).  They 
are,  space,  air,  fire,  water,  and  earth. 

25.  The  last  principle  is  soul,  which  is  neither 
produced  nor  productive.  It  is  multitudinous, 
individual,  sensitive,  unalterable,  immaterial. 

It  is  for  the  contemplation  of  nature,  and  for 
abstraction  from  it,  that  the  union  between  the 
soul  and  nature  takes  place.  By  that  union,  crea- 
tion, consisting  in  the  development  of  intellect, 
and  the  rest  of  the  principles,  is  effected.  The 
soul's  wish  is  fruition,  or  liberation.  For  either 
purpose  it  is  invested  with  a  subtile  person,  com- 
posed of  intellect,  consciousness,  mind,  the  organs 
of  sense  and  action,  and  the  five  principles  of  the 
elements.  This  person  is  unconfined,  free  from  all 
hindrance,  affected  by  sentiments  ;  but  incapable 
of  enjoyment,  until  invested  with  a  grosser  frame, 
composed  of  the  elements  ;  which  is  the  body,  and 
is  perishable. 

The  subtile  person  is  more  durable,  and  accom- 
panies the  soul  in  its  transmigrations.* 

The  corporeal  creation,  consisting  of  souls  in- 
vested with  gross  bodies,  comprises  fourteen  orders 
of  beings  j  eight  above,  and  five  inferior  to  man. 

The  superior  orders  are  composed  of  the  gods 
and  other  spirits  recognised  by  the  Hindus  ;  the  in- 
ferior, of  animals,  plants,  and  inorganic  substances.t 

*  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  32.  t  Ibid.  p.  33. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  219 

Besides  the  grosser  corporeal  creation,   and  the     chap. 
subtile  or  personal,  (all  belonging  to  the   material        ^' 


world,)    the   Sankya  distinguishes  an    intellectual  intei- 
creation,  consisting  of  the  affections  of  the  intellect,  creation. 
its  sentiments  and  facuHies. 

These  are  enumerated  in  four  classes,  as  ob- 
structing, disabling,  contenting,  or  perfecting  the 
understanding.* 

The  Sankya,  like  all  the  Indian  schools,  pays 
much  attention  to  three  essential  qualities  or  mo- 
difications of  nature.  These  are,  1.  Goodness. 
2.  Passion.  3.  Darkness.  They  appear  to  affect 
all  beings,  animate  and  inanimate.  Through  good- 
7iess,  for  instance,  fire  ascends,  and  virtue  and 
happiness  are  produced  in  man  ;  it  is  passion 
which  causes  tempests  in  the  air,  and  vice  among 
mankind ;  darkness  gives    their   downward    tend- 

*  The  catalogue  is  very  extensive ;  for,  though  the  principal 
heads  are  stated  at  fifty,  there  appear  to  be  numerous  sub- 
divisions. 

The  following  may  serve  as  a  specimen,  selected  from  that 
given  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  which  is  itself  very  much  condensed. 

1.  Obstructions  of  the  intellect  are  —  error,  conceit,  passion, 
hatred,  fear.  These  are  severally  explained,  and  comprise 
sixty-two  subdivisions. 

2.  Disabilities  are  of  twenty-eight  sorts,  arising  from  defect 
or  injury  of  organs,  &c. 

3.  Content,  or  acquiescence,  involves  nine  divisions;  all  ap- 
pear to  relate  to  total  or  partial  omission  of  exertion,  to  procure 
deliverance  or  beatitude. 

4'.  Perfecting  the  intellect  is  of  eight  sorts  ;  three  consist  in 
ways  of  preventing  evil,  and  the  remaining  five  are  reasoning, 
oral  instruction,  study,  amicable  intercourse,  and  purity,  internal 
and  external. 


220  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     ency   to   earth   and  water,   and  in  man   produces 
'        stolidity,  as  well  as  sorrow. 

Eight  modes  appertaining  to  intellect  are  derived 
from  these  qualities ;  on  the  one  hand,  virtue, 
knowledge,  dispassion,  and  power ;  and  on  the 
other,  sin,  error,  incontinency,  and  powerlessness. 
Each  of  these  is  subdivided :  power,  for  instance, 
is  eightfold. 

The  opinions  which  have  above  been  enume- 
rated, as  mere  dogmas  of  the  Sankya  philosophers, 
are  demonstrated  and  explained  at  great  length  in 
their  works.  Mr.  Colebrooke  gives  some  speci- 
mens of  their  arguments  and  discussions;  the  fault 
of  which,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  seems  to  be  a 
disposition  to  run  into  over  refinement.* 
General  In  endcavouriug  to  find  out  the  scope  of  the 

Sankya  Saukya  system,  which  is  somewhat  obscured  by 
the  artificial  form  in  wdiich  it  is  presented  by  its 
inventors,  we  are  led  at  first  to  think  that  this 
school,  though  atheistical,  and,  in  the  main,  ma- 
terial, does  not  differ  very  widely  from  that  which 
derives  all  things  from  spirit.  From  nature  comes 
intelligence;  from  intelligence,  consciousness;  from 
consciousness,  the  senses  and  the  subtile  principles 
of  the  elements  ;  from  these  principles,  the  grosser 
elements  themselves.  From  the  order  of  this  pro^ 
cession  it  would  appear  that,  although  matter  be 
eternal,  its  forms  are  derived  from  spirit,  and  have 
no  existence  independent  of  perception. 

*  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  pp.  33—37. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  221 

But  this  is  not  the  real  doctrine  of  the  school,     chap. 

V. 

It  is  a  property  inherent  in  nature  to  put   forth  . 

those  principles  in  their  order ;  and  a  property  in 
soul    to    use   them   as   the   means   of  obtainins;  a 


't5 


knowledge  of  nature ;  but  these  operations,  though 
coinciding  in  their  object,  are  independent  in  their 
origin.  Nature  and  the  whole  multitude  of  indi- 
vidual souls  are  eternal ;  and  though  each  soul  is 
united  with  intellect  and  the  other  productions  of 
nature,  it  exercises  no  control  over  their  develop- 
ment. Its  union,  indeed,  is  not  with  the  general 
intellect,  which  is  the  first  production  of  nature, 
but  with  an  individual  intellect  derived  from  that 
primary  production. 

At  birth,  each  soul  is  invested  with  a  subtile 
body  *,  which  again  is  clad  in  a  grosser  body.  The 
connection  between  soul  and  matter  being  thus 
established,  the  organs  communicate  the  sensations 
occasioned  by  external  nature  :  mind  combines 
them  :  consciousness  gives  them  a  reference  to  the 
individual :  intellect  draws  inferences,  and  attains 
to  knowledge  not  within  the  reach  of  the  senses t : 
soul  stands  by  as  a  spectator,  and  not  an  actor ; 
perceiving  all,  but  affected  by  nothing;  as  a  mirror 
which  receives  all  images,  without  itself  under- 
going any  change,  t  When  the  soul  has  completely 
seen  and  understood  nature,  its  task  is  performed : 
it  is  released,  and  the  connection  between  nature 

*  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol,  i.  p.  \0. 

t   Ibid.  pp.  31.  38.  X   Ibid.  p.  \2. 


Q.O0. 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
II 


Separate 

doctrines 

of  the 

atheistic.l 

and  the- 

Istical 

branches. 


and  that  individual  soul  is  dissolved.  Nature  (to 
use  an  illustration  from  the  text-book)  exhibits 
herself  like  an  actress :  she  desists  when  she  has 
been  perfectly  seen  ;  and  the  soul  attains  to  the 
great  object  of  liberation. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  soul  takes  no  part  in 
the  operations  of  nature,  and  is  necessary  to  none 
of  them:  sensation,  consciousness,  reasoning,  judg- 
ment, would  all  go  on  equally  if  it  were  away. 
Again  :  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  the  liberation  of 
the  soul  that  all  these  operations  are  performed ; 
yet  the  soul  was  free  at  first,  and  remains  un- 
changed at  the  end.  The  whole  phenomena  of 
mind  and  matter  have  therefore  been  without  a 
purpose.  In  each  view,  the  soul  is  entirely  super- 
fluous ;  and  we  are  tempted  to  surmise  that  its 
existence  and  liberation  have  been  admitted,  in 
terms,  by  Capila,  as  the  gods  were  by  Epicurus,  to 
avoid  shocking  the  prejudices  of  his  countrymen 
by  a  direct  denial  of  their  religion. 

The  tenets  hitherto  explained  are  common  to 
both  schools ;  but  Capila,  admitting,  as  has  been 
seen,  the  separate  existence  of  souls,  and  allowing 
that  intellect  is  employed  in  the  evolution  of  mat- 
ter, which  answers  to  creation,  denies  that  there 
is  any  Supreme  Being,  ether  material  or  spiritual, 
by  whose  volition  the  universe  was  produced.* 

Patanjali,  on  the  other  hand,  asserts  that,  distinct 
from  other  souls,  there  is  a  soul  or  spirit  unaffected 
by  the  ills  with  which  the  others  are  beset ;  un- 

*  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  37. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  223 

concerned  with  good  or  bad  deeds  or  their  conse-     chap. 
quences,   and   with    fancies   or  passing  thoughts ;  ' 

omniscient,  infinite,  unHmited  by  time.    This  being 
is  God,  the  Supreme  Ruler.* 

Tlie  practice  of  the  two  sects  takes  its  colour 
from  tiiese  peculiar  opinions.  The  object  of  all 
knowledge  with  both  is  liberation  from  matter  ;  and 
it  is  by  contemplation  that  the  great  work  is  to  be 
accomplished. 

To  this  the  theistical  sects  add  devotion ;  and 
the  subjects  of  their  meditation  are  suggested  by 
this  sentiment.  While  the  followers  of  the  other 
sect  are  occupied  in  abstruse  reasonings  on  the 
nature  of  mind  and  matter,  the  deistical  Sankya 
spends  his  time  in  devotional  exercises,  or  gives 
Iiimself  up  to  mental  abstraction.  The  mystical 
and  fanatical  spirit  thus  engendered  appears  in 
other  shapes,  and  has  influenced  this  branch  of  the 
Sankya  in  a  manner  which  has  ultimately  tended 
to  degrade  its  character. 

The  work  of  Patanjali,  which  is  the  text-book 
of  the  theistical  sect,  contains  full  directions  for 
bodily  and  mental  exercises,  consisting  of  intensely 
profound  meditation  on  certain  to})ics,  accompanied 
by  suppression  of  the  breath,  and  restraint  of  the 
senses,  while  steadily  maintaining  prescribed  posi- 
tions. By  such  exercises,  the  adept  acquires  the 
knowledge  of  everything  past  and  future,  hidden 
or  remote :  he  divines  the  thoughts  of  others, 
gains  the  strength  of  an  elc])hant,  the  courage  of 

•  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  37. 


22i  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     a  lion,  and  the  swiftness  of  the  wind ;  flies  in  air, 
II.  .  .        . 
floats  in  water ;  dives  into  the  earth  ;  contemplates 

all  worlds  at  a  glance,  and  indulges  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  power  that  scarcely  knows  any  bounds. 

To  the  attainment  of  these  miraculous  faculties, 
some  ascetics  divert  the  efforts  which  ought  to  be 
confined  to  the  acquisition  of  beatitude  ;  and  others 
have  had  recourse  to  imposture  for  the  power  to 
surprise  their  admirers  with  wonders  which  they 
possessed  no  other  means  of  exhibiting. 
Yogis.  The  first  description  of  these  aspirants  to  super- 

natural powers  are  still  found  among  the  monastic 
orders,  and  the  second  among  the  lowest  classes  of 
the  same  body ;  both  are  called  Yogi,  —  a  name 
assigned  to  the  original  sect,  from  a  word  meaning 
**  abstracted  meditation."  * 


Veddnta^  or  Uttara  Mimansd  ScJiooL 

The  foundation  of  this  school  is  ascribed  to  Vyasa, 
the  supposed  compiler  of  the  Vedas,  who  lived 
about  1400  B.  c.  ;  and  it  does  not  seem  improbable 
that   the   author  of  that  compilation,  whoever  he 

*  The  above  account  of  the  Siinkya  school  is  chiefly  taken 
from  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  pp.  19 — 43.  A  translation  of  the  text-book  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Capila  (the  atheistic  sect),  originally  prepared  by 
Mr.  Colebrooke,  has  appeared  since  it  was  first  written,  accom- 
panied by  a  translation  of  a  gloss  from  the  Shanscrit,  and  a  very 
valuable  commentary  by  Professor  Wilson.  A  more  general 
view  of  the  Sankya  doctrines  has  also  appeared  in  the  Oxford 
Lectures  of  the  last  author,  pp.  49.  54.  I  have  endeavoured  to 
profit  by  those  publications  in  correcting  my  first  account. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  225 

was,  should  have  written  a  treatise  on  the  scope    chap. 
and  essential  doctrines  of  the  compositions  which  ' 

he  had  brought  togetlier  :  but  Mr.  Colebrooke  is 
of  opinion  that,  in  its  present  form,  the  school  is 
more  modern  than  any  of  tlie  other  five,  and  even 
than  the  Jains  and  Baudhas ;  and  that  the  work  in 
which  its  system  is  first  explained  could  not,  there- 
fore, have  been  written  earlier  *  than  the  sixth 
century  before  Christ. 

Tiiough  the  system  of  this  school  is  supported 
by  arguments  drawn  from  reason,  it  professes  to  be 
founded  on  the  authority  of  the  Vedas,  and  appeals 
for  proofs  to  texts  from  those  Scriptures.  It  has 
given  rise  to  an  enormous  mass  of  treatises,  with 
commentaries,  and  commentaries  on  commentaries, 
almost  all  written  during  the  last  nine  centuries. 
From  a  selection  of  these  expositions,  Mr.  Cole- 
brooke has  formed  his  account  of  the  school ;  but, 
owing  to  the  controversial  matter  introduced,  as 
well  as  to  the  appeals  to  texts  instead  of  to  human 
reason,  it  is  more  confused  and  obscure  than  the 
systems  of  tlie  other  schools. 

Its  principal  doctrines  are,  that   "  God  is   the  cod  the 
omniscient  and  omnipotent  cause  of  tlie  existence,  hJnce" 
continuance,  and  dissolution  of  the  universe.     Cre- 
ation is  an  act  of  iiis  icill ;  he  is  botli  the  eflicient 
and  the   material    cause   of  the  world."     At  the 


*  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  y,  4. 

VOL.  I.  Cl 


^26 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     consummation  of  all  things,  all  are  resolved  into 

II.  .  .  ^. 
him.     He  is  the  "sole  existent"  and  the  "uni- 
versal soul."  * 

Individual  souls  are  portions  of  his  substance : 
from  him  they  issue  like  sparks  from  a  flame,  and 
to  him  they  return. 

The  soul  (as  a  portion  of  the  Divinity)  is  "  in- 
finite, immortal,  intelligent,  sentient,  true." 

It  is  capable  of  activity,  though  its  natural  state 
is  repose. 

It  is  made  to  act  by  the  Supreme  Being,  but  in 
conformity  to  its  previous  resolutions  ;  and  those 
again  have  been  produced  by  a  chain  of  causes 
extending  backwards,  apparently  to  infinity,  t 

The  soul  is  incased  in  body  as  in  a  sheath,  or 
rather  a  succession  of  sheaths.  In  the  first,  the  in- 
tellect is  associated  with  the  five  senses ;  in  the 
second,  the  mind  is  added ;  in  the  third,  the  organs 
of  sense  and  the  vital  faculties.  These  three  con 
stitute  the  subtile  body,  which  accompanies  the 
soul  through  all  its  transmigrations. 

The  fourth  sheath  is  the  gross  body,  t 

The  states  of  the  soul  in  reference  to  the  body 
are  these  :  —  When  awake,  it  is  active,  and  has  to 
do  with  a  real  and  practical  creation  :  in  dreams, 
there  is  an  illusive  and  unreal  creation  :  in  pro- 
found sleep,  it  is  enfolded,  hut  not  blended,  in  the 
divine  essence :  on  death,  it  has  quitted  the  cor- 

*  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  34. 
f  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  22.  %  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  35. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  227 

poreal  frame.  *     It  then  goes  to  the  moon,  is  clothed    chap. 
in  an  aqueous  body,  falls  in  rain,  is  absorbed  by  " 

some  vegetable,  and  thence  through  nourishment 
into  an  animal  embryo,  t 

After  finishing  its  transmigrations,  the  number  of 
which  depends  on  its  deeds,  it  receives  liberation. 

Liberation  is  of  three  sorts  :  one  incorporeal  and 
complete,  when  the  soul  is  absorbed  in  Brahma  ; 
another  imperfect,  when  it  only  reaches  the  abode 
of  Bralniia ;  and  a  third  flir  short  of  the  others,  by 
which,  while  yet  in  life,  it  acquires  many  of  the 
powers  of  the  Divinity,  and  its  faculties  are  tran- 
scendant  for  enjoyment,  but  not  for  action.  These 
two  last  are  attainable  by  sacrifice  and  devout  medi- 
tation in  prescribed  modes. 

The  discussions  of  this  school  extend  to  the 
questions  of  free  will,  divine  grace,  efficacy  of  works, 
of  faith,  and  many  others  of  the  most  abstracted 
nature. 

Faith  is  not  mentioned  in  their  early  works,  and 
is  a  tenet  of  the  branch  of  the  Vedanta  school  which 
follows  the  Bhagwat  Gita.  The  most  regular  of 
the  school,  however,  maintain  the  doctrine  of 
divine  grace,  and  restrict  free  will,  as  has  been 
shown,  by  an  infinite  succession  of  influencing  mo- 
tives, extending  back  through  the  various  worlds 
in  the  past  eternity  of  the  universe. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  school  differs  entirely  from 
that  first   mentioned,   in   denying  the  eternity  of 

*  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  37. 
f   Ibid.  vol.  ii.  j).  25. 

Q   2 


228  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     matter,  and  ascribing  the  existence  of  the  universe 
II  . 

'        to  the  energy  and  vohtion  of  God.  But  its  original 

teachers,  or  their  European  interpreters,  appear  to 
disagree  as  to  the  manner  in  which  that  existence 
is  produced.  One  party  maintains  that  God  created 
matter  out  of  his  own  essence,  and  will  resume  it 
into  his  essence  at  the  consummation  of  all  things  ; 
and  that  from  matter  thus  produced,  he  formed  the 
world,  and  left  it  to  make  its  own  impressions  on 
the  soul  of  man.  The  other  party  says  that  God 
did  not  create  matter,  nor  does  matter  exist ;  but 
that  he  did,  and  continually  does,  produce  directly 
on  the  soul  a  series  of  impressions  such  as  the  other 
party  supposes  to  be  produced  by  the  material 
world.  One  party  says  that  all  that  exists  arises 
from  God ;  the  other,  that  nothing  does  exist  ex- 
cept God.  This  last  appears  to  be  the  prevailing 
doctrine  among  the  modern  Vedantis,  though  pro- 
bably not  of  the  founders  and  early  followers  of  the 
school. 

Both  parties  agree  in  supposing  the  impression 
produced  on  the  mind  to  be  regular  and  systematic, 
so  that  the  ideal  sect  reasons  about  cause  and  effect 
exactly  in  the  same  manner  as  those  who  believe  in 
the  reality  of  the  apparent  world. 

Both  allow  volition  to  God,  and  do  not  conceive 
that  there  is  anything  in  the  nature  of  matter,  or 
in  his  own  relations,  to  fetter  his  will. 

Both  agree  in  asserting  that  the  soul  was  originally 
part  of  God,  and  is  again  to  return  to  him  ;  but 
neither  explains  how  the  separation  is  effected :  the 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  229 

idealists,   in   particular,  fail  entirely  in  explaining    chap. 
how  God  can  delude  a  part  of  himself  into  a  belief  ' 

of  its  own  separate  existence,  and  of  its  being  acted 
on  by  an  external  world,  when,  in  fact,  it  is  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  only  existing  being.* 


Logical  Schools. 

Logic  is  a  favourite  study  of  the  Bramins,  and 
an  infinity  of  volumes  have  been  produced  by  them 
on  this  subject.  Some  of  them  have  been  by  emi- 
nent authors,  and  various  schools  have  sprung  up 
in  consequence ;  all,  however,  are  supposed  to 
originate  in  those  of  Gotama  and  Canade.  The 
first  of  these  has  attended  to  the  metaphysics  of 
logic  ;  the  second  to  physics,  or  to  sensible  objects. 
Though  these  schools  differ  in  some  particulars, 
they  generally  agree  on  tiie  points  treated  on  by 
both,  and  may  be  considered  as  parts  of  one  sys- 
tem, each  suj)plying  the  other's  deficiencies. 

The  school  thus  formed  has  been  compared  to  Points  of 
that  of  Aristotle,  t  It  resembles  it  in  its  attention  bWeto 
to  classification,  method,  and  arrangement,  and  it  ^^'■''*°*''^- 
furnishes  a  rude  form  of  the  syllogism,  consisting 

*  On  the  question  regarding  the  ideal  or  material  existence 
of  the  world,  besides  Mr.  Colebrooke's  paper  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Societi/,  vol.  ii.  pp.  38,  39.,  see  that  of 
Colonel  Kennedy,  in  vol.  iii.  p.  414.,  with  the  remarks  of  Sir 
Graves  Haughton. 

f  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  19. ;  Edinburyk  Revieio  for  July,  1834,  p.  363. 

Q   3 


230  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

'^o^^  of  five  propositions,  two  of  which  are  obviously 
■ superfluous.* 

In  the  logic  of  Canade's  school  there  is  also  an 
enumeration  of  what  is  translated  *' predicaments," 
which  are  six  :  —  substance,  quality,  action,  com- 
munity, particularity,  and  aggregation  or  intimate 
relation  :  some  add  a  seventh,  privation.  The  three 
first  are  among  the  predicaments  of  Aristotle, 
the  others  are  not,  and  seven  of  Aristotle's  are 
omitted,  t 

The  subjects  treated  of  in  the  two  Hindu  sys- 
tems are  naturally  often  the  same  as  those  of  Ari- 
stotle, — the  senses,  the  elements,  the  soul  and  its 
different  faculties,  time,  space,  &c.  ;  but  many  that 
are  of  the  first  importance  in  Aristotle's  system  are 
omitted  by  the  Hindus,  and  vice  versa.  The  de- 
finitions of  the  subjects  often  differ,  and  the  general 
arrangement  is  entirely  dissimilar. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  coincidences  is, 
that  all  the  Hindu  schools  constantly  join  to  the 
five  senses  a  sixth  internal  sense  (which  they  call 
mind)  which  connects  the  other  five,  and  answers 

*   As,  1.  The  hill  is  fiery  ; 

2.  For  it  smokes, 

3.  What  smokes  is  fiery,  as  a  culinary  hearth  ; 

4.  Accordingly,  the  hill  is  smoking  ; 

5.  Therefore,  it  is  fiery. 

The  Hindds  had  also  the  regular  syllogism,  which  seems  a 
very  natural  step  from  the  above ;  but  as  it  was  at  a  later 
period,  the  improvement  might  have  been  borrowed  from  the 
Greeks. 

f  Viz.  passion,  relation,  quantity,  when,  where,  situation, 
and  habit. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    PHILOSOPHY.  231 

exactly  to  the  common,  or  internal,  sense  of  Ari-    chap. 
stotle.  , 


The  arrangement  of  G6tama*s  scliool  is  much  General 
more  complete   and  comprehensive    than  that  of  tion  ac^.^ 
Canade,  and  some  specimens  of  it  may  serve  to  G6tama's' 
give   an   idea   of  the   minuteness  to  which   their  ^^^^°^^- 
classification  is  attempted  to  be  carried. 

The  first  distribution  of  subjects  is  into  sixteen  Heads  or 
heads  or  topics.     I  can  discover  no  principle  on  *''^'"'^* 
which  it  is  made,  except  that  it  comprises  the  in- 
struments, modes,  and  some  of  the  subjects,  of  dis- 
putation.    It  is  as  follows  :  — 

1.  Proof.  2.  That  which  is  to  be  known  and 
proven.  3.  Doubt.  4.  Motive.  5.  Instance. 
6.  Demonstrated  truth.  7«  Member  of  a  re- 
gular argument  or  syllogism ;  8.  Reasoning  by 
reduction  to  absurdity.  9.  Determination  or 
ascertainment.  10.  Thesis  or  disquisition.  11. 
Controversy.  V2.  Objection.  13.  Fallacious 
reason.  14.  Perversion.  15.  Futility.  16.  Con- 
futation. 

The  subdivisions  are  more  natural  and  sys- 
tematic. 

Proof  (or  evidence)  is  of  four  kinds :    percep-  ist  Head 
tion,    inference,   comparison,    and   afiirmation    (or  ~~ 
testimony). 

Inference  is  again  subdivided  into  antecedent, 
which  discovers  an  effect  from  its  cause  ;  conse- 
quent, which  deduces  a  cause  from  its  effect ;  and 
analogous. 

Q   4 


232 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
II. 

2d  Head — 
Objects  of 
Proof;  its 
subdi- 
visions. 


1.    Soul. 


2.   Bod). 


3.  Organs 
of  sense. 


4.  Ob- 
jects  of 
sense. 


Objects  of  proof  are  twelve  in  number :  — 
1.  Soul.  2.  Body.  3.  The  organs  of  sensation. 
4.  The  objects  of  sense.  5.  Intellect.  6.  Mind. 
7.  Activity.  8.  Fault.  9.  Transmigration.  10.  Fruit 
of  deeds.  11.  Pain,  or  physical  evil.  12.  Libera- 
tion. 

1.  The  first  object  of  proof  is  soul;  and  a  full 
exposition  is  given  of  its  nature  and  faculties,  and 
of  the  proofs  of  its  existence.  It  has  fourteen 
qualities: — number,  quantity,  severalty,  conjunc- 
tion, disjunction,  intellect,  pain,  pleasure,  desire, 
aversion,  volition,  merit,  demerit,  and  the  faculty 
of  imagination. 

2.  The  second  object  of  proof  is  body  ;  which  is 
still  more  fully  discussed  and  analysed  ;  not  without 
some  mixture  of  what  belongs  more  properly  to 
physical  science. 

3.  Next  follow  the  organs  of  sense,  which  are 
said  not  to  spring  from  consciousness,  as  is  advanced 
by  the  Sankya  school  ;  but  which  are  conjoined 
with  the  sixth  internal  sense,  as  in  that  school ; 
while  the  five  organs  of  action  (which  makeup  the 
eleven  brought  together  by  the  Sankyas)  are  not 
separately  recognised  here. 

4.  The  next  of  the  subdivisions  of  the  second 
head  consists  of  the  objects  of  sense,  among  which 
are  the  terms  which  form  the  predicaments  of 
Canade. 

The  first  of  these  is  substance,  and  is  divided 
into  nine  sorts:  —  earth,  w^ater,  light,  air,  ether, 
time,  place,  soul,  mind.     The  qualities  of  each  of 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  233 

these  substances  are  fully  examined  ;  after  which     chap. 
the  author  passes  on   to  the  second  predicament,  ' 

quality.  There  are  twenty-four  qualities.  Sixteen 
are  qualities  of  body  ;  namely,  —  colour,  saviour, 
odour,  feel,  number,  quantity,  individuality,  con- 
junction, disjunction,  priority,  posteriority,  gravity, 
fluidity,  viscidity,  and  sound :  and  eight  of  soul ; 
namely,  —  pain,  desire,  aversion,  volition,  virtue, 
vice,  and  faculty.  Every  one  of  these  is  examined 
at  great  length  ;  and,  sometimes,  as  well  as  by  the 
Grecian  schools.* 

The  remaining  five  predicaments  are  then  de- 
fined, which  completes  the  objects  of  sense.  Each 
of  the  six  remaining  objects  of  proof  are  then  ex- 
amined in  the  same  manner,  which  exhausts  the 
second  head  or  topic. 

The  third  head  or  topic,  doubt,  is  then   taken  sd  Head- 
in  hand,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  ;  but 
enough  has  already  been  said  to  show  the  method 
of  proceeding,  and  much  detail  would  be  required 
to  afford  any  information  beyond  that. 

The    discussion    of   the    above    topics    involves  Meta- 
many  opinions,  both  on  physical  and  metaphysical  opinions. 
subjects ;  thus  the   immateriality,  independent  ex- 
istence, and  eternity  of  the  soul  are  asserted  :  God 
is  considered  as  the  supreme  soul,  the  seat  of  eter- 
nal knowledge,  the  maker  of  all  things,  &c. 

•  Levity,  for  instance,  is  merely  noticed  as  the  absence  of 
gravity  ;  while  in  Aristotle  it  is  held  to  be  a  separate  principle, 
having  a  tendency  to  rise  as  gravity  has  to  descend.  Sound  is 
said  to  be  propagated  by  undulation,  wave  after  wave,  proceed- 
inj'  from  a  centre. 


234 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
II. 

Doctrine  of 
atoms. 


Resem- 
blance to 
some  of 
the  Greek 
schools, 
especially 
to  Pytha- 
goras. 


The  school  of  Canade,  or,  as  it  is  also  called,  the 
atomic  school,  supposes  a  transient  world  com- 
posed of  aggregations  of  eternal  atoms.  It  does  not 
seem  settled  whether  their  temporary  arrangement 
depends  on  their  natural  affinities,  or  on  the  creative 
power  of  God.  * 

It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  identity 
of  the  topics  discussed  by  the  Hindu  philosophers 
with  those  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
same  class  in  ancient  Greece,  and  with  the  simi- 
larity between  the  doctrines  of  schools  subsisting 
in  regions  of  the  earth  so  remote  from  each  other. 
The  first  cause,  the  relation  of  mind  to  matter, 
creation,  fate,  and  many  similar  subjects,  are  mixed 
by  the  Hindus  with  questions  that  have  arisen  in 
modern  metaphysics,  without  liaving  been  known 
to  the  ancients.  Their  various  doctrines  of  the 
eternity  of  matter,  or  its  emanation  from  the  Di- 
vinity ;  of  the  separate  existence  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  or  his  arising  from  the  arrangements  of 
nature  ;  the  supposed  derivation  of  all  souls  from 
God,  and  return  to  him  ;  the  doctrine  of  atoms ; 
the  successive  revolutions  of  worlds ;  have  all  like- 
wise been  maintained  by  one  or  other  of  the  Gre- 
cian schools,  t  These  doctrines  may,  however, 
have  occurred  independently  to  speculative  men  in 

*  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.i. 
p.  105.  For  a  full  account  of  the  logical  school,  see  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  92.,  and  Gladivins 
Ayeen  Acbery,  vol.  ii.  p.  385. ;  also,  Ward  on  the  Hindoos, 
vol.  ii.  p,  224. 

t  See  Ward  on  the  Hindoos,  vol.  ii.  p.  114. 


PRESENT  STATE  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  235 

unconnected  countries,  and  each  single  coincidence     chap. 

may  perhaps  have  been  accidental ;  but  when  we  

find  a  whole  system  so  similar  to  that  of  the  Hindus 
as  the  Pythagorean,  —  while  the  doctrines  of  both 
are  so  unlike  the  natural  suggestions  of  human 
reason, — it  requires  no  faith  in  the  traditions  of 
the  eastern  journeys  of  Pythagoras  to  be  persuaded 
that  the  two  schools  have  originated  in  a  common 


source. 


The  end  of  all  philosophy,  according  to  Pytha- 
goras, is  to  free  the  mind  from  incumbrances  which 
hinder  its  progress  towards  perfection*  ;  to  raise 
it  above  the  dominion  of  the  passions,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  corporeal  impressions,  so  as  to  assimilate 
it  to  the  Divinity,  and  qualify  it  to  join  the  gods.t 
The  soul  is  a  portion  of  the  Divinity t,  and  re- 
turns, after  various  transmigrations  and  successive 
intermediate  states  of  purgation  in  the  region  of 
the  dead,  to  the  eternal  source  from  which  it 
first  proceeded.  The  mind  (^w/xo^)  is  distinct  from 
the  soul  ((^p73v).§  God  is  the  universal  soul  dif- 
fused through  all  things,  the  first  principle  of  the 
universe  ;  invisible,  incorruptible,  only  to  be  com- 
prehended by  the  mind.  II  Intermediate  between 
God  and  mankind  are  a  host  of  aerial  beings,  formed 
into  classes,  and  exercising  different  influences  on 
the  affairs  of  the  world.  ^ 

These  are  precisely  the  metaphysical  doctrines 

•  Enfield's  History  of  Philosophy,  vol,  i.  p.  382. 

f   Ibid.  p.  389.  t   Il^id.  p.  393. 

§  Ibid.  p.  397.  II    Ibid.  p.  393. 

%  Ibid.  p.  395.     See  also  Stanley's  History  of  Philosophy. 


236  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     of  India ;  and  when  to  them  we  ioin  the  aversion 
II  .  .  . 

"        of  Pythagoras  for  animal  food,  and  his  prohibition 

of  it  unless  when  offered  in  sacrifices*,  his  injunc- 
tions to  his  disciples  not  to  kill  or  hurt  plants  t, 
the  long  probation  of  his  disciples,  and  their  myste- 
rious initiation,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  so 
remarkable  an  agreement  can  be  produced  by  any 
thing  short  of  direct  imitation. 

Further  coincidences  might  be  mentioned,  equally 
striking,  though  less  important  than  those  already 
adduced  :  such  are  the  affinity  between  God  and 
light,  the  arbitrary  importance  assigned  to  the 
sphere  of  the  moon  as  the  limit  of  earthly  changes, 
&c. :  and  all  derive  additional  importance  from 
their  dissimilarity  to  the  opinions  of  all  the  Grecian 
schools  that  subsisted  in  the  time  of  Pythagoras,  t 

Some  of  the  tenets  of  both  schools  are  said  to 
have  existed  among  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and 
may  be  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  that 
source  both  by  Pythagoras  and  the  Bramins.     But 

*  Enfield,  vol.  i.  p.  377.,  and  Stanlei/s  School  of  Philosophy, 
p.  520. 

t  Stanley,  p.  520. 

X  See,  for  the  Hindu  notions  on  light,  the  various  interpreta- 
tions of,  and  comments  on,  the  Gayatri,  especially  SirJV.  Jones's 
Works,  vol.  vi.  pp,  417.  4*21.  ;  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  viii.  p.  400.  and  note;  Ram  Mohun  Roy's  translation  of  the 
Vedas,  p.  114. ;  Colebrooke,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  26.,  and  other  places.  For  Pythagoras,  see 
Enfield,  vol.  i.  p.  S94.,  and  Stanley,  p.  547. ;  in  both  of  which 
places  he  is  said  to  have  learned  his  doctrine  from  the  magi  or 
oriental  philosophers.  The  opinions  of  both  the  Hindus  and 
Pythagoras  about  the  moon  and  aerial  regions,  are  stated  by 
Mr.  Colebrooke,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
vol.  i.  p.  578. ;  for  those  of  Pythagoras,  see  Stanley,  p.  551. 


PRESENT    STATE    OF    THILOSOPHY.  237 

our  accounts  of  these  doctrines  in  Egypt  are  only     chap. 
found  in  books  written  long  after  they  had  reached  ' 

Greece  through  other  channels.  The  only  earlij 
authority  is  Herodotus,  who  lived  after  the  philo- 
sophy of  Pythagoras  had  been  universally  diffused. 
If,  however,  these  doctrines  existed  among  the 
Egyptians,  they  were  scattered  opinions  in  the 
midst  of  an  independent  system  ;  and  in  Greece 
they  are  obviously  adscititious,  and  not  received  in 
their  integrity  by  any  other  of  the  philosophers 
except  by  the  Pythagoreans.  In  India,  on  the 
contrary,  they  are  the  main  principles  on  which 
the  religion  of  the  people  is  founded,  to  which  all 
the  schools  of  philosophy  refer,  and  on  which  every 
theory  in  physics  and  every  maxim  in  morality 
depends. 

It  is  well  argued  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  that  the 
Indian  philosophy  resembles  that  of  the  earlier 
rather  than  of  the  later  Greeks  ;  and  that,  if  the 
Hindus  had  been  capable  of  learning  the  first  doc- 
trines from  a  foreign  nation,  there  was  no  reason 
why  they  should  not  in  like  manner  have  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  the  subsequent  improvements.  Erom 
which  he  infers  that  "the  Hindus  were,  in  this 
instance,  the  teachers,  and  not  the  learners."* 

*  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  579. 
It  may,  perhaps,  be  observed,  that  the  doctrines  of  Pythagoras 
appear  to  belong  to  a  period  later  than  Menu.  The  formation 
of  a  society  living  in  common,  and  receiving  common  initiation, 
together  with  the  practice  of  burying  the  dead  instead  of  burn- 
ing them,  seem  to  refer  to  the  rules  of  the  monastic  orders ; 
while  the  strictness  regarding  animal  food  has  also  a  resemblance 
to  the  tendenc}'  of  later  times. 


238  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  III. 

STATE    OF    THE    HINDUS    IN    LATER    TIMES, 
CONTINUED. 

BOOK     Few  of  the  subjects  which  follow  are  noticed  by 

Menu  :  we  can,  therefore,  no  longer  attempt  to 

mark  the  changes  effected  since  his  time,  but  must 
endeavour  from  other  sources  to  trace  the  rise  and 
describe  the  present  state  of  each  branch  of  inquiry 
as  it  occurs. 


ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  239 


CHAP.  I. 

ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE. 

The  antiquity  and  the  originality  of  the  Indian     chap. 
astronomy  form  subjects  of  considerable  interest.*    


The  first  point  has  been  discussed  by  some  of  Antiquity 

■•■  ''of  the 

the  greatest   astronomers  in  Europe  ;  and  is  still  Hindu  as- 

tronomy. 

unsettled. 

Cassini,  Bailly,  and  Playfair  maintain  that  ob- 
servations taken  upwards  of  3000  years  before 
Christ  are  still  extant,  and  prove  a  considerable 
degree  of  progress  already  made  at  that  period. 

Several  men,  eminent  for  science,  (among  whom 
are  La  Place  and  De  Lambre,)  deny  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  observations,  and,  consequently,  the 
validity  of  the  conclusion. 

The  argument  is  conducted  entirely  on  astro- 
nomical principles,  and  can  only  be  decided  by 
astronomers  :  as  far  as  it  can  be  understood  by 
a  person  unacquainted  with  science,  it  does  not 
appear  to  authorise  an  award,  to  the  extent  that 
is  claimed,  in  favour  of  the  Hindus. 

All  astronomers,   however,  admit  the  great  an- 

*  Much  information  on  these  subjects,  but  generally  witli 
views  unfavourable  to  the  Hindus,  is  given  in  the  illustrations, 
l)y  diHcrent  hands,  annexed  to  iNIr.  Hugh  Murray's  Historical 
and  Descriptive  Account  of  British  India,  —  a  \\oik  of  great 
ability  and  value. 


240  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     tiquity  of  the  Hindu  observations;  and  it  seems 
III 

'  indisputable  that  the  exactness  of  tlie  mean  mo- 
tions that  they  have  assigned  to  the  sun  and  moon 
could  only  have  been  attained  by  a  comparison  of 
modern  observations  with  others  made  in  remote 
antiquity.  *  Even  Mr.  Bentley,  the  most  strenuous 
opponent  of  the  claims  of  the  Hindus,  pronounces, 
in  his  latest  work,  that  their  division  of  the  ecliptic 
into  twenty-seven  lunar  mansions  (which  supposes 
much  previous  observation)  was  made  1442  years 
before  our  gera ;  and,  without  relying  upon  his 
authority  in  this  instance,  we  should  be  inclined 
to  believe  that  the  Indian  observations  could  not 
have  commenced  at  a  later  period  than  the  fifteenth 
century  before  Christ.  This  would  be  from  one  to 
two  centuries  before  the  Argonautic  expedition  and 
the  first  mention  of  astronomy  in  Greece. 

The  astronomical  rule  relating  to  the  calendar, 
which  has  been  quoted  from  the  Vedas  t,  is  shown 
to  have  been  drawn  up  in  the  fourteenth  century 
before  Christ;  and  Parasara,  the  first  writer  on 
astronomy  of  w^hose  writings  any  portion  remains, 
appears  to  have  flourished  about  the  same  time.t 

*   See  Ponds  La  Place  System  of  the  World,  vol.  ii.  p.  252. 

-j-  In  Appendix  I.  See  also  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii. 
p.  489. ;  vol.  vii.  p.  282. 

^  This  appears  by  his  observation  of  the  place  of  the  Colures, 
first  mentioned  by  Mr.  Davis.  (^Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii.  p.  268.) 
Sir  W.  Jones,  in  consequence  of  some  further  information 
received  from  Mr.  Davis,  fixed  Parasara  in  the  twelfth  century 
before  Christ  (1181,  B.C.);  but  Mr.  Davis  himself  afterwards 
explained    (^Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  v.  p.  288.)   that,  from   the 


ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  241 

In  our  inquiries  into  the  astronomy  of  the  In-     chap. 
dians,  we  derive  no  aid  from  their  own  early  au-         ' 


thors.  The  same  system  of  priestcraft,  which  has  its  extent. 
exercised  so  pernicious  an  influence  on  the  Hindus 
in  other  respects,  has  cast  a  veil  over  their  science. 
Astronomy  having  been  made  subservient  to 
the  extravagant  chronology  of  the  religionists, 
all  the  epochs  which  it  ouglit  to  determine  have 
been  thrown  into  confusion  and  uncertainty  ;  no 
general  view  of  their  system  has  been  given  ; 
only  such  parts  of  science  as  are  required  for  prac- 
tical purposes  are  made  known  ;  and  even  of  them 
the  original  sources  are  carefully  concealed,  and 
the  results  communicated  as  revelations  from  the 
Divinity.  * 


most  minute  consideration  he  could  give  the  subject,  the  observ- 
ation must  have  been  made  139]  years  before  the  Christian 
aera.  Another  passage  quoted  from  Parasara  shows  that  the 
heliacal  rising  of  Canopus  took  place  in  his  time  at  a  period 
which  agrees  with  the  date  assigned  to  him,  on  other  grounds. 
(Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  356.  See  also 
Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  v.  p.  288.,  for  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Davis.) 
Mr.  Bentley,  however,  at  one  time  suspected  the  whole  of 
the  works  of  Parasara  to  be  modern  forgeries  (Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  vi.  p.  581.);  and  when  he  admitted  them  afterwards  (in 
his  posthumous  work),  he  put  a  different  interpretation  on  the 
account  of  the  rising  of  Canopus,  and  placed  him,  on  that  and 
other  grounds,  in  the  year  576  before  Christ.  (Abstract  of 
Bentley's  History,  Oriental  Magazine,  vol.  v.  p.  24'5.)  The 
attempt  made  by  Sir  W.  Jones  to  fix  other  dates,  by  means  of 
the  mythological  histories  into  which  the  name  of  Parasara  is 
introduced,  does  not  appear  successful.  (Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  ii.  p.  399.) 

*  Thus  the  "  Surya  Sidhanta,"  the  learned  work  of  an  astro- 

VOL.  I.  R 


III. 


242  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  From  this  cause,  the  data  from  which  their  tables 
were  computed  are  never  quoted  ;  and  there  is  no 
record  of  a  regular  series  of  observations  among 
them. 

If  this  system  be  an  obstruction  to  our  inquiries, 
it  must  have  been  much  more  so  to  the  progress  of 
science.  The  art  of  making  observations  was  pro- 
bably taught  to  few  ;  still  fewer  would  be  disposed 
to  employ  an  instrument  which  could  not  confirm, 
but  might  impair,  the  faith  due  to  divine  truths. 
They  had  none  of  the  skill  which  would  have  been 
taught,  nor  of  the   emulation  which  would  have 


nomer  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,  is  only  known  to  the  Hindus 
as  a  revelation  from  heaven,  received  upwards  of  2,1 64,900 
years  ago.  Their  enigmatical  manner  of  communicating  their 
knowledge  is  as  remarkable  in  the  other  sciences  as  in  astro- 
nomy. Professor  Playfair  speaks  thus  of  their  trigonometry : — 
"  It  has  the  appearance,  like  many  other  things  in  the  science 
of  those  eastern  nations,  of  being  drawn  up  by  one  who  was 
more  deeply  versed  in  the  subject  than  may  be  at  first  imagined, 
and  who  knew  more  than  he  thought  it  necessary  to  commu- 
nicate. It  is  probably  a  compendium  formed  by  some  ancient 
adept  in  geometry,  for  the  use  of  others  who  were  mere  prac- 
tical calculators."  Of  their  arithmetic  the  "  Edinburgh  Review" 
says  (vol.  xxix.  p.  147.),  "All  this  is  done  in  verse.  The 
question  is  usually  propounded  with  enigmatical  conciseness; 
the  rule  for  the  computation  is  given  in  terms  somewhat  less 
obscure  ;  but  it  is  not  till  the  example,  which  comes  in  the 
third  place,  has  been  studied,  that  all  ambiguity  is  removed. 
No  demonstration  nor  reasoning,  either  analytical  or  synthetical, 
is  subjoined  ;  but,  on  examination,  the  rules  are  found  not  only 
to  be  exact,  but  to  be  nearly  as  simple  as  they  can  be  made, 
even  in  the  present  state  of  analytical  investigation."  The 
same  observation  is  applied  to  their  algebra.  Ibid.  p.  151. 


ASTROMOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  243 

been  excited,  by  the  labours  of  their  predecessors  ;     chap. 
and  when   the   increasing    errors  of  the  revealed  " 

tables  forced  them  at  length  on  observations  and 
corrections,  so  far  from  expecting  applause  for 
their  improvements,  they  were  obliged,  by  the 
state  of  public  opinion,  to  endeavour  to  make  it 
appear  that  no  alteration  had  been  made.  * 

In  spite  of  these  disadvantages,  they  appear  to 
have  made  considerable  advances  in  astronomy. 
As  they  have  left  no  complete  system  which  can 
be  presented  in  a  popular  form,  and  compared  with 
those  of  other  nations,  they  must  be  judged  of  by 
mathematicians  from  tlie  skill  they  have  shown  in 
treating  the  points  on  which  they  have  touched. 
The  opinions  formed  on  this  subject  appear  to  be 
divided ;  but  it  seems  to  be  generally  admitted 
that  great  marks  of  imperfection  are  combined,  in 
tlieir  astronomical  waitings,  with  proofs  of  very  ex- 
traordinary proficiency. 

*  The  commentator  on  the  "  Surya  Sidhanta  "  (Asiatic  He- 
searches,  vol.  ii.  p.  239.)  shows  strongly  the  embarrassment  that 
was  felt  by  those  who  tried  to  correct  errors  sanctioned  by  re- 
ligious authority.  In  the  same  essay  (p.  257.)  it  appears  that, 
although  the  rational  system  had  been  established  from  time 
immemorial,  it  was  still  thought  almost  impious  to  oppose  it  to 
the  mythological  one.  A  single  writer,  indeed,  avows  that  the 
earth  is  self-balanced  in  infinite  space,  and  cannot  be  supported 
by  a  succession  of  animals  ;  but  the  others  display  no  such  con- 
troversial spirit,  and  seem  only  anxious  to  show  that  their  own 
rational  opinions  were  consistent  with  the  previously  established 
fables.  In  the  "  Edinburgh  Review"  (vol.  x.  p.  459.)  there  is  a 
forcible  illustration  of  the  effect  of  the  system  of  religious 
fraud  in  retarding  the  progress  of  science. 

R    9. 


214 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 

III. 


Geometry. 


The  progress  made  in  other  branches  of  mathe- 
matical knowledge  was  still  more  remarkable  than 
in  astronomy.  In  the  "  Surya  Sidhanta,"  written, 
according  to  Mr.  Bentley,  in  a.  d.  1091,  at  the 
latest,  but  generally  assigned  to  the  fifth  or  sixth 
century  *,  is  contained  a  system  of  trigonometry, 
which  not  only  goes  far  beyond  any  thing  known  to 
the  Greeks,  but  involves  theorems  which  were  not 
discovered  in  Europe  till  the  sixteenth  century,  t 

Their  geometrical  skill  is  shown,  among  other 
forms,  by  their  demonstrations  of  various  properties 
of  triangles,  especially  one  which  expresses  the 
area  in  the  terms  of  the  three  sides,  and  was  un- 
known in  Europe  till  published  by  Clavius  (in  the 


*  See  Mr.  Colebrooke  (Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  329. 
note)  for  the  position  of  the  vernal  equinox  when  the  "  Surya  Sid- 
hanta"  was  written,  and  Sir  W.  Jones  (Asiatic Researches,  vol.  ii. 
p.  392.)  for  the  period  when  the  vernal  equinox  was  so  situated. 
Mr.  Colebrooke  thinks  it  contemporary  with  Brahma  Gupta, 
whom  he  afterwards  fixes  about  the  end  of  the  sixth  century. 

-|-  Such  is  that  of  Vieta,  pointed  out  by  Professor  Playfair,  in 
his  question  sent  to  the  Asiatic  Society.  (Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  iv.  p.  152.)  Professor  Playfair  has  published  a  memoir  on 
the  Hindu  trigonometry  (Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  vol.  iv.),  which  is  referred  to  by  Professor  Wallace, 
with  the  following  important  observation  of  his  own  :  —  "  How- 
ever ancient,  therefore,  any  book  ma}'  be  in  which  we  meet 
with  a  system  of  trigonometry,  we  may  be  assured  it  was  not 
written  in  the  infancy  of  science.  We  may  therefore  conclude 
that  geometry  must  have  been  known  in  India  long  before  the 
writing  of  the  '  Surya  Sidhanta.' "  There  is  also  a  rule  for  the 
computation  of  the  sines,  involving  a  refinement  first  practised 
by  Briggs,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  (British 
India,  vol.  iii.  p.  403.,  in  the  '*  Edinburgh  Cabinet  Library.") 


ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  245 

sixteenth  century)*;  and  by  their  knowledge  of    chap. 

the  proportion  of  the  radius  to  the  circumference  , 

of  a  circle,  which  they  express  in  a  mode  peculiar 
to  themselves,  by  applying  one  measure  and  one 
unit  to  the  radius  and  circumference.  This  pro- 
portion, which  is  confirmed  by  the  most  approved 
labours  of  Europeans,  was  not  known  out  of  India 
until  modern  times.! 

The  Hindus  are  distinguished  in  arithmetic  by  the  Arith- 
metic. 
acknowledged  invention  of  the  decimal  notation  ; 

and  it  seems  to  be  the  possession  of  this  discovery 

which  has  given  them  so  great  an  advantage  over 

the  Greeks  in  the  science  of  numbers,  t 

But  it  is  in  algebra  that  the  Bramins  appear  to  Algebra. 

Iiave    most   excelled    their    contemporaries.      Our 

accounts  of  their  discoveries  in   that  science  are 

obtained   from   the  works  of  Brahma  Gupta  (who 

lived  in  the  sixth  century),  and  Bhascara  Acharya 

(in  the  twelfth  century) §,  but  both  drew  their  ma- 

*   Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xxix.  p.  158. 

I  The  ratio  of  the  diameter  to  the  circumference  is  given  in 
the  "  Surya  Sidhanta,"  probably  written  in  the  fifth  century 
(Asiatic  Researclies,  vol.  ii.  p.  259.),  and  even  by  Mr.  Bentley's 
account,  in  the  eleventh.  The  demonstrations  alUided  to  in  the 
preceding  lines  are  generally  by  Brahma  Gupta  in  the  sixtli 
century. 

J  A  writer  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review"  (vol.  xviii.  p.  211.), 
who  discusses  the  subject  in  a  tone  of  great  liostility  to  the 
Hindu  pretensions,  makes  an  observation  vvhich  appears  entitled 
to  much  consideration.  He  lays  down  the  position,  that  decimal 
notation  is  not  a  very  old  invention,  and  points  out  the  impro- 
bability of  its  having  escaped  Pythagoras,  if  it  had  in  his  time 
been  known  in  India. 

§  Mr.  Bentley,  in  his  last  work,  wishes  to  prove,  by  his  usual 

Ii    3 


246  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     terials  from  Arya  Bhatta,  in  whose  time  the  science 

J seems  to  have  been  at  its  height ;  and  who,  though 

not  clearly  traced  further  back  than  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, may,  in  Mr.  Colebrooke's  opinion,  not  im- 
probably have  lived  nearly  as  early  as  Diophantus, 
the  first  Greek  writer  on  algebra  ;  that  is,  about 
A.D.  360. 

But,  whichever  may  have  been  the  more  ancient, 
there  is  no  question  of  the  superiority  of  the  Hin- 
dus over  their  rivals  in  the  perfection  to  which  they 
brought  the  science.  Not  only  is  Arya  Bhatta 
superior  to  Diophantus,  (as  is  shown  by  his  know- 
ledge of  the  resolution  of  equations  involving 
several  unknown  quantities,  and  in  a  general  me- 
thod of  resolving  all  indeterminate  problems  of  at 
least  the  first  degree  *,)  but  he  and  his  successors 
press  hard  upon  the  discoveries  of  algebraists  who 
lived  almost  in  our  own  time.  Nor  is  Arya  Bhatta 
the  inventor  of  algebra  among  the  Hindus ;  for 
there  seems  everv  reason  to  believe  that  the  science 
was  in  his  time  in  such  a  state,  as  it  required  the 
lapse  of  ages,  and  many  repeated  efforts  of  inven- 
tion, to  produce,  t     It  was  in  his  time,  indeed,  or 

mode  of  computation,  that  Bhascara  wrote  in  the  reign  of  Akber 
(a.d.  1556);  but  the  date  in  the  text  is  mentioned  in  a  Persian 
translation  presented  to  that  very  emperor  by  the  celebrated 
Feizi,  whose  inquiries  into  Hindu  science  form  the  most  con- 
spicuous part  of  the  literature  of  that  age.  (SeeBooklX.chap.iii.) 
Bhascara  is  likewise  quoted  by  many  authors  anterior  to  Akber, 
whose  authenticity  Mr.  Bentley  is  therefore  obliged  to  deny. 

*  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xxix.  p.  142. 

t  Ibid.  p.  143. 


ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  247 

in  the  fifth  century,  at  latest,  that  Indian  science     chap. 
appears   to   have  attained  its  highest  perfection.  *  ' 

Of  the  orioinahty  of  Hindu  science  some  opinions  Originality 

^  -^  i  of  Hindu 

must  have  been  formed  from  what  has  been  ah'eady  science. 
said. 

In  their  astronomy,  the  absence  of  a  general 
theory,    the    unequal    refinement  of  the  different 

*  In  the  "Edinburgh  Review"  (vol.  xxi.  p.  372.)  is  a  striking 
history  of  a  problem  (to  find  x  so  that  a  ,V'-\-b  shall  be  a  square 
number).  The  first  step  towards  a  solution  is  made  by  Dio- 
phantus ;  it  is  extended  by  Fermat,  and  sent  as  a  defiance  to 
the  English  algebraists  in  the  seventeenth  century ;  but  was 
only  carried  to  its  full  extent  by  Euler ;  who  arrives  exactly  at 
the  point  before  attained  by  Bhascara  in  a.  d.  1150.  Another 
occurs  in  the  same  Review  (vol.  xxix.  p.  15:3.),  where  it  is  stated, 
from  Mr.  Colebrooke,  that  a  particular  solution  given  by  Bhas- 
cara (a.  d.  1150)  is  exactly  the  same  that  was  hit  on  by  Lord 
Brounker,  in  1657  ;  and  that  the  general  solution  of  the  same 
problem  was  unsuccessfully  attempted  by  Euler,  and  only  accom- 
plished by  De  la  Grange,  a.  d.  1767;  although  it  had  been  as 
completely  given  by  Brahma  Gupta  in  the  sixth  century  of  our 
sera.  But  the  superiority  of  the  Hindus  over  the  Greek  alge- 
braists is  scarcely  so  conspicuous  in  their  discoveries  as  in  the 
excellence  of  their  method,  which  is  altogether  dissimilar  to 
that  of  Diophantus  {Strachey's  Bija  Ganita,  quoted  in  the 
"  Edinburgh  Review,"  vol.  xxi.  pp.  374-,  375.),  and  in  the  perfec- 
tion of  their  algorithm.  (Colebrooke,  Indian  Algebra,  quoted  in 
the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  vol.  xxix.  p.  162.)  One  of  their  most 
favourite  processes  (that  called  cuttaca)was  not  known  in  Europe 
till  published  by  Bachet  de  Mezcriac,  about  the  year  1621',  and 
is  virtually  the  same  as  that  explained  by  Euler.  (^Edinburgh 
Review,  vol.  xxix.  p.  151.)  Their  application  of  algebra  to 
astronomical  investigations  and  geometrical  demonstrations  is 
also  an  invention  of  their  own  ;  and  their  manner  of  conducting 
it  is,  even  now,  entitled  to  admiration.  (Colebrooke,  quoted  by 
Professor  Wallace,  ubi  supra,  pp.  40S,  i09. ;  and  Edinburgh  Re- 
view, vol.  xxix.  p.  15H.) 

R     1. 


248  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     portions  of  science  which  have  been  presented  to 

HI.  . 

1 .  us,  the  want    of  demonstrations  and   of  recorded 

observations,  the  rudeness  of  the  instruments  used 
by  the  Bramins,  and  tlieir  inaccuracy  in  observing, 
together  with  the  suspension  of  all  progress  at  a 
certain  point,  are  very  strong  arguments  in  favour 
of  their  having  derived  their  knowledge  from  a 
foreign  source.  But  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  first 
part  of  their  progress,  all  other  nations  were  in  still 
greater  ignorance  than  they  ;  and  in  the  more  ad- 
vanced stages,  where  they  were  more  likely  to  have 
borrowed,  not  only  is  their  mode  of  proceeding 
peculiar  to  themselves,  but  it  is  often  founded  on 
principles  with  wliich  no  other  ancient  people  were 
acquainted  ;  and  shows  a  knowledge  of  discoveries 
not  made,  even  in  Europe,  till  within  the  course  of 
the  last  two  centuries.  As  far  as  their  astronomical 
conclusions  depend  on  those  discoveries,  it  is  self- 
evident  that  they  cannot  have  been  borrowed  ;  and, 
even  where  there  is  no  such  dependence,  it  cannot 
fairly  be  presumed  that  persons  who  had  such  re- 
sources within  themselves  must  necessarily  have 
relied  on  the  aid  of  other  nations. 

It  seems  probable  that,  if  the  Hindus  borrowed 
at  all,  it  was  after  their  own  astronomy  had  made 
considerable  progress  ;  and  from  the  want  of  exact 
resemblance  between  the  parts  of  their  system  and 
that  of  other  nations,  where  they  approach  the 
nearest,  it  would  rather  seem  as  if  they  had  taken 
up  hints  of  improvement  than  implicitly  copied  the 
doctrines  of  their  instructors. 


ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  ^4'9 

That  they  did  borrow  in  this  manner  from  the     chap. 
Greeks  of  Alexandria  does  not  appear  improbable;  ______ 

and  the  reason  cannot  be  better  stated  than  in 
the  words  of  Mr.  Colebrooke,  who  has  discussed 
the  question  with  his  usual  learning,  judgment, 
and  impartiality.  After  showing  that  the  Hindu 
writers  of  the  fifth  century  speak  with  respect  of 
the  astronomy  of  the  Yavanas,  (by  whom  there  is 
every  reason  to  think  that,  in  this  instance,  they 
mean  the  Greeks,)  and  that  a  treatise  of  one  of 
their  own  authors  is  called  '*  Romaka  Sidhanta,'* 
very  possibly  in  allusion  to  the  system  of  the  western 
(or  Roman)  astronomers,  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  If 
these  circumstances,  joined  to  a  resemblance  hardly 
to  be  supposed  casual,  which  the  Hindu  astronomy, 
with  its  apparatus  of  eccentrics  and  epicycles  bears 
in  many  respects  to  that  of  the  Greeks,  be  thought 
to  authorise  a  belief  that  the  Hindus  received  from 
the  Greeks  that  knowledge  which  enabled  them  to 
correct  and  improve  their  own  imperfect  astro- 
nomy, I  shall  not  feel  inclined  to  dissent  from  the 
opinion.  There  does  appear  ground  for  more  than 
a  conjecture  that  the  Hindus  had  obtained  a  know- 
ledge of  Grecian  astronomy  before  the  Arabs  began 
to  cultivate  the  science.'* 

In  another  place  *  Mr.  Colebrooke  intimates 
his  opinion  that  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
Hindus  may  have  taken  the  hint  of  their  solar 
zodiac  from  the  Greeks,  but  adapted   it  to  their 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  .'It7. 


^^' 


250  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


Ill 


BOOK  own  ancient  division  of  the  ecliptic  into  twenty- 
seven  parts.  Their  astrology,  he  thinks,  is  almost 
entirely  borrowed  from  the  West.* 

From  w^hat  has  been  already  said,  it  seems  very 
improbable  that  the  Indian  geometry  and  arithmetic 
have  been  borrowed  from  the  Greeks,  and  there  is 
no  other  nation  which  can  contest  the  priority  in 
those  sciences.  The  peculiarity  of  their  method 
gives  every  appearance  of  originality  to  their  dis- 
coveries in  algebra  also. 

In  this  last  science,  the  claims  of  the  Arabs  have 
been  set  up  against  them  ;  but  Mr.  Colebrooke 
has  fully  established  that  algebra  had  attained  the 
highest  perfection  it  ever  reached  in  India  before 
it  was  known  to  the  Arabians,  and,  indeed,  before 
the  first  dawn  of  the  culture  of  the  sciences  among 
that  people. t 

Whatever  the  Arabs  possessed  in  common  with 
the  Hindus,  there  are  good  grounds  for  thinking 
that  they  received  from  the  latter  nation  ;  and 
however  great  their  subsequent  attainments  and 

*  In  addition  to  the  points  already  mentioned,  in  which  the 
Hindus  have  gone  beyond  the  other  ancient  nations,  Mr.  Cole- 
brooke mentions  two  in  astronomy :  one  is  in  their  notions 
regarding  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  in  which  they  were 
more  correct  than  Ptolemy,  and  as  much  so  as  the  Arabs,  who 
did  not  attain  to  their  degree  of  improvement  till  a  later  period; 
the  other  relates  to  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its 
axis,  which  the  Bramins  discuss  in  the  fifth  century,  and  which, 
although  formerly  suggested  in  ancient  times  by  Heraclitus, 
had  been  long  laid  aside  by  the  Greeks,  and  was  never  revived 
in  Europe  until  the  days  of  Copernicus. 

t  Colebrooke's  Algebra,  Arithmetic,  &c. 


ASTRONOMY    AND    MATHEMATICAL    SCIENCE.  251 

discoveries,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  they  did     chap. 

not  begin  till  the  eighth  century,  when  they  first  

gained  access  to  the  treasures  of  the  Greeks. 

On  these  subjects,  however,  as  on  all  connected 
with  the  learning  of  the  Bramins,  the  decisions  of 
the  most  learned  can  only  be  considered  as  opin- 
ions on  the  facts  at  present  before  us  ;  and  they 
must  all  be  regarded  as  open  to  question  until  our 
increased  acquaintance  with  Shanscrit  literature 
shall  qualify  us  to  pronounce  a  final  judgment. 

The  history  of  science,  after  all,  is  chiefly  in- 
teresting from  the  means  it  affords  of  judging  of 
the  character  of  the  nation  possessed  of  it ;  and  in 
this  view  we  find  the  Bramins  as  remarkable  as 
ever  for  diligence  and  acuteness,  but  with  the 
same  want  of  manliness  and  precision  as  in  other 
departments,  and  the  same  disposition  to  debase 
every  thing  by  a  mixture  of  fable,  and  by  a  sacrifice 
of  the  truth  to  the  supposed  interests  of  the  sacer- 
dotal order. 


252  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


CHAP.    II. 


GKOGRAPHY. 


BOOK     The  Hindus  have  made  less  prosrress  in  this  than 

III.       •  ,,  .  ^    "" 
m  any  other  science. 

According  to  their  system,  Mount  Meru  oc- 
cupies the  centre  of  the  world.*  It  is  a  lofty 
mountain  of  a  conical  shape,  the  sides  composed 
of  precious  stones,  and  the  top  forming  a  sort  of 
terrestrial  paradise.  It  may  have  been  suggested 
by  the  lofty  mountains  to  the  north  of  India,  but 
seems  no  part  of  that  chain,  or  of  any  other  that 
exists  out  of  the  fancy  of  the  mythologists. 

It  is  surrounded  by  seven  concentric  belts  or 
circles  of  land,  divided  by  seven  seas. 

The  innermost  of  those  circles  is  called  Jambud- 
wip,  which  includes  India,  and  is  surrounded  by 
a  sea  of  salt  water. t 

TJie  other  six  belts  are  separated  from  eacli 
other  by  seas  of  milk,  wine,  sugar-cane  juice,  &c., 
and  appear  to  be  entirely  fabulous. 

The  name  of  Jambudwip  is  sometimes  confined 
to  India,  which  at  other  times  is  called  Bharata. 

That  country,  and  some  of  those  nearest  to  it, 

*  Some  consider  Mount  Meru  as  the  North  Pole  :  however 
this  may  be,  it  is,  in  all  the  geographical  systems  of  the  Hindus* 
the  point  to  which  every  thing  refers. 

f   Col.  Wilford,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii.  pp.  291.  298,  &c. 


GEOGRAPHY.  ^53 

appear  to  be  the  only  part  of  the  earth  at  all  known     chap. 
to  the  Hindus.  ' 

Within  India,  their  ancient  books  furnish  geo- 
graphical divisions,  with  lists  of  the  towns,  moun- 
tains, and  rivers  in  each  ;  so  that,  though  indistinct 
and  destitute  of  arrangement,  many  modern  divi- 
sions, cities,  and  natural  features  can  be  recog- 
nised. 

But  all  beyond  India  is  plunged  in  a  darkness 
from  which  the  boldest  speculations  of  modern 
geographers  have  failed  to  rescue  it.* 

It  is  remarkable  that  scarcely  one  Shanscrit 
name  of  a  place  beyond  the  Indus  coincides  with 
those  of  Alexander's  historians,  thougii  many  on 
the  Indian  side  do.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  as 
if  the  Hindus  had,  in  early  times,  been  as  averse 
to  travelling  as  most  of  them  are  still ;  and  that 
they  would  have  remained  for  ever  unconnected 
with  the  rest  of  the  world  if  all  mankind  had  been 
as  exempt  from  restlessness  and  curiosity  as  them- 
selves. 

The  existence  of  Indian  nations  in  two  places 
beyond  the  Indus  furnishes  no  argument  against 

*  Tlie  ill  success  with  which  this  has  been  attempted  may  be 
judged  of  by  an  examination  of  Col.  Wilford's  Essay  on  the 
Sacred  Isles  in  the  West,  especially  the  first  part  (^Asiatic  Re- 
searches, vol.  viii.  p.  267.);  while  the  superiority  of  the  mate- 
rials for  a  similar  inquiry  within  India  is  shown  by  the  same 
author's  Essay  on  Gangetic  Iliiidostan  (Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  xiv.  p.  373.),  as  well  as  by  an  essay  in  the  Oriental  Maga. 
zine,  vol.  ii.  See  also  the  four  first  chapters  of  the  second  book 
of  the  Vishnu  Purana,  p.  161. 


Q5i  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  this  observation.  Those  near  the  sea  coast  were 
"  probably  driven  by  political  convulsions  from  their 
own  country,  and  settled  on  the  nearest  spot  they 
could  find.  (See  Appendix  III.)  Of  those  in 
the  northern  mountains  we  cannot  guess  the  his- 
tory ;  but  although  both  seem,  in  Alexander's 
time,  to  have  lost  their  connection  with  India,  and 
to  have  differed  in  many  respects  from  the  natives 
of  that  country,  yet  they  do  not  appear  to  have 
formed  any  sort  of  acquaintance  with  other  nations, 
or  to  have  been  met  with  beyond  their  own  limits. 

At  present,  (besides  religious  mendicants  who 
occasionally  wander  to  Baku,  the  sacred  fire  on 
the  Caspian,  who  sometimes  go  to  Astrachan,  and 
have  been  known  to  reach  Moscow,)  individuals  of 
a  Hindu  tribe  from  Shikarpur,  a  city  near  the 
Indus,  settle  as  merchants  and  bankers  in  the 
towns  of  Persia,  Turkistan,  and  the  southern  do- 
minions of  Russia  ;  but  none  of  these  are  given  to 
general  inquiry,  or  ever  bring  back  any  information 
to  their  countrymen. 

Few  even  of  the  neighbouring  nations  are  men- 
tioned in  their  early  books.  They  seem  to  have 
known  the  Greeks,  and  applied  to  them  the  name 
of  Yavan,  which  they  afterwards  extended  to  all 
other  conquerors  from  the  north-west  j  and  there  is 
good  reason  to  think  that  they  knew  the  Scythians 
under  the  name  of  Sacas.*  But  it  was  within 
India  that  they  became  acquainted  with  both  those 

*  Supposed  to  be  the  same  with  the  Sacae  of  the  ancient 
Persians,  as  reported  by  the  Greeks. 


GEOGRAPHY.  ^55 

nations,  and  they  were  totally  ignorant  of  the  re-     chap. 
gions  from  which  their  visitors  had  come.      The  ' 

most  distinct  indication  that  I  have  observed  of  an 
acquaintance  with  the  Romans  is  in  a  writer  of  the 
seventh  or  eighth  century,  quoted  by  Mr.  Cole- 
brooke*,  who  states  that  the  Barbaric  tongues  are 
called  Parasica,  Yavana,  Raumaca,  and  Barbara, 
the  three  first  of  which  would  appear  to  mean 
Persian,  Greek,  and  Latin. 

The  western  country,  called  Romaka,  where  it 
is  said  to  be  midnight  when  it  is  sunrise  at  Lanka, 
may  perhaps  be  Rome  also.  It  is  mentioned  in 
what  is  stated  to  be  a  translation  from  the  *'  Sid- 
hantaSirimonit,"and  must,  in  tliat  case,  have  been 
known  to  the  Bramins  before  they  had  much  com- 
munication with  the  Mahometans.  China  they 
certainly  knew.  We  possess  the  travels  of  a  native 
of  that  country  in  India  in  the  fourth  century  ;  and 
tlie  king  of  Magada  is  attested,  by  Chinese  authors, 
to  have  sent  embassies  to  China  in  the  second  and 
subsequent  centuries.  Tliere  is  a  people  called 
China  mentioned  in  Menu,  but  they  are  placed 
among  the  tribes  on  the  north-west  of  India  ;  and, 

*  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  i.  p.  453. 

■f  Ward's  Hindoos,  vol.  ii.  p.  457.  Romaka  is  also  men- 
tioned as  meaning  Rome  by  Col.  Wilford  (Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  viii.  p.  367.,  and  elsewhere)  ;  but  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
Rome  and  Italy  are,  to  this  day,  quite  unknown  in  the  East. 
Even  in  Persia,  Rum  means  Asia  Minor  ;  and  the  "  CfEsar  of 
Rome  "  always  meant  the  Byzantine  Emperor,  until  the  title 
was  transferred  to  the  Turkish  Sultan. 


2.56  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     moreover,  the  name  of  Chin  was  not  adopted  till 
III 

'       long  after  Menu's  age. 

Unless  we  put  faith  in  the  very  learned  and  in- 
genious deductions  of  Colonel  Wilford,  it  will  be 
difficult  to  find,  in  the  essays  on  geographical  sub- 
jects which  have  been  drawn  from  Shanscrit  sources, 
any  signs  of  an  acquaintance  with  Egypt ;  although 
the  trade  carried  on  for  centuries  by  Greek  and 
Roman  navigators  from  that  country  might  have 
been  expected  to  have  brought  it  into  notice. 


CHRONOLOGY.  257 


CHAP.  III. 

CHRONOLOGY. 


The  greater  periods  employed  in  the  computation     chap. 
of  time  by  the  Hindus  need  scarcely  be  discussed.  


Though  founded  on  astronomical   data,  they  are  ^lytiio- 

"  •'  logical 

purely  mythological,  and  do  not  deserve  the  atten-  periods. 
tion  they  have  attracted  from  European  scholars. 

A  complete  revolution  of  the  nodes  and  ap- 
sides, which  they  suppose  to  be  performed  in 
4,320,000,000  years,  forms  a  calpa  or  day  of 
Brahma.  In  this  are  included  fourteen  manwan- 
taras,  or  periods,  during  each  of  which  the  world 
is  under  the  control  of  one  Menu.  Each  man- 
wan  tara  is  composed  of  seventy-one  maha  yugas, 
or  great  ages,  and  each  maha  yuga  contains  four 
yugas,  or  ages,  of  unequal  length.  These  last 
bear  some  resemblance  to  the  golden,  silver, 
brazen,  and  iron  ages  of  the  Greeks.* 

This  last  division  alone  has  any  reference  to  the 
affairs  of  mankind.  The  first,  or  satya  yuga,  ex- 
tends through  1,728,000  years.  The  second,  or 
treta  yuga,  througli  J  ,29^,000  years.  The  third, 
called  dwapar  yuga,  through  80 1,000  years  ;  and 
the  last,  or  cali  yuga,  through  432,000  years.  Of 
the  last  or  cali  yuga  of  the  present  manwantara 

*   Mr.  Davis,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii.  pp.228 — 231. 
VOL.  I.  S 


^58  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     4941  years  have  elapsed  ;  and  within  that  period 
most  historical  events  are  acknowledged   to  have 


occurred.      Some,  however,   are  placed  at  earlier 
epochs  ;  and  would  be  beyond  the  reach  of  chro- 
nology, if  they  could  not  be  brought  within  more 
credible  limits.* 
impossi-  We  must,  therefore,   discard  the  yugas,  along 

fixing  early  with  thc  calpas   and  manwantaras,  and   must  en- 
^'^^^^         deavour  to  draw  the  chronology  of  the    Hindus 
from  such  other  sources  as  they  have  themselves 
presented  to  us. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  Vedas  were  probably 
collected  about  fourteen  centuries  before  Christ ; 
but  no  historical  events  can  with  any  certainty  be 
connected  with  that  date.  The  astronomer  Parasara 
may  perhaps  have  lived  in  the  fourteenth  century 
before  the  commencement  of  our  sera  ;  and  with 
him,  as  with  his  son  Vyasa,  the  compiler  of  the 
Vedas,  many  historical  or  mythological  persons 
are  connected  ;  but,  in  both  cases,  some  of  those 
who  are  made  contemporary  with  the  authors  in 
question    appear    in    periods    remote   from     each 

*  In  fixing  the  date  of  the  Institutes  of  Menu,  (which  appear, 
in  fact,  to  have  been  written  less  than  900  years  before  Christ,) 
the  Hindu  chronologists  overflow  even  the  hmits  of  the  four 
ages,  and  go  back  nearly  seven  manwantaras,  a  period  exceeding 
4,320,000,  multiplied  by  six  times  seventy-one.  (^Asiatic  Be- 
searches,  vol.  ii.  p.  116.)  The  "  Surya  Sidhanta "  (written  in 
the  fifth  century  of  our  aera)  assumes  a  more  modern  date;  and, 
being  revealed  in  the  first,  or  satya  yuga,  only  claims  an  anti- 
quity of  from  2,000,000  to  3,000,000  years. 

Rama,  who  seems  to  be  a  real  historical  person,  is  fixed  at 
the  end  of  the  second  age,  near  1,000,000  years  ago. 


CHRONOLOGY.  259 

other  ;  and  the  extravagant  duration   assigned  to    chap. 
the  lives  of  all  holy  persons,  prevents  the  partici-         ^^' 
pation  of  any  of  them  from  contributing  to  settle 
the  date  of  a  transaction. 

The  next  ground  on  which  we  might  hope  to  Soiarand 
establish  the  Hindu  chronology  is  furnished  by  '"^'  ^^''^^' 
lists  given  in  the  Puranas  of  two  parallel  lines  of 
kings  (the  races  of  the  sun  and  moon),  which  are 
supposed  to  have  reigned  in  Ayodha,  and  in  the 
tract  between  the  Jamna  and  Ganges,  respectively; 
and  from  one  or  other  of  which  all  the  royal 
families  of  ancient  India  were  descended.  These 
lists,  according  to  the  computation  of  Sir  W. 
Jones,  would  carry  us  back  to  3500  years  before 
Christ.  But  the  lists  themselves  are  so  contra- 
dictory as  to  prevent  all  confidence  in  either.  The 
heads  of  the  two  are  contemporaries,  being  brother 
and  sister  ;  yet  the  lunar  race  has  but  forty-eight 
names  in  the  same  period,  in  which  the  solar  has 
ninety-five  ;  and  Crishna,  whom  the  Puranas  them- 
selves make  long  posterior  to  Rama,  is  fiftieth  in 
the  lunar  race,  while  Rama  is  sixty-third  in  the 
solar.* 

The  various  attempts  made  to  reconcile  the  lists 

*  For  the  most  improved  copies  of  the  lists,  see  Prinsep's 
Useful  Tables,  p.  94-,  Sec.  For  the  previous  discussions,  see  Sir 
W.  Jones,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii.  p,  128. ;  Colonel  Wilford, 
Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  v.  table  opposite  p.  241.,  and  p.  287.; 
Mr.  Ward,  vol.  i.  p.  14. ;  Dr.  Hamilton  Buchanans  Hindoo 
Genealogies  (a  separate  work)  ;  consult  likewise  Professor  Wil- 
son's Preface  to  the  Vishnu  Punina,  p.  Ixiv.,  &c.,  and  the  Purana 
itself,  Book  IV.  chaps,  i.  and  ii.  p.  347. 

s  2 


2G0  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     have  only  served  to  increase  the  discrepancy.  The 


III. 


narrative  by  which  they  are  accompanied  in  the 
Puranas  discredits  them  still  further  by  absurdities 
and  puerilities  ;  and,  although  many  of  the  kings 
named  may  have  reigned,  and  some  of  the  tales 
related  may  be  allusions  to  real  history,  yet  no 
part  of  either,  down  to  the  time  of  Crishna  and 
the  war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat,"  affords  the  least 
basis  on  which  to  found  a  system  of  chronology. 

From  the  time  of  the  *'  Maha  Bharat'*  we  have 
numerous  lists  of  kings  in  different  parts  of  India, 
which  present  individually  an  appearance  of  pro- 
bability, and  are  in  several  instances  confirmed  by 
extraneous  testimony. 

More  frequently  they  are  authenticated  or  illus- 
trated by  religious  inscriptions  and  grants  of  land. 
These  last,  in  particular,  are  sculptured  on  stone 
or    engraved   on    copper   plates ;    the  latter    very 
common  and  generally  in  good  preservation.    They 
not    only    record    the    date    with   great    care  and 
minuteness,  but  almost  always  contain  the  names 
of  some  of  the  predecessors  of  the  prince  who 
confers  the  grant.     If  sufficient  numbers  should  be 
found,    they  may  fix  the  dates  of  whole  series  of 
kings  ;     but,    at   present,   they   are   unconnected 
fragments,  which  are  of  use  in  local  histories,  but 
give  little  help  to  general  chronology. 
Kings  of         The  line   of   Magada  alone,   besides  receiving 
Maga  a.      g^i^ij^i^^g  confirmations  from  various  quarters,  pre- 
sents a  connected  chain  of  kings  from  the  war  of 
the  "  Maha  Bharat,"   to   the  fifth   century   after 


CHRONOLOGY.  26l 

Christ,  and  thus  admits  of  an  approximation  to  the    chap. 
principal  epochs  within  tliat  period.  . 

Sahadeva  was  king  of  Magada  at  the  end  of 
the  war  of  the  *'  Maha  Bharat." 

The  thirty-fifth  king  in  succession  from  him  was 
Ajata  Satru,  in  whose  reign  Sakya  or  Gotama,  the 
founder  of  the  Budha  rehgion,  flourished.  There 
can  be  Httle  doubt  that  Sakya  died  about  550  be- 
fore Christ.*  We  have,  therefore,  the  testimonies 
of  the  Burmese,  Ceylonese,  Siamese,  and  some 
other  Baudha  cln'onicles,  written  out  of  India,  by 
which  to  settle  the  aera  of  Ajata  Satru. 

The  sixth  in  succession  from  Ajata  Satru,  in- 
clusive, was  Nanda,  on  whose  date  many  others 
depend.  The  ninth  from  Nanda  was  Chandra 
Gui)ta  ;  and  the  third  from  him  was  Asoca,  a 
prince  celebrated  among  the  Baudhas  of  all  coun- 
tries, as  one  of  the  most  zealous  disciples  and  pro- 
moters of  their  religion. 

It  is  by  means  of  the  two  last  princes  that  we 
gain  a  link  to  connect  the  chronology  of  India 
with  that  of  Europe  ;  and  are  enabled  (though 
still  very  loosely)  to  mark  the  limits  of  the  period 
embraced  by  Hindu  history. 

From  some  motive,  probably  connected  with  tiie 
desire  to  magnify  Crishna,  the  Hindu  authors  have 
made  the  end  of  tlie  war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat " 
and  the  death  of  that  iiero  contemporary  with  the 
commencement  of  tlic  cali   yug,   or  evil  age  ;  and 

*   See  J).  '210/211. 

s  3 


262 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
III. 


Chandra- 
gupta  con- 
temporary 
with  Se- 
leucus  J 


this  assertion,  though  openly  denied  by  one  of  their 
own  authors*,  and  indirectly  contradicted  by  facts 
stated  in  others,  is  still  regarded  as  incontrovertible. 
In  applying  the  list  of  kings  drawn  from  the 
Puranas  to  the  verification  of  this  epoch,  Sir  W. 
Jones  was  struck  with  the  resemblance  between 
the  name  of  Chandragupta  and  that  of  Sandra- 
cottus,  or  Sandracoptus,  who  is  mentioned  by 
European  writers  as  having  concluded  a  treaty  with 
Seleucus.  On  a  close  examination,  he  was  sur- 
prised to  find  a  great  resemblance  in  their  histories  ; 
and  assuming  the  date  of  Chandragupta  to  be  the 
same  as  that  of  Seleucus,  he  was  enabled  to  reduce 
those  of  preceding  events  to  a  form  more  consistent 
with  our  notions.t  The  arguments  by  which  this  sup- 
position may  be  supported  are  fully  and  fairly  stated 
by  Professor  Wilson. t  They  are  —  the  resemblance 
between  the  names  just  mentioned,  and  between 
that  of  Xandramas,  by  which  Diodorus  calls  San- 
dracottus,  and  that  of  Chandramas,  by  which  he  is 
sometimes  designated  in  Indian  authors  ;  his  low 
birth,  and  his  usurpation,  which  are  common  to 
the  Greek  and  Hindu  stories ;  the  situation  of  his 
kingdom,  as  described  by  Megasthenes,  who  was 
ambassador  at  his  court ;  the  name  of  his  people, 
Prasii  with  the  Greeks,  corresponding  to  Prachi, 
the   term   applied   by  Hindu    geographers   to   the 


*  A  historian  of  Cashmir.     See  note  on  the  age  of  Yudashtir 
Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv. 

f   Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iv.  p.  xxvii. 
\  Hindu  Theatre,  vol.  iii.  p.  3. 


CHRONOLOGY.  ^63 

tract   in  which    Maojada   is    situated  ;  and    of  his     chap 

III 
capital,  which   the   Greeks   call   Palibothra,   while    . 

the  Hindus  call  tiiat  of  Chandragupta  Pataliputra. 
Subsequent  discoveries,  from  Braminical  sources, 
fixed  the  date  of  Chandragupta  with  somewhat 
more  precision  :  Wilford  placed  him  in  350  b.  c, 
and  Wilson  in  315  ;  and  they  received  an  unex- 
pected confirmation  from  the  chronological  tables 
of  the  Baudhas,  procured  from  the  distant  countries 
of  Ava  and  Cejlon.  The  first  of  these  (from 
Crawford's  "Ava"*,)  places  his  reign  between  the 
years  392  and  S76  b.  c.  ;  and  the  other  (in  Tur- 
nour's  "  Mahawanso"t,)  between  the  years  381  and 
347  B.  c.  ;  wliile  the  Greek  accounts  lead  us  to  fix 
it  between  the  accession  of  Seleucus  in  312,  and 
his  death  in  280  b.  c.t  The  difference  between 
the  Baudha  and  Greek  dates,  amounting  to  thirty 
or  forty  years §,  is  ascribed  by  jVIr.  Tumour  to  a 
wilful  fraud  on  the  part  of  the  priests  of  Budha, 
who,  though  entirely  free  from  the  extravagances 
of  Bramin  chronology,  liave  been  tempted  on  this 
occasion  to  accommodate  their  historical  dates  to 
one  which  liad  been  assumed  in  their  rcHgious  tra- 
ditions.    The   effect  of  this    inconsistency   would 

*  See  Prhisep's  Useful  Tables,  p.  132. 

\  Introduction,  p.  xlvii.  \   Clinton's  Fasti. 

§  As  the  expedition  of  Seleucus  was  undertaken  immediately 
after  his  reduction  of  Babylon  (312  b.  c),  ne  may  suppose  It  to 
have  taken  place  in  310  b.  C. ;  and  as  Chandragupta  (according  to 
the  "  Mahiiwanso")  died  in  31-7  B.C.,  there  will  be  a  discrepancy 
to  the  extent  of  thirty-seven  years,  even  if  the  last  act  of  Chan- 
dragupta's  life  was  to  sign  the  treaty. 

S  1 


!264 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  not  be  sufficient  to  prevent  our  retaining  a  strong 
'  conviction  of  the  identity  of  Chandragupta  and 
Sandracottus,  even  if  no  further  proof  had  been 
and  As6cu  obtained.  All  doubt,  however,  has  been  removed, 
tiochusr  by  a  discovery  which  promises  to  throw  light  on 
other  obscure  parts  of  Indian  history.  Many  caves, 
rocks,  and  pillars,  in  different  parts  of  India,  are 
covered  with  inscriptions  in  a  character  which  nei- 
ther European  nor  native  had  been  able  to  decipher, 
and  which  tantalised  the  spectators  like  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  Egypt ;  until  Mr.  Prinsep,  who  had 
long  made  them  his  study,  without  being  able  to 
find  a  key  to  them,  happened  to  notice  the  brevity 
and  insulated  position  of  all  the  inscriptions  sent 
from  a  particular  temple ;  and,  seizing  on  this  cir- 
cumstance, which  he  combined  with  a  modern 
practice  of  the  Baudhas,  he  inferred  that  each  pro- 
bably recorded  the  gift  of  some  votary.  At  the 
same  time  when  he  made  this  ingenious  conjecture, 
he  was  struck  with  the  fact  that  all  the  inscriptions 
ended  in  the  same  two  letters  ;  and,  following  up 
his  theory,  he  assumed  that  those  letters  were  D 
and  N,  the  two  radical  letters  in  the  Shanscrit  name 
for  a  donation.  The  frequent  recurrence  of  another 
letter  suggested  its  representing  S,  the  sign  of  the 
genitive  in  Shanscrit ;  and,  having  now  got  hold 
of  the  clue,  he  soon  completed  his  alphabet.  He 
found  that  the  language  was  not  pure  Shanscrit, 
but  Pali,  the  dialect  in  which  the  sacred  writings 
of  the  Baudhas  are  composed  ;  and  by  means  of 
these  discoveries,  he  proceeded  to  read  the  hitherto 


CHRONOLOGY.  265 

ille(?ible  inscriptions,   and  also  to   make   out  the    chap. 

.  .  in. 

names   of  the  kings  on   one  series  of  the  Indian 

coins.  He  met  with  an  agreeable  confirmation  of 
his  theory,  from  a  fact  observed  simultaneously  by 
himself  and  Professor  Lassen  of  Bonn  ;  that  the 
names  of  Agathocles  and  Pantaleon,  which  ap- 
peared in  Greek  on  one  side  of  a  medal,  were 
exactly  repeated  on  the  reverse  in  the  newly  dis- 
covered alphabet. 

He  now  applied  the  powerful  engine  he  had 
gained  to  the  inscription  on  Firuz  Shah*s  column  at 
Delhi,  which  has  long  attracted  the  curiosity  of 
orientalists,  as  well  as  to  three  other  columns  in 
Gangetic  India,  and  found  them  all  give  way 
without  difficulty.  They  proved  all  to  contain 
certain  edicts  of  Asoca ;  and  as  he  proceeded  with 
other  inscriptions,  he  found  two  relating  to  similar 
mandates  of  the  same  monarch.  One  of  these  was 
found  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stevenson,  President  of  the 
Literary  Society  of  Bombay,  engraved  on  a  rock 
at  Girnar,  a  sacred  mountain  of  the  Baudhas,  in 
the  peninsula  of  Guzerat ;  and  the  other  by  Lieu- 
tenant Kittoe,  on  a  rock  at  Dhauli,  in  Cattac,  on 
the  opposite  coast  of  India.  One  of  these  con- 
tained eleven,  and  the  other  fourteen  edicts :  all 
those  of  the  pillars  were  included  in  both,  and  the 
two  rock  inscriptions  agreed  in  ten  edicts  on  the 
whole.  One  of  these,  found  on  both  the  rocks, 
related  to  the  erection  of  hospitals  and  other 
charitable  foundations,  which  were  to  be  established 
as  well  in  Asoca's  own  j)rovinces,   as  in  others  oc- 


^6C)  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    ciipied   by  the  faithful  (four  of  whom  are  named), 

'       "  even    as   far   as    Tambapanni ;   (Taprobane,    or 

Ceylon  ;)"  and  *'  moreover  within  the  dominions  of 

Antiochus  the  Greek  [Antioko  Yona],  of  which 

Antiochus*s  generals  are  the  rulers." 

A  subsequent  edict,  on  one  of  the  rocks,  is  in  a 
shattered  state,  and  has  not  been  perfectly  made 
out ;  but  seems  to  express  exultation  in  the  exten- 
sion of  Asoca's  doctrines,  (especially  with  regard  to 
forbearing  to  kill  animals*,)  in  foreign  countries,  as 
well  as  in  liis  own.  It  contains  the  following  frag- 
ment :  "  and  the  Greek  king  besides,  by  whom 
the  chapta  (  ?)  kings  Turamayo,  Gongakena,  and 
Maga/'t 

Two  of  these  names  Mr.  Prinsep  conceives  to 
refer  to  Ptolemaios  and  Magas,  and  regards  their 
occurrence  as  a  proof  that  Asoca  was  not  without 
acquaintance  and  intercourse  with  Egypt ;  a  con- 
clusion M'hich  may  be  adopted  without  liesitation, 
as  the  extent  of  the  India  trade,  under  the  first 
Ptolemies,  is  a  well-known  fact  in  history.  Mr. 
Prinsep's  opinion,  that  the  Ptolemy  referred  to 
was  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  who  had  a  brother, 
named  Mao-as,  married  to  a  dausrhter  of  Antioclius 
I.,  appears  also  to  be  highly  probable  ;  and 
would  establish  that  the  Antiochus  mentioned  in 
the  other  edict  is  either  the  first  or  second  of  the 
name :  that  is,  either  the  son  or  grandson  of 
Seleucus. 

*  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta,  vol.  vii.  p.  261. 
t  Ibid.  p.  224. 


CHRONOLOGY.  ^67 

The  synchronism  between  the  m-andson  of  Chan-     chap. 
•^                                          ^                                   III. 
dragupta  and   one   of  the   early  successors  of  Se-   

leucus  leaves  no  doubt  of  the  contemporary  exist- 
ence of  the  elder  princes ;  and  fixes  an  epoch  in 
Hindu  chronology,  to  which  the  dates  of  former 
events  may  w^ith  confidence  be  referred. 

The  first  date  to  fix  is  that  of  Nanda.  Though  Date  of 
there  were  eight  kings  between  him  and  Clian-  reign.^^ 
dragupta,  it  is  not  known  whether  they  were  in 
lineal  or  collateral  succession,  one  account  making 
them  all  brothers  ;  but  four  of  the  Puranas  agree 
in  assigning  only  100  years  to  the  whole  nine,  in- 
cluding Nanda.  We  may  therefore  suppose 
Nanda  to  have  come  to  the  throne  100  years  before 
Sandracottus,  or  400  years  before  Christ. 

The  sixth  king,  counting  back  from  Nanda  in-  Date  of  the 
elusive,  is  Ajata  Satru,  in  whose  reign  Sakya  died.  Budha. 
The  date  of  that  event  has  been  shown,  on  autho- 
rities independent  on  the  Hindus,  to  be  about  550 
B.  c.  ;  and  as  five  reigns  interposed  between  that 
and  400  would  only  allow  thirty  years  to  each, 
there  is  no  irreconcileable  discrepancy  between  the 
epochs. 

Between  Nanda  and  thewar  of  the  "  Maha  Bha-  rroiK.bie 

»      1  1        1  1  I  1  •  11  I  (late  (if  the 

rat  there  had  been  three  dynasties;  and  the  number  war  of  the 
of  years  during  which  each  reigned  is  given  in  four  Bhdrat!" 
Puranas.  The  aggregate  is  1500  years ;  but  the 
longest  list  gives  only  forty-seven  kings ;  and  the 
same  four  Puranas  in  another  place  give,  with 
equal  confidence,  a  totally  different  number  of 
years.      One  makes  the  interval  between  Nanda 


268  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     and  the  war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat"  1015  years  ; 


III. 


two  others,  1050  ;  and  the  fourth,  1115.  Now,  the 
shortest  of  these  periods,  divided  among  forty-seven 
kings,  gives  upwards  of  twenty-one  years  to  a 
reign  ;  and  to  make  out  1500  years,  would  require 
more  than  thirty-one  years  to  each  reign.  Such  a 
duration  through  forty-seven  continuous  reigns  is 
so  unhkely,  that  we  can  scarcely  hesitate  to  prefer 
the  medium  between  the  shorter  periods,  and  de- 
cide, as  far  as  depends  on  the  evidence  of  the 
Puranas,  that  the  war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat"  ended 
1050  years  before  Nanda,  or  1450  before  Christ. 
If  we  adopt  the  belief  of  the  Hindus,  that  the 
Vedas  were  compiled,  in  their  present  form,  at  the 
time  of  the  war,  we  must  place  the  latter  event  in  the 
fourteenth  century  before  Christ,  upwards  of  fifty 
years  later  than  the  date  given  by  the  Puranas.  This 
alteration  is  recommended  by  the  circumstance 
that  it  would  still  further  reduce  the  length  of  the 
reigns.  It  would  place  the  w^ar  of  the  "  Maha 
Bharat  "  about  200  years  before  the  siege  of  Troy. 
But  even  the  longest  period  (of  1500  years  from 
Nanda)  would  still  leave  ample  room  since  the 
commencement  of  the  cali  yug,  or  since  the  flood, 
to  dispose  of  the  few  antecedent  events  in  Hindu 
history.  Supposing  the  flood  and  the  cali  yug  to 
be  about  the  same  time  (as  many  opinions  justify), 
there  would  be  considerably  more  than  1400  years 
from  that  epoch  to  the  war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat." 

Dates  after       Two  Purauas  givc  the  period  from   Nanda  for- 
ehand ra- 

gupta. 


CHRONOLOGY.  ^09 

wards,   to  the   end   of  the  fifth  dynasty  from  him,     chap. 

.       .         Ill- 
or  fourth  from  Sandracottiis  :  the  whole  period  is  

836  or  854  years  from  Nanda,    or  436  or  454  a.  d. 

The  last  of  these  dynasties,   the  Andras,   acceded 

to  power  about  the  beginning  of  our  aera ;  which 

agrees  with  the  mention  by  Pliny,  in   the  second 

century,  of  a  powerful  dynasty  of  the  same  name  ; 

and  although  this  might  refer  to  another  family  of 

Andras  in  the  Deckan,  yet  the  name  of  Andre  Indi, 

on  the  Ganges,  in  the  Peutengerian  tables,  makes 

it  equally  probable  that  it  applied  to  the   one  in 

question. 

The  Chinese  annals,  translated  by  De  Guignes,   Coin- 
notice,    in    a.  d.  408,    the   arrival  of  ambassadors  witi"the 
from  the  Indian  prince  Yue-gnai,  Kingof  Kia-pi-li.  ^n^llT 
Kia-pi-li  can  be   no  other  than  Capili,  the  birth- 
place  and  capital   of  Budha,   which   the   Chinese 
have  put  for  all  Magada.     Yue-gnai  again   bears 
some  resemblance  to  Yaj-nasri,  or  Yajna,  the  king 
actually  on  the  throne  of  the  Andra  at  the  period 
referred  to.     The  Andra  end  in  Pulimat,  or  Pulo- 
mcirchish,  a.  d.  436  ;  and  from  thence  forward  the 
chronology  of  Magada  relapses   into  a  confusion 
nearly  equal  to  that  before  the  war  of  the  "  Maha 
Bharat." 

