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TllK I5ATTLE OK CUDDAL( JRIC
J<'ro>itisfiCi.c^ I'oi, two.
INDIA
AND THE FRONTIER STATES OF
Afghanistan, Nipal and Burma
BY
J. TALBOYS WHEELER
LATE ASSISTANT SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, FOREIGN DEPART
MENT, AND LATE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH BURMA
WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS
Bv EDGAR SALTUS
WITH MAPS AND TABLES
VOLUME 11
NEW YORK
PETER FENELON COLLIER
MDCCCXCIX
CONTENTS
PART III
BRITISH IXDIA
(COXTIXUED)
CHAPTER VII
LORD COENWALLIS AND SIR JOHN SHORE. (A.D. 1785 TO 1798) . 443
CHAPTER VIII
MYSORE AND CARNATIC— WELLESLEY. (A.D. 1798 TO 1801) . . 467
CHAPTER IX
MAHRATTA WARS — WELLESLEY. (A.D. 1799 TO 1805) . , . 493
CHAPTER X
CONCILIATION — LORD CORNWALLIS, SIR GEORGE BARLOW, AND LORD
MINTO. (A.D. 1805 TO 1813) 514
CHAPTER XI
NIPAL HISTORY— GHORKA CONQUEST. (A.D. 1767 TO 1814) . . 531
CHAPTER XII
NIPAL WAR— LORD MOIRA (HASTINGS). (A.D. 1814 TO 1616) . . 543
CHAPTER XIII
PINDHARI WAR, AND FALL OF THE PEISHWA — LORD HASTINGS.
(A.D. 1815 TO 1818) 549
(3)
4 CONTENTS
CHAPTER XIV
MAHRATTA CONQUEST— LORD HASTINGS. (A.D. 1817 TO 1823) . . 560
CHAPTER XV
BURMAN HISTORY — AVA AND PEGU. (A.D. 1540 TO 1833) . . , 575
CHAPTER XVI
BURMESE AND BHURTPORE WARS — LORD AMHERST. (A.D. 1833 TO
1838) 598
CHAPTER XVII
NON-INTERVENTION — LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK. (A.D. 1828 TO 1835) . 600
CHAPTER XVIII
CENTRAL ASIA — AFGHAN HISTORY. (A.D. 1747 TO 1838) . , . 619
CHAPTER XIX
AFGHAN WAR — LORDS AUCKLAND AND ELLENBOROUGH. (A.D. 1839
TO 1842) 635
CHAPTER XX
SINDE AND GWALIOR — LORD ELLENBOROUGH. (A.D. 1843 TO 1844) . 647
CHAPTER XXI
WAR DECADE — BURMA AND NIPAL. (a.D. 1839 TO 1849) . . . 653
CHAPTER XXII
SIKH HISTORY — RUNJEET SINGH, ETC. (Ante A.D. 1845) . , . 671
CHAPTER XXIII
TWO SIKH WARS — LORDS HARDINGE AND DALHOUSIE. (A.D. 1845
TO 1849) .... 679
CONTENTS 5
CHAPTER XXIV
MATERIAL PROGRESS — LORD DALHOUSIE. (A.D. 1848 TO 1856) . . 691
CHAPTER XXV
SEPOY MUTINIES — LORD -CANNING. (A.D. 1856 TO 1858) . . . 713
CHAPTER XXVI
IMPERIAL RULE — CANNING — ELGIN — LAWRENCE — MAYO — NORTH-
BROOK AND LYTTON. (A.D. 1858 TO 1880) 756
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER
LORD RIPON — AFGHANISTAN — THE MARCH FROM KABUL TO KANDA-
HAR — LORD DUFFERIN AND KING THEEBAW — THE ANNEXATION
OF UPPER BURMA — THE MARCH OP EMPIRE — LORD CURZON IN-
STALLED (A.D. 1879 TO 1899) 777
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OP INDIAN HISTORY 807
INDEX 817
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INDIA
Frontispiece — the battle op cuddalore
HYDER ALl'S DEFEAT AT PLASSY ...►..,
DEATH OF TIPPU SAHIB AT SERINGAPATAM . , . , ,
SEPOY REBELS BEING SHOT FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE CANNON
LIST OF MAPS
PAGE
INDIA IN THE TIME OF CORNWALLIS . . • • • .447
INDIA IN THE TIME OF WELLESLEY . . • • « « 469
INDIA IN THE TIME OF LORD HASTINGS . • * • > 545
A SHORT HISTORY OF INDIA
PART 111 - BRITISH INDIA
(COXTI.XUED)
CHAPTER VII
LORD CORNWALLIS AND SIR JOHN SHORE
A.D. 1785 TO 1798
IN 1785 the Britisli empire in India comprised Bengal and
Behar in eastern Hindustan; a very little area round
Bombay in the western Dekhan; and a larger area
round Madras in the eastern Peninsula. There were also
two protected princes, namely, the Nawab Vizier of Oude,
and the Nawab of the Carnatic. Outside the area of British
supremacy were the three native powers who were the bug-
bear of English statesmen — Nizam Ali, Tippu Sultan, and
the Mahrattas.
The Mahrattas were regarded as the most formidable
power in India. The heart of the Mahratta empire was
weak and palpitating; half shattered by domestic commo-
tions and its recent struggles against the English. The
Peishwa at Poona was an infant, and the council of re-
gency was in mortal fear of Tippu Sultan. The real head
of affairs at Poona was Nana Farnavese, an able Brahman
but no soldier. But the feudatory princes of the Mahratta
empire were strong and nominally subordinate to the Peish-
wa's government. The Gaekwar of Baroda, Sindia, and
Holkar in Malwa, and the Bhonsla Raja of Berar, although
practically independent, admitted, one and all, their obliga-
(443)
444 HISTORY OF INDIA
tions to obey the Peishwa as suzerain of the Mahratta em-
pire; and the confirmation of the Peishwa was necessary to
the validity of every succession to a feudatory state or throne.
Of all these feudatory princes, Mahadaji Sindia was the
most powerful and the most ambitious. Whatever prestige
he had lost during the Mahratta war he had recovered dur-
ing the negotiations which ended in the treaty of Salbai.
Being a neutral at the conclusion of the treaty, he had
acted as the representative of all the Mahratta princes,
from the Peishwa downward; and he was the sole guar-
antee for the fulfilment of the treaty. To crown all, an
English Resident, named Anderson, was sent to his camp
to transact all business between the EngUsh and the
Mahrattas. '
The lot of Mahadaji Sindia was cast in a revolutionary
era. His career was marked by restlessness and cunning,
and by those sudden changes of fortune which befall the
leading actors in Oriental revolutions. He was swayed to
and fro by conflicting motives. He was afraid of the En-
glish but proud of his connection with them. He was anx-
ious to exercise a paramount ascendency at Delhi as well
as at Poona; indeed, he could not rivet this ascendency in
either court unless he was master at both. He could not be
supreme at Delhi unless he was backed up by the Peishwa's
government ; and he could not be supreme at Poona unless
he was backed up by the authority of the Great Moghul.
For years the Moghul court at Delhi had been the scene
of distractions, intrigues, and assassinations at once tedious
and bewildering. Shah Alam was a weak prince, who clung
to the name and dignity of sovereignty, but was without au-
thority or power. The government was carried on by a prim©
minister, or lord protector, who was known as the Amir of
Amirs, a title higher than that of Vizier, and implying the
guardianship of the Padishah. The Amir of Amirs for the
' Mr. Mostyn, the English Resident at Poona, iiad died just before the first
Mahratta war, and no one had been sent to supply his place.
BRITISH INDIA 445
time being collected revenue and tribute by force of arms,
and carried on petty wars with Rajputs, Jats, and other
neighboring chieftains. In 1784 there had been a crisis.
The ruling Amir of Amirs had obtained his post by the
murder of his predecessor, and was in mortal fear of being
murdered in his turn. Accordingly he invited Mahadaji
Sindia to Delhi, and Shah Alam joined in the invitation.
It is difficult to realize the horrible complications which
must have prevailed at Delhi to induce the Muhammadan
minister and Muhammadan sovereign to invite the help of
a Mahratta chieftain, who was at once a Hindu and an
idolater, an alien in race and religion. Mahadaji Sindia,
on his part, was only fearful of offending the English, and
having duly sounded the English Resident, and ascertained
that the English rulers at Calcutta would not interfere in
his doings at Delhi, he left Poona and proceeded to the Mo-
ghul court. Shortly afterward it was reported that the Amir
of Amirs had been murdered at the instigation of Mahadaji
Sindia; and that the Mahratta chieftain had taken Shah
Alam under his protection, and assumed the administration
of the relics of the Moghul empire.'
Mahadaji Sindia would not accept the title of Amir of
Amirs; it would have clashed with his position at Poona.
He artfully procured the title of "deputy of the Padishah"
for his nominal sovereign the Peishwa; and then procured
' The follo'nnng summary of events may suffice to explain the position of affairs
on the arrival of Mahadaji Sindia at Delhi. Before Shah Alam returned to Delhi
in 1771, the Rohilla Afghan, Najib-ud-daula, had tilled the post of Amir of Amirs;
but this man died in 1770, and was succeeded by his son, Zabita Klian, who fled
from Delhi at the approach of Shah Alam A Persian named Najaf Khan then
came to the front. He had been in the service of Shah Alam at Allahabad, and
accompanied him to Delhi in command of his army. Then followed an obscure
intrigue in which the Mahrattas expelled Xajaf Khan and restored Zabita Khan
to the post of Amir of Amirs. Next another intrigue, in which Zabita Klian fled
to the Jats, and Najaf Khan took a part in the war against the Rohillas. Najaf
Khan formed an alliance with the Nawab Vizier of Oude, and was appointed
deputy Vizier. Then foUowed fresh plots and fresh wars between Najaf Khan
and Zabita Khan. Najaf Khan died in 1782. His son, Afrasiab Khan, is the
Amir of Amirs mentioned in the text, who murdered his predecessor, and was
subsequently murdered by Mahadaji Sindia. The details are told at length in
Mr. Keene's Fall of the Moghul Empire.
446 HISTORY OF INDIA
for himself the title of "deputy of the Peishwa." Thus for
the nonce he appeared at Delhi as the deputy of the Peishwa.
In this capacity Mahadaji Sindia performed all the duties of
an Amir of Amirs, administered the government at Delhi
and Agra, commanded the rabble army of the empire, and
collected tribute from Rajputs and Jats in the name of the
Great Moghul.
In reality Mahadaji Sindia was founding a new Mahratta
kingdom between the Ganges and Jumna, and extending
Mahratta influence over an unknown region to the west-
ward. He was raising battalions of regular sepoys, who
were being trained and disciplined by a Frenchman, cele-
brated in after years as General De Boigne. He became
inflated with his own greatness, and once again called upon
the British government to pay chout for Bengal and Behar.
In reply he was told that the demand was a violation of the
treaty of Salbai. The rebuff smote him with apprehension;
and both Sindia and Shah Alam sent a solemn disavowal
of the demand to Calcutta under their respective seals.
At this time the dominant feeling of the English was
alarm at the French. The war between Great Britain and
France had been brought to a close in 1784 by the treaty of
Versailles ; but there was constant expectation of a renewal
of hostilities ; and for many years the English were discover-
ing or imagining French intrigues at almost every court in
India. A French agent was already residing at Poona. Ac-
cordingly an English agent, Mr. Charles Malet, was posted
to Poona to look after English interests and frustrate French
designs.
The dignity of Mahadaji Sindia was hurt by this proceed-
ing. He had been guarantee to the treaty of Salbai, and
considered himself the sole agent in all transactions between
the Mahrattas and the English. He was quieted by the as-
surance that Mr. Malet would send all correspondence be-
tween the Peishwa and the Governor-General through the
Resident in attendance at his camp. Moreover, in order to
smooth the ruffled feathers of the Mahratta, Mr. Malet was
BRITISH INDIA
447
448 HISTORY OF INDIA
sent to the camp of Sindia, in the neighborhood of Agra, to
arrange matters with Mr. Anderson.
Agra in ] 785 presented the most melancholy objects of
fallen grandeur. Mosques, palaces, gardens, caravanserais,
and mausoleums were mingled in one general ruin. In the
midst of this chaotic desolation, a splendid building burst
upon the view in resplendent beauty and complete repair.
It was the famous Taj Mahal, whose white domes and mina-
rets of marble stood out in brilliant relief above groves and
gardens. As Mr. Malet approached the spot he found that
he was expected to take up his quarters in the Taj Mahal.
The tomb of the favorite wife of Shah Jehan had been ap-
propriated by Mahadaji Sindia for the accommodation of the
English Resident and his retinue.
Sindia himself was encamped some thirty miles off at
Muttra, the ancient Mathura. He kept Shah Alam in his
camp as a kind of state prisoner, while Mr. Anderson as
English Resident was in attendance. Mr. Malet was hon-
ored by an interview with Sindia, and afterward by an audi-
ence with Shah Alam.
The Great Moghul, the representative of the famous fam-
ily of Timur, was an object of interest. He was about sixty
years of age — placid, benignant and dignified. He received
the rich presents of Mr. Malet with calm approval. In re-
turn he conferred on the English gentleman a tiara of dia-
monds and emeralds, a charger, and an elephant; but his
gifts were emblematical of his own fallen condition, and had
all been provided by Mahadaji Sindia. The diamonds were
false ; the emeralds were nothing but pieces of green glass ;
the horse was dying from old age; and the elephant was a
mass of disease from the shoulder to the tail.
Mr. Malet was soon obliged to take up his post of Resi-
dent at Poona. War had broken out between the Peishwa's
government and Tippu, Sultan of Mysore. The dread of
Tippu was very strong, and the Brahman government of
the Peishwa formed an alliance with Nizam Ali against
Tippu; and Nizam Ali, notwithstanding his Muhammadan
BRITISH INDIA 449
faith, eagerly helped the Mahrattas against the dangerous
Sultan of Mysore. It was expected that the British govern-
ment would furnish help in like manner. But the English
were bound by the treaty of Salbai not to help the enemies
of the Mahrattas ; and they were equally bound by the treaty
of Mangalore not to help the enemies of Tippu. The ques-
tion of the day was, whether Tippu Sultan had not himself
broken the treaty of Mangalore by forming an alliance with
the French, who were the avowed enemies of the English ;
and this question was not solved until a later period in the
history.
When Hastings returned to England in 1785, he left a
Mr. Macpherson to act as Governor- G-eneral. At this time
it was decided that the future Governor-General should not
be a servant of the Company, but a nobleman of rank. Lord
Macartney was offered the post, but declined it; and in 1786
Lord Cornwallis landed at Calcutta as Governor-General and
Macpherson passed away.
The introduction of an EngHsh nobleman in the place of
a merchant ruler produced beneficial results. Vansittart and
Hastings had been powerless to effect reforms which touched
the pockets of the servants of the Company. Indeed, Hast-
ings had been often driven to distribute contracts and sine-
cures in order to secure personal support. But Lord Corn-
wallis was strong enough , by virtue of his rank as an EngHsh
peer, to abolish all such abuses. He even forced the Court
of Directors to replace the system of perquisites by that of
large salaries. At the same time his respectability of char-
acter elevated the tone of English society at Calcutta. Un-
der Warren Hastings there had been painful scandals in high
quarters ; while gambling had risen to such a pitch that within
one month Philip Francis won twenty thousand pounds at
whist from Barwell. But under the severe and stately mo-
rality of Lord Cornwallis excesses of every description were
discountenanced ; and the increasing number of ladies from
Europe introduced a refinement and decorum which had long
been wanting.
450 HISTORY OF INDIA
Lord Cornwallis carried out a startling change in the land
settlement. He abolished the system of leases, granted the
lands in perpetuity to the Zemindars, and fixed a yearly
rental for the several estates which was never to be en-
hanced. The details of this important measure were worked
out by Mr. Shore, afterward known as Sir John Shore and
ultimately as Lord Teignmouth. Mr. Shore argued, how-
ever, that a change which was to last for all futurit}' should
not be made irrevocable until further inquiries had been made
as to the value of the land, the nature of the different tenures,
and the rights of landlords and tenants as represented by Ze-
mindars and Ryots. He proposed that the settlement should
be made for ten years, and then declared permanent if it
proved satisfactory. Lord Cornwallis's views, however,
were referred to the ministers in England, and after some
delay the perpetual settlement became the law of the land.
To this day the good and evil effects of the perpetual land
settlement are matters of controversy. It raised the condi-
tion of Zemindars from that of tax collectors to that of landed
proprietors; but it did not raise them to the position of a
landed aristocracy, capable of administering patriarchal jus-
tice among their tenantry, or of legislating for the welfare
of the masses. It proved an immediate relief to the Zemin-
dars, but opened out no prospects of relief to Ryots or farm-
ers. Worst of all, as the rental of land is the backbone of
the Indian revenue, it fixed the limit of the recepits of gov-
ernment, without making provision for the future require-
ments of the country, when military defences would call for
a larger expenditure, and the wants of advancing civilization
would be pressed upon the attention of government. Conse-
quently the permanence of the landed settlement tended to
fossilize the people of Bengal, until an English education
broke the trammels of ages, and opened out new careers of
advancement to the rising generation.
Lord Cornwallis carried out a thorough reform in the
administration of justice. He separated the judicial branch
from the revenue branch by restricting the English collectors
BRITISH INDIA 451
to their fiscal duties, and appointing a separate class of En-
glish magistrates and judges. He appointed magistrates to
towns and districts to deal with civil and criminal cases. He
established courts of appeal in the four cities of Calcutta,
Dacca, Murshedabad, and Patna ; each court consisting of a
judge, a registrar, and qualified assistants. These courts
of appeal disposed of all civil cases, with a final appeal to
the Sudder court at Calcutta, which was nominally com-
posed of the Governor-General and members of council.
The same courts also held a jail delivery twice every year,
by going on circuit in their several circles for the trial of
criminal cases committed by the district magistrates.
Meanwhile Mahadaji Sindia received a check in Hindu-
stan. Shah Alam suddenly left the camp at Muttra and
returned to Delhi. The Muhammadan party at Delhi per-
suaded the imbecile old prince that his imperial sovereignty
had been insulted by the Mahrattas. They stirred up the
Rajput princes to revolt against Sindia. They carried on
secret intrigues with the Muhammadan ofiicers in Sindia's
army. The result was that when Mahadaji Sindia attempted
to suppress the Rajput revolt, the Muhammadans in his army
deserted him in a body and joined the Rajput rebels. In a
moment he lost all his acquisitions between the Jumna and
the Ganges. He was reduced to worse straits than when
he had fled from the battle of Paniput more than a quarter
of a century before. He had no alternative but to fall back
on Gwalior, and implore Nana Farnavese to send him rein-
forcements from Poona.
But Shah Alam had soon cause to lament the absence
of Mahratta protection, Zabita Khan, the Rohilla ex- Amir
of Amirs, died in 1785. In 1788 his son, Gholam Kadir,
entered Delhi with a band of freebooters, and took posses-
sion of the city and palace. The atrocities perpetrated by
these miscreants in the palace of the Great Moghul reduced
the wretched pageant and his family to the lowest depths of
misery and despair. Gholam Kadir plundered and insulted
the aged Padishah, smoked his hookah on the imperial
453 HISTORY OF INDIA
throne, forced princesses to dance and play before him,
and scourged and tortured princes and ladies in the hope
of discovering hidden treasures. In one mad fit of passion
at the supposed concealment of money or jewels, he threw
Shah Alam on the ground and destroyed his eyes with a
dagger. For two months this infamous ruffian and his bar-
barous followers ran riot in the palace, and there was no one
to deliver the helpless family of the Great Moghul from their
unbridled excesses.'
Nana Farnavese at Poona was agitated by conflicting
passions. He was jealous of the growing power of Mahadaji
Sindia, but anxious to maintain the Mahratta ascendency to
the northward. He determined to play Holkar against Sindia.
He sent reinforcements to Sindia under the command of Tu-
kaji Holkar, accompanied by a kinsman of the infant Peish-
wa, named Ali Bahadur;^ but he insisted that all territories
acquired to the northward of the Chambal river should be
equally shared by the Peishwa and Holkar, as well as by
Sindia.
Thus reinforced Mahadaji Sindia marched to Delhi with
the allied army of Mahrattas, and was hailed by the Mu-
hammadan population with the greatest joy. The wretched
inmates of the imperial palace were delivered from their
' It is to be hoped that Grholam Kadir and his followers are not fair types of
the Rohilla Afghans, who were so much praised by Lord Macaulay. Gholam
Kadir was the son of Zabita Khan and grandson of Najib-ud-daiila. The out-
rages which he committed at Delhi were the outcome of the struggle for su-
premacy at the Moghul court between the families of Najib-ud-daula the Rohilla,
Najaf Khan the Persian, and Mahadaji Sindia the Mahratta. See ante, p. 379,
note.
■^ The kinship between a Muhammadan like Ali Bahadur and a Brahman like
the Peishwa is the outcome of the laxity of Mahratta courts. The father of Ali
Bahadur was the son of Baji Rao, the second Peishwa, by a Muhammadaii woman.
According to Hindu law, the offspring of such illicit unions belonged to the same
caste as their mother; and in this case caste was equivalent to religion.
Ali Bahadur was associated with a military Guru, or soldier-saint, named
Hinmiut Bahadur, who commanded a large force of Gosains, or religious devotees,
in the army of Mahadaji Sindia. Subsequently Ah Bahadur deserted Sindia, and
was instigated by Himraut Bahadur to attempt the conquest of Bundelkund.
Ultimately Himmut Bahadur, the spiritual teacher and militarj^ leader of the
army of yellow-robed Gosains, went over to the English during the second Mah-
ratta war.
BRITISH INDIA 453
misery. Gholam Kadir fled at the approach of the Mahrat-
tas, but was captured and put to death with horrible tortures.
About this tirae the proceedings of Tippu of Mysore began
to excite the serious alarm of the English. This prince, un-
like his father Hyder Ali, was a bigoted Muhammadan of
the persecuting type. He committed horrible ravages in
the Malabar country, and converted thousands of Hindus
and Brahmans to the Muhammadan religion by forcibly
subjecting them to the rite of circumcision. He asserted
a sovereign authority far beyond that of any other native
ruler in India. The Nawab Vizier of Oude, and even the
Peishwa of the Mahratta empire, continued to acknowledge
the Moghul Padishah as the suzerain of Hindustan, But
Tippu threw away every pretence of dependence on the
Great Moghul, and boldly assumed the independent and
sovereign title of Sultan of Mysore.
In 1787 Tippu Sultan took fright at some military re-
forms of Lord Cornwalhs, and hastily made peace with the
Mahrattas and Nizam Ali. At the same time he was known
to be a bitter enemy of the English, and to be in secret com-
munication with the French at Pondicherry; and he was
naturally regarded by the English as a dangerous enemy,
who was not to be bound by treaties, and who might at any
moment take advantage of a war with France to invade and
plunder the Carnatic as his father had done before him.
By the treaty of Mangalore the Hindu Raja of Travan-
core, to the south of Malabar, had been placed under British
protection. But the Raja was in terror of Tippu Sultan.
He purchased two towns from the Dutch on his northern
frontier, and built a wall of defence which was known as
"the lines of Travancore." Tippu declared that the two
towns belonged to the Raja of Cochin, who was his vassal.
The Raja of Travancore refused to resign them, and applied
to the British government for protection. Lord Cornwallis
ordered an inquiry to be made into the merits of the case,
and Tippu to be informed that the British government would
defend the rights of the Raja ; and at the same time he de-
454 HISTORY OF INDIA
sired the Madras government to make the necessary prepara-
tions for war.
Unfortunately the Madras government was at this time
as corrupt and demoralized as it had been in the days of
Hyder Ali. A Company's servant named Holland had been
appointed Governor of Madras. Holland was deeply impli-
cated in loans to the Nawab of the Carnatic ; and he set the
Governor-General at defiance, refused to make preparations
for the coming war, and appropriated the revenues of the
Carnatic to the payment of the Nawab's debts. Finally he
wrote to the Raja of Travancore, offering to help him with
a British detachment, on condition of receiving a present for
himself of a lakh of pagodas, or some thirty-five thousand
pounds sterling.
Meanwhile Tippu attacked the lines of Travancore, but,
to his utter surprise, he was repulsed by the Hindu army of
Travancore. Accordingly he ordered a battering train from
Seringapatam, and called for reinforcements from every quar-
ter. At this news Lord Cornwallis resolved to take the field.
But Holland was incorrigible. He provided no cattle, but
proposed to appoint commissioners to settle all differences
with Tippu. Lord Cornwallis was much exasperated, and
Holland fled from his post and embarked for England.
Lord Cornwallis now resolved on forming alliances with
Nizam Ali and the Mahrattas against Tippu ; but the British
authorities in India were prohibited by Mr. Pitt's bill of 1784
from making any more alliances with native princes. Lord
Cornwallis violated the letter of the act, but respected its
spirit by providing that the treaties should cease to have
effect after the conclusion of the war.
Negotiations with Nizam Ali were comparatively easy.
He was anxious for the humiliation of Tippu, and he was
still more anxious for British protection against the Mah-
rattas, who claimed vast sums of money from him, under
the head of arrears of chout. He would gladly have secured
the permanent protection of the English government against
the Mahrattas ; but this could not be granted by the English
BRITISH INDIA 455
government, without giving mortal offence to the Mahrattas.
Accordingly Nizam Ali was obliged to be content with the
British guarantee for the protection of his territories until
the conclusion of the war; and in return he promised to join
the English army with ten thousand horsemen.
The Peishwa's government professed equal readiness to
join the English army against Tippu with another body of
ten thousand horsemen. But Nana Farnavese secretly played
a double game. He entertained Tippu's envoys at Poona,
and delayed the march of the Mahratta contingent for sev-
eral months, in the hope of inducing Tippu to purchase the
neutrality of the Peishwa's government by a large cession
of territory.
Mahadaji Sindia was equally anxious to render the war
against Tippu subservient to his own individual interests.
He offered to join the confederation against Tippu, provided
the British government would guarantee him in possession
of the territories he had acquired in Hindustan, and help
him to conquer the princes of Rajputana. Lord Cornwallis
was obviously unable to accede to such conditions. Accord-
ingly Mahadaji Sindia refused to take any part in the war
against Tippu.
In 1790 the war began with a campaign under General
Medows, who had been appointed Governor of Madras and
commander-in-chief of the Madras army. But its operations
were futile, and Lord Cornwallis proceeded to Madras and
took the command in person. Meanwhile Tippu had deso-
lated the Carnatic, and proceeded toward the south in the
hope of procuring a French force from Pondicherry.
In 1791 Lord Cornwallis advanced through the Carnatic
to the Mysore country, and captured the fortress of Banga-
lore. Up to this date neither of his native allies had joined
him. Nizam Ali would not leave his frontier until he heard
that Tippu had gone away to the south ; and then, when he
entered Mysore, it was not to fight but to plunder. When
he heard of the fall of Bangalore, he joined the force of Lord
Cornwallis. His cavalry had good horses and showy cos-
456 HISTORY OF INDIA
tumes, but were disorderly, undisciplined, and unfitted for
field duties; and they only helped to consume the grain and
forage. Meanwhile, for reasons stated, the Mahratta con-
tingent of the Peishwa never appeared at all.
The result of the campaign of 1791 was that Lord Corn-
walhs advanced toward Seringapatam, and was then com-
pelled to retreat from sheer want of supplies and carriage
bullocks. Shortly afterward he was joined by a Mahratta
force under Hari Pant. Had the Mahrattas come up a week
earlier they might have changed the fate of the campaign.
They had abundance of supplies, but were imbued with the
spirit of hucksters, and refused to part with grain or pro-
visions of any kind to their English allies excepting at exor-
bitant prices. They had done nothing but rob and ravage
the Mysore country from the day they left their frontier;
and the bazar in their camp was stored with the plunder of
towns — English broadcloths, Birmingham cutlery, Kashmir
shawls and costly jewelry, as well as with oxen, sheep, and
poultry. Yet Hari Pant pleaded poverty, and demanded a
loan of fourteen lakhs of rupees; and Lord Cornwallis was
forced to give him the money, not on account of his services,
but to prevent the Mahratta contingent from deserting to
Tippu.
In 1792 Lord Cornwallis renewed the campaign in My-
sore on a scale which had not been seen in India since the
days of Aurangzeb. He engaged large numbers of Brin-
jarries, the hereditary carriers of India, who have already
been described under the name of Manaris. ' His infantry,
battering train, field-pieces, and baggage moved in three
parallel columns, followed by a hundred wagons loaded with
liquors, and sixty thousand bullocks loaded with provisions.
The resources of the English struck the natives of India with
awe; and Tippu is said to have exclaimed, "I do not fear
what I see, but what I do not see."
Lord Cornwallis was soon joined by the gaudily dressed
horsemen of Nizam Ali, and a small force of Hari Pant's
• See ante, p. 224.
BRITISH INDIA 457
Mahrattas ; and after a long march at last drew up his artil-
lery on a rising ground which commanded Seringapatam.
Tippu had constructed three lines of earthworks, protected
by three hundred pieces of cannon, and covered by a bound
hedge of thorny plants. British valor carried the defences
by storm, and British cannon were soon playing on the forti-
fications of Seringapatam.
Tippu was bewildered and confounded. His losses in
killed and wounded were severe, and the levies whom he
had pressed into his service deserted him in large numbers.
He saw that nothing but prompt submission could save his
throne. He suddenly accepted the terms which had been
offered by Lord Cornwalhs, namely, to cede a moiety of his
territories, to be equally divided between the English, the
Nizam, and the Peishwa ; to pay three millions sterling to-
ward the expenses of the war; and to deliver up his two
sons as hostages for the fulfilment of the terms. In after
years it was discovered that the sudden submission of Tippu
had defeated the treacherous intentions of the Mahrattas and
Nizam Ali. Both were engaged in a clandestine correspond-
ence with Tippu, but both were checkmated by the arrival
of his sons as hostages in the camp of the English army.
The Mysore war marks a change in the policy of the Brit-
ish government. Lord Cornwallis had undertaken it to pro-
tect the Raja of Travancore from the Mysore Sultan, but his
main objects were to cripple the power of Tippu, to sever his
connection with the French, and to shut him out of the Car-
natic. The pohcy of political isolation, which had been en-
joined by the English parliament, the Board of Control, and
the Court of Directors, had proved a failure. Accordingly
Lord Cornwallis proposed to go a step further : to keep the
peace in India in the same way that it was supposed to be
kept in Europe, namely, by a balance of power. With this
view he sought to convert the confederation of the English,
the Nizam, and the Peishwa against Tippu into a basis for a
balance of power, in which the British government should
hold the scales.
458 HISTORY OF INDIA
But there was a fatal obstacle to such a political system.
There was not a government in India, excepting that of the
British, that cared for the maintenance of the public peace,
or hesitated to disturb it at any moment for the promotion of
some immediate and individual advantage. Indeed Warren
Hastings had reported, ten years before, that the want of
faith among native states, and the blind selfishness with
which they pursued their individual schemes of aggrandize-
ment, regardless of the obligations of treaties or the interests
of allies, had rendered such a balance of power as was pos-
sible in Europe altogether impossible in India.
The result of Lord Cornwallis's negotiations was that
Nizam Ali was willing to join in any confederation which
would protect him from the Mahratta claims; while the
Mahrattas refused to join in any alliance which would
hamper their demands for chout upon Nizam Ali or any
one else. But English statesmen at home had been charmed
with the scheme for keeping the peace in India by a balance
of power. They could not abandon the political idea; and
for years it haunted their imaginations, and perverted public
opinion as regards the government of India.
As if further to show the impossibility of a balance of
power, Mahadaji Sindia and Nana Farnavese took opposite
views of the British government. Sindia contended that the
English had become too powerful in India, and that it would
be necessary to support Tippu as a counterpoise. The Nana,
on the other hand, was anxious to gain the help of the Brit-
ish government against Mahadaji Sindia; but he insisted on
the right of the Peishwa to claim arrears of chout, not only
from Nizam Ali, but from Tippu Sultan. Lord Cornwallis
was thus obliged to abandon his political project in despair.
In 1792 Mahadaji Sindia had grown to enormous power.
He had augmented his French battalions under De Boigne,
and raised his standing forces to eighteen thousand regular
infantry, six thousand irregulars, two thousand irregular
horse, and six hundred Persian cavalry, besides a large train
of artillery. This military power was accompanied by ter-
BRITISH INDIA 459
litorial aggrandizement, for it was maintained by formal
grants of laud revenue in the Doab, to the westward of
Oude, which Sindia procured from Shah Alam as the Great
Moghul.' At the same time Agra was becoming a most
important fortress in the hands of Mahadaji Sindia ; it was
a depot of cannon and arms, and a stronghold which com-
manded upper Hindustan.
In 1792 Mahadaji Sindia marched an army from Delhi
to Poona to confer the hereditary title of "deputy of the
Great Moghul" upon the young Peishwa. Nana Farnavese
tried to prevent the Peishwa from accepting the post ; it was
opposed, he said, to the constitution of the Mahratta empire.
It was indeed a strange anomaly for the Brahman suzerain
of the Mahratta confederacy to accept the post of deputy to
an effete Muhammadan pageant like Shah Alam. But Sin-
dia insisted, and Nana Farnavese was obliged to give way.
The empty ceremony was accordingly celebrated with the
utmost pomp and magnificence at Poona.
Mahadaji Sindia sought to allay all suspicions of his am-
bitious designs by a mock humility which imposed on no one.
His father, Ranuji Sindia, claimed to be the hereditary head
man, or Patell, of a village ; and he had been originally ap-
pointed to carry the slippers of one of the former Peishwas.
Accordingly Mahadaji Sindia refused to be called by any
other title but that of Patell, and ostentatiously carried the
slippers of the young Peishwa at the ceremony of his installa-
tion as deputy of the Great Moghul.
But the would-be Patell and slipper holder had a keen
eye for his own interests. Mahadaji Sindia demanded pay-
ment from the Peishwa 's government of the expenses he had
incurred in extending the Mahratta empire to the northward ;
and he requested that Tukaji Holkar and Ali Bahadur, who
* The Doab, or region between the two rivers, might be called the Mesopotaniia
of Hindustan. It lies between the Jumna and Ganges, just as Mesopotamia lies
between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is impossible to draw a line of strict
demarcation at this period between the territories of the Great Moghul and those
of the Nawab Vizier of Oude.
460 HISTORY OF INDIA
had been sent to his assistance after his retreat to Gwalior,
might be recalled from Hindustan to Poona.
But Mahadaji Sindia met his match in Nana Farnavese.
The Brahman statesman, who had been schooled in diplo-
macy at Poona, was not to be foiled by the son of a Patell.
Nana Farnavese called upon Mahadaji Sindia to produce the
revenue accounts of the territories in the Doab and elsewhere,
which he had acquired for his sovereign master the Peishwa.
Sindia had conquered these territories with the utmost ease,
and enjoyed them for a considerable period ; and the astute
Mahratta minister urged, with some show of reason, that it
was high time that the servant should pay the revenue into
the treasury of his master. '
"While Sindia and the Nana were plotting against each
other at Poona, hostilities were breaking out between the
armies of Sindia and Holkar in Hindustan. There had
been a quarrel over some plunder, and Tukaji Holkar had
been defeated by De Boigne, the French general in the ser-
vice of Sindia, and compelled to retire to his capital at In-
dore. At this crisis the rivalry between Mahadaji Sindia
and Nana Farnavese was brought to a close by death. Ma-
hadaji Sindia expired at Poona in February, 1794, and was
succeeded by a boy of fourteen, afterward known as Daulat
Rao Sindia. Thus Nana Farnavese was left without a rival
in the Mahratta empire.
Meanwhile there was peace and prosperity in Bengal. In
1793 the permanent land settlement was promulgated, and
Lord Cornwallis returned to England, leaving Sir John
Shore, the servant of the Company, to succeed him in the
post of Governor-General. Important events were occurring
' The rivalry between Sindia and Nana Farnavese furnishes a strange instance
of the instability of native alliances. Sindia had rescued the Nana from the grasp
of the conspirators, including Tukaji Holkar and his confederates, who were plot-
ting to restore Rughonath Rao to the throne of the Peishwa. Since then Tukaji
Holkar had been appointed, as the faithful ally of Nana Farnavese, to the com-
mand of the troops wliich were at once to support Sindia and to check his grow-
ing power. In reality Holkar was sent because of his known rivalry to Smdia;
and it wUl be seen from the text that this rivalry culminated in a battle between
Tukaji Holkar and Sindia's force under De Boigne.
BRITISH INDIA 461
in Europe ; Great Britain had declared war against France
and the French revolution; and the British authorities in
India took possession of Pondicherry for the third time in
Indian history.
Sir John Shore was a model Indian civilian, free from
all suspicion of corruption — honorable, honest, high-minded,
and of imdoubted industry and capacity. He was the real
author of the land settlement, for Lord Cornwallis can only
claim the credit of making it perpetual. The British min-
istry were so impressed with his merits that he was knighted,
and appointed to succeed Lord Cornwallis as Governor-Gen-
eral. But he knew little of the history of the world, and
was apparently blind to the significance of pohtical events
in India.
At this time the progress of affairs at Poona and Hyder-
abad was exciting universal alarm. The Mahrattas insisted
on a final settlement of their claims on Nizam Ali for arrears
of chout. They had been put off for years by the war
against Tippu, and the evasions and procrastinations of
Nizam Ali ; and after the conclusion of peace with Tippu
they became more pressing in their demands for an imme-
diate settlement. Nizam Ali could neither pay the money,
nor hope to repel the Mahratta invasion. In sore distress he
implored the help of the English against the Mahrattas, but
Sir John Shore declined to interfere. Indeed the British
parliament and Court of Directors had strictly enjoined a
policy of non-interference. Sir John Shore was fully alive
to existing dangers. He saw that, without the interference
of the British government, Nizam Ali would be crushed by
the Mahrattas. He also saw that the destruction of Nizam
AH would remove the last check on the growing power of
the Mahrattas, and leave the British government without
an ally of any weight to resist Mahratta encroachments.
But Sir John Shore was the last man to disobey orders ; and
he persistently refused to protect Nizam Ali.
Nizam Aii, losing all hope of help from the English, had
India. Vol. II. X— 2
462 HISTORY OF INDIA
naturally sought it from the French, Forty years before,
his elder brother, Salabut Jung, owed his throne to the
French, and maintained himself against the Mahrattas, as
well as against all domestic rivals, solely by the aid of Bussy
and the French. Accordingly Nizam Ali entertained a
Frenchman, named Raymond, who had originally served
in the army of Hyder Ali, and who raised a force of sepoy
battalions, trained and disciplined by French officers. In
the beginning of 1795 Nizam Ali possessed an army of
twenty-three battalions of regulars commanded by Ray-
mond. He was now independent of the English, and ceased
to be afraid of the Mahrattas.
The Peishwa's government demanded arrears of chout
to the amount of nearly three millions sterling. The ac-
counts were swelled by high rates of interest and other
exasperating items. They were drawn up with much pre-
cision and nicety by Mahratta Brahmans, and were perplex-
ing, if not unintelligible, to every one else. A Mahratta
envoy carried the accounts to Hyderabad, and requested
payment. The Muhammadan minister of the Nizam treated
the Mahratta with haughty insolence. He told the envoy
in open durbar that Nana Famavese must come in person
to Hyderabad to explain the items ; and that if he refused to
come he must be brought. This threat was regarded by
both sides as a declaration of war.
Nizam Ali was puffed up with hopes of victory. The
dancing-girls glorified his triumphs in prophetic songs. The
soldiers boasted that they would sack and plunder Poona.
The minister at Hyderabad was a Muhammadan like his
master ; and he bragged that no treaty should be concluded
with the Mahrattas until the Brahman Peishwa had been
sent on pilgrimage to Benares, to mutter his incantations on
the banks of the Ganges, with a cloth about his loins and a
pot of water in his hand.
The Mahrattas were one and all eager for the war. All
the feudatories of the empire — Sindia and Holkar, the Gaek-
war and the Bhonsla j and even the smaller chieftains of the
BRITISH INDIA 463
southern Mahratta country — were burning to sliare in a
settlement of the Mahratta claims. For the last time in
Mahra,tta history the summons of the Peishwa was obeyed
throughout the length and breadth of the Mahratta do-
minion.
The decisive battle was fought near the small fortress of
Kurdla in March, 1795. The Nizam's cavalry were routed
with rockets and artillery, but the French battalions under
Raymond stood their ground. Nizam AH, however, was
seized with a panic from the outset. He fled to the fortress
of Kurdla, repeatedly calling on Raymond to follow him.
The bulk of his troops dispersed in all directions, plundering
the baggage of their own army as they fled from the field.
The banditti in the Mahratta army, known as Pindharies,
rushed after the fugitives and stripped them of their ill-gotten
spoil; while the Mahrattas swarmed round the fortress of
Kurdla, animated by the thought that the Nizam and all his
treasures were within their grasp.
Nizam Ali held out for two days in the fortress of
Kurdla; then yielded to every demand. He surrendered
his offending minister, ceded nearly half his territory, and
pledged himself to liquidate the whole of the Mahratta
claims.
The victory of Kurdla raised Nana Farnavese to the
height of prosperity; but within six months he was plunged
in a vortex of distractions, which wellnigh worked his ruin.
The Peishwa, Mahdu Rao Narain, had reached his
twenty-first year. He had all his life been kept in galling
tutelage by Nana Farnavese, and saw no hope of throwing
off the yoke and exercising his sovereign rights as Peishwa
of the Mahratta empire. In a fit of despair he threw him-
self from a terrace of the palace, and died two days after-
ward.
The nearest kinsman was Baji Rao, son of the Rughonath
Rao whom the English had supported in the first Mahratta
war. Baji Rao was at this time a young man of twenty;
but had long been kept in confinement by Nana Farnavese.
464 HISTORY OF INDIA
He was too old and too cunning to be a puppet; and the
unscrupulous minister was anxious to override his claims by
prevailing on the widow of the dead Peishwa to adopt a son.
But Baji Rao, within the walls of his prison, was already
engaged in a counter-plot. He tried to play Sindia against
Nana Farnavese. He secretly opened a correspondence with
the young Daulat Rao Sindia, and promised to cede him a
large territory if Sindia would place him on the throne of
Poona as the Peishwa of the Mahrattas.
Nana Farnavese discovered the plot and forestalled
Sindia by releasing Baji Rao and declaring him to be Peish-
wa. But the minister could not trust the new Peishwa, and
the new Peishwa could not trust the minister, until Nana
Farnavese had taken the most solemn oaths on the tail of a
cow to be faithful to Baji Rao, and Baji Rao had taken oaths
equally solemn to keep Nana Farnavese at the head of the
administration.
The plots which followed are tortuous and bewildering.
Daulat Rao Sindia marched an army to Poona. Nana Far-
navese fled to Satara, wnder pretence of procuring the in-
signia of investiture from the pageant Maharaja. Baji Rao
came to terms with Daulat Rao Sindia by promising to pay
him a sum of two millions sterling. All this while, in spite
of oaths and promises, and in spite of his being a Hindu and
a Brahman, Baji Rao sent messengers to Nizam Ali, the
Muhammadan ruler at Hyderabad, imploring his help against
both Sindia and the Nana, and promising to restore all the
territory ceded after the battle of Kurdla, and to forego the
balance due on the Mahratta claims.
These plots threw the city of Poona into tumult and an-
archy. Nana Farnavese was induced to return to Poona,
and to pay a visit to Daulat Rao Sindia ; but he was treach-
erously seized and thrown into prison with all his chief par-
tisans. Parties of Mahratta soldiers were sent off to plunder
the houses of the imprisoned chieftains. They found the
doors barricaded, and the inmates posted with arms at the
windows and on the roof. The firing was incessant and
BRITISH INDIA 466
spread universal alarm ; and there was nothing but uproar,
plunder and bloodshed throughout the city.
Sindia next demanded his two millions of Baji Rao, and
was told to plunder Poona. Sindia took the hint and plun-
dered the capital of his suzerain without mercy. All the
wealthy inhabitants were scourged and tortured until they
had given up their hoarded treasures. In the end Baji Rao
made an attempt to entrap Sindia, by inviting him to the
palace for the purpose of murdering him ; but his heart failed
him at the last moment, and he hesitated to give the neces-
sary signal to the assassins. Accordingly Sindia left the
palace without injury, but not without suspicions; and
henceforth he was more distrustful than ever of the good
faith of Baji Rao.
Sir John Shore was not the man to deal with such dis-
tractions. The Mahratta empire was breaking up, and non-
intervention would not solve the problem. A statesman of
European experience and original genius was required to
deal with the crisis ; a man of stronger brain and firmer will.
At the same time a dangerous disaffection broke out in the
English army in Bengal. Sir John Shore was devoid of all
military experience, and found that he had not nerve enough
to suppress the growing disorders, and he requested the Court
of Directors to send out a successor.
Before Sir John Shore returned to England, he was forced
to give his attention to the state of Oude. The administra-
tion was at once weak and oppressive. The money wrung
from the Ryots was withheld by the Talukdars,' or squan-
dered in wasteful luxury at the capital ; while nothing but
the presence of the British battalions prevented the whole
country from being overrun by the Mahrattas. Sir John
Shore remonstrated with the Nawab Vizier, but only wasted
his words. Asof-ud-daula died in 1797, and Sir John Shore
1 The Talukdars of Oude corresponded generally to the Zemindars in Bengal,
but in some cases they were mere collectors of revenue, while others corresponded
to a feudal nobility. Under the rule of a Nawab Vizier it is impossible to say
what they were.
466 HISTORY OF INDIA
recognized a certain Vizier Ali as his successor. Subse-
quently it turned out that Vizier Ah was illegitimate, and
that Saadut Ali, the brother of the late ruler, was the legiti-
mate and rightful Nawab Vizier. Accordingly Vizier Ali
was pensioned off and sent to reside at Benares. Saadut
Ali was placed upon the throne and effected a change in the
aspect of affairs. He devoted his energies to hoarding up
the revenues which his predecessors had been accustomed
to squander on their pleasures.
In March, 1798, Sir John Shore, now Lord Teignmouth,
embarked at Calcutta for Europe. Meanwhile a Governor-
General was coming out to India of a very different stamp.
At first he was only known as Lord Mornington, but, in the
history of British India, he is more widely known by his later
title of Marquis of Wellesley.
BRITISH INDIA 467
CHAPTER VIII
MYSORE AND CARNATIC— WELLESLEY
A.D. 179S TO 1801
LORD MORNINGTON landed at Calcutta in the thirty-
eighth year of his age. At the time he left England
he- had three objects in view; namely, to drive the
French out of India, to revive the confederacy with Nizam
Ali and the Peishwa against Tippu of Mysore, and to estab-
lish the balance of power which Lord Cornwallis had failed
to create and which was still the darling object of the
EngUsh ministry.
At this time the hatred of the British nation toward the
revolutionary government in France had risen to fever heat.
The reign of terror, the horrors of the guillotine, the execu-
tion of Louis the Sixteenth and Marie Antoinette, the rise
of Napoleon, and the threatened invasion of England, had
stirred up depths of antagonism which later generations can
scarcely realize. The new Governor-General shared in the
national sentiment, but his wrath was mingled with alarm
as he heard that one army of French sepoys was in the ser-
vice of Nizam Ali; that another French army was in the
service of Daulat Rao Sindia; and that Tippu Sultan, the
hereditary enemy of the British nation, was entertaining
French officers, and courting a French alliance which might
endanger British power in India. .
But Lord Mornington soon discovered that while it was
possible to revive the old confederation against Tippu, it
was utterly impossible to frame a network of alliances which
would establish a balance of power, and maintain the peace
of India on the basis of international relations. Indeed the
468 HISTORY OF INDIA
progress of events had rendered such a task still more hope-
less in 1798 than it had been in 1792. In 1792 the Nizam
and the Peishwa were at any rate substantive states, although
they could not be formed into trustworthy allies. But in
1798 the power of the Nizam was shattered by his humilia-
tion at Kurdla; while the Peishwa's government was dis-
tracted by the dissensions between Baji Rao, Daulat Rao
Sindia, and Nana Farnavese. Accordingly, the idea of a
balance of power was abandoned; and Lord Mornington
saw that the work before him was to secure the disband-
ment of the French battalions and to revive the confedera-
tion against Tippu.
Lord Mornington began with the Nizam. There was little
difficulty, except what arose from the alarms, the prevarica-
tions, and the fickle temperament of Nizam Ali himself. In
the end, Nizam Ali agreed to disband his French battalions,
and to maintain an EngUsh force in their room, with the un-
derstanding that the British government would mediate in
the Mahratta claims, and, if necessary, protect him against
the Mahrattas. Nizam Ali further pledged himself to take
no Frenchman or other European into his service without
the consent of the British government. Finally, he prom-
ised to furnish a contingent force to serve in the coming
war against Tippu.
The disbandment of the French battalions at Hyderabad
was attended with anxiety, but carried out without blood-
shed. An English force was on the ground. The disband-
ment was proclaimed, and then the French sepoys broke out
in mutiny for arrears of pay, and the French officers fled for
protection to the Enghsh lines. The French sepoys were
reassured by the discharge of their pay and arrears, and
submitted to their fate ; and within a few hours the French
battalions had melted away.
Lord Mornington also opened negotiations with the Mah-
rattas, but he found them impracticable. Baji Rao and Nana
Farnavese had become reconciled ; for both were Brahmans,
and both were threatened by Daulat Rao Sindia. But they
BRITISH INDIA
469
470 HISTORY OF INDIA
would not form a close connection with the English; they
were jealous of the English alliance with the Nizam; and
thej'' were especially jealous of any interference of the En-
glish in the Mahratta claims. But while evading a treaty
they avoided all cause for quarrel. Nana Farnavese prom-
ised that in the event of a war against Tippu, the Peishwa's
government would send a Mahratta contingent to co-operate
with the armies of the English and the Nizam.
Meanwhile the hostility of Tippu was proved beyond a
doubt. He sent envoys to the French governor of the Mau-
ritius with despatches for the government at Paris, propos-
ing an offensive and defensive alliance against the English.
The matter was blazoned forth in a public proclamation at
the Mauritius; and it was repubUshed in the Indian jour-
nals, and confirmed by advices from the Cape. Shortly
afterward news arrived in India that a French army under
Napoleon had landed in Egypt; and it was also rumored
that a French fleet was on its way down the Red Sea bound
for the coast of Malabar. Under such circumstances Lord
Mornington resolved on the final extinction of Tippu.
But Lord Mornington did not rush blindly into a war.
He demanded an explanation from Tippu, and proposed
sending a Major Doveton to come to a thorough under-
standing with the Sultan. But Tippu sent back lame expla-
nations, charging the French authorities with untruthfulness
and malice, and refused to receive Major Doveton.
The war began in 1799. An English army under General
Harris marched from Madras to the Mysore country, accom-
panied by Colonel Arthur Wellesley, afterward famous as
the great Duke of Wellington. The expedition was joined
by a force from Hyderabad, but the Mahrattas made no ap-
pearance. Another English force from Bombay entered the
Mysore country from the westward, to form a junction with
the Madras army.
Tippu made some efforts at resistance, but was routed
and compelled to fall back on his famous capital and strong-
hold at Seringapatam. He seemed bewildered and infatu-
BRITISH INDIA 471
ated as the forces from Madras and Bombay closed around
him. He sued for peace, and was required to cede half his
remaining territories, and to pay a sum of two millions ster-
ling. The terms were hard, but the hearts of the English
were steeled against him. They remembered his cruelties
toward his English prisoners, and were enraged at his in-
trigues with the French. Tippu spurned the proffered con-
ditions. "Better," he said, "to die like a soldier, than to
end my days as a pensioned Nawab."
In May, 1799, the fortifications of Seringapatam were
taken by storm. Tippu himself was found dead in a gate-
way ; his remains were treated with becoming respect, and
buried with funeral honors in the mausoleum of his family.
Thus fell the dynasty of Hyder Ali after a brief exist-
ence of forty years. The downfall of Tippu and capture
of Seringapatam thrilled through India like the victory at
Plassy. Every EngHshman felt a relief; every native prince
was alarmed at the rapid success of the conquerors. There
were few in India to lament the fate of Tippu, excepting
the members of his own family and the Muhammadans of
Mysore. He was denounced as a cruel persecutor of Hindus
and Christians ; as a foe of the Enghsh and a friend of the
French. He was not a born genius like his father Hyder
Ah, but he was more zealous and consistent as a Muham-
madan.
Territorial conquest in India was distasteful to the people
of England. Lord Mornington was hailed as the conqueror
of Tippu, and rewarded with the title of Marquis of Welles-
ley; but, like Lord Clive, he deemed it prudent to veil his
conquest from European eyes. A part of Mysore was formed
into a Hindu kingdom ; and an infant representative of the
extinct Hindu dynasty was taken from a hovel and placed
upon the throne as Maharaja. The remaining territory was
divided into three portions ; one to be retained by the En-
glish ; one to be given to the Nizam, who had joined in the
war; and the third, under certain conditions, to be made
over to the Peishwa, who had taken no part in the hostilities.
472 HISTORY OF INDIA
Picturesque glimpses of the Carnatic and Mysore in the
year 1800 are furnished by Dr. Buchanan, who was deputed
by Lord Wellesley to undertake a journey through the newly
opened territories of Mysore and Malabar.
Dr. Buchanan left Madras in April, 1800, and marched
toward Arcot. His journey in the first instance lay through
the Company's Jaghir; and it is curious to note the changes
which the Jaghir had undergone. It had been ceded to the
East India Company by Muhammad Ali, Nawab of Arcot,
many years previously, in return for the services rendered
by the English. It extended along the Coromandel coast,
north and south, from Pulicat lake to the river Palar, and
inland from Madras to Conjeveram. It was thus about a
hundred miles long and forty broad.
The Company's Jaghir was twice ravaged by Hyder Ali
with fire and sword. The devastation was so complete that
at the end of the war in 1784, there were few signs that the
country had been inhabited, beyond the bones of those who
had been murdered, and the naked walls of houses, temples,
and choultries that had been burned. The havoc of war
was succeeded by a destructive famine, which drove many
of the wretched survivors to emigrate from the country.
In 1794, ten years after the war, the Company's Jaghir
was formed into a coUectorate under the management of
Mr. Place, who was long remembered by the natives. Mr.
Place retired in 1798. Two years later Dr. Buchanan was
on his way from Madras to Mysore.
Dr. Buchanan found the weather very hot and dry, as is
generally the case in April. After leaving the plain occu-
pied by the white garden houses of the Europeans, Dr. Bu-
chanan entered a level country covered with rice-fields. The
roads were good, and many of the mud huts were covered
with tiles, and consequently appeared better than those in
Bengal.
Dr. Buchanan was struck with the resting-places and
choultries which had been built for the accommodation of
travellers by rich native merchants of Madras. The rest-
BRITISH INDIA 473
ing-places were mud walls four feet high, on which porters
deposited their loads during intervals of rest, and took them
up again without stooping. The choultries were square
courts enclosed by low buildings, divided into apartments
in which the poorest travellers obtained shelter from sun or
rain, and a draught of water or milk without expense. In
some choultries provisions were sold; in others they were
distributed gratis, at least to Brahman s or other religious
mendicants. The village choultry was also the place of
assembly for all the head men and elders, when they met
together to settle disputes or discuss other public matters.
In collecting rents in the Company's Jaghir, the crops
were not kept on the ground until the rent was paid, as was
the case in Bengal. On the contrary, the grain was cut,
threshed, and stacked, and then sealed with clay bearing a
stamp, until the cultivator paid his rent in coin or kind.
The great water-tank of Saymbrumbaukum on the road
to Conjeveram was then as now an object of wonder. It
was not dug like the tanks in Bengal, but was formed by
shutting up, %vith an artificial bank, an opening between
two natural ridges. The sheet of water was seven or eight
miles in length and three in width. During the rains it was
filled by neighboring rivers, and during the dry season it
was let out in small streams. In the event of the rains fail-
ing, it sufficed to water the lands of thirty-two villages for a
period of eighteen months.
Mr. Place, the English collector,' had repaired this tank,
and given great satisfaction to the cultivators while augment-
ing the revenue. Mr. Place had also caused every village to
be surrounded by a hedge of bamboos, which served to keep
off small parties of horsemen during a hostile invasion, while
extending the cultivation of bamboos.
Buchanan halted at Conjeveram, or Kanchi-puram, about
forty miles from Madras. To this day Conjeveram is a type
' In Madras the civil officers are termed collectors and deputy-collectors; in
Bengal and elsewhere they are termed commissioners and deputy-commissioners.
474 HISTORY OF INDIA
of the Hindu cities in the Peninsula. The streets were tol-
erably broad and lined with cocoanut trees, and crossed one
another at right angles. The houses were built of mud in
the form of a square, with a small court in the centre.
They appeared much more comfortable than the houses in
the country towns in Bengal.
There was a large temple at Conjeveram dedicated to
Siva and his wife. Three miles off was another temple ded-
icated to Vishnu. There were a hundred Brahman families
and a hundred dancing-girls employed in the service of these
temples. Twice a year the images of Vishnu and his family
were carried in procession on a visit to Siva; but Siva re-
turned the visit only once a year. On those occasions there
were frequent disputes between the worshippers of Siva and
those of Vishnu, leading to abusive language and blows,
which the English collectors were sometimes obliged to put
down with the bayonet.
The Brahmans of Southern India were divided into three
leading sects, namely, the Smartal, the Vaishnava, and the
Madual.
The Smartal was the most numerous and comprehended
half the Brahmans in the Lower Carnatic. Its members
were followers of Sankhara Acharya. They were commonly
said to be worshippers of Siva, but they considered Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva to be the same god assuming different per-
sons as the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe.
They believed their own souls to be portions of the divinity,
and did not believe in transmigration as a punishment for
sin. They were readily distinguished by three horizontal
stripes on the forehead made with white ashes.'
Buchanan met with a Smartal Brahman, who was a fair
type of his class. He was reckoned a man of learning, but
^ Sankhara Acharya, the apostle of the Smartals, was a Namburi Brahman
of Malabar, who flourished about the eighth century of the Christian era. His
disciples taught that he was au incarnation of Siva, who appeared on earth to
root out the religion of the Jains and regulate and reform the Brahmans. In
1871 a representative or successor of this apostle was still living. His name
was Narsingh Acharj^a. He was called b}^ his disciples the Jagat Guru, or
teacher of the world. See larger History of India, vol. iii. chap. viii.
BRITISH INDIA 475
he denied all knowledge of Jains, Buddhists, or other sects,
beyond having heard them mentioned. He considered the
doctrines of all sects, save his own, to be contemptible and
unworthy of notice. He believed in a supreme god, called
Narayana, or Para Brahma, from whom proceeded Siva,
Vishnu, or Brahma; but he regarded all of them, indi-
vidually and collectively, as one and the same god. His
sect prayed to Siva and Vishnu, as well as to many of their
wives, children, and attendants, among whom were the
Sakhtis, or destructive powers. Siva, however, was the
principal object of their worship ; for they considered him to
be a most powerful mediator with Narayana, who was rather
too much elevated to attend to their personal requests. They
abhorred bloody sacrifices, but did not blame the Sudras for
practicing such a form of worship ; they said it was the cus-
tom of the Sudras, and that it was a matter of very httle
consequence what such low people did. The Smartals be-
lieved that when a good Brahman died, his spirit was united
to God ; but that the soul of a bad Brahman was punished in
purgatory, and then passed through other lives, as an animal
or as a person of low caste, until at last he became a Brah-
man and had another opportunity by the performance of
good works to become united to God.
The followers of Ramanuja Acharya were the most nu-
merous sect of Brahmans, next to the Smartals, and formed
about three-tenths of the whole. They were called Vaish-
nava and A'ayngar, and were readily known by three ver-
tical marks on the forehead, connected by a common line
above the nose, and formed of white clay. They abhorred
Siva, calhng him the chief of the Rakshasas, or devils ; and
they worshipped only Vishnu and the gods of his family.
They formed two sects ; those who believed in transmigra-
tion and those who did not.'
^ Ramanuja Acharya, the apostle of the Yaishnavas and A'ayngars, flour-
ished about the twelfth century. He made Conjeveram his headquarters, but
undertook missionary circuits over the whole of the Peninsula. One of his dis-
ciples, named Ramanaud, founded another celebrated sect at Benares, who wor-
shipped Vishnu through his incarnations of Rama and Krishna, and threw off
all ties of caste. See larger History of India, vol. iii. chap. viii.
476 HISTORY OF INDIA
The Maduals formed the remaining two-tenths of the
Brahmans. They wore the vertical marks on the forehead,
which were appropriate to the followers of Vishnu, but they
also worshipped Siva. They believed in the generation of
the gods in a literal sense, thinking Vishnu to be the father
of Brahma, and Brahma to be the father of Siva.
The proper duty of a Brahman was meditation on things
divine; and the proper mode of procuring a livelihood was
by begging. But the common people were not so charitable
as in a former age, nor so willing to part with their money.
Accordingly most of the Brahmans in the Lower Carnatic
followed secular professions. They filled the different offices
in the collection of revenue and administration of justice;
and were extensively employed as guides and messengers,
and as keepers of choultries. They rented lands, but never
put their hands to the plow, and cultivated their farms by
slaves who belonged to the inferior castes.' Hence arose
the distinction between the Vaidika and Lokika Brahmans :
the Vaidika devoting their days to study, contemplation,
and the education of younger Brahmans; while the Lokikas
engaged in the government revenue and other worldly con-
cerns. The mercenary Brahmans who officiated in pagodas
for a livelihood were despised alike by Vaidikas and Lokikas.
Throughout both Carnatics, except at Madras and some
other exceptional towns, the Brahmans appropriated to them-
selves a particular quarter, generally that which was the
best fortified. A Sudra was not permitted to dwell in the
same street as a Brahman, and Pariahs and other low-castes
were forbidden to dwell in the same quarter as the Sudras.
Indeed the Pariahs, and others of the same stamp, generally
lived in wretched huts about the suburbs, where a Brahman
could not walk without pollution.
' The lower-castes, or rather outcasts, were by far the most hardy and labo-
rious people in the Carnatic, but the greater number were slaves. Hyder Ali
was alive to their value, and during his incursions in the Carnatic he sought to
carry them away to Mysore, where he settled them down in farms. They are
divided into numerous tribes or castes, distinguished bj- a variety of names, but
are beat known to Europeans by the general term of Pariahs. Properly speak-
ing, the Pariahs or Pareyars form only a single tribe.
BRITISH INDIA 477
Buchanan paid a passing visit to Arcot and Vellore. Ho
saw nothing remarkable except the Muhammadan women,
who rode about on bullocks, and were entirely wrapped up
in white veils. He ascended the Eastern Ghats and entered
Mysore. The country was exceedingly bare and the popu-
lation scanty. All the houses were collected in villages;
the smallest villages of five or six houses were fortified with
a wall six feet high, and a mud tower on the top to which
the only access was by a ladder. If a plundering party ap-
proached the village, the people ascended the tower with
their famihes and valuables, and drew up the ladder, and
defended themselves with stones, which even the women
threw with great force and dexterity. The larger villages
had square forts, with round towers at the angles. In towns
the defences were still more numerous ; the fort served as a
citadel, while the town or pettah was surrounded by a weaker
defence of mud. The inhabitants considered fortifications as
necessaries of existence, and incurred the whole expense of
building them and the risk of defending them. Indeed for
a long series of years the country had been in a constant
state of warfare; and the poor inhabitants had suffered so
much from all parties that they would not trust in any.
Buchanan halted at Bangalore, which has since become
a favorite resort of the English in India. Bangalore was
founded by Hyder Ali, and during his reign was an empo-
rium of trade and manufactures. Hyder built the fort at
Bangalore after the best fashion of Muhammadan military
architecture; but Tippu destroyed it after he found that it
could not resist English valor. Tippu also ruined the town
by prohibiting all trade with the subjects of the Nawab of
Arcot and Nizam of Hyderabad, whom he held in detesta-
tion.' It was plundered during the Mysore war of 1791-92
by the forces of Lord Cornwallis and his native allies, and
the inhabitants fled in all directions. Subsequently Tippu
' Tippu sought to punish both the Nawab and Nizam by stopping the trade
with Arcot and Hyderabad, much in the same way that the first Napoleon tried
to punish England by the Berlin decrees.
478 HISTORY OF INDIA
induced the refugees to return with the wreck of their fort-
unes ; and then, having got them under his thumb, he fleeced
them of all they possessed, down to the most trifling orna-
ments, on the pretence that they had favored the English.
Since the fall of Tippu in 1799 the inhabitants began once
more to flock into Bangalore under the assurance of British
protection.
At Seringapatam Buchanan saw the palace of Tippu
Sultan. It was a large building surrounded by a wall of
stone and mud. Tippu's own rooms formed one side of the
square, while the three remaining sides were occupied by
warehouses. Tippu had been a merchant as well as a prince ;
and during his reign he filled his warehouses with a vast
variety of goods, which the Amildars, or governors of prov-
inces, were expected to sell to the richer inhabitants at prices
far in excess of their real value. Much corruption and op-
pression resulted from this forced system of trade. Those
who bribed the Amildar were exempt from making large
purchases. Those poor wretches who were unable to bribe
were forced to buy ; and as they were equally unable to pay,
they were stripped of all they possessed, and written down
as debtors to the Sultan for the outstanding balances.
Tippu persecuted Hindus, and especially Brahmans, as
bitterly as Aurangzeb ; but his bigotry rarely stood in the
way of his interest. He might be unmerciful toward the
temple Brahmans, but he spared the seculars. Indeed,
the secular Brahmans were the only men in his dominions
who were fitted for civil administration. His Dewan, or
financial minister, was a Brahman of singular ability, named
Purnea. Tippu was anxious that Purnea should become a
Muhammadan ; but Purnea was so horrified at the idea that
the intention was abandoned.
All this while the Brahmans were so avaricious and cor-
rupt that Tippu would gladly have displaced them could he
have found capable men of other castes to fill their posts.
He tried to check their malpractices by appointing Muham-
madan Asofs, or lord-lieutenants, to superintend the admin-
BRITISH INDIA 479
istration in the provinces ; but this measure only aggravated
the evil. The Asofs were indolent, ignorant, and self-in-
dulgent ; and hungered after money bribes to supply their
wants. Consequently the Brahmans doubled their exac-
tions in order to satisfy the Asofs. Every native supposed
to be rich was exposed to false charges, and there was no
escape except by bribery.
Under the new government introduced by the Marquis
of Wellesley, Purnea remained in the post of Dewan, and
conducted the administration of Mysore under the super-
vision of an English Resident. He was a Brahman of the
Madual sect, a good linguist, and well versed in the affairs
of the country. The revenue establishments were largely
reduced, and consequently the Brahmans were the loudest
in their complaints against the new government. Those
who were retained in the public service were paid liberal
salaries to place them above temptation, but the result was
not satisfactory. The people of Mysore acknowledged that
they were delivered from the licentiousness of Tippu's sol-
diery, and the arbitrary exactions of his government; but
they complained that the Brahman officials took more money
than ever.
Buchanan explains the remarkable distinction which pre-
vails in the two Carnatics between the left and right "hands. ' '
This distinction is confined to the Pariahs and low-castes gen-
erally. The "left hand" comprised nine tribes or castes, in-
cluding blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, gold and silver-
smiths, oil-makers, hunters, shoemakers, and some others.
The "right hand" comprised eighteen tribes, including Pa-
riahs properly so called, calico-printers, shepherds, potters,
washermen, palanquin-bearers, barbers, painters, cowkeep-
ers, and others. The Pariahs proper were the chief tribe
of the "right hand."
The origin of this division of the Hindu low-castes was
involved in fable. It was said to have been carried out at
Conjeveram by the goddess Kali. It was also said that the
rules to be observed on either side were engraved on a cop-
480 HISTORY OF INDIA
per plate, and preserved in the great temple of Siva. The
existence of the plate, however, was more than doubtful.
The pretensions of both hands were diametrically opposed,
yet both appealed to the plate as an authority, and no one
produced a copy. The antagonism originated in claims to
the exclusive possession of certain honorary distinctions, such
as the privilege of using twelve pillars to the temporary build-
ing under which the marriage ceremonies were performed;
the right of riding on horseback in processions; or the claim
to carry a flag painted with the figure of the monkey god
Hanuman.*
Buchanan saw something of the working of Gurus and
Swamis in the Brahmanical hierarchy." They were the
bishops of their respective sects, exercising a jurisdiction
in all things relating to religion or caste. The Gurus and
Swamis performed certain ceremonies of initiation and con-
firmation in their respective sects. They imparted to every
disciple a mysterious sentence, known as the Upadasa, which
was to be uttered orally in their devotions, and was never to
be written down or revealed. Sometimes a Guru gave a
Upadasa and some images to a favorite disciple, and ap-
pointed him as a kind of deputy to manage affairs at a dis-
tance. In the Vaishnava sect every disciple was branded
with the spear of the god Vishnu. This ceremony was
' The division between the left and right "hands" is unknown iu Hindustan,
but prevails throughout the Peninsula and a great part of the Dekhan. The dis-
putes among the low-castes at Masulipatam (ante, p. 228) were connected with
this distinction. The English at Madras and the French at Pondicherry were
often troubled in the last century by disputes between the left and right "hands,"
which sometimes were productive of bloodshed, and necessitated the interference
of the military. Abbe Dubois relates a remarkable instance at which he himself
was present. A terrible feud had broken out between the Pariahs and Cobblers,
which spread through a large district. Many of the timid inhabitants began to
remove their effects and leave their villages, as if they had been threatened by
a Mahratta invasion. Fortunately matters did not come to an extremity, as the
chief men came forward lo mediate between the vulgar castes, and to disband
the armed ranks just as thc}'^ were awaiting the signal for battle. The cause of
this dreadful commotion was a trifle. A Cobbler had stuck red flowers in his
turban at a public festival, and the Pariahs insisted that none of his caste had
a right to wear them.
' See ante, part i., chap, iv., p. 84.
BRITISH INDIA 481
known as the Chakrantikam. ' The spear was made hot
and applied to the shoulder so as to bum the skin. The
Upadasa was imparted to the disciple only once during life;
but the Ohakrantikam or branding was performed several
times.*
The Gurus were entirely supported by the contributions
of their disciples ; but these were so burdensome that a Guru
seldom continued long in one place. The contributions of a
rich town hke Madras would not support a Guru or Swami
for more than one or two months ; and the visits of a Guru
were often regarded with dread like the incursions of a
Mahratta.'
The Gurus travelled in great state, with elephants, horses,
palanquins, and an immense train of disciples, the least of
whom considered himself as elevated far above ordinary
mortals by his superior sanctity. They generally travelled
at night in order to avoid their Muhammadan or European
conquerors, who would not show them that veneration, or
adoration, to which they considered themselves entitled. On
the approach of a Guru to any place, all the inhabitants of
the higher castes went out to meet him ; but the lower castes
were not admitted to his presence. The Guru was conducted
to the principal temple, and bestowed Upadasa, or Ohakran-
tikam, on such as had not received those ceremonies, and
also distributed holy water. He then inquired into matters
' This branding ceremony was not practiced by the Smartal sect who wor-
shipped Siva.
■^ At the Madras Presidency College, many years ago, the author often heard
educated Hindus speak of the ceremonies described by Buchanan. He believes
that the Upadasa imparted to the higher castes corresponded to the Gayatri, or
invocation of all the Vaidik deities as represented by the sun. The 'Upadasa
imparted to Sudras and others was nothing more than the name of some par-
ticular god, which was to be constantly repeated by the worshipper. The cere-
mony of branding was sometimes a subject of mirth to those who were not
required to submit to it.
^ A hundred pagodas a day, or about thirty -six pounds sterling, were as little
as could be offered to a Guru on his tour, and che Raja of Tanjore was said to
have given his Guru something like ninety pounds a day whenever the great
spiritual teacher honored him with a visit. There is reason, however, to believe
that the disciples exaggerated the value of past gifts in the hope of exciting the
emulation of current worshippers.
482 HISTORY OF INDIA
of contention, or transgressions against the rules of caste;
and having settled or punished all such offences, he heard
his disciples and other learned men dispute on theological
subjects. This was the grand field for acquiring reputation
among the Brahmans.
Besides the Gurus, however, there were popular forms of
ecclesiastical government. Throughout every part of India,
wherever there was a considerable number of any one caste
or tribe, there was usually a head man, and his office was
generally hereditary. His powers were various in different
sects and places ; but he was commonly intrusted with au-
thority to punish all transgressions against the rules of caste.
His power was not arbitrary ; as he was always assisted by
a council of the most respectable members of his tribe. He
could inflict fines and stripes, and above all excommunication,
or loss of caste, which was the most terrible of all punish-
ments to a Hindu.
"While Gurus, and Brahmans generally, were held in such
outward veneration, an undercurrent of antagonism occasion-
ally found expression in the language of revolt. Satirical
songs were current, showing up the incapacity of the Gurus ;
and sarcastic tales were told of the vanity or stupidity of
Brahmans. Abbe Dubois has preserved a specimen of these
compositions, which sufficiently illustrates the popular senti-
ments, and may be reproduced in a condensed paraphrase :
"Once upon a time four Brahmans were going on a jour-
ney, when they met a soldier, who cried out — 'Health to my
lord!' All four replied with a benediction, and then quar-
relled among themselves as to which of the four had been
saluted by the soldier. Accordingly they ran back and put
the question to the soldier, who replied that his salutation
had been intended for the greatest fool of the four.
"The four Brahmans next quarrelled as to which of them
was the greatest fool. Accordingly they proceeded to the
choultry of a neighboring village, and put the question to
the elders who were assembled there ; and in order to arbi-
BRITISH INDIA 483
trate on this knotty point, each Brahman was called upon in
turn to prove his claim to the salutation.
"The first Brahman said that a rich merchant had given
him two of the finest pieces of cloth that had ever been seen
in his village. He purified them by washing, and hung
them out to dry, when a dog ran under them; and neither
he nor his children could tell whether the dog had touched
them so as to render them impure. Accordingly he crawled
under the clothes on his hands and knees without touching
them ; but his children decided that the trial was of no avail,
as the dog might have touched them with his turned up tail,
while their father had no such appendage. This decision so
exasperated the Brahman that he tore the cloths to rags, and
was then laughed at as the greatest fool in the village, be-
cause he might have washed the cloths a second time, or at
any rate have given them to a poor Sudra.
"The second Brahman then told his story. His head
had been shaved by a barber, but his wife had given the
man two annas instead of one, and the barber refused to
give back the extra anna. After much wrangling the bar-
ber agreed to shave the head of the Brahman's wife for
nothing. The husband agreed, but the wife screamed with
terror, for shaving her head was equivalent to charging her
with infidelity. However, the Brahman was determined not
to lose his anna, and the wife was shaved by force. The
result was that the wife ran away to her parents, while the
husband was railed at as the greatest fool in the world.
"The third Brahman next put in his claim. One evening
he remarked that all women were prattlers. His wife replied
that some men were greater prattlers than women. After
some disputing it was agreed that the one who spoke first
should give a leaf of betel to the other. The night passed
away without a word. Morning came, but neither would
speak or rise. The village was alarmed, and a multitude of
Brahmans, men and women, gathered round the house fear-
ing that the inmates were murdered. At last the carpenter
broke down the door. The husband and wife were still lying
484 HISTORY OF INDIA
on the couch, and neither would speak or move. Some of
the bystanders declared that the pair were possessed of dev-
ils ; and a magician was called in, but his incantations had
no effect. At last a wise old Brahman brought a bar of red-
hot gold in a pair of pincers, and applied it to the feet of the
husband; but the man bore the torture without a word.
Next the bar was tried on the wife, with a different effect;
she rose up with a shriek and gave her husband a leaf of
betel. The man took the leaf, saying — 'Was I not right
when I said that all women were prattlers?' The multitude
looked on with amazement, but when they discovered that
the husband had aroused the whole village for the sake of a
leaf of betel they declared that he was the biggest fool they
had ever seen.
"At last the fourth Brahman asserted his right to be re-
garded as the greatest fool of the four. For some years he
had been betrothed to a girl, and at last she was old enough
to be his wife. His mother would have fetched the damsel
from her father's house, but was too sick to go. Accord-
ingly she sent her son, but knowing him to be a brute, she
implored him to be careful in his behavior. The father of
the damsel entertained his son-in-law with all hospitality,
and then dismissed him with his bride. The day was exces-
sively hot, and the road ran through a desert which scorched
their feet. The damsel had been tenderly brought up, and
fainted with the heat, and lay down upon the ground and
declared that she wished to die. A rich merchant came up,
and offered to save her life by carrying her away on one of
his bullocks ; he also offered twenty pagodas to her husband
as the value of her ornaments. Accordingly the bridegroom
parted from his bride, and went home with the twenty pa-
godas. When his mother heard the story she overwhelmed
him with curses. Presently the wife's relations came to the
village, and would have murdered him had he not fled to
the jungle. As it was, the chiefs of the caste fined him two
hundred pagodas, and prohibited him from ever marrying
again.
BRITISH INDIA 485
** Meanwhile the elders at the choultry had been convulsed
with laughter at the stories of the four Brahmans, and so
had all the people who had gathered around to hear what
was going on. When the fourth Brahman had finished his
tale, the elders delivered their judgment. They decided that
each of the fom* Brahmans might consider himself entitled
to the salutation of the soldier; and thereupon all four rushed
out of the choultry in great delight, each one declaring that
he had won the cause, ' '
The foregoing tale cannot be regarded as history proper;
but it is a specimen of folk-lore, and reveals the current of
feeling which was running through Peninsular India at the
beginning of the present century, and is still flowing. It
will now be necessary to resume the thread of the narrative,
which has been interrupted ever since the Mysore war was
brought to a close by the destruction of Tippu and downfall
of Seringapatam.
The conquest of Mysore was followed by vital changes in
Tan j ore and the Carnatic, similar to those which Lord Clive
had carried out in Bengal and Behar some thirty-five years
before, but without the sham of Moghul suzerainty. English
administration was introduced into both countries in the
place of native rule; and the Raja of Tanjore and Nawab
of the Carnatic were reduced to the condition of titular
princes like the Nawab Nazim of Murshedabad. How
far Lord Wellesley was justified in carrying out such
radical reforms may be gathered from the following
facts.
The Hindu Raj of Tanjore had been favored by nature
beyond all the other principtilities in the Peninsula. It has
abeady been described at the delta of the Koleroon and
Kaveri; a well- watered garden, vying in fertihty with the
delta of the Nile, and forming the granary of Southern India.
It had been conquered in the seventeenth century by a Mah-
ratta prince of the house of Sivaji ; but it was cut off from
the homes of the Mahratta-speaking people in the western
India. Vol. II. X— 3
480 HISTORY OF INDIA
Dekhan by the intermediate territories of tlie Carnatic
Nawab. '
Tan j ore had suffered much from the encroachments of
the Moghuls, but was otherwise an independent principaHty.
Isolated from the Mahratta empire, the Mahratta Rajas of
Tanjore paid no such allegiance to the Maharajas at Satara,
or Peishwas at Poona, as was paid by Sindia or Holkar, the
Gaekwar or the Bhonsla of Berar, For many years the fron-
tiers of Tanjore were oscillating, hke those of the Mahratta
empire ; but during the eighteenth century they became fixed,
and the Raj of Tanjore is described as a compact territory,
seventy miles long from north to south, and sixty miles from
east to west. It was bounded on the north by the Koleroon,
on the east by the Bay of Bengal, on the south by the Mara-
war country,* and on the west by Trichinopoly and the Ton-
diman's country.^
' Tanjore was originally a province of the old Hindu empire of Vijayanagar.
After the battle of Talikota, the Hindu viceroy or Naili became an independent
Raja. Then followed intermittent wars between Tanjore and Trichinopoly. The
Tanjore Raja was overpowered, and called the Mahrattas to his help. In 1680
the Mahrattas helped liim with a vengeance. They saved him from destruction
and then overran his territory, and took possession of his kingdom in payment
for their services. See ante, p. 211.
''■ The Marawar country is a relic of Hindu antiquity, and closely associated
with the legendary wars of Rama and Ravana. The people were primitive, and
included the caste of Kalars, or hereditary robbers. In modern times the tract
fell into the possession of the Rajas of Sivaganga and Ramnad, the former of
whom was known as the little Marawar, while the latter was known as the great
Marawar. The Ramnad estate was granted to the ancestors of the great Mara-
war, with the title of Sethipati, or "Commander-in-chief," for the defence of the
road and protection of pilgrims resorting to the sacred pagoda of Ramisseram.
^ The Tondiman was originally a Zemindar, who rendered great services to
the East India Company durnig the wars in the Carnatic, and was rewarded by
the title and dignity of Raja. One incident in the family history is suggestive
of old Hindu life. There was an ancient dispute between the Tondiman and
Sivaganga Rujas respecting a small tract of land about ten miles long. Genera-
tion after generation fought for this land, so that four-fifths of it became jungle,
while the remainder was sowed sword in hand, and reaped with bloodshed.
Many attempts were made to settle the dispute, but without avail. At last a
Major Blackbitrne, Resident at Tanjore, summoned the representatives on either
side to bring aU their documents and vouchers. After six weeks' laborious in-
vestigation, Major Blackburne discovered beyond aU doubt that most of them
were forgeries. Both parties, seeing that the fact was patent, admitted that
ever}-^ document of importance had been fabricated for the occasion ; but they
confidently appealed to the boundary stones, which they swore had been set up
from a remote antiquity. On inquiry, however, Major Blackburne found that
BRITISH INDIA 487
Swartz, the missionary, was favorably disposed toward
the Raja who was reigning in 1775 when Tanjore was re-
stored by Lord Pigot. Indeed the Raja had permitted him
to preach and estabHsh schools. But the evidence of Swartz
reveals the agony of Tanjore. The people were groaning
under oppression and misgovernment. The Raja was a
slave in the hands of Brahmans ; he lived immured in the
recesses of the palace, surrounded by a multiplicity of wives,
and left the administration in the hands of a rapacious min-
ister. The cultivators were at the mercy of renters, who
took sixty or seventy baskets of rice out of every hundred ;
and sometimes the entire harvest was reaped by the servants
of the Raja, while the cultivators looked helplessly on. In
1786 it was reported that sixty-five thousand of the inhabi-
tants had fled from Tanjore; and that many of those who
remained refused to cultivate the lands unless there was a
change in the administration.
Unfortunately the English government at Madras was
more or less responsible for this tyranny. "When Lord Pigot
restored Tanjore to the Raja, he engaged that there should
be no interference for the future in the administration. The
Madras government could consequently only remonstrate
with the Raja, and its advice was thrown away. At last
a committee of inspection was appointed, and Swartz was
nominated a member. The Raja appealed to the pledges
given him by Lord Pigot, and promised to amend his ad-
ministration ; but he did little or nothing, and the Madras
government left matters to drift on.
The Raja died without issue in 1787. His death was
followed by a disputed succession. There was an adult half-
brother, named Amar Singh, and an adopted son, aged ten.
four years previously none of the stones had been in existence. Major Black-
burne then decided the case on his own authority by dividing the land equally
between the Tondimau and Sivaganga Rajas, and setting up new boundary stones
under the seal of the British government. By so doing he offended both parties,
but he put an end to the interminable wars, and before long the whole jungle
was brought under cultivation. This measure, in the eyes of natives, was one
of the oppressions of British rule.
488 HISTORY OF INDIA
named Serfoji. The recognition of the Madras government,
as the superior authority in the Peninsula, was necessary to
settle the case. Accordingly, the Madras government nomi-
nated twelve Pundits, who decided against the adoption, on
the ground that the boy was disqualified by reason of his
age, and by being the only son of his natural father. Under
such circumstances Amar Singh, the half-brother, was placed
upon the throne of Tan j ore by the Madras government.
The administration of Amar Singh was as oppressive as
that of his predecessor. He placed the boy Serfoji in close
confinement, together with the widows of the deceased Raja.
After some delay, and repeated complaints, the Madras gov-
ernment insisted on the liberation of the prisoners, and Serfoji
and the widows were removed to Madras. Then followed a
petition from Serfoji, claiming the throne of Tanjore by the
right of adoption. More Pundits were consulted, who de-
cided in favor of the adoption. The Madras government,
after long and careful consideration, determined that a mis-
take had been made, and resolved on dethroning Amar Singh
in favor of Serfoji.
Amid the contradictory interpretations of Sanskrit law,
and the conflict of authority on the part of the Pundits, it is
impossible to say who was the rightful Raja. Indeed, it is im-
possible to say how far the Pundits on either side may have
been swayed by undue influences, Swartz intimates pretty
plainly that the Tanjore Pundits were bribed by Amar Singh ;
while it is equally probable that the Madras Pundits were
bribed by Serfoji. Lord Wellesley solved the problem by
placing Serfoji on the throne on the condition that the en-
tire administration should be transferred to the Company's
officers. Accordingly Serfoji was put in possession of the
town and fort of Tanjore and maintained by a yearly grant
of thirty-five thousand pounds, together with one-fifth of the
revenues of the Raj ; while a yearly stipend of about nine
thousand pounds was awarded to the ex-Raja Amar
Singh.
Carnatic affairs had drifted into still greater confusion.
BRITISH INDIA 489
The introduction of British administration had become a
crying necessity, not only for the dehverance of the people
from oppression, but for the security of the East India Com-
pany's possessions in the Peninsula. In the war against
Tippu in 1791-92 Lord Cornwallis had followed the example
set by Lord Macartney during the invasion of Hyder Ali,
and assumed the entire management of the Carnatic, as the
only safeguard against underhand practices and failure of
supplies. After making peace with Tippu in 1792, Lord Corn-
wallis concluded a treaty with Nawab Muhammad Ali, under
which the Company was to assume the management of the
Carnatic in all future wars, and the Nawab was pledged to
carry on no correspondence whatever with any other state,
native or foreign, without the sanction of the British gov-
ernment.
Muhammad Ali died in 1795, and was succeeded on the
throne at Arcot by his eldest son, Umdut-ul-Umra. In 1799
Lord Wellesley prepared for the conquest of Mysore ; but as
he purposed to make short work with Tippu, he would not
hamper his operations by taking over the Carnatic. He soon
regretted his forbearance. The Nawab and his officers cre-
ated such obstructions at critical moments that it was im-
possible to avoid the suspicion that they were guilty of sys-
tematic treachery.
After the capture of Seringapatam the treachery came to
light. A clandestine correspondence was discovered which
had been carried on with Tippu by both Muhammad Ali
and his son Umdut-ul-Umra. Some sympathy between a
Muhammadan prince at Arcot and another at Seringapatam
was perhaps to be expected ; although the Carnatic had been
ravaged and plundered by Tippu only a few short years be-
fore. But the primary duty of Lord Wellesley was to secure
the safety of the Company's rule in India; and it was impos-
sible for him to overlook deliberate treachery, which threat-
ened the existence of the Company, and which certainly
violated the treaty of 1792, and put an end to all confidence
in the future good faith of the Carnatic family.
490 HISTORY OF INDIA
Umdut-ul-Umra was on his deathbed. Lord Wellesley
refused to disturb his last moments; and nothing was done
beyond investigating the correspondence until after his death
in July, 1801. The family was then told of the treachery
which had been discovered, and the resolution of the Com-
pany, that henceforth the Carnatic was to be brought under
the same system of government as Tanjore and Bengal. The
dynasty was not to be subverted. There was to be a titular
Nawab of Arcot in the same way that there was a titular
Nawab Nazim of Murshedabad ; but he was no longer to ex-
ercise any civil or military authority, and the entire admin-
istration was to be transferred to the servants of the Com-
pany. There were two claimants of the throne, a son and a
nephew ; and the nephew was said to have a better claim to
the succession because the son was illegitimate. In the first
instance the throne was offered to the son of Umdut-ul-
Umra, but he refused the proffered terms. It was then
offered to the nephew and accepted. An allowance of about
fifty thousand pounds a year was assigned to the new Nawab
for his personal expenses ; and a yearly grant of one-fifth of
the revenues of the Carnatic was set apart for the main-
tenance of the family.'
By these autocratic measures Lord Wellesley put an end
to the anarchy and oppression which had prevailed for cent-
uries in Southern India. At the same time he established
the British government as the dominant power in the Penin-
sula. British administration was introduced into the Mo-
ghul Carnatic, and into the newly-acquired territories in
Mysore, from the Kistna to the Koleroon, and from the Bay
of Bengal to the frontier of the Mysore Raj. It was also
introduced into the countries to the south of the Koleroon;
and not only Tanjore and Trichinopoly, but Tinnevelly and
' The Nawab of the town of Surat on the side of Bombay was equally de-
pendent on the British government, equally helpless in defending the place, and
equally incompetent to manage its internal affairs. In 1800 the dynasty of Surat
Bharcd the fate of that of the Carnatic. Advantage was taken of a disputed suc-
cession to assume the government and revenues of Surat, and to reduce a favored
claimant to the position of a titular pensioner.
BRITISH INDIA 491
Madura became British territory.' Further to the west, on
the Malabar side, Malabar proper and Kanara were in like
manner brought under British administration; while the
states of Coorg, Cochin, and Travancore were brought into
feudatory relations with the British government, which have
continued, with the exception of Coorg, down to our own
time.'' Thus the Madras Presidency, which was originally
restricted to a sandy tract on the Coromandel coast of six
miles in length and one inland, was extended westward to
the coast of Malabar, northward to the Kistna and Godavari,
and southward to Cape Comorin.
' The English collectorate of Madura includes Diudigul and the two Mara-
wars, Sivaganga and Ramnad.
'^ The general character of these feudatory relations will be sufficiently de-
Bcribed in the next chapter. In 1834 the Raja of Coorg declared war against
the British government, and was speedily reduced by British arms. His coun-
try, at the expressed and unanimous desire of the people, was then brought
under the Company's rule. The incident belongs to the administration of Lord
William Bentinck, and will be told hereafter.
492 HISTORY OF INDIA
CHAPTER IX
MAHRATTA WARS— WELLESLEY
A.D. 1799 TO 1805
THE Mysore war did something more than establish
the British government as the dominant power in the
Peninsula. It put an end to the phantom of a bal-
ance of power in the Dekhan and Hindustan. The Nizam
was helpless; his very existence depended on the British
government. The Peishwa's government was faithless; it
sent no contingent to join the forces of the Enghsh and the
Nizam, and kept the envoys of Tippu at Poena long after
the war began, in order to carry on underhand negotiations
with the enemy. Henceforth it was for the British govern-
ment, and for that government alone, to keep the peace of
India by the exercise of a paramount power.
The political system contemplated by the Marquis of
"Wellesley lies in a nutshell. The native states were to sur-
render their international life to the British government in
return for British protection. They were to make no wars,
and to carry on no negotiations with any other state what-
ever, without the knowledge and consent of the British gov-
ernment. They were not to entertain Frenchmen or any
other Europeans in their service, without the consent of
the British government. The greater principalities were
each to maintain a native force commanded by British offi-
cers for the preservation of the public peace ; and they were
each to cede certain territories in full sovereignty to meet
the yearly charges of this force. The lesser principalities
were to pay tribute to the paramount power. In return the
British government was to protect them, one and all, against
BRITISH INDIA 493
foreign enemies of every sort or kind. This system had al-
ready been carried out as regards the petty Hindu principal-
ities of Travancore and Coorg, which had been left intact in
the Peninsula. Its extension was now to be urged on the
greater powers of the Dekhan and Hindustan.
The Nizam of Hyderabad was the first to enter into the
new pohtical system ; the first to become a feudatory of the
British government. Nizam Ali agreed to the maintenance
of a native force under British officers, known as the. Hyder-
abad Subsidiary Force; and he ceded back to the British
government all the territories which had been given him
after the Mysore conquests in 1792 and 1799, to meet the
charges of the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force. This was
the beginning of the new political system of a British em-
pire over native feudatories.*
Lord Wellesley next tried to bring over the Peishwa's
government to the subsidiary system. He offered to make
over the remaining share of the Mysore country, provided
the Peishwa would agree to the same terms as the Nizam.
Baji Rao and Nana Farnavese were anxious for the proffered
territory, but would not accept the conditional treaty. They
urged that the Peishwa was endowed with the inherent right
to collect chout for the whole of the Mysore territory; and
they tried to convince Lord Wellesley that it would be politic
to make over the proposed share of the Mysore conquest to
the Peishwa as an equivalent for the collection of the chout
throughout the whole of the Mysore territory. They met all
other proposals by diplomatic evasions. The Peishwa would
help the English against the French, but would not dismiss
the Frenchmen in his service. He would take English bat-
talions into his pay provided he might employ them against
his refractory feudatories. But he would not accept the
mediation of the English in the claims of the Mahrattas
against the Nizam, nor pledge himseK as regards wars or
negotiations with other states or principalities.
1 A 'distinction must be made between the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force and
the Hyderabad Contingent. The Contingent was a later creation.
494 HISTORY OF INDIA
Daulat Rao Sindia was still more refractory. He was
barely nineteen years of age, but he exercised a preponderat-
ing influence in the Mahratta empire, and was puffed up
with exaggerated ideas of his own importance and power.
Lord Wellesley refrained from exciting his suspicions by any
premature disclosure of his larger pohtical views, and only
attempted to engage him in a defensive alliance against the
Afghans. Lord Wellesley himself was in some alarm about
the Afghans. Zeman Shah, the reigning sovereign of Af-
ghanistan, was a grandson of the once famous Ahmad Shah
Abdah, and longed to tread in the footsteps of his illustrious
progenitor. In 1796 he had advanced into the Punjab as
far as Lahore; but was compelled to return to Kabul the
following year on account of distractions in his own territo-
ries. Later on he sent a letter to Lord Wellesley announc-
ing his intention to invade India, and inviting the British
government to help him to drive the Mahrattas out of Hin-
dustan. Lord Wellesley forwarded this letter to Daulat Rao
Sindia, and proposed an alliance between the English and
Mahrattas against Zeman Shah. But Daulat Rao Sindia
was not to be terrified by an Afghan invasion. The slaugh-
ter of the Mahrattas at Paniput in 1761 had died out of the
memory of the rising generation. Accordingly Daulat Rao
Sindia treated the letter of Zeman Shah as the idle vaporings
of a distant barbarian ; and refused to hamper himself with
an English alliance for resisting an invasion which might
never be attempted."
Lord Wellesley was exasperated at the apathy of Daulat
Rao Sindia, for he was seriously afraid of the Afghans. He
knew nothing of their domestic wars and endless feuds; he
only knew that they had more than once established a do-
' In a previous generation, when the Afghan armies of Ahmad Shah Abdali
were overrunning the Punjab, and threatening Hindustan, neither the Moghuls
nor the Mahrattas ever troubled themselves about the Afghans until the invaders
reached Delhi. Since then thirty j^ears had passed way. Ahmad Shah Abdali
died in 1773, and his sons were too much occupied in fighting one another for
the throne to attempt a renewal of their aggressions on BQndustan.
BRITISH INDIA 495
minion in Hindustan, and must be anxious to recover their
lost power. He was in great alarm lest the Afghans should
invade Oude; for Oude had nothing to protect her but a
few English battalions, and a rabble army, in the pay of
the Nawab Vizier, that would be worse than useless in the
event of an invasion.
Under these circumstances Lord Wellesley called on the
Nawab Vizier of Oude to disband his own army, and devote
the money thus saved to the maintenance of a larger number
of the Company's battalions. The Nawab Vizier refused to
do anything of the kind. Lord Wellesley was imperious and
peremptory; he was not disposed to give in to the Nawab
Vizier as he had given in to the Peishaw and Daulat Rao
Sindia. He considered that unless Hindustan was in a suffi-
cient state of defence against the Afghans, the British em-
pire in India would be in peril. Accordingly he compelled
the Nawab Vizier to cede half his territories and revenues
for the protection of the remaining half ; and he devoted the
additional income thus acquired to the permanent defence of
Hindustan.
As a matter of fact, the threatened invasion of Zeman
Shah turned out a bugbear. In 1800 the would-be conqueror
of Hindustan was dethroned and blinded by one of his broth-
ers, and ultimately compelled to seek a refuge in British ter-
ritory. But Lord Wellesley had no means of knowing what
was going on. Kabul in those days was associated with the
invasions of Timur, Nadir Shah, and Ahmad Shah Abdali;
and for aught Lord Wellesley knew to the contrary, hosts
of Tartars and Afghans might have rushed into Hindustan
like a destroying flood. Moreover, no help was to be ex-
pected from native princes. The Mahrattas would have held
aloof and played a waiting game. The Muhammadans ex-
pected Zeman Shah to deliver them from the English. The
Rajputs expected him to deliver them from the Mahrattas.
Then again there was no knowing what the French might
be doing in the background. Under such circumstances
Lord Wellesley was driven by the instinct of self-preserva-
496 HISTORY OF INDIA
tion to take extreme measures for the permanent defence of
Hindustan against foreign invaders.
Meanwhile Lord Wellesley turned an anxious eye toward
Persia. During the anarchy which followed the assassina-
tion of Nadir Shah in 1747, the old trade between Bombay
and Persia had dwindled away. Persia was the theatre of
bloody struggles between the Persian and the Turkoman,
otherwise known as the Zend and the Kajar. For a brief
interval the Zend gained the mastery, but in 1794 was com-
pelled to succumb to the Kajar, amid massacres and atroc-
ities too horrible for description. A Kajar dynasty was
founded by Agha Muhammad Khan. For a brief interval
it was exposed to Russian aggression. ' Subsequently there
was reason to suspect that it might be made an instrument
of French intrigue. Accordingly, having got rid of Tippu
as a creature of the French in the southern Peninsula, it
was natural that Lord Wellesley should provide against any
possible danger that might be brewing to the northwest of
Hindustan.
In 1800 Lord Wellesley sent Captain John Malcolm on
a mission to Persia, to create a diversion against Zeman
Shah on the side of Khorassan, and to counteract any de-
signs that might be entertained by France. The mission
has left no mark in history ; but Malcolm was a man of his
time, and destined to play an important part in the later
affairs of India. He distinguished himself in Persia by a
lavish distribution of presents among the Shah and his cour-
tiers, who were equally poor, vain, and mercenary; and he
concluded a treaty, under which the Shah agreed to act, if
necessary, against Zeman Shah, and to exclude all French-
men from his dominions.'*
' The Kajar conqueror, Agha Muhammad Khan, was extending his conquests
to the eastward, when he was called away by Russian aggression in Greorgia;
but he was saved by the death of Catherine the Second in 1796, and the unex-
pected recall of the Russian array by her son and successor the Emperor Paul.
In 1797 Agha Muhammad Khan was assassinated, and, after another interval of
wars and distractions, was succeeded by his nephew, Futih AU Shah, the second
sovereign of the Kajar dynasty, who died in 1834.
'^ John Malcolm belonged to the old military school of political officers. In
1783 he landed at Madras as a boy ensiga of fourteen. In 1784 he took charge
BRITISH INDIA 497
Meanwhile the progress of Mahratta affairs had engaged
the anxious attention of Lord Wellesley. In 1800, Nana
Farnavese, the famous Mahratta minister, was gathered to
his fathers. He was a Brahman statesman of the old Hindu
type. For many years he had grasped the real power, and
treated the late Peishwa, Mahdu Narain Rao, as a child;
but Baji Rao, the successor of Mahdu Narain, was older,
more experienced, and consequently more troublesome, and
was forever intriguing against his authority. The death
of Nana Farnavese released Baji Rao from a state of minis-
terial thraldom, but exposed him more than ever to the gall-
ing dictation of Daulat Rao Sindia. Shortly afterward Sindia
was called away to the northward by disorders which had
broken out in Holkar's territory; and Baji Rao was left
alone at Poona to follow his own devices without any in-
terference whatever.
The dominion founded in Malwa by Mulhar Rao Holkar
was at this period passing through a crisis, which tempted
the interference of Daulat Rao Sindia, Ailah Bai, the
daughter-in-law of Mulhar Rao, had carried on the civil
administration of the state ever since his death in 1767.*
She had transformed the village of Indore into a wealthy
capital; and henceforth the name of Indore was applied to
the state as well as to the capital. She died in 1795, leaving
the state of Indore in the sole possession of her commander-
in-chief, Tukaji Holkar.
Tukaji Holkar died in 1797, leaving two legitimate sons,
one of whom was an imbecile. Daulat Rao Sindia hurried
away from Poona to Indore, and played the part of a suze-
rain. He placed the imbecile son of Tukaji Holkar on the
throne, and put the other in prison and eventually murdered
of the prisoners surrendered by Tippu after the treaty of Mangalore, and caused
some amusement on the occasion by reason of his extreme youth. In 1791 he
distinguished himself in the Mysore war under Lord Cornwallis. In 1798 he
took an active part in the disbandment of the Nizam's French battalions. He
was only thirty-one when he was aeut by Lord Wellesley on his mission to
Persia.
1 See ante, p. 397.
498 HISTORY OF INDIA
him ; his object being to render his own influence paramount
at Indore. But an illegitimate son of Tukaji appeared upon
the scene under the name of Jaswant Rao Holkar. This
man had no pretensions to the throne, for they were barred
by the baseness of his birth. He had professed to be the
partisan of the half-brother whom Sindia had set aside; but
when the half-brother was murdered, Jaswant Rao fled to
the jungles and turned outlaw and freebooter after Rajput
fashion. He was joined by a host of the predatory rascals
who infested Central India at this period — Bhils, Pindharies,
Afghans, and Mahrattas. In this fashion he became so for-
midable that Daulat Rao Sindia was compelled to march
against him with a large army and attempt to suppress him
by main force.
The army of Jaswant Rao Holkar was reckoned at twenty
thousand men, all of whom were maintained by plunder. It
is needless to dwell upon the details of rapine, desolation and
bloodshed which characterized his proceedings, and rendered
him the pest of Malwa and Berar. In October, 1801, he was
attacked and routed by Sindia and his French battalions ; but
defeat in those days was of little avail in suppressing a free-
booting chief, whose name alone was a tower of strength for
outlaws and refugees of every kind, and a rallying point for
all the brigands and blackguards in Central India.
Meanwhile Baji Rao was free from all restraint. Nana
Farnavese was dead, and Daulat Rao Sindia was busied in
establishing his influence over the territory of the Holkar
family in Indore. Accordingly, the young Peishwa at Poena
pursued a wild career of revenge upon all his enemies, real
or supposed. It would be tedious to dwell on his acts of
savage ferocity ; a single instance will serve as a type. A
brother of Jaswant Rao Holkar had given some offence, or
committed some crime, and was condemned to die by being
dragged through the streets of Poona tied to the foot of an
elephant. Baji Rao was not only deaf to the humblest
prayers for mercy, but revelled in the sufferings of his vic-
tim. He looked on with delight while the wretched man
BRITISH INDIA 499
was being dragged by the elephant from the palace yard,
and filling the air with his shrieks at the prospect of a death
of lingering agony.
Baji Rao had soon reason to repent of his cruelty. News
arrived at Poona that Jaswant Rao had reassembled his
scattered forces, inflicted some small defeats on Daulat
Rao Sindia, and was marching to Poona to be revenged on
the Peishwa for the tortures which had been inflicted on his
brother.
Baji Rao was in great consternation. He was half in-
clined to agree to the treaty with the English, and accept
their protection. Sindia, however, prevented the British al-
liance for a while by despatching a large force to reassure
the Peishwa. In October, 1802, the decisive battle of Poona
changed the fate of the Mahratta empire. The united armies
of Sindia and the Peishwa were defeated by Jaswant Rao
Holkar ; and Baji Rao fled for his life to the western coast,
and escaped on board an English ship to the port of Bassein,
about twenty miles to the northward of Bombay.
Baji Rao was paralyzed by the disaster. Another Peishwa
was set up by Jaswant Rao Holkar at Poona, and Baji Rao
saw nothing before him but ruin. In this extremity he agreed
to sign the obnoxious treaty, provided the English restored
h\m to his throne at Poona. Accordingly the treaty of Bas-
sein was concluded on the last day of December, 1802.
By the treaty of Bassein Baji Rao severed all the ties
which bound the Mahratta princes to him as Peishwa, lord
paramount, and suzerain. He absolutely abdicated the
headship of the Mahratta empire. He pledged himself to
hold no communication with any other power, not even with
the great feudatories of the empire, such as Sindia and Hol-
kar, the Gaekwar and the Berar Raja, without the consent
of the British government. He also ceded territory for the
maintenance of a Poona Subsidiary Force. He thus secured
his restoration to the throne of Poona ; but, as far as treaties
were binding, he had ceased to be lord paramount of the
Mahratta empire ; he had transferred his suzerainty to the
500 HISTORY OF INDIA
East India Company ; and henceforth was bound hand and
foot as a feudatory of the British government.
The treaty of Bassein is a turning-point in the history of
India. It estabhshed the British empire as the paramount
power in India, but it rendered a Mahratta war inevitable.
It was impossible for a Mahratta prince of Baji Rao's char-
acter and surroundings to fulfil the obligations involved in
such a treaty; he was certain, sooner or later, to attempt to
recover the lost headship of the Mahratta empire. It was
equally impossible for Daulat Rao Sindia to respect the terms
of a treaty which shut him out from the grand object of his
ambition, namely, to rule the Mahratta empire in the name
of the Peishwa.
In 1803 Baji Rao was conducted by a British force from
Bassein to Poena. The Madras army under Colonel Welles-
ley, and the new Hyderabad Subsidiary Force under Colonel
Stevenson, were moving up from the south in the same di-
rection for his protection. Yet at this very time Baji Rao
was secretly imploring Daulat Rao Sindia and the Bhonsla
Raja of Berar to march to his assistance, and deliver him
from the English supremacy.'
Sindia and the Bhonsla had each taken the field with a
large army, and were restlessly moving near the western
frontier of the Nizam's dominions. They were closely
watched by "Wellesley and Stevenson, but they were stupefied
by the treaty of Bassein, and knew not what to do. They
had no particular regard for Baji Rao ; indeed they were op-
posed in theory to the supremacy of the Brahman Peishwas.
Daulat Rao Sindia had long been intriguing to gain the as-
cendency at Poona, and rule the Mahratta feudatories in the
name of the Peishwa; while every successive Raja of Berar
nursed the design of overthrowing the Brahmanical suprem-
acy, and seizing the throne at Poona as the representative
of Sivaji. But both Sindia and the Bhonsla preferred the
' Mudaji Bhonsla died in 1788, and was succeeded on the throne of Berar
by his eldest son Rughoji Bhonsla, who reigned twenty-eight years, and died in
181 6. Baji Rao was imploring the help of Rughoji Bhonsla.
BRITISH INDIA 501
Brahman sovereignty to the British ; and they hesitated to
conckide treaties with Lord Wellesley, or to begin a war.
Meanwhile both Sindia and the Bhonsla used every effort
to induce Jaswant Rao to join them. They were prepared
to make any sacrifice; to ignore the legitimate branch of
Holkar's family, and to acknowledge JasWant Rao as Ma-
haraja of Indore. But Jaswant Rao was richly endowed
with the craft and cunning of his race. He was profuse in
promises to join the allies against the English ; and by these
means he procured from Sindia and the Bhonsla all the rec-
ognition and countenance he wanted ; and then he went back
to Indore, to strengthen his position and await the result of
the expected collision with the English. At Indore he re-
ceived repeated invitations from Sindia and the Bhonsla;
but he replied to all with seeming frankness, "If I join you
in the Dekhan, who is to take care of Hindustan?"
All this while Lord Wellesley was full of alarms at the
presence of Sindia's French battalions between the Jumna
and the Ganges. De Boigne had returned to Europe, and
was succeeded in the command by a violent French repub-
lican named Perron, who was known to be hostile to the
English. Perron collected the revenues of the Doab for the
maintenance of his French battalions; and the imagination
of Lord Wellesley was so fired by his fear and hatred of the
French that he pictured Perron as a French sovereign of
upper Hindustan, with the Great Moghul under his thumb,
and unbounded resources at his command.
The state of affairs in Europe gave a fresh impetus to
these alarms. Napoleon's expedition to Egypt had revealed
the vastness of his ambition. The young Corsican was pre-
pared to march in the footsteps of the great Macedonian from
Egypt to Persia, and from Persia to Hindustan. The peace
of Amiens in 1802 was only an interval of preparation for
grand designs. News of a renewal of the war between Great
Britain and France was expected by every ship from Europe ;
and many besides Lord Wellesley imagined that the imperial
dreamer at the Tuileries was still longing to outdo Alexander
602 HISTORY OF INDIA
by conquering the Oriental world from the Mediterranean to
the mouths of the Ganges.
Lord "Wellesley brooded over the map of India with a
jealous eye. He pondered over every vulnerable spot on the
coast of India where a French armament could anchor. He
was especially alarmed at the convenient position of Baroche
on the western coast to the northward of Surat. Baroche
was a port belonging to Sindia, situated at the mouth of the
Nerbudda river. . Accordingly, the fevered imagination of
Lord "Wellesley was again at work. He pictured a French
armament sailing down the Red Sea, and across the Indian
Ocean, to Sindia's port of Baroche; a French flotilla going
up the Nerbudda river from Baroche to the neighborhood of
Indore; a French army marching through Malwa, followed
by a host of Mahrattas and Rajputs, joining Perron at Agra
and Delhi, and pretending to conquer India in the name of
the Great Moghul.'
At this time. General Lake, commander-in-chief of the
Bengal army, was posted at Cawnpore on the frontier of
Oude. He was told by Lord Wellesley that a Mahratta war
was impending ; and that directly the war note was sounded
he was to march toward Delhi, break up Sindia's French
battalions, and occupy the whole territory between the Jumna
and the Ganges.
Meanwhile Colonels "Wellesley and Stevenson continued
to watch Sindia and the Bhonsla in the Dekhan. Sindia
was still waiting to be joined by the recreant Jaswant Rao
Holkar, but his language as regards the British government
and its allies was more hostile. He threw out hints to the
British Resident, who accompanied his camp, that he meant
to collect chout in the Nizam's territory. He was doubtful,
he said, whether there would be peace or war between the
Mahrattas and the English ; and he could arrive at no decis-
' Baroche, or Broach, had fallen into the possession of the English, together
with other territories in G-uzerat, during the first Mahratta war in the days of
Warren Hastings, but had been needlessly and heedlessly made over to Maha-
daji Sindia at the treaty of Salbai in 1782. See ante, p. 436.
BRITISH INDIA 503
ion on this point until he had talked the matter over with
the Bhonsla Raja of Berar.
Sindia had a meeting with the Bhonsla, but nothing was
decided. The two chiefs professed to be the friends of the
British government, but naturally cavilled at the treaty of
Bassein. They said they ought to have been consulted be-
fore it was concluded, and that many of the articles required
more discussion.
In August, 1803, Colonel Wellesley put an end to these
vacillations. "If," he said, "Sindia and the Bhonsla are
such friends of the British government as they profess to be,
let them prove their sincerity by marching back their armies
to their respective dominions." Sindia replied that the En-
ghsh ought to set the example; in other words, that the
English were to leave Sindia and the Bhonsla with their
armies of freebooters to threaten the frontier of the Nizam,
while WeUesley returned to Madras and Stevenson withdrew
to Hyderabad. Sindia forgot that he had threatened to
plunder the Nizam's dominions, and had doubted whether
there was to be peace or war. Sindia was accordingly told
that it was he, and not the British government, who had
broken the peace, and that therefore he must take the con-
sequences.
Thus began the second Mahratta war. The Resident left
Sindia's camp. Sindia and the Bhonsla moved toward the
southeast, as if to threaten Hyderabad ; but their operations
were feeble and undecided. They marched and counter-
marched more to delay action than to carry out any definite
plan.
At last Wellesley and Stevenson agreed to make a com-
bined attack on the united armies. By some accident
Wellesley alone came upon the enemy near the village of
Assaye on the Nizam's frontier, and resolved to fight a
battle single-handed. His force only numbered four thou-
sand five hundred men, while that of the Mahrattas num-
bered fifty thousand. The battle of Assaye was fought on
the 23d of September, 1803. The Bhonsla Raja fled at the
504 HISTORY OF INDIA
first shot, and Sindia soon followed his example. The Mah-
ratta artillery, however, worked great execution; and Welles-
ley only won the battle by cavalry and infantry charges. It
was the clashing of a fiery few of Europeans against a host
of Mahrattas; and the fiery few won the day.' The victory
was decisive, but one-third of the European force in the
British army lay dead or wounded on the field.
The victory of Assaye was followed by the capture of
fortresses, and another victory at Argaum. It would be
tedious to dwell on the details of the military operations,
which, however much they redounded to the credit of the
youthful Wellesley, were destined to be overshadowed by
the glories of the Peninsula and Waterloo. It will suffice
to say that by the end of the year 1803 the Dekhan cam-
paign was over, and Sindia and the Bhonsla sued for peace.
Meanwhile General Lake had carried on another briUiant
campaign in Hindustan. He left Cawnpore in August, 1803,
defeated Perron's cavalry at Alighur, and captured the Ali-
ghur fortress. He next marched on to Delhi, defeated the
French infantry, and entered the capital of the Moghuls as
a hero and a conqueror. More than forty years previously
the last representative of the dynasty of the Great Moghul,
the unfortunate Shah Alam, had fled from Delhi to Bengal,
and taken refuge with the English. Ten years later he fled
back from his protected retreat at Allahabad to the city of
his fathers under the wing of the Mahrattas. In 1803 he
was pondering over his deliverance from the Mahrattas, and
the advent of his English protectors at the capital of Au-
rangzeb and tomb of Humayun.
