Full text of "The Indian empire: history, topography, geology, climate, population, chief cities and provinces; tributary and protected states; military power and resources; religion, education, crime; land tenures; staple products; government, finance, and commerce. With a full account of the mutiny of the Bengal army; of the insurrection in western India; and an exposition of the alleged causes"

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VOL, H

THE

INDIAN EMPIRE:

ITS HISIORY, TOPOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND STAPLE PRODUCTS.

WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE

MUf OY OF TEE MATI¥i! TKOOPS,

AND AN EXPOSITION OF THE

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF ONE HUNDRED MILLION SUBJECTS OF THE CRO\ra OF ENGUND.

BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, ESQ.,

LATE TREASURER TO THE QUEEN AT HONG KONG, AND MEMBER OF HER MAJESIt's LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL IN CHINA.

Illustrated toitl Paps, portraits, fiftos, ^t., fiom #rtginal MMp.

NEW TOEK:
PUBLISHED BY S. D. BRAIN, 55, DEY STREET.

DEDICATED BY

HER MOST GRACIOUS

AUTHORITY TO

MAJESTY THE QUEEN.

THE

INDIAN EMPIRE:

HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, CLIMATE, POPtTLATlON, CHIEF CITIES AND PROVINCES ; TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED

STATES ; MILITARY POWER AND RESOURCES ; RELIGION, EDUCATION, CRIME ; LAND TENURES ;

STAPLE PRODUCTS ; GOVERNMENT, FINANCE, AND COMMERCE.

WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE

MtTTIinr OF THE BENGAL AEMT ; OF THE INSUEKECTION IN WESTEEN INDIA; AND AN EXPOSITIOIT

OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES.

BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN,

AUTHOR OF THB *' HI8T0&T OF THE BRITISH COLONIES," BTC.

ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS, PORTRAITS, AND VIEWS.

VOL. I.

HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, POPULATION, GOVERNMENT, FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND STAPLE PRODUCTS.

THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED:

97, 98, 99, ft 100, ST. JOHN STREET, LONDON; AND 55, DET STREET, NEW YORK.

I/./

INDEX

VOL. I. OF THE "INDIAN EMPIRE."

AbifaUig, or Dooranis, 173.
Abul Fazil, author of Aiher Namah,
and Ayeen Akhery, 91, 108; assassi-
nation, 114.
Adit Shah dynruty at Beejapoor — ori!?in,
96 ; war with Humayun, 130 ; extinc-
tion by Aurungzebe, 150.
Adminiiifration ofjujitice, 550, 551.
Afyhans, or Patans, 86.
Afyhan war — opinions thereon, 435.
Afghanistan, 11 ; reception of Moham-
medanism, 56 ; war with Aurunazebe.
147 , Shah Soojah restored by British
troops, 437 ; British beleaguered in
Cabool cantonments, 440 ; capitula-
tion and retreat, 442 ; massacre in the
Jugduliuck Pass, 443; British reoccu-
pation of Cabool, 445 ; proceedings of
" army of retribution" denounced by
Lord Brougham, 447 ; destruction of
Great Bazaar and Mosque, 448 ; evacu-
ation of the country, 448.
Agra occupied by Baber, 81; captured by

Lake, 396; topography, 481.
Ahalya Dye. (See Holcar Principality).
Aheer, or shepherd, 249.
.4hmedmiggur, 98; kingdom subjugated

by Shah Jehan, 130.
Ahmed Shah {Emperor), accession, 173;

deposition, 175.
Ahmed Shah Doorani, King of Afgha-
nistan, 3; invades India, 173; obtains
cession of the Punjab, 175; gains the
battle of Paniput, 179.
Ajmeer, 106.

Akber {Emperor), birth, 88 ; early perils,
91; accession, 107; Hindoo marriages,
110; conquests, 110; character, 115;
personal appeai-ance, 116; death, 116;
vast wealth, 119.
Akber Khan, the Wallace of Cabool, 440,

442, 445.
Alexander the Great, 21, 25; invades
India, 27; Indian marches, 29, 36;
departure and death, 35; cities or mili-
tary stations founded by him, 37 ; his
commercial policy, 37.
Ali Verdi Khan, or Mohabet Jung, vice-
roy of Bengal, 170, 243; death, 271.
Allahabad and Corah, sold by E. \. Com-
pany to Shuja Dowlah, 326.
Almora (see Kumaon), 413.
Alumgeer II. {Emperor), accession, 175;

assassination, 176,
Amber, or Jeypoor, 106; Rajah Jey Sing
II. builds Jeypoor, 162; condition of
principality in 1745, 249.
Amboyna; Dutch government torture and

execute English factors, 209.
Ameer Khan, Mohammedan adventurer,

392, 393, 408, 416.
Ameer-ool-Omra ; Ameer, Emir, or Mir,

75.
Ameers of Sinde, division of power, 449;
patriarchal administration, 450; con-
quered and deposed by British, 452 ;
case of Ali Morad, 452, 459.
Amercot, Rajpoot principality, 88, 106,
452.

Amrut Rao, 393, 394.
Anjengo settlement, 253.
Arcot, founded, 251; occupation and de-
fence by Clive, 264.
Aria {Kingdom of), 48.
Armegaun, station formed there, 211.
Army {Anglo-Indian), state in 1765.
304 ; increased to enforce collection of
taxes, 312 ; hired by Shuja Dowlah to
extirpate Rohillas, 329 ; arrears of pay,
352; sepoys faithful, though nearly
starving for want of pay, 361 ; arrears
in 1786, 365; state in 1798, 378;
European and native force join British
in Egypt, 388 ; dissatisfaction of Euro-
peans at Madras, 409; state in 1817,
416; military expenditure, 422; con-
dition before the mutiny of 1857, 553 —
555 ; tabular view of Europeans and
natives employed, 565.
Arracan, ceded to E. I. Company by King

of Ava, 425.
Artillery, early use in India, 96.
Aseerghur, ^04, 105; obtained possession
of by the first Nizam, 159; captm'ed
by the English, 398.
Asiatic Society of Bengal, 375.
Asoca, edicts of, 86.
Asiif Jah (see Cheen Kilich Khan), 150 ;

meaning of term, 160.
Attoci Fort, 113.

Auningzebe {Emperor), 6; character, 133 ;
usurpation, 135; imprisons his father,
135 ; procures the death of his brothers
and nephews, 135 — 139; illness, 140;
Hindoo insurrection, 147 ; rebellion of
his son. Prince Akber, 148 ; personal
ajjpearance, 151 ; his armies, 151 ; last
campaign in the Deccan, 152; death,
153; will, decreeing division of empire
among his sons, 153; peculiar direc-
tions for his funeral, 153; farewell
letters, 153; conduct to Hindoos and
to conquered enemies, 154; anecdote,
229.
Auto da Fe'at Goa, 193.
Ayeen AJcbery, 570.

Baber {Emperor), early history, 79 ;
invasion of India, 80 ; autobiogra-
phy, 80 — 82 ; foundation of Mogul
empire, 83 ; death, character, and
career, 84.

Bactria {Kingdom of), 48 — 50.

Bahadur Shah, or Alum Shah Bahadur,
Emperor (Prince Mauzim), 140; gene-
rous mediation O'l behalf of King of
Golconda, and seven years* imprison-
ment, 150; accession, 154; wars and
death, 155.

Bahadur Shah, King of Guzerat, opposes
Humayun, 84 ; killed by Portuguese,
85.

Bahair, or Behar (Magadha), 15, 18, 107.

Bahmani kings of the Deccan, origin of
dynasty, 93 ; good King Mahmood
Shah I., 93, 94 ; Humayun the Cruel,
94 ; extinction of dynasty, 96.

Baird {Sir David), 381, 382.

Bandu, Seik lewder, 155 ; capture and

execution, 157.
Banians, native bankers, 218,
Banks {Indian), 565,
Bappoo Gokla (Mahratta general), 417,

418,
Bareed Shah dynasty of Bedar, 101.
Barlow {Sir George), provisional admin-
istration, 406 ; breach of treaties, 406.
Batecala, defended by Ranee against
Portuguese, 191 ; massacre of English
for slaughter of a cow, 230.
Batta, extra pay, 304, 428.
Battles, Paniput (1526), 81; Paniput
(1556), 108; Huldighat (1592), 112;
Samaghur(1658), 134; Cujwa (1659),
137; Kurnaul (1738), 164; Paniput
(1759), 179; Plassy (1757), 278;
Buxar (1764), 299 ; Chercoolee (1771),
319; Barcilly (1774), 329; Porto
Novo (1781), 354; Poliloor (1781),
355; .\ssaye (1803), 395; near Delhi
(1803), 396; Laswaree (1803). 397;
Argaura (1803), 398 ; Kirkee (1817),
417; Corvgaum (1818), 418; Ashtoe
(1818), 419; Mahidpoor (1817), 420 ;
Tezecn (1818), 420; Meanee (1843),
451 ; Hyderabad (1843), 452 ; Maha-
rajpoor (1843), 452; Puniar (1843),
452 ; Moodkee and Ferozshah (1845),
454 ; Aliwal and Sobraon (1846), 455 ;
Chillianwallah (1849), 456; tabular
view of principal battles, 460 — 463.
Beechioa, Mahratta weapon, 143.
Beejanuggur, Hindoo kingdom, 95 ; ex-
tinction, 97.
Beejapoor, conquered by Aurungzebe, 150.
Beera. or pan, HI.

Benares, 17 ; Rajah Cheyte Sing deposed
by Warren Hastings ; resistance, de-
feat, and banishment ; annexation of
principality by E. I. Company, 360 —
362 ; natives resist a house-tax, 410.
Benfleld {Paul), intrigues in the Car-

natic, 347.
Bengal, 106; state of presidency in 1707,
234 ; in 1757, 271—282; revenue and
expenditure in 1760, 290; corruption
of officials, 294 ; general profligacy,
1760 to 1770, 307; civil service in
1772, 322 ; supreme council, 331.
Bentinck {Lord William), character given
by Jacquemont, 428 ; administration,
428—431.
Berar, or Nagpoor (see Bhonslay family),
invaded by Patans and Pindarries, 409,
414 ; subsidiary force established in
Berar, 414; annexation, 459.
Bemadotte, captured by British at Cud-

dalore, 358.
Bemier, Shah Jehan's French physician,

132.
Bhamalpoor {Khan of), rewarded by Lord

Ellenborough, 450.
Bheels, 141.

Bhonslay family establish principality in
Berar, 168; Pursojee, 168; Ragojee,
394 ; Cuttack and Balasore surren-
dered to E. I. Company, 399 ; Appa

INDEX. TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN KMPIRE.'

Sahib usurps the throne, *M ; joins
Peishwa against English, 418; defeat,
flight, and obscure death, -420.

Bhopal. 416.

BhOK (Mahratta term), 177.

Bkurtpoor {Jat /ortres* of), 249, 406,
42G.

BiJtmeer (Rajpoot slate of), 106.

Buhopa of Ca/cK//o— Middleton, 421 ;
Heber, 421 ; James, 421 ; Turner, 421.

Bombay, island ceded by Portugal, 216;
transferred by crown to E. I. Company,
217; population, 217; presidency,
315, 340—345 ; topography, 481.

Boodlium,\i,\<i; Alompra, 422; Shwe-
da-gon, or Boodhist temple, 424-

Bort, Macedonian galleys injured by
phenomenon. 34.

Boughton (Gabrifl), obtains trading pri-
vileges from Shah Jehan, 214.

Brakminism, 13, 15.

Brahmim, character of, by Abul Fazil,
117.

Brigffs (Colonel), translation of Ferishta*s
History of Mohammedan India, 55 ; and
of the Siyar ul Mutakherin, 156.

Brinjarriet, itinerant corn dealers, 370.

Brvce'i Annals of E.I. Company, 231.

Brydon (Dr.), survivor of Cabool mas-
sacre, 443.

Bullaee, Bullawa, or Dher, Hindoo func-
tionary, 572.

Bundelcund, 106, 395; annexation, 398.

Buonaparte, letters to Tippoo Sultan
and Zemaun Shah, 377.

Burman Empire, 423 ; migration of
Mughs, 423 ; first Burmese war, 423 ;
titles of kings of Ava, 423 ; English
invasion, 424 ; second Burmese war,
456.

Burnet (Sir Alexander), 438, 439.

Bwsy, Frencli commander-in-cjiief, 261,
263 ; captured by English, 285.

Byadhee, Hindoo functionary, 572.

Caaba, or Kaaba, at Mecca, 52.

Cabool, severed from Mogul empire by
Nadir Shah, 167 ; Zemaun Shah, 377,
388, 433 : Shah Soojah and Dost Mo-
hammed, 433. (See Afghanistan).

Cabot (Giovanni or John), 197.

Calcutta — settlement formed, and Fort
William built, 221 ; presidency created,
235; soil purchased in fee-simple, 240;
Mahratta ditch formed, 243 ; Fort
William besieged and taken by Surajah
Dowlah, 273 ; the " Black Hole," 273 ;
Fort William recaptured by Clive and
Watson, 274; supreme court in 1780,
337; topography, 481.

Cttli, consort of Siva, 253 ; human heads
offered at her shrine at Chittledroog,
348.

Calicut (Hindoo principality of), 182 ;
Portuguese defeated, 186.

Cananore (Hindoo principality of), 184.

Candahar, conquered by Baber, 80 ; lost
by Shah Jehan, 131 ; kingdom founded
by Ahmed Shah, an Afghan, 172;
Cashmere incorporated with Candahar,
219; city occupied by Shah Soojah
and the English, 436.

Canovj, anci;nt Hindoo city, 65.

Carcuont, or clerks, 141.

Cumatic, extent, 93 ; singular misnomer,
25 1 ; English and French support rival
nawaba, 263 ; history during the iSth
century, 270; renewal of hostilities,
283; oufferings of popuUtion, 315;
annexation, 387 ; Carnatic debt and
firm of Palmer and Co., 421.

Cathmere, 41 ; history of, 113; " aafiron

meads," 127 ; favourite retreat of suc-
cessive emperoro, 249; severance from
empire, 249.

Caste, 14 ; interference with, at Vellore,
407.

Cazi, or Mohammedan judge, 117.

Champaneer hill-fort, 102.

Chanderi, 106.

Chandemagore, French settlement, cap-
tured by English, 275 ; condition in
1757,275.

Chandragiri (Rayeel or RojaJit of), 213,
218, 250, 253.

Changi, standard of Mewar, 112.

Chamock (Job), 222.

Cheen Kilich Khan, 1 56 ; known as
Nizam-ool-Moolk, the Nizam, and
Asuf Jah — intrigues at Delhi, 158 ;
governor of Malwa, 158; founds an
independent power in the Deccan, 159;
becomes vizier, 160; called " the old
Deccani baboon," 160 ; quits Delhi in
disgust, 160; returns to the Deccan,
and establishes his government at Hy-
derabad, 160; courted back to Delhi,
162 ; character, 162, 167 ; death, 173.

Chelah, 118.

Child (John and Josiah), 220.

Cholera, or Black Death, traverses India
in 1817, 419.

Chout, levied by Sevajee, 146, 249.

Chowkeedar, Hindoo functionary, 572.

Christianity in India, 529 — 535.

Chunar fortress, captured by Humayun,
86.

Cities (principal Indian), 481 — 485.

Clavcring (General), 331 ; quarrel with
M'arren Hastings, 336 ; death, 337.

CTima/e, 486— 491.

Clive (Robert, Lord), birth and early
career, 258 ; attempts suicide, 258 ;
narrow escape at Arcot, 264 ; marriage,
268 ; obtains jaghire from Meer Jaffier,
and great wealth, 281, 287 ; created
Baron of Phissy. 301 ; subdues mutiny
of English officers, 305 ; traits of
character, 305 ; irregular gains, 306 ;
parliamentary inquiry, and suicide, 307.

Cochin, 184; rajahs ill-treated by the
Dutch, 244 ; tribute to English, 410.

Coins, 565 ; dihnar, 62 ; dirhem, 62, 69 ;
fanam, 75; gold fanam, 311; boon,
97 ; pagoda, 75, 235, 384 ; pice. 217 ;
rupee, 217; sicca rupee, 294; shah-
ruki, 81 ; tunklia, 570.

College of Fort William, 402.

Combermerc (Viscount), at Bhurtpoor,
426.

Commanders-in-chief — Coote, 355, 357,
35.S — (see Comwallis and Harris) ; El-
phinstone — captivity, 439 ; dnath, 445 ;
Gough, 415.

Commerce (Indian), 560, 562.

Conolly, three brothers, 441; John, 441;
Arthur martyred at Bokhara, 447.

Coolcumy, hereditary village accountant,
98.

Coolies (Hill), 141.

Coorg, 253; captured by Hyder AH, 348;
insurrections under Tippoo Sultan,
367 ; Rajah Veer Rajundra supplies
the English with grain in the invasion
of Mysoor, 379 ; annexation, 430 ;
ex-rajah in England, 430 ; daughter
god-child to Queen Victoria, 430 ;
question regarding rajah's funded pro-
perty, 430 ; landed tenure in, 569.

Comwallis (Lord), governor-general and
commander-in-chief, 366 ; establishes a
fixed land rent throughout Bengal,
366 ; zemindar settlement, 573 ; judi-
cial system and foreign policy, 367 —

373 ; second administration, 405 ;

death, 406.
Covenanted and uncovenanted services,

549.
Crime, statistics of, 542 — 544.
Crishna, or Krishna, 17,253.
Crishna Kumari, Princess of Oodipoor,

408.
Cunjee, or rice-water, 265.
Currency, insufficient, 31 1.
Cutwal, or magistrate, 101.

Dacoits, or Deceits, 330.

Dalhousie (Marquis of), review of ad-
ministration, 459.

Danish E. I. Company, 205 ; settlement!!
in the 18th century, 234, 245.

Debt (Indian), 365, 374, 422.

Deccan, sufferings of inhabitants during
wars of Aurungzebe, 152.

Dehra Doon annexed by E.I. Company,
413.

Delhi, 41 ; slave kings of, 72 ; sacked by
Timur, 78 ; captured by Br.l)er, 81 ;
new city built by Shah Jehan, 135;
earthquake, 159; seized by Nadir Shah
— massacre of citizens, 165; captured
by Mahrattas, 178 ; Seized by Rohillas,
emperor blinded, and his family tor-
tured, 373 ; taken by Lake, 397.

Dellon (French physician), imprisoned by
Inquisition at Goa, 19,3.

Dennie (Colonel), 436. 444.

Deo, a good spirit, 175.

Desmookhs, 141 ; meaning of word, 15/.

Devicotta, capture of, 258 ; occupation
by English, 259.

Deu'annec, 300 ; of Bengal, Bahar, and
Orissa, obtained from Shah Alum. 303.

Dhar (Puars of). 161, 320.

Dhungurs of Maharashtra, 249.

Dhitrna, species of dunning, 169.

Diamonds, and other precious stones, 497.

Diseases (Indian), 491.

Diu occupied by Portuguese, 190.

Doet Mohammed, 433, 436, 437. 448.

Duelling prohibited by E. I. Company, on
penalty of dismissal, 366.

Duff's (Captain Grant), History of the
Maliratlas, 149.

Duleep Sing (Maharcfjak), 454.

Dupleix, French governor-general, 248 ;
political intrigues of Madame Dupleix,
259 ; brilliant success, 263 ; reverses,
268; supersession and death, 269.

Durrahs, or camps, 239.

Dnstucks, or passports, 416.

Dutch power, rise of, 195; Cornelius
Houtman, 195 ; E. I. Companies, 196 ;
dividends, 206; position in the ISth
century, 233 ; lucrative trade, 245 ;
hostilities with English, 288 ; decreased
importance, 317; cession of settlements
to English, 421, 427.

Dyt, an evil spirit, 175.

East Indiamen, 227.

Education, 537, 538.

Edwardes (Major Herbert), 455.

Ellenburough (Earl of), orders evacua-
tion of Afghanistan, 445; ** song of
triumph,' 448 ; recall, 453.

Elphinstone (Mountstuart), British resi-
dent at I'oona, 416; embassy to A -
ghanistan, 434.

English E. I. Companies, origin, 5, 6,
197; first company, 196; chartered
and protected by Elizabeth, 200 ; terms
of charter, 201 ; first fleet, 202 ; in-
crease of navy, 204, 227 ; commence-
ment of trade with Bengal, 212; par-
liamentary discussions, 212 ; statistics,

INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRK.

212, 213; dividends, 213; hostilities
with Aurungzebe, 221 ; convoy pilgrim
vessels to Mecca, 227 ; hostility of
rival companies, 228 ; rival agencies at
Mogul court, 229 ; large importation of
piece goods, 229 ; union of companies,
233 ; war with French, 254 ; bribery
and corruption, 301 ; parliamentary
interference, 309 ; company on verge
of bankruptcy, 312 ; " regulating act"
of parliament, 312 ; breach of faith with
the emperor, 324 ; renewal of charter
(1793), and financial position, 374;
finances, 422, 428 ; renewal of charter
(1833), 431.

English Rtissian Company, chartered by
Queen Elizabeth, 198.

Knglish Turkey Company, 199.

Etal Rao, faithful Mahratta leader, 314.

Eunuchs, 120.

Eusofzie Afghans, 113.

Execution by blowing from guns, prac-
tised by Lally, 283 ; by Munro, 299. '

Famine in 1661, 139; in Bengal, 1769-
'70, 310 ; in the Carnatic, 35C ; in the
Deccan, 400.

Fedeyan, zealots of Almowut, 72.

Feizi, brother of Abnl Fazil, 115.

Fei-dousi, author of Shah Namah; death,
66.

Ferishta, Mohammedan historian, 55 ; his
works, 102 ; definition of Christian
doctrines, 232.

Feroksheer (Emperor), 156; accession,
and free use of the bow-string, 156 ;
war with Sciks, 157; murdered by
Seyed brothers, 158.

Fish (Mogul Order of the), 262.

JFoujdar, or military governor, 117.

Francis (Sir Philip), 331 ; reputed author
of Junius' Letters; wounded in duel
with governor-general, 339 ; resigns,
and returas to England, 339.

French East India Companies, 7, 205 ;
company formed by Colbert, 218 ; un-
successful as traders, 227 ; position in
India in the IBtli century, 235 ; Dumas
governor-general, 246 ; war with Eng-
lish, 251 ; proceedings in the Carnatic,
261; power at its height, 263; no
military post left, 286 ; extinction of
company, 287.

French oncers in native service — Per-
ron, 390 ; Ventura, Court, and Allard,
454.

French possessions in India, 319, 350
(see Buonaparte); republic negotiate
with Tippoo .Sultan, 379 ; Pondicherry
seized by British, 389.

Gadi, or Hindoo throne, 162.

Galloicay (Generat), 427.

Ganges, steam navigation, 430; source,
Icngtli, &c., 480.

Geography of India, extent and bounda-
ries, 464, 4G5 ; aspect of provinces and
districts. 510, 511.

Geology, 492—494.

Ghaut (Bala and Payeen), 251.

Ghazis, or Ghazees, 94, 96, 108, 436.

Gheria captured from the Angria family,
271.

Ghor (House of), 71.

Ghuznee (House of), 59; population, 66 —
69 ; termination of dynasty, 70 ; city
taken by English, 436; sandal-wood
gates, 445 ; destruction of fortress, 447.

Gillespie (Hollo), 411.

Goa captvired by Portuguese, 97, 187 ;
Inquisition established, 193.

Gohnd (Rana of), ill-treated by E. I.

I Company, 405 ; Lord Lake's appeal on
I his behalf, 405.

j Golconda, last independent Mohamme-
dan state destroyed by Aurungzebe,150.

Gomastahs, or native agents, 295.

Gombroon, 203.

Gonedulees, 174.

Goorkas, spread over Nepaul, 410;
origin of dynasty, 411 ; infantry, 445.

Gosaen, Hindoo religious mendicant,
146.

Government (Anglo-Indian), 545—548.

Governors - general — Warren Hastings,
331 — 365 ; Marquis Cornwallis, 366 —
374 ; Sir John Shore (afterwards Lord
Teignmonth), 374, 375 ; Earl of Morn-
ington (afterwards Marquis Wellesley),
376 — 404 ; Marquis Cornwallis, 405 —
406 ; Sir George Barlow (provisional),
406, 407; Earl of Minto, 408—410;
Lord Moira (afterwards Marquis of
Hastings), 410; John Adam (provi-
sional), 422; Earl Amherst, 422—
428 ; Butterworth Bayley (provisional),
428; Lord William Bentinck, 428—
431 ; Sir Charles Metcalfe (provi-
sional), 431 ; Lord Auckland, 431 —
433 ; Earl of Ellenborough, 44.3—452 ;
Sir Henry (afterwards Lord) Hardinge,
453 — 455; Earl (afterwards Marquis)
of Dalhousie, 456—459.

Great Moguls, Emperors, or Padshahs,
of the House of Timur. (See Timur,
Baber, Humayun, Akber, Shah Jehan,
Shah Alum, Aurungzebe, Bahadur
Shah, Jehander Shah, Feroksheer,
Mohammed Shah, Ahmed Shah, Alnm-
geer //.) Enormous wealth of (jreat
Moguls, 119; crown and throne, 120;
peacock throne, 135 ; seized by Nadir
Shah, 166.

Grunth, Seik scriptures, 155.*

Gunpoicder (alleged use in India, a.d,
1008), 64.

Guru, 155 ; Guru Govind, 1^5.

Guzerat, kings of, 101 ; Mahmood Be-
garra, 103; Bahadur Shah, 85, 103;
conquered by Akber, Ilfl ; chout and
surdeshmooki granted to l^Iahratta^,
161, 249.

Gwalior, 106; Gwalior fortress, a state
prison, 120, 128 ; Bastille of Hindoo-
stan, 136 ; taken by Rana of Gohnd,
344 ; permanent occupation by Sindia
—standing camp established, and city
founded, 416.

Hafiz, poet of Shiraz, 94.

Halhed's Digest of Hindoo Laws, 323.

Hamilton's (Captain), New Account of
the East Indies, 211.

Hamilton (Surgeon), cures Feroksheer,
and obtains privileges for E. I. Com-
pany, 239.

Hanway (Jonas), 172.

Harauti, Rajpoot principality, 106.

Harbours (Principal), 512, 513.

Harris (Lord), commander-in-chief, 398 ;
governor of Madras, 582.

Hastings (Marquis of), character of his
administration, 421; death, 422 ; his
wife, the Countess of Loudon, 422.

Hastings (Warren), 296; advocates na-
tive ' rights, 299; early history, 321 ;
made governor of Bengal, 322 ; sells
children of robbers as slaves, 330 ;
appointed governor-general, 331 ; per-
son and (character, 331 ; charges of
peculation, 332 ; contest with Nunco-
mar, 335 ; repudiates resignation ten-
dered by his agent 336 ; marries
Baroness Imhoff, 337 ; duel with Fran-

cis, 339 ; conduct to Rajah of Benares,
360 ; flies by night from Benares, 361 ;
extorts money from Begums of Oude,
363 ; tortures their aged servants, 363 ;
private purse of Mrs. Hastings, 364 ;
return to England, 365 ; impeachment,
365 ; acquittal, poverty, and death,
366.

Heber, Bishop of Calcutta, 421.

Hedaya, Mohammedan law code, 323.

Herat, seized by Dost Mohammed, 433.

Heroic, or vanguard, 122.

Hetkurees, Concan mountaineers, 151.

Hindoo authors, 153.

Hindoo. Koosh, 25, 26, 466.

Hindoos, character of, by Abul Fazil, 117.

Hindoostan, 13.

Holcar, or Indore Principality, origin of
family, 161; Mulhar Rao, 161 ; suc-
cessful administration of the good prin-
cess Ahalya Bye ; person, character,
and administration, 390—392, 580 ;
Jeswunt Rao, 392 ; sack of Indore by
the Pindarries, 393 ; predatory war with
the English, 399 ; idiocy and death,
408 ; Jeswunt Rao's concubine, Toolsae
Bye, 419 ; her career and death, 420.

Hooghly taken by Shah Jehan from Por-
tuguese, 130; made the royal port of
Bengal, 131 ; trading post established
by English, 213.

Humayun (Emperor), 84 ; memoirs, 85 ;
exile, 87 ; restoration, 92 ; death and
character, 92.

Hyderabad, capital of the Deccan, his-
tory during tlie 18th century, 270.

Hyder Ali, of Mysoor — early career, 285 ;
agreement with Lally, 285 ; seizes Bed-
nore and Malabar, 310; detects con-
spiracy for his assassination, 317 ; op-
• posed by Peishwa, 319; quarrels with
Tippoo, 31 9 ; extortion and economy,
345; confidence in Swartz, 350; French
officers in his service, 353 ; avoidance
of pitched battles, 354 ; flight from
Polliloor, 355; death, 356; treatment
of English prisoners, 359 ; tyrannical
assessment, 571.

Imad Shah dynasty ofBerar, 101.

Imaum Hussyn and family murdered, S8 ;
fate of Imaum Hassan, 265.

Impey (Sir Elijah), 331 ; condemnation
of Nuncomar, 334 ; recall, 338.

Imports and Exports, 563.

India, 113; Arrian's account, 36; Me-
gasthenes' account, 38 ; edicts of Asoca,
38 ; early divisions, 40 — 44 ; social
condition, 43 ; laws, 44 ; position of
women, 44 ; astronomy, trigonometry,
geometry, decimal notation, chrono-
logy, 45 ; geography, medicine, litera-
ture, 46 ; music, painting, sculpture,
architecture, fetes, police system, dress,
currency, 47 ; condition when Akber
began to reign, 93 — 107 ; commercial
intercourse with Europe, 181 ; condi-
tion in the middle of the 18th century,
219, 253, 308 ; state at the close of
Lord Dalhousie's administration, 459.

Indo -Mohammedan dynasties (table of),
180.

Indus river, crossed by Alexander, 228.

Inquisition in Portuguese settlements, 193.

Interest (legal rate), 313.

Interlopers, 203 ; favoured by Cromwell,
216; Skinner's case, 217; treated a.s
pirates, 225.

Invasion of India — Serairamis, Sesostris,
Hercules, and Cyrus, 19; Alexander
theGreat. 26; Seleucus,3"; Arahinv:'.-
sion of Western India, 56 ; Mahmood

INUEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.

of Ghuznee, 62 — 6S ; Shaliab-oo-Deen,
of Ghor, 71; Moguls from Tran-
Boxiana, 73 ; Timur Beg, or Tamerlane,
77 ; Baber, 80 ; Persians under Nadir
Shah, 162 ; Afghans under Ahmed
Shah Doorani, 175, 176 j thieatened by
Zemaun Shah, 317.

Investment (mercantile) of E. I. Com-
pany, 237; Bengal investment of 1771,
311.

blanii on the coast of India, 511.

Jaghire, origin and conditions, 306.
Jain religion, 16.
Jami, or JAansie, 162, 459.
Jats, Jits, or Juts, C8 ; rise under Au-
rungzebe, 152, 249; agriculturists, 177;
progress, 249.
Jebbum, magical incantation said to have
killed Lord Pigot and Hyder AH, 357 ;
performed by order of Tippoo Sultan,
' 3«0.

Jee, Mahratta adjunct, 141.
Jehander Shah {Emperor), accession,

155; violent death, 15C.
Jehangeer {Emperor), Prince Selim, 114;
autobiography, 119; accession, 120;
habits of intoxication, 190; edict against
use of tobacco, 121 ; captivity and
rescue, 126 ; death and character, 127.
Jellttlabad (see Sieges), destruction of for-
tress, 447.
Jengis, or Ghengis Khan, 72.
Jessulmer, Rajpoot principaJity, 106.
Jeypoor (see Amber), 106.
Jezail, Afghan rifle, 443.
Jezia, or capitation-tax on infidels, abo-
lished by Akbcr, 118; reimposed by
Aurungzebe, 147.
.fhalor, Rajpoot principality, 106.
Jhetum, or Hydaspes river, crossed by

Alexander, 29.
Johur, Hindoo self-immolation. 111.
Jojies {Sir Harford), Persian embassy,

409.
Jones {Sir William), 165 ; death, 375.
Jooitaree, coarse grain, 161.
Juanpoor {Kingdom of), 107.
Jugdulluek Pass, massacre of English,

443.
Jummoo {Lords of), 453.

Kumaon, taken from Goorkas ; annex-
ation, 413.

Kur7wul, Patau chief of, 253, 261 ;
annexation of principality, 443.

Kurpa, Patau chief of, 253 ; captured
by Hyder Ali, 349.

Kurrachee, annexation, 450.

La Sourdonnais, governor of the Mau-
ritius, 247; able administration, 247;
capture of Madras, 255 ; imprisonment
and death, 255.
Lahore, capital of Punjab (Sangala), 31,
41; occupied by Mahmood, l>7; royal
residence transferred from Ghuznee to
Lahore, 70 : burnt by Baber, 80. (See
Runjeet Sing).
Lake {Lord), noble conduct at Liis-
waree, 397 ; intervention on behalf of
native princes, 405 ; resignation on ac-
count of breach of treaties, 406; death,
406.
Lallg {Count), 282; surrender to Eng-
lish, 286 ; return to France ; death by
the guillotine, 286.

Lambert's {Commodore) proceedings at
Rangoon, 457.

Land, tenure of, 323 ; Warren Hastings'
method of raising revenue, 323 ; Lord
Cornwallis' perpetual settlement in
Bengal, 366, 307 ; Munro's ryotwar
assessment, 421 ; general account of
land tenures, 567 — 582.

Land-revenue in each presidency, 566.

Land-tax in each presidency, 581.

Languages of India, 503 ; Pali or Ma-
gadhi, 38, 39 ; Tamul, Canarese, Mah-
ratta, and Urya, 41; Persian, 124;
Hindoostani, 124; Mahratta, 250.

Latter {Major), success in war with Ne-
paul, 4H.

Latter {Captain), assassinated at Prome,
458.

Law {John), Scottish adventurer — E. L
Company, and other projects, 246.

Laws — Digests of Hindoo and Moham-
medan codes, 323.

Lodi {House qf), 79.

Lucknow, capital of Oude, 276.

Luhburs, plundering expeditions, 416.

Lushkur, or Leskar, Indian camp, 124.

Kalloras, Persian adventurers, 449.

Kanhojee, or Canojee Angria, of Kolaba,
168 ; piracies of his sons, 243.

Katiwar, or Surashtra peninsula, 101.

Khaji Khan, the Mohammedan historian,
135 ; true name and position, 139 ;
negotiations with English at Bombay,
227.

Khan Jehan Lodi, and his sons, 129.

Khans of Candeish, 105.

Khilji {House of), 73 ; Khiljies, 437, 442.

Khillut, or Khelal, 168; form of recog-
nition necessary to legal succession,
426.

Kholbah, 93, 107.

Khgber Pass, 444.

Kidd {Captain), executed for piracy, 227.

Kidnapping of native children by Euro-
peans, 330.

Koh-i-Noor diamond, 433, 434, 435.

Kolapoor {Rajah of), 174; principality,
253.

Koord-Cabool Pass, massacre of English,
442.

Kootb Shah dynasty at Oolconda — origin,
99 ; extinction by Aurungzebe, 150.

Koran, 53.

Kotah Principality, 400; Regent Zalim
Sing, 400, 401.

Kudapa {Nabob of), 261, 262.

Maajun, intoxicating confection, 116.
Macartney {Lord), governor of Madras,

355 ; probity, 366 ; duels, 366.
Macherri (treaty with rajah), 406.
Macnaghten {Sir W.), 437 ; Lady Mac.
nagliten, captivity and rescue, 446.

Madras, founded, 213; raised to a presi-
dency, 213 ; formed into a corporation,
221; first English church erected by
Streynsham Masters, 232 ; state of
presidency at beginning of 18th 'cen-
tury, 234, 235; salaries of officials,
236 ; captured by French, 255 ; re-
stored, 257; history, 1701 to 1774,
315 — 320; incursions of Hyder Ali,
318; money transactions of English
officials with Mohammed Ali, 345;
dealings with Hyder Ali, 351 ; his
second invasion, 352 ; Colonel Baillie's
detachment cut off by Hyder, 353,
topography, 481.

Maha Bharat, or Great War, 17.

Maha Rajah, 325.

Maharashtra, 140, 250.

Mahi, or Order of the Fish, 262.

Mahmood of Ghuznee, person and cha-
racter, 61 ; thirteen expeditions to
India, 62—68 ; death, 69.

Mahratta stale, rise of, 140; reign of
Rajah Sevajec, 145 — 149 ; Rajah Sum-

bajee, 149 — 151; national flag, 151;
mode of fighting, 152 ; Rajah Shao,
155; chout levied in the Deccan, 155,
157; power at its zenith, 177; condi-
tion in 1772, 321; in 1800, 3b'9; mili-
tary force in 1816, 415.
Mahrattas, 140; characteristics, 370.
Malabar- — Portuguese proceedings, 184 ;
Syrian Christians persecuted by Portu-
guese, 193.
Malcolm {Sir John), life of Clivc, 305 ;
Persian embassy, 388, 409 ; political
agent at Poona, 416.
Malwa, kings of, 104 ; Mandu founded,
104 ; conquered by Akber, 109 ; revolt
of governor Cheen Kilich Khan, 158.
Maritime stations {British), 513.
Maruar, Rahtore principality, 106.
Massulah boats, 235.
Mauritius, or Isle of France, 247 ; French
governor assists Tippoo against the
English, 377 ; takeu by English, 409.
MaU'Ulees, 141,151. i

Mecr add, Mohammedan judge, 117.
Meeran (the Chuta Nabob), career, cha-
racter, and death, 281 — 289.
Meer Cossim Khan made Nabob of Ben-
gal, 290 ; able administration, 292 ;
deposition, 297 ; war with English,
298 ; defeated at Buxar, 299.'
Meer Jafper Khan conspires with English
against Surajah Dowlah, 275 ; made
Nawab of Bengal, 280 ; deposed, 290 ;
replaced on the musuud, 297 ; death,
300.
Menu {Institutes or Code of), 14, 669.
Merut, or Meerut, 100.
Metealfe {Sir Charles, afterwards Lord),

421, 573.
Mewar, Rajpoot principality, 106, 249.
Mildenhall {John), embassy to Jehangeer,

200.
Military contingents of Amative states, 525.
Military resources of India, before the

mutiny, 525.
Military stations {British), 513.
Mineralogy, 495.

Mir Gholam Hussein, Mussulman his-
torian, 150.
Miras, form of landed tenure, 572.
Missions {Christian), 529 — 535.
Missionaiies {American) — Price and Jud-
son negotiate with the King of Ava,
425.
Missionaries {Danish) — Swartz, the only
ambassador Hyder Ali would receive,
350.
Missionaries {Lvtch) — Baldieus, 231.

{French) — Zavier, 191.

Mogul Empire at the death of the Em-
peror Akber, 117.
Moguls, as distinguished from Turks and

Tartars, 81, 82.
Mohammed — birth, person, character,
career, 52 ; Hejira, or flight, 53 ;
death, 54.
Mohammedanism — rise in Arabia, pro.
pagation in Africa and Europe, 54, 55
in India, 56.
Mohammed Ali, Nawab of Carnatic, 266 ;
maladministration, 315; puts Moham-
med Esoof to death, 316 ; a worse ruler
than Hyder Ali, 345.
Mohammed Shah {Emperor), accession,
158; politic mother, 159; triumphs
over Seyed brothers, 159 ; just and
merciful, 166; his death, 173.
Mohun Lai {Moonshee), 438, 447.
Monetary system, 559.
Monsoon, 487.

Moollah, Mohammedan priest, 104.
Moorsaun {Rajah of), in Alighur, 580.

INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE

Moorshed Kooli Khan, viceroy of Bengal,
character and conduct, 240 j death, 243.

Moptah, or Manilla, 317.

Morari Rao, leader of Mahratta mer-
cenuries. 204; establishes himself at
Giioty, 2fi7; surrender to Hyder Ali,
and death 348.

MouHan, or MooUan, 77, 107, 4.')6.

Mountains — extent, position, elevation,
and geology, 466- — 470,

Mountain passes, 471.-

Munro (Sir Hector), at PoIIiloor, 355.

Muuro {Sir Thomas), governor of Ma-
dras — exorbitant land assessment, 421 ;
death, 422 ; description of ancient vil-
lage system, 573.

Murtsrubdars, 118,

Mvesulman authors, 153.

Mutiny of English soldiers at Bombay.
220; of sepoys under Munro, 298 ; of
English officers under Clive, 305 ;
sepoys at Vellore, 407 ; sepoys at
Barrackpoor, 424.

Mvitra, 65 ; capture by Ahmed Shah
Doorani, and massacre, 175,

Mynpoorie {Rajah of)- 580,

Mysoor, origin of state and name, 253 ;
historical summary, 270 ; restoration
of Hindoo dynasty, 383; revenue in
1799, 384 ; Poornea, good and able
Hindoo minister, 384,

Nal/ob, or Nawab, 221,

Nadir Shah, of Persia, 3 ; early career,
163; invasion of India, 165; immense
plunder obtained in Delhi, 166; re-
turns to Persia, 167 ; character, ap-
pearance, and strong voice, 167; crimes
and assassination, 172,

Kagyour. (See Berar).

Nagai. or Snake yods, 113.

Kaik. 169.

Naik Sulahdar, 156,

Nairs of Malabar, 183.

Nm^a Pumavese, 390,

Nanuk, first Guru of the Seiks, 155.

Napier {Sir Charles), proceedings in
Sinde, and controversy with Outram;
449.

Narwar {Principality of), 106,

Navy {Indian). 555.

Nearchus, Alexander's admiral, 32 ;
voyage from the Indus to Persian
gulf, 35.

Nemud, religious impostor. 159.

Nepaul, wai with Goorkai:. or Nepaulese,
411,412.

Nizam-ool-Moolk. (See Cheen Kilich
Khan).

Nizam Shah dynasty at Ahmednuygur,
origin, 98 ; regency of Cband Beeby,
99; extinction of kingdom, 139.

Nizams of the Veccan, or Hyderabad —
declaration of independence, 158 ;
French corps of Nizam Ali disbanded
by Marquis Wellesley, 378; military
strength in 1816, 415.

Nizamut Suddur Adawlut, 324.
Northern Circars, 209.

North-Westem Provinces — ^land revenue,
area, and population, 514, 515; land
tenure, 579.

Nour Mahal (afterwards Empress Nour
Jehan), birth, early life, 121 ; her jewels,
122; rescues the emperor, 120 ; widow-
hood and death. 127.

Nuknra, or state drum, 120.
Nwicomar — history, 313, 335; heard in
council against governor-general, 333 ;
trial and execution, 335.
Nviceree battalions, 413,
Nuzur, ur Nuzzur, 168,

Ochterlony {General Sir David), 409,
411,413; death, 421, 426.

Omichnnd procures release of survivors of
Black Hole, 274, 277; intrigues with
English, 276,277; deceived by forged
treaty, 279 ; discovery of deceit, insanity,
and death, 280.

Oorcha, in Bundelcund, 106.

Opium monopoly, 365 ; growth or use of
opium prohibited by Tippoo Sultan,
377; not used by Ameers of Sinde, 450.

Ormuz {Island of), 208.

Orry, his Indian policy, 246, 254.

Ostend E. I. Company, 241.

Oude, or Ayodhya, 15, 17; Sadut Khan,
viceroy, 164; his death, 166; Shuja
Dowlah, nawab-vizier, 314 ; obtain-
ment of Rohilcund, 329 ; death, 330 ;
Asuf-ad-Dowlah — character, 362; Be-
gums of Oude ill-treated by Hastings,
363 ; tribute reduced by Cornwallis.
367 ; disputed succession, 375 ; Sadut
Ali chosen, 375 ; Vizier Ali causes
death of British resident — escapes, is
captured, and imprisoned for life, 386 ;
Ghazi-oo-deen lends money to E. I.
Company, 4 13 ; is suffered to assume title
of king, 421 ; financial transactions,
422 ; annexation, 459.

Oudipoor, or Oodipoor, capital of Mewar,
founded, HI; Rana Pertap, 111 ; Rana
Umra, 123 ; Rana Raj Sing rescues the
intended bride of Aurungzebe, 148 ;
restoration of territory by Bahadur
Shah, 155 ; condition in 1745, 249 ; in
1772, 320; excellent minister, Umra
Chund, 320 ; sacrifice of Prince.?s
Chrisna, 408.

Ousety {Sir Gore), Persian embas-sy, 409.

Outram {Sir James), controversy with
Napier, 449.

Overland Route, 430.

Palibothra, King Chandra Gupta, 38.

Pan. HI.

Panna, in Bundelcund, 106.

Parker {Chouans of), 106.

Paropamisus. 25.

Parthia (Kinydom of), 48, 50.

Patels, Hindoo village functionaries, 141.

Peyu, annexation of, 458.

Peons, native police, 221.

Pepper, sale of, 200 ; demand for, 208 ;
stock of E. I. Company seized by
Charles I., 213 ; Malabar pepper, 232 ;
Ranee of Garsopa, '' the pepper queen,''
253 ; Company agree with Hyder Ali
for monopoly of purchase, 319.

Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, 43.

Perron, 395, 396.

Peshawer, or Peshawur, 65.

Peshwaa, or Peishwas, 98 ; Brahmin
dynasty at Poona founded by Balajee
"W'ihwanath, 160; Bajee Rao, character
and person, 161; defies Nadir Shah,
169; desith, 169; Balajee Bajee, cha-
racter and death, 1 79 ; summary, 270 ;
Mahdoo Rao opposes Hyder Ali, 317,
319; death, 320; Narrain Rao (Peishwa)
murdered, 340 ; traits of character,
341 ; Ragoba supported as Peishwa by
English, 341; Anundee Bye, wife of
Ragoba, 340, 390 ; Bajee Rao (the last
Peishwa), 390 ; faithlessness and un-
popularity, 394 ; concessions to E. I.
Company, 415; hostility — defeat at
Kirkee, 417; flight from Poona, 418;
surrender, and residence at Beithoor,
or Bithoor, as a British stipendiary,
419.

Pellah, native town, 33.

Piyot (Lord), governor of Madras, 347;

attempt to bribe, 347; arrest, and death
in prison, 347,

Pindarries, 319, 390; etymology, 414;
suppression by Lord Hastings, 415 —
420; fate of leaders, Heeroo and Bur-
run, 416; Kureem Khan, Wasil Mo-
hammed, and Cheetoo, 420.

Pitt diamond, 238,

Polyyars, 571,

Pondicherry, capital of French posses-
sions, founded, 247; wise government
of M. Martin, 246; surrendered by
Lally to Coote, 280.

Poona, 141; made Mahratta capital by
Peishwa Balajee Bajee, 174, 250, 270 ;
annexation, 419.

Poj02(/o«ow, 498— 503; 514—525.

Portuguese dominion, rise, 182; Vasco
de Gama, 182; Alvarez Cabral, 183;
Duaite Pacheco, 185; conquest of
Malacca, 187; bigotry and corruption,
194 ; position at the end of the 1 6th
century, 194; position in the 18th
century, 233.

Portuguese viceroys, or governors-general ■
— Almeida, 185; Albuquerque, 186;
Soarez, 188 ; Vasco de Gama, 189 ;
De Sousa, 190.

Poms, 29 ; defeated by Alexander, 30,

Potail, or Patel, 141, 572,

Pottinger {Eldred), 434, 446,

Pottinger {Sir Henry), 449, 450, 458.

/■ows/a, deadly drink, 139.

Press — deportation of Silk Buckingham,
422 ; restrictions, 428 ; restrictions re-
moved, 431 ; English and Native, 539.

Prester {John), 192.

Prithee nidhee, meaning of term, 161.

prize-money obtained at Gheria (1750),
271; ill efl'ects, 298; Benares (1?81),
362 ; Seringapatam (1 799), 382 ; Agra
(1803), 396; Bhurtpoor (1826), 427;
Sinde (1843), 449—451.

Puar {Udojee), origin of principality of
Dhar, 161, 320.

Puggee, Hindoo village detective, 572.

Punchayet, Hindoo village jury, 324.

Punjab, invaded by Alexander, 29 ; divi-
sions, 41 ; invaded from Ghuznee, 63 ;
Mahrattas expel Dooranis, 177; pos-
sessed by Seiks, 321 ; annexation, 450.

Puranas, H indoo sacred writings, 1 6.

Purdhans, ministers of state, 161.

Pursaee, Hindoo village functionary, 572,

Putuarree, village registrar, 572.

Railways, 505. •

Rajast'han, or Rajpootana, 106 ; condition
in 1772,320,

Rajpoots, 42; character, 71, 122, 170.

Ramayana, Hindoo epic poem, 10,

Ranwosies, mountain tribe, 141.

Rampoor (Fyzoolla Khan, chief of), 330.

Ram Shastree, Mahratta judge, 341.

Rangoon, capital of Pegu, 422.

Ranies, or Ranees, of Malabar and
Canara, 97.

Religion, 527, 535.

Revenue and Expenditure, 556 — 558.

Rf:venuesystem^.iol^)\.eA byAkber,117,570.

Rivers of India, 472 — 477.

Rivers of Afghanistan, and the north-
west frontier, 478.

Roe {Sir Thomas), 120, 123; mission to
Jehangeer, 205 ; advice to E. I. Com-
pany regarding official salaries, 302.

Rohilcund and the Rehillas, 171; founder,
249 ; Nujeeb-oo-Dowlah, 313 ; pos-
sessions of various chiefs, 327 ! English
troops hired by Shuja Dowlah, to ex-
tirpate Rohillas and conquer country,
329 ; Hafiz Rehmet slain, 329.

INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.

Sohtat Fort, in Behnr, 85.

SoAtat Fort, near the Indus, 88.

Sousienia, a religious sect, 113.

Jiumbold {Sir Thomas), governor of Ma-
dras, 348 ; favoured by Lord Hastings,
421; connexion with the house of
Palmer and Co., 421.

Runjeet Sinff,o/ La/iore,i09,iM ; undue
concessions made by Lord Auckland,
435 ; death 436, 453.

Kunn of Cutch, 68.

Ryotwar settlemeiit in Madras, 573.

Sadhs, or Satfiamis, 147.

Sadras, Dutch settlement. 268.

Salaries of E. I. Company's servants,
222,313.

Sale (Sir Robert), 424; Lady Sale
wounded in the Koord-Cabool Pass,
442 ; her captivity and rescue, 446.

Sal forest, bordering Nepaul, 413.

Salt monopoly, established by Clive, 306,
310; profits, 365.

Sanitaria, at hill-stations, 513.

iSfl//flra, capital of Mahratta rajahs. 161,
174, 251; administration of Rajah
Pertab Sein, 431 ; deposition of rajah,
432 ; annexation of principality, 459.

Savanoor, Patan chief of, 253, 261.

Seiis, or Sikhs, revolt during reign of
Aurungzebe, 152 ; origin and early pro-
ceedings; doctrines; Gurus or chiefs —
Nanuk, Guru Govind. and Bandu; 15.i ;
number and position, 321.

Seinnghur, portion of Delhi citadel, 136.

Senapnttee, commander-in-chief, 161.

Senassiet, religious mendicants, 330.

Sepah sillah, Mohammedan viceroy, 117.

Sepoys, 235; gallantry at A root, 264 ; at
Je'llalabad, 444.

Seringapatam,hov populated, 349 ; situa-
tion, 371 ; state when captured by
Lord Harris, 382.

Sevajee, birth, parentage, and education,
141; daring boyhood, 142; rebels
against Beejapoor government, 142 ;
assassinates Afzool Khan, 143; wars
with Aurungzebe, 144 ; surprises Mogul
camp, 144; plunders Surat, 144; es-
tablishes seat of government at Raighur,
144; assumes title of rajah, 145; en-
thronement, and costly gifts to Brahmins,
219; treacherously captured by Au-
rungzebe, 145 ; escapes from Delhi in a
basket, 145; first levies chout, 146;
civil policy, 146; conquers territory
from Beejapoor, 148 ; sudden death,
148 ; character, 148, 149.

Seyeds, lineal descendants of Mohammed,
156 ; Seyed rulers of Delhi, 78.

Seyed brothers — Abdullah Khan and
Hussein Ali ; political career, 156, 158 ;
their death, 159.

Shah Alum {Emperor), 176, 289; ar-
rangement with E. I. Company, 293,
303 ; enters Delhi under Mahratta pro-
tection, 315; blinded by Rohillas, 273 ;
taken under British protection, 396.

Shahamet Ali, author of Sikhs and Af-
ghans, 447.

Shah Jehan {Emperor), or Prince Khoo-
rum, 119; rebels against his father,
125; refuge in Oudipoor, 125; ac-
cession, 128 ; murders his brothers,
128; revenue survey, 131 ; his children,
132; deposition, 135; review of his
reign, 135; miserable captivity, 139;
death, 146.

Shah Soojah, of Cabool, 433 — 445.

Shajttroji, Hindoo scriptures, 414.

Sheer Shah, Afghan usurper, 88.

Sheiaht, followera of Ah, 62, 98, 133;

denounced by Nadir Shah, 164; strife
with Sonuites or Sunnis, in Delhi, 175.

Sheik-til-Jubbxil, or Old Man of the
Mountain, 72.

Shipping (India built), 402.

Shroffs, native bankers, 218.

Sicca, royal right of stamping coin, 93.

Siddee, or Seedee, of Jinjeera, 220.

Sici/es— Chittore (1568), HI; Hooghly
(1632), 131; Raighur (1690), 151;
Devicotta (1748), 259; Arcot (1751),
264; Pondicherry (1760), 280; Rock
of Amboor, 318; Wandewash (1781),
354; Cuddalore (1784), 359; Mangalore
(1784), 359; Savendroog (1791), 370;
Seringapatam (1792), 371; Seringa-
patam (1799), 380; Alighur (1803),
395; Agra (1803). 396; Aseerghur
(1803), 398; Gawilghur (1803), 398;
Delhi (1804), 401; Bhurtpoor (1804),
401 ; Kalunga, or Nalapanee (l814)i
411 i Deothul (1814), 412; Almora
(1816), 413; Maloun (1816), 413;
Aseerghur (1818), 420; Malligaum
(1819), 421 ; Bhurtpoor (1825-'6), 426;
Herat (1838), 434; Khelat-i-Nuseer
(1839), 447 ; Ghuznee (1842), 444 ;
Candahar (1842) 444; Jellalabad
(1842), 444; Mooltan (1849), 456;
Rangoon (1852), 458. (For statistics
of Sieges, see 460 — 463).

Simla first resorted to by Lord Amherst,
427.

Sinde., Arab conquest of, 57, 58 ; its rulers,
106 ; taken possession of by Nadir
Shah, 167; Tatta pillaged by Portu-
guese, 193 ; rule of the Ameers, 434 ;
exactions of E. I. Company, 435 ; an-
nexation, 449 — 452.

Sindia, or Gicalior Principality, origin of
family, 101 ; Jeiapa Sindia, 171; Ma-
hadajee Sindia's force disciplined by
European officers, 373 ; De Boigne,
373, 390 ; arrogance of Mahadajee,
374 ; Dowlut Rao, 374, 390, 392 ; war
with Holcar, 393 ; Oojeen and otlier
places captured and rifled by Holcar,
393 ; troops commanded by M. Perron,
(see Perron), 395 ; subsidiary force
stationed at Gwalior, 399 ; Dowlut
Rao's character, 416 ; supports Pindar-
rics, 416; death, 427; his favourite
wife, Baiza Bye, adopts a son and as-
sumes the regency, 427; death of
adoptee, prince, and new adoption, 432 ;
war with English — Gwalior captured ;
fortress permanently occupied by Eng-
lish, 452,

Slavery in India, 117, 1 18, 349, 507.

Somnanth {Temple of), 67 ; sandal-wood
gates taken by Mahmood to Ghuznee,
67; restored by order of Lord EUeu-
borough, 445.

St. Helena occupied by English, 216.

St. Thomas, or Mcliapoor (near Madras),
occupied by Englisli, 257.

Stuart (General), treacherous arrest of
Lord Pigot, 347 ; misconduct at Cudda-
lore, 358 ; arrested and sent to England
by Lord Macartney, 359 ; duel with
Lord Macartney, 366.

Subsidiary forces (British) — Nizam, 371 ;
Peisliwa, 373 ; general view, 526.

Suddur Deuiannee Adawlut, 324.

Svmroo, German adventurer, 297 ; Begum
Sumroo faithi'ul to Shah Alum, 373.

Sirjee, or Shirzee Rao (Jhatkay, 393, 400.

Sirohi, Rajpoot state, 106.

Sirpa, dress of honour, 163.

Siyar-ul'Mutakherin, 156; translations
by General Briggs, and a Frenchman,
170. I

Smith (Sir Harry), at Aliwal, 455.

Sonnites or Sunnis, traditionists, 62 ;
strife with Shciahs, 99.

Sonthal insurrection, 459.

Stoddart (Colonel), cruel death at Bok-
hara, 446.

Subahdar, native officer, 117.

Sumbajee, rajah of the Mahrattas, son of
Sevajee, 149; capture and execution, 151.

Sunnud, edict, 287.

Surajah Dowlah, viceroy of Bengal — cha-
racter, 271,275; deceivedby Clive, 276;
betrayed by Meer .Taffier at Plassy,
278 ; defeat, flight, capture, and assas-
sination, 282 ; fate of conspirators, 335.

Suraj Mul, chief of the Jats, 177.

Sural, 103; fort burned by Portuguese,
189; visited by Dutch, 208; annexed
by English, 387.

Surdeshmooki — Aurungzebe negotiates its
payment to the Mahrattas, 153; ex-
planation of term, 157.

Suttee or Sati, of Muchta Bye. 391 ;
self-immolation prohibited, 428.

Swedish E. I. Company, 242.

Tabular view of Anglo-Indian army, 5G5.

Battles and sieges, 460 — •

463.

' East India banks, 565.

Importsand exports, 563,

564.
Indo-Mohamraedan dy-
nasties, 180.
• Land revenue of each

presidency, 566, 582.
■ Land revenue, area, and

population, 5 1 4 — .'i 1 8.

Mountains, 466 — 4 70.

Mountain passes, 471.

■ Population, 500, 501,

Rivers in India, 472 —

477.

Rivers in Afghanistan.

and on the north-vrest
frontier, 478.

Table-lands of Briti.sh

India, 479.

• Table-lands of Afghanis-
tan and Beloouhistan,
480.

Tributary and protected

states, 519—524.

Toj Mahal, erection of the, 130.

Talookdars, 571.

Talpoors of Sinde, 449.

Tajijore, 252 ; native troops disciplined by
Flemish officer, 253 ; English interfere
in a case of disputed sovereignty, 258.
259 ; historical summary, 270 ; capture
and restoration by E. I. Company,
347 ; Rajah Serfojee, the a<!complislied
pupil of Swartz, 387 ; annexation, 3»7.

Tara Bye, Mahratta princess, 153; cha-
racter, 175 ; death, 179.

Tariff, 505.

Tatla, 34.

Taxila, 26.

Taailes, 26, 29.

Tea, first importation into England, 217.

Tegnapafam, or Fort St. David, fouudcJ,
223 ; progress, 236.

Tenasserim ceded by King of Ava, 423.

Thorne (Robert), 197.

Thornton's (Edward) History of India,
431.

Thugs, or Phansigars, 429.

Tilac, the accursed number. 111.

T'imnr Beg, or Tamerlane, 76 ; auto,
biography, 77; capture of Delhi, 78;
person and character, 77, 78 ; House of
Tiraur. 81.

INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.

Til

Jlppoo Sultan menaces Madras, 318;
character, 357 ; cruelty to English
prisoners, 359 ; persecutes the '• Portu-
guese Nazarenes," 367 ; circular hunt,
367 ; forcible conversions, 367 ; his
work, T/ie King of Histories, 367;
intrigues with French republic, 377 ;
killed in defending his capital, 380 ;
person and government, 382 ; liberal
provision made by Lord Wellesley for
Tippoo's family, 383.

Tod's {Colonel) Annals of Rajast'han,
106,122.

Todar Mul (Raja/i),'ilmdLOO financier, 570.

Toghlak {Home of), 74 ; cruelties of Mo-
hammed Toghlak, 75 ; circular hunt,
75.

Tomb of Humayun at Delhi, general re-
ceptacle for murdered princes of the
House of Timur— Emperor Feroksheer
buried there, 158.

Topasses, 235.

Torture Commission, Madras, 577.

iravancore, sovereignty inherited by
Tamburetties, or princesses of Attinga,
253 ; historical summary, 270 ; appeal
to E. I. Company against Tippoo
Sultan, 368 ; annexation, 410.

JVea^es— English and French (1754), 269.
E. I. Company with Surajah Dowlah,
(1757), 274 ; " Red Treaty" with Omi-
chund (1757)7 280 ; with Meer Jaffier
(1757), 280 ; of Allahabad, with the
emperor (1765), 326; with Hyder Ali
(1769), 319; of Benares, with Nawab-
vizierof Oude(I773),327; of Poorunder,
with the Mahrattas(1776), 342; conven-
tion of \Vurg!mm(1779), 343; of Salbve
with Sindia, (1782), 356; with Tippoo
Sultan (1784), 359; of Chuuar with

Oude (1781), 363; Tippoo Sultan
(1792), 372; of Bassein with Peisliwa
(1802), 393 ; of Deogaum with Ragojee
Bhonslay (1803), 398; Surjee Anjen-
gaum with Sindia (1803), 399; with
Jeypoor, Joudpoor, Boondi, Macherry,
Bhurtpoor, and Rana of Gohud (1803),
399; with Runjeet Sing (1810); Se-
goulee with Nepaul (1816), 413 ; Poona
with the Peishwa (1816), 415 ; with
Burmah (1826), 425; with Ameers of
Sinde (1838), 435, 449, 450; with
Runjeet Sing and Shah Soojah (1838),
434 ; with the Nizam (1853), 459.

Tributary and protected States before the
Mutiny — area, population, revenue,
amount of subsidy or tribute, and
military resources, 519 — 524.

Trichinopoly, 251 ; historical summary,
270.

Tuquazu, species of dunning, 169.

Turaee or Terai {Plain of), 410, 413.

Uma, " the august bird," 382.
XJngool, annexation of, 459.
Uzbeks, 80.

Vakeel-i-Mootlui, 60, 95.

Vedas, Hindoo scriptures, 13, 498 ; Sama

Veda, 14 ; Rig Veda, 497.
Vellore fortress, residence of Tippoo

Sultan's family, 383 ; and of Vizier

Ali, 383 ; mutiny at, 407.
Vicramaditya, King of Malwa, 40.
Village system {Hindoo), 571.
Vyasa, alleged compiler of the Vedas, 12.

Wadeyar (lord of thirty-three villages),

253.
Wagnuci, Mabratta weapon, 143.

Watson {Admiral), refuses to sign a fcUa
treaty, 277 ; signature forged by order
of Clive, 277 ; death, 279.

Wave-offering, 159.

Weights and Measures, 565.

Wellesley {Marquis), birth and early life
as Lord Mornington, 376 ; person and
character, 377; subsidiary system, 385 ;
protects Rajpoot principalities against
Mahratta aggressions, 399 ; eradicates
French influence in India, 402 ; recall,
and character of administration, 403,
407; attacked by PauU ; grantof money
by E. I. Company ; death, 404 ; views
on land-tenure, 578.

Wellesley {Colonel), afterwards Duke of
Wellington, 382 ; military command in
Mysoor, 383 ; pursuit and death of
Dhoondea Waugh, 383 ; war with
Mahrattas, 394 ; Assaye, 395.

Willoughby {Sir Hugh), voyages, 197 ;
death, 198.

Wulsa, immigration in war-time, 315.

Wutun, inheritance, 160.

Yogees, Hindoo ascetics, 28.

Zamorins of Calient, or Tamnri rajahs,
182 ; wars with the Dutch, 243 ; Maan
Veeram Raj driven to suicide by Hyder
Ali, 318 ; secret name of the Zamorins,
423.

Zavier {Francois), comes to India, 191.

Zemaun Shah, projected invasion of India,
377, 388; deposed and blinded, 433;
vicissitudes of fortune, 433, 448.

Zemindar, 107, 571.

Zemindar system, established in Bengal,
and Bahar. 573.

Zinar, Brahminical cord. 111.

ERRATA.— VOL. I.

Page 388, heading : for Anglo-Indian army join
British in India., read Egypt.

,, 396, „ for hattte of Alighur — gallant de-
fence, of Delhi— 1803, read gal-
lant defence of Alighur — battle
near Delhi — 1803.

,, 401, ,, iov ulcge of Bhurfpoor — defence of
Delhi, read defence of Delhi —
siege of Bhurtpoor.

,, 413, co\. \, Vine II, (or Maroun, read Maloun.

)) 426, „ 1, line 6, dele words nothing but.

„ 489, huRiWng: for decrement, reml diminutimi.

,, 489, col. 2, line 52, for congelation, read coiv-
gelatlon.

„ 492, „ 1, line 19, for rerepresentatives, read
representatives.

Page 503, Table : alter heading from resume of
censuses to population returns,
and dele tnales and females.
„ 506, col. 2, line 3, for Southals, read Son-

thals.
» 507, „ 2, line 16, for homogenety, read
homoyeneiti/.
Pages 550, 55], headings : nXlurmodes of administer.
i»(/ justice in India, and i/iode
of administering justice in
India, to administration of jus-
tice in India.
Page 552, heading : for codification, read code.
„ 553, note, col. 2, line 4 (of note), for a honour,
read an honour.

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACljSrG THE ENGRAVINGS.— VOL. I.

Trontispi*ce—ljord Palmerston.

riyw^-Wr— Encampment on the Sutlej,

Map of British India - - To face page

View of the Palace of Agra from the

River - . - - Tofacepage 112
View of Bombay, showing the Fort - - 217

View of Madras - - - Tofacepage hi
Table of Distances to be placed at end of Vol.

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACING THE ENGRAVINGS.— VOL. II.

Trontispxect—lMtd Clyde.
Vignette — Death of General Neil.
Lord Viscount Canning - Tofacepage

The Kind's Palace at Delhi - - - - 116

Map of Northern India - - - -125

Mutinous Sepoys dividing- Spoil - - - 215

Ceneral Sir Henrj' Havclock, K.C.B. - - 276

The Nana Sahib leaving Luckuow - - 346

The Palace at Agra - - To face page ^o^
Capture of the Guns by the Highlanders - 377
Portrait of Kooer Sing _ _ _ - 400
The Relief of Lucknow by General Have-
lock 420

Blowing up of the Cashmere Gate at Delhi - 442
Capture of the King of Delhi by Captain
Hodson ------- 447

Seik Troops dividing the Spoil taken from

Mutineers - . - - Tofacepage 479

Times' Correspondent looking on at the

Sacking of the KaLserbagh - - - 479
Death of Brigadier. Adrian Hope - - - 493
Mahomed Suraj-oo-deen Shah Ghazee - 159
Zeenat Mahal, Begum or Queen of Delhi • 453

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACING THE ENGRAVINGS.— VOL. III.

JVon(i>^i>cf— Hindoo and Mohammedan

Buildings.
Vignette— 'Acene near ChillahTarah Ghaut,

Bundelcund.
Troops encamped at the Entrance of the

Keree Pass. - - . To face page 1

The Ganges entering the Plains near I lurd war 2

Hurdwar, a place of Hindoo Pilgrimage - 3

Assemblage of Pilgrims near Hurdwar - 4

Hurdwar, the Gate of Ilari, or Vishnoo - 5

MuBsooree and the Dhoon, from Landour - 6

The Abbey and Hills from near Mussooree - 8

Snowy Range from Landour . - - 9

Snowy Range from TjTiee - - - - 11

Village of Naree ------ 12

Bridge at Bhurkote - - - - - 13

View near Kursalee ----- 14

Knrsalee, a Village in the neighbourhood

of Simla - - - - - - -15

View on the River Jumna - - - - IG

FalUnearthosourceofthc Jumna, above Delhi 18
Fugitive Sepoys taking refuge in a Mountain

Fastness, near Jumnootrcc, on the Jumna 18
Snowv Mountains, Northern Bengal j source

of the Jumna ------ 19

Fugitive Sepoys crossing the River Tonse

by Rope Bridge ----- 20
Gongootree, the sacred source of the Ganges 21
The Village of Khandoo, Himalaya Moun-
tains 23

Village of Roghera and Deodar Forest - 24

The Choor Mountains ----- 25

Jerdair, a Hill Village ; Ghurwal - - 26

Grasa-ropc Bridge at Teree, Ghurwal - - 27

View near Jubberah, Northtrn Bengal - 28

View at Deobun, near Umballah - - - 29

Mohima, near Deobun ----- 30

Valley of the Dhoon, Himalaya Mountains • 31

The Fortress of Nahun, in the dominion of

Oude ----- Tofacepage 32

Fortress of Bowrie, in Rajpootana - - 33

The Pass of Makundra - - - - 34

Scene in Kattea war— Travellers and Escort 36
Zanghera, or the Fakeer's Rock, on the

Ganges -------37

Colgong, on the Ganges - - - - 38

Seik Irregular Cavalry - - - - 39

Tomb of Shere Shah, Sasserain - - - 41

City of Benares ------ 43

Benares --,--.-44

Hindoo Temple, Benares - - - - 46

Saniat, a Boodh Monument, near Benares - 47

View of Cawnpoor from the River - - 48
Agra, the scene of the late insurrectionary

outbreak -------50

Taj Mahal, Agra 51

Jumma Musjid, Agra - - - - - 52

Agra— from the Jahara Bang - - - 53

Akber's Tomb, Secundra - - - - 54

Futtehpoor Sikri ------ 55

An old Fort at Muttra - - - - 57

Delhi, showing the entrance to the Palace - 58

Cootub Minar, Delhi ----- 59

Tomb of Humayun, Delhi - - - - 60

A ruin on the banks of the Jimma, above Delhi 61

Ruins, old Delhi 62

Ruins, south side of old Delhi - - - 63

Calcutta from the Esplanade. No. 1 - - 64

Ditto Ditto No. 2 - - 66

Fort George, Madras ----- 70

Bombay Harbour in the Monsoon - - 74

Simla, near Belaspoor ----- 76

Fortress of Shuhur, Jeypoor, Rajpootana - 80

Hindoo Temple at Chandgoan - - - 81

Perawa, Malwa ------ 82

King's Fort, Boorhanpoor - - - - 83

Jumma Musjid, Mandoo - To face page 84
The Water Palace, Mandoo. - - - 58

The Fortress of Dowlutabad - - - 86

Aurungzebe's Tomb, Rozah - - - 87
View of Sassoor, in the Deccan - - - 88
Tombs of the Kings, Golconda - - - 89
The British Residency at Hyderabad - - 91
Bej apoor -------92

Sultan Mahomed Shah's Tomb, Bejapoor - 94
Seven-storied Palace, Bejapoor - - - 96
Palace of the Seven Stories, Bejapoor - - 97
Mosque of Mustapha Khan, Bejapoor - - 98
Tomb of Ibrahim Padshah, Bejapoor - - 99
Taj Bowlee, Bejapoor ----- 101

Asser Mahal, Bejapoor - - _ - io2

Singham Mahal, Torway, Bejapoor - - 104
Hindoo Temples and Palace, Madura - - 105
Entrance to the Cave of Elephanta - - 106
Triad Figure, interior of Elephanta - - 107
Cave of Karli - - - - - -111

Front View of Kylas, Caves of Ellora - - 112
Excavated Temple of Kylas, Caves of

Ellora 113

Dus Outar, Ellora 115

Rameswur, Caves of Ellora - - - - 115
Skeleton Group in the Rameswur, Caves of

Ellora 116

Interior of Dhcr Warra, Ellora - - - 117
Sutteeism on the banks of the Ganges - - 119
View of Allahabad, showing the Fort - - 122
View of Lucknow ----- 124
Dewan Khass, or Hall of Audience, Palace of

Delhi 128

Agra — View of the Principal Street - - 130
Tomb of Elmad-ud-Dowlah, Agra - - 132
The Residency, Lucknow - - - - 134
The Hill Fortress of Gwalior - - - 140
View of Delhi, from the Palace Gate - - 143

INTRODUCTION.

The Anglo-Indian Empire ! what do these words represent in the minds of the
people of Britain ?

They speak of dominion over a far-distant sunny land, rich in barbaric gold,
precious stones, and architectural beauty, occupying upwards of a million square
miles of the most varied, fertile, and interesting portion of this globe, and
inhabited by more than one hundred million of the human race.

The early history of this wonderful country lies hid in deep obscurity. Not
the obscurity that naturally attends insignificance, but, far otherwise, caused by
the dense veil which Time drew around Ancient India, in thickening folds, during
centuries of deterioration; leaving the ruins of magnificent cities, and widely-
scattered records graven in mysterious characters on almost imperishable
materials, to attest the existence of civilised races — regarding whom even
tradition is silent — at a date long prior to the Christian era.

Whence India was peopled, is quite unknown ; but thirty different lan-
guages, and an equal diversity of appearance and character, dress, manners,
and customs, seem to indicate long-continued immigration from various quarters.

The Alexandrine era (b.c. 330) throws light on little beyond the Macedonian
invasion of the north-western frontier ; the Ai-ab incursions (a.d. 709) afford
only a few glimpses of the borders of the Indus ; and the thirteen expeditions of
Mahmood the Ghuznivede (a.d. 1000 to 1025), give little beyond a vague and
general idea of the wealth of the country and the dense population of the
Western Coast, whose idolatry Mahmood was empowered to scourge with the
strong arm of an Iconoclast; though he himself was but an instrument in the
hands of Providence ; and in battering down guardian fortresses and destroying
temples and shrines dedicated to false gods, had evidently no higher motive
than that of pillaging the dedicated treasures, and carrying away the worshippers
into slavery.

From this period we can faintly trace the progress of Mohammedan con-
quest in India, to the establishment of the dynasty known as the Slave Kings
of Delhi (a.d. 1208.) Its founder, Kootb-oo-deen, originally a Turki slave,
established the centre of Moslem dominion in the grand old Hindoo capital,
chiefly by reason of the disunion which had arisen among the leading Rajpoot
princes upon the failure of a direct heir, and the consequent jealousies and
disputes regarding the succession.

INTEODUCTIOjST.

Then the jiage of history becomes more and more legible until it records
the invasion of Timur or Tamerlane (a.d. 1398), the terrible details of the siege
of Delhi, and the general massacre in which it terminated ; and all the horrors
enacted before "the apostle of desolation " took his departure, carrying off men
and women of all ranks and ages into slavery, and leaving the devoted city
without a government, and almost without inhabitants.

The succeeding Indian annals, though confused, are tolerably full to the
commencement of that important epoch which comprises the reigns of the
Great Moguls. This brings us within the pale of modern history : we can note
the growth and decay of Mogul dominion, and trace, at least in measure, the
operating causes of its extension and decline. Viewed as a mere series of
biographies, the lives of the Great Moguls attract by incidents, which the
pen of fiction, fettered by attention to probability, would hardly venture to
trace. The members of this dynasty had a decidedly literary turn, and several
of them have left records not only of the public events in which they played a
leading part, but also of the domestic scenes in which they figured as sons,
husbands, or fathers.

The value of these memoirs in elucidating or corroborating the histories of
the period, is, of course, very great, and their authenticity rests on solid grounds,
apart from the strong internal evidence they afford of having been actually
written by the persons whose names they bear.

Nothing can be more characteristic than the intense self-adulation with
which Timur, or Tamerlane, narrates his perfidious and sanguinary career,
except perhaps the peculiar power of observation and analysis brought to bear
on new scenes which mark the autobiography of his descendant Baber, who,
following in his footsteps, invaded India from Cabool, and, after a fierce struggle
on the plains of Paniput (a.d. 1526), gained easy possession of Delhi and Agra,
and succeeded in laying the foundation of an extensive empire.

Humayun (a.d. 1530), Akber (a.d. 1556), Jehangeer (a.d. 1605), Shah Jehan
(a.d. 1628), all encountered vicissitudes of the most singular and varied character;
and the Mogul history increases in interest until it culminates in the long reign of
Aurungzebe (a.d. 1658), the ablest and most powerful, but the most ambitious and
bigoted of his race. During his sway the predatory hordes of Maharashtra were
formed by the Hindoo adventurer, Sevajee, into a powerful state ; the hated and
despised Mahrattas grew strong upon the spoil of independent kingdoms demolished
by the haughty emperor ; and finally, his troops, worn by incessant toil, became
mutinous for want of pay and provisions, and suffered their aged leader to be
hunted even to the death by foes he had been accustomed to treat as utterly
contemptible. The decay of the empire, which commenced several years before

INTEODrCTION.

the death of Aurungzebe (a.d. 1707), then became rapid; usurping viceroys,
rebelling against their government and warring with the rulers of neighbouring
states or provinces, aggravated the internal disorganisation. Nor were external
foes wanting to complete the work of destruction : adventurers of all creeds and
complexions fought fiercely over the ruins; while, distancing meaner com-
petitors. Nadir Shah (a.d. 1739) and Ahmed Shah (a.d. 1759), the robber
kings of Persia and AfFghanistan, swooped down like vultures to secure
their share of the carcass ; and the chief cities of India, especially Delhi,
repeatedly witnessed the most sanguinary enormities, and continued to do so
until, one by one, they became gradually included in the widening circle of
British supremacy.

And why dwell thus on the past at such a crisis as this, when the mag'ic
circle of our power has been rudely broken — when Delhi, filled to overflowing-
with all the munitions of war, has been treacherously snatched from our
unsuspecting- hands — and when the Crescent, raised ag-ain in deadly strife
against the Cross, has been reared aloft as if in testimony that the Moslems
who came into India proclaiming- war to the death against idolatry, have
quite abandoned their claim to a Divine mission, and are affecting- to make
common cause with the Hindoos, whose creed and practice they formerly
declaimed against with so much horror and disgust? Now Mohammedans
and Hindoos unite in committing crimes of a character so deep and deadly,
so foul and loathsome^ that we find no parallel for them ; not in the relentless,
inventive vengeance of the Red Indians ; not even in that crisis of civilised
infidelity, that fierce paroxysm of the French Revolution, still shudderingly
called the " Reig-n of Terror." The Red Republicans made public avowal of
atheism; and awful was the depravity into which they sank, world-wide the
shame they incurred : but recantation soon followed. These treacherous
Sepoys, who have so suddenly risen in a body, violating every oath of fidelity,
every tie of feeling- and association — they, too, have their watchword : it is
not " There is no God ;" it is " Death to the Christians !"

As in France, no religious persecution, but' rather a state of conventional
apathy, leavened by the poison of Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, and their
clique, preceded the atheistical and sang-uinary outburst ; even so has it
been with India. Efforts for the extension of Christianity have been wholly
exceptional; the rule has been tolerance, amounting to indifference, in all
religious matters. Few who have been in the habit of reading Indian
periodicals, much less of mixing in Indian society, will deny that, however
manifest the desire for the diffusion of the Gospel might be in individuals, the
government had remained markedly neutral.

INTEODUOTION.

The Mussulmans, let it be repeated, subjug-ated and governed India in
the character of anti-idolaters. They tolerated— and barely tolerated — the
heathenism around them, to which their aversion was, for the most part,
quite undisguised; and they were always eager for individual conversions.
Their open assertion of the superiority of their faith was viewed as natural
by the Hindoos; nor does any angry feeling appear to have been excited, save
in exceptional cases of actual persecution. Aurungzebe certainly alienated a
large portion of his subjects by reviving a long-abandoned capitation-tax on
infidels; and Avhether he did this from a desire to refill the treasury emptied
by incessant warfare, or from sheer bigotry, the result was the same. Many
causes (among which may be named, not as the avowed ones, but certainly
not as the least poAverful — sloth and sensuality, fostered by an enervating
climate) have concurred in rendering the Indian followers of Mohammed
comparatively regardless of that integral portion of their creed which
enjoins its extension by all and every means. But no earnest believer in
the Koran can be tolerant of idolatry ; and therefore, when we hear of
Moslem and Hindoo linked together in a most unprovoked crusade against
Christians, it is manifest that the pretext is altogether false, and that the
Mussulman, who is taught by the book he deems inspired never to name our
Blessed Lord without reverence, or idols without abhorrence, cannot now be
actuated by an}'' religious motive, however perverted or fanatical, in violating
the first principles of his faith and by affected sympathy with the professors
of a creed heretofore declared utterly polluted and debasing, using them
as dupes and tools in carrying out an incendiary plot, the planned details
of which only Devil-worshippers, possessed by unclean spirits, could have
been supposed capable of conceiving and executing. The conspiracy, be3'ond
a doubt, has originated in the desire of the Mohammedans to recover their
lost supremacy in India. Its immediate and secondary causes are involved
in temporary obscurity ; but the primum mobile must be sought for in the
pages of history. It is true the flame has spread like wildfire : but the
important question for those who are capable of grapjjling" with the com-
plicated bearings of this all-eng-rossing subject, is not — what hand applied
the match 1 but how came such vast masses of combustibles to be so widely
spread, so ready for ignition ?

To understand this in any satisfactory degree, the inquirer must be
content to begin at the beginning, by carefully weighing the fragmentary
records we possess of the history and character of the Hindoos as a distinct
people, noting the causes which led to their gradual subjugation by the
Moslems ; next, those which paved the way for the introduction of European

INTEODtrCTION.

Powers ; and, lastly, the establishment and operation of British supremacy
throug-hout India.

The indifference which the British nation and its rulers have so
long- evinced to the study of Asiatic historj', has been most unfortunate.
Wrapped in fancied security, we have been too ig'norant to be anxious, too
indolent to be watchful ; and the few Avho have felt it an imperative duty to
speak words of warning' by bring-ing the experience of the past to bear upon
the signs of the present, have found themselves set down as alarmists on this
point at least, whatever their general character for ability and sound judg-
ment. Yet the fact is certain, that almost every leading authority from the
date of our earliest assumption of territorial power, has dwelt forcibly on the
necessity for unsleeping vigilance in the administration of Indian affairs.
This conviction has been the invariable result of extensive acquaintance with
the natives, and it is abundantly corroboi*ated by the recorded antecedents
of both Hindoos and Mohammedans.

The history of India, whether in early times or during the Mohammedan
epoch, is — as the brief outline sketched in preceding pages was designed to
indicate — no less interesting- as a narrative than important in its bearing on
the leading events of the present epoch, which, in fact, cannot, without it, be
rendered intelligible. The strug-gles of European Powers for Asiatic ascen-
dancy, form leading features in the annals of each of tbese states. Portugal
was first in the field, and long- and fierce Avas the combat she waged to
maintain exclusive possession of the rich monopoly of Oriental commerce.
The Dutch (then known as the Netherlanders) enjoyed a share of the
profits in the capacity of carriers between the Portuguese factories and the
northern nations of Europe ; but when, in 1579, they formed themselves into a
separate government in defiance of the power of Philip of Spain, that
monarch, who then governed with an iron sceptre the united kingdoms
of Spain and Portugal, forbade the employment of the Dutch as inter-
mediaries — a prohibition which led to their trafficking on their own account,
forming various trading settlements in the East in the commencement of
the seventeenth century, and supplanting their former employers.

The first attempts of England were made, at the same period, by a
company of London merchants, warmly encouraged by the Queen, who
signed a charter on their behalf on the last day of the sixteenth century.
During the following century the English continued to be simply traders,
with no cravings for political or territorial aggrandisement — absorbed in the
business of buying and selling, and anxious only for the safety of their fleet,
which rapidly became more formidable and extensive in proportion to the rich

INTEODUCTION.

freight' it was destined to bear throug-h seas infested with pirates, and fre-
quently preoccupied by hostile European squadrons.

The eighteenth century opened upon an entirely new phase of Indian
annals. The decay of Mogul power, which had, as has been stated, com-
menced before the death of Aurungzebe in 1707, was g;reatly accelerated by
that event, and by the war of succession which followed, as a natural con-
sequence, the death of a Mog-ul emperor. The will of the deceased ruler
decreed the division of his dominions among his sons ; and had they consented
to this arrangement, and cordially united in carrying it out, their allotted
portions might possibly have been consolidated into distinct kingdoms. But
brotherly love rarely flourishes under the shadow of a despotic throne ; and
the House of Timur formed no exception to this rule, having evinced a
remarkable tendency to fratricide throughout the entire period of its Indian
career. The younger sons of Aurungzebe went to war with their elder
brother, each on his own account, and died the death they had provoked,
leaving the survivor, Bahadur Shah, to rule as best he might the scattered
territories styled the Empire. Anything more devoid of organisation — of any
approach to unity — than the so-called Empire, cannot well be conceived. When
Aurungzebe snatched the sceptre from the hands of his father, Shah Jehan,
and condemned him to life-long captivity, the dominions he usurped were
comparatively well governed, and might, under the sway of a ruler of such
unquestionable ability, such indomitable perseverance, have been consolidated
into a comparatively homogeneous mass But the unhallowed ambition at
whose shrine he had sacrificed the liberty of his father and the lives of his
brothers, still hurried him on, rendering him reckless of the internal deca}^
which was manifestly at work in the very heart of his kingdom, while
he was lavishing his resources in spreading desolation and ruin, famine and
the sword, through every independent kingdom within his reach — extending
his own only in name, throwing down governments and ancient land-marks^
yet erecting none in their stead ; becoming terrible as a destro3-er, when he
might have been great as a statesman and a consolidator.

A right view of the character of Aurungzebe, and a patient investigation
of his career, is absolutely necessary to the obtainment of a clear insight into
the state of India at the period when the English East India Company began
to exchange their position of traders on sufferance for that of territorial lords.
The first steps of this strange transformation can hardly be said to have been
voluntary. The English merchants were still essentially traders. An exami-
nation of the East India House records (and no attempt has ever been made
to garble or hide them away from friend or foe), will prove to the most pre-

INTEODTJCTION.

judiced observer, that, as a body, they persistently opposed the acquisition of
dominion. Nothing short of complete indifference can account for the exces-
sive ig-norance of Indian politics manifested in their official correspondence.
It may, indeed, be urged that English factors in a foreign land, in addition to
their characteristic reserve, are naturally much engrossed by the duties and
cares of their calling, and, apart from prejudice, may well be excused for a
degree of preoccupation which prevents them from making any very vigorous
effort to penetrate the barriers of language and creed, manners and customs,
which separate them from the people with whom they come to traffic. A
^ime arrived, however, when the English could no longer be blind to the
alarming political and social state of India. Every year, much more every
decade, the disorganisation increased. Certain native Hindoo states, such as
Mysoor, Travancore, the little mountainous principality of Coorg, and a few
others, had been exempted, by their position or their insignificance, from
Moslem usurpation. With these exceptions^ strife and anarchy spread over
the length and breadth of India. It was no organised struggle of race or
creed J for Mussulman fought against Mussulman, Hindoo against Hindoo,
and each against the other j Affghan warred with Mogul, Mogul with
Rajpoot; Mahratta with all. The hand of every man was raised against his
neighbour : the peasant went armed to the plough — the shepherd stood ready
to defend his flock with his life ; the energy and determination of local
authorities kept up some degree of order in their immediate districts ; but,
in general, the absence of a government strong- enough to protect its
innocent subjects from internal vice or external aggression, was manifested
in the fearful audacity with which the Pindarry, Dacoity, and Thug, the
trained marauder, thief, and assassin, pursued their murderous avocations,
in the blaze of noon as in the darkness of midnight.

The Hindoos fell back upon the ancient village system, which the
usurping- Mohammedans had vainly striven to destroy; and the internal
organisation of the^ ^ little municipalities, each possessing its own Potail
or Mayor, enabled them to parry, or at least rally from, attacks from
without.

The English laboured for the effectual fortification of the various factories
gradually established in different parts of India, and included, according to
their situation, in the three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.
Armed neutrality, however, Avould have been barely practicable, even so far
as the numerous warring native powers were concerned. The conduct of
their European rivals rendered such a position quite untenable. The French
East India Company had, so far as trade was concerned, proved a decided

INTEODTJCTION.

failure: its employes were very inferior to the Eng-lish as factors; but as
political ag-ents, they possessed diplomatic instincts peculiar to themselves.

Dumas, Dupleix, and the gifted La Bourdonnais, saw clearly the oppor-
tunity afforded for the territorial establishment of their nation, and they
eao-erly took part in the quarrels around them, making- offensive and defensive
alliances with the neig-hbouring- states, interfering- in cases of disputed
succession, and taking-, with bold and unfaltering- steps, the apparent road to
political power. None of the English functionaries approached their rivals
in ability; but they could not be blind to the increasing danger of their
situation ; and the example set by the French, of drilling native troops and
organising them as far as possible in accordance with European notions, was
followed throughout the British settlements. Then came the inevitable
struggle between the two powers whose unsleeping rivalry had so often
evidenced itself in strife and bloodshed at the very ends of the earth. At
first they met in indirect hostility as the auxiliaries of native princes ; but the
first indications of European war were eagerly seized on as a cause for direct
opposition, and a fierce struggle ensued, which eventually left the English
complete masters of the field. While the Carnatic, in which Madras is
situated, was the scene of this contest, the English in Bengal were sub-
jected to the most oppressive exactions by the usurping Mohammedan
governor, Surajah Dovvlah, whose seizure and pillage of Calcutta in June,
1756, was marked by the horrible massacre of the "Black Hole" — a deed
which, up to that period, even Mohammedan annals can hardly equal in
atrocity ; but to Avhich, after the lapse of a hundred j^ears, many terrible
pai-allels have been furnished.

The tidings spread like wildfire through the British settlements, and the
conviction became deep and g-eneral, that it would be madness to trust to the
faith or humanity of such men as the depraved Surajah Dovvlah and his
Moslem compeers. The Mogul Empire had become an empty name so far
as the distant provinces were concerned, and there waf. absolutely no native
state either strong enough to protect the English settlements, or just enough
to be trusted. Never was the indomitable resolve of Britons in a foreign
land more sternly tested, or more triumphantly evinced, than when their
fortunes seemed at the lowest ebb — when the French and the Mohammedans,
in different quarters, menaced their overthrow and extinction. " To drive
these dogs into the sea !" was then, as now, the fervent aspiration of eveiy
Moslem regarding every European. But they wished to squeeze the
orange before they threw away the rind. They were themselves divided, and
had nlans of individual ao-o-randizement to carry out against each other, and

INTEODTJCTION.

g-enerally over the Hindoos ; and they well knew the value of European
co-operation and instruction in the art of war.

The recapture of Calcutta was speedily eiFected by a force of 900
European troops and 1,500 Sepoys, commanded by a ci-devant writer, who
had turned soldier, and risen to distinction in the Carnatic war.

Kobert Clive — for it was he — looked round and saw the opportunity offered
for exchang-ing; the precarious footing then occupied by his countrymen for
one of far greater importance and security. The Hindoos were daily becoming-
more impatient of the Mohammedan yoke, and the haug-hty Mussulmans
were themselves divided regarding- their ruler, whose reckless proflig-acy and
violent temper had given many of them provocation of a description which
excites, in an Oriental, feelings of the fiercest and most enduring revenge.
The English Avatched the coursie of affairs with deep anxiety, and soon
ascertained that, in violation of a treaty entered into after the reconquest of
Calcutta, Surajah Dowlah was plotting- with the French for theii- destruction.
Unquestionabl}', this procedure justified them in adopting hostile measures
against their treacherous foe ; though it does not even palliate some of the
piinor details, in which the crooked policy of Clive appfears in painful contrast
to his bravery as a soldier and his skill as a general. The result was the
battle of Plassy (a.d. 1757), rapidly followed by the permanent establishment
of British dominion in Beng'al.

After this, the tide of success flowed on fast and full. If the reader will
patiently peruse the pages of this history, he will see that our power has
increased with marvellously little effort on our own part. As, when a stone
is flung into a river, the first small circle expands and multiplies beyond
calculation — so, in India, have we gone on extending- our limits, as from the
action of some inevitable necessity ] less from our own will, than because we
could not stand still without hazarding- the position already gained. True,
there have been most distressing- instances of injustice and aggression; but
these are the few and comparatively unimportant exceptions. So far as the
general obtainment of political ascendancy in India is concerned, we may
quote the apt comparison used by an old Rajpoot prince to Colonel Tod, in
1804, as conveying a perfectly correct idea of our process of appropriation.
Alluding to a sort of melon which bursts asunder when fully matured, Zalim
Sing said, " You stepped in at a lucky time ; the pyoot was ripe, and you had
only to take it bit by bit."*

The manner in which we have acquired power in India, is one thing ; the
use we have made of it, is another and more complicated question. For my

• Annals of Hajast'han, Vol. I., p. 766.

10 INTEODUCTION.

own part, I have long- watched the Ang-lo-Indian g-overnment with feelings
of deep anxiety, and have laboured to the utmost of my ability to awaken the
British nation to a sense of the responsible and critical situation they had
been led to occupy. It is now close upon twenty 3'ears since I was permitted,
by the East India Company, to edit the official records of a survey made by
Dr. Buchanan in Eastern India; and the impression on my mind was so
forcible, that I could not refrain from prefacing- the selections with a declara-
tion that the handwriting was on the mall, and nothing- but a complete and
radical alteration of our system of g-overnment, could avert the punishment
justly merited by our misuse of the g-reat charg-e committed to us.

The primar}'^ reason of this misuse I believe to be the false and wicked
assertion, that "we won India by the sword, and must keep it by the
sword." There is another aphorism, much older and of much higher authority,
which we should do well to think on — " They that take the sword shall perish
by the sword." We did not conquer India by violence : we came as peaceful
traders, and spent long' years in that capacity ; and during- that time we
succeeded in impressing' on the minds of the natives a livel}"- conviction of
our energ-y, ability, and integ-rity. When the crisis came — as come it did,
without our knowledge and g-reatly to our discomfiture — counting--houses were
turned into barracks, bales of piece-goods helped to make barricades, clerks
and writers were metamorphosed into military leaders, and, Avhile themselves
but learners, drilled the natives round them into a state of discipline before
unknown.

Thus was formed the nucleus of that army on which we have leaned as
if that, and that alone, had been the means of our obtaining- dominion in
India. For the perfect org-anisation of that mig-hty force, which lately
numbered 300,000 men, we laboured with unwearied patience; and to this
g-rand object we sacrificed every other. So long- as the Sepoys were duly
cared for, the condition of the mass of the people was a matter of com-
parative indifference. It was not the Great Ruler of the Universe, whose
inscrutable decrees had placed this vast tract of heathendom in the hands
of a people who professed to serve Him and Him onl}-^; rejecting- every
tradition of men ; relying- only on the mediation of His Sou ; resting- for
g'uidance only on His Avritten word ; asking- only the interpretation of His
Holy Spirit ; — not so ! The Anglo-Indian dominion had nothing whatever to
do with any such religious speculations. We were not bound to set before the
people the example of the faith which we affect to believe the very leaven of
the earth. Until the last few years we did not view it even as a case of
stewardship. We were not even called upon to exert our energy for developing

INTKODUCTION. 11

the physical resources of the country, and ameliorating' the condition of the
mass of the people. And why? Because free Britons, in the middle of the
nineteenth centur}', have seen fit to assume the position of military despots,
drowning- the conviction that India was a God-g-iven trust, in the vao"ue
notion of its heing- " an empire of opinion ;" and then sinking", by an easy
transition, from rationalism into the more popular notion of sheer force — " an
empire of the sword," held by the might of our own strong arm.

Scepticism and cowardice lie at the root of our present disasters : delibe-
rately have we chosen the fear of man, which blinds and enervates, rather
than the fear of God, which enlightens and streng-thens. With infatuated
credulity we have nursed in our bosom the serpent that has stung' us to
the quick. Tolerance is, indeed, an essentially Christian quality; but who
shall dare assume that praise for the Christianity which was made in the
persons of high Protestant (?) officials, to bow its head before the licentious
profligacy of the Mussulmans, and the heathen abominations and disg'usting'
impurities of the modern Brahminical priesthood, and to witness, in silence,
the spiritual enslavement and physical degradation of the mass ?

We thought, perhaps, both Mussulmans and Brahmins too enervated by
their respective orgies to be dangerous as enemies. This but proves our
utter ignoiance of the Oriental character, especially as developed in the
Mohammedans. Let the reader glance over the history of their founder
(and I have striven to sketch it in a subsequent pag'e, in faithfulness, and not
with the pen of a caricaturist), he will see in the False Prophet the type of
sensuality, bigotry, ambition, g-rounded and rooted in the fiercest fanaticism ;
and that type has been perpetuall}^ reproduced, and will continue to be so
until Mohammedanism shall be swept from the face of the earth.

How soon that may be, none can prophesy ; but the general I'ising now
taking place among the Mussulmans in Africa and Syria, as well as in India,
are pointed at by many observers as preceding and indicating the death-throes
of this once powerful, but already deeply sunken race. j

For us, if we would hope to conquer, it must be by turning to the Lord
of Hosts, as a nation, in deep repentance and humility: then only may we
Justly look for present help, and anticipate for the future that gift in which
we have been so 'amentably deficient — " a right judgment in all things.'' '■
Thus favoured, we shall not shrink from the responsibilities of an evangelized
nation ; but shall understand, that there is no surer way of obtaining
respect in the eyes of the quick-witted Hindoos, than by a consistent
adherence to our religious professions. The means commend themselves to
every unprejudiced person really versed in Indian aff'airs; and, assuredly, none

12 INTEODUCTIOISr.

Other will be blessed of God. We cannot hope to pass off indifference for
tolerance : the Mohammedans see through the flimsy disguise, and bid the
heathen throw off the ig-nominious yoke of Kafirs (infidels.) Christianity
the}- reverence, and dread to see us manifest any tokens of it. Well they may;
for nothing- else will cover our head in the day of battle. That day has come.
May we now have g-race to control the fearful passions provoked by the most
horrible outrog-es ; and may the memory of our own shortcoming's towards
God, enable us, if He g-ives the victory, to use it mercifully. Let us not
forg-et, that the innocent blood spilt in the last few weeks, cannot blot out the
memory of the debt which Eng-land owes to India.* The Parliament of
Britain now must dictate the course to be followed in a matter of vital
importance to the nation Avhose opinions it represents. The portion of the
British public impressed with sound and practical relig-ious views, is, happily,
larg-er and more influential than would appear to superficial observers. The
fact is indicated in the increase of missionary enterprise, the extension of
education, and, indirectly, in the progress of public improvements, and the
initiation of reformatory measures. The faulty judicial system, the partial
and vexatious land-tenui-e, the defective monetary circulation of India, have
come under discussion ; and if, as God in mercy g^rant, Britain is permitted
to retain the brightest jewel in her crown — the most valuable of hei
transmarine possessions — it is fervently to be desired that we may apply
ourselves diligently to remedy all deficiencies, to repair, as far as possible,
past neglects, and provide against future emerg'encies.

The details of the present terrible episode will be g'iven fully in subsequent
pages ; day by day that close seems approaching, with the record of which
the Author hopes to be enabled to terminate this Work.

* The pecuniary debt is wholly on the side of England. The cost, alike of civil and military government, including
the payment of the royal troops, hius been entirely defrayed from the Indian revenues : so, if we succeed, must be the
expenses of the present insurrection. The money remittances to England from the three Presidencies average five
million sterling for the last sixty years. There is scarcely a country in the United Kingdom but has had the value of
its landed property enhanced by the investments of fortunes, the fruit of civil or military services or of commercial
success in Hindoostan. Again, how many British statesmen and commanders have had their genius elicited and
educated in India. A noble field has been annually opened for the youth of Britain, and an expansive tone given to
society by the constant discussion of great subjects.

The merchant and the manufa<turer can best estimate the importance of a large, increasing, and lucrative market,
free from high or hostile tariffs ; and the advantage of an almost unlimited command of commodities, the regular obtain-
ment of which is essential to the steady employment of their operations. Nor must it be forgotten, that Indian
ImporU and Exports to the amount of thirty million sterling, now furnish profitable employment to the best class of
mercantile shipping.

i^ g-

tfl (n U

u^gt,

ftbnrfs of Ifet pwing.

The first mutiny (al Berh«mpore),....Feb. 26

Mutiny »nd mmssore at Meerut, May 10

Kevolt and massacre at Delhi, 11

The Mogul empire proclaimed, ■ 12

Mutiuv and massapre at Lucltnow, 31

Cawnpore invested by Nana gahib,...June 8
Surrender of the garrison... " 26

M The first massacre, 27

The seomd • July 18

. Relieved by Gen. Havelock, » 17

«i

% ^

? S! K

t « « « « <

StSI

It 3 3 "^ fe *
N^ a S tS S o

THE

INDIAN EMPIRE,

CHAPTER I.

EARLY HISTORY, MYTHOLOGICAL AND TRADITIONAL— PERSIAN AND OTHER INVA-
SIONS—GREEK EXPEDITION AND CONQUESTS OF ALEXANDER— PLUNDERING
INCURSIONS OF MAHMOOD THE GHUZNIVEDE— MOHAMMEDAN CONQUESTS,
DOMINION, AND DOWNFALL— RISE AND PROGRESS OF BRITISH POWER AND
SUPREMACY.

Ancient History, to the time of Alex-
ander. — India or Hindoostan, with its noble
rivers, diversified cliraate, productive soil,
and extensive coast-line, offered advantages
for colonization, which were availed of at a
very early period in the history of the
human race. Of its first inhabitants we know
little, beyond their being, as it is generally
believed, still represented by various bar-
barous tribes who yet inhabit the mountains
and forests, and follow rude religious prac-
tices that are no part of the primitive Hin-
doo system. By whom or at what time
these were subdued or expelled there is no
ground to rest anything more than a sur-
mise ; and of the many that have been, or
might be, hazarded on this diflScult but in-
teresting subject, perhaps not the least rea-
sonable is the supposition based on the varied
craniological development, and distinct lan-
guages of the existing Hindoo race — that
they were originally composed of numerous
migrating hordes who, at intervals, poured
in from the wild Mongolian steppes and
Turkomanian ranges, from the forests of
Scythia, the arid shores of the Caspian, and
the sunburnt plains of Mesopotamia ; from
the plateaux of Persia, the deserts of Arabia,
and even from the fertile valley of the Nile,
allured by the extraordinary fertility of this
most favoured portion of the Asiatic con-
tinent, or driven from their native land by
tyranny or want. Time and circumstances
gradually fused the heterogeneous mass into
something like homogeneity; the first step to
which was probably made by the introduc-
tion, in a rude form, of that village system
which so markedly characterises India when
viewed as a whole, and which, under the
scourge of sanguinary wars, and the heavy

exactions of native or foreign rulers, has
ever been the mainstay of the people. The
invaders, if such they were, probably brought
with them the elements of civilisation; and
the peaceful pursuits of pastoral and agri-
cultural life would necessitate a certain
amount of concentration, as no single man
or family could dwell alone in a country
whose dense jungle required combined la-
bour, both to clear it for use and guard it
from wild beasts. All this, however, relates
to a period concerning which we possess no
historical record whatever — in which must
have originated what may be termed Brah-
minical Hindooism, whose rise and early
progress is shrouded in dense obscurity.
From the internal evidence afforded by the
system itself, so far as we are acquainted
with it during its early purity, it would seem
to have been framed by a small confederacy
of persons, whose knowledge, both religious
and secular, being far in advance of their
age, had enabled them to draw up rules for
the guidance of their countrymen, both as
regarded their duty to God and their fel-
lows. Fully aware, as it would appeal, of
the great fact, that human institutions have
strength and permanence only when based
on a religious principle, they set forth their
own scheme as the direct ordination of the
" Self- Existent One," the " Great First
Cause," whose attributes they described in a
tone of solemn grandeur not unbefitting their
high theme ; and to enforce their precepts
and heighten their influence, made much use
of the rude lyrics extant among the people,
to which they added others. These were com- .
piled under the name of the Vedas (a word
derived from a Sanscrit root, signifying to
ktiow), by one Vyasa, who lived in the four-

CODE OF MENU— NINTH CENTURY, B.C.

teenth century before the Christian era.
In describing the religious creed of the
Hindoos, and commenting on the opinions
entertained respecting the comparative an-
tiquity of Brahminisra and Boodhism, the
most ancient sacred writings of each of
these great sects will be noticed ; but here
it is only necessary to remark, that the
Vedas bear incontestable evidence of having
been written at diffeient periods, some being
in very rugged Sanscrit, others, though an-
tiquated, coming within the pale of that
language in the polished form in which Sir
William Jones found it, when he dechired it
to be " of a wonderful structure, more per-
fect than the Greek, more copious than the
Latin, and more exquisitely refined than
either."* One only of the Vedas, the Soma
Veda, has yet been translated into English.
The translator. Dr. Stephenson, of Bombay,
leans to the opinion of its having been com-
posed out of India, but brought there l)y the
Brahmins from some northern country at
a very remote period. Another authority,
after a careful examination of the same book,
lias arrived at a directly opposite conclusion. f
He this as it may, there are expressions in
the Vedas which prove that the majority of
the detached pieces of different kinds of
poetic composition which they comprise,
were written in a country where maritime
commerce was highly esteemed, where a sa-
crificial ritual had already been fixed, and
mythological legends abounded. The fre-
quent reference to war and to chariots in-
dicate, moreover, the previous estal)lishment
of separate states, and the cultivation of
military art.

The first comprehensive view of the state
of society among the Hindoos is afi'orded by
the code of laws which bears the name of
Menti, and is supposed, but not on very
convincing data, to have been compiled in
or about the nintli century, B.C. J Whe-
ther Menu himself were a real person-
age or no is an open question, and one of
little importance, since his appearance is
merely dramatic, like that of the speakers

* Asiatic Researches, vol. i.. p. 422.

T Artlinr's Missiim to the 3Ii/sore, p. 441.

t Sir W. Jones supposed the Code to have been
compiled about 300 years after the Vedas (As. Ji.,
vol. vii., p. 283); but Elphinstone fixes the date at
some time about half-way between Alexander, in the
fourth century, B.C., and the Vedas in the four-
teenth. (Vol. i,, p. 430.)

§ Cast, the common word, is not Indian, but Eng-
lish ; and is given in Johnson's JUictionary as derived
from the Spanish or Portuguese, casta, a breed. In

in the dialogues of Plato or of Cicero. No
hint is given as to the real compiler, nor is
there any clue to the ancient commentator
Calluca, whose endeavours to gloss over and
explain away some doctrines of Menu, seems
to indicate that opinion had already begun
to change, even in his day; while many suc-
ceeding commentators, and some of very
ancient date, S|)eak of the rules of Blenu as
applicable to the good ages only, and not
extending to their time.