An  embassy  is  indeed  mentioned  in  the  Chinese 
annals,  as  arriving  in  a.  d.  641,  from  Ho-lo-mien, 
of  the  family  of  Kie-li-tie,  a  great  king  in  India. 
M.  de  Guignes  supposes  his  kingdom  to  have  been 
Magada  ;  but  neither  the  king's  name  nor  that  of 


lyO  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    the  dynasty  bears  the  least  resemblance  to  any  in 
the  Puranas.* 


Obscurity         The  Vishnu  Purana  states  (in  the  prophetic  tone 

after  a.d.  \^     ^  .     . 

436.  which,  as  a  professed  work  of  Vyasa,  it  is  compelled 

to  assume,  in  speaking  of  events  subsequent  to  that 
sage's  death,)  that  "  after  these"  [Andras]  there 
will  reign  — 

7  A^hiras, 

10  Garddharbas, 
l6  Sakas, 

8  Yavanas, 
14  Tusharas, 

13  Mundas,  and 

11  Maunas ;  who  will  be  sovereigns  of  the 
whole  earth  for  1390  years  :  11  Pauras  follow,  who 
reign  for  300  years,  and  are  succeeded  by  the 
Kailaka  Yavanas,  who  reign  for  106  years.  All  this 
would  carry  us  nearly  500  years  beyond  the  present 
year  1840;  but,  if  we  assume  that  the  summing 
up  the  first  dynasties  into  1390  is  an  error,  and 

*  The  note  in  which  M.  de  Guignes  offers  this  opinion  is 
curious,  as  showing,  from  a  Chinese  work  which  he  quotes,  that 
Magada  was  called  Mo-kia-to,  and  its  capital  recognised  by  both 
its  Hindu  names  Kusumapura,  for  which  the  Chinese  wrote 
Kia~so-mo-pou-lo,  and  Pataliputra,  out  of  which  they  made 
Po-to-li-tse,  by  translating  Putra,  which  means  a  son  in  Shan- 
scrit,  into  their  own  corresponding  word  tse.  The  ambassadors 
in  A.  D.  641  could  not,  however,  have  come  from  Pataliputra, 
which  had  long  before  been  deserted  for  Rajgrihi  (or  Behar)  ; 
for  the  capital  was  at  the  latter  place  when  visited  by  the  Chi- 
nese traveller,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  (^Journal  of 
the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  v.  p.  132.)  ;  and  another  Chinese, 
who  wrote  in  a.d.  640,  states  that  Pataliputra  was  a  mass  of 
ruins  when  he  had  seen  it  on  his  travels. 


CHRONOLOGY.  271 

that   they   were    in   reality    contemporaneous,    or     chap. 

nearly  so,  the  conclusion  we  are  led  to  is,  that  after  . 

the  Andras,  a  period  of  confusion  ensued,  during 
which  different  parts  of  India  were  possessed  by 
different  races,  of  whom  nothing  further  is  known. 
If  the  Yavans  be  Greeks,  it  would,  no  doubt,  be 
surprising  to  find  eight  of  their  monarchs  reigning 
after  a.  d.  436 ;  and  the  Kaikala  Yavans  would  be 
still  more  embarrassing.  They  may  possibly  be 
Mussulmans.* 

Immediately  after  all  this  confusion  comes  a 
list  of  dynasties  reigning  in  different  kingdoms  ; 
and  among  them  is  a  brief  notice  of  *'  the  Guptas 
of  Magada,  along  the  Ganges,  to  Prayaga."  Now, 
it  has  been  put  out  of  all  dispute,  by  coins  and  in- 
scriptions, that  a  race,  some  of  whose  names  ended 
in  Gupta,  did  actually  reign  along  the  Ganges 
from  the  fourth  or  fifth  to  the  seventh  or  eighth 
century. 

There  is,  therefore,  some  truth  mixed  with  these 
crudities,  but  it  cannot  be  made  available  without 
external  aid  ;  and  as  nearly  the  same  account  is 
given  in  the  other  historical  Puranas,  we  have  no- 
thing left  but  to  give  up  all  further  attempts  at  the 
chronology  of  Magada. 

The   ac'ra    of  Vicramaditya   in     Mahva,    which  ^Erasofvi- 
beguis    fifty-seven  years  berore    Christ,  and  is  ni  ami  saiiva- 


hana. 


*  Professor  Wilson,  Vishnu  Purdna,  p.  4-74' — 481.  Dr.  Mills, 
translation  from  the  Allahabad  column,  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Asiatic  Societij  of  Calcutta,  vol.  iii.  p.  257.  ;  and  other  papers 
in  that  Journal,  quoted  by  Professor  Wilson. 


272  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  constant  use  to  this  day  all  over  Hindostan  ;  and 
'  that  of  Salivahana,  whose  £era,  commencmg  a.  d.  78, 
is  equally  current  in  the  Deckan,  might  be  ex- 
pected to  afford  fixed  points  of  reference  for  all 
events  after  their  commencement;  and  they  are 
of  the  greatest  use  in  fixing  the  dates  of  grants  of 
land  which  are  so  important  a  part  of  our  mate- 
rials for  history.  But  the  fictitious  SBra  of  the 
Puranas  prevents  their  being  employed  in  those 
collections,  and  there  are  no  other  chronicles  in 
which  they  might  be  made  use  of.  On  tlie  whole 
we  must  admit  the  insufficiency  of  the  Hindu 
chronology,  and  confess  that,  with  the  few  ex- 
ceptions specified,  we  must  be  content  with 
guesses,  until  the  arrival  of  the  Mussulmans  at 
length  put  us  in  possession  of  a  regular  succession 
of  events,  with  their  dates. 


MEDICINE.  27s 


CHAP.  IV. 


MEDICINE. 


The   earliest  medical  writers  extant  are  Charaka     chap. 
and  Siisruta.     We  do  not  know  the  date  of  either  " 

of  them  ;  but  there  is  a  commentary  on  the  second 
and  later  of  tlie  two,  which  was  written  in  Cash- 
mir  in  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  century,  and  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  the  first.* 

These  authors  were  translated  into  Arabic,  and 
probably  soon  after  that  nation  turned  its  attention 
to  literature.  The  Arab  writers  openly  acknow- 
ledge their  obligations  to  the  medical  writers  of 
India,  and  place  their  knowledge  on  a  level  with 
that  of  the  Greeks.  It  helps  to  fix  the  date  of 
their  becoming  known  to  the  Arabs,  to  find  that 
two  Hindus,  named  Manka  and  Saleh,  were  phy- 
sicians to  Harun  al  Rashid  in  the  eighth  century.t 

Their  acquaintance  with  medicines  seems  to 
have  been  very  extensive.  We  are  not  surprised 
at  their  knowledge  of  simples,  in  which  they  gave 
early  lessons  to  Europe,  and  more  recently  taught 

*  Most  of  the  information  in  this  chapter  is  taken  from  an 
essay  on  the  antiquity  of  the  Indian  materia  mcdica,  by  Dr. 
Roylc,  Professor  of  King's  College,  London.  The  additions  are 
from  Ward's  Hindoos  (vol.  ii.  p.  337,  &c.),  and  Mr.  Coats, 
Transactions  of  the  Literary  Society  of  Boinbay,  vol-  iii.  p.  232. 

f   Professor  Dietz,  quoted  by  Dr.  Koyle,  p.  6  k 

VOL.  I.  T 


^74  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     US  the  benefit  of  smoking  datura  in  asthma,  and 

III.  .  . 

.  the  use  of  cowitch  against  worms  :  their  chymical 

skill  is  a  fact  more  striking  and  more  unexpected. 

They  knew  how  to  prepare  sidphuric  acid,  nitric 
acid,  and  muriatic  acid  ;  the  oxide  of  copper,  iron, 
lead  (of  which  they  had  both  the  red  oxide  and 
litharge),  tin,  and  zinc ;  the  sulphuret  of  iron, 
copper,  mercury,  antimony,  and  arsenic ;  the  sul- 
phate of  copper,  zinc,  and  iron  ;  and  carbonates  of 
lead  and  iron.  Their  modes  of  preparing  those 
substances  seem,  in  some  instances,  if  not  in  all, 
to  have  been  peculiar  to  themselves.* 

Their  use  of  these  medicines  seems  to  have 
been  very  bold.  They  were  the  first  nation  who 
employed  minerals  internally,  and  they  not  only 
gave  mercury  in  that  manner,  but  arsenic  and 
arsenious  acid,  which  were  remedies  in  intermit- 
tents.  They  have  long  used  cinnabar  for  fumi- 
gations, by  which  they  produce  a  speedy  and  safe 
salivation. 

Their  surgery  is  as  remarkable  as  their  medi- 
cine, especially  when  we  recollect  their  ignorance 
of  anatomy.  They  cut  for  the  stone,  couched  for 
the  cataract,  and  extracted  the  foetus  from  the 
womb,  and  in  their  early  works  enumerate  no 
less  than  127  sorts  of  surgical  instruments. t  But 
their  instruments  were  probably  always  rude.  At 
present  they  are  so  much  so,   that,  though  very 

*   See  Dr.  Royle,  p.  44.,  who  particularly  refers  to  the  pro- 
cesses for  making  calomel  and  corrosive  sublimate, 
t  Dr.  Royle,  p.  49. 


MEDICINE.  '  275 

successful    in    cataract,    their   operations   for   the     chap. 
stone  are  often  fatal.  

They  have  long  practised  inoculation  ;  but  still 
many  lives  were  lost  from  small-pox,  until  the  in- 
troduction of  vaccination. 

The  Hindu  physicians  are  attentive  to  the  pulse 
and  to  the  state  of  the  skin,  of  the  tongue,  eyes, 
&c.,  and  to  the  nature  of  the  evacuations  ;  and 
they  are  said  to  form  correct  prognostics  from  the 
observation  of  the  symptoms.  But  their  practice 
is  all  empirical,  their  theory  only  tending  to  mis- 
lead them.  Nor  are  they  always  judicious  in  their 
treatment :  in  fevers,  for  instance,  they  shut  up 
the  })aticnt  in  a  room  artificially  heated,  and  de- 
prive him,  not  only  of  food,  but  drink. 

They  call  in  astrology  and  magic  to  tlie  aid  of 
their  medicine,  applying  their  remedies  at  appro- 
priate situations  of  the  planets,  and  often  accom- 
panying them  with  mystical  verses  and  charms. 

Many  of  these  defects  probably  belonged  to  the 
art  in  its  best  days,  but  the  science  has  no  doubt 
declined  ;  chemists  can  conduct  their  preparations 
successfully  without  having  the  least  knowledge  of 
the  principles  by  which  the  desired  changes  are 
effected  ;  physicians  follow  the  practice  of  their 
instructors  without  inquiry  ;  and  surgery  is  so  far 
neglected,  that  bleeding  is  left  to  the  barber,  bone- 
setting  to  the  herdsman,  and  every  man  is  ready 
to  administer  a  blister,  which  is  done  witii  the 
juice  of  the  euphorbium,  and  still  oftener  with  tiie 
actual  cautery. 

T  '2 


276  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


CHAP.  V. 


LANGUAGE. 


BOOK     The  Shanscrit  language  has  been  pronounced  by 
______  one  whose  extensive  acquaintance  with    those  of 

Shanscrit.  othci'  ancicut  and  modern  nations  entitles  his 
opinion  to  respect,  to  be  "  of  a  wonderful  struc- 
ture ;  more  perfect  than  the  Greek,  more  copious 
than  the  Latin,  and  more  exquisitely  refined  than 
either."* 

The  language  so  highly  commended  seems  al- 
ways to  have  received  the  attention  it  deserved. 
Panini,  the  earliest  extant  writer  on  its  grammar, 
is  so  ancient  as  to  be  mixed  up  with  the  fabulous 
ages.  His  works  and  those  of  his  successors  have 
established  a  system  of  grammar  the  most  com- 
plete that  ever  was  employed  in  arranging  the 
elements  of  human  speech. 

I  should  not,  if  I  were  able,  enter  on  its  details 
in  this  place ;  but  some  explanation  of  them  is 
accessible  to  the  English  reader  in  an  essay  of 
Mr.  Colebrooke.t 


*   Sir  VV.  Jones,  Asiatic  Hesearches,  vol.  i,  p.  422. 

f  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.  p.  199.  Among  many  marks 
of  high  polish,  is  one  which  must  have  particularly  promoted 
the  melody  of  its  versification.  This  consists  in  what  Mr.  Cole- 
brooke  calls  its  euphonical  orthography,  by  which  letters  are 
changed,  not  only  so  as  to  avoid  harsh  combinations  in  particular 


LANGUAGE.  ^77 

Besides  innumerable  grammars  and  dictionaries,     chap. 

.  V. 

there  are,  in    Shanscrit,   treatises  on  rhetoric  and  _____ 

composition,  proportioned  in  number  to  the  extent 

of  Hindu  Uterature  in  every  branch.*     Shanscrit 

is  still  carefully  cultivated ;  and,  though  it  has  long 

been  a  dead  language,  the  learned  are  able  even 

now  to  converse  in  it,  probably  with  as  much  ease 

as   those  of  Europe    found    in    Latin    before    the 

general    diffusion    of    the    knowledge    of   modern 

tongues.     It  would  be  curious  to  ascertain  when 

it  ceased  to  be  the  language  of  the  people,  and 

how  far  it  ever  was  so  in  its  highly  polished  form. 

Shanscrit  has  of  late  become  an  object  of  more 
interest  to  us,  from  the  discovery  of  its  close  con- 
nection (amounting  in  some  cases  to  identity) 
with  Greek  and  Latin.  This  fact  has  long  been 
known  to  Shanscrit  scholars,  who  pointed  it  out  in 
reference  to  single  words  ;  but  it  has  now  been 
demonstrated  by  means  of  a  comparison  of  the  in- 
flexions, conducted  by  German  writers,  and  par- 
ticularly by  Mr.  Bopp.t 

It  is  observed  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  that  the  lan- 
guage, metre,  and  style  of  a  particular  hymn  in 

words,  but  so  as  to  preserve  a  similar  harmony  througliout  the 
whole  length  oF  each  of  their  almost  interminable  compounds, 
and  even  to  contribute  to  the  music  of  whole  periods,  which  are 
generally  subjected  to  those  modifications,  for  the  sake  of  euphony, 
which  in  other  languages  are  confined  to  single  words. 

•   Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.   p.  205,  &c. 

•j-  See  a  very  succinct  account  of  his  conijjarison  in  tlie  Edin- 
bnrffh  Review,  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  131.  ;  and  a  more  copious  one  in 
the  Annals  of  Oriental  Literature. 

T    3 


578 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
Til. 


Other  lan- 
guages of 
India. 


one  of  the  Vedas,  furnishes  internal  evidence 
"  that  the  compilation  of  those  poems  in  the  pre- 
sent arrangement  took  place  after  the  Shanscrit 
tongue  had  advanced  from  the  rustic  and  irregular 
dialect  in  which  the  multitude  of  hymns  and 
prayers  of  the  Veda  was  composed,  to  the  polished 
and  sonorous  language  in  which  the  mythological 
poems,  sacred  and  profane,  have  been  written." 

From  the  Vedas  to  Menu,  and  from  Menu  to 
the  Puranas,  Sir  W.  Jones  conceives  the  change 
to  be  exactly  in  the  same  proportion  as  from  the 
fragments  of  Numa  to  those  of  the  twelve  tables, 
and  from  those  to  the  works  of  Cicero. 

The  Indian  names  introduced  by  the  liistorians 
of  Alexander  are  often  resolvable  into  Shanscrit  in 
its  present  form.  No  allusion  is  made  by  those 
authors  to  a  sacred  language,  distinct  from  that  of 
the  people ;  but,  in  the  earhest  Hindu  dramas, 
women  and  uneducated  persons  are  introduced, 
speaking  a  less  polished  dialect,  while  Shanscrit  is 
reserved  for  the  higher  characters. 

Some  conjectures  regarding  the  history  of  Shan- 
scrit may  be  suggested  by  the  degree  in  which  it 
is  combined  with  the  modern  languages  of  India. 

The  five  northern  languages,  those  of  the  Pan- 
jab,  Canouj,  Mithila  (or  North  Behar),  Bengal, 
and  Guzerat,  are,  as  we  may  infer  from  Mr.  Cole- 
brooke,  branches  of  the  Shanscrit,  altered  by  the 
mixture  of  local  and  foreign  words  and  new  inflec- 
tions, much  as  Italian  is  from  Latin*  ;  but  of  the 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.  p.  219.  See  also  Wilson, 
Pf-eface  to  the  Mackenzie  Collection,  p.  li. 


LANGUAGE.  279 

five   languages    of    the   Deckan,    three,    at   least,     chap. 
(Tamul,    Teiugu,   and   Carnata,)   have  an   origin  ' 

totally  distinct  from  the  Slianscrit,  and  receive 
words  from  that  tongue  in  the  same  manner  that 
Latin  has  been  engrafted  on  English,  or  Arabic 
on  Hindi.  Of  these  three,  Tamul  is  so  much  the 
most  pure,  that  it  is  sometimes  thought  to  be  the 
source  of  the  other  two.  Teiugu,  though  it  pre- 
serves its  own  structure,  is  much  mixed  with  Shan- 
scrit  words. 

Of  the  remaining  two,  the  language  of  Orissa, 
though  probably  of  the  Tamul  family,  is  so  much 
indebted  to  Shanscrit  as  to  lead  Mr,  Wilson  to  say 
that  "  if  the  Shanscrit  vocables  were  excluded,  it 
could  not  pretend  to  be  a  language."  It  is,  in- 
deed, often  counted  (instead  of  Guzerati)  among 
the  five  languages  of  the  north. 

Maharashtra,  or  Maratto,  is  considered  by  Mr. 
Wilson  to  belong  to  the  northern  family,  though 
always  counted  among  those  of  the  south.  The 
people  must  therefore  be  a  branch  of  those  beyond 
the  Vindya  mountains,  but  no  guess  can  be  made 
at  the  period  of  their  immigration.* 

■"  The  remarks  on  the  southern  languages  are  taken,  with  a 
very  few  exceptions,  from  Mr.  Wilson's  preface  to  the  Mackenzie 
Papers,  and  from  the  writings  of  Mr.  Ellis  and  Mr.  Babington 
quoted  in  that  dissertation. 


T   4 


280  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


III. 


CHAP.  VI. 


LITERATURE. 


Poetry. 

BOOK  A  PERSON  unacquainted  with  Shanscrit  scarcely 
possesses  the  means  of  forming  an  opinion  on  the 
poetry  of  the  Hindus. 

The  singular  attention  to  harmony  which  charac- 
terises the  Shanscrit  must  give  it  a  charm  that  is 
lost  in  translation  ;  and  the  unbounded  facility  of 
forming  compounds,  which  adds  so  much  to  the 
richness  of  the  original,  unavoidably  occasions  stiff 
and  unnatural  combinations  in  a  language  of  a 
different  genius. 

Even  the  originality  of  Hindu  poetry  diminishes 
our  enjoyment  of  it,  by  depriving  it  of  all  aid  from 
our  poetical  associations.  The  peculiarity  of  the 
ideas  and  recollections  of  the  people  renders  it 
difficult  for  us  to  enter  into  their  spirit  ;  while  the 
difference  of  all  natural  appearances  and  produc- 
tions deprives  their  imagery  of  half  its  beauty  and 
makes  that  a  source  of  obscurity  to  us,  which  to  a 
native  of  the  East  would  give  additional  vividness 
to  every  expression.  What  ideas  can  we  derive 
from  being  told  that  a  maiden's  lips  are  a  bandhu- 
jiva  flower,  and  that  the  lustre  of  the  madhuca 
beams  on  her  cheeks  ?  or,  in  other  circumstances, 


LITERATURE.  281 

that  her  cheek  is  like  the  champa  leaf?    Yet  those     chap. 

figures  may  be  as  expressive,  to  those  who  under-  

stand  the  allusions,  as  our  own  comparisons  of  a 
youthful  beauty  to  an  opiening  rose,  or  one  that 
pines  for  love  to  a  neglected  primrose. 

With  all  these  disadvantages,  the  few  specimens 
of  Shanscrit  poetry  to  which  we  have  access  pre- 
sent considerable  beauties. 

Their  drama,  in  particular,  which  is  the  depart-  E)iama. 
ment  with  which  we  are  best  acquainted,  rises  to  a 
high  pitch  of  excellence.  Sacontala  has  long  been 
known  to  Europeans  by  the  classical  version  of  Sir 
W.  Jones,  and  oiu'  acquaintance  with  the  principal 
of  the  remaining  dramas  has  now  become  familiar 
through  the  admirable  translations  of  Mr.  Wilson. 

Though  we  possess  plays  written  at  least  as  early 
as  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  sera,  and  one 
which  was  composed  in  Bengal  within  these  fifty 
years,  yet  the  whole  number  extant  does  not  ex- 
ceed sixty.  This  is  probably  owing  to  the  manner 
in  which  they  were  at  first  produced,  being  only 
acted  once  on  some  particular  festival  in  the  great 
hall  or  inner  court  of  a  palace*,  and  consequently 
losing  all  the  popvdarity  which  plays  in  our  times 
derive  from  repeated  representations  in  different 
cities  and  in  ])ublic  theatres.  Many  must  also  have 
been  lost  owing  to  the  neglect  of  the  learned ;  for 
the  taste  for  this  species  of  poetry  seems  corrupted, 
if  not  extinct,  among  the  Bramins  ;  and  altlioiigh 

*  Wilson's  Prcflicc  to  the  "Theatre  of  tlic  Hindus." 


Q82  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     some  ol    the   least   deserving   specimens  are  still 
"       favourites,  yet  Professor  Wilson  assures  us  that  he 
has  met  with  but  one  Eiamin  who  could  be  con- 
sidered as  conversant  with  the  dramatic  literature 
of  his  country.* 

Of  these  dramas  we  possess  translations  of  eight, 
and  abstracts  mixed  with  specimens  of  twenty-four 
more. 

Though  there  are  no  tragedies  among  the  num- 
ber, none  at  least  that  terminate  unhappily,  yet 
these  plays  exhibit  a  variety  not  surpassed  on  any 
other  stage.  Besides  the  different  classes  of  dramas, 
farces,  moralities,  and  short  pieces  such  as  we 
should  call  interludes,  the  diversity  arising  from  the 
subjects  seems  to  have  been  almost  unlimited.  A 
play  translated  by  Dr.  Taylor  of  Bombay  is  a 
lively,  and  sometimes  humorous,  illustration  of  the 
tenets  of  the  different  schools  of  philosophy.!  Of 
the  more  regular  dramas,  some  relate  to  the  actions 
of  heroes ;  some,  to  the  wars  and  loves  of  kings  ; 
others,  to  the  intrigues  of  ministers ;  and  others 
are  strictly  confined  to  the  incidents  of  private  life. 

The  characters  are  as  different  as  the  subjects. 
In  some  there  is  not  a  trace  of  supernatural  agency 
or  an  ahusion  to  religion.  In  others,  nymphs  of 
Paradise  are  attached  to  earthly  lovers  ;  gods  and 
demons  appear  in  others  ;  enchantments,  uncon- 
nected with  religion,  influence  the  fate  of  some ; 

*  Appendix  to  the  "  Theatre  of  the  Hindus,"  vol.  iii.  p.  97. 
t  This  will  suggest  "  The  Clouds  "  of  Aristophanes,  but  it  is 
more  like  some  of  the  moralities  of  the  middle  a<?es. 


LITERATURE.  288 

and   in  one,  almost  the  whole  Hindu  Pantheon  is     chap. 

VI. 

brought  on  the  stage  to  attest  the  innocence  of  the  L_ 

heroine. 

In  general,  however,  even  in  the  cases  where 
the  gods  afford  their  assistance,  the  interest  of  the 
drama  turns  entirely  on  human  feelings  and  natural 
situations,  over  which  the  superior  beings  have  no 
direct  influence. 

The  number  of  acts  is  not  fixed,  and  extends  in 
practice  from  one  to  ten. 

The  division  seems  to  be  made  when  the  stage 
becomes  vacant,  or  when  an  interval  is  required 
between  two  parts  of  the  action. 

In  general,  unity  of  time  is  not  much  violated 
(though  in  one  case  twelve  years  passes  between 
the  first  and  second  acts)  ;  unity  of  place  is  less 
attended  to ;  but  the  more  important  pouit  of 
iniity  of  action  is  as  well  preserved  as  in  most 
modern  performances. 

The  plots  are  generally  interesting ;  the  dialogue 
lively,  though  somewhat  prolonged  ;  and  consider- 
able skill  is  sometimes  shown  in  preparing  the 
reader  to  enter  fully  into  the  feelings  of  the  per- 
sons in  the  situations  in  which  they  are  about  to 
be  placed. 

Some  judgment  of  the  actors  may  be  formed 
from  the  specimens  still  seen.  Regular  dramas 
are  very  rarely  performed  ;  when  they  are,  the 
tone  is  grave  and  declamatory.  The  dresses  are 
such  as  we  see  represented  on  ancient  sculptures  ; 
and  the  high  caps,  or  rather  crowns,  of  the  supe- 


28'h  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     rior  cliaractcrs,  composed  of  dark  azure  and  ffold, 
III.  .  .  .  . 

'       of  the  form  peculiar  to  Hindu  sculpture,  give  an  air 

of  much  greater  dignity  than  the  modern  turban. 
Mimics,  buffoons,  and  actors  of  a  sort  of  partly 
extemporary  farces,  are  common  still.  They  are 
coarse,  childish,  and,  when  not  previously  warned, 
grossly  indecent ;  but  they  exhibit  considerable 
powers  of  acting  and  much  comic  humour. 

The  best  dramatic  authors  are  Calidas,  who  pro- 
bably lived  in  the  fifth  century,  and  Bhavablmti, 
who  flourished  in  the  eighth.  Each  of  these  poets 
wrote  three  dramatic  works,  two  of  which,  in  each 
instance,  have  been  translated.  The  first  excels 
in  tenderness  and  delicacy,  and  is  full  of  highly 
poetical  description.  The  beauties  of  his  pastoral 
drama  of  "  Sacontala"  have  long  been  deservedly 
admired.  The  "  Hero  and  the  Nymph,"  in  Mr. 
Wilson's  collection,  is  in  a  still  more  romantic 
strain,  and  may  be  compared  (in  the  wildness  of 
its  design  at  least)  to  the  "  Tempest"  and  "  Mid- 
summer Night's  Dream.'*  *     The  other  great  dra- 

*  Mr,  Mill's  judgment  on  "Sacontala"  is  not,  in  general, 
favourable ;  but  one  passage  is  so  just,  and  so  well  expressed, 
that  I  cannot  refrain  from  quoting  it.  "  The  poem,  indeed,  has 
some  beautiful  passages.  The  courtship  between  Sacontala  and 
Dushmantu  (that  is  the  name  of  the  king)  is  delicate  and 
interesting ;  and  the  workings  of  the  passion  on  two  amiable 
minds  are  naturally  and  vividly  pourtrayed.  The  picture  of  the 
friendship  which  exists  between  the  three  youthful  maidens  is 
tender  and  delightful;  and  the  scene  which  takes  place  when 
Sacontala  is  about  to  leave  the  peaceful  hermitage  where  she 
had  happily  spent  her  youth,  her  expressions  of  tenderness  to 
her  friends,  her  affectionate  parting  with  the  domestic  animals 


LITERATURE.  285 

matist  possesses  all  the  same  qualities  in  an  equal     chap. 

degree,  accompanied  with  a  sublimity  of  descrip-   

tion,  a  manly  tone,  and  a  high  and  even  martial 
spirit,  that  is  without  example  in  any  other  Hindu 
poet  that  I  have  heard  of. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  asserted  of  all  the  composi- 
tions of  the  Hindus,  that  they  participate  in  the 
moral  defects  of  the  nation,  and  possess  a  character 
of  voluptuous  calm  more  adapted  to  the  con- 
templation of  the  beauties  of  nature,  than  to  the 
exertion  of  energy  or  to  the  enjoyment  of  adven- 
ture. Hence,  their  ordinary  poetry,  though  flow- 
ing and  elegant,  and  displaying  a  profusion  of  the 
richest  imagery,  is  often  deficient  in  the  spirit  which 
ought  to  prevent  the  reader's  being  cloyed  with 
sweetness,  and  seldom  moves  any  strong  feeling,  or 
awakens  any  lofty  sentiment. 

Tiie  emotions  in  which  they  are  most  successful 
are  those  of  love  and  tenderness.  They  power- 
fully present  the  raptures  of  mutual  affection,  the 
languishment  of  absence,  and  the  ravings  of  dis- 
appointed passion.  They  can  even  rise  to  the 
nobler  feelings  of  devoted  attachment,  and  generous 
disregard  of  selfish  motives  ;  but  we  look  in  vain 
for  traits  of  vigour,  of  pride,  or  independence:  even 
in  their  numerous  battles  they  seem  to  feel  little 
real  sympathy  with  the  combatants,  and  are  obliged 
to   make   up   by   hyperbolical   description   for   the 


she  had  tended,  and  even  with  the  flowers  and  trees  in  which 
she  had  dchglitcd,  breathe  more  than  pastoral  sweetness." 


286  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    want  of  that  ardent  spirit  which  a  Greek  or  Roman 
III.  .  . 

'      poet  could  easily  transfuse  into  the  bosom  of  his 

hero,    while  it  glowed  with  all   its  fervor  in   his 
own.  * 

The  great  strength  of  the  Shanscrit  poets,  as 
well  as  their  great  delight,  is  in  description.  Their 
most  frequent  subjects  are  scenes  of  repose  and 
meditation,  amidst  sequestered  woods  and  flowery 
banks,  fanned  by  fragrant  gales  and  cooled  by 
limpid  waters ;  but  they  are  not  unsuccessful  in 
cheerful  and  animated  landscape.  Such  is  the  de- 
scription of  the  country  round  Ujein  in  the  ninth 
act  of  "  Malati  and  Madhava  ;'*  wdiere  mountains, 
rocks,  woods,  villages,  and  glittering  rivulets  com- 
bine to  form  an  extensive  and  a  varied  prospect. 
The  city  occupies  the  centre  of  the  view  :  its 
towers,  temples,  pinnacles,  and  gates  are  reflected 
on  the  clear  stream  beneath ;  while  the  groves 
on  the  banks  refreshed  with  early  rain,  and  the 
meadows  brightening  with  the  recent  shower,  afford 
a  luxurious  resting  place  to  the  heavy-uddered 
kine.  Sometimes,  also,  they  raise  their  efforts  to 
the  frowning  mountain  and  the  gathering  tempest. 
Bhavabhuti,  in  particular,  excels  in  this  higher  sort 
of  description.      His    touches    of  wild    mountain 

*  The  following  speech  of  a  stripling  in  one  of  Bhavabhiiti's 
plays,  however,  reminds  us  of  the  "joys  of  combat"  which 
delighted  the  northern  warrior  :  — 

'^  BoT/.  The  soldiers  raise  their  bows  and  point  their  shafts 
Against  you,  and  the  hermitage  is  still  remote. 
Fly!  &c. 

"  Lava.  Let  the  shafts  fall.     Oh  !  this  is  glorious  !" 


LITERATURE.  28? 

scenery  in  different  places,  and  his  description  of    chap. 

the  romantic  rocks  and  solemn  forests  round  the 

source  of  the  Godaveri,  are  full  of  grandeur  and 
sublimity.  Among  his  most  impressive  descrip- 
tions is  one  where  his  hero  repairs  at  midnight  to 
a  field  of  tombs,  scarcely  lighted  by  the  flames  of 
funeral  pyres,  and  evokes  the  demons  of  the  place, 
whose  appearance,  filling  the  air  with  their  shrill 
cries  and  unearthly  forms,  is  painted  in  dark  and 
powerful  colours  ;  while  the  solitude,  the  moan- 
ing of  the  wmds,  the  hoarse  sound  of  the  brook, 
the  wailing  owl,  and  the  long-drawn  howl  of  the 
jackall,  which  succeed  on  the  sudden  disappear- 
ance of  the  spirits,  almost  surpass  in  effect  the  pre- 
sence of  their  supernatural  terrors.* 

This  taste  for  description  is  more  striking  from 
its  contrast  with  the  practice  of  some  of  tiieir 
neighbours. 

In  Persian  poets,  for  instance,  a  long  descrip- 
tion of  inanimate  nature  is  rarely  met  with.  Their 
genius  is  for  the  expression  of  deep  feelings  or  of 
sublime  conceptions  ;  and,  in  their  brief  and  in- 
distinct attempts  at  description,  they  attend  ex- 
clusively to  the  sentiment  excited  by  objects  in 
the  mind,  quite  neglecting  the  impression  which 
they  make  on  the  senses. 

But  a  Shanscrit  poet,  without  omitting  the  cha- 
racteristic emotion,  ])resents  all  the  elements  from 
which  it  springs,  delineates  the   peculiar  features 

*  MTilati  and  Madhava,  Act  I.  Scene  1.,  in  WiIso7is  Theatre 
of  the  Hindoos. 


^88  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


III. 


BOOK  of  the  scene,  and  exhibits  the  whole  in  so  pic- 
turesque  a  manner,  that  a  stranger,  even  with  his 
ignorance  of  the  names  of  plants  and  animals, 
might  easily  form  a  notion  of  the  nature  of  an  In- 
dian landscape. 

Thus,  in  a  description  of  a  Persian  garden,  the 
opening  buds  smile,  the  rose  spreads  forth  all  her 
charms  to  the  intoxicated  nightingale ;  the  breeze 
brings  the  recollections  of  youth,  and  the  spring 
invites  the  youths  and  damsels  to  his  bridal  pavi- 
lion. But  the  lover  is  without  enjoyment  in  this 
festival  of  nature.  The  passing  rill  recalls  the 
flight  of  time  ;  the  nightingale  seems  to  lament 
the  inconstancy  of  the  rose,  and  to  remember  that 
the  wintry  blast  will  soon  scatter  her  now  bloom- 
ing leaves.  He  calls  on  the  heavens  to  join  their 
tears  to  his,  and  on  the  wind  to  bear  his  sighs  to 
his  obdurate  fair. 

A  Hindu  poet,  on  the  other  hand,  represents, 
perhaps,  the  deep  shade  of  a  grove,  where  the 
dark  tamala  mixes  its  branches  with  the  pale  fo- 
liage of  the  nimba,  and  the  mangoe  tree  extends  its 
ancient  arms  among  the  quivering  leaves  of  the 
lofty  pipala,  some  creeper  twines  round  the  jambu, 
and  flings  out  its  floating  tendrils  from  the  top- 
most bough.  The  asoca  hangs  down  the  long 
clusters  of  its  glowing  flowers,  the  madhavi  ex- 
hibits its  snow-white  petals,  and  other  trees  pour 
showers  of  blossoms  from  their  loaded  branches. 
The  air  is  filled  with  fragrance,  and  is  still,  but  for 
the  hum  of  bees  and  the  rippling  of  the  passing  rill. 


LITERATURE.  289 

The  note  of  the  coil  is  from  time  to  time  heard     ^^^^• 

at  a  distance,  or  the  low  murmur  of  the  turtle-  

dove  on  some  neighbouring  tree.  The  lover  wan- 
ders forth  into  such  a  scene,  and  indulges  his 
melancholy  in  this  congenial  seclusion.  He  is 
soothed  by  the  south  wind,  and  softened  by  the 
languid  odour  of  the  mangoe  blossoms,  till  he 
sinks  down  overpowered  in  an  arbour  of  jessa- 
mine, and  abandons  himself  to  the  thoughts  of  his 
absent  mistress. 

The  figures  employed  by  the  two  nations  par- 
take of  this  contrast :  those  of  the  Persians  are 
conventional  hints,  which  would  scarcely  convey 
an  idea  to  a  person  unaccustomed  to  them.  A 
beautiful  woman's  form  is  a  cypress  ;  her  locks 
are  musk  (in  blackness)  ;  her  eyes  a  languid  nar- 
cissus ;  and  the  dimple  in  her  chin  a  well ;  but 
the  Shanscrit  similes,  in  which  they  deal  more  than 
in  metaphors,  are  in  general  new  and  appropriate, 
and  are  sufficient,  without  previous  knowledge,  to 
place  the  points  of  resemblance  in  a  vivid  liglit. 

The  Shanscrit  poets  have,  no  doubt,  common- 
places, and  some  of  them  as  fanciful  as  those  of 
the  Persians  ;  but  in  general  the  topics  seem 
drawn  from  tiie  writer's  memory  and  imagination, 
and  not  adopted  from  a  common  stock  which  has 
supplied  the  wants  of  a  succession  of  former  au- 
thors. Having  said  so  much  of  the  Hindu  drama, 
and  having  anticipated  the  general  character  of 
Shanscrit  poetry,  I  shall  be  more  brief  with  what 
remains. 

VOL.  I.  u 


290 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 

III. 

Sacred 
poetry. 


Heroic 
poems. 
The  "  Ra- 


The  most  voluminous  as  well  as  the  most  ancient 
and  important  portion  of  Hindu  verse  consists  of 
the  sacred  and  the  epic  or  heroic  poems.  On  the 
sacred  poems  Mr.  Colebrooke  has  pronounced*, 
that  their  "  general  style  is  flat,  diffuse,  and  no  less 
deficient  in  ornament  than  abundant  in  repeti- 
tions." The  specimens  which  have  been  translated 
give  no  ground  for  questioning  this  decision. 

Of  the  Vedas,  the  first  part,  consisting  of  hymns, 
&c.,  can  alone  be  classed  with  poetry  ;  and  how- 
ever sublime  their  doctrines,  it  appears  that  the 
same  praise  cannot  be  extended  to  their  composi- 
tion. 

The  extracts  translated  by  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Ram 
Mohan  Rai,  and  Sir  W.  Jones,  and  the  large  spe- 
cimen in  the  "  Oriental  Magazine"  for  December, 
1825,  afford  no  sign  of  imagination,  and  no  ex- 
ample of  vigour  of  thought  or  felicity  of  diction. 

The  same,  with  a  few  exceptions,  applies  to  the 
prayers  and  hymns  in  Colebrooke's  "  Treatise  on 
the  Religious  Ceremonies  of  the  Hindus."! 

Next  in  succession  to  the  Vedas  comes  the  great 
heroic  poem  of  the  "Ramayana,"  which  commemo- 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  x.  p.  4'25. 

f  A  cursory  view  of  the  portion  of  the  "  Rig  Veda"  translated 
by  Mr.  Rosen  (latelypublished)  does  not  raise  our  opinion  of  those 
veorks.  It  seems  to  be  a  collection  of  short  hymns  addressed 
to  the  gods  of  the  elements  and  the  heavenly  bodies,  conveying 
praises  and  petitions,  little  varied,  and  but  rarely  showing  signs 
of  a  poetical  spirit.  The  topics  of  praise  appear  to  be  confined 
to  the  effect  of  each  god's  power  on  the  material  world ;  and 
the  prayers  are  even  less  spiritual,  being,  in  a  great  majority  of 
instances,  for  wealth  alone. 


LITERATURE.  291 

rates  the  conquest  of  Ceylon.*     The  author,  Val-    chap. 
miki,  is  said  to  have  been  contemporary  with  the  ' 

event ;  but  not  even  a  poet  would  invest  a  hving 
warrior  with  supernatural  powers,  or  would  give 
him  an  army  of  apes  for  allies.  A  considerable 
period  must  have  elapsed  before  the  real  circum- 
stances of  the  story  were  sufficiently  forgotten  to 
admit  of  such  bold  embellishments.  This  argu- 
ment, however,  shows  the  early  date  of  the  hero, 
without  impugning  the  antiquity  of  the  poem.  Of 
that  there  can  be  no  dispute  ;  for  the  language 
approaches  nearer  than  any  other  Shanscrit  poem 
to  the  early  form  used  in  the  Vedas,  and  an  epi- 
tome is  introduced  into  the  *'  Maha  Bharat,"  itself 
the  work  of  a  remote  age. 

This  last  poem  is  ascribed  to  Vyasa.  the  author  ThcMahsi 
of  the  Vedas,  and  an  eye-witness  of  the  exploits 
which  it  records.  But  within  the  poem  itself  is  an 
acknowledgment  that  it  was  put  into  its  present 
form  by  Saiiti,  who  received  it  through  another 
person  from  Vyasa  :  24,000  verses  out  of  100,000 
are  alleged,  in  the  same  place,  to  be  the  work  of 
the  original  poet,  t  Its  pretensions  to  such  remote 
antiquity  are  disproved  by  the  advanced  stage  of 
the  language;  and  the  mention  of  Yavanasi:  (if 
that  term  be  applied  to  the  Greeks)  shows  that 
some  portion  is  of  later  date  than  the  middle  of 

*  See  p.  173.,  and  Book  IV.  chap,  i. 
f   Oriental  Magazine,  vol.  iii.  p.  133. 

%  Translation  at  the  place  just  referred  to,  and   Professor 
Wilson,  Asiatic  liesearc/ies,  vol.  xv.  p.  101. 

U    2 


Ill 


29^  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  the  fourth  century  before  Christ.  But  there  seems 
no  ground  to  question  the  opinion  of  one  well  qua- 
lified to  judge,  that  it  was  familiar  to  tlie  Hindus 
at  least  two  or  three  centuries  before  Christ.*  It 
illustrates  the  date  of  both  works  to  observe  that, 
although  the  heroes  in  both  are  incarnations  of 
Vishnu,  Rama  commonly  appears  throughout  the 
poem  in  his  human  character  alone,  and  though 
Crishna  is  sometimes  declared  to  be  the  Supreme 
Being  in  a  human  form,  yet  his  actions  imply  no 
such  divinity,  and  the  passages  in  which  his  iden- 
tity with  the  ruler  of  the  universe  are  most  clearly 
stated  may  be  suspected  of  being  the  production 
of  a  later  period  than  the  rest,  t 

With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Colebrooke  (who  in- 
cludes them  in  his  censure  of  the  sacred  poetry), 
all  who  have  read  the  heroic  poems  in  the  original 
are  enthusiastic  in  tlieir  praise  ;  and  their  beauties 
have  been  most  feh  by  those  whose  own  produc- 
tions entitle  their  judgment  to  most  respect.  Nor 
is  this  admiration  confined  to  critics  who  Iiave  pe- 
culiarly devoted  themselves  to  Oriental  literature  : 
Milman  and  Schlegel  vie  with  Wilson  and  Jones 
in  their  applause  ;  and  from  one  or  other  of  those 
writers  we  learn  the  simplicity  and  originality  of 
the  composition  ;  the  sublimity,  grace,  and  pathos 
of  particular  passages  ;  the  natural  dignity  of  the 
actors ;  the  holy  purity  of  the  manners,  and  the 
inexhaustible  fertility  of  imagination  in  the  authors. 

*   Oriental  Magazine,  vol.  iii.  p.  133. 
t  Preface  to  the  Vishnu  Puriina,  p.  ix. 


LITERATURE. 


293 


VI. 


From  such  evidence,  and  not  from  translations  in  chap, 
prose,  we  should  form  our  opinions  of  the  originals. 
If  we  were  obliged  to  judge  from  such  of  those 
literal  versions  as  we  possess  in  English  (which  are 
mostly  from  the*'Ramayana")>  we  should  be  unable 
to  discover  any  of  the  beauties  dwelt  on,  except 
simplicity  ;  and  should  conceive  the  poems  to  be 
chiefly  characterised  by  extreme  flatness  and  pro- 
lixity. Some  of  the  poetical  translations  exhibit 
portions  more  worthy  of  the  encomiums  bestowed 
on  them.  The  specimens  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat" 
wliich  appeared,  in  blank  verse,  in  the  "  Oriental 
Magazine,"  *  are  of  this  last  description.  It  is  true 
that,  though  selections,  and  improved  by  com- 
pression, they  are  still  tediously  diffuse;  but  they 
contain  many  spirited  and  poetical  passages  :  the 
similes,  in  particular,  are  short,  simple,  and  pic- 
turesque ;  and,  on  the  whole,  the  author  must  be 
acknowledged  to  tread,  at  whatever  distance,  on 
the  path  of  Homer. 

The  episode  of  **  Nala  and  Damyanti,"  in  the 
same  poem  t,  being  a  domestic  story,  is  better  fitted 
than  battles  to  the  Hindu  genius  ;  and  is  a  model  of 
beautiful  simplicity.  Among  the  other  episodes  in 
the  same  poem  (as  it  now  stands)  is  the  "  Bhagwat 
Ciita,"  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  a  much 
later  age.  It  is  a  poetical  exposition  of  the  doc- 
trines of  a  ])articular  school  of  theology,  and  has 
been  admired  for  the  clearness  and  beauty  of  the 

*   For  December,  1821-,  and  March  and  September,  1825. 
■f   Translated  by  the  Kev.  II.  II.  Mihnan. 

u  3 


294  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    lansTLiaffe  and  illustrations.     Whatever  mav  be  its 
III.  . 
merits  as  to  clearness,  it  deserves  high  praise  for 

the  skill  with  which  it  is  adapted  to  the  original 

epic,  and  for  the  tenderness  and  elegance  of  the 

narrative  by  means  of  which  it  is  introduced. 

The  legendary  part  of  the  Puranas  may  be  re- 
garded as  belonging  to  this  description  of  poetry. 
Some  of  the  extracts  introduced  by  Colonel  Ken- 
nedy in  his  "  Researches  into  Hindu  Mythology  " 
are  spirited  and  poetical. 

The  portion  of  the  *'  Ramayana'*  of  Bodayanah 
translated  by  Mr.  Ellis  in  the  "  Oriental  Magazine" 
for  September,  1820,  is  more  conformable  to  Eu- 
ropean taste  than  the  other  translations  ;  but  it 
seems  doubtful,  from  the  note  in  page  8.,  whether 
it  is  designed  to  be  a  literal  translation  ;  and,  con- 
sequently, it  cannot  safely  be  taken  as  a  specimen 
of  Hindu  poetry. 
Descrip-  The  "  Mcghaduta"  *  is  an  excellent  example  of 

purely  descriptive  poetry.  A  spirit  banished  from 
heaven  charges  a  cloud  with  a  message  to  his 
celestial  mate,  and  describes  the  countries  over 
which  it  will  have  to  pass. 

The  poet  avails  himself  of  the  favourite  Hindu 
topic  of  the  setting  in  of  the  rainy  season,  amidst 
assembled  clouds  and  muttering  thunder,  the  re- 
vival of  nature  from  its  previous  languor,  the  re- 
joicing of  some  animals  at  the  approach  of  rain, 
and  the  long  lines  of  cranes,  and  other  migratory 

*  Translated  by  Professor  Wilson,  and  published  with  the 
original  Shanscrit,  in  1813. 


LITERATURE.  .  295 

birds  that  appear  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  sky :     chap. 

he  describes  the  varied  landscape  and  the  numerous  ^_ 

cities  over  which  the  cloud  is  to  pass,  interspersing 
allusions  to  the  tales  which  are  associated  with  the 
different  scenes. 

Intermixed  with  the  whole  are  the  lamentations 
of  the  exile  himself,  and  his  recollections  of  all  the 
beauties  and  enjoyments  from  which  he  is  excluded. 

The  description  is  less  exuberant  than  in  most 
poems,  but  it  does  not  escape  the  tameness  which 
has  been  elsewhere  ascribed  to  Shanscrit  verse. 

The  *'  Gita  Govinda,  or  Songs  of  Jaya  Deva*,"  Pastorai. 
are  the  only  specimens  I  know  of  pure  pastoral. 
They  exhibit,  in  perfection,  the  luxuriant  imagery, 
the  voluptuous  softness,  and  the  want  of  vigour  and 
interest  which  form  the  beauties  and  defects  of  the 
Hindu  school. 

They  are  distinguished  also  by  the  use  of  con- 
ceits ;  which,  as  the  author  lived  as  late  as  the 
fourteenth  century,  are,  perhaps,  marks  of  the 
taste  introduced  by  the  Mahometans. 

I  have  seen  no  specimen  of  Hindu  satire.  Some  Satue. 
of  their  dramatic  performances  seem  to  partake  of 
this  character.!  Judging  from  the  heaviness  of 
the  ludicrous  parts  occasionally  introduced  into 
the  regular  plays,  I  should  not  expect  to  find  much 
success  in  this  department. 

Though  there  are  several  other  poetical  works  Tales  and 


fabk 


*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iii.  p.  185. 

t  See    Wilson's  Hindu   Drama,    vol.  iii.  p.  97,  &c.    of  the 
Appendix. 

U   4 


296  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  translated,  enough  has,  perhaps,  been  said  on  this 
'  subject,  considering  the  Uttle  value  of  opinions 
formed  on  such  grounds.  An  important  part  of 
the  Hindu  literature,  however,  still  remains  to  be 
noticed,  in  their  tales  and  fables ;  in  both  of  which 
species  of  composition  they  appear  to  have  been 
the  instuctors  of  all  the  rest  of  mankind.  The 
most  ancient  known  fables  (those  of  Bidpai)  have 
been  found  almost  unchanged  in  their  Shanscrit 
dress  ;  and  to  them  almost  all  the  fabulous  relations 
of  other  countries  have  been  clearly  traced.*  The 
complicated  scheme  of  story-telling,  tale  within 
tale,  like  the  "  Arabian  Nights,"  seems  also  to  be 
of  their  invention,  as  are  the  subjects  of  many  w^ell- 
known  tales  and  romances  both  Oriental  and  Eu- 
ropean. In  their  native  form,  they  are  told  with 
simplicity,  and  not  without  spirit  and  interest.  It 
is  remarkable,  however,  that  the  taste  for  descrip- 
tion seems  here  to  have  changed  sides,  the  Hindu 
stories  having  none  of  those  gorgeous  and  pic- 
turesque accompaniments  which  are  so  captivating 
in  the  Arabian  and  Persian  tales,  t 

*  By  Mr,  Colebrooke,  the  Baron  de  Sacy,  and  Professor 
Wilson. 

-|-  As  a  guide  to  further  inquiry  into  the  Indian  origin  of 
European  fictions,  consult  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  vol.  i.  p.  156. 


FINE    ARTS.  297 


CHAP.  VII. 


THE    FINE    ARTS. 


Music. 
The  Hindu  music  appears,  from  the  accounts  of    chap 

.VII 

Sir  W.  Jones*  and  Mr.  Patersont,  to  be  systematic 

and  refined. 

They  have  eighty-four  modest,  of  which  thirty- 
six  are  in  general  use,  and  each  of  which,  it  ap- 
pears, has  a  pecuUar  expression,  and  the  power  of 
moving  some  particular  sentiment  or  affection. 

They  are  named  from  the  seasons  of  the  year 
and  tlie  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  and  are  each 
considered  to  possess  some  quahty  appropriate  to 
the  time. 

Musical  science  is  said  to  have  declined  like  all 
others  ;  and,  certainly,  the  present  airs  do  not  give 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iii.  p.  55. 

f   Ibid,  vol  ix.  p.  4'45. 

X  Sir  W.  Jones  explains  that  these  modes  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  our  modern  modes,  which  result  from  the  system 
of  accords  now  established  in  Europe.  The  Indian  modes  are 
formed  partly  "by  giving  the  lead  to  one  or  other  of  our  twelve 
sounds,  and  varying,  in  seven  different  ways,  the  position  of  the 
semitones."  This  gives  the  number  of  eighty-four,  which  has 
been  retained,  although  many  of  the  original,  or  rather  possible, 
modes  have  been  dispensed  with,  and  the  number  made  up  by 
aids  drawn  "  from  the  association  of  ideas  and  the  mutilation  of 
the  regular  scales." 


III. 


29s  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  to  an  unlearned  ear  the  impression  of  any  such 
variety  or  complication.  They  are  almost  all  of 
one  sort,  remarkably  sweet  and  plaintive,  and  dis- 
tinguishable at  once  from  the  melodies  of  any  other 
nation.  To  do  them  justice,  however,  they  should 
be  heard  from  a  single  voice,  or  accompanied  by 
the  Vina,  which  has  been  called  the  Indian  lyre. 

The  usual  performance  is  by  a  band  of  fiddles 
and  drums  beaten  with  the  fingers.  It  is  loud  and 
unmusical,  and  would  drown  the  voices  of  the 
singers  if  they  were  not  exerted  to  a  pitch  that  is 
fatal  to  all  delicacy  or  softness.* 

Painting. 

Painting  is  still  in  the  lowest  stage.  Walls  of 
houses  are  often  painted  in  water  colours,  and 
sometimes  in  oils.  The  subjects  are  mythology, 
battles,  processions,  wrestlers,  male  and  female 
figures,  and  animals,  with  no  landscape,  or  at  best 
a  tree  or  two  or  a  building  stuck  in  without  any 
knowledge  of  perspective,  or  any  attention  to  light 
and  shade.  Of  the  works  of  other  nations  they 
most  resemble  the  paintings  on  the  walls  of  Egyptian 
tombs.     They  have  also  pictures  of  a  small  size  in 

*  It  is  but  fair  to  give  the  following  opinion  from  a  person 
evidently  qualified  to  judge  (in  the  Oriental  Quarterly  Magazine 
for  December,  1825,  p  197.)  :  —  "  We  may  add,  that  the  only 
native  singers  and  players  whom  Europeans  are  in  the  way  of 
hearing,  in  most  parts  of  India,  are  regarded  by  their  scientific 
brethren  in  much  the  same  light  as  a  ballad-singer  at  the  corner 
of  the  street  by  the  primo  soprano  of  the  Italian  Opera." 


FINE    ARTS.  299 

a  sort  of  distemper,  which,  in  addition  to  the  above     chap. 
subjects,  inchide  likenesses  of  individuals.  ' 

The  Hindus  have  often  beautifully  illuminated 
manuscripts,  but  the  other  ornaments  are  better 
executed  than  the  figures.  K  portraits  were  not 
spoken  of  as  common  in  the  dramas,  I  should  sus- 
pect that  they  had  learned  this  art  from  the  Mus- 
sulmans, by  whom  (in  spite  of  the  discouragement 
given  by  the  Mahometan  religion)  they  are  very 
far  surpassed. 

Sculpture. 

One  would  expect  that  sculpture  would  be  car- 
ried to  high  perfection  among  a  people  so  devoted 
to  polytheism  ;  and  it  certainly  is  not  for  want  of 
employment  that  it  has  failed  to  attain  to  excel- 
lence. Besides  innumerable  images,  all  caves  and 
temples  are  covered  with  statues  and  reliefs  ;  and 
the  latter  are  often  bold,  including  complicated 
groups,  and  expressing  various  passions.  They 
are  sometimes  very  spirited,  and  neither  the  sculp- 
tures nor  paintings  fiil  to  produce  very  fine  speci- 
mens of  grace  in  figure  and  attitude  ;  but  there  is 
a  total  ignorance  of  anatomy,  and  an  inattention 
even  to  the  obvious  appearances  of  the  limbs  and 
muscles,  together  with  a  disregard  of  proportion 
between  different  figures,  and  a  want  of  skill  in 
grouping,  which  must  entirely  exclude  the  best  of 
the  Hindu  sculpture  from  coming  into  the  most 
remote  comparison  with  European  works  of  art. 


300  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
III. 


Architecture. 

The  numerous  edifices  erected  by  the  Hindus 
attest  their  knowledge  of  the  practice  of  architec- 
ture ;  and  if  any  confidence  can  be  given  to  the 
claims  of  the  books  of  which  fragments  still  remain, 
they  seem  early  to  have  been  acquainted  with  the 
science. 

A  candid  and  judicious  review  of  the  extant 
works  on  architecture  is  contained  in  a  late  essay 
by  an  intelligent  native,  where,  also,  the  system 
taught  by  them  is  ably  developed.* 

The  principles  of  the  art  seem,  by  this  essay,  to 
have  been  well  understood  ;  and  numerous  rules 
appear  to  have  been  derived  from  them. 

The  various  mouldings,  twelve  in  number,  are 
described ;  some  (the  cyma,  toro,  cavetto,  &c.) 
are  the  same  as  our  own,  and  a  few  are  peculiar. 
The  forms  and  proportions  of  pedestals,  bases, 
shafts,  capitals,  and  entablatures  are  given  ;  how 
fully,  in  some  cases,  may  be  conjectured  from  there 
being  sixty-four  sorts  of  bases.  There  are  no  fixed 
orders,  but  the  height  of  a  column  may  vary  from 
six  to  ten  diameters,  and  its  proportions  regulate, 
though  not  strictly,  those  of  the  capitals,  inter- 
columniations,  &c.  This  place  does  not  admit  of 
any  specification  of  the  rules  of  architecture,  or 
anything  beyond  a  general   notion   of  the  native 

*  Essay  on  Hindu  Architecture,  by  Ram  Raz,  published  by 
the  Oriental  Translation  Fund. 


FINE    ARTS. 


301 


bnildine:s  which  are  now  to  be  seen  m  India.     The     chap. 


'b 


Style  of  those  structures  has  been  supposed  to  re- 
semble that  of  Egypt.  It  does  so  only  in  the 
massy  character  both  of  the  buildings  and  the  ma- 
terials, and  in  the  quantity  of  sculpture  on  some 
descriptions  of  edifices.  The  practice  of  building 
high  towers  at  gateways  is  also  similar,  but  in 
Egypt  there  is  one  on  each  side,  and  in  India  only 
one  over  the  gateway. 

Some  few  of  the  Egyptian  columns  bear  a  re- 
semblance to  some  in  the  cave  temples  ;  but  these 
are  all  the  points  in  which  any  similarity  can  be 
discovered. 

The  two  most  striking  features  in  Egyptian 
architecture  are,  the  use  of  pyramids,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  sides  of  every  building  slope  in- 
wards until  they  reach  the  top,  where  they  meet  a 
flat  roof  with  a  particularly  bold  and  deep  cornice. 
Neither  of  these  characteristics  is  to  be  found  in 
India.  Pyramidal  roofs  to  the  halls  before  temples 
are  not  uncommon,  but  they  are  hollow  within,  and 
supported  by  walls  or  pillars.  Solid  pyramids  are 
unknown  ;  and  even  the  roofs  are  diversified  on 
the  outside  with  acroteria  and  other  ornaments, 
that  take  away  all  resemblance  to  the  Egyptian 
pyramids.  Walls  are  always  perpendicular,  and 
though  toweis  of  temples  diminish  gradually,  yet 
they  do  so  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  themselves,  and 
bear  as  much  resemblance  to  our  slender  steeples 
as  to  broad  masses  of  Egyi)tian  architecture.  They, 


VII. 


302  HISTORY    OF    INDIA.' 

BOOK    in  fact,  hold  an  intermediate  place  between  botli, 
"       but  have  little  likeness  to  either. 

In  the  south  they  are  generally  a  succession  of 
stories,  each  narrower  than  the  one  below  it ;  and 
north  of  the  Godaveri  they  more  frequently  taper 
upwards,  but  with  an  outward  curve  in  the  sides, 
by  means  of  which  there  is  a  greater  swell  near  the 
middle  than  even  at  the  base.  They  do  not  come 
quite  to  a  point,  but  are  crowned  by  a  flattened 
dome,  or  some  more  fanciful  termination,  over 
which  is,  in  all  cases,  a  high  pinnacle  of  irtetal  gilt, 
or  else  a  trident,  or  other  emblem  peculiar  to  the 
god.  Though  plainer  than  the  rest  of  the  temple, 
the  towers  are  never  quite  plain,  and  are  often 
stuck  over  with  pinnacles,  and  covered  with  other 
ornaments  of  every  description. 

The  sanctuary  is  always  a  small,  nearly  cubical 
chamber,  scarcely  lighted  by  one  small  door,  at 
which  the  worshipper  presents  his  offering  and 
prefers  his  supplication.  In  very  small  temples 
this  is  the  whole  building ;  but  in  others  it  is  sur- 
mounted by  the  tower,  is  approached  through 
spacious  halls,  and  is  surrounded  by  courts  and 
colonnades,  including  other  temples  and  religious 
buildings.  At  Seringam  there  are  seven  different 
inclosures,  and  the  outer  one  is  near  four  miles  in 
circumference.*  The  colonnades  which  line  the 
interior  of  the  courts,  or  form  approaches  to  the 

*   Orme's  Indostan,  vol.  i.  p.  ]82. 


*  FINE    ARTS.  303 

temple,  are  often  so  deep  as  to  require  many  rows     chap. 

of  pillars,  which  are  generally  high,  slender,  and  . 

delicate,  but  thickly  set.  Gothic  aisles  have  been 
compared  to  avenues  of  oaks,  and  these  might  be 
likened  to  groves  of  palm  trees. 

There  are  often  lower  colonnades,  in  which,  and 
in  many  other  places,  are  highly  wrought  columns, 
round,  square,  and  octagon,  or  m.ixing  all  three; 
sometimes  cut  into  the  shape  of  vases,  and  hung 
with  chains  or  garlands ;  sometimes  decorated  with 
the  forms  of  animals,  and  sometimes  partly  com- 
posed of  groups  of  human  figures. 

Clusters  of  columns  and  pilasters  are  frequent 
in  the  more  solid  parts  of  the  building ;  where, 
also,  the  number  of  salient  and  retiring  angles,  and 
the  corresponding  breaks  in  the  entablature,  in- 
crease the  richness  and  complexity  of  the  effect. 
The  posts  and  lintels  of  the  doors,  the  panels  and 
other  spaces,  are  inclosed  and  almost  covered  by 
deep  borders  of  mouldings,  and  a  profusion  of  ara- 
besques of  plants,  flowers,  fruits,  men,  animals, 
and  imaginary  beings ;  in  short,  of  every  species 
of  embellishment  that  the  most  fertile  fancy  could 
devise.  These  arabesques,  the  running  patterns  of 
plants  and  creepers  in  particular,  are  often  of  an 
elegance  scarcely  equalled  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world. 

The  walls  are  often  filled  with  sculptures  in  re- 
lief; exhibiting  animated  pictures  of  the  wars  of 
the  gods  and  other  legends.     Groups  of  mytiiolo- 


304  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     gical  figures,  likewise  often  run  along  the  frieze, 
'       and  add  great  richness  to  the  entablature.* 

Temples,  such  as  hav^e  been  described,  are  some- 
times found  assembled  in  considerable  numbers. 
At  the  ruins  of  Bhuvaneswara,  in  Orissa,  for  in- 
stance, it  is  impossible  to  turn  the  eye  in  any 
direction  from  the  great  tower  without  taking  into 
the  view  upwards  of  forty  or  fifty  stone  towers  of 
temples,  none  less  than  fifty  or  sixty,  and  some 
from  150  to  180  feet  high.t 

Those  of  Bijayanagar,  near  the  left  bank  of  the 
river  Tumbadra,  are  of  still  more  magnificent 
dimensions. 

But,  notwithstanding  their  prodigious  scale,  the 
eifect  produced  by  the  Hindu  pagodas  never  equals 
the  simple  majesty  and  symmetry  of  a  Grecian 
temple,  nor  even  the  grandeur  arising  from  the 
swelling  domes  and  lofty  arches  of  a  mosque.  The 
extensive  parts  of  the  building  want  height,  and 
the  high  ones  are  deficient  in  breadth  ;  there  is  no 
combination  between  the  different  parts  ;  and  the 
general  result  produces  a  conviction  that,  in  this 
art,  as  in  most  other  things,  the  Hindus  display 
more  richness  and  beauty  in  details  than  greatness 
in  the  conception  of  the  whole.     The  cave  tem- 

*  There  are  some  beautiful  specimens  of  Hindu  architecture 
in  Tod's  "  Rajasthan."  The  work  of  Ram  Raz  shows  the  details 
every  where  employed^  as  well  as  the  general  architecture  of  the 
south  ;  but  the  splendid  works  of  the  Daniells  exhibit  in  perfec- 
tion every  species  of  cave  or  temple  in  all  the  wide  range  of 
India. 

f   Mr.  Stirling,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv.  p.  307. 


FINE    ARTS.  305 

pies,  alone,  exhibit  boldness  and  grandeur  of  de-     chap. 
sign.  

The  impression  made  on  the  spectator  by  fa- 
vourable specimens  of  temples,  is  that  of  great 
antiquity  and  sanctity,  accompanied  with  a  sort  of 
romantic  mystery,  which  neither  the  nature  of  the 
religion  itself  nor  the  familiarity  occasioned  by  the 
daily  sight  of  its  ceremonies  seems  suited  to  in- 
s])ire. 

Though  in  temples  of  recent  formation  there  is 
sometimes  a  mixture  of  the  Mahometan  style;  yet 
the  general  character  of  these  buildings  is  strikingly 
original,  and  unlike  the  structures  of  other  nations. 
We  may  infer  from  this  that  the  principles  of  the 
art  were  established  in  early  times ;  but  we  have 
no  reason  to  think  that  any  of  the  great  works 
which  now  attract  admiration  are  of  very  ancient 
date.  Even  the  caves  have  no  claim  to  great  an- 
tiquity. The  inscriptions,  in  a  character  wliich 
was  in  use  at  least  three  centuries  before  Christ, 
and  which  has  long  been  obsolete,  would  lead  us 
to  believe  that  the  Baudha  caves  must  be  older 
than  the  Christian  aera*;  but  those  of  the  Hindus 
are  shown  beyond  doubt,  from  the  mythological 
subjects  on  their  walls,  to  be  at  least  as  modern 
as  tlie  eighth  or  ninth  century,  t     The  sculptured 

*  An  extensive  Biiudha  cave  is  mentioned  by  the  Chinese 
traveller  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  fifth  century,  and  must 
liave  been  excavated  in  tlie  fourth  at  latest. — Journal  of  the 
Roynl  Asiatic  Societ//,  vol.  v.  p.  lOS. 

f    Mr.  l'>skine,  Trotisac/io/is  of  the  Litcrarij  Society  of  J3ooi- 
bai/,  and  Professor  Wilson,  Mackenzie  Papers,  Preface,  p.  Ixx. 
VO[,.    I.  \ 


306  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  works  at  Maha  Balipuram,  south  of  Madras,  have 
'  been  carried  back  to  the  remotest  a^ra ;  but  the 
accounts  on  the  spot  assign  their  construction  to 
the  twelfth  or  thirteenth  centuries  after  Christ,  and 
the  sculptures  on  the  walls  afford  a  perfect  con- 
firmation of  the  tradition.* 

Some  of  the  most  celebrated  built  temples  are 
of  very  modern  date.  The  pagoda  of  Jagannat 
(of  which  we  have  heard  so  much),  and  the  Black 
Pagoda,  in  the  same  district,  have  been  mentioned 
as  among  the  most  ancient  of  Hindu  temples  ;  yet 
the  first  is  well  known  to  have  been  completed  in 
A.  D.  1198,  and  the  second  in  a.  d.  1241.+  Many 
of  the  other  great  temples  are  doubtless  much 
older  than  this  ;  but  there  are  no  proofs  of  the 
great  antiquity  of  any  of  them,  and  some  presump- 
tions to  the  contrary. 

The  palaces  are  more  likely  to  adopt  innovations 
than  the  temples ;  but  many  retain  the  Hindu 
character,  though  constructed  in  comparatively  re- 
cent times. 

The  oldest  of  these  show  little  plan,  or  else  have 
been  so  often  added  to  that  the  original  plan  is 
lost.  Being  generally  of  solid  construction,  and 
with  terraced  roofs,  the  facility  is  great  of  building 
one  house  on  the  roof  of  another  ;  so  that,  besides 
spreading  towards  the  sides,  they  are  piled  upwards 
to  a  great  height,  and  with  great  irregularity. 

They  generally  contain  small  courts  surrounded 

*  Professor  Wilson,  Mackenzie  Papers,  Introduction,  p.  Ixxi. 
■\-   Stirling's  Orissa,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv.  pp.  315.  327. 


FINE    ARTS.  307 

with  high  buildings ;    sometimes  open,  and  some-    chap. 


times  shaded  with  the  trees  best  adapted  for  that 
purpose.  There  is  always  a  deep  colonnade  round 
each  court. 

The  great  rooms  of  state  are  upstairs,  closed 
round  like  ours,  not  running  to  the  whole  height 
of  the  house,  and  open  at  one  side  like  Maho- 
metan divans.  The  stairs  are  narrow  and  steep, 
and  cut  out  of  the  thickness  of  the  wall. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  the  private  houses, 
which  are  hardly  entitled  to  come  under  the  head 
of  architecture. 

Those  of  rich  people  have  a  small  court  or  two, 
with  buildings  round,  almost  always  terraced,  some- 
times left  in  the  full  glare  of  the  white  stucco, 
sometimes  coloured  of  a  dusky  red,  and  the  walls 
sometimes  painted  with  trees  or  mythological  and 
other  stories.     All  are  as  crowded  and  ill-arransred 

o 

as  can  be  imagined. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  the  Hindu  works  are 
the  tanks,  which  are  reservoirs  for  water,  of  which 
there  are  two  kinds ;  one  dug  out  of  the  earth, 
and  the  other  formed  by  damming  up  the  mouth 
of  a  valley.  In  the  former  case  there  are  stone  or 
other  steps  all  round,  down  to  the  water,  gene- 
rally the  whole  length  of  each  face,  and  in  many 
instances  temples  round  the  edge,  and  little  shrines 
down  the  steps.  In  the  other  sort  these  additions 
are  confined  to  the  embankment.  The  dug  tanks 
are  often  near  towns,  for  bathing,  &c.,  but  are  also 


VII. 


308  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     made  use  of  for  irrigation.     The  dams  are  always 

for  the  latter  purpose.     Many  of  them  are  of  vast 

extent,  and  the  embankments  are  magnificent  works, 
both  in  respect  to  their  elevation  and  solidity. 
Some  of  them  form  lakes,  many  miles  in  circum- 
ference, and  water  great  tracts  of  country. 

One  species  of  Hindu  well  is  also  remarkable. 
It  is  frequently  of  great  depth,  and  of  considerable 
breadth.  The  late  ones  are  often  round,  but  the 
more  ancient,  square.  They  are  surrounded,  for  their 
whole  depth,  with  galleries,  in  the  rich  and  massy 
style  of  Hindu  works,  and  have  often  a  broad  flight 
of  steps,  which  commences  at  some  distance  from 
the  well,  and  passes  under  part  of  the  galleries 
down  to  the  water. 

The  most  characteristic  of  the  Hindu  bridiires 
are  composed  of  stone  posts,  several  of  which  form 
a  pier,  and  which  are  connected  by  stone  beams. 
Such  bridges  are  common  in  the  south  of  India. 
Others  are  on  thick  piers  of  masonry,  with  nar- 
row Gothic  arches;  but  their  antiquity  is  doubt- 
ful, nor  does  it  appear  that  the  early  Hindus  knew 
the  arch,  or  could  construct  vaults  or  domes,  other- 
wise than  by  layers  of  stone,  projecting  beyond 
those  beneath,  as  in  the  Treasury  of  Atreus  in 
Mycenae. 

Among  other  species  of  architecture  must  be 
mentioned  the  columns  and  arches,  or  rather  gate- 
ways, erected  in  honour  of  victories.  There  is  a 
highly  wrought  example  of  the  former,  120  feet 
high,  at  Chitor,  which  is  represented  in  Tod's  '*  Ra- 


FINE    ARTS.  309 

jasthan.***     Of  the  triumphal  arches  (if  that  term     chap. 
may  be  apphed  to  square  openings),  the  finest  ex- 
ample is  at  Barnagar,  in  the  north  of  Guzerat.     It 
is  indeed  among  the  richest  specimens  of  Hindu 
art. 

*  Vol.  i.  pp.  328.  761. 


X    .'i 


310 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


CHAP.  VIII. 


OTHER    ARTS. 


BOOK 
III. 

Weaving. 


Dveiiu 


Working 
in  gold. 


Of  the  Indian  manufactures,  the  most  remarkable 
is  that  of  cotton  cloth,  the  beauty  and  delicacy  of 
which  was  so  long  admired,  and  which  in  fineness 
of  texture  has  never  yet  been  approached  in  any 
other  country. 

Their  silk  manufactures  were  also  excellent,  and 
were  probably  known  to  them,  as  well  as  the  art  of 
obtaining  the  material,  at  a  very  early  period.* 

Gold  and  silver  brocade  were  also  favourite,  and 
perhaps  original,  manufactures  of  India. 

The  brilliancy  and  permanency  of  many  of  their 
dyes  have  not  yet  been  equalled  in  Europe. 

Their  taste  for  minute  ornament  fitted  them  to 
excel  in  goldsmiths'  work. 

Their  fame  for  jewels  originated  more  in  the 
bounty  of  nature  than  in  their  own  skill  ;  for  their 
taste  is  so  bad  that  they  give  a  preference  to  yellow 
pearls,  and  table  diamonds ;  and  their  setting  is 
comparatively  rude,  though  they  often  combine 
their  jewellery  into  very  gorgeous  ornaments. 

Their  way  of  working  at  all  trades  is  very  simple, 
and  their  tools  few  and  portable.     A  smith  brings 


*   Mr.  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  v.  p.  61. 


OTHER    ARTS.  311 

his  small  anvil,  and  the  peculiar  sort  of  bellows  chap. 

.  VIII, 

which  he  uses,  to  the  house  where  he  is  wanted  :  . '__ 

A  carpenter,  of  course,  does  so  with  more  ease, 
working  on  the  floor,  and  securing  any  object  with 
his  toes  as  easily  as  with  his  hands. 


X  4. 


312  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


III. 


CHAP.  IX. 


AGRICULTURE. 


BOOK     The  nature  of  the  soil  and  climate  make  agricul- 


ture a  simple  art.  A  light  plough,  which  he  daily 
carries  on  his  shoulder  to  the  field,  is  sufficient, 
with  the  help  of  two  small  oxen,  to  enable  the 
husbandman  to  make  a  shallow  furrow  in  the  sur- 
face, in  which  to  deposit  the  grain.  Sowing  is 
often  performed  by  a  sort  of  drill  (it  is  scarcely 
entitled  to  the  addition  of  plough),  which  sheds 
the  seed  through  five  or  six  hollow  canes ;  and  a 
board,  on  which  a  man  stands,  serves  for  a  harrow. 
A  hoe,  a  mattock,  and  a  few  other  articles,  com- 
plete the  implements  of  husbandry.  Reaping  is 
performed  with  the  sickle  :  the  grain  is  trodden 
out  by  cattle,  brought  home  in  carts,  and  kept  in 
large  dry  pits  under  ground.  The  fields,  though 
the  bounds  of  each  are  carefully  marked,  are  gene- 
rally uninclosed  ;  and  nothing  interrupts  their 
continuity,  except  occasional  varieties  in  the  crops. 
But  although  the  Indian  agriculture  has  such  a 
character  of  simplicity,  there  are  some  peculiarities 
in  it  which  call  forth  certain  sorts  of  skill  and  in- 
dustry not  required  elsewhere,  and  there  are  some 
descriptions  of  cultivation  to  which  the  former 
character  does  not  at  all  apply. 


AGRICULTURE.  813 


The  summer  harvest  is  sufficiently  watered  by     chap 


the  rains,  but  a  great  part  of  the  winter  crop 
requires  artificial  irrigation.  This  is  afforded  by 
rivers,  brooks,  and  ponds ;  but  chiefly  by  wells. 
In  the  best  parts  of  the  country  there  is  a  well  in 
every  field,  from  which  water  is  conveyed  in  chan- 
nels, and  received  in  little  beds,  divided  by  low 
ridges  of  earth.  It  is  raised  by  oxen  in  a  large 
bucket,  or  rather  bng^  of  pliant  leather,  which  has 
often  an  ingenious  contrivance,  by  which  it  empties 
itself  when  drawn  up. 

In  some  soils  it  is  necessary,  every  three  or  four 
years,  to  eradicate  the  weeds  by  deep  ploughing, 
which  is  done  with  a  heavy  plough,  drawn  by 
buffaloes,  at  a  season  when  the  ground  is  saturated 
with  moisture.  Manure  is  little  used  for  general 
cultivation,  but  it  is  required  in  quantities  for  sugar 
cane,  and  many  other  sorts  of  produce.  Many 
sorts  also  require  to  be  carefully  fenced  ;  and  are 
sometimes  surrounded  by  mud  walls,  but  usually 
by  high  and  impenetrable  hedges  of  cactus,  euphor- 
bium,  aloe,  and  other  strong  prickly  plants,  as  well 
as  by  other  thorny  bushes  and  creepers. 

One  great  labour  is  to  scare  away  the  flocks  of 
birds,  which  devour  a  great  part  of  the  harvest  in 
spite  of  all  precautions.  Scarecrows  have  some 
effect,  but  the  chief  dependence  is  on  a  man,  who 
stands  on  a  high  wooden  stage  overlooking  the 
field,  shouting,  and  throwing  stones  from  a  sling, 
which  is  so  contrived  as  to  make  a  loud  crack  at 
every  discharge. 


IX. 


314  IIISTOllY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  The  Indians  understand  rotation  of  crops,  though 
"  tlieir  ahnost  inexhaustible  soil  renders  it  often  un- 
necessary. They  class  the  soils  with  great  minute- 
ness, and  are  well  informed  about  the  produce  for 
which  each  is  best,  and  the  mode  of  cultivation 
which  it  requires.  They  have  the  injudicious 
practice  of  mixing  different  kinds  of  grain  in  one 
field,  sometimes  to  come  up  together,  and  some- 
times in  succession. 

Some  of  the  facts  mentioned  affect  armies  and 
travellers.  At  particular  seasons,  the  whole  face 
of  the  country  is  as  open  and  passable  as  the  road, 
except  near  villages  and  streams,  where  the  high 
inclosures  form  narrow  lanes,  and  are  great  ob~ 
structions  to  bodies  of  passengers.  Large  water- 
courses, or  ducts,  by  which  water  is  drawn  from 
rivers  or  ponds,  also  form  serious  obstacles. 

These  remarks  are  always  liable  to  exceptions 
from  varieties  in  different  parts  of  India  ;  and  in 
the  rice  countries,  as  Bengal  and  the  coast  of  Coro- 
mandel,  they  are  almost  inapplicable.  There,  the 
rice  must  be  completely  flooded,  often  requires  to 
be  transplanted  at  a  certain  stage,  and  is  a  parti- 
cularly laborious  and  disagreeable  sort  of  culti- 
vation. 


COMMERCE.  315 


CHAP.  X. 


COMMERCE. 


External 
commerce. 


Though  many  articles  of  luxury  are  mentioned  in     chap, 

Menu,  it  does  not  appear  that  any  of  them  were  

the  produce  of  foreign  countries.  Their  abun- 
dance, however,  proves  that  there  was  an  open 
trade  between  the  different  parts  of  India. 

There  is  one  passage  in  the  Code*  in  which  in- 
terest on  money  lent  on  risk  is  said  to  be  fixed  by 
*'  men  well  acquainted  with  sea  voyages^  or  jour- 
neys by  land."  As  the  word  used  in  the  original 
for  sea  is  not  applicable  to  any  inland  waters,  the 
fact  may  be  considered  as  established,  that  the 
Hindus  navigated  the  ocean  as  early  as  the  age  of 
the  Code,  but  it  is  probable  that  their  enterprise  was 
confined  to  a  coasting  trade.  An  intercourse  with 
the  Mediterranean  no  doubt  took  place  at  a  still 
earlier  period ;  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  it  was 
carried  on  by  land,  or  partly  by  sea  ;  and,  in  either 
case,  whether  the  natives  of  India  took  a  share  in 
it  beyond  tiieir  own  limits.  It  seems  not  impro- 
bable that  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Arabs,  and 
that  part  crossed  the  narrow  sea  from  the  coast  on 
the  west  of  Sind  to  Muscat,  and  then  passed  through 
Arabia  to  Egypt  and  Syria  ;  while  another  branch 
migiit  go  by  land,  or  along  the  coast,  to  Babylon 
*  Chap.  VIII.  §  156,  157. 


316  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     and  Persia.*     Our  first  clear  accounts  of  the  seas 

west  of  India  give  no  signs  of  trade  carried  on  by 

Indians  in  that  direction,  Nearchus,  who  com- 
manded Alexander's  fleet  (in  326  b.  c),  did  not 
meet  a  single  ship  in  coasting  from  the  Indus  to 
the  Euphrates ;  and  expressly  says  that  fishing- 
boats  were  the  only  vessels  he  saw,  and  those  only 
in  particular  places,  and  in  small  numbers.  Even 
in  the  Indus,  though  there  were  boats,  they  were 
few  and  small ;  for,  by  Arrian's  account,  Alexander 
was  obliged  to  build  most  of  his  fleet  himself,  in- 
cluding all  the  larger  vessels,  and  to  man  them 
with  sailors  from  the  Mediterranean.!  The  same 
author,  in  enumerating  the  Indian  classes,  says  of 
the  fourth  class  (that  of  tradesman  and  artizans), 
"  of  this  class  also  are  the  ship-builders  and  the 
sailors,  as  many  as  navigate  the  rivers  t:"  from 
which  we  may  infer  that,  as  far  as  his  knowledge 
went,  there  were  no  Indians  employed  on  the  sea. 
Trade  from  Thc  ncxt  accounts  that  throw  light  on  the 
coast.  western  trade  of  India  are  furnished  by  a  writer  of 

the  second  century  before  Christ §,  whose  know- 
ledge only  extended  to  the  intercourse  between 
Egypt  and  the  south  of  Arabia,  but  who  mentions 
cinnamon  and  cassia  as  among  the  articles  imported, 

*  Vincent's  Commerce  and  Navigation  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  357—370. 

I  See  Expeditio  Alexandria  book  vi.  pp.  235,  236.,  ed.  1704, 
and  Indica,  chap,  xviii.  p.  332.  of  the  same  edition. 

\  Indica,  chap.  xii.  p.  ■;25. 

§  Agatharchides,  preserved  in  Diodorus  and  Photius.  See 
Vincent's  Commerce  and  Navigation  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  ii.  p.  25. 


COMMERCE.  0I7 

and  who,   moreover,    expressly    states   that   sliips     chap. 

came  from  India  to  the  ports  of  Sabaea  (the  modern   '_'_ 

Yemen).  From  all  that  appears  in  this  author  we 
should  conclude  that  the  trade  was  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  Arabs. 

It  is  not  till  the  first  century  after  Christ  that 
we  obtain  a  distinct  account  of  the  course  of  this 
trade,  and  a  complete  enumeration  of  the  commo- 
dities which  were  the  objects  of  it.  This  is  given 
in  the  *'  Periplus  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,"  apparently 
the  work  of  an  experienced  practical  sailor  in  that 
part  of  the  ocean.  He  describes  the  wliole  coast 
of  the  Red  Sea,  and  of  the  south-east  of  Arabia ; 
and  that  of  India,  from  tiie  Indus  round  Cape  Co- 
morin  to  a  point  high  up  on  the  coast  of  Coro- 
mandel  ;  and  gives  accounts  of  the  commerce 
carried  on  within  those  limits,  and  in  some  places 
beyond  them.  From  this  writer  it  appears  that, 
nearly  until  his  time,  the  ships  from  India  con- 
tinued to  cross  the  mouth  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and 
creep  along  the  shore  of  Arabia  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Red  Sea  ;  but  that,  at  a  recent  period,  the 
Greeks  from  Egypt,  if  not  all  navigators,  used  to 
quit  the  coast  soon  after  leaving  tlie  Red  Sea,  and 
stretcii  across  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  coast  of 
Malabar. 

The  trade  thus  carried  on  was  very  extensive, 
but  appears  to  have  been  conducted  by  Greeks 
and  Arabs.  Arabia  is  described  as  a  country  filled 
with  pilots,  sailors,  and  persons  concerned  in  com- 
mercial business  ;  but  no  mention  is  made  of  any 


yi8 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
III. 


Coasting 
trade. 


similar  description  of  persons  among  the  Indians, 
nor  is  there  any  allusion  to  Indians  out  of  their 
own  country,  except  that  they  are  mentioned  with 
the  Arabs  and  Greeks,  as  forming  a  mixed  popu- 
lation, who  were  settled  in  small  numbers  on  an 
island  near  the  mouth  of  the  Red  Sea,  supposed 
to  be  Socotra.  So  much,  indeed,  were  the  Arabs 
the  carriers  of  the  Indian  trade,  that  in  Pliny's 
time  their  settlers  filled  the  western  shores  of 
Ceylon,  and  were  also  found  established  on  the 
coast  of  Malabar.*  But  in  the  same  work  (the 
"  Periplus")  the  Indians  are  represented  as  actively 
enffiiged  in  the  traffic  on  their  own  coast.  There 
were  boats  at  the  Indus  to  receive  the  cargoes  of 
the  ships  which  were  unable  to  enter  the  river 
on  account  of  the  bar  at  its  mouth :  fishing  boats 
were  kept  in  employ  near  the  opening  of  the  Gulf 
of  Cambay  to  pilot  vessels  coming  to  Barygaza,  or 
Baroch  ;  where,  then  as  now,  they  were  exposed  to 
danger  from  the  extensive  banks  of  mud,  and  from 
the  rapid  rise  of  the  tides.  From  Baroch,  south- 
ward, the  coast  was  studded  with  ports,  which  the 
author  calls  local  emporia,  and  which,  we  may  infer, 
were  visited  by  vessels  employed  in  the  coasting 
trade  ;  but  it  is  not  till  the  author  has  got  to  the 
coast  on  the  east  of  Cape  Comorin,  that  he  first 
speaks  of  large  vessels  which  crossed  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  to  the  Ganges  and  to  Chryse,  which  is 
probably  Sumatra,  or  the  Malay  peninsula.     This 

*  Vincent's  Commerce  and  Navigation  of  the  Ancients,  vol.  ii. 
p.  283. 


COMMERCE.  319 

last  circumstance  is  in  complete  accordance  with     chap. 
the  accounts  derived  from  the  east,  by  which  the       " 
inhabitants  of  the  coast  of  Coromandel  seem  earlv  Trade  from 

the  east 

to  have  been  distinguished  by  their  maritime  enter-  c^^st. 
prise  from  their  countrymen  on  the  west  of  India. 
It  is  probable,  from  the  nature  of  the  countries 
which  they  water,  that  at  the  same  time  when 
Nearchus  saw  so  little  sign  of  commerce  on  the 
Indus,  the  Ganges  may  have  been  covered  with 
boats,  as  it  is  at  this  moment,  and  as  the  number  of 
ancient  and  civilised  kingdoms  on  its  shores  would 
lead  us  to  anticipate.  The  commodities  supplied 
by  so  rich  and  extensive  a  region  could  not  but 
engage  the  attention  of  the  less  advanced  coun- 
tries in  the  Deckan  ;  and  as  the  communication 
between  that  part  of  India  and  the  Ganges  was 
interrupted  by  forests,  and  plundering  tribes,  both 
])robably  even  wilder  than  they  are  now,  a  strong 
temptation  was  held  out  to  the  sailors  on  the  eastern 
coast  to  encounter  the  lesser  danger  of  making  the 
direct  passage  over  the  Bay  of  Bengal ;  on  which, 
witluDiit  being  often  out  of  sight  of  land,  they 
would  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  shore. 

This  practice  once  established,  it  would  be  an 
easy  cflbrt  to  cross  the  upper  part  of  the  bay,  and 
before  long,  the  broadest  portion  of  it  also,  which 
is  that  bounded  by  the  Malay  peninsula  and  Su- 
matra. But,  whatever  gave  the  impulse  to  the 
iniiabitants  of  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  it  is  from 
the  north  part   of  that  tract   that  we  first  hear  of 


320  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     Indians  who  sailed  boldly  into  the  open  sea.     The 

. histories  of  Java  give  a  distinct  account  of  a  nu- 

Hindu        merous  body  of  Hindus  from  Cling  (Calinga),  who 

settlements 

injava  and  landed  ou  their  island,  civilised  the  inhabitants, 
em  islands,  aud  w^ho  fixcd  the  date  of  their  arrival  by  esta- 
blishing the  aera  still  subsisting,  the  first  year  of 
which  fell  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  before  Christ. 
The  truth  of  this  narrative  is  proved  beyond  doubt 
by  the  numerous  and  magnificent  Hindu  remains 
that  still  exist  in  Java,  and  by  the  fact  that,  although 
the  common  language  is  Malay,  the  sacred  lan- 
guage, that  of  historical  and  poetical  compositions, 
and  of  most  inscriptions,  is  a  dialect  of  Shanscrit. 
The  early  date  is  almost  as  decisively  proved  by 
the  journal  of  the  Chinese  pilgrim  in  the  end  of 
the  fourth  century,  who  found  Java  entirely  peopled 
by  Hindus,  and  who  sailed  from  the  Ganges  to 
Ceylon,  from  Ceylon  to  Java,  and  from  Java  to 
China,  in  ships  manned  by  crews  professing  the 
Braminical  religion.*  The  Hindu  religion  in  Java 
was  afterwards  superseded  by  that  of  Budha  ;  but 
the  Indian  government  subsisted  till  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century  ;  when  it  was  subverted  by  Ma- 
hometan proselytes,  converted  by  Arab  missionaries 
in  the  course  of  the  preceding  century.  Tlie 
island  of  Bali,  close  to  the  east  of  Java,  is  still 
inhabited  by  Hindus  ;  who  have  Malay  or  Tartar 
features,  but  profess  to  be  of  the  four  Hindu 
classes.     It  is  not  impossible  that  they  may  be  so 

*   See  Journal  of  the  Hoyal  Asiatic  Society,  No.  IX.  pp.  136  — 
138. 


COMMERCE.  3'21 

descended,  notwithstandinfy  the  alteration  in  their    chap. 

.  X. 

features  ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  their  pure  ___i__ 
descent  is  a  fiction,  as  we  have  an  example  of  a  still 
more  daring  imposture  in  the  poets  of  Java,  who 
have  transferred  the  whole  scene  of  the  "  Maha 
Biiarat,"  with  all  the  cities,  kings,  and  heroes  of  the 
Jamna  and  Ganges,  to  their  own  island. 

The  accounts  of  voyagers  and  travellers  in  times  Trade  in 
subsequent  to  the  "Periplus"  speak  of  an  extensive  scquont'to 
commerce  with  India,  but  afford  no  information 
respecting  the  part  taken  in  it  by  the  Indians,  un- 
less it  be  by  their  silence  ;  for  while  they  mention 
Arab  and  Chinese  ships  as  frequenting  the  ports 
of  India,  they  never  allude  to  any  voyage  as  having 
been  made  by  a  vessel  of  the  latter  country.* 

Marco  Polo,  indeed,  speaks  of  pirates  on  tlie 
coast  of  Malabar,  who  cruised  for  the  whole  sum- 
mer; but  it  appears,  afterwards,  that  their  practice 
was  to  lie  at  anchor,  and  consequently  close  to  the 
shore,  only  getting  under  weigh  on  the  approach 
of  a  prize.  When  ^^asco  da  Gama  reached  the 
coast  of  Malabar,  he  found  the  trade  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  the  Moors,  and  it  was  to  their 
rivalry  that  he  and  his  successors  owed  most  of 
the  opposition  they  encountered. 

The  exports   from    India  to   the  West  do    not  Exports  in 
seem,  at  the  time  of  tlic  "Periplus,"  to  have  been  times. 
very   different  from    what  they  are   now :   cotton 
cloth,  muslin,  and  chintz  of  various  kinds ;  silk  cloth 

•   See,  in  particular,  Marsdens  Marco  Polo,  p.  G87. 
VOL.  T.  Y 


322  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     and  tliread  ;  indigo  and  other  dies  ;  cinnamon  and 


ni. 


other  spices  ;  sugar ;  diamonds,  pearls,  emeralds, 
and  many  inferior  stones;  steel;  drugs;  aromatics; 
and,  sometimes,  female  slaves. 

Imports.  The  imports  were  —  coarse  and  fine  cloth  (pro- 

bably woollen)  ;    brass  ;    tin  ;   lead  ;   coral  ;    glass  ; 
antimony ;   some  few  perfumes  not  known  in  the 
country  ;  wines  (of  which  that  from  Italy  was  pre- 
ferred) ;  together  with  a  considerable  quantity  of 
specie  and  bullion. 

Inland  Thc  great  facility  of  transport  afforded  by  the 

Ganges  and  its  numerous  branches  has  been  al- 
luded to ;  but,  as  few  of  the  other  rivers  are  navi- 
gable far  from  the  sea,  the  internal  trade  must 
always  have  been  mostly  carried  on  by  land.  Oxen 
would  be  the  principal  means  of  conveyance ;  but 
as,  from  the  earliest  Hindu  times  to  the  decline  of 
the  Mogul  empire,  the  great  roads  were  objects  of 
much  attention  to  the  government,  we  may,  per- 
haps, presume  that  carts  were  much  more  in  use 
formerly  than  of  later  years. 


MANNERS.  323 


CHAP.  XL 


MANNERS    AND    CHARACTER. 


It  has  been  stated  that  Hindostan  and  theDeckan     chap. 
are  equal,  in  extent,   to  all  Europe ;    except  the       ' 


Russian  part  of  it,  and  the  countries  north  of  the  Difference 

of  Indian 
jbJaltlC.  ■  nations. 

Ten  different  civilised  nations  are  found  within 
the  above  space.  All  these  nations  differ  from  each 
other,  in  manners  and  language  t,  nearly  as  much 
as  those  inhabiting  the  corresponding  portion  of 
Europe. 

They  have,  also,  about  the  same  degree  of  gene- 
neral  resemblance  which  is  observable  among  the 
nations  of  Christendom,  and  which  is  so  great  that 
a  stranger  from  India  cannot,  at  first,  perceive  any 
material  difierence  between  an  Italian  and  an 
Englishman.  In  like  manner  Europeans  do  not  at 
once  distinguish  between  the  most  dissimilar  of  the 
nations  of  India. 

The  greatest  difference  is  between  the  inha- 
bitants of  Hindostan  pro])er,  and  of  the  Deckan. 

The  neighbouring  parts  of  these  two  great  divi- 
sions naturally  resemble  each  other ;  but  in  the 
extremities  of  the  north  and  south  tlie  languages 

*  Introduction,  p.  6.  note.  t  See  pp.  278,  279. 

Y    2 


324<  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     have  no  resemblance,  except  from  a  common  mix- 
'       ture  of  Shanscrit ;  the  reHgious  sects  are  different ; 
the  architecture,  as  has  been  mentioned  elsewhere, 
is  of  different  characters ;  the  dress  differs  in  many 
respects,  and  the  people  differ  in  appearance  ;  those 
of  the  north  being   tall  and  fair,   and  the   others 
small  and  dark.      The  northern  people  live  much 
on  wheat,  and  those  of  the  south  on  ragi,  a  grain 
almost  as  unknown  in  Hindostan  as  in  England.* 
Many  of  the  points  of  difference  arise  from  the 
unequal  degrees  in  which  the  two  tracts  were  con- 
quered and  occupied  :  first,  by  the  people  profess- 
ing the  Braminical  religion,  and  afterwards  by  the 
Mussulmans  ;  but  more  must  depend  on  peculiari- 
ties of  place  and  climate,  and,  perhaps,  on  varieties 
of  race.     Bengal  and  Gangetic  Hindostan,  for  in- 
stance, are  contiguous   countries,   and  were  both 
early  subjected    to    the    same    governments ;    but 
Bengal  is  moist,  liable  to  inundation,   and  has  all 
the  characteristics  of  an  alluvial  soil  ;   while  Hin- 
dostan, though  fertile,  is  comparatively  dry,  both 
in  soil  and  climate.     This  difference  may,  by  form- 
ing a  diversity  of  habits,  have  led  to  a  great  dis- 
similitude between  the  people  :  the  common  origin 
of  the  languages  appears,  in  this  case,  to  forbid  all 
suspicion  of  a  difference  of  race. 

From  whatever  causes  it  originates,  the  contrast 

is  most  striking.     The  Hindostanis  on  the  Ganges 

are  the  tallest,  fairest,  and  most  warlike  and  manly 

of  the  Indians  ;   they  wear  the  turban,  and  a  dress 

*  Cynosurus  Coracanus. 


MANNERS.  S25 

resemblini^  that  of  the  Mahometans  ;  then-  houses     chap. 

are  tiled,  and  built  in   compact  villages   in  open  . 

tracts ;  their  food  is  unleavened  wheaten  bread. 

The  Bengalese,  on  the  contrary,  though  good- 
looking,  are  small,  black,  and  effeminate  in  appear- 
ance ;  remarkable  for  timidity  and  superstition,  as 
well  as  for  subtlety  and  art.  Their  villages  are 
composed  of  thatched  cottages,  scattered  through 
woods  of  bamboos  or  of  palms :  their  dress  is  the 
old  Hindu  one,  formed  by  one  scarf  round  the 
middle  and  another  thrown  over  the  shoulders. 
They  have  the  practice,  unknown  in  Hindostan, 
of  rubbing  their  limbs  with  oil  after  bathing,  which 
gives  their  skins  a  sleek  and  glossy  appearance,  and 
protects  them  from  the  effect  of  their  damp  climate. 
They  live  almost  entirely  on  rice  ;  and,  although 
the  two  idioms  are  more  nearly  allied  than  English 
and  German,  their  language  is  quite  unintelligible 
to  a  native  of  Hindostan. 