The imperial family were much excited by the arrival of
the English army. Some finery and tinsel were furbished
up to enable the blind and aged Shah Alam to give a recep-
tion to the English general. The tottering descendant of
Aurangzeb then placed himself under British protection;
' "This is he that far away
Against the myriads of Assaye
Clash 'd with a fiery few and won."
Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington : Tennyson.
BRITISH INDIA 505
and was left to dwell in the palace, supported by a liberal
pension from the British government.
General Lake left the city of Delhi in charge of Colonel
Ochterlony, and brought the campaign to a close by the
capture of Agra and victory at Laswari. The battle of
Laswari broke up the French battalions forever, and put
the English in possession of the whole of upper Hindustan.
The fate of Perron was somewhat extraordinary. At
the very beginning of the campaign he appeared as a sup-
pliant to the English general. He was in bad odor with
Sindia ; his life was in danger ; and he was anxious to retire
to British territory with his private fortune. Permission
was granted, and Perron ultimately took up his abode in
the French settlement at Chandernagore, and then dropped
into oblivion.
Sindia and the Bhonsla had no alternative but to accept
the dictation of the British government. Accordingly they
concluded treaties on the basis of the treaty of Bassein.
Sindia renounced all pretensions to the regions northward
of the Jumna and westward of the Chambal ; all hold on the
Great Moghul; all claims to collect chout or plunder from
the Rajputs, Jats, or other native princes. To all appear-
ance his power for mischief had gone forever. ' The Bhonsla
' The negotiations with Daulat Rao Sindia were conducted by Major Malcolm
and General Wellesley. Sindia's prime minister was a veteran Brahman and
born diplomatist, with a sour, supercilious, inflexible countenance, which noth-
ing could disturb. The most startling demand or unexpected concession was
received without the movement of a muscle. Malcolm said that he never saw a
man with such a face for a game of brag ; and henceforth the gray -haired Mah-
ratta went by the name of "Old Brag." Years passed away, and Wellesley re-
turned to Europe and became Duke of Wellington. Malcolm met him and asked
him about Talleyrand. Wellington replied that he was very much like "Old
Brag," but not so clever.
Negotiations under such circumstances were not easy. Malcolm went to
Sindia's camp, and foimd the young Maharaja almost as grave as his minister.
A meeting took place in a large tent amid a storm of rahi. Suddenly a volume
of water burst in torrents through the canvas, and fell upon an Irish officer
named Pepper. The Maharaja screamed with laughter at the catastrophe, and
all present joined in the chorus. All gravity was at an end. The rain was fol-
lowed by a storm of hail, and the diplomatists and their followers fell to work
at collecting the hailstones, which are as refreshing as ices m the hot plains of
India.
But nothing could stop the pertinacity of "Old Brag." On a subsequent
506 HISTORY OF INDIA
Raja belonged to a smaller fry. He ceded Cuttack on the
east and Berar on the west; and was henceforth known a3
the Raja of Nagpore. But Lord Wellesley was afraid to
vaunt his conquests in the eyes of the people of England,
unless he could prove that they were necessary for protection
against the French. He kept possession of Cuttack because
it was the only vulnerable tract on the Bay of Bengal that
was open to invasion from the sea; but he made over the
territory of Berar proper as a free gift to the Nizam of
Hyderabad.
In 1804 Lord Wellesley had completed his political scheme
for the government of India. The Gaekwar of Baroda ac-
cepted the situation, and ceded territory for the maintenance
of a Subsidiary Force. The Rajput princes and the Jat Raja
of Bhurtpore gladly surrendered their old international life,
with all its wars and feuds, for the sake of protection against
the Mahrattas. The cession of Cuttack by the Berar Raja
removed the only break on the British line of seaboard from
Calcutta to Comorin. Only one power of the slightest mo-
ment remained outside the pale of the new political system;
and that was Jaswant Rao, the Mahratta freebooter who
had usurped the throne of Holkar.
In those days the British government had no interest or
concern in the rightness or wrongness of Jaswant Rao's pre-
tensions. It was in no way responsible for his usurpation, for
that had begun before the subsidiary treaties were concluded
with the other Mahratta powers. The British government
might have arbitrated, but it could not force the people of
Indore, nor the Mahratta princes in general, to accept its
arbitration. It could not conclude any subsidiary or protec-
occasion he demanded that an article should be inserted in the treaty that out
of respect for the caste of Brahmans of which the Peishwa was a member, and
out of friendship for Maharaja Sindia, and for the purpose of increasing its own
reputation, the British government should prohibit the slaughter of cows through-
out Hindustan. Such a wholesale demand was perilous to the well-being of
European soldiers, to say nothing of Englishmen in general, who are supposed
to owe their superiority to beef. Accordingly the proposition was rejected as
inadmissible.
BRITISH INDIA 507
tive treaty, which would guarantee Jaswant Rao Holkar in
the dominions of the HolJiar family; because, according to
the common understanding of the Mahratta states, Jaswant
Rao Holkar was a rebel against the Peishwa, and an illegit-
imate son of the late ruler, while the legitimate heir was
still alive. But Lord Wellesley was willing to leave Jaswant
Rao alone, provided only that he abstained from all aggres-
sions upon the territories of the British government, or upon
those of its allies.
But Jaswant Rao was a free lance of the old Mahratta
type; a man of the stamp of Sivaji with the instinct of a
freebooter running in his blood. He did not aspire to be
a warrior and hero like the Sindias. He preferred plunder
to political power; and consequently took more delight in
commanding loose bodies of predatory horsemen, like another
Sivaji, than in directing the movements of drilled battalions
of infantry, like Mahadaji Sindia or Daulat Rao. It was the
boast of Jaswant Rao Holkar that his home was in the sad-
dle, and that his dominions extended over every country that
could be reached by his horsemen.
In 1803, while English and Mahrattas were engaged in
wars in the Dekhan and upper Hindustan, Jaswant Rao
Holkar collected a golden harvest in Malwa and Rajputana.
Subsequently he was joined by deserters or fugitives from
Sindia and the Bhonsla; and but for the presence of the
English in Hindustan might have become the most formid-
able predatory power in Central India.
But Jaswant Rao Holkar was ill at ease. He was an
Esau among the Mahratta powers, without fear or love for
any one of them. He was alarmed at the victories of the
English. It was obvious to his mind, molded by Mahratta
culture, that he had an inherent right to collect chout, which
the English were bound to respect. As a matter of fact, he
could not keep his forces together without plunder or chout.
But he feared that the English were unable or unwilling to
recognize the sacred rights of the Mahrattas, and were bent
on putting a stop to his future expeditions.
508 HISTORY OF INDIA
Jaswant Rao proceeded to work upon the English with
all the wariness of a Mahratta. He wrote an arrogant letter
to General Lake, full of pretensions as regards what he
called his rights, but still professing much friendship. He
continued the work of collecting chout and plunder from the
protected allies in Raj pu tana, and at the same time he urged
them to throw off their dependence on the British govern-
ment. He was told by General Lake that the English had
no desire to interfere with him, but that it was absolutely-
necessary that he should withdraw to Indore territory, and
abstain from all aggressions on the British government or
its allies.
Jaswant Rao then took a more decided tone. He re-
quested permission to levy chout according to the customs
of his ancestors. He offered to conclude a treaty, provided
the British government would guarantee him in the posses-
sion of Indore territory. But he refused to withdraw from
Rajputana until the English complied with his demands.
He wrote letters still more peremptory to General Wellesley
in the Dekhan, threatening to burn, sack, and slaughter by
hundreds of thousands in the event of refusal. He invited
Daulat Rao Sindia to join him in an attack upon British pos-
sessions ; but Sindia was already disgusted with his duplicity,
and not only refused to have anything more to do with such
a faithless chieftain, but reported Jaswant Rao's proffered
alliance to the British authorities.
There was no alternative but to reduce Jaswant Rao to
submission. General Lake was ordered to move southward
into Rajputana, while General Wellesley moved northward
from the Dekhan ; and Jaswant Rao would then have been
hemmed in between the two armies, and compelled to sur-
render at discretion. But there was a famine in the Dekhan ;
the rains had failed, and the country had been ravaged by
the armies of Sindia and the Bhonsla. General Wellesley
could not move from the Dekhan, but ordered Colonel Mur-
ray to march from Guzerat toward Malwa with a sufficient
force to co-operate with any force which might be sent by
BRITISH INDIA 509
General Lake. Daulat Rao Sindia also offered to co-operate
with the English for the reduction of Jaswant Rao, whom
he declared had forfeited all claim to consideration from his
treacherous refusal to join the allied Mahratta armies before
the battle of Assaye.
In April, 1804, General Lake moved an army into Raj-
putana, and sent a detachment in advance under Colonel
Monson. Jaswant Rao beat a hasty retreat through Raj-
putana toward Indore territory in the south. In May the
English force captured Holkar's fortress of Rampoora,
known as Tonk-Rampoora, The rains were now approach-
ing, and General Lake left Colonel Monson to keep Jaswant
Rao in check, and then returned to cantonments.
The force under Colonel Monson consisted of five bat-
taUons of sepoys, a train of artiUery, and two bodies of
irregular horse, one under a Lieutenant Lucan, and the
other under Bapoji Sindia, a kinsman of Daulat Rao. In
June Monson crossed the river Chambal and reached Kotah,
and was joined by a body of troops in the service of the Raj-
put ruler of Kotah, who was anxious for the friendship of
the British government. Monson was daily expecting to be
joined by Murray with the force from Guzerat, as weU as
by a force which Daulat Rao Sindia promised to send from
Ujain. Accordingly he advanced through the pass of Mo-
kundra into Holkar's territory, and continued his march
some fifty miles further to the southward.
In the beginning of July Colonel Monson was staggered
by a succession of untoward events. His supplies were run-
ning very low. Treachery was in his camp of which he was
ignorant ; Bapoji Sindia was sending secret messages to Jas-
want Rao to turn back and advance against the English
brigade. Next Monson heard that Colonel Murray had
taken fright and was retreating to Guzerat; and that Jas-
want Rao had stayed his onward flight and turned back,
and was marching against him with overwhelming forces,
and a vast train of artillery.
Colonel Monson ordered a retreat to Mokundra pass, leav-
INDIA. Vol. II. X— 4
510 HISTORY OF INDIA
ing the irregular horse to follow. Shortly afterward Bapoji
Sindia came up with a story that Jaswant Rao had routed
the irregular horse, and that Lucan was taken prisoner.
Monson reached the Mokundra pass ; and Bapoji Sindia filled
up the measure of his iniquity by deserting the English and
going over bodily to Jaswant Rao with all his horsemen.
Shortly afterward Monson was attacked by the whole army
of Holkar, but succeeded in repulsing the enemy.
Unfortunately, instead of holding out at the Mokundra
pass, Colonel Monson continued his retreat to Kotah. The
ruler of Kotah lost heart at seeing the fugitives, and shut
his gates against them. The rainy season was at its height.
Colonel Monson continued his retreat toward the north, but
his supplies were exhausted, and his guns sank hopelessly
in the mud. He was obliged to spike his guns and destroy
his ammunition to prevent their falling into the hands of the
enemy. Sindia's commander came up to join him with the
expected detachment from Ujain; but when the Mahratta
saw the wretched state of the fugitives he turned his guns
upon the English force and went over to Jaswant Rao. It
is needless to dwell on further details of disasters in crossing
rivers, and privations and sufferings beneath the pitiless
rains. The retreat became a disorderly rout, during which
the English sepoys were constantly exposed to the charges
and surprises of Jaswant Rao Holkar. About the end of
August, 1804, the shattered remains of Monson's brigade
managed to reach Agra.
Monson's retreat was one of those disasters which will
upset the designs of the ablest statesmen. The political sys-
tem of Lord Wellesley was in imminent danger. For a brief
interval British prestige vanished from Hindustan. Jaswant
Rao Holkar was exaggerated into a Mahratta hero, and was
joined by most of the predatory bands of Central India. Even
the Rajput and Jat princes, the protected allies of the British
government, were shaken in their allegiance by the successes
of the victorious Mahratta.
Jaswant Rao took possession of Muttra, and then with
BRITISH INDIA oil
happy audacity hastened to Delhi, to seize Shah Alam, and
plunder Hindustan in. the name of the Great Moghul. He
was beaten off from Delhi by a small force under Ochterlony ;
but meanwhile a new ally had sprung up in his rear. The
Jat Raja of Bhurtpore threw off his dependence on the Brit-
ish government, and declared in favor of Jaswant Rao Hol-
kar. The fortress of Bhurtpore was the strongest in Hindu-
stan. The huge walls of hardened mud rose round the city
like a rampart of mountains. They were a godsend to Jas-
want Rao. He sent his guns and infantry within the walls,
and began to ravage the Doab with his army of horsemen,
like a Tartar Khan of the olden time.
General Lake took the field with his cavalry, and soon
routed and dispersed the Mahratta horse. The English cap-
tured the fortress of Deeg, which also belonged to the Bhurt-
pore Raja. But then, instead of completing the destruction
of Jaswant Rao, General Lake advanced against Bhurtpore,
and endeavored to capture the impregnable fortress without
even a siege-train. For a period of four months, from Janu-
ary, 1805, to the following April, he wasted the strength of
the English army in trying to storm these enormous earth-
works. To make matters worse, Daulat Rao Sindia threw
off his allegiance to the British government, and declared
for Jaswant Rao Holkar.
The fortunes of the English soon began to brighten. The
Raja of Bhurtpore grew frightened, and was restored to the
protected alliance on paying a fine of two hundred thousand
pounds to the British government. Subsequent defeats in-
flicted on Jaswant Rao brought Daulat Rao Sindia to his
senses. Difficulties were being removed, and tranquillity
was about to be restored, when negotiations were upset by
the home authorities. At the end of July, 1805, Lord Corn-
wallis landed at Calcutta, and took up the office of Governor-
General, and the policy of the British government underwent
an important change. Shortly afterward Lord Wellesley re-
turned to England.
512 HISTORY OF INDIA
Lord Wellesley was a statesman of the highest order, who
brought the poHtical experiences of western culture to bear
upon the conditions of Asiatic rule. His genius was untram-
melled by the narrow ideas which grew out of a trading mo-
nopoly, and which swayed the better judgment of Robert Olive
and Warren Hastings. He valued the security and prestige
of the British empire in India at a higher rate than the com-
mercial privileges of the East India Company; and conse-
quently he raised up a host of enemies who could not appre-
ciate his comprehensive foresight. But, in the teeth of all
opposition, he established the sovereignty of the British
government over the greater part of India, and put an end
forever to the English-born fantasy of a balance of power.
Lord Wellesley has been compared with Akbar. Con-
sciously or unconsciously, he sought to build up a British
empire in India on similar foundations to those of the Mo-
ghul empire of Akbar. He avoided, however, the spirit of
Oriental intrigue, which balanced one element of race or
religion against another ; and he labored to provide for the
peace and .security of India by establishing the British gov-
ernment as a paramount power over Moghuls and Mahrattas,
and protecting the chieftains of Rajputana against the preda-
tory incursions of Sindia and Holkar. He formed a school of
political officers, whose aspirations were linked with the well-
being of the British empire rather than with the maintenance
of the Company's monopoly; and thus he led to the identifi-
cation of British interests with those of India, which has been
the main work of the nineteenth century. Small in stature
and imperious in will, he was known to his admirers as the
''glorious httle man"; and as long as the Anglo-Indian em-
pire retains a place in history, the name of the Marquis of
Wellesley will rank among its most illustrious founders.
Lord Wellesley was led into errors, but they were the
errors of genius — the outcome of a foresight which credits
enemies with the entertainment of designs beyond their
power of execution. Wellesley gauged the ambition of the
first Napoleon, and foreshadowed the dreams which would
BRITISH INDIA 613
have carried a French army from the Mediterranean to the
Ganges; but he overrated the resources as well as the pre-
science of the imperial dreamer, and he underrated the ob-
structions and difficulties which beset Napoleon in Europe,
and checked his advance in the footsteps of Alexander. He
provided for the defence of India against plans which had
no real existence, excepting in his own imagination, but
which nevertheless might have proved substantial dangers
had Napoleon been a Wellesley, or Wellesley a Napoleon.
Lord Wellesley was the founder of the Indian Civil Ser-
vice on its existing footing. The old servants of the Com-
pany were emphatically merchants ; and he rightly consid-
ered that mercantile training is of small use to civil admin-
istrators in comparison with a knowledge of history, law,
political economy, and Indian languages. Moreover, during
the old commercial period, money-making too often became
a master passion, and certainly exercised an undue influence
on the Indian rulers of the eighteenth century. With these
views Lord Wellesley founded a College on a grand scale
at Calcutta, with a competent staff of professors, for the
special education of young civilians fresh from Europe ; and
although his plans were dwarfed for a while into insignifi-
cance by the Court of Directors, yet in the end they led to
the estabhshment of a College at Haileybury, which served
as a training-school for Indian civil servants until the in-
troduction of the competitive system in comparatively mod-
ern times.
514 HISTORY OF INDIA
CHAPTER X
CONCILIATION — LORD CORNWALLIS, SIR
GEORGE BARLOW, AND LORD MINTO
A.D. 1805 TO 1813
THE second coming of Lord Cornwallis to India was
the result of a political reaction. The British nation
was alarmed at Lord Wellesley's conquests, and his
large assumption of political power. It was always averse
to territorial aggrandizement except for colonial purposes,
or to humble France; and it was especially averse to con-
quests in India, which provided no outlet for the superfluous
population of England, but only transferred large provinces
from the government of native princes to that of the servants
of the East India Company. The Directors themselves were
equally alarmed at the extension of their dominion and re-
sponsibilities ; for they had learned by bitter experience that
wars and conquests only added to the expenditure, without
increasing the profits of the Company, or otherwise promot-
ing the interests of trade. Above all, neither the British
nation nor the Company could understand the new political
dogma, that India could only be governed in peace by reduc-
ing her princes to the condition of feudatories, and setting
up the British government as the paramount power. The
policy of Lord Wellesley savored too much of that of Napo-
leon to be acceptable to the people of England ; and it was
accordingly attacked on all sides tooth and nail.
The real fact was that the native powers in India were
not states after the European model. They were for the
most part new and crude principalities, which had grown
BRITISH INDIA 515
up within the previous half century.' Rebel Muhammadan
Viceroys had thrown off their dependence on the Great Mo-
ghul, and converted their provinces into kingdoms. Mah-
ratta freebooters had created an empire over feudatory
princes on the basis of plunder; and their dominions had
been consolidated by Brahmaus, who played the part of
ministers, accountants, and collectors of revenue. There
were no political constitutions or hereditary aristocracies in
either the Moghul or the Mahratta empires; nothing but
bodies of officials, organized chiefly for the collection of rev-
enue, bound by no national ties, and only held together by
a system of red-tape and routine, which in times of revolution
or disaster was either broken up or dwindled into hereditary
names and sinecures.
The older states of Europe may have been created in a
similar fashion ; but they have endured for a thousand years,
and the traditional experiences of a past history have con-
verted subject populations into nationalities, and rude war-
rior barons into landed nobilities. The kingdoms of India,
with the exception of the Rajput principalities, were things
of yesterday, without national life or organization. The
kingdoms of Europe had undergone a political training under
kings and emperors, parliaments, popes, and priests, which
had molded them inco substantive states, quickened them
with international hfe, and fitted them for the exercise of
political power within their respective circles, and the obser-
vance of their obligations and duties in the European states
system.
The princes and nobles of India required the same train-
ing as the old feudal kings and barons of Europe. The
Great Moghul, the last symbol of imperialism, had shrivelled
into a feeble pageant. The little vitality that remained in
the name had died out under a Vizier, or an Amir of Amirs,
who might be Moghul or Mahratta, Afghan or Arab, accord-
' The only exceptions of importance were the Rajputs, and they were overrun
by Mahrattas, and were as shattered as the Nizam after the battle of Kurdla.
516 HISTORY OF INDIA
ing to the daily game of revolutions and shuffling of factions
at the Moghul capital. Lord Wellesley was a generation in
advance of his age. He saw, with that true genius which
is rarely understood or recognized by contemporaries, that a
new paramount power was necessary for the salvation of
India; and that such a power could be exercised by the
British government and by that government alone.
But Lord Wellesley made mistakes, like all other states-
men who are dealing with a present which is imperfectly-
known and a future that can only be conjectured. He had
overrated the strength of the Mahrattas, and the danger of
Sindia's French battalions. Since then he had underrated
the powers of mischief which were still left in the hands of
the Mahratta princes. He was consequently taken aback
at the outbreak of Jaswant Rao Holkar; especially when
it was followed up by the defection of Sindia and the pro-
tected Rajas of Rajputana.
The result of the imbroglio was that the home authorities
resolved to reverse the policy of Lord Wellesley, and revert
to that of Sir John Shore ; to abandon the system of subsidi-
ary and protective alliances, and return to that of neutrality
and isolation; and, above all, to conciliate the Mahratta
princes to British ascendency by the restoration of conquered
territories, and surrender of captured fortresses.
That Lord Wellesley was bitterly mortified by this decis-
ion may well be imagined ; but every statesman who is in
advance of his generation must be prepared to see his ideas
ignored, misunderstood, or held up to derision, until popular
errors are corrected by public disasters, and the foregone
conclusions of those in power are educated by a larger ex-
perience to a right understanding of the evils and their cure.
Lord Cornwallis was prepared to go extravagant lengths
in the way of concihation and neutrality. He would have
withdrawn the Great Moghul and all his family to Bengal,
and made over Delhi to Daulat Rao Sindia, with hberty
to recover his lost territories between the Ganges and the
Jumna. He would have abandoned the protective treaties
BRITISH INDIA 517
with the Rajput and Jat princes, and left them to the tender
mercies of the Mahrattas.
Fortunately for the interests of philanthropy, Lord Corn-
wallis did not live to carry out these reactionary intentions.
He was sixty-seven years of age; he had landed at Calcutta
at the end of July to be exposed to the damp heats of a Ben-
gal August, when everj^ breeze from the south was laden
with the feverish malaria of the Sunderbunds. In the month
of September, the most trying month in the plains, he was
travelling toward the northwest ; and the fatal result might
have been foreseen. The anxious veteran became weak in
mind and body, sank into a state of insensibility, and, finally,
died on the 5th of October, 1805, before he had been ten
weeks in the country.
The successor of Lord Cornwallis was a man of a different
cultui'e. Sir George Barlow was not an independent noble-
man, educated in European politics; but a civil servant of
the Company, pHant under superior authority, but self-willed
in his own sphere of action. He had been a member of
council in the time of Lord Wellesley, and had steadily sup-
ported Wellesley's imperial policy. Subsequently, however,
he accepted the policy of conciliation and neutrality, which
Lord Cornwallis was preparing to carry out in accordance
with the will of the home authorities.
The political apostasy of Barlow has been much con-
demned, but perhaps without sufficient cause. He adopted
the imperial system of Lord Wellesley when that nobleman
was in power; but it was impossible for him to resist the
reaction in public opinion which had recalled Lord Wellesley
and placed Lord Cornwallis at the head of affairs. Such
open rebellion against all the home authorities, including
both houses of parliament, would have been an unwarrant-
able assumption, and have ended in a political suicide from
which nothing was to be gained.
By the end of 1805, Lord Lake had pursued Jaswant Rao
Holkar into the Punjab, and forced him to come to terms.
A half-hearted treaty was concluded bj' Sir John Malcolm
518 HISTORY OF INDIA
with the Mahratta adventurer, which satisfied no one. There
was enough concession to the new policy of conciliation to
exasperate Lord Lake, and enough spice of Wellesley's policy
of imperialism to exasperate Sir George Barlow. All Hol-
kar's territories were restored to Jaswant Rao, except the
fortress of Tonk Rampoora ; but he was bound over not to
commit any aggressions on the British government, or on
any of its allies, including the Rajput Rajas.
This unexpected liberality revived the audacity of Jas-
want Rao. He claimed the territories in Hindustan and the
Dekhan, which he had demanded from Lake and Wellesley
before the beginning of the war. He claimed a right to col-
lect contributions from the Raja of Jaipur. Lord Lake was
so disgusted with these arrogant demands on the part of a
prostrate foe that he stopped the negotiations ; and then, of
course, Jaswant Rao Holkar gave in, and withdrew all
demands, and accepted the proffered terms.
But Sir George Barlow was not satisfied with this treaty.
He ordered the fortress of Tonk Rampoora to be restored to
Jaswant Rao. The recovery of the fortress was most grati-
fying to the faithless Mahratta, and he naturally thought he
could do as he pleased. Accordingly he broke all his pledges,
and exacted enormous sums from the Jaipur Raja; while
Lord Lake, who had returned to headquarters to save the
expense of his field force, was prevented from putting a stop
to his depredations.
Sir George Barlow next annulled the protective treaties
which had been concluded with the chiefs of Rajputana.
He declared that the chiefs had forfeited British protection
by the countenance they had subsequently given to Jaswant
Rao Holkar during the retreat of Colonel Monson. The Raj-
put chiefs had certainly deserted the English and helped
Holkar when they saw Monson running away. But in like
manner they deserted Holkar and helped the English when
they saw Jaswant Rao running away. The question in dis-
pute, however, became a matter of personal quarrel between
Lake and Barlow. Lake had promised to restore the Raja
BRITISH INDIA 510
of Jaipur to the protective alliance provided he resisted the
advance of Holkar. The Raja performed his part, but
Barlow annulled the protective treaty with Jaipur, and Lake
was naturally indignant that his pledges should be ignored.
But Barlow was deaf to all the protests of Lake, and aban-
doned the Rajputs to the irregular demands of the Mahrattas,
with the exception of the Rajput state of Ulwar and the Jat
state of Bhurtpore, whose claims to protection could not be
set aside.
But the violence of the reaction against the policy of Lord
Wellesley went too far for even Sir George Barlow. The
home authorities proposed to restore all the territories which
had been acquired by Lord Wellesley during the Mahratta
war. Barlow replied that such a restitution would be most
dangerous. Instead of inducing the Mahrattas to keep the
peace, it would only tempt them to renewed efforts for
the subversion of the British power in India, and a return
to the wars and anarchy of the eighteenth century. Mean-
while the Mahratta feudatories heard of the proposal, and
were puzzled by the restoration of territory and fortresses to
Jaswant Rao Holkar. The Raja of Nagpore especially de-
manded the restoration of Cuttack and Berar, although
Cuttack was essential to the maritime defence of British
India, and Berar had been ceded to the Nizam. The Raja
of Nagpore, however, was a true Mahratta; and down to
his death, in 1816, he never ceased to implore the British
government for compensation on account of Cuttack and
Berar.
For a brief interval the policy of non-intervention ap-
peared to be a success. The predatory powers confined
their depredations to Malwa and Rajputana, and respected
the territories of the British government and its allies. There
were frequent rumors of confederacies against the British
power, but they were generally discredited. To all outward
appearance the Peishwa was politically dormant, or too
much engaged in trying to reduce the smaller refractory
feudatories within his own dominions, to attempt to carry
520 HISTORY OF INDIA
on secret intrigues with other powers outside his frontier.
At the same time Sindia and Holkar were afraid of each
other, and chiefly busied themselves with exacting revenue
and chout for the maintenance of their overgrown armies.
In 1806 there was a great alarm in the Madras Presi-
dency. There was a sudden rising of the sepoys at Vellore,
and the Madras army was said to be disaffected. The fort-
ress of Vellore, which had been the scene of many tragedies
in the past history of the Carnatic, had been turned into a
residence for the Mysore princes of Tippu's family. It was
held by a garrison of about four hundred European soldiers,
and fifteen hundred sepoys. The sepoys arose in the night,
and attacked the European barracks, firing through the
Venetian windows until half the force were killed or
wounded. Other parties of sepoys attacked the European
houses and shot down thirteen English officers, who had
rushed out to learn the cause of the uproar. All this while
the Mysore princes and their followers were in active com-
munication with the mutineers, supplied them with provis-
ions, and hoisted the flag of Mysore over the fortress.
Unfortunately the Europeans had no ammunition, but
the survivors made a sally from the barracks, and managed
to maintain a position on a gateway under cover of a bastion.
Every officer was killed, but a gallant resistance was main-
tained by a Sergeant Brodie, who was the hero of the day.
Meanwhile news of the outbreak was carried to Arcot, eight
miles off, where Colonel Gillespie was in command. Relief
was soon at hand. Colonel Gillepsie galloped to Vellore
with a troop of European dragoons, and two field guns.
Gillespie rode far in advance of his men, and reached the
gateway, amid a furious fire, just as Brodie and his small
party were burning their last cartridge. A chain of soldiers*
belts was let down by Brodie, and Gillespie dragged himself
to the top of the gateway, and placed himself at the head
of the survivors, who welcomed him as their deliverer. At
his word of command the soldiers promptly formed, and
drove back the enemy with the bayonet. Presently the
BRITISH INDIA 521
dragoons came up with the galloper guns. The gates of
the fortress were blown open; the soldiers rushed in; four
hundred mutineers were cut down ; others were taken pris-
oners ; and a few only escaped by dropping from the walls.
A searching inquiry was made into the cause of the
mutiny. It was ascertained that the military authorities at
Madras had issued orders forbidding the sepoys from appear-
ing on parade with earrings or caste marks, and requiring
them to shave their beards and trim their mustaches.
Above all, an obnoxious headdress had been introduced,
which was totally unlike the beloved turban, and bore a
closer resemblance to the European hat, which has always
been an eyesore to Orientals.
These innovations had rankled in the hearts of the Madras
sepoys, and exposed them to taunts and derision. At Vellore
the disaffection was aggravated by the presence of the Mysore
princes, and the fact that many of Tippu's old soldiers were
serving in the English garrison. Moreover, alarming rumors
were whispered abroad that the new army regulations were
only a preliminary to the forcible conversion of the sepoys to
Christianity. The prompt action of Colonel Gillespie put
a stop to further troubles ; but there were some disturbances
at Hyderabad, which showed that the disaffection was widely
spread.
The Court of Directors were so alarmed at this sepoy
mutiny that they recalled Lord William Bentinck, the Gov-
ernor of Madras, as well as Sir John Craddock, the com-
mander-in-chief of the Madras army, for having sanctioned
such dangerous innovations. Lord "William Bentinck pro-
tested against his removal, but the Directors were inexorable.
Twenty years afterward he obtained tardy redress by being
appointed Governor-General of India,
In 1807 Sir George Barlow was succeeded at Calcutta
by Lord Minto. The new Governor-General was strongly
impressed with the wisdom of the policy of non-intervention.
He was bent on eschewing the errors of Lord Wellesley and
522 HISTORY OF INDIA
walking in the ways of Lord Cornwallis, Moreover, Great
Britain was engaged in wars against Napoleon, and peace in
India was to be maintained at any price.
Immediately after Lord Minto's arrival in Bengal, atten-
tion was called to the state of affairs in Bundelkund ; and he
discovered to his surprise and disappointment that the policy
of non-intervention was sometimes not only inexpedient but
impossible. The territory of Bundelkund stretches to the
southward of the Jumna from Behar to Malwa. It was
parcelled out among a number of turbulent chieftains, who
had been partly conquered by Ali Bahadur, ' but who were
supposed to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Peishwa. A
large tract of Bundelkund had been ceded by the Peishwa
to the British government for the maintenance of the Poena
Subsidiary Force; but it was found that the country had
never been completely subjected by the Peishwa, and that
territory had been ceded which had never acknowledged his
suzerainty. Bundelkund was overrun with military free-
booters. A hundred and fifty fortresses were held by as
many chiefs of banditti, who were permitted on the princi-
ples of non-intervention to settle their disputes by the sword.
Sir George Barlow had sacrificed revenue and prestige
rather than violate the new policy; but Lord Minto resolved
to take action. Military operations were undertaken with
the usual success. The result was that peace and order were
established in Bundelkund ; and the turbulence and anarchy
which had prevailed in these jungle tracts since the days
of Aurangzeb were banished out of the land under the pro-
tective influence of British rule.
The Punjab next attracted the attention of Lord Minto.
A Sikh chieftain, named Runjeet Singh, had brought the
Sikh Sirdars under his authority, and established a sover-
eignty which kept down rebels and bandits by the iron heel
of military despotism. The territories of Runjeet Singh
included the old battle-grounds where Alexander fought
against Porus; and fears were entertained that Napo-
' See ante, p. 452.
BRITISH INDIA 523
leon would march in the steps of the great Macedonian
and attempt the conquest of Hindustan.'
In 1807 Runjeet Singh was making aggressions on the
Sikh principalities of Sirhind, between the Sutlej and the
Jumna. These Cis-Sutlej Sikhs had paid allegiance to
the British government ever since the campaign of Lord
Lake ; and they now applied for British protection against
Runjeet Singh. The case was a difficult one, for it was
necessary to conciliate Runjeet Singh as regards French
invasion, while maintaining British supremacy on the banks
of the Sutlej.
In 1808 Lord Minto sent a young civilian, named Charles
Metcalfe, to conduct the negotiations with Runjeet Singh;
and by firmness on the part of the envoy, and the advance
of a military force to the Sutlej, Runjeet Singh was induced
to give in, and withdraw his troops to the westward of the
river. Mr. Metcalfe established his reputation for tact and
discretion by his able conduct of the mission, and lived to
play an important part in Indian history.*
Later on, the affairs of Jaswant Rao Holkar fell into dis-
order. His subjects rebelled against him as a usurper, and
he sought to retain the throne by murdering his legitimate
brother and nephew. Next he took to drinking brandy,
until at last he was pronounced to be insane, and placed in
confinement; and his wife Tulsi Bai assumed the govern-
ment of Indore with the help of an Afghan adventurer
named Amir Khan.
' According to the latest orthography "Runjeet" is spelled "Ranjit," and
this spelling has been adopted in dealing with Ranjit Singh, the Jat Raja, who
is unknown to European readers. But the name of Runjeet Singh, the "Lion
of Lahore," has become classical.
^ Besides Metcalfe's mission to the Punjab, Lord Minto sent a mission, under
Colonel Malcolm, to the court of Persia, and another, under Mr. Mountstuart
Elphinstone, to the court of Kabul, to counteract the supposed designs of the
Emperor Napoleon. Neither mission was followed by any practical result, and
both might be passed over as obsolete. It is, however, curious to note that
Elphinstone never reached Kabul, but met Shah Shuja, the nominal sovereign
of Afghanistan, at Peshawar. By this time the Afghan empire, founded by
Ahmad Shah Abdali, was broken up ; the whole country was distracted by civil
wars, and Shah Shuja was driven into exile shortly after Elphinstone left
Peshawar.
524 HISTORY OF INDIA
The career of Amir Khan, the founder of the Tonk prin-
cipahty, reveals the wretched condition of Rajputana and
Malwa. Originally Amir Khan was a leader of bandits,
and as such he had been an associate of Jaswant Rao Hol-
kar. His banditti grew into an army, maintained by forced
contributions and robberies. When Jaswant Rao became
insane, Amir Khan interfered in the affairs of Indore; he
professed to protect the state of Holkar, while exacting large
grants of territory and revenue from the weak government
of Tulsi Bai.
Amir Khan, like all the predatory powers at this period,
was constantly in want of means to support his lawless sol-
diery. Rajputana and Malwa were exhausted, and he was
compelled to look abroad. He revived some dormant claim
of Holkar against the Bhonsla Raja of Nagpore, and in-
vaded Nagpore territory with a large army
Lord Minto sent a force to protect Nagpore, and the re-
sult was that Amir Khan was forced to retire to his own
territories. But Lord Minto felt that this interference was a
violation of the policy of non-intervention ; and he explained
to the Court of Directors that he had interfered in behalf of
the Raja of Nagpore as a measure of self-defence, to prevent
any alliance between two Muhammadan powers, like Amir
Khan and the Nizam. By this time, however, the home
authorities were awakening to the fact that war, brigandage,
and anarchy were on the increase in Central India; and they
not only approved of what Lord Minto had done, but ex-
pressed a wish that he had made an end of Amir Khan.
One episode will suffice to reveal the horrible state of
turmoil which prevailed in the fertile regions of Rajputana.
Every Rajput chieftain was anxious to marry a daughter
of the Rana of Udaipur. The reigning Rana had only one
daughter, and she had been betrothed at an early age to the
Raja of Jodhpur. The Raja died, and was succeeded by a
prince named Man Singh. Meanwhile the princess had been
betrothed to the Raja of Jaipur; but Man Singh claimed her
hand on the ground that she had been betrothed to the
BRITISH INDIA 525
throne of Jodhpur, and not to the mere occupant for the
time being.
From 1806 to 1810, Rajputana was convulsed by this
domestic struggle between Jodhpur and Jaipur. Nearly all
the chiefs in Rajputana took a part in the war, just as their
forefathers had fought on either side in the war of the Maha
Bharata.
Amir Khan went from one side to the other with his army
of banditti, as best suited his own interests. Originally he
was bought over by Jaipur, and helped to defeat Man Singh,
and shut him up in his fortress of Jodhpur, while ravaging
the surrounding country. Next he was bought over by Man
Singh, who offered to pay him a yearly tribute of some half
a million sterling. Meanwhile Amir Khan was guilty of
treacheries and wholesale assassinations, which alone would
suffice to brand his character with infamy.
All this time the Rana of Udaipur took no part in the
war; but his territories were exposed to the ravages and
depredations of Daulat Rao Sindia and Amir Khan. The
marches of the Mahratta and Afghan armies were to be
traced by blazing villages and ruined harvests ; and where-
ever they encamped they turned the garden of Rajputana
into a desert and desolation.
In this extremity the Rana of Udaipur claimed the pro-
tection of the British government as the paramount power.
He offered to cede half his territories for the defence of the
other half. The rival princes of Jodhpur and Jaipur joined
in the solicitation. They declared that there always had
been a paramount power in India to protect the weak against
the strong ; and as the East India Company had become the
paramount power it was bound to fulfil its duties.
The interference of the British government would have
put an end to all this frightful anarchy ; but it would have
been an open and undisguised violation of the policy of non-
intervention. The Rana of Udaipur was refused all help.
Driven by despair, he bought the protection of Amir Khan
by the cession of a quarter of his dominions ; and stooped to
526 HISTORY OF INDIA
the ignominy of exchanging turbans with the Afghan free-
booter.
Still the war was raging between Jodhpur and Jaipur,
Amir Khan proposed to stop it by taking the life of the in-
nocent cause of the quarrel ; and he threatened to carry off
the princess, and make her over to Man Singh of Jodhpur,
unless his advice was followed. The miserable Rana gave
his consent to the murder of his child; and the Rajput
maiden accepted her doom, and drank the poison which
was to put an end to her existence. The terrible tragedy
filled western India with shame and horror ; and there was
not a chieftain in Rajputana who did not lament the fate
of the unhappy princess, and execrate all concerned in the
heartless atrocity.
But other causes were at work, besides the policy of non-
intervention, to prevent Lord Minto from interfering in west-
ern India. The war between Great Britain and France was
being fought in eastern waters. The Mauritius was a depot
for French frigates and privateers, which swept the seas
from Madagascar to Java. The merchants of Calcutta alone
estimated their losses at two millions sterling since the be-
ginning of the war, while, in one year, the East India Com-
pany estimated their losses at half a million. *
In 1810 Lord Minto sent an expedition against the Mau-
ritius and captured the island. In 1811 he sent expeditions
against the Dutch settlements in India, which had passed
into the hands of Napoleon. The island of Java was cap-
tured and occupied by the English down to the end of the
war with France; but eventually it was restored to the
Dutch, and irretrievably lost to the British nation.
Lord Minto accompanied the expedition to Java, but
returned to Calcutta in 1812. Anarchy still prevailed in
Malwa and Rajputana. Jaswant Rao Holkar died in 1811,
and was succeeded by an infant, named Mulhar Rao Hol-
• The merchants at Calcutta chiefly confined their trading; to the eastern seas,
and consequently suffered most severely. The East Indiameu from Europe were
jii incd like meu-of-war.
BRITISH INDIA 527
kar, who had been adopted by his widow Tulsi Bai. This,
however, was a matter of small moment in comparison with
the dark clouds which threatened India in the shape of or-
ganized battalions of bandits under Amir Khan, and the
loose bands of marauders who were known by the dreaded
name of Pindharies,
The Pindharies were a low class of freebooters, who had
been attached to the Mahratta armies during the desolating
wars of the eighteenth century. Their origin is lost in ob-
scurity, but one body, as already seen, joined the Mahratta
host that fought at Paniput.' The Mahratta horsemen of
any respectability affected to look down upon the Pindha-
ries ; but it was only a difference between regular and irreg-
ular banditti; between gentlemen highwaymen who were
ready to fight, and pickpockets and pilferers who were ready
to run away.
Before the Mahratta wars of 1803 and 1804 the Pindha-
ries had been distributed among different Mahratta chief-
tains. One body was known as Sindia's Pindharies; an-
other body as Holkar's Pindharies ; and lands were assigned
by Sindia and Holkar to different Pindhari leaders for the
maintenance of their respective hordes. When the wars were
over the Pindharies still formed separate and independent
bodies, but followed the fortunes of any turbulent chieftain
or lawless adventurer. They were not divided by differences
of race and religion, but were the riffraff of Hindus and Mu-
hammadans bound together by no tie save that of plunder.
Two notorious Pindhari leaders were known by the names
of Chetu and Khurim. There was no union between the two ;
on the contrary, they were jealous of each other, and often
at open enmity ; and they were entirely wanting in the mili-
tary strength and organization which characterized the army
of Amir Khan.
At first the Pindharies confined their depredations to
Eajputana and Malwa. Sometimes they made raids on the
• See ante, p. 392.
528 HISTORY OF INDIA
territories of Sindia and Holkar. On one occasion Daulat
Rao Sindia captured the two Pindhari leaders, and kept
them in confinement; but was at last induced to liberate
them on payment of a ransom of a hundred thousand pounds
sterling. Subsequently, they extended their raids into the
Dekhan, and invaded the territories of the Peishwa, the
Nizam, and the Raja of Nagpore.
In 1809-10, Captain Sydenham, the Resident at Hydera-
bad, described the proceedings of the Pindharies. Their in-
cursions, he said, were as regular as the periodical monsoons.
They seemed to wait with malicious pleasure until the crops
were ripe upon the ground, and then robbed the unfortunate
husbandmen of the fruit of their labors at the moment they
expected to reap them. Every villain who escaped from his
creditors, or was expelled for flagrant crimes, or was dis-
gusted with an honest and peaceable life, fled to Central
India and enrolled himself among the Pindharies.
The Pindharies generally invaded a country in bands
varying from one thousand to four thousand men. On
reaching the frontier they dispersed in small parties of two
or three hundred. They advanced with such rapidity that
the story of their depredations was generally the first news
of their approach. They were not encumbered with tents
or baggage, but carried only their arms, and slept on their
saddle-cloths. Both men and horses were accustomed to
long marches, and they never halted except to refresh them-
selves, to collect plunder, or to commit the vilest outrages on
the female population. They subsisted on the grain and
provisions which they found in the villages; took every-
thing that was valuable; and wantonly destroyed all that
they could not carry away.
Lord Minto left India in 1813, and was succeeded as
Governor-General by Lord Moira, afterward Marquis of
Hastings. One of the last acts of Lord Minto 's adminis-
tration was to impress on the Court of Directors the neces-
sity for adopting large measures for the purpose of sup-
pressing the Pindharies ; and thus from an earl}'- period the
BRITISH INDIA 529
attention of Lord Moira was directed to the annual depreda-
tions of these organized banditti.
Lord Moira landed at Calcutta in the fifty-ninth year of
his age. Before he left England he had denounced the am-
bitious policy of Lord Wellesley in seeking to establish the
British government as the paramount power in India. But
his attention had already been directed to the yearly expe-
ditions of the Pindharies ; and soon after his arrival in Ben-
gal he began to modify his political views. He reported to
the Court of Directors that the battalions of Amir Khan and
hordes of Pindharies numbered some fifty thousand men;
that they subsisted by plunder alone, and extended their
ravages over an area as large as England. He emphatically
declared that the affairs of the Company would never prosper
until the British government was placed at the head of a
league which embraced every native state in India, and was
enabled to bring tbe whole strength of the league to bear
upon any single power that disturbed the public peace.
This sudden conversion of Lord Moira from the policy of
non-intervention to that of a paramount power had no effect
upon the home authorities. There was still the same morbid
dread of the Mahrattas, which misled the British nation at
the beginning of the century. Daulat Rao Sindia was still
regarded as a dangerous power like Chenghiz Khan or Timur.
In reality he was a prince in sore distress, worried by an army
which was in frequent mutinj- from want of subsistence, and
paralyzed by a terror of the English which never left him
after the battle of Assaye. He had been anxious to follow
the advice of the British Resident, who still accompanied his
camp ; but the Resident was a victim to the policy of non-
intervention, and refused to advise Sindia. Thus in India
and in England every one, save Lord Moira, was a strict
adherent to the policy of non-intervention. Accordingly,
Lord Moira was told by the Directors that no league was to
be formed, or any step taken for the suppression of the Pin-
dharies, that was likel}^ to embroil the British government
with the Mahrattas, or to give offence to Daulat Rao Sindia.
630 HISTORY OF INDIA
Meanwhile black clouds were gathering over the Hima-
layas. For years the Ghorka rulers of Nipal had been mak-
ing systematic encroachments on British territory. The En-
glish in Bengal remonstrated in vain. They were anxious
for peace at any price short of abject submission; but the
Ghorkas were beyond all bearing: appropriating villages
and districts without a shadow of a claim, and turning a
deaf ear to all representations, or stubbornly insisting that
the abstracted territory had always belonged to Nipal. Lord
Minto sent an ultimatum to Khatmandu before he left Ben-
gal, and Lord Moira sent another shortly after his arrival.
The result was the Ghorka war of 1814 and 1815; but before
describing the military operations it will be as well to review
the history of the Ghorka conquest of Nipal.
BRITISH INDIA 631
CHAPTER XI
NIPAL HISTORY— GHORKA CONQUEST
A.D. 1767 TO 'l814
NORTHWARD of Hindustan, a square mass of terri-
tory extends over the Himalayas beyond the British
frontier toward the great desert of Gobi or Shamo,
the terror of Marco Polo. ' On the west, this irregular quad-
rangle is bounded by Kashmir and the upper streams of the
Sutlej and Ganges; on the east by China proper and the
courses of rivers which are as yet unfamiliar to modern
geographers. The southern side of the quadrangle, imme-
diately to the northward of British territory, is occupied by
the mountain range of the Himalayas, which includes the
valley of Nipal and heights of Bhutan. Northward of the
Himalayas the flat tableland of Thibet stretches over little
known tracts toward the great desert. Southern Thibet is
watered by the Brahmaputra- river, which coils like a huge
serpent round the northern slopes of the Himalayas, and
finally flows southward through Assam, and helps to form
the delta of the Ganges.
A veil of religious mystery hangs over the Himalayan
mountains and the Thibetan tableland beyond. Buddhism,
which 'once overshadowed Hindustan, was driven northward
between the eighth and twelfth centuries of the Christian era
by the great Brahmanical revival which was associated with
the reformed worship of Vishnu and Siva. The monasteries
and the monastic colleges, which once flourished on the banks
' It was known to Marco Polo as the desert of Lop, and was said to be
haunted by evil spirits or goblins.
532 HISTORY OF INDIA
of the Ganges and Jumna, reappeared amid the mountain
scenery of the Himalayas and pathless wastes to the north-
ward. But Hindustan was never forgotten. The memories
of the holy land of Behar and Gaya, sanctified by the foot-
steps of Sakya Muni and his disciples, were treasured in the
hearts of the inmates of every monastery, from the boy neo-
phyte of twelve or fourteen to the venerable Lama or abbot,
who ruled as lord and master. To this day pious legends of
Magadha and Benares are still the subjects of religious
thought and teaching in those remote regions, which are a
terra incognita to the European.*
Buddhism, like Christendom, has its bishops and its here-
sies. The city of Lhassa, seated on the southern bank of
the Brahmaputra, forty days' journey from Pekin, is the
Rome of Thibetan and Chinese Buddhism. At Lhassa a
succession of Great Lamas, the supposed incarnations of
Sakya Muni, exercise a spiritual dominion resembling that
of the Holy See. At Digarchi, ten days' journey to the
westward of Lhassa, the Teshu Lama is worshipped and
protected by the emperors of China as their spiritual
father.'^
The valley of Nipal is located in the southern slopes of
the Himalaya range. It is shut out from Hindustan by the
lower shelves and precipices of the Himalayas; while the
still lower range of mountains, at the base, is guarded by a
broad belt of dense forest, from which a low marshy plain
stretches out toward the south, the whole being known as
the Terai. Nipal has rarely been invaded by Muhammadans
' The holy land of Magadha is identical with the modern Behar or Yihar.
The word Vihar signifies a Buddhist monastery.
* Both the Great Lama of Lhassa and the Teshu Lama of Digarchi are pon-
tiffs of the yellow sect, the orthodox and reformed Buddhism of the court of
Pekin. But the followers of the red sect, who retain much of the old devil-
worship and incantations in their religious observances, continue to maintain
monasteries and Lamas of their own in Thibet and Bhutan.
Thibet is nominally subject to the Chinese emperor, but little is known of the
extent of Chinese jurisdiction in that quarter. Lhassa is the capital of what is
called Chinese Thibet, and is the abode of a Chinese viceroy as well as of the
Great Lama.
BRITISH INDIA 533
or MoghulSj and to this day the Muhammadans form no part
of its population.'
From a remote period this fertile and secluded valley has
been inhabited by a peaceful and industrious race of Hindu
Buddhists, known as Newars. Like India, the whole coun-
try was parcelled out into petty Hindu kingdoms, each hav-
ing its own Raja; but in the early half of the eighteenth
century the whole were absorbed in three kingdoms, of which
Khatmandu was the chief. Indeed, at this period the Newar
Raja of Khatmandu was always treated by the East India
Company as the ruler of Nipal.
In those early times the valley of Nipal might have been
likened to the happy valley of Rasselas. The Newars were
devoted to agriculture and trade, and pursued the even tenor
of their way under the mild influence of Buddhism. The
East India Company carried on a profitable trade with Nipal ;
and numerous commodities, including quantities of gold from
Thibet, were imported into Behar and Bengal.
About 1767, ten years after Plassy, the Ghorkas of Kash-
mir, a race of Rajputs and Brahmans, invaded the happy
valley of Nipal. There was no apparent cause of quarrel.
The Ghorkas were a military people, hungering after terri-
tory and revenue ; and the valley of Nipal, with its peaceful
population of Buddhist Newars, was open to their inroads.
They preserved the usages of caste, and worshipped the same
gods as the Rajputs of Hindustan ; and the Ghorka conquest
may have been a later wave of the great Brahmanical re-
vival which convulsed India in mediaeval times and drove
Buddhism out of Hindustan.
The Newars were as helpless to resist the Ghorkas as
sheep when attacked by wolves. The Newar Raja of Khat-
mandu abandoned his territories to the invaders, and shut
himself up in his capital, and implored the help of his mer-
cantile friends in Bengal. Strange to say, the English
rulers responded to his prayers. Their trade was slack, their
1 Muhammad Tughlak sent an army over the Himalayas in the fourteenth
century, but it perished miserably. See ante, p. 109.
India. Vol. II. X— 5
534 HISTORY OF INDIA
revenues were falling away, and specie itself was vanishing
from Bengal. Moreover, the spirit of Clive was still abroad,
and the Company's servants were burning with military
glory as well as commercial enterprise. A small force was
sent to the Himalayas under a Captain Kinloch to deliver
the IsTewar Raja from the Ghorkas, and reopen the outlets
of gold from Thibet. Unfortunately Kinloch set out at the
worst season of the year. He made a desperate effort to
march through the Terai in the middle of the rains, but was
beaten back by malaria and want of provisions; and the
Newars and their Rajas were abandoned to their doom.
Maharaja Prithi Narain was the hero and sovereign of
the Ghorkas. He conquered the Nipa] valley by the aid
of his Bharadars or barons. He made a great slaughter of
the Newar Rajas, and massacred every Newar of distinction
throughout the country. The horrors of the Ghorka con-
quest were beyond all telling. A European eye-witness,
Father Guiseppe, describes Prithi Narain as a monster of
inhumanity — as crafty, treacherous, and bloodthirsty as
any Tartar conqueror of the olden time. Atrocities and
outrages were committed which must be left to the imagi-
nation. At one city, six miles from Khatmandu, the whole
of the inhabitants were deprived of their lips and noses in
punishment for their long and obstinate resistance to the
invaders.
The Ghorka conquest throws valuable light on the an-
cient constitution of the Rajputs. The valley of Nipal was
parcelled out among the Ghorka Bharadars, much in the
same way that England was parcelled out among the Nor-
man barons under "William the Conqueror. The Maharaja
reigned at Khatmandu as sovereign and despot; but the
Bharadars claimed for themselves and families an exclusive
right to all offices and commands, as well as a voice in the
national councils. Accordingly the Maharaja selected his
ministers exclusively from the Bharadar aristocracy ; and in
times of national emergency all the Bharadars in the king-
dom were summoned to a council of state at Khatmandu.
BRITISH INDIA 535
The strength of the Ghorkas lay in their military organi-
zation. They maintained three armies at the expense of one,
each army numbering about twelve thousand men. About
the end of every year the existing army returned to civil life,
while a new army was enrolled, which generally consisted
of old soldiers. Thus three trained armies could be brought
into the field in cases of emergency, while only one army
was kept on military duty, and drew military pay.
The old army was disbanded and the new army was en-
listed at a yearly festival known as the Panjani. At every
Panjani there was a redistribution of all oflQces and com-
mands among the Bharadars and their families. Indeed,
under the old Ghorka constitution the Panjani was the great
institution of the year, when there was a change of minis-
ters as well as officers and generals, and nothing remained
permanent excepting the Maharaja.
Prithi Narain, the hero founder of the Ghorka dynasty
in Nipal, died in 1771, leaving two sons. The elder suc-
ceeded to the throne, but died in 1775, leaving an infant
son, a babe in arms. Then followed the usual comphca-
tion. The baby grandson of Prithi Narain was placed upon
the throne under the name of Run Bahadur. The uncle of
the infant, the younger son of Prithi Narain, became regent
and guardian. But the queen-mother also claimed to be re-
gent and guardian ; and for some years there was a struggle
for supremacy between the queen-mother and the uncle — a
struggle which used to be common to every Hindu court in
India.' In 1786, when the boy Maharaja was eleven years
of age, the queen-mother died, and the uncle became su-
preme. Henceforth the uncle surrounded the boy with aU
the young profligates of the court, and permitted him to in-
dulge in every species of vice and cruelty, in the hope of
' Such rivalries and jealousies between a minister and a queen-mother have
been frequent in all Oriental courts from a remote antiquity. Sometimes the
quarrel is prevented by a criminal intimacy between the two parties. In India
the British government arbitrates as the paramount power, and aU quarrels about
a succession or a regency are thus nipped in the bud.
536 HISTORY OF INDIA
thereby perpetuating his own authority as regent. It will
be seen hereafter that he sowed the wind and reaped the
whirlwind.
Meanwhile the Ghorkas were troublesome and aggressive
toward all their neighbors — westward toward Kashmir and
the Punjab, and eastward toward Sikhim and Bhutan. One
Ghorka army invaded Thibet and plundered the temples at
Lhassa and Digarchi. The audacity and sacrilege kindled
the wrath of the Chinese emperor and court of Pekin ; and
in 1793 a Chinese army of seventy thousand men advanced
against Nipal.
The Ghorkas were wild with alarm, and began to make
advances to the English. Hitherto they had affected to dis-
dain trade and traders, and had displayed a haughty and
exclusive spirit in their dealings with the Bengal govern-
ment. But the victories of the English in the first Mahratta
war had inspired them with respect, and they hungered for
the help of British arms and soldiers. ' They hastily offered
to negotiate a treaty of commerce and friendship with the
English Resident at Benares ; and a treaty was concluded in
1792, under which certain privileges were granted to traders
from British territories, and a fixed duty of two and a half
per cent was to be charged by either government on all
commodities imported on either side.
The commercial treaty was a blind. The Ghorkas amused
the Bengal government with hopes of a revival of trade, and
then asked for British help against China. Lord Cornwallis
replied that the English had no quarrel with the Chinese
emperor, but would willingly mediate between Nipal and
China ; and for this purpose he sent Colonel Kirkpatrick on
a mission to Khatmandu.
Before Kirkpatrick left Patna the Ghorkas were routed
by the Chinese and driven back to Nipal through the snows
^ The old trade between Bengal and Behar had died out under the military-
despotism of the Ghorkas, and everj' effort to recover it had hitherto proved a
failure. In 1774 Warren Hastings sent a mission to Thibet under Mr. Bogle;
and in 1783 he sent another under Mr. Turner; but there was no practical result.
BRITISH INDIA 537
of the Himalayas. The Chinese army advanced to Naya-
kote, within a day's march of Khatmandu, and dictated
their own terms. The Ghorka regency was compelled to
restore all the plunder that had been carried from the
temples, and to pay tribute for the future to the court of
Pekin.
The Ghorkas were now disgusted with their treaty with
the English, and only anxious to keep the EngUsh out of
Nipal. Kirkpatrick was met by messengers, who announced
the peace with China, and tried to induce him to go back.
But the Bengal government was anxious to establish friendly
relations with the Ghorka government, and Kirkpatrick
pushed on to Khatmandu. He was received with every
show of courtesy and respect, but thwarted in every attempt
at negotiation. He soon found that his presence at Khat-
mandu was useless and dangerous, and returned to Bengal.
Henceforth the treaty was a dead letter.
In 1795 there was a revolution at Khatmandu. Maharaja
Run Bahadur had reached his twentieth year. He had been
nurtured in the worst possible school, and the natural ferocity
of his temper had been encouraged rather than controlled.
At last he cunningly worked the destruction of his uncle.
He suddenly announced in open durbar that he had assumed
the sovereignty; and the Bharadars hailed the declaration
with a burst of loyalty. The regent uncle was powerless to
contend against the voice of the nobles, and compelled to give
place to his nephew. For a few months he was treated with
decent respect, but was then arrested, loaded with chains,
and thrown into a dungeon. Nothing more was heard of
him. Some said that he was starved to death ; others that
he was assassinated by his royal nephew.
Run Bahadur reigned over Nipal Hke another Nero. Day
by day he took a savage joy in beholding tortures, mutila-
tions, and executions. His marriages and amours were the
scandal of Khatmandu. His chief wife was childless. His
second wife gave birth to a son, and was then neglected.
Run Bahadur, in spite of his Kshatriya caste, was bent on
538 HISTORY OF INDIA
securing a Brahtnani bride. He carried off a young Brah-
mani widow from her father's house in the plains, and made
her his queen, in violation of the laws against widow mar-
riages and the mixture of castes ; and a son was born of the
Brahmani queen, who was destined to change the fortunes
of the dynasty.
Run Bahadur was deeply enamored of his Brahmani
bride. She was his prime favorite, the idol of his soul. She
was seized with smallpox, and Run Bahadur was frantic
with grief and alarm. He spent vast sums on offerings to
the gods at the different temples. He summoned the ablest
physicians from Benares to attend the sick lady. But
prayers and medicines were of no avail, and the Brahmani
queen was soon numbered with the dead.
Run Bahadur was driven to madness by the loss of his
Brahmani queen. He broke out in fits of ungovernable fury,
which spread a wild terror through the court and capital.
He flogged the physicians, cut oft' their noses, and sent them
back to Benares. He wreaked his vengeance on the gods of
Nipal by firing cannon at the sacred statues in the temple
of Pusput Nath, the great national shrine of Siva and Par-
vati in the suburbs of Khatmandu. He threw up the sover-
eignty, and vowed to spend the remainder of his days in
religious seclusion at Benares; and he actually placed the
little son of his dead queen on the throne of Nipal, and called
on the Bharadars to swear allegiance to the infant. He
sought to smooth matters by appointing his second wife
to be regent, and her young son to be prime minister. The
result was a baby sovereign aged four, a child premier aged
six, and a regent stepmother. But Run Bahadur remained
at Khatmandu. He had abdicated the throne, but persisted
in exercising supreme authority.
The abdication of Run Bahadur was a mere caprice of
insanity. He wished to honor his dead queen by placing
her son upon the throne; but he continued to wreak his
ferocity on those around him. Some officers of government
were scourged ; others were hung up by the heels to branches
BRITISH INDIA 539
of trees. In a word, the sovereign was dangerous to his
subjects; and neither rank, age, nor caste could protect any
one from his bUnd anger.
Meanwhile the Bharadars began to conspire against the
headstrong Maharaja; and Damodur Pandey, the head of
the once famous Pandey family, was the moving spirit of the
conspiracy. The Bharadars urged that their allegiance had
been solemnlj?- transferred to the infant son, and thej^ called
on Run Bahadur to complete his abdication of the throne by
going into exile. Damodur Pandey had already gained over
the army; indeed, he was a type of those Hindu ministers
who, at different intervals, have dragged their country and
its princes at the heels of a military car. A civil war broke
out, and Run Bahadur was worsted. He saw that his life
was in sore peril, and suddenly left Khatmandu in the night
time, and fled to Benares, accompanied by his neglected chief
queen and a young Bharadar named Bhim Sein Thapa, who
was the head of the Thapa family, and bitter rival of the
Pandeys.
The flight of Run Bahadur placed Damodur Pandey at
the head of affairs. He was appointed prime minister to the
infant Maharaja and regent stepmother; and he filled all
the ministerial posts with members of the Pandey family.
Henceforth there were constant plottings at Benares for the
destruction of the Pandeys and restoration of Run Bahadur
to the throne of Nipal ; and at the same time constant coun-
terplots at Khatmandu for the forcible detention of the royal
exile in British territory, and the destruction of Bhim Sein
Thapa.
At this period Lord Wellesley was Governor-General of
India. The sudden appearance of the ex-Maharaja of Nipal
within British territory stirred up that active nobleman to
attempt the recovery of the lost trade. Run Bahadur was
received by the British authorities at Benares with every
mark of honor and distinction. Money from the Company's
treasury was advanced for his support. A Captain Knox
was appointed Political Agent, to carry on all communica-
540 HISTORY OF INDIA
tion witli the royal exile, and to open up negotiations in his
behalf with the regency at Khatmandu.
The government of the East India Company was con-
ducted on mercantile principles. It was therefore deemed
necessary to apply to the Ghorka government for a repay-
ment of the moneys advanced to the ex-Maharaja, and also
for a suitable pension for his future maintenance. Accord-
ingly Captain Knox was sent to Khatmandu in 1802 to make
the necessary arrangements, and also to establish a cordial
friendship with the ruling powers, and open up a trade
through Nipal with Thibet and Bhutan. Knox was wel-
comed at Khatmandu with respect and courtesy, but soon
found that he was hedged around with spies, and played
upon by mendacious intriguers. There was a great show of
business and much pretended negotiation, but nothing was
concluded. At heart the Ghorkas were as jealous and ex-
clusive as ever, and evidently imagined that Lord Wellesley
was scheming to restore Run Bahadur, overthrow the Ghorka
dominion, and take possession of Nipal. After much pre-
varication and vacillation they agreed to pay certain yearly
allowances to the ex-Maharaja, as long as he was detained
in British territory. In return, the ex-Maharaja pledged
himself to devote the remainder of his life to the worship
of the Supreme Spirit at Benares, under the religious title
of "Swami." But the money was never sent to Benares,
and Run Bahadur only professed to be a Swami until a way
was opened for his restoration to the throne at Khatmandu.
Suddenly the chief queen left the ex-Maharaja at Benares
and made her way to Nipal. She was resolved to oust the
second queen from the regency, and take the government
into her own hands. Her approach threw the court of Khat-
mandu into confusion. Cannon were drawn up before the
city gates; guards were posted in every avenue; ammuni-
tion was served out; and hurry, noise and disorder prevailed
in every quarter. Damodur Pandey began to vacillate, and
went out to make terms with the chief queen. In his absence
the second queen fled from the palace with the infant Maha-
BRITISH INDIA 541
raja, and took refuge in the temple of Pusput Nath. Mean-
while the chief queen was joined by Damodur Pandey, and
entered Khatmandu in triumph, and assumed the post of
regent. The infant Maharaja was then brought back from
the temple, and placed upon the throne; and the second
queen saved her life by timely submission to her older rival.
The new government was profuse in promises to Captain
Knox, but only to cajole and thwart him. The new queen-
regent evaded the terms which had been accepted by her
predecessor ; and Knox left Khatmandu in disgust as Kirk-
patrick had done ten years previously. Accordingly Lord
Wellesley formally announced to the new government that
the alliance with Nipal was dissolved, and told the ex-Maha-
raja that he might leave Benares, and go where he pleased.
In 1804 Run Bahadur returned to Nipal accompanied by
Bhim Sein Thapa. Damodur Pandey came out to meet him
at the head of the Ghorka army, prepared to join him or fight
him as occasion might arise. But the Ghorka soldiery were
still loyal at heart toward the ex-Maharaja. Run Bahadur
fearlessly advanced toward the opposing column, and threw
his royal bonnet into the air, exclaiming, ' ' Now, my Ghorkas,
who is for me, and who is for the Pandeys?"
At once the whole army received their sovereign with
acclamations. Damodur Pandey was arrested on the spot,
loaded with chains, and carried off to Khatmandu, and be-
headed with many of his adherents. The chief queen re-
signed the government into the hands of her husband; but
Run Bahadur dared not assume the title of Maharaja. The
army had sworn fidelity to the son of the Brahmani queen ;
and Run Bahadur was obliged to be content with the post
of regent, and to carry on the government in the name of
his son, with Bhim Sein Thapa for his prime minister.
The revolution, however, was not j^et over. The air of
Khatmandu was heavily charged with plots and intrigues.
Many Bharadars had supported the Pandeys, and they now
dreaded the resentment of the Thapas. A conspiracy was
formed under the leadership of the brother of Run Bahadur
542 HISTORY OF INDIA
for the overthrow of the new government, and the destruc-
tion of the Thapas ; but the scheme exploded before it was
ripe for execution.
Bhim Sein Thapa discovered the plot, and made his
arrangements accordingly. By his advice Run Bahadur
ordered his brother to attend the durbar, and then directed
him to join the Ghorka army on the western frontier. The
brother returned an insolent reply, and was ordered off to
immediate execution. The brother drew his sword before
he could be arrested, and slaughtered Run Bahadur on the
spot, but was then cut to pieces on the floor of the hall.
The bystanders were horror-stricken at the double mur-
der. Every man was cowed, and thought only of his own
safety. Bhim Sein Thapa alone was master of himself and
the situation. By his orders every enemy of the Thapa
family was put to the sword on the charge of being impli-
cated in the murder of Run Bahadur. Fifty officers of the
army are said to have been executed amid the general mas-
sacre. Meanwhile the remains of the dead sovereign were
carried off to the place of burning ; and his second queen,
the deposed regent-mother, v/as forced to immolate herself
on the funeral pile.
The deeply laid plot of Bhim Sein Thapa was soon re-
vealed to the people of Khatmandu. It turned out that he
was the secret paramour of the chief queen. Accordingly
the chief queen resumed her post of regent-mother, and Bhim
Sein Thapa continued to hold the post of prime minister,
while he was virtually the sole ruler of Nipal. For some
years there was a lull in the domestic politics of the Ghorkas,
but meanwhile the Ghorka rulers were forcing the British
government into a war against Nipal.
BRITISH INDIA 54^
CHAPTER XII
NIPAL WAR— LORD MOIRA (HASTINGS)'
A.D. 1814 TO 1816
IN 1813, eight years after the elevation of Bhim Sein
Thapa, Lord Minto resigned the post of Governor-
General of India into the hands of Lord Moira, Ever
since the dissolution of the alliance by Lord Wellesley in
1804, there had been constant wrangling between the two
governments. The Ghorka authorities had been gradually
absorbing British territory along the whole line of frontier to
the north of Hindustan, from the neighborhood of Darjeel-
ing to the neighborhood of Simla, Sir George Barlow had
remonstrated, and Lord Minto had remonstrated, but to no
purpose. Each Governor- General in turn had overlooked
the aggressions in order to avoid a war; until at last it was
discovered that within the previous quarter of a century
more than two hundred British villages had been added
to Nipal territory ; and it was obvious that the aggressions
were conducted on a regular system, having for its object
the extension of Nipal dominion to the banks of the Ganges.
At last two large districts were annexed by the Ghorka
authorities, respecting which there could not be a shadow of
doubt. At this date Lord Minto was still Governor-General,
and he invited the Nipal government to send a commissioner
to investigate the claim to the two districts, in association
with a British commissioner. The investigation lasted over
a year. In the end it was ascertained that the districts in
question had always belonged to Oude; and that they formed
' Lord Moira was not created Marquis of Hastings until after the Nipal war,
but he is best known to history by the latter title.
544 HISTORY OF INDIA
a part of the territory which the Nawab Vizier had ceded to
the British government in 1801. The Nipal commissioner
was unable to disprove this fact, or to show that his govern-
ment had any claim whatever to the disputed territory.
The Nipal government dealt with the case in character-
istic fashion. They recalled their commissioner and stoutly
maintained that the investigation proved their right to the
two districts. Lord Minto then brought matters to a crisis.
He sent an ultimatum to the effect that unless the districts
were restored they would be recovered by force. The an-
swer was not received until after the arrival of Lord Moira;
it was to the effect that the districts belonged to Nipal, and
would not be surrendered.
Lord Moira followed up the action of his predecessor by
sending another ultimatum, fixing the day on which the dis-
tricts were to be restored. The Nipal government allowed
the time to pass ; and a British detachment took possession
of the districts without opposition, and set up pohce stations
for their protection.
But although the Ghorka government had treated the
ultimatum with apparent contempt, the letter of Lord Moira
had nevertheless created a profoimd sensation, and led to a
division of parties in Nipal. Bhim Sein Thapa foresaw that
the local dispute about frontier districts was broadening into
a question of peace or war. He summoned the Bharadars to
a council of state at Khatmandu, and twenty-two Bharadars
assembled to discuss the question.
Amar Singh, the most renowned general in the Ghorka
army, was opposed to the war. He had faced Runjeet Singh,
the "lion" of the Punjab; and he knew something of the
fighting powers of Englishmen, and the resources of the
British government. "Fighting against the Newars," he
said, "was like hunting deer; but fighting against English-
men would be like battling with tigers." Other chiefs joined
Amar Singh in deprecating a collision with the British gov-
ernment; but Bhim Sein Thapa held a different opinion.
"What power," he asked, "can fight against us in Nipal?
BRITISH INDIA
545
546 HISTORY OF INDIA
Not even the great Alexander of Macedon could carry his
rams into our mountains.' Our hills and fastnesses are the
work of God, and are not to be taken by mortals. As for
the English, they could not even capture the fortress of
Bhurtpore, which is the work of men's hands; how then
shall they reduce our strongholds, which were created by
the Almighty? There can be no peace between Nipal and
the English, until the Company have surrendered all their
provinces to the northward of the Ganges, and made the
Ganges their boundary against us."
The council of Bharadars resolved on war; but a war
after Oriental fashion. They did not make a declaration of
hostilities, and prepare for a solemn appeal to the God of
battles ; but they sent a large force into the disputed districts
which had been recovered by the English, and attacked a
police station, and slaughtered eighteen police constables.
The Ghorka army then hastened back to Khatmandu, leav-
ing the English to make their way through the swamps and
forests of the Terai and climb the heights of the Himalayas,
before they could exact retribution for the cowardly crime.
Lord Moira soon planned a campaign against Nipal.
Four British divisions, aggregating thirty thousand men
and sixty guns, proceeded to enter Nipal at four different
points: the western column on the Sutlej, the eastern col-
umn on Khatmandu, and the other two columns on inter-
mediate positions.
The operations of 1814 proved very nearly a failure. The
Ghorkas exhibited a pluck and bravery which took the
English by surprise. General Gillespie, the hero of Vellore,
who commanded one of the columns, was shot dead while
recklessly attempting to storm a mountain fortress without
a siege train. Other generals showed a strange incompe-
tency, and one of them on setting out was so alarmed at the
' Alexander the Great is known to Asiatics by the name of Sekunder. Bhim
Sein Thapa alluded to him as Sekunder, but the name would convey no idea to
English readers, and has accordingly been modified in the text.
BRITISH INDIA 547
density of the forests in the Terai that he galloped back to
Dinapore, leaving his division behind him.
General David Ochterlony, who commanded the division
advancing by the way of the Siitlej and Ludhiana, was
pitted against Amar Singh, the Ghorka general who had
deprecated the war. Ochterlony was a Company's officer
of the old heroic type. In liis younger days he had fought
against Hyder Ali in the Carnatic under Sir Eyre Coote. At
a later day he had held Delhi against the Mahratta army
under Jaswant Rao Holkar. His advance up the Hima-
layas was a marvel of caution and audacity. Those who
have visited Simla will realize the difficulties of his march
along shelves and precipices, dragging up eighteen- pounders,
and opening roads by blasting rocks, and battering down ob-
structions with his field guns. For five months, at the worst
season of the year, in the teeth of snowstorms and moun-
tain blasts, he carried one fortress after another, until not
a stronghold was left in the hands of the enemy excepting
Maloun.
The fortress of Maloun was situated on a shelf of the
Himalayas, with steep declivities of two thousand feet on
two of its sides. Amar Singh was shut up in Maloun. After
a desperate attack on the British works, he held out till the
British batteries were about to open on his stronghold, and
then came to terms, and was permitted to march out with
the honors of war.
The fall of Maloun shook the faith of Bhim Sein Thapa
in his heaven-built fortresses, and he sent commissioners to
make terms with the British government. He ceded all the
conquests of the Ghorkas to the westward of the Kali river,
together with the whole of the Terai ; and he also agreed to
receive a British Resident at Khatmandu; but nothing was
said about a subsidiary force.
The negotiations were closed ; Lord Moira had even signed
the treaty; when a question arose as to whether the Terai,
which had been ceded to the English, included the forest on
the lower slopes of the Himalayas, or only the marshy plain
548 HISTORY OF INDIA
at the foot of the mountain. At this moment Amar Singh
returned to Khatmandu, and persuaded the Bharadars to
defend their mountain territory to the last, and if conquered
to retire toward China, rather than yield to the demands of
the British government.
Lord Moira, who had been honored with the title of Mar-
quis of Hastings, at once prepared to renew the war. In the
beginning of 1816, General Sir David Ochterlony, who had
been made a baronet, advanced toward Khatmandu with an
army of twenty thousand men, and defeated the Ghorka
army within fifty miles of the capital. The original treaty
was then concluded in hot haste by the Thapa regent ; the
red seal was attached; peace was concluded at Segowlie,
and the British army was withdrawn from Nipal. But the
difference about the Terai was renewed in other forms with
a tenacity peculiar to the Ghorka character ; it ended by the
British government tacitly abandoning its rights rather than
renew the war. The other mountain territory ceded by the
treaty has, however, proved a valuable acquisition; it has
furnished sites for the principal hill stations in India — for
Simla and Mussoorie, Landour, and Nynee Tal.
BRITISH INDIA 549
CHAPTER XIII
PINDHARI WAR, AND FALL OF THE PEISHWA
—LORD HASTINGS
A.D. 1815 TO 1833
IN 1815-16, whOe Sir David Ochterlony was bringing the
Nipal war to a close, the Pindharies began to make
raids on British territories. One horde of eight thou-
sand horsemen swept the Nizam's territories as far south
as the Kistna river. Another and a larger horde of twenty-
five thousand Pindharies entered the Madras Presidency and
plundered three hundred villages on the coast of Coroman-
del. A third band of five hundred horsemen rode through
the Peishwa's dominions, and plundered the villages along
the coast of Malabar for a distance of two hundred miles,
and then returned up the valley of the Tapti river to their
homes in Malwa.
Lord Hastings determined, in spite of all orders to the
contrary, to take steps for the extermination of these exe-
crable miscreants. Other Pindhari raids were carried out
in the cold weather of 1816 and 1817, and confirmed him in
this resolution. He tried to form such a league with the
Mahratta powers as would at least prevent them from in-
terfering in behalf of the Pindharies. At the same time
he secretly and silently made his own preparations for a
campaign on such a large scale against the homes of the
Pindhari hordes as would insure their destruction once and
forever.
Meanwhile the horrible details of Pindhari atrocities were
550 HISTORY OF INDIA
told in England, and created a revulsion of public opinion.
Even the Mahrattas were forgotten in the stern resolution
to punish the Pindharies and put an end to their cruel raids.
Stories were related of villages surrounded by swarms of
savage banditti; of fire and sword, rapine, murder, torture,
and outrage, which spread universal alarm, and were proved
by unquestionable testimony. At the approach of the Pin-
dharies, fathers were known to pile firewood round their
dwellings, and perish with all their families in flames kin-
dled by their own hands; and in some cases the whole
female population of a village threw themselves into wells
rather than fall into the hands of such merciless marauders.
Under such circumstances the home authorities violated their
own policy of non-intervention, and hastened to sanction the
most vigorous measures for the protection of British sub-
jects. The British cabinet concurred with the Court of
Directors in authorizing hostilities against Sindia, Holkar,
or any other native power, that should venture to protect
the Pindharies against the just resentment of the British
government.
At this moment, and indeed for some years previously,
the British government was aware that certain secret in-
trigues were being carried on at Poona by Baji Rao Peishwa,
and his minister Trimbukji Dainglia, with Sindia and Hol-
kar's governments, and even with the Pindhari leaders.
The main object of these intrigues was to re-establish po-
litical relations with Sindia and Holkar contrary to the
treaty of Bassein; to restore the Peishwa to the head-
ship of the Mahratta empire; and to form a general con-
federacy of native powers for the overthrow of the British
government.
The objects which the Peishwa and his minister had in
view might possibly be justified as patriotic efforts to throw
off a foreign yoke ; but the underhand means employed to
carry them out were of a nature to provoke the hostility of
the British government. The Peishwa had certain money
claims against the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Gaekwar
BRITISH INDIA 551
of Baroda ; and these claims were to have been settled by
the arbitration of the British government in accordance with
the treaty of Bassein. But the Peishwa evaded all such ar-
bitration, and it was discovered that these claims were used
as a cover for carrying on secret negotiations with the Nizam
and the Gaekwar, like those which had been carried on with
Sindia, Holkar, and the Pindhari leaders.
In 1815 it was proposed that the Gaekwar should send
his minister to Poona to settle the claims of the Peishwa
against Baroda. This minister was a Brahman of high
caste, named Gungadhur Shastri. His sacred character
would have insured his safety in any other court in India;
but the unscrupulous treachery of Baji Rao was notorious,
and the Shastri would not go to Poona until the British
government guaranteed his safety.
Gungadhur Shastri was coldly received at Poona. He
was suspected of being a friend of the British government,
and was treated with so much reserve and covert hostility
that he prepared to return to Baroda. His departure, how-
ever, would have put an end to all further communications
with the Gaekwar. Accordingly the Peishwa and his min-
ister turned round, and won him over by flattery and cajol-
ery. The Shastri was told that the Peishwa had been so
much struck by his talents that he was to be appointed min-
ister at Poona directly the claims against Baroda were set-
tled. Moreover, a marriage was arranged between the son
of the Shastri and a sister-in-law of the Peishwa.
The result of this cajolery was that Gungadhur Shastri
was brought to agree to a settlement of the claims which
was more favorable to the Peishwa than to the Gaekwar.
The proposals were sent to Baroda for ratification, but the
Gaekwar was very angry and sent no reply. The Shastri
became alarmed; he was afraid that the Gaekwar would
think that he had neglected his master's interests in order
to form a marriage connection with the Peishwa. Accord
ingly he broke off the marriage.
The Peishwa was mortally offended at this proceeding,
662 HISTORY OF INDIA
but betrayed no sign of anger to the Shastri. On the con-
trary, the Shastri was treated with more kindness and cor-
diality than ever. He was invited to accompany the Peishwa
and his minister on a pilgrimage to the temple of Punderpore.
He was warned of danger, but was too much puffed up with
the deference paid to him to take any heed. He went to
Punderpore, dined with the Peishwa, proceeded to the tem-
ple, performed his devotions, took leave of the Peishwa and
minister on the veranda of the temple, and set out to return
to Poona. He had scarcely gone three hundred yards from
the temple gateway when he was attacked and cut to pieces
by assassins who had been hired by the minister, Trimbukji
Dainglia.
There was no doubt of the guilt of Trimbukji DaingHa.
Mr. Elphinstone, the British Resident at Poona, investigated
the case, and found that it was Trimbukji who hired the as-
sassins. The general voice of the country pronounced that
Trimbukji was the murderer of the Brahman. There was
no moral doubt that the Peishwa was also implicated, but
that was allowed to pass. The British government had
guaranteed the safety of the Shastri, and the Peishwa
was called upon to surrender the murderer. The Peish-
wa tried to evade the demand, but was at last terrified
into compliance; and Trimbukji was placed under confine-
ment in the fortress of Thanna on the island of Salsette,
near Bombay.
Trimbukji Dainglia was confined at Thanna from Sep-
tember, 1815, to December, 1816. To prevent the possibility
of escape, his guard was composed entirely of Europeans.
He felt that his case was hopeless. He admitted to the
officers of his guard that he had planned the murder of the
Shastri, but declared that he only acted under the orders of
the Peishwa. Subsequently Baji Rao managed to commu-
nicate with his favorite. A Mahratta horsekeeper in the
service of one of the officers of the garrison passed the win-
dow of the prisoner every day with his master's horse. He
carelessly sung a Mahratta song under the window, which
BRITISH INDIA 553
the European guards neither understood nor suspected, but
which told the ex-minister how to escape.' A number of
Mahratta horsemen were lying in wait in the neighborhood,
and one night Trimbukji Dainglia was missing. He had
escaped over the wall, joined the party of horsemen, and
fled northward to the hills and jungles of Kandeish, where
he found refuge among the Bhils. No one doubted that
Baji Rao had abetted the escape of his favorite; but
nothing could be proved, and the matter was allowed to
drop.
All this while, however, the Peishwa was actively but
secretly negotiating with Sindia, Holkar, Amir Khan, and
the Pindhari leaders, against the British government. He
was enhsting troops in all directions, and sending large sums
of money to Trimbukji Dainglia to enable him to raise a
force in like manner. Subsequently Mr. Elphinstone dis-
covered that Trimbukji had assembled an army within
fifty miles of Poona. The Peishwa denied all knowledge
of the fact, but continued to aid and abet his exiled
favorite, and encouraged him to make war on the British
government.
The conduct of Baji Rao Peishwa at this crisis was as
provoking to Lord Hastings as the conduct of Jaswant Rao
Holkar had been to Lord Wellesley. It threatened to inter-
fere with his plans for the extermination of the Pindharies.
Lord Hastings had been most anxious to avoid a breach with
Baji Rao, and had consequently ignored the Peishwa's con-
nivance at the murder of the Shastri and escape of the min-
Bishop Heber turned the Mahratta ballad into English verse as follows :
"Behind the bush the bowmen hide
The horse beneath the tree.
Where shall I find the kniglit will ride
The jungle paths with me?
"There are flve-and-fifty coursers there,
And four-and-fifty men ;
When the fifty -fifth shall mount his steed,
The Dekhan thrives again."
— Ilebe/''s Journal.
654 HISTORY OF INDIA
ister. But Baji Rao was enlisting large bodies of troops ia
spite of the Resident's remonstrances; and he was placing
his forts in a state of preparation, and sending his treasures
out of Poena. At the same time the number of rebels under
Trimbukji was increasing daily. It was obvious that the
Peishwa was engaged in a conspiracy against the British
government in order to effect the restoration of Trimbukji
Dainglia to power, and possibly to carry out designs of a
more serious character.
At last in April, 1817, Mr. Elphinstone told the Peishwa
that unless he put a stop to his hostile preparations, active
measures would be taken against him by the British govern-
ment. The Peishwa was now alarmed, and made a show of
disbanding troops; but all this while he was raising fresh
levies, and re-enlisting the disbanded troops in other quar-
ters. In May the Resident sent an ultimatum ; and after
endless evasions and delays the Peishwa came to terms,
and delivered up three important fortresses as pledges of
his future good behavior. In June, 1817, a treaty was con-
cluded at Poena, under which the Peishwa ceded a consider-
able territory, and pledged himself to hold no further com-
munication with any power whatever, Mahratta or otherwise,
excepting the British government.
Lord Hastings was at this time completing his military
preparations; he was assembling the largest army that had
ever appeared in India under British colors. Lord Corn-
wallis brought thirty thousand men to bear against Tippu.
Lord Wellesley assembled nearly sixty thousand during the
second Mahratta war. Lord Hastings called together the
armies of the three Presidencies, which, together with na-
tive contingents and irregular troops, numbered nearly a
hundred and twenty thousand strong. He was resolved
not only to exterminate the Pindharies, but to take deci-
sive measures with the three predatory powers — Sindia,
Holkar, and Amir Khan.
Lord Hastings planned a campaign for placing the Pin-
dharies between two fires ; between the Bengal army from
BRITISH INDIA 555
the north under his own command, and the Madras army
from the south under Sir Thomas Hislop. On the north
four Bengal divisions were to march from the Jumna, and
to close round Malwa from the side of Bundelkund, Agra,
and Rajputana. At the same time four Madras divisions
were to move from the south, cross the Nerbudda, and
drive the Pindharies out of their haunts toward the river
Chambal, where a Bengal force was lying in wait to receive
them.
The three predatory powers were aware of the movements
of the Madras army from the southward, but they had no
inkling of the decisive operations which Lord Hastings pro-
posed to carry out on the northward from the side of Ben-
gal. They imagined that the greater part of the British
forces on the Madras side were to be employed in defend-
ing the frontiers of the Nizam, the Raja of Nagpore, and
the British possessions. They expected that a British de-
tachment would make a push upon the homes of the Pin-
dharies to the northward of the Nerbudda ; but they calcu-
lated that the Pindharies would hide themselves for a while,
either by enlisting in the predatory armies of the three
powers, or by refusing to remote villages. Moreover, they
chuckled over the idea that when the storm had blown
over, and the British troops had returned to cantonments,
the Pindharies would revenge the British attack on their
homes by still more savage and extensive raids on British
territories.
Daulat Rao Sindia was the most decided supporter of
the Pindharies. As far back as 1816 he engaged to help
in the expulsion of the Pindharies ; but he hoped to evade
his promise by some delusive action against the Pindha-
ries, which might be managed in concert with their chiefs.
He permitted the British to establish posts in his terri-
tories for operations against the Pindharies, but made no
attempt to co-operate with the British officers for the de-
struction of his old retainers. On the contrary, his officers
maintained cordial relations with the Pindhari leaders, in
556 HISTORY OF INDIA
spite of the remonstrances of Captain Close, the British
Resident.
In 1817, at the beginning of the campaign, Daulat Rao
Sindia was asked to issue orders for the friendly reception of
the Madras army, which was crossing the Nerbudda into his
territories in order to dislodge the Pindharies from his do-
minions. He was thunderstruck at the demand, and said
that it required time for consideration. He was told by
Captain Close that deliberation was out of the question;
that the Madras forces were hastening northward on the
faith that he was acting in concert with them for the ex-
tirpation of the Pindharies ; and that these movements were
combined with those of the Bengal army, which was about
to cross the Jumna under the command of the Governor-
General in person.
Sindia saw that he was outwitted, and in imminent dan-
ger of being overwhelmed. He was overawed by the threat-
ened approach of the Bengal army under Lord Hastings.
Next day he sent to say that he had despatched orders to
his officers for the friendly reception of the British troops
within his own territories.
Lord Hastings was fully alive to the fact that the sym-
pathies of the three predatory powers were with the Pin-
dharies ; and that the Pindharies looked to them for refuge
and protection during the coming storm. Consequently he
foresaw that the mere expulsion of the Pindharies from their
haunts would not secure the peace of India, or prevent the
revival of the predatory system. Accordingly he resolved
to disarm the three predatory powers before rooting out the
Pindharies.
Daulat Rao Sindia soon felt that his powers for mischief
were ebbing away. He was told that he had violated ex-
isting treaties by carrying on secret negotiations with the
Peishwa, as well as with Runjeet Singh, the ruler of the
Punjab. Nevertheless Lord Hastings was willing to leave
him in possession of his territories, but was determined to
deliver the Rajput states out of the clutches of the preda-
BRITISH INDIA 557
tory powers by reviving the protective treaties that had been
annulled by Sir George Barlow.
At this crisis Daulat Rao Sindia was singularly unlucky.
While solemnly protesting that he had carried on no negotia-
tions contrary to treaty, two of his messengers were arrested
on the road to Nipal conveying letters to the Ghorka govern-
ment at Khatmandu. Other letters were discovered between
the leaves of a Sanskrit book, which had been glued together,
and concealed among the baggage of the messengers. The
contents proved that Daulat Rao Sindia was making pro-
posals to the Thapa ministry for a combined attack of
Ghorkas and Mahrattas on the British government.
Lord Hastings, however, was not incHned to press mat-
ters too hardly upon the Mahratta. He directed the British
Resident to make over the documents to Daulat Rao Sindia
in open durbar, briefly stating what they were and what
they contained. Sindia was dumb with astonishment and
alarm ; he could make no defence whatever. He agreed to
a new treaty under which the Rajput states, and all other
native states that desired it, were taken under British pro-
tection. He also pledged himself to co-operate for the ex-
pulsion of the Pindharies, and to prevent the future forma-
tion of any predatory gangs in his dominions.
Negotiations were next opened with Amir Khan, through
Mr. Charles Metcalfe, the British Resident at Delhi. The
Afghan freebooter was growing old, and could not contend
against the British government. He agreed to a treaty
which converted a leader of bandits into a prince, and
turned a predatory power into a native state under the
guarantee of the British government. In return, Amir
Khan engaged to abstain from all depredations for the
future ; to reduce his troops to a specified number ; to sur-
render his artillery to the British government at a certain
valuation ; to refrain from all foreign conquest and aggran-
dizement; to exclude Pindharies and plunderers of every
kind from his dominions ; and to oppose to the utmost of
his power the revival of the predatory system. Amir Khan
India. Vol. II. X— 6
558 HISTORY OF INDIA
thus appears in history as the founder of a Muhammadan
dynasty which is represented to this day by the ISTawab of
Tonk in Rajputana.
The territories of Holkar were in a different condition to
those of Sindia or Amir Khan. The government had been
rapidly declining ever since the insanity of Jaswant Rao;
and after his death it had fallen into a state of imbecility,
and was literally at the mercy of the so-called army of Hol-
kar. The best provinces were usurped by military chiefs,
or mutinous bodies of armed men. The regent-mother,
Tulsi Bai, and the young prince, Mulhar Rao Holkar, had
sought refuge in a remote fortress from the outrages of the
turbulent soldiery, who were clamoring for arrears of pay.
Under such circumstances the regent-mother was naturally
anxious for British protection against the army.
In October, 1817, Lord Hastings left Cawnpore and began
to cross the Jumna ; and the different divisions of his army
took up the positions assigned them. Meanwhile the Pin-
dharies had been dislodged from their haunts by the Madras
army, and fled with their wives and families to the north-
ward ; and now found themselves checkmated by the Bengal
forces, and barred out of Rajputana and Bundelkund. They
were panic-stricken at the open defection of Sindia, and
knew not where to go. All their anxiety was to avoid a
conflict with the British troops. One body managed to
escape in a southerly direction, with the loss of nearly all
its baggage; the rest were forced to abandon their horses
and hide themselves in the jungles, where numbers perished
miserably. The body that escaped toward the south received
a severe defeat, and suffered so much in smaller encounters
that in the end it was completely dispersed. Many were
slain in these actions and the subsequent flight; and many
fell by the hands of the villagers in revenge for their former
cruelties.
In this state of misery and despair some of the Pindhari
leaders threw themselves upon the mercy of the conquerors.
Khurim was provided with a landed estate in British terri-
BRITISH INDIA 559
tory, and permitted to reside there with his family. Chetu
was killed in the jungles by a tiger. Several of the subordi-
nate chiefs, and some of their followers, were settled in ag-
ricultural pursuits in the territories of the Nawab of Bhopal,
and converted into peaceful and profitable subjects. Others
who survived the conflict mingled with the population and
melted away, insomuch that after a very few years not a
trace of the Pindhari gangs remained.
560 HISTORY OF INDIA
CHAPTER XIV
MAHRATTA CONQUEST— LORD HASTINGS
A.D. 1817 TO 1823
FROM the very beginning of the Pindhari war the atten-
tion of Lord Hastings was distracted by untoward
events. He had hoped to suppress the predatory sys-
tem in India, without disturbing one of the estabhshed prin-
cipalities, or adding a rood of land to the British empire.
This politic intention was thwarted by sheer force of circum-
stances. While he was advancing against the Pindharies,
Daulat Rao Sindia and Amir Khan remained true to their
engagements, but the Peishwa, the Raja of Nagpore, and
the army of Holkar, broke out in open hostilities to the Brit-
ish government, and his hopes of maintaining the existing
political system were at an end.
Baji Rao Peishwa could no more keep the treaty of Poona
than he could keep that of Bassein. It was equally opposed
to his nature as a Mahratta, his culture as a Brahman, and
his experiences as a Peishwa. It was just as reasonable to
suppose that he could remain at Poona content with the loss
of his suzerainty, as to suppose that the first Napoleon would
have remained at Elba content with the loss of his empire.
Meantime Baji Rao Peishwa was playing his old game
of duphcity. He had signed the treaty of Poona in June,
1817, and he then tried to throw dust in the eyes of the
British Resident by pretending to disband his army. He
discharged large bodies of cavalry, but gave the officers
seven months' pay in advance, and sent them to their re-
spective villages with orders to return to Poona with their
BRITISH INDIA 561
friends and followers directly they received his summons.
In July he left Poona, and went on a pilgrimage to the tem-
ples of Punderpore, the scene of the murder of Gungadhur
Shastri. From Punderpore he went to another sacred place,
named Maholi, which was situated near Satara, the later
capital of the dynasty of Sivaji.
At this crisis Sir John Malcolm was at Poona, busied
with political arrangements connected with the approaching
Pindhari war. Malcolm knew the Peishwa well, having
accompanied him on his restoration to Poona in 1803. Ac-
cordingly Malcolm received a pressing invitation from Baji
Rao to visit him at Maholi, and readily accepted it in the
hope of reconciling the Peishwa to his new situation. Baji
Rao welcomed Malcolm most cordially, spoke of his restora-
tion in 1803, declared that John Malcolm and Arthur Welles-
ley were his best friends, and dilated on his lasting gratitude
to the English. But he was evidently smarting under the
treaty of Poona. He bitterly complained of his loss of po-
sition and territory, and especially harped upon the three
fortresses which he had been forced to surrender as pledges
of his good faith.
An oflScer of Malcolm's experience ought to have known
that Baji Rao was only cajoling him, in the hope of getting
back the three fortresses before committing himself to a war.
But Malcolm believed in the sincerity of the Peishwa, and
tried to soothe him with promises of futiu-e reward and con-
sideration. He explained the coming operations against the
Pindharies, and exhorted the Peishwa to co-operate heartily
with the Enghsh during the campaign. He then returned
to Poona, so convinced of the good faith of the Peishwa that
he actually induced Mr. Elphinstone to restore the three
fortresses.
Elphinstone however had lost all faith in Baji Rao. He
restored the fortresses because he would not throw cold
water on Malcolm's hopes; but he was by no means carried
away by Malcolm's generous enthusiasm, and events soon
proved that Elphinstone was in the right.
562 HISTORY OF INDIA
Baji Rao returned to Poona in September, and took enor-
mous numbers of horsemen into his pay, declaring that he
was going to make war on the Pindharies. Elphinstone
was not deluded, for Baji Rao was enlisting double the num-
ber of troops that could possibly be required. Moreover, Baji
Rao evaded sending any troops to the northward, although
their presence was urgently required on the Nerbudda, At
the same time he was putting his fortresses into a state of
defence, strengthening the garrisons, and storing them with
provisions and treasure. It was also discovered that he was
trying to seduce the English sepoys from their allegiance by
bribes and promises; sending secret emissaries to the Raja
of Nagpore, as well as to Sindia, Holkar, and Amir Khan ;
and planning to assassinate Elphinstone, either by treacher-
ously inviting him to an interview, or by surrounding the
Residency with a rebel force under Trimbukji Dainglia.
Elphinstone knew pretty well what was going on, but
was anxious not to precipitate a rupture, and accordingly
proceeded very cautiously with his preparations for defence.
The Poona Subsidiary Force under General Smith had gone
to the northward to join in the operations against the Pin-
dharies; but a detachment remained at Poona, and Elphin-
stone obtained the services of a European regiment from
Bombay. The whole British force at Poona only numbered
two thousand sepoys and eight hundred European soldiers;
and it was deemed expedient to remove the troops from
Poona to Khirki, a village about four miles from the British
Residency.
The arrival of the European regiment from Bombay was
the one thing above all others which disconcerted Baji Rao.
For more than sixty years the presence of a European regi-
ment had been regarded with terror by every native prince.
Accordingly, on the arrival of the Europeans, Baji Rao
feigned to be alarmed at the intentions of the British govern-
ment. He threatened to withdraw from Poona unless the
European regiment was sent back to Bombay. The removal
of the British force to Khirki reassured him; he ascribed it
BRITISH INDIA 563
to fear. On tlie 5th of November Elphinstone himself left
the Residency and joined the force at Khirki.
Baji Rao was at this time buoyed up by false hopes. He
beheved that Daulat Rao Sindia and Amir Khan had taken
the field against the British government. He knew that the
Raja of Nagpore and the army of Holkar were preparing to
support him. Accordingly on the afternoon of the day that
Elphinstone left the Residency, Baji Rao attacked the British
force at Khirki with an army of eighteen thousand horse,
eight thousand foot, and fourteen pieces of artillery. Not-
withstanding these overwhelming numbers, he was repulsed
with the loss of five hundred killed and wounded. That
same night the Residency was plundered and burned, and
Elphinstone lost a magnificent library which no money could
restore.
The Subsidiary Force under General Smith, which had
been sent to co-operate against the Pindharies, had already
been recalled to Poona. It soon made its appearance, and
prepared to attack the Peishwa's army on the morning of
the 17th of November. But the heart of Baji Rao had
already failed him. He left Poona on the night of the 16th,
and thus surrendered his dominions without a blow. The
British troops occupied Poona, and General Smith set out in
pursuit of Baji Rao.
Meanwhile the Raja of Nagpore secretly made common
cause with the Peishwa. Rughoji Bhonsla died in 1816; his
son and successor was an idiot, and his nephew Appa Sahib
became regent. The idiot was murdered by Appa Sahib, and
the regent became Raja without any discovery of his crime.
Appa Sahib conciliated the English bj^- concluding a sub-
sidiary treaty. At the same time he secretly maintained
an active correspondence with the Peishwa, and played the
same game as the Peishwa. He was somewhat sobered by
the treaty of Poona, which Baji Rao had been compelled
to accept in June ; but he soon renewed his secret negotia-
tions with the Peishwa, and began to levy troops on a large
scale. When news arrived of the attack on the British Resi-
564 HISTORY OF INDIA
dency at Poona, Appa Sahib talked at great length to Mr.
Jenkins, the Resident at Nagpore, on the treachery of Baji
Rao, and the impossibility that he should ever be induced
to follow so bad an example; yet ail this while Appa
Sahib was preparing to falsify every protestation by mak-
ing common cause with the Peishwa against the British
government.
The story reveals the double-faced duplicity of the Mah-
ratta. In November, 1817, when Baji Rao was already at
war with the English, he appointed Appa Sahib to the hon-
orable but nominal post of commander-in-chief of the army
of the Peishwa. Such empty dignities had been common
enough in the palmy days of the Mahratta empire, and often
served to revive the fading loyalty of a disaffected feuda-
tory, and bind him in closer allegiance to his suzerain. But
such an appointment in November, 1817, was a gross viola-
tion of the treaties of Bassein and Poona, and was obviously
made for the purpose of drawing Appa Sahib into hostilities
with the British government.
On the night of the 24th of November Appa Sahib sent
word to Mr. Jenkins that he had accepted the post of com-
mander-in-chief of the army of the Peishwa, and was to be
invested with the insignia of office on the following morning
in the presence of all his troops ; and he invited Mr. Jenkina
to be present on the occasion, and requested that a salute
might be fired by the English in honor of the investiture.
Mr. Jenkins declined having anything to do with the cere-
mony, and warned the Raja that it might lead to dangerous
consequences.
Next morning Mr. Jenkins discovered that treachery was
abroad. All communication between the city of Nagpore
and the Residency had been interdicted by the Raja; and
the Raja and his ministers were sending their families and
valuables out of the city. He foresaw that an attack would
be made on the Residency; and he ordered up the British
troops from the neighboring cantonment, and posted them
on the Sitabuldi hill, between the Residency and the city of
BRITISH INDIA 565
Nagpore. On the following evening the Raja brought up
all his forces and began the attack on the hill.
The battle of Sitabuldi is famous in the annals of British
India. The English had no European regiment on the spot,
as they had at Khirki ; they had scarcely fourteen hundred
sepoys fit for duty, including three troops of Bengal cavalry,
and only four six-pounders. Appa Sahib had an army of
eighteen thousand men, including four thousand Arabs, the
best soldiers in the Dekhan; he had also thirty-six guns.
The battle lasted from six o'clock in the evening of the 26th
of November until noon the next day. For many hours the
English were in sore peril ; their fate seemed to hang upon a
thread. The Arabs were beginning to close round the Resi-
dency, when a happy stroke of British daring changed the
fortunes of the day.
Captain Fitzgerald, who commanded the Bengal cavalry,
was posted in the Residency compound and was anxious to
charge the Arabs ; but he was forbidden by the commander
of the British forces. Again he implored permission, but
was told to charge at his peril. "On my peril be it!" cried
Fitzgerald, and gave the word to charge. Clearing the
enclosures, the Bengal cavalry bore down upon the enemy's
horse, captured two guns, and cut up a body of infantry.
The British sepoys posted on the hill hailed the exploit
with loud huzzahs, and seeing the explosion of one of the
enemy's tumbrels, they rushed down the hill, driving the
Arabs before them like sheep. The victory was won, but
the English had lost a quarter of their number in killed
and wounded.
Foiled in this treacherous attempt, Appa Sahib sent en-
voys to Mr. Jenkins to express his sorrow, and to deny
having authorized the attack. Reinforcements were now
pouring in from all directions ; but Mr. Jenkins affected to
believe the statement of the Raja, and even promised to be
reconciled, provided he disbanded his troops. But Appa
Sahib was still playing his old game. He continued his
correspondence with the Peishwa, and stirred up his own
566 HISTORY OF INDIA
chiefs to rebellious outbreaks, in order to keep his territories
in a state of alarm and disorder.
At this juncture it was discovered that Appa Sahib had
been guilty of the mui-der of his predecessor. Under these
circumstances he was arrested, and sent as a prisoner to
Allahabad ; but on the way he managed to bribe his guards
and make his escape. Henceforth Appa Sahib was a fugi-
tive ; and after a precarious existence for many years in the
Vindhya and Satpura mountains, he finally found refuge in
the territories of the Raja of Jodhpur.'
An infant grandson of Rughoji Bhonsla, aged nine, was
then placed upon the throne of Nagpore. He was a son of
Rughoji's daughter, but was formally adopted by Rughoji*s
widow in order that he might take the name of Bhonsla.
The widow was appointed regent, "but her authority was
nominal, as the whole administration was placed in the
charge of Mr. Jenkins until the boy Raja attained his
majority.
Affairs in Holkar's state of Indore ran nearly in the
same groove as at Nagpore, but the circumstances were
different. The regent-mother, Tulsi Bai, was no longer anx-
ious to place the infant, Mulhar Rao Holkar, under the pro-
tection of the British government. The Peishwa had re-
duced the army of Holkar to obedience by discharging all
arrears of pay out of his own treasury. The regent-mother
and her ministers recovered their ascendency over the sol-
diery, avowed themselves the partisans of the Peishwa, and
led the army toward the south to make war upon the British
government in support of the Peishwa.
At this moment, the Madras army, under Sir Thomas
1 The Raja of Jodhpur was called upon to surrender Appa Sahib to the Brit-
ish authorities, but pleaded that he would be disgraced in the eyes of his brother
chieftains in Eajputana, if he gave up a fugitive who had found an asylum within
his territories. As Appa Sahib had not committed an offence which placed him
outside the bar of mercy, and as he was powerless for further mischief, the plea
was admitted on the Jodhpur Raja becoming responsible for his good behavior.
In the end a provision was made for the support of the wretched exile, and hia
latter days were soothed by the medical attendance of the English doctor at the
Jodhpur Residency.
BRITISH INDIA 567
Hislop, was moving northward in pursuit of the Pindharies.
In December, 1817, it met the army of Holkar near Ujain;
and Sir John Malcolm, who accompanied the Madras army
in a diplomatic capacity, opened up negotiations with the
regent-mother and her ministers. The latter seemed inclined
to come to an arrangement with the British government;
but the military chiefs were bent on war, and suspected that
the ministers and regent-mother were making secret terms
with the British authorities. Accordingly the army rose
against their rulers, put the ministers under confinement,
and carried off the regent-mother to a neighboring river and
cruelly beheaded her on the bank, and threw her remains
into the stream.
The barbarous murder of a woman and a princess cut off
all hope of pacification. An action was inevitable; indeed,
the army of Holkar began operations by plundering the En-
glish baggage. The battle was fought at Mehidpore on the
21st of December, 1817. Sir John Malcolm commanded
the English troops on that occasion, and gained a complete
victory. The army of Holkar was utterly routed, and all
their guns and military stores fell into the hands of the
English.
The Mahratta powers were thus prostrate, and Lord
Hastings prepared to construct the new pohtical system,
which has continued without material change down to the
present day. The arrangements with Sindia, Amir Khan,
and the infant Raja of Nagpore, were already completed, or
were in course of completion. It may, however, be added,
that Sindia was required to cede the territory of Ajmir in
Rajputana; as it was deemed essential to the security of the
public peace in India to shut out all Mahratta influences
from Rajputana. The only princes remaining to be dealt
with were Baji Rao Peishwa and Mulhar Rao Holkar.
The Peishwa had fled from Poena southward toward
Satara. He sought to strengthen his hereditary claims on
the allegiance of the Mahratta powers by causing the pag-
eant Raja of Satara to be brought to Ms camp. His move-
568 HISTORY OF INDIA
ments, however, were little more than desperate efforts to
avoid a collision with the British forces in pursuit; and all
hope of recovering his position as suzerain of the Mahratta
empire died out of his restless brain, and reduced him to the
depths of despair.
The glorious defence of Korygaum belongs to this inter-
val ; it was regarded as the most brilliant exploit of the war,
and is celebrated to this day in Mahratta songs in all parts
of the Dekhan. A detachment of Bombay sepoys and irreg-
ular horse, not exceeding eight hundred men, reached the
village of Korygaum, on the bank of the river Bhima, under
the command of Captain Staunton. There were only ten
English officers and twenty-four European artillerymen with
two six-pounders. Suddenly Staunton saw the whole army
of the Peishwa drawn up on the opposite bank, to the num-
ber of twenty-five thousand horsemen and about six thou-
sand Arab and Gosain infantry. Staunton at once occupied
the village of Korygaum, and prepared for defence. The
enemy surrounded the village with horse and foot, while
three picked bodies of infantry attempted to storm the En-
glish position with rockets. Then followed a series of charges
and repulses which lasted till nightfall. Without provisions,
and without water — for all access to the river was cut off —
the Bombay sepoys and their European officers fought with
a pluck and desperation which broke the spirit of the enemy.
Staunton lost a third of his sepoys, and eight out of his ten
officers; but the Mahrattas left six hundred killed and
wounded on the field. Baji Rao witnessed the whole ac-
tion from a neighboring hill, and was beside himself with
anger and mortification. Next morning his army refused to
renew the fight, and rapidly disappeared from the scene.
For six months longer Baji Rao remained at large, but
his career was run. There was another battle at Ashti, but
he cowardly fled at the first shot, leaving his army to be de-
feated by General Smith, while the pageant Raja of Satara
fell into the hands of the English. Indeed, from a very
early period, the defection of Daulat Rao Sindia, the de-
BRITISH INDIA 569
struction of the Pindharies, the crushing defeat of the army
of Holkar, and the deposition of Appa Sahib at ISTagpore, had
combined to deprive Baji Rao of all hope of recovering his
throne, and to render his capture a mere question of time.
The Peishwa was doomed to extinction. The treaty of
Bassein had failed to break up the Mahratta confederacy ; it
had failed to prevent the Mahratta states from regarding
the Peishwa as their lawful suzerain, and leaguing under
his authority against the British government. Nagpore and
Holkar had waged war against the British government in
obedience to the call of the Peishwa; and Sindia would
probably have done the same had he not been taken by sur-
prise, and bound over to keep the peace before committing
himself to a suicidal war.
It was thus obvious to Lord Hastings that the abdication
of Baji Rao would have proved wholly insufficient to secure
the peace of India. To have set up another Peishwa in his
room would only have led to a revival of the old intrigues
against the British government. To have transferred the
territories of the Peishwa to a prince bearing another title
would have proved equally dangerous and delusive. The
other Mahratta powers would still have deemed it their duty
to award to the new prince the indefeasible right of the
Peishwa to command their armies, in spite of the change
of name ; and Poona would have continued to be the rally-
ing point for disaffection, not only to every Mahratta feu-
datory, but possibly to every Hindu prince in India. Ac-
cordingly, Lord Hastings determined that henceforth the
Mahrattas should be without a Peishwa.
It was a question whether the Raja of Satara might not
have been raised from the condition of a pageant to that of
sovereign of Poona. But the representative of Sivaji had
long been shut up as an idol at Satara, and was now a for-
gotten idol. The traditions of the once famous Bhonsla
family had lost their hold on the Mahrattas. The dynasty
of Sivaji had been superseded by the dynasty of Brahmans;
and the descendant of Sivaji could no more have been re-
570 HISTORY OF INDIA
stored to sovereignty than the descendant of the Great Mo-
ghul. Accordingly, Lord Hastings resolved to abolish the
Peishwa, annex his territories, and reduce Baji Rao to the
condition of Napoleon at St. Helena. He delivered the Raja
of Satara from the thraldom of generations, and assigned a
territory for his support out of the possessions of the Peishwa.
In June, 1818, Baji Rao was surrounded by British troops
under the command of Sir John Malcolm, and had no alter-
native but to die sword in hand, or throw himself on the
mercy of the British government. The terms offered by
Malcolm were so liberal as to excite much controversy.
While the great Napoleon was condemned to pass his last
days on a solitary rock in the southern ocean, with a com-
parative pittance for his maintenance, the ex-Peishwa was
permitted to live in luxury in the neighborhood of Cawnpore
on a yearly stipend of eighty thousand pounds. Trimbukji
Dainglia was captured shortly afterward, and was doomed
to spend the remainder of his days in close confinement in
the fortress of Chunar.
Lord Hastings refused to annex Holkar's territories. The
hostile action of the army of Holkar had compelled the Brit-
ish government to treat the shattered principality of Indore
as an enemy; but Lord Hastings had no desire to annihilate
the remains of Holkar's government, or to dethrone the fam-
ily of Jaswant Rao. Accordingly the Holkar state was re-
quired to cede certain territories, and to confirm the grants
it had already made to Amir Khan ; it was also required to
surrender its international life, and become a subsidiary state
under the guarantee of the British government. But in all
other respects the infant Mulhar Rao Holkar was treated as
an independent prince, and the administration was left in
the hands of the ministers and durbar, aided by the advice
of the British Resident.
The policy of Lord Hastings did not meet with the full
approval of his contemporaries, but its success is proved by
the after history. From the extinction of the Peishwas in
1818, and the suppression of the Pindharies, there has been
BRITISH INDIA 571
no serious attempt at an armed confederation of native states
against the British government. Possibly had Lord Welles-
ley extinguished the Great Moghul as thoroughly as Lord
Hastings extinguished the Mahratta Peishwa, the mutinies
of 1857 might never have occurred, Delhi might have been
as loyal as Poona, and any outbreak of deluded sepoys would
have hurt no one but themselves.
In other directions the administration of Lord Hastings
marks a new era in the history of India. He was the first
Governor-General that countenanced and encouraged the
education of the native populations. Previous to his time it
had been the popular idea that the ignorance of the natives
insured the security of British rule ; but Lord Hastings de-
nounced this view as treason against British sentiment, and
promoted the establishment of native schools and native
journals. In so doing he was in advance of his time, and
consequently he was condemned in his generation.
The dealings of Lord Hastings with the Nizam's govern-
ment have been much criticised. The Nizam profited by the
extinction of the Peishwa more than any other native prince
in India, for he was relieved by the British government from
the Mahratta claims for arrears of chout, which had himg
like a millstone on the necks of the rulers of Hyderabad for
the greater part of a century. But the Nizam eschewed aU
business, and cared only for his pleasures. A Hindu gran-
dee named Chandu Lai was placed at the head of the admin-
istration, and found it necessary to keep on good terms with
both the Nizam and the British government, much in the
same way that Muhammad Reza Khan in a previous gen-
eration had tried to secure his hold on the administration
of Bengal. The result was that nothing flourished but cor-
ruption. Every public office was put up for sale; judicial
decrees could only be purchased by bribes ; the revenues of
the state were farmed out to the highest bidders; and the
farmers became all-powerful in the districts, and were left
to practice every species of oppression and extortion without
control. In the end the people were driven by exactions to
572 HISTORY OF INDIA
become rebels and bandits; villages were deserted; lands
fell out of cultivation, and provisions rose to famine prices.