The chief feature in the code is its di-
vision of the people into four classes or
casts ;§ namely, the Brahmins or sacer-
dotal ; the Cshatriya or military; the Vai-
syas or industrial ; and the Soodia)s|| or ser-
vile. The three first classes were termed the
" twice-born," their youths being admitted,
at certain ages, by a solemn ceremony, to
participate in the religious and social privi-
leges of their elders ; but the fourth and low-
est cast was rigidly excluded from all these.
The degradation of the Soodras has given
rise to the idea of their being the people
whom the superior classes had conquered ;
and similar inferences may be drawn from
the fact that, while the "twice-born" were all
strictly forbidden, under any circumstances,
to leave, what, for want of a better term,
may be styled Hindoostan Proper; the
Soodra, distressed for the means of sub-
sistence, might go where he would. It ap-
pears, however, from the code, that there
were still cities governed by Soodra kings,
in which Brahmins were advised not to re-
side. From this it seems probable that the
independent Soodra towns were situated in
such of the small territories into which
Hindoostan was divided as yet retained their
freedom, while the whole of the tracts south
of the Vindya mountains remained un-
touched by the invaders, and unpenetrated
by their religion. On the other iiand, it is
remarkable that neither the code of Menu,
nor the more ancient Vedas, so far as we
are at present acqtiaintcd with their con-
tents, ever allude to any prior residence, or
to a knowledge of more than the name of

Sir W. Jones' Translation of Menu, the word em-
ployed is "class:" the Brahmins constantly use the
Sanscrit term as signifying a species.

11 There are few things more perplexing in the
study of Indian history than the various modes of
spelling jiroper names and otiier words, which have
resulted from the difficulty of representing them in
the characters of our alphabet. In the present work,
the author has deemed it advisable to adopt that
best known and most easily read, in preference to
what might have been more critically correct.

HINDOO CHRONOLOGY. SOLAR AND LUNAR DYNASTIES.

any country out of India. Even mytho-
logy goes no farther than the Himalaya
mountains for the location of the gods.
With regard to the condition of the Soodras,
it appears to have been in many points
similar, but in some decidedly preferable,
to that of the helot, the slave, or the serf of
the Greek, the Roman, and the feudal sys-
tems, excepting only its stern prohibition of
any share in the ordinances of religion. But
this might have originated in the probable
circumstance of the conquered people having
a distinct creed of their own, to prevent the
spreading of which among their disciples,
the Brahmins* (in whom, Elphinstone has
well said, the common interests of their class,
mingled, probably, with much pure zeal for
their monotheistic faith, was deeply rooted)
united religion and rank so closely in their
able scheme, that to break through, or even
in minor observances to deviate from the
strict rules of duty laid down for the guidance
of the several regenerate classes, was to forfeit
position, and literally to incur the penalty of
a civ'il death, far passing excommunication
in severity, and to place themselves under a
ban which wearisome penance could alone
remove. One passion — and it would seem
only one — was strong enough to break down
the barriers of cast. A mixed race sprang up,
who were gradually formed into classes, and
divided and subdivided, until the result is
now seen in an almost countless number of
small communities. In subsequent sections,
in describing manners, customs, laws, and
government, it will be necessary to show
what these were in the days of Menu, and
the changes which gradually took place up
to the period of English dominion ; but at
present we are more immediately concerned
with that difficult subject, the chronological
succession of events in Hindoo history.

Oriental research has, as yet, revealed to
us but one Hindoo work tliat can be strictly
considered historical, the Annals of Cash-
mere, ably translated by Professor Wilson,
which refers chiefly to a limited territory on
the extreme northern frontier of India, and
contains little more than incidental men-
tion of Hindoostan and the Deccan. There
is, besides, an evident and not unnatural
desire on the part of the native writer to
aggrandize the rulers of Cashmere at the

• Elphinstone suggests a doubt " whether the
conquerors were a foreign peop'.e or a local tribe,
like the Dorians in Greece ; or whether, indeed, they
were not merely a portion of one of the native stales
{&. religious sect, for instance,) which had outstripped

expense of the neighbouring princes, which
gives an impression of one-sidedness to a
production possessed, notwithstanding, of
much value and interest. The student is,
therefore, compelled to fall back upon the
wide field, as yet but very partially explored,
presented in the sacred books, the legislative
records, and the two great epic poems. The
knowledge obtainable from these sources is,
in too many cases, rendered comparatively
useless, by the misleading chronology taught
by the Brahmins, apparently as a means of
sustaining the claim of their nation to a fa-
bulous antiquity. The periods employed in
the computation of time are equally strange
and unsatisfactory, and are rendered pe-
culiarly puzzling by the astronomical data
on which they are partially founded. A
complete revolution of the nodes and ap-
sides, which they suppose to be performed
in 4,320,000,000 years, forms a calpa, or
day of Brahma. In this are included four-
teen manwantaras, or periods, each contain-
ing seventy-one maha yugas, or great ages,
which again comprise, respectively, four
yugas, or ages, of unequal length. These
last bear some resemblance to the golden,
silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greeks,
and are alone considered by the Brahmins
as marking the periods of human history
since the creation of the existing worhl,
which they believe to have occurred about
four million years ago. The first, or satya
yuga, lasted 1,728,000 years, through the
whole of which a king named Satyavrata,
otherwise called Vaivaswata, lived and
reigned. This monarch is described as
having escaped with his family from an uni-
versal deluge, which destroyed the rest of
the world: From him descended two royal
lines, one of which, under the designation
of Soorya, the children of the sun, reigned
at Ayodhya orOude; the other, Chandra,
or the children of the moon, at Pratisht'hana
or Vitora, in the tract between the Jumna
and Ganges, through the 1,296,000 years of
the second, or treta yuga; the 8(54,000 years
of the third, or dwapar yuga j and the' first
1,000 years of the present, or call yuga, at
which time both the solar and lunar races
became extinct ; as also a distinct cotempo-
rary race, the descendants of Jarasandha,who
began to reign in Magadha or Behar, at the

their fellow citizens in knowledge, and appropriated
all the advantages of the society to themselves."—
Histnry of India, vol. i., p. 96.

t It is evident that in the time of Menu there were
no slaves attached to the soil.

16 RESIDENCE OF EARLY HINDOO PRINCES AND BRAHMINS.

commeacement of the call yuga. I'he last
reiguing prince of the Jarasandha family was
slain by his prime minister, who placed his
own son, Pradyota, on the throne. Fifteen
of the usurping race enjoyed the sovereignty
to the time of Nanda, who, in extreme old
age (after a reign, it is said, of 100 years),
was murdered by a Brahman, by whom a
man of the Maurya race, named Chandra-
Gupta, was placed on the vacant throne.*

The genealogies of the two parallel lines
of the sun and moon are derived from the
sacred writings called the Puranas.f Sir
"William Jones framed his list from the Bha-
gavat Purana; Captain Wilford subsequently
collated his genealogical table of the great
Hindoo dynasties from the Vishnu and
other PuranasjJ and, if critical research
should eventually succeed in enabling us to
correct the errors of Indian chronology,
much information may be obtained by
means of those lists respecting the early
rulers. Wanting this clue, the student will
find abundant material for theory, but the
historian little that he dares make his own ;
for the narratives given in the Piiranas
abound in discrepancies regarding time and
place, and are so blended with myths and
allegories, that it is next to impossible, at
present, to separate truth from fiction, until
theperiod oftheMaha Bharat or Great War.§

The scene of the adventures of the first
princes, and the residence of the most fa-
mous sages, appears to be uniformly placed,
both in the Puranas, and the far older in-

* According to Mill (vol. i., p. 160) ; but Elphin-
stone states Chandra Gupta to have been ninth in
succession from Nanda. — Vol. i., p. 261.

t There are eighteen Puranas, which are considered
to have been composed between the eighth and six-
teenth centuries, A.D. ; but several of the authors
appear to have made use of much more ancient MS.
histories to interweave among their own.

X The lines of the Sun and Moon, and the Magadha
dynasty, are given at length by Colonel Tod, in the
first volume of his valuable and voluminous work
the Annals of Ra/asthan. They were extracted
from the Puranas by a body of pundits, and (Uffer
more or less in various parts from those published
by Sir W. Jones, Mr. Bentley, and Colonel Wilford.
Tod's view of the vexed question of early Hindoo
records may be understood from his careful enume-
ration of various traditions which all "appear to
point to one spot, and to one individual, in the early
history of mankind, when the Hindoo and Greek ap-
proach a common focus, for there is little doubt that
Adnath, Adiswara, Osiris, Baghes, Bacchus, Menu,
Menes, designate the patriarch of mankind, Noah"
(vol. i., p. 22). The solar and lunar lines he con-
fciders to have been established 2,256 years, B.C.,
about a century and a half after the flood, the former
bv Ichswaca the son of Vaivaswatoo Menu, the latter

stitutes of Menu, in a tract called Bramha-
verta, because of its sanctity, situated be-
tween the rivers Seraswati (Sersooty) and
Drishad wati (Caggar), 100 miles to the north-
west of Delhi ; and about 65 miles long by 20
to 40 broad. || Probably the next territory ac-
quired lay between that above-mentioned
and the Jumna, and included North Behar,
this country being mentioned in the second
place under the honoured name of Brahmar-
shi, while Brahmins born within its boun-
daries were pronounced suitable teachers of
the several usages of men.^ At Oude, in
the centre of Brahmarshi, the Puranas, (in
which the preceding early stages are not
noticed,) fix the origin of the solar and lunar
races, from one or other of which all the
royal families of ancient India were de-
scended. Some fifty to seventy generations
of the solar race, who, in the absence of re-
liable information, appear little better than
myths, bring down the Purana narrative to
Rama, the ruler of a powerful kingdom in
Hindoostan, and the hero of the oldest Hindu
epic — the Ramayana. The chief incident is
the carrying oflf of Sita, the queen of Rama,
by Ravana, the king of the island of Lanka,
or Ceylon. Rama leads an army into the
Deccan, penetrates to Ceylon, and, with the
assistance of a strange people allegorized as
an army of monkeys, led by Hooniman, their
king, gains a complete victory over the ra-
visher, and recovers his wife, who vindicates
her fidelity by successfully passing the or-
deal of fire. According to the system of

by Boodha, who married Ichswatoo's sister Ella,
asserted to be the earth personified — Boodha him-
self being " the parent and first emigrant of the
Indu [Sanscrit for the moon] race, from Saca Bwipa
or Scythia to Hindust'han" (p. 45). In another
place Tod describes Boodha as the great progenitor
of the Tartars, Chinese, and Hindus, " Boodha
(Mercury), the son of Indu (the moon), [a male
deity] became the patriarchal and siiiritual leader,
as Fo in China ; AVoden and Teutates of the tribes
migrating to Europe. Hence it follows that the
religion of Boodha must be coeval with the existence
of these nations ; that it was brought into India
Proper by them, and guided them until the schism
of Crishna and the Sooryas, worshippers of Bal, in
time depressed them, when the Boodha religion was
modified into the present mild form, the Jain"
(p. 58).

§ See Prinsep's Useful Tables, Professor Wilson's
edition of the Vishnu Purana, Sir W. Jones and
Colonel Wilford's articles in Asiatic Researches,
vols. ii. and v., and l)r. H. Buchanan's Hindoo
Oenealoflies.

l| Menu, book ii., v. 17, 18: Wilson, preface to
Vishnu Purana, p.lxvii.

^ Menu, bookii., v. 19, 20; Elphinstone, vol. i.,
p. 388.

NATIVE PRINCES MENTIONED IN THE RAMAYANA.

deifying great men after their decease, which
gradually crept into Brahrninism, Rama,
upon his death, was honoured as a god, and
his image worshipped, his natural form being
declared to have been an incarnation (the
seventh) of Vishnu, one of the three persons,
or principles, of the Hindoo Trinity.

A remarkable passage occurs in the Rama-
yana, in which mention is made of certain
foreign princeSjWho were invited by Dasaratha
(the father of Rama) to be present at the As-
wamedha* or solemn sacrifice of a horse about
to be offered up by the aged monarch, to
procure from the gods the blessing of male
posterity. The names mentioned are the
" sovereign of Kasi or Benares, the rajahs
of Magadha or Behar, of Sindu and Su-
rashta (Sinde aud Surat), of Unga and
Savira (of which one is conjectured to mean
Ava, the other some district situated on the
Persian frontier), and, i a fine, the princes of
the south or the Deccan. Heeren, who
cites the above passage from the Ramayana,
adds — " they are represented as the friends,
and some of them also as the relations of
Dasaratha, by no means however as his
vassals. It is therefore evident that the
author of the most ancient Hindoo epic
poem considered India to be divided into a
number of separate and independent princi-
palities."t This opinion, however, is not
founded on indisputable grounds, for many
of his auxiliaries appear to have stood to
Dasaratha in the relation of viceroys, or at
least inferior chieftains. The antiquity of
the poem is unquestioned ; the author, Val-
miki, is said to have been cotemporary
with the event he has so ably commemo-
rated,J but we have no means of fixing the
date of either poem or poet except as some-
where between that of the Vedas and the
Maha Bharat, since king Dasaratha is de-
scribed as deeply versed in the precepts of

• Aswa is thought to be the etymon of Asia,
medha signifies " to isill."

t Heeren's Historical Researches, Oxford Transla-
tion; 1833: vol. iii., p. 291.

\ " Kama preceded Crishna : but as their histo-
rians, Valmika and Vyasa, who wrote the events
they witnessed [this point is, however, questioned],
were cotemporaries, it could not have been by many
years." — (Tod's Atinals of Mnjasthan, vol. i., p. 457.

§ The origin of the Pandon family is involved in
fable, invented, evidently, to cover some great dis-
grace.' According to tradition, Pandoo, whose capi-
tal was at Hastinapoora, being childless, his queen,
by a charm, enticed the deities from their spheres,
and became the mother of Yoodishtra, IJhima, Ar-
joona (the famous archer), Nycula, and Sideva. On
the death of Pandoo, Yoodishtra, with the aid of
the priesthood, was declared king, although the ille-

the Vedas and Vedangas, while on the
other hand an epitome of the Ramayana is
given in the Maha Bharat. After llama,
sixty princes of his race ruled in succession
over his dominions, but as no more mention
is made of Ayodha (Oude) it is possible that
the kingdom (which was at one time called
Cosliala) may have merged in another ; and
that the capital was transferred from Oude
to Canouj. The heroic poem, entitled the
" Maha Bharat" or Great War, affords an
account of many historical events, in the
details of a contest between the lines of
Pandoo§ and of Curoo, two branches of
the reigning lunar race for the territory of
Hastinapoora, supposed to be a place on
the Ganges, north-east of Delhi, which still
bears the ancient name.[| The rivals are
supported by numerous allies, and some
from very remote parts. The enumeration
of them appears to afford evidence similar
to that deducible from the above cited pas-
sage of the Ramayana, that there were many
distinct states in India among which a con-
siderable degree of intercourse and connec-
tion was maintained. Not only are princes
from the Deccan and the Indus mentioned,
as taking part in the struggle, but auxilia-
ries are likewise included belonging to na-
tions beyond the Indus, especially the
Yavans, a name which most orientalists
consider to apply exclusively to the Greeks.^
The Pandoos are eventually conquerors, but
are represented as having paid so dearly for
their victory, in the loss of their friends and
the destruction of their armies, that the
chief survivors quitted their country, and
are supposed to have perished among the
snows of the Himalaya.** The hero of the
poem is Crishna, tlie great ally of the Pan-
doos, who was deified after his death as
having been an incarnation of Vishnu, or
even Vishnu himself. He was born of the

gitimaey of himself and his brothers was asserted by
Duryodhanu, the nephew of the deceased sovereign,
who, as the representative of the elder branch, re-
tained his title as head of the Curoos. For the whole
story of the Maha Bharat, and it is a very interesting
one, see the Asiatic Researches, and the comments
of Tod in the early part of his Annals of Rajasthan.

II Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 390.

^ The Greeks, or lonians, are descended from
Javan, or Yavan, the seventh from Japhet. — (Tod's
Rajasthan, vol. i., p. 51.

** Tod surmises that they did not perish thus, but
migrated into the Peloponnesus, and founded the
colony of the Hcraclidoe, stated by Volney to have
been formed there 1078 years, B.C. See the reason
for this conjecture, based chiefly on the supposition
of the Pandoos being the descendants of the Indian
Hercules, pp. 48, 51.

18 MAGA.DHA KINGS TO CHANDRA GUPTA, OR SANDRACOTTUS.

royal family of Mattra on the Jumna, but
brought up by a herdsman in the neigh-
bourhood, who concealed him from the tyrant
who sought to slay him. This phase of his
life is a very favourite one with the Hindoos,
and he is worshipped in an infant form by
au extensive sect, as also under the figure
of a beautiful youth, in commemoration of
the time he spent among the " gopis" or
milkmaids, dancing, sporting, playing on
the pipe, and captivating the hearts alike of
rural maidens and princesses. Among the
numerous exploits of his more mature age
was the recovery of his usurped inheritance,
whence, being driven by foreign foes, he
removed to Dwarika, in Guzcrat, where he
founded a principality. He soon however
became again involved in civil discord, and,
according to Tod, was slain by one of the
aboriginal tribes of Bheels. The Maha
Bharat describes the sons of Crishna as
finally returning to the neighbourhood of
the Jumna. The war is supposed to have
taken place in the fourteenth century, b.c,
about 200 years before the siege of Troy,
and the famous and lengthy poem in which
it is commemorated is, as before stated, attri-
buted to Vyasa, the collector of the Vedas.

The princes who succeeded the Pandoos,
are variously stated at from twenty-nine to
sixty-four in number ; they appear to have
transferred the seat of their government to
Delhi ; but little beyond a name is recorded
of any of them. The kings of Magadha
or Behar (the line mentioned as cotem-
porary with the latter portion of the dy-
nasties of the sun and moon), play a more
conspicuous part in the Purana records;
they afford a connected chain from the war
of the Maha Bharat to the fifth century after
Christ, and present an appearance of proba-
bility, besides receiving striking confirma-
tions from various quarters. They are fre-
quently referred to in inscriptions sculptured
on stone, or engraved on copper plates,
conveying grants of land, or charters of
privileges and immunities, which arc very
numerous, and not only contain the date
of the grant, and the name of the prince
by whom they were conferred, but in most
cases enumerate, also, certain of his pre-
■decessors.

The first of the Magadha kings, Jara-
sandha, is mentioned in the Maha Bharat
as the head of a immber of petty princes.
The ruling monarch at the conclusion of
the war was Sahadeva ; the thirty-fifth in suc-
cession from him was Ajata Sutru; and in

his reign, according to high authority,*
Sakya, or Gotama, the founder of the
Boodha religion flourished, and died about
550, B.C. This date, if reliable, does good
service by fixing the era of Satru ; but
other eminent writers consider Boodhism
of much earlier origin ; and some as coeval
with, or even older than Brahminism.f
The sixth in succession from Satru was
Nanda, who, unlike his long line of regal
ancestors of the Cshatriya, or military class,
was born of a Soodra mother ; his ninth suc-
cessor, who bore his name, was murdered
by Chandra Gupta,J a man of low birth
who usurped the throne. This Chaudra
Gupta has been, after much research, identi-
fied with Sandraeottus, the cotemporary
of Alexander the Great, and thus a link had
been obtained wherewith to connect India
with European history, and also with that
of other Asiatic nations. The foregoing
particulars have been given on strictly In-
dian authority, for although much extrane-
ous information may be obtained from early
foreign writers it is difficult to ascertain
how to separate truth from fiction. § Ac-
cording to Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and
Cicero, the first Indian conqueror was \
Bacchus or Dionysus, afterwards deified,
who led an army out of Greece, subdued
India, taught the inhabitants the use of
wine, and built tlie city of Nysa. The Egyp-
tians, who spared no pains to fortify their
claim to the highest antiquity and earliest
civilization, and never scrupled to appro-
priate the great deeds of the heroes of
other countries, as having been performed by
their own rulers, maintained that Osiris,
their conqueror, having first added Ethi-
opia to his dominions, marched thence to
India through Arabia, taught the use of
wine, and built the city of Nysa. Both
these stories evidently refer to the same
person ; namely, the Indian prince Vaisva-
wata Menu; whom Tod, the pains-taking
but wildly theoretical Maurice, and other
writers affirm to have been no other than
the patriarch Noah. Be this as it may,
one of the most valuable of ancient writers,
Diodorus the Sicilian, declares, on the
authority of Indian tradition, that Bacchus
(Vaisvawata Menu) belonged to their own
nation, was a lawgiver, built many stately
* Elpliinstone, vol. i., pp. 209,261.
t See note to page 14.

X Chandra Gupta signifies "protected by the moon."
§ .Tustin stales that the fecythians conquered a
great part of Asia, and penetrated to I''.,gypt 1,500'
years before Niiins, first kinji; of Assyria.

INDIAN INVASIONS.— SEMIRAMIS, SESOSTRIS, HERCULES, & CYRUS. 19

cities, instituted divine worship, and erected
everywhere courts of justice. •

The alleged invasions of Semiramis,* Se-
sostris,t Hercules, f and Cyrus, are all denied
by Arrian, except that attributed to Her-
cules. Strabo disputes even that, adding that
the Persians hired mercenaries from India
but never invaded it.§ The whole question
respecting the nature of the alleged con-
nection existing between India and Persia,
^is one which scarcely admits a satisfactory
.explanation. Before the time of Cyrus the
Great (the son of King Cambyses, the con-
queror of Babylon and the Shepherd whose
coming to perform the pleasure of the om-
nipotent God of the Hebrews, was foretold
by Isaiah) II, Persia was no more than an

• The Assvrian invasion, according to the clirono-
logy of Capellus, took place about 1970, a.m. It was
planned by Serairamis, the widow of Ninus, who,
after consolidating her husband's Bactrian conquests,
resolved to attempt the subjugation of India, being
led thereto by the reported fruitfulness of the soil
and the riches of its inhabitants. She spent three
years in assembling an immense army, drawn from
all the provinces of her extensive empire, and caused
the shipwrights of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cyprus, to
send to the frontier 2,000 ships or large barks, in
jiieces, so that they might be carried thence to the
Indus, and there put in array against the naval force
of the Indians. All things being ready, Semiramis
marched from ISactria (Balk) with an army, which it
has been well .said, " the Greek historians have, by
their relations, rendered less wonderful than incre-
dible ;" for they describe it as having consisted of
3,000,000 foot, 500,000 horse, 100,000 war chariots,
and 100,000 camels, a portion of the latter being
made to resemble elephants — by means of a frame-
work being covered with the skins of oxen ; this
device being employed to delude the Indians into
the belief of the invaders being superior to them
even in this respect. Stabrobates, the king of the
countries bordering the Indus, on receiving intelli-
gence of the intended invasion, assembled his troops,
augmented the number of his elephants, caused
4,000 boats to be built of cane (which is not subject to
rot, or to be eaten by worms, evils known to be very
prevalent at the present day), to occupy the Indus ;
and headed his army on the eastern bank, in readi-
ness to support them. The attacking fleet being
victorious, Stabrobates abandoned his position, leav-
ing the enemy a free pas.sage; and Semiramis, mak-
ing a bridge of boats, crossed over with her whole
force. Tlie counterfeit elephants, which play an
important part in the narrative, were marched in
front, and at first created great alarm ; but the
deception being revealed by some deserters from the
camp, the Indians recovered their spirits. A fierce
contest ensued, in which the Assyrians had at first
the advantage, but were eventually totally over-
thrown, and Semiramis fled, accompanied by a very
slender retinue, and escaped with great difiiculty to
her own dominions. Such is the tale related by
Diodorus Siculus ; and, however little to be relied on
In many respects, it may at least be cited in testi-
mony of the reputation for wealth and civilization

inconsiderable kingdom, afterwards compre-
hended in a single province, retaining the
ancient name of Fars ; but the conquests of
the youthful general, on behalf of his uncle
and father-in-law, Cyaxares, King of Media,
whom he succeeded, enabled him to unite
the thrones of Persia and Media, as well as
to sway neighbouring and distant states, to
an extent which it is at present not easy to
define, though it was amply sufficient to
form what was termed the Persian empire,
557, B. c. His eastern frontier certainly
touched the verge of India; but whether it
encroached yet farther, is a matter of doubt,
and has been so for centuries. Nor is it
even an established point where India itself
terminated; for although Elphinstone and

enjoyed by India at a very early period. With regard
to Semii-amis, recent discoveries of ruins and de-
ciphering of inscriptions have placed hei existence
as an historical personage beyond a doubt.

t The invasion of Sesostris, king of Egypt, A.M.
3023, is alleged to have been as successful as that of
Semiramis had proved disastrous. Desiring to render
his subjects a commercial people, he fitted out a fleet
of 400 ships in the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea (being
the inventor, it is alleged, of ships of war), by means
of which all the countries stretching along the Ery-
throan or Arabian Sea to India Were subjugated. Mean-
while he led his army through Asia, and being every-
where victorious, crossed the Ganges and advanced
to the Indian Ocean. He spent nine years in this
expedition, but exacted no other tokens of submis-
sion from the conquered nations than the sending
annually of presents to Egypt. Perhaps this story,
recorded by Diodorus Siculus, and quoted by Harris
and by Robertson (who discredits it), in his Histo-
rical Disquisition concerning Ancient India, p. 6, ;
may have Originated in the efforts of Sesostris for the j
extension of comm.erce ; but the success of his plans, J
whether pursued by warlike or peaceful means, could (
have been at best but short-lived, since, after his
death the Egyptians relapsed into their previous
anti-maritime habits ; and centuries elapsed before
their direct trade with India became of importance.

\ The Greek accounts of Hercules having been in
India is thought to have arisen from the fact of
there having been a native prince of that name, who,
according to the Hindoo traditions cited by Diodorus
Siculus (who wrote 44, B.C.), was after his death
honoured as a god, having in life excelled all mere
men in strength and courage; cleared both the sea
and land of monsters and wild beasts; founded many
cities, the most famous of which was Palibothia,
where he built a stately palace strongly fortified, and
rendered impregnable by being surrounded by deep
trenches, into which he let an adjacent river. When
his numerous sons were grown up, he divided India
equally among them ; and they reigned long and
liiil)iiily, but never engaged in any foreign expe-
ditions, or sent forth colonies into distant countries,
being content with the resourofs of tlieir own fertile
domains.

§ Arrian 's Indica: Strabo, lib. xv. ; Elphinstone,
vol. i., p. 440.

• Isaiah ; chap, xliv., v. 28.

20 DARIUS CODOMANUS OP PERSIA PHILIP OF MACEDON— b.c. 337.

other writers follow Strabo in declaring the
Indus, from the mountains to the sea, to
have formed its western limit, other autho-
rities consider the territory of the Hindoos
to have stretched far beyond. Colonel Wil-
ford adduces a verse in their Sacred Writ-
ings, which prohibits the three upper, or
" twice-born" classes, from crossing the In-
dus, but says that they were at liberty to
pass to the other side, by going round its
source.* Amid so many difficulties and con-
tradictory slaterhents, it is only possible to
note the points which seem most reasonable
and best authenticated.

Darius, the son of HystaSpes, was raised
to the throne of Persia, b.c. 521, by the
seven nobles who conspired against Gomates,
the Magian, by whom it had been usurped
after the death of Cambyses, the son and
successor of Cyrus, whose daughter Atossa
he afterwards married. Desiring to know
the termination, of the Indus, and the state
of the adjacent countries, with a vieW to
their conquest, Darius built a fleet at Cas-
patyrus, in the territory of Pactyica on that
river, which he entrusted to a skilful Greek
mariner named Scylax, who fulfilled his in-
structions by sailing down the whole length
of the Indus, thence coasting to the straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb, and ascending the Arabian
gulf to the port at its northern extremity.
The account given by Scylaic of the fertility,
high cultivation, and dense population of
the country through which his route lay,
incited Darius at once to attempt its acquisi-
tion. By the aid of the Tyrians, who were
intimately acquainted with the navigation,
he brought a numerous force on the coast,
while he himself headed a land attack.
According to Dr. Robertson, he subjugated
" the districts watered by the Indus ;'t while
Colonel Chesney speaks of his conquests as
limited to the " Indian territory westward
of the Indus. t" Both appear to rely exclu-
sively on the testimony of Herodotus, who
states that " the Indians" consented to pay
an annual tribute of 360 Euboean talents of

* Asiatic Researches, vol. vi., p. 583.

t Dr. Robertson's Historical Disquisition, p. 12.

\ Colonel Chesney's Surrey of the Kivers Tigris
and Euphrates. London: 1850; vol. ii., p. 180.

§ Herodotus, lib. iii. and iv.

II During the reign of Artaxerxes, the third son of
Xerxes (the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther), Ctesias,
the king's physician, and the author of a voluminous
history of the Assyrian, Labylonian, and Persian
empires, wrote a book on India, founded upon the
accounts he obtained from the Persians. His works
are not now extant, though various extracts are to be

gold, or a talent a day — the Persian year
being then considered to comprise only 360
days. The sum would appear to be over-
stated; for a single talent, at the lowest
computation, was equal to £3,000 English
money ; and even, though India may have
then deserved its high reputation as a gold-
producing region, this tax would have been
very onerous. It is, however, certain, that
at this time the force of Persian gold was
known and feared by neighbouring states,
and had a powerful share in enabling the
successors of Darius to keep together the
chief part of the widely-scattered dominions,
which he displayed great ability in even par-
tially consolidating and dividing into satra-
pies, or governments ; of these his Indian
possessions formed the twentieth and last.§

Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius,
had a body of Indian troops in his service ;
but he discouraged maritime intercourse,
considering traffic by land more desirable ;
and indeed he and his successors are said to
have adopted the Babylonian policy of pre-
venting invasions by sea, by blocking up the
navigation of some of the chief rivers, in-
stead of guarding the coast with an efficient
naval force.

We find but few traces of India || during
the remaining reigns of the Persian mo-
narchs, until the time of their last ruler,
Darius Codomanus, who succeeded to the
sway of a disorganized territory, consisting
of numerous provinces, or rather kingdoms,
differing in religion, languages, laws, cus-
toms, and interests ; and bound together by
no tie of a permanent character. A power-
ful enemy was at hand, in the neighbouring
kingdom of Macedon, which had sprung into
importance almost as rapidly as Persia, and
in a similar manner, having been raised by
the talents of a single individual. Philip had
acceded to the government of an ordinary
state, weakened by war and dissension ; but
taking full advantage of the commanding
geographical position of the country, and
the warlike spirit of its hardy sons, he reu-

found in different authors. They are all unfavour-
ably commented on, especially that on India, by se-
veral Greek writers, who pronounce them fabulous.
Plutarch, Aristotle, and even Strabo, notwithstand-
ing their severe censures, have, however, not scrupled
to borrow from the pages of Ctesias such statements
as appeared to them probable; and Diodorus, as
well as Herodotus and Athena;us, are said to have
drawn largely from the same source. Xenophon,
who was personally acquainted with Ctesias, speaks
of him with great respect, though differing from many
of his opinions.

ALEXANDER CROSSES THE HELLESPONT TO INVADE ASIA. 21

dered it the centre of arts and civilization,
second only to Persia in power, and supe-
rior even to Persia in influence, on account
of the state of corruption and excessive
luxury into which that empire had fallen.

The free Grecian republics, weakened by
strife and division, became for the most part
subject to Macedonia, whose ancient consti-
tution — a limited monarchy, which it was
the interest of the community at large to
maintain — ^proved a source of strength alike
in offensive and defensive warfare. Still
Macedonia appears to have been in some
sort tributary to Persia; and it was pos-
sibly a dispute on this point which had led
Philip to form the hostile intentions he was
preparing to carry out, and which Arses,
King of Persia, was occupied in endeavour-
ing to prevent, when both were suddenly
arrested in the midst of their schemes;
Philip, who had escaped so many dangers
in the battle-field, being stabbed in his own
palace during the bridal festivities of his
daughter Cleopatra, by Pausanias,* a Mace-
donian youth of rank ; and Arses was poi-
soned about the same time.

The tender age of Alexander was for-
gotten in the enthusiasm raised by his
manly and powerful eloquence. He assured
the assembled Macedonians, previous to the
funeral obsequies of his father, that though
the name was changed they would find the
king remained; — and he kept his word,
elevating none of his personal friends, but
continuing the able statesmen and generals
in the positions in which he found them.
By extraordinary address, this youth (for

• The motive of Pausanias is variously stated as
having been the instigation of the Persian monarch
(in which light Alexander chose to view it) ; a desire
to revenge a personal insult ; or otherwise, from un-
governable passion for Olympias, the mother of Alex-
ander. — Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia, vol.
i., p. 54. Justin attributes the deed to the incitement
of the vindictive Olympias, who, immediately after
her husband's assassination, caused his youngest
wife and child to be put to a cruel death.

t Historians agree in describing Darius as amiable
and equitable. The tale related by the Persian au-
thor, Zeenut-ul-Tuarikh, concerning his message to
Alexander, is therefore inconsistent with his cha-
racter. According to this writer, Philip had agreed
to furnish an annual subsidy of 1,000 eggs of pure
gold. The Persian envoy, sent to demand the tri-
bute from his successor, received the jeering reply
that " the birds that laid the eggs had flown to the
other world." Darius thereupon despatched an am-
bassador, with a bat and ball, as a fit amusement for
the youthful monarch, and a bag of very small seed,
called gunjud, as an emblem of the innumerable
Persian army. Alexander taking the bat, said —
" This is my power with which I will strike your

he was but twenty years old (succeeded in
stifling the disturbances which followed the
catastrophe at home, and in establishing his
ascendancy as chief, by the free choice of the
majority of the Grecian republics, notwith-
standing the unremitting exertions of De-
mosthenes and his party.

Once firmly seated on the throne, having
brought the Illyrian war to a rapid and suc-
cessful conclusion and captured Thebes,
Alexander made ready for a hazardous con-
test with his powerful compeer Darius, the
successor of Arses ; who, previous to his ac-
cession to the throne of Persia, had been
distinguished for the judicious government
of a large tract of country of which he
had been satrap (viceroy) . Although averse
to war,t he had nevertheless distinguished
himself in the conduct of military pro-
ceedings with hostile nations ; and he lost
no time in preparing for the threatened
invasion. In the spring of the year 334,
B.C., Alexander, with very limited resources
in his possession, but with the riches of the
East in prospect, crossed the Hellespont at
the head of a confederated J army, variously
estimated at 30,000 to 43,000 infantry, and
5,000 cavalry ; and after a severe contest,
defeated a Persian army 110,000 strong,
who disputed with him the passage of the
river Granicus, near Zelia, in Bithynia.

In eastern warfare the first victory is of
incalculable importance — for the satraps and
inferior governors are ever ready to transfer
their allegiance to the conqueror, consider-
ing that he could be such only by the will
of God, to which they are bound to submit.

sovereign's dominion ; and this fowl," pointing to
one which had been hi ought at his command, and
rapidly devoured the grain, " shows what a mere
morsel his aniiy will prove to mine." Then, giving
the ambassador a wild melon, he desired him to tell
Darius what he had heard and seen, and to give him
that fruit, the taste of which might indicate the
bitter lot that awaited him. — Malcolm's Persia,
vol. i., p. 55.

\ The Grecian republics, excepting Lacedemonia,
were favourable to Alexander's proposition of an
Asiatic expedition ; and his own hopes of success
rested upon the jealousy and dissension which he
knew existed among the numerous satraps or vice-
roys of Damascus, over whom the supreme authority
of " the king of kings," as the Persian monarch was
grandiloquently styled, sat lightly enough. The zeal
of his officers, to whom rewards, almost princely,
were held out in the event of success, and the admir-
able discipline of his troops, would, he trusted, pre-
vail over the opposing force, and probably cause the
defection of the bands of Greek mercenaries employed
against him, as well as gain the suffrages of the Greek
settlements in Asia, whose release from Persian rule
was one of his avowed objects.

BATTLE OF ISSUS, IN CILICIA— b.c. 333.

The consequence of this brilliant opening
must have exceeded the hopes even of the
Macedonian, who conducted himself with
singular moderation — treating the people
everywhere as subjects, not enemies ; exact-
ing from them no additional tribute to that
previously claimed by Darius ; and strictly
forbidding pillage or massacre. Having ob-
tained the " sinews of war" in the treasury
of the Persian monarchs at Sardis, through
the treachery of Mithrenes, the governor,
Alexander proceeded on his brilliant career,
until he became master of the whole of
Lesser Asia. The possession of Cilicia was
the next point necessary to his purpose, as
it comprised the most practicable route be-
tween Greater and Lesser Asia, as well as
the communication with Syria by land and
with Greece by sea. The province was
gained without difficulty; and Alexander
(when recovered from a dangerous fever,
which for a time checked his impetuous
career) employed himself in securing his
position, while Darius was straining every
nerve to form an army, which should deci-
sively defeat his adversary and re-establish
the tottering fabric of the Persian empire.
According to Arrian, he increased his Greek
mercenaries to 30,000, to whom were joined
about 60,000 Asiatics, called Cardacs, trained
like the Greeks for close fight, and the
middle and light-armed made up a total
(including the followers) of 600,000, of
whom perhaps 150,000 to 200,000 were
fighting men. Darius crossed the Euphrates,
and with his immense force covered the
plains of Cilicia.

After a fierce struggle between the Mace-
donian phalanx* and the Persian-Greeks,
the powerful monarchs met face to face :
Darius, in the centre of the line, in a strik-
ing costume, and seated on a splendid
chariot drawn by four horses abreast, had
been from the first a special object of attack :
Sabaces, the satrap of Egypt, and many
illustrious Persians, perished by his side,

* The famous Macedonian or quadruple |)halanx,
as it was sometimes called, to mark its division into
four parts, consisted of a body of 18,000 men, each
defended by helmet, breast-plate, greaves, and th"
large shield called the aspis, and armed with a long
sword and with the famous sarissa, a spear measur-
ing four-and-twenty feet. The ordinary depth of
the phalanx was sixteen ranks, the best soldiers
being placed in the foremost and hindmost ranks,
which formed as it were the framework of an engine
whose efficiency depended on its compactness and
uniformity of movement. — llev. Connop (now Bishop)
Thirlwall»G/-«ec«, voLvi., p. 147.

until his wounded horses became so un-
governable among the heaps of slain by
which they were hemmed in, that the mo-
narch was with difficulty rescued from the
melee, by the valour of his brother Oxathres,
and placed in another chariot, in which he
fled, hotly but unsuccessfully pursued by
Alexander, who had himself been slightly
injured in the thigh. f

The loss of the Persians is stated Ijy
Arrian at 100,000, including 10,000 horse;
the most valuable part of the baggage had
been conveyed to Damascus, but was soon
after captured by Parmenio, Alexander's
ablest general, through the treachery of its
governor. J Meanwhile the family of Da-
rius — his mother, wife,§ and children — fell
into the hands of the conqueror, who showed
them much personal kindness ; but when
earnestly solicited to release them at the
price of any ransom he might name, haugh-
tily replied, that he would listen' to that
request only if asked in person, and on con-
dition of being addressed as king of Asia,
and lord of all once possessed by Darius.
The insulted monarch had no resource but
once more to prepare for war, which he had
still ample opportunities of doing with a fair
prospect of success, for the troops of the
eastern satrapies, including some of the most
warlike in his dominions, were on their way
towards Babylon, and a few months might
again see him at the head of a more nu-
merous and more powerful host than that
defeated at Issus, and Alexander might yet
meet the fate of the younger Cyrus. Nearly
two years elapsed before the kingly rivals
again met. Meanwhile the conqueror
pursued his meteor-like course, astonishing
the world by his unequalled daring, yet
consolidating his successes as he proceeded,
by the consummate and thoroughly con-
sistent policy with which he used all things
as instruments of his great designs ; dili-
gently and ably promoting the material wel-
fare of subjects (made such by the sword),

t Arrian, lib. ii., cap. xii. j

t A loyal subject, movedVith indignation, slew
the traitor, and laid his head at the foot of his injured
master.

§ Statira, the beautiful and beloved wife of Darius,
died soon afterwards in childbirth, and Alexander
caused her to be interred with every mark of honour;
his conduct towards her throughout, so different
from the usual licentious cruelty of Asiatic con-
querors, excited a feeling of lively gratitude in the
breast of her ill-fated husband, who never forgot
this one redeeming feature in the conduct of his un
relenting opponent.

TYRE, JERUSALEM AND EGYPT SUBDUED, b.c. 332-1.

humouring prejudice, flattering national
vanity, rewarding individual service with
unbounded munificence, but at the same
time violating in every action the recog-
nised rights of men, and showing himself
throughout utterly unscrupulous as to the
amount of suffering he inflicted, whether in
subduing patriots to his will, or inflicting
signal vengeance on those who, from the
purest motives, ventured to oppose him.
The island-city of Tyre, after a seven months'
siege, was conquered by him, through the
unconscious fulfilment of a scripture pro-
phecy, in joining the island to the main, by
a causeway 800 yards in length. The Ty-
rians defended themselves to the last with
unfaltering determination ; and, probably to
check all thoughts of capitulation, executed
their Macedonian prisoners and cast them
into the sea in the sight of the besiegers,
who, when their hour of triumph arrived,
made this cruel act the excuse for the most
unmitigated ferocity. With the exception
of the king and some of the principal people,
all were involved in a fearful doom ; 8,000
perished in the first slaughter, 2,000 pri-
soners were crucified by order of Alex-
ander, and 30,000 (including a number of
foreign residents) were sold into slavery.*

Gaza was next subdued : the citizens, to
the last man, died in its defence, and their
women and children were sold as slaves.
Alexander then marched upon Jerusalem,
whose high priest Jaddua, had excited his
wrath by refusing to violate the fidelity due
to the Persian monarch in furnishing the
invader with a supply of troops and pro-
visions during the siege of Tyre. The
Chaldeans and Phoenicians — ancient ene-
mies of the Jews — accompanied the con-
queror, buoyed up with the hope of sharing
in the anticipated plunder, but they were
witnesses of a very different result. When
the army approached the Holy City, the
High Priest, attended by the priests and
Levites in their sacerdotal vestments, fol-
lowed by a multitude of the inhabitants,
decked in white feast-day robes, came out
to meet Alexander, who, recognising, as he
afterwards declared, in Jaddua, a figure
shown to him in a dream at Dios, struck
with pious awe, went up to the temple as a
worshipper, and sacrificed according to the

' Arrian. Curfius, however, states that 15,000
persons were rescued by the Sidonians.

t They probably showed him Daniel, chaps. 7 & 8.

X Whiston's Josephus, book xi., chap. viii.

§ The approach to the harbour of Alexandria was

Jewish ritual. The priests informed him of
his position as the fulfiller of the prophecy
of Daniel,t than which nothing could be
more gratifying, either to the ambitious
designs or superstitious tendencies of Alex-
ander, who took his departure, after making
munificent offerings, and bestowing extra-
ordinary privileges on the Jewish nation. J

In January, 331, the Greeks penetrated
into Egypt; and the people, whose reli-
gious prejudices had been cruelly insulted
by their Persian masters, welcomed the
approach of the conciliating conqueror,
whose late worship of the God of Israel did
not hinder him from sacrificing to their
monstrous idols — even to Apis. Sailing
down the western or Canobie arm of the
Nile, he proceeded to found the greatest of
the many noble cities which bore his name,
on a site§ which he saw would render it an
emporium for the commerce of the eastern
and western world ; it was colonised with a
mixed population of Greeks and Romans —
the abolition of the alienating prejudices of
race being a marked feature in his mighty
plan for the establishment of an universal
empire.

After imitating the exploits attributed by
Greek legends to his famous predecessors,
Hercules and Perseus, braving the bare rocks
and burning sands of the Libyan desert, and
questioning the oracle of the temple of
Ammon, erected in its famed Oasis, he re-
turned to Memphis, completed the arrange-
ments needful for the peaceable government
of Egypt, and proceeded to Tyre, the ap-
pointed rendezvous of his fleet and army, to
prepare for a final contest with Darius. In
the autumn of the same year (331) he
crossed the Euphrates, advanced at full
speed towards the Tigris, where he had
expected to meet the hostile force, but
being disappointed, rested a few days on
the left bank, and then, continuing his
march, came up with Darius, whom he
found encamped in one of the wide plains
between the Tigris and the mountains of
Kurdistan, at a village named Gaugamela
(the camel's or dromedary's house), about
twenty miles from the town of Arbela,
which gave its name to the battle. To the
last, Darius had endeavoured to make peace
with Alexander, offering him the hand ot

dangerous ; for this reason the famous beacon tower,
reckoned among the seven wonders of the world, was
built by the first Ptolemy, on a rock near the eastern
point of the island of Pharos, and threw a light to n
distance, it is said, of nsarly forty miles.

BATTLE OF ARBELA, 331, b.c— DEATH OF DARIUS.

his daughter, with a dower of 30,000 talents
in gold, and intimating even willingness to
divide the empire; indeed it was probably
the hope of some such compromise being
efiFected that induced him to allow the
Greeks to cross the Euphrates and Tigris
unmolested. The numbers of the respective
armies would seem to have warranted him
in the expectation of being able to dictate
rather than solicit peace ; but his munificent
terms were not the less unhesitatingly re-
jected by the invader, though Parmenio and
the Council urged their acceptance. Accord-
ing to Arrian, Alexander's force amounted
to no more than 40,000 foot, and 7,000
horse ; but this is evidently exclusive of the
Asiatic levies, which there is reason to be-
lieve he had raised. The Persian army has
been variously stated by Curtius, Diodorus
Siculus, and others, at from 200,000 to
-«00,000 infantry, and from 40,000 to 200,000
horse, besides the Indian contingent of 200
war chariots and fifteen elephants, ranged in
the centre of the mighty host, near the per-
son of the monarch. During the weary night
preceding the combat, Darius passed along
the line by torch-light, cheering his soldiers,
all of whom were, by a mistaken policy,
kept continuously under arms, from momen-
tary fear of a surprise. The dreaded attempt
is said to have been actually suggested by
Parmenio to his sovereign after the latter
had retired to his tent, but rejected on the
ground that it would be alike ignoble and
impolitic to steal a victory, instead of gain-
ing it by a fair trial of strength. In the
morning the battle commenced, and was
long and stoutly contested; the Indo-Scy-
thian troops being, we are expressly told by
Arrian, among the flower of the Persian
army, and fighting valiantly to the death.
The strife became very intricate, hostile
bodies intermingled with each other in fierce
combat, and the issue seemed to promise
little short of annihilation to both parties,
when a circumstance, slight in itself, turned
the scale. A dart flung by Alexander, who
was on horseback, killed the charioteer of
Darius; and the confusion thus occasioned
gave rise to the general belief that the king
himself was slain. A complete panic en-
sued ; the Persians fled in irremediable con-
fusion, followed by Alexander — who was,
however, obliged to renounce the pursuit
and return to rescue Parmenio, who com-
manded his left wing, from the critical
position in which he had been placed by the
resistless onset of the Massagetian horse.

There is no credible statement of the amount
of life sacrificed on this eventful day; for
that of Arrian, which records the loss of the
Persians at 40,000, and the Greeks at 100,
can scarcely be entertained. This contest
sealed the downfall of one powerful empire,
and crowned the conqueror with the fallen
diadem, althoitgh the escape of Darius was
still felt as aSbrding serious cause for anxiety.

After allowing his army a brief revel
among the luxuries of Babylon, and drain-
ing the treasury of Susa of its vast stores of
unwrought ingots and golden darics, Alex-
ander proceeded to Persepolis, and though
he met with no resistance, suffered the
stately city to be plundered hj his soldiers,
excepting only its magnificent palace, (which
he afterwards set on fire with his own hand,)*
and the citadel, which ancient writers
agree in stating to have contained the pro-
digious sura of 120,000 talents, or more than
£27,000,000 sterling.f Four months elapsed
before he resumed the pursuit of Darius,
who had meanwhile gathered together a
small force, and intended to take refuge in
the Bactrian satrapy of Bessus ; but this dis-
loyal servant, considering his master's for-
tunes desperate, conspired with the satraps
of Arachosia and Aria either to kill or to
deliver him to the Greeks, according as
might best serve their private purpose — the
securing independent possession of their
satrapies. Alexander, after marching rapidly
through Media, had reached a mountain
pass called the Caspian Gates, before intelli-
gence arrived of the plot; he exclaimed bitterly
against the treachery to which his own am-
bition had subjected the royal fugitive, and
pressed eagerly onwards to his rescue. The
conspirators fled before him, and Darius re-
solutely refusing to accompany them, was
left mortally wounded in his chariot, where
his lifeless body was found by Alexander, who
buried it with regal honours, provided for
the maintenance of Sisygambis (his mother) ,
married his daughter Statira, took charge of
the education of his other children, and
declared his determination of punishing the
assassins. Artabazus, the faithful and long-
tried adherent of Darius, then ninety-five
years of age, he took into his own service,
and evinced his respect for his fidelity by
unremitting kindness to him and to his sons.

* At the suggestion, it is said, of Thais, an Athe-
nian courtesan, made to him when heated with wine.
Both Phitarch and Arrian record bis immediate and
undisguised regret for the deed.

t Quintus Curtius, lib. v., cap. 5 ; Diodorus Sicu-
lus, lib. xvii., cap. 18 ; Tustin, lib. xi., cap. 14.

GREEKS CROSS THE PAROPAMISUS, AND CAPTURE BACTRIA, 320, b.c. 25

Bessus finding himself disappointed in his
hopes now braved the worst, by boldly as-
suming the tiara, and the title of Artaxerxes
King of Asia, in defiance of the pretensions
of Alexander, who wished to be considered
as the avenger and rightful successor rather
than the conqueror of Darius, and to receive
even from his Macedonian subjects the spe-
cies of adoration oft'ered by the Persians to
their king, as a preliminary to the divine
honours, to which an oracle had declared
him entitled. The Macedonians viewed
these pretensions with undisguised aver-
sion, and several of his bravest subjects,
including Philotas and his father Parmenio,
the beloved general of Philip,* became,
under difierent pretences, victims to tVieir
opposition to this glaring impiety. f Bar-
zaentes, one of the confederates of Bessus,
took refuge among the Indians on the bor-
der of his eastern satrapy of Arachosia, but
was delivered up by them to Alexander, who
caused him to be put to death ; Sartabar-
zanes, another of the traitors (and a double-
dyed one, for he had voluntarily sworn alle-
giance to the conqueror), was slain in
battle, and the arch conspirator Bessus
alone remained. He had consulted his
personal safety by fleeing across the vast
mountain barrier of India, a part of which
is there called the Paropamisus,J trust-
ing that the natural difficulties of the coun-
try would greatly impede, if not entirely
block up, the pursuit of a hostUe force. He
probably little knew the zeal with which,
from very childhood, Alexander had striven
for accurate geographical knowledge, eagerly
questioning the ambassadors of his father's
court as to the routes they had traversed, or
heard of, so as to give the wisest of them
some partial insight into the schemes even
then passing through his brain. On arriving
at the root of the chain, he was probably
well acquainted with its general direction,
as well as the defiles by which it might be
traversed, especially since, during his so-
journ in Phoenicia, he had had abundant
opportunity of ascertaining the nature of

* It is recorded by Plutarch, that Philip once said
the Athenians were lucky to be able to find ten gen-
erals every year ; he, in the course of many years,
had only found one, Parmenio.

f The famous guarrel in which, during a carousal,
Alexander slew his tried friend Cleitas, who had pre-
served his life in battle at the risk of his own, arose
from the same cause; as did also the execution of
Callisthenes, though on the avowed charge of having
incited a conspiracy among the royal pages.

X This range (according to Masson) is distinct
from the true Indian Caucasus, or Hindoo Koosh; —

the trade with India, and the means by
which it was carried on, by land as well as by
sea. At the foot of the pass by which he
intended crossing, Alexander founded an-
other Alexandria (ad Caucasum), where he
planted a colony of Macedonian veterans;
then, undeterred by the severity of the yet
unexpired winter, he avoided the dangerous
period of the melting snows, by commenc-
ing his mountain march, which lasted fifteen
days, and was rendered arduous and haras-
sing, not only from the natural causes of
cold and fatigue, but also by scarcity of pro-
visions. Bessus had laid waste the whole
country between the lower valleys on the
northern side, and the left bank of the
Oxus, before he passed over with his troops,
after which he burned the boats which had
conveyed them. Alexander having captured
the town and fortress of Aorni, and Bactra
the chief city of Bactria (supposed to be the
modern Balk), committed the charge of the
newly-acquired territory to the venerable
Artabazus; then dismissing some of the

more infirm, or least willing, of the Mace-
donian troops and Thessalian volunteers, he
proceeded across a strip of the great desert,
which stretches from the Caspian to the
high table-land, containing the sources of
the Oxus and Jaxartes. On arriving at the
former river, no boats or building materials
could be procured, and the breadth was little
less than 800 yards ; but even this obstacle
was overcome, and the whole of the troops
transported safely over on skins stuffed with
straw. The passage being accomplished
after six days' labour, the Greeks pushed
across the desert in a northerly direction,
but were met by envoys from two of the
chief followers of Bessus, who fell a victim
to the same treachery he had practised to-
wards Darius; and being delivered up by
his followers, Spitamenes and others, suffered
a cruel and ignominious death. § The ob-
tainment of the avowed object of the expe-
dition did not put a stop to Alexander's
progress. According to Plutarch it was
about this period that he first entertained

the name is derived from " par" and " pam," signify-
ing hill and fiat — the region around consisting of
flat-topped hills.

§ He was publicly stripped and scourged, his nose
and ears were cut off, and (according to Curtius and
Uiodorus) he was eventually surrendered to Oxa-
thres and other kinsmen of Darius to be executed ;
but by some accounts he is represented as having
been, by order of Alexander himself, torn limb from
limb, by means of two trees, to which he was bound,
being first bent and then suflered to spring back. — See
Lan ghome's Plutarch, Life of A lexander, vol. i v., p. 1 86.

2G COUNTRY OF TAXILAS, AND SITE OF ITS ANCIENT CAPITAL.

the idea of following up his conquests by
that of India. He had now reached a de-
lightful region of great beauty and exuberant
fertility, whose pastures afforded him fresh
horses to supply the loss sustained in march-
ing through mountains and deserts ; thence
he advanced to the capital of Sogdiana,
called Maracanda, since known as Samar-
cand, in whose citadel he placed a Greek
garrison. Still proceeding northwards, he
founded another Alexandria on the Jaxartes,
and was involved in some sharp contests
with the Asiatic Scythians, in one of which
a body of Macedonian horse were surprised
and slain, and in another he was himself
wounded. After repressing disturbances
among the Sogdians, on whom he wreaked
a cruel vengeance for what he thought fit to
call rebellion t9 his self-constituted autho-
rity, he proceeded at the close of 339 to
take up his winter quarters at Bactria or
Zariaspa. For the next twelve months he
found ample employment in stifling the
efforts for independence of the Scythians,
Sogdians, and the Bactrians, incited by
Spitamenes, the most active and determined
enemy he had yet encountered in Asia.
This chief's motive appears to have been
dissatisfaction at receiving less reward than
he had expected for the surrender of Bessus.
By a remarkable retribution he was in turn
betrayed by his own troops, who, desirous

• Taxila must have been a large and splendid
city, but its site is still a matter of dispute. Schlosser
places it at Attock, and Rennell at or near the same
place. On the route leading thence to Lahore, are
the ruins of a very ancient town of unknown name
and origin, which is also supposed to have been
Taxila. Abundance of Greek and Bactrian coins
have been found in the numerous ruins and cupolas
or topes which are scattered over the plain on which
the present small village of Manikyala stands. One
of these topes or tumuli (examined in 1833-34, by
Mons. Court, an engineer officer then in the service
of Runjeet Sing) was 80 feet high, with a circum-
ference of 320 feet, solidly built of well-dressed
quarried stones, some of huge size, cemented with
lime i while a range of small columns, the capitals
ornamented with rams' heads, surrounded the base.
The Hindoos resort to the spot to offer up the first
cuttings of the hair of their male children, a custom
said to have been prevalent in ancient Greece. There
are about fifteen smaller topes near the principal
one ; and, indeed, similar tumuli abound in different
parts of Affghanistan, at Cabool, Jellalabad, in the
khyber hiUs, &c. They are generally constructed
of sandstone, and of a nummulitio limestone (full of
shell impressions), such as is found in the Egyptian
pyramids. In one of the topes, which had a height
of sixty or seventy feet, a cell was discovered at ten
feet from the ground-level, whose four sides corre-
sponded with the cardinal points ; it was constructed
Jn a iolid manner, and covered with a massive slab

of conciliating their powerful foe, cut off the
head of their leader, and offered it as their
own propitiation. Several of his confede-
rates still lived and took refuge in the
mountainous region about the upper valleys
of the Oxus, with other chiefs who perse-
vered in the struggle for liberty. They
were not, however, of sufficient importance
to detain Alexander any longer in the coun-
tries where he had already spent nearly two
years, and which had been subdued only with
much difficulty and large expenditure of
blood and treasure, as well as by diplomacy ;
for example, by his marriage with Roxana,
the daughter of Oxyartes, an influential
Bactrian chief, he converted a dangerous
enemy to a firm friend.

Greek Invasio.v of India.^ — In the spring
of 327, Alexander prepared to attempt the
conquest of the almost unknown countries
bordering and beyond the Indus. The pres-
tige of his success, and the generosity with
which he treated all who submitted to his
sway, induced a native ruler to send a friendly
embassy before the army quitted Sogdiana.
The name of this prince was recorded by
the Greeks (who are unfortunately prover-
bial for the manner in which they distorted
foreign words to suit their own pronuncia-
tion) as Omphis, or Mophis; but he was
commonly called Taxiles, from Taxila,* the
capital of his country, which lay between

containing inscriptions, some resembling the writings
of the Rajpoots of the Himalaya, others the Etliio-
pian character. In the centre was a copper urn or
cylinder, encircled by eight copper medals, (some
apparently of the Winged-cap Sassanian dynasty,)
with a wrapper of white linen tightly adhering to the
surface, which fell into shreds on being exposed to
the air. The copper enclosed a silver urn, the in-
tervening space being filled with a moist paste,
devoid of smell, of the colour of raw umber, in which
lay a thread of cotton gathered up into a knot. The
silver, from age, had become quite brittle, and crum-
bled into bits between the fingers, as the metals found
at Nineveh have since done. Within the silver ves-
sel was a much smaller golden one, and seven silver
medals with Latin characters. The gold cylinder
contained four small, worn, golden coins of the
Gra;co-Scythian, or Gr®co-Indian type, but of a far
inferior fabrication to the silver ones ; there were
also two precious stones and four perforated pearls
(which had been pendants of ear-rings), fragments
of a vitreous nature, and small transparent yellow
substances, with decayed organic matter. The country
around, as proved by the quantity of ruins of old
houses, must have once been very populous. Whether
these topes or mounds served for royal mausolea, or
Boodhistical shrines, or both, is doubtful : they were
possibly the consecrated tombs of kings or of per-
sons of distinction. Some curious coincidences are
observable between the ancient monuments and the
sepulchral tumuli or harrows discovered in Essex

ALEXANDER'S CAMPAIGN IN AFFGHANISTAN, 327, b.c.

the upper Indus and the Hydaspes (Behut
or Jhelum), the westermost of the five great
tributaries, from which the whole eastern
basiu of the Indus, down to their confluence,
is called the Punjaub (five rivers).

From Bactria and Sogdiana, as also from
the neighbouring Scythian hordes, auxil-
iaries were raised to the amount of 70,000
persons, of whom 30,000 were youths, levied
to serve at once as hostages and soldiers.
Altogether the Greek force (exclusive of a
corps of 10,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry
left in Bactria, under the command of the
satrap Amyntas) consisted of 120,000 foot
and 15,000 horse. After crossing the Para-
pamisan chain, in ten days, (apparently by a
different route to that which had been taken
in the winter of 329,) through a pass de-
scribed by Arrian as "high, narrow, and
short," the troops reached Alexandria ad
Caucasum, and from thence proceeded to a
town named Nysa,* which would appear to
have been the same city alleged to have been
founded by the Indian Bacchus, or Dionysus.
The inhabitants are said to have dexterously
turned Alexander's claim to be considered
as a son of Jupiter to advantage by entreat-
ing him to spare and protect the city
founded by his " celestial brother •" and as
an evidence of the truth of their statement,
they pointed to the abundance of vines, wild
and uncultivated, growing in their valleys,
and to the ivy and laurel first planted by
the hand of Bacchus, of which the Mace-
donians had, until then, seen none since they
left Greece. Alexander offered sacrifices in
honour of his divine predecessor, and per-
mitted Nysa, which is described as an aris-
tocratical republic under a discreet ruler
named Acuphis, to retain its liberty and
laws.f On proceeding to the banks of the
river Cophenes, he was met at his own re-
quest by Taxiles, and several chiefs from the

and other parts of England, which contained, like
those of the Punjaub, various bronze urns, enclosing
fragments of burnt bones, coins, glass, and even a
similar brown or light yellov/ liquid or paste. Virgil,
also, in the uSneid (vi., 215), describes the Roman
custom of burning the dead j milk, wine, blood, and
other munera, supposed to be grateful to the de-
ceased, were poured on or mingled with the ashes,
and money was usually added to defray the fee of
Charon for ferrying the departed spirit across the Styx.
* The locality of the different towns and rivers
mentioned by Alexander's historians, is much con-
tested by modern geographers. The site of Nysa is
pointed out by M. Court, at Ashnagur (whose sub-
urbs are scattered over with vast ruins of unknown
date) ; that of Alexandria ad Caucasum is variously
placed at Ghuznee and at a place called Siggan ;
while the Cophenei is supposed to denote either the

region west of the Indus ; they brought him
presents, and promised to gratify his desire
for trained elephants, by the gift of all they
possessed, which, however, amounted only
to five-and-twenty. The army was then
divided ; one portion, under Hephsestion and
Perdiccas, took the direct road to the Indus,
with orders there to prepare a bridge of
boats for the passage of the main body,
which Alexander conducted by a more nor-
thern route over difiicult mountain paths,
to meet the hardy and warlike tribes, men-
tioned by Arrian under the names of the
Aspii, the Thrysei, and the Arssei. In a
contest with the inhabitants of one of the
towns, he was wounded, and the Greeks in
their rage (having carried the double walls,)
gave no quarter, but slaughtered aU without
distinction, and reduced the place to ashes.
The whole of this campaign in the high
lands of Affghanistan was marked by de-
termined bravery on the part of the moun-
taineers, and sanguinary cruelty on that of
the invader, who had no other plan for sub-
duing a people, who desired — not generosity
but justice, not to be well governed after
his fashion, but to remain independent after
their own. In the country of the unoffend-
ing AssacenesJ he behaved with especial
barbarity. Having encamped before their
capital, Mazagu, he made three determined
attacks with battering-engines on different
days, during which he was wounded in the
leg and arm ; the result of a fourth assault
was yet doubtful, when the Affghan chief
was slain, and the garrison were suffered to
capitulate on the condition that 7,000 mer-
cenaries from the Punjaub, who had been
engaged in the service of the deceased
leader, should join the Greek army. They
accordingly marched out and encamped on
a hill for the night, but evinced so much
reluctance at the thought of fighting against

river formed by the confluence of the Cabool with the
Pendjsher, or else the eastern branch of the Ifel-
mund, now known as the Tarnuck. The reader
desirous of understanding the grounds upon which
these and other opposite opinions rest, will find them
fully discussed by the highest Indian authorities,
in the pages of the various Asiatic journals, and in
the works of Rennell, Vincent, Elphinstone, Vigne,
Burnes, Chesney, Masson, Long, &c.

t Recorded by Arrian, Quintug Curtius, and Plu-
tarch in his Life of Alexander.

X Arrian says they had been subject to the Assy-
rians, then to the Medes, and subsequently to the
Persians. The Orita are described by the same
authority, as a nation whose country extended along
the sea-coast for about 150 miles ; and who wore the
dress and arms of the other Indians, but difl'ered
from theDi in language and manners.

AORNUS CAPTURED— THE INDUS CROSSED.

their countrymen, that Alexander, suspect-
ing them of an intention to desert, caused
them to be suddenly surrounded and cut to
pieces. He then set at nought the capitu-
lation by storming the defenceless city.
The strongholds of Ora and Bazira were
next reduced, the inhabitants of the latter
place fled to a hill-fort on the right bank of
the Indus, whose name seems to have been
lost by the Greeks in that of Aornus,* a
term indicative of its extraordinary height,
above the flight of a bird. Here Hercules
was said to have been defeated, and Alex-
ander, desirous of excelling the exploits of
even fabled heroes, and of proving himself
not to be deterred by natural difiBculties, pro-
ceeded to the attack; passing, it would ap-
pear, through the district of Peucelaotis,
and taking possession of the chief city,
Peucela, whose ruler, Astes, had fallen in
the thirty days' siege of the force under
Hephsestion and Perdiccas on their march
eastward. Aornus he captured by forming
a mound across a hollow of no great depth,
but of considerable width, which separated
a neighbouring hill from the pyramidical
rock itself; thus a vantage-ground was gained
to the surprise and terror of the besieged,

• Aornus was probably a general name for a
stockaded mountain, such as that already mentioned
in Bactria, and most likely Hellenized from the
Sanscrit Awara, or Awarana, an enclosure. Its
position is considered by some authorities to have
been a little distance above Attock, while others con-
sider it to be found at Peshawer, in front of the
Khyber Pass, and reconcile this opinion with the
statement of Arrian and Strabo, that the Indus flowed
at the base of Aornus, by declaring that these writers
evidently deemed the Cabool river the true Indus.

T It seems to have been during his stay at Taxila
that Alexander had first the opportunity of gratifying
his curiosity respecting the doctrine and practice of
the Hindoo ascetics called gymnosophists by the
Greeks. At Corinth, struck by the imperturbable
stoicism of a man, who had nothing to ask, but that
he should stand from betwixt him and the sun, he is
reported to have exclaimed, that were he not Alex-
ander he would wish to be Diogenes. In India he
must have witnessed a far more interesting spectacle.
The Greek philosopher had no higher object in his
dogged abstinence from the comforts of civilized life
than to place himself beyond the reach of what, in
his blindness, he called chance or fortune ; but the
Brahmins sought, by self-inflicted tortures, and un-
ceasing exposure to the severe influences of their
burning sky, to win by slow degrees a release from
mortality, and absorption into the Divine essence.
Alexander was utilitarian in all his views ; it might
therefore be supposed he could have little sympathy
with men whom he might have considered as visionary
enthusiasts,buthewas alsoextremely superstitious: his
great intellect groped in darkness, unenlightened by
any ray of revealed truth, which could show him tho
fundamental error of striving to found a univer-
la), or at least an Asiatic empire, by means of un-

who endeavoured to escape at night-fall,
but were pursued with great slaughter into
the plains beneath. The accounts given by
Arrian of the next steps of Alexander's pro-
gress are scarcely reconcileable with those of
Diodorus and Curtius ; but it appears that
he was compelled to return to the moun-'
tains to suppress insurrection, and that the
people fled before him. He despatched his
generals, Nearchus and Antiochus, to scour
the country towards the north-west, while
he himself opened a road, which no army
had ever before trodden, to the banks of the
Indus, and on his way captured some of the
fugitives, who, among other information,
told him that their elephants had been left
in the thickets on the west side of the river.
These animals having been obtained by the
aid of native hunters, vessels were con-
structed, in which the force dropped down
the stream to the bridge prepared for them
by Hephaestion and Perdiccas, with the
assistance of Taxiles, who came out with his
army and elephants to meet Alexander on
his arrival at the eastern shore of the Indus,
and conducted him with much pomp to his
capital.-f- Taxiles appears to have been very
desirous to obtain the assistance of the

limited conquests, gained at a terrible cost of blood,
tears, and moral degradation. Still he was no mere
conqueror ; it was not simply a selfish ambition that
prompted him — far less any brutal, or rather demonia-
cal, love of fighting. He ever strove to conciliate
strange nations, by respecting their religious obser-
vances, as the best means of retaining permanent
dominion over them; and it was probably a high
political motive which rendered him solicitous to
converse with the Brahmins (or rather Yogees),
fifteen of whom were congregated in a grove near
the city. The eldest and most honoured, called by
the Greeks, Dandamis, refused either to visit or
write to Alexander, declared (according to Strabo)
to a total disbelief of his alleged Divine origin,
and expressed equal indiff'erence to persuasions or
threats ; gifts he needed not, and he added,
alluding to the Hindoo doctrine of metemp-
sychosis — " If he should put me to death, he will
only release my soul from this old decrepit body,
which will then pass into a freer and purer state ; so
that I shall suffer nothing by the change." One of
the Yogees, named Sphines, called Calanus by the
Greeks was, however, prevailed upon to go to Alex-
ander, who, being much pleased with his discourse,
carried him with him throughout his expedition, and
even back to Persia. Calanus was there attacked
with illness ; and considering it as a summons from
above, being then seventy-three years of age, pre-
pared to terminate his life. Alexander having vamly
laboured to dissuade him, caused a magnificent
funeral pile to be raised, which Calanus, though
weak with pain and illness, ascended with unfalter-
ing resolution, singing hymns of prayer and praise.
He then calmly composed his limbs, and without
moving, was consumed in the sight of the king and the
whole army. — ( Vide Arrian, Strabo, and Plutarch.)

PROGRESS FROM THE INDUS TO THE KYDASPES OR JHELUM. 29

Greeks in carrying on war with a neighbour-
ing and powerful prince, whose proper name
has not descended to us, but only that of
his family, Porus.* Alexander sent a pe-
remptory summons, requiring tribute and
allegiance, to which the Indian prince replied
that he would come to the borders of his
kingdom to meet the invader, but it should
be in arms. His kinsman, a neighbouring
ruler of the same name, whether from
jealousy or induced by the munificent pre-
sents made to Taxiles, despatched an em-
bassy with offers of submission. It is
probable that Taxiles received an enlarge-
ment of his territory by the annexation of
some of the newly-conquered districts on
the west of the Indus ; but the price paid by
him was nothing less than the loss of liberty,
since a Greek satrap was appointed for this
part of India, and a Greek garrison stationed
in his chief city. "With forces strengthened
by 5,000 Indian recruits, led by Taxiles,
Alexander resumed his march in the middle
of the year 326 ; for so it would appear from
the statement of Aristobulus, that he expe-
rienced the commencement of the summer
rains, which are not known to fall in the
Punjaub before June or July. On his road
to the Hydaspes he was iiitcmjpted, in a
defile through which his road lay, by a
nephew of Porus named Spittacus, or Spi-
taces, with a body of troops. These he soon
dispersed, and arrived without further oppo-
sition on the right bank of the river, where
he beheld the hostile army drawn up on the
opposite side, the intervening stream being
deep, rapid, and, at the time he reached it,
probably little less than a mile broad. Al-
though well provided with boats, rafts, and
floats, Alexander was too prudent to attempt
forcing a passage in the face of an equal if
not superior enemy, and had therefore re-
course to stratagem to disarm the vigilance
of his antagonist. After making excursions
in various directions, as if uncertain where
to attempt crossing, he ordered magazines
of provisions to be formed, as if for a long

• Tod says that Porus was a corruption of Pooru,
the patronymic of a branch of the royal Lunar race
(liajast'lian, vol. i.) ; and Itennell states that the pre-
decessor of the prince in question reigned in Canoge
or Canouj, on the Ganges, which, according to Fe-
rishta, was then the capital of all Hindoostan {Me-
moir (if a Map of Hindoostan, p. 54).

t The precise spots at which the army encamped
upon the Hydaspes, and crossed it, are not ascer-
tained. Strabo points out that Alexander marched
as near as possible fo tlie mountains, and this useful
indication is considered by Masson to establish
his having followed the high road frora Attock to

sojourn, and gave out that he intended
awaiting the termination of the monsoon,
which it is probable he would have really
done but for intelligence that auxiliaries
were on their way to strengthen the enemy.
Night after night, bodies of cavalry rode
noisily up or down the right bank, and
Porus repeatedly drew up his elephants and
proceeded towards the quarter whence the
clamour arose ; until, wearied by false alarms,
he paid no attention to the movements
upon the opposite shore. Alexander having
selected a spot a day's march distance above
the camp,t where the river made a westerly
bend, and a thickly-wooded island divided
the stream, left a strong division at the first
station with orders to remain there until the
elephants should be withdrawn from their
menacing position, in which case they were to
attempt the passage forthwith. The same
command was given at the series of posts
(horse and foot), stationed between the
camp and the place of embarkation. Here
preparations wer6 made, under cover of the
wood which clothed the projecting bank of
the river, the din of axes and hammers,
which might otherwise have attracted atten-
tion, (notwithstanding the feints previously
resorted to) being overpowered by pealing
thunder and torrents of rain, that lasted
tlirough the night hours, but ceased at daj'-
break. Alexander set out, accompanied by
Perdiccas, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, with
the flower of the Macedonian cavalry, and
the Bactrian, Sogdian, and Scythian aux-
iliaries. In passing the wooded island before
mentioned, they were first seen by the In-
dians, who immediately gave the alarm.
The invaders landed, on what they thought
to be the river bank, but really on another
island, separated from the main by a channel
swollen by floods into a formidable stream,
which however proved fordable, and the
whole division was, after some delay, landed,
and drawn up in order of battle. The cav-
alry numbered about 5,000, the infantry
probably nearly 20,000. Porus, perceiving

Jhelum, which probably was then as now the most
northerly of the Punjaub routes, and the one almost
exclusively practicable during the monsoons. Con-
sequently Porus took up his position on the eastern
bank of the Jhelum at the point to which he knew
Alexander must come, that is near the present vil-
lage of that name, in whose locality, the sites of
NicajZi and Bucephala, (though on different sides of
the river) must be sought for. llennell places the
encampment opposite where the fortress of Rotas
afterwards stood; and Vincent (who supposes the
wooded island passed by Alexander to liave ^een
Jamad) about twenty-eight miles below Rotas.

30 BATTLE BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND THE INDIAN KING PORUS.

that Alexander's tent remained in its place,
and that the main body were apparently
still at the encampment, regarded liis actual
approach as a stratagem to tempt him
from an advantageous position, and merely
sent forward his son or brother Hages with
2,000 horse and 120 war chariots, whom
Alexander charged fiercely, with the whole
of his cavalry. Hages and some 400 of his
followers were slain, and the chariots, which
had been with great difficulty brought over
ground turned into a swamp by the rains,
were all captured. Porus, on learning this
disastrous commencement, left a part of his
elephants to contest the passage of the
Greeks stationed under Craterus at the en-
campment, and advanced to the decisive con-
flict, with a force (according to Arrian) of
30,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 300 cha-
riots. Beyond the swampy ground, near the
river, lay an open sandy tract, affording firm
footing, and here he awaited Alexander's
approach ; his 200 elephants, bearing huge
wooden towers, filled with armed men, being
drawn up in front of the line, at intervals of
a hundred feet, occupied with infantry ; while
one-half of the cavahy was posted at each
flank, and the chariots (each containing
six armed men) in front of them. After
a long and quick march, Alexander arrived
in sight with his cavalry, and halted to allow
time for the foot to join him. Observing
the disposition of the enemy, he instantly
apprehended the necessity of depriving Porus
of the advantage he must obtain from the
almost invincible strength of the elephants
and chariots when brought to bear in a
direct attack, as well as the superior num-
bers of the opposing infantry, by a skilful use
of the mounted troops, in which his strength
lay. An attack on the enemy's left wing,
would, he foresaw, draw the cavalry into
action for its protection. Therefore, ordering
the horse-bowmen to advance, he followed
up the slight disorder caused by their arrows,
by charging with the rest of the cavalry ;
while the Indian horse from the right being
brought up, as foreseen, Ccenus, in accord-
ance with previous orders, charged them in
the rear, and the Macedonian phalanx ad-
vanced to take advantage of the confusion
that ensued. The engagement became very
complex ; the elephants hemmed in and
maddened by wounds, turned their fury in-
discriminately against friend and foe, until
many were killed, and the rest, spent with
pain and toil, ceased to be formidable.
Another general charge of horse and foot

was made by the Greeks ; the troops of
Porus were completely routed, and fled, pur-
sued by Craterus and the division from the
right bank, who, having by this time effected
their passage, engaged with ardour in the san-
guinary chase. As is usual with Alexander's
historians,* his loss is stated at an extremely
small, and that of the enemy, at a proportion-
ably large amount. The more moderate
statement of Diodorus Siculus, gives the
number of the slain on the side of Porus, at
12,000, including two of his sons and great
part of his chief officers, besides 9,000
taken prisoners. The loss of the Macedo-
nians is given at less than 1,000. Porus
himself, mounted on an elephant, to the last
directed the movements of his forces ; and,
although wounded in the shoulder, (his body
was defended by a corslet of curious work-
manship which was proof against all mis-
siles,) would not retire until his troops were
hopelessly dispersed ; then he turned his
elephant for flight, but, being a conspicuous
object, was speedily captured, and carried,
while senseless from loss of blood, into the
conqueror's presence. Alexander, who had
observed his gallant bearing during a con-
flict of seven or eight hours' duration, asked
him how he desired to be treated, but could
obtain no other answer than "as a king;"
and, on observing that " this a king must
do for his own sake," Porus replied that,
" nevertheless in that all was included." The
quick perception of character, which was one
of Alexander's distinguishing and most ser-
viceable qualities, taught him that Porus
might prove a valuable and trustworthy
auxiliary. He reinstated him in royal dignity,
added considerably to his dominions, and
brought about a reconciliation, in form at
least, with Taxiles. On the Ilydaspes or
Jhelum, the conqueror founded two cities ;
one near the field of battle, named Nica;a,
and another near his landing-place, named
Bucephala, in honour of his famous horse,
which, having accompanied him thus far,
sank from fatigue, wounds, and old age,
in the hour of victory. Craterus was left to
superintend the building of these cities ; and
the main body were allowed a month's rest,
probably chiefly on account of the continu-
ance of the heavy rains. Alexander himself,
with a select division of horse and foot, pur-
sued his aggressive march through the rich
and populous valleys on the north of the

* The details recorded by Arrian, Diodorus Sicu-
lus, Quintus Curtius, and Plutarch, vary conside-
rably, but the general tenor is the same.

REFUSAL OP GREEK ARMY TO MARCH TO THE GANGES.

territory of Porus, to the river Acesines or
(Chenab,)* receiving, according to the Greek
historians, the submission of thirty-seven
cities — none containing less than 5,000 in-
habitants, — all of which he annexed to the
kingdom of Porus. The younger Porus,
called the coward, fled from his dominions,
from the fear that the favour shown to his
kinsman portended his ruin, and took re-
fuge at the court of Nanda, the reigning
monarch of the Prachii or Prasii — who
swayed nearly the whole of Eastern India.
Ambisarcs, the king or chief of a tribe of
mountaineers, and Doxareus, another native
rajah or prince are mentioned by Arrian, as
tendering their allegiance ; the former sent
a present of forty elephants. After crossing
the Ilydmotes {Ravee), Alexander traversed
the country of the Cathaeans to attack San-
gala, a city of great strength and impor-
tance, which seems to have occupied nearly
the same site as the modern capital of the
Sikh monarchy, Lahore, on a branch of the
Ravee, near the edge of a small lake.f The
Cathaeans or Catheri, (supposed, by Sanscrit
scholars, to be a corruption of Cshatra, a
mixed race, sprung from females of the
warrior class, and men of inferior cast,) { had
confederated with the Malli and Sudraca;,
or Oxydracse, that is, the people of Moultan
and Outch. On approacliing Sangala, the
Greeks found the Cathaeans entrenched on
an isolated hill, behind a triple barrier of
waggons. Alexander, at the head of the
phalanx, forced the three lines, and car-
ried the place by storm ; but with the loss
of 1,200 killed and wounded. This vigorous
resistance was revenged by sanguinary car-
nage — 17,000 of the Cathasans were slain,
70,000 made prisoners, and Sangala razed
to the ground. Despatching Porus {who had
ari'ived during the siege with about 5,000
men) to place garrisons in the Cathsean
t6wns, Alexander continued to advance to
the south-east, received the submission of
two princes, called by the Greeks Sopithes§
and Phegelus, and arrived at the banks of
the Hyphasis [Bey ah), just above its junc-
tion with the Hesudrus [Sutlej). The limit
of his eastern progress was at length
reached, for, even under his leadership,
the weary and home-sick army would pro-
ceed no farther. He could have given

• Alexander called it Acesines ; the ancient native
name was Chandrabagha — the moon's gift.

t Burnes, vol. i., p. 156. — Masson does not con-
sider the Sangala of Arrian to have denoted the
Indian city of Sagala, -whose site is now indicated by
that of Lahore, but places it at Harecpah.

them, at best, but unsatisfactory grounds of
encouragement to continue their course.
The narrow boundaries assigned by the geo-
graphers of the day to India, and the eastern
side of the earth, were manifestly incorrect ;
the ocean which he had been taught to be-
lieve was separated by no very vast distanc'e
from the banks of the Indus, had receded,
as he advanced to an immeasurable dis-
tance ; and he had learned that beyond the
Hydaspes a desert, more extensive than any
yet encountered, parted the plains of the
Punjaub from the region watered by the
tributaries of the Ganges — a river superior
to the Indus, having on its banks the capi-
tal of a great monarchy, that of the Prasii
and Gangarida;, whose king could bring
into the field 200,000 foot, 20,000 horse,
and several thousand elephants. The king
himself is however represented to have been
looked upon as an upstart and a usurper ;
and Alexander might probably have hoped
to be enabled to carry out his object, by
similar divisions among the natives to those
which had materially aided him in his par-
tial conquest of the Punjaub. The very
dangers and difficulties of the attempt were
but incitements to one whose object was
universal empire — to be attained at the
hazard of life itself, which he unhesitatingly
imperilled in every battle. With passionate
eloquence he reminded the Macedonians
that the Hydraotes had already become the
limit of their empire, which extended west-
ward to the ^Egean Sea, and northward to
the river Jaxartes ; and he urged them to
cross the Hyphasis ; then, having added the
rest of Asia to their empire, to descend the
Ganges, and sail round Africa to the pillars
of Hercules. — (Arrian, lib. v., cap. 25.)

Finding this appeal without effect, or at
least overborne by the recollection of the
fatigues and privations undergone during
the preceding campaign in the rainy season,
Alexander angrily declared that he should
proceed, attended only by those who de-
sired to accompany him; the rest might
return home, and say that they had forsa-
ken their king in the midst of enemies.
The silence and deep gloom which pervaded
the camp at length convinced Alexander
that no considerable portion of the army
could be prevailed upon to cross the Hy-

X Masson dissents, believing them to have been
the Catti, a nomadic Scythian tribe.

§ According to Arrian, Sopithes submitted in the
descent of the fleet from Bucephala, whence three
days' journey brought Alexander to the territory of
this prince, where Strabo says there were famous salt

DESCENT OF THE INDUS COMMENCED BY ALEXANDER.

phasis. He found either a pretext or a
reason for yielding to the general wish, in
the unfavourable auspices which attended
the sacrifices offered for the purpose of con-
sulting the gods respecting his future ad-
vance; and, after erecting twelve colossal
towers or altars, in token of his gratitude
for having been brought thus far safe and
victorious, and reviving, by horse-races and
gymnastic exercises, the drooping spirits of
his troops, he conferred on Porus the gov-
ernment of the country towards the Hypha-
sis,* and commenced retracing his steps.
At the Accsines he found the city which
Hephaestion had been ordered to build, ready
to receive a colony, and there he left the
disabled mercenaries, and as many natives
of the neighbouring districts, as were willing
to join them. At the Hydaspes, he re-
paired the injuries caused by floods to
Nicffia and Bucephala, and was reinforced
from Greece by 6,000 horse and 7,000 in-
fantry .t The fleet, (comprising 2,000 ves-
sels of various kiiids, whereof eighty were
war galleys, which part of the army had
been employed all the summer in construct-
ing, while the rest, wanted for transport and
provisions, had probably been seized from
the people of the country,) was completed
and manned, and the command entrusted
to Nearchus. Having divided his army into
four corps, of which the main body, with
about 200 elephants, were to advance along
the eastern l3ank, Alexander himself em-
barked, and proceeded mthout impediment
to the confluence of the Hydaspes and
Acesines, where, owing to the narrow chan-
nel and high banks between which the
united rivers were then pent up, rapid and
strong eddies were formed, which so asto-
nished the sailors as to deprive them of the
self-command necessary to fulfil the instruc-
tions previously given by the Indian pilots.
Several of the long galleys were much shat-
tered, two sank with the greater part of
their crews, but the shorter and rounder
vessels sustained no injury. J A headland
on the right bank aflbrded shelter to the fleet,
which Alexander left to undergo the neces-
sary repairs, while he proceeded on an inland
expedition to the westward against the Scevi
or Saivas, a people evidently thus named
from their worship of the second member of

mines ; — this seems to refer to the Salt range of
Pindi Waden Khan.

* According to Arrian (lib. vi., cap. 2), by the
final arrangement of the affairs of the nortliern Pun-
jaub, Porus gained a fresh addition of territory,

the Brahminical Triad, whose symbol they
marked upon their cattle. Then, crossing
the river, he marched eastward against the
Malli and Sudracje, the latter of v/hom ap-
pear from their designation to have been
derived from the Soodra caste, while among
the former the Brahmins decidedly pre.^
dominated. They did not intermarry, and
had little or no friendly intercourse. The
sudden danger which threatened their inde-
pendence had driven them to a partial jiuic-
tion, and their aggregate forces are stated
at the lowest at 80,000 foot, 10,000 horse,
and 700 chariots, but want of unanimity iu
the choice of a leader had prevented their
combination. The MaUi especially seem to
have relied confidently on the strength of
their fortified towns, and on the natural
advantages of their peninsula, which was
protected to the north by a desert of con-
siderable extent. As it was on this side
that they might be expected to feel most
secure, Alexander struck across the desert
into the heart of the country with a division
of light troops, while two separate corps, un-
der Hcphajstion and Ptolemy, traversed it in
other directions to intercept the fugitives he
might drive before him. By marching day
and night, with a very short intermission,
he appeared early on the second morning
before one of the strongholds, in which, as
likely to be last attacked, many of the
natives had taken refuge. A great number
were surprised unarmed without the walls,
many were put to the sword, the rest fled
into the town, which, notwithstanding a
gallant defence, was speedily stormed, and
the people massacred without distinction.
The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages
forsook them, and some fled to the Hy-
draotes, pursued in a forced night march by
Alexander, who, on coming up to the ford,
made considerable slaughter among those
who had not yet crossed, and then, plunging
in the stream, pursued the fugitives on the
opposite side. Many took refuge in an-
other fortified town, which is described by
the Greeks as if inhabited by Brahmins
only, and these are mentioned as a different
race from the Malli, who fled to them for
shelter. Here the most determined resis-
tance was oflered ; when the besieged could
no longer defend their walls against the

and became lord of (in all) seven nations and 2,000
cities.

t Quintus Ciirtius, lib. ix., cap. 3.

X The chief obstructions appear to have been worn
away, for the passage is no longer formidable.

CONTESTS AVITH THE MALLI— ALEXANDER WOUNDED.

superior skill of the assailants, they re-
treated to the citadel, and this being
stormed, set fire to their houses ; and almost
I all, to the number of 5,000, perished fight-
ing, or in the flames. The last memorable
contest with the Malli, occurred in the
taking of their capital, which Burnes con-
siders to be represented by Moultan, but
Rennell supposes to have been at Tolumba,
nearer the Hydraotes. Having dispersed the
hostile army drawn up on the high and
steep banks of this river, Alexander en-
circled the town with his cavalry, and the
next morning commenced the attack on two
sides. The besieged retreated to the citadel,
and the king and his troops, cutting their
Way with the hatchet through a postern,
arrived at the foot of the wall. Here
Alexander eagerly called for scaling lad-
ders, but these, from the supposition that
all resistance was over, had been mostly left
behind. Two or three were however
brought; seizing the first, Alexander fixed it
himself, mounted and gained the top of the
wall, which it seems was narrow and with-
out battlements. The soldiers, alarmed for
his safety, crowded after him with such im-
patience that the ladders bi'oke with their
weight, and Alexander, in his splendid
armour, with but three companions, stood a
mark for the enemy's missiles from the
nearest towers and the adjacent parts of the
fortress. Tlie Macedonians beneath, en-
treated him to throw himself into their
arms. He hesitated a moment, but to turn
his back upon his foes, even under such cir-
cumstances as these, was a step he could
not bring himself to take; and, probably
remembering that his guards would dare a
thousand deaths for his rescue, he leapt
down into the citadel, and alighting on his
feet, took his stand against the wall, shel-
tered also by the trunk and spreading
boughs of a tree. Here he defended him-
self, until joined by his three associates, one
of whom (Abreas) speedily received a mortal
wound from an arrow, in the face. Almost
immediately afterwards another arrow
pierced Alexander's corslet, lodging deep in
the right breast ; and, after a short struggle,
fainting through loss of blood, he sank upon
his shield. His remaining companions,
Peucestes and Leonnatus, though both
wounded, stood over him until they were

• It must be remembered that cities, so called, are
very easily founded in the cast. For this purpose
a fort or castle, and walls of brick or mud, marking
out the limits of " the Pettah " or town suffice for a

joined by their friends, who, by various ex-
pedients, (such as driving pegs into the clay
walls,) had climbed the top, and forced a
gate from the inside, through which num-
bers poured in, carried off their king, and
in their fury slaughtered every man, woman,
and child without exception. For some
time the conqueror lay in his tent, reduced
to the last extremity by the great loss of
blood which followed the extraction of the
barbed steel, while deep anxiety prevailed
in the camp — inspired partly by true affec-
tion, and partly by fear for themselves, in
the event of the death of the only man they
believed capable of leading them back safely
through the strange lands they had traversed
as victors. At length Alexander rallied;
during his tedious convalescence, such of
the Malli and Sudracae as had remained in
arms, tendered submission. The envoys
consisted of above 100 of their chief men ;
they were persons of lofty stature and bear-
ing, all rode in chariots, were clad in linen
robes embroidered with purple and gold,
and bore magnificent presents. According
to Curtius, a tribute of the same amount as
they had previously paid the Araehosians
was imposed upon them ; and a thousand of
their bravest warriors were demanded as
hostages, or, if they were willing, to serve
in the Greek army. These were immedi-
ately sent, together with 500 chariots as a
free gift, and, among other rarities, several
tamed lions and tigers. Alexander, pleased
with their i-cadiness, accepted the chariots
and sent back the hostages. At tlie con-
fluence of the Acesines with the Indus, he
ordered a city,* with docks and arsenals, to
be constructed ; and sailed down the latter
river to the chief place of a people, called,
by the Greeks, Sudracic or Sogdi. Here
he planted a colony; changed the name to
Alexandria, built an arsenal, refitted a part
of his fleet, and, proceeding southward, en-
tered the rich and fertile territories of a
powerful ruler, whose real name has been
apparently perverted into that of Musi-
canus. This prince proffered allegiance,
which Alexander accepted, but ordered a
fortress to be built in his capital, which was
occupied by a Macedonian garrison ; thence,
marching to the westward, he advanced
against a chief, spoken of under the name
of Oxycanus, or Porticanus, who was con-
commencement, and population soon follows, brought
either by coni])ulsion or attracted by the natural ad-
vantages of the site, to erect there the mud hovels
which form their ordinary dwellings.

EXPLORATION OP THE MOUTH OF THE INDUS— n.c. 325.

sidered to have held himself suspiciously
aloof, and stormed two of his cities — in one
of which, Oxycanus was himself taken or
slain; upon this all the other towns sub-
mitted without resistance. In the adjacent
high-lands, a chief, called Sambus, whose
territory is now known as Sindc, fled from
his capital (according to Arrian) at the ap-
proach of the invader ; who took possession
of his elephants and treasure, and proceeded
to capture a town which ventured to oppose
him, at the instigation of some Brahmins,
whom he slew. The same influence, during
Alexander's absence, had been exerted in
the court of Musicanus, and he revolted, in
an evil hour, for himself and his country :
Being taken prisoner he was crucified
with the leading Brahmins, and the chief
towns razed to the ground, or subjected to
the stern surveillance of foreign garrisons.
The submission of the king of Pattala,
named or entitled Moeris, whose rule ex-
tended over the J>elta of the Indus, com-
pleted Alexander's command of that river.
At Pattala, (thought to be now represented
cither by Tatta or Allore,) he immediately
prepared to fortify a citadel, form a harbour,
and build docks sufficient for a large fleet,
and likewise to dig wells in the neighbouring
districts, where there was great scarcity of
water, to render the country habitable, and
suitable for the passage of troops or tra-
vellers. According to a modern writer,
(Droysen,) Alexander's object in so doing
was nothing less than to facilitate the com-
munication between Pattala and the east of
India, and to open it for caravans from the
countries on the Ganges and from the Dec-
can; but even supposing him to have obtained
sufficient geographical knowledge for the
formation of this plan, he had no present
means of executing it, and must have con-
tented himself meanwhile in surveying the
mouths and delta of the Indus, and taking
measures for the establishment of com-
mercial intercourse with the West. With a
squadron of fast sailing galleys he prepared
to explore the western branch of the river
to the sea ; but the voyage proved disastrous,
the native pilots brought from Pattala made
their escape, and on the second day a
violent gale meeting a rapid current of the
Indus, caused a swell in which most of the
galleys were severely injured and many
went to pieces. While the shipwrights were
engaged in repairing this misfortune a few
light troops were sent up the coimtry in
search of pilots, who being obtained, con-

ducted Alexander safely almost to the mouth,
when the wind blew so hard from the sea,
that he took refuge in a canal [nullah) pointed
out by them. Here the Macedonians, first
beheld the phenomenon called the " Bore,"
and witnessed with extreme consternation
the sudden rush of a vast volume of water
from the ocean up the river-channel, with
such violence as to shatter the galleys not
previously firmly imbedded in the mud.
After again refitting, the fleet was moored
at an island named Cilluta, but Alexander,
with the best sailors, proceeded to another
isle, which lay beyond in the ocean. Here
he offered sacrifices to various deities ; then,
putting out in the open sea, to satisfy him-
self that no land lay within view to the
southward, he celebrated different rites in
honour of the sea-god Neptune, whose pro-
per realm he had now entered. The victims,
and the golden vessels in which the libations
had been offered, having been thrown into
the deep, he rejoined the squadron, and re-
turned by the same arm of the Indus to
Pattala.

The navigation of the rivers had employed
about nine months ; and nearly four appear
to have been spent in and near Pattala. It
was toward the end of August 325 b.c.,*
wlren the preparations were completed for
the departure of the fleet and army from
the Indus ; the former, under Nearchus the
Cretan, being destined to undertake a voy-
age of discovery to the Persian Gulf; the
latter, under Alexander, to march along the
coast — an enterprise of little less danger, in
which, according to tradition, the armies of
Semiramis and Cyrus had perished almost
to a man. Of the real difficulties of the
route Alexander had probably but a vague
conception, but he was incited to encounter
them, by a desire to provide for the exigen-
cies of the fleet, and to explore and consoli-
date a portion of the empire which he had
hitherto at most but nominally subjected.
The force of either armament is nbt re-
corded. On invading India it would ap-
pear the army had consisted of 120,000
men, and while there had received rein-
forcements ; allowing therefore for the
numbers lost or left behind in garrisons
and colonies, and for the division previously
sent from Pattala under Craterus, (through
Arachosia to Carmania,) probably, at least

* Dr. Vincent in his Voyage of Nearchus, vol.
i. p. 180, fixes tlie time of departure at a year
earlier, but 1 have preferred following Thirlwall's
reading or rather correction of Arrian's chronology.

HOMEWARD ROUTES OF ALEXANDER AND NEARCHUS.

50,000 remained under the immediate com-
mand of the king. Respecting the squadron
under Nearchus, we have no other guide
than the list of the tliirty-three galleys be-
fore referred to as equipped on the Hydas-
pes ; many of these were fitted cut by in-
dividuals at their own cost, for it would
appear that at that period the finances of
their leader were at a very low ebb, pro-
bably owing to the unbounded munificence
with which he lavished upon his friends
what he had acquired by the sword. Some
weeks had yet to elapse before the trade-
winds would set in from the north-east, and
so become favourable to the voyage. The
departure of the army was not however de-
layed on this account, and Alexander set
out on his return to the West, leaving the
admiral and fleet to follow at leisure. His
route need be here but briefly noticed.
Crossing the chain of mountains which
descends west of the Indus from the Paro-
pamisus to the sea, he entered a region sur-
rounded on three sides by lofty ranges, tra-
versed by a river called the Arubius, [Foor-
allee or river of Somneany ,) which separated
the territory of two independent tribes — the
Arabitae and Oritaj, the former of whom
fled to the adjacent desert, but the latter,
who were more civilised and their lands
better cultivated, ofifered a formidable resist-
ance, fighting desperately with poisoned
arrows. Their country was however overrun
by the cavalry ; and, in what seems to have
been the largest of the villages in which
they lived, named Rambacia, Alexander
planted a colony. Thence advancing
through a difficult pass in the western
naoun tains, he arrived at about the begin-
ning of October in the wild barren region
of Gedrosia, the southern Mekran ; the
whole coast of which as far as Cape Jask,
is called by the Greeks, the land of the
Ichthyophagi or Fish-eaters. The heat,
though beginning to subside, was still ex-
cessive ; the troops generally moved during
the night, but often at daybreak were
obliged to prolong their weary inarch
under a burning sun, until they should
reach the next watering-place. Yet their
road seems to have seldom diverged more
than two or three days' journey from the sea
— being frequently within sight of it — with-
out crossing any part of the Great Sandy
Desert, bounded by the mountains of
southern Mekran ; except perhaps for a
short distance near the confines of Gedrosia
and Carman ia (Kerman). In the latter

fruitful* and well-watered province, Alex-
ander was soon after his arrival joined by
Craterus and his division, and all anxiety
respecting Nearchus was subsequently dis-
pelled by tidings that the admiral had
landed on the coast within five days' march
of the camp. He had been compelled by
the liostility of the natives at Pattala, to
start before the proper season had arrived ;
and, though he waited four-aud-twenty days
on the Arabite coast, three of his vessels
were afterwards lost in the adverse monsoon.
On the coast of the Oritief he met Leouuatus,
who had been left in Rambacia to furnish
him with a ^en days' supply of corn, and
who had been meanwhile engaged in a
sharp conflict with the natives. Nearchus
does not appear to have lighted on any of
the magazines stored at various points by
Alexander for his use ; but, after manifold
hardships and perils from the dangers of
an unknown sea, the barrenness of the
coast, the hostility of the people, and the
despondency of his own crews, he at length
with the aid of a Gedrosian pilot reached
the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and
eventually landed near the mouth of the
river Anamis {Ibrahim), not far to the west
of the island of Ormuz. These happy events
were celebrated by a solemn festival and
triumphal procession — enlivened, as usual,
by gymnastic games, musical and poetical
contests, which probably gave rise to the
idea of the march through Carmania having
been one continued Bacchanalian revel.
The king urged Nearchus to allow some
other officer to conduct the fleet to the
mouth of the Tigris and not expose himself
to further danger and fatigue ; but he would
not consent to let another complete his glo-
rious expedition, and rejoined the squadron
with orders to meet Alexander at Susa. As
it was winter the main body of the army
proceeded thither along the Persian Gulf
where the climate was mild, and Alexander
with some light troops and cavalry took the
upper road through Persepolis. At Susa
we take leave of this great man ; his career
so far as India was concerned was quite
ended, indeed life itself was fast ebbing
away. In the spring of 323 B.C., in the
second year after his return to Babylon,
while planning a fresh capital for his Asiatic
empire, he caught a fever in the Mesopo-
tamian marshes, and this disorder being in-
creased by one of the drinking matches

• Strabo says the grapes hung in clusters three
feet long. f See note to page 27.

DEATH OF ALEXANDER, b.c 323.— STATE OF THE HINDOOS.

which disgraced his court, abruptly termi-
nated au eventful career at thirty-two years
of age, the solace of his last days being to
hear Nearchus relate "the story of his
voyage, and all that was most observa-
ble with respect to the ocean."* The long
and sanguinary contests which ensued
among his generals, — commencing while his
body lay uuembalmed and ending not until
the majority of those disputants themselves,
as well as all of his kin, (including his half-
brother and successor Arridasus, his wives
Statira and Roxana, his posthumous son
Alexander, and his beloved though wicked
and intriguing mother Olympias,) had fallen
victims to the treacherous plots formed by
the majority of them against each other —
have no place in these pages. The history
and triumphs of Alexander have been nar-
rated at some length, for the sake of show-
ing the manner in which he was led on,
first by the pursuit of Darius, and after-
wards of Bessus, to Bactria and to the
verge of India. His progress is no mere
matter of antiquarian rcsearch,t but exer-
cises an important bearing on the political
question of the present time, respecting the
possible advance of an European army
through central Asia to the Indus, or via
Syria, the Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf,
to the shores of the Indian Ocean; a sub-
ject which will be discussed when examining
the motives of the British incursions into
Afghanistan, in 1839-40.

In the history of the civilized world, the
epoch of Alexander would ever be memora-
ble were it only for his exploits in India,

• Langhorne's Translation of Plutarch's Life of
Alexander, p. 218.

t It may be liere well to observe, that in the fore-
going brief sketch of Alexander's march, written for
general readers, no attempt has been made to enter
upon the discussion of the disputed localities at
which he conquered or founded cities. One such
point would involve as much space as can here be
devoted to the whole march — at least, if the varying
opinions of the several authorities ancient and
modern, were to be fairly and fully stated. I have,
therefore (with some slight exceptions), merely given
the probable sites, leaving the reader to prosecute
further inquiries in the pages of the oriental scholars
already repeatedly named. It is greatly to be re-
gretted that the works of none of the primary his-
torians have descended to us, save some fragments
preserved by their .successors. Of these last, Arrian,
who wrote in tlie early part of the second century
B.C., is recognized as the most trustworthy, though
his bald outline contrasts forcibly with the more
highly-coloured pictures of Qumtus Curtius, who
8cem« to have followed Alexander's campaigns with
much diligence. Strabo also is a most valuable
authority on this as on other geographical questions.

since by them this great country was first
placed as it were within reach, and some
firm ground afforded to European geogra-
phers whereon to set foot in future investi-
gations. The Greek historians though often
contradictory, and censurable in many re-
spects, have yet recorded much valuable
information respecting the Indians (as they /
term the Hindoos), the accuracy of which is '
attested by the ancient records revealed to
us by the labours of oriental students, and
further by the striking resemblance which
their descriptions bear, even after the lapse
of two thousand years, to the existing cha-
racteristics of the inhabitants of the coun-
tries then visited. Thus Arrian, whose
account of Ancient India is unquestionably
the most to be relied on of any now extant,
notices among other points the slender
form of the Hindoos, the classes or sects
into which they were divided, and the pro-
hibition of intermarriage, widow burning,^
perpetuation of trades in families, vegetable
diet, faces streaked with colours, men weary-
ing earrings, veils covering the head and
shoulders, parti-coloured shoes, umbrellas
carried only over principal personages, cot-
ton manufactures of great fineness and
whiteness, two-handed swords, and other
matters. The people appear to have been
extraordinarily numerous, and to have made
considerable progress in the arts of civilised
life. Their bravery was strikingly manifest ;
and it is remarkable, that notwithstanding
the numbers recorded as having fallen in
their engagement with Alexander, arc as
usual incredibly greater on their side than

Yet the loss of the writings of Bseton or Biton the
authorised recorder of the marches, is irreparable,
(especially when we consider the importance attached
by Alexander to accurate geographical information)
as also those of the first Ptolemy, and of Apol-
lodorus the famed historian of Bactria. No conclu-
sive opinion can be formed regarding the knowledge
possessed by the Hindoos of this invasion, until we
are better acquainted with the records still stored up
and hidden from us in various places. Thus, the
literary treasures of the libraries of Patau (a city in
llajpootana) of Jessulmer (a town north-west ot
Joudpore) Cambay, and the Thibetian monasteries
remain to be explored, as also many other valuable
MS. collections, including those of the travelling
Jain and Boodhist bishops. According to Tod and
other writers, Alexander is known in India under
the name of Escander Dhulcarnein (two-horned), in
allusion to his dominions in what they considered
the eastern and western extremities of the earth.
The rajahs of Chittoor are also said to boast of de-
scent from the sovereign termed Porus who opposed
the Macedonian conqueror.

X In the country of Taxiles, but only however as
an exceptional instance.

INTERCOURSE BETWEEN SELEUCUS AND CHANDRA GUPTA. 37

his ; yet he lost a larger proportion of troops
in battle with tliem than had previously
fallen in the Persian war. The office of the
husbandman was invariably held sacred
among the Hindoos, he was never dis-
turbed in his labours, and to root up or
wilfully injure growing crops was a breach
of a recognised natural law no native prince
would have ventured to commit. On the
whole the impression of the Indian charac-
ter left on the mind of the Greeks was de-
cidedly favourable; the people were described
as sober, moderate, peaceable, singularly
truthful, averse to slavery in any form, and
attached to liberal municipal institutions.

The productions of India had by tedious
routes (which it will be necessary to point
out in a subsequent section, when depicting
the present state of their commerce), long
found a ready market in Europe. The de-
sire for them now increased tenfold. The
foresight of Alexander was fully vindicated
by the rapidity with which the Egyptian
Alexandria began, under the first Ptolemy,
to receive and pour forth its full tide of
wealth; and Babylon also became a great
emporium. His characteristic policy* in
freeing the Euphrates and Tigris from the
physical impediments to navigation placed
by a weak restrictive government, shattered
the fetters which had long bound the enter-
prising spirit of trade in these countries,
and enabled it to find vent in the passage
opened up with India, both by sea and land.

The cities or military stations placed
near the Indus soon languished, for the
Europeans left there by the king, on hear-
ing of his death hastened to escape from
what they had from the first considered no
better than hopeless exile. But commerce
had received a powerful stimulus, and cotton
and silk manufactures, ivory, gems richly
set, costly gums, pepper and cinnamon,
dyes and drugs, were poured rapidly into
Europe in return for the precious metals,t
which entered India in coins of many forms
(now vainly sought for by antiquarians), and
were there melted down to be shaped into
idols, or to deck unhallowed shrines, and be
thus stored up to an incalculable extent, to
gorge eventually the avarice of the ruthless
Mussulmans of a later age.