Yet  those  two  nations  resemble  each  other  so 
much  in  their  religion  and  all  the  innumerable 
points  of  habit  and  manners  which  it  involves,  in 
their  literature,  their  notions  on  government  and 
general  subjects,  their  ceremonies  and  way  of  life, 
that  a  European,  not  previously  apprised  of  the 
distinction,  might  very  possibly  pass  the  boundary 
that  divides  them,  without  at  once  perceiving  the 
change  that  had  taken  place. 

Tlie  distinction  between  the  different  nations 
will   appear  as   each   comes   on   the   stage  in   the 

Y  3 


3^6 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     course    of    the   following   history.     All    that   has 
'       hitherto  been  said,  and  all  that  is  about  to  follow. 


is  intended  to  apply  to  the  whole  Hindu  people. 
Villages.  Notwithstanding  the  abundance  of  large  towns 

in  India,  the  great  majority  of  the  population  is 
agricultural.  The  peasants  live  assembled  in  vil- 
lages ;  going  out  to  their  fields  to  labour,  and  re- 
turning, with  their  cattle,  to  the  village  at  night. 

Villages  vary  much  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  :  in  many  parts  they  are  walled,  and  capa- 
ble of  a  short  defence  against  the  light  troops  of  a 
hostile  army ;  and,  in  some  disturbed  tracts,  even 
against  their  neighbours,  and  against  the  govern- 
ment officers :  others  are  open  ;  and  others  only 
closed  by  a  fence  and  gate,  to  keep  in  the  cattle  at 
night. 

The  houses  of  a  Bengal  and  Hindostan  village 
have  been  contrasted.  The  cottage  of  Bengal,  with 
its  trim  curved  thatched  roof  and  cane  walls,  is  the 
best  looking  in  India. 

Those  of  Hindostan  are  tiled,  and  built  of  clay 
or  unburnt  bricks  ;  and,  though  equally  convenient, 
have  less  neatness  of  appearance.  The  mud  or 
stone  huts  and  terraced  roofs  of  the  Deckan  village 
look  as  if  they  were  mere  uncovered  ruins,  and  are 
the  least  pleasing  to  the  eye  of  any.  Further  south, 
though  the  material  is  the  same,  the  execution  is 
much  better  ;  and  the  walls,  being  painted  in  broad 
perpendicular  streaks  of  white  and  red,  have  an 
appearance  of  neatness  and  cleanness. 

Each  village  has  its  bazar,  composed  of  shops  for 


MANNERS.  327 

the  sale  of  grain,  tobacco,  sweetmeats,  coarse  cloth,     chap. 


XI. 


and  other  articles  of  village  consumption.  Each 
has  its  market  day,  and  its  annual  fairs  and  festivals ; 
and  each,  in  most  parts  of  India,  has,  at  least,  one 
temple,  and  one  house  or  shed  for  lodging  stran- 
gers. All  villages  make  an  allowance  for  giving 
food  or  charity  to  religious  mendicants,  and  levy  a 
fund  for  this  and  other  expenses,  including  public 
festivities  on  particular  holidays.  The  house  for 
strangers  sometimes  contains  also  the  shrine  of  a 
god,  and  is  generally  used  as  the  town  house  ; 
though  there  are  usually  some  shady  trees  in  every 
village,  under  which  the  heads  of  the  village  and 
others  meet  to  transact  their  business.  No  benches 
or  tables  are  required  on  any  occasion. 

In  houses,  also,  there  is  no  furniture  but  a  mat  Habits  of 
for  sitting  on,  and  some  earthen  and  brass  pots  and 
dishes,  a  hand-mill,  ])estle  and  mortar,  an  iron  plate 
for  baking  cakes  on,  and  some  such  articles.  The 
bed,  which  requires  neither  bedding  nor  curtains, 
is  set  ui)right  against  the  wall  during  the  day  ;  and 
cooking  is  carried  on  under  a  shed,  or  out  of  doors. 
The  huts,  though  bare,  are  clean  and  neat. 

There  is  scarcely  more  furniture  in  the  houses 
of  the  richer  inhabitants  of  the  village.  Their  dis- 
tinction is,  that  they  are  two  stories  high,  and  have 
a  court-yard. 

The  condition  of  the  country  people  is  not,  in 
general,  prosperous.  They  usually  borrow  money  to 
pay  their  rent,  and  consequently  get  involved  in  ac- 
counts and  debts,  through  which,  they  are  so  liable 

Y     1< 


328 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     to  imposition,  that  they  can  scarcely  get  extricated. 

They  are  also,  in  general,  so  improvident,   that  if 

they  were  clear,  they  would  omit  to  lay  up  money 
for  their  necessary  payments,  and  soon  be  in  debt 
again.  Some,  however,  are  prudent,  and  acquire 
property.  Their  villages  are  sometimes  disturbed 
by  factions  against  the  headman,  or  by  oppression 
on  his  part,  or  that  of  the  government ;  and  they 
have  more  litigation  among  themselves  than  the 
same  class  in  England  ;  but  violence  of  all  sorts  is 
extremely  rare,  drunkenness  scarcely  known,  and, 
on  the  whole,  the  country  people  are  remarkably 
qiiiet,  well-behaved,  and,  for  their  circumstances, 
happy  and  contented. 

The  husbandman  rises  with  the  earliest  dawn ; 
washes,  and  says  a  prayer  ;  then  sets  out  with  his 
cattle  to  his  distant  field.  After  an  hour  or  two, 
he  eats  some  remnants  of  his  yesterday's  fare  for 
breakfast,  and  goes  on  vvith  his  labour  till  noon, 
when  his  wife  brings  out  his  hot  dinner  ;  he  eats 
it  by  a  brook  or  under  a  tree,  talks  and  sleeps  till 
two  o'clock,  while  his  cattle  also  feed  and  repose. 
From  two  till  sunset  he  labours  again  j  then  drives 
his  cattle  home,  feeds  them,  bathes,  eats  some  sup» 
per,  smokes,  and  spends  the  rest  of  the  evening  in 
amusement  with  his  wife  and  children,  or  his  neigh- 
bours. The  women  fetch  water,  grind  the  corn, 
cook,  and  do  the  household  work,  besides  spinning, 
and  such  occupations. 

Towns.  Hindu  towns  are  formed  of  high  brick  or  stone 

houses,  with  a  few  small  and  high-placed  windows. 


MANNERS.  329 

over  very  narrow  streets,  whicli  are  paved  (if  paved  chap. 
at  all)  with  large  uneven  slabs  of  stone.  They  are  ' 
crowded  with  people  moving  to  and  fro ;  proces- 
sions, palankeens,  and  carriages  drawn  by  oxen  ; 
running  footmen  with  sword  and  buckler,  religious 
mendicants,  soldiers  out  of  service  smoking  or 
lounging ;  and  sacred  bulls,  that  can  scarcely  be 
made  to  move  their  unwieldy  bulk  out  of  the  way 
of  the  passenger,  or  to  desist  from  feeding  on  the 
grain  exposed  for  sale. 

The  most  conspicuous  shops  are  those  of  con- 
fectioners, frLiiterers,  grainsellers,  braziers,  drug- 
gists, and  tobacconists  ;  sellers  of  cloth,  shawls, 
and  other  stuffs,  keep  their  goods  in  bales  ;  and 
those  of  more  precious  articles  do  not  expose 
them.  They  are  quite  open  towards  the  street, 
and  often  are  merely  the  veranda  in  front  of  the 
house  ;  the  customers  standing  and  making  their 
purchases  in  the  street. 

Towns  are  often  walled,  and  capable  of  defence. 

They  have  not  hereditary  headmen  and  officers, 
like  villages,  but  are  generally  the  residence  of  the 
government  agent  in  charge  of  the  district,  who 
manages  them,  with  the  help  of  an  establishment 
for  police  and  revenue.  They  are  divided  into 
wards  for  the  })urposes  of  police  ;  and  each  cast  has 
its  own  elected  head,  who  communicates  between 
the  government  and  its  members.  These  casts, 
being  in  general  trades  also,  are  attended  with  all 
the  good  and  bad  consequences  of  such  combina- 
tions. 


830  HISTOllV    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         The  principal  inhabitants  are  bankers  and  mer- 
"       chants,  and  people    connected   with    the   govern- 


ment. 

Bankers  and  merchants  generally  combine  both 
trades,  and  farm  the  public  revenues  besides.  They 
make  great  profits,  and  often  without  much  risk. 
In  transactions  with  governments  they  frequently 
secure  a  mortgage  on  the  revenue,  or  the  guarantee 
of  some  powerful  person,  for  the  discharge  of  their 
debt.  They  lend  money  on  an  immense  premium, 
and  with  very  high  compound  interest,  which  in- 
creases so  rapidly,  that  the  repayment  is  always  a 
compromise,  in  which  the  lender  gives  up  a  great 
part  of  his  demand,  still  retaining  an  ample  profit. 
They  live  plainly  and  frugally,  but  often  spend  vast 
sums  on  domestic  festivals  or  public  works. 

The  great  men  about  the  government  will  be 
spoken  of  hereafter,  but  the  innumerable  clerks  and 
hangers  on  in  lower  stations  must  not  be  passed 
over  without  mention.  Not  only  has  every  office 
numbers  of  these  men,  but  every  department,  how- 
ever small,  must  have  one  :  a  company  of  soldiers 
would  not  be  complete  without  its  clerk.  Every 
nobleman  (besides  those  employed  in  collections 
and  accounts)  has  clerks  of  the  kitchen,  of  the 
stable,  the  hawking  establishment,  &c.  Intercourse 
of  business  and  civility  is  carried  on  through  these 
people,  who  also  furnish  the  newswriters  ;  and,  after 
all,  great  numbers  are  unemployed,  and  are  ready 
agents  in  every  sort  of  plot  and  intrigue. 
Food,  and        The  food  of  the  common  people,  both  in  the 

manner  of 


MANNERS.  S3i 


country  and  in  towns,  is  unleavened  bread  with     chap. 
boiled  vegetables,  clarified  butter  or  oil,  and  spices. 


Smoking?  tobacco  is  almost  the  only  luxury.     Some  <^^'i"g'  "^ 

*^       ^  ^  ./  ./  all  classes. 

few  smoke  intoxicating  drugs  ;  and  the  lowest  casts 
alone,  and  even  they  rarely,  get  drunk  with  spirits. 
Drunkenness  is  confined  to  damp  countries,  such 
as  Bengal,  the  Concans,  and  some  parts  of  the  south 
of  India.  It  increases  in  our  territories,  w^here 
spirits  are  taxed ;  but  is  so  little  of  a  natural  pro- 
pensity, that  the  absolute  prohibition  of  spirits, 
which  exists  in  most  native  states,  is  sufficient  to 
keep  it  down.  Opium,  which  is  used  to  great  ex- 
cess in  the  west  of  Hindostan,  is  pecuhar  to  the 
Rajputs,  and  does  not  affect  the  lower  classes.  All 
but  the  poorest  people  chew  bitel  (a  pungent 
aromatic  leaf)  with  the  hard  nut  of  the  areca, 
mixed  with  a  sort  of  lime  made  from  shells,  and 
with  various  spices,  according  to  tlie  person's  means. 
Some  kinds  of  fruit  are  cheap  and  common. 

The  upper  classes,  at  least  the  Bramin  part  of 
them,  have  very  little  more  variety ;  it  consists  in 
the  greater  number  of  kinds  of  vegetables  and 
spices,  and  in  the  cookery.  Assafoetida  is  a  favourite 
ingredient,  as  giving  to  some  of  their  riciier  dishes 
something  of  the  flavour  of  flesh.  Tiie  caution 
used  against  eating  out  of  dishes  or  on  carpets  de- 
filed by  other  casts  gives  rise  to  some  curious  cus- 
toms. At  a  great  Bramin  dinner,  where  twenty  or 
thirty  different  dishes  and  condiments  are  placed 
before  each  individual,  all  are  served  in  vessels 
made  of  leaves  sewed  together.     These  are  placed 


332  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     on  the  bare  floor,  which,  as  a  substitute  for  a  table 
'       cloth,  is  decorated  for  a  certain  distance  in  front  of 


the  guests,  with  patterns  of  flowers,  &c.,  very  pret- 
tily laid  out  in  lively-coloured  sorts  of  sand,  spread 
through  frames  in  which  the  patterns  are  cut,  and 
swept  away  after  the  dinner.  The  inferior  casts  of 
Hindus  eat  meat,  and  care  less  about  their  vessels  ; 
metal,  especially,  can  always  be  purified  by  scour- 
ing. In  all  classes,  however,  the  diff'erence  of  cast 
leads  to  a  want  of  sociability.  A  soldier,  or  any 
one  away  from  his  family,  cooks  his  solitary  meal 
for  himself,  and  finishes  it  without  a  companion,  or 
any  of  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  but  those  derived 
from  taking  the  necessary  supply  of  food.  All  eat 
with  their  fingers,  and  scrupulously  wash  before 
and  after  meals. 
In-door  Thouffh  they  have  chess,  a  game  pla3^ed  with 

amuse-  .  . 

ments.  tablcs  and  dice  as  backgammon  is,  and  cards, 
(which  are  circular,  in  many  suits,  and  painted  with 
Hindu  gods,  &c.,  instead  of  kingvS,  queens,  and 
knaves,)  yet  the  great  in-door  amusement  is  to 
listen  to  singing  interspersed  with  slow  movements 
which  can  scarcely  be  called  dancing.  The  atti- 
tudes are  not  ungraceful,  and  the  songs,  as  has  been 
mentioned,  are  pleasing ;  but  it  is,  after  all,  a  lan- 
guid and  monotonous  entertainment ;  and  it  is 
astonishing  to  see  the  delight  that  all  ranks  take  in 
it ;  the  lower  orders,  in  particular,  often  standing 
for  whole  nights  to  enjoy  this  unvaried  amuse- 
ment. 

These  exhibitions   are   now  often   illuminated, 


MANNERS.  333 

when  in  rooms,  by  English  chandehers ;  but  the     chap. 


XL 


true  Hindu  way  of  Hghting  them  up  is  by  torclies 
lield  by  men,  who  feed  the  flame  with  oil  from  a 
sort  of  bottle  constructed  for  the  purpose.  For 
ordinary  household  purposes  they  use  lamps  of 
earthenware  or  metal. 

In  the  houses  of  the  rich,  the  doorways  are  hung  Houses, 
with    quilted    silk    curtains;    and    the    doors,   the  andTon-^' 
arches,   and   other   wood-work   in    the   rooms   are  oJ'^the"" 
liishly  carved.      The  floor  is  entirely  covered  with  "pp'^'" 

o      J  J  classes. 

a  thin  mattress  of  cotton,  over  which  is  spread  a 
clean  white  cloth  to  sit  on  ;  but  there  is  no  other 
furniture  of  any  description.  Equals  sit  in  opposite 
rows  down  the  room.  A  prince  or  great  chief  has 
a  seat  at  the  head  of  the  room  between  the  rows, 
very  slightly  raised  by  an  additional  mattress,  and 
covered  with  a  small  carpet  of  embroidered  silk. 
This,  with  a  higli  round  embroidered  bolster  be- 
hind, forms  what  is  called  a  masnad  or  gadi,  and 
serves  as  a  throne  for  sovereigns  under  the  rank  of 
kino;. 

Great  attention  is  paid  to  ceremony.  A  person 
of  distinction  is  met  a  mile  or  two  before  he  enters 
the  city  ;  and  a  visitor  is  received  (according  to 
his  rank)  at  the  outer  gate  of  the  house,  at  the 
door  of  the  room,  or  by  merely  rising  from  the 
seat.  Friends  embrace  if  they  have  not  met  for 
some  time.  Bramins  are  saluted  by  joining  the 
palms,  and  raising  them  twice  or  thrice  to  the  fore- 
head :  with  others,  the  salute  with  one  hand  is 
used,  so  well  known  by  the  Mahometan  name  of 


334f  HISTORY  or  india. 

BOOK  salam.  Bramins  have  a  peculiar  phrase  of  saluta- 
'  tion  for  each  other.  Other  Hindus,  on  meeting, 
repeat  twice  the  name  of  the  god  Rama.  Visitors 
are  seated  with  strict  attention  to  their  rank,  which, 
on  pubhc  occasions,  it  often  takes  mucli  previous 
negotiation  to  settle.  Hindus  of  rank  are  remark- 
able for  their  politeness  to  inferiors,  generally  ad- 
dressing them  by  some  civil  or  familiar  term,  and 
scarcely  ever  being  provoked  to  abusive  or  harsh 
language. 

The  low^er  classes  are  courteous  in  their  general 
manners  among  themselves,  but  by  no  means  so 
scrupulous  in  their  language  when  irritated. 

All  visits  end  by  the  master  of  the  house  pre- 
senting bitel  leaf  with  areca  nut,  &c.  to  the 
guest :  it  is  accompanied  by  attar  of  roses  or  some 
other  perfume  put  on  the  handkerchief^  and  rose- 
w^ater  sprinkled  over  the  person  ;  and  this  is  the 
signal  for  taking  leave. 

At  first  meetings,  and  at  entertainments,  trays  of 
shawls  and  other  materials  for  dresses  are  presented 
to  the  guests,  together  with  pearl  necklaces,  brace- 
lets, and  ornaments  for  the  turban  of  jewels:  a 
sw^ord,  a  horse,  and  an  elephant  are  added  when 
both  parties  are  men  of  high  rank.  I  do  not  know 
hov/  much  of  this  custom  is  ancient,  but  presents 
of  bracelets,  &c.  are  frequent  in  the  oldest  dramas. 

Such  presents  are  also  given  to  meritorious  ser- 
vants, to  soldiers  who  have  distinguished  them- 
selves, and  to  poets  or  learned  men  :  they  are 
showered  on  favourite  singers  and  dancers. 


MANNERS.  335 

At  formal  meetings  nobody  speaks  but  the  prin  chap. 
cipal  persons,  but  in  other  companies  there  is  a  ' 
great  deal  of  unrestrained  conversation.  The  man- 
ner of  the  Hindus  is  polite,  and  their  language 
obsequious.  They  abound  in  compliments  and 
expressions  of  humihty  even  to  their  equals,  and 
when  they  have  no  object  to  gain.  They  seldom 
show  much  desire  of  knowledge,  or  disposition  to 
extend  their  thoughts  beyond  their  ordinary  habits. 
Within  that  sphere,  however,  their  conversation  is 
shrewd  and  intelligent,  often  mixed  with  lively 
and  satirical  observations. 

The  rich  rise  at  the  same  hour  as  the  common 
people,  or,  perhaps,  not  quite  so  early ;  perform 
their  devotions  in  their  own  chapels ;  despatch 
private  and  other  business  with  their  immediate 
officers  and  dependants  ;  bathe,  dine,  and  sleep. 
At  two  or  three  they  dress,  and  appear  in  their 
public  apartments,  where  they  receive  visits  and 
transact  business  till  very  late  at  night.  Some  also 
listen  to  music  till  late :  but  these  occupations  are 
confined  to  the  rich,  and,  in  general,  a  Hindu  town 
is  all  quiet  soon  after  dark. 

Entertainments,  besides  occasions  of  rare  occur-  Entertain- 

.        ,  nicnts  and 

rence,  as  marriages,  &c.,  are  given  on  particular  pomp  of 
festivals,  and  sometimes  to  show  attention  to  parti- 
cular friends.  Among  themselves  they  commence 
with  a  dinner ;  but  the  essential  part  of  the  enter- 
tainment is  dancing  and  singing,  sometimes  diver- 
sified with  jugglers  and  bufibons  ;  during  which 
time  perfumes  are  burnt,  and  the  guests  are  dressed 


)00  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     with  garlands  of  sweet-smellinoj  flowers  :  presents, 

III.  .  . 
as  above  described,  are  no  less  essential. 

At  courts  there  are  certain  days  on  which  all  the 
great  and  all  public  officers  wait  on  the  prince  to 
pay  their  duty ;  and,  on  those  occasions,  the  crowd 
in  attendance  is  equal  to  that  of  a  birthday  levee 
in  Europe. 

All  go  up  to  the  prince  in  succession,  and  pre- 
sent him  with  a  nazzer,  which  is  one  or  more 
pieces  of  money  laid  on  a  napkin,  and  which  it  is 
usual  to  offer  to  superiors  on  all  formal  meetings. 
The  amount  depends  on  the  rank  of  the  offerer ; 
the  lowest  in  general  is  a  rupee,  yet  poor  people 
sometimes  present  a  flower,  and  shopkeepers  often 
some  article  of  their  traffic  or  manufacture.  A 
dress  of  some  sort  is,  on  most  occasions,  given  in 
return.  The  price  of  one  dress  is  equal  to  many 
nazzers.  The  highest  regular  nazzer  is  100  ash- 
refis,  equal  to  150  or  I70  guineas  ;  but  people  have 
been  known  to  present  jewels  of  high  value ;  and 
it  is  by  no  means  uncommon,  when  a  prince  visits 
a  person  of  inferior  rank,  to  construct  a  low  base 
for  his  masnad  of  bags  containing  in  all  100,000 
rupees  (or  10,000/.),  which  are  all  considered  part 
of  the  nazzer.  So  much  is  that  a  form,  that  it 
has  been  done  w^hen  the  Nizam  visited  the  re- 
sident at  Hyderabad,  though  that  prince  was  little 
more  than  a  dependant  on  our  government.  I 
mention  this  as  a  general  custom  at  present,  though 
not  sure  that  it  is  originally  Hindu. 

The  religious  festivals  are  of  a  less  doubtful  cha- 


MANNERS.  33J 

racter.     In  them  a  great  hall  is  fitted  up  in  honour     chap. 

of  the  deity  of  the  day.    His  image,  richly  adorned,  

and  surrounded  by  gilded  ballustrades,  occupies 
the  centre  of  one  end  of  the  apartment,  while  the 
prince  and  his  court,  in  splendid  dresses  and  jewels, 
are  arranged  along  one  side  of  the  room  as  guests 
or  attendants.  The  rest  of  the  ceremony  is  like 
other  entertainments.  The  songs  may,  perhaps, 
be  appropriate  ;  but  the  incense,  the  chaplets  of 
flowers,  and  other  presents  are  as  on  ordinary 
occasions  :  the  bitel  leaf  and  attar,  indeed,  are 
brought  from  before  the  idol,  and  distributed  as  if 
from  him  to  his  visitors. 

Among  the  most  striking  of  these  religious  ex- 
hibitions is  that  of  the  capture  of  Lanka,  in  honour 
of  Rtima,  which  is  necessarily  performed  out  of 
doors. 

Lanka  is  represented  by  a  spacious  castle  with 
towers  and  battlements,  which  are  assailed  by  an 
army  dressed  like  Rama  and  his  followers,  with 
Hanuman  and  his  monkey  alhes.  The  combat 
ends  in  the  destruction  of  Lanka,  amidst  a  blaze 
of  fireworks  which  would  excite  admiration  in  any 
part  of  the  world,  and  in  a  triumphal  procession 
sometimes  conducted  in  a  style  of  grandeur  which 
might  become  a  more  important  occasion. 

This  festival  is  celebrated  in  another  manner, 
and  with  still  greater  splendor,  among  theMarattas. 
It  is  the  day  on  which  they  always  commence  their 
military  operations  ;  and  the  })articular  event  which 
they  commemorate   is   Rama's    devotions  and  his 

vol,.  I.  z 


338  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    pluckino^  a  branch  from  a  certain  tree,  before  he 
III.       ^  ^    ,  . 
set  out  on  his  expedition. 

A  tree  of  this  sort  is  planted  in  an  open  plain 
near  the  camp  or  city  ;  and  all  the  infantry  and 
guns,  and  as  many  of  the  cavalry  as  do  not  accom- 
pany the  prince,  are  drawn  up  on  each  side  of  the 
spot,  or  form  a  wide  street  leading  up  to  it.  The 
rest  of  the  plain  is  filled  with  innumerable  spec- 
tators. The  procession,  though  less  regular  than 
those  of  Mahometan  princes,  is  one  of  the  finest 
displays  of  the  sort  in  India.  The  chief  advances 
on  his  elephant,  preceded  by  flags  and  gold  and 
silver  sticks  or  maces,  and  by  a  phalanx  of  men  on 
foot  bearing  pikes  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet  long. 
On  each  side  are  his  nobles  and  military  leaders  on 
horseback,  with  sumptuous  dresses  and  caparisons, 
and  each  with  some  attendants  selected  for  their 
martial  appearance  ;  behind  are  long  trains  of  ele- 
phants with  their  sweeping  housings,  some  with 
flags  of  immense  size,  and  glittering  with  gold  and 
embroidery  ;  some  bearing  howdahs,  open  or 
roofed,  often  of  silver,  plain  or  gilt,  and  of  forms 
peculiarly  oriental :  around  and  behind  is  a  cloud 
of  horsemen,  their  trappings  glancing  in  the  sun, 
and  their  scarfs  of  cloth  of  gold  fluttering  in  the 
wind,  all  overtopped  by  sloping  spears  and  waving 
banners ;  those  on  the  flanks  dashing  out,  and 
returning  after  displaying  some  evolutions  of 
horsemanship :  the  Vv'hole  moving,  mixing,  and 
continually  shifting  its  form  as  it  adv^ances,  and 
presenting  one  of  the  most   animating  and  most 


BIANNEKS.  339 

gorgeous  spectacles  that  is  ever  seen,  even  in  tliat     chap. 

land  of  barbarous  magnificence.     As  the  chief  ap-  

proaches,  the  guns  are  fired,  the  infantry  discharge 
their  pieces,  and  the  procession  moves  on  witli 
accelerated  speed,  exhibiting  a  lively  picture  of  an 
attack  by  a  great  body  of  cavalry  on  an  army 
drawn  up  to  receive  them. 

When  the  prince  has  performed  his  devotions 
and  plucked  his  bough,  his  example  is  followed  by 
those  around  him  :  a  fresh  salvo  of  all  the  guns  is 
fired;  and,  at  the  signal,  the  other  troops  break  oft, 
and  each  man  snatches  some  leaves  from  one  of 
the  fields  of  tall  grain  which  is  grown  for  the  pur- 
pose near  the  spot :  each  sticks  his  prize  in  his 
turban,  and  all  exchange  compliments  and  con- 
gratulations. A  grand  darbar,  at  which  all  the 
court  and  military  officers  attend,  closes  the  day. 

There  is  less  grandeur,  but  scarcely  less  interest,  Fairs,  pii- 
in  the  fairs  and  festivals  of  the  common  peoj)le.        1^^ 

These  have  a  strong  resemblance  to  fairs  in 
England,  and  exhibit  the  same  whirling  machines, 
and  the  same  amusements  and  occupations.  But 
no  assemblage  in  England  can  give  a  notion  of  the 
lively  effect  produced  by  the  prodigious  concourse 
of  people  in  white  dresses  and  bright  coloured 
scarfs  and  tinbans,  so  unlike  the  bhick  head-dresses 
and  dusky  habits  of  the  north.  Their  taste  for 
gaudy  shows  and  processions,  and  the  mixture  of 
arms  and  flags,  give  also  a  different  character  to 
the  Indian  fairs.  Tlie  Hindus  enter  into  the  amuse- 
ments of  these  meetings  with   (he  utmost  relish, 

z  y 


•rrimages, 


340  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  and  show  every  sign  of  peaceful  festivity  and  en- 
-»~«.__^  joyment.  They  may,  on  all  these  occasions,  have 
some  religious  ceremony  to  go  through,  but  it 
does  not  take  up  a  moment,  and  seldom  occupies 
a  thought.  At  the  pilgrimages,  indeed,  the  long 
anticipation  of  the  worship  to  be  performed,  the 
example  of  other  pilgrims  invoking  the  god  aloud, 
and  the  sanctity  of  the  place,  concur  to  produce 
stronger  feelings  of  devotion.  There  are  also  more 
ceremonies  to  be  gone  through,  and  sometimes  these 
are  joined  in  by  the  whole  assembly  ;  when  the 
thousands  of  eyes  directed  to  one  point,  and  of 
voices  shouting  one  name,  is  often  impressive  ev^en 
to  the  least  interested  spectator. 

But,  even  at  pilgrimages,  the  feeling  of  amuse- 
ment is  much  stronger  than  that  of  religious  zeal ; 
and  many  such  places  are  also  among  the  most 
celebrated  marts  for  the  transfer  of  merchandise, 
and  for  all  the  purposes  of  a  fair. 
Gardens,  Amoug  tlic  cnjoyiTients  of  the  upper  classes,  I 

scenery."^^  sliouUl  uot  omit  their  gardens,  which,  though  always 
formal,  are  nevertheless  often  pleasing.  They  are 
divided  by  broad  alleys,  with  long  and  narrow 
ponds  or  canals  inclosed  with  regular  stone  and 
stucco  work  running  up  the  centre,  and,  on  each 
side,  straight  walks  between  borders  of  poppies  of 
all  colours,  or  of  other  flowers  in  uniform  beds  or 
in  patterns.  Their  summer  houses  are  of  white 
stucco,  and  though  somewhat  less  heavy  and  in- 
elegant than  their  ordinary  dwellings,  do  not  much 
relieve  the  formality  of  the  garden  :  but  there  is 


MANNERS.  341 

still  something  rich  and  oriental  in  the  groves  of    chap. 

orange   and    citron    trees,     the    mixture    of   dark  

cypresses  with  trees  covered  with  flowers  or  blos- 
soms, the  tall  and  graceful  palms,  the  golden  fruits 
and  highly  scented  flowers.  In  the  heats  of  sum- 
mer, too,  the  trellised  walks,  closely  covered  with 
vines,  and  the  slender  stems  and  impervious  shade 
of  the  areca  tree,  afford  dark  and  cool  retreats 
from  the  intolerable  glare  of  the  sun,  made  still 
more  pleasant  by  the  gushing  of  the  little  rills  that 
water  the  garden,  and  by  the  profound  silence  and 
repose  that  reign  in  that  overpowering  hour. 

I  have  great  doubts  whether  the  present  kind  of 
gardens  has  not  been  introduced  by  the  Mussul- 
mans, especially  as  I  remember  no  description  in 
the  poets  that  are  translated  which  suggests  this 
sort  of  formality. 

The  flowers  and  trees  of  Indian  gardens  are 
neither  collected  with  the  industry,  nor  improved 
witli  the  care,  of  those  in  Europe  ;  and  it  is  amidst 
the  natural  scenery  that  we  see  both  in  the  greatest 
perfection.  The  country  is  often  scattered  with 
old  mangoe  trees  and  lofty  tamarinds  and  pipals, 
which,  in  Guzerat  especially,  are  accompanied  with 
undulations  of  the  ground  that  give  to  extensive 
tracts  the  varied  beauties  of  an  Enghsh  park.  In 
other  parts,  as  in  Rohilcand,  a  perfectly  flat  and 
incredibly  fertile  })lain  is  scattered  with  mangoe 
orchards,  and  deHglits  us  witli  its  extent  and  pro- 
sperity, until  at  last  it  wearies  with  its  monotony. 
In  some  parts  of  Bengal  the  traveller  enters  on  a 

z  3 


34^  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  similar  flat  covered  with  one  sheet  of  rice,  but 
'  without  a  tree,  except  at  a  distance  on  every  side, 
wliere  appears  a  thick  bamboo  jungle,  such  as  might 
be  expected  to  harbour  wild  beasts.  When  this 
jungle  is  reached,  it  proves  to  be  a  narrow  belt 
filled  with  villages  and  teeming  with  population  ; 
and  when  it  is  passed,  another  bare  flat  succeeds, 
again  encircled  with  bamboo  jungle  almost  at  the 
extremity  of  the  horizon. 

The  central  part  of  the  Deckan  is  composed  of 
waving  downs,  which  at  one  time  present,  for 
hundreds  of  miles,  one  unbroken  sheet  of  green 
harvests,  high  enough  to  conceal  a  man  and  horse*, 
but  in  the  hot  season  bear  the  appearance  of  a 
desert,  naked  and  brown,  without  a  tree  or  a  shrub 
to  relieve  its  gloomy  sameness.  In  many  places, 
especially  in  the  west,  are  woods  of  old  trees  filled 
with  scented  creepers,  some  bearing  flowers  of  the 
most  splendid  colours,  and  others  twining  among  the 
branches,  or  stretching  boldly  from  tree  to  tree, 
with  stems  as  thick  as  a  man's  thigh.  The  forests 
in  the  eastt  and  the  centre  of  India t,  and  near 
one  part  of  the  western  Ghats §,  are  composed  of 
trees  of  prodigious  magnitude,  almost  undisturbed 
by  habitations,  and  imperfectly  traversed  by  narrow 
roads,  like  the  wildest  parts  of  America. 

*  Of  bajri  (Holcus  spicatus)  and  juar  (Holcus  sorghum). 
f   The  sal  forests  near  the  mountains. 

-\.  The  forest  that  fills  the  country  from  Nagpur  to  Bengal? 
and  from  Bundelcand  to  the  northern  Circars. 
§  Malabar,  c^c. 


MANNERS.  343 

In  the  midst  of  the  best  cultivated  country  are    chap. 
often  found  spaces  of  several  days'  journey  across       '^^' 
covered   with    the   palas    or   dak  tree,   which    in 
spring  loses  all  its  leaves  and  is  entirely  covered 
with  large  red  and  orange  flowers,  which  make  the 
whole  of  the  hills  seem  in  a  blaze. 

The  noblest  scenery  in  India  is  under  Hema- 
laya,  where  the  ridges  are  broken  into  every  form 
of  the  picturesque,  with  abrupt  rocks,  mossy  banks, 
and  slopes  covered  with  gigantic  pines  and  other 
trees  on  the  same  vast  scale,  mixed  with  the  most 
beautiful  of  our  flowering  shrubs  and  the  best  of 
our  fruits  in  their  state  of  nature.  Over  the  whole 
towers  the  majestic  chain  of  Hemalaya  covered 
with  eternal  snow ;  a  sight  which  tlie  soberest 
traveller  has  never  described  without  kindling  into 
enthusiasm,  and  whicli,  if  once  seen,  leaves  an 
impression  that  can  never  be  equalled  or  effaced. 
The  western  Ghats  present  the  charms  of  mountain 
scenery  on  a  smaller  scale  ;  but  it  is  no  exagge- 
ration of  their  merits  to  say  that  they  strongly 
resemble  the  valleys  of  the  Neda  and  the  Ladon, 
which  have  long  been  the  boast  of  Arcadia  and  of 
Europe. 

The  beauty  of  the  Ghats,  however,  depends  en- 
tirely on  the  season  when  they  are  seen  ;  in  sum- 
mer, when  stripped  of  their  clouds  and  deprived  of 
their  rich  carpet  of  verdure  and  their  innumerable 
cascades,  the  height  of  the  mountains  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  compensate  by  its  grandeur  for  their  gene- 
ral sterility,  and  tlie  only  pleasure  they  afford  is 

z    1' 


344<  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

EOOK    derived  from  the  stately  forests  which  still  clothe 
"       their  sides. 


Manner  of       Thc  dav  of  the  Door  in  towns  is  spent  much  like 

life  of  the  -n  11  1      • 

towns-  that  of  the  villagers,  except  that  they  go  to  then' 
festival's  of  shop  instcad  of  the  field,  and  to  the  bazar  for 
amusement  and  society.  The  villagers  have  some 
active  games  ;  but  the  out  of  door  amusements  of 
the  townspeople  are  confined  to  those  at  fairs  and 
festivals  ;  some  also  perform  their  complicated 
system  of  athletic  exercise,  and  practise  wrestling ; 
but  there  are  certain  seasons  which  have  their  ap- 
propriate sports,  in  which  all  descriptions  of  people 
eagerly  join. 

Perhaps  the  chief  of  these  is  the  holi,  a  festival 
in  honour  of  the  spring,  at  which  the  common 
people,  especially  the  boys,  dance  round  fires,  sing 
licentious  and  satirical  songs,  and  give  vent  to  all 
sorts  of  ribaldry  against  their  superiors,  by  whom 
it  is  always  taken  in  good  part.  The  great  sport 
of  the  occasion,  however,  consists  in  sprinkling 
each  other  with  a  yellow  liquid,  and  throwing  a 
crimson  powder  over  each  other's  persons.  The 
liquid  is  also  squirted  through  syringes,  and  the 
powder  is  sometimes  made  up  in  large  balls  covered 
with  isinglass,  which  break  as  soon  as  they  come  in 
contact  with  the  body.  All  ranks  engage  in  this 
sport  with  enthusiasm,  and  get  more  and  more  into 
the  spirit  of  the  contest,  till  all  parties  are  com- 
pletely drenched  with  the  liquid,  and  so  covered 
with  the  red  powder,  that  they  can  scarcely  be 
recognised. 


MANNERS.  345 

A  grave  prime  minister  will  invite  a  foreign  am-     chap. 
bassador  to  play  the    holi  at  his  house,   and  will       " 
take  his  share  in  the  most  riotous  parts  of  it  with 
the  ardour  of  a  schoolboy. 

There  are  many  other  festivals  of  a  less'  marked 
character  ;  some  general,  and  some  local.  Of  the 
latter  description  is  the  custom  among  the  Marattas 
of  inviting  each  other  to  eat  the  toasted  grain  of 
the  bajri  (or  Holcus  spicatus)  when  the  ear  first 
begins  to  fill.  This  is  a  natural  luxury  among 
villagers  ;  but  the  custom  extends  to  the  great : 
the  raja  of  Berar,  for  instance,  invites  all  the  prin- 
cipal people  of  his  court,  on  a  succession  of  days, 
to  this  fare,  when  toasted  grain  is  first  served,  and 
is  followed  by  a  regular  banquet. 

The  diwali  is  a  general  festival,  on  which  every 
house  and  temple  is  illuminated  with  rows  of  little 
lamps  along  the  roofs,  windows,  and  cornices,  and 
on  bamboo  frames  erected  for  the  purpose. 

Benares,  seen  from  the  Ganges,  used  to  be  very 
magnificent  on  this  occasion.  During  the  whole 
of  the  month  in  which  this  feast  occurs,  lamps  are 
hung  up  on  bamboos,  at  different  villages  and  pri- 
vate liouses,  so  high  as  often  to  make  the  spectator 
mistake  them  for  stars  low  in  the  horizon. 

The  jannam  ashtomi  is  a  festival  at  whicli  a 
sort  of  opera  is  performed  by  boys  dressed  like 
Crishna  and  his  shepherdesses,  who  perform  ap- 
propriate dances  and  sing  songs  in  character. 

The  military  men  (that  is,  all  the  upper  class  Exercises. 
not  engaged  in  religion  or  commerce,)  are  fond  of 


346  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     bunting,   running   down  wolves,  deer,  hares,  &c. 


__  with  dogs,  which  they  also  employ  against  wild 
boars,  but  depending  chiefly,  on  these  last  occasions, 
on  their  own  swords  or  spears.  They  shoot  tigers 
from  elephants,  and  sometimes  attack  them  on 
horseback  and  on  foot  ;  even  villagers  sometimes 
turn  out  in  a  body  to  attack  a  tiger  that  infests 
their  neighbourhood,  and  conduct  themselves  with 
great  resolution.  As  long  as  a  tiger  does  not  de- 
stroy men,  however,  they  never  quarrel  with  him. 
The  military  men,  notwithstanding  their  habitual 
indolence,  are  all  active  and  excellent  horsemen. 
The  Marattas  in  particular  are  celebrated  for  their 
management  of  the  horse  and  lance.  They  all 
ride  very  short,  and  use  tight  martingales,  and  light 
but  very  sharp  bits.  Their  horses  are  always  well 
on  their  haunches,  and  are  taught  to  turn  suddenly 
when  at  speed,  in  the  least  possible  room.  They 
are  also  taught  to  make  sudden  bounds  forward, 
by  which  they  bring  their  rider  on  his  adversary's 
bridle  arm  before  he  has  time  to  counteract  the 
manoeuvre. 

The  skirmishers  of  two  Indian  armies  mix  and 
contend  with  their  spears  in  a  way  that  looks  very 
like  play  to  an  European.  They  wheel  round 
and  round  each  other,  and  make  feigned  pushes 
apparently  without  any  intention  of  coming  in  con- 
tact, though  always  nearly  within  reach.  They 
are  in  fact  straining  every  nerve  to  carry  their 
point,  but  each  is  thrown  out  by  the  dexterous 
evolutions  of  his  antagonist,    until,  at  length,  one 


MANNERS.  34-7 

being  struck  through  and  knocked  off  his  horse,    chap. 
first  convinces  the  spectator  that  both  parties  were  ' 

in  earnest. 

The  Hindus  are  also  good  shots  with  a  matcli- 
lock  from  a  horse ;  but  in  tliis  they  are  much  ex- 
celled by  the  Mahometans. 

Among  other  instances  of  activity,  great  men 
sometimes  drive  their  own  elephants  ;  defending 
the  seeming  want  of  dignity,  on  the  ground  that  a 
man  should  be  able  to  guide  his  elephant  in  case 
his  driver  should  be  killed  in  battle.  In  early  days 
this  art  was  a  valued  accomplishment  of  the  heroes. 

The  regular  dress  of  all  Hindus  is  probably  that  Uiess. 
which  has  been  mentioned  as  used  in  Bengal,  and 
which  is  worn  hy  all  strict  Bramins.  It  consists 
of  two  long  pieces  of  white  cotton  cloth,  one  of 
which  is  wrapped  round  the  middle  and  tucked 
up  between  the  legs,  while  part  hangs  down  a 
good  deal  below  the  knees  ;  the  other  is  worn 
over  the  shoulders,  and  occasionally  stretched  over 
the  head,  which  has  no  other  covering.*  The 
head  and  beard  are  shaved,  but  a  long  tuft  of  hair 
is  left  on  the  crown.  Mustachios  are  also  worn, 
except  perhaps  by  strict  Brahmins.  Except  in 
Bengal,  all  Hindus,  who  do  not  affect  strictness, 
now  wear  the  lower  piece  of  cloth  smaller  and 
tighter,  and  over  it  a  white  cotton,  or  chintz,  or 
silk  tunic,  a  coloured  muslin  sash  round  the  middle, 
and  a  scarf  of  the  same  material  over  the  slioul- 

*   This    is    exactly    the    Hindu    ch-ess   dcscrihcd  hy   Arrian, 
Ifidica,  cap.  xvi. 


348  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     ders,  with  a  turban  ;   some  wear  loose  drawers  like 
^^^'       the  Mahometans. 

The  full  dress  is  a  long  white  gown  of  almost 
transparent  muslin  close  over  the  body,  but  in 
innumerable  loose  folds  below  the  waist.  This, 
with  the  sash  and  turban,  bracelets,  necklaces,  and 
other  jewels  and  ornaments,  make  the  dress  com- 
plete. As  this  dress  is  partly  borrowed  from  the 
Mahometans,  and  cannot  be  very  ancient,  it  is 
singular  that  it  should  be  accurately  represented 
in  some  of  the  figures  of  kings  on  the  tombs  at 
Thebes  in  Egypt*,  where  the  features,  attitudes, 
and  every  thing  else  are,  by  a  remarkable  coin- 
cidence (for  it  can  be  nothing  more),  exactly  what 
is  seen  in  a  Hindu  raja  of  the  present  day. 
Women.  The  dress  of  the  women  is  nearly  the  same  as 

that  first  described  for  the  men  ;  but  both  the 
pieces  of  cloth  are  much  larger  and  longer,  and 
they  are  of  various  bright  colours  as  well  as  white. 
Both  sexes  wear  many  ornaments.  Men  even  of 
the  lower  orders  wear  earrings,  bracelets,  and  neck- 
laces. They  are  sometimes  worn  as  a  convenient 
way  of  keeping  all  the  money  the  owner  has ;  but 
the  necklaces  are  sometimes  made  of  a  particular 
berrv  that  hardens  into  a  rouffh  but  handsome 
dark  brown  bead,  and  sometimes  of  particular 
kinds  of  wood  turned  ;  and  these  are  mixed  alter- 
nately with  beads  of  gold  or  coral.  The  neck  and 
legs  are  bare ;  but  on  going  out,  embroidered  slip- 

*  Especially  on  the  sides  of  one  of  the  doors  in  Belzoni's  cave- 


MANNERS.  349 

pers  with  a  long  point  curling  up  are  put  on,  and     chap. 

are  laid  aside  again  on  entering  a  room  or  a  palan-  

keen.     Children  are  loaded  with  gold  ornaments, 
which  gives  frequent  temptation  to  child  murder. 

Women,  under  the  ancient  Hindus,  appear  to 
have  been  more  reserved  and  retired  than  with  us  ; 
but  the  complete  seclusion  of  them  has  come  in 
with  the  Mussulmans,  and  is  even  now  confined  to 
the  military  classes.  The  Bramins  do  not  observe 
it  at  all.  The  Peshwa's  consort  used  to  walk  to 
temples,  and  ride  or  go  in  an  open  palankeen 
through  the  streets  with  perfect  publicity,  and  with 
a  retinue  becoming  her  rank. 

Women,  however,  do  not  join  in  the  society  of 
men,  and  are  not  admitted  to  an  equality  with 
them.  In  the  lower  orders,  the  wife,  who  cooks 
and  serves  the  dinner,  waits  till  the  husband  has 
finished  before  she  begins.  When  persons  of  dif- 
ferent sexes  walk  together,  the  woman  always  fol- 
lows the  man,  even  when  there  is  no  obstacle  to 
their  walking  abreast.  Striking  a  woman  is  not  so 
disgraceful  with  the  lower  orders  as  with  us.  But, 
in  spite  of  the  low  place  systematically  assigned  to 
them,  natural  affection  and  reason  restore  them  to 
their  rights  :  their  husbands  confide  in  them,  and 
consult  with  them  on  their  affairs,  and  are  as  often 
subject  to  their  ascendancy  as  in  any  other  country. 

Another  reproach  to  Hindu  civilization,  though  slavery. 
more  real  than  that  just  mentioned,  falls  very  short 
of  the  idea   it  at   first  sight  suggests.     Domestic 
slavery  in  a  mild  form  is  almost  universal.     The 


350  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     slaves  are  home-born,    or   children   sold   by   their 
III.  ,  .  .  "^ 

parents  during  famine,  and  sometimes  children  kid- 
napped by  Banjaras,  a  tribe  of  wandering  herds- 
men, who  gain  their  subsistence  by  conveying 
grain  and  merchandise  from  one  part  of  the  coun- 
try to  another.  Such  a  crime  is,  of  course,  liable 
to  punishment ;  but  from  its  being  only  occasion- 
ally practised,  it  is  even  more  difficult  to  detect 
than  slave  trading  among  ourselves. 

Domestic  slaves  are  treated  exactly  like  serv- 
ants, except  that  they  are  more  regarded  as  belong- 
ing to  the  family.  I  doubt  if  they  are  ever  sold  ; 
and  they  attract  little  observation,  as  there  is  no- 
thing apparent  to  distinguish  them  from  freemen. 
But  slavery  is  nowhere  exempted  from  its  curse. 
The  female  children  kidnapped  are  often  sold  to 
keepers  of  brothels  to  be  brought  up  for  public 
prostitution,  and  in  other  cases  are  exposed  to  the 
passions  of  their  masters  and  the  jealous  cruelty  of 
their  mistresses. 

In  some  parts  of  India  slaves  are  not  confined 
to  the  great  and  rich,  but  are  found  even  in  the 
families  of  cultivators,  where  they  are  treated  ex- 
actly like  the  other  members.  Among  the  ancient 
Hindus  it  will  have  been  observed,  from  Menu,  that 
there  were  no  slaves  attached  to  the  soil.  As  the 
Hindus  spread  to  the  south,  however,-  they  appear 
in  some  places  to  have  found,  or  to  have  esta- 
blished, prsedial  servitude.  In  some  forest  tracts 
there  are  slaves  attached  to  the  soil,  but  in  so  loose 
a  way,  that  they  are  entitled  to  wages,  and,  in  fact, 


MANNERS.  351 

are  under  little  restraint.     In  the  south  of  India     chap. 


XI. 


they  are  attached  to  and  sold  with  the  land ;  and 
in  Malabar  (where  they  seem  in  tlie  most  abject 
condition),  even  without  the  land.  The  number 
in  Malabar  and  the  extreme  south  is  guessed  at 
different  amounts,  from  100,000  to  400,000.  They 
exist  also  in  some  parts  of  Bengal  and  Behar,  and  in 
hilly  tracts  like  those  in  the  south-east  of  Guzerat. 
Their  proportion  to  the -people  of  India  is  however 
insignificant ;  and  in  most  parts  of  that  country 
the  very  name  of  praedial  slavery  is  unknown. 

Marriages  are  performed  with  many  ceremonies,  Ceicmo- 
few  or  which  are  niterestmg  :  among  them  are  marriage, 
joining  the  hands  of  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  and 
tying  them  together  witli  a  blade  of  sacred  grass  ; 
but  the  essential  part  of  the  ceremony  is  when  tlie 
bride  steps  seven  steps,  a  particular  text  being  re- 
peated for  each.  When  the  seventh  step  is  taken, 
the  marriage  is  indissoluble.*  This  is  the  only 
form  of  marriage  now  allowed,  the  other  seven 
being  obsolete. t 

The  prohibition,  so  often  repeated  in  Menu, 
against  the  receipt  by  the  bride's  father  of  any  pre- 
sent from  the  bridegroom,  is  now  more  strictly 
observed  than  it  was  in  his  time.  The  point  of 
honour  in  lliis  respect  is  carried  so  far,  tliat  it  is 
reckoned  disgraceful  to  receive  any  assistance  in 
after  life  from  a  son-in-law  or  brother-in-law.  It 
is  indispensable  that  tlie  bridegroom  should  come  to 

*  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.  pj).  ?)0o.  309. 
t   Ibid.  p.  rUl. 


352 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
III 


Education 


the  house  of  the  father-m-law  to  sue  for  the  bride, 
_.  and  the  marriage  must  also  be  performed  there. 

At  the  visit  of  the  suitor,  the  ancient  modes  of 
liospitality  are  maintained  according  to  a  prescribed 
form.  The  sort  of  entertainment  still  appears  in 
the  production  of  a  cow  to  be  killed  for  the  feast ; 
but  the  suitor  now  intercedes  for  her  life,  and  she 
is  turned  loose  at  his  request.* 

In  the  case  of  princes,  where  the  bride  comes 
from  another  country,  a  temporary  building  is 
erected  with  great  magnificence  and  expense,  as  a 
house  for  the  bride's  father ;  and  in  all  cases  the 
procession  in  which  the  bride  is  taken  home  after 
the  marriage  is  as  showy  as  the  parties  can  aftbrd. 

In  Bengal  these  processions  are  particularly 
sumptuous,  and  marriages  there  have  been  known 
to  cost  lacs  of  rupees. t  Tlie  parties  are  generally 
children  ;  the  bride  must  always  be  under  the  age 
of  puberty,  and  both  are  usually  under  ten.  These 
premature  marriages,  instead  of  producing  attach- 
ment, often  cause  early  and  lasting  disagreements. 

Hindu  parents  are  remarkable  for  their  affection 
for  their  children  while  they  are  young  ;  but  they 
not  unfrequently  have  disputes  with  grown  up  sons, 
the  source  of  which  probably  lies  in  the  legal  re- 
strictions on  the  father's  control  over  his  property. 


*  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  ResearcJieSy  vol.  vii.  pp.  288,  289.  So 
uniform  was  the  practice  of  sacrificing  a  cow  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  a  visitor,  that  goghna  (cow-killer)  is  a  Shanscrit  term 
for  a  guest. 

f  Wardj  vol.  i.  p,  170. 


MANNERS,  353 

Boys  of  family  are  brought  into  company  dressed     chap. 
like  men  (with  little  swords,  Sec),  and  behave  with       ' 
all  the  propriety,  and  almost  all  the  formality,  of 
grown  up  people. 

The  children  of  the  common  people  sprawl  about 
the  streets,  pelt  each  other  with  dust,  and  are  less 
restrained  even  than  children  in  England.  At  this 
age  they  are  generally  very  handsome. 

Tlie  education  of  the  common  people  does  not 
extend  beyond  writing  and  the  elements  of  arith- 
metic. There  are  schools  in  all  towns,  and  in 
some  villages,  paid  by  small  fees  ;  the  expense  for 
each  boy  in  the  south  of  India  is  estimated  at  from 
15s.  to  l6s.  a-year* ;  but  it  must  be  very  much  less 
in  other  places.  In  Bengal  and  Behar  the  fee  is 
often  only  a  small  portion  of  grain  or  uncooked 
vegetables. t 

They  are  taught,  with  the  aid  of  monitors,  in  the 
manner  introduced  from  Madras  into  England. 

The  number  of  children  educated  at  public 
schools  under  the  Madras  presidency  (according 
to  an  estimate  of  Sir  T.  Munro)  is  less  than  one 
in  three  ;  but,  low  as  it  is,  he  justly  remarks,  this 
is  a  higher  rate  than  existed,  till  very  lately,  in 
most  countries  in  Europe.  It  is  probable  tliat  the 
proportion  under  the  other  presidencies  is  not 
greater  than  under  Madras.  I  should  doubt,  in- 
deed, whether  the  average  was  not  a  good  deal  too 

*  Captain  Harkness,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
No.  I.  p.  19. 

f   Mr.  Adams's  Report  on  Education  (Calcutta,  1838). 
vor,.  T.  A  A 


354 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
III. 


Names. 


high.  Women  are  every  where  almost  entirely 
uneducated. 

People  in  good  circumstances  seldom  send  their 
children  to  school,  but  have  them  taught  at  home, 
by  Bramins  retained  for  the  purpose.  The  higher 
branches  of  learning  are  taught  gratuitously  ;  the 
teachers  maintaining  themselves,  and  often  a  portion 
of  their  scholars,  by  means  of  presents  received 
from  princes  and  opulent  individuals. 

There  is  now  no  learning,  except  among  the 
Bramins,  and  with  them  it  is  at  a  low  ebb. 

The  remains  of  ancient  literature  sufficiently 
show  the  far  higher  pitch  to  which  it  had  attained 
in  former  times.  There  is  no  such  proof  of  the 
greater  diffusion  of  knowledge  in  those  days  ;  but 
when  three  of  the  four  classes  were  encouraged  to 
read  the  Vedas,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  more 
generally  well  informed  than  now. 

More  must  be  said  of  Indian  names  than  the 
intrinsic  importance  of  the  subject  deserves,  to 
obviate  the  difficulty  of  recognising  individuals 
named  in  different  histories. 

Few  of  the  Hindu  nations  have  family  names. 
The  Marattas  have  them  exactly  as  in  Europe. 
The  Rajputs  have  names  of  clans  or  tribes,  but  too 
extensive  completely  to  supply  the  place  of  family 
names  ;  and  the  same  is  the  case  with  the  Bramins 
of  the  north  of  India. 

In  the  south  of  India  it  is  usual  to  prefix  the 
name  of  the  city  or  place  of  which  the  person 
is  an  inhabitant  to  his  proper  name,    (as  Carpa 


MANNERS.  355 

Candi  Rao,  Candi  liao  of  Carpa,  or   Caddapa.)  *     chap. 

The  most  general  practice  on  formal  occasions  is  '_ 

that  common  in  most  parts  of  Asia,  of  adding  the 
father's  name  to  that  of  the  son  ;  but  this  practice 
may,  perhaps,  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Mus- 
sulmans. 

An  European  reader  might  be  led  to  call  a  per- 
son indifferently  by  either  of  his  names,  or  to  take 
the  first  or  last  for  shortness  ;  but  the  first  might  be 
the  name  of  a  town,  and  the  last  the  name  of  the 
person's  father,  or  of  his  cast,  and  not  his  own. 

Another  difficulty  arises,  chieflj'  among  the  Ma- 
hometans, from  their  frequent  change  of  title  ;  as  is 
the  case  with  our  own  nobility. 

The  Hindus  in  general  burn  their  dead,  but  Funerals. 
men  of  the  religious  orders  are  buried  in  a  sitting 
posture  cross-legged.  A  dying  man  is  laid  out  of 
doors,  on  a  bed  of  sacred  grass.  Hymns  and 
prayers  are  recited  to  him,  and  leaves  of  the  holy 
basil  scattered  over  him.  If  near  the  Ganges,  he 
is,  if  possible,  carried  to  the  side  of  that  river. 
It  is  said  that  persons  so  carried  to  the  river,  if 
they  recover,  do  not  return  to  their  famihes;  and 
there  are  certainly  villages  on  the  Ganges  which 
arc  pointed  out  as  behig  entirely  inhabited  by  such 
people  and  their  descendants  j  but  the  existence 
of  such  a  custom  is  denied  by  those  likely  to  be 
best  informed  ;  and  the  story  has  probably  ori- 
ginated    in    some    misconception.       After  death, 

*  Men's  offices  also  often  attbrd  a  distinguishing  appellation. 
A  A    '^ 


356  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     the  body  is  bathed,  perfumed,  decked  with  flowers, 

—    and  immediately  carried   out  to  the  pyre.     It  is 

enjoined  to  be  preceded  by  music,  which  is  still 
observed  in  the  south  of  India.  There,  also, 
the  corpse  is  exposed  on  a  bed  with  the  face 
painted  with  crimson  powder.  In  other  parts,  on 
the  contrary,  the  body  is  carefully  covered  up. 
Except  in  the  south,  the  corpse  is  carried  without 
music,  but  with  short  exclamations  of  sorrow  from 
the  attendants. 

The  funeral  pile  for  an  ordinary  person  is  not 
above  four  or  five  feet  high  ;  it  is  decorated  with 
flowers,  and  clarified  butter  and  scented  oils  are 
poured  upon  the  flames.  The  pyre  is  lighted  by 
a  relation,  after  many  ceremonies  and  oblations ; 
and  the  relations,  after  other  observances,  purify 
themselves  in  a  stream,  and  sit  down  on  a  bank  to 
wait  the  progress  of  the  fire.  They  present  a 
melancholy  spectacle  on  such  occasions,  wrapped 
up  in  their  wet  garments,  and  looking  sorrowfully 
on  the  pyre.  Neither  the  wet  dress  nor  the  sorrow 
is  required  by  their  religion  :  on  the  contrary,  they 
are  enjoined  to  alleviate  their  grief  by  repeating 
certain  verses,  and  to  refrain  from  tears  and  la- 
mentations.* 

*  The  following  are  among  the  verses  :  — 

"  Foolish  is  he  who  seeks  permanence  in  the  human  state, 
unsolid  like  the  stem  of  the  plantain  tree,  transient  like  the  foam 
of  the  sea." 

"  All  that  is  low  must  finally  perish  ;  all  that  is  elevated  must 
ultimately  fall." 

*'  Unwillingly  do  the  Manes  taste  the  tears  and  rheum  shed 


MANNERS.  357 

The  Hindus  seldom  erect  tombs,  except  to  men     chap. 

XI 

who  fall  in  battle,  or  widows  who  burn  with  their       ' 


husbands.      Their   tombs   resemble   small   square 
altars. 

The  obsequies  performed  periodically  to  the 
dead  have  been  fully  explained  in  another  place.* 
I  may  mention  here  the  prodigious  expense  some- 
times incurred  on  those  occasions.  A  Hindu  family 
in  Calcutta  were  stated  in  the  newspapers  for 
June,  1824,  to  have  expended,  besides  numerous 
and  most  costly  gifts  to  distinguished  Bramins,  the 
immense  sum  of  500,000  rupees  (.50,000/.)  in  alms 
to  the  poor,  including,  I  suppose,  20,000  rupees, 
which  it  is  m.entioned  that  they  paid  to  release 
debtors.! 

It  is  well  known  that  Indian  widows  sometimes  Sattis. 
sacrifice  themselves  on  the  funeral  pile  of  their  hus- 
bands, and  that  such  victims  are  called  Sattis.  The  - 
period  at  which  this  barbarous  custom  was  intro- 
duced is  uncertain.  It  is  not  alluded  to  by  Menu, 
who  treats  of  the  conduct  proper  for  faithful  and  de- 
voted widows,  as  if  there  were  no  doubt  about  their 
surviving  their  husbands.t  It  is  thought  by  some  to 
have  been  recognised  in  ancient  authorities,  particu- 
larly in  the  Rig  Veda  ;  but  others  deny  this  con- 


by  their  kinsmen  :  then  do  not  wail,  but  diligently  perform  the 
obsequies  of  the  dead." — Colebrooke,  in  Asiatic  liesearc/ies, 
vol.  vii,  p.  244. 

*  Book  I.  p.  80. 

f  Quarterly  Oriental  Mazagine  for  September,  1824,  p.  23. 

X   Book  V.  156,  &c, 

A  A    3 


35S  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  struction  of  the  text.*  It  certainly  is  of  great  anti- 
'  quity,  as  an  instance  is  described  by  Diodorus  (who 
wrote  before  the  birth  of  Christ),  and  is  stated  to 
have  occurred  in  the  army  of  Eumenes  upwards  of 
300  years  before  our  aera.t  The  claim  of  the  elder 
wife  to  preference  over  the  younger,  the  Indian 
law  against  the  burning  of  pregnant  women,  and 
other  similar  circumstances  mentioned  in  his  nar- 
rative, are  too  consistent  with  Hindu  institutions, 
and  the  ceremonies  are  too  correctly  described,  to 
leave  the  least  doubt  that  Diodorus's  account  is 
authentic,  and  that  the  custom  was  as  fully,  though 
probably  not  so  extensively,  established  in  the  time 
of  Eumenes  as  at  present. 

The  practice  is  ascribed  by  Diodorus,  as  it  still 
is  by  our  missionaries,  to  the  degraded  condition 
to  which  a  woman  who  outlives  her  husband  is  con- 
demned. If  tlie  motive  were  one  of  so  general  an 
influence,  the  practice  would  scarcely  be  so  rare. 
It  is  more  probable  that  the  hopes  of  immediately 
entering  on  the  enjoyment  of  heaven,  and  of  en- 
titling the  husband  to  the  same  felicity,  as  well  as 
the  glory  attending  such  a  voluntary  sacrifice,  are 
sufficient  to  excite  the  few  enthusiastic  spirits  who 
go  through  this  awful  trial. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  relations  encourage  self- 

*  See  Translations  by  Raja  Ram  Mohan  Roy,  pp.  200 — 266. 
See  also  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iv.  p.  205.,  and 
Professor  Wilson,  Oxford  Lectures,  p.  19. 

f  Diodorus  Siculus,  lib.  xix.  cap.  ii.  The  custom  is  also 
mentioned^  but  much  less  distinctly,  by  Strabo,  on  the  authority 
of  Aristobulus  and  Oncsicritus, 


MANNERS.  359 

immolation  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  pro-     chap. 
perty  of  the   widow.      It  would   be  judging   too  ' 

harshly  of  human  nature  to  tliink  such  conduct 
frequent,  even  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
cases  where  the  widow  has  property  to  leave  ;  and, 
in  fact,  it  may  be  confidently  relied  on,  that  the 
relations  are  ahnost  in  all,  if  not  in  all  cases,  sin- 
cerely desirous  of  dissuading  the  sacrifice.  For 
this  purpose,  in  addition  to  their  own  entreaties, 
and  those  of  the  infant  children,  when  there  are 
such,  they  procure  the  intervention  of  friends  of 
the  family,  and  of  persons  in  authority.  If  the  case 
be  in  a  family  of  high  rank,  the  sovereign  himself 
goes  to  console  and  dissuade  the  widows  It  is 
reckoned  a  bad  omen  for  a  government  to  have 
many  Sattis.  One  common  expedient  is,  to  engage 
the  widow's  attention  by  such  visits,  while  the  body 
is  removed  and  burnt. 

The  mode  of  concremation  is  various  :  in  Ben- 
gal, the  living  and  dead  bodies  are  stretched  on  a 
pile  where  strong  ropes  and  bamboos  are  thrown 
across  them  so  as  to  prevent  any  attempt  to  rise. 
In  Orissa,  the  woman  throws  herself  into  the  pyre, 
which  is  below  the  lev^el  of  the  ground.  In  the 
Deckan,  the  woman  sits  down  on  the  ])yre  with 
her  husband's  head  in  her  lap,  and  remains  there 
till  suffocated,  or  crushed  by  the  fall  of  a  heavy 
roof  of  logs  of  wood,  which  is  fixed  by  cords  to 
])osts  at  the  corners  of  the  ])ilc. 

'J'hc  sight  of  a  widow  burning  is  a  most  painful 
one  ;  but  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  spectator  is 

A  A    4 


360  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  most  affected  by  pity  or  admiration.  The  more 
'  than  human  serenity  of  the  victim,  and  the  respect 
which  she  receives  from  those  around  her,  are 
heightened  by  her  gentle  demeanour,  and  her  care 
to  omit  nothing  in  distributing  her  last  presents, 
and  paying  the  usual  marks  of  courtesy  to  the  by- 
standers ;  while  the  cruel  death  that  awaits  her 
is  doubly  felt  from  her  own  apparent  insensibility 
to  its  terrors.  The  reflections  which  succeed  are 
of  a  different  character,  and  one  is  humiliated  to 
think  that  so  feeble  a  being  can  be  elevated  by 
superstition  to  a  self-devotion  not  surpassed  by  the 
noblest  examples  of  patriots  or  martyrs. 

I  have  heard  that,  in  Guzerat,  women  about  to 
burn  are  often  stupified  with  opium.  In  most 
other  parts  this  is  certainly  not  the  case.  Women 
go  through  all  the  ceremonies  with  astonishing 
composure  and  presence  of  mind,  and  have  been 
seen  seated,  unconfined,  among  the  flames,  ap- 
parently praying,  and  raising  their  joined  hands  to 
their  heads  with  as  little  agitation  as  at  their  ordi- 
nary devotions.  On  the  other  hand,  frightful  in- 
stances have  occurred  of  women  bursting  from 
amidst  the  flames,  and  being  thrust  back  by  the 
assistants.  One  of  these  diabolical  attempts  was 
made  in  Bengal,  when  an  English  gentleman  hap- 
pened to  be  among  the  spectators,  and  succeeded 
in  preventing  the  accomplishment  of  the  tragedy  ; 
but,  next  day,  he  was  surprised  to  encounter  the 
bitterest  reproaches  from  the  woman,  for  having 
been  the  occasion  of  her  disgrace,  and  the  obstacle 


MANNERS.  361 

to  her  being  then  in  heaven  enjoying  the  company     chap. 
of  her  husband,  and  the  blessings  of  those  she  had  '. — 


left  behind. 

The  practice  is  by  no  means  universal  in  India. 
It  never  occurs  to  the  south  of  the  river  Kishna ; 
and  under  the  Bombay  presidency,  including  the 
former  sovereignty  of  the  Bramin  Peshwas,  it 
amounts  to  thirty-two  in  a  year.  In  the  rest  of  the 
Deckan  it  is  probably  more  rare.  In  Hindostan 
and  Bengal  it  is  so  common,  that  some  hundreds 
are  officially  reported  as  burning  annually  within 
the  British  dominions  alone. 

Self-immolation  by  men  also  is  not  uncommon, 
but  it  is  generally  performed  by  persons  lingering 
under  incurable  disorders.  It  is  done  by  leaping 
into  fire,  by  burying  alive,  by  plunging  into  a  river, 
or  by  other  modes,  such  as  throwing  one's  self  be- 
fore the  sacred  car  at  Jagannat. 

During  the  four  years  of  Mr.  Stirling's  attend- 
ance at  Jagannat,  three  persons  perished  under  the 
car ;  one  case  he  ascribed  to  accident,  and  the 
other  two  persons  had  long  suffered  under  excru- 
ciating disorders.* 

The  Hindus  have  some  peculiarities  that  do  not  Hereditary 

thieves. 

admit  of  classification.  As  they  have  casts  for 
all  the  trades,  they  have  also  casts  for  thieves,  and 
men  are  brought  u\)  to  consider  robbing  as  their 
hereditary  occupation.  Most  of  tlie  hill  tribes, 
bordcrinn;  on  cultivated  countries,  are  of  this  dc- 


"ti 


*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv.  [>.  32U 


362  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Boojs.     scnption  ;  and  even  throughout  the  plains  there  are 

, casts   more  notorious  for  theft  and  robbery  than 

gipsies  used  to  be  for  pilfering  in  Europe. 

In  their  case  hereditary  professions  seem  favour- 
able to  skill,  for  there  are  no  where  such  dexterous 
thieves  as  in  India.  Travellers  are  full  of  stories 
of  the  patience,  perseverance,  and  address  with 
w^hich  they  will  steal,  unperceived,  through  the 
midst  of  guards,  and  carry  off  their  prize  in  the 
most  dangerous  situations.  Some  dig  holes  in  the 
earth,  and  come  up  within  the  wall  of  a  well-closed 
house  :  others,  by  whatever  way  they  enter,  always 
open  a  door  or  two  to  secure  a  retreat ;  and  pro- 
ceed to  plunder,  naked,  smeared  with  oil,  and  armed 
w4th  a  dagger ;  so  that  it  is  as  dangerous  to  seize 
them  as  it  is  difficult  to  hold. 

One  great  class,  called  Thags,  continually  travel 
about  the  country  assuming  different  disguises ;  an 
art  in  which  they  are  perfect  masters.  Their  prac- 
tice is  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the  society  of 
travellers  whom  they  hear  to  be  possessed  of  pro- 
perty, and  to  accompany  them  till  they  have  an 
opportunity  of  administering  a  stupifying  drug,  or 
of  throwing  a  noose  over  the  neck  of  their  unsus- 
pecting companion.  He  is  then  murdered  without 
blood  being  shed,  and  buried  so  skilfully  that  a  long 
time  elapses  before  his  fate  is  suspected.  The 
Thags  invoke  Bhawani,  and  vow  a  portion  of  their 
spoil  to  her.  This  mixture  of  religion  and  crime 
might  of  itself  be  mentioned  as  a  peculiarity ;  but 
it  is  paralleled  by  the  vows  of  pirates  and  banditti 


MANNERS.  363 

to  the  Madonna ;  and  in  the  case  of  Mussuhnans,     chap. 

who  form  the  largest  portion  of  the  Thags,  it  is  like  '— 

the  compacts  with  the  devil,  which  were  known  in 
days  of  superstition. 

It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  the  long  descent  of 
the  thievish  casts  gives  them  no  claim  on  the  sym- 
l)athy  of  the  rest  of  the  community,  who  look  on 
them  as  equally  obnoxious  to  punishment,  both  in 
this  world  and  the  next,  as  if  their  ancestors  had 
belonged  to  the  most  virtuous  classes. 

The  hired  watchmen  are  generally  of  these  casts, 
and  are  faithful  and  efficacious.  Their  presence 
alone  is  a  protection  against  their  own  class  ;  and 
their  skill  and  vigilance,  against  strangers.  Guzeriit 
is  famous  tor  one  class  of  people  of  this  sort,  whose 
business  it  is  to  trace  thieves  by  their  footsteps. 
In  a  dry  country  a  bare  foot  leaves  little  print  to 
common  eyes  j  but  one  of  these  people  will  per- 
ceive all  its  peculiarities  so  as  to  recognise  it  in  all 
circumstances,  and  will  pursue  a  robber  by  these 
vestiges  for  a  distance  that  seems  incredible.* 

In  another  instance,  a  cast  seems  to  employ  its  Biuits  ami 
privilege    exclusively  for  the  protection   of   pro- 
perty.    These  are  the  Bhats  and   Charans,   of  the 

*  One  was  employed  to  pursue  a  man  wlio  had  carried  ofF 
the  plate  belon<^ing  to  a  regimental  mess  at  Kaira  ;  he  tracked 
him  to  Ahmedabad,  twelve  or  fourteen  miles,  lost  him  among 
the  well-trodden  streets  of  that  city,  but  recovered  his  traces 
on  reaching  the  opposite  gate  ;  and,  though  long  foiled  by  the 
fugitive's  running  up  the  water  of  a  rivulet,  he  at  last  came  up 
with  him,  and  recovered  the  property,  alter  a  chase  of  from 
twenty  to  thirty  miles. 


)64  HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 

BOOK  west  of  India,  who  are  revered  as  bards,  and  in 
'  some  measure  as  heralds,  among  the  Rajput  tribes. 
In  Rajputana  they  conduct  caravans,  which  are 
not  only  protected  from  plunder,  but  from  legal 
duties.  In  Guzerat  they  carry  large  sums  in  bul- 
lion, through  tracts  where  a  strong  escort  would  be 
insufficient  to  protect  it.  They  are  also  guarantees 
of  all  agreements  of  chiefs  among  themselves,  and 
even  with  the  government. 

Their  power  is  derived  from  the  sanctity  of 
their  character  and  their  desperate  resolution.  If  a 
man  carrying  treasure  is  approached,  he  announces 
that  he  will  commit  traga,  as  it  is  called  ;  or  if 
an  engagement  is  not  complied  with,  he  issues 
the  same  threat  unless  it  is  fulfilled.  If  he  is  not 
attended  to,  he  proceeds  to  gash  his  limbs  with  a 
dagger,  which  in  the  last  resort  he  will  plunge  into 
his  heart ;  or  he  will  first  strike  off  the  head  of  his 
child  ;  or  different  guarantees  to  the  agreement 
will  cast  lots  who  is  to  be  first  beheaded  by  his 
companions.  The  disgrace  of  these  proceedings, 
and  the  fear  of  having  a  bard's  blood  on  their  head, 
generally  reduce  the  most  obstinate  to  reason. 
Their  fidelity  is  exemplary,  and  they  never  hesitate 
to  sacrifice  their  lives  to  keep  up  an  ascendancy  on 
which  the  importance  of  their  cast  depends.* 

Of  the  same  nature  with  this  is  the  custom  by 
which  Bramins  seat  themselves  with  a  dagger  or 
with  poison  at  a  man's  door,  and  threaten  to  make 
away  with  themselves  if  the  owner  eats  before  he  has 

*  See  Tod's  Rajasthcm,  and  Malcolm'' s  Central  India,  vol.  ii. 
p.  130. 


MANNERS.  ODD 


361 


complied  with  their  demands.     Common  creditors     chap. 

XI. 

also  resort  to  this  practice  (which  is  called  dherna) ;  

but  without  threats  of  self-murder.  They  prevent 
tlieir  debtor's  eating  by  an  appeal  to  his  honour, 
and  also  by  stopping  his  supplies  ;  and  they  fast, 
themselves,  during  all  the  time  that  they  compel 
their  debtor  to  do  so.  This  sort  of  compulsion  is 
used  even  against  princes,  and  must  not  be  resisted 
by  force.  It  is  a  very  common  mode  employed  by 
troops  to  procure  payment  of  arrears,  and  is  then 
directed  either  against  the  paymaster,  the  prime 
minister, 'or  the  sovereign  himself 

The  practice  of  sworn  friendship  is  remari^able, 
tiiough  not  peculiar,  to  the  Hindus.  Persons  take 
a  vow  of  friendship  and  mutual  support  with  cer- 
tain forms  ;  and,  even  in  a  community  little  remark- 
able for  faith,  it  is  infamous  to  break  this  oath.* 

The  hills  and  forests  in  the  centre  of  India  are  Mountain 
inhabited  by  a  people  differing  widely  from  those  forest"' 
who  occupy   the  plains.     They  are  small,  black,  ^'^'^'^^' 
slender,  but  active,  with  peculiar  features,  and  a 
quick  and  restless  eye.     They  wear  few  clothes, 
are  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  make  open  pro- 
fession of  plunder,  and,  unless  the  government  is 
strong,  are  always  at  war  with  all  their  neighbours. 
When  invaded,  they  conduct  their  operations  with 
secrecy  and  celerity,  and  shower  their  arrows  from 
rocks  and  thickets,  whence  they  can  escape  before 

*  Part  of  the  ceremony  is  dividing  a  blul,  or  wood-apple, 
lialf  of  which  is  kept  by  each  party,  and,  from  this  compact,  is 
called  hhel  bhandar. 


S6d  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     they  can  be  attacked,  and  often  before  they  can  be 
in.  '^  -^ 
seen. 

They  live  m  scattered  and  sometimes  moveable 
hamlets,  are  divided  into  small  communities,  and 
allow  great  power  to  their  chiefs.  They  subsist 
on  the  produce  of  their  own  imperfect  cultivation, 
and  on  what  they  obtain  by  exchanges  or  plunder 
from  the  plains.  They  occasionally  kill  game,  but 
do  not  depend  on  that  for  their  support.  In  many 
parts  the  berries  of  the  mahua  tree  form  an  im- 
portant part  of  their  food. 

Besides  one  or  two  of  the  Hindu  gods,  they 
have  many  of  their  own,  who  dispense  particular 
blessings  or  calamities.  TJie  one  who  presides  over 
the  small-pox  is,  in  most  places,  looked  on  with 
peculiar  awe. 

They  sacrifice  fowls,  pour  libations  before  eat- 
ing, are  guided  by  inspired  magicians,  and  not  by 
priests,  bury  their  dead,  and  have  some  ceremonies 
on  the  birth  of  children,  marriages,  and  funerals, 
in  common.  They  are  all  much  addicted  to  spi- 
rituous liquors  ;  and  most  of  them  kill  and  eat 
oxen.  Their  great  abode  is  in  the  Vindya  moun- 
tains, which  run  east  and  west  from  the  Ganges  to 
Guzerat,  and  the  broad  tract  of  forest  which  ex- 
tends north  and  south  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
Allahabad  to  the  latitude  of  Masulipatam,  and, 
with  interruptions,  almost  to  Cape  Comorin.  In 
some  places  the  forest  has  been  encroached  on  by 
cultivation  ;  and  the  inhabitants  have  remained  in 
the  plains  as  village  watchmen,  hunters,  and  other 


MANNERS.  367 

trades  suited  to  their  habits.     In  a  few  places  their     chap. 

XI 

devastations  have  restored  the  clear  country  to  the       ' 
forest ;  and  the  remains  of  villages  are  seen  among 
the  haunts  of  wild  beasts. 

The  points  of  resemblance  above  mentioned  lead 
to  the  opinion  that  all  these  rude  tribes  form  one 
people  ;  but  they  differ  in  other  particulars,  and 
each  has  a  separate  name  ;  so  that  it  is  only  by 
comparing  their  languages  (where  they  retain  a 
distinct  language)  that  we  can  hope  to  see  the 
question  of  their  identity  settled. 

These  people,  at  Bagalpur,  are  called  paharias, 
or  mountaineers.  Under  the  name  of  Cols  they 
occupy  a  great  tract  of  wild  country  in  the  west 
of  Bengal  and  Behar,  and  extend  into  the  Vindya 
mountains,  near  Mirzapur.  In  the  adjoining  part 
of  the  Vindya  range,  and  in  the  centre  and  south  of 
the  great  forest,  they  are  called  Gonds  ;  further 
west,  in  the  Vindya  chain,  they  are  called  Bhils  ; 
and  in  all  the  western  hills,  Colis  ;  which  name 
probably  has  some  connection  with  the  Cols  of 
Behar,  and  may  possibly  have  some  with  the  C6- 
laris,  a  similar  tribe  in  the  extreme  south.  The 
Colis  stretch  westward  along  the  hills  and  forests  in 
Guzerat,  nearly  to  the  desert ;  on  the  south  they 
take  in  part  of  the  range  of  Ghats. 

These  tribes  are  known  by  different  names  in 
other  parts  of  the  coimtry  ;  but  the  above  are  by 
far  the  most  considerable. 

Their  early  history  is  uncertain.  In  the  Deckan 
they  were  in  their  present  state  at  the  time  of  the 


368 


HISTORY     OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
III. 


Character. 


Hindu  invasion  ;  and  probably  some  of  them  were 
those  alHes  of  Rama  whom  tradition  and  fiction 
have  turned  into  a  nation  of  monkeys. 

That  whole  country  was  then  a  forest ;  and  the 
present  tribes  are  in  those  portions  of  it  which 
have  not  yet  been  brought  into  cultivation.  The 
great  tract  of  forest,  called  Gondwana,  lying  be- 
tween the  rich  countries  of  Berar  and  Cattac,  and 
occasionally  broken  in  upon  by  patches  of  culti- 
vation, gives  a  clear  idea  of  the  original  state  of  the 
Deckan,  and  the  progress  of  its  improvement. 

In  Hindostan  they  may  be  the  unsubdued  part  of 
the  nation  from  whom  the  servile  class  was  formed  ; 


01' 


if  it  be  true  that  even  there  their  language  is 


mixed  with  Tamul,  they  may  possibly  be  the  re- 
mains of  some  aboriginal  people  anterior  even  to 
those  conquered  by  the  Hindus. 

There  are  other  tribes  of  mountaineers  in  the 
north-eastern  hills,  and  the  lower  branches  of  He- 
malaya  ;  but  they  all  differ  widely  from  those  above 
described,  and  partake  more  of  the  features  and  ap- 
pearance of  the  nations  between  them  and  China. 

No  separate  mention  is  made  of  the  mountain 
tribes  by  the  Greeks ;  but  Pliny  more  than  once 
speaks  of  such  communities. 

Englishmen  in  India  have  less  opportunity  than 
might  be  expected  of  forming  opinions  of  the  na- 
tive character.  Even  in  England  few  know  much 
of  the  people  beyond  their  own  class,  and  what 
they  do  know  they  learn  from  books  and  news- 
papers, which  do  not  exist  in  India,     In  that  coun- 


CHARACTER.  369 

try,  also,  reliaion  and  manners  put  bars  to  onr  chap. 
intuTiacy  with  the  natives,  and  limit  the  number  of  ' 
transactions  as  well  as  the  free  communication  of 
opinions.  We  know  nothing  of  the  interior  of 
families  but  by  report ;  and  have  no  share  in  tliose 
numerous  occurrences  of  life  in  which  the  amiable 
parts  of  character  are  most  exhibited. 

Missionaries  of  a  different  religion,  judges,  police 
magistrates,  officers  of  revenue  or  customs,  and 
even  diplomatists,  do  not  see  the  most  virtuous  por- 
tion of  a  nation,  nor  any  portion,  unless  when  in- 
fluenced by  passion,  or  occupied  by  some  personal 
interest.  What  we  do  see  we  judge  by  our  own 
standard.  We  conclude  that  a  man  who  cries  like 
a  child  on  slight  occasions,  must  always  be  inca- 
pable of  acting  or  suflfering  with  dignity;  and  that 
one  who  allows  himself  to  be  called  a  liar  would 
not  be  ashamed  of  any  baseness.  Our  writers  also 
confound  the  distinctions  of  time  and  place  ;  they 
combine  in  one  character  the  Maratta  and  the 
Bengalese ;  and  tax  the  present  generation  with 
the  crimes  of  the  heroes  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat."  It 
might  be  argued,  in  opj)osition  to  many  unfavour- 
able testimonies,  that  those  who  have  known  the 
Indians  longest  have  always  the  best  opinion  of 
them ;  but  this  is  rather  a  compliment  to  human 
nature  than  to  them,  since  it  is  true  of  every  other 
people.  It  is  more  in  point,  that  all  persons  who 
have  retired  from  India  think  better  of  the  })oople 
they  have  left  after  comparing  them  with  others 
even  of  the  most  justly  admired  nations. 

VOL.    I.  H    15 


.370  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         These   considerations  should  make   us    distrust 
'      our  own  impressions,  when  unfavourable,  but  can- 
not blind  us  to  the  fact  that  the  Hindus  have,  in 
reality,  some  great  defects  of  character. 

Their  defects,  no  doubt,  arise  chiefly  from  moral 
causes ;  but  they  are  also  to  be  ascribed,  in  part, 
to  physical  constitution,  and  in  part  to  soil  and  cli- 
mate. 

Some  races  are  certainly  less  vigorous  than 
others  ;  and  all  must  degenerate  if  placed  in  an 
enervating  atmospliere. 

Mere  heat  may  not  enervate  :  if  it  is  unavoidable 
and  unremitting,  it  even  produces  a  sort  of  hardi- 
ness like  that  arising  from  the  rigours  of  a  northern 
winter.  If  sterility  be  added,  and  the  fruits  of  hard 
labour  are  contested  among  scattered  tribes,  the 
result  may  be  the  energy  and  decision  of  the  Arab. 

But,  in  India,  a  warm  temperature  is  accom- 
panied by  a  fertile  soil  which  renders  severe  labour 
unnecessary,  and  an  extent  of  land  that  would  sup- 
port an  almost  indefinite  increase  of  inhabitants. 
The  heat  is  moderated  by  rain,  and  warded  off 
by  numerous  trees  and  forests  :  every  thing  is  cal- 
culated to  produce  that  state  of  listless  inactivity 
which  foreigners  find  it  so  difficult  to  resist.  The 
shades  of  character  that  are  found  in  different  parts 
of  India  tend  to  confirm  this  supposition.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  dry  countries  in  the  north, 
which  in  winter  are  cold,  are  comparatively  manly 
and  active.  The  Marattas,  inhabiting  a  moun- 
tainous and  unfertile  region,  are  hardy  and  labori- 
ous J  while  the  Bengalese,  with  their  moist  climate 


CHARACTER.  S^l 

and  their  double  crops  of  rice,  where  the  cocoa-    chap. 

XI 

nut  tree  and  the  bamboo  furnish  all  the  materials  " 

for  construction  unwrought,  are  more  effeminate 
than  any  other  people  in  India.  But  love  of  re- 
pose, though  not  sufficient  to  extinguish  industry 
or  repress  occasional  exertions,  may  be  taken  as  a 
characteristic  of  the  whole  people. 

Akin  to  their  indolence  is  their  timidity,  which 
arises  more  from  the  dread  of  being  involved  in 
trouble  and  difficulties  than  from  want  of  physical 
courage :  and  from  these  two  radical  influences 
almost  all  their  vices  are  derived.  Indolence  and 
timidity  themselves  may  be  thought  to  be  produced 
by  despotism  and  superstition  without  any  aid  from 
nature ;  but  if  those  causes  were  alone  sufficient, 
they  would  have  had  the  same  operation  on  the 
indefatigable  Chinese  and  the  intrepid  Russian  :  in 
the  present  case  they  are  as  likely  to  be  effect  as 
cause. 

The  most  prominent  vice  of  the  Hindus  is  want 
of  veracity,  in  which  they  outdo  most  nations  even 
of  the  East.  They  do  not  even  resent  the  im- 
putation of  falsehood  ;  the  same  man  would  calmly 
answer  to  a  doubt  by  saying,  "  Why  should  I  tell  a 
lie?"  who  would  shed  blood  for  what  he  regarded 
as  the  sligiitest  infringement  of  his  honour. 

Perjury,  which  is  only  an  aggravated  species  of 
falsehood,  naturally  accompanies  other  offences  of 
the  kind  (though  it  is  not  more  frequent  than  in 
other  Asiatic  countries)  ;  and  those  who  pay  so 
little  regard  to  statements  about  the  past,  cannot  be 


'i'^Q 


Ol'Z  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     expected    to   be    scrupulous  in   promises   for   the 

future.     Breaches  of  faith  in  private  Ufe  are  much 

more  common  hi  India  than  in  Enoland  :  but  even 


'&■ 


in  India,  the  great  majority,  of  course,  are  true  to 
their  word. 

It  is  in  people  connected  with  government  that 
deceit  is  most  common  ;  but  in  India,  this  class 
spreads  far  ;  as,  from  the  nature  of  the  land  revenue, 
the  lowest  villager  is  often  obliged  to  resist  force  by 
fraud. 

In  some  cases,  the  faults  of  the  government  pro- 
duce an  opposite  effect.  Merchants  and  bankers 
are  generally  strict  observers  of  their  engagements. 
If  it  M^ere  otherwise,  commerce  could  not  go  on 
where  justice  is  so  irregularly  administered. 

Hindus  are  not  ill  fitted  by  nature  for  intrigue 
and  cunning,  when  their  situation  calls  forth  those 
qualities.  Patient,  supple,  and  insinuating,  they 
will  penetrate  the  views  of  a  person  with  whom 
they  have  to  deal;  watch  his  humours;  soothe  or 
irritate  his  temper  ;  present  things  in  such  a  form 
as  suits  their  designs,  and  contrive,  by  indirect 
manoeuvres,  to  make  others  even  unwillingly  con- 
tribute to  the  accomplishment  of  their  ends.  But 
their  plots  are  seldom  so  daring  or  flagitious  as  those 
of  other  Asiatic  nations,  or  even  of  Indian  Mussul- 
mans, though  these  last  have  been  softened  by  their 
intercourse  with  the  people  among  whom  they  are 
settled. 

It  is  probably  owing  to  the  faults  of  their  govern- 
ment that  they  are  corrupt ;  to  take  a  bribe  in  a 


CHARACTER.  3J3 

good  cause  is  almost  meritorious  ;  and  it  is  a  venial    chap. 

offence  to  take  one  when  the  cause  is  bad.     Pe-  

cuniary  fraud  is  not  thought  very  disgraceful,  and, 
if  against  the  public,  scarcely  disgraceful  at  all. 

It  is  to  their  government,  also,  that  we  must  im- 
pute their  flattery  and  their  importunity.  The  first 
is  gross,  even  after  every  allowance  has  been  made 
for  the  different  degrees  of  force  which  nations  give 
to  tlie  language  of  civility.  The  second  arises  from 
tlie  indecision  of  their  own  rulers  :  they  never  con- 
sider an  answer  final,  and  are  never  ashamed  to 
prosecute  a  suit  as  long  as  their  varied  invention, 
the  possible  change  of  circumstances,  or  the  ex- 
hausted patience  of  the  person  applied  to  gives 
them  a  hope  of  carrying  their  point. 

Like  all  that  are  slow  to  actual  conflict,  they  are 
very  litigious,  and  much  addicted  to  verbal  alter- 
cation. They  will  persevere  in  a  law-suit  till  they 
are  ruined ;  and  will  argue,  on  other  occasions, 
with  a  violence  so  unlike  their  ordinary  demean- 
our, that  one  unaccustomed  to  them  expects  im- 
mediate blows  or  bloodshed. 

The  public  spirit  of  Hindus  is  either  confined  to 
their  cast  or  village,  in  which  cases  it  is  often  very 
strong  ;  or  if  it  extends  to  tlie  general  government, 
it  goes  no  further  than  zeal  for  its  autiiority  on  the 
part  of  its  agents  and  dependents.  Great  national 
spirit  is  sometimes  shown  in  war,  especially  where 
religion  is  concerned,  but  allegiance  in  general  sits 
very  loose  :  a  subject  will  take  service  against  his 
natural  sovereign  as  readily  as  for  him  ;  and  always 

15  li    3      . 


374  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     has  more  recrard  to  the  salt  he  has  eaten  than  to 

III. 
the  land  in  which  he  was  born. 

Although  the  Hindus,  as  has  been  seen,  break 
through  some  of  tlie  most  important  rules  of 
morality,  we  must  not  suppose  that  they  are  devoid 
of  principle.  Except  in  the  cases  specified,  they 
have  all  the  usual  respect  for  moral  obhgations  ; 
and  to  some  rules  which,  in  their  estimation,  are 
of  peculiar  importance,  they  adhere,  in  spite  of 
every  temptation  to  depart  from  them.  A  Bramin 
will  rather  starve  to  death  than  eat  prohibited  food  : 
a  headman  of  a  village  wdll  suffer  the  torture  rather 
than  consent  to  a  contribution  laid  on  the  inhabit- 
ants by  a  tyrant,  or  by  banditti :  the  same  servant 
who  cheats  his  master  in  his  accounts  may  be 
trusted  with  money  to  any  amount  in  deposit. 
Even  in  corrupt  transactions,  it  is  seldom  that  men 
will  not  rather  undergo  a  punishment  than  betray 
those  to  whom  they  have  given  a  bribe. 

Their  great  defect  is  a  want  of  manliness.  Their 
slavish  constitution,  their  blind  superstition,  their 
extravagant  mythology,  the  subtilties  and  verbal 
distinctions  of  their  philosophy,  the  languid  soft- 
ness of  their  poetry,  their  effeminate  manners,  their 
love  of  artifice  and  delay,  their  submissive  temper, 
their  dread  of  change,  the  delight  they  take  in 
puerile  fables,  and  their  neglect  of  rational  history, 
are  so  many  proofs  of  the  absence  of  the  more  ro- 
bust qualities  of  disposition  and  intellect  throughout 
the  mass  of  the  nation. 

But  this  censure,  though  true  of  the  whole,  when 


CHARACTER.  375 

compared  with  other  nations,  by  no  means  applies     chap. 

to  all  classes,  or  to  any  at  all  times.      The  labour-   . . 

ing  people  are  industrious  and  persevering ;  and 
other  classes,  when  stimulated  by  any  strong  mo- 
tive, and  sometimes  even  by  mere  sport,  will  go 
through  great  hardships  and  endure  long  fatigue. 

They  are  not  a  people  habitually  to  bear  up 
against  desperate  attacks,  and  still  less  against  a 
long  course  of  discouragement  and  disaster ;  yet 
they  often  display  bravery  not  surpassed  by  the 
most  warlike  nations  ;  and  will  always  throw  away 
their  lives  for  any  consideration  of  religion  or 
honour.  Hindu  Sepoys  in  our  pay  have,  in  two 
instances,  advanced,  after  troops  of  the  King's  ser- 
vice had  been  beaten  off;  and  on  one  of  these 
occasions  they  were  opposed  to  French  soldiers. 
The  sequel  of  this  history  will  show  instances  of 
whole  bodies  of  troops  rushing  forward  to  certain 
death,  while,  in  priv^ate  life,  the  lowest  orders  do 
not  hesitate  to  commit  suicide  if  they  once  con- 
ceive their  honour  tarnished. 

Tlieir  contempt  of  death  is,  indeed,  an  extra- 
ordinary concomitant  to  their  timidity  when  ex- 
posed to  lesser  evils.  When  his  fate  is  inevitable, 
the  lowest  Hindu  encounters  it  with  a  coolness  tliat 
would  excite  admiration  in  Europe,  converses  with 
his  friends  witli  cheerfulness,  and  awaits  the  ap- 
proach of  death  without  any  diminution  of  his 
usual  serenity. 

The  best  specimen  of  the  Hindu  character,  re- 
taining its  peculiarities  while  divested  of  many  of 

i;  li    1. 


376  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  its  defects,  is  found  among  the  Rajputs  and  other 
'  military  classes  in  Gangetic  Hindostan.  It  is  there 
we  are  most  likely  to  gain  a  clear  conception  of 
their  high  spirit,  their  enthusiastic  courage,  and 
generous  self-devotion,  so  singularly  combined  with 
gentleness  of  manners  and  softness  of  heart,  to- 
gether with  a  boyish  playfulness  and  almost  in- 
fantine simplicity. 

Tile  villagers  are  everywhere  an  inoffensive 
amiable  people,  affectionate  to  their  families,  kind 
to  their  neighbours  ;  and,  towards  all  but  the 
government,  honest  and  sincere. 

The  townspeople  are  of  a  more  mixed  character  ; 
but  they  are  quiet  and  orderly,  seldom  disturbing 
the  public  peace  by  tumults,  or  their  own  by  pri- 
vate broils.  On  the  whole,  if  we  except  those 
connected  with  the  Government,  they  will  bear  a 
fair  comparison  with  the  people  of  towns  in  Eng- 
land. Their  advantages  in  religion  and  govern- 
ment give  a  clear  superiority  to  our  middle  classes  j 
and  even  among  the  labouring  class,  there  are  many 
to  whom  no  parallel  could  be  found  in  any  rank  in 
India ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  set  of 
people  among  the  Hindus  so  depraved  as  the  dregs 
of  our  great  towns  ;  and  the  swarms  of  persons  who 
live  by  fraud — sharpers,  impostors,  and  adventurers 
of  all  descriptions,  from  those  who  mix  with  the 
higher  orders  down  to  those  who  prey  on  the  com- 
mon people — are  almost  unknown  in  India. 

Some  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the  crim.es  in 
India  exceed  those  of  all  other  countries  in  atro- 


CHARACTER.  o77 

city.    The  Thags*  have  been  mentioned;  and  the     chap. 

Deceits  are  ahnost  as  detestable  for  their  cruelty  as   , , 

the  others  for  their  deliberate  treachery. 

The  Decoits  are  gangs  associated  for  the  purpose 
of  plunder,  who  assemble  by  night,  fall  on  an  un- 
suspecting village,  kill  those  who  offer  resistance, 
seize  on  all  property,  and  torture  those  whom  they 
imagine  to  have  wealth  concealed.  Next  morning 
they  are  melted  into  the  popuhition  ;  and  such  is 
the  dread  inspired  by  them,  that,  even  when  known, 
people  can  seldom  be  found  to  come  forward  and 
accuse  them.  Except  in  the  absence  of  political 
feeling,  and  the  greater  barbarity  of  their  proceed- 
ings, tiieir  offence  resembles  those  which  have,  at 
times,  been  common  in  Ireland.  In  India  it  is 
the  consequence  of  weak  government  during  the 
anarchy  of  the  last  Inmdred  years,  and  is  rapidly 
disappearing  under  the  vigorous  administration  of 
the  British.  Both  Thags  and  Decoits  are  at  least 
as  often  Mahometans  as  Hindus. 