In 1820, Mr. Charles Metcalfe was appointed Resident at
Hyderabad. Having made a tour of the country, he deemed
it expedient to place his political assistants, and British offi-
cers of the Nizam's Contingent,* in charge of different dis-
tricts, in order to superintend a new revenue settlement,
check oppression, and control the police. There is no ques-
tion that this measure contributed largely to the improve-
ment of the country and well being of the people; but it was
naturally unpalatable to the Nizam and Chandu Lai, and in
1829 the supervision of British officers was withdrawn.
Meanwhile as far back as the year 1814, a bank had been
established at Hyderabad by a firm known as Palmer & Co.
It received loans from deposits bearing twelve per cent in-
terest, and lent the money to the Nizam at twenty-four per
cent on the security of assignments of land revenue. Ac-
cording to act of parliament all such transactions were pro-
hibited to British subjects without the express sanction of
the Governor- General ; but this sanction had been obtained
from Lord Hastings, who believed that such dealings were
better in the hands of European bankers than in those of
native money-lenders. Moreover, one of the partners had
married a ward of Lord Hastings ; and thus, under a variety
of circumstances, the Governor-General was enabled to throw
the veil of his authority over the transactions of Palmer & Co.
Mr. Metcalfe reported that this bank had become a source
of corruption. In 1820, Chandu Lai had obtained the sanc-
tion of the British government to a new loan of sixty lakhs
of rupees, or six hundred thousand pounds sterling, nomi-
nally to pay off and reduce public establishments, to make
' The Nizam's Contingent was a body altogether different from the Nizanrs
Subsidiary Force. By the treaty of 1800 the Nizam was bound to furnish a
Contingent of lifteen thousand troops in time of war, but those which he sup-
plied during the Mahratta war of 1803 were little better than a rabble. Subse-
quently the force was reduced in numbers, and its efficiency was increased by
the employment of British officers ; and it was retained by the Nizam as a per-
manent force in time of peace for tlie reduction of refractory Zemindars and otlier
domestic purposes.
BRITISH INDIA 573
advances to the ryots, and to clear off certain debts due to
native bankers. Mr. Metcalfe, however, discovered that
the new loan was a sham. Eight lakhs of the money was
transferred as a bonus to the partners in Palmer & Co. ;
while the remainder was appropriated to paying off money
lent to the Nizam, or said to have been lent to him, without
the knowledge of the British government. In a word, the
new loan of sixty lakhs was a deception, which filled the
pockets of interested parties without liquidating the real
claims; while, in consequence of the sanction inconsider-
ately given by Lord Hastings, the British government was
more or less compromised in the matter. Accordingly it
was resolved to pay off all debts due by the Nizam to the
bank, and put an end to the relations between the Nizam's
government and Palmer & Co. The matter ended in the
insolvency of the firm.
The money for paying off the Nizam's debts was provided
for in a peculiar fashion. Some half a century previously the
East India Company had agreed to pay the Nizam a yearly
rent of seventy thousand pounds sterling for the Northern
Circars; and in spite of political changes this yearly sum
had been regularly paid down to the time of Lord Hast-
ings. Accordingly the rent was capitalized, and the money
was devoted to the payment of the Nizam's debt to Palmer
&Co.
The error of judgment committed by Lord Hastings in
sanctioning the money dealings of Palmer & Co. blotted
his reputation in the eyes of his contemporaries, and is only
worthy of record as containing a useful political lesson for
all time.
Lord Hastings left India on the 1st of January, 1823, at
the advanced age of sixty-eight. His last years were embit-
tered by the reproaches of the Court of Directors ; but he will
live in history as the Governor-General who carried the im-
perial policy of Lord Wellesley to its legitimate conclusion,
and established the British government as the paramount
power in India.
574 HISTORY OF INDIA
Lord Amherst was appointed Governor-General in suc-
cession to Lord Hastings, but he did not reach India until
August, 1823. During the interval Mr. Adam, a civil ser-
vant of the Company, acted as Governor-General; but his
short administration is only remarkable for his sharp treat-
ment of the public press. An obnoxious editor named Buck-
ingham had written unfavorably of government officials in
a Calcutta newspaper, and was forthwith deprived of his
license, and sent to England.' Nothing further is known
of Mr. Adam ; he perished at sea on his return voyage to
England.
The all-important event in Lord Amherst's administra-
tion was the first Burmese war of 1834-35 ; but before de-
scribing the military operations, it may be as well to bring
the country and people of Burma under review.
' Before the year 1833 no European was permitted to reside in India unless
he was in the service of the late East India ComiDany, or had obtained a license
from the Court of Directors. These restrictions were removed on the renewal
of the charter of the late East India Company in 1833.
BRITISH INDIA 575
CHAPTER XV
BURMAN HISTORY— AVA AND PEGU
A.D. 1540 TO 1833
BURMA is an irregular oblong, lying west and east
between Bengal and China, and between the Bay
of Bengal and the kingdom of Siam. On the north
it touches Assam and Thibet. On the south it runs down-
ward in a long narrow strip of seaboard, like the tail of an
animal, and terminates at the Siamese frontier on the river
Pak Chan.
Burma includes the valley of the Irawadi, which is des-
tined at no distant period to play as important a part in the
eastern world as the valley of the Ganges. Burma proper,
or Ava, comprises only the upper valley. The lower valley,
although included in the general term of Burma, is better
known as Pegu. '
The people of Burma belong to the Indo-Chinese race,
having Mongolian features, with tolerably fair complexions,
varying from a dusky yellow to a clear whiteness. They
' Ava, or Burma proper, is an inland country entirely cut off from the sea
by the territory of Pegu. It has no outlet to the sea excepting by the river Ira-
wadi, which runs through Pegu, and forms a Delta toward the G-ulf of Martaban.
In ancient times, and down to the middle of the last century, Ava and Pegu were
separated into different kingdoms, and were often at war with each other. In-
deed, there was some obscure antagonism of race, the people of Ava being known
as Burmans, and the people of Pegu as Talains. Besides Ava and Pegu there
are two long strips of coast territory facing the Bay of Bengal, which are re-
spectively known as Arakan and Tenasserim ; l^ut they also formed independent
kingdoms, and had no political connection with either Ava or Pegu until a recent
period. Arakan runs northward from the Delta of the Irawadi toward the fron-
tier of Bengal on the river Naf. Tenasserim runs southward toward the frontier
of Siam, on the river Pah Chan. Tenasserim is the "territorial tail" indicated
in the opening paragraph to the present chapter.
576 HISTORY OF INDIA
are Buddhists in religion ; converts from the old Vedic wor-
ship of Indra, Brahma, and other gods, which still lingers
in the land. They are without caste, without hereditary-
rank save in the royal family, without nobility save what
is official and personal, and without any of the prejudices
which prevail in India as regards early marriages and the
seclusion of females. They are a joyous race in comparison
with the grave and self -constrained Hindus ; taking pleasure
in dramatic performances, singing, music, dancing, buffoon-
ery, boat-racing, and gambling. They revel in shows and
processions on gala days, at which young and old of both
sexes mingle freely together. They indulge in much mirth
and practical joking at the water festival and other feasts
which have been handed down from the old nature worship
of "Vedic times. They are imbued with military sentiments
akin to those of Rajputs ; and leave all menial appointments
to slaves and captives.
Burma is a land of sun and rain. There are no cold
blasts from the Himalayas like those which sweep over
Hindustan during the winter season; and the southwest
monsoon, which begins early in May and lasts till Septem-
ber, empties its torrents on the soil far more abundantly
than on the plains of India. The villages are generally on
the banks of rivers. They consist of wooden huts built on
piles, so as to be raised above the floods during the rainy
season. The ordinary villagers seem to saunter through
life, caring only for their cattle and harvests, their fields,
fisheries, and fruit-trees; knowing nothing of the outer
world, and caring for nothing, except as regards famous
pagodas or renowned places of pilgrimage. All real busi-
ness is generally transacted by wives and daughters, who
attend to the cares of the household, and often carry on a
traffic in the bazar, and are most exemplary in the discharge
of their religious duties.
In every village throughout Burma there is at least one
Buddhist monastery built of wood or brick, with a separate
building for a monastery school. There are no endowments
BEITISH INDIA 577
of money or land of any sort or kind. Every morning the
monks go their rounds tlirough the village, clad in yellow
robes, and carrj^ing bowls to receive the alms of the villagers
in cooked food, after the manner of Gotama Buddha and his
disciples. The daily alms are never wanting, for every Bur-
mese man and woman is imbued with the faith that by such
acts of benevolence and loving-kindness they secure a higher
and better life in the next existence in the chain of transmi-
grations. When the monks return to the monastery, they
take their breakfast, which with them is the chief, if not the
only, meal of the day. The younger monks then engage in
teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic to a daily gather-
ing of village boys; while the older monks are teaching the
sacred language of Pali to more advanced neophytes, or
studying Pali scriptures, or pondering over the mysteries of
life and transmigrations of the soul.
In Burma the pagodas of Buddhists are to be seen every-
where, and are sometimes substantial buildings of masonry.
Statues of Buddha are to be found in all parts of the build-
ing, or in neighboring chapels. There are figures squatting
on the ground, representing Gotama about to become a
Buddha; and there are horizontal figures representing Go-
tama in the act of dying, or entering into the sleep of Nir-
vana. Sometimes miniature figures are placed in small
niches ; sometimes there is a colossal statue many feet high.
The images are covered with gilding, or are painted red, or
are made of white alabaster, with the features tinted in gold
and colors. On festival days the pagodas are decked with
fiags and garlands, and thronged with people of both sexes
and all ages, who prostrate themselves before some great
statue of Gotama Buddha, and chant his praises in sacred
verses. Fathers and mothers go with all their families.
Infants are carried about, sometimes in arms, but gen-
erally in baskets yoked to the shoulders like milk-pails.
Old men and matrons march along with grave counte-
nances, mingled with swaggering young men in gay at-
tire, and demure damsels with graceful forms, radiant in
578 HISTORY OF INDIA
divers colors and bright adornments, with flowers of every
hue lighting up their coal-black hair. All go trooping up
the aisles of the pagoda, to make their prostration to Bud-
dha; and then they go out into the temple enclosure to ham-
mer at the pagoda bells with antelopes' horns, as part of
some mystic rite of which the meaning is forgotten.
There is one institution in Burma which reveals the
marked contrast between Hindus and Burmese. In India
marriages are contracted by the parents between boys and
girls of a tender age, when the children themselves can have
no voice in the matter. In Burma marriages are brought
about by mutual liking, which is developed by an innocent
custom of pastoral simplicity. The interval between sunset
and retiring to rest is known as courting-time. Any young
daughter of a house who is desirous of receiving visitors,
attires herself in her best, adorns her hair, takes a seat on
a mat, and places a lamp in her window as a hint that she
is at home. Meantime all the young fnen of the village
array themselves in like manner, and pass the hours of
courting-time in a round of visits, at which there is always
much talking and laughing. Sometimes the hour may be
a little late; sometimes there may be a little quarrelling
between jealous rivals; but as a rule the party breaks up
at a suitable time without any serious incident to mar the
pleasure of the evening. In this way young men and maid-
ens meet and exchange their sentiments in a perfectly inno-
cent and natural manner, until partners are selected for life,
marriages are celebrated, and for them the courting time is
over.
This richly favored country has been exposed from a re-
mote period to cruel oppressions and bloody wars. It was
anciently parcelled out, like India, among petty kings, who
waged frequent wars on each other. There was constant
rivalry between the Burmese people of Ava on the upper
valley of the Irawadi and the Talains of Pegu on the lower
valley. * Other kings warred against each other in like man-
' See ante, p. 575, note.
BRITISH INDIA 579
ner; while ever and anon an invading army from China or
Siam swept over the whole country, and deluged the land
with blood. Sometimes there were insurrections under a
rebel prince or schismatic monk, followed by sack and mas-
sacre without a parallel in recorded history, except among
Tartar nations. To this day the whole region of Pegu and
Ava bears the marks of these desolating contests ; and vast
tracts of culturable lands lie utterly waste from sheer want
of population.
In the sixteenth century many Portuguese adventurers
and desperadoes found a career in Burma. They were for
the most part the skum of Goa and Malacca: renegade
priests or runaway soldiers, who had thrown off the re-
straints of church or army to plunge in the wild license of
Oriental life, and to reappear as pirates, bravos, or princes
in the remoter eastern seas. One Portuguese deserter got
possession of the island of Sundiva at the entrance to the
Sunderbunds, and created a fleet of pirate-galleys, which
was the terror of Arakan and eastern Bengal. He was
followed by an Augustine monk known as Fra Joan. An-
other scoundrel got possession of a fort at Syriam, over
against Rangoon, and was the terror of the Burmese kings
on the Irawadi. Others entered the service of different kings
of Burma, and often changed the fortunes of war by their
superior physique and firearms.
About 1540 a Burmese warrior, named Byeen-noung, I'ose
to the front, and became a conqueror of renown. ' Originally
he was governor of Toungoo f then he made himself king of
the country ; and subsequently he marched an army of Bur-
' Byeeu-noung is so named in Burmese annals. He was known to the Portu-
guese as Branginoco. See Faria y Sousa's Portuguese Asia.
'■' Toungoo, the Portuguese Tangu, lies in the interior of Burma, between
Pegu and Ava. In the present day it is the frontier district of British Burma.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was sometimes a province of Ava,
sonK'times an independent kingdom, and sometimes the seat of a Burmese em-
pire ; indeed, at one time the city of Toungoo is said to have been tlie capital
of Upper Burma or Ava. Such shifting of provinces, kingdoms, empires, and
capitals is one of the conditions of old Burmese history.
580 HISTORY OF INDIA
mans toward the south, and conquered the Talain kingdom
of Pegu and slew the Talain king.
Byeen-noung next resolved on the conquest of Martaban.
This kingdom lay to the eastward of Pegu, between Pegu
and Tenasserim; it was separated from Pegu by an arm of
the sea, known as the Gulf of Martaban. Byeen-noung
raised a large army of all nations, in addition to his army
of Burmans, by promising them the sack of Martaban, and
with these united forces he invested Martaban by land and
sea.
The siege lasted six months. The king of Martaban had
married the daughter of the slaughtered king of Pegu and
the queen and all her ladies spurred on the king and his
generals to resist Byeen-noung to the uttermost. The people
of Martaban were starved out and driven to eat their ele-
phants. The king had taken several hundred Portuguese
into his service, but they had all deserted him, and entered
the service of Byeen-noung. The king was reduced to such
extremities that at last he offered to make over his kingdom
to Byeen-noung, provided he might retire from Martaban
with his queen and children ; but Byeen-noung was furious
at the obstinate resistance he had encountered, and burning
to be revenged not only on the king, but on the queen and
all her ladies, and he demanded an unconditional surrender.
The king of Martaban was in despair. He called his
generals to a council of war, and one and all pledged them-
selves to die like warriors ; to slaughter all their women and
children, throw their treasures into the sea, set the city on
fire, and rush out and perish sword in hand. But when the
council broke up, one of the chief commanders turned traitor
or coward, and fled away to the camp of Byeen-noung.
Then the rest of the generals lost heart, and threatened to
open the gates of the city to Byeen-noung, unless the king
gave himself up without further parley.
Accordingly the king of Martaban held out a white flag
on the city wall. He then sent a venerable Buddhist priest
to Byeen-noung to request that he might be allowed to turn
BRITISH INDIA 581
monk, and spend the rest of his days in a monastery. Byeen-
noung was very reverential toward the priest, and promised
to forget the past, and provide an estate for the king of Mar-
taban, but no one could trust his word.
Next morning there was a great parade of soldiers and
elephants, music and banners, throughout the camp of Byeen-
noung. A street was formed of two lines of foreiga soldiers
from the tent of Byeen-noung to the gate of the city ; and
all the Portuguese soldiers were posted outside the gate, with
their captain, Joano Cayeyro, in their midst ; and many of
the Burmese princes and nobles of Byeen-noung went into
the city, with a host of Burmese guards, to bring the king
of Martaban in a great procession to the feet of his con-
queror.
The scene is thus described by an eye-witness:' "At one
o'clock in the day a cannon was fired as a signal. After
a while the procession from the palace inside Martaban
approached the gate of the city. First came a strong guard
of Burmese soldiers, armed with harquebuses, halberts, and
pikes. Next appeared the Burmese grandees mounted on
elephants, with golden chains on their backs, and collars
of precious stones round their necks. Then at a distance of
nine or ten paces came the Roolim of Mounay, the sovereign
pontiff of Burma, who was going to mediate between the
king of Martaban and the high and might}" conqueror Byeen-
noung. After him the queen of Martaban was carried in a
chair on men's shoulders, together with her four children —
two boys and two girls — of whom the eldest was scarcely
' Fernara Mendez Pinto. Modern writers liave doubted the veracity of Pinto,
but his trutMuhiess was never doubted by his contemporaries, and the author
has resided long enough in Burma to voucli from his own personal knowledge
for the credibility of Pinto's accounts of that country. In fact, Pinto, like
Herodotus and Marco Polo, is trustworthy about what he saw, but he was sim-
ple enough to believe any absurd fable that he was told. His stories of Byeen-
noung are confirmed by Burmese annals and Portuguese historians. It should
be added that the passages in the text marked with inverted commas are not
taken from Pinto's originaVnarrative, which is tedious and prolix to the last degree;
they are extracted from a' reproduction of Pinto's travels and adventures, with
notes and commentaries.
India. Vol. II. X— 7
582 HISTORY OF INDIA
seven. Round about the queen were thirty or forty young
ladies of noble birth, who were wonderfully fair, with cast-
down looks and tears in their eyes, leaning on other women.
After them walked certain priests, like the capuchins in
Europe, with bare feet and bare heads, praying as they
went, with beads in their hands, and ever and anon com-
forting the ladies, and throwing water upon them when they
fainted, which they did very often. Presently the king
appeared, mounted on a little elephant, in token of poverty
and contempt of life. He wore a cassock of black velvet;
and his head, beard, and eyebrows were all shaven; and
there was an old cord round about his neck by which to ren-
der himself to Byeen-noung. He was about sixty-two years
of age, and tall in stature; and although his countenance
was worn and troubled, he had all the bearing of a generous
sovereign,
"A great throng of women and children and old men
were gathered round the city gate; and when they beheld
their king in his garb of woe, they set up a terrible cry, and
struck their faces with stones until the blood ran down.
The spectacle was so horrible and mournful that even the
Burmese guards were moved to tears, although they were
men of war and the enemies of Martaban.
"Meanwhile the queen fainted twice, and her ladies
fainted around her; and the guards were fain to let the
king alight, and go and comfort her. Whereupon, seeing
the queen upon the ground in a swoon, with her children in
her arms, the king kneeled down upon both his knees, and
cried aloud, looking up to heaven, 'O mighty power of God,
why is thy divine wrath spent upon these innocent creatures?'
This said, he threw water on the queen and brought her
round.
"After a while the king was remounted on his elephant,
and the procession moved through the gate. Then the king
saw the Portuguese deserters dressed in their buff coats,
with feathers in their caps, and harquebuses in their hands;
while their captain, Cayeyro, stood in front apparelled in
BRITISH INDIA 583
carnation satin, making room for the procession with a gilt
partisan. The king withdrew his face from the Portuguese
deserters, and exclaimed against their base ingratitude; and
the Burmese guards fell foul of the Portuguese, and drove
them away with shame and contumely.
"After this the king of Martaban went through the street
of soldiers until he came to the tent where the conqueror,
Byeen-noung, was sitting in great pomp surrounded by his
lords. The king threw himself upon the ground, but spake
never a word. The Roolim of Mounay stood close by, and
said to Byeen-noung, 'Sire, remember that God shows his
mere}'- to those who submit to his will. Do you show
mercy likewise, and in the hour of death you will clear off
a load of sins.' Byeen-noung then promised to pardou
the king; and all present were greatly contented; and
Byeen-noung gave the king and queen in charge of two
of his lords.
"Now Byeen-noung was a warrior of great craft; and
he posted Burmese captains at all the twenty-four gates of
the city of Martaban, and bade them let no one in or out
on pain of death, as he had promised to give the sacking
of the city to his foreign mercenaries. Meanwhile, and for
the space of two days, he brought away all the treasures of
the king of Martaban, including very many wedges of gold,
and strings of precious stones of inestimable value. "When
he had carried away all that he wanted, he abandoned the
city to the soldiery. A cannon was fired as a signal, and
they all rushed in pell-mell, so that many were stifled to
death at the gates ; and for three days such horrible murders
and wickedness were committed that no man can imagine
or describe.
"While the city of Martaban was being sacked, Byeen-
noung left his quarters in the Burmese camp, and pitched
his tent on the hill Beidao, which was close by. One morn-
ing, when the work of plunder and destruction was nearly
over, twenty-one gibbets were set up in stone pillars on the
hill, and guarded with a hundred Burmese horsemen. Pres-
584 HISTORY OF INDIA
ently there was a great uproar in tha Burmese camp, and
troops of horsemen came out with lances in their hands,
and formed a street from the camp to the hill, crying aloud,
'Let no man approach with arms, or speak aloud what he
thinks in his heart, on pain of death 1'
' ' Then the marshal of the camp came up with a hundred
elephants and a host of foot soldiers. Next followed bodies
of cavalry and infantrj^, and in their midst were a hundred
and forty ladies bound together four and four, accompanied
by many priests, who sought to comfort them. After them
marched twelve ushers with maces, followed by horsemen,
who carried the queen of Martaban and her four children on
their horses.
"The hundred and forty ladies were the wives and daugh-
ters of the chief captains of Martaban, on whom the tyrant
Byeen-noung was wreaking his spite because they had per-
suaded their husbands and fathers to hold out against him.
They were for the most part between seventeen and twenty-
five years of age, and were all very white and fair, with
bright auburn hair, but so weak in the body that oftentimes
they fell down in a swoon; and certain women on whom
they leaned endeavored to bring them to, presenting them
with comfits and other things, but they would take nothing.
Indeed, the poor wretches were so feeble and benumbed that
they could scarcely hear what the priests said to them, only
now and then they lifted up their hands to heaven.
"Sixty priests followed the queen in two files, praying
with their looks fixed on the ground, and their eyes watered
with tears ; some ever and anon saying one prayer in doleful
tones, while others answered weeping in like manner. Last
of all three or four hundred children walked in procession,
with white wax hghts in their hands, and cords about their
necks, praying aloud with sad and lamentable voices, saying,
'We most humbly beseech thee, O Lord, to give ear unto our
cries and groans, and show mercy to these thy captives, that
with a full rejoicing they may have a part of the graces and
blessings of thy rich treasures. ' Behind this procession was
BRITISH INDIA 585
another guard of foot soldiers, all Burmans, armed with
lances and arrows, and some with harquebuses.
' ' When the poor sufferers had been led in this fashion to
the place of execution, six ushers stood forth and proclaimed
with loud voices that the ladies were condemned to death by
the king of Burma, because they had incited their husbands
and fathers to resist him, and had caused the death of twelve
thousand Burmans of the city of Toungoo.
"Then at the ringing of a bell all the officers and minis-
ters of justice, pell-mell together with the guards, raised up
a dreadful outcry. Whereupon, the cruel hangman being
ready to put the sentence of death into execution, these poor
women sobbed and embraced each other, and addressed
themselves to the queen, who lay at that time almost dead
in the lap of an old lady. One of them spoke to the queen
in the name of all the others, and begged her to comfort
them with her presence while they entered the mournful
mansions of death, where they would present themselves
before the Almighty Judge, and pray for vengeance on their
wrongs. To this the queen, more dead than alive, answered
with a feeble voice, 'Go not away so soon, my sisters, but
help me to sustain these little children.' This said, she
leaned down again on the bosom of the old lady, without
speaking another word.
' ' Then the ministers of the arm of vengeance — for so they
term the hangmen — laid hold of those poor women, and
hung them all up by the feet with their heads downward
upon twenty gibbets, namely, seven on each gibbet. l^Tow,
this death was so painful that it made them give strange
and fearful groans and sobs, until at length in less than an
hour the blood had stifled them all.
' ' Meantime the queen was conducted by the four women
on whom she leaned to the remaining gibbet ; and there the
Roolim of Mounay made some speeches to her to encourage
her the better to suffer death. Then, turning to the hang-
man, who was going to bind her two little boys, she said,
*Good friend, be not, I pray you, so void of pity as to make
586 HISTORY OF INDIA
nie see my children die; wherefore put ine first to death, and
refuse me not this boon for God's sake.' She then took her
children in her arms, and kissing them over and over in giv-
ing them her last farewell, she yielded up the ghost in the
lady's lap upon whom she leaned, and never stirred after-
ward. On this the hangman ran to her, and hanged her as
he had done the rest, together with her four little children,
two on each side of her, and she in the middle.
"At this cruel and pitiful spectacle the whole multitude
set up a hideous yell ; all the soldiers of the army that' be-
longed to Pegu broke out in mutiny; and Byeen-noung
would have been murdered had he not surrounded himself
with the Burman soldiers he had brought from Toungoo.
Even then the tumult was very great and dangerous through-
out the day, but at last night set in and quieted the fury of
the men of Pegu.
"That same night the king of Martaban was thrown into
the river with a great stone tied about his neck, together
with sixty of his male captives, whose wives and daughters
had been executed a few hours before on the hill Beidao."
The remaining adventures of Byeen-noung may be told in
a few words. After the desolation of Martaban, he returned
to Pegu, and advanced up the river Irawadi and conquered
Prome, and attempted the conquest of Ava.' Two years
later he invaded Siam with a large army, but was suddenly
called back by rebellion in Pegu.
Here it should be explained that when the king of Pegu
was put to death by Byeen-noung, his brother turned monk
and became the most famous preacher in all that country.
Accordingly, while Byeen-noung was gone away to Siam,
this royal monk ascended the pulpit in the great pagoda at
Pegu, and harangued a vast audience on the sufferings of
the Talains, and the crimes committed by the Burmans from
' Some sickening tragedies were perpetrated at Prome, but enough has been
said about such horrors.
BRITISH INDIA 587
Toungoo on the royal house of Pegu. The sermon threw the
whole congregation into an uproar. The people seized their
arms and rose as one man against the Burmese yoke. They
slaughtered every Burman in Pegu, and carried the monk to
the palace, and placed him in possession of all the treasures,
and hailed him as their king,
Byeen-noung was furious at the tidings. He hurried
back his .army with all speed to Pegu, and put down the
revolt with his Burmese soldiers, and secured possession of
the city; while the royal monk fled from Pegu to the king-
dom of Henzada. But the spirit of insurrection could not
be quenched by force of arms. At Pegu Byeen-noung was
assassinated, and his foster-brother was deserted by the
mercenaries, and compelled to fly back to Toungoo. At
Martaban the people rose up against the Burmese garri-
son, slaughtered them to a man, and declared for the royal
monk. ' Finally the royal monk was joined by many nobles
and great men in the kingdom of Henzada. He raised a
mighty host, and returned to Pegu in triumph and was
again crowned king.
Meanwhile the foster-brother of Byeen-noung enlisted a
large army among the barbarous hillmen round about Toun-
goo, and promised to give them the plunder of Pegu if they
would help him to recover the city. He marched his army
toward the south, as Byeen-noung had done before him, and
scattered the army of the monk; and he entered Pegu in
triumph, while the monk fled for his life to the mountains
between Pegu and Arakan. But his successes led to great
perplexities. He had promised to give the plunder of Pegu
to his mercenary army; but the people of Pegu had sub-
mitted to his yoke, and he was horrified at the idea of aban-
doning them to the tender mercies of the barbarians from
the hills. The mercenaries demanded the fulfilment of his
' The resuscitation of a town in Burma in the course of a few weeks or days
is by no means surprising. The houses are built of wood, and can be set up
very quickly.
588 HISTORY OF INDIA
pledge, and when he explained why he would not bear the
burden of the crime, they broke out into mutiny. He
fled from the camp and took refuge in a pagoda, and
protected himself for a while with his Burmese soldiers.
At last he held a parley with the ringleaders from
the walls of the pagoda; and after much debating, it
was agreed that he should distribute among the mer-
cenaries a large sum from his own treasures as ransom
for the city of Pegu.
After a while the fugitive monk was taken prisoner. He
had thrown off his monastic vows, and married the daugh-
ter of a mountaineer; but he had discovered his rank to his
wife, and her parents betrayed him to the Toungoo king,
for the sake of the reward offered for his capture.
The execution of the royal monk was a piteous spectacle.
He was taken out of his dungeon ; dressed in rags and tat-
ters ; crowned with a diadem of straw garnished with mus-
sel-shells, and decorated with a necklace of onions. In this
guise he was carried through the streets of Pegu, mounted
on a sorry jade, with his executioner sitting behind him.
Fifteen horsemen with black ensigns proclaimed his guilt,
while fifteen others in red garments were ringing bells. He
was strongly guarded in front and behind by a long array of
horse and foot and elephants. He was led to the scaffold;
his sentence was read aloud to the multitude ; and his head
was severed from his body by a single blow.
During the revolt at Pegu, one of the Portuguese sol-
diers who had been in the service of Byeen-noung met
with a fearful doom. His name was Diego Suarez. When
Byeen-noung was alive and at the height of his prosperity
and power, he took a great liking to Diego Suarez, and
appointed him governor of Pegu. The man thus became
puffed up with pride and insolence, and did what he pleased
without regard to right or wrong, keeping a bodyguard of
Turks to protect him in his evil ways. One day there was
a marriage procession in the streets of Pegu, and Diego
Suarez ordered his Turks to bring away the bride. A great
BRITISH INDIA 589
tumult arose, and the bridegroom was slain by the Turks,
while the bride strangled herself with her girdle to save her
honor; but the father escaped with his life, and swore to be
revenged upon the wicked foreigner who had brought such
woe upon his household.
Years passed away, but the wretched father could do
nothing but weep. Diego Suarez rose into still higher favor
with Byeen-noung, and was honored with the title of
"brother of the king." At last the people of Pegu broke
out in revolt, and the father saw that the time had come
for wreaking his vengeance on the wicked man from Portu-
gal. He rushed into a pagoda, carried away the idol, and
harangued the multitude, telling aloud the story of his
wrongs. The people of Pegu rose up in a wild outbreak
of fury. The ofl&cers of justice were forced to arrest Diego
Suarez, and, in spite of prayers and bribes, to deliver him
up to the mob; and he was then stoned to death in the
market-place of Pegu, while his house was demolished so
that not a tile remained.
The story of Byeen-noung is typical. It tells of a forgot-
ten conqueror who flourished in the sixteenth centur}- ; but
it also reveals the general conditions of hfe in Burma, from
a remote antiquity down to our own times. Byeen-noung
was but the type of Burmese warriors who have arisen at
intervals in that remote peninsula ; played the part of heroes ;
conquered kingdoms and founded dynasties; crushed out
rebellions by wholesale massacres; and have been followed
in their turn by other kings of smaller genius, but equally
cruel and tyrannical.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, more than two
hundred years after Byeen-noung, there was a warrior of
the same stamp who founded the dynasty of Burmese kings
still reigning at Mandalay. During the earlier years of that
century the Talain kings of Pegu gained the mastery of the
kings of Ava, and the people of upper Burma groaned under
Talain domination. But about 17o0 a deliverer appeared in
the person of a man of low origin, known as Alompra the
590 HISTORY OF INDIA
hunter.' He headed a popular insurrection, which at first
only numbered a hundred men, but was soon joined by-
multitudes. Alompra and his newly created army threw off
the Talain yoke, and swept down the Irawadi, subverted the
Talain dynasty in Pegu, and founded a maritime capital at
Rangoon. The English at that time had a factory at Ne-
grais, off the coast; and the merchants were weak enough
to court the friendship of Alompra, while selling powder and
ammunition to the Talains. A French adventurer informed
Alompra of their misdeeds, and the result was that nearly
every Englishman at Negrais was massacred by the Burmese.
The successors of Alompra followed in his steps. Bhodau
Phra, his third son, was the sixth sovereign of the dynasty.
He reigned from 1779 to 1819, and is regarded by the Bur-
mese as the hero of the hne next to his illustrious father.
He conquered Arakan as far as the boundary of Bengal, and
Martaban and Tenasserim as far as the frontiers of Siam.
His cruelties were boundless, and were the outcome of the
same savage ferocity as those of Byeen-noung. He not only
put his predecessor to death, but ordered all the women and
children of his victim to be burned alive. On another occa-
sion, on discovering that a plot had been hatched against
him in a particular village, he collected together the whole
population of the village, including women, children, and
Buddhist monks, and burned them all alive in one vast holo-
caust. Father Sangermano, a Cathohc missionary who was
in Burma about the same time, has left authentic details of
the horrible cruelties perpetrated by Bhodau Phra.
The successor of Bhodau Phra was Phagyi-dau, who
brought on the Burmese war of 1824-25; but the story of
his reign belongs to the after history.
The kings of Burma from Alompra downward were rude
despots of the old Moghul type. They generally maintained
large harems; and every high official was anxious to place a
sister or a daughter in the royal household, to watch over
' Alompra is the most familiar name to English readers : properly it should
be Alompara, or Alom Phra.
BRITISH INDIA 591
his interests and report all that was going on. Kings and
queens dwelt in palaces of brick and stucco painted white
and red; with roofs, walls, and pinnacles of carved timber
covered with gilding and dazzling as picture-frames; with
durbars, reception halls, thrones, canopies, and insignia of
all kinds, radiant with bits of looking-glass and gilding.
Sometimes they went on water excursions in large vessels
shaped like huge fishes, and covered with gilding; and they
were accompanied by long war- boats, each one covered with
gilding, and rowed or paddled by fifty or sixty men. Some-
times a king went on a royal progress through his domin-
ions, like the old Moghul sovereigns of Hindustan, carrying
his queens, ministers and law courts with him. Each king
in turn was constantly exposed to insurrection or revolution,
in which he might be murdered, and all his queens and chil-
dren massacred without regard to age or sex ; while a new
king ascended the throne, and removed the court and capi-
tal to some other locality, in order to blot out the memory
of his predecessor. Thus during the present century the
capital has been removed from Ava to Amarapura and
back again; and at this present moment it is fixed in the
comparatively new city of Mandalay. The kings of Burma
have always been utterly ignorant of foreign nations; re-
garding Burma as the centre of the universe, and all people
outside the Burman pale as savages and barbarians.
The despotic power of the sovereign, however, was kept
in check by an old Moghul constitution, which seems to
have been a relic of the remote past. The aristocracj- of
Bm-ma consists only of ofiicials, who have spread a network
of officialism over the whole kingdom. There are heads of
tens and hundreds; heads of villages, districts, and prov-
inces; and all are appointed, punished, or dismissed at the
mere will of the sovereign. But the ministers and officials
at court exercise a power in their collective capacity, to
which a king is sometimes obliged to bend ; for there have
been critical moments when a king has been deposed by the
ministers, and another sovereign enthroned in his room.
592 HISTORY OF INDIA
Four chief ministers, with the king or crown prince as
president, sit in a great hall of state within the palace en-
closure, known as the Hlot-dau. This collective body forms
a supreme legislative assembly, a supreme council of the ex-
ecutive, and a supreme court of justice and appeal. There
are also four under-ministers, and a host of secretaries and
minor officials, who conduct the administration at the cap-
ital in the name of the king, but under the orders of the
Hlot-dau.
Besides the Hlot-dau, or public council of state, there, is
a privy council, sitting within the palace itself, and known
as the Byadeit. This council is supposed to advise the king
privately and personal! 3', and to issue orders in his name,
whenever it is deemed inexpedient to discuss the matter in
the Hlot-dau.
The real working of these councils has always been ob-
scured by Oriental intrigues. It is, however, obvious that
they lack the authority of a hereditary assembly, such as
the council of Bharadars at Khatmandu; while the bare
fact that they are exclusively composed of officials, nomi-
nated by the king, and depending for their very existence
on the king's favor, deprives them of any authority they
might otherwise have exercised as popular or representative
bodies.
BRITISH INDIA 593
CHAPTER XVI
BURMESE AND BHURTPORE WARS— LORD
AMHERST
A.r. 1823 TO 1828
THE difficulties of the British government with Burma
began about the end of the eighteenth century.
Bhodau Phra had conquered Arakan, but the peo-
ple rebelled against him, and some of the rebels fled into
eastern Bengal. The Burmese governor of Arakan de-
manded the surrender of the fugitives. Sir John Shore
was weak enough to comply rather than hazard a collis-
ion ; but his successor, Lord Wellesley, refused to deliver up
poUtical refugees who had sought an asylum in British ter-
ritory, and who would probably be tortured and executed in
Burmese fashion the moment they were surrendered to their
oppressors.
Meanwhile every effort was made to come to a friendly
understanding with the Burmese government. Colonel
Symes was sent on a mission to Ava; and after him a
Captain Canning and a Captain Cox, But the Burmese
court was impracticable. Bhodau Phra and his ministers
were puffed up with pride and bombast. They despised
the natives of India, and had been ignorantly led to be-
lieve that the English were traders without military capac-
ity, who paid the black sepoj^s to fight their battles.
At last the Burmese authorities grew vdolent as well as
insolent. They repeated their demands for the surrender
of political refugees who had escaped into British territory;
claimed possession of an island on the English side of the
594: HISTORY OF INDIA
frontier at the Naf river; and threatened to invade Bengal
unless their demands were promptly conceded.
The wars of Lord Hastings had secured the peace of In-
dia, but had been vehemently denounced in England. Lord
Amherst was therefore most reluctant to engage in a war
with Burma; he was ready to make any concession, short
of acknowledgment of inferiority, to avert the threatened
hostilities. But the Burmese refused to listen to reason,
and were resolutely bent on a rupture. In 1822 their gen-
eral Bundula invaded the countries between Burma and
Bengal ; conquered the independent principalities of Assam
and Munipore, and threatened Cachar. Subsequently Bun-
dula invaded British territory, and cut off a detachment of
British sepoys. Lord Amherst was thus forced into hostili-
ties, and in 1824 an expedition was sent against Rangoon
under the command of Sir Archibald Campbell.
Meanwhile the Burmese were inflated by the successes
of Bundula, and looked forward with confidence to the con-
quest of Bengal. Bundula was ordered to bind the Gov-
ernor-General in golden fetters, and send him as a prisoner
to Ava. But the British expedition to Rangoon took the
Burmese by surprise. They purposed invading Bengal,
and they may have expected to encounter a force on the
frontier; but they never reckoned on an invading army
coming to Rangoon bj'' sea. At the same time the English
invaders were almost as much surprised as the Burmese.
They had been led to expect a foe worthy of their steel ; but
they soon discovered that the Burmese army was the most
despicable enemy that the British had ever encountered. It
was composed of raw levies, miserably armed, without either
discipline or courage. Their chief defence consisted in stock-
ades, which were, however, constructed with considerable
skill and rapidity.
In May, 1824, the English expedition arrived at Ran-
goon. The Burmese had constructed some strong stock-
ades, but they were soon demolished by British artillery.
The troops were then landed, and found that Rangoon was
BRITISH INDIA 595
empty of population and provisions. The Burmese governor
had ordered the whole of the inhabitants — men, women, and
children — to retire to the jungle with all their flocks and
herds and stores of grain. As for the Burmese soldiery,
they had fled in terror at the first discharge of British guns.
Shortly after the landing the rains began; and the British
army was forced to remain at Rangoon, and to depend for
its subsistence on the suppUes that arrived from Madras and
Calcutta.
In December, 1824, Bundula approached Rangoon from
the land side with an army of sixty thousand men. Within
a few hours the Burmese soldiery had surrounded the Brit-
ish camp with stockades, and then burrowed themselves in
the earth behind. But Bundula was attacked and defeated;
his stockades were carried by storm ; and he fled in a panic
with the remains of his army to Donabew, a place further
up the river Irawadi, about forty miles from Rangoon.
Bundula was resolved to make a stand at Donabew. He
constructed field-works and stockades for the space of a mile
along the face of the river. He sought to maintain disci-
pline by the severity of his punishments; and one of his
commanders was sawn asunder between two planks for
disobedience of orders.
Early in 1825 the British force advanced up the river
Irawadi toward Ava, leaving a detachment to capture Dona-
bew. The detachment, however, was repulsed by the Bur-
mese, and the main army returned to Donabew and began
a regular siege. A few shells were discharged to ascertain
the range of the British mortars, and next morning the heavy
artillery began to play upon the works, but there was no re-
sponse. It turned out that one of the shells on the preceding
evening had killed Bundula. The brother of Bundula was
offered the command of the army, but was too frightened to
accept it ; and he then made his way with aU speed to Ava,
where he was beheaded within half an hour of his arrival.
Meanwhile the Burmese army at Donabew had dispersed in
all directions.
596 HISTORY OF INDIA
The British expedition next proceeded to Prome. All the
mad women in Ava, who were supposed to be witches or to
have familiar spirits, were collected and sent to Prome to
unman the British soldiers by their magic arts. Another
Burmese army was sent to attack Prome, but was utterly
defeated. The court of Ava was frantic at its losses, but
could not realize its position, and showed itself as arrogant
as ever. A brother of the king, named Tharawadi, bragged
that he would drive the English to the sea, and left Ava for
the purpose, but soon returned in the greatest terror.
The British expedition left Prome, and advanced toward
Ava; and the court of Ava, and indeed the Burmese gen-
erally, were panic-stricken at the invaders. It was noised
abroad that the white foreigners were demons, invincible
and bloodthirsty; that European soldiers kept on fighting
in spite of ghastly wounds; and that European doctors
picked up arms and legs after an action and replaced them
on then- rightful owners.'
Early in 1826 a treaty of peace was concluded at Yan-
dabo. The whole country from Rangoon to Ava was at
the mercy of the British army. Phagyi-dau, king of Ava,
engaged to pay a crore of rupees, about a million sterling,
toward the expenses of the war; and the territories of As-
sam, Arakan, and Tenasserim, were ceded to the British
government. The king was left in possession of the whole
of Pegu and Upper Burma, and was even permitted to re-
tain the maritime city of Rangoon ; while the British head-
quarters were fixed at Moulmein in Tena.serim.
Later on Mr. John Crawf urd was sent to Ava to conclude
a commercial treaty with the king. But the Burmese had
already forgotten the lessons of the war, and entertained but
little respect for an English envoy after the British army had
retired from the scene. Accordingly Crawf urd could effect
nothing of any substantial importance to either government.
' Fytche's Burma, Pasl and Present, (reueral Albert Pytclie's work con-
tains many interesting facts in connection with Burmese history.
BRITISH INDIA 597
He found the Burmese officials ignorant, unprincipled, and
childish, and in no instance endowed with the artifice and
cleverness of Hindus and other Asiatics. Some of them had
risen from the lowest ranks of life by the favor of the king;
one had been a buffoon in a company of play-actors, while
another had got a living by selling fish in the bazar. They
did not want any treaty whatever. They evaded every propo-
sition for a reciprocity of trade, and only sought to cajole the
envoy into restoring the ceded territories and remitting the
balance still due of the money payment. The country was
only sparsely cultivated, and there were few if any indica-
tions of prosperity. Phagyi-dau was in the hands of his
queen, the daughter of a jailer, who was older than her
husband, and far from handsome. She was known as the
sorceress, as she was supposed to have rendered the king
subservient to her will by the power of magical arts and
charms.
The first Biu-mese war is forgotten now by the princes
and chiefs of India; but in 1824 and 1825 the current of
events was watched with interest and anxiety by every na-
tive court. The different chiefs and princes of India had
not quite settled clown under the suzerainty of the British
government; and many restless spirits among the warriors
and freebooters of a previous generation would gladly have
hailed the defeat of the British troops in Burma, the over-
throw of order in India, and the revival of the predatory
system of the eighteenth century.
Suddenly, in the crisis of the campaign in Burma, there
was a fiasco in the Jat state of Bhurtpore on the British
frontier near Agra, which had been under the protective
alliance of the British government ever since the days of
Lord WeUesley. The Raja of Bhurtpore died in 1825, leav-
ing a son aged seven, named Bulwant Singh. The British
government recognized the succession of Bulwant Singh un-
der the guardianship of his uncle ; but a cousin of the infant
Raja, named Durjan Sal, corrupted the army of Bhurtpore,
598 HISTORY OF INDIA
put the guardian to death, imprisoned the little prince, and
took possession of the principality.
Sir David Ochterlony, the Resident at Delhi, was agent
of the Governor-General for Rajputana and Malwa. He be-
longed to the once famous school of soldier-statesmen, which
began with Robert Olive, and boasted of men like Sir Arthur
Wellesley and Sir John Malcolm, His Indian experiences
were perhaps larger than those of any living English officer.
He had fought against Hyder Ali in the old days of Warren
Hastings and Sir Eyre Coote ; and ten years previous to the
fiasco at Bhurtpore he had gained his crowning laurels in
the Nipal war. He saw that a conflagration was beginning
in Bhurtpore that might spread over Central India; and he
ordered a force to advance on his own authority to maintain
the peace of Hindustan, support the rights of the infant Raja,
and vindicate the offended suzerainty of the British govern-
ment.
Lord Amherst considered that the military preparations
were premature. He doubted the right of the British gov-
ernment to interfere in the Bhurtpore succession; and he
was alarmed at the strength of the great fortress of clay,
which had resisted the assaults of Lord Lake, and had long
been deemed impregnable by every native court in India.
Accordingly he countermanded the movement of the troops.
Sir David Ochterlon}^ was much mortified at this rebuff.
In the bitterness of his soul he resigned his appointment, and
died within two months, feeling that an illustrious career of
half a century had been brought to an inglorious close.
The vacillation of the British government induced the
usurper to proclaim that he would hold the fortress of Bhurt-
pore, and maintain his hold on the Bhurtpore throne, in de-
fiance of the Governor- General. The dangerous character
of the revolution was now imminent, for Rajputs, Mahrat-
tas, Pindharies, and Jats were fiocking to Bhurtpore to rally
round the venturous usurper.
Lord Amherst saw his error and hastened to retrieve it;
indeed his council were unanimous for war. An arm}^ was
BRITISH INDIA 599
assembled under Lord Combermere and began the siege of
Bhurtpore. The British artillery failed to make any impres-
sion on the heavy mud walls. At last the fortifications were
mined with ten thousand pounds of powder. A terrific ex-
plosion threw vast masses of hardened clay into the air ; and
the British troops rushed into the breach, and captured tka
fortress which had hitherto been deemed impregnable. The
usurper was confined as a state prisoner, and the infant Raja
was restored to the throne under the guardianship of the Brit-
ish government. The political ferment died away at the fall
of Bhurtpore, and all danger of any disturbance of the public
peace disappeared from Hindustan.
Lord Amherst embarked for England in February, 1828,
leaving no mark in history beyond what is remembered of
Burma and Bhurtpore. He was the first Governor-General
who estabUshed a viceregal sanatorium at Simla.
600 HISTORY OF INDIA
CHAPTER XVII
NON-INTERVENTION— LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK
A.D. 1828 TO 1835
LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK succeeded to the post
of Governor- General, and held the reins of govern-
ment for seven years, namely, from 1828 to 1835.
Twenty-two years had passed away since 1806, when he
had been recalled from the government of Madras amid the
panic which followed the mutiny at Vellore. During the
interval he had protested in vain against the injustice of
his recall; and his nomination to the high office was re-
garded as an atonement for the wrong he had suffered.*
The government of Lord William Bentinck covers a
peaceful era. He remodelled the judicial sj^stem; intro-
duced the village revenue settlement into the northwest
provinces; reduced the allowances of civil and military
officers; and employed natives in the public service far
more largely than had been done by his predecessors. He
promoted English education among the natives, and founded
a medical college at Calcutta. He labored hard to introduce
steam navigation between England and India via the Red
Sea. He took active measures for suppressing the gangs of
Thugs, who had strangled and plundered unsuspecting trav-
ellers in different quarters of India ever since the days of
Aurangzeb. Above all he abolished the horrible rite of Sati,
or burning widows with the remains of their deceased hus-
' Lord Amherst left India in February, 1828. Lord William Bentinck did
not arrive until the following July. During the interval Mr. Buttervs^orth Bayley,
the senior member of council, was provisional Grovernor-General.
BRITISH INDIA 001
bands, which had been the curse of India from the earhest
dawn of history. Lord William Bentinck thus established a
gi'eat reputation for prudence, integrity, and active benevo-
lence, which has endured down to our own times.
The state of affairs in Malwa and Rajputana was soon
forced on the attention of Lord William Bentinck. Lord
Hastings had established closer political relations with the
Mahrattas and Rajputs, and his measures were beginning
to bear fruit during the administration of Lord Amherst.
British officers were appointed Residents at native courts
for the purpose of mediating between conflicting native
rulers, and otherwise keeping the peace. They were
strictly prohibited from all interference in the internal
administration; and each native state was left to deal
with faction, rebellion, or disputed succession, after its
own manner. Closer acquaintance, however, showed that
such extremes of non-intervention were incompatible with
the duties of the paramount power; and the subsequent his-
tory of India betrays a necessary conflict between the prin-
ciple and practice, which has continued till the present day.
At first there was little difficulty as regards the Mahratta
states. The policy of non-interference was preached by the
British government; but the British Residents at Gwalior
and Indore were occasionally driven to employ detachments
of the Subsidiary Force, or other British troops, to suppress
mutiny or rebellion, or to root out some dangerous outlaw.
Daulat Rao Sindia was weak and impoverished, and anxious
to meet the wishes of the British government. Mulhar Rao
Holkar was a minor, and the provisional administration was
equally as subservient to the British Resident as that of
Sindia. In Nagpore the Resident, Mr. Jenkins, was virtually
sovereign ; and during the minority of the Raja, Mr. Jenkins
conducted the administration through the agency of native
officials in a highly successful fashion. Meanwhile the sub-
jects of both Sindia and Holkar regarded the British govern-
ment as the supreme authority, to whom alone they could
look for redress or security against the maladministration
602 HISTORY OF INDIA
of their rulers; and a Resident often found it necessary to
use his own discretion in the way of remonstrance or expost-
ulation, without infringing the non-intervention poHcy.
In Rajputana circumstances were different. Captain
James Tod, one of the earUest political officers in that quar-
ter,' has left a picture of the country which recalls the plots,
assassinations, treacheries and superstitions revealed in
Shakespeare's tragedy of "Macbeth." There was the same
blind belief in witches and wise women; the same single
combats, bloody murders, and flights into foreign territory.
Every Raj was distracted by feuds ; and the princes and
chiefs of Rajputana had been impoverished by Mahrattas or
Pindharies just as the old kings of Britain were harassed
and plundered by the Danes. The Thakurs, or feudatory
nobles, were as turbulent, lawless, and disaffected as the
Thanes of Scotland, and often took the field against their
sovereign, like the Thane of Cawdor, with bands of kerns
and gallowglasses. Many a kinsman of a Maharaja has
played the part of Macbeth; while Lady Macbeths were
plentiful in every state in Rajputana. The hill tribes, in-
cluding Bhils, Minas, and Mhairs, were as troublesome as
the Highland clans; they made frequent raids on peaceful
villages, plundered and murdered travellers, and found a
sure refuge in inaccessible and malarious jungles.
Captain Tod was endowed with warm sj^mpathies and an
active imagination. He was distressed at the sight of de-
populated towns, ruined villages, and pauper courts; and
he could not resist the appeals for his personal interference
which met him on every side. He was charmed with the
relics of the feudal system which he found in Rajputana.
To him they recalled a picture of Europe during the Middle
Ages. One usage especially delighted him. Occasionally a
princess of Rajputana sent him her bracelet as a token that
she looked to him for protection. In other words she claimed
' Afterward Lieut. -Colonel Tod, and author of Annals and Antiquities of
Bajasthau.
BRITISH INDIA 603
his interference as her chosen knight, on whom she might
rely for succor, but whom she was never destined to see.
The condition of the three leading Rajput principalities
at this period proves the necessity for the interference of
British authorities. In Meywar (Udaipur), the reigning
Rana, the acknowledged suzerain of Rajputana, was depen-
dent for his subsistence on the bounty of the ruler of Kotah.
In Marwar (Jodhpur), the Maharaja had for years been
feigning insanity, and had abdicated the throne, out of ter-
ror of Amir Khan of Tonk; but, on the extension of British
protection to the states of Rajputana, he once more ascended
the throne and resumed the administration of the Raj. Sub-
sequently he quarrelled with his ministers and feudatory
nobles; treating them with savage violence, putting many
to death, and seeking the help of the British government to
support him in these barbarous proceedings. Indeed the
endless broils between the rulers of Rajputana and their
refractory Thakurs have at different intervals compelled
the British government to interfere for the maintenance of
the public peace; and it has often been difficult to decide
whether to interfere in behalf of a tyrannical Raja or in
support of oppressed Thakurs.
In Jaipur, which is much nearer British territory, mat-
ters were even worse than in Marwar. The Raja of Jaipur
had died in 1818, and was succeeded by a posthumous in-
fant son, under the regency of the mother, assisted by the
minister of the deceased Raja. Then followed a series of
complications not infrequent in Oriental courts. The regent-
mother had a Jain banker for her paramour, as well as other
worthless favorites. She squandered the revenues of the
state on these parasites, and especially on a Guru, who was
her religious teacher or adviser. She set the minister at
defiance, quarrelled with him on all occasions, and tried
to oust him from his office; and on one occasion there was
a bloody conflict within the palace, which ended in the
slaughter of thirty men. Next she prevailed on the Jaipur
army to break out in mutiny and march to the capital ; and
604 ■ HISTORY OF INDIA
there she distributed money among the rebel soldiery, while
the minister fled for refuge to his jaghir or estate in the
country.
The British government was compelled to interfere by
ordering the Jaipur army to retire from the capital, and
sending a British oflficer to effect a settlement of affairs. A
great council of Thakurs was summoned to court, and after
much debate and uproar decided on deposing the regent-
mother, and recalling the absent minister to fill the post of
regent. Such a measure would have been the best possible
solution of the existing difficulty, and would consequently
have been most satisfactory to the British government. But
such off-hand debates and resolutions, however right in their
conclusions, and however much in accordance with the un-
written traditions of Rajputs, were not in keeping with that
passion for order and formality which is a deeply rooted in-
stinct in EngHshmen. Accordingly Sir Charles Metcalfe,
the Resident at Delhi, proceeded to Jaipur, and convened
a second and more formal council, and subjected the votes
to a careful scrutiny. Then it appeared that a small major-
ity had been won over to consider the regent-mother as the
rightful ruler of Jaipur. To make matters worse, the regent-
mother insisted upon appointing her paramour to be minister
of Jaipur, to the scandal of the whole country; and Lord
Amherst's government was so pledged to the policy of non-
intervention that he dechned to interfere, and thus left a
legacy of difficulties to his successor.
Such was the state of affairs in Malwa and Rajputana
when Lord William Bentinck assumed the post of Governor-
General. Like other Anglo-Indian statesmen, before and
since, he landed in India with a determination to carry out
a large and liberal scheme of imperial government, which
was based more on the visionary ideal of home philanthro-
pists than on a practical acquaintance with the people and
princes of India. The result was that his conduct of political
relations with native states was the outcome, not of fixed
political views, but of a conflict between sentiment and
BRITISH INDIA 605
reality, during which his romantic aspirations died out,
and he was gradually awakened to a sense of the actual
wants and needs of native feudatories. The political ad-
ministration of Lord William Bentinck was thus a period
of probation and enlightenment; and it might be said of
him, and perhaps of nearly all his successors, that he was
never so well fitted for the post of Governor- General of India
as when he was quitting its shores forever.
It should however be borne in mind that at this period
the policy of the British government toward native states
was purely experimental. Non-interference was strongly
advocated by the home authorities, and strictly pursued by
the new Governor-General; but at this stage of political
development native rulers required counsel and discipline
rather than license. Before the British government became
the paramount power, native rulers were afraid lest their
subjects should rebel, and were thus kept to their duties
by the law of self-preservation. After the establishment of
British suzerainty, native rulers found themselves deprived
of their old occupation of predatory war or foreign intrigue,
and sought consolation in unrestrained self-indulgences.
They neglected their legitimate duties, and looked to the
British government for protection from rebellion. On tlie
death of a native ruler, disorders often reached a climax,
especially if there was a disputed succession, or the heir was
a minor; for then queens and ministers intrigued against
each other for power, and the country was torn by faction
and civil war. In the end the British government was com-
pelled to interfere in almost every case to save the state from
anarchy and ruin ; whereas, if it had only interfered in the
first instance, there would have been no disorders at all.
The progress of affairs in Gwalior, the most important of
the Mahratta states, is a case in point. Daulat Rao Sindia,
the same who had been defeated by Wellesley at Assaye,
died in 1827, leaving no son to succeed him. He had been
repeatedly advised by the British Resident to adopt a son,
but he had persistently refused. Latterly he had been in-
INDIA. Vol. II. X— 8
606 HISTORY OF INDIA
clined to give way, but nothing was concluded ; and when
he was dying he sent for the Resident, and told him to set-
tle the future government of the Gwalior principality as
he might think proper. After his death, his widow, Baiza
Bai, proposed to adopt a son, and carry on the government
as queen regent during the minority. But Baiza Bai wanted
to adopt a boy out of her own family, instead of out of
Sindia's family; and as this would have been odious to the
court and camp at Gwalior, and would have probably led
to serious commotions, the British government refused to
sanction the measure. Accordingly Baiza Bai adopted a son
out of Sindia's family, known as Jankoji Rao Sindia.
In course of time it appeared that Baiza Bai was bent on
becoming queen regent for life, and continuing to govern the
state after the young ^ \aharaja had attained his majority.
In 1833 Lord William Bentinck proceeded to Gwalior, and
both the queen regent and the young Maharaja were pre-
pared to abide by his decision; but he declined to interfere.
The result was that a civil war broke out in Gwalior and the
army took different sides. The young Maharaja at the head
of one body of troops besieged the queen regent in the palace
at Gwalior. The queen regent escaped from the palace,
placed herself at the head of another body of troops, and
marched toward the British Residency. On the way the
two armies met, and there would have been a deadly col-
lision had not the British Resident hastened to the spot and
prevented the conflict by his personal influence. Lord Wil-
liam Bentinck was then forced to interfere, and recognize
the accession of the young Maharaja to the throne, while
the queen regent was obliged to retire from the scene. Had
the Governor-General ordered this arrangement during his
visit at Gwalior all these disorders would have been averted.
In 1833 there was another complication at Indore. Mul-
har Rao Holkar died, and left no son to succeed him. His
widow adopted a son, and proposed, as in the case of Sindia,
to carry on the administration as queen regent during the
minority ; and the British government recognized the arrange-
BRITISH INDIA 607
ment. Another claimant next appeared in the person of a
collateral kinsman of matm-e years, named Hari Rao Holkar,
who was supported by the general voice of the country. Lord
William Bentinck might have settled the dispute by a word,
but again he declined to interfere. A civil war broke out in
Indore, and at last Lord William Bentinck was forced to put
an end to the anarchy by persuading the queen regent to
retire from the contest with her adopted son, and sending a
British force to the capital to place Hari Rao on the throne
of Holkar.
Matters were even worse in the petty states of Bundel-
kund, to the eastward of Malwa. A Raja of Sumpthur died,
leaving two queens or Ranis; the elder was childless, but
the younger had an infant son. The son was placed upon
the throne, and the younger Rani became regent-mother.
Then followed a fierce contest as to who should be appointed
manager. The minister of the deceased Raja would have
been the best man for the post, but other candidates were
put forward by the rival queens, and the British govern-
ment declined to interfere. The ex-minister fled to his
estate, but was attacked by a body of troops belonging to
the regent-mother. Finding his affairs desperate, he placed
his women and children on a funeral pile built over a mine
of gunpowder; he then destroyed them all in a terrific ex-
plosion, and rushed out and perished with his adherents,
sword in hand. Lord William Bentinck decided that the
regent-mother was responsible for the catastrophe, and still
declined to interfere.
In Rajputana the policy of non-intervention brought forth
equally bitter fruits. Meywar and Marwar were distracted
by broils between the rulers and their feudatory nobles. In
1828 the Rana of Meywar died, and seven queens and a con-
cubine perished on his funeral pile.
In Jaipur, where the regent-mother had appointed her
paramour to be minister, there was another tragedy. ' The
' See ante, p. 603.
G08 HISTORY OF INDIA
young Maharaja reached his majority, but the regent-mother,
and her paramour Jhota Ram, still remained in power, and
the country was in a state of anarchy. In spite of appeals
from the natives, Lord William Bentinck refused to inter-
pose the authority of the British government for the preven-
tion of disorders. In 1832 Lord "William Bentinck went on
a tour to the upper provinces, and had an interview with
Jhota Ram at Agra ; but he was persuaded by the artful
minister that it was the British authorities that were to
blame, and not the Jaipur government, and accordingly he
still declined to interfere.
In 1834 the regent-mother died, after keeping Jaipur in
a state of turmoil for sixteen years. Shortly after her death
the young Maharaja died under most suspicious circum-
stances, and all the leading people in Jaipur were convinced
that the prince had been poisoned by Jhota Ram. Indeed
Jhota Ram found the minds of the Thakurs so inflamed
against him that he was forced to tender his resignation.
At this crisis Major Alves, agent for the Governor-Gen-
eral in Rajputana, and his assistant, Mr. Blake, proceeded
to Jaipur, and were only just in time to prevent a bloody
contest between Jhota Ram and the Thakurs. The ex-min-
ister was ordered to remove to a distance from the capital ;
and there he concocted a scheme of revenge. In June, 1835,
after a morning attendance at the durbar, the two English
officers were attacked in the streets of Jaipur by assassins
who had been hired by Jhota Ram. Major Alves was se-
verely wounded, and Mr. Blake was barbarously murdered.
A judicial inquiry was held, and the offenders were con-
victed and suitably punished. An infant son of the deceased
Maharaja was placed upon the throne, and a British officer
was appointed to conduct the administration; and the coun-
try was rapidly brought to a state of peace and prosperity.
But while Lord William Bentinck was so lenient toward
Mahratta and Rajput states, he felt deeply the serious re-
sponsibilities incurred by the British government in perpetu-
atmg misrule in Oude. He could not shut his eyes to the
BRITISH INDIA 609
growing anarchy of the Talukdars;' the abominable oppres-
sions practiced on the Ryots; the lawlessness of the Oude
soldiery ; and the weakness and debaucheries of successive
rulers, who chose to call themselves kings. He felt that so
long as the British government continued to maintain a help-
less and depraved king upon the throne, it was morally re-
sponsible for the evils of the maladministration. In 1831
Lord Wilham Bentinck threatened the king of Oude that
the British government would take over the management
of the country unless he reformed the administration. Sub-
sequently the Court of Directors authorized the Governor-
General to assume the government of Oude; but by this
time Lord William Bentinck was about to leave India, and
he contented himself with giving the king a parting warning.
In two other territories, Coorg and Mysore, Lord "William
Bentinck was compelled to interfere ; but in order to appre-
hend the force of his measures it will be necessary to review
the history of the two countries.
Coorg is a Uttle alpine region between Mysore and Mala-
bar ; a land of hills, forests, ravines, and heavy rains ; abound-
ing in wild elephants and different kinds of game, and enclos-
ing valleys covered with cultivation. On three sides it is
walled off from its neighbors by stupendous mountains; on
the fom-th side by dense and tangled jungles.
The people of Coorg are hardy, athletic, and warlike;
clinging to their homes of mist and mountain with the de-
votion of highlanders. One-fourth of the population are
Coorgs properly so-called — a warrior caste, the lords of the
soil. The remaining three-fourths are low castes, who were
serfs or slaves under Hindu rule, but have since become free
laborers.
The Coorg Raj was founded in the sixteenth century by
a holy man, who migrated from Ikkeri during the breaking
up of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, and established a
spiritual ascendency in Coorg which grew into a temporal
' See ante, p. 465, note.
610 HISTORY OF INDIA
sovereignty. * He collected shares of grain from the villages
round about, and founded a dynasty known as the Vira Rajas.
For nearly two centuries nothing is known of the Vira
Rajas. In the eighteenth century Hyder Ali became sov-
ereign of Mysore, conquered Malabar, and demanded tribute
from the reigning Vira Raja of Coorg. Payment was re-
fused ; Mysore troops marched into the country ; mountains,
ravines, and forests presented insurmountable difficulties;
and the Coorgs offered a brave and bloody resistance. Hy-
der Ali achieved a partial success by capturing two or three
fortresses ; by deporting some of the inhabitants, and giving
their lands to Muhammadans ; and also by imprisoning and
murdering several members of the reigning family.
After the death of Hyder Ali his son Tippu tried to de-
stroy the independence of Coorg, and bring it under the Mu-
hammadan yoke ; but in every case the invaders were slaugh-
tered or driven back; and whenever a Raja was slain, the
Coorgs set up the eldest surviving prince as their Raja. The
new Vira Raja was then carried away captive into Mysore;
but after four years he escaped back to Coorg and renewed
the old struggle. During the wars against Tippu he was the
stanch ally of the English, but plundered the Mysore villages
with much cruelty and barbarity. After the downfall of
Seringapatam in 1799, he was relieved from tribute, but
sent an elephant every year to the British authorities in
acknowledgment of fealty.
For many years the British government abstained from
all interference in Coorg. The country was remote, inac-
cessible, and uninviting. The Raja was loud in professions
of loyalty and gratitude; anxious to stand well with the
British authorities, and hospitable to the few officials who
visited his country, entertaining them with field sports, ani-
mal fights, and other amusements of a like character.
In 1807 the Vira Raja lost his favorite wife. She left no
' A pict\ire of Ikkeri about this period is furnished by Delia Valle. See ante,
p. 188. The foundation of cities and kingdonas by holy men is a common inci-
dent in Hindu tradition.
BRITISH INDIA 611
son, but several daughters ; and the Vira Raja was anxious
that a daughter should succeed him on the throne of Coorg,
to the exclusion of his two brothers. Accordingly he begged
the British authorities to sanction the arrangement. The
English at Madras had no objection; they cared nothing
about the Coorg succession; they supposed that the Raja
might do as he liked, and that he only asked their permis-
sion out of loyal subserviency to the British government.
Accordingly the Madras government acquiesced as a matter
of course. Years afterward it was discovered that the suc-
cession of a daughter to the exclusion of a brother was con-
trary to the laws and usages of Coorg; and that the Vira
Raja had requested the sanction of the British government
in order that he might violate the long-established customs
of his own country.
Meanwhile the Raja had fits of insanity. He was sus-
picious, morose and bloodthirsty. He was in constant dread
of assassination, and ordered frequent executions during his
furious outbreaks. He beheaded his elder brother to secure
the succession of his daughter ; and he would have beheaded
his younger brother Lingaraja in like manner, but the latter
abjured the throne, and devoted himself to a life of sanctity,
and was generally regarded as stupid and imbecile.'
In 1809 the Vira Raja died, and was succeeded by his
daughter, while her husband became minister. Subse-
quently his younger brother, Lingaraja, appeared upon
the scene, and showed himself in his true colors. The
dullwitted devotee turned out to be an extremely crafty
and cruel individual. He forced the husband to retire from
the post of minister, and took the government of Coorg into
his hands ; and he then placed his niece in prison and gave
1 Sir Lewin Bowring, the late Chief Commissioner of Mysore, states thai the
Coorg Raja put hundreds of liis subjects to death in his mad fits of passion.
He expresses an opinion, in which most students in Asiatic history will concur,
that a brave people, like the Coorgs, would never have submitted to the tyranny
and barbarity of the Yira Rajas, but for a belief in their divine right or origin.
Bowling's Eastern Experiences.
612 HISTORY OF INDIA
out that she had abdicated the throne. There was no one
to interfere, and Lingaraja became ruler of Coorg.
But Lingaraja was in morbid fear of the British authori-
ties. He was guilty of the most cold-blooded cruelties, but
took every precaution to prevent their getting wind. He
allowed none of his subjects to leave Coorg; he surrounded
every British officer who visited his territories with guards
and spies; and constructed stockades and defences in the
passes leading into his country in order to shut out any
force that might be sent to coerce or dethrone him. He
died in 1820, and was succeeded by a son named Chikka
Vira Raja.
For the space of fourteen years the reign of Chikka Vira
Raja was a series of frightful barbarities. He murdered all
who had offended him, including all his relatives, old and
young, male and female. None were saved excepting his
own wives and children, and a married sister who fled from
his violence into British territory. Many were shot with his
own hands in the courtyard of the palace. Others were
dragged out of the palace at night and beheaded in the
jungle. His depravity was worse than his butchery; but
that was confined to the recesses of his zenana.
At last the atrocities of the Coorg Raja were noised
abroad, and the Raja was told that the British government
would no longer permit him to perpetrate such merciless
massacres. In reply he asserted that he was an independ-
ent Raja, and demanded the surrender of his sister and her
husband ; and when this was refused he declared war against
the British government.
In 1834 the career of Chikka Vira Raja was brought to
a close. A British force was marched into Coorg. The
country was difficult of access, and the Coorgs fought with
all the valor of their race; but the Raja was as cowardly as
he was cruel, and fled to the jungle and committed more
murders. The dead body of his minister was found hang-
ing from a tree; but whether he was hanged by the Raja,
or hanged himself to escape punishment, is unknown to this
BRITISH INDIA fU3
day. The Raja surrendered to the British authorities, and
laid all the murders at the door of his dead minister.
Lord William Bentinck, with his characteristic predilec-
tion for Hindu rulers, was anxious that the leading men of
Coorg should choose a Raja for themselves. The people
of Coorg, without a dissentient voice, declared their prefer-
ence for the government of the East India Company ; but
they stipulated that the Raja should be sent away from
Coorg, and never allowed to return, as otherwise they would
feel bound to obey him.' Accordingly Chikka Vira Raja
was removed to Benares, and afterward allowed to visit
England; and Lord "William Bentinck was reluctantly
obliged to annex the territory of Coorg to the British do-
minions, "in consideration of the unanimous wish of the
people."
Mysore was a more important country than Coorg. After
the downfall of Tippu in 1799, a child of the extinct Hindu
dynasty was placed on the throne of Mysore ; while a Brah-
man named Purnea conducted the administration under the
supervision of an English Resident." The boy was named
Krishnaraj. He was not heir to the Raj, but only a child
of the family; and he owed his elevation entirely to the
favor or policy of the British government. Accordingly, in
' The people of Coorg insisted on another condition, namely, that no cows
should be killed in Coorg. Indeed, all Hindus, whose feelings have not been
blunted by association with Muhammadans or Europeans, regard the slaughter
of a cow with the same horror tliat they would the murder of a mother. Some
authorities have cavilled at this stipulation as a concession to Hindu prejudices ;
and Sir John Malcolm refused to concede it to Daulat Rao Smdia after the \ic-
tories of Assaye and Argaum. But the two cases were altogether different.
Sindia was not in a position to demand such a concession; and setting aside all
other considerations, it would have been most impolitic to have admitted it.
Moreover, the people of Hindustan had been subjected for ages to Muhammadan
dominion. On the other hand, the acquisition of Coorg by the English was of
the nature of a compact. The concession was restricted to a little secluded ter-
ritory sixty miles long and forty broad, which had never been conquered by
the Muhammadans. Above all, the stipulation is no breach of morahty or
decency, although it maybe inconvenient to Europeans. If the Hindus of Coorg
had claimed the right to burn living widows, or to display obscene symbols on
idol cars, the case would have been different.
« See ante, pp. 471, 479.
614 HISTORY OF INDIA
order to give him a show of right, he was formally adopted
by the widows of the last two Rajas of the dynasty.
Purnea was a Brahman of experience and capacity. For
years he had been the minister of Tippu, and he soon won
the confidence of the English Resident at Mysore. He was
courteous, dignified, industrious, and careful to keep every-
thing unpleasant out of sight. Successive English Residents
— Barry Close, Mark Wilks, and John Malcolm — were more
Orientalized than political officers of the modern school, more
isolated from Europeans, and more dependent on natives.
They were well versed in native character, and more con-
siderate as regards native ways. They did not expect too
much from Brahman administrators; judging them by
Oriental rather than by European standards; and content
to let things alone so long as there were no outbreaks, no
brigands, and a good surplus in the public treasury. Ac-
cordingly things went on smoothly between the Resident
and the Brahman ; and as Purnea accumulated large sums
in the public treasury, he was lauded to the skies as a min-
ister worthy of Akbar.
But Purnea was a Mahratta Brahman of the old Peishwa
type, who considered that Brahmans should govern kingdoms
while Rajas enjoyed themselves. He was wilhng that Krish-
naraj should be a symbol of sovereignty, and show himself
on state occasions to receive the homage of his subjects ; but
he was bent on making the Raja of Mysore a puppet like the
first Maharaja of Satara, while he perpetuated his own power
as minister and sole ruler.
In 1811 Krishnaraj attained his sixteenth year, and pro-
posed to undertake the government of Mysore. The British
authorities had no objection; but Purnea was exasperated
at the threatened loss of power, and so far forgot himself as
to use strong language. Resistance, however, was out of
the question. The Raja was placed at the head of affairs,
and Purnea resigned himself to his fate, retired from his
post, and died shortly afterward.
The government of Mysore ought never to have been in-
BRITISH INDIA 615
trusted to a boj'', without some controlling authority. Krish-
naraj was a polished young prince of courtly manners, but
he had less knowledge of the world than an English charity
boy. He was imbued with a strong taste for Oriental pleas-
ures and vices, and there was no one to say him nay. From
his infancy he had been surrounded by obsequious flatterers,
who were his willing slaves. The result might have been
foreseen. Within three years the English Resident reported
that the accumulations of Purnea, estimated at seven mil-
lions sterling, had already been squandered on priests and
parasites. Later on he reported that the finances were in
utter disorder. The pay of the army was in arrears, and the
Raja was raising money by the sale of offices and monopo-
lies. Worst of all, the public revenues were alienated; the
lands were let to the highest bidders, and the lessees were
left to extort what they could from the cultivators, while
the Raja continued his wasteful expenditure on vicious in-
dulgences and riotous living.
Had the Raja been seriously warned in time that he
would be deposed from his sovereignty unless he mended
his ways, he would probably have turned over a new leaf.
But non-intervention proved his ruin. The English Resi-
dent advised him to reform his administration, but he used
soft and conciliatory tones, which were lost upon the Raja.
Matters grew worse and rebukes became louder, until at last
the Raja was case-hardened. The once famous Sir Thomas
Munro, the governor of Madras, solemnly pointed out the
coming danger to the Raja; but he might as well have
preached to the winds. Nothing was done, and the warn-
ings became a farce. The Raja promised everything while
the Resident was present; but when the Resident's back
was turned, he thrust his tongue into his cheek for the
amusement of his courtiers.
In 1830 the people of Mysore broke out in rebellion, and
the British government was compelled to send a force to
suppress it. It would be tedious to dwell on the military
operations, or the political controversies that followed. In
616 HISTORY OF INDIA
the end the administration of Mysore was transferred to
English officers under the supervision of the English Resi-
dent; while the Raja was removed from the government,
and pensioned off, like the Tanjore Raja, on an annual sti-
pend of thirty-five thousand pounds, and a fifth share of
the net revenues of Mysore.
But Lord William Bentinck was still anxious to perpet-
uate Hindu rule in Mysore. He proposed to restore the
government to the Raja under a new set of restrictions ; but
the home authorities negatived the proposal ; and indeed it
would probably have ended in the same kind of explosion as
that which extinguished the Mahratta Peishwa. He also
contemplated a restoration of the old status of an English
Resident and a Brahman minister; but Purnea's adminis-
tration would not bear investigation. It had been cruel and
oppressive; and the native officials under him had exacted
revenue by methods which were revolting to civilized ideas.'
Accordingly Lord William Bentinck left matters to drift on;
and a few years afterward the English Resident was turned
into a Commissioner, and Mysore became a British province
in everything except the name. Meanwhile Mysore rose to
a high pitch of prosperity; the people were contented and
happy ; and the yearly revenues of the province rose from
four hundred thousand pounds to more than a million
sterling.
In one other direction the administration of Lord Wil-
liam Bentinck is an epoch in the history of India. It saw
the renewal of the charter of the late East India Company
in 1833. Henceforth the Company withdrew from all com-
mercial transactions ; and the right of Europeans to reside
in India, and acquire possession of lands, was estabHshed
by law.
Lord William Bentinck retired from the post of Gov-
ernor-General, and embarked for England in March, 1835,
after having held the reins of government for nearly eight
years. Whatever may have been his shortcomings in Ms
' See ante, p. 479.
BRITISH INDIA 617
dealing with native states, there can be no question as to
the purity of Ms motives, his sincere anxiety for the welfare
of the princes and people of India, and the general success
of his administration of the British Indian empire. His
financial and judicial reforms are forgotten now, although
their results have largely contributed to the well-being of
the masses; but, in other respects, the material prosperity
of the empire dates from the administration of Lord Wil-
liam Bentinck. The acquisition of Cachar and Assam, be-
tween Bengal and Burma, during the first Burmese war,
was followed by the cultivation of tea, which has already
assumed proportions which would have appeared incredible
in a past generation, and ought to increase the domestic
comfort of every cottage throughout the British dominion.
But the most memorable act in his administration was the
abohtion of suttee. This horrible rite, which had been prac-
ticed in India from a remote antiquity, and had been known
to Europe ever since the days of Alexander, was prohibited
by law throughout British territories in the teeth of dismal
forebodings and prejudiced posterity; and not only has the
abolition been carried out with comparative ease,- but it has
recommended itself to the moral sense of the whole Hindu
community of India. In the present day, while the educa-
tion of females is still looked upon with distrust, and the
attempts to put an end to female infanticide are distasteful
in many quarters, every Hindu of ordinary education and
intelligence rejoices in his heart that the burning of living
widows with their deceased husbands is an abomination that
has passed away.
In 1835 Lord William Bentinck was succeeded by Sir
Charles Metcalfe as Governor-General of India. Sir Charles,
afterward Lord, Metcalfe, was one of the ablest and most
experienced civil servants of the late Company ; but his ad-
ministration was only provisional, and, beyond repealing the
regulations which fettered the liberty of the press, it occu-
pies but a small space in history. It was brought to a close
in March, 18-36, by the arrival of Lord Auckland.
618 HISTORY OF INDIA
The present chapter brings a decade of peace to a close.
It began at the end of the Burmese war in 1826, and ended
in 1836, when dark clouds were beginning to gather on the
northwest. The war decade begins with the outbreak of
hostilities beyond the Indus in 1839, and ends with the con-
quest of the Sikhs and annexation of the Punjab in 1849.
The administration of Lord Auckland opens up a new
era in the history of India. In the beginning of the century
the Marquis of Wellesley had deemed it a peremptory duty
to guard India against the approaches of France and the
first Napoleon. In the second quarter of the same century
Lord Auckland's government took alarm at the extension
of Russian power and influence in Central Asia; and this
alarm found expression in the first Afghan war. Before,
however, dealing with the preliminary operations in Kan-
dahar and Kabul, it may be as well to devote a preliminary
chapter to the current of events in Central Asia and the
previous history of the Afghans.
BRITISH INDIA 619
CHAPTER XVIII
CENTRAL ASIA— AFGHAN HISTORY
A.D. 1747 TO 1838
DURING the eighteenth century and first quarter of
the nineteenth, Central Asia was a neutral and little
known region; the homes of Usbegs and Afghans;
isolated from the outer world by desert and mountain ; but
environed more and more closely, as time went on, by the
four great Asiatic empires of Persia, Russia, China, and
British India.
Roughly speaking, the country northward of the river
Oxus is occupied by Usbegs ; while that to the south is oc-
cupied by Afghans. The Usbegs to the northward of the
Oxus may be divided into the dwellers in towns, or Usbegs
proper, and the nomads of the desert, better known as Tur-
komans. In modern times the Usbeg dominion has been
parcelled out into the three kingdoms of Khiva, Bokhara
and Khokand, which may be described as three semi-civil-
ized oases in the barbarous desert of Turkomans.
Ever since the reign of Peter the Great in the beginning
of the eighteenth century, Russia has been extending her
empire southward over the Kirghiz steppes which separate
her from the Usbegs. These steppes are occupied by the
three great tribes of nomads, known as the little horde, the
middle horde, and the great horde. Gradually, by a policy
of protection followed by that of incorporation, these rude
hordes of nomads were brought under Russian subjection;
and when Lord Auckland landed in India the tide of Rus-
620 HISTORY OF INDIA
sian influence appeared to be approaching the three Usbeg
kingdoms of Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand.
Meanwhile the British government had not been unmind-
ful of the progress of affairs in Afghanistan to the southward
of the Ox us. This region is distributed into four provinces,
each having a city of the same name, corresponding to the
four points of the compass. Kabul is on the north, Kan-
dahar on the south, Peshawar on the east, and Herat on
the west. Sometimes, but very rarely, these provinces have
been formed into a single empire having its capital at Kabul.
At all other times they have been parcelled out under differ-
ent rulers — sons, brothers, or other kinsmen of the suzerain
at Kabul, but often independent of his authority. In the
centre is the ancient city of Ghazni, the halfway house be-
tween Kandahar and Kabul, and the frontier fortress to
Kabul proper on the side of Kandahar.
Afghanistan is a region of rugged mountains and ele-
vated valleys. The Hindu Kush, which forms the western
end of the Himalayas, throws off toward the southwest a
series of mountain ranges, which bound Kabul on the north,
and then run in a westerly direction toward Herat, under
the names of Koh-i-Baba and Siah Koh. Indeed, the whole
region may be described as a star of valleys, radiating round
the stupendous peaks of Koh-i-Baba in the centre of the
Afghan country, which are clad with pines and capped with
snow. The valleys and glens are watered by numberless
mountain streams, and are profusely rich in vegetable pro-
ductions, especially fruits and cereals.' The lower slopes
throw out spurs which are bleak and bare, and have an
outer margin of barren or desert territory." The population
* Afghanistan produces wheat, barley, maize, millet and rice; also cotton,
tobacco, and castor-oil. It is famous for the culture of fruits, including apples,
pears, almonds, apricots, quinces, plums, cherries, pomegranates, limes, citrons,
grapes, tigs and mulberries. All of these fruits, both fresh and dried, are ex-
ported to Hindustan in immense quantities, and are the main staple of the coun-
try. Horses and wool are also exported to Bombay.
^ The heights of Koh-i-Baba bear traces of a remote antiquity. They include
the rock fortress of Zohak, the demon king of Arabia, who is celebrated in the
Shah Namah. They also include the valley of Bameau on the north of Kabul,
BRITISH INDIA 621
of Afghanistan is about five millions, but only about half
can be reckoned as Afghans.
In 1836 the Afghans were separated from British territo-
ries by the empire of Runjeet Singh in the Punjab; and also
by the dominions of the Amirs of Sinde on the lower Indus.
But Afghanistan had always been the highway for armies
invading India ; for Assyrian, Persian, and Greek in ancient
times, and for Turk, Afghan, and Moghul in a later age.
In the earlier years of the present century, as already re-
lated, missions were sent by the British government to form
defensive alliances with the Amir of Kabul and the Shah of
Persia against the supposed designs of the first Napoleon.
The Afghans are Muhammadans of the Sunni faith ; they
reverence the first four Khahfs, and have no particular ven-
eration for the prophet Ali. They are spHt up into tribes,
clans, and families, each under its own head, commander,
or Sirdar ; and they are often at war or feud, and often en-
gaged in conspiracies, rebellions, and assassinations. They
are tall, burly, active men, with oHve complexions, dark
Jewish features, black eyes, and long black hair hanging
down in curls. Their countenances are calm, and they
affect a frankness and bon-hommie; they will sometimes
indulge in a rude jocularity ; but their expression is savage,
and evil passions are often raging in their hearts like hidden
fires. They are bloodthirsty, deceitful, and depraved ; ready
to seU their country, their honor, and their very souls for
lucre. They care for nothing but fighting and loot ; delight-
ing in the din of arms, the turmoil of battle, and the plimder
of the killed and wounded ; without any rehsh for home life
or domestic ties; without a sting of remorse or a sense of
shame. There are no people on earth that have a finer
with huge colossal statues and temple caves ; the relics of the old Buddhist faith
which was driven out of Kabul by the advance of Islam under the Khalifs of
Damascus and Bagdad.
The Siah Koh includes the mountain fortress of G-hor, which gave its name
to a dynasty of Afghan conquerors of Hindustan, whicli was founded in the
twelfth century of the Christian era. The same name reappears in Gour, the
ancient capital of Bengal, which is now a heap of ruins. See ante, pp. 97-102.
622 HISTORY OF INDIA
physique or a viler morale. They are the relics of a nation
who have played out their parts in history. In bygone ages
they conquered Hindustan on the one side and Persia on the
other; but the conquering instinct has died away amid the
incessant discord of family feuds and domestic broils.
In olden time there were fierce contentions between Ab-
dalis and Ghilzais. The Abdalis were descended from the
sons of a wife, and the Ghilzais from the sons of a concu-
bine. Accordingly the Abdalis declared that they alone
were the true Afghans, and that the Ghilzais were an ille-
gitimate offspring. It was a later version of the old feud
between Sarah and Hagar, between the children of Isaac
and the children of Ishmael. Ultimately the Abdalis got the
uppermost, and the Ghilzais took refuge in the mountains.
The Abdahs are pure Afghans ; legitimate and orthodox.
In ancient times there was a distinguished offshoot, known
as the tribe of Barukzais. In modern times the Abdalis
have been known as Duranis; and a distinction has grown
up between the Duranis and the Barukzais. The origin of
this distinction is unknown, but the rivalry between the two
is the key to Afghan history. The dynasty of Ahmad Shah
Abdali was known as the Durani Shahs;' their hereditary
ministers were heads of the Barukzai tribe; and Afghan
history has culminated in modern times in the transfer of
the sovereignty from the Shah to the minister, from the
Durani to the Barukzai.*
The modern history of the Afghans begins with the assas-
sination of ISTadir Shah in 1747. This catastrophe convulsed
Asia like the sudden death of Alexander the Great at Baby-
lon twenty-two centuries ago. The overgrown Persian
' Ferrier says that the name of Durani was given to the Abdalis by Ahmad
Shah Abdali on his accession to the throne in 1747 ; but the name may have had
a still earlier origin. Both Duranis and Barukzais were originally included under
the name of Abdalis.
^ Tliere are more intricacies of clans and tribes, which would only bewilder
general readers. Thus the hereditary ministers, described hereafter as Barukzais,
were, properly speaking, Moliamedzais, the most distinguished branch of the
Barukzais. The Mohamedzais comprised about four or live thousand families,
while the Barukzais numbered fifty thousand families.
BRITISH INDIA 623
empire was broken up, and there were bloody wars for the
fragments. The Afghan Sirdars and their several contin-
gents left the Persian army, and went to Kandahar to choose
a, Shah for themselves, who should be a king in his own
right, and owe no allegiance to the Persian or the Moghul.
The Afghans could not agree about a Shah. The Sirdars
quarrelled and wi^angled according to their wont. Some
called out for Ahmad Khan,'the chief of the Duranis; others
called out for Jemal Khan, the chief of the Barukzais; but
in their hearts every Sirdar wanted to be the Shah. At last
a holy Dervish called out amid the uproar, ' ' God has made
Ahmad Khan the greatest man among you!" And he
twisted barley stalks into a ^vreath and placed it on the head
of Ahmad Khan. Then Jemal Khan hailed Ahmad Khan
as Shah;' and the people carried Ahmad Khan to the great
mosque at Kandahar; and the chief Mulla poured a meas-
ure of wheat upon his head, and proclaimed that he was the
chosen of God and the Afghans. So Ahmad Khan Diu-ani
became Shah of Kandahar, and Jemal Khan Barukzai was
the greatest man in the kingdom next the Shah.
All this while Kabul was held by certain Persian fami-
lies, who were known as Kuzzilbashes, or "Red-caps"; for
when Nadir Shah was alive he placed the Persian "Red-
caps" in the fortress of Bala Hissar,* to hold the city of
Kabul against the Afghans. The Kuzzilbashes are Shiahs,
while the Afghans are Sunnis; nevertheless, Ahmad Shah
made a league with the "Red-caps," and they opened their
gates to him, and he became Shah of Kabul as well as of
Kandahar. Henceforth Ahmad Khan spent the spring and
summer at the city of Kabul, and the autumn and winter at
the city of Kandahar.
Ahmad Shah treated his Sirdars as friends and equals,
but he showed the greatest kindness to Jemal Khan. He
' Shah signifies "king," and Mirza signifies "prince," or son of the Shah.
* The Bala Hissar, or "palace of kings," has been the scene of many a revo-
lution and massacre. At this moment (November, 1879) it is being destroyed
by the British army.
624 HISTORY OF INDIA
kept the Afghans constantly at war so that no one cared to
conspire against him. He conquered all Afghanistan to the
banks of the Oxus; all Herat and Khorassan; all Kashmir
and the Punjab as far as the Himalayas; and all Sinde and
Beluchistan to the shores of the Indian Ocean. He invaded
Hindustan, captured Delhi, and re-established the sovereign-
ty of the Great Moghul. ' He gave his Sirdars governments
and commands in the countries he conquered ; and they lived
in great wealth and honor and were faithful to him all his
days. He died in 1773, being the year after Warren Hastings
was made Governor of Bengal.
Ahmad Shah left eight sons, but he set aside his first-
born, and named his second son, Timur Mirza, to be his suc-
cessor on the throne. The first-born was proclaimed Shah
at Kandahar, but Timur marched an army against him;
and all the chief men on the side of the first-born deserted
his cause and went over to Timur, but Timur beheaded
them on the spot lest they should prove to be spies. Then
the first-born fled into exile, and Timur Shah sat on the
throne of his father, Ahmad Shah.
Timur Shah gave commands and honors to his Sirdars,
and heaped rewards on the head of Payendah Khan, the son
of Jemal Khan, who succeeded his father as hereditary chief
of the Barukzais. But the Sirdars thwarted the new Shah,
and wanted to be his masters ; and he abandoned himself to
his pleasures and put his trust in the Kuzzilbashes.
At this time the people of Balkh to the northward of
Kabul were insolent and unruly. ° They affronted every
governor that Timur Shah put over them, and refused to
pay taxes; and at last no Sirdar would accept the govern-
ment. So the matter became a jest among the Afghans;
and monkeys were taught to howl with grief, and throw
' See ante, pp. 392, 402.
^ Balkh is a fertile but little known territory to the northward of Kabul, be-
tween the so-called Himalayas (Koh-i-Baba) and the Oxus. It was the Baktria
of Herodotus. The beautiful Roxana, whom Alexander loved and married, was
a daughter of the king of Baktria.
BRITISH INDIA 625
dust upon their heads, whenever one of them was offered
the government of Balkh.
Meanwhile there were troubles in the Punjab and Sinde;
and Timur Shah went to Peshawar with his army of Kuz-
zilbashes to put them down. One afternoon the Shah was
taking his siesta in the fortress at Peshawar, and the Kuz-
zilbashes were slumbering outside the walls, when a com-
pany of armed conspirators got in by treachery, and sought
to murder him, Timur Shah heard the tumult, and ran
into a tower and barred the gateway. He then hastened to
the top of the tower, and shouted to the Kuzzilbashes below,
and unfolded his long Kashmir turban, and waved it from
the battlements. The Red-caps awoke just in time. The
conspirators were breaking into the tower when they were
assailed and cut to pieces. The leader of the conspiracy
escaped to the mountains, but was cajoled into surrender
by solemn oaths of pardon and promises of reward, and
was then put to death without scruple. Timur Shah was
so furious at the outbreak that he wreaked his vengeance
upon the inhabitants of Peshawar, and put a third of the
people to the sword.
After this massacre Timur Shah was stricken with re-
morse and terror, and grew melancholy mad. He died in
1793, leaving twentj-three sons to fight against each other
for the throne of Afghanistan.
The princes were preparing for war when Payendah
Khan, the new chief of the Barukzais, averted the blood-
shed. He had resolved that the fifth son of Timur Shah,
named Zeman, should succeed to the throne; but he called
all the sons of Timur Shah, and all the Sirdars, together in
one building in order that they might choose a Shah. After
long debate Zeman quietly left the assembly followed by
Payendah Khan; and all those who remained behind found
that the doors and windows were locked and barred, and
that the place was surrounded by soldiers. For the space
of five days no one could get out, and no one could break
in. Every day a small morsel of bread was given to each
626 HISTORY OF INDIA
prisoner, which suflBced to keep him alive; and when they
were all reduced to skin and bone, they yielded to their fate
and swore allegiance to Zeman Shah.
After this Zeman Shah resolved to cripple the power of
the Sirdars. He would not seek to conciliate them as his
father and grandfather had done; but he deprived them of
their commands and emoluments. He grew jealous of Pay-
endah Khan to whom he owed his throne, and removed him
from his posts and reduced him to poverty. The flames of
discontent began to spread abroad among the Sirdars, but
were quenched by treachery and massacre. Many were
tempted to court by oaths and promises, and were then put
to death. In this manner Zeman Shah established a reign
of terror at Kabul.
At this time the brothers of Zeman Shah were dispersed
over the provinces, and breaking out in plots and insurrec-
tions. The Sikhs were rebelling in the Punjab. Zeman
Shah set out from Kabul to repress the revolt; but he was
called back by the news that his eldest brother had been
proclaimed Shah at Kandahar, and that another brother,
named Mahmud Mirza, had rebelled at Herat. After a
while his eldest brother was taken prisoner and deprived
of eyesight; and Mahmud Mirza was bribed to quietness
by being appointed governor of Herat.
Zeman Shah next marched to Lahore, and quieted the
Sikh rebels in like manner. He cajoled the head rebel,
Runjeet Singh, into a show of obedience, and appointed
him Viceroy of the Punjab ; but from that day the Punjab
was lost to the Afghans, and passed into the hands of the
Sikhs. Runjeet Singh proved himself to be a warrior of
mark, who laid the foundations of a Sikh empire. His later
relations with the British government have already been told
in dealing with the administration of Lord Minto.
When Zeman Shah had settled Lahore, he placed his
brother Shah Shuja m the government of Peshawar,
which was the gate of the Punjab, and then returned to
Kabul.
BRITISH INDIA 627
"While Zeman Shah was at Lahore, he threatened to in-
vade Hindustan, and invited Lord Wellesley to join him
in the conquest of the Malirattas. Had Lord Wellesley
been acquainted with the surroundings of Zeman Shah,
he would have scoffed at the idea of an Afghan in-
vasion.
No sooner had Zeman Shah returned to Kabul than tid-
ings reached him that the Barukzais were plotting against
him at Kandahar, to avenge the disgrace of Payendah Khan,
the chief of their tribe. Accordingly Zeman Shah hurried
away to Kandahar, and thought to crush the Barukzais by
confiscating their wealth, and executing all who were dis-
affected. The Barukzais grew desperate, and plotted to set
up Shah Shuja of Peshawar in the room of Zeman Shah ; but
the plot was betrayed by one of the conspirators. Accord-
ingly Payendah Khan, and every Sirdar who had leagued
with him, were summoned to the fortress at Kandahar un-
der the pretence of being consulted by the Shah on public
affairs. One by one they were conducted into the presence
of Zeman Shah and butchered on the spot, and their bodies
were exposed in the public square. In this way Zeman
Shah established his authority at Kandahar, and then re-
turned to Kabul.
Payendah Khan, chief of the Barukzais, left nineteen
sons by six different mothers, and the eldest was named
Futih Khan. When the unfortunate father was murdered
at Kandahar, Futih Khan fled to Herat, and began to plot
with Mahmud Mirza, the governor of Herat, to dethrone
Zeman Shah and set up Mahmud in his room. When their
plans were all ready, Futih Khan conducted Mahmud to
Kandahar, and raised an army of Barukzais, and marched
toward Kabul. Zeman Shah came out against them, but
was defeated utterly, and taken prisoner and deprived of
sight. Mahmud thus became Shah of Afghanistan, while
his blinded brother Zeman fled through many countries, and
suffered many pangs and privations, and at last found an
asylum at Ludhiana in British territory. Thus the once
628 HISTORY OF INDIA
famous Afghan ruler, who threatened to conquer Hindu-
stan, and excited the alarm of Lord "Wellesley, was sup-
ported to the end of his days on a pension granted him ^y
the East India Company.
Mahmud was Shah only in name ; the real sovereign was
Futih Khan, the Vizier, who had succeeded his father as
chief of the Barukzais. Mahmud the Durani Shah was a
puppet like the Mahratta Sahu; while Futih Khan, the
Barukzai Vizier, was a Peishwa like Balaji Rao.
In 1801-2 there were risings of the Ghilzais, the chil-
dren of the concubine, the Ishmaels of the Afghans; but
Futih Khan attacked them in the mountains and routed
them with great slaughter ; and he then built up a pyramid
with their heads and returned in triumph to Kabul,
After a while there was a bloody strife at Kabul between
the Sunnis and the Shiahs; in other words, between the Af-
ghans and the Red-caps. The Red-caps thought to spite the
Sunnis by tormenting an Afghan boy; and the parents of
the lad went to the palace for justice, and were told to go
to the mosque.* The parents ran into the great mosque at
Kabul while a Saiyid was preaching, and rent their clothes
and filled the air with their cries. The Saiyid stopped the
sermon to hear their story, and then issued a fatwa* for the
slaughter of all the Shiahs in Kabul. The Sunni congrega-
tion armed themselves and rushed to the quarter of the Kuz-
zilbashes, slaughtered every Red-cap they met in the streets,
and then broke into the houses, carried oif the plunder, and
set the buildings on fire. The storm raged throughout four
days. At last the Barukzai Vizier interposed with a troop
of horsemen, and put a stop to the riot, but not before four
hundred Kuzzilbashes had been slain.
The Sunnis had been scattered b}^ matchlock and sabre,
' The Durani Shahs had always trimmed between the Afghans and the Kuz-
zilbashes, or Red-caps, and stood aloof from cver_y conflicl between the two.
Accordingly both the Durani Shah and the Barukzai Vizier got rid of the petition
of the parents by referring the complainants to a religious tiibunal.
* A fatwa was a religious command bearing some resemblance to a papal bull.
BRITISH INDIA 629
but their Wrath was not appeased, and they swore to be re-
venged on the friends of the Shiahs. In 1803, when the
Barukzai Vizier was putting down revolts among the moun-
tain tribes at a distance from Kabul, Shah Shuja was per-
suaded to come from Peshawar, and was hailed by the Sunni
multitude at Kabul with shouts and acclamations. Mahmud
Shah fled in alarm to the Bala Hissar, but soon found him-
self a close prisoner in one of the dungeons. Shortly after-
ward the Barukzai Vizier returned to Kabul and became
minister to Shah Shuja.'
In 1809 there were other plots and other explosions. Shah
Shuja had grown impatient of the dictation of his Barukzai
Vizier and removed him from office; and then went to
Peshawar to receive Mr. Elphinstone, and make an alli-
ance with the English against France and Napoleon. Mean-
while the deposed Vizier leagued with the Kuzzilbashes, and
delivered his old master, Mahmud Shah, from his prison,
and placed him on the throne at Kabul. Shah Shuja com-
pleted his negotiations with Mr. Elphinstone, and then turned
back to go to Kabul, but was routed by the Barukzais and
Kuzzilbashes; and he fled through the Punjab to British ter-
ritory, and became a pensioner at Ludhiana like his brother
Zeman Shah.
Mahmud Shah was thus restored to the throne of Af-
ghanistan, but he was still feeble and effeminate, and a
mere tool in the hands of his Barukzai Vizier, Futih Khan.
He abandoned himself to his pleasures, and left the govern-
ment to his Vizier. But Afghanistan prospered under the
rule of the Barukzai. Futih Khan was a conqueror as weU
as an administrator. He reduced Sinde and Beluchistan to
obedience, but he could do nothing in the Punjab, for he
was constantly baffled and defeated by the Sikh ruler,
Runjeet Singh.
About this time Herat became a bone of contention be-
' The Barukzai Vizier'3 acceptance of office under Shah Shuja, while his old
master Mahmud was pining in the dungeons of the Bala Hissar, is one of those
typical data which serve to bring out the real character of the Afghans.
India. Vol. II. X— 9
630 HISTORY OF INDIA
tween the Afghans and the Persians.* It has already been
seen that when Zeman was Shah, his brother Mahmud be-
came governor of Herat. When Mahmud became Shah,
another brother, named Firuz, became governor of Herat.
Firuz coined money in the name of Mahmud Shah, and his
son married a daughter of Mahmud Shah; but Firuz ruled
Herat as an independent sovereign, and refused to send any
tribute to Kabul.
In 1816 Firuz was between two fires. On one side Kabul
demanded tribute ; on the other side Persia demanded pos-
session. At last Persia sent an army to take possession of
Herat, and Firuz was forced to send for help to Kabul. The
Barukzai Vizier rejoiced over the request. He marched an
army to Herat before the Persians reached the place; and
he entered the fortress and declared that Firuz was a rebel,
and took him prisoner and sent him to Kabul. At the same
time the Vizier's younger brother. Dost Muhammad Khan,
broke into the zenana and robbed the ladies of their jewels,
and carried away a girdle set with precious stones that was
worn by the daughter of Mahmud Shah. Futih Khan was
angry at this outrage, and ordered his brother to restore the
girdle ; but Dost Muhammad Khan refused to give it back,
and fled away to Kashmir.'*
All this while Kamran Mirza, the son of Mahmud Shah,
had been very jealous of the Vizier; and when he heard that
his sister at Herat had been robbed of her girdle, he com-
plained to his father very bitterly. So Mahmud Shah was
persuaded to avenge the insult by destroying the Vizier's
eyesight, and Kamran hastened to Herat to carry out the
' The Shah of Persia claimed Herat on the ground that it had been conquered
by Nadir Shah. The claim, however, was a mere sham. Persia might just as
well have claimed Kabul and Kandahar, since both provinces had been conquered
by Nadir Shah. The plain fact was that Ahmad Shah Durani had conquered
Herat, but his successors could not hold it, as it was too remote from Kabul ; and
Herat became an independent sovereignty in the hands of any Afghan prince
who obtained the government.
'■* This is the first appearance of Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the
Barukzai dynasty, upon the page of history. At a later period he was a leading
character in the Afghan war of 1839-42.
BRITISH INDIA 631
sentence. Futih Khan was surprised and bound, and his
eyes were pierced with red-hot needles in the presence of
Kamran.'
When Dost Muhammad Khan heard what had been done,
he raised an army in Kashmir and marched against Kabul
to avenge the atrocity committed on his eldest brother.
Mahmud Shah was seized with terror at the approach of
the avenging army, and fled awa}'' to Ghazni, the half-way
fortress between Kabul and Kandahar. At Ghazni he was
joined by his son, Kamran, and the blind Barukzai Vizier
from Herat. But his kingdom had passed out of his hands,
and his troops deserted him in large numbers, and went over
to Dost Muhammad Khan. In his wrath he sent for the
blind Vizier, and ordered his Sirdars to put him to death
before his eyes. Kamran struck the first blow. All the
Sirdars then began to torment the blind Vizier with their
daggers; and after enduring excruciating agony, Futih
Khan expired without a groan.
The plots and broils which f olloAved are tedious and be-
wildering. Mahmud Shah and his son, Kamran, fled to
Herat, and became independent rulers of that remote ter-
ritory. The surviving sons of Payendah Shah, known as
the Barukzai brothers, assumed different commands in
Kabul, Kandahar, Kashmir, and Beluchistan, But Af-
ghanistan was without a sovereign, N"ot one of the
Barukzai brothers ventured at this period to usurp the
Durani sovereignty. They were willing to set up Shah
Shuja as a puppet and to rule Afghanistan in his name;
but Shah Shuja refused to accept their terms, and insisted
upon being absolute and uncontrolled sovereign of the Af-
' Tho following table of Durani Shahs and Barukzai Tiziers may be found
a convenient aid to the memory:
Ahmad Shah Durani
Timur Shah "
Zeman Shah "
Mahmud Shah "
Shah Shuja "
Mahmud Shah (restored)
1747 Jemal Khan Barukzai . . 1747
1773 Payendah Khan " . , 1773
1793 Futih Khan " . . 1800
1800 " " . . 1803
1803 Dost Muhammad Klian Ba-
1809 rukzai, Amir of Kabul . 1826
632 HISTORY OF INDIA
ghans. Under such circumstances the Barukzai brothers
abandoned Shah Shuja, and he was forced to return to
Ludhiana. They then tried to set up another prince of the
family ; but soon found that their new Durani puppet was
plotting against them with Shah Shuja on one side at Lu-
dhiana, and with Mahmud Shah on the other side at Herat.
The result was that the puppet was dethroned, and the
Barukzai brothers quarrelled among themselves, while Run-
jeet Singh occupied Peshawar and Persia threatened Herat.
At last, in 1826, Dost Muhammad Khan became master
of Kabul. Subsequently he was formally elected king by an
assembly of Sirdars, and proclaimed Amir by the chief Mulla,
with all the ceremonies that had been observed at the corona-
tion of Ahmad Shah. But he was environed by dangers. On
the north there were revolts in Balkh ; on the south one of his
brothers was holding out against him at Kandahar; on the
east he was harassed by Runjeet Singh at Peshawar, with
Shah Shuja and the British government in the background;
on the west there was Mahmud Shah and Kamran at Herat,
with Persia plotting behind and Russia looming in the dis-
tance. Amid such perplexities Dost Muhammad Khan was
willing and anxious to conclude an alliance with the British
government, provided only he could be assured that the En-
glish were not plotting to restore Shah Shuja, and would help
him to recover Peshawar from Runjeet Singh.
In the midst of these turmoils, Great Britain and Russia
were at variance in Central Asia. The bone of contention
was Herat. From a remote antiquity Herat has been the
key to India; the first turnpike on the great highway from
Persia to Hindustan. ' In 1836 Russia was making a cat's-
paw of Persia and urging the Shah to seize Herat. Great
Britain was anxious to keep Persia out of Herat, lest the
' The fortified city of Herat is a quadrangle about four miles on each side.
It was surrounded by a rampart of earth about ninety feet high which appeared
to environ the city like a long hill. The rampart was supported on the inside
by buttresses of masonrj'- ; and was surmounted by a wall thirty feet high flanked
with rouad towers and loop-holed for musketry.
BRITISH INDIA 633
place should "become a gateway through which Russia might
advance toward India. But the British government did not
tell Persia plainly that war would be declared if she attempted
to occupy Herat. Had tliis been done, Persia would never
have besieged Herat, and an English army wovdd never have
invaded Afghanistan.
The result of all this underplotting and hesitation was
that in 1837 the Shah of Persia marched an army against
Herat. By this time the government of Herat had changed
hands. Mahmud Shah had been murdered in 1829, and his
son Kamran was sovereign of Herat; but Kamran was a
slave to opium-eating, and other enervating pleasures, and
his Vizier, Yar Muhammad Khan, was the real ruler. Yar
Muhammad Khan was a cruel and extortionate despot; he
has been described as the most accomplished villain in Cen-
tral Asia; but at this period he hated Persia with all his
heart and soul. On one occasion he had been entrapped into
a meeting with a Persian prince on the frontier, under pre-
tence of settling all differences between Herat and Persia;
and two of his teeth had been forcibly extracted to induce
him to comply with the demands of the Shah.* Kamran
would have submitted to the Shah of Persia at the first
summons; but Yar Muhammad Khan swore that he would
never surrender Herat until his teeth were restored to his
gums; and that as long as he had a sabre to draw or a
cartridge to fire, he would never bow his head to the Kajar
Shah.
The siege of Herat was one of the most memorable events
of the time. It lasted from November, 1837, to September,
1838. The Afghans fought manfully, harassing the Persian
army with repeated sorties. Even the women and children
' The Persian prince was Abbas MLrza, eldest son of Futili Ali Shah, the sec-
ond sovereign of the Kajar dynasty. Abbas Mirza died a few months afterward,
and Yar Muhammad Khan escaped to Herat. Futih Ali Shah died in 1834, and
was succeeded on the throne of Persia by his son, Muhammad Shah, who be-
sieged Herat in 1837. Futih AH Shah, sovereign of Persia, must not be con-
founded with Futih Khan, the Barukzai minister at Kabul, who was murdered
in the year 1817.
634: HISTORY OF INDIA
mounted the walls and threw down bricks and stones on the
Persian soldiers. But the canals which supplied the city with
water were cut off by the enemy ; the inhabitants were starv-
ing; and Kamran was treacherously plotting the surrender
of the city to the Persians. Indeed, Herat would have been
lost to the Afghans but for the heroic exertions of a young
lieutenant, named Eldred Pottinger, who was present in the
city during the siege. Pottinger animated the Afghan sol-
diery by his gallant exploits, and cheered the drooping spirits
of Yar Muhammad Khan by his energy and counsel. At
last the siege was brought to a close by diplomacy. The
British government threatened Persia with war, and the
Shah raised the siege of Herat, and returned to his own
dominions.
All this while Dost Muhammad Khan was most anxious
to recover Peshawar from Runjeet Singh. He implored
Lord Auckland to call on Runjeet Singh to restore Pesha-
war. But the British government had no desire to pick a
quarrel with Runjeet Singh, and declined to interfere. The
result was that Dost Muhammad Khan made advances to
Russia, and received a Russian mission at Kabul; and the
British government in return resolved to dethrone Dost
Muhammad Khan, and restore Shah Shuja to the throne
of Kabul.
BRITISH INDIA 635
CHAPTER XIX
AFGHAN WAR— LORDS AUCKLAND AND ELLEN-
BOROUGH
A.D. 1839 TO 1842
ON the 1st of October, 1838, Lord Auckland published
a declaration of war at Simla ; and shortly afterward
the British forces were on the move for Kabul. They
could not march through the Punjab, because Runjeet Singh
refused permission. Accordinglj'' they marched through Sinde
to Quetta; and there the Bombay column joined the Bengal
column. At Quetta Sir John Keane took the command of
the united armies, and then set out for Kabul.
Kandahar was captured in April, 1839. A British force
was left at Kandahar under the command of General Nott ;
while Major (now Sir Henry) Rawlinson was placed in po-
litical charge of the province in the name of Shah Shuja.
In July Ghazni was taken by storm,' and Dost Muhammad
Khan fled over the Oxus into Bokhara. In August the Brit-
ish army entered Kabul, and Shah Shuja was restored to the
throne of Afghanistan, Henceforth he was supposed to gov-
ern the country under the advice and help of the Enghsh
minister and envoy. Sir WilUam Macnaghten.
In November, 1839, the Russian government sent a coun-
ter expedition from Orenberg toward Khiva, with the view
of establishing Russian influence over the three Usbeg Khan-
ates to the northward of the Oxus. The time of year, how-
ever, was most unfortunate. Winter snows and waterless
* At the storming of Ghazni the late Sir Heniy Durand distinguished himself
as a young subaltern in the Engineers by blowing up the Kashmir gate.
636 HISTORY OF INDIA
wastes forbade the Russian force to reach Khiva ; and after
heroically fighting against the severest privations and dis-
asters, it was compelled to return to Orenberg.
Meanwhile the Afghans seemed perfectly satisfied with
British occupation. Large subsidies were paid by the En-
glish envoy to Afghan chiefs, as well as to the mountain
tribes who guarded the passes ; while the presence of the
English troops was a godsend to all the shopkeepers and
provision-dealers in the bazars. The British army remained
at Kabul during 1840. Toward the end of the year, Dost
Muhammad Khan surrendered to the English envoy, and
was sent to Calcutta, where he was detained as a prisoner,
but treated as a guest. The old Barukzai warrior was in-
deed often entertained at Government House, where he is
said to have played at chess with Miss Eden, the sister of
the Governor-General.
Meanwhile there were complications at Herat. After the
retreat of the Shah of Persia in 1838, the revenues of Herat
were exhausted, the troops were without pay, the inhabi-
tants were starving, and the Vizier, Yar Muhammad Khan,
was trying to raise money and get rid of the surplus popu-
lation, by selling the people as slaves to the Usbegs. The
British government averted these evils by advancing large
sums of money for the payment of the troops, the repair of
the fortifications, and the relief of Kamran and his Vizier;
no doubt with the view of establishing a permanent influence
at Herat.
Kamran and his Vizier were in no way grateful for these
subsidies. They suspected that the British government had
sinister designs on Herat, and accordingly opened up a treach-
erous correspondence with the Shah of Persia. Major D' Arcy
Todd, who had been appointed English envoy at Herat, with-
held the money payments on his own authority, unless the
Vizier agreed to receive a contingent of British troops into
Herat. The result was that the Vizier grew furious at the
stoppage of the subsidies, and called on Major Todd either
to pay up the money or to leave Herat. Major Todd was so
BRITISH INDIA 637
disgusted with the perfidy and greediness of the Herat rulers
that he threw up his post and returned to British territory.
Lord Auckland was naturally exasperated at the abandon-
ment of Herat. Matters had been squared with Persia, and
the continued presence of Major Todd would have sufficed
to maintain British influence at Herat. Major Todd was
dismissed from political employ, but found a soldier's death
four years afterward on the field of Ferozeshahar.
The British occupation of Afghanistan continued through
the year 1841, for it was not deemed safe to leave Shah Shuja
unprotected at Kabul. Meanwhile, the double government
satisfied no one. Shah Shuja was smarting under the dic-
tation of Sir William Macnaghten. The English envoy and
minister was in his turn impatient of Afghan ways and preju-
dices. The Afghan officials were disgusted with the order
and regularity of English administration, which was intro-
duced under the new regime. The Mullas refused to offer
up public prayers for Shah Shuja, declaring that he was not
an independent sovereign. Even the rise of prices, which
filled the pockets of the bazar dealers, lessened the value of
money and excited the discontent of the masses.