• Alexander's conquests were intended, as has
been repeatedly stated, as a means of carrying out
his vast commercial schemes. He hoped out of war
to bring peace ; and one of his favourite plans to
promote this ultimate object was, the founding of
several new cities in Asia and in Europe, the former
to be peopled with Europeans, and the latter with
a

Thk Greek to the Mohammedan Inva-
sions. — The king of the Prasii (as the
Greeks termed the Prachi or East) at the
time of Alexander's campaign in the Pun-
jaub, was the last Nanda, who, as has been
shown, both Greek and Hindoo writers agree
in describing as of low birth. He was slain
by his successor, Chandra Gupta, or San-
dracottus, about 310, b.c, who appears to
have spent a short time when a youth in the
Macedonian camp, whence he fled to avoid
the wrath of Alexander, which he had roused
in some unexplained manner. Chandra
Gupta was king when Seleucus, to whom
in the division of power Syria and the
Bactrian and Indian satrapries had fallen,
proceeded to claim the sovereignty, though
at first under the name of the governorship of
these territories. He marched in person to
reduce the local authorities to obedience,
and flushed with victory proceeded at the
head of a considerable force to India, b.c.
303. The brief and conflicting accounts of
his progress which have descended to us,
indicate that he advanced even to the
Ganges, but was deterred from warlike pro-
ceedings, either by the necessity of turning
back with his strength unimpaired to defend
another portion of his dominions attacked
by Antigonus, or else by the formidable
array drawn out against him by Chandra
Gupta, who had previously greatly extended
and consolidated his kingdom. The result
appears to have been that Seleucus made
over to the Hindoo sovereign, not only all the
country conquered by Alexander eastward
of the Indus, but also that to the westward
as far as the river Arabius ; while Chandra
Gupta on his part acknowledged this con-
cession by a present of 500 war chariots.
How far Porus and Taxiles, or their succes-
sors, were consulted in this proceeding, or
how they acted, is not stated ; but in their
conduct immediately after the king's death,
they showed themselves faithful and much at-
tached to the Greeks. A family connection is
alleged to have been formed between Seleucus
and Chandra Gupta, by the marriage of a
daughter of the former with the latter, (who
being a Soodra might marry as he pleased ;)
and it is certain that friendly intercourse ex-
isted between them, an ambassador named
Asiatics, so that " by intermarriages and exchange of
good offices the inhabitants of those two great con-
tinents might be gradually moulded into a similarity
of sentiments, and become attached to each other
with mutual affection." — (Diod. Sic, lib. xviii., c. 4.)

t Pliny, writing in the first century of the Chris-
tian era, complains that Rome was exhausted by a

RECENTLY DECIPHERED EDICTS OF ASOCA.

Megastheiics liaving been sent to Palibothra,
the capital of the Prasii, where he resided
many years. It is further stated that the
Hindoo monarch had Greek mercenaries in
his service, and placed Greek governors in
some of his provinces ; that during his reigu
the foreigners were much respected, but
afterwards brought general odium upon
their nation throughout Western India by
their treacherous and cruel rapacity. Their
language must have spread and taken root in
the land — for according to Masson, one of our
best authorities on this head, " there is suf-
ficient testimony that the Greek language
was studied and well known by the fashion-
able and higher classes during the first and
second centuries of the Christian Era."
The embassy of Dimachus to the son and
successor of Chandra Gupta (called AUitro-
chidas by the Greek writers), is the last
transaction recorded between Syrian and
Indian monarchs, until the lapse of about
80 years, when Antiochus the Great, after
the close of his war with the revolted pro-
vinces of Bactria and Parthia, entered India,
and made peace with a king named Sophra-
gasenus (supposed to be Asoca), after exact-
ing from him elephants and money.

' The descriptions given by Megasthenes,*
who had the best means of judging correctly
on the subjects of which he wrote, are cal-
culated to convey a high opinion of the
wealth and power of the kingdom generally,
but especially of Palibothra.f Yet, ac-
cording to this writer, India comprised no
less than 118 independent states; but ithis
however he only gives on hearsay, and, sup-
posing the number to be unexaggerated, we
cannot tell how small the territories may have
been which this emmieratioa included.

drain equal to £400,000 per annum, required for the
purchase of luxuries — the produce of India, Seres,
and Arabia ; and Robertson, writing in 1791, says —
" India, from the age of Pliny to the present time,
has been always considered and execrated as a gulf
which swallows up the wealth of every other country,
that flows incessantly towards it, and from which it
never returns." — (^Historical Disquisition, p. 203.)
Since the commencement of the present century, the
golden current has changed its course, and flowed
with increasing volume from Hindoostan to Britain,
not, however, by the channel of commerce merely,
but of compulsory tribute, to an extent and in a
manner which will be subsequently shown.

* Megasthenes wrote many works, of which only
scattered fragments have been preserved. His dis-
position to exaggerate, and undue love of the mar-
vellous, were urged as reasons for this neglect ; but
it is to be doubted whether the critics were always
competent judges of what they rejected. As it is,
enough remains to testify, in connection with exist-

The Soodra successors of Chandra Gupta
certainly exceeded him in power — and in the
hyperbolical language of the Puranas, are
said to have brought the " whole earth under
one umbrella."! Asoca, the greatest of that
line, exercised command over the states
to the north of the Nerbudda river; and
the edicts § graven on columns at remote
points prove not merely the extent of his
dominions but also the civilized character
of his government, since they include orders
for the establishment of hospitals and dis-
pensaries throughout his empire, as well as
for planting trees and digging wells along
the public highways. And this too was
to be done, not only in Asoca's own pro-
vinces, but also in others occupied by " the
faithful," (meaning the Boodhists, of whom
this king was the great patron), "even
as far as Tambapanni ; (Taprobane, or
Ceylon,)" and "moreover within the do-
minions of Antiochus the Greek [Antiochia
Yona Raja] of which Autiochus's generals
are the rulers." An edict found on a rock,
and from its shattered state only partially
legible, expresses exultation at the ex-
tension of the doctrines of Asoca (?)
Pryadarsi (especially with regard to sparing
the life of animals, which however is not a
Boodhist tenet) in foreign countries; and
contains a fragment translated thus : — ■
" and the Greek king besides, by whom the
chapta (?) kings Turamayo, Gongakena, and
Maga."|| Turamayo was considered by the
late Mr. James Prinsep to denote Ptolemy
Philadelphus, who had a brother named
Magas, married to a daughter of Antiochus
I., which would establish that the Antiochus
referred to in the edict previously quoted,
was either the first or the second of that

ing Hindoo records, ruins, and inscriptions, that the
writer was a keen observer, and a valuable witness,
although occasionally led into the narration of
fables, or at least gross exaggerations.

+ Palibothra was described by Megasthenes as
being eight miles long, and one and-a-half broad,
defended by a deep ditch, and a high rampart, with
570 towers and 64 gates. Its site is placed by Ren-
nell at Patna, by D'Anville at Allahabad, and by
Wilford at Raj-mehal.

X Wilson's Hindoo Theatre, vol. iii., p. 14.

§ Similar mandates are inscribed on a rock on
Girnar, a mountain in Guzerat; and on a rock at
Uhauli in Cuttack on the opposite side of India.
They were deciphered by Mr. Prinsep, and are writ-
ten in Pali, the dialect in which the sacred books
of the Boodhists are composed.

II At Kapur di Ghari, the entire edict exists in
the Arian language, the word translated by Prinsep
" Chapta" is there " chatare,"/o«r, Gongakena reads
Antakana and Maga, Maka. — Masson.

INTERCOURSE BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA— FIFTH CENTURY. 39

name ; that is, either the son or grandson
of Seleucus. It is remarkable that Asoca,
in his youth, was governor of Oojein or
Malwa, which must tlierefore have been
possessed by his father. The reigning
family was succeeded by three other Soodra
dynasties, the last of which, the Andras,
acceded to power about the beginning of
our era: and, according to two Puranas,
terminated in Pulimat or Pulomarchish,
A.D. 436. By a curious coincidence, the
Chinese annals* translated by De Guignes,
notice in a.d. 408, the amval of ambassa-
dors from the Indian prince, Yue-gnai, King
of Kia-pi-li, evidently Capili (the birth-place
of Boodha or, according to Colonel Sykes,
the seventh Boodha, Sakya-muni), which
the Chinese have put for all Magadha.
Yue-gnai again bears some resemblance to
Yaj-nasri, or Yajna, the king actually on
the throne of the Andras at the period re-
ferred to. A confused enumeration of
dynasties succeed, with little attempt at
historical order, from which a foreign in-
vasion, followed by a long period of disorder,
has been inferred, though perhaps not on
sufficient grounds. At length, after an
interval of several centuries, Magadha is
spoken of as subject to the Gupta kings of
Canouj, and from that period is no more
distinctly noticed; but its fame has been
preserved, from its having been, as before
mentioned, the birth-place of Boodha, and
from its language (Magadhi, or Pali) being

• Chi-fa-Hian, a Chinese Boodhist priest, visited
India at the beginning of the fifth century, on a pil-
grimage to the chief seats of the religion of Boodha,
where he spent six years. His travels have been
translated from the Chinese by M. Remusat. The
Boodhistical religion, according to his account, had
then suflered a serious and irreparable decline at
Mathura and in the eastern districts of Hindoostan ;
and the Brahminical faith was in the ascendant.
Temples and towers of past ages still existed, but
the population had disappeared, and the country was
in many such places a wilderness. Rajagriha, the
abode of Jarasaudha, the first of the Magadha kings,
and the ancient capital, then exhibited the ruins of
a large city, of which traces were still visible to Dr.
Buchanan, in 1807-1814. The palace of Asoca, or
A-yu, at Patali-pootra, or ICusuma-pura, built of stone,
was entire when seen by Fa-Hian, and presented
such superior specimens of sculpture and engraving,
that they were ascribed to superhuman architects —
genii, who laboured for the patron of Fo. The
city of Ni-li, built in the neighbourhood by Asoca,
was embellished by a handsome column, surmounted
by a lion. Other columns, with lion capitals, were
seen in different places. Central India is spoken of
as under the government of one king ; the cities and
towns large, the people rich, charitable, and just in
their actions, but given to discussion. In the month
of May (the birth-day of Sakya-muni) four-wheeled

employed in the writings of that extensively
diffused religion, as well as in those of the
Jains. The claim of universal monarchy in
India, is found advanced in records and
inscriptions, not only by princes of the
Magadha dynasty, but also by those of
Cashmere, of Delhi, Canouj, Bengal, Malwa,
Guzerat, and other places ; but the evidence
cited in favour of their respective claims, is
pretty generally deemed insufficient, and is
frequently contradictory. To attempt re-
ducing the histories of these kingdoms and
their pretensions into form, would be a
long and tedious task; which, even if suc-
cessfully accomplished, could have little
interest for the general reader, for at best,
it would be but like arranging the scattered
fragments of a child's puzzle, of which the
chief pieces are wanting. At a future but
perhaps not distant day, the patient and able
research already so successfully directed to
the study of oriental literature, may enable
us to decide upon many points now involved
in numberless difficulties and to draw a
correct picture of India, without the dan-
ger, at present inevitable, of giving undue
prominence to events of minor interest,
and omitting altogether many important
features. Before passing entirely from the
subject of the condition of India between
the time of Alexander and the Mohammedan
era, it is, however, necessary to add a few
remarks on the chief kingdoms of Hindoostan
and the Deccan, so as to afford the reader

cars were drawn about the streets ; they had each
a building of five stages which looked like a tower,
were ornamented with gold, silver, coloured glass,
and embroidery, and hung with carpets and white
felt, adorned with painted figures of the celestial
divinities ; on the summits were a figure of Boodha.
This was a season of great festivity, the streets were
filled with people who flocked in from the neigh-
bouring country; there were theatrical representa-
tions, feats of the athletoe, concerts of music and
nightly illuminations ; hospitals were opened for the
sick, cripples, and orphans, who were solaced and
relieved by the representatives of the different
chiefs. At Magadha the priest sat himself down in
a monastery for three years to study the sacred lan-
guage and copy the MSS. Bengal then carried on
extensive maritime traffic with the south-west regions
and other places. Fa Hian took a passage in a large
trading ship to Ceylon, which he reached (during tlie
north-west rnonsoon) in fourteen days; thence he
sailed for Java in a Hindoo ship, with 200 people,
provisioned for ninety days. Altogether the travels
of this intelligent Chinese abound in curious infor-
mation ; they corroborate the accounts of cities, and
of the manners and customs of their inhabitants,
given by native writers, and prove the Hindoos were
then merchants, and even navigators on a consider-
able scale.— (Abstracted horn, notes on Ancient India.
By Colonel Sykes. London, 1841 ; p. 6 to 76.)

KINGDOMS OF INDIA DURING THE DARK AGES.

some sliglit clue to their relative impor-
tance, antiquity, and position.*

That of Bengal is mentioned in the
Maha Bharat, and the Ayeen Akbery con-
tinues the succession through five dynasties
up to the Mohammedan conquest. These
lists are to some extent supported by the
inscriptions found in various places, which
among other matters refer to a series of
princes with names ending in Pala, who
reigned apparently from the ninth to the
latter part of the eleventh century, and are
asserted to have ruled all India from the
Himalaya to Cape Comoriu, and from the
Brahmapootra to and even beyond the
Indus. They are also asserted to have sub-
dued Tibet. The dynasty of Pala was suc-
ceeded by one whose names ended in Sena,
and this last was subverted by the Moham-
medans about A.D. 1203.

The kingdom of Malwa is far less ancient
than those already mentioned. Its famous
monarch, Vicramaditya, is the Haroun al
Raschid of Hindoo tales, of which a great
number have been collated by the inde-
fatigable zeal of Colonel WiHbrd. He is
said to have passed the early part of his life
among holy men in austere seclusion, and
even when arrived at regal power, to have
eschewed all pomp, using utensils of earth
rather than of gold, and sleeping on a mat
instead of a bed. There is reason to believe
that this hero of romance was really a pow-
erful monarch and conqueror, who ruled a
civilised and prosperous country, extended his
sway over the Deccan and even over Cabool,
and was a distinguished patron of literature.
Oojeiu became populous on account of the
great image of Maha-Cali, or Time, which
he erected there ; but he himself worshipped
only one invisible God. He was slain, 56 b.c .,
in old age, in battle with Salivahana, aprinceof
the Deccan, who will be subsequently referred
to; and his death formed the commencement
of an era, which is still current among the

• The authorities mainly relied on being the valu-
able summary contained in Elphinstone's India, vol. i.,
pp. 388 to 425 ; the Ayeen Akbery ; Brigg's transla-
tion of Ferishta ; Todd's Rajast'han ; and Grant
Duff's History of the Mahrattas.

■j- Vincent's translation of the PeripUs, p. 111.

X Malcolm's Persia, vol. i., p. 112. — " 'fhe coun-
tries beyond the Oxus, as far as Ferghana, all those
to the Indus, some provinces of India, and the finest
districts of Arabia, acknowledged the sway of the
mighty monarch of Persia." Sir John adds that
the emperors of China and India sent presents, the
description of which reads more like a chapter from
the Arabian Nights than the page of even a Persian
historian. Among the gifts of the first potentate

countries northward of the Nerbudda. It
is of Vicramaditya that the traditions of uni-
versal empire are most common in India. A
long period of anarchy ensued in Malwa
upon this abrupt conclusion of his able gov-
ernment. The next epoch is that of the re-
nowned Rajah Bhoja; whose reign of forty
years terminated about the end of the
eleventh century. His grandson was taken
prisoner, and his country conquered by the
Rajah of Guzerat ; but Malwa soon reco-
vered its independence, which was finally
destroyed by the Mohammedans, a.d. 1231.
In Guzerat, from its having been the re-
sidence of Crishna, and other circumstances,
an early principality would appear to have
existed ; and the whole is spoken of as un-
der one dominion, by a Greek writer of the
second century.f Colonel Tod mentions
another principality, founded at Ballabi, in
the peninsula of Guzerat, in the middle of the
second century, b.c, by an emigrant of the
Solar race, which reigned in Oude. This
dynasty was expelled in 524, by an army of
barbarians, variously conjectured to have
been Parthians, Persians of the Sassanian
dynasty, and Indo-Bactrians. The second
supposition is probably correct, as Sir John
Malcolm asserts on the authority of various
Persian writers, that Nousheerwan, who.
reigned at or about this period, carried his
victorious arms into India ; but that the tri-
bute, which was the fruit of his conquest,
was after his death no longer paid to his
degenerate son and successor. { Another
Rajpoot tribe, called the Chauras, succeeded
to the rule of Guzerat, and finally estab-
lished their capital in a.d. 746, at Anhal-
wara, now Pattan. Failing Chaura, in a.d.
931, through the death of the last rajah
without male issue, the succession devolved
on his son-in-law, a prince of the Rajpoot
tribe of Salonka ; whose family were chiefs
of Callian, in the Deccan, above the Ghauts.
The kingdom was absorbed by the Mussul-

was the image of a panther, the body covered with
pearls, and the eyes formed of rubies ; a wonderful
robe, the border of which was of celestial blue, while
the centre was occupied by a representation of the
king himself, clothed in his royal robes, and sur-
rounded by his attendants ; and lastly, enclosed in
the same golden box as the robe was a female
figure, the beauty of the face veiled by long tresses,
and " overpowering as a flash of day during a dark
night." The Indian oflferings were a thousand
pounds' weight of aloe-wood, a vase filled with pearls,
and formed of one precious stone, on which was
engraven the figures of a maiden seven hands in
height, and of a lion ; and a carpet made of a ser-
pent's skin, delicately fine and exguisilely tinted.

CANOUJ, CASHMERE, DELHI, BENAKES, SINDE, THE PUNJAUB. 41

man conquests of 1297. Canovj, in early
times, was called Panchala, and seems to
have been a long but narrow territory, ex-
tending on the east of Nepaul (which it in-
cluded) ; and on the west, along the Chum-
bul and Bunnass as far as Ajmeer. Notwith-
standing the notice it has attracted as one
of the most ancient, wealthy, and magnifi-
cent places in India, its early history is very
little known.* Its wars with the neighbour-
ing state of Delhi contributed to accelerate
the ruin of Hindoo independence ; and it
was conquered by the Mussulmans in 1193.
Cashmere is asserted, by its historians, to have
existed 2,600 years b.c. Its last monarch
was subdued by Mahmood, a.d. 1015. Its an-
nals, as before stated, have been written care-
fully and at length ; and placed within reach
of the British public by Professor Wilson.

Delhi is first named in the Maha Bharat;
it was governed by a Rajpoot line, whose
last prince was dethroned, a.d. 1050, by an
ancestor of the Prithwi Rajah, conquered
by the Mussulmans, a.d. 1192.

The earliest mention of Benares is found
in the same poem ; and its independence
terminated contemporaneously with that of
Delhi. Mithili existed in Rama's time, and
was the capital of his father-in-law, Sita.
It was famous for a school of law, and gave
its name to one of the chief Indian lan-
guages. Gour, named in the Maha Bharat,
seems to have lasted up to about a.d. 1231.
Sinde, referred to in the same record, was
independent in the time of Alexander (325
B.C.); and was finally conquered by the Mo-
hammedans. Mewar, Jessulmer, and Jeipur,
founded respectively in a.d. 720, 731, and
967, still exist as distinct states. Ajmeer is
traced back by Tod, for seven generations
I before a.d. 695 ; it fell at the same time as
I Delhi. The Puvjaub can hardly be spoken
' of as a distinct kingdom, since it appears to
i have been generally broken up into various
small states ; but from a very remote time
j a great city is thought to have existed near
Lahore,t though under a different name.

Our insight into the history of the Deccan
commences, for the most part, at a much
later date than that of Hindoostan. The
five distinct languages — Tamul, Canarese,
Telugn, Mahratta, and Urya, are considered
to denote an equal number of early na-
tional divisions, the first-mentioned indicating

• The Pala dynasty at Canouj are thought to have
displaced as paramount rulers in India, the Gupta
dynasty of I'rayaga and Delhi. Prayaga or Allaha-
bad, the ancient Gupta capital, contains a column

the most ancient, viz., the country of Dravira,
which occupied the extreme south of the
peninsula ; the earliest colonists from Hin-
doostan having traversed the bleak plateaux
of the upper Deccan, and settled down on the
fruitful plains of the Carnatic and Tanjore.
The kingdom of Pandya was formed about
the fifth century. In the time of the " Pe-
riplus" it comprehended a part of the
Malabar coast ; but it was usually oounded
by the Ghauts to the westward, and occupied
only the territory now known as the dis-
tricts of Madura and Tinivelly. The seat of
government was at Madura, in Ptolemy's
time, and remained there until about a cen-
tury ago. The last prince was conquered by
the nabob of Arcot, in 1736. The neighbour-
ing kingdom of Chola was at one time of
considerable extent, its princes having, it is
supposed, about the middle of the eighth
century, possessed large portions of Carnata
and Telingana. Their sway was greatly
diminished in the twelfth century, being re-
duced to the limits of the Dravira country.
Chola lost its separate existence about the
end of the seventeenth century. The capital
was, for the most part, at Conjeveram, west
of Madras. Chera comprehended Travan-
core, part of Malabar, and Coimbatore, and
seems to have existed about the commeuce-
mencement of our era. It was subverted in
the tenth century, and its lands portioned
among the surrounding states.

Kerala included Malabar and Carnara.
About the first or second century of the
Christian era a colony of Brahmins from
Hindoostan settled here, divided the country
into sixty-four districts, and governed it by
means of a general assembly of their cast ;
renting allotments to men of the inferior
classes. The executive government was
held by a Brahmin elected every three years,
and assisted by a council of four of the same
tribe ; but in the course of time, a chief of
the military class was appointed. The
northern division appears to have been
ruled by a dynasty of its own till the twelfth
century, when it was overturned by the Be-
lala rajahs; and subsequently became sub-
ject to the rajahs of Vijayanagar.

The Concan, in early times, was a wild
forest tract (as great part of it still remains),
thinly inhabited by Mahrattas.

Carnata seems to have been originally

with an inscription of Samadras Gupta's, which has
been translated by Mr. Prinsep.

t When the Pala princes held Canouj, members
of the family ruled at Lahore, and thence extended

43 ANCIENT DIVISIONS OF THE DECCAN, CARNATA, ORISSA, &c.

divided between the Pandya and Chera
princes and those of Carnara (the northern
half of Kerala). It was afterwards par-
titioned among many petty princes, until
the middle of the 11th century, when one
considerable dynasty arose — the family of
Belala — who were, or pretended to be, Raj-
poots* of the Yadoo branch, and whose
power at one time extended over the whole
of Carnata, together with Malabar, the
Taniul country, and part of Telingana.
They were subverted by the Mussulmans
about A.D. 1310. ■ The eastern part of Te-
lingana appears to have been, from the be-
ginning of the ninth to nearly the end of the
eleventh century, in the hands of an obscure
dynasty known by the name of Yadava. A
Rajpoot family of the Chalukya tribe reigned
at Callian, on the borders of Carnata and
Maharashta. They are traced by inscrip-
tions, from the tenth to the end of the twelfth
century ; are supposed to have possessed the
whole of Maharashta to the Nerbudda,t
and even to have been superior lords of the
west of Telingana.J The last king was
deposed by his minister, who was in turn
assassinated by some fanatics of the Lingayct
sect, which was then rising into notice, and
the kingdom fell into the hands of the Ya-
doos of Deogiri (Doulatabad). Another
branch of the Clialukya tribe ruled over
Calinga, the eastern portion of Telingana,
which extends along the sea from Dravira
to Orissa. The dynasty perhaps began
about the tenth century, and certainly lasted
through the whole of the twelfth and thir-
teenth ; it was greatly reduced by the Gana-
pati kings of Andra, and finally subverted
by the rajahs of Cuttack.

Andra is the name of all the inland part
of the Telingana country, the capital being
at Varangul, about eighty miles north-east
of Hyderabad. Its kings, Vicrama and Sali-
valiana, alleged to have been connected with
the Andra race in Magadha, are among
the earliest mentioned. After them, ac-
cording to local records, the Chola rajahs
succeeded ; then a race called Yavans,§ who
reigned from 515, a.d., till 953 ; next came
the family of Ganapati, who attained great

their sway to Cabool, where they remained up to the
time of Sultan Mahmood, the then rajah being named
Jaya Pala. — Masson.

* " Some of the Hindoos assert that the tribes of
Brahmin and Kshelry [Cshatriya] existed from time
immemorial, but that the Rajpoots are a modern
tribe, only known since the beginning of the Kulyoog
fCali Yuga, a.m. 3215.] The rajahs, not satisfied
with their married wives, had frequently children by

power about the end of the thirteenth cen-
tury, and are even afiftrmed to have possessed
the whole of the peninsula south of the
Godavery. In 1332 the capital was taken
by a Mohammedan army from Delhi, and
the state merged at length in the Mussul-
man kingdom of Goleonda.

The history of Orissa, like all others in
the Deccan, begins with princes mentioned
in the Maha Bharat, describes in a very eon-
fused manner the successive occupation of
the country by Vicramaditya and Sali-
vahana, and the repeated invasions of Ya-
vans from Delhi, from a country called Babul
(supposed to mean Persia), from Cashmere
and from Sinde, between the sixth century
before, and the fourth after, Christ. The
last invasion was from the sea, and in it the
Yavans were successful, and kept possession
of Orissa for 146 years, being expelled, a.d.
473, by Yayati Kesari. This point is thought
to be the first established, for the traditions
regardiug the Yavans cannot be satisfactorily
explained. The natives suppose them to
have been Mussulmans, but the first Arab
invasion was not till the seventh century
after Christ. Others apply the story to
Seleucus, or to the Bactrian Greeks; while
Masson suggests the possibility of the people
of Yava or Java being meant. The Kesari
family lasted till a.d. 1131, when their
capital was taken by a prince of the house
of Ganga Vansa ; his heirs were supplanted
by a Rajpoot dynasty, of the Sun or Surya
race. The government having fallen into
confusion about 1550, was seized on by a
Telingu cliief, and ultimately annexed to the
Mogul empire by Akber, in 1578. The
greatest internal prosperity and improve-
ment seems to have been enjoyed towards
the end of the twelfth century ; but during
several years before and after that date, the
people of Orissa claim to have made exten-
sive conquests, especially to the south. In
the middle of the fifteenth century the gov-
ernment of Orissa sent armies as far as
Conjeveram, near Madras; and about the
same time their rajah advanced to the neigh-
bourhood of Bidr to assist the Hindoo princes
of those parts against the Mohammedans.

their female slaves, who, although not legitimate
successors to the throne, were styled Rajpoots, or
the children of the rajahs." — (Briggs' I'ranslation
of Ferishta. — Introduction, p. Ixiii.).

t Vide Mr. Walter Elliot's contributions to Jour-
nal of the Royal Asiatic Societt/, vol. iv., p. 1.

t Wilson, Introd. to Mackenzie papers, p. cxxix.

§ The country north of Peshawer was anciently
called Yava, perhaps these Yavans came thence.

ANCIENT STATE OF MAHARASHTA OR MAHRATTA COUNTRY. 43

Maharaslda or the Mahratta country,
though situated on the frontier of the
Deccan, and of great size, if we may judge
from the wide extent over which the lan-
guage bearing that name is spoken, is only
vaguely noticed in early records. After the
legends regarding Rama, whose retreat was
near the source of the Godavery, the first
fact mentioned is the existence of Tagara,
which was frequented by Egyptian mer-
chants 250 years b.c. It is alluded to in
inscriptions, as a celebrated place in the
twelfth century, and is still well known by
name. It is mentioned by the author of
the " Periplus,"* but in such a manner as to
certify little more respecting its site than
that it lay about 100 miles to the eastward
of Paitan, on the Godavery. Grant Duff
supposes it to have been somewhat to the
north-east of the modern town of Bheer.f
It is said to have been a very great city, and
one of the two principal marts of Dachana-
bades, a country so called from Dachan,
which in the " Periplus" is stated to be the
native word for south. The other mart was
namedPlithana.J Tagara, wherever situated,
became the capital of a line of kings of the
Rajpoot family of Silar. The reign of their
most famous monarch, Salivahana, gave rise
to a new era, commencing a.d. 77. He is
stated to have been the son of a potter, and
to have headed an insurrection which over-
turned the existing government (whatever
it might have been), and removed the capital
to Prutesthan or Paitan, on the Godavery.
From this period nothing is known of the
history of Maharashta (except by the in-
scriptions of the petty princes of Callian
and Pernala) till the beginning of the twelfth
century : a family of Yadoos then became
rajahs of Deogiri, and continued to reign
until 1317, when the country, which had been
previously invaded by the Mohammedans
from Delhi, was finally subjugated. About
this time the Mussulman writers begin to
mention the Mahrattas by name ; before
they had been noticed only as inhabitants
of the Deccan. Our information regard-

• The " Periplus [description] of the Erythrean
Sea," is the title of a Greelt work, issued in 1533,
from the printing-press of Frobcn, at Basle. It con-
tains the best account extant of the commerce car-
ried on from the Erythrean or Red Sea and the coast
of Africa, to the East Indies, during the time that
Egypt was a Eoman province. Dr. Vincent, the
learned Dean o'' Westminster, who, in 1800, wrote
an elaborate treatise, in two vols., 4to., to elucidate
a translation of the " Periplus," says — " I have never
been able to discover from what manuscript the
work was first edited;" neither could he ascertain

ing their early attainments so utterly fails
to elucidate the testimony which the famous
cave temples of Ellora and elsewhere, bear to
the capabilities and numbers of the people
by whom such mighty works were planned
and executed, that, notwithstanding the use-
ful labours of their historian (Grant Duff), we
may believe there is yet much to be learned
respecting them, probably a very interesting
portion of their existence as a nation. Re-
cently they have played a pronuneut but deso-
lating and destructive part, which has drawn
from the pen of a modern writer a denunci-
ation of "those southern Goths, the Mah-
rattas." — (Tod's Rajast' han. Introduction.)
Concerning the social condition of the
inhabitants of Hindoostan and the Deccan
during these dark middle ages, we have
certainly not sufficient data on which to
found any general conclusions, except those
which may be deduced from the edicts of
such exemplary monarchs as Asoca — unhap-
pily rare in all countries — and other col-
lateral evidence. Our present information
divides itself into two classes ; and comes
either through the channel of poetry, that
is, of history travestied into fable; or else
through the medium of Brahmin or Bood-
hist priests : it must consequently be well
searched and sifted before it can be relied
on as unbiassed by political motive or sec-
tarian prejudice. But search and sift as
we may, little light is thrown on the condi-
tion of the people, nor probably ever will be,
at least in the sense given to that phrase in
the present era of European and American
civilization. The states noticed in the fore-
going sketch would each one of them afford
matter for a volume, full of wars, usurpa-
tions, change of dynasty, and, above all, ex-
tension of dominion ; all this resting on local
records, and reading on smoothly enough;
but much of it entirely incompatible with
the equally cherished traditions of neigh-
bouring states. The code of Menu is per-
haps an exception to this censure, but the
uncertainty attached to the epoch at which
it was written, and the extent to which its

the name of the author, generally supposed to be
Arrian the historian, but who, in his opinion, must
have lived a century before. There is internal evi-
dence, according to the Dean, that the writer was a
Greek, a merchant of Alexandria, and that he ac-
tually made a voyage on board the fleet from Egypt
as far as the Gulf of Cambay, if not to Ceylon.—
{See Vincent, vol. ii.)

t History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 25.

X Elphinstone conjectures Plithana to be a mis-
take of the Greek copyist for Paithana or Paitan.
The word occurs but once in the " Periplus."

41 EARLY CIVILIZATION, RELIGION AND LAWS OP THE HINDOOS.

institutes were ever observed, greatly im-
pairs its value. The first objection applies
also to the Ramayana and Malia Bharat.

Thus much perhaps may be reasonably
inferred, from the concurrent testimony of
Hindoo and foreign records, of inscriptions,
and much incidental evidence of various
kinds — that, at a period long antecedent to
the Christian era, and while the natives of
Britain were nude, nomadic savages, the
people of India had attained a high position
in arts, science, literature, and commerce,
and lived under the hereditary rule of their
own kings or rajahs ; the evils attendant on
the otherwise irresponsible power of a patri-
archal and despotic ruler being probably
counterbalanced by the respective rights of
the chiefs of the sacred, and of the warrior
casts, but still more by the municipal insti-
tutions which seem to have been general
throughout the country. In many smaller
states the government appears to have been
a sort of oligarchical republic. The manners
and customs of the Hindoos, the influence
of cast, and the changes gradually brought
about by Mussulman and British conquerors,
will, if space permit, be specially though
briefly narrated in another section. Between
the time of Menu and the Mohammedan
epoch, the religious and social habits of the
people had sadly deteriorated. Their belief
in an omnipresent or " all-pervasive" God
had gradually been warped by perverted but
plausible reasoning, into a belief that be-
cause God was in everything, therefore any-
thing might be worshipped, not simply as His
representative, but actually as Himself. Be-
ginning probably with those glorious natural
objects of the Sabsean heresy, the sun, moon,
and stars, they had at length become so de-
graded as to fall down before images of wood
and stone, and had lost sight almost wholly
of their original doctrine of an indivisible
triad, by ignoring Brahma (the creating prin-
ciple) and according to Vishnu (the preserv-
ing) or Saiva (the destroying),* a paramount
place in the pantheon of hero-gods, sacred
animals, and grotesque, or often (to Euro-
pean eyes) immodest figures, which gradually
arose, and swallowed up in the darkness
of heathenism the rays of light which pos-
sibly shone upon the earliest of the Hindoo
race in the patriarchal age. Their religious
observances involved a tedious and almost

• These are mythologically represented as having
wives, namely, Seraswati or Devi, Lakshmi or Bha-
vani, and Parvati or Durga, considered metaphysi-
cally as the active powers^ which develop the prin-
ciple represented by each member of the triad-

impracticable ritual, with abstinence from
many things which in the christian dispen-
sations are treated as harmless — but the
character of Brahmin and also of Boodhist
teaching, generally distinct, was alike in
being, with some great and glaring excep-
tions, merciful and even comparatively moral.

The laws of the Hindoos, especially for
civil judicature, have been eulogized by Sir
W. Jones, Munro, and other authorities,
though severely criticised by Mill, who on
this subject was prejudiced, and iu fact pos-
sessed but a small part of the information
since revealed. The equal partitionment of
property, and the consequent disability of
willing away land or money, has been much
canvassed as to its eSect in preventing the
accumulation or improvement of possessions.
It undoubtedly stimulated the dedication of
large sums to religious, charitable, or public
purposes; to the building of temples, of
' choultries or houses of refreshment for tra-
vellers,' and to the formation of tanks and
canals — most necessary works in a land where
such means, under Providence, can alone
prevent hundreds, nay thousands, not only of
cattle, but of human beings, from perishing
by the maddening pangs of thirst, or in the
more prolonged agonies of hunger, when the
parched earth, gaping in deep chasms, plainly
bids man, if he would be sustained by her
increase, use the energy and ability with
which God has blessed him, to supply as
best he can, the want of kindly dew and
rain, to renew her strength and fertility.

The position of women was decidedly supe-
rior to that of the weaker sex in almost any
other ancient "nation, with regard to the
hereditary laws of property : they were, if
unmarried, to receive portions out of their
brothers' allotments. Menu ordains that
whoever accosts a woman shall do so by the
title of " sister," and that way must be
made for her, even as for the aged, for a
priest, for a prince, or a bridegroom ; and in
his text on the laws of hospitality he enjoins
that " pregnant women, brides and damsels,
shall have food before all the other guests."
The seclusion and ignorance to which females
are now subjected had their origin in the
like Mohammedan custom. Formerly they
were taught to read and write, they were
the ornament and delight of the social circle ;
and historic or traditionary annals abound in
records of their virtuous anJ noble deeds.
Suttee or widow-burning ; infanticide ; the
carrying out of the sick, when deemed past
recovery ; suicide under the same or different

ASTRONOMY, GEOMETRY, ALGEBRA, AND CHRONOLOGY. 45

circumstances, including immolation be-
neath the car of Juggernaut and self-
inflicted tortures are almost entirely inno-
vations which gradually crept in : Jugger-
naut especially — being of quite modern date.

The extent of scientific knowledge acquired
by the Hindoos and the date of its attain-
ment, is a source of endless discussion ; yet
the subject is too important to be wholly
passed over, even in this intermediate stage
of their history.

In astronomy, much merit is assigned them
by Cassini, Bailly, and Playfair, who assert
that a considerable degree of progress
had been made 3,000 years before the
Christian era, as evidenced by observa-
tions still extant. La Place, De Lam-
bre, and others dispute the authenticity
of these observations, but all agree in ad-
mitting a great antiquity. Mr. Bentley, who
has examined the calculations very minutely,
and is one of the most strenuous opponents
of the claims of the Hindoos, pronounces
their division of the Ecliptic into twenty-
seven lunar mansions, to have been made
B.C. 1443. Mr. Elphinstone is of opinion
that the Indian observations could not have
commenced at a later period than the fif-
teenth century, B.C., or one or two centuries
before the first mention of astronomy in
Greece. In the fifth century the Brahmins
discussed the diurnal revolution of the
earth on its axis, and they were more cor-
rect than Ptolemy in their notions regard-
ing the precession of the Equinoxes.

In an Indian work (the Surya Sidhanta)
to which the date of the fifth or sixth century
is generally assigned, a system of trigono-
metry is laid down which involves theorems
that were not known in Europe until the
sixteenth century. Geometry was probably
studied long previous to the date of the above
book, as exemplified in the demonstrations
of various properties of triangles, the pro-

* " Mr. Colebrooke has fully established that
algebra had attained the highest pei-fection it ever
reached in India before it was known to the
Arabians, and, indeed, before the first dawn of the
culture of the sciences among that people." — (El-
phinstone, vol. i., p. 250).

t The Samaritan is the most ancient of the orien-
tal versions of the Scriptures, but its exact age is
unascertained; it contains only the Pentateuch.

J The anonymous writer of a Key to the Chrono-
toyy of the Hindoos, whose opinions are set forth in
2 Tols. 8vo., printed at Cambridge in 1820; under-
takes to convince his readers that " the Hindoo
dates correspond with the Hebrew texts of our
Scriptures, and that they date the Lotus or creation
6,817 years from the present time, which is only six

portion of the radius to the circumferences
of the circle, and other problems. The in-
vention of decimal notation is ascribed to
the Hindoos, who, even in algebra, so earlv
as the sixth century,* under a celebrated
teacher, (Brahma Gupta,) excelled all their
cotemporaries, not merely in propounding
problems, but in its application to astrono-
mical investigations and geometrical demon-
strations. Their chronology has long been a
stumbling-block (see p. 15), but it is never-
theless considered by several critical in-
quirers to admit of satisfactory explanation
by means of astronomical and arithmetical
calculations. Megasthenes expressly tieclares
that the Indians and the Jews were the only
nations possessed of a rational chronology,
and that they agreed. Mr. Masson remarks,
on this statement, — "when I look at the
enormous sums given of millions of years
elapsed during the three first yugas, and
ask how can they be reconciled with the
dictum of Megasthenes, I call to mind a
verse somewhere in Menu, which tells us
that a year of a mortal is but a day with
the gods, and conceit that these large num-
bers have been calculated on some such
base as there suggested — just as in the
Hebrew Prophets, Daniel, &c., periods are ex-
pressed by days, weeks, &c. — only in these,
multiplication is needful, and with the Hin-
doos division." In the private letter from
which I have ventured to quote the preced-
ing passage, Mr. Masson adds, that by the
use of the multiple 360 and the divisor
nine (the sacred number of the Tartars and
other nations), the Hindoo statement can
be made to agree with that found in one
(? the Samaritanf version) of the Scriptures
within a single year. J And he considers
that the system of Indian chronology was
framed in some manner intelligible to the
initiated, § by whom the sacred writings were
solely, or at least particularly, intended tc

years from the true period, according to the best
calculations we have, and only two years according
to the vulgar era of Christ, a.m. 4004." In an
elaborate disquisition he contends that the com-
mencement of the fourth historical age. Call yurja,
"is correctly placed at B.C. 3182;" the three pre-
vious ages " contain a period of 900 years only ;'
and by adding 900 years to the current year of the
fourth, or Call age, we get the true epoch of creation,
according to all oriental chronology." The year oj
the xcorld is computed by the Greek cb'irch at B.C.
5509 ; by the Aby.ssinian church, 5492 ; by the Jews,
3760. The Bible chronology givei it as 4004 B.C.

^ It is stated in the " Key " that some European
suggested to Sir W. .Tones an explanation by cutting
the ciphers off the numerals.

4G GEOGRAPHY, MEDICINE, LANGUAGES, AND LITERATURE.

he read, the Brahmins in this respect differ-
ing essentially from the Boodhists.

In geography they had, as a nation, made
little progress, and though unquestionably
engaged in traffic more or less direct with
the nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa, pro-
bably entered, at the utmost, only as indivi-
duals on the carrying trade beyond their
own coast, and gave little thought to the
position or affairs of other countries; and
this accords with, the metaphysical, rather
than practical, turn of their minds. There
is, however, a passage in Menu which
shows that marine insurance was practised
his time ; and various writings, poems, plays,
and tales written during different periods
from the first to the twelfth century, detail
adventures at sea, in which Indian sailors
and ships are immediately concerned.
That the Hindoos established colonies in
Java and other places there is reason to
believe, though we cannot tell at what time,
or under what circumstances. Bryant, who
contends that Cluddea was the parent coun-
try of the Hindoos, asserts, in his Analysis of
Ancient Mythology , that these people were
found in Colchis, in Mesopotamia, and even
in Thrace. Recently they have been met with
in Arabia, Armenia, and Astracan.

In medicine they had not merely studied
the virtues of simples, but had also attained
considerable skill in chemistry, and knew
how to prepare (for the most part in modes
peculiar to themselves) sulphuric, nitric, and
muriatic acid ; oxides of copper, iron, lead
(of which they had both the red oxide and
litharge) tin, and zinc; the sulphurets of
copper, zinc, and iron, and carbonates of
lead and iron. They employed minerals
internally, giving both mercury, arsenic, and
arsenious acid ; cinnabar was used for fumi-
gations, to produce safe and speedy saliva-
tion. They also practised inoculation for
small-pox. Their surgery is still more re-
markable, from their ignorance of anatomy —
dissection or even the touch of dead bodies,
being deemed the extreme of pollution — yet
they cut for the stone, couched for cataract,
and performed other delicate operations;*
and their early works enumerate no less
than 127 sorts of surgical instruments, which,
however, were probably always rude.

Of the languages and literature of India,
it would be impossible to convey any idea
in few words, without appearing to assume
a dogmatic attitude on the many difficult

• Vide Dr. Royle's Essay on the Antiquity of the
Indian Materia Medico.

questions involved therein. The transla-
tions of Sir William Jones from the Sanscrit,
of Sacontala, a pastoral drama of great anti-
quity, and other poems, together with the
Hindoo Theatre of Professor Wilson, enable
English readers to form their own opinions
of the degree of dramatic excellence very
early attained in India. Portions of the
Ramayana, of the Maha Bharat, and the
whole of the Sama Veda have also been
translated; the fourth, or Antharva Veda,
(whose authenticity is disputed), being still
sedulously withheld by the Brahmins, and
denounced as a " Black Book," teaching as-
trology and witchcraft. The six Augras
or Shastras, are supposed to have been
written by inspiration to elucidate the sub-
lime mysteries contained in the Vedas. They
treat of theology and ritual observances ; of
grammar, metre, astronomy, logic, law,
the art of government, medicine, archery,
the use of arms, music, dancing, and the
drama. With the eighteen Puranas we are
not immediately concerned, for two reasons.
They must be subsequently referred to as ex-
planatory of the present (would to God that
we could say the past) idolatrous polytheism
of the Hindoos ; and moreover in the opinion
of Professor Wilson, none of them assumed
their existing state until the time of Sankara
Acharya, the great Saiva reformer, who
flourished about the eighth or ninth cen-
tury, and consequently, subsequent to the
period of which we are now treating: Wilson
traces several of them to the twelfth, four-
teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries of
our era. The Puranas have been already
frequently quoted, because they comprise
the genealogies of various dynasties, especi-
ally of the solar and lunar races ; which
are valuable, although sometimes misleading,
being evidently a compilation of fragments
obtained from family records. Many
historical documents probably yet remain
uninjured, hidden away from the desolating
torch of the soldiers of the Crescent, who
generally did their utmost to destroy the
writings of an idolatrous people, at least
any that might appear connected with
their creed, which all were more or less.
Doubtless much valuable data has thus ut-
terly perished; and the loss is now irreparable.
The remark made by the people of Rajast'han
to Colonel Tod, when he complamed of
the numerous deficiencies in their annals,
was sufficient explanation and apology.
"When our princes," said they, "were in
exile, driven from hold to hold, and com-

ARCHITECTURE, FETES, POLICE SYSTEM, AND COINAGE. 4,7

pelled to dwell in the clefts of the moun-
tains, often doubtful whether they would
not be obliged to abandon the very meal
preparing for them — was that a time to
think of historical records ?"*

In the lighter department of literature
they excel ; and, indeed, in tales and fables
appear to have set the example to the rest
of mankind, since to them may be traced
the subjects of the most popular Oriental
and even European fictions. f

Their music is said to have been syste-
matic and refined, but it has since greatly de-
teriorated : painting was probably always at a
low ebb, unless beautifully illustrated manu-
scripts may form an exception — in which,
however, the figures are the worst executed
portion of the ornaments. Their ancient
sculpture often presents spirited and some-
times exceedingly graceful groups; but is
generally rendered unpleasing, not only by
the grotesque and many-limbed forms of the
gods and goddesses, but also by their igno-
rance of anatomy, and inattention, even as
copyists, to the symmetrical arrangement of
the limbs and muscles, and to the mainte-
nance of proportion between different figures.

Architecture early became a favourite and
practical study, J butvaried greatly in different
parts of India {vide section on topography).
It is said that the arch was not understood
before the Mussulman era, but this seems to
be contradicted by the age of some speci-
mens which still exist. Tanks or reservoirs
for irrigation or for bathing were made on a
scale of great extent and magnificence, and
also wells of considerable depth and breadth,
the more ancient of which were square and
surrounded by galleries, with a broad flight of
steps from top to bottom. Their triumphal
columns and massive gateways and pagodas
take rank among the finest specimens of
the architecture of any nation.

Their manufactures and commerce have
been noticed sufficiently for the present
purpose : their mode of agriculture was so
nearly what it is at present, that that sub-
ject, together with their rights in the land
and the revenue system generally, may be best
deferred for examination to a future chapter.

Chariots were drawn in war by horses,
but on a march by oxen and sometimes by
camels. Elephant chariots were also kept as
a piece of extraordinary magnificence, used

* Rajast'han, vol. i. p. ix.

■)• Vide Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society,
Tol. i. p. 166, on the Indian origin of European
fables.

in their famous festivals, when well appointed
troops marched in procession; and thrones,
tables, goblets, lavcrs, set with precious stones,
and robes of exquisite colours richly em-
broidered with gold,were borne along in state.
Tame lions and panthers formed part of the
show which birds, remarkable for gorgeous
plumage or sweet song, were made to enliven;
being conveyed on trees transported on large
waggons. In short, a Hindoo fete in the
ancient days, was a thing that even a Parisian
of the time of the second Buonaparte might
sigh for — always excepting fireworks, for it
does not appear that they had any knowledge
of gunpowder, although in war they are said
to have used arrows tipped with some com-
bustible or explosive compound.

The police system Megasthenes declared
to be excellent; royal roads are spoken of by
Strabo, in one place, and mile-stones in ano-
ther. § The dress, as described by Arrian,||
was precisely the two wrappers of cotton
cloth, still worn by the people of Bengal and
by strict Brahmins everywhere.

It is asserted that no Indian coinage
existed prior to the introduction of that of
the Greeks or Baetrians. This, if proved,
would be no criterion of barbarism : the
Chinese, at the present day, have no gold or
silver pieces — their only coin being a small
alloyed copper "cash," of which about a
thousand are equal to one Spanish dollar.
All sales have for ages been regulated by
bars or blocks of the precious metals, with a
stamped attestation of their respective purity;
and it is possible that in ancient times a
similar course was pursued in India. There
are however passages in a Sanscrit play
and in the penal code of the Hindoos which
refer, not only to the standard, but to the
fabric and stamp of coin, and to the punish-
ments due to the fabricators and falsifiers of
the public monies. Small flat pieces of silver,
square, round, or oblong, weighing from forty-
eight to fifty grains, with a rude punch, symbo-
lical of a sun, moon, or star, or a nondescript
figure, of an unknown age, have been found
in considerable quantities in various localities.

Hindoo gc.'d and silver coins, tolerably
well executed, have been discovered at
Beghram, Cutch, Benares, and other places
appertaining to the Balhara dynasty ; which
is thought to have ruled the country from
Oojein to thelndus, 375years posterior to the

\ Essay on Hindoo Architecture by Eim R4z,
published by the Oriental Translation Fund.
§ Strabo, lib. xv., pp. 474—494, ed. 1587.
i| Indica, cap. xri.

KINGDOMS OF BACTRIA, ARIA, AND PARTHIA.

I Vicramaditya era. Coins of the Chandra
Gupta dynasty have been collected from the
ruins of Behat near the Doab Canal, and at
Canouj ; others, of a Jain or Boodhistical
type, have been procured at Rajast'han and
at Ilurdwar on the Ganges.

Recent investigations* have brought to
light no inconsiderable quantity of Indo-
Scythian and Sassanian coins, which gradu-
ally mixed with and at length merged into
a distinct Hindoo type. This, with modifi-
cations, lasted to the time of the Moham-
medan conquerors. A very curious Eng-
lish collection of Hindoo silver monies con-
nects two dynasties ; indeed, there are not
many links wanting to form an entire series
of Greek, Bactrian, Nys8ean,t Sassanian,
Indo-Scythian, and HindooJ (Guzerat, Raj-
poot, Canouj, or Rah tore, &c.) coins, from
the time of Alexander to that of the Moslems
in the eleventh century. The Roman coins
discovered in India extend in antiquity
through a period of more than 1,000 years,
from the Augustan age down to the decline
of the Lower empire ; those generally found
are of the smaller denominations, consisting
of the common currency of the eastern parts
of the empire : many of the copper coins
are of Egyptian fabrication.

Bactria, Aria, and Parthia. — The two
first-named countries, comprising the terri-
tory lying on either side of the Hindoo
Koosh, between the Oxus and Indus Rivers,
are on the high road of Asiatic conquest,
and have been the battle-field of every tribe
and nation that has risen to dominion in the
East. Parthia has been always intimately
connected with them, and the three have
iointly and severally exercised an influence
in India, the extent and nature of which is
still but imperfectly understood.

Recent discoveries of coins (above re-
ferred to) have confii'med and augmented
the information bequeathed by ancient

• See Ariana Antiqua, a dascriptive account of
the antiquities and coins of Afglianistan, with a
memoir of the buildings, called topes, by C. Masson,
Esq. Edited by Prof. Wilson, 4to, 1841. Also the
expositions of J. Prinsep in the Journal of the Jienyal
Asiatic Socictij ; and H. T. Prinsep's Jlist. Mesults.

t The features of the sovereigns of the various
dynasties stamped on these coins are quite distinct,
and they are generally well executed. The Nysiean
have a fillet or diadem round the head; reverse, a
horseman ; the Indo-Scythian an. erect figure of Her-
cules resting on his club : the Sassanian, a fire altar
on the reverse. The legends are generally in Greek,
or in Pehlevi, a language w-hich was contemporary
with the Parsi (of Persia), and the Zend (of Media),
five or six hundred years, B.C. It was used in

authors, and thrown a new light on the
connection which existed with the kingdom
of Bactria — that is, of the country watered
by the Oxus and its tributaries, and sepa-
rated from Hindoostan by the range of
mountains whence the Oxus and Indus
derive their respective sources. It has been
already stated, that after the first contest for
the partition of the vast empire of Alexander,
all his eastern conquests, including Hyrca-
nia, Parthia, Bactria, Aria,§ &c., were ap-
propriated by Seleucus. Bactria remained
subject to his descendants, until civil wars
and the impending revolt of the Parthians
induced Diodotus, or Theodotus, the satrap
or governor of the province, to assert his
independence and become the first king,
about 250, or, according to Bayer, 255, B.C.
Parthia also successfully revolted from the
sway of the Seleucidse, under Arsaces, || who,
according to Strabo, was by birth a Bac-
trian, but is called by other writers a Da-
hiaii, that is, a native of Sogdiana :% who-
ever lie was, he appears to have used Greek
only on, his coins and in his public letters
and correspondence.

Bactria itself, however, cannot be sup-
posed to have been colonised by any great
body of Greeks, but probably received many
of the partially-disciplined recruits raised
by Alexander during the later part of his
progress. Even the Greeks, by intermar-
riage with Persian, and doubtless with In-
dian wives, would soon lose their distinctive
character; and after the establishment of
Parthian power, the immigration of adven-
turers from Greece, and, indeed, all commu-
nication with that country would cease. This
accounts for the total silence of Greek
authors respecting the termination of the
Bactrian kingdom. Its limits, during the
most flourishing period, included some parts
of India. Strabo quotes an ancient author,
who asserts that the Bactrians possessel

the region round Assyria, and probably in Assyria
itself, — but together with the Zend has been a dead
language for more than two thousand years.

I The ancient Hindoo coins have various devices —
a horseman, a horse, an elephant, a lion, a bull, an
antelope, a goat, the Sankh, or sacred shell, or the
hieroglyphic called Swastika.

§ Aria is the territory of which Herat is, the
capital. Ariana (Eeran) is the general name for the
country east of Persia and Media to the Indus.

II Sogdiana designates the mountains which feed
the Jaxartes and divide that river from the Oxus.

5[ Arsaces was the title of Parthian princes. The
Parthians were the Saca; of Asia, and Saca-dwipa
(the country of the Saca;) lay about the fountains of
of the Oxus. — Conder's Modern Traveller. {India.)

BACTRIA OVERRUN BY SCYTHIAN HORDES.— b.c. 125.

" the most conspicuous part of Ariana ^'

(Khorasan), and conquered more nations in

; India than even Alexander. In this last

achievement the principal actors were Me-

nander, Appollodotus, and Demetrius, who

are mentioned together by Strabo; but their

j date and the limits of their sway are not

• clearly stated. Demetrius is a puzzle, or

rather the site of his kingdom, for he once

had one, and was a conqueror besides. Two

i or three of his coins have been found in

I Cabool, not sufficient to establish the fact of

I his rule there, but rather the reverse; two

or three others — of silver — have been

brought from Bokhara. Appollodotus and

Menander* certainly ruled over Cabool,

their copper coins being found in such

numbers, and so constantly, as to prove

they were once a currency there ; but then,

as regards Appollodotus, Cabool is held to

have been merely a province, his capital

j being established elsewhere, to be looked

for, perhaps, where his copper money was

circular instead of square, as at Cabool, and

\ such circular coins arc discovered more

eastward in the Punjaub, and even at

Muttra (the old Methora), on the Jumna.

Masson strongly suspects the kingdom of

Appollodotus and Menander to have been

rather Indian than Bactrian ; and Professor

Lassen supposes three kingdoms to have

existed besides that of Bactria, of which the

eastern, under Menander and Appollodotus,

I comprehended the Punjaub and the valley

' of the Indus, with Cabool and Arachosia, or

Candahar, added in times of prosperity. The

western kingdom, he places conjecturally at

Heerat and in Seestan, and the third would

include the Paropamisan region, which,

however, Prinsep inclines to attribute to

Bactria.f Unfortunately, no information

has been obtained to prove how far north

or west of Cabool the currencies of the

aforesaid kings spread, otherwise the limits

of their rule might have been partially

traced in those directions. The Greeks,

under Menander, made extensive conquests,

; subduing the Seres and Shauni to the north

and north-east of India ; crossing the Hy-

I panis (Hyphasis,orBeyah), and proceeding as

' far as the Isamus to the south-eastward ; and

I * Whether Appollodotus succeeded or preceded
I Menander is uncertain, but an opinion may be raised
that although always mentioned first, he really fol-
lowed Menander, because his circular coins so closely
resemble in style and fabric those of Azcs (in Bac-
tro-Pali, Aya) that it is evident the one currency
i followed the other, in the Punjaub and to the cast,
I hut not in Cabool, where that of Hermias prevailed.

on the south-westward reducing Pattalcne,
that is, the country about Tatta, forming
the Delta of the Indus. All the interme-
diate territory appears, from the statement
of Strabo, to have been vanquished ; and we
might form a tolerably satisfactory conclu-
sion as to its extent, but for doubts suggested
of the meaning of the word Isamus. This
is by some considered to denote the Jumna
River, by others the Himalaya Mountains
(sometimes called Imaus), and, thirdly, with
perhaps better reason, the Isamutti River,
which falls into the Hooghly, a western
branch of the Ganges.

Bactria Proper, as established by Diodotus,
appears to have continued through his suc-
cessors Diodotus II., Euthydemus, Eucra-
tides, and his successor (supposed by De
Guignes and Bayer to have been his son
and murderer, Eucratides II., but by Mas-
son, Heliocles), until about 125 years b.c,
when, (according to Chinese records, quoted
by De Guignes) a great movement which
took place in Central or Eastern Tartary
impelled across the Jaxartes (Sir) an irre-
sistible torrent of Scythian hordes. This
statement is corroborated by the testimony
of Strabo, who gives the names of the four
principal tribes by whom the overthrow of
the Greek kingdom was effected. From
these names they would appear to have been
composed of a mixture of Gette or Goths,
Dahi or Dacians, Sakarauli or Sakas, and
Tochari, perhaps, but not certainly, Turks.
All seized portions of Bactria; and after
some time the Getse subdued the others,
and advanced upon India. Crossing the
Hindoo Koosh, they dispossessed the suc-
cessor of Hermias, if not the old king him-
self ; and their presence is very clearly
indicated by those coins bearing the name
of that king, with the prefix Su. Soon after
the coinage was varied ; busts probably in-
tended to represent their own kings or chiefs
were introduced, and Bactro-Pali legends on
the reverse, much differing from the Greek
ones encircling the busts — the latter, indeed,
becoming unintelligible. The Getse, more-
over, we are assured, retained power in the
countries bordering on the Indus for four
centuries — liable, necessai'ily, to vicissitudes.

For this remark, as well as other information inter-
woven in the text conveying a brief sketch of Bac-
trian affairs, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr.
Charles Masson.

t Because of the bilingual as well as pure Gh-eek
coins of Heliocles and .\ntimachu5, kings of Bactria.
—Historical Results dedudhle from recent discoveriet
in Afghanistan, by H. Prinsep. Esq., p. 66.

50 PERSIA AND CENTRAL INDIA SUBDUED BY THE CALIPHS.

but still maiutuining themselves until finally
overcome by the Huns. The Parthians
benefited by the occasion of attacking Eu-
cratidcs, and deprived him of two satrapies ;
but although certain coins bearing a national
tinge, with an attempted imitation of the
names and titles of Heliocles are fouxid
in Cabool, there is little other evidence
of Parthian rule there — while in the Pun-
jaub, immediately on the banks of the
Indus, there is inore. It is not impro-
bable, that they contested the possession of
Cabool with the Getse, but were unsuccess-
ful, and directed their attention rather to
Sinde, and thence ascended the Indus ; but
it may be doubted if these Parthians were
those established in Persia — although of the
same or kindred race — they may have been
Dahse. Though weakened and disorgan-
ised, Bactria cannot have been entirely
overwhelmed by Scythian or Parthian in-
cursions, that is not in the time of Eucra-
tides or Heliocles, since Horace, 120 years
later, deemed it of sufficient importance to
engage the attention of Augustus. Its final
disruption by Parthian agency must have
been of considerably later date.
. The fortunes of Parthia likewise under-
went considerable vicissitudes. Arsaces pos-
sessed only Parthia and Hyrcania, the
nucleus of his sovereignty being the colo-
nies planted by Alexander eighty years be-
fore. His immediate successors were brave
and valiant, and their empire at one time ex-
tended from the Euphrates to the Jaxartes ;
but whether it included or received tribute
from the ancient soil of the Hindoos is little
better than matter of conjecture.* The
sceptre of Persia continued to be wielded by
this line until a.d. 235, when Ardeshur
Babakun, or Artaxerxes, a distinguished
officer of the Parthian army — having been
slighted by the reigning monarch, Arsaces-
Artabanus — revolted, and after three severe
battles, conquered and slew Artabanus, and

* Milhridates II., who reigned in the early part
of the century before the Christian era, and whose
death was followed by an interregnum of civil war,
or doubtful sovereignty, in Parthia, was the first of
the Arsacidce who adopted the title of " Great King of
Kings," which is believed to be of Indian origin, and
was probably assumed after the acquisition of coun-
tries bordering on India. — Prinsep's Historical Re-
tulU, p. 67.

t Vide Prinsep's Jlitlorical Ilesults, for much in-
teresting discussion regarding Baclrian coins, espe-
cially the opinions of Wilson, Masson, and Lassen ;
also regarding the newly-deciphered language gene-
rally used in writing, when Greek became quite
extinct, called Arian, Arianian, Bactrian, and Ca-

establislied his own dynasty, the Sassanian,
being crowned at Balkh, where his last vic-
tory was gained. Thus closed the Greco-
Parthian dominion in central Asia, after a
continuance of very nearly 500 years ; and
the same date marks the end of the tran-
sition of Parthia back from Hellenism to an
entirely Asiatic sovereignty and condition of
society. The system of government had
been always purely Asiatic ; that is, by sub-
ordinate satraps or viceroys invested with
full and absolute authority over the person
and property of the people committed to their
charge. Alexander had experienced the evils
of thus forming an Imperium in imperio
in every province, in the misconduct of
several satraps during his absence in the
Indian campaign ; and, had he lived, would
probably have introduced a sounder system;
but his successors had neither the ability to
plan, nor perhaps opportunity to execute,
any such radical change in their respective
governments. They lacked, moreover, the
prestige of their great master's name and
character, which had alone enabled him to
cheek the ambition or rapacity of his vice-
gerents, by the exercise of an arbitrary power
of removal. After his death, the method
generally adopted of controlling, removing,
or punishing a military satrap, was to turn
against him the arms of a rival neighbour.
The result was, of course, the origin of a
number of irresponsible despots. Keeping
this in mind, it is the less surprising that
Parthian coins should be found, asserting
independence and bearing arrogant titles,
in Afghanistan, since these may indicate
nothing but the temporary successes or pre-
tensions of various petty satraps. t The
most celebrated of the later Sassanian kings
was Chosroes, who reigned from 531 to 571 ;
his grandson was deposed in 628, and after a
few years of tumult and distraction, Persia
fell under the power of the Caliphs, by whom
it has ever since been ruled.

boolian, according to the supposed locality of its
native use. Mr. James Prinsep, (whose laborious
investigations had before been mainly instrumental
in restoring the language of the ancient Indian kings
who made treaties with Antiochus and Seleucus,)
while examining coins with bilingual inscriptions,
used the names given in Greek on one side, tc find
out those of tlie unknown language on the other. He
thus obtained a key to the alphabet, and deciphered
words which proved to be Pracrit (the vernacular '
form of Sanscrit), written semitically from right to
left. There are still, however, some inscriptions in i
the Arian characters upon rocks and on the relics
of topes and tumuli, remaining to reward further
research.

RISE OF MOHAMMEDANISM IN ARABIA— SEVENTH CENTURY. 51

Mohammedan to British Epoch. — In the
beginning of the seventh century, when the
Christian church was torn by dissensions and
perplexed by heresies, and when the greater
part of the inhabitants of Asia and of Africa
were sunk in barbarism, enfeebled by sen-
suality, or enslaved by idolatry, there arose
on the shores of the Red Sea, a Power, at
once religious and militant, which rapidly
attained and has since continued to exercise
an extraordinary influence on the condition
of one-third of the human race.

Arabia is considered by oriental writers
to have been originally colonised by the pos-
terity of Shem and Ham, the former having
follovved pastoral, the latter agricultural pur-
suits; to these were subsequently added a
mixed race — the descendants of Abraham,
through Ishmael, the son of Hagar the bond-
woman.* The posterity of Ham, through
Cush and Nimrod, his son and grandson,
brought with them from Mesopotamia one
of the most ancient languages (supposed to
be the Himyaritic, still spoken in parts of
the country), and the creed of the Patriarchs,
or at least a portion of it ; that is, the exist-
ence of one God, the Creator and Governor
of the world, and the doctrine of the resur-
rection of the dead, of future rewards and
punishments. A sense of sin and unwor-
thiness probably induced " the adoration of
heavenly spirits as mediators between man
and one immutable Holy Being; and to
these they raised temples and altars for
sacrifices and supplications, to which were
subsequently added fastings. "f The sun
and moon next became the objects of wor-
ship, at first probably as symbols ; next
followed the seven planets, the twelve signs
of the zodiac, and the twenty-four constella-
tions. Almost every tribe had its peculiar
idol, dead men were worshipped, and also
angels or genii ; some even denied all kinds
of revelation, having sunk into the lowest
depths of idolatry ; but the descendants of
Shem passed from pure Theism into Sabae-
isra, or a belief in the peopling of the
heavenly bodies with superior intelligences,
by whom the lives and actions of men were
resrulated. The immigration of a few Jewish
and Christian tribes had introduced among
the more thoughtful, purer notions both of
faith and practice ; but these had made
little progress among the mass of the people,

• Ishmael is said to have married the daughter of
Mozauz or Modhaugh, the sovereign of Hijaz. — (See
tabular genealogies of these three tribes in Colonel
Chesney's work on the Euphrates and Tigris, vol. i.)

who, as regarded their political and social
state, were still, as they had been for ages,
to a great extent isolated by poverty and
by geographical position, from the rest of
the world. Their country, consisting of
some mountain tracts and rich oases, sepa-
rated or surrounded by a sandy desert, has
been aptly compared to the coasts and
islands of a sea. J The desert was thinly
scattered with small camps of predatory
horsemen, who pitched their tents wherever
a well of water could be found; and aided
by the much-enduring camel, overspread ex-
tensive regions, to the great peril and anx-
iety of peaceful travellers. The settled in-
habitants, though more civilized, were
scarcely less simple in their habits; the
various tribes formed distinct communities,
between whom there could be little commu-
nication except by rapid journeys on horse-
back or tedious marches, in the present
caravanseray fashion. Each tribe acknow-
ledged as its chief the representative of their
common ancestor ; but probably little cheek
was ever imposed upon the liberty of indi-
viduals, save in rare cases, when the general
interest imperatively demanded such inter-
ference. The physical features of the land
and its scanty agricultural resources helped
to foster the hardy and self-reliant character
of its sons, who, unconnected by the strong
ties of religious or commercial fellowship,
and never compelled to unite against a
foreign foe, found vent in the innumerable
feuds which constantly spring up between
independent tribes and families, for the
warlike and roving instincts which seem so
inseparably bound up with the wiry, lithe-
some, supple frame, and the fiery, yet ima-
ginative and sensuous temperament, of the
Arab.

Such a people, united for a common pur-
pose under a common leader, miglit, it was
evident, accomplish extraordinary results;
and purpose and leader were presented to
them in the person of a man, whose fame as
a subjugator may be mentioned in the same
page with that of Alexander the Great, and
who, as a lawgiver, takes much higher rank — •
higher, that is, in the sense of having used
and abused powers never entrusted to the
Macedonian. Mohammed the False Pro-
phet, was, beyond all doubt, intimately
acquainted with both the Jewish and Chris-

The sons of Ham, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan
peopled parts of Western Asia, as well as Africa.

t Ecchellensis, Chrnn. Otien., App., c. 6, p. 148.

I Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 488.

MOHAMMED, THE FALSE PROPHET.

tian scriptures, he recognised the mighty
truths they contained, and the sharp wea-
pons those trutlis would afford, wielded
against idolatry. Incited by strangely-
blended motives of ambition and fanaticism,
he boldly defied the curse pronounced on
those most impious of all deceivers, who
shall dare to add unto, or take away from, the
revealed word of God. {Revelation, ch. xxii.
V. 18, 19.)

It is necessary to know something of his
private life, before we can understand the
steps by which an unknown enthusiast sprang
suddenly into importance; and, gathering
together with marvellous skill and energy
the scattered tribes, formed them into a
nation, prohibited retaliation without the
previous sanction of a trial and a sentence,
and in short, induced them to abandon intes-
tine strife and combine in a religious crusade.
Mohammed was born a.d. 569, at Mecca, one
of the oldest cities in the world, and belonged
to the head family of the tribe of Koreish,
who were the hereditary guardians of the
great temple of Caaba, which is built round
a well, supposed to be that miraculously
pointed out to Hagar to save the life of
Ishmael. Tradition declares the temple
itself, or at least the first temple which
existed on this site, to have been vouchsafed
in answer to the prayer of Adam, who im-
plored that he might be permitted to have a
sanctuary like that in which he had wor-
shipped ii). Eden. The prayer was granted,
and in curtains of light a model of the para-
disaical tcmplewas let down, precisely beneath
the spot where the original had stood. On
this model Seth built a temple, which was
swept away by the deluge, but rebuilt by
Abraham and Isaac. The worship ofl'ered in
the Caaba was at the beginning of the sixth
century idolatrous, the chief objects being
Abraham and Ishmael, to whose images,
each holding a bunch of arrows, such as the
Arabs use for divining, regular worship was
offered. Thus Abraham, the divinely-com-
missioned witness against idolatry, became
in process of time the object of the very
crime he had so zealously condemned. With
him and his son there appear to have been
in all 360 gods, the number having pro-
bably reference to the days of the Persian
year.

The chief command of the Caaba and of
the city were vested in the same person, and
to this double office of priest and chief Mo-
hammed was presumptive heir, when the
death of his father Abdallah before liis

grandfather, cut him off from the succession,
and threw him a destitute orphan on the care
of his uncle, Abu Taleb, who taught him the
business of a merchant, and carried him on
long trading journeys into Syria, thus giving
him early insight into foreign countries and
creeds. When but fourteen, Mohammed
entered into a rancorous war that had broken
out among the tribes, and greatly dis-
tinguished himself for courage and ability.
Till twenty-five he remained in the service
of his uncle, and then married Kadijah, the
richly-endowed widow of a merchant of
Mecca. Thus raised to independence, he
was enabled to pursue the objects most con-
genial to his own mind; but the nature of
his occupations for many years is unknown.
Some suppose him to have employed that
long interval in the study of various manu-
scripts, although throughout his life he con-
stantly affirmed himself unable to read or
write* a single word. It is very possible that,
by the aid of a retentive memory, he might
have obtained orally a great part, or even the
whole, of the information he possessed, espe-
cially with regard to the unity of God, by
intercourse with a cousin of his wife's, named
Warka ben Naufel, who was skilled in Jewish
learning, and is said to have translated the
Scriptures from Hebrew into Arabic. He
withdrew himself at length from all society,
and spent long periods in complete solitude
in the cave of Hara, near his native city,
giving free scope to meditations, which
brought him to the verge if not actually into
the abyss of insanity, and opened a door for
fancied visions and every species of mental
delusion. At length, when about forty years
of age, he declared his alleged mission to his
wife, and afterwards to a few of his family;
and, some three or four years after, publicly
announced himself as " the last and greatest
of the pi'ophets." He is represented as having
been a man of middle size, singularly mus-
cular, with a very large head, prominent
forehead, eyebrows nearly meeting, but di-
vided by a vein, which in times of excite-
ment throbbed violently, black flashing eyes,
aquiline nose, full and florid cheeks, large
mouth, and small teeth of the most exquisite
whiteness ; glossy black hair fell over his
shoulders, and a full beard flowed down upon
his chest. His countenance is alleged to
have been beautiful in the extreme, and to

• Perhaps the strongest presumption against the
truth of this assertion, is the circumstance of his
calling for a pen that he might write, while delirious,
during his last illness. The request was refused.

THE HEJIRA OR FLIGHT FROM MECCA— a.d. 622.

have added not a little to the effect produced
by his insinuatiug address and consummate
eloquence upon the impressionable natures
of his countrymen.* The creed he first taught
was simply this : — " There is no God but
God, and Mohammed is his prophet ; " and
aU who received and repeated this compre-
hensive formula were styled "true believers."
The Koran he declared to be a perfect book,
already written in heaven, but communicated
to him in portions only, through the medium
of the angel Gabriel. This provision enabled
him to disseminate his doctrines gradually, to
observe the manner in which they were
received, and to modify and even change
them at successive periods ; but, at the same
time, the very facility of obviating imme-
diate difficulties, led to many discrepancies
and contradictions in his pretended revela-
tions. In spite, however, of much extrava-
gance, of the wildest dreams related as if
sober realities, and, worse than all, of the
glaring impiety of pleading the Divine com-
mand as a reason for intolerance and immo-
rality, many chapters of the Koran are still
remarkable as compositions. f They stamp
their author as far superior to any existing
writer of his country, and even exhibit him
in the light of a reformer — for his religion
was founded on the subhme theology of the
Old Testament, and his morality, faulty
indeed in comparison with the Christian
code, was yet far purer than that then
general in Arabia, for it must be remem-
bered that Mohammed represented himself
as privileged to break through at pleasure
the very rules he most strenuously enforced
on others. The Koran abounds in ad-
monitions to spiritual and moral excellence,
enunciates the necessary laws and directions
for the guidance of Mohammedans, and
especially enjoins the worship and reverence
of the only true God, and resignation to his
will. In the course of its 114 chapters,
Adam, Noah, Moses, Joseph, David, Solo-
mon, and other patriarchs, prophets, and
kings, are referred to by name, the facts
being evidently derived from the Jewish
Scriptures, the fictions in which they are
enveloped, from tradition, or more fre-
quently from the teeming brain of the im-

* For a graphic and condensed account of tlie im-
postor and his early proceedings, see a puhlished
lecture on Mohammedanism, by the Rev. W. Arthur.
Major Price's comj)endious Mahommedan History is
an excellent book of reference, as well as of agree-
able reading.

t " The style of the Koran," says its able trans-
lator, Mr. Sale, "is generally beautiful and fluent,

postor. It seems almost profanation to
mention the sacred name of the Great
Redeemer in connection with the lying
tales of the False Prophet. Suffice it to
say that His divine mission is recognised in
the Koran, but His divinity denied.

For ten years after the first public an-
nouncement of his alleged calHng, Moham-
med continued to play the part of a zealous
and enduring missionary, suffering himself
" to be abused, to be spit upon, to have
dust thrown upon him, and to be dragged
out of the temple by his own turban fastened
to his neek.^j Persecution had its usual
effect of drawing its object into notice ; his
doctrines gradually took root, until, upon the
death of his uncle and protector, Abu Taleb,
the rulers of Mecca determined on his
destruction. He lost his faithful wife and
earliest convert, Kadijah, about the same
time, and a complete change came over him.

At Medina, 270 miles from Mecca, his
doctrines had been favourably received, and
a deputation from that city invited him
to become its governor. He gladly fled
thither, escaping, by stratagem, from a con-
spiracy formed in Mecca, leaving his young
cousin Ali lying on his bed, covered with his
well-known green robe. The Hejira or flight
forms the era from which Mohammedans
date ; it occurred a.d. 622. On his an-ival
at Medina, whither all his converts followed
him, he was immediately made governor.
Many Jews and Christians then resided
there, the latter he rather favoured, but the
former as a nation incurred his bitter enmity,
by indignantly rejecting his overtures to
become proselytes, or to aid in making
Jerusalem the head-quarters of the new
creed. Once established at Medina he built
a mosque, threw off his submissive attitude,
and declared his intention of having recourse
to arms in his own defence, and also for
the conversion or extermination of infidels.
He strengthened his cause by several mar-
riages, and subsequently added to the num-
ber, as policy or inclination prompted, until
he had fifteen, or as some say, twenty-
one so-called legitimate wives — other men
being allowed four at the utmost. The true
secret of his success probably lay in the

especially where it imitates the prophetic manner
and scripture phrases : it is concise and often obscure,
adorned with bold figures after the Eastern taste,
and in many places, especially where the majesty
and attributes of God are described, sublime and
magnificent." — {Preliminary/ Discourse, p. 44.)

:j; Turikhi Tabari ; quoted by Col. Kennedy, in
the Bombcn/ Literary I'ransactiona, vol. iii.

DEATH OF MOHAMMED, a.d. 732.— HIS SUCCESSORS.

force of his grand doctrine of tlie unity and
omnipotence of God, as contrasted with
idolatry. This he declared was to be in-
sisted upon everywhere, at the cost of life
itself, which it was meritorious to lavish
freely, whether that of believers in spreading
the right faith, or of infidels to lessen their
number. The enthusiastic Arabs were
easily induced to unite as fellow-workers
in an enterprize they believed enjoined by
the direct command of (iod, and eagerly
dared the fiercest contest in the battle-field,
intoxicated by the lying words which as-
serted that " the sword is the key of heaven
and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the
cause of God, or a night spent under arms,
is of more avail than two months of fasting
or prayer. Whoever falls in battle, his sins
are forgiven at the day of judgment ; his
wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion
and odoriferous as musk ; the loss of his
limbs shall be supplied by the wings of
angels and cherubims."*

The first contest, which took place at Beder
between 300 of the Mohammedans and 900
of the Koreish tribe, terminated in favour
of the new sect, and laid the foundation of
a great military empire, of such rapid
growth, that when in the tenth year of the
Hejira, and the sixty-third of his age,
Mohammed lay writhing in the last strug-
gles of the long agony of four years'
duration, which followed the eating of the
poisoned dish prepared by the persecuted
Jews of Chaibar — not only was all Arabia
united under his sway, but the king of Persia,
the emperor of Rome, and the king of
Ethiopia had be.en called upon to acknow-
ledge his divine mission and receive the
Koran : the dominions of the emperor (Hera-
clius) had indeed been actually invaded by a
successful expedition into Syria. Yet this
was but the nucleus of the singular power
exercised by his successors, for instead of
falling to pieces like a snow-ball in the
contest for its possession, as might have
been expected, since Mohammed, like Alex-
ander, left no undoubted heir, the reins of
government were placed by his followers in
the hand of Abubekir, one of the earliest of
the so-called " true believers," in spite of
the opposition of Ali, the cousin and son-in-
law of Mohammed, who had expected to be

* The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
contains a detailed account of the rise and progress
of the Moslem empire, written with all the power
and caustic irony peculiar to Gibbon.

t That is, civil and spiritual ruler, or high-pontiff.

chosen caliph and imaum.f Abubekir,
fearing the revival of the domestic feuds of
tribes or clans, forthwith proclaimed anew
throughout the Arabian peninsula the
favourite and convenient doctrine of the
False Prophet, that fighting for religion
was the most acceptable service which man
could render to his Maker, and declared his
intention of sending an army for the com-
plete subjugation of Syria. The life and
rule of Abubekir terminated in two years.
In accordance with his desire, Omar, a
noble citizen of Mecca, acceded to the
supreme authority, with the title of
" commander of the faithful." Under his
vigorous rule the Arabs invaded Persia and
utterly destroyed the second or Parthian
empire, gained complete possession of Syria,
after defeating 40,000 Greeks in a severe
contest on the Ye7-muk, a river running
into the lake of Tiberias, and, as a crowning
triumph, compelled the surrender of Jerusa-
lem, for which, as the " city of the pro-
phets," Mohammed had always professed
high veneration.

Egypt was over-run by Khaled, a general
whose victories had procured from Moham-
med the title of " the sword of God," and
Alexandria was speedily added to the bril-
liant roll of Mussulman conquests. The
great abilities, united to extreme simplicity
and purity of life, which distinguished
Omar, doubtless contributed to the spread
of the doctrines and temporal sway of the
people he governed. At the expiration of
ten years he was slain while praying in the
mosque, by a Persian, whose rage was ex-
cited by being obliged to pay two pieces of
silver daily, as a penalty for refusing to
abjure his faith — the alternatives offered by
the Mohammedans, being "the Koran,
tribute, or the sword." The large majority
of the conquered chose the first, especially
in Persia, where a lifeless form of govern-
ment and a fantastic and superstitious creed,
needed but a slight shock to hasten the pro-
gress of decay, and crumble into dust, to be
moulded anew and receive vital energy, in
greater or less degree, according to the will
and ability of the first dominant power
which might be brought to bear upon it.
The doctrine of the unity and omnipotence
of God was received by the Persians as a
mighty truth, divinely revealed to man, as
it really was, notwithstanding the false and
distorted medium through which it reached
them, and it must have peculiarly commended
itself to all who had seriously considered the

FORTUNES OP THE AEAB EMPIRE— a.d. 644 to 1258.

subject of religion, by freeing them from
the enthralment of a cowardly and degrading
system, which taught men to seek the aid
or deprecate the wrath of beings who added
to superhuman influence the worst vices of
fallen creatures.

Othman succeeded Omar, but quickly
displeased his generals, and at the close of
a turbulent reign of twelve years, was
besieged in his own house, and after a long
defence, murdered with the Koran on his
knee. Ali was at length elected caliph, not-
withstanding the rivalry of Mauwiyah, the
lieutenant of Syria, but assassinated within
five years in Persia, while entering a mosque
for evening worship. His son and successor
Hassan, was defeated by Mauwiyah and
abdicated in his favour. The new caliph,
the founder of the dynasty of the Ommiades,
extended the dominion of the Arabs to the
Atlantic, having subjugated all Roman or
Northern Africa.

In A.D. 713, Spain was subdued, and the
Mussulmans continued to advance until
they had reached the heart of France, but
were met on the Loire, in 732, between
Poitiers and Tours, by Charles Martel, and
utterly routed.

The last caliph of the dynasty of' the
Ommiades (Merwan) was slain in a sedition
raised by the descendants of Abbas, Moham-
med's uncle. The second prince of this
dynasty built the city of Bagdad and re-
moved the seat of j^overnment thither ; the
fifth was the famous Haroun al Raschid.
Under the Abbassides learning flourished and
the original simplicity of the court gave way
to luxury and magnificence, but the coherent
strength of the now vast empire was on the
decline, and a gradual but sure progress of
dismemberment commenced. In Spain, a
branch of the Ommiades maintained an
independent sway; Khorassan and Trans-
oxiana became virtually independent, and in
Egypt, descenaants of Fatima, (daughter of
Mohammed and wife to Ali,) established a
distinct caHphate. The fortunes of these
new powers wiU be noticed when connected
with India, as also those of the Seljuk tribe,
whose barbarities at Jerusalem (under the

• Islam, derived from an Arabic root, signifies "the
true faith," Moslem or Mussulman a believer therein.

t Mohammed Kasim, surnamed Ferishta, resided
at the court of Ibrahim Adil Shah II., at Beejapoor,
about the close of the sixteenth century, and, sus-
tained by royal patronage and assistance in collecting
authorities, wrote a history of the rise of the Moham-
medan power in India till the year 1612, which has
been ably translated from the original Persian by

dreaded name of Saracens) provoked the
nations of Christendom to attempt the rescue
of the Holy Land; but the struggle carried on
there for nearly three centuries, never imme-
diately aff'ected the centre of the Moham-
medan empire, which continued at Bagdad
for about 500 years. Mustassem was caliph
when Hulaku, a descendant of the cele-
brated Jengis Khan, besieged and captured
Bagdad. The cruel victor, after mocking
his wretched prisoner with vain hopes until
he had obtained his hidden treasures, ex-
posed him for seme days to the lingering
torments of starvation, and then, under the
pretence of unwillingness to shed his blood,
caused him to be wrapped in coarse camlet,
and rolled about on the ground until he
expired. Thus perished the last of the
Abbassides, a.d. 1258. In the city alone,
800,000 persons, or according to some au-
thorities, a much greater number were slain,
so that the Tigris was dyed with gore.

Indo-Arabic Conquests. — In a.d. 664, a
large force marched from Meru to Cabool,
and made converts of upwards of 12,000
persons. At the same time, Mohalib, (after-
wards an eminent commander in Persia and
Arabia,) proceeded thence with a detach-
ment in the direction of India, penetrated to
Moultan, and having plundered the country,
triumphantly rejoined the army at Khoras-
san, bringing with him many captives, who
were compelled to declare themselves converts
to the Moslem*creed. No further attempt is
recorded as having been made on the north
of India during the continuance of the Arab
rule, but the prince of Cabool appears to
have been rendered tributary, if not subject
to the caliphs, since his revolt is mentioned
by Ferishta,t as the occasion of a new in-
vasion of his territories eighteen years later.
The Arabs at this period met with an unex-
pected check : they were drawn into a de-
file, defeated, and compelled to surrender,
and to purchase their freedom by an ample
ransom. One old contemporary of Moham-
med is said to have disdained all compro-
mise, and to have fallen by the swords of
the infidels. This disgrace was immediately
revenged by the Arab governor of Seestan,

Colonel Briggs. A considerable portion of it had
been previously rendered into English by Colonel
Dow, but the value of his work is lessened by mis-
translations, and also by being largely interspersed
with reflections and facts collated from other sources,
which, though often interesting and important in
themselves, are so closely interwoven with the text
as to leave the reader in doubt regarding the portion
which actually rests on the testimony of Ferishta.

AUAB INVASIONS OF WESTERN INDIA— a.d. 699 to 710.

and yet more completely by Abdurehman,
governor of Khorassan, who in a.d. 699, led
a powerful army in person against the city,
and reduced the greater part of the country
to subjection. A quarrel with Hejaj, the
governor of Bassora, led Abdurehman into
rebellion against the reigning caliph (Abdel-
melek, one of the Ommiades), whereupon
he formed an alliance with his former
enemy, the prince of Cabool, in whose
dominions he was compelled to take re-
fuge, and at length, to avoid being given up
to his enemies, committed suicide.*

The nation to which this prince of Cabool
belonged is rendered doubtful by the posi-
tion of his capital at a corner where the
countries of the Paropamisan Indians, the
Afghans, the Persians, and the Tartars are
closely adjoining each other. Elphiiistoue
supposes him to have been a Persian, and
considers it very improbable that he could
have been an Afghan, as Cabool is never
known to have been possessed by a tribe of
that nation.

At this period the northern portion of
the tract included in the branches of the
Hindoo Coosh, and now inhabited by
the Eimaks and Hazarehs, was known by
the name of the mountains of Ghor, and
probably occupied by Afghans, as also the
middle part, all of which seems to have been
included in the mountains of Soliman.f The
southern portion,' known by the name of the
mountains of Mekran, were inhabited by
Beloochecs as at present ; and the other
ridges connected with the same range as
those of Ghor, but situated to the east of the
range of Imaus and Soliman, were probably
tenanted by Indians, descendants of the
ParopamisadiB. Ferishta seems to have been
led by their traditions to believe the Af-
ghansj to have been converted to Moham-
medanism in the life-time of its originator,
and represents them as invading the terri-
tory of the Hindoos as early as a.h. 63, and

* Klwlaaat al A/Mar, and the Tarikhi Tdbari,
quoted by Price (vol. i., pp. 455 — 463).

t Elphinstone, vol. i., 496. I am informed by Mr.
Masson, on the authority of Mirza Sami, the minister
of Dost Mohammed, who corrected the mistake made
by Sir A. Burnes on the subject in his presence, that
the term Hindoo Coosh is especially given to the high
peak of the range to which it belongs, immediately
overhanging Ghosband, although it is applied, in
ordinary parlance, to some extent of the range
stretching east or north-east.

X Ferishta records, on the anthority of the Mutla-
ool-Anwar, a work supposed to be no longer extant,
but which he describes as written by a respectable
author, tliat the Afghans are Copts of the race of the

as afterwards continually eng.aged in hos-
tiUtics with the Rajah of Lahore, until, in
conjunction with the Gukkurs (a people on
the hills east of the Indus), they obtained
from him a cession of territory, secretly
engaging in return to protect him from the
attacks of other Mussulmans. It was owing •
to this compact that the princes of the house
of Samani never invaded the north of India,
but confined their predatory incursions to
Sinde. Ferishta further mentions that the
Afghans gave an asylum to the remains of
the Arabs who were driven out of Sinde in
the second century of the Hejira. §

This account is on the whole sufficiently
probable. The Afghans may have willingly
received the Koran |1 long before their subju-
gation by Sultan Mahmood. On the sub-
ject of their early religion, Mohammedan
historians afford no light, owing to their not
distinguishing denominations of infidels.
Arab descents on Sinde by sea are men-
tioned as early as the caliphate of Omar, but
they were probably piratical expeditions,
undertaken for the purpose of carrying off
the women of the country, whose beauty
seems to have been much esteemed in Ara-
bia. Several detachments were also sent
through the south of Mekran (the Gedrosia
of Alexander) , during the reigns of the early
caliphs, but all failed owing to the impracti-
cable character of this barren region.

At length, in the reign of the canph
Walid, an Arab ship laden with slave-girls
and rarities from Sinde having been seized
at Dival or Dewal, a sea-port connected
with Sinde (supposed to be the site of the
modern Kurrachee), the rajah, named Dahir
by the Mussulmans, was called on for resti-
tution. The capital of this prince was at
Alor, near Bukkur, and he possessed Moul-
tan and all Sinde, with, perhaps, the adjoin-
ing plain of the Indus, as far as the moun-
tains at Calabagh. His territory was por-
tioned out among his relations, probably

Pharaohs, many of whom, after the overthrow of the
infidel monarch and his host in the Ked Sea, became
converts to the true faith; but others, stubborn and
self-willed, continued obstinate, and, leaving their
country, came to India and settled in the Soliman
Mountains under the name of Afghans. (Briggs'
Ferishta, vol. i., p. 6.) The people themselves claim
descent from Afghaun, grandson ofSaul, king of Israel.

§ A quarter of the Balla Hissar, or citadel of Ca-
bool, retains the name of Arabah, and its occupants
are of Arabic descent.

II The Tartar nations, China, the Malay country
and the Asiatic islands, afford evidence of the propa-
gation of the religion of the Mussulmans, inde-
pendent of their arms.

'5^

CAPTUllE OF THE FORT OF ALOR BY CASIM— a.d. 711.

en the feudal tenure still common among
the Rajpoots. Dahir refused compliance
with the demand of Walid, on the ground
that Dewal was not subject to his authority ;
the excuse was deemed unsatisfactory, and
a body of 1,000 infantry and oOO horse
were despatched to Sinde ; but this inade-
quate force perished like its predecessors
on the road. Hejaj, the before-mentioned
governor of Bassora, prepared a regular army
of 6,000 men at Shiraz, and entrusted the
command to his son-in-law, Mohammed
Casim, then only twenty years of age. By
him the troops were safely conducted to the
walls of Dewal, a. h. 92 (a.d. 711). Casim,
being provided with catapultas and other
engines, commenced operations by attacking
a celebrated pagoda without the city, sur-
rounded by a high enclosure of hewn stoae,
and occupied, in addition to the numerous
Brahmin inhabitants, by a strong garrison
of Rajpoots. The Arab leader having
learned that the safety of the place was
believed to be connected with that of the
sacred standard displayed on the tower of
the temple, directed his engines against this
object, and having succeeded in bringing it to
the ground, the dismay of the besieged soon
terminated in surrender. The town was like-
wise taken, and a rich booty obtained. The
Brahmins rejected the proposed test of con-
version — circumcision : all above the age of
seventeen were put to death, and the re-
mainder, with the women, reduced to slavery.
Brahmanabad, NeronKow (now Hyderabad),
Sehwan, and Salem* were in turn reduced,
and Casim, strengthened by a reinforcement
of 2,000 horse from Persia, continued to
advance, notwithstanding the opposition of
a powerful force under the rajah's eldest
son, until he reached the neighbourhood of
Alor or Abhor, where he was confronted by
the rajah himself, at the head of 40,000 men.
The disproportion of numbers rendered
retreat or advance equally hazardous for the
invader,' who prudently ensconced his small
force t in a strong position, and awaited the
attack of the Hindoos, anxiously watching
for any error or disaster which might create

* The site of Brahmanabad is supposed by Burnes
to be marked by the ruins close to the modern town
I of Tatta (Travels, vol. iii., p. 31), but Captain
M'Murdo {R. A. S. Journal, No. I., p. 28), thinks it
must have been situated on the other side of the pre-
sent course of the Indus, much farther to the north-
east. Sehwan still retains its ancir<it name. ^The
site of Salem is doubtful.

t It is stated in a work, abstracted from the family
annals of Nawab Bahav.al Khan, and translated and

disorder among their unwieldy ranks. Such
a circumstance occurred at an early period
of the engagement. A naptha fire-ball
struck the rajah's elephant, and the terrified
animal becoming absolutely ungovernable,
rushed from the field of battle and plunged
into the adjacent river Indus. Dahir, al-
though severely wounded by an arrow,
mounted his war-horse and returned imme-
diately to the scene of action, but the dis-
appearance of the leader had produced its
usual effect on an Asiatic army; the fortune
of the day was already decided ; and the
brave rajah, after vainly attempting to rally
his panic-stricken forces, plunged into the
midst of the Arab cavalry, and, with a small
hand of trusty followers, fell covered with
wounds. His son fled to Brahmanabad, but
his widow collected the remains of the
routed army and successfully defended the
city, until famine within the walls proved a
more powerful enemy than the sword with-
out. Inflamed by her example, a body of Raj-
poots resolved to devote themselves and their
families to death, after the manner of their
tribe. When all hope of deliverance had fled,
they bathed, and with other ceremonies took
leave of each other and the world; the women
and children were then sacrificed on a fune-
real pile, and the men, headed by the widow
of Dahir, flung open the gates of the for-
tress, and all perished in an attack on the
Mohammedan camp. The city was then car-
ried by storm, those who remained in arms
were slaughtered, and their families reduced
to bondage.

A last desperate stand was made at Ash-
candra, after which Moultan seems to have
fallen without resistance, and every part of
the dominions of the ill-fated DahirJ was
gradually subjected. Each city was called
upon to embrace the religion of Mohammed
or to pay tribute; in default of both, an
assault was commenced, and unless saved by
timely capitulation, the fighting men were
put to death and their families sold for
slaves. Four cities held out to the last
extremity ; and in two of them the number
of soldiers who were refused quarter is esti-

published by Shahamet AH (a native gentleman in
the service of the British government), under the
title of the History of Bahawnlpur (London, 1848),
that a Brahmin of great abilitv forsook his master,
the rajah, previous to the final conflict, and afforded
great assistance ,to Casim ; if so, he was probably
accompanied by other deserters. i

\ In the history of Sinde, translated by the late
Captain Postans, it is asserted that Dahir ruled
Cabool, as well as Sinde, and coins have been found

EXTINCTION OF ARAB POWER IN INDIA.

mated at 6,000 each. The merchants, arti-
zans, and such like were exempt from moles-
tation, beyond what must have been insepa-
rably connected with the storming of a town.
"When the payment of tribute was agreed
to, the sovereign retained his territory, sim-
nly becoming amenable to the usual rela-
tions of a tributary prince, and the people
retained all their former privileges, including
the free exercise of their religion.

Casim himself, notwithstanding his ex-
treme youth, seems to have united to mili-
tary talents of the first order, discretion and
ability to keep by conciliatory measures what
he had gained by violence.* Several Hindoo
princes were induced to join him during the
Avar, and at its conclusion he re-appointed
the Hindoo prime minister of Dahir to his
previous office, on the express ground that
he was best qualified to protect old rights,
and maintain established institutions.

The conquest and occupation of Sinde
being completed, the victor organised an
army on a large scale, f By some writers
he is alleged to have accomplished a trium-
phant march to Canouj on the Ganges, estab-
lishing a Mohammedan garrison in every
large town on his route, when a sudden blow
from a most unexpected source terminated at
once his projects and his life. Among the
females captured at Sinde were the two
daughters of the ill-fated rajah, who, from
their beauty and high rank, were deemed
worthy to grace the seraglio of the Com-
mander of the Faithful. There they re-
mained until the year of the Hejira 96
(a.d. 714), when Walid became enamoured
of the elder sister, who vehemently declared
herself unworthy of his notice, having been
dishonoured by Casim before being sent
from her own country. The enraged caliph,
in the first headlong impulse of passion,
wrote with his own hand an order to Casim,
that he should cause himself to be sewn up
in a raw hide and thus embrace the fate
which he deserved. The faithful subject
literally obeyed this tyrannical mandate,
and his body was sent to Damascus. The
caliph showed it to the princess, as evidence
of the fate which attended those who dared
insult the "deputy of the prophet," upon
which she exultingly declared that his ill-
fated servant was wholly innocent of the
crime attributed to him, and had fallen a

I with Nagari legends, which Mr. Masson reads us refer-
ring to Sri Dahir, but Professor Wilson, to Sri Mahe.
* A Persian MS., the Tarikhi Hind o Sind, pre-
served in the India House, is the source whence most

victim to her successful stratagem, planned
to revenge the death of her father, mother,
brother, and countrymen. This strange and
romantic incident is recorded with little
variation by Mohammedan historians, and
it is perfectly consistent with the determined
character of the Hindoo women, where the
objects of their afiections are concerned, and
also with the pure and unhesitating self-
devotion repeatedly evinced by the servants
of the caliphs, f

The conquests of Casim were made over
to his successor Temim, whose family pos-
sessed them for about thirty-six years, that
is, until the downfall of the house of Ommia,
A.D. 750, when the Mussulmans were ej*-
pelled by the Rajpoot tribe of Sumera, and
their territories restored to the Hindoos,
who retained possession for nearly 500 years.
Part of the expelled Arabs found refuge,
(as before stated) among the Afghans.

Such is the account given by Elphinstone,
on the authority of Ferishta and the Ayeen
Akbery — but in the History of Bahawalpw,
since published, it is asserted that on the ex-
pulsion of the Ommia dynasty and the ac-
cession of Abul Abbas, governors were sent
out by him to Sinde and the Punjaub. But
little resistance was made, and the Abbas
house continued in the enjoyment of their
Indian acquisitions without molestation,
until the caliphate of Kader-Bellah, that is,
for a period of 286 lunar years, at the ex-
piration of which the formidable enemy of
Hindoo independence, Mahmood of Ghuz-
nee, appeared on the stage.

These statements are quite contradictory;
but whatever degree of influence or authority
the Arabs may have retained after the check
given by the death of their leader, Casim,
it is certain that neither their power nor
their creed spread, but rather diminished
from that moment. The passive courage of
the Hindoos generally, as well as the more
active bravery of the Rajpoots, associated
especially with a devoted ' attachment to a
religion closely interwoven with their laws
and customs — opposed great obstacles to in-
vaders, even more desirous of converting
than of conquering them. Besides this,
the great change which took place in the
spirit of the Mohammedan rulers, rendered
their antagonism far less dangerous. The
rude soldiers of Arabia, who had raised the

accounts of Casim's military transactions are derived.

t About 50,000 Mohammedans are said to have
collected around his standard on this occasion.

X Briggs' Ferishta, vol. iv., p. 410.

RISE OF THE KINGDOM OF GHUZNEE.

wild war cry of Islam, passed away ; succeed-
ing generations filled their place, reared less
hardily, while their chiefs in an absorbing
desire for luxury and magnificence at
home, cared little for the dear-bought
triumphs of victory and the glory of their
standard abroad. Omar set out to join his
army at Jerusalem, (in compliance with the
stipulation of the Christians that he should
personally receive the surrender of the holy
place), with his arms and provisions on the
same camel with himself; and Othman ex-
tinguished his lamp, when he had finished
the necessary labours of the day, that the
public oil might not be expended on his
enjoyments. Al Mahdi, within a century
from the last-named ruler, loaded 500
camels with ice and snow ; and the profusion
of one day of the Abbassides would have de-
frayed all the expenses of the four first
caliphs. Thus it was left to other Mus-
sulman nations, and to dynasties formed
during the gradual dismemberment of the
great Arab empire, to establish permanent
dominion in India.

House of Ghuznee.* — To understand the
origin of this powerful family, it is necessary
to retrace our steps, and briefly notice the
country from whence they came.

After the conquest of Persia, the Oxus
became the northern Arab frontier : on the
opposite side lay a tract of country (bounded
on the north by the Jaxartes, on the west
by the Caspian Sea, and on the east by
Mount Imaus,) to which they gave the
name of Mawer ul Nahr, literally Beyond
the River, but commonly translated Traus-
oxania. It comprised much desert ground,
intermingled with tracts of remarkable fer-
tility, and was occupied partly by settled in-
habitants, who were chiefly Persians, and
partly by nomadic and pastoral tribes, com-
prehended under the vague and general
name of Tartars. f To which of the three
great nations, commonly included in Euro-
pean writings under this head, the people of
Transoxania belonged at this period, whether
Turks, Moguls, or Manchoos, is still unde-
termined ; but the first-named people are
generally supposed to have formed the bulk
of the wandering and also a section of the

• Ghuznee, otherwise spelt Ghizni and Ghazni.

t Tod, referring to Be Guignes, says — the Heong-
nou and the Ou-houn, the Turks and Moguls, were
called "Tatar," from Tatan, the name of the country
from the banks of the Irtish, along the mountains of
Altai, to the shores of the Yellow Sea. De Guignes
invariably maintains Hcong-nou to be but another
name for the Turks, among whom he places Attila

permanent population. It was more than
half a century after the subjugation of
Persia and five years before the occupation of
Sinde, that the Arabs crossed the Oxus
under Catiba, governor of Khorassan, and
after eight years spent in a contest, with
varying success, Transoxiana was subjected
to the sway of the caliphs, a.d. 713. In
806, a revolt occurred, which the son and
successor of Haroun al Raschid, Mamoon,
was enabled to quell, and afterwards by
residing in Khorassan, to retain authority
over that province. But on the removal of
the court to Bagdad, Taher, who had been
the principal instrument of Mamoon's eleva-
tion to the caliphate, to the detriment of
his brother Ameen,- established indepen-
dent authority in Khorassan and Trans-
oxiana, which were never again united to
the rapidly decaying empire.

The family of Taher were deposed after
about fifty years' rule, by the Sofarides,
whose founder Yacub ben Leith, a brazier
of Seestan, commenced by raising a revolt
in his native province, afterwards over-
ran Persia,! and died while marching to
attack the caliph in Bagdad. At the ex-
piration of forty years, the Samanis, a family
of distinction, whose members had held gov-
ernments under Mamoon while he resided in
Khorassan, and afterwards under the Taher-
ites, superseded the Sofarides and took pos-
session of their territory, nominally in behalf
of the caliph, but really without any refer-
ence to his authority. It was in the reign
of Abdelmelek, the fifth prince of this
dynasty, that Aluptugeen, the founder of
the kingdom of Gliuzuee, rose into impor-
tance. He was of Turkish descent, and had
been a slave, but his royal master recognising
his ability, had appointed him to various
offices of trust, and at length to the govern-
ment of Khorassan. On the death of his
patron, a deputation was sent to consult
Aluptugeen respecting the choice of a suc-
cessor from the royal family, and having
given his suff'rage against Mansoor the
presumptive heir, on account of his extreme
youth, he incurred the ill-will of this prince,
(whohad meantime been raised to thetlirone,)
was deprived of his office, and but for the

and the majority of his army, whose hideous physi-
ognomy and savage manners lent a fearful prestige
to their desolating marches. Another division of the
same branch of the Heong-nou had previously settled
among the Persians in Transoxiana, and acquired
the name of the White Huns, from their changed
complexion. — (Histoire generale des Iliins.)

J He likewise subjugated Cabool. — {Mr. Thomas.)

DEFEAT OF JEIPAL, RAJAH OF LAHORE— a.d. 978.

fidelity of a trusty band of adherents, aided
by his own military skill, would have lost
liberty, if not life. At Ghuznee, in the
heart of the Soliman mountains, the fugi-
tive found safety, accompanied by 3,000 dis-
ciplined slaves [Mameluks). Here he was
probably joined by soldiers who had served
under him, as well as by the hill Afghans,
who, even though they might not acknow-
ledge his authority, Avould be readily in-
duced by wages to enter his service. In his
flight Aluptugeen was attended by a faith-
ful slave named Subuktugeen, brought by a
merchant from Turkistan to Bokhara.*
Following the example of his early bene-
factor, he had fostered the abilities of the
youth until, on the establishment of a king-
dom in Ghuznee, he rewarded the service
of his adherent, both as a counsellor and
general, by the titles of Ameer-ool-Omra
(chief of the nobles) and Vakeel-i-Mootluk
(representative). He is even said to have
named him as hia successor, but authorities
differ on this point, some stating that Subuk-
tugeen acceded immediately to the throne
on the demise of Aluptugeen, a.d. 975;
others, that he was chosen, on the death of
that monarch's son and successor, two years
later, by general consent of the chiefs, and
then married the daughter of his patron.
Having been recognised by the caliph Man-
soor as governor of Ghuznee, he had, con-
sequently, nothing to dread from that quar-
ter, but was speedily called upon to make
preparations against Jeipal {Jaya Pala),
rajah of Lahore, who, alarmed by the
growing power of a Mohammedan ruler
so near his frontier, and already harassed by
frequent incursions, determined in turn to
become the assailant. At the head of a
large army he crossed the Indus, marched
to Laghman at the mouth of the valley
which extends from Peshawer to Cabool,
and was there met by Subuktugeen. Some
skirmishes ensued, but a general engage-
ment was prevented by a terrible tempest of
thunder, wind, and hail, in which some
thousands of both armies were said to have
perished. This disaster was attributed to
supernatural causes ;t and the Hindoos,
less accustomed than their hardy foes to the

• He is alleged to have been lineally descended
from Yezdijerd, the last of the Persian monarchs,
who when flying from his enemies during the cali-
phate of Othman, was murdered while sleeping at
a water-mill near the town of Meru. His family
being left in Turkistan formed connections among
the people, and his descendants became Turks.

t Prince Mahmood learning that in the camp of

extreme vicissitudes of climate, and probably
more superstitious, proposed terms of peace,
to which Subuktugeen, notwithstanding the
opposition of his warlike son Mahmood,
then a mere boy, at length consented, on
representation being made to him of the
determined courage of the Hindoos, espe-
cially the Rajpoots, when driven to the last
extremity. Jeipal surrendered fifty ele-
phants, and engaged to pay a large sum of
money, but on regaining the shelter of his
own dominions, fear gave way to resent-
ment, and, forfeiting his pledge, he impri-
soned the messengers sent to demand its
redemption. Hostilities re-commenced ; the
rajahs of Delhi, Ajmeer, Calinjar, and
Ganouj,J made common cause with their
countrymen; and when the rival forces
again met in Laghman, the Ghuznee sove-
reign, having ascended a height to ascertain
the disposition of the enemy, beheld the
whole plain covered with an almost count-
less host, comprising 100,000 horse and a
prodigious number of foot soldiers. Un-
daunted by the prospect, and considering
himself " as a wolf about to attack a flock of
sheep," Subuktugeen divided his troops
into squadrons of 500 men each, and di-
rected them to attack successively one par-
ticular point of the dense line of the enemy,
which would thus be continually compelled
to encounter fresh troops. The mancEuvre
succeeded in occasioning some disorder,
which was the signal for a general assault ;
the Hindoos gave way, and were driven with
dreadful slaughter beyond the Indus, up to
which point Subuktugeen at once took pos-
session, levied heavy contributions in addi-
tion to the plunder found in the camp, and
left an officer, supported by 10,000 horse, as
governor of Peshawer. The Afghans and
Khiljis (a distinct Tartar tribe) tendered
allegiance, and furnished useful recruits.
He then employed himself in consolidating
his own dominions, which now extended on
the west beyond Candahar, until an appeal
for help from his nominal sovereign Noah
(the seventh of the Samanis) against the
inroads of the Hoeike Tartars, who then
possessed all Tarlary as far east as China,
induced him again to have recourse to arms.