The  horror  excited  by  such  enormities  leads  us 
at  first  to  imagine  peculiar  depravity  in  the  country 
where  they  occur  ;  but  a  further  inquiry  removes 
that  impression.  Including  Thags  and  Decoits, 
the  mass  of  crime  in  India  is  less  than  in  England. 
Thags  arc  almost  a  separate  nation,  and  Decoits 
are  desperate  ruffians  who  enter  into  permanent 
gangs  and  devote  their  lives  to  rapine  ;  but  the 
remaining  i)art  of  the  population  is  little  given  to 
such  passions  as  disturb  society.     By  a  scries  of 

•   See  page  3G'2.  of  tliis  volume. 


378  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     Reports  laid  before  the   House   of  Commons   in 

1832*,  it  appears  that,  on  an  average  or  tour  years, 

tlie  number  of  capital  sentences  carried  into  effect 
annually  in  England,  and  Wales  was  1  for  203,281 
souls  ;  and  in  the  provinces  under  the  Bengal  pre- 
sidency, 1  for  1,004,182 1;  transportation  for  life, 
in  England,  1  for  67,173,  and  in  the  Bengal  pro- 
vinces, 1  for  402,010. 

We  may  admit  that  the  proportion  of  undetected 
crimes  in  Bengal  is  considerably  greater  than  in 
England ;  but  it  would  require  a  most  extravagant 
allowance  on  that  account  to  bring  the  amount  of 
great  crimes  in  the  two  countries  to  an  equality. 

Murders  are  oftener  from  jealousy,  or  some  such 
motive,  than  for  gain  :  and  theft  is  confined  to  par- 
ticular classes  ;  so  that  there  is  little  uneasiness 
regarding  property.  Europeans  sleep  with  every 
door  in  the  house  open,  and  their  property  scat- 
tered about  as  it  lay  in  the  day  time,  and  seldom 
have  to  complain  of  loss :  even  with  so  numerous 
a  body  of  servants  as  fills  every  private  house,  it  is 
no  small  proof  of  habitual  confidence  to  see  scarcely 
any  thing  locked  up. 

The  natives  of  India  are  often  accused  of  want- 
ing gratitude;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  those 
who  make  the  charge  have  done  much  to  inspire 

*  Minutes  of  Evidence  (Judicial),  No.  IV.  p.  103. 

-}-  The  annual  number  of  sentences  to  death  in  England  was 
1232,  and  of  executions  G^.  In  Bengal,  the  sentences  were  59, 
and  the  executions  the  same.  England  is  taken  at  1 3,000,000 
souls,  and  the  Bengal  provinces  at  60,000,000. 


CHAUACTEK.  379 

such  a  sentiment.     When  masters  are  really  kind    chap. 
and  considerate,  they  find  as  warm  a  return  from       ' 
Indian  servants  as  any  in  the  world ;  and  there  are 
few  who  have  tried  them  in  sickness,  or  in  difficul- 
ties and  dangers,  who  do  not  bear  witness  to  their 
sympathy  and  attachment.     Their  devotion  to  their 
own  chiefs  is  proverbial,  and  can  arise  from   no 
other  cause  than  gratitude,  unless  where  cast  sup- 
plies the  place  of  clannish  feeling.     The  fidelity  of 
our  Sepoys  to  their  foreign  masters  has  been  shown 
in  instances  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  match, 
even  among  national  troops,  in  any  other  country. 

Nor  is  this  confined  to  the  lower  orders ;  it  is 
common  to  see  persons  who  have  been  patronised 
by  men  in  power,  not  only  continue  their  attach- 
ment to  them  when  in  disgrace,  but  even  to  their 
families  when  they  have  left  them  in  a  lielpless 
condition.  * 

Though  their  character  is  altered  since  the  mix- 
ture with  foreigners,  the  Hindus  are  still  a  mild 
and  gentle  people.  The  cruel  massacres  that  at- 
tended all  their  battles  with  the  Mahometans  must 


*  A  perfectly  authentic  instance  might  be  mentioned,  of  an 
EngUsh  gentleman,  in  a  high  station  in  Bengal,  who  was  dis- 
missed, and  afterwards  reduced  to  great  temporary  difficulties 
in  his  own  country  :  a  native  of  rank,  to  whom  he  had  been  kind, 
supplied  him,  when  in  those  circumstances,  with  upwards  of 
10,000/.,  of  which  he  would  not  accept  repayment,  and  for  which 
he  could  expect  no  possible  return.  This  generous  friend  was 
a  Maratta  Bramin,  a  race  of  all  others  who  have  least  sympathy 
with  people  of  other  casts,  and  who  arc  most  hardened  and 
corrupted  by  power. 


380  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

J300K     have  led  to  sanguinary  retaliation  ;   and  they  no 

'       longer  act  on  the  generous  laws  of  war  which  are 

so  conspicuous  in  Menu.     But  even  now  they  are 

more  merciful  to  prisoners  than  any  other  Asiatic 

people,  or  than  their  Mussulman  countrymen. 

Tippoo  used  to  cut  off  the  right  hands  and  noses 
of  the  British  camp  followers  that  fell  into  his 
hands.  The  last  Peshwa  gave  to  men  of  the  same 
sort  a  small  quantity  of  provisions  and  a  rupee  each, 
to  enable  them  to  return  to  their  business,  after 
they  had  been  plundered  by  his  troops. 

Cold-blooded  cruelty  is,  indeed,  imputed  to  Bra- 
mins  in  power,  and  it  is  probably  the  result  of 
checking  the  natural  outlets  for  resentment ;  but 
the  worst  of  them  are  averse  to  causing  death, 
especially  when  attended  with  shedding  blood.  In 
ordinary  circumstances,  the  Hindus  are  compas- 
sionate and  benevolent ;  but  they  are  deficient  in 
active  humanity,  partly  owing  to  the  unsocial  effects 
of  cast,  and  partly  to  the  apathy  which  makes  them 
indifferent  to  their  own  calamities,  as  well  as  to 
those  of  their  neighbours. 

This  deficiency  appears  in  their  treatment  of  the 
poor.  All  feedBramins  and  give  alms  to  religious 
mendicants ;  but  a  beggar  from  mere  want  would 
neither  be  relieved  by  the  charity  of  Europe,  nor 
the  indiscriminate  hospitality  of  most  parts  of  Asia. 

Though  improvidence  is  common  among  the 
poor,  and  ostentatious  profusion,  on  particular  oc- 
casions, among  the  rich,  the  general  disposition  of 
the  Hindus  is  frugal,  and  even  parsimonious.    Their 


CHARACTER.  381 

ordinary  expenses  are  small,  and  few  of  any  rank     chap. 
in  life  hesitate  to  increase  their  savings  by  employ-   _____ 
ing  them  indirectly  in  commerce,  or  by  lending 
them  out  at  high  interest. 

Hindu  children  are  much  more  quick  and  intel- 
ligent than  European  ones.  The  capacity  of  lads 
of  twelve  and  fourteen  is  often  surprising  ;  and  not 
less  so  is  the  manner  in  which  their  faculties  be- 
come blunted  after  the  age  of  puberty. 

But  at  all  ages  they  are  very  intelligent ;  and  this 
strikes  us  most  in  the  lower  orders,  who,  in  pro- 
priety of  demeanour,  and  in  command  of  language, 
are  far  less  different  from  their  superiors  than  with 
us. 

Their  freedom  from  gross  debauchery  is  the  point 
in  which  the  Hindus  appear  to  most  advantage. 
It  can  scarcely  be  expected,  from  their  climate  and 
its  concomitants,  that  they  should  be  less  licentious 
than  other  nations  ;  but  if  we  compare  them  with 
our  own,  the  absence  of  drunkenness,  and  of  immo- 
desty in  their  other  vices,  will  leave  the  superiority 
in  purity  of  manners  on  the  side  least  flattering  to 
our  self-esteem. 

Their  indifference  to  the  grossest  terms  in  con- 
versation appears  inconsistent  with  this  praise  ;  but 
it  has  been  well  explained  as  arising  from  "  that 
simplicity  which  conceives  that  whatever  can  exist 
without  blame,  may  be  named  without  offence;" 
and  this  view  is  confirmed  by  the  decorum  of  their 
behaviour  in  other  respects. 

Though  naturally  quiet  and  thoughtful,  they  are 


382  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     cheerful  in  society;  fond  of  conversation  and  amuse- 


iii. 


ment,  and  delighting  in  anecdote  and  humour  bor- 
dering on  buffoonery.  It  has  been  remarked  be- 
fore, that  their  conversation  is  often  trifling,  and 
this  frivolity  extends  to  their  general  character,  and 
is  combined  with  a  disposition  to  vanity  and  osten- 
tation. 

In  their  persons  they  are,  generally  speaking, 
lower,  and  always  more  slender,  than  Europeans.  * 
They  have  a  better  carriage  and  more  grace,  less 
strength,  but  more  free  use  of  their  limbs. 

They  are  of  a  brown  colour,  between  the  com- 
plexion of  the  southern  European  and  that  of  the 
negro.  Their  hair  is  long,  rather  lank,  and  always 
jet  black.  Their  mustachios  and  (in  the  few  cases 
in  which  they  wear  them)  their  beards  are  long 
and  strong.  Their  women  have  a  large  share  of 
beauty  and  grace,  set  off  by  a  feminine  reserve  and 
simplicity. 

The  cleanliness  of  the  Hindus  in  their  persons 
is  proverbial.  They  do  not  change  their  clothes 
after  each  of  their  frequent  ablutions  ;  but  even  in 
that  respect  the  lower  classes  are  more  cleanly  than 
those  of  other  nations.  The  public  parts  of  their 
houses  are  kept  very  neat ;  but  they  have  none  of 
the  English  delicacy  which  requires  even  places 
out  of  sight  to  partake  of  the  general  good  order. 
Compari-         Bcforc  comiug  to  any  conclusions  from  the  two 

son  of  the  .  i-ii  i  •  pitt'i^ 

Hindu        Views  which  have  been  given  or  the  Hindus,  —  at 

character 

and  mcT-"  *  The  military  classes  in  Hindostan  are  much  tallei"  than  the 

dern  times,   common  run  of  Englishmen. 


CHARACTER.  383 

the  earliest  epoch  of  which  we  possess  accounts,    chap. 
and  at  the  present  clay,  — it  will  be  of  advantage  ' 

to  see  how  they  stood  at  an  intermediate  period, 
for  which  we  fortunately  possess  the  means,  through 
the  accounts  left  us  by  the  Greeks,  a  people  unin- 
fluenced by  any  of  our  peculiar  opinions,  and  yet 
one  whose  view^s  we  can  understand,  and  whose 
judgment  we  can  appreciate. 

This  question  has  been  fully  examined  in  another 
place*,  and  the  results  alone  need  be  mentioned 
here. 

From  them  it  appears  that  the  chief  changes 
between  the  time  of  Menu's  Code  and  that  of  Alex- 
ander, were — the  complete  emancipation  of  the 
servile  class ;  the  more  general  occurrence,  if  not 
the  first  instances,  of  the  practice  of  self-immo- 
lation by  widows  ;  the  prohibition  of  intermarriages 
between  casts  ;  the  employment  of  the  Bramins  as 
soldiers,  and  their  inhabiting  separate  villages ; 
and,  perhaps,  the  commencement  of  the  monastic 
orders. 

The  changes  from  Menu  to  the  present  time 
have  already  been  fully  set  forth  ;  and  if  we  take 
a  more  extensive  review  (without  contrasting  two 
particular  periods),  we  shall  find  the  alterations 
have  generally  been  for  the  worse. 

The  total  extinction  of  the  servile  condition  of 

the  Sudras  is,  doubtless,  an  improvement ;  but  in 

other  respects  we  find  the  religion  of  the  Hindus 

debased,  their  restrictions  of  cast  more  rigid  (ex- 

*  See  Appendix  III. 


384  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     cept  in  the  interested  relaxation  of  the  Bramins), 
III.  ^ 
the  avowed  imposts  on  the  land  doubled,  the  courts 

of  justice  disused,  the  laws  less  liberal  towards 
women,  the  great  works  of  peace  no  longer  under- 
taken, and  the  courtesies  of  w^ar  almost  forgotten. 
We  find,  also,  from  their  extant  works,  that  the 
Hindus  once  excelled  in  departments  of  taste  and 
science  on  which  they  never  now  attempt  to  write; 
and  that  they  formerly  impressed  strangers  with  a 
high  respect  for  their  courage,  veracity,  simplicity, 
and  integrity, — the  qualities  in  which  they  now 
seem  to  us  most  deficient. 

It  is  impossible,  from  all  this,  not  to  come  to  a 
conclusion  that  the  Hindus  were  once  in  a  higher 
condition,  both  moral  and  intellectual,  than  they 
are  now  ;  and  as,  even  in  their  present  state  of 
depression,  they  are  still  on  a  footing  of  equality 
with  any  people  out  of  Europe,  it  seems  to  follow 
that,  at  one  time,  they  must  have  attained  a  state 
of  civilisation  only  surpassed  by  a  few  of  the  most 
favoured  of  the  nations,  either  of  antiquity  or  of 
modern  times. 

The  causes  of  their  decline  have  already  been 
touched  on  in  different  places.  Their  religion  en- 
courages inaction,  which  is  the  first  step  towards 
decay.  The  rules  of  cast  check  improvement  at 
home,  and  at  the  same  time  prevent  its  entering 
from  abroad  :  it  is  those  rules  that  have  kept  up 
the  separation  between  the  Hindus  and  the  Mus- 
sulmans, and  fiu'nished  the  only  instance  in  which 
an  idolatrous  religion    has    stood  out  against  the 


CHARACTER.  385 

comparative  purity  even  of  that  of  Mahomet,  when    chap. 

XT 

the  latter  was  professed  by  tlie  government.     Des-  _ 
potism   would    doubtless    contribute   its    share    to 
check  the  progress  of  society  ;   but  it  was  less  op- 
pressive and  degrading  than  in  most  Asiatic  coun- 
tries. 

The  minute  subdivisions  of  inheritances  is  not 
peculiar  to  the  Hindus ;  and  yet  it  is  that  which 
most  strikes  an  inquirer  into  the  causes  of  the  ab- 
ject condition  of  the  greater  part  of  them.  By  it 
tlie  descendants  of  the  greatest  landed  proprietor 
must,  in  time,  be  broken  down  to  something  be- 
tween a  farmer  and  a  labourer,  but  less  independent 
than  either;  and  without  a  chance  of  accumulation 
to  enable  them  to  recover  their  position.  Bankers 
and  merchants  may  get  rich  enough  to  leave  all 
their  sons  with  fortunes  ;  but,  as  each  possessor 
knows  that  he  can  neither  found  a  family  nor  dis- 
pose of  his  property  by  will,  he  endeavours  to  gain 
what  pleasure  and  honour  he  can  from  his  life-rent, 
by  ostentation  in  feasts  and  ceremonies ;  and  by 
commencing  temples,  tanks,  and  groves,  which  his 
successors  are  too  poor  to  complete  or  to  repair.* 

The  effect  of  equal  division  on  men's  minds  is  as 
great  as  on  their  fortunes.  It  was  resorted  to  by 
some  ancient  rc])ublics  to  prevent  the  growth  of 
luxury  and  the  disposition  to  iiniovation.  In  India 
it  effectually  answers  those  ends,  and  stifles  all  the 

restless  feelings  to  which  men  might  be  led  by  the 

« 

*   Hence  the  common  opinion   among  Europeans,  that   it  is 
tliought  unlucky  for  a  son  to  go  on  witii  his  father's  work. 
VOT,.   T.  C   C 


JII 


380  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  ambition  of  permanently  improving  their  condition. 
A  man  wlio  has  amassed  a  fortune  by  his  own  la- 
bours is  not  likely  to  have  a  turn  for  literature  or 
the  fine  arts  ;  and  if  he  had,  his  collections  would 
be  dispersed  at  his  death,  and  his  sons  would  have 
to  begin  their  toils  anew,  without  time  for  acquir- 
ing that  refinement  in  taste  or  elevation  of  senti- 
ment which  is  brought  about  by  the  improved 
education  of  successive  generations. 

Hence,  although  rapid  rise  and  sudden  fortunes 
are  more  common  in  India  than  in  Europe,  they 
produce  no  permanent  change  in  the  society;  all 
remains  on  the  same  dead  level,  with  no  conspi- 
cuous objects  to  guide  the  course  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  no  barriers  to  oppose  to  the  arbitrary  will 
of  the  ruler.* 

Under  such  discouragements  we  cannot  be  sur- 
prised at  the  stagnation  and  decline  of  Hindu 
civilisation.  The  wonder  is,  how  it  could  ever 
struggle  against  them,  and  how  it  attained  to  such 
a  pitch  as  exists  even  at  this  moment. 

At  what  time  it  had  reached  its  highest  point  it 
is  not  easy  to  say.    Perhaps  in  institutions  and  moral 

*  The  great  military  chiefs  may  be  said  to  be  exceptions  to 
this  rule,  for  they  not  unfrequently  transmit  their  lands  to  their 
children  :  but  they  are,  for  purposes  of  improvement,  the  worst 
people  into  whose  hands  property  could  fall.  As  their  power 
rests  on  mercenary  soldiers,  they  have  no  need  to  call  in  the  aid 
of  the  people,  like  our  barons  ;  and  as  each  lives  on  his  own 
lands  at  a  distance  from  his  equals,  they  neither  refine  each 
other  by  their  intercourse,  nor  those  below  them  by  the  example 
of  their  social  habits. 


CHARACTER.  387 

character  it  was  at  its  best  just  before  Alexander;     chap. 
but  learning  was  rnuch  longer  in  reaching  its  acme.  ' 

The  most  flourishing  period  for  literature  is  repre- 
sented by  Hindu  tradition  to  be  that  of  Vicrama 
Ditya,  a  little  before  the  beginning  of  our  sera  ;  but 
some  of  the  authors  who  are  mentioned  as  the  orna- 
ments of  that  prince's  court  appear  to  belong  to 
later  times  ;  and  the  good  writers,  whose  works  are 
extant,  extend  over  a  long  space  of  time,  from  the 
second  century  before  Christ  to  the  eighth  of  the 
Christian  sera.  Mathematical  science  was  in  most 
perfection  in  the  fifth  century  after  Christ ;  but 
works  of  merit,  both  in  literature  and  science,  con- 
tinued to  be  composed  for  some  time  after  the 
Mahometan  invasion. 


c  c  2 


388  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  IV. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HINDUS   UP   TO   THE    MAHOMETAN 
INVASION. 


CHAP.    I. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HINDUS HINDOSTAN. 


BOOK     The  first  information  we  receive  on  Hindu  history 

IV.  .  ... 
is  from  a  passage  in  Menu,  which  gives  us  to  infer 

that  their  residence  was  at  one  time  between  the 
rivers  Seraswati  (Sersooty)  and  Drishadwati  (Cag- 
gar),  a  tract  about  100  miles  to  the  north-west  of 
Delhi,  and  in  extent  about  sixty-five  miles  long, 
and  from  twenty  to  forty  broad.  That  land,  Menu 
says,  was  called  Bramhaverta,  because  it  was  fre- 
quented by  gods  ;  and  the  custom  preserved  by 
immemorial  tradition  in  that  country  is  pointed  out 
as  a  model  to  the  pious.*  The  country  between 
that  tract  and  the  Jamna,  and  all  to  the  north  of 
the  Jamna  and  Ganges,  including  North  Behar,  is 
mentioned,  in  the  second  place,  under  the  name 
of  Bramarshi ;   and  Bramins  born  within  that  tract 

*  Menu,  Book  II.  v.  17,  18.  This  tract  is  also  the  scene  of 
the  adventures  of  the  first  princes,  and  the  residence  of  the  most 
famous  sages.  —  Wilson,  Preface  to  Vishnu  Purana,  p.  Ixvii. 


HINDOSTAN.  S89 

are   pronounced   to   be    suitable   teachers    of  the    chap. 
several  usasres  of  men.*  ' 


This,  therefore,  may  be  set  down  as  the  first 
country  acquired  after  that  on  the  Seraswati. 

The  Puranas  pass  over  these  early  stages  un- 
noticed, and  commence  with  Ayodha  (Oud), 
about  the  centre  of  the  last  mentioned  tract.  It 
is  there  that  the  solar  and  lunar  races  have  their 
origin  ;  and  from  thence  the  princes  of  all  other 
countries  are  sprung. 

From  fifty  to  seventy  generations  of  the  solar 
race  are  only  distinguished  from  each  otlier  by 
purely  mythological  legends. 

After  these  comes  Rama,  who  seems  entitled  to 
take  his  place  in  real  history. 

His  story  t,  when  stripped  of  its  fabulous  and  ro-  Expeditioa 

J  •        1  •  11  1  Ti  /  of  llama. 

mantic  decorations,  merely  relates  that  Kama  pos- 
sessed a  powerful  kingdom  in  Hindostan ;  and  that 
he  invaded  tlie  Deckan  and  penetrated  to  the  island 
of  Ceylon,  which  he  conquered. 

The  first  of  these  facts  there  is  no  reason  to 
question  ;  and  we  may  readily  believe  that  Rama 
led  an  expedition  into  tlie  Deckan  ;  but  it  is  highly 
improbable  that,  if  he  was  the  first,  or  even  among 
the  first  invaders,  he  should  have  conquered  Cey- 
lon. If  he  did  so,  he  could  not  have  lived,  as  is 
generally  supposed,  before  the  compilation  of  the 
Vedas ;  for,  even  in  the  time  of  Menu's  Institutes, 
there  were  no  settlements  of  Hindu  conquerors  in 

*  Menu,  Book  II.  v.  19,  '20.  f  See  p.  173. 

c;  c  3 


390  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    the  Deckan.     It  is  probable  that  the  poets  who 
'       have  celebrated  Rama,  not  only  reared  a  great  fabric 
on  a  narrow  basis,  but  transferred  their  hero*s  ex- 
ploits to  the  scene  which  was    thought  most  in- 
teresting in  their  own  day. 

The  undoubted  antiquity  of  the  "Ramayana"  is 
the  best  testimony  to  the  early  date  of  the  event 
which  it  celebrates;  yet,  as  no  conspicuous  invasion 
of  the  Deckan  could  have  been  undertaken  without 
great  resources,  Rama  must  have  lived  after  Hindu 
civilisation  had  attained  a  considerable  pitch. 

After  Rama,  sixty  princes  of  his  race  ruled  in 
succession  over  his  dominions ;  but,  as  we  hear  no 
more  of  Ayodha  (Oud),  it  is  possible  that  the 
kingdom  (which  at  one  time  was  called  Coshala) 
may  have  merged  in  another  ;  and  that  the  capital 
was  transferred  from  Oud  to  Canouj. 
War  of  the       Thc  war  Celebrated  in  the  "  Maha  Bharat"  is 

"  Maha 

Bharat."      the  ucxt  liistorical  event  that  deserv-es  notice. 

It  is  a  contest  between  the  lines  of  Pandu  and 
of  Curu  (two  branches  of  the  reigning  family)  for 
the  territory  of  Hastinapura  (probably  a  place  on 
the  Ganges,  north-east  of  Delhi,  which  still  bears 
the  ancient  name).  The  family  itself  is  of  the 
lunar  race,  but  the  different  parties  are  supported 
by  numerous  allies,  and  some  from  very  remote 
quarters. 

There  seem  to  have  been  many  states  in  India 
(six,  at  least,  in  the  one  tract  upon  the  Ganges  *)  ; 

*  Hastinapura,  Mattra,  Panchala  (part  of  Oud  and  the  lower 
Doab),    Benares,    Magada,    and    Bengal.   ( Oriental  MagazinC) 


HINDOSTAN. 


391 


but  a  considerable  degree  of  intercourse  and  con-     chap. 


nection  appears  to  have  been  kept  up  among  them. 
Crislma,  who  is  an  ally  of  the  Pandus,  though  born 
on  the  Jamna,  had  founded  a  principality  in  Gu- 
zerat :  among  the  allies  on  each  side  are  chiefs 
from  the  Indus,  and  from  Calinga  in  the  Deckan ; 
some,  even,  who,  the  translators  are  satisfied,  be- 
longed to  nations  beyond  the  Indus  ;  and  Yavanas, 
a  name  which  most  orientalists  consider  to  apply, 
in  all  early  works,  to  the  Greeks.  The  Pandus 
were  victorious,  but  paid  so  dear  for  their  success, 
that  the  survivors,  broken-liearted  with  the  loss  of 
their  friends  and  the  destruction  of  their  armies, 
abandoned  the  world  and  perished  among  the  snows 
of  HemaUiya.  Crishna,  their  great  ally,  fell,  as  was 
formerly  stated*,  in  the  midst  of  civil  wars  in  his 
own  country.  Some  Hindu  legends  relate  that  his 
sons  were  obliged  to  retire  beyond  the  Indus t ; 
and,  as  those  Rajputs  who  have  come  from  that 
quarter  in  modern  times  to  Sind  and  Cach  are  of 
his  tribe  of  Yadu,  the  narrative  seems  more  de- 
serving of  credit  than  at  first  sight  migiit  appear. 
The  more  authentic  account,  however  (that  of  the 


vol.  iii.  p.  \''>5.;  Tod,  vol.  i.  p.  49.)  Ayodha  is  not  mentioned 
in  the  "  Mahii  Bliarat,"  nor  Canacubya  (Canouj),  unless,  as  as- 
serted in  Menu  (Chap.  II.  s.  19.),  Panchala  is  only  another  name 
for  that  kingdom. 

*   See  p.  175. 

t  See  Colonel  Tod,  vol.  i.  p,  8.5.,  and  the  translation  (throu^-h 
the  Persian)  of  the  "  Maha  IMiarat,"  pubhshcd  by  the  Oriental 
Translation  Fund,  in  1831. 

c  c    l< 


I. 


39^  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     *'Maha    Bharat"  itself),  describes  them  as  finally 
returning  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Jamna. 


The  story  of  the  *' Maha  Bharat"  is  much  more 
probable  than  that  of  the  "  Ramayana."  It  contains 
more  particulars  about  the  state  of  India,  and  has 
a  much  greater  appearance  of  being  founded  on 
facts.  Though  far  below  the  "Iliad"  in  appearance 
of  reality,  it  bears  nearly  the  same  relation  to  the 
"  Ramayana"  that  the  poem  on  the  Trojan  war  does 
to  the  legends  on  the  adventures  of  Hercules  ;  and, 
like  the  "  Iliad,"  it  is  the  source  to  which  many 
chiefs  and  tribes  endeavour  to  trace  their  ancestors. 

The  date  of  the  war  has  already  been  discussed.* 
It  was  probably  in  the  fourteenth  century  before 
Christ. 

Twenty-nine  (some  say  sixty-four)  of  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Pandus  succeeded  them  on  the 
throne  ;  but  the  names  alone  of  those  princes  are 
preserved.  The  seat  of  their  government  seems 
to  have  been  transferred  to  Delhi. 
Magada.  The  succcssors  of  ouc  of  the  kings  who  appear 

as  allies  in  the  same  poem  were  destined  to  attract 
greater  notice.  These  are  the  kings  of  Magada, 
of  whom  so  much  has  been  already  said,  t 

The  kings  of  Magada  seem  always  to  have  pos- 
sessed extensive  authority.  The  first  of  them  (he 
who  is  mentioned  in  the  "Maha  Bharat")  is  repre- 
sented as  the  head  of  a  number  of  chiefs  and  tribes  ; 
but  most  of  those  probably  were  within  the  limits 
of  Bengal  and  Behar,  as  we  have  seen  that  there 
*  Page  267.  t   Page  260. 


HINDOSTAN.  393 

were  five  other  independent  kingdoms  in  the  tract     chap. 
watered  by  the  Ganges.  *  " 

For  many  centuries  they  were  all  of  the  military 
tribe  ;  but  the  last  Nanda  was  born  of  a  Sudra 
mother  ;  and  Chandragupta,  who  murdered  and 
succeeded  him,  was  also  of  a  low  class  :  from  this 
time,  say  the  Puranas,  the  Cshetryas  lost  their 
ascendancy  in  Magada,  and  all  the  succeeding  kings 
and  chiefs  were  Sudras.t 

They  do  not  seem  to  have  lost  their  consequence 
from  the  degradation  of  their  cast ;  for  the  Sudra 
successors  of  Chandragupta  are  said,  in  the  hyper- 
bolical language  of  the  Puranas,  to  have  brought 
the  *'  whole  earth  under  one  umbrellat ;"  and  there 
appears  the  strongest  reason  to  believe  that  Asoca, 
the  third  of  the  line,  was  really  in  possession  of  a 
commanding  influence  over  the  states  to  the  north 
of  the  Nerbadda.  The  extent  of  his  dominions 
appears  from  the  remote  points  at  which  his  edict 
columns  are  erected ;  and  the  same  monuments 
bear  testimony  to  the  civilised  character  of  his 
government ;   since   they   contain  orders  for  esta- 

*  It  is  remarkable  the  Yavanas  or  Greeks  are  represented  as 
allies  of  the  king  of  Magada, —  a  circumstance  evidently  arising 
from  the  connection  between  the  king  of  the  Prasii  and  the 
successors  of  Alexander.  (Professor  Wlhon,  Asiatic  JRcscorc/ies, 
vol.  XV.  p.  101.)  Another  of  their  allies,  Bliagadatta,  who 
receives  th£  pompous  title  of  "  King  of  the  South  and  West," 
appears  by  the  "  Ayeen  Akbery"  (vol.  ii.  p.  16.)  to  have  been 
prince  of  Bengal. 

t  Sir  W.  Jones,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii.  p.  139.;  Professor 
Wilson,  Hindu  Drama,  vol.  iii.  p.  14. 

X  Professor  Wilson,  Hindu  Theatre,  vol.  iii.  p.  11. 


394f  HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 

BOOK    blishing  hospitals  and  dispensaries  throughout  his 
'       empire,  as  well  as  for  planting  trees  and  digging 
wells  along  the  public  highways. 

This  ascendancy  of  Asoca  is  the  earliest  ground 
I  have  been  able  to  discover  for  an  opinion  which 
has  been  maintained,  that  the  kings  of  Magada 
were  emperors  and  lords  paramount  of  India ; 
and  Colonel  Wilford,  who  has  recorded  all  that 
he  could  ascertain  regarding  those  kings*,  states 
nothing  that  can  countenance  a  belief  in  a  greater 
extent  or  earlier  commencement  of  their  supremacy. 
During  the  war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat,"  it  has  been 
shown  tliat  they  formed  one  of  six  little  monarchies 
within  the  basin  of  the  Ganges ;  and  that  they 
were  among  the  unsuccessful  opponents  of  one  of 
those  petty  states,  that  of  Hastinapura. 

Alexander  found  no  lord  paramount  in  the  part 
of  India  which  he  visited  ;  and  the  nations  which 
he  heard  of  beyond  the  Hyphasis  were  under  aris- 
tocratic govermnents.  Arriant  and  Strabot  say 
that  the  Prasii  were  the  most  distinguished  of  all 
the  Indian  nations  ;  but  neither  hints  at  their  su- 
premacy over  the  others.  Arrian,  indeed,  in  giving 
this  preference  to  the  Prasii,  and  their  king,  Sandra- 
cottus,  adds  that  Porus  was  greater  than  he.  Me- 
gasthenes§  says  that  there  were  118  nations  in 
India,  but  mentions  none  of  them  as  subordinate 
to  the   Prasii.     It   is  impossible   to   suppose   that 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix. 

t  Chap.  V.  X  Book  xv.  p.  483. 

§  Quoted  by  Arrian,  chap.  vii. 


I. 


HINDOSTAN.  395 

Megasthenes,  who  resided  at  the  court  of  Sandra-  chap. 
cottus,  and  seems  so  well  disposed  to  exalt  his 
greatness,  should  have  failed  to  mention  his  being- 
emperor  of  India,  or  indeed  his  having  any  decided 
ascendancy  over  states  beyond  his  own  immediate 
limits. 

The  Hindu  accounts*  represent  Chandragupta 
as  all  but  overwhelmed  by  foreign  invasion,  and 
indebted  for  his  preservation  to  the  arts  of  his 
minister  more  than  to  the  force  of  his  kingdom.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  that  influence  which  was  so  much  extended 
under  his  grandson.  His  accepting  the  cession  of 
the  Macedonian  garrisons  on  the  Indus,  from  Se- 
leucus,  is  a  proof  how  far  he  himself  had  carried 
his  views  ;  and  Asoca,  in  his  youth,  was  governor 
of  Ujen  or  Malwa,  which  must,  therefore,  have 
been  a  possession  of  his  father. 

The  claim  to  universal  monarchy  in  India  has 
been  advanccdby  princes  of  other  dynasties  in  their 
inscriptions ;  and  has  been  conceded,  by  different 
European  authors,  to  Porus,  to  the  kings  of 
Caslimir,  of  Delhi,  Canouj,  Bengal,  Malwa,  Gu- 
zerat,  and  other  places  ;  but  all  apparently  on  very 
insufficient  grounds. 

The  family  of  Maurya  retained  possession  of  the 
throne  for  ten  generations,  and  were  succeeded  by 
three  other  Sudra  dynasties,  the  last  and  longest  of 
which  bore  the  name  of  Andra.  t 

*   See  Wilson's  Theatre  of  the  Hindus,  vol.  iii. 
f   See  "  Chronology,"  p.  269. 


396  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

eooK         This    dynasty  ended  in  a.d.  436,  and  is  siic- 

' ceeded  in  the  Puranas  by  a  confused  assemblage  of 

dynasties  seemingly  not  Hindus  ;  from  which,  and 
the  interruption  at  all  attempts  at  historical  order, 
we  may  infer  a  foreign  invasion,  followed  by  a  long 
period  of  disorder.  At  the  end  of  several  centuries, 
a  gleam  of  light  breaks  in,  and  discovers  Magada 
subject  to  the  Gupta  kings  of  Canouj.  From  this 
period  it  is  no  longer  distinctly  mentioned. 

The  fame  of  Magada  has  been  preserved,  from 
its  being  the  birthplace  of  Budha,  and  from  its 
language  (Magadi  or  Pali)  being  now  employed  in 
the  sacred  waitings  of  his  most  extensively  diffused 
religion,  as  well  as  in  those  of  the  Jains. 
Bengal.  A  king  of  what  we  now  call  Bengal  is  mentioned 

among  the  allies  of  the  king  of  Magada  in  the 
war  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat."  From  him,  the  '*  A  yeni 
Akberi"  continues  the  succession,  through  five  dy- 
nasties, till  the  Mahometan  conquest.  These  lists, 
being  only  known  to  us  by  the  translations  of 
Abulfazl,  might  be  looked  on  with  more  suspicion 
than  the  Hindu  ones  already  noticed.  But  that 
one  of  them,  at  least  (the  fourth),  is  founded  in 
truth,  is  proved  by  inscriptions  ;  and  from  them,  a 
series  of  princes,  with  names  ending  in  Pala,  may 
be  made  out,  who  probably  reigned  from  the  ninth 
to  the  latter  part  of  the  eleventh  century.  * 

*  See  Mr.  Colebrooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  442., 
and  the  various  inscriptions  in  the  preceding  volumes  there 
mentioned. 


HINDOSTAN.  397 

The  inscriptions   relating   to   this   family   were     chap. 
found  at  distant  places,  and  in  circumstances  that  ' 

leave  no  room  to  question  their  authenticity  :  yet 
they  advance  statements  which  are  surprising  in 
themselves,  and  difficult  to  reconcile  to  what  we 
know,  from  other  sources,  of  the  history  of  India. 
They  represent  the  kings  of  Bengal  as  ruling  over 
the  whole  of  India  ;  from  Hemalaya  to  Cape  Co- 
morin,  and  from  the  Baramputr  to  the  Indus. 
They  even  assert  that  the  same  kings  subdued 
Tibet  on  the  east,  and  Camboja  (which  some 
suppose  to  be  beyond  the  Indus)  on  the  west.  * 

*  The  earliest,  a  copper  tablet  containing  a  grant  of  land,  and 
found  at  Mongir,  appears  to  be  written  in  the  ninth  century, 
(See  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  446.,  above  quoted.)  It  says, 
in  explicit  terms,  that  the  reigning  raja/^Deb  Pal  Deb  (or  Deva 
Pala  Deva),  possessed  the  whole  of  India  from  the  source  of  the 
Ganges  to  Adam's  Bridge  (reaching  to  Ceylon),  and  from  the 
river  Megna,  or  Baramputr,  to  the  western  sea.  It  specifies 
the  inhabitants  of  Bengal,  the  Carnatic,  and  Tibet  among  his 
subjects,  and  alludes  to  his  army  marching  through  Camboja, — 
a  country  generally  supposed  to  be  beyond  the  Indus ;  and,  if 
not  so,  certainly  in  the  extreme  west  of  India.  The  next 
inscription  is  on  a  broken  column  in  the  district  of  Saran,  north 
of  the  Ganges.  It  was  erected  by  a  prince  who  professes  him- 
self tributary  to  Gour  or  Bengal,  yet  claims  for  his  immediate 
territory  the  tract  from  Rewa  Jhanak  (not  exactly  known)  to 
the  Hemalaya  mountains,  and  from  the  eastern  to  the  western 
sea.  It  states  the  riija  of  Bengal  (probably  the  son  of  the  Deb 
Pal  of  the  last  inscrij)tion)  to  have  conquered  Orissa,  a  tribe  or 
people  called  Huns  (also  mentioned  in  the  former  inscription), 
the  southern  part  of  the  coast  of  Coromandel,  and  (Juzerat. 
The  third  merely  records  that  a  magnificent  monument  in  honour 
of  Budha,  near  Benares,  was  erected  in  1026  by  a  raja  of  Bengal 
of  the  same  family  as  the  above,  who,  from  the  earlier  inscrip- 
tions, also  appear  to  have  been  Budhists. 


398  HISTdRY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         These  conquests  are  rendered  impossible  to  any 
^^'       thing  hke  their  full   extent,  by  the   simultaneous 


existence  of  independent  governments  in  Canouj, 
Delhi,  Ajmir,  Mewar,  and  Guzerat,  if  not  in  other 
places  ;  but  they  could  scarcely  have  been  claimed 
in  contemporary  inscriptions,  if  the  princes  to 
whom  they  are  ascribed  had  not  affected  some  su- 
premacy over  the  other  states,  and  had  not  sent 
expeditions  far  into  the  west  of  India,  and  even 
into  the  heart  of  the  Deckan.  On  the  whole,  this 
dynasty  seems  to  have  at  least  as  good  a  claim  as 
any  other  in  the  Hindu  times  to  the  dignity  of 
general  dominion,  and  affords  a  fresh  reason  for 
distrusting  all  such  pretensions.  The  dynasty  of 
Pala  was  succeeded  by  one  whose  names  ended  in 
Sena ;  and  this  last  was  subverted  by  the  Maho- 
metans about  A.  D.  1203. 

Mdiwa.  Though  the  kingdom  of  Malwa  does  not  pretend 

to  equal  in  antiquity  those  already  mentioned,  it  is 

vicrama-     of  it  that  wc  Dosscss  the  first  authentic  date.     The 

ditya.  ^ 

sera  still  current  through  all  the  countries  north  of 
the  Nerbadda  is  that  of  Vicramaditya,  who  reigned 
at  Ujein  at  the  date  of  its  commencement,  which 
was  fifty-six  years  before  Christ. 

Vicramaditya  is  the  Harun  al  Rashid  of  Hindu 
tales ;  and  by  drawing  freely  from  such  sources, 
Colonel  Wilford  collected  such  a  mass  of  transac- 
tions as  required  the  supposition  of  no  less  than 
eight  Vicramadityas,  to  reconcile  the  dates  of  them ; 
but  all  that  is  now  admitted  is,  that  Vicramaditya 
was  a  powerful  monarch,  ruled  a  civilised  and  pro- 


HINDOSTAN.  399 

sperous  country,  and  was  a  distinguished  patron  of    chap. 
letters. 


The  next  epoch  is  that  of  Raja  Bhoja,   whose  Bh6ja. 
name  is  one  of  the  most  renowned  in  India,  but  of 
whose    exploits    no    record   has   been    preserved. 
His  long  reign  terminated  about  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  centurv. 

The  intermediate  six  centuries  are  tilled  up  by 
lists  of  kings  in  the  "  A'yeni  Akberi,"  and  in  the 
Hindu  books :  among  them  is  one  named  Chan- 
drapala,  who  is  said  to  have  conquered  all  Hin- 
dostan  ;  but  the  information  is  too  vague  to  be 
made  much  use  of.  The  princes  of  Malwa  cer- 
tainly extended  their  authority  over  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  centre  and  west  of  India ;  and  it  is  of 
Vicramaditya  that  the  traditions  of  universal  em- 
pire are  most  common  in  India. 

The  grandson  of  Bhoja  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
his  country  conquered,  by  the  raja  of  Guzerat; 
but  Mcilwa  appears  soon  to  have  recovered  its  in- 
dependence under  a  new  dynasty  ;  and  was  finally 
subdued  by  the  Mahometans  a.  d.  1231.* 

The  residence  of  Crishna,  and  other  events  of  Cuzcrdt. 
those  times,  impress  us  with  the  belief  of  an  early 
principality  in  Guzerat ;  and  the  whole  is  spoken 
of  as  under  one  dominion,   by  a  Greek  writer  of 
the    second    century.t       Tlie     Rajput  traditions, 

*  Colonel  Tod,  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol,  i. 
p.  201.,  and  Mr.  Colebrooke,  p.  230.  of  the  same  volume.  See 
also  Gladwin  s  Ayeen  Ahhcry,  vol.  ii.  p.  48. 

-j-   Vincent's  Periplus,  p.  111.  (note  on  Mambarus). 


400  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


IV, 


^ooK  quoted  by  Colonel  Tod*,  inform  us  of  another 
principality,  founded  at  Ballabi,  in  the  peninsula  of 
Guzerat,  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century  of 
our  aera,  by  Kanak  Sena,  an  emigrant  of  tlie  solar 
race,  which  reigned  in  Oud.  They  were  driven 
out  of  their  capital  in  .5'24,  by  an  army  of  bar- 
barians, who.  Colonel  Tod  thinks,  were  Parthians. 
The  princes  of  that  family  emigrated  again  from 
Guzerat,  and  at  length  founded  the  kingdom  of 
Mewar,  which  still  subsists.  Grants  of  land,  in- 
scribed on  copper  tablets,  which  have  been  tran- 
slated by  Mr.  AVathent,  fully  confirm  the  fact  that 
a  race  whose  names  often  ended  in  Sena  reigned 
at  Ballabi  from  a.  d.  144  to  a.  d.  524.  The  bar- 
barians, whom  Colonel  Tod  thinks  Parthians,  Mr. 
Wathen  suggests  may  have  been  Indo-Bactrians. 
They  are  certainly  too  late  to  be  Parthians  ;  but  it 
is  not  impossible  they  may  have  been  Persians  of 
the  next  race  (Sassanians).  Noushirwan  reigned 
from  a.  d.  531  to  a.  d.  579.  Various  Persian  au- 
thors quoted  by  Sir  John  Malcolm  t,  assert  that  this 
monarch  carried  his  arms  into  Ferghana  on  the 
north,  and  India  on  the  east ;  and  as  they  are 
supported  in  the  first  assertion  by  Chinese  records  §, 
there  seems  no  reason  to  distrust  them  in  the 
second.  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  (though  without 
stating  his  authority)  gives  a  minute  and  probable 
account  of  Noushirwan's  march  alone:  the  sea  coast 


'& 


*  Vol.  i.  pp.  83.  215. 

f   Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta,  vol.iv.  p.  480,  &c. 

X  Persia,  vol.  i.  p.  141.  §  De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  469. 


HINDOSTAN.  401 

of  Mekran  to  Sind*  ;  and,  as  Ballabi  was  close  to     chap. 
Sind,  we  may  easily  believe  him  to  have  destroyed  ' 

that  city.  Perhaps  the  current  story  of  the  descent 
of  the  Ranas  of  Mewar  from  Noushirwan  may 
have  some  connection  with  their  being  driven  into 
their  present  seats  by  that  monarch. 

The  difference  of  seven  years,  by  which  the 
taking  of  Ballabi  precedes  Noiishirwan's  accession, 
is  but  a  trifling  matter-in  Hindu  chronology. 

The  Ballabi  princes  were  succeeded  in  the  rule 
of  Guzerat  by  the  Chauras,  another  Rajput  tribe, 
who  finally  established  their  capital,  in  a.  d.  7^6,  at 
Anhalwara,  now  Pattan,  and  became  one  of  the 
greatest  dynasties  of  India. 

The  last  raja  dying  in  a.  d.  931  without  male 
issue,  was  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law  as  prince  of 
the  Rajput  tribe  of  Salonka,  or  Chalukya,  whose 
family  were  chiefs  of  Calian  in  the  Deckan,  above 
the  Ghats. t 

It  was  a  raja  of  this  dynasty  tliat  conquered 
Malwa ;  and  it  is  to  them,  I  suppose,  that  Colonel 
Wilford  applies  the  title  of  emperors  of  India,  t 
Though  overrun  and  rendered  tributary  by  the 
Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  the  Salonkas  remained  on  the 

•  Travels,  &c.  p.  386. 

t  Colonel  Tod,  vol.  i.  pp.  83.  97.  101.  206.  From  the  com- 
parative nearness  of  Calian  in  the  Concan,  Colonel  Tod  has 
naturally  been  led  to  suppose  the  Salonka  prince  to  have  come 
from  thence  ;  but  further  information  is  unfavourable  to  that 
opinion.  Of  the  Salonka  princes  of  Caliiln  in  the  Deckan  more 
will  be  said  hereafter. 

J   Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  pp.  169.  17{).  181,  &c. 

vor,.  I.  I)  1) 


402  HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 

BOOK     throne  till  a.  d.  1228,  when  they  were  deposed  by 

another  dynasty,  which  in  1297  *  sunk  in  its  turn 

before  the  Mussulman  conquerors. 
Canouj.  Few  of  thc  ancient  Hindu  states  have  attracted 

more  notice  than  Canacubya  or  Canouj.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  ancient  places  in  India  ;  it  gave  rise, 
and  gives  a  name,  to  one  of  the  greatest  divisions 
of  the  Bramin  class ;  its  capital  v/as  perhaps  the 
wealthiest  visited  by  the  first  Mahometan  invaders  ; 
and  its  wars  with  the  neighbouring  state  of  Delhi 
contributed  to  accelerate  the  ruin  of  Hindu  inde- 
pendence. 

This  kingdom  appears  in  early  times  to  have 
been  called  Panchala.  It  seems  to  have  been  a 
long,  but  narrow  territory,  extending  on  the  east  to 
Nepal  (which  it  included),  and  on  the  west  along 
the  Chambal  t  and  Banas,  as  far  as  Ajmir.  We 
know  little  else  of  its  early  history,  except  the 
Rajput  writings  and  traditions  collected  by  Colonel 
Todt,  and  the  inscriptions  examined  by  Professor 
Wilson  §,  with  those  translated  and  discussed  by 
Principal   Mill.||     The  former  relate  that    it  was 

*  Briggs's  Ferislita. 

f  The  identity  of  Canouj  and  Panchala  is  assumed  in  Menu, 
n.  19.  Its  limits,  as  assigned  in  the  "  Malul  Bharat,"  are  made 
out  by  connecting  the  following  notes  in  the  "  Oriental  Magazine," 
vol.  iii,  p.  135.,  vol.  iv.  p.  142.  It  is  reniarkable  that  these 
boundaries,  enlarged  a  little  on  the  south  and  on  the  west,  are 
ihe  same  as  those  assigned  by  Colonel  Tod  to  the  same  king, 
dom  at  the  time  of  the  Mussulman  invasion. — Rajasthan,  vol.  ii. 
p.  9. 

I  Vol.  ii.  p.  2.  §  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xv. 

II  Journul  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  iii.  for  1834'. 


HINDOSTAN.  403 

taken  from  another  Hindu  dynasty,   a.  d.  47O,   by    chap. 
the  Rathors,  who  retained  it  until  its  conquest  by        ^' 
the  Mussulmans  in   a.  d.  1193;  when  they  with- 
drew to  their  present  seats  in  Marwar. 

In  this  interval  they  represent  its  conquests  as 
including,  at  one  period,  Bengal  and  Orissa,  and  as 
extending  on  the  west  as  far  as  the  river  Indus. 

The  inscriptions  lead  us  to  think  that  the  dynasty 
subverted  by  the  Mussulmans  was  of  more  recent 
origin,  being  established  by  a  Rajput  adventurer 
in  the  eleventh  century,  and  throw  doubt  on  the 
accuracy  of  Colonel  Tod's  information  in  other 
respects. 

The  Rajputs,  as  well  as  the  Mahometan  writers, 
who  describe  the  conquest  of  India,  dwell  in  terms 
of  the  Iiio-hest  admiration  on  the  extent  and  mao;. 
nificence  of  the  capital  of  this  kingdom,  the  ruins 
of  which  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  Ganges. 

It  would   be  tedious  to  go   through  the  names  oti.er 
of  the  \arious  petty  Hindu  states  that  existed  at  l-es!''^'"''" 
various  periods  in  Hindostan  :  the  annexed  table 
gives  a  notion  of  the  dates  of  some  of  them,  though 
it  must  often  be  erroneous  as  well  as  incomplete. 

Tiie  mention  of  Cashmir  is  confined  to  the  table 
for  a  different  reason  from  the  rest.  Its  history  is 
too  full  and  complete  to  mix  with  such  sketches  as 
the  above,  and  it  enters  little  into  the  affairs  of  the 
otiier  parts  of  India,  except  when  it  describes  the 
invasion,  and  ahnost  conquest,  of  that  great  con- 
tinent,  on    more   than    one    occasion,   by  its    own 

D  D   '2 


404 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     rajas ;    the  accuracy   of  which   accounts   appears 

to  admit  of  question.* 

It  is  not  easy  to  decide  what  states  to  include 
in  the  Hst,  even  of  those  which  have  come  to 
my  knowledge.  The  Panjab  seems  better  en- 
titled than  Benares ;  but  although  a  state,  called 

*  This  solitary  specimen  of  Hindu  history  will  be  found  most 
satisfactorily  analysed  and  explained  in  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.xv. 


Ill   the  following  table  the  mark  *    indicates   that   a  state  is  mentioned  in   the   "  I\Ialia| 
authority  for  the  last  mention  of  states  is  seldom  given.      The  year  is  generally  that 


Name. 


Magada  - 
Gour 

Malwa  - 

Guzerat  - 

Canouj  - 

Mithili  - 

Benares  - 


When  first  mentioned. 


When  last  men- 
tioned. 


Authority. 


^By  the  Greeks 
300  B.  c 


*9th  century,  a.  d. 

{Eleven  genera- 
tions before  56 
B.  c. 


*A.  D.  144 


n,  r  About  the"]  fVishni 
f '  \  \  5th  cen-  \  \  pp. 
~    J     t      tury,  A.D.J     t      ("0 

A.D.  1203        -  j  IV 

I   A.D.  1231        -    I 


*A.  D.  470 


Rama's  time 


A.D.  1297 


A.D.  1193 


A.D.  1325 


A.D.  1192 


Delhi        -    *About  5Q  B.C.       -    a.  d.  1192 


("Vishnu       Purana, 

473,     474. 
te)      - 

Monghir  inscription 


A'yeni  Akberi, 
vol.  ii.  p.  44. 

Col.  Tod,  vol.  i. 
p.  216.  ;  Mr. 
Wathen,  Jour. 
Royal  As.  Soc. 
vol.  iv.  p.  480. 

Tod,  vol.ii.  p. 2. 


Tod,  vol.  i.  p.  51.   - 


I 


HINDUSTAN. 


4U5 


Traigerta,  was  formed  out  of  it  in  ancient  times, 
and  it  was  again  nearly  united,  when  attacked  by 
the  Mahometans,  yet  it  is  not  noticed  in  the  inter- 
mediate Indian  history,  and  when  visited  by  the 
Greeks,  it  was  broken  into  very  small  principalities  : 
Porus,  one  of  the  greatest  chiefs,  had  not,  with  all 
his  friends  and  dependents,  one  eighth  part  of  the 
whole. 


CHAP. 

I. 


Bliarat.      The  date  in  that  case  refers   to    the  next  time  It  is  heard  of  in  history.      Tli 
mentioned  by  Fcrishta  as  tlie  one  in  which  tliey  were  conqnered  by  the  Rlahometans. 


{ 


Mithili  was  the  capital  of  the  father  of  Sita,  Rama's  wife.  Though 
fomous  for  a  school  of  law,  and  though  giving  its  name  to  one  of  the 
ten  Indian  languages,  it  is  little  mentioned  in  history. 

Benares  seems  to  have  been  independent  at  the  time  of  the  "  Maha 
Bharat ;"  it  was  probably  afterwards  subject  to  Magada,  as  it  cer- 
tainly was,  at  a  later  period,  to  Gour.  It  was  independent  when 
conquered  by  the  Mahometans. 

The  next  mention  of  Delhi  in  a  probable  form,  after  the  "Maha  Bha- 
rat," is  its  occupation  by  a  tribe  of  Rajputs,  twenty  of  whom  had 
reigned  in  succession,  when  they  were  dethroned  in  1050  A.  d. 
by  an  ancestor  of  Pritwi  Raja,  who  was  conquered  by  the  Mus- 
sulmans. 

D  D    3 


406 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
IV. 


Name. 


Ajmir 

Mewar     - 

Jesselmer 

Jeipur 

Sind    - 

Cashmir  ■ 


When  first  mentioned. 


r  Seven  genera- "| 
-J  tions  before  !- 
I     A.D.  695         -J 


A.  D.  720 
A.D.  731 
A.D.  967. 


When  last  men- 
tioned. 


r  *Independent  in"j 
J  Alexander's  |- 
[_      time,  325  b.c.J 


1400  B.  c. 


Still  existing 
Still  existing 
Still  existing 

A.D.  711      - 

A.D.  1015 


Authority. 


TodjTrans.Royal 
As.  Soc.  vol.  i. 
p.  40.,  and  Or. 
Mag.  vol.  viii. 
p.  20.       -       - 

Tod,  vol.  i.  p.  231. 
Tod,  vol.  ii.  p.  233. 
Tod,  vol.  ii.  p.  346. 


J  ProfessorWilson,  "1 
\    As.Res.  vol.xv.  J 


HINDOSTAN. 


407 


The  eighth  prince,  Manik  Kai,  reigned  in  a.  d.  695.  His  descendant, 
Visal,  was  the  prince  who  conquered  Delhi  in  1050.  The  two  states 
fell  together. 

It  seems  to  have  been  before  this  in  the  hands  of  the  Malwa  kings. 
It  was  conquered  by  a  race  of  Rajputs  from  Oud,  the  same  who 
founded  the  state  of  Guzerat. 

{Jcsselmur  was  founded  by  a  tribe  of  the  family  of  Crishna,  who  came 
from  the  north-west  of  India,  and  who  still  possess  it. 

{Founded  by  a  Ilajpiit  prince,  of  a  family  of  descendants  of  Rama,  who 
had,  some  generations  before,  obtained  tlie  petty  principality  of 
Narwar. 

Sindu  is  mentioned  as  one  principality  in  the  "  Maha  Bharat."  It  was 
divided  into  four  in  Alexander's  time;  but  united  in  711,  when 
invaded  by  the  Arabs.  It  was  afterwards  recovered  by  the  Rajput 
tribe  of  Samera,  A.  d.  750,  and  not  finally  conquered  by  the  Maho- 
metans until  after  the  house  of  Ghor. 

The  historians  of  Cashmir  claim  about  1200  years  earlier,  but  give  no 
names  of  kings  and  no  events.  After  five  dynasties,  they  were  con- 
quered by  Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  in  a.  d.  1015  according  to  Ferishta. 


CHAP. 
1. 


D  D    4 


408 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


CHAP.  11. 


THE    DECKAN. 


Early 
state  and 
divisions 
of  the 
Deckan. 


BOOK     The  history  of  the  Deckan,  as  it  has  no  preten- 

IV. 

'  sions  to  equal  antiquity,  is  less  obscure  than  that 
of  Hindostan,  but  it  is  less  interesting.  We  know 
little  of  the  early  inhabitants  ;  and  the  Hindus  do 
not  attract  so  much  attention  where  they  are  co- 
lonists as  they  did  in  their  native  seats.*  '*  All 
the  traditions  and  records  of  the  Peninsula  (says 
Professor  Wilson)  recognise,  in  every  part  of  it,  a 
period  when  the  natives  were  not  Hindus  ;"  and 
the  aborigines  are  described,  before  their  civilisa- 
tion by  the  latter  people,  as  foresters  and  moun- 
taineers, or  goblins  and  demons.  Some  circum- 
stances, however,  give  rise  to  doubts  whether  the 
early  inhabitants  of  the  Deckan  could  have  been  in 
so  rude  a  state  as  this  account  of  them  would  lead 
us  to  suppose. 

The  Tamul  language  must  have  been  formed 
and  perfected  before  the  introduction  of  the  Shan- 
scrit :  and  though  this  fact  may  not  be  conclusive 
(since  the  North  American  Indians  also  possess  a 
polished  language),  yet,  if  Mr.  Ellis's  opinion  be 

*  The  whole  of  the  following  information,  down  to  the  account 
of  Orissa,  is  derived  from  Professor  Wilson's  Introduction  to 
the  Mackenzie  Papers ;  though  it  may  be  sometimes  modified 
by  opinions  for  which  that  gentleman  ought  not  to  be  answer- 
able. 


ir. 


THE    DECKAN.  409 

well  founded,  and  there  is  an  original  Tamul  lite-  chap. 
rature  as  well  as  language,  it  will  be  impossible  to 
class  the  founders  of  it  with  foresters  and  moun- 
taineers.* If  any  credit  could  be  given  to  the 
Hindu  legends,  Ravan,  who  reigned  over  Ceylon 
and  the  southern  part  of  tlie  peninsula  at  the  time 
of  Rama's  invasion,  was  the  head  of  a  civihsed  and 
powerful  state  ;  but,  by  the  same  accoiuits,  he  was 
a  Hindu,  and  a  follower  of  Siva ;  which  would  lead 
us  to  infer  that  the  story  is  much  more  recent  than 
the  times  to  which  it  refers,  and  that  part  of  it  at 
least  is  founded  on  the  state  of  things  when  it 
w^as  written,  rather  than  when  Rama  and  Ravan 
lived. 

It  is  probable  tliat,  after  repeated  invasions  had 
opened  the  communication  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, the  first  colonists  from  Hindostan  would  settle 
on  the  fruitful  plains  of  the  Carnatic  and  Tanjore, 
rather  than  in  the  bleak  downs  of  the  upper 
Deckan  ;  and  although  the  sea  might  not  at  first 
have  influenced  their  choice  of  an  abode,  its  neigh- 
bourhood would  in  time  give  access  to  traders  from 
other  nations,  and  would  create  a  rapid  increase  of 
the  towns  along  the  coast. 

*  It  is,  perhaps,  a  proof  of  the  establishment  of  Tiimul  litera- 
ture before  the  arrival  of  the  Braniins,  that  some  of  its  most 
esteemed  authors  are  of  the  lowest  cast,  or  what  we  call  Pariars. 
These  authors  lived  in  comparatively  modern  times  ;  but  such  a 
career  would  never  have  been  thrown  open  to  their  class  if  the 
knowledge  which  led  to  it  had  been  first  imparted  by  the  Bra- 


410 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 

IV. 


Dravira  or 

Tamul 

country. 


Carnata  or 

Canarcse 

countrv. 


Such  seems  to  have  been  the  case  about  the  be- 
ginning of  our  aera,  when  Pliny  and  the  author  of 
the  "  Periphis  "  describe  that  part  of  India. 

Even  the  interior  must,  however,  have  received 
a  considerable  portion  of  refinement  at  a  still 
earlier  period  ;  for  the  companions  of  Alexander, 
quoted  in  Strabo  and  Arrian,  while  they  remark 
the  points  of  difference  which  still  subsist  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  south  and  north  of  India, 
take  no  notice  of  any  contrast  in  their  manners. 

Professor  Wilson  surmises  that  the  civilisation  of 
the  south  may  possibly  be  extended  even  to  ten 
centuries  before  Christ. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  there  are  five  lan- 
guages spoken  in  the  Deckan  ;  and  as  they  doubt- 
less mark  an  equal  number  of  early  national  divi- 
sions, it  is  proj)er  here  to  describe  their  limits. 

Tamul  is  spoken  in  the  country  called  Dravira; 
which  occupies  the  extreme  south  of  the  peninsula, 
and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  a  line  drawn  from 
Pulicat  (near  Madras)  to  the  Ghats  between  that 
and  Bangalor,  and  so  along  the  curve  of  those 
mountains  westward  to  the  boundary  line  between 
Malabar  and  Canara,  which  it  follows  to  the  sea  so 
as  to  include  Malabar. 

Part  of  the  northern  limit  of  Dravira  forms  the 
southern  one  of  Carnata,  which  is  bounded  on  the 
west  by  the  sea,  nearly  as  far  as  Goa,  and  then 
by  the  western  Ghats  up  to  the  neighbourhood  of 
Colapur. 


THE    DECKAN.  411 

The  northern  limit  will  be  very  roughly  marked     chap. 
by  a  line  from  Colapur  to  Bidr,  and  the  eastern  ' 

by  a  line  from  Bidr  through  Adoni,  Anantpur, 
and  Nandidrug,  to  the  point  in  the  Giiats  formerly 
mentioned  between  Pulicat  and  Bangalor. 

This  last  line  forms  part  of  the  western  limit  of  Xeiingana 

^  1  I'll  1         '^^  Telugu 

the  Telugu  language  ;  which,  how^ever,  must  be  country. 
prolonged  in  the  same  rough  way  to  Chanda,  on 
the  river  Warda.  From  this  the  northern  bound- 
ary runs  still  more  indistinctly  east  to  Sohnpur  on 
the  Mahanaddi.  The  eastern  limit  runs  from 
Sohnpur  to  Cicacole,  and  thence  along  the  sea  to 
Pulicat,  where  it  meets  the  boundary  of  the  Tamul 
language. 

The    southern   limit   of  the    Maratta  language  Maharash- 
and  nation  has  already  been  described  in  fixing  the  Maratta"^ 
boundaries   of  Carnata   and   Telingana.      It    runs  '^'^""^'■>- 
from  Goa  through  Colapur  and  Bidr  to  Chanda. 
Its  eastern  line  follows  the  Warda  to  the  chain  of 
hills    south    of    the    Nerbadda,    called    Injadri  or 
Satpura. 

Those  hills  are  its  northern  limit,  as  far  west  as 
Nandod,  near  the  Nerbadda,  and  its  western  will 
be  shown  by  a  line  from  Nandod  to  Daman,  con- 
tinued along  the  sea  to  Goa.* 

The  Urya  language  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  OrLssaoi 
that  of  Telingana,  and  on  the  east  by  the  sea.    On  country. 

*  The  establishment  of  a  Maratta  government  at  Nagpiir 
has  drawn  many  of  the  nation  into  that  part  of  Gondwana,  and 
made  their  language  general  for  a  considerable  distance  round 
the  capital. 


412  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     the  west  and  nortli,  a  line  drawn  from  Sohnpur  to 
'       Midnapur    in    Bengal,    would   in    some    measure 
mark  the  boundary. 

The  large  space  left  between  Maharashtra  and 
Orissa  is  in  a  great  part  the  forest  tract  inhabited 
by  the  Gonds.  Their  language,  though  quite  dis- 
tinct from  the  rest,  being  reckoned  a  jargon  of 
savage  mountaineers,  is  not  counted  among  the  five 
languages  of  the  Deckan.* 
Kingdoms        xhc  most  ancicut  kingdoms  are  those  in  the  ex- 

and  princi-  p  •    i 

paiities       treme  south,  in  all  of  which  the  Tamul  language 

of  the  „ 

Deckan.      prevailed. 

Two  persons  of  the  agricultural  class  founded 
the  kingdoms  of  Pandya  and  Chola. 
Kingdom         The   first  of  these    derives   its  name    from   its 

of  pandya.  .  •  i  i  n  •    i 

founder.  It  is  uncertam  when  he  flourished,  but 
there  seem  good  grounds  for  thinking  it  was  in  the 
fifth  century  before  Christ. 

Strabo  mentions  an  ambassador  from  King  Pan- 
dion  to  Augustus ;  and  this  appears  from  the 
"  Periplus  *'  and  Ptolemy  to  have  been  the  here- 
ditary appellation  of  the  descendants  of  Pandya. 

The  Pandion  of  the  time  of  the  "Periplus"  had 
possession  of  a  part  of  the  Malabar  coast ;  but  this 
must  have  been  of  short  duration  ;  the  Ghats  in 
general  formed  the  western  limit  of  the  kingdom, 
which  was  of  small  extent,  only  occupying  what 
we  now  call  the  districts  of  Madura  and  Tinivelly. 

The  seat  of  the  government,  after  being  twice 

*  In  the  plains  towards  the  north  of  Gondwana  the  language 
is  a  dialect  of  Hindostani, 


THE  DECKAN.  413 

changed,   was  fixed  at  Madura,    where  it  was  in     chap. 

Ptolemy's  time,  and  where  it  remained  till  within  

a  century  of  the  present  day. 

The  wars  and  rivalries  of  all  the  Pandyan  princes 
were  with  the  adjoining  kingdom  of  Chola ;  with 
which  they  seem,  in  the  first  ages  of  the  Christian 
sera,  to  have  formed  a  union  which  lasted  for  a  long 
time.  They,  however,  resumed  their  separate  so- 
vereignty, and  were  a  considerable  state  until  the 
ninth  century,  when  tliey  lost  their  consequence, 
and  were  often  tributary,  though  sometimes  quite 
independent,  till  the  last  of  the  Nayacs  (the 
dynasty  with  which  the  line  closed)  was  conquered 
by  the  Nabob  of  Arcot  in  1736. 

The  history  of  Chola  takes  a  wider  range.  choia. 

Its  proper  limits  were  those  of  the  Tamul  lan- 
guage, and  Mr.  Ellis  thinks  that  it  had  attained  to 
this  extent  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  a^ra  ; 
but  the  same  gentleman  is  of  opinion  that,  in  the 
eighth  century,  its  princes  had  occupied  large  por- 
tions of  Carnata  and  Telingcina,  and  ruled  over  as 
much  of  the  country  up  to  the  Godaveri  as  lay 
east  of  the  liills  at  Nandidrug. 

Tliey  seem,  however,  to  have  been  first  checked, 
and  ultimately  driven  back,  in  the  twelfth  century, 
within  their  ancient  frontiers.  In  this  state  they 
continued  to  subsist,  either  as  independent  princes 
or  feudatories  of  Vijayanagar,  until  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  a  brotlier  of  the  founder 
of  the  Maratta  state,  who  was,  at  tliat  time,  an 
officer  under  the  Mussulman  king  of  Bijapur,  being 


414  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     detached  to  aid  the  last  raja,  supplanted  him  in 

his  government,  and  was  first  of  the  present  family 

of  Tanjore. 

The  capital,  for  most  part  of  their  rule,  was  at 
Canchi,  or  Conjeveram,  west  of  Madras. 
chera.  Chcra  was  a  small  state,  between  the  territory 

of  the  Pandyas  and  the  western  sea.  It  compre- 
hended Travancore,  part  of  Malabar,  and  Coimba- 
tur.  It  is  mentioned  in  Ptolemy,  and  may  have 
existed  at  the  commencement  of  our  gera.  It  spread, 
at  one  time,  over  the  greater  part  of  Carnata,  but 
was  subverted  in  the  tenth  century,  and  its  lands 
partitioned  among  the  surrounding  states. 
Kerala.  Accordiug  to  the  mythologists,  the  country  of 

Kerala,  which  includes  Malabar  and  Canara,  was 
(together  with  the  Concan)  miraculously  gained 
from  the  sea  by  Paris  Ram  (the  conqueror  of  the 
Cshetryas),  and  as  miraculously  peopled  by  him 
with  Bramins.  A  more  rational  account  states 
that,  about  the  first  or  second  century  of  our  asra, 
a  prince  of  the  northern  division  of  Kerala,  intro- 
duced a  colony  of  Bramins  from  Hindostan  ;  and, 
as  the  numerous  Bramins  of  Malabar  and  Canara 
are  mostly  of  the  five  northern  nations,  the  story 
seems  to  be  founded  in  fact. 

Plovvever  the  population  may  have  been  intro- 
duced, all  accounts  agree  that  Kerala  was,  from 
the  first,  entirely  separate  from  the  Concans,  and 
was  possessed  by  Bramins,  who  divided  it  into 
sixty-four  districts,  and  governed  it  by  means  of  a 
general  assembly  of  their  cast,  renting  the  lands  to 
men  of  the  inferior  classes. 


THE    DECKAN.  415 

The  executive  government  was  held  by  a  Bramin     chap. 

elected  every  three  years,  and  assisted  by  a  council   

of  four  of  the  same  tribe.  In  time,  however,  they 
appointed  a  chief  of  the  military  class,  and  after- 
wards were,  perhaps,  under  the  protection  of  the 
Pandyan  kings.  But,  though  the  language  of 
Kerala  is  a  dialect  of  Tamul,  it  does  not  appear 
ever  to  have  been  subject  to  the  kingdom  of  Chola. 

It  is  not  exactly  known  when  the  northern  and 
southern  divisions  separated  ;  but,  in  the  course  of 
the  ninth  century,  the  southern  one  (Malabar)  re- 
volted from  its  prince,  who  had  become  a  Maho- 
metan, and  broke  up  into  many  petty  principalities; 
among  the  chief  of  which  was  that  of  the  Zamorins, 
whom  Vasco  di  Gama  found  in  possession  of  Calicut 
in  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

The  northern  division  (Canara)  seems  to  have 
established  a  dynasty  of  its  own,  soon  after  the 
commencement  of  our  aera,  which  lasted  till  the 
twelfth  century,  when  it  was  overturned  by  the 
Belall  rajas,  and  subsequently  became  subject  to 
the  rajas  of  Vijayanagar. 

The  Concan,  in  early  times,  seems  to  have  been   Concan. 
a  thinly  inhabited  forest,  from  which  character  it 
has,  even  now,  but  partially  escaped.    I  suppose  the 
inhabitants  were  always  Marattas. 

From  there  being  the  same  language  and  manners  CanK.ta 

111/^/  •  1111  1         ^"^^  Telin- 

through  all  Larnata,   it   seems  probable   that  tiie  gann. 
whole  was  once  united  under  a  native  oovcrnment;   J5-'''" 
but  the  first  historical  accounts  describe  it  as  di- 
vided between  the  Pandya  and  Chera  princes,  and 


41 6  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     those  of  Canara  (or  the  northern  half  of  Kerala). 

IV. 

'  It  was  afterwards  partitioned  among  many  petty 
princes,  until  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century, 
when  one  considerable  dynasty  appears  to  have 
arisen. 

This  was  the  family  of  Belala  or  Belall,  who 
were,  or  pretended  to  be,  Rajputs  of  the  Yadu 
branch,  and  whose  power,  at  one  time,  extended 
over  the  whole  of  Carnata,  together  with  Malabar, 
the  Tamul  country,  and  part  of  Telingana.  They 
were  subverted  by  the  Mussulmans  about  a.d.  1310 
or  1311. 

The  Yatk-  TIic  castcm  part  of  Telingana  seems  to  have 
been  from  the  beeinniniy  of  the  ninth  to  near  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century,  in  the  hands  of  an 
obscure  dynasty  known  by  the  name  of  Yadava. 

Chaiukyas  A  Rajput  family  of  the  Chalukya  tribe  reigned 
at  Calian,  west  of  Bidr,  on  the  borders  of  Carnata 
and  Maharashtra.  They  are  traced  with  certainty 
by  inscriptions,  from  the  end  of  the  tenth  to  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century.  Those  inscriptions 
show  that  they  possessed  territory  as  far  to  the 
south-west  as  Banawasi  in  Sunda,  near  the  western 
Ghats ;  and,  in  one  of  them,  they  are  styled  sub- 
jugators of  Chola  and  Guzerat.  Mr.  Walter  Elliott, 
who  has  published  a  large  collection  of  their  in- 
scriptions *,  is  of  opinion  that  they  possessed  the 
whole  of  Maharashtra  to  the  Nerbadda.  Professor 
Wilson  thinks  that  they  were  also  superior  lords  of 
the  west  of  Telingana,  a  prince  of  which  (probably 

*  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  iv.  p.  1. 


of  Carnata. 


THE  DECKAN.  417 

their  feudatory)   defeated  the  Chola  king  *  :  and     chap. 
this  is,  probably,   the  conquest  alluded  to  in  the  ' 

inscription. 

The  same  pretension  with  respect  to  Guzerat 
probably  originated  in  the  acquisition  (already 
mentioned)  of  that  country  by  a  prince  of  this 
house  through  his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  the 
Chaura  family. 

The  last  king  of  tlie  race  was  deposed  by  Iiis 
minister,  who,  in  his  turn,  was  assassinated  by  some 
fanatics  of  the  Lingayet  sect,  which  was  then  rising 
into  notice.  The  kingdom  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Yadus  of  Deogiri.f 

Another  branch  of  the  tribe  of  Chakikya,  per-  chaiukyas, 
haps  connected  with  those  of  Calian,   ruled  over  '^    ^'"S**- 
Calinga,  which  is  the  eastern  portion  of  Telingana, 
extending  along  the  sea  from  Dravira  to  Orissa. 

Their  dynasty  certainly  lasted  through  the  whole 
of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  and,  per- 
haps, began  two  centuries  earlier.  It  was  greatly 
reduced  by  the  Ganapati  kings  of  Andra,  and  finally 
subverted  by  the  rajas  of  Cattac. 

The  kings  of  Andra,  whose  capital  was  Varangul  Kings  of 
(about  80  miles  north-east  of  Heiderabad),  are 
alleged  to  have  been  connected  with  the  Andra 
race  in  Magada  ;  but  it  must  have  been  by  country 
only  ;  for  Andra  is  not  the  name  of  a  family,  but 
of  all  the  inland  ])art  of  Telingana. t 

*    Intiodiictioi)  to  the  Mackenzie  Papers,  p.  cxxix. 
f    Mr.  Elliot,  Journal  of  tlif  Roi/ol  Asiotic  Societi/,  vol.  i.  p.  17. 
"I    Introduction  to  the  Mackenzie  Papers,  p.  cxxii. 
VOL.   I.  E  E 


418  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  The  records  of  the  inhabitants  mention  Vicrama 

IV. 

^  and  Salivahana  among  the  earliest  monarchs  :  after 


these  they  place  the  Chola  rajas ;  who  were  suc- 
ceeded, they  think,  about  515  a.  d.,  by  a  race 
called  Yavans,  wlio  were  nine  in  number,  and 
reigned,  as  they  say,  for  458  years,  till  a.  d.  953. 
About  this  time,  the  same  records  make  the  family 
of  Ganapati  rajas  begin  ;  but  the  first  authentic 
mention  of  them,  and,  probably,  their  first  rise  to 
consequence,  was  in  the  end  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, under  Kakati,  from  whom  the  whole  dynasty 
is  sometimes  named.  He  has  been  mentioned  as 
an  officer  or  feudatory  of  the  Chalukyas,  and  as 
having  gained  victories  over  the  Chola  kings. 
Their  greatest  power  was  about  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  when  the  local  traditions  repre- 
sent them  as  possessed  of  the  whole  of  the  pen- 
insula south  of  the  Godaveri.  Professor  Wilson, 
however,  limits  them  to  the  portion  between  the 
fifteenth  and  eighteenth  degrees  of  latitude. 

In  1332  their  capital  was  taken,  and  their  im- 
portance, if  not  their  independence,  destroyed,  by 
a  Mahometan  army  from  Delhi.  At  one  time, 
subsequent  to  this,  they  seem  to  have  been  tri- 
butary to  Orissa.  They  merged,  at  last,  in  the 
Mussulman  kingdom  of  Golconda. 
Orissa.  The  history  of  Orissa,   like  all    others    in    the 

Deckan,  begins  with  princes  connected  with  the 
"  Maha  Bharat."  It  then  goes  on  with  a  confused 
history  (much  resembling  that  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Andia  kings),  in  which  Vicramaditya 


THE    DECKAN.  419 

and  Salivahana  are  made  to  occupy  the  country    chap. 
in  succession  ;  and  in  wliicii  repeated  invasions  of  ' 

Yavans  from  Delhi,  from  a  country  called  Babul 
(supposed  to  mean  Persia),  from  Cashmir,  and 
from  Sind,  are  represented  as  having  taken  place 
between  the  sixth  century  before  Christ  and  the 
fourth  century  after  Christ. 

The  last  invasion  was  from  the  sea,  and  in  it  the 
Yavans  were  successful,  and  kept  possession  of 
Orissa  for  146  years. 

The  natives  suppose  these  Yavans  to  be  Mussul- 
mans ;  and,  with  similar  absurdity,  describe  two 
invasions  of  troops  of  that  persuasion  under  Imarat 
Khan  and  another  Khan,  as  taking  place  about  five 
centuries  before  Christ.  Some  will  prefer  applying 
the  story  to  Seleucus,  or  the  Bactrian  Greeks ;  but 
it  is  evident  that  the  whole  is  a  jumble  of  such 
history  and  mythology  as  the  author  was  acquainted 
with,  put  together  without  the  slightest  knowledge 
of  geography  or  chronology.* 

The  Yavans  were  expelled  by  Yayati  Kesari  in 
A.D.  473. 

This  Mr.  Stirling  justly  considers  as  the  first 
glimmering  of  authentic  history.  Thirty-five  rajas 
of  the  Kesari  family  follow  in  a  period  of  650 
years,  until  a.d.  1131,  when  their  capital  was  taken 

*  The  same  remark  applies  to  tlie  Yavans  of  Telingiina,  who, 
by  the  bye,  have  all  Shanscrit  names.  Dr.  Buchanan  (vol.  iii. 
pp.  97.  112.)  is  surprised  to  find  a  dynasty  of  Yavans  at  Ana- 
gundi  on  the  Tumbadra  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  :  this, 
however,  is  not  physically  impossible,  lil<e  the  others;  for  the 
first  Arab  invasion  was  in  the  seventh  century  after  Christ, 

E  E    2 


420  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  by  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Ganga  Vansa,  whose 
'  dynasty  occupied  the  throne  till  near  the  Maho- 
metan conquest.  Mr,  Stirling  supposes  this  family 
to  have  come  from  Telingana ;  but  Professor  Wil- 
son *  proves,  from  an  inscription,  that  they  were 
rajas  of  a  country  on  the  Ganges,  answering  to 
what  is  now  Tamluk  and  Midnapur ;  and  that  their 
first  invasion  was  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury of  our  aera,  some  years  before  the  final  con- 
quest just  mentioned. 

Their  greatest  internal  prosperity  and  improve- 
ment seems  to  have  been  towards  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century;  and  for  several  reigns  on  each  side 
of  that  epoch  they  claim  extensive  conquests,  espe- 
cially to  the  south. 

These  are  rendered  highly  improbable  by  the 
flourishing  state  of  the  Chalukya  and  Andra  go- 
vernments during  that  period.  In  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  however,  the  government  of 
Orissa  had  sent  armies  as  far  as  Conjeveram,  near 
Madras ;  and,  about  the  same  time,  their  raja, 
according  to  Ferishta,  advanced  to  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Bidr  to  assist  the  Hindu  princes  of  those 
parts  against  the  Mussulmans. 

Before  these  last  events,  tlie  Ganga  Vansa  had 
been  succeeded  by  a  Rajput  family,  of  the  race  of 
the  sun  ;  and  after  performing  some  other  brilliant 
exploits,  and  suffering  invasions  from  the  Mussul- 
mans, both  in  Bengal  and  the  Deckan,  the  govern- 

*  Preface  to  the  Mackenzie  Papers,  p.  cxxxviii.  Their  name 
means  "  race  of  the  Ganges.'' 


THE  DECKAN.  421 

ment  fell  into  confusion,  was  seized  on  by  a  Telinga     chap. 

chief  in  1550,  and,  ultimately,  was  annexed  to  tlie J 

Mogul  empire,  by  Akber,  in  1578.* 

From  tlie  great  extent  of  the  country  through  Maharash. 
which  the  Maratta  language  is  spoken,  and  from  its  rattacoua- 
situation  on  the  frontier  of  the  Deckan,  one  would  *'^'" 
expect  it  to  be  the  first  noticed  and  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  the  divisions  of  the  peninsula:  yet 
we  only  possess   two   historical  facts  regarding  it 
until  the  time  of  the  Mussulmans ;  and,  in  those, 
the  name  of  Maliarashtra  is  never  once  mentioned. 

After  the  fables  regarding  Rama,  whose  retreat  Tagara. 
was  near  the  source  of  the  Godaveri,  the  first  fact 
we  hear  of  is  the  existence  of  Tagara,  which  was 
a  great  emporium  in  the  second  century,  is  men- 
tioned in  inscriptions  as  a  celebrated  place  in  the 
twelfth  century,  and  is  still  well  known  by  name, 
though  its  position  is  forgotten. 

It  is  mentioned  by  the  author  of  the  "  Periplus,'* 
but  its  site  is  fixed  with  so  little  precision,  that  we 
can  only  guess  it  to  have  lain  within  something 
more  than  100  miles  in  a  direction  to  the  east  of 
Paitan  on  the  Godaveri.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
a  very  great  city,  and  to  have  been  one  of  the  two 
principal  marts  of  Dachanabades  t,  a  country  so 
called  from  Dachan,  which  (says  the  author)  is  the 
word  for  south  in  the  native  language.     The  other 

*  The  whole  of  the  account  of  Orissa,  where  not  otherwise 
specified,  is  taken  from  a  paper  of  Mr.  Stirling,  Asialic  Re- 
searches, vol.  XV.   p.  254. 

f  Dakshinapatha  is  the  Shanscrit  name  for  the  Deci-'^'^ 
E  E    3 


422  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     mart  is  Plithana.     Neither  is  mentioned  as  a  ca- 
IV.  .     1 
pital,* 

*  We  have  scarcely  any  ground  to  go  on  in  fixing  these 
places.  The  following  are  the  words  of  the  "  Periplus  :" — *'  Of 
those  in  Dachanabades  itself,  two  very  distinguished  marts 
attract  notice,  lying  twenty  days'  journey  to  the  south  from  Bary- 
gaza.  About  ten  days'  journey  towards  the  east  from  this  is 
the  other,  Tagara,  a  very  great  city.  [Goods]  are  brought 
down  from  them  on  carts,  and  over  very  great  ascents,  to  Bary- 
gaza ;  from  Plithana  many  onyx  stones,  and  from  Tagara  ordi- 
nary linen,  &c."  It  is  evident  from  this,  that  the  two  towns  are 
Plithana  and  Tagara;  and  as  Tagara  is  the  other,  there  must 
have  been  one  first  mentioned,  or  intended  to  be  mentioned, 
and  that  one  must  have  been  Plithana :  the  mode  of  expression, 
no  doubt,  is  inaccurate  and  confused.  If  this  interpretation  be 
correct,  the  first  step  to  be  taken  is  to  ascertain  the  position  of 
Plithana,  which  must  be  somewhere  to  the  southward  of  Bary- 
gaza^,  distant  twenty  days'  journey,  and  above  the  Ghats. 
Barygaza  is  admitted  to  be  Baroch.  A  day's  journey  has  been 
taken  by  Colonel  Wilford  at  eleven  miles,  which  (after  allowing 
for  horizontal  distance)  does  not  differ  greatly  from  that  allowed 
by  Rennell  to  armies  with  all  their  incumbrances.  220  miles 
to  the  southward  of  Baroch  is  therefore  the  point  to  be  sought 
for  ;  and  the  first  step  will  naturally  be,  to  look  for  some  place 
within  that  circuit  the  name  of  which  resembles  Plithana.  None 
such  is  to  be  found.  Colonel  Wilford,  indeed,  mentions  a  place 
called  Pultanah,  on  the  Godaveri ;  but  nobody  else  has  heard 
of  it,  and  the  probability  is,  that  he  meant  Phultaraba.  If  so, 
the  resemblance  ceases  at  once  ;  for  Phultamba  would  be  written 
in  Greek  4>owXrajLi€a,  instead  of  UXtflaj'a  ;  and  the  supposition  is 
otherwise  untenable,  as  Phultamba,  by  a  circuitous  road,  is  only 
seventeen  days'  journey  from  Baroch.  We  are  therefore  left  to 
seek  for  a  Plithana  ;  but  Colonel  Wilford,  I  conceive,  has  brought 
us  into  the  right  neighbourhood,  and  has  assisted  us  by  an  in- 
genious conjecture,  though  intended  for  another  purpose.  He  says 
that  Ptolemy  has  mistaken  Plithana  (IIAieANA)  for  Paithana 
(IIAIBANA)  ;  and  I  would  contend  that,  on  the  contrary,  the 
copyist  of  the  "Periplus"  has  changed  Paithana  into  Plithana  (the 
more  likely  as  the  name  only  occurs  once) ;  and  that  the  real 


THE    DECKAN.  423 

Wherever  Taii^ara  was  situated,  it  afterwards  be-     chap. 
came  the  capital  of"  a  line  of  kings  of  the  Rajput  ' 

family   of  Silar,  with    whom  the  ruler   of  CaUan  Saiivdhana. 
near  Bombay,   in    the   eleventh    century,   and   of 
Parnala  near  Colapur,  in  the  twelfth,  were  proud 
to  boast  of  their  connection.* 

The  next  fact  relating  to  the  Maratta  country  is 
the  reign  of  Salivahana,  whose  sera  begins  from 
A.  D.  77'  Salivahana  seems  to  have  been  a  power- 
ful monarch  ;  yet  scarcely  one  circumstance  of  his 
history  has  been  preserved  in  an  authentic  or  even 
credible  form. 

name  of  the  first  emporium  is  Paitan,  a  city  on  the  Godaveri, 
between  twenty  and  twenty-one  days' journey  (230  miles)  from 
Baroch,  and  distinguished  as  the  capital  of  the  great  monarch 
Salivahana.  As  this  king  flourished  towards  the  end  of  the  first 
century  (a.d.  77),  it  would  be  strange  if  his  royal  residence  had 
become  obscure  by  the  middle  of  the  second ;  and  even  if  the 
distance  did  not  agree  so  well,  we  should  be  tempted  to  fix  on 
it  as  one  of  the  great  marts  of  the  Deckan.  With  regard  to 
Tagara,  we  remain  in  total  uncertainty.  It  cannot  possibly  be 
Deogiri  (Doulatabad) ;  because,  even  if  we  allow  Phultamba  to 
be  Plithana,  Doulatabad  is  within  three  days  and  a  half  or 
four  days'  journey,  instead  of  ten ;  nor  is  there  any  situation  to 
be  found  for  Plithana  so  as  to  be  twenty  days'  journey  from 
Baroch  and  ten  from  Doulatabad,  except  near  Puna,  which, 
being  within  seventy  miles  of  the  sea,  would  never  have  sent 
its  produce  twenty  days'  journey  to  Baroch.  We  need  have 
the  less  reluctance  in  giving  up  Deogiri,  as  that  place  is  never 
spoken  of  as  a  city  until  more  than  1000  years  after  the  date 
generally  assigned  to  the  "  Periplus."  If  Plithana  be  Paitan, 
Tagara  must  have  lain  ten  days'  further  east,  and  probably  on 
the  Godaveri ;  but  that  Plithana  is  Paitan  rests  on  a  mere  con- 
jecture. 

*  See  inscriptions,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i.  p.  357.,  and 
Bombay  Tra7isactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  391. 

JO  E    4 


424  HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 


BOOK         He  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  potter ;  to 


IV 


have  lieaded  an  insurrection,  overturned  a  dynasty, 
and  to  have  estabhshed  his  capital  at  Paitan,  on 
the  Godaveri.  He  is  said  also  to  have  conquered 
the  famous  Vicramaditya,  king  of  Malwa,  and 
to  have  founded  an  extensive  empire.*  The  first 
of  these  assertions,  in  reference  to  Vicramaditya 
himself,  is  impossible,  as  there  is  135  years  between 
the  aeras  of  the  two  princes  ;  and  no  war  with 
any  subsequent  king  of  Malwa  is  mentioned.  His 
empire  was  probably  in  the  Deckan,  where  his 
name  is  still  well  known,  and  his  aera  still  that  in 
ordinary  use.  After  this  the  history  of  Maha- 
rashtra breaks  off,  and  (except  by  the  inscriptions 
of  the  petty  princes  of  Calian  and  Pernala)  we 
hear  no  more  of  that  country  till  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century,  when  a  family  of  Yadus,  per- 
haps a  branch  of  that  of  Belial,  became  rajas  of 
Deogiri.  t  In  a.  d.  1294,  Maharashtra  was  invaded 
Deoo'iri.  by  the  Mussulmans  from  Delhi.  A  raja  of  the  race 
of  Yadu  still  reigned  at  Deogiri.  He  was  rendered 
tributary  either  then  or  in  1306  ;  and  his  capital 
was   taken   and    his    kingdom    subverted   in   a.  d. 

ISI7. 

About  this  time  the  Mussulman  writers  begin  to 
mention  the  Marattas  by  name.  It  is  probable 
that  strangers,  on  entering  the  Deckan,  called  the 
first  country  they  came  to  by  that  general  designa- 
tion, and  did  not  distinguish  the  difterent  nations 

*  Grant  Duff's  History  of  the  Marattas,  vol.  i.  p.  26. 
-j-   Wilson's  Preface  to  the  Mackenzie  Papers,  p.  cxxx. 


THE    DECKAN.  425 

by  name  till  they  had  met  witli  more  than  one.     chap. 

It  is  probable,   also,    that  there   was  little  in  the  

Marattas  to  attract  notice.  If  they  had  been  for 
any  time  under  one  great  monarchy,  we  should 
have  heard  of  it,  as  of  the  other  Deckan  states ; 
and  they  would,  probably,  like  the  others  so  cir- 
cumstanced, have  had  a  peculiar  literature  and 
civilisation  of  their  own.  But  they  are  still  re- 
markably deficient  both  in  native  authors  and  in 
refinement ;  and  what  pohsh  they  have  seems  bor- 
rowed from  the  Mussulmans,  rather  than  formed 
by  Hindus. 

On  the  other  hand,  their  cave  temples  argue  a 
great  and  long-continued  application  of  skill  and 
power  ;  and  those  of  EUora  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  Mussulmans  in  their  very  first  invasions. 

The  celebrity  of  the  Marattas  was  reserved  for 
recent  times,  when  they  were  destined  to  act  a 
greater  part  than  all  other  Hindu  nations,  and  to 
make  a  nearer  ap})roach  to  universal  sovereignty 
than  any  of  those  to  whom  modern  writers  have 
ascribed  the  enjoyment  of  the  empire  of  India. 


APPENDICES 


THE  PRECEDING  FOUR  BOOKS. 


APPENDIX  I. 

ON    THE    AGE    OF    MENU    AND    OF    THE    VEDAS. 

The   value  of  Menu's  Code,  as  a  picture  of  the  state  of   append. 
society,   depends   entirely  on   its  having  been  written  in  " 

ancient  times,  as  it  pretends. 

Before  settling  its  date,  it  is  necessary  to  endeavour  to  Age  of  the 
fix  that  of  the  Vedas,  to  which  it  so  constantly  refers. 
From  the  manner  inwhicii  it  speaks  of  those  sacred  poems 
we  may  conclude  that  they  had  long  existed  in  such  a  form 
as  to  render  them  of  undisputed  authority,  and  binding 
on  the  conscience  of  all  Hindus. 

Most  of  the  hymns  composing  the  Vedas  are  in  a 
language  so  rugged  as  to  prove  that  ihey  were  written 
before  that  of  the  other  sacred  writings  was  completely 
formed;  while  some,  though  antiquated,  are  within  the 
pale  of  the  polished  Shanscrit.  There  must,  therefore, 
have  been  a  considerable  interval  between  the  composition 
of  the  greater  part,  and  the  compilation  of  the  whole.  It 
is  of  the  compilation  alone  that  we  can  hope  to  ascertain 
the  age. 

Sir  William  Jones  attempts  to  fix  the  date  of  the  com- 
position of  the  Yajur  Veda  by  counting  the  lives  of  forty 
saj^es,  throuirh  whom  its  doctrines  were  transmitted,  from 
the  time  of  Parasara;  whose  epoch,  again,  is   fixed  by  a 


428  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,    celestial  observation :  but  his  reasoning  is  not  convincing. 
^-  He  supposes  the  Yajur  Veda  to  have  been  written  in  1580 

before  Christ.  The  completion  of  the  compilation  he 
fixes  in  the  twelfth  century  before  Christ;  and  all  the  other 
European  writers  who  have  examined  the  question,  fix  the 
age  of  the  compiler,  Vyasa,  between  the  tvvelfth  and  four- 
teenth centuries  before  Christ.  The  Hindus  themselves 
unanimously  declare  him  to  have  lived  at  least  3001  years 
before  Christ. 

The  superior  accuracy  of  the  opinion  held  by  the 
Europeans  appears  to  be  put  out  of  all  doubt  by  a  passage 
discovered  by  Mr.  Colebrooke.  In  every  Veda  there  is  a 
sort  of  astronomical  treatise,  the  object  of  which  is  to  explain 
the  adjustment  of  the  calendar,  for  the  purpose  of  fixing 
the  proper  periods  for  the  performance  of  religious  duties. 
There  can  belittle  doubt  that  the  last  editor  of  those  treatises 
would  avail  himself  of  the  observations  which  were  most 
relied  on  when  he  wrote,  and  would  explain  them  by  means 
of  the  computation  of  time  most  intelHgible  to  his  readers. 
Now  the  measure  of  time  employed  in  those  treatises  is 
itself  a  proof  of  their  antiquity,  for  it  is  a  cycle  of  five 
years  of  lunar  months,  with  awkward  divisions,  intercala- 
tions, and  other  corrections,  which  show  it  to  contain  the 
rudiments  of  the  calendar  which  now,  after  successive  cor- 
rections, is  received  by  the  Hindus  throughout  India ;  but 
the  decisive  argument  is,  that  the  place  assigned  to  the 
solstitial  points  in  the  treatises  (which  is  given  in  detail  by 
Mr.  Colebrooke)  is  that  in  which  those  points  were  situated 
in  the  fourteenth  century  before  Christ.*  Mr.  Colebrooke's 
interpretation  of  this  passage  has  never,  I  believe,  been 
called  in  question  ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  any 
grounds  for  suspecting  the  genuineness  of  the  text  itself. 
The  ancient  form  of  the  calendar  is  beyond  the  invention 

*   Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  viii.  p.  489. 


THE  AGE  OF  MENU  AND  OF  THE  VEDAS.  429 

of  a  Hindu  forger,  and  there  could  be  no  motive  to  coin    append. 
a  passage,  fixing  in   the  fourteenth  century  before  Christ,  ^■ 

a  work  wliich  all  Hindus  assign  to  the  thirty-first  century 
of  the  same  aera. 

In  an  essay  previously  written  *,  Mr.  Colebrooke  had 
shown  from  another  passage  in  the  Vedas,  that  the  corre- 
spondence of  seasons  with  months,  as  there  stated,  indi- 
cated a  position  of  the  cardinal  points  similar  to  that  which 
has  just  been  mentioned  ;  and,  on  that  ground,  he  had 
fixed  the  compilation  of  the  Vedas  at  the  same  period, 
which  he  afterwards  ascertained  by  more  direct  proof. 

From  the  age  of  the  Vedas,  thus  fixed,  we  must  endea-  Age  of  the 
vour  to  discover  that  of  Menu's  Code.  Sir  William  Jonesf 
examines  the  difference  in  the  dialect  of  those  two  compo- 
sitions ;  and  from  the  time  occupied  by  a  corresponding 
change  in  the  Latin  language,  he  infers  that  the  Code  of 
Menu  must  have  been  written  300  years  after  the  com- 
pilation of  the  Vedas.  This  reasoning  is  not  satisfactory  ; 
because  there  is  no  ground  for  believinij  that  all  lan- 
guages  proceed  at  the  same  uniform  rate  in  the  progress 
of  refinement.  All  that  can  be  assumed  is,  that  a  con- 
siderable period  must  have  elapsed  between  the  epochs 
at  which  the  ruder  and  more  refined  idioms  were  in  use. 
The  next  ground  for  conjecturing  the  date  of  Menu's 
Code  rests  on  the  difference  between  the  law  and  man- 
ners there  recorded,  and  those  of  modern  times.  This 
•will  be  shown  to  be  considerable:  and  from  the  propor- 
tion of  the  changes  which  will  also  be  shown  to  have 
taken  place  before  the  invasion  of  Alexander  we  may  infer 
that  a  long  time  had  passed  between  the  promulgation 
of  the  Code  and  the  latter  period.  On  a  combination 
of  these  data,  we   may  perhaps  be  allowed  to  fix  the  age 

*   Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vii.  p.  283. 
f  Preface  to  Menu,  p.  6. 