So long, however, as subsidies and money allowances
were lavished among turbulent Sirdars and refractory moun-
tain tribes, there was no lack of loyalty toward Shah Shuja
and his English allies. But the flow of gold could not last
forever. The revenues of Afghanistan had been overrated.
The British authorities had put their trust in the estimates
of Shah Shuja when at Ludhiana; forgetting the Machiavel-
lian maxim that it is dangerous to rely upon the representa-
tions and hopes of exiles. The expenses of the British oc-
cupation were so enormous that economy was imperative.
Accordingly Sir William Macnaghten began to cut down
the subsidies and money allowances. From that moment
the loyalty which had sprung up in a single night like the
prophet's gourd began to sicken and die away. The Af-
ghans grew weary of the English and their puppet ruler,
Shah Shuja. Conspiracies were formed; petty outbreaks
638 HISTORY OF INDIA
became frequent; while the Ghilzais, and other mountain
tribes at the passes, being no longer bribed into acquiescence,
became most troublesome and disorderly.
At this period there were no alarms for the safety of the
British army in Kabul. On the contrary, English officers
had been induced to bring up their wives and families from
the depressing heats of Bengal to the cool climate of Kabul ;
and no precautions were taken against a possible rising of
the whole people. The British cantonment was three miles
from the city, with only a mud wall round it that could be
easily ridden over. Sir William Macnaghten and his fam-
ily lived in a house close by the cantonments; he had been
appointed Governor of Bombay, and was about to be suc-
ceeded by Sir Alexander Burnes as envoy and minister at
Kabul. Burnes himself was as much at home at Kabul as
at Calcutta; he occupied a house near the centre of the city,
surrounded by bazars, and above all by a turbulent popula-
tion of Afghans and Kuzzilbashes, who were ever and anon
endeavoring to settle the knotty disputes between Sunnis
and Shiahs by force of arms.
Meantime there had been some changes in the command
of the British army of occupation. General Elphinstone,
an aged and infirm officer, unfit for the post, had taken the
place of Sir John Keane. Next to General Elphinstone were
Sir Robert Sale and Brigadier Shelton.
The British army of occupation was exposed to danger
from another cause. It had been originally quartered in the
fortress known as the Bala Hissar, which commanded the
whole city and suburbs of Kabul. So long as the British
kept possession of the Bala Hissar, they could hold out
against any insurrection. But Shah Shuja quartered his
harem in the Bala Hissar, and objected to the presence of
the English soldiers; and Sir William Macnaghten was
weak enough to remove the troops from the fortress, and
quarter them in an unprotected cantonment about three
miles from the city.
The catastrophe that followed may be told in a few
BRITISH INDIA 639
words. In October, 1841, Sir Robert Sale left Kabul with
a brigade to reopen communications between Kabul and
Jellalabad, which had been closed by the disaffected moun-
taineers. Sale effected his task after a long struggle and
considerable loss. His subsequent defence of Jellalabad
against the repeated assaults of a large Afghan army is
one of the heroic events in the war.
On the 2d of November, 1841, an insurrection broke out
in the streets of Kabul, Sir Alexander Burnes thought of
escaping to the English cantonment in the disguise of an
Afghan ; but he changed his mind, and resolved to hold out
to the last in his English uniform. He barricaded his house,
and sent to Macnaghten for a battalion of infantry and two
field-pieces. Such a force at the beginning of the outbreak
would have saved the life of Burnes. Its appearance in the
streets of Kabul would have led the Kuzzil bashes to rally
round Burnes, and raise the war-cry against the Sunnis.
But Macnaghten was doubtful, and General Elphinstone
was afraid that Shah Shuja might object, and the two to-
gether agreed to wait for further information. Meanwhile
the mob of Kabul, the most dangerous in Central Asia, was
surging round the house of the Englishman. Burnes held
out with thirty-two others from eight o'clock in the morning
until two in the afternoon, when the mob burned down the
gate, and rushed in, and all was over. Burnes and twenty-
three others were killed; the remaining nine escaped by a
miracle.
At three o'clock that same afternoon. Brigadier Shelton
made a lame attempt to enter the city with a couple of bat-
talions of infantry; but by this time the suburban popula-
tion had joined the rioters. It was impossible to cut- a way
through the narrow streets and crowded bazars, and Shelton
was compelled to return to the cantonment. Meanwhile
the uproar was increasing in the city. Thousands of Af-
ghans flocked to Kabul in hopes of plunder; and it soon
appeared that the whole Afghan nation had risen against
the rule of the foreigner.
640 HISTORY OF INDIA
At this crisis the British commanders appear to have
been paralyzed. General Elphinstone and Sir William
Macnaghten were planning a retreat to Jellalabad, the
half-way house between Kabul and Peshawar. Provisions
were running short; the people of Kabul kept back all
supplies from the British cantonment, and the army of
occupation was becoming demoralized.
At last Macnaghten began to negotiate with the leaders
of the insurrection, and especially with Akbar Khan, the eld-
est son of Dost Muhammad Khan, This man had fled from
Kabul about the same time that his father had made his way
to Bokhara; but, on hearing of the revolt, he had hastened
back to Kabul, and was bent on seizing the government of
the countrj\ Shah Shuja was shut up in the Bala Hissar,
but could do nothing; he was already ignored, and his end
was drawing nigh.
Akbar Khan and other Afghan Sirdars solemnly engaged
to supply the British army with carriage and provisions. In
return they received from Macnaghten promises of large
sums of money and hostages for the payment. But instead
of keeping to their engagement, the Afghans demanded more
money and more hostages. Winter had set in, and snow was
falling ; and it was even proposed that the British army should
remain at Kabul till the spring. At length, after many de-
lays and evasions, there was a final meeting between Mac-
naghten and the Afghan chiefs on the 23d of December,
1841. But the English envoy had given mortal offence to
the Afghans, and when he appeared at the meeting he was
suddenly attacked and murdered by Akbar Khan.
Subsequently the Afghan chiefs tried to explain away the
murder. Akbar Khan vowed that he had acted on the mad
impulse of the moment, and not with any deUberate intention
of committing murder. Negotiations were renewed, and in
January, 1842, the British forces began their retreat from
Kabul, followed by Akbar Khan and a large army of Af-
ghans. Then followed a horrible series of treacheries and
massacres. Akbar Khan demanded more hostages, includ-
BRITISH INDIA 641
ing English ladies and children. The Ghilzai mountaineers
covered the heights on either side of the Khaiber Pass, and
poured a murderous fire on the retreating force. Akbar
Khan declared that he could not restrain the Ghilzais, but
at the same time he permitted his own forces to share in
the massacre and plunder. Thousands of British troops
and camp-followers were carried off by successive volleys,
or died of hunger and privations, or fell down in the snow
from wounds or fatigue and were butchered by the Afghans.
Thus perished a force which left Kabul with four thousand
fighting men, and twelve thousand followers. Out of all
this number, only a sohtary individual, an English surgeon
named Brydon, managed to escape to Jellalabad, He was
brought in by Sale's garrison half dead from hunger and
woiuids ; but he lived to tell the tale for more than thirty
years afterward.
Such was the state of affairs in February, 1842, when
Lord Ellenborough landed at Calcutta and succeeded Lord
Auckland as Governor-General. Men's hearts were burst-
ing with shame and indignation as they heard of the murder
of the British envoy, and the destruction of sixteen thousand
men. Englishmen in India were burning to retrieve the dis-
grace which had befallen British arms, and to avenge the
slaughter which cast a gloom over the whole country. But
Lord Auckland had been too much oppressed by the disaster
to respond to the call ; while Lord Ellenborough, who suc-
ceeded him, was too much alarmed at the danger to which
the British garrisons were exposed at Jellalabad and Kanda-
har to plan such a scheme of vengeance as should vindicate
the honor of England, and restore the prestige of British arms.
A force was assembled under General Pollock to march
through the Punjab, and relieve Sale's garrison at Jellala-
bad. Runjeet Singh died in June, 1839, and the Sikh rul-
ers who came after him did not resist the passage of British
troops. In due course Pollock marched his army through
the Punjab and reached Peshawar, but halted there for
642 HISTORY OF INDIA
some weeks to reassure the sepoys who were reluctant to
enter the Khaiber Pass.
In April, 1842, Pollock crowned the heights of the Khai-
ber with British infantry, and engaged hotly with the moun-
taineers ; and within a short space of time the white dresses
of the Ghilzais were to be seen flying off in all directions.
He then pursued his victorious march through the Khaiber to
Jellalabad, and reached the place at a critical moment. Sale
had been closely beleaguered by a large army of Afghans
under the command of Akbar Khan; and he had just in-
flicted a heavy defeat on the enemy, and compelled Akbar
Khan to raise the siege and return to Kabul.
Meanwhile the city of Kabul was distracted by the strug-
gle between the factions of Barukzais and Duranis. A
Barukzai chief, named Zeman Khan, had taken possession
of the city;' while the Durani sovereign. Shah Shuja, shut
himself up in the Bala Hissar. Indeed Shah Shuja was in
sore peril and perplexity. He sent letters to Jellalabad,
swearing eternal devotion to the British government; and
he sent messages to the Barukzai leaders, swearing to drive
the British out of Afghanistan. At last the Barukzais called
upon him to lead the Afghan army against the British gar-
rison at Jellalabad, and bound themselves by solemn oaths
to protect him from all harm. The old Durani left the fort-
ress of the Bala Hissar decked out in all his robes and jew-
els; and was then shot dead by an ambush of matchlock
men, and rifled of all his precious things.
The Barukzais, however, failed for the moment to get
the mastery. The Bala Hissar was still in the hands of the
Duranis, and a son of Shah Shuja was proclaimed sovereign
within the walls of the fortress. The civil war continued to
rage between the two parties. There was fighting in the
streets from house to house, while the guns of the Bala
Hissar were playing upon the city.
At this juncture Akbar Khan returned from his defeat
' Zeman Khan was a nephew of Dosl Muhammad Khan. He had been
elected king by the Barukzais in the absence of Akbar Elhan.
BRITISH INDIA 643
at Jellalabad. Both Barukzais and Duranis were dreading
the return of the Enghsh ; and Akbar Khan commanded the
respect of all parties of Afghans by declaring that he was
negotiating with General Sale. But Akbar Khan had his
own game to play. He joined the Barukzais and captured
the Bala Hissar. Then he went over to the Duranis, paid
his homage to the son of Shah Shuja, and began to rule as
minister. The boy sovereign, however, was in mortal fear
of being murdered by his self -constituted minister; and he
at last escaped to the British camp, and placed himself under
the protection of General Pollock.
Akbar Khan thus became ruler of Kabul, and the fate of
the prisoners and hostages was- in his hands. He had not
treated them unkindly, but he was determined to use them
for his own purposes. He wrote to General Pollock offering
to dehver them up, provided the English departed from
Jellalabad and Kandahar without advancing to Kabul.
Pollock rejected the proposals. Akbar Khan then sent the
captives to a hill fortress far away to the northward; and
marched out of Kabul with a large army to prevent Pollock
from advancing on the Afghan capital.
Meanwhile Lord Ellenborough was hesitating whether to
withdraw the garrisons from Jellalabad and Kandahar, or
permit them to march to Kabul. Secret instructions were
sent to the two generals to withdraw; but the secret got
wind and raised a storm of indignation, as it was imagined
that the captives were to be abandoned to the tender mercies
of the Afghans. Accordingly Lord Ellenborough modified
his instructions, and ordered the two generals to use their
own discretion as regards an advance to Kabul.
General Nott was a hot-tempered officer, and when he
received the orders to withdraw he was furious with rage.
Both Nott and Rawlinson knew that a retreat from Kan-
dahar would raise the whole country against them, and end
in disaster like the retreat from Kabul. Rawlinson had
already tried to stir up the neighboring Durani chiefs to
rally round Shah Shuja, but found that they were as bit-
644 HISTORY OF INDIA
terly opposed to the British occupation as the Barukzais.
Accordingly there was no alternative but to wait for rein-
forcements; and for months the force at Kandahar was ex-
posed to desperate assaults, which were met by still more
desperate repulses ; while Nott and Rawlinson continued to
hope for a change of orders.
General Pollock was the mildest of men, but even he
was moved with shame and anger at the order to withdraw.
He wrote to Nott begging him not to leave Kandahar until
he heard more; and reported to headquarters that he could
not leave Jellalabad for want of transport. Subsequently,
he received the modified instructions; and in August, 1842,
he heard that Nott had set his face toward Kabul. Accord-
ingly he left Jellalabad accompanied by Sale, and entered
the Tezeen valley.
At Tezeen the British soldiers beheld a sight which could
never be forgotten. The valley was the scene of one of the
bloodiest massacres during the ill-starred retreat from Kabul.
The remains of their murdered comrades were still lying on
the ground, and the sight exasperated the avenging army.
At that moment the army of Akbar Khan appeared upon
the scene ; and the heights around bristled with matchlock
men from Kabul. Pollock's force advanced in the face of a
murderous fire, and gave no quarter. The enemy was utterly
routed ; indeed the victory at Tezeen was the crowning event
of the war. Akbar Khan fled to the northern mountains, never
to return until the English left Afghanistan ; and in Septem-
ber, 1842, the British flag was floating over the Bala Hissar.
Nott soon arrived at Kabul bringing with him the sandal-
wood gates of Somnath, which Mahmud of Ghazni had
brought away from Guzerat in the eleventh century, and
had since then adorned his tomb at Ghazni. This was a
whim of Lord Ellenborough's, who had ordered the gates
to be brought away as trophies of the war.*
' Sir Henry Rawlinson was of opinion that the gates were not genuine, but
fac-similes of the originals, which must have perished long ago. The author has
seen the gates at Agra, and lias no doubt of the correctness of Sir Henry Rawlin-
son 's conclusions.
BRITISH INDIA 645
All this while the probable fate of the prisoners and hos-
tages caused the utmost anxiety, Suddenlj^ all fears were
allayed. The captives managed to bribe their keepers, and
were brought into the British camp at Kabul amid general
acclamation.
The glory of the avenging army was marred by acts of
barbarity. The great bazar at Kabul was blown up by gun-
powder. It was one of the finest stone buildings in Central
Asia, but it was the place where Macnaghten's remains had
been exposed, and it was destroyed as a fitting punishment
for the crime. Amid the confusion, tlie two armies broke
into the city and perpetrated deeds in revenge for the
slaughter of their comrades in the Khaiber, over which
history would fain draw a veil.
The proceedings of Lord Ellenborough at the close of
the Afghan war were much condemned by his contempo-
raries. He issued a bombastic proclamation respecting the
gates of Somnath which exposed him to much ridicule. The
gates had been carried away from an idol temple by a fol-
lower of the prophet; consequently their recovery could not
delight the Muhammadan princes of India. Again the gates
had adorned the tomb of Mahmud of Ghazni; consequently
they were impure in the eyes of Hindus. Lord Ellenborough
also received the avenging army, on its return from Kabul,
with a show of painted elephants, and other displaj's of Ori-
ental pomp, which jarred against English tastes. But these
eccentricities are forgotten by the present generation, and
can hardly be treated as history.
One episode in the history of the Afghan war conveys a
useful lesson. In the heyday of success, when Afghanistan
was first occupied by a British army, it was proposed to es-
tablish British influence in the Usbeg Khanates to the north-
v>^ard of the Oxus. Colonel Stoddart was sent to Bokhara to
form friendly relations with the Amir; and Captain ConoUy,
who had been sent on a like mission to the ruler of Khokand,
joined Colonel Stoddart at Bokhara. The Amir of Bokhara
regarded both officers with suspicion, and kept them under
646 HISTORY OF INDIA
close surveillance ; but lie hesitated to proceed to extremities ;
for aught he knew, the British army at Kabul might be
moved across Balkh and the Oxus into Bokhara. But suc-
cessive disasters in Kabul sealed the doom of the two officers.
"When the news of the insurrection at Kabul and murder of
Sir Alexander Burnes reached Bokhara, both officers were
imprisoned in loathsome dungeons ; but when it was known
that the British army had perished in the Khaiber Pass they
were taken out of their dungeons and publicly beheaded in
the market-place of Bokhara.
BRITISH INDIA 647
CHAPTER XX
8INDE AND GWALIOR— LORD ELLENBOROUGH
A.D. 1843 TO 1844
THE first act of Lord Ellenborough after the Kabul
war was the conquest of Sinde. This territory occu-
pied the lower valley of the Indus. In the middle of
the eighteenth century it formed a province of the Afghan
empire of Ahmad Shah Abdali. Subsequently the Amirs or
rulers of Sinde established a certain kind of independence,
or only paid tribute to Kabul when compelled by force of
arms.
During the early part of the British occupation of Af-
ghanistan, the Sinde Amirs had rendered good service to
the British government; but after the disastrous retreat
from Kabul some of the Amirs swerved from their treaty
obligations. The result was a war which was triumphantly
carried to a close by Sir Charles Napier. In February,
1843, Napier won the battle of Meanee; and in the follow-
ing March he won the battle of Hyderabad in the neigh-
borhood of the Sinde capital of that name. The war was
brought to an end by the annexation of Sinde to the British
empire.
It would be useless, in the present day, to attempt to
review the Sinde question. Sir Charles Napier, who com-
manded the army, considered that the Amirs were guilty of
disaffection and deception; while Major Outram, who was
political agent in Sinde, considered that their guilt was not
sufficiently proved. One Amir, who professed the utmost
loyalty to the British government, and who convinced Sir
648 HISTORY OF INDIA
Charles Napier of the guilt of the others, was subsequently
convicted of perjury and forgery, which was punished at
the time, but since then has been more or less condoned.
The difficulty of proof among a people who cannot be
bound by oaths, and who have always been accustomed
to the forgery of seals and fabrication of documents, has
often enabled the guilty to escape, and may sometimes have
led to the punishment of the innocent. The question, how-
ever, of whether the Sinde Amirs were guilty or otherwise
of treacherous designs against the British government has
long since died out of pohtical controversy.
During the administration of Lord EUenborough there
was a change of policy in dealing with the Mahratta states
of Sindia and Holkar. Lord EUenborough remodelled the
government of Gwalior, and contemplated the annexation
of Indore. Such strong proceedings were direct violations
of the non-intervention policy of Lord William Bentinck;
but in order to decide how far they were expedient, it will
be necessary to bring the following facts under review.
The condition of Gwalior under Daulat Rao Sindia has
already been indicated.' It will be remembered that, at his
death in 1827, his widow Baiza Bai became queen regent and
adopted a boy to succeed her deceased husband as Maharaja.
In 1833 the boy attained his majority, but disputes arose
which ended in civil war. At last Lord "William Bentinck
was forced to interfere against his will, and the war was at
an end. Baiza Bai retired from Gwalior, and Maharaja
Jankoji Rao ascended the throne of Sindia,
Justice was satisfied by the elevation of the young Maha-
raja, but the queen regent was revenged. Baiza Bai had
proved herseK to be an able administrator; and as long as
she was sole ruler, the government of Gwalior worked
smoothly. On the other hand, Jankoji Rao Sindia was a
do-nothing Maharaja. He was content with the pride and
» See ante, pp. 606-7.
BRITISH INDIA 649
pomp of power; he was assured of the protection of the
British government; and he cared nothing for his country
or people. Accordingly the government was weak and dis-
tracted. The administration was carried on by a council of
ministers, but there was a rankling rivalry for the post of
premier between an uncle of the Maharaja, named Mama
Sahib, and the hereditary keeper of the crown jewels, named
Dada Khasji. In the end the uncle of the Maharaja got
the better of the jewel-keeper, and Mama Sahib became
chief minister.
Meanwhile the army of Gwalior had grown turbulent
and disaffected. It numbered thirty thousand infantry, ten
thousand cavalry, and two hundred guns. It was not re-
quired for defence, as Gwalior was protected against foreign
invasion by the subsidiary alliance with the British govern-
ment ; but it absorbed two-thirds of the revenues of Gwalior,
and resisted all attempts at disbandment or reduction.
The British government had no concern with the army
of Gwalior so long as it kept within Sindia's territories.
But the Punjab had become a political volcano. Ever since
the death of Runjeet Singh, in 1839, the Sikh army of the
Khalsa, numbering seventy thousand soldiers and three hun-
dred guns, had been a menace to Hindustan. Lord Ellen-
borough foresaw that sooner or later the Sikh army would
cross the Sutlej into British territory. A spark would have
kindled a flame in the army of Gwalior ; and if its move-
ments were combined with those of the Sikh army, they
would have raised such a storm in Hindustan as had not
been witnessed since the days of Nadir Shah.'
Jankoji Rao Sindia died in February, 1843, leaving no
children real or adopted. His widow, named Tara Bai, was
a girl of twelve years of age. This girl adopted a boy, who
' It was this consideration which induced Lord Ellenborough to pause before
sending the avenging army under General Pollock into Kabul. Meanwhile any
attempt at explanation would have precipitated a Sikh invasion. Consequently
Lord Ellenborough, while proving himself a statesman of forecast, was for some
time one of the best abused Governors-General that ever landed in India.
650 HISTORY OF INDIA
was a distant relative of her husband's family. The boy
was only eight years of age, but he was enthroned as Maha-
raja under the name of Jyaji Rao Sindia.' The adoption
was approved by the durbar and the army, and was recog-
nized by the British government.
The next question was the appointment of a regent. The
Gwalior durbar wished the administration to be carried on
as before by a council of ministers ; but Lord EUenborough
urged the appointment of one individual as regent. The
girl queen was anxious that the Dada should be regent;
but Lord EUenborough was in favor of Mama Sahib. Ac-
cordingly the Gwalior durbar was told that the Governor-
General preferred Mama Sahib, and Mama Sahib was ap-
pointed regent of Gwalior.
Then followed a feminine intrigue.* Tara Bai, in spite
of her youth, set to work with the other palace ladies to
thwart and harass Mama Sahib. The vexed and baffled
regent sought to strengthen himself against this female con-
federacy, by betrothing the boy Maharaja to his own niece;
but this step proved his ruin. Tara Bai feared that the
marriage would ultimately destroy her own influence over
the Maharaja; and in spite of the remonstrances of the Brit-
ish Resident, this young girl dismissed Mama Sahib on her
own authority, and assumed the name of regent, leaving all
real power in the hands of the Dada.
Lord EUenborough was excessively angry at this move-
ment, and well he might be. He had interfered in behalf of
a minister whom he would not support; and he had been
defied by a Mahratta girl of twelve. The restoration of
Mama Sahib was out of the question ; the Governor-General
could not reinstate a regent minister who had been outwitted
by a girl. He could, however, insist on the removal of Dada
Khasji ; and accordingly he ordered the British Resident to
withdraw from Gwalior, and not to return until the Dada
had been dismissed from office. The Gwalior durbar was
' In the present year (1880) Jyaji Rao Siudia is still Maharaja of G-walior.
BRITISH INDIA 651
greatly alarmed, and entreated the Resident to return, but
he was immovable.
Meanwhile the Dada had gained over the army of Gwahor
by his largesses, and disturbances broke out in which fifty or
sixty persons were killed. Accordingly Lord Ellenborough
determined to take active measures for restoring tranquillity
to Gwalior, and disbanding the army. In December, 1843,
he arrived at Agra, but there were no signs of submission at
Gwahor. He ordered the British army to advance to Gwalior
under Sir Hugh Gough. The Dada now made his submis-
sion, but Lord Ellenborough was bent on the disbandment
of the dangerous army.
The chiefs and soldiers of Sindia saw that the independ-
ence of the state, and the existence of the army, were threat-
ened by the British government. Accordingly they made
common cause against the Governor-General, and were de-
feated in the battles of Maharajpore and Punniar, both of
which were fought on the 29th of December, 1843.
In January, 1844, a treaty was concluded at Gwahor
which placed the future relations of the British government
with that state on an improved footing. The administration
was intrusted to a council of six nobles, which was called
the council of regency, and was required to act implicitly on
the advice of the Resident whenever he might think fit to
offer it. The new government was required to cede enough
territory to maintain a contingent trained and disciphned by
British officers, henceforth known as the Gwalior Contin-
gent. At the same time the overgrown army of Gwalior
was reduced to six thousand cavalry, three thousand in-
fantry, and thirty-two guns.
In February, 1844, there was a crisis in Holkar's state of
Indore. Hari Rao Holkar died in 1843, and was succeeded
by an adopted son, who died in 1844, leaving no son, real or
adopted. There was not only no heir, but no person having
the right to adopt an heir. The Indore state was of modern
origin ; it owed its existence to predatory conquest ; and it
was maintained for the sole benefit of the followers of the
65:2 HISTORY OF INDIA
court. Lord EUenborough ordered steps to be taken to
ascertain the national feeling on the subject.
Meanwhile the government of Indore was left under the
regency of the mother of Hari Rao Holkar, who died in 1843;
and this lady proposed to nominate a fitting successor to the
boy who died in 1844. Before, however, Lord EUenborough
could decide the question, the British Resident at Indore de-
clared, on his own authority, that the British government
would perpetuate the state of Holkar; and he enthroned the
nominee of the queen mother, with all the formality of a
hereditary chieftain, under the name of Tukaji Rao Holkar. *
Lord EUenborough was exceedingly wroth at this unauthor-
ized proceeding, and severely censured the Resident, but,
under the circumstances, he declined to interfere with the
succession of Twkaji Rao Holkar.
In June, 1844, Lord EUenborough was recalled from the
post of Governor-General. This arbitrary measure took
India by surprise. There had, however, been angry con-
troversies between Lord EUenborough and the Court of
Directors, and the former had not been always discreet;
but the abihty, industry, and energy of the noble earl had
deeply impressed the public mind, and there were many who
regretted his recall.
Lord EUenborough was succeeded by Sir Henry Hardiuge
in the post of Governor-General. During the remainder of
1844, and nearly the whole of 1845, the new Governor-Gen-
eral was chiefly occupied in watching the progress of events
in the Punjab imtil the breaking out of the first Sikh war.
Before, however, treating of those important transactions, it
will be necessary to glance at the current of affairs in other
quarters.
' In the present year (1880) Tukaji Rao Holkar is still Maharaja of Indore.
BRITISU INDIA G53
CHAPTER XXI
WAR DECADE— BURMA AND NIPAL
A.D. 1839 TO 1849
DURING the administration of Lords Auckland and
Ellenborough, there were strange troubles in Burma,
Nipal, and the Punjab. The native courts at Ava,
Khatmandu, and Lahore, were in a state of ferment, more
or less excited by the Kabul war; and the political workings
are all the more important from the pictures which they pre-
sent of Oriental Hfe outside the area of British suzerainty.
This ferment was not visible within the British pale. The
Mahratta governments of Sindia and Holkar were too weak
and distracted to indulge in hopes or fears as regards the
possible downfall of the British empire. The Rajput states
were a prey to the maladministration of their rulers and the
disaffection of their respective feudatories. In Marwar es-
pecially, the growing anarchy and disorder compelled the
British government to send a force to keep the peiace be-
tween the Maharaja and his Thakurs during the very year
that the colimins from Bengal and Bombay were advancing
on Kabul. Neither Rajput nor Mahratta troubled about
disasters in Central Asia, or imagined the possibility of a
renewal of the old wars in Hindustan.
But public feeling was different in the three courts out-
side the frontier. Rumors were rife that the Governor-
General had sent the flower of the British army into the
remote regions of Central Asia to fight against the Amir,
the Shah, and the Czar ; and the air was clouded with pre-
dictions that British power would be shattered in the coming
India. Vol. II. X— lO
654 HISTORY OF INDIA
storm, and that Brahma and Muhammad, Gotama Buddha
and Guru Govind would be avenged on the followers of the
Nazarene.
In Burma and Nipal there was marked hostility toward
the British government. Indeed in 1840 it seemed likely
that while one corps d'armee was occupying Kabul, and a
second was keeping the peace in Rajputana, a third would
be threading the valley of the Irawadi, while a fourth
would be climbing the slopes and shelves of the Hima-
layas. At Lahore there was less hostile display, but the
war spirit was burning beneath the surface like the hidden
fires of a volcano, and was destined at no distant period to
burst into flames.
Burma was essentially a weak government, and its army
was beneath contempt; but the heavy cost of the Burmese
war of 1824-26, and the terrible loss of life from fever and
malaria, had rendered the British government most anxious
to keep on friendly terms with the Court of Ava. In 1830
Colonel Burney was sent as a permanent Resident to Ava,
in accordance with the treaty of Yandabo; but he was
treated by the barbarous court more as a spy to be watched
and guarded, than as an envoy anxious only for the main-
tenance of friendly relations.
In 1837 there was a revolution in the palace at Ava. The
king, Phagyi-dau, had become hypochondriacal and insane,
and was dethroned hj his brother Tharawadi, and placed in
confinement. Then followed the inevitable massacre. The
sorceress queen, the heir-apparent, and the ministers of the
deposed sovereign, were all put to death, together with their
dependents. Tharawadi became king of Burma, and sought
to blot out the memory of his predecessor by removing his
capital from Ava to Amarapura.
Colonel Burney was alarmed at this revolution. He
knew that Tharawadi was a bitter enemy of the English,
and had heard him express contempt for the British gov-
ernment. Accordingly he deemed it prudent to retire from
BRITISH INDIA 655
the scene, and thus escape an insult which might provoke a
rupture.
Lord Auckland was angry at the withdrawal of Colonel
Burney, and sent another Resident to take his place. But
Tharawadi was intolerable; he was not only cruel and de-
praved, but arrogant and insolent to the last degree. No
English officer would remain long in the depressing climate
of Upper Burma, to be treated with scorn and contumely by
an ignorant barbarian. One Resident after another retired
to Rangoon on the plea of ill-health. At last in 1840 Tharar
wadi drove the Residency out of the capital, in violation
of the treaty of Yandabo. Lord Auckland's government
ignored the outrage rather than resent it, and abstained from
all further attempts to maintain a Resident at Amarapura.
Tharawadi was puffed up beyond measure at the success
of his efforts to throw off the EngHsh alhance. In 1841 he
marched a large army to Rangoon, threatening to drive the
English out of Arakan and Tenasserim. But his warlike
ardor cooled down as he approached Rangoon, for he re-
membered how the Burmese fled from before the EngHsh in
1824. Accordingly he put aside all thoughts of war, and
amused his subjects by casting a great bell for the golden
pagoda at Rangoon. After a few months he returned to his
remote capital in the upper valley of the Irawadi with all
the barbaric pomp of gilded barges, while nothing more was
heard of war.
In 1845 the reign of Tharawadi was brought to a close.
He had degenerated into a tyrant of the worst type ; drink-
ing himself into such paroxysms of fury that it was danger-
ous to approach him. In these mad fits he would shoot a
minister or stab a queen; and courtiers and ladies plotted
together for their own protection. Suddenly Tharawadi
passed away from the palace, and was never seen again.
"Whether strangled, smothered, or poisoned, is a palace mys-
tery, like the suicide with scissors in the palace at Stamboul.
It is sufficient to know that in 1845 Tharawadi ceased to
reign, and his eldest son ascended the throne of Burma.
656 HISTORY OF INDIA
Pagan Meng, the new sovereign, was of a different stamp
to his father. Tharawadi, with all his faults, had a majestic
presence, and spoke and looked like a king. Pagan Meng,
on the contrary, was a man of low tastes and vulgar pleas-
ures. He moved his capital from Amarapura to Ava, and
there he devoted himself to cock-fighting, ram-fighting, gam-
bling, and other mean pursuits. Meanwhile, like Macbeth,
he was in constant terror. He would not trust his own Bur-
mese courtiers, but preferred a Muhammadan for his minis-
ter. He condemned all suspected persons to the most horri-
ble deaths ; and stifled all complaints by throwing the blame
upon the minister. Two of his own brothers were butchered
in this horrid fashion, together with their wives, children,
servants, and dependents of every kind.
At last the people of Ava rose in revolt against such
detestable cruelty. The minister was given up to the popu-
lace to secure the safety of the king. For three days this
unfortunate Muhammadan was tortured by the mob, and
was then beheaded at the place of execution with numbers
of his creatures.
All this while there was no British Resident at Ava to
act as a check upon the king or his people. Rangoon was
near the sea, and was consequently free from such atroci-
ties ; but petty acts of tyranny were practiced by the local
governor toward European and American strangers, who
were fined, imprisoned, or put in the stocks on the most
frivolous charges. No civilized man will endure such bar-
baric insolence without appealing to his government for
redress; and no government can ignore such appeals with-
out loss of prestige and national honor. It was not, how-
ever, until the Punjab had been brought under British
administration that Lord Dalhousie saw the necessity for
remonstrating with the king of Burma. The sequel will be
told hereafter in dealing with Lord Dalhousie's administration.
The progress of affairs in Nipal during the war decade
was more serious than in Burma. There was some bond
BRITISH INDIA 657
of common interest between the Ghorka and British govern-
ments; while the court of Khatmandu was more respectable
and intelligent than the court of Ava, and had a much better
army at its command.
Here it should be explained that from a remote period in
history the sacred city of Benares has been the resort, not
only of pilgrims and devotees, but of Hindu political refu-
gees of every class and kind. Dethroned sovereigns, child-
less queens, disgraced ministers, and forlorn princes and
princesses have taken up their abode at Benares, and gen-
erally to intrigue and plot, as well as to sacrifice and pray.
Ever since the rise of the Ghorka dynasty in Nipal, revo-
lutions have been frequent in the court of Khatmandu. Some-
times an able minister of the stamp of Bhim Sein Thapa and
Jung Bahadur has kept the peace for a number of years; but
such intervals of tranquillity are always sooner or later
brought to a close by revolutions. Such revolutions were
common enough in every Hindu court in India before the
British government became the paramount power; and one
and all have been accompanied by a massacre, together with
a stampede to Benares of all the survivors of a fallen dynasty
or ministry. Consequently throughout the present century
Benares has been a hot-bed of intrigues and plots for restor-
ing some roj^al exile to Nipal.
From 1804 to 1837 Bhim Sein Thapa was the sole ruler
of Nipal ; not only as prime minister, but for a long period
as the paramour of the regent-mother ; and for thirty -three
years he filled up all superior posts and commands at the
annual Panjani with members of the Thapa clan ; and
rigidly excluded all others, whether Bharadars or Brah-
mans, from oflSce or power.
The Nipal war of 1814-16 did not weaken the authority
of Bhim Sein Thapa. The young Maharaja attained his
majority in 1816, but died shortly afterward, and was suc-
ceeded in his turn by an infant son. In 1832 the old regent-
mother died, but Bhim Sein Thapa was still supreme. The
infant attained his majority, and was placed upon the throne;
658 HISTORY OF INDIA
but he proved a weak and vacillating prince, and for a long
time was a mere puppet in the hands of Bhim Sein Thapa.
But Bhim Sein Thapa was thwarted by an unexpected
enemy. He had selected the daughter of a Hindu farmer
in British territory to be the bride of the young Maharaja.'
The girl grew into an ambitious and scheming woman, and
was constantly stirring up her husband to throw off the yoke
of the minister. Bhim Sein Thapa thought to neutralize or
divide her influence by introducing a second bride into the
palace. The step, however, proved fatal to his power. The
elder queen became more bitter than ever ; she soon behaved
like a female fiend bent on the destruction of Bhim Sein
Thapa and his family.
The restless activity of this extraordinary woman is a
remarkable feature in Nipal history. She formed a close
intimacy with Runjung Pandey, the son of the prime min-
ister who had been disgraced and ruined in 1803. She per-
suaded the Maharaja to restore the estates of the Pandey
family, which had been confiscated on that occasion. She
won over the Guru, or spiritual teacher of the Maharaja,
known as the Misr Guru ;'' and this religious intriguer soon
proved a most formidable opponent to the British government
as well as to the Thapa ministry.
Mr. Hodgson, the British Resident at Khatmandu, was
in danger of being entangled in this web of intrigue. Ever
since the war of 1814-16, Bhim Sein Thapa had been as
friendly toward the English as a Ghorka nobleman of those
times could allow himself to be. At the conclusion of the
war the enemies of the prime minister wanted the British
government to deliver the young Maharaja out of his hands ;
but the predecessor of Mr, Hodgson had declared emphatic-
ally that the British government would not interfere in the
' The duty of the minister to choose a bride for the boy Maharaja is as old
as the Maha Bharata. It will be remembered that Bhishma provided wives for
his half-brother and nephews.
- If a Brahman is addressed as a learned man he is called Pundit ; if other-
wise he is called Misr, or Mitter; i.e., Mithra, or the sun.
BRITISH INDIA 659
affairs of Nipal. This very refusal to interfere led the whole
court to regard that British Resident as the friend of Bhim
Sein Thapa; and Mr. Hodgson was thus hated by all the
enemies of the prime minister; by the elder queen, the Pan-
deys, and the Misr Guru.
In 1837 there was an explosion. The youngest son of the
elder queen died suddenly. It was widely rumored that the
infant had taken poison intended for the mother; and Bhim
Sein Thapa was charged with having instigated the court
physicians to administer poison to the elder queen. Amid
the commotion, Runjung Pandey, the head of the Paudey
clan, was appointed prime minister by the Maharaja. Bhim
Sein Thapa was arrested, put in irons, and thrown into prison,
together mth a nephew named Matabar Singh. The family
of Bhim Sein Thapa was placed under a guard, and all the
family property was confiscated. The physician who attended
the child was put to the torture until he implicated Bhim Sein
Thapa, and then he was put to death.
This revolution, however, only went half way, and was
then met by a reaction. There was a moderate party at
Khatmandu, represented by a Brahman named Rughonath
Pundit,' and a Bharadar named Futteh Jung Chountria.
This moderate party was willing that Bhim Sein should be
brought under some control, but was opposed to the destruc-
tion of the Thapas and elevation of the Pandeys. Again the
younger queen was a stanch friend of Bhim Sein Thapa : she
had been given in marriage to the Maharaja in order that
she might act as a counterpoise to the elder queen ; and she
perpetually urged the Maharaja to restore Bhim Sein Thapa
to the post of prime minister.
The working of these jarring influences ended in a polit-
ical compromise. The Pandeys were removed from the min-
istry. Rughonath Pandit, the leader of the moderate party,
was made premier, and moderate councils prevailed. The
Thapas were not restored to power, but Bhim Sein and his
' See last note ou previous page.
660 HISTORY OF INDIA
nephew, Matabar Singh, were relea,sed, pardoned, and ro'-
ceived by the Maharaja in pubhc durbar. They were then
each presented with a dress of honor and a caparisoned horse,
and returned to their respective homes amid the cheers and
acclamations of soldiers and citizens. The family estates
were still under confiscation, but a garden house was re-
stored to Bhim Sein Thapa, and a yearly pension was as-
signed for his support. Thus for a brief space matters
seemed to quiet down at Khatmandu.
These moderate measures would not satisfy either of the
two queens. In 1838 there were violent dissensions in the
palace. The elder queen insisted on the restoration of
the Pandeys to the ministry, while the j'ounger queen in-
sisted on the restoration of the Thapas. Suddenly the elder
queen left the palace in a fury, and proceeded to the temple
of Pusput Nath, accompanied by Ruhjung Pandey, declar-
ing that she would never return to the palace until the
Maharaja appointed her favorite to be prime minister.
The temple of Pusput Nath is about three miles from
Khatmandu. It is well worthy of description, for it is the
most celebrated fane in all Nipal. It is approached by a
road through the suburbs of the city, beautifully paved with
brick and granite. Hard by the temple precinct are the
houses of priests, three or four stories high, built of bricks,
which are hidden by woodwork curiously carved; with
wooden balconies supported by carved rafters, and railed
in by wood carvings. Intricate tracery hangs down from
the balconies in brOad wooden fringes; while other tracery
surrounds the grotesque windows. The temple precinct is
enclosed by a wall. Massive folding doors open into a hand-
some courtyard, filled with images, shrines, a kneeling fig-
ure of Siva, a huge bell, and other sacred objects in pict-
uresque confusion. The temple building stands in the centre
of the court facing the folding doors. It is a quaint struc-
ture roofed with lead, with silver doors, carved windows,
and large eaves covered with gilding. It is ascended by a
double fiight of steps, guarded by four scidptured lions, and
BRITISH INDIA 661
a large copper figure of a bull kneeling, superbly covered
with gilding.
In this sacred place the elder queen took up her abode;
and during her stay there the Maharaja attended on her
daily with all his court. This flight to Pusput Nath was
the first of a series of vagaries by which the elder queen tor-
mented the whole court and forced the Maharaja to do her
bidding. In the present case she was appeased by the retire-
ment of Rughonath Pundit, and the appointment of Runjung
Pandey to the post of premier.
In 1839 the elder queen succeeded in wreaking her ven-
geance on the Thapa family. The charge of poisoning was
revived. The execution of the phj'sician who attended her
infant son would not satisfy her thirst for vengeance. The
other court physicians were thrown into prison, and only
escaped torture by committing suicide. The brother of
Bhim Sein, named Runbir Singh, turned fakir, Bhim
Sein saw that he was doomed, and appealed to the Resi-
dent for protection; but the Resident could do nothing, for
he had been strictly forbidden to interfere in the affairs of
Nipal.
At last Bhim Sein Thapa was brought before the durbar,
and the so-called confessions of the dead physicians were pro-
duced against him, charging him with wholesale poisonings
at intervals during a long series of years. He manfully de-
fended himself, denounced the confessions as forgeries, and
demanded to be confronted with his accusers. Not a single
chieftain, however, dared to say a word in his behalf. The
Maharaja gave waj^to a burst of indignation, real or feigned,
and ordered him to be chained and imprisoned as a traitor.
The fate of Bhim Sein Thapa has man}' parallels in Orien-
tal history. He was threatened with torture, with dishonor
in his zenana, with torment and shame unknown to Europe,
until he killed himself in despair. His remains were dismem-
bered and thrown to the dogs and vultures. His family was
reduced to penury, and banished to the snows of the Hima-
layas; and a decree was issued declaring that the Thapas
662 HISTORY OF INDIA
were outcasts, and that no one of the Thapa clan should
be emploj^ed in the public service for the space of seven
generations.
All this while the elder queen and the Pandey ministry
had been intriguing against the British government. Mata-
bar Singh had been sent to the court of Runjeet Singh at
Lahore, and thus escaped the doom which had befallen his
uncle. A second emissary was sent to Burma to report on
the growing rupture between the Burmese court and the
British government. A third had gone to Lhassa to per-
suade the Chinese authorities that some recent conquests of
the Sikhs in Ladakh had been made at the instigation of the
British government. A fourth had been sent to Herat to
report on the prospects of a war between the English and
Persia. Meanwhile prophecies were disseminated through
British provinces predicting the speedy downfall of the Brit-
ish supremacy, and preparations were being made for war
throughout Nipal. It was thus evident that the Ghorka
court was only waiting for some disaster to the British arms
to declare war against the British government.
In 1840 Lord Auckland addressed a letter of remonstrance
to the Maharaja, and moved a corps of observation to the
frontier. This measure had a wholesome effect upon the
Maharaja. He dismissed the Pandey ministry in a panic,
and appointed Futteh Jung Chountria to be premier. This
latter chieftain belonged to the moderate party, and was
well disposed toward the British government. In 1841 the
Maharaja dismissed the Misr Guru, and the latter was forced
to go on pilgrimage to Benares.
The elder queen was driven frantic by this reversal of her
designs. She was not content with leaving the palace and
going to Pusput Nath ; she separated herself altogether from
the Maharaja, assumed the dress of a female ascetic, and
threatened to go on pilgrimage to Benares. She tried to
terrify the Maharaja into abdicating the throne in favor of
her eldest son, the heir-apparent. On one occasion she in-
duced the soldiery at Khatmandu to break out in mutiny.
BRITISH INDIA 663
She encouraged the heir-apparent to commit the most ex-
travagant and cruel acts in order to alarm the Maharaja.
All this while she was constantly urging the Maharaja to
reinstate the Pandeys, dismiss the British Resident, and
declare war against the British government.
The weak and vacillating Maharaja was moved to and
fro like a pendulum by alternate hopes and fears. At one
time he expatiated in durbar on the rumored disasters of the
English in Burma and China. At another time he was
assuring the Resident of his friendship toward the British
government, and offering to send his forces in support of the
British army in Afghanistan.
In 1841 the elder queen was indisposed, and the Maharaja
was anxious for a reconciliation. She became softened b}^
her sickness, and threw off her ascetic dress, and talked
of restoring the Thapas to their caste and estates. Toward
the end of the year she died suddenly, not without suspicions
of poison. After her death there was no more talk of hos-
tility with the British government, and the corps of observa-
tion was soon withdrawn from the frontier. All difficulties
in the relations between the two states were thus removed ;
and all signs of secret agents from other native states passed
away from Khatmandu.
In 18 4 2 a curious incident occurred which reveals some-
thing of the working of English journalism on Oriental
minds. A report appeared in a Calcutta newspaper that
the elder queen had been poisoned. The Maharaja was
wild with rage, and called on the British Resident to sur-
render the editor. He was determined, he said, to flay the
journahst alive, and rub him to death with salt and lemon-
juice; and he threatened to declare war if the Governor-
General refused to accede to his demand. After a suitable
explanation of British law and usage, the Maharaja cooled
down, and subsequently sent an apology to the Resident for
the warmth of his language.
At this period the mad freaks of the heir-apparent caused
great excitement in Nipal. He engaged elephants to fight
664 HISTORY OF INDIA
in the streets of Khatmandu, and caused the death of several
persons. He wounded Bharadars and their sons with a
sword or knife. He was only a boy of twelve, but he would
often beat his wives, who were girls of nine or ten. Some-
times he threw them into the river; and he kept one poor
girl so long in a tank that she died in consequence. A
female attendant interfered and he set her clothes on fire.
He was brutally jealous of his stepmother, the younger
queen and her two sons, and they ultimately fled from his
cruelty into the plains.^ In these acts of insane violence
he had been originally encouraged by his deceased mother
in the hope of terrifying his father into abdication ; and after
her death they became more frequent than ever.
When the news of the destruction of the British army in
the Khaiber Pass reached Khatmandu, the heir-apparent
indulged in still more dangerous freaks. He threatened
to murder the British Resident, or drive him out of the
country. He displayed a special spite against Jung Baha-
dur, the same chief who afterward became celebrated in
Europe. He commanded Jung Bahadur and other chiefs
at court to jump down wells at the hazard of their lives;
and no one seems to have ventured to disobey him.'' Many
of the common soldiers were maimed for life by being com-
pelled at his orders to jump down wells or off the roofs of
houses. Strange to say, the Maharaja made no attempt
to restrain his son in these eccentric cruelties, because the
astrologers had declared that the young prince was an in-
carnation of deitj^, and foretold that at no distant period
he would extirpate the English foreigners. The consequence
was that on more than one occasion the prince assaulted his
own father, and once inflicted severe wounds.
' Major, afterward Sir Henry, Lawrence succeeded Hodgson as Resident at
Khatmandu. He refers to these strange scenes, and gives the leading actors
the names of Mr. Nipal, Mrs. Nipal, and Master Nipal. See Memoirs of Law-
rence, by Edwardes and Merivale.
"^ In after years Jung Bahadur boasted that he liad practiced the art of jump-
ing down wells as the best means of saving his life on these occasions. See
Oliphant's Journey to Khatmandu.
BRITISH INDIA 665
Meanwhile the disasters in Kabul induced the Maharaja
to recall the Pandeys to court, and the Misr Guru from
Benares. One of the Pandeys, named Kubraj, amused the
heir-apparent by getting up mock fights between Ghorkas
and English. The English were represented by natives of
low caste painted white, and dressed in British uniforms;
and they were of course defeated, and dragged about the
streets in most ignominious fashion.
At this juncture, however, the Pandeys made a false
step. A number of libels, reviving the old scandal that the
elder queen had died from poison, were traced to Kubraj
Pandey, and he and other Pandeys were arrested and put
in irons. A State trial was held by the Bharada Sobah,
or council of chieftains, at which the Maharaja sat as Presi-
dent. The trial lasted several days, during which there was
a general stoppage of business. At last Kubraj Pandey
was convicted ; his right hand was cut off, his property was
confiscated, and he was sent into banishment.
Toward the close of 1842 the cruelties and insults of the
heir-apparent toward all classes, and the cowardly apathy of
the Maharaja, brought Nipal to the brink of a revolution.
The chiefs and people complained that they did not know
who was the Maharaja, the son or the father. The ferment
spread through the whole valley ; public meetings were held
on the parade ground at Khatmandu ; and at one large meet-
ing, said to number eight thousand people, a committee was
appointed for drawing up a petition of advice and remon-
strance to the Maharaja. Finally the soldiery made com-
mon cause with the chiefs and people. They demanded that
the Misr Guru should be sent back to Benares, and that the
surviving queen should be recalled from her voluntary exile
in the plains, and appointed regent of Nipal.
On the 2d of December, 1842, there was a meeting of the
chiefs and officers, at which the Maharaja unexpectedly made
his appearance. His presence prevented any allusion to the
regency of the queen. He sought by arguments, entreaties,
and threats, to induce the assembly to let things remain as
666 HISTORY OF INDIA
they were. In reply, he was told that the people could not
obey two masters; that he must either keep his son under
control, or abdicate the throne in his son's favor. Many
instances were quoted in which the soldiers had been pun-
ished by the heir-apparent for obeying the commands of the
Maharaja. The Maharaja promised to abdicate by and by,
and begged that during the interval his son might be ad-
dressed b}^ his title ; but the assembly raised a groan of dis-
sent. The Maharaja ordered the ofificers of the army to leave
the meeting, but they refused. Next he ordered the Bhara-
dars to leave, but they also refused. He then retired, and
the assembly broke up, convinced that the Maharaja and
his son were infatuated beyond redemption.
There was evidently something behind the scenes. It
was said that the Maharaja had solemnly promised the
deceased queen that he would abdicate the throne in favor
of her son, and that he was equally afraid of breaking his
oath and retiring from the sovereignty. The Chountria
ministry vacillated between father and son. They were
anxious to know who was to be Maharaja, but they were
jealous of the movement for the regency of the surviving
queen.
On the 5th of December the draft petition was submitted
by the committee to a- vast assembly of all the Bharadars,
municipal authorities, merchants, and officers and soldiers
of every grade. It was unanimously approved and ordered
for presentation on the 7 th, as the intermediate day was un-
lucky. The Maharaja was present with the heir-apparent,
and tried to browbeat the assembly, but all his wrath was
expended in vain.
On the night of the intermediate day there was an out-
break in the city of Khatmandu. The bugles were sounded,
and three hundred soldiers tried to arrest the Bharadars
under the orders of the Maharaja. The attempt failed, and
kindled the popular indignation to the highest pitch. Next
day the Maharaja yielded to the petition, and a deputation
was despatched to bring in the young queen.
BRITISH INDIA 667
Next day the queen was conducted into Khatmandu, and
invested with the authority of regent. The Bharadars and
oflficers presented their honorary gifts and congratulations.
But the ferment soon died out, and her authority ebbed
away. The Chountrias vacillated between the Maharaja,
the heir-apparent, and the regent queen; and the counsels
and commands of the queen were unheeded by the durbar.
In 184:3 the Chountria ministers were again in trouble.
They implored the queen to stand forth as the head of the
country, to insist on the December pact, or to retire to
the plains; and they promised to accompany her with all
the leaders of her party. But she said that they had let the
occasion slip, and the country was not ripe for another revo-
lution. In reality she was plotting to set aside the heir-
apparent on the plea of insanity, and to set up the elder of
her two sons in his room ; and she suspected that the Choun-
trias were secret supporters of the heir-apparent.
About this time all parties at Khatmandu were inviting
Matabar Singh to return to Nipal. This man was as able
and brave as his famous uncle Bhim Sein Thapa. He spent
some time feeling his way, but at last entered Khatmandu,
and had an interview with the Maharaja.
A few days afterward there was a council of Bharadars
at the palace. The written confessions of the Pandeys were
produced, admitting that the charges of poisoning originally
brought against the Thapas were all false. Five Pandeys
were then beheaded. Kubraj Pandey was dragged to the
place of execution with a hook through his breast. Others
were flogged and their noses cut off. Runjung Pandey, the
head of the family, was on his death-bed, and was merci-
fully permitted to die in peace. In this way Matabar Singh
wreaked his vengeance on the murderers of Bhim Sein
Thapa.
Before the end of 1843, the decree against the Thapas
was annulled, and Matabar Singh was appointed premier
in the room of Futteh Jung Chountria; but he soon found
that it was impossible to please the conflicting parties. He
668 HISTORY OF INDIA
tried to support the heir-apparent in the hope of procuring
the restoration of the confiscated estates of his family ; but
bj^ so doing he excited the bitter resentment of the queen;
and from this time she was apparently" bent upon working
his destruction.
In 1844 Nipal seemed to be again on the eve of a revolu-
tion. The violent acts of the heir-apparent, the vacillations
of the Maharaja, the rash and* overbearing conduct of Mata-
bar Singh, and the absurd and contradictor^'' orders which
daily issued from the palace, were exhausting the patience
of the Bharadars. These chiefs were anxious that there
should be but one ruler in Nipal, but they were unwilling
that Matabar Singh should be that ruler. Matabar Singh
would probably have cut his way to suj)reme power by a
wholesale massacre of Bharadars, as his uncle Bhim Sein
had done at the beginning of the century ; but he was re-
strained by the wholesome counsels of Major, afterward Sir
Henry Lawrence, who about this time succeeded Mr. Hodg-
son as British Resident at Khatmandu.
All this while Matabar Singh was plotting to drive the
Maharaja to abdicate the throne in favor of the heir-appa-
rent ; while the Maharaja and the queen were secretly plot-
ting to destroy Matabar Singh. The Maharaja, however,
continued to heap honors on the head of the minister he had
resolved to destroy. In the beginning of 1845, Matabar
Singh was appointed premier for life. Later on, the Maha-
raja bestowed other marks of favor on the premier. At last,
on the night of the 18th of May, 1845, Matabar Singh was
murdered in the palace.
The story was horrible. Late at night the minister had
been summoned to the palace, under the pretence that the
queen had seriously hurt herself. He hurried off unarmed
to obey the summons, accompanied by two kinsmen. The
kinsmen were stopped at the foot of the palace stairs, and
Matabar Singh was conducted alone to a room next the
queen's where the Maharaja was standing. As he advanced
toward the Maharaja a rapid fire was opened upon him from
BRITISH INDIA 669
behind the trellised screen. He begged for mercy for his
wife and children, and then expired. His mangled remains
were lowered into the street, and carried off for cremation
to the temple of Pusput Nath; and the paved road to the
sanctuary was trickled with his blood. Many chiefs were
suspected of being implicated in the murder. Jung Bahadur
boasted that he had fired the fatal shot ; but the prime mover
in the plot is said to have been Guggun Singh, the paramour
of the relentless queen.
The murder of Matabar Singh was followed by a min-
isterial crisis which lasted many months. Meanwhile all
India was watching the Sikh war on the northwest. The
war was brought to a close early in 1846, and the j^ear
was approaching its fourth quarter when Khatmandu was
aroused by a story of a massacre which sent a thrill of
horror through Hindustan.
Ever since the murder of Matabar Singh, there had been
bitter quarrels in the palace. A ministry had been formed
hj Futteh Jung Chountria ; and the queen had procured the
appointment of her favorite Guggun Singh, as a member of
the ministry.' At this period the queen exercised a com-
manding influence in the government of Nipal, and plotted
to secure the succession of her elder son to the throne in the
room of the heir-apparent.
The heir-apparent was filled with wrath at the aspect of
affairs. He swore to be revenged on the murderers of Mata-
bar Singh, and he publicly threatened Guggun Singh. He
abused his father for not abdicating the throne in his favor,
and declared that he would seize the government ; while the
Maharaja vacillated as usual, or played one party against
another to suit his own purposes.
On the night of the 14th of September, 1846, Guggun
Singh was murdered in his own house. The queen heard
of the catastrophe, and hastened to the place on foot, and
filled the air with her lamentations. She despatched a mes-
' The ministry comprised Futteh Jung Chountria as premier, three other
members as his colleagues and deputies, and Jung Bahadur as military member.
670 HISTORY OF INDIA
senger to tell the Maharaja of the murder; and she summoned
all the civil and military officers to the spot. The council as-
sembled in such hot haste that many appeared without arms.
The queen demanded the immediate execution of one of the
Pandeys, whom she charged with the murder ; but the Ma-
haraja refused to have the man put to death unless it was
proved that he was guilty. Altercations arose ; shots were
fired; and the premier and others fell dead, A party of sol-
diers, armed with double-barrelled rifles, poured in a mur-
derous fire, and more than thirty chiefs were slaughtered.*
Jung Bahadur was appointed premier on the spot, and un-
dertook the sole management of affairs.
The queen next called on Jung Bahadur to destroy the
heir-apparent and his brother ; but the new premier declared
for the heir-apparent, and carried out more executions. Sub-
sequently, the Maharaja proceeded on pilgrimage to Benares,
accompanied by the queen, leaving the heir-apparent to cany
on the government until his return to Khatmandu.
In 1847 the Maharaja left Benares to return to his capi-
tal, but he loitered so long on the way, and displayed so
many aberrations of mind, that the Bharadars installed the
heir-apparent on the throne, and declared that the Maharaja
had abdicated the sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Jung Bahadur was appointed prime minister
for life, and tranquillity returned to the court of Nipal. In
1850 Jung Bahadur paid a visit to England, and after his
return in 1851 an abortive plot was formed to destroy him.
Since then the Ghorkas have engaged in wars on the side
of Thibet, but nothing of permanent interest has transpired
in Nipal. Jung Bahadur died early in 1877.
' It is impossible to say how iiiMuy persons fell in this horrible butchery.
Reports vary from thirty to a hundred and twenty.
BRITISH INDIA 671
CHAPTER XXII
SIKH HISTORY— RUNJEET SINGH, ETC.
Ante 1845
THE history of the Punjab is one of the most impor-
tant episodes in Indian history. The Sikh govern-
ment was a theocratic commonwealth hke that of
the Hebrews under the Judges ; but they were a sect rather
than a nationaHty, animated with a stern mihtary enthu-
siasm like Cromwell's Ironsides. Nanuk Guru founded the
Sikh communitj'" in the fifteenth century, but great reforms
were carried out in the seventeenth century by Guru Govind.
The essence of the Sikh faith was that there was only one
God; that the Guru for the time being was his prophet;
that all Sikhs were equal in the eyes of God and the Guru;
and that all were bound together in a holj'- brotherhood
known as the Khaisa. Guru Govind abolished all social
distinctions among the Khaisa. He sprinkled holy water
upon five faithful disciples, namely, a Brahman, a Ksha-
triya, and three Sudras. He hailed them as Singhs or lion
warriors ; he declared that they were the Khaisa, ' or brother-
hood of faith in God and the Guru;^ and he promised that
whenev^er five Sikhs were gathered together he would be in
the midst of them. This idea of five Sikhs forming a Khaisa
will be found to have a strange meaning in the later historj".
Henceforth a representative of Nanuk Guru and Guru
Govind was the spiritual teacher of the Sikhs. He was em-
' According to Cunningham, the Khaisa signifies "the saved or liberated."
"^ G-od, as taught by G-uru Grovind, was a spirit invisible to ordinarj' eyes, and
only to be seen by the eye of faith in the general body of the Klhalsa.
672 HISTORY OF INDIA
phatically known as the Guru, and the watchword of the
Sikhs was "Hail, Guru!" ' He combined the functions of
a prince with those of a prophet. The city of Umritsir, the
".pool of immortality," became the religious centre of the
Sikhs; and every year there was a grand gathering at
the sacred city, like the Hebrew gatherings at Shiloh.
The Sikhs originally had no nationality. They were a
close religious community formed out of Hindus, Muham-
madans, and others. They were all soldiers of the Khalsa.
They were divided into twelve fraternities, known as Misls,
or "equals." The Misls were not tribes in the Hebrew sense
of the word. They were not descended from the twelve sons
of a common ancestor; there was no division of the land
among the twelve Misls as there was among the twelve
tribes. The Misls were fraternities, increasing and dimin-
ishing according to circumstances. Indeed, the number
"twelve" was more traditional than real; some gave birth
to other Misls, while some died out altogether.
The leader of a Misl was known as the Sirdar ; he was
the arbiter in time of peace, and the leader in time of war.
The Sirdar might be fervent in his devotion to God and the
Guru, and at the same time he might be nothing more than
a freebooter. Irrespective of the Misls, any Sikh warrior
who gained distinction by killing a tiger, or shooting an
arr.jw through a tree, would soon be joined by a band of
lawless followers, and call himself a Sirdar. There was no
question of pay. Every man provided himself with a horse
and matchlock, and perhaps other weapons, and then fought
and plundered under the banner of his chosen Sirdar, in the
name of God and the Guru.
The Sirdars were warriors and judges, like Joshua or
Jephthah, and they differed just as widely. There were
Sirdars of the Puritan type, who took the field at the head
of their sons and vassals ; tall wiry men, with eagle eye, sol-
dier-like bearing, unshorn locks, and flowing beards; armed
to the teeth with matchlock, pistol, blunderbuss, sword, and
' The cry "Hail, Guru!" implies "Hail to the state or church of the Gurul"
BRITISH INDIA G73
spear; and attended with all the showy accompaniments of
stately camels, prancing steeds, and tinkling bells. There
were also Sirdars of the Pindhari type, whose followers were
low caste men, turned into Sikhs by twisting up the hair,
combing out the beard, assuming a tall turban and yellow
girdle, and mounting a strong bony horse with a sword at
their side and a spear in their hand.
Besides these regular and irregular Sikhs, there was a
set of fierce fanatics known as Akalis. They were a stern
and sombre brotherhood of military devotees — soldiers of
God — instituted by Guru Govind, and distinguished by steel
bracelets and blue di-esses and turbans. The Akahs were
not lazy drones like Fakirs, for when not engaged in arms
they would find other work to do for the good of the com-
munity at large.'
Toward the close of the eighteenth century, the Sikh
Misls were dying out. The fraternities had been broken up
by assaults from Afghan and Moghul, by internal feuds,
and by the freebooting habits of irregular Sirdars. The
old religious fervor was still burning in the breasts of the
Khalsa, but there was no one to direct it or control it.
About 1800 the young warrior Runjeet Singh came to
the front. Born in 1780, he was appointed viceroy of La-
hore by the Afghan sovereign at Kabul before he was
twenty. His career was now before him. He stirred up
the enthusiasm of the Khalsa to throw off the yoke of the
Afghans. He engaged in conquests on all sides, and brought
new countries and peoples under the dominion of the Khalsa.
He never suffered the Khalsa to be at rest ; and he thus pre-
vented the Sirdars from revolting against his authority, or
fighting one another. His ambition was boundless except
' The late Captain Cuuiiiugham states in his History of the Sikhs that he
once found an Akali repan-ing, or rallier making, a road among precipitous
ravines. On the other hand, a Sikh fakir has been lying on a large stone outside
Allahabad for the last thirty or forty years, absorbed in religious contemplations,
and supported by voluutarj- subscriptions. He is said to have lain there during
the mutiny, regardless of shot or shell. The author saw him in 1878, when he
appeared to be a robust devotee of seventy, or perhaps older.
674 HISTORY OF INDIA
on the side of the Sutlej. Had he flourished a generation
earlier he might have conquered Hindustan; but while he
was still a young man, the British empire in India was an
established fact ; and the victories of Lord Lake had inspired
him with a wholesome respect for the British power. He
refused to protect Jaswant Rao Holkar in 1805; and he
yielded to the demands of the British government in 1809
as regards the Cis- Sutlej states. Henceforth he proved as
faithful to his alliance with the British government as Herod,
king of the Jews, was faithful to his alliance with Rome.
Meanwhile Runjeet Singh knew how to deal with the
Khalsa. The Sikh army was drilled by successive French
adventurers, named Allard, Ventura, Avitable and Court;
but Runjeet Singh would not needlessly excite the jealousy
of the Sirdars by treating the Europeans as trusted advis-
ers. Again, Runjeet Singh was known as the Maharaja of
the Punjab, but he only styled himself the commander of the
army of the Khalsa, and he ascribed all the glory of his vic-
tories to God and the Guru Govind.
Runjeet Singh was short in stature, and disfigured with
smallpox which had deprived him of his left eye. He could
neither read nor write. Yet this stunted and illiterate being
was gifted with a genius, tact, and audacity, which enabled
him to keep both the Punjab and army of the Khalsa under
perfect control. He shrank from inflicting capital punish-
ments, but he was remorseless in cutting off noses, ears, and
hands ; and for years after his death there were many poor
wretches at Lahore who complained of the mutilations they
had suffered under the iron rule of Runjeet Singh.
The religion of Guru Govind may have piu-ified the forms
of public worship, and reformed the morals of the lower
classes, but many abominations lingered in the land down
to the end of the Sikh government. Widows were burned
alive with their deceased husbands. Murders were frequent
in the provinces. The court of Lahore was a sink of iniquity;
rampant with all the vices that brought down fire and brim-
stone on the cities of the plain.
BRITISH INDIA G75
Runjeet Singh died in 1839, and five favorite queens and
seven female slaves were burned alive with his remains.
Then began a series of revolutions which shook the Sikh
dominion to its foundations, and left it prostrate at the feet
of the British power.
At this period the court of Lahore was split into two fac-
tions, the Sikhs and the Rajputs. The Sikhs had been jeal-
ous of the rapid rise of two Rajput brothers in the favor of
Runjeet Singh. The brothers were originally common sol-
diers, but had been raised to the rank of Rajas, and were
known as the Jamu Rajas. Gholab Singh, the elder, was
appointed viceroy of Jamu, between Lahore and Kashmir.
Dhian Singh, the younger, was prime minister at Lahore.
In 1839, Kharak Singh, eldest son of Runjeet Singh, suc-
ceeded to the throne of Lahore. He was an imbecile, but
he had a son of great promise, named Nao Nihal Singh.
Both father and son were bent on the destruction of the
Jamu Rajas. They began by the removal of Dhian Singh,
the younger of the two Rajas, from his post as head of the
administration at Lahore; and they appointed a wretched
parasite in his room, who was regarded with contempt by
the whole court. But the Rajput blood of Dhian Singh
boiled at the indignity, and he cut his successor to pieces in
the presence of his royal master. Kharak Singh took fright
at the murder, and shut himself up in his palace, where he
perished within a year of his accession.
In 1840, Nao Nihal Singh became Maharaja, but was
killed at his father's funeral by the fall of an archway.'
This sudden and tragic event led to the general belief that
both father and son were murdered by the exasperated ex-
minister.
Dhian Singh was an intriguer of the common Asiatic
' Strange to say, tliere is a plot in an ancient Hindu drama for the destruc-
tion of Chandra-gupta, the Sandrokottos of the G-reeks, by the very same artifice
of a falHng archway. The drama is known as "Mudra Rakshasa, " or the "Sig-
net of the Minister. " An EngHsli translation will be found in Wilson's Theatre of
the Hindus. For the story of Chandra-gupta, see ante, p. 67.
676 HISTORY OF INDIA
type. He thought to set up a son of Runjeet Singh as a
puppet Maharaja, and to rule in his name under the title
of minister. But he was checkmated for a while by the old
dowager queen, the widow of Kharak Singh. This lady
declared that the widowed queen of the young Nao Nihal
Singh was about to become a mother ; and on the strength
of this assertion she assumed the post of queen regent in be-
half of the unborn infant. The story was a farce, for the
alleged mother was a girl of eight; but the Sikh court at
Lahore held Dhian Singh in such hatred that all the chief
Sirdars affected to believe the story, and recognized the
regency of the dowager queen.
In 1841, the Sirdars were disgusted with the queen regent.
Her private life was detestable; and she was compelled to re-
sign the regency and retire into the country. Subsequently,
she was beaten to death at the instigation of Dhian Singh,
by four of her own slave girls, who dashed out her brains
with a heavy stone while engaged in dressing her hair.
Meanwhile Dhian Singh was triumphant. He placed
Sher Singh, a reputed son of Runjeet Singh, on the throne
at Lahore, and ruled the kingdom as minister. But a new
power had risen in the body politic, which within a few
short years was destined to work the ruin of the dynasty.
Ever since the death of Runjeet Singh in 1839, the army
of the Khalsa had grown more and more turbulent and un-
ruly. They rose against their French generals, and com-
pelled them to fly for their lives.' They clamored for in-
crease of pay, and committed the most frightful excesses
and outrages. Sher Singh and his minister were compelled
to yield to the demands of the troops ; and henceforth the
army of the Khalsa was absolute master of the state. The
soldiers continued to obey their own officers, but the officers
themselves were subject to the dictation of punchayets, or
committees of five, which were elected from the ranks.
Guru Govind had promised that whenever five Sikhs were
' At this period there were only two French generals in the Sikh army,
Avitable and Court.
BRITISH INDIA 677
assembled in his name, he would be in the midst of them.
Accordingly, punchayets were formed in every regiment,
and were supposed to be under the guidance of the unseen
Guru; and their united action controlled the whole army.
Sher Singh and his minister saw that no power, save that
of the English, could deliver the Sikh government from the
dictation of the Khalsa. In 1841, they opened the Punjab
to troops passing between British territory and Kabul, and
they begged the British government to interfere and sup-
press the growing disorders of the Khalsa.
In 1843 there was an explosion at Lahore. Maharaja
Sher Singh had been plotting the murder of the minister,
and the minister had been plotting the murder of the Maha-
raja. Both plots were successful, and recoiled on the heads
of the authors. One morning Sher Singh was shot dead on
parade, and his son was assassinated, while Dhian Singh
was murdered about the same hour.
Amid these commotions, a son of Dhian Singh, named
Hira Singh, appealed to the army of the Khalsa, and prom-
ised large money rewards. With the aid of these Pretorian
bands, he placed an infant son of Runjeet Singh upon the
throne, under the name of Maharaja Dhulip Singh. The
mother of the boy was then appointed queen regent, and
Hira Singh succeeded his murdered father in the post of
minister. It was at this crisis that Lord Ellenborough fore-
saw that the army of the Khalsa would one day threaten
Hindustan ; and he marched a British force toward Gwalior
with the view of disbanding Sindia's unruly army as de-
scribed in a previous chapter.
During 1844 affairs at Lahore reached a crisis. The new
minister tried in vain to break up the army of the Khalsa ;
the punchayets were all-powerful, and would not allow a
company to be disbanded, or even removed from Lahore,
without their consent. The result was that Hira Singh was
murdered, and the government of Lahore was left in the
hands of a boy Maharaja, a regent-mother, and a disaffected
army.
India. Vol. II. X— 11
678 HISTORY OF INDIA
The regent- mother was as depraved as the widow of
Kharak Singh, who was deposed in 1841. She appointed
two ministers ; one was her own brother, and the other was
a paramour, named Lai Singh. The army of the Khalsa
grew more and more clamorous for largesses and increase
of pay; and were only prevented from plundering Lahore
by being moved away under the sanction of the punchayets
to exact money contributions from the viceroys of outlj'ing
provinces, such as Kashmir and Multan. At the same time
the two ministers, the brother and the paramour, were in-
triguing against each other. The brother gave mortal offence
to the army of the Khalsa, and was tried and condemned hy
the punchayets as a traitor to the commonwealth, and was
finally shot dead by a party of soldiers outside Lahore.
The regent-mother and her paramour were now in sore
peril. The paramour, Lai Singh, became sole minister, but
another Sirdar, named Tej Singh, was appointed to the
nominal command of the army of the Khalsa. But Tej
Singh was the slave as well as the commander-in-chief of
the army of the Khalsa; and was compelled to act accord-
ing to the dictation of the punchayets. In a word, the new
government was at the mercy of the army, and saw no way
of saving themselves, except by launching the Sikh battal-
ions on British territories, and no way of averting the sack
of Lahore, except by sending the Sikh soldiery to sack Delhi
and Benares.
BRITISH INDIA 679
CHAPTER XXIII
TWO SIKH WARS— LORDS HARDINGE AND
DALHOUSIE
A.D. 1845 TO 1849
IN November, 1845, the Sikh army of the Khalsa crossed
the Sutlej, to the number of sixty thousand soldiers,
forty thousand armed followers, and one hundred and
fifty large guns. The Sikh army had been strangely under-
rated by the British government. It was as superior to all
other native armies, excepting perhaps the Ghorkas, as
Cromwell's Ironsides were to the rabble following of the
other parhamentary leaders. Its marked strength, how-
ever, was neutrahzed by the duplicity of its leaders — Lai
Singh, the paramour, and Tej Singh, the nominal com-
mander-in-chief. Both men were traitors of the deepest
dye ; both at heart were willing to see the Sikh battalions
mowed down by British artillery in order that thej'^ might
secure their own personal safety and the continuance of
their own government at Lahore. All this crafty and un-
scrupulous villtoy was conspicuous throughout the sub-
sequent war.
The British government, under Sir Henry Hardinge, the
new Governor- General, was scarcely prepared for the storm
that was gathering on the line of the Sutlej. Sir John Lit-
tler held the fortress of Ferozepore with ten thousand troops
and thirty-one guns; but if the Sikh generals had only been
true to the Khalsa, they might have environed Ferozepore,
overwhelmed Littler 's force, and pushed on to the heart of
Hindustan. As it was, Littler marched out of Ferozepore
680 HISTORY OF INDIA
and offered the enemy battle; but the Sikh generals de-
clined it, and divided their forces. Lai Singh moved with
one corps d'armee toward Ferozeshahar, about ten miles
off, and began to build formidable intrenchments, leaving
Tej Singh to watch Littler at Ferozepore.
Meanwhile Sir Hugh Gough, Commander-in-Chief, and
Sir Henry Hardinge, the new Governor- General, were hurry-
ing toward the frontier with a large force to relieve Littler.
On the 18th of December they met the army of Lai Singh at
Moodkee, and gained a doubtful victory. The British sepoys
reeled before the Khalsa battalions, and even a European
regiment was staggered for a few moments by the rapidity
and precision of the Sikh fire. But Lai Singh fled at the
beginning of jfche action, and thus brought about the defeat
of the Sikh army.
Two days after the battle of Moodkee, the British army
advanced against the Sikh intrenchments at Ferozeshahar,
and was joined there by the force under Littler. The assault
was made on the 21st of December, but the Sikhs defended
their position with the obstinacy and desperation of fanatics.
Such resistance was terrific and unexpected, Gough charged
up to the muzzle of the Sikh guns, and carried the batteries
by cold steel ; but it was in the face of an overwhelming fire.
British cannon were dismounted and the ammunition blown
into the air. Squadrons were checked in mid career ; battal-
ion after battalion was hurled back with shattered ranks;
and it was not until after sunset that portions of the enemy's
positions were finally carried by the British army. '
After a night of horrors the battle was renewed, but
meanwhile there had been mutiny and desertion in the
enemy's camp. The treasury of Lai Singh had been plun-
dered by his own soldiers. The British troops met with
feeble opposition; and it was soon discovered that, owing
to the cowardice or treachery of Lai Singh, the Sikh army
was in full flight to the Sutlej. Tej Singh marched up at
' Cunningham's History of the Sikhs.
BRITISH INDIA 681
this crisis, and found the intrenchments at Ferozeshahar
in the hands of the British. Accordingly, after a brief can-
nonade, he fled precipitately to the Sutlej, leaving his forces
without orders, to fight or follow at their pleasure.
In January, 1846, both sides were reinforced; the Sikhs
recrossed the Sutlej into British territory, and hostilities
were renewed. On the 2Gth of the month, Sir Harry Smith
defeated a Sikh force at Ahwal.
At this time Gholab Singh of Jamu had arrived at La-
hore, and offered to make terms with the Governor-General.
Sir Henry Hardinge replied that he was ready to acknowl-
edge a Sikh sovereignty at Lahore, but not until the army
of the Khalsa had been disbanded. The Sikh generals were
utterly unable to fulfil such a condition ; they were literally
at the mercy of the Khalsa army. It is said, however, that
they offered to abandon the Khalsa army to its fate, and to
leave the road open to the march of the British army to
Lahore, provided the Governor-General acknowledged the
sovereignty of Maharaja Dhulip Singh, and accepted the
government of the regency.
Meanwhile the main body of the Khalsa army had thrown
up a formidable series of intrenchments at Sobraon. Early
in February, 1846, the British army advanced to the attack
under Gough and Hardinge. Sobraon proved to be the hard-
est fought battle in the history of British India. The Sikh
soldiers, unlike their treacherous commander Tej Singh, were
prepared to conquer or die for the glory of the Khalsa. The
British brought up their heavy guns, and prepared to pour
in a continuous storm of shot and shell, and then to carry
the intrenchments by storm.
Shortly after midnight on the 10th of February, the Brit-
ish planted their guns in the desired positions. At early
morning, amid darkness and fog, the English batteries
opened upon the enemy. At seven o'clock the fog rolled
up like a curtain, and the soldiers of the Khalsa, nothing
daunted, returned flash for flash, and fire for fire. As the
sun rose higher, two British divisions of infantry in close
682 HISTORY OF INDIA
order prepared for the assault. The left division advanced
in line instead of column, and the greater part was driven
back by the deadly fire of muskets and swivels and enfilad-
ing artillery. The right division formed instinctively into
wedges and masses, and rushed forward in wrath, leaped
the ditch with a shout, and then mounted the rampart and
stood victorious amid captured cannon. Tej Singh fled to
the Sutlej at the first assault, and broke the bridge over the
river; but whether this was done by accident or treachery
is a problem to this da3\ Meanwhile the soldiers of the
Khalsa fought with the valor of heroes, the enthusiasm of
crusaders, and the desperation of zealots sworn to conquer
the enemy or die sword in hand. At last they gave way;
they were driven by the fire of batteries and battalions into
the waters of the Sutlej, and the battle of Sobraon was won.
But the victory was dearly purchased. More than two thou-
sand British troops were killed or wounded before the day
was brought to a close; but the Sikhs are said to have lost
eight thousand men.
Thus ended the first Sikh war. The British army crossed
the Sutlej in a bridge of boats, and pushed on to Lahore, and
dictated their own terms at the old capital of Runjeet Singh.
The reduction of the Sikh army of the Khalsa was carried
out without further parley, and its numbers were limited
for the future to twenty thousand infantry and twelve thou-
sand cavalry. The JuUunder Doab was taken over by the
British government, and the British frontier was extended
from the Sutlej to the Ravi. Meanwhile Sir Henry Har-
dinge was raised to the peerage.
Lord Hardinge called on the Lahore government to pay
one million and a half sterling toward the expenses of the
war. But the treasures of Runjeet Singh, estimated at
the time of his death at twelve millions sterling, had been
squandered during the anarchy which followed his decease,
and only half a million remained to meet the demands of
the British government at this crisis. Gholab Singh, vice-
roy of Kashmir and Jamu, offered to paj' the million to the
BRITISH INDIA 683
British government, provided he was recognized as Maha-
raja of those territories. The bargain was concluded, and
henceforth Gholab Singh was an ally of the British govern-
ment, and independent of the Sikh government of Lahore.
Lord Hardinge was next called upon to decide on the
future settlement of the Punjab. He would not annex the
country, or take over the internal administration. He pre-
ferred accepting the existing government of the infant Ma-
haraja, Dhulip Singh, and the regency of the queen mother
and her paramour. But he would not create a subsidiary
army for the protection of the native government, as had
been done in the case of the Nizam of Hyderabad and the
Mahrattas. On the contrary he was resolved to withdraw
the British troops from the Punjab at the earliest possible
opportunity ; for experience had taught the bitter lesson that
a subsidiary force only demoralized native rulers, and ren-
dered the British government responsible for the mainte-
nance of oppression and misrule.
But Lord Hardinge was thwarted by circumstances.
The Lahore durbar loudly declared that unless a British
force remained to keep the peace in the Punjab, the army
of the Khalsa would recover its strength and overturn the
regency. Accordingly, much against his inclination. Lord
Hardinge deferred withdrawing the British force until the
close of the year; but he solemnly assured the Lahore dur-
bar that at the end of 1846 every British soldier and sepoy
must return to British territory. The Sirdars bent to their
fate, but many declared that annexation had become a neces-
sity ; and that so long as a Sikh government was maintained
at Lahore, with or without British troops, so long the dis-
banded army of the Khalsa would cherish hopes of a return
to independent power.
Major Henry Lawrence was appointed British Resident
at Lahore, and Lai Singh, the paramour of the queen mother,
filled the post of prime minister. ' Shortly afterward a fla-
' In dealing with the modem history of British India, the distinction between
the three Lawrence brothers must always be borne in mind. G-eorge was one
684 HISTORY OF INDIA
grant act of treachery was proved against Lai Singh. A
rebellion broke out in Kashmir and Jamu against the sover-
eign authority of Maharaja Gholab Singh. Major Lawrence
hastened to the spot with a body of Sikh troops, and effect-
ually suppressed it ; and the leader of the rebellion then pro-
duced the written orders of Lai Singh, urging him to resist
Gholab Singh by every means in his power. Such a breach
of faith was unpardonable. Lai Singh was removed from
his office, and deported to British territory, where he passed
the remainder of his days in confinement.
The year 1846 drew to a close. Again the Lahore durbar
assured Lord Hardinge that the Khalsa army would regain
its old ascendency if the British force was withdrawn. Ac-
cordingly a compromise was effected. Eight leading Sirdars
were formed into a council of regency under the express
stipulation that the entire control and guidance of affairs
should be vested in the British Resident. Having thus
guarded against oppression or misrule, Lord Hardinge de-
cided that the British force should remain in the Punjab
for a period of eight years, by which time Maharaja Dhulip
Singh would attain his majority, and might be intrusted
with the supreme authority.
This settlement of the Punjab continued, without material
change, until the departure of Lord Hardinge from India in
1848, During the interval many useful measures were car-
ried out. The British army in India was reorganized ; the
finances were restored; and efforts were made to induce
the native states to follow the example of the British gov-
ernment, in forbidding widow burning, female infanticide,
slavery, and other abominations, throughout their respective
territories. In 1848 Lord Hardinge returned to England
with the pleasant conviction that he had secured the peace
of India for some years to come.
of the hostages in the first Aighan war, and had a narrow escape with his life
at the time when Macnaghten was murdered. Henry had been Resident in
Nipal, and was now transferred to Lahore. John was Commissioner of the
Julluuder Doab, and afterward became successively Chief Commissioner and
Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, and finally Governor-G-eneral and Viceroy
of India.
BRITISH INDIA 685
Lord Dalhousie, the new Governor-General, landed at
Calcutta in January, 1848. The history of his administra-
tion will be told in the next chapter, but it may be as well
in the present place to review the current of Punjab affairs,
which ended in the second Sikh war, and permanent annexa-
tion of the kingdom of Runjeet Singh.
Major Henry Lawrence, the Resident at Lahore, was an
officer in the Bengal artillery, of large political experience.
About this time he was obliged to proceed to England on
account of his health, and was succeeded by Sir Frederic
Currie, a Bengal civilian. New systems of finance and rev-
enue were subsequently introduced into the Punjab, which
guarded against undue exactions, and secured a greater
regularity in the collection of revenue, but gave great um-
brage to Sikh Sirdars. Discontent and disaffection began to
seethe beneath the surface, and it was soon evident that the
spirit of the Khalsa was still burning in the breasts of the
disbanded soldiery.
A spark sufficed to set the Punjab in a conflagration.
Mulraj, viceroy of Multan, had succeeded his father in the
government of the province as far back as 1844; but the
Lahore durbar had required him to pay a million sterling
as a fine on succession. He took advantage of the struggles
between the regency and the soldiery to delay payment.
He then managed to get his claim reduced to less than one-
fifth, and finally refused to pay the fraction. When, how-
ever, the Sikh war was over, and a British Resident was
posted to Lahore, Mulraj found that further resistance was
useless, and that he must pay up. But he was irritated at
the new order of things. He complained that the new sys-
tem of finance and revenue about to be introduced by the
British Resident would diminish his income. Finally he
resigned the government of Multan on the plea that there
were dissensions in his family.
Sir Frederic Currie and the council of regency took Mul-
raj at his word. A succesor, named Khan Singh, was ap-
pointed to the government of Multan. Mr. Vans Agnew,
686 HISTORY OF INDIA
a Bengal civilian, was appointed to accompany Khan Singh,
and introduce the new fiscal system into Multan. In April,
1848, Khan Singh, Mr. Vans Agnew, and Lieutenant An-
derson, arrived at Multan with an escort of three hundred
and fifty Sikh troops and a few guns, and encamped at a
fortified mosque in the suburbs, known as the Edgah.
Mulraj paid a visit to Mr. Vans Agnew at the Edgah,
and declared himself ready to deliver up the town and
citadel. He then produced the accounts of the previous
year, and asked for a deed of acquittance. Mr. Vans Ag-
new, however, called for the accounts of the previous six
years. Mulraj was affronted at the demand, but neverthe-
less agreed to furnish the documents. Mr. Vans Agnew
and Lieutenant Anderson next proceeded with Mulraj to
inspect the establishments in the citadel, and at his request
they dismissed a portion of their escort. On leaving the
citadel the two Englishmen were felled from their horses
and dangerously wounded. Mulraj was riding by the side
of Mr. Vans Agnew, but at once galloped off to his country
residence. The wounded officers were carried off by their
attendants to the Edgah, but the guns of the citadel began
to open fire upon the mosque. In spite, however, of their
wounds the two officers made a manful resistance, and
returned the fire with the guns of the Sikh escort; but the
escort proved treacherous, and went over to the enemy ; and
a mob of savages rushed into the mosque, and cut the two
Englishmen to pieces. Immediately afterward Mulraj re-
moved his family and treasure into the citadel, and issued
a proclamation calling upon the people of every creed to rise
against the English.
These atrocious murders were committed after the setting
in of the hot weather. Lord Gough was anxious to postpone
military operations for some months until the beginning of
the cold weather; and there was consequently much delay
in putting down the revolt. A young lieutenant, named
Herbert Edwardes, who was employed in the revenue settle-
ment of Bunnu, beyond the Indus, marched a force to Multan
BRITISH INDIA 687
on his own responsibility ; and being joined by other levies,
he defeated Mulraj on the 18th of June, and ultimately shut
him up in the citadel at Multan.
Meanwhile there was treachery in the Sikh government
at Lahore. The queen mother of Dhulip Singh was exas-
perated at the loss of her paramour, and was secretly cor-
rupting the troops. At the same time she was organizing
a confederacy of Sirdars against the British government,
and carrying on intrigues with the Amir of Kabul, the
Maharaja of Kashmir, and the princes of Rajputana. Fort-
unately these proceedings were discovered in time, and the
dangerous lady was removed from Lahore to the sacred city
of Benares, and provided with a suitable pension.
Subsequently, an influential Sirdar, named Sher Singh,
was sent at the head of a Sikh force to co-operate with Lieu-
tenant Edwardes against Mulraj. But Sher Singh played
a double game. While swearing eternal fidelity to the Brit-
ish government he was secretly corresponding with the
rebels. A force of seven thousand British troops under
General Whish was sent against Multan, and it was confi-
dently expected that the town and fortress would be speedily
taken, and that Mulraj would then receive the just punish-
ment of his crimes. The guns had already begun to open
on Multan, when Sher Singh ordered the drums of religion
to be beaten, and went over to the enemy with five thousand
Sikhs, and proclaimed a religious war against the English.
General Whish was obliged to retire from Multan and throw
up intrenchments. It was soon evident that the whole of
the Punjab was in a state of revolt ; and that the veterans
of Runjeet Singh's army were assembling to renew the con-
test with the British government, retrieve their lost honor,
and revive the glory and supremacy of the army of the
Khalsa. In a word, the delay in crushing the paltry out-
break of Mulraj had aroused the military enthusiasm of the
Sikhs throughout the Punjab, and necessitated a second
Sikh war.
Lord Dalhousie rose to the occasion. Being new to India
688 HISTORY OF INDIA
he had deferred to the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief
as regards the postponement of mihtary operations, but he
soon apprehended the dangerous significance of the revolt.
He saw that the work of his predecessor had to be done over
again ; and he was resolved that this time there should be no
half measures; no bolstering up of an effete and treacherous
government, but a restoration of order and law under British
administration. In October, 1848, he proceeded from Bengal
to the Punjab. Before he went he made a declaration in a
pubhc speech, which is at once characteristic and historical
— "Unwarned by precedent, uninfluenced by example, the
Sikh nation has called for war, and on my word, sirs, they
shall have it with a vengeance. ' '
All this while Slier Singh had been coldly and suspi-
ciously received by Mulraj. Both had revolted against a
common enemy, but each one was jealous of the other, and
had his own ends to pursue. Accordingly, Sher Singh left
Multan, and marched boldly toward Lahore. About the
same time his father, Chutter Singh, had been tempting
Dost Muhammad Khan, Amir of Kabul, to join in the gen-
eral rising against the British government, by promising to
make over the coveted province of Peshawar. Major George
Lawrence, a brother of Henry, was in charge of Peshawar,
which was held by a garrison of eight thousand Sikhs; but
the Sikh garrison went over to the Afghans and attacked
the Residency, and George Lawrence and others were car-
ried off prisoners. Captain Herbert held out for a while in
the fort of Attock, near the junction of the Kabul river and
the Indus to the eastward of Peshawar, but was forced in
like manner to succumb to the Afghans.
In October, 1848, the British army under Lord Gough
was assembled at Ferozepore, In November it crossed the
Ravi, and engaged Sher Singh in an indecisive action at
Ramnuggur. On the 13th of January, 1849, Lord Gough
approached Sher Singh's intrenchments at Chilianwallah,
which were held by thirty thousand Sikhs and sixty guns.
Nothing was known of the disposition of the Sikhs, for their
BRITISH INDIA 689
camp was covered by a thick jungle, and Lord Gough
resolved to defer the attack till the following morning. At
that moment the Sikhs opened fire with some guns in ad-
vance. The indignation of Lord Gough was kindled at the
challenge, and he rashly ordered a general charge. Then
followed the most sanguinary encounter in the history of
British India, which ended in a doubtful victory on the part
of the English. The Sikhs were driven from their position,
but they took up another three miles off. Both sides fired
salutes in honor of victory, but the Enghsh had lost more
than two thousand four hundred officers and men.
The fatal field of Chilian wallah is already half forgotten,
but the tidings of the disaster were received in England with
an outburst of alarm and indignation. Sir Charles Napier
was hastily sent to India to supersede Lord Gough as Com-
mander-in-Chief. Meanwhile General "Whish captured the
town of Multan, and opened a terrible cannonade on the
citadel. Mulraj offered a desperate resistance, but was at
last compelled to surrender the fortress, and gave himself
up to the English. General Whish then left Multan in
charge of Lieutenant Edwardes, and proceeded to join Lord
Gough in a final struggle with Sher Singh.
The crowning victory at Guzerat was gained by Lord
Gough on the 22d of February, 1849. It was essentially an
artillery action, and is known as the battle of the guns. The
Sikhs opened a cannonade with sixty guns and fired with
singular rapidity, but their resistance was in vain. For two
hours and a half they were exposed to a storm of shot and
shell, which was eventually followed by a charge of bayo-
nets, and rush of cavalry. The Sikh army became hterally
a wreck ; its camp, its standards, and nearly all its cannon,
fell into the hands of the conquerors. The battle of Guzerat
decided the fate of the Punjab, and the hopes of the Khalsa
were quenched forever.
Lord Dalhousie was fully prepared for this result. He
had resolved on the annexation of the Punjab, and had
already drawn up a programme for the civil administration
690 HISTORY OF INDIA
of the province, and the appointment of British officials to
the several grades. All old errors in former settlements
were rectified in dealing with the Punjab; all known abuses
were guarded against ; and the government of the Punjab,
instead of struggling into existence like the government of
Bengal, seemed to spring, like another Minerva, full armed
from the brain of Zeus. To this day the administration of
the Punjab is one of the greatest triumphs of British rule,
and a model for Asiatic statesmen throughout all time.
The minor details connected with the conclusion of the
war may be dismissed in a few words. Dost Muhammad
Khan and his Afghans were driven out of Peshawar, and
narrowly escaped to Kabul. Mulraj was imprisoned for life
on account of the part he played in the murder of the two
Englishmen. The young Maharaja Dhulip Singh was pro-
vided with a yearly annuity of fifty thousand pounds, and
ultimately settled in England. "Within a few short years
the memory of Runjeet Singh died away from the land.
The soldiers of the Khalsa enlisted under British banners,
and during the sepoy revolt of 1857 were the foremost among
those who wrested Delhi from the sepoy mutineers, and
avenged the insulted sovereignty of British rule.
BRITISH INDIA 691
CHAPTER XXIV
MATERIAL PROGRESS— LORD DALHOUSIE
A.D. 1848 TO 1856
LORD DALHOUSIE was a man of energy and power.
Short in stature, like the once famous Marquis of
Wellesley, there was a fire and determination in his
eye which revealed a genius for command. ' So long as he
held the reins of government his administrative ability and
intellectual vigor commanded general respect and admira-
tion ; but his imperious temper, impatience of opposition, and
alleged lack of sympathy for native rulers, stirred up an
antagonism to his policy which is only slowly fading away.
Lord Dalhousie was Governor- General of India at the
age of thirty-six. He was a stanch believer in moral and
material progress, and he had already served an apprentice-
ship to the work as President of the Board of Trade under
the premiership of Sir Robert Peel. "Within two years of
his arrival in India he had perfected his knowledge of the
country and people. The Sikh uprising of 1848 familiarized
him with those convulsions on the frontier to which Hin-
dustan has always been exposed ; while the newly conquered
territory of the Punjab opened out a virgin field to his ad-
ministrative energies.
The Punjab is nearly as large as England. It covers
fifty thousand square miles, and contains a population of
four millions. One-fourth of the people are Sikhs ; the re-
' De Quincey talks of the foppery of the eye, and quotes the cases of Lord
Wellesley, Dr. Parr, and Augustus Caesar; but there was no foppery about the
eye of Lord Dalhousie.
692 HISTORY OF INDIA
mainder are Hindus and Muhammadans. The Sikh gov-
ernment and the army of the Khalsa had been scattered to
the winds. Accordingly Lord Dalhousie was called upon
to create a new administration out of chaos, which should
adapt itself to a mixed population who knew nothing of
order or law; and he brought to bear upon his task the
experiences which had been gained during a century of
British rule in India, and which enabled him to avoid the
mistakes which had been committed by his predecessors in
Bengal and elsewhere.
The new province was divided by Lord Dalhousie into
seven divisions, and each division into as many districts as
were necessary. Each division was placed under a commis-
sioner and each district under a deputy-commissioner. Fifty-
six officers were employed in these two grades ; one-half being
selected from the civil service, and the other half from the
army. Below these were the subordinate grades of assistant
and extra-assistant commissioners, who were selected from
what is known as the uncovenanted service, and comprised
Europeans, East Indians, and natives.
The management of the new administration was intrusted
to a Board of Administration, consisting of three members,
namely, Henry Lawrence, John Lawrence, and Robert
Montgomery.' Henrj- Lawrence presided at the Board,
and carried on the political work, namely, the disarming
of the country, the negotiations with Sikh Sirdars, and the
organization of new Punjabi regiments. John Lawrence
took charge of the civil administration, especially the settle-
ment of the land revenue. Robert Montgomery superin-
tended the administration of justice throughout the province,
and compiled a short manual for the guidance of the officials
and people, which contained all that was necessary in a few
pages.
' Colonel, afterward Sir Henry, Lawrence, belonged to the Bengal Artillery.
John Lawrence, afterward Viceroy of India and a peer of the realm, belonged to
the Civil Service. Mr. Charles Grenville Mansel was originally third member of the
Board, but he was subsequently succeeded by Sir Robert Montgomery. Both
Mansel and Montgomery belonged to the Civil Service.
BRITISH INDIA 093
The working of the Board of Administration was not
satisfactory. The sympathies of Henry Lawrence were all
on the side of the Sikh Sirdars, who were regarded with
disfavor by Lord Dalhousie, and whose antecedents were
certainly as bad as they well could be. The result was that
in 1853 the Board of Administration was broken up, and
John Lawrence was placed in the sole charge of the govern-
ment as Chief Commissioner.
The British administration of the Punjab was in every
way a new creation. The government of Runjeet Singh
had been the rude work of an unlettered warrior, without
constitutional forms of any sort or kind, and without any
law except the will of the one great despot at the head. The
only officers of state were soldiers and tax-collectors; the
only punishments were fines and mutilations ; and there was
not a single civil court in the Punjab excepting at Lahore.
The local authorities were little despots who oppressed the
people and defrauded the state, like the underlings of Tippu
Sultan in Mysore; but sooner or later the majority were
compelled to disgorge their ill-gotten wealth, and were often
condemned to poverty and mutilation at the arbitrary will
of Runjeet Singh.
The officers of the new Punjab commission were required
to fulfil every kind of administrative duty. They were
magistrates and judges, revenue collectors and head police-
men, diplomatists and conservancj'' officers. For many
months of the year their homes were in camp, with their
tents open to all comers, from the lowest class of petitioners
to the wealthiest Sirdars. '
One of the first measures of Lord Dalhousie was to pro-
vide for the military defence of the province. The British
frontier had been advanced from the Sutlej westward to the
' The general confidence of the natives of the Punjab in British officers was,
sometimes carried to an amusing excess. On one occasion, when the late Lord
Lawrence was Viceroy of India, a number of Punjab people travelled to Calcutta,
a distance of some fifteen hundred miles, to speak to "Jan Larrens Sahib" about
a cow. The writer saw the men himself. Unfortunately "Jan Larrens Sahib"
was at Simla.
694 HISTORY OF INDIA
range of mountains beyond the Indus. The mountains were
inhabited by brave and lawless tribes, who numbered a hun-
dred thousand men at arms, and had been the pest of the
plains ever since the days of Akbar. Lord Dalhousie tried
to bar out these barbarians b}^ a series of fortifications, con-
nected by a line of roads, along the whole frontier; and he
organized a special force of five regiments of infantry and
four of cavalry for the protection of the marches. ' Mean-
while he disarmed the whole of the population of the Punjab,
excepting the inhabitants on the British side of the border.
A hundred and twenty thousand weapons were surrendered
to British olficers; and the manufacture, sale, or possession
of arms was strictly prohibited.
The land revenue was settled on easy terms. Runjeet
Singh had collected half the produce. Lord Dalhousie re-
duced it to an average of one-fourth, and ordered a further"
reduction of ten per cent, to reconcile the renters to the pay-
ment of coin instead of kind. The consequence was that
cultivation largely increased, and thirty thousand of the old
Khalsa soldiery exchanged the sword for the plow.
Transit duties were abolished altogether. Runjeet Singh
had covered the Punjab with a network of custom-houses
for the collection of these duties on goods and merchandise ;
but all were swept away by a stroke of the pen from Lord
Dalhousie.
Meanwhile slavery and thuggee were rooted out of the
Punjab; and infanticide, that bane of Oriental life, was
suppressed as far as might be. Bands of outlaws and dacoits,
who had been accustomed under Sikh rule to plunder villages
and travellers with impunity, were attacked, captured and
punished by sheer force of arms. The Punjab was inter-
sected with roads as if it had been a Roman province.^ In
' This is the line of frontier which has recentiy been abandoned (1880).
Furlher particulars respecting it will be found in the stor_y of the Sitana cam-
paign of 186:?, which is told in the concluding chapter of the present volumes.
* The most important road constructed in the Punjab was that which united
Lahore with Peshawar. It extended very nearly 300 miles, passed over 100
great bridges and 450 smaller ones, penetrated six mountain chains, and was
BRITISH INDIA 695
a word, within seven years of the battle of Guzerat, the
Punjab presented more traces of British civilization and
dominion than any other province in British India.
Three years after the conquest of the Punjab the British
government was drawn into a second war with the king of
Burma. Never was a war begun with greater reluctance.
To all appearance there was nothing to gain ; for the terri-
tories of Arakan and Tenasserim, which had been acquired
after the first war, had never paid their expenses. But Lord
Dalhousie had no alternative. By the treaty of Yandabo
both the British and Burmese governments were pledged
to. afford protection and security to all merchants trading at
their respective ports or residing \vithin their respective terri-
tories. This treaty, however, had been repeatedly broken;
and Englishmen trading at Rangoon were oppressed and
maltreated by the Burmese officials, while every effort to
obtain redress was treated with contempt and scorn.
In 1851 the European merchants at Rangoon laid their
complaints before the British government at Calcutta. En-
ghsh sea-captains had been condemned on false charges to
pay heavy fines, and were then subjected to imprisonment
and insult. British merchants, who had been living at Ran-
goon under the provisions of the treaty of Yandabo, were
driven to declare that unless they were protected by their
own government they must abandon their property and leave
Burmese territory.
Ever since 1840 the British government had ceased to
maintain an accredited agent at Ava. Accordingly Lord
Dalhousie sent Commodore Lambert to Rangoon in Her
Majesty's ship the Fox, to investigate the complaints; and
carried by embankments over the marshes of two great rivers. Every obstacle
was overcome by Colonel Robert Napier of the Bengal Engineers, whose work
in the Punjab would have won him the highest honors in Europe, and who has
become famous in later days as Lord Xapier of Magdala. Canals and irrigation
works were not forgotten. Among others the great canal of the Bari Doab was
constructed between the Ravi and the Chenab, under the direction of Colonel
Napier. It was equal to the noblest canal in Europe, and extended with its
three branches to the length of 465 miles.
696 HISTORY OF INDIA
also intrusted him with a letter of remonstrance to the king
of Bm-ma, which he was to forward to Ava or withhold as
might seem expedient. When the Fox reached Rangoon,
the Burmese governor threatened to put any one to death
who dared to communicate with the ship. Some Europeans,
however, escaped to the frigate, and the Commodore sent on
the letter from Lord Dalhousie to the king at Ava. After
some weeks a reply was received to the effect that the offend-
ing governor would be removed from Rangoon, and that
strict inquiries would be made into the complaints brought
against him.
Commodore Lambert was delighted with the letter from
Ava. He thought everything was settled, but he was soon
undeceived. The governor was certainly recalled from Ran-
goon, but he went away in triumph, with all the pomp of
music and war boats. A new governor arrived, but he was
bent on treating the English with the same contempt and
arrogance as had been displayed by his predecessor. He
took no notice whatever of the Commodore. At last he
was asked to fix a day for receiving a deputation of English
officers, and he replied that any day would do. Accordingly
early one morning he was told that a deputation would wait
upon him at noon. At the time appointed the English offi-
cers reached the governor's house, but were not allowed to
enter. They were kept out in the sun by the menial ser-
vants, and told that the governor was asleep ; while the gov-
ernor himself was looking insolently out of the window, and
seeing them exposed to the insults and jeers of the mob.
At last the patience of the officers was exhausted, and they
returned to the frigate.
Commodore Lambert then took possession of one of the
king's ships lying in the river, but promised to restore it,
and to salute the Burmese flag, on receipt of ten thousand
rupees, as compensation for the injured merchants, and a
suitable apology from the governor of Rangoon. In reply,
the Burmese opened fire on the Fox from some stockades on
both sides of the river ; but the guns of the Fox soon demol-
BRITISH INDIA 697
ished the stockades, and the Burmese ports were declared in
a state of blockade.
Lord Dalhousie made another appeal to the king of
Burma, and meanwhile prepared for war. A land force
of five thousand eight hundred men was sent to Rangoon
under General Godwin, together with nineteen steamers
manned with two thousand three hundred sailors and ma-
rines. A steamer was sent up the river Irawadi with a flag
of truce to receive a reply from the king, but it was fired
upon by the Burmese. Accordingly the troops were landed;
Rangoon was captured in the face of a heavy cannonade,
the three terraces of the great Shive Dagon pagoda were
carried by storm, and the British ensign was fixed on the
golden dome.
The capture of Rangoon was followed by that of Bassein
and Prome.' The Burmese soldiery fled to Upper Burma,
and the people flocked to Rangoon and hailed the British as
their deliverers. Meanwhile there had been a revolution in
Ava. The Pagan Meng had been deposed, and his half-
brother, the Meng-don Meng, was taken from a Buddhist
monastery and placed upon the throne. The new sovereign
was anxious for peace, but refused to conclude any treaty.
Lord Dalhousie steamed to Rangoon the following Septem-
ber and decided on annexing Pegu to the British empire,
and leaving the king in possession of Upper Burma.
The same administrative changes were carried out at
Pegu as had been begun in the Punjab, but with limited
resources and on a less brilliant scale. Major, the present
Sir Arthur Phayre, was appointed Commissioner of Pegu,
and introduced British administration with a strong sub-
stratum of Burmese officials. "With the assistance of Cap-
tain, now General Fytche, and other distinguished officers,
Major Phayre succeeded in clearing the new province of
' There are two places named Bassein. There is Bassein, near Bombay,
where the Peishwa concluded a treaty with Lord Wellesley ; and the Bassein
named in the text, which is situated on the southwest corner of the delta of the
Irawadi.
698 HISTORY OF INDIA
robbers and outlaws and establishing order and law. Ulti-
mately in 1862 the three territories of Arakan, Pegu, and
Tenasserim were formed into the province of British Burma,
with Major Phayre as Chief Commissioner, The conse-
quence has been that British Burma not only pays the whole
expense of the local administration, but contributes a large
yearly surplus to the imperial treasury. Since 1852 the pop-
ulation of Rangoon alone has increased tenfold, and prom-
ises to become another Calcutta ; and when the population
of Pegu has increased in a like ratio, the province will prove
as productive as Bengal. Already the Irawadi is beginning
to pour down as much wealth to the sea as the Ganges and
Jumna before the introduction of the railways; and within
another generation, when existing obstructions are removed,
new fields of commerce will be opened out in Western China,
and restore the fabled glories of the Golden Chersonese to
the Malacca peninsula.'
The Punjab and Pegu were the favorite, but not the only
fields of Lord Dalhousie's labors. His influence was felt in
every province of the empire, every department of govern-
ment, and every native state under British protection. His
reforms extended to every branch of the administration —
army, public works, education, revenue, finance, justice, and
general legislation. He promoted canals and steam naviga-
tion, and he introduced railways and cheap postage. He
constructed four thousand miles of electric telegraph wires,
and two thousand miles of road, bridged and metalled. He
opened the Ganges canal, the longest in the world. In a
word. Lord Dalhousie was emphatically the pioneer of west-
ern civilization in India ; the first of that modern dynasty of
rulers, under whom India has ceased to be a remote and out-
lying region, and has become part and parcel of the British
empire, sharing in all the blessings of European science and
culture.
' Should the frontier of British India ever be conterminous with Persia,
Russia, and China, new markets will be opened to British manufactures of which
the present generation can form no conception, while the resources of the new
countries, which at present are undeveloped, will serve to enrich haK Asia.'
BRITISH INDIA 699
The administrative successes of Lord Dalhousie naturally
impressed him with a strong sense of the vast superiority of
British administration over Oriental rule. He would not
interfere with the treaty rights of native allies, but he was
resolute in putting down widow burning, witch torturing,
self-immolation, mutilation, and other barbarous usages, in
the territories of native princes, as much as in those under
British administration. Any prince, Rajput or Mahratta,
who hesitated to punish such atrocities within his own ter-
ritories to the entire satisfaction of the British government,
was visited with the marked displeasure of Lord Dalhousie,
threatened with the loss of his salute, refused admittance to
the Governor-General's durbar, or deprived of one or other
of those tokens of the consideration of the British govern-
ment which are valued by the princes and nobles of India.
At the same time Lord Dalhousie was never wanting in
paternal regard for native states during a minority. He
duly provided for the education and administrative training
of Sindia and Holkar ; and was anxious that they should be
fitted for the duties of government before they attained their
majority and were placed in charge of their respective
territories.
The administration of native states was no doubt wretched
in the extreme. Indeed it is only of late years that native
officials have received an Enghsh education, and profited bj''
the example set in British territories, to carry out some meas-
ures of reform. Both Lord Dalhousie, and his predecessor,
Lord Hardinge, were deeply impressed with the responsibil-
ity incurred by the British government in perpetuating native
misrule. Both agreed that no rightful opportunity should be
lost of acquiring territory and revenue ; in other words, of
bringing native territory under British administration. The
•motives of both rulers were unquestionably pm'e; neither
Hardinge nor Dalhousie could have any personal object in
adding to the territories of the late East India Company,
beyond the promotion of the moral and material welfare of
the native populations. But their sentiments were open to
700 HISTORY OF INDIA
misconstruction, and might be interpreted to mean that the
appropriation of native territory would be always justifiable,
provided a decent excuse could be found for the transfer.
No one seems to have doubted that the British govern-
ment was bound to maintain the integrity of native states
so long as a native ruler did not forfeit his rights by some
public crime. Again, no one doubted the right of a son, or
other male heir, to inherit a Raj. But a question was raised
as to the rights of an adopted son ; and as this question has
been much distorted by controversy, it may be as well to
explain it from a Hindu point of view. Practically, the
law of adoption has ceased to have any political importance.
The British government has conceded the right of adopting
an heir to the Raj to native princes in general. But a right
understanding of the law of adoption is absolutely necessary
to a right understanding of the policy of Lord Dalhousie,
Among all orthodox Hindus a son is regarded as a relig-
ious necessity. A son is required to offer cakes and water to
the soul of a deceased father, and indeed to the souls of all
deceased ancestors up to a certain generation. Moreover, in
the belief of modern Hindus, the world of shades is a kind
of temporary hell or purgatory, where the soul of the father
is supposed to dwell until all its sins have been wiped away
by the sacrifices and other good works of the son. When
this end has been attained, the soul either returns to earth
to resume its existence through successive transmigrations,
or it ascends to eternal life in some superior heaven, or is
absorbed in the Supreme Spirit — Vishnu, Siva, or Brahma.
It is this religious necessity which has brought about the
early marriage of Hindu boys. Should, however, the hus-
band fail to become the father of a son, he may either marry
a second wife, or he may adopt a son ; and a son in either
case, whether natural or adopted, inherits the property at
the father's death, and becomes the head of the household.
The question of adoption in the case of a Hindu princi-
pality stands on a difi'erent footing. The adopted son may
succeed to the property of his nominal father, and perform
BRITISH INDIA 701
all his religious duties ; but the question of inheriting a Raj
is of a political character, and depends on the will of the par-
amount power. In either case, whether the inheritance to a
Raj is granted or refused, the adopted son is still expected to
perform all the religious duties necessary for the well-being
of the deceased father.'
The question of the right of adoption in the case of a
Hindu principality was never raised in India before the rise
of- British power. There was no public law in the matter;
the question of might alone made the right. If a Hindu
principality was conveniently near, it was brought under
Moghul rule by treachery, chicanery, or force of arms, with-
out the slightest regard to the rights of a reigning Raja, or
the rights of his heirs or representatives. ^ If a principality
was remote and strong, every effort was made to seduce or
threaten the native ruler into paying tribute ; or at any rate
into rendering homage and presenting nuzzers, or honorary
gifts, as an acknowledgment of the suzerainty of the Mo-
ghul. Whatever, however, might be the circumstances of
the case, no succession was deemed valid unless it received
the formal approval and sanction of the paramount power ;
and this end could only be obtained by a Hindu prince in
the same way that a Muhammadan officer obtained the
government of a province, namely, by sending presents
and tribute to the Moghul court, and receiving letters and
insignia of investiture in return.
The British government, however, professed from the
very first to adhere to the policy of non-intervention, and
1 The present Maharaja Holkar has more than once taken over the estate of
a feudatory on the ground that he had left no natural heirs, and that the adopted
son had no claim to inherit landed property.
"^ Akbar was anxious to maintain the Rajput principalities as a counterpoise
against Afghans and Moghuls, and his policy was to give a daughter in marriage
to a Rajput prince, and insist upon her son being the heir to the principality.
But Aurangzeb was only anxious to convert the Hindus to Islam, and a Rajput
prince who turned Muhammadan would have been recognized as heir to the
principality in the same way that an Irishman of a Roman Catholic family
secured the family estate in the last century by becoming a Protestant. Neither
Akbar nor Aurangzeb were likely to trouble themselves about the law of adoption.
India. Vol. II. X— 12
702 HISTORY OF INDIA
cared not who succeeded to the throne so long as there
were no civil wars.' Accordingly in the case of Sindia, as
already seen, the dying ruler was advised by the British
government to adopt a son in order to prevent any broils
as regards a successor. At the same time the queen or
mi-iister was generally anxious for an adoption, as if it
could be established it might set aside the claim of a brother
or other collateral heir, and would enable the queen or min-
ister to exercise sovereign authority during the minorit3^ It
thus became customary for a native prince to apply for the
consent of the British government before adopting a son who
should be heir to the Raj ; and at every succession, whether
the son was natural or adopted, the recognition of the Brit-
ish government was deemed necessary to its validity. The
youthful heir was formally invested with a dress of honor
by the British representative, and in return he publicly ac-
knowledged his fealty to the British government.
The policy of Lord Dalhousie will be rendered intelligible
by dealing with matters of fact. The first native principality
brought to his notice was that of Satara. The story of Sa-
tara has already been told. The representative of Sivaji
reigned as a puppet Raja in a state prison at Satara, while
successive Peishwas, or ministers, reigned as real sovereigns
at Poona. After the extinction of the Peishwas in 1818,
Lord Hastings resuscitated the Raja of Satara for reasons
of state; took him out of a prison, and invested him with
a small principahty. He thought by so doing to reconcile
Sindia and Holkar to the extinction of the Peishwas. But
the generosity, whether real or apparent, was thrown away.
•The Mahrattas had long forgotten to care for the Raja of
Satara, and they soon forgot the ex-Peishwa.
But the elevation of the Raja of Satara from a prison
to a principality turned the young man's head. Instead of
being grateful for his change of fortune, he was incensed
with his benefactors for not restoring him to the throne and
> See aute, p. 601.