Jeipal was a spring, into which, if a mixture of or-
dure were thrown, a fearful storm would arise,
caused this to be done and the predicted result im-
mediately followed. — {Ferishla.) The fact of there
being near Laghman, a spot subject to tempests of
extraordinary severity, renders this tale interesting.

X These princes were all of the Pala family, and
consequently related to the rajah of Lahore.

ACCESSION OF MAHMOOD OF GHUZNEE— a.d. 998.

So efficient was the assistance rendered, that
Noah, reinstated in his authority, recognised
the right of Subuktugeen over all his acqui-
sitions, and conferred the government of
Khorassan on Mahmood, with the title of
Syf-ood-Dowla (Sword of the State). This
arrangement was almost immediately dis-
turbed by the death of the two chief parties,
and the changes and dissensions which arose
in their dominions.

Mahmood, being absent at the time of his
father's demise, was supplanted in his claim
to the succession by his brother Ismael,
whom, after defeating in a pitched battle,
he captured and imprisoned for the rest of
his life, mitigating however the severity of
the sentence by every indulgence consistent
with such a situation. During the seven
months spent in establishing himself in
Ghuznee, events occurred in Bokhara very
detrimental to his interests. The new king,
Mansoor II., fell into the power of the old
enemies of his family, and by the influence
of Elik Khan the Tartar sovereign, was
compelled to receive Faik, one of his most
turbulent and rebellious nobles, as his
prime minister or rather master. The ap-
plication of Mahmood to be continued in
the government of Khorassan was abruptly
rejected, and soon afterwards some court
intrigues led to the unhappy Mansoor's
being dethroned and blinded, whereupon
Abdulmelek was elected his successor as the
instrument of Faik, a.d. 999. On this,
Mahmood ordered the name of the Samanis
to be omitted in the public prayers; took
possession of Khorassan in his own behalf;
and having received an investiture from the
reigning caliph (the dispenser of powers
which he himself no longer enjoyed) pro-
claimed the independence of his sway. He
is henceforth commonly termed Sultan, an
old Arabic word signifying king, but this
title is not found upon his coins.* He next
made peace with, and married the daughter
of Elik Khan, who had secured his share in
the spoil of a falling dynasty by seizing on
Transoxiana, and had thus put an end to
the dominion of the Samanis after it had
lasted 120 years. Mahmood was now little
more than thirty years of age. The vigour
and ambition of his mind were in accord-
ance with his athletic and well-proportioned

• Sultan, first stamped by the Seljuk, Toghral Beg,
was assumed in Ghuznee some fifteen years later
by Ibrahim, A.D. lOCO. (Thomas, on Ghuziii Coins.)

t Alexander was reproached by his mother for
placbg his friends on a level with princes, by his

frame, but, greedy of personal distinction
of every kind, he considered the mens sana
in corpore sano insuiiieient compensation
for an ordinary stature, and features dis-
figured with the small pox in a manner,
which at least in his youth, he bitterly re-
gretted, as calculated to mar the effect of
the splendid pageants in which he delighted
to form the chief object. For Mahmood,
famous warrior as he afterwards and had
indeed already proved himself, could not as
a legislator bear comparison with his vaunted
teacher Mohammed, and was very far from
uniting the comprehensive ability of the
statesman to the sword of the conqueror,
like his mighty predecessor in India, Alex-
ander; who, heedless of the externals of
royalty, lavished gold and jewels upon his
followers until his own coffers were empty,t
and — superior to the vanity which led his
successors to stamp their resemblance on
coins and images, cared so little for this
species of notoriety, that of his kingly form
no popular notion remains, save that con-
nected with the keen intelligence of the
eye, and the peculiar carriage of the head,
dwelt on by cotemporaries as his peculiar
characteristics.

The vice of covetousness, in the indul-
gence of which Mahmood's intense selfish-
ness found constant gratification, gradually
swallowed up the higher qualities of his
intellect, as well as the better feelings of his
heart. It had probably been early stimu-
lated by the rich booty captured during his
father's war with Jeipal, and by reports of
the immense stores of wealth heaped around
idolatrous slirines, which it was the duty of
every " true believer" to pillage and destroy.
The unsettled state of the surrounding na-
tions ofi'ered a wide scope for his ambition,
but Indian conquest appears to have been
his paramount desire. Having therefore, as
before stated, entered into a friendly alli-
ance with Elik Khan and made arrange-
ments for the government of his own domi-
nions, he proceeded with 10,000 chosen
horse to invade India, a.d. 1001. Near
Peshawer he was met by his father's old
antagonist, the rajah of Lahore, whom, after
totally defeating, he made prisoner. From
thence the conqueror pursued his victorious
march beyond the Sutlej, to the fort of Ba-

unbounded generosity. Mahmood when dying or-
dered his treasures to be spread out bel'ore him, and
shed bitter tears at the thought of parting with
them, but distributed no portion among the faithlul
adherents who had assisted him in their acquisition.

62 MAHMOOD'S EARLY EXPEDITIONS TO INDIA— a.d. 1001—1005.

tinda,* which he stormed, and thp»i returned
to Ghuznee with the rich spoils of the camp
and country, iuchiding sixteen necklaces, one
of which, belonging to Jeipal, was valued at
180,000 dihnars,t or £81,000.

In the ensuing spring the Hindoo pri-
soners were released on payment of a heavy
ransom, but the Afghan chiefs who had
joined them were put to death. Jeipal him-
self returned to his kingdom, and having
made over his aiithority to his son Aiiung
Pill, bravely met the fate a mistaken creed
assigned as a duty to a sovereign twice con-
quered by a foreign foe; and mounting a
pyre which he had caused to be prepared,
set it on fire and perished in the flames.
Anung Pal (Ananda FalaJ appears to have
at first endeavoured to fulfil his father's
engagement, but the rajah of Bhatia,J a
dependency of Lahore, on the eastern side
of Moultan, refused to furnish his quota of
the stipulated tribute, upon which the sultan
'proceeded in person to enforce it (a.u. 1004),
and drove the offending rajah, first from a
well-defended intrenchment, and then from
a strong fortress, until the fugitive, in des-
pair, finding himself pursued even among the
thickets of the Indus, where he had hoped
for refuge, and being at the point of cap-
ture, turned his sword against his own
breast : the majority of his remaining ad-
herents perished in vainly endeavouring to
avenge his death.

After annexing Bhatia and its dependen-
cies the conqueror departed, bearing away
as usual much booty of various kinds, in-
cluding 280 elephants and many captives.

A third expedition, into India was soon

• Situated in an almost inaccessible tract inhab-
ited by the Bhattis or Shepherds. Thoujjh sur-
rounded by a sort of desert, the rajah resided here,
alternately with his capital Lahore, probably as a
measure of security. Bird's IlUtory of Gvjurat,
from tlie Persian of AH Mohammed Khan.

f Valuing the dihnar at nine shillings.

j Site disputed, generally considered to be the
present Bhulneer.

§ Brigg's Ferishta, vol. i. p. 40. This expression
probably alludes to a supposed fallin"^ into hetero-
doxy rather than paganism. Sects and dissensions
had early arisen among the Mohammedans, and in-
creased until they amounted to seventy-three, the
number said to have been foretold by Mohammed.
These may be classed under two heads. The be-
lievers, generally deemed orthodox, are included
under the term Sonnites (or traditionists), because they
acknowledge the authority of the Sonna, a collection
of moral traditions of the sayings and actions of their
founder, which is a sort of supplement tn the Koran,
answering in name and design to tlie Mishna of the
Jews. The Sonnites regard the Koran as uncreated
and eternal, in opposition to the Motazalites (or sepa-

undertaken against the Afghan ruler ot
Moultan, Abul Futteh Lodi, the grandson
of the chief who had joined Subuktugeen
after his first victory over the Hindoos.
Abul, although educated as a jMassulman,
had " abandoned the tenets of the faitiiful,"§
and what Mahmood considered of more im-
portance, thrown off" his political allegiance,
and entered into a close alliance with Anung
Pal, who, on learning the approach of their
joint foe, advanced to intercept him, but
was defeated near Peshawer, pursued to
Sodra (near Vizirabad) on the Chenab, and
compelled to take refuge in Cashmere.
Moukan was then besieged, but at the end
of seven days a compromise was effected, the
revolting chief promising implicit obedi-
ence for the future and the payment of an
annual tribute of 20,000 golden dirhems;||
terms which Mahmood was only too glad to
grant, having received intelligence of a for-
midable invasion of his dominions by the
armies of Elik Khan. The ties of relation-
ship had not sufficed to prevent the en-
croaching Tartar from endeavouring to take
advantage of the unprotected state in which
his son-in-law had left his home possessions,
while intent on aggressive incursions abroad.
Hoping to acquire Khorassan without diffi-
culty, he despatched one force to Herat
and another to Balkh to take possession.
But he had formed too low an estimate of
the energy of the opponent he had wantonly
provoked. Committing the charge of his
acquisitions on the Indus to Sewuk Pal, a
Hindoo who had embraced Mohammedanism,
jNIahmood immediately proceeded by long
and rapid marches to Ghuznee, and thence to

ratists) and others, who maintain such an assertion
to be rank infidelity ; and some caliphs of the Abbas
fanaly (Motassem and Wathek) endeavoured to sup-
press it Ijy punishing its advocates with whipping, im-
prisonment, and even death. An account of the
numerous false ])rophets who sprang u]), in in;itation
of the arch-deceiver himself, is ably given in the in-
trrduction to Sale's Koran ; among them figures
Mokanna, the veiled prophet, ihe hero of Moore's
most popular production. The Sheiahs, a term sig
nifying sectaries or adherents in general, is pecu-
liarly applied to the followers of Ah, who hold him
to have been the rightful Caliph and Imaum, or high
])ontiff, (by virtue of his birth, of his marringe with
Fatima, and of his having been the first independent
person who recognised the missionof Mohamnud.)and
consider the sujjreme authority both temporal and spi-
ritual inalienably vested in his descendants. The Per-
sians are mostly Sheiahs J the Turks generally come un-
derthehead of Sonnites, and these, like many less con-
spicuous sects, are in direct opposition to each other.
II 'J'he value of the silver dirhem is about five-
pence ; that of the golden one, Colonel Briggs states,
is not estimated in any work be has examined.

HOSTILITIES IN MOULTAN AND THE PUNJAUB— a.d. 1008.

Balkh, whence the intruders fled, as did the
troops at Herat, before the force detached
for tlieir expulsion.

Elik Khan, alarmed at the turn of affairs,
applied for assistance to Kadr Khan of
Klioten, who marched to join him with
50,000 men. Thus strengthened he crossed
the Oxus and was met near Balkh by Mah-
mood, who had employed even more than
wonted skill in the arrangement of his re-
sources. Not the least of these was a body
of 500 elephants, captured at various times
from the Hindoos, the mere sight of which
would, he rightly conjectured, check the
fury of the Tartar charge, and probably suc-
ceed in breaking their line : but being well
aware that failing in this, these timid and
unwieldy, though sagacious and gentle crea-
tures, would, as he had often witnessed,
, becoming alarmed and injured, rush back
furiously on their masters, he stationed them
at intervals among the troops, leaving free
way for their retreat in the event of a re-
pulse. This forethought, however, proved
needless. Both armies advanced with im-
petuosity to the charge, and Elik Khan,
attended by his guards, attacked the centre
of the army of Mahmood, who, perceiving
his intention, leaped from his horse, and
after (as was his wont, on the eve of any
great struggle) prostrating himself on the
ground and invoking the aid of the Al-
mighty, — mounted an elephant and ad-
vanced to meet his assailant. The well-
trained animal seizing the standard-bearer
of the enemy in his trunk, tossed him aloft,
to the dismay of his companions. The
Ghuznevides urged on the other elephants
and pressed forward themselves to support
tlieir leader ; tlie Tartars were driven off
the field with prodigious slaughter, and Elik
Khan escaped across the Oxus with a few
attendants, having received a severe lesson
not again to meddle with the dominions of
his warlike relative. But for the incle-

* On the third night of the pursuit a violent storin
of wind and snow occurred. The army remained
unsheltered, but the royal tents had with much
ditficulty been pitched and heated by stoves, so that
many of the courtiers began to throw off their upper
garments. One of them came in sliivering with cold,
which Mahmood perceiving, addressed him with —
" Go, Dilchuk, and tell Winter that he may burst
his cheeks with blustering — here we defy his power."
Dilchuk went out, and returning, declared that he
had delivered his message, and the surly season
replied, that though he might fail to touch royalty
or its immediate retainers, yet he would so evince
his power over the army that in the morning the
sultan might be compelled to saddle his own horse.

meney of the season, it being the winter of
1006, he might have fared still worse; for
Mahmood, after two days' pursuit, was
not without great reluctance compelled to
return to his capital by the intense cold,
from which some hundreds of his men and
horses perished.*

Meanwhile Sewuk Pal, the renegade
Hindoo governor, had relapsed into ido-
latry and expelled all the officers appointed
by Mahmood, who, marching to India, de-
tached a body of cavalry in advance, by
whom the offender was surprised and cap-
tured. His sentence was a heavy fine and
imprisonment for life.f

In the spring of 1008, the Sultan as-
sembled a large army and set out on his
fourth Indian expedition, on the plea of
revenging the opposition he had received
during the hostilities in Moultan from
Anung Pal, who, on becoming aware of his
danger, sent ambassadors to the Hindoo
princes on all sides, urging them to unite
for the protection of their religion and in-
dependence. The appeal was successful ;
the rajahs of Oojein, Gwalior, Calinjar,
Canouj, Delhi, and Ajmeer entered into a
confederacy, and collecting their forces, ad-
vanced into the Punjaub with an army,
whose magnitude so astonished Mahmood,
that instead of displaying his usual alacrity
to meet danger, he halted in the presence
of the enemy, took up a position near
Peshawer, and remained forty days in a de-
fensive attitude. It must have seemed to
him as if the whole male population of
Hindoostan had come, en masse, to obstruct
his progress, and to die, if necessary, in the
attempt. Their numbers and enthusiasm
daily increased, contributions constantly
arrived from the women of distant parts,
who sold their jewels and melted down their
ornaments to provide ample resources for the
defence of their country, and the Gukkurs
and other warlike troops rallying round the

AVith all his faults, Mahmood seems to have been
neither irascible nor tyrannical in his bearing to-
wards those about him. The reproof thus wittily
conveyed is said to have induced him to renounce
the idea of further advance, but the distressing
scenes of death and suffering manifested by the dawn
of the following day must have sufficed to afford
reason for retreat. — (Briggs' Ferishta, vol. i., p. 44.)

t In the text I have followed the example of
Elphinstone in adopting the statement of Ferishta ;
but Mr. Bird asserts, on the authority of older Per-
sian writers, that there was no such person as Sewuk
Pal, and that the mistake arose from placing the
expedition to Moultan before, instead of after, the
war with Elik Khan. — {^History of Gujarat, p. 23.)

64 DEFEAT OF CONFEDERATED HINDOO KAJAHS— a.d. 1008— '10.

popular standard, encompassed the Moham-
medans, who were compelled to intrench
their camp. Mahmood perceiving the in-
creasing danger, strove to profit by the
strength of his defences, and sent out a
body of 6,000 archers to provoke an attack.
The success of this stratagem had well nigh
proved fatal to the schemer, for the hardy
Gukkurs having repulsed the archers, pur-
sued them so closely, that in spite of the
sultan's personal efforts, a numerous body
of these mountaineers, bare-headed and
bare-footed, variously and strangely armed,
passed the entrenchments on both flanks,
and throwing themselves among the cavalry
with irresistible fury, proceeded to cut
down and maim both horse and rider, until
in a very short space of time between 3,000
and 4,000 Mohammedans were slain. The
assailants however, after the first onset,
were checked and cut off as they advanced,
till, on a sudden the elephant on which the
Hindoo leader rode becoming unruly *
turned and fled, and his followers thinking
themselves deserted, gave way, and were
easily routed. Mahmood immediately de-
spatched 10,000 men in pursuit of the re-
treating army, of whom nearly twice as many
were slain before they could reach a place
of safety. Then, without allowing the scat-
tered hosts time to reassemble, he followed
them into the Punjaub, and on their effectual
dispersion, found himself at liberty to give
free scope to his plundering propensities in
the rifling of the fort of Bheem (now Nagar-
cot), a fortified temple on a steep mountain
connected with the lower range of the
Himalaya. This edifice was considered to
derive peculiar sanctity from a burning foun-
tain or natural flame, which issued from the
ground within its precincts, and was en-
riched by princely offerings, besides being
the depository of the wealth of the neigh-
bourhood ; so that, according to Ferishta,
such an amount of treasure was never col-
lected by any prince on earth. It would seem
incredible that a place of the first import-
ance should be left unguarded, but its

* In various copies of Ferishta, the cause of the
elephant's alarm is ascribed to guns and muskets.
As no Persian or Arabic history speaks of gunpowder
before the time assigned to its European invention,
A.D. 1317, Briggs, by a slight change of the diacrital
points in the manuscripts, renders it — " naptha balls
and arrows." Elphinstone deems the expression
an anachronism of the author ; but as there is every
reason to believe that this explosive material was
then used in China, it seems just possible that it
might have been obtained from thence.

garrison having been drawn off" during the
late effort to free Hindoostan from her per-
secutor, the rapidity of his movements had
cut off" any chance of reinforcement ; and
when, after having laid waste the surround-
ing country with fire and sword, he ap-
proached the walls, no opposition was at-
tempted by the defenceless priests, who glad-
ly capitulated on the condition of their lives
being spared. Entering the temple with
the chief officers of his court and household,
Mahmood gazed in delighted amazement at
the vast stores garnered up therein. Gold
and silver, wrought and nnwrought, in dih-
nars, plate and ingots; pearls, corals, dia-
monds, rubies and various other jewels,t
accumulated since the time of llajah
Bheema, in the heroic ages, became the
prize of the royal marauder, who returned
with his booty to Ghuznee, and in a
triumphal festival held during three days
on a spacious plain, displayed on golden
thrones and tables manufactured from his
Indian spoils, the richest and rarest of his
acquisitions. Sumptuous banquets were
provided for the spectators, alms liberally
distributed among the poor, and magnificent
presents bestowed on persons of distinction ;
all this display being at once very gratifying to
the sultan's love of magnificence, and well
calculated to contribute to his popularity,
and the maintenance of internal tranquillity
during his frequent absence.

In A.D. 1010, Mahmood proceeded against
the strong country of Ghov, in the moun-
tains east of Herat. The inhabitants were
Afghans, and had been converted and sub-
dued by the caliphs in the commencement
of the second century of the Hejira. Their
chief, Mohammed Soor, strongly posted, and
at the head of 10,000 men, repelled the
attacks of his assailant from early morning
till noon, but was eventually tempted from
his secure position, by the pretended dis-
orderly retreat of the Ghuznevides, in pur-
suit of whom the Ghorians sallied forth, but
were speedily made aware of the trap into
which they had fallen, by the sudden halt

t There are said to have been 700,000 golden
dihnars, 700 mauns of gold and silver plate, 200
mauns of ])ure gold in ingots, 2,000 mauns of un-
wrought silver, and 20 mauns of jewels. There are
several kinds of maun ; the smallest, that of Arabia,
is two pounds; the most common, that of Tabriz,
eleven pounds ; and that of India, eighty pounds.
Taking the smallest weight, we have 1,4001b. of
gold and silver plate, 4001b. of golden ingots,
4,0001b. of silver bullion, and 401b. weight ol
jewels. — (Briggs' Ferishta, vol. i., p. 48.)

SURRENDER OF CANOUJ— DEVASTATION OP MUTTRA— a.d. 1017. 65

and fierce onset of the foe, by whom they
were competely defeated. Their chief being
taken prisoner, swallowed some poison,
which he always kept about him in a ring,
and died in a few hours. His country was
annexed to the dominions of Ghuznee, but
it is worthy of note that by his descendants
the conquering dynasty was at length utterly
overthrown.

Two years afterwards, the mountainous
country of Jurjistan,* adjoining Ghor, was
reduced, and another attack made upon
Moultan, which had revolted. In the words
of Ferishta, who, as a Mussulman historian,
chooses very gentle phrases in which to ex-
press the sanguinary deeds of fellow-believers,
" a number of the infidel inhabitants were
cut off," and Abul Futtch Lodi brought
to Ghuznee as a captive, and doomed to
languish in the gloomy fort of Ghooruk for
life. In the following year, 1011, Mahmood
undertook an expedition of unusual length
to Tanesur (thirty miles west of Delhi). He
was met by the urgent entreaties of the Hin-
doos that he would spare the temple, which
they held in great veneration, and accept a
ransom, but he replied, " the Koran declared
that the extent to which the followers of
the prophet exerted themselves for the sub-
version of idolatry would be the measure of
their reward in heaven, — it therefore be-
hoved him, by Divine assistance, to root out
the worship of idols from the face of all
India." Proceeding forthwith to Tanesur,
before its defenders had time to assemble,
he plundered the temple, destroyed the
idols, sacked the town, and carried away
200,000 captives and much treasure, so that
throughout the camp "no soldier was with-
out wealth or many slaves. "t

Two predatory incursions into Cashmere
were next attempted, the second of which
proved disastrous from the difficulties of a
march commenced when the season was too
far advanced. J A brief interval of repose
for India followed, during which Mahmood
took advantage of the disturbed state of the
affairs of Elik Khan's successor in Tartary
to acquire possession of Transoxiana, and
extend his dominion to the Caspian Sea,
From this period his Indian exploits were
on a grander scale, and he seems to have
united a much stronger desire for the per-

• Mistaken by D'Herbelot and others for Georgia.
t Briggs' Terishta, vol. i. p. 53.
X Stewart's History of Bemjal, pp. 10. 11.
§ Mahmood writing to Ghuznee declared that
Muttra contained a thousand edifices "as firm as the

manent possession of conquered territories,
to his zeal for the destruction of idols, and
the appropriation of their spoils. Assem-
bling an army of 100,000 horse and 20,000
foot, drawn more especially from his newly-
acquired dominions, he made judicious ar-
rangements for the home government dur-
ing his absence, placed his two sons in
important governments aided by trusty
counsellors, and then commenced carrying
out the plans which, after much careful in-
vestigation, he had devised for the prosecu-
tion of a three months' march to the Ganges,
across seven great rivers, in an unexplored
country. Leaving Peshawer in the spring
of 1017, he passed near the confines of
Cashmere, and being joined by the prince
whom he had established there, proceeded
on his way, keeping close to the mountains
until he had ci'ossed the Jumna. Then
turning south, and driving all opposition
before them, the Mussulmans presented
themselves unexpectedly before the walls of
Canouj ; a city, says Ferishta, "which raised
its head to the skies, and, in strength and
beauty, might boast of being unrivalled."
The rajah, taken by surprise, made no
attempt at defence, but came out with his
family and surrendered himself to Mah-
mood, who, on this occasion, (either from a
motive of policy, or possibly actuated by
one of the kindly impulses in which his
nature, though warped by bigotry and ava-
rice, was by no means deficient,) showed
unusual clemency, and after three days'
tarry, left the stately city uninjured.

Other places and their rulers were less
fortunate — many were bravely defended. At
Mahawan, near Muttra, terms had been
entered into, when an accidental quarrel
among the troops led to the massacre of the
Hindoos, whose leader, conceiving himself
betrayed, destroyed his wife and family, and
then committed suicide. Muttra§ itself, the
famous seat of the Hindoo religion, was
completely devastated by the excesses of the
troops during a twenty days' halt, the hor-
rors of a conflagration being added to the
ordinary sufferings of the people of a sacked
city. Idols of gold and silver, with eyes of
rubies, and adorned with sapphires and pre-
cious stones, were demolished, melted down,
and packed on camels; destined perhaps to

faith of the faithful," mostly of marble, besides in-
numerable temples, and considered that many mil-
lions of dihnars must have been expended on the
city, the fellow to which could not be constructed
under two centuries. — {Ferishta, vol. i. p. 58.)

MAHMOOD AND FERDOUSI, THE PERSIAN POET.

excite scarcely less censurable feelings in
the breasts of their new possessors, than
fonnerlj' as the unhallowed mediums, or too
often the actual objects, of Hindoo worship.
The temples were however left standing,
either on account of the excessive, and, in
cue sense at least, unprofitable labour ne-
cessary to their destruction, or else for the
sake of their extraordinary beauty. The fort
of Munj was taken after a siege of twenty-
five days, its Rajpoot defenders at length
ending the long struggle by rushing through
the breaches on the enemy, springing from
the works, or meeting death in the flames
of their own houses, with their wives and
children; so that not one remained to be
enslaved.

Various other towns were reduced and
much country laid waste, before the vic-
torious army leaving the beautiful plains of
ill-fated, because idolatrous, Hindoostan
steeped in blood and tears, returned to their
homes in triumph, carrying with them many
prisoners.* New tastes had been acquired to-
gether with the means for their gratification,
and incited by the recollection of the stately
structures they had ruthlessly despoiled,
the rough soldiers so lately accustomed to
make the saddle their seat by day, their
pillow by night, now, following the example
of their king, employed the wealth, labour,
and talents of their wretched captives, in
rearing palaces for their private abodes as
well as public buildings for the adornment
of the capital, which soon became orna-
mented with mosques, porches, fountains,
aqueducts and reservoirs beyond any city
then existing. Malimood himself erected a
magnificent mosque of marble and granite,
called " the Celestial Bride," which was in
that age the wonder of the East; and founded
a university, supplied with an extensive and
valuable library, and a museum of natural
curiosities. To the maintenance of this
establishment he appropriated a large sum
of money, and formed a permanent fund for
the support of the students and the salaries
of qualified instructors. He also set aside
a sum nearly equal to £10,000 a-ycar, for
pensions to learned men — and through this
munificence his court became as celebrated
through Asia for its brilliant literary circle,
as was afterwards that of the Medici in

* Ferishta's confused account of their route is dis-
cussed in Bird's Jlistury of Gujarat, p. 31.

t The ruling dynasty was Turkish, but Malimood
was the illegitimate son of a Persian mother, and in
language and manners identified with that nation.

Europe. The liberality thus evinced con-
trasted strongly with his usual parsimony,
and it was well directed, for it did much to
secure for him the present and posthumous
fame which he ardently desired. Large re-
wards were offered for the production of an
historical poem which should embody the
achievements of ancient Persianf heroes ;
and the author who commenced the work
(Dakiki) having been assassinated when he
had finished about a thousand couplets, the
continuation was entrusted to the celebrated
Ferdousi, who performed his task with such
ability that, although so obsolete as to re-
quire a glossary, it is still the most popular
of all books among his countrymen. J The
sultan was delighted with the poem; but
when, after thirty years' labour, it was at
length concluded, his characteristic failing
prevailed over justice, and the proffered
reward was so disproportioned to the expec-
tations held out, that the disappointed Fer-
dousi indignantly rejected it, and withdrew
to his native city of Tus, whence he launched
a bitter satire at Mahmood, who on mature
reflection evinced no ordinary amount of
magnanimity by passing over the satire
(which is still extant), and remitting for the
epic, what eveu its author must have con-
sidered, a princely remuneration. But it
came too late ; the treasure entered one
door of Ferdousi's house as his bier was
borne out of another. His daughter proudly
rejected the untimely gift, but was eventu-
ally prevailed upon by Mahmood to accept
it, as a means of procuring an abundant
supply of water for the city where her
father had been born, and to which he
had been always much attached.

In 1022, the sultan was roused from the
unusual quiet in which he had remained for
five years, by advices from India that a con-
federacy had been formed against the rajah
of Canouj by the neighbouring princes to
avenge his alliance witli the enemj' of his
country. Mahmood immediately marched
to his relief, but on arriving found that the
unfortunate prince had been defeated and
slain by the rajah of Calinjar, against whom
the Mohammedan arms were directed, but
without any remarkable result. § This cam-
paign is however memorable as marking the
establishment of the first permanent garri-

X The Shah Namah or Book of Kinrja.

§ In the kingdom of Ghuziiee at this time, many
soldiers and magistrates were Arabs by descent, but a
great portion of the court and army were Turks, and
the rest, with almost all the people, were Persians.

LAHORE OCCUPIED BY MAHMOOD— SOMNAUTH TAKEN— a.d. 10.24, 67

son oa the east of the Indus ; for the new
rajah of Lahore (Anung Pal's successor)
having ventured to oppose the invader, was
driven from his country, Viihich was despoiled
and annexed to Ghuziiee. In 1024, Mah-
niood performed, if not the greatest, at
least tlie most famous of his Indian exploits.
At the head of an immense army, swollen
by a crowd of volunteers from beyond the
Oxus, and attended by 20,000 camels bear-
ing supplies, he set oft', nerved to encounter
a long march, partly through hostile terri-
tories and partly through a desert 350
miles broad, of loose sand or hard clay,
almost entirely without water or forage.
Having overcome these obstacles he sud-
denly appeared before Ajmeer to the con-
sternation of the rajah and inhabitants, who
fled, leaving the Mussulmans to ravage the
country and pursue their desolating course,
to Anhalwara, the capital of GKizerat, whose
r.ijah, also taken by surprise, was con-
strained to abandon it precipitately, and
leave the way clear for the invaders to the
great object of their hopes, the famous
temple of Somnauth, the richest and most
frequented place of worship in the country.*
It stood at the southern extremity of Guze-
rat, on a peninsula connected with the
main land by a fortified isthmus, the battle-
ments of which were guarded at every point
by armed men ; who, on witnessing the ap-
proach of the Moslems, loudly asserted, in
the name of their object of worship, that this
great force had been drawn together only to
be utterly destroyed as a retribution for the
desecrated shrines of India.

Nothing deterred, Mahmood brought for-
ward his arcliers, who commenced mounting
the walls with their accustomed war-cry,
"Alia hu Akbur!" (God is supreme !), but
the Piajpoots having prostrated themselves
before the idol, hurried to the defence and
drove back the enemy with heavy loss.
The next day brought a more signal repulse,
and on the third the neighbouring princes
presented themselves in order of battle. In
the furious conflict which ensued victory
was doubtful, when the arrival of the rajah
of Anhalwara with a strong reinforcement

• For its maintenancp, the revenues of 2,000 vil-
lages had heen granted by different princes ; 2,000
priests, 500 dancing.women, and 300 musicians offi-
ciated in its ceremonies, atwhicli 200,000 to 300,000
votaries used to attend during the eclipses. Tlie
chain supporting a bell ".vhich the worshippers struck
during prayer weighed 200 mauns of gold, and the
idol itself was ''ally washed with water brought from
the Ganges, a di>tance of 1,000 miles.

brought the invaders to the verge of de-
feat. Mahmood, leaping from his horse,
prostrated himself, invoking Divine aid ;
then, remounting and taking a Circas-
sian general by the hand, he advanced
against the foe, loudly cheering the troops
who had so often fought and conquered with
him, and who now, excited to renewed exer-
tion, rushed forward with unlooked-for im-
petuosity, broke through the opposing line,
aiul in a single charge laid 5,000 Hindoos
dead or dying at their feet. The rout be-
came general; the garrison of Somnauth
beheld it with dismay, and renouncing all
hopes of further defence broke up, and, to
the number of 4,000, made their way to
their boats, some of which were intercepted
and sunk by the enemy.

Mahmood then entered the temple, ac-
companied by his sons and chief nobles, and
gazed with astonishment on the stately
edifice. The spacious roof was supported by
fifty-six pillars, curiously carved and set
with precious stones, and illuminated (the
light of heaven being excluded) by a lamp
suspended by a golden chain, whose flame, re-
flected from the numerous gems, shed bright
gleams around. The idol itself stood in the
centre, and was of stone, five yards in height,
two of which were sunk in the ground. Ac-
cording to Ferishta, it is a well authenti-
cated fact that Mahmood was entreated by
a crowd of Brahmins to accept a costly
ransom and spare the object of their venera-
tion, but after some hesitation, he exclaimed
that were he to consent, his name would go
down to posterity as an idol-seller instead of
destroyer, he therefore struck the face of
the image with his mace, and his example
being followed by his companions, the figure,
which was hollow, burst open and exposed
to view a store of diamonds and other
jewels, far surpassing in value the sum
offered for its preservation. t Altogether,
the treasure taken is said to have exceeded
that acquired on any former occasion,
Mahmood next captured Gundaba, a fort
supposed to be protected by the sea, by en-
tering the water at the head of his troops
during a low tide. He appears to have passed

t Besides this idol, we are told there were some
thousands of smaller ones, wrought in gold and
silver, and of various shapes and dimensions ; but no
description is given of the especial object of worsliip,
a simple cylinder of stone, the well-known embli m
of Saiva or Siva, from whose designation Sania Na-
tlia, Lord I if the Moon, the temple derives its name.
The famous sandal-wood gates carried by Mahmood
to Ghuznee will be subsequentlv alluded to.

68 MAHMOOD'S THIRTEENTH EXPEDITION TO INDIA— a.d. 1025.

the rainy season at Anhalwara, with whose
mild climate, beauty, and fertility he was so
much delighted, as to entertain thoughts of
transferring the seat of government thither,
at least for some years, and making it a
point of departure for further conquests.
Among his projects, was that of the forma-
tion of ^ fleet for maritime invasions ; the
pearls of Ceylon and the gold mines of the
Malayan peninsula offering cogent reasons
for the subjugation of these countries.

These schenies his counsellors earnestly
and successfully opposed, and as the rajah
of Anhalwara still kept aloof and refused
submission, INIahmood selected a new ruler,
a man of royal descent, who, though living
the life of an anchorite, was not proof
against the attractions of a throne, though
clogged with the humiliating conditions of
subjection and tribute to a foreign foe.*
The homeward route of the Mussulmans
was fraught with toil and suffering — the
way by which they had come ■\vas occupied
by a strong force under the rajah of Ajmeer
and the rightful, though fugitive prince
of Anhalwara. Mahmood, with an array
already wasted by the casualities of war
and climate, did not care to risk a conflict,
the efi'ect of which, even though successful,
would still further thin the ranks and di-
minish the energy of those who had after-
wards a long and weary march to encounter,
besides risking the rich booty with which
they were encumbered. He therefore avoided
further hostilities, by returning a different
road, through the sands to the east of Sinde.
The hot season was advanced when the
troops started, and their sufferings for want
of water and forage increased, until they

* The conclusion of the new rajah's history affords
a remarkable instance of retributiv* justice, even
allowing for oriental embellishment. Fearing the
rivalry of a relation, he prayed Mahmood to deliver
him into his custody, promising to spare his life,
and kept his ])ledge by causing a cell to be dug under
his own throne, in which his victim was to linger out
the remainder of his existence. A sudden revolution
occurred, wliich is said to have been occasioned by a
vulture having flown upon the rajah while lying
asleep under a tree with his face covered with a red
handkerchief, and totally blinded him by fixing its
talons into his eyes ; thus rendering him, by the laws
of his country, incapable of reigning. The position
of the parties was immediately reversed, the cruel
schemer being forthwith removed to the dun-
geon which he had himself ])repared j thus, says
Ferislita, fulfilling the Scripture, in which it is
written — " He who digs a pit for his brother, shall
himself fall therein."— (Briggs, vol. i., p. 80.)

t It is surprising that the passage along tlie Indus
should not have been chosen by Mahmood, wlio
must have been accjuaiiited witli it, both frcmi tlie

reached a climax in three days of in-
tense agony, during which they wandered
through the worst part of the desert, wil-
fully misled, it is said, by their guides, who
after severe torture, were brought to confess
themselves disguised priests of Somnauth.
Many of the soldiers perished miserably,
some died raving mad, and when at length
they came upon a pool of water,itwas received
with inexpressible transport as a miraculous
interposition of Providence in their favour.

Eventually they reached Moultan, and
from thence proceeded to (Thuznee,t but
before the expiration of the year, their rest-
less leader was once more in arras to avenge
the molestation offered by a body of Juts,J
in the Jund mountains, to his forces during
their march to Somnauth. Foreseeing the
expedient to which the Juts would have re-
course, he was provided with an extensive
flotilla ; and when they took refuge in the
islands of the Indus, hoping to elude pur-
suit by repeatedly shifting their position, he
pursued them so pertinaciously that_ though
not without a desperate defence, the men
were mostly destroyed and the women and
children enslaved.

Thus terminated Mahmood's thirteenth
and last expedition to India. Hostilities
were then directed against the Turki tribe
of Seljuk,§ whose growing power he had
incautiously favoured, until they became too
unruly to be restrained by his local repre-
sentatives ; nor were they without difficulty
compelled to respect his immediate autho-
rity. The next act was the seizure of
Persian Irak (extending from the frontier
of Khorassan, westward to the mountains
of Koordistan, beyond Hamadan). This he

account of Mohammed Casim's proceedings and
from tlie neighbourhood of the Afghans. Klphin-
stone, in commenting upon this circumstance, sug-
gests the existence of physical obstacles now re-
moved, adding, that the Sunn of Ciitc/i, now a hard
desert in the dry season, and a salt marsh in the
rains, was, doubtless, formerly a part of the sea ; and
remarks, that the changes which have taken place
under our own eyes pre|iare us to believe that still
greater may have occurred in the 800 years that ba\e
elapsed since the fall of Somnauth. (Vol. i., p. 558.)

I Probably a Tartar horde of the Geta; stock,
widely disseminated over India, and, according to
Tod, called by their ancient mxme of Jits in the Pnn-
jaul), Jats on the Jumna and Ganges, and. Juts oi\ the
Indus and in Saurashira.

§ The tribe is supposed to have originated in a
chief who held a high station under one of the gr.'jat
Tartar princes, but having incurred the displeasure .
of his sovereign was driven into exile, and his sons
and adherents became subject to Malimood in Trans-
oxiana, frequently however, carrying on wars and
incursions on their own account.

DEATH OP MAHMOOD— A.D. 1030— HIS SUCCESSORS.

eccomplished by taking advantage of tlie
disturbances which occurred in the reign of
one of the representatives of a branch of the
family of Buya, called also the Deilemites ;
the person of the prince being treacherously
seized in the Moslem camp. The resistance
of the people of Ispahan and Cazvin was
cruelly revenged by the massacre of several
thousands in each city.

The ordinary excuse of zeal for the glory
of Islam — that is to say, the bigotry which
has sometimes really prompted cruel aggres-
sions, but has far more frequently been
assumed as a mask to cover ambition or
rapacity, cannot in this case be urged in
palliation of these grasping and sanguinary
transactions, probably the worst, as they
were the last, of the life of Mahmood. Re-
turning triumphant to Ghuznee, he was
attacked by a disease which soon completely
prostrated his extraordinary physical and
mental energies, and of which he died, after
a reign of thirty-three years. During pa-
roxysms of excruciating agony, he might well
have envied even the wretched slaves whom
his marauding incursions had made so cheap
that purchasers could not be found for them
at ten dirhems (about 4s. 7d.) a head. At
such moments his hundred measures of
jewels * could afford but poor consolation ;
even the delusive doctrine of the Koran con-
demned alike the means by which they had
been acquired, and the master-passion whose
strength was never manifested more forcibly
than in the closing scenes of his eventful
career. When taking a sorrowful leave of
his Teat possessions, the dying Sultan per-
haps thought bitterly of a sentiment some of
the numerous poets of his court might have
rhymed, though scarcely so sweetly as our
own Southey :

" In heaven ambition cannot dwell,
Nor avarice in the vaults of hell — "

He had ample reason to regret leaving a
world in which he had — with reverence for
the sacred text be it spoken, " laid up much
treasure for many years ;" nor is it probable
that he could look for reward or even pardon
in another, on the ground of faithful service
to the cause of Islam.

Notwithstanding his character for bigotry,
and frequent and public invocations of Divine
assistance, a careful review of Mahmood's

• Hearing of the wealth of the Samani princes,
who had accumulated jewels enough to fill seven
measures, he exclaimed exultingly, that he possessed
sufficient to fill an hundred.

t On this point, sec Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 569.
L

actions renders it more than doubtful whe-
ther all these were not hollow pretences to
raise the enthusiasm of his more truthful
followers who, it must be borne in mind,
had been accustomed from the earliest
times to prayer before battle, and thanks-
giving in the hour of victory. If he were
really a scepticf regarding the creed which
he made tlie pretext for destroying or en-
slaving unoffending multitudes, his condition
was wretched indeed ; but if he did actually
believe it an imperative duty to increase
the numbers of "the faithful," at all costs,
then at least his conduct, with the exception
of some few memorable instances, was very
unaccountable ; for, besides his apathy in
not endeavouring to establish Moslem colo-
nies in India, schools, or other means of
instruction, it appears that he never hesi-
tated to exercise perfect tolerance whenever
it suited his views. The rajah of Canouj,
for instance (his only ally), was an uncon-
verted Hindoo; he appointed a strict de-
votee to the throne of Guzerat ; employed a
large body of native cavalry, without regard
to their religion, and contrary to orthodox
Mohammedanism — circumstances which
would testify liberality of feeling, but for
their manifest inconsistency with other
parts of his conduct, for which excessive
zeal is urged in apology.

The house of Ghuznee reached its culmi-
nating point in the person of Mahmood's
turbulent son, Masaud, who, having deposed
and blinded his brother Mohammed, after
five months' rule, mounted the throne, and
completed the remaining conquest of Persia,
except the province of Pars. He made
three expeditions into India, during which
he captured Sersooty on the Sutlej, quelled
a rebellion at Lahore^ and stationed a garri-
son in Sonpat, near Delhi. In the mean-
while the Seljuks completely defeated his
general, and compelled Masaud, on his
return, to march against them in person.
After two years of indecisive operations a
battle took place near Meru, in which the
Ghuznevides were totally routed. The sul-
tan returned to Ghuznee, but finding it
hopeless to restore order there, determined
to withdraw to India. All respect for his
authority was however destroyed, and soon
after crossing the Indus, the remnant of his
forces mutinied against him, and placed the
injured Mohammed on the throne, a.d.
1040. This prince being rendered incapa-
ble by blindness of conducting the govern-
ment, transferred the administration to hia

TERMINATION OF THE HOUSE OF GHUZNEE— a.d. 1]60.

son Ahmed, one of whose first acts was to
put his uncle the deposed king to death.
But the sins of this family, committed on
the plea of just retaliation, did not end here.
Modood, the son of Masaud, on hearing of
his father's murder, quitted Balkh, where
he had been engaged in watching the pro-
ceedings of the Seljuks, and with a small
body of troops made his way from Ghuznee
to Lahore. At Futtehabad, in the valley of
Laghman, he was met by Mohammed with
Ahmed and other relatives, who after a
fierce contest were defeated, taken prisoners,
and all put to death by the conqueror, with
the exception of Prince Abdool, a son of Mo-
hammed's, who was spared for the sake of
kindness shown to Masaud during his capti-
vity. Modood had not yet removed all domes-
tic foes — the opposition of his own brother,
Madood, was still to be overcome, and it
threatened to be troublesome, this prince
liaving obtained possession of Lahore ana
its dependencies. The armies of the rival
brothers were marshalled for action when
the dispute for superiority was suddenly
terminated by the death of Madood and his
vizier (prime minister) apparently by poison.
The forces then coalesced under Modood,
who contrived not onlj' to occupy Ghuznee,
but to recover Transoxiana, which he was
perhaps enabled to do the more readily from
having espoused the daughter of a Seljuk
chief. But while thus successful in the
west, the rajah of Delhi recovered the terri-
tory seized by Masaud beyond the Sutlej ;
and elated by this first success, pushed his
forces to the very gates of Nagarcot. Volun-
teers crowded into thePunjaub, and entered
with such ardour into the enterprise that
the temple-fortress, despite its strong posi-
tion and garrison, became again their own.
The Moslems driven thence took refuge in
Lahore, and after a seven months' siege,
during which no succour arrived from Ghuz-
nee, were well nigh reduced to despair, when
swearing to stand by each other to the last
they rushed out upon the enemy, and by
one determined effort induced the Hindoos
to disperse, and raise the siege. Modood
died A.D. 1049, one of his last acts of trea-
chery being to render Ghor tributary and
in some sort dependent on himself, by per-
fidiously mui'dering the prince whom he bad
promised to assist in recovering possession
of the throne. The speedy decline of the
house of Ghuznee from this period would be
of little interest but for its important bear-
ing on the fortunes of Hindoostan, nor does

it seem necessary to follow in detail the
tedious and distasteful accounts of con-
spiracies and assassinations which too gene-
rally form the staple of oriental historians,
the progress and condition of the people
being rarely even alluded to. Suffice it to
say, that the second successor of Modood .
succeeded in recovering Nagarcot from the
Hindoos, but being compelled to oppose the
sedition of a chief named Toghral in Seestan,
marched to attack the rebels, leaving the
bulk of his army in India. His force proved
unequal to the task, and he was compelled
to shut himself up in Ghuznee, where he
was seized and put to death with nine princes
of the blood-royal. Toghral seized upon the
vacant throne, but was assassinated within
forty days; and the army, having by this
time returned from India, resolved upon
continuing the crown in the family of the
founder of the kingdom. Three princes of
his lineage wei-e discovered imprisoned in a
distant fort, and their claims being nearly
equal were decided by lot. The chance fell
on Farokhzad, whose brother and successor
Ibrahim, celebrated for sanctity, captured
several cities on the Sutlej. In the follow-
ing reign (that of Masaud II.) the royal
residence began to be transferred to Lahore
(about A.D. 1100.)

Behram, a prince of great literary renown,
acceded to the throne in 1118, but after
thirty years of peace and prosperity, com-
mitted an act of cruel injustice, which led to
his own ruin and the extinction of his dynasty.
Having had a difiference with his son-in-
law, the prince of Ghor, he caused him to
be put to death ; and after a long contest
with the brother of his victim, succeeded in
defeating and slaying him also, under cir-
cumstances of aggravated barbarity. Ala-
oo-deen Soor, indignant at the fate of his
murdered brothers, entered the territories
of their destroyer at the head of a small but
determined force, compelled him to fly for
his life, and seizing on Ghuznee, devoted
the magnificent city, and its miserable in-
habitants, for three (or some say nine days)
to the desolating effects of flame, slaughter,
and pillage. The superb monuments of its
kings were utterly demolished, except those
of Mahmood, Masaud, and Ibrahim. Beh-
ram strove to take refuge in India, but died
on his way, worn out by fatigue and disap-
pointment. His son Khosru continued the
retreat to Lahore, and there established
himself, a.d. 1152. The next king, Khosru
Malik, the last of the race of Subuktugeeu

INDIAN CONQUESTS OF THE HOUSE OF GHOR— a.d. 1202.

reigned in tranquillity for twenty-seven
years, and was then defeated and taken
prisoner, with his family, and eventually
slain by the Ghor princes, from whom his
house thus received the final blow, in return
for a long series of injuries and aggressions.

House of Ghor. — Shahab-oo-deen, the
conqueror of Malik, on taking possession of
Lahore, was supported by an army drawn
from all the warlike provinces between the
Indus and Oxus, and accustomed to contend
with the Seljuks and the northern hordes of
Tartary. Being at liberty to direct his ex-
clusive attention to India, he probably ex-
pected to subjugate extensive territories
with ease and rapidity, owing to the peace-
ful character of the people, the more so as
their chief rulers were at variance with one
another. Of the existing kingdoms the
greatest were those of Delhi, held by the
clan of Tomaraj Ajmeer, by that of Chou-
han; Canouj by the Rahtores, and Guzerat
by the Baghilas, who had supplanted the
Chalukas. The Tomara chief dying with-
out male issue, adopted his grandson
Prithwi rajah of Ajmeer, who thus acceded
to the double authority, greatly to the mor-
tification of the rajah of Canouj, another
grandson of the deceased ruler's.

These internal differences did not how-
ever prevent very determined resistance
being offered to a foreign foe, though it
probably marred the effect which might
have resulted from a more united plan of
defence. None of the Hindoo principalities
fell without a severe struggle, and some
were never entirely subdued, owing chiefly
to the essentially warlike habits, and pecu-
liar social position of the Rajpoots, whose
almost feudal system of government, led
them to contest the ground, not so much in
a single great action, as inch by inch, each
man fighting for his own chief, and his own
hearth and home. The origin of this still
powerful and interesting class has been
alluded to (see p. 42), and will be more par-
ticularly mentioned in commenting on the
characteristics of the Hindoo population.
Here it may be observed, that had their prac-
tical ability and energy in time of peace kept
pace with their chivalrous enthusiasm and
unswerving resolution under the stimulus of
war, India might have spurned the hateful
yoke of the Moslems. But the constant
use of pernicious drugs, seconding only too
effectually the enervating tendencies of an
eastern clime, brought indolence and sen-
suality in their train, and while rendering

their victims daily more infatuated with the
varied forms of idolatry, which rapidly multi-
plied, to the extinction of more spiritual
aspirations — induced also inertion and list-
lessness with regard to material dangers,
until the hour for preparation was passed, and
no alternatives remained save death, slavery,
or apostacy. Then indeed they kept the
foe at bay with the courage of the lion,
and braved their fate with more than Spar-
tan fortitude. Thus Shahab-oo-deen and
his successors found their task long and
tedious, and repeatedly contested the pos-
session of the same ground. The first
attack was directed against Prithwi rajah,
and took place at Tirouri, between Tanesur
and Kurnaul, on the great plain where most
of the conflicts for paramount power in India,
have been decided. The Hindoos succeeded
in outflanking and completely routing the
Mussulmans, who charged after their usual
method with successive bodies of cavalry.
Shahab himself was dangerously wounded,
and after a pursuit of forty miles escaped
with difficulty to Lahore, where, having col-
lected the wreck of his army, he crossed the
Indus, and after visiting his brother at Ghor,
settled at Ghuznee.

Two years later (1193) having recruited a
fresh force he again encountered Prithwi
rajah, whom he overcame by the dangerous
stratagem, so frequently recorded in Moham-
medan annals, of a pretended flight. The
immense Hindoo army followed in headlong
pursuit, when a body of Afghan horse
12,000 strong, suddenly wheeled round and
charged upon them with terrible effect;
the viceroy of Delhi and many chiefs were
slain on the field, and the brave rajah him-
self being captured, was put to death in cold
blood by his merciless opponent, who soon
afterwards, having taken Ajmeer, massacred
some thousands of its inhabitants, reserving
the rest for slavery. In 1194, Jaya Chan-
dra, the rajah of Canouj, was defeated and
slain on the Jumna;* Canouj and Benares
were taken by Shahab, whose power was
thus extended into Behar. In the follow-
ing year Gwalior, in Bundelcund, and several
other strong positions there, as also in Ro-
hilcund, were successively seized, and the
invader pursued his conquering career until
the death of his brother placed him on the
throne of Ghor, a.d. 1202. His four years*

* The body was recognised by the false teeth, or
according to other writers, by the golden studs re-
quired to fix the natural ones into their sockets, on.
account of extreme age.

SLAVE-KINGS OF DELHI— 1206 to 1288.

reign was full of \'icissitudes. A report of
his death during a war with the king of
Kharizra,* occasioned the defection of seve-
ral of his western tributaries, and the wild
tribe of the Gnkkurs issued from their
mountains in the north of the Punjaub,
took Lahore, and devastated the whole pro-
vince. Kootb-oo-deen, originally a Turki
slave, but raised by Shahab to the govern-
ment of his Indian possessions, remained
faithful to his patron, aided him in recover-
ing the Punjaub, and induced the Gnkkurs
to embrace Islamism. Shahab was, however,
slain in his camp on the Indus by a band of
these mountaineers, who, stimulated by the
desire of revenge, having lost relations in the
late war, swam across the river at midnight,
and entered the royal eamp unopposed. f
He left no son; and, although his nephew
Mahmood was proclaimed throughout the
whole of his uncle's dominions, yet these
broke up without a struggle into separate
states. The deceased monarch had care-
fully trained several Turki slaves, of whom
three were in possession of extensive govern-
ments at the time of his death. The most
noted, Kootb-oo-deen, was invested by Mah-
mood with the insignia of royalty, a.d. 1206,
and thus commenced the line, named from
the seat of government, the Slave-kings of
Delhi. The whole of Hindoostan Proper
(of course excluding the Deccan), except
Malwa and some contiguous districts, had
now been subjugated in a greater or less
degree; Sinde and Bengal were in rapid
course of reduction, but in Guzerat little
dominion had been acquired beyond that
connected with the possession of the capital,
which was for a short time retained. Thus
an Indian empire was established, of which
the Indus formed the western boundary,
though before this epoch there seems reason
to believe that "India," in the common accp-
tation of the term, had a far wider extent.

Altamsh acceded in 1211 ; he was of a
noble family, but had been sold as a slave by
his envious brothers. During his reign the
whole face of Asia was changed by a terrible
scourge. Jcngis Khan, originally a petty
chief among the Moguls, having subdued
the three nations of Tartary and swelled

• Kharizm, the Chorasmia of the ancients, a city
which gives its name to tiie province, became in-
dependent under Atziz, the revolting governor of a
Seljuk Sultan, by the aid of the Khitans, a Tartar
tribe. The Kharizm kings conquered Ghor, and
were overthrown by Jengis Khan.

t By another account, the death of Shahab is at-
tributed to one of the Fedeyan or zealots of Almo-

his bands with their united hordes, swept
like a desolating torrent over the Moham-
medan kingdoms. Altamsh, by politic con-
duct, succeeded in shielding most of his ter-
ritories from the fury of Jengis and his
myriads ; but Sinde and Moultan, under the
dominion of a refractory Moslem governor,
did not escape so easily. In the former place,
10,000 prisoners were massacred on account
of a scarcity of provisions in the Mogul camp.
Altamsh employed the last six years of
his life in completing the conquest of Hin-
doostan Proper, that is, in bringing the
principalities into partial dependence, in
which state they continued during the
whole period of Tartar and subsequently of
Mogul supremacy, the degree of subjection
varying greatly with the character of the
reigning prince, and being occasionally in-
terrupted by isolated attempts at freedom
on the part of native rulers. The caliph of
Bagdad formally recognized the new king-
dom, in which, during the general subver-
sion of Mohammedan governments, no less
than fifteen sovereign princes (of Ghor, Kha-
rizm, Bagdad, &c.,) took refuge at one time,
during the reign of Bulbun or Balin (1266
to 1286). The only monarch of this line
claiming especial notice is the Sultana
Rezia, who, Ferishta writes, " was endowed
with every princely virtue, and those who
scrutinise her actions most severely will find
in her no fault but that she was a woman."
So great was the confidence of her father
Altamsh in her practical ability, that during
his campaigns he left Rezia in charge of the
home authority in preference to his sons.
Her administration when raised to the
throne (after the deposition of her brother,
a weak and incompetent prince) is repre-
sented as unexceptionable; but the faction by
whom her accession had been opposed raised
a rebellion, on the pretext of the undue
partiality evinced to an Abyssinian slave
who had been elevated to the rank of Ameer-
ul-omra. The sultana marched for its sup-
pression, but the army mutinied and delivered
up their sovereign to the hostile leader, a
Turki chief, who, becoming enamoured of his
captive, married her and proceeded to assert
her rights against his former confederates.

wut (Eagle's nest), a famous fortress in the Kohistan,
tenanted by a cruel and powerful set of fanatics, who
for more than a century and-a-half were the dread of
orthodox Mohammedans; the caliph on his throne
and the dervise in his cell, alike falling victims to the
knives of these midnight assassins, who were at length
extirpated by Hulaku Khan. Their chief was termed
the Sheikh-ul-Jubbul, or Old Man of the Mountain.

HOUSE OP KHILJI— A.D. 1288.— ALA-00-DEEN.

After two severe conflicts, both Rezia and
her husband were taken and put to death
in cold blood, a.d. 1239. The short reigns
of the two succeeding kings both ended in
deposition and murder : that of the latter is
memorable for a Mogul incursion through
Tibet into Bengal, the only one recorded
from that quarter during the period of
authentic history ; on the north-western
frontier they were frequent and destructive.
The assassination of Kei Kobad (a cruel and
dissolute monarch) in 1288, paved the way
for a new dynasty.

House of Khilji. — Jelal-oo-deen was placed
on the throne by his tribe, the (Khilji*)
when seventy years of age, in spite of his
own reluctance. At the end of his reign
the Deccan was invaded by his nephew,
Ala-oo-deen, who, diverting the attention
of the Hindoo princes by a pretence of
having quarrelled with his uncle and being
about to join the Hindoo ruler of Raja-
mundri, succeeded in marching at the head
of a chosen body of 8,000 horse to
Deogiri (Doulatabad), a distance of 700
miles, great part of it through the moun-
tains and forests of the Vindya range.
Deogiri, the capital of Ramdeo, rajah of
Maharashta, once reached was taken with-
out difficulty, as Ramdeo, utterly unpre-
pared for an assault, had no means of de-
fending it, but retired to a hill-fort with a
body of 3,000 or 4,000 citizens and domes-
tics. The town was pillaged and the mer-
chants tortured to make them surrender
their treasures. The fortress might have
held out successfully, but that in the hurry
of victualling the garrison sacks of salt had
been taken in mistake for grain. The rajah
was consequently obliged to make the best
terms he could, which involved the payment
of gold and jewels to an immense amount,
and the cession of Elikpoor and its depen-
dencies. Ala-oo-deen returned in triumph
through Candeish into Malwa, but his am-
bition, stimulated by the success of his late
unjust proceedings, prompted the seizure of
the throne of India. For this end, he
scrupled not at the commission of a crime,
heinous in itself to the highest degree, and
aggravated, if possible, by the circumstances
under which it was perpetrated.

The counsellors of the aged monarch had
emphatically warned him of the crafty and
unscrupulous character of his nephew, but

* A tribe of Tartar descent long settled among
the Afghans, with whom their name is almost in-
variably found associated.

could not shake his faith in one whom he
had reared from infancy. He therefore
crossed the Ganges with very few attendants
to meet and welcome the conqueror; whom he
was fondly embracing at the moment when
the heartless ingrate, by a preconcerted sig-
nal, summoned the assassins posted for the
purpose, who, coming forward, stabbed the
king to the heart, and fastening his head
upon a spear, carried it through the city.
The two sons of the rajah he inveigled into
his power, and caused to be put to death.
He then strove, by lavish gifts and profusion
in shows and festivals, to reconcile the people
to his usurpation. Public granaries were
constructed, prices fixed for all commodities,
importation encouraged by loans to mer-
chants, and exportation prohibited ; the
origin of these measures being a desire to
reduce the pay of the troops and the con-
sequent necessity of diminishing the expence
of living. Although, during his prolonged
administration, Ala-oo-deen showed himself
ignorant and capricious, as well as cruel
and arbitrary; though his arrogance and
covetousness constantly increased, yet his
twenty years' reign left the country in a far
better condition than it had been under the
sway of his kind but weak predecessor : so
true it is that in despotic governments, one
vigorous tyrant, whose will is the law of all,
generally occasions less suffering than the
feeble though gentle sovereign, who, inca-
pable of swaying an undivided sceptre, shares
his power with a crowd of petty despots, by
whose harassing exactions the strength and
wealth of the nation is gradually frittered
away. Several Mogul invasions from Trans-
oxiana (the last for many years) were re-
pelled by Ala; the most serious occurred
A.D. 1299, and was attended with great suf-
fering to the people of Delhi. A fierce con-
test took place between armies of extraordi-
nary magnitude, and was gained chiefly by
the valour of the Moslem general, Zafar
Khan, who, having become an oV)ject of
jealousy to his treacherous master, was pur-
posely left unsupported. Perceiving his
situation, the flying foe turned back and
cut him and his small detachment to pieces,
after a resistance worthy of his character.
The Mogul chiefs taken at this and other
times were trampled to death by elephants,
and the men butchered in cold blood, to the
number of 9,000 in a single instance. Fear-
ing, perhaps, the spirit of vengeance to which
such ferocity might give rise, Ala suddenly
discharged the whole of the Mogul converts

HOUSE OF TOGHLAK— A.D. 1321.

from his service, a violent and imprudent
measure, for which, though habitually tur-
bulent, they appear to have given no imme-
diate cause. Driven to despair, some of them
entered into a conspiracy to assassinate the
king, who, detecting the plot, caused the
whole, to the number of 15,000, to be mas-
sacred, and their families sold into slavery.

Very extensive conquests were made in
the Deccan by the Moslems under the
leadership of Cafur, a slave and eunuch,
taken in the capture of Guzerat, but pro-
moted by Ala to high command. Maha-
rashta and Carnata were subjugated, the
princes who still retained their dominions
being compelled to pay tribute, while the suc-
cessor of Ramdeo (the rajah of Deogiri, pre-
viously conquered) having refused to do so,
was put to death. The spirit of the Hin-
doos was however yet far from being com-
pletely bowed under the Mussulman yoke.
Guzerat revolted; Chittore (a celebrated hill-
fort in Mewar) was recovered by Rana
(prince) Hamir ; and Harpal or Hari Pala
(son-in-law to Ramdeo) raised an extensive
insurrection in the Deccan, and expelled
many of the foreign garrisons.

These ill-tidings coming one upon an-
other, produced in the mind of Ala-oo-deen
transports of rage, which a constitution
weakened by habitual intemperance and un-
ceasing anxiety could ill bear. Conspiracies
and insurrections, real and imaginary, em-
bittered every hour of his life ; and the well-
nigh successful attempt of his nephew
prince Soliman, to seize the throne by a plot
similar in its perfidy to his own, inspired
constant suspicions of domestic treachery.
The only being in whom he trusted, Cafur,
his victorious general, proved to be a hypo-
crite, designing and ambitious as himself;
who, after alienating from his master the
chief nobility, induced him, by innumerable
artifices, to imprison the unoffending queen
and her children, and then hastened his
decease by poison.

Under the alleged authority of a forged
will, (by which Ala bequeathed the throne to
an infant son, and appointed Cafur regent,)
the traitor assumed the reins of government,
caused the eyes of the captive princes to be
put out, and sent assassins to dispatch a
third named Mobarik. The plot failed ;
Cafur was himself murdered by the royal
guard ; and Mobarik succeeded to the throne,
A.D. 1317, after blinding his infant brother,
who was immured in a hill-fort for life.
Under a government where the extirpation

of possible rivals was deemed a matter of
expediency (that lying word so often used in
diplomacy to make wrong seem right, or at
least disguise its full wickedness), even such
barbarity as this might create little aversion,
but to provide against any such feeling,
while yet unsettled on the throne, Mobarik
set free all prisoners, to the amount of
17,000, restored the lands confiscated by his
father, removed his oppressive taxes, and abo-
lished all restrictions on trade and property.
He then marched to the Deccan and captured
Harpal, who was inhumanly sentenced to
be flayed alive. A converted Hindoo slave,
styled Khosru Khan, was made vizier ; by
him Malabar was conquered, and this service
so won upon Mobarik, that confiding the
whole administration to his favourite, he
commenced a course of the most odious and
degrading debauchery. A continual suc-
cession of disturbances and rebellions fol-
lowed, attended with all the pernicious ex-
citement of cruel tortures and executions ;
but the king, like his wretched father, was
doomed to receive his death-blow, not at
the hands of his indignant and cruelly in-
jured subjects, but from the serpent whom
he had cherished in his bosom. Khosru
occupied the palace with his creatures, filled
the capital with Hindoo troops of his own
caste, and then, the web being woven,
murdered his infatuated victim and seized
the vacant throne. After completely extir-
pating the house of Lodi, the usurper strove
to gain over the ameers or nobles, and
some of them consented to take ofBce under
him. Others refused, and joined Toghlak,
governor of the Punjaub, who marched to
Delhi, and after the defeat and death of
Khosru, was proclaimed king, a.d. 1321.

House of Toghlak. — The new ruler (the
son of a Turki slave by an Indian mother)
proved a blessing to the people by whom
he had been chosen. Order was restored
to the internal administration, and the
threatened invasion of the Moguls on the
north-west checked by a line of defences
formed along the Afghan frontier; Telingana
was conquered, as also Dacca ; Tirhoot (for-
merly Mithila) reduced, and the rajah taken
prisoner by Toghlak, who, when returning
victorious to his capital, a.d. 1325, was
crushed to death, with five other persons, by
the faU of a wooden pavilion, erected to re-
ceive him by his son and successor, to whom a
treacherous design is attributed. Moham-
med Toghlak, on whose reputation the
stigma of parricide is thus affixed, was rs-

TYRANNICAL AND DESOLATING RULE OP MOHAMMED TOGHLAK. 75

markable for great talents, often wickedly,
and sometimes so wildly used, as to render
his sanity a doubtful question. In languages,
logic, Greek philosophy, mathematics and
iDedicine, his attainments were extraordi-
nary ; in war he was brave and active ; in
domestic life devout, abstinent and moral.
Notwithstanding all this, he proved one of
the worst kings underwhose scourgelndia has
ever bled and suffered. When released from
the fear of invasion on the part of the Moguls,
whose absence was obtained by an enormous
bribe — he completed the reduction of the
Deccan ; and then gave the rein to his
ambitious but ill-digested schemes, by as-
sembling an army (comprising, according to
Ferishta, 370,000 horse), intended for the
conquest of Persia, but which, after it had
consumed his treasures, broke up for want
of pay, carrying pillage and disorganization
m every quarter. Next followed an at-
tempt upon China. For this 100,000 men
were sent through the Himalaya Mountains,
and having with loss and difiiculty effected
a passage, were met on the enemy's frontier
by a powerful force, with whom fatigue and
want of provisions rendered the invaders
unable to cope. The approach of the wet
season compelled a speedy retreat, which
the pursuit of the Chinese, the difficulties of
the route, famine and heavy rains, made so
disastrous, that at the end of fifteen days,
scarcely a man survived to tell the tale, and
many of those left behind in garrisons during
the advance of the ill-fated force, were put
to death by the unreasoning rage of the
disappointed king. An endeavour to fill the
royal treasury, by substituting paper, for
copper, tokens,* utterly failed in its object,
from the known insolvency of the govern-
ment, and it seriously injured trade and
impoverished the people; who, no longer
able to endure the increasing pressure of
taxation, deserted the towns and fled to the
woods, in some places maintaining them-
selves by rapine. The infuriated despot
ordered out his army, as if for a great hunt,
surrounded an extensive tract of country, as
is usual in an Indian chase, and then com-
manded the circle to close and slaughter all
within it (mostly inoffensive peasants), like
wild beasts. More than once was this hor-
rible performance repeated ; and on a sub-

* With regard to coinage, it may be remarked that
at the time of Cafur's invasion, there was, according
to Ferishta, no silver coinage in the Carnatic ; and
colonel Briggs remarks that the same was true, to a
certain extent, till very lately, the common coin

sequent occasion, its atrocities were paral-
leled by a general massacre of the inhabi-
tants of the great city of Canouj. Famine,
induced by cruelty and misgovernment,
brought to a climax the miseries of the nation,
and various attempts were made to break
the fetters of such unbearable oppression.
Mohammed's own nephew took up arms in
Malwa, but was defeated and flayed alive ;
the governor of the Punjaub next rebelled,
and he also was subdued and slain.

Bengal, and soon afterwards the Carnatic,
revolted under Moslem governors, and were
never again subdued ; Carnata and Telin-
gana combined succesfully under native
rajahs for the recovery of their indepen-
dence ; and lesser struggles took place in
every quarter. The Ameerf Judeeda, or
new nobles (the name given to the Mogul
chiefs and their descendants, who, having
invaded India, had embraced Islamism and
the service of the kings of Delhi at the same
time), became seditious in the Deccan; and
in Malwa, seventy of them were treacherously
massacred by the new governor, a man of
low origin, desirous to show his zeal — upon
which the ofiBcers of the same nation in
Guzerat, prevailed on the rest of the troops
to join them in insurrection. Mohammed
in person advanced for its suppression, and
ravaged his own province as if it had been
that of an enemy, devoting the rich towns
of Cambay a7id Surat to plunder. With
equal vigour he proceeded to quell a general
rebellion in the Deccan ; but no sooner was
seeming quiet restored in one place by a
costly effusion of blood, than new distur-
bances broke out in another. The king,
wearied out with marching and counter-
marching, fell a victim to a fever, caused, it
is said, by a surfeit of fish, but more proi
bably by political anxiety, added to the
habitual tumult of his own ungovernable
passions. He died at Tatta, whither he had
proceeded in pursuit of some fugitives from
Guzerat, who had taken refuge with the
Rajpoot princes of Sinde. The only marvel
is, that he should have been permitted to
reign twenty-seven years, and yet escape the
common fate of Asiatic tyrants — poison or
the sword. Few could ever have provoked
such an end more pertinaciously than
Mohammed Toghlak, who, in spite of his

being the pagoda ; there was also another gold coin
called Sifanam, in value about equal to a sixnence.

t Ameer, Emir or Mir alike signify noble, com-
mander, chief. Thus, Amoer-ool-omra, means head
of the Do'bles, or commander-in-chief.

76 FEROZE TOGHLAK AND HIS SUCCESSORS— a.d. 1331 to 1394.

intellectual gifts and personal bravery,
alternately excited emotions of horror and
contempt in the breasts of his subjects,
evincing alike in his extensive projects or
less disastrous follies, the same utter reck-
lessness with regard to their lives and pro-
perties. Thus — desiring to transfer the
capital from the magnificent city of Delhi
to Deogiri, as being a more central position,
he proceeded to attempt the execution of this
design, by ordering all the inhabitants of the
former, to remove at once to the latter place,
to which he gave the name of Doulatabad,
and there built the massive fort still existing.
After this the people were twice permitted to
return to Delhi, and twice compelled, on pain
of death, to leave it : these movements being
all, more or less, attended with the horrors
of famine, occasioning the death of thou-
sands, and ruin and distress to many more.
As an instance of his minor freaks, may be
noticed that of having a stately mausoleum
erected over a carious tooth, extracted dur-
ing his campaign in the Carnatic, and this
too at a time when his troops, ravaged by
pestilence and decimated by civil war, found
full employment in heaping a little earth
over their fallen comrades. In the early
part of this reign, the Mohammedan em-
pire east of the Indus, was more extensive
than at any other period ; but the provinces
lost during its continuance were not all
regained till the time of Aurungzebe, and
the royal authority received a shock which
the iron grasp of the Mogul dynasty alone
sufficed to counterbalance.

Feroze Toghlak succeeded to the throne,
in the absence of direct heirs, chiefly by the
influence of the Hindoo chiefs, and after
some disturbances raised by the Mogul
mercenaries. His reign stands out in
pleasing contrast, not only to that of his
predecessor, but to despotic rulers in general.
Rejecting the pursuit of what is commonly
called glory, he recognised the independence
of Bengal and the Deccaii, and without
seeking to extend the empire by the
sword, employed himself in its consolidation
and improvement. The diminution of capi-
tal punishments, the abolition of torture and
mutilation, the removal of numerous vexa-
tious taxes, alterations in the collection
of the revenue, the abrogation of fluctuating
and precarious imposts — all spoke the earnest
solicitude of the ruler for the welfare of the
people. Reservoirs and canals for irrigation,
mosques, colleges, caravanserais, hospitals,
public baths, bridges, and many other edifices

were erected, and the revenues of certain
lands assigned for their maintenance. The
chief of these works still remains a noble
monument to the memory of its founder —
viz., a canal extending from the point
where the Jumna leaves the mountains by
Kurnaul to Hansi and Hissar. It reaches
to the river Gagar, and was formerly con-
nected with the Sutlej. A portion, extend-
ing about 200 miles, has been restored by
the British government, and will be described
in the topographical section.

Feroze long retained his energies ; but in
his eighty-seventh year, increasing infirmities
compelled him to abdicate in favour of his
eldest son, Nasir-oo-deen, a.d. 1385. This
prince was displaced in little more than a
year by two of his cousins, who having
secured the person of the old king, proclaimed
his grandson, Gheias-oo-deen, sovereign ;
soon after which event, Feroze died, aged
ninety. Gheias, in five months, was de-
posed and murdered by the kinsmen who
had placed him on the throne. His suc-
cessor, Abu-bekir, was displaced by the pre-
viously exiled monarch, Nasir-oo-deen, after
a long and severe contest, during which
Delhi repeatedly changed hands. The
Hindoos took an active part in the struggle,
and the household troops, who were all
foreigners, having shown particular hostility
to the conqueror, were banished the city,
none being permitted to remain if incapable
of pronouncing a certain letter peeubar to
the languages of Hindoostan, The rule
of Nasir was weak and inefficient, and
that of his son, Mahmood, who acceded to
power in 1394, while yet a minor, em-
barrassed yet more the public aS'airs.
Mozuffer Khan, the governor of Guzerat
began to act as an irresponsible ruler;
while Malwa and the little province of Can-
deish permanently threw oif the yoke, and
remained independent principalities until
the time of Akber. The vizier of Mahmood,
with peculiar disloyalty, seized on the pro-
vince of Juanpoor and founded a kingdom.
The remaining territories were torn with the
dissensions of jarring factions, and each party
was occupied with its own quarrels, when the
fierce onslaught of a foreign foe involved all
in a common calamity.

Ameer Timur, better known as Timur Beg
(chief or commander) or as Tamerlane, has
been designated " the fire-brand of the uni-
verse," "the apostle of desolation," and by
various otheropprobrious epithets, all of which
his own autobiography,if its authenticity may

INVASION OF INDIA BY TIMUR OR TAMERLANE— a.d. 1398. 77

be trusted, proves to tave been fully merited.*
He claimed a remote descent from the same
stock as Jengis Khan, whom he in many
points resembled; for, though born near
Samarcand, in a comparatively civilized
country, and a zealous Mussulman by pro-
fession, Timur was as barbarous in his war-
fare, and as short-sighted (though more
treacherous and wily) in his policy as the
ferocious Mogul, lioth. were unprincipled
marauders, who overran countries and
slaughtered unoffending myriads, for plun-
der ; but the latter, while everywhere carry-
ing anarchy, famine, and pestilence in his
train, and sparing neither nation nor creed,
invariably asserted zeal for Islam as the
main spring of his actions, and by a strange
mixture of superstition and egotism, seems
to have succeeded in deceiving himself at
least, as to the true character and conse-
quences of his career. The Seyeds or legi-
timate descendants of "his holiness the
prophet" (through Ali and Fatima), were
the exclusive objects of his protection, and
their exemption from a personal share in the
horrors of war, he considered, or pretended
to consider, a certain means of absolution for
a life spent in unceasing aggression on the
indi^ndual and collective rights of the rest of
mankind. Having united the hordes of
Tartary in the same manner, though not to
the same extent as Jengis had done, Timur,
after conquering Persia and Transoxiana,
ravaged Tartary, Georgia, and Mesopotamia,
with parts of Russia and Siberia. Candahar,
Ghuznee, and Cabool, to the frontiers of
Hindoostan, were also subjugated and placed
under the government of Peir Mohammed,
the grandson of Timur, who endeavoured to
extend his dominions to the south-east by
an attack on the Afghans in the Soliman
mountains; which proving successful, the
invader eventually proceeded to cross the
Indus and occupy the city of Ouch, whence
he marched to invest Moultan. The place
was bravely defended, and Peir lay for six
months before its walls. Meanwhile Timur,
learning the doubtful state of affairs, re-
nounced his intention of invading the more
distant provinces of the Chinese empire, and
conducted his forces to India, a.d. 1398,

• Vide Mulfuzat Timuri (printed at the cost of
the Oriental Translation Fund). Originally written
in Turki, a language as distinct from the modern
Turkish as Saxon from English ; translated into Per-
sian by Abu Talib Hussyny, and thence into our
tongue by Major Stewart. These memoirs afford
•trong internal evidence of having been actually die-

being, he alleged, stimulated thereto by
accounts of the gross idolatry still suffered
to extend its influence throughout the
countries swayed by Moslem rulers. Fol-
lowing the usual route to Cabool, he marched
by Haryub and Bunnoo to Dinkot, a place
on the Indus to the south of the Salt range,
whose exact position is not known. After
crossing the river, by a bridge of rafts and
reeds, he advanced to the Hydaspes, and
marched down its banks, ravaging the
country as he passed, as far as Toolumba,
where a heavy contribution proved insuffi-
cient to save the city from pillage, or the
people from massacre.

Moultan had by this time been taken bv
blockade, famine having conquered where
external force had utterly failed ; and Peir,
leaving a garrison there, joined his grand-
father on the Sutlej. At the head of a detach-
ment of 11,000 chosen horse, Timur took
possession of Adjudin, where the few remain-
ing inhabitants threw themselves upon his
mercy, and being chiefly Seyeds, were spared
and shielded from, the excesses of the sol-
diery — a very rare case, for although the
promise of similar forbearance was often
obtained from the fierce invader, it was
almost invariably violated ; whether from
inability or disinclination to restrain his tur-
bulent associates matters little, since it
scarcely affects the degree of guilt involved
in giving, or rather selling an immunity
which, from one cause or another, he well
knew, would not be preserved. His deso-
lating career in Hindoostan may be briefly
told ; for the terrible details of pillage and
slaughter recur again and again, until the
mind, sickening with an unbroken chain of
similar scenes, has the sense of their atrocity
almost dulled by the monotonous repetition.
At Bhutneer, the country people who had
taken refuge under the walls were mas-
sacred ; in spite of their capitulation, the
inhabitants shared the same fate, and the
town was burned. Thence Timur's detach-
ment marched to join the main force,
slaying the people of every place traversed,
as far as Samana, where the towns being
absolutely deserted, the swords of these mur-
derers had some rest, but only suflScient to

tated by Timur; to quote the words of an able critic,
any doubt on the subject " would be removed by
the unconscious simplicity with which he [Timur]
relates his own intrigues and perfidy ; taking credit
for an excess of goodness and sincerity which the
boldest flatterer would not have ventured to ascribe,
to him." — (Elphinstone's India, vol. ii., p. 79.)

78 CRUELTIES OF TIMUR— GOVERNMENT OF THE SEYEDS— a.d. 1412.

prepare them for renewed exertion, since, on
reaching Delhi, all prisoners above fifteen
years of age were put to death, from the
fear of their taking part with their country-
men. The number was doubtless very great,
even after making large deductions from the
accounts of Mussulman writers, who state it
at 100,000. Upon the defeat of the Indian
army, the reigning prince of Delhi, Mahmood
Toghlak, fled to Guzerat, and the city was
surrendered uiider a solemn assurance of
protection. Tamerlane was proclaimed em-
peror of India, and while engaged in cele-
brating a triumphal feast, his ferocious
hordes, laughing to scorn the dearly-bought
promise of their leader, commenced their
usual course of rapine and plunder, upon
which the Hindoos, driven to desperation
by witnessing the disgrace of their wives
and daughters, shut the gates, sacrificed the
women and children, and rushed out to
slay and be slain. The whole Mogul army
poured into the town, and a general massacre
followed, until several streets were rendered
impassable by heaps of slain. At length the
wretched inhabitants, stupified by the over-
powering number and barbarity of the foe,
flung down their arms, and " submitted
themselves like sheep to slaughter ; in some
instances permitting one man to drive a
hundred of them prisoners before him."

Delhi yielded an enormous booty in gold,
silver, and jewels, especially rubies and dia-
monds ; the historian * above quoted, de-
clares that the amount stated by his autho-
rities so far exceeds belief, that he refrains
from the mention — neither does he give the
number of men and women, of all ranks,
dragged into slavery ; but it must have been
immense. Among them were many masons
and other artificers, competent to the con-
struction of a mosque, similar to the noble
edifice of white marble built by Feroze, on
the Jumna : in which the sanguinary Timur,
on the eve of departure from the blasted city,
had the audacity to ofler up public thauks
for tlie wrongs he had been permitted to
inflict.

Merut next fell beneath the same terrible

• Briggs' Ferishta, -vol. i., p. 494. For the career
of Timur, see Elphinstone's able summary — India,
vol. i., pp. 75 to 80 ; Price's Mohammedan History,
vol. iii., pp. 233, 243 ; and Rennell's Memoir of a
Map of Hindoostnn, pp. 116, 121.

t In Catrou's Mogul Empire, (a work published in
1709, and alleged to be founded on data collected by
a Venetian named Manouchi, who acted-as physician
to Aurungzebe,) the troops of Timur are represented
as commenting severely on the person of their leader,

scourge : the walls were thrown down by
mines, and every soul put to the sword.
The invaders then crossed the Ganges, and
proceeded up its banks to near Hurdwar,
where the river leaves the mountains.
Several minor contests took place with bodies
of the Hii^doos in the skirts of the hUls,
in which Timur, although suffering from
illness, and burdened with the weight of
more than seventy years, took his full share
of danger and fatigue, never scrupling to
hazard his own personf equally with that of
the meanest individual of his force. From
Jammu or Jummoo, north of Lahore, he
turned south, and reverting to the route by
which he had entered India, took his final
departure, having occasioned, during the
short space of five months, an almost in-
credible amount of ruin and bloodshed.

For many weeks DeUii remained un-
governed and nearly uninhabited. A chief
named Ecbal at length obtained possession^
but being slain on an expedition to Moultan,
the authority reverted to Mahmood, who,
having returned from Guzerat, had taken
refuge at Canouj, then held by the king of
Juanpoor. Mahmood died, a.d. 1412, His
successor, Doulat Khan Lodi, at the expi-
ration of fifteen months, was expelled by
Khizer Khan, the governor of the Punjaub.
The Seyeds. — The new ruler, though born
in India, was descended from Mohammed,
and for this cause found favour with Timur,
to whom he complained of having had the
governorship of a portion of the Punjaub
unjustly taken from him, and was thereupon
appointed to the undivided rule of the
whole. He afiected to recognize his patron
as emperor, and did not assume the title or
style of royalty on taking possession of the
government, which now comprised Uttle be-
yond Delhi and the adjacent territory. The
Punjaub was temporarily re-annexed by
him, but the eastern portion, with the coun-
try about Sirhind, revolted and severed
itself from Delhi, despite the opposition of
Khizer, who made spirited efforts to main-
tain and extend his authority. Tribute was
levied from the Rahtores in Rohilcimd, and

incited by a strong dread of Rana (the title signify-
ing prince being mistaken for the name), whose do-
minions are described as " almost situate in the midst
of Hindoostan," and whose Rajpoot soldiers had the
reputation of being invincible. " Have we not," said
they [the Tartars], one to another, " served this hair-
brained cripple long enough, who, to the loss of a leg,
has now, in this last battle, added the loss of an
arm." They are, however, induced to perseverei,
and complete victory is the result, (p. 16.)

HOUSE OF LODI TO THE INVASION OF BABER— a.d. 1450—1524. 79

from other Hindoos near Gwalior, but tlie
war with the king of Guzerat, though dili-
gently prosecuted, had no important result,
and that state retained its independence, as
did also the permanent monarchies in the
Deccan, together with Malwa, Bengal, Juan-
poor (comprehending Oude and Canouj),
and the governments of Samana, Biana, and
Calpee (in Bundelcund). Khizer died in
1421 — his three Seyed successors were en-
gaged in struggles, first, with the Mogul
ruler of Cabool (Shah Rokh, the son of
Timor), who occasionally took part with
the Gukkurs in ravaging the Punjaub; and
afterwards with the kings of Juanpoor and
Malwa. Under the sway of the last Seyed
ruler, Ala-oo-deen, the territory appertain-
ing to Delhi had become so reduced as in
one direction to extend for only ■ twelve
miles from the capital, and in another
scarcely a mile. Moultan, among other
places, had become independent, but Bada-
yoon beyond the Ganges being still pos-
sessed by Ala, he removed to that place,
and having abdicated in favour of Behlol
Khan Lodi, who forthwith assumed the
title of king, a.d. 1450, he was suffered to
remain unmolested in Badayoon for the
remaining twenty-eight years of his Hfe.

House of Lodi. — The grandfather of Beh-
lol Lodi had Ven governor of Moultan
under Feroze • oghlak, the great patron of
the Afghans, and his father and uncles held
commands under the Seyeds. Their wealth
and power as military chieftains, together
with the calumnies of a disaffected relation,
at length excited the jealousy of the then
sultan (Mohammed Seyed), by whom the
Lodis were driven into the hills, where they
successfully resisted his authority. Behlol
found means to occupy, first Sirhind, then
the whole of the Punjaub, and eventually (by
a treacherous use of the influence of
Hameed the vizier or prime minister of his
predecessor Ala), gained possession of Delhi,
to which the Punjaub became thus re-an-
nexed, as also Juanpoor, after a contest
carried on with little intermission for
twenty-seven years. By this last acquisi-
tion, together with others of less import-
ance, the dominions of Behlol were extended,
until, at his death in 1488, they reached
from the Jumna to the Himalaya moiuitains
as far east as Benares, besides a tract on
the west of the Jumna stretching to Bun-
delcund. The next king, Secander Lodi,
regained Behar as far as the frontiers of
Bengal, and increased his territories in the

direction of Bundelcund. Secander was a
just and merciful prince, a poet, and a
munificent patron of letters. The single
reproach on his character, one rarely brought
forward against the Moslem sovereigns of
India, is that of bigotry, evinced in the de-
struction of idolatrous temples in the towns
and forts captured from the Hindoos, and
in the prohibition of pilgrimages and cere-
monial bathings on certain festivals at places
situate on the sacred streams within his
dominions. His conduct in this respect was
at least in accordance with the teaching of
the Koran, and greater tolerance would have
been contrary to his views of duty. The
zeal of Secander is once, and only once, al-
leged to have prompted an act of cruelty,
namely, the execution of a Brahmin who
had sedulously propagated the doctrine that
" all religions, if sincerely practised, were
equally acceptable to God." Ibrahim Lodi,
the son and successor of Secander, early
offended his family and clansmen, by de-
claring that a king should acknowledge no
such relationship, but should place all the
subjects of the state on the same footing.
The Afghan chiefs whom his father and
grandfather had suffered to sit in their pre-
sence, were henceforth commanded to stand
in front of the throne with folded arms.
The proud Lodi tribe enraged by the
contumelious treatment they received, re-
solved to leave Ibrahim in possession of
Delhi, and to raise his brother Julal Khan
to the throne of Juanpoor. After a twelve-
month''s contest, Julal was taken prisoner
and put to death by Ibrahim, who impri-
soned the remainder of his brothers, and
endeavoured by violence and treachery, to
keep under the disaffected and rebellious
spirit which his arrogance and distrust per-
petually excited among his nobles. At
length the whole of the eastern part of his
dominions was formed into a separate state
under Deria Khan Lohani, whose son after-
wards took the title of king. Doulat Khan
Lodi, the governor of the Punjaub, dreading
the fate of other viceroys, revolted and in-
voked the aid of a neighbouring potentate
who had already evinced his desire to take
advantage of the distracted state of India by
marauding incursions into the Punjaub.

The celebrated Baber — sixth in descent
through his paternal ancestors from Timur
the Tartar or rather Turk, and connected
through his mother with Jengis Khan the
Mogul — acceded, at twelve years of age, by
the death of his father to the throne of Far-

BABER— HIS EARLY HISTORY AND INDIAN INVASION.

ghana,* (a.d. 1494), which, nothwithstand-
ing his extreme youth, he struggled long
and ably to retain, against his own relatives,
and the Uzbeks,t who were then founding
the dominion which they still possess in
Transoxiana.

In the defence of his rightful inheritance
Baber appears to have been at first success-
ful, but the death of his uncle, the king of
Samarcand, and the confusion which ensued,
induced him to attempt the conquest of
that city, and after more than one failure,
this boy of fifteen became master of the
famous capital of Timur. He had however
bartered the substance of power for the
shadow. The resources of Samarcand,
already drained by war, afforded little as-
sistance in the payment of the army, dis-
affection ensued, which spread to the troops
left in Ferghana, and Baber prostrated for
a time by dangerous sickness, arose stripped
alike of the territory to which he had rightfully
succeeded, and that acquired by the sword.
After various attempts, both on Samarcand
and Ferghana, Baber succeeded in regain-
ing his native kingdom, but being again
induced to leave it by the hope of securing
the former place also, he finally lost both,
and after several years of trial and vicissi-
tude, was betrayed by some Uzbeks whom
he had tempted to forsake their ally Tambol
(his own rebel general), into the hands of
this powerful enemy. Escaping from cap-
tivity, Baber, accompanied by his mother,
bade a last farewell to Ferghana, with all
the bitter feelings of an exile, aggravated by
his own peculiar trials, and carrying with
him fond recollections of that beautiful land
which were never obliterated by the excite-
ment of the brilliant career that awaited him
beyond the range of the Hindoo Koosh.J
The princely adventurer was well received in
Bactria, and the Moguls flocked round his
standard, until his small force of 200 or 300
men (many of them only armed with clubs)
had become the nucleus of a regular and
well-equipped army. At this time the des-
cendants of Timur had been expelled from
Cabool, which was occupied by the Mogul or
Turki family of Arghoon, who had been for
some time in possession of Candahar. Baber
invaded Cabool, and found little difficulty in

• A small but rich and beautiful country situated
on the upper course of the river Sirr or Jaxartes.

t The Uzbeks (so called from one of their khans
or sovereigns) were what the geologists would call
" a conglomerate " of tribes of Turki, Mogul, and pro-
bably of Fennio origin, the former greatly prepon-

securing the sceptre, which he swayed for
twenty-two years before his conquest of
India, and then bequeathed to heirs of his
own lineage, by whom it was enjoyed until
the end of the seventeenth century. His
long reign was spent in contests with in-
ternal and external foes. The rebellion of
his brother, Jehangeer, and the attempts of
two of his cousins to regain the sovereignty
for this branch of the family of Timur, were
with difficulty subdued. The victor freely
forgave his brother, and spared the lives of
his other relatives, thus evincing a clemency
very unusual in an oriental despot, and the
more to be admired since his power, and even
existence, were repeatedly in jeopardy, and
only rescued from destruction by the great
skill and courage with which he never failed
to govern and animate his troops. The
conquest of Candahar and expeditions into
the mountains of the Afghans and Hazarehs,
occupied the first years of his sway in Cabool.
In all these journeyings great perils and
hardships were endured, and once he nearly
perished in the snow during a winter march
to Herat, undertaken to secure the co-opera-
tion of the members of the Timur house
then ruling there, against the Uzbeks. With
these old and determined enemies, Baber
had many severe contests, until, happily for
him, their leader Sheibani Khan, went to
war with Shah Ismael Safiavi, king of Persia,
and was defeated and slain in 1510. By
this event the tide of Tartar conquest was
turned, and Baber, aided by the Persian
monarch, occupied Bactria and made im-
portant conquests in Transoxiana, but these
were wrested back again by the Uzbeks, by
whom his army was completely routed, a.d.
1514.

Baber now turned his attention to India,
and after an invasion of the Punjaub, already
alluded to, but attended with no important
result, gladly accepted the invitation of its
rebellious governor, Doulat Khan Lodi, to
return under the pretext of claiming this
part of the inheritance of Timur. Some of
the Afghan chiefs remained loyal, drove out
Doulat Khan, and opposed the assumption
of the foreign usurper, but were totally
overpowered, and Lahore itself reduced to
ashes. Debalpoor was next stormed, and

derating. They had before been settled on the
Jaik, and had possessed a large tract in Siberia.

X Vide Memoirs of Baber, written by himself in
Turki, translated by Dr. Leyden and Mr. Erskine ;
see also Mr. Caldecott's Ltje of Baber; Price, and
the Ferishtas' of both Briggs and Dow.

BASER GAINS THE BATTLE OF PANIPUT— a.d. 1526.

the garrison put to the sword. Baber pur-
sued his conquering course to Sirhind, when
a quarrel with Doulat Khan, who fled to the
I hills, obliged him to retrace his steps, leaving
Debalpoor in chargeofAla-oo-deen,a brother
of king Ibrahim, who, having escaped from
captivity, had joined the invader. Doulat
Khan was checked by one of Baber's generals,
but Baber himself, fully occupied in defend-
ing Balkh (the capital of Bactria) against the
Uzbeks, deputed to Ala-oo-deen the charge
of advancing upon Delhi, which he did, and
the insurgents being increased to 40,000
by the disaffection prevalent among the
king's troops, defeated the latter in an
engagement under the walls of the city. To-
wards the close of the year 1525, Baber,
having settled Balkh, and finally subdued
Doulat Khan who was compelled to sur-
render his hill fort and library of valuable
books — rather a singular possession for an
Afghan chief of the sixteenth century —
proceeded from Ropur on the Sutlej, above
Lodiana, and from thence nearly by the
direct road to Delhi. At Paniput, he learned
the advance of Ibrahim at the head of an
army, which, by his own account, numbered
100,000 men, with 1,000 elephants. One
quarter that amount, under an able and
popular leader, might have sufl[iced to in-
spire the opposing force, of but 12,000 men,
with despondency ; but even if the numbers
are correctly stated, the characters of the
respective leaders render the result easy to
be conjectured. Baber took up a position,
linked his guns together with ropes of twisted
leather, and lined them with infantry,
strengthening his flanks by field-works of
earth and fascines. Ibrahim, on first ap-
proaching the enemy, seemed inclined to
stand on the defensive likewise ; but, chang-
ing his mind, after a few days' skirmishing,
led out his army to a general engagement.

* This coin is only about tenpence or elevenpence
in value, yet the total sum must have been very great.

t The terms Turk, Tartar, and Mogul afford in-
exhaustible food for controversy to scholars versed
in oriental learning ; and to convey in few words
anything like a clear idea of the different meanings
severally attached to them, is utterly impracticable.
For the sake of readers unversed in such discus-
sions, it may however be useful to remark that Tar-
tary is the general term now applied by Europeans
to the extensive but little-known country whence,
under the name of Scythia, barbarian hordes have
from very early times issued forth to desolate the
fairest portions of Asia and even Europe. Of these
a passing mention has been made in noticing the
events of the second century of our era (p. 49);
the Tochari, named by Strabo as one of the four chief
tribes by whom the Greek kingdom of Bactria was

While attempting to storm the hostile front,
the flanks and rear of the assailants were at-
tacked by the right and left wings of Baber,
whose advance, showering flights of arrows,
was seconded by an occasional discharge of
cannon. After a protracted struggle, Baber,
perceiving the success of his counter-move-
ment, ordered his centre forward, and com-
pleted the rout of the Indian army. Ibrahim
was killed, and his force having been nearly
surrounded in the contest, which lasted from
sunrise till noon, suffered prodigious loss,
15,000 being left dead on the field, of whom
a third part lay in one spot around their
king, while their total loss in the battle and
pursuit was reported at 40,000. Baber
mentions especially that his guns were dis-
charged many times with efficiency, these
engines of destruction having at this period
(1526) attained neither in Asia or Europe
their present terrible pre-eminence among
the weapons of war. Delhi surrendered,
and Baber advanced to occupy Agra, the
late royal residence, where his first act was
to distribute the spoil among his adherents,
in a manner which procured for him the
nick-name of " the Calender," in allusion to
a religious order whose rules forbade them
to make provision for the morrow. To his
son Humayun was given a diamond of ines-
timable value, and a shahrukri* to every
man, woman, and child in the country of
Cabool.

House of Timur. — The conqueror assumed
the supreme authority in India, and became
the founder of what is universally called the
Mogul empire. Yet Baber, although con-
nected through his mother with the royal
race of the "Moguls, never names that people
in his writings but with undisguised aver-
sion, and always makes mention of himself
as a Turk,t and the representative of Timur,
whose barbarous massacres he too frequently

overthrown, being supposed to signify the Turks.
Timur, in his Memoirs (p. 27,) and a Persian author
quoted by Price in his Mohammedan History, ascribe
the origin of the Khans or sovereigns of the wide-
spread Tartar nations to Turk, the son of Japhet,
the son ofNoah. The great grandson of Turk, Alonjah
Khan (during whose reign the people forsook the
worship of the living God and became idolators),
had twin sons named Tartar or Tatar, and Mogul or
Mongol, and the quarrels of their immediate de-
scendants gave rise to the inextinguishable animosi-
ties which have ever since prevailed among their
respective tribes. Mogul is said to be derived from
Mungawul, signifying abject or simple-hearted.
Tartar, according to the traveller Carpini, a.d. 1246,
was the term applied to the Su or Water Mongols,
one of four chief tribes then inhabiting Ceuial Tar-
tary, from the name of a river which ran through

82 CHARACTER OP BARER, FOUNDER OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE.

imitated wherever the slightest resistance
was offered ; probably desiring by this fero-
city to inspire a degree of terror not war-
ranted by his limited force. Yet Baber was
in domestic life kind and affectionate; his
Memoirs offer repeated evidence of feelings
unchilled by ambition and grandeur, of sen-
sibility to the beauties of nature and art
retaining its freshness amid the declining
years of pampered royalty, and of a temper
whose sweetness remained to the last un-
marred, even by the thorny pillow of an
usurper, or the excesses into which his
socijJ. temperament helped to draw him.
" It is a relief," says Mr. Erskine, " in the
midst of the pompous coldness of Asiatic
history, to find a king who can weep for
days, and tell us that he wept for the com-
panion of his boyhood." And Mr. Elphin-
stone, when citing this remark, adds — " He
[Baber] speaks with as much interest of his
mother and female relations as if he had
never quitted their fire-side, and his friends
make almost as great a figure in the per-
sonal part of his narrative as he does him-
self. He repeats their sayings, records their
accidents and illnesses, and sometimes jokes
on their eccentricities." Yet this same indi-
vidual, in many points so estimable, never-
theless deserved the degrading surname of
Baber {the Tiger), which has superseded his
more flattering designations,* for in his cha-
racterofconquerorevenhe couldseldom afford
to be merciful and still more rarely to be just.
To return to the narrative — the occupa-
tion of Agra was far from carrying with it
the conquest of the kingdom, and before
that could be accomplished Baber had three

their territory (Hakluyt, vol. i., p. .30), while Graelin
( Decouvertes Jiusses, vol. iii., p. 209) gives the deriva-
tion of the word from tatanoi, to collect, used in a
reproachful sense to denote robbery, and declares
that the Moguls and Calmuoks, who are doubtless
closely allied, have not the shadow of a tradition
which favours the idea of their having ever composed
one nation with the Tartars (meaning Turks). De
Guignes, on the contrary, recognizes only the Eastern
and Western Tartars — the first the Manchoos, the se-
cond Turks and Moguls, whom he looked upon as one
race, the latter descended from the former. His
authority, though usually of much weight, is in this
respect diminished by the mistakes committed in
confounding distinct races, and likewise in the indis-
tinct geography of Tartary — defects scarcely to be
avoided even by writers of the present day on this
dark and difficult subject. The tribes now inhabiting
Tartary are very numerous and various: language is
the chief, if not the only guide by which Europeans
have been enabled to cla,ss them under the heads of
— lit, Manchoos, who extend over the region called
Mantchouria, stretching from the Eastern Ocean
along the north of China, and whose infli;ence is

distinct obstacles to overcome ; namely, the
opposition offered by the Moslem viceroys,
who had revolted in the time of Ibrahim,
as well as by Afghan and Fermuli chiefs, at-
tached to the late government; secondly, the
deep aversion of the Hindoos, evinced by
the abandonment of the villages near the spot
where the army was encamped, and the con-
sequent difiiculty of procuring grain or
forage. In the third place, the troops them-
selves became disaffected, and the weather
being unusually sultry and oppressive, so
aggravated the sufferings necessarily expe-
rienced by natives of cold countries during
an Indian summer, that at length all ranks
united in demanding to be led back to
Cabool. Baber declared his unalterable
determination of remaining in India, but
gave to all who chose permission to return.
The majority decided to stay and share his
fortunes, but a part persisting in their former
desire, were dismissed with honour under
the authority of Khaja Khilan, who was ap-
pointed to a government beyond the Indus
This arrangement produced a change of feel
ing throughout the kingdom, and dissipated
the general idea that Baber would depart
as Timur had done. Some governors vo-
luntarily tendered submission, detachments
were sent to reduce others, and in the course
of four months, not only had the country
held by Sultan Ibrahim been secured, but
all the revolted provinces ever possessed by
the house of Lodi, including the former
kingdom of Juanpoor, were conquered by
Prince Humayun. The supremacy of Baber
being thus established over the Moslems, his
arms were next directed against the Hindoos.

confined chiefly to that country, where at the present
moment (1853) a severe struggle is taking place for
their extirpation ; 2nd, Mogids, who occupy the cen-
tral portion (Mongolia) between the other two ; 3rd,
Tartars or Turks, (of Toorkistan,) whose boundary is
the MuzTagh (ice mountains), the BelutTagh (dark or
cloudy mountains), Hindoo Koosh, &c. The Turki
is the language of the Tartars as distinguished from
that of the Moguls, but whether these two differ
essentially or only as very different dialects of the
same tongue is perhaps yet to be decided (Erskine's
Saber, p. xxi.) Whatever may be the barrier be-
tween the Turks and Moguls, it is certainly a great
one and of ancient origin. In appearance the con-
trast is most striking between the short, square, and
atliletic though disproportioned body, bullet-shaped
head, small angular eyes, scanty beard and eyebrows,
high cheek-bones, flat nose, and large ears of a
Mogul or Calmuck, and the comely form of a Turk,
whose well-known Caucasian features and flowing
beard in many points resemble those of a European,
the exception being the contraction of the eyes.

* His original name was Zehir-oo-deen (protector
of the faith) Mohammed (greatly praised).-

STRUGGLES OF HINDOO PRINCES FOR INDEPENDENCE.

Sanga, the Rajpoot prince of Mewar
(sixth in succession from Hameer Sing, the
recoverer of Cheetore or Chittoor in 1316),
had immediately before the arrival of Baber
been engaged in hostilities with Mahmood,
king of Malwa, whom he had defeated and
taken prisoner. The king of Delhi was
likewise the enemy of Sanga, who opened
a friendly communication with Baber while
marching against Ibrahim, but on finding
him established on the vacated throne,
transferred his enmity to the new ruler, and
proceeded to combine against him with
the Lodi chiefs (previously defeated by Hu-
mayun) and Hasan Khan, rajah of Mewat,
a hilly tract extending towards the river
Chumbul, from within twenty-five miles of
Delhi, and including the petty state now
called Macheri or Aiwa. The first move-
ments of the Hindoos were successful; the
garrison of Biana (within fifty miles of Agra)
were driven with loss into their fort, and
communication cut off between them and
the capital. Baber marched forward with
all his forces, and at Sikri, about twenty
miles from Agra, found himself in the vici-
nity of the enemy, by whom his advanced
guard was immediately attacked, and though
supported by the main body, was defeated
with heavy loss. The assailants, instead of
following up the victory, withdrew to their
encampments, and thus gave Baber time to
fortify his position, and revive, by his own
indomitable energy, the drooping spirits of
the troops. This was no easy task ; for the
Indian auxiliaries began to desert or give
way to hopeless despondency, and the feel-
ing spread throughout all ranks, being deep-
ened by the unlucky arrival of a celebrated
astrologer from Cabool, who announced,
from the aspect of Mars, the inevitable de-
' feat of the Moslem army, which was drawn
up in an opposite direction to that planet.
Baber cared httle for soothsaying, but fully
' recognised the perils of his position, and,
by his own account, repented of his sins,
] forswore wine, gave away his gold and silver
drinking-vessels to the poor, and remitted
[ the stamp -tax on all Moslems (that is, the re-
' venue collected by means of a stamp or mark
^ affixed on all imported articles). Assembhng
j all the officers, from the highest to the lowest,
he addressed them in glowing terms — not,
however, in the usual inflated style regard-
ing the rewards, temporal and eternal,
awaiting the champions of Islam, but ap-
pealing almost exclusively to their sense of
honour, and setting the chance of military

glory, in plain terms, against the risk of
death. With one accord they swore on the
Koran to conquer or to die, and Baber de-
termined to bring matters to an immediate
crisis, a step rendered the more expedient
by the daily accounts of fresh disturbances
in the provinces. A desperate battle en-
sued; rajah Sanga was defeated, and escaped
with difficulty; Hasan Khan and many
other chiefs were slain. The mistaken astro-
loger ventured to congratulate Baber upon
his victory, but received in return a sharp
lecture for perversity, conceit, and mischief-
making, with a command to quit the royal
dominions, accompanied, however, by a libe-
ral present in acknowledgment of long ser-
vice, faithful though not discreet.