430  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  o^  the  supposed  Menu,  very  loosely,  at  some  time  about 
^-  halfway  between  Alexander  (in  the  fourth  century  before 

Christ),  and  the  Vedas  (in  the  fourteenth). 

This  would  make  the  author  of  the  Code  live  about 
900  years  before  Christ. 

That  the  Code  is  very  ancient  is  proved  by  the  difference 
of  religion  and  manners  from  those  of  present  times,  no 
less  than  by  the  obsolete  style. 

That  these  are  not  disguises  assumed  to  conceal  a  mo- 
dern forgery  appears  from  the  difficulty  with  which  con- 
sistency could  be  kept  up,  especially  when  we  have  the 
means  of  checking  it  by  the  accounts  of  the  Greeks,  and 
from  the  absence  of  all  motive  for  forgery,  which,  of  itself, 
is  perhaps  conclusive. 

A  Bramin,  forging  a  code,  would  make  it  support  the 
system  established  in  his  time,  unless  he  were  a  reformer, 
in  which  case  he  would  introduce  texts  favourable  to  his 
new  doctrines;  but  neither  would  pass  over  the  most  popu- 
lar innovations  in  absolute  silence,  nor  yet  inculcate  prac- 
tices repugnant  to  modern  notions. 

Yet  the  religion  of  Menu  is  that  of  the  Vedas.  Rama, 
Crishna,  and  other  favourite  gods  of  more  recent  times, 
are  not  mentioned  either  with  reverence  or  with  disappro- 
bation, nor  are  the  controversies  hinted  at  to  which  those 
and  other  new  doctrines  gave  rise.  There  is  no  mention 
of  regular  orders,  or  of  the  self-immolation  of  widows. 
Bramins  eat  beef  and  flesh  of  all  kinds,  and  intermarry 
with  women  of  inferior  casts,  besides  various  other  practices 
repulsive  to  modern  Hindus,  which  are  the  less  suspicious 
because  they  are  minute. 

These  are  all  the  grounds  on  which  we  can  guess  at  the 
age  of  this  Code.  That  of  Menu  himself  is  of  no  conse- 
quence, since  his  appearance  is  merely  dramatic,  like  that 
of  Crishna  in  the  "  Bhagwat  Gita,"  or  of  the  speakers  in 


THE  AGE  OF  MENU  AND  OF  THE  VEDAS. 


431 


Plato's  or  Cicero's  dialogues.     No  hint  is  given  as  to  the    append. 

I. 
real  compiler,  nor   is  there  any  clue   to  the  date  of  the  ' 

ancient  commentator  Culluca.     From  his  endeavourinfij  to 


'to 


gloss  over  and  to  explain  away  some  doctrines  of  Menu, 
it  is  evident  that  opinion  had  already  begun  to  change  in 
his  time ;  but  as  many  commentators,  and  some  of  very 
ancient  date  *,  speak  of  the  rules  of  Menu  as  applicable  to 
the  good  ages  only,  and  not  extending  to  their  time,  and 
as  such  a  limitation  never  once  occurs  to  Culluca,  we  must 
conclude  that  commentator,  though  a  good  deal  later  than 
the  original  author,  to  have  lived  long  before  the  other 
jurists  whose  opinions  have  just  been  alluded  to. 

On  a  careful  perusal  of  tlie  Code,  there  appears  nothing 
inconsistent  with  the  age  attributed  to  it.  It  may,  per- 
haps, be  said  that  the  very  formation  of  a  code,  especially 
in  so  methodical  a  manner,  is  unlike  ancient  times;  and  it 
is  certain  that  a  people  must  have  subsisted  for  some  time, 
and  must  have  established  laws  and  customs,  before  it  could 
frame  a  code.  But  the  Greeks,  and  other  nations,  whose 
history  we  know,  formed  codes  at  a  comparatively  earlier 
period  of  their  national  existence  ;  and  although  the 
arrangement  as  well  as  the  subjects  of  Menu's  Code  show 
considerable  civilisation,  yet  this  is  no  proof  of  recent 
origin,  more  than  rudeness  is  of  antiquity.  The  Romans 
were  more  polished  2000  years  ago  than  the  Esquimaux 
are  now,  or  perhaps  may  be  2000  years  hence. 

*  See  note  at  the  end  of  Sir  W.  Jones's  translation. 


432 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPENDIX  II. 

ON    CHANGES    IN    CAST. 


APPEND. 
II. 


Doubts  re- 
garding the 
foreign  de- 
scent of  any 
of  the  Raj- 
put tribes. 


Among  the  changes  in  cast,  I  have  not  noticed  one  which, 
if  proved,  is  of  much  greater  importance  than  all  the  rest. 
I  alhide  to  the  admission  of  a  body  of  Scythians  into  the 
Cshetrya  class,  which  is  asserted  by  Colonel  Tod*,  and  in 
part  acceded  to  by  a  very  able  writer  in  the  "  Oriental 
Magazine."  f  Colonel  Tod  is  entitled  to  every  respect,  on 
account  of  his  zeal  for  Oriental  knowledge,  and  the  light  he 
has  thrown  on  a  most  interesting  country,  almost  unknown 
till  his  time  ;  and  the  anonymous  writer  is  so  evidently  a 
master  of  his  subject,  that  it  is  possible  he  may  be  familiar 
with  instances  unknown  to  me  of  the  admission  of  foreigners 
into  Hindu  casts.  Unless  this  be  the  case,  however,  I  am 
obliged  to  differ  from  the  opinion  advanced,  and  can  only 
show  my  estimation  of  those  who  maintain  it,  by  assigning 
my  reasons  at  length.  If  the  supposition  be,  that  the  whole 
Hindu  people  sprang  from  the  same  root  with  the  Scythians, 
before  those  nations  had  assumed  their  distinctive  pecu- 
liarities, I  shall  not  conceive  myself  called  on  to  discuss 
the  question ;  but  if  such  an  union  is  said  to  have  taken 
place  within  the  historic  period,  I  shall  be  inclined  to 
doubt  the  fact.  The  admission  of  strangers  into  any  of 
the  twice-born  classes  was  a  thing  never  contemplated  by 
Menu,  and  could  not  have  taken  place  within  the  period 
to  which  the  records  of  his   time  extended.     No  trace  of 

*   History  of  Rajasthan,  vol.  i. 

f   Vol.  iv.  p.  33.,  and  vol.  viii.  p.  19. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST.  433 

the  alleged  amalgamation  remained   in  Alexander's  time ;    append, 
for  though  he  and  his  followers  visited  India  after  having  ' 

spent  two  years  in  Scythia,  they  discovered  no  resemblance 
between  any  parts  of  those  nations.  The  union  must 
therefore  have  taken  place  within  a  century  or  two  before 
our  aera,  or  at  some  later  period.  This  is  the  supposition 
on  which  Colonel  Tod  has  gone  in  some  places,  though  in 
others  he  mentions  Scythian  immigrations  in  the  sixth 
century  before  Christ,  and  others  at  more  remote  periods. 

That  there  were  Scythian  irruptions  into  India  before 
those  of  the  Moguls  under  Chenglz  Khiin,  is  so  probable, 
that  the  slightest  evidence  would  induce  us  to  believe  them 
to  have  occurred  ;  and  we  may  be  satisfied  with  the  proofs 
afforded  us  that  the  Scythians,  after  conquering  Bactria, 
brought  part  of  India  under  their  dominion  ;  but  the  ad- 
mission of  a  body  of  foreigners  into  the  proudest  of  the 
Hindu  classes,  and  that  after  the  line  had  been  as  com- 
pletely drawn  as  it  was  in  the  Code  of  Menu,  is  so  difficult 
to  imagine,  that  the  most  direct  and  clear  proofs  are  ne- 
cessary to  substantiate  it.     Now,  what  are  the  proofs? 

1.  That  four  of  the  lltijput  tribes  have  a  fable  about 
their  descent,  from  which,  if  all  Hindu  fables  had  a  mean- 
ing, we  might  deduce  that  they  came  from  the  west,  and 
that  they  did  not  know  their  real  origin. 

2.  That  some  of  the  Rajputs  certainly  did  come  from 
the  west  of  the  Indus. 

3.  That  the  religion  and  manners  of  the  Rajputs  re- 
semble those  of  the  Scythians. 

4.  That  the  names  of  some  of  the  Rajput  tribes  are 
Scythian. 

5.  That  there  were,  by  ancient  authorities,  Indo-Scy- 
thians  on  the  Lower  Indus  in  the  second  century. 

6.  That  there  were  white  Huns  in  Ujjper  India  in  the 
time  of  Cosmas  Indico  Pleustes  (sixth  century). 

vor,.  T.  F  F 


434  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND.         7.  That  De  Guignes  mentions,  on  Chinese  authorities, 

" the  conquest  of  the  country  on  the  Indus  by  a  body  of 

Yu-chi  or  Getae,  and  that  there  are  still  Jits  on  both  sides 
of  that  river. 

1.  The  first  of  these  ai'guments  is  not  given  as  con- 
clusive ;  and  it  is  obvious  that  native  tribes,  as  well  as 
foreign,  might  be  ignorant  of  their  pedigree,  or  might  wish 
to  improve  it  by  a  fable,  even  if  known.  The  scene  of  the 
fable  carries  us  no  nearer  to  Scythia  than  Abu,  in  the 
north  of  Guzerat ;  and  few,  if  any,  of  the  tribes  which 
Colonel  Tod  describes  as  Scythians  belong  to  the  four  to 
whom  only  it  applies. 

2.  The  great  tribe  of  Yadu,  which  is  the  principal, 
perhaps  the  only  one,  which  came  from  beyond  the  Indus, 
is  the  tribe  of  Crishna,  and  of  the  purest  Hindu  descent. 
There  is  a  story  of  their  having  crossed  to  the  west  of  the 
Indus  after  the  death  of  Crishna.  One  division  (the 
Sama)  certainly  came  from  the  west,  in  the  seventh  or 
eighth  century,  but  they  were  Hindus  before  they  crossed 
the  Indus ;  and  many  of  those  who  still  remain  on  the 
west,  though  now  Mahometans,  are  allowed  to  be  of  Hindu 
descent.*  Alexander  found  two  bodies  of  Indians  west  of 
the  Indus, — one  in  Paropamisus  and  one  near  the  sea; 
and,  though  both  were  small  and  unconnected,  yet  the 
last-mentioned  alone  is  sufficient  to  account  for  all  the 
immigrations  of  Rajputs  into  India,  without  supposing  aid 
from  Scythia. 

3.  If  the  religion  and  manners  of  any  of  the  Rajputs 
resemble  those  of  the  Scythians,  they  incomparably  more 
closely  resemble  those  of  the  Hindus.  Their  language 
also  is  Hindu,  without  a  Scythian  word  (as  far  as  has  yet 
been   asserted).      I  have   not  heard  of  any  pari  of  their 

*  Tod,  vol.  i.  p.  85.  ;  Pottlnger,  pp.  392,393. ;  Ayeen  Akbery, 
vol.  ii.  p.  12'i. 


CHANGES    IN    CAST.  435 

religion,  either,  that  is  not  purely  Hindu.  In  fact,  all  the  append. 
points  in  which  they  are  said  to  resemble  the  Scythians 
are  common  to  all  the  Rajputs  without  exception,  and 
most  of  them  to  the  whole  Hindu  race.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  points  selected  as  specimens  of  Scythian  manners 
are  for  the  most  part  common  to  all  rude  nations.  Man}', 
indeed,  are  expressly  brought  forward  as  Scandinavian  or 
German ;  although  an  identity  of  manners  between  those 
nations  and  the  eastern  Scythians  is  still  to  be  proved, 
even  supposing  their  common  origin. 

If,  instead  of  searching  for  minute  points  of  resem- 
blance, we  compare  the  general  character  of  the  two  na- 
tions, it  is  impossible  to  imagine  any  two  things  less  alike. 

The  Scythian  is  short,  square  built,  and  sinewy,  with  a 
broad  face,  high  cheek  bones,  and  long  narrow  eyes,  the 
outer  angles  of  which  point  upwai'ds.  His  home  is  a  tent ; 
his  occupation,  pasturage;  his  food,  flesh,  cheese,  and  other 
productions  of  his  flocks;  his  dress  is  of  skins  or  wool ;  his 
hal)its  are  active,  hardy,  roving,  and  restless.  The  Rajput, 
again,  is  tall,  comely,  loosely  built,  and,  when  not  excited, 
languid  and  lazy.  He  is  lodged  in  a  house,  and  clad  in 
thin,  showy,  fluttering  garments ;  he  lives  on  grain,  is 
devoted  to  tiie  possession  of  land,  never  moves  but  from 
necessity,  and,  though  often  in  or  near  the  desert,  he 
never  engages  in  the  care  of  flocks  and  herds,  which  is 
left  to  inferior  classes. 

4.  Resemblances  of  name,  unless  numerous  and  sup- 
ported by  other  circumstances,  are  the  very  lowest  sort  of 
evidence ;  yet,  in  this  case,  we  have  hardly  even  them. 
Except  Jit,  which  will  be  adverted  to,  the  strongest  re- 
semblance is  in  the  name  of  a  now  obscure  tribe  called 
Hun  to  that  of  the  horde  which  the  Romans  called  Huns; 
or  to  that  of  the  great  nation  of  the  Turks,  once  called  by 
the  Chinese  Hien-yun  or  Hiong-nou.     The  Huns,  though 

F  F   2 


436 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 


II. 


Scythian 
settlers  in 
India. 


APPEND,  now  almost  extinct,  were  once  of  some  consequence,  being 
mentioned  in  some  ancient  inscriptions  ;  but  there  is 
nothing  besides  their  name  to  connect  them  either  with 
the  Huns  or  the  Hiong-nou.  It  might  seem  an  argument 
against  the  Hindu  origin  of  the  Rajpiits,  that  the  names  of 
few  of  their  tribes  are  explainable  in  Shanscrit.  But  are 
they  explainable  in  any  Tartar  language  ?  and  are  all 
names  confessedly  Hindu  capable  of  explanation  ? 

5.  We  may  admit,  without  hesitation,  that  there  were 
Scythians  on  the  Indus  in  the  second  century,  but  it  is  not 
apparent  how  this  advances  us  a  single  step  towards  their 
transformation  into  Rajputs  :  there  have  long  been  Per- 
sians and  Afghans  and  English  in  India,  but  none  of 
them  have  found  a  place  among  the  native  tribes. 

6.  Cosmas,  a  mere  mariner,  was  not  likely  to  be  accurate 
in  information  about  the  upper  parts  of  India;  and  the 
white  Huns  (according  to  De  Guignes*)  were  Turks, 
whose  capital  was  Organ]  or  Khiva :  but  his  evidence,  if 
admitted,  only  goes  to  prove  that  the  name  of  Hun  was 
known  in  Upper  India  ;  and,  along  with  that,  it  proves 
that  up  to  the  sixth  century  the  people  who  bore  it  had 
not  merged  in  the  Rajputs. 

7.  The  account  of  De  Guignes  has  every  appearance  of 
truth.  It  not  only  explains  the  origin  of  the  Scythians 
on  the  Indus,  but  shows  us  what  became  of  them,  and 
affords  the  best  proof  that  they  were  not  swallowed  up  in 
any  of  the  Hindu  classes,  f  The  people  called  Yue-chi  by 
the  Chinese,  Jits  by  the  Tartars,  and  Getes  or  Getae  by 
some  of  our  writers,  were  a  considerable  nation  in  the 
centre  of  Tartary  as  late  as  the  time  of  Tamerlane.     In 


*  Vol.  ii.  p.  325. 

-f-  De  Guignes,  Histoire  des  Huns,  vol.  ii.  p.  ^l. ;  but  still 
more,  Academie  des  Inscriptmis,  vol.  xxv.,  with  the  annexed 
paper  by  D'Anville. 


CHANGES    m    CAST.  437 

the  second  century  before  Clirist,  they  were  driven  from    append. 
their  original  seats  on  the  borders  of  China  by  the  Hiong-  " 

nou,  with  whom  they  had  always  been  in  enmity.  About 
126  B.  c.  a  division  of  them  conquered  Khorasiin  in  Per- 
sia ;  and  about  the  same  time  the  Su,  another  tribe  whom 
they  had  dislodged  in  an  early  part  of  their  advance,  took 
Bactria  from  the  Greeks.  In  the  first  years  of  the  Christian 
asra,  the  Yue-chi  came  from  some  of  their  conquests  in 
Persia  into  the  country  on  the  Indus,  which  is  correctly 
described  by  the  Chinese  historians.  This  portion  of  them 
is  represented  to  have  settled  there  ;  and  accordingly,  when 
Tamerlane  (who  was  accustomed  to  fight  the  Jits  in  'J'ar- 
tary)  arived  at  the  Indus,  he  recognised  his  old  antagonists 
in  their  distant  colony.*  They  still  bear  the  name  of  Jits 
or  Jatsf,  and  are  still  numerous  on  both  sides  of  the  Indus, 
forming  the  peasantry  of  the  Panjiib,  the  Rajput  country, 
Sind,  and  the  east  of  Belochistan  ;  and,  in  most  places, 
professing  the  Mussulman  religion. 

The  only  objection  to  the  Gelic  origin  of  the  Jats  is, 
that  they  are  included  in  some  lists  of  the  Rajput  tribes, 
and  so  enrolled  among  pui*e  Hindus  ;  but  Colonel  Tod, 
from  whom  we  learn  the  fact,  in  a  great  measure  destroys 
the  effect  of  it,  by  stating:}:  that,  though  their  name  is  in 
the  list,  they  are  never  considered  as  Rjijputs,  and  that  no 
Rajput  would  intermarry  with  them.  In  another  place §, 
he  observes  that  (except  for  one  very  ambiguous  rite)  they 
were  "  utter  aliens  to  the  Hindu  theocracy." 

It  is  a  more  natural  way  of  connecting  the  immigration 
of  Rajputs  from  the  west  with  the  invasion  of  the  Getas,  to 

*  Sherf  u  din,  quoted  by  Do  Guignes,  Academie  des  In- 
scriptions, vol.  XXV.  p.  82. 

f  Not  Ja(s,  which  is  the  name  of  a  tribe  near  Agra,  not  now 
under  discussion. 

X   Vol.  i.  p.  10(j.  '^i  Vol.ii.  180. 

F  F    3 


438  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  suppose  that  part  of  the  tribes  who  are  recorded  to  have 
^^'  crossed  the  Indus  at  an  early  period,  and  who  probably 
were  those  found  in  the  south  by  Alexander,  were  dis- 
lodged by  the  irruption  from  Scythia,  and  driven  back  to 
their  ancient  seats  to  join  their  brethren,  from  whom,  in 
religion  and  cast,  they  had  never  separated. 

My  conclusion,  therefore,   is,   that  the  Jats  may  be  of 
Scythian  descent,  but  that  the  Rajputs  are  all  pure  Hindus. 


GREEK  ACCOUNTS  OF  INDIA.  439 


APPENDIX  111. 


ON    THE    GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA. 


Before  we  examine  the  account  of  India  given   by  the    append. 
Greeks,  it  is  necessary  to  ascertain  of  '.vhat  country  they 
speak  when  they  make  use  of  that  name. 

Most  of  the  writers  about  Alexander  call  the  inhabitants   India 
of  the  hilly  region  to  the  south  of  the  main  ridge  of  Cau-   the  west  h*^ 
casus  and   near   the   Indus,    Indians;    and    also    mention   the  river 

Indus. 

another  Indian  tribe  or  nation,  who  inhabited  the  sea-shore 
on  the  western  side  of  the  Indus.  Each  of  those  two  tribes 
occupied  a  territory  stretching  for  150  miles  west  from  the 
river,  but  narrow  from  north  to  south.  A  great  tract  of 
country  lay  between  their  territories,  and  was  inhabited 
by  people  foreign  to  their  race.  Close  to  the  Indus,  how- 
ever, especially  on  the  lower  part  of  its  course,  there  were 
other  Indian  tribes,  though  less  considerable  than  those 
two. 

The  Indians  on  the  sea-shore  were  named  Oritas  and 
Arabitae,  and  are  recognised  by  Major  Rennell  as  the 
people  called  Asiatic  Ethiopians  by  Herodotus.  Their 
coimtry  was  the  narrow  tract  between  the  mountains  of 
Belochistan  and  the  sea,  separated  from  Mekran  on  the 
west  by  tlie  range  of  hills  which  form  Cape  Arboo,  and  on 
which  still  stands  the  famous  Hindu  temple  of  Hinglez. 

The  Indians  whom  Herodotus  includes  within  the  sa- 
trapies of  Darius  are,  probably,  the  more  northern  ones  in 
the  mountains.*      It  is  proved  by  Major  Rennell  that  his 

*  Thalia,  101,  10^. 
F  F    1. 


440  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  knowledge  of  India  did  not  reach  beyond  the  desert  east  of 
"^"  the  Indus  *  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  had  no  conception  of 
the  extent  of  the  country,  and  no  clear  notion  of  the  por- 
tion of  it  which  had  been  subjected  to  Persia.f  The  other 
Greek  writers,  though  they  speak  of  Indians  beyond  the 
Indus,  strictly  limit  India  to  the  eastern  side  of  that  river. 
Arrian,  who  has  called  the  mountaineers  Indians,  from  the 
place  where  Alexander  entered  Paropamisus,  yet  when  he 
comes  to  the  Indus  says,  "  This  river  Alexander  crossed  at 
daybreak  with  his  army  into  the  land  of  the  Indians;"  and 
immediately  begins  a  description  of  the  people  of  that 
country.:}: 

In  the  course  of  this  description  he  again  explicitly 
declares  that  the  Indus  is  the  western  boundary  of  India 
from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.  § 

In  his  "Indicaj"also,  he  desires  his  reader  to  consider  ^A«^ 

*  Geography  of  Herodotus,  p.  309. 

f  The  Indians  east  of  the  Indus  constantly  maintained  to  the 
followers  of  Alexander  that  they  had  never  before  been  invaded 
(by  human  conquerors  at  least) ;  an  assertion  which  they  could 
not  have  ventured  if  they  had  just  been  delivered  from  the  yoke 
of  Persia.  Arrian,  also,  in  discussing  the  alleged  invasions  of 
Bacchus,  Hercules,  Sesostris,  Semiramis,  and  Cyrus,  denies 
them  all,  except  the  mythological  ones  ;  and  Strabo  denies  even 
those,  adding  that  the  Persians  hired  mercenaries  from  India, 
but  never  invaded  it.  (Arrian,  Indica,  8,  9.;  Strabo,  lib.  xv., 
near  the  beginning.  See  also  Diodorus,  lib.  ii.  p.  123.,  edition 
of  1604.) 

I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the  grounds  on  which  it  is 
sometimes  said  that  the  Persians  were  in  possession  of  India  as 
far  as  the  Jamna  or  Ganges.  The  weighty  opinion  of  Major 
Rennell  (which,  however,  applies  only  to  the  Panjab)  rests  on 
the  single  argument  of  the  great  tribute  said  to  have  been  paid 
by  the  Indians,  which  he  himself  proves  to  have  been  overstated. 
(Geography  of  Herodotus,  p.  305.) 

\  Expeditio  Alexandri,  lib.  v.  cap.  4. 

§  Ibid.  lib.  v.  cap.  6. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  441 

only  as  India  wliich  lies  east  of  the  Indus,  and  those  who    append. 
inhabit  that  country  as  the  Indians  of  whom  he  is  about  to 
speak.* 

Strabo,  the  most  critical  and  judicious  of  all  the  writers 
on  India,  is  as  decided  in  pronouncing  the  Indus  to  be  the 
western  limit  of  India  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea ;  and 
quotes  Eratosthenes  as  supporting  his  opinion. f 

Pliny,  indeed,  states  that  some  consider  the  four  satra- 
pies of  Gedrosia,  Arachosia,  Aria,  and  Paropamisus  to 
belong  to  India;  but  this  would  include  about  two  thirds 
of  Persia. 

The  Shanscrit  writers  confirm  the  opinion  of  the  Greeks, 
regarding  the  Indus  as  the  western  boundary  of  their 
country,  and  classing  the  nations  beyond  it  with  the 
Yavanas  and  other  barbarians.  There  is,  indeed,  a  uni- 
versally acknowledged  tradition,  that  no  Hindu  ought  to 
cross  that  rivcr:[:;  and  its  inconsistency  with  the  practice 
even  of  earh'  times  is  a  proof  of  its  great  antiquity. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  Indians  beyond  the  Indus    liuHans  to 
were  few  and  detached  ;  and  we  will  now  see  what  account  the  Indus. 

*  Indica,  cap.  ii.,  —  "  But  the  part  from  the  Indus  towards 
the  East,  let  that  be  India,  and  let  those  [who  inhabit  it]  be  the 
Indians." 

f  Strabo,  lib.  XV.  p.  473,  474.,  ed.  ]587.  In  lib.  xv.  p.  497.. 
he  again  mentions  the  Indus  as  the  eastern  boundary  of  Persia. 

J  See  a  verse  on  this  subject  quoted  in  Colonel  Wilford's 
Essay  on  Caucasus  {Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  vi.  p.  ,585.)  The 
Colonel,  who  is  anxious  to  extend  the  early  possessions  of  the 
Hindus,  endeavours  to  prove  that  the  Indus  meant  in  this  verse 
is  the  river  of  K;inia  (one  of  its  tributary  streams);  that  the 
main  Indus  may  have  changed  its  bed;  that  the  prohibition  was 
only  against  crossing  the  Indus,  and  not  against  passing  to  the 
other  side  by  going  round  its  source  ;  and  finally,  that,  in  modern 
times,  the  prohibition  is  disregarded :  but  he  never  denies  the 
existence  of  the  restriction,  or  asserts  that  it  was  not  at  one 
time  attended  to. 


442  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  is  given  of  them  by  the  ancients,  beginning  our  survey 
from  the  north. 

Arrian,  in  the  commencement  of  his  "  Indica,"  mentions 
the  Assaceni  and  the  Astaceni  as  Indian  nations  in  the 
mountains  between  the  Indus  and  the  Cophenes ;  but  he 
distinffuishes  them  from  the  other  Indians  as  being  less  in 
size  and  fairer  in  complexion.  He  excludes  them  (as  has 
been  shown)  from  his  general  description  of  the  Indians ; 
and  neither  in  his  "  Expedition  of  Alexander,"  nor  in  his 
"  Indica,"  does  he  allude  to  Bramins  among  them,  or  mention 
any  thing  in  their  customs  of  a  marked  Hindu  character. 
He  says  that  they  had  been  subject  to  the  Assyrians,  after- 
wards to  the  Medes,  and  finally  to  the  Persians.  It  does  not 
appear  from  Arrian  that  there  were  any  Indians  to  the 
south  of  the  Cophenes  (or  river  of  Cabul),  and  it  might  be 
inferred  from  Strabo  that  there  were  none  between  the 
Paropamisada?  and  the  Oritae  until  after  Alexander's  time*; 
but  as  Arrian  mentions  other  tribes  on  the  lower  Indus,  it 
is  probable  that  Strabo  spoke  generally  of  the  two  terri- 
tories, and  did  not  mean  to  deny  the  residence  of  small 
bodies. 

The  Oritae,  according  to  Arrian  f,  were  an  Indian 
nation,  who  extended  for  about  150  miles  parallel  to  the 
sea.  They  wore  the  dress  and  arms  of  the  other  Indians, 
but  differed  from  them  in  language  and  manners. 

*  Lib.  XV.  p. 'tT^.  The  passage  states,  from  Eratosthenes, 
that  at  the  time  of  Alexander's  invasion  the  Indus  was  the 
boundary  of  India  and  Ariana,  and  that  the  Persians  possessed 
all  the  country  to  the  west  of  the  river ;  but  that,  afterwards, 
the  Indians  received  a  considerable  part  of  Persia  from  the 
Macedonians.  He  explains  this  transfer  more  particularly  in 
page  4-98.,  where  he  says  that  Alexander  took  this  country  from 
the  Persians,  and  kept  it  to  himself,  but  that  Seleucus  subse- 
quently ceded  it  to  Sandracottus. 

t  Exped.  Alexand.,  lib.  vi.  cap.  xxi. ;  Indica,  cap.  xxv. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  443 

They  (those  near  the  Indus   at  least)   must  have  been    append. 
essentially  Indian ;  for  Sambus,  the  chief  of  the  branch  of        ^^^' 
hills  which  run  down  to  the  river  in  the  north  of  Sind,  is 
represented    as    being  much   under   the  influence   of  the 
Bramins. 

It  will  throw  some  light  on  the  tribes  that  occupied  the 
west  bank  of  the  Indus,  in  former  times,  to  point  out  its 
present  inhabitants. 

The  mountains  under  Caucasus,  between  the  point  where 
it  is  crossed  by  the  continuation  of  Mount  Imaus,  which 
forms  the  range  of  Soliman,  and  the  Indus,  are  inhabited 
by  a  people  of  Indian  descent,  now  subject  to  Afghan 
tribes,  who  have  conquered  the  territory  in  comparatively 
recent  times.*  The  upper  part  of  the  mountains  farther 
north  is  possessed  by  the  Cafirs,  another  nation,  who,  from 
the  close  connection  between  their  language  and  Shanscrit, 
appear  to  be  of  the  Indian  race.  Their  religion,  however, 
though  idolatrous,  has  no  resemblance  whatever  to  that  of 
the  Hindus. 

Throughout  the  whole  of  the  plain  to  the  west  of  the 
Indus,  from  the  range  of  Caucasus  to  the  sea,  the  greater 
part  of  the  original  population  speaks  an  Indian  dialect, 
and  is  looked  on  as  Indian,  f  The  hills  which  bound  that 
plain  on  the  west  are  every  where  lield  by  tribes  of  a 
different  origin.  Some  of  the  so-called  Indians  arc  Hin- 
dus, but  the  greater  part  are  converts  to  the  Mahometan 
religion.  The  above  description  comprehends  the  whole 
of  the  country  of  the  ancient  Orita?. 

*  This  is  somewhat  less  than  was  occupied  by  the  Indians 
described  by  Arrian,  who  extended  west  to  the  Cophencs,  pro- 
bably the  liver  of  Panjshir,  north  of  Cabul. 

t  Among  these  tribes  are  the  Jats,  whose  possible  descent 
from  the  Geta?  has  been  discussed  in  another  place,  but  who  are 
now  classed  with  the  Indians  by  all  their  western  neighbours. 


444  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND.  If  from  a  general  view  of  these  accounts,  ancient  and 
modern,  we  were  to  speculate  on  the  first  settlement  of  the 
people  to  whom  they  relate,  it  might,  perhaps,  appear  not 
improbable  that  the  Indians  in  the  northern  mountains 
were  of  the  same  race  as  the  Hindus,  but  never  converted 
to  the  Braminical  religion,  and  that  they  may  have  occupied 
their  present  seats  before  the  period  at  which  the  first  light 
breaks  on  the  history  of  their  brethren  in  the  plains :  but 
it  is  enough  to  allude  to  so  vague  a  conjecture.  The 
Indian  races  in  the  plains  probably  crossed  from  India 
at  different  periods.  Notwithstanding  the  religious  pro- 
hibition and  the  testimony  of  Strabo,  it  is  difficult  to  be- 
lieve that  the  easy  communication  afforded  by  a  navigable 
river  would  not  lead  the  inhabitants  of  whichever  neigh- 
bouring country  was  first  peopled  and  civilised  to  spread 
over  both  banks.  I  am  therefore  led  to  think  the  occu- 
pation by  the  Indians  began  very  early,  the  neighbouring 
countries  on  the  western  side  being  scarcely  peopled  even 
now.  The  emigration  towards  the  mouth  of  the  Indus, 
which  seems  to  have  been  more  extensive  than  elsewhere, 
may  possibly  be  that  alluded  to  in  the  ancient  legends 
about  the  flight  of  Crishna's  family.  A  branch  of  his  tribe 
certainly  came  from  the  west  into  Sind  ten  centuries  ago; 
and  other  divisions,  still  retaining  their  religion  and  cast, 
have  passed  over  into  Guzerat  in  later  times.* 

To  remove  some  doubts  about  the  limits  of  the  Indian 
nations  on  the  west  of  the  Indus,  it  is  desirable  to  advert 

*  Colonel  Tod,  vol.  i.  85,  86. ;  vol.  ii.  220.  (note),  312.  Cap- 
tain M'Murdo,  Bombay  Transactions.,  vol.  ii.  p.  219. 

In  speaking  of  the  Hindus  above,  I  do  not  allude  to  the  mo- 
dern emigrants  now  found  scattered  through  the  countries  on 
the  west  of  the  Indus  as  far  as  Moscow  ;  neither  do  I  discuss 
what  other  settlements  of  that  people  may  have  been  effected 
between  the  time  of  Alexander  and  the  present  day. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  445 

to  a  part  of  Alexander's  route  through  the  adjoining  coun-    append 
tries.  ^  "^- 

Alexander  set  out  from  Artachoana  (which  seems  to  be 
admitted  to  be  Herat),  and  proceeded  in  pursuit  of  one  of 
the  murderei-s  of  Darius  to  the  royal  city  of  the  Zarangaei, 
which  is  recognised  in  Zarang,  an  ancient  name  for  the 
capital  of  Sistan.  He  thence  directed  his  march  towards 
Bactria,  and  on  his  way  received  the  submission  of  the 
Drangae,  the  Gedrosians,  and  the  Arachotians.  He  then 
came  to  the  Indians  bordering  on  the  Arachotians.  Throuoh 
all  these  nations  he  suffered  much  from  snow  and  want  of 
provisions.  He  next  proceeded  to  Caucasus,  at  the  foot 
of  which  he  founded  Alexandria,  and  afterwards  crossed 
the  mountains  into  Bactria.* 

The  DrangEe  are  probably  the  same  as  the  Zarangae  : 
Arachotia  is  explained  by  Strabo  f  to  extend  to  the 
Indus ;  and  Gedrosia  certainly  lay  along  the  sea.  There 
are  two  ways  from  Sistan  to  Bactria;  one  by  Herat, 
and  the  other  by  the  pass  of  Hindii  Cush,  nordi  of  Cabul, 
the  mountains  between  those  points  being  impassable, 
especially  in  winter,  when  this  march  took  place.:}:  Alex- 
ander took  the  eastern  road ;  and  if  he  had  marched 
direct  to  Bactria,  as  might  be  supposed  from  the  preceding- 
passage,  he  could  have  met  with  no  snow  at  any  time  of 
the  year,  until  he  got  a  good  deal  to  the  east  of  Candahar, 
and  he  must  have  left  Gedrosia  very  far  to  his  right.  It  is 
possible,  therefore,  (especially  as  the  murderer  of  whom  he 
was  in  })ursuit  was  made  over  to  him  hij  flic  Indians^,)  that 
he  continued  his  pursuit  through  Shoriibak  and  the  valley 

*   Arrian,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xxviii, 
t  Lib.  xi.  p.  355.,  edition  of  1587. 

^   See  Clinton's  Fasti,  b,  c.  330.     Darius  was  killed  in  July, 
and  Alexander  reached  Bnctria  in  spring. 
§    A r r'mn,  ?ihi  supra. 


446 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPEND,     of  Bolan  (the  route  adopted  by  Mi'.  Conolly*)  ;  and  that 

"         the  Indians  near  the  Ai'achotians  may  have  been  about 

Dcider,  which,  although  at  a  distance  from  the  Indus,  is  on 
the  plain  of  that  river,  and  probably  was  then,  as  it  is  now, 
inhabited  by  an  Indian  race.  From  this  place,  his  journey 
to  Mount  Caucasus  would  have  lain  through  a  country  as 
sterile,  and  at  that  season  as  cold,  as  Caucasus  itself.  It  is 
equally  probable,  however,  that  Alexander  did  not  extend 
his  journey  so  far  to  the  south ;  and,  in  that  case,  the 
Indians  would  be  (as  they  are  assumed  to  be  by  Curtiusf) 
those  called  Paropamisadee  immediately  under  Mount 
Caucasus,  within  or  near  whose  boundary  Alexandria  cer- 
tainly was  built.  I  The  vicinity  of  this  people  shows  that 
Alexandria  could  not  have  been  farther  west  than  Cabul, 
which,  indeed,  is  also  proved  by  the  fact  of  Alexander's 
returning  to  it  on  his  way  from  Bactria  to  India,  j  He 
took  seventeen  days  to  cross  Caucasus,  according  to  Cur- 
tius ;  fifteen,  according  to  Strabo,  from  Alexandria  to 
Adraspa,  a  city  in  Bactriana ;  and  ten  to  cross  the  moun- 
tains in  returning,  according  to  Arrian.  Captain  Burnes, 
with  none  of  the  incumbrances  of  an  army,  took  twelve 
days  to  cross  the  mountains  on  the  road  from  Cabul  to 
Balkh,  which  is  comparatively  shorter  and  easier  than  any 
more  western  pass.  As  far  as  this  site  for  Alexandria, 
rather  than  one  further  west,  we  are  borne  out  by  the  high 
authority  of  Major  Rennell ;  but  that  author  (the  greatest 
of  English  geographers),  from  the  imperfect  imformation 

*   Since  made  familiar  by  the  march  of  Lord  Keane's  army. 

t  Quintus  Curtius,  lib.  vii.  cap.  iii. 

:{:   Arrian,  lib.  iv.  cap.  xxii. 

§  Alexandria  was  probably  at  Begram,  25  miles  N.  15  E. 
from  Cabul,  the  ruins  of  which  are  described  in  a  memoir  by 
Mr.  Masson,  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta,  vol.  v. 
p.l. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  447 

then  possessed  about  the  stream  that  runs  from  Ghazni  to  append. 
Cabul,  the  Gonial,  and  the  Kurram,  has  framed  out  of 
those  three  an  imaginary  river,  which  he  supposes  to  run 
from  near  Bamian  to  the  Indus,  thirty  or  forty  miles  south 
of  Attoc.  This  he  calls  the  Coplienes,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, places  the  scene  of  Alexander's  operations  and  the 
seat  of  the  Indian  mountaineers  to  the  south  of  the  Ctibul 
river,  and  at  a  distance  from  the  range  of  Caucasus  or 
Paropamisus.  Strabo,  however,  expressly  says  th^t  Alex- 
ander kept  as  near  as  he  could  to  the  northern  movnitains, 
that  he  might  cross  the  Choaspes  (which  falls  into  the 
Cophenes)  and  the  other  rivers  as  high  up  as  possible. 
Arrian  makes  him  cross  the  Cophenes,  and  then  proceed 
through  a  mountainous  country,  and  over  three  other 
rivers  which  fell  into  the  Cophenes,  before  he  reaches  the 
Indus.  In  his  "Indica,"  also,  he  mentions  the  Cophenes  as 
bringing  those  three  rivers  with  it,  and  joinnig  the  Indus 
in  Peucaliotis.  It  is  only  on  the  nortli  bank  of  the  Cabul 
river  that  three  such  rivers  can  be  found ;  and  even  then 
there  will  be  great  difficulty  in  fixing  their  names,  for  in 
Arrian's  own  two  lists  he  completely  changes  the  names  of 
two.  Nor  is  this  at  all  surprising,  for  most  rivers  in  that 
part  of  the  country  have  no  name,  but  are  called  after 
some  town  or  country  on  their  banks,  and  not  always  after 
the  same.  Thus  the  river  called  by  some  the  Ktishkar 
river  is  the  Kameh  with  Lieutenant  Macartney,  the  Cheg- 
hanserai  in  Baber's  Connnentaries,  and  is  often  called  the 
river  of  Cunner  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring- 
country. 

The  Soastes  would  seem  to  be  the  river  of  Swtit ;  but 
then  there  is  no  river  left  for  the  Guraeus,  which  is  between 
the  Soastes  and  Indus.  Major  Rennell,  on  a  different 
theory,  supposes  the  Gurajus  to  be  the  Ciibul  river  itself; 


448 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPEND. 
III. 


Descrip- 
tion of 

India. 


Authori- 
ties. 


but  both  of  Arrian's  accounts  make  the  Guraeus  fall  into 
the  Cophenes,  which  afterwards  falls  into  the  Indus. 

The  Cabul  river,  therefore,  must  be  the  Cophenes,  and 
the  Indians  are  under  the  mountains  between  it,  its  upper 
branch  (the  Punjshir  river)  and  the  Indus. 

Alexander's  proceedings  in  India  are  so  well  known  that 
they  cannot  be  too  slightly  touched  on.  After  an  advance 
to  the  Hyphasis,  he  turned  to  the  south-west,  and  passed 
off  between  the  desert  and  the  Indus,  having  scarcely  seen 
the  skirts  of  India.  He  made  no  attempt  to  establish  pro- 
vinces ;  but,  as  he  intended  to  return,  he  adopted  exactly 
the  same  policy  as  that  employed  by  the  Durani  Shah  in 
after  times.  He  made  a  party  in  the  country  b}'  dispossess- 
ing some  chiefs  and  transferring  their  territory  to  their 
rivals ;  thus  leaving  all  power  in  the  hands  of  persons 
vk^hose  interest  induced  them  to  uphold  his  name  and  con- 
ciliate his  favour. 

The  few  garrisons  he  left  reminded  people  of  his  in- 
tended return  ;  and  his  troops  in  the  nearest  parts  of 
Persia  would  always  add  to  the  influence  of  his  partisans. 

The  adherence  of  Porus  and  other  princes,  who  were  in 
a  manner  set  up  by  the  Macedonians,  ouglit  therefore  to 
be  no  matter  of  surprise. 

We  now  understand  the  people  to  whom  the  Greek  de- 
scriptions were  intended  to  apply ;  but  we  must  still  be 
cautious  how  we  form  any  further  opinions  regarding  that 
people,  on  Greek  authority  alone. 

The  ancients  themselves  have  set  us  an  example  of  this 
caution.  Arrian  says  that  he  shall  only  consider  as  true 
the  accounts  of  Ptolemy  and  Aristobulus  ichen  they  agree* ; 
and  Strabo,  in  a  very  judicious  dissertation  on  the  value  of 
the  information   existinsf    in    his   time,   observes   that   the 


*  Preface  to  the  "  Expedition  of  Alexander." 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  44<9 

accounts  of  the  Macedonians  are  contradictory  and  inac-    append. 
curate,  and  that  those  of  later  travellers  are  of  still  less  " 

value  from  the  character  of  the  authors,  who  were  ignorant 
merchants,  careless  of  every  thing  except  gain.*  We  may, 
however,  give  full  credit  to  the  Greek  writers  when  they 
describe  manners  and  institutions  which  are  still  in  being, 
or  which  are  recorded  in  ancient  Hindu  books.  We  may 
admit,  with  due  allowance  for  incorrectness,  such  other 
accounts  as  are  consistent  with  these  two  sources  of  in- 
formation ;  but  we  must  pass  by  all  statements  which  are 
not  supported  by  those  tests  or  borne  out  by  their  own 
appearance  of  truth. 

If,  however,  we  discard  the  fables  derived  from  the 
Grecian  mythology,  and  those  which  are  contrary  to  the 
course  of  nature,  we  shall  find  more  reason  to  admire  the 
accuracy  of  the  early  authors,  than  to  wonder  at  the  mistakes 
into  which  they  fell,  in  a  country  so  new  and  so  different 
from  their  own,  and  where  they  had  every  thing  to  learn 
by  means  of  interpreters,  generally  through  the  medium 
of  more  languages  than  one.f  Their  accounts,  as  far  as 
they  go,  of  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  people,  do  in 
fact  aijree  with  our  own  accurate  knowledije  almost  as  well 
as  those  of  most  modern  travellers  prior  to  the  institution 
of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Calcutta. 

An  example  both  of  the  general  truth  and  partial  in- 
accuracy of  the  Greeks  presents  itself  in  the  first  subject 
which  is  to  be  noticed,  agreeably  to  the  order  hitherto 
adopted. 

*   Beginning  of  lib.  XV.     See  also  lib.  ii.   p.  tiS.,  ed.  1587. 

f  Onesicritus  conversed  through  three  interpreters.  Strabo, 
lib.  XV.  p.  'VJ2.,  edition  of  15<S7.  From  Greek  into  Persian, 
and  from  Persian  into  Indian,  are  two  that  obviously  suggest 
themselves  ;  it  is  not  so  easy  to  conjecture  for  what  languages 
the  third  interpreter  was  required. 

VOL.    I.  G   G 


450 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPEND. 
III. 


They  are  well  aware  of  the  division  into  classes,  and  of 
the  functions  of  most  of  them  ;  but,  by  confounding  some 
Division  distinctions  occasioned  by  civil  employment  with  those 
into  classes,  arising  from  that  division,  they  have  increased  the  number 
from  five  (including  the  handicraftsmen,  or  mixed  class) 
to  seven.  This  number  is  produced  by  their  supposing 
the  king's  councillors  and  assessors,  and  his  superintendents 
of  provinces,  to  form  two  distinct  casts;  by  splitting  the 
class  of  Vaisya  into  two,  consisting  of  shepherds  and  hus- 
bandmen :  and  by  omitting  the  servile  class  altogether. 
With  these  exceptions,  the  classes  are  in  the  state  described 
by  Menu,  which  is  the  groundwork  of  that  still  subsisting. 
Their  first  cast  is  that  of  the  Sophists,  or  religious  and 
literary  class,  of  whose  peculiar  occupations  they  give  a 
correct  view.  But  they  do  not  clearly  understand  the  ex- 
tent of  the  Bramin  cast,  and  have,  perhaps,  confounded 
the  Bramins*  with  the  monastic  orders. 

The  first  mistake  originates  in  their  ignorance  of  the 
fourfold  division  of  a  Bramin's  life.  Thus  they  speak  of 
men  who  had  been  for  many  years  Sophists,  marrying  and 
returning  to  common  life;  (alluding  probably  to  a  student 
who,  having  completed  the  austerities  of  the  first  period, 
becomes  a  householder;)  and  they  suppose,  as  has  been 
mentioned,  that  those  who  were  the  king's  councillors  and 
judges  formed  a  separate  class.  It  is  evident,  also,  that 
they  classed  the  Bramins  who  exercised  civil  and  military 
functions  with  the  casts  to  whom  those  employments  pro- 
perly belonged.  They  describe  the  Sophists  as  the  most 
honom*ed  class,  exempt  from  all  burdens,  and  only  con- 
tributing their  prayers  to  the  support  of  the  state.  They 
inform  us  that  their  assistance  is  necessary  at  all  private 

*  From  this  charge  I  must  exempt  Nearchus,  who  seems  to 
have  had  a  clear  conception  of  the  division  of  the  Bramins  into 
religious  and  secular.     Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  493.,  ed,  1587. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  451 

sacrifices  ;  and  correctly  describe  them   (in  this  case  under  append. 
the  name  of  Brachmanes)  as  having  ceremonies  performed  ' 

for  them  while  yet  in  the  womb  *,  as  undergoing  a  strict 
education,  and  as  passing  a  moderate  and  abstinent  life 
in  gi'oves,  on  beds  of  rushes  (cusa  grass),  or  skins  (deer 
skins) ;  during  which  time  they  listen  to  their  instructors 
in  silence  and  with  respect. 

They  erroneously  prolong  this  period  in  all  cases  to 
thirty-seven,  which  is  the  greatest  age  to  which  Menu 
(Chap.  III.  Sect.  1.)   permits  it  in  any  case  to  extend. 

The  language  ascribed  to  the  sophists  regarding  the 
present  and  future  state  is  in  a  perfectly  Bramin  spirit. 
They  place  their  idea  of  perfection  in  independence  on 
every  thing  external,  and  indifference  to  death  or  life,  pain 
or  pleasure.  They  consider  this  life  as  that  of  a  child 
just  conceived,  and  that  real  life  does  not  begin  until  what 
we  call  death.  Their  only  care,  therefore,  is  about  their 
future  state.  They  deny  the  I'eality  of  good  and  evil,  and 
say  that  men  are  not  gratified  or  afflicted  by  external  ob- 
jects, but  by  notions  of  their  own,  as  in  a  dream,  f 

They  appear  to  have  possessed  separate  villages  as  early 
as  the  time  of  Alexander  ;  to  have  already  assumed  the 
military  character  on  occasions,  and  to  have  defended 
themselves  with  that  fury  and  desperation  which  sometimes 
still  characterises  Hindus.  J  Their  interference  in  politics, 
likewise,  is  exhibited  by  their  instigating  Sambus  to  fly 
from  Alexander,  and  Musicanus  to  break  the  peace  he  had 

*   See  p.  77. ;  and  Menu,  ii.  26,  27. 

f   Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1-90.,  ed.  15S7. 

\  Arrian's  Exjjed.  AlcxaiuL,  lib.  vi.  cap.  vii.  Similar  in- 
stances of  the  voluntary  conflagration  of  cities,  and  the  devotion 
of  their  lives  by  the  inhabitants,  are  furnished  in  Indian  liistory 
down  to  modern  times. 

G  G    2 


452  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEMD.  concluded  with  that  conqueror.*  Strabo  mentions  a  sect 
'  called  Pramnae,  who  were  remarkable  for  being  disputa- 
tious, and  who  derided  the  Bramins  for  their  attention  to 
physics  and  astronomy.  He  considers  them  as  a  separate 
class,  but  they  were  probably  Bramins  themselves,  only 
attached  to  a  particular  school  of  philosophy.f 
Sanyassis.  The  Sanyassis  are  very  plainly  described,  under  the 
different  names  of  Brachmanes,  Germanes,  and  Sophists ; 
but  it  does  not  very  clearly  appear  whether  the  ascetics  so 
designated  were  merely  Bramins  in  the  two  last  stages  of 
their  life,  or  whether  they  were  membeis  of  regular  mo- 
nastic establishments.  Many  of  their  austerities  might  be 
reconciled  to  the  third  portion  of  a  Bramin's  life,  when  he 
becomes  an  anchoret;  but  their  ostentatious  mortifications, 
their  living  in  bodies,  and  several  other  circumstances,  lead 
rather  to  a  conclusion  that  they  belonged  to  the  monastic 
orders.  The  best  description  of  these  ascetics  is  given  by 
Onesicritus  j,  who  was  sent  by  Alexander  to  converse  with 
them,  in  consequence  of  their  refusing  to  come  to  him. 
He  found  fifteen  persons  about  two  miles  from  the  city, 
naked,  and  exposed  to  a  burning  sun ;  some  sitting,  some 
standing,  and  some  lying,  but  all  remaining  immoveable 
from  morning  till  evening,  in  the  attitudes  they  had 
adopted. 

He  happened  first  to  address  himself  to  Calanus,  whom 
he  found  lying  on  stones.  Calanus  received  him  with  that 
affectation  of  independence  which  religious  mendicants 
still  often  assume,  laughed  at  his  foreign  habit,  and  told 

*  Arrian,  lib.  vi.  cap.  xvi. ;  where  Bramin  and  Sophist  are 
declared  to  be  synonymous. 

+  See  Wilson  (^Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  279.),  who 
derives  their  name  from  Pramanika,  a  term  applied  to  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  logical  school. 

:J:  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  491. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  453 

him  that  if  he  wished  to  converse  with  him,  lie  must  throw  append 
off  his  clothes,  and  sit  down  naked  on  the  stones.  While  ^^^' 
Onesicritus  was  hesitating,  Mandanis,  the  oldest  and  most 
holy  of  the  party,  came  up.  He  reproved  Calanus  for  his 
arrogance,  and  spoke  mildly  to  Onesicritus,  whom  he 
promised  to  instruct  in  the  Indian  philosophy,  as  far  as 
their  imperfect  means  of  communication  would  admit.* 
Arrian  relates f  that  Alexander  endeavoured  to  prevail  on 
Mandanis  (whom  he  calls  Dandamis)  to  attach  himself 
to  him  as  a  companion ;  but  that  Mandanis  refused,  reply- 
ing that  India  afforded  him  all  he  wanted  while  he  re- 
mained in  his  earthly  body,  and  that  when  he  left  it  he 
should  get  rid  of  a  troublesome  companion, 

Calanus  had  his  ambition  less  under  control;  he  joined 
Alexander  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  his  fraternity, 
who  reproached  him  for  entering  into  any  other  service 
but  that  of  God.  :j:  He  was  treated  with  respect  by  the 
Greeks  ;  but,  falling  sick  in  Persia,  refused,  probably  from 
scruples  of  cast,  to  observe  the  regimen  prescribed  to  him, 
and  determined  to  put  an  end  to  his  existence  by  the 
flames.  Alexander,  after  in  vain  opposing  his  intention, 
ordered  him  to  be  attended  to  the  last  scene  with  all 
honours,  and  loaded  him  with  gifts,  which  he  distributed 
among  his  friends  before  he  mounted  the  pile.  He  was 
carried  thither  wearing  a  garland  on  his  head  in  the  Indian 
manner,  and  singing  hymns  in  the  Indian  language  as  he 
passed  along.  When  he  had  ascended  the  heap  of  wood 
and  other  combustibles,  wliich  had  been  prepared  for  liim, 
he  ordered  it  to  be  set  on  fire,  and  met  his  fate  with  a 
serenity  that  made  a  great  impression  on  the  Greeks.  § 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  492. 

-j-  Exped.  Alexand.,  lib.  vii.  cap.  ii. 

X  See  Menu,  iv.  G'.i.,  quoted  bufbrc,  p.  2f). 

§  A  similar  instance  of  self-iniinolation  is  related  by  Strabo 

G  G    3 


454  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND.  Aristobulus  *  gives  an  account  of  two  Sophists,  one  young 
and  one  old,  both  Brachmanes,  whom  he  met  with  at 
Taxila.  The  elder  shaved,  the  younger  wore  his  hair, 
and  both  were  followed  by  disciples.  As  they  passed 
through  the  streets  they  were  received  with  reverence, 
people  pouring  oil  of  sesamum  upon  them,  and  offering 
them  cakes  of  sesamum  and  honey.  After  having 
supped  at  Alexander's  table,  they  displayed  their  powers  of 
endurance  by  withdrawing  to  a  place  at  some  distance, 
where  the  elder  lay  down  exposed  to  the  sun  and  rain, 
which  at  that  season  was  heav}',  and  the  younger  stood  all 
day  on  one  foot,  leaning  on  a  staff. 

Other  accounts f  describe  the  ascetics  as  going  about  the 
streets,  helping  themselves  to  figs  or  oil,  or  anything  they 
wanted,  entering  the  houses  of  the  rich,  sitting  down  at 
their  entertainments,  and  joining  in  their  discourse;  in 
short,  conducting  themselves  with  the  same  fi*eedom  which 
some  persons  of  that  description  affect  at  the  present  day. 
They  are  also  spoken  of  as  going  naked  in  winter  and 
summer,  and  passing  their  time  under  banyan  trees,  some 
of  which,  it  is  said,  cover  five  acres,  and  are  sufficient  to 
shelter  10,000  men. 

Their  present  habit  of  twisting  up  their  hair,  so  as  to 
form  a  turban,  is  noticed  by  Strabo,  though  he  was  not 
aware  of  its  being  confined  to  one  order  of  them. 

They  are  said  to  be  the  only  soothsayers  and  practisers 
of  divination.  It  is  asserted  of  them  that  they  reckoned  it 
disgraceful  to  be  sick:]:,  and  put  an  end  to  themselves  when 

(lib.  XV.  p.  495.,  ed.  of  1587.),  of  Zarmanochegus,  an  Indian 
of  Bargosa,  who  had  accompanied  an  embassy  from  his  own 
country  to  Augustus,  and  burned  himself  alive  at  Athens. 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  f   Ibid. 

X  Probably  as  being  a  proof  of  guilt  in  a  former  state  of  ex- 
istence. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  455 

they  fell  into  that  calamity.  Megasthenes,  however,  asserts  append. 
that  the  philosophers  had  no  particular  approbation  of 
suicide,  but  rather  considered  it  as  a  proof  of  levity;  both 
the  opinions  of  the  learned,  and  the  occasional  practice  of 
the  people  in  that  respect,  seeming  to  be  much  the  same  as 
they  are  now. 

It  is  Megasthenes  who  calls  the  ascetics  by  the  names 
of  Germanes,  and  treats  of  them  as  forming  a  distinct 
body  from  the  Brachmanes.  Yet  his  description  of  them 
is  much  more  applicable  to  Bramins  in  the  third  and 
fourth  periods  of  life  than  to  the  monastic  orders.  The 
fact  probably  is,  that  he  was  aware  of  the  distinction  be- 
tween those  classes,  but  had  no  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
points  in  which  they  differed.  There  is  a  class,  he  says, 
among  the  Germanes,  who  are  called  Hylobii,  from  living 
in  the  woods,  who  feed  on  wild  fruits  and  leaves,  are  clothed 
in  the  bark  of  trees,  abstain  from  all  pleasure,  and  stand 
motionless  for  whole  days  together  in  one  posture.  *  The 
kings  send  messengers  to  them  to  consult  them,  and  to 
request  their  intercession  M-ith  the  gods.  He  somewhat 
unaccountably  describes  the  physicians  as  forming  another 
class  of  Germanes  ;  and  mentions  that,  like  their  succes- 
sors of  the  present  day,  they  rely  most  on  diet  and  regi- 
men, and  next,  on  external  applications,  having  a  great 
distrust  of  the  effects  of  more  powerful  modes  of  treatment. 
Like  their  successors  also,  they  employ  charms  in  aid  of 
their  medicines. 

He  says  that  the  Germanes  perform  magical  rites  and 
divinations,  and  likewise  conduct  the  ceremonies  connected 

*  See  the  description  of  tlie  last  portions  of  a  Bramin's  life  in 
Menu,  Book  VI.,  from  p.  29.  to  the  end,  quoted  in  page  27.  of 
this  volimnc.  * 

G   G    4 


456 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPEND,  with  the  dead,  all  of  which  might  as  well  apply  to  the 
Bramins  as  to  the  monastic  orders.* 

It  is  declared  by  more  authors  than  one,  that  different 
casts  cannot  intermarry,  and  that  it  was  not  permitted  for 
men  of  one  cast  to  exercise  the  employment  of  another, 
but  that  all  might  become  Sophists  in  whatever  class  they 
were  born. 

Such  is  the  present  state  of  the  monastic  orders;  but 
whether  they  had  so  early  assumed  that  form,  or  whether 
the  ancients  (being  ignorant  that  Bramins  could  be  house- 
holders, councillors,  and  judges,  might  on  occasion  carry 
arms,  or  practise  other  professions,)  confounded  the  as- 
sumption of  ascetic  habits  by  Bramins  previously  so  em- 
ployed, with  the  admission  of  all  casts,  must  remain  a 
doubtful  question,  f 

There  is  nothing  to  remark  on  the  other  classes,  except 
that  the  Sudras  seem  already  to  have  lost  their  character 
of  a  servile  class. 

Arrian  J  mentions  with  admiration  that  every  Indian  is 
free.  With  them,  as  with  the  Lacedemonians,  he  says, 
no  native  can  be  a  slave ;  but,  unlike  the  Lacedemonians, 
they  keep  no  other  people  in  servitude.  Strabo,  who 
doubts  the  absence  of  slavery,  as  applying  to  all  India, 


Sudras. 


Absence 
of  slavery. 


*  Before  quitting  the  subject  of  the  confusion  made  by  the 
ancients  between  the  Bramins  and  monastic  orders,  it  may  be 
observed  that  some  modern  writers,  even  of  those  best  acquainted 
with  the  distinction,  have  not  marked  it  in  their  works ;  so  that 
it  is  often  difficult  to  ascertain  from  their  expressions  which  they 
allude  to  in  each  case.  For  much  information  relating  to  the 
ancient  accounts  of  the  Hindu  priesthood  and  religion,  see  Cole- 
brooke,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  296. 

t  Indica,  cap.  x.  See  also  Diodorus,  lib.  ii.  p.  124'.,  ed.  1601, 
where  he  adds  many  extravagances  about  their  equality  and 
republican  institutions. 


GREEK  ACCOUNTS  OF  INDIA.  457 

confines  his  examples  of  the  contrary  to  domestic  slaves,    append. 
and  appears  to  have  no  suspicion  of  the  existence  of  a  ser-  ' 


vile  class.  It  is  possible  that  the  mild  form  in  which 
slavery  appeared  among  the  Sudras  may  have  deceived  the 
Greeks,  accustomed  to  so  different  a  system  at  home ;  but 
it  is  still  more  probable  that  the  remains  of  the  servile 
condition  of  the  Svidras  which  subsisted  in  Menu's  time, 
may  have  disappeared  entirely  before  that  of  Alexander. 

The  number  of  independent  governments  seems  to  have   Number 

1  1  •  A  1  1  •      1  •  -1    ^"'^  extent 

been  as  great  as  at  other  tmies.  Alexander,  m  Ins  partial  of  the  dif- 
invasion,  met  with  many  ;  and  Megasthenes  heard  that  in  ^j^^"* 
all  India  there  were  118.  Many  of  these  may  have  been 
very  inconsiderable;  but  some  (the  Prasii  for  instance) 
possessed  great  kingdoms.  Most  of  them  seem  to  have 
been  under  rajas,  as  in  Menu's  time,  and  the  circumstances 
of  those  which  the  Greeks  called  republics  and  aristocra- 
cies can  easily  be  explained  without  supposing  anything 
different  from  what  now  exists.  There  have  always  been 
extensive  tracts  without  any  common  head,  some  under 
petty  chiefs,  and  some  formed  of  independent  villages  :  in 
troubled  times,  also,  towns  have  often  for  a  long  period 
carried  on  their  own  government.*  All  these  would  be 
called  republics  by  the  Greeks,  who  would  naturally  flincy 
their  constitutions  similar  to  what  they  had  seen  at  home. 
But  what  their  authors  had  particularly  in  view  were  the 
independent  villages,  which  were  in  reality  republics,  and 

*  Among  those  of  the  first  description  were  the  Sikhs  (before 
llanjit  Sing's  ascendancy),  whom  Mr.  Foster,  though  familiar 
with  Indian  governments,  describes  as  being  under  a  democracy  ; 
tlie  chiefs  of  Sht'kliawct ;  and  various  other  petty  confederacies 
of  chiefs.  Of  single  villages,  the  Sondis  and  Gnisias  mentioned 
by  Sir  John  Malcolm  {Account  of  Mdlwa,  vol.  i.  p.  508.)  lurnish 
examples.  The  same  author  alludes  to  towns  in  a  state  such  as 
has  been  mentioned. 


III. 


45S  HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 

APPEND,  which  would  seem  aristocratic  or  democratic  as  the  village 
community  was  great  or  small  in  proportion  to  the  other 
inhabitants.*  A  more  perfect  example  of  such  villages 
could  not  be  found  than  existed  but  lately  in  Hariana,  a 
country  contiguous  to  those  occupied  by  the  Cathoei  and 
Malli  in  Alexander's  time.  One  of  these  (Biwani)  required, 
in  1809,  a  regular  siege  by  a  large  British  force,  and  would 
probably  have  opposed  to  the  Macedonians  as  obstinate  a 
resistance  as  Sangala  or  any  of  the  villages  in  the  adjoin- 
ing districts,  which  make  so  great  a  figure  in  the  opera- 
tions of  Alexander. 

The  force  ascribed  to  the  Indian  kings  is  probably  ex- 
aggerated. Porus,  one  of  several  who  occupied  the  Panjab, 
is  said  to  have  had  200  elephants,  300  chariots,  4000  horse, 
and  30,000  efficient  infantry,  which,  as  observed  by  Sir 
A.  Burnes,  is  (substituting  guns  for  chariots)  exactly  the 
establishment  of  Ranjit  Sing,  who  is  master  of  the  whole 
Panjab,  and  several  other  territories. f 

*  See  the  account  of  townships  in  the  chapter  on  revenue, 
p.  118. 

f  As  an  exaggerated  opinion  appears  to  be  sometimes  enter- 
tained of  the  extent  of  the  territories  and  dependencies  of 
Porus,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  state  the  Umits  assigned  to  them 
by  Arrian  and  Strabo.  His  western  boundary  was  the  Hydaspes. 
Beyond  that  river,  in  the  centre,  was  his  mortal  enemy  Taxiles  ; 
on  the  north  of  whose  dominions  was  Abissares,  an  independent 
prince  whom  Arrian  calls  king  of  the  mountain  Indians*;  and 
on  the  south,  Sopithes,  another  independent  sovereign,  in 
whose  territories  the  Salt  range  lay** :  so  that  Porus  could  pos- 
sess nothing  to  the  west  of  the  Hydaspes.  On  the  north,  his 
territory  extended  to  the  woods  under  the  mountains c ;  but  it 
did  not  include  the  whole  country  between  the  Hydaspes  and 
Acesines,  for,  besides  other  tribes  who  might  by  possibility  be 


a  Arrian,  lib.  v.  cap.  8.  "  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  4'81. 

c  Ibid.  p.  480.  ' 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  459^ 

The  most  that  we  can  concede  to  Arrian  would  be,  that    append. 
the  armies  which  he  speaks  of  as  permanent  were  the  whole  ' 

of  the  tumultuary  forces  which  any  of  those  princes  could, 
in  case  of  necessity,  bring  into  the  field.  The  numbers 
alleged  by  Pliny  are  beyond  probability,  even  on  that  or 
any  other  supposition.  The  fourfold  division  of  the  army 
(horse,  foot,  chariots,  and  elephants)  was  the  same  as  that 
of  Menu  ;  but  Strabo  makes  a  sextuple  division,  by  adding 
the  commissariat  and  naval  departments.  The  soldiers 
were  all  of  the  military  class,  were  in  constant  pay  during 
war  and  peace,  and  had  servants  to  perform  all  duties  not 
strictly  military.  Their  horses  and  arms  were  supplied  by 
the  state  (an  arrangement  very  unlike  that  usually  adopted 
now).     It  is  stated,  repeatedly,  that   they  never  ravaged 

dependent  on  Porus,  there  were  the  Glaucanicae  or  Glausas,  who 
had  thirty-seven  large  cities,  and  whom  Alexander  put  under 
Porus'';  thereby  adding  much  country  to  what  he  had  before 
possessed. •=  On  the  east,  between  the  Acesines  and  Hydraotes, 
he  had  another  Porus,  who  was  his  bitter  enemy,  f  To  the  south- 
east of  him  were  the  Cathaei,  and  other  independent  nations, 
against  whom  he  assisted  Alexander,  e  To  the  south  were  the 
Main,  against  whom  Porus  and  Abissares  had  once  led  their 
combined  forces,  with  those  of  many  others,  and  had  been  de- 
feated. '' 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  dominions  of  Porus  were  all 
situated  between  the  Hydaspes  and  Acesines;  and  that  his  im- 
mediate neighbours  on  every  side  were  independent  of  him,  and 
most  of  them  at  war  with  him.  If  he  had  any  dependents,  they 
must  have  been  between  the  rivers  already  mentioned,  where 
there  were  certainly  different  tribes  ;  but  of  those,  we  know  that 
the  Glaucanicae  werj  independent  of  him,  and  we  have  no  reason 
to  think  the  others  were  dependent. 


•*  Arrian,  lib.  v.  cap.  20.       '    Ibid.  cap.  21. 
(  Ibid.  cap.  21.  '-'  Ibid.  cap.  22.  2k 

'•  Ibid.  cap.  22. 


460 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPEND. 

ni. 


Manners 
and  cus- 
toms simi- 
lar to  the 
present. 


the  country,  and  that  the  husbandmen  pursued  their  occu- 
pations undisturbed  while  hostile  armies  were  engaged  in 
battle.  This,  though  evidently  an  exaggeration,  is  pro- 
bably derived  from  the  Hindu  laws  of  war  recorded  in 
Menu,  which  must  have  made  a  strong  impression  on  the 
Greeks,  unaccustomed  as  they  w-ei'e  to  so  mild  and  humane 
a  system. 

The  bravery  of  the  armies  opposed  to  the  Greeks  is 
always  spoken  of  as  superior  to  that  of  the  other  nations 
with  whom  they  had  contended  in  Asia  ;  and  the  loss 
acknowledged,  though  incredibly  small,  is  much  greater  in 
the  Indian  battles  than  in  those  with  Darius.  Their  arms, 
with  the  exception  of  fire-arms,  were  the  same  as  at  present. 
The  peculiar  Indian  bow,  now  only  used  in  mountainous 
countries,  which  is  drawn  with  the  assistance  of  the  feet, 
and  shoots  an  arrow  more  that  six  feet  long,  is  particularly 
described  by  Arrian,  as  are  the  long  swords  and  iron  spears, 
both  of  which  are  still  occasionally  in  use.  Their  powerful 
bits,  and  great  management  of  their  horses,  were  remark- 
able even  then. 

The  presents  made  by  the  Indian  princes  indicate  wealth; 
and  all  the  descriptions  of  the  parts  visited  by  the  Greeks 
give  the  idea  of  a  country  teeming  with  population,  and 
enjoying  the  highest  degree  of  prosperity. 

Apollodorus  *  states  that  there  were,  between  the  Hy- 
daspes  and  Hypanis  (Hyphasis),  1500  cities,  none  of  which 
was  less  than  Cos ;  w  hich,  with  every  allowance  for  exagge- 
ration, supposes  a  most  flourishing  territory.  Palibothra 
was  eiffht  miles  lono;  and  one  and  a  half  broad,  defended 
by  a  deep  ditch  and  a  high  rampart,  with  570  towers  and 
64  gates. 

The  numerous  commercial  cities  and  ports  for  foreign 


*  Strabo,  lib.  xv. 


GREEK  ACCOUNTS  OF  INDIA.  461 

trade,  which  are  mentioned  at  a  later  period  (in  the  "Peri-    append. 
plus"),  attest  the  progress  of  the  Indians  in  a  department        ^"' 
which  more  than  any  other  shows  the  advanced  condition 
of  a  nation. 

The  police  is  spoken  of  as  excellent.  Megasthenes 
relates  that,  in  the  camp  of  Sandracottus,  which  he  esti- 
mates to  have  contained  400,000  men,  the  sums  stolen 
daily  did  not  amount  to  more  than  200  drachms  (about  3/.). 

Justice  seems  to  have  been  administered  by  the  King 
and  his  assessors ;  and  the  few  laws  mentioned  are  in  the 
spirit  of  those  of  Menu.  On  this  subject,  however,  the 
Greeks  are  as  ill  informed  as  might  have  been  expected. 
They  all  believe  the  laws  to  have  been  unwritten  ;  some 
even  maintain  that  the  Indians  were  ignorant  of  letters, 
while  others  praise  the  beauty  of  their  writing.* 

The  revenue  was  derived  from  the  land,  the  workmen, 
and  the  traders.f  The  land  revenue  is  stated  by  Strabo 
to  amount  (as  in  Menu)  to  one  fourth  of  the  produce  ,*  but 
he  declares,  in  plain  terms,  that  "  the  whole  land  is  the 
King's,"  and  is  farmed  to  the  cultivators  on  the  above 
terms.:}:  He  mentions,  in  another  place,  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  some  villages  cultivate  the  land  in  common,  accord- 
ing to  a  system  still  much  in  use.  The  portion  of  the 
revenue  paid  in  work  by  handicraftsmen  (as  stated  by 
Menu,  quoted  in  page  39.)  is  also  noticed  by  Strabo.  Hii 
account  of  the  heads  of  markets  (cvyopovofioi) ;  their  measure 
ment  of  fields  and  distribution  of  water  for  irrigation  ;  their 
administration  of  justice ;  and  their  being  the  channels  for 
payment  of  the  I'evenue;  together  with  their  general  super- 
intendence of  the  trades,  roads,  and  all  affairs  within  their 
limits,   agrees  exactly  with    the   functions   of  the  present 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  493.,  ed.  1587. 

f   Arrian's  Indica,  p.  11. 

X   Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  484'.,  cd.  1587 


462  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,    patels,  or  heads  of  villages  ;  and  that  of  the  heads  of  towns, 
^^"         though  less   distinct,   bears  a  strong  resemblance   to   the 
duties  of  similar  officers  at  the  present  day. 

Little  is  said  about  the  religion  of  the  Indians.  Strabo 
mentions  that  they  worship  Jupiter  Pluvius  (which  may 
mean  Indra),  the  Ganges,  and  other  local  gods ;  that  they 
wear  no  crowns  at  sacrifices  ;  and  that  they  stifle  the 
victim  instead  of  stabbing  it, — a  curious  coincidence  with 
some  of  the  mystical  sacrifices  of  the  Bramins,  which  are 
supposed  to  be  of  modern  date. 

-    Various  other  ancients  are  quoted  by  Mr.  Colebrooke*, 
to  show  that  they  likewise  worshipped  the  sun. 

Much  is  said  by  the  Greeks  of  the  Indian  worship  of 
Bacchus  and  Hercules ;  but  obviously  in  consequence  of 
their  forcibly  adapting  the  Hindu  legends  to  their  own,  as 
they  have  done  in  so  many  other  cases.f 

The  learning  of  the  Hindus  was,  of  course,  inaccessible 
to  the  Greeks.  They  had,  however,  a  great  impression  of 
their  wisdom  ;  and  some  particulars  of  their  philosophy, 
which  have  been  handed  down,  are  not  unimportant. 
Megasthenes  asserts  that  they  agreed  in  many  things  with 
the  Greeks ;  that  they  thought  the  world  had  a  beginning 
and  will  have  an  end,  is  round,  and  is  pervaded  by  the 
God  who  made  and  governs  it;  that  all  things  rise  from 
different  origins,  and  the  world  from  water ;  that,  besides 
the  four  elements,  there  is  one  of  which  the  heavens  and 
stars  are  made ;  and  that  the  world  is  the  centre  of  the 
universe.  He  says  they  also  agreed  with  the  Greeks  about 
the  soul,  and  many  other  matters ;  and  composed  many 
tales  [fxvOoc)  like  Plato,  about  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
the  judgment  after  death,  and  similar  subjects. :f 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ix.  p.  298, 

-j-  The  mention  of  the  worship  of  Hercules  at  Methora  may 
possibly  refer  to  that  of  Crishna  at  Mattra. 
:j:  Strabo,  lib.  XV.  p.  490.,  ed.  1587. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  463 

It  is  evident,   from    these   early  accounts,   that   if   the    append. 
Bramins  learned  their  philosophy  from  the  Greeks,  it  must  ' 

have  been  before  the  time  of  Alexander ;  and  Onesicritus, 
whose  conversations  with  them  on  philosophy  have  been 
already  mentioned,  expressly  says  that  they  inquired  whe- 
ther the  Greeks  ever  held  similar  discourses,  and  makes  it 
manifest  that  they  were  entirely  uninformed  regarding  the 
sciences  and  opinions  of  his  countrymen. 

From  the  silence  of  the  Greeks  respecting  Indian  archi- 
tecture we  may  infer  that  the  part  of  the  country  which 
they  visited  was  as  destitute  of  fine  temples  as  it  is  now. 
Their  account  of  Indian  music  is  as  unfavourable  as  would 
be  given  by  a  modern  European ;  for,  although  it  is  said 
that  they  were  fond  of  singing  and  dancing,  it  is  alleged, 
in  another  place,  that  they  had  no  instruments  but  drums, 
cymbals,  and  castanets. 

The  other  arts  of  life  seem  to  have  been  in  the  same 
state  as  at  present.  The  kinds  of  grain  reaped  at  each  of 
their  two  harvests  were  the  same  as  now :  sugar,  cotton, 
spices,  and  perfumes  were  produced  as  at  present;  and  the 
mode  of  forming  the  fields  into  small  beds  to  retain  the 
water  used  in  irrigation  is  described  as  similar.*  Chariots 
were  drawn  in  war  by  horses,  but  on  a  march  by  oxen ; 
they  were  sometimes  drawn  by  camels  (which  are  now 
seldom  applied  to  draught  but  in  the  desert).  Elephant 
chariots  were  also  kept  as  a  piece  of  great  magnificence.  I 
liave  only  heard  of  two  in  the  present  age. 

The  modern  mode  of  catching  and  training  elephants, 
with  all  its  ingenious  contrivances,  may  be  learned  from 
Arrianf  almost  as  exactly  as  from  the  account  of  the 
modern  practice  in  "Asiatic  Researches." f 

Tiic  brilliancy  of  their  dyes  is  remarked  on,  as  well  as 

*   Strabo,  lib.  xv.  pp.  476,  477.         f  Indica,  chap,  xiii. 
I   Vol.  iii.  p.  2'J9. 


4-64  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,    their  skill  in  manufactures  and  imitations  of  foreign  ob- 

jeets. 

The  use  of  copper  vessels  for  all  purposes  was  as  general 
as  it  is  now;  but  brazen  ones,  which  are  now  even  more 
common,  were  avoided  on  account  of  their  supposed  brittle- 
ness.  Royal  roads  ai'e  spoken  of  by  Strabo  f  in  one  place, 
and  mile-stones  in  another.:]: 

Strabo  expatiates  on  the  magnificence  of  the  Indian  fes- 
tivals. Elephants,  adorned  with  gold  and  silver,  moved 
forth  in  procession  with  chariots  of  four  horses  and  carriages 
drawn  by  oxen  ;  well-appointed  troops  marched  in  their 
allotted  place ;  gilded  vases  and  basins  of  great  size  were 
borne  in  state,  with  tables,  thrones,  goblets,  and  lavers, 
almost  all  set  with  emeralds,  beryls,  carbuncles,  and  other 
precious  stones ;  garments  of  various  coloui's,  and  em- 
broidered with  gold,  added  to  the  richness  of  the  spectacle. 
Tame  lions  and  panthers  formed  part  of  the  show,  to  which 
singing  birds,  and  others  remarkable  for  their  plumage, 
were  also  made  to  contribute,  sitting  on  trees  which  were 
transported  on  large  waggons,  and  increased  the  variety  of 
the  scene.  This  last  custom  survived  in  part,  and  perhaps 
still  survives,  in  Bengal,  where  artificial  trees,  and  gardens 
as  they  were  called  not  long  ago,  formed  part  of  the  nuptial 
processions.  §  They  are  said  to  honour  the  memories  of 
the  dead,  and  to  compose  songs  in  their  praise,  but  not  to 
erect  expensive  tombs  to  them  |1 ;  a  peculiarity  which  still 
prevails,  notwithstanding  the  reverence  paid  to  ancestors. 
The  peculiar  custom  of  building  wooden  houses  near  the 
rivers,  which  is  noticed  by  Arrian  ^,  probably  refers  to  the 
practice  which  still  obtains  from  the  Indus,  where  the 
floors  are  platforms  raised  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  from  the 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  493.  f  Lib.  xv.  p.  474.,  ed.  1587. 

%  Lib.  XV.  p.  487.  §  Lib.  xv.  p.  494. 

II   Arrian's  Indica,  cap.  x.  ^  Ibid.  cap.  x. 


GREEK    ACCOUNTS    OF    INDIA.  4'C)5 

ground,  to  the  Irawadcly,  where  ahiiost  all  the  houses  of    append. 

Ill 
Rangoon  seem  to  be  similarly  constructed.  ' 

They  never  gave  or  took  money  in  marriage  *  ;  conform- 
ing, in  that  respect,  both  to  the  precepts  of  Menu  and  to 
the  practice  of  modern  times,  f 

The  women  were  chaste,  and  the  practice  of  self-immo- 
lation by  widows  was  already  introduced,  but,  perhaps, 
only  partially ;  as  Aristobulus  speaks  of  it  as  one  of  the 
extraordinary  local  peculiarities  which  he  heard  of  at 
Taxila.:];  The  practice  of  giving  their  daughters  to  the 
victor  in  prescribed  trials  of  force  and  skill,  which  gives 
rise  to  several  adventures  in  the  Hindu  heroic  poems,  is 
spoken  of  by  Arrian§  as  usual  in  common  life.  Their 
kings  are  represented  as  surrounded  by  numbers  of  female 
slaves,  who  not  only  attend  them  in  their  retired  apart- 
ments, as  in  Menu,  but  accompany  them  on  hunting  parties, 
and  are  guarded  from  view  by  jealous  precautions  for 
keeping  the  public  at  a  distance,  like  those  well  known 
among  Mahometans,  and  them  only,  by  the  name  of 
kuruk.  The  ceremonial  of  the  kings,  however,  had  not 
the  servility  since  introduced  by  the  Mussulmans.  It  was 
the  custom  of  the  Indians  to  pray  for  the  King,  but  not  to 
prostrate  themselves  before  him  like  the  Persians. |1 

The  dress  of  the  Indians,  as  described  by  Arrian^f?  is 

*   Arrian,  Indica,  cap.  xvii. 

f  Mcgasthenes  alone  contradicts  this  account,  and  says  they 
bought  their  wives  for  a  yoke  of  oxen.  (Strabo,  cap.  xv. 
p.  488.) 

X   Strabo,  Hb.  XV.  p.  491.,  ed.  1587. 

§  Indica,  cap.  xvii. 

II  It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  Hindu  dramas  tlierc  is  not  a 
trace  of  servility  in  the  behaviour  of  otlier  tliaractcrs  to  the 
King.  Even  now,  Hindu  courts  that  liavc  liad  Httlc  comnuuii- 
cation  with  the  Mussulmans  arc  comparatively  unassuming  in 
their  eti(jucttc. 

^   Indica,  cap.  xvi. 
vol..  I.  11   II 


4G(3  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  precisely  that  composed  of"  two  sheets  of  cotton  cloth,  which 
^'^^-  is  still  worn  by  the  people  of  Bengal,  and  by  strict  Bramins 
every  where.  Earrings  and  ornamented  slippers  were  also 
used,  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  present  day.  Their 
clothes  were  generally  white  cotton,  though  often  of  a 
variety  of  bright  colours  and  flowered  patterns  (chintz). 
They  wore  gold  and  jewels,  and  were  very  expensive  in 
their  dresses,  though  frugal  in  most  other  things.*  Pearls 
and  precious  stones  were  in  common  use  among  them. 
The  great  had  umbrellas  carried  over  them,  as  now. 

They  dyed  their  beards,  as  they  now  do,  with  henna  and 
indigo  ;  and  mistakes  in  the  mixture  or  time  of  application 
seem  then,  as  now,  to  have  occasionally  made  their  beards 
green,  blue,  and  purple.  At  present,  no  colours  are  ever 
purposely  produced  but  black  and  sometimes  red.  They 
dined  separately,  according  to  their  present  unsociable 
practice,  each  man  cooking  his  own  dinner  apart  when  he 
required  it.  They  drank  little  fermented  liquor,  and  what 
they  did  use  was  made  from  rice  (arrack). 

Tlie  appearance  of  the  Indians  is  well  described,  and 
(what  is  surprising,  considering  the  limited  knowledge  of 
the  Macedonians)  the  distinction  between  the  inhabitants 
of  the  north  and  south  is  always  adverted  to.  The  southern 
Indians  are  said  to  be  black,  and  not  unlike  Ethiopians, 
except  for  the  absence  of  flat  noses  and  curly  hair ;  the 
northern  ones  are  fairer,  and  like  Egyptiansf,  —  a  resem- 
blance which  must  strike  every  traveller  from  India  on 
seeing  the  pictures  in  the  tombs  on  the  Nile. 
Favourable  The  Indians  are  described  as  swarthy,  but  very  tall, 
temnicd"'  handsome,   light,  and   active.:}:     Their  bravery  is  always 

by  the 

Greeks  of         *   Strabo,  lib.  XV.  pp.  481.  438. 

the  Iiulian  .  _    ,.  •         r.       t  ti  a--  i 

character.  t  Arnan,  Indica,    cap.  vi. ;    fetrabo,     Jib.    xv.    p.   4/.-).,  eel. 

1587. 

:j:   Arrian,  Indica,  cap.  xvii. 


GREEK  ACCOUNTS  OF  INDIA.  467 

spoken   of  as   characteristic ;    their  superiority  in   war  to    append. 
other  Asiatics  is  repeatedly  asserted,  and  appears  in  more  ' 

ways  than  one.*  They  are  said  to  be  sober,  moderate, 
peaceable;  good  soldiers  ;  good  farmers f;  remarkable  for 
simplicity  and  integrity ;  so  reasonable  as  never  to  liave 
recourse  to  a  law-suit ;  and  so  honest  as  neither  to  require 
locks  to  their  doors  nor  writings  to  bind  their  agreements.^ 
Above  all,  it  is  said  that  no  Indian  was  ever  known  to  tell 
an  untruth.  § 

We  know,  from  the  ancient  writings  of  the  Hindus  them- 
selves, that  the  alleged  proofs  of  their  confidence  in  each 
other  are  erroneous.  The  account  of  their  veracity  may 
safely  be  regarded  as  equally  incorrect ;  but  the  statement 
is  still  of  great  importance,  since  it  shows  what  were  the 
qualities  of  the  Indians  that  made  most  impression  on  the 
Macedonians,  and  proves  that  their  character  must,  since 
then,  have  undergone  a  total  change.  Strangers  are  now 
struck  with  the  litiglousness  and  falsehood  of  the  natives; 
and,  when  they  are  incorrect  in  their  accounts,  it  is  always 
by  exaggerating  those  defects. 

*  Arrian,  Exped.  AlexancL,  lib.  v.  cap.  iv. 

f   Ibid.  lib.  v.  cap.  xxv. 

X   Strabo,  lib.  XV.  p.  4S8.,  ed.  1587. 

§  Arrian,  Indica,  cap.  xii. 


H  II    2 


4()8 


HTSTOllY    OF    INDIA. 


APPENDIX  IV. 

ON    THE    GREEK    KINGDOM    OF    BACTRIA. 


APPEND.  The  great  kingdom  of  Bactria,  as  formerly  known  to  us, 

"  had  so  little  influence  on  India,  that  it  would  scarcely  have 

Accounts  deserved  mention  in  the  history  of  that  country. 

^  *f'^ .  Late  discoveries  have  shown  a  more  permanent  conncc- 

ancients.  i 

tion  between  it  and  India,  and  may  throw  light  on  relations 
as  yet  little  understood.  But  these  discoveries  still  require 
the  examination  of  antiquarians  ;  and  a  slight  sketch  of 
the  results  hitherto  ascertained  will  be  sufficient  in  this 
place. 

When  Alexander  retired  from  India,  he  left  a  detach- 
ment from  his  army  in  Bactria. 

B.  c.  312.  After  the  first  contest  for  the  partition  of  his  empire, 

that  province  fell  to  the  lot  of  Seleucus,  king  of  Syria. 
He  marched  in  person  to  reduce  the  local  governors  into 
obedience,  and  afterwards  went  on  to  India,  and  made 
his  treaty  with  Sandracottus.*  Bactria  remained  subject  to 
his  descendants,  until  their  own  civil  wars  and  the  impend- 
ini£  revolt  of  the  Parthians  induced  the  governor  of  the 

B.  c.  250.  province  to  assert  his  independence.  Theodotus  was  the 
first  king.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  of  the  same  name, 
who  was  deposed  by  Euthydemus,  a  native  of  Magnesia,  in 
Asia  Minor.  By  this  time,  the  Seleucidae  had  consolidated 
their  power;  and  Antiochus  the  Great  came  with  a  large 
army  to  restore  order  in  the  eastern  part  of  his  dominions. 
He  defeated  Euthydemus,  but  admitted  him  to  terms;  and 

*  See  p.  262. 


GREEK    KINGDOM    OF    EACTRIA.  469 

confirmed  him  in  possession  of  the  throne  he  had  usurped,  append. 
It  does  not  seem  probable  that  Euthydemus  cai'ried  his  ^^• 
arms  to  the  south  of  the  eastern  Caucasus ;  but  his  son, 
Demetrius,  obtained  possession  of  Arachosia  and  a  large 
portion  of  Persia.  He  also  made  conquests  in  India,  and 
was  in  possession,  not  only  of  Lower  Sind,  but  of  the  coast 
of  India  further  to  the  east.  He  seems,  however,  to  have 
been  excluded  from  Bactria,  of  which  Eucratidas  remained 
master.  After  the  death  of  Euthydemus,  Demetrius  made 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  dispossess  this  rival;  and,  in 
the  end,  lost  ail  his  Indian  conquests,  which  were  seized  by 
Eucratidas.  In  his  lime  the  Bactrian  power  was  at  its 
height. 

In  the  midst  of  his  greatness  he  was  assassinated  by  his 
own  son,  Eucratidas  II.;  and,  during  the  I'eign  of  this 
prince,  some  of  his  western  dominions  were  seized  on  by 
the  Parthians,  and  Bactria  itself  by  the  Scythians*;  and 
nothing  remained  in  his  possession  but  the  country  on  the 
south  of  the  eastern  Caucasus.  The  period  of  the  reigns 
of  Menander  and  Apollodotus,  and  the  relation  in  which 
they  stood  to  the  Eucratidae,  cannot  be  made  out  from  the 
ancients.  Menander  made  conquests  in  the  north-west  of 
India,  and  carried  the  Greek  arms  further  in  that  direction 
than  any  other  monarch  of  the  nation.  The  position  of 
his  conquests  is  shown  in  a  passage  of  Strabo,  that  likewise 
contains  all  we  know  of  the  extent  of  the  Bactrian  kingdom. 
According  to  an  ancient  author  there  (juoted,  the  Bactrians 
possessed  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  Ariana,  and  con- 
(luered  more  nations  in  India  than  even  Alexander.  In 
this  last  achievement,  the  principal  actor  was  Menander, 
who  crossed  the  Ilypanis  towards  the  east,  and  went  on  as 
far  as  the  Isamus.      Between  him  and  Demetrius,  the  son 

*  About  130  b.  c.  (Clinton's  Fasti);  V25  B.C.  (Dc  Guigncs). 
H  II    o 


170  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  of  Euthydemus  (continues  the  same  author),  the  Bactrians 
'  occupied  not  only  Pattalene,  but  that  part  of  the  other 
coast  which  is  called  the  kingdom  of  Tessariostus  and  the 
kingdom  of  Sigertes.  The  Hypanis  mentioned  in  the 
beginning  of  the  passage  referred  to  is  admitted  to  mean 
the  Hyphasis ;  but  the  Isamus  is  thought  by  some  to  be  the 
Jamna  river,  by  others  the  Hemalaya  mountains  (some- 
times called  Imaus),  and  by  others,  again,  a  small  river 
called  Isa,  which  runs  into  the  Ganges  on  the  western  side. 
Whichever  is  correct,  the  territory  to  the  east  of  the  Panjab 
must  have  been  a  narrow  strip.  No  mention  is  made  of 
acquisitions  towards  the  south ;  and  if  any  had  been  made 
in  that  direction  as  far  as  Delhi,  or  even  Hastinapur,  they 
would  not  have  entirely  escaped  the  notice  even  of  Hindu 
authors.  The  south-western  conquests  extended  to  the 
Delta  of  the  Indus  (Pattalene  being  the  country  about 
Tatta) ;  but  whether  the  kingdom  of  Sigertes,  on  the  other 
coast,  was  Cach  or  the  peninsula  of  Guzerat,  we  have  no 
means  of  conjecturing.  The  author  of  the  "Periplus"  says 
that  coins  of  Menander  and  Apollodotus  were  met  with  in 
his  time  at  Baroch,  which,  in  the  state  of  circulation  of 
those  days,  makes  it  probable  that  some  of  their  territories 
were  not  very  distant.  On  the  west,  "  the  most  con- 
spicuous part  of  Ariana  "  would  certainly  be  Khorasan ; 
but  they  had  probably  lost  some  portion  of  that  province 
before  their  Indian  conquests  attained  the  utmost  limit.* 

The  above  is  the  information  we  derive  from  ancient 
authors.  It  has  been  confirmed  and  greatly  augmented  by 
recent  discoveries  from  coins.  These  increase  the  number 
of  Greek  kings  from  the  eight  above  mentioned  to  eighteen; 

*  The  information  to  be  found  in  ancient  authors  is  collected 
in  Bayer  s  Bactria.  There  is  a  clear,  concise  sketch  ofBactrian 
history  from  the  same  sources  in  Clinton's  Fasti  Hellenici, 
vol.  iii.  p.  315.,  note  x. 


GREEK    KINGDOM    OF    BACTRIA.  471 

and  disclose  new  dynasties  of  odier  nations  who  succeeded    append. 
each  other  on  the  extinction  of  the  Greek  monarchy. 

The  subject  first  attracted  notice  in  consequence  of  some 
coins  obtained  by  Colonel  Tod,  and  an  interesting  paper 
which  he  published  regarding  them  in  the  first  volume  of 
the  "Transactions  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society."  It  excited 
great  attention  on  the  Continent,  and  was  zealously  followed 
up  in  India  by  Professor  Wilson  and  by  Mr.  Prinsep. 

Professor  Wilson  has  published  an  account  of  the  coins 
of  the  Greek  kings,  and  arranged  them  as  far  as  our  pre- 
sent knowledge  permits ;  but  as  they  bear  no  dates  either 
of  time  or  place,  the  arrangement  is  necessarily  incom- 
plete. The  coins  of  the  kings  already  mentioned,  down 
to  Eucratidas  I.,  are  found  on  the  north  of  the  eastern 
Caucasus.  The  inscriptions,  the  figures,  the  reverses,  and 
the  workmanship  are  pure  Greek.  From  Eucratidas  II., 
no  coins  are  found  on  the  northern  side  of  the  mountains  ; 
and  those  found  on  the  southern  side  assume  a  new  form. 
They  are  often  square,  a  shape  of  whicli  there  is  no  ex- 
ample in  any  other  Grecian  coinage  either  European  or 
Asiatic  :  they  frequently  boar  two  inscriptions,  one  in  Greek 
and  another  in  a  barbaric  character ;  and,  from  the  reign 
of  Menander,  they  have  occasionally  an  elephant,  or  a  bull 
with  a  hump  ;  both  animals  peculiar  to  India,  and  indica- 
tive of  an  Indian  dominion. 

The  barbaric  character  has  been  but  imperfectly  de- 
ciphered, and  has  given  rise  to  a  good  deal  of  discussion. 
It  is  certainly  written  from  right  to  left ;  a  mode,  as  far  as 
we  know,  peculiar  to  the  languages  of  the  Arab  family: 
it  may  be  assumed  that  it  represents  the  language  of  the 
country,  which  it  is  natural  to  suppose  would  be  Persian; 
aiul  these  circumstances  suggest  Pehlevi  as  the  languaij^e. 
This  opinion,  accordingly,  has  been  maintained  by  some 
of  those   who   have   written    on   ihe  subject ;    but  a  close 

II  II    1< 


47^^  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  examination  by  Professor  Wilson  leads  him  to  doubt  ilic 
conclusion,  though  he  has  no  theory  of  his  own  to  support. 
Others,  thinking  that  they  discover  words  of  Shanscrit 
origin  in  the  inscriptions,  believe  the  language  to  be  Zend, 
or  else  some  of  the  dialects  of  India. 

Of  this  scries  of  coins  the  first  that  attract  notice  are  those 
of  Menander.  As  they  exhibit  the  title  of  Sote?-,  which 
was  adopted  by  the  two  Eucratidae,  and  as.  the  devices  on 
the  reverses  are  the  same  as  on  coins  of  these  princes,  it  is 
a  le2i;itimate  deduction  that  the  kini^  who  struck  them 
belonged  to  the  same  dynasty.  The  same  argument  ex- 
tends to  the  coins  of  Apollodotus,  who  was  perhaps  the  son 
of  Menander,  Two  more  kings,  Diomedes  and  Hermoeus, 
have  also  the  title  of  Sofe?-,  and  may  be  presumed  to  belong- 
to  the  same  dynasty.  The  inferior  execution  of  the  coins 
of  Hermoeus  points  him  out  as  the  latest  of  the  series;  and 
it  is  his  coins,  also,  that  furnish  the  model  for  another  de- 
scription which  it  may  be  inferred  came  immediately  after 
his  time. 

These  are  of  much  ruder  workmanship,  and  the  in- 
scriptions are  an  almost  illegible  Greek  ;  the  names,  also, 
are  barbarous  and  uncouth,  —  Kadphises,  Kanerkes,  &c. 
These  are  conjectured,  on  very  probable  grounds,  to  be 
Scythians,  and  to  have  subjected  the  southern  kingdom  of 
the  Bactrian  Greeks  about  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
sera. 

Other  coins  are  also  found  resembling  the  last  scries, 
but  perhaps  connected  with  the  Parthians  rather  than  the 
Scythians. 

To  complete  the  chronology,  there  are  coins  not  yet 
examined^  but  obviously  belonging  to  the  Sassanians,  who 
were  in  possession  of  Persia  at  the  time  of  tiie  Mahometan 
invasion. 