BRITISH INDIA 703
empire of Sivaji. He fondly imagined that if he could only-
get rid of the British government he might recover the old
Mahratta sovereignty which had been usurped by the Peish-
was for more than seventy years, and which, as far as
Satara was concerned, had never been anything more than
a shadow and a sham. Accordingly, in spite of his treaty
obligations to abstain from all correspondence with states
or individuals outside his jurisdiction, the Raja of Satara
opened up commiuiications with the Portuguese authorities
at Goa, and even with the exiled Appa Sahib of Nagpore;
and to crown his misdoings, he employed certain Brahmans
to tamper with some sepoy officers in the Bombay army.
It was impossible to overlook these proceedings, and
there was some talk of punishing the Raja; but Sir James
Camac, the Governor of Bombay, took a lenient view of the
case, and told the Raja that all would be forgiven if he
would only promise to keep the treaty more faithfully for
the future. But by this time the Raja was too far gone to
listen to reason. He spurned all interference, asserted his
sovereignty, and was accordingly deposed and sent to Be-
nares, and his brother was enthroned in his room.
The new Raja of Satara took warning bj^ the fate of his
predecessor, and gave no trouble to the British authorities.
But he had no son or male heir, and he repeatedly requested
the British government to permit him to adopt a son who
should inherit the Raj. Every application, however, was
refused. Under such circumstances he might possibly have
adopted a son who would have inherited his private property,
and performed all the religious ceremonies necessary for de-
livering his soul from a Hindu purgatory. But he appears
to have hoped on to the last; and in 1848, two hours before
his death, he adopted an heir on his own responsibility, and
left the result in the hands of the British government.
Lord Dalhousie decided that the adopted son might in-
herit the private property of the deceased Raja, but that the
principality of Satara had lapsed to the British government.
This decision was confirmed by the Court of Directors. The
704 HISTORY OF INDIA
result was that the Raj of Satara was incorporated with the
Bombay Presidency, and brought under British admin-
istration.
Shortly afterward, the Kerauli succession was taken into
consideration. Kerauli was a Rajput principality, which
had paid a yearly tribute to the Peishwa ; but it was taken
under British protection in 1818, and relieved from the
further payment of tribute. The Raja showed his gratitude
by joining in the outbreak of Durjan Sal of Bhurtpore in
1826; but he subsequently expressed his attachment to the
British government, and his offence was condoned.
The Raja of Kerauli died in 1848 without a na^tural heir,
but, like the Satara Raja, he adopted a son just before his
death. Lord Dalhousie was inclined to think that Kerauli,
like Satara, had lapsed to the British government ; but the
Court of Directors decided that Kerauli was a "protected
ally," and not a "dependent principality," and accordingly
the government of Lord Dalhousie recognized the adopted
son as the heir to the Raj.
In 1853 the Nagpore succession was brought under dis-
cussion. The fortunes of this Raj are of peculiar interest.
The story begins with Lord Hastings and ends with Lord
Dalhousie; but it may be told in the present place as an
episode.
In 1818 the territory of the Bhonsla Rajas was placed at
the disposal of the British government. The treacherous
Appa Sahib had fled into exile, leaving no son, real or
adopted, to succeed him on the throne of Nagpore. Accord-
ingly the ladies of the family were permitted to adopt a boy,
who assumed the name of Bhonsla, and was accepted as an
infant Raja; and Mr. Richard Jenkins, the Resident at Nag-
pore, was intrusted with the management of affairs during
the minority, and exercised something like uncontrolled
powers.
The management of Mr. Jenkins was denounced in Eng-
land as a departure from the ruling doctrine of non-inter-
vention; but nevertheless it was attended with singular
BRITISH INDIA 705
success. Mr. Jenkins organized a native administration
under British management, and did not commit the fatal
error of expecting too much.' The consequence was that
in Nagpore, and in Nagpore alone, outside British territory,
disorders were repressed, vexatious taxes abolished, debts
liquidated, and expenditure reduced; while crime dimin-
ished, revenue improved, and a large surplus accumulated
in the public treasury."
In 1826 the young Raja attained his majority, and the
British management was withdrawn from Nagpore. In
1837 the Raja had grown utterly demoralized; he cared
nothing for his people, but spent his whole time, like a little
Sardanapalus, in the female apartments of his palace. In
spite of this adverse circumstance, the people of Nagpore
were less oppressed than those of any other native state in
India. The system organized by Mr. Jenkins was much
' There is a well-known couplet by Mat Prior, which English officials in high
position would do well to bear iu mind in dealing with native subordinates :
"Be to their virtues very kind,
Be to their faults a httle blind."
^ The exponents of the policy of non-intervention had much to say in its
favor. The subsidiary system which secured native princes on their thrones
was supposed to have aggravated the evils of native rule by stripping the state
of all responsibility, aud thus stifling all desire for the improvement of the coun-
try and people. Tlie princes of India lost their accustomed stimulants of war
and plunder, and sank into apathy, or sought consolation in vicious self-indul-
gence. Under such circumstances there were grounds for hoping that non-
intervention would revive the sense of responsibility, and enable every native
principality to recover its lost vitahty.
But this lost vitality is a myth. It may have existed in some remote era,
some golden age of Eajput romance; but it is as unknown to history as the ex-
ploits of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was the dream
of the Brahmanical compilers of the Hindu epics, and is as unreal as the fabled
stories in the Arabian Nights of the golden reign of Haroun Alraschid. Ever
since Europeans became acquainted with India the vitality of native rule has
only found expression in predatory wars and administrative extortions; and
when at last the princes of India were bound over by the subsidiary alliances
to keep the peace, the native states were moribund, and nothing but new blood
would impart life or energy to native administrations.
What was really wanted was a guiding influence to open the eyes of native
rulers to their duties toward their subjects, and to inspire them with that spirit
of emulation which is necessary to awaken them to a higher ambition and loftier
aims. After the wars of 1817-18 the princes of India were peculiarly amenable
to such influences, and hence the administrative successes of Mr. Jenkins in
Nagpore.
706 HISTORY OF INDIA
deteriorated, especially in the administration of justice. But
the people spoke of "Dunkin Sahib" with affection, and all the
middle and lower classes were heartily desirous of British rule.
In 1853 the Raja of Nagpore died, leaving no son or heir,
natural or adopted. Nagpore had been a "dependent prin-
cipality" ever since 1818, and Lord Dalhousie had to deter-
mine whether to permit the widows to adopt a son, and thus
make over Nagpore to a Mahratta lad who might have turned
out no better than his successor;' or to bring Nagpore under
a similar administration to that which had proved so suc-
cessful in the Punjab. Lord Dalhousie decided on the latter
course, and his view was accepted by the Court of Directors.
Accordingly'' Nagpore was incorporated with British terri-
tory, and now forms a part of the Central Provinces.
Besides the annexation of territories, Lord Dalhousie
abolished certain expensive pageants, which had long ceased
to exercise any authority or influence, and only proved a
dead weight on the public treasury. In 1853 the titular
Nawab of the Carnatic died without an heir; and Lord
Dalhousie declared the dignity extinct, and withdrew the
heavy share of the revenue which had been made over by
Lord Wellesley for the maintenance of the pageantry. At
the same time pensions were assigned to the different mem-
bers of the Carnatic family. Shortly afterward the titular
Raja of Tanjore died without heirs, and the family were
treated in like fashion. Since then the home government
have placed the different pensions on a more liberal footing.^
In 1853, Baji Rao, the ex-Peishwa, was gathered to his
fathers. He was the last relic of the old Mahratta empire.
He was born in 1775, when Warren Hastings was being
' The widows of the deceased Raja are said to have adopted a son immedi-
ately after his demise, but this was a religions ceremony having nothing to do
with the Raj. Indeed the widows were aware at the time that such an adop-
tion was invahd as regards the Raj without the previous sanction of the British
government.
- Besides the foregoing annexations the little principality of Jhansi, in Bun-
delkund, lapsed to the British government in like manner from want of natural
heirs. The matter is only of moment from the terrible revenge exacted by the
ex-queen during the sepoy revolt of 1857.
BRITISH INDIA 707
dragged into the first Maliratta war. In 1795, at the age
of twenty, he became Peishwa of Poona. In 1802 he ran
away from Jaswant Rao HolJs:ar, and threw himself into
the arms of the EngUsh at Bassein, near Bombay. He was
restored to Poona by the British army, but forfeited his
throne in 1817 by his treacherous outbreak against the Brit-
ish government. From 1818 to 1853, from the age of forty-
three to that of seventy-seven, he dreamed away his Hfe in
Oriental indulgences at Bithoor, on the liberal pension of
eighty thousand pounds a year.
Baji Rao left no natural heir. He had adopted a son,
who was afterward known as Nana Sahib. He must have
saved a large sum out of his yearly allowance. Nana Sahib
acknowledged that the accumulations amounted to nearly
three hundred thousand pounds sterling; but it was sub-
sequently discovered that they aggregated half a million.
Nevertheless, Nana Sahib prayed for the continuation of
the pension, and pretended that it had been granted, not
by way of grace or favor, but as compensation to the ex-
Peishwa for his loss of territory. Such a preposterous claim
was beneath discussion ; but it was taken into consideration
by Lord Dalhousie and the Court of Directors, and was only
rejected after the fullest inquiry.
The deahngs of Lord Dalhousie with the Nizam of Hy-
derabad demand a passing notice. By ths treaty of 1801 the
Nizam was bound to furnish a military contingent in time
of war of six thousand infantry and nine thousand horse.
But the rabble soldiery which he supplied during the sub-
sequent wars proved to be worse than useless in the field.
Accordingly it was agreed by mutual consent that a per-
manent force should be maintamed by the Nizam, reduced
to half the number of native troops, but to be disciplined
and commanded by British officers. This new body of troops
was known as the Nizam's Contingent, as distinguished
from the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force.'
' The Nizam's Contingent on the new footing consisted of 5,000 infantry,
2,000 cavalry, and four field batteries.
708 HISTORY OF INDIA
From a very early period the Nizam had failed to provide
the necessary funds for the maintenance of the Contingent.
From time to time large advances were made by the British
government to meet the current expenditure, until a debt
accumulated of half a million sterling. The Nizam might
have escaped this obligation by disbanding the Contingent;
but this he repeatedly and obstinately refused to do, and
indeed the force was necessary for the maintenance of peace
and order in his own territories. Again, he might have dis-
banded the hordes of foreign mercenaries, Arabs and Ro-
hillas, which he kept up under the name of an army, and
which were a burden upon his treasury, a terror to his sub-
jects, and useless for all military purposes. But he was as
obstinate upon this point as upon the other. At last, in 1843,
he was told by Lord EUenborough that unless the debt was
liquidated and the necessary funds were provided regularly
for the future, the British government would take over terri-
tory and revenue as security for the payment.
This threat seems to have created some alarm in Hyder-
abad. Chandu Lai resigned the post of minister, and the
Nizam attempted to carry on the administration alone, but
his efforts were fitful and desultory. Meanwhile mere drib-
blets of the debt were paid off, and the Resident was amused
with excuses and promises; and in this fashion matters
drifted on.
At last Lord Dalhousie insisted on a cession of sufficient
territory to provide for the maintenance of the Nizam's
Contingent. He would not touch the hereditary dominions
of the Nizam ; he merely took over the territory of Berar,
which Lord Wellesley had given to the Nizam in 1803, after
the conquest of the Raja of Nagpore. Accordingly Berar
was brought under British administration; and since then
all surplus revenue accruing from the improvements in the
revenue system has been made over to the Nizam's treasury.
The last important measure in the career of Lord Dal-
housie was the annexation of Oude. The story of Oude is
an unpleasant episode in the history of British India. In
BRITISH INDIA 709
1764 the English conquered Oude, but Lord Clive gave it
back to the Nawab Vizier. In 1801 Lord Wellesley took
over one-half of the territory to provide for the defence of
Hindustan against Afghans, French, and Mahrattas. From
the days of Lord "Wellesley to those of Lord Dalhousie Oude
was a millstone round the neck of the British government.
Every Governor-General in turn condemned the administra-
tion of Oude as tyrannical, extortionate, and corrupt to the
last degree; each in turn denounced the reigning Nawab
Vizier, and yet shrank from the distasteful task of taking
the necessary steps for carrying out a radical reform. Lord
Hastings tried polite remonstrance; he wished, he said, to
treat the Nawab Vizier like a gentleman; and the result
was that the Nawab Vizier assumed the title of "king," in
order to place himself on a par with the so-called king of
Delhi. In 1831 Lord William Bentinck, the friend of native
princes, threatened to assume the direct administration of
Oude, but ultimately left India without doing it. From the
day of his departure the introduction of British rule in Oude
was a mere question of time. It was one of those painful
operations which no Governor- General liked to perform ; but
it was absolutely necessary to the well-being, not only of the
people of Oude, but of the British empire in India. In 1847
Lord Hardinge, who had labored to save the Sikh govern-
ment in the Punjab, was so aghast at the desolation of Oude
that he solemnly warned the king that the British govern-
ment would assume the management of his country within
two years unless he employed the interval in carrying out a
complete reform in his administration.
In 1851 Colonel Sleeman, the British Resident at Lukh-
now, made a tour through Oude, and reported on the state
of the country. The people were at the mercy of the sol-
diery and landholders. While Oude was protected by Brit-
ish troops from every possible foe, a standing army of sev-
enty thousand men was kept up by the king; and as the
pay of the troops was very small, and nearly always in
arrears, they were driven to prey upon the helpless vil-
710 HISTORY OF INDIA
lagers. It is needless to dwell on the plunder, outrage and
crime that were the natural consequence. The wretched in-
habitants complained that brigands and outlaws were some-
times merciful, but that the king's troops never knew how
to pity or how to spare. The Talukdars, or landholders,
built forts throughout the country, and levied revenue and
blackmail, like the Afghan chiefs who preyed on Hindustan
before the days of Akbar. All this while the king was shut
up in his palace ; he was seen by no one except women, mu-
sicians, and buffoons. The government was a monstrous
system of corruption, under which every office was bought
with money, and every official was left to reimburse him-
self as fast as he could by oppression and extortion. Reform
was out of the question ; every evil had been festering in the
body politic for the greater part of a century, and nothing
but new blood could save the country from destruction.
Lord Dalhousie was anxious to deal gently with the king
of Oude. The family had always been loyal to the British
government, and had always done their best to help it in
the hour of need. Lord Dalhousie would have left the king
in the possession of the sovereignty while taking over the
direct management of his territories. But the patience of
the Court of Directors was worn out ; they were determined
to annex the country and abolish the throne; and in 1856,
being the last year of Lord Dalhousie's administration, the
sovereignty of the kings of Oude was brought to a close.
During the administration of Lord Dalhousie the hill
tribes of Bengal forced themselves on the attention of the
British government. As far back as 1832 there had been a
strange rising of the Koles, an aboriginal tribe of Western
Bengal, who at some remote period had been driven into the
hills by the Hindu settlers, and there maintained their prim-
itive language, habits, and superstitions, down to modern
times. The Koles had been troubled by British laws and
exasperated by encroaching Zemindars. Accordingly they
broke out in rebellion, and committed many outrages before
they were repressed. Lord "William Bentinck withdrew the
BRITISH INDIA 711
Koles from the operation of the ordinary laws, and placed
their country in charge of a special commissioner. Since
then the Koles had advanced in civilization and prosperity,
and large numbers had been converted to Christianity. In
1855 there was an insurrection of another aboriginal tribe,
known as the Santals, who inhabit the hill ranges of Raj-
mahal on the northwest frontier of Bengal proper. They
had been harassed by the civil suits of Bengali money-
lenders, and they advanced into the plains, to the number
of thirty thousand men, to make war upon the British gov-
ernment with pickaxes and poisoned arrows. The British
authorities were taken by surprise. The Santals began the
work of pillage and murder, and spread abroad a wild alarm
before a British force could be marched against them. The
outbreak, however, was soon suppressed, and Lord Dalhousie
dealt with the Santals in the same way that Lord William
Bentinck had dealt with the Koles, namely, by placing them
in charge of a special commissioner.
7VZ HISTORY OF INDIA
CHAPTER XXV
SEPOY MUTINIES— LORD CANNING
A.D. 1856 TO 1858
ORD CANNING was forty-four years of age when
he succeeded Lord Dalhousie as Governor- General
of India. He had seen something of official life ; he
had been Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs under Sir
Robert Peel, and Postmaster-General under Lord Aberdeen
and Lord Palmerston. He was a good administrator — ^mod-
erate, cautious, conscientious, and "safe"; and as such he
was well fitted to carry on, slowly but surely, the great work
of moral and material progress begun by Lord Dalhousie.
In 1856 the political atmosphere of India was without a
cloud. A few events occurred, but they were of small his-
torical interest, and cannot be regarded as in any way fore-
shadowing the storm which was about to burst upon the
plains of Hindustan.
The annexation of Oude had been carried out with more
harshness than Lord Dalhousie had intended. The king
removed from Lukhnow to Calcutta, and settled down with
his women and dependents in the suburbs at Garden Reach,
while the queen-mother and heir-apparent went on a boot-
less mission to England. Meanwhile an administration, like
that which had proved so successful in the Punjab, was
introduced into Oude; but it did not work smoothly. The
new rulers forgot that Oude was not a conquered country
like the Punjab; and that the Oude Talukdars, bad as they
may have been, were not rebels and traitors against the
British government. Consequently the leading officers dis-
BRITISH INDIA 713
puted among themselves ; and there were many complaints
of severity toward native officials and landholders. At last,
early in 1857, Sir Henry Lawrence was appointed Chief
Commissioner of Oude, and it was believed that all would
soon be well.
The status of the so-called kings of Delhi was placed
upon a new footing. Ever since 1803, when Shah Alam
was taken under British protection by Lord Wellesley, the
kings had been without a history. The family dwelt in the
old Moghul palace at Delhi, and multiphed in Muhammadan
fashion. Palace life was made up of vain attempts to revive
the dignity and pomp of a bygone age, or to obtain an in-
crease of pension from the British government. All political
vitaUty had died out of the family. Deaths, marriages, and
births followed in dreary monotony, varied by quarrels and
intrigues, which had little meaning or interest outside the
palace walls.
The continued residence of the Moghul family at Delhi
infected the whole capital. The Muhammadan population
was more disaffected toward the British rule than in any
other city in India. Lord Wellesley would have removed
the family to Bengal at the beginning of the century ; but
the poor old pageant of that day clung to Delhi with the
pertinacity of second childhood, and it seemed cruel to re-
move him in his old age. Since then two generations had
passed away ; the Moghul court had become an antiquated
nuisance, and Lord Dalhousie determined to banish it for-
ever.
The reigning king at Delhi was an infirm old man named
Bahadur Shah. The heir-apparent was his grandson ; and
Lord Dalhousie agreed to recognize the grandson as the suc-
cessor to the pageant throne, and to make some addition to
his pension, on the condition that he should clear out of
Delhi on the death of his grandfather, and take up his abode
at the Kutub — an old royal residence near Delhi which had
been founded in the thirteenth century. ' But Bahadur Shah
» See ante, p. 100.
714 HISTORY OF INDIA
married a young wife in his old age, and she gave birth to
a son ; and henceforth the young queen strained every nerve
to secure the pageant throne for her boy, after the manner
of younger wives since patriarchal times.
In July, 1856, the heir-apparent died suddenly in the
palace. There is no moral doubt that he was poisoned, and
that the young queen was implicated in the crime. The
catastrophe was suspiciously followed by applications from
old Bahadur Shah that the son of his favorite wife might be
recognized by the Governor-General as the heir and succes-
sor to the throne. But the request was refused. An elder
brother stood in the way, and Lord Canning recognized this
elder brother as heir-apparent, but without any bargaining
or agreement. When Bahadur Shah died the new king was
to remove to the Kutub by the simple decree of the British
government.
The wrath of the favorite queen may be left to the im-
agination. She is said to have been a daughter of the house
of Nadir Shah, and the hereditary ambition of the family
was burning in her brain. She intrigued in all directions
against the British government; possibly with the Shah of
Persia, with whom Great Britain was at war ; possibly with
Kuzzilbash chiefs at Kabul ; but the extent and character of
her plots must be left to conjecture. No one dreamed that
the mortified princess could in any way work mischief to the
British government ; and to this day it is difficult to believe
that she was in any way the originator of the sepoy mutin}-.
Meantime there were more difficulties with Persia re-
specting Herat. The death of Yar Muhammad Khan, in
1852, was followed by troubles in Herat; and the province
became a bone of contention between the Shah of Persia and
old Dost Muhammad Khan, of Kabul. At last the Shah
moved an army to Herat and captured the fortress, con-
trary to his treaty with the British government. Accord-
ingly England declared war against Persia. An expedition
was sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf under the com-
mand of Sir James Outram. The alliance with Kabul was
BRITISH INDIA 715
strengthened;' four thousand stand of arms were presented
to Dost Muhammad Khan, and he was promised a subsidy
of ten thousand pounds a month so long as the Persian war
lasted. The capture of Bushire by the English and the vic-
tory at Mohamrah brought the Shah to his senses. He
withdrew from Afghanistan, and renounced all pretensions
to Herat; and in March, 1857, peace was concluded between
Great Britain and Persia.
About this time there is said to have been rumors of a
coming danger to British rule in India. In some parts of
the country chupaties, or cakes, were circulated in a myste-
rious manner from village to village. Prophecies were also
rife that in 1857 the Company's Raj would come to an end.
Lord Canning has been blamed for not taking alarm at
these proceedings; but something of the kind has always
been going on in India.* Cakes or cocoanuts are given
away in solemn fashion ; and as the villagers are afraid to
keep them or eat them, the circulation goes on to the end
of the chapter. Then again holy men and prophets have
always been common in India. They foretell pestilence and
famine, the downfall of British rule, or the destruction of
the whole world. They are often supposed to be endowed
with supernatural powers, and to be impervious to bullets;
but these phenomena invariably disappear whenever they
' The hostility of Dost Muhammad Khan during the second Sikh war had
been condoned ; and a treaty of friendship was concluded by Lord DaUiousie
with the Kabul ruler in 1855.
* A great deal of alarm has been written and spoken as regards native in-
trigues. As a matter of fact, plots and intrigues of one sort or another are the
daily life of the natives of India. There are more plots and intrigues in a single
establishment of native servants than in a hundred English households. An
Englishman in India, who chooses to study the character of his servants, will
know more in a few months of native thoughts and ways than he can learn in
books from the study of a lifetime. A stiU better insight into native character
may be obtained in government schools. The author is conscious that during
the three or four years that he held the post of Professor of Moral Philosophy
and Logic in the Madras Presidency College, he gained a larger knowledge of
Hindu life, and a greater respect for Hindu character, than during the many
years he has since spent in oiBcial and hterary duties. The warm friendships
among young Hindus, their devotion to the wishes of their parents, and the un-
reserved trust which they place in their English instructors who take the trouble
to win their confidence, have never perhaps been sufficiently appreciated.
716 HISTORY OF INDIA
come in contact with Europeans, especially as all such char-
acters are liable to be treated as vagrants without visible
means of subsistence.'
One dangerous story, however, got abroad in the early
part of 1857, which ought to have been stopped at once, and
for which the military authorities were wholly and solely to
blame. The Enfield rifle was being introduced ; it required
new cartridges, which in England were greased with the
fat of beef or pork. The military authorities in India, with
strange indifference to the prejudices of sepoys, ordered the
cartridges to be prepared at Calcutta in like manner ; forget-
ting that the fat of pigs was hateful to the Muhammadans,
while the fat of cows was still more horrible in the eyes of
the Hindus.
The excitement began at Barrackpore, sixteen miles from
Calcutta. At this station there were four regiments of se-
poys, and no Europeans except the regimental officers.* One
' There are few human beings so helpless or so ignorant that they cannot
prophesy the end of all things. Prophecies, however, are not confined to Orien-
tals. The great German traveller, Carsten Niebiihr, who visited Bombay in
1763, two years after the battle of Paniput, was guilty of the following oracular
utterance, which reads somewhat strangely by the light of later history : *'The
power of the Muhammadans indeed becomes daily less ; and there are at present
some Hindu princes who may restore the nation to its ancient splendor. The
Mahrattas have successfull}'^ begun a project which has this aspect. It is the
exorbitant power of the English that at present retards the progressive improve-
ment of the Hindus. But when this colossal statue, whose feet are of clay, and
which has been raised by conquering merchants, shall be broken in jMeces, an
event which may fall out sooner than is supposed, then shall Hindustan become
again a flourishing country. "" The learned German must have been utterly igno-
rant of Mahratta rule, and seems to have formed an idea out of his moral con-
sciousness.
'^ A sepoy regiment of infantry in the Bengal army was at this time composed
of 1,000 privates, 120 non-commissioned officers, and 20 commissioned officers,
all natives. It was divided into ten companies, each containing 100 privates, 12
non- commissioned officers, and 2 commissioned officers. The non-commissioned
officers were known as naiks and havildars, corresponding to corporals and ser-
geants. The commissioned officers were known as jemadars and subahdars, cor-
responding to lieutenants and captains. The European officers corresponded to
those in PJnglish regiments.
The sepoy regiment was never quartered in barracks, but in Hues. Every
regiment occupied ten rows of thatched huts, a company to each row. In front
of each row was a small circular building for storing arms and accoutrements
after they had been cleaned.
The European officers lived in bungalows, or thatched houses near the lines,
BRITISH INDIA 717
day a low caste native, known as a Laskar, asked a Brah-
man sepoy for a drink of water from his brass pot. The
Brahman refused, as it would defile his pot. The Laskar
retorted that the Brahman was already defiled by biting
cartridges which had been greased with cow's fat. This
vindictive taunt was based on truth. Laskars had been
employed at Calcutta in preparing the new cartridges, and
the man was possibly one of them. The taunt created a
wild panic at Barrackpore. Strange, however, to say, none
of the new cartridges had been issued to the sepoys; and
had this been promptly explained to the men, and the sepoys
left to grease their own cartridges, the alarm might have
died out. But the explanation was delayed until the whole
of the Bengal army was smitten with the groundless fear;
and then, when it was too late, the authorities protested too
much, and the terror-stricken sepoys refused to believe them.*
The sepoys have proved themselves brave under fire, and
loj'^al to their salt in sharp extremities ; but they are the most
credulous and excitable soldiery in the world. They re-
garded steam and electricity as so much magic ;* and they
fondly believed that the British government was binding
India with chains, when it was only laying down railway
lines and telegraph wires. The Enfield rifle was a new mys-
tery ; and the busy brains of the sepoys were soon at work
but too far ofE to control the movements of the men during the heat of the day.
In order, however, to maintain continuous European supervision, two European
sergeants were allowed to every regiment to live within the lines, and report day
by day all that was going on to the European adjutant.
' There is, however, some excuse for the military authorities even in the
matter of greased cartridges. Bazar rumors are often flying about in India, and
causing the utmost alarm, while any attempt at authoritative contradiction on
the part of government only gives further currency to the fable, and increases
the panic. If a bridge is about to be built, it is noised abroad that children's
heads are wanted for the foundations, and theu not a child is to be seen in the
streets for weeks. This has been of common occurrence, even within the last
twenty years. Again, in Lord Auckland's time, a rumor got abroad that the
blood of hill-men was required to restore the Govern or -General to pristine youth;
and all the coolies and hill-men at Simla suddenly ran away. Contradiction
would have been useless in such extreme cases; but stiU, if undertaken in time,
it might have quieted the minds of the sepoys.
^ To this day the Asiatic Museum at Calcutta is only known to natives as the
'*magic house. "
718 HISTORY OF INDIA
to divine the motive of the English in greasing cartridge's
with cow's fat. They had always taken to themselves the
sole credit of having conquered India for the Company ; and
they now imagined that the English wanted them to conquer
Persia and China. Accordingly, they suspected that Lord
Canning was going to make them as strong as Europeans
by destrojdng caste, forcing them to become Christians, and
making them eat beef and drink beer.
The story of the greased cartridges, with all its absurd
embellishments, ran up the Ganges and Jumna to Benares,
Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, and the great cantonment at Meerut;
while another current of lies ran back again from Meerut to
Barrackpore. It was noised abroad that the bones of cows
and pigs had been ground into powder, and thrown into
wells and mingled with flour and butter, in order to destroy
the caste of the masses and convert them to Christianity.'
The stories of sinister designs on the part of the English
were sharpened by sepoy grievances. Very much had been
done for the well-being of the native army; the sepoys had
become puffed up and unmanageable; and they complained
of wrongs, or what appeared in their eyes to be wrongs,
which Englishmen cannot easily understand. "When quar-
tered in foreign countries, such as Sinde and the Punjab,
they had been granted an extra allowance, known as batta;
but when Sinde and the Punjab became British territory the
batta was withdrawn. Numbers, again, had been recruited
in Oude, and they had another secret grievance. So long as
Oude was under Muhammadan rule, every complaint from
an Oude sepoy, that his family or kindred were oppressed, was
forwarded to the British Resident at Lukhnow, and promptly
redressed. When, however, the country was brought under
British administration the complainants were referred to the
' There was some excuse for this credulity. Forced conversious had been
common enough under Muhammadan rule. Aurangzeb destroyed pagodas and
idols, and compelled all servants of government to become Muhammadans. Tippu
Sultan converted crowds of Brahmans to Islam bj' compelling them to swallow
cow's flesh. The Hindu sepoys, who had been taken prisoners by the Afghans
during the Kabul war, were forced to become Muhammadans.
BRITISH INDIA 719
civil courts. This was resented by the sepoy as a grave in-
dignity. He was no longer the great man of the family or
village ; he could no longer demand the special interference
of the British Resident in their behalf. Accordingly he was
exasperated at the introduction of British rule in Oude ; at
the same time he never manifested the slightest desire for
the restoration of the ex-king.
In January, 1857, there were incendiary fires at Barrack-
pore. In February, General Hearsey, who commanded the
Presidency division, expostulated with the sepoys on the ab-
surdity of their fears as regarded their religion; but his
words were without authority, and no one heeded them.
Toward the end of February a detachment of the Thirty-
fourth Native Infantry at Barrackpore arrived at Berhampore,
a hundred and twenty miles up country, near Murshedabad.
Accordingly the sepoys from Barrackpore told the story of
the cartridges to their comrades of the Nineteenth Native
Infantry, which was stationed at Berhampore. A day or
two afterward the sepoys of the Nineteenth refused to re-
ceive the cartridges that were served out to them ; and at
night-time they seized their arms, shouted defiance, and cre-
ated a disturbance. Unfortunately there were no European
soldiers at Berhampore; indeed there was only one Euro-
pean regiment in the whole line of country from Barrackpore
to Patna, a distance of four hundred miles ; and half of that
was quartered at Fort William at Calcutta, and the other
half at Dumdum, six miles from Calcutta. ' Colonel Mitchell,
the ofl&cer in command at Berhampore, had no force to bring
to bear upon the mutinous infantry except a detachment of
native cavalry and a battery of native artillery ; and it was
exceedingly doubtful whether they would act against their
fellow-countrymen. However, the Nineteenth was not ripe
' There was also one European regiment at Dinapore, near Patna, and an-
other at Agra. Beyond these there was nothing but a handful of European
artillerymen and a few invalided soldiers of the Company's European army.
The largest European force in Hindustan was stationed at Meerut, forty miles
from Delhi.
720 HISTORY OF INDIA
for revolt; and after some remonstrances the sepoys laid
down their ai*ms and returned to the hnes.
In March, the Eighty-fourth Europeans was brought
away from Rangoon to the river Hughh. With this addi-
tional strength, Lord Canning resolved to take action. Ac-
cordingly the Nineteenth was marched from Berhampore to
Barrackpore to be disbanded. Before it reached its destina-
tion there was much excitement in the lines of the Thirty-
fourth, which probably originated in the sympathies of the
sepoys for their comrades who were coming from Berham-
pore. A sepoy, named Mungal Pandy, walked about the
lines with a loaded pistol, calling upon his comrades to rise,
and threatening to shoot the first European that appeared.
Lieutenant Baugh, the adj utant of the regiment, rode to the
parade-ground, followed by the European sergeant and a Mu-
hammadan orderly. Mungal Pandy fired at him, wounded
his horse, and brought Lieutenant Baugh to the ground. A
scuffle ensued; Baugh received a severe blow from a sword;
while a guard of sepoys under a jemadar stood by aud did
nothing. The sergeant came up breathless, called on the
jemadar for help, and tried to seize Mungal Pandy; but he
too was struck down. To crown all, the jemadar came up
with his twenty sepoys and began to beat the heads of the
two Europeans with the butt-ends of their muskets. At this
moment Mungal Pandy was arrested hy the Muhammadan
orderly; and General Hearsey galloped up, pistol in hand,
and ordered the sepoy guard back to their posts, threatening
to shoot the first man who disobeyed orders. The sepoys
were overawed by the general, and the disaffection was
stayed. Mungal Pandy saw that his game was up, and
tried to shoot himself, but failed. A day or two afterward
the European regiment from Rangoon was marched to Bar-
rackpore; and the Nineteenth Native Infantry arrived from
Berhampore, and was disbanded without further trouble.
In the following April Mungal Pandy and the mutinous
jemadar were brought to trial, convicted, and hanged.
For a brief interval it was hoped that the disaffection
BRITISH INDIA 721
was suppressed. Excitement manifested itself in various
ways at different stations throughout the length of Hin-
dustan and the Punjab — at Benares, Lukhnow, Agra, Um-
balla, and Sealkote. In some stations there were incendiary
fires ; in others the sepoys were wanting in their usual re-
spect to their European officers. But it was . believed that
the storm was spending itself, and that the dark clouds were
passing away.
Suddenly, on the 3d of May, there was an explosion at
Lukhnow. A regiment of Oude Irregular Infantry, pre-
viously in the service of the king, broke out in mutiny and
began to threaten their European officers. Sir Henry Law-
rence, the new Chief Commissioner, had a European regi-
ment at his disposal, namely, the Thirty-second Foot. That
same evening he ordered out the regiment, and a battery of
eight guns manned by Europeans, together with four sepoy
regiments, three of infantry and one of cavalry. With this
force he proceeded to the lines of the mutineers, about seven
miles off. The Oude Irregulars were taken by surprise;
they saw infantry and cavalry on either side, and the Eu-
ropean guns in front. They were ordered to lay down their
arms, and they obeyed. At this moment the artillery lighted
their port fires. The mutineers were seized with a panic,
and rushed away in the darkness ; but the ringleaders and
most of their followers were pursued and arrested by the na-
tive infantry and cavalry, and confined pending trial. Sub-
sequently it transpired that the native regiments sympa-
thized with the mutineers, and would have shown it but for
their dread of Henry Lawrence and the Europeans. The
energetic action of Lawrence sufficed to maintain order for
another month in Oude. Meanwhile the Thirty-fourth Na-
tive Infantry was disbanded at Barrackpore, and again it
was hoped that the disaffection was stayed.
The demon of mutiny was only scotched. Within a week
of the outbreak at Lukhnow, the great military station of
Meerut was in a blaze. Meerut was only forty miles from
Delhi, and the largest cantonment in India. There were
722 HISTORY OF INDIA
three regiments of sepoys — two of infantry and one of cav-
alry ; but there were enough Europeans to scatter four times
the number; namely, a battaHon of the Sixtieth Rifles, a
regiment of Dragoon Guards known as the Carabineers,
two troops of horse artillery, and a light field battery.
In spite of the presence of Europeans there were more
indications of excitement at Meerut than at any other sta-
tion in the northwest. At Meerut the story of the greased
cartridges had been capped by the story of the bone-dust;
and there were the same kind of incendiary fires, the same
lack of respect toward European officers, and the same whis-
pered resolve not to touch the cartridges, as at Barrackpore.
The station was commanded by General Hewitt, whose ad-
vancing years unfitted him to cope with the storm which was
bursting upon Hindustan.
The regiment of sepoy cavalry at Meerut was strongly
suspected of disaffection ; accordingly it was resolved to put
the men to the test. On the 6th of May it was paraded in
the presence of the European force, and cartridges were
served out; not the greased abominations from Calcutta,
but the old ones which had been used times innumerable
by the sepoys and their fathers. But the men were terrified
and obstinate, and eighty-five stood out and refused to take
the cartridges. The offenders were at once arrested, and
tried by a court-martial of native officers; they were found
guilt}'-, and sentenced to various periods of imprisonment, but
recommended for mercy. General Hewitt saw no grounds
for mercy, excepting in the case of eleven young troopers;
and on Saturday, the 9th of May, the sentences were carried
out. The men were brought on parade, stripped of their
uniforms, and loaded with irons. They implored the gen-
eral for mercy, and finding it hopeless, began to reproach
their comrades; but no one dared to strike a blow in the
presence of loaded cannon and rifles. At last the prisoners
were carried off and placed in a jail, not in charge of Euro-
pean soldiers, but under a native guard.
The military authorities at Meerut seem to have been
BRITISH INDIA 723
under a spell. The next day was Sunday, the 10th of May,
and the hot sun rose with its usual glare in the Indian sky.
The European barracks were at a considerable distance from
the native lines, and the intervening space was covered with
shops and houses surrounded by trees iind gardens. Conse-
quently the Europeans in the barracks knew nothing of what
was going on in the native quarter. Meanwhile there were
commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring bazars. The
sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with
permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered.
At the same time they were smitten with a mad fear that
the European soldiers were to be let loose upon them. The
Europeans at Meerut saw nothing and heard nothing. Noth-
ing was noted on that Sunday morning, excepting the ab-
sence of native servants from many of the houses, and that
was supposed to be accidental. Morning service was fol-
lowed by the midday heats, and at five o'clock in the after-
noon the Europeans were again preparing for church. Sud-
denly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of
musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and
the bugle sounding an alarm. The sepoys had worked
themselves up to a frenzy of excitement ; the prisoners were
released with a host of jail birds; the native infantry joined
the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the regiments
was shot by the sepoys of the other. Inspired by a wild
fear and fury, the sepoys ran about murdering or wounding
every European they met, and setting houses on fire, amid
deafening shouts and uproar.
Meanwhile there were fatal dela3's in turning out the
Europeans. The Rifles were paraded for church, and time
was lost in getting arms and serving out ball cartridges.
The Carabineers were absurdly put through a roll call, and
then lost their way among the shops and gardens. Mean-
while European oflScers were being butchered by the infuri-
ated sepoys. Gentlemen and ladies were fired at or sabred
while hurrying back in a panic from church. Flaming
houses and crashing timbers were filling all hearts with
724 HISTORY OF INDIA
terror, and the shades of evening were falling upon the gen-
eral havoc and turmoil, when the Europeans reached the
native lines and found that the sepoys had gone, no one
knew whither.
The truth was soon told. The mutiny had become a
revolt ; the sepoys were on the way to Delhi to proclaim the
old Moghul as sovereign of Hindustan; and there was no
Gillespie to gallop after them and crush the revolt at its out-
set, as had been done at Vellore half a century before. One
thing, however, was done. There were no European regi-
ments at Delhi; nothing but three regiments of sepoy in-
fantry, and a battery of native artillery. The station was
commanded by Brigadier Graves; and there were no Eu-
ropeans under his orders excepting the officers and sergeants
attached to the three native corps. Accordingly telegrams
were sent to Brigadier Graves to tell him that the mutineers
were on their way to Delhi.
Monday at Delhi was worse than the Sunday at Meerut.
The British cantonment was situated on a rising ground
about two miles from the city, which was known as the
Ridge. The great magazine, containing immense stores of
ammunition, was situated in the heart of the city. One
of the three sepoy regiments was on duty in the city; the
other two remained in the cantonment on the Ridge.
The approach to Delhi from Meerut was defended by the
little river Hindun, which was traversed by a small bridge.
It was proposed to procure a couple of cannon from the
magazine and place them on the bridge; but before this
could be done the rebel cavahy from Meerut were seen cross-
ing the river, and were subsequently followed by the rebel
infantry. The magazine remained in charge of Lieutenant
Willoughby of the Bengal Artillery. He was associated
with two other officers, and six conductors and sergeants;
the rest of the establishment was composed entirely of natives.
Brigadier Graves did his best to protect the city and can-
tonment until the arrival of the expected Europeans from
Meerut. Indeed, throughout the morning and greater part
BRITISH INDIA 725
of the afternoon every one in Delhi was expecting the arrival
of the Europeans. Brigadier Graves ordered all the non-
mihtarj residents, including ladies and children, to repair
to Flagstaff Tower — a round building of solid brickwork at
some distance from the city. Large detachments of sepoys
were sent from the Ridge to the Kashmir gate, under the
command of their European officers, to help the sepoy regi-
ment on duty to maintain order in the city.
Presently the rebel troops from Meerut came up, accom-
panied by the insurgent rabble of Delhi. The English officers
prepared to charge them, and gave the order to fire, but
some of the sepoys refused to obey, or only fired into the air.
The English officers held on, expecting the European soldiers
from Meerut. The sepoys hesitated to join the rebels, out
of dread of the coming Europeans. At last the Delhi sepoys
threw in their lot with the rebels, and shot down their own
officers. The revolt spread throughout the whole city; and
the suspense of the English on the Ridge, and at Flagstaff
Tower, began to give way to the agony of despair.
Suddenly, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a column of
white smoke arose from the city, and an explosion was heard
far and wide. Willoughby and his eight associates had held
out to the last, waiting and hoping for the coming of the
Europeans. They had closed and barricaded the gates of
the magazine ; and they had posted six-pounders at the gates,
loaded with double charges of grape, and laid a train to the
powder magazine. Messengers came in the name of Baha-
dur Shah to demand the surrender of the magazine, but
no answer was returned. The enemy approached and raised
ladders against the walls; while the native estabhshment
escaped over some sheds and joined the rebels. At this
crisis the guns opened fire. Round after round of grape
made fearful havoc on the mass of humanity that was heav-
ing and surging round the gates. At last the ammunition
was exhausted. No one could leave the guns to bring up
more shot. The mutineers were pouring in on all sides.
Lieutenant Willoughby gave the signal j Conductor Scully
India. Vol. II. X— 13
726 HISTORY OF INDIA
fired the train; and with one tremendous upheaval the
magazine was blown into the air, together with fifteen hun-
dred rebels. Not one of the gallant nine had expected to
escape. Willoughby and three others got away, scorched,
maimed, bruised, and nearly insensible ; but Scully and his
comrades were never seen again. Willoughby died of his
injuries six weeks afterward, while India and Europe were
ringing with his name.
All this while bloody tragedies were taking place within
the palace at Delhi. The rebels from Meerut were quarter-
ing themselves in the royal precincts, and murdering every
European they could find. Mr. Eraser the commissioner,
Mr. Hutchinson the collector, and Captain Douglas, who
commanded the palace guards, were all slaughtered within
the palace walls. So was an English chaplain, with his
wife, daughter, and another young lady, all of whom had
been residing as guests with Captain Douglas. Fifty Chris-
tian people — men, women, and children — who had been cap-
tured by the rebels and thrown as prisoners in the palace
dungeons, were butchered in cold blood by the order of the
king. '
On the evening of that terrible Monday all was lost.
The city of Delhi was in the hands of the rebels. The so-
called royal family, which had been maintained by the gen-
erosity of the British government for more than half a
century, had joined the rebel sepoys. Brigadier Graves
and the surviving officers on the Ridge, and all the anxious
fugitives in Flagstaff Tower, were compelled to fly for their
lives. Their subsequent trials and sufferings were among the
most touching episodes in the story of the great convulsion.
Meanwhile the European regiments which might have saved
them, and saved Delhi, were kept at Meerut to guard the
barracks and treasury. The greased cartridges had created
the panic and brought about the mutiny; but it was the
1 The old king, Bahadur Shah, has been held responsible for these murders,
but his vindictive queen was probably more to blame. Her son, a mere lad at
the time, was appointed vizier to his father.
..^......mviiSviiiuiS
BRITISH INDIA 727
incapacity of the military authorities at Meerut that raised
the revolt in Hindustan.
The revolution at Delhi opened the eyes of Lord Canning
to the gravity of the crisis. Hitherto his sympathies had
been with the sepoys. An ignorant and credulous soldiery
had been thrown into a panic, and had been worked into a
state of perilous excitement by intriguing Brahmans and
fanatical Mullas, as well as by secret agents and alarmists
of all kinds. But now the excitement had culminated in
intoxication and madness; the sepoys were thirsting for the
blood of Europeans; and pity was changed to indignation
and horror. Accordingly Lord Canning telegraphed for
European regiments from every quarter — from Bombay and
Burma, from Madras and Ceylon — ^to crush a rebellion which
was establishing a reign of terror in Hindustan.
The sepoy mutiny at Barrackpore might possibly have
been crushed at the outset by physical force. In 1824, at
the beginning of the Burmese war, there was a similar
mutiny at the same cantonment. Three sepoy regiments
had been ordered to Chittagong, but refused to march. They
had been frightened by rumors of the bad climate of Biu-ma,
and the magical arts which were said to be practiced by the
Burmese. There had also been some difficulties about trans-
port, and they demanded an extra allowance, known as
double batta. Sir Edward Paget was Commander-in-chief
in Bengal. He marched to Barrackpore with two regiments
of Europeans and a detachment of artillery. He paraded
the disaffected regiments in the presence of the Europeans,
and loaded his guns with grape. The sepoys were told that
they must either begin the march or ground their arms.
They replied with defiant shouts. Then the fatal order was
given, and the guns opened fire on the disaffected soldiery.
Eleven sepoys only were killed, but the remainder broke up
and fled in a panic of terror. Sir Edward Paget was much
censured, but a generation passed away before there was
another mutiny.
Whether Paget was right or wrong, it would have been
728 HISTORY OF INDIA
a blunder and a crime to have taken such an extreme meas-
ure at the outset of the disaffection in 1857. Indeed, Lord
Canning indignantly refused to contemplate such measures ;
and by so doing he saved the reputation of the British nation.
But when the sepoy rebels set up the Moghul at Delhi as
their nominal sovereign, the security of the population of
India was at stake. In other words, the establishment of the
supremacy of the British government at the earliest possible
date was necessary, not only for the safety of the British
empire in India, but for the salvation of the masses.
The progress of the revolt throws no further light on its
origin or character. Station after station followed the ex-
ample of Meerut. The sepoys seem to have all been infected
by the same delirious fever; they rose in mutiny, shot down
their officers in most cases, set the buildings on fire, plun-
dered the treasury, and then rushed off to Delhi. Wherever,
however, the Europeans were in any force, and were brought
directly to bear upon the mutineers regardless of red tape
and routine, the station was either saved from destruction,
or the mischief was reduced to a minimum.
It would be tedious and needless to tell the story of the
sepoy revolt so far as it was a mere military mutiny, with
Delhi for its headquarters. But at three stations the mutiny
was more or less of a political character, which imparts an
individuality to the history ; namely, at Lukhnow, at Jhansi,
and at Cawnpore.
The city of Lukhnow, the capital of Oude, extends four
miles along the right bank of the river Goomti. All the
principal buildings, including the British Residency, were
situated between the city and the river. The Residency
was a large walled enclosure, comprising not only the man-
sion of the Chief Commissioner, but several houses and
underground buildings on a large scale. Near it was a
strong turreted, castellated structure known as the Muchi
Bawun.
Ever since the explosion at Lukhnow on the 3d of May,
Sir Henry Lawrence had been incessantly occupied in taking
BRITISH INDIA 729
precautionary measures against an outbreak which he knew
to be inevitable. On one side of the Residency was a dis-
affected city, the homes of palace parasites, who had been
deprived of their means of subsistence by the breaking up of
the native court and departure of the royal family to Cal-
cutta. On the opposite bank of the river Goomti was the
native cantonment, occupied by British sepoys as evilly dis-
posed toward the English as the disaffected rabble of Lukh-
now. Accordingly Sir Henry Lawrence saw that the work
before him was to prevent mutiu}' in the cantonment and
rebellion in the cit^* ; and to make every preparation for a
successful defence in the event of a general insurrection.
The native force at Lukhnow consisted of the thi-ee sepoj^
regiments of infantry, and one of cavalry ; there was also a
native battery of artillery. The whole numbered thirty-five
hundred men. The European force consisted of the Thirty-
second Foot, numbering five hundred and seventy strong,
and sixty artillerymen.
The communication between the cantonment and the city
was by two bridges ; one near the Residency, and the other
at the Muchi Bawun. Sir Henry Lawrence brought all the
European non-combatants with their families within the
Residency walls; and took steps to prevent any combined
movements on the part of the cantonment and city. He
disposed his troops, European and native, in such a way
as to bear directly on the sepoys in the event of a rising; and
he established a strong post between the Residency and the
Muchi Bawun to command the two bridges leading to can-
tonments.
At nine o'clock on the night of the 30th of May, the out-
break began at the native cantonment. Shots were fired as
a signal, and parties of sepoys began to burn down the bun-
galows and shoot their European officers. Presently the in-
surgents rushed to the bridges, infm-iated with bhang and
excitement, but were received with such a volley of grape
that they retreated toward their lines hotly pursued by Sir
Henry Lawrence and his Europeans. They attempted to
730 HISTORY OF INDIA
return to the cantonment, but found it hopeless, and made
off to Delhi. Sir Henry Lawrence dared not pursue them
with a disaffected city in his rear, which was already surg-
ing with excitement. Accordingly, he left a detachment of
Europeans to guard the cantonment, and then returned to
Lukhnow. Of all the thirty-five hundred sepoys, scarcely
a fourth remained true to their colors, and these gradually
dropped off during the progress of the rebellion.
On the 4th of June there was a mutiny at Jhansi — a little
chiefship of Bundelkund, which had lapsed to the British
government in 1853 from want of natural heirs. The town
was situated about a hundred and forty miles to the south of
Agra. It was garrisoned entirely by sepoys, and the mutiny
was of the usual tj^pe. The sepoys went about burning and
murdering ; while the Europeans, including women and chil-
dren, and numbering fifty-five in all, took refuge in the fort.
At this moment, the Rani of Jhansi, the widow of the
deceased chief, sent guns and elephants to help the muti-
neers. She was a vindictive woman, inflamed with the blind
ferocity of an Oriental, and burning to be revenged on the
English for not having been intrusted with the adoption of
a son, and the management of the little principality.
The fugitives in the fort were short of provisions; they
could not have held out for twenty-four hours longer. The
Rani solemnly swore that if they surrendered the fort with-
out further fighting their lives should be spared and they
should be conducted in safety to some other station. The
rebel sepoys took the same oath, and the little garrison were
tempted to accept the terms and leave the fort two by two.
"With fiendish treachery the whole fifty-five — men, women,
and children — were seized and bound, and butchered in cold
blood, by the orders of the Rani.
Still more terrible and treacherous were the tragedies
enacted at Cawnpore, a city situated on the Ganges about
fifty-five miles to the southwest of Lukhnow. Cawnpore
had been in the possession of the English ever since the
beginning of the century, and for many years was one of
BRITISH INDIA 731
the most important military stations in India ; but the exten-
sion of the British empire over the Punjab had diminished
the importance of Cawnpore ; and the last European regi-
ment quartered there had been removed to the northwest at
the close of the previous year.
In May, 1857, there were four native regiments at Cawn-
pore, numbering thirty-five hundred sepoys. There were no
Europeans whatever, excepting the regimental officers, and
sixty-one artillerymen. To these were added small detach-
ments of European soldiers, which had been sent in the hour
of peril from Lukhnow and Benares during the month of
May.
The station of Cawnpore was commanded by Sir Hugh
Wheeler, a distinguished general in the Company's service,
who was verging on his seventieth year. He had spent fifty-
four years in India, and had served only with native troops.
He must have known the sepoys better than any other Eu-
ropean in India. He had led them against their own
countrymen under Lord Lake; against foreigners during
the Afghan war; and against Sikhs during both campaigns
in the Punjab.
The news of the revolt at Meerut threw the sepoys into
a ferment at every military station in Hindustan. Rumors
of mutiny, or coming mutiny, formed almost the only topic
of conversation ; yet in nearly every sepoy regiment the Eu-
ropean officers put faith in their men, and fondly believed
that though the rest of the army might revolt yet their own
corps would prove faithful. Such was eminently the case
at Cawnpore, yet General Wheeler seems to have known
better. While the European officers continued to sleep every
night in the sepoy Unes, the old veteran made his prepara-
tions for meeting the coming storm.
European combatants were very few at Cawnpore, but
European impedimenta were very heavy. Besides the wives
and families of the regimental officers of the sepoy regiments
there was a large European mercantile community. More-
over, while the Thirty-second Foot was quartered at Lukhnow,
732 HISTORY OF INDIA
the wives, families, and invalids of the regiment were resid-
ing at Cawnpore. It was thus necessary to secure a place
of refuge for this miscellaneous multitude of Europeans in
the event of a rising of the sepoys. Accordingly General
Wheeler pitched upon some old barracks which had once
belonged to a European regiment; and he ordered earth-
works to be thrown up, and supplies of all kinds to be stored
up, in order to stand a siege. Unfortunately there was fatal
neglect somewhere; for when the crisis came the defences
were found to be worthless, while the supplies were insuffi-
cient for the besieged.
All this while the adopted son of the ex-Peishwa was
residing at Bithoor, about six miles from Cawnpore. His
real name was Dhuudu Punt, but he is better known as
Nana Sahib. The British government had refused to award
him the absurd life pension of eighty thousand pounds ster-
ling which had been granted to his nominal father ; but he
had inherited at least half a million from the ex-Peishwa;
and he was allowed to keep six guns, to entertain as many
followers as he pleased, and to live in half royal state in a
castellated palace at Bithoor. He continued to nurse his
grievance with all the pertinacity of a Mahratta ; but at the
same time he professed a great love for European society,
and was profuse in his hospitalities to English officers, and
was popularly known as the Raja of Bithoor.
When the news arrived of the revolt at Meerut on the
10th of May, the Nana was loud in his professions of attach-
ment to the English. He engaged to organize fifteen hun-
dred fighting men to act against the sepoys in the event of
an outbreak. On May 21st there was an alarm. European
ladies and families, with all European non-combatants, were
removed into the barracks; and General Wheeler actually
accepted from the Nana the help of two hundred Mahrattas
and a couple of guns to guard the treasury. The alarm,
however, soon blew over, and the Nana took up his abode
at the civil station at Cawnpore, as a proof of the sincerity
of his professions.
BRITISH INDIA 733
At last, on the night of the 4th of June, the sepoy regi-
ments at Cawnpore broke out in mutiny. They were driven
to action by the same mad terror which had been manifested
elsewhere. They cared nothing for the Moghul, nothing for
the pageant king at Delhi ; but they had been panic-stricken
by extravagant stories of coming destruction. It was whis-
pered among them that the parade ground was undermined
with powder, and that Hindus and Muhammadans were to
be assembled on a given day and blown into the air. Intoxi-
cated with fear and bhang, they rushed out in the darkness
— yelling, shooting, and burning according to their wont;
and when their excitement was somewhat spent, they
marched off toward Delhi. Sir Hugh "Wheeler could do
nothing. He might have retreated with the whole body
of Europeans from Cawnpore to Allahabad; but there had
been a mutiny at Allahabad, and moreover he had no means
of transport. Subsequently he heard that the mutineers had
reached the first stage on the road to Delhi, and consequently
he saw no ground for alarm.
Meanwhile the brain of Nana Sahib had been turned by
wild dreams of vengeance and sovereignty. He thought not
only to wreak his malice upon the English, but to restore the
extinct Mahratta empire, and reign over Hindustan as the
representative of the forgotten Peishwas. The stampede of
the sepoys to Delhi was fatal to his mad ambition. He over-
took the mutineers, dazzled them with fables of the treasures
in "Wheeler's intrenchment, and brought them back to Cawn-
pore to carry out his vindictive and visionary schemes.
At early morning on Saturday, the 6th of June, General
Wheeler received a letter from the Nana, announcing that
he was about to attack the intrenchment. The veteran was
taken by surprise, but at once ordered all the European offi-
cers to join the party in the barracks, and prepare for the
defence. But the mutineers were in no hurry for the ad-
vance. They preferred booty to battle, and turned aside to
plunder the cantonment and city, murdering every Christian
that came in their way, and not sparing the houses of their
734 HISTORY OF INDIA
owu countrymen. They appropriated all the cannon and
ammunition in the magazine by way of preparation for the
siege ; but some were wise enough to desert the rebel army,
and steal away to their homes with their ill-gotten spoil.
About noon the main body of the mutineers, swelled by
the numerous retainers of the Nana, got their guns into posi-
tion, and opened fire on the intrenchment. For nineteen
days — from the 6th to the 25th of June— the garrison strug-
gled manfully against a raking fire and fearful odds, amid
scenes of suffering and bloodshed which cannot be recalled
without a shudder. It was the height of the hot weather
in Hindustan. A blazing sun was burning over the heads
of the besieged ; and to add to their misery, one of the bar-
racks containing the sick and wounded was destroyed by
fire. The besiegers, however, in spite of their overwhelm-
ing numbers, were utterly unable to carry the intrenchment
by storm, but continued to pour in a raking fire. Meanwhile
the garrison was starving from want of provisions, and ham-
pered by a multitude of helpless women and children. In-
deed, but for the latter contingency, the gallant band would
have rushed out of the intrenchment, and cut a way through
the mob of sepoys, or perished in the attempt. As it was,
they could only fight on, waiting for reinforcements that
never came, until fever, sunstroke, hunger, madness, or
the enemy's fire, delivered them from their suffering and
despair.
On the 2oth of June a woman brought a shp of writing
from the Nana, promising to give a safe passage to Allaha-
bad to all who were willing to la}'- down their arms.' Had
there been no women or children the European garrison
would never have dreamed of surrender. The massacre at
Patna a century before had taught a lesson to Englishmen
which ought never to have been forgotten. As it was, there
were some who wanted to fight on till the bitter end. Bat
' Nana Sahib pretended to grant this boon only to those who were not con-
nected with the acts of Lord Dalhousie. Subsequent events prove that this was
sheer hypocrisy.
BRITISH INDIA 735
the majority saw that there was no hope for the women
or the children, the sick or the wounded, except by accept-
ing the proffered terms. Accordingly the pride of English-
men gave way, and an armistice was proclaimed.
Next morning the terms were negotiated. The English
garrison were to surrender their position, their guns, and
their treasure, but to march out with their arms, and with
sixty rounds of ammunition in the pouch of every man,
Nana Sahib on his part was to afford a safe conduct to
the river bank, about a mile off; to provide carriage for
the conveyance of the women and children, the sick
and the wounded; and to furnish boats for carrying the
whole party, numbering some four hundred and fifty in-
dividuals, down the river Ganges to Allahabad. The
Nana accepted the terms, but demanded the evacuation
of the intrenchment that very night. General Wheeler
protested against this proviso. The Nana began to bully,
and to threaten that he would open fire. He was told that
he might carry the intrenchment if he could, but that the
English had enough powder left to blow both armies into
the air. Accordingly the Nana agreed to wait till the
morrow.
At early morning on the 27th of June the garrison began
to move from the intrenchment to the place of embarkation.
The men marched on foot; the women and children were
carried on elephants and bullock-carts, while the wounded
were mostly conveyed in palanquins. Forty boats with
thatched roofs, known as budgerows, were moored in
shallow water at a iittle distance from the bank; and
the crowd of fugitives were forced to wade through the
river to the boats. By nine o'clock the whole four hun-
dred and fifty were huddled on board, and the boats pre-
pared to leave Cawnpore.
Suddenly a bugle was sounded, and a murderous fire of
grape shot and musketry was opened upon the wretched
passengers from both sides of the river. At the same time
the thatching of many of the budgerows was found to be
736 HISTORY OF INDIA
on fire, and the flames began to spread from boat to boat.
Numbers were mm-dered in the river, but at last the firing
ceased. A few escaped down the river, but only four men
survived to tell the story of the massacre.' A mass of fugi-
tives were dragged ashore ; the women and children, to the
number of a hundred and twenty-five, were carried off and
lodged in a house near the headquarters of the Nana. The
men were ordered to immediate execution. One of them
had preserved a Prayer-book, and was permitted to read a
few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed companions.
Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a
volley of musketry, and all was over.
On the 1st of July Nana Sahib went off to his palace at
Bithoor, and was proclaimed Peishwa. He took his seat
upon the throne, and was installed with all the ceremonies
of sovereignty, while the cannon roared out a salute in his
honor. At night the whole place was illuminated, and the
hours of darkness were whiled away with feasting and fire-
works. But his triumph was short-lived. The Muhamma-
dans were plotting against him at Cawnpore. The people
were leaving the city to escape the coming storm, and were
taking refuge in the villages. English reinforcements were
at last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys
were clamoring for money and gold bangles. Accordingly
the Nana hastened back to Cawnpore, and scattered wealth
with a lavish hand ; and sought to hide his fears by boastful
proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and
debauchery.
Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners
was increased to two hundred. There had been a mutiny
at Futtehgurh, higher up the river, and the fugitives had
fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty miles. They
knew nothing of what had transpired, and were all taken
prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men
' The survivors were Lieutenants Mowbray-Thomson and Delafosse, and
Privates Murphy and SuUivan.
BRITISH INDIA 737
were all butchered in presence of the Nana; the women and
children, eighty in number, were sent to join the wretched
sujfferers in the house near the Nana.
Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusi-
liers,* was pushing up from Calcutta. He was bent on the
relief of Cawnpore and Lukhnow, but was delayed on the
way by the mutinies at Benares and Allahabad. In July
he was joined at Allahabad by a column under General
Havelock, who was destined within a few short weeks to
win a lasting name in history.
General Havelock was a Queens officer of forty years'
standing; but he had seen more service in India than pet-
haps any other officer in her Majesty's army. He had
fought in the first Burma war, the Kabul war, the Gwalior
campaign of 1843, and the Punjab campaign of 1845-6. He
was a pale, thin, thoughtful man ; small in stature, but burn-
ing with the aspirations of a puritan hero. Religion was the
ruling principle of his life, and military glory was his master
passion. He had just returned to India after commanding
a division in the Persian war. Abstemious to a fault, he
was able, in spite of his advancing years, to bear up against
the heat and rain of Hindustan during the deadliest season
of the year.
On the 7th of July General Havelock left Allahabad for
Cawnpore. The force at his disposal did not exceed two
thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He had heard of the
massacre at Cawnpore on the 27th of June, and burned to
avenge it. On the 1 2th of July he defeated a large force
of mutineers and Mahrattas at Futtehpore. On the loth
he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy. Havelock was
now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted
his men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the
women and children were still ahve at Cawnpore, and that
' The Madras Fusiliers was a European regiment which had been raised by
/he East India Company for local service. It fought under Clive at Arcot and
Plassy. At the amalgamation of the army of the Company with that of the
Queen it became the One Hundred and Second Foot.
738 HISTORY OF INDIA
the Nana had taken the field with a large force to oppose his
advance. Accordingly Havelock marched fourteen miles
that same night, and on the following morning, within eight
miles of Cawnpore, the troops bivouacked beneath some
trees.
On that same night, the 15th of July, the crowning
atrocity was committed at Cawnpore. The rebels, who had
been defeated by Havelock, returned to the Nana with the
tidings of their disaster. In revenge the Nana ordered the
slaughter of the two hundred women and children. The poor
victims were literally hacked to death, or almost to death,
vrith swords, bayonets, knives, and axes. Next morning
the bleeding remains of dead and dying were dragged to a
neighboring well and thrown in.
At two o'clock in the afternoon after the massacre, the
force under Havelock was again upon the march for Cawn-
pore. The heat was fearful ; many of the troops were struck
down by the sun, and the cries for water were continuous.
But for two miles the column toiled on, and then came in
sight of the enemy. Havelock had only one thousand Eu-
ropeans and three hundred Sikhs; he had no cavalry, and
his artillery was inferior. The enemy numbered five thou-
sand men, armed and trained by British officers, strongly
intrenched, vnth two batteries of guns of heavy calibre,
Havelock's artillery failed to silence the batteries, and he
ordered the Europeans to charge with the bayonet. On the.y
went in the face of a shower of grape, but the bayonet charge
was as irresistible at Cawnpore as at Assaye. The enemy
fought for a while like men in a death struggle. Nana Sahib
was with them, but nothing is known of his exploits. At
last they broke and fled, and there was no cavalry to pursue
them.
As yet nothing was known of the butchery of the women
and children. Havelock halted for the night, and next
morning marched his force into the station at Cawnpore.
The men beheld the scene of the massacre, and saw the
bleeding remains in the well. But the murderers had van-
BRITISH INDIA 739
ished, no one knew whither. Havelock advanced to Bithoor,
and destroyed the palace of the Mahratta. Subsequently he
was joined by General Neill, with reinforcements from Alla-
habad; and on the 20th of July he set out for the relief of
Lukhnow, leaving Cawnpore in charge of General Neill.
The defence of Lukhnow against fifty thousand rebels
was, next to the siege of Delhi, the greatest event in the
mutiny. The whole province of Oude was in a blaze of
insurrection. The Talukdars were exasperated at the hard
measure dealt out to them before the appointment of Sir
Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner. Disbanded sepoys,
returning to their homes in Oude, swelled the tide of dis-
affection. Bandits that had been suppressed under British
administration returned to their old work of robbery and
brigandage. All classes took advantage of the anarchy to
murder the money-lenders.' Meanwhile the country was
bristling with the fortresses of the Talukdars; and the culti-
vators, deprived of the protection of the English, naturally
flocked for refuge to the strongholds of their old masters.
The English, who had been lords of Hindustan ever since
the beginning of the century, had been closely besieged in
the Residency at Lukhnow ever since the final outbreak
of the 30th of May. For nearly two months the garrison
' Money-lenders in India are a special institution. The masses are in a nor-
mal state of debt. They are compelled by custom to incur large expenses at
every marriage and festival, and in consequence are driven to borrow of money-
lenders. An enormous rate of interest is charged, and a son becomes responsi-
ble for the debts of his father.
Under native rule loans were regarded as debts of honor, or rather of piety.
They might possibly be recovered in a civil tribunal, but native courts were hope-
lessly corrupt, and the judge always appropriated a fourth of the claim as his
rightful fee. Accordingly the payment was regarded not so much a legal obliga-
tion as an act of piety, except in cases of forgery or cheating.
The introduction of British administration put all such debts on a new foot-
ing. A money-lender could enforce the payment of a decree in the civil court;
and lands and personal property were alike treated as available assets. Accord-
ingly soon after the annexation of Oude the people became very bitter against the
English courts. "When the courts were closed in consequence of the mutiny,
the people wreaked their vengeance upon the money-lenders.
A law against usury would scarcely remedy the evil. The people have been
so long accustomed to high rates of interest that they would continue to pay
them in spite of the law, from a sense of religious obUgation.
740 HISTORY OF INDIA
had held out with a dauntless intrepidity, while confidently-
waiting for reinforcements that seemed never to come.
"ISTever surrender" had been from the first the passionate
conviction of Sir Henry Lawrence; and the massacre at
Cawnpore on the 27th of June impressed every soldier in the
garrison with a like resolution. On the 2d of July the Muchi
Bawun was abandoned, and the garrison and stores removed
to the Residency. On the 4th of July Sir Henry Lawrence
was killed by the bursting of a shell in a room where he lay
wounded ; and his dying counsel to those around him was
' ' Never surrender ! ' '
On the 20th of July the rebel force round Lukhnow
heard of the advance of General Havelock to Cawnpore,
and attacked the Residency in overwhelming force. They
kept up a continual fire of musketry while pounding
away with their heavy guns; but the garrison held their
ground against shot and shell, and before the day was
over the dense masses of assailants were forced to retire
from the walls.
Between the 20th and 25th of July General Havelock
began to cross the Ganges, and make his way into Oude
territory ; but he was unable to relieve Lukhnow. His small
force was weakened by heat and fever, and reduced by chol-
era and dysentery; while the enemy occupied strong posi-
tions on both flanks. In the middle of August he fell back
upon Cawnpore. Meanwhile General Neill was threatened
on his right by the Nana, who reoccupied Bithoor in great
strength; and on his left by a large force of rebel sepoys;
and he could not attack either without leaving his intrench-
ment exposed to the other.
On the 16th of August Havelock left a detachment at
Cawnpore, and advanced toward Bithoor with fifteen hun-
dred men. He found the enemy drawn up in a position
which revealed the handiwork of a born general. The
infantry were posted in front of an intrenched battery,
which was nearly masked with sugar canes, and defended
with thick ramparts of mud. This position was flanked on
BRITISH INDIA 741
both sides by intrenched quadrangles filled with sepoys, and
sheltered by plantations of sugar cane.* Havelock brought
up his guns and opened fire; but the infantry had onl}^ been
posted in front of the enemy's intrenchment to draw the
English on. The moment Havelock's guns began to fire,
the infantry retreated into their defences, while the batteries
poured a storm of shot and shell upon the advancing line of
the British army. After twenty minutes Havelock saw that
his guns made no impression on the enemy's fire, and ordered
a charge with the bayonet. Again the English bayonets
prevailed against native batteries, and the enemy fled in all
directions, Havelock, however, had no cavalry for the pur-
suit, and was compelled once more to fall back on Cawnpore.
Thus ended Havelock's first campaign for the relief of
Lukhnow.
All this while the Mahratta and Rajput princes remained
loyal to the British government. They had nothing to do
with the sepoy mutiny, for they were evidently taken by sur-
prise and could not understand it; and if some held aloof,
and appeared to await events, there were others who made
common cause with the British government at the outset.
But the sepoys in the subsidiary armies, who were com-
manded by British officers, were as much terrified and trou-
bled by the greased cartridges as those in the Bengal regi-
ments; and the revolt at Delhi on the 11th of May acted
upon them in the same way as it acted upon the sepoys
in British territories. The Gwalior Contingent, which was
largely composed of Oude soldiery, was more than once
inclined to mutiny ; but Maharaja Sindia managed to tem-
porize with them ; and they did not finally break away from
Gwalior until the following October. At Indore the army
of Holkar broke out in mutiny and attacked the British
Residency, and then went off through Gwalior territory to
join the rebels near Agra; but at that time the Gwalior
' The ouly rebel leader who showed a real genius for war throughout the
muthiies was a Mahratta Brahman, in the service of the Nana, known as Tantia
Topi. No doubt it was Tantia Topi who drew up the rebel army at Bithoor.
743 HISTORY OF INDIA
soldiery were tolerably stanch, and refused to accompany
them. '
During the four months that followed the revolt at Delhi
on the 11th of May, all political interest was centred at the
ancient capital of the sovereigns of Hindustan. The public
mind was occasionally distracted by the current of events at
Cawnpore and Lukhnow, as well as at other stations which
need not be particularized ; but so long as Delhi remained in
the hands of the rebels, the native princes were bewildered
and alarmed; and its prompt recapture was deemed of vital
importance to the prestige of the British government, and
the re-establishment of British sovereignty in Hindustan.
The Great Moghul had been little better than a mummy for
more than half a century; and Bahadur Shah was a mere
tool and puppet in the hands of rebel sepoys; but neverthe-
less the British government had to deal with the astounding
fact that the rebels were fighting under his name and stand-
ard, just as Afghans and Mahrattas had done in the da3's
of Ahmad Shah Durani and Mahadaji Sindia. To make
matters worse, the roads to Delhi were open from the south
and east; and nearly every outbreak in Hindustan was fol-
lowed by a stampede of mutineers to the old capital of the
Moghuls.
Meanwhile, in the absence of railways, there were unfor-
tunate delays in bringing up troops and guns to stamp out
the fires of rebellion at the head centre.^ The highway from
' Major, afterward General, Sir Henry Durand, who had served for eight
years as pohtical agent at Bhopal, was residing at Indore at this crisis, as agent
to the Governor-General in Central India. The Residency at Indore held out
until the safety of the ladies and their families was secured ; and the subsequent
hospitable reception of the refugees by the late Begum of Bhopal is a touching
illustration of the loyalty of a native princess toward the British government.
Sir John Kaye, in the first edition of his history of the sepoj' revolt, was
unfortunately led to give currencj' to an untrue statement about Major Durand's
conduct at Indore. It is gratifying to know that before he died he publicly
retracted the insinuation.
- The deaths of successive Commanders-in-chief led to other delays. The
news of the revolt at Delhi brought General Anson down from Simla to under-
take the siege of Delhi; but he died at Kurnal on the 27th of May. Sir Henry
Barnard, who succeeded him as Commander-in-chief, died on the 5th July.
BEITISH INDIA 743
Calcutta to Delhi was blocked up by mutiny and insurrec-
tion ; and every European soldier sent up from Calcutta was
stopped for the relief of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, or
Lukhnow. But the possession of the Punjab at this crisis
proved to be the salvation of the empire. Sir John Law-
rence, the Chief Commissioner, was called upon to perform
almost superhuman work — to maintain order in a newly con-
quered province; to suppress mutiny and disaffection among
the very sepoy regiments from Bengal who were supposed to
garrison the country ; and to send reinforcements of troops
and guns, and supplies of all descriptions, to the siege of
Delhi. Fortunately the Sikhs had been only a few short
years under British administration ; they had not forgotten
the miseries that prevailed under the native government,
and could appreciate the many blessings they enjoyed under
British rule. They were stanch to the British government,
and eager to be led against the rebels. In some cases terri-
ble punishment was meted out to mutinous Bengal sepoys
within the Punjab;' but the imperial interests at stake were
sufficient to justify every severity, although all must regret
the painful necessity that called for such extreme measures.
On the 8th of June, about a month after the revolt at
Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard took the field at Alipore, about
ten miles from the rebel capital. He defeated an advance
division of the enemy; and then marched to the Ridge, and
reoccupied the old cantonment which had been abandoned
on the 11th of May. So far it was clear that the rebels
were unable to do anything in the open field, although they
might fight bravely under cover. They numbered about
thirty thousand strong; they had a very powerful artillery,
and ample stores of ammunition; while there was an abun-
dance of provisions within the city throughout the siege.
General Reed succeeded Barnard, but was compelled by ill health to resign the
appohitraent on the 17th July. General Wilson of the Bengal artillery then
took the command, while Colonel Baird Smith was chief engineer.
' The wholesale executions in the Twenty-sixth Regiment of native infantry,
which were carried out by the late Mr. Cooper, can only be justified by stern
necessity.
744 HISTORY OF INDIA
The defences of Delhi covered an area of three square
miles. The walls consisted of a series of bastions, about
sixteen feet high, connected by long curtains, with occa-
sional martello towers to aid the flanking fire. Every bas-
tion was mounted with eleven guns; namely, one on the
salient, three on each face, and two on each flank. Both
bastions and curtains were built of masonry about twelve
feet thick. Running round the base of these bastions and
curtains was a berm or terrace varying in width from fif-
teen to thirty feet, having on its exterior edge a wall loop-
holed for musketry. The whole was surrounded by a ditch
twenty feet deep and twenty-five feet wide. ' On the east-
ern side of the city the river Jumna ran past the palace of
the king and the old state prison of Selimgurh. The bridge
of boats leading to Meerut was in front of SelimgLu*h.
There were seven gates to the city, namel}', Lahore gate,
Ajmir gate, Turkoman gate, Delhi gate, Mori gate, Kabul
gate, and Kashmir gate. The principal street was the
Chandni Chouk, which ran in a direct line from the Delhi
gate to the palace of the Moghuls. The great mosque,
known as the Juma Musjid, stands on a rocky eminence
at the back of the Chandni Chouk.
The British camp on the Ridge presented a picture at once
varied and striking ; long lines of European tents, thatched
hovels of the native servants, rows of horses, parks of artil-
lery, English soldiers in their gray linen coats and trousers,
Sikhs with their red and blue turbans, Afghans with their
gay headdresses and colored saddle-cloths, and the Ghorkas
in Kilmarnock hats and woollen coats. There were but few
Hindu sepoys in the British ranks, but the native servants
were very numerous. In the rear were the booths of the
native bazars ; and further out in the plain were thousands
of camels, bullocks and baggage horses. Still further to
' ]\Ieeliiig of the Bengal Army, London, 1858. Bacon's First Impressions
of Hindustan, London, 18:57. The ]oo])-]ioled wall was a continuation of tlie
escarp or inner wall of the ditch. The counterscarp, or outer wall of the ditch,
was not of masonry, but was a mere earthen slope of easy incline.
BRITISH INDIA 745
the rear was a small river crossed by two bridges ; but the
bridges were subsequently blown up. On the extreme right
of the camp, on a spot nearest the city walls, was a battery
on an eminence, known as the Mound battery, which faced
the Mori gate. Hard by was Hindu Rao's' house, the head-
quarters of the army during the siege. From the summit
of the Ridge was to be seen the river Jumna winding along
to the left of the city : the bridge of boats, the towers of the
palace, the minarets of the great mosque of the Juma Mus-
jid, the house roofs and gardens of the doomed city, and the
picturesque walls, with batteries here and there sending forth
white clouds of smoke among the green foliage that clustered
round the ramparts.
To the right of the Mound battery was the old suburb
known as the Subzi Mundi. It was the vegetable bazar
which figures in the scandalous stories of the later Moghul
princes as the scene of their frolics and debaucheries. It
was occupied by old houses, gardens with high walls, and
narrow streets and lanes; and thus it furnished the very
cover which makes Asiatics brave. ^ Similar suburbs inter-
vened between the actual defences of Delhi and the whole
line of the English position.
For many weeks the British army on the Ridge was
unable to attempt siege operations. It was, in fact, the be-
sieged rather than the besiegers; for although the bridges
in the rear were blown up, the camp was exposed to contin-
ual assaults from all the other sides.
On the 23d of June, the hundredth anniversary of the
battle of Plassy, the enemy made a greater effort than ever
to carry the British position. The attack began on the right
' Hindu Rao is one of the forgotten celebrities who flourished about fifty
years ago. He was a brother of Baiza Bai, the ambitious widow of Daulat Rao
Sindia, who worried Lord William Bentinck. Hindu Rao had a claim to the
throne of Gwalior, but was outwitted bj^ his strong-minded sister, and sent to
live at Delhi on a lakh of rupees per annum; i.e., ten thousand pounds a year.
Like the great Jaswant Rao Holkar, he was a victim to cherry brandy.
■^ The Subzi Mundi was subsequently cleared from all the rubbish and debris.
At the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi, on the Ist of January, 1877, it formed the
site of part of the Viceregal encampment.
746 HISTORY OF INDIA
from the Subzi Mundi, its object being to capture the Mound
battery. Finding it impossible to carry the batterj^, the reb-
els confined themselves to a hand to hand conflict in the
Subzi Mundi. The deadly struggle continued for many
hours; and as the rebels came up in overwhelming nuin-
bers, it was fortunate that the two bridges in the rear had
been blown up the night before, or the assault might have
had a different termination. It was not until after sunset
that the enemy was compelled to retire with the loss of a
thousand men. Similar actions were frequent during the
month of August ; but meanwhile reinforcements were com-
ing up, and the end was drawing nigh.
In the middle of August, Brigadier John Nicholson, one
of the most distinguished officers of the time, came up from
the Punjab with a brigade and siege train. On the 4th of
September a heavy train of artillery was brought in from
Ferozepore. The British force on the Ridge now exceeded
eight thousand men. Hitherto the artillery had been too
weak to attempt to breach the city walls; but now fifty-
four heavy guns were brought into position and the siege
began in earnest. From the 8th to the 13th of September
four batteries poured in a constant storm of shot and shell ;
number one was directed against the Kashmir bastion, num-
ber two against the right fiank of the Kashmir bastion,
number three against the Water bastion, and number four
against the Kashmir and Water gates and bastions. On the
13th of September the breaches were declared to be prac-
ticable, and the following morning was fixed for the final
assault upon the doomed city.
At three o'clock in the morning of the 14th September,
three assaulting columns were formed in the trenches, while
a fourth was kept in reserve. The first column was led by
Brigadier Nicholson; the second by Brigadier Jones; the
third by Colonel Campbell; and the fourth, or reserve, by
Brigadier Longfield.
The powder bags were laid at the Kashmir gate by Lieu-
tenants Home and Salkeld. The explosion followed, and the
BRITISH INDIA 747
third column rushed in, and pushed toward the Juma Mus-
jid. Meanwhile the first column under Nicholson escaladed
the breaches near the Kashmir gate, and pushed along the
ramparts toward the Kabul gate, carrying the several bas-
tions in the way. Here it was met by the second column
under Brigadier Jones, who had escaladed the breach at
the Water bastion. The advancing columns were met by
a ceaseless fire from terraced houses, mosques, and other
buildings; and John Nicholson, the hero of the day, while
attempting to storm a narrow street near the Kabul gate,
was struck down by a shot and mortally wounded. Then
followed six days of desperate warfare. No quarter was
given to men with arms in their hands; but women and
children were spared, and only a few of the peaceable in-
habitants were sacrificed during the storm.
On the 20th of September the gates of the old fortified
palace of the Moghuls were broken open, but the royal in-
mates had fled. No one was left but a few wounded sepoys
and fugitive fanatics. The old king, Bahadur Shah, had
gone off to the great mausoleum without the city, known
as the tomb of Humayun. It was a vast quadrangle raised
on terraces and enclosed with walls. It contained towers,
buildings, and monumental marbles, in memory of different
members of the once distinguished family; as well as ex-
tensive gardens, surrounded with cloistered cells for the
accommodation of pilgrims.
On the 21st of September Captain Hodson rode to the
tomb, arrested the king, and brought him back to Delhi
with other members of the family, and lodged them in the
palace. The next day he went again with a hundred horse-
men, and arrested two sons of the king in the midst of a
crowd of armed retainers, and brought them away in a na-
tive carriage. Near the city the carriage was surrounded
by a tumultuous crowd ; and Hodson, who was afraid of a
rescue, shot both princes with his pistol, and placed their
bodies in a public place on the waUs for all men to see.
Thus fell the imperial city ; captured by the army under
748 HISTORY OF INDIA
Brigadier Wilson before the arrival of any of the reinforce-
ments from England. The losses were heavy. From the
beginning of the siege to the close the British army at Delhi
had nearly four thousand killed and wounded. The casual-
ties on the side of the rebels were never estimated. Two
bodies of sepoys broke away from the city, and fled down
the valleys of the Jumna and Ganges, followed by two fly-
ing columns imder Brigadiers Greathed and Showers. But
the great mutiny and revolt at Delhi had been stamped out;
and the flag of England waved triumphantly over the capital
of Hindustan.
The capture of Delhi, in September, 1857, was the turn-
ing-point in the sepoy mutinies. The revolt was crushed
beyond redemption ; the rebels were deprived of their head
centre; and the Moghul king was a prisoner at the mercy
of the power whom he had defied. But there were still
troubles in India. Lukhnow was still beleaguered by a
rebel army, and insurrection still ran riot in Oude and
Rohilkund.
In the middle of August General Havelock had fallen
back on Cawnpore, after the failure of his first campaign
for the relief of Lukhnow. Five weeks afterward Havelock
made a second attempt under better auspices. Sir Colin
Campbell had arrived at Calcutta as Commander-in-chief.
Sir James Outram had come up to Allahabad. On the 16th
of September, while the British troops were storming the
streets of Delhi, Outram joined Havelock and Neill at Cawn-
pore with one thousand four hundred men. As senior officer
he might have assumed the command; but with generous
chivalry, the "Bayard of India" waived his rank in honor
of Havelock.
On the 20th of September General Havelock crossed the
Ganges into Oude at the head of two thousand five hundred
men. The next day he defeated a rebel army, and put it to
flight, while four of the enemy's guns were captured by
Outram at the head of a body of volunteer cavalry. On
the 23d Havelock routed a still larger rebel force which was
BRITISH INDIA 749
strongly posted at a garden in the suburbs of Lukhnow,
known as the Alumbagh, He then halted to give his sol-
diers a day's rest. On the 35th he was cutting his way
through the streets and lanes of the city of Lukhnow; run-
ning the gantlet of a deadly and unremitting fire from the
houses on both sides of the streets, and also from guns which
commanded them. On the evening of the same day he en-
tered the British intrenchments ; but in the moment of vic-
tory a chance shot carried off the gallant Neill.
The defence of the British Residency at Lukhnow is a
glorious episode in the national annals. The fortitude of the
beleaguered garrison was the admiration of the world. The
ladies nursed the wounded, and performed every womanly
duty, with self-sacrificing heroism; and when the fight was
over they received the well-merited thanks of Her Majesty
Queen Victoria.
During four long months the garrison had known noth-
ing of what was going on in the outer world. They were
aware of the advance and retreat of Havelock, and that
was all. At last, on the 23d of September, they heard the
booming of the guns at the Alumbagh. On the morning
of the 25th they could see something of the grovnng excite-
ment in the city ; the people abandoning their houses and
flying across the river. Still the guns of the rebels kept
up a heavy cannonade upon the Residency, and volleys of
musketry continued to pour upon the besieged from the
loopholes of the besiegers. But soon the firing was heard
from the city ; the welcome sounds came nearer and nearer.
The excitement of the garrison gi-ew beyond control. Pres-
ently the relieving force was seen fighting its way toward
the Residency. Then the pent-up feelings of the garrison
burst forth in deafening cheers; and wounded men in hos-
pital crawled out to join in the chorus of welcome. Then
followed personal greetings as ofiicers and men came pour-
ing in. Hands were frantically shaken on all sides. Rough
bearded soldiers took the children from their mothers' arms,
kissed them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanked
India. Vol. II. X— 14
750 HISTORY OF INDIA
God that they had come in time to save them from the fate
that had befallen the sufferers at Cawnpore.
Thus after a siege of nearly four months Havelock suc-
ceeded in relieving Lukhnow. But it was a reinforcement
rather than a relief, and was confined to the British Resi-
dency. The siege was not raised ; and the city of Lukhnow
remained two months longer in the hands of the rebels. Sir
James Outram assumed the command, but was compelled
to keep on the defensive. Meanwhile reinforcements were
arriving from England. In November Sir Colin Campbell
reached Cawnpore at the head of a considerable army. He
left General Windham with two thousand men to take charge
of the intrenchment at Cawnpore ; and then advanced against
Lukhnow with five thousand men and thirty guns. He car-
ried several of the enemy's positions, cut his way to the
Residency, and at last brought away the beleaguered gar-
rison, with all the ladies and children. But not even then
could he disperse the rebels and reoccupy the city. Ac-
cordingly he left Outram at the head of four thousand
men in the neighborhood of Lukhnow, and then returned
to Cawnpore.
On the 24th of November, the day after leaving Lukhnow,
General Havelock was carried off by dysentery and buried
in the Alumbagh. His death spread a gloom over India,
but by this time his name had become a household word
wherever the English language was spoken. In the hour
of surprise and panic, as successive stories of mutiny and
rebellion reached England, and culminated in the revolt at
Delhi and massacre at Cawnpore, the victories of Havelock
revived the drooping spirits of the British nation, and stirred
up all hearts to glorify the hero who had stemmed the tide
of disaffection and disaster. The death of Havelock, follow-
ing the story of the capture of Delhi, and told with the same
breath that proclaimed the deliverance at Lukhnow, was re-
ceived in England with a universal sorrow that will never
be forgotten, so long as men are living who can recall the
memory of the mutinies of Fifty-seven.
BRITISH INDIA 761
Sir Colin Campbell was approaching Cawnpore, when he
heard the roll of a distant cannonade. There was another
surprise, and unfortunately another disaster. Tantia Topi
had come once more to the front. That wonderful Mahratta
Brahman had made his way from the side of Nana Sahib to
the capital of Sindia ; and had persuaded the Gwahor Con-
tingent to break out in open revolt and march against Cawn-
pore. General Windham was an officer of distinction. He
had earned his laurels in the Crimean campaign, but he was
unfamiliar with Asiatic warfare. He went out to meet the
rebels, and routed the advanced body ; but he was outwitted
by the consummate genius of Tantia Topi. He found him-
self outflanked, and took alarm, and fell back upon the in-
trenchment ; leaving not only his camp equipage and stores,
but the whole city of Cawnpore in the hands of the rebel
sepoys.' To crown all, the bridge of boats over the Ganges,
by which Sir Colin Campbell was expected to cross the river
on his way to Cawnpore, was in imminent danger of being
destroyed by the rebels.
Fortunately the bridge escaped the vigilance of Tantia
Topi, and Sir Colin Campbell reached the intrenchment in
safety. His first act was to despatch the garrison from
Lukhnow, together with his sick and wounded, down the
river to Allahabad. He then took the field and routed the
Gwalior rebels that repulsed General Windham, and drove
them out of Cawnpore. The naval brigade under Sir Wil-
liam Peel gained great renown during these operations,
handling their 24-pounders like playthings; while Generals
Little and Mansfield and Brigadier Hope Grant distinguished
themselves in the pursuit of the rebels.
In January, 1858, the ex-king Bahadur Shah was tried
' Major Adye of the Roj-al Artillery was present at the engagement and lost
two ol his guns. In sheer desperation he went out at night with a small party,
and succeeded in finding his guns and bringing them bacli in triumph. It thus
appeared that not even Tantia Topi could persuade Asiatics to keep on guard
against a night attack; and had Windliam beaten up the enemy's quarters at
midnight he might possibly liave retrieved his disaster. Major Adye is now
General Sir John Adye, Governor of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
752 HISTORY OF INDIA
by a military commission at Delhi, and found guilty of or-
dering the massacre of Christians, and of waging war
against the British government. Sentence of death was
recorded against him ; but ultimately he was sent to Ran-
goon, with his favorite wife and her son, and kept under
surveillance as a state prisoner until his death five years
afterward.
The subsequent history of the sepoy revolt is little more
than a detail of the military operations of British troops for
the dispersion of the rebels and restoration of order and law.
Sir Colin Campbell, now Lord Clyde, undertook a general
campaign against the rebels in Oude and Rohilkund, and
restored order and law throughout those disaffected prov-
inces; while Sir James Outram drove the rebels out of
Lukhnow, and re-established British sovereignty in the
capital of Oude.
At the same time a column from Bombay under Sir
Hugh Rose, and another from Madras under General
Whitlock, carried out a similar work in Central India
and Bundelkund. History has scarcely done justice to
the brilliant campaign of Sir Hugh Rose in Central In-
dia from the borders of the Bombay Presidency to the
banks of the Jumna. The military operations of Lord
Clyde were on a far larger scale, but they were con-
ducted in an open and well-peopled country. The cam-
paign of Sir Hugh Rose was carried out amid the jungles,
ravines, and broken ground of the Vindhya mountains, and
the equally secluded region of Bundelkund, which for cent-
uries had set the Muhammadan power at defiance. "With
a small but well-appointed force, a tithe of that under Lord
Clyde's command. Sir Hugh Rose captured fortresses and
walled towns, fought battles against enormous odds, and
never for a moment gave the enemy time to breathe. He
besieged and captured the rebel fortress of Jhansi, where
Tantia Topi had come to the help of the Rani. The bloody-
minded Rani fled to the jungles; and Tantia Topi escaped
to the northeast, and concentrated a rebel army of twenty
BRITISH INDIA 753
thousand men near Kalpi on the Jumna. After some des-
perate actions, Sir Hugh Rose utterly routed Tantia Topi,
and scattered his forces in all directions. Sir Hugh Rose
considered that he had now brought his campaign in Cen-
tral India to a glorious close; and he congratulated the
troops under his command at having marched a thousand
miles and captured a hundred guns.
But Sir Hugh Rose had reckoned without his host. At
this very time the irrepressible Mahratta Brahman, Tantia
Topi, had secretly proceeded to Gwalior, the capital of Maha-
raja Sindia. He had made Gwalior the rallying-point for
all the scattered troops of the rebel army; and organized a
conspiracy against Sindia to be supported by the rebels as
fast as they arrived. The plot was discovered in time by
the Maharaja and his minister, Dinkur Rao; and it was
plain that neither the one nor the other could have felt the
slightest sympathy in a movement for upsetting the British
government and restoring a dynasty of Peishwas.
Dinkur Rao counselled the Maharaja to adopt a defensive
polic}'' until a British force arrived from Agra. But Sindia
was young and enthusiastic, and anxious to show his loyalty
to the British government. Accordingly he marched out
with eight thousand men and twenty-five guns to attack
the rebel army. The result was one of those surprises and
disasters which characterized different epochs of the mutiny.
Sindia's army deserted him, and either joined the rebels or
returned to Gwahor. His own bodyguard remained with
him, and fought against the rebels ^vith the old Mahratta
spirit, but they suffered heavily in the action, Sindia was
thus compelled to fly to Dholepore on the road to Agra,
where he was joined by Dinkur Rao.
The city of Gwalior, with all its guns, stores, and treas-
ure, was thus abandoned to the rebels. Nana Sahib was
proclaimed Peishwa; and a revolution was beginning of
which no one at Gwalior could see the ending. In the be-
ginning of June, ] 858, in the height of the hot weather, a
new rebel army, numbering eighteen thousand men, had
754 HISTORY OF INDIA
sprung into existence in Central India under the command
of Tantia Topi, with all the famous artillery of 8india at
his disposal.
This astounding state of affairs soon called Sir Hugh
Rose to the front. On the 16th of June he defeated a rebel
force which was posted in the cantonment at Morar. The
next day he was joined by a column under Brigadier Smith;
and on the 18th all the rebel intrenchments and positions
were stormed and captured. During these operations the
Rani of Jhansi fought on the side of the rebels in male
attire. She was killed by a trooper before her sex was dis-
covered ; and is said to have courted her fate to escape the
punishment of her crimes.
Tantia Topi, however, was a born general, and his genius
never deserted him. He made good his retreat from Gwalior
with six thousand men, and carried away thirty field-pieces.
But his case was hopeless. Two days afterward, Brigadier
Robert Napier, the present Lord Napier of Magdala, dashed
among the retreating force with six hundred horsemen and
six field-guns, and put them to flight, while recovering nearly
all the artillery they had carried away. This successful ac-
tion was regarded as one of the most brilliant exploits in the
campaign.
In spite of these crushing defeats, Tantia Topi evaded all
pursuit for ten months longer. Different columns strove to
hem him in ; but the active Mahratta, with all the spirit and
pertinacity of his race, made his Avay to the banks of the
Nerbudda with a large body of fugitives, mounted on the
small hardy ponies of India. "With all the pertinacity of a
Mahratta, he still clung to the wild hope of reaching the
western Dekhan, and creating a new Mahratta empire in
the dominions of the ex-Peishwa, which had been British
territory for more than forty years. Whether it was pos-
sible for him to have raised a Mahratta insurrection is a
problem he was never destined to solve.
Tantia Topi was driven back by the Bombay troops, and
never crossed the Nerbudda. From that time Tantia Topi
BRITISH INDIA 755
and the British troops appeared to be playing at hunting the
hare all over Central India. He and his men rode incredible
distances, and often appeared to be in several places at once.
At last a cordon of hunters surrounded him. He was driven
into the western deserts of Rajputana, but compelled, from
want of supplies, to double back on Bundelkund. In April,
1859, his hiding-place in the jungles was betrayed by one of
his own rebel generals ; and he was arrested by Major Meade,
and tried, convicted, and hanged, to the general satisfaction
of all concerned.
Tantia Topi was a cruel and crafty villain, with a clever-
ness that calls to mind the genius and audacity of the old
Mahratta Peishwas. He was no doubt the originator of the
rebellion of the Nana Sahib, and the prime mover in the
massacres at Cawnpore; while the Nana was a mere tool
and puppet in his hands, like Maharaja Sahu in the hands
of the Peishwas. Could the Nana have succeeded in gain-
ing a throne, he would most probably have been imprisoned
or murdered by Tantia Topi; and Tantia Topi would have
founded one of those dynasties of ministerial sovereigns
which so often sprung into existence in the palmy days of
Brahmanical rule."
' The death of Tantia Topi has carried the reader bej'oud the mutinies into
the year 1859. In the next chapter it will be necessary to revert to the close
of the mutinies in 1858.
756 HISTORY OF INDIA
CHAPTER XXVI
IMPERIAL RULE : CANNING, ELGIN, LAWRENCE,
MAYO, NORTHBROOK AND LYTTON
A.D. 1858 TO 1880
ON the 1st of November, 1858, the proclamation of
her Majesty Queen Victoria brought the sepoy re-
volt to a close. It was the Magna Charta of India,
and was translated into all the languages of the country. It
announced the transfer of the direct government of India
from the Company to the Crown. It confirmed all existing
dignities, rights, usages, and treaties.' It assured the peo-
ple of India that the British government had neither the
right nor the desire to tamper with their religion or caste. It
granted a general amnesty to all mutineers and rebels, ex-
cepting only those who had been directly implicated in the
murders.
In January, 1859, Lord Canning published a despatch
from Lord Clyde, declaring that rebellion no longer existed
in Oude.'' The campaign was at an end, for no organized
armies of rebels remained in the field ; but hordes of armed
men, of whom Tantia Topi was a type, were still fighting
1 The administrative results of the transfer of the government of India from
the East India Company to the Crov^^n may be summed up in a few words. The
Governor-General became a Viceroy. Xon -officials, natives and Europeans, were
introduced into the so-called legislative councils at the different Presidencies, and
into the legislative council of tlie Viceroy. The Company's army was amalga-
mated with the Queen's army. The Company's Courts of Appeal at the difEereut
Presidencies, known as the Suddar Courts, in which the judges were selected
from the Civil Service, were amalgamated with the Supreme Courts, in which
the judges were sent out from England under the nomination of the Crown.
The new Courts are now known as High Courts.
'^ Oude was disarmed after the rebellion, just as the Punjab had been dis-
armed after tlie annexation. The number of arms collected was very large;,
there were 684 cannon, 186,000 tirearms, 560,000 swords, .50,000 spears, and
more than 600,000 weapons of other descriptions; while more than 1,500 fort-
resses, great and small, were demolished or dismantled.
BRITISH INDIA 757
as it were with halters round their necks. But brigades
and detachments were in motion from the Nerbudda river
to the northeast frontier of Oude ; and the work of tram-
pUng out the last embers of the great conflagration was
gradually brought to a close.
During the cold weather of 1859 Lord Canning left Cal-
cutta for a tour in the upper provinces. In November he
held a grand durbar at Agra, at which his dignified presence
created an impression among the native princes which was
never forgotten. He acknowledged the services rendered to
the British government during the mutinies by Maharaja
Sindia, the Raja of Jaipur, and others. At the same time,
as the representative of her Majesty, he publicly announced
the concession to native rulers of the right of adopting a
son, who should succeed to the government of their several
principalities in the event of a failure of natural heirs.
In March, 1862, Lord Canning left India forever. The
leading event of his administration was the sepoy revolt;
but it was followed by measures of economy and reform
which proved him to be one of the most conscientious and
hard-working statesmen that ever governed India. Unfort-
unately his career was rapidly brought to a close. He died
the following Jime, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Lord Elgin succeeded Lord Canning as Viceroy of India.
His administration was short, but was marked by two events
which will always find a place in history; namely, a little
mountain expedition on the northwest frontier which led to
an expensive campaign, and a mission to Bhutan which led
to a still more disastrous war.
The frontier of British India westward of the river Indus
was formed in 1849 by a chain of mountains which ran south-
ward from the Hindu Kush into Sinde, and served as a natu-
ral wall between the Punjab and Afghanistan. ' These moun-
' The wall is not continuous. It is pierced bj- the Khaiber Pass which leads
to Kabul, and the Bolan Pass which leads to Quetta and Kandahar. Other
passes were discovered during the campaigns of 1878-79.
758 HISTORY OF INDIA
tains are known as the Sulaiman range. They are inhabited
by tribes who are closely akin to the Afghans ; equally blood-
thirsty and treacherous, and still more ignorant and barbar-
ous. They have no government, but each tribe has its own
council of elders, known as the Jirgah, They are Muham-
madans of the worst type; intolerant and priest-ridden.
They always carry arms, such as matchlocks and short
swords, whether grazing cattle, tilling the soil, or driving
beasts of burden; for every tribe has its internecine war,
every family its hereditary blood feud, and every man his
personal enemy. At the same time, whenever they are ex-
posed to the assaults of an invader, they forget all their feuds
and quarrels, and make common cause against the for-
eigner. '
In the old days of Runjeet Singh and his successors, th^
mountain tribes were always ready to carry fire and sword
into the bordering villages of Sikhs and Hindus, on the side
of the Punjab. They plundered homesteads, slaughtered all
who opposed them, and carried off women, children, and cat-
tle. Since the British conquest of the Punjab there has been
a vast improvement in the state of affairs on the frontier ;
and the mountain tribes have been kept out of the plains by
the Punjab Irregular Force organized by Lord Dalhousie.
The most important British district on the line of frontier
is that of Peshawar. It is the key of the whole position. It
extends from the fort of Attock, at the junction of the Kabul
and Indus rivers, westward as far as the mouth of the Khai-
ber Pass, which leads to Kabul. Accordingly the British
cantonment at Peshawar has always been held by a large
force of the regular army.
Forty miles to the north of Attock is a village, or group
of villages, called Sitana. The settlement is situated outside
the frontier, on the eastern face of a square mass of rock,
' The data respecting the population of the Sulaiman range is condensed from
a Report on the independent tribes of the northwest frontier, drawn up many-
years ago by Sir Richard Temple. The original extract will be found in page
27 of the Blue Book on Afghanistan, published in 1878.
BRITISH INDIA 759
eight thousand feet high, known as the Mahabun mountain.*
It had been occupied ever since 1831, or thereabout, by a
colony of Hindustani fanatics from Bengal. These men
are a sect of Muhammadan puritans, known as Wahabis,
who affect a strict and ascetic way of life, such as prevailed
in the time of the Prophet, and denounce all commentaries
on the Koran, and all such modern innovations as the wor-
ship of relics. The Hindustani fanatics at Sitana were dan-
gerous neighbors. They were brigands as well as bigots,
like the zealots described by Josephus. They committed
frequent raids on British territory, being inspired by relig-
ious hatred as well as love of plunder ; and, strange to say,
they were recruited from time to time with men and money
from disaffected Muhammadans in Patna and other locali-
ties in Bengal, at least twelve hundred miles off. In 1858
they were driven out of Sitana by General Sir Sydney Cot-
ton, who commanded at Peshawar ; but they only retired to
Mulka, on the further slope of the Mahabun mountain;
and in 1862 they returned to Sitana and renewed their
depredations.
In 1863 a British force of five thousand men, under Gen-
eral Sir Neville Chamberlain, was sent to root out the Hin-
dustani fanatics from Mulka as well as Sitana. It would,
however, have proved a difficult operation to march a col-
umn up the side of a steep mountain in the face of swarms
of mountaineers and fanatics; and then, after capturing
Sitana, to march over a crest eight thousand feet high, in
order to attack a strong force at Mulka on the further slope.
Accordingly it was resolved to reach the slope in question
by a narrow gorge that ran along the western face of the
Mahabun mountain, and was known as the Umbeyla pass;
and thus to take Mulka, as it were, in the rear.''
' The whole region is classic ground, the scene of Alexander's invasion of
India. The Mahabun mountain has been identified with the natural fortress
of Aornos, which was captured by the Macedonians. Attock has been identi-
fied with Taxila, the first city entered by the great conqueror after the passage
of the Indus.
'^ See Sitana; a Mountain Campaign on the Borders of Afghanistan, by
Colonel John Adye, R.A. The author is largely indebted to this valuable con-
760 HISTORY OF INDIA
While, however, one side of the Umbeyla pass was formed
by the Mahabun mouutain, the other side was formed by an-
other steep height, known as the Guru mountain ; and beyond
the Guru mountain were many strong tribes, known as Bo-
nairs and Swatis ; and above all there was a certain warrior
priest, known as the Akhoond of Swat, who exercised a
powerful influence as prince and pontiff over many of the
tribes far and wide. Then again the Umbeyla pass was
outside the British frontier, and really belonged to the Bo-
nairs. It was, however, imagined that the Afghan moun-
taineers could have no sympathy with the Hindustani fa-
natics; especially as the Akhoond of Swat had fulminated
his spiritual thunder against the Hindustani fanatics at
Mulka and Sitana in a way which betokened a deadly sec-
tarian hostility. Moreover, as the Umbeyla pass was only
nine miles long, it was possible to reach Mulka and destroy
the village before Bonairs or Swatis could know what was
going on.
Unfortunately the Hindustani fanatics were too sharp for
the British authorities. They got an inkling of the coming
expedition, and sent out letters to all the neighboring tribes.
They declared that the English infidels were coming to de-
vastate the mountains and subvert the religion of the tribes.
It was cunningly added that in the first instance the infidels
would say that they only came to destroy the Hindustanis ;
but if once they got into the mouutain, every one of the tribes
would share the fate of the Hindustanis.
Unconsciously General Chamberlain played into the hands
of the Hindustanis. He told the neighboring tribes that he
was going to destroy Mulka, but that he had no intention
whatever of interfering with any one but the Hindustanis.
He entered the Umbeyla pass before he could receive any
tribution to military history. Colonel, now General, Sir John Adye, maintains
that the Hindu Kush and not the Sulaiman range is the true frontier of our Brit-
ish Indian empire. The author would add that if we accept the Hindu Kush as
our mountain fortress, then, to use a teelmical phrase, Afghan-Turkistan is our
berm and tlie Oxus our ditch. Russia already holds the glacis as represented
by Bokhara and Khiva.
BRITISH INDIA Ifiol
reply; but, on getting three parts of the way, he was com-
pelled to halt for the baggage. He sent on a party to re-
connoitre the Chumla valley, which intervened between the
pass and Mulka, and then it was found that the Guru moun-
tain was swarming with armed men. Accordingly the re-
connoitring party had much difficulty in returning to the
camp; and it was soon evident that the British force had
been drawn into a defile; and that it would be impossible to
advance without reinforcements, and almost equally impos-
sible to return to British territory.
The movements of the British force had excited the sus-
picions of the tribes by confirming all that the Hindustanis
had said. The Bonairs were exasperated at the violation of
their territory, without any previous reference to their coun-
cil of elders. Fear and alarm spread far and wide, and the
tribes flocked to the Guru mountain from all quarters. The
Akhoond of Swat came in person with fifteen thousand men.
The mountain tribes on the Mahabun made common cause
with the Hindustanis in resisting the invaders. In a word,
General Chamberlain was threatened by swarms of match-
lock men on his two flanks, while his rear was blocked up
by mules, camels, and other impedimenta. Under such cir-
cumstances he was compelled to keep off the enemy as he
best could, and wait for reinforcements, or for orders to re-
tire. To make matters worse, he himself was wounded;
while Lord Elgin was dying at Dhurmsala in the Himalayas.
At this crisis Sir Hugh Rose, who had succeeded Lord
Clyde as Commander-in-chief, solved the difficulty. He pro-
tested against any retirement, as it would only necessitate an
expensive campaign in the following spring ; and he ordered
up reinforcements with all speed from Lahore.
Lord Elgin died in November, 1863. Sir William Deni-
son, Governor of Madras, came up to Calcutta to act as his
successor until a Viceroy could be appointed by the home
government; and he at once sanctioned the steps taken by
Sir Hugh Rose. General Garvock assumed the command
in the room of General Chamberlain, and found himself at
762 HISTORY OF INDIA
the head of nearly nine thousand men all eager for the fray.
The mountain tribes were soon brought to reason; and a
brilliant campaign ended in a political triumph. The Bo-
nairs were so satisfied of the good faith of the British au-
thorities that they went themselves to Mulka and burned
down the village; and for a while nothing more was heard
of the Hindustanis. '
The idea of a Muhammadan conspiracy, running along
a line of one thousand two hundred miles between Patna
and Sitana, created undue alarm in England. The result
was that Sir John Lawrence, whose administration of the
Punjab during the sepoy mutinies had excited general ad-
miration, was appointed to succeed Lord Elgin as Viceroy
of India. The appointment was contrary to established
usage, for it had been ruled in the case of Sir Charles
Metcalfe that no servant of the Company could fill the
substantive post of Governor-General. The elevation of
Sir John Lawrence, however, was regarded with universal
satisfaction. He arrived at Calcutta in Januarj^ 1864 ; but
by this time the Sitana campaign had been brought to a
close.
Shortly after Sir John Lawrence had taken over the gov-
ernment of India, a mission which had been sent to Bhutan
by Lord Elgin was brought to an unfortunate close. Before,
however, describing the progress of events, it will be neces-
sary to glance at the country and people of Bhutan, and
review the circumstances which led to the despatch of the
mission.
Bhutan is a mountain region in the Himalayas, having
Thibet on the north and Bengal and Assam on the south.
It also lies between Nipal on the west and another portion
of Thibet on the east.'^ Like Nipal, it forms a fringe of
' In 1868 an expedition under the command of General Wylde was sent
apjainst the Afghan tribes on the Black Mountain, immediately to the north of
the Mahabun. The military operations were successful, and sufficed for the
suppression of disturbances and restoration of peace.
^ Bhutan is separated from Nipal by the little principality of Sikliim and the
hill station of Darjeeling.
BRITISH INDIA 763
mountain territory to the south of the great Thibetan table-
land. Originally it belonged to Thibet, but became inde-
pendent from the inability of the Thibetan government to
keep the mountaineers in subjection.
The people of Bhutan are rude, robust, and dirty; with
flat faces of the Tartar type, and high cheekbones narrow-
ing down to the chin. They have ruddy brown complex-
ions; black hair cut close to the head; small black almond-
shaped eyes ; very thin eyelashes ; and little or no ej^ebrows
or beards. They are coarse and filthy in their manners, and
leave all the field work to the women, who are as coarse as
the men.
This repulsive barbarism is the outcome of a corrupt form
of Buddhism. Thousands of Buddhist monks lead lives of
religion and laziness in their secluded monasteries; leaving
the laity to grovel away their existence in gross and undis-
guised debaucheries.
The government of Bhutan is half clerical and half secu-
lar; including a pontiff as well as a prince. The pontiff is
known as the Dharma Raja; he is supposed to be an incar-
nation, not of deity, but of that exalted virtue and goodness
which are summed up by Buddhists in the single term —
Dharma;' and the Bhutanese believe that the Dharma Raja
has the power of raising evil spirits, or demons, for the de-
struction of their enemies. The temporal prince is known
as the Deb or Deva Raja, and is subordinate to the Dharma
Raja. He represents the hero Rajas — the Devas or Devatas
of Hindu traditions — who figured as heroes and were wor-
shipped as gods until the old mythology was submerged in
the metaphysical atheism of Buddhism. '^
Bhutan is separated into three provinces, each of which
is in charge of a governor known as a Penlow. The gov-
ernor of western Bhutan is called the Paro Penlow ; that of
' Dharma was the religion of the edicts of Asoka. See ante, p. 70.
^ In the ancient Sanskrit religion, Indra was the hero of the Aryan race and
the Vaidik god of the firmament ; as such he was worshipped as the king of the
Devas or Devatas. See ante, p. 81.
764 HISTORY OF INDIA
central Bhutan is the Daka Penlow; and that of eastern
Bhutan is the Tongso Penlow. Subordinate to the three
Penlows are the commandants of fortresses, known as Jung-
pens. Below these is an inferior class of officials, who serve
as messengers, and are known as Zingaffs.
There is, however, a constitutional element in the Bhutan
government. The Dharma and Deva Rajas are assisted by a
council composed of the chief secretary to the Dharma Raja,
the prime minister, the chief justice, the three Penlows when
present at the capital, and three of the principal Jungpens.
The disputes between the British government and the
tribes and states beyond the border are of the same mixed
character along the whole line of frontier from Afghanistan
to Arakan. Sometimes British villages are harried by moun-
tain tribes ; sometimes they have been silently and systemat-
ically annexed, as in the case of Nipal. Bhutan was guilty
of both offences. Abortive attempts were made by the Brit-
ish government to keep the peace by paying yearly rent for
disputed tracts ; but nothing would stop the raids and kid-
napping; and at last Lord Elgin sanctioned a proposition
of the Bengal government to send an English mission to
Punakha, the capital of Bhutan, to lay the complaints of
the British authorities before the Bhutanese government.
The story of the mission to Bhutan is only historical so
far as it brings out the national characteristics of the Bhuta-
nese. In the first instance a native messenger was sent to
the Deva Raja to announce the coming of the mission. The
Deva Raja replied that the complaints were too trivial to be
referred to the Dharma Raja, and that the British govern-
ment ought not to have listened to them; but he promised
to send some of the lowest officials, known as Zingaffs, to
settle all disputes. The Zingaffs never came, and at last
the English mission left Darjeeling for Punakha.
At this very moment there was a revolution in Bhutan.
The Deva Raja lost his throne and retired to a monastery;
but civil war was still at work in western Bhutan, the very
country through which the mission was about to pass on
BRITISH INDIA 765
its way to Pimakha. The Paro Penlow was stanch to the
ex-Deva Raja; but his subordinate, the Jungpen of the
frontier fortress of Dhalimkote, had joined the revolution-
ary party. The troops of the Paro Penlow were besieging
the fortress of Dhalimkote, but retired on the approach of
the English mission.
Under such circumstances the Jungpen of Dhalimkote
welcomed the approach of the English mission with warm
professions of attachment to the Bntish government. But
the selfish craft of the Bhutanese barbarian was soon mani-
fest. He sent musicians and ponies to conduct the Envoy
to Dhalimkote; but he charged exorbitant prices for every
article he supplied; and paid long complimentary visits to
the different members of the mission, during which he drank
spirits until he was permitted to retire, or, properly speaking,
was turned out. Meanwhile the Envoy received a letter
from the new Deva Raja, telling him to acquaint the Jung-
pen with the object of his mission. The Envoy replied that
he could only negotiate with the head of the Bhutanese gov-
ernment. Accordingly, after many delays, he at last set out
for Punakha.