Mewat was next reduced and settled.
In the beginning of the following year
(1528) Chanderi, 'on the borders of Bun-
delcund and Malwa, was attacked. It was
held by Medni Rai, a Rajpoot chief, who
had escaped from the late battle, and des-
perately but vainly defended by the Raj-
poots, who, on perceiving the troops of
Baber mounting their works, slew their
women, rushed forth naked, drove the enemy
before them, leaped from the ramparts, and
continued to fight with unabated fury until
all had found the death they sought : 200 or
300 had remained to defend Medni Rai's
house, who for the most part slew one
another sooner than fall into the hands of the
enemy. An Afghan insurrection occurred
simultaneously with this siege. The latter
was no sooner ended than Baber marched
to the Ganges, where the Afghans were
drawn up, threw a bridge over the river
under cover of artillery, and compelled the
insurgents to disperse and take refuge in
the dominions of the king of Bengal. It
was probably on this occasion that he re-
duced South Behar, which was subsequently
seized by the Lodi prince. Sultan Mahmood,
who being once more forced to fly, all that
country south of the Ganges reverted to
Baber; but North Behar remained in
the possession of the king of Bengal,
with whom a treaty of peace was formed.
The health of Baber now began to fail,
and its decline was hastened by circum-
stances connected with the dangerous ill-
ness of Humayun. The physicians had
declared the condition of that prince to be
beyond the help of their art, upon which
the fond father resolved to devote his own
Ufe to the preservation of his son's, in con-
formity with a superstition still prevalent in

REMAEKABLE DEATH OF BABER— a.d. 1530.— HUMAYUN.

the Ea,st. His friends, who do not seem to
nave in the least doubted the efficacy of the
measure, entreated him to forbear for the
sake of the millions whom he ruled, but
without effect. After the customary for-
mula of walking three times round the
couch of the prince, Baber spent some
moments in earnest prayer to God, and
then, impressed with a conviction of the
fulfilment of the desired sacrifice, exclaimed,
" I have borne it away ! I have borne it
away !" All historians agree that Huma-
yun began from that time to recover, and
Baber to sink rapidly, which latter result
may be readily believed. Calling together
his sons and ministers, he enjoined con-
cord among them all, and affection among
his children, and soon afterwards expired
at Agra, a.d. 1530, and was buried in
Cabool, at a spot selected by himself, and
still marked by a small mosque of marble,
above which rises a hill, from whence a
noble prospect is obtained. Though he
did not attain to the age of fifty years,
Baber had, in one sense, lived many lives,
from the incessant activity of both mind
and body.* On his last journey, when his
constitution was evidently giving way, he
rode in two days from Calpee to Agra
(160 miles), without any particular motive
for despatch, and swam twice across the
Ganges, as he mentions having done every
other river he traversed. Besides the neces-
sary business of the kingdom, the intervals
of peace were occupied by planning aque-
ducts, reservoirs, and other improvements,
and in the introduction of new fruits and
other productions of remote countries. Yet
he found time to indite many elegant
Persian poems, and compositions in Turki,
which entitled him to distinction among
the writers of his age and country. His
contemporaries were, in England, Henry
VII. and VIII. ; in France, Charles VIII.,
Louis XII., and Francis I.; in Germany,
Maximilian and Charles V. ; in Spain, Fer-
dinand and Isabella, and Charles. Thus
the career of Baber formed part of a me-
morable epoch, of which the great events
were^ — the discovery of America by Co-
lumbus ; of the passage to India, via the
Cape of Good Hope, by Vasco di Gama;

• Towards the close of his life, Baber observed that
since his eleventh year he had never kept the annual
fast of the Ilamzan twice in any one place — a strong
proof of the roving, warlike disposition which brought
him to India. And it should be remembered that, in
spite of many attractive qualities, Baber comes under
the same condemnation, for lawless usurpation and

the increase of the power of France by the
annexation of the great fiefs to the crown,
and of Spain by the union of its kingdoms
under Charles; the destruction of the em-
pire of Constantinople ; the influence of the
art of printing ; and the rise and progress of
the Protestant reformation. (Luther and'
Baber were born in the same year.)

Baber left three sons besides Humayun,
but as he made no declaration in their
favour he probably intended the empire to
descend undivided to the child for whose life
he had evinced such tender solicitude. Of the
three younger brothers, one named Kamran
was governor of Cabool and Candahar, and
being firmly seated there, appeared disposed
to maintain his position if necessary by a
degree of force with which Humayun could
ill cope, since to assemble an army for action
in Cabool would necessitate the evacuation
of the lately-acquired and disaffected pro-
vinces. Kamran was therefore recognized as
the independent ruler of his previous govern-
ment, to which was added the Punjaub and
the country on the Indus. The other
brothers, named Hindal and Askeri, were
appointed to the sway of Sambal and Mewat.
By the cession to Kamran, Humayun was
deprived of the trusty and warlike retainers
who had long been the hereditary subjects
of his family, and left to govern new con-
quests, unsupported by the resources which
had materially contributed to their acquisi-
tion. At first, by the aid of the veteran
army of his father, he succeeded in putting
down the Afghan insurrections, which were
among the early disturbances of his reign,
and came to terms with his future rival.
Sheer Khan (an influential Afghan, claiming
descent from the kings of Ghor), who sub-
mitted on condition of being suflpered to
retain the hill-fort of Chunar, near Benares.
His next struggles were with Bahadur Shah,
king of Guzerat, one of the most powerful
of the states formed out of the fragments of
the empire of Delhi, and which had been
recently increased in size and influence by
the annexation of Malwa, and the vassalship
or fiefdom promised by the princes of Can-
deish, Berar, and Ahmednugger. Bahadur
had taken under his protection Ala-oo-deen,
the brother of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, who had

bloodshed, as his ferocious ancestors, Jengis ana
Timur. Nor is his private character free from heavy
reproach. Drinking he eventually renounced, but
continued to use intoxicating confections ; and this,
with other practices yet more degrading, he refers to
with as little regret as to the " erection of minarets of
human heads," and other common incidents of war.

PORTUGUESE ASSIST BAHADUR AGAINST HUMAYUN.

played so conspicuous a part during that
monarch's disastrous reign, and he assisted
him with troops and money to assemble a
force for the attack of Agra, a.d. 1534.
The attempt failed, for the army was as
speedily dispersed as it had been collected,
and Tatar Khan, the son of Ala, fell bravely
fighting at the head of a division which had
remained faithful amid the general deser-
tion. Humayun proceeded against Bahadur,
who was engaged in besieging Chittoor or
Cheetore, then held by the Rana of Mewar,
but was induced, (by the remonstrances of
Bahadur against the impiety of molesting a
Mussulman prince while engaged in war
with infidels, or else by his own dilatory
habits), to retard his march until the place
was taken, and the besieger prepared to
receive him in an intrenched camp at
Mandesor, rendered formidable by artillery,
commanded by a Constantinopolitan Turk,
and partly served by Portuguese prisoners.*
These advantages were however wholly neu-
tralized by the enemy's success in cutting off
the supplies, and thus making the position
untenable, upon which Bahadur blew up his
guns, and, leaving the army to disperse as
they chose, fled by night almost unattended
to the sea-port of Cambay, whither he was
followed by Humayun, who reached that
town on the evening of the day on which the
fugitive had departed for a more secure place

• In the Memoirs of Humayun, written by Jouher
the ewer-bearer, (a faithful servant who attended that
monarch during his adversity, and was eventually re-
warded by a treasurership in Lahore) and translated
by Major Stewart, it is asserted that Bahadur had
entered into a treaty with the Portuguese, (estab-
lished at Surat some time before), and had by their
assistance raised a force of 6,000 Abyssinians or
negroes. Price, on the authority of Abu Fazil, states,
that Bahadur had sent a deputation to Diu to
solicit the aid of the Portuguese viceroy, or captain-
general of the possessions of that nation on the
western side of India, requesting his assistance in
waging war against the house of Timur. The Por-
tuguese commander accordingly assembled at Diu a
considerable body of troops, and a powerful naval
armament, in readiness to meet Bahadur, en whose
arrival, it is said, some cause of suspicion, not satis-
factorily explained, induced the European chief, in-
stead of coming to meet his ally, to remain on board
ship on pretence of illness. Bahadur, with a degree
of confidence which seems to indicate the whole
affair to have originated, not in a misunderstanding,
but in systematic treachery on the part of the Por-
tuguese, put himself on board a galley to visit the
alleged invalid ; but had no sooner reached the
admiral's vessel, than, perceiving the deceit practised
upon him, he endeavoured to return to the shore.
The Portuguese had however resolved on first ob-
taining from him the cession of certain ports at
Guzerat, and endeavoured to detain him by fair |
N

of refuge at Diu, in the remotest part of
the peninsula of Guzerat. While the pur-
suers were encamped at Cambay, a night
attack was made by the Coolis, a forest-tribe,
still famous for similar exploits in this part
of India, with such silence and wariness, that
the royal tent itself was plundered, and the
baggage and books carried ofi' — among the
latter was a copy of the History of Timur,
illustrated with paintings. Humayun, in un-
just retaliation for the conduct of these
mountaineers, gave up the town to plunder,
and then quitting the peninsula, proceeded
to occupy the settled part of Guzerat. The
hill fort of Champaneir, he surprised by a
stratagem, having, with 300 chosen men,
scaled the walls in the night by means of
iron spikes, fixed in an almost perpendicular
rock ; the daring besiegers, including the
king, ascending separately during an attack
made on one of the gates by the army.f

Shortly after this success, and before suf-
ficient time could elapse for the consolidation
of his new conquests, Humayun was re-
called to Agra by intelligence of the pro-
ceedings of Sheer Khan, who had made
himself master of Behar, including the strong
fortress of Rohtas,J and was successfully pro-
secuting the invasion of Bengal. The mea-
sures of this usurper had been laid with
much skill and circumspection, his hope
being, by the union of the Afghans, to

words, entreating a moment's delay while they
brought a present in token of profound respect ; but
Bahadur desired that the present might be sent
after him and persisted in making for the ship's
side. The Portuguese Cazi (probably the fiscal) now
interposed and forbade his departure, upon which
the Sultan in a paroxysm of indignation drew his
scimitar, clove him in twain, and succeeded in gain-
ing his own galley, which was speedily hemmed in
by the enemy's fleet. An unequal conflict ensued,
and Bahadur, perceiving the inevitable result, sprang
into the sea, and is generally supposed to have been
drowned. The date of this event, A.D. 1537, is pre-
served in the Persian characters comprised in the
sentence, " Feringuian Bahadur Kosh," — Portuguese
butchers of the hero. — (Price, vol iii. p. 751).

f After its capture the stronghold was vainly
searched for the treasure it was believed to contain ;
one oflScer alone knew the secret, which it was pro-
posed to draw from him by torture, but to this
Humayun refused to consent, and directed that wine
and good cheer should be tried instead. The ex-
pedient proved successful, and the officer willingly
revealed the existence of a large amount of gold and
silver at the bottom of the reservoir, which was at
once apparent on the water being drawn off.

J Rohtas was taken by treachery from a Hindoo
rajah. Sheer Khan, having besought an asylum for
his family, introduced two armed soldiers in each of
the covered litters supposed to contain women, and
then easily overcame the unsuspecting garrison.

SHEER KHAN AND AFGHANS ATTEMPT TO EXPEL MOGULS.

drive the Moguls out of the country, and
re-establish a Patan dynasty.* To retard
the advance of Humayun he had strongly
garrisoned the famous fortress of Chunar,
which stands on a rock close to the Ganges,
on what may be termed a detached portion
of the Vindya mountains. As Humayun
marched along the river, and conveyed his
guns and stores by its waters, he was com-
pelled to commence hostilities with the siege
of this fort. By a cruel stratagemf infor-
mation was acquired regarding the state of
the defences, and attempts were made to
mine the accessible portions of the walls on
the land side, and by floating batteries to
bear upon the face fronting the river. — These
failed, but the garrison, after several months'
resistance, were starved into sui'render, and
the right hands of all the gunners, to the
number of 300, cut off, without the consent
of Humayun, by his chief engineer Rumi
Khan, who soon afterwards, through the
malice of rival courtiers, perished by jwison.
At the defile of Sicragali, a detachment of
the imperial army, sent to take possession,
were attacked and repulsed with con-
siderable loss by the son of Sheer Khan,
who then rejoined his father in the hills,
leaving the pass unobstructed, having fol-
lowed out the well-devised policy of im-
peding Humayun as far as possible without
hazarding any decisive conflict. During the
protracted siege of Chunar, Mahmood had
been defeated and Gour reduced by Sheer
Khan, who having removed the captured trea-
sures to the before-mentioned fort of Rohtas,
whither he had previously assembled his
family, now left Gour undefended. Hu-
mayun took possession, but gained little ad-
vantage thereby, for the rains had attained
their climax, the Delta of the Ganges was
one vast sheet of water, and in the country
beyond the reach of inundation every brook
and channel had become an impassable flood.
It was impossible to carry on operations in
Bengal, and extremely difficult to commu-
nicate with upper India. Several months
of forced inactivity elapsed, rendered doubly
wearisome by the moist and sultry climate.
The sickly season that followed the heavy
rains thinned the ranks of the soldiers, and
depressed their spirits so greatly that when

* According to Ferishta, the proper country of the
Afghans is called Roh, and extends along the
Indus ; but, subsequent to the introduction of Islam,
having settled at Patna on the Ganges, they gra-
dually acquired the appellation of Patans.

t Kumi Khan (originally a Turki slave named
Soghrauk, but promoted for his ability, and thus

the roads became again traversible they
began to desert in numbers — Prince Hindal,
who had been left in North Behar, setting
the example. Meanwhile Sheer Khan issued
from his retreat, seized Behar and Benares,
recovered Chunar, laid siege to Juanpoor,
and pushed his forces up the Ganges as far
as Canouj. Humayun once more found his
communication with the capital intercepted,
and leaving a detachment which he could
but ill spare to guard Gour, he reluctantly
set out to return to Agra with the remainder
of his diminished army, but was intercepted
between Patna and Benares by Sheer, who
had raised the siege of Juanpoor and ad-
vanced by forced marches for this purpose.
Instead of at once attacking the troops of
his rival while suffering from fatigue, Hu-
mayun suffered many valuable hours to
elapse, and the next morning found Sheer
(who had now assumed the title of Shah or
king) so skilfully intrenched that he could
neither be passed nor attacked with any
prospect of success. Humayun therefore, in
turn, fortified his position and began to col-
lect boats, with a view of forming a bridge
across the Ganges, and then pursuing his
way along the opposite bank. Sheer Shah
suffered this work to proceed for two months,
but when it approached completion, he at-
tacked Humayun about day-break in three
colums, and completely surprised the camp.
Humayun attempted to rally his troops, but
with little effect, and after receiving a wound
in the arm was prevailed on by three of his
favourite officers to seek safety in flight, and
plunge at once into the Ganges. J Here his
career had nearly terminated, for before
reaching the opposite bank his horse sunk
from exhaustion, but the royal rider was saved
by the exertions of a poor man opportunely
crossing at the time with a leathern bag or
water-skin inflated like a bladder. Thus
rescued, Humayun, accompanied by a very
small retinue, fled to Calpee, and thence to
Agra, (a.d. 1539.) Almost the whole army
had been slain or drowned, and the queen,
who having been early surrounded it had
been the object of his last exertion to re-
lease, remained in the hands of the enemy,
but was treated with great delicacy and con-
sideration. By some accounts, Sheer Shah

entitled by the Guzerat princes), severely flogged a
nagro slave, and sent him to play the part of a deserter
in the fort. The Afghans received him kindly, and
suffered him to examine their works, which having
done, he returned to his intriguing master.

\ The three officers returned to the battle and
nobly perished in attempting to rescue the queen.

WANDERINGS IN THE DESERT OF THE EXILED HUMAYUN. 87

is said to have gained this important victory
by treachery, having broken an armistice,
which from his character is very probable —
but by others it is asserted that he never
promised to suspend hostilities, but only
contrived to delude his adversary into so
doing by delusive negotiations and other
pretexts, which war is too generally supposed
to justify and even necessitate. On reach-
ing Agra, Humayun found Hindal in open
rebellion, and Kamran preparing to take
a similar course, but his sudden arrival
forced them to come to terms, and the three
brothers, after spending eight or nine months
in preparation, assembled a fresh army to
attack Sheer Shah. Kamran remained to
guard Agra while Humayun crossed the
Ganges near Canouj by means of a bridge
of boats, at the head of 90,000 cavalry, with
kettle-drums beating and trumpets sounding.
A general action ensued (a.d. 1540), the
imperial troops were again utterly routed
and driven into the Ganges, and Humayun
himself escaped with extreme difficulty.
After exchanging his wounded horse for
an elephant, he crossed the stream, and was
drawn up the steep bank by two fugitive
soldiers, who having reached the shore in
safety, twisted their turbans together, and
threw the ends to his assistance. After this
discomfiture, Humayun, with Hindal and
Askeri, took refuge in Lahore, where Kam-
ran had previously retreated, but this prince,
having made peace with the conqueror by
the cession of the Punjaub, retired to Cabool,
leaving his unfortunate brother to provide
as best he could for his own safety. The
succeeding adventures of the royal wanderer
would form a fitting pendant to those of the
EugHsh Stuarts, from the instances of un-
wavering loyalty, connected with his hair-
breadth escapes — while his character as a
Mussulman, though far from faultless, will
yet well bear comparison with that of the pro-
fessedly Christian but licentious Charles, or
even of the " bonnie Prince," for whom Scot-
tish chivalry and misfortune have combined
to win a place in the page of history, which
would probably have been very differently
filled had the Young Pretender been des-

• These names, like almost all Eastern appellations,
have each a distinct signification. Thus, Humayun,
means auspicious : Kamran, successful ; Hindal, In-
dian, and Askeri, born in the camp.

t At one time they are stated to have travelled
twenty-seven hours without finding water, and at
the expiration of that time, having at length come
vpon a well and rivulet, Humayun alighted, and
after prostrating himself in gratitude to the AI-

tined to become a crowned king instead of
dying in exile.

After the desertion of Kamran, which
was followed by that of Hindal and Askeri,
Humayun* sought to obtain the recognition
of his authority in Sinde, tlien ruled by
Hussyn,the head of the Arghoon family — but
after a year and-a-half wasted in alternate
negotiations and hostilities, he found his
funds exhausted, and the adventurers who
had rallied round his standard dispersed,
just as Hussy n approached to venture a de-
cisive conflict. During the previous inter-
val, Humayun, then about three-and-thirty
years of age, had married a beautiful girl of
fourteen, with whom he had become ena-
moured at an entertainment prepared for
him in the apartments of the mother of
Prince Hindal. Carrying with him his
young bride Hameida, he fled to Ouch, and
thence proceeded to ask the protection of
Maldeo, rajah of Marwar, but on reaching
Joudpoor, after a toilsome journey over the
desert, during which he lost many of his
followers from thirst and fatigue,t a new
disappointment awaited him in the discovery
of the unfriendly disposition of the rajah.
The royal fugitive, again driven to seek com-
parative safety amid the dreary sands, now
led his little band towards Amercot, a fort
in the desert, not far from the Indus. In
this route they experienced yet greater trials
than during the one previously taken. Be-
fore quitting the inhabited country, the vil-
lagers repelled all approaches to their wells,
which were to them precious possessions,
and it was not without a conflict and blood-
shed that the travellers were enabled to
slake their burning thirst. After leaving
behind the last traces of human culture, their
obstacles and difficulties increased ten-fold
until, one morning, when faint and weary
with a long night march, Humayun, who
had remained behind with the females and
servants, while the few chiefs marched on at
some distance in front, perceived the ap-
proach of a considerable body of horse,
under the command of the son of Maldeo,
and prepared to meet a fate similar to that
of the Imaum Hussyn and his ill-fated com-

mighty, ordered all the water-bags to be filled, and
sent back on his own horses for the use of those
who had fallen exhausted by the way, adding at the
same time a melancholy but needful command, for
the burial of " all the persons who had died from
thirst." A very unpleasing anecdote is however re-
lated by Jouher, of Humayun's having taken ad-
vantage of the thirst of a Mogul mercliant who had
lent him money, to oblige him to cancel the debt.

REIGN OF SHEER SHAH THE AFGHAN— a.d. 1540 to 1544-

panions* The valour of Sheikh Ali Beg,
one of Humayun's bravest and most faith-
ful followers, appears to have warded off the
immediate danger, and soon afterwards the
Hindoo leader, bearing in his hand a white
flag, approached the party, and having re-
presented that they had wilfully done wrong
in killing kine in a Hindoo country, and
likewise in entering his father's territory
without leave, supplied them with water for
their immediate relief, and then permitted
them to proceed without further molestation.
Several weary marches, with intense suffer-
ing from thirst, further diminished the small
but faithful band, before Humayun with
seven mounted horsemen reached Amercot,
where the Ranaf (Pursaud) welcomed the
dethroned monarch with most courteous
and generous hospitality. The remainder of
the fugitives found refuge within the walls of
the fortress on the same day, and thankful
indeed must Hameida have been to quit
her horse, and find at length an interval of
rest. Pursaud offered to assist Humayun
in a fresh endeavour to establish himself in
Sinde, placing at his service 2,000 horsemen
of his own tribe (Rajpoots), and 5,000 cav-
alry belonging to his allies. These auxili-
. aries, or a portion of them, were gladly
accepted, and Humayun, accompanied by
the Rana, with about 100 Moguls, whom
he had himself succeeded in assembling,
marched towards Tatta. Hameida remained
at Amercot, and on the following day gave
birth to the celebrated Akber (a.d. 1542).
The joyful intelligence was immediately for-
warded to Humayun, who unable to practise
the munificence customary in the East on
these occasions, called for " a china plate,"
and breaking a pod of musk, distributed it
among the chiefs who came to offer their
congratulations, saying — " this is all the
present I can afford to make you on the
birth of my son, whose fame will I trust be
one day expanded all over the world, as the
perfume of the musk now fills this apart-
ment." Joon or Jiun (a place not marked
on the maps, but supposed to have been
situated on a branch of the Indus, half-way
between Tatta and Amercot, was captured

* In the desert of Kerbela, a.d. 680, Hussyn, the

son of Ali and Fatima, with seventy-three persons of
his family, including his infant child, were cruelly
massacred. Several heroic youths, his sons and ne-
phews, perished singly in defending the venerated
person of the Imaum ; who after a protracted defence
at length sunk, mutilated of an arm and covered
with wounds, of which thirty-six were counted on
his dead body, before it was finally crushed by

after an action with the officer in charge,
and though harassed by the troops of the
Arghoons, Humayun's party held their
ground, and were strengthened by the neigh-
bouring princes until they amounted to
about 15,000 horse. Hameida and the in-
fant prince (by this time about six weeks
old) joined the camp, and all seemed pros-
pering, when Rana Pursaud received an
affront from a Mogul, and was so dissatis-
fied by Humayun's conduct in the matter,
that he indignantly quitted Joon, with all
his followers and friends. Humayun, thus
rendered too weak to contest with Hussyn
Arghoon, proceeded to Candahar, but was
compelled by his turbulent brothers to
escape to Seestan with Hameida, and thence
to seek refuge in Persia, the infant Akber
falling into the hands of his uncle Mirza
Askeri, who showed more kindness on the
occasion than might have been expected.

Afghan tribe of Soor. — Sheer Shah| as-
sumed, as has been shov/n, the title of king in
1540, and took possession of all Humayun's
territories. After commencing the famous
fort of Rohtas on the Hydaspes, on which he
expended an enormous sum of money, and
named after that in Behar, he returned to
Agra, and there found employment in sub-
duing the revolt of his own governor of
Bengal. He conquered Malwa in the course
of the year 1542, and soon afterwards re-
duced the fort of Raiseen, held by a Hindoo
chief. The garrison surrendered on terms,
but after they had left the fort, the capitula-
tion was declared void on some quibbling
legal pretext, and the Hindoos were attacked
and cut to pieces after a brave resistance.
Barbarous as the Mohammedans too often
showed themselves in India, yet treachery
such as this can hardly be paralleled, save in
the career of Timur. In 1544, Sheer marched
into Marwar, which was desperately defended
by rajah Maldeo, who, though able to collect
only 50,000 men wherewith to oppose his
adversary's powerful army, estimated at
80,000, and probably well-provided with
artillery, appears to have at first succeeded
in overawing the invader, aided by the na-
tural obstacles offered by the sterility of his

twenty horsemen, and then left to be devoured by
wild beasts. The unfortunate females were thrown
across the backs of camels and afterwards stripped
and publicly exposed — all these atrocities being com-
mitted by Mohammedans. (Price, vol. i. p. 410.)

+ The patronymic of the princes of Mewar.

X His name was changed from Pureed, to Sheer
Khan, or Lion-knight, from his slaying a wild beast
while hunting with the king of Berar.

SHEER SHAH KILLED, a.d. 1545— SELIM SHAH, a.d. 1553.

territory and the want of water in many
parts of it. At length Sheer Shah, always
a cunning schemer, contrived to sow divi-
sion in the hostile camp by the common
expedient of letters written on purpose to be
intercepted. The rajah's suspicions were
raised against some of his chiefs, and he
commenced a retreat. One of the suspected
leaders, indignant at the imputation, deter-
mined, in the true Rajpoot spirit, to give
incontestable proof of its injustice, and quit-
ting the army at the head of his own tribe
fell with such impetuousity on the enemy,
that Sheer Shah with difficulty and severe
loss succeeded in repelling the assailants.
He was, however, eventually victor here, as
also at Chittore ; but at Calinjer, to which
he laid siege, a striking retribution awaited
him. The rajah, warned by the breach of
faith committed at Raiseen, refused to enter
into any terms with his perfidious foe, and
Sheer, while superintending the batteries,
was so scorched by the explosion of a maga-
zine struck by the rebound of a shell, that
he expired in a few hours, but continued to
direct the operations of the siege during his
mortal agonies, his last words being an ex-
clamation of pleasure at learning that the
place was taken.

This ambitious, cruel, and vindictive man,
nevertheless evinced considerable ability in
civil government, and, happily for the sub-
jects of his usurped authority, seems to
have recognised the promotion of their wel-
fare as his best means of security. He
caused a high road to be constructed, ex-
tending from Bengal to the western Rohtas,
near the Indus, a distance of about 3,000
miles, with caravanserais at every stage, all
furnished with provisions for the poor, and
attendance of proper casts for Hindoos as
well as Mussulmans. An Imaum (priest)
and Muezzin (crier to call to prayers) were
placed at the numerous mosques erected on
the route ; wells were dug at distances of a
mile and-a-half, and the whole way planted
with fruit-trees for refreshment and shade.
Sheer Shah was buried in a stately mausoleum
still standing at Sahseram, placed in the
centre of an artificial piece of water, a mile
in circumference, which is faced by walls of
cut stone, with flights of steps descending to
the water. Previous to his death, his eldest
son had been the recognised heir to the
throne, but being a prince of feeble charac-
ter was supplanted by his brother, who
reigned for nine years, under the title of
SeUm Shah. On his decease, a.d. 1553,

his son, a boy of twelve years old, was mur-
dered by his uncle, who seized the throne
under the name of Mohammed Adili,* but
was prevented from using the powers of a
ruler by natural incapacity, increased by
habits of the most odious debauchery. His
extravagance speedily emptied the royal cof-
fers, upon which he resumed the governments
and jaghiresf of the nobles and bestowed
them on the lowest of his creatures. The
proud Afghans, stung even more by the in-
sulting bearing of their unworthy ruler than
by the injuries they suffered at his hand, fled
in numbers, and raised the standard of revolt
at Chunar. Meanwhile, the person of the
king was protected and his authority upheld
by the exertions of Hemu, his chief minis-
ter, a Hindoo of mean appearance and low
origin, who had formerly belonged to the
very lowest class of small shopkeepers, as a
retailer of salt, but who had been gradually
raised to power by the late king, and now
displayed a degree of zeal and ability,
which would have honoured a better cause.
From some weakness or physical defect
Hemu was unable to sit on horseback, but
he directed all military operations, and
fought with unfailing intrepidity from his
litter mounted on an elephant. Not the
least extraordinary part of his history is the
manner in which he succeeded in recon-
ciling such of the haughty Afghans and un-
ruly Moguls as still remained with Adili, to
his authority; this he appears to have done
chiefly by the munificence with which he
distributed whatever treasure or revenue
came into his hands — for his objects and
motives, though scarcely indicated in the
contemptuous and calumnious mention made
of "this swarthy upstart" by Mussulman
historians, unquestionably soared far above
the mere accumulation of wealth. Delhi
and Agra were seized on by Ibrahim Soor,
a member of the reigning family, who at-
tempted to assume the supreme authority
under the name of Ibrahim III., but was
opposed by Hemu, and also by Secander
Soor, another relative of Adili' s, who caused
himself to be proclaimed king in the Pun-
jaub. Ibrahim was defeated first by Secan-
der and then by Hemu. The adventurous
minister next marched towards Bengal, to

• This wretch, known before his usurpation as
Moobariz Khan, is alleged to have dragged the
prince from his mother's arms, that mother being his
own sister and tried friend. {Ferishta, vol. ii. p. 142.)

t The revenues of certain lands granted by the
king, sometimes in perpetuity but generally revo-
cable at pleasure, and on military tenure.

90 HUMAYUN AND SHAH TAHMASP, KING OP PERSIA— a.d. 1545.

oppose the governor, Mohammed Soor, who
had assumed the rank of an independent
ruler. Hemu was again victorious, this
new adversary being defeated and slain ; but
struggles in other quarters still continued,
and a more formidable foe than any yet
dealt with, arose in the person of the de-
throned Humayun, who had gradually re-
established himself in the Punjaub, where
Secander, who had occupied Agra and Delhi
on the defeat of Ibrahim, now marched for
his expulsion. Before narrating the success
of Humayun and Akber, and the fate of
Ibrahim and of Hemu and Adili, it is neces-
sary to revert to previous events and sketch
the chain of circumstances which ended in
the restoration of the exiled monarch.

House of Timur restored. — Humayun en-
tered Persia in much uncertainty regarding
the reception he should receive from Shah
Tahmasp, the son and successor of Shah
Ismael, the first of the Saffavi or Sophi
kings. Though both were zealous Moham-
medans, they belonged to distinct sects,
characterised by a degree of mutual ani-
mosity, for which the difference of opinion
existing between them on doctrinal points
far less than those which divide the churches
of England and Rome, is quite insufficient
to account. — [See note to p. 62). Shah
Tahmasp was a strenuous advocate of the
Sheiah doctrine, which had been widely
disseminated through Persia by the instru-
mentality of his ancestors, dervises much
famed for sanctity, while Humayun was a
Sonnite, and this was doubtless one cause
i of the want of cordiality which marked the
; private intercourse of the two monarchs,

■ whose connexion was really, on both sides,
i an interested one. At first Humayun seems
; to have been inclined to put in practice his
j cherished desire of ceasing, at least for a
; time, the weary struggle for power, in which

he had been so long engaged, and proceeding
, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, but his faithful
I followers urgently dissuaded him from this

■ project, pleading the disastrous results it
would have on the fortunes of Akber. The

1 reception met with in Persia successfully
, seconded their arguments — the governors of
j each province received him with regal hon-
[ ours, the people came out to bid him wel-
I come, and palaces were prepared for his

I • The cap which Humayun so reluctantly assumed
was that called Taji Hyder, in honour of Hyder, the
father of Shah Ismael, by whom it was first adopted.
It consisted of a tiara of crimson silk, richly or-
namented with gold and jewels, of a high conical

accommodation at Cazvin and elsewhere, j
But the splendour with which the Persian :
despot thought proper to gild the fallen
majesty of his unfortunate compeer, was un-
accompanied by a single ray of true sym-
pathy ; for many months Humayun was
not suffered to appear before the Shah, and
his brave-hearted envoy, Behram Beg, was'
harshly treated for refusing to wear the
peculiar-shaped cap,* from which the Per-
sians have acquired the title of Kuzilbash
{Red-heads), in allusion to its colour, and
which was expressly designed for a sectarian
symbol. Behram urged that he was the
servant of another prince, and not at liberty
to act without orders. He persisted in de-
clining to assume this badge, unawed by
the displeasure of Tahmasp, who strove to
intimidate the refractory ambassador, by
the summary execution of some prisoners
brought before him for the purpose. This
incident was a sufficiently significant prelude
to the long-delayed interview, during which
Tahmasp affected to receive Humayun as
his equal, but in reality took ungenerous
advantage of his defenceless position, by
compelling him, by means of threats affect-
ing life itself, to assume the obnoxious
cap. Nor even after this concession could
Tahmasp resist taunting his guest with
having, during his prosperity, when prac-
tising the favourite Arabian form of divina-
tion by arrows, to discover the destiny of
reigning princes, placed the name of the
king of Persia in a rank inferior to his own.
Humayun frankly acknowledged that he
had done so, and gently urged in justifica-
tion his hereditary rank as Padshahf or
Emperor of India, whereupon Tahmasp
broke out into violent and unjust invective
against the arrogance which had rendered
him a fugitive, and thrown his female rela-
tives and infant heir into the hands of his
enemies.

Notwithstanding the humiliations suffered
in private from what he justly termed "the
meanness of this Persian monarch," Hu-
mayun continued to receive every outward
mark of unbounded munificence in the fes-
tivals prepared in his honour, especially the
military diversion of great circular hunts, so
famous in the annals of Timur. All the
expenses thus incurred are however said to

shape and divided into twelve segments, in honour
of the twelve Imaums, from whom the reigning family
claimed descent.

t This title was exclusively assumed by the dy-
nasty of the Great Mogul.

HUMAYUN CONQUERS CABOOL AND CANDAHAR.

have been repaid two-fold by the gift of a
few rich gems, which the exiled monarch had
brought with him from Hindoostan. One
of these was a diamond, which the jewellers
of Tahmasp declared to be above all price,
it was perhaps that obtained at Agra, and
there estimated in a somewhat indefinite
manner as equal in value " to the purchase
of a day's subsistence for one-half the in-
habitants of the terrestrial globe." Behram
Beg, the bearer of this costly ofiering, was
dignified by the title of Khan, and another
officer •with that of Sultan, but it was not
without far heavier sacrifices that the as-
sistance, from the first promised to their
sovereign, was at length afibrded. He was
compelled to sign a paper, the contents of
which, though not precisely stated, involved
a pledge, in the event of success in regaining
the sceptre of Baber, to cede to Persia the
province or kingdom of Candahar, and like-
wise to introduce among the Mussulmans of
India the profession of the Sheiahs in oppo-
sition to that of the Sonnites. Orders were
then given for the assemblage of 14,000
horse in Seestan, under the command of
Murad Mirza, the son of Tahmasp, and after
some more bickering the monarchs parted,
and Humayun proceeded again to try his
fortune in war, his private forces amounting
only to about 700 men. At this period
(1545) Sheer Shah was still alive, Kamran
swayed Cabool, and his younger brothers,
after the settlement of their private quar-
rels, received appointments under him ;
Hindal being governor of Ghuznee, and
Askeri of Candahar, which latter place was
attacked by Humayun and captured after a
siege of five months. Askeri was taken and
kept in close captivity for the next three
years. The fort and treasures were made
over to the Persians, on which the greater
]>art of them returned home, leaving a gar-
rison under Murad Mirza. According to
Abul Fazil* the conduct of the Persians to
the inhabitants was so cruelly oppressive as
to justify Humayun, on the sudden death of
Murad, in treacherously seizing the fortress ;
his troops obtaining entrance thereto on the

• Abul Fazil, the famous minister of Akber, re-
corded the leading events of the reigns of this
sovereign and his father in an heroic poem com-
prising 110,000 couplets, from which Ferishta has
borrowed largely. Although a man of extraordinary
ability, he wa-s, unfortunately for the students of his-
tory, an accomplished courtier and professed rheto-
rician, delighting in the cumbrous and inflated style
still in vo"ue in India. His account of important
events is therefore often unsatisfactory, and, unless

plausible pretext of placing Askeri in charge
of the Persian governor. Some of the gar-
rison offered resistance on discovering what
was really intended, but their opposition
was soon silenced in death, and the re-
mainder were suffered to return to Persia.
From Candahar, Humayun marched to
Cabool, of which he took possession without
a struggle, for Kamran, finding himself de-
serted by Hindal and many other chiefs
who had gone over to the now successful
brother, had sought refuge in Sinde. With
Cabool, Humayun recovered Akber, then
between two and three years of age, but
both the city and the young prince were
subsequently re-captured by Kamran, who
long held his ground against all attempts
for his expulsion. Prisoners taken during
this siege were slain in cold blood by the
assailants, and treated with yet greater bar-
barity by Kamran, who threatened, if the
firing were not discontinued, to expose
Akber on the walls. Eventually, being un-
able to continue the contest, he escaped by
night, and by the aid of the Uzbeks again
made head against his brother for about
eighteen months, but was, at the expira-
tion of that time, compelled to surrender.
Humayun behaved on this occasion very
nobly, treated Kamran with great kindness,
released Askeri, and, accompanied by Hindal,
sat down with them at a feast. The four
brothers having eaten saltf together, seemed
for the time entirely reconciled, but during
Humayun's subsequent absence in Trans-
oxiana, the conquest of which he had resolved
on attempting, Kamran once more rebelled,
and after many vicissitudes, (during which
Cabool and the young prince were again
lost and won, and Hindal fell in the cause
of Humayun,) was finally betrayed by the
sultan of the Gukkurs, with whom he had
taken refuge, into the hands of his much-
injured brother. Some chiefs, whose wives
and children had been savagely disgraced and
murdered by order of Kamran during the
siege of Cabool in 1547, now loudly urged
that his life should pay the forfeit of his
crimes. This Humayun steadfastly refused,

carefully vpeighed, misleading j but, notwithstanding
their defects, his works (the Akber Nainah and
At/een Akhery) afford information not to be ob-
tained elsewhere.

t In the east it is regarded as peculiarly infa-
mous for either the giver or receiver of the lowest
description of hospitality, to practice hostility against
one another. Thus, salt, which forms an ingredient
of the most sumptuous or humble m il has become
a type and pledge of good faith.

CHARACTER AND DEATH OF HUMAYUN— a.d. 1555.

but consented to allow him to be blinded,
the barbarous method commonly resorted
to in the East, to crush ambitious pretenders
to that uneasy seat — the throne of a despot.
The cruel operation was usually performed
by means of a searing instrument, called a
fire-pencil, held against the visual nerve
until it was annihilated, or by means of an-
timony ; but in this case, perhaps from the
fact of several state prisoners condemned
in late reigns to a similar fate having
escaped its completion — a lancet was em-
ployed, and after many wounds had been
inflicted, without drawing a groan, lemon-
juice and salt were at last squeezed into the
sightless orbs of the wretched sufferer, who
then exclaimed in uncontrollable agony — " O
Lord my God ! whatever sins I have com-
mitted have been amply punished in this
world, have compassion on me in the next."
Humayun shortly afterwards went to visit
his unhappy brother, and wept long and
bitterly while Kamran confessed the justice
of his punishment, and asked leave to per-
form a pilgrimage to Mecca. This he was
suffered to do, and died in that place in
1557. Askeri, who had likewise returned to
the course of rebellion after having repeat-
edly abjured it, had been previously cap-
tured, but was only punished by imprison-
ment, from which he also was released, for
the purpose of proceeding to Mecca, and
died on his way thither. Thus delivered
from the difHculties in which the turbulence
and disunion of his brothers had involved
him during so long a period, Humayun
began to take advantage of the unsettled
state in which the death of Selim Shah and
the misgovernment of his successor had
involved the territories conquered by Baber,
which had gradually, as has been shown,
been parted by various usurpations into five
distinct states, whose rulers were at variance
with one another. In January, 1555, he
started from Cabool with 15,000 horse,
obtained possession of Lahore, and sub-
sequently engaged Secander, who being
defeated fled to the mountains near the
Himalaya, leaving Humayun to occupy
Delhi and Agra. The portion of his original
dominions thus at length regained, after
sixteen years of strife and banishment, had
been enjoyed by Humayun less than six
months, when an accident occurred which
produced fatal results. The monarch had
ascended the terrace at the top of his library
to enjoy the cool evening air, and give orders
respecting the attendance of astronomers to

note the rising of Venus, which was to be
the signal for the announcement of a general
promotion among the nobility and oflicers.
While preparing to descend the steep and
highly-polished stairs, protected only by au
ornamental parapet a foot high, a muezzin
or crier announced the hour of prayer from,
the minarets of the adjoining mosque, where
the people being assembled had just offered
the monarch the usual koi-nesh or Saluta-
tion. Humayun, intending to repeat the
customary formula, attempted to seat him-
self on the spot, but his foot becoming en-
tangled in the folds of his robe, he fell head-
long down the steps, receiving a contusion
on the right temple, of which he died, aged
somewhat less than forty-nine years.

Historians agree in according him high
rank as a benevolent, forgiving, and munifi-
cent prince, intrepid in the hour of danger,
patient in adversity, moderate in prosper-
ity, and skilled in literature, mathematics,
geography, astronomy, and the mechanical
sciences. These varied gifts, united to a
naturally easy temper, pleasing person, and
courteous demeanour, rendered his society
so delightful that Baber used often to de-
clare Humayun to be without an equal as a
companion. Procrastination and indecision
were his characteristic failings ; these may be
easily traced to the frequent and intoxicat-
ing use of opium, a vice whose degrading
influences were heightened by the peculiar
defects of his religious creed. Perhaps no
single character, when carefully weighed
would afford an inquirer into the effects of
Mohammedanism on individuals more strik-
ing evidence than that of Humayun. His
conduct repeatedly affords evidence of the
want of a steady principle of action, direct-
ing even the passing thoughts of the mind,
and marking with a broad line the differ-
ence between right and wrong. Notwith-
standing the false notions of expediency
which led him to commit, or at least sanc-
tion, crimes from which a naturally gentle
and easy disposition must have revolted,
col. Dow has said that " had he been a
vvorse man he would have been a greater
monarch." The remark sounds strangely,
but it is to be hoped that young students of
history will not forget that all Christendom
concurs in invoking the same just, mer-
ciful and omnipotent Ruler to give wisdom
to senators and prosperity to nations — there-
fore any description of greatness, inconsis-
tent with the goodness inculcated in the
Gospel, ought simply to excite abhorrence

BAHMANI KINGDOM OP THE DECCAN— FOUNDED ad. 1347. 93

and reprobation. Most assuredly the man
■who, in an unrighteous cause, has made mo-
thers childless, and widowed happy wives, de-
solated cultivated lands and spread famine and
pestilence in his train, has attained in the
sight of his Creator a pre-eminence in crime
little in accordance with the idea commonly
attached to the word greatness. Some ray of
light, breaking through the dense clouds in
I which the teaching of the False Prophet had
! involved the purposes and results of war,
I beamed on the mind of Humayun, when not
j many days before his death he prayed, "Lord,
I ennoble me with the knowledge of thy truth;"
! and described himself as " sorely afflicted by
; the perplexities of a troubled mind." The
I faith of Islam and its innumerable obser-
j vances had thus utterly failed to enlighten
I or sustain even a follower, so diligent in
I their observance, that a sentiment of deep
! reverence had all his life long preserved him
from so much as uttering the name of his
Creator with unwashen hands.*
I A new epoch is formed by the reign of
I Akber, since by him India was consolidated
; into one formidable empire, by the absorp-
i tion of the various small kingdoms which
j had sprung up during the reign of Moham-
I med Toghlak, as also by the annexation of
numerous Hindoo principalities, which Ak-
j ber obtained far less by force than by the
I favours and distinctions which he invariably
I bestowed on the native rulers so soon as
I they consented to recognize his supremacy,
I without regard to their religious opinions.
; Before proceeding further, the origin and
j condition of these states must be shown, as
the reader may probably need this know-
ledge for subsequent reference.

The Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan was
founded by Hussun, an Afghan, born in a
low condition at Delhi, and servant to a
Brahmin astrologer, named Gungoo, much
favoured by Mohammed Toghlak. In con-
sideration of his gooa conouct, Gungoo gave
Hussun a pair of oxen, and permitted him

\ to till a piece of land for his own sustenance.

I While ploughing, Hussun discovered a cop-
per casket filled with ancient gold coins,
which he carried to his master, who, in re-
turn, used his utmost influence at court, and

* Price, from Ahtl Fazil, vol. iii., p. 944.

t The Khothah is the public prayer for the reign-
ing king ; Sicca the royal right of stamping coin.

X By the (lamatio is here meant the country where
the Canarese language prevails, south of a line drawn
between Colapoor and Beder. It must be remem-
bered that this tract continued, up to the time of
O

succeeded in rewarding the honesty of Hus-
sun by obtaining for him an appointment
and jaghire in the Deccan, under the gov-
ernor of Doulatabad. Some time after-
wards, the officers of the Deccan, by refusing
to surrender some fugitive chiefs from
Guzerat, incurred the displeasure of Mo-
hammed Toghlak, and fearing to fall into
the hands of this cruel despot, broke into
open rebellion. On the establishment of
their independence Hussun was chosen as
king, A.D. 1347, and the capital fixed at Cul-
barga, whence it was subsequently removed
to Beder or Bidr. Hussun, on assuming
the regal honours of the mosque and mint,t
took the name of Ala-oo-deen, adding
thereto Gungoo Bahmani (Brahmin), in
honour of his early benefactor, whom he
sent for and made treasurer; and the suc-
ceeding princes of the Deccan followed this
example by generally committing to Brah-
mins the charge of the revenues. Notwith-
standing the close connection between the
first Bahmani king and his Hindoo patron,
his son and successor, Mohammed I., proved
a sanguinary foe to that people. "It is
computed," says Ferishta, "that in his
reign [of seventeen years] nearly 500,000
unbelievers fell by the swords of Islam, by
which the population of the Carnatic was so
reduced that it did not recover for several
ages." I This destruction was accomplished
by indiscriminate slaughter, without regard
to sex or age, a proceeding at length stopped
by the remonstrances of the Hindoo ambas-
sadors, who urged that since the princes of
the Deccan and of the Carnatic might long
remain neighbours, it was advisable that a
treaty should be made, binding both parties
to refrain from taking the life of the help-
less and unarmed. From this time, it is
asserted, that the conquered were no longer
slain in cold blood during the hostilities
carried on by the Bahmanis against the
neighbouring states, and especially the new
monarchy of Beejanuggur, throughout the
whole period of their existence, excepting the
reign of Mahmood Shah I., who, for nearly
twenty years (a.d. 1378 to 1397), by rectitude
and discretion, preserved his subjects alike
from foreign and domestic strife. § Although
in these conflicts many thousand Moham-

the Mohammedan writer to be devastated by almost
incessant wars.

§ The proceedings of Mahmood Shah I. occupy but
a few pages in Ferishta's history, far less than are
often given to the details of a single campaign, but
quite enough is said to make the reader solicitous to
learn more respecting this truly great and gifted mo-

MAHMOOD SHAH I. AND HAFIZ, THE POET OP SHIRAZ.

medans, in the fantastic and fanatical lan-
guage of their historians, " tasted the sher-
bet of martyrdom," they were on the whole
gainers. In 1421, Ahmed Shah took per-
manent possession of Warangol, and com-
pelled the rajah of Telingana to relinquish
his ancient capital. In 1471, Mohammed II.
concluded a struggle of more than forty
years' duration, in which much life and trea-
sure had been wasted, by the partial con-
quest of the Concan,* and in 1477 completed
the subjugation of Rajahmundry and Masu-
lipatam. Notwithstanding these successes,
Mohammed was rendered infamous, even in
the eyes of his fellow-believers, by the
slaughter of some Brahmins whom he
found officiating in an idolatrous temple at
Condapilli, and to this ungrateful outrage
on the Order, by whom his ancestor had
been first brought to notice, was popularly
attributed the downfall of the Bahmani
dynasty. Soon after this, the king, while
flushed with wine, was induced, by a forged
letter, to sanction the immediate execution
of his faithful minister, Mahmood Gawan,
then in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

narch. We are told that he was " naturally of a
disposition wise, merciful, and just, and his judg-
ment in all affairs of state was usually correct."
* • • " During his reign no disturbances occurred
jn the kingdom, nor did any relaxation take place in
the energy of the government." The praise is coldly
given, but in the present day the character of a
ruler in whom firmness and mildness were so ad-
mirably balanced will be regarded in a very different
light to that in which it was likely to be viewed by
s Mohammedan, who regarded the title of Ghazi (the
holy warrior), bestowed _on the blood-thirsty Mo-
hammed, as the most desirable of distinctions. In-
deed the virtues of Mahmood Shah I. savoured little
of the morality of the Koran. He had but one wife,
wore plain white robes, and was equally simple and
unpretending in all his habits. As a youth he is said
to have delighted in gaudy attire, but on acceding
to the throne he declared that he looked upon kings
as only trustees of the state, and thenceforth ob-
served in his personal expenses remarkable modera-
tion. A famine occurring during his reign, he
employed 10,000 bullocks, at his private expense, in
going to and from Mahva and Guzerat for grain,
which was distributed to the people at a cheap rate.
He established orphan schools at the cities of Cul-
barga, Beder, Cand'har, Elikpoor, Doulatabad, and in
several other great towns, with ample foundations
for their support, apportioned stipends to the ex-
pounders of the Scriptures, and gave monthly charity
to the blind throughout his dominions. The fame of
his learning and munificence is said to have reached
the ears of Hafiz, the poet of Shiraz, who resolved to
Tisit the Deccan. An assurance of an honourable
reception was sent by the king, accompanied by a
present, which, according to Ferishta, the poet dis-
tributed among his relations and creditors, and then
Eut himself on board one of the royal vessels which
ad arrived at Ormua. but the anchor was scarcely

By so doing, he sealed the fate of his house,
whose power was speedily absorbed in the
whirlpool of strife raised by the two factions
into which the troops had become divided.
The first consisted of Mogul converts, to
whom were gradually added Persians and
Turks, Georgians, Circassians, Calmucks,
and other Tartars, who were for the most
part of the Sheiah sect ; the second, or native
troops, called Deccanies, were Sonnites, and
were always joined by the Abyssinian mer-
cenaries, who came in numbers by the sea-
ports on the western coast.f

The late minister was a Sonnite, and
although just and kind to both sects, this
circumstance afforded a pretext to Nizam-
ul-Moolk Behri, the son of a converted
Hindoo, and the leader of the opposite
party, for gratifying his ambition. Having
succeeded in procuring the death of Gawan,
he obtained also his much-coveted office,
through the fears of the king, who, on learn-
ing the base plot by which he had been de-
ceived, openly bewailed his rash credulity,
but made no attempt to bring the con-
spirators to justice. A low fever, brought

weighed before a heavy gale arose, and the ship was
compelled to return to port. Hafiz had suffered so
much during the storm that he insisted on being put
ashore, sending to Mahmood Shah a copy of verses,
in which he frankly confessed the reason of his
change of mind —

" The glare of gems confused my sight,
The ocean's roar I ne'er had heard."

Unhappily, the line of Bahmani presents an instance
of a monarch exactly opposite to Mahmood Shah I.
Humayun the Cruel was one of those monstera who
seem possessed by a demoniac desire to cause and
witness suffering. His own brother he ordered to be
devoured by a tiger, before his eyes ; and the tor-
tures inflicted by his command, and in his presence,
were often too shocking to be narrated. On one
occasion, after an unsuccessful rebellion, 7,000 per-
sons, including unoffending females and servants,
perished by such agonizing deaths as hewing to
pieces with hatchets, and flaying in cauldrons of
scalding oil or boiling water. After reigning three
years this tyrant, during a fit of intoxication, was
assassinated by his own servants. — Briggs' Ferishta.

* The sufferings of the Moslems in the Concan
are very graphically told by Ferishta, who describes
their " wandering through gloomy defiles, where the
very grass was tough and sharp as the fangs of ser-
pents, and the air fetid as the breath of dragons.
Death dwelt in the waters, poison impregnated the
breeze." On one occasion, having halted at night, in
a spot so rugged as to prevent two tents being pitched
side by side, no less than 7,000 of the invaders were
surprised and put to death by the Hindoos, the fierce
gusts of wind rushing through the trees, preventing
the cries of the first sufferers being heard by their
companions. — Briggs' Ferishta, vol. ii., p. 430.

t The influx of Araliians a])pears to have been verv
small, but it is difficult to conjecture the reason.

EXTINCTION OF BAHMANI KINGS OF THE DECCAN— a.d. 1549. 95

ftn by grief and remorse, was aggravated by
intoxication, and he expired in strong con-
vulsions, crying out that Gawan was tearing
him to pieces. The date of his death,
A.D. 1482, is recorded in the Persian charac-
ters (applied numerically) which express "the
ruin of the Deccan." Mahmood Shah II.
next ascended the throne. Being but tvi^elve
years old and of limited ability, he naturally
became a mere puppet in the hands of the
grasping nobles, who, though for a time
disposed to co-operate for their own advan-
tage, soon broke out into new hostilities.
Behri, for some years, maintained his as-
cendancy over the young king, and Yusuf
Adil Shah, the leader of the foreign party,
withdrew to his government of Beejapoor,
which he formed into an independent
state. Behri, when old and defenceless,
was strangled at the instigation of the king,
who then gave himself up to every species
of excess, leaving the public affairs in the
hands of the leaders of the foreign party.
The Deccanies and Abyssinians conspired
for his destruction, and having surprised
the palace during one of the ordinary scenes
of midnight revelry, would have succeeded
in their object, but for the loyalty of some
half-dozen of his body-guard, who, though
unarmed, threw themselves between him
and the assassins, and by the sacrifice of
their own lives, enabled the king to escape
to the terrace of the royal tower, where he
was joined by the foreign troops. Mahmood,
mounting his throne at sunrise on the fol-
lowing day, gave orders that the houses of
the Deccanies should be broken open, the
inhabitants slain without distinction, and
their property seized by the triumphant
Moguls,* who gladly gave vent to the savage
fury which they had nursed for years ; and
all the horrors of a successful siege, height-
ened by the envenomed bitterness of intes-
tine broils, raged for three days through
the stately city of Beder. Strife and cruelty
naturally brought licentiousness and dis-
order in their train. " The people, follow-
ing the example of their prince, attended to
nothing but dissipation : reverend sages
pawned their very garments at the wine-
cellars, and holy teachers, quitting their
colleges, retfred to taverns and presided
over the wine-flask."t The governors of
frontier provinces took advantage of this

• This term must be here understood in the loose
sense in which it was thon used, as synonymous with
the whole foreign or Sheiah party.

t Briggs' Feriehta, vol. ii., p. 535.

state of affairs, each one to claim as his
own the territories entrusted to his charge.
Ahmednuggur, Golconda and Berar became
distinct principalities, until at length there
remained to the nominal king of the Deccan
no more than the province of Telingana and
the districts adjacent to Beder. Even there
he had no real sway, being wholly in the
hands of Kasim Bareed, who had assumed
the reins of government after the failure
of the Deccani plot, and in revenge for
Mahmood's attempts to get rid of him, as
he had previously done of Behri, by the hand
of an assassin, ruled him so tyrannically, as
to forbid him " even to satisfy his thirst,
without permission." On the death of
Kasim, his son. Ameer Bareed, succeeded him
in the office of Vakeel, J and after regaining
the person of the king, who had in vain
endeavoured to assert his rights, confined him
closely, until his death, in 1518, terminated
a nominal reign of thirty-seven years. The
two years' equally nominal sw sy of Ahmed^
the son and successor of Mahmood, being
ended by his decease. Ameer Bareed raised
to the throne a prince entitled Ala-oo-
deen II., who, rejecting all allurements to
the excesses by which the energies of his
predecessors had been destroyed, attempted
to out-manoeuvre the wary minister, but
having failed in an attempt to seize his per-
son, was himself made prisoner and put to
death. His successor, also a son of Mah-
mood Shah II., met with a similar fate ; for
Ameer Bareed having conceived a passion
for his wife, caused him to be poisoned,
married the queen, and bestowed the empty
title of Shah on another Bahmani prince,
who, having subsequently incurred his dis-
pleasure, by making a private and unsucces-
ful appeal to Baber, the new emperor of
India, then fully engaged in hostilities with
the kings of Malwa and Guzerat, was so
harshly treated, that, escaping from his
palace-prison, he took refuge at Ahmed-
nuggur, and there resided till his death.
Thus ended the Bahmani line. Bareed
Shah ascended the throne of Beder, and
founded a dynasty, which reigned over the
fifth of the kingdoms (Beejapoor, Ahmed-
nuggur, Golconda, and Berar), formed from
that called the Deccan, but not with geo-
graphical accuracy, since Hindoo states, in-
dependent and even antagonistic, existed in

I The Vakeel or Representative was then the first
person in the kingdom, his business being to issue all
orders from the royal closet to the vizier and other
executive officers. — (Dow's Jfindoostan, vol. i. p. 202.)

ADIL SHAH DYNASTY AT BEEJAPOOR— a.d. 1489.

various parts of the territory commonly
comprehended in that term. During the
above period* of two centuries, relations of
a domestic character had gradually arisen be-
tween the Moslems and Hindoos. Feroze
Shah, who began to reign in 1397, made
it an article of a peace with the rajah of
Leejanuggur, that he should give him his
daughter in marriage. This stipulation
perhaps contributed to the blending of the
two people, though it originated in the
ungoverned passions of a king, who re-
ceived into his harem 300 females in one
\ day, being convinced, by the reasoning of
the Sheiahs, that this proceeding was in
perfect accordance with the spirit of the
Koran, against whose doctrines his sole
offences are said to have been an addiction
to wine and music. These foibles would
weigh lightly enough in the judgment of a
Mussulman against a king who earned the
coveted name of Ghazi, by the unbounded
zeal for Islam evinced during " four and
twenty glorious campaigns, by the success of
which he greatly enlarged his dominions."
In reality, the religious feelings of both
Moslems and Hindoos had deteriorated, and
the conscientious scruples of the former
people became frequently little better than
a superstitious regard to certain forms.

Thus the very men, who, for the sake
of gain, entered the service of the rajah of
Beejanuggur, to fight against their fellow-
believers, cavilled at the idea of making the
obeisance required as a pledge of fealty to
an idolater, but gladly availed themselves of
the miserable pretext of having a Koran
placed before the throne and bending there-
to, it being understood that the rajah would
appropriate the homage as offered to his per-
son, and in return, assign lands for the sup-
port of his new auxiliaries, and build a mos-
que at his capital for their encouragement.

The early Bahmani kings lived in great
pomp. Mohammed Shah I. had 3,000
elephants, a favourite evidence of regal
splendour. t He obtained from the rajah of
Telingana a throne six cubits long by two
broad, of ebony, covered with plates of pure
gold and inlaid with gems, to which ad-
ditions were made in successive reigns, until
the whole attained the value of a crore of

• Ferishta makes some remarkable statements re-
specting the use of artillery in the Deccan. For in-
stance, he asserts, that in 1368, (22 years after their
alleged employment by Edward ill. at Crcssy) 300
gun carriages were among the spoil captured from the
Kajah of Beejanuggur; and the Moslems, by the aid
of Turks and Europeans, are said to have used artil-

hoons (£4,000,000 sterling), when it was
broken up by Mahmood Shah II., who
took it to pieces to make vases and goblets.
Some terrible famines are recorded at inter-
vals, occasioned, according to Ferishta, by
the absence of the periodical rains, but
more likely by the slaughter and oppressive
exactions of the Mohammedans. During-
one of these visitations, about a.d. 1474, no
grain was sown in Telingana, Maharashtra,
and throughout the Bahmani dominions for
two years, and on the third, scarcely any
farmers remained to cultivate the land,
having for the most part perished or emi-
grated to Malwa and Guzerat.

Adil Shah dynasty at Beejapoor. — The first
king of this line, Yusuf Adil Shah, reigned
from A.D. 1489 to 1510. A romantic story
is related of his royal descent. He is said to
have been a son of the Ottoman emperor
Amurath, at whose death he escaped destruc-
tion by the contrivance of his mother, who
had him conveyed to Persia, from whence,
at the age of sixteen, he was compelled to
fly, by the suspicions entertained regarding
his birth, was captured, and sold at the
Bahmani court as a Georgian slave. He
rose, according to the course of Mameluk
adventurers, until he became the governor of
Beejapoor, and then, by one of the acts of
flagrant disloyalty so common at the period,
took the first opportunity of declaring him-
self an irresponsible prince. From that time
he was occupied in hostilities with Kasim
Bareed of Beder, and other neighbouring
chiefs, who were also endeavouring to form
independent principalities; but his most
formidable foe was the Hindoo rajah of Bee-
januggur. With the new rulers of Ahmed-
nuggur and Berar, Yusuf entered into a
sort of partition treaty, by which he recog-
nised them in their unlawful seizures, and
they him in the possession of the country
bounded by the Beema and Kishua rivers
on the east, the Tumbuddra river on the
south, the sea from near Goa to near Bom-
bay on the west, and perhaps the Neera
river on the north.

Ibrahim Adil Shah, the fourth king, a.d.
1535, formed an alliance with Bhoj Tirmul,
(who had obtained the throne of Beejanuggur
by the murder of its young occupant, his

lery for the first time in the following campaign.
There can be little doubt that guns were common in
India before the arrival of the Portuguese in H98.
t The king in return signed a treaty pledging his
successors to forbear further encroachment on the
territory of the Telingana rajahs, which, as might be
expected, did not prevent its entire seizure.

EXTINCTION OF HINDOO MONARCHY OF BEEJANUGGUR— a.d. 1565. 97

own nephew), against RamaRajah, the regent
and brother-in-law of the late sovereign.
Ibrahim sent an army to the assistance of
Bhoj Tirmul, who, in return, paid down
fifty lacks of boons* (£2,000,000 sterling),
and promised to acknowledge himself tribu-
tary. No sooner had the foreign troops
quitted Beejapoor, than Rama Rajah, break-
ing, it is alleged, a promise of allegiance
which had been extorted from him, surprised
the city. Bhoj Tirmul, mad with rage and
despair, shut himself up in the palace,
blinded all the royal elephants and horses,
collected together, in one glittering heap,
the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and
other gems, amassed during many ages, and
caused them to be crushed to powder be-
tween mill-stones ; then, fixing a sword-blade
into a pillar of his apartment, rushed upon
it just as the palace- gates were opened to
his enemies. Rama Rajah became the un-
disputed master of Beejanuggur, and Ibra-
him, after having received from his prede-
cessor so large a bribe to take the field
against him, now stooped to the humiliation
of soliciting, with a costly present, the aid
of Rama against a brave chief. Self Ein-
ool-Moolk, driven into rebellion by his own
suspicious tyranny. The required assistance
was sent under the guidance of Venkatadri,
the Rajah's brother. Ibrahim died soon
after, of a complication of disorders brought
on by the most abandoned conduct, having
first caused several physicians to be be-
headed or trodden to death by elephants
for failing to cure him, upon which the rest
fled for their lives, leaving him to perish
unheeded. His successor, Ali,t entered
into a new alliance with Rama Rajah, and
the two monarchs having, at the request of
the former, united their forces, jointly in-
vaded the territory of Nizam Shah, and,
says Ferishta, " laid it waste so thoroughly,
that from Purenda to Joonere, and from
Ahmednuggur to Doulatabad, not a vestige
of population was left." Ali at length be-
came " scandalised by the behaviour of his
Hindoo allies," and alarmed at the growing
strength and haughtiness of Rama ; there-
fore, after receiving the full benefit of his
power, while continuing every outward

i • The hoon varies in value from 3j to 4 rupees —
eight shillings sterling may be taken as the average,
t This monarch (whose death by the hand of a
eunuch shamefully insulted by him, has rendered his
name infamous) greatly improved the capital by con-
structing the city wall and the aqueducts which stili
I convey water through every street. Mention is
j made of his receiving tribute from several petty

mark of friendship, he made a secret league
with his late enemy, Nizam Shah, and with
the kings of Beder and Golcouda, " to crush
the common enemy of Islam." A decisive
battle took place on the Kishna, near Tali-
cot, the Hindoos commencing the attack by
vast flights of rockets and rapid discharges
of artillery. A general engagement fol-
lowed, in which, after great numbers had
been slain on both sides, the Moslems were
victorious, aided by the treachery of two
Mohammedan chiefs in the pay of the rajah.
Eama, although seventy years of age, gave
orders from his elephant throughout, but
was at last captured, and brought into the
presence of Nizam Shah, by whose orders
his bead was struck ofl" and stuck upon a
pole. It is no small proof, either of the
barbarity of the conquerors or the dread
which their victim must have inspired, that
the head of the brave old man should have
been annually exhibited at Ahmednuggur
for more than two centuries and a half,
covered with oil and red pigment, by the
descendants of his executioners, while a sculp-
tured representation of it was made to serve
as the opening of one of the sewers of
the citadel of Beejapoor.

Thus ended the monarchy of Beejanuggur,
which at that time comprehended the greater
part of the south of India. The city of that
name was destroyed, and is now uninhabited;
the country fell into the hands of the tri-
butary chiefs and officers, since so ] well
known as zemindars or poligars; but the
confederate kings were prevented by their
mutual jealousies from gaining any great
addition of territory, the balance of power
being pretty evenly maintained among them,
until all were overwhelmed by Akber. Ven-
katadri, the brother of the late rajah, re-
moved his residence further east, and finally
settled at Chandragiri, seventy miles north-'
west of Madras, at which last place his
descendant first granted a settlement to the
Enghsh, A.D. 1640. The wars between the
Adil Shah dynasty and the Portuguese set-
tlers are very slightly mentioned by the
native historians ; they state little more than
that Goa was lost under Yusuf, retaken by
that king, lost again under his son Ismael

principalities, the government of which was heredi-
tarily vested in females, who ruled with the title of
Rallies, their husbands having no power in the state.
Co'-^nel Briggs remarks upon this statement of Fe-
rishta, that " the gynecocracy of the Ranies of Mala-
bar and Canara seems to have suffered no alteration
from the period alluded to, to the present day." — Note
to Ferishta, vol. iii. p. 140.

98 NIZAM SHAH DYNASTY AT AHMEDNUGGUR— FOUNDED a.d. 1493.

(alluding to the second capture by Albu-
querque, in 1510), and attacked simulta-
neously with Ghoul, in 1570, by the kings
of Beejapoor and Ahmednuggur, who were
both repulsed.

The reigns of the early Beejapoor kings
weie marked by fierce sectarian strife, for
Y'usuf had imbibed in Persia a strong at-
tachment to the Sheiah doctrines and cere-
monial, which he endeavoured to introduce
in his dominions, but was compelled to re-
nounce the attempt by the displeasure of
his subjects and the combination formed
against him by all the other Mohammedan
sovereigns. The same division prevailed
among the troops as that previously de-
scribed as existing under the Bahmani
dynasty, and according to the opinion of
the king or his chief ministers, the Dec-
canies (including Hindoos), or the foreigners,
were uppermost. After the extinction of
their native rulers, the Hindoos formed the
chief part of the infantry of most of the
Moslem governments, and appear to have
been well paid* and entirely relied upon.
Yusuf is said to have given a command of
12,000 infantry to a Mahratta chief,t and
Ismael raised " a vast number" of Mahratta
cavalry, under the name of Bergies, who,
for an annual subsidy, engaged to appear
fully equipped whenever their services were
required. Ibrahim, the fourth king, caused
the public accounts to be kept in the Mah-
ratta language instead of the Persian, a very
politic and almost necessary measure, since
the village accountants and the revenue and
finance officers were for the most part Hin-
doos. Ibrahim II., who acceded to the throne
of Beejapoor, a.d. 1579, was cotemporary
with Akber, and will be again mentioned.

Nizam Shah dynasty at Ahmednuggur. —
Ahmed, the first of these kings, began to
reign a.d. 1490, having, as before stated,
on the assassination of his father, Nizam-ool-
Moolk Behri, assumed the title of Shah, and
made Ahmednuggur his capital. Not only
tolerance, but great favour was shown to the
Hindoos by this monarch and his successor,
Boorhan, who appointed a Brahmin, named
Kawar Sein, Peshwa or prime minister, and
had every reason to rejoice in the selection.

• Brigcs gives a table (vol. ii. p. 504) showing
how much more liberally Indian troops were paid by
Mohammedan sovereigns in 1470 than by the British
in 1823 (the date at which he wrote).

•f Duffs History of the Mahrattas,yo\. i. p. 84 ,
\ The chivalrous Rajpoot probably intended to
Traive the performance of this galling act, for when
Hassun entered his tent, he rose and took him by

In fact, these kings appear to have been
proud of their Brahmiuical descent, and
frequent wars took place between them and
the Berar sovereigns, for the possession of
t he village of Patree, situate just within the
Berar territory, where the ancestors of the
Nizam Shah family had held the office of
coolcurny or hereditary village accountant.
It was, however, by the orders of Hussun,
the third king of this dynasty, that Rama
Rajah was beheaded, in revenge for the
humiliations previously suflPered from his
brave foe, to whom he had been compelled to
sue for peace, by paying the Hindoo a visit,
and receiving a p&n (aromatic leaf) from
his hand, which, thus given, implies the
superiority of the donor, and is equivalent
to the English custom of kissing hands ; but,
when presented in a silver or gold box,
or on a salver, denotes equality. J Hussun
died shortly after, from the consequences
of unbounded dissipation. His successor,
Murtezza, appears to have become insane,
and growing suspicious of his son, Meeran
Hussun, the heir apparent, endeavoured to
destroy him, by setting fire to the couch on
which he lay sleeping. Meeran escaped, suc-
cessfully rebelled, and seized the person of
his father, whom, although ill of a mortal
disease, he confined in a bath-room, and suf-
focated with hot air. Ferishta, who was r.t
the time on guard at the palace, relates th>is
horrible tale, adding, as the reason of his own
life being spared amid the general massacre
of the few who remained faithful to the king,
'■ the Prince fortunately knew me, and re-
flecting that we had been school-fellows, and
brought up together, ordered my life to
be spared."§ Meeran Hussun retained the
throne less than a year, but during that period
he inflicted great misery, frequently riding
through the streets in fits of intoxication, ac- [
companied by a party of abandoned courtiers,
and putting to death persons guilty of no j
crime. Fifteen princes of the royal family were
massacred in one day, in order to establish
an authority obtained by parricide, at the [
instigation of the vizier, Mirza Khan, who,
at length terrified by the menaces of the
king during his drunken revels, deposed and
slew him. A speedy retribution attended

the hand, but the insolent Mussulman called for a
basin and ewer as if polluted by the touch of Rama,
who exclaimed in his own language, " If he were not |
my guest, I would cut off his hands and hang them
round his neek." After this interview the rajah and
his troops are accused of treating their Mohamme-
dan foes and even friends with great indignity.
§ Briggs' Ftrishta vol. iii. p. 269.

CHAND BEEBY, HEROINE OF AHMEDNUGGUR, MURDERED, a.d. 1599. 99

this wretch, for in the struggle which en-
sued between the Deccanies and the Moguls,
he was hewn to pieces by the former,
and his limbs affixed on diflferent public
buildings. In the space of seven days,
nearly 1,000 foreigners were slain, and their
effects confiscated ; some few escaped with
their lives, through the protection of Deccani
or Abyssinian officers, and these, among
whom was Ferishta, for the most part, ob-
tained service under the king of Beejapoor.
The remaining reigns of this line present
uo very striking features, excepting the gal-
lant struggles made by Chand Beeby [the
Lady Chand) as regent on behalf of her
infant nephew, after the death of her
brother, Ibrahim, slain in battle with the
king of Beejapoor. An attempt was made
to seize the throne in the name of a boy
called Ahmed, under a shallow pretence of his
being a son of the late king. Chand Beeby
evinced equal valour and discretion during
this trjring period,* and her efforts were
temporarily successful. Ahmed, the young
pretender, was confessed to be not lineally
descended from the royal family, and was
provided with an estate by Ibrahim Adil
Shah, at Beejapoor, while Bahadur was pro-
claimed king, his aunt continuing regent
until the siege of Ahmednuggur by the son
of Akber. Then, hopeless of offering a suc-
cessful defence, in consequence of the fac-
tions which divided the troops, she called a
council of war, and proposed to negotiate, on
favourable terms, the evacuation of the fort.
The ungrateful Deccanies, to whom her sug-
gestion had been purposely misrepresented
by an intriguing eunuch, rushed into her
apartments and put her to death. The place
was shortly after taken by storm, and little
or no quarter given. The unfortunate king
was sent to Akber, who confined him in the
fortress of Gwalior, a.d. 1599, but was pre-
vented from gaining possession of his do-
minions by the determination of an Abys-
sinian officer, Malek Amber, (who founded
the city afterwards called Aurungabad,) to

• On one occasion when closely besieged, after
having succeeded in destroying two out of five mines
carried under the bastions at Ahmednuggur, by her-
self labouring all night at the head of the garrison,
a third was sprung at day-break, which killed many
of the counter-miners, and threw down several yards
of the waH. The principal officers concluding all
now lost, prepared for flight, but Chand Beeby, clad
in armour, with a veil on her face and a naked sword
in her hand rushed to defend the breach, and while
the Mogul storming-party waited the explosion of
the other mines, found time to bring guns to bear

retain the sovereignty on behalf ot his newly-
elected nominal master , and the Adil Shah
dynasty was not extinguished until the time
of Jehangeer. At its greatest extent the king-
dom of Ahmednuggur comprehended all that
is now called the Subah of Aurungabad, and
the west of that of Berar, with a portion of
the sea-coast of the Concan. It must have
been a formidable power, for it appears that
in one campaign upwards of 600 of its guns
were seized by the rival state of Beejapoor,
including the cannon still preserved at the
latter place, and famous as one of the
largest pieces of brass ordnance in the
world.f Duelling (an infrequent crime
in Asia) was introduced in the reign of
Ahmed, who, being himself an expert swords-
man, encouraged the assemblage of young
men at the palace for the purpose of dis-
playing their skill, till at length a day sel-
dom passed without one or two persons
being killed. The king then endeavoured
to discourage the practice, but it spread far
and wide among the Mohammedans of the
Deccan. Even learned divines and philoso-
phers shared the infatuation, and Ferishta
records an instance which he witnessed in
the streets of Beejapoor, of a dispute
arising regarding some trifling matter, and
terminating in a few minutes in the death
or mortal injury of sis persons of high
standing, of whom five were grey-headed
men. The spread of this destructive and
contagious vice was, of course, fostered by
the rancorous sectarian- spirit between the
Sonnites and Sheiahs — the native and fo-
reign factions.

The Koolb Shah dynasty at Golconda was
founded, about a.d. 1512, by a Turcoman
soldier, named Kooli Kootb, who came from
Hamadan, in Persia, in quest of military
service, entered the guards of the Bahmani
king, was promoted, and, on the dissolution
of the monarchy, held sway over Telin-
gana, which he retained, making Golconda
his capital. He was a zealous Sheiah, and
introduced this profession into his dominions.

upon it, so that on the enemy's advance they were re-
ceived with repeated volleys, until, when compelled to
renounce the attack by the darkness of night, " the
ditch was nearly filled with dead carcases." During
the succeeding hours Chand Beeby (on whom the
name of Chand Sultana was now bestowed) super-
intended unceasingly the repairs of the breach, which
by the morning's dawn was built up to the height oi
seven or eight feet. At length, reinforcements being
on their way, the siege was raised.

t Weighs 40 tons, is 4 ft. 8 in. in diameter at the
muzzle, and only 15 ft. long. Calibre, 2 ft. 4 in.

100 KOOTB SHAH DYNASTY AT GOLCONDA— ESTABLISHED a.d. 1512.

At the close of a long reign he left a terri-
toiy extending from the Godavery river to
beyond that of the Kishna, and from the
sea (Bay of Bengal) to a line drawn west of
Hyderabad, about 78° E. long. The chief
part of his dominions were wrested from the
Warangol family, and other Hindoo chiefs
of Telingana, over whom, together with the
Rajah of Orissa, he gained a great victory at
Condapilli.

It has been stated in a previous page, on
the authority of Ferishta, that the Bahmani
line abided by the oath of Mohammed
Shah I., not to slay prisoners or the un-
armed in cold blood, but if this dynasty
really redeemed its pledge, the rulers of
the subsequent Deccani kingdoms reverted
to the barbarities which their predecessors
had abjured, and were far more treacherous
and sanguinary. Thus Sultan Kooli Kootb
Shahhaving repeatedly, but invain,attempted
to storm the strong hill-fort of Nulgonda,
at length sent a flag of truce to the com-
mandant. Rajah Hari Chandra, promising
to withdraw the troops if he would consent
to become tributary to Golconda, but threat-
ening, in the event of refusal, to procure
reinforcements, destroy the neighbouring
towns, devastate the country, and thus
reduce the place by cutting ofi' its supphes,
in which case he would not spare the life
even of an infant in the garrison. The
Rajah having consented, the king remarked
that as Nulgonda was the only hill-fort
which had successfully resisted him, he
should like to see it, and therefore desired
to be allowed to enter with a few attendants.
The request being granted, Kooli, having
instructed his body-guard, (whom, to disarm
suspicion, he had left in the town below,)
how to act ascended the hill with four
chosen soldiers in complete armour. On
entering the gate-way he drew his sword
and cut down one sentinel, while his com-
panions, attacking the others, held posses-
sion until their comrades came rushing to
their assistance, and the whole army soon
poured into the fortress. " Neither man,
woman, or child was spared on this occa-
sion. The Rajah, on being made prisoner,
was confined in an iron cage, and eventually
put to death." Such are the words in which
the Mohammedan historian concludes the
account of this abominable transaction.*

* See Briggfs' Appendix to History of Kings of
Golconda, translated fron the Persian of a contem-
porary of Ferishta's, vol iii. p. 374. t Idem, p. 431.

t Thfi Hindoos still call it Bhagnuggur.

The author of it was eventually the victim
of domestic treachery, being assassinated in
his ninetieth year, a.d. 1543, at the insti-
gation of his son, Jamsheed, who, hav-
ing put out the eyes of his elder brother,
the heir apparent, ascended the throne.
Wars were carried on with their Jloslem
rivals in a spirit less perfidious perhaps, but
scarcely less ferocious. Thus it is recorded
that Ibrahim Kootb Shah, when at war
with AU Adil Shah, detached a force of
4,000 horse and 10,000 foot to make nightly
attacks on the enemy. " The Munewar
infantry were eminently successful in all
directions, and at all hours, bringing nightly
between 300 and 400 noses and ears from
the enemy's lines; and they received for
each nose a boon, and for each ear a purtab
[star pagoda.] Meanwhile, the king, by
whose orders these atrocities were being
committed, " had ordered pavilions to be
pitched on the bastions [of Golconda], and
adorned them with rich brocades and silks
from China, and with velvets of European
manufacture, giving himself up to the grati-
fication of listening to the enchanting
vocal and instrumental music of heart-al-
luring damsels and fairy-faced virgins."-)-
Truly it is as reasonable to expect the shrill
cry of human suffering to pierce " the dull
cold ear of death," as to touch a heart turned
into stone by sensuality.

Mohammed Kooli, the fifth of the Kootb
Shah kings, began to reign a.d. 1580. He
removed the seat of government to a neigh-
bouring site, where he built a magnificent
city called Bhagnuggur, J in honour of Bhag-
muttee, his favourite mistress, a public
singer, for whom 1,000 cavalry were assigned
as an escort. After her death the name was
changed to Hyderabad. In this reign fierce
struggles took place between the Deccanies
and the Moguls, as the foreigners of what-
ever denomination came to be called. The
disorderly conduct of some of the latter
caused the issuing of a proclamation com-
manding all aliens, whether Patans, Per-
sians, Arabs, Tartars or others, who had no
fixed employment, to quit Hyderabad. The
Deccanies construing this order into a per-
mission to plunder their old foes at pleasure,
deserted their occupations and hastened to
rifle the warehouses of the wealthy merchants,
of whom many were killed in defending
their property. The riots grew to an alarm-
ing height, but the king was sleeping, and
none of the servants dared disturb the royal
slumbers, until one of the ministers had

INDEPENDENT STATES OF BERAR, BEDER, AND GUZERAT. 101

the courage to break open the door, and hav-
ing with great difficulty aroused the monarch,
bade him observe from the palace-windows
the state of the city. The measures adopted
were in the true spirit of oriental despotism.
The cutwal (chief magistrate) through whose
representations the sentence of banishment
had been procured, was directed to put an
immediate stop to the disturbances, on peril
of being trodden to death by elephants.
Many of the rioters were executed, " and by
way of satisfying the minds of the people,
several minor police-officers, who had been
most active, were beheaded or hanged, or
flayed alive, while others were maimed by
the loss of limbs, and exhibited through the
city in this mutilated state as examples."*

The Imad Shah dynasty of Berar was
founded about 1484, by the descendant of a
Hindoo of Canara, captured when a child,
and educated as a Mussulman, by the gover-
nor of Berar. This small kingdom extended
from the Injadri hills to the Godavery, and
bordered Ahmednuggur and Candeish on
the west. Very little is known of its his-
tory, except from its wars with neighbouring
states. Boorhan, the fourth and last of his
line, ascended the throne while yet a child,
about the year 1560. The regent, Tufal
Khan, imprisoned the young king and
seized the crown, relying upon the protec-
tion of Murtezza Nizam Shah of Ahmed-
nuggur, who, false to both parties, having
obtained possession of Boorhan and his
rebellious minister, caused them to be put
to death, and annexed Berar to his own
dominions, a.d. 1572.

The Bareed Shah Dynasty at Beder, com-
menced in 1498. The territories of these
kings were smaU and ill-defined, and the
period of their extinction uncertain. Ameer
II. was reigning in 1609, when Ferishta
closed that part of his history. Having
thus shown the fate of the five Mohammedan
principalities formed from the ruins of the
Bahmani kingdom, it becomes necessary to
sketch the leading characteristics of the other
states which succeeded in establishing their
independence of Delhi during the feeble
reign of Mahmood Toghlak, of which the
chief were Guzerat, Malwa and Candeish.

The kings of Guzerat ruled the territory
still called by this name; bounded on the
north and north-east by a hilly tract con-
necting the AravuUi mountains with the
Vindya chain, and on the south by the sea,
which nearly surrounds a part of it, forming
• Briggs' Ferishta, vol. iii., p. 478.
P

a peninsula then termed Surashtra, now
Katiwar. The founder of the dynasty was
Mozuffer, the son of a Rajpoot, who had
embraced Islamism, and become conspi-
cuous for his enmity to all who still held the
creed which he had renounced. The king
of Delhi having been informed that the
existing governor of Guzerat was endea-
vouring to establish himself as an indepen-
dent ruler by gaining the affections of the
Hindoos, sent Mozuff'er Khan to supersede
him; which, after some opposition on the
part of the Hindoos, he succeeded in doing,
and by the permission of the Delhi monarch
assumed the white umbrella or canopy, and
the scarlet pavilion, considered as exclusive
appurtenances of royalty. When he took the
title of Shah does not appear, but his reign
really commenced with his government,
A.D. 1391. At first his sway extended over
only a portion of the fertile plain, about sixty
miles in depth, which stretches along the
sea. On the north-west were the indepen-
dent rajahs of Jhalor and Sirohi, from
whom he occasionally levied tribute, as also
from the Rajpoot prince of Idur, in the
western part of the hills, while the rugged
forest tracts were generally retained by
the mountain tribes of Bheels and Coolies;
among whom some Rajpoot chiefs, mostly
connected with Mewar, had also founded
petty principalities. The peninsula was in
the hands of nine or ten Hindoo tribes, who
probably paid tribute so long as a power
existed capable of its enforcement. All these
small states preserved their existence under
the kings of Guzerat, the Mogul emperors,
and during many years of British ascen-
dancy. Of the plain which formed the Guze-
rat kingdom at the accession of Mozuffer, the
eastern portion belonged to an independent
rajah, who resided in the hill-fort of Cham-
paneer, and their dominions stretched along
the sea to the south-east, so as to include
the city of Surat, and some further country
in the same direction.

It would occupy space which could be ill-
spared to narrate in detail the varying for-
tunes of this dynasty in their wars with
Malwa, their Hindoo neighbours, and the
Rajpoot kingdom of Mewar, from the acces-
sion of Mozufi"er I. to that of the puppet
set up by a faction under the title of Mo-
zuffer III., in A.D. 1561, when the kingdom
was partitioned among the conspirators.
One striking characteristic in their incessant
strife with the Hindoos, was the cruel bigotry
which marked their conduct, far exceed-

102 MOSLEM KINGS OP GUZERAT— WARS WITH THE HINDOOS.

ing that displayed by the Delhi usurpers.
It may be perhaps that the proceedings of
the latter sovereigns are purposely placed
in the least unfavourable light, but this
scarcely accounts for the difference, since,
iu both cases, the annals are furnished solely
by Mohammedan pens. Ferishta, although his
history bears internal evidence of the honesty
and ability of the writer, was yet compelled
to depend in great measure on the compila-
tions of his fellow-believers ; and his igno-
rance of the language of the Hindoos would
greatly hinder his obtaining information
from whatever records they might possess,
even if the inveterate prejudices of his creed
had not taught him to shun with contempt
and aversion the thought of gaining infor-
mation from so defiled a source.

In 1402 the port of Diu was seized by
MozufFer I. from the Rajah of Idur, who
had been driven from his capital, and forced
to take refuge there. We are told that " it
opened its gates without offering any resis-
tance. The garrison was, however, nearly
all cut to pieces, while the Ray, with the
rest of the members of the court, were trod
to death by elephants." The next king,
Ahmed Shah, a.d. 1412, though a zealous

•Bird's Giyardt,p. 191.

t Signifying, in the Guzerat language, two forts.

X According to Ferishta nearly 1,900 years had
elapsed since this fortress had come into the pos-
session of the rajah, who held it when Mahmood
first marched against it in 1469 ; and whose title,
Mandulik, here used by Ferishta for the first time,
implies petty chieftain, a term originally applied to
officers of some greater state, but often retained by
rulers who had acquired or inherited an independent
sway. A body of Rajpoots occupying an important
defile were surprised by Mahmood. The troops then
passed on unopposed, till on reaching the foot of the
hill they were met by the rajah, who, being defeated
and severely wounded, sooner than sustain a siege
purchased a cessation of hostilities by the payment
of a large amount in jewels and in specie. In the
following year, " the king, who only wanted some
excuse to invade Girnar a second time, urged as a
complaint against the rajah, his habit of assuming
the ensigns of royalty." On this plea, in itself a gross
insult to the high-born Hindoo, forty thousand horse
were sent to exact from him a heavy fine, which
having obtained, Mahmood distributed in one night,
amongst a set of female dancers ; and at the latter
end of the same year appeared in person before
Girnar. "The rajah declared his willingness to pay
any sum of money he could produce, to protect his
subjects from the oppression and horrors of war."
Mahmood would enter into no terms, but sat down
before the place, starved the garrison into sub-
jection, and succeeded in acquiring possession. The
expelled rajah, it is said, from conviction, but more
probably to save his life, embraced Islamism, a faith
against which the covetousness and fraud practised
towards him by its professors were sufficient to have

Mussulman very diligent in destroying
temples and building mosqaes, yet showed
more favour to the natives than his prede-
cessor had done, and Hindoo names appear
among those of the government officers
and nobility — an innovation which had
long been opposed. Ahmed built the forti-.
fied town of Ahmednuggur, as a check on
the Rajah of Idur (the successor of the
prince slain by MozufFer), and founded
Ahmedabad, thenceforth his capital, and
still one of the principal cities in India.
This king introduced the practice of paying
the soldiers one-half in money, and the
other by a grant of land, with a view of
inducing them to take an interest in the
cultivation and protection of the province.*
Mahmood Shah I. reigned for fifty-two years
(1459 to 1511), and warred alike with
Moslems and with the Indian and European
idolaters, the latter term being used to
designate the Portuguese. He obtained the
surname of Begarra,t by the reduction of
Girnar or JunagharJ and of Champaneer —
two hill-forts, situated the one on the west,
and the other on the east, of his dominions,
and both until that time deemed impreg-
nable. § His maritime exploits were re-
inspired a deep-rooted prejudice. — (Briggs' Ferishta,
vol. iv. p. 55.)

§ Champaneer was not captured till 1483. The
rajah, Beni Ray, sent ambassadors offering two ele-
phant-loads of gold to procure the departure of
Mahmood, who had arrived at the head of a power-
ful force ; but, finding all endeavours at conciliation
useless, he sallied forth, and after many attempts
succeeded in compelling the invader to raise the
siege, and then led his troops to attack him. In the
sanguinary battle which followed, the flower of the
Hindoo force was slain, but a compact body of
12,000 men retreated in order to the fort. Mahmood
continued to construct trenches and mines, and
caused a mosque to be built in the lines, in order to
convince his troops of his determination not to be
wearied out by the prolonged defence, but no de-
cided advantage was gained until it was discovered
that the Rajpoots left the place every morning
through a sally-port to perform their ' ablutions.
Watching their opportunity, a chosen band waited
close to the walls at day-break, and succeeded in
rushing into the place, while another party, under
Malek Eiaz, (the famous admiral who engaged the
Portuguese fleet, off Choul,) escaladed the western
wall, where a breach had been newly made, and got
possession of the main gate. The Rajpoots finding
the king rejected all terms of surrender, burned their
wives and children on a funeral pile, together with
their costliest effects, and then, having bathed,
perished on the swords of their cruel foes, who like-
wise suffered severely. Beni Ray and his prime
minister, crippled by wounds, were captured, and
brouglit into the presence of Mahmood, who, on
asking the former why he had held out so long
I against an overwhelming force, was reminded of the

MAHMOOD BEGARRA OF GUZERAT— BAHADUR GHAH.

103

markable. He took the islands of Jegat and
Beet, then, as now, nests of pirates ; des-
patched a sea and land force against Bombay;
and sent a large fleet of vessels, mounting
guns, under Eiaz, to co-operate with the
twelve ships equipped by the Mameluk
Sultan of Egypt, for the purpose of attacking
the Portuguese squadron in the harbour of
Choul, south of Bombay. In the first action
the combined forces were successful, but
were subsequently defeated near Diu, and
the Mameluk portion annihilated. Fleets
were, however, still despatched by the
Mameluks to the Indian seas, and the
Turks, after their conquest of Egypt, con-
tinued the practice, with a view to open the
navigation of the Red Sea and the Persian
Gulf, but apparently without entertaining
any idea of forming settlements in India.

Mahmood Begarra attained an unenviable
European celebrity by the marvellous ac-
counts of travellers, who described his per-
sonal appearance as terrific; and declared his
system to have been so impregnated with the
mortal poisons, on which he habitually fed,
that although he had by some means or
other contrived to neutralize their effect on
his own vital powers, he had only, after
chewing betel, to breathe upon any courtier
who had ofl'ended him, and death infallibly
ensued. If a fly settled on him, it instantly
dropped lifeless.*

Bahadur Shah, a. d. 1526, (before men-
tioned as the opponent of Humayun,) with
the aid of Rana Rattan Sing, made war
upon Mahmood, king of Malwa, who had
intrigued against them both. Mahmood
was captured and put to death, and Malwa

hereditary right by which the territory had been
held, and the long line of noble ancestors through
which his name with honour had descended. This
fearless reply for the moment raised a feeling of ad-
miration in the selfish victor, and he ordered Beni
Ray and his faithful companion to be treated with
respect and attention. On recovering from their
wounds, they both persisted in refusing to abjure
their religion, and were therefore confined separately,
and treated harshly, which, as might have been fore-
seen, only served to confirm their previous determi-
nation. " At length the king, at the instigation of
some holy men about his person, ordered them to be
put to death." — (Briggs' Ferishta, vol. iv., p. 70.)

* Bartema and Barbnsa (Ramusio, vol. i., pp.
147 — 296.) Mahmood Begarra is the original of
Butler's Prince of Camhay, whose —

" ■ daily food

Is asp, and basilisk and toad."

t The king feared to storm the fort, knowing that
in the seraglio were many Mohammedan females,
who would, in the event of his success, be burnt

annexed to Guzerat. Raiseen, a strong hill-
fort, Bhilsa and other places in the west of
Malwa together with Oojein, remained in
the possession of Silhuddi; a Rajpoot who
had risen under Mahmood to power, but
whose son, Bopat Rai, was in the service of
Bahadur, by whose invitation Silhuddi came
to visit the royal camp. He was treacher-
ously seized, and Oojein taken by surprise.
Raiseen held out under his brother Lokmun,
but was at length reduced, both Silhuddi
and Lokmun being slain at its capture.f

In his dealings with the Portuguese, Ba-
hadur was less fortunate. Having entered
into negotiations with them for their aid,
and among other things conceded in return
permission for the erection of a factory at
Surat, he found them surrounding the
building with a wall and, in efiect, render-
ing it a strong fortification. This seems to
have first roused suspicions, and treachery is
alleged to have been meditated by both
parties. The result has been already stated,
Bahadur perished in an afi^ray which arose
on his visiting the ship where Nuno de
Cunha, the Portuguese viceroy, had allured
him on tlie plea of sickness, a.d. 1537. J

The fort of Surat is said by Ferishta to
have been completed during the reign of
Mahmood III. (1538 to 1553), but the Per-
sian characters inserted over the old gate —
" Against the bosom and lives, the ambition
and rapacity of the Portuguese,be this fabric an
effectual bulwark," when numerically viewed,
give 1530 as the date of its erection. § This
king was assassinated by his chaplain, named
Boorhan, whose revenge he had excited, by
sentencing him, for some offence not re-
alive with their Rajpoot companions, for whom, of
course, as infidels, no compassion could possibly be
entertained. Silhuddi consented to abjure his creed,
and was sent to escort the females of his family from
the fort, but on arriving there, his wife (the daughter
of Rana Sanga) bitterly reproached him and his
brother for their conduct, and, setting fire to a pile
with which she had caused the apartments of the
females to be surrounded, sprang into the flames,
and all, to the number of 700, perished. Silhuddi
and Lokmun, with a hundred of their blood-relations,
rushed out,and met death on the Moslem swords.

\ One account of this transaction has been given
at p. 85. I have since read the Portuguese and
Mussulman statements, collated by General Briggs
{Ferishta, vol. iv., p. 132), in which each party
endeavours to throw the blame upon the other, but
there is little difference in the leading facts of the
case, except that Bahadur, after jumping into the
sea, is asserted to have been first stunned by a blow
with an oar, and then dispatched with a halbert.

5 Price would place it six years earlier.^il/ulc.
medan History, vol. iii., p. 726.

104

KINGS OF MALWA— A.D. 1401 to 1512.

corded, to be built up in a mud wall with
his head exposed, and left to starve. Life
was nearly extinct when Mahmood passed
the spot, and noticing the attempt of the
wretched captive to bend his head in saluta-
tion, inspired with compassion, had him
released and attended by the royal phy-
sician until he recovered. But soon after
this Boorhau again fell into disgrace, and,
fearing, perhaps, to be re-immured, or stimu-
lated by ambition to attempt to seize the
throne, persuaded his nephew, Dowlut, to
take the opportunity afforded by his office
of fumigating the long hair of the king, to
assassinate him while he slept. This being
done, Boorhan, by the aid of a corps called,
from their qualification for enlistment, " the
tiger-killers," succeeded in destroying seve-
ral of the leading nobility by sending for them
separately, but was at length, when intoxi-
cated with success, slain by the vengeful
swords of the survivors. A supposititious
child* was next set up by a party under the
name of Ahmed II., but assassinated a.d.
1561. The last and merely nominal king
abdicated in favour of Akber, a.d. 1572.

Kings of Malwa. — This state became in-
dependent in 1401, under Dilawur Ghori,
whose successor founded the capital, Mandu,
on a rich table-land, thirty-seven miles in
circumference. Wars with Mohammedan
kingdoms, especially the neighbouring one
of Guzerat, with the Hindoo rajahs of Chit-
tore or Mewar, and several minor principali-
ties, together with the usual instance* of
treachery and intrigue in the court and
camp, and besotted sensuality in the harem,
form the staple of the history of this dynasty.
Mohammed Ghori, the third king, was poi-
soned at the instigation of his minister and
brother-in-law, who ascended the throne in
1435, by the name of Sultan Mahmood
Khilji. He reigned thirty-six years, of
which scarcely one was suffered to pass
without a campaign, " so that his tent be-
came his home, and his resting-place the
field of battle."t A famous fort in Kum-
ulnere was taken by storm after a severe
struggle, and its defenders compelled to
chew the calcined parts of a large marble
idol, J representing, according to Ferishta, a
ram (? a bull), as they were in the habit of
doing chunam or lime between betel leaves,

* Mahmood left no lineal heir ; fearing to risk the
chance of rebellious children, of which frequent in-
stances occur in Mohammedan history, he avoided
the commission of infanticide by the perpetration of
a yet more heinous crime.

that they might be said to have eaten their
gods. Many Rajpoots were slain, probably
in consequence of their refusal to obey this
command of their imperious conqueror.
Some years after, Mahmood received a sig-
nal defeat from Koombho Sing, the rajah of
Chittore, who erected, in commemoration of
his victory, a superb column, still in ex-
istence, which Tod states to have cost nearly
a million sterling. § Mahmood unsuccess-
fully besieged Delhi and Beder. His in-
ternal administration would seem to have
been more gentle than could have been ex-
pected, for we are told that his subjects,
Hindoos as well as Moslems, " were happy,
and maintained a friendly intercourse with
one another." He took vigorous measures
for the suppression of robbery, and further
promoted the safety of travellers, and indeed
of the people generally, by obliging the
governors of the different districts to send
out parties for the destruction of wild beasts,
proclaiming that if after a period of two
years a human being should be seized by
them, he would hold the governor responsi-
ble. For many years after his death wild
beasts were scarce throughout the kingdom.
Now the vicinity of the once famous city of
Mandu, overgrown by forest trees, has again
become the favourite haunt of tigers, who,
in some instances, within the memory of the
present generation, have been known to carry
off troopers riding in the ranks of their
regiments. The next king, Gheias-oo-deen
Khilji, A.D. 1482, was only remarkable for
the extent of his seraglio, which contained
15,000 women, including 500 Turki females
who stood clad in men's clothes, with bows
and arrows, on his right hand; while 500
Abyssinian females kept guard with fire-arms
on his left. He reigned thirty-three years,
and became at last idiotic; his two sons
meanwhile quarrelled about the succession,
until the elder gaining the ascendancy slew
the younger with all his family, and having,
it is alleged, accelerated his father's death
by poison, mounted the vacant throne a.d.
1500. This wretch died of a fever brought
on by his own excesses, having first driven
his sons into rebellion by suspicious and ty-
rannical conduct. One of these, Mahmood
Khilji II., established himself on the throne,
A.D. 1512, mainly through the assistance

t FerisJda, vol. iv., p. 234.

X The temple was filled with wood, and being set
on fire, nold water was thrown on the images, causing
them to break.

§ Annals of Uajasfhan, vol. ii., p. 762.

MAHMOOD IT. LAST KING OF MALWA, KILLED a.d. 1531— CANDEISH. 105

of Medni Ray, a Eajpoot chief, who joined
him at the commencement of the struggle
with a considerable body of his tribe, and
whose zealous and able services rendered
him so popular with the king, as to excite
the hatred and jealousy of the Mussulmans.
Conspiracies were formed, and after repeated
failures Mahmood was at length inspired
with sufficient distrust to consent to dis-
charge all the Rajpoots holding offices at
court, excepting only the obnoxious minister,
and to declare that no Hindoo could be
permitted to retain Mohammedan females
in his seraglio. Medni Ray pleaded ear-
nestly the tried services of his countrymen,
but the weak and ungrateful king, though
soothed for the time, was subsequently in-
duced to sanction an attempt on the part of
his Moslem body-guard of 200 men to way-
lay and murder Medni Ray, and a brave
Rajpoot officer, called Salivahan, who had
evinced much anger at the late unjust and
humiliating proceedings. The latter was
slain; the former, though covered with
wounds, escaped to his own house, while a
body of Rajpoots rushed to the palace, but
being repulsed by the king in person, re-
turned to the house of the minister, and
entreated him to be their head. Medni
Ray refused, persuaded them to disperse
peaceably, and sent word to the king that if
he thought his life necessary to the good of
the state, he was ready to lose it, sooner
than lead an army against his acknowledged
sovereign. Mahmood was little affected by
a degree of magnanimity quite beyond his
comprehension, and fearing some treachery
similar to that of which he had given the
example, fled by night from the fort of
Mandu, accompanied by his favourite mis-
tress and the master of the horse, and did
not draw rein till he reached the frontier of
Guzerat. Though frequently at war with
one another, the Moslem intruders were
always ready to coalesce against a Hindoo
foe; the king of Guzerat, therefore, sup-
ported Mahmood, and accompanied him at
the head of a large army to Mandu, which
was taken by assault after a close siege of
several months, and 19,000 Rajpoots slain.
Medni Ray was, however, not among them,
having previously joined Rana Sanga at

* General Briggs here takes occasion to note the
contrast between the generosity usually evinced by
the Hindoos to the Moslems, and " the sordid, cruel,
and bigotted conduct of the latter. It seldom hap-
pened that a Hindoo prince, taken in battle, was not
mstantly beheaded ; and life was never spared but
with the sacrifice of a daughter delivered up to a

Chittore, from whence he retired to Chan-
deri, of which place he was probably here-
ditary chief. Mahmood proceeded thither,
and found that Rana Sanga had previously
marched with his whole force to the support
of Medni Ray. In the conflict which ensued,
Mahmood was defeated, and after evincing,
in an extraordinary manner, the physical
daring that invariably distinguished him in
battle, contrasting strangely with his exces-
sive moral cowardice in time of peace, was
unhorsed and taken prisoner, weltering in
his blood. Rana Sanga caused him to be
brought to his own tent, dressed his wounds,
attended on him personally, and, after his
recovery, sent him back to Mandu with an
escort of 1,000 horse.* This chivalrous
proceeding was returned by the most glar-
ing ingratitude, for its object did not scruple
to take advantage of the confusion which
ensued on the death of his benefactor, to
attack his son. Rattan Sing, the new ruler
of Chittore. Rattan Sing applied for aid to
Bahadur Shah, of Guzerat, who had also had
reason to complain of the selfish rapacity of
the king of Malwa. Mahmood, unable to
withstand their combination, was defeated
in his capital and captured by Bahadur
Shah, who caused him to be confined in the
fortress of Champanee.r, where he was put
to death, with his seven sons, and Malwa
annexed to Guzerat, a.d. 1531.

Khans of Candeish. — This small princi-
pality, separated by forests from Guzerat,
comprised merely the lower part of the
valley of the Taptee, the upper being in-
cluded in Berar. Its first ruler, Malek
Raj ah, t claimed descent from the Caliph
Omar, and died a.d. 1399. His son, Malek
Naseer, received from the king of Guzerat
the title of khan, and founded the city of
Boorhanpoor, near the strong hill-fort of
Aseer,J which he had obtained by treachery
from its rightful occupant, a Hindoo, of
peaceable disposition, from whom he had
received many personal favours. He gained
possession by the same artifice used in the
capture of Rohtas, viz., by entreating the
unsuspecting chief to receive and shelter
the inmates of his harem during a war in
which he pretended to be about engaging,
and then introducing soldiers in the doolies

sort of honourable prostitution, or by the payment of
vast sums of money and jewels." — (Vol. iv., p. 264.)

t Why he was named Rajah does not appear.

X This hill-fort, like many others in India, seems
to bear witness to the pastoral pursuits of its early
possessor, Aseer being considered to be a co'jruptioii
of Asa Aheer, or Asa the cow-herd. — {Idem, p. 286.)

106 RAJPOOT STATES, MEWAR, MARWAR, BIKANEER, JESSULMER, &c.

or palanquins, who sprang out and mur-
dered Asa, with his whole family.

Numerous stone embankments for irriga-
tion and other works now in ruins and
buried in woods, indicate that Candeish
mnst have once attained a high state of
prosperity, but many of these are probably
referrible to the previous period of Hindoo
independence. Aseer or Aseerghur was
taken by Akber, and Candeish re-annexed
to Delhi in 1599.

The Rajpoot States. — Of these a very
cursory notice must sufiBce, because our
present information concerning them, al-
though voluminous,* is too fragmentary to
afford materials for the condensed chrono-
logical summary which can be framed with
comparative ease and satisfaction from the
more precise statements of Mohammedan
writers respecting their own kingdoms. At
the time of the invasion of Mahmood of
Ghuznee, the Rajpoots were in possession of
all the governments of India, nor did they
resign their power without long and fierce
struggles ; indeed some have never been
entirely subjugated, but up to the present
time hold the position of feudatory chiefs
(see pp. 7, 8). The table-land in the centre
of Hindoostan, and the sandy tract stretch-
ing west from it to the Indus, formed the
nucleus of Rajpoot independence; and the
more broken and inaccessible the counti-y,
the better was it suited for the partly feudal,
partly clannish, mode of government and
warfare, adopted by its sous, from whom,
though subsidies might be exacted, and
forts captured by the Delhi monarchy during
strong and aggressive reigns, tribute would
be refused and positions regained the first
opportunity. Thus Rintumbor, Gwalior, and
Calinjer, were constantly changing hands ;
while Ajmeer and Malwa were early captured
and easily retained, from their situation on the
open part of the table-land, terminating in a
slope of broken ground towards the Jumna.
At the time of the accession of Akber
the chief Rajpoot state was that of Mewar,
held by the descendant of the brave Rana
Sanga of Oudipoor, whose family and tribe
are said to have been descended from Rama,
and consequently to have derived their
origin from Oude, whence they removed to
Guzerat, and ultimately settled at Chittore,
about the eighth century of our era. There
they maintained themselves, notwithstand-
ing the accessible nature of the country — a

• Vide the late Colonel Tod's extensive and valu-
able work on Rajast'hati.

sure retreat being ever, in case of defeat,
aflforded by the AravuUi mountains and the
hills and forests connected with them, which
form the northern boundary of Guzerat
Marwar, the next state in importance, was
possessed by that portion of the Rahtores,
who at the taking of Canouj, a.d. 1194, had
quitted the neigbourhood of the Ganges,
and, under two grandsons of their last king,
established themselves in the desert in-
termingled with fertile tracts, between the
table-land and the Indus. They soon be-
came paramount over the old inhabitants of
the race of Jats, and over some small Raj-
poot tribes who had preceded them as
colonists; and formed an extensive and
powerful principality. A younger branch of
the Canouj family founded the separate state
of Bikaneer, on another part of the same
desert, a.d. 1459, while the western portion
was occupied by the Bhattees, under the rajah
of Jessulmer. The rajahs of Amber or Jey-
poor were ancient feudatories of Ajmeer,
and probably remained in submission to the
Mohammedans after the conquest of that
kingdom. The rajahs of the tribe of Hara,
who give their name to Harauti, were, in
some sort, feudatories of the ranas of
Oudipoor, and shortly before the accession
of Akber, captured the famous fort of Rin-
tumbor from the governor, who had held it
for the Afghan kings. There were besides
several petty states, such as the Chouhans
of Parker, the Sodras of Amercot and
others, situated in the extreme west of the
desert, beyond the reach of Mussulman in-
vaders; and those of Sirohi, Jhalor, &o.,
which, lying in the fertile tract beneath the
AravuUi mountains, and on one road from
Ajmeer to Guzerat, were liable to constant
exactions. On the eastern slope of the
table-land, Merut, Gwalior, Narwar, Panna,
Oorcha, Chanderi, and other places in Bun-
delcund, were mostly held by old Rajpoot
families, tributary to Delhi at the time of the
death of Humayun.