There  is  another  class  of  coins,  resembling,  in  many  re- 


GREEK    KINGDOM    OF    BACTRIA.  4.73 

spects,  those  of  the  Eucratidae,  and  probably  belonging  to  a    append. 
series  collateral  with  that  of  the  Sotcrs,  bnt  extending  be-         ^^'• 
yond  the  duration  of  that  dynasty.     Many  of  the  names 
they  bear  are  accompanied  by  epithets  derived  from  Nike 
(victory) ;   from  which,  and  other  points  of  resemblance, 
they  are  regarded  as  belonging  to  one  dynasty. 

There  is  one  more  class,  consisting  of  only  two  princes, 
Agathocles  and  Pantaleon.  They  are  thought  to  be  the 
latest  of  all  the  Greek  coins,  but  are  chiefly  remarkable 
because  they  alone  have  their  second  inscriptions  in  the 
ancient  character  found  on  the  caves  and  columns  of  India, 
and  not  in  the  one  written  from  right  to  left. 

Some  conclusions  may  be  drawn  from  the  situations  in 
which  the  coins  have  been  discovered.  Those  of  Menander 
are  numei'ous  in  the  country  about  Cjibul,  and  also  at  Pe- 
shawer.  One  has  been  found  as  far  east  as  Mattra  on  the 
Jamna.  We  may  perhaps  infer  that  his  capital  was  situated 
in  the  tract  first  mentioned,  and  this  would  give  ground  for 
conjecturing  the  residence  of  the  Sotcr  dynasty.  I  do  not 
know  that  there  is  any  clue  to  that  of  the  Nike  kings. 
Professor  Wilson  conjectures  Agathocles  and  Pantaleon  to 
have  reigned  in  the  mountains  about  Chitnil ;  whicli,  being 
the  country  of  the  Paropamisian  Indians,  may  perhaps 
afford  some  explanation  of  the  Indian  character  on  their 
coins.  The  situation  in  which  the  Scythian  coins  are 
found  is  itself  very  remarkable  ;  and  there  are  other  circum- 
stances which  hold  out  a  jirospect  of  their  throwing  great 
light  on  Indian  history.  All  the  former  coins,  with  the 
exception  of  some  of  those  of  Ilermocus,  have  been  pur- 
chased in  the  bazars,  or  picked  up  on  or  near  the  surface 
of  tiie  earth  on  the  siU's  of  old  cities.  But  the  Scythian 
coins  are  found  in  great  numbers  in  a  succession  of  monu- 
ments which  are  scattered  over  a  tract  extending  eastward 
IVom  the  neighbourhood  of  Cabul,  through  the  whole  basin 


474  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  of  the  Cabul  river,  and  across  the  northern  part  of  the 
Panjab.  These  huge  structures  are  the  sort  of  solid  cupola 
so  common  among  the  votaries  of  Budha ;  and,  like  the  rest, 
contain  each  a  relic  of  some  holy  person.  No  Greek  coins 
are  ever  found  in  them,  except  those  of  Hermoeus ;  but 
there  are  other  coins,  a  few  from  remote  countries,  and 
the  earliest  yet  discovered  is  one  belonging  to  the  second 
triumvirate.  This  coin  must  have  been  struck  as  late  as 
the  forty-third  year  before  Christ ;  but  might  easily  have 
found  its  v^ay  to  the  frontiers  of  India  before  the  first  over- 
throw of  the  Greek  kingdom,  which  all  agree  to  have  taken 
place  about  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  sera. 

These  facts  corroborate  the  conjectures  of  De  Guignes, 
drawn  from  Chinese  annals,  that  the  Greeks  were  driven 
out  of  Bactria,  by  the  Tartar  tribe  of  Su  from  the  north 
of  Transoxiana,  126  years  before  Christ;  and  that  their 
Indian  kingdom  was  subverted  about  twenty-six  years  be- 
fore Christ  by  the  Yue-chi,  who  came  from  Persia,  and 
spread  themselves  along  a  large  portion  of  the  course  of 
the  Indus.* 

The  Su  have  left  no  coins ;  but  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
that  the  Yue-chi,  who  came  from  Persia,  would  follow  the 
example  set  by  the  Parthians,  and  would  imitate  the 
coinage  of  their  Greek  predecessors.  This  practice  of  the 
Indo- Scythians  (whoever  they  were)  was  taken  up  by  some 
dynasty  of  the  Hindus ;  for  coins  of  the  latter  nation  have 
been  found,  bearing  nearly  the  same  relation  to  those  of 
the  Indo-Scythians  that  theirs  did  to  the  coins  of  the 
Greeks. 

*  De  Guignes's  account  of  the  first  conquest  is,  that  the  Su 
came  from  Ferghana,  on  the  Jaxartes,  and  conquered  a  civilised 
nation,  whose  coin  bore  a  man  on  one  side,  and  horsemen  on  the 
other.  The  coins  of  the  Eucratidje  have  the  king's  head  on  one 
side,  and  Castor  and  Pollux,  mounted,  on  the  other. 


GREEK    KINGDOM    Oh'    13ACTRIA.  475 

We  must  not  suppose  that  the  Bactrian  kingdom  was  append. 
composed  of  a  great  body  of  Greek  colonists,  such  as  ex-  ^^' 
isted  in  the  west  of  Asia  or  in  the  south  of  Italy.  A  very 
large  proportion  of  Alexander's  army  latterly  was  com- 
posed of  barbarians,  disciplined  and  undisciplined.  These 
would  not  be  anxious  to  accompany  him  on  his  retreat; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  he  was  constrained 
to  retrace  his  steps  by  the  impatience  of  the  Greeks  and 
Macedonians  to  return  to  their  own  country. 

From  tliis  we  may  conclude  that  a  small  part  of  those 
left  behind  were  of  the  latter  nations ;  and,  as  Alexander 
encouraged  his  soldiers  to  take  Persian  wives,  (a  course  in 
itself  indispensable  to  the  settlers,  from  the  absence  of 
Greek  women,)  it  is  evident  that  the  second  generation  of 
Bactrians  must  have  been  much  more  Persian  than  Greek. 
Fresh  importations  of  Greek  adventurers  would  take  place 
during  the  ascendancy  of  the  Seleucidae;  but,  after  the 
establishment  of  the  Parthian  power,  all  communication 
must  necessarily  have  been  cut  off;  Avhich  explains  the 
total  silence  of  Greek  authors  regarding  the  later  days  of 
the  Bactrian  kingdom  :  the  degeneracy  of  the  latter  coinage 
is  consistent  with  these  facts,  which  also  remove  the  diffi- 
culty of  accounting  for  the  disappearance  of  the  Greeks 
after  the  overthrow  of  their  southern  kinmlom. 


476  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


APPENDIX  V. 

NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM. 

APPEND.  (•^)  Traces  of  the  lord  of  a  thousand  inllages  are  fouiul 
^-  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  where  particular  families 

retain  the  name  and  part  of  the  emoluments  of  their 
stations,  but  seldom  or  never  exercise  any  of  the  powers.* 

The  next  division  is  still  universally  recognised  through- 
out India  under  the  name  of  pcrganneh^  although  in  many 
places  the  officers  employed  in  it  are  only  known  by  their 
enjoyment  of  hereditary  lands  or  fees;  or,  at  most,  by 
their  being  the  depositaries  of  all  registers  and  records  con- 
nected with  land.  These  districts  are  no  longer  uniformly 
composed  of  one  hundred  villages,  if  they  ever  were  so  in 
practice ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  are  rather  under  that 
number,  although  in  rare  cases  they  depart  from  it  very 
widely  both  in  deficiency  and  excess. 

The  duties  of  a  chief  of  a  perganneh,  even  in  pure 
Hindu  times,  were  probably  confined  to  the  management 
of  the  police  and  revenue.  He  had  under  him  an  accountant 
or  registrar,  whose  office,  as  well  as  his  own,  was  hereditar}', 
and  who  has  retained  his  functions  more  extensively  than 
his  principal,  f 

*  These  are  called  sirdesmuks  in  the  Deckan,  in  which  and 
other  southern  parts  of  India  the  territorial  division  of  Menu 
is  most  entire.  Their  districts  are  called  sircars  or  prants,  and 
these  are  constantly  recognised,  even  when  the  office  is  quite 
extinct.  Their  hereditary  registrar,  also,  is  still  to  be  found 
under  the  name  of  sir  despilndi. 

f  The  head  perganneh  officer  was  called  dcsmuk  or  desai 
in  the  Deckan,  and  the  registrar,  despandi.  In  the  north  of 
India  they  are  called  choudri  and  ciinongo. 


NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM.  477 

Next  below  the  perganneli  is  a  division  now  only  sub-    append. 
sisting  in  name,  and  corresponding  to  Menu's  lordship  of 
ten  or  twenty  towns*;   and  the  chain  ends  in  individual 
villages,  f 

(B)  Called  patel  in  the  Deckan  and  in  the  west  and 
centre  of  Hindostan  ;  mandel  in  Bengal ;  and  mokaddani 
in  many  other  places,  especially  where  there  are  or  have 
lately  been  hereditary  village  landholders. 

(C)  Patwuri  in  Hindostan  ;  culcarni  and  carnani  in  the 
Deckan  and  south  of  India;   tallati  in  Guzerat. 

(D)  Pasban,  gorayct,  peik,  douriiha,  8cc.  in  Hindostan  ; 
mliiir  in  the  Deckan  ;  tillari  in  the  south  of  India  ;  paggi  in 
Guzerat. 

(E)  Village  landholders  are  distinctly  recognised  tlnough- 
out  tiie  whole  of  the  Bengal  presidency,  except  in  Bengal 
proper,  and  perhaps  Rohilcand.:]:  They  appear  to  subsist 
in  part  of  Rajputtina ;  and  perhaps  did  so,  at  no  remote 
period,  over  the  whole  of  it.§  They  are  very  numerous  in 
Guzerat,  include  more  than  half  the  cultivators  of  the 
Maratta  country,  and  a  very  large  portion  of  those  of  the 
Tamil  country.  There  is  good  reason  to  think  they  were 
once  general  in  those  countries  where  they  are  now  only 
partially  in  existence,  and  perhaps  in  others  wlure  they 
are  not  now  to  be  found.      They  are  almost  extinct  in  the 

*   Called  niiikwari,  tarrcf,  S:c.  6:c. 

■f  For  the  accounts  of  these  divisions  and  officers,  see  Mal- 
colm's Malwa  (vol.  ii.  p.  4.);  Stirling's  Orissa  {Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  XV.  p.  226.)  ;  Report  from  the  Commissioner  in  the  Deckan 
and  its  inclosures  (^Selections,  vol.  iv.  p.  161.). 

:j:   Sir  E.  Colebrooke's  Minute  {Selections,  vol.  iii.  p.  IG.l). 
§  Colonel  Tod,  vol.  i.  p.  495.,  and  vol.  ii.  p.  510. 


478  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  country  south  of  the  Nerbadda,  except  in  the  parts  just 
inentioned.  In  all  the  Madras  presidency  north  of  Madras 
itself;  in  the  Nizam's  country,  and  most  of  that  of  Nagpur; 
in  great  part  of  Candesh  and  the  east  of  the  Maratta 
country,  there  is  no  class  resembling  them.  This  tract 
comprehends  the  greater  part  of  the  old  divisions  of 
Telingana,  Orissa,  and  Canara;  but  does  not  so  closely 
coincide  with  their  boundaries,  as  to  give  much  reason  for 
ascribing  the  absence  of  village  landholders  to  any  pecu- 
liarity in  the  ancient  system  of  those  countries.  In  Malwa, 
though  so  close  to  countries  where  the  village  landholders 
are  common,  they  do  not  seem  now  to  be  known.  They 
are  not  mentioned  in  Sir  John  Malcolm's  "Central  India." 

(F)  In  Hindostan  they  are  most  commonly  called  vil- 
lage zemindars  or  biswadars;  in  Behar,  maliks;  in  Guzerat, 
patels;  and  in  the  Deckan  and  south  of  India,  mirassis  or 
mirasdars. 

"  The  right  of  property  in  the  land  is  unequivocally 
recognised  in  the  present  agricultural  inhabitants  by  de- 
scent, purchase,  or  gift."* 

The  right  of  the  village  landholders,  to  the  extent  stated 
in  the  text,  is  repeatedly  alluded  to  in  the  published  re- 
cords of  the  Bengal  government  relating  to  the  western 
provinces.  Sir  C,  Metcalfe,  though  he  contests  the  opin- 
ion that  the  right  of  property  is  full  and  absolute  as  in 
England,  has  no  doubt  about  the  persons  in  whom  that 
right  is  vested.  "  The  only  proprietors,  generally  speaking, 
are  the  village  zemindars  or  biswahdars.  The  pretensions 
of  all  others  are  prima  facie  doubtful. "f  For  portions  of  the 
territory  under  the  Madras  presidency  see  the  Proceedings 

*  Fortescue,  Selections,  vol.  viii.  p,  403. 
f  Minute  of  Sir  C.  Metcalfe,  in  the  Report  of  the  Select 
Committee  of  August,  1832,  vol.  iii.  p.  335. 


NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM.  479 

of  the  Board  of  Revenue*,  and  Mr.  Ellis.f  Sir  T.  Munro:}:,  append. 
though  he  considers  the  advantages  of  mirasdars  to  have  been  ^  • 
greatly  exaggerated  and  their  land  to  be  of  little  value,  ad- 
mits it  to  be  saleable.  §  For  the  Maratta  country  see  Mr. 
Chaplin  and  the  Reports  of  the  Collectors.  ||  Captain  Ro- 
bertson, one  of  the  collector^,  among  other  deeds  of  sale,  gives 
one  from  some  private  villagers  transferring  their  miriissi 
rights  to  the  Peshwa  himself  He  also  gives  a  grant  from  a 
village  community  conferring  the  lands  of  an  extinct  family 
on  the  same  prince  for  a  sum  of  money,  and  guaranteeing 
him  against  the  claims  of  the  former  proprietors.  A  very 
complete  account  of  all  the  different  tenures  in  the  Maratta 
countr}',  as  well  as  of  the  district  and  village  officers,  with 
illustrations  from  personal  inquiries,  is  given  by  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Sykes  in  the  "  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  So- 
ciety." f 

Care  must  be  taken  to  distinguish  miras  in  the  sense 
now  adverted  to  from  lands  held  on  other  tenures;  for  the 
word  means  hereditary  property,  and  is,  therefore,  applied 
to  rights  of  all  descriptions  which  come  under  that  de- 
nomination. 

(G)  Mr.  Fortescue  {Selections,  vol.  iii.  pp.  403.  405. 
408.)  ;  Captain  Robertson  (Ibid.  vol.  iv.  p.  15o.)  ; 
Madras  Board  of  Revenue  {Report  of  Select  Committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  1832,  vol.  iii.  p.  393.) ;  Governor 
of  Bombay's  Minute  (Ibid.  vol.  iii.  p.  637.). 

(H)  The  following  are  the  rights  possessed  in  the  in- 
termediate stages  between  a  fixed  rent  and  an  honorary 

*  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, 1832,  vol.  iii.  p.  392. 

f  Ibid.  p.  382.  X  Minute  of  Dec.  31.  1821-. 

^  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
1832,  p.  157. 

II    Selections,  vol.  iv.  p.  171. 

^  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  \).  20.5.,  and  vol.  iii.  }).  [')')(). 


480  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  acknowledgment.  The  landholders  are  entitled  to  a  de- 
duction from  the  gross  produce  of  the  fields  before  dividing 
it  with  the  government,  and  to  fees  on  all  the  produce 
raised  by  persons  not  of  their  own  class.  This  is  called 
tunduwarum  or  swamibhogam  (owner's  share)  in  the 
Tamil  country ;  and  malii^ana  or  zemindari  rasum  in 
Hindostan.  In  the  latter  country  it  usually  forms  part  of 
a  consolidated  payment  of  10  per  cent,  to  the  zemindars, 
which  seems  intended  as  a  compensation  for  all  general 
demands ;  but  not  interfering  with  the  rent  of  a  land- 
holder's lands  where  any  such  could  be  obtained.  In  some 
places*  they  have  also  fees  from  the  non-agricultural  in- 
habitants ;  and,  as  they  are  every  where  proprietors  of  the 
site  of  the  village,  they  can  levy  rent  in  money  or  service 
from  any  person  who  lives  within  their  bounds. 

Where  they  have  lost  some  of  these  rights  by  the  en- 
croachments of  the  government,  they  frequently  have  some 
consideration  shown  them  in  assessing  their  payment  to 
the  state,  so  as  in  some  cases  to  admit  of  their  getting  rent 
for  their  land.  In  some  places  they  are  left  their  feesf; 
and,  where  they  are  at  the  lowest,  they  have  an  exemption 
from  certain  taxes  which  are  paid  by  all  the  rest  of  the 
inhabitants.  The  rights  and  immunities  of  the  viliaffe 
landholders,  as  such,  must  not  be  confounded  with  those 
allowed  to  mokaddams  and  other  officers  for  the  perform- 
ance of  certain  duties.  Though  the  same  persons  may 
hold  both,  they  are  in  their  nature  quite  distinct ;  one 
being  a  proprietary  right  arising  from  an  interest  in  the 

*  In  Guzerat  and  in  Hindostan.  Also,  see  an  account  of  the 
village  of  Burleh,  by  Mr.  Cavendish  (^Report  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons.,  1832,  vol.  iii.  p.  24-6.). 

-|-  In  part  of  Tamil,  and  in  Hindostan,  when  not  superseded 
by  the  allowance  of  10  per  cent.  (See  Report  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons,  1832,  vol.  iii,  p.  247.). 


NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM.  481 

soil,  and  the  other  a  mere  remuneration  for  service,  trans-    append. 
ferable  along  with  the  service  from  one  person  to  another,  ' 

at  the  pleasure  of  the  employer. 

In  some  villages  the  rights  of  the  landholders  are  held 
in  common,  the  whole  working  for  the  community,  and 
sharing  the  net  produce,  after  satisfying  the  claims  of  the 
government.  In  some  they  divide  the  cultivated  lands, 
but  still  with  mutual  responsibility  for  the  dues  of  govern- 
ment, and  sometimes  with  periodical  interchanges  of  their 
portions ;  and  in  others  they  make  the  separation  between 
the  portions  of  cultivated  land  complete,  retaining  only  the 
waste  land  and  some  other  rights  in  common  ;  but,  at 
times,  they  divide  the  waste  land  also.  In  dividing  their 
lands  they  do  not  in  general  give  one  compact  portion  to 
each  landholder,  but  assign  to  him  a  share  of  every  de- 
scription of  soil ;  so  that  he  has  a  patch  of  fertile  land  in 
one  place,  one  of  sterile  in  another,  one  of  grazing  ground 
in  a  third,  and  so  on,  according  to  the  variety  of  qualities 
to  be  found  within  the  village. 

In  making  a  partition  of  the  land  the  landholders  are 
taken  by  families,  as  has  been  explained  of  the  village  go- 
vernment; but  in  the  case  of  land  the  principal  family  di- 
visions are  subdivided,  and  the  subdivisions  divided  again, 
until  they  are  brought  to  such  a  number  of  individuals  as  is 
thought  most  convenient  for  manao;emcnt.*     The  lands  of 

*  "  To  explain  the  divisions  of  a  village  and  inheritable  shares 
of  it,  suppose  the  ancient  first  proprietor  or  incumbent  to  have 
left,  on  liis  death,  four  sons;  each  would  inherit  equally,  and 
four  panes  would  thus  be  erected ;  on  the  demise  of  each  of 
those  persons  with  four  sons  also,  each  would  be  entitled  to  a 
(juartcr  of  his  fatlier's  pane,  which  would  give  rise  to  four 
thohis  in  each  pane,  and  so  on."  (Mr.  Fortescue,  Selections, 
vol.  iii.  p.  405.)  About  Delhi,  the  great  division  seems  to  be 
called  pane,  as  above;  but  the  commonest  name  in  Ilindostan 
is  patti,  subdivided  into  thocks,  and  they  again  into  bheris. 
VOL.  I.  II 


482  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  the  village  and  other  profits  of  the  community  are  likewise 
'  formed  into  shares,  sometimes  corresponding  exactly  to 
the  divisions,  subdivisions,  &c.  of  the  families  ;  but  more 
frequently  reduced  to  small  fractions,  a  proportionate 
number  of  which  is  assigned  to  each  division,  &c.,  so  as 
ultimately  to  be  distributed  in  due  proportion  to  each  in- 
dividual.* 

The  public  burdens  are  partitioned  exactly  in  the  same 
manner,  so  that  each  division,  subdivision,  and  individual 
knows  its  quota;  each,  therefore,  might  manage  its  own 
agricultural  and  pecuniary  affairs  independently  of  the 
rest,  and  such  is  not  unfrequently  the  case.f 

(I)  The  Arabic  word  ryot  (pronounced  reiat)  means  a 
subject,  and  is  so  employed  in  all  Mahometan  countries ; 
but  in  some  of  them  it  is  also  used  in  a  more  restricted 
sense.  In  India  its  secondary  senses  are, —  1.  A  person 
paying  revenue.  2.  A  cultivator  in  general.  3.  A  tenant 
as  explained  in  the  text.  In  reference  to  the  person  of 
whom  they  hold  their  lands,  ryots  are  called  his  assamis. 


There  are  many  other  names,  and  even  these  vary  in  the  appli- 
cation ;  a  great  division  being  in  some  places  called  a  thock, 
and  a  subdivision  a  patti.  In  Guzerat  the  great  divisions  are 
called  bagh,  and  the  subdivisions  patti  :  another,  and  the  com- 
monest subdivision  there,  is  into  annas,  again  subdivided  into 
chawils.  In  the  Deckan  the  great  divisions  are  called  jattas, 
and  there  are  no  subdivisions. 

*  See  Table  by  Sir  Edward  Colebrooke,  Selections,  vol.  iii. 
p.  166. 

f  In  the  Maratta  country,  for  instance,  although  there  are 
divisions  with  a  joint  responsibility  among  the  members,  yet 
they  have  no  longer  heads  ;  each  individual  manages  his  own 
concerns,  and  the  headman  of  the  village  does  all  the  rest.  I 
do  not  advert  to  changes  made  in  other  parts  of  India  which  are 
departures  from  the  Hindu  practice. 


NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM.  483 

(K)  This  class  is  called  in  the  territory  under  Bengal  append. 
khudkasht  ryots,  which  name  (as  "khud"  means  "  own,"  ^• 
and  "kashtan"  to  "cultivate")  has  been  considered  a 
proof  that  they  are  proprietors  of  the  land.  Ram  Mohan 
Rai,  however,  (an  unexceptionable  authority,)  explains  it 
to  mean  "cultivators  of  the  lands  of  their  oion  village*" 
which  seems  the  correct  interpretation,  as  the  term  is 
always  used  in  contradistinction  to  paikasht,  or  cultivators 
of  another  village. 

(L)  It  is  in  the  Tamil  country  and  in  Guzerat  that 
their  rights  seem  best  established. 

In  the  Tamil  country  they  have  a  hereditaiy  right  of 
occupancy,  subject  to  the  payment  of  the  demand  of  go- 
vernment and  of  the  usual  fees  to  the  village  landholder, 
which  are  fixed,  and  sometimes  at  no  more  than  a  pepper- 
corn ;  but  the  tenant  cannot  sell,  give  away,  or  mortgage 
his  I'ights,  although  in  the  circumstances  described  they 
must  be  nearly  as  valuable  as  those  of  the  landholder  him- 
selff  In  Guzerat  their  tenure  is  nearly  similar,  except 
that  it  is  clearly  understood  that  their  rent  is  to  be  raised 
in  proportion  to  any  increase  to  the  government  demand 
on  the  village  landholder.:!:  In  Hindostan  there  appears 
to  be  a  feeling  that  they  are  entitled  to  hereditary  occu- 
])ancy,  and  that  their  rents  ought  not  to  be  raised  above 
those  usual  in  the  neighbourhood :  but  the  following  sum- 
mary will  show  how  imperfect  this  right  is  thought  to  be. 

In  1818,  a  call  was  made  by  the  Bengal   government 

*  Report  of  tlie  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
October  11.  1831,  p.  716. 

f  Mr.  Ellis,  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commo7is,  August  10.  1832,  vol.  iii.  p.  377. ;  Board  of  Ilevenue 
Minute  of  January  5.  1818,   p.  421. 

X  It  is  probable  that  this  understanding  prevails  in  llie  Tamil 
country  also,  though  not  mentioned  in  the  printed  rejwrts. 

I  1   'Z 


484  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  on  the  collectors  of  all  its  provinces  not  under  the  per- 
^"  manent  settlement,  for  information  respecting  the  rights 
of  the  permanent  ryots.  Of  fourteen  collectors,  eleven 
considered  the  landholder  to  be  entitled  to  raise  his  rent 
at  pleasure,  and  to  oust  his  tenant  whenever  he  could  get 
better  terms  elsewhere ;  two  collectors  (those  of  Etawa 
and  Seharunpur)  seem  to  have  thought  that  the  landlord's 
rent  should  not  be  raised  unless  there  was  an  increase  in 
the  demand  of  government :  the  collector  of  Bundelcund 
alone  declared  the  khudkasht  ryot's  right  to  be  as  good  as 
his  of  whom  he  holds.  The  members  of  the  Revenue 
Commission,  in  forwarding  these  reports,  gave  their  opinion 
that  landholders  conceive  themselves  to  possess  the  power 
of  ousting  their  tenants,  although  from  the  demand  for 
ryots  it  is  not  frequently  exercised. 

The  government  at  that  time  doubted  the  correctness 
of  these  opinions,  and  called  for  further  information;  which, 
although  it  threw  much  light  on  the  question,  did  not  ma- 
terially alter  the  above  conclusion. 

Mr.  Fortescue,  reporting  on  Delhi,  (where  the  rights  of 
the  permanent  tenant  seem  better  preserved  than  in  any 
place  under  Bengal  except  Bundelcand,)  says,  that  the 
ancient  and  hereditary  occupants  cannot  be  dispossessed 
"as  long  as  they  discharge  their  portion  of  the  public 
assessment." 

The  minute  reports  on  various  villages  in  different  col- 
lectorships,  abstracted  by  Mr.  Holt  Mackenzie  *,  do  not  lead 
to  a  belief  that  the  rents  cannot  be  raised.  Mr.  Colebrooke 
states  in  a  minute,  which  seems  to  have  been  written  in 
1812  f,  "that  no  rule  of  adjustment  could  be  described 
(query,  discovered  ?)  after  the  most  patient  inquiry  by  a 

*  Report  of  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
1832,  vol.iii.  p.  24-3. 
f   See  vol.  i.  p.  262, 


NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM.  485 

very  intelligent  public  officer ;  and  that  the  proceedings  of   append. 
the  courts  of  justice  in  numerous  other  cases  led  to  the 
same  conclusion  respecting  the  relative  situation  of  ryots 
and  zemindars." 

Mr.  Ross,  a  judge  of  the  Chief  Court,  likewise,  in  a  very 
judicious  minute  of  22d  March,  1827  *,  states  that  a  fixed 
rate  never  was  claimed  by  mere  ryots,  whether  resident  or 
non-resident,  in  the  upper  provinces ;  inquires  when  such 
a  fixed  rent  was  in  force  ?  and  whether  it  was  intended  to 
remain  fixed,  however  the  value  of  the  land  might  alter  ? 
and  concludes  as  follows  :  —  "As  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  it  has  always  been  opposed  to  such  a  privilege,  it 
being  notorious  that  the  zemindars  and  other  superior 
landholders  have  at  all  times  been  in  the  practice  of  ex- 
torting from  their  ryots  as  much  as  the  latter  can  afford  to 
pay." 

(M)  Called  in  Hindostan  paikasht;  in  Guzerat,  gan- 
watti  (leaseholder)  ;  in  the  Maratta  country,  upri ;  and 
under  Madras,  paikari  and  paracudi. 

(N)  They  are  called  ashraf  (well-born)  in  Hindostan, 
and  pander  pesha  in  some  parts  of  the  Deckan. 

(O)  There  is  an  acknowledged  restriction  on  all  per- 
manent tenants,  which  prevents  their  cultivating  any  land 
within  the  village  that  docs  not  belong  to  the  landlord  of 
whom  they  rent  their  fixed  portion  and  their  house  ;  but 
not  only  permanent  tenants,  but  village  landholders  them- 
selves, occasionally  hold  land  as  temporary  tenants  in  other 
villages.  In  some  parts  of  India  the  govcrnnient  levies  a 
tax  on  the  perniancnt  tenants  of  land  paying  revenue  who 
farm  other  lands  from  persons  exempt  from  payment ;  and 

*  Appendix  to  Report  of  1832,  p.  125. 
1  I    3 


486  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND,  in  some,  the  government  officer  endeavours  to  prevent 
tlieir  withdrawing  from  their  assessed  lands  in  any  circum- 
stances. This  last,  however,  is  reckoned  mere  violence 
and  oppression. 

(P)  This  system  may  be  illustrated  by  the  example  of 
the  petty  state  of  Cach,  which  being  of  recent  formation 
retains  its  original  form  unimpaired.  "  The  whole  revenue 
of  this  territory  is  under  fifty  lacs  of  cories  (about  sixteen 
lacs  of  rupees),  and  of  this  less  than  thirty  lacs  of  cories 
belongs  to  the  Rao ;  the  country  which  yields  the  re- 
maining twenty  lacs  being  assigned  to  the  collateral 
branches  of  his  highness's  family,  each  of  whom  received 
a  certain  appanage  on  the  death  of  the  Rao  from  whom 
it  is  immediately  descended. 

"  The  family  of  these  chiefs  is  derived  at  a  recent  period 
from  Tatta  in  Sind,  and  they  are  all  sprung  from  a  com- 
mon ancestor,  Humeerjee,  whose  son,  Rao  Khengar,  ac- 
quired the  sovereignty  of  Cutch  before  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  of  our  aera. 

"  The  number  of  these  chiefs  is  at  present  about  *200, 
and  the  whole  number  of  their  tribe  in  Cutch  is  guessed 
at  10,000  or  12,000  persons.  This  tribe  is  called  Jhareja. 
It  is  a  branch  of  the  Rajputs.  The  Rao's  ordinary 
jurisdiction  is  confined  to  his  own  demesne,  each  Jhai'eja 
chief  exercising  unlimited  authority  within  his  lands.  The 
Rao  can  call  on  the  Jharejas  to  serve  him  in  war;  but 
must  furnish  them  with  pay  at  a  fixed  rate  while  they  are 
with  his  army.  He  is  the  guardian  of  the  public  peace, 
and  as  such  chastises  all  robbers  and  other  general  enemies. 
It  would  seem  that  he  ought  likewise  to  repress  private 
war,  and  to  decide  all  disputes  between  chiefs ;  but  this 
prerogative,  though  constantly  exerted,  is  not  admitted 
without  dispute.     Each  chief  has  a  similar  body  of  kins- 


NOTES    ON    THE    REVENUE    SYSTEM.  487 

men,  who  possess  shares  of  the  original  appanage  of  the    append. 
family,  and  stand  in  the  same  relation  of  nominal  depend-  ' 

ence  to  him  that  he  bears  to  the  Rao.  These  kinsmen 
form  what  is  called  the  bhyaud  or  brotherhood  of  the 
chiefs,  and  the  chiefs  themselves  compose  the  bhyaud  of 
the  Rao."  ■ 

The  same  practice,  with  some  modifications,  prevails 
through  the  whole  of  the  Rajput  country. 

The  territories  allotted  to  feudatories  in  Mewar  (the 
first  in  rank  of  these  states)  was  at  one  time  more  than 
three  fourths  of  the  whole f,  and  was  increased  by  the  im- 
providence of  a  more  recent  prince. 

(Q)  It  must  have  been  some  check  on  this  spirit  of 
independence,  that  until  within  less  than  two  centuries  of 
the  present  time  it  was  usual  for  all  the  chiefs,  in  Mewar 
at  least,  periodically  to  interchange  their  lands  ;  a  practice 
which  must  have  tended  to  prevent  their  strengthening 
themselves  in  their  possessions,  either  by  forming  con- 
nections or  erecting  fortifications.:!: 

The  rapid  increase  of  these  appanages  appears  to  have 
suggested  to  the  governments  the  necessity  of  putting  a 
limit  to  their  encroachments  on  the  remaining  demesne. 
In  Miirwiir,  a  few  generations  after  the  conquest,  so  little 
land  was  left  for  partition  that  some  of  the  raja's  sons 
were  obliged  to  look  to  foreign  conquest  for  an  establish- 
ment§;  and  in  Mewar,  one  set  of  descendants  of  early 
n'mas  seem  to  have  been  superseded,  and  probably  in 
part  dispossessed,  by  a  more  recent  progeny.  || 

*  Minute  on  Cach,  by  the  Governor  of  Bombay,  dated 
January  26th,  1821. 

f   Colonel  Tod's  Ilajasthan,  vol.  i.  p.  HI. 

X   Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  UJt.,  and  note  on  165. 

§  Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  20.  i|   Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  168. 

I  I   4 


488  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

APPEND.  (R)  The  following  remarks  apply  to  both  descriptions 
"  of  military  jagirs. 

Lands  held  for  military  service  are  subject  to  reliefs  in 
the  event  of  hereditary  succession,  and  to  still  heavier  fines 
when  the  heir  is  adoptive.  They  are  subject  to  occasional 
contributions  in  cases  of  emergency.  They  cannot  be  sold 
or  mortgaged  for  a  longer  period  than  that  for  which  the 
assignment  is  made.  Sub-infeudations  are  uncommon  ex- 
cept among  the  Rajputs,  where  they  are  universal. 

There  was  no  limitation  of  service,  and  no  extra  pay- 
ments for  service,  in  the  original  scheme  of  these  grants. 

Pecuniary  payments  at  fixed  rates  in  lieu  of  service,  or 
rather  on  failure  of  service  when  called  on,  were  common 
among  the  Marattas ;  and  arbitrary  fines  were  levied  on 
similar  occasions  by  the  Rajputs. 


489 


MAHOMETANS. 


BOOK  V. 

FROM  THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  ARAB  CON- 
QUESTS TO  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A  MAHO- 
METAN   GOVERNMENT    IN    INDIA. 


CHAP.  I. 

ARAB    CONQUESTS. 


gioii. 


The  attacks  either  of  Greeks  or  Barbarians  had     chap. 

I. 
hitherto  made  no  impression  beyond  the  frontiers  _^ 

of  India,  and  the  Hindus  might  have  long  remained  ^i^^^^^l^^^ 

undisturbed  by  foreign  intrusion,  if  a  new  spirit  had  *^"  '^'^^^- 

not  been  kindled  in  a  nation  till  now  as  sequestered 

as  their  own. 

The  Arabs  had  been  protected  from  invasion  by 
their  poverty,  and  prevented,  by  the  same  cause, 
from  any  such  united  exertion  as  might  have  en- 
abled them  to  carry  their  arms  abroad. 

Their  country  was  composed  of  some  mountain 
tracts  and  rich  oases,  separated  or  surrounded  by  a 
sandy  desert,  like  the  coasts  and  islands  of  a  sea. 

The  desert  was  scattered  with  small  camps  of 
predatory  herdsmen,  who  pitched  their  tents  where 
they  could  quench  their  tliirst  at  a  well  of  brackish 
water,  and  drove  their  camels  over  extensive  tracts 


490 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     where  no  otlier  animal  could  have  found  a  subsist- 

V. 

ence. 


The  settled  inhabitants,  though  more  civilised, 
were  scarcely  less  simple  in  their  habits,  and  were 
formed  into  independent  tribes,  between  whom 
there  could  be  little  communication  except  by 
rapid  journeys  on  horseback,  or  tedious  marches 
under  the  protection  of  caravans. 

The  representative  of  the  common  ancestor  of 
each  tribe  possessed  a  natural  authority  over  it ; 
but,  having  no  support  from  any  external  power, 
he  could  only  carry  his  measures  by  means  of  the 
heads  of  subordinate  divisions,  who  depended,  in 
their  turn,  on  their  influence  with  the  members 
of  the  family  of  which  they  represented  the  pro- 
genitor. 

The  whole  government  was  therefore  conducted 
by  persuasion ;  and  there  was  no  interference  with 
personal  independence,  unless  it  directly  affected 
the  general  interest. 

Such  a  country  must  have  trained  its  inhabitants 
to  the  extremes  of  fatigue  and  privation ;  the  feuds 
of  so  many  independent  tribes  and  separate  famihes 
must  have  made  them  familiar  with  dano^er  in  its 
most  trying  forms ;  and  the  violent  passions  and 
fervid  imagination  which  they  had  from  nature 
served  to  call  forth  the  full  exertion  of  any  qualities 
they  possessed. 

Their  laborious  and  abstemious  lives  appear  in 
their  compact  form  and  their  hard  and  flesliless 
muscles ;  while  the  keenness  of  their  eye,  their  de- 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  491 

termined  countenance,  and  their  grave  demeanour,     chap. 
disclose   the    mental    energy   which    distinguishes  ' 

them  among  all  other  Asiatics. 

Such  was  the  nation  that  gave  birth  to  the  false 
prophet,  whose  doctrines  have  so  long  and  so  power- 
fully influenced  a  vast  portion  of  the  human  race. 

Mahomet,  though  born  of  the  head  family  of 
one  of  the  branches  of  the  tribe  of  Koresh,  appears 
to  have  been  poor  in  his  youth,  and  is  said  to  have 
accompanied  his  uncle's  camels  in  some  of  those 
long  trading  journeys  which  the  simplicity  and 
equality  of  Arab  manners  made  laborious  even  to 
the  wealthy. 

A  rich  marriage  early  raised  him  to  inde- 
pendence, and  left  him  to  pursue  those  occupations 
which  were  most  congenial  to  his  mind. 

At  this  time  the  bulk  of  the  Arab  nation  was 
sunk  in  idolatry  or  in  worship  of  the  stars,  and 
their  morals  were  under  as  little  check  of  law  as  of 
religion. 

-  The  immigration  of  some  Jewish  and  Christian 
tribes  had,  indeed,  introduced  higher  notions  both 
of  faith  and  practice,  and  even  the  idolaters  are 
said  to  have  acknowledged  a  Supreme  Being,  to 
whom  the  other  gods  were  subordinate  ;  but  the 
influence  of  these  opinions  was  limited,  and  the 
slowness  of  Mahomet's  progress  is  a  sufficient  proof 
that  his  doctrines  were  beyond  his  age. 

The  dreary  aspect  of  external  nature  naturally 
drives  an  Arab  to  seek  for  excitement  in  contem- 
plation, and  in  ideas  derived  from  within  ;  and  Ma- 


492  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     hornet  had  particular  opportunities  of  indulging  in 
"  such  reveries  during  periods  of  solitude,  to  which 

he  habitually  retired. 

His  attention  may  have  been  drawn  to  the  unity 
of  God  by  his  intercourse  with  a  cousin  of  his 
wife's,  who  was  skilled  in  Jewish  learning,  and  wlio 
is  said  to  have  translated  the  Scriptures  from  He- 
brew into  Arabic*;  but,  however  they  were  in- 
spired, his  meditations  were  so  intense  that  they 
had  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  insanity,  before  he 
gave  way  to  the  impulse  which  he  felt  within  him, 
and  revealed  to  his  wife,  and  afterwards  to  a  few  of 
his  family,  that  he  was  commissioned  by  the  only 
God  to  restore  his  pure  belief  and  worship,  t  Ma- 
homet was  at  this  time  forty  years  of  age,  and 
three  or  four  more  years  elapsed  before  he  publicly 
announced  his  mission.  During  the  next  ten  years 
he  endured  every  species  of  insult  and  perse- 
cution 1:;  and  he   might  have  expired  an  obscure 

*  His  name  was  Warka  ben  Naufel.  See  the  "  Tarlkhi  Ta- 
bari,"  quoted  by  Colonel  Kennedy  in  the  Bombay  Literary 
Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  423. ;  Preliminary  Discourse  to  Sale's 
"  Koran,"  p.  43.  of  the  first  quarto ;  and  Baron  Hammer  von 
Purgstall,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  No.  VH.  p.  172. 

-f-  See  Colonel  Kennedy,  just  quoted.  The  "  Tarikhi  Ta- 
bari "  was  written  in  the  third  century  of  the  Hijra  (from  800 
to  900,  A.D.),  and  is  the  earliest  account  accessible  to  European 
readers  of  the  rise  of  the  Mahometan  religion.  Its  description 
of  the  mental  agitation  of  Mahomet,  his  fancied  visions,  and  his 
alarm  at  the  alienation  of  his  own  reason,  bear  the  liveliest 
marks  of  truth  and  nature. 

X  "  He  allowed  himself  to  be  abused,  to  be  spit  upon,  to  have 
dust  thrown  upon  him,  and  to  be  dragged  out  of  the  temple  by 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  493 

enthusiast,  if  the  gradual  progress  of  his  rehgion,  chap. 
and  the  death  of  his  uncle  and  protector,  Ahu  ' 
Taleb,  had  not  induced  the  rulers  of  Mecca  to  de- 
termine on  his  death.  In  this  extremity,  he  fled 
to  Medina,  resolved  to  repel  force  by  force ;  and, 
throwing  off  all  the  mildness  which  had  hitherto 
characterised  his  preaching,  he  developed  the  full 
vigour  of  his  character,  and  became  more  eminent 
for  his  sagacity  and  boldness  as  a  leader  than 
lie  had  been  for  his  zeal  and  endurance  as  a 
missionary. 

At  the  commencement  of  Mahomet's  preaching, 
he  seems  to  have  been  perfectly  sincere  ;  and, 
although  he  was  provoked  by  opposition  to  support 
his  pretensions  by  fraud,  and  in  time  became  ha- 
bituated to  hypocrisy  and  imposture,  yet  it  is  pro- 
bable that,  to  the  last,  his  original  fanaticism  con- 
tinued, in  part  at  least,  to  influence  his  actions. 

But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  reality  of  his 
zeal,  and  even  the  merit  of  his  doctrine,  the  spirit 
of  intolerance  in  which  it  was  preached,  and  the 
bigotry  and  bloodshed  which  it  engendered  and 
perpetuated,  must  place  its  author  among  the  worst 
enemies  of  mankind. 

Up  to  his  flight  to  Medina,  Mahomet  had  uni- 
formly disclaimed  force  as  an  auxiliary  to  his  cause. 
He  now  declared  that  he  was  authorised  to  have 
recourse  to  arms  in   his  own   defence  ;  and,  soon 


his  own  turban  fastened  to  his  neck."  (Colonel  Kennedy,  Bom- 
bay Literary  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  \2d.) 


4-94  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     after,  that  he  was  commanded  to  employ  them  for 

the    conversion    or   extermination   of  unbeUevers. 

This  new  spirit  seems  to  have  agreed  well  with 
that  of  his  countrymen  ;  for,  though  he  had  but 
nine  followers  on  his  first  military  expedition,  yet 
before  his  death,  which  happened  in  the  twenty- 
third  year  of  his  mission,  and  the  tenth  after  his 
flight*,  he  had  brought  all  Arabia  under  his  obe- 
dience, and  had  commenced  an  attack  on  the  do- 
minions of  the  Roman  emperor. 

But  it  was  not  to  a  warlike  spirit  alone  that  he 
was  indebted  for  his  popularity.  He  was  a  re- 
former as  well  as  a  conqueror.  His  religion  was 
founded  on  the  sublime  theology  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ;  and,  however  his  morality  may  appear  to 
modern  Christians,  it  was  pure  compared  with  the 
contemporary  practice  of  Arabia.  His  law,  also, 
which  prohibited  retaliation  without  the  previous 
sanction  of  a  trial  and  sentence,  was  a  bold  attempt 
to  bridle  the  vindictive  passions  of  his  countrymen, 
so  long  fostered  by  the  practice  of  private  war. 

The  conversion  of  the  Arabs,  therefore,  was 
probably  as  sincere  as  it  was  general ;  and  their 
religious  spirit  being  now  thoroughly  aroused,  every 
feeling  of  their  enthusiastic  nature  was  turned  into 
tliat  one  channel :  to  conquer  in  the  cause  of  God, 
or  to  die  in  asserting  his  unity  and  greatness,  was 
the  longing  wish  of  every  Mussulman  ;  the  love  of 
power  or  spoil,  the  thirst  of  glory,  and  even  the 

*  A.D.  732. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  495 

hopes  of  Paradise,  only  contributed  to  swell  the    chap. 
tide  of  this  absorbing  passion.  «_ 

The  circumstances,  both  political  and  religious, 
of  the  neighbouring  countries,  were  such  as  to 
encourage  the  warmest  hopes  of  these  fanatical 
adventurers. 

The  Roman  empire  was  broken  and  dismem- 
bered by  the  Barbarians  ;  and  Christianity  was  de- 
graded by  corruptions,  and  weakened  by  the  con- 
troversies of  irreconcileable  sects.  Persia  was 
sinking  in  the  last  stage  of  internal  decay  ;  and 
her  cold  and  lifeless  superstition  required  only  the 
touch  of  opposition  to  bring  it  to  the  ground.  *  In 
tliis  last  country,  at  least,  the  religion  of  the  Arabs 
must  have  contributed  to  their  success  almost  as 
much  as  their  arms.  The  conversion  of  Persia  was 
as  complete  as  its  conquest ;  and,  in  later  times, 
its  example  spread  the  religion  of  the  Arabs  among 
powerful  nations  who  were  beyond  the  utmost 
influence  of  tiieir  power.t 

Mahomet's  attack  on  the  Roman  empire  was  in 
the  direction  of  Syria  ;  and,  within  six  years  after 
his  death  t,  that  pravince  and  Egypt  had  been  sub- 

*  The  temporal  power  acquired  by  the  false  prophet  Mazdak, 
who  nearly  enslaved  the  king  and  people  of  Persia,  shows  the 
state  of  religious  feeling  in  that  country  shortly  before  the  birth 
of  Mahomet. 

t  The  text  refers  particularly  to  the  Tartar  nations  ;  but 
China,  the  Malay  country,  and  the  Asiatic  islands  are  further 
proofs  of  the  extension  of  the  religion  of  the  Mussulmans,  inde- 
pendent of  their  arms. 

X   A.D.  G38. 


496 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Conquest 
of  Persia, 


A.  D.  650, 

A.  H.   30. 


A.  D.  651, 
A.  H.   31. 

Extended 
to  the  In- 
dus. 


dued by  hivS  successors.  Roman  Africa*  and  Spain t 
followed  in  succession  ;  and,  within  a  century  from 
the  death  of  their  founder,  the  Mahometans  had 
pushed  their  conquests  into  the  heart  of  France,  t 

These  extensive  operations  did  not  retard  their 
enterprises  towards  the  East.  Persia  was  invaded 
in  A.  D.  632 ;  her  force  was  broken  in  the  great 
battle  of  Cadesia  in  a.d.  636  ;  and,  after  two  more 
battles  §,  her  government  was  entirely  destroyed, 
and  her  king  driven  into  exile  beyond  the  Oxus. 

At  the  death  of  the  second  calif,  Omar||,  the 
whole  of  Persia  as  far  east  as  Herat,  nearly  co- 
extensive with  the  present  kingdom,  was  annexed 
to  the  Arab  empire. 

In  the  year  650,  an  insurrection  in  Persia  in- 
duced the  exiled  monarch  to  try  his  fortune  once 
more.  His  attempt  failed  :  he  was  himself  cut  off 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Oxus  ;  and  the  Arab 
frontier  was  advanced  to  that  river,  including 
Balkh  and  all  the  country  north  of  the  range  of 
Hindu  Cush. 

The  boundary  on  the  east  was  formed  by  the 
rugged  tract  which  extends  (north  and  south)  from 
those  mountains  to  the  sea,  and  (east  and  west) 
from  the  Persian  desert  to  the  Indus. 

The  northern  portion  of  the  tract  which  is  in- 


*  From  A.D.  64.7  to  709.  t  a.  d.  713. 

X  The  defeat  of  the  Mussulmans  by  Charles  Martel  took 
place  in  732,  between  Poitiers  and  Tours. 

§  Jallalla  in  a.d.  637,  Nehawend  in  a.d.  642. 
II   A.D.  644.    Hijra  23. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  497 

eluded  in  the  branches  of  Hmdu  Cush,  and  is  now  chap. 
inhabited  by  the  Eimaks  and  Hazarehs,  was  then  _ 
known  by  the  name  of  the  mountains  of  Ghor. 
Tlie  middle  part  seems  all  to  have  been  included 
in  the  mountains  of  Soliman.  The  southern  por- 
tion was  known  by  the  name  of  the  mountains  of 
Mecran. 

There  is  a  slip  of  sandy  desert  between  these 
last  mountains  and  the  sea ;  and  the  mountains  of 
Soliman  inclose  many  high-lying  plains,  besides 
one  tract  of  that  description  (extending  west  from 
the  neighbourhood  of  Ghazni)  which  nearly  se- 
parates them  from  the  mountains  of  Ghor. 

At  the  time  of  the  Mahometan  invasion  the 
mountains  of  Mecran  were  inhabited  by  Beloches, 
and  those  of  Soliman  by  Afghans ;  as  is  the  state 
of  things  to  this  day. 

Who  were  in  possession  of  the  mountains  of 
Ghor  is  not  so  certain  ;  but  there  is  every  reason 
to  think  they  were  Afghans.  The  other  moun- 
tains connected  with  the  same  range  as  those  of 
Ghor,  but  situated  to  the  east  of  the  rauire  of 
Imaus  and  Soliman,  were  probably  inhabited  by 
Indians,  descendants  of  the  Paropamisada.'. 

With  respect  to  the  j)lains,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  present  state  of  the  population,  those  be- 
tween the  Soliman  and  Mecran  mountains  and  the 
Indus  were  inhabited  by  Indians,  and  those  in  the 
upper  country,  to  the  west  of  those  mountains,  by 
Persians. 

VOL.  T.  K    K. 


498  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         The  first  recorded  invasion   of  this  unsubdued 

V. 

, tract  was  in  the  year  of  the  Hijra  44,   when  an 

Arab  force  from  Merv  penetrated  to  Cabul,  and 
made  converts  of  12,000  persons.* 

The  prince  of  Cabul,  also,  must  have  been  made 
tributary,  if  not  subject,  for  his  revolt  is  mentioned 
as  the  occasion  of  a  fresh  invasion  of  his  territories 
in  62  of  the  Hijra. t 

On  this  occasion  the  Arabs  met  with  an  unex- 
pected check  :  they  were  drawn  into  a  defile, 
defeated,  and  compelled  to  surrender,  and  to  pur- 
chase their  freedom  by  an  ample  ransom.  One  old 
contemporary  of  the  Prophet  is  said  to  have  dis- 
dained all  compromise,  and  to  have  fallen  by  the 
swords  of  the  infidels. t 

The  disgrace  was  immediately  revenged  by  the 
Arab  governor  of  Sistan  ;  it  was  more  completely 
effaced  in  the  year  80  of  the  Hijra,  when  Abdureh- 
man,  governor  of  Khorasan,  led  a  large  army  in 
person  against  Cabul,  and,  avoiding  all  the  snares 
laid  for  him  by  the  enemy,  persevered  until  he  had 
reduced  the  greater  part  of  the  country  to  submis- 
sion. His  success  did  not  afford  satisfaction  to  his 
superior,  and  the  notice  taken  of  it  led  to  results 
beyond  the  sphere  in  which  it  originated. 

Abdurehman,  as  well  as  all  the  generals  in  Per- 
sia, was  under  the  control  of  the  governor  of  Basra, 
wlio  at  that  time  was  Hejaj,  so  noted  in  Arabian 

*   A.D.  664.  {Briggss  FerisJda,  vol.  i.  p.  4.) 

t  A.D.  682.  (Ibid.  p.  5.) 

\  Price,  from  the  Kholdsat  al  Akhbdr,  vol.  i.  p.  454. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS."  4<99 


I. 


history  for  liis  furious  and  sanguinary  disposition,  chap. 
This  person  is  said  to  have  remarked,  after  an  inter- 
view with  Abdurehman,  that  he  was  a  handsome 
man,  but  that  he  never  looked  on  him  without 
feeUng  a  violent  inclination  to  cut  his  throat.  These 
kindly  feehngs  led  to  so  bitter  a  censure  on  this 
occasion,  that  Abdurehman,  stung  with  the  un- 
merited reproaclies  of  his  chief,  and  perhaps  ap- 
jDrehending  more  serious  effects  from  his  hatred, 
immediately  made  an  alliance  with  his  late  enemy 
the  prince  of  Cabul,  and,  assembling  a  numerous 
army,  appeared  in  open  rebelHon,  not  only  against 
the  governor  but  the  calif.*  He  marched  through 
Persia,  defeated  Hejaj,  and  took  Basra,  after  which 
he  continued  his  march  and  took  possession  of 
Cufa,  lately  the  capital  of  the  empire.  But  fresh 
succours  being  continually  sent  by  the  calift,  who 
then  resided  at  Damascus,  he  was  at  lenc-th  de- 
feated,  and  after  a  struggle  of  two  years  was  obliged 
to  fly  to  his  old  government,  and  was  on  the  point 
of  being  made  prisoner  in  Sisttin,  when  he  was 
relieved  by  his  ally  the  prince  of  Cabul. t  He 
again  assembled  a  force,  and  renewed  his  op])osi- 
tion,  until,  after  repeated  failures,  he  was  constrained 
to  take  refuge  at  Cabul.  His  friend's  fidelity  was 
not  proof  against  so  many  trials  ;  and  in  the  sixth 
year  of  the  revolt  he  was  obliged  to  save  himself 

*  A.D.  G99,  Uijra  80. 

t   Abdelmc'lck,  one  of  the  califs  of  the  liouse  of  Oinnieia. 

+    A.D.  702,  Ilijra  83. 

Iv    K    'I 


500  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     from  being  given  up  to  his  enemies  by  a  voluntary 
'        death.* 

During  all  this  time  Ferishta  represents  the 
Afghans  to  have  been  Mussulmans,  and  seems  to 
have  been  led,  by  their  own  traditions,  to  believe 
that  they  had  been  converted  in  the  time  of  the 
Prophet  himself.  He  represents  them  as  invading 
the  territory  of  the  Hindus  as  early  as  the  year  63 
of  the  Hijra,  and  as  being  ever  after  engaged  in 
hostilities  witli  the  raja  of  Labor,  until,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Gakkars  (a  people  on  the  hills 
east  of  the  Indus),  they  brought  him  to  make  them 
a  cession  of  territory,  and  in  return  secretly  en- 
gaged to  protect  him  from  the  attacks  of  the  other 
Mussulmans.  It  was  owing  to  this  compact,  says 
Ferishta,  that  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Samani 

*  The  "  Kliolasat  al  Akhbar"  and  the  "  Tarlkhi  Tabari," 
quoted  by  Price  (vol.  i.  pp.  ^oo — 4-63.).  The  whole  story  of 
Abdurehman  is  omitted  by  Ferishta ;  but  it  rests  on  too  good 
authorities,  and  is  too  circumstantial  and  too  much  interwoven 
with  the  general  history  of  the  califs,  to  allow  us  to  doubt  the 
truth  of  it.  There  are  various  opinions  about  the  nation  of  the 
prince  of  Cabul,  which  is  rendered  doubtful  from  the  situation 
of  his  city,  at  a  corner  where  the  countries  of  the  Paropamisan 
Indians,  the  Afghans,  the  Persians,  and  the  Tartars  are  closely 
adjoining  to  each  other.  It  is  very  improbable  that  he  was  an 
Afghan,  as  Cabul  is  never  known  to  have  been  possessed  by  a 
tribe  of  that  nation  ;  and  1  should  suppose  he  was  a  Persian, 
both  from  the  present  population  of  his  country,  and  from  the 
prince  of  Cabul  being  often  mentioned  by  Ferdousi  (who  wrote 
at  Ghazni),  as  engaged  in  war  and  friendshiji  with  the  Persian 
heroes,  without  anything  to  lead  us  to  suppose  that  he  belonged 
to  another  race. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  501 

never  invaded  the  north  of  India,   but  confined    chap. 
their  predatory  excursions  to  Sind.  " 

He  also  mentions  that  the  Afghans  gave  an 
asylum  to  the  remains  of  the  Arabs  who  were 
driven  out  of  Sind  in  the  second  century  of  the 
Hijra. 

Setting  aside  the  fable  of  their  connection  with 
the  Prophet,  this  account  does  not  appear  impro- 
bable. Tlie  Afghans,  or  a  part  of  them,  may  have 
been  early  converted,  altliough  not  conquered  until 
the  time  of  Sultan  Mahmud. 

In  the  accessible  parts  of  their  country,  especially 
on  the  west,  they  may  have  been  early  reduced  to 
submission  by  the  Arabs  ;  but  there  are  parts  of 
the  mountains  where  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  be 
entirely  subdued  even  to  this  day. 

We  know  nothing  of  their  early  religion,  except 
the  presumption,  arising  from  the  neighbourhood 
of  Balkh  and  their  connection  with  Persia,  that 
they  were  worshippers  of  fire.  Mahometan  histo- 
rians afJbrd  no  light,  owing  to  their  confounding 
all  denominations  of  infidels. 

The  first  appearance  of  the  Mahometans  in  India  First  in- 
was  m  the  year  of  the  Hijra  44,  at   the   tune  of  into  India, 
their  first  expedition  to  Cabul. 

Mohalib,  afterwards  an  eminent  commander  in 
Persia  and  Arabia,  was  detached,  on  that  occasion, 
from  the  invading  army,  and  penetrated  to  Multan, 
from  whence  he  brought  back  many  prisoners.  It 
is  probable  that  his  object  was  only  to  explore  the 
intermediate  country,  and  that  his  report  was  not 

K  K  3 


502  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     encoLiraoins: :  from  whatever  cause,  no  further  at- 
'        tempt  was  made  on  the  north  of  India  during  the 


continuance  of  the  Arab  rule. 
Conquest         Thc  ucxt   iuvasion  was  of  a   more  permanent 

of  Sind  by 

the  Arabs,  naturc.  It  was  carried  on  from  the  south  of  Persia 
into  the  country  at  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  then 
subject  to  a  Hindu  prince,  called  Dahir  by  the 
Mussulmans,  whose  capital  was  at  Alor  near  Bakkar, 
and  who  was  in  possession  of  Multan  and  all  Sind, 
with,  perhaps,  the  adjoining  plain  of  the  Indus  as 
far  as  the  mountains  at  Calabagh.  His  territory 
was  portioned  out  among  his  relations,  probably  on 
the  feudal  tenure  still  common  with  the  Rajputs.* 

Arab  descents  on  Sind  by  sea  are  mentioned 
as  early  as  the  califate  of  Omar  ;  but,  if  they  ever 
took  place,  they  were  probably  piratical  expedi- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  carrying  off  the  women  of 
the  country,  whose  beauty  seems  to  have  been 
much  esteemed  in  Arabia.! 

Several  detachments  were  also  sent  through  the 
south  of  Mecran  during  the  reigns  of  the  early 
califs,  but  seem  all  to  have  failed  from  the  desert 

*  Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  iv.  p.  401,  &c.  See  also  Captain 
M'Murdo,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  No,  I.  p.  56. 
Abulfazl  makes  Dahir's  dominions  include  Caslimir;  but  that 
country  was  then  in  possession  of  one  of  its  greatest  rajas ;  for 
whom,  like  all  considerable  Hindu  princes,  his  historians  claim 
the  conquest  of  all  India.  Sind  is  almost  the  only  part  of  it 
with  which  they  pretend  to  no  connection.  The  native  accounts 
quoted  by  Captain  Pottinger  (p.  386.)  extend  the  dominions  of 
Sind  to  Cabul  and  Marwar;  and  those  given  to  Captain  Burnes 
(vol.  iii.  p.  76.)  add  Candahar  and  Canouj. 

f   Pottinger,  p.  388. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  ,503 


character  of  the  country ;  which  was  that  so  well     chap. 
known  under  the  name  of  Gedrosia,  for  the  suffer-  ' 


ings  of  Alexander's  army. 

At  length,  in  the  reign  of  the  calif  Walid,  the 
Mussulman  government  was  provoked  to  a  more 
strenuous    exertion.     An  Arab  ship  having  been 
seized  at  Dival  or  Dewal,   a  sea  port  connected 
with  Sind,  Raja  Dahir  was  called  on  for  restitution. 
He  declined  compliance  on  the  ground  that  Dewal 
was  not  subject  to  his  authority  :  his  excuse  was 
not  admitted  by  the  Mussulmans  ;   and  they  sent 
a  body  of  1000  infantry  and  300  horse  to  enforce 
their  demand.     This  inadequate  detachment  having 
perished  like  its  predecessors,  Hejaj,  the  governor 
of  Basra,  prepared  a  regular  army  of  6000  men  at 
Shiraz,  and  gave  the  command  of  it  to   his   own 
nephew,  Mohammed  Casim,  then   not  more  than 
twenty  years  of  age  ;  and  by  him  it  was  conducted 
in  safety  to  the  walls  of  Dewal.     Casim  was  pro-  ^  ^  -^j, 
vided  with  catapultas  and  other  engines  required  ^•"•^~- 
for  a  siege,  and  commenced  his  operations  by  an 
attack   on   a  temple  contiguous  to  the  town.     It 
was   a   celebrated  ])agoda,   surrounded    by  a    high 
inclosure  of  hewn  stone  (like  those  which  figure 
in  our  early  wars  in  the  Carnatic),  and  was  occu- 
pied, in  addition  to  the  numerous  Bramin  inhabit- 
ants, by  a  strong  garrison  of  Rajputs. 

While  Casim  was  considering  the  ditiiculties 
opposed  to  him,  he  was  intbrmed  by  some  of  his 
prisoners  that  the  safety  of  the  place  was  believed 
to    depend    on  the  flag    which    was  displayed    on 

K  K  4 


«504  HISTOUY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     the  tower  of  the  temple.     He  directed  his  engines 
against  that  sacred  standard,  and  at  last  succeeded 


in  brniging  it  to  the  ground  ;  which  occasioned  so 
much  dismay  in  the  garrison  as  to  cause  the  speedy 
fall  of  the  place. 

Casim  at  first  contented  himself  with  circum- 
cising all  the  Bramins  ;  but,  incensed  at  their  re- 
jection of  this  sort  of  conversion,  he  ordered  all 
above  the  age  of  seventeen  to  be  put  to  death, 
and  all  under  it,  with  the  women,  to  be  reduced  to 
slavery.  The  fall  of  the  temple  seems  to  have  led 
to  that  of  the  town,  and  a  rich  booty  was  obtained, 
of  which  a  fifth  (as  in  all  similar  cases)  was  re- 
served for  Hejaj,  and  the  rest  equally  divided.  A 
son  of  Dahir's,  who  was  in  Dewal,  either  as  master 
or  as  an  ally,  retreated,  on  the  reduction  of  that 
city,  to  Bramanabad,  to  wiiich  place,  according  to 
Ferishta,  he  was  followed  by  the  conqueror,  and 
compelled  to  surrender  on  terms.  Casim  then  ad- 
vanced on  Nerun  (now  Heiderabad),  and  thence 
upon  Sehwan,  of  which  he  undertook  the  siege.* 

Notwithstanding  the  natural  strength  of  Sehwan, 
it  was  evacuated  at  the  end  of  seven  days,  the 
garrison  flying  to  a  fortress  called  Salim,  which 
was  likewise  speedily  reduced. 

Thus  far  Casim's  progress  had  met  with  little 
serious  opposition.  He  was  now  confronted  by  a 
powerful  army  under  tlie  command  of  the  raja's 
eldest  son  ;  and  his  carriage  cattle  failing  about  the 

*  See  Captain  M'Murdo,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
No.  I.  pp.  30.  32. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  505 

same  time,  he  was  constrained  to  take  post,  and  to    chap. 
wait   for   reinforcements,    and    a    renewal    of    his  ' 

equipments.  He  was  joined  in  time  by  2000  * 
horse  from  Persia,  and  was  enabled  to  renew  his 
operations,  and  to  advance,  though  not  without 
several  indecisive  combats,  to  the  neighbourhood 
of  Alor  itself. 

Here  he  found  himself  opposed  to  the  raja  in 
person,  who  advanced  to  defend  his  capital  at  the 
head  of  an  army  of  50,000  men ;  and,  being  im- 
pressed with  the  dangers  of  his  situation,  from  the 
disproportion  of  his  numbers,  and  the  impossibihty 
of  retreat  in  case  of  failure,  he  availed  himself  of  the 
advantage  of  the  ground,  and  awaited  the  attack  of 
the  Hindus  in  a  strong  position  which  he  had  chosen. 
His  prudence  was  seconded  by  a  piece  of  good 
fortune.  During  the  heat  of  the  attack  which  was 
made  on  him,  a  fire-ball  struck  the  raja's  elephant, 
and  the  terrified  animal  bore  its  master  off  the 
field,  and  could  not  be  stopped  until  it  had  plunged 
into  the  neighbouring  river.  The  disappearance 
of  the  chief  produced  its  usual  effect  on  Asiatic 
armies  ;  and  although  Dahir,  already  wounded 
with  an  arrow,  mounted  his  horse  and  renewed  the 
battle  with  unabated  courage,  he  was  unable  to 
restore  the  fortune  of  the  day,  and  fell  fighting  gal- 
lantly in  the  mi,  1st  of  the  Arabian  cavalry. t 

*   'lanklii  Iliiul  o  Siml 

-|-  This  battle  must  lia\c  taken  place  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Indus,  though  there  is  no  particular  account  of  Casini's  crossing 
that  river.     He  first  approacheil  the  right  or  western  bank  at  u 


>06  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  The  pusillanimity  of  the  rajah's  son,  who  fled 
to  Bramanabad,  was  compensated  by  the  mascu- 
line spirit  of  his  widow.  She  collected  the  remains 
of  the  routed  army,  put  the  city  into  a  posture  of 
defence,  and  maintained  it  against  the  attacks  of 
the  enemy,  until  the  failure  of  provisions  rendered 
it  impossible  to  hold  out  longer.  In  this  extremity 
her  resolution  did  not  desert  her,  and  the  Rajput 
garrison,  inflamed  by  her  example,  determined  to 
devote  themselves  along  with  her,  after  the  manner 
of  their  tribe.  The  women  and  children  were 
first  sacrificed  in  flames  of  their  own  kindling ; 
the  men  bathed,  and,  with  other  ceremonies,  took 
leave  of  each  other  and  of  the  world  ;  the  gates 
were  then  thrown  open,  the  Rajputs  rushed  out 
sword  in  hand,  and,  throwing  themselves  on  the 
weapons  of  their  enemies,  perished  to  a  man. 

Those  of  the  garrison  who  did  not  share  in  this 
act  of  desperation  gained  little  by  their  prudence: 
the  city  was  carried  by  assault,  and  all  the  men  in 
arms  were  slaughtered  in  the  storm.  Their  fami- 
lies were  reduced  to  bondage.  * 


place  called  Rawer.  The  Hindus  drew  up  on  the  opposite  bank^ 
and  many  movements  were  made  on  both  sides  before  a  passage 
was  effected.  The  places  named  on  those  occasions  are  Jiwar, 
Bet,  and  Rawer  as  above  mentioned.  It  seems  to  have  been 
after  crossing  that  Casim  drew  up  his  army  at  Jehem  and  Go- 
gand,  and  before  the  battle  he  was  at  Sagara,  a  dependency  of 
Jehem.  These  places  are  not  now  in  the  maps.  {Tdrikhi  Hind 
o  Sind.) 

*   Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  iv.  p.  ^09. ;  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i. 
p.  327. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  507 

One  more  desperate  stand  was  made  at  Ash-     chap. 
candra  *,  after  which  Multan  seems  to  have  fallen  ' 

without  resistance,  and  the  Mahometans  pursued 
their  success  unopposed,  until  tliey  had  occupied 
every  part  of  the  dominions  of  Raja  Dahir.  t 

Their  treatment  of  the  conquered  country  showed 
the  same  mixture  of  ferocity  and  moderation  wiiich 
characterised  the  early  conquests  of  the  Arabs. 

*  Pottinger,  p.  390. ;  M'Murdo,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  No,  I.  p.  31. 

f  Dewal  was  probably  somewhere  near  Korachi,  the  present 
sea  port  of  Sind.  It  could  not  be  at  Tatta,  as  supposed  by 
Forishta,  because  that  city,  though  the  great  port  for  the  river 
navigation,  is  inaccessible  from  the  sea;  the  bar  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  rendering  the  entrance  impracticable,  except  for 
flat-bottomed  boats  (see  Captain  M'Murdo,  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  p.  29.,  and  Barnes's  Travels,  vol.  iii.  p.  24-2., 
with  the  whole  of  his  description  of  the  mouths  of  the  Indus,  in 
Chap.  IV.).  The  site  of  Bramanabad  is  generally  supposed  to 
be  marked  by  the  ruins  close  to  the  modern  town  of  Tatta. 
(Burnes,  vol.  iii.  p.  31.,  and  the  opinions  of  the  natives  stated 
by  Captain  M'Murdo  in  a  note,  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  No.  I.  p.  28.)  Captain  M'Murdo  is  singular 
in  supposing  it  to  have  been  situated  on  the  other  side  of  the 
present  course  of  the  Indus,  much  to  the  north-east  of  Tatta ; 
though  this  position  would  make  it  a  more  natural  retreat  for  the 
son  of  Dahir  after  his  flight  from  A'ior.  There  were,  perhaps, 
two  different  places, —  Brahmanabad  and  Briihmana.  Sehwan 
still  retains  its  name,  and  the  ruins  of  A'lor  (universally  recog- 
nised as  the  ancient  capital  of  Sind)  were  visited  by  Captain 
Burnes,  close  to  B;.I:kar  on  the  Indus.  (^Travels,  vol.  iii.  p.  76.) 
There  are  some  doubts  about  particular  marches  of  Mohammed 
Casim,  especially  about  the  site  of  Salini,  and  the  point  where 
he  crossed  the  Indus  ;  but  there  is  no  obscurity  about  his  general 
progress.  Briggs's  "  Ferishta "  calls  the  scene  of  the  great 
battle  and  siege  Ajdar;  but  this  is  probably  an  error  of  the 
copyist  for  A'ror,  which  is  a  very  common  name  for  A'lor. 


508  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         On  the  first  invasion,  each  city  was  called  on,  as 

the  army  approached,  to  embrace  the  Mahometan 

religion,  or  to  pay  tribute.  In  case  of  refusal,  the 
city  was  attacked,  and  if  it  did  not  capitulate,  all 
the  fighting  men  were  put  to  death,  and  their 
families  were  sold  for  slaves.  Four  cities  held  out 
to  this  extremity  ;  and  in  two  of  them,  the  num- 
ber of  soldiers  who  were  refused  quarter  is  esti- 
mated at  6000  each.  The  merchants,  artizans, 
and  other  inhabitants  of  such  places,  were  exempt 
from  all  molestation,  except  such  as  we  must  con- 
clude they  suffered  when  a  town  was  stormed. 

When  tribute  was  once  agreed  to,  whether  vo- 
luntarily or  by  compulsion,  the  inhabitants  were 
entitled  to  all  their  former  pr-ivileges,  including  the 
free  exercise  of  their  religion.  AVhen  a  sovereign 
consented  to  pay  tribute,  he  retained  his  territory, 
and  only  became  subject  to  the  usual  relations  of  a 
tributary  prince. 

One  question  relating  to  toleration  seemed  so 
nice,  that  Casim  thought  it  necessary  to  refer  it  to 
Arabia.  In  the  towns  that  were  stormed,  the  tem- 
ples had  been  rased  to  the  ground,  religious  wor- 
ship had  been  forbidden,  and  the  lands  and  stipends 
of  the  Bramins  had  been  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  the  state.  To  reverse  these  acts,  when  once 
performed,  seemed  a  more  direct  concession  to 
idolatry  than  merely  abstaining  from  interference, 
and  Casim  avowed  himself  uncertain  what  to  do. 
The  answer  was,  that  as  the  people  of  the  towns 
in  question  had  paid  tribute,  they  were  entitled  to 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  509 

all  the  privileges  of  subjects  ;  that  they  should  be     chap. 
allowed  to  rebuild  their  temples  and  perform  their  ' 

rites  ;  that  the  land  and  money  of  the  Bramins 
should  be  restored  ;  and  that  three  per  cent,  on  the 
revenue,  which  had  been  allowed  to  them  by  the 
Hindu  government,  should  be  continued  by  the 
Mussulman. 

Casim  himself,  notwithstanding  his  extreme 
youth,  seems  to  have  been  prudent  and  concih- 
ating.  He  induced  several  of  the  Hindu  princes  to 
join  with  him  during  the  war,  and  at  the  conclu- 
sion he  appointed  the  Hindu  who  had  been  Dahir's 
prime  minister  to  the  same  office  under  him,  on 
the  express  ground  that  he  would  be  best  qualified 
to  protect  old  rights,  and  to  maintain  established 
institutions.* 

*  Tarikhi  Hind  o  Sind,  Persian  MS,  I  did  not  see  this  work, 
which  is  in  the  library  at  the  India  House,  until  the  narrative  of 
Casim's  military  transactions  had  been  completed.  It  seems  to 
be  the  source  from  which  most  of  the  other  accounts  are  drawn. 
In  its  present  form  it  was  written  by  Mohammed  Ali  Bin  Hamld, 
in  Hijra  613,  a.d.  1216  ;  but  it  professes  to  be  a  translation  of 
an  Arabic  work  found  in  the  possession  of  the  Ctizi  of  Bakkar ; 
and  the  original  must  have  been  written  immediately  after  tiie 
event,  as  it  constantly  refers,  by  name,  to  the  authority  of  living 
witnesses.  Though  loaded  with  tedious  speeches,  and  letters 
ascribed  to  the  principal  actors,  it  contains  a  minute  and  con- 
sistent account  of  the  transactions  during  Mohammed  Casim's 
invasion,  and  some  of  the  preceding  Hindu  reigns.  It  is  full  of 
names  of  places,  and  would  throw  much  light  on  the  geography 
of  that  period,  if  examined  by  any  person  capable  of  ascertaining 
the  ancient  Shanscrit  names,  so  as  to  remove  the  corruptions  of 
the  original  Arab  writer  and  the  translator,  besides  the  innu- 
merable errors  of  the  copyist. 


510  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         The  Mahometan  writers  assert  that  Casim  had 

V 

"  begun  to  plan  a  march  to  Canouj  on  the  Ganges,  and 
an  almost  contemporary  historian*  states  that  he 
had  reached  a  place  which  seems  to  mean  Oudi- 
pur ;  but  as  he  had  only  6000  men  at  first,  which 
the  2000  recruits  afterwards  received  would  not 
do  more  than  keep  up  to  their  original  number,  it 
is  inconceivable  that  he  should  have  projected  such 
an  expedition,  even  if  he  could  have  left  Sind 
without  an  army  of  occupation. 

In  the  midst  of  his  projects  a  sudden  reverse  was 
awaiting  him.  The  Mahometan  historians  concur 
in  relating  that  among  the  numerous  female  cap- 
tives in  Sind  were  two  daughters  of  Raja  Dahir, 
who,  from  their  rank  and  their  personal  charms, 
were  thought  worthy  of  being  presented  to  the 
Commander  of  the  Faithful,  t  They  were  accord- 
ingly sent  to  the  court  and  introduced  into  the 
harem.  When  the  eldest  was  brought  into  the 
presence  of  the  calif,  whose  curiosity  had  been 
stimulated  by  reports  of  her  attractions,  she  burst 
into  a  flood  of  tears,  and  exclaimed  that  she  was 
now  unworthy  of  his  notice,  having  been  disho- 
noured by  Casim  before  she  was  sent  out  of  her 
own  country.  The  Calif  was  moved  by  her  beauty, 
and  enraged  at  the  insult  offered  to  him  by  his 
servant ;  and,  giving  way  to  the  first  impulse  of 
his  resentment,  he  sent  orders  that  Casim  should 
be  sewed  up  in  a  raw  hide,  and  sent  in  that  con- 

*  Tarikhi  Hind  o  Sind. 

t  Walid,  the  sixth  calif  of  the  house  of  Ommeia. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  511 

dition  to  Damascus.     Wlien  his  orders  were  exe-     chap. 
cuted,  he  produced  the  body  to  the  princess,  who  ' 

was  overjoyed  at  the  sight,  and  exultingly  declared 
to  the  astonished  cahf  that  Casim  was  innocent, 
but  that  she  had  now  revenged  the  death  of  her 
father  and  the  ruin  of  her  family.* 

The  advance   of  the   Mahometan   arms  ceased  Their  ex- 
with  the  life  of  Casim.     His  conquests  were  made  ^"^'  ^^^ 
over  to  his  successor  Temim,  in  the  hands  of  whose  ^-  "•  ^^■ 
family  they  remained  till  the  downfal  of  the  house 
of  Ommeia,  that   is,    for   about   thirty-six   years  ;  a.  d.  750, 

,  ,  .  .  n        1  '    ^  1  A.  H.  132. 

when,  by  some  msurrection  or  which  we  do  not 
know  the  particulars,  the  Mussulmans  were  ex- 
pelled by  the  Rajput  tribe  of  Sumera,  and  all  their 
Indian  conquests  restored  to  the  Hindus,  who  re- 
tained possession  for  nearly  500  years,  t 

It  seems  extraordinary  that  the  Arabs,  who  had  Causes  of 
reached  to  Multan  during  their  first  ardour  for  con-  progress  of 
quest  and  conversion,  should  not  have  overrun 
India  as  easily  as  they  did  Persia,  and  should  now 
allow  themselves  to  be  beaten  out  of  a  province 
where  they  had  once  a  firm  footing ;  but  the  con- 
dition of  the  two  countries  was  not  the  same ; 
and,  although  the  proverbial  riches  of  India,  and 
the  inoffensive  character  of  its  inhabitants,  seemed 
to  invite  an  invader,  yet  there  were  discouraging 

*  Briggs's  Ferislita,  vol.  iv.  p.  110.;  A'yeni  Akberi,  vol.  ii. 
p.  119.;  Pottinger's  Travels,  p.  389. 

j-  Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  iv.  p.  411.;  A'ycni  Akberi,  vol.  ii. 
p.  120.  Part  of  the  expelled  Arabs  found  a  settlement  among 
the  Afghans.  {Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  7.) 


the  Maho- 
metans ill 
India. 


512 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK    circumstances,  which  may  not  have  been  without 
,  effect  even  on  the  blind  zeal  of  the  Arabs. 

In  Persia,  the  rehgion  and  government,  though 
both  assailed,  afforded  no  support  to  each  other. 
The  priests  of  the  worshippers  of  fire  are  among 
the  most  despised  classes  of  the  people.  *  Their 
religion  itself  has  nothing  inspiring  or  encouraging. 
The  powers  of  good  and  evil  are  so  equally  matched, 
that  the  constant  attention  of  every  man  is  neces- 
sary to  defend  himself  by  puerile  ceremonies  against 
the  malignant  spirits  from  whom  his  deity  is  too 
weak  to  protect  him.t 

To  the  believers  of  such  a  faith,  uninfluenced 
as  they  were  by  a  priesthood,  the  annunciation 
of  "  one  God,  the  most  powerful  and  the  most 
merciful,"  must  have  appeared  like  a  triumph  of 
the  good  principle  ;  and  when  the  overthrow  of 
a  single  monarch  had  destroyed  the  civil  govern- 
ment in  all  its  branches,  there  remained  no  ob- 
stacle to  the  completion  of  the  conquest  and  con- 
version of  the  nation. 

But  in  India  there  was  a  powerful  priesthood, 
closely  connected  with  the  government  and  deeply 
revered  by  their  countrymen  ;  and  a  religion  inter- 
woven with  the  laws  and  manners  of  the  people, 
which  exercised  an  irresistible  influence  over  their 

*  For  a  very  curious  comparison  of  die  ancient  and  modern 
tenets  of  tlie  magi,  see  Mr.  Erskine's  Essay  on  the  Sacred  Books 
and  Religion  of  the  Parsis,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Bombay 
Literary  Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  295. 

t   Ibid.  p.  ?,S5. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  513 

very  thoughts.      To  this  was  joined  a  horror  of    chap. 
change,   and  a  sort  of  passive  courage,  which   is  ' 

perhaps  the  best  suited  to  allow  time  for  an  im- 
petuous attack  to  spend  its  force.  Even  the  di- 
visions of  the  Hindus  were  in  their  favour  :  the 
downfil  of  one  raja  only  removed  a  rival  from  the 
prince  who  was  next  behind  ;  and  the  invader 
diminished  his  numbers,  and  got  further  from  his 
resources,  w  ithout  being  able  to  strike  a  blow  which 
might  bring  his  undertaking  to  a  conclusion. 

However  these  considerations  may  have  weighed 
with  the  early  invaders,  they  deserve  the  greatest 
attention  from  the  inquirer,  for  it  is  principally  to 
them  that  we  must  ascribe  the  slow  progress  of 
the  Mahometan  religion  in  India,  and  the  com- 
paratively mild  and  tolerant  form  which  it  assumed 
in  that  country. 

At  the  time  of  the  transactions  which  we  are 
now  relating,  there  were  other  causes  which  tended 
to  delay  the  progress  of  the  Mahometans.  The 
spirit  of  their  government  was  gradually  altered. 
Their  chiefs  from  fanatical  missionaries  became 
politic  sovereigns,  more  intent  on  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  their  families  than  the  propagation  of  their 
faith  ;  and  by  the  same  degrees  they  altered  from 
rude  soldiers  to  magnificent  and  luxurious  princes, 
who  had  other  occupations  besides  war,  and  other 
pleasures  as  attractive  as  those  of  victory.  Omar 
set  out  to  his  army  at  Jerusalem  with  his  arms 
and  provisions  on  the  same  camel  with  himself; 
and  Othman  extinguished  his  lamp,  when  he  had 

vor-.  1.  L  L 


514  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK    finished  the  labours  of  the  day,   that  the  public 


V. 


oil  might  not  be  expended  on  his  enjoyments. 
Al  Mahdi,  within  a  century  from  the  last  named 
calif,  loaded  500  camels  with  ice  and  snow  ;  and 
the  profusion  of  one  day  of  the  Abbassides  would 
have  defrayed  all  the  expenses  of  the  four  first 
califs.  The  translation  of  the  Greek  philosophers 
by  Al  Mamun  was  an  equally  wide  departure 
from  the  spirit  which  led  to  the  story  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  library  at  Alexandria  by  Omar. 

For  these  reasons  the  eastern  conquests  of  the 
Arabs  ceased  with  the  transactions  which  we  have 
just  related;  and  the  next  attacks  on  India  were 
made  by  other  nations,  to  whose  history  we  have 
now  to  turn. 
Tartar  na-  Wheii  tlic  Ai'abs  had  conquered  Persia,  as  be- 
fore related,  their  possessions  were  divided  by  the 
Oxus  from  a  territory  to  whicli,  from  that  circum- 
stance, they  gave  the  name  of  Mavvar  ul  Nahr, 
literally  Beyond  the  River;  or,  as  we  translate  it, 
Transoxiana.  This  tract  was  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  Jaxartes,  on  the  west  by  the  Caspian 
Sea,  and  on  the  east  by  Mount  Imaus.  Though 
large  portions  of  it  are  desert,  others  are  capable 
of  high  cultivation  ;  and,  while  it  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  Arabs,  it  seems  not  to  have  been  surpassed 
in  prosperity  by  the  richest  portions  of  the  globe. 
It  was  occupied  partly  by  fixed  inhabitants  and 
partly  by  pastoral  tribes.  Most  of  the  fixed  in- 
habitants were  Persians,  and  all  the  movhig  sliep- 
herds  were    Tartars.     Such   is   likewise   the  state 


tions 

A.I).  651 
A. II.  ;31, 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  515 

of  things  at  present,  and  probably  has  been  from     chap. 
remote  antiquity.*  " 

The  great  influence  which  the  Tartars!  of  Trans- 
oxiana  have  exercised  over  the  history  of  the 
neighbouring  nations,  and  of  India,  makes  ns 
anxious  to  know  something  of  their  origin  and  for- 
mer state  ;  but  we  soon  meet  with  many  difficulties 
in  following  up  the  inquiry.  It  would  be  an  im- 
portant step  to  ascertain  to  which  of  the  tJiree 
great  nations  whom  we  include  under  the  name  of 
Tartars  they  belonged  ;  but,  although  the  Turks, 
Moguls,  and  Mdnclius  are  distinguished  from  each 
other  by  the  decisive  test  of  language,  and  though 
at  present  they  are  each  marked  by  other  pecu- 
liarities, yet  there  is  a  general  resemblance  in 
features  and  manners  throughout  the  whole,  which 
renders  it  difficult  for  a  person  at  a  distance  to 
draw  the  line  between  them  ;  even  their  languages, 
though  as  different  as  Greek  and  Shanscrit,  have 
the  same  degree  of  family  likeness  with  those  two.t 

*  See  Erskines  Bdber,  Introduction,  p.  xliii.,  and  Heeren, 
Itesearches  in  Asia,  vol.  i.  p.  260.  The  language  at  tlie  time  of 
the  Arab  conquest  was  Persian,  of  which  a  remarkable  proof, 
dated  in  the  year  91-  of  the  Ilijra  (a.d.  716),  is  given  by  Cap- 
tain Burnes.  (  Travels,  vol.  ii.  pp.  269.  356. 

t  I  use  the  words  Tartar  and  Tartary  solely  in  their  European 
sense,  as  a  general  term  for  a  certain  great  tract  and  great  as- 
semblage of  nations.  The  word  in  this  sense  is  as  little  known 
to  the  people  to  whom  it  applies  as  Asia,  Africa,  and  America 
are  to  the  original  inhabitants  of  those  quarters  of  the  globe ; 
but  is  equally  convenient  for  the  purpose  of  generalisation. 

\  See  Dr.  Prichard  on  the  Kthnogruphy  of  Upper  Asia, 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  vol.  ix. 

L  L    Q, 


ilG 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  In  making  tlie  attempt,  we  derive  little  aid 
'  from  their  geographical  position.  At  present  the 
Manchus  are  in  the  east,  the  Moguls  in  the  centre, 
and  the  Turks  in  the  west  ;  but  the  positions  of 
the  two  last  named  races  have  been  partially  re- 
versed within  the  period  of  accurate  history,  and 
it  is  impossible  to  say  what  they  may  have  been  in 
still  earlier  ages.  The  Arabs  and  other  wandering 
tribes  in  the  south  of  Asia  make  long  journeys,  for 
fresh  pastures  or  for  change  of  climate,  but  each 
has  some  tract  which  it  considers  as  its  own,  and 
many  occupy  the  same  in  which  they  were  found 
when  first  noticed  by  other  nations.  Not  so  the 
Tartars,  who  have  always  been  formed  into  great 
monarchies;  and,  besides  migration  for  convenience 
within  their  own  limits,  have  been  led  by  ambition 
to  general  movements,  and  have  been  constantly 
expelhng  or  subduing  each  other;  so  that  they  not 
only  were  continually  changing  their  abodes,  but 
forming  new  combinations  and  passing  under  new 
names  according  to  that  of  the  horde  whicli  had 
acquired  a  predominancy.  A  tribe  is  at  one  mo- 
ment mentioned  on  the  banks  of  the  AVolga,  and 
the  next  at  the  great  wall  of  China  ;  and  a  horde 
which  at  first  scarcely  filled  a  valley  in  the 
mountains  of  Altai,  in  a  few  years  after  cannot  be 
contained  in  all  Tartary. 

It  is,  therefore,  as  impossible  to  keep  the  eye 
on  a  particular  horde,  and  to  trace  it  through  all 
this  shifting  and  mixing,  as  to  follow  one  emmet 
through  the  turmoil  of  an  ant  hill. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  .517 

The   Turks  at  present  are   distinguished  from     chap. 
tlie  rest  by  their  having  the  Tartar  features  less  ' 

marked,  as  well  as  by  fairer  complexions  and  more 
civilised  manners  ;  and  these  qualities  might  afford 
the  means  of  recognising  them  at  all  times,  if  we 
could  be  sure  that  they  did  not  owe  them  entirely 
to  their  greater  opportunities  of  intermixing  with 
other  races,  and  that  the  same  superiority  was 
not  possessed  in  former  times  by  portions  of  the 
other  Tartars  which  may  have  then  occupied  the 
western  territory.* 

It  may  assist  in  distinguishing  these  races,  to 
mention  that  the  Uzbeks  who  now  possess  Trans- 
oxiana,  the  Turcmans  both  on  the  Oxus  and  in 
Asia  Minor,  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  north  of 

*  The  Turks  of  Constantinople  and  Persia  have  so  coni[)lete]y 
lost  the  Tartar  features,  that  some  physiologists  have  pronounced 
them  to  belong  to  the  Caucasian  or  European,  and  not  to  the 
Tartar,  race.  The  Turks  of  Bokiiara  and  all  Transoxiana,  though 
so  long  settled  among  Persians,  and  though  greatly  softened  in 
appearance,  retain  their  original  features  sufficiently  to  be  recog- 
nisable at  a  glance  as  Tartars.  De  Guignes,  from  the  state  of 
information  in  his  time,  was  seldom  able  to  distinguish  the  Tartar 
nations ;  but  on  one  point  he  is  decided  and  consistent,  viz.  that 
the  Heoung-nou  is  another  name  for  the  Turks.  Among  the 
Heoung-nou  he  places,  without  hesitation,  Attila,  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  army.  Yet  these  Turks,  on  their  appearance  in 
Europe,  struck  as  much  terror  from  their  hideous  physiognomy 
and  savage  manners  as  from  their  victories.  Attila  himself  was 
remarkable  for  these  national  peculiarities.  (Gibbon,  vol.  iii. 
p.  35.  quarto.)  Another  division  of  the  same  branch  of  the 
Ileoung-nou  had  previnusly  settled  among  the  Persians  in 
Transoxiana,  and  acquired  the  name  of  White  Huns,  from  their 
change  from  the  national  complexion.  (l)e  Guignes,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  282.  '625.) 

I.  L    3 


518 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Turks  in 

Trans- 

oxiana. 


Persia,  and  the  Ottomans  or  Turks  of  Constan- 
tinople, are  all  Turks  ;  as  was  the  greater  part  of 
the  army  of  Tamerlane.  The  ruling  tribe,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  army  of  Chengiz  Khan, 
was  Mogul. 

On  the  whole,  I  should  suppose  that  a  portion 
of  the  Turks  had  settled  in  Transoxiana  long  be- 
fore the  Christian  asra ;  that  though  often  passed 
over  by  armies  and  emigrations  of  Moguls,  they 
had  never  since  been  expelled ;  and  that  they 
formed  the  bulk  of  the  Nomadic  and  part  of  the 
permanent  population  at  the  time  of  the  Arab  in- 
vasion.* 

The  ruling  tribe  at  that  time  was,  however,  of 
much  later  arrival ;  they  were  probably  Turks  them- 
selves, and  certainly  had  just  before  been  incor- 
porated with  an  assemblage,  in  which  that  race 
took  the  lead,  and  wiiich,  although  it  had  been 
tributary  to  Persia  only  a  century  before  t,  had 
since  possessed  an  ephemeral  empire,  extending 
from  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Oxus,  to  the  Lake 
Baikal,  and  the  mouths  of  the  Yanisei  in  Siberia^, 
and  were  now  again  broken  into  small  divisions 
and  tributary  to  China.  § 


*  The  Arab  and  Persian  Mussulmans  always  call  their  neigh- 
bours Turks,  and  (though  well  aware  of  the  existence  of  the 
Moguls)  are  apt  to  apply  the  term  Tzb-A  as  vaguely  and  generally 
as  we  do  Tartar.  See  the  whole  of  this  subject  ably  discussed 
in  the  introduction  to  Erskine's  "  Baber,"  pp.  xviii. — xxv. 

f   De  Guignes,  vol.  i.  part  ii.  p.  469. 

X  Ibid.  pp.  477,  478..  §  Ibid.  p.  493. 


ARAB    CONQUESTS.  519 

It  was  fifty-five  years  after  the  final  conquest  of    chap. 
Persia,   and  five  years  before    the   occupation    of         ' 
Sind,  that  the  Arabs  crossed  the  Oxus,  under  Ca- 
tiba,    governor   of  Khorasan.     He   first  occupied 
Hisar,  opposite  Balkh.     In  the  course  of  the  next 


Sind,  that  the  Arabs  crossed  the  Oxus,  under  Ca-  ^'^ij  con- 
quest of 
tiba,    governor   of  Khorasan.     He   first  occupied  Trans- 

oxiana. 

A.   D. 

six  years  he  had  taken  Samarcand  and  Bokhara,  '  ^7^. "' 
overrun  the  country  north  of  the  Oxus,  and  sub-  ^'— ^^ 
dued  the  kingdom  of  Kharizm,  on  the  Lake  of 
Aral*  ;  and  although  his  power  was  not  introduced 
without  a  severe  contest,  often  with  doubtful  suc- 
cess, against  the  Turks,  yet  in  the  end  it  was  so 
well  established,  that  by  the  eighth  year  he  was 
able  to  reduce  the  kingdom  of  Ferghana,  and 
extend  his  acquisitions  to  Mount  Imaus  and  the  a.d.  -13, 

T  ,  A.}i.  94. 

Jaxartes. 

The  conquest  of  Spain  took  place  in  the  same 
year ;  and  the  Arab  empire  had  now  reached  the 
greatest  extent  to  which  it  ever  attained. 

But  it  had  already  shown  symptoms  of  internal 
decay  which  foreboded  its  dismemberment  at  no 
distant  period. 

Even  in  the  first  half  century  of  the  Hijra,  the 
murder  of  Othmiin  and  the  incapacity  of  Ali  led 
to  a  successful  revolt,  and  the  election  of  a  calif 
beyond  the  limits  of  Arabia.  The  house  of  An.  ess, 
Ommeia,  who  were  thus  raised  to  tiie  cahfate, 
were  disturbed  during  their  rule  of  ninety  years 
by  the  supposed  rights  of  tlie  posterity  of  the  Pro- 
phet through  his  daughter  Fatima,  whose  claims 

*  Now  called  Kluva  or  O'lganj. 
L  L    4 


520  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     afforded  a  pretext  in  every  case  of  revolt  or  defec- 

'        tion  ;  until,  in  a.  d.  750,  the  rebellion  of  the  great 

province  of  Khorasan  gave  the  last  blow  to   their 

power,  and  placed  the  descendants  of  Abbas,  the 

Prophet's  uncle,  on  the  throne. 

Spain  held  out  for  the  old  dynasty,  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  empire  was  never  restored. 


DYNASTIES    AFTER    THE    CALIFS.  521 


CHAP.  II. 

DYNASTIES    FORMED    AFTER    THE    BREAKING    UP    OF    THE 
EMPIRE    OF    THE    CALIFS. 

The  death  of  Harun  al  Ilasliid,  fifth  cahf  of  the     chap. 

II. 

house  of  Abbas,  was  accelerated  by  a  journey  un- 


dertaken in  consequence  of  an  obstinate  revolt  of 
Transoxiana*,  which  was  quelled  by  his  son,  Ma-  a.d.  soe, 
mun ;  and  the  long  residence  of  that  prince  in  "  * 
Khorasan  maintained  for  a  time  the  connection  of 
that  province  with  the  empire.  But  it  was  by 
means  of  a  revolt  of  Khorascin  that  Mamun  had 
himself  been  enabled  to  wrest  the  califate  from  his 
brother  Amin  ;  and  he  had  not  long  removed  his 
court  to  Bagdad,  before  Tahir,  who  had  been  the 
principal  instrument  of  his  elevation,  began  to 
establish  his  own  authority  in  Khorasan,  and  soon 
became   virtually   independent.t       Khorasan  and  ^•"-  ^20, 

.  .  A.  11.205 

Transoxiana  were  never  again  united  to  the  calif- 
ate ;  and  the  Commanders  of  the  Faithful  being 
not  long  afterwards  reduced  to  pageants  in  the 
hands  of  the  Turkisii  guards,  the  dissolution  of 
the  Arab  empire  may  from  that  tim^e  be  regarded  ^.n.  sfji, 

^  •'  "-^  AH.    247. 

as  complete,  t 

The  family  of  Tahir  ruled  quietly  and  obscurely  ThcTahc- 

A.  n. 

*  Price,  vol.  ii.   p.  79.     His  authority  is,  generally,  the  "  Tii-   820 872. 

rlklii  Tabari." 

t   Ibid.  p.  225.  t   il^i«^'-  P-  155. 


522 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 

A.D.  872, 
A.H.  259. 
The  So- 
farides. 

A.D. 

872 — 903, 


A.D.  gor?, 

A.H.  290. 


A.D,  964, 
A.H.  353, 
A.D.  1006, 
A.H.  396. 

The  house 
of  Samani. 

A.D. 