It was obviously unwise to send a mission into a barbar-
ous country like Bhutan without some knowledge of the
state of parties. It was still more unwise for the British
government to appear to side with either party. Yet Sir
William Denison, the provisional Governor-General from
Madras, ordered the mission to proceed on the ground that
as the revolutionary party had got the uppermost, it would
be politic to secure the help of the Jungpen who had es-
poused its cause. Thus a mission was sent to a new ruler,
whose predecessor had only just been ousted from the throne,
not with a formal recognition of his usurpation, but to com-
plain of cattle lifting and kidnapping, and to settle all dis-
putes respecting the border territory.
In reality the Bhutanese authorities did not want to re-
ceive a mission at all; or to conclude a treaty which would
only tie their hands. Accordingly they threw every obsta-
766 HISTORY OF INDIA
cle in the way of the Envoy, and exhausted every possible
means of inducing him to return short of main force. Of
course it would have been more dignified to retire ; but the
Envoy was naturally anxious to carry out the instructions
of his own government, and to lose no opportunity which
would enable him to realize the object of his mission ; and
he would probably have been open to as much blame for a
premature return to British territory as for a rash advance
to the capital of Bhutan.
After leaving Dhalimkote, an incident occurred which
brings out the peculiar temper of the Bhutanese. Some
messengers appeared carrying two letters to the Jungpen
of Dhalimkote. The}' took upon themselves to tell the En-
voy that the letters contained the orders of the new Deva
Raja for the return of the mission; and then, as the Envoy
was the party concerned, they made over to him the letters
which were intended for the Jungpen. Accordingly the
letters were opened and read. In one the new Deva Raja
expressed a warm attachment to the British government,
and directed the Jungpen to satisfy the Envoy on every
point, and to settle every dispute. The other letter ought
certainly to have been marked "private." It threatened
the Jungpen with death for having permitted the mission
to cross the frontier, and ordered him to make every effort
to induce the Envoy to go back. Should, however, the
Envoy still persist in going to Punakha, he was to be sent
by another road, and to be furnished with all necessary
supplies.
Such were the unpromising circumstances under which
the Envoy pushed on to the capital. At Punakha the bar-
barian government gave vent to its coarseness. The Envoy
was treated with rudeness and insult, and forced to sign a
treaty "under compulsion," engaging to restore the territory
in dispute to Bhutan. ' No redress was offered for the out-
' The real oifender on this occasion was the Tongso Penlow, the governor
of eastern Bhutan, and prime head of the revolutionary party, who was trying
BRITISH INDIA 767
rages committed on British subjects, and none of the kid-
napped persons were surrendered. On the contrary, the
Bhutanese authorities set the British government at defiance ;
and the great Dharma Raja, the living incarnation of good-
ness, threatened to raise a score of demons of enormous
magnitude for the destruction of the British empire, unless
the territories signed away by the Envoy were promptly
made over.
Under these circumstances the treaty was nullified by a
declaration of war. A campaign was begun in a difficult
country of passes and precipices, reeking with a deadly ma-
laria, and defended by a contemptible enemy, armed with
matchlocks and poisoned arrows. It is needless to dwell
upon militar}^ operations which reflect no glory on British
arms or diplomacy. In the end the Bhutanese were brought
to their senses, and compelled to restore the British subjects
that had been carried away into slavery, and to make other
restitutions which were necessary to satisfy the insulted
honor of the British government. Arrangements were sub-
sequently concluded as regards the disputed territory, and
the payment of a yearly rent, which have proved satisfac-
tory. Since then the Bhutanese authorities have profited
by the lessons of 1864-65, and have proved better neighbors
than at any previous period.
Meanwhile the progress of events in Central Asia was
forced upon the attention of the British government. Rus-
sia had reached the Jaxartes, and was supposed to be threat-
ening the Usbeg states between the Jaxartes and the Oxus.
Great Britain still maintained the Sulaiman range as her
frontier against Afghanistan ; but could not shut her eyes to
the approaches of Russia toward the Oxus. At this crisis
Dost Muhammad Khan was gathered to his fathers, and Af-
ghanistan was distracted by a war between his sons for the
succession to the throne. Dost Muhammad Khan died in
to usurp the government. The Deva Raja, and other members of the council,
attempted to apologize for the rudeness of the Tongso Penlow, by pretending
that it was all done in the way of friendly Jocularity.
768 HISTORY OF INDIA
June, 1863. Ever since the treaties of 1855 and 1857 he had
proved stanch to the EngHsh alliance. His anxiety to recover
Peshawar was as strong as in the days of Runjeet Singh ; but
he held out against the temptations offered by the sepoy mu-
tinies of 1857-58, and continued to respect the British fron-
tier. Meanwhile, however, he established his suzerainty
over Afghan-Turkistan,* as well as over Kabul and Kan-
dahar; and shortly before his death he wrested Herat from
the government of a disaffected son-in-law, and thus became
the undisputed sovereign of a united Afghan empire.
Dost Muhammad Khan had fallen into the patriarchal
error of nominating Sher Ali Khan, a younger son by a
favorite wife, to be his successor to the throne, to the exclu-
sion of Muhammad Afzal Khan, his eldest son by a more
elderly partner. Accordingly a fratricidal war seemed in-
evitable. Afzal Khan was governor of Af ghan-Turkistan ;
a post which he had held for many years during the lifetime
of his father ; and he began to prepare for a deadly struggle
with his younger brother. Under such circumstances Sher
Ali Khan was anxious for the recognition of the British
government to his succession to the throne; and after some
delay this was formally granted in December, 1863, by Sir
William Denison, the provisional Viceroy.
The bare recognition of Sher Ali Khan by the British
government could not avert the fratricidal war. In June,
1864, there was an indecisive battle between Sher Ali Khan
and his elder brother, which was followed by a sham recon-
ciliation. Each in turn swore on the Koran to abandon all
designs against the other; and then, with the customary
faithlessness of an Afghan, Sher Ali Khan suddenly ordered
the arrest of Muhammad Afzal Khan, bound him with
chains, and kept him in close confinement until the iron
entered his soul.
This act of treachery was followed by a fearful retribu-
' Afghan-Turkistan is the geograpliical term for the region northward of
Kabul, lying between the Hindn Kush and the river Oxus. It comprises the
districts of Maemana, Andkui^ Saripul, Shibrghan, Balkh, Khnlm, Kunduz and
Hadakhshan.
BRITISH INDIA 769
tion in the Amir's own family. Sher Ali Khan was warmly
attached to his eldest son, and had appointed him heir-ap-
parent. The son was killed by an uncle in a fit of jealousy;
and the uncle was in his turn cut to pieces by the soldiery.
The murder of his eldest son drove Sher Ali Khan into a
state of temporary insanity ; and to the end of his days he
was often morose, melancholy and mad, like another Saul.
All this while Afzal Khan was in prison at Kabul; but
his brother, Azim Khan, and his son, Abdul Rahman Khan,
remained in possession of Afghan-Turkistan, and prepared
for a renewal of the war. In May, 1866, the uncle and
nephew marched an army toward Kabul. A battle was
fought in Afghan fashion. There was a brisk cannonade
which did no execution, and then the bulk of Sher Ali
Khan's troops suddenly deserted him and went over to the
rebel army. The result was that Sher Ali Khan fled with a
few horsemen to Kandahar, while Muhammad Afzal Khan
was released from prison and proclaimed Amir amid gen-
eral illuminations and a salute of a hundred guns.
In June, 1866, Afghanistan was distributed as follows:
Kabul and Afghan-Turkistan were in the possession of Mu-
hammad Afzal Khan. Kandahar remained in the hands of
Sher Ali Khan ; while his son Yakub Khan held the govern-
ment of Herat, and retained it throughout the war.
The British government was in a dilemma. It had recog-
nized Sher Ali as Amir of Afghanistan, on the plea that he
was de facto Amir; but it was not prepared to give the
Amir material help in the contest with his eldest brother.
The fortunes of war, however, had placed Muhammad Afzal
Khan in the position of de facto Amir. Sir John Lawrence
tried to solve the problem by recognizing Afzal Khan as
ruler of Kabul and Afghan-Turkistan, and Sher Ali Khan
as ruler of Kandahar.
Imprisonment, however, had exercised an evil influence
on Afzal Khan, and he was no longer fitted to rule. He
left the administration of affairs in the hands of his brother
Azim Khan, and took to hard drinking. The government
770 HISTORY OF INDIA
of Azim Khan was fearfully oppressive, owing to the press-
ing want of money. Caravans were stopped and plundered
until all trade was at a standstill. Loans and contributions
were mercilessly exacted from the people. Every sign of
disaffection was stamped out by murder and confiscation;
while the women and children of the offenders were con-
demned to beggary or starvation.
In January, 1867, Sher Ali Khan made an effort for the
recovery of his throne. He raised an army at Kandahar
and then marched toward Kabul. Azim Khan tempted him
to a premature advance by feigning to retreat; and then
suddenly opened a fire from his guns, which cut up the army
from Kandahar. Sher Ali Khan managed to escape with a
small body of horsemen to his son, Yakub Khan, at Herat;
but by so doing he left Kandahar in the hands of his brothers.
To all appearance he had been deprived of his kingdom for-
ever, and was condemned to pass the remainder of his days
in exile.
In October, 1867, Muhammad Afzal Khan perished of
intemperance and disease. His death was followed by a
fierce contest between his brother Azim Khan and his son,
Abdul Rahman Khan. But the widow of Afzal Khan
forced Abdul Rahman Khan to submit to his uncle, by
pointing out that any rivalry between them would only
serve to strengthen the hands of Sher Ali Khan.
Azim Khan reigned as Amir of Afghanistan from Octo-
ber, 1867, until August, 1868, when another revolution drove
him from the throne. Yakub Khan marched an army from
Herat to Kandahar, and began an unexpected career of vic-
tory which ended in the restoration of his father, Sher Ali
Khan, to the throne of Afghanistan. Azim Khan and his
nephew, Abdul Rahman Khan, flew away to the northward,
into Afghan-Turkistan; but were driven out the following
year, and compelled to seek a refuge in Persian territory.'
During the fratricidal war in Afghanistan, the advances
1 The writer was of opinion at the time, and freely ventilated it in an Indian
journal, thai the progress of the fratricidal war ought to have beeu stopped by
BRITISH INDIA 771
of Russia toward the Usbeg states of Khokand and Bokhara
continued to excite attention. Sir John Lawrence, however,
was of opinion that all difficulties might be removed by a
friendly understanding with Russia. He was averse to any
change of frontier, or to any interference whatever in the
affairs of Afghanistan. But Sher Ali Khan was complain-
ing, and with some show of reason, that while he had shown
his attachment to the British government in a variety of
ways, he had received but few tokens of friendship or kind-
ness in return. Accordingly it was proposed to strengthen
the friendship between Great Britain and Afghanistan by a
free gift of money and arms to the restored Amir,'
Early in 1869 Sir John Lawrence was succeeded by Lord
Mayo as Viceroy of India. He returned to England, and
was raised to the peerage; and lived ten years longer, doing
all the good work that fell in his way. He died in 1879 and
was buried in Westminster Abbey. Few men of modern
times have approached him in energy and capacity, and none
has rendered greater services to the empire of British India.
Lord Mayo was a Viceroy of a different stamp from the
famous Indian civilian. He was naturally wanting in a
thorough familiarity with the details of Indian administra-
tion, but he had a wider knowledge of humanity, and a
larger experience in European statesmanship. Courtly as
well as dignified and imposing, there was a charm in his
manner which insured him a larger share of personal pop-
the partition of Afghanistan between two or more chiefs ; while the British gov-
ernment assumed the paramount power, and threatened to interfere unless the
rival parties kept the peace. Later events have not induced him to change that
opinion.
' The policy of recognizing a de facto ruler, and refusing to help him in times
of difficulty and danger, may appear to be wise and prudent from an English
point of view, but must seem cold and selfish to Oriental ej-es. "When Sher Ali
Khan was in danger of his throne and life, the English not only refused to help
him, but recognized Muhammad Afzal Klian as Amir of Kabul and Afghau-
Turkistan. When, however, Sher Ali Klian recovered his territory and throne,
the British government whs willing to help him with money and arms. Such
friendship, so easily transferred from one prince to another (with perhaps for
decency's sake an expression of pity for the prince who has been worsted), may
be the outcome of masterly inactivity, but it has the disadvantage of appearing
hollow and insincere.
772 HISTORY OF INDIA
ularity than often falls to the lot of a Governor-General of
India.
Shortly after the arrival of Lord Mayo at Calcutta, prep-
arations were made for a meeting between the new Viceroy
and Sher Ali Khan. In March, 1869, the conference took
place at Umballa, about a hundred and twenty miles to the
northwest of Delhi. It was attended with the best possible
results. Sher Ali Khan had been chilled by the icy friend-
ship of Sir John Lawrence, but he threw off all reserve and
suspicion in the presence of Lord Mayo. The English noble-
man won the heart of the Afghan, and established a personal
influence which brightened for a while the political relations
between the British government and the Amir.
But difficulties always crop up between a civilized power
like Great Britain and a semi-barbarous government like
that of Afghanistan, whenever attempts are made on either
side to place poUtical relations on a footing of equality. Sher
Ali Khan naturally scrutinized the existing treaty with a
jealous and jaundiced eye. It had been negotiated in 1855
by Sir John Lawrence with Dost Muhammad Khan.' It
bound the Amir to consider the friends and enemies of the
British government as his friends and enemies; but it did
not bind the British government to like conditions as regards
the friends and enemies of the Amir. Sher Ali Khan de-
clared that this was a one-sided arrangement, and so in
truth it was ; but the British government was the protecting
power, and had the right to insist on its conditions; and this
was still more emphatically the case when it appeared as the
giver of arms and money. Moreover, if the British govern-
ment committed itself to the obligations proposed, it might
have found itself compelled to interfere in civil broils, or take
a part in foreign wars, in which it had no concern, and in which
Sher Ali Khan might have been obviously in the wrong.
Accordingly Lord Mayo tried to reassure the Amir by
' The subsequent treaty of 1857 was also concluded by Sir John Lawrence,
but was confined to arrangements consequent on the war which had broken out
between Great Britain and Persia, and iu uo way superseded the treaty of 1855.
BRITISH INDIA 773
telling him that the British government regarded him as the
rightful as well as the de facto ruler of Afghanistan; and
would view with severe displeasure any attempt on the part
of his rivals to oust him from his throne. He added that
the British government would not interfere with the internal
affairs of Afghanistan, and would not, under any circum-
stances, employ its troops beyond the frontier to quell civil
dissensions or family broils. The home government sub-
sequently directed that Sher Ali Khan should be further
informed that the British government would still be free to
withhold the promised help should his government become
notoriously cruel and oppressive. This, however, never
seems to have been done.'
Lord Mayo was the first Indian Viceroy since Lord Dal-
housie who took a special interest in the affairs of British
Burma. In 1862 Sir Arthur Phayre had been appointed
Chief Commissioner of the united provinces of Arakan, Pegu
and Tenasserim ; and had proceeded to Mandalay the same
year, and concluded a friendly treaty with the king of
Burma. In 1867 his successor, General Fytche, proceeded
in like manner to Mandalay, and concluded a second treaty,
which led to a large extension of trade with Upper Burma,
and the establishment of a Hne of steamers to Mandalay and
Bhamo. No Viceroy, however, had landed at Burma since
the visit of Lord Dalhousie in 1852. Accordingly, when it
was known in 1871 that Lord Mayo proposed making a trip
to the province, the susceptible Burmese population were
thrown into excitement by his expected arrival.
The career of Lord Mayo was, however, destined to end
in a tragedy. He landed at Rangoon in February, 1872,
with his personal staff and a brilliant party of guests, and
' All conditions as regards cruelty and oppression should be understood rather
than expressed in dealing with foreign states. No diplomatic language can pre-
vent its being regarded as a direct insult by any ruler, European or Asiatic.
Moreover, it is wholly unnecessary. It is always competent for a state to
threaten to break ofE all political relations iu the case of notorious cruelty and
oppression, or to carry its threats into execution iu the event of a persistence in
such a line of conducr. Similar conditions are understood in all societies, when-
ever a gross outrage is committed by any one of its members.
India. Vol. II. X— 15
774 HISTORY OF INDIA
was welcomed witli the acclamations of thousands. Crowds
of native ladies, a sight unknown in India, were present at
the wharf to welcome Lord and Lady Mayo with offerings
of flowers. Nearly an entire week was spent by Lord Mayo
in receiving deputations from all classes of the community,
and in surveying the vast strides which western civilization
had made in that remote territory during the brief period
of twenty years. From Rangoon he paid a flying visit to
Maulmain, and then steamed to the Andaman Islands to in-
spect the penal settlement at Port Blair. There in the dusk
of the evening he was suddenly stabbed to death by an
Afghan, who had been condemned to penal servitude for
life on account of a murder he had committed on the British
side of the northwest frontier, and who had taken the oppor-
tunity of wreaking his blind vengeance on the most popular
of modern Viceroys.
With the death of Lord Mayo in 1872 the modern history
of India is brought to a natural close. Lord Northbrook
succeeded Lord Mayo as Viceroy, but resigned the post in
1876, and was succeeded in his turn by Lord Lytton. The
details of their respective administrations are as yet too
recent to be brought under review as matters of history.
Two events, however, have occurred since 1872 which may
be mentioned in the present place as Hkely to become land-
marks in Indian annals.
On the 1st of January, 1877, her Majesty Queen Victoria
was proclaimed Empress of India in the old imperial capital
at Delhi. The visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of
Edinburgh to India in 1869, and the subsequent visit of His
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in 1875-76, had pre-
pared the way for a closer association of the princes and
people of India with the British Crown ; and the celebration
of an Imperial Assemblage at Delhi for the proclamation of
the Empress will prove to all future ages an epoch in the
annals of British India. It swept away the memory of the
sepoy revolt of 1857, and associated Delhi with the might
and majesty of the sovereign of the British empire. At the
BRITISH INDIA 775
game time it brought all the princes and chiefs of India into
personal intercourse in the same camp under the shadow of
the British sovereignty. Old feuds were forgotten; new
friendships were formed; and for the first time in history
the Queen of the British Isles was publicly and formally
installed in the presence of the princes and people as the
Empress of India.
Meanwhile, at the very moment that Delhi was the scene
of festivity and rejoicing, black clouds were gathering beyond
the northwestern frontier. Sher All Khan had become
estranged from the British government. He had placed
his eldest son, Yakub Khan, in close confinement on charges
of disloyalty and rebellion; and he resented an attempt
made by the British government to bring about a reconcilia-
tion. He considered himself ill-used in the settlement of his
frontier on the side of Seistan with the Persian government.
He was also mortified at the refusal of the British govern-
ment to conclude a defensive alliance on equal terms, which
had proved so disastrous in our dealings with Hyder Ali a
century before.' In an evil hour he refused to receive
a British mission at Kabul; while he made overtures to
Russia, and received a Russian mission at his capital, at a
time when British relations with Russia were known to be
unsatisfactory.
Under such circumstances Sher Ali Khan was doomed
to share the fate which befell his father. Dost Muhammad
Khan, in 1839-40. In 1878 the British government made
a final effort to save him by sending a mission to his court;
but it was driven back with threats and contumely. Ac-
cordingly the British government declared war, and a Brit-
ish force entered Afghanistan. Sher Ali Khan made a futile
attempt at resistance, and then fled northward into Russian
territory, where he died shortly afterward.
Yakub Khan came to terms with the British government.
He was accepted as successor to his deceased father on the
throne of Afghanistan ; and he agreed to receive a British
> See ante, p. 399.
77G HISTORY OF INDIA
Resident, who should permanently remain at his capital.
The treacherous attack on the Residency in September, 1879,
and massacre of Sir Louis Cavagnari and other ofl&cers, has
led to the abdication of Yakub Khan and British occupation
of Afghanistan. What the result will be is one of the po-
litical problems of the day.*
1 The probable destiny of the Afghan people may possibly be gathered from
a historical parahel in Jewish history, which the controverted question of Afghan
ethnology renders none the less striking. The parallel is helped out by the fact
which is beyond controversy ; namely, that in physical characteristics and na-
tional instincts the Afghans closely resemble, if they are not akin to, the Jews
(see ante, p. 149). The old Assyrian kings tried hard to maintain Palestine as
a buffer against Egypt ; but they were ultimately compelled to transi^lant the
Ten Tribes of Israel to the cities of the Medes ; while the only king of Judah
who was actively loyal to the Crown of Assyria was the unfortunate Josiah, who
was slain by Pharaoh Necho in the battle of Megiddo. Four centuries later the
Greek kings of Syria endeavored to convert Palestine into a similar buffer; but
after trying in vain to crush out the spirit of the nation by military despotism
and massacre, they were compelled to succumb to the revolt of the Maccabees.
Two centuries later the Romans made every effort to maintain order and law
among the turbulent populations of Palestine; but after the death of Herod the
Great — a Dost Muhammad in his way — the princes of his family dared not gov-
ern mildly lest their subjects should rebel, nor severely lest they should be de-
posed by Caesar. Their regime proved a failure. No rulers, except Roman pro-
curators of the stamp of Pilate and Festus, could succeed in keeping the peace.
In the end, the grinding tyranny and rapacity of procurators of the stamp of
Floras drove the nation frantic; and the struggle ended in the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus and final scattering of the Jewish nation.
From the sixteenth century to the nineteenth the political situation of Af-
ghanistan has tallied with that of Palestine. The Moghuls tried to make Kabul
a buffer against Persia, and Persia tried to make Kandahar a buffer against the
Moghul. In the eighteenth century the Afghans rose against their conquerors ;
those of Kandahar overran Persia, and those of Kabul and Kandahar overran
Hindustan. A new Afghan empire was subsequently founded by Ahmad Shah
Durani, who bears a strange resemblance to King David; for in spite of his
predator}^ wars and conquests, he gave utterance to strains of psalmody of which
the following lines are a specimen :
"I cry unto thee, God! for I am of my sins and wickedness ashamed;
But hopeless of thy mercy, no one hath ever from thy threshold departed.
Thy goodness and mercy are boundless, and I am of my evil acts ashamed;
'Tis hopeless that any good deeds of mine will avail, but thy name I'll every
refuge make.
Ahmad ! seek thou help from the Almighty, but not from pomp and grand-
eur's aid."
It will also be seen that the reign of his grandson Zeman Shah bears some
resemblances to that of Rehoboam; while the revolt of the Barukzais, the viziers
of the Duranis, is not unlike the revolt of Jeroboam, the minister of Solomon.
How far Afghanistan is likely to prove a buffer between British India and Russia,
with or without British procurators, remains to be seen.
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER
LORD RIPON— AFGHANISTAN— THE MARCH FROM KABUL TO
KANDAHAR— LORD DUFFERIN AND KING THEEBAW-
THE ANNEXATION OF UPPER BURMA— THE MARCH OF
EMPIRE— LORD CURZON INSTALLED
AD 1879 TO 1899
11!^ 1880 Lord Lytton retired from India and Lord Ripon
was appointed Vicero}". Meanwhile Lord Beaconsfield
had resigned office and Gladstone had returned to
power. This was the first time in history that a change
of Ministers in England was followed in India by a
change of Viceroys and a change of policy. Lord Ripon
was bent on peace. But Roberts had yet to march from
Kabul to Kandahar. The Afghan war had not been fought.
Afghanistan is India's natural barrier, consisting mainly
of bleak and rugged tablelands that are girdled by stupen-
dous mountain ranges and intersected by precipitous ravines,
it is the only road by which an invading army can reach the
banks of the Indus. The people, fanatical Muhammadans,
are as turbulent as the country, and so averse to any kind
of control that a chief once cried to a traveller : ' ' We are
content with discord, we are content with blood, but we
will never be content with a master."
With reference to their fighting qualities an able officer
wrote: "An Afghan never thinks of asking quarter, but
fights with the ferocity of a tiger, and clings to life till his
eyes glaze and his hands refuse to pull a pistol trigger, or
use a knife in a dying effort to kill or maim his enemy.
The stern realities of war were more pronounced on the
battlefields of Afghanistan than perhaps they have ever
been in India, if we except the retribution days of the Mu-
tiny. To spare a wounded man for a minute was proba-
(777)
778 HISTORY OF INDIA
bly to cause the death of the next soldier who unsuspectingly
walked past him. . . . One thing our men certainly learned
in Afghanistan, and that was to keep their wits about them
when pursuing an enemy or passing over a hard-won field.
There might be danger lurking in each seemingly inanimate
form studding the ground, and unless care and caution were
exercised, the wounded Afghan would, steep his soul in bliss
by killing a Kafir just when life was at its last ebb. This
stubborn love of fighting i^i extremis is promoted, doubtless,
by fanaticism, and we saw so much of it that our men at
close quarters always drove their bayonets well home, so
that there should be no mistake as to the deadliness of the
wound. The physical courage which distinguished the un-
trained mobs who fought so resolutely against us was wor-
thy of all admiration ; the temerity with which men, badly
armed, and lacking skilled leaders, clung to their positions,
was remarkable, to say nothing of the sullen doggedness
they so often showed when retiring. But when the tide of
the fight set in fully against them, and they saw that further
resistance would involve them more deeply, there was so
sudden a change always apparent that one could scarcely
believe that the fugitives hurrying over the hills were the
same men who had resisted so desperately but a few min-
utes before. They acted wisely; they knew their powers in
scaling steep hills, or making their escape by fleetness of
foot; and the host generally dissolved with a rapidity which
no one but an eye-witness can appreciate. If cavalry over-
took them, they turned like wolves, and fought with des-
peration, selling their lives as dearly as ever men sold them ;
but there was no rally in the true sense of the word, and but
faint attempts at aiding each other. Their regular troops
were but little amenable to discipline, by reason of deficient
training, and they resorted to the tactics they had pursued
as tribesmen when once they were forced to retire. ' '
In 1877 the Amir, Sher Ali, refused to receive a British
Resident at his court. His reasons were threefold: First,
the persons of British subjects would not be safe — as the
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 779.
event proved; secondly, they might make demands that
would occasion quarrels; thirdly, if British agents were
admitted, Russia would demand the same privilege.
Prior to all this, in 1872, an arrangement had been en-
tered into between Lord Granville and Prince Gortschakoff,
by which Afghanistan was declared to be "outside the sphere
within which Russia should be called upon to exercise her
influence." The Oxus was laid down as the boundary of
the territories of the Amirs of Bokhara and Afghanistan,
and of the legitimate influence of Russia and Great Britain.
But this did not prevent Russia in 1878 — the period when
the two empires were "diplomatically at war" — from send-
ing the fatal Stoletoff Mission to Kabul. "We have thus,"
says Geddie, "to thank Russia for the cost and trouble of
the Afghan war; and the unfortunate Sher Ali, who died
near the Oxus while fleeing for refuge to his faithful
'friend,' " also owed to her the loss of his kingdom.
It was in the summer of 1878 that Russia sent an em-
bassy on a grand scale, accompanied by a military escort,
from Samarcand, a city of Bokhara which Russia had seized
about ten years before, and thus thought she had opened the
avenue that would eventually lead to British India !
A little later the Amir instructed the commandant of
the fort in the Khaiber Pass to refuse permission to the
British Special Mission to proceed to Kabul. Now, in view
of the fact already noted that the Amir had received a
Russian envoy in his capital, and had treated him with
marked consideration. Lord Lytton, as we saw in the last
chapter, issued a formal declaration of war and four columns
were formed for invasion.
Of these columns one was placed under the command of
Major-General Frederick Roberts, V. C. — now Lord Roberts
of Kandahar — another under Sir Samuel Browne, the third
under Lieutenant-General Donald Stewart, and the fourth,
known as the Thal-Chotiali Field Force, under Major-Gen-
eral Sir Michael Biddulph.
The chief laurels of the Afghan war were, however, car-
780 HISTORY OF INDIA
ried off by Roberts, who, little known at its beginning, earned
a world-wide fame at its end. His first object was to dis-
lodge the enemy from the strong position which it had as-
sumed in the Peiwar Kotul, an almost impregnable pass.
In this he was brilliantly successful, but meanwhile the
government having decided to defer further advance till
the spring, and subsequently a treaty having been signed,
hostilities were apparently terminated. But in the East
nothing is so certain as the unforeseen. In accordance
with the terms of the treaty, Yakub Khan, the son and
successor of Sher Ali — who in the interim had died — agreed
to receive a British officer as Resident at Kabul. Sir Louis
Cavagnari was appointed to the post and was welcomed
there with every appearance of cordiality. Within two
months the Residency was environed by an army of Af-
ghans and, as related in the last chapter, Cavagnari and
his officers were massacred.
Roberts was at Simla when this occurred. On the mor-
row, at the head of about six thousand men, he started for
Ali Kheyl. Pushing on thence to Kabul, he encountered
the Afghan army, strongly intrenched at Charasia.
" Their position," as he has described it, "was so strong,
and could only have been carried with such loss, that I de"
termined the real attack should be made by an outflanking
movement upon the right of the enemy, while their left con-
tinued to be occupied by a feint from our right." Dividing
his force into two parts, he intrusted to Brigadier- General
Baker the difficult task of dislodging the enemy from the
heights above the Chardeh valley, which formed their ex-
treme right, placing at his disposal a force of about two
thousand men, while a second column, under Major White,
of the Ninety-second Highlanders, was directed to proceed
toward the Sang-i-Nawishta defile, where the enemy had
concentrated all their guns in the belief that the main Brit-
ish attack would be on that point.
According to Mr, C. R. Low," from whose account of the
' Battles of the British Army.
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 781
expedition the following details are derived, Roberts, owing
to his numerical weakness, could only retain in camp a small
force, and as Macpherson's brigade was advancing from the
rear, he determined to incur the risk of an attack on his
camp, and left for its defence only seven hundred infantry
and four hundred and fifty cavalry.
Having secured his base in the wooded enclosures of
Charasia, a collection of detached villages, Baker ad-
vanced over some bare, undulating hills — forming a posi-
tion easily defensible, and flanked by steep, rocky crags,
varjnng in height from one thousand to one thousand eight
hundred feet above the sloping plains which the troops had
to cross — against the main position of the enemj', about four
hundred feet higher, which commanded his entire front, and
was only accessible in a few places. A portion of the Ninety-
second Highlanders and Fifth Ghorkas advanced to crown
the heights on the left, while the remainder of these regi-
ments and two hundred men of the Fifth Punjaubees made
the direct attack, and, after some spirited fighting, about
two o'clock the British troops succeeded in seizing the ridge
on the left of the position, when the general advance was
sounded. The Afghans retreated to a position about six
hundred yards in the rear, but from this they were driven
by the troops advancing in rushes, supported by the fire of
the mountain guns. By a quarter to four the entire ridge
was gained, thus exposing the enemy's line of defence to
being taken in reverse, which caused them to retire precipi-
tately from their position on the Sang-i-Nawishta, in which
quarter the operations were conducted by Major White with
a judgment and skill that fully justified the trust reposed in
him by Roberts. When the enemy, perceiving that the real
attack was on the right of their position, weakened their left
resting on the defile. Major White attacked with spirit, him-
self leading his men with characteristic gallantry. The Af-
ghans gave way, leaving some guns in his hands, on which
he pursued them through the pass and effected a junction
with General Baker in the rear of the enemy's position.
782 HISTORY OF INDIA
The Afghan loss in killed was estimated at upward of
three hundred, and all their guns, twenty in number, brought
out from Kabul to assist in defence of the position, were cap-
tured. Roberts calculated that thirteen regiments of regular
infantry were opposed to him, and the enemy were aided by
contingents from the city and neighboring villages, and by
a large number of tribesmen, chiefly Ghilzais, from the hills
which lay to the east and west of the camp. Macpherson's
advance from Zahidabad was opposed, but he easily drove
off his assailants, and, after his arrival in camp, all anxiety
on the score of its safety ceased. The British loss in the
action of Charasia was sixteen killed, and three officers and
fifty-nine men wounded.
Roberts marched early on the following morning through
the Sang-i-Nawishta defile to Beni Hissar, on the Kabul
road, and on October 8 the great cantonment of Sherpur
was occupied by the cavalry brigade, under Brigadier-
General Massy, who captured seventy-three guns. Some
troops occupied the Bala Hissar, or citadel-palace of Kabul,
through the streets of which the British army marched, and
those concerned in the massacre of the mission were brought
to justice and executed. Meanwhile the Ghilzais and other
tribes had attacked the troops left at the Shutargardan pass,
under Colonel Money, but Roberts sent Brigadier-General
Hugh Gough with a force to his assistance, and the tribes-
men were defeated with considerable loss. As the winter
season forbade the pass from being used as a line of com-
munication with India, which in future would have to be
carried on by the Khaiber route, General Gough and Colonel
Money evacuated the Shutargardan and arrived at Sherpur
on November 4 with their troops.
On October 16 there were terrific explosions of gunpow-
der, cartridges, and shells in the Bala Hissar, and Captain
Shafto, R. A., and some soldiers and many natives were
killed, and the British troops were all marched into the
Sherpur cantonments, where was ample barrack accommo-
dation. The general had learned the wisdom of concen-
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 783
trating his troops by the sad lessons taught by the events
of the first Afghan war, in which his father, Sir Abraham
Roberts, had been employed. With a people so fierce and
independent as the Afghans, nothing was more probable
than an attempt to repeat the scenes of that terrible winter,
when the infuriated Kabulees besieged the small British
army in the cantonment partially situated on the site of
that occupied thirty-eight years later by another British
force. But the commander of 1879 was of a different mold
from General Elphinstone, and the troops also were ani-
mated by a sense of superiority and not cowed by repeated
defeats, the result of incapacity and vacillation. The events
that happened throughout the first Afghan war, including
the massacre of a British Envoy, and the destruction of a
British force, were faithfully repeated in 1879, even to the
investment of the British cantonment; but as the disasters
of 1842 were wiped out by British triumphs, so the leaguer
of Sherpur ended, not in disgrace, but in a crushing defeat
for the besiegers.
It was in December, some two months after his arrival at
Kabul, that the people and tribes of this portion of Afghan-
istan — instigated by an aged fanatic Moollah, Mooskh-i-Alum
(literally "scent of the world"). Sultan Jan, from the Maidan
and Ghuznee districts, Meer Butcha, from the mountainous
Kohistan country to the north of the city, and other rebel
leaders — rose to the number of about one hundred thousand
combatants to expel the invaders from the soil of their coun-
try. Roberts was at first unaware of the strength of the
coalition, but took immediate steps to disperse the large
bodies of tribesmen before they could effect a junction, and,
on December 8, sent Macpherson with a brigade toward the
west, vid Urghandeh, in order to engage the enemy coming
from Maidan, and Baker with a column, via Charasia, also
toward Maidan, with the object of placing himself across
the line by which the enemy would retire. The troops at
Sherpur were thus reduced to a point of dangerous weak-
ness, notwithstanding that they were reinforced by the ar-
784 HISTORY OF INDIA
rival of the Guides Corps from Jugdulluck ; and had it not
been for Roberts' promptitude and military skill, after the
check received on December 11 by the cavalry, it is certain
that a great disaster must have ensued. This was the only
miscalculation Roberts made throughout the war, and we
know, from the dictum of the great Napoleon, who was
himself guilty of strategic mistakes, that the greatest gen-
eral is he who makes the fewest blunders, hence implying
that the military commander must not be expected to be
exempt from the failures that await the action of all human
agency.
Acting under orders, Macpherson changed his line of
advance, and marched to disperse the Kohistanees; and,
in order to cut the enemy's line of retreat, the cavalry
and horse artillery, under Brigadier-General Massy, were
despatched from Sherpur to his assistance. Without wait-
ing for orders from Macpherson, Massy attacked a force of
about ten thousand infantry, in a position in which his cav-
alry could not act with advantage, and the result was that
he lost two guns, and the cavalry were forced to retreat
after delivering two charges, in which they lost twenty-seven
killed, including four officers, and twenty-five wounded, the
Ninth Lancers being the chief sufferers. Roberts immedi-
ately proceeded from Sherpur with the Seventy-second High-
landers to secure the Deh Mazung defile, barring the road to
the city of Kabul, and was barely in time to prevent its fall-
ing into the hands of the enemy. Here he was joined by
Macpherson, and on the following morning recalled Baker's
brigade, the guns lost having been recovered by Colonel C.
Macgregor, chief of the staff. On the morning of the 12th,
Macpherson, advancing from the Bala Hissar and Deh Ma-
zung, sent Colonel Money with a portion of his force to
attack the enemy on the crest of the Takt-i-Shah. The
fighting lasted all day without result, and on the follow-
ing morning Baker, who had returned to Sherpur, acted
in concert with Macpherson's brigade, and after some des-
perate fighting, the Ninety-second and Guides, led by Major
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 785
White, reached the summit, where the Seventy-second, Third
Sikhs and Fifth Ghorkas, under Major Sym, had arrived a
few minutes before. Meanwhile large bodies of the enemy,
issuing from the city, collected on the Siah Sung heights
and the villages toward Beni Hissar. From the latter they
were driven out by Baker's brigade, when returning from
Takt-i-Shah, and the masses collected at Siah Sung were
dispersed by dashing cavalry charges made by the Guides,
Fifth Punjab Cavalry and Ninth Lancers, which lost Cap-
tain Butson and four men killed, and two oflScers and eight
men wounded. The Afghans, nothing daunted by their re-
verses, and reinforced by great masses of men, now occupied
the Asmai heights. Baker was sent to dislodge them from
this position and cut off their communications with the north.
Colonel Jenkins, of the Guides, was successful in driving
them from a conical hill, and the Asmai heights were gained;
but the enemy were largely reinforced, and after a stubborn
defence of the conical hill, Jenkins's column was compelled
to retreat with the loss of two guns. At this time, a dash-
ing cavalry charge was made by twelve men of the Fifth
Punjab Cavalry, led by Captain Vousden, who killed five
Afghans with his own hand, for which he received the V.C.
As it was evident that the enemy were in overwhelming
force. General Roberts abandoned the Bala Hissar and Asmai
heights, which were occupied by the enemy, and by the night
of December l-i concentrated his troops in Sherpur, where,
with considerable foresight, he had collected some months'
stores in preparation for all eventualities. While waiting for
the reinforcements for which he had applied to the govern-
ment of India, he employed his troops in strengthening the
defences of Sherpur,
The losses during the operations between December 10
and 14 were eight ofiicers and seventy-five men killed, and
twelve officei'S and one hundred and eighty-five wounded.
Two of the officers, Colonel Cleland, Ninth Lancers, and
Major Cook, Fifth Ghorkas, who had gained the V.C. for
gallantry at the Peiwar Kotul, died of their wounds.
786 HISTORY OF INDIA
There was desultory fighting with the enemy between
December 14 and 21, and on the 23d, the anniversary of
the murder of Sir William Macnaghten at this spot in 1841,
they delivered their long-prepared attack, but were repulsed
with great slaughter. The fighting lasted between day-
break and nightfall, and the Afghans brought scaling-lad-
ders to enter the works ; but they were never able to plant
them, and so rapidly did they disperse that by night not a
trace of them could be seen by the cavalry, which sallied
out in pursuit during a heavy snowstorm. The casualties
during the investment of Sherpur were two officers and eight
men killed, and five officers, including Brigadier-General
Hugh Gough, and forty-one rank and file wounded. On
the 24th reinforcements arrived, under Colonel Hudson,
from Lutterbund, and from Gundamuck under Brigadier-
General Charles Gough, who now occupied the Bala Hissar,
while a column was despatched, under General Baker, to
punish the Kohistanees.
Some months later Roberts sent a force under Major-
General John Ross to Shekabad, in the neighborhood of
which they had successful encounters with the enemy on
April 25, 1880, and two succeeding days. A severe action
was fought on the 25th, on the old battlefield of Charasia,
by a small force of eight hundred and eighty-three officers
and men, under Colonel Jenkins, who was reinforced from
Sherpur during the action by General Macpherson's brigade.
The enemy, about four thousand or five thousand strong,
attacked Jenkins, who remained on the defensive until the
arrival of Macpherson, when the gallant officers made a
combined movement in advance, and the enemy were de-
feated with great loss, after which the whole force returned
to Sherpur. The loss incurred during the day was four
killed and thirty-four wounded.
On May 2, General Donald Stewart arrived from Kanda-
har with a strong column, including the Fifty-ninth Regi-
ment and Second Battalion Sixtieth Rifles, with three bat-
teries of artillery. He left at Kandahar a division of his
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 787
troops, under General Primrose, the object of his march
being to break up any hostile combination at Ghuznee, and
open communications with Kabul. As Stewart was senior
to Roberts, he assumed the chief command. His march was
remarkable for a severe action fought at Ahmed Khel. The
route from Kandahar was through a comitry deserted by its
inhabitants, where supplies were scarce; and though the
advance was not so striking in its rapidity and results as
the famous march made a few months later by Roberts, it
deserves greater commendation than it has received. For
several days previous to the approach of the troops to
Ghuznee, a hostile gathering marched about eight miles
on the right flank, and, on April 19, the enemy were ob-
served in position at Ahmed Khel, three miles in advance
of the head of the column, which covered in the order of
march no less than six miles. When the leading brigades,
under Generals Palliser and Hughes, were about two thou-
sand five hundred yards from the enemy's line, the guns
came into action, but scarcely had they opened fire, and
before the intended attack of the position was developed,
the crest of the range occupied by the enemy was observed
to be swarming with men along a front of nearly two miles,
a body of horsemen on the right outflanking the left of the
British line. In an incredibly short space of time, an enor-
mous mass of men, with standards, formed on the hilltop, a
considerable number of horsemen riding along the ridge,
with the intention of sweeping to the rear of the British line
to attack the baggage. From the central mass out rushed
successive waves of swordsmen on foot, stretching out right
and left, and seeming to envelop the position. The horse-
men turned the British left, forcing back the native cavalry,
and the right of the line of infantry, then hotly pressed,
gave way. The onslaught of between three thousand and
four thousand fanatic swordsmen was at this time so rapid,
and was pushed with such desperation, that it became nec-
essary to place every man of the reserve in the firing line.
The enemy, however, continued to push on, and approached
788 HISTORY OF INDIA
within a few yards of the guns, when, the whole of their
case-shot being expended, both batteries were withdrawn a
distance of two hundred yards, and the infantry of the right
also took up a fresh position. But the attack had spent it-
self, and time being given for the guns to check the forward
movement of the enemy's horsemen round the left flank,
General Barter came up with the rearguard and reinforced
the right centre. The action was over at ten o'clock, within
one hour of its commencement, and the enemy, who num-
bered between twelve thousand and fifteen thousand in-
fantry and one thousand horsemen, broke up and dispersed
over the country, their loss being estimated at from two
thousand to three thousand, while that of the victors was
seventeen killed and one hundred and twenty -four wounded,
including nine officers. After a halt of two hours, the army
continued its march, with the baggage in close formation,
over the enemy's position, completing a distance of seventeen
miles.
On the following day Ghuznee was entered, and as the
Afghans had taken up a position at some villages about six-
teen miles from camp, on the 23d General Stewart marched
to dislodge them, and the enemy were driven off with the
loss of four hundred men.
No important military operations were undertaken by the
large army now assembled at and near Kabul, amounting to
some eighteen thousand men, under these two distinguished
Indian generals. On July 1, the cavalry brigade of General
Hills' division, numbering five hundred and seventy-seven
sabres, under Brigadier- General Palliser, encountered and
routed, in the Logar valley, a body of one thousand five
hundred tribesmen belonging to Zermut, of whom two hun-
dred were killed during the pursuit, the British loss being
only three killed and twenty-nine wounded.
Everything now portended a speedy return of the Expe-
ditionary force to India. Since March, Roberts and (on his
arrival at Kabul) Sir Donald Stewart, and Mr. Lepel Griffin,
the political officer sent from India by the Viceroy, had been
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 789
negotiating with Abdurrahman Khan — son of Afzul Khan,
elder brother of Sher Ali, and grandson of Dost Muhammad
Khan, the great Amir of Afghanistan during the former
war — who, for ten years, had been resident in Russian Tur-
kestan as a pensioner of the Czar. Incensed at his exclu-
sion, Ayub Khan, a younger brother of Yakub Khan, now
a prisoner in India, quitted Herat on June 27, resolved to
strike a blow for power, and moved upon Kandahar, with
the intention of seizing the southern capital of Afghanistan.
At this time an Afghan force was stationed at Giriskh, on
the Helmund, under the Wali, or governor of Kandahar;
and to check the advance of Ayub Khan, who was known
to have left Herat with a force of six thousand men and
thirty guns, a British brigade left Kandahar, on July 3,
under Brigadier- General Burrows, and joined the Wali at
Giriskh.
On the 14th the Wall's troops mutinied and deserted
to Ayub Khan, and as this increased the difficulties of his
position, and the river Helmund was fordable, Burrows, on
the following day, marched from Giriskh to Khuski-Nakud.
The strength of his column was one thousand seven hundred
and eighty-eight bayonets, including five hundred and six-
teen of the Sixty-sixth Foot, five hundred and fifty-six sabres
(Sinde Horse and Bombay Cavalry), a detachment of forty-
four sappers, and a battery of horse artillery, manned by
one hundred and forty-six officers and men. In addition,
there was a battery of six-pounders taken from the muti-
nous troops and manned by forty-two men of the Sixty-sixth
Foot. On the 26th, Burrows, who had received imperative
instructions that Ayub was to be intercepted if he attempted
to slip past Kandahar toward Ghuznee, learned that two
thousand of the enemy's cavalry and a large number of
Ghazis had arrived near Maiwand, and that Ayub was
about to follow with the main body of his army.
Accordingly, at half-past six on the morning of July 27,
Burrows marched with his brigade for Maiwand, twelve
miles distant, encumbered by an enormous train of stores
790 HISTORY OF INDIA
and baggage, which, owing to the hostile state of the coun-
try, he could not leave behind without weakening his already
small force. After proceeding about eight miles, large masses
of the enemy, estimated at twenty-five thousand men, were
discovered about four miles distant, moving in a diagonal
direction across his right front. As it was evident that a
collision with Ayub Khan must take place before he reached
his destination. Burrows placed his baggage in the village
under a guard, and on the higher ground beyond deployed
his infantry into line, with guns in the centre, and the cav-
alry on the left, covering the movement with two horse
artillery guns, escorted by a troop of cavalry.
About noon the engagement commenced by the advanced
guns coming into action on the left, followed shortly by two
more guns and the smooth-bore battery in the centre. The
remaining two nine-pounders were soon after brought up
from the rearguard. In about half an hour the enemy be-
gan to reply from their right, gradually extending along
their front, and concentrating their fire on the British po-
sition. The infantry were ordered to lie down, and the
wing of the Thirtieth N. I., which had been in reserve,
was brought up on the flanks, which were threatened on
the right by Ghazis and on the left by the enemy's regular
cavalry. Thus the brigade remained for nearly three hours,
the artillery making excellent practice, the cavalry holding
the enemy's cavalry in check, but losing heavily in horses
under the accurate artillery fire, and the infantry keeping
up a steady fusillade on the Ghazis on the right. A large
body of the enemy's regular infantry were on the British
left front, and about the middle of the day they advanced
in line, but were checked by well-directed volleys.
Between two and three o'clock the fire of the enemy's
guns slackened, and swarms of Ghazis advanced rapidly
toward the British centre. "Up to this time," says General
Burrows, "the casualties among the infantry had not been
heavy, and as the men were firing steadily and the guns
were sweeping the ground with case-shot, full confidence
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 791
was felt by the little army as to the result." But a rapid
change came over the scene. The chief lesson inculcated by
our Indian military histor}^ is that a British force should act
on the offensive. It has ever been so — at Plassy, Assaye,
Meanee, and in all the battles where a determined charge,
even by a handful of British infantr}^ has turned the day.
Encouraged by their foe remaining on the defensive for so
many hours — a tacit acknowledgment of weakness — the
Ghazis, regardless of the British fire, came on in over-
whelming numbers, and, making good their rush, seized
the two advanced horse artillery guns. With the excep-
tion of two companies of the Thirtieth N. I., which had
displayed unsteadiness early in the day, the conduct of the
troops had been splendid up to this point; but now, at a
critical moment, when a firm resistance might have achieved
a victory, these companies, which had lost their European
officers, gave way, and soon the remainder of the Native
Infantry fell back on the Sixty- sixth, which maintained a
steady front. General Burrows in vain used every effort,
assisted by his staff, to rally the troops, who, he says, "com-
mencing from the left, rolled up like a wave to the right."
As a last resort, he called upon his cavalry to charge across
the front, and thus give the infantry a chance of re-forming ;
but the terrible artillery fire to which they had been exposed,
and from which they had suffered severely, had so demoral-
ized them that only the officers and a few men responded to
General Nuttall's order.
All was now over, and the gallant Sixty-sixth Regi-
ment, and a portion of the First Bombay N. I., retreating
across the nullah and the gardens near the village, reached
a small walled enclosure, where about one hundred and fifty
men with several officers made a stand and checked the
enemy for a time. Seeing, however, that they were rapidly
being outflanked, and that their line of retreat would pres-
entl}'- be cut off, the general gave the order to retire. A
scene of disorder ensued, but a remnant of the infantry
succeeded in joining the guns and cavalry in rear of the
792 HISTORY OF INDIA
baggage, which was by this time stretching for miles over
the country toward Kandahar, over forty miles distant.
Fortunately, no vigorous pursuit was made by the enemy,
though after daylight the fugitives were fired on from every
village they passed, until they met a small force under Brig-
adier-General Brooke, which cleared the way for them into
Kandahar. Of the horse artillery and smooth-bore guns
taken into action, four of the former and one of the latter
were brought safely into Kandahar, the five other smooth-
bore guns had, one by one, to be abandoned during the re-
treat, the horses being unable to bring them on. Nothing
could exceed the determined valor of the European portion
of the force, the soldiers of the Sixty-sixth, who died fight-
ing, like the Twenty-fourth at Isandhlwana, and the gun-
ners of the artillery. "Exposed," says Burrows, "to a
heavy fire, the artillerymen served their guns coolly and
steadily as on parade, and when the guns were rushed,
they fought the Ghazis with handspikes and sponge-rods.
There fell at Mai wand twenty-six officers (including Colonel
Galbraith of the Sixty-sixth, and Major Blackwood, com-
manding the artillery), two hundred and ninety-seven Euro-
pean soldiers and seven hundred and one sepoys, and three
hundred and thirty-one camp followers. Fourteen officers,
forty-two European and one hundred and thirty-nine native
soldiers were wounded. As soon as the shattered remnants
of General Burrows' force arrived at Kandahar, General
Primrose hastily evacuated the cantonment outside the city,
and concentrated his force — consisting of two batteries of
artillery, the Seventh Fusiliers, and two regiments and a
wing of N. I. — in the citadel, in expectation of an attack by
Ayub Khan, who, advancing leisurely, took up a position
for beleaguering the British garrison. General Primrose
made a sortie, but it was mismanaged, and Brigadier- Gen-
eral Brooke and a large number of officers and men of the
Seventh Fusiliers and Native Infantry were killed and
wounded. After this the garrison remained inactive until
relieved.
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 793
It was on July 20, as Sir Donald Stewart and Roberts
were engaged concerting measures for withdrawing the
army from Kabul to India by way of the Khaiber pass
and Kurram valley, that the startling news of the disas-
ter at Maiwand, like "a bolt out of the blue," was received
at the British headquarters. Roberts immediately offered
to assume command of a force of ten thousand men to re-
lieve Kandahar and rehabilitate British honor, and the offer
was accepted by the Indian government. An arrangement
having been already concluded with Abdurrahman Khan
for taking over the government of the country, on August 8
the troops selected marched out of Sherpur into camp, and
Roberts issued a characteristic order before commencing one
of the most famous marches recorded in British history.
The strength of the Kabul-Kandahar Field Force — which
included three batteries of artillery, the Ninth Lancers, the
Seventy-second and Ninety-second Highlanders, and the Sec-
ond Battalion Sixtieth Rifles — was ten thousand one hundred
and forty-eight combatants, two hundred and twent3'-three
medical staff, and eight thousand one hundred and thirty-
four camp followers. As wheeled artillery was unsuitable
for the country to be traversed, a battery of seven-pounders
(jointed guns) was carried on mules.
The army set out on its adventurous march of nearly
three hundred miles on August 9. On the loth, Ghuznee,
ninety-seven and a half miles distant, was reached, and on
the following day the army passed over the battlefield of
Ahmed Khel. The strong fort of Khelat-i-Ghilzye, held
by a small column, under Colonel Tanner, was reached on
August 23, the distance traversed in eight days being one
hundred and thirty-six miles, or sixteen and three-quarter
miles per day. The division halted here on August 24, and
on the following day, accompanied by the garrison of that
fortress, continued the march to Kandahar, eighty-eight
miles distant, by the Turnuk valley route. Communica-
tion was opened with General Primrose by the cavalry on
August 27 at Robat, and the Field Force moved to Momuud
794 HISTORY OF INDIA
on August 31, and on the following day arrived before
Kandahar.
Though suffering from fever, Roberts quitted his doolie,
and, mounting his horse, reconnoitred the enemy's position,
when he determined to turn the Baba TVali pass, where
they had posted heavy guns, instead of carry it by direct
assault, which would entail heavy loss. A reconnoissance
in force was made the same day by the cavalry under Gen-
eral Hugh Gough, and on the following morning, Septem-
ber 1, the two brigades of the Kabul Field Force, with the
Third in reserve, advanced against the enemy's position at
Gundigan and Pir Paimal, while the cavalry brigade was
posted so as to cut off the enemy's line of retreat to Giriskh,
and the Kandahar garrison were directed to hold the city
and precincts, and make a feint on the Baba "Wali pass.
The village of Gundi Mulla Sahibdad was stormed by
the Ninety-second Highlanders and Second Ghorkas, sup-
ported by the Second Brigade, and it was while engaged
clearing some enclosures that the gallant Colonel Brown-
low, commanding the Seventy-second Highlanders, who had
faced death so often since the capture of the Peiwar Kotul,
met his end. Sc)on after noon the village of Pir Paimal was
carried at the point of the bayonet, and, pushing on, the
First and Second Brigades, at 1 p.m., entered the enemy's
camp. In this advance, Major "White, of the Ninety-second
Highlanders, "gallant and ever foremost," as Roberts said
of him in his despatch, greatly distinguished himself.
The rout of Ayub Khan was complete, among the tro-
phies being thirty-two pieces of ordnance, including five in
position at Baba "Wali Kotul, abandoned by the enemy, and
the two horse artillery guns captured at Mai wand. Leav-
ing one thousand dead on the field, he fled toward Herat
with a handful of infantry and cavalry, the remnants of a
force of thirteen thoasand men. The British loss was three
officers and forty men killed, and two hundred and twenty-
eight wounded, including eleven officers. Not another shot
was fired during the remainder of the stay of the British
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER ^95
force at Kandahar, which was evacuated in accordance with
the promise of the British government and the advice of
many officers of distinction, including Lord "Wolseley and
General Gordon, though others equally qualified to give an
opinion, as Sir Donald Stewart and Roberts, were opposed
to the measure. As a result of the war, the districts of
Pishin, Sibi and Thai Chotiali were annexed, and more
recently the Kakar country and Khetrai valley became
subject to British administration. But the sacrifice in lives
and treasure was immeasurably greater than the value of
the results attained, and for the second time in history
Afghanistan was a synonym for disaster. The time may
not be far distant when this difficult country will again be
the theatre of military operations. When the Russian and
the English soldier, the Cossack and the Sepoy, are locked
in deadly struggle on the banks of the Oxus and the Hel-
mund, let us hope the name of Afghanistan may be an
augury for victory, and the warlike races within its bor-
ders, oblivious of the memories of the invasions of 1839
and 1879, may be rallied under our banners as allies, and
not assembled under those of our enemies, eager to pay off
old scores.
The British army returned from Afghanistan in 1881,
and thenceforth the administration of Lord Ripon was one
of peace. During the interval he abolished the import
duties, especially those on cotton goods, enlarged the prin-
ciple of local self-government, extended the criminal juris-
diction of native civil servants, and initiated other domestic
measures which raised grave questions of policy, and of
which the value is undetermined still.
Lord Ripon was in 1884 succeeded by Lord Dufferin,
under whose Viceroy alty the annexation of Upper Bm'ma
and the final expansion of British India occurred.
Burma is situated in the region beyond the mountains
which form the eastern frontier of Bengal, and until Lord
Dufferin's administration had been divided into independent
Burma, of which Mandalay is the capital, and British Burma,
796 HISTORY OF INDIA
of which the capital is Rangoon. The latter is on the coast,
the former in the interior.
Rangoon has existed as a town for over two thousand
years, but it was long known only as a stopping place for
pilgrims on their way to the great Shway Dagohn pagoda,
which is the Mecca of the Indu-Chinese Buddhists. Later
it was the residence of the regent of Pegu, as being the
guard station on the most accessible mouth of the Ira-
wadi, on which Mandalay is situated. At the beginning
of the present century the town stretched along the bank
for about a mile, and did not extend more than five hundred
yards from the river. The official town was surrounded by
a log stockade, fortified by an indifferent kind of fosse,
spanned by a wooden bridge. Swine and dogs roamed at
will over the town, as they were allowed to do in Mandalay,
and acted as efficient scavengers. The principal building
was the custom house, and this was just tottering into
ruins, and there was a rickety erection known as the
King's Wharf. Jungle grew close up to the palisading
on the north, and southward the rice-fields extended from
the doors of the suburban houses right away to the mouth
of the river.
The town came into the hands of the English in 1852.
The morasses were filled up with earth from the higher
ground inland, the stockade was pulled down, and at the
present time it is impossible to realize the old dismal descrip-
tions of the place. Now there are broad smooth roads, well
laid out public gardens and parks, abundant street lamps,
spacious mercantile offices, schools, mills, hospitals, jails,
law courts, halls, and club-houses. Railways connect it
with the interior, and large sea-going steamers visit it in
ever-increasing numbers. The population, from a paltry
ten thousand, has grown to two hundred thousand, and the
central town threatens soon to swallow up the neighboring
villages of Poozoondoung and Kemmendine and Kokhine,
just as London has engulfed the Highgates and Kensingtons
and Chelseas of last century. Rangoon claims the title of
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 797
Queen of the East, ami, with the new openings for trade
offered by the annexation of Upper Burma, there is Uttle
doubt that she will justify the claim and outstrip Calcutta.
Hitherto the progress made will compare with the most
vaunted of American city successes.
Three hundred miles to the north is Mandalay. Like all
Indu-Chinese official towns it is divided into two, the walled
city and the suburbs. The latter extend two miles down to
the river, and straggle for about the same distance in all
directions over the level plain. The city proper is a huge
walled square, each face a mile and an eighth long. The
mud-mortar built walls are twenty-six feet high, machico-
lated at the top; they are three feet thick, backed with a
heavy mass of earth, and along the ramparts are wooden
lookout towers of an ornate style of architecture suggestive
of China. There are twelve gates to the city, three on each
side, but only one bridge over the moat to each three, except
on the west, where there are two. The moat is about sixty
feet from the walls, and considerably more than that wide,
covered in many places with the lotus-plant that the Bud-
dhist loves. Here and there upon it float royal craft, state
barges, and despatch-boats, gilt from stem to stern and
manned by sometimes as many as sixty paddlers. The city
is well and regularly laid out. From the gates roughly
macadamized roads a hundred feet wide run parallel to
the walls. They are lined with young trees (Mandalay only
exists since 1857), and down the sides of most of them run
little streams of water. Between these main streets, and
parallel to them, are others, narrower, but still very orderly.
There is no attempt at a drainage system, but the town is
essentially clean and airy, thanks to the unmolested, or,
rather, cherished pigs and dogs that act as highly efficient
scavengers, and the constant open spaces insuring venti-
lation.
Forming a species of redoubt in the centre of the city is
the palace, which has two successive enclosures — the outer,
a log stockade, with elaborate turreted gateways ; the inner,
India. Vol. II. X— 16
798 HISTORY OF INDIA
a brick wall, with a broad esplanade between the two. In
the exact centre of the palace and of the city rises the seven-
roofed spire, emblematic of royalty and religion, which the
Burmese look upon as the centre of Burma, and, therefore,
of creation. Apart from the supreme court and hall of
audience, the royal dwelling consists mainly of a rambling
succession of gardens, and pleasure or residential houses.
The higher officials live within the palace stockade, and
there also are the mint, arsenal, treasury, powder-maga-
zines, and other public buildings.
In the walled city live the lower officials and the soldiery,
and in the suburbs outside the traders and general popula-
tion. This is estimated all around at something over a hun-
dred thousand. There was a good deal of wealth in the
commercial town, but it was in the hands of Chinese and
Moghuls, with whom the king was afraid to meddle. No
Burman could get rich with safety.
Scattered about over the outer town are great numbers
of pagodas and monasteries and religious buildings. The
monastic population is especially great. It has been esti-
mated as high as thirty thousand. Chief among them is
the royal monastery. This is a mass of gilding from the
roof to the side-posts, inside and out. The eaves and the top
of the side walls are covered with the bold open carving in
which the Burmese show so much artistic skill, and this is
as richly gilt as everj'thing else. The boxes in which the
palm-leaf manuscripts are kept are as elaborate in decora-
tion as the commentaries themselves, and are valuable to
students of Buddhist literature. Among the pagodas the
most interesting is the so-called "Incomparable Pagoda."
Round about the main shrine, which in itself is a marvel
of decoration, there are many rows of other smaller ones,
each sheltering a series of marble slabs in shape and appear-
ance not unlike large gravestones. On these are engraved
the "Tripitaka" the "Three Baskets of the Law," the Bud-
dhist scriptures.
In figure the people are short and thickset, with high
SUPPLExMENTARY CHAPTER 799
cheek-bones and slightly projecting jaw, and the flat face
which is undoubtedly Mongolian. There is but very little
of the Chinese tilt of the eye. In color they vary from the
tint of a wax-candle to that of a dead oak-leaf, according
as they belong to the leisured town-classes or the workers
in the rice-fields. Both men and women have long black
hair, not unseldom three or four feet in length, and they
are very proud of it. The men wear it in a knot on the
top of the head, encircled by a turban; the women, in a
chignon at the back. Both sexes are fond of bulking out
this knot with false tresses. The men tattoo breeches on
themselves from the waist to below the knee with sessa-
mum-seed, sool. The figures traced are ogres, tigers, mon-
keys, spirits; and each is surrounded by a border of mys-
terious cabalistic letters, while magic squares and lucky
marks are also commonly introduced. Vermilion figures
are also tattooed on the chest and arms and back.
The streets are a curious study. There is an extraordi-
nary variety of nationalities to be seen constantly in Man-
dalay. Every here and there one comes across a band of
Shans; tall, stalwart men, very Chinese in feature, wearing
usually nothing but baggy blue trousers and tattooed from
the waist down to the ankles. Occasionally, too, though
much more rarely of late years, one comes across a Kachyen
hill-chieftain, with his train of ragged followers, slight, but
wiry in figure, with aquiline noses, and shifty, fierce eyes, as
different as possible from the thickset, open-faced Burman.
Then there are parties of Arakanese, come over the hills to
worship at the most holy "Arakian Pagoda," with its fa-
mous brass Gantama, said to have been cast from a model
of the great Master himself, and to have been inspired with
life by him for a day in response to ardent prayers.
Some one with a taste for comparisons has called the
Burmese "the Irish of the East." In their love of fun and
rollicking they certainly resemble "the finest peasantry in
the world," and they are quite as ready to break one an-
other's heads for the mere joke of the thing; but they are
800 HISTORY OF INDIA
much too easy-going to bother themselves with demands
for home rule, or the organization of land or any other
leagues. A Burman is always ready to welcome a joke,
and not unseldom is ready to cap it, while nothing is so
remarkable about the natives of India as their utter in-
capacity to recognize wit.
During Lord Lytton's administration the king of these
people was a mild and gentle prince. So long as he lived
there was little or no bloodshed, and peaceful relations be-
tween the British government and Upper Burma were
secured by the presence of a Resident at Mandalay.
Theebaw, his successor, was a monster of cruelty. His
reign opened with a horrible massacre which included women
and children, the remains being carried off in cartloads from
the palace and thrown into the river. There was no one to
restrain or control, no one with a shadow of power, save
officials dependent on his will and who trembled for their
lives. Some fugitives escaped to British territory, and their
surrender was demanded by Theebaw. The British govern-
ment refused to give up the refugees to certain death and
torture, and then he manifested a spite which no considera-
tion could mitigate. He treated the British Resident with
such contumely that the latter was obliged to retire to
Rangoon.
Theebaw then sent envoys to France and other Euro-
pean powers to secure their support. The British govern-
ment tried to bring him to reason, but without success. He
proposed to levy an exorbitant tax on all British ships en-
tering the Upper Irawadi, and he called on the government
to grant a free passage through its territory to all arms and
ammunition that he might import from Europe. At last, as
a State necessity, he was told that for the future he must
admit a British Resident at Mandalaj^ and be guided by
his advice in all dealings with foreign powers. By way
of reply he issued proclamations calling on his subjects to
prepare for war. The result added to the British dominions
a country larger than any European state except Russia,
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 801
and made its boundaries conterminous with those of China
and Siam.
General Prendergast, V.C, of the Royal (Madras) En-
gineers, who served with distinction in the mutiny under
Sir Hugh Rose, and in Abyssinia, under Lord Napier, com-
manded the expedition, which, in consequence of Theebaw's
proclamations, then proceeded up the Irawadi, and no oppo-
sition was experienced until the troops arrived near Pagan.
It was on November 24, 1885, that, after the Naval Brigade
had dispersed a body of the enemy, the Second Hampshire
Regiment (Sixty-seventh Foot) and Madras Sappers were
landed and scaled the works of Pagan. King Theebaw's
soldiers fled to the jungle without firing a shot, and on the
same day the Naval Brigade and flotilla shelled the enemy
out of their earthworks at the important town of Myingyan.
Mandalay was occupied on the 28th, and the deposition was
decreed of the "Golden-footed Monarch, Lord of the Sea and
Land, ' ' as he arrogantly styled himself, who had treated the
demands of the British government for justice to its subjects
with an insolent defiance that could only have been justified
by his power to brave their resentment. Theebaw quitted
Mandalay on November 29 for India, and was at first de-
tained at Arcot, near Madras, the scene of Olive's historic
defence. Significantly enough, the so-called "White Ele-
phant" died on the same day the kingdom ceased to exist,
but whether from poison or natural causes is unknown.
Like the Emperor Caligula's horse, the royal beast lived in
great pomp, and ate and drank out of huge silver buckets.
But no sooner was the conquest of the ancient kingdom
of Burma achieved, with an ease almost unexampled, than
the British were compelled to undertake, as in Pegu, in
1853, the difficult task of pacifying the country and extir-
pating dacoity. A general disarmament took place, and
troops were poured into L^pper Burma, until, in November
of the following year, besides eight thousand military police,
there were no less than thirty -two thousand soldiers in the
country — including ten battalions and nine batteries of Eu-
802 HISTORY OF INDIA
ropeans — under Roberts, who was engaged in succession to
Sir Herbert Macpherson, until his departure on the follow-
ing February 6th, in carrying into execution a plan for
crushing the dacoits, who were led by Boshway and other
noted chiefs. An expedition took possession of Bhamo, on
the extreme northern frontier, bordering on the possessions
of China, and the district containing the famous ruby mines
was occupied by a column under General Stewart. The
Shan country, extending from Bhamo to the southward of
Mandalay and as far east as the Chinese and Siamese fron-
tiers, comprising one-third of Theebaw's dominions, was
reduced to subjection, and the Looshai-Chin Expeditionary
Force in 1889-90 had an arduous task in traversing the
intermediate countries, when the eastern column suffered
heavily from fever. Under General Symons it advanced
from Burma, and the second, or Looshai column, under
General Tregear, pushed on from the Chittagong frontier,
in the west, and joined hands, when the country was paci-
fied and a route for a trunk road between Upper Burma
and Lower Bengal was explored.
In the task of reducing Upper Burma to subjection and
putting down dacoity, Sir Frederick Roberts was assisted
by his Afghan associates, Sir George "White and Sir Robert
Low; and on his return to India, his successors. Generals
White and Gordon, carried through the task indicated by
him, though many valuable lives were lost in the effort.
These able commanders, besides reducing the Shan states
and the wild Chin tribes inhabiting the Yau country, sub-
jugated the large district of Chindwin, extending from
the Irawadi to Munipore, on the frontier of Assam, the
Sagaing division to the northward, and the Montsobo dis-
trict (the birthplace of Alompra, founder of the Burmese
dynasty), further to the north, whence extends to Bhamo
the Kachyen country.
Meanwhile Lord Dufferin had in 1888 been succeeded by
Lord Lansdowne, and a peaceful settlement of misunder-
standings with Russia in connection with differences occur-
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 803
ring beyond the northwest frontier was attained. At this
juncture, for the first time in the history of British rule,
native princes stepped forward with offers of money, of
jewels even, of transport and men, to repulse what was
feared might be the prelude to a Cossack invasion. The
invasion did not occur and the offers were dechned, but it
was recommended that the character of the forces at the
disposal of these princes be raised and fitted to combine
with the British for purposes of national defence.
The administration of Lord Lansdowne was further
marked by the annexation of the districts now known as
British Beluchistan, the occupation in 1800 of the Zhob
vallej", and the opening up for traffic of the Guinal pass.
In 1893 Lord Lansdowne was succeeded by Lord Elgin,
who, this year (1899), was replaced by Lord Curzon. The
chief events which occurred during Lord Elgin's tenure of
office were, apart from an appalling famine and plague,
the international arrangements whereby the northwest and
southeast frontiers of India have been brought almost in
touch with the advancing soldiers of Russia and France.
Thus has the empire been built. The imagination is
stimulated by the mere contemplation of the extent and
potentialities of this vast realm which in little more than
a century has been consolidated by the enterprise and valor
of the English race. To it nothing in ancient or modern
history offers a parallel, for the empire of Alexander broke
to pieces on his death, as did the conquests of Genghis Khan
and Tamerlane, while ancient Rome, whose dominion ex-
tended from Hadrian's "Wall to the "pillars of Hercules,"
held sway over semi-civilized or barbarous states, and the
modern empire of Russia in Asia is composed of countries
which, though once the seats of opulent dynasties, are now
poor and backward in civilization.
Of Lord Curzon's administration it is yet too early to
speak. But in view of the fact that Lady Curzon (formerly
Miss Leiter of Chicago) is an American lady, an account of
the installation may without impropriety be appended.
804 HISTORY OF INDIA
There are, an eye-witness of it noted, few spectacles more
interesting than the reception of a new Viceroy at the mag-
nificent flight of steps that lead to the palace which the great
Marquis, who first attempted to carry out the daring policy
of Hastings, built for the rulers of the realm. He told his
mercantile masters that India should be governed not from
a counting house, but from a palace, not with the ideas of a
shopkeeper, but with those of a prince.
The palace which resulted cost one hundred and fifty
thousand pounds, and the furniture fifty thousand pounds.
The merchants of the East India Company expressed their
strong disapproval, but it was built. The Hon. Emily Eden,
who first revealed to an incredulous world that India was
not hopelessly dull, describes it "as an enormous building
looking more hke a real palace, a palace in the 'Arabian
Nights,' than anything I have been able to dream on the
subject. It is something like I expected, and yet not the
least, at present as far as externals go ; it seems to me that
Ave are acting a long opera." The spectacle on January 3,
1899, might well have been a scene in an opera. At the top
of the steps stands Lord Elgin, and on it are clustered high
officials in blue and gold, soldiers in scarlet uniforms, naval
officers, and native chiefs one blaze of diamonds. Facing
the steps on the green turf is drawn up a red line of British
soldiers ; and flitting to and fro in the grounds are turbaned
attendants in their scarlet dresses. Beyond the girdle of
palms, plantains, and feathery bamboo that encircles the
grounds of Government House rises the lofty row of houses
which the Italian architects built in the days of old. They
are gay with flags and bunting, and the spacious verandas
are enlivened by the costumes of the fair dames who have
come to see the procession. The roofs are a mass of color,
for they are crowded with natives draped in their clothes of
dark red, bright orange, and rich green. A boom is heard —
it is the first gun of the salute ; then a hum of voices ; then
a loud English cheer. A clatter of hoofs, and through the
lofty gateway come at a fair trot the troopers of the body-
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 805
guard in scarlet uniforms — magnificent men on splendid
horses; a carriage, with four horses and Eastern postilions
in dresses of red, black, and gold, containing the future
Viceroy and Vice-Queen, follows. Then, as she alights amid
the saluting of the troops, there comes across the memory
Burke's most famous purple patch. The Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of Bengal meets Lord Curzon at the lowest step and
leads him up the tall flight. Lord Elgin advances to the
edge of the landing to receive him, and as soon as the in-
troduction to the members of Council is over, the Viceregal
party enters the Marble Hall.
In the old days it was the custom for all to proceed at
once to the Council Chamber, where the commission was
read and the new Viceroy took the oaths and w^as invested
with the charge of the government. "George (Lord Auck-
land) was sworn in ten minutes after he arrived," writes
Miss Eden. But of late years it has become the habit to
postpone the act of demission to the morning of the depart-
ure of the reigning Viceroy. On Friday, January 6, Lord
Curzon received charge of the Indian Empire. The Council
Chamber is bright with suits of blue and gold, scarlet uni-
forms, and the rich apparel of native chiefs. Sindia, a
short, stout typical Mahratta, is dressed in a pink silk sur-
tout with a row of priceless pearls round his neck. Pattiala
is attired in a silken white suit, and diamonds cover his
breast. Near him stands a chief from whose turban gleams
a magnificent diamond star. There is the Maharajah of
Cashmere in the uniform of an English general. Nobles
and chiefs from all parts of the vast empire are present to
do homage to the new representative of her Imperial Maj-
esty the Empress of India.
May Lord Curzon's future career enable him to take his
place among the wisest and best of her great rulers, whose
silent faces look down at the scene from the walls ! There
is Warren Hastings, whose far sight first saw, and whose
brave and confident genius realized, the remarkable idea of
England founding an empire in the East. By his individual
806 HISTORY OF INDIA
energy he raised the Company from being a body of mer-
chants and adventurers into the most powerful State in the
pohtics of India. There is the great Marquis, who by mag-
nificent miUtary triumphs enforced peace throughout India,
and provided for the permanent security of the British pos-
sessions by impressing upon every native State the authori-
tative security of the British government. There is Lord
Hastings, who, by the disarmament and pacification of the
military chief ships, completed the work of the Marquis
Wellesley, the extension of British supremacy and protecto-
rate over every native State in the interior of India. There
is Viscount Hardinge, who first broke the power of the last
of its formidable enemies, the Sikhs, and who, "trained in
war, sought by the arts of peace to elevate and improve the
various nations committed to his charge." Dalhousie, the
greatest of the great Indian proconsuls, was only thirty-six
when he entered that Council Room and assumed the reins of
office. After eight years of splendid rule he left it, having
completed the fabric of British rule in India. Now, at the
appointed hour, preceded by his staff, there enters once more
a young statesman to whom the great and perilous task of
governing an empire is about to be assigned. Dressed in
plain black, the future ruler takes his position on the dais,
and his councillors, in uniforms rich with gold, stand in a
semi-circle around him. The Home Secretary reads the
Royal Warrant appointing "you the said George Nathaniel
Baron Curzon to be Governor-General of India and of all or
singular our forts, factories, settlements, lands, territories,
countries, places, and provinces, which now are or shall
from time to time be subject to or under our government in
the East Indies." After the Royal Warrant is read. Lord
Curzon bows, the troops outside present arms, and a royal
salute announces that the millions of India have passed
under the sway of a new ruler.
THE END
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF
INDIAN HISTORY
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF INDIAN
HISTORY
1500
B.C
1000
(<
500
a
327 "
330 "
280 "
100 "
56 "
78 A.D.
819 "
400 "
640 "
1001 "
I. HINDU INDIA.
-1400 B.C. Probable pe-
riod of the Maha Bha-
rata.
Probable period of the
Ramayana.
Probable period of
Saliya Muni, or Go-
tania Buddha.
Alexander invades the
Punjab.
Passage of the Jhelum.
Defeat of Porus the
Elder.
Alexander's retreat.
Empire of Magadha
(Behar).
Cliandra-gupta (Sand-
rokottos).
Asoka: Edicts of Asoka.
Graeko-Baktrian su-
premacy.
Indo-Scythian suprem-
acy.
Kanishka (Kanerke).
-Battle of Kahror.
Gupta supremacy.
Vallablii Rajas.
Kingdoms of Andhra
and Pandya.
Pilgrimage of Fah-
Hian.
Travels of H i o u e n -
Thsaug.
Empire of Kanouj: Ma-
haraja Siladitya.
Buddhist-Brahman con-
troversies.
Muhammadan inva-
sion.
II. MUHAMMADAN INDIA.
997 A.D.— -Mahmud of Ghazni.
1001 " Mahmud at Pesha-
war.
Turkish conquest of the
Punjab.
Twelve Turkish inva-
sions of Hindustan.
Battle of Somnath.
1030 " Death of Mahmud.
1180 " Afghan supremtic}' at
Delhi: Muhammad
Ghori (d. 1306).
1194 " Mussulman advance to
Benares.
Foundation of princi-
palities in Rajputana.
1206 " Dynasty of Afghan
Slave-kings: Kutub-
ud-din. Sultan of Del-
hi (d. 1210). .
1290 " Death of Jelal-ud-din,
the last of the Slave-
kings.
Ala-ud-din, Sultan of
Delhi (d. 1316).
Conquest of Guzerat.
Siege of Chitor.
1316 " Tughlak, founder of the
Tughlak Sultans of
Delhi.
1325 " Muhammad Tughlak
(d. 1850).
1350 " Firuz Shah (d. 1388).
Bah man i Sultans in the
Dekhan.
1398 " Timur the Tartar in-
vades Hindustan.
1400 " Deva Rai, Maharaja of
Narsinga.
(809)
810
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF
1450 A.D. — Lodi dynasty of Afghan
Sultans at Delhi.
1498 " Portuguese arrival in
Malabar.
1500 " Five Muhammadan
kingdoms in the Dek-
lian.
Nanuk Guru founds the
Sikh brotherhood in
the Punjab.
1509 " Albuquerque, Viceroy
of Portuguese India
(d. 1519).
1526 " Afghan Sultans at Del-
hi overthrown by
Baber the Moghul (d.
1530).
Foundation of the Mo-
ghul empire,
1530 " Baber succeeded by
Humayun (d. 1556).
1538 " Portuguese mission to
Bengal.
Turkish attack on the
Portuguese at Diu.
1540 " Humayun defeated by
Sher Khan.
Afghan rule in Hindu-
stan.
1555 " Return of Humayun.
1556 " Akbar, Padishah (d.
1605).
Akbar defeats the Af-
ghans.
1565 " Battle of Talikota.
1567 " Destruction of Chitor.
Moghul conquest of
Ahmadnagar and
1575 " Rise of Abul Fazl.
Rebellion of Selim (Je-
hangir).
1599 " Formation of the East
India Company.
1605 ♦' Jehangir, Padishah (d.
1627).
1608 " Mission of Captain
Hawkins to Agra.
1615 " Embassy of Sir Thomas
Roe.
1623 " Travels of Pietro della
Valle.
1625 " Venk-tapa Naik, Raja
of Kanara.
1627 " Shall Jehan, Padishah
(d. 1665).
1633
A.D
1639
((
1640
"
1658
((
1664
<(
1666
<<
1673
1674
1677
1682
1685
1687
1689
1701
1707
1712
1713
1715
1719
1720
1736
-Moghul capture of the
Portuguese settle-
ment at Hughli.
English settlement at
Madras.
English settlements in
Bengal at Hughli,
Patna, and Dacca.
Aurangzeb, Padishah
(d. 1707).
Sivaji the Mahratta
captures Surat.
"War between Mahrat-
tas and Moghuls.
Aurangzeb threatened
by Persia.
Afghan massacre of
Moghuls in the Khai-
ber Pass.
Travels of Dr. Fryer,
Sivaji. Maharaja of the
Mahrattas (d. 1680).
Mahratta conquest in
the Lower Carnatic.
Moghul rebuffs in Raj-
putana.
War between the En-
glish and Moghuls.
Moghul conquest of
Bijapur and Gol-
konda.
Foundation of Calcutta.
Daud Khan besieges
Madras.
Bahadur Shah, Padi-
shah (d. 1712).
Sahu Rao, Maharaja of
the Mahrattas (d.
1748).
Balaji Visvanath, first
Peishwa (d. 1720).
Jehandar Shah, Padi-
shah.
Farrukh Siyar, Padi-
shah (d. 1719).
English mission from
Calcutta to Delhi.
Muhammad Shah, Pad-
ishah (d. 1748).
Baji Rao, second Peish-
wa (d. 1740).
Mahratta advance on
Agra and Delhi.
Nizam-ul-mulk, Nizam
of the Dekhan ; de-
feated by Baji Rao.
INDIAN HISTORY
8U
1738 A.D. — Invasion of Nadir Shah.
1739 " Battle of Kurnal.
Nadir Shah enters Delhi,
1740 " Balaji Rao, tiiird Peish-
wa (d. 1761).
1748 " Raja Raiu, the puppet
Maharaja of the Mah-
rattas, a state prison-
er at Satara.
Afghan invasion of In-
dia under Ahmad
Shah Abdali.
III. BRITISH INDIA.
1736 A.D. — Civil war in Trichinop-
oly.
1739 " Sarfaraz Khan, Nawab
of Bengal (d. 1742).
1740 " Mahrattas invade the
Carnatic.
1742 " Alivardi Khan, Nawab
of Bengal.
Maliratta invasions of
Bengal.
1743 " English mission to Ni-
zani-ul-mulk at Trich-
inopol}'.
1745 * War between England
and France.
1746 " Labourdonnais cap-
tures Madras.
1747 " Rise of Ahmad Shah
Durani, founder of
the Afghan empire
(d. 1773); JemalKhan
Barukzai.
1748 " Stringer Lawrence fails
to take Poniiicherrj'.
Death of Muhammad
Shall: Ahmad Shah,
Padishah.
Death of Nizam- ul-
mulk.
Death of Maharaja
Sahu.
Peishvva sovereignty
begins.
First appearance of
Clive.
1749 *' English aggressions on
Tanjore.
1750 " Nasir Jung at Arcot;
appoints Muhammad
Ali Nawab.
Victories of Dupleix.
1750 A.D. — Bussy captures Jingi.
French capture of Ma-
sulipatam.
Peace between Alivardi
Khan and the Mah-
rattas.
Alom Phra the hunter
founds a dynasty in
Burma.
Ascendency of Dupleix.
Olive's expedition to
Arcot.
Siege of Arcot.
Olive's victories in the
Oarnatic.
The French surrender
Trichinopoly.
Olive goes to England.
Janoji Bhonsla succeeds
Rughoji Bhonsla as
Raja of Berar.
Anglo-French treaty at
Pondicherry.
Removal of Dupleix.
Return of Clive.
Destruction of Gheria
by Watson and Clive.
Suraj-nd-daula, Na-
wab of Bengal.
Suraj-ud-daula captures
Calcutta.
The Black Hole.
Olive and Watson re-
capture Calcutta.
English capture of
Chandernagore.
Battle of Plass}^
Mir Jafir, Nawab of
Bengal.
Mahrattas claim chout
for Bengal and Behar.
Ahmad Shah Abdali
at Delhi; drives out
Ghazi-ud-din.
Bussj''s war against the
Hindu Poligars; self-
sacrifice of Bobili
Rajputs.
Bussy captures Vizaga-
patam.
Advance of the Shah-
zada, eldest son of
Ahmad Shah Padi-
shah, toward Behar:
defeated by Clive.
Lally at Pondicherry.
1751
1752
1753
1754
1755
1756
1757
1758
812
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF
1758 A.D.— Lally captures Fort St. I 1762 A.D.—
David. I
Forde's successes ia the 1763
Northern Circai-s.
Siege of Madras by
Lally.
Clive governor of the
English settlements
in Bengal.
1759 " Alamghir, Padishah,
murdered at Delhi by
Ghazi-ud-din,
Second invasion of
Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Lally raises the siege of
Madras.
Battle of Wandiwash.
1760 " Coote besieges Pondi-
cherry.
Clive departs for Eng-
land; succeeded by 1764
Holwell.
1761 " Madhu Rao, fourth
Mahratta Peishwa
(d. 1772).
Nizam All, Nizam of
the Dekhan.
Coote captures Pondi-
cherry.
Battle of Paniput.
Ahmad Shah Abdali ap-
points Jewan Bakh 1765
(son of the Shahzada)
deputy Padishah.
Regency of Najib-ud-
daula (d. 1770).
Return of the Shahzada
to Behar: proclaimed
Padishah under the
name of Shah Alam. 1766
Shuja-ud-daula, Nawab
of Oude (d. 1775), 1767
appointed Vizier to
Shah Alam.
Vansittart, governor at
Calcutta.
Deposition of Mir Jafir.
Mir Kasim, Nawab of
Bengal ; defeats the
Na w a b Vizier of
Oude.
Installation of the
Great Moghul at
Patna.
1762 " Disputes about private
trade.
Warren Hastings in the
Calcutta council.
General abolition of
duties bj' Mir Kasim.
Patna captured b_y the
English, and re-
captured b 3' the
Nawab's ti'oops.
Capture of Cossimba-
zar by the Nawab's
troops.
Mir Jafir proclaimed
Nawab.
The English capture
Monghyr.
Massacre of English at
Patna.
English storm Patna.
Delhi threatened by the
Jats.
The Nawab Vizier re-
pulsed by the English
at Patna.
Hector Munro stops a
sepoy mutiny.
Battle of Buxar.
Rise of Shitab Rai.
Surrender of the Nawab
Vizier.
Suraj Mai, the Jat hero,
slain at Delhi.
Death of Mir Jafir.
Governor Spencer sells
Bengal and Behar
to Muhammad Reza
Khan.
Return of Clive to In-
dia; foundation of the
double government.
English treaty with
Nizam Ali.
Final departui-eof Clive.
Verelst, governor of
Bengal.
Rise of Hyder Ali of
Mysore.
Hj'der Ali and Nizam
Ali invade the
Carnatic.
Death of Mulhar Rao
Holkar: accession of
Ailah Bai (d. 1795),
and Tukaji Holkar (d.
1797).
Last invasion of Ahmad
Shah Abdali.
INDIAN HISTORY
813
1768
1769
1770
1771
1773
1773
1767 A.D. — Ghorka conquest of
Nipal: Prithi Narain,
the Ghorka hero (d,
1771).
Second English treaty
with Nizam Ali.
Hostile advance of
Hyder Ali against the
English.
English treaty with
Hyder Ali at Madras.
Cartier, governor of
Bengal.
Mahratta aggressions in
Hindustan.
Famine in Bengal.
Mahadaji Sindia re-
stores Shah Alam to
the throne of Delhi.
"Warren Hastings, gover-
nor of Bengal.
Narain Rao, fifth
Peishwa.
Warren Hastings holds
a secret conference
with Shuja-ud-daula
at Benares.
Narain Rao murdered.
Rughonath Rao, sixth
Peishwa.
Rughjio Bhonsla, Raja
of Berar.
Tanjore made over to
Muhammad Ali.
Timur Shah on the
throne of Kandahar
(d. 1793) : Payendah
Kiian Barukzai.
Roiiilla war.
Warren Hastings, first
Governor-General.
The Calcutta Council;
Francis. Clavering,
Monson, and Barvvell.
Creation of a Supreme
Court of Judicature
at Calcutta.
Revolution at Poona.
Asof-ud-daula. Nawab
Vizier of Oude (d.
1797).
Charge of corruption
against Warren Hast-
ings.
Execution of Nund-
komar.
1774
1775
1775 A.D. — Treaty between the En-
glish at Bombay and
Ruglionath Rao.
Rebellion of Cheit
Singh, Raj a of
Benares.
Run Bahadur, Maharaja
of Nipal.
1776 " Treaty of Purundhur.
Tanjore restored to the
R;ija by Lord Pigot.
1778 " Rumbold, governor of
Madras.
English capture of
Pondicherry.
Bombay expedition to
Poona.
Convention of Wur-
1779
1780
1781
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
gaum.
First Mahratta war.
Bhodau Phra, King of
Burma (d. :819).
English capture of
Gwaiior.
Whitehill, governor of
Madras.
Hj'der Ali invades the
Carnatic.
Battle of Porto Novo.
Runjeet Singh, Viceroy
of Lahore.
Lord Macartney, gover-
nor of Madras.
War between English
and Dutch; capture
of Pulicat and Sadras.
Close of the first Mah-
ratta war.
Nana Farnavese ratifies
the Treaty of Salbai.
Mahdu Rao II., seventh
Peishwa (d. 1795).
Death of Hyder Ali.
Treaty of Mangalore.
Mr. Pitt's Bill; the
Board of Control.
Warren Hastings leaves
India.
Macpherson, Mr., pro-
visional Governor-
General.
Lord Cornwall!'^, Gov-
ernor-General.
Tippu Sultan attacks
Travancore.
Gholam Kadir at Delhi.
814
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF
1790 A.D. — Mysore war.
1793 " Submission of Tippu
Sultan.
Mahadaji Sindia at
Poona.
Chinese invasion of
Nipal.
Ghorka treaty with the
English.
Permanent land settle-
ment in Bengal.
1793 " Sir John Shore (Lord
Teignmeuth), Gov-
ernor-General.
Zeman Shah succeeds
Timur Shah at Kan-
dahar.
1794 " Mahadaji Sindia suc-
ceeded by Daulat Rao
Sindia.
1795 " Battle of Kurdla.
Umdut-ul-Umra, Na-
vvabof Arcot (d. 1801).
Baji Rao II., eighth
Peisliwa (d. 1853).
Revolution at Khat-
mandu.
Threatened invasion of
Zeman Shah.
1797 " Saadut Ali, Nawab
Vizier of Oude.
Rise of Jasvvant Rao
Holkar.
1798 " Lord Mornington (Mar-
quis of Wellesley),
Governor-General.
English alliance with
Nizam Ali against
Tippu.
1799 " Last Mysore war.
Storming of Seringa-
patam.
Death of Tippu.
Purnea, minister at
Mysore (d. 1811).
1800 " Buchanan's travels in
Mysore.
Malcolm's mission to
Persia.
Death of Nana Farna-
vese.
Pandey conspiracy at
Khatmandu: flight of
Run Bahadur.
Mahmud, Shah of Af-
ghanistan (died 1829).
1801 A.D. — Assumption of the gov-
ernment of the Car-
natic.
Risings of the Ghilzais
in Kabul, suppressed
bv Futih Khan.
1802 " Baji Rao and Sindia de-
feated b}' Jaswant
Rao Holkar.
Treat}' of Bassein.
Mission of Captain
Knox to Khatman-
du.
1803 " Baji Rao restored to
Poona.
Second Mahratta war.
Battles of Assay e and
Argaum.
Battles of Alighur and
Delhi.
Revolution of Khat-
mandu.
Moghul kings of Delhi
become the pension-
ers of the British gov-
ernment.
Shah Shuja, Shah of
Afghanistan.
1804 " War between the Eng-
lish and Jaswant Rao
Holkar.
Col. Monson's retreat.
Return of Run Bahadur
to Khatmandu.
Downfall of the Pan-
deys.
Murder of Run Baha-
dur.
Massacre at Khatman-
du of the enemies of
the Thapas.
Ascendency of Bhim
Sein Thapa.
1805 «' Lake defeats Holkar
and besieges Bhurt-
pore.
Lord Cornwallis, Gov-
ernor-General a sec-
ond time.
Sir George Barlow,
Governor-General.
Submission of Jaswant
Rao Holkar.
1806 " Mutiny at Vellore.
1807 " Lord Minto, Governor-
General.
INDIAN HISTORY
815
1807
A=D
1808
(<
1809
((
1810
(<
1811
<(
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
-Ruujeet Singh's aggres-
sions on the Cis-Sutlej
states.
Metculf's mission to
Runjeet Singh.
Restoration of Mahniud
Shah to the throne of
Kabul by the Baruk-
zais.
British occupation of
the Mauritius and
Java.
Mulhar Rao Holkar
succeeds to the
throne of Indoi'e.
Depredations of Amir
Khan and of the
Pindharies.
Lingaraja, ruler of
Coorg (d. 1820).
Krishnaraj assumes the
government of My-
sore.
Lord Moira (Marquis of
Hastings), Governor-
General.
Ghoi-ka aggressions on
British territory.
Nipalese occupation of
British districts.
Ghorka slaughter of
British police.
Nipal war.
The Gaekwar of Baroda
sends Gungadhur
Shastri to Poona.
Murder of Gungadhur
Shastri.
Imprisonment of Trini-
bukji Dainglia.
Treaty of Segowlie.
Pindhari raids on Brit-
ish territories.
Quarrels between Per-
sia and Afghanistan
respecting Herat.
Escape of Trimbukji
Dainglia.
Treaty of Poona.
Pindiiari war.
Baji Rao repulsed by
the English atKhirki.
Flight of the Peishwa
from Poona.
Battle of Sitabuldi.
Battle of Mehidpore.
1818 A.D. — Defence of Korygaum,
Extinction of the
Pieshwa.
Settlement of the Hol-
kar state.
Resuscitation of the Raj
of Satara.
Early Burmese history.
Portuguese adventur-
ers.
Byeen-noung conquers
Pegu.
Siege and capture of
Martaban by Byeen-
noung.
1820 " Metcalfe, Resident at
H y d e r a b a d, con-
demns the bank of
Palmer & Co.
Chikka Vira Raja suc-
ceeds Lingaraja at
Coorg.
1833 " Mr. Adam, provisional
Governor-General.
Lord Amherst, Gover-
nor-General.
1834 " First Burmese war:
British expedition to
Rangoon.
Phagyi-dau, King of
Burma.
1835 " British advance to
Prome.
Outbreak at Bhurtpore.
1836 «« Treaty of Yandabo.
Crawfurd's mission to
Ava.
Capture of Bhurtpore.
Dost Muhain mad Khan,
Amir of Kabul.
1837 " Daulat Rao Sindia sue-
ceeded by Jankoji Rao
Sindia (d. 1843).
1828 " Lord William Bentinck,
Governor-General.
1830 " Rebellion in Mysore:
deposition of Krish-
naraj by the British
government.
1832 " Disturbances in Jaipur.
1833 " Civil wars stopped at
Gwalior and Indore
bj' British interven-
tion.
Hari Rao Holkar on the
throne of Indore.
816
1833 A.D.
1834 "
1835 "
1836 "
1837 "
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES OF
1838
1839 "
1840
-Renewal of the East
India C o m p a n y's
charter.
The Maharaja of Jaipur
poisoned.
Britisli campaign in
Coorg.
Annexation of Coorg.
Murder of Mr. Blake in
Jaipur.
Sir Charles Metcalfe,
provisional Governor-
General.
Lord Auckland, Gov-
ernor-General.
The Shah of Persia
marches against
Herat.
Siege of Herat.
Revolution at Ava.
Tharawadi, king of
Burinn.
The fall of Bhim Sein
Thapa at Khatman-
du.
The Shah of Persia
raises the siege of
Herat.
Lord Auckland declares
war against Afghan-
istan.
British advance to
Quetta.
British capture of Kan-
dahar, Ghazni and
Kabul.
Russian expedition to
Khiva.
Death of Run jeet Singh.
Tragedies at K h a t-
mandu.
Death of Bhim Sein
Thapa.
Kharak, Maharaja of
Lahore (d. 1840).
Dethronement of the
Raja of Satara.
British occupation of
Kabul.
The British Residency
expelled from Ava.
Lord Auckland remon-
strates with the Ma-
haraja of Nipal.
Nao Nihal Singh, Ma-
hax'aja of Lahore.
1841 A.D.— Withdrawal of Major
Todd, the British Res-
ident, from Herat.
Insurrection at Kabul:
murder of Sir Alex-
ander Burnes.
General reconciliation
at Khatmandu.
Dhian Singh places
Sher Singh on the
throne of Lahore.
1842 " Destruction of the
British arm}' in the
Khaiber Pass.
Sale's defence of Jella-
labad.
Lord Ellenborough,
Governor-General.
Pollock's advance to
Jellalabad.
British advance to Ka-
bul.
Battle of Tazeen.
Murder of Stoddart and
Con oily at Bokhara.
Disturbances at Khat-
mandu.
1848 " Jyaji Rao Sindia, Ma-
haraja of Gwalior.
Disturbances at
Gwalior.
Battles of Maharajpore
and Punuiar.
Matabar Singh over-
throws the Pandeys
at Khatmandu.
Assassination of
Dhian and Sher Singh
at Lahore : Dhulip
Singh, Maharaja.
1844 " Settlement of Gwalior
affairs.
Irregular installation
of Tukaji Rao Holkar
at Indore.
Lord Hardinge, Gover-
nor-General.
Crisis at Lahore.
1845 " Pagan Meng, king of
Burma.
Murder of Matabar
Singh.
S i k li army of the
Khalsa invades Brit-
ish territoi'y: first
Sikh war.
INDIAN HISTORY
81'
1845 A.D. — Battles of Moodkee and
Ferozeshahar.
1846 " Massacre at K h a t-
niandu.
Jung- Bahadur, prime
minister.
Battle of Sobraon.
Close of the first Sikh
war.
Jamu and Kashmir sold
to Gholab Singh.
Temporary British oc-
cupation of the
Punjab.
1848 *• Lord Dalliousie, Gov-
ernor-General.
Disaffection of Mulraj,
Viceroy of Multan.
Treachery and murder
at Multan.
Successes of Herbert
Edwardes.
Second Sikh war.
Revolt of Sher Singh.
The Sikhs joined by
Afghans.
Lapse of Satara to the
British government.
1849 " Battle of Chillianwal-
lah
Battle of Guzerat.
Annexation of the Pun-
jab.
1851 " Mission of Commodore
Lambert to Rangoon.
Second Burmese War.
Meng-don Meng, king
of Burma.
Annexation of Pegu.
1853 " Sir John Lawrence,
Chief Commissioner
of the Punjab.
Annexation of Nagpore.
Cession of Berar to the
British government.
1855 " Outbreak of hill-tribes,
Koles and Santals.
English alliance with
Dost Mivhammad
Khan.
1856 " Annexation of Oude.
Lord Canning, Gover-
nor-General.
Persian war.
Capture of Bushire and
battle of Mohamrah.
1857 A.D. — Sepoy mutinj'.
Mutiny at Barrackpore.
March 39th Outbreak of Mungal
Pandy.
May 3d Explosion at Lukhnow.
'• 10th Mutinv at Meerut.'
" 11th The Rebels at Delhi.
" 30th Mutiny at Lukhnow.
June 4th Mutin}- at Jliansi.
Mutiny at Cawnpore.
" 6th Siege of Cawnpore by
Nana Sahib.
" 27th The massacre on the
Ganges.
July 1st Coronation of Nana
Sahib as Peishwa.
" 7th Advance of Havelock
toward Cawnpore.
" 15th Massacre of women and
children at Cawnpore.
Battle of Cawnpore.
" 17th Havelock's advance to
Bithoor.
General insurrection in
Oude.
of
at
of
the Resi-
Lukhnow;
Sir Henry
Defence
dency
death
Lawrence.
Havelock's victory at
Bithoor.
Barnard's advance to
Delhi.
Sept. 14th Storming of Delhi.
" 21st Arrest of the king; the
two princes shot.
" 25th Relief of the Residency
at Lukhnow by Have-
lock and Outran! .
Nov. 23d Second relief by Sir
Colin Campbell.
" 24th Death of Havelock.
Defeat of the Gwalior
rebels.
1858 A.D. — Trial and transporta-
tion of Bahadur Shah.
Lord Clyde's campaign
in Oude and Rohil-
kund.
Outran! captures Lukh-
now.
Sir Hugh Rose's cam-
paign in Central
India.
Sindia defeated by the
Gwalior rebels.
818
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES
1858 A.D.— Tantia Topi and the
Gwalior rebels routed
by Sir Hugli Rose.
The Queen's proclama-
tion.
Hindustani fanatics
driven out of Sitana.
1859 " Trial and execution of
Tantia Topi,
End of the Oude rebel-
lion.
Lord Canning's durbar
1862 " Lord Elgin, Viceroy.
Sir Arthur Phayre,
Chief Commissioner
of British Burma, con-
cludes a treaty with
the king of Burma.
1863 " The Sitana campaign.
Sir William Denison,
provisional Vicero3'.
The Bhutan mission.
Death of Dost Muham-
mad Khan.
Sher Ali Khan recog-
nized by the British
government.
1864 " Sir John Lawrence,
Viceroy.
Bhutan war.
Sher Ali treacherously
imprisons his brother
Afzal Khan.
1866 " Flight of Sher Ali to
Kandahar : Afzal
Khan proclaimed
Amir.
Partition of Afghanis-
tan.
Sir John Lawrence's
recognition of Afzal
Khan and Sher Ali
Khan.
1867 " Sher Ali defeated by
Azim Khan; his flight
from Kandahar to
Herat.
1867 A.D.— Death of Afzal Khan:
accession of Azim
Khan.
General Fytche, Chief
Commissioner of
British Burma, con-
cludes a treaty with
the king of Burma.
1868 " Sher Ali recovers the
throne of Afghan-
istan.
1869 " Lord Mayo, Viceroy.
The Umballa confer-
ence.
Visit of H. R. H. the
Duke of Edinburgh to
India.
1873 " Lord Mayo visits Ran-
goon; assassinated at
Port Blair.
Lord Northbrook, Vice-
rov.
1875 " Visit of H. R. H. the
Prince of Wales to
India.
1876 " Lord Lytton, Viceroy.
1877 " The Imperial Assem-
blage at Delhi on the
1st of January, 1877:
proclamation of Her
Majesty Queen Vic-
toria as Empress of
India.
Death of Jung Baha-
dur.
1878 " Sher All's rejection of
a British mission.
Declaration of war
against Afghanistan.
1879 « Death of Sher Ali.
Accession of Yakub
Khan.
Attack on the British
Residency at Kabul;
massacre of the En-
glish mission.
British occupation of
Afghanistan.
INDEX
INDEX
A'aykgars, a sect of worshippers of Vishnu in Southern India, 475;
their distinctive creed, ib.
Abdalis, the legitimate Afghans, as opposed to the Ghilzais, or illegiti-
mate branch, 622. See also Duranis and Barukzais.
AbduUa Khan, the elder brother of the two Saiyids, who enthroned
Farrukh Siyar at Dellii. 246; hostile intrigues of Farrukh Siyar, 247,
248; revolution at Delhi, 250; assassination of his younger brotlier,
251; defeat and full, 252. See also Saiyids.
Abdul Rahman Khan, son of Afzal Khan, helps to place his father on
the throne of Kabul, 769; his rivalry with his uncle Azim Khan,
770; flight to Persiuu territory, ib.
Abul Fazl, the favorite and minister of Akbar. 166; engages Akbar in
religious controversies, ib.; destroys the authority and power of the
Ulama, 167; proclaims Akbar to be the "Lord of the period." who
is to bring about the Muhammadan millennium, 168; assassinated,
171.
Adam, Mr., provisional Governor-General of India, 574; sends an ob-
noxious editor of a public journal to England, ib. ; perished at sea. ib.
Adham Khan, revolts against Akbar in Malwa, 159; stabs the minister
to death at Agra, ib.; executed by Akbar, ib.
Adoption, rite of, its religious signifleance, 700: its political bearings,
701; restricted by Lord Dalhousie, 702; conceded by Lord Canning,
757.
Adye, Major, at Cawnpore, 751 note; his narrative of the Sitana cam-
paign, 759 note.
Afglianistan, description of, 620; highroad to India, 621.
Afghans, converted to Islam but rebel against the Arab domination, 95;
found a dynasty at Ghor and drive the Turks out of the Punjab and
Hindustan, 97; dynasty of the slave kings, 100-2; apparently of
Jewish origin, 149; known as Patans, 150; establish a dominion in
Hindustan under the Lodi dynasty, ib. ; bad name and passion for
revenge, 151; conquered by Baber the Moghul, 154; drive Humayun
out of Bengal, 156; rule in Hindustan under Sher Khan, ib.; obso-
lete claims to Hindustan, 157; intermittent wars of Akbar, 158;
treachery and disaffection of Afghan officers, 159; crushed by the
resuscitation of the Rajputs, 160; revolt under a supposed brother
of Aurangzeb, 210; treacherously massacred at Peshawar, ib.;
throw off the Persian yoke and conquer Ispahan, 262; establish an
empire in Central Asia under Ahmad Shah Abdali. 269; treacherous
mercenaries in the service of Alivardi Khan. 814; revenge, ih.; inva-
sion and plunder of Hindustan under Ahmad Shah Abdali, 328; found
IHDIA Vol. II. (8-^1) X— 17
832 INDEX
a principality in Rohilkund, ib.; supreme at Delhi, 338; massacre
the Mahrattas at Paniput, 338. 392; threatened invasion of Hindu-
stan under Zeman Shah in the days of Lord Wellesley, 495; Elphin-
sLone's mission to Kabul sent by Lord Minto, 523 note; advance of
Russia in Central Asia, 619; Afg'han dominion to the south of the
Oxus, 620; character of the Afghan people, 621; old contentions
between Abdalis and Ghilzais, 622; later rivalries between Duranis
and Barukzais, ib.; modern iiistory of the Afghans, ib.; election
and coronation of Ahmad Sliah Durani, 623; hereditary ministry of
the Barukzais, «■&. ; rise of the Kuzzilbashes, ^b.; foundation of an
Afghan empire, 624; reign of Timur Shah, ib.; disaffection in Balkh,
ib.; Zeman Shah placed on the throne by Payendah Khan, chief of
the Barukzais; 625; disaffection of the Sirdars, 626; transfer of the
Punjab to the rule of Runjeet Singh, ib.; oppression of the Baruk-
zais, 627; plots and massacres at Kandaliar, ib.; rise of Futih Khan,
the Barukzai Vizier, t&.; Zeman Shah dethroned and blinded, i6.;
quarrels between the Sunnis and Shiahs, 628; slaughter of the
Kuzzilbashes, t&.; Shah Shuja Durani seizes the throne at Kabul,
629; dethroned by Futih Khan Barukzai and escapes to British ter-
ritory, ib.; rise of Dost Muhammad Khan, 630; cruel death of Futih
Khan, 631; Durani puppets and Barukzai rulers, ib.; Dost Muham-
mad Khan Amir of Kabul, 632; Persian siege of Herat, 633; refusal
of Lord Auckland to interfere between Dost Muhammad Khan and
Runjeet Singh, 634; Russian mission at Kabul, ib.; first Afghan
war, 635; British occupation of Afghanistan, 1839-41, 636-7; insur-
rection at Kabul and murder of Sir Alexander Burnes, 639; nego-
tiations with rebel leaders, 640; murder of Sir William Macnaghten,
ib.; destruction of the British army in the Khaiber, 641; advance
of the avenging army under Pollock, 642; murder of Shah Sliuja,
ib.; siege of Jellalabad raised by Akbar Khan, ib.; Pollock's victory
at Tezeen, 644; reoccupation of Kabul, ib.; return of avenging
army to Hindustan, 645; hostility of the Afghans during the sec-
ond Sikh war, 688; treaties of 1855 and 1857 with Dost Muhammad
Khan, 715, 768; death of Dost Muhammad and recognition of Sher
Ali Khan, ib.; fratricidal wars, 768, 770; policy of Sir John Law-
rence, 771; Lord Mayo's conference with Sher All Khan at Umballa,
772; political diflBculties, ib.; conciliatory policy of Lord Mayo, 773;
estrangement of Sher Ali Khan, 775; dealings with Russia, ib.;
mission of 1878 repulsed, ib.; massacre of Cavagnari's mission and
British occupation, 776; probable destiny of the Afghan people as
foreshadowed by Jewish history, 776 note.
Afghan-Turkistan, suzerainty established by Dost Muhammad Khan,
768; geographical meaning of the term, ib. note.
Afzal Khan, eldest son of Dost Muhammad Khan, 768; treacherously
imprisoned by Sher Ali Khan, ib.; Amir of Kabul and Afghan-
Turkistan, 769; his death, 770.
Agnew, Mr. Vans, accompanies Khan Singh to Multan, 686; his mur-
der, ib.
Agni, god of fire, 56; subject to Ravana, ib.; testifies to the purity of
Sita, 59; Vaidik idea of, 80.
Agra, sacked by Shah Jehan, 184; imperial road to Lahore, 220; condi-
tion in 1785 described, 448; the stronghold of Sindia, 459; captured
by Lake, 505.
Ahadis, Moghul officers, 164.
Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan conqueror, 269; interference in Delhi
affairs, 328-9; intrigues with the king of Delhi, 338; enters Delhi,
INDEX 823
ib.; last invasion of Hindustan, 402; election and coronation as
Ahmad Shall Durani, 623; his glorious reign, 624; a composer of
psalms, 776 note.
Ahmadnagar, kingdom of, in the Dekhan, 118: conquered by Akbar,
171; revolt of Malik Amber the Abyssinian, 176; suppressed by
Jehangir, 181.
Ailah Bai, daughter-in-law of Mulhar Rao Holkar, her administration
of Indore, 397-8, 497.
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 287.
Ajmir, Roe's journey to, 177; imperial durbar at, ib.
Akaiis or Sikh zealots, 673.
Akbar, son of Humayun, 157; the real founder of the Moghul empire,
tb.; contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, ib.; becomes Padishah, 158;
defeat of the Afghans, ib.; refuses to slay Hemu, ib.; discards
Bairam Khan, ib.; wars and conquests, 158-9; his policj'of equality
of race and religion, 160; his policj^ toward the Rajput princes,
160-1; intermarriages with Rajputs, ib.; employs Rajputs against
the Afghans, 162; personal characteristics of, 164; outwardly a
Muhammadan, 165; religious collisions and controversies, 166-7;
appears as a religious arbiter, 167; his apostasy, ib.; professes
Christianity, ib.; founds a new religion known as the Divine Faith,
168; his ordinances, ib.; his cruelty, ib.; daily life, 168-9; division
of lands, 170; conquest of Kabul and Kashmir, ib,; embassy to the
Sultans of the Dekhan, 171; conquest of Ahmadnagar and Berar,
ib.; death, ib.
Akbar, son of Aurangzeb, 214; his rebellion, ib. ; the forged letter, ib. ;
flight, 215, 241.
Akbar Khan, eldest son of Dost Muhammad Khan, negotiates with
Macnaghten, 640; his murderous treachery, ib.; massacre in the
Khaiber pass, 641; forced to raise the siege of Jellalabad, 642; ruler
of Kabul, 643; negotiations with Pollock, ib.; defeated at Tezeen,
644.
Akhoond of Swat, his religious character, 760; his behavior in the
Sitana campaign, 761.
Alamghir, a puppet Padishah of Delhi, 338-9; intrigues with Ahmad
Shah Abdali, 338, 391; murdered, ib.
Ala-ud-din, Sultan of Delhi, story of his early career, 102; governor of
Karra, ib.; plunders the Buddhist temples at Bhilsa, ib.; Viceroy
ofOude, ib. ; expedition against the Mahratta Raja of Deoghur,
102-3; march into the Dekhan, 103; capture of Deoghur, ib.; as-
sassination of his uncle, 104; proclaimed Sultan of Delhi, i6.; whole-
sale scattei-ing of money, ib.; conquest of Guzerat, t&.; siege of
Chitor, 105; stern measures of suppression at Delhi, 106; massacre
of Moghuls, tb.; first Muhammadan conqueror in the Dekhan and
Peninsula, ib.; plunder of Hindu temples in the south, 107; his
death, 108.
Albuquerque, Alfonso de, Portuguese Viceroy in India, founds Goa and
Malacca, 130; death, ib.
Alexander the Great, invades the Punjab, 64; passage of the Jhelura,
ib.; defeat of Porus the elder, 65; builds a flotilla on the Jhelum,
ib.; dealings with Porus the younger, ib.; compelled to retreat via
the Jhelum and Indus, 66; harassed by the Brahmans, ib.; his ven-
geance, ib.; murder of Philip, his lieutenant, at Taxila, 67; his death,
ib.; his dealings with Sandrokottos, the Hindu Chandra-gupta. ib.
Ali Bahadur, his mixed birth, Mahratta and Muhammadan, 452 note;
sent by Nana Farnavese to help Sindia in Hindustan, tb.; associ-
824 INDEX
ated with Himmut Bahadur, ib,; his recall to Poona demanded
by Sindia, 459-60.
Alighur, Lake's victory at, 504.
Alivardi Khan, Nawab of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, his early life, 310;
his treachery, i&. ; story of the baskets of human heads, 311; pro-
claimed Nawab, 313; treacherous assassination of Mahrattas, i6. ;
pays tribute to Mahrattas, 314; character and private life; 314-16;
alarm at the French, 316; his death, ib.; described by Colonel Mill
as a usurper, 337 note,
Allahabad, the ancient Prayaga, 49; the "field of happiness," 75; Olive's
negotiations at, with Shah Alam and the Nawab Vizier of Oude,
362-3.
Allard, General, in the service of Runjeet Singh, 674.
Alompra the hunter, 589; drives the Talain kings of Pegu out of Ava,
590; conquers Pegu and establishes a port at Rangoon, ib.; his real
name, Alom Phra, ib. note.
Alumbagh, garden of, in the suburbs of Lukhnow, Ha velock defeats the
rebels, 748-9; buried there, 750.
Alvarez Cabral, his expedition to India, 138; violence toward the Moors,
ib.; cannonades Calicut, 139; alliance with the Raja of Cochin, ib.
Alves, Major, his narrow escape at Jaipur, 608.