Bengal was separated from Delhi, a.d.
1338, by the exertions of a soldier, who,
having risen from the ranks, at length slew
his master (the governor appointed by Mo-
hammed Toghlak), and proclaimed himself
an independent sovereign, but was in less
than three years displaced by another
usurper as ambitious as himself, who, within
two years more, was in turn assassinated.
Frequent changes of dynasty, with few im-
portant events, occupy the remaining period
to the accession of the last king, Daood

ACCESSION OF AKBER— a.d. 1556.

107

(David), in 1573; among the most interest-
ing is the forcible occupation of the throne
by Rajah Kans, a Hindoo zemindar,* whose
son and successor voluntarily embraced the
Mohammedan faith, declaring, however, his
willingness to withdraw his pretensions in
I'avour of his brother, if the chiefs desired it.
At one time Bengal seems to have compre-
hended North Behar. It included Sunder-
gong (Dacca). Jugnuggur (Tipperah) was
tributary; Assam occasionally plundered.
Cuttack and the adjoining parts were cap-
tured just before the extinction of the state.
Bengal was then, as now, remarkable for
the luxury of its inhabitants, whose wealthy
citizens vied with one another in their dis-
play of gold plate. Sheer Shah conquered
Bengal in 1539 : after his death it was
seized by the Afghan successors of the gov-
ernor appointed from Delhi.

Juanpoor stretched along the Ganges
from Canouj, on the north-west, to the
frontier between Bengal and South Behar
on the south-east. Khaja Jehan, the vizier
at the time of Mahmood Toghlak's acces-
sion, occupied this government during the
king's minority, and proclaimed its inde-
pendence, A.D. 1394, which he and his suc-
cessors maintained until its re-annexation
to Delhi, in 1476. It was again separated
after the death of Sheer Shah, and eventually
conquered by Akber early in his reign.

Sinde. — Little is known of the history of
this principality beyond that which has been
already incidentally mentioned (p. 58). The
ruling Rajpoot family appear to have become
converts to Islam about 1365. They were
displaced by the Arghoous, who held it at
the period at which we have now arrived.

Moultan revolted during the confusion
which followed the invasion of Timur, and
was ruled by an Afghan dynasty named
Langa, until the early part of the sixteenth
century, when the Arghoons of Sinde gained
possession ; but were, in their turn, expelled
by Prince Kamran, and Moultan was thence-
forth attached to Delhi. The other pro-
vinces which had become independent at
the same time (with the exception of the
Punjaub, to which Secander Soor maintained
his claim), were all in the hands of adherents
of the Afghan government. The petty states
under the Himalaya Mountains, from Cash-

* This term was originally applied to the heredi-
tary Hindoo chiefs who had become more or less
subject to Moslem rule — it was sometimes extended
by the proud invaders to independent princes, like
those of Oudipoor and Joudpoor, whom they affected
to treat as subordinate to their government ; but it

mere inclusive, to the Bay of Bengal, were
independent under sovereigns of their own ;
there were besides many mountain and
forest tribes throughout India whose almost
inaccessible retreats had preserved them
from subjugation to the Moslem yoke.f

Reign of Akber. — "When the death of
Humayun took place, Akber was absent
in the Punjaub with Behram Khan, and
the fear of attempts being made to seize
the throne before the heir apparent could
have time to repair to the metropolis, in-
duced such of the ministers as were on the
spot, to conceal the fatal event from the
public, by causing one of the Mullahs, or
religious attendants of the court, to imper-
sonate the deceased monarch, and receive
from that part of the palace which over-
looked the river Jumna, the salutations of
the populace. At length, however, the truth
transpired, but the consternation which en-
sued was temporarily calmed by the exer-
tions of the nobles, one of whom read the
Khotbah in the name of Akber — a proceed-
ing equivalent to proclaiming him Hng.

Akber was little more than thirteen years
of age, and by his own desire, as well as in
accordance with the wishes of his best ad-
visers, Behram Khan continued to hold
the same position to his now crowned pupil
as that in which Humayun had previously
placed him — being dignified with the appel-
lation of Khan Baba (the king's father), and
invested with irresponsible sway. It was a
critical epoch for the House of Timur. Se-
veral eager competitors watched an oppor-
tunity to snatch the sceptre from the youthful
descendant of the foreign usurper, but in
vain, for the stern and skilful soldier who
had helped the father to regain it remained
to guard it for the son, and that son had
repeatedly evinced a degree of discretion
beyond his years, and was learning to curb
his own daring spirit and passion for glory,
and to take large and statesmanlike views
of the duties of civil government, which
made some amends for his rapacity as a
conqueror, and enabled him to consolidate
by policy what he won by the sword.

The first contest for supremacy was waged
with Hemu, who headed an army in the
name of Sultan Adili, for the double pur-
ls only in comparatively modern times that it has
been used to denote persons holding assignments of
the government revenue, as well as district and vil-
lage officers.

t Elphinstone, vol. ii. pp. 166 — 251; Price's Mo-
hammedan History, vol. iii., p. 947.

108

BATTLE OP PANIPUT AND DEATH OF HEMU— a.d. 1556.

pose of expelling the Moguls and reducing
Seeander Soor, who, though driven to take
refuge in the vicinity of the northern moun-
tains, still maintained his pretensions to be
king of Delhi and the Punjaub, in which
latter place Akber and Behram Khan re-
mained after their late victory, occupied in
arranging the new government. Mean-
while, Hemu, having captured both Delhi
and Agra, prepared to march to Lahore,
where the tidings of his successes and ap-
proach created so much alarm that the
general opinion in the camp was in favour
of a retreat to Cabool, but Behram Khan's
determination prevailed over more timid
counsels, and the rival forces met at Pani-
put, where, after a desperate battle, the
Moguls triumphed. The elephants, on
whose number Hemu placed great depend-
ence, became ungovernable and threw their
own ranks into confusion, but Hemu, from
his howdah, at the head of 4,000 horse,
continued the action, until an arrow pierced
his eye, and he sank back for the moment
in extreme agony. His troops believing
the wound mortal, gave way, but raising
himself again, and plucking out the barbed
weapon, together with the eye itself, Hemu
endeavoured to force a path through the
enemy's ranks, but was captured through the
treachery of his elephant-driver, and brought
before Akber, who was desired by Behram
Khan to slay the infidel and thus earn the
title of Ghazi.* Akber so far complied as
to touch with his sword the head of his
brave and almost expiring foe, and then
burst into tears, upon which Behram Khan,
in whose stern breast no sentiment akin to
Rajpoot chivalry ever found place, drew his
own sabre and beheaded him with a stroke.
With Hemu, Adili lost all hope of recover-
ing his dominions, but he continued to reign

* This epithet, variously translated as " Holy War-
rior," " Champion of the Faith," or "Victorious in a
Holy War," is one of those expressions which can
scarcely be faithfully rendered in another tongue to
readers imperfectly acquainted with the circum-
stances of its origin and use. From it arose the
word Gazette — first employed to designate the official
announcement in eastern Europe of victory, in what
the combatants called religious warfare; but since
applied to governmental publications of all kinds.
With regard to translations of Persian, Sanscrit or
other terms, and their orthography, I would again
deprecate the criticism of oriental scholars, and plead
the difficulty of presenting them, with any chance of
correct pronunciation, without adopting a system of
accentuation, which might possibly deter readers
of the very class, whose sympathies I am most de-
sirous of enlisting, the young and the unlearned.
I have followed Tod, Dow, and others in avoiding

some time longer until he was killed in a
battle with a new pretender in Bengal.
Akber took possession of Delhi and Agra;
succeeded in effecting the pacification of the
Punjaub ; acquired Ajmeer without a battle j
and early in the fourth year of his reign
had driven the Afghans out of Lucknow
and the country on the Ganges as far east
as Juanpoor. Notwithstanding these tri-
umphs, the happiness of the victor was em-
bittered by the harsh and arbitrary conduct
of the Khan Baba, who attempted to en-
force in a luxurious and refined court the
same rigid discipline by which he had main-
tained subordination in an army of adven-
turers. The nobles were offended by his
haughty and distrustful conduct, and even
Akber had grave reasons for considering
himself treated in a manner, which his
position as king, together with his deep
and lively interest in all state affairs, ren-
dered unwarrantable. Thus, Behram took
advantage of Akber's absence on a hawk-
ing party, to put to death Tardi Beg, an
old noble, who had been one of Saber's
favourite companions, had accompanied
Humayun in all his wanderings, and had
first read the Khotbah in the name of his
successor. The ostensible reason,t was the
hasty evacuation of Delhi, where Tardi Beg
was governor, before the troops of Hemuj
an offence that in the eyes of the warlike
and inflexible minister, would have fully
justified the sentence, which he might
have desired to spare his young sovereign
the pain of pronouncing. However this
may have been, Behram is accusedj of hav-
ing, on subsequent occasions, behaved very
tyrannically to all who seemed inclined to
seek power and influence, except through
the channel of his favour. One nobleman
of high standing, having incurred his dis-

the wearisome repetition of the long titles assumed
by Mohammedan sovereigns, by occasionally giving,
in the event of oft-recurring mention, only the first
word, thus — Ala-oo-deen (glory of the faith) is some-
times adverted to as Ala only. An able and kindlv
critic, lieutenant-general Briggs, has pointed out the
erroneous impression this practice may produce ;
and it therefore seems best to state at once the de-
sire for brevity by which it was prompted.

t Jealousyfof his influence was the supposed cause.

X The chief authority on this portion, and indeed
regarding nearly the whole of Akber's reign, is
Abul Fazil, whose evident unfairness and prejudice
in all matters involving the character of his royal
master, (to whose revision all his writings were sub-
ject), renders it difficult to form a satisfactory judg-
ment of the circumstances which led to the rupture
between Akber and Behram Khan, and the disgrace
and death of the latter.

BEHRAM KHAN ASSASSINATED.— MALWA CONQUERED— a.d. 1560. 109

pleasure, was put to death on some slight
charge, and Peir Mohammed Khan, the
king's private tutor, to whom he was much
attached, narrowly escaped the same fate.
Akber, before he was eighteen, resolved to
reign without control, and having concerted
a plan with those about him, took occasion,
when on a hunting party, to make an un-
expected journey to Delhi, whence he issued
a proclamation, forbidding obedience to any
orders not sanctioned by his authority.
Behrara sent two envoys of distinction, with
assurances of submission, but Akber refused
to see them, and ordered their imprison-
ment. After this, the disgraced minister
seems to have had some intention of attempt-
ing to establish an independent principality
in Malwa, but subsequently set off for Gu-
zerat with the professed object of embarking
from thence for Mecca. As he lingered
long, a formal notice of dismissal arrived from
Agra, commanding him to proceed oq his
pilgrimage forthwith. Having resigned his
standards, kettle-drums, and other ensigns
of authority, Behram continued his route in
a private character, until, irritated by some
further proceedings of Akber, he changed
his mind, and attempted an invasion of the
Punjaub. There, as elsewhere, the people
were disposed to rally round the young
king; Behram was defeated, and eventually
driven to a surrender. Akber received him
with much kindness, seated him on his
right hand, and offered him the alternatives
of an important government, a high position
at court, or an honourable dismissal to
Mecca. This last proposition seems to
indicate that the foregoing ones were
merely complimentary, and Behram pro-
bably so understood them, since he chose
the pilgrimage, for which he had previously

• Among these was Asuf Khan, an officer who ob-
tained permission from Akber, a.d. 1565, to invade
a small independent kingdom called Gurra Mundela,
then under the government of a regent or queen-moth er
named Durgavati, equally celebrated for her beauty
and good sense. On the approach of the Moham-
medans she led her forces in person against them
mounted on an elephant, but after a sharp contest
being disabled by an arrow-wound in the eye, her
troops disheartened, gave way, upon which, fear-
ing to fall into the hands of the victors, she snatched
a dagger from the girdle of the elephant-driver and
stabbed herself. The chief place was then taken by
storm, and the Infant rajah trodden to death in the
confusion. One thousand elephants, 100 jars of gold
coins, numerous jewels, and images of gold and
silver were seized by Asuf Khan, who sent to Akber
only a very small portion of the spoil, and then went
into rebellion, but was afterwards compelled to sue
for pardon. The whole transaction was aggression,

evinced little inclination, and proceeded to
Guzerat, where, while preparing for em-
barkation, he was assassinated (a.d. 1561),
by an Afghan, whose father he had killed
in battle during the reign of Humayun,

Akber, now left to his own resources,
soon found that other officers were likely to
prove less overbearing perhaps than his old
governor, but more inclined to take advan-
tage of his youth for their own advancement.*
Always abundantly self-reliant, he checked
such attempts with a firm hand. Adam
Khan, an Uzbek officer, having defeated
Baz Bahadur,t the Afghan ruler of Malwa,
showed some disposition to retain the pro-
vince for himself, upon which Akber marched
immediately to the camp, and conferred the
government on his old tutor, Peir Moham-
med Khan, whose conduct in this position,
went far to vindicate the previous harshness
displayed towards him by Behram. After
massacring the inhabitants of two cities, of
which he had obtained possession, he was at
length defeated and drowned. Baz Bahadur
recovered Malwa, of which he was again
deprived by the victorious Mogul, whose
service he subsequently entered.

The successive steps of Akber's career
can only be briefly sketched. The seven years
following the disgrace of Behram were
mainly employed in a severe struggle with
the military aristocracy, and in repelling
the pretensions advanced on behalf of the
young prince Hakim, who, although an in-
fant at the time of his father, Humayun's
death, had been left in the nominal govern-
ment of Cabool; but, being expelled thence
by his relation, Mirza Soliman, of Badak-
shan, attempted to invade the Punjaub,
but was driven out Q566), and subsequently
returned to Cabool, of which country he

robbery, and murder from first to last, and the guilt
rests as much on the head of Akber, who sanctioned
the crime and shared the booty, as upon Asuf Khan,
the actual perpetrator. (Briggs'i^em/iia.vol.ii.p. 128.)
f The Hindoo mistress of Baz Bahadur, cele-
brated equally for her beauty and poetic talent, fell
into the hands of Adam Khan, and unable to strive
against his importunity and threatened violence, ap-
pointed an hour to receive him, and then arrayed in
costly robes, fragrant with the sweetest perfumes,
lay down on a couch covered with a mantle. On
the Khan's approach her attendants strove to rouse
her, but she had taken poison and was already dead.
(Khafi Khan, quoted by Elphinstone, vol. ii. p. 263.)
Her persecutor did not long survive her, for having
quarrelled with the vizier of Akber he stabbed him
while at prayers, and was, by order of the king, (who
was sleeping in an inner room, and rushed in,
awakened by the uproar) immediately thrown from
a lofty terrace-parapet, where he had sought refuge.

no GUZERAT ANNEXED— A.D. 1572.— AKBER'S HINDOO MARRIAGES,

long retained undisturbed possession. The
Mirzas, (namely, the four sons and three
nephews of Sultan Mirza, a prince of the
house of Tamerlane, who had come to India
with Baber, but rebelled against Humayun,
who pardoned and gave him the govern-
ment of Sambal) revolted, and were com-
pelled to fly to Guzerat, where they endea-
voured to take advantage of the disturbed
state of affairs, but were strenuously opposed
by Etimad Khan, the Hindoo minister, or
rather master, of the pageant king, Mozuffer
III. Sooner than suffer the sceptre to be
seized by the Mirzas, Etimad prompted its
formal surrender to Akber, a.d. 1572, who
having personally received it, proceeded to
besiege Surat, where these princes had taken
refuge. Before the place could be invested
they departed with a light detachment, in-
tending to join their main body in the north
of Guzerat. Akber ordered 1,000 men to
follow him, and set out in pursuit with
such rash haste, that he found himself in
front of the enemy with a party which,
after waiting to allow some stragglers to
come up, numbered only 150 men. He
nevertheless commenced the attack, but
being repulsed, took shelter in a lane formed
by strong hedges of cactus, where not more
than three horsemen could advance abreast.
Here he was hard pressed and separated
from his men, but saved by the gallantry of
Rajah Bhagwandas of Amber, and his ne-
phew and adopted son. Rajah Maun Sing,
both officers of high rank in the imperial
army. Soorjun Ray, Rajah of Rintumbor,
is also mentioned as having evinced great
bravery; and the fact of the king's being
immediately surrounded by Hindoo chiefs
on such an occasion, sufficiently proves the
degree to which he had conciliated, and the
trust which he reposed in them. The
Mirzas succeeded in effecting the junction
which Akber had risked so much to pre-
vent, but were afterwards dispersed, and
met with various adventures, terminating
in violent deaths by the hands of Delhi
officers. Though eager to put down any
infringement of his own real or assumed
rights, Akber utterly disregarded those of
others; the establishment of unquestioned
supremacy over all India being the object
which he proposed from the beginning.
With this view he never scrupled to fo-
ment strife, watching craftily an opportu-
nity of turning to his own advantage the
dissensions which rendered weak and effete
the various independent governments, both

foreign and native. Under his banner, Hin-
doo fought against Hindoo — Moslem against
Moslem ; and each against the other. Over
the fiery Rajpoots his personal influence
became unbounded. Skilfully availing him-
self of their foibles, and studious needlessly
to avoid clashing with their feudal obser-
vances and associations, he won from them
voluntary concessions which force had long
failed to extort. As early as 1651 he had
sent a strong force against Maldeo, Rajah of
Marwar, actuated perhaps by the recollec-
tion of the sufferings of his parents when
refused protection shortly before his birth
(p. 87), and captured the strong fortress
of Meerta. Nagore was also taken ; and
both these strong-holds were . conferred by
Akber on the representative of the younger
branch of the family, Ray Sing of Bika-
neer. In 1569, Rao Maldeo succumbed to
necessity ; and, in conformity with the times,
sent 'his second son with gifts to Akber,
then at Ajmeer, which had become an in-
tegral part of the monarchy; but the dis-
dainful bearing of " the desert king" so
displeased Akber, that he presented Ray
Sing with a firmdn (imperial mandate) for
the possession of Joudpoor itself, and the
old Rao had to stand a siege in his capital,
and after brave but fruitless resistance, was
compelled to yield homage. His son and
successor, well known as Moota (the fat)
Rajah, gave a princess of his family in mar-
riage to Akber (a great concession, not to
say degradation, in the sight of a Rajpoot,
even though the issue of this union would
take equal rank with other princes of
the imperial house) and, in return, re-
ceived all the possessions previously wrested
from Marwai', except Ajmeer, besides seve-
ral rich districts in Malwa.* Rajah Bhar-
mul, of Amber, likewise gave the king a
daughter to wife,t and enrolled himself and
his son, Bhagwandas, among the royal vas-
sals, holding his country as a fief of the
empire; and he also received honours and
emoluments, in the shape most agreeable to
a Rajpoot — increase of territory. In fact,
every chief who submitted to Akber, fouwl
his personal possessions increased in conse-
quence. One state, however, still main-
tained its independence, and could neither
be flattered, bribed, or forced into alliance
with the foreigner; it even dared to re-

• Tod says four provinces (Godwar, Oojein, De-
balpoor, and Budnawar) yielding £200,000 of annua)
revenue were given for the hand of Jod Eae.

t Mother to Selim, Akbers successor.

AKBER CONQUERS AND DESPOILS CHITTORE— a.u. 1568.

Ill

nounce intermarriage with every house by
which such disgrace had been sustained.
Against Mewar, Akber therefore turned his
arms, so soon as the disaffection of the
Usbek nobles and other rebellions nearer
Delhi had been put down. The Rana, Oodi
Sing, unlike his brave father, Sanga, was a
man of feeble character, quite unfit to head
the gallant chiefs who rallied round him.
On learning the approach of his formidable
foe, he retreated from Chittore to the hilly
and woody country north of Guzerat, leav-
ing a strong garrison under Jei Mai, a
chief of great courage and ability. The
place, though previously twice taken, was
still regarded by the Rajpoots of Mewar as
a sort of sanctuary of their monarchy. The
operations of the siege were conducted with
great care, and seem to have closely resem-
bled those adopted in modern Europe. Two
mines were sunk, and fire set to the train ;
one of them exploded, and the storming
party crowded up the breach, but while so
doing, the second explosion occurred, and
destroyed many of the assailants, upon
which the rest fled in confusion. The pre-
vious labours were re-commenced ; con-
siderable advantage had been gained, and
the northern defences destroyed, when Ak-
ber, one night, in visiting the trenches, per-
ceived Jei Mai on the works, superintending
some repairs by torch-light. Taking delibe-
rate aim, he shot him through the head, and
the garrison, appalled by the death of their
able leader, abandoned the breaches, aud
withdrew to the interior of the fort. There
they assumed the saffron-coloured robes, ate
the last " beera" or p^n together, and per-
formed the other ceremonies incidental to
their intended self-sacrifice. After witness-
ing the terrible rite of the Johur, in which
the women, gathering round the body of
Jei Mai, found refuge in the flames from

• Akber's conduct on this occasion has also left an
indelible stain on his character as a patron of the
arts, for the stately temples and palaces of Chittore
were defaced and despoiled with the most ruthless
barbarity. He showed, however, his sense of the
bravery of his fallen foes by erecting at one of the
chief gates of Delhi two great elephants of stone,
(described by Bernier in 1663), each with their rider,
one representing Jei Mai, the other Putta. The
latter, the youthful head of the Jugawut clan,
perished in the defence of the city, following the
example of his widowed mother, who, arming her
son's young bride with a lance, with her descended
the rock and both fell fighting side by side. The
2mar», (Brahmanical cords taken from the necks of the
Rajpoots), are said to have amounted to seventy-four
ro&n's and a-half ; and still, in memory of this tenible
destruction, the bankers of Rajasthan mark this

pollution or captivity ; the men, to the num-
ber of 8,000, ran to the ramparts, and were
there slain by the Moslems who had mounted
unopposed. " Akber entered Chittore, when,"
says Tod, "30,000 of its inhabitants be-
came victims to the ambitious thirst of con-
quest of this guardian of mankind." *

Notwithstanding the loss of his capital
and many of his bravest warriors, the Rana
remained independent in his fastnesses in
the Aravulli; raised a small palace, around
which edifices soon clustered, and formed
the nucleus of the city of Oudipoor, which
eventually became the capital of Mewar.
He died shortly afterwards, a.d. 1572. His
successor, Pertap, was in all respects his
opposite. Brave, persevering, and devoted
to the cause of Rajpoot independence, the
recovery of Chittore was his watchword.
Till this should be accomplished, he inter-
dicted to himself and his successors every
article of luxury — exchanged golden dishes
for vessels made of leaves, and soft couches
for straw pallets ; and, in sign of mourning,
commanded all his followers to leave their
beards unshaven.f Such an adversary was
not likely to be undervalued by the politic
Akber, who succeeded in arraying against
the patriot his kindred in faith as well as in
blood, including even his own brother, Sa-
gurji, who received, as the price of his trea-
chery, the ancient capital of his race. The
odds against Pertap were fearful ; driven
from his strongholds of Komulmeer and
Gogunda, he nevertheless withstood, for
more than a quarter of a century, the com-
bined efforts of the empire, often flying
from rock to rock, feeding his wife and
family from the fruits of his native hills,
and rearing, amid the haunts of savage
beasts, his young son, Umra, the heir to
his prowess and his struggles. J In 1576,
a desperate battle occurred at the pass or

tilde, or accursed number on their seals, thereby in-
voking " the sin of the slaughter of Chittore" on any
one who should dare to violate this mysterious but re-
vered safeguard. (^Annals qf'RaJast'han, vol. i. p. 327.

t The descendants of Pertap, though unfaithful
to the spirit of this vow, still adhere to the letter,
by placing leaves under their gold or silver plate,
and straw beneath their couches, while their beards
remain unshorn. (Idem, p. 333).

X Colonel Tod's narrative of the life of this noble
Rajpoot is full of incidents of thrilling interest. So
hot was the pursuit of the Mogul myrmidons that
" five meals liave been prepared and abandoned for
want of the opportunity to eat them," and his family
were repeatedly on the eve of capture. On one of
these occasions they were saved by the faithful
Bheels of Cavah, who carried them in baskets and con-
, cealed them in the tin mines of Jawura, where they

112

WAR WITH PERTAP.— SETTLEMENT OF BENGAL— 1592.

plain of Huldighat, where Pertap had taken
up a strong position with 22,000 Rajpoots,
while above, on the neighbouring cliffs and
pinnacles, his trusty auxiliaries, the abori-
giual Bheels, stood posted, armed with
bows and arrows, and huge stones ready to
roll upon the enemy. But all efforts proved
vain against the overpowering Mogul force,
headed by Selim, the heir of Akber, with its
numerous field-artillery and a dromedary
corps mounting swivels. Of the stalwart
Rajpoots who rallied round the royal in-
signia,* ever seen in the hottest part of the
action, 8,000 only survived it. Pertap him-
self, after receiving several severe wounds,
was saved with difficulty, by a noble act of
self-devotion. One of his chiefs (Marah),
seizing the " golden sun," made his way to an
intricate position, and thus drew upon him-
self and his vassals the brunt of the battle,
while his prince, forced from the field, lived
to renew the struggle, and to honour the
memory of his brave deliverer by conferring
on his descendants distinctions whose value
a Rajpoot alone could fully appreciate. t
Another generous sacrifice eventually en-
abled the Mewar prince, when almost driven
into the abandonment of his native kingdom,
to cope successfully with the Mogul force.
Bhama Sah, his minister, whose ancestors
had for ages held this ofiSce, placed at his dis-
posal their accumulated resources ; and thus
furnished with the sinews of war, Pertap
renewed the contest. The chivalrous cle-
mency which habitually distinguishes the
Rajpoot was, for once, merged in a sense of
the desperate nature of his position. Komul-
meer and thirty-two posts were taken by
surprise, and the troops slain without mercy.
To use the words of the native annalist,
" Pertap made a desert of Mewar ; he made
an offering to the sword of whatever dwelt
in the plains :"J and in one campaign, re-
covered his hereditary dominions, except
Chittore, Ajmeer, and Mandelgurh.

Akber, occupied by new fields of con-
quest, suffered Pertap to retain his territory
unmolested; but the mind of the Hindoo
prince could know no rest while, from the
summit of the pass to Oudipoor (where, in
accordance with his vow, he inliabited a
lowly hut) might be seen the stately battle-
guarded and fed them. Bolts and bars are still pre-
served in the trees about Jawura to which the cradles
of the royal children of Mewar were suspended.

• The cAan^!, or chief insignia of royalty in Mewar,
is a sun of gold in the centere of a disc of black
ostrich feathers or felt, about three feet in diameter.

* Such as bearing the title of Kaj (royal), the pri-

ments of Chittore, whose re-capture, he
felt, was not for him. A spirit ill at ease,
accelerated the decay of a frame scarred by
repeated wounds, and worn out with hard-
ships and fatigue. His sun went down at
noon ; but he died (a.d. 1597) as he had lived,
an unflinching patriot, enjoining on Umra
and his subjects to eschew luxury, and seek,
first and last, the independence of Mewar.

The manner in which this dying com-
mand was fulfilled belongs to the succeeding
reign. We now return to the proceedings
of Akber, who, in 1575, headed an army for
the subjugation of Bengal. The Afghan
ruler, Daood Khan, a weak, dissipated
prince, retired before the imperial forces
from Behar to Bengal Proper, upon which
Akber returned to Agra, leaving his lieute-
nants to pursue the conquest, which proved
a more difficult task than was expected.
The chief commanders were Rajah Todar
Mai, the celebrated minister of finance, and
Rajah Maun Sing, and their efforts were at
length successful. Daood was defeated and
slain ; and the mutinous attempts of various
Mogul officers to seize the jaghires of the
conquered chiefs for their private benefit,
were, after many struggles, put down. The
last endeavour of any importance, on the
part of the Afghans, to recover the pro-
vince, terminated in defeat in 1592, and
being followed up by concessions of terri-
tory to the leading chiefs, the final settle-
ment of Bengal was concluded, after fifteen
years of strife and misery. While his gene-
rals were thus engaged, Akber was himself
occupied in renewed hostilities with Mirza
Hakim, who, after having remained long
undisturbed in Cabool, again invaded the
Punjaub, and assaulted the governor, Maun
Sing, in Lahore. The king having raised
the siege, drove his brother to the moun-
tains and occupied Cabool; but that gov-
ernment was restored on the submission of
the prince, who retained it until his death
in 1585. The vicinity of Abdullah, Khan
of the Uzbeks, who had recently seized
Badakshan from Mirza Soliman, probably
induced Akber, on learning the demise of
Hakim, to proceed immediately to the strong
fort of Attock, which he had previously
erected on the principal ferry of the Indus.

vilege of enjoying " the right hand of the Mewar
princes," &c., to which territorial advantages were
also added by the grateful Pertap.

I All his loyal subjects had previously followed
him to the mountains, destroying whatever property
they could neither conceal nor carry away. {Annalt
of Rajasl'han, vol. i. p. 347.)

2?^

CAPTURE OF CASHMERE, SINDE AND CANDAHAR— a.d. 1586 to 1594. 113

Although Badakshan had been the ancient
possession of his family, Akber was far too
politic to stir up a quarrel with so formidable
a foe as its present occupant, while, in an-
other quarter, opportunity invited the exer-
cise of more profitable and less dangerous,
though utterly unprovoked aggression. Near
at hand, nestled in the very centre of the
Himalaya, above the heated plains, below
the snowy heights, lay the lovely valley of
Cashmere, verdant with perpetual spring.
From the age of fable till the beginning of
the fourteenth century, this small kingdom
had been ruled by a succession of Hindoo
princes, interrupted, it would appear, by a
Tartar dynasty.* It then fell into the hands
of a Mohammedan adventurer, and was
held by princes of that religion until 1586,
when the distractions prevailing among the
reigning family induced Akber to brave
the difficult and dangerous passes by which
alone this terrestrial paradise could be ap-
proached, and send an army, under Shah
E,okh Mirza, son of Mirza Soliraan (who
had entered his service when driven out of
Badakshan), and Bhagwandas, of Jeypoor,
for its conquest. These chiefs, with diffi-
culty, penetrated through the snow by an
unguarded pass^ but their supplies being
exhausted, were glad to enter into a treaty
with the king, Yusuf Shah, by which the su-
premacy of the emperor was acknowledged,
but his practical interference with the pro-
vince forbidden. Yusuf, relying on the good
faith and generosity of Akber, accompanied
the troops on their return to the court of
that monarch, who, considering the pledge
given on his behalf an inconvenient one, de-
tained his guest, and dispatched a fresh force
for the occupation of Cashmere. Yacub,
the son of the captive, assembled the troops,
and prepared to defend the pass; but the
prevailing dissensions had extended so
widely among the soldiery, that part went
over to the invaders, and the prince deemed
it best to fall back with the rest on Seri-
nuggur, where strife and rebellion were also
at work. Driven thence to the hills, he con-
tinued the struggle for two years, but was
at last captured and sent to Delhi, where
both he and his father were induced by

* Professor H. H. Wilson considers it to have ex-
isted either under* the name of Caspapyrus or Abi-
sarus as early as the days of Herodotus and Alex-
ander. — Essuy on the Raj Taringi, or Hindoo Ilis-
•^ry of Cashmere — Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p.
82. This work was executed by four different per-
sons, the first of whom wrote in 1148, but frequent
and precise references are made to earlier writers.

Akber to enter his service, and accept
large jaghires in Behar. From this time.
Cashmere became the favourite summer re-
treat of the Mogul rulers.

The imperial arms were next directed
against the Eusofzeis and other Afghan
tribes inhabiting the hilly countries round
the plain of Pesliawer, among whom a pow-
erful party had been established by Bayezeed,
a false prophet, who founded a sect, self-
styled Roushenia, or the enlightened, and
declared his followers justified in seizing on
the lands and property of all who refused
to believe in his divine mission. The im-
postor was defeated and slain, but his sons
bore about his bones in an ark, and the
youngest, Jelala, became formidable from
his energy and ambition, and succeeded in
gaining repeated advantages over the Delhi
troops, many of whom perished, including
Rajah Beer Bal, one of Akber's favourite
generals. In IGOO, Jelala obtained posses-
sion of the city of Ghuznee, but was even-
tually expelled and slain. The religious
war was continued by his successors during
the two next reigns (those of Jehangeer and
Shah Jehan) ; and when the errors of the
Roushenias became exploded, the Eusofzeis,
who had long renounced their doctrines,
continued to maintain hostilities with the
house of Timur, and afterwards with the
kings of Persia and Cabool, preserving
throughout their turbulent independence
undiminished.

Sinde was captured in 1592, its ruler, on
submission, being, according to the policy of
Akber, enrolled among the nobles of the
empire; and Candahar, which had been
seized by Shah Tahmasp soon after the
death of Humayun, was recovered without a
blow, in 1594, owing to the disorders which
marked the early part of the reign of his
successor. Shah Abbas. By this last acqui-
sition, Akber completed the possession of
his hereditary kingdom beyond the Indus
(the war with the Afghans being confined
to the mountains) at nearly the same period
at which he concluded the conquest of Hin-
doostan Proper. Excepting only Oudipoor
and its gallant rana, with his immediate re-
tainers, the other Rajpoot states of any im-

The facts and dates become consistent as they approach
A.B. 600, and from that period to the termination of
the history, with the conquest of the kingdom by
Akber, the chronology is accurate. Much interest-
ing matter occurs incidentally, regarding Buddhism
and Brahminism, (the former having been very early
introduced into Cashmere), and also respecting the
ancient worship of the Nagas or Snake Gods.

114 DECCAN INVADED— 1596.— CxYNDEISH AND AHMEDNUGGUR TAKEN.

portance all acknowledged Mogul supre-
macy, and their chiefs had become changed
from jealous tributaries to active auxiliaries.
The Deccan now became the theatre for
Akber's aggression, to which its perturbed
condition offered every facility. After two
years spent there by his sou Morad, and
other generals, during which time Ahmed-
nuggur being besieged was nobly defended
by the Sultana Chand, Akber proceeded in
person to the scene of action, where Berar
had already been surrendered on behalf of
the king of Ahmednuggur. The conquest
of Candeish was completed by the reduction
of the strong fortress of Aseerghur,* in
1599, and Prince Danial made viceroy of
the new provinces, with Mirza Khan (the
son of Behram, who had received the title of
Khan Khanan, formerly bestowed by Hu-
mayun on his ill-fated father) as his confi-
dential adviser. Prince Danial took to wife
the daughter of Ibrahim II., of Beejapoor,
who, like the neighbouring king of Gol-
conda, had deprecated, by presents and
embassies, the anger of the powerful Mogul
for having sided against his generals in the
contest with Ahmednuggur.f These endea-
vours would probably have proved fruitless,
as many similar ones had done, but for the
hurried and compulsory return of Akber to
Hindoostan, owing to the misconduct of
his eldest son and acknowledged heir.
Selim was now above thirty years of age,
and not deficient in natural ability ; but his
intellect had been impaired and his heart
depraved by the excessive use of wine and
opium. Taking possession of Allahabad, he
made himself master of Oude and Behar,
seized upon treasure amounting to thirty
lacs of rupees (£300,000), and assumed
the title of king. These pretensions were
speedily withdrawn on the appearance of Ak-
ber, who behaved with extreme moderation ;
but his ungrateful son, while expressing sub-
mission and fidelity, took an opportunity of
revenging his own supposed injuries, and
inflicting a severe blow on the feelings of his
father, by instigating the assassination of
Abul Fazil, whom he both feared and hated.
An ambuscade was laid near Gwalior by

* With this fortress, ten years' provisions and count-
less treasures fell into the hands of the conqueror,
who was supposed to have employed magical arts.

t The chief of Sinde is said to have employed Por-
tuguese officers in his defence against Akber, and to
hare had 200 natives dressed as Europeans, who
were consequently the earliest sepoys. He had also
a fort defended by an Arab garrison, " the first in-
stance," says Mr. Elphinstone, "in which I have

Nursing Deo Rajah of Oorcha, and Abul
Fazil, after a brave defence, was slain with
most of his attendants, a.d. 1603. Akber was
greatly distressed by the loss of his friend and
counsellor. He spent two days without food
or sleep, and sent a force against Nursing
Deo, with orders to seize his innocent family,
ravage his country, and exercise other un-
warrantable severities; but the intended vic-
tim succeeded in eluding pursuit, and was
subsequently raised to high honour on the
accession of Selim to the throne.

Akber would not publicly recognise his
son's share in the crime; J but, on the con-
trary, conferred on him the privilege of
using the royal ornaments, and other marks
of the highest distinction. But all in vain.
Selim became daily more brutal and de-
bauched, until at last, the public quarrels
between him and his son, Khosru (himself
a violeut-telnpered youth) grew to such a
height, that Khosru's mother (the sister of
Maun Sing), in a moment of grief and
despair, swallowed poison ; after which, her
husband became so cruel and irascible, that
Akber thought it necessary to place him
under temporary restraint. He was no
sooner released than his jealousy of his son
(who he believed, and probably not Avithout
reason, desired to supplant him in the suc-
cession to the throne) occasioned new scenes
of disorder. Meanwhile Khosru himself
was, beyond measure, envious of his younger
brother, Khoorum (Shah Jehan), who was
equally a favourite with both his father and
grandfather. While affairs at home were
in this unsatisfactory state intelligence ar-
rived of the decease of prince Danial.
Morad had died some years before; now this
other son, Selim's only remaining brother,
was taken from Akber, under circumstances
calculated to embitter the bereavement. In-
temperance had laid fast hold on its victim,
and though so surrounded by the faithful
servants of his father as to be unable openly
to gratify its solicitations, he found means
to have liquor secretly conveyed to him in
the barrel of a fowling-piece, and by unre-
strained indulgence soon terminated his
existence at the age of thirty (April 1605.)

observed any mention of that description of merce-
naries afterwards so much esteemed." Vol. ii. p. 297.)
1 Selim, in his Memoirs, openly acknowledges the
crime and vindicates it on the plea of Abul Pazil's
having induced his father to disbelieve in the Koran.
For this reason, he says, " 1 employed the man who
killed Abul Fazil and brought his head to me; and
for this It was Inat 1 in- urred my fatlier's deep dis-
pleasure." — Price's Memoirs of Jahanyueir, p. 33.

CHARACTER AND RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP AKBER.

115

Alas for Akber ! he was now about sixty-
three, and had probably anticipated that an
old age of peace and honour might crown a
youth of vicissitude and daring adventure,
and a manhood of brilliant success. His
foes were either silent in the grave, or had
been won by politic liberality to a cheerful
acknowledgment of his supremacy ; and the
able system of civil government framed by
the aid of the gifted brothers, Abul Fazil
and Feizi,* and founded on a careful con-
sideration of the customs and opinions of
the Hindoos, had won from the mass of the
people a degree of cordial and grateful sup-
• Their father, a learned man, named Mobarik,
was expelled from his situation as college-tutor at
Agra for latitudinarian if not atheistical opinions,
which his sons, though professing Moslems, evidently
shared. Feizi diligently applied himself to the
study of Sanscrit, as did several of the most distin-
guished men of Akber's court, through which a taste
for literature was widely diffused. Feizi was pre-
sented to Akber in the twelfth year of his reign, and
introduced Abul Fazil six years later, and they
jointly became the intimate friends and confidants of
! their sovereign, who survived them both. An ac-
[ count of the death of Feizi has been recorded by a
j personal friend but a zealous Mussulman (Abdul
I Xader), and therefore it may be highly coloured,
' but, according to him, this celebrated scholar died
i blaspheming, with distorted features and blackened
j lips, but of what malady does not appear. — (Elphin-
, stone, vol. ii., p. 320.)

j t " The religion of Akber," says Mr. Elphinstone,
' (who, by the aid of a manuscript translation of the
Akbemameh, has obtained information otherwise
accessible only to oriental scholars,) " was pure
; deism. • * * His fundamental doctrine was, that
I there were no prophets ; his appeal on all occasions
I was to human reason." — (Vol. ii., p. 322.) This
free-thinking did not however interfere with his
alleged right as " head of the church, [? what
church] to decide all disputes among its members,"
nor prevent him from introducing a new confession
of faith, declaring that " there was no God but God,
and Akber was his caliph." — (p. 324.) The practices
of spiritual instructors of different denominations he
did not scruple to adopt, and Abul Fazil, who wrote
under his immediate supervision, makes repeated
mention of the supernatural endowments which he
habitually and publicly exercised, and of the " nu-
merous miracles which he performed." Among the
many superstitious modes used in seeking " success
in business, restoration of health, birth of a son,"
&c., 'a favourite method adopted " by men of all
nations and ranks," was to " invocate his majesty,"
to whom, on the obtainment of their wishes, they
brought the offerings which they had vowed. " Not
a day passes," says Abul Fazil, " but people bring
cups of water to the palace, beseeching him to
breathe upon them. He who is privy to the secrets
of heaven reads the decrees of fate, and if tidings of
hope are received, takes the water from the suppli-
cant, places it in the sun's rays, and then having
bestowed upon it his auspicious breath, returns it.
Also many, whose diseases are deemed incurable:
intreat him to breathe upon them, and are thereby
restored to health." — iAyeen Akhery, vol. i., p. 665.)

port which none of the " Great Moguls"
before or after Akber ever acquired or even
strove for. A total disbeliever in revealed
religion,t he had found no difficulty in sanc-
tioning the free exercise of all creeds, and
in humouring national vanity, or courting
sectarian prejudice whenever it suited his
object, and it was always his object to be
popular. To the Brahmin, the Buddhist, the
Parsee,J the Jew and the Roman catholic,§
the emperor listened with courteous defer
ence; and his legislative ability, personal
daring, and suavity of manner, won golden
opinions from multitudes who cared not to
Had Akber lived in the middle of the nineteenth
century he would have taken a peculiar interest in
mesmerism, spirit-rapping, and table-turning.

X To the customs of tliis sect Akber practically in-
clined more than to any other, his stated times of
worship being day-break, noon, and midnight. " His
majesty," Abul Fazil adds, " has also a great venera-
tion for fire in general, and for lamps, since they are
to be accounted rays of the greater light." — Glad-
win's Ayeen Akbery, vol. i., p. 160.)

§ Akber appears to have played upon the credu-
lity of the priests sent from Goa in a manner which
they have described with much naivete, though no
Protestant can read their account without pain and
indignation at the thought of the pure and life-
giving faith of the meek and lowly Redeemer being
presented to the imperial sceptic, under a form so little
likely to win respectful attention. He had expressed
a wish to see their chapel, which they dressed up for
the occasion with every kind of ornament they could
borrow from the Hindoos or any other quarter, and
Akber declared himself dazzled with the result, and
exclaimed that " no other religion could produce
such brilliant proofs of its divinity;" a speech which,
considering the enormous wealth in gold and gems
he must have heard of, if not witnessed, in the idola-
trous temples of Hindoostan, would seem little better
than a cutting sarcasm. He had on a previous oc-
casion prostrated himself before a representation of
the crucifixion, " but his chief emotion was excited
on viewing a finely-painted and ornamented image
of the Virgin. He gazed on it long in admiration,
and declared that she appeared indeed the Queen of
Heaven seated on her throne." The friars began to
entertain great hopes of his conversion, but soon
found that he persisted in " holding himself forth as
an object of worship; and though exceedingly
tolerant as to other modes of faith, never would
admit of any encroachments on his own divinity."
One of his courtiers suffered it to transpire that the
sole aim of the monarch in listening to the mis-
sionaries was " curiosity and amusement," and this
was confirmed soon afterwards by Akber's gravely
proposing to them, as a means of deciding between
their assertions and those of the Mohammedans, that
a famous Mullah should leap into a furnace with the
Koran in his hand, followed by one of the friars
bearing a Bible. He promised that the Mullah
should leap in first, hinting that he would not at all
regret to see him fall a sacrifice to his presumption ;
but the friars refused the ordeal, and not feeling
" much at ease in the Mogul court, soon solicited
and obtained permission to return to Goa." — (Mur-
ray's Account of Discoveries, vol. ii., p. 92.)

116

DEATH OP THE EMPEROR AKBER— a.d. 1605.

search out the selfishness which was the
hidden main-spring of every project, whether
ostensibly for the promotion of external
aggression or internal prosperity. But now
the season for rest had arrived, and he might
hope to enjoy the wide-spread dominion
and almost incalculable wealth, which a
clever head and a sharp sword had combined
to win. His strongly-built and handsome
frame* had escaped almost unscathed from
the dangers and fatigues of the battle-field,
the toilsome march, the onslaught of wild
beasts, and the weapon of the assassin. All
had failed to dispirit or unnerve him, and
the conduct of an intricate campaign, or the
pressure of civil government (a far more dif-
ficult undertaking for one who had to make
laws as well as superintend their execution),
never absorbed the time and energy neces-
saiy to the active part which he loved to
bear in mental or bodily exercises of all de-
scriptions, from philosophical discussions to
elephant and tiger hunts, animal fights,
feats of jugglers, and other strangely varied
diversions. Though in youth given to in-
ulgence in the luxuries of the table, in later
life he became sober and abstemious, re-
fraining from animal food on particular
days, amounting altogether to nearly a
quarter of the year. There is, however,
reason to believe that, like his father and
grandfather, he was addicted to the inordi-
nate use of opium,t an insidious vice which
would partially account for the criminal

• " My father," says Jehangeer, " was tall in sta-
ture, of a ruddy, or wheaten, or nut-brown com-
plexion ; his eyes and eyebrows dark, the latter
running across into each other. Handsome in his
exterior he had the strength of a lion, which was
indicated by the extraordinary breadth of his chest
and the length of his arms." A black mole on his
nose was pronounced by physiognomists a sure
prognostication of extraordinary good fortune. —
(Price's Memoirs of Jahangueir, p. 45.)

t Ferishta mentions that Akber was taken dan-
gerously ill about 1582, " and as his majesty had
adopted the habit of eating opium as Humayun his
father had done before him. people became appre-
hensive on his account." — (Vol. ii., p. 253.)

X Abul Fazil states that to the Noroza, or ninth
day of each month, Akber gave the name of Khus-
roz, or day of diversion, and caused a female market
or sort of royal fair, to be held and frequented by
the ladies of the harem and others of distinction,
going him.self in disguise to learn the value of dif-
ferent kinds of merchandize, and what was thought
of the government and its executive officers. —
(Ayeen Akber;/, vol. i., p. 228.) Tod attributes the
presence of Akber to a different and most disgrace-
ful motive, and says, that however incredible it may
geem, that so keen-sighted a statesman should have
risked his power and popularity by introducing an
immoral festival of Scythic origin, peculiarly op-

e.xcesses in another respect attributed to
him by Hindoo authorities,! and which,
however notorious, would unquestionably
have been passed over in silence by so ful-
some a panegyrist and determined a partisan
as Abul Fazil. Regarding the cause of his
death, Hindoo records likewise cast a dark
cloud,§ to which Mr. Elphinstone makes no
allusion, but simply notes the total loss of
appetite and prostration of strength which
were the chief symptoms of the fatal disease.
In truth, the disgraceful nature of his recent
domestic afflictions, and the cabals and
struggles respecting the succession, (which
raged so fiercely that his only son was with
difficulty induced to attend his dying bed,)
were alone sufficient to bring a proud and
sensitive spirit with sorrow to the grave.

Akber expired in October, 1605, hav-
ing been for nearly the whole forty-nine
years of his reign a cotemporary ruler with
Elizabeth of England, whose enterprise had
prepared an embassy (sent by her successor)
to solicit from him the promotion of the
peaceful pursuits of commerce between their
subjects. How little could these mighty
ones of the earth have foreseen that the
sceptre of Akber would eventually fall from
the feeble grasp of his weak and vicious
descendants, into the hands of the struggling
community of traders, for whose protection
an imperial firman was at first so humbly
solicited. These marvellous changes teach
great lessons. May we but profit by them.

posed to the sensitive honour of the Rajpoots, "yet
there is nevertheless not a .shadow of doubt that
many of the noblest of the race were dishonoured on
the Noroza," and one of the highest in the court
(Pirthi Raj) was only preserved from being of the
number by the courage and virtue of his wife, a
princess of Mewar, who, having become separated
from her companions, found herself alone with
Akber, in return to whose solicitations she " drew a
poinard from her corset, and held it to his breast,
dictating and making him repeat, an oath of renun-
ciation of such infamy to all her race." The wife of
Ray Sing is said to have been less fortunate or less
virtuous. — [Atmals of JRaJast'han, vol. i., p. 345.)

§ " The Boondi records," says Tod, " are well
worthy of belief, as diaries of events were kept by
her princes, who were of the first importance in this
and the succeeding reigns." They expressly state
that a desire to be rid of the great Rajah Maun Sing
of Jeypoor, to whom he was so much indebted, and
whom he did not dare openly attack, induced Akber
to prepare a maajuii (intoxicating confection), part Oi
which he poisoned — but presenting by mistake the
innocuous portion to the Rajah, he took the other
himself, and thus perished in his own snare. Maun
Sing had excited the displeasure of both Akber and
Selim, by seconding the pretensions of his nephew,
Khosru to the throne. Old European writers at-
tribute the death of Akber to a similar cause.

IMPROVED REVENUE SYSTEM ADOPTED BY AKBER.

117

At the period of Akber's death the em-
pire was divided into fifteen subahs or pro-
vinces, namely, Allahabad, Agra, Oude,
Ajmeer, Guzerat, Behar, Bengal, Delhi,
Cabool, Lahore, Moultan, Malwa, Berar,
Candeish, and Ahmednuggur. Each had
its own viceroy [sepah sillar),* who exercised
complete control, civil and military, subject
to the instructions of the king. Under him
were the revenue functionaries, and also the
foujdars, or military commanders, whose
authority extended alike over the regular
troops and local soldiery or militia within
their districts. Justice was administered
by a court composed of an officer named
meer adel (lord justice) and a cazi. The
police of considerable towns was under an
officer called the cutwal ; in smaller places,
under the revenue officer ; and in villages,
under the internal authorities. t

The revenue system, by which Akber
gained so much celebrity, had, in fact, been
partially introduced during the brief reign
of Sheer Shah. Its objects were — First, to
obtain a correct measurement of the land,
by the establishment of a uniform standard,
to supersede the differing measures formerly
employed even by public officers; and by
the appointment of fit persons, provided
with improved instruments of mensuration,
to furnish accounts of all cultivable lands
within the empire. Second, the land was
divided into three classes, according to its
fertility; the amount of each sort of produce
that a begahj would yield was ascertained,
the average of the three was assumed as the
produce of a begah, and one-third of that
produce formed the government demand.
But any cultivator who thought the amount
claimed too high might insist on an actual

• This title was subsequently changed to suhah-
dar, and an additional financial officer introduced,
named the deican, who was subordinate to the su-
bahdar, but appointed by the king.

t The general tone of the instructions given to these
functionaries appears as just and benevolent as could
well be expected under a despotism ; the question
is, how far they were carried out in the right spirit.
There are, however, some enactments which reflect
little credit on th« law-giver, such as the following :
" Let him (the cutwal) see that butchers, those who
wash dead bodies, and others who perform unclean
offices, have their dwelling separate from other men,
who should avoid the society of such stony-hearted,
dark-minded wretches. M'hosoever drinketh out of
the same cup with an executioner, let one of his hands
be cut off; or if he eateth out of his kettle, deprive
him of one of his fingers." — Gladwin's Ayeen Akbery.

X An Indian measure, much above half-an-acre.

§ The ancient rulers of Hindoostan, Abul Fazil
admits, claimed but one-sixth. — Vol. i., p. 278.

measurement and division of the crop.
Third, the produce was to be converted into
a money payment, taken on an average of
the preceding nineteen years; but, as in
the previous case, every husbandman was
allowed to pay in kind if he thought the
rate in specie fixed too high. All particu-
lars respecting the classification and revenue
of the land were annually recorded in the
village registers ; and as at the period of the
introduction of this system Akber abolished
a vast number of vexatious taxes and fees to
officers, the pressure on individuals is said
to have been lightened, though the profit to
the state was increased. It should, however,
be remembered that Akber claimed one-
third of the produce, and Sheer Shah had
professed to take but one-fourth. § The
farming of any branch of the revenue was not
allowed, and the collectors were instructed
to deal directly with individual cultivators,
and not rely implicitly on the headman and
accountant of the village.

The chief agent in these reforms was
Rajah Todar Mul, whose zealous observance
of the fasts and other requirements of the
Brahrainical religion, doubtless augmented
his influence among his own nation. Thus,
whether in military proceedings or civil
government, Akber always gladly availed
himself of the abilities of the Hindoos, of
whose character he unquestionably formed
a very high estimate, || and whose good will
(notwithstanding the aggression on which
his interference was grounded) he greatly
conciliated by three important edicts, which
involved concessions to human rights, of a
description rarely made by oriental despots, to
whose notions of government by the sword
all freedom is essentially opposed. In 1561,

ll Abul Fazil, who may be taken as a fair expo-
nent of the feelings of his royal master (in the for-
tieth year of whose reign he wrote), thus expresses
himself on this point : — " Summarily the Hindoos
are religious, affable, courteous to strangers, cheer-
ful, enamoured of knowledge, fond of inflicting
austerities upon themselves, lovers of justice, given
to retirement, able in business, grateful, admirers of
truth, and of unbounded fidelity in all their deal-
ings. Their character shines brightest in adversity."
He adds his conviction, from frequent discourses
with learned Brahmins, that they " one and all be-
lieve in the unity of the Godhead; and although
they hold images in high veneration, yet they are by
no means idolaters," which latter assertion may be
doubted as applied to the lower and less-informed
professors of any religion which inculcates or suffers
the "high veneration" of images. Lastly, he says,
" they have no slaves among them," a remark to
wliich we may have occasion to revert in a subse-
quent section. — Ayeen Akbery, vol. ii., pp. 294-'5.

118 CAPITATION-TAX ON INFIDELS ABOLISHED BY AKBER.

a prohibition was issued against the making
slaves of persons captured in war; an infa-
mous practice, winch had gained such a
height that not only the innocent wives and
children of garrisons taken by storm were
sold into slavery, but even the peaceable
inhabitants of a hostile country were seized
for the same purpose. In 1563, the jezia or
capitation-tax on infidels was abolished ; and
about the same time all taxes on pilgrims
were removed, because, " although the tax
fell on a vain superstition, yet, as all modes
of worship were designed for one Great
Being, it was wrong to throw an obstacle
in the way of the devout, and to cut them
oflf from their mode of intercourse with their
Maker." {Akber Namah, MS. translation.)

The condition of the royal slaves* was
ameliorated by Akber ; but it does not ap-
pear that he made any attempt to restore
liberty even to those from whom it had been
ravished by the glaring injustice above de-
scribed. Nor would any effort of a purely
just and benevolent tendency have been
consistent with the character of one whose
ambition filled the mountain fortresses of
Hindoostan with captives,t and who scru-
pled not to form minarets of human heads, {
or give orders for the complete extermina-
tion of a flying foe.§

In the regulation of the army great
alterations were made : the troops, where-
ever it was practicable, were paid in cash
from the treasury, instead of by jaghires and
assignments on the revenue ; and the tricks
played at the musters by means of servants

• The king (says Abul Fazil) disliking the word
slave, desired that of chelah (signifying one who re-
lies upon another) to be applied in its place. " Of
these unfortunate men there are several kinds : 1st.
Those who are considered as common slaves, being
infidels taken in battle ; and they are bought and
sold. 2nd. Those who of themselves submit to bon-
dage. 3rd. The children born of slaves. 4th. A
thief who becomes the slave of the owner of the
stolen goods. 5th. He who is sold for the price of
blood. The daily pay of a chelah is from one dam
to one rupee ; they are formed into divisions, and
committed to the care of skilful persons, to be
instructed in various arts and occupations." — Glad-
win's Ayeen Akbery, vol. i., p. 209.

t Among the prisoners who perished by violence
in the fort of Gwalior, was the only son of the un-
happy Kamran. The reason does not appear; but the
execution is stated by Price, on the authority of Abul
Fazil, as commanded by Akber some time after the
death of Kamran ; and Ferishta (also apparently
quoting the Akhernameh) says that Behram K-han
•was accused of intending to intrigue with the un-
fortunate prince J a very unlikely supposition, con-
sidering the enmity which he had ever displayed to-
wards his father. — Dow'a Hindoostan, vol. ii., p. 324.

and camp-followers, mounted for the day on
borrowed horses, prevented, by written de-
scriptions of every man's person, and the
marking of each horse. But the organiza-
tion of the army was never very complete.
The king named the munsubdars\\ or officers,
as he thought fit, commanders of from 10
to 10,000 men; hut these numbers, in all
but the lowest classes, were merely nominal,
and only served to fix the rank and pay of
the holders, whose actual force, often not a
tenth of their figure on paper, when mustered,
was paid from the treasury. Each munsub-
dar was obliged to keep half as many infan-
try as horsemen ; and of the infantry, one-
fourth were required to be matchlockmen,
the rest might be archers. There were also
a distinct body of horsemen, called ahdis
(single men), whose pay depended upon
their merits, but was always much higher
than that of the ordinary cavalry. Into every
branch of the imperial arrangements, domes-
tic as well as public, the most careful me-
thod was introduced — the mint, treasury,
and armoury — the harem, with its 5,000T[ in-
habitants — the kitchens,** baths, perfume
offices, fruiteries, and flower-gardens, alike
manifested the order-loving mind of their
ruler. The department which he appears to
have superintended with especial pleasure,
was that comprising the various descriptions of
animals, whether belonging to the class pecu-
liarly adapted for the use and benefit of
man, or to that of the savage beasts who
played a leading part in the barbarous fights
and shows which formed the chief popular

J Bird's Gujarat, p. 338.

§ " What with the examples made during the
reign of my father," writes Jehangeer, " and subse-
quently during my own, there is scarcely a provincs
in the empire in which, either in battle, or by the
sword of the executioner, .500,000 or 600,000 human
beings have not fallen victims to [what he terms]
their fatal disposition to discontent and turbulence."
— (p. 128.) Allowing the narrator to have had, as
was doubtless the case, the larger share in this
wholesale destruction, and supposing the numbers to
be overstated, there yet remains ample evidence to
indicate a terrible waste of human life on the part of
both monarchs.

II None but the king's sons were munsubdars of
more than 5,000 ; and this latter class, according to
the Ayeen Akbery, comprised only thirty persons.

^ Each of whom had an apartment and a monthly
stipend, " equal to her merit," of from two to 1,610
rupees, that is, from four shillings to £161.

** The emperor took but one meal a-day, for
which there being no fixed time, the cooks were
ordered to keep 100 dishes always in readiness to
set on table at an hour's notice. " What is required
for the harem," adds Abul Fazil with sly sarcasm,
" is going forward from morning till night"

WEALTH OP AKBER AND OTHER GREAT MOGULS.

119

diversions of the age. The elejjhants,* dro-
medaries, and camels; horses and mules;
oxen, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, and tame deer;
lions, tigers, and panthers; hunting-leopards,
hounds, and hawks; — received as much at-
tention as if their royal master had been a
veterinary surgeon : while, in the matter of
tame partridges and pigeons, no schoolboy
could have been a greater adept than the
mighty monarch, Akber Padshah.f

The town of Futtehpoor Sikri, near Agra,
built and fortified by Akber, although now
deserted, presents ample evidence of having
been a place, both iu magnificence and
architectural beauty, adapted for the abode
of one of the wealthiest sovereigns the world
ever knew. Respecting the amount of the
treasures seized from Moslem and Hindoo
palaces and temples, we have no reliable in-
formation.! Jehangeer asserts, that of the
paraphernalia and requisites for grandeur,
accumulated by Akber, "whether in trea-
sure or splendid furniture of any description,
the invincible Timur, who subdued the
world, and from whom my father was eighth
in descent, did not possess one-tenth." He
adds, that Akber, desirous to ascertain the
contents of the treasury at Agra, had 400
pairs of scales kept at work, day and night,
weighing gold and jewels only. At the ex-
piration oi five montlis the work was still far
from being concluded; the emperor, from
some cause or other, not choosing to have it

* According to Abul Fazil, Akber had between
5,000 and 6,000 elephants, of whom 101 were kept
for his own riding. He delighted in the exerci.se ;
and, even when in their most excited state, would
place his foot on the tusk of one of these enormous
creatures, and mount in an instant ; or spring upon
its back, from a wall, as it rushed furiously past.
A fine elephant cost a lac of rupees (£10,000), had
five men and a boy allotted for its service, and a
stated daily allowance of rice, sugar, milk, ghee, &c.,
besides 300 sugar-canes per diem, during the season.
Every ten elephants were superintended by an offi-
cer, whose duty it was to report daily to the emperor
their exact condition — whether they ate less food
than usual, or were in any way indisposed.

t On a journey or march, the court was never
accompanied by less than 20,000 pigeons, with hear-
ers carrying their houses. Of the quality of these
birds, Abul Fazil remarks, his majesty had discovered
" infallible criterions," such as twisting their feet,
slitting their eyelids, or opening their nostrils.

X In Mandelsloe's travels (Harris's Voyages, vol. iii.,
p. 762), an inventory is given of the treasure in
jewels, bullion, coin, and other property belonging
to Akber at the time of his death, which that tra-
veller states to have been furnished him by " very
knowing and worthy persons," in the reign of Shah
Jehan, whom he describes as possessing " eight large
vaults filled with gold, silver, and precious stones,
the value of which is inestimable." The items are

continued, had the treasures safely secured,
and was content to be the master of " un-
told gold." In this astounding statement
there would seem to be either some great
mistake on the part of the copyist,§ or gross
exaggeration on that of the royal autobio-
grapher. The latter is probably in fault;
for although he frequently criminates him-
self by confessing the commission of crimes
which other writers would scarcely have
ventured to attribute to him (the murder of
Abul Fazil, for instance), yet his credulity
and tendency to " high colouring," render
much sifting necessary before receiving his
assertions, and greatly enhance the value
of corroborative evidence. European tra-
vellers go far to establish the probability of
otherwise incredible statements regarding
the enormous wealth of the Great Moguls,
by their descriptions of the magnificence of
the court, and also of the steady influx of
gold and silver still annually received in
return for silk, cotton, spices, and various
products, for which coin or bullion was the
chief exchange, other commodities or manu-
factures being taken only in comparatively
small quantities.

Reign of Jehangeer. — The bier of Akber
was carried through the palace-gates of
Agra by Selim and his three sons, Khosru,
Khoorum, and Parvaez, and borne thence
to its stately mausoleum II at Secundra (three
miles distant), by the princes and chief

interesting — in certain sorts of money coined by the
express order of Akber, in another description,
called Akber rupees, and in "payses [pice], sixty
whereof make a crown," — total value ^ 199,173,333
crowns, or about £50,000,000 sterling. In jewels,
30,026,026 crowns ; " statues of gold, of divers crea-
tures," 9,503,370 c. ; gold plate, dishes, cups, and
household-stuff, 5,866,895 c. ; porcelain and other
earthen vessels, 1,255,873 c. ; brocades — gold and
silver stuffs, silks and muslins, 7,654,989 c. ; tents,
hangings, and tapestries, 4,962,772 c. ; twenty-four
thousand manuscripts, richly bound, 3,231,865 c. ;
artillery and ammunition, 4,287,985 c ; small arms,
swords, bucklers, pikes, bows, arrows, &c., 3,777,752 c. j
saddles, bridles, and other gold and silver accoutre-
ments, 1,262,824 c; coverings for elephants and
horses, embroidered with gold, silver, and pearls,
2,500,000 c.; woollen cloths, 251,626 c.; brass and
copper utensils, 25,612 c; making a total (coin in-
cluded) of 274,113,793 c, or £68,628,448 sterling.

§ The Persian copy of Jehangeer's Memoirs, trans-
lated by Major Price, was unfortunately imperfect ;
that from which Mr. Gladwin has borrowed largely,
is considered less defective.

II This superb structure, begun by Akber, was
finished by his successor, who declared the total cost to
have been about £1,800,000. The amiable mother
of Akber, Hameida, afterwards termed Miriam Me-
kani, had been buried only two years before in Hu-
mayun's tomb at BelhL

120

ACCESSION OP THE EMPEROR JEHANGEER, a.d. 1605.

nobles. Owing to the exertions made by
the late sovereign on his death-bed to pre-
vent the threatened outbreak of domestic
rivalry, and to the successful negotiations
entered into with Rajah Maun Sing, and
other leading persons, Selim was proclaimed
emperor unopposed. "With undisguised de-
light he mounted the jewelled throne, on
which such enormous sums had been
lavished, and placed on his brows the twelve-
pointed crown.* The chief ameers were
summoned from the different provinces to
attend the gorgeous and prolonged cere-
monial; for forty days and nights the nukara,
or great state-drum, sounded triumphantly ;
odoriferous gums were kept burning in
censers of rare workmanship, and immense
candles of camphorated wax, in branches of
gold and silver, illumined the hours of
darkness.

Considering " universal conquest the pe-
culiar vocation of sovereign princes," the
new emperor, in the coinage struck upon
his accession, assumed the title of Jehan-
geer (conqueror of the world), and ex-
pressed a hope so to acquit himself as to
justify the assumption of this high-sounding
epithet. His early measuresf were of a more
pacific and benevolent tendency than might
have been expected either from this com-
mencement, or his general character. He
confirmed most of his father's old servants
in their offices; issued orders remitting
some vexatious duties which existed, not-

• The crown and throne, those favourite symbols
of power, with which eastern kings have ever de-
lighted to dazzle the eyes of their subjects, were of
extraordinary magnificence and beauty. The for-
mer — made by the order of Akber, in the fashion of
that worn by the Persian kings — had twelve points,
each surmounted by a diamond of the purest water,
while the central point terminated in a single pearl
of extraordinary size ; the whole (including many
valuable rubies) being estimated at a cost equivalent
to £2,070,000 sterling. The throne, so constructed
as to be easily taken to pieces and put together again,
was ascended by silver steps, on the top of which
four silver lions sujiported a canopy of pure gold,
the whole adorned with jewels, to an amount, which
Price translates, as equal to £30,000,000 sterling.

+ One of these, most creditable to Jehangeer, in-
volves a terrible revelation of existing evils. He
ordered the governor of Bengal to take decided mea-
sures for abolishing the infamous practice, long used
in Silhet and other dependencies of Bengal, of com-
pelling the people to sell their children, or else
emasculate and deliver them up to the governors of
those provinces in satisfaction for their rents, — by
which means some thousand eunuchs had been made
yearly. — Gladwin's Jehangeer, p. 104.

X Sir Thomas Roe was occasionally admitted to
the evening entertainments, when the Great Mogul,
eeated on a low throne, threw off all restraint, and,

withstanding the recent reformatory mea-
sures ; and desii'ing to give access to all
classes of people who might choose to ap-
peal to him personally, caused a gold chain
to be hung between a stone pillar near the
Jumna and the walls of the citadel of Agra,
communicating with a string of little bells
suspended in his private apartments; so that
the suitor, by following the chain, would be
enabled to announce his presence to the
emperor without any intermediary. For
this invention, Jehangeer takes great credit,
and also for the interdict placed by him on
the use of wine, and the regulations for
that of opium; but as his own habits of
nightly intoKication were notorious,^ the
severe punishment with which he visited all
other offenders against the laws of strict
temperance, gives little evidence of the
rigid justice so repeatedly put forward in
his autobiography,^ as his leading principle
of action. Among his first proceedings,
was the release of all prisoners throughout
the empire. " From the fortress of Gwalior
alone," he says, " there were set at liberty no
less than 7,000 individuals, some of whom '
had been in confinement for forty years.
Of the number discharged altogether on this
occasion, some conception may be formed,
when it is mentioned, that within the limits
of Hindoostan there are not less than 2,400
fortresses, of name and strength, exclusive
of those in the kingdom of Bengal, which
surpass all reckoning." — [Memoirs, p. 10.)

together with most of his companions, drank himself
into a state of maudlin intoxication. A courtier
once indiscreetly alluded, in public, to a debauch of
the previous night, upon which Jehangeer affected
surprise, inquired what other persons had shared in
this breach of the law, and ordered those named to
be so severely bastinadoed that one of them died.
In his Memoiri, he makes no secret of his habitual
excesses, but says his usual allowance once reached
twenty cups of spirits a-day, and that if he was a
single hour without his beverage, his hands began to
shake, and he was unable to sit at rest. After coming
to the throne, he took for some time but five cups
(little more than a quart), diluted with wine, and only
after night-fall. Of opium, his daily dose, at forty-
six years of age, was eight ruttees, orsixty-four grains.
§ This Autobiography resembles that of Timur iri
the manner in which the royal narrator boldly
alleges good motives for his worst deeds, and after
describing the torments and cruel deaths inflicted
by him on thousands of unhappy beings, dwells,
almost in the same page, on his own compassionate
and loving nature, giving, as examples, the letting
free of birds, deluded by the skilful murmuring of
the Cashmerians into captivity ; his regret for the
death, by drowning, of a little boy who used to guide
his elephant, and similar circumstances. In spite of
its defects, the book is both valuable and interest-
ing, as throwing much light on the customs and

HISTORY OP NOUR MAHAL, AFTERWARDS NOUR JEHAN. 121

Jehangeer was not long permitted to en-
joy in peace his vast inheritance.* The
partial reconciliation between him and
Prince Khosru was little more than a tem-
porary cessation of hostilities, marked by
distrust and tyranny on the one side — sul-
lenness and disaffection on the other. At
length, some four months after his accession,
the emperor was aroused at midnight with
the tidings that his son had fled to Delhi,
with a few attendants. A detachment was
immediately sent in pursuit, and Jehangeer
followed in the morning with all the force
he could collect ; but notwithstanding these
prompt measures, Khosru succeeded in as-
sembling upwards of 10,000 men (who sub-
sisted by plunder), and obtained possession
of Lahore. He was, however, defeated in
a contest with a detachment of the royal
troops ; taken prisoner in a boat, which ran
aground in the Hydaspes; and in less than
a month, the whole rebellion was com-
pletely quashed. When brought in chains
of gold into the presence of his father,
Khosru, in reply to the reproaches and
questions addressed to him, refused to
criminate his advisers or abettors, entreating
that his life might be deemed a suflBcient
penalty for the offences he had instigated.
Jehangeer, always ready to take advantage
of any plausible pretext for the exercise of
his barbarous and cruel disposition, spared
his son's life,t but wreaked an ample ven-
geance, by compelling him to witness the
agonies of his friends and adherents. Some
were sewn up in raw hides and exposed to
a burning sun, to die in lingering tortures
of several days' duration ; others flayed alive ;
while no less than 700 were impaled in a
line leading from the gate of Lahore, and
so long as any of these unfortunates con-
opinions of the age, and on the demonology, alche-
my, and various superstitions in which Jehangeer
was as firm a believer as his royal compeer, James I.,
of England, whom he resembled in another point,
namely, strong dislike to tobacco (then newly in-
troduced by the Portuguese), against which he also
issued a " counterblast," in the shape of a decree,
forbidding its use in Hindoostan, as Shah Abbas
had previously done throughout Persia.

• Besides the treasure accumulated by his father,
he received the property (amounting, in jewels alone,
to £4,500,000,) which l)anial had contrived to amass
in the Deccan, in great measure by open violence,
or, as Jehangeer mildly phrases it, by compelling
people to sell to him elephants and other property,
and sometimes omitting to pay for them. The 300
ladies of the prince's harem were likewise sent to the
emperor ; who, being somewhat puzzled how to dis-
pose of so large an addition to his family, gave them
to understand that tliey were, one and all, free to

tinued to breathe, the prince was brought
daily to the spot, in mock state, mounted
on an elephant and preceded by a mace-
bearer, who called out to him to receive the
salutations of his servants. Khosru passed
three days and nights without tasting food,
and long remained a prey to the deepest
melancholy. At the expiration of a year,
Jehangeer seemed disposed to lighten his
captivity by suffering his chains to be
struck off, but a conspiracy for his release
being subsequently detected (or invented by
the partisans of Prince Khoorum), he was
confined as closely as before.

In 1607, an army was despatched, under
Mohabet Khan (son of Sagurji, the recreant
brother of Pertap), against Umra, Rana of
Oudipoor, and another under the Khan Kha-
nan, into the Deccan ; but both were unsuc-
cessful, and the latter especially received re-
peated defeats from Malek Amber, who retook
Ahmednuggur; and uniting to his talents
for war no less ability for civil government,
introduced a new revenue system into the
Deccan, and obtained there equal celebrity
to that acquired by Rajah Todar Mul in
Hindoostan.

During these proceedings, Jehangeer was
privately occupied in the criminal intrigues
which resulted in his marriage with the
celebrated Nour Jehan. This clever, but un-
principled woman, was the daughter of a
Persian adventurer,^ who having succeeded
in gaining admittance to the service of
Akber, rose to a position of trust and
honour. His wife frequently visited the
royal harem with her young' daughter,
whose attractions speedily captivated the
heir-apparent. Akber being made aware of
what was passing, had Nour Jehan bestowed
in marriage on Sheer Afghan, a young

bestow themselves and their dowries on any of the
nobles who might desire them in marriage.

t There is a passage in the Memoirs which indi-
cates prettv clearly that Jehangeer would have felt
little scruple in following " the distinguished exam-
ple" given by "the house of Othman, who, for the
stability of their royal authority, of all their sons,
preserve but one, considering it expedient to destroy
all the rest."— (p. 6C.)

X Gheias was a man well born, but reduced to
poverty, and driven to seek subsistence by emigrating
with his wife and children to India. Directly after
reaching Candahar, Nour Jehan was born ; and, being
worn down with fatigue and want, the miserable
parents exposed the infant on a spot by which the
caravan was to pass. The expedient succeeded: a
rich merchant saw and took compassion on the child,
relieved the distress of its parents, and, perceiving
the father and eldest son to be ))ersons of education
and ability, procured for them suitable employment.

_.,

122

NOUR MAHAL MADE EMPRESS, a.d. 1611.

Persian, distinguished for his bravery, to
whom he gave a jaghire in Bengal, wliither
he proceeded, accompanied by his young
bride. But the matter did not end here ;
for Jehangeer, about a year after his ac-
cession, took occasion to intimate to Kootb-
po-deen, the viceroy of Bengal (his foster-
brother), liis desire to obtain possession of
the object of his- unhallowed passion. En-
deavours were made to sound Sheer Afghan
on the subject ; but the high-spirited chief,
at the first intiipation of the designs enter-
tained against his honour, threw up his com-
mand, and left off wearing arms, as a sign
that he was no longer in the king's service.
After this, repeated attempts were made to
assassinate him, until at length, at a com-
pulsory interview with Kootb-oo-deen, per-
ceiving himself entrapped, he resolved to
sell his life dearly — slew the viceroy and
several other officers, and at last fell him-
self, covered with wounds. Nour Jehan
was seized and sent to court, but, either
from some temporary aversion on her part
to the murderer of her husband, or (for the
tale is differently told) from some equally
short-lived compunction on his, she was
allowed to remain in the seraglio unnoticed
for above four years. The passion of the
emperor at length reviving, he made her his
wife; bestowed on her, by an imperial edict,
the title of empress ; and styled her first,
Nour Mahal {the light of the harem), and
afterwards Nour Jehan [the light of the
world.) Her influence became unbounded :
beginning by a feminine desire for splendid
jewels,* shfe soon manifested her capacity
for coveting and exercising arbitrary do-
minion, and evinced as much energy and
ambition, and as little principle as could be

• Jehangeer states that he assigned for her dowry
en amount equal to £7,200,000 sterling, " which
sum she requested as indisijensable for the purchase
of jewels, and I granted it without a murmur." —
^p. 271.) He also gave her a pearl necklace, com-
prising forty beads, each one of great worth. These
statements must, of course, be taken quantum valeai,
and are only cited to enable the reader to form some
idea of the numerous and costly jewels worn at the
period: the accumulation of which had been for ages
the favourite employment of the Hindoo princes,
from whom they had been plundered. In evidence of
the excessive desire for splendid jewels, may be no-
ticed the testimony of Sir Thomas Roe's chaplain —
that one of the courtiers purchased from a merchant a
large pear-shaped pearl, which he had brought with
him from England, for the sum of £1„200.

t The Rajpoots have been fortunate in having had
Tod for a chronicler ; but they still need a Walter
Scott to po|)ularize their deeds of love and war in
the eyes of those who care not to look on truth un-
mixed with fiction. Yet Rajpoot annals, even in the

paralleled in many (so called) "great men."
Honours never before enjoyed by the consort
of any Indian potentate were lavished upou
her, even to the conjunction of her name
on the coin with that of Jehangeer; her
father, Mirza Gheias, was made prime minis-
ter; her brother, Asuf Khan, placed iu
a high station ; and, on every affair in which
she took an interest, her will was law.

The legislative ability of Mirza Gheias
produced beneficial effects in public affairs ;
and his modest, yet manly bearing, con-
ciliated the nobility, -who soon learned to
appreciate the value of the control which he
exercised over the ill-regulated mind of the
emperor. Nour Jehan found employment
in superintending the construction of pub-
lic edifices and gardens; and by skilful
management, increased the magnificence of
the court and lessened the expenditure.
The mode of preparing the famous otto of
roses is generally attributed, in India, cither
to her or to her mother.

Soon after this marriage, the disturbances
in Bengal, which had prevailed throughout
the previous years of Jehangeer's reign,
were brought to a close a.d. 1612. Malek
Amber's Mahratta-like mode of warfare
proved increasingly successful in the Deccan,
and the imperial forces were decidedly
worsted; but in Mewar, Prince Khoorum,
at the head of 20,000 men, obtained the
submission of liana Urara Sing, who, after
sustaining seventeen pitched battles, was at
length compelled to bow to the Moguls " the
crimson banner" which, for more than 800
years, had waved in proud independence
over the heads of the Gehlotes. Prince
Khoorum (the son of a Rajpootni) evinced
affectionate respect towards his brave foe ;t

sober page of the historian, are fraught with romance
and chivalry. Take one instance. During the war
with Jehangeer, an opportunity occurred to recover
some frontier lands in the plains, and Umra, with all
his chiefs, assembled for the purpose. Two rival
clans (whose feuds largely contributed to the ruin of
Mewar) disputed the privilege of forming the herole
or vanguard, and the sword would have decided the
question but for the tact of the prince, who exclaimed,
" The herole to the clan that first enters Ontala."
Ontala was a frontier fortress, about eighteen miles
east of Oudipoor, situated on rising ground, with a
stream flowing beneath its massy walls, round towers
at intervals, and but one gate. Some hours before
day-break the clans moved off to the attack ; the Suk-
tawuts arrived first, and made directly for the gate-
way; the Chondawuts, less skilled in topography,
traversed a swamp, which retarded them ; but they
brought ladders, and, on arriving, their chief at once
commenced the escalade. A ball struck him back
lifeless among his vassals. Meanwhile, the Sukta-
wuts were also checked; for the elephant on which

SUBJUGATION OP OUDIPOOR, a.d. 1614..— EMBASSY OF ROE. 133

and Jehaiigeer himself, delighted at having
obtained, by means of the valour of his
favourite son, the homage of a prince whose
ancestors, intrenched in their mountain
strongholds, "had never beheld a king of
Hindoostan, or made submission to any
one," sent to the rana a friendly firman,
with the " impress of his five fingers," and
desired Khoorum, " by any means by which
it could be brought about, to treat this il-
lustrious one according to his own heart's
wishes."* The personal attendance of Umra
at the Mogul court was excused, and a simi-
lar exemption extended to the future reign-
ing sovereigns of Mewar, the heir-apparent
being received as their representative. Prince
Kurrun, the son and successor of Umra, was
most honourably welcomed by Jehangeer,
who placed him on his right hand, above
every other noble, and declared that '-'his
countenance carried the impression of his
illustrious extraction."t Nour Jehan like-
wise loaded him with gifts and dignities;
but the prince, feeling liis newly-forged
chains none the lighter for the flowers with
which they were wreathed, still remained
sad and humiliated, though courteous in his
bearing. Umra was yet further from being
reconciled to become a fief-holder of the em-
pire. To receive the imperial firman outside
his capital was the only concession demanded
from him, in return for which Khoorum
offered to withdraw every Moslem from
Mewar. But he could not be brought to
submit to the humiliation ; therefore, assem-
bling the chiefs, he made the teeka (the

their leader rode, and on whose strength he depended
to force the gate, was deterred from approaching by
its projecting spikes. His men were falling thick
about him, when a shout from the rival clan in-
spired a desperate resolve. Springing to the ground,
he covered the spikes with his own body, and bade
the driver, on pain of instant death, propel the ele-
phant against him. The gates gave way, and over
the dead body of their chief the clan rushed on to
the combat, and, fighting with resistless energy,
slaughtered the Moguls, and planted on the castle the
standard of Mewar. But the herole was not for themj
for the next in rank and kin, and heir to the Chonda-
■wut leader, had caught the lifeless body as it fell, andj
true to his title (the mad chief of Deogurh), wrapped
it in his scarf, slung it on his back, and, scaling the
wall, cleared the way with his lance, until he was
able to fling his burden over the parapet, shouting —
" the herole to the Chondawuts ! we are first in !

• Colonel Tod mentions having seen the identical
firman in the rana of Oudipoor's archives. The
hand being immersed in a compost of sandal-wood,
is applied to the paper, to which the impression of
the palm and five fingers is thus clearly, and even
lastingly affixed. — liajast'han, vol. i., p. 362.

t Hajatthan, vol. i., p. 364. Tod had probably a

ancient symbol of soveS-eignty) on his son's
forehead, and forthwith quitted the capital,
and secluded himself in a neighbouring
palace, on the borders of a lake. The stately
form of Umra, " the tallest and strongest of
the princes of Mewar," never again crossed
the threshold until it was borne, as dust and
ashes, to be deposited in the sepulchre of
his fathers ; but Prince Khoorum visited
him, as a friend, in his retirement, and, in
after years, had abundant reason to rejoice
in the sympathy which he had manifested
towards the Rajpoot princes of Oudipoor.

In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe arrived at court,
then held at Ajmeer, as ambassador from
James I. His journey from Surat, by Boor-
hanpoor and Chittore, lay through the Dec-
can, where war was raging ; and the rana's
country, where it had just ceased; yet he
met with no obstruction or cause for alarm,
except from mountaineers, who took advan-
tage of the disturbed state of the times to
molest trcavellers. The emperor received
him favourably, notwithstanding the oppo-
sition and intrigues of the Portuguese Jesuits^
and the contrast afforded by the unpretend-
ing character of liis presents^ and retinue
to the magnificent ceremonial which he
daily witnessed, and in which he was per-
mitted to take part without performing the
humiliating prostration which Jehangeer,
like Akber, demanded from those who ap-
proached him, despite the belief of all zea*
lous Mohammedans, that such homage could
be fitly offered to the Deity alone.

The greatest displays took place on the

more perfect copy of Jehangeer's Memoirs than that
translated by Price, as he cites passages not to be
found in the English version.

\ The most acceptable of these seems to have been
a coach, a mode of conveyance then newly used in
England. Jehangeer had it taken to pieces by na-
tive workmen, who, having built another with more
costly materials, reconstructed the pattern-one, sub-
stituting double-gilt silver nails for the originals of
brass, and a lining of silver brocade instead of
Chinese velvet. Some pictures, likewi.se, proved
suitable gifts ; and one of them was so accurately
copied by native artists, that Roe being shown the
original and five copies by candle-light, could not,
without some difficulty, distinguish that which he
had brought from England. Once, being much
pressed for some offering wherewith to gratify Jehan-
geer's insatiable covetousness, he presented to him a
book of maps {Mercator's Cosmography), with which
the emperor was at first excessively delighted ; but,
on examination, finding the independent kingdoms
there delineated somewhat too numerous to accord
with his grandiloquent title, he returned the -olume,
saying that he should not like to deprive the ambas-
sador of so groat a treasure. — A Voyage to East
India, by Sir Thomas Roe'.s Chaplain. London, 1666.

124 WAR WITH MALEK AMBER. -DEATH OF KHOSRU, 1621.

emperor's birth-day, when there was a gene-
ral fair and many processions and ceremo-
nies, among which the most striking was
the weighing of the royal person twelve
times, in golden scales, against gold, silver,
perfumes, and other substances, which were
afterwards distributed among the spectators.
The festivities lasted several days, during
which time the king's usual place was in a
sumptuous tent, shaded by rich awnings,
while the ground, for the space of at least
two acres, was spread with silken carpets
and hangings, embroidered with gold, pearl,
and precious stones. The nobility had simi-
lar pavilions, where they received visits from
each other, and sometimes from the sove-
reign. But beneath the veil of splendour
and outward decorum, all was hollow and
unsound. The administration of the coun-
try was rapidly declining; the governments
were farmed, and the governors exacting
and tyrannical ; though, occasionally, an ap-
peal from some injured person brought upon
the oppressor the vengeance of the empe-
ror, from which neither ability nor station
could purchase immunity. The highest offi-
cials were open to corruption; and Roe,
finding the treaty he was sent to negotiate
remained unaccomplished after two years'
tarry, deemed it expedient to bribe Asuf
Khan with a valuable pearl, after which he
soon succeeded in procuring for the English
a partial liberty of trade; and then joy-
fully took his leave. The military spirit of
the Moslems had already evaporated in an
atmosphere of sloth and sensuality ; and the
Rajpoots, Patans, and Beloochees were
spoken of by cotemporary writers (Terry,
Hawkins, Roe) as the only brave soldiers to
be found. The language of the court was
Persian, but all classes spoke Hindoostani.
In the royal family, the succession was a
matter of jealous discussion : Khosru was
considered to have forfeited his prior claim
by rebellion ; and Parvaez, the next in age,

• Jehangeer established himself at Ajmeer, in
1613, in readiness to support his son in liis opera-
tions against the Rana of Oudipoor, and had held
hie court there ever since. He now jjrocecded to
take up his residence at Mandu, in Malwa, for the
similar reason of being nearer |to the seat of war.
Sir Thomas Roe was permitted to follow in the suite
of the court. He describes the royal progress as
resembling a triumphal procession on a scale of
extreme magnificence. Jehangeer himself, before
entering his coach, showed himself to the people,
literally laden with jewels — from his rich turban,
with it« plume of 'heron feathers, whence " on one
side hung a rubie unset, as bigge as a walnut, on
♦ie other side a diamond as great, in the middle an

being far inferior in ability to his younger
brother, Khoorum, would, it was expected,
be set aside to make way for the latter
prince, who had married a niece of Nour
Jehan, and was supported in his pretensions
by her all-powerful influence.

In 1616, a great expedition was sent to
the Deccan, of which the command was
given to Khoorum, together with the title
by which he was thenceforth known, of
Shah Jehan (king of the world) .* He suc-
ceeded in regaining Ahmednuggur and
other places, captured by Malek Amber,
who was compelled to make submission on
the part of his nominal sovereign, Nizam
Shah; but, in 1621, renewed the war. Shah
Jehan was again dispatched to the Deccan ;
but, from some rising distrust, refused to
mai'ch unless his unhappy brother. Prince
Khosru (who, by the earnest mediation of
Parvaez, had had his chains struck off, and
some measure of liberty allowed him) were
entrusted to his custody. This desire was
complied with, and Khoorum proceeded to
attack Malek Amber, whom he at length
brought to risk a general action. The
result was very favourable to the Moguls,
who granted peace on condition of a further
cession of land and a considerable sum of
money. Soon after this success, Jehangeer
was prostrated by a dangerous attack of
asthma. At this critical juncture. Prince
Khosru died suddenly, and his rival brother,
to whose charge he had been entrusted,
was accused of having incited his assassina-
tion. However caused, it is remarkable
that this event, which seemed especially cal-
culated to strengthen the pretensions of
Shah Jehan to the succession, proved to be
only the commencement of a long series of
dangers and disasters. The emperor par-
tially recovered, and ever after manifested
distrust and aversion to his previously fa-
vourite child. He evidently shared the
suspicions generally entertained regarding

emerald like a heart, much bigger," down to his " em-
broidered buskins with pearle, the toes sharpe and
turning up." Immediately after the king rode Nour
Jehan, also in an English carriage. The Leskar, or
imperial camp, was admirably arranged, and occu-
pied a circumference of at least twenty miles ; looking
down from it from a height, it resembled a beautiful
city of many-coloured tents ; that of the emperor in
the centre, with its gilded globes and pinnacles,
forming a sort of castle, from whence diverged nu-
merous streets, laid out without the least disorder,
since every one, whether noble or shop-keeper, knew
the precise spot on which he must place himself by
its distance from, and situation with regard to, the
royal paviliou. — (Murray's Discoveries, voi. ii. p. 163.)

SHAH JEHAN REBELS, 1633.— MOHABET SEIZES EMPEROR, 1626. 125

Khosru's fate ; besides which, the empress !
having recently affianced her daughter * by
Sheer Afghan, to Prince S.hehriar (Jehan-
gecr's youngest son), attached herself to
his interests, foreseeing that, in the event
of his accession to the throne, she might
continue to exercise a degree of power,
which, under the sway of his more able and
determined brother, was not to be expected.

With a view of removing Shah Jehan
from the scene of his power and triumphs,
he was directed to attempt the recovery of
Candahar from the Persians, by whom it
had been recently seized. The prince, per-
ceiving the object of this command, delayed
compliance on one pretext or another, until
discussions arose, which issued in his break-
ing out into open rebellion, a.d. 1623. The
crisis was fraught with danger to all par-
ties. The father of Nour Jehan, on whom
both she and the emperor had implicitly
relied, was dead; Asuf Khan, though he
seemed to move like a puppet according
to her will, naturally leant towards his
son-in-law ; Parvaez, though a brave sol-
dier, needed as a general an able coun-
sellor by his side ; nor does Shehriar seem
to have been calculated to take the lead in
this fierce and prolonged feud.f At length
Nour Jehan cast her eyes on Mohabet Khan,
the most rising general of the time, but,
heretofore, the especial opponent of her
brother, Asuf Khan. To him, jointly with
Parvaez, was entrusted the conduct of hos-
tilities against Shah Jehan, who retreated
to Boorhanpoor, but was driven from thence
to Bengal, of which province, together vrith
Behar, he gained possession, but was expelled,
and obliged to seek refuge in the Deccan,
where he was welcomed and supported by
his former foe, Malek Amber. At the ex-
piration of two years he proffered his sub-
mission, and surrendered to Jehangeer the
forts of Rohtas in Behar, and Aseerghur in
the Deccan, together with his two sons
(Dara and Aurungzebe), but he himself
took refuge with the Rajpoots of Mcwar.J

Scarcely was this storm allayed, before a
still more alarming one burst over the head
of the emperor, provoked by his violent
temper, and also by the domineering and
suspicious conduct of Nour Jehan. The
growing popularity of Mohabet Khan had,

* DclIaValle states, that Nour Jehan had previously
j desired to marry lior daughter to Kliosru, offering, on
that condition, to obtain his release; but he steadily
refused, from strong affection to the wife he had
already married, and who, after \ainly urging him to
comply with the proffered terms, continued as here-
S

it would appear, excited jealousy, and he
was summoned to answer, in person, various
charges of oppression and embezzlement
adduced against him during the time of his
occupation of Bengal. He set out for court,
attended by a body of 5,000 Rajpoots,
whom he had contrived to attach to his
service. Before his arrival, Jehangeer,
learning that he had ventured to betroth
his daughter without the customary form of
asking the royal sanction, sent for the bride-
groom, a young nobleman named Berkhor-
dar, caused him to be stripped naked, and
beaten with thorns in his own presence ;
seized on the dowry he had received from
Mohabet, and sequestrated all his other
property. On approaching the camp, Mo-
habet Avas informed of what occurred, and
also that the emperor would not see him;
upon which he resolved, while the means
remained at his command, to make a bold
stroke for life and liberty. Jehangeer was
at this time preparing to cross the Hydaspes,
by a bridge of boats, on his way to Cabool ;
the troops had passed, and he intended to
follow at leisure, when Mohabet, by a sudden
attack, just before day-break, gained posses-
sion of the bridge, and surprised the royal
tent, where the emperor, scarcely recovered
from the effects of the last night's debauch,
was awakened by the rush of armed men.
Mohabet pretended to have been driven to
this extremity by the enemies who had
poisoned the mind of his master against
him, and Jehangeer, after the first burst of
rage, thought it best to conciliate his captor
by affecting to believe this statement, and
agreed to accompany him, in public, under
the guardianship of a body of Rajpoots.
Nour Jehan, on learning that the emperor
had been carried to the tents of Mohabet
Khan, put on a disguise, and succeeded in
reaching the royal camp on the opposite
side of the river, where she set on foot im-
mediate preparations for a forcible rescue.
Jehangeer, afraid of what might happen to
himself in the confusion, sent a messenger
with his signet, to desire that no attack
might be made ; but she treated the mes-
sage as a trick of Mohabet Khan's, and, at
the head of the ai'niy, began to ford the
river, the bridge having been, in the interim,
burned by the Rajpoots. Rockets, balls,

tofore the patient companion of his long and. sad
captivity. — (London trmisluiion of liidH, ]). 30.)

t According to Gladwin, this war " so deluged the
empire with blood, that there was hardly a family
but shared in the calamity.'" — Hin(h<>slan,yo\.i. p. 45,

X Shah Jehan was warmly befriended in Oudi-

126 NOUR JEHAN RESTORES THE EMPEROR TO LIBERTY, 1627.

and arrows were discharged upon the troops,
as they strove to make good their passage
over a dangerous shoal, full of pools, with
deep water on either side; and, on setting
foot on the beach, they were fiercely opposed
by the Rajpoots, who drove them back into
the water, sword in hand. The ford became
choked with horses and elephants, and a
frightful sacrifice of life ensued. The em-
press* was among those who succeeded in
effecting a landing, and at once became the
special object of attack. The elephant on
which she rode was speedily surrounded,
the guards cut to pieces, and, among the
bails and arrows which fell thick round her
howdah, one wounded the infant daughter
of Shehriar, who was seated in her lap, and
another killed her driver. The elephant
having received a severe cut on the proboscis,
dashed into the river, and was carried along
by the current ; but, after several plunges,
swam out, and safely reached the shore,
where Nour Jchan was quickly surrounded
by her attendants, who found her engaged
in extracting the arrow, and binding up the
wound of the terrified infant. The repulse
was complete ; for, although a portion of
the royalists, under an officer named Fcdai
Khan, had, during the confusion of the
battle, entered the enemy's camp at an
unsuspected point, and penetrated so far
that their balls and arrows fell within the
tent where Jehangeer was seated, they were
compelled to retire by the general defeat,
and Fedai Khan, having lost most of his
men, and being himself wounded, imme-
diately took refuge in the neighbouring
fort of Rohtas, of which he was governor.

Nour Jehan, perceiving the hopelessness
of attempting the forcible rescue of her
husband, determined to join him in his
captivity ; and her brother, with other
leaders, were eventually obliged to surrender
themselves to Mohabet Khan, who appeared
to be completely triumphant, but whose
position, nevertheless, demanded great cir-
cumspection. He had from the first affected
to treat Jehangeer with much ceremonious
deference ; and the captive monarch, tutored
by Nour Jehan, pretended to be completely
reconciled to his position, and glad to be
relieved from the thraldom of Asuf Khan.
He even carried his duplicity so far as to

poor, where a sumptuous edifice was raised for his
use, adorned with a lofty dome crowned with a cre-
scent; the interior richly decorated with mosaic in
onyx, cornelian, jaspjr and agates, rich Turlccy car-
pets, &c. ; and that nothing of state might be want-
ing to the royal refugee, a throne was sculptured

warn Mohabet of the ambition and discon-
tent of the empress, and acted his part so
cleverly, as completely to deceive his gaoler.
Meanwhile the army advanced to Cabool,
and the Afghans in the neighbourhood
showed every disposition to take part with
the emperor, while the dissensions among
the troops gave full employment to their
general. Nour Jehan was too able an intri-
guante not to take advantage of such favour-
able circumstances. She employed agents
to enlist fit men in scattered points at a
distance, whence some were to straggle into
the camp, as if in quest of service ; while
others were to remain at their positions,
and await further orders. Jehangeer next
suggested a muster of the troops of all the
jaghiredars, of whom the empress formed
an important member, holding large estates,
and having been made a muusubdar of
30,000; commanders of that rank being,
it will be remembered, only expected or
even suffered to maintain a much smaller
number. When summoned to produce her
contingent, she expressed indignation at
being placed on the level of an ordinary
subject; but, on pretence of desiring to
produce a respectable muster, increased her
previous force, by gradually receiving the
recruits from the country. Mohabet Khan
began to suspect some plot, but suffered
himself to be persuaded by Jehangeer to
avoid personal risk, by forbearing to accom-
pany him to the muster of Nour Jehan's
contingent. The emperor advanced alone
to the review, and had no sooner got to
the centre of the line, than the troops closed
in on him, cut off the Rajpoot horse, by
whom he was guarded, and, being speedily
joined by their confederates, placed his
person beyond the reach of recapture. Mo-
habet Khan, perceiving himself completeb;
duped, withdrew to a distance with his
troops, and, after some attempts at negotia-
tion, came to an open rupture, and entered
into alliance with Shah Jehan. This prince
had endeavoured to take advantage of his fa-
ther's captivity to renew hostilities, by march-
ing from the Deccan to Ajmeer at the head of
little more than 1,000 men; but the death of
his chief adherent, Rajah Kishen Sing, de-
prived him of at least half his followers, and
he was compelled to fly across the desert to

from a single block of serpentine, supported by
quadriform female caryatides : in the court a little
cliapel was erected to the Moslem-Saint, Madar.

* Nour Jchan was a true Amazon : Jehangeer re-
cords with much pride her having, on a hunting party,
killed four tigers with a matchlock from her elephant.

CHARACTER AND DEATH OP JEHANGEER, a.d. 1627.

127

Sinde. Thence he purposed proceeding to
Persia, but, beinsj delayed by sickness, re-
mained there until affairs took a more pro-
mising turn. Parvaez died at Boorhanpoor,
according to the general account, of epilepsy,
brought on by excessive drinking, though
Tod asserts him to have been slain at the
instigation of Shah Jehan, who proceeded
to the Deccan, where he was joined by
Mohabet Khan.

Jehangeer, shortly after his restoration
to liberty, quitted Cabool for his residence at
Lahore, and from thence set off on his
annual visit to " the blooming saffron
meads" of Cashmere. But the autumn
was unusually cold, and the clear pure air
of the lovely valley proved too keen for the
broken constitution of the emperor. A
severe attack of asthma came on, and an
attempt was made to carry him back to the
warmer climate of Lahore. The motion and
passage of the mountains increased the com-
plaint, and before a third of the journey
was accomplished he expired, in the sixty-
sixth year of his age. ,

His character was full of contradictions.
Though cruel and rapacious, he yet, in many
ways, evinced a sort of paternal interest in
the welfare of his subjects, and a desire for
the impartial administration of justice be-
tween rich and poor — Moslem and Hindoo.
He occasionally quitted the palace, and went
abroad on nocturnal expeditions, mingling
freely with the lower classes, without any
fear of assassination, although his person,
from his daily appearance in public, must
have been well known. His easy and
familiar manners rendered him popular,
notwithstanding the frightful torments in-
flicted on real or alleged criminals by his
express orders. Many of his proceedings
favour the idea that he had inherited from
his mother a taint of madness, which his
excesses in wine and opium sometimes
brought into action. He was probably as
complete a deist as his father, but super-
stition had laid much heavier chains on his
weak and wayward mind ; and some of the
tales gravely recorded by him might find
a fit place in the Arabian Nights. Un-
fortunately, his autobiography ceases about
the middle of his reign. Long before its
conclusion, the whole tone and spirit changes;
and instead of exulting over his immense
possessions, the royal writer dwells bitterly
on the unceasing anxiety attendant on
sovereign power, declaring that the jewels
formerly coveted had become worthless in

his sight, and that satiety had utterly ex-
tinguished the delight he had once taken
in contemplating the graces of youth and
beauty. Like a far wiser monarch — even
Solomon — he had discovered that all was
vanity and vexation of spirit, but knew not,
or cared not to search out the antidote.

With Jehangeer all the schemes of Nour
Jehan perished. On her attempting to as-
sert the claims of the absent Shehriar, her
own brother, probably weary of the tyranny
to which he had been so long subjected,
placed her under restraint; but, on being
released, she was treated with respect, and
allowed a yearly stipend of a quarter of a
million sterling. Throughout her widow-
hood she lived very quietly; abstained from
all entertainments; wore no colour but white;
and at her death, in 1646, was buried in a
tomb she had herself erected, close to that
of the emperor, at Lahore.

Reign of Shah Jehan. — On the death of
Jehangeer, Asuf Khan immediately sent a
messenger to fetch his son-in-law, whose
cause he had resolved to support, although
(according to Dow), by the will of the late
emperor, the throne had been expressly be-
queathed to Shehriar. Pending the arrival
of Shah Jehan, the vizier, desirous to sanc-
tion his own proceedings by the semblance
of legal authority, released Prince Dawir,
the son of Khosru, from prison, and pro-
claimed him king. Shehriar, who had been
at Lahore some weeks, on learning his
father's death, seized the royal treasure,
took command of the troops — whose favour
he gained by extravagant largesses — and
set free the two sons of Prince Danial from
the species of honourable captivity in which
they had been detained by Jehangeer ever
since their father's death, in accordance
with the cruel policy of oriental despotism.
The confederate princes were defeated and
captured by Asuf Khan. Meanwhile, the
Rajpoot allies of Shah Jehan, delighted at
the prospect of his rising fortunes, sent an
escort to Surat to accompany him thence to
Oudipoor, and there, within the hospitable
walls which had sheltered him in exile, the
now triumphant prince was first formally
hailed Emperor of Hindoostan. Rana Kur-
run did not live to witness the joyful re-
turn of the wanderer ; he had died shortly
before Jehangeer: his brother. Rajah Bheem,
with many noble chiefs, had fallen in the
cause ; but their representative, Juggut Sing,
received from the new emperor, on his de-
parture, a ruby of inestimable value, _ the

128 ACCESSION OF SHAH JEHAN— DOOM OP HIS KINDRED, a.d. 1628.

restoration of five alienated provinces, and
a most welcome permission to reconstruct
the fortifications of Chittore. Other emotions
besides those of gratitude were, however, at
work within the breast of Shah Jehan. Re-
solved, by any means, to grasp the imperial
sceptre, he sent to Asuf Khan a mandate for
the execution of the puppet he had placed
upon the throne, also of his brother Sheh-
riar, the two sons of Danial, and another
prince, the son of Khosru. The tyrannical
command was obeyed.* Shah Jehan was
proclaimed king at Agra, January, 1628,
and not a male of the house of Timur re-
mained to cause him present or future
anxiety, save only his four sons, whose strife
and rebellion were destined, by retributive
justice, to scourge his crimes, to snatch the
sceptre from his feeble hands, and immure
liim for long years the captive of a son,
who, like himself, scrupled not to wade to a
throne through the blood of near kindred.

But this is anticipating events ; for Shah
Jehan's reign lasted thirty years before its
miserable termination. His first acts were
evidently designed to obliterate from the
public mind, and probably from his own,
the means by which he had endeavoured to
consolidate his authority. Following, to a
limited extent, the example of his father, he
opened the doors of the fortress of Gwalior
to all state-prisoners, some of whom had
been in confinement during the whole of the
preceding reign — a measure which did more
to procure him popularity than the magnifi-
cence of his festivals or the costly structures
which he delighted in erecting. From these
pursuits he was soon diverted by local dis-
turbances. The Uzbeks invaded Cabool, but
were driven out by Mohabet Khan. The
Mogul arms were next directed against
Narsing Deo, of Bundelcund (the destroyer
of Abul Fazil), and the rajah, after long resis-
tance, was eventually brought to submission.

As Sliah Jehan considered it the bounden
duty of every great prince to leave to his
posterity a larger territorial sway than that
M'hich he had himself inherited,t it is not

• According to Dow, all the five princes were
murdered; but Elphinstone (on the authority of
Olearius, Ambassadors Travels, p. 190) states that
Dawir found means to escape to Persia, where he
was seen by the Ilolstcin ambassadors, in 1688. The
conduct of Shah Jehan on this occasion strongly
favours the general belief of his having instigated
the assassination of his brother, Khosru, (see p. 124.)
Mr. Klphinstone partially defends him, by remark-
ing, " that we ought not readily to believe that a life
not sullied by any other crime could be stained by
one of so deep a dye" (vol. ii. p. 368.) But, in a

surprising that abundant reason was soon
found for invading the Deccan. At this
period, the three remaining governments
held by Moslems — Ahmednuggur, Bceja-
poor, and Goleonda, had nearly recovered
their ancient limits. Khan Jehan Lodi, an
Afghan officer of rank, being left with undi-
vided authority over the Moguls after the
death of Prince Parvaez, had deemed it
necessary or expedient, during the troubled
state of afi'airs occasioned by the disputes
regarding the succession, and the proceed-
ings of Mohabet Khan, to surrender the re-
maining portion of Shah Jehan's conquests
in the Deccan to the son of Malek Amber,
who had succeeded his father in the Nizam
Shahi government : but the fort of Ahmed-
nuggur was still held by a Mogul garrison,
who refused to obey Khan Jehan Lodi's
command. When Shah Jehan set out to
ascend the throne, Khan Jehan refused to
join him. On learning the defeat and
death of Shehriar and Dawir, he profliered
allegiance, and was confirmed in his gov-
ernment by the new emperor, but soon re-
moved thence to Malwa, Mohabet Khan
taking his place in the Deccan. Having co-
operated in the reduction of Narsing Deo,
Khan Jehan was invited to court, whither
he proceeded with his two sons, relying for
safety both on the assurances given to him
individually, and on the edict of indemnity
proclaimed to all who had opposed the
accession of the reigninj; sovereign. The
usher of the court evinced a marked dis-
respect towards him — or so at least the
proud Afghan considered — but the cere-
monies of presentation were passed without
any positive disturbance. His son, Azmut,
a lad of sixteen, with all his father's
high spirit and less discretion, was next in-
troduced ; and he, considering that he
had been kept too long prostrate, sprang
up before the signal was given. The usher
struck him on the head with his rod ; the
youth aimed a blow in return ; upon which
a general confusion ensued, and Khan
Jehan, with his sons, rushed from the palace

subsequent page, he expressly states, that Shehriar
" was afterwards put to death with the sons of
Danial, by order of Shah Jehan " (vol. ii. p. 388.)
He does not adopt Dow's statement of the bequeath-
ing of the throne by Jehangeer to Shehriar ; and,
consequently, regards that prince and his nephews
as having forfeited their lives by rebellion against
the lawful authority of Shah Jehan, the eldest sur-
viving son. By Mohammedan law, the children of
Danial were cut off from the succession by the death
of their father, before their grandfather.

t Dow's History of Hindoostan, vol. ili. p. 167.