872 — 999. 


for  upwards  of  fifty  years,  when  they  were  deposed 
by  the  Sofarides,  a  more  conspicuous  dynasty, 
though  of  even  shorter  duration.*  Yacub,  the  son 
of  Leith,  the  founder,  was  a  brazier  of  Sistan,  who 
first  raised  a  revolt  in  his  native  province,  and 
afterwards  overran  all  Persia  to  the  O.xus,  and  died 
while  on  Jiis  advance  against  the  calif  in  Bagdad. 
His  brother,  Omar,  was  defeated  and  made  pri- 
soner by  the  Samanis ;  which  put  an  end  to  the 
greatness  of  the  family,  though  a  younger  member 
maintained  himself  in  Sistan  for  a  few  years  after 
the  loss  of  their  other  possessions,  t 

Their  whole  reign  did  not  last  above  forty  years  ; 
but  their  memory  must  have  survived  in  Sistan, 
for  at  the  end  of  half  a  century  we  find  that 
country  again  asserting  its  independence  under  one 
of  their  descendants  t,  who  was  finally  subdued  by 
Sultan  Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  more  than  100  years 
after  the  downfal  of  the  original  dynasty.  § 

The  house  of  Samani  subsisted  for  more  than 
120  years  II;  and  though  not  themselves  invaders 
of  India,  they  had  more  connection  than  their  pre- 
decessors with  the  history  of  that  country. 

They  derive  their  name  either  from  one  of  their 
ancestors,  or  from  a  town  in  Bokhara,  or  in  Balkh, 
from  which  they  drew  their  origin.^  The  first  of 
the  family  mentioned  in  history  was  already  a  per- 


*  Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  229.  f  Ibid.  p.  234-. 

:!:  Ibid.  p.  243.  §  Ibid.  p.  282. 

II   From  A.D.  892,  A.  h.  279,  to  a.d.  lOOt,  a.ii.  395. 
f  Ouseley's  Ebn  Haukal,  p.  SOL 


DYNASTIES    AFTER    THE    CALIFS.  O^ 

son  of  consideration,  when  he  attracted  the  notice     chap. 

II. 

of  the  CaUf  Mamun,  then  residing  in   Khorasan.  


817—280, 

A.H. 

202—205. 


By  the  directions  of  that  prince,  three  of  the  Sa- 
mani's  sons  were  appointed  to  governments  beyond 
the  Oxus,  and  one  to  that  of  Herat.  They  were  a.d 
continued  under  the  Taherites,  and  retained  Trans- 
oxiana  after  the  fall  of  that  dynasty,  till  the  death 
of  Yacub  Leith  ;  w^hen  they  passed  the  Oxus  at 
the  head  of  a  large  army  of  cavalry,  probably  com- 
posed of  their  Turki  subjects,  made  Omar  Leith 
prisoner,  as  has  been  related,  and  took  possession 
of  all  the  territory  he  had  conquered.  They  go-  a.d.  900, 
verned  it  in  the  name,  though  perfectly  independent 
of  the  calif,  until  they  were  deprived  of  a  large 
portion  of  it  by  the  family  of  Buya,  called  also  the 
Deilemites,  from  the  district  in  Mazenderan  in 
which  their  founder  was  a  fisherman  on  the  Caspian 
Sea. 

Cut  off  by  a  high  range  of  mountains  from  the  The  Ba- 
rest of  Persia,  and  protected  by  the  difficulty  of  bencmites. 
access,  the  extensive  forests,  and  the  unwholesome 
climate,  Mazenderan  liad  never  been  perfectly 
converted,  and  probably  never  entirely  subdued  : 
it  was  the  seat  of  constant  insurrections,  was  often 
in  the  hands  of  worshippers  of  fire,  and  presented 
a  disturbed  scene,  in  wliich  the  Deilemites  rose  to 
consequence,  and  at  length  acquired  sufficient  force 
to  wrest  the  western  provinces  of  Persia  from  the 
Samanis,  to  seize  on  Bagdad  and  the  person  of  the 
calif,  and  to  rule  over  an   extensive  territory  in       ^-n- 

,  .  „  .      ,  ,.  932—1055, 

his  name  for  a  period  exceeding  100  years.  a.h. 

*  '^  -^  321— 4-18. 


524  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         After  their  losses  by  the  Deilemite  conquests, 
the  Samaiiis   remained  masters   of  Khorasan   and 


Transoxiana,    and   gave   rise   to    the    dynasty    of 
Ghazni,  who  were  the  founders  of  the  Mussuhnan 
empire  of  India. 
Aiptcgin,         It  was  in   the  reign    of  Abduhiielek,  the  fifth 

founder  of,  nii  <->//• 

the  house     prince  or  the  house  of  Samani,  that  Alptegin,  the 

of  Ghazni.      r  i  n     i  •  i  •  • 

rounder  or  tins  new  dynasty,  rose  into  importance. 
He  was  a  Turki  slave,  and  his  original  duty  is  said 
to  have  been  to  amuse  his  master  by  tumbling  and 
tricks  of  legerdemain.* 

It  was  the  fashion  of  the  time  to  confer  offices 
of  trust  on  slaves;  and  Alptegin,  being  a  man  of 
good  sense  and  courage,  as  well  as  integrity,  rose 
A.D.  961,  in  time  to  be  governor  of  Khorasan.  On  the  death 
■  of  his  patront,  he  was  consulted  about  the  best 
person  of  the  family  for  a  successor ;  and  hap- 
pening, unluckily,  to  give  his  suffrage  against  Man- 
sur,  on  whom  the  choice  of  the  other  chiefs  had 
fallen,  he  incurred  the  ill-will  of  his  sovereign, 
was  deprived  of  his  government,  and  if  he  had  not 
displayed  great  military  skill  in  extricating  himself 
from  among  his  enemies,  he  would  have  lost  his 
liberty,  if  not  his  life.  He  had,  however,  a  body 
of  trusty  adherents,  under   whose   protection    he 

*  D'Herbelot,  article  "  Alpteghin." 

f  Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  24-3.;  De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  155.  Fe- 
rishta  (vol.  i.  p.  12.)  makes  his  revolt  a.  d.  962,  a.h.  351. 
D'Herbelot  makes  this  date  a.d.  917,  a.h.  305;  but  it  is  evi- 
dently a  slip,  either  of  the  author  or  the  printer,  for  in  the  date 
of  Alptegin's  death  he  comes  within  a  moderate  distance  of  the 
other  authorities. 


DYNASTIES    AFTER    THE    CALIFS.  5^5 

made  good  his  retreat,  until  he  found  himself  in     chap. 
safety  at  Ghazni,   in  the   heart  of  the    mountains  ' 

of  Soliman.  The  plain  country,  including  Balkh,  His  rebel- 
Herat,  and  Sistan,  received  the  new  governor,  and 
remained  in  obedience  to  the  Samanis ;  but  the 
strong  tract  between  that  and  the  Indus  bade  de- 
fiance to  all  their  attacks  ;  and  though  not  all  sub- 
ject to  Alptegin,  all  contributed  to  secure  his  in- 
dependence. One  historian  states  that  he  was 
accompanied  on  his  retreat  by  a  body  of  3000  dis- 
ciplined slaves  or  Mamluks,  who  would,  of  course, 
be  Turks  of  his  own  original  condition  *  :  he  would 
doubtless  also  be  accompanied  and  followed,  from 
time  to  time,  by  soldiers  who  had  served  under 
him  when  governor ;  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
main  body  of  his  army  was  drawn  from  the  country 
where  he  was  now  established. t 

The  inhabitants  of  the  cultivated  country  were 
not  unwarlike  ;  and  the  Afghans  of  the  hills,  even 
when  their  tribe  did  not  acknowledge  his  authority, 
would  be  allured  by  his  wages  to  enter  his  ranks. 
He  seems  to  have  made  no  attempt  to  extend  his 
territory  ;  and  he  died  within  fourteen  years  after  a.d.976, 
he  became  independent.  §  ^'"' 

Alptegin  had  a  slave  named  Sebektegin,  whom   SLbcktegin. 
he  had  purchased  from  a  merchant  who  brought 

*   Price,  from  the  "  Kholasat  al  Akhbur,"  vol.  ii.  p.  21-3. 
f   D'llerbelot,  article  "  Alptcgliin." 
X  D'Herbelot  makes  it  a.  d.  964,  a.h.  353. 
§   Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  211.  ;  Fcrishta,  vol.  i.  p.  13.;  De  Guignes, 
vol.  ii.  p.  156. 


526  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  him  from  Turkestan,  and  whom,  by  degrees,  he 
'  had  raised  to  so  much  power  and  trust,  that  at  his 
death  he  was  the  effective  head  of  his  government, 
and  in  the  end  became  his  successor. 

Most  authorities  assert  that  Alptegin  gave  Se- 
bektegin  his  daughter  in  marriage,  and  himself 
appointed  him  his  heir  *  ;  and  others  confirm  the 
immediate  succession,  though  not  the  previous 
marriage,  t 

But  Ferishta's  account  t  is,  that  Alptegin,  dying 
in  A.D.  975,  A.H.  365,  left  a  son  named  Isakh,whom 
Sebektegin  accompanied  to  Bokhara.  Isakh  was 
then  appointed  by  Mansur  Samani  to  be  governor 
of  Ghazni,  and  Sebektegin  his  deputy.  Isakh  died 
in  A.D.  977>  A.H.  367,  when  Sebektegin  was  ac- 
knowledged as  his  successor,  and  married  Alpte- 
gin's  dausfhter.5 

He  had  scarcely  time  to  take  possession  of  his 

*  De  Guignes  (who  quotes  Abufeda),  vol.  ii.  p.  156. ;  D'Her- 
belot  (who  quotes  Khondemir). 

f   Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  277.         J  Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  13. 

§  A  story  is  told  of  Sebektegin,  while  yet  a  private  horse- 
man, which  proves  the  humanity  of  the  historian,  if  not  of  the 
hero.  One  day,  in  hunting,  he  succeeded  in  riding  down  a 
fawn  ;  but  when  he  was  carrying  off  his  prize  in  triumph,  he 
observed  the  dam  following  his  horse,  and  showing  such  evident 
marks  of  distress,  that  he  was  touched  with  compassion,  and  at 
last  released  his  captive,  pleasing  himself  with  the  gratitude  of 
the  mother,  which  often  turned  back  to  gaze  at  him  as  she  went 
off  to  the  forest  with  her  fawn.  That  night  the  Prophet  ap- 
peared to  him  in  a  dream,  told  him  that  God  had  given  him  a 
kingdom  as  a  reward  for  his  humanity,  and  enjoined  him  not  to 
forget  his  feelings  of  mercy  when  he  came  to  the  exercise  of 
power. 


DYNASTIES    AFTER    THE    CALIFS.  5^7 

new  kingdom  before  he  was   called  on   to  exert     chap. 

himself  in  its  defence.* 


The  establishment  of  a  Mahometan  government 
so  near  to  their  frontier  as  that  of  Ghazni  must 
naturally  have  disquieted  the  Hindus  on  the  Indus, 
and  appears  to  have  led  to  their  being  harassed  by 
frequent  incursions.  At  length  Jeipal,  raja  of  invasion  of 
Labor,  whose  dominions  were  contiguous  to  those  rljTof 
of  Ghazni,  determined  to  become  assailant  in  his  ^^''"'■• 
turn.  He  led  a  large  army  into  Laghman,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  valley  which  extends  from  Peshawer 
to  Cabul,  and  was  there  met  by  Sebektegin.  While 
the  armies  were  watching  a  favourable  opportunity 
for  engaging,  they  were  assailed  by  a  furious  tem- 
pest of  wind,  rain,  and  thunder,  which  was  ascribed 
to  supernatural  causes,  and  so  disheartened  the 
Indians,  naturally  more  sensible  to  cold  and  wet 
than  their  antagonists,  that  Jeipal  was  induced  to 
make  proposals  of  an  accommodation.  Sebektegin 
was  not  at  first  disposed  to  hearken  to  him  ;  but, 
being  made  aware  of  the  consequence  of  driving 
Hindus  to  despair,  he  at  length  consented  to  treat ; 
and  Jeipal  surrendered  fifty  elephants,  and  engaged  Rop<-iie(i. 
to  pay  a  large  sum  of  money. 

*  From  this  time  forward  my  principal  dependence  will  be 
on  Ferishta,  a  Persian  historian,  who  long  resided  in  India,  and 
wrote,  in  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  history  of  all  the 
Mahometan  dynasties  in  that  country  down  to  his  own  time.  I 
think  myself  fortunate  in  having  the  guidance  of  an  author  so 
much  superior  to  most  of  his  class  in  Asia.  Where  the  nature 
of  ray  narrative  admitted  of  it,  I  have  often  used  the  very  ex- 
pressions of  Ferishta,  which,  in  Colonel  I'riggs's  translation,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  improve. 


528  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         When  he  found  himself  again  in  safety,  he  re- 

fused  to  fulfil  this  part  of  his  agreement,  and  even 

threw  the  messengers  sent  to  demand  the  execution 
of  it  into  prison. 
Hindu  Sebektegin  was  not  likely  to  submit  to  such  an 

rlcv']'^^'  insult  and  breach  of  faith  :  he  again  assembled  his 
troops,  and  recommenced  his  march  towards  the 
Indus,  while  Jeipal  called  in  the  assistance  of  the 
rajas  of  Delhi,  Ajmir,  Calinjar,  and  Canouj,  and 
advanced  to  Laghman  with  an  army  of  100,000 
horse,  and  a  prodigious  number  of  foot  soldiers. 
Sebektegin  ascended  a  height  to  view  the  enemy, 
and  beheld  the  whole  plain  covered  with  their  in- 
numerable host ;  but  he  was  nowise  dismayed  at 
the  prospect ;  and,  relying  on  the  courage  and  dis- 
cipline of  his  own  troops,  he  commenced  the  attack 
with  an  assurance  of  victory.  He  first  pressed  one 
point  of  the  Indian  army  with  a  constant  succession 
of  charges  by  fresh  bodies  of  cavalry  ;  and  when 
he  found  them  begin  to  waver,  he  ordered  a  ge- 
neral assault  along  the  whole  line  :  the  Indians  at 
once  gave  way,  and  were  pursued,  with  a  dreadful 
Defeated,  siaughtcr,  to  thc  ludus.  Sebektegin  found  a  rich 
plunder  in  their  camp,  and  levied  heavy  contribu- 
tions on  the  surrounding  districts.  He  also  took 
possession  of  the  country  up  to  the  Indus,  and  left 
an  officer,  with  ten  thousand  horse,  as  his  governor 
of  Peshawer. 

The  Afghans  and   Khiljis  *    of   Laghman   im- 

*  The  Khiljis,  or  Khaljis,  are  a  Tartar  tribe,  part  of  which, 
in  the  tenth  century,  was  still  near  the  source  of  the  Jaxarte'' 


DYNASTIES    AFTER    THE    CALIFS.  529 

mediately  tendered  their  allegiance,  and  furnished     chap. 
useful  recruits  to  his  army.  *  

After  these  e.xpeditions,  he  employed  himself  in 
settling  his  own  dominions  (which  now  extended 
on  the  west  to  beyond  Candahar);  when  an  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself  of  promoting  his  own  ag- 
grandisement by  a  timely  interposition  in  favour  of 
his  nominal  sovereign. 

Xoh  or  Noah  (the  seventh  of  the  Samani  kings)  Scbektegin 

tlSSlsts  ^116 

liad  been  driven  from  Bokhara,  and  forced  to  fly  Samanis 

.i/~\  1  •  •  /■•-r»/  T'-i/  against  the 

across  the  Uxus,   by  an  invasion  or  Bogra  ivhan,  eastern 

king  of  the  Hoeike  Tartars,  who  at  that  time  pos-  ^'''■'^'■^• 
sessed  almost  all  Tartary  beyond  the  Imaus,  as  far 

east  as  China,  t     The  fortunate  sickness,  retreat,  a.d.  993, 

A.H.  383. 

and  death  of  Bogra  Khan  restored  N6h  to  his 
throne.  An  attempt  he  soon  after  made  to  punish 
the  disaffection  shown  by  his  governor  of  Kho- 
rasan,  during  his  misfortunes,  drove  that  chief  into 
an  alliance  with  Faik,  another  noble  of  Bokhara, 
whose  turbulence  makes  a  conspicuous  figure  for 
a  long  period  in  the   latter  days  of  the  Samanis ; 


but  of  which  a  portion  had  even  then  been  long  settled  between 
Ststan  and  India  (i.e.  in  the  Afghan  country).  In  the  tenth 
century  they  still  spoke  Turki.  They  seem  very  early  to  liave 
been  closely  connected  with  the  Afghans,  with  whom  their 
name  is  almost  invariably  associated.  (For  their  original  stock 
and  residence  in  Tartary,  see  De  Guignes,  vol.  iii.  p.  9.  note  ; 
D'llcrbclot,  article  "  KliaUulj  ;"  Kbn  Ilaukal,  p.  209. ;  and  for 
their  abode  in  the  Afghan  country,  Ibid.  p.  207.  This  last 
author  wrote  between  a.d.  902  and  a.d.  968.) 

*   Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  i.   pp.  15 — 19. 

-j-   De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  157.;  Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  247. 

VOL.   I.  M   M 


530  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  and  the  confederates,  more  anxious  about  their  own 
'  interests  than  the  safety  of  the  state,  called  in  the 
aid  of  the  Deilemite  prince  who  ruled  in  the  ad- 
joining provinces  of  Persia,  and  was  well  disposed 
to  extend  his  dominions  by  promoting  dissensions 
among  his  neighbours.  To  resist  this  powerful  com- 
bination, Noh  had  recourse  to  Sebektegin,  and  that 
leader  marched  towards  Bokhara  at  the  head  of  his 
army,  more  on  the  footing  of  an  ally  than  a  subject. 
He  had  stipulated,  on  the  pretext  of  his  infirmities, 
that  he  should  not  dismount  at  the  meeting ;  but 
he  no  sooner  came  in  sight  of  his  sovereign,  than 
he  threw  himself  from  his  horse,  and  would  have 
kissed  the  royal  stirrup  if  he  had  not  been  pre- 
vented by  Noh,  who  hastened  to  receive  him  in 
his  arms. 

Their  united  force  might  not  have  been  sufficient 
to  oppose  their  enemies  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
treachery  of  the  Deilemite  general,  who,  in  the 
critical  moment  of  the  action,  threw  his  shield  over 
his  back  as  a  sign  of  peace,  and  went  over  with  his 
troops  to  Sebektegin.  The  rebels  now  evacuated 
their  usurpations,  and  Noh  rewarded  the  ser- 
vices of  Sebektegin,  by  confirming  him  in  his  own 
government,  and  conferring  that  of  Khorasan  on 
his  son  Mahmud.  But  the  rebels,  though  discon- 
certed at  the  moment,  were  able  once  more  to  col- 
lect their  forces,  and  next  year  they  returned  so 
unexpectedly,  that  they  surprised  and  defeated 
Mahmud  at  Nishapur.  It  was  with  some  exertion 
that  Sebektegin  was  enabled  again  to  encounter 


DYNASTIES    AFTER    THE    CALIFS.  531 

them.     The  contest  ended  in  their  being  totally    char 


II. 


defeated  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Tus  (now  Mesh- 
hed).*  Their  force  was  completely  broken  ;  and  ^.d.  995, 
Faik,  abandoning  the  scene  of  his  former  import- 
ance, fled  to  E'lik  Khan,  the  successor  of  Bogra, 
by  whose  powerful  interposition  he  was  soon  after 
reconciled  to  Noh,  and  appointed  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Samarcand. 

Immediately  after  this  arrangement  Noh  died ; 
and  E'lik  Khan,  profiting  by  the  occasion  of  a  new 
succession,  advanced  on  Bokhara,  supported  by  his 
ally  from  Samarcand,  and  ultimately  compelled  the 
new  prince,  Mansur  II.,  to  place  all  the  power  of 
his  government  in  the  hands  of  Faik. 

During  these  transactions   Sebektegin  died  on  i^t<^th  of 

^  '  11  A-1 1  -J-  Sebektegin, 

his  way  back  to  (jhazni.t 

*  De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  158.;  Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  24-8.;  Fe- 
rishta,  vol.  i.  p.  22. 

t  He  died  within  a  month  of  Noh,  a.d.  997,  a.h.  387.  (Fe- 
rishta.    De  Guignes.    Price.    D'Herbelot.) 


M  M   2 


53'^ 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


HOUSE  OF  GHAZNI. 


CHAP.  III. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD. 


BOOK 
V. 

Disputed 
succession. 
A.D.  997, 
A.H.  387. 


Mahmud  had  from  his  boyhood  accompanied  his 
father  on  his  campaigns,  and  had  given  early  indi- 
cations of  a  warhke  and  decided  character.  He 
was  now  in  his  thirtieth  year,  and,  from  his  tried 
courage  and  capacity,  seemed  in  every  way  fitted 
to  succeed  to  the  throne ;  but  his  birth  was  pro- 
bably illegitimate*,  and,  from  his  absence  at  his 
government  of  Nishapur,  his  younger  brother,  Is- 
mael,  was  enabled,  according  to  some  accounts, 
to  obtain  the  dying  nomination  of  Sebektegin,  and, 
certainly,  to  seize  on  the  reins  of  government,  and 
cause  himself  to  be  proclaimed  without  delay.  Not 
the  least  of  his  advantages  was  the  command  of  his 
father's  treasures  ;  he  employed  them  to  conciliate 
the  leading  men  with  presents,  to  augment  the 
pay  of  the  army,  and  to  court  popularity  with  all 
classes  by  a  lavish  expenditure  on  shows  and  en- 
tertainments. 

By  these  means,  though  still  more  by  the  force 
of  actual  possession,  and  perhaps  an  opinion  of  his 
superior  right,  he  obtained  the  support  of  all  that 
part  of  the  kingdom  which  was  not  under  the  im- 
mediate government  of  Mahmud. 

*  See  Colonel  Briggs's  note  on  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  29. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  533 

The  conduct  of  the  latter  prince,  on  this  con-     char 
tempt  of  his  claims,  may  either  have  arisen  from  ^' 

the  consciousness  of  a  weak  title,  or  from  natural 
or  assumed  moderation.  He  professed  the  strongest 
,  attachment  to  his  brother,  and  the  utmost  readi- 
ness to  give  way  to  him  if  he  had  been  of  an  age 
to  undertake  so  arduous  a  duty  ;  and  he  offered 
that,  if  Ismael  would  concede  the  supremacy 
to  his  superior  experience,  he  would  repay  the  sa- 
crifice by  a  grant  of  the  provinces  of  Balkh  and 
Khorasan.  His  offers  were  immediately  rejected  ; 
and,  seeing  no  further  hopes  of  a  reconciliation,  he 
resolved  to  bring  things  to  an  issue  by  an  attack 
on  the  capital.  Ismael,  who  was  still  at  Balkh, 
penetrated  his  design,  and,  interposing  between 
him  and  Ghazni,  obliged  him  to  come  to  a  general 
engagement.  It  was  better  contested  than  might 
have  been  expected  from  the  unequal  skill  of  the 
generals,  but  was  favourable  to  Mahmud  :  Ghazni 
fell,  Ismael  was  made  prisoner,  and  passed  the  rest 
of  his  life  in  confinement,  though  allowed  every 
indulgence  consistent  with  such  a  situation. 

These  internal  contests,  which  lasted  for  seven 
months,  contributed  to  the  success  of  E'lik  Khan, 
who  had  now  established  his  own  influence  over 
Mansur  II.,  by  compelling  him  to  receive  Faik  as 
his  minister,  or,  in  other  words,  his  master. 

Dissembling  his  consciousness  of  the  ascendancy 
of  his  old  enemies,  Mahmud  made  a  respectful 
application  to  Mansur  for  the  continuance  of  his 
government  of  Khorasan.      His  request  was  ab- 

M  M   3 


534*  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     ruptly  rejected,  and  a  creature  of  the  new  admi- 
"        nistration  appointed  his  successor. 

But  Mahmud  was  not  so  easily  dispossessed ; 
he  repelled  the  new  governor,  and  although  he 
avoided  an  immediate  conflict  with  Mansur,  who 
was  brought  in  person  against  him,  he  withheld  all 
appearance  of  concession,  and  remained  in  full 
preparation  for  defence ;  when  some  disputes  and 
jealousies  at  court  led  to  the  dethronement  and 
blinding  of  Mansur,  and  the  elevation  of  Abdul- 
A.D.  999,  melek  as  the  instrument  of  Faik.  On  this,  Mahmud 
:^:""  '^^^,'     ordered  the  name  of  the  Samanis  to  be  left  out  of 

Mahmud 

declares  his  i\iq  pubHc  prajcrs  ;  took  possession  of  Khorasan 
ence.  in  liis  owu  name  ;  and,  having  soon  after  received 

an  investiture  from  the  calif  (the  dispenser  of 
powers  which  he  himself  no  longer  enjoyed),  he 
declared  himself  an  independent  sovereign,  and 
first  assumed  the  title  of  Sultan,  since  so  general 
among  Mahometan  princes.* 

E'lik  Khan,  not  to  be  shut  out  of  his  share  of 
the  spoil,  advanced  on  Bokhara,  under  pretence 
of  supporting  Abdulmelek  ;  and,  taking  possession 
of  all  Transoxiana,  put  an  end  to  the  dynasty  of 
Samani,  after  it  had  reigned  for  more  than  120 
years. 

Mahmud,  now  secure  in  the  possession  of  his 
dominions,  had  it  almost  in  his  own  choice  in 
which  direction  he  should  extend  them.  The 
kingdoms    on  the   west,   so    attractive   from  their 

*  Though  not  before  adopted  by  the  Mussuhiians,  it  is  an 
old  Arabic  word  for  a  kins. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  535 

connection  with  the  Mahometan  religion  and  their    chap. 

III. 
ancient  renown,  were  in  such  a  state  of  weakness  ' 

and  disorder  that  a  large  portion  ultimately  fell  into 
his  hands  without  an  effort ;  and  the  ease  with 
which  the  rest  was  subdued  by  the  Seljuks,  who 
were  once  his  subjects,  showed  how  little  ob- 
struction there  was  to  his  advancing  his  frontier  to 
the  Hellespont. 

But  the  undiscovered  regions  of  India  presented 
a  wider  field  for  romantic  enterprise.  The  great 
extent  of  that  favoured  country,  the  rumours  of  its 
accumulated  treasures,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and 
the  peculiarity  of  its  productions,  raised  it  into  a 
land  of  fable,  in  which  the  surrounding  nations 
might  indulge  their  imaginations  without  control. 
The  adventures  to  be  expected  in  such  a  country 
derived  fresh  lustre  from  their  being  the  means  of 
extending  the  Mahometan  faith,  the  establishment 
of  which  among  a  new  people  was  in  those  times 
the  most  glorious  exploit  that  a  king  or  conquefor 
could  achieve. 

These  views  made  the  livelier  impression  on 
Mahmud,  from  his  first  experience  in  arms  having 
been  gained  in  a  war  with  Hindus ;  and  were 
seconded  by  his  natural  disposition,  even  at  that 
time  liable  to  be  dazzled  by  the  prospect  of  a  rich 
field  for  plunder. 

Influenced  by  such  motives,  he  made  peace 
with  E'lik  Khan,  leaving  him  in  possession  of 
Transoxiana ;  cemented  the  alliance  by  a  marriage 
with   the  daughter  of  that   prince  j    and,  having 

M  M    4 


536  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     quelled  an  insurrection  of  a  representative  of  Sofa- 
. rides,  who  had  been  tolerated  in  a  sort  of  inde- 


pendence in  Sistan,  and  whom,  on  a  subsequent 
rebellion*,  he  seized  and  imprisoned,  he  proceeded 
or?  his  first  invasion  of  India. 

Three  centuries  and  a  half  had   elapsed  since 

the  conquest  of  Persia  by  the  Mussulmans  when 

His  first      he   set  out  on  this  expedition.     He  left  Ghazni 

expedition  .  ■ 

to  India.  With  10,000  clioscu  lioi'sc,  aiid  was  met  by  his 
A.M.  391.'  father's  old  antagonist,  Jeipal  of  Labor,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Peshawer.  He  totally  defeated 
liim,  took  him  prisoner,  and  pursued  iiis  march 
to  Batinda,  beyond  the  Satlaj.  He  stormed  and 
plundered  that  placet;  and  then  returned  with 
the  rich  spoils  of  the  camp  -  and  country  to 
Ghazni.  He  released  the  Hindu  prisoners  for  a 
ransom,  on  the  raja's  renewing  his  promises  of 
tribute ;  but  put  some  Afghans  who  had  joined 
them  to  death.  Jeipal,  on  returning  from  his 
captivity,  worn  out  by  repeated  disasters,  and  per- 
haps constrained  by  some  superstition  of  his  sub- 
jects, made  over  his  crown  to  his  son  Anangpal ; 
and  mounting  a  pyre  which  he  had  ordered  to  be 

*    A.D.   1002. 

-f-  Batinda  seems  formerly  to  have  been  a  place  of  more  con- 
sequence than  its  situation,  in  a  sort  of  desert,  would  promise. 
It  is  said  by  Colonel  Tod  to  have  been  the  residence  of  the  raja 
of  Labor  alternately  with  the  capital  from  which  he  took  his 
title.  As  the  battle  at  Peshawer  was  on  the  27th  of  November, 
Mahmud  would  reach  Batinda  towards  the  end  of  the  cold 
season,  when  the  rivers  of  the  Panjab,  though  not  all  fordable, 
would  offer  little  obstruction  to  cavalry. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  537 

constructed,  set  it  on  fire  with  liis  own  hands,  and     chap. 
perished  in  the  flames.  ' 


Anang  Pal  was  true  to  his  father's  engagements;  Second  ex. 
but  the  raja  of  Bhatia,  a  dependency  of  Lahor,  on  ^^  '  ^*^"' 
the  southern  side  of  Multan,  refused  to  pay  his 
share  of  the  tribute,  and  resolutely  opposed  the 
Sultan,  who  went  against  him  in  person.  He  was 
driven,  first  from  a  well-defended  intrenchment, 
then  from  his  principal  fortress,  and  at  last  de- 
stroyed himself  in  the  thickets  of  the  Indus,  where 
he  had  fled  for  concealment,  and  where  many  of 
his  followers  fell  in  endeavouring  to  revenue  his  ''"•^f^'^' 

o  o  A.H.  395. 

death. 

Mahmud's   next  expedition  was  to  reduce  his  Third  ex- 

A   i->    ,    /  ^•rn^\T^■'  i  jjedition. 

dependent,  the  Afghan  chief  of  Multan*,  who, 
though  a  Mussulman,  had  renounced  his  alle- 
giance, and  had  formed  a  close  alliance  with  Anang 

Pcil. 

The  tribes  of  the  mountains  being,  probably,  not 
sufficiently  subdued  to  allow  of  a  direct  march  from 
Ghazni  to  Multan,  the  raja  was  able  to  interpose 
between  Mahmud  and  his  ally.  The  armies  met 
somewhere  near  Peshawer,  when  the  raja  was 
routed,  pursued  to  Sodra  (near  Vizirabad),  on  the 
Acesines,  and  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  Cash- 
mir.  Mahmud  then  laid  siege  to  Multan  :  at  the 
end  of  seven  days  he  accepted  the  submission  of 


*  His  name  was  Abul  Fatteh  Lodi,  and  he  was  grandson  of 
Ilamld  Khan  Lodi,  wlio  had  joined  the  enemies  of  his  faith  for 
a  cession  of  the  provinces  of  Multan  and  Laghman,  and  who 
submitted  to  Sebektegin  after  his  victory  over  the  Hindus. 


538  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     the  chief,  together  with  a  contribution ;  and  re- 
turned to  Ghazni. 


A.D.  1005,        He  was  led  to  grant  these  favourable  terms  in 

Invasion  of  cousequeuce  of  intelligence  that  had  reached  him 

under  E'?ik  ^f  a  formidable  invasion   of  his  dominions  by  the 

■^^''"'         armies  of  E1ik  Khan.  Though  so  closely  connected 

with  him,  the  Tartar  prince  had  been  tempted,  by 

observing  his  exclusive  attention  to  India,  to  hope 

for  an  easy  conquest  of  Khorasan,  and   had  sent 

one  army  to  Herat  and  another  to  Balkli,  to  take 

possession. 

But  he  had  formed  a  WTong  estimate  of  the 
vigour  of  his  opponent,  who  committed  the  charge 
of  his  territories  on  the  Indus  to  Sewuk  (or  Suk) 
Pal,  a  converted  Hindu,  and  turning,  by  rapid 
marches,  towards  Khorasan,  soon  forced  E'lik 
Khan's  generals  to  retire  to  their  own  side  of  the 
Oxus. 

Elik  Khan  was  now  threatened  in  his  turn,  and 
applied  for  assistance  to  Kadr  Khan  of  Khoten, 
who  marched  to  join  him  with  50,000  men.  Thus 
strengthened,  E'lik  Khan  did  not  hesitate  to  cross 
the  Oxus,  and  was  met  by  Mahmiid,  near  Balkh. 
On  this  occasion  he  brought  500  elephants  into 
the  field,  and  contrived,  by  his  judicious  arrange- 
ments, that  they  should  not  be  liable  to  derange  his 
own  line,  while  they  should  produce  their  full  effect 
on  the  men  and  horses  of  the  enemy,  unaccustomed 
to  their  huge  bulk  and  strange  appearance.  Ac- 
cordingly the  mere  sight  of  them  checked  the  im- 
petuosity   of  the   Tartar    charge  ;     on   which  the 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  539 

elephants  advanced,  and  at  once  pushed  into  the     chap. 

HI 

midst  of  the  enemy,  dispersing,  overthrowing,  and  ' 

trampHng  under  foot  whatever  was  opposed  to 
them  ;  it  is  said  that  Mahmud's  own  elephant 
caught  up  the  standard  bearer  of  E'lik  Khan,  and 
tossed  him  aloft  with  his  trunk,  in  sight  of  the 
Tartar  king  and  his  terrified  fellow  soldiers.  Before 
this  disorder  could  be  recovered,  the  armies  closed  ; 
and  so  rapid  and  courageous  was  the  onset  of  the 
Ghaznevites,  that  the  Tartars  gave  way  on  all  sides, 
and  were  driven,  with  a  prodigious  slaughter,  from  ""•"•  ^^„^' 

'  r  &  »  '  A.H.  397. 

the  field  of  battle.  *  Defeatedby 

E'lik  Khan  escaped  across  the  Oxus  with  a  few 
attendants,  and  never  again  attempted  to  make 
head  against  Mahmud. 

The  Sultan  was  at  first  disposed  to  pursue  the 
enemy ;  but  the  advance  of  winter  compelled  him 
to  abandon  this  desi<i:n  ;  and  he  did  not  regain  his 
capital  without  the  loss  of  some  hundreds  of  men 
and  horses  by  the  inclemency  of  the  season. 

Meanwhile  Suk  Pal  had  revolted  and  relapsed 
into  idolatry.  Mahmud  came  unexpectedly  upon 
him,  and,  making  him  prisoner,  confined  him  in  a 
fort  for  life. 

Mahmud  had  been  prevented,  by  the  invasion 
of  E'lik  Khan,  from  resenting  the  opposition  which 
he  had  met  with  from  Anang  Pal.  As  he  was  now 
at  leisure  to  attend  to  Indian  affairs,  he  assembled 
a  large  army,  and  set  out,  in  the  spring  of  a.  d.  Fourtii  ox- 
1U08,  to  resume  his  operations  against  the  raja.         T.l'.  1008, 

A. II.  'M)9. 

•  Ferishta.    Dc  Guignes.    D'llerbelot. 


540  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         But  Ananff  Pal  had  not  been  insensible  to  the 

c3 


V. 


risk  to  which  he  was  exposed.  He  had  sent  am- 
bassadors to  the  Hindu  princes  far  and  near,  point- 
ing out  to  them  the  danger  with  which  all  were 
threatened  by  the  progress  of  the  Mahometans, 
and  the  necessity  of  an  immediate  combination  to 
prevent  the  total  destruction  of  their  religion  and 
independence.  His  arguments,  which  were  pro- 
bably in  accordance  with  their  own  previous  feel- 
ings, made  an  impression  on  those  to  whom  they 
were  addressed  :  the  rajas  of  Ujen,  Gualior,  Ca- 
linjer,  Canouj,  Delhi,  and  Ajmir  entered  into  a 
confederacy  ;  and,  uniting  their  forces,  advanced 
into  the  Panjab,  with  the  largest  army  that  had 
Decisive  cvcr  yet  taken  the  field.  Mahmud  was  alarmed  at 
this  unexpected  display  of  force  ;  and,  instead  of 
meeting  the  danger  with  his  usual  alacrity,  he 
lialted  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy,  and  took  up 
a  position  near  Peshawer,  in  which  he  remained  on 
the  defensive.  During  his  inaction,  the  hostile 
army  daily  increased :  the  Hindu  women  sold  their 
jewels,  melted  down  their  golden  ornaments,  and 
sent  their  contributions  from  a  distance,  to  furnish 
resources  for  this  holy  war  :  and  the  Gakkars  and 
other  warlike  tribes  joining  their  army,  they  sur- 
rounded the  Mahometans,  who  were  obliged  to  in- 
trench their  camp.  But  Mahmud,  though  some- 
what disconcerted,  was  far  from  having  lost  his 
courage ;  and,  wishing  to  profit  by  the  strength  of 
his  position,  he  sent  out  a  strong  body  of  archers 
to  provoke  an  attack  on  his  intrenchments.     The 


SULTAN    MAHMUD, 


541 


result   was  different  from    his  expectations :    the    chap. 

archers  were  at  once  repulsed  by  the  Gakkars,  who, 

in  spite  of  the  king's  presence,  and  his  efforts, 
followed  them  up  so  closely,  that  a  numerous 
body  of  those  mountaineers,  bare-headed  and  bare- 
footed, variously  and  strangely  armed,  passed  the 
intrenchments  on  both  flanks,  and,  falling  in  with 
astonishing  fury  among  the  cavalry,  proceeded, 
with  their  swords  and  knives,  to  cut  down  and 
maim  both  horse  and  rider,  until,  almost  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  between  3000  and  4000 
Mussulmans  had  fallen  victims  to  their  savage  im- 
petuosity. * 

The  attacks,  however,  gradually  abated;  and 
Mahmud  at  length  discovered  that  the  elephant  of 
his  antagonist,  who  had  advanced  to  profit  by  the 
confusion,  had  taken  fright  at  the  flights  of  arrows  t, 
and  had  turned  and  fled  from  the  field.  This  in- 
cident struck  a  terror  into  the  enemy  :  the  Hindus, 
thinking  themselves  deserted  by  their  general, 
first  slackened  their  efforts,  and  at  last  gave  way 
and  dispersed.  Mahmud  took  immediate  advan- 
tage of  their  confusion,  and,  sending  out  10,000 
chosen  men  in  pursuit  of  them,  destroyed  double 

*   Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  234. 

+  In  tlie  original  this  is  "cannon  and  musquetry;"  and 
although  Colonel  Briggs  finds  a  most  ingenious  solution,  which, 
by  a  slight  change  of  the  diacritical  points  in  the  Persian,  turns 
these  words  into  "  naphtha  balls  and  arrows  ;"  yet  he  is  staggered 
by  the  agreement  of  all  the  MSS.,  and  suspects  an  anachronism 
in  the  author.     I  have  adopted  the  simplest  explanation. 


542  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     that  number  of  his  enemies  before  they  reached  a 


V. 


place  of  safety. 


Temple  of        After   this   providential    deliverance,    Mahmud 

Nagarcot. 

allowed  the  Indians  no  time  to  re-assemble  :  he 
followed  them  into  the  Panjab,  and  soon  found 
them  so  effectually  dispersed,  that  he  had  time  to 
execute  one  of  those  schemes  of  plunder  in  which  he 
seemsto  have  taken  so  much  delight.  It  was  directed 
against  Nagarcot,  a  fortified  temple  on  a  mountain 
connected  with  the  lower  range  of  Hemalaya.  This 
edifice,  as  it  derived  peculiar  sanctity  from  a  natural 
flame  which  issued  from  the  ground  within  its 
precincts,  was  enriched  by  the  offerings  of  a  long 
succession  of  Hindu  princes,  and  was  likewise  the 
depository  of  most  of  the  wealth  of  the  neighbour- 
hood ;  so  that,  according  to  Ferishta,  it  contained 
a  greater  quantity  of  gold,  silver,  precious  stones, 
and  pearls,  than  any  ever  collected  in  the  royal 
treasury  of  any  prince  on  earth. 

Such  a  place  might  have  opposed  a  successful 
resistance  to  any  assailant ;  but  the  garrison  had 
been  drawn  off  in  the  late  great  effort,  and  Mah- 
mud, on  approaching  the  walls,  found  them  lined 
by  a  crowd  of  defenceless  priests,  who  called 
loudly  for  quarter,  and  offered  unqualified  submis- 
sion. Their  terms  were  gladly  acceded  to,  and 
the  conqueror,  entering  with  the  principal  officers 
of  his  court  and  household,  took  possession  of 
their  accumulated  treasures.  700,000  golden  dinars, 
700  mans  of  gold  and  silver  plate,  200  mans  of 
pure  gold  in  ingots,  2000  mans  of  unwrought  sil- 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  543 

ver,  and  twenty  mans  of  various  jewels,  including     chap. 
pearls,  corals,  diamonds,  and  rubies,  collected  since         ^^' 
Raja  Bhima,  in  the  Hindu  heroic  ages,  are  said  to 
have  fallen  at  once  into  his  hands.* 

With  this  vast  booty  Mahmud  returned  to 
Ghazni,  and  next  year  celebrated  a  triumphal 
feast,  at  which  he  displayed  to  the  people  the  spoils 
of  India,  set  forth  in  all  their  magnificence  on 
golden  thrones  and  tables  of  the  precious  metals. 
The  festival  was  held  on  a  spacious  plain,  and 
lasted  three  days  ;  sumptuous  banquets  were  pro- 
vided for  the  spectators,  alms  were  liberally  dis- 
tributed among  the  poor,  and  splendid  presents 
were  bestowed  on  persons  distinguished  for  their 
rank,  merits,  or  sanctity. 

In  A.  H.  401,   he  went  in   person  against  the  A.n.  loio. 

p   /^  1    ^        •         1  •  r   Conquest  of 

strong  country  or  Ghoi",  m  the  mountams  east  ot  chor. 
Herat.  It  was  inhabited  by  the  Afghans,  of  the 
tribe  of  Sur,  had  been  early  converted,  and  was 
completely  reduced  under  the  califs  in  a.  k.  111. 
The  chief  had  occupied  an  unassailable  position, 
but  was  drawn  out  by  a  pretended  flight,  (an 
operation  which,  though  it  seems  so  dangerous, 
yet,  in  the  hands  of  historians,  appears  never  to 
fail,)  and  being  entirely  defeated,  swallowed  poison. 
His  name  was  Mohammed  Sur,  and  the  conquest 
of  his  country  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  it  was 

*  There  are  many  sorts  of  man  :  the  smallest,  that  of  Arabia, 
is  2  lbs. ;  the  commonest,  that  of  Tabriz,  is  1 1  lbs.  The  Indian 
man  is  80  lbs.  (ilriggs,  note  on  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  48.) 


5U 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Fifth  ex- 
pedition to 
India. 


Sixth  ex- 
pedition. 
Capture  of 
Tanesar. 


Seventh 
and  eighth 
expeditions. 


by  his  descendants  that  the  house  of  Ghazni  was 
overthrown. 

In  the  course  of  the  next  year  but  one,  tlie 
mountainous  country  of  Jurjistan,  or  Ghirghistan, 
which  lies  on  the  upper  course  of  the  river 
Murghab,  adjoining  to  Ghor,  was  reduced  by 
Mahmud's  generals.* 

It  must  have  been  some  act  of  aggression  that 
drew  Mahmud  to  Ghor,  for,  in  the  same  year 
(a.  d.  1010,  A.H.  401),  he  again  turned  to  India — 
which  seems  to  have  been  the  business  of  his  life 
—  took  Multan,  and  brought  Abul  Fatteh  Lodi 
prisoner  to  Ghazni. 

In  the  next  year  he  made  an  expedition  of  un- 
usual length  to  Tanesar,  not  far  from  the  Jamna, 
where  he  phindered  the  temple  (a  very  holy  one), 
sacked  the  town,  and  returned  with  an  incredible 
number  of  captives  to  Ghazni,  before  the  Indian 
princes  could  assemble  to  oppose  him. 

Nothing  remarkable  occurred  in  the  next  three 
years,  except  two  predatory  expeditions  to  Cash- 
mir ;  in  returning  from  the  last  of  which  the  army 
was  misled,  and,  the  season  being  far  advanced, 
many  lives  were  lost :  the   only  wonder  is,   that 

*  The  name  of  this  tract  continually  occurs  in  connection 
with  Ghor  and  the  neighbouring  countries.  Its  position  appears 
from  Ebn  Hauka!  {Ouseletjs  Ebn  Hauhal,  pp.  213.  221.  225.)  ; 
it  is  very  often  mistaken  by  European  writers  for  Georgia  ;  and 
D'Herbelot,  under  this  impression,  derives  the  title  of  the  prince 
(which,  from  the  defective  writing  of  the  Persians,  is  made  by 
different  authors  Sar,  Shar,  Tshar,  and  Nishar)  from  the  Russian 
czar,  or  from  Caesar. 


SULTAx^J    MAHMUD.  54!5 

two  invasions  of  so  inaccessible  a  country  slioiild     chap. 

III. 
have  been  attended  with  so  few  disasters.  ' 


Tiiese  insiojnificant  transactions  were  succeeded  Conquest 

^  of  Ti 


.  rans- 


by  an  expedition  which,  as  it  extended  Mahmud's  oxiana. 
dominions  to  the  Caspian  sea,  may  be  reckoned 
among  the  most  important  of  his  reign.  E'Uk 
Khan  was  now  dead,  and  his  successor,  Toglian 
Khan,  was  engaged  in  a  desperate  struggle  witli 
the  Khitan  Tartars*  which  chiefly  raged  to  the 
east  of  Imaus.  The  opening  thus  left  in  Trans- 
oxiana  did  not  escape  Mahmud,  nor  was  he  so 
absorbed  in  his  Indian  wars  as  to  neglect  so  great 
an  acquisition. 

Samarcand  and  Bokhara  seem  to  have  been 
occupied  without  opposition  ;  and  the  resistance 
which  was  offered  in   Kharizm  did  not  long  dehiy  a.d.  loic, 

,  ^        ,  ,  A.H.  '107. 

the  conquest  ot  tliat  country,  t 

The  great  scale  of  these  operations  seems  to  have  >«'i'^ti'  lx- 

1  1    A  r    1         '   n  •  •        1  •        1       •  pcdition  to 

enlarged  Maimiud  s  views,  even  m  his  designs  on  India. 
India  ;  for,  quitting  the  Panjab,  which  had  hitherto 

*  From  A.D.  1012  to  1025.  (De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  31.) 
f  No  previous  expedition  in  the  direction  of  the  Oxus  is 
mentioned  by  any  iiistorian  after  the  battle  with  E'lik  Khan  in 
a.d.  1006;  and  Ferishta  ascribes  this  invasion  to  the  resentment 
of  Mahmud  at  the  murder  of  the  king  of  Kharizm,  who  was 
married  to  his  daughter  ;  bu:  D'llerbelot  (art.  Mahmoud)  and  Ue 
Guignes  (who  quotes  Abulfedha,  vol.  ii,  p.  166.)  assert  as  posi- 
tively that  it  was  to  put  down  a  rebellion  ;  and  as  Ferishta  him- 
self alludes  to  an  application  to  the  calif  for  an  order  for  the 
surrender  of  Samarcand  in  a.d.  1012,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
Mahmud  may  have  employed  that  year  in  the  conquest  of 
1'ransoxiana,  especially  as  there  is  no  mention  of  his  being  then 
personally  engaged  in  any  other  eX[)edition, 

VOL.   I.  N   X 


54G  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  been  his  ordinary  field  of  action,  he  resolved  on 
'  his  next  campaign  to  move  direct  to  the  Ganges, 
and  open  a  way  for  himself  or  his  successors  into 
the  heart  of  Hindostan.  His  preparations  were 
commensurate  to  his  design.  He  assembled  an 
army  which  Ferishta  reckons  at  100,000  horse,  and 
20,000  foot,  and  which  was  drawn  from  all  parts 
of  his  dominions,  more  especially  from  those  re- 
cently conquered  ;  a  prudent  policy,  whereby  he 
at  once  removed  the  soldiery  which  might  have 
been  dangerous  if  left  behind,  and  attached  it  to 
his  service  by  a  share  of  the  plunder  of  India. 

A.B.  1017,  He  had  to  undertake  a  march  of  three  months, 
across  seven  great  rivers,  and  into  a  country  hi- 
therto unexplored  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  concerted 
his  expedition  with  his  usual  judgment  and  in- 
formation. He  set  out  from  Peshawer,  and,  passing 
near  Cashmir,  kept  close  to  the  mountains,  where 
the  rivers  are  most  easily  crossed,  until  he  had 
passed  the  Jamna,  when  he  turned  towards  the 
south,  and  unexpectedly  presented  himself  before 
the  great  capital  of  Canouj. 

Canouj.  It  is   difficult  to  coujecturc  the  local  or  other 

circumstances  which  tended  so  greatly  to  enrich 
and  embellish  this  city.  The  dominions  of  the 
raja  were  not  more  extensive  tiian  those  of  his 
neighbours,  nor  does  he  exhibit  any  superiority  oi' 
power  in  their  recorded  wars  or  alliances ;  yet 
Hindu  and  ]\Iahometan  writers  vie  with  each  other 
in  extolling  the  splendour  of  his  court,  and  the 
magnificence   of  his   capital ;    and  the  impression 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  547 

made   by  its  stately  appearance   on  the   army  of    chap. 
Mahmud  is  particidarly  noticed  by  Ferishta.*  ' 

The  raja  was  taken  entirely  unprepared,  and 
was  so  conscious  of  his  helpless  situation,  that  he 
came  out  with  his  family,  and  gave  himself  up  to 
]\Iahmud.  The  friendship  thus  inauspiciously  com- 
menced appears  to  have  been  sincere  and  per- 
manent :  the  Sultan  left  Canouj  uninjured  at  the 
end  of  three  days,  and  returned,  some  years  after, 
in  the  hope  of  assisting  the  raja,  against  a  con- 
federacy which  had  been  formed  to  punish  his 
alliance  with  the  common  enemy  of  his  nation. 

No  such  clemency  was  shown  to  Mattra,  one 
of  the  most  celebrated  seats  of  the  Hindu  religion. 
During  a  halt  of  twenty  days,  the  city  was  given  up 
to  plunder,  the  idols  were  broken,  and  the  temples 
profaned.  The  excesses  of  the  troops  led  to  a  fire 
in  tlie  city,  and  the  effects  of  this  conflagration 
were  added  to  its  other  calamities. 

It  is  said,  by  some,  that  Mahmud  was  unable  to 
destroy  the  temples  on  account  of  their  solidity. 
Less  zealous  Mahometans  relate  that  he  spared 
them  on  account  of  their  beauty.  All  agree  that 
he  was  struck  with  the  highest  admiration  of  the 

*  A  Hindu  writer,  among  otht-r  extravagant  praises  (Colonel 
Tod,  vol.  ii.  p.  7.),  says  the  walls  were  thirty  miles  round  ;  a 
Mussulman  (Major  llennell,  p.  S^.)  asserts  that  it  contained 
30,000  shops  for  the  sale  of  bitel  leaf.  Some  Mahometan 
writers  pay  the  raja  the  usual  compliment  of  supposing  him 
emperor  of  all  India  ;  and  Kbn  Ilaukal,  a  century  before  Mah- 
mud, mentions  Canouj  as  the  chief  city  of  India.  (Otise/et/'s 
IHbn  Ilaukal,  p.  9.) 

N   N    2 


V. 


548  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  buildings  which  he  saw  at  Mattra,  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  impression  they  made  on  him 
gave  the  first  impulse  to  his  own  undertakings  of 
the  same  nature.* 

This  expedition  was  attended  with  some  circum- 
stances more  than  usually  tragical.  At  Mahawan, 
near  Mattra,  the  raja  had  submitted,  and  had 
been  favourably  received ;  v.^hen  a  quarrel  acci- 
dentally breaking  out  between  the  soldiers  of  the 
two  parties,  the  Hindus  were  massacred  and  driven 
into  the  river,  and  the  raja,  conceiving  himself 
betrayed,  destroyed  his  wife  and  children,  and  then 
made  away  with  himself 

At  Munj,  after  a  desperate  resistance,  part  of  the 
Rajput  garrison  rushed  out  through  the  breaches 
on  the  enemv,  while  the  rest  dashed  themselves  to 
pieces  from  the  works,  or  burned  themselves  with 
their  wives  and  children  in  their  houses ;  so  that 
not  one  of  the  whole  bod}'  survived.  Various  other 
towns  were  reduced,  and  much  country  laid  waste  ; 
and  the  king  returned  to  Ghazni,  loaded  with  spoil 
and   accompanied   by   5500   prisoners.!     Having 

*  The  following  extract  has  been  preserved  of  a  letter  from 
Mahmud  to  the  Governor  of  Ghazni :  —  "  Here  there  are  a 
thousand  edifices  as  firm  as  the  faith  of  the  faithful,  most  of 
them  of  marble,  besides  innumerable  temples ;  nor  is  it  likely 
that  this  city  has  attained  its  present  condition  but  at  the  ex- 
pense of  many  millions  of  deenars  ;  nor  could  such  another  be 
constructed  under  a  period  of  two  centuries."  {Briggss  Fe- 
rishta,  vol.  i.  p.  58.) 

-j-  The  whole  of  this  expedition  is  indistinctly  related  by 
Ferishta.     He  copies  the  Persian  writers,  who,  adverting  to  the 


SULTAN    MAHMUD,  549 

now  learned  the  way  into  tlie  interior,  Mahmud     chap. 

.               .                        III. 
made   two  subsequent  marches  into  India  at  long  

intervals  from  the  ])resent :    the  first  was  to   the  Tenth  and 

^  ^  eleventh  ex- 

relief  of  the  raja  of  Canouj,  who  had  been  cut  off  peditions. 

before  the  Sultan  arrived,  by  the  raja  of  Calinjer  '2.n.  413? 

in  Bundelcand,  against  whom  Mahmud  next  turned 

his  arms,  but  made  no  permanent  impression,  either  a.d.  1023, 

in  this  or  a  subsequent  campaign. 

On  the  first  of  these  expeditions  an  event  oc-  Permanent 

r¥«  I  11     occupation 

curred  which  had  more  permanent  eiiects  than  all  of  the 
the  Sultan's  great  victories.     Jeipal  II,,  who  had     ''"■''"' 


succeeded  Anangpal  in  the  government  of  Labor, 
seems,  after  some  misunderstandings  at  the  time 
of  his  accession,  to  have  lived  on  good  terms 
with  Mahmud.  On  this  occasion,  his  ill  destiny 
led  him  to  oppose  that  ])rince's  march  to  Canouj. 
The  results  were,  the  annexation  of  Labor  and 
its  territory  to  Ghazni :  the  first  instance  of  a 
permanent  garrison  on  the  east  of  the  Indus,  and 


seasons  in  their  own  country,  make  Mahmud  begin  his  march 
in  sprinj;.  Had  he  done  so,  he  need  not  have  gone  so  high  in 
search  of  fords ;  but  he  would  have  reached  Canouj  at  the 
beginning  of  the  periodical  rains,  and  carried  on  all  his  subse- 
quent movements  in  the  midst  of  rivers  during  that  season.  It 
is  probable  he  would  go  to  I'esh;nvcr  before  the  snow  set  in 
above  tlie  passes,  and  would  cross  the  Indus  early  in  November. 
His  marches  are  still  worse  detailed.  He  goes  first  to  Canouj, 
then  back  to  Mirat,  and  then  back  again  to  Mattra.  There  is 
no  clue  to  his  route,  advancing  or  retiring:  he  probably  came 
down  by  Mirat,  but  it  is  (juite  uncertain  how  he  returned.  For 
a  good  discussion  of  his  marches,  see  Bird's  Hlslory  of  Gujarat, 
Introduction,  p.  31. 

N   N    3 


550 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


A.D.   1024, 
A.H.  415. 


Twelfth  ex- 
pedition. 
Somnat. 


tlie  foundation  of  the  future  Mahometan  empire  in 
India. 

After  this,  Mahmud's  attention  was  drawn  to 
Transoxiana:  he  marched  thither  in  person,  crushed 
a  revolt,  and  subsequently  returned  to  Ghazni. 

Since  his  great  expedition  to  Canouj,  Mahmud 
seems  to  have  lost  all  taste  for  predatory  incursions, 
and  the  invasions  last  mentioned  were  scarcely  the 
result  of  choice.  He  seems,  at  this  time,  to  have 
once  more  called  up  his  energy,  and  determined 
on  a  final  effort  which  should  transmit  his  name  to 
posterity  among  the  greatest  scourges  of  idolatry, 
if  not  the  greatest  promoters  of  Islam. 

Tins  was  his  expedition  to  Somnat,  which  is 
celebrated,  wherever  there  is  a  Mussulman,  as  the 
model  of  a  rehgious  invasion. 

Somnat  was  a  temple  of  great  sanctity,  situated 
near  the  southern  extremity  of  the  peninsula  of 
Guzerat.*  Though  now  chiefly  known  in  India 
from  the  history  of  Mahmud's  exploit,  it  seems,  at 
the  time  we  are  writing  of,  to  have  been  the  richest 
and  most  frequented,  as  well  as  most  famous,  place 
of  worship  in  the  country,  t 


*  Called  by  the  natives  Soreth  and  Kattiwar. 

f  It  is  said  that  from  200,000  to  300,000  votaries  used  to 
attend  this  temple  during  eclipses  ;  that  2000  villages  had  been 
granted  by  different  princes  to  maintain  its  establishments;  that 
there  were  2000  priests,  500  dancing  women,  and  300  musicians 
attached  to  the  temple  ;  that  the  chain  supporting  a  bell  which 
worshippers  strike  during  prayer  weighed  200  mans  of  gold ; 
and  that  the  idol  was  washed  daily  with  water  brouglit  from  the 
Ganges,  a  distance  of  1000  miles.     The  last  statement  is  not 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  551 


To  reach    this  place,  iMahnnid,  besides  a  long     chap, 


III. 


march  through  inhabited  countries,  had  to  cross  a 
desert,  350  miles  broad,  of  loose  sand  or  hard  clay, 
almost  entirely  without  water,  and  with  very  little 
forage  for  horses. 

To  cross  this  with  an  army,  even  into  a  friendly 
country,  would  be  an  exceedingly  difficult  under- 
taking at  the  present  day  :  to  cross  it  for  the 
first  time,  with  tiie  chance  of  meeting  a  hostile 
army  on  the  edge,  required  an  extraordinary  share 
of  skill,  no  less  than  enterprise. 

The  army  moved  from  Ghazni  in  September,  A.n.  1024, 
A.D.  10'24,  and  reached  Multan  in  October.  The 
Sultan  had  collected  20,000  camels  for  carrying- 
supplies,  besides  enjoining  his  troops  to  provide 
themselves,  as  far  as  they  could,  with  forage,  water, 
and  provisions.  The  number  of  his  army  is  not 
given.  It  is  said  to  have  been  accompanied  by  a 
crowd  of  volunteers,  chiefly  from  beyond  the  Oxus, 
attracted  by  love  of  adventure  and  hopes  of  plun- 
der, at  least  as  much  as  by  religious  zeal.* 

As  soon  as  he  had  completed  his  arrangement 
for  the  march,  he  crossed  the  desert  without  any 
disaster,  and  made  good  his  footing  on  the  culti- 
vated part  of  India  near  Ajmir.  The  Hindus,  if 
they  were  aware  of  the  storm  that  was  gathei'ing, 

improbable   from   present  practices.     The   numbers,   as  in   all 
cases  in  Asiatic  writer^,  must  be  considered  as  indefinite.     The 
value  of  the  chain,  if  in  Tubrizi  mans  (as  was  probabl}'  int'judcd) 
would  be  above  100,000/.,  and  if  in  Arab  mans,  under  2000/. 
*  Ferishta  reckons  them  at  30,000.  (Briggs,  vol.  i.  p.  6S.) 
N  X    '1< 


552  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


V, 


BOOK  were  not  prepared  for  its  bursting  on  a  point  tliat 
seemed  so  well  protected,  and  the  raja  of  Ajmir 
bad  no  resource  but  in  flight.  His  country  was 
ravaged,  and  his  town,  which  had  been  abandoned 
by  the  inhabitants,  was  given  up  to  plunder  ;  but 
the  hill  fort,  which  commands  it,  held  out ;  and, 
as  it  was  not  Mahmud's  object  to  engage  in  sieges, 
he  proceeded  on  his  journey,  which  was  now  an 
easy  one ;  his  route  probably  lying  along  the  plain 
between  the  Aravalli  mountains  and  the  desert. 
Almost  the  first  place  he  came  to  in  Guzerat  was 
the  capital,  Anhalwara,  where  his  appearance  was 
so  sudden  that  the  raja,  though  one  of  the  greatest 
princes  in  India,  was  constrained  to  abandon  it  with 
precipitation. 

Without  being  diverted  by  this  valuable  con- 
quest, Mahmud  pursued  his  march  to  Somnat,  and 
at  length  reached  that  great  object  of  his  exer- 
tions. He  found  the  temple  situated  on  a  pen- 
insula connected  with  the  main  land  by  a  fortified 
isthmus,  the  battlements  of  which  were  manned  in 
every  point,  and  from  whence  issued  a  herald,  who 
brought  him  defiance  and  threats  of  destruction  in 
the  name  of  the  god.  Little  moved  by  these 
menaces,  Mahmud  brought  forward  his  archers, 
and  soon  cleared  the  walls  of  their  defenders,  who 
now  crowded  to  the  temple,  and,  prostrating  them- 
selves before  the  idol,  called  on  him  with  tears  for 
help.  But  Rajputs  are  as  easily  excited  as  dispirit- 
ed; and,  hearing  the  shouts  of  "  Allaho  Akbar!" 
from    the   Mussulmans,    who    had    already  begun 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  553 

to  mount  the    walls,    they  hurried  back  to  their     chap. 
defence,  and  made  so  gallant  a  resistance  that  the  ' 

Mussulmans  were  unable  to  retain  their  footing:, 
and  were  driven  from  the  place  with  loss. 

The  next  day  brought  a  still  more  signal  repulse. 
A  general  assault  was  ordered ;  but,  as  fast  as  the 
Mussuhnans  scaled  the  w^alls,  they  were  hurled 
down  headlong  by  the  besieged,  who  seemed  re- 
solved to  defend  the  place  to  tlie  last. 

On  the  third  day  the  princes  of  the  neighbour- 
hood, who  had  assembled  to  rescue  the  temple, 
presented  themselves  in  order  of  battle,  and  com- 
pelled Mahmud  to  relinquish  the  attack,  and  move 
in  person  against  his  new  enemy. 

The  battle  raged  with  great  fury,  and  victory 
was  already  doubtful,  when  the  raja  of  Anhalwara 
arrived  with  a  strong  reinforcement  to  the  Hindus. 
This  unexpected  addition  to  their  enemies  so  dis- 
pirited the  Mussulmans  that  they  began  to  waver, 
when  Mahmud,  who  had  prostrated  himself  to  im- 
plore the  Divine  assistance,  leaped  upon  his  horse, 
and  cheered  his  troops  with  such  energy,  that, 
ashamed  to  abandon  a  king  under  whom  they  had 
so  often  fought  and  bled,  they,  with  one  accord, 
gave  a  loud  shout,  and  rushed  forwards  with  an 
impetuosity  which  could  no  longer  be  withstood. 
Five  thousand  Hindus  lay  dead  after  the  charge  ; 
and  so  complete  was  the  rout  of  their  army,  that 
the  garrison  gave  up  all  hopes  of  further  defence, 
and,  breaking  out  to  the  number  of  dOOO  men, 
made  I  heir  way  to  their  boats  ;   and,   though   not 


«554<  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     without  considerable  loss,   succeeded  in  escaping 

by  sea. 

Mahmud  entered  the  temple,  and  was  struck 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  edifice,  the  lofty  roof  of 
which  was  supported  by  fifty-six  pillars  curiously 
carved  and  richly  ornamented  with  precious  stones. 
The  external  light  w^as  excluded,  but  the  temple 
was  illuminated  by  a  lamp  which  hung  down  in 
the  centre  from  a  golden  chain.  Facing  the  en- 
trance was  Somnat,  —  an  idol  five  yards  high,  of 
which  two  were  buried  in  the  ground.  Mahmud 
instantly  ordered  the  image  to  be  destroyed  ;  when 
the  Bramins  of  the  temple  threw  themselves  be- 
fore him,  and  offered  an  enormous  ransom  if  he 
would  spare  their  deity.  Mahmud  hesitated;  and 
his  courtiers  hastened  to  offer  the  advice  which 
they  knew  would  be  acceptable  ;  but  Mahmud, 
after  a  moment's  pause,  exclaimed  that  he  would 
rather  be  remembered  as  the  breaker  than  the 
seller  of  idols,  and  struck  the  image  with  his  mace. 
His  example  was  instantaneously  followed,  and  the 
image,  which  was  hollow,  burst  with  the  blows, 
and  poured  forth  a  quantity  of  diamonds  and  other 
jewels  which  had  been  concealed  in  it,  that  amply 
repaid  Mahmud  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  ransom. 
Two  pieces  of  this  idol  were  sent  to  Mecca  and 
Medina,  and  two  to  Ghazni,  where  one  was  to  be 
seen  at  the  palace  and  one  at  the  public  mosque, 
as  late  as  when  Ferishta  wrote  his  history.* 

*   The  above  isFerishta's  account,  and  might  be  true  of  some 
idol  in  the  temple  ;  but  the  real   object  of  worship  at  Somnat 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  555 

The  treasure  taken  on  this   occasion  exceeded     chap. 
all  former  captures  ;  but  even  the  Asiatic  historians  ' 

are   tired  of  enumerating  the   mans   of  gold  and 
jewels. 

Meanwhile  the  raja  of  Anhalwara  had  taken 
refuge  in  Gundaba,  a  fort  which  ^vas  considered  to 
be  protected  by  the  sea.  Mahmud  ascertained  it 
to  be  accessible,  though  not  without  danger,  when 
the  tide  was  low ;  entered  the  water  at  the  head  of 
his  troops,  and  carried  the  place  by  assault,  but 
failed  to  capture  the  raja. 

Mahmud,  thus  victorious,  returned  to  Anhalwara,   Mahmud 
where  it  is  probable  that  he  passed  the  rainy  sea-  rija  h^  ^ 
son  ;  and  so  much  was  he  pleased  with  the  mild-  •^"'''^'■^'• 
ness  of  the  climate  and  the  beauty  and  fertility  of 
the  country,  that  he  entertained  thoughts  of  trans- 
ferring his  capital  thither  (for  some  years  at  least), 
and  of  making  it  a  new  point  of  departure  for  fur- 
ther conquests.     He  appears,  indeed,  at  this  time, 
to  have  been  elated  with  his  success,  and  to  have 
meditated  the  formation  of  a  fleet,  and  the  accom- 
plishment   of  a    variety    of  magnificent   projects. 
His  visions,  however,  were  in  a  different  spirit  from 
those  of  Alexander  ;  and  were  not  directed  to  the 
glory  of  exploring  the  ocean,  but  the  acquisition  of 
the  jewels  of  Ceylon  and  the  gold  mines  of  Pegu. 
Mature  reflection  concurred  with  the  advice  of  his 
ministers  in  inducing  him  to  give  up  those  schemes  ; 


was  not  an  image,  but  a  simple  cylinder  of  stone.  (Professor 
Wilson,  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  xvii.  p.  194-,  &c.) 


5,56  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     and  as  the  raja  still  kept  at  a  distance,  and  refused 
______    submission,    he   looked    around    for   a   fit   person 

whom  he  might  invest  with  the  government,  and 
on  whom  he  could  rely  for  tiie  payment  of  a  tri- 
bute. He  fixed  his  eyes  on  a  mEin  of  the  ancient 
royal  family  who  had  retired  from  the  world,  and 
embraced  the  life  of  an  anchoret,  and  whom  he 
probably  thought  more  likely  than  any  other  to 
remain  in  submission  and  dependence.* 

There  was  another  pretender  of  the  same  family, 
whom  Mahmud  thought  it  necessary  to  secure  in 
his  camp,  and  whom,  when  he  was  about  to  leave 
Guzerat,  the  new  raja  earnestly  entreated  to  have 
delivered  to  him  as  the  only  means  of  giving  sta- 
bility to  his  throne.  Mahmud,  who,  it  seems,  had 
admitted  the  prisoner  into  liis  presence,  was  very 
unwilling  to  give  him  up  to  his  enemy,  and  he  was 
with  difficulty  persuaded  to  do  so  by  the  argument 
of  his  minister,  that  it  was  "  not  necessary  to  have 
compassion  on  a  pagan  idolater."  His  repugnance 
was  no  doubt  increased  by  tlie  belief  that  he  was 
consigning  the  prisoner  to  certain  death  ;  but  the 

*  The  person  selected  is  said  to  have  been  a  descendant  of 
Dabishlim,  an  ancient  Hindu  raja,  so  called  by  the  Persians,  to 
whom  his  name  is  familiar  as  the  prince  by  whose  orders  the 
fables  of  Pilpai  vvere  composed.  Ferishta  calls  both  the  pre- 
tenders in  the  following  story  by  the  name  of  their  supposed 
ancestor  ;  but  they  probably  were  representatives  of  the  family 
of  Chawara,  to  whom  the  father  of  the  reigning  raja  of  the 
flimily  of  Chaluka  had  succeeded  through  the  female  line. 
{Bird's  Mirdti  Ahmedi,  p.  14-2.,  and  Tod's  Rajasthan,  vol.  i. 
p.  97.) 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  i557 

ascetic  was  too  pious  to  shed  human  blood,  and     chap. 

.  .  Ill 

mildly  ordered  a  dark  pit  to  be  dug  under  his  own  " 

throne,  in  which  his  enemy  was  to  hnger  out  the 
days  that  nature  had  assigned  to  Iiim.  A  fortu- 
nate revolution,  however,  reversed  the  destiny  of 
the  parties,  and  consigned  the  anchoret  to  the  dun- 
geon which  he  had  himself  prepared.* 

Mahmud,  having  by  this  time  passed  upwards  Distresses 

p  .       „  ,        ,  1   •     1  /•  .in  the  de- 

01  a  year  ni  (jruzerat,  began  to  tlnnk  ot  returnmg  sertonhis 

I   .  ,  .     .  XT        1-^  11  1  return. 

to  Ins  own  dommions.  He  round  that  the  route 
by  which  he  had  advanced  was  occupied  by  a  great 
army  under  the  raja  of  Ajmir  and  the  fugitive 
raja  of  Anhalwara.  His  own  force  was  reduced 
by  the  casualties  of  war  and  climate  ;  and  he  felt 
tliat  even  a  victory,  unless  complete,  would  be  total 
ruin  to  an  army  whose  further  marcli  lay  through 
a  desert.  He  therefore  determined  to  try  a  new 
road  by  the  sands  to  the  east  of  Sind.  The  hot 
season  must  have  been  advanced  when  lie  set  out, 
and  the  sufferings  of  his  followers,  owing  to  want 
of  water  and  forage,  were  severe  from  the  first ; 
but  all  their  other  miseries  were  thrown  into  the 
shade  by  those  of  three  days,  during  which  they 
were  misled  by  their  guides,  and  wandered,  without 
relief,  through  the  worst  part  of  the  desert :  their 

*  This  story  is  chiefly  taken  from  D'Herbelot  and  Bird's 
translation  of  the  "  Mtriiti  Ahmedi,"  whose  narratives  are  more 
consistent  than  that  in  Ferishta.  When  stripped  of  some  won- 
derful circumstances  with  whicli  the  historians  liave  embellished 
it,  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  in  itself,  and  is  too  true  a  pic- 
ture of  the  hypocritical  humanity  of  a  Hindu  priest  in  power  to 
have  been  invented  by  a  Mahometan  author. 


558  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  thirst  became  intolerable  from  the  toil  of  their 
'  march  on  a  burnniff  sand  and  under  a  scorchin"- 
sun,  and  the  extremity  of  their  distress  drove  them 
to  acts  of  fury  that  heightened  the  calamity.  The 
guides  were  tortured,  and  were  believed  to  have 
confessed  that  they  were  priests  in  disguise,  who 
had  devoted  themselves  to  avenge  the  disgrace  of 
Somnat :  despair  seized  on  every  breast :  many 
perished  miserably  ;  some  died  raving  mad  ;  and 
it  was  thought  to  be  no  less  than  a  miraculous  in- 
terposition of  Providence  wliich  guided  them  at 
last  to  a  lake  or  pool  of  water. 

At  length  they    arrived  at    Multan,   and  from 
thence  proceeded  to  Ghazni.  * 

*  It  seems  surprising,  when  we  read  of  all  these  sufferings, 
that  Mahmud  should  neither  in  going  or  returning  have 
availed  himself  of  the  easy  and  safe  passage  along  the  banks  of 
the  Indus,  with  which  he  could  not  fail  to  be  well  acquainted, 
both  by  the  accounts  of  Mohammed  Casim's  expedition,  and  by 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Afghans.  So  unaccountable  is  the 
neglect  of  this  route,  that  we  are  led  to  think  that  some  physical 
obstacles  may  then  have  existed  which  have  now  ceased  to 
operate.  It  seems  certain  that  the  Rin,  w^hich  is  now  a  hard 
desert  in  the  dry  season,  and  a  salt  marsh  in  the  rains,  vvas 
formerly  a  part  of  the  sea.  The  traditions  of  sea  ports  on  the 
north  of  Cach,  and  the  discovery  of  ships  in  the  Rin,  appear  to 
put  this  question  beyond  a  doubt ;  while  the  rapidity  of  the 
changes  which  have  taken  place  under  our  own  eyes  prepare  us 
to  believe  that  still  greater  may  have  occurred  in  the  800  years 
that  have  elapsed  since  the  taking  of  Somnat.  (See  Burness 
.  Travels,  vol.  iii.  p.  309.)  I  suppose  Mahmud's  expedition  to 
Somnat  to  have  occupied  more  than  a  year  and  a  half,  i.  e.  from 
October  or  November,  1024,  to  April  or  May,  1026.  Ferishta 
says  it  occupied  two  years  and  a  half,  and  Price,  in  one  place, 
two  years  and  a  half,  and  in  another,  more  than  three.  (Vol.  ii. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  559. 

Mahmud  allowed  himself  no  repose  after  all  that     chap. 
he   had  endured.     He  returned  to  Multan  before  ' 

the  end  of  the  year,  to  chastise  a  body  of  Jats  in 
the  Jund  mountainSj  who  had  molested  his  army 
on  its  march  from  Somnat.  These  marauders  took 
refuge  in  the  islands  inclosed  by  the  smaller  chan- 
nels of  the  Indus,  which  are  often  not  fordable, 
and  where  they  might  elude  pursuit  by  shifting 
from  island  to  island.  Mahmud,  who  was  on  his 
guard  against  this  expedient,  had  provided  himself 
with  boats,  and  was  thus  able,  not  only  to  transport 
his  own  troops  across  the  channels,  but  to  cut  off 
the  communications  of  tlie  enemy,  to  seize  such 
boats  as  they  had  in  their  possession,  and,  in  the 
end,  to  destroy  most  of  the  men,  and  make  pri- 
soners of  the  women  and  children.  * 


p.  291.)  But  these  periods  are  inconsistent  with  the  dates  in 
Ferishta,  which  are  as  follows  : —  March  from  Multan,  October, 
A.D.  lO'J^,  A.  II.  415;  return  to  Ghazni,  a.d.  1026,  a.  ii.  417. 
The  return  must  have  taken  place  before  the  middle  of  the 
year,  as  Mahmud's  sufferings  in  the  desert  would  not  have  hap- 
pened in  the  rainy  season,  and,  moreover,  as  no  time  would  be 
left  for  the  expedition  against  the  Jats,  which  took  place  in  the 
same  year.  The  two  years  and  a  half,  therefore,  could  only  be 
made  up  by  supposing  Ferishta  to  have  made  a  slip  in  ascribing 
Mahmud's  return  to  a.d.  1026,  instead  of  a.d.  1027  ;  but  a.  d. 
1027  appears  by  his  own  account  to  have  been  employed  in  an 
expedition  against  the  Seljiiks.  (Hriggs,  vol.  i.  p.  83.)  Sup- 
posing Mahmud  to  have  remained  for  two  years  in  Guzeriit,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  explain  how  he  kept  up  his  communications 
with  Ghazni ;  as  well  as  to  account  for  his  inaction  during  so 
long  a  period,  in  which  not  a  march  nor  a  transaction  of  any 
kind  is  recorded. 

**  I   have   endeavoured    to  reconcile   this  account,   which   is 


560  PIISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK         This  was  the  last  of  Mahmud's  expeditions  to 

'        India.     His  activity  was  soon  called  forth  in  another 

First  revolt  dlrcctlon  ;   for  the  Turki   tribe  of  Seljuk,   whose 

Seijuks.       growth  he  had  incautiously  favoured,  had  become 

too  unndy  and  too  powerful  to  be  restrained  by  hu 

local  governors  ;  and  he  was  obliged   to  move  in 

Suppressed  pcrsou  agaiust  them.     He  defeated  them  in  a  great 

A.H.  418.'    battle,  and  compelled  them,  for  a  time,  to  return 

to  their  respect  for  his  authority.  * 
Conquest  of  This  succcss  was  now  followed  by  another  of 
Mahra^d  gi'^atcr  conscqueucc,  which  raised  Mah mud's  power 
to  its  highest  pitch  of  elevation.  The  origin  of 
the  family  of  Buya,  or  the  Deilemites,  has  already 
been  mentioned,  t  They  subsequently  divided 
into  three  branches  ;  and,  after  various  changes, 
one  branch  remained  in  possession  of  Persian  Irak, 
extending  from  the  frontier  of  Khorasan,  westward 
to  the  mountains  of  Kurdistan,  beyond  Hamadan. 
The  chief  of  this  branch  had  died  about  the  time 
of  Mahmud's  accession,  leaving  his  dominions  under 

entirely  on  Ferishta's  authority,  with  the  size  of  the  river  and 
the  geography  of  the  neighbourhood.  His  own  description 
gives  an  idea  of  a  regular  naval  armament  and  a  sea  fight  ; 
Mahmud,  he  says,  had  l^OO  boats  built  for  the  occasion, 
each  capable  of  containing  twenty-five  archers  and  fire-ball 
men,  and  armed  with  spikes  in  a  peculiar  manner.  The  enemy 
had  a  fleet  of  4000,  and  some  say  8000  boats,  and  a  desperate 
conflict  took  place  ;  yet  Mahmud's  boats  must  have  been  con- 
structed after  his  return  during  the  present  year,  and  the  ?nou>i- 
taineers  could  scarcely  have  possessed  a  large  flotilla.  I  ques- 
tion if  1000  boats  could  now  be  collected  on  the  whole  of  the 
Indus  and  the  rivers  connected  with  it. 

*   Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  pp,  82,  83.  f    See  p.  523. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  56l 

the  regency  of  his  widow  ;  and  the  Sultan  was  at    chap. 
first  disposed  to    take   advantage   of  the    circum-  ' 

stance.  He  was  disarmed  by  a  letter  from  the 
regent,  who  told  him  that  she  might  have  feared 
him  while  her  warlike  liusband  was  alive,  but  now 
felt  secure  in  the  conviction  that  he  was  too  gene- 
rous to  attack  a  defenceless  woman,  and  too  wise 
to  risk  his  glory  in  a  contest  where  no  addition  to 
it  could  be  gained.  * 

If  Malimud  ever  evinced  this  magnanimity 
towards  the  widow,  it  was  not  extended  to  her 
son.  This  young  man's  reign  was  a  continued 
scene  of  misgovernment ;  and  the  rebellions  it 
at  last  engendered  either  obliged  him  (as  some 
state)  to  solicit  the  interposition  of  Mahmud,  or 
enabled  that  monarcli  to  interfere  unsolicited,  and 
to  turn  the  distracted  state  of  the  kingdom  to  his 
own  profit.  He  invaded  Irak,  and  ungenerously,  if 
not  perfidiously,  seized  the  person  of  the  prince, 
who  had  trusted  himself  in  his  camp  before  llei. 
He  then  took  possession  of  the  whole  territory ; 
and,  having  been  opposed  at  Isfahan  and  Cazvin, 
he  punished  their  resistance  by  putting  to  death 
some  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  city.t 

These  transactions,  which  leave  so  great  a  stain  His  deatb, 
on  the  memory  of  Mahmud,  were  the  last  acts  of 
his  reign.     He  was  taken  ill  soon  after  his  retnrn 

*  D'Herbelot.     Price.    Gibbon. 

t  D'Herbelot,  art.  "  iMahnioLid,"  p.  521.  Sec  also  art.  "  Mag- 
deddulat." 

VOL.  I.  O  O 


oG'^ 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 

A.D.    1030. 
A.H.    421. 


and  cha- 
racter. 


to  his  capital,  and  died  at  Ghazni  on  the  29th  of 
April,  A.D.  1030.* 

Shortly  before  his  death  he  commanded  all  the 
most  costly  of  his  treasures  to  be  displayed  before 
him  ;  and,  after  long  contemplating  them,  he  is 
said  to  have  shed  tears  at  the  thought  that  he  was 
so  soon  to  lose  them.  It  is  remarked  that,  after 
this  fond  parting  with  his  treasures,  he  distributed 
no  portion  of  them  among  those  around  him,  to 
whom  also  he  was  about  to  bid  farewell. t 

Thus  died  Mahmud,  certainly  the  greatest  sove- 
reign of  his  own  time,  and  considered  by  the  Ma- 
hometans among  the  greatest  of  any  age.  Though 
some  of  his  qualities  have  been  overrated,  he  ap- 
pears on  the  whole  to  have  deserved  his  reputation. 
Prudence,  activity,  and  enterprise,  he  possessed  in 
the  highest  degree ;  and  the  good  order  which  he 
preserved  in  his  extensive  dominions  during  his 
frequent  absences  is  a  proof  of  his  talents  for  go- 
vernment. The  extent  itself  of  those  dominions 
does  little  towards  establishing  his  ability,  for  the 
state  of  the  surrounding  countries  afforded  a  field 
for  a  wdder  ambition  than  he  ventured  to  indulge ; 
and  the  speedy  dissolution  of  his  empire  prevents 


*  Briggs,  vol.  i.  p.  84. ;  Price,  vol.  ii.  p.  294. 

■\-  It  was  probably  this  anecdote  that  suggested  to  Sadi  a 
story  which  he  relates  in  the  "  Gulistan."  A  certain  person, 
he  says,  saw  Sultan  Mahmud  (then  long  dead)  in  a  dream. 
His  body  was  reduced  to  a  bare  skeleton  ;  but  his  eyes  (the 
organs  of  covetousness  with  the  Asiatics)  were  still  entire^  and 
gazed  eagerly  from  their  sockets,  as  if  they  were  insatiable  and 
indestructible,  like  the  passion  which  animated  them. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD. 


563 


our  forming  a  high  opinion   of  the  wisdom  em-     chap. 

ployed  in  constructing  it.     Even  his  Indian  opera-  

tions,  for  which  all  other  objects  were  resigned, 
are  so  far  from  displaying  any  signs  of  system  or 
combination,  that  their  desultory  and  inconclusive 
nature  would  lead  us  to  deny  him  a  comprehensive 
intellect,  unless  we  suppose  its  range  to  have  been 
contracted  by  the  sordid  passions  of  his  heart* 

He  seems  to  have  made  no  innovation  in  internal 
government:  no  laws  or  institutions  are  referred, 
by  tradition,  to  him. 

The  real  source  of  his  glory  lay  in  his  combining 
the  qualities  of  a  warrior  and  a  conqueror,  with  a 
zeal  for  the  encouragement  of  literature  and  the 
arts,  which  was  rare  in  his  time,  and  has  not  yet 
been  surpassed.  His  liberality  in  those  respects  is 
enhanced  by  his  habitual  economy.  He  founded 
a  university  in  Ghazni,  with  a  vast  collection  of 
curious  books  in  various  languages,  and  a  museum 
of  natural  curiosities.  He  appropriated  a  large 
sum  of  money  for  the  maintenance  of  this  esta- 
blishment, besides  a  permanent  fund  for  allowances 
to  professors  and  to  students.*  He  also  set  aside 
a  sum,  nearly  equal  to  10,000/.  a-year,  for  pensions 
to  learned  men  ;  and  showed  so  much  munificence 
to  individuals  of  eminence,  that  his  capital  exhi- 
bited a  greater  assemblage  of  literary  genius  than 
any  other  monarch  in  Asia  has  ever  been  able  to 
produce,  t 

*   Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  GO. 

-j-   The  first  encouragcrs  of  Persian  literature  appear  to  have 

o  o  2 


V, 


564i  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  Of  the  many  names  that  adorned  his  court,  few 
are  known  in  Europe.  U'nsuri  may  be  mentioned 
as  the  first  instance,  in  Asia,  of  a  man  raised  to 
high  rank  and  title  for  poetical  merit  alone  *  ;  but 
it  is  to  Ferdousi  that  we  must  ascribe  the  universal 
reputation  of  Mahmud  as  a  patron  of  poetry  ;  and 
it  is  to  him,  also,  that  his  country  is  indebted  for  a 
large  portion  of  her  poetical  fame. 

The  history  of  this  poet  throws  a  strong  light 
on  Mahmud's  literary  ardour ;  and  is  improved  in 
interest  as  well  as  authenticity  by  its  incidental 
disclosure  of  the  conqueror's  characteristic  foible. 
Perceiving  that  the  ancient  renown  of  Persia  was 
on  the  point  of  being  extinguished,  owing  to  the 
bigotry  of  his  predecessors,  Mahmud  early  held 
out  rewards  to  any  one  who  would  embody  in  a 
historical  poem,  the  achievements  of  her  kings 
and  heroes,  previous  to  the  Mahometan  conquest. 
Dakiki,  a  great  poet  of  the  day,  whom  he  had  first 
engaged  in   this  undertaking,  was  assassinated  by 


been  the  Samanis.  The  "  Tarlkhi  Tabari,"  a  celebrated  his- 
torical work,  was  translated  into  Persian  from  Arabic  by  the 
vizir  of  one  of  the  kings  of  that  race,  in  a.d.  946;  and  Rudeki, 
the  earliest  of  the  Persian  poets,  received  80,000  dirhems  from 
another  of  those  princes  for  a  moral  work  founded  on  Pilpay's 
fables.  The  Buyas,  or  Deilemites,  are  mentioned  by  Gibbon 
as  revivers  of  the  language  and  genius  of  Persia ;  but  it  is  to 
Sultan  Mahmud  that  she  is  indebted  for  the  full  expansion  of 
her  national  literature. 

*  Colonel  Kennedy,  from  Daulot  Shah,  Transactions  of  the 
Bombay  Literary  Society,  vol.  ii.  p.  75. ;  where,  also,  is  the 
authority  for  the  present  to  RudeM. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD. 


565 


a  servant,  before  he  had  finished  more  than  one     char 

thousand  couplets ;  when  the  fame  of  Mahmud's  '__ 

liberahty  fortunately  attracted  Ferdousi  to  his 
court.  By  him  was  this  great  work  completed ; 
and  in  such  a  manner,  that,  although  so  obsolete  as 
to  require  a  glossary,  it  is  still  the  most  popular  of 
all  books  among  his  countrymen,  and  is  admired 
even  by  European  readers  for  the  spirit  and  fire 
of  some  passages,  the  tenderness  of  others,  and  the 
Homeric  simplicity  and  grandeur  that  pervade  the 
whole.  A  remarkable  feature  in  this  poem  (per- 
haps an  indication  of  the  taste  of  the  age)  is  the 
fondness  for  ancient  Persian  words,  and  the  stu- 
dious rejection  of  Arabic.  It  is  said,  though  not, 
perhaps,  quite  correctly,  that  not  one  exclusively 
Arabic  word  is  to  be  found  in  the  sixty  thousand 
couplets.  The  poem  was  from  time  to  time  re- 
cited to  the  Sultan,  who  listened  to  it  with  delight, 
and  showed  iiis  gratitude  by  gifts  to  the  poet ;  but 
when  the  whole  was  concluded,  after  thirty  years 
of  labour,  as  Ferdousi  himself  assures  us,  the  re- 
ward was  entirely  disproportioned  to  the  greatness 
of  the  work.*  Ferdousi  rejected  what  was  offered, 
withdrew  in  indignation  to  his  native  city  of  Tus, 

*  The  story  told  is,  that  INIahmud  had  promised  a  dirhem 
for  every  verse  ;  and  that,  although  he  had  meant  golden  dir- 
hems,  the  sight  of  the  sum  was  too  much  for  his  covetous 
nature,  and  he  changed  the  payment  into  silver  dirhenis ;  but 
Mahmud  had  too  much  prudence  to  have  promised  an  unlimited 
sum  for  verses,  even  of  Ferdousi's,  and  too  much  taste  to  have 
thought  that  he  would  improve  their  value  by  offering  a  pre- 
mium on  their  number. 

o  o  3 


566  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  launched  a  bitter  satire  at  Mahmud,  and  held  him- 
'  self  prepared  to  fly  from  that  monarch's  dominions, 
if  it  were  necessary,  to  shun  the  effects  of  his  re- 
venge. But  Mahmud  magnanimously  forgot  the 
satire,  while  he  remembered  the  great  epic,  and 
sent  so  ample  a  remuneration  to  the  poet  as  would 
have  surpassed  his  highest  expectations.  But  his 
bounty  came  too  late  ;  and  the  treasure  entered 
one  door  of  Ferdousi's  house  as  his  bier  was  borne 
out  of  another.  His  daughter  at  first  rejected  the 
untimely  gift ;  by  the  persuasion  of  Mahmud,  she 
at  length  accepted  it,  and  laid  it  out  on  an  em- 
bankment, to  afford  a  supply  of  water  to  the  city 
where  her  father  had  been  born,  and  to  which  he 
was  always  much  attached. 

The  satire,  however,  has  survived.  It  is  to  it 
we  owe  the  knowledge  of  Mahmud's  base  birth  j 
and  to  it,  beyond  doubt,  is  to  be  ascribed  the 
preservation  of  the  memory  of  his  avarice,  which 
would  otherwise  long  ago  have  been  forgotten.  * 

Mahmud's  taste  for  architecture,  whether  en- 
gendered, or  only  developed,  by  what  he  witnessed 
at  Mattra  and  Canouj,  displayed  itself  in  full  per- 
fection after  his  return  from  that  expedition.  He 
then  founded  the  mosque  called  "  the  Celestial 
Bride,"  which,  in  that  age,  was  the  wonder  of  the 
East.  It  was  built  of  marble  and  granite,  of  such 
beauty  as  to  strike   every  beholder  with  astonish- 

*  D'Herbelot ;  Kennedy  on  Persian  Literature,  Bombay 
Transactions;  Malcolm's  Persia;  Introduction  to  Shahnameh, 
Oriental  Magazine,  vol.  vi. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  567 

ment  *,  and  was  furnished  with  rich  carpets,  can-    chap. 

III. 
delabras,  and  other  ornaments  of  silver  and  gold.  " 

It  is  probable,  from  the  superiority  long  possessed 
by  Indian  architects,  that  the  novelty  and  elegance 
of  the  design  had  even  a  greater  effect  than  the 
materials,  in  commanding  so  much  admiration. 
When  the  nobility  of  Ghazni,  says  Ferishta  (from 
whom  most  of  the  above  is  transcribed),  saw  the 
taste  of  the  monarch  evince  itself  in  architecture, 
they  vied  with  each  other  in  the  magnificence  of 
their  private  palaces,  as  well  as  in  public  buildings, 
which  they  raised  for  the  embellishment  of  the 
city.  Thus,  in  a  sliort  time,  the  capital  was  orna- 
mented with  mosques,  porches,  fountains,  reser- 
voirs, aqueducts,  and  cisterns,  beyond  every  city 
in  the  East. 

All  writers  attest  the  macrnificence  ofMahmud's 
court,  which  exhibited  the  solemnity  of  that  of  the 
califs,  together  with  all  the  pomp  and  splendour 
which  they  had  borrowed  from  the  great  king  ;  so 
that  when  to  all  this  we  add  the  great  scale  of  his 
expeditions,  and  the  high  equipments  of  his  armies, 
we  must  accede  to  the  assertion  of  his  historian, 
that,  if  he  was  rapacious  in  acquiring  wealth,  he 
was  unrivalled  in  the  judgment  and  grandeur  with 
which  he  knew  how  to  expend  it. 

As  avarice  is  the  great  imputation  against  Mah- 
miid  in  the  Kast,  so  is  bigotry  among  Euro})ean 
writers.     The  first  of  these  charges  is  established 

*  Ferishta. 
o  o  4 


568 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK    by  facts ;  the  other  seems  the  result  of  a  miscon- 

ception.     Mahmud  carried  on  war  with  the  infidels 

because  it  was  a  source  of  gain,  and,  in  his  day,  the 
greatest  source  of  glory.  He  professed,  and  pro- 
bably felt,  like  other  Mussulmans,  an  ardent  wish 
for  the  propagation  of  his  faith  ;  but  he  never 
sacrificed  the  least  of  his  interests  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  object ;  and  he  even  seems  to 
have  been  perfectly  indifferent  to  it,  when  he  might 
have  attained  it  without  loss.  One  province,  per- 
manently occupied,  would  have  done  more  for 
conversion  than  all  his  inroads,  which  only  hard- 
ened the  hearts  of  the  Hindus  ao:ainst  a  religion 
which  presented  itself  in  such  a  form. 

Even  where  he  had  possession,  he  showed  but 
little  zeal.  Far  from  forcing  conversions,  like  Mo- 
hammed Casim,  we  do  not  hear  that  in  liis  long 
residence  in  Guzerat,  or  his  occupation  of  Labor, 
he  ever  made  a  convert  at  all.  His  only  ally  (the 
raja  of  Canouj)  was  an  unconverted  Hindu.  His 
transactions  with  the  raja  of  Labor  were  guided 
entirely  by  policy,  without  reference  to  religion  ; 
and  when  he  placed  a  Hindu  devotee  on  the  throne 
of  Guzerat,  his  thoughts  must  have  been  otherwise 
directed  than  to  the  means  of  propagating  Islam. 

It  is  no  where  asserted  that  he  ever  put  a  Hindu 
to  death  except  in  battle,  or  in  the  storm  of  a 
fort.  His  only  massacres  were  among  his  brother 
Mussulmans  in  Persia.  Even  they  were  owing  to 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  not  of  the  individual,  and 
sink  into  insignificance,  if  compared  with  those  of 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  569 

Chengiz  Khan,  who  was  not  a  Mussulman,  and  is     chap. 
eulogised  by  one  of  our  most  liberal  historians  as  ' 

a  model  of  philosophical  toleration. 

Perhaps  the  most  odious  trait  of  his  religious 
wars  is  given  incidentally  by  a  Mahometan  author, 
quoted  in  Price,  who  states  that  such  was  the  mul- 
titude of  captives  brought  from  India,  that  a  pur- 
chaser could  not  be  found  for  a  slave  at  four  shil- 
lings and  seven  pence  a  head. 

The  Mahometan  historians  are  so  far  from  s:ivino: 
him  credit  for  a  blind  attachment  to  the  faith,  that 
they  charge  him  with  scepticism,  and  say  that  he 
rejected  all  testimony,  and  professed  his  doubts  of 
a  future  state  :  and  the  end  of  the  story,  as  they 
relate  it,  increases  its  probability  ;  for,  as  if  he 
felt  that  he  had  gone  too  far,  he  afterwards  an- 
nounced that  the  Prophet  had  appeared  to  him  in 
a  dream,  and  in  one  short  sentence  had  removed 
all  his  doubts  and  objections. 

It  is,  however,  certain  that  he  was  most  atten- 
tive to  the  forms  of  his  religion.  He  always 
evinced  the  strongest  attachment  to  the  orthodox 
calif,  and  rejected  all  offers  from  his  Egyptian 
rival.  Though  he  discouraged  religious  enthusiasts 
and  ascetics,  he  showed  great  reverence  for  men  of 
real  sanctity.* 

Hardly  one  battle  of  importance  is  described  in 
which  he  did  not  kneel  down  in  ])rayer,  and  im- 
plore the  blessing  of  God  upon  his  arms.t 

*  See  a  letter  from  Aurangzlb,  in  tlie  Asiatic  Register  for 
1801,  p.  92. 