Amar Singh, of Nipal, deprecates a war with England, 544; surrenders
at Maloun, 547; advises a renewal of the war, 548.
Amar Singh, Raja of Tanjore, dethroned by Madras government, 488;
suspected bribery of Tanjore pundits, ib.; pensioned, ib.
Amarapura, a Burmese capital, 591, 654.
Amboor, defeat of Anwar-ud-din at, 290.
Amherst, Lord, Governor-General of India, 574; forced into a war with
Burma, 594; countermands the proceedings of Ochterlony at Bhurt-
pore, 598; retrieves his error, ib.; returns to England, 599; founds
the sanatorium at Simla, ib.
Amildars, or governors of provinces, corruption of, 478.
Amirs. Moghul nobles, 164.
Amir Jumla, rebel minister of Golkonda, his close alliance with Aurang-
zeb, 191; defeats Shuja, the rebel brother of Aurangzeb, 195.
Amir Khan, the Afghan freebooter, interference in Indore, 523; his early
career. 524; aggressions in Nagpore, ib.; interference in Rajputana
between Jaipur and Jodhpur, 525; infamous proposal for ending the
quarrel, 526; attitude during the Pindhari war, 555; his treaty with
England, 557; founder of the Tonk dynasty, 558.
Amyatt, Mr., his factious opposition to Vansittart, 347; sent on a mis-
sion to Monghyr, 348; treacherously murdered, 350.
Ananda Bai, wife of Rughonath Rao, her part in the mui'der of Narain
Rao Peishwa, 418.
Anandpal, son of Jaipal of Lahore, 95; league with the Rajput princes
of Hindustan, ib.; defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni at Peshawar, 96.
Anderson, Lieut., accompanies Khan Singh to Multan, 686; his mur-
der, ib.
Anderson, Mr., sent as Resident to Mahadaji Sindia's camp, 444, 448.
Andhra, ancient Hindu empii'e, 73.
Angrias, pirates of Gheria, rise of, 305, 390; surrender to Clive and Wat-
son, ib.; escape from Gheria, ib.
Anson, General, Commander-in-chief at the outbreak of the sepoy
mutinies, 742 note.
Anwar-ud-din appointed Nawab of the Carnatic by Nizam-ul-mulk, 284;
forbids tlie English to make war on the French, 385; enraged at the
INDEX 825
duplicity of Dupleix, 286; defeat of his army by the French, ib.;
defeatedf and slain by the Mahi'attas at Amboor, 290.
Appa Sahib succeeds Rughoji Bhonsla as Raja of Nagpore, 563; his
treachery toward the English, 564; appointed commander-in-chief
by the Peishwa, ib.; warned bj'^ Mr. Jenkins, ib.; tlie battle of
Sitabuldi, 565; double dealings, t&.; arrested for murder, 566; flight,
ib.', takes refuge with the Raja of Jodphur, ib.; correspondence
with the Raja of Satara, 703.
Apsaras, celestial nymphs from Indra's heaven in Swarga, 54.
Arabs conquer all Asia up to the Indus and Oxus, 95; Persian, Turkish,
and Afghan revolt against their domination, t5.; Arab invasion of
Sinde, ib.
Arakan, geographical position of. 575 vote; conquered by Bhodau Phra,
590; ceded to the British government, 596.
Arcot, court and capital of the Nawabs of the Carnatic, 277; usurpation
of Mortiz Ali, 283; settlement of affairs by Nizam-ul-mulk. ib.;
capture and defence of Arcot by Clive, 299; visited bj* Buchanan,
477; titular Nawabs of, 490 note. See also Carnatic.
Argaum, battle of, 504; defeat of Sindia and the Bhonsla Raja by
Colonel Wellesley, ib.
Arjuna, son of Pandu, by Kunti, 15; his skill with the bow, 17; his
splendid archery at the exhibition of arms, 18-19; triumph at the
Swayamvara of Draupadi, 23; leads away Draupadi as his bride, 24;
his exile, 25; marries Subhadra and returns to Hastinapur, 26; at
the court of Virata, 29; the dancing-master turned warrior, 31; dis-
covered by the Kauravas, ib.; slays Bhishma, 34; and Kama, ib.
Armenians in Madras, 228.
Aryan colonies in the neighborhood of Hastinapur, 12; the Aryan im-
' migrants from High Asia, ib.; treatment of the aborigines, ib.;
frontier near Allahabad, 20; two castes of, 2Snote; relics among the
hill tribes, 78; worship of genii or spirits, 79.
Asia, Central, history of, 619.
Asof Jah. See Nizam-ul-mulk.
Asof Khan, brother-in-law of Jehangir, 173; plots with Shah Jehan to
seize the imperial treasures at Agra, 183; installs Bulaki on the
throne at Delhi, 185.
Asof-ud-daula, Nawab Vizier of Oude, 414; claims his father's treasures
as state property, 415; negotiations with "Warren Hastings, 435;
tortures the servants of the two Begums, ib.; corrupt dealings^with
Warren Hastings, 442 note; his death, 465.
Asoka, Maharaja of Magadha, resembles Sandrokottos, 69; his reign
and character, 69-70; a convert to Buddhism, 69; edicts of, lb.;
sends Buddhist missions to foreign nations. 73.
Assam, conquered by the Burmese, 594; ceded to the British govern-
ment after the first Burmese war, 596; tea cultivation introduced
by Lord William Bentinck, 617.
Assaye, victory of General Wellesley at, 503-4.
Astrologers at Delhi, description of, 198.
Asuras and Rakshasas, demons and cannibals to the south and east of
Allahabad, 20.
Aswamedha, or horse sacrifice in honor of Indra and the Sun, 37, 39.
Aswatthama, son of Drona, 17; his revenge. 35-6; the omen of the
crows, 35; slaughters Dhrishta-dyumna and the sous of Draupadi, ib,
Auckland, Lord, Governor-General of India, 617; refuses to interfere
between Dost Muhammad Khan and Runjeet Singh, 634; declares
war against Dost Muhammad Khan for the restoration of Shah
826 INDEX
Shuja, 635; anger at the withdrawal of Major Todd from Herat, 637;
rupture of political relations with Ava, 655; policy toward Nipal, 662.
Aurangabad, founded by Aurangzeb, 191.
Aurangzeb, son of Shah Jehan, 190; a Sunni fanatic, 191; Viceroy of
the Moghul Dekhan, t6. ; ambitious projects, i6.; bait for Murad,
192; victory at Ujain, 193; defeat of Dara, ih.; captivity of his
father, Shah Jehan, 194; ruin of Murad, ib.; installed as Padishah,
ib.; fears and anxieties, 196; religious trimming, ib.; unamiable
character, 197; maligns his tutor, i6.; his capital at Delhi, 197-9;
alliance with Sivaji the Mahratta, 202; appoints ShaistaKhan to be
Viceroy of the Moghul Dekhan, ib.; suspicious of the Raja of Mar-
war, 203; suspected complicity in the death of Shah Jehan, 204; in
Kashmir, t6.; fails to form a navy, ib.; threatened by Persia, i6.;
return to Delhi, 205; intrigues against Sivaji, ib.; imposing durbar,
206; composure at the outbreak of Sivaji, ib.; reasons for his craft,
207; war against Sivaji, ib.; the sham rebellion, 207-8; renders
future rebellion impossible, 208; prohibits history, 209; the Kabul re-
volt, 210; treachery and massacre, ib.; projected conversion of the
Hindus to Islam, 212; policy, ib.; destruction of idolatry in Moghul
India, ib.; forced impost of the Jezya, 213; operations in Raj putana,
ib.; compromise with Marwar, 213-14; demands on the Rana of
Udaipur rejected, 214; protracted wars, ib.; rebellion of Akbar, 214-
15; retreat from Rajputana, 215; resolves to live in camp, 216; de-
sultory wars, i&. ; intrigues against Akbar foiled, ib.; bootless oper-
ations against the Mahrattas, 217; conquest of Bijapur and Gol-
konda, t6. ; revival of Hindu nationality, ib.; able administration,
218; punishment of heinous criminals, ib.; collection of Jezya at
Surat, 231; Hindu revolt in Bengal against his religious persecu-
tions, 237-8; excitement at his death, 240; his dying fears, ib.; his
persecution of the Sikhs, 242; execution of Guru Govind, 243.
Ava, or Burma proper, 575; capital of the kingdom, 591; English
advance on, during first Burmese war, 596; mission of Crawfurd, ib.;
ferment at, dui'ing the first Afghan war, 653; political relations with
the British government under Phagyi-dau and Tharawadi, 654; insur-
rection of Pagan Meng, 655; second Burmese war, 697; settlement
by Lord Dalhousie, 697-8.
Avitable, General, in the service of Runjeet Singh, 674, 676 note.
Ayodhya, or Oude, Aryan kingdom of, 12; Raj of, 20; the scene of the
Ramayana, 42; known as Kosala, ib.; rejoicings at the expected
installation of Rama, 43-4; conquered by the Maharaja of Magadha,
64; Raja of, engages Nala as his charioteer, 91.
Azam Shah, second son of Aurangzeb, 214, 241; defeated and slain by
his elder brother, ib.
Azim Khan, son of Dost Muhammad Khao, and brother of Afzal Khan,
captures Kabul, 769; his oppressive government, 770; defeats Sher
Ali, ib.; succeeds Afzal Khan as Amir of Afghanistan, ib.; deposed,
ib.; his subsequent fate, ib.
B
Baber, his invasion of India, 110; the founder of the Moghul empire,
152 ; descent and early life, ib.; character, ib.; conquers the Afghans
of Delhi. 154; advances to Agra, ib.; defeats the Rajputs under the
Rana of Chitor, ib.; his death, 155; a bad Muhammadan, ib.
Bahadur Shah, eldest son of Aurangzeb, succeeds to the throne of Delhi,
241; letters to Mr. Thomas Pitt, governor of Madras, ib.; revolt of
INDEX 827
the Sikhs, 242; settlement with the Mahrattas, 343; death, 245. See
also Shah Alam.
Bahadur Shah, last titular king of Delhi, 713; dealings with the British
government, 713-14; makes common cause with the rebel sepoys,
734-5; held responsible for the massacre of Europeans at Delhi, 726;
flight to the tomb of Humayun, 747; arrested by Hodson, ib.; sent
as a state prisoner to Rangoon, 752; his death, ib.
Bahmani empire in the Dekhan, 114; dismembered into the five king-
doms of Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bider, Bijapur, and Golkonda, 118.
Bairam Khan, regent and minister of Akbar, 157; kills the Hindu Hemu,
158; discarded by Akbar, ib.; assassinated, ib.
Baiza Bai, widow of Daulat Rao Sindia, her ambitious designs on the
throne of Gwalior, 606; refusal of Lord William Bentinck to inter-
fere, ib.; forced to retire in favor of Jankoji Rao Sindia, ib.; her
able administration, 648.
Baj-baj, curious capture of, 320 note.
Baji Rao, second Peishwa, rules the Mahratta empire from 1720 to 1740,
as minister of Maharaja Sahu, 257, 3S6note; dealings with Nizam-
ul-mulk and the Moghul Padishah of Delhi, 259; extorts cessions of
territory and tribute from Muhammad Shah, 259-60; advances on
Agra and Delhi, 260; repulses by Saadut Ali Khan of Oude, ib.; his
dealings with Nizam-ul-mulk, 261-3; his death, 269.
Baji Rao, son of Rughonath Rao, eighth and last Peishwa, his early
struggles against Nana Farnavese, 463; intrigues with Daulat Rao
Sindia, 464; permits Sindia to plunder Poona, 465; treacherous
designs against Sindia, ib. ; forced reconciliation with Nana Farna-
vese, 468; refuses to engage in a subsidiary alliance with the British
government, 493; intrigues against Nana Farnavese, 497; cruelties
at Poona, 498; defeated by Jaswant Rao Holkar, 499; flight into
British territory, ib. ; signs the treaty of Bassein proposed by Lord
Wellesley, ib.; reduced to the conditionof a feudatory of the British
government, ib.; restored by the British to the throne of Poona,
500; his duplicity and treachery, ib.; intrigues against the British
government during the administration of Lord Hastings, 550; un-
derhand bi'eaches of treaty, ib.; strange reception of Gungadhur
Shastri, the minister from the Gaekwar of Baroda, 551; murder of
the minister, 552; implication of Baji Rao and Trimbukji Dainglia,
ib.; imprisonment and escape of Trimbukji, 552-3; fresh intrigues,
553; threats of Mr. Elphinstone, the British Resident, 554; treaty of
Poona, ib.; desperate designs, 560; duplicity, i&.; outwits Sir John
Malcolm, 561; treacherous movements, 562; repulsed by the British
at Khirki, 563; flight from Poona. ib.; appoints Appa Sahib of Nag-
pore his commander-in-chief, 564; disgraceful repulse at Korygaum,
568; flight, ib.; final settlement, 570; death, 706.
Bakhtiyar, 101; captures Bihar and Nuddea, i6. ; Viceroy of Bihar and
Bengal, ib.
Bala Hissar, the "palace of kings" at Kabul, surrendered to Ahmad
Shah Abdali by the Kuzzilbashes, 623; removal of the British gar-
rison, 638.
Balaji Rao, third Mahratta Peishwa, 1740-61, 269; schemes to gain the
sovereignty, 886; cruel treatment of Sukwar Bai, widow of Maha-
raja Sahu, t6.; behavior toward Tara Bai, i6.; removes the capital
to Poona, 387; invasion of the Carnatie and Dekhan. 388; recalled to
Satara, ib.; counterplots against Tara Bai, ib.; aggressions and out-
rages in the Dekhan and Carnatie, ib.; intrigues with the Moghul
Court at Delhi, 389; general reconciliation with the Gaekwar and
828 INDEX
Tara Bai, t6.; relations with Bombay, 390; the capture of Gheria,
ib.; his wrath against the English, ib.; his administration, ib.;
death, 393.
Balaji Visvanath, first Mahratta Peishwa, S8Qnote.
Bali, Raja of monkeys, 57; slain by Rama, ib.
Balkh, disaffection in, 624; its situation, ib. note.
Bandu Guru leads the Sikhs to vengeance, 243; his martyrdom, 250.
Bangalore, captured by Lord Cornwallis, 455; visited by Buchanan, 477;
its foundation and history, 477-8.
Banghel, Raja of, his marriage with the queen of Olaza, 143; annexation
of the Raj by Venlc-tapa Naik, ib.
Banians, or Bunniahs, corresponding to the Vaisyas, 77 note; their
attempt to ransom thugs, 218.
Bapoji Sindia, a treacherous ally of the English, 509-10.
Barace, the modern Baroche, an ancient Malabar port, 124-5 no^e.
Bari Doab, construction of the canal of, 694no^e.
Barlow, Sir George, Governor-General, 517; his character, ib.; his
political apostasy, ib.; mistaken concessions, 518; annulment of
protective treaties with Rajput states, ib.; vain remonstrances with
Nipal, 543.
Barnard, Sir Henry, advance to Delhi of, 743; his death, 742 note.
Baroche. a fort at the mouth of Nerbudda river, the ancient Barace,
124-5 note; cefled to the English by Rughonath Rao, 420; refusal of
the Poonah council of regency to sanction the cession, 421; given
back to Mahadaji Sindia by Warren Hastings with other cessions,
436, o02note; fears of Lord Wellesley respecting a French landing,
502.
Baroda, the Gaekwar of, becomes a feudatory, 506. See Gaekwar.
Barrackpore, or "Chanuk," early English settlement at, 237; panic at,
717; incendiary fires, 719; mutiny, ib.; outbreak of Mungal Pandy,
720; previous mutiny during the first Burmese war, 727.
Barukzais, an Afghan tribe, an offshoot of the Abdalis, 622; plot at
Kandahar against Zeman Shah, 627; slaughter of the conspirators,
ib.; vain attempts to set up a Durani puppet as sovereign of Af-
ghanistan, 631-2; struggles against the Duranis after the British
retreat from Kabul, 642. See also Dost Muhammad Khan.
Barwell, Mr., a Company's civil servant appointed member of council,
412; sides with Warren Hastings against Clavering and Francis,
425; goes to England, 426; loses twenty thousand povinds at whist
to Francis, 449.
Basalut Jung, son of Nizam-ul-mulk, 367 note; dealings with Governor
Rumbold respecting Guntoor, 430.
Bassein, near Bombay, Portuguese fort there, 130; anxiously desired by
the East India Company, 399; ceded to Bombay by Rughonath Rao,
420; restored to the Mahratta. 421.
Bassein, treaty of, concluded with Baji Rao Peishwa, 499; objections to
the treaty, 500.
Bassein, in Burma, captured by the English, 697.
Bayley. Mr. Butterworth, provisional Governor-General, 600 note.
Behar or Bihar, 306 note; invaded by the Nawab Vizier of Oude and
Shah Alam. 353.
Begums, the Oude, 415; preposterous claims to the state treasures of
Oude, ib. ; torturing of their servants with the cognizance of Warren
Hastings, 435.
Benares, Raja of, conquered by Bhishma, \Anote; old name of Attock,
ib.; Buiwunt Singh, Raja of, 355; acquisition of, carried out by
INDEX 829
Philip Francis in opposition to Warren Hastings, 414-15; Cheit
Singh, Raja of, pressed for money by Warren Hastings, 433-4; insur-
rection at Benares against Warren Hastings, 434. See Cheit Singh.
Benfield, Paul, his fabricated claims on Muhammad Ali, Nawab of the
Carnatic, 427; his subsequent career, 440 7iote; appearance of his
wife in London, ib.; denounced by Burke, 441 note.
Bengal, conquered by Bakhtiyar in the reign of Kutub-ud-din, 101;
flight of the Raja of Nuddea, ib.; old capital at Gour, ib.; Portu-
guese mission to, in the sixteenth century, 131; horrible sviccession
of tyrants, ib.; conquest of Sher Khan the Afghan, 156; English
settlements in Bengal, 234; Mr. Job Charnock, governor, 235;
fortifications and cannon prohibited bj" the Moghuls, ib.; English
declare war against the Moghul Nawab, 236; flight of the English
to Madras, ib.; foundation of Calcutta, 237; memories of Job
Charnock, ib.; Hindu rebellion against the persecutions of Aurang-
zeb, ib.; notices of Bengal by Captain Hamilton, 238; refractory
Rajas between Murshedabad and Patna. 239, 310; political isolation
of the Nawabs of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, 255; up-country fac-
tories, 308; rise of Murshed Kuli Khan, ib.; harsh treatment of
Hindus, 309; rise of Alivardi Khan, 310; story of the baskets of
human heads, 311; the Seth family insulted by Nawab Sarfaraz
Khan, 312; destruction of Sarfaraz Khan, and proclamation of Ali-
vardi Khan as Nawab, 312-13; Mahratta invasions, 313; treacher-
ous assassinations, 314; Mahratta revenge, ib.; domestic life of the
Nawab of Bengal, 315; hostility of his son, Suraj-ud-daula, 316; the
young Nawab marches an army against Calcutta, 317; tragedy of
the Black Hole. 318; alarm of the Nawab, 321; vacillations, ib.;
plottings of Mir Jafir and the Seths against Suraj-ud-daula, 322;
conspiracy joined by Clive, ib.; treachery of Omichund, ib.; battle of
Plassj^ 323; Mir Jafir installed Nawab, ib.; cessions to the English,
ib.; incapacit}^ of Mir Jafir, 324; general dependence on Clive. ib.;
revolution of political ideas, 325; disaffection of Hindu grandees,
826; English blamed for non-interference, i?).; Mahrattas demand
chout, ib.; territorial claims of the Shahzada, 327; his defeat and
flight, 329; Clive appointed Governor of the English settlements,
336; succeeded by Holwell and Vansittart, ib.; necessity for a per-
manent European force, ib.; Clive's scheme for the acquisition of
Bengal by the British nation, ib.; similar proposals of Colonel
James Mill, 337 note; off"er of the Dewani of Bengal, Behar, and
Orissa to Clive, 337; objections of Mr. Pitt, ib.; dealings of Vansit-
tart with Mir Jafir, 340; treaty with Mir Kasim, 341; Vansittart re-
fuses a bribe, t6. ; peaceful change of Nawabs, 342; installation of
Shah Alam at Patna as the Great Mo.shul, 343; offer of the Dewani
to Vansittart, 344; suspicions of Mir Kasim, ib.; secret preparations
for war, ib.; quarrel about private trade, ib.; collision between the
English and the Nawab's officers, 346; violence of the English at the
up-country factories, 348; capture of Patna, 349; recovery of Patna
by the Nawab's people, i6.; flight and surrender of the English,
349-50; elation of the Nawab, 350; murder of Amyatt, ib.; Mir
Jafir proclaimed Nawab, 351; advance of an English army to Mon-
ghvr, ib.; massacre of the English at Patna. 352; flight of Mir
Kasim into Oude, 353; battle of Buxar, 354; death of Mir Jafir, 357;
corrupt sale of Bengal and Behar to his illegitimate son, ib.; return
of Lord Clive to Calcutta, 359; his wrath at the sale, 360; introduces
a system of double government, ib.; English sovereignty veiled by
Moghul forms, ib.; office of Dewan of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa
830 INDEX
vested in East India Company, 362-3; political results. 363; golden
prospects, 364; Clive succeeded by Verelst, 367; financial crisis, 370;
evils of double g-overnment, 371; protection of a vicious sx^steiu of
native government, ib.; character of the Zemindars, 372; oppressive
treatment of the Ryots, ib.; deputy Nawabs, 373; ag-gravation of
evils under the double government, ib.; mock pageantry at Mur-
shedabad, 374: Bengal drained of silver, ib.; Verelst's experiences of
native administration, 375; appointment of Englisii supervisors and
committees, it>. ; closer relation between the English and natives,
ib.; native administration of justice, 376; Mr. George Vansittart
gulled by Raja Shitab Rai at Patna, 377; results of the collision be-
tween Europeans and Hindus, 378; general corruption in Bengal,
880; native opinion turned against the English, ib.; horrible famine,
381; Warren Hastings appointed Governor, ib.; reforms in the rev-
enue adnainistration, 404; judicial reforms, 405; charges against
the deputy Nawabs, ib. ; transfer of the capital from Murshedabad
to Calcutta, 406; flight of Shah Alam to Delhi severs the English
from the Great Moghul, ib.; tribute for Bengal and Behar with-
held by the English, 408; question of equity, ib.; reorganization of
Bengal under a Governor-General, 412; creation of a Supreme Court
at Calcutta, ib.; Philip Francis member of council, ib.; factious op-
position to Hastings, 413; trial and execution of Nund-komar, 416;
quarrel between Bengal and Bombay respecting the Mahratta war,
420; struggle between Hastings and Clavering for the post of Gov-
ernor-General, 425; failure of the land settlement by five years'
leases in Bengal, ib.; return of Philip Francis to Europe, 436; in-
terference in Madras affairs, 431; spirited proceedings of Hastings,
433; empty treasury, ib.; return of Hastings to Europe, 441; per-
manent land settlement by Lord Cornwallis, 450.
Bentinck, Lord William, Governor of Madras, recalled in consequence
of the niutiny at Vellore, 521; tardy redress, ib.; appointed Gover-
nor-General, 600; his successful domestic administration, 600-1;
political relations with Mahrattas and Rajputs, 601; his political ad-
ministi-ation, 604; his forced interference in Gwalior affairs, 606; his
interference in Indore affairs, 607; declines to interfere in Bundel-
kund affairs, t6.: or in Jaipur affairs, 608; threatens the king of
Oude, 609; annexes Coorg, 613; his vacillations with regard to My-
sore, 616; embarks for England, ib. ; successful administration, 617.
Berar, Muhammadan kingdom of, in the northern Dekhan, 118; con-
quered by Akbar, 171; Berar and Nagpore formed into a feudatory
Mahratta kingdom by the Bhonsla Raja, 384; plundered by the
Mahratta Peishwa, 395; ceded to the English, 506; made over to
Nizam Ali, ib.; restoration demanded by Rughoji Bhonsla, 519;
ceded to the British government by the Nizam for the support of
the Nizam's Contingent, 708. See Bhonsla and Nagpore.
Berhampore, sepoy mutiny at, 719.
Bernier, account of a false astrologer at Delhi, 198.
Bharadars, the Ghorka, 534; council of, at Khatmandu. 544, 546, 665.
Bharadwaja, his hermitage at Prayaga, 49; entertains Rama, ib,; won-
derful miracle, 54 note,
Bharata, liero ancestor of Santanu, 12; all India called the land of
Bharata, ib.; the Maha Bharata, ib,
Bharata, son of Dasaratha by Kaikeyi, 43; sent to Giri-vraja, ib,; pos-
sible representative of a Buddhist faction, ib. note; installed as
Yuva-raja, 44: returns to Ayodhya, 50; celebrates funeral of Dasa-
ratha, 51; performs the Sraddha, 52; refuses the Raj of Ayodhya, ibr,
INDEX 831
marches to Chitra-kuta to seek Rama, ib.; passage of the Ganges,
53: meeting with Rama, 54; second return, 54-5.
Bharata, son ofDushyanta and Sakuntala, 88-9.
Bhils or Bheels, occupied the hills and jungles to the south, 12; an ex-
isting type of so-called aborigines, 78; their superstition, 17; legend
of the Bhil prince and Drona, ib.; Sivaji's alliance with them, 203.
Bhilsa, Buddhist temples plundered by Ala-ud-din, 102.
Bliima, son of Kunti, 15; the second of the Pandavas, 16; jealousy of
Duryodhana, ib.; his rivalry with Duryodhana at the exhibition
of arms, 18; slays Hidimba and marries Hidimbi, 21; slaj's the
cannibal Vaka, ib.; vows revenge against Duryodhana and Duhsa-
sana, 27; serves as cook at the court of Virata, 29; slays Jimuta and
Kichaka, 30; slays Duryodhana by a foul blow, 34; slays Duhsasana
and fulfils his vow, ib.
Bhim Sein Thapa of Nipal accompanies Run Bahadur to Benares, 539;
his return to Nipal, 541; the prime minister of Run Bahadur, ib.;
orders a massacre at Khatmandu, 542; his relations with Run
Bahadur's chief queen, ib.; summons a council of Bharadars at
Khatmandu, 544; advises war, 544, 546; sues for peace, 547; renewal
of war, 548; concludes the treaty of Segowlie, ib.; premier and
paramour, 657; provokes the elder queen, 658; dealings with the
Resident, tt).; his fall, 659; released from prison, 659-60; pensioned,
660; his condemnation, 661; his doom, ib.
Bhishma, son of Santanu, resigns all claim to the Raj of Hastinapur,
14; the dreadful vow, ■ib.; the faithful guardian, tb.; proposes the
division of the Raj of Hastinapur between the Pandavas and
Kauravas, 24; slain by Arjuna, 34; reappears in the Ganges, 40.
Bhodau Phra, king of Burma, reign of, 590; conquests and cruelties, ib.;
pride and ignorance, 593.
Bhonsla family, rise of, 259.
Bhonsla, Rughoji, founds the feudatorj' kingdom of Berar and Nagpore
under the suzerainty of Maharaja Sahu and the Peishwas, 384-5;
his kinship to Sivaji, 386; suspicious of the designs of Balaji Rao
Peishwaand the legitimacy of Raja Ram, 387; his death, 394.
Bhonsla, Janoji, succeeds Rughoji, claims chout for Bengal and Behar
from Mir Jafir. 326 note; Clive inclined to yield, 365, 399; refusal of
the Court of Directors, tb. ; negotiations with Nizam Ali for get-
ting the regency at Poona, 395; engages to desert Nizam Ali, 396;
treacherous slaughter of half the Nizam's army, ib.; strange recon-
ciliation, ib.; his death, 419 note,
Bhonsla, Mudaji, brother of Janoji, usurps the throne of Berar, 419
note; betrays the hostile confederacy of Hyder Ali, Nizam Ali, and
the Mahrattas to Warren Hastings, and renews the demand for
chout, 432; his neutrality secured, 433; his death, 500 note.
Bhonsla, Rughoji, the Second, succeeds to the throne of Berar, 500
note; joins in the war against Nizam Ali, 462-3; stupefaction at the
treaty of Bassein, 500; anxious for the help of Jaswant Rao Holkar,
501; feeble operations in the field against Colonel Welleslej', 503;
defeated at Assaye, ib.; his flight, ib.; cedes Cuttack and Berar to
the British government, 506; demands their restoration, 519; his
death, 563.
Bhonsla, Appa Sahib. See Appa Sahib, and Nagpore.
Bhopal, Pindhari chiefs settled in, 559; loyalty of the Begum during
the sepoy mutiny, 742 note.
Bhowani, the goddess, 201 note.
Bhurtpore, Jat principality at, 400; feudatory to the British govern-
832 INDEX
merit, 506; the Raja throws off his allegiance, 511; the fortress be-
sieged by Lake, ib.; the Raja frightened into submission, ib.; out-
break in, 597; growing danger, 598; capture of the fortress by Lord
Combermere, 599.
Bhutan, 531; missiou to, 763; country described, ib.; the people, 763;
corrupt Buddhism, ib.; Dharma and Deva Rajas, ib.; Penlows,
Jungpens, and Zingaffs. 763-4; constitutional element. 764; border
aggressions, ib.; historical importance of the mission, ib.; civil
war, ib.; dealings with England, 765-6; failure of the mission,
766-7; war with England, 767.
Bider, the ancient Vidarbha, 90 note; one of the five Muhammadan
kingdoms of the Dekhan, 118.
Bihar, or Vihara, the land of Buddhist monasteries, anciently called
Magadha, 64; captured by Bakhtiyar, 101. See Behar.
Bijapur, one of the five Muhammadan kingdoms of the Dekhan, 118;
alliance of the Sultan of with Ram Rai. 121; flight of the Bijapur
army, 202; conquered by Aurangzeb, 217.
Bithoor, Nana Sahib, Raja of, 732. See Nana Sahib.
Blackburne, Major, Resident at Tanjore, 486 note: investigation of dis-
pute between the Tondiman aud Sivaganga Rajas, ib.
Black Hole, tragedy of at Calcutta, 318-19.
Blake, Mr., murdered at Jaipur, 608.
Board of Control, created in 1784. 439; its constitution, ib. note; its
orders with reference to the Carnatic, 440-1.
Bobili Raja, feud with the Raja of Vizianagram, 330-1; self-sacrifice of
Rajputs, ib.
Bogle, his mission to Thibet, 536 note.
Bokhara, an Usbeg kingdom, 619; fate of Stoddart and Conolly at,
645-6; Russian advance to, 771.
Bombay, Portuguese fort at, ISO note; ceded to the English by the
Portuguese, 230; gardens and terraces turned into ramparts, ib.; its
situation, 383; relations with Poona, 417; negotiations with Rug-
honath Rao for tlie cession of Salsette and Bassein, 420; condemned
by the Bengal erovernment, ib.; sends an expedition to Poona, 422;
convention of Wurgaum, 423.
Bonairs, their behavior in the Sitana campaign, 760-1.
Boscawen, Admiral, 287; raises the siege of Pondicherrv. ib.; his return
to England, 296,
Bowring. Sir Lewin, Chief Commissioner of Mysore, his account of the
Coorg Raja, 611 7iote.
Brahma, worship of, 82.
Brahmans, priests and sages, 23 note; surprise at seeing a Brahman
contend at a Swayamvara. 23; hatred of Buddhists, 21 note; the
first of the four great castes, 25 ?tote, 77; Brahman envoy at the
court of Hastinapur. 31-2; persecuted by the Rakshasas, .55; excite
the wrath of Alexander the Great, 66; rise and growth of their
power, 88; Purohitas, Gurus and Swamis, 84; modern Brahmanism,
87. 113; Brahm.Tn element in Mahr.atta constitution. 244; tlieir sects
in Southern India, 474; distinction between spiritual and secular,
Vaidikas and Lokikas, 476; officials of Tippu, 478; corrupt and op-
pressive, ib.: satires against, 482; Dubois' story of the four Brah-
mans, 482-5.
Brinjarries or carriers (see Manaris) engaged by Cornwallis, 456.
Bristow, Mr., supersedes Middleton as Resident at Lukhnow, 414; im-
politic interference in the question of the Oude treasures, 415;
supported by Fraacis, ib.
INDEX 833
Brodie, Sergeant, his heroism during- the Vellore mutiny, 520.
Brydon, Dr., his escape from the massacre in the Khaiber Pass, 641.
Buchanan, Dr., sent by Lord Wellesley from Madras to Malabar, 472-3;
journey through Mysore, 472; sights and experiences, 472-82.
Buddhism, Kanishka, a hberal patron of, 71; missionaries sent out by
Asoka, 73; Buddhist pilgrims from China, ib.; Buddhism, a revolt
against the Brahmanical system of Manu, 87; doctrine of deliver-
ance in annihilation, ib.; transplanted from Hindustan into Thibet,
531-2; rival sects of the red and yellow, 532 note; cheerful form of
Buddhism in Burma, 576-7; corrupt form prevailing in Bhutan, 763.
Budge-budge. See Baj-baj.
Buhler's, Professor, Introduction to the Vikramankakavya, 88 notes.
Bulaki, son of Khuzru, 183; declared successor to the throne by Jehan-
gir, ib.; his short reign, 185; his fate, 186.
Bulwunt Singh, Raja of Benares, detached from the cause of Shuja-ud-
daula, Nawab Vizier of Oude, 355; father of Cheit Singh, 433.
Bundlekund, ceded by the Peishwa to the British government, 522;
turbulence and anarchy suppressed by Lord Minto, ib.; evils of
non-intervention, case of Sumpthur, 607.
Bundula, the Burmese general, invades the countries between Burma
and Bengal, 594; repulsed at Rangoon, 595; his earthworks at Don-
abew, ib.; death, ib.
Burdwan, ceded to the English by Mir Kasim, 341, 343.
Burhanpur, Sir Thomas Roe at, 175-6.
Burke's denunciation of Benfield and Dundas, 441 note; his charges
against Hastings, 441.
Burma, geography of, 575; its inhabitants described, 575-6; their life
and manners, !&.; Buddhist institutions, 576-7; marriage institu-
tions, 578; devastating wars, ib,; Portuguese adventurers, 579; a
Burmese hero, ib.; his career, 579-87; publiclifeof the kings, 590-1;
the administration a network of officialism, 591; origin of the war
with England, 593; pride and ignorance of the court, ib.; violence
and insolence of ofilcials, ib.; hostile incursions, 594; flight of the
soldiery at the approach of the English. 595; the army repulsed at
Rangoon, ib. ; the panic at Donabew, ib. ; the treaty of Yandabo, 596;
second war with England, 097; capture of Rangoon, Bassein, and
Prome, ib.; annexation of Pegu, ib.
Burma, British, formation of, 698; prosperity, ib. ; visit of Lord Mayo, 773.
Burnes, Sir Alexander, at Kabul, 638; his defence against the Afghan
outbreak at Kabul, 639; his murder, ib.
Burney, Colonel, Resident at Ava, 654; withdrawal, 655.
Bushire, captured by the English, 715.
Bussy, M"., captures Jinji, 293; accompanies Muzaffir Jung, 295; pro-
claims Salabut Jung Nizam of the Dekhan. 296; his rupture with
Salabut Jung, 306; marches to H^'derabad, ib.; letter to Alivardi
Khan, 316; his wars against the Hindu Poligars, 330; sides with the
Raja of Vizianagram against the Bobili Raja, 331; his successes
against the English, 332; contrast with Clive, ib.; recalled by
Lally, 333; reluctant obedience, ib.
Buxar, battle of, 354.
Byadeit, or privy council of the Burmese, 592.
Bj'een-noung, a Burmese hero, 579; conquest of Pegu, 580; siege of
Martaban, ib.; plunder and sack of Martaban, 583; his terrible ven-
geance on the ladies of Martaban, 584r-6; he invades Siam, 586; re-
called to Pegu, ib.; assassinated, 587; career of his foster-brother,
587-8; himself a type of Burmese conquerors, 589. .
834 INDEX
C
Cachar, English acquisition of, 617.
Csesar Frederic, his visit to Vijayanagar, 122.
Calcutta, foundation of the English settlement at, 337; fortifications
round the factory, 238: social life of the English in the beginning
of the eighteenth century, ib.; garrison of Fort William, ib.; En-
glish mission to Delhi, 248: government, 307; French and Dutch
neighbors at Chandernagore and Chinsura, ib.; up-country fac-
tories, 308; experiences of Muhammadan rule, 311; the Mahratta
ditch, 314; hostility of the young Nawab, Suraj-ud-daula, 316; at-
tack on Calcutta, 317; inefficient defence of the English, 318; sur-
render of Fort William, ib. ; tragedy of the Black Hole, 318-19;
indifference of -Asiatics, 319; recapture of Calcutta by Clive and
Watson, 320; decisive battle of Plassy, 323; wild joy of the inhab-
itants of Calcutta, ib.; collision with Mir Kasim, 344; stormy
councils, 346; deputation of Arayatt and Hay to Monghyr, 348;
murder of Amyatt, 350; Mir Jafir proclaimed Nawab at Calcutta,
351; massacre of a hundred and fifty Englishmen at Patna, 352;
corrupt proceedings of the Calcutta council at Murshedabad, 357;
Lord Clive appointed governor, 359; introduces a double govern-
ment, 363; political outlook of Calcutta in the eighteenth century,
382-3; I'elations with Delhi, 401; transfer of the capital of Bengal
from Murshedabad to Calcutta, 406.
Calicut, court of the Zamorin. or suzerain of Malabar, 126; audience of
Vasco de Gama in the palace, 127; hostility of the Muhammadan
merchants, ib.; massacre of Portuguese by the Nairs, 129; Portu-
guese mission to the Zamorin, 144; description of the city and
bazars, 146; Delia Valle's audience with the Zamorin, ib. ; scanty
costume of ladies and courtiers, 146-7.
Calliaud, General, expedition to the Northern Circars, 367; treaty with
Nizam All, ib.
Campbell, Sir Colin (Lord Clyde), Commander-in-chief, 748; his relief
of Lukhnow, 749; defeats the Gvvalior rebels at Cawnpore, 751; his
campaign in Oude and Kohilkund, 752.
Cannanore, port of, 125.
Canning, Lord, Governor-General of India, 712; dealings with the Delhi
family, 713-14; undisturbed by the rumors forerunning the mutiny,
715; sympathies with the sepoys, 727; vigorous measures, ib.; his
durbar at Agra, 757: departure and death, ib.
Canning, Capt., his mission to Ava, 593.
Caravanserais in Moghul India, 221.
Carnac, Major, defeats the army of Shah Alam and the Nawab Vizier,
342; installs Shah Alam as the Great Moghul in the English factory
at Patna, 342-3,
Carnac, Sir James, his dealings with the Raja of Satara, 708.
Carnatic, governed by a Nawab nominated by the Nizam of the Dekhan,
subject to the confirmation of the Great Moghul, 275; geographi-
cal boundaries, ib.; politically divided by the river Koleroon, ib.;
Moghul Carnatic and Hindu Carnatic, ib.; Rajas, i&.; Poligars, 276;
Moghul rule more oppressive than the Hindu, ib.; ravages of the
Mahrattas in the Upper Carnatic, ib.; succession of Nawabs, 277;
revolution in the Hindu Carnatic, 278; old wars between Trichinop-
oly and Tanjore, ib.; Trichinopoly seized bj' Chunder Sahib, 279;
Mahratta invasion, ib.; takes possession of Trichinopoly, 280; suc-
cession of Subder Ali as Nawab, 281; wrath of the Nizam, ib.; per-
INDEX 835
plexities of the Nawab, i5.; assassination of Subder Ali, 283; set-
tlement of affairs by Nizara-ul-mulk, 283-4; murder of the boy
Nawab at a wedding feast, 284; Auwar-ud-din appointed Nawab,
285; war between England and France, ib.; defeat of the Nawab's
army by the French, 286; peace between England and France, 287;
restoration of Madras to the EngUsli, ib.; struggle between two rival
Nawabs, 288; English and French take opposite sides, ib.; defeat and
death of Anwar-ud-din at Amboor, 290; contest between Muham-
mad Ali and Chunder Sahib, ib.; interference of Nasir Jung, Nizam
of the Dekhan, 293; brilliant success of the French, 295; bewilder-
ment of the English, 296; crisis at Trichinopoly, 297; Clive's defence
of Arcot, 299; triumph of the English and Muhammad Ah, 300;
peace between the English and French. 304; invasion of Hyder Ali
and Nizam Ali, 369; invasion of Balaji Rao Peishwa, 388; later in-
vasions of Hyder Ali, 431; disasters of the English, 432-3; corrupt
dealings of the English at Madras with the Nawab, Muhammad Ali,
426; claims of Paul Benfield, 427; Macartney's assumption of the
revenue, 437; miscellaneous adventurers, 440 note; revenues re-
stored to the Nawab, 441; settlement of the Nawab's debts, ib.; in-
vasion of Tippu, 455; Carnatic brought under British administration
by Lord Wellesley, 485; necessity for the transfer, 489; treacherous
correspondence of the Nawab with Tippu of Mj^sore, ib.; final settle
ment by Lord Dalhousie, 706.
Cartier, governor of Bengal, 370.
Carumnassa river, 308 note; boundary of British territory in Bengal laid
down to Lord Clive, 365.
Castes, division into four, 25 note, 77.
Catherine II. of Russia, Russian aggression in Persia during the reign
of, 496 note.
Catholic missionaries, denunciations of cruelties of Hindu Rajas, 276
note.
Cawnpore, its history, 731; its garrison, 732; the place of refuge, 732;
mutiny at, 733; besieged by Nana Sahib, 734; massacre io the boats,
735; imprisonment of women and children, 736; massacre of women
and children, 738; defeat of Nana Sahib, ib.; entry of Havelock, ib.;
occupied by the Gwalior rebels, 751; their defeat, ib,
Chakrantikam, ceremony of, 481.
Chamba Iriver, 194, 241; boundary between Malwa and Rajputana, 421
note, 505.
Chamberlain, General Sir Neville, his conduct of the Sitana campaign,
759-61.
Chandernagore, founded by the French, 238, 307; captured by Clive and
Watson. 321; restored to France, 361 note.
Chandra-gupta. See Sandrokottos.
Chandu Lai at the head of the Nizam's administration, 571; the sham
loan, 572; resigns office, 708.
Charioteers, exercised political influence in ancient Hindu courts, 32
note.
Charnock, Job, governor of English settlements in Bengal, 235; ar-
rested and scourged, 236; return to Calcutta, 237; the patriarch of
Bengal, ib.
Cheit Singh, Raja of Benares, 433; his political status, 433-4; heavy de-
mands of Hastings, 434; submission and rebellion, ib.; flight and
deposition, ib.; one of the charges against Hastings, 441.
Chetu, a Pindhari leader, 527; killed by a tiger, 559.
Chilianwallah, the battle of, 688.
836 INDEX
Chiasura, founded by the Dutch, 238, 307.
Chitor, old Rajput king-dom under the Rana, or Rajput suzerain, con-
quered by Ala-ud-din, 105; self-sacritice of the Rajputs at, ib.; hos-
tility of the Rana to Baber, 154; defeated, ib.; invaded by the
Sultan of Guzerat, 155; headship of the Rajput league, 160-1; ob-
stinate resistance to Akbar, 162; destruction of the city, ib, ; Sir
Thomas Roe's visit to the ruins, 177.
Chittagong, Portuguese mission to, 131; ceded to the English by Mir
Kasim, 341.
Choultries, description of, 473.
Chout, collected by Sivaji, 211. See Mahrattas.
Chunder Sahib, son-in-law of Dost Ali, Nawab of the Carnatic, 278; gulls
the Rani of Trichinopol.y, ib.; imprisoned over six years at Satara
by the Mahrattas, 280; liberated by the help of Dupleix, 288; pro-
claimed Nawab of the Carnatic, ib.; joins MuzafRr Jung, a claim-
ant for the throne of Hyderabad, 290; delays at Tanjore, 292; flight
to Pondicherry, 293; unexpected success, 295; surrender and mur-
der, 300.
Clavering, General, a member of council at Calcutta, 412; contest with
Warren Hastings for the post of Governor-General, 425; death, ib.
Clive, Robert, wins his first laurels at Pondicherry, 287; his early
career, ib.; realizes the situation at Trichinopoly, 297; his plans,
298; his expedition to Arcot, ib.; defence at Arcot, 299; his career
of conquest, ib.; leaves for England, 803; return to Bombay, 305;
captures Gheria with Watson, 306; goes to Madras, ib.; recaptures
Calcutta with Watson, 319-20; his anxiety for peace, 321; joins the
conspiracy against Suraj-ud-daula, 322; deceives Omichund with a
sham treaty, ib.; wins the battle of Plassy, 323; creates Mir Jafir
Nawab, ib.; his jaghir, 324; his jackass, 325; his relations with the
Moghul court at Delhi, 329; contrast to Bussy, 332; sends Colonel
Forde to the Northern Circars, 333; appointed governor of Bengal,
336; his departure for England, ib.; convinced of the necessity of
garrisoning Bengal, ib.; his scheme for the acquisition of Bengal,
ib.; rejected by William Pitt, 337; his return to India, 357, 359;
contemplated policy, 359-60; his wrath with Governor Spencer at
Calcutta, 360; his negotiations at Murshedabad and Patna, ib.; his
policy as regards the Great Moghul, 861; his restorati6n of Oude to
the Nawab Vizier, ib.; his settlement with Shah Alam at Allaha-
bad, 362; his office of Dewan, 363; resvilts of his policy, 363^; his
external policy, 364; his misgivings about the Mahrattas, 365; his
breach with Nizam Ali, ib.; obtains a firman from Shah Alam for
the Northern Circars, 366; a Moghul Peishwa, ib.; thwarted by
Madras, 367; leaves India for England, ib.; failure of his political
system, 370-1; his double government and its results, 371-4.
Clyde, Lord. See Campbell, Sir Colin.
Cochin, ancient Cothinara, famous for pepper, 125 note; alliance with
Portuguese, 129; feud with the Zamorin of Calicut, 145, 148.
Combermere, Lord, captures Bhurtpore, 599.
Company. See East India.
Conjeveram, or Kanchi-puram, visited by Buchanan, 473; its streets
and houses, 474; the temple, ib,; headquarters of Ramanuja
Acharya, 475 note.
Conolly, Captain, liis fate at Bokhara, 645-6.
Cooper, Mr., military executions carried out by, 743 noife.
Coorg, description of the country, 609; its isolation, ib.; warlike popu-
lation, ib.; religious origin of the Raj, ib.; aggressions of Hyder
INDEX 837
Ali, 610; and of Tippu, ib,; non-intervention of the British, ib.; mis-
taken interference in the succession, 611; madness of the ViraRaja,
ib,; Chikka Vira Raja declares war against England, 612; valor of
the Coorgs, ib.; their preference for British rule, 613; annexation,
ib.; stipulation concerning cows, ib. note.
Coote, General Sir Eyre, defeats Lally at Wandiwash, 335; siege and
capture of Pondicherry, ib.
Cornwallis, Lord, Governor-General of India. 449; introduces social re-
forms in Calcutta, ib.; permanent land settlement with the Bengal
Zemindars, 450; judicial and administrative reforms, 450-1; war
against Tippu, Sultan of Mysore, 454; dealings with Nizam Ali and
the Mahrattas, 454-5; rebuffed by Mahadaji Sindia, 455; capture of
Seringapatam, 457; attempts to establish a balance of power in
India, 457-8; departure for England, 460; treaty with the Nawab of
the Caruatic, 489; returns to India as Governor-General in succes-
sion to Lord Welleslej', 511; his extreme views, 516; his death, 517.
Coryat, Tom, his meeting with Roe at Chitor, 177; his travels, ib.
Cotton, Gen. Sir Sydney, drives Hindustani fanatics out of Sitana, 759.
Court. General, in the service of Runjeet Singh, 674, 676 note.
Cox, Captain, his mission to Ava, 593.
Crawfurd, Mr. John, liis mission to Ava, 596.
Currie. Sir Frederic, Resident at Lahore, 685; accepts the resignation oi
Mulraj. ib.
Cuttack ceded to the English, 506.
D
Dabul in Konkan, Portuguese fort at, 131.
Dada Khasji, aspires to be premier of Gwalior, 649; his elevation by
Tara Bai, 650; submission to the British government, 651.
Dacca, inland English factory at, 308; court of appeal at, 451.
Dalhousie, Lord, Governor-General, 685; resolves on the conquest of
the Sikhs, 687-8; annexes the Punjab, 689-90; his genius, 691; ad-
ministrative culture, ib.; creation of a government in the Punjab,
691-8; defence of the frontier westward of the Indus, 693^; reduces
the land revenue, 694; dealings with Burma, 695-8; annexes Pegu,
697; general energy and capacity', 698; suppression of barbarous
usages in native states, 699; political dictum that no rightful op-
portunity should be lost of acquiring native territory, ib.; refuses
to allow the right of adoption to cover a claim to the heirship of a
principality in the case of dependent states, 703; case of the Raja of
Satara, 703; recognition of the adopted son of the Kerauli Raja,704;
annexation of Nagpore, 706; dealings with the Carnatio and Tanjore
families, ib.; dealings with Hyderabad and acquisition of Berar,
707-8; annexation of Oude, 710; deals with the Santals as Beutinck
dealt with the Koles, 711; succeeded hj Lord Canning, 712; agree-
ment with the Moghul family at Delhi, 713.
Damaji Gaekwar, dynasty of, 384; espouses the cause of Tara Bai, 388;
imprisoned by Balaji Rao. 388-9; joins Rughonath Rao. 395.
Damayanti. See Nala.
Danduka, wilderness of, 49.
Dara, eldest son of Shah Jeban, 190; thwarts the pi'ojects of Aurang-
zeb, 191; defeated by Aurangzeb and Murad, 193; escape to the
Punjab. 194; his second defeat, 195; assassination, ib.
Dasaratha, Maharaja of Ayodhya. 42; his four sons, ib,; cajoled by
Kaikeyi, 44; his death, 50; funeral rites of, 51-3.
838 INDEX
Diuid Khan, 234; besieges Madras. t6.; Viceroy of Guzerat, 248; collision
with Husain Ali Khan, ib.; death, ib.
De Boigne, General, in the service of Mahadaji Sindia, 446, 458; his re-
turn to Europe, 501.
De Gingen, Captain, 297.
Dekhan, conquests of Ala-ud-din, 103, 106; Sultans of (see Bahmani
Sultans), 114; division of the Bahmani empire into five Muham-
madan kingdoms, 118; Akbar's embassy to, 171; its failure, ib.;
state of affairs in the time of Aurangzeb, 199; struggle for the
throne of the Nizam, 289; acquisition by the French of the Nortii-
ern Circars. 330; dealings of Bussy with Bobili and Vizianagram,
330-1; Lord Clive obtains the Northern Circars, 333--i, 366; Mahratta
invasions, 387-8. See Mahrattas and Nizam.
Delhi, the Raja of, present at the Swayamvara of the princess of Ka-
nouj, 98; capture of the city by the Afghans, ib.; riseof the Sultans
of, 100; fatal removal of the capital toDeoghur in the Dekhan, 109;
revolutions at the death of Jehangir, 185; sack of, by Nadir Shah's
soldiery, 266; distractions between 1748 and 1758, history of, 327;
struggles between the Afghans and Mahrattas at, 338; recovery
of Delhi by the Mahrattas, 391; secret negotiations of Ahmad Shah
Abdali with Alamgliir, ib. ; expulsion of the Mahrattas under Rugho-
nath Rao and re-establishment of Afghan supremacy, 392; progress
of affairs during the regency of Najib-ud-daula, 400; relations with
Calcutta, 401; plots and assassinations under the Amir of Amirs,
444; ascendency of Mahadaji Sindia, 445; horrible excesses of
Gholam Kadir, 451; General Lake's victory at, 504; audience with
Shah Alam, ib.; treatment of the Moghul family by Lord Dal-
housie, 713; tidings of the sepoy mutiny at Meerut, 724; approach
of the mutineers, ib.; its defence by Brigadier Graves, 725; explo-
sion of the magazine, ib.; tragedies in the palace, 726; flight of
Europeans, ib.; the head-centre of revolt, 742; description of the
defences, 744; the gates, ib.; the Ridge, 744-5; the old suburbs, 745;
preparations for assault, 746; final assault, ib.; fighting inside the
town, 747; reoccupation, 748; the Imperial Assemljlage, 774.
Delia Valle, his travels in India, 135; his account of the festival in hon-
or of Hanuman, 57 note: his description of the war dances in the
Dekhan, 116; description of Goa, 135-6; accompanies the Portuguese
mission to Venk-tapa Naik, king of Ikkeri, 137^1; goes to Manga-
lore, 141; meeting with the queen of Olaza, 142-3; visits the king of
the Yogis, 143; visits the city and bazar of Calicut, 145-6; audience
with the Zamorin and the Malabar princesses, 146-7; departure
from Calicut, 147.
Denison, Sir William, provisional Viceroy after the death of Lord Elgin,
761; orders the advance of the Bhutan mission, 765; his recognition
of Sher AliKhan, 768.
Deoghur, capital of a Mahratta kingdom in the Dekhan, captured by Ala-
ud-din, 103; removal of the Muhammadan capital from Delhi by Mu-
hammad Tughlak, 109; identified with the ancient Tagara, 125 note.
Deva Rai, assassination of his son, 117; submits to the Sultan of the
Dekhan, ib.; marriage of his daughter, ib.; unpropitious parting
with the Sultan of the Dekhan, ib.; defeats the Sultan, 118; his
death, 119.
Deva or Deb Rajas in Bhutan, historical significance of the term, 763.
Devicotta in Tanjore, 287; ceded to the English, 288.
Dewal Devi, the Rajput princess of Guzerat, her strange adventures,
104-5.
INDEX 839
Dewan, or accountant-general, 254; explanation of the term in refer-
ence to the Dewani of Bengal, 337, 344, 363.
Dhalimkote, Jungpen of, his conduct toward the Bhutan mission, 765.
Dharma Rajas in Bhutan, religious significance of the term, 763.
Dhian Singh, brother of Gholab Singh of Jamu. prime minister at La-
hore, 675; dismissed by Kharak Singh and murders his successor,
ib.; suspected of murdering the j'oung Maharaja by the fall of an
archway, ib.; checkmated by the queen-regent, 676; places Sher
Singh on the throne, ib.; murdered, 677.
Dhrishta-dyumna, the brother of Draupadi, 23; slays Drona, 35; slain
by Aswatthama, ib.; reappears in the Ganges, 41.
Dhritarashtra, the blind grandson of Santanu, married to Gandhari, 14;
supplanted by his brother Pandu on account of his blindness, 15;
becomes Maharaja of Hastinapur, ib.; his sons called the Kauravas,
ib.; appoints Yudhishthira, eldest son of Pandu, to be Yuva-raja, 20;
his vacillations, i&. ; sends the Pandavas to Varanavata, and ap-
points his son Duryodhana to be Yuva-raja, ib. ; sends his charioteer
on a mission to the Pandavas, 32; affecting submission to the Pan-
davas, 36-7; retires with Gandhari to the banks of the Ganges, 37.
Dhulip Singh, infant son of Runjeet Singh, Maharaja of Lahore, 677;
becomes a pensioner of the British government, 690.
Dhundu Punt. See Nana Sahib.
Diego Suarez, his extraordinary career in Burma, 588; murdered by the
mob of Pegu, 589.
Digarchi, seat of the Teshu Lama, 532; temples of, plundered by the
Ghorkas, 536.
Dinkur Rao, minister of Sindia, his conduct during the sepoy mutiny, 753.
Diu, Portuguese fort at, 130; repulse of the Turks at, by the Portu-
guese, 131.
Doab, grant of the revenue to Mahadaji Sindia, 459; its position, ib.
Donabew, on the river Irawadi, Bundula's stand at, 595; panic of the
Burmese, ib.
Dost Ali, Nawab of the Carnatic, 277; withholds the tribute to the
Nizam, ib.; appoints Chunder Sahib Dewan, ib. note; interferes in
Trinchinopoly, 278; defeated and slain by the Mahrattas, 279.
Dost Muhammad Khan, first appearance of, 630; plunders the ladies of
their jewels in the zenana at Herat, ib.; takes possession of Kabul,
631; proclaimed Amir, 632; his critical position, ib.; his anxiety to
recover Peshawar, 634; applies for help to England and Russia, ib.;
flight to Bokhara, 635; surrender, 636; an English prisoner, ib.;
joins the Sikhs during the second Sikh war, 688; takes Peshawar
and besieges Attock, ib.; driven out of Peshawar, 690; contends
with Persia for Herat, 714; helped by England, 715; his death, 767;
a faithful ally and successful ruler, 768; his treaty with Sir John
Lawrence, 772; objections of Sher Ali Khan, ib.
Douglas, Captain, commandant of the palace guards at Delhi, killed in
the sepoy mutiny, 726.
Doveton, Major, iiis futile mission to Tippu, 470.
Drake, Mr., governor of Calcutta, 317; demands of Suraj-ud-daula, ib.;
escape from Calcutta, 318.
Draupadi, daughter of the Raja of Panchala, 22; her Swayamvara, ib.;
rebuffs Kama. 23; won by Arjuna, ib.; her marriage, 24; gambled
away by Yudhishthira, 27; her vow, 28; becomes a lady's-maid in
the palace at Virata, 29; her Gandharva lovers, 30; saved from
burning by Bhima, 30-1; her pei'il in the camp of the Kauravas, 35;
her grief at the slaughter of her sons, 36; the funeral rites, ib.
840 INDEX
Drona, the tutor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, 16; his feud with
the Raja of Panchala, ib.; marries a dauo;hter of the house and
educates the young princes at Hastinapur, ib.; his fame as a teacher
of archery, 17; refuses to instruct the Bhil prince, ib.; worship of his
image, ib.: his treatment of the Bhil prince, ib.; stops the combat
between Duryodhaua and Bhima at the exhibition of arms, 18;
divides the Raj of Panchala with Drupada, 19; slays Drupada in the
war of the Maha Bharata, 35; slain by Dhrishta-djaimna, ib.; re-
appears in the Ganges, 40; difference of his exile from that of
Rama, 48 note.
Drupada, Raja of Panchala, 16; his feud with Drona, ib.; defeated by
Drona, 19; celebrates the Swayanivara of his daughter Draupadi,
22; sends an envoy in behalf of the Pandavas to Hastinapur, 31
slain by Drona, 84.
Dubois, Abbe, his description of a feud between the right and left hands,
480 note; reproduces the story of the four Brahmans, 482.
Duhsasana, treatment of Draupadi, 27; slain by Bhima, 34.
Dundas (Lord Melville) first president of the Board of Control, 439 note;
denounced bj' Burke, 441 note.
Dupleix, governor of Pondicherry, 285; his alarm at the English fleet,
ib,; deceives the Nawab of the Carnatic as regards Madras, 286;
secures the release of Chunder Sahib from the Mahrattas, 288:
schemes to make Chunder Sahib Nawab of the Carnatic in order to
drive out the English, ib.; larger scheme regarding the Dekhan,
290; reception of Chunder Sahib and MuzafRr Jung at Pondiclierry,
ib.; worried by the delay at Tanjore, 292; checkmated by the in-
vasion of Nasir Jung, 293; successful campaigns, ib.; cleverness of
his wife, 294; sudden revolution at the death of Nasir Jung, 295;
rejoicings at Pondichei-ry, ib.; appointed governor for the Great
Moghul of all the countries to the south of the Kistna, ib.; sudden
establishment of French ascendency in India, 296; misrepresenta-
tions as regards the English, 302; arrogates all the powers of a
Nawab of the Carnatic, 303; refuses peace unless the English
recognize his claims, ib.; sacrificed by the French government in
Europe, 304; despair and death, ib.
Dupleix, Madame, her mixed parentage, 294; her knowledge of native
languages and correspondence with native courts, ib.; known as
Jan Begum, ib. note.
Durand, Sir Henry, at the storming of Ghazni, 635 note; political agent
at Bhopal during the mutiny, 742 note.
Durani, modern name for the Abdalis, 622 note; dynasty of, founded by
Ahmad Shah Abdali, 623.
Durani Shahs, and Barukzai Viziers. 629; expulsion of Shah Shuja, the
Durani, 632; elevation of Dost Muhammad Khan, the Barukzai, ib.;
restoration of Shah Shuja carried out by the English, 635; its fail-
ure, 639; murder of Shah Shuja, 642; civil war at Kabul between
Barukzais and Duranis, ib.
Durbar, council of elders under the Raja, 11; hall of audience of Akbar,
169; Roe's audience with Jehangir at Ajmir, 177; wine-drinkers
flogged at, 180; description of, at Delhi, 199; Sivaji at the durbar of
Aurangzeb, 206.
Durga. See Kali.
Durjan Sal, of Bhvu-tpore, usurps the throne, 597-8; kept as a state
prisoner, 599.
Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, 16; rivalry with Bhima at
the exhibition of arms, 18; appointed Yuva-raja, 20; challenges
INDEX 841
Yudhishthira to a gambling match, 36; wins the Raj and wife of
the Pandavas, 27; mortally wounded by a foul blow from Bhima,
34; his death, 36; reappears in the Ganges, 41.
Dushj'anta marries Saknntala in Kalidasa's drama, 89; mythical father
of Bharata, ib.; his bodyguard of Tartar women, 194 note.
Dustuck, or "permits" of the East India Company, 345; sale of dustiicks
by the Company's servants, ih.
Dutch at Pulicat and Sadras, 374; war with the English, 437 note.
E
East India Company, formation of, 173; checked by a Board of Control,
439; charter renewed in 1833, its results, 616; government of India
transferred to the Crown, 756.
Edinburgh, visit to India of H.R.H. the Duke of, 774.
Edvvardes, Lieutenant Herbert, successful operations against Multan,
686-7; deserted by Sher Singh, 687; left in charge of Multan, 689.
Egypt, Sultan of, interference with the Portuguese, 129-30.
Ekachakra, the modern Arrah, resting-place of the Pandavas, 21.
Elgin, Lord, Viceroy of India, 757; sanctions a mission to Bhutan, 764;
his death, 761.
Ellenborough, Lord, Governor-General of India, 641; hesitates whether
the English armies in Afghanistan should retreat or advance, 643;
bombast and parade, 645; conquest of Sinde, 647: cliange of policy re-
specting Sindia and Holkar, 648; causes a regent of Gvvalior to be
appointed, 650; wrath at the action of Tara Bai, ib.; reduces GwaUor
to tranquillity, 651; his contemplated measures against Indore, 652;
his recall, ib.
Ellis, Mr., chief of the Patna factory, 348; violent conduct in connection
with the private trade controversy, ib.; perilous position at Patna,
349; capture of Patna, ib.; flight and surrender, 350; perishes in the
massacre, 352.
Elphinstone, Mr., his mission to Kabul, 523 note, 629; British Resident
at Poona, 552; investigates the murder of Gungadhur Shastri,i6. ;
discovers the intrigues of the Peishwa and his minister, Trimbukji
Dainglia, 558; rebukes and threatens Baji Rao Peishwa, 554; con-
cludes the treaty of Poona, ib.; his scepticism of the professions of
Baji Rao to Sir John Malcolm, 561; confirmed, 562; preparations for
defence against the Peishwa, ib.; removes from the Residency to
Khirki, ib.; destruction of his library, 563.
Elphinstone, General, succeeds Sir John Keane in command of the army
at Kabul, 638: his vacillation, 640.
Eudemos, appointed by Alexander the Great in the room of Philip at
Taxila, 67; murders Porus, ib.; driven out of the Punjab by Saa-
drokottos, ib.
F
Fah Hian, pilgrimage of, 73; residence at Pataliputra, 74.
Faiz-ullah Khan, of Rohilkund, son of Haflz Khan, 412; treaty with the
Nawab Vizier of Oude. ib.
Fakirs among the Siklis. 673 7iofe.
Faria y Sousa, the Portuguese historian, 129 note.
FarrukhSiyar placed by the two Saiyids on the throne of Delhi, 246; in-
cessant intrigues against the Saiyids, 247; duplicity respecting the
Vice-royalty of the Dekhan, 248; connection with Dr. Hamilton,
249; tragic death, 250.
842 INDEX
Ferozeshahar, the assault of, 680.
Firuz Shah, Sultan of Delhi, 110; burns a Brahman alive, ib.
Firuz, governor of Herat, 630; sends for aid to Kabul, ib.; taken pris-
oner, ib.
Fitzgerald, Captain, his brilliant charge at Sitabuldi, 565.
Foot-posts in India, 225.
Forbes, Mr., his primitive administration in Guzerat, 424-5; his regret
at the restoration of Guzerat districts to Mahratta rulo, 436,
Forde, Colonel, defeats the French under Conflans and recovers the
English factories, 333; negotiations with Salabut Jung, 334; drives
the French out of the Northern Circars, ib.
Fort St. David, English settlement at, 274, 286; captured by Lally, 333.
Fort St. George, origin of, 228; streets and houses, 229; English mer-
chants of, propitiate Sivaji, 211; unsuccessful siege by Lally, 334.
See Madras.
Fort William, garrison at, 238. See Calcutta.
Foujdars of districts, 226; their authority, ib.; at Hughli, 307.
Fra Joan, the pirate priest in Burma, 579.
Francis, Philip, appointed a member of the council at Calcutta, 412;
author of the Lettei's of Junius, 413; his suspicions of the integrity
of "Warren Hastings, i6. ; hostile measures, 414; abilitj', t6. ; factious
opposition, ib.; interference, ib. ; acquisition of Benares, 414-15;
sanctions the interference of Bristow in Oude affairs, 415; his
charges against Hastings, 416; outwitted by Hastings, 416-17; the
crisis at Calcutta, 425; plan of permanent land settlement in Bengal,
ib,; duel with Hastings, 426; depai'ture from India, ib.; excites na-
tional indignation against Hastings, 441; end, 442.
Fraser, Mr., Commissioner of Delhi, killed at the outbreak of the
mutiny, 726.
French, their settlement at Pondicherry, 274; capture Madras, 285; de-
feat the Nawab's army, 286; war with the English, ib.; ascendency
in India of, 296; besiege Arcot, 299; capitulate at Trichinopoly, 300;
acquire the Northern Circars, 303; provisional treaty with the
English, 304; loss of Chandernagore, 321; helpless condition in
Hindustan, 330; desperate condition under Lally, 333^ (See Lally);
disasters in the Carnatic, 335; loss of military power in the Carnatic,
ib.; intrigues at Poona, 421; agent at Poona, 446; French battalion
in the service of Nizam Ali, 462; their conduct at the battle of
Kurdla, 463; national hatred of the English, 467; Tippu an ally, ib.;
Nizam All's French battalions disbanded, 468; French successes in
the eastern waters, 526. See Perron and De Boigne.
Fryer, Dr., 226; his description of Masulipatam, 227; of Madras, 228;
crossing the surf, 229; Fort St. George, ib.; description of Bombay,
230; of Surat, 330-1; return to Bombay, 231; adventures at Joonere,
ib.; visit to Karwar, 233; leaves India, ib.
Futih Khan, Barukzai, son of Payendah Khan, of Kabul, 627; dethrones
Zemau Shah, ib.; the real sovereign of Afghanistan, 628; puts down
the Ghilzais, ib.; dismissed by Shah Shuja, 629; deposes Shah Shuja
and sets up Mahmud Shah, ib.; seizes Herat, 630; blinded, ib.;
cruelly murdered at Ghazni, 631.
Futtehgurh, mutiny at, 736; massacre of the fugitives at Cawnpore,
736-7.
Futtehpore, Havelock's defeat of mutineers and Mahrattas at, 737.
Fytche, General, Chief Commissioner of British Burma, his work on
Burma, 596 note; his treaty with the king of Burma, 773.
INDEX 843
«
Gaekwar of Baroda, rise of the family of, 358, 384; interference at
Satara in behalf of Tara Bai, y88; treacherously imprisoned at
Poona, ib.; released, 389; dealings with Baji Rao, 551; murder of
his minister, Gungadhur Shastri, 553.
Gakkars, hill tribe of, desperate slaughter in the army of Mahmud of
Ghazni, 96; assassinate Muhammad Ghori, 100.
Gandhara country, 15 note; Gandarians mentioned by Herodotus, ib.;
Gandhari marries the blind prince of Hastinapur, 15; her conduct
toward her blind husband, ib.; attends the exhibition of arms, 18;
retires with her husband, Dhritarashtra, to the banks of the
Ganges, 37.
Gandharvas, or ghosts, Draupadi's lovers, 30; present at the feast of
Bharadwaja, 54; a hill tribe famous for its beautiful women, 54
note.
Ganesh, god of good luck, 82; worship of, ib.
Ganges, worship of hj Sita, 49.
Garvock, General, his campaign against the tribes of the Mahabun
mountains, 761.
Gayatri, or invocation of the sun, 481 note.
George II., Balaji Rao Peishwa sends angry letters to, 390.
Georgia, Russian aggression in, 496 note.
Ghats, the western, 135.
Ghazi-ud-din, a representative of the Sunnis, 337; appointed Vizier at
Delhi, ib.; dethrones Ahmad Shah, ib,; places Alamghir on the
throne, 327-8; removed by Ahmad Shah Abdali, 328; subverts the
Afghan power, z&., 389; a "hereditary Sunni, 2Slnote; intrigues with
Balaji Rao, 389; proceedings at Delhi, 391; puts Alamghir to death,
ib.; flight and perpetual exile, 392.
Ghazni, the court of Mahmud, 95. See Mahmud,
Gheria, capital of the piratical Angrias, 306; expedition against, under
Clive and Watson, 390; conduct of the Mahrattas, ib.
Ghilzais, children of a concubine, opposed to the Abdalis, 622; driven to
the mountains, ib. ; risings checked by Futih Kahn, 628; massacre
the English in the Khaiber Pass, 641.
Ghor, Afghan fortress of, 97; reappearance of the name in Gour, 630
note.
Ghorkas. See Nipal.
Gholab Singh, the Jamu Raja, 675; his negotiations with Sir Henry
Hardinge, 681; buys Kashmir and Jamu, 682; recognized as Maha-
raja, 683; his rebellious subjects, 684.
Gholam Husain AH, his description of Shitab Rai, 376-8.
Gholam Kadir, horrible outrages committed at Delhi by, 451-2; his
flight, capture, and death, 453.
Gillespie, General, prompt action at the Vellore mutiny, 521; death in
the first Ghorka campaign, 546.
Giri-vraja, identical with Rajagriha, iSnote.
Goa, founded by Albuquerque, 130; Viceroy of, sends a mission to
Bengal, 131; in the sixt<^enth centurj', 132-7; the exchange, 133;
social life at. ib.; great commercial wealth, 134; expenditure in Goa,
ib.; government, civil and ecclesiastical, 134-5; visit of Delia Valle,
135; inhabitants, ib.; religious shows, 135-6; ecclesiastical influences
in, 137.
Goddard, Colonel, sent by "Warren Hastings from Calcutta through
Central India to the Mahratta country, 433; his movements after
844 INDEX
the convention at Wurgaum, 423; operations in the first Mahratta
war, ib.
Godwin, General, his expedition to Rangoon in the second Burmese
war. 697.
Golkonda, a Muhammadan kingdom in the Dekhan, 118; alUance of the
Sultan with Ram Raiof Vijayanagar, 121; conquered by Aurangzeb,
217; yearly rent to, paid by the English at Madras, 228-9.
Gomastas, or native agents, outrageous proceedings in Bengal, 345.
Gough, Sir Hugh, takes the field against Gwaiior, 651; wins the battle
of Maharajpore, ib.; battle of Moodkee, 680; postpones operations
against the rebellion of Mulraj in Multan, 686; commands the En-
glish army at Ramnuggur and Chilianwallah, 688; wins the battle
of Guzerat, 689.
Gour, Afghan capital of Bengal, 101; perhaps named from the Afghan
stronghold of Ghor, 150 note.
Graeko-Baktrian kings in Central Asia, 70.
Graves, Brigadier, at Delhi during the mutiny, 724-5; forced flight, 726.
Greathed, Brigadier, pursues the rebel sepoys from Delhi, 748.
Guggun Singh, paramour of the queen of Nipal, reported prime mover
in the murder of Matabar Singh, 669; a member of the Chountria
ministry, ib.; threatened by the heir-apparent, ib.; murdered, ib.
Guha, the Bhil Raja, entertains Rama, 49; his entertainment of Bha-
rata, 58.
Gundlaeama river, the real northern boundary of the Carnatic, 275 iiote.
Gungadhur Shastri, Brahman minister of the Gaekwar of Baroda. his
mission to Poona, 551; his strange reception, ib.; his murder, 552.
Guntoor Circar, 3Q7 note; rented to the English by Basalut Jung, 430;
and to Muhammad Ali by the English, ib.; restored to the Nizam
by Warren Hastings, 433.
Guptas, succeed to the dynasty of Kanishka, 71; possibly children of the
Grffiko-Baktrians, ib.; join the Rajputs against the Indo-Scythians,
72; victory at Kahror, ib.; their disappearance, ib.
Guru Goviiid, or Tugh Bahadur, 243 note; his work among the Sikhs,
671; his execution, ib.
Gurus, religious teachers among the Brahmans, 84; Hindu saints, 223;
their ceremonies of initiation and confirmation, 480-1; their money
demands, 481: and visitations, ib.; satires against them, 482; Gurus
among the Sikhs, 672.
Guzerat, conquered by Ala-ud-din, 104; Sultan of, calls in the Turks
against the Portuguese, 131; defeat of the Turks, ib.; Sultan of, in-
vades Chitor, 155; driven out by Humayun, 156; Jehangir's descrip-
tion of, 181; Gaekwar of, a Mahratta feudatory, 384; primitive ad-
ministration of Mr. Forbes, 424: districts made over to Mahadaji
Sindia, 436.
Guzerat, defeat of the Sikhs at the battle of, 689.
Gwaiior, the capital of Sindia, 421 note; captured by Captain Popham.
424; non-intervention policy of Lord William Bentinck, 606; civil
war stopped by intervention, ib.; tlie government remodelled by
Lord EUenborough, 651: appointment of a council of regency, ib.;
reduction of the army and formation of a Gwaiior Contingent, ib.;
revolt of the Contingent, 751; defeat of the rebels, ib. See Sindia
and Tantia Topi.
Gymnosophists, or naked philosophers, 66.
INDEX 845
H
Hafiz Khan, the Rohilla Afghan ruler, his dealings with the Mahrat-
tas 409; demands of Shuja-ud-daula, the Nawab Vizier of Oude,
409-10; interference of Warreu Hastings, 410; defeat and death
of, 411.
Haileybury, establishment of the College at, 513.
Haji Ahmad, the favoi'ite of Shuja Khan, 310; jealousy of Mustafa
Khan the Afghan, 314; horrible death at Patna, ib.
Hamilton, Captain, his description of Calcutta, 238; social life of the
English, ib.; refractory Rajas in Bengal, 239.
Hamilton, Dr., accompanies the English mission from Calcutta to Delhi,
249; heals the disease of Farrukh Siyar, the Moghul king at Delhi,
ib. ; his death at Calcutta, ib. note.
Hannman, the monkey hero, 57; helps Rama against Ravana, ib.; mis-
sion to Sita, ib.; worshipped as a god, ib. note; his burning tail, 58;
dramatic representation of, ib. note; his temple on the western
Ghats, 138.
Hardinge, Sir Henry, Governor-General of India, 652; unprepared for
the Sikh invasion, 679; present at the battle of Moodkee, 680; his
negotiations with Gholab Singh, Raja of Jamu, 681; raised to the
peerage, 682; sells Kashmir to Gholab Singh, 683; refuses to create
a subsidiary force, or to keep Bi'itish troops in the Punjab, ib.; his
compromise with the Lahore durbar, ib.; appointment of a British
Resident at Lahore and council of regency, 684; miscellaneous
measures, ib.; returns to England, ib.
Hari Pant, commander of the Mahratta contingent, 456; his grasping
demands upon Lord Cornwallis, ib.
Hartley, Captain, accompanies tlie Bomba}' expedition to Poona, 423;
repulses the Mahrattas, ib.; protests against the convention of
Wurgaum, ib.
Harris. General, commands the British army in the last war against
Tippu, Sultan of Mysore, 470.
Hastinapur, city of, where situated, 11; extent of Raj unknown, 12; oc-
cupied by Rajputs, ib.; to all appearance an Aryan colony, ib.;
reign of Maharaja Santann, ib.; succession of Pandu the pale, 15; of
Dhritarashtra the blind, ib.; of Yudhishthira, 37; mythical presence
of Krishna, 38.
Hastings. Warren, his simplicitj' and moderation. 332 note; sides with
Vansittart in condemning the claim of tlie Company's servants to
trade in Bengal duty free, 346; duel with a member of the Calcutta
council, 348; appointed governor of Bengal, 381; confused history
of his government, 404; his previous career, ib.; his reforms in the
revenue administration, ib.; in the judicial, 405; refuses to restore
Muhammad Reza Khan to the post of deputy Nawab, ib.; his deal-
ings with the Nawab Vizier of Oude, 410; lays himself open to the
ciiarge of corruption, 411; not to blame for the Rohilla atrocities,
412; appoints Mr. Middleton Resident at Lukhnow, t6. ; appointed
Governor-General of India, ib.; three new members of council sent
out from England, ib.; violent and vindictive opposition of Philip
Francis, 414; out-voted, ib.; condemns the interference of Bristow,
the successor of Middleton at Lukhnow, 415; accused by Nund-
komar, 416; declines to meet the charg-es, ib.; action against
Nund-komar, ib.; arrest and execution of Nund-komar for forgery,
if/.; war with the Mahrattas, 420; secures a majority in the Cal-
iNDiA. Vol. IL X— 18
846 INDEX
cutta council, 421; sends Goddard across India from Calcutta to
the Mahratta country, 422; resigns the post of Governor-General
and withdraws his resignation, 425; duel with Francis, 426; discov-
ers the hostile confederacy of Hyder AH, the Nizam, and the Mah-
rattas against the British government in India, 432; his spirited
proceedings, 433; empty treasury, ib.; dealings with Cheit Singh,
Raja of Benares, 434; narrow escape at Benares, ib.; suspicious ne-
gotiations with Asof-ud-daula, Nawab Vizier of Oude, 435; his re-
turn to Europe, 441; impeachment and acquittal, ib.; review of the
charges, 441-2 and note; sends missions to Thibet, 536 nofe.
Hastings, Marquis of, Governor-General of India under the title of Lord
Moira, 528; his conversion from a policy of non-intervention as laid
down by the home authorities to that of a paramount power as
laid down by Lord Wellesley, 529; remonstrances with the Ghorka
rulers of Nipal, 543; recovers British districts from the Nipalese, 544;
plans a campaign against Nipal, 546; receives the title of Marquis
of Hastings, 548; treaty of Segowlie, ib.; resolves on the extinction
of the Pindharies, 549; pi'ovoked at the intrigues of Baji Rao
Peishwa, 553; his preparations against the Pindharies, 554; resolves
on disarming the predatory powers — Sindia, Holkar, and Amir
Khan, 556; negotiations with Sindia, ib.; ignores Sindia's treachery^
557; breaks up the Pindhari system, 558; thwarted by Baji Rao
Peishwa, the Raja of Berar, and the army of Holkar, 560; con-
structs a new imperial system, 567; resolves on the extinction of
the dominion of the Peishwas, 569; final decision, 570; his settlement
of Holkar's*state, t6. ; success of his policy, 570-1; education of the
natives, 571; dealings with the Nizam, ib.; sanctions the proceed-
ings of Palmer & Co., 572; his error, 573; leaves India, ib.; re-
proached by the Directors, ib.; resuscitation of the Raja of Satara
as a feudatorj' but not as a sovereign, 570, 702.
Havelock, General, joins Colonel Neill at Allahabad, 737; his early
career and characteristics, ib.; his advance on Cawnpore, ib.; de-
feats Nana Sahib at Cawnpore, 738; enters the station, ib.; depart-
ure for Lukhnow, 739; fails to relieve Lukhnow, 740; his victory at
Bithoor, 741; return to Cawnpore, ib.; joined by Sir James Outrara,
748; advances to Lukhnow, ib.; relieves the garrison, 749; his death
and burial, 750.
Hawkins, Captain, his mission to Jehangir, 174; forced i-eturn from
Agra, ib.
Hay's (and Amyatt's) deputation to Monghyr, 348; kept as a hostage,
349; perishes in the massacre at Patna, 352.
Hearsey, General, expostulates with the sepoys at Barrackpore respect-
ing the greased cartridges, 719; suppresses the mutiny of Mungal
Pandy, 720.
Heath, commander of an English fleet in India, 236; his ill-judged naval
operations against the Moghuls, 236-7.
Heber, Bishop, his translation of a Mahratta ballad, 553.
Hemu, Hindu minister of an Afghan sovereign, 156; killed by Bairam
Khan, 158.
Herat conquered by Ahmad Sliah Durani, 624; a bone of contention be-
tween Afghanistan and Persia, 630 and note; seized by Futih Khan,
ib.; a bone of contention between Great Britain and Russia, 632;
description of the fortress, ib. note; besieged by Persia, 633; com-
plications at, 636; withdrawal of the English Envoy, ib.; difficulties
between England and Persia respecting, 714; Yakub Khan gov-
ernor, 769.
INDEX 847
Herbert, Captain, defends Attock against the Afghans, 688.
Hidimba, a cannibal Asura, slain by Bhima, 21; his sister, Hidimbi,
marries Bhima, ib. — an allegorical fiction expressing hostility
against the Buddhists, ib. note.
Hill-tribes, non-Hindus, 78.
Hiinmut Bahadur, a military Guru, 453 note; associated with Ali Ba-
hadur, ib.: deserts to the English, tb.
Hindus, their religion, 73; popular deities, 82-3.
Hindu literature, 87-93; its constituents (non-historical), 88; Hindu re-
volt at Delhi against Islam. 108; rebellion in Bengal against the
persecutions of Aurangzeb, 237-8.
Hindu Rao, house of, at Delhi, 745; a forgotten celebritj^ ib. note.
Hiouen-Thsang, a Buddhist monk from China, 74; his pilgrimage to
India, ib.; his description of the people of India, ib.; memories of
the Maha Bharata, ib.; present at the great festival of imperial
almsgiving at Allahabad, 75; residence in the huge monastery at
Nalanda, 76.
Hira Singh succeeds his father Dhian Singh as minister at Lahore, 677;
places Dhulip Singh, infant son of Runjeet Singh, on the throne of
Lahore, ib.; murdered, ib.
Hislop, Sir Thomas, commands the Madras army in the Pindhari war,
555; pursuit of the Pindharies, 566-7.
Hlot-dau, or supreme council of the Burmese, 592.
Hodgson, Mr., Resident at Kliatmandu, 658; his entanglement, ib.
Hodson, Captain, arrests the Moghul king of Delhi, Bahadur Shah, 747;
shoots the two princes, ib.
Holcombe, Captain, voyage to Patna, 311; baskets of human heads, ib.
Holkar, Mulhar Rao the First, founder of the family, 258, 897; his death,
397; his son's widow, Ailah Bai, ib.
Holkar, Tiikaji Rao the First, commands the army of Ailah Bai, 397;
sent to Sindia by Nana Farnavese. 452; Sindia demands his recall,
459; defeated by De Boigne, 460; his death, 497.
Holkar, Jaswant Rao, an illegitimate son of Tukaji Rao the First, 498;
his early predatory exploits, ib.; defeats Sindia and the Peishwa in
the battle of Poona, 499; sets up another Peishwa, tb. ; invited by
Daulat Rao Sindia and the Bhonsla Raja of Nagpore to join them in
a war against the English, .501; craftiness of his proceedings, ib.;
his position outside the pale of Wellesley's political system, 506;
objections of the English to a protective alliance, 506-7; his pred-
atory instincts. 507; his plundering ravages in Malwa and Rajpu-
taua, ib.; his alarm at the victories of the English, ib.; rebuffed bj"^
Genei'al Lake, 508; arrogant demands and threats, ib.; campaign of
Lake in Rajputana, 509; retreat of Monson, ib.; Holkar's advance
to Muttra, Delhi, and Bhurtpore, 510-11; defeated bj' General Lake,
511; unfortunate policj' of Sir George Barlow, 517; arrogant pre-
tensions of Jaswant Rao Holkar, 5l8; driven mad by brandy, 523;
interference of Amir Khan, the Afghan, 534; his death, 526.
Holkar, Mulhar Rao the Second, adopted bj'the widow of Jaswant Rao,
526-7; regency of the widow, 527; sympathizes with the Pindharies,
554; the government at the mercy of the army, 558; beginning of
hostilities, 560; murder of the queen-mother by the soldiery, 567;
defeat of the army of Holkar by Sir John Malcolm at Mehidpore, ib. ;
settlement of the government of Indore by Lord Hastings, 570;
death of Mulhar Rao Holkar the Second. 606.
Holkar, Hari Rao, claims to succeed Mulhar Rao on the throne of In-
dore, 607; recognized by Lord William Bentinck, ib.; his death, 651.
848 INDEX
Holkar, Tukaji Rao the Second, irregular installation of, 652; the pres-
ent Maharaja of Indore, ib. note.
Holvvell, Mr. J. Z., voyage to Patna, 311; the baskets of human heads,
ib.; present at Calcutta during the siege, 318; summoned before
Suraj-ud-daula. ib.; survives the tragedy of the Black Hole, 319;
succeeds Clive as governor of the English settlements in Bengal, 336.
Home, Lieutenant, blows up the Kashmir gate at Delhi, 746.
Honahwar. See Onore.
Hughli, English factory at, 234; removed to Calcutta, 237; headquarters
of the Moghul Foujdar, 307; captured by Clive and Watson, 320;
curious detail in the capture of, ib. note.
Humayun, son of Baber, succeeds to the throne of Hindustan, 155; a
bad Muhammadan, ib.; gulled by Sher Khan the Afghan, ib.; inter-
ference in Rajput affairs, ib.; gift of the bracelet, ib.; defeated by
Sher Khan and flies into Persia, 156; fifteen years' exile, ib,; return
to Delhi, 157; death, ib.
Husain Ali Khan, the younger Saiyid, helps to place Farrukh Siyar on
the throne of Delhi, 246; exposed to hostile intrigues of Farrukh
Siyar, 247; expedition to Jaipur, ib.; appointed Viceroy of the Dek-
han, 248; defeats Daud Khan, ib.; marches to Delhi with an army
of Mahrattas, 250; assassinated, 251.
Hyderabad. See Nizam.
Hyder Ali, a Naik in the service of the Raja of Mysore, 300 note; excites
the jealousy of the English by his leanings toward the French, 367;
his rise to power, ib.; becomes master of the Raj of Mysore, 368;
joined by Nizam Ali, 369; invasion of the Carnatic, ib.; the eonfed-
ei'ates defeated, ib.; plot and counterplot, ib. note; successes, 370;
treaty at Madras, ib.; a natural enem3' of the Mahrattas, 394-7
note; awkward diplomatic relations with the English, 399; becomes
the most formidable power in the peninsula, 428; his wrath against
the English, 439; reception of Swartz, the missionary, ib.; invades
the Carnatic, 431-2; hostile confederacy with the Mahrattas and
Nizam Ali, 432; his army, 431 note; defeated by Sir Eyre Coote,
433; death of, 436; character and home life, 436-7; fall of his dy-
nasty, 471; alive to the value of Pariahs, 476 note; the founder of
Bangalore, 477; aggressions on Coorg, 610.
Ikkeri, capital of Venk-tapa Naik, 138; visited by Delia Valle, 138^1.
Impey, Sir Elijah, Chief Justice in Bengal, 416; trial and condemnation
of Nund-komar, ib.; a judicial murder, 417.
India under the Rajas, 11; Greek and Roman knowledge of, 72-3; con-
dition in the seventh century, 76; religious revolutions, ib.
Indore, the capital of Holkar, 421 7iote; foundation of, 497; mutiny at,
741; contemplated annexation by Lord EUenborough, 648. See
Holkar.
Indo-Scythian kings in India, 70-1; defeated by Rajputs and Guptas, 72.
Indra, Vaidik personification of the firmament, 80.
Indra-prasthra (Delhi), founded by the Pandavas, 25 and note.
Indus, river, crossed Ijy Alexander the Great, 64; invoked as Saraswati
in the Vaidik hymns, 83 note.
Irawadi, the river and valley of, 575.
INDEX 849
Jaqat Seth, the great banker of Murshedabad, 312; his family insulted
by Sarfaraz Khan, ib.; joins in a Hindu and Moghul plot for the
destruction of Sarfaraz Khan and elevation of Alivardi Khan, ib.;
joins with Mir Jafir at Plassy in the conspiracy against Suraj-ud-
daula, 322.
Jaghir, an estate given in lieu of a salai'y, 170.
Jains, religion of, 112-13; conversion of Jain Rajas to Brahmanism, ib.
Jaipal, Raja of the Punjab, 95; defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni, i&.;
suicide, ib.
Jaipur, Jai Singh, Raja of, his submission to Akbar, 161; vacillates
during the wars between the sons of Shah Jehan, 192; deceived by
Aurangzeb, 205; his son a hostage at Delhi, 207; plans the escape
of Sivaji, ib.
Jaipur, Aurangzeb collects Jezya in, 218; submission to Farrukh Siyar,
247; contributions levied by Jaswant Rao Holkar, 518; the protective
treaty with England annulled, zb.; quarrels with Jodhpur, 524-5;
war and anarchy under the policy of non-intervention, 603; type of
a dissolute Hindu Rani, ib.; forced interference of the British gov-
ernment, 604; council of Thakurs, a failure, ib.; infatuation of Ben-
tinck. death of the Rani, and poisoning of the Maharaja, 608; mur-
der of Mr. Blake, ib.
Jamu Rajas at the conrt of Lahore, 675; Jamu and Kashmir bought by
Gholab Singh, 682.
Janoji Bhonsla. See Bhonsla.
Jaswant Singh, Raja of Marwar, marries a daughter of Shah Jehan, 193;
fury of his queen on his flight from the battle of Ujain, ib.; accom-
panies Shaista Khau in the war against Sivaji the Mahratta, 203;
suspected of treacherous dealings with Sivaji, ib.
Jats, Hinduized Scythians, threaten Delhi, 400; found a principality at
Bhurtpore in Hindustan, ib.; Suraj Mai, the Jat hero of the eigh-
teenth century, i6.; wars among his sons, 401; contributions levied
by the Mahrattas, 402.
Java, Lord Minto's expedition to, 526; captured by the English and re-
stored to the Dutch, ib.
Jehanabad, the new city of Delhi built by Shah Jehan, 188.
Jehandar Shah succeeds to the throne of Delhi, 245; a low drunkard
under the tutelage of Zulflkar Khan, ib.; defeated and slain by
Farrukh Siyar and the two Saiyids, 246.
Jehangir, or Selim, son of Akbar, 171; rebels against his father, ib.; im-
plicated in the assassination of Abul Fazl, and poisoning of his
father, ib.; his vices, 172; revenge on his son Khuzru, ib.; horrible
execution of the followers of Khuzru, 173; infatuated by Nur Mahal,
the "light of the harem," ib.; his reception of Captain Hawkins,
174; of Sir Thomas Roe, 175; becomes suspicious of the Khan
Khanan, 178; shameless attempts at poisoning, ib.; drinking boiit
on his birthday, 179; punishment of wine-drinkers, 180; imperial
progress from Ajmir toward the Dekhan, ib.; wonders of his camp,
181: return to Guzerat and Delhi, ib.; description of Guzerat, etc.,
181-2; headquarters at Lahore, 182; his four sons, ib.; reported
death, 183; defeat of Shah Jehan at Delhi, 184; capture of Jehangir
by the Rajputs, 185; sudden death, ib.; nominates Bulaki, son of
KhiiziMi, to succeed him as Padishah, ib.
Jews, parallelism between their history and that of the Afghans,776 note.
Jeypore. See Jaipur.
850 INDEX
Jezya, a religious capitation tax imposed by Aurangzeb, S13; attempts
to collect it in Rajputana, ib.; collected by Aurangzeb at Surat, 231.
Jhansi lapses to the British government, 706 note; mutiny at, 730;
treacherous massacre of Europeans by the Rani, ib.; death of the
Rani in male attire, 754.
Jharolvha, or public window of Akbar, 169; at Delhi, 199.
Jhota Ram, the Jain banker at Jaipur, the paramour of the Rani, 603;
deludes Lord William Bentinck, 608; suspected of poisoning the
Maharaja, ib.; forced to resign the post of minister, ib.; implicated
in the murder of Mr. Blake, ib.
Jinjeera, Abyssinians of, 383; their hereditary chiefs, or Seedees, protect
Mecca pilgrims against pirates, ib.
Jinji or Gingee, fortress of. in the Carnatic, a bone of contention between
Zulfikar Khan and Ram Raja, 234; captured by Bussy, 293 and note;
surrendered by the French, 335.
Jirgah, or council of elders among the mountain tribes of the Sulai-
man mountains, 758.
Jodhpur, Rajput kingdom of. See Marwar.
Johur, Rajput rite of, performed at Chitor, 105, 155.
Joonere, a Mahratta fortress, the birthplace of Sivaji, 200; visited by Dr.
Fryer, 231-3.
Jul] under Doab, in the Punjab, taken over by the British government
after the first Sikh war, 683.
Jung Bahadur, the famous Ghorka chief at Khatmandu, excites the
spite of the heir-apparent of Nipal, 664; boasts of the murder of
Matabar Singh, 669; becomes military minister at Khatmandu, ib.
note; all-powerful in Nipal, 670; subsequent career, ib.
Jungpens of Bhutan, 764.
K
Kabul, conquered by Akbar, 170; massacre of a Moghul army in the
KhaiberPass, 209; mysterious outbreak under the missing brother
of Aurangzeb, 210; captured by Nadir Shah, 263; its surrender by
the Kuzzilbashes to Ahmad Shah Abdali, 623; taken by Dost Mu-
hammad Khan, 631; invaded by the English in the first Afghan
war, 635; British occupation of, 636; insurrection at, 639; distrac-
tions in, 642; second British occupation under Pollock, 644; recep-
tion of a British mission refused by Sher Ali Khan, 775; and repulsed,
ib. ; treacherous attack on the British Residency, 776.
Kahror, battle of, 72.
Kaikeyi, youngest queen of Dasaratha, 43; her wrath at the installation
of' Rama as Yuva-raja, 44; cajoles Dasaratha, ib.
Kajar, reigning dynasty of Shahs of Persia, quarrels with the Zend
party, 496; triumph of, ib.
Kalars, the caste of, 78; included in the people of Marawar, 486 note.
Kali (Parvati), her place in the worship of the Turanians, 78; worshipped
by the Brahmaus as a divine mother, 84; the mythical founder of
the right and left "hands," 479.
Kalidasa, author of Sakuntala, 88.
Kama, Hindu god of love, 82.
Kam Baksh, youngest son of Aurangzeb, a Christian Sultan, 241; death
in battle, 242.
Kampilya, the city of Drupada, 22; the modern Kampil, ib. note.
Kamran Mirza, son of Mahmud Shah, Amir of Kabul, his jealousy of the
minister, Futih Khan, 630; blinds Futih Khan withhot needles, 631;
INDEX 851
murder of Futih Khan, ib.; flight of Kamran to Herat, ib.; becomes
ruler of Herat, 633; his treacherous plots, 634; his ingratitude toward
the English, 636.
Kanara, kingdom of, 135; the country of Venk-tapa Naik, 137; a type of
a Hindu Raj in Southern India, 138; Raja of, see Venk-tapa.
Kandaiiar captured by Nadir Shah, 363; plots of the Barukzais at, 637;
massacre, ib.; captured by the English, 635.
Kanishka, or Kanerke, founder of the latest dynasty of Indo-Scythian
kings, 71; brought Persian worship of the Sun into India, ib.; liberal
patron of Buddhists, ib.
Kanouj on the Ganges, Aryan kingdom of, 13; the ancient Panchala, 16;
empire of, 74; Maharaja of, lord paramount of the Rajputs, 98; cele-
brates the Swayamvara of his daughter, ib.; invites the Afghans to
capture Delhi, ib.; overthrown by Muhammad Ghori, 100; I'ebellion
in, 183.
Kapila, Raj of, associated with the early life of Sakya Muni, 61.
Kama, a friend of Duryodhana, 19; his ignoble birth as the son of a
charioteer, ib.; challenges Arjuna at the exhibition of arms, ib.\ is
made a Raja by Duryodhana, ib.; rebuffed by the Pandavas, ib.;
bends the bow at the Swayamvara of Draupadi, 23; rebuffed by
Draupadi, ib.; killed by Arjuna, 34; reappears in the Ganges, 41.
Karnata, old empire of, 211 note.
Karra, Ala-ud-din governor of, 103; assassination of Jelal-ud-din, 104.
Kartakeia, god of war, 83.
Karwar, an English factory to the south of Goa, 333; visited by Fryer,
ib.; Sivaji's government at, ib.
Kashmir, conquered by Akbar, 170; attempts of Aurangzeb to form a
navy on the lake, 304; conquered by Ahmad Shah Durani, 634;
bought from the English by Gholab Singh, 682; rebellion, 684.
Kassimbazar, inland English factory at, 308; captured by Nawab Suraj-
ud-daula, 317; by Mir Kasim, 350.
Kathaei, revolt against Alexander, 65; customs of, 66-7.
Kauravas, rival kinsmen of the Pandavas, 11; jealousy of the Pandavas,
16; instructed in arms by Drona, ib.; compass the destruction of the
Pandavas at Varanavata, 20; plot against the Pandavas with
Sakuni, 26; the gambling match, ib.; invade Virata, 31; discover
Arjuna, ib.; slaughtered by the Pandavas in the war of the Maha
Bharata, 34,
Kausalya, eldest wife of Dasaratha and mother of Rama, 43; her anger
at the exile of her son, 46; her vain remonstrances, ib.
Kaveri river, kept asunder from the Koleroon by an embankment, 378;
delta of the two rivers in Tanjore, ib.
KazL, or Muhammadan judge appointed to aid the Nawab, 336.
Keane, Sir John, commands the army for the occupation of Kabul, 635.
Kerauli, a Rajput principality, notices of, 704; question of adoption, ib.;
conceded by the Court of Directors, ib.
Khaiber Pass, massacre of the Moghul army in, 309; destruction of the
British army in, 641.
Khalifs, the successors of Muhammad, 94; Khalifs of Damascus and
Bagdad, 95.
Khalsa, or holy brotherhood of the Sikhs, 671 and note; condition under
Runjeet Singh, 673-4; growing disorders, 676; governed by councils
of five, ib.; final overthrow of the Khalsa army, 689; its soldiers
under British command, 690. See also Sikhs.
Khandava-prastha, an uncleared jungle round Delhi, 35; occupied by
Nagas, ib. ; Raj of, under the Pandavas, ib.
852 INDEX
Khan Jehan, the Afghan general of Shah Jehan, 187.
Khan Khanan, his intrigues in the reign of Jehangir, 176; suspicions
respecting, 178; attempts of Jeliangir to poison him, ib.
Kharak Singh, eldest son of Runjeet Singli, succeeds his father as Ma-
haraja at Lahore, 675; takes fright at the murder of his minister,
ib.; his death, ib.
Khatmandu, revolution at, 537; mission of Kirkpatrick, 536; mission of
Knox, 540; revolution at. 540-1; massacre, 542; ferment during the
Kabul war, ib.; council of Bharadai's at, 544, 546; frequent revolu-
tions at, 657; ministerial complications at, 659; political compromise,
ib.; tragedies, 663-3; anew ministry, 669; horrible massacre, 669-70.
Khirki, assaults of Baji Rao Peishwa, repulsed by the English, 563.
Khiva, an Usbeg kingdom, 619; Russian expedition to, 635.
Khokand on the Jaxartes inherited by Baber, 152; an Usbeg kingdom,
620; Russian advance to, 770-1,
Khurim, a Pindhari leader, 527; throws himself on the mercy of the
English, 558.
Kliuzru, eldest son of Jehangir, 172; favored by his grandfather, Akbar,
ib.; excites the jealousy of his father, Jehangir, ib.; breaks out in
revolt, ib.; its failure, ib.; horrible revenge of Jehangir, 172-3; his
reconciliation with Jehangir, 180-1; his assassination by Shah
Jehan, 183.
Kichaka, brother of the queen of Virata, 30; falls in love with Drau-
padi, ib.; slain by Bhima, ib.; his brothers try to burn Draupadi
with his remains, ib.
Kinloch, Captain, futile expedition against the Ghorkas of Nipal, 534.
Kinnaras, singers in the heaven of Indra, present at the feast of Bha-
radwaja, 54.
Kirkpatrick, Colonel, his mission to Nipal, 536.
Knox, Captain, liis mission to Khatmandu, 540; its failui'e, 541.
Koh-i-Baba, mountain system in Afghanistan, 620; includes the rock
fortress of Zohak, the demon king, ib. note.
Kolhapore, a Mahratta principality, 384; family of the Rajas of, ib.
note; intrigues of Nizam Ali, 395.
Koleroon river, dividing the Moghul Carnatic from the Hindu, 275.
Koles of Bengal, outbreak suppressed, 710-11.
Konkan, kingdom of, 125; Mahrattas of, 200.
Korygaum, glorious defence of, 568.
Kosala, Raj of, 42 note.
Kotwal, office of. in towns. 176, 226; criminal jurisdiction, ib.; office at
Calcutta, 307.
Krishnaraj, Raja of Mysore. S^ee Mysore.
Krories, revenue officials, introduced by Todar Mai, 170; their rapacity
and oppression, ib.
Kshatriyas, the military caste in India, 23, 25; all who die in battle
go to the heaven of Indra at Swarga, 41 note; one of the four great
castes, 77.
Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu, 38, 81; part played by him in the
Maha Bharata, 38; supernatural appearance, ib.; expounds to
Arjuna the doctrine of metempsychosis, ib.
Krishna Rai. Maharaja of Narsinga, 114; vengeance against the Sultan
of the Dekhan, 114, 116.
Kubraj Pandey, in favor at Khatmandu, 665; his false step and fall, ib.
Kulbarga, capital city of the Bahmani Sultans, 114.
Kunti, one of the wives of Pandu, 15; her contest with Madri astoSati,
ib. ; her sons. ib.
INDEX 853
Kurdla, battle of, 463.
Kvisa, son of Rama and Sita, 59.
Kutub-ud-din, Viceroy of Muhammad Ghori, 100; Sultan of Delhi, first
of the slave-kings, ib.; builds the Kutub Minar, 100-1; his death,
101.
Kuru-kshetra, the plain of, the scene of the war of the Maha Bharata,
33; exaggeration and grandeur in the description of the battle, 39.
Kuvera, god of wealth, 82.
Kuzzilbashes, or Persian colonists, placed by Nidar Shah as a garrison
in Kabul, 623; surrender the BalaHissar to Ahmad Shah Abdali, ib.;
protect Timur Shah, 625; slaughtered at Kabul by the Afghan
Sunnis, 628.
Labourdonnais, commander of a French squadron, captures Madras
from the English, 285; his subsequent fate, 28Q note.
Lahore, Jehangir's headquarters at, 182; massacre of princes at. 185;
imperial road to Agra, 230; ferment during the Kabul war, 653-4;
the court and capital of Runjeet Singh, 674; Sikh and Rajput fac-
tions at, 675; settlement of the government by Lord Hardinge, 683;
compromise with Lord Hardinge, 683-4.
Lake, General, Lord Wellesley's instructions to, 502; his campaign in
Hindustan, 504; its conclusion, 505; rebuffs Jaswant Rao Holkar,
508; preparations against Holkar, ib.; in Rajputana, 509; defeats
Holkar and besieges Bhurtpore, 511; reduces Holkar to submission,
517; disgust at Holkar's pretensions, 508, 518; indignant at the an-
nulment of the protective treaty with Jaipur, 518-19.
Lakshmana, second son of Dasaratha, 42; accompanies Rama on his
exile, 47; drives Sita to Chitra-kuta, 59.
Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, 82; worship of, ib.
Lally, Count de. arrival at Pondicherry, 332; capture of Fort St. David,
and recall of Bussy, 333; suspicious of Bussy, ib.; desperate situa-
tion at Pondicherry, 334; siege of Fort St. George, ib.; retreat, ib.;
defeat at Wandiwash, 335; capitulation at Pondicherry, ib.; melan-
choly end, ib.
Lai Singh, paramour of the queen, and minister at Lahore, 678; his
treachery to the Sikh army, 679; moves to Ferozeshahar, 680; flight
at Moodkee, ib.; flight from Ferozeshahar, ib.; recognized as prime
minister by Lord Hardinge, 683; his treachery in Kashmir, 684; his
downfall, ib.
Lamas, or Buddhist abbots of Lhassa and Digarchi, 532.
Lambert, Commodore, his mission to Rangoon, 695; deceived and in-
sulted by the Burmese officials, 696; begins the second Burmese
war, ib.
Landour built on territory ceded by Nipal, 548.
Langhorn, Sir William, governor of Madras, 229.
Lanka, the modern Ceylon, the abode of Ravana, the demon Raja of the
Raksiiasas, 56.
Laswari, General Lake's victory at, 505.
Lava, son of Rama and Sita, 59.
Law, M., ex-governor of the French settlement at Chandernagore, sup-
ports the Shahzada and Nawab Vizier of Oude, 327; his helpless con-
dition, 330.
Lawrence, George, a hostage in the first Afghan war, 683 note; carried
off prisoner at Peshawar by Afghans and Sikhs, 688.
Lawrence, Henry, Major of the Bengal Artillery, afterward General
864 INDEX
Sir Henry, 604: note, G92 note; Resident at Khatmandu, 668; prevents
a massacre, ib.: Resident at Lahore, 683; suppresses a rebellion in
Jamu and Kashmir, 684; proceeds to England, 685; President of the
Board of Administration at Lahore, 692; his sympathies for the
Sikh Sirdars. 693; retires from the Board, ib.; appointed Chief
Commissioner of Oude, 713; prompt suppression of the outbreak at
Lukhnow, 721; preparations for the defence of the British Resi-
dency at Lukhnow, 729; his death, 740.
Lawrence, Sir John, afterward Lord Lawrence, Commissioner of the
Jullunder Doab, 683 note; civil member of the Board of Administra-
tion at Lahore, 692; first Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, 693;
the savior of India during the sepoy mutiny, 743; Viceroy of India
in succession to Lord Elgin, 762; policy in Afghanistan during the
fratricidal war, 769-70; dealings with Sher Ali Khan, ib.; retire-
ment and death, 771; his treaties with Dost Muhammad Khan, 772.
Lawrence, Major Stringer, takes the command of the East India Com-
pany's forces in India during the war against France, 286-7; goes
to England, 296; returns to Madras, 300; operations at Trichinop-
oly, ib.; worried by the duplicity of Nawab Muhammad Ali, 301-2.
Lhassa, the residence of the Teshu Lama, 532; temples at, plundered by
the Ghorkas, 536.
Littler, General Sir John, his position at Ferozepore at the breaking out
of the first Sikh war, 679.
Lukhnow in 1857, sepoy mutiny of the 3d of May, 721; suppressed by Sir
Henry Lawrence, ib.; preparations for defence, 728-9; the city and
cantonment, 729; European and native forces, ib.; outbreak of the
30th of May, ib.; flight to Delhi, 730; defence against mutineers and
rebels, 739; death of Henry Lawrence on the 4th of July, 740; as-
sault of the 20th of July, ib.; failure of Havelock in August, ib.;
heroism of the besieged, 749; first relief by Havelock, 750; second
relief by Sir Colin Campbell, ib.; death of Havelock in November,
ib.; burial in the Alumbagh, ib.; capture of Lukhnow by Outram,
752.
Lushington. Mr., perished in the massacre at Patna, 353.
Lytton, Lord, Viceroy of India, 774.
M
Macartney, Lord, governor of Madras, 437; treaty with Tippu, Sultan
of Mysore, ib.; capture of Pulicat and Sadras, ib. note; assumption
of the revenues of the Carnatic, 437; proposed reduction of the
Nawab of the Carnatic to a pageant pensioner, 438; its dubious
equity, 439; zeal of the Nawab's creditors, 440; restoration of the
Carnatic ordered by the Board of Control, 440-1; his retirement, 441;
declines the post of Governor-General, 449.
Macaulay, Lord, his imperfect story of Mir Jafir's jackass, 325 note; ac-
quits Hastings of money corruption, 442 note.
Macnaghten, Sir William, appointed English minister and envoy at
Kabul, 635; excites the disaffection of the Afghans by the abohtion
or reduction of subsidies, 637; imprudent removal of the British
troops from the Bala Hissar, 638; vacillation during the insur-
rection at Kabul, 639; negotiations with the rebel leaders, 64U-1;
attacked and murdered by Akbar Khan, 640.
Macpherson, Sir John, provisional Governor-General in succession to
Warren Hastings, 449.
Madras, visit of Fryer to, 228; origin of the town, ib.; yearly rent to
INDEX 855
Golkonda, 329; surf-boats, ib.; Fort St. George, ib.; Sir William
Langhorn governor, ib.; population, 230; threatened by Moghuls,
233; bribery of Zulfikar Khan, ib.; besieged by Moghuls under Daud
Khan, 234; peace at Madras, ib.; growing commercial importance,
271; commercial establishment, 271-2; Grovernor in Council and
Mayor's Court, 272; justices of peace and Pedda Naik, ib.; jealousy
of the Dutch, t7).; "interlopers," 274; flourishing trade in cotton
piece-goods, 277; isolation of traders, ib.; captured by the French
under'Labourdonnais, 285; restored tothe English, 287; interference
in Tanjore, ib.; wars with the French at Pondicherry, 288; treaty
with Hyder Ali, 370; situation on the Coromandel coast, 382; its
individuality, i&.; debts and difficulties of the Nawab of the Car-
natic, 426; aggression of the Nawab on Tanjore, 427; Lord Pigot
and Paul Benfleld, ib.; imprisonment and death of Lord Pigot, 428;
Sir Thomas Rumbold, governor, ib.; formidable power of Hyder Ali,
ib.; mission of Swartz to Seringapatam, 429; troubles with the
Nizam about Guntoor, 430; Mr. Whitehill, governor, 431; invasion
of Hyder Ali of Mysore, ib.; Whitehill deposed by Warren Hast-
ings, 433; victories of Sir Eyre Coote, ib.; Lord Macartney, gover-
nor, 437; troubles about the Nawab's debts, 440; orders of the Board
of Control, 440-1; corruption and inaction under Governor Holland,
454; settlement of Tanjore, 485, 706; settlement of the Carnatic,
489, 706.
Madri, one of the wives of Pandu, 15; contest with Kunti, i6.; performs
Sati, ib. ; her two sons, ib.
Maduals, the sect of, in Southern India, 474, 476; their distinctions and
creed, ib.
Magadha, the modern Behar, the cradle of Buddhism, corresponding
with the country of the Rakshasas and Asuras, 20 note.
Mahabat Khan, 184; captures Jehangir, 185; sham burial of Shah
Jehan, ib.
Maha Bharata, war of, told in an ancient Hindu epic written in San-
skrit, 11; probable date of the war, \2note; character of the war, 33;
composition of the poem, 37; religious teaching of, 38; grandeur
and exaggerations of, 39; concluding scene at the Ganges, 40-1;
memories of, in the time of Hiovien-Thsang, 74.
Mahabun mountain, inhabited by Hindustani fanatics, 759; English ex-
pedition under Sir Neville Chamberlain, ib.
Mahadaji Sindia. See Sindia.
Mahadeva. See Siva.
Maharaja, or " great Raja," 12.
Mahdu Rao, fourth Peishwa, succeeds his father Balaji Rao on the
throne at Poona, 393; regency of his uncle, Rughonath Rao, ib. ;
farce of investiture at Satara, ib.; disaffection of the Mahratta
feudatories, 394; quarrels with his uncle, ib.; imprisoned, ib.; rec-
onciliation, 395; invades the territories of Hyder Ali, 397; fresh
quarrels with his uncle inflamed by his mother and aunt, ib. ; joins
Nizam Ali in his invasion of Berar, ib.; his religious vagaries, 398;
friendly advances of the English at Bombay, 399; refusal to part
with Salsette or Bassein, ib.; awkward alliance between the English
at Madras and Hyder Ali of Mysore, ib.; death by consumption,
403, 417; succeeded by his brother, Narain Rao, ib.
Mahdu Rao Narain, seventh Peishwa, infant son of Narain Rao, 419,
436; his suicide, 463.
Mahe, captured by the English, 429.
Mahmud of Ghazni, invades India, 96; twelve expeditions into Hindu-
856 INDEX
Stan, ib.', defeats the Rajputs at Somnath, 97; destroys the idol
pillar in the temple, ib.; returns to Ghazni, ib.; his death, ib.
Mahomet. See Muhammad.