KHAN JEHAN LODI— HIS HISTORY AND FATE, a.d. 1630. 129

to their own house, and there shut them-
selves up within the strong stone walls, with
about 300 dependents. The emperor, not
caring to order a siege so near his own
abode, endeavoured to entice the refractory
noble by fair words ; but, not venturing to
put faith in them, Khan Jehan assembled
his troops by night, and marched out
of Agra, with his kettle-drums beating.*
Within two hours a strong detachment was
sent in pursuit, and came up with the fugi-
tives at the river Chumbul. A desperate
encounter took place, especially between
the Afghans and a body of Rajpoots, who
dismounted and charged with lances, accord-
ing to their national custom. Azmut was
slain, after first killing with an arrow the
Mogul usher, who had struck him at court ;
and Khan Jehan, being wounded in an
encounter with Rajah Pirthi Sing, plunged
into the stream, and succeeded in gaining
the opposite bank, from whence, though
hotly pursued by a much superior force, he
made his way through Bundelcund into the
wild and woody country of Gondwana,
where he opened a friendly communication
with the king of Ahmednuggur.

Towards the close of 1629, Shah Jehan
marched to Boorhanpoor, at the head of a
powerful armament, and sent on three de-
tachments (estimated by Khafi Khan at
50,000 men each), to march into Ahmed-
nuggur. Khan Jehan and his friends could
make no head against this overwhelming
force. The kings of Golconda and Beeja-
poor, as long as possible, kept aloof from
the conflict, and Mortezza Nizam Shah, of
Ahmednuggur, was himself obliged to seek
protection in his forts. Khan Jehan was at
length driven from the Deccan, and hunted
from place to place. Being overtaken in
Bundelcund, he made a desperate stand, and
when defeated endeavoured to force his way
into the hill-fort of Calinjer, but was repulsed
with the loss of his last remaining son, and

• The account given by Elphinstone and Dow, on
the authority of native writers, differs greatly. Ac-
cording to the foi-mer. Khan Jehan was accompanied
in his flight by his women on elephants, and by
twelve of his sons. IJow alleges a fearful tragedy
to have been previously enacted. Thinking it hope-
less to attempt carrying away the inmates of his
hnrem, and dishonourable to abandon them to the
lust of his foes, Khan Jehan knew not what to
do ; when the women, learning his perplexity, took
the desperate resolve of destroying themselves, and
thus removing all impediments to his escape. They
did so, and their shrieks and groans reached the ears
of Khan Jehan, who, after hastily performing the
rites of sepulture, assembled his followers in the

finally overtaken at a pool, where he had
stopped from exhaustion. The few brave
adherents who still followed him, he en-
treated to seek safety in flight, but they (to
the number of about thirty) refused to for-
sake their brave leader, and were, with him,
cut to pieces after a desperate struggle with
the Rajpoots. The head of the unhappy
chief was fixed on a pike, and carried in
triumph, as a most acceptable gift, to Shah
Jehan, a.d. 1630.

The hostilities against Ahmednuggur did
not end with the life of the person whose
conduct had formed the pretext for them,
but were prosecuted in the ferocious spirit
befitting an invader, who declared war to be
an evil which compassion contributed to
render permanent.f Time passed on; fire
and the sword were freely used to ravage
the country and dishearten its defenders;
drought, famine, and pestilence, to a fright-
ful extent, lent their aid, but still, in 1635,
repeated murderous campaigns were found
to have left the Deccan as far as ever from
being subdued to the imperial yoke. J

At one time, indeed, affairs had seemed
more promising, owing to the internal feuds
which wasted the strength of Ahmednuggur.
Mortezza Nizam Shah (the king set up by
Malek Amber) being, on the death of the
vizier, inclined to act for himself, threw the
eldest son of his patron, Futteh Khan, into
prison ; but, being pressed by foes without,
and faction within, was soon glad to release
him and place him in his father's position.
Mohammed Adil Shah of Beejapoor, who
had looked on from neutral ground, and
left the neighbouring kingdom to maintain
single-handed the contest with the Moguls,
became alarmed at the probable consequence
of the ruin of a monarchy, which, though
at all times a rival, and often an inimical i
state, had nevertheless long formed a valu-
able bulwark against invasion from Hin-
doostan. He now, therefore, declared war

court-yard, threw open the gates and rushed out,
maddened by rage and despair. — (Vol. iii., p. 133.)

t Dow's History of Ilindoostan, vol. iii., p. 168.

X Azuf Khan " trod down the scanty har\'est in the
Deccan, and ravaged with fire and sword the king-
dom of Beejapoor." — (Dow, vol. iii., p. 101.) The
Hindoos, in desjiair, abandoned all attempts at culti-
vation, and prostrated themselves in crowds before
the shrine of their gods, upon which, Shah Jehan issued
an edict for breaking down their idols, and demo-
lishing the temples. Many Brahmins were mas-
sacred; but the resistance offered was so determined,
that the emperor was compelled to relinquish this
species of persecution, and to adopt more gentle
means of inducing them to till the ground..

130 SHAH JEHAN SUBJUGATES AHMEDNUG-GUR, a.d. 1637.

against Shah Jehan; but the effect of the
diversion intended to be created by this
step, in favour of Mortczza Nizam Shah,
failed in its effect, through the machina-
tions of Futteh Khan, who, treacherously
employing the power newly entrusted to
him, to the ruin, instead of the protection of
his royal master, caused him to be put to
death, with his chief adherents. He then
took the government into his own hands, and
sent a large contribution, or rather bribe,
to the Moguls, with offers of submission,
and an open profession that the infant he
had placed on the throne would hold his
dignity in subordination to the emperor.
Shah Jehan doubtless considered it as
necessary, in the contingencies of war, to
overlook perfidy and uphold its perpetrators,
as to set aside the pleadings of compassion ;
and this is not to be wondered at ; for jus-
tice and mercy, rightly understood —
" Are twin-born sisters ; and so mix their eyes,
As if you sever one, the other dies."

Futteh Khan's proposals were immediately
accepted; but having no intention of ful-
filling his promise to any further extent
than that which his own narrow views of
expediency might dictate, he no sooner saw
the whole Mogul force directed against
Beejapoor, than he violated his engage-
ments, and being consequently attacked by
the Moguls, once more made common cause
with the king of Beejapoor.

Shah Jehan returned to Agra in 1632,
after having ineffectually besieged Mo-
hammed Adil Shah in his capital, leaving
Mohabet Khan in command. The opera-
tions under that general led to Futteh
Khan's being shut up in the fort of Dou-
latabad, where he was besieged, and at
length forced or induced to surrender. Not-
withstanding all his treachery, he was re-
ceived into the Mogul army,* while the un-
happy child, whom he had styled king, was
sent to languish in the lately emptied fort
of Gwalior. Ahmednuggur was, however,
not yet conquered. Shahjee Bhonslay, an
officer who had played a conspicuous part
in the recent war, and whose family were
afterwards the founders of the Mahratta
power, asserted the rights of a new claimant

• He afterwards became mad, and died from the
efl'ects of an old wound in the head.

t In 1634 and 1636, a portion of the troops on tlie
eastern frontier completed the settlement of Little
Thibet; another detachment was defeated, and almost
destroyed, in an attempt to conquer Srinagar in
1634 ; and a third, after subduing the petty state of
Cutch Behar from Bengal, in 1637, was compelled

to the throne, and gradually conquered all
the districts of that kingdom, from the sea
to the capital.

The king of Beejapoor, after the capture
of Doulatabad, made overtures of negotia-
tion, but these being unfavourably received,
continued to defend himself bravely, until
Mohabet Khan, having vainly invested Pu-
rinda, was compelled to fall back upon Boor-
hanpoor, and to desist from aggressive opera-
tions. On learning the ill success of his
deputies, Shah Jehan resolved to take the
field in person, and dividing his troops
as before, sent them first into Ahmednug-
gur to attack Sahjee: having driven him from
the open country, they proceeded to assault
Beejapoor. Adil Shah was, however, a bold
and determined prince ; he laid waste the
country for twenty miles around, destroyed
every particle of food or forage, choked the
wells, drained the reservoirs, and rendered
it impossible for any army to invest the
city. Peace was at length granted, the
king of Beejapoor agreeing to pay £200,000
a-year to Shah Jehan, who conferred upon
him, in return, a share of the Nizam Shahi
dominions. Shahjee held out for some time ;
longer, but at length submitted, gave up
the person of the pretended king, and
entered into the service of Adil Shah, by
the permission of the emperor. The king
of Golconda had not ventured to contest
Shah Jehan's claim to supremacy and tri- ,
bute, which he had recognised at the com- !
mencement of this expedition, and the em-
peror returned in triumph, the kingdom of
Ahmednuggur being now extinguished.

"While these prolonged hostilities were
carried on in the Deccan, contests of less
magnitude were taking place in Little
Thibet, Hooghly, Cutch Behar, and else-
where. f During his rebellion. Shah Jehan
had applied to the Portuguese at Hooghly
for aid, and had received a refusal (couched,
it is alleged, in terms of reproach for his
undutiful conduct), which he only waited
a convenient opportunity to revenge. His
lutewife,J Mumtaz Mahal, daughter to Asuf
Khan, had also conceived an especial dis-
like to "the European idolaters," on account
of the images before which they worshipped.

to retire by the unhealthiness of the climate. —
(Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 401.)

X This lady died in 1631. She had been married
twenty years, and had borne nearly as many children.
Shah Jehan erected to her memory a structure of
extraordinary beauty and magnificence (called, by a
corruption of her name, Taj Mahal), which forms
one of the most interesting monuments of Agra.

CANDAHAR FINALLY REGAINED BY PERSIA, a.d. 1647.

131

These circumstances lent weight to a repre-
sentation which arrived from the governor
of Bengal, complaining of the insolent and
aggressive conduct of the Portuguese,* and
he received from the emperor the laconic
command — " expel these idolaters from my
dominions." Hooghly was carried by storm,
after a siege of three months and a-half, in-
volving a terrible destruction of life on the
side of the Portuguese, whose fleet (including
sixty-four large vessels) was almost entirely
destroyed. The principal ship, in which about
2,000 men, women, and children had taken
refuge, with all their treasure,was blown up by
its captain, sooner than yield to the Moguls ;
and the example was followed in many other
vessels. From the prisoners, 500 young per-
sons, of both sexes, were selected, with some
of the priests, and sent to Agra; the girls
were distributed among the harems of the
emperor and chief nobles, and the boys
circumcised. The Jesuits and other friars
were vainly threatened with severe punish-
ment if they persisted in rejecting the
Koran ; but, after some months' confine-
ment, were liberated and sent to Goa. The
pictures and images, which had excited the
displeasure of the queen, were all destroyed,
and Hooghly became the royal port of Ben-
gal, A.D. 1632.

In 1637, the Persian governor of Can-
dahar, incited by the tyranny of his sove-
reign, surrendered this important frontier
post to Shah Jehan, who appointed him to
various high positions (including, at differ-
ent times, the governments of Cashmere
and Cabool), and made him leader of several
important expeditions, the first of which
was the invasion of Balkh and Badakshau,
in 1644. The pretext for hostilities was
Shah Jehan's desire to assert the dormant
rights of his family ; the inducement, the
revolt of the sou of the reigning Uzbek sove-
reign, Nazir Mohammed, and the conse-
quent unfitness of the state to resist foreign
invasion. After a large expenditure of
blood and treasure, and the display of extra-
ordinary valour on the part of a body of
14,000 Rajpoots, commanded by Rajah
Juggut Sing,t who encountered the hardships
of the rigorous climate as unshrinkingly as
the fierce onsets of the Uzbeks, Balkh was

* Among other accusations, the governor asserted,
that the Portuguese were in the habit of kidnapping
or purchasing children, and sending them as slaves
to other parts of India, — (Stewart's Bengal, p. 240.)

t Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 402. This chief would
appear to have been the son of Mokund Sing, Rajah
of Kotah, a branch of the Oudipoor family.

at length captured. In this war the princes
Morad and Aurungzebe were both em-
ployed; and Shah Jehan twice repaired to
Cabool, to support their efforts. But all
endeavours to restore order into the con-
quered territory were rendered ineffectual
by the marauding incursions of Uzbeks
from the other side of the Oxus, headed
by Abdool Aziz, the prince whose turbu-
lence had stimulated the Mogul invasion.
Shah Jehan, despairing of being able to
keep what it had cost so much to gain,
re-instated Nazir Mohammed on his throne,
on condition of receiving a small annual tri-
bute ; and after restoring the places of which
he had got possession, left him to maintain
the contest against his rebellious son as best
he might, t

In 1647, Candahar was taken by Shah
Abbas II. in person. In 1649 and 1652,
it was invested by Aurungzebe; and, in
1653, by Dara Slieko, the acknowledged
heir to the throne — Shah Jehan, on each
occasion, accompanying the army as far
as Cabool. Dara made a fierce and de-
termined attack ; for the jealousy already
springing up between the royal brothers,
rendered him especially desirous to con-
quer where Aurungzebe had been twice
defeated. Besides natural means, he had
recourse to magicians and astrologers,
who promised great things, but could not
prevent the failure of his last desperate
assault, in which, though the troops at one
time gained the summit of the rampart,
they were eventually repulsed, and Dara
compelled to raise the siege, after losing
the flower of his array in its prosecution.
No after-endeavour was made by the Moguls
to recover Candahar, of which they had
held but precarious possession since its first
conquest by Baber.

Two years of nearly undisturbed tran-
quillity followed, during which, Shah Jehan
having completed a revenue survey of his
Deccani dominions, gave orders for the
adoption of the system of assessment and
collection, introduced by Todar Mul, in
Bengal. This period is likewise memorable
for the death of Saad UUah Khan, who had
succeeded Asuf Khan§ as vizier. In him
Shah Jehan lost a wise and upright minister,

\ Upon this war, according to Dow, six million
were expended out of the imperial treasury, besides
estates granted to the value of one million more.

§ Asuf Khan died in 1641, leaving several chil-
dren ; but as the emperor loved money, and might
possibly avail himself of the law which constituted
the sovereign heir to all his officers, the prudent vizier

133 WAR WITH BEEJAPOOR AND GOLCONDA, a.d. 1655—1657.

whose ability had made amends for the de-
creasing energy consequent on the criminal
excesses in which the emperor had indulged
after the death of his favourite wife.

Towards the close of 1G55, a pretext was
found for renewing the war in the Deccan.
Abdullah Kootb Shah, of Golconda, had
taken for his chief minister, Meer Jumla,
originally a Persian adventurer, who had
gradually acquired great wealth as a diamond
merchant. During the absence of this
officer, in command of an army in the
eastern part of the kingdom, his son, Mo-
hammed Ameen, a dissolute and violent
young man, seated himself on the musnud, in
a fit of intoxication; for which offence he was
severely reprimanded, and forbidden to ap-
pear in the presence of the sultan. Meer
Jumla, either from distrust of his sovereign,
or, as is more probable, from some pre-
vious understanding with Aurungzebe, to
whom he was personally known, took oc-
casion to solicit the assistance of that
prince. Such conduct was inexcusably dis-
loyal ; for it does not appear that either the
life or liberty of the offender were in danger ;
and Abdullah, by the regular payment of
the stipulated tribute since the last pacifica-
tion, had left no plea for Mogul interference.
Nevertheless, Shah Jehan was induced to
send to the sultan a peremptory order for the
discharge of both father and son, for whom
the same envoy bore commissions in the
imperial service as munsubdars, respectively
of 5,000 and 2,000 horse. Before the ar-
rival of the ambassador, Abdullah having
learned his approach and mission, threw
Mohammed Ameen into prison, and confis-
cated the property of his father. Shah
Jehan then authorised Aurungzebe to carry
his command into effect by force of arms,
which the wily pi'ince proceeded to do
after his own treacherous and manoeuvring
fashion, by despatching a chosen force,
imder pretence of escorting his son. Sultan
Mohammed, to Bengal,* there to espouse
his cousin, the daughter of Prince Shuja,
the viceroy of that province. Abdullah
Shah was preparing an entertainment for
the reception of the supposed bridegroom,
when he suddenly advanced as an enemy,
and took the sultan so entirely by surprise,
that he had only time to fly to the neigh-
thought it best to distribute a certain portion of his
wealth, amounting to £375,000, among his chil-
dren and servants, leaving the remainder (nearly
£4,000,000 stg.) to his grandson. Vara Sheko. His
landed estates, of course, reverted to the crown.

bouring hill- fort of Golconda, while Hydera-
bad fell into the hands of the Moguls, and
was plundered andhalf-burued before the sol-
diery could be brought into order. Abdullah
Shah released Mohammed Ameen, restored
the confiscated property, and did all in his
power to enter into an accommodation on
reasonable terms, but Aurungzebe persisted
in investing Golconda, and Meer Jumla
drew near with re-inforcements, in readiness
to turn his unfortunate master's troops
against himself.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts to
obtain aid from Beejapoor, and to raise the
siege by force, Abdullah Shah was com-
pelled to submit to the severe terms im-
posed upon him of giving Ms daughter in
marriage to Sultan Mohammed, with a
large dowry in land and money, and paying
a crore of rupees (£1,000,000 sterling) as
the first instalment of a yearly tribute ; in
which, however, a considerable remission
was afterwards made by Shah Jehan.

When these matters were settled, the king-
dom of Beejapoor was invaded by Aurungzebe
on a plea as hollow as that used for the attack
on Golconda. Mohammed Adil Shah died
in November, 1656, and was succeeded by
his son Ali, a youth of nineteen. A large
portion of the 13eejapoor army was employed
at a distance, in wars with the petty Hindoo
princes of the Carnatic; and Aurungzebe,
having obtained his father's approval of his
nefarious project, asserted the right of the
emperor to decide upon the succession,
denied that the minor was the real issue
of the late sovereign, advanced upon the
capital, and by sudden and treacherousf pro-
ceedings, left the new king no resource but
to sue for peace on any terms. Even this
overture was rejected by Aurungzebe, who
would probably have speedily obtained com-
plete possession of the kingdom, had not
his attention been suddenly diverted by the
startling intelligence, that his father's dis-
graceful indulgences had brought on an
attack of paralysis and strangury, which
threatened to terminate fatally.

At this time, the children of Shah Jehan, by
Mumtaz Mahal, were six in number. Dara
Sheko, the eldest, tlicn in his forty-second
year, was a high-spirited prince, dignified in
his manners, and generous to his adherents,

• In the road from Aurungabad to Bengal, a cir-
cuit is made to avoid the forests of Gondwana, and i
thus the prince was enabled to come within a short
distance of Hyderabad, without creating suspicion.

t He succeeded in corrupting All's prime minister.

CHARACTERS OF THE CHILDREN OF SHAH JEHAIST.

133

but obstinate in the extreme, and impatient
of advice, even from counsellors on whose
judgment and ability he might be expected
to place most reliance. Shuja was brave,
and not devoid of capacity, but given up to
wine and pleasure. Auruugzebe, the third
brother, was a man of extraordinary ability.
His talents for war and intrigue had been
repeatedly manifested, and Dara appears to
have fully appreciated the depth of am-
bitious resolve which lay hidden beneath
the veil of extreme humility of deportment
and an affected indifference to all worldly
distinction.*

Zeal for the religion of Mohammed was
the ostensible motive of Aurungzebe's con-
duct through life ; how far felt or how far
feigned, can scarcely be decided, owing to
the profound and habitual dissimulation
which marked his whole career. A creed
to be unceasingly promulgated by any and
every means, was, in either case, a con-
venient political weapon ; and Aurungzebe
used it skilfully and without scruple. Frugal
and abstemious almost to asceticism, he
seemed resolved to follow in the steps of the
cai-ly caliphs, and drew the attention of the
more zealous Moslems, by his studious ful-
filment of every ordinance, until he became
looked up to as the champion of Islam, in
contradistinction to Dara, who openly pro-
fessed many of the tenets of Akber, and
had written a book to reconcile the Hindoo
and Mohammedan doctrines. Shuja, the
viceroy of Bengal, was unpopular with the
orthodox party, on account of his attach-
ment to the Persian sect of the Sheiahs.
Morad, the youngest prince, the governor
of Guzerat, was brave and generous, but
presumptuous and self-willed, with little
intellect, and addicted to sensual gratifica-
tions. Padshah Begum, the elder of the
two daughters, was richly endowed with
beauty and talent. She exercised un-
bounded influence over her father, and was a
great support to her favourite brother Dara.
Roushenara, the younger princess, though
less gifted with personal or mental attrac-
tions, possessed considerable aptitude for in-
trigue ; and having made common cause with
Aurungzebe, served him materially, by for-
warding reliable information respecting the
state of affairs at court at critical periods.

• One of our best authorities for this period is
Bernier, an intelligent French traveller, who having
been reduced to a state of penury "by various ad-
ventures with robbers, and by the heavy expenses
incurred on a journey of near seven weeks from
T

Dara endeavoured to keep the illness of
the emperor a profound secret until the
crisis should be past, by intercepting cor-
respondence and detaining travellers likely
to spread the news throughout the pro-
vinces ; but all in vain : the absent princes
soon learned what had occurred, and at
once prepared to struggle for life and em-
pire. Shuja assembled the troops of Bengal,
and marched forthwith into Behar, on his
way to the capital. ]\Iorad seized the
money in the district treasuries of Guzerat,
and laid siege to Surat, where there was
a governor independent of his authority.
Aurungzebe prepared his forces, but made
no open declaration of war, until orders
came from Dara, in the name of the em-
peror, directing Meer Jumla and other
commanders to quit his standard. This
injunction carried considerable weight in
the case of the above-named general. On
joining the Moguls, he had been appointed
to the highest offices at court, but through
the solicitations of Dara, was sent back to
the Deccan. His family remained at Agra :
he therefore feared the consequences of
disobeying the imperial mandate. The
subtlety of Aurungzebe soon suggested an
expedient. Meer Jumla was seized with
pretended violence, and placed in the fort
of Doulatabad, while his cliief officers con-
tinued secretly to obey his commands.
Dara and Shuja, Aurungzebe knew, might
be safely left to fight out their own quarrel ;
in Morad, he calculated, with reason, upon
finding a useful tool, as well as an easy
dupe. He addressed him a letter in the
most adulatory strain, proffering his zealous
co-operation against the infidel Dara, and de-
claring, that after aiding his worthy brother
to mount the throne, he should renounce
the world, and devote his life to praying for
his welfare in the holy retirement of Mecca.
Morad, completely deceived, joyfully ac-
cepted the offer, and Aurungzebe marched
to join him in Malwa, whither Rajah Jes-
wunt Sing had been already sent to oppose
them ; but he, from sheer fool-luirdiness,
is alleged to have permitted the junction of
the princes. Meanwhile, Shah Jehan had
sufficiently recovered to resume the general
control of the government. The tender solici-
tude of Dara, during his illness, had rendered

Surat to Agra and Delhi," was glad to accept a
salary from Shah Jehan in the capacity of physician,
and also from Danechmur.d Khan, a distmguished
noble of the Mogul court to which Bernier was at-
tached for eight years.

134 FIERCE STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE BETWEEN THE FOUR PRINCES.

this son more dear to him than ever, and he
resented with energy the misconduct of the
other princes. To Shuja he wrote, com-
manding him in imperative terms to return
immediately to his government; but instead
of obeying, the prince affected to consider
the order dictated by Dara, and continued
his progress until he encountered Soliman
Sheko, the son of Dara, in the neighbour-
hood of Benares, by whom he was defeated
and compelled to reti'eat into Bengal. This
battle occurred at the close of 1657 : in the
spring of the following year, a fierce conflict
took place between the forces of the con-
federate princes and Rajah Jeswunt Sing,
who had encamped on the river Sipra, near
Oojein. The Rajpoots fought bravely, but
were ill-supported, for most of the Moguls
deserted to the enemy. The rajah retired
in disorder to his own country, and Morad,
whose gallantry had been very conspicuous
throughout the sanguinary conflict, which
had lasted from morning to sunset, was
hailed as sole victor, Aurungzebe still
acting in conformity with the solemn oath
of fidelity and allegiance he had voluntarily
taken at their first meeting. Shah Jehan
now determined to take the field in person
against his turbulent sons. Had he per-
severed in this resolve, much bloodshed
would probably have been spared, as the
soldiers of the rebel camp were known to
be well-disposed towards him personally,
and would doubtless have rallied round his
standard. But Dara did not comprehend
the extent of the danger ; regard for his
father's infirm state, united perhaps to a
more selfish desire of keeping the authority
in his own hands, rendered him averse to
this proposition, and Shah Jehan reluctantly
gave way. Confident in his superior num-
bers, Dara refused even to wait for Soliman,
then on his victorious march from Benares
with the flower of the troops, and proceeded
single-handed to meet the advancing foe.*

The hostile armies came in sight of each
other at Samaghar, one march from Agra,
in the beginning of June, 1658. The battle
which ensued was long and bloody, the
three brothers fighting with desperation.
Morad was attacked by 3,000 Uzbek
archers, who showered their arrows upon his
howdah until they resembled the bristling
quills of a porcupine, and the frightened
elephant would have rushed from the field,

• Khafi Khan states the imperial force at above
70,000 horse, with innumerable elephants and guns.
(Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 423.) Bernier, at 100,000

had he not ordered its feet to be chained,
thus (although wounded in several places)
cutting off his own power of retreat.
Aurungzebe saw his brother's danger, but
was fully occupied in opposing Dara, who
having, by a third fierce charge of cavalry,
broken through the guns chained together
in front of the enemy's line, now carried all
before him, and, though again checked,
would probably have eventually prevailed,
had not a rocket struck the elephant on
which he rode, while pressing forward and
cheering on his troops by voice and action.
The terrified animal became perfectly un-
governable. Dara threw himself from its
back and sprang upon a horse; but an at-
tendant, while fastening on his quiver, was
killed by a shot. The momentary con-
fusion which occurred among those imme-
diately around him, added to the effect of
his previous disappearance from the view of
the more distant troops, occasioned a gene-
ral panic. With him the sole object of the
war was supposed to have perished ; and the
confederate princes perceiving their advan-
tage, pressed forward and drove the now
disordered foe, including Dara himself, be-
fore them, in irremediable disorder. Rajah
Chutter-sal, of Boondi, with his vassals,
formed the vanguard of the unfortunate
prince, and made a devoted but unavailing
effort to stem the torrent. The rajah
himself, clad in saffron robes, with a chaplet
of pearls on his head, was true to these
ensigns of victory or death. Leaping from
the back of his wounded elephant, which he
could not restrain from joining in the general
flight, he mounted his horse, and forming
his men in a dense mass, led them to attack
Morad, against whom he was about hurling
his lance, when a cannon-ball laid him
dead at his feet. The brave band were
soon hemmed in, and the heads of every
Hara clan, including six princes of the
blood-royal of Boondi, perished, maintain-
ing inviolate their oath of allegiance to
Shah Jehan When the issue of the day
was evident, Aurungzebe fell on his knees
and returned thanks for the victory granted
to Morad, whom he saluted, and affecting
lively emotion at the sight of his wounds,
wiped the blood from his face, and warmly
congratulated him on the acquisition of a'
kingdom. While this hypocritical scene
was being enacted, the uuhappy Dara pur-
horse, 20,000 foot, and 30 pieces of cantion. He
reckons the opposing army as not exceeding " 40,000
men of all arms." — (Brock'srr«nsto<io«,vol.i., p. 50.)

DEPOSITION OF SHAH JEHAN— CHARACTER OF HIS REIGN. 135

sued his flight to Agra, with about 2,000
men, most of them wounded; and feeling
ashamed to present himself before the in-
dulgent ftither, whose counsels he had dis-
regarded, proceeded to Delhi, accompanied
by his wife and two children, and was sub-
sequently joined by 5,000 horse, sent by
Shah Jelian to his assistance. Three days
after the battle, Aurungzebe encamped be-
fore the walls of Agra, took immediate pos-
session of the city, but did not attempt to
enter by force the royal residence, content-
ing himself for some days longer by sending
messages to his father, pleading the neces-
sity of the case, and requesting to be for-
given and admitted to his presence. It is
probable that he really desired to conciliate
the aged monarch, and would have pre-
ferred carrying on the government in his
name, at least until all rivalry should be
completely crushed; but Shah Jehan re-
sented his protestations of filial affection as
an additional insult, and did not swerve
from his attachment to Dara. Aurungzebe,
therefore, sent his son, Mohammed Sultan*
to take possession of the citadel, and pre-
vent all communication between the em-
peror and every one beyond its walls. This
appears to have been done without difficulty;
for there is no record of a single eftbrt being
made to assert the rights of the monarch,
who remained in a sort of honourable cap-
tivity, until his death, seven years after, aged
seventy-four. During the long reign thus
abruptly closed, the internal administration
of affairs had been conducted with more
rectitude and ability than, perhaps, under

* The circumstances connected with this interest-
ing period are differently told. According to Ber-
nicr (whose account Dow appears to have followed),
Shah Jehan was tempted to encounter Aurungzebe
with his own weapons, and hoping to secure his per-
son, consented to listen to his excuses. The wily
prince affected extreme delight at this concession,
but alleged, that although he had perfect confidence
in his father's good faith, he dreaded the intrigues
of his elder sister, and dared not trust the garrison,
unless he were permitted to introduce, for his
protection, some troops under his son, Mohammed
Sultan. Shah Jehan, desirous to get him within
reach at all hazards, consented, relying for aid on his
daughter, who posted some strong Tartar women
belonging to the harem in readiness to seize the
prince. Mohammed was suffered to take possession
of the citadel in anticipation of the arrival of Au-
rungzebe, when intelligence came that he had sud-
denly ordered his cavalcade to change their course,
and was gone to offer up his prayers at the tomb of
Akber. Shah Jehan, enraged beyond measure,
asked Mohammed what he had come for, if not to
guard his father. The curt reply was, " to take
charge of the citadel." The insulted monarch pointed

any other Mogiil ruler. Khafi Khan (the
best historian of those times) asserts, that
although Akber v/as pre-eminent as a con-
queror and a law-giver, yet, in territorial
and financial arrangements, he could bear
no comparison with his grandson. Although
a staunch Mussulman, Shah Jehan was
warmly attached to the Hindoos, who, as
we have seen, had spent their best blood
freely in his behalf, and his foreign wars did
not interrupt the tranquillity which pre-
vailed, almost without interruption, through-
out his dominions. Wealth, both public
and private, increased in a I'cmarkable de-
gree, and the annual revenue is supposed to
have exceeded thirty-two million sterling.
A new city was built at Delhi,t on a regular
plan, far surpassing the old one in magnifi-
cence ; and the imperial establishments, re-
tinue, and appurtenancesj all exceeded in
pomp those of previous reigns. Yet, not-
withstanding the costly wars in which he
engaged, the maintenance of a large regu-
lar army (including 200,000 horse), and
the erection of many splendid structures.
Shah Jehan left a treasure estimated at
twenty-four million sterling, besides vast ac-
cumulations in wrought gold and silver, and
in jewels. ;

After deposing his father, the next step
of Aurungzebe was to get rid of Morad,
whom he continued to delude, by submissive
behaviour and unremitting attentions, till
they had marched from Agra in pursuit of
Dara. Taking advantage of Morad's ad-
diction to pleasure, Aurungzebe invited him
to supper, and, waving his own scruples (if

to the imperial crown which was suspended above
his head, and taking the Koran in his hand, swore
that if Mohammed would release him, he would
make him emperor, to the exclusion of all his own
sons. The prince, from policy or principle, refused
the offer, and quitted the presence of his grandfather
— little dreaming how soon a stronger temptation j
would lead him to take the course from which he
now turned. — -(Bernier, vol. i., p. 72.) Khafi Khan, :
whose father was an actor in the turbulent scenes of
this period, makes no mention of this plot and coun-
ter-plot. — (Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 427.)

t Tavertder's Trawls in various parts of the em- ;
pire ; Mandelsloe's in Guzerat ; Graaf and Bruton's
(Murray's Asiatic Discoveries) in Bengal, Behar
and Orissa ; afford forcible evidence of the gran-
deur of the Indian cities of this period, including
those situated in remote provinces ; and also to the
richly-cultivated state of the surrounding country.

X The famous throne, of which the chief orna-
ment was a peacock, with its tail spread, represented
in its natural colours by various gems, was con-
structed for Shah Jehan ; and a vine was commenced,
with leaves and fruit of precious stones, whose rays
were reflected from mirrors set in large pearls.

136 AURUNGZEBE PROCLAIMED EMPEROR, AUGUST, 1658.

he really had any), induced him, by the
two-fold temptation of wine and feminine
seductions, to separate himself from his
companions, some of whom appear to have
warned him against placing such implicit
trust in his brother's professions. While
stretched on a couch, sleeping off the stupor
of intoxication, Morad was seized, fettered,
and sent off, before day-break, on an elephant,
to Selimghur, a portion of the citadel of
Delhi, while three other elephants were dis-
patched with similar escorts, in different
directions, to mislead people as to the actual
place of confinement, which was afterwards
changed to Gwalior, the Bastille of Ilindoo-
stan. The frankness and bravery of the
unfortunate prince had rendered him popu-
lar with the army, but the suddenness of his
seizure seems to have paralysed every effort
on his behalf. His chief adherents were
brought into the presence of Aurungzebe,
who, after receiving their oaths of allegiance,
proceeded to Delhi, where he caused him-
self to be proclaimed emperor, and assumed
the title of Alumgeer (the Conqueror of
the Universe), by which he is designated in
local histories and documents.

The Reign of Aurungzebe had lasted a
twelvemonth before his name was stamped
on the coin, or the ceremonial of coronation
performed. More pressing affairs claimed
his Vi^hole attention during the interim. At
the time of the fatal battle, Soliman, a brave
prince of five-and-twenty, was marching to
the aid of his father. Rajah Jey Sing, of
Amber, who, like most of the Rajpoot lead-
ers, had taken part with the lawful heir,
was associated with the prince in the com-
mand; but the promises of the usurper,
under whom he had served in Balkh, tempted
him to abandon Soliman on a very flimsy
pretext, as did also another general, named
Dileer Khan. Deprived of the strength of
his army, and scarcely able to retain any
authority over the remainder, the prince
endeavoured to avoid an encounter with the
troops of Aurungzebe by taking the road
under the mountains to join Dara ; but being
intercepted near Hurdwar, his soldiers lost
heart, and all, except 500 horse, deserted.
With this remnant Soliman proceeded to
Sireenuggur, near Kumaon, where a new trial
awaited him. The rajah refused to admit
him, unless he would first dismiss his faith-
ful followers; and to this proposition he was
ultimately compelled to submit, after makini-
an unavailing attempt to return to the fort
of Allahabad, in which more than half of

his little band perished. On entering the fort
of Sireenuggur, with five or six attendants,
he was courteously received, but soon found
himself, in effect, a prisoner.

Meanwhile, Aurungzebe continued, in
person, to pursue Dara. Having, during
the early part of his flight, procured some
troops at Delhi, the prince marched thence
to Lahore, and finding a large sum of money
in the royal treasury, began to raise an
army. Shah Jehan had written urgently
in his favour to the viceroy of Cabool, Mo-
habet Khan (son of the great general), and
Dara, had he proceeded thither, would pro-
bably have found valuable auxiliaries in the
troops of the province, or, in case of need,
a ready refuge among the Afghan tribes,
and an easy exit to the territories of the
Uzbeks or the Persians. These views, even
if entertained, were disconcerted by the
prompt measures of Aurungzebe ; and Dara,
unable to resist the force by which he v/as
threatened, left Lahore with three or four
thousand men, on his way to Sinde. The
emperor followed him nearly to Moultan;
but before reaching that city he learned
that Shuja was marching in force from
Bengal ; therefore, sending a detachment to
follow Dara, he hastened to Delhi, and from
thence set out to arrest the progress of the
advancing army, comprising 25,000 horse
and a numerous train of artillery. The bro-
thers met at Cujwa, thirty miles north of
Allahabad, and drew up their forces, neither
caring to begin the conflict. On this occa-
sion, Aurungzebe was nearly worsted by
arts similar to those he himself delighted to
employ. Rajah Jeswuut Sing, after his un-
successful efforts in favour of Dara, had
received a message from the victor, with
assurances of pardon, and a command to
join the army then forming against Shuja.
He feigned obedience, but it would appear
only for the sake of watching an opportunity
to serve the cause of the rightful heir, and
his angry feelings were increased by the
withholding of the rank to which he con-
sidered himself entitled. Having commu-
nicated his intentions to Shuja, Jeswunt
Sing, one morning before day-break, attacked
the rear- ward of the imperial camp with
his Rahtore cavaliers; and, during the
onset made shortly afterwards by the
priuce's army in front, the rajali deliberately
loaded his camels with plunder, and marched
oft' to Agra, leaving the brothers to a con-
test which he heartily wished might involve
the destruction of both. Notwithstanding

DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF DARA SHEKO—a.d. 1659.

137

this inauspicious commencement, the self-
possession and valour of Aurungzebe gained
the day. The battle began by a cannonade,
followed by a close action, in which he was
repeatedly in imminent danger; but the
centre of Shuja's troops was at length
broken, and they fled, leaving 114 pieces of
cannon and many elephants on the field.
Mohammed Sultan and ]\Ieer Jumla (whose
mock imprisonment had ceased so soon as
his family were set free by the flight of
Dara) were sent with a strong force to
Bengal, while the emperor proceeded to
Agra. The governor of this city, Shaista
Khan, had just been relieved from great
alarm ; for the triumphant approach of .Tes-
wunt Sing, added to discouraging reports
from the field of battle, and various signs of
popular feeling in favour of Shah Jehan,
had so perplexed him that he would have
swallowed poison, but for the timely inter-
position of his wife. Had Jeswunt at once
attacked the citadel, the garrison would
probably have surrendered, and the aged
monarch been set at liberty ; but the attempt
■was fraught with hazard ; for besides the
danger of shutting up his troops within the
precincts of the capital, it would prevent his
forming a junction with Dara, whom he had
instructed to hasten to the scene of action.
Aurungzebe, on returning to Agra, had
consequently the satisfaction of learning that
Jeswunt had departed to his own territories
in Marwar, whither he sent 10,000 men to
seize his person and reclaim the spoils now
safely housed within the castle of Joda.
I But this open hostility was soon changed
: for a policy more congenial to the character
[ of the wily monarch. The afi'airs of Dara
had taken an unlooked-for turn, — after
! being compelled, by the desertion of his fol-
i lowers and the death of his carriage-cattle,
■ to relinquish his designs upon Sinde, the
I fugitive had, through the loyalty of the
governor of Guzerat (Shah Nawaz Khan,
father-in-law to both Aurungzebe and
Morad), obtained possession of the whole
province, including Surat and Baroach.
The territories of Jeswunt Sing extended
from Guzerat to Ajmeer : to prevent his
forming the projected coalition with Dara,
was, therefore, of the highest importance to

* On the fourth day, Dara was met hy Bernier,
who was on his way to Delhi, unconscious of passing
events. The sultana had been wounded, and there
was no physician among the little band. The pro-
fession of the traveller being discovered, he was
obliged to join Dara, and would have been taken on
to Sinde, but that neither threats nor entreaties

Aurungzebe, who, laying aside his plans of
vengeance for a more convenient season,
instead of soldiers and musketry, sent the
rajah a letter in his own hand-writing, full
of flattery and blandishments, conceding
the rank and office, the withholding of which
had previously been a cause of irritation.
This politic conduct, added to the delay of
Dara, made Jeswunt falter in his resolve,
and by the mediation of Jey Sing, Aurung-
zebe succeeded in persuading him to rely
on his good faith, and keep aloof from a
cause which could only end in the ruin of
its object and all connected with him.
Dara, disappointed of the expected co-opera-
tion, fortified a commanding position on the
hills near Ajmeer, and there awaited the
approach of his brother. Three days' can-
nonading was followed by a general assault,
in which, after the lapse of many hours,
Shah Nawaz fell just as a party of the im-
perial troops mounted the ramparts. The
prince fled precipitatel}'^, attended by the
females of his family and a small body of
horse, and reached the neighbourhood of
Ahmedabad, after eight days* and nights of
almost incessant marching, rendered nearly
intolerable by the heat and dust of a scorch-
ing season, to which were latterly added the
merciless attacks of the hill Coolies, who
stripped or massacred every man separated
from his companions. When within a march
of Ahmedabad, Dara was informed that the
gates were shut against him, and he must
seek shelter elsewhere. Amid tears and
lamentations the weary cavalcade resumed
its toilsome progress ; and after much loss
of life in {he desert, through hunger, thirst,
and fatigue, at length reached the small
territory of Joou, on the eastern frontier of
Sinde. The chief of Joon,t apparently an
Afghan, had been twice condemned to death
for murder and treason, but saved from the
vengeance of Shah Jehan by the interces-
sion of Dara, who novv relied upon his gra-
titude, notwithstanding the warnings and
entreaties of his adherents. Dara's wife (the
daughter of Prince Parvaez) , who had been
wounded in the late battle, and was fast
sinking under suff'ering and fatigue, im-
plored him to leave her, and prosecute with-
out delay his journey to Persia. But the

could procure a single horse, ox, or camel for his
use. Having beheld the hapless prince and his
family depart, Bernier, after a week's detention, suc-
ceeded in persuading the Coolies, " by a grand display
of professional skill," to attach a bullock to his car-
riage and conduct liim to Ahmedabad. (Vol. i. p. 106.)
t Called Jihon Khan m Brock's .Bernier.

138 FATE OF DARA— REBELLION OF MOHAMMED SULTAN, 1660.

prince could not be prevailed upon to for-
sake his faithful companion in the trying
hour of death, and after she had expired in
his arms, he sent a portion of his small
force, with two confidential servants, to at-
tend her remains to Lahore. When the
period of mourning permitted, he set out
towards the Indus, accompanied by a bro-
ther of the chief of Joon and a body of
troops, under pretence of escorting him to
the frontier ; but suddenly, the signal being
given, Dara and his son, Seper Sheko, were
seized and carried prisoners to Aurungzebe,
who was then engaged in celebrating the
anniversary of his accession. Loaded with
chains, habited in coarse and dirty raiment,
and mounted on a sorry elephant without
housings, the royal captives were conducted
through the most populous streets of the
capital, amid the tears and groans of the
people. No attempt at a rescue was made ;
but the next day the chief of Joon being
recognised on his way to court, was nearly
torn to pieces by the populace.* The leader
of the tumult was executed; and shortly
after, a mock consultation having been held
by the chief counsellors and lawyers, Dara
was pronounced worthy of death as an
apostate Mohammedan. Aurungzebe gave
his consent with alFected reluctance, and
selected a personal enemy of his brother's
to carry the sentence into effect. When
the assassins entered the prison, Dara and
his son were occupied in preparing some
lentils, the only food they would touch for
fear of poison. Seizing a small kitchen
knife, the sole weapon in his possession,
Dara defended himself to the last; but
being overwhelmed by numbers, was thrown
down and decapitated. His body was ex-
hibited to the populace on an elephant, and
his head carried to Aurungzebe, who, having
satisfied himself of its identity by washing
the blood from the distorted features, af-
fected to weep, and directed its interment
in the tomb of Humayun. Seper Sheko
was sent to the dreary fortress of Gwalior,

• When returning to his own country, laden with
the price of blood, lie was waylaid and assassinated.

t Dow asserts (but without giving his authority,
who is evidently neither Khafl Khan nor Bernier)
that Aurungzebe wrote a letter to his son, as if in
answer to an appeal for forgiveness, and caused it to
fall into the hands of Shuja, who, thereupon, dis-
missed his son-in-law and daughter from the camp,
not crediting their protestations of innocence.

X Bernier, vol. i., p. 124. According to Dow,
Shuja and his son, after bravely defending the moun-
tain passes while endeavouring to make good their
retreat to Pegu, were overpowered by means of

whose gates soon afterwards opened to re-
ceive no less a person than Mohammed
Sultan, the eldest son and acknowledged
heir of Aurungzebe.

This prince had been betrothed to his
cousin, the daughter of Shuja, but the mar-
riage was broken off by the outburst of
civil war. Seeing the critical position of
her father, the princess addressed a com-
munication to Mohammed, reminding him
of their engagement; this appeal, added to his
restless, disposition and jealousy of Meer
Jumla, who was associated with him in the
command of the army, induced him to go
over to his uncle, a step which he probably
thought would be followed by the majority
of the imperial army. Any such movement
was prevented by the zeal and influence of
Meer Jumla, and hostilities were recom-
menced at the conclusion of the rainy sea-
son. Shuja received his nephew with honour,
and gave him his daughter in marriage;
but either from the machinations of Aurung-
zebe,t or some other cause not satisfactorily
explained, distrust sprang up between them,
and the prince again deserted his party, and
threw himself upon the mercy of his father,
who immediately sent him to Gwalior.
After a series of unsuccessful struggles, Shuja
retreated to Dacca, and being hotly pursued
by Meer Jumla, fled, with a few attendants,
to Arracan. The remainder of his history is
very imperfectly known. A difference is
said to have arisen between him and the
rajah, whose avarice was roused by the
sight of the wealth of the prince, and, on one
pretext or another, he was prevented from
hiring vessels in which to proceed to Mokha,
en route for Mecca. Shuja, irritated by this
treatment, entered into a plot with the
Mussulmans of the country to overturn the
existing government; but, being detected,
was seized by the rajah's emissaries, and
put to death. Of his wife and family, no
certain particulars were ever made public
in Hindoostan; but it is probable they all
perished by violence about the same time.f

stones hurled upon them from the adjoining rocks.
Shuja was drowned (the doom of royal criminals in
Arracan) in sight of his wife and daughters, who, in
despair, flung themselves headlong into the river,
but were rescued and carried to the palace. Of
these four unhappy ladies, three perished by their
own hands ; the fourth was married to the rajah,
but did not long survive her sufferings and disgrace.
The elder son of Shuja and his infant brother were
both ])ut to death. Shah Jehan, on learning the
melancholy intelligence, exclaimed, "Alas ! could not
the rajah of Arracan leave one son to Shuja to revenge
his grandfather ?" — (Hindoostan, vol. iii. p. 390.)

MURDER OF MORAD AND HIS SON, SOLIMAN, AND SEPER SHEKO.,139

At the commencement of 1661, Aurung-
zebe obtained possession of the person of
Dara's eldest son, SoHman; the Rajah of
Sireenuggur, after prolonged negotiations,
having been at length persuaded, by the
arguments of Jey Sing, to deliver up the
prince to the imperial officers. He was
paraded through the city on an elephant,
and then brought into the presence of his
uncle in golden fetters. Bernier, who was
present, describes his manly bearing as hav-
ing affected many of the courtiers to tears ;
and when he implored that his life might be
taken at once, rather than that his strength
and reason should be undermined by the
hateful opium draught* (which he evidently
believed to be the common fate of captive
princes), even Aurungzebe seemed touched
with compassion, and assured him of safety
and good treatment.

It is not likely that this pledge was re-
deemed ; for Soliman, together with his bro-
ther, Seper Sheko, and the young sonof Mo-
i rad, all died in Gwalior within a short space
of time, while the emperor's own son, Mo-
hammed, lived several years, and was even-
; tually restored to comparative freedom. The
■ doom of Morad was less easily decided ; for
i it was necessary to Aurungzebe's views that
I his death should be well known; and the
I convenient method of poisoning him in
' prison might leave a doubt regarding his
fate on the public mind, which, in the event
of a political crisis, would be eagerly seized
by agitators or pretenders. The prince was
popular, despite (or probably on account of)
his misfortunes : he had endeavoured to es-
cape by means of a rope let down from the
battlements ;t and Aurungzebe felt that
there was no time to lose in compassing his
destruction. The son of a man who had
been arbitrarily put to death by the prince,
while viceroy of Guzerat, was incited to
complain against him as a murderer; and,
after the formality of a trial and sentence,
the last act of this family tragedy closed
with the execution of Prince Morad, in
prison. The three brothers of Aurungzebe
and their brave sons had now all fallen vic-
tims to his ambition and their own, goaded on
by the hateful policy which too often leaves to
eastern princes little choice beyond a throne
or a grave. Their aged parent, by a terrible re-
* Bernier calls it pousta, and says it was simply a
strong infusion of poppy-heads, which the intended
victims were compelled to drink daily until they be-
came toqrid and senseless, and so died.

t Khati Khan, quoted by Elphinstone, vol. ii.,
p. 45t, It is to be regretted that no complete

tribution, sickened with horror as the tidings
of one catastrophe after another slowly
reached him within the walls of his palace-
prison. He execrated the name of the son
whose crimes had thus cast his own into the
shade, and would not suffer his presence.
Aurungzebe made repeated overtures of
reconciliation by affecting to seek his advice
on various affairs of state, and ventui'cd to
proffer two requests — the first on behalf of
his third son. Prince Akber, for the hand of
the daughter of Dara, then under the pro-
tection of her aunt Jehanara ; the second,
for some of the jewels retained by Shah
.Tehan, for the decoration of the throne.
The deposed monarch indignantly rejected
both demands, declaring that his grand-
daughter should never, with his consent, be
thus degraded ; and the maiden, on her part,
avowed her purpose of self-destruction,
should force be attempted to ally her with
the son of her father's murderer. With
regard to the jewels, Shah Jehan sternly
bade his son make wisdom and equity the
ornaments of his throne, and use no imnor-
tunity to obtain the coveted gems, since the
hammers were in readiness which should, in
that case, crush them to powder. Aurungzebe
prudently gave way, and his father, gratified
by this submission, and by the ample pro-
vision made for his expenditure, afterwards
sent him various articles more especially
connected with the insignia of royalty.

The early measures of the new emperor
were well calculated to obliterate from the
minds of his subjects the monstrous iniqui-
ties above detailed. In the Deccau he had
gained a high character for justice as well
as austerity ; and on grasping the reins of
government, he evinced a determination to
make the welfare of the people his leading
object. In marching to battle against Dara,
Aurungzebe had strenuously restrained his
soldiers from plundering the countries
through which they passed, and had even
given compensation for the damage unavoid-
ably occasioned. During a terrible famine
which prevailed over diflFerent parts of
India, resulting from the combined effects
of drought and civil war, he made great
exertions for the relief of the wretched suf-
ferers, by remitting the taxes, and spending
large sums from the treasury in the pur-
translation has been made of the works of this
author, Vv'hose real name was Mohammed Hashem
Khan. He wa^ brought up in the service of Aurung-
zebe, by whom both he and his father (also an his-
torian) were employed in various important military
and diplomatic positions.

140

DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF AURUNGZEBE, 1662.

chase and conveyance of grain, from Bengal
and the Punjanh, to the chief seats of dis-
tress. This calamity having passed over,
the emperor found leisure to plan the exten-
sion of his dominions, resting the justifica-
tion, alike of past and future aggression, on
the duty of propagating the Koran by all
and every means. One quality, essential to
the character of a statesman, or even a suc-
cessful genera], he wanted — namely, confi-
dence in his fellow-men. It was the fitting
curse of this arch-hypocrite, that suspicion
should lie like the canker-worm at the root
of his best-laid plans, occasioning the haras-
sing distrust, or at least the want of cordial
support to which the reverses of his generals
may be for the most part attributed.

Towards the end of 1661, a successful ex-
pedition v;as despatched against the Rajah of
Bikaneer ; and early in the following year,
Meer Jumla, whose talents were at once the
dread and admiration of his distrustful mas-
ter, was sent to attempt the subjugation of
Assam. Having obtained possession of the
capital, the victor boastfully declared his
intention of pursuing his conquests, and
opening the way to China. The rainy sea-
son brought with it a change of affairs.
The rich plains on either side the Burram-
pootra were flooded ; the cavalry could not
march or even forage ; and when the floods
subsided, a pestilence broke out among the
troops, so that Meer Jumla was glad to
make terms with the rajah, renounce his
magnificent projects, and withdraw his
army. Before reaching Dacca he expired
(January 7, 1663), stung by disappoint-
ment, and worn down by the fatigues which,
despite the burden of advanced age, he had
shared in common with the humblest sol-
dier. His son, Mohammed Ameen, was im-
mediately raised to the rank enjoyed by the
deceased. Aurungzebe himself had recently
received a forcible warning of the precarious
tenure by which emperors and peasants
alike hold, not merely worldly possessions,
but life itself. A dangerous attack of fever
completely prostrated him, and his tongue
became so palsied as to deprive him almost
entirely of the power of speech. Intrigues
regarding the succession arose immediately;
but Aurungzebe clung to political even more
tenaciously than to physical existence, and
during the crisis of his disorder, caused him-
self to be carried into the diurnal assembly
of the nobles. Some days after, Vhen scarcely
recovered from a swoon (so long and deep
that his death was generally reported), he

sent for Rajah Jey Sing, and two or tliree
other chief omrahs, to convince them that
he lived; and iu their presence, being still
unable to articulate, wrote an order for the
great seal, which had been placed in the
charge of the Princess Roushenara, enclosed
in a bag, and impressed with the signet which
had remained fastened to his arm. These
manifestations of a strong will triumphing
over bodily weakness, inspired fear and ad-
miration in the beholders, and had the de-
sired effect of preventing any plots for the
rescue of Shah Jehan, or conspiracies for
less worthy ends. When convalescent,
Aurungzebe sought repose and change of
scene iu Cashmere, little thinking of the
fierce and prolonged strife • about to burst
forth in the Dccean, mainly in consequence
of his own insidious policy. By gradually
undermining the strength of the two re-
maining Mohammedan kingdoms of the
south, he had anticipated their reduction to
a state of enfeeblement and disorganisation,
which must render them an easy conquest
so soon as he should find leisure to take the
field in person at the head of an extensive
and powerful army. Meanwhile, he cared
not to trust Jey Sing, Jeswunt Sing, Di-
leer Khan, or any other general, much
less his own son, Mauzim, with a sufficient
force for the reduction of these kingdoms,
lest he should furnish weapons against him-
self: the troops placed under their com-
mand were, therefore, skilfully calculated as
sufficient to maintain a distressing and desul-
tory warfare, but nothing more. The im-
perial schemer had not a suspicion that in
thus, as it were, drawing the claws of the
Moslem rulers of Beejapoor and Golconda,
he could possibly be serving the interest of
a third party, as intriguing and hardly less
bigotted than himself, though in a precisely
opposite direction.

Rise of Mahratta power. — It will be re-
membered, that in sketching the ancient
condition of India, the Mahrattas have been
mentioned as inhabiting the territory lying
between the range of mountains which
stretches along the south of the Nerbudda,
parallel to the Vindya chain; and a line
drawn from Goa, on the sea-coast, through
Beder to Chauda on the Wurda ; that river
being the eastern, and the sea the western
boundary. This singular country will be
described in a subsequent section, as also its
inhabitants, of whom it is here only neces-
sary to remark, that the soldiery were small
sturdy men, active and persevering, posses-

RISE OP THE MAHRATTA POWER.— BIRTH OF SEVAJEE, 1627. 141

sing nothing of the chivalrous sentiments or
dignified bearing of the Rajpoots, but a great
deal more worldly wisdom. The chiefs, in
the time of the Great Moguls, were the
representatives of families who had for gene-
rations filled the old Hindoo offices of heads
of ■\'illages, or functionaries of districts,
under the names of patels, desmookhs, &c.,
and had often been employed as partisans
under the governments of Ahmednugger and
Beejapoor. They were nearly all Soodras,
of the same caste with their people, but
some claimed to have Rajpoot blood in their
veins. Though our present knowledge does
not show that the Mahrattas formed at any
time an united commonwealth, their strongly
marked characteristics indicate a broad line
of demarcation between them and the people
of Camara and Telingana, and also between
the lower orders of Hindoostan ; although
the difference in this latter case is less
striking. Mussulman writers, proverbially
slow to recognise differences among infidels,
scarcely notice the Mahrattas by this dis-
tinctive appellation until the beginning of
the seventeenth century; although the sur-
names of chiefs, mentioned at earlier periods,
prove their having belonged to that race.
In the time of Malek Amber they first
emerge into notice ; and, under his govern-
ment, the noblest of them, Lookjee* Jadu
Rao, held a jaghire for the support of 10,000
men. Among his dependants was Malojee
Bhoslay, a man of inferior rank, who, by a
singular chain of circumstauces,t obtained
Jeejee Bye, the daughter of Jadu, in mar-
riage for his son Shahjee, a.d. 1604; and the
issue of this union was two children, of
whom the younger was the famous Sevajee.
Shahjee has been mentioned as an important
actor in the concluding events of the Ahmed-
nuggur state. He was subsequently em-
ployed by the king of Beejapoor on con-
quests to the southward, and obtained a
considerable jaghire in the Mysore country,
including the towns of Sera and Bangalore,
in addition to that he had previously pos-
sessed, of which the chief place was Poona.

• Jee is the Mahratta adjunct of respect, equiva-
lent to our Mr. Bije, signifies lady. — (Grant Duff's
History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 121.)

t When Shahjee was about five years old, he was
taken by his father to the house of Jadu Rao,
•where a large number of Hindoos of all castes had
assembled to celebrate a religious festival. Pleased
with the boy's bearing, Jadu merrily asked his
daughter, a pretty child of three years' old, whether
she would take her play-fellow for a husband ; and
the little maiden, by throwing at him some of the
U

Three years after the birth of Sevajee (in
1627), a disagreement arose between his
parents, on account of a second marriage
being contracted by Shahjee, who took his
elder son with him to the Mysore, leaving
the younger with his mother at Poona.

As all Mahratta chiefs were wholly illite-
rate, they usually retained a number of
Brahmins in their service, styled Carcoons,
or clerks, who were necessarily entrusted
with their most private affairs. One of
this class, Dadajee Konedeo, a man of talent
and integrity, was left by Shahjee in charge
of the Poona jaghire ; and from him and his
mother, Sevajee imbibed a deep and bitter
hatred against the Mohammedans. The ex-
ploits of the heroes of the Raraayana and Ma-
habarat,with other wild andfantastic legends,
were the boy's delight ; he performed with
earnest zeal the numerous observances en-
joined by his creed, and anxiously waited the
time whenhe should be old enough and strong
enough to assert the rights and dignity of
the insulted gods of his country. These
feelings, in part, supplied the want of a
more enlightened and exalted patriotism ;
and they afforded to Sevajee an object and
a rallying point, of which, in after years,
he learned the value. Like the mail-clad
barons of old England, Shahjee deemed all
book-learning undignified, if not degrading
drudgery ; and his son could never so much
as write his name. In horsemanship, and the
use of warlike weapons, he was unrivalled.

Poona is situated at the junction of the
hilly country with the plains ; hence Sevajee,
in the hunting parties and military exercises,
which formed his chief occupations, con-
stantly associated with the soldiery iij his
father's service, and the plundering high-
landers of the neighbouring Ghauts. The
Bheels and Coolies, to the north of Poona
— .the Ramoosees to the south — viewed with
admiration the young chief, to whom every
glen and defile of their mountain recesses
were well known ; but his earliest adherents
were the Mahrattas, called Mawulees, from
the appellation of the valleys which they

red colour at hand, in accordance with the usages
of the festival, seemed to express assent. To the
astonishment of all present, Malojee instantly started
up, and desired the company to bear witness that
Jeejee Bye and Shahjee were affianced. Jadu was
exceedingly indignant at the advantage taken of
him ; but Malojee persisted in his claim, and being
an active partisan, rose gradually in the service of
the state of Ahmcdnuggur, and by the intercession
of the king himself, eventually obtained the fulfil-
ment of his long-cherished desire.

142

EARLY PROCEEDINGS AND PROGRESS OF SEVAJEE.

inhabited immediately to the west of Poona.
Before he was sixteen, Sevajee began to
talk of becoming an independent poligar, to
the serious alarm of Dadajee, who endea-
voured to wean him from his lawless asso-
ciates by confiding much of the affairs of
the jaghire to his superintendence^ and tried
earnestly to convince him that a much more
brilliant destiny might be expected to await
him, as a steady adherent of the Ahmed-
nuggur government, than as a rebel. But
the twig was already bent, and would grow
only in one direction ; and, in spite of the
popularity gained by the courteous and
winning manner of Sevajee among the
respectable ^Mahrattas in the neighbour-
hood, it was whispered that he was a sharer
in the profits of several extensive gang-rob-
beries committed in tlie Concan.

The hill-forts possessed by Beejapoor, like
most others under Moslem rule, were much
neglected. Being remote and unhealthy,
they were sometimes occupied by a single
foreign commander, with a small garrison of
ill-paid local troops ; or, in other cases, left
in charge of the nearest desmookh, or other
•revenue-officer. Our adventurer saw the
opportunity afforded by this state of things
for his plans of gradual and insidious aggres-
sion; and by some means, not precisely
known, succeeded in getting possession of
Torna, a hiU-fortress, twenty miles S.W. of
Poona, A.D. 1646. He immediately sent
ambassadors to Beejapoor, representing his
conduct in the most favourable light, and, by
dint of arguments and bribery, was suSered
to retain possession unmolested for several
years, until it became known that he had
built a stronghold on a neighbouring hill,
by the aid of a golden treasure supposed to
have been miraculously discovered to him,
among some ruins at Torna, by the goddess
Bhavani. A serious remonstrance was ad-
dressed to Shahjee, who wrote in strong
terms to Dadajee and his son, reminding
them of the danger to which he was exposed
by their encroachments, and bidding them
desist from all such attempts. Dadajee
once more essayed to change the settled
purpose of his young master ; but soon after-
wards, when about to expire, worn out with
age and anxiety, he bestowed on him a part-
ing benediction ; and instead of further dis-
suasion, bade him protect Brahmins, kine
and cultivators, preserve the temples of the
Hindoos from violation, and — follow the for-
tune which lay before him.

'J^hcsc injunctions were obeyed to the

letter. Under pretence of the poverty of
the country and its increasing expenditure,
Sevajee withheld the revenue from his father,
and proceeded step by step, by manoeuvring
and bribery, to gain fort after fort; until
at length, as before stated (p. 130), he had
gained possession of the whole tract between
the Chakun and the Neera, without blood-
shed or any disturbance. " The manner in
which he established himself," says Grant
Duff, "watching and crouching like the
wily tiger of his own mountain valleys,
until he had stolen into a situation from
whence he could at once spring upon his
prey, accounts both for the difficulty found
in tracing his early rise, and the astonishing
rapidity with which he extended his power
when his progress had attracted notice, and
longer concealment was impossible." In
1648, Sevajee thought fit to throw down the
gauntlet of open rebellion, by attacking and
pillaging a convoy of royal treasure on the
road to Callian ; and the news had scarcely
reached Beejapoor, before it was followed
by tidings, that five of the principal hill-
forts in the Ghauts, and subsequently
Callian, and the whole of the northern
Concan, were in the occupation of the same
insidious foe.

Shahjee was seized and brought before
Mohammed Adil Shah, who, heedless of
his assurances that his son was acting in
his defiance, as much as in that of their
mutual sovereign, imprisoned him in a
stone dungeon, of which he caused the
door to be walled up, declaring, that if the
insurrection continued beyond a certain
time, the remaining aperture should be
likewise closed. Sevajee was extremely
alarmed by this menace, and is alleged to
have been only dissuaded from submission
by the arguments of his wife, who urged
that his father's liberty might more pro-
bably be wrung by necessity from the king
of Beejapoor, than obtained by blind re-
liance on the promises of a power so noto-
riously treacherous. He therefore main-
tained his position, and made overtures to
Shah Jehan, who received his application
the more favourably, as the wily Mahratta,
anxious to leave himself a resource in the
event of being hard pressed by his own
government, had carefully avoided inroads
on !Mogul territory. It was probably by
the intercession of the emperor that Shahjee
was released from his dungeon ; but four
years elapsed before he was permitted to
leave Beejapoor : at the expiration of which

ASSASSINATION OP AFZOOL KHAN BY SEVAJEE— a.d. 1659. 143

time his presence in the Carnatic became
necessary to the interests of the govern-
ment, on account of an extensive insurrec-
tion, in which his eklest son had been slain.
The restoration of Shahjee to his jaghire
was the signal for the renewal of Sevajee's
plans of aggrandisement. During the pre-
vious interval, he had delayed entering the
imperial service, by preferring an hereditary
claim to certain dues on land in the Joonere
and Ahmednuggur districts, which he affected
to desire to see settled before proceeding
to Delhi. His first step, on resuming open
hostilities against the Beejapoor state, was
to seize the hilly country south of Poona,
whose rajah, having refused to co-operate
with him, he had allowed to be removed by
assassination. The arrival of Aurungzebe
in the Deccan, in 1655, somewliat discon-
certed Sevajee, who at first addressed the
prince as his suzerain ; but, on seeing him
engaged in war with Golconda, thought to
profit by the general confusion, and, for the
first time, invaded the Mogul dominions.
He surprised and plundered the town of
Joonere; but a similar attempt upon Ahmed-
nugger proved less successful : and, alarmed
by the rapid conquests of the imperial
troops, Sevajee sought, by excuses and pro-
mises, to obtain forgiveness for his recent
proceedings. At this crisis the illness of
Shah Jehan suddenly called off Aurung-
zebe to Delhi; and the Mahratta chief,
taking advantage of his departure, imme-
diately renewed his attacks on Beejapoor,
where the king had been succeeded by his
son, a minor. A large army was despatched,
(a.d. 1659), under the command of a noble,
named Afzool Khan, who, at his public
audience of leave, boastfully declared that
he \yould bring back the insignificant rebel,
and cast him in chains under the footstool
of the throne. Sevajee was informed of the
vaunt of his opponent, with whose character
he was acquainted, and concerted his mea-
sures accordingly. On the approach of the
hostile force, he took up his residence in the
hill-fort of Pertabghur, and sent ofiers of
submission, couched in the humblest terms,
to Afzool Khan, who deputed a Brahmin,
high in his confidence, to complete the
negotiation. This man, Sevajee, during a
private interview by night, contrived to win
over to his cause, which he afBrmed to be
that of the Hindoos and the Hindoo faith.
By their joint artifice, the haughty Moslem
was persuaded that Sevajee's excessive alarm
could only be overcome by his personal

assurances of mediation at the court of
Beejapoor, and he readily consented to leave
the army and advance to meet the repentant
rebel. In compliance with the suggestion
of the treacherous Brahmin, the 1,500 men,
who had escorted their general to within a
few hundred yards of the fort, were forbidden
to proceed further, for fear of exciting the
apprehensions of Sevajee. Accompanied by
a single armed attendant, Afzool Khan ad-
vanced to the appointed place of meeting,
and, descending from his palanquin, entered
the open bungalow prepared for his recep-
tion, where, clad in thin white robes, with a
straight sword in his hand, he impatiently
awaited the arrival of Sevajee, whose figure
(unpretending, from its diminutive size, and
rendered ungainly by the extreme length of
the arms) was seen descending the heights
with slow and hesitating steps. His only
follower carried two swords in his waist-
band, a common circumstance among the
Mahrattas; but Sevajee himself was seem-
ingly unprovided with any offensive or de-
fensive weapon, although secretly prepared
for deadly strife. The convenient axiom
for evil-doers — that the end justifies the
means — had induced the Mahratta chief to
proceed on this occasion as if about to at-
tempt an act of heroic self-devotion, instead
of a treacherous assassination, lifter per-
forming, with earnest solemnity, his morning
devotions, he laid his head at the feet of his
mother (Jeejee Bye), and having received
her blessing, arose and equipped himself in
a suit of chain armour, over which he placed
his turban and a cotton tunic. His right
sleeve concealed a crooked dagger, named
from its form a " beechwa," or scorpion, and
his left-hand held a small steel instrument,
called a " wagnuck," or tiger-claw, on ac-
count of its three crooked blades, which are
easily hidden by half-closed fingers. Thus
provided, Sevajee approached the khan, and,
at the moment of the embrace, struck the
wagnuck into his body ; then, instantly fol-
lowing up the blow, dispatched him with his
dagger. The attendant of Afzool refused
quarter, and fell vainly endeavoui-ing to
avenge his ill-fated master. The blast of a
horn and the firing of five guns announced
the unhallowed triumph of Sevajee to the
Mawulees. They rushed from the different
wooded recesses, where they had been posted,
upon the Beejapoor troops, who, suddenly
roused from fancied security, were slaugh-
tered or dispersed almost without resistance.
Numbers were driven by hunger into a sur-i

144 EXPLOITS OF SEVAJEE— PLUNDER OP SURAT— a.d. 1664.

render, after long wandering in the neigh-
bouring wilds, and all were humanely re-
ceived by Sevajee, who, throughout his
whole career, was remarkable for gentle
treatment of prisoners, always excepting
such as were suspected of concealing trea-
sure, in which case, like the Great Moguls,
he resorted to torture without stint or
scruple.

By this violent deed, Sevajee gained pos-
session of the whole train of equipment
which had been sent against him, and many
of the Mahrattas were induced to enlist in
his service ; but the most distinguished
captive of that nation having steadily refused
to renounce his allegiance, was honourably
dismissed with costly presents. From this
period, up to the close of 1662, Sevajee was
engaged in hostilities with the king of
Beejapoor, who took the field against him
in person ; but, after recovering much terri-
tory, was compelled to turn his chief atten-
tion to a revolt in the Carnatic, upon which
the Mahratta chief regained his former con-
quests, with usury, and succeeded, through
Shahjce's mediation, in obtaining a peace, by
which he was recognised as master of the
whole coast-line of the Concan for 250
miles (between Goa and Callian), and ex-
tending above the Ghauts for more than
150 miles from the north of Poona to the
south of Merich on the Kistna. The ex-
treme breadth of this territory did not
exceed 100 miles. The hardiness and pre-
datory habits of his soldiery, enabled Sevajee
to support an army of 7,000 horse and
50,000 foot (a much larger force than the
size of his country would seem to warrant),
and he soon prepared to take advantage of
his truce with Beejapoor, by extending his
dominion at the expense of the Moguls.

To put an end to these aggressions, Shaista
Khan (viceroy* of the Decean, and the empe-
ror's maternal uncle) marched from Aurun-
gabad, drove the marauding force from the
field, captured Poona and Chakun, and
took up his position at the former place,
within twelve miles of Singhur, the hill-fort
to which Sevajee had retired. The house
occupied by the viceroy had been originally
built by Dadajee for Jeejee Bye, and her son
resolved to take advantage of his perfect
acquaintance with its every inlet and outlet,
by surprising the intruder, notwithstand-
ing his well-planned precautions. Leaving
Singhur one evening after dark, and posting
small bodies of infantry on the road to sup-
port him, Sevajee, attended by twenty-five

Mawulees, proceeded to the town, into which
he gained admission by joining a marriage
procession, planned for the purpose. By
the aid of a few pickaxes, the party suc-
ceeded in entering the mansion, but not
without awakening some of the women of
the family, who gave the alarm. Shaista
Khan escaped from the window of his bed-
chamber, having first received a sword-
cut, which severed two of his fingers, while
letting himself down into the court below.
His son, and most of his attendants, were
cut to pieces in a moment, after which
Sevajee retreated with all speed, and as-
cended Singhur amid a blaze of torches, in
full view of the Mogul camp.

On the following morning, a body of the
enemy's horse came galloping towards the
fort, but were driven off in confusion ; and
on this occasion the Mahrattas, for the first
time, pursued the Mogul cavalry. Shaista
Khan, blinded by grief and mortification,
instead of taking active measures against
Sevajee, accused Jeswunt Sing (who had not
long before arrived with re-inforcements) of
treachery ; and the dissensions of the leaders
crippled the movements of the army, until
Aurungzebe removed Shaista Khan to
Bengal, and sent Prince Mauzim to com-
mand in conjunction with the rajah.

After a feeble attempt to invest Singhur,
Jeswunt retired to Aurungabad ; and Seva-
jee, glad to be released from the necessity of
standing on the defensive, having spread
several false reports of his intentions, set off
with 4,000 horse, surprised the rich and
defenceless city of Surat, and, after six days
of systematic plunder, leisurely proceeded to
Raighur, a newly-erected fort in the Con-
can, which became thenceforth the seat of
his government. The booty acquired at
Surat was very considerable, and would
have been greater, but for the determined
defence made at the English and Dutch
factories, where some of the native chiefs
had taken refuge. The English, especially,
gained much favour with Aurungzebe, who
granted them a perpetual exemption from a
portion of the customs exacted from the
traders of other nations at Surat.*

At Raighur, Sevajee learned the death of
Shahjee, who, although of a great age, con-

* It seemed necessary to notice this circumstance
here ; but the progress of European power, until
the close of the reign of Aurungzebe, so little affected
the general state of India, that I have thouglit it
best, for the sake of clearness, to reserve an accounl
of it for a brief separate sketch.

SEVAJEE ENTHAPPED BY AURUNGZEBE— ESCAPES IN A BASKET. 145

tinued to pursue his favourite diversion of
hunting, until he was killed by a fall from
his horse, a.d. 1664. He had restored his
jaghire to perfect order, and extended his
dominions to the southward, ■with the tacit
permission of the king of Beejapoor, until
they comprehended the country near Ma-
dras, and the principality of Tanjore. Seva-
jee now assumed the title of rajah, struck
coins in his own name, and carried on hos-
tilities alternately against the Beejapoor and
imperial authorities. He collected a fleet,
took many Mogul ships, and exacted ran-
soms from all the rich pilgrims proceeding
therein towards Mecca. On one occasion
he embarked with a force of 4,000 men, in
eighty-seven vessels, and made an unex-
pected descent on the wealthy town of
Barcelore, about 130 miles below Goa, plun-
dered all the adjacent territory, and returned
in triumph to his mountain capital. His
homeward voyage was, however, prolonged
for many days by adverse winds, which, with
several other unfavourable circumstances,
were interpreted as indications of the displea-
sure of the goddess Bhavani, at this the only
naval enterprise in which Sevajee ever in per-
son engaged. Alarming intelligence awaited
his return. Aurungzebe at length resolved
to punish the sacrilegious conduct of "the
mountain rat," as he contemptuously styled
the Mahratta chief; had sent a powerful force
against him under Jey Sing and Dileer Khan,
with orders, after his subjugation, to proceed
against Beejapoor. Sevajee, for once taken
by surprise (in consequence of the neglect or
treachery of one of his own commanders),
held out for some time, and then opened a
negotiation with Jey Sing, who assured him,
"on the honour of a Rajpoot," of safety,
and even favour, on the part of the em-
peror, in return for entire submission and
co-operation. This guarantee, even Sevajee
deemed sufficient ; and he proceeded, with a
few attendants, to the Mogul camp, and
agreed to deliver up twenty of the forts
which he possessed, together with the terri-
tories attached thereto. Raighur and eleven
others, with the dependent country, he was
to hold as a jaghire from Aurungzebe, in
whose service his son, Sumbajee — a boy,
seven years old — was to receive the rank of
a munsubdar of 5,000; and, probably in
lieu of the alleged hereditary claims which
he had so pertinaciously asserted, Sevajee
stipulated for certain assignments (Chout
and Surdeshmooki) on the revenue of each
I district under Beejapoor ; an arrangement

which laid the foundation of the ill-defined
claims of the Mahrattas in after-times.

No mention is made of this condition in
the letter written by Aurungzebe to Sevajee,
in which he distinctly confirmed every other
article of the treaty ; nor in the subsequent
communications, in which he highly com-
mended the conduct of Sevajee and his
10,000 followers during the invasion of
Beejapoor by Jey Sing, and invited him to
court, with a promise of returning at plea-
sure to the Deccan.

The wily Mahratta was, in this instance,
duped by the equally wily Mogul, and, at
the termination of the campaign, set off for
Delhi, accompanied by his son, and escorted
by 1,500 men. Aurungzebe thought his foe
secure within his grasp ; and instead of act-
ing as Akber would have done, by surpassing
in courtesy and generosity the expectations
he had raised, and binding to him the now
submissive chief by the ties of self-interest,
at least, if not of gratitude, — he broke every
pledge, received him with marked disre-
spect, and caused him to be placed among
the commanders of the third rank, in the very
position promised to his child. Overpowered
by rage and mortification, Sevajee sank to
the ground in a swoon, and, on recovering
his senses, bitterly reproached Ram Sing
with the breach of his father Jey Sing's
plighted faith ; and then, declaring that life
was valueless to him without honour, abruptly
quitted the imperial presence.

Aurungzebe, astounded by this unex-
pected display of vehemence, refused again
to receive the Mahratta, who requested per-
mission to return to the Deccan, but, not
obtaining it, affected to be quite cast down,
and begged that his followers at least might
be suffered to depart, as the air and water of
Delhi injured their health. This solicita-
tion was gladly complied with, and Sevajee
seemed completely at the mercy of his foes.
But Ram Sing, feeling his father's honour
compromised by the conduct of Aurungzebe,
connived at the escape of the captive, who,
having taken to his bed on pretence of sick-
ness, caused himself and his son to be con-
veyed by night out of the house and city in
two large hampers, which the guards suf-
fered to pass without examination, having
been purposely accustomed to see similar
baskets sent to and fro, filled with sweet-
meats, flowers, &c., as presents to the Brah-
mins and physicians. His couch was occupied
by a servant, and his flight remained undis-
covered till a late hour on the following

146 SEVAJEE FIRST LEVIES " CHOUT," 1670— HIS CIVIL POLICY.

day. In the meantime, Sevajee repaired to
an obscure spot, where a swift liorse had
been posted in readiness, and rode off with
liis son behind him. At Muttra he shaved
off his hair and whiskers, assumed the dis-
guise of a Gosaeu, or Hindoo religious men-
dicant, and leaving Sumbajee under the
charge of a Brahmin, pursued liis journey
by the most obscure and circuitous roads,
arriving at Raighur in December, 1666, after
an absence of nine mouths. Tidings of his
recovered liberty reached the Deccan long
before his arrival ; and the English factors at
Carwar, in the Concan, wrote, September
29th — " If it be true that Sevajee has es-
caped, Aurungzebe will quickly hear of him
to his sorrow."

Shah Jehan died about this time, and his
favourite child, Padshah Begum, or Jeha-
nara, was formally reconciled to her brother,
whose fortunes were then in the zenith of
prosperity. Tranquillity prevailed through-
out his territories, the limits of which had
been extended by the acquisition of Little
Thibet, to the north, and Chittagong, on the
eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal. Some
questions of etiquette had arisen with Shah
Abbas II., of Persia, which threatened to
involve a war with India, and preparations
were being made, but set aside in conse-
quence of the death of the Shah. The sole
drawback on the general success of the
empire was the ill-fortune of its army at
Beejapoor, where the king had resorted to
the old plan of defence, by reducing the
surrounding country to a desert. Jey Sing,
after investing the capital, was compelled to
withdraw with loss to Aurungabad. Being
soon after recalled, he died on the road to
Delhi, having (according to Tod) been poi-
soned by his second son, at the instigation
of Aurungzebe, who promised that he should
succeed to the raj (or kingdom) of Mewar,
to the prejudice of his elder brother. Ram
Sing ; but, when the crime was committed,
withheld the promised reward, giving the
parricide only the district of Kamah,* and
offering no opposition to the claims of the
rightful heir. Jeswunt Sing was now asso-
ciated in command of the troops with Prince
Mauzim and Dileer Khan — an arrangement
which proved very advantageous to Sevajee ;
for Jeswunt exercised great ascendancy over
the mind of the prince, and was secretly
better disposed towards the Hindoos than
to the government he served. By his
mediation a treaty was concluded, a.d. 1667,

* Annals of Majast'han, vol. ii., p. 355.

on highly favourable terms for Sevajee, to
whom a considerable portion of territory
was restored, a new jaghire granted in
Berar, and his title of rajah recognised.
Aurungzebe confirmed these extraordinary
concessions in the hope of deluding Sevajee
again into his power : with this view the
Mogul leaders were enjoined to keep up a
constant intercourse with him, and even
directed to feign disaffection to their own
government, and a disposition to enter into
a separate alliance with the Mahrattas.
The emperor long patiently waited the result
of his scheme ; but at length discovering or
suspecting the truth — namely, that his in-
tended victim had turned his weapons
against himself, by conciliating both the
prince and rajah by bribes and gifts — he
renewed hostilities by giving orders for an
open attempt to seize his person, a.d. 1670.
During the preceding prolonged truce, Se-
vajee, after obtaining from Beejapoor and
Golconda the promise of an annual tribute,
had laid aside his sword, and diligently
employed himself in giving a regular form
to his government. His great and varied
talents were never displayed in a more
forcible light than when exerted in domestic
administration ; and his rules were rigo-
rously enforced, whether framed to check
oppression of the cultivatorsf or fraud against
the government. In the arrangement of
the army, the most careful attention to
method and economy was manifest. Both
troops and officers received high pay, but
were obliged to give up their plunder of
every description to the state, or to retain it
at a fixed price.

The trump of war again sounded in the
ears of the miserable inhabitants of the
Deccan. Sevajee recovered Singhur near
Poona, plundered Surat anew, carried his
ravages over Candeish, and levied the famous
"chout," which, like the black mail of Scot-
tish border warfare, exempted from plunder
the districts in which it was regularly paid.
He equipped a powerful fleet, and resumed
his attacks on the Abyssinians of Jinjeera,
which induced them to seek the protection
of the Moguls. These successes were, in
great measure, attributable to the inadequacy
of the opposing force. Aurungzebe at length
convinced of this, sent 40,000 men, under
Mohabet Khan, to the scene of action, but
quite independent of the authority of Prince

t Ssvajee's assessments were made on the actual
state of the crop, of which lie is alleged to have
taken two-fifths. — (Duff's MahraUas,so\. i., p. 231.)

AFGHAN WAR.— HINDOO INSURRECTION.— INFIDEL TAX REVIVED. 147

Mauzim, whose fidelity he doubted, and
with whom he left Dileer Khan, but recalled
Jeswunt Sing. The consequence of this
divided command was the total defeat of
20,000 Moguls, A.D. 1672, in a field-action
with the Mahrattarf. Mauzim and !Moha-
bet were recalled, and Khan Jehan Bahadur,
the viceroy of Guzerat, sent to take their
place ; but active hostilities were soon
dropped by mutual consent, the energies of
both Aurungzebe and Sevajee* being fully
employed in other quarters.

The emperor's attention was drawn off by
the increasing importance of a war which
had been going on for some time with the
north-eastern Afghans, including the Eusof-
zies. In 1670, an army under Ameen Khan,
the governor of Cabool, had been totally
destroyed ; and, about the same time, a king
was set up by the Afghans, who is repre-
sented by European writers as an impostor,
assuming to be the murdered Prince Shuja;
but is described, by Indian authorities, as
an Afghan chief. In 1673, the emperor
proceeded to direct, in person, the military
operations of his troops, accompanied by his
son, Mohammed Sultan, who was now re-
leased from prison ; but, at the close of two
years of unsatisfactory effort, he returned to
Delhi, and a very imperfect settlement was
afterwards arranged with the Afghans.

In 1676, an insurrection of an extra-
ordinary character broke out near the
capital, originating in the disorderly con-
duct of some soldiers of the police, who
had mobbed and beaten a Hindoo devotee of
the sect of quietists, called Sadhs or Satna-
mis, in consequence of a quarrel between
him and one of their comrades. The Sat-
namis came to the rescue, several lives were
lost, and the affray increased until the
numbers of both parties became conside-
rable. The devotees took possession of the
town of Narnol, and maintained it, defeating
two separate detachments sent against them
from Delhi. The idea gained ground that
they were endowed with supernatural powers;
that swords would not cut, nor bullets pierce
them, whUe their weapons dealt death at
every blow. From standing on the defen-
sive, they took an aggressive part, and were
joined by several of the neighbouring zemin-

• Sevajee is said to have given a large sum of
money to Khan Jehan, part privately, and part pub-
licly: the Mogul styled the latter, tribute ; but the
Hindoo called it " oil-cake given to his milch cow."

t i'he three eldest sons of Jeswunt Sing had
perished : two, it is alleged, in consequence of the
inclement climate of Cabool. The third, a youth of

dars. The growing belief in their invinci-
bility seemed likely to justify its assertion;
for no troops could be induced to face them ;
and, on learning their approach to Delhi,
Aurungzebe found it necessary to order his
tents to be prepared to take the field, and,
with his own hand, wrote extracts from the
Koran, to be fastened to the standards as a
protection against enchantment. The royal
force made a stand, and the insurgents
were defeated and dispersed with great loss.
But the previous success had tempted many
of the Hindoo inhabitants of Ajmeer and
Agra to take up arms, and it was with
difficulty that order could be restored in
these provinces. Instead of the conciliatory
measures which were imperatively needed,
Aurungzebe, chafed by recent occurrences,
took the only step necessary for the com-
plete alienation of the minds of his Hindoo
subjects, by reviving the jezia (capitation tax
on infidels) abolished by Akber. In vain
the populace assembled in crowds round the
palace ; no notice was taken of their tears
and complaints. Determined that their
appeal should be no longer ignored, they
intercepted the emperor on his way in pro-
cession to the mosque ; but the stern com-
mand was given to force a path, and many
of the suppliants were trampled under the
feet of the horses and elephants. The tax
was submitted to without further demur, but
the good-wiU of the Hindoos was gone for
ever : in the Deccan every one of them
became at heart a partisan of the Mahrattas ;
and the little fanning needed to blow into a
flame the long-smouldering discontent of the
Rajpoots was given within a few months of
the imposition of the hated jezia.

Rajah Jeswunt Sing died at Cabool, and
his widow immediately set out for India,
without waiting the permission of Aurung-
zebe, who made this insubordination a pre-
text for endeavouring to seize her two infant
sons.t By the ingenuity of Durga Das,
the Hindoo leader, the rani and her chil-
dren were enabled to escape to Marwar, over
which principality the elder of the boys,
Ajeet Sing, lived to enjoy a long reign, and
became a formidable enemy to the Great
Mogul, t Ram Sing, of Jeypoor or Amber,
remained faithful to the master who had so

great promise, expired suddenly at Delhi in extreme
torture, owing to a poisoned robe of honour bestowed
on him by the perfidious emperor. — (Hy'ast'han.)

X Another female and two infants were captured
by Aurungzebe, the Rajpoots sacrificing their lives
freely, as if the supposititious family had been really
the widow and orphans of the deceased rajah.

148 DEATH OF SEVAJEE, 1680— HIS LATEST ACQUISITIONS.

little desei-ved such loyalty ; but Raj Sing,*
the rana of Oudipoor, entered heartily into
the cause of the children of Jeswuut Sing,
and refused to agree to the jezia. A long
and tedious contest commenced with the
year 1679, and was carried on by Aurung-
zebe in a spirit of the most barbarous
intolerance. His orders to the tvTO princes,
Mauzim and Akber, were " to make the
enemy feel all the evils of Avar in their
utmost severity ;"f and the Rajpoots, having
at length caught something of the intolerant
spirit of their foes, plundered the mosques,
burned the Koran, and insulted the Moollahs.
A strange turn was given to affairs by the
conduct of Prince Akber, then only twenty-
three, who was induced to join the Rajpoots,
on condition of being proclaimed emperor,
in lieu of his father. This rebellious attempt
proved unsuccessful; and after being deserted
by every Mohammedan follower, Akber
resolved to take refuge with the Mahrat-
tas, and, under the escort of Durga Das
and 500 Rajpoots, arrived safely iu the Con-
ean, a.d. 1681. Great changes had taken
place in the affairs of the Deccan since the
withdrawal of the flower of the Mogul troops
to the north-eastern frontier, in 1672. Se-
vajee having turned his arms against Beeja-
poor, had, in the course of the year 1673,
become master of the whole of the southern
Concan (excepting the points held by the
English, Abyssinians, and Portuguese), and
of a tract above the Ghauts, extending to
the east beyond the upper course of the
Kistna. In 1675 he crossed the Nerbudda,
and began to invade the Mogul territory.
In the next four years he formed separate
alliances with the kings of Golconda and
Beejapoor against the Moguls, now under
the command of Dileer Khan ; and, in return
for his co-operation, received valuable ces-
sions of territory, including the jaghire
in Mysore, which had been suffered to de-
scend to his half-brother, Venkajee.

* About this time Aurungzebe had sent a body of
2,000 horse to escort to his court a princess of
Koopnagurh, a younger branch of the Marwar
house, whom he demanded in marriage. The
maiden, indignant at the thougiit of wedding the
enemy of her race, sent a message to Raj Sing by
her preceptor (the family priest), entreating him to
come to her rescue. " Is the swan," she asked, " to
be the mate of the stork ; a liajpootni, pure in blood,
to be wife to the monkey-faced barbarian ?" The
rana accepted the challenge, appeared suddenly be-
fore Roopnagurh, cut off the imperial guard, and
carried away the princess in triumph to Oudipoor.

t Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 498. The same para-
graph states, " their orders were to employ part of

One singular feature in this period of the
history of Scvajee, is the flight of Sumba-
jee, the elder of his two sons, who had been
imprisoned in a hill-fort for attempting to
violate the wife of a Brahmin. This young
man, of his father's better qualities, seems to
have only inherited personal daring. He
succeeded in making liis escape, and took
refuge with Dileer Khan, who welcomed
him gladly, but on learning that Aurung-
zebe was treacherously disposed, connived at
his quitting the imperial camp. Sumbajee
then threw himself upon the mercy of his
father, who sent him back to the fort of
Panalla. From thence he was speedily re-
leased by an unexpected event. Sevajee,
shortly after dictating a letter to Venkajee,
in which he bade hira " arouse and be
doing," for the present was the time for
great deeds, was seized with a painful swell-
ing in the knee-joint, which threw him into
a fever, and in a few days cut short his
extraordinary career, in the fifty-third year
of his age, a.d. 1680.

The emperor expected, that deprived of
their leader, the Mahrattas would sink into
insignificance. But he was mistaken. Se-
vajee well knew the character of his coun-
trymen, and Iv^d carefully used that know-
ledge in laying down rules for their govern-
ment. The Brahminical creed could not
be used as a weapon of persecution, but
its mingled tolerance and exclusiveness
made it a powerful instrument for concen-
trating the religious feelings of the Hindoos,
and directing their full force against the
cruel and bigotted oppression commanded
by the Koran, and practised by Aurungzebe.
Sevajee made it his mainstay, scarcely less
when the boy-chief of a band of half-naked
and superstitious mountaineers, than when
these had become the nucleus of a powerful
army, and he the crowned king of a state
(under Providence) of his own creation, with
yearly-increasing territory and revenue. It is

their troops to cut off all supplies from the fugitives in
the hills ; and with the rest to lay waste the country,
burn and destroy the villages, cut down the fruit-
trees, and cany off the tcometi and children," of
course as slaves, or for the services of the harem
and its degraded eunuch guards. This barbarity
contrasts with the practice of the Hindoos, whether
Rajpoot or Mahratta. Sevajee himself decreed, that
" cows, cultivators, and women were never to be
molested ; nor were any but rich Mohammedans, or
Hindoos in their service, who could pay a ransom, to
be made prisoners" (Duff, vol. i., p. 230) ; and El-
phinstone remarks, that " his enemies bear witness to
his anxiety to mitigate the evils of it [war] by humane
regulations, which were strictly enforced."

CHARACTER OF SEVAJEE. AURUNGZEBE MARCHES TO THE DECCAN. 149

not wonderful that the memory of the
man whose well-digested plans " raised
the despised Hindoos to sovereignty, and
brought about their own accomplishment,
when the hand that had framed them
was low in the dust," should be grate-
fully remembered by his countrymen; but
it affords melancholy evidence of the dark-
ness of heathenism to be told, that the
murder of Afzool Khan is spoken of as a
" commendable exploit," and its perpetrator
" as an incarnation of the Deity setting an
example of wisdom, fortitude, and piety."*

Impartial judges admit that Sevajee pos-
sessed qualities which, in an unenlightened
Hindoo, may be termed admirable. Pre-
pared for every emergency, peril could not
daunt, nor success intoxicate him. Frugal
even to parsimony in his habits, courteous and
endearing in manner though passionate in
disposition, he continued to the last to move
freely about among the people, inspiring
them with his own spirit of determined op-
position to the Mohammedans. Intent on
following every turn and winding of Aurung-
zebe's snake-like policy, he also practised
treacherous wiles ; but the use of these un-
worthy weapons did not detract from his
personal courage. To have seen him charge,
was the favourite boast of the troops en-
gaged in the Deccani wars ; and his famous
sword (a Genoa blade of the finest temper,
named after his tutelary goddess, Bhavani)
was preserved and regarded with nothing
short of idolatrous veneration.

On the death of Sevajee, one of his sur-
viving widows burned herself with his body.
The other, Soyera Bye, endeavoured to place
her son, Rajah Ram, a boy of ten years old,
on the throne, to the exclusion of Sumbajee,
whose mother had died during his infancy.
The attempt failed, and Sumbajee was pro-
claimed king. He caused Soyera Bye to
be put to a painful and lingering death;
imprisoned her son; threw the leading
Brahmin ministers into irons; and slew
such of his other enemies as were not pro-
tected by the sanctity of their caste. Prince

• History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 297. The
above account of Sevajee is almost exclusively de-
rived from the able and interesting narrative of
Grant Duff, whose labour of love has rendered him
as eminently the historian of the Mahrattas, as Colo-
nel Tod of the llajpoots.

t Dileer Khan died in this year. He was, perhaps,
the ablest officer in the service of Aurungzebe, whose
battles he fought for six-and-twenty years ; but he,
like Jey Sing and Jeswunt Sing, found, in the sus-
picion and neglect of his crafty master, fit punish-
X

Akber reached the Deccan in June, 1681,
and was honourably received by Sumbajee,
who acknowledged him as emperor, but
showed no intention of supporting his pre-
tensions; devoting such time as he could
spare from drinking and debauchery to mak-
ing war upon the Abyssinians of Jinjeera
and the Portuguese. The vast treasure
accumulated by his father was soon dis-
sipated; the people were harassed by op-
pressive taxes; and the troops, being left
in arrears of pay, began to appropriate the
plunder taken on expeditions for their own
use, and to degenerate from comparatively
regular bands into hordes of rapacious and
destructive freebooters.

Such was the state of things when Au-
rungzebe, in 1683, arrived at the head of the
whole force of the empire. Sumbajee awoke
from his stupor; and ably seconded by his
father's trained troops, cut off the greater
part of the army sent under Prince Mau-
zim to overrun the Concan, in 1684 ;f and,
in the following year, retaliated this inva-
sion by taking advantage of the march of
the emperor against Ahmednuggur, to
sack and burn the great city of Boorhan-
poor. In 1685, tlie Moguls being again
drawn off to the south, Sumbajee made
another bold inroad into the territory in
their rear, and plundered Baroach with the
adjacent part of Guzerat. About this time
he entered into a defensive alliance with
the king of Goleonda, which Aurungzebe
resenting, sent an army against that state,
then weakened by internal dissension. Its
sovereign, Abool Hussun, though indolent
and voluptuous, was popular, and his go-
vernment and finances were ably managed
by ]\Iaduna Punt, an active and upright
Brahmin, in whom he placed full con-
fidence, thereby exciting the discontent of
the Mussulmans, especially of Ibrahim
Khan, the commander-in-chief, who, on
the approach of the imperial force, under
Prince Mauzim, deserted to him with the
greater part of the army. The obnoxious
minister was murdered; the king fled to

ment for treachery to the brave and unfortunate
Dara. The emperor confiscated the property of the
deceased, and being disappointed in its value, vainly
strove to extort, by torture, from his secretary, a
confession of the manner in which the supposed sur-
plus had been employed. The relatives of Dileer
Khan were not, however, more unfortunate than
those of Khan Jelian Bahadur, foster-brother to the
emperor, who visited his death-bed, but appropriated
his property, giving the usual order to seek for hid-
den deposits, and recover all outrstanding debts.

150 BEEJAPOOR AND GOLCONDA ANNEXED TO THE EMPIRE— 1686-7.

the hill-fort of Golconda; and Hyderabad
was captured and plundered for three days
by tlie Mogul soldiery, notwithstanding the
efforts of the prince to check this breach of
discipline, which his suspicious father attri-
buted to his connivance, as a means of em-
bezzlement for ambitious purposes.

By a large pecuniary payment, Abool
Hussun purchased a brief respite from
Aurungzebe, who then moved in person
against Beejapoor. The army of this mo-
narchy had been so reduced by prolonged
warfare, that the. city, although surrounded
by walls six miles in circumference, was
soon completely invested. The Patan gar-
rison seemed determined to perish sword in
hand, and were therefore suffered to capitu-
late after a practicable breach had been
made, through which Aurungzebe entered
the place on a portable throne. The state
was extinguished, a.d. 1686; and Beeja-
poor, after attaining a grandeur quite dis-
proportioned to the extent of the kingdom
of which it formed the capital, sunk rapidly
into the deserted condition in which it now
stands. The young king, after three years'
close imprisonment in the Mogul camp,
perished suddenly, it is said by violence,
the fears of his imperial gaoler having been
raised by a popular commotion in his favour.
Golconda, the last independent Moham-
medan state, was next destroyed, after a
duration of 175 years. Abool Hussun strove
by costly gifts to deprecate the ambition
of Aurungzebe, who, while receiving these
offerings, was secretly occupied in in-
trigues with the ministers and troops of the
unhappy king; and at length, his plans
being matured, denounced him as a pro-
tector of infidels, and laid siege to Gol-
conda. Roused by this treachery, Abool
Hussun, though deserted on all sides, de-
fended the fort for seven months, but was
eventually betrayed into the hands of his
merciless foe, by whom he was sent to end
his days in the fortress of Doulatabad.
His fate and treatment awakened the com-
passion of Prince Mauzim, whose media-
tion he solicited; and the prince, touched
by the dignity and resignation with which
the monarch bore his misfortunes, or rather
injuries, made an earnest appeal in his
favour. The result was his own imprison-

* In all these countries Aurungzebe acquired little
more than a military occupation. " The districts were
farmed to the Desmookhs and other zemindars, and
were governed by military leaders, who received
twenty-five per cent, for the expense of collecting ;

ment for nearly seven years, after which he
was released and sent as governor to Cabool.
All the territories which had been acquired
by Beejapoor and Golconda were annexed
to the empire, as well as many of Sevajee's
conquests; Venkajee was deprived of the
Mysore jaghire, and confined to Tanjore;
and Sumbajee seemed to have sunk into
a state of inertia, and become heedless of
passing events. Prince Akber, dreading to
fall into his father's hands, fled to Persia,
where he remained till his death, about
eighteen years afterwards.

Aurungzebe had now reached the culmi-
nating point of success; neither humanity
nor policy had stayed his covetous grasp:
he stood alone, the sole jMoslem ruler in
India — the despotic master of an unwieldy
empire, over which the seeds of disorgani-
sation and dissolution were sown broadcast.
In Hindoostan, the finest provinces were, for
the most part, entrusted to the care of in-
competent and needy governors, chosen
purposely from the lower ranks of the -o-
bility. These men oppressed the peopiO
and neglected the troops — evils which
Aurungzebe preferred to the risk of being
supplanted by more able and influential
officers. His policy in the Deccan was
equally selfish and short-sighted. In the
governments of Beejapoor and Golconda, he
might have found valuable auxiliaries in
keeping under the power of the Mahrattas ;
but, by their destruction, he threw down
the chief barrier to lawless incursions, set-
ting aside constituted authorities without
supplying any efficient substitute.* Of the
disbanded armies, the Patans and foreign
mercenaries probably obtained service under
the emperor ; the remainder joined Sumba-
jee, or plundered on their own account; and
amid the general anarchy and distress, the
new-born feeling of religious opposition
rapidly gained ground. Notwithstanding
the inefficiency of their rajah, the Mah-
ratta chiefs exerted themselves individually
against the invader, and their energies were
rather stimulated than enfeebled by the un-
expected capture of Sumbajee, with his mi-
nister and favourite companion, a Brahmin
named Kaloosha, who were surprised by a
body of Moguls during a revel at a favourite
pleasure-house in the Concan. It was sug-

and sent up the balance, after paying their troops, to
the emperor ; unless, as often happened, assignments
were made for a period of years on fixed districts for
the payment of other chiefs."— (Elphinstone's His-
tory of India, vol. ii., p. 522.)

SUMBAJEE EXECUTED, 1689.— MOGUL AND MAHRATTA TROOPS. 151

gested, that Sumbajee might be used as a
tool to obtain possession of the Mahratta
strongholds ; and with this view, he was
offered life on condition, of becoming a
Mussulman. But misfortune had awakened
in him a sense of degradation, and the only
reply was a sarcastic message to Aurungzebe,
and an invective on the False Prophet, for
which offence a cruel punishment was de-
creed. His eyes were destroyed by a red-
hot iron, his tongue cut out, and he was at
last beheaded in the camp bazaar, together
with Kaloosha, a.d. 1689.

Sumbajee had neither deserved nor ob-
tained the confidence of his subjects; but
they were deeply mortified by his ignominious
fate. The chiefs assembled at Raighur,
acknowledged the infant son of the deceased
as his successor, and nominated his uncle,
Rajah Ram, regent. Raighur was invested
by a Mogul force, and taken in 1690, after
a siege of several months, through the
treachery of a Mawulee leader. The young
rajah and his mother fell into the hands of
Aurungzebe, who treated them with un-
usual kindness.* Rajah Ram remaining at
liberty, proceeded to the distant fortress of
Jinjee, in the Carnatic, and assumed the
sovereignty. He did not attempt more than
the general direction of affairs, sending two
able leaders to create a diversion in his own
country, and leaving independent com-
manders to carry on desultory operations
against the Moguls, with whom a tedious
and harassing struggle commenced, in which
the advantage lay on the side of the ap-
parently weaker party.

Yet Aurungzebe was indefatigable. Al-
though far advanced in years, he superin-
tended every hostile operation, and besieged
in person the chief places. t His immense
armies were marshalled forth in splendid
array. The nobles went to battle in quilted
cotton tunics, covered with chain or plate
armour, and rode on chargers, whose huge

• Begum Sahib, the emperor's daughter, evinced
unremitting kindness to both mother and child
during their long captivity. The boy, being much
with her, attracted the notice of Aurungzebe, who
jestingly applied to him the nick-name of Sahoo or
Shao, a word signifying the opposite of thief, robber,
and similar terms, by which he habitually designated
Sumbajee and Sevajee. — (Buff's Mahrattas, vol. i.)

+ The traveller, Gemelli Carreri, who saw Aurung-
zebe at Bepjapoor, in 1695, describes him as slender
and of low stature, with a smiling aspect, bright
eyes, a long nose, and a beard whose silvery white-
ness contrasted with an olive-coloired skin. His
dress was of plain white muslin, with one .arge
emerald in the turban. He stood amid his omrahs

saddles, housings of cloth or velvet, satin
streamers, bells, chains, and other ornaments
of gold and silver, with the frequent ad-
dition of pairs of the bushy ox-tails of Tibet
hanging down on either side, were better
adapted for a triumphal procession, than
for warfare with mountaineers in their own
country. The common soldiers imitated
their superiors in their cumbersome attire,
and likewise in sloth and effeminacy : the
result was a total relaxation of discipline.
The Mahrattas, on the contrary, were
mounted on horses, small, strong, and active
as themselves, with a pad for a saddle, and
a black blanket folded over it for nightly
covering during their expeditions, when
each man slept on the ground, with his
spear stuck by him, and his bridle tied to
his arm, ready for any emergency. A led
horse, with bags to contain the expected
plunder, formed the remainder of their
camp equipage. Their common food was a
cake of millet, ^vith perhaps an onion ; their
dress, a small turban, a fold of which was
frequently passed under the chin,J a quilted
cotton tunic, tight drawers descending to
the knee, and a scarf or sash rolled round
the waist. Some carried a sword and shield;
a certain proportion were armed with match-
locks, or bow and arrows ; but the prevailing
weapon was a bamboo spear, thirteen or
fourteen feet long, which they wielded with
extraordinary skill. Thus armed and habited,
they wisely adhered to the desultory war-
fare which could alone be successfully
waged against the heavily-attired legions of
the Mogul. § Then, as now, their only
name for a victory was, " to plunder the
enemy," this being, in their eyes, the chief
object as well as sole irrefragable evidence
and measure of conquest.

Fort after fort was captured by the im-
perial army; but the Mahrattas meanwhile
issued from their lurking-places and over-
spread the newly-acquired territories, as

leaning on a staff or crozier (like those used by the
fakeers) ; received petitions, read them without spec-
tacles, and endorsed them with his own hand. In
youth, savs Manouchi, he was pale even to ghastliness.

X The Mahratta description of a very fierce-look-
ing person, includes a turban tied beneath the
chin, and mustachios " as thick as my arm." 'Their
national flag, swallow-tailed and of a deep orange
colour, is emblematic of the followers of Mahdeo.

§ The Mawulees were famous for sword-in-hand
combat; the Hetkurees (Concan mountaineers)
ueed a species of firelock, and excelled as marks-
men : both parties could, with ease, scale rocks and
mount precipices, which the Moguls would have
found certain destruction in attempting.

152 DISTRESS AND HUMILIATION OF MOGUL ARMY— 1700 to 1707.

well as Berar, Candeisli, and Malwa. De-
tachments were sent against them in various
directions, but to little avail; for, on per-
ceivinn; their approach, the wily mountai-
neers dispersed at once, without attempting to
stand a charge ; and after leading the Moguls
a weary, and generally fruitless chase, were
themselves ready to follow the retreating
track of their disheartened pursuers, and
take advantage of any opening or confusion
in the ranks, occasioned by accident or
exhaustion. Fighting such foes was like
beating the air, and even worse ; for while
their number and power were rapidlj' in-
creasing by the alliance of the zemindars
of the countries which they overran, the
troops of Aurungzebe, thinned by long and
sanguinary sieges, required frequent recruit-
ment from Hindoostan, whence also supplies
of money had to be drawn.