+  A  story  is  told  of  liiin  in  I'erisbta  and  in  the  "  llauzat  u 


570 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


V. 


BOOK  Notwithstanding  the  bloodshed  and  misery  of 
which  he  was  the  occasion,  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  cruel.  We  hear  of  none  of  the  tra- 
gedies and  atrocities  in  his  court  and  family  which 
are  so  common  in  those  of  other  despots.  No  in- 
human punishments  are  recorded  ;  and  rebels,  even 
when  they  are  persons  who  had  been  pardoned 
and  trusted,  never  suffer  any  thing  worse  than  im- 
prisonment. 

Mahmud  was  about  the  middle  size ;  athletic, 
and  well  proportioned  in  his  limbs,  but  disfigured 
with  the  small-pox  to  a  degree  that  was  a  constant 
source  of  mortification  to  him  in  his  youth,  until  it 
stimulated  him  to  exertion,  from  a  desire  that  the 
bad  impression  made  by  his  appearance  might  be 
effaced  by  the  lustre  of  his  actions.* 

He  seems  to  have  been  of  a  cheerful  disposition, 
and  to  have  lived  on  easy  terms  with  those  around 
him. 

The  following  well-known  story  show's  the  opin- 
ion entertained  of  his  severity  to  military  licence, 
one  of  tlie  first  virtues  in  a  general.  One  day  a 
peasant  threw  liimself  at  his  feet,  and  complained 
that  an  ofKcer  of  the  army,   having  conceived  a 

Safa,"  that  puts  his  zeal  for  religion  in  a  new  light.  A  citizen 
of  Nishapur  was  brought  before  him  on  an  accusation  of  heresy. 
"  O  king,"  said  he,  "  I  am  rich,  but  I  am  no  heretic ;  can  you 
not  take  my  property  without  injuring  my  reputation  ?  "  The 
king  heard  his  proposal  with  great  good  humour,  took  the 
bribe,  and  gave  him  a  certificate  under  the  royal  signet  of  his 
perfect  orthodoxy. 

f   Ferishta.    D'Herbelot.    Price. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  571 

passion  for  his  wife,  had  forced  himself  into  his     chap. 
house,  and  driven  him  out  with  blows  and  insults  ;  ' 

and  that  he  had  renewed  the  outrage,  regardless  of 
the  clamours  of  the  husband.  Mahmud  directed 
him  to  say  nothing,  but  to  come  again  when  the 
officer  repeated  his  visit.  On  the  third  day,  the 
peasant  presented  himself,  and  Mahmud  took  his 
sword  in  silence,  and  wrapping  himself  in  a  loose 
mantle,  followed  him  to  his  house.  He  found  the 
guilty  couple  asleep,  and,  after  extinguishing  the 
lamp,  he  struck  off  the  head  of  the  adulterer  at  a 
blow.  He  then  ordered  lights  to  be  brought,  and, 
on  looking  at  the  dead  man's  face,  burst  into  an 
exclamation  of  thanksgiving,  and  called  for  water, 
of  which  he  drank  a  deep  draught.  Perceiving 
the  astonishment  of  the  peasant,  he  informed  him  • 
he  had  suspected  that  so  bold  a  criminal  could  be 
no  other  than  his  own  nephew  ;  that  he  had  extin- 
guished the  light  lest  his  justice  should  give  way 
to  affection  ;  that  he  now  saw  that  the  offender 
was  a  stranger  ;  and,  having  vowed  neither  to  eat 
nor  drink  till  he  had  given  redress,  he  was  nearly 
exliausted  with  thirst. 

Another  example  is  given  of  his  sense  of  his  duty 
to  his  people.  Soon  after  the  conquest  of  Irak,  a 
caravan  was  cut  off  in  the  desert  to  the  east  of  that 
country,  and  the  mother  of  one  of  the  merchants 
who  was  killed  went  to  Ghazni  to  complain. 
Mahmud  urged  the  impossibihty  of  keeping  order 
in  so  remote  a  part  of  his  territories  ;  when  the 
woman  boldly  answered,  *'  Why,  then,  do  you  take 


572 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Composi- 
tion of  his 
court  and 
army. 


Turks. 


countries  wliicli  you  cannot  govern,  and  for  the 
protection  of  which  you  must  answer  in  the  day 
of  judgment?"  Mahmud  was  struck  with  the 
reproach  ;  and,  after  satisfying  the  woman  by  a 
liberal  present,  he  took  effectual  measures  for 
the  protection  of  the  caravans. 

Mahmud  was,  perhaps,  the  richest  king  that  ever 
lived.  On  hearing  of  the  wealth  of  some  former 
dynasty,  who  had  accumulated  jewels  enough  to  fill 
seven  measures,  he  exclaimed,  "  Praise  be  to  God, 
who  has  given  me  a  hundred  measures." 

As  all  the  subsequent  dynasties  in  India  spring 
from  the  court  or  neighbourhood  of  Ghazni,  it  is 
to  be  regretted  that  we  have  so  few  materials  for 
judging  of  the  state  of  society  and  manners  in  both. 

Things  were  much  changed  since  the  time  of  the 
Arab  conquests,  and  new  actors  had  come  on  the 
stage,  widely  different  from  those  who  had  pre- 
ceded them.  Though  many  Arabs  were  still  em- 
ployed, both  as  soldiers  and  magistrates,  even  they 
were  only  Arabs  by  descent,  while  a  great  portion 
of  the  court  and  army  were  Turks,  and  the  rest, 
with  almost  all  the  people,  were  Persians. 

The  Turks  had  not  come  into  Ghazni  as  con- 
querors. Numbers  of  Turkish  slaves  had  been 
brought  into  the  southern  countries  after  the  con- 
quest of  Transoxiana ;  and  their  courage,  their 
habits  of  obedience,  their  apparently  dependent 
condition  and  want  of  connection  with  all  around 
them,  recommended  them  to  the  coniidence  of 
absolute  monarchs,  and  led  to  their  general  em- 


SULTAN    MAHMUD. 


573 


ployment.    Some  princes  formed  bodies  of  3fomhik    chap. 

(slave)  guards,  and  some  employed  individuals  in 

offices  of  trust ;  so  that  they  already  occupied  an 
important  place  in  what  had  been  the  Arab  em- 
jiire,  and  soon  after  the  death  of  Mahmud  brought 
the  greater  part  of  Asia  under  their  dominion. 

The  house  of  Ghazni,  though  Turks  themselves, 
were  less  under  the  influence  of  their  countrymen 
than  most  of  their  contemporaries.  A'lptegin  was 
a  single  slave,  and  rose  to  power  as  governor  of 
Khorasan.  He  may  have  had  some  Mamluks  and 
other  Turks  in  his  service ;  but  the  main  body  of 
his  army,  and  all  his  subjects,  were  natives  of  the 
country  round  Ghazni.  Mahmud  himself  was  born 
of  a  Persian  mother*,  and  was  in  language  and 
manners  a  Persian ;  but  his  increased  resources, 
and  the  conquest  of  Transoxiana,  would  draw  more 
Turks  about  him,  and  their  importance  in  the 
neighbouring  countries  would  give  more  weight  to 
their  example. 

The  existence  of  wandering  tribes  in  botli  na- 
tions leads  us  at  first  to  suppose  a  resemblance  be- 
tween the  Tartars  and  the  Arabs  ;  while  the  reality 
would  be  better  shown  by  a  contrast. 

From  the  first  mention  of  the  Tartars,  in  the  thir- 
teenth century  before  Christ,  they  formed  great 
nations  under  despotic  governments.  They  fed 
sheep,   on    imcultivated  but  not    unfertile    plains, 

*  From  Zabul,  the  country  adjoining  to  Cabul  on  the  south, 
beginning  from  (ihazni,  and  extending  to,  i)erhaj)S  including, 
Ststan  on  the  west. 


574 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


V. 


BOOK  and  were  not  exposed  to  the  sufferings  and  pri- 
vations which  fall  to  the  lot  of  those  who  follow 
camels  in  the  desert.  They  did  not  live  in  towns  ; 
and  the  extent  of  the  dominions  of  their  princes 
kept  them  from  the  anxiety  arising  from  close  con- 
tact with  their  external  enemies. 

They  had,  therefore,  nothing  to  sharpen  their 
intellect,  or  to  give  birth  to  feelings  of  independ- 
ence ;  and,  though  they  were  as  brave  and  hardy 
as  the  Arabs,  they  seem  to  have  been  made  of 
grosser  materials  than  that  fiery  and  imaginative 
people  :  their  wars  originated  in  obedience,  not  in 
enthusiasm  ;  and  their  cruelty  arose  from  insensi- 
bility, not  bigotry  or  revenge :  among  themselves, 
indeed,  they  were  sociable  and  good-natured,  and 
by  no  means  much  under  the  influence  of  the 
darker  passions. 

Wherever  the  Arabs  conquered,  they  left  in- 
delible traces  of  their  presence  ;  religion,  law, 
philosophy,  and  literature,  all  took  a  new  character 
from  them.  Their  bad  qualities,  as  well  as  their 
good,  were  copied  by  their  subjects  and  disciples ; 
and  wherever  we  find  a  Mussulman,  we  are  sure  to 
see  a  tinge  of  the  pride,  violence,  and  jealousy, 
with  something  of  the  hospitality  and  munificence, 
of  the  early  Arab.  The  Tartars,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  neither  founded  a  religion  nor  intro- 
duced a  literature ;  and,  so  far  from  impressing  their 
own  stamp  on  others,  they  have  universally  melted 
into  that  of  the  nations  among  whom  they  settled  : 
so  that,  in  manners  and   in  outward  appearance, 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  575 

there  is  scarcely  a  feature  left  in  common  between     chap. 
a  Tartar  of  Persia  and  one  of  China.  ' 

Amidst  all  these  changes  of  form,  there  is  some 
peculiarity  of  genius  or  temperament,  which  pre- 
serves a  sort  of  national  character ;  and,  when  im- 
proved by  the  qualities  of  more  refined  nations, 
they  exhibit  more  of  the  manly  and  practical  turn 
of  Eiu'opeans  than  is  found  in  any  other  among  the 
nations  of  the  East. 

In  the  present  instance,  their  character  took  its 
bias  from  the  Persians,  a  people  very  likely  to  in- 
fluence all  who  came  into  contact  with  them.  Persians. 

With  a  good  deal  of  the  energy  of  the  Arabs 
and  Tartars,  the  Persians  combine  the  suppleness 
and  artifice  of  the  Hindus,  and  a  fund  of  talents 
and  ingenuity  peculiar  to  themselves ;  and,  being 
a  lively  and  restless  people,  they  have  been  able 
(although  always  depressed  by  a  singularly  grievous 
despotism)  to  make  a  figure  in  the  history  of  the 
world  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  numbers  or  the 
resources  of  their  territory. 

From  the  first  conquest  of  their  country  the  Per- 
sians must  have  been  employed  in  all  financial 
and  civil  business,  in  which  the  Arabs  were  no 
adepts ;  and  their  rapid  conversion  early  opened 
the  way  for  them  to  offices  of  trust  and  power. 
A'bu  Moslem,  who  })laced  the  Abbassides  on  the 
throne,  was  a  Persian  of  Isfahan  ;  the  celebrated 
Barmecides  were  Persians  of  Balkh  ;  and  the  nation 
seems  before  long  to  have  extended  its  views  to  tlie 
recovery  of  its  inde])endence.     Tiihir,  though  an 


576  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  Arab,  was  supported  by  Persians  in  his  rebellion. 
'  The  SofFarides,  the  Buyides,  and  probably  the  Sa- 
manides  *,  were  Persians ;  and,  at  the  time  we  are 
writing  of,  Mahmud  was  the  only  sovereign  not 
of  Persian  origin  between  the  Jaxartes  and  the 
Euphrates. 

Their  agreeable  manners  and  refined  way  of 
living  rendered  the  Persians  models  in  those  re- 
spects, even  in  countries  at  a  distance  from  their 
own  ;  and  their  language,  which  had  been  enriched 
by  vast  accessions  from  the  Arabic,  became,  a  little 
before  this  time,  what  it  still  continues,  the  main 
channel  of  polite  literature,  and,  in  some  degree, 
of  science,  through  all  the  Mahometan  part  of 
Asia. 
Relation  Thcsc  uatious  wcrc  in  various  degrees  of  obe- 

ferentnl"    dleucc,  and  iiiflucnced  the  government  in  various 

tions  to  the 

govern-       mauners. 

ment.  'pj-jg  inhabitants  of  towns  and  plains  (including 

the  Arabs,  almost  all  the  Persians,  and  such  of  the 
small  bodies  of  Turks  as  had  long  confined  them- 
selves to  particular  tracts)  were  entirely  submissive 

*  The  Samanides  are  generally  reckoned  Turks ;  but  their 
founder  was  presented  to  the  calif  Mamun  at  Merv  in  Khorasan, 
and  was  neither  a  Turki  chief  nor  a  slave.  The  family  claimed  a 
Persian  ancestor  at  a  time  when  a  descent  from  Guebres  would 
not  have  been  an  object  of  ambition  to  men  of  another  race. 
De  Guignes,  who  exhausts  all  Tartar  tribes,  and  even  adopts 
single  Turks  like  the  Ghaznevites,  lays  no  claim  to  the  Samanis. 
Whether  they  came  from  Bokhara  or  Balkh,  the  fixed  inhabit- 
ants of  either  country  are  Persians ;  and  their  being  the  first 
encouragers  of  Persian  literature  is  another  argument  for  their 
descent. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  577 

to  the  Sultan.  The  mountaineers  were  probably  chap. 
in  every  stage  from  entire  obedience  to  nearly  per- 
fect independence.  The  great  Turki  hordes  (as 
the  Seljuks)  were  separate  communities  uncon- 
nected with  the  territory  they  occupied,  which 
sometimes,  in  the  same  generation,  was  on  the 
A'mur  and  on  the  Wolga.  Their  relation  to  the 
Sultan  depended  on  the  will  of  their  chiefs,  and 
was  as  fluctuating  as  might  be  expected  in  such 
circumstances  ;  during  the  vigorous  reign  of  Mah- 
mud  they  seem  in  general  to  have  been  submis- 
sive. 

The  small  portion  of  India  possessed  by  Mah- 
mud  was  so  recent  an  acquisition,  that  the  limits 
of  his  authority,  both  in  degree  and  extent,  must 
have  been  ill  defined.  I  suppose  he  was  powerful 
in  the  plains,  and  had  little  influence  in  the  hills. 

Their  shares  in  the  government  may  be  conjec- 
tured from  the  circumstances  of  the  different  na- 
tions. 

Religion  and  law  were  Arabian  (though  modi- 
fied in  the  latter  department  by  local  customs)  ; 
and  the  lawyers  and  divines  would,  in  many  cases, 
be  from  the  same  country. 

The  Sultan  had  a  body  of  guards  mounted  on 
his  own  horses,  who,  we  may  conclude,  were  Mam- 
liiks  (or  Turki  slaves)  ;  and  separate  troops  of  Tar- 
tar horse,  from  beyond  the  Oxus,  no  doubt  formed 
an  important  part  of  his  army.  A  body  of  5000 
Arab  horse  is  mentioned  on  one  occasion,  and  very 
large  bodies  of  Afghans  and  Khiljis  arc  often  spoken 

VOL.  I.  p  p 


578  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  of;  but  we  may  infer,  from  various  circumstances 
'  and  analogies,  that  the  bulk  of  his  army  was  re- 
cruited promiscuously  from  all  parts  of  his  domi- 
nions, either  singly  or  in  small  bodies,  and  was 
placed  under  officers  of  his  own  selection  j  that 
the  contingents  of  particular  provinces  were  under 
their  governors ;  and  that,  besides  the  moun- 
taineers enlisted  in  the  ranks,  many  tumultuary 
bodies  of  that  class  served  under  their  hereditary 
chiefs.  All  general  commands  were  certainly  held 
by  the  king's  own  officers,  who,  by  their  names, 
seem  generally  to  have  been  Turks. 

The  number  of  his  regular  army  is  said,  at  a 
muster  six  years  before  his  death,  to  have  amounted 
to  51,000  good  horse;  a  moderate  number  for  so 
great  a  state,  and  probably  increased  on  occasions 
by  temporary  levies. 

Though  there  is  no  mention  of  Hindus  in  Mah- 
mud's  army,  a  numerous  body  of  Hindu  cavalry, 
under  Sewand  Rai,  is  stated  to  have  taken  part  in 
the  troubles  at  Ghazni  within  two  months  after  the 
Sultan's  death  ;  whence  it  is  obvious  that  he  must, 
during  his  lifetime,  have  availed  himself  of  tiie 
services  of  this  class  of  his  subjects  without  con- 
sidering their  religion  as  an  objection. 

Though  the  Turki  nation  were  still  pagans,  most, 
if  not  all,  those  in  Mahmud's  army  were  probably 
Mahometans.  The  slaves  were  of  course  made  Mus- 
sulmans as  soon  as  they  were  purchased,  and  the 
free  men  were  likely  from  imitation  to  embrace 
the  religion  of  the  country  they  were  in.     Some 


III. 


SULTAN    MAHMUD.  ^79 

even  of  the  liordes  had  begun  to  be  converted;     chap. 
but  as  the  Turks  did  not,  like  the  Hmdus,  lay  aside 
their  pagan  names  on  conversion,  it  is  not  so  easy, 
as  in  the  other  cases,  to  ascertain  their  religion.* 

The  civil  administration  must  have  been  en- 
tirely conducted  by  Persians.  The  two  celebrated 
vizirs,  Abul  Abbass  and  Ahmed  Meimendi,  were 
of  that  nation,  and  appear  to  have  lived  in  con- 
stant rivalry  with  the  great  Turki  generals.  The 
former  of  the  two,  being  more  a  man  of  business 
than  learning,  introduced  the  practice  of  writing- 
all  public  papers  in  Persian.  Ahmed  restored 
Arabic  in  permanent  documents ;  such,  probably, 
as  charters,  and  those  of  the  class  which  in  Europe 
would  be  written  in  Latin. 

It  is  owing  to  this  circumstance  that,  although 
India  was  never  directly  conquered  by  Persia,  the 
language  of  business,  and  of  w^ritingin  general,  is  all 
taken  from  the  latter  country.  The  Persian  lan- 
guage is  also  spoken  much  more  generally  than 
French  is  in  Europe.  It  likewise  furnishes  a  large 
proportion  of  the  vernacular  language  of  Hin- 
dostan,  the  basis  of  which  is  an  original  Indian 
dialect. 

*  SelJLik  is  said  to  liave  been  converted  ;  and  tlie  fact  is 
proved  by  the  scriptural  names  of  his  sons,  the  contemporaries 
of  Sultan  Mahmud,  which  were  Michael,  Israel,  Miisa  (Moses), 
and  according  to  some  Yunas  (Jonas)  ;  but  his  celebrated  grand- 
son, though  a  zealous  Mahometan,  bore  the  Tartar  name  of 
Toghrul,  and  /lis  equally  flimous  successor  that  of  A'lp  Arslan. 

P  P    ^ 


580 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


CHAP.  IV. 

OTHER  KINGS  OF  THE  HOUSES  OF  GHAZNI  AND  GHOK. 

Sultan  Mohamtned. 

Sultan  Mahmud  left  two  sons,  one  of  whom, 
Mohammed,  had,  by  his  gentleness  and  docility, 
.D.  1030,  so  ingratiated  himself  with  his  father,  that  he  fixed 
on  him  for  his  successor  in  preference  to  his  more 
untractable  brother,  Masaud.  Mohammed  was  ac- 
cordingly put  in  possession,  and  crowned  as  soon 
as  Mahmud  was  dead ;  but  the  commanding  tem- 
per and  headlong  courage  of  Masaud,  together 
with  his  personal  strength  and  soldier-like  habits, 
made  him  more  popular,  and,  in  fact,  more  fit  to 
govern,  in  the  times  which  were  approaching. 
Accordingly  a  large  body  of  guards  deserted  from 
Mohammed  immediately  after  his  accession  ;  and 
by  the  time  Masaud  arrived  from  his  government 
of  Isfahan,  the  whole  army  was  ready  to  throw  off 
its  allegiance.  Mohammed  was  seized,  blinded,  and 
sent  into  confinement ;  and  Masaud  ascended  the 
throne  within  five  months  after  his  father's  death. 


A.  I).  1030, 

A.  H.  421. 


Sultan  Masaud. 

The  situation  of  the  new  monarch  required  all 
the   energy  by  which    he  was  distinguished ;  for 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  581 

the   power  of  the   Seljuks   had  already  risen  to    chap. 

such  a  height  as  to  threaten  his  empire  with  the  

calamities  which  they  afterwards  brought  on  it.  RUoofthe 

*'  _  _  "-^  Seljiiks. 

The  origin  of  this  family  is  not  distinctly  known ; 
and  their  early  history  is  related  in  different  ways. 
The  most  probable  account  is,  that  the  chief  from 
whom  they  derived  their  name  lield  a  high  station 
under  one  of  the  great  Tartar  princes ;  that  he 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  his  sovereign,  and  emi- 
grated with  his  adherents  to  Jaund,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Jaxartes.  His  sons  were  afterwards 
subject  to  Sultan  Mahmud  ;  and,  by  one  account, 
were  either  induced  or  compelled  by  him  to  move 
to  the  south  of  the  Oxus,  and  settle  in  Khorasan.* 
It  is,  however,  more  probable  that  they  remained 
in  Transoxiana,  under  a  loose  subjection  to  the 
Sultan,  carrying  on  wars  and  incursions  on  their 
own  account,  until  the  end  of  his  reign,  when  they 
began  to  push  their  depredations  into  his  imme- 
diate territories.  They  received  a  check  at  that 
time,  as  has  been  related,  and  did  not  enter  Kho- 
rasan in  force  until  the  reign  of  Masaud. 

Thoucrh  individuals  of  the  Turki  nation  had  lone: 
before  made  themselves  masters  of  the  govern- 
ments which  they  served,  as  the  Mamliik  guards 
at  Bagdad,  Alptegin  at  Ghazni,  &c. ;  yet  the  Sel- 
juks were  the  first  lunulc,  in  modern  times,  that 
obtained  possessions  to  the  south  of  the  Oxus  ; 
and,  although  the  invasions  of  Chengiz  Klian  and 

*  Amtr  bin  Kadr  Stiji'tki  was  left  by  Maliniiul  in  tiie  com- 
mand of  a  garrison  in  India  in  a.  d.  102],  A.  ii.  412. 

P  P    J 


582  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     Tamerlane  were    afterwards   on   a   greater    scale, 
'        the   Seljuk   conquest  was  raised  to  equal  import- 
ance   from    tlie    fact    that    the    representative   of 
one  of  its  branches  still  fills  the  throne  of  Con- 
stantinople.* 
Their  wars       At  thc  time  of  Masaud's  accession  their  inroads 
liiid.    ^      i^to    Khorasan   began   again    to    be    troublesome. 
They  did  not,  however,  seem  to  require  the  personal 
exertions  of  the  new  king,  who  was  therefore  left 
A.  D.  1081,  at  leisure  to  reduce  the  province  of  Mecran  under 
his  authority;,  and  as  within  the  next  three  years 
A.  D.  1034,  he   received    the   submission   of  the   provinces   of 
A.H.  42^.     ]\/[^2anderan  and  Gurgan,  then  in  the  hands  of  a 
family  of  unconverted  fire-worshippers,  he  had,  be- 
fore his  power  began  to  decline,  attained  to  the 
sovereignty  of  all  Persia,  except  the  province  of 
Fars. 

While  enffao^ed  with  Mecran  he  received  intel- 
ligence  of  a  doubtful  battle  with  the  Seljuks  in 
Kharism.  Mahmud's  favourite  general,  Altun  Tash, 
was  killed  in  this  battle,  and  his  successor  thought 
it  prudent  to  come  to  terms  very  inconsistent  with 
the  dignity  of  the  monarchy.  Notwithstanding 
this  misfortune,  Masaud  thought  himself  sufficiently 
at  liberty  to  enter  on  an  Indian  expedition,  the 
only  result  of  which  was  the  capture  of  Sersuti,  a 
place  of  no  importance  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Satlaj.  The  next  year  was  marked  by  a  pestilence, 
which  raged  Vv^ith   unexampled  violence  over  the 

*  De  Guienes.     D'Herbelot.     Price. 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  583 

whole  of  Persia  and  the  neighbouring  countries,     chap. 
including  India,  and  which  probably  occasioned  a  ' 

sort  of  suspension  of  military  operations ;  but  in 
A.  D.  1034,  while  Masaud  was  engaged  in  settling  a.  u.  425. 
Mazanderan,  his  generals  received  another  defeat 
from  the  Seljuks,  to  whom  all  his  wisest  counsellors 
thonght  it  was  now  time  for  their  sovereign  to  give 
his  most  serious  attention.  But  Masaud,  perhaps 
deceived  by  the  submissive  language  of  the  Sel- 
juks, who  still  professed  themselves  his  slaves, 
thought  he  had  time  to  settle  some  disturbances  in 
the  opposite  extremity  of  his  dominions.  He  first 
quelled  a  rebellion  at  Labor,  in  which  the  royal 
army  employed  against  the  insurgent  (a  Mussul- 
man governor)  was  composed  of  Hindus,  under  a 
chief  whose  name  (Tilok,  son  of  Jei  Sein)  shows 
him  to  have  been  of  their  own  nation  and  religion. 
Next  year  he  himself  headed  an  expedition  to 
India,  took  Hansi,  and  left  a  garrison  in  Sonpat, 
near  Delhi. 

In  the  mean  time  the  danger  from  the  Seljuks 
had  become  too  serious  to  be  dissembled.  The 
Sultan  marched  against  them  in  person.  His  con- 
duct of  tiie  war  evinced  more  activity  than  skill ; 
and  after  two  years  of  indecisive  operations  (during 
which  Toghral  Beg  once  made  an  incursion  to  the 
gates  of  Ghazni),  his  affairs  were  in  a  worse  position 
than  when  he  first  took  the  field.  At  length  the  two 
parties  met  on  equal  terms  :  a  decisive  battle  was  a.  .>.  10,59. 
fought  at  Zendeciin  or  Dandunaken,  near  Mcrv. 
Masaud,  being  deserted  on  the  field  by  some  of  his 

1'  V    1< 


A.    II.      Ui 


584  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  Turki  followers,  was  totally  and  irretrievably  de- 
'  feated,  and  was  compelled  to  fly  to  Merv.  He 
there  assembled  the  wreck  of  his  army,  and  re- 
turned to  Ghazni;  but,  far  from  being  able  to  collect 
such  a  force  as  might  oppose  the  Seljuks,  he  found 
himself  without  the  means  of  repressing  the  dis- 
orders which  were  breaking  out  round  the  capital. 
In  these  circumstances  he  determined  to  withdraw 
to  India,  and  avail  himself  of  the  respite  thus  ob- 
tained to  endeavour  to  retrieve  his  affiurs.  But 
discipline  was  now  dissolved,  and  all  respect  for 
the  king's  authority  destroyed  ;  soon  after  he  had 
crossed  the  Indus  his  own  guards  attempted  to 
plunder  his  treasure;  and  the  confusion  which  fol- 
lowed led  to  a  general  mutiny  of  the  army,  the 
Deposition  dcpositioii  of  Masaud,  and  the  restoration  of  his 
of  Masaud.  brothcr  Mohammed  to  the  throne.  The  blindness 
of  the  latter  prince  rendering  him  incapable  of 
conducting  the  government,  he  transferred  the 
effective  administration  to  his  son  Ahmed,  one  of 

A.  D.  1040,  whose  first  acts   was  to  ])ut  the  deposed  kinof  to 
A.  H.  432.     ,      -  i  r  & 

death. 

Masaud  w^as  more  than  ten  years  on  the  throne, 

and,  notwithstanding  the  turbulent  and  disastrous 

character  of  his  reign,  he  found  time  to  promote 

the  progress  of  knowledge,  and  showed  himself  a 

worthy  successor  of  Mahmud  in  his  patronage  of 

learned  men  and  in   the   erection   of  magnificent 

public  buildings. 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  585 


Sultan  Modiid. 

The  defeat  which  overthrew  the  government  of 
Masaud  was  attended  with  the  most  important  con- 
sequences to  India,  as  it  raised  the  M ussuhnan  pro- 
vince there  from  a  despised  dependency  to  one  of 
the  most  valuable  portions  of  the  kingdom  ;  but 
the  events  which  follow  have  little  interest  in  In- 
dian history.  The  revolutions  in  the  government, 
being  like  those  common  to  all  Asiatic  monarchies, 
fatigue  without  instructing :  the  struggles  with  the 
Seljuks  only  affected  the  western  dominions  of 
Ghazni ;  and  those  with  the  Hindus  had  no  per- 
manent effect  at  all.  For  the  history  of  the  j^eople, 
Asiatic  writers  afford  no  materials.  Yet  this  period 
must  have  been  one  of  the  most  deserving  of  no- 
tice of  the  whole  course  of  their  career.  It  must 
have  been  then  that  permanent  residence  in  India, 
and  habitual  intercourse  with  the  natives,  introduced 
a  change  into  the  manners  and  ways  of  thinking  of 
the  invaders,  that  the  rudiments  of  a  new  language 
were  formed,  and  a  foundation  laid  for  the  present 
national  character  of  the  Mahometan  Indians. 

The  remaining  transactions  of  the  house  of 
Ghazni  need  not  therefore  occupy  much  space. 

Modud,  the  son  of  Masaud,  was  at  Balkh,  watch- 
ing the  Seljuks,  when  he  heard  of  his  father's 
murder.  He  set  oflf*  for  Ghazni,  and  thence  for 
Hindostan,  and  at  Derra  Nur,  or  Fatichabad,  in 
the  valley  of  Laghman,  he  was  met  by  Mohammed 


CHAP. 
IV. 


586  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  and  liis  son  Ahmed,  whom  he  totally  defeated. 
"  Both  of  those  prmces,  with  all  their  relatives,  fell 
into  his  hands,  and  he  pot  them  all  to  death,  ex- 
cept one,  whom  he  spared  on  account  of  the  re- 
spect he  had  shown  to  his  father,  Masaud,  while  the 

A.  D.  1040,  rest  were  Insulting  him  in  his  misfortunes.  He 
was  soon  after  opposed  by  his  own  brother,  who 
set  up  his  standard  in  the  east  of  the  Panjab,  and 
to  whom  his  troops  were  deserting  in  bodies,  when 
he  was  relieved  from  this  danger  by  the  sudden 
death  of  the  pretender,  and  was  enabled  to  turn 
his  attention  to  the  affairs  of  the  west.  After  the 
defeat  of  Masaud  the  whole  kingdom  of  Ghazni 
lay  open  to  the  invader  ;  but  the  views  of  the  Sel- 
juks  were  not  limited  to  that  conquest.  They  met 
at  Nishapur,  crowned  Toghral  Beg  king,  and  di- 
vided the  country  conquered  and  to  be  conquered 
into  four  provinces,  to  be  held  under  his  authority. 

A.  D.  1041,  Their  principal  force  was  turned  towards  the  west; 
and  A'bu  All,  to  whom  Herat,  Sistan,  and  Ghor 
were  assigned,  was  not  strong  enough  singly  to  bear 
down  the  opposition  of  theOhaznevites.*  From  this 
cause  Modud  was  able  not  only  to  maintain  him- 
self in  Ghazni,  but  to  recover  Transoxiana ;  and 
as  he  was  married  to  tlie  daughter  of  Jaker  Bey 
(called  by  the  Mussulmans,  Daud),  the  brother  of 
Toghral  and  father  of  A'lp  Arslan,  he  appeared  to 
be  in  a  favourable  position  towards  the  conquerors 
who  had  so  latelv  threatened  the  existence  of  his 
monarchy. 

*  De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  190. 


HOUSE    OF    GIIAZNI.  oS7 

While  he  was  thus  successful  in  the  west,  the     chap. 

.IV. 

raja  of  Delhi  took  advantage   of  his  absence  to 

recover  Tanesar,  Hansi,  and  all  liis  father's  con- 
quests beyond  the  Satlaj  j  and  encouraged  by  this 
unusual  success,  he  declared  that  the  god  of  Nagar- 
cot  had  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and  invited 
him  to  his  temple,  wliich  he  was  destined  to  de- 
liver. Though  Nagarcot  was  now  better  guarded 
than  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Mahmud,  such 
was  the  spirit  excited  among  the  Hindus,  that  they 
ejitered  the  Panjab  in  numbers,  were  joined  by 
zealots  from  all  parts,  and  ere  long  found  them- 
selves masters  of  the  temple.     The  raia  contrived  ^-  "•  i"^^, 

.  A.  H.  435. 

that  the  image  supposed  to  have  been  demolished 
should  be  found  miraculously  preserved:  the  oracle 
of  the  temple  was  revived  and  was  consulted  by 
innumerable  votaries ;  while  the  Hindus,  aroused 
by  the  Divine  interposition  in  their  favour,  took  up 
arms  tlu'oughout  the  whole  of  the  Panjab,  and  were 
soon  in  a  condition  to  lay  siege  to  Labor.  The 
Mahometans,  driven  to  their  last  retreat,  and  in- 
dignant at  the  thoughts  of  yielding  to  those  whom 
they  had  so  often  defeated,  defended  the  place 
with  the  utmost  obstinacy ;  no  relief  appeared  from 
Ghazni,  and  after  a  siege  of  seven  months,  they 
were  reduced  to  extremity ;  but  even  then  they 
took  a  manly  resolution,  and,  swearing  to  stand  by 
each  other  to  the  last,  they  rushed  out  on  the 
Hindus,  who  little  ex])ected  such  an  effort,  and 
drove  them  from  their  lines,  of  which  they  took 
possession.      The    Hindus    had    probably   already 


588  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK     begun  to  lose  heart  from  the  length  of  the  siege  ; 

and  now,  fancying  that  all  was  to  begin  again,  and 

that  succours  must  soon  arrive  from  beyond  the 
Indus,  they  raised  the  siege  and  withdrew. 

Their  alarms  were  groundless.  Modud  was  again 
engaged  in  hostilities  with  the  "ever  restless"  Sel- 
juks,  and  was,  besides,  in  danger  from  revolts  of 
his  own  subjects.  He  had  also  engaged  to  assist 
Yeheia,  prince  of  Ghor,  in  recovering  his  territory 
from  A'bu  All  (whether  the  Seljuk,  or  a  prince  of 
the  same  name  of  the  Ghori's  own  family,  does  not 
appear)  ;  and  when  he  had  succeeded,  by  means 
of  his  alliance,  he  perfidiously  put  the  prince  of 

A  H  438^'   ^^^^r  to  death,  and  rendered  the  country  tributary, 
and  in  some  shape  dependent,  on  himself. 

At  length  he  found  time  to  send  an  officer  to 

A.  D.  1048,   recover  his  affairs  in  Labor.     This  chief  besran  his 

A.  H.  440.  ,  ,     ^ 

operations  prosperously,  and  was  succeeding,  by  a 
mixture  of  force  and  conciHation,  in  restoring  the 
royal  authority,  when  he  was  recalled,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  enmity  of  the  ministers,  and  put  to 
death  by  their  intrigues.  Before  Modud  knew  the 
extent  to  which  his  confidence  had  been  betrayed, 
A.  Kiojo,  he  was  taken  ill  himself,  and  died  at  Ghazni,  after 

A.    H.    441.  '  ' 

a  reign  of  nine  years. 

Sultan  Ahul  Hasan. 

On  the  death  of  Modud  an  attempt  was  made 
to  set  up  his  infant  son,  but  was  crushed  by  his 
brother  Abul  Hasan.     The  new  king's  dominions 


IV. 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  589 

were  limited  to  Ghazni  and  the  neighbourhood  ;  chap. 
Ah  Bin  Rabia,  the  general  who  had  set  up  the  in- 
fant, fled  to  India,  and  not  only  secured  the  terri- 
tories which  had  been  possessed  by  Modud  on 
both  sides  of  the  Indus,  but  recovered  Multan, 
where  the  Afghans  had  asserted  their  independ- 
ence, and  some  of  the  nearest  parts  of  Sind,  which 
they  appear  to  have  conquered. 

In  the  west,  also,  the  whole- country  was  in  arms 
in  favour  of  Abul  Rashid,  the  king's  uncle,  who, 
in  the  course  of  time,  advanced  on  Ghazni,  and 
deposed  Abul  Hasan,  after  he  had  reigned  two 
years. 

Sultan  Abul  Rashid. 

The  new  reign  began  auspiciously.  Ali  Bin  a.  d.  1051, 
Rabia  was  induced  to  return  to  his  allegiance  ; 
and  the  Hindus  must,  by  this  time,  have  abandoned 
their  attempt  on  the  Panjab,  as  one  of  Abul 
Rashid's  first  acts  was  the  recovery  of  Nagarcot. 
But  his  prospects  were  soon  clouded  by  the  revolt 
of  a  chief  named  Togral  in  Sistan,  Abul  Rashid 
hurried  to  oppose  him,  leaving  the  bulk  of  his 
army  in  India.  His  force  proved  unequal  to  that 
of  the  rebels,  and  he  was  compelled  to  shut  himself 
u])  ill  Ghazni,  where  he  was  taken  and  put  to 
death,  witii  nine  princes  of  the  blood  royal,  before 
he  had  completed  the  second  year  of  his  reign. 
Togral  seized  on  the  vacant  throne,  but  was  as- 
sassinated within  forty  days  ;  and  the  army,  having 
now   returned  from    Indin,    thought  only   of  con- 


H.  443. 


590  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  tinuing  the  crown  in  the  line  of  Sebektegin.  Three 
'  princes  of  his  house  were  discovered  imprisoned 
in  a  distant  fort ;  and  no  one  of  them  having  a 
superiority  of  title  to  the  others,  it  was  determined 
to  settle  the  succession  by  lot.  The  chance  fell 
on  Farokhzad,  who  was  forthwith  raised  to  the 
throne. 

Sultan  JFarolchzdd. 
A.  D.  1052,       Farokhzad  had  a  longer  and,  in  some  respects, 

A.  H.  444.  .  "^ 

a  more  prosperous  reign  than  his  predecessor. 
During  the  six  years  that  he  sat  on  the  throne  he 
gained  such  advantages  over  the  Seljuks  in  the 
declining  years  of  Jaker  Bey  Daud,  that  he  looked 
forward  to  recovering  the  whole  of  Khorasan  ;  and 
though  his  career  was  checked  by  the  rising  genius 
of  Alp  Arslan,  he  remained  on  a  footing  of  honour- 
able equality  with  his  competitor,  till  he  was  assas- 
sinated by  some  slaves  while  in  the  bath. 


Sultan  rbrahim. 
A.  D.  1058,       He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  Tbrahim.    The 

A.  H.  450. 

new  king  had,  from  liis  youth,  been  remarkable 
for  his  devotion  and  for  the  sanctity  of  his  man- 
ners. His  first  act  was  to  make  peace  with  the 
Seljuks,  renouncing  all  claim  to  the  territories  which 
they  had  conquered  from  his  family.  He  next 
turned  his  attention  to  internal  reforms,  extended 
the  fast  of  the  Ramzan  to  three  months,  and 
strictly  enforced  the  observance  of  it  for  this  in- 


IV. 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  591 

creased  period ;  he  distributed  large  sums  in  chap. 
charity ;  he  also  attended  lectures  on  religion  ; 
and  bore  patiently  with  the  rebukes  he  sometimes 
received  on  those  occasions.  He  was,  moreover, 
an  eminent  proficient  in  the  beautiful  art  of  pen- 
manship, so  much  prized  in  the  East.  Yet  he  did 
not,  it  is  said,  neglect  the  duties  of  his  govern- 
ment or  the  administration  of  justice.  He  even, 
on  one  occasion,  took  the  field  in  person,  and 
captured  Adjudin  and  two  other  places  on  the 
Satlaj  from  the  Hindus.  This  is  the  only  achieve- 
ment recorded  of  him,  except  that  he  sent  two 
Korans,  written  with  his  own  hand,  to  the  calif; 
and  we  can  scarcely  blame  the  indiflPerence  of  his 
historians,  who  have  left  it  uncertain  whether  his 
inglorious  reign  lasted  for  thirty -one  years  or  forty- 
two.  He  left  thirty-six  sons  and  forty  daughters, 
the  latter  of  whom  he  gave  in  marriage  to  learned 
and  religious  men. 


Sultan  Masdud  II, 

His  successor,  Masaud,  was  endow  ed  with  equal  a.  i,.  iosd, 
gentleness  and  more  energy.     His  generals  carried  ^'  "or 
his  arms  beyond  the  Ganges,  and  he  himself  re- 
vised the  laws  and  formed  them  into  a  consistent 
code.     In  his  time  the  residence  of  the  sovereigns 
bejian  to  be  transferred  to  Laiior. 


A.  D.    1100, 

A.  II.  -192. 


592  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


Sultan  Arsldn, 


BOOK         The  friendship  which    had  so  long   continued 
with  the  Seljuks  had  been  drawn  closer  by  matri- 


A.  n.  1111,  i-nonial  alhances,  and  tliis  intimate  connection  was 

A.  H.  508.       ^ 

in  time  the  occasion  of  a  rupture. 

Arslan,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  Masaud  II., 
seized  and  imprisoned  his  brothers.  Behram,  one 
of  the  number,  had  the  good  fortune  to  escape, 
and  appealed  to  Sultan  Sanjar  Seljuk,  whose  sister, 
the  mother  of  all  the  princes,  was  greatly  offended 
at  the  conduct  of  her  eldest  son  towards  the  rest. 
Incited  by  her,  and  perhaps  by  his  own  ambitious 
views,  Sanjar  called  on  Arslan  to  release  his  bro- 
thers, and  on  his  refusal,  marched  against  him  with 
an  army  rated  by  Ferishta  at  30,000  horse  and 
50,000  foot.  Arslan  was  defeated,  after  an  obsti- 
nate engagement,  and  fled  to  India  ;  but  as  soon 
as  Sanjar  had  withdrawn  his  army  he  returned, 
chaced  out  Behram,  who  had  been  left  in  posses- 
sion, and  obliged  Sanjar  to  take  the  field  again. 
This  struggle  was  his  last ;  he  was  constrained  to 
seek  refuge  among  the  Afghans,  but  was  overtaken 
and  put  to  death,  leaving  Behram  in  undisturbed 
possession  of  the  throne,  which  he  himself  had  oc- 
cupied for  only  three  years. 

Sultan  Behram. 

A.-n.  1118,       The  beginning  of  Behram's  reign  was  disturbed 
A.  H.  o  -.    ^^  ^^^  insurrections  of  his  governor  in  India,  who 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  593 

was  pardoned  on  the  first  occasion,  and  lost  his    chap. 
life  on  the  second. 


Behram  had  then  leisure  to  indulge  his  natural 
disposition  to  literature,  of  which,  like  all  his 
family,  he  was  a  distinguished  patron.  He  en- 
couraged original  authors  both  in  poetry  and  philo- 
sophy, and  was  particularly  zealous  in  promoting 
translations  from  other  languages  into  Persian. 
The  famous  poet  Nizami  resided  at  his  court,  and 
one  of  the  five  great  poems  of  that  author  is  de- 
dicated to  him. 

It  would  liave  been  happy  if  he  had  never  been 
withdrawn  from  those  pursuits.  Towards  the  close 
of  a  long  and  prosperous  reign  he  was  led  into  a 
course  of  greater  activity,  which  ended  in  the 
merited  ruin  of  himself  and  all  his  race. 

After   the   murder  of  the  prince  of  Ghor  by  Quarrel 

-1^  m-  /  I  ,   I       1  •  1  •!!         with  Glior. 

Modud,  that  territory  seems  to  nave  remamed  de- 
pendent on  Ghazni,  and  the  reigning  prince,  Kut- 
budin  Sur*,  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  Sultan 
Behram.  Some  difference,  however,  arose  be- 
tween those  princes  ;  and  Behram,  having  got  his 
son-in-law  into  his  power,  either  poisoned  him  or 
])ut  him  openly  to  death.  The  latter  is  most  pro- 
bable ;  for  Seif  u  dint,  the  brother  of  the  deceased, 
immediately  took  uj)  arms  to  revenge  him,  and 
advanced   towards    Ghazni,   whence    Behram   was 

*  Called  Kootb  ooddcen  Mahomed  Ghorry  Afghan,  in  Briggs's 
"  Ferishta,'*  vol.  i.  p.  151. 

t  Seif  ooddeen  Soory,  Ibid.  vol.  i.  p.  I.?i. 

VOL.   I.  Ci  Q 


594 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Ghazni 
taken  by 
the  Gho- 
rians. 


Recovered 
by  Beh- 

Cruel  exe- 
cution of 
the  king 
of  Ghor. 


compelled  to  fly  to  Kirman  in  the  mountains  to- 
wards the  east. 

Self  u  din  was  so  secure  in  his  new  possession, 
that  he  sent  back  most  of  his  army  to  Firuz  Coh, 
his  usual  residence,  under  his  brother  Ala  u  din. 
But  in  spite  of  all  endeavours  to  render  himself 
popular  in  Ghazni,  he  failed  to  shake  the  attach- 
ment of  the  inhabitants  to  the  old  dynasty  :  a  plot 
was  entered  into  to  invite  Behram  to  return  ;  and 
as  soon  as  the  snow  had  cut  off  the  communication 
with  Ghor,  that  prince  advanced  against  his  former 
capital  with  an  army  collected  from  the  unsubdued 
part  of  his  dominions.  Self  u  din,  conscious  of  his 
present  weakness,  was  about  to  withdraw,  but  was 
persuaded,  by  the  perfidious  promises  and  entrea- 
ties of  the  people  of  Ghazni,  to  try  the  fate  of  a 
battle  ;  and  being  deserted  on  the  field  by  the 
citizens,  the  small  body  of  his  own  troops  that 
were  with  him  were  overpowered,  and  he  himself 
was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  Behram's  con- 
duct on  this  occasion  was  as  inconsistent  with  his 
own  character  as  it  was  repugnant  to  humanity. 
He  made  his  prisoner  be  led  round  the  city  with 
every  circumstance  of  ignominy  ;  and,  after  ex- 
posing him  to  the  shouts  and  insults  of  the  rabble, 
put  him  to  death  by  torture.  He  also  ordered  his 
vizir,  a  Seiad  or  descendant  of  the  Prophet,  to  be 
impaled. 

When  the  news  reached  Ala  u  din,  he  was  raised 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  rage  and  indignation,  and 
vowed  a  bitter  revenge  on  all  concerned. 


HOUSE    OF    GHAZNI.  595 

He   seems,  in    liis  impatience,  to  have  set  out  chap. 

.  IV. 

with  what  was  thought  an  inadequate  force,  and  ' 


he  was  met  with  an  offer  of  peace  from  Behram, 
accompanied  by  a  warning  of  the  certain  destruc- 
tion on  which  he  was  rushing.  He  replied,  "  that 
Behram's  threats  were  as  impotent  as  his  arms ; 
that  it  was  no  new  thing  for  kings  to  make  war 
on  each  other  ;  but  that  barbarity  such  as  his  was 
unexampled  among  princes." 

In  the  battle  which  ensued,  he  appeared  at  one 
time  to  be  overpowered  by  the  superior  numbers 
of  the  Ghaznevites ;  but  his  own  thirst  for  ven- 
geance, joined  to  the  bravery  and  indignation  of 
his  countrymen,  bore  down  all  opposition,  and 
compelled  Behram  to  fly,  almost  alone,  from  the 
scene  of  action. 

The  injuries,  insults,  and  cruelties  heaped  on  chazni 
his  brother,  by  the  people  no  less  than  the  prince,  by'S*^ 
would  have  justified  a  severe  retaliation  on  (xhazni ; 
but  the  indiscriminate  destruction  of  so  great  a 
capital  turns  all  our  sympathy  against  the  author 
of  it,  and  has  fixed  a  stigma  on  Ala  u  din  from 
which  he  will  never  be  free  as  long  as  his  name  is 
remembered.*  This  noble  city,  perhaps  at  the 
time  the  greatest  in  Asia,  was  given  up  for  three, 

*  He  is  always  called  Jehansoz,  Burner  of  the  world,  and, 
though  otherwise  praised,  is  mentioned  by  no  historian  on  this 
occasion,  without  the  strongest  terms  of  censure.  Even  the 
unprovoked  massacres  of  Chengtz  and  Tamerlane  are  spoken 
of  with  much  less  disapprobation  :  a  proof,  perhaps,  of  the  more 
civilised  character  of  the  earlier  period,  in  which  such  proceed- 
ings excited  so  much  surprise. 

QQ  2 


Ghorians. 


596 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
-V. 


A.  D,  1152, 
A.  H.  547. 


House  of 
Ghazni 
retire  to 
India. 


and  some  say  seven,  days  to  flame,  slaughter,  and 
devastation.  Even  after  the  first  fury  was  over, 
individuals  were  put  to  death,  and  all  the  Seiads 
that  could  be  found  were  sacrificed  in  expiation  of 
the  murder  of  Self  u  din*s  vizir.  All  the  superb 
monuments  of  the  Ghaznevite  kings  were  de- 
molished, and  every  trace  of  them  effaced,  except 
the  tombs  of  Mahmud,  Masaud,  and  I'brahim  ;  the 
two  first  of  whom  were  spared  for  their  valour,  and 
the  last  probably  for  his  sanctity.  The  unfortunate 
Behram  only  lived  to  witness  the  calamities  he  had 
brought  on  his  country  ;  for,  during  his  flight  to 
India,  he  sank  under  fatigue  and  misfortune,  and 
expired  after  a  reign  of  thirty-five  years. 

His  son  Khusru  continued  his  retreat  to  Labor, 
and  was  received  amidst  the  acclamations  of  his 
subjects,  who  probably  were  not  displeased  to  see 
the  seat  of  government  permanently  transferred  to 
their  city. 


Till 

A.  D.  1160, 

A.  H.  555. 


Sultan  Kliusru. 

Most  of  the  few  remaining  events  of  the  history 
of  Ghaznevite  Sultans  will  appear  in  that  of  the 
house  of  Ghor,  and  it  is  only  to  complete  the  series 
that  I  insert  their  reigns  in  this  place. 

Khusru  governed  his  Indian  territory  in  peace 
for  seven  years.  His  administration  was  acceptable 
to  his  subjects,  but  was  marked  by  no  event  except 
a  feeble  attempt  on  Ghazni. 


HOUSE  OF  GHAZNI.  597 


CHAP. 

Sultan  Khusru  Malik.  iv. 


Khusru  Malik  reigned  for  upwards  of  twenty-  a.  d.  hgo. 


A.  H.  555. 


seven  lunar  years.  He  recovered  the  whole  of 
the  province  of  Lahor,  to  the  same  extent  as  was 
possessed  by  Sultan  rbrahim.  But  at  length  he 
was  invaded,  and  ultimately  subdued,  by  the  kings 
of  Ghor,  in  whose  history  that  of  Ghazni  thence- 
forth merges,  the  race  of  Sebektegin  expiring  with  ^-  "•  '^)^^y 
this  prince. 


QQ  3 


598 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


HOUSE  OF  GHOR.* 


BOOK 
V. 

Origin  of 
the  house 
of  Ghor, 


Aid  u  din  Gliori. 

The  origin  of  the  house  of  Ghor  has  been  much 
discussed  :  the  prevalent  and  apparently  tlie  correct 
opinion  is,  that  both  they  and  their  subjects  were 
Afghans.  Ghor  was  invaded  by  the  Mussulmans 
within  a  few  years  after  the  death  of  Yezdegerd. 
It  is  spoken  of  by  Ebn  Haukal  as  only  partially  con- 
verted in  the  ninth  century,  t  The  inhabitants, 
according  to  the  same  author,  at  that  time  spoke 
the  language  of  Khorasan.t 

*  Called,  in  the  "  Tabakati  Nasiri,"  the  house  of  Sansabani. 

f  Ouseley's  Ebn  Haukal,  pp.  221.  226.  See  also  p.  212.  He 
there  says  that  all  beyond  Ghdr  may  be  considered  as  Hindos- 
tan ;  meaning,  no  doubt,  that  it  was  inhabited  by  infidels. 

\  The  Afghans  look  on  the  mountains  of  Ghor  as  their 
earliest  seat ;  and  I  do  not  know  that  it  has  ever  been  denied 
that  the  joeop/e  of  that  country  in  early  times  were  Afghans. 
The  only  question  relates  to  the  ruling  family.  An  author 
quoted  by  Professor  Dorn  (^History  of  the  Afghans,  annotations, 
page  92.),  says  that  they  were  Turks  from  Khita ;  but  it  is  a  bare 
assertion  of  oiie  author ;  for  the  other  quotation  in  the  same 
place  relates  to  the  successors  o^  \he  house  of  Ghor.  All  other 
authors,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  include  them  in  the  Afghan  tribe 
of  Sur ;  though  they  are  all  guilty  of  an  inconsistency,  in  de- 
riving them  from  Sur  and  Sam,  two  sons  of  Zohak,  a  fabulous 
king  of  Persia,  quite  unconnected  with  the  Afghans.  The 
same  authors  add  some  extraordinary  legends  regarding  their 
more  recent  history.  They  relate  that,  after  the  time  of 
Mahmud,  the  head  of  the  house  of  Sur,  whose  name  was  Sam, 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  599 

In  the  time  of  Sultan  Mahmud  it  was  held,  as    chap. 


has  been  observed,  by  a  prince  whom  Ferishta 
calls  Mohammed  Soory  (or  Sur)  Afghan.  From 
his  time  the  history  is  easily  brought  down  to  the 
events  last  related. 

AVhen  Ala  u  din  had  satiated  his  fury  at  Ghazni 
he  returned  to  Firuz  Coh,  and  gave  himself  up  to 

was  obliged  to  desert  his  country  and  fly  to  India,  where,  though 
still  a  sincere  Mussulman  at  heart,  he  became  a  servant  in  a 
temple  of  idols.  He  there  amassed  a  fortune,  and  was  on  his 
return  home,  when  he  was  shipwrecked  and  drowned  on  the 
coast  of  Persia.  His  son,  Husen  Suri^  clung  to  a  plank,  on 
which  he  floated  for  three  days  ;  and  although  for  all  that  time 
he  had  a  tiger,  which  had  been  also  in  the  wreck,  for  a  com- 
panion, yet  the  animal  did  not  attempt  to  molest  him,  and  he 
made  his  way  to  a  city.  He  was  there  thrown  into  prison ;  but 
being  at  length  delivered,  he  set  out  for  Ghazni.  On  the  road 
he  fell  in  with  a  band  of  robbers,  who,  glad  of  so  fine  a  recruit, 
gave  him  a  horse  and  arms,  and  compelled  him  to  join  their 
troop.  On  the  same  night  they  were  all  seized  and  brought 
before  the  Sultan,  who  happened  to  be  the  pious  rbrahmi,  and 
were  ordered  to  be  beheaded.  Husen,  however,  told  his  story; 
and,  as  his  appearance  was  prepossessing,  the  Sultan  believed 
him,  and  ultimately  sent  him  as  governor  to  his  native  king- 
dom. From  all  this  we  are  tempted  to  infer  that  some  ad- 
venturer did  gain  authority  in  Ghor,  through  the  Sultans  of 
Ghazni ;  that  he  either  belonged  originally  to  the  tribe,  or  was 
adopted  into  it,  perhaps  marrying  into  the  chief's  family  (as  is 
so  common  with  Normans  and  others  in  the  Highland  clans), 
and  afterwards  invented  the  above  romantic  story,  and  equally 
romantic  pedigree,  to  cover  his  low  origin.  Professor  Dorn,  in 
the  annotations  above  quoted,  has  collected  all  that  has  been 
written  on  the  origin  of  the  house  of  Ghor,  as  well  as  on  the 
eight  different  accounts  of  the  origin  of  the  Afghans,  and  has 
come  to  very  rational  conclusions  on  both  questions. 

On  the  house  of  Ghor,  see  also  many  articles  in  D'Herbelot, 
De  Guigncs,  vol.  ii.  p.  181.,  and  Briygs's  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  161. 

Ci  Q   4 


IV. 


600 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Taking  of 
Ghazni  by 
the  Seljuks. 


Restora- 
tion of  Ala 
u  din. 


pleasure,  as  was  his  natural  propensity.  He  had 
not  long  enjoyed  his  new  conquest,  before  he  was 
called  to  meet  a  more  formidable  antagonist  than 
he  had  yet  encountered. 

Sultan  Sanjar  was  now  the  nominal  head  of  the 
empire  of  the  Seljuks ;  and,  although  the  sub- 
ordination of  his  nephew  in  the  western  part  of  it 
was  merely  nominal,  yet  he  possessed  in  effect  the 
greater  part  of  the  power  of  the  family. 

When  he  placed  Behram  on  the  throne  of  Ghaz- 
ni, he  stipulated  for  a  tribute  *  which  he  affected 
to  consider  as  still  due  from  Ala  u  din.  The  latter 
prince  refused  to  acknowledge  the  claim,  and  Sanjar 
marched  against  him,  defeated  him,  and  made  him 
prisoner.  He  however  treated  him  with  liberality, 
and  admitted  him  to  his  flimiliar  society.  Ala  u  din, 
who  was  naturally  lively  and  agreeable,  profited 
by  the  opportunity,  and  so  won  on  Sanjar  by  his 
insinuating  manners  and  his  poetical  and  other 
accomplishments,  that  the  Seljuk  prince  determined 
to  restore  him  to  liberty,  and  even  to  replace  him 
on  his  throne,  t 

This  generous  resolution  of  Sanjar*s  was,  no 
doubt,  strengthened  by  his  own  situation,  which 


*  De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  252. 

-|-  End  of  A.  1).  1152,  A.  H.  54'7,  or  the  beginning  of  the  next 
j'ear.  De  Guignes  and  D'Herhelot  make  the  date  a.  d.  1149, 
A.  H.  54-4  ;  but  it  must  have  been  after  the  taking  of  Ghazni, 
and  before  Sanjar's  captivity,  which  fixes  the  date  with  preci- 
sion. Some  of  the  verses  that  had  such  an  effect  on  Sanjar  are 
preserved  ;  but  it  must  have  been  to  their  complimentary  turn 
rather  than  their  poetical  merit  that  they  owed  their  success. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR. 


601 


did  not  render  it  desirable  for  him  to  embarrass     chap. 

IV. 

himself  with  new  conquests.  

A  few  years  before  this  time  Atziz,  Sanjar's  go- 
vernor* of  Kharizm,  had  rebelled,  and,  dreading  his 
sovereign's  resentment,  had  called  in  the  aid  of  the 
Khitans,  a  Tartar  tribe,  who,  having  been  driven 
by  the  Chinese  from  the  north  of  China,  made 
their  appearance  in  Transoxiana.  These  allies  en- 
abled Atziz  to  defeat  the  Sultan.  In  the  course 
of  the  next  two  years  the  power  of  the  Seljuks 
again  prevailed,  and  Atziz  was  for  a  time  con- 
strained to  acknowledge  their  supremacy. 

But  the  invasion  of  the  Khitans  had  more  per- 
manent effects  than  those ;  for  their  arrival  dis- 
placed the  portion  of  the  tribe  of  Euzt  which  had 
remained  in  Transoxiana  while  the  otiier  portion 
.was  conquering  in  Syria  and  Asia  Minor ;  and 
these  exiles,  being  forced  on  the  south,  became  in 
their  turn  invaders  of  the  territories  of  the  Seljuks. 
Sanjar  opposed  them  with  his  usual  vigour,  at  the 
head  of  an  army  of  100,000  men.  In  spite  of  all  a.  n.  \i53, 
his  efforts  he  was  totally  defeated  t,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy,  and  remained  in  captivity  for 

*  This  is  tiic  origin  of  the  kings  of  Khiirizim,  so  celebrated 
in  the  East,  who  overthrew  the  kingdom  of  Ghor,  and  were  in 
their  turn  overthrown  by  Chenglz  Khan. 

■[  The  Euz  tribe  are  Turks,  who  were  long  settled  in  Kipchak. 
They  are,  according  to  Do  Guignes,  the  ancestors  of  the 
Turkmans  (vol.  i.  part  ii.  pp.  510.  5'2'Z.,  vol.  ii.  p.  190.).  They 
are  also  called  Uzes,  Guz,  Gozz,  Gozi,  and  Gazi ;  but  in 
Ferghana,  where  they  are  the  ruling  tribe,  they  are  still  called 
Euz  (pronounced  like  the  English  verb  use.) 

\.   De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  2.>(i. 


602  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     three  years,  till  within  a  few  months  of  his  death 

'        in  A.  D.  1156,  A.  H.  551. 
Fall  of  the        Bcfore  the  release  of  Ala  u  din.  Sultan  Khusru 

Seljuks. 

resolved  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  recovering 
Ghazni ;  but  acted  with  so  little  promptitude,  that 
he  heard  of  the  captivity  of  Sanjar  before  he 
reached  his  destination,  and  immediately  returned 
to  Labor. 

He  however  now  found  unexpected  allies  ;  for 
the  Euzes,  after  defeating  Sanjar,  poured  over  all 
the  open  part  of  Ala  u  din's  territory,  and  took 
possession  of  Ghazni,  which  they  retained  for  two 
years  :  after  that  time  they  either  evacuated  or 
neglected  it,  and  it  fell  for  a  time  into  the  hands 
of  Khusru.*  His  success,  even  for  a  time,  was 
probably  owing  to  the  death  of  Ala  u  din,  who 
expired  in  a.d.  1156,  a.h.  551,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Seif  u  din,  after  a  short  but  eventful 
reign  of  four  years. 


Seifu  din  Ghori. 

A.D.  1156  Not  long  before  the  death  of  Ala  u  din,  he  had 
placed  his  two  nephews,  Gheias  u  din  and  Shahab 
u  din,  in  confinement.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  real  motive  of  this  proceeding,  a  natural  one 
presents  itself  in  the  desire  of  securing  the  succes- 
sion of  his  young  and  inexperienced  son,  to  whom 
those  active  princes  were  likely  to  prove  formida- 

*  Ferishta  and  De  Guignes  make  the  Euz  retain  Ghazni  for 
fifteen  years. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  603 

ble  competitors.     This  consideration  liad  no  weight     chap. 
with  Seif  ii  din,  whose  first  act  was  to  release  liis  .»__^ 
cousins  and  restore  them  to  their  governments ;  a 
confidence  which  he  never  had  reason  to  repent. 

His  other  quaHties,  both  personal  and  mental, 
corresponded  to  this  noble  trait,  and  might  have 
insured  a  happy  reign,  if  among  so  many  virtues 
he  had  not  inherited  the  revengeful  spirit  of  his 
race.  One  of  his  chiefs  appearing  before  him  de- 
corated with  jewels  which  had  belonged  to  his 
wife,  and  of  which  she  had  been  stripped  after  his 
father's  defeat  by  Sanjar,  he  was  so  transported  by 
passion  at  the  sight  that  he  immediately  put  the 
offender  to  death  with  his  own  hand.  A'bul  Abbas, 
the  brother  of  the  deceased,  suppressed  his  feel- 
ings at  the  time  ;  but  seized  an  early  opportunity, 
when  Seif  u  din  was  engaged  with  a  body  of  the 
Euz,  and  thrust  his  lance  through  the  Sultan's 
body  in  the  midst  of  the  fight.  Other  historians 
say  tliat  he  went  into  open  rebellion,  and  killed 
the  king  in  a  regular  action  ;  and  there  are  dif- 
ferent accounts  of  the  transactions  that  followed 
that  event.  They  terminated,  however,  in  the  death 
of  A'bul  Abbiis,  and  the  succession  of  Gheias  u  din, 
the  elder  of  the  late  Sultan's  cousins.  Seif  u  din 
had  reigned  little  more  than  a  year.* 

Gheias  u  din  Ghori. 
Immediately  on    his    accession,    Gheias    u    din   a.  d.  1157, 


A.    H.    5ij'2. 


*   D'Hcrbelot.     Ferishta.     Abstract  of  Mussulman  histories, 
in  Dorn's  "  Afghans." 


604  HISTORY    OF    INDIA, 

BOOK  associated  his  brother,  Mohammed  Shahab  u  din, 
'  in  the  government.  He  retained  the  sovereignty 
during  his  wliole  life,  but  seems  to  have  left  the 
conduct  of  military  operations  almost  entirely  to 
Shahab  u  din  ;  on  whom,  for  some  years  before 
Gheias  u  din's  death,  the  active  duties  of  the 
government  seem  in  a  great  measure  to  have  de- 
volved. 

The  harmony  in  which  these  brothers  lived  is 
not  the  only  proof  that  they  retained  the  family 
attachment  which  prev^ailed  among  their  prede- 
cessors. Their  uncle,  (who  ruled  the  dependent 
principality  of  Bamian,  extending  along  the  upper 
Oxus  from  the  east  of  Balkh,)  having  attempted 
to  seize  the  throne  on  the  death  of  Seif  u  din,  was 
defeated  in  battle,  and  so  surrounded  that  his  de- 
struction seemed  inevitable ;  when  his  nephews 
threw  themselves  from  their  horses,  ran  to  hold 
his  stirrup,  and  treated  him  wdth  such  profound 
respect,  that,  although  he  at  first  suspected  that 
they  were  mocking  his  misfortune,  they  at  last 
succeeded  in  soothing  his  feelings,  and  restored  him 
to  his  principality.  It  continued  in  his  immediate 
family  for  three  generations,  until  it  fell,  with  the 
rest  of  the  dominions  of  Ghor,  on  the  conquest  by 
the  king  of  Kharizm.* 

All  these  transactions  took  place  in  less  than 
five  years  from  the  fall  of  Ghazni,  and  the  two 
brothers  began  now  to  turn  to  foreign  conquest 
with  the  vigour  of  a  new  dynasty. 

*  D'Herbelot.    Dorn's  Annotations. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  (505 

They   took   advantage    of  the    decline    of  the     chap. 
Seljuks  to  reduce  the  eastern  part  of  Khorasan  ;  " 

Gheias  u  din  was  personally  engaged  in  that  enter- 
prise, and  also  in  the  recovery  of  Ghazni ;  and 
from  that  time  forward  he  divided  his  residence 
between  Firuz  Coh,  Ghazni,  and  Herat.  At  the 
last  city  he  built  the  great  mosque  so  much  spoken 
of  for  its  magnificence  in  those  and  later  ages. 

Shahab  u  din's  attention  was,  for  a  long  time,   First  ex. 

1  •       1  ITT  11  1         peciitioii  to 

almost  entu'ely  turned  to  India  ;  and  he  may  be  India  un^ 

considered   the   founder    of    the    empire    in    that  u  din. 
country  which  has  lasted  till  our  time. 

He  did  not  besrin  till  a.d.  II76,  a.  h.  57%  when  ^-^^  i^'^' 

^  _  ^  '  A.  H.  572. 

he  took  U'ch,  at  the  junction  of  the  rivers  of  the 
Panjcib  with  the  Indus.  Two  years  afterwards  he  ^;J^"  y^^^' 
led  an  expedition  to  Guzerat,  in  which  he  was 
defeated,  and  compelled  to  retreat  with  as  many 
disasters  as  Mahmud,  and  without  the  consolation 
of  success. 

In  two  expeditions  to  Labor  he  broke  the  strength  a.  d.  ins, 
of  Khusru  Malik,  the  last  of  the  Ghaznevites,  and  "'  and 
compelled  him  to  give  up  his  son  as  a  hostage.  a!  n.  570.' 

His  next  expedition  was  to  Sind,  which  he  over-  ■"•  "•  ''^^' 

^  A.  H.  577. 

ran  to  the  sea  shore.     After  his  return  he  a^jain  Expulsion 

fti  ' 
engaged   in    hostilities  with    Khusru  Malik,   who,  house  of 

taking  courage  from  despair,  made  an  alliance  with  fromThe 

the    Gakkars,    captured    one   of   Shahab    u    din's  ^'""J"'^- 

'  ^  A.  I).   1184 

strongest  forts,  and  obliged  him  to  call  in  the  aid  *.  u.  sso. 
of  stratagem  for  a  purpose  which  force  seemed  in- 
sufficient to  accomplish.     He  aflfiected  alarms  from 
the  west,  assembled  his  army  as  if  for  operations  in 


606  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     Khorasan,    and,  professing    an    anxious   desire  to 
'        make  peace  with  Khusru  Malik,  released  his  son, 
who  had  been  hitherto  kept  as  a  hostage.     Khusru 
Malik,  entirely  thrown  off  his  guard  by  these  ap- 
pearances, quitted  Labor,  and  set  out  to  meet  his 
son,  so  unexpectedly  restored  to  him ;  when  Shahab 
u  din  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  strong  body  of 
chosen  cavalry,   and,  marching  with    celerity  and 
secrecy  through  unfrequented  routes,  suddenly  in- 
terposed himself  between  Khusru  Malik  and  his 
capital ;  and,  surrounding  his  camp  by  night,  made 
him  prisoner,  and  soon  after  occupied  Labor,  whicli 
A,  n.  1186,    no  longer  offered  resistance.     Khusru  and  his  family 
were  sent  to  Gheias  u  din  and  imprisoned  in  a 
castle  in  Ghirjistan,  where  many  years  after  they  were 
put  to  death   by  one  or  other  of  the  contending 
parties  during  the  war  with  the  king  of  Kharizm. 
Wars  with        Shahab  u  din  had  now  no  Mahometan  rival  left, 
dus.  and   the    contest   between    him    and    the   Hindus 

seemed  at  first  sight  very  unequal.  As  his  army 
was  drawn  from  all  the  warlike  provinces  between 
the  Indus  and  Oxus,  and  was  accustomed  to  con- 
tend with  the  Seljuks  and  the  northern  hordes  of 
Tartars,  we  should  not  expect  it  to  meet  much 
resistance  from  a  people  naturally  gentle  and  in- 
offensive, broken  into  small  states,  and  forced  into 
war  without  any  hopes  of  gain  or  aggrandisement : 
yet  none  of  the  Hindu  principalities  fell  without 
a  severe  struggle  ;  and  some  were  never  entirely 
subdued,  but  still  remain  substantive  states  after 
the  Mussulman  empire  has  gone  to  ruin. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  607 

This  unexpected  opposition  was  chiefly  owing    chap. 
to  tlie  pecuhar  character  of  the  Rajputs,  arising  ' 

from  their  situation   as  the    mihtary   class  in   the  The  Raj- 

puts. 

original  Hindu  system.  The  other  classes,  though 
kept  together  as  casts  by  community  of  religious 
rites,  were  mixed  up  in  civil  society,  and  were 
under  no  chiefs  except  the  ordinary  magistrates  of 
the  country.  But  the  Rajputs  were  born  soldiers  ; 
each  division  had  its  hereditary  leader;  and  each 
formed  a  separate  community,  like  clans  in  other 
countries,  the  members  of  which  were  bound  by 
many  ties  to  their  chiefs  and  to  each  other.  Tlie 
rules  of  cast  still  subsisted,  and  tended  to  render 
more  powerful  the  connection  just  described. 

As  the  chiefs  of  those  clans  stood  in  the  same 
relation  to  the  raja  as  their  own  retainers  did  to 
them,  the  king,  nobility,  and  soldiery  all  made  one 
body,  united  by  the  strongest  feelings  of  kindred 
and  military  devotion.  The  sort  of  feudal  system 
that  prevailed  among  the  Rajputs  *  gave  additional 
stability  to  this  attachment,  and  all  together  pro- 
duced the  pride  of  birth,  the  high  spirit  and  the 
romantic  notions,  so  striking  in  the  military  class 
of  that  period.  Their  enthusiasm  was  kept  up  by 
the  songs  of  their  bards,  and  inflamed  by  frequent 
contests  for  glory  or  for  love.  They  treated  women 
with  a  respect  unusual  in  the  East ;  and  were  guided, 
even  towards  their  enemies,  by  rules  of  honour, 
which  it  was  disgraceful  to  violate.  But,  although 
they  had  so  many  of  the  characteristics  of  chivalry, 
*  See  page  14' t.  of  this  volume. 


608  HISTOllY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  they  had  not  the  high-strained  sentiments  and  arti- 
'  ficial  refinements  of  our  knights,  and  were  more 
in  the  spirit  of  Homer's  heroes  than  of  Spenser's 
or  Ariosto's.  If  to  these  qualities  we  add  a  very 
strong  disposition  to  indolence  (which  may  have 
existed  formerly,  though  not  likely  to  figure  in 
history),  and  make  allowances  for  the  effects  of  a 
long  period  of  depression,  we  have  the  character  of 
the  Rajputs  of  the  present  day  ;  who  bear  much 
the  same  resemblance  to  their  ancestors  that  those 
did  to  the  w^arriors  of  the  "  Maha  Bharat."* 

With  all  the  noble  qualities  of  the  early  Raj- 
puts was  mixed  a  simplicity  derived  from  their 
want  of  intercourse  with  other  nations,  which  ren- 
dered them  inferior  in  practical  ability,  and  even  in 
military  efficiency,  to  men  actuated  by  much  less 
elevated  sentiments  than  theirs. 

Among  the  effects  of  the  division  into  clans,  one 
was,  that  although  the  Rajputs  are  anything  but  a 
migratory  people,  yet,  when  they  have  been  com- 
pelled by  external  force  to  leave  their  seats,  they 
have  often  moved  in  a  body  like  a  Tartar  horde  ; 
and  when  they  occupied  new  lands,  they  distributed 
them  in  the  same  proportions  as  their  former  ones, 
and  remained  without  any  alteration  but  that  of 
place. 

Shortly  before  the  time  of  Shahab  u  din,  the  four 

*  Their  modern  history  is  full  of  instances  of  loyalty  and 
military  honour.  Their  last  great  war  was  between  the  rajas 
of  Jeipur  and  Jodpur  for  the  hand  of  a  princess  of  Oudipur. 
(See  Tod's  Rajasthan,  and  other  books  and  official  publica- 
tions.) 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  609 

greatest  kingdoms  in  India  were  —  Delhi,  then  held     chap. 
by  the  clan  of  Tomara  ;   Ajmir,  by  that  of  Chou-  ' 

lian  ;  Canouj,  by  tlie  llathors  ;  and  Guzerat,  by 
the  Baghilas,  who  had  sup})lanted  the  Chalukas  : 
but  the  Tomara  chief,  dying  without  male  issue, 
adopted  his  grandson  Pritwi,  raja  of  Ajmir,  and 
united  the  Tomaras  and  Chouhans  under  one 
head. 

As  the  raja  of  Canouj  was  also  grandson  of  the 
Tomara  chief  by  another  daughter,  he  was  mor- 
tally offended  at  the  preference  shown  to  his  cou- 
sin ;  and  the  wars  and  jealousies  to  which  this 
rivalship  gave  rise  contributed  greatly  to  Shahab 
u  din's  success  in  his  designs  on  India. 

His   first  attack    was  on   Pritwi   Raja,   king  of  a.  d.  1191, 
Ajmir  and  Delhi.     The  armies  met  at  Tirouri,  be-  Defeat  of 
tween  Tanesar   and   Carnal,  on    the   great  plain,  jj]"^''^" 
where  most  of  the  contests  for  the  possession  of 
India  have   been  decided.     The  Mussulman  mode 
of  fighting  was  to  charge  with  bodies  of  cavalry  in 
succession,  who  either  withdrew  after  discharging 
their  arrows,  or  pressed  their  advantage,  as  circum- 
stances mifrht  su<]^o:est.     The  Hindus,  on  the  other 
hand,  endeavoured  to   outflank  their  enemy,  and 
close  upon  him  on  both  sides,  wiiile  he  was  busy 
witli  iiis  attack  on  their  centre.    Their  tactics  were 
completely  successful  on  this  occasion  :  while  Sha- 
hab u  din  was  engaged  in  the  centre  of  his  army, 
he  learned  that  both  Iiis  wings  had  given  way,  and 
soon  found  jiimself  surrounded,  along  with  such  of 
his  adiierents  as  had  followed  his  example  in  re- 

VOL.  r.  R  R 


610 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK 
V. 


Return  of 
Shahab  ii 
din  to 
India. 


A.  D.  119;5, 
A.  H.  589. 


fusing  to  quit  the  field.  In  this  situation  he  de- 
fended himself  with  desperate  courage.  He  charged 
into  the  thickest  of  the  enemy,  and  had  reached 
the  viceroy  of  Delhi,  brother  to  the  raja,  and 
wounded  him  in  the  mouth  with  his  lance,  when 
he  himself  received  a  wound,  and  would  have  fallen 
from  his  horse  with  loss  of  blood,  had  not  one  of 
his  followers  leapt  up  behind  him  and  supported 
him  until  he  had  extricated  him  from  the  conflict, 
and  carried  him  to  a  place  of  safety. 

The  rout,  however,  was  complete.  The  Maho- 
metans were  pursued  for  forty  miles  ;  and  Shahab 
u  din,  after  collecting  the  wreck  of  his  army  at 
Labor,  returned,  himself,  to  the  other  side  of  the 
Indus.  He  first  visited  his  brother  at  Ghor,  or 
Firuz  Coh,  and  then  remained  settled  at  Ghazni, 
where  he  seemed  to  forget  his  misfortunes  in  plea- 
sure and  festivity.  But,  in  spite  of  appearances,  his 
disgrace  still  rankled  in  his  bosom,  and,  as  he  him- 
self told  an  aged  counsellor,  "  he  never  slumbered 
in  ease,  or  waked  but  in  sorrow  and  anxiety."  * 

At  length,  having  recruited  an  army,  composed 
of  Turks,  Tajiks,  and  Afghans,  many  of  whom  had 
their  helmets  ornamented  with  jewels,  and  their 
armour  inlaid  with  silver  and  gold,  he  again  began 
his  march  towards  India,  t 

Pritwi  Raja  again  met  him  with  a  vast  army, 
swelled  by  numerous  allies  who  were  attracted  by 


*  Briggs's  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  173. 

f  This  description  is  from  Ferishta  :  he  fixes  tlic  number  at 
120;000  horse. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  Gil 

his  former  success.     He  sent  a  haughty  message  to     chap. 
Shahab  u  din,  with  a  view  to  deter  him  from  ad-  " 

vancing.  The  Mussulman  general  replied  in  mo- 
derate terms,  and  spoke  of  referring  to  his  brother 
for  orders  ;  but  when  the  Hindus,  in  bhnd  reliance 
on  their  numbers,  had  encamped  close  to  his  army, 
he  crossed  the  brook  which  lay  between  them  about 
daybreak,  and  fell  upon  them  by  surprise  before 
they  had  any  suspicion  that  he  was  in  motion.  But, 
notwithstanding  the  confusion  which  ensued,  their 
camp  was  of  such  extent,  that  part  of  their  troops 
had  time  to  form,  and  afford  protection  to  the  rest, 
who  afterwards  drew  up  in  their  rear  ;  and  order 
being  at  length  restored,  they  advanced  in  four 
lines  to  meet  their  opponents.  Shahab  u  din, 
having  failed  in  his  original  design,  now  gave  orders 
for  a  retreat,  and  continued  to  retire,  keeping  up  a 
running  fight,  until  he  had  drawn  his  enemies  out 
of  their  ranks,  while  he  was  careful  to  preserve  his 
own.  As  soon  as  he  saw  them  in  disorder,  he 
charged  them  at  the  head  of  12,000  chosen  horse, 
in  steel  armour ;  and  "  this  prodigious  army  once 
shaken,  like  a  great  building,  tottered  to  its  fall, 
and  was  lost  in  its  own  ruins."* 

The  viceroy  of  Delhi,  and  many  other  chiefs, 
were  slain  on  the  field;  and  Pritwi  Raja,  being  taken 
in  the  ])ursuit,  was  put  to  death  in  cold  blood. 

•Shahab  u   din  was  more  sanguinary  than    Mali-   conquest 

ot"  Ajinir, 

*   Briggs's  Fcrislita,  vol.  i.  p.  177. 
11  R    '2 


612  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     mud.     When  he  took  Ajmir,  soon  after  this  battle, 

.■ he    put   some   thousands  of  the  inhabitants,    who 

opposed  him,  to  the  sword,  reserving  the  rest  for 
slavery.  After  this  barbarous  execution  he  made 
over  the  country  to  a  relation  (some  say  a  natural 
son)  of  Pritwi  Raja,  under  an  engagement  for  a 
heavy  tribute. 

He  then  returned  to  Ghazni,  leaving  his  former 
slave,  Kutb  u  din  Eibak,  who  was  now  rising  into 
notice,  and  who  afterwards  mounted  the  throne,  as 
his  representative  in  India.  Kutb  u  din  followed 
up  his  successes  with  ability,  and  took  possession 
r.nd  Delhi,   of  Delhi,  aiid  of  Coel,  between  the  Jamna  and  the 

Ganges. 
A.  D.  119^,       Next  year,  Shahab  u  din  returned  to  India,  de- 
feated Jeia  Chandra,  the  Ilahtor  Raja  of  Canouj, 
Capture  of  iu  a  battle  on  the  Jamna,  north  of  Etawa,  and  took 
anouj.       Canouj  and  Benares.     This  victory  destroyed  one 
of  the  greatest  Indian  monarchies,   extended  the 
Mussulman  dominions  into  Behar,  and  opened  the 
way,   which  was   soon   followed   up,  into   Bengal. 
Notwithstanding  its  importance,  the  circumstances 
of  the  battle,  the  taking  of  the  towns,  the  breaking 
of  idols,  and  the  acquisition  of  treasures,  present  so 
little  novelty,  that  we  are  left  at  leisure  to  notice 
the  capture  of  a  white  elephant,  and  the  incident  of 
the  body  of  the  raja  being  recognised  by  his  false 
teeth,  a  circumstance  which  throws  some  light  on 
the  state  of  manners.     An  event  of  great  conse- 
quence followed  these  victories,  which  was  the  re- 
treat of  the  greater  part  of  the  Rahtor  clan  from 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  6l3 

Canouj  to  Marwar,  where  they  founded  a  princi-    chap. 
pahty,  now    in  alliance  with   the  British   govern-        ^^' 
ment. 

Shahab  u  din  having  returned  to  Ghazni,  Kutb 
u  din  had  to  defend  the  new  raja  of  Ajmir  against 
a  pretender  ;  and,  after  saving  his  government,  he 
proceeded  to  Guzerat,  and  ravaged  that  rich  pro- 
vince. 

Next  year,  Sliahab  u  din  came  back  to  India,  a.  d.  1195, 
took  Biana,  west  of  Agra,  and  laid  siege  to  the  ^•"•^^^• 
strong  fort  of  GwaHor,  in  Bundelcand.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  he  was  recalled  by  some  attack  or  alarm 
in  Kiiorasan,  for  he  left  the  conduct  of  the  sie^re 
ofGwiilior  to  his  generals,  and  returned,  without 
having  performed  anything  of  consequence,  to 
Ghazni. 

Gwalior  held  out  for  a  long  time  ;  and  when  it 
was  taken,  Kutb  u  din  (who  was  still  governor  in 
India)  was  obliged  to  march  again  to  Ajmir.  The 
raja  set  up  by  the  Mussulmans  had  been  a  second 
time  disturbed  by  his  rivals,  and  protected  by 
Kutb  u  din  ;  and  he  w^as  now  exposed  to  a  for- 
midable attack  from  the  rajas  of  Guzerat  and 
Nagor,  supported  by  the  Mers,  a  numerous  hill 
tribe  near  Ajmir.  Kutb  u  din  was  overpowered 
on  this  occasion,  and  had  difficulty  in  making  his 
way,  covered  with  wounds,  to  Ajmir,  where  he 
remained,  shut  up  within  the  walls.  Reinforce- 
ments, however,  were  speedily  sent  from  Ghazni ; 
the  seige  was  raised  ;  and,  by  the  time  he  was  suf- 

II  K    3 


Ol4  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK     ficiently  recovered  to  move,  he  was  in  a  condition 

to  retaliate  on  his  kite  conquerors.     He  set  out  for 

Guzerat,  by  the  way  of  Pali,  Nadol,  and  Sirohi. 
In  the  last  named  district  he  found  two  great  feu- 
datories of  Guzerat,  strongly  posted  on  the  moun- 
tain of  A'bu,  and  in  too  great  force  to  be  left  in  his 
rear.  He  therefore  entered  the  hills,  reached  and 
carried  their  position,  and,  having  dispersed  their 
army,  proceeded  to  Anhalwara.  He  took  and  gar- 
risoned that  capital ;  and,  after  ravaging  the  pro- 
vince, returned  again  to  Delhi.  Next  year  he  took 
Calinjer  and  Calpi,  forts  in  Bundelcand,  and  ap- 
pears likewise  to  have  gone  against  Badayun,  in 
what  is  now  called  Rohilcand. 
Conquest  Thc  Gaugcs,  indeed,  had  long  ceased  to  be  an 
Behar,'and  obstaclc  ;  and,  at  this  very  period,  Kutb  u  din  was 
'^"^^"  waited  on  by  Mohammed  Bakhtiar  Khilji*,  who 
had  already  conquered  part  of  Oud  and  North 
Behar  ;  and  who,  on  his  return  to  his  command, 
reduced  the  rest  of  Behar  and  Bengal,  taking  Gour 
or  Laknouti,  the  capital  of  the  latter  province.! 

During  these  transactions,  Shahab  u  din  was 
engaged  in  contests  with  the  King  of  Kharizm 
(who  had  subverted  the  government  of  the  Seljuks 
in  Persia,  and  succeeded  to  their  place  as  com- 
petitors with  the  Ghoris  for  the  ascendancy  in 
central  Asia).  He  was  between  Tus  and  Serakhs, 
in  Khorasan,  when  he  heard  of  his  brother's  death, 

*  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  198. 

■f   Introduction  to  Bird's  History  of  Guzerat,  p.  85. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOK.  6l5 

and  returned  to  Ghazni  to  take  possession  of  the  chap. 

..  IV. 

throne. 


Gheias  u  din  appears  to  have  resumed  his  activity  a.  d.  1202, 


H.  599. 


fill 

sion 

Kliarizm. 


A.  n.  1 203, 
A.  H.   600. 


before  his  death,  and  to  have  been  present  in  person 
in  all  the  campaigns  in  Khorasan,  except  this  last.  * 

Sliahdb  u  din  (or  Mohatnmed)  GhorL 

As  soon  as  he  had  arranged  his  internal  govern-  Unsuccess 
ment,  Shahab  u  din  assembled  an  army,  and  pro-  sion  of 
ceeded  to  make  a  decisive  attack  on  Kharizm.     He 
gained  a  great  victory  over  the  king  of  that  country  t, 
besieged  him  in  his  capital,  and  soon  reduced  him 
to  such  straits  as  to  constrain  him  to  sue  for  aid 
to  the  Khitan  Tartars.     By  their  assistance  he  so 
completely  changed  the  face  of  affairs,  that  Shahab 
u  din  was  obliged  to  burn  his  baggage,  and  attempt 
to  draw  off  towards  his  own  territory.     He  was  so 
hard  pressed  on  his  retreat  that  he  could  not  avoid 
an  action,  and  received  such  a  defeat,  that  it  was 
with  difHculty  he  made  his  way  to  Andkho,  half 
way  between  Balkh  and  Herat.     At  Andkho  he 
made  a  stand,  and  only  surrendered  on  condition 

*  De  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  265.  Ferishta,  vol.  i.  p.  186.  D'Her- 
belot,  article  "  Ghuiathudin."  This  account  is  inconsistent  with 
Ferishta  (p.  180.),  who  represents  Gheias  u  din  as  merely  re- 
taining the  name  of  king  during  the  last  years  of  his  life ;  but 
is  supported  by  D'Hcrbelot  and  De  Guignes,  who  quote  re- 
spectable Persian  histories,  and  are  better  authority  on  western 
iffairs  than  Ferishta. 

+  Dc  Guignes,  vol.  ii.  p.  265. 


6l6  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK    of  being  allowed  to  depart  on  payment  of  a  sum  of 
1 money. 


Rebellions        The  dcsti'Liction  of  Shahab  u  din's  army,  ioined, 

in  India.  ^  ./  '  o  ' 

as  it  was,  at  first,  to  a  report  of  his  death,  was  the 
signal  for  general  confusion  in  a  great  part  of  his 
dominions.  Ghazni  shut  her  gates  against  him, 
though  the  governor,  Taj  u  din  Eldoz  was  one  of 
his  flivourite  slaves.  Another  of  his  chiefs  went 
straight  from  the  field  of  battle  to  Multan,  and 
presenting  himself  with  a  feigned  commission  from 
the  king,  occupied  the  place  on  his  own  behalf. 
The  wild  tribe  of  the  Gakkars  issued  from  their 
mountains  in  the  north  of  the  Panjab,  took  Lahor, 
and  filled  the  whole  province  with  havoc  and  de- 
vastation. Kutb  u  din  remained  faithful  in  India, 
as  did  Herat  and  other  western  countries,  where 
the  governments  were  held  by  three  nephews  of 
the  king's.  Shahab  u  din  collected  some  adherents, 
and  first  recovered  Multan.  He  then  received  the 
submission  of  Ghazni,  and  pardoned  Eldoz.  He 
afterwards  made  an  attack  on  the  Panjab,  in  con- 
cert with  Kutb  u  din,  and  not  only  recovered  that 
country,  but  induced  the  Gakkars  to  embrace  the 
Mahometan  religion,  which  was  the  easier  done  as 
they  had  very  little  notion  of  any  other.  Ferishta 
mentions  that  the  infidels  in  the  hills  east  of  Ghazni 
were  also  converted  at  this  period.* 

*  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  people  of  the  inaccessible 
regions,  now  inhabited  by  the  Jajis  and  Tiiris,  may  not  have 
been  converted  till  this  late  period. 


HOUSE    OF    GHOll.  6 17 

Internal  tranquillity  being  restored,  Shahab  u  din     chap. 
set  off  on  his  return  to  his  western  provinces,  where  ' 

he  had  ordered  a  large  army  to  be  collected,  for  Subdued. 
another   expedition   to   Kharizm.       He   had   only  Death  of 
reached  the  Indus,  when,  having  ordered  his  tent  din. 
to   be   pitched   close   to  the   river,  that  he  might 
enjoy  the  freshness  of  the  air  off  the  water,  his  un- 
guarded situation  was  observed  by  a  band  of  Gak- 
kars,  who  had  lost  relations  in  the  late  war,  and 
were   watching  an   opportunity  of  revenge.      At 
midnight,   when  the  rest  of  the  camp  was  quiet, 
they  swam  the  river  to  the  spot  where  the  king's 
tent  was  pitched ;    and  entering,   unopposed,   dis- 
patched him  with  numerous  wounds. 

This  event  took  place  on  the  2d  of  Shaban,  (i02  a.  «.  1206, 
of  the  Hijra,  or  March  14th,  1206.  His  body  was  ^" "'  ^°"' 
conveyed,  in  mournful  pomp,  to  Ghazni,  accom- 
panied by  his  vizir  and  all  his  principal  nobles.  It 
was  met  by  Eldoz,  who  unbuckled  his  armour, 
threw  dust  on  his  head,  and  gave  every  sign  of 
affliction  for  the  death  of  his  benefactor. 

He  left  prodigious  treasures,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  nephew  Mahmud. 

The  conquests  of  Shahab  u  din  in  India  far  sur- 
})assed  those  of  Sultan  Mahmud,  and  might  have 
surpassed  them  in  Persia,  if  tlie  times  had  been  as 
favourable.  Yet,  though  an  enterprising  soldier, 
he  had  neither  the  prudence  nor  the  general  talents 
of  that  great  })rince,  who  was  a  discoverer  as  well 
as  a  conqueror,  and  whose  attention  was  as  much 
devoted  to  letters  as  to  arms.     Accordingly,  the 


618  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  name  of  Mahmud  is  still  one  of  the  most  celebrated 

V.  . 

in  Asia,   while   that   of  Shahab  u  din  is  scarcely 


known  beyond  the  countries  over  which  he  rided. 

Extent  of         At   his  death,   Shahab  u  din  held,  in  different 

quesTs'Vn      degrees  of  subjection,  the  whole  of  Hindostan  Pro- 

^"'^''*'         per,  except  Malwa  and  some  contiguous  districts. 

Sind  and  Bengal  were  either  entirely  subdued,  or 

in  rapid  course  of  reduction.     On  Guzerat  he  had 

no  hold,  except  what  is  implied  in  the  possession  of 

the  capital.     Much  of  Hindostan  w-as  immediately 

under  his  officers,  and  the  rest  under  dependent, 

or,   at  least,   tributary   princes.      The   desert  and 

some  of  the  mountains  were  left  independent  from 

nealect. 


'&■ 


Mahmud  Ghori. 
A.  D.  I20G,       Thouffh   Mahmud  was  proclaimed   throughout 

A.  H.  602.  ^  .  ^      ,     ,  .     ^ 

the  whole  of  his  uncle's  dominions,  and  his  sove- 
reignty acknowledged  by  all  the  officers  under  it, 
Dissoiu-      yet    the    kingdom    broke,    at  once,   into  separate 
GiioHan  *^    statcs,  wliich  wcrc  scarcely  held  together,  even  in 
cmiiire.       namc,  by  his  general  supremacy. 

Shahab  u  din,  having  no  son,  was  fond  of  bring- 
ing up  Turkish  slaves ;  and  many  of  his  training 
rose  to  great  eminence.  Three  of  these  were  in 
possession  of  extensive  governments  at  the  time 
of  his  death.  Kutb  u  din,  in  India ;  Eldoz,  at 
Ghazni ;  and  Nasir  u  din  Kubachi,  in  Multan  and 
Sind.  Each  of  these  three  became  really  inde- 
pendent on  their  master's  death  ;  and,  as  the  subor- 
dinate principality  of  Bamian  was  held  by  a  separate 


HOUSE    OF    GHOR.  6lQ 

branch  of  his  own  family,  Mahmud's  actual  posses-    chap. 
sion   was  confined  to   Ghor,   with   Herat,   Sistan,  " 

and  the  east  of  Khorasan.      His   capital  was  at 
Firuz  Coh. 

Mahmud,  on  his  accession,  sent  the  title  of  king 
and  the  insignia  of  royalty  to  Kutb  n  din  to  be 
held  under  him.  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
attempted  to  disturb  Eldoz  in  his  possession  (al- 
though two  sons  of  the  prince  of  Bamian  asserted 
the  rights  of  their  family,  and  for  a  time  ex- 
pelled Eldoz  from  Ghazni)  ;  but,  on  the  death  of 
Mahmud,  which  happened  within  five  or  six  *  years, 
there  was  a  general  civil  war  throughout  all  his  do- 
minions west  of  the  Indus,  and  those  countries  had 
not  recovered  their  tranquillity  when  they  were  all 
subdued  by  the  kings  of  Kharizm. 

Ghazni  was  taken  by  tJiose  conquerors  in  a.  d. 
1215,  and  Firuz  Coh  at  an  earlier  period.  Many 
accounts,  indeed,  represent  Mahmud  as  having 
been  killed  on  that  occasion,  t 

*  A.  D.  1208,  A.  H.  605  (De  Guignes).  a.  d.  1210,  a.  ii.  G07 
(Dorn).     A.D.  1212,  A.  h.  609  (D'Herbelot). 

f  For  particulars  of  Mahmud's  reign  and  tlie  subsequent 
confusions,  see  De  Guignes  (art.  "  Kliarizme  ").  D'Herbelot 
(art.  "  Mahmoud"),  and  tlie  history  of  the  house  of  Ghor, 
in  the  annotations  on  Professor  Dorn's  "  History  of  the 
Afghans." 

The  Ghoris  appear  to  have  recovered  from  this  temporary  ex- 
tinction ;  for  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  less  than 
100  years  after  the  death  of  Jenghiz  Khan,  \vc  find  Mohammed 
Sam  Ghori  defending  Herat  against  one  of  the  successors  of 
that  conqueror.  (D'Ohson,  vol.  iv.  p.  515,  ^c.)  ;  and  at  a  later 
period,  Tamerlane,  in  his  Memoirs,  mentions  Gheiiis  u  din,  son 


6^0  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

BOOK      of  Aaz  (or  Moizz)   u   dtn,  as    ruler    of  Khorasan,    Ghor,  and 


V, 


Ghirjistan;  and  in  many  places  calls  him  and  his  father  Ghori/;. 
(Mulfuzat  Timuri,  p.  145).  Princes  of  the  same  dj'nasty  are 
mentioned  in  Price,  vol.  ii.,  who  calls  their  family  Kirit,  or 
Gueret,  and  all  the  names  mentioned  on  those  occasions  are 
found  in  a  list  of  Kurt  kings,  given  by  Professor  Dorn  (Anno- 
tations, p.  92.),  from  Janabi,  who  says  they  are  asserted  to  be  of 
thj  Sur  Alghori. 


END    OF    THE    FIRST    VOLUME. 


London  ; 

Printed  l)y  A.  Spottiswoode, 

New-  Street-  Square. 


-C 


■\ 


A     000  631  921     4 


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