Mahrattas, empire at Deog-hur conquered by Ala-ud-din, 102-3; rise in
the Konkan under Sivaji, 199; career of Sivaji, 200-1; organizes a
system of blackmail or chout, 211; bootless operations of Aurangzeb
against, 217; wars between Zulfikar Khan and Ram Raja, 233;
settlement with Sahu Rao, the grandson of Sivaji, 243; his capital
at Satara, ib.; indefinite claims to chout, 244; rise of the Brahman
ministers or Peishwas, 245; their power and policj', 257; importance
of Mahratta history, 258; military leaders subject to the Brahman
Peishwas, 259; dealings with the Muhammadan powers, ib.; help-
lessness of the Moghul court at Delhi, ib.; secret relations between
the Mahratta Peishwas and the Moghul Padishahs, 260-1; extensive
ravages after the invasion of Nadir Shah, 269; invasion of the Car-
natic, 279; dealings with the Nawab, 280; take Trichinopoly by sur-
prise, ib. ; imprison Chunder Sahib at Satara, ib. ; merciless invasions
of Bengal for the collection of chout, 313; treacherous massacre of
Mahrattas by Nawab Alivardi Khan, ib.; quieted by the promise of
the Nawab to pay yearly chout, 314; demand arrears of chout from
Mir Jafir, 326; contest with the Afghans for the Moghul empire,
838, 392; horrible defeat and massacre at Paniput, 338. 392; demand
chout for Bengal and Behar from the English, 365; Clive inclined
to pay chout in return for Orissa, ib.; general view of the Mahratta
empire and its feudatories, 383-4; three seats of home government
— Poona, Satara, and Kolhapore, 384; four leading feudatories — the
Gaekwar, Holkar, Sidia, and the Bhonsla Raja of Berar, ib. ; trans-
fer of power, after the death of Sahu, from the Raja of Satara to
the Peishwa of Poona, 385-6; administration of Balaji Rao, the
third Peishwa, 387-8; Mahratta wars from M3'^sore to the Punjab,
391; crushing defeat at Paniput, 392; Mahdu Rao, fourth Peishwa,
393; internal distractions, 394; wars against Hyder Ali and Nizam
Ali, ib.; conduct Shah Alam to Delhi under Mahadaji Sindia, and
establish the Mahratta ascendency in Hindustan, 403; wrath with
the English at their refusal to pay tribute for Bengal, 408; threaten
to march through the Rohilla counti'v into Oude, 409; death of
Mahdu Rao Peishwa, 417; accession and murder of Narain Rao, fifth
Peishwa, 417-18; succession of Rughonath Rao, sixth Peishwa, 418;
Mahdu Rao Narain, seventh Peishwa, 419, 436; negotiations with
the English at Bombay, 420; condemned by the Bengal govern-
ment, ib.; treaty of Purundhur (1776), 421; French intrigues at
Poona, ib.; Bombay invited to restoi-e Rughonath Rao, 422; Bom-
bay expedition to Poona, ib.; convention of Wurgaum, 423; first
Mahratta war, ib.; confederacy with Hyder Ali and Nizam Ali, 432;
close of the first Mahratta war by the treaty of Salbai, 436; regarded
as the most formidable power in India, 443^ new Mahratta kingdom
between the Jumna and Ganges founded by Mahadaji Sindia, 446;
English Resident appointed at Poona. ib.; war between the Peishwa
and Tippu Sultan, 448; rivalry between Nana Farnavese and Ma-
hadaji Sindia. 452; dealings with Lord Cornwallis during the first
war against Tippu, 454-5; grasping demands, 456; their treachery,
457; installation of the Peishwa as the deputy of the Great Moghul,
459; death of Mahadaji Sindia, 460; crushing demands on the Nizam
for arrears of chout, 461; Mahratta envoy insulted at H3'derabad,
462; defeat of the Nizam at Kurdla, 463; suicide of Mahdu Rao
Narain, ib.; Baji Rao, eighth Peishwa, ib.; intrigues between Baji
INDEX 857
Rao, Daulat Rao Sindia, and Nana Farnavese. 464; reject Lord
Moraingtoa's offers of an English alliance, 468, 470; their rule in Tan-
jore described by Swartz, 487; replies of tUe Peishwa to the offers
of Lord Wellesley, 493; Mahratta affairs. 497; defeat of Baji Rao at
Poona by Jaswant Rao Holkar, 499; flight to the Bombay Presi-
dency, t6.; conclusion of the treaty of Bassein,i6. ; second Mahratta
war, 500, 503; hostility of Sindia and the Bhonsla. 500. 502; cam-
paign of Wellesley and Stevenson in the Dekhan, 503; English vic-
tories at Assaye and Argaum, 503-4; Lake's campaign in Hindustan,
504; English victories at Alighur and Delhi. t6.; Laswari, 505; Sindia
and the Bhonsla become feudatories of the British government, ib.;
difficulties with Jaswant Rao Holkar, 506-7; reduced to submission,
511, 517; reactionary policy of Cornwallis and Barlow, 516-17; brief
interval of peace, 519; rise of the Pindharies, 537; projected con-
quest of the Pindharies by Lord Hastings, 549-50; intrigues of Baji
Rao Peishwa, 550; murder of the Brahman minister of the Gaek-
war, 553; imprisonment and escape of Trimbukji Dainglia, 553-3;
remonstrances of the British Resident at Poona, 554; attitude of
Sindia and Holkar, 555; submission of Sindia, 556; difficulties with
Holkar, 558; duplicity of Baji Rao, 560; treachery, 563; hostilities
begun by the Peishwa, 563; flight of the Peishwa, ib.; treachery of
the Bhonsla of Nagpore, 564; battle of Sitabuldi. 565: Mr. Jenkins
supreme, 566; defeat of the army of Holkar at Mehidpore, 567; ex-
tinction of the Peishwas, 569; settlement with Holkar, 570; success
of Lord Hastings' policy, ib.; political relations during the adminis-
tration of Lord Amherst and Lord William Bentinck, 601. See also
Holkar and Sindia.
Malabar, Rajas of, 112; or western coast of India, 124; Malabar proper,
125; twelve kings of, ib.; pepper and pilgrims, 136; suzerainty of
the Zaraorin, 127; Malabar pirates, 130; visit of Delia Valle to the
court at Calicut, 146; Rajas sacred in battle, 147.
Malacca founded by Albuquerque, 130.
Malcolm, Captain John, his mission to Persia, 496; his early career, ib.
note; negotiations with Daulat Rao Sindia, 505; story of "Old
Brag," ib. note; his half-hearted ti-eaty with Holkar, 517; sent by
Lord Minto on a mission to Persia, 523 note; meets Baji Rao at
Maholi, 561; outwitted, ib.; negotiations with Tulsi Bai, 567; de-
feats the army of Holkar at Mehidpore, ib.; final settlement of Baji
Rao, 570.
Malik Amber, the Abyssinian minister of Ahmadnagar, 176; defeated
by the Moghul army, 181.
Malik Kafur, general of Ala-ud-din, 107; plunders Hindu temples in the
south, ib.; notably those of Madura and Mysore, ib.; a Hindu con-
verted to Islam, 108.
Malwa, region of, 90; relative position of, toward Rajputana, 161 note;
divided between Sindia and Holkar, 421 note.
Manaris, or hereditary oxen-drivers, 224; division into four tribes with
caste marks, ib.; women tatooed with flowers, 224-5; identified with
Brinjarries, 456.
Mandalay, present capital of Burma, 591.
Manel, residence of the queen of Olaza, 142.
Mangalore, Portuguese fort at, 131; treaty at, between Lord Macartney
and Tippu Sultan, 437.
Manipura, ancient kingdom of, the modern Munipore, 26.
Manouchi, the Venetian physician, his memoirs of the reign of Aurang-
zeb, 209
858 INDEX
Mansel, Mr., member of the Punjab Board of Administration, 692 note.
Man Singh, Raja of Jodhpur, claims the daughter of the Rana of Udai-
pur, 524; quarrels with Jaipur, 525. See Marwar.
Mansubdars, rank of, in the Moghul court, 164.
Manu, impersonality, laws of, 84; based on the transmigrations of the
soul, 85; merits and demerits, ib.; heaven and hell, ih.; the divine
spirit, ib.; deliverance of the soul in absorption, 86; four stages of
life, ib.; Brahman prejudice concerning, 196 note.
Mara war country, a relic of Hindu antiquity associated with the legends
of Rama, 486 7iote,
Marco Polo, his description of Coromandel and Malabar Rajas, 112.
Mariamma, the Malabar goddess, worshipped by the Portuguese ambas-
sadors by mistake for the Virgin Mary, 127.
Martaban, in Burma, besieged by Byeen-noung, 580; surrendered, ib.;
plundered and sacked, 583; i-evolting execution of the queen and her
ladies, 584-6.
Maruts, Vaidik, personification of the winds, 80; followers of Indra, ib.
Marwar, Jaswant Singh, Raja of, marries a daughter of Shah Jehan,
19.S; wrath of his wife at his flight from the battle of Ujain, ib. ; won
over by Auraugzeb, 195; employed in the war against Sivaji, 203;
suspected of treachery, ib.; his widow resists the collection of
Jezya, 213; Man Singh claims the daughter of the Rana of Udaipur,
524; conflicts with refractory Thakurs, 604.
Masulipatam, Muhammadan port on the coast of Coromandel, visited by
Fryer, 227; description of, 237-8; cededto the French, 303; captured
by the English, 334.
Matabar Singh, of Nipal, nephew of Bhim Sein Thapa, thrown into
prison, 659; released and pardoned, 660; his mission to Lahore, 662;
invited to return to Nipal, 667; wreaks his vengeance on the Pandeys
at Khatmandu, ib.; appointed premier, ib.; his rash and overbear-
ing conduct, 668; plots against the Maharaja, *.; appointed premier
for life, ib.; horribly murdered, ib.
Mathura, temple at, converted into a mosque by Aurangzeb, 212; plun-
dered by the Afghans under Ahmad Shah AbdaU, 328.
Mauritius taken from France by the British, 526.
Mayo, Lord, Viceroy of India, 771; his conference with Sher Ali at Um-
balla, 772; his conciliatory policy, 773; his interest in Burma affairs,
ib.; visit to Rangoon, ib.; assassination, 774.
Max Muller, Professor, his edition of the Rik Vaidha, and translations of
Vaidik hymns, 80 note.
Meade, Major, arrests Tantia Topi, 755.
Meanee, in Sinde, battle of, won by Sir Charles Napier, 647.
Mecca, Sherif of, repulses the envoys of Aurangzeb, 196.
Medows, General, his futile campaign against Tippu, 455.
Meerut, niutinv of the sepoys at, 721-2; terrible rising on Sunday, the
10th of May, 723; fatal delays, ib.; flight of the mutineers to Delhi
and beginning of the revolt of the Bengal army, 724.
Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador at the court of Sandrokottos. 07;
his description of the city of Pali-bothra, the modern Patna, 68; of
the people of India, ib.
Mehidpore, battle of, 567.
Merivale, Mr. Herman, editor of the correspondence and journals of
Philip Francis, 413 note.
Metcalfe, Mr., afterward Lord, his mission to Runjeet Singh, 523; con-
ducts the negotiations with Amir Khan, 557; appointed Resident at
Hyderabad, 572; condemns the bank of Palmer & Co., 572-3; con-
INDEX 859
venes a council of Thakurs at Jaipur, 604; Governor-Greneral of
India, 617; grants liberty to the press, ib.
Metempsychosis, the dogma of, the transmigrations of the soul, 61;
doctrine of deliverance from taught by Buddha, 63; doctrine of
merits and deliverance taught by Manu, 85, 86,
Meywar. See Udaipur.
Middleton, Mr. superseded as Resident at Lukhnow by Mr. Bristovv, 414.
Midnapore, ceded by Mir Kasim to the English, 341.
Mill, Mr., James, his groundless charges against Vansittart, 342 note;
his opinion of Muhammad Reza Khan and Shitab Rai, 405 note.
Mill, Colonel James, proposed the conquest of Bengal long before Clive,
337 note.
Millennium, the Muhammadan, expected in the reign of Akbar, 167-8.
Minto, Lord, Governor-General of India, 531; his active policy, 532; de-
spatches missions to Runjeet Singh, Persia, and Kabul, 533 and note;
interferes to prevent the aggressions of Amir Khan on Nagpoi-e,
524; active operations against the French and Dutch, 536; leaves In-
dia, 528; his remonstrances with Nipal, 530, 543; his ultimatum, 544.
Misls, or Sikh fraternities, 672; their decay, 673.
Misr Guru at Khatmandu, 659; forced to go on pilgrimage, 663; recalled
from Benares, 665.
Mitchell, Colonel, his proceedings in the sepoy mutiny at Berhampore,
Mithila, Raj of, the modern Tirhut, 43 note.
Mithra, or the Sun, worship of, imported into India by Kanishka, 71;
corresponds with the Vaidik Surya, 80.
Mir Jafir, posted at Plassy by Nawab Suraj-ud-daula, 322; joins Jagat
Seth in his conspiracy against Suraj-ud-daula, ib.; his dubious con-
duct at Plassy, 323; installed as Nawab by Colonel Clive, ih.; his
money presents and cessions of territory, ib.; confers the quit-rent
of the Company's territory on Clive, 324; origin of Clive's jaghir,
ib.; his incapacity as a ruler, ib.; atrocities of his son Miran, 324-5;
nicknamed "Colonel Clive's Jackass," 325; replaces Hindu com-
manders by Muhammadans, 326; Mahratta demands for chout, i&.;
relations with the Shahzada, 337; becomes insufferable, 340; de-
posed by Vansittart in favor of his son-in-law, Mir Kasim, 341; re-
stored to the throne by the Calcutta council, 351; his death, 857.
Mir Kasim, son-in-law of Mir Jafir, his dealings with Mr. Vansittart for
the Nawabship of Bengal and Behar, 341; the preliminary treaty,
ib,; his offer of twenty lakhs refused bj' Vansittart, ib.; proclaimed
Nawab, 342; defeats theMoghul army under Shah Alam, ib.; secures
letters of investiture from Shah Alam, 343; refuses to join in an
English expedition to Delhi, ib. ; suspicions of the English. 344; secret
preparations for war, ib.; quarrel about private trade, 344, 346-7;
his sudden abolition of all duties, 347; violence of the English
council at Calcutta, ib.; reception of Amyatt and Hay at Monghyr,
348; stoppage of a boat-load of arms for the English factory at
Patna, 349; puffed up with the recapture of Patna. 350; murder of
Amyatt, ib.; flight to Patna, 352; massacre of 150 Englishmen at
Patna, ib.; escape into Oude, 353; perishes in obscurity, 355.
Mlechhas, or barbarians, Hindu name for Guptas, 71.
Moghuls, their early invasions of India, 102; described as uglj' nomads,
ib.; massacred by Ala-ud-din, 106; invade the Punjab, 108; bribed
by Muhammad Tughlak to go away, ib.; invasion of Timur, 150:
Tartar origin of, 151; a ruling tribe, possibly representatives of the
Royal Scythians described by Herodotus, 151 and note; religious
860 INDEX
toleration, 151; approximate to the Persian type, 152; early life of
Baber, ib.; invasion of India, 154; defeat of the Rana of Chitor, ib.;
his death, 155; reign of Humayun, ib.; recovery of Hindustan by
the Afghans, 156; exile of Humayun, ib.; returns to Delhi and
dies, 157.
Moghul empire, founded by Akbar, 157; wars against the Afghans, 158;
decay of the Muhammadan religion, 160; establishment of political
and religious equality, ib.; efforts to amalgamate Moghuls and Raj-
puts, 160-1; introduction of a strong Rajput element, 162; Moghul
aristocracy without hereditary rights, 163; hereditary aristocracy
of the Rajputs, 164; antagonism of religion, a political gain, ib.; re-
ligion of Akbar, 168; public life of the Moghuls, 169; land-tenure,
170; reign of Jehangir, 173; English appear at Surat, 173: mission
of Captain Hawkins to Agra, 174; mission of Sir Thomas Roe to
Jehangir, 175; audience at Ajmir, 177; poisonings at the Moghul
court, 178; festivals, 179; camp of the Great Moghul, 181; massacres
of brigands and rebels, 181-2; Rajput wars, 182-3; death of Jehan-
gir, 185; massacre of princes and accession of Shah Jehan, ib.; in-
creasing antagonisms between Moghuls and Rajputs, 187; disaffec-
tion of tributary Rajas, 188; fratricidal wars between the four sons
of Shah Jehan, 190; early career of Aurangzeb, 191; deceives his
brother Murad, 192; succession of Aurangzeb to the Moghul throne,
195; description of Delhi, 197; early alliance with Sivaji and the
Mahrattas, 202; conflicts with the Mahrattas, 203; suspicious death
of Shah Jehan, 204; feigned rebellion, 207; history forbidden by
public edict, 209; mysterious rebellion in Kabul, 210; treacherous
massacre of Afghans, ib.; persecution of Hindus and destruction of
idolatry, 212; imposition of the I'eligious poll-tax, known as the
Jezya, 213; religious wars in Rajputana, 214; splendid march of the
Moghul army, 215; camp life of Aurangzeb, 216; conquest of Bija-
pur and Golkonda, 217; revival of Hindu nationality, ib.
Moghul empire, civilization of, 219; condition of the masses ignored, ib. ;
superior roads, 220; carriages, 221; caravanserais, ib.; dangers and
inconveniences of travelling, 222; guards of horsemen, ib.; Thugs or
stranglers, 223; absence of roads in Hindu kingdoms, ib.; heredi-
tary oxen-drivers, 224; foot-posts in India, 225; administration of jus-
tice, ib.; Fryer's travels in India, 226-7; description of Masulipatam,
227; old Madras, 228; Bombay, 230; Surat, ib.; Joonere, 231; Kar-
war, 233; English settlements in Bengal, 234; refractory Rajas in
Bengal and Behar, 239.
Moghul empire, story of its decline and fall, 240; fratricidal wars of the
sons of Aurangzeb, 241; persecutions of the Sikhs, 242; growing in-
dependence of the Viceroys of provinces, 243; Mahratta claims to
chout, 244; reign of Jehandar Shah, 245; rebellion of Farrukh Siyar
and the two Saiyids, 246; constant plots and intrigues, 247; English
mission from Calcutta to Delhi, 248; Mahrattas at Delhi, 250; as-
sassination and revolution, ib.; decay of the empire, 252; cessation
of the imperial progresses, ib.; latent force of court routine, 253;
successions to local governments, ib.; the Padishah, tlie sole foun-
tain of honor, rank, and title, ib.; provincial Dewans or Account-
ant-Generals, 254; general corruption, ib.; ostentatious reverence
to the orders of the Padishah, 255; growing power of the Mahrattas,
257; secret relations between the Mahrattas and the Moghul court
at Delhi, 260-1; invasion of Nadir Shah, 263; sack of Delhi, 266; hor-
rible carnage, ib.; fall of the empire amid the contests between
Mahrattas and Afghans, 269-70.
INDEX 861
Monson, Colonel, appointed a member of the council of Calcutta, 413;
his advance into Central India, in pursuit of Jaswant Rao Holkar,
509; disastrous retreat, 510.
Montgomery, Sir Robert, member of the Punjab Board of Administra-
tion, 692.
Moodkee, Harding-e and Gough's victory at, 680.
Moors, Arab Muhamraadan traders so called, 126; intrigues against
Portuguese, 127-8.
Morari, Rao, a Mahratta general at Trichinopoly. 280; declares against
Mortiz Ali, 283; joins the regent of Mysore. 300; pretended media-
tion between Major Lawrence and Muhammad Ali, 801-2.
Mornington, Lord, succeeds Sir John Shore as Governor-General of
India, 466; lands at Calcutta, 467; alarmed at the power of the
French, ib. ; abandons the idea of a balance of power, 467-8; alliance
with Nizam Ali against Tippu, 468; futile negotiations with the
Mahrattas, ib.; demands explanations from Tippu, 470; downfall of
Tippu and settlement of Mysore, 471; created Marquis of Wellesley,
ib. See Wellesley.
Mortiz Ali, brother-in-law of Nawab Subder Ali, commands Vellore, 281;
resists demands of conti'ibution, 282; implicated in the massacre of
Subder Ali, ib.; proclaimed Nawab, 282-3; flight from Arcot, 283;
implicated in the murder of the boy Nawab, 284.
Mostyn, Mr., English Resident at Poona, 444: note.
Mudaji Bhonsla. See Bhonsla.
Muhammad, the prophet of Arabia, his teaching and death, 94; suc-
ceeded by the four Khalifs, ib.; Arab conquest of Asia to the Indus
and Oxus, 95.
Muhammadans, their conquest of Hindustan, 95-8; of Bengal, 101; of
the Dekhan and Peninsula, 106; declining power, 110, 160; horrible
rule in Bengal before the Moghul conquest, 131; antagonism toward
Rajputs, 184r-7.
Muhammadan Sultans of the Dekhan, 114; Bahmani dynasty of Kul-
barga, 116; wars against the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, 114-18;
dismemberment into the five kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Berar,
Bider, Bijapur and Golkonda, 118; interference in the city of Vijay-
anagar, 119-20: bribed to retire, 120; unholy alliance with Ram Rai,
121; league of the Sultans against the Maharaja, ib.; decisive vic-
tory at Talikota, 121-2, 171; conquest of Ahmadnagar and Berar by
Akbar, 171; invasion of Jehangir, 180-1; designs of Aurangzeb, 191;
conquest of Bijapur and Golkonda, 217.
Muhammad Afzal Khan. See Afzal.
Muhammad Ali, Nawab of the Carnatic, appointed bj' the Nizam, 296;
assisted by the English at Trichinopoly, 297; intrigues with Mysore,
300; his duplicity, 301; helped by the Englisli in the reduction of re-
bellious Poliirars, 305; his debts. 426; efl'orts to bribe the governor
of Madras, 427; English adventurers .at his court, 440 note; his death,
489; treachery of his son and successor, ib.; introduction of British
administration into the Carnatic, 490; extinction of the titular
Nawabship by Lord Dalhousie, 706.
Muhammad Azim Khan. See Azim.
Muhammad Ghori. his conquest of Hindustan, 98; stabbed to death by
the Gakkars, 100.
Muhammad Reza Khan, bargaining with four members of the Calcutta
council at Murshedab.ad, 357; becomes deputy Nawab of Bengal,
ib.; wrath of Lord Clive. 360; corrupt collusion with English offi-
cials, 379; alleged misconduct during the famine, 381; arrested and
862 INDEX
brought to Calcutta, 405; his restoration refused by Warren Hast-
ings, ib.
Muhammad Shah, succeeds to the throne of Delhi, 251; decUne of the
Moghul empire, 252; compelled to submit to Nadir Shah, 264; nom-
inal sovereignty, 268; his death, 269.
Muhammad Tughlak, his disastrous reign, 108-9; bribes the Moghuls,
108; excessive taxation, 109; fatal removal of capital from Delhi to
Deoghur, ib.; introduces copper counters for gold money, ib,; finan-
cial anarchy, 110; rebellions and revolutions, ib.; his death, ib.
Mulhar Rao Holkar. See Hoikar.
Mulraj, Viceroy of Multan under Sikh rule, 685; his feigned resignation,
ib.; murder of Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, 686; de-
feated by Herbert Edwardes, 686-7; suspicious of Sher Singh, 688;
surrenders Multan, 689; imprisoned for life, 690.
Munro, Hector, his punishment of mutiny at Patna, 354; gains the
battle of Buxar, ib.; disaster during Hyder Ali's invasion of the
Carnatic, 432.
Murshedabad, capital of Bengal, moved from Dacca, 308; expenditure of
the old Navvabs, 374; decline, 406.
Murslied Kuli Khan, becomes Nawab of Bengal, Behar and Orissa, 308;
removes his capital from Dacca to Murshedabad, ib.; harsh treat-
ment of Hindus, 309; hates his son-in-law^, Shuja Khan, 310; his
death, ib.
Muzaffir Jung. See Nizam.
Mysore, Hindu government of, SOO note; cession of Trichinopoly to the
Hindu regent, 301; Hindu regent joins the French, 302; rise of
Hyder Ali, 367; his invasion of the Carnatic, 369; offensive and de-
fensive treaty with the English, 370; his formidable power, 428;
mission of Swartz, 429; invasion of the Carnatic, 432; death of
Hyder Ali, 436; palace life at Seringapatam,i5.; succession of Tippu,
son of Hyder, 437; treaty of Mangalore, ib.; aggressions of Tippu on
the lines of Travancore, 454; campaigns of Lord Cornwallis, 455-7;
submission of Tippu, 457; hostile negotiations of Tippu with the
French, 467, 470; last war against Mysore, 470; downfall and death of
Tippu, 471; resuscitation of a Hindu dynasty by Lord Wellesley, ib.;
travels of Buchanan in Mysore, 472; description of Bangalore, 477;
government of Purnea, 479, 613; aspires to be a Peishwa, 614; en-
thronement of Krishnaraj, ib.; ruinous profligacy, 615; fruitless
warnings, ib.; rebellion in Mysore, ib.; deposition of the Raja, 616;
prosperity under British rule, ib.
Nadir Shah, or Nadir Kuli Khan, his rise in Persia, 262; assists Shah
Tahmasp, ib.; usurps the throne of Persia, 263; unsuccessful em-
bassies to the Moghul, ib.; captures Kandahar and Kabul, ib.; re-
ported intercourse with Saadut Ali Khan and Nizam-ul-niulk, i?>. ;
intrigues, 26. ; march through the Punjab, 264; defeats the Moghuls
at Kurnal, i6. ; submission of Muhammad Shah, t&.; negotiations
with the Nizam, ib.; march to Dellii, 265; gloomy entry into Delia,
ib.; massacre of Nadir Shah's soldiery, ib.; his revenge. 266; Nadir
Shah in the mosque, ib.; collection of the subsidy, 267; spoils, 268;
intermarriage and ceded territory, ib.; resuscitation of the Moghul,
ib.; return to Persia, ib.; declaration of the Sunni faith, ib.; assas-
sination, t6.; effects of his invasion, 269; his death the commence-
ment of Afghan history, 622.
INDEX 863
Nagas, or suake-worshippers, 12; a Scythic tribe occupying Khandava-
prastha, 25; an existing type of the so-called aborigines, 78.
Nagpore, Raja of, demands the restoration of Cuttack and Berar, 519;
Amir Khan's aggressions on, 524; treachery of Raja Appa Sahib,
568; espouses the cause of Baji Rao Peishwa, 564; defeat and flight
of Appa Saliib, 566; succession of a boy Raja, ib.; mixed adminis-
tration of Mr. Jenkins, 601, 704; deterioration under native rule,
705; annexation of Nagpore, 706.
Naiks, or deputy Hindu rulers, 123.
Nairs, the military caste in Malabar, 125; massacre of the Portuguese
at Calicut, 129.
Najaf Khan, career of, 446 note; his son, Afrasiab Khan, ib.
Najib-ud-daula, appointed by Ahmad Shah Abdali to be guardian of the
Moghul king at Delhi, 328; a Rohilla Afghan, i6.; driven out by
Ghazi-ud-din, ib.; regent guardian at Delhi under the title of Amir
of Amirs, 392, 400; dealings with Suraj Mai, the Jat Raja, 401; in-
trigues with the English at Calcutta, ib.; behavior toward Ahmad
Shah Abdali, 402; overtures to the Mahrattas, ib.; his death, 402,
406 note,
Nala and Damayanti, the poem of, 89-91; Swayamvara of Damayanti,
90; the royal gambler, ib.; exile in the jungle, ib.; flight of Nala,
and agony of Damayanti, 91; reconciliation, ib.; characteristics of
the poem, ib.
Nalanda, the Buddhist university of, visited by the Chinese pilgrims, 76.
Nana Farnavese, the Brahman minister at tlie court of Poona, 418;
favors St. Lubin, the French adventurer at Poona, 421; plots and
intrigues, ib.; origin of influence, 422 note; supported by Mahadaji
Sindia, 422; his action in the convention of Wurgaum, 423; dread
of Hyder Ali, 435; ratifies the treaty of Salbai, 436; becomes the
real head of affairs at Poona, 443; schemes for ciiecking Sindia, 452;
plays a double game with Tippu and Cornwallis, 455; attempts to
prevent the installation of the Peishwa as deputy of the Great
Moghul, 459; antagonism toward Mahadaji Sindia, ib.; calls upon
Sindia for the revenues of the conquered provinces in Hindustan,
460; tiie rivalry closed by the death of Mahadaji Sindia, ib.; height
of prosperity, 463; distractions arising from the suicide of the
Peishwa, ib.; discovers the intrigues of Baji Rao, and declares him
to be Peisliwa, 464; flies to Satara, ib. ; return and imprisonment,
ib.; forced reconciliation with Baji Rao, 468; evades an alliance
with the British government, 470; grounds of his refusal, 493; his
death, 497.
Nana Sahib, the adopted heir of Baji Rao Peishwa, 707; claims to inherit
the pension granted to Baji Rao, ib.; residence at Bithoor, 732; his
deceitful professions, ib.; his wild dreams of restoring the extinct
Mahratta empire of the Peishwa, 733; joins the mutineers, ib.; his
threatening letter to General Wheeler, ib.; besieges Cawnpore, 734;
his treacherous proposals, ib.; negotiations, 735; massacre on the
river Ganges, 735-6; installation as Peishwa, 736; defeated by Have-
lock, 737; orders the massacre of women and children at Cawnpore,
738; flight from Cawnpore, tb.; reoccupies Bithoor, 740; defeated by
Havelock, 741.
Nanuk Guru, founder of the Sikh brotherhood, or commonwealth, in
the Punjab. 242, 671.
Nao Nihal Singh, grandson of Runjeet Singh, Maharaja at Lahore, 675;
his death at his father's funeral, ib.
Napier, Sir Charles, his campaign in Sindia, 647; wins the battles of
864 INDEX
Meanee and Hyderabad, ib.; controversy with Outram, 647-8; ap-
pointed Commander-in-chief of the Bengal army in succession to
Lord Gough, 689.
Napier, Colonel Robert (Lord Napier of Magdala), his engineering work
in the Punjab, 694 note; his dashing charge on the retreating army
of Tautia Topi, 754.
Napoleon Bonaparte, his supposed designs on India, 467, 501-2.
Narain Rao Peishwa, succeeds his father, Mahdu Rao, on the throne of
Poona, 417; his murder, ib.
Narayana, or Para Brahma, the supreme god of the Smartals, 475.
Narsingh Acharya, successor of Sankhara Achar3'a, 474 7iote.
Narsiuga, or Vijayanagar, Hindu empire of, 113. See Vijayanagar.
Nasir Jung. See Nizam.
Nasik, visited by Rama, 55 note.
Naths and Svvamis, worshipped as gods, 84, 540.
Nawab, or governor, a Moghul officer, 225; civil administration, 226.
Nawabs of Bengal and the Carnatic. See Bengal and Carnatic.
Nawab of Jooaere, the birthplace of Sivaji, 231; discourses with Dr.
Fryer, 232; a type of a Moghul fortress, ib.; a converted Brahman
appointed to the command by Aurangzeb, ib,
Nawab Nazim, duties of, 361 7iote; distinguished from the Dewan, ib.,
363; reduced to a pageant, ib.; reduction of allowances, ib. note.
Negrais, English factory at, 590; massacre of English by the Burmese
under Alompra, ib.
Neill, Colonel, his advance from Calcutta to Lukhnow, 737; delayed at
Benares and Allahabad, ib.; joined by a column under Havelock, ib.;
proceeds to Cawnpore, 739; difficulties at Cawnpore, 740; killed at
the relief of Luklinow, 749.
Newars, Buddhist Rajas of Nipal, 533; conquered by the Ghorkas, ib.
Nicholson, Brigadier John, arrival at the siege of Delhi, 746; commands
an assaulting column, ib.; his death, 747.
Niebuhr, Karsten, his prophecy respecting- the English East India Com-
pany, 716 note.
Nipal, history of, 531; description of the Nipal vallej', 532; occupied by
the Newars, or Hiudu Buddhists, 533; conquered by the Ghorkas,
ib.; atrocities of Prithi Narain, 534; Ghorka constitution, i6.; mili-
tary organization, 535; early Ghorka Maharajas, ib.; plunder of ihe
temples of Lhassa and Digarchi, 536; Chinese invasion, ib. ; Ghorkas
conclude a treaty with the English, ib.; apph' for help against
China, ib.; refused by Lord Cornwallis, ib.; defeat and humiliation
of the Ghorkas by the Ciiinese, 536-7; mission of Kirkpatrick, 536;
its failure, 537; I'evolution at Khatmandu, z7). ; Run Bahadur, the
Nero of Nipal, i6.; his madness. 538; conspiracy of the Pandeys,
539; flight of Run Bahadur to Benai-es, ib.; dealings of Lord Welles-
ley with Run Bahadur, ib.; mission of Captain Knox. 540; revolu-
tion headed by the chief queen, ib.: failure of Knox's mission, 541;
return of Run Bahadur to Nipal, ib.; downfall of the Pandeys, ib.;
counter conspiracy, ib.; murder of Run Bahadur, 543; massacre at
Khatmandu, ib.; triumph of Bhim Sein Thapa and the chief queen,
ib.; aggressions on British territory, 543; ultimatum of Lord Minto,
544; of Lord Moira (Hastings), t7).; council of Bharadars at Khat-
mandu, ib.; Ghorka debates, peace or war, ib.; slaughter of British
police, 546; disastrous campaign of 1814, ib.; retrievetl by General
Ociiterlony, 547; fall of Maloun, ib.; vacillation of the Ghorkas. ib.;
treaty of Segowlie, 548; differencps about the Terai, ib.; subsequent
history of Nipal, 657; infant Maharajas, ib.; Bhim Sein Thapa
INDEX 865
thwarted by an ambitious queen, 658; entanglement of the British
Resident, ib.; fall of Bhim Sein Thapa, 659; ministerial complica-
tions, ib.; political compromise, ib.; quarrel between the two
queens, 660; great temple of Pusput Nath, ib.; tragedies at Khat-
mandu, 661; condemnation and suicide of Bhim Sein Tliapa, ib.;
threatening attitude toward the English, 662; action of Lord Auck-
land, ib.; violence of the elder queen, ib.; her death, 663; wrath o£
the Maharaja at English newspapers, ib.; mad freaks of the heir-
apparent, ib. ; dangerous treatment of Jung Bahadur and others,
664; reaction against the British government, 665; great state trial
of the Pandeys, ib.; national movement against the heir-apparent,
ib.; Maharaja faces the revolutionary party, ib.; petition of advice
and remonstrance, 666; attempted arrest of I'evolutionary leaders,
ib.; regency of the queen, 667; return of Matabar Singh, a nephew
of Bhim Sein Thapa, to Khatraandu, ib.; revenge of the Thapas
on the Pandeys, ib.; threatened massacre prevented by Henry Law-
rence, 668; murder of Matabar Singh, ib.; new ministry at Khat-
mandu, 669; terrible massacre, 669-70; rise of Jung Bahadur, 670;
installation of heir-apparent, ib.
Nirvana, eternal sleep or annihilation, Buddhist dogma of, 63, 87.
Nizams of Hyderabad, rise of Cliin Kulich Khan, afterward known as
Nizam-ul-mulk, 255; incurs the wrath of Jehandar Shah, 256; saved
by Zulfikar Khan, 257; appointed Subahdar of the Dekhan, ib.;
wars with the Mahrattas, 259 etseq.; negotiations with Nadir Shah,
264; implores him to stop the massacre at Delhi, 266; anger at the
growing independence of the Nawabsof the Carnatic, 277; demands
arrears of tribute from Dost Ali, 281; advances an overwhelming
army to Arcot, 283; settles the Nawabship, 284; receives an English
deputation at Trichinopoly, ib. ; returns to Hyderabad, ib.; his
death, 287; distractions in his family, 289.
Nizam Nasir Jung, the second son of Nizam-ul-mulk, seizes the throne,
289; claims of MuzafRr Jung, the grandson, 290; cause of the grand-
son espoused by Dupleix, i&.; Nasir Jung at Arcot, 293; alarm at
the capture of Jinji by the French, 294; sudden murder, 295; Nizam
Muzaffir Jung, grandson of Nizam-ul-mulk, succeeds to the throne,
295; appoints Dupleix to be governor of the Peninsula for the Great
Moghul, ib.; murdered, 296.
Nizam Salabut Jung, placed on the throne by M. Bussy, 296; cedes the
Northern Circars to the French, 303; rupture, 306; conquests of
Bussy in the Northern Circars, 330; story of the Poligars of Bobili
and Vizianagram, 330-1; recall of Bussy by Lally, 333; conquests of
Colonel Forde in the Northern Circars, ib.; imprisonment and death
of Salabut Jung, 334; cedes the Northern Circars to the French and
then to the English, 366 note.
Nizam Ali succeeds to the throne of Hyderabad, 834; invades the
Carnatic, 359; proposed alliance by Clive, rejected by the Court of
Directors, 365; Clive claims the Northern Circars by right of a firman
from Shah Alam, 366; conclusion of a separate treat}' with Nizam
Ali by the Madras government, 367; promised yearly tribute for the
Northern Circars, ib.; joint expedition of Nizam Ali and the English
against Hyder Ali, ib.; treachery of Nizam Ali, 368; secret intrigues
with Hyder Ali, 369; deserts Hyder and makes peace with the
English, ib.; English obtain from Shah Alam a blank firman for all
the dominions of the Nizam, ib.; intermittent wars and intrigues
with the Mahrattas, 395; plunders Poona, ib.; strange reconcilia-
tion with Rughoaath Rao, the sixth Peishwa, 396; further dealings.
866 INDEX
419; exasperated at the English occupation of Guntoor, 430; con-
federates with Hyder Ali and the Mahrattas against the English,
432; allies with Lord Coruwallis against Tippu, 454^5; inaction,
455-6; Mahratta claims for arrears of chout, 458, 461; English de-
cline to interfere, 461; seeks the aid of the French, 463; insults the
Mahratta envoy at Hyderabad, i6.; utterly defeated by the Mah-
rattas at Kurdla, 463; submits to every demand, i6.; allies with
Lord Mornington against Tippu, 468; disbandment of the French
battalions at Hyderabad, ib.; becomes a feudatory under the sub-
sidiary system of Lord Wellesley. 493; his dominions threatened by
Daulat Rao Sindia and Rughoji Bhonsla, 503-3; receives Berar as a
pure gift from Lord Wellesley, 506.
Nizams (modern history), territories ravaged by the Pindharies, 528;
secret negotiations of Baji Rao Peishwa, 551; Charles Metcalfe
Resident at Hyderabad, 572; affairs of Palmer & Co., ib.; debts de-
frayed out of the tribute for the Northern Circars, 573; negotiations
respecting the Nizam's Contingent, 707-8; cession of Berar, 708.
Northbrook, Lord, Viceroy of India, 774.
Northern Circars. cession of, to the French, 303; Bussy's conquests of
the Poligars, 330-1; cession to the English, 365-6 and note; granted
to the English by the firman of Shah Alam, 366; Madras govern-
ment agree to pay a yearly tribute. 367; money appropriated to the
payment of the Nizam's debts to Palmer & Co., 573.
Nott, General, commands the English force at Kandahar, 635; his wrath
at the order to retreat, 643; marches to Kabul with the gates of
Somnath, 644.
Nuddea, the old capital of Bengal, 101 and note; surprised by Bakhtiyar
and his horsemen, ib.; flight of the Raja to Jagganath, ib.
Nur Mahal, or the "Light of the Harem," the favorite wife of Jehangir,
story of, 173; her intrigues respecting her daughter, 183; baffled by
the Rajputs and her brother, Asof Khan, 184-5.
Nund-komar, his charges against Warren Hastings, 416; his infamous
character, ib.; tried and executed on a charge of forgery, ib.; a
judicial murder, 417; its results, ib.
Nynee Tai, hill station of, built on territory ceded by Nipal, 548.
O
OCHTERLONY, COLONEL, afterward General Sir David, placed in charge
of Delhi by General Lake, 505; his successful defence of Delhi against
Jaswant Rao Holkar, 511; his victorious campaign against Nipal,
547; capture of Maloun, ib.; active proceedings at Bhurtpore on the
outbreak of Durjan Sal, 598; condemned by Loi'd Amherst, ib.; his
mortification and death, ib.
Olaza, theKanarese queen of, 141; her interview with Delia Valle, 142;
her strange behavior, 143.
Omichund, threatens to divulge the conspiracy of Jagat Seth, Mir Jafir,
and Colonel Clive, to Nawab Suraj-ud-daula. 322; duped by Clive
with a sham treaty, ib.; the chief blot on the character of Clive,
ib. note.
Omrahs, answering to the Amirs at the Moghul court, 164 note.
Onore, 131; the type of a Portuguese settlement and fortress, 188.
Oude, the ancient Ayodliya, the principal scene of the Ramayana, 42 et
seq.; the frontier at Sungroor, 48-9, 53; return of Rama and Si ta,
59; Ala-ud-dia appointed Viceroy by his uncle, the Sultan of Delhi,
103; murder of the Sultan on the Ganges, 104; Nawab Viziers of,
INDEX 867
see Saadut Ali Khan, Shuja-ud-daula, and Asof-ud-daula; conquered
and occupied by the Enghsh, 356; restored to the Nawab Vizier by
Lord Clive, 361; reasons for the restoration, 361-2; satisfaction of
Shuja-ud-daula, 362; payment of tribute refused to Shah Alam at
Delhi, 408; threatened by tlie Mahrattas, 409; hostile claims on the
Rohillas, ib.; obtains the services of a brigade from Warren Hast-
ings, 410; conquest of the Rohillas, 411; cession of the suzerainty of
Benai'es to the British government, 414; claim of the two Begums
to the state treasures, 415; Warren Hastings declines to interfere,
ib.; Philip Francis interferes in behalf of the Begums, ib.; settlement
by Hastings, 435; cruel usage of the servants of the Begums by the
Nawab Vizier, ib.; charges against Warren Hastings, 441; threat-
ened invasion of the Afghans under Zeman Shah, 494; alarm of
Lord Wellesley, ib.; his demands on the Nawab Vizier, 495; territo-
rial cessions to the British government, ib. ; threats of Lord Am-
herst, 709; of Lord William Bentinck, 609, 709; of Lord Hardinge,
709; Sleeman's report, ib.; tenderness of Lord Dal housie toward the
king of Oude, 710; annexation ordered by the Court of Directors,
ib.; Englisli administration, early mistakes, 712; appointment of Sir
Henry Lawrence to be Chief Commissioner, 713; general insurrec-
tion, 739; Lord Clyde's campaign, 752; end of the rebellion, 756-7.
Outram, Major, afterwai'd General Sir James, his controversy with
General Sir Charles Napier respecting Sinde, 647-8; commands an
expedition against Persia, 714; joins Havelock at Cawnpore, 748;
waives his right to command in favor of Havelock, ib.; advance on
Lukhnow, ib.; assumes the command, 750; left at Lukhnow by
Campbell, ib.; drives the rebels out of Lukhnow, 752.
Oxus river, the natural boundary between the Usbegs and Afghans,-
619-20.
Padishha, Moghul, equivalent for emperor, 157 note; fountain head of
Moghul aristocracy, 163; ostentatious reverence to, 255.
Pagan Meng, king of Burma, 655; his low character, 656; deposed, 697.
Paget, Sir Edward, suppresses a sepoy mutiny at Barrackpore with
grapeshot, 727.
Pali taug'ht in Burma, 577.
Palmer & Co., bankers of Hyderabad, 572; their proceedings condemned
by Metcalfe, 572-3; their insolvency, 573.
Panchala, kingdom of, mentioned in the Maha Bharata, 16; its frontiers,
ib. note; identified by Manu with Kanouj, ib.
Pandavas, rival kinsmen of the Kauravas, 11; the sons of Pandu, 16;
jealousy of the Kauravas, ib.; the instructions of Drona, ib.; nar-
row escape at Varanavata, 20; adventures in the disguise of Brah-
mans among the Rakshasas and Asuras, 21; journey to Ekachakra,
ib.; attend the Swayamvara of Draupadi, 22; alliance witli Dru-
pada, 24; obtain the Raj of Khandava-prastha, 25; found Indra-
prastha, ib.; celebrate the Raja-suj'a, 26; gainbling--match with
the Kauravas, i&.; become the slaves of Durj'odhana, 27; second
exile, 28; at Virata, in disguise, 29; send an envoy to Hastinapur,
32; triumph over the Kauravas, 34-7; celebration of the As-
wamedha, 39^0.
Pande_y, a leading Ghorka family, its rise to power in Nipal, 539; Dam-
odur Pandey, premier, tb.; flight of Run Bahadur and Bhim Sein
Thapa to Benares, ib.; downfall of the family, 541; imprisonment
and execution of Damodur Pandey, ib, ; rise of Runjung Pandey, son
868 INDEX
of Damodur, 658; supported by the elder queen, ib.; appointed
premier, 659; removed from office, ib.; flies with the elder queen to
the temple of Pusput Nath, 660; restoration to power, 661; intrigues
against the British government, 663; dismissed from office, ib.; re-
turn from exile, 665; revives old charges that the elder queen had
been poisoned, i6,; state trial at Khatmandu, tb. ; conviction and
punishment of Kubraj Pandey, ib.; execution of members of the
family, 667.
Pandu, the pale-complexioned grandson of Santanu, 14; marries Kunti
and Madri. 15; installed on the throne of Hastinapur, ib.; reigns as
Maharaja, ii*. ; retires to the jungle, i5.; death and Sati, i6. ; his
sons known as the five Pandavas, 16.
Pandya or Pandion, identified with Madura, 73; king of, sends an em-
bassy to Augustus Caesar, ib. note.
Paniput, battle of, horrible slaughter of Mahrattas by the Afghans
under Ahmad Shah Abdali, 338, 393.
Panjani, annual Ghorka festival in Nipal, 535; yearly redistribution of
all offices and commands, ib.
Para Brahma. See Naraj'ana.
Pariahs, or outcasts, 77-8, 476 note; the right and left "hands," 479-80
note.
Parwiz, son of Jehangir, his command in the Dekhan, 176; his reception
of Sir Thomas Roe, the English ambassador, ib.; recalled by Jehan-
gir, 178.
Patali-putra, the modern Patna, 68; centre of Buddhism in the time of
Fah Hian, 74.
Patan kings of Delhi, 150.
Patell, or head-man of a village, 459.
Patna, Pali-bothra, or Patali-putra, captured by Sandrokottos, 67; de-
scription of, 67-9; magistrates, 68; capital of Asoka, 69 note; En-
glish settlement at, 835; inland English factory for saltpeti'e, raw
silk, cotton piece goods, and opium, ib., 308; installation of the
Great Moghul (Shah Alam) at, 342; captured by the English under
Mr. Ellis, 349; recaptured by the troops of Nawab Mir Kasim, 349-
50; massacre of 150 Englishmen at, 353; taken bj' the English, 353;
court of appeal at, 451.
Paul, the Emperor, i-ecalls the Russian army from Georgia, 496 note.
Payendah Khan, liereditary chief of the Barukzais, 634: procures the
succession of Zeman Shah to the throne of Afghanistan, 685-6; re-
moved from his posts, 636; slaughtered in the presence of Zeman
Shah, 637.
Pegu, distinguished from Ava, 575; desolating wars between the Talains
of Pegu and the Burmese of Ava, 578; conquered by Byeen-noung,
a Burmese warrior of the sixteenth centur}^ 579-80; revolt of the
royal monk, 586; massacreof Burmans, 587; assassination of Byeen-
noung, ib,; i-ecovery of Pegu by a foster-brother of Byeen-noung,
ib.; execution of the royal monk, 588; Diego Suarez appointed gov-
ernor of Pegu, ib.; outrage on a marriage procession, /7). ; stoned to
death by the mob of Pegu, 589; Talain' conquest of Ava in the
eighteenth century, ib.; conquest of Pegu by Alompra, 590; British
conquest of Pegu, 697; administrative changes, ib.; glorious
future, ib.
Peishwas, hereditary Brahman ministers of the Mahrattas, their rise to
power, 345; important element in Mahratta historj', 858; Balaji Vis-
vanath, first Peishwa, 357; his policy, i6.; Baji Rao, second Peishwa,
ib.; his dealings with the Nizam and Padishah, 859; Balaji Rao,
INDEX 869
third Peishwa, 269, 386; schemes for the sovereignty of the Mah-
ratta empire, 386; leaves a puppet Maharaja at Satara, and removes
the capital to Poona, 387; Mahdu Rao, fourth Peishwa, 393; Narain
Rao, fifth Peishwa, 403, 417; murdered, 418; Rughonath Rao, sixth
Peishwa, lb. ; birth of Mahdu Rao Narain, seventh Peishwa, 419;
Rughonath Rao applies to the English for help, 420; beginning of
the first Mahratta war, ih., 423; suicide of Mahdu Rao Narain, 463;
Baji Rao, eighth Peishwa, 464; flies to Bombay presidency, 499; con-
cludes the treaty of Bassein with the British government, ib.; sec-
ond Mahratta war, 502-3; extinction of the Peishwas, 569. See also
Mahrattas.
Penlows, or governors, in Bhutan, 763-4.
Pennakonda, court of the Narsinga Rajas at, removed from Vijayana-
gar, 123.
Perron, succeeds De Boigne in the command of Sindia's French battal-
ions, 501; collects the revenues of the Doab, ib.; excites the alarm
of Lord Wellesley, ib.; defeat of his cavalry by General Lake at
Alighur, 504; retires into British territory with his private fortune,
505.
Persia, Shah of, refuses to give up Bulaki to Shah Jehan, 186; wars
with the Mog'hul about Kandahar, 189; threatens Aurangzeb, 204;
modern history of, 261; dynasty of Sufl Shiahs, ib.; usurpation of
Nadir Shah, 263; Persian invasion of Hindustan, 263-4; Persian
affairs after the death of Nadir Shah, 496; threatens Herat, 633;
siege of Herat, ib.; war with England, 714-15.
Peshawar, defeat of the Rajput league by Mahmud of Ghazni, 96;
massacre of Afghans at, 210; revolt against Timur Shah, 625; oc-
cupied by Runjeet Singh, 632; anxieties of Dost Muhammad for
its restoration, ib., 634; the key of the British frontier, 758.
Phagyi-dau, king of Burma, successor of Bhodau Phra, reigning during
the first Burmese war, 590; dethroned in favor of Tharawadi, 654.
Phayre, Sir Arthur, Commissioner of Pegu, 697; Chief Commissioner of
British Burma, 698; his treaty with the king of Burma, 773.
Philip, lieutenant of Alexander at Taxila, 67; murdered by Hindu mer-
cenaries, ib.; succeeded by Eudemos, ib.
Pigot, Lord, governor of Madras, 427; restores Tanjore to the Raja, ib,;
refuses a bribe from Muhammad Ali, Nawab of the Carnatic, ib.;
I'esists the claims of Paul Benfield, 428; arrested by the opposition
membei's of the Madras council, ib.; dies in confinement, ib,; his in-
convenient pledge to the Tanjore Raja, 487.
Pindliaries, low freebooters attached to the Mahratta armies during the
wars of the eighteenth century, 527; present at Paniput, ib.; de-
pendent on Sindia and Holkar, ib.; supported by grants of land to
different leaders, ib.; Ghetu and Khurim, ib.; depredations in Raj-
putana and Malwa, ib.; in the Dekhan, 528; their periodical incur-
sions described by Captain Sydenham, Resident at Hyderabad, ib.;
induce Lord Moira (Hastings) to adopt the policy of Lord Wellesley,
529; opposition of the home authorities out of dread of the Mahrat-
tas, ib.; extend their raids to British territories, 549; resolution of
Lord Hastings to exterminate them, ib.; revulsion of public opinion
in England on account of Pindhari atrocities, 550; British cabinet
authorize hostilities against any native power that protects the
Pindharies, *6. ; attitude of Sindia, Holkar and Amir Khan, 555;
preparations of Lord Hastings, 554-6; destruction of the Pindharies
and extinction of the predatory system, 558-9.
Pinto, Fernam Mendez, present at the siege of Martaban by Byeen-
INDIA. Vol. II. X— 19
870 INDEX
noung, 581; his veracity as regards what he saw, ih.note; his de-
scription of the surrender of the king, queen and ladies of Martaban,
581-3; sack of Martaban, 583; execution of a hundred and forty
ladies, 584-5; drowning of the king and sixtj' male captives, 586;
story of rebellions in Pegu, 586-8; execution of a I'oyal monk, 588;
stoning to death of Diego Suarez in the market-place of Pegu, 589.
Pitt, Thomas, grandfather of the Earl of Chatham, governor of Madras,
234; besieged for three months by Daud Khan, Nawab of the Moghul
conquests in Southern India, ih.; paj's a demand for ten thousand
pagodas, ib.; his relations with Bahadur Shah, son and successor of
Aurangzeb, 241.
Pitt, William, proposal of Clive that the British nation, and not the
East India Company, should take possession of Bengal, Behar, and
Orissa, 386; rejected on the ground that it would render the British
Ci'owntoo powerful, 337-8; creates a Board of Control, 439; refuses
to recommeud Warren Hastings for a peerage, or for employment
under the Crown, 442; justified, ih.
Place, Mr., a Madras civilian, his measures in the Company's Jaghir,
472-3.
Plassy, decisive battle on the 23d of June, 1757, won hy Clive, 323: its
immediate results, ih.; its remarkable effect on BalajiRao, Peishwa
of the Mahrattas, 390.
Pliny, his accounts of the coast of Malabar, and the voyages of Ro-
man merchants thither, 124.
Poligai-s, minor chiefs of the Carnatic, held their lands by militarj-^
tenure, 276; of the Northern Circars, conquered by Bussy, 330;
mortal feud between Bobili and Vizianagram, 330-1.
Pollock, General Sir George, commands the force for the relief of Gen-
eral Sale at Jellalabad, 641; victorious march through the Khaiber
Pass, 642; negotiates with Akbar Khan for the liberation of the
prisoners in Kabul, 643; incensed at the orders to retreat, ib.; de-
feats Akbar Khan at Tezeen, 644; return of the avenging army to
India, 645.
Pondicherry, a hundred miles to the south of Madras, French settlement
at, 274; Dupleix, the governor, persuades the Nawab of the Car-
natic to prohibit the English from all hostilities, 285; insists on
keeping possession of Madras, 286; unsuccessful siege under Ad-
miral Boscawen, 287; meeting at, between Dupleix, Chunder Sahib,
and Muzafiir Jung, 290; reverses, 293; rejoicings at the death of
Nasir Jung, 295; treatj' of 1775 at Pondicherry, 305; arrival of a
French force in 1758 under Count de Lally, 332; rejoicings of the
French at the retreat of Lally from Madras, 334; siege and capture
of Pondicherry by Colonel Eyre Coote, 335; restored to the French
under the treaty of Paris, 361 note; recaptured by the English, 429;
third English occupation, 461.
Poona, old Mahratta fortress of, 200; description of, 384; becomes the
capital of the Mahratta Peishwas, 387; plundered by Nizam All
and the Bhonsla, 395; revolution against Rughonath Rao, 419;
Bombay expedition to, frustrated by another revolution, 422; plun-
dered hy Daulat Rao Sindia, 464; cruelties of Baji Rao Peishwa,
498; defeat of Baji Rao by Jasvvant Rao Holkar, 499; flight of Baji
Rao to Bassein, ib.; restored to Poona bj' the English, ib.; treaty
of, between Mr. Elphinstone and Baji Rao, 554; final extinction of
the Peishwas, 569.
Port Blair, assassination of Lord Mayo at, 774.
Porto Novo, victory of Sir Eyre Coote against Hyder Ali, 433.
INDEX 871
Portuguese, early appearance off the coast of Malabar, 124; fleet under
Vasco de Gama, 126; audience with the Zaraorin of Calicut, 127;
worship the goddess Mariamnia by mistake for the Virgin Mary,
ib.; expedition under Alvarez Cabral, 128; violent proceedings, ib.;
massacre of Portuguese by the Nairs, 129; cannonade Calicut, ib.;
treaty with the Raja of Cochin, ib.; hostilities and atrocities com-
mitted on Muhammadan siiips, ib.; anger of the Sultan of Egypt,
ib.; foundation of Goa and Malacca by Alfonso de Albuquerque,
130; build forts impregnable to native powers, ib.; mission to Ben-
gal, 131; repel the Turks at Diu, ib.; conquered like Christians but
triumphed like Pagans, 132; description of Goa, ib.; social life, 133;
wealth, 134; government, civil and ecclesiastical, 13^5; visit of
Delia Valle, 185; pepper dealings with Venk-tapa, Raja of Kanara,
137; mission to Ikkeri, 138; typical Portuguese fort at Onove, ib.;
court of Ikkeri, 139; embassy to the Zamorin of Calicut, 144; hos-
tility toward the early English traders, 173-4; settlement at Hughli
captured hy Shah Jehan, 186; doom of the inhabitants, ib.; adven-
turers in Burma, 579-85,
Porus the elder, suzerain of the Punjab, 64; defeated by Alexander, 65;
murdered by Eudemos, 67.
Porus the younger, vassal of Porus the elder, 64; flies at the approach
of Alexander, 65.
Pottinger, Lieutenant, his gallant conduct at the siege of Herat, 634.
Prayaga, the modern Allahabad, sacred ground, 49; Rama entertained
there, ib.; the field of happiness, 75.
Prithi Narain, Maharaja of Nipal, the Ghorka hero, 534; his bloodthirsty
atrocities, ib.; his death, 535.
Prome, conquered by Byeen-noung, 586; British advance to, 596; cap-
tured by the English, 697.
Ptolemy, mention of Plithana and Tagara, 124-5 note.
Pulicat, Dutch settlement at, 274; captured by Lord Macartney, 437
note.
Punakha, the capital of Bhutan, 764.
Punchayet, or jury of five, 671; govern the Sikh army of the Khalsa,
676.
Punjab, invaded by Alexander, 64; distributed among Rajas, ib.; flour-
ishing state in time of Alexander, 66; Tartar and Moghul invasions
of, 110-11; Sikh revolt in, 242; temporary supremacy of the Mah-
rattas, 391; Mahrattas driven out by Afghans, 392; conquered by
Ahmad Shah Durani, 624; revolts against Zeman Shah, 626; its
pacification, ib.; sl political volcano after the deatii of Runjeet
Singh, 649; rise of the Sikh commonwealth {see Sikhs), 671; career
of Runjeet Singh, 673; history of his successors, 675; dangerous
power of the Sikh army of the Khalsa, 676; history of the first Sikh
war under Lord Hardinge, 679; settlement of the government, 683;
rebellion of Mulraj at Multan, 685; second Sikh war, 688; British
administration, 692; contrasted with native administration, 693;
military defence of the frontier, ib.; its possession the salvation of
the empire during the sepoy mutinies, 743.
Purdhans, or ministers in the Mahratta constitution, 387.
Purnea, the Brahman Dewan of Tippu of Mysore, 478; proposed con-
version to Islam, ib.; his administration in Mysore, 479; its char-
acter, 614; aspires to be a Peishwa, ib.; his death, ib.
Purundhur, treaty at, with the council of regency at Poona, 421; con-
demned by the Court of Directors, ib.
Pusput Nath, the great temple at Khatmandu, 660-1.
872 INDEX
R
Rajas of Malabar, the twelve, 125; sacred in battle, 147.
Rajagriha, or Giri-vraja, the capital of Magadlia, 62 note.
Raja Ram, his claims to succeed Sahu Rao as Raja of Satara, 269; sup-
ported by Tara Bai, 385; deserted and imprisoned by Tara Bai, 388;
his subsequent life as a state prisoner, 389, 393.
Rajasthan. See Rajputana.
Rajasuya, or royal sacrifice, celebrated by the Pandavas, 26.
Rajas, Rajput, 164 note.
Rajmahal, hill-ranges of, inhabited by the Santals, 711.
Rajputana, funereal pomp in the exile of princes, 48; founded by Raj-
puts, 100; invasion of, by Ala-ud-din, 105; wars of Akbar, 161; of
Aurangzeb, 213; Moghul retreat from, 215; Hindu revolt in, 242;
quarrels between Jodhpur and Jaipur, 524-5; shattered condition
of. 602; distractions in, 607.
Rajputs, claim to be Kshatriyas, 23 note; defeat the Indo-Scythians, 72;
descended from Surya or the sun, 81; league against the Turks,
95-6; defeated by Mahmud at Peshawar, 96; afterward at Somnath,
97; perform the Johur, or solemn self-sacrifice, at Chitor, 105;
divided into children of the sun and children of the moon, ib, note;
defeated by Baber, 154.
Rajput political system, league of princes under the suzerainty of
Chitor cemented by intermarriages, 160; policy of Akbar, 161; in-
corporation of the Rajput league with the Moghul empire, 162;
growing antagonism between Rajputs and Muhammadans during
the reigns of Jehangir and Shah Jehan, 184, 188; climax in the reign
of Aurangzeb, 212-15.
Rakshasas, a term of reproach applied to the aborigines of India, 14 note;
repre'sented as Asuras, demons and cannibals to the south and east
of Allahabad, 20; inhabit Magadha, the modern Behar, ib. note;
connection with Buddhism, 21 note; persecute the Brahmans at
Chitra-kuta, 55; wars with Rama, ib.; pictures of Rakshasas, 55-6;
identified with Buddhists, 56, 60.
Rama, approximate date of, 42 note; the son of Dasaratha, by Kau-
salya, 43; marries Sita, ib.; preparation for his instalment as Yuva-
raja, ib.; appears as the champion of the Brahmans, ib. note; con-
demned to exile, 46; his obedience to his father, ib.; historical
significance of the story of his exile, 47; contradictions in the story,
ib.; a political exile, not a religious devotee, 48; difference between
his exile and that of Drona, 48 note; journeys to Sringavera, ib.;
meeting with Bharata, 54; performs the Sraddha, ib.; refuses the
Raj, ib.; wars with the Rakshasas, 55-6; represented as an incarna-
tion of Vishnu, 56; prepares for war against Ravana, ib.; helps
Sugriva against Bali, whom he slays, 57; helped by Hanuman, the
hero of the monkeys, ib.; his miraculous bridge built by monkeys,
58 note; slays Ravana, ib.; triumphant return to Ayodhya, 59; per-
forms the Aswamedha, ib.; his cruelty to Sita, ib.; discovery of
Sita and her two sons, 59; reconciliation, 60; wild distortion of his
character in order to serve a religious purpose, ib.; an incarnation
of Vishnu. 81.
Ramanand, a disciple of Ramanuja Acharya, 475 note; his teaching, ib.
Ramanuja Acharya, the apostle of the Vaishnavas and A'ayngars, 475
and note.
Ramayana reveals a higher stage of civilization than the Maha Bharata,
42; its conclusion, a religious parable, 56; religious significance of,
59-60.
INDEX 873
Ramisserara, the modern Manaav, its association with Rama's miracu-
lous bridge, 58 note; procession to, 233.
Ramnad, estate of, granted to the ancestors of the great Marawar for
the protection of the pilgrims to Raniisseram, 486 note.
Ramnuggur, Gough's indecisive action at, 688.
Rampoora, captured by the English, 509; restored to Jaswant Rao Hol-
kar, 518.
Ram Rai, son of Timma the minister, becomes Maharaja of Vijayan-
agar, 119; his pride and insolence, ib.; dethroned by the revolt of
Termal Rai, ib.; deceives Termal Rai by pretended submission, 120;
recovers the throne, 131; alliance with the Muhammadan Sultansof
Bijapur and Golkonda, i6. ; sacrilege of his Hindu soldiery in Mu-
hammadan territory, ib.; defeated and slain in the decisive battle of
Talikota, 133; breaking up of the empire, 123.
Ram Raja. See Raja Ram.
Ram Shastri and Mahdu Rao, story of, 398; the upright Brahman, ib.;
investigates the murder of Narain Rao, 418; retires from Poona, 419.
Rangoon, maritime capital of Burma, founded by Alompra, 590; British
expedition to, 594; repulse of Bundula, 595; advance of Tharawadi,
655; casting of the big bell, ib.; petty oppressions of European and
American strangers, 656; oppression of British merchants, 695;
captured by British troops, 697; visit of Lord Maj'-o, 773.
Rani, or queen, 11; influence over a Raja, ib.
Ranjit Singh, the Jat, 401. See also Runjeet Singh.
Raiiuji Sindia, dynasty of, 385; menial duty performed by, 402; rise to
rank and wealth, ib. See Sindia.
Ravana, Raja of Rakshasas, 56; oppressor of the gods, ib.; carries off
Sita, ib.; slain by Rama, 58.
Rawlinson, Sir H., at Kandahar, 635; the question of retreat or advance,
643-4; his opinion of the gates of Somnath, 644 note.
Raymond, the French general in the service of Nizam Ali, 462; his con-
duct at the battle of Kurdla, 463.
Reed, General, Commander-in-chief in 1857, his resignation, 743 note.
Reinhardt, alias Soraers, Sombre, and Sumru, 353-3.
Ripon, Lord, Viceroy of India, 777.
Rituparna, Raja of Ayodhya, 43 note.
Roads of the Moghul empire, 330-1.
Roe, Sir Thomas, his embassy from James the First to the Great
Moghul, 175; landing at Surat, ib.; visit to Parwiz at Burhanpur,
176; journey to Ajmir, 177; visit to Chitor, ib.; meeting with Cor-
ya,t, ib.; audience with Jehangir, I'b.; failure of mission, 178; Moghul
festivals, 179; warnings to the Company, 180.
Rohilkund, Lord Clyde's campaign in, 753.
Rohilla Afghans, political situation of, 409-10; negotiations of Warren
Hastings with the Nawab Vizier of Oude, 410; Rohillas defeated by
the English, 411; unfortunate association of the English in the
Rohilla war, 413; condemnation of the war by Clavering, Monson,
and Francis, 413; charges against Warren Hastings, 441,
Rose, Sir Hugh, his brilliant campaign in Central India, 752-8; defeats
Tantia Topi, 754; his energeric action in the Sitana campaign, 761.
Rughoji Bhonsla, Raja of Berar, 384; family of, 419 note; his help im-
plored by Baji Rao, 500; his stupefaction at the treaty of Bassein,
ib.; his coalition with Daulat Rao Sindia, 501-3; defeated at Assaye
and Argaum, 504; sues for peace, t6.; Ijecomes a feudatory of the
British government, 505-6; demands the restoration of Cuttack and
Berar, 519; his death, 563. See also Bhonsla.
874 INDEX
Rughonath Pundit, leader of the moderate party at Khatmandu, 659;
made prime minister, ib.; his retirement, 661.
Rughonath Rao, afterward sixth Peishwa, commander of the Mahratta
army, 390; supports Ghazi-ud-din at Delhi, 391; advance to Lahore,
ib.\ driven out of the Punjab by the Afghans, 392; quarrels with
Mahdu Rao, 394; violet conduct of, ib.; plunders Berar and Hydera-
bad, 395; secret correspondence with Janoji Bhonsla, ib.; treacher-
ous slaughter of half the Nizam's army, 396 ; reconcihation with
Nizam Ali, ib.; fresh quarrels with Mahdu Rao, 897; imprisonment,
ib.; opposes Mahadaji Sindia, 403; release of, 417; supported by
Sakaram Bapu, 417-18; second imprisonment, 418; murder of
Narain Rao, ib.; implication, ib.; sixth Peisliwa, 418-19 and note;
befooled by Nizam Ali, 419; the revokition at Poona, ib.; applies
for help to Bombay, 420; treaty with the English at Surat, ib.;
intrigues and proceedings for his restoration to Poona, 421-3; throws
himself on the protection of Sindia, 423; set aside and pensioned
under the treaty of Salbai, 436.
Rumbold, Sir Thomas, governor of Madras, 428; refuses to recall the
expedition to Mahe, 429; sends Swartz on a mission of peace to
Hyder Ali, ib.: dealings with Basalut Jung respecting Guntoor,
430; inopportune demands upon Nizam Ali, ib.; return to England,
431.
Run Bahadur, Maharaja of Nipal, grandson of Prithi Narain, 535; over-
throws his regent uncle, 537; the Nero of Nipal, ib.; his madness,
538; feigned abdication, i6.; flight to Benares, 539; his dealings with
the English, 539-40; pledges himself to become aSwami, 540; his re-
turn to Nipal, 541; his murder, 542.
Runjeet Singh, rise of, 522; aggressions on the Cis-Sutlej states, 523;
mission of Charles Metcalfe, ib.; cajoled by Zeman Shah, 626; oc-
cupies Peshawar, 632; refuses to allow the English army to pass
through the Punjab. 635; his administration of the Punjab, 693.
Russian aggression in Persia and Georgia, 496 and note; extension of
power and influence in Central Asia, 618; advances toward the
Usbegs, 619; designs on Herat, 632; expedition to Khiva, 635-6; ad-
vances in Central Asia, 767; dealings with Sher Ali, 775.
Saadut Ali Khan, Subahdar of Oude, 255; a Persian Shiah, 256; drives
back the Mahrattas, 260; joins the Moghul imperial army, ib,;
growing power, 261; rivalry with Nizam-ul-mulk, 263; reported
secret correspondence with Nadir Shah, z&. ; captured at Kurnal,
264; treachery, ib.; suicide, 265.
Saadut Ali, enthroned by Sir John Shore as Nawab Vizier of Oude, 466;
hoarding of money, ib.
Sadras, Dutch settlement at, 274; captured by Lord Macartney, 437
note.
Sahu Rao, Maharaja of the Mahrattas, 243; vassal of the Moghul, ib.;
his effeminate training, 244; death of, 269, 287, 385; his imbecility, ib.
Saiyids, the two, conspire for the elevation of Farrukh Siyar to the
throne of Delhi, 246; successful rebellion, i&.; hostile intrigues of
Farrukh Siyar, 247; their supremacy at Delhi, 251; their fall, ib.;
their jealousy of Nizam-ul-mulk, 257.
Saka, era of, 72.
Sakaram Bapu, supports Rughonath Rao at Poona, 417-18; intrigues for
the return of Rughonath Rao, 431; ultimate fate of, 422.
INDEX 875
Sakuni, brother of Gandhari and uncle of the Kauravas, 26; a gambler,
the thrower of false dice, ib.; thi-ows the dice for Duryodhana, ib.;
reappears in the Ganges, 41.
Sakuntala, the drama of, written by Kalidasa, 88; marriage of a Raja
with a Brahman's daughter, 89; supernatural incidents, t6.; charac-
teristics, ib.
Sakya Muni, or Gotama Buddha, 61; his parentage and domestic circum-
stances, ib.; his vision, ib.; old age, disease, and death, ib.; his era,
ib. note; sees the religious mendicant, ib.; becomes a mendicant, a
recluse, and a Buddha, 62; his teaching, ib.
Salabut Jung, Nizam of Hyderabad, 296; cedes the Northern Circars to
the French, 303; rupture with Bussj^, 306: implores the help of the
English. i5.; critical position in the Dekhan, 334; dethroned and
confined, ib.; subsequent fate, ib. note.
Salbai, the treaty of, 436; Mahadaji Sindia's attempted violation of,
446.
Sale, General Sir Robert, at Jellalabad, 639; relieved by Pollock, 641.
Salivahana, era of, 72.
Salkeld, Lieutenant, at the siege of Delhi, 746.
Salsette, island of, coveted by the English, 399; ceded to Bombay by
Rughonath Rao, 420; and by the Mahratta council of regency', 421;
retained by Bombay in accordance with the treaty of Salbai, 436.
Sambhaji the First, son of Sivaji, 217; betrayed to Aurangzeb, ib.; suc-
ceeds to the kingdom of Konkan, 234 note.
Sambhaji the Second, Raja of Kolhapore, 384 note.
Sandrokottos, drives Eudemosoutof Taxila, 67; identified with Chandra-
gupta, ib.; his adventures, ib.; ascends the throne of Magadha and
drives the Greeks out of India, ib. ; alliance with Seleukos, ib. ; mar-
riage with the daughter of Seleukos, ib.; his palace, 69; bodyguard
of Tartar women, 194 note.
Sangerraano, Father, authentic details of the atrocities of Bhodau Phra
in Burma, 590.
Sanjaya, minister and charioteer, his mission to the Pandavas, 32; his
position, ib. note; failure of the mission, 33.
Sankhara Acharya, the apostle of the Smartals, 474 and note.
Santals, revolt of, 771; suppression, ib.
Santanu, Maharaji of Hastinapur, 12; claimed descent from Bharata,
ib. ; marriage with a young damsel, ib. ; the dreadful vow of his
son Bhishma, 14.
Sarfaraz Khan, son of Shuja Khan, 309-10; favoi'ite grandson of Mur-
shed Kuli Khan, 310; outwitted by his father, ib.; succeeds to the
throne of Murshedabad, 312; insolent tyranny, ib.; insults the family
of Jagat Seth, ib.; destruction, ib.
Saraswati, goddess of learning and mythical wife of Brahma, 82; con-
ception and worship of, 83; identified with the Indus river, ib. note.
Sarayu, river, the modern Gogra, 42, 48 note.
Satara, the capital of Sahu, the grandson of Sivaji, 384; Tara Bai's in-
trigues at, 388; invested by Balaji Rao's troops, 389; the pageant
Raja of, brought to Baji Rao's camp, 567; his proposed elevation by
the British government, 569; territory assigned for his support, 570;
partially resuscitated, 702; his extravagant pretensions, 702-3; de-
throned, 703; adoption refused to his successor, ib,; lapse of the
Raj, lb.
Sati, or Suttee, absence of, in the war of the Maha Bharata, 36 note.
Satrughna, third son of Dasaratha, 43.
Sawant Waree, 384 note.
876 INDEX
Saymbrumbaukum, the great water-tank of, 473.
Scythians, the Royal, 151 note; probably the Moghuls, 151.
Seedees or Sidis of Jinjeera and Surat, 383 and note.
Segowlie, the treaty of, 548.
Seistan, Sher Ah's grievances respecting, 775.
Seleukos, alUance with Sandrokottos, 67; marriage of his daughter, ib.
Selim, Prince, son of Akbar. See Jehangir.
Selimghur, the state prison at Delhi, 251, 744.
Serais, 231.
Serfoji, adopted son of the Raja of Tanjore, his claims to the throne of,
487-8; imprisoned by Amar Singh, 488; suspected bribery of Madras
pundits, ib.; a cipher Raja, ib.
Serin.'^apatam, Hyder All's life at, 436; captured by Cornwallis, 457;
stormed by General Harris, 471.
Serpent-worship, among the Manaris, 225.
Sethipati, title of, granted to the ancestors of the great Mara war, 486
note.
Shah Abbas the Second, of Persia, threatens Aurangzeb, 204.
Shah Alam, eldest son of Aurangzeb, 207; commander of the Muham-
madan army against Sivaji, *6. ; the sham rebellion, 207-8; takes a
part in the war in Rajputana, 214; struggles with Azam Shah, 241;
ascends the throne under the name of Bahadur Shah, ib.; rela-
tions with Madras, i6.; reign, 242; operations against the Sikhs,
243; death, ib.
Shah Alam, eldest son of Ahmad Shah, and known as the Shahzada,
327; threatens Bengal, ib.; Olive's dealings with, 329; proclaimed
Padishah under the name of Shah Alam, 340; threatens Patna, ib.;
defeated by Mir Kasim, 342; negotiations with Carnac, ib.; installa-
tion at Patna, ib.; letters of investiture, 343; secret negotiations
with Vansittart, 344; accompanies Shuja-ud-daula into Behar, 353;
joins the English, 354; converted by Clive into an imperial idol for
the resuscitation of the Moghul empire, 361; dealings with Clive at
Allahabad, 362; becomes a puppet Padishah, 366; his firman to
Clive, ib.; the second firman, 369; dealings with Hyder Ali, ib. note;
throws himself into the hands of the Mahrattas and returns to
Delhi, 370; Mahadaji Sindia's ambitious designs on, 403; political
results of his flight from Allahabad to Delhi, 406; severance of all
political ties with the English, ib.; forfeiture of his claim to tribute,
408; weak dependence on the Amir of Amirs, 444; invites Mahadaji
Sindia to Delhi, 445; disavows Sindia's demands for chout, 446; a
state pi'isoner at Muttra, 448; interviews with Mr. Charles Malet,
ib. ; his fallen state, ib. ; leaves Muttra for Delhi, 451 ; blinded by
Gholam Kadir, 452; taken by General Lake under the protection of
the British government, 504.
Shah Jehan, son of Jehangir, reported intrigues against his elder
brother, Khuzru, 180; his character, ib.; aspirations for the throne,
182; takes charge of Khuzru, 183; implicated in the murder of his
brother, ib.; excites the wrath of Jehangir, ib.; plots with Asof
Khan for seizing the imperial treasures at Agra, ib.; sack of Agra,
184; defeat at Delhi, ib.; ravages in Bengal, ib.; flight to the south,
ib.; sham death and bui-ial, 185; proclaimed Padishah, ib.; sends an
embassy to Persia to demand Bulaki, 186; obscurity of his reign, ib.;
his love of flattery, ib.; spite against the Portuguese, ib.; wreaks
his vengeance on Hughli, ib.; builds the new city of Jehanabad,
near old Delhi, 188; builds the Taj Mahal, i&.; zenana influences,
189-90; his four sons, 190; his rumored death, 191; his captivity at
INDEX 877
Agra, 194; imprisoned for life by his son Aurangzeb, 195; his mys-
terious death, 204.
Shah Shuja, Amir of Afghanistan, his reception of Elphinstone's mis-
sion at Peshawar, 538 note; previously appointed governor of Pesh-
awar by Zeman Shall, 626; supplants his brother Mahmud on the
throne of Kabul, 629; driven out by Mahmud and the Barukzais, ib,;
becomes a pensioner of the British government at Ludhiana, t6. ;
refuses to be a puppet king in the hands of the Barukzais, 631; sup-
planted on the throne of Kabul by Dost Muhammad, 632; British
government dethrone the Dost and restore Shah Shuja to Kabul,
634-5; his unpopular rule, 637; monopolizes the Bala Hissar, 638;
his perilous position, 642; murdei'ed by the Barukzais, ib.
Shahs of Persia, their rule, 261.
Shahryar, youngest son of Jehangir, 182; intrigues of Nur Mahal, ib.',
his expedition to Persia, 183; captured and blinded, 185.
Shahzada, his claims to Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, 327; flight from
Delhi, 329; correspondence with Clive, ib.; defeat and flight, ib.;
generosit}' of Clive, ib.; becomes Padishah. See Shah Alam.
Shaista Khan, vincle of Aurangzeb, appointed Viceroy of the Dekhan,
202; captvxres Poona, ib.; attacked by Sivaji, ib.; his suspicions of
Jaswant Singh, ib.
Shastri, Head, his importance in the Mahratta constitution, 387 and
note.
Shelton, Brigadier, in Afghanistan, 638; fails to enter Kabul, 639.
Sher Khan the Afghan, 155; gulls Humayun, ib.; defeats Humayun,
156; his rule in Hindustan, ib.
Sher Ali Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, Jewish features of, 149 note; his
rivalry with Afzal Khan, 768; his recognition by the British gov-
ernment, t&.; treacherous imprisoament of Afzal Khan, z&.; mad-
ness at the murder of his first-born, 769; flight to Kandahar, ib.;
recognized by Sir John Lawrence as ruler of Kandahar, ib.; his
futile effort to recover his throne, 770; flight to Herat, ib.; his sud-
den restoration to the thi'one at Kabul, ib.: dealings with Sir John
Lawrence, 771; conference at Umballa with Lord Mayo, 772; his
grievances, i&.; estrangement, 775; dealings with Russia, i6.; war
with England, ib.; death, ib.
Sher Singh, reputed son of Runjeet Singh, becomes Maharaja of Lahore,
676; begs English help against the army of the Khalsa, 677; his
violent death, ib.
Sher Singh, an influential Sikh Sidar, sent to co-operate with Edwardes
against Muh-aj at Multan, 687; deserts the English, ib.; his cold
reception by Mulraj, 688; goes to Lahore, ib.; doubtful battle of
Chilianwallah, 688-9; the final defeat at Guzerat, 689.
Shiahs, antagonism with Sunnis, 190; their tenets, 190-1; in Persia, 261.
Shitab Rai, rise of, 355; his proceedings in Oude, 356; negotiations be-
tween the Nawab Vizier, Shuja-ud-daula, and the English, ib.;
becomes deputy Nawab at Patna, 360, 371, 374; alarm at the coming
of Mr. George Vansittart, 376; artful behavior, 377; failings, 377-8;
origin and rise, 378-9; labors to alleviate the famine in Bengal, 381;
charges against, 405; acquittal, ib.; death, ib.; Mill's acceptance of
the acquittal, ib. note.
Shore, Sir John (Lord Teignmouth), works out the permanent land set-
tlement, 450; Governor-General, 461 ; his capacity, i6.; refuses to
help Nizam Ali against the Mahrattas, ib.; his weakness, 465; turns
attention to Oude, ib.; embarks for Europe, 466; return to the
policy of, 516; gives up Burmese political refugees, 593.
878 INDEX
Showers, Brigadier, pursuit of the rebels by, 748.
Shuja, son of Shah Jehan, 190; Viceroy of Bengal, ib,; a Shiah, ib.; de-
feated by Sulaiman and Jai Singh, 192; by Amir Junala, 195; flight
to Arakan, ib.; his alleged death, ib.; supposed reappearance in
Afghanistan, 210.
Shuja Khan, profligate son-in-law of Murshed Kuli Khan, 309-10; out-
wits his son at Murshedabad, 310; easy reign, ib.; death, 313.
Shuja-ud-daula, Nawab Vizier of Oude, son and successor of Sufdar
Jung, 327 note; harbors the Shahzada, 329; his ambitious views, i6.;
schemes to secure the Bengal provinces, 353; repulsed at Patna, ib.;
further schemes and return to Oude, 353-4; defeated at Buxar by
Hector Munro, 354; flight to the Rohilla country, ib.; negotiations
with the English, 355; final defeat and surrender, 356; the restora-
tion of Oude to, 361-2; converted by Lord Clive into an ally of the
English, 364; threatened by tlie Mahrattas, 409; claims against the
Rohillas, ib.: applies for an English brigade, 410; negotiations with
Warren Hastings at Benares, ib. ; his cowardice and cruelty in the
Rohilla war, 411; treaty with Faiz-ullah Khan, the Rohilla, 412;
his death, 414; his apparent bribe of ten lakhs to Warren Hastings,
442 7iote.
Siah Koh, mountains of Afghanistan, 620 and note.
Siam, invaded by the king of Burma, 586.
Sikhs, foundation of a brotherhood, 242; religious tenets, ib.; vengeance
against persecution, 243; operations of Bahadur Shah, tb. ; defeat
and wholesale executions, 250; invasion of Hindustan, 669; danger-
ous power of the army of the Khalsa, 676; invade British territory,
678; cross the Sutlej in force, 679; treacherous genei'als, ib.; de-
feated at Moodkee, 680; ousted from Ferozeshahar, ib.; flight to the
Sutlej, ib. ; hostilities x'enewed, ib.; defeated at Aliwal, 681; defeated
at Sobraon, 681-2; close of the first war with England, 682; growing
disaffection, 685; general outbreak, 687; joined by Afghans, 688;
fight the battle of Chilianwallah, 688-9; defeated at Guzerat, 689.
See Punjab and Runjeet Singh.
Sikri, defeat of Rajputs by Baber, 154.
Siladitya, empire of, 74; " Maharaja Adhiraj," ib.; his tolerance in re-
ligion, ib.; the field of happiness at Prayaga, 75; imperial almsgiv-
ing, ib.
Sinala, built on territory ceded by Nipal, 548.
Sinde, Arab invasion of, 95; conquered by Ahmad Shah Durani, 634; its
history previous to the English conquest, 647; cause and conduct of
the war, ib. ; conquest of , by Sir Charles Napier, ib.; annexation, ib.
Sindias of Gwalior, rise of the familj', 258, 384.
Sindia, Ranuji, founder of the family, originally keeper of the Peishwa's
slippers, 403.
Sindia, Mahadaji, an illegitimate son of Ranuji, his rise to power, 403;
conducts Shah Alam from Allahabad to Delhi, 403; places him on the
throne of Delhi, 406; calls on the English to pay tribute for Bengal,
408; refused, zb.; interferes in Poon-a affairs, 421; capture of Gwalior
by Captain Popham, 424; negotiates the treaty of Salbai, 436; re-
warded with the cession of English conquests in Guzerat, ib.; guar-
antee for the treaty of Salbai, 444; his designs on Delhi and Poona,
ib.; invited to Delhi, 445; murder of Afi-asiab. 445 and 7iote; founds
a new Mahratta kingdom in the Doab, 446; his French battalions
under De Boigne, ib.; demands chout for Bengal and Behar, ib.; re-
buffed by the English, ib.; hurt by the appointment of a Resident
at Poona, ib.; compelled to reti'eat from Muttra to Gwalior, 451;
INDEX 879
refuses to join Cornwallis against Tippu, 455; his commanding posi-
tion, 458; installation of tlie Peishwa at Poona as deputy of the
Givat Moghul, 459; persists in holding the Peishvva's slippers, ib.;
mock humility, i&.; his demands on the Peishwa, t6.; counter de-
mands of Nana Farnavese, 460; his death, ib.
Sindia, Daulat Rao, succeeds Mahadaji Sindia as Maharaja of Gwalior,
460; his intrigues with Baji Rao Peishwa, 464; plunders Poona, 465;
narrow escape from assassination, ib.; prevents Baji Rao from form-
ing an alliance with Lord Wellesley, 468; stubbornly resists all
overtures from the English to join in the defence of India against
the Afghans under Zeman Shah, 494; helps Baji Rao against Hol-
kar, 499; decisive defeat of the united armies a^t Poona, ib.; stupe-
fied at the treaty of Bassein, 500; forms a junction with the Bhonsla
Raja of Berar, t6. ; fails to induce Jaswant Rao Holkarto join them,
501; excites the alarm of Lord Wellesley by his French battalions,
ib.; vacillating dealings with Colonel Arthur Wellesley, 503; de-
feated at Assaye, ib.; at Argaum, 504; negotiations with Wellesley
and Malcolm, 505note; story of his minister, " Old Brag," ib.; offers
to co-operate with the English ag-ainst Jaswant Rao Holkar, 509;
treachery of his officers, 510; declares for Jaswant Rao Holkar, 511;
brought to his senses, ib.; difficulty with his overgrown army, 520;
ravages Udaipur, 525; entertains Pindharies, 537; dreaded by the
Court of Directors, 529; his evasive attitude, 555; outwitted by
Lord Hastings, 556; ultimatum of the British government, 556-7;
unlucky discovery of his treacherous negotiations witli Nipal, 557;
concludes a new treaty with the British g'overnment, ib. ; dies with-
out heirs, 605.
Sindia, Jankoji Rao, adopted by Baiza Bai, the widow of Daulat Rao,
606; Baiza Bai bent on being queen regent for life, ib.; civil war,
ib.; Lord William Bentinck refuses to interfere, ib.; recognition of
Jankoji Rao by the British government, ib.; settlement of Gwalior
affairs, ib.; weak and distracted government, 648-9; overgrown
army, 649; dies without heirs, 650.
Sindia, Jyaji Rao, adopted by Tai'a Bai, the widow of Jankoji Rao, 649-
50; disputes about the regenc}^, 650; Lord EUenborough outwitted
by Tara Bai, ib.; defeat of the army of Gwalior at Maharajpore and
Punniar, 651; settlement of Gwalior affairs, ib.; loyalty of Jyaji
Rao during the sepoj' mutiny, 741.
Singhs, the Sikh lion-warriors of Guru Govind, 671.
Sirdars, the Afghan, in the service of Nadir Shah, 623; leave the Per-
sian army and return to Kandahar, ib.; elect Ahmad Abdali to be
their Shah, ib.; prosperity under Ahmad Shah Durani, 624; starved
and imprisoned bv Payendah Shah, 625-6; the leaders of the Sikh
Misls, 672; Puritan and Pindhari types of, 672-3. See also Timur
Shah aticl Zeman Siiah,
Sita, wife of Rama, 43; accompanies Rama on his exile, 47; worships
the Ganges, 49; worships the Jumna, ib.; her abduction by Ravana,
56; her ordeal of purity, 58-9; cruelly abandoned by Rama, 59; res-
idence at Chitra-kuta, ib.; her two sons, ib.; reconciliation with
Rama, 60.
Sitabuldi, battle of, 565.
Sitana, the villages of, 758-9; inhabited by Hindu fanatics, 759; the
British campaign under Sir Neville Chamberlain, 759-61.
Siva, or Mahadeva, his place in the religion of the Turanians, 78;
in modern Hindu belief, 82; resolved by the Brahmans into the
Supreme Being, 84; idol pillar of, at Somnath, 96; destroyed by
880 INDEX
Mahmud, 97; worship of at Conjeveram, 474; worshipped by the
Smartals, 475; and by the Maduals, 476; abhorred by the Vaish-
navas and A'ayngars, 475.
Sivaganga Raja, or little Marawar, 486 note; feud with the Tondi-
nian, ib.
Sivaji the Mahratta, his appearance as a rebel and a freebooter in the
mountains of the Konkan, 199; his early career in the neighborhood
of Poona, 200; Rajput origin, ib.; a Avorshipper of Siva and Bho-
wani, ib,; reverence for Brahmans, ib.; genius for creating an army,
201; exploit with the tiger's claws. 201-2; alliance with Aurangzeb,
202; compromise with Bijapur, ib,; aggressions on the Moghuls,
ib,; night attack on Shaista Khan, 203; capture and plunder of
Surat, 203^; calls Surat his treasury, 204; scheme of Aurangzeb
for entrapping the mountain rat, 205; Sivaji flattered and duped,
ib.; audience with Aurangzeb at Delhi, 206; wrath at his recep-
tion, ib.; strange escape from Delhi, 207; attacked by a force of
Moghuls and Rajputs under Shah Alam, ib.; a sham rebellion, ib.;
wariness of Sivaji, 208; organizes a sj^stem of blackmail, or chout,
211; installed as Maharaja of the Konkan, ib,; conquests in the
Lower Carnatic, ib.; his death, ib.
Slave-kings, Afghan dynasty of, 100-1.
Sleeman, Colonel, his report on Oude, 709.
Smartal Brahmans, the sect of, 474; creed and distinctions, 475; non-
practice of the Chakrantikam, 481 7iote.
Smith, General, commanding the Poona Subsidiary Force, 562; his ap-
pearance at Poona, 563; sets out in pursuit of Baji Rao, ib.; defeats
the army of Baji Rao at Ashti, 568.
Smith, Sir Harry, defeats the Sikhs at Aliwal, 681.
Smith, Colonel Baird, Chief Engineer at the siege of Delhi, 748 note.
Sobraon, the battle of, 681-2.
Somnath, 96; the great temple at, ib.; battle of, 97; recovery of the
sandalwood gates captured by Mahmud, 644.
Spencer, Mr,, succeeds Vansittart as governor at Calcutta, 356; his cor-
rupt bargaining with Muhammad Reza Khan respecting the succes-
sion of the Nawabship of Bengal and Behar, ib. note, and 357; Clive's
anger at, 360.
Sraddha, performed by Bharata, 52; description of, ib. note.
Sringavera, the modern Suugroor, etc., 48; the Aryan barrier, ib.
Staunton, Captain, his brilliant defence of Korygaum, 568.
Stevenson, Colonel, moves up the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force toward
Poona, 500; co-operates with Colonel Wellesley against Sindia and
Rughoji Bhonsla, 500, 502.
St. Lubin, arrives at Poona as ambassador from the King of France,
421; attentions of Nana Farnavese, ib.
St. Thome, Portuguese settlement at, 229; captured by the generals of
the Sultan of Golkonda, ib.; by the French, ib.
Stoddart, Colonel, his public execution at Bokhara, 646.
Subahdar, 217; the common name for Viceroy of a province, 22Qnote,
Subder Ali, son of Dost Ali, Nawab of tlie Carnatic, 278; outwitted by
Chunder Sahib, 279; alarm at the Mahrattas, ib,; agreement wita
the Mahrattas, 280; proclaimed Nawab, 281; threatened by Nizam-
ul-mulk, ib.; perplexity, 281-2; levies contributions for the Mahrat-
tas, 282: assassination, ib.
Subhadra, the sister of Krishna, marries Arjuna, 26.
Subzi Mundi, or vegetable market, an old suburb at Delhi, 745.
Sudder, or Corapan3''s judicial courts, 413?iofe.
INDEX 881
Sudi'as, or cultivators, one of the four great castes, 77; not "wearers of
the thread," ib.\ probably of Turanian origin, ib.; contemned by
tiie Smartals, 475; separate quarters in towns, 476.
Sufdar Jung, Nawab of Oude. '621! note.
Sugriva, the monkey Raja, his alliance with Rama, 57.
Sukwar Bai, wife of Maharaja Sahu, her intrigues and vow, 385-6; cruel
death by Sati, 386.
Sulaiman, mountains of, the northwest frontier adopted by Lord Dal-
housie, 758.
Sulaiman, son of Dara, 192; escapes to Kashmir, 195; betrayal, ib.
Sumru, his massacre of the English at Patna. 352-3; his flight into
Oude, 358; his surrender demanded from the Nawab Vizier, 355;
subsequent career, ib. note.
Sumpthur, death of the Raja of, 607; civil wars, ib.', I'efusal of Lord
William Bentinck to interfere, ib.; terrible catastrophe, ib.
Sunnis, their tenets, 190; antagonism with the Shiahs. ib.; fierce con-
test with Shiahs at Kabul, 628; slaughter of Kuzzilbashes, ib.
Supreme Courts of Judicature created at the three Presidency capitals,
412-13 aud 7iote.
Suraj Mai, the Jat hero, 400; his dealings with the Moghuls, 401; sur-
rounded and slain, ib.
Suraj-ud-daula, grandson of Alivai-di Khan, 316; evil character, ib.; bit-
terness against the English, ib.; succeeds his gi'andfather as Nawab
at Murshedabad, 316-17; marches against Calcutta, 317; entry into
the captured town, 318; author of the tragedy of the JBlack Hole,
318-19; alarm at the advance of the English, 321; vacillations, ib.;
hostility toward the English, 322; general conspiracy against the
Nawab, ib.; defeat at Plassy, 323; taken prisoner and murdered,
325.
Surat, appearance of English at, 173-4; landing of Sir Thomas Roe, 175;
captured by Mahrattas, 203; called the treasury of Sivaji, 204; de-
scribed by Dr. Fryer in the reign of Aui-ang-zeb, 230-1; factory at,
removed to Bombaj', 236; successful war operations of the English
against the Moghuls, ib.; Abyssinian admirals, or Seedees, of, 383;
treaty at, between Rughonath Rao and the English at Bombay,
420.
Surya, the sun-god, Vaidik worship of. 80; ancestor of the Rajputs, 81.
Suttee, abolition of, bj^ Lord William Bentinck, 617.
Swamis, worshipped as gods by Brahmans, 84; their ceremonies of ini-
tiation and confirmation, 480-1.
Swarga, the heaven of Indra. 41 note, 80.
Swai'tz, the missionary in Tanjore, his mission to Hyder Ali, 429; his
description of Hyder All's palace life and administration at Sering-
apatam, 486-7; his description of Mahratta rule in Tanjore, 487.
Swatis, their behavior in the Sitana campaign, 760-1; interference of the
Akhoond, 761.
Swayamvara, or "self-choice," an ancient marriage festival, 22; that of
Draupadi, a Rajput romance, 22-3; that of Damayanti, 89-90; that
of the princess of Kanouj, 98; modern relic of, 161.
Sydenham, Captain, Resident at Hyderabad, his description of the Pind-
haries, 528.
Symes, Colonel, his mission to Ava, 593.
882 INDEX
Tagara, the modern Deoghur, 134-5 note.
Taj Mahal at Agra, description of, 188; built by Shah Jehan as the
mausoleum of his favorite wife, 189; occupied by Mr. Malet, 448.
Talains, people of the lower Irawadi. See Pegu.
Talukdars of Oude, 465 and note; their oppressive rule in Oude, 710;
hai'shly treated after the annexation, 712; general insurrection
during the sepoy mutiny, 739.
Talikota, decisive battle of, between the Muhammadan Sultans of the
Dekhan and the Hindu Raja of Vijayanagar, 121-2.
Tamil country, 107; language, ib. note.
Taujore, king-dom of, south of the Koleroon, 275; Rajas of, originally
Naiks or viceroys, under the Maharajas of Vijayanagar, ib.; water
supply dependent on Trichinopoly, 278, 485; conquered by the Mah-
rattas in the seventeenth century, 485; English aggressions on,
287-8; hostile demands of Chunder Sahib and Muzaffir Jung, 292;
delays of the Raja, ib.; aggressions of Nawab Muhammad Ali, 427;
restored to the Raja by Lord Pigot, ib.; bi-ought under British rule,
485; death of the Raja, 487; disputed succession, 487-8; Raja re-
duced to a pageant, 488; extinction of the dynasty, 706.
Tantia Topi, the Mahratta Brahman in the service of Nana Sahib, 741;
his militai-y genius, ib. note; defeats General Windham at Cawnpore,
751; routed by Sir Hugh Rose, 753; intrigues at Gwalior, ib.; raises
a new rebel army, 753-4; defeated, 754; pursued, captured, and ex-
ecuted, 755; a type of the old Peishwas, ib.
Tantras, mystic literature of the Turanians, 79.
Tara Bai, widow of Raja Ram, her intrigues at Satara, 885 and note;
her career, ib.; befooled by Balaji Rao, 886; the ordeal of Raja Ram,
887; her obstinacy, 889; general reconciliation, ib.; deatii of, 393
and note.
Tara Bai, widow of Jankoji Rao Sindia, 649; adopts Jyaji Rao, 650; as-
sumes the regency, ib. ; excites the wrath of Lord Ellenborough,
ib.; war against the army of Gwalior, 651; the regency intrusted to
a council of six nobles, ib.
Tartar invasions, 102; Tartars under Timur Shah, 110; ruling tribe
known as the Moghuls, 151.
Tartar women, imperial bodyguard of, 194 and note.
Tavernier, his description of Indian travel, 221, 224.
Taxiles, his kingdom in the Punjab, 64; his submission to Alexander,
ib.; his city of Taxila identified with Attock, 759 note.
Tej Singh, commander of the army of the Khalsa, 678; his treachery,
679; left to watch General Littler at Ferozepore, 680; flight from
Ferozeshahar, 681; flight at Sobraon, 682.
Telinga country, situated in the eastern Dekhan, 107; conquered by
Ala-ud-din, ib.; seat of the Telugu language, ib. note.
Tenasserim, province of British Burma, its position, 575 note; ceded to
the English, 596.
Terai, the forest at the base of the lower Himalayan slopes, 532; cause
of dispute in the negotiations between England and Nipal, 547-8.
Termal Rai, the mad Maharaja of Vijayanagar, 119; calls in the Mu-
hammadans, 120; does homage to the Sultan of Bijapur, ib.; be-
trayed by Ram Rai, ib.; outrageous proceedings in the palace, 121;
his suicide, ib.
Thakurs, or feudatory nobles of Rajputana, their refractory character,
602; their conflicting councils, 604; contest with Jhota Ram at
Jaipur, 608.
INDEX oo^
Thapa family of Nipal. See Bhim Seiii Thapa. _
Tharawadi, brother of the king of Burma, his absurd boasting m the
first Burmese war. 596; becomes king of Burma, 654; expels the
British Residency, 655; his empty threats, tb.; his disappearance, £.
Thibet, geographical position of, 531; invaded by the Ghorkas, 536;
Bogle's mission to, ih. note; Turner's mission, ih.
Thugs, or stranglers, execution of, 218; male and female, 233.
Timur Mirza, Shah of Afghanistan, 624; his rebellious subjects, 625; his
vengeance, ih.', remorse, madness, and death, ib.
Timur Shah, invades the Punjab and Hindustan, 110; invades India, 150.
Tippu, Sultan, son of Hyder Ali, 437; treaty with Lord Macartney, ih.-,
war with the Peishwa, 448; dangerous power of, 453; enmity against
the English, ib.; dealings with Nizam Ali, the French and Mah-
rattas, ih. ; attack on Travancore, 453-4; desolates the Carnatic,
455; bewilderment and submission to Lord Cornwallis, 457; -an ally
of France, 467; a hostile alliance, 468; displays open hostility, 470;
refuses explanations, ih.; overwhelmed, ih.; refuses humiliation,
471; death and character, ib.; his palace and administration, de-
scribed by Buchanan. 478; his aggressions inCoorg, 610.
Todar Mai, employed by Akbar to carry out the revenue settlement, 170.
Tod, Captain, afterward Colonel, his active interference in Rajputana,
602; his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, ih. note.
Todd, Major D'Arcy, his withdrawal from Herat, 636-7; his fate, 637.
Tondiman. Poligar, helps Major Lawrence and Nawab Muhammad Ali
during the siege of Trichinopoly by the French, 300; his wrath at
the Nawab's dealings with the Mysore regtmt, 302; his feud with
the Sivaganga Rajas, 486 note.
Tongso Penlovv, or governor of eastern Bhutan, 764, 766 note.
Tonk, principality of, founded by Amir Khan, 524, 558.
Tonk Rampoora. See Rampoora.
Toungoo, its position in the interior of Burma, 579 note.
Toy-cart, the Sanskrit drama of, 91; story of, 91-2; unsatisfactory de-
nouement, 93.
Travancore, Raja of, attacked by Tippu Sultan, 453-4.
Trichinopoly, kingdom of, 275; war of the succession, 278; interference
of the Nawab of the Carnatic, ih.; treacherously seized by Chunder
Sahib, 279; occupied by Muhammad Ali, 296; closely besieged by
Chunder Sahib and the French, ib. ; relieved by Clive's occupation
of Arcot, 298; English triumphant, 300; importance of, as the key
to the Hindu Carnatic, 301. . .
Trimbukji Dainglia, the minister of Baji Rao, 550; implication in the
murder of Gungadhur Shastri, 552; surrendered to the English and
confined, ib.; his romantic escape, 553; his army of rebels, ib.;
captured and confined, 570.
Trivadi, victory of Dupleix at, 293.
Tughlakabad, capital of the Tughlak Sultans, 108. ^ , . „ . ,
Tughlak, Turkish governor of Punjab, 108; captures Delhi, ib.; founder
of the dynasty of Tughlak Sultans, ib. See Muhammad Tughlak.
Tukaji Holkar. See Holkar. o ■, , * +u
Tulsi Bai assumes the government of Indore, 523; declares tor the
Peishwa, 566; barbarously murdered, 567.
Turanians, relics of, 78; their religion turning on the mysteries ot lite
and death, ib. . loi o
Turkey, Sultan of, makes war on the Portuguese in India, Idl-^.
Turks'and Afghans, 94 et seq.
Turner, his mission to Thibet, 536 note.
884 INDEX
U
Udaipur, or Oodeypore, foundation of, 163; Rana of, maintains his in-
dependence, 208; rejects the insolent demands of Aurangzeb, 314;
quarrel between Jaipur and Jodhpur respecting the Rana's daughter,
524-5; unsuccessful appeals of the Rana for British interference,
535; murder of the pi-incess, 526.
Udai Singh, Rana of Chitor, 163; founds Udaipur, ib.; his vow, ib,
Ujain, kingdom of, 71; scene of the Toy-cart, 91; victory of Aurangzeb
at, 193.
Ulama, the collective body of Muhammadan lawyers and divines, 165;
hated by Abul Fazl, 166; their authority derided and usurped by
Akbar, 167.
Umballa, conference between Lord Mayo and Sher Ali at, 773.
Umbeyla Pass, position of the British army during the Sitana campaign,
750-60.
Umra Singh, prince of Jodhpur. his refractory conduct at the court of
Shah Jehan, 187-8.
Umritsir, the religious centre of the Sikhs, 672.
Upadasa imparted by Gurus, 480-1 and note.
Upton, Colonel, sent to Poona as agent of the Bengal government, 430.
Usbegs, drive Baber out of Bokhai-a, 153; the foes of Persia, 363; serve
in the army of Nadir Shah, 265; states of Khiva, Bokhara, and
Khokand, 619; Russian advances, ib.
Vaidik hymns and Vaidik gods, 79-83; moral influence, 81.
Vaidika Brahmans, 476.
Vaishnavas, the sect of, 474, 475; their creed and distinctions, ib.
Vaisyas, or merchants, one of the four great castes, 25 note.
Vaka, a cannibal Asura slain by Bhima, 21; the story apparently an
allegorical fiction, ib. note.
Vallabhi Rajas supplant the Guptas, 73.
Valmiki, his hermitage, 49; the mythical author of the Ramayana, 49,
59.
Vansittart, Mr., succeeds Hoi well as governor of Bengal, 336, 340;
vacillating proposals for a deputy Nawab, 340-1; his relations with
Mir Jaflr and Mir Kasim. 341; refusal of a bribe, ih.; the proposed
advance of the English to Delhi, 343; secret negotiations, 344; the
debates about private trade, 346-7; failure as an arbitrator, 346;
factious opposition. 347; proposes to make terms with the Nawab,
351; i-eturns to England, 356.
Vansittart, George, sent to overlook the native administration at
Patna, 376; gulled by Raja Shitab Rai, ib.
Varanavata, the ancient Prayaga and modern Allahabad, 30.
Varuna, the Vaidik god of the sea, 80.
Vasco de Gama, leaves Lisbon with a fleet, 136; anchorage off Calicut,
ib.\ audience with the Zamorin, 137; fails to establish a trade in
Calicut, 138; returns to Portugal, ib.
Vayu, Vaidik god of wind, 56; subject to Ravana, ib.\ personification, 80.
Vellore, fortress of, twelve miles from Arcot, 379; assassination of Sub-
der Ali at, 381-3; visited by Buchanan, 477; sepoy mutiny at, 530;
cause of the mutiny, 531.
Venk-tapa Naik, Raja of Kanara, 137; receives the Portuguese ambas-
sadors, 138; annexes the Raj of Banghel, 143.
INDEX 885
Ventura, General, in the service of Runjeet Singh, 674.
Verelst, Mr., governor of Bengal, 367; obtains the blank firman for the
government of Hyderabad from Shah Alam, 369; returns to Eng-
land, 370; his experiences of native administration, 375.
Victoria, Queen, assumes the direct government of India, 756; pro-
claimed Empress of India at the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi, 774.
Vidarbha, residence of Nala and Damayanti, 90.
Viiayanagar, ancient Hindu empire at, associated with the worship of
Vishnu, 118; same as Narsinga, ih.; city of, 114; Krishna Rai in-
sulted by the Bahmani Sultan, ih.\ marriage of the Hindu princess
toaMuhammadanSultan, 117; atrocities at the court, 118; rebellion
of Termal, 119; recovery of the throne by Ram Rai, 121; hostile
confederacy of the Muhammadan Sultans of the Dekhan, i5.; terri-
ble defeat at Talikota, 132; dismemberment of the empire, 123.
Vikramaditya, era of, 72 note. .
Virata, the resting-place of the Pandavas, 29; the modern Ban-at, ib.
note; story of the Raja of Virata, ib.
Vishnu, his worship, a development of that of Surya the sun, 81; m
modern Hindu belief, 82; the Supreme Spirit in modern Brahman-
ism, 87; worshipped at Conjeveram, 474; worshipped by the Vaish-
navas and A'ayngars, 475.
Viswakarma, the architect of the gods, helps Bharadwaja, 53.
Vizagapatam, English driven out of, 332.
Vizianagram, Raja of, his feud with Bobili Raja, 331; assassmated by
Rajputs, ib, ^ ^/.i- /.
Vizier Ali, recognized by Sir John Shore as Nawab Vizier of Oude, 465-6;
deposed on the score of illegitimacy, 466.
Vyasa, "the arranger," 37; part played by him in the Maha Bharata,
38; appears on the banks of the Ganges, 40; invokes the dead war-
riors of the Maha Bharata, ib.
W
Wahabis, sect of, located on the Mahabun mountain, 759. See Sitana.
Wakiahnawis, court or news-writers of Aurangzeb, 218, 225.
Wales, H.R.H. the Prince of, his visit to India, 774.
Wandiwash, battle of, 335. . , .
Watson, Admiral, joined by Chve, 305; destruction of Gheria, dOb; joint
recapture of Calcutta, 319-20; joint capture of Chandernagore,
321.
Wellesley, Colonel, afterward Duke of Wellington, accompanies the
Madras army in the last war against Tippu, 470; commands the
Madras army after the restoration of Baji Rao to Poona, 500;
watches Daulat Rao Sindia and the Bhonsla, 500-1; stops the vacil-
lations of Sindia, 503; glorious victory at Assaye, 503-4; victory at
Argaum, 504; negotiations with Sindia, 505; story of " Old Brag,
ib. note. , n t t t j
Wellesley, Marquis of, appointed Governor-General of India as Liord
Mornington, 467; alarm at the French, 467-8, 470, 496, 501-2; seeks
to establish a balance of power, 467; an impossibility, ib.; alliance
with Nizam Ali, 468; insists on the disbandment of the French bat-
talions at Hyderabad, t6.; rebuffed by the Mahratta powers, t&.;
demands explanations from Tippu of Mysore, 470; conquest of My-
sore, 471; deputes Buchanan on a journey through Mysore and
Malabar, 472; assumes the direct administration of Tanjore, 485; of
the Carnatic, 489; abandons the policy of a balance of power, and
886 INDEX
adopts that of a paramount power with subsidiary alliances, 492;
dealings with the Nizam, 493; proposals rejected by the Peishwa
and Daulat Rao Sindia, 493^; alarm at the threatened invasion of
the Afghans under Zeman Shah, 494; demands on the Nawab Vizier
of Oude, 495; sends Captain John Malcolm on a mission to Persia,
496; defeat of Baji Rao Peishwa at Poona by Jaswant Rao Holkar,
499; treaty of Bassein foi'ced on the Peishwa, ib.; objections to the
ti'eaty, 500; alarm at the French battalions of Daulat Rao Sindia,
and the designs of Napoleon, 502; campaign of Arthur Wellesley in
the Dekhan, 503; of General Lake in Hindustan, 504; Great Moghul
taken under British pi'otection, ib.; protective treaties with Rajput
and other native princes, 505-6; cedes Berar to the Nizam, 506;
difficulties with Jaswant Rao Holkar, 506-7; military operations
against Holkar, 508; disastrous retreat of Colonel Monson, 509-10;
unexpected successes of Holkar, 511; return of Lord Wellesley to
England, ib.; compared with Akbar, 512; his ei'rors the outcome of
genius, ib.; remodels the Indian civil service, 513; reaction against
his policy, 514-15; his errors, 516; his mortification, t&.; his dealings
with Nipal, 539-41; his policy adopted by Lord Hastings, 529.
Wheeler, General Sir Hugh, commanding at Cawnpoi'e, 731; his prep-
arations for defence, 732; receives a threatening letter fi'om Nana
Sahib, 733; negotiations with Nana Sahib, 735; the massacre at
Cawnpore, 735-6.
Wheler, Mr., a member of council under Warren Hastings, 425.
Whish, General, retires from Multan, 687; captures Multan, 689; joins
Gough against Sher Singh, ib.
Whitehill, Mr., governor of Madras, 431; evil administration, ib.; in-
vasion of Hyder Ali, ib. ; deposed by Warren Hastings, 433.
Willoughby, Lieutenant, gallantry in blowing up the arsenal at Delhi,
725-6; his death, 726.
Wilson, General, Commander-in-chief at the siege of Delhi, 742 no^e;
capture of Delhi, 748.
Windham, left at Cawnpore by Sir Colin Campbell, 750; defeated by
Tantia Topi, 751; abandons Cawnpore to the Gwalior rebels, ib.
Wurgaum, convention of, 423.
Wylde, General, his expedition against the Afghan tribes on the Black
Mountain, '7Q2 note.
Wynch, governor of Madras, turned out of the service by the Court of
Directo.rs, 427.
Yakub Khan, son ot Sher Ali Khan, governor of Herat, 769; restores
his father to the throne of Kabul, 770; imprisoned by Sher Ali
Khan, 775; his accession to the throne of Afghanistan, ib.; abdi-
cation, 776.
Yama, the judge of the dead in the Vaidik mythology, 56, 81.
Yandabo, treaty of, with Burma, 596.
Yar Muhammad Khan, the real ruler of Herat, 633; his antagonism to
Persia, t&.; helped by British gold, 636; treacherous correspondence
with Persia, ib.; his death, 714.
Yogis and their king described by Delia Valle, 143-4.
Yudhishthira, son of Kunti, 15; the eldest of the Pandavas, 16; his jeal-
ousies, i&.; appointed Yuva-raja, 20; loses his wife in a gambling
match, 27; takes possession of Hastinapur, 37; celebi'ates the As-
wamedha, 39.
INDEX 887
Yuva-raja, or little Raja, custom of appointing as heir-apparent, still
prevailing in Hindu courts, 19-20; similar custom among the Jews,
20 note.
Z
Zabita Khan, the Rohilla, succeeds his father, Najib-ud-daula, as Amir
of Amirs at Delhi, 402; flight to the Rohilla country, 403; his death,
451.
Zamorin of Calicut, 126; receives the Portuguese ambassadors, 127;
Portuguese embassy to, 144; his troubles, 145; appearance of, 147;
cause of his feud with the Raja of Cochin, 148.
Zeman Shah, Amir of Afghanistan, desires to invade India, 494; his in-
vasion a bugbear, 495; his fate, ib.; story of his reign, 625-8; the
pacification of the Punjab, 626.
Zemindars, their judicial and administrative powers, 372; checked by
the right of petition to the Nawab, 373; authority transferred to
European collectors, 405; change of prospects under the permanent
land settlement of Lord Cornwallis, 450.
Zend party in Persia, their quarrels with the Kajar, 496.
Zingaflfs of Bhutan, cori*esponding to messengers or chuprassies, 764.
Zulfikar Khan, Nawab of the conquests of Aurangzeb in the Dekhan
and Peninsula, 233-4; bribed by the English at Madras, 234; his
wars with Ram Raja, the Mahratta, ib.; defeats Kam Baksh, 241;
political supremacy at Delhi, 245; advances against Farrukh Siyar,
2^6; submission and assassination, ib,; saves the life of Nizam-ul-
mulk, 257.
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