Rajah Ram died a.d. 1700, and was suc-
ceeded by his infant son, Sivajee, under the
regency of Tara Bye, mother of the young
rajah. This change had little effect on the
war. Aurungzebe went on taking forts,
until, by the close of the next five years, all
the principal Mahratta strongliolds had
fallen before him ; but then the tide turned,
and the rapidly-multiplying foe themselves
became besiegers, and regained many for-
tresses, at the same time intercepting several
convoys, and thus depriving the emperor of
the means of paying his army.* No writer
has delineated the condition of the agricul-
tural population of the Deccan ; but their
sufferings from these prolonged and deso-
lating wars must have been frightful. From
them the circle of distress spread gradually
but surely, until scarcity of food began to be
felt even in the imperial camp, and was aggra-
vated by the devastating effects of heavy
rains. On one occasion, a sudden flood of
the Beema inundated the imperial canton-
ment during the night, and caused the de-
struction of 12,000 persons, with horses,
cattle, and stores beyond calculation.

The contempt with which the Moguls
once regarded the Mahrattas had long given
place to dread; while the Mahrattas, on
their part, began to see the emptiness of
the pomp which surrounded the Great
Mogill, and mocked the Mussulmans, by
pretending to ejaculate devout aspirations
for the prolonged life of their best patron,

• Among the many letters extant, written by Au-
lungzebe, are several addressed to Zulfikar Khan,
desiring him to search for hidden treasures, and
hunt out any that may have fallen into the hands

Aurungzebe. The news from Hindoostan
was of an increasingly-disheartening cha-
racter; the Rajpoots were, for the most part,
in open hostility, and their example had been
followed by the Jats (a Hindoo people of
the Soodra class), near Agra: against these,
as also against a body of Sikhs at Muttra,
it had been necessary to send a force under
a prince of the blood. Zulfikar Khan, the
chief Mogul general, being treated with
irritating distrust by his sovereign, seems to
have grown dilatory and indifferent, if, in-
deed, the dark clouds which were gathering
over the political horizon did not induce
him, like other nobles, designedly to tem-
porize with the foe. The princes — now fa-
voured, now disgraced — turned pale when
summoned to the presence of their father ;t
while he, remembering the fate of Shah
Jehan, trembled yet more at the semblance
of overstrained humility than at open insu-
bordination.

At length overtures of peace were made
to the Mahrattas, and Aurungzebe was
brought to consent to the liberation of
Shao, the son of Sumbajee, and to the pay-
ment of ten per cent, of the whole revenues
of the six soubahs of the Deccan (as Sur-
deshmooki), on condition of the maintenance
of a body of horse to keep order; but the
negotiation was broken off by the exorbi-
tant demands and overbearing conduct of
the ^Mahrattas. Disgusted and unhappy,
with dispirited troops and exhausted cattle,
the aged emperor retreated from Beejapoor
to Ahmednuggur, harassed all the way by
the enemy, who succeeded in dispersing
and destroying a portion of the grand army;
and, had they chosen to hazard a general
attack, would probably have captured the
person of their inveterate foe. That no
such attempt was made is a subject of fer-
vent exultation with Mussulman writers.
Aurungzebe gained Ahmednugger in safety;
and, when pitching his camp on the same
spot whence it had marched in so much
pomp and power twenty years before, he
sorrowfully remarked, that his campaigns
were ended — his last earthly journey com-
pleted. He had now entered the fiftieth
year of his reign, and the eighty-ninth of his
age ; but the extreme temperance and regu-
larity which characterised his physical ex-
istence, had preserved his faculties in an

of individuals, that means may be afforded to
silence " the infernal foot-soldiers," who were croak-
ing like the tenants of an invaded rookery.
1" Khafi Khan. — {Vide Elphinstone,vol.ii. p. 544.)

DEATH OF AURUNGZEBE, 1707— STATE OF THE EMPIRE, 153

extraordinary degree of perfection.* Yet to
him, freedom from the imbecility frequently
attendant on extreme age was rather a
curse than a blessing. The few sands still
remaining in his measure of life would, he
feared, be rudely shaken by the ambition of
his heirs, and, to avoid this danger, he made
a last exertion of power by sending away
his favourite son, Kaumbuksh, to Beejapoor,
and preventing Mauzim (then in Cabool) or
Azim (in Guzerat) from coming to Ahmed-
nuggur. His own children could not be
trusted to minister to their aged father,
although, in this awful period, he seems to
have had a newly-awakened yearning for
human sympathy. Death was fast ap-
proaching ; and what provision had he made
for the stability of the empire, the welfare
of the people, the salvation of his own soul ?
After his decease, which took place in Feb-
ruary, 1707, a willf was found beneath his
pillow, decreeing the division of the empire
among his sons : but he probably foresaw
the little attention which would be paid to
it, and might reasonably have adopted the
saying of another crooked politician, "Apres

* Khafi Khan says, " none of his five senses were
at all impaired, except his hearing in a small degree ;
but not so that others could perceive it." Aurung-
zebe possessed, in perfection, what Lytton Bulwer,
following a French proverb, calls the twin secrets for
wearing well — " a bad heart and a good digestion."

•r A previous will contained directions for his
funeral, the expense of which was to be defrayed
by a sum, equal to ten shillings, saved from the price
of caps which he had made and sold : 805 rupees,
gained by copying the Koran, were to be distributed
among the poor. (Elphinstone's India,yo\. ii.,p.551.)

X These remarkable and well-authenticated letters
contain many characteristic and interesting pas-
sages : for instance, " the camp and followers, help-
less and alarmed, are like myself — full of affliction,
restless as the quicksilver. The complaints of the
unpaid troops are as before. • • » The fever
has left me; but nothing of me remains but skin
and bone. My back is bent with weakness; my
feet have lost the power of motion. » • • I'he
Begum [his daughter] appears afflicted ; but God is
the only judge of hearts." To Kaumbuksh he says,
" Odiporee, your mother, was a partner in my ill-
ness, and wishes to accompany me in death ; but
everything has its appointed time."— (Scott's History
of the Deccmi, vol. i., pp. 8 and 9.) According to
Tod, this lady was a princess, not of Oudipoor, but
of Kishenghur, a minor division of Joudpoor.

§ As in the Deccan, so also throughout Hindoos-
tan, we can only form an idea of the condition of the
mass of the people by an incidental remark, scattered
here and there, amid many weary pages filled with
details of invasion and slaughter, pomp and intrigue.
The Mussulman writers were usually pensioners of
the monarch, whose deeds they chronicled; the Hin-
doo annalists were the bards of the leading families,
of which they formed important and cherished mem-
b»rs. Neither the one nor the other could be ex-

moi le diluge." His subjects — at least the
Mussulman portion — he commends to the
care of his sons, in his farewell letters, as a
charge committed to them by God himself;
and then proceeds to give vent, in discon-
nected sentences, to the terrible apprehen-
sions before which his spirit shrank in dis- -
may. " Wherever I look," writes the dying
emperor, " I see nothing but the Deity. I
know nothing of myself — wjiat I am — and
for what I am destined. The instant whicli
passed in power hath left only sorrow be-
hind it. I have not been the guardian and
protector of the empire," he adds, in the same
tone of remorse rather than repentance.
* * * "J have committed many crimes ; and
know not with what punishments I may be
seized. The agonies of death come upon me
fast. Farewell ! farewell ! farewell !"{

It has been shown that, during the latter
part of the reign of Aurungzebe, the empire
was manifestly losing its coherent power.
After his death, strife, luxury, and corrup-
tion in the court; disorganization in the
camp, and discontent among the people ;§

pected to rise above the class of mere annalists.
To have given a true and lively picture of the actual
state of the Indian population under Moslem rule,
would have tasked to the utmost the intellect of a
philosopher, the zeal of a pliilanthropist, the courage
of a martyr. And to whom should an historian,
thus richly gifted, havu addressed himself? Would
either the degraded Hindoo or the sensual Moham-
medan have cared to trace " the practical operation
of a despotic government, and rigorous and san-
guinary laws, or the efiect, upon the gre-at body of
the nation, of these injurious influences and agen-
cies." — (Preface to Elliot's Biblioffrapkical Index of
Historians of Mohammedan India.) No ; for to
Christianity alone belongs the high prerogative of
teaching men to appreciate justly their rights, duties,
and responsibilities. Even with her teaching, the
lesson is one which nations are slow to learn. Con-
cerning the reign of Aurungzebe, we know less than
of many of his predecessors ; because he not only
left no autobiography behind him, but even, for a
considerable number of years, forbade the ordinary
chronicling of events. Of the wretchedness pre-
vailing among the people, and the indignation with
which the imposition of the jezia was generally re-
garded, a forcible representation is given in a letter,
addressed by Raj Sing of Oudijjoor (wrongly attributed
by Orme to Jeswunt Sing of Marwar) to Aurungzebe,
in which he reminds him of the prosperity atten-
dant on the mild conduct of Akber, Jehangeer, and
Shah Jehan towards the Hindoos, and points out
the opposite results of the present harsh measures,
in the alienation of much territory, and the devasta-
tion and rapine which universally prevailed. " Your
subjects," he says, " are trampled under foot, and
every province of your empire is impoverished ; de-
population spreads, and difficulties accumulate. • • •
The soldiery are murmuring ; the merchants com-
plaining ; the Mohammedans discontented ; the Hin-

154 CONTESTED SUCCESSION— REIGN OF BAHADUR SHAH, 1707.

fostered by the imposition of the jezia and 1 to pacify the weeping boy with caresses,
excessive imposts upon land, grew apace, and promising to treat him as one of his own
the power of the great Moguls crumbled into children, a pledge he faithfully redeemed, in
ruins, its decay being hastened by the rapid | spite of the jealous insinuations of his own

increase of the Mahratta nation; the struggles
of the Rajpoots for independence ; the irrup-
tion of the Sikhs ; and the desolating inva-
sion of the Persian monarch. Nadir Shah.
The career of the successors of Aurungzebe
need be but briefly narrated, since their
reigns are not of sufficient interest to occupy
space which can be ill-spared from more
important matters ; beside which, the leading
events of the eighteenth century will again
come into notice in sketching the marvellous
rise of the English from humble traders to
lords paramount of India.

Bahadur Shah* — Prince Mauzim, the
rightful heir to the throne, on receiving
tidings of his father's decease, assumed the
crown at Cabool with the title of Bahadur
Shah, and offered to confirm to his brothers
the territorial possessions bequeathed to them
by Aurungzebe: viz., to Azim — Agra, with all
the country to the south and south-west ; to
Kaumbuksh — Beejapoor and Golconda. The
generous and upright character of Bahadur
Shah warranted belief in his good faith ; but
Azim, who, on the death of the emperor, had
hastened to the camp, from which he was
not far distant, and caused himself to be
proclaimed sovereign of the whole empire,
could not be prevailed upon to retract this
unwarrantable pretension.

Despite the exhausted state of the king-
dom, very large armies were assembled on
both sides, and a sanguinary contest took
place to the south of Agra, in which Prince
Azim and his two grown-up sons were slain.
The third, a child, was taken by the soldier
who decapitated his father, as he lay sense-
less in his howdah, and carried into the
presence of the emperor, together with the
bloody trophy of victory, the head of Azim.
Bahadur Shah burst into tears, and strove

doos destitute ; and multitudes of people, wretched
even to the want of their nightly meal, are beating
their heads throughout the day in want and destitu-
tion. How can the dignity of the sovereign be pre-
served who employs his power in exacting tribute
from a people thus miserably reduced?" — (Orme's
Historical Fragments of the Moyul Empire, p. 252.)
Aurungzebe's persecution of his Hindoo subjects
consisted in pecuniary exactions and systematic dis-
couragement: they were excluded from office, their
fairs and festivals forbidden, and even some of their
temples destroyed; but bodily suffering was rarely, if
ever, inflicted from mere bigotry; and capital punish-
ments, for any offence whatever, were infrequent.

sons. In this important battle the valour
and ability of Monaim Khan, who had been
Bahadur Shah's chief officer in Cabool, were
very conspicuous. Concealing his own dan-
gerous and painful wounds, he remained on
the field till late at night to restore order
and prevent plunder; and then, perfectly
exhausted, was lifted from his elephant, and
carried into the presence of the emperor, by
whom he was appointed vizier. Zulfikar
Khan and his father, Assud Khan, who had
at first taken part with Prince Azim, quitted
his camp, disgusted by hip arrogance, before
the late engagement, of which they had
remained spectators. On presenting them-
selves with fettered hands before the emperor,
they were gladly welcomed, and appointed to
high positions.

Prince Kaumbuksh, avain and flighty young
man, persisted in refusing to acknowledge the
supremacy of his elder brother, who, after
repeated attempts at negotiation, which were
rejected with scorn and defiance, marched
against him to the Deccan, and was again
victor in a battle near Hyderabad. Kaum-
buksh died of his wounds the same day ; his
children fell into the hands of their uncle,
by whom they were treated as kindly as
their orphan cousin.f The next important
event was a truce with the Mahrattas, among
whom internal dissensions had arisen, owing
to the release of Shao (by Prince Azim,
immediately after his father's death), and
the disputed succession between him and the
son of Tara Bye, whose claims, although an
idiot, were actively upheld by his ambitious
mother. The ascendancy of Shao was
recognised by the Mogul government, and
the chout, or fourth, of the revenues of the
Deccan conceded to him. The Rajpoots
were likewise permitted to make peace on
very favourable terms. The territory cap-

* Sometimes entitled Alum Shah Bahadur.

t Eradut Khan, one of the many rebellious nobles,
who, after the defeat of Azim, were freely pardoned,
says, that the sons of the fallen princes were always
permitted to appear fully armed before the em-
peror, to accompany him dailv in the chase, and
share in all his diversions. Seventeen princes—
his sons, grandsons, and nephews, sat round his
throne: the royal captives of Beejapoor and Gol-
conda were likewise suffered to take their place im-
mediately behind the royal princes ; and a crowd
of the high nobility daily thronged " the platform
between the silver rails."— (Scott's Deccan, vol. ii.,
p. 49.)

ORIGIN OF THE SIKHS— BAHADUR SHAH DIES, a.b. 1712.

155

tured from the rana of Oudipoor was restored,
aud he became again independent in all but
name. Ajeet Sing, the rajah of Marwar,
and Jey Sing, of Jeypoor, appear to have
obtained nearly similar advantages, but rather
from necessity than good-will, since the em-
peror was about to advance against them,
when his attention was diverted by intelli-
gence of the capture of Sirhind by the
Sikhs. These people, from an inoffensive,
religious sect, founded about the end of the
fifteentli century by a Hindoo named
Nanuk,* had been changed by persecution
into fanatical warriors. When driven from
the neiglibourhood of Lahore, which had
been their original seat, they took refuge in
the northern mountains, a.d. 1606, and
there remained for nearly seventy years,
until the accession of Guru Govind, the
tenth spiritual chief from Nanuk. This
leader conceived the idea of forming the
Sikhs into a religious and military common-
wealth. To increase their numbers, he
abolished all distinction of caste, and all
prohibitions regarding food or drink, except
the slaughter of kine, which was strictly
forbidden. Hindoo idols and Brahmins were
to be respected, but the usual forms of
worship were set aside. All converts were
admitted to a perfect equality, and were
expected to take a vow to fight for the
cause, always to carry steel in some part of
the person, to wear blue clothes, allow the
head and beard to grow, and neither clip nor
remove the hair on any part of the body.

The Sikhs fought desperately, but were
too few in number to accomplish the plans
of resistance and revenge planned by Guru
Govind, who, after beholding his strong-
holds taken, his mother and children mas-
sacred, his followers slain, mutilated, or
dispersed, was himself assassinated by a
private enemy. To his spiritual authority,
as Guru, no successor was appointed. The
temporal command of the infuriated Sikhs
was assumed by a Hindoo ascetic, named
Bandu, under whose leadership they overran
the east of the Punjaub, and, true to their

* The beauty of Nanuk, when a mere boy, attracted
the attention of a learned and wealthy Seyed, who
caused him to be educated and instructed in the
doctrines of Islam. As he grew up, Nanuk extended
his reading, collected maxims alike from the Koran
and the Vedas, and endeavoured to unite Moham-
medan and Hindoo doctrines on the basis of the
unity of God. Converts flocked around him, taking
the name of Sikhs {the instructed), and giving to
their preceptor the name and authority of Guru
{spiritual chief.) The doctrines of the sect Avere

vengeful motto of unceasing enmity to
the Mohammedans, not only destroyed the
mosques and slaughtered the mooUahs, but
massacred the population of whole towns,
sparing neither age nor sex, and even dis-
interring the bodies of the dead, and ex-
posing them as food for carrion. The chief
seat of these atrocities was Sirhind, which
they occupied after defeating the governor
in a pitched battle : they subsequently retired
to the country on the upper course of the
Sutlej, whence they made marauding in-
cursions, extending to the neighbourhood of
Lahore on the one side, and of Delhi on the
other.

Bahadur Shah marched against them in
1711, and soon obliged them to take refuge
in the hills, where they long continued to
struggle against the imperial force. Bandu
was at last shut up in a fort, which was
strictly blockaded ; but the Sikhs continued
the defence until large numbers perished of
hunger, and then made a desperate sally,
upon which the enemy took possession of
the fort without further resistance ; but
Bandu escaped through the self-devotion
of one of his followers, by whom he was
personated. t

After this success, the emperor took his
departure ; but the Sikhs had received only
a temporary check; and their power was
again in the ascendant, when Bahadur Shah
expired suddenly at Lahore (not without
suspicion of poison), in the seventy-first
(lunar) year of his age, and the fifth of his
reign, a.d. 1712.

Jehandar Shah. — On the death of the
emperor, a deadly' conflict commenced be-
tween his four sons, in which three perished
— the eldest ascending the throne, notwith-
standing his well-known incapacity, by the
aid of Zulfikar Khan, who had taken part
with him from ambitious motives, hoping to
govern absolutely under the name of vizier.
All the princes of the blood, whose persons
were within reach, were slain, to secure the
authority of the new ruler. But this iniquity
only served to heighten the hatred and disgust

gradually embodied in sacred volumes called Orunths,
and the Sikhs silently increased; until, in 1606, the
Moslem government took offence at their leading
tenet— that the form of worship offered to the- Deity
was immaterial — and put to death their existing
chief, whereupon the Sikhs took up arms under his
son, Hur Govind. — (H. T. Prinscp's Sikh Power.)

t Though struckby the generosity of the impostor,
Bahadur is said to have nevertheless sent him pri-
soner, in an iion cage, to Delhi, an act singularly at
variance with his compassionate nature.

156 SEYED BKOTHERS DEPOSE AND SLAY JEHANDAR SHAH, a.d. 1713.

excited by the pride and tyranny of Zulfikar
Khan, and the vices and follies of his impe-
rial froUgi, who lavished honours upon his
favourite mistress (originally a public dancer),
and promoted her relations, although, like
herself, of a most discreditable class, to the
highest dignities in the state. Dissatisfac-
tion prevailed throughout the court, when
tidings arrived that Teroksheer (the son of
one of the fallen princes whom Jehandar
had vainly striven to get into his power)
had prevailed upon two Seyed* brothers,
the governors of Behar and Allahabad, to
espouse his cause ; and having, by their aid,
assembled an army, was now marching to-
ivards Agra. Jehandar and Zulfikar met the
invaders, at the head of 70,000 men ; but,
being defeated, the emperor fled in disguise
to Delhi, and took refuge in the house of
Assud Khan. The treacherous old man
made him a prisoner, and persuaded Zulfikar
(who arrived soon after, with the remaining
troops) to make terms with the conqueror,
by the surrender of their unfortunate master.
The father and son then presented them-
selves to Feroksheer, with fettered hands, as
they had done to his grandfather, Bahadur
Shah, some six years before, but with a very
different result. Zulfikar and Jehandar
were strangled with a leathern thong, after
which their bodies were fastened to an ele-
phant, and dragged through the leading
thoroughfares of Delhi, followed by the
wretched Assud Khan, and all the female
members of his family, in covered carriages.
Thus ended the nine months' sway of Je-
handar Shah, A.D. 1713.

'Feroksheer' s first act of sovereignty was
to appoint the Seyed brothers to the highest
offices in the empire — the elder, Abdullah
Khan, being made vizier ; the younger,
Hussein Ali, ameer ool omra, or com-
mander-in-chief. He next proceeded to
remove from his path, by the bow-string,
such of the old nobility as might be disposed
to combine against him ; and the same in-

• Lineal descendants of Mohammed.

t The mother of Feroksheer had taken a leading
part in persuading the Seyed brothers, for the sake
of her husband who had befriended them, to uphold
her son ; and had sworn upon the Koran, that if they
would do so, no plot should ever be formed against
them, of which she, if cognizant, would not give them
immediate information. This jjledge was conscien-
tiously redeemed, and her timely warning more than
once preserved their lives. — Vide Col. Briggs' revised
translation of the Siyar-uUMutakherin — (Manners of
the Moderns), a work comprising the history of the
greater part of the eighteenth century, written in a
very clear and interesting manner, by Mir Gholam

strument was freely used among the remain-
ing members of the royal family, including
even his own infant brothers. These cruel-
ties were sure indications of a .suspicious
and cowardly nature ; and, as might be ex-
pected, his distrust was soon excited against
the very persons by whom he had been
raised to the throne. The consequence was,
that his whole reign was a continued,
though long-disguised struggle with the two
Seyeds, whose watchfulness and confidence
in each other rendered them eventually
victorious.f Feroksheer endeavoured to
weaken, by dividing them ; and, for this end,
sent Hussein against Ajeet Sing, of Marwar,
to whom a private intimation was for-
warded, that the emperor would be well-
pleased by the defeat and death of his own
general. The plot failed ; for the parties
immediately concerned wisely consulted
their mutual interest, by making a speedy
peace, and Hussein returned to court, bear-
ing with him the daughter of the rajah, to
be the bride of his ungrateful sovereign.
The nuptials were celebrated on a scale of
extraordinary magnificence; but were no
sooner terminated, than Hussein Ali was
sent to the Dcccan, ostensibly to prosecute
hostilities against the Mahrattas. Daud
Khan Panni, an Afghan commander, re-
nowned for reckless courage, received orders
to join Hussein, and, under pretence of
co-operation, to take the first opportunity of
effecting his destruction. But the agent
selected to carry this nefarious scheme into
execution was ill-chosen. Daud Khan,
though well-disposed to revenge the death
of his old patron, Zulfikar Khan, J would
not stoop to stab in the dark ; he therefore
set the Seyed at defiance, engaged him as
an open enemy, and, by the impetuosity of
his charge, had nearly triumphed, when a
ball pierced his brain, and at once changed
the fortune of the day. Hussein Ali pro-
ceeded to execute his commission against
the Mahrattas, without openly attributing

Hussein, a Delhi noble. Mr. St. George Tucker, late
chairman of the East India Company, who met him
repeatedly at Gya Behar, in 1786-7, alludes to him
as " the finest specimen of a nobleman I had ever
seen." — {Tucker's Life and Correspondence, edited
by J. W. Kaye, vol. i., p. 40.)

X Zulfikar Khan, on receiving the appointment^ of
viceroy of the Dcccan, had been permitted to reside
at court, leaving Daud Khan as his representative,
or, as it was then termed, naik suhah-dar, deputy
viceroy. He was himself succeeded, in 1713, by
Cheen Kilioh Khan (afterwards well-known under
the titles of Nizam-ool-Moolk and Asuf Jah), who
was in turn removed by Hussein Ali.

DEFEAT OP SIKHS— MASSACRE OP PRISONERS, a.d. 1715.

157 .

to tlie emperor the opposition which he had
encountered, and sent a strong detachment
against a chief named Dabari, who had
established a line of fortified villages in
Candeish, and by his depredations on cara-
vans, shut up the great road from Hiudoo-
stan and the Deeean to Surat. While one
portion of the imperial troops was thus
employed, another was dispatched against
the Sikhs, who had renewed their ravages
with increased fury. Bandu was defeated,
captured, and put to death in a most barba-
rous manner, and a large number of his
followers were slaughtered in cold blood.*
Those who remained at large were hunted
down like wild beasts, and a considerable
time elapsed before they became again for-
midable. In the Deccan the Moguls were
less successful : the Mahrattas practised
their usual tactics of evacuating assaulted
positions, and leading their foes, by the oft-
repeated expedient of a pretended flight,
among hilly and broken ground, where they
were easily separated and defeated in de-
tail, many being cut to pieces, and others
stripped of their horses, arms, and even
clothes. This inauspicious campaign was
at length brought to a discreditable con-
clusion ; for Hussein Ali, determined at
any cost to rejoin his brother at Delhi,
made a treaty with Rajah Shao, acknow-
ledging his claim to the whole of the terri-
tory possessed by Sevajee, with the addition
of later conquests, and authorising not only
the levy of the chout, or fourth, over the
whole of the Deeean, but also of surdesh-
mooki,t or one-tenth of the remaining re-
venue. In return, Shao was to pay a tribute
of ten lacs of rupees; to furnish a contin-

* The majority were executed on the field of
battle ; but 740 were sent to Delhi, and after being
paraded through the streets on camels, were be-
headed on seven successive days, having firmly re-
jected the ofl'er of life, on condition of belying their
religious opinions. Bandu was exhibited in an iron
cage, clad in a robe of cloth-of-gold and a scarlet
turban : around him were the heads of his followers,
fixed on pikes ; and even a dead cat was stuck up to
indicate the extirpation of everything belonging to
him. On his refusal to stab his own infant, the
child was slaughtered before his eyes, and its heart
forced into his mouth. The wretched father was then
torn to pieces with hot irons, and died defying his
persecutors, and exulting in the belief that he had
been raised up to scourge the iniquity and oppres-
sion of the age. — (Scott's History of the Deccan.)

t The Desmookh, literally chief of the district, was
Ml hereditary officer under the Hindoo government,
who received a portion of the revenue in money or
in kind ; " and," says General Briggs, " in the local
or modern appellations of Dcssavi, Nat Gour, Na-

gent of 16,000 horse; to preserve the tran-
quillity of the country; and to be answerable
for any loss occasioned by depredations,
from whatever quarter.

As Shao was at this time engaged in
civil war, it was manifest that he could but
very imperfectly perform his part of this
extraordinary agreement, since a consider-
able portion of the country recognised as
his, was really in possession of the hostile
party. Peroksheer refused to ratify the
treaty ; but Hussein Ali gained his point,
by returning to Delhi, where his presence
was much needed by his brother, Abdullah
Khan. This noble, though a man of talent,
was indolent, and devoted to the pleasures of
the seraglio; he therefore delegated the
business of the vizierat almost wholly to
his deputy, a Hindoo named Ruttun Chand,
whose strict measures, arbitrary temper, and
zeal for the Brahminical faith, aggravated
the jealous feelings with which his adminis-
tration was regarded by the Mussulman
nobility. Of this state of affairs Peroksheer
endeavoured to take advantage, by forming
a combination of the chief persons to whom
the vizier was known to have given offence.
Among these were Jey Sing, of Jeypoor,J
Cheen Kilich Khan, and others of impor-
tance, who entered warmly into the matter;
but the irresolution and timidity of the
emperor, together with the continued pre-
ference which he evinced, even at this
critical period, for incapable and profligate
advisers, disgusted and disheartened the
nobles who were inclined to take part with
him, and all except Jey Sing deserted his
cause, § and made their peace with the
vizier, from whom Cheen Kilich Khan re-

tumkur, Naidu, Dessye, Desmookh, and Zemindar,
we recognise the same person, from Ceylon to Cash-
mere, to the present day." — (Note to Siyar-ul-Mutak-
herin, p. 146.) It was as compensation for an
hereditary claim of this description, purchased by
Shahjee, that his son Sevajee stipulated with Au-
rungzebe for certain assignments on the Beejapoor
reveniieasearly as 16G6. — (Grant Dufl', vol. i.,p. 497.)

X This chieftain had been employed against the
Jats, whom, after a long course of operations, he
had succeeded in reducing to extremities ; when the
vizier opened a direct negotiation with them, in a
manner considered very derogatory to the honour
of the Rajpoot general. The cause of offence to
Cheen Kilich Khan was his removal from the vice-
royalty of the Deccan to the petty government of
Moradabad.— (Elphinstone's India', \o\. ii., p. 580.)

§ In marching through Amber, Hussein Ali, to
punish the fidelity of Jey Sing to the emperor,
gave full scope to the rapacity of the soldiery, who
ravaged the land and carried away many persons, of
both sexes, into captivity. — {Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.)

158 SEYEDS MURDER FEROKSHEER AND CROWN MOHAMMED SHAH.

ceived large promises of increased rank and
influence, in return for co-operation against
Peroksheer, whose doom was now sealed by
the arrival of Hussein Ali, at the head of an
army devoted to him, and strengthened by
10,000 Mahrattas. Hussein immediately
demanded the dismissal of Jey Sing to his
own principality. Feroksheer complied, and
strove to deprecate the vengeance of his
enemies by the most abject submission,
giving no encouragement to the few nobles
who were still inclined to take part with
him. All was gloom and uncertainty, when
the townspeople suddenly rose against the
Mahrattas, upon which the Seyeds, taking
advantage of the disturbance, marched into
the city, forcibly occupied the palace, and
wrung by torture, from the women of the
seraglio, a knowledge of the hiding-place of
the unhappy emperor, who was seized, flung
into a dark closet, and soon afterwards put
to death in a cruel and insulting manner.
The body was then buried in that general
receptacle for the murdered princes of the
house of Timur — the sepulchre of Hu-
mayun : but the people evinced an un-
looked-for degree of grief; and of the needy
multitude who followed the funeral proces-
sion, no one could be induced to accept the
money brought for distribution, or partake
of the victuals prepared in conformity to
custom. Three days afterwards a number
of poor persons assembled at the place where
the corpse had been washed and perfumed,
according to Mussulman rites, and having
distributed a large quantity of food, sent for
several readers of the Koran, with whom
they passed the whole night in tears and
lamentations, separating in the morning in
an orderly manner.

" Oh, wonderful God ! " exclaims Khafi
Khan, in concluding the above narration,
" how did thy Divine justice manifest
itself in the several events of this revolu-
tion ! Feroksheer, in his days of power,
had strangled his own brothers, yet in their
tender years : he had murdered numbers of
innocent persons, and blinded others ; and
he was, therefore, destined to sufler all these
cruelties before he was permitted to die :
he was doomed to experience, from the

• Vide Siyar-ul-Mutahherin, vol. i., p. 193. From
using such language respecting two Seyeds, Khafi
Khan was evidently a Sonnite or Sunni (see note to
p. 62) ; and disputes between this sect and the
Sheiahs had risen to an alarming height during the
late reign, a violent affray having taken place be-
tween them in the capital. In Ahraedabad, a still
more serious contest, in which many lives were lost,

hands of strangers, all those agonies which
others had suflered at his. Nor did the two
brothers escape the day of retribution, or
go themselves unpunished : in a little time
they met with that same usage which they
had inflicted on others."*

During their remaining tenure of pros-
perity, the Seyeds exercised unlimited power.
Upon the deposition of Feroksheer, a sickly
prince of the blood-i-oyal was brought forth
from the seraglio, and crowned under the
name of Rafi-ed-derjut. He died of con-
sumption in little more than three months,
and his younger brother, Rafi-ed-dowlah,
being set up in his stead, fell a victim to
the same disease in a still shorter period.

Mohammed Shah was the title bestowed
by " the king-makers" on Roshen-aJrhter,
grandson to Bahadur Shah, whom they
raised to the throne on the death of Rafi-cd-
dowlah. This prince, now in his eighteenth
year, had been educated, like his predeces-
sors, in enervating seclusion; but he pos-
sessed an able counsellor in his mother, who
enjoined the most unhesitating acquiescence
with the will of his imperious protectors,
until the time should arrive when he might
safely defy their anger. The desired oppor-
tunity was not long in presenting itself.
The decease of the two pageant emperors
so soon after the murder of Feroksheer
(although really not the interest of the
Seyeds, but the reverse), had served to
deepen the distrust and dislike with which
they were generally regarded ;t and in Alla-
habad, Boondi, and the Punjaub, efforts
were made to take advantage of a govern-
ment which was daily becoming weaker.
In Cashmere, a furious contest took place
between the Hindoos and Mussulmans, pro-
voked by the persecuting and insulting con-
duct of the latter, in which some thousand
lives and much property were destroyed
before the authorities could restore tran-
quillity. But the most important event of
this period was the revolt of Cheen Kilich
Khan, the governor of Malwa. This chief,
whose descendants were the famous NizamsJ
of the Deccan, is better known by his titles
of Nizam-ool-Moolk or Asuf Jah, by which
he will henceforth be indiscriminately

had occurred between the Hindoos and the Mussul-
mans, in which the governor (Daud Khan Panni)
took part with the former.

t Rqfi-ed-derjut was said to have been poisoned
for attempting to contravene the will of the Seyeds.

X Nijam-ool-Moolk, signifies regulator of the state ,
" the Nizam," though scarcely a correct expression, is
commonly used by European writers to this day.

MOHAMMED SHAH TRIUMPHS OVER THE SEYEDS.

159

termed. His father, a Turk, had been a
favourite officer with Aurungzebe, under
whom he had himself served with distinc-
tion. The waywardness of Feroksheer had
induced him to take part with the Seyeds,
from whom he received the government of
!Malvva ; but their evident weakness tempted
his ambition, and induced him to levy
troops, and attempt the establishment of an
independent power in the Deccan. March-
ing to the Nerbudda, he obtained possession
of the fortress of Aseerghur, by the simple
expedient of furnishing the garrison their
two years' arrears of pay ; the citadel of Boor-
hanpoor was acquired in a somewhat similar
manner; and many Deccani officers, both
Mussulman and Mahratta, joined the in-
vader. Two armies were dispatched against
him from Malwa and Aurungabad; but Asuf
Jah, knowing the impetuous character of
one of the commanders (Dilawur Khan),
drew him into an engagement before he
could be supported by his colleague. Alum
Ali (a nephew of the two Seyeds) ; and both
forces were separately engaged and defeated,
with the loss of their respective leaders.

Much alarm was created at Delhi by the
tidings of these disasters; and a violent
earthquake, which occurred about this time,
deepened the gloom of the political horizon.
The usurping Ijrothers shared the general
feeling; and the young emperor, though
closely watched, began to form plans of de-
liverance from his wearisome tutelage, being

■ aided in this perilous enterprise by a noble-
man, named Mohammed Ameen Khan,
with whom he conversed in Turki, a lan-
guage unknown to the Indian, Seyeds. A
party was seCretly formed, in which the
second place was occupied by Sadut Khan,
originally a merchant of Khorasan, who had
risen to a military position, and eventually
became the progenitor of the kings of Oude.
These combinations were not unsuspected
by the brothers, between whom it was at

I length resolved that the younger, Hussein
Ali, should march against Asuf Jah, carry-
ing with him the emperor and certain no-
bles, leaving Abdullah at Delhi to watch
over their joint interests. Shortly after

• He appears to have been poisoned ; hut popu-
lar helief assigned a different cause for his death..
An impostor, named Nemud, had established
himself at Delhi, and promulgated a new scripture,
written in a language of his own invention, framed
from those spoken in ancient Persia, and had founded
a sect, of which the teachers were called Bekooks,
and the disciples, Feraboods. The Influence of the
new ])retender increased. His proceedings induced

their separation, Hussein AU was stabbed
in his palanquin while reading a petition
presented to him by the assassin (a Calmuck
of rank), who immediately fell under the
daggers of the attendants, a.d. 1720. Ab-
dullah, on learning his brother's death, set
up a new emperor, and hastily assembling a
large but ill-disciplined force, marched
against Mohammed Shah, who had now
assumed the reins of government. Chora-
man, chief or rajah of the Jats (vrhose num-
ber and influence had thriven amid the
general disorganisation), joined the vizier,
while Jey Sing sent 4,000 men to reinforce
Mohammed, who was further strengthened
by some chiefs of the Rohilla Afghans,
a tribe now rapidly rising into importance.
The armies met between Delhi and Agra, a
cruel signal being given for the commence-
ment of the conflict. Ruttun Chand hav-
ing been seized immediately after the murder
of Hussein Ali, was severely beaten and kept
in chains until the day dawned on which
the decisive encounter was to take place.
Then, when " the trumpets sounded and the
heralds had published three times, as usual,
that courage in war is safer than cowardice,"
the prisoner was decapitated, and his body
fastened to the elephant on which Ma-
hommed Shah sat, in the centre of his
troops, throughout the whole of the ensuing
day and night, which the contest occupied.
Abdullah Khan was at length defeated and
made prisoner, having received several se-
vere wounds, of which he died in the course
of a few months. Mohammed Shah entered
Delhi in triumph : the empress-mother re-
ceived him at the entrance of the haram,
bearing a basin filled with gems and new
coins, which she poured over his head, as a
" wave-offering" of joy and thanksgiving.
The puppet-prince, crowned by Abdullah
Khan, was sent back to his former seclusion,
happy in thus escaping punishment for the
part which he had been made to bear in the
late events. Mohammed Ameen Khan be-
came vizier, but had scarcely entered upon
the duties of his office, before he was taken
ill, and died, after a few hours of extreme
agony.* Asuf Jah was appointed as his

Ameen to issue orders for his apprehension ; but be-
fore they could be executed, the vizier was taken
ill, and his alarmed family, believing the wrath of
Nemud to be the cause of this sudden attack, en-
deavoured, by gifts and entreaties, to avert his ven-
geance ; but could obtain no other answer than — ■
that the arrow being shot, could not be recalled.
He was, nevertheless, left undisturbed, and died
about three years after. — (Siyar-id-Mutakherin.)

160 ASUP JAH (OR THE NIZAM) ESTABLISHED AT HYDERABAD, 1724.

successor,* it being hoped that his abilities
might prop up the falling monarchy. He
did not, however, choose to leave the Dec-
can until his arrangements with the Mah-
rattas should be placed ou a satisfactory
footing. Meanwhile Mohammed was left to
make his own terms with Ajeet Sing, whom
he had offended by breaking his secret
pledge, that as the reward of the rajah's
neutrality, with' regard to the Seyeds, he
should receive the government of Ajmeer,
in addition to that of Guzerat, which he
already possessed. But the hour of peril
having passed, its engagements were forgot-
ten; not only was Ajmeer withheld, but
Ajeet Sing was removed from Guzerat, upon
which, assembling a large army of Rajpoots,
he occupied Ajmeer, plundered Narnol, and
marched within fifty miles of Delhi, the
emperor being at length glad to compromise
the matter by confirming him in the posses-
sion of Ajmeer. This happened at the close
of 1731 : in the beginning of the following
year, Asuf Jah arrived in Delhi, and beheld
with dismay the shameless dissipation which
prevailed there. Corruption and intrigue
.were venial sins, if not necessary expedients,
in the sight of a diplomatist brought up at
the court of Aurungzebe; but indolence and
sensuality were vices of a class which Asuf
Jah held in well-merited abhorrence. It
would seem as if the emperor had by this
time cast off the salutary influence of his
mother, since, among the circumstances
that excited the stern reprobation of the
vizier, was that of the royal signet being
entrusted to the cave of a favourite mistress,
who accumulated a large fortune by means
of the petitions she was suffered to carry
within the seraglio. The dissolute com-
panions of the young monarch cordially
reciprocated the dislike of the minister, and,
from mimicking the antiquated dress and
formal manners of "the old Deccani ba-
boon," as they insolently termed him, soon
began to form serious conspiracies, which,
he perceiving, quitted Delhi on pretence of
a hunting excursion, and then sent in his
resignation of the vizierat. Returning to
the Deccan, he assumed the full powers of
an independent ruler ; still, however, affect-
ing to recognise the supremacy of Moham-
med Shah, who, with equal duplicity, re-
turned this empty compliment, by conferring
on him the highest titles that could be held
by a subject; but, at the same time, sent

* Asuf Jah signifies " in place and rank, as Asuf,"
who is supposed to have been Solomon's vizier.

secret orders to Mubariz Khan, the local
governor of Hyderabad, to endeavour to
dispossess Asuf Jah, and assume the vice-
royalty of the Deccan. Mubariz perished
in the attempt ; and Asuf Jah, not to be out-
done in dissimulation, sent his head to the
emperor, with presents and congratulations
on the suppression of the rebellion. Then,
fixing his abode at Hyderabad, he strove to
secure himself against the aggression of
the Mahrattas, by various manoeuvres, alter-
nately endeavouring to direct their efforts
against the Delhi court, or fomenting their
own internal divisions. Considerable changes
had taken place since the reign of Bahadur
Shah. The idiot son of Tara Bye died in
1713, and a party set up the claims of
Sumba, a child of the younger widow of
Rajah Ram. In the struggle between the
cousins, Shao acquired the superiority by
the favour of the Moguls, and maintained
it through the abilities of his minister,
Balajee Wiswanath (the founder of the
Brahmin dynasty of Peishwas), who, shortly
before his death, in 1720, obtained from
Mohammed Shah a ratification of the
treaty made with Hussein Ali Khan in
1717. Chout and surdeshmooki being
thus made legal claims, Balajee demanded,
ou account of the former, one-fourth of the
standard assessment fixed by Todar Mul
and Malek Amber ; but, as of this only a
small portion could now be realised from
the exhausted country, the best that could
be done was to secure at least 35 per cent,
of the actual receipts. The latter claim,
styled the rajah's wutun, or inheritance,
it suited both the foreign and domestic
policy of the Mahrattas to keep undefined;
" but," says Grant Duff, " one system in
practice — that of exacting as much as they
could, was as simple as it was invariable."t
The revenue thus acquired was parcelled
out by Balajee in assignments on various
districts, and distributed among different
chiefs, in such a manner as to give each an
interest in the increase of the general stock,
while to none was allotted a compact pro-
perty calculated to tempt its holder into
forming plans of independence. This was
the general rule; but some Mahrattas
were already landed proprietors, and others
were occasionally permitted to become so.
The complicated state of affairs which natu-
rally resulted from the above arrangements,
rendered the illiterate chiefs more than ever
dependent on their carcoons, or Brahmin
t History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 454.

BAJEE RAO (PEISHWA) AND ASUP JAH (NIZAM-OOL-MOOLK.) 161

clerks.* The power of the peishwas grew with
that of their caste ; and from being secondt
in the counsels of the rajah, they became
paramount even over their nominal master,
to which result, tlie talents and energy of Ba-
jee Rao, the son and successor of Balajee,
greatly contributed. This remarkable man
united to the enterprise and vigour of a
Mahratta chief J the polished manners and
address which frequently distinguish the
Brahmins of the Concan. He saw clearly
that the predatory hordes, so useful in an
enemy's country, would prove ungovernable
at home ; and, therefore, urged their imme-
diate employment in invading the northern
provinces. Shao hesitated : brought up in
a Mussulman seraglio, he had retained little
of the restless spirit of his countrymen ; but
when Bajee Rao pointed out the weakness
of the Mogul empire, adding, " now is our
time to drive strangers from the land of
the Hindoos — let us strike at the trunk of
the withering tree, the branches must fall
of themselves," the rajah, roused to enthu-
siasm by the prophecy that his standard
should fly from the Kistna to the Attock,
exclaimed — " You shall plant it on the
Himalaya, noble son of a worthy father." §
These ambitious projects were materially
forwarded by the disputes between the
emperor and Asuf Jah. The latter, while
vizier, had obtained possession of the go-
vernment of Guzerat ; but was deprived of
it, as also of Malwa, after his return to the

• " Bajee Rao," says Grant DufF, " had not leisure
to attend to detail or arrangement; the minute
divisions which were made of the revenues ceded by
the Moguls, served to provide hundreds of Brahmin
carcoons with bread ; and every one interpreted the
amount of his own or his master's claims to Surdesh-
mooki, Baptee, Mokassa, &c.; rather according to his
power to enforce his demands, than his ability to
prove their justice." — (Vol. i., p. 568.)

t The prithee nidkee, or representative of the
rajah, took rank above the eight ministers or purcl-
hans, of whom the peishwa was the chief; and Bajee
Rao long found a troublesome rival in Sreeput Rao,
the prithee nidhee, whose influence with the rajah
frequently obliged the peishwa to return to Sattara
while engaged in distant expeditions, lest his power
should be undermined through prolonged absence.

J During his first campaign against Bajee Rao,
the nizam, desiring to form an idea of the person
of his opponent, desired a famous painter in his
service to proceed to the hostile army, and take the
likeness of its leader, in whatever attitude he might
be first seen. The result was a sketch of the hand-
some figure of the peishwa, mountbd, with the head
and heel-ropes of his horse in its feeding-bag, his
spear resting on his shoulder, and both hands em-
ployed in rubbing some ears of ripening grain (the
common Jnowaree), which he ate as he rode.

§ Duff's Mahratlas, vol. i., p. 48(5.

Deccan. In Guzerat, Hameed Khan (AsuPs
uncle and deputy) resisted the occupation
of the newly-appointed governor, Sirbuland
Khan, and called in the aid of the Mah-
rattas (a.d. 1725), giving, in return, the
chout and surdeshmooki of the country
under him, which grant, Sirbuland Khan,
though victorious over Hameed, was even-
tually obliged to confirm. || Bajee Rao,
about the same time, made incursions into
Malwa, entrusting the chief commands to
the afterwards famous leaders, Puar, Holcar,
and Sindia.*f

The nizam (Asuf Jah), beheld with
alarm the growing power of the peishwa,
which he strove to undermine in various
ways. But secret plots and open hostility
alike failed;** and fearing that the emperor
might be disposed to revenge his insubordi-
nation, by transferring the viceroyalty to his
powerful foe, he changed his policy, and
made overtures to Bajee Rao, whicli pro-
duced the mutual good understanding neces-
sary to the immediate plans of both parties.

The presence of the peishwa was now
needed for the support of the Mahratta
interest in Guzerat, the court of Delhi
liaving refused to ratify the grant made by
Sirbuland Khan, who had been dismissed
from the government, and forcibly expelled
by his successor, Abhi Sing, rajah of Joud-
poor, the unnatural son of the brave Ajeet
Sing.ft Pilajee Guicowar (the ancestor of
the family still ruling in Guzerat) repre-

11 In 1729, he granted deeds, ceding ten per cent.
(surdeshmooki) of the whole revenue, both on the
land and customs, with the exception of the port of
Surat and the district around it ; together with one-
fourth (chout) of the whole collections on the land and
customs, excepting Surat; and five per cent, on the
revenues of the city of Ahmedabad. — (Grant Duff's
Historji of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 514.)

^ Udajee Puar was a chief before his connection
with the peishwa. Mulhar Rao Holcar was a shep-
herd on the Neera, south of Poona ; and Sindia,
though of a respectable family, near Sattara, had
acted as a menial servant to Bajee Rao.

•• The nizam first affected to doubt whether the
money due from his revenues was to be paid to Shao
or Sumba ; but this question was decided by the
treaty which the latter was compelled to sign, ac-
cepting, in lieu of all other claims, a tract of country
round Kolapoor, bounded on the west by the sea.
Asuf Jah next allied himself with a powerful leader,
named Dhabari (the hereditary tenaputee, or com-
mander-in-chief), who had mainly assisted in the esta-
blishment of Mahratta power in Guzerat, and viewed
with envy the paramount sway of Bajee Rao.
Dhabari assembled an army of 35,000 men, and
marched against the peishwa, by whom he was de-
feated and slain, A.D. 1731.

tt Ajeet Sing refusing to sanction the nefarious
schemes of the two Seyeds, they sent for his son, and

163 MAHRATTAS ADVANCE TO THE GATES OF DELHI— a.d. 1736.

sented the rights or claims of the Mahrattas
ill that district j and Abhi Sing, finding him
a formidable adversary, procured his removal
by assassination. This crime roused the in-
dignation of the countrymen of the deceased:
his son and brother appeared in great force ;
the hill tribes of Bheels and Coolies flocked
round their standard ; and, beside throwing
the whole province into confusion, made a
sudden in-uption into the hereditary domi-
nions of the Rajpoot governor, who, leaving
a very inefficient deputy in Guzerat, with-
drew to defend his own principality. In
Malwa, the fortune of the Moguls was
equally on the decline : Bajee Rao invaded
it in person in 1 733, and, taking advantage
of the hostility between Mohammed Khan
Bungush, the viceroy of Malwa and Allaha-
bad,* and the rajah of Bundelcund, whose
territory lay between those two provinces,
made common cause with the latter, and
succeeded in expelling the imperial governor.
The Bundelcund rajah, in return for this
co-operation, ceded the territory of Jausi,
on the Jumna, to the peishwa, and, at his
death, bequeathed to him certain rights in
"Bundelcund, which paved the way to the
occupation of the whole of that country
by the Mahrattas. Rajah Jey Sing II., of
Amber, was now made viceroy of Malwa.
This prince, so celebrated for munificence,
learning, and love of science,t does not
seem to have inherited the Rajpoot passion
for war. He considered it hopeless to
oppose the partition of the empire, and,
therefore, surrendered the province to the
peishwa (a.d. 1734), with the tacit con-
currence of Mohammed Shah, on whose
behalf it was still to be held. By this
conduct, Jey Sing is said, by his own coun-
trymen, " to have given the key of Hin-
doostan to the Southron ;" but it is certain
that he strove to curb the excesses of the
Mahrattas, whose power and influence con-
tinued to increase during the two following

informed him that the deposition and death of his
father were the only means of averting the destruc-
tion of Marwar. 15y the offer of the indejjendent
sovereignty of Nagore, Abhi Sing prevailed on his
younger brother, Bukht Sing, to murder their
father, who was stabbed while sleeping. The mother
of these parricidal sons burnt herself with her hus-
band's body ; and no less than eighty-four persons
shared her fate ; for, says Tod, " so much was Ajeet
beloved, that even men devoted themselves on his
pyre." — {Rajast'han, vol. i., p. 745.)

* Mohammed Khan threw himself into a fort, and
was almost driven to surrender at discretion, when
his wife sent her veil (the strongest appeal to Afghan
honour) to her countrymen in Rohilcund; and by

years, at the expiration of which Bajee Rao,
after a short interval spent in arranging the
internal aff'airs of the Deccan, again took
up the negotiation, and demanded, as the
price of peace, a jaghire, comprising no-
thing less than the whole province of Malwa,
and all the country south of the Chumbul,
together with the holy cities of Muttra,
Allahabad, and Benares. As the Mah-
rattas, like many other diplomatists, inva-
riably began by demanding much more than
they expected to obtain, the emperor tried
to pacify them by minor concessions, in-
cluding authority to levy tribute on the
Rajpoots, and to increase that already
legalised on the territories of Asuf Jah.
This permission had the doubtless desired
efl^ect on the mind of the nizam. Be-
coming seriously alarmed by the rapid pro-
gress of his allies, he thought he had carried
his policy of weakening the Moguls too far,
and listened gladly to the solicitations of
Mohammed Shah, who, overlooking his
reliellious conduct, now earnestly desired his
assistance. The courtiers, likewise, chang-
ing their tone, began to reckon upon the
advice of the nizam as that of " an old
wolf who had seen much bad weather."
Asuf Jah was yet deliberating how to act,
when Bajee Rao marched towards the
capital, sending a detachment of light troops,
under Holcar, to ravage the country beyond
the Jumna. Sadut Khan, the governor of
Oude, advanced to the defence of the ad-
joining province; and the clieck given by
this spirited proceeding was magnified into a
decided victory, the report of which occa-
sioned excessive rejoicing at Delhi, and so
galled Bajee Rao, that avoiding the army
sent out to meet him, he advanced at the
rate of forty miles daily, being resolved, as
he said, to prove to the emperor that he
had not been expelled from Hindoostan by
showing him flames and Mahrattas at the
gates of the capital. J As his object was,

means of the volunteers thus assembled, her husband
was rescued and escorted to Allahabad. ( Scott, vol. ii.)

f This prince occupied the gadi, or cushion of
Amber, for forty-four years. When dismissed by
Feroksheer {see p. 158), he retired to his hereditary
dominions, devoting himself to the study of asti-onomy
and history. He built the city of Jeypoor ; erected
observatories, furnished with instruments of his own
invention, at Delhi, Jeypoor, Oojein, Benares, and
Mat'hura, upon a scale' of Asiatic grandeur ; and
caused Euclid's Elements, the Treatises on Plain and
Spherical Trigonometry, and Napier on the Consir.uc-
tion and Use of Logarithms, to be translated into
Sanscrit. — [Rajast'han, vol. ii., p. 358.)

t Duff's Mahrattas. vol. i., n. 532.

TAHMASP NADIR KOOLI, AFTERWARDS NADIR SHAH.

163

however, to intimidate rather than pro-
voke, he exerted every effort to prevent
the devastation of the suburbs by his troops,
and, for this purpose, drew off to some
distance from the city. This movement
being attributed to fear, induced the Moguls
to make a sally ; but they were driven back
with heavy loss. The approach of the im-
perial forces, and also of Sadut Khan, warned
Bajee Rao of the necessity of making good
his retreat to the Deccan, which the nizam
quitted some months later for Delhi, tempted
by the promise not only of the vizierat, but
also of the viceroyalty of Malwa and Guzerat,
provided he could expel the Mahrattas.

With an army of about 34,000 men under
his personal command, supported by a fine-
train of artillery and a reserve, the nizam
advanced to Seronje against his formidable
foes, while Bajee Rao crossed theNerbudda at
the head of a nominally-superior force. Tliis
circumstance, added perhaps to reliance on
his artillery, led Asuf Jah, with character-
istic caution, to establish himself in a strong
position close to the fort of Bhopal, and
there await the enemy. But he ought to
have been better acquainted with Mahratta
tactics. Seldom formidable in pitched bat-
tles, they gladly avoided a decisive encounter,
and resorted to their usual plans of laying
waste the surrounding country, intercepting
all communication, and attacking every de-
tachment that ventured beyond the lines.
Dispirited by watching and privation, many
of the nizara's troops were inclined to desert ;
but Bajee Rao gave them no encouragement,
well knowing, that so long as the blockade
could be secured, the greater the numbers
the greater their straits. After the lapse of
a month or six weeks, Asuf Jah, straitened
for supplies, and completely cut off from the
reserve force, attempted a retreat northward,
under cover of his powerful artillery, but
was so harassed by the Mahrattas as to be
compelled to come to terms, and agree, on
condition of being suffered to pursue his
humiliating march unmolested, to give up
Malwa, with the complete sovereignty of all
the country from the Nerbudda to the Chum-
bul, solemnly engaging to use his best en-

* " I tried hard," says Bajee Rao, in a letter to
his brother, " to get something from the nabob him-
self ; but this I scarcely expected. I recollected his
unwillingness to part with money when I entered on
an agreement to assist him ;" alluding to their com-
pact six years before. — (Buff, vol. i., p. 542.)

t T}u! Wonderful being used as a title of the
Divinity. The father of Nadir Kooli belonged to
the Turki tribe of Afshar, and earned his livelihood

deavours to procure from the emperor a
confirmation of this cession, together with
a payment of fifty lacs of rupees (£500,000),
to defray the peishwa's expenses.* Ba-
jee Rao proceeded to occupy the territory
thus acquired ; but before the decision of the
emperor could be pronounced, an event oc-
curred which, for the time, threw into the
shade the internal dissension that mainly
contributed to bring upon unhappy Hin-
doostan so terrible a visitation.

Invasion of Nadir Shah. — The last men-
tion made of Persia was the circumstance
of the intended hostilities between Shah
Abbas II. and Aurungzebe being broken off
by the death of the former monarch in 1666.
Since then, great changes had occurred.
The Saffavi, or Sophi dynasty, after a dura-
tion of two centuries, had fallen into a state
of weakness and decay ; and Shah Hussein,
the last independent sovereign of that race,
was defeated and deposed by Mahmood, the
leader of the Afghan tribe of Ghiljeis, who
usurped the throne of Persia, a.d. 1722.
Two years (spent in the unsparing destruc-
tion of the wretched Persians, whose nume-
rical superiority was their worst crime in
the eyes of their barbarous conquerors) ter-
minated the career of Mahmood : he died
raving mad, and w^s succeeded by his
nephew, Ashruf. The new king resisted
successfully the assaults of the Russians
and Turks, who entered into a confederacy i
for dismembering Persia, the western pro-
vinces of which were to be appropriated by ;
the Porte; the northern, as far as the Araxes,
by Peter the Great. The death of the czar
relieved Ashruf from these difficulties ; but
a more formidable foe arose in the person j
of Prince Tahmasp, the fugitive son of Shah j
Hussein, whose claims were supported by a
freebooting chief, already widely celebrated
as a daring and successful leader, under the
name of Nadir Kooli, slave to the Won-
derful.-^ On entering the service of the
prince, this designation was exchanged for
that of Tahmasp Kooli Khan, the lord who
is slave to Tahmasp; but when, after some
severe struggles, the Afghans had been ex-
pelledjf this nominally-devoted adherent,

by making coats and caps of sheep-skins : his famous
son was born in Khorasan, in 1688. An uncle of
Nadir Kooli's, who appears to have been at the head
of a small branch of the Afshars, was governor of
the fort of Kelat ; but, having quarrelled with his
turbulent nephew, fell a victim to his resentment,
Nadir Kooli slaying him with his own hand.

X Ashruf was murdered by a Beloochee chief, be-
tween Kerman and Candahar, in 1729.

164 PERSIANS, UNDER NADIR SHAH, INVADE INDIA— a.d. 1738.

finding his master disposed to exercise the
prerogatives of royal ty,fouiid means to depose
tim, and place his infant sou on the throne,
usurping the sole authority under the name
of regent. Repeated victories over the Turks,
ending in a treaty of peace with both Turkey
and Russia, rendered this soldier of fortune
so popular in Persia, that he felt the time
i.ad arrived to. give free rein to ambition.
The boy-king died opportunely at Ispahan ;
aud Nadir, assembling the army and the
leading persons in the empire, to the num-
ber of 100,000, in the spacious plain of
Mogham, bade them choose a ruler. They
named him unanimously ; upon which he,
after a hypocritical declaration that he
looked upon the voice of the people as
the voice of God, and would therefore abide
by their decision, although it contravened
his own intention in calling them together,
accepted the crown, on condition of the
general renunciation of the Sheiah doc-
trine and the establishment of that of the
Sunnis, or Sounites, throughout Persia.
This proviso was evidently designed for
the purpose of eradicating any lingering
■ regret from the public mind regarding the
Saffavis, who had ever been the champions
of the Sheiah sect : but it proved unsuc-
cessful ; for the people secretly adhered to
their former belief, and its prohibition, to-
gether with the strangling of the refractory
chief moollah, oi- high-priest, only served to
alienate them from their new ruler, who,
on mounting the throne (a.d. 173G), as-
sumed the title of Nadir Shah, the Won-
derful King.

Hostilities with the Ghiljeis, from whom
Candahar was captured after a close blockade
of nearly a twelvemonth, brought Nadir
Shah to the frontiers of the Mogul empire.
He could not be ignorant of its weakness;
and the prospect thus afforded of lucrative
and congenial employment for the warHke
tribes who owned his sway, offered tempta-
tions not to be resisted. In such cases,
pretexts are seldom wanting ; nor were they
now. While besieging Candahar, Nadir
Shah had applied to the court of Delhi
for the seizure or expulsion of some Afghans
who had fled into the country near Ghuznee ;
a demand to which the indolent and effete

• Khan Dowran, and his supporters, treated the
account of the intercepted embassy from Cabool as a
report originated by Nizam-ool-Moolk and the Turani
party at court, and jeeringly declared, that the houses
of Delhi had very lofty roofs, from which the citizens
might see Nadir Shah and his troopers from afar
whenever they chose. — Siyar-ul-3Iutakherin, p. 414.

government, after a long interval, returned
an ambiguous answer, being, it would ap-
pear, at once unable to comply with the
request, and disinclined to acknowledge the
title of the Persian sovereign. Nadir Shah .
advanced on Ghuznee and Cabool, and, from
the latter place, which he captured with
little difficulty, sent another messenger to
Delhi, who failed in fulfilling his embassy,
being cut off, with his escort, hj the Afghans
at Jellalabad.* This circumstance was set
forth as warranting the invasion of India;
and after spending some months in settling
the affairs of the country round Cabool,
Nadir marched to the eastward in October,
I738.f Even these proceedings failed to
rouse the supine authorities at Delhi, or
teach the necessity of merging internal
strife in defensive operations against a com-
mon foe. They knew that Cabool was
taken, but believed, or tried to believe,
that the mountain tribes and guarded passes
between that city and Peshawer would check
the further advance of the invading force,
although, in fact, even this barrier had been
cast down by the peculation or misplaced
economy of Khan Dowran, the ameer-ul-
omra, who, by withholding tlie sum of twelve
lacs of rupees, formerly sent every year for
the payment of guards, had caused the break-
ing up of garrisons, until roads and defiles
being all unwatched, marauding Afghans or
invading Persians alike passed without ob-
struction. Its commencement being unop-
posed, the march of Nadir Shah was speedy
and terrible. Having sacked Jellalabad, he
passed through Peshawer, crossed the Attock
in boats, and entered Moultan. The governor
of Lahoremade some show of opposition, over
which Nadir triumphed with little difficulty ;
and, in fact, met with no serious opposition
until, on approaching the Jumna, within 100
miles of Delhi, he found himself in the
neighbourhood of the whole Indian army.

Mohammed Shah, at length thoroughly
roused to a sense of the impending calamity,
strove to meet the danger it was now too
late to avert ; and, being joined by Asuf Jah,
moved to Kurnaul, where he occupied a
fortified camp. Sadut Khan, the viceroy of
Oude, arrived to join his sovereign ; and
Nadir Shah, by attempting to intercept

t The number of his force is nowhere satisfac-
torily stated. Fraser, in one place {History of Nadir
Shah, p. loo), gives the total, including armed fol-
lowers, at 1()0,000 ; but, in a previous page, a more
distinct enumeration, made by a Persian news-writer
at the camp at Jellalabad, only shows 64,500 lighl-
ing-men and 4,000 followers.

DELHI MASSACRE BY NADIR SHAH AND THE PERSIANS. 165

him, commenced hostilities, which issued in
a general engagement. lu this battle it
would appear, that few (if any) Rajpoot
princes took part, no longer caring to shed
their blood for a foreign dynasty, whose
ingratitude they hated, and whose weakness
they despised. Even in this emergency,
disunion prevailed in the Indian camp.
Asuf Jah, from some real or pretended mis-
conception, took no part in the action.
Khan Dowran, the commander-in-chief, was
killed; Sadut Khan taken prisoner; and Mo-
hammed Shah, seeing his troops completely
routed, had no resource but to send Asuf
Jah to offer his submission, and repair him-
self, with a few attendants, to the Persian
camp. Nadir Shah, considering the affinity
between himself, as of Turcoman race,
(though the son of a cap-maker), and the
defeated monarch (a lineal descendant of
the house of Timur), received his unwil-
ling visitor with every demonstration of
respect, and would probably have accepted
a ransom, and spared Delhi, but for the
selfish intrigues of Sadut Khan and the
nizam. The accounts recorded of this
period differ materially;* but it is certain,
that after some time spent in apparently
fruitless negotiations. Nadir Shah marched
into Delhi, established himself in the palace,
distributed his troops throughout the city,
and stationed detachments in different places
for the protection of the inhabitants. During
the first day strict discipline was maintained,
and all was quiet, though, probably, the
usurpers could as ill-disguise their exulta-
tion as the Indians their hatred and disgust ;
but on the second, a rumour spread of the
death of Nadir Shah,t and the citizens im-
mediately rising, slew all the Persians within
reach, to the number of 700, including some
of those who had been stationed for the
protection of private dwellings. The tumult
continued during the whole night : at day-

* According to the Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, Nadir
Shah, at an interview with Asuf Jah (procured by
the diplomacy of the captive, Sadut Khan), consented
to conclude a peace, and return to his own domi-
nions, on condition of receiving two crores of rupees
(£2,000,000 sterling), a piece of intelligence which
so delighted Mohammed Shah, that he instantly
conferred the office of ameer-ul-omra on the suc-
cessful mediator. Sadut Khan, enraged by the suc-
cess of his rival, told Nadjr Shah, that the ransom
he had consented to receive was absurdly insuffi-
cient — that he himself could afford to pay it from
his private fortune ; and, by these treacherous repre-
sentations, induced the invader to violate his pledge,
enter the city, and pillage it without mercy.

t This rumour is said to have been spread by the

break. Nadir Shah mounted his horse and
sallied forth, believing that his presence
would at once restore order by proving the
falsity of the current report. Flights of
stones, arrows, and fire-arms from the houses,
soon undeceived him ; and one of his chiefs,
being killed at his side by a shot aimed at
himself, he ordered his troops to retaliate,
and not leave a soul alive wherever they
should discover the corpse of a Persian.
This command, which, of course, warranted
nothing less than a general massacre, was
eagerly obeyed : the soldiery entered the
houses, and gave free loose to those hateful
passions — covetousness, lust, revenge; the
true " dogs of war." The streets of Delhi
streamed with blood; many thoroughfares
became blocked up with carcasses ; flames
burst forth in various places, where the
wretched citizens, distracted by the thought
of beholding their wives and children in the
hands of the foe, had preferred sharing with
them a fiery death ; the shrieks and groans
of the dying and the dishonoured pierced
the air, overpowering at moments the fear-
ful imprecations, or yet more fiendish scof-
fing of their persecutors ; and from sunrise
to broad noon these horrid sights and sounds
continued unabated. Nadir Shah, it is
said, after issuing the murderous order, went
into the little mosque in the Great Bazaar,
near the centre of the city, and there re-
mained in gloomy silence until he was
aroused by the entrance of Mohammed
Shah, whose deep distress (for though weak
and sensual, he was compassionate and
gentle) obtained a command for the termi-
nation of the massacre. The prompt obe-
dience of the troops, is quoted by histo-
rians as a remarkable proof of discipline;,
but these tigers in human form must have
been weary of a slaughter, in which, ac-
cording to the lowest trustworthy statement,
30,000 human beings were put to the sword. J

proprietors of certain granaries, which nad been
forcibly opened, and the wheat sold at a low price.

X Nadir-nameh, translated from Persian into
French, by Sir W. Jones ( Works, vol. v.) Scott
states the number at 8,000; but Mr. Elphinstone
naturally remarks, that it is incredible so small a re-
sult should have been produced by a detachment of
20,000 men, employed for many hours in unresisted
butchery (vol. ii., p. 630.) Fraser, who among much
valuable authority, quotes the journal of a native
Indian, secretary to Sirbuland Khan, writes — " of
the citizens (great and small), 120,000 were slaugh-
tered: others computed them at 1 50,000 j" adding,
in a note, "about 10,000 women threw themselves
into wells, some of whom were taken out alive, after
being there two or three days." — (pp. 185-187.)

166 IMMENSE SUMS EXTORTED FROM PEOPLE OP DELHI— 1739.

The wretched survivors seem to have wanted
energy even to perform the funeral obsequies
of the dead. " In several of the Hindoo
houses," says Fraser, " where one of a family
survived, he used to pile thirty or forty car-
casses a-top of one another, and burn them :
and so they did in the streets ; notwithstand-
ing which, there still remained so many, that
for a considerable time, there was no such
thing as passing any of those ways." After
some days, the stench arising from the mul-
titudes of unburied dead becoming intole-
rable, the bodies were dragged into the
river, thrown into pits, or else collected to-
gether in heaps, without distinction of Mus-
sulman, or Hindoo, and burned with the
rubbish of the ruined houses, until all were
disposed of.

The sufferings of the wretched people of
Delhi were not yet complete; the rapacity
of Nadir afforded fresh cause for bloodshed-
diug, aggravated by cruel tortures. The
usurper sat on the imperial throne, receiv-
ing costly offerings from the humiliated
monarch and his degraded courtiers. He
now demanded, under the name of peishcush
(a gift), a sum stated at from twenty-five
to thirty million sterling,* exclusive of the
jewels, gold-plate set with gems, and other
articles already appropriated. How to pro-
vide this enormous ransom was a new diffi-
culty; for Mohammed Shah was far from
inheriting the wealth of his ancestors. The
prolonged wars of Aurungzebe, and the con-
tinued struggles of his successors, had well
nigh emptied the treasury ; and the present
emperor had neither striven to replenish it
by legitimate methods, nor, to his credit, be
it recorded, by injustice or oppression. The
jezia had been formally abolished at the
commencement of his reign ; and he alone,
of all the Great Moguls, had steadily re-
fused to confiscate the property of deceased

• Siyar-ul-Mutakherin ; on the authority of Haz.
veen, an eye-witness; and Scott's Zleccon, vol. ii., p. 208.

•j- Dow's account of this period, though very in-
teresting, is not deemed reliable; the rumours in
circulation at the period, being too often suffered to
usurp the place of carefully-sifted facts. This want
of judgment is aggravated by the infrequency with
which he gives authorities for particular stafements.
He describes Nadir Shah as having been invited to
Hindoostan by Asuf Jah and Sadut Khan, and after-
wards represents him as reproaching them for the
treachery, by which he had gained the battle of Kur-
naul, and spitting upon their beards. The nizam, see-
ing the fury of Sadut at this public disgrace, proposed
that they should end their lives by poison, which
being agreed to, they returned to their respective
homes. Sadut, doubting the sincerity of his wily
colleague, sent a messenger to his house to discover

nobles, leaving, not a small portion, as a
matter of favour, for the maintenance of
their families, but suffering the appropria-
tion of the whole as a matter of right. The
result was, that Mohammed Shah had com-
paratively little to lose : even the famous
peacock-throne, now seized by Nadir, had
been deprived of its most costly ornaments ;
and other portions of the imperial regalia
were proportionately diminished in value.
During the administration of the Seyeds,
large sums had been abstracted from the
treasury ; and even the gold and silver rails
of the hall of audience had been coined
into money. A large quantity of gold,
silver, and jewels was found in vaults,
sealed up long ago (probably by Shah
Jehan), and immense sums were levied from
the nobles. Neither the crafty nizam nor
his treacherous rival, Sadut Khan, were
exempted from furnishing their quota, the
former being compelled to disgorge treasure
exceeding in value a million and a-half
sterling ; the latter, above a million ; while
both were treated by the conqueror with un-
disguised contempt and distrust. Sadut
Khan died suddenly, whether from the
eflfects of disease, anger, or poison, is an
open question : the old nizam lived on,
waiting for the turn of the wheel des-
tined to restore to him that political power
which was the sole end and aim of his
existence.f The means of exacting the
required tribute grew severe in proportion
to the difficulty of its obtainment. The
property of the nobles, merchants — even of
the smallest tradesmen — was subjected to an
arbitrary assessment, which, being frequently
much above the actual value, impelled num-
bers of all ranks to commit suicide, as a
means of avoiding the disgrace and torture
likely to follow their inability to furnish the
amount required;! while others perished

whether the oath had been carried into effect. Being
made aware of the presence of the spy, the nizam
swallowed an innoxious draught, and pretended to faii
down dead. The trick succeeded ; Sadut Khan took,
poison, and died, leaving his rival to exult over his
wicked device. — {Hindoostan, vol. ii., p. 425.)

X The vakeel from Bengal, being ordered to send
for seven crore of rupees, said, " so much would fill a
string of waggons from Bengal to Delhi ; for which,
beingroughlyused,he went horae,and murdered him-
self and family." (Fraser, p. 200.) The rough usage
here alluded to was probably a severe bastinadoing ;
since that punishment was frequently inflicted on
men of station and character, by the orders and in
the presence of Nadir Shah, whose partiality for this
species of discipline is strange enough, since, if the
authorities quoted by Fraser may be relied on, he had
I been himself, in early youth, br.stinadoed by the

DEPARTUKE OF NADIR SHAH PRQM DELHI— APRIL, 1739. 167

under the tortures inflicted by the merce-
nary wretches to whom the power of extort-
ing the tribute was farmed, and who made
their own profit, or wreaked their private
revenge unchecked, amid universal misery
and desolation. " It was before a general
massacre, but now the murder of individuals.
In every chamber and house was heard the
cry of aflSiction. Sleep and rest forsook the
city." The pangs of hunger and sickness
were not long absent ; and " no morning
passed that whole crowds, in every street
and lane, did not die." * The citizens vainly
strove to escape these multiplied calamities
by flight ; the roads were blocked up ; and
all such attempts punished by mutilation of
the ears or nose ; until at length — the dignity
of human nature subdued by terror — the
wretched sufferers slunk away into holes
and corners, and cowered down before their
oppressors like the frightened animals of the
desert. The Persian horsemen sallied forth
in different directions, seeking provisions
and plunder ; ravaging the fields, and killing
all who offered resistance ; but were occasion-
ally attacked by the Jats, who had taken up
arms. Intelligence of what was passing at
Delhi had reached the Deccan : it was even
reported that 100,000 Persians were advanc-
ing to the southward. Bajee Rao, undis-
mayed, prepared to meet them, declaring,
that domestic quarrels and the war with the
Portuguese were to him as nought — there
was now but one enemy in Hindoostan.
" Hindoos and Mussulmans," he said, " the
whole power of the Deccan must assemble ;
and I shall spread our Mahrattas from the
Nerbudda to the Chumbul." Nadir, how-
ever, does not appear to have had any inten-
tion of risking his rich booty by exposing it
to the chances of Mahratta warfare. He
contented himself with inveighing bitterly
against the insolence of the infidel " wretches
of Deccan," in venturing to demand tribute
from the dominions of a Mussulman emperor,
and the weakness of the government by which
it had been conceded ; and then, having
drained to the uttermost those very re-
sources on which the means of resisting

order of Shah Hussein, " until his toe-nails dropt off."
However, it is doubtless true, that in forming an
opinion regarding the use of the rod, it makes all the
difference which end falls to our share.

* Scott's History of the Deccan, vol. ii., p. 210.
This description is quoted from a journal kept by an
eye-witness, during this terrible epo'-n. The work
somewhat resembles De Foe's masterpiece — the
Plague of London; though the misery which it re-
cords is of a far more varied character.

similar extortion depended, he prepared to
quit the desolated city. Before departing,
he caused a marriage to be celebrated be-
tween his son and a princess of the house
of Timur, with a degree of regal magnifi-
cence sadly at variance with the gloom and
desolation which prevailed throughout the
once stately capital. Seating Mohammed
Shah anew on his dishonoured throne (after
severing from the Mogul empire the whole
of Sinde and Cabool, together with some
districts that had always been set apart for
the pay of the garrisons of the latter pro-
vince), he placed the crown upon his head,
and bade him keep strict watch over the
intrigues and corruption of his courtiers —
especially of Asuf Jah, who was too cunning
and ambitious for a subject. To this advice
he added an assurance, that in the event of
any cabals, an appeal from Mohammed
Shah would bring him to his assistance,
from Candahar, in forty days ; and although
this speech would, at first sight, appear only
an additional insult, yet it is just possible,
that it was dictated by a sort of compas-
sionate feeling, which the misfortunes of
the delicately-nurtured, indolent, and easy-
tempered monarch had awakened in the
breast of his victorious foe, whose mental
characteristics contrasted no less forcibly
than the extraordinary physical powers of
his stalwart frame,t with the handsome but
effeminate person and bearing of his victim.
To the principal Hindoo leaders, including
Jey Sing, Abhi Sing, Shao, and Bajee Rao,
Nadir Shah issued circular-letters, bidding
them " walk in the path of submission and
obedience to our dear brother ;" and threat-
ening, in the event of their rebellion, to
return and " blot them out of the pages of
the book of creation."J On the 14th of
April, 1739, the invader quitted Delhi, after
a residence of fifty-eight days, bearing with
him plunder in coin, bullion, gold and
silver plate, brocades, and jewels (of which
he was inordinately fond) to an incalculable
extent. The money alone probably ex-
ceeded thirty million. § Numerous elephants
and camels were likewise carried away, as

+ Fraser's description of a weather-beaten man, of
fifty-five — above six foot high, very robust, with large
black eyes and eyebrows — exactly coincides with the
full-length picture of Nadir Shah preserved in the
India-house. His voice was so strong, that he could,
without straining it, give orders to the troops at
above 100 yards' distance. — (Fraser, p. 227.)

X Scott's Deccan, vol. ii., p. 215.

§ Scott, Fraser, and Hanway. The Nadir-nameh
states it at only 15 million : but this is not probable.

168

REIGN OF MOHAMMED SHAH RESUMED.

also many hundreds of skilful workmen and
artificers. Exactions were levied in the
towns and villages through which the re-
treating army marched, until they reached
Cabool, where the mountaineers threatened
to attack them ; and Nadir, considering that
the soldiers had suffered much from the
intense heat, and were heavily laden with
booty, thought it best to purchase forbear-
ance, and reached Herat in safety, where he
proudly displayed the spoils of Hindoostan.*

Reign of Mohammed Shah resumed. — The
Persian invasion had plunged the court and
people of Delhi into a " slough of despond,"
from which it was long before they sum-
moned sufficient resolution to attempt extri-
cating themselves. The state of public
affairs held forth no promise that future
prosperity might make amends for past suf-
fering ; and the worst of all indications of
the decadence of the empire, was the readi-
ness with which the courtiers relapsed into
the habits of sensuality and intrigue, that
had rendered them impotent to resist the
power of a foreign foe; while the lower
classes?, imitating their apathy, grew to re-
gard the brutal escesses of the Persian
soldiery, rather as a subject of coarse mer-
riment than deep humiliation; and, in
mimicking their dress and manners, gave
vent to feelings no less different from what
may be termed the natural dignity of un-
civilised man, than from the magnanimous
forgiveness of injuries, which is the very
crown of Christian virtue.

The influence of Asuf Jah was now su-
preme at Delhi. He was supported by the
vizier, Kamer-oo-deen, with whom he was
connected by intermarriage, and by a few
leading families, who being, like himself, of
Turki descent, were called the Turani no-
bles. He was secretly opposed by a large
number of malcontents, among whom the
emperorwas thought to be included; and thus
the counsels of government were again weak
and divided at a time when there was most
need of energy and union. On the depar-
ture of Nadir Shah, Rajee Rao sent a letter

• A portable tent was constructed from the spoils j
tlie outside covered with scarlet broad cloth, and the
inside with violet-satin, on which birds and beasts,
trees and flowers, were depicted in precious stones.
On either side the peacock^throne a screen extended,
•domed with the figures of two angels, also repre-
lented in various-coloured gems. Even the tent-
poles were adorned with jewels, and the pins were of
massy gold. The whole formed a load for seven
elephants. This gorgeous trophy was broken up by
Kadir Shth's nephew and successor, Adil Shaji. —

to the emperor, expressive of submission
and obedience, together with a nuzur, or
offering of 101 gold raohurs, and received in
return a splendid Ichillut,^ accompanied by
assurances of general good-will, but not by
the expected sunnud, or grant of the go-
vernment of Malwa, an omission which the
peishwa naturally attributed to a breach of
faith on the part of the nizam. Had Bajee
Rao, on this, as on previous occasions,
chosen to advance to the gates of the capi-
tal, and there insist on the confirmation of
the agreement, he might have probably
done so with impunity, so far as the Moguls
were concerned; for Nadir Shah had
ravaged the only provinces which the Mah-
rattas had left intact; the imperial army
was broken up, and the treasury completely
empty. But Bajee Rao was himself in a
critical position : hostilities abroad, intrigue
at home, crippled his ambitious plans, and
surrounded him with debt and difficulty.
His foreign foes were the Abyssinians of
Jinjeera, and the turbulent sons of Kanhojee
Angria, of Kolabah, a powerful chief, whose
piracies (which he called levying chout on
the sea) had rendered him a formidable
enemy to the Portuguese and English.

After the death of Kanhojee, in 1 728, a
contest ensued between his sons. Bajee
Rao took part with one of them, named
Mannajee, whom the Portuguese also at
first assisted ; but, being disappointed of the
expected reward, changed sides, and ap-
peared in arms against him. For this in-
constancy they paid dearly by the loss of
their possessions in Salsette, Bassein, and
the neighbouring parts of the Concan ; and
hostilities were still being carried on, when
the tacit refusal of the Delhi government to
recognise his claims, induced the peishwa
to direct his chief attention to his old an-
tagonist, the nizam. Before recommencing
hostilities in this quarter, it was necessary to
provide against the coalition of the prithee
nidhee with other domestic foes (of whom
the chief was Rugojee Bhonslay, of Be-
rar,J and the next in importance, Dummajee

{Memoirt of Khqfeh Abdulktirreem, a Cashmerian of
distinction, in the service of Nadir Shah. Gladwin's
translation, Calcutta, 1788, p. 28.)

t A khillut comprises a complete dress, or sir-pa
(head to foot), with the addition of jewels, horse,
elephant, and arms.

J Parsojee, the founder of the Bhonslay family,
from whom sprang the rajahs of Berar, being one of
the first to tender allegiance to Shao on his release
at the death of Aurungzebe, was promoted from the
rank of a private horseman to high position. Not-

DEATH OF THE PEISHWA, BAJEE EAO— a.d. 1740.

169

Guicowar, of Guzerat), who, envying his
power, were plotting its overthrow, under
pretence of emancipating their mutual sove-
reign. This difficulty Bajee Rao met by
engaging the Bhonslay chief in a remote
expedition into the Carnatic ; but another,
of a different character, remained behind.
The vast army he had kept up, and the
necessity of giving high rates of pay, in
order to outbid the nizam, and secure the
best of the Deccan soldiery, had induced
him to incur an expenditure which he had
no means of meeting.* The troops were in
arrears, and, consequently, clamorous and
inclined to mutiny. His financial arrange-
ments would appear to have been far inferior
to those of Sevajee ; and, as a nation, the
MahrattaSj from various causes, no longer
found war a profitable employment. Still,
Bajee Rao persisted in endeavouring to
carry out his ambitious designs, and taking
advantage of the absence of the nizam, sur-
rounded the camp of his second son, Nasir
Jung, who had been left in charge of the
viceroyalty. The defence was carried on
with such unlooked-for vigour, that after
some months of active hostility, the peishwa
became convinced that his means were in-
adequate to the task he had undertaken,
and entered into an accommodation with
his young and energetic opponent. The
prudence of the general triumphed over the
rash valour of the soldier; yet it was a
moment when many in his position would
have been inclined to struggle on ; for it
would appear, that his retreat to court was
cut off by the machinations which he had
sought to circumvent by procuring the ab-
sence of Rugojee Bhonslay. Addressing
his mahapooroosh, or spiritual adviser, he

withstanding the coincidence of his surname with that
of the rajah, they do not appear to have been related.

• The soucars, or bankers, to whom he already
owed a personal debt of many lacs of rupees, refused
to make any further advances ; and he forcibly de-
scribes his embarrassments, by declaring — " I have
fallen into that hell of being beset by creditors ; and
to pacify soucars and sillidars (military commanders),
I am falling at their feet till I have rubbed the skin
from my forehead"- — a figurative expression, used in
allusion to the Hindoo custom of placing the fore-
head at the threshold of the temple, or at the feet
of the idol, in humble supplication.

t History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 559. The
manner of his death does not appear.

\ Bajee Kao left three sons — Balajee Bajee Rao,
Rugonat Rao, or Ragoba (who was at one time
much connected with the English), and Shumsheer
Bahadur, to whom, though the illegitimate offspring of
a Mohammedan woman, and brought up in that creed,
he bequeathed all his claims and possessions in Bun-

writes — "I am involved in diSiculties, in
debt, and in disappointments, and like a
man ready to swallow poison : near the
rajah are my enemies; and should I at this
time go to Sattara, they will put their feet
on my breast. I should be thankful if I
could meet death."t After such an avowal,
there is something strange and startling in
the fact that Bajee Rao set off suddenly,
with his army, towards Hindoostan, with
what object is not known, but only lived to
reach the Nerbudda, on whose banks he
expired in April, 1740.J

Rugojee Bhonslay, although about be-
sieging Trichinopoly when he heard of the
death of his rival, instantly hastened to
Sattara; but being obliged to leave the
greater part of his army behind him, had
no sufficient force to cope with Balajee
Bajee Rao, who asserted his hereditary
claim to succeed to the office of his father ;
neither was Dummajee Guicowar ready to
take the field. In this conjuncture, Rugojee
proposed that Bappoojee Naik,§ a connec-
tion, but bitter foe (because a disappointed
creditor of the late peishwa's), should be ap-
pointed to the vacant position ; and very
large sums were offered to Shao, on condi-
tion of his seconding the arrangement.

These attempts failed ; and Balajee Bajee
Rao was formally appointed by the rajah.
Being answerable for his father's debts,
he was immediately assailed by Bappoojee
Naik with the harassing pertinacity fre-
quently exercised by Mahratta creditors. ||
From this persecution, his own efforts, ably
seconded by the influence and credit of his
dewan (treasurer, or high steward), relieved
him; and, after more than a year spent in
internal arrangements, he prepared to resist

delcund. The names of the peishwas (first Balajee,
then Bajee, and now Balajee Bajee, combined) will,
it is to be feared, confuse the reader ; but the allite-
ration is unavoidable.

§ Brahmin soucars and money-changers assume
the appellation of Naik.

II A species of dunning, called tuquazu, is practised
as a trade. Several men, hired for the purpose, fol-
low the debtor wherever he goes, and establish
themselves at the door of his house, subsisting all
the while upon the food with which the invariable
custom of the country obliges him to supply them.
If humble petitions and insolent demands alike fail,
the creditor himself sometimes resorts to the last
expedient (as Bappoojee Naik did in the present
instance), bv the practice of dhurna—t\\dX is, by
taking up his position in person, as a dun, and ob-
serving a rigid fast, in which his unfortunate debtor
is compelled by that powerful agent, public opinion,
to imitate him, even at the hazard of starvation,
until he can induce him to raise the siege.

170 ALI VTiRDI KHAN, OF BENGAL— WAR WITH MAHRATTAS, 1745.

the encroachments of inimical Mahratta
chiefs, and to demand the government of
Malwa from the Delhi court.

In the interim, no endeavour had been
made by the Mogul party in the Deccan to
take advantage of the dissensions in the
Mahratta state. The active viceroy, the
successful opponent of Bajee Rao, had been
fully occupied in rebellion against his own
father, the nizam, who, in 1741, marched into
the Deccan to oppose his refractory represen-
tative, and received, during his progress, a
personal visit from the new peishwa, together
with the assistance of a body of troops.

Rugojee Bhonslay, upon the failure of his
political schemes at Sattara, returned to the
Carnatic, and after the successful termination
of the campaign, by the surrender of Trichi-
nopoly and the capture of Chunda Sahib,
the soubahdar (or, according to the English
phrase, the nabob), he sent a force into Bengal
under his Brahmin minister, Bhaskur Punt.

At this period, the viceroyalty of Bengal
was possessed by Ali Verdi Khan (some-
times called Mohabet Jung.) This celebrated
individual was of Turki descent, and had
been promoted by Shuja Khan, the late
viceroy, to the subordinate government of
Behar. After his death, Ali Verdi turned
his arms against Serferaz Khan, the son and
successor of his late patron, slew him in
battle, and usurped the government, for
which he obtained an imperial firman by
dint of large bribes and hypocritical as-
surances of devoted submission. He made
a determined resistance to Bhaskur Punt;*
but, alarmed by the advance of Rugojee in
person, he besought the emperor to assist
him in the defence of the province ; and this

• Ali Verdi Khan was encamped at Midnapore,
when he heard of the approach of Bhaskur Punt, at
the head of 40,000 horse. He marched to Burdwan,
and there strove to bring on a general engagement,
which the Mahrattas of course avoided, and ravaged
the environs with fire and sword, offering, however,
to evacuate the country on payment of ten lacs of
rupees. This Ali Verdi refused ; and resolving to
force his way to Moorshedabad, issued orders
that the heavy baggage and camp-followers should
remain at Burdwan. Instead of obeying, the peo))le,
terrified at the idea of being left to the mercy of the
enemy, persisted in accompanying the retreating
army ; and the result was, that on the first day's
march, the Mahrattas surrounded the line, and cap-
tured the chief part of the stores, artillery, and tents.
The sum previously demanded as the price of peace
was offered, but rejected : Bhaskur Punt would now
accept nothing less than a crore of rupees (a million
sterhng), with the surrender of all the elephants.
Ali Verdi refused these degrading terms, and con-
tinued his retreat, for three days, through a flat

request resulted in an appeal for aid to the
peishwa, seconded by the long-withheld grant
of the viceroyalty of Malwa.

Such an invitation would have been at all
times welcome ; for the Mahrattas were in-
variably solicitous to find excuses for inter-
fering in the affairs of the various provinces
still more or less subject to Mogul rule, and
were ever labouring silently to increase their
influence. In the present instance, Balajee
Bajee was especially glad to be called in to
act as an auxiliary against his private foe,
and immediately marching by Allahabad
and Behar, he reached Moorshedabad in
time to protect it from Rugojee, who was
approaching from the south-west. After
receiving from Ali Verdi the payment of an
assignment granted to him by the court of
Delhi on the arrears of the revenue of
Bengal, the peishwa marched against the
invader, who retired before him, but was
overtaken, and suffered a rout and the loss
of his baggage before he was completely
driven out of the province, a.d. 1743. The
reprieve thus purchased for Bengal only
lasted about two years; for the peishwa,
who, in the name of his sovereign, Rajah
Shao, wielded the power of the head of a
confederacy of chiefs, rather than that of a
despotic ruler, found it necessary to come
to terms with Rugojee, by ceding to him the
right of levying tribute in all Bengal and
Behar, if not also in Allahabad and Oude.
Bhaskur Punt was again sent to invade
Bengal (1745), and proceeded with success,
until he suS'ered himself to be inveigled
into an interview with Ali Verdi Khan, by
whom he was treacherously murdered. Of
twenty-two principal officers, only one (Ru-

country, amid heavy rains, constantly harassed by
the enemy, and greatly distressed for food and shelter.
On the fourth morning he reached Cutwa ; and al-
though the foe had been beforehand with him, by
setting on fire the magazines of grain, enough
remained to afford means of subsistence to the
famishing soldiery until further supplies could be
procured. Yusuf Ali Khan, one of Ali Verdi's
generals, states, that the first day of the march,
he and seven nobles shared between them about one
pound's-weight of kichery (boiled rice, mixed with
pulse) i the next, they had a few pieces of a sweet con-
fection ; the third, a small quantity of carrion, which,
while it was cooking, was eagerly watched by others,
who could not be refused a single mouthful. The
common soldiers strove to maintain life on the bark
of trees, leaves, grass, and ants.- — (See Siyar-ul-
3Iutakherin, done into Erjglish by a Frenchman, in
3 vols. 4to.) This translation, though full of gallicisms,
is of great value to inquirers on Indian history ; since
the able labours of General Briggs, as yet, extend
only over the first part of the first volume.

DISSENSIONS AND INTRIGUES OF THE DELHI COURT, 1741 to 1745. 171

gojee Guicowar) escaped, having been left
ia charge of the camp, and by him the army
was conducted back to Berar. No long time
elapsed before an opportunity to revenge
this perfidious massacre arose, as a direct
consequence of the crime itself; for Mustapha
Khan, the leader of a body of Afghans who
had borne the chief part in it, quarrelled
with Ali Verdi for withholding the promised
reward — namely, the government of Behar.
Both parties were well aware that assassina-
tion was an expedient likely enough to be
attempted, and soon came to open hostilities,
in which the Afghans supported their coun-
trymen. Rugojee Bhonslay took advantage
of this state of affairs to invade Orissa, where
he obtained possession of several districts,
and named 30,000,000 rupees as the sum
■ for which he would spare the remainder, and
quit the country. Before narrating the result
of these proceedings, which occupied several
years, it is necessary, for the sake of the
chronological succession of events, to return
to the court of Delhi. On the departure of
Asuf Jah for the Deccan, a.d. 1741, his place
at court was taken by his son, Ghazi-oo-
deen, the son-in-law of the vizier, Kamer-
oo-deen. These two nobles, being closely
united by political and by domestic ties, re-
sisted successfully many intrigues and com-
binations; but they fought with the same
unholy weapons that were employed against
them. Treacherous and sanguinary deeds
became frequent, offering unmistakable evi-
dence of the weakness as well as wickedness
of those who bore sway, and indicating to
all accustomed to watch the decline of
national power, its rapidly-approaching dis-
solution. The only person who appears
to have profited by the bitter medicine of
adversity, was the emperor ; he became a
wiser and a better man : but long-continued
habits of ease and indolence are not to be
lightly broken ; and he gladly sought refuge
in the devotion of the closet, from the cares,
vexation, and intrigue which beset the
council-chamber. Nevertheless, '-'while he
lived, the royal name was respectable, and
his prudence sustained the tottering fabric
of the state from falling into total ruin ; but
he could not repair the unwieldy fabric."*

Of the various communities whose separate
existence was more or less fostered at the
expense of the empire, the only one against
which Mohammed Shah took the field in
person, after the departure of the Persians,
was that founded by the Rohillas, an Afghan
• Scott's History of the Deccan, vol. ii, p. 223.

colony, composed chiefly of Eusofzeis and
other north-eastern tribes, who had acquired '
possession of the country east of the Ganges,
from Oude to the mountains, and, under a
chief named Ali Mohammed, had attained
to so much importance, as to be with diffi-
culty reduced to even temporary submission.
Turbulent and rebellious as subjects, they
were yet more dangerous as neighbours ; and
scarcely had tranquillity been partially re-
stored in the territory above designated,
before a formidable combination of Afghans,
in their own dominions, threatened India
with another desolating irruption. The chief
cause was an event which, above all others,
would have been least expected to contribute
to such a result — namely, the assassination
of Nadir Shah, the spoiler of Hindoostan,
whose leading share in the expulsion of the
hated Afghan dynasty and victories over the
Turks, had gained him a degree of renown
which, despite his crimes, made him the
boast of his subjects. On returning to Per-
sia, he was received with the utmost enthu-
siasm ; and the troops whom he had trained
and led to conquest, gloried in the renown of
their successful leader. At first, it appeared
as if he were disposed to use his ill-gotten
wealth for the relief and improvement of his
kingdom ; but it soon became evident, that
the hardening influence of rapine and
slaughter had extinguished every better
impulse, fostered his evil passions, and
rendered the once enterprising adventurer
nothing better than a cruel and capricious
coward. Even his ability and energy in
war seemed to fail; and his latest proceedings
against the Turks evinced little of his early
skill. When this contest was terminated by
a treaty. Nadir Shah, no longer occupied by
external hostilities, gave free vent to his
fierce, savage, and dastardly nature, and
instead of the boast, became the terror and
execration of his country. All around him
trembled for fear of becoming the object of
suspicions which their slavish submission
served only to increase. Among other
atrocities, he accused his eldest son of having
incited an attempt to kill him by a shot,
which slightly wounded him while traversing
a forest in one of his campaigns ; and,
although there appeared no reason to think
that the assassin was not one of the enemy,
the unhappy prince was blinded at the com-
mand of his still more unhappy father, who,
in a paroxysm of gloom and remorse, subse-
quently caused no less than fifty of his chief
nobles to be put to death, because they had

172 NADIR SHAH MURDERED— KINGDOM OF CANDAHAR FOUNDED, 1747.

witnessed the execution of his wicked sen-
tence without one prayer for mercy.* Covet-
ousness was one of the distinguishing vices
of his advancing age; and, instead of pursuing
his avowed intention of relieving the Per-
sians from the pressure of taxation by means
of his enormous private wealth, he became
extortionate and oppressive, as if ravaging a
conquered territory. Disaffection and re-
volts ensued, and afibrded pretexts for
fresh cruelties. Whole cities were depopu-
lated; towers of heads raised to commemorate
their ruin : eyes were torn out ; tortures in-
flicted; and no man could count for a
moment on his exemption from death in
torments. t The mad fury of Nadir was
aggravated by his knowledge of the angry
feelings excited, at the time of his accession,
by the prohibition of the Sheiah doctrines,
and the confiscation of the lands and stipends
of the priests, and his conviction that, after
all, the people generally, maintained the for-
bidden opinions. At length, he came to
regard every Persian as his enemy, and
entertained for his protection a band of
Uzbeg mercenaries, placing his entire confi-
dence on them and the Afghans, tasing a
delight in aggrandising these, his former
enemies, at the expense of his own country-
men. To such a height had his madness
attained, that he actually ordered the Afghan
chiefs to rise suddenly upon the Persian
guard, and seize the persons of the chief
nobles ; but the project being discovered,
the intended victims conspired in turn ; and
a body of them, including the captain of
Nadir's guard, and the chief of his own tribe
of Afshar, entered his tent at midnight, and
after a moment's involuntary pause — when
challenged by the deep voice at which they
had so often trembled — rushed upon the
king, who, being brought to the ground by
a sabre-stroke, begged for life, and attempted

* Elphinstone's India, vol. ii., p. 652.

f The sole exception is that afforded by his desire to
encourage commerce ; but even this was, for the most
part, only another incentive to despotic and harsh
measures. To foreign traders he, however, extended
protection ; and Jonas Hanway, the eminent mer-
chant, who visited his camp at a time when all Persia
was devastated by his exactions, obtained an order
that the property of which he had been plundered,
during a rebellion at Asterabad, should be restored,
or compensation given instead.

X Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 653, on the authority of
P^re Bazin, a Jesuit, who acted as physician to Nadir
Shah during the last years of his life. Malcolm
states, that being suddenly aroused from sleep, the
king started up, and had slain two of the meaner
assassins before a blow from Salah Beg, the captain
at hi» guards, deprived him of life.

to rise, but soon expired beneath the repeated
blows of the conspirators. J

With the morning light, the rumour oi
this sanguinary deed spread alarm and
amazement throughout the army. The
Afghans, under the command of a young
chief, named Ahmed Khan, the head of the
Abdalli tribe, were joined by the Uzbegs in
an efibrt made in the hope of being still in
time to rescue Nadir Shah; but being re-
pulsed, and finding that the Shah was really
dead, they marched to Candahar, obtained
possession of that city, and captured a large
convoy of treasure on its way from Cabool
and Sinde to the Persian treasury. Ali,
the nephew of the murdered monarch, was
placed on the vacant throne under the name
of Adil Shah,§ and, during his short and
inglorious reign, had probably neither the
ability nor inclination to interfere with the
proceedings of Ahmed Khan, who, having
rapidly extended his influence over the
neighbouring tribes and countries, including
Balkh, Sinde, Cashmere, and other pre-
viously-conquered provinces, was, in the
course of a few months, formally declared
king of Candahar. In the plains and cities
he established absolute authority ; but the
Afghan tribes retained their internal govern-
ment : Beloochistan, Seestan, and some other
places remained under their native chiefs,
but owned allegiance and military service.
Without, however, waiting the settlement of
all the above-named countries, Ahmed Shah
directed his attention to India as a means
of employing his army and increasing his
pecuniary resources. The coronation fes-
tivities were scarcely concluded before he
marched to the eastward, and, having rapidly
subjugated all the territory as far as the
Indus, proceeded to invade the Punjaub.
The viceroy being in revolt, could claim no
aid from the Delhi government ; and Ahmed,

§ To assuage the fears of the guilty chiefs by
whom he was raised to the throne, Adil Shah pub-
licly but falsely declared, that he had himself incited
the deed by which Persia had been relieved from the
curse of a despot, who delighted in blood. This
character was equally applicable to himself; for he
slew the unfortunate blind prince, Reza Kooli, and
thirteen of Nadir's sons and grandsons, sparing only
Shah Rokh, a lad of fourteen, who was afterwards
protected in his residence at Meshhed, by Ahmed
Shah, who possessed dependencies immediately to
the east of that city. All the assassins of Nadir did
not escape with impunity ; for the Afshar leader,
having incurred the displeasure of Adil Shah, was
delirered over to the vengeance of the female rela-
tives of the murdered monarch, by whom he was cut
to pieces. — (Malcolm's Hittory of Persia, vol. ii.,
p. 66.)

ABDALLI OR DOORANI INVADERS DEFEATED AT SIRHIND, 1748, 173

with little difficulty, triumphed over the
feeble opposition offered to his usurpations,
and occupied Lahore and other towns on
the road to the Sutlej. News of his approach
had reached the court, and Prince Ahmed,
the heir-apparent, with Kamer-oo-deen, the
vizier, at the head of the Mogul army, were
sent to arrest his progress.* They had taken
possession of the fords of the Sutlej ; but the
Candahar king, despite the inferior number
of his troops, resolved to force a passage ;
and having succeeded in crossing at an
unguarded, because unfordable part, left the
enemy in his rear, and advancing against
Sirhind, captured that place, together with
the baggage, stores, and guns deposited
therein. The Moguls, intimidated by the
rapidity of these movements, intrenched their
camp, soon after which the vizier was shot
by a cannon-ball ; but the army continued
to repel the assaults of the Dooranis (as the
AbdaUis were now termed),t and on the
tenth day succeeded in effecting their com-
plete defeat, obliging them to march off
homeward during the ensuing night.

Mohammed Shah expired within a month
of this victory (a.d. 1748), and his only son,
Ahmed, ascended the throne. For the first
time from the commencement of the Indian
annals of the house of Tirnur — in the be-
ginning of the 15th century — the succession
was uncontested. J In truth, it was a woe-
ful heritage — little to be coveted by the
most ambitious pretender.

Reign of Ahmed Shah. — The events of the
next eighteen years can scarcely be woven
into a connected narrative. The Great
Mogul is no longer the chief feature in the
picture ; his proceedings have ceased to
form the centre around which all other inci-
dents could be easily and naturally grouped ;
the governors of provinces, from simple ser-
vants of the crown, having become indepen-
dent powers, whose assistance their nominal
sovereign was glad to purchase, at any cost,
to ward off a foreign foe.

After the battle of Sirhind, the victor sent
a governor to the Punjaub, believing that

• Elphinstone states his force at 12,000 men;
Elliot's Hiifiz Rehmet at 15,000; but the Siyar-ul-
Mutakherin at 67,000 horse.

\ By the advice of a dervish, who had predicted
his future greatness, Ahmed assumed the title of
Door-dowran (the pearl of the age) ; and the Abdalli
tribe took the name of Doorani.

X The accession of Jehangeer can scarcely be
deemed an exception, since opposition was attempted
before the death of Akber ; and by Prince Khoorum
vitbin four months after.

important province secured to the empire by
the retreat of the Afghan monarch ; but this
latter, on learning that the prince had been
recalled to Delhi, by the illness of his father,
turned back before he had reached the
Indus, and forced from the newly-appointed
viceroy an engagement to pay a permanent
tribute. Ahmed Shah, anxious to forni
connections which should enable him to
provide against the incursions of his turbu-
lent neighbour, offered the " ink-stand of the
vizierat"§ to Asuf Jali, who had become
reconciled to his son, Nasir Jung, and wab
employed in consolidating his own power
over the territories in the Deccan, conquered
with so much difficulty by the most powerful
of the house of Timur, and so easily snatched
from their feeble descendants. The nizana
declined the proffered office, on account of
his great age, and died, shortly after, at
Boorhanpoor, in his ninety-sixth year. |1

Nasir Jung assumed his father's govern-
ment, and Sufdur Jung (son and successor
of Sadut Khan) became vizier, on condition
of retaining likewise the viceroyalty of
Oude. In the northern part of that pro-
vince, the Rohillas had again become for-
midable, and the efforts of the imperial
force were directed to their suppression.
Sufdur Jung acted in this matter with
shameless ingratitude,^ and his ill-dis-
ciplined troops sacked their own towii
of Bara (famous for being peopled by
Seyeds), and massacred such of the inhabi-
tants as attempted resistance. The Ro-
hillas, though greatly inferior in number,
gained a complete victory; wounded the
vizier, set the imperial power at defiance,
and penetrated to Allahabad. In this emer-
gency, the common error was committed of
avoiding one danger by incurring another
involving greater, though less immediate
hazard. Mulhar Rao Holcar, and Jeiapa
Sindia, had been recently sent to Malwa by
the peishwa: to them Sufdur Jung now
applied for aid; as also to Suraj Mul, rajah
of the Jats. With these auxiliaries, he de-
feated the Rohillas, in a pitched battle ;

§ An ornamented ink-stand, or rather ink-horn, is
the insignia of office worn by viziers.

II Or 104 lunar years, according to the Moham-
medan mode of computation ; their years consisting
of 13 months— of 28 days 6 hours each,

^ He induced Kaium Khan Bungush, the Afghan

fovernor of Furruckabad, to conduct the war against
is own countrymen. Kaium was slain in battle,
and his employer strove to dispossess the widow of
the chief part of her legitimate possessions, but with
no avail ; for the people rose upon his representative,

.174 ROHILLA AFGHANS SUBDUED, 1751.— MAHRATTA AFFAIRS.

drove them into the lower branches of the
Himalaya, about the Kutnaon range, which
forms their north-eastern boundary, and by
authorising the Mahrattas to le-vy the pro-
mised subsidy on the conquered territory,
soon reduced his foes to such straits for sub-
sistence, that they submitted on the sole
condition of receiving the assignment of a
few villages for their chiefs.

In the Deccan many important changes
had occurred since 1745, when Rugojee
Bhonslay, taking advantage of the rebellion
of Mustapha Khan, had invaded Orissa. The
defeat of the Afghans, and the fall of their
leader, in an attempt to obtain possession of
Behar, relieved Ah Verdi from one dangerous
foe, and enabled him to direct his efforts to
the expulsion of the Mahrattas. In this un-
dertaking he was less successful ; driven off
at one point, they attacked another, fighting
ever in true Cossack* style, until Ali Verdi,
in 1751, weary of beholding his fertile plains
desolated by their incursions, and possibly
influenced by the craving for quiet, natural
to the old age of even men of war, bought
off the invaders by the cession of Cuttack
(the southern division of Orissa), and an en-
gagement for the annual payment of twelve
lacs of rupees, as the chout of Bengal and
Behar. This very inadequate sum, Rugo-
jee was doubtless induced to accept by the
necessity of returning to the Deccan, where
the renewal of internal strife among the
Mahrattas, and the quarrels and intrigues of
the sons of Asuf Jah, together with the am-
bitious projects of M. Bussy, the French
leader, warned every wandering chief to
guard his home interests.

The death of Shao, in 1750, gave the
expected signal for a struggle between the
peishwa and his rivals. The rajah was
childless, and had not complied with the
Hindoo custom of adopting an heir. His
wife, Sawatri Bye, an intriguing and ambi-
tious woman, had strongly urged the claims
of the nearest relative, the rajah of Kola-
poor; but Shao, who, after remaining for
some years in a state of imbecility, had
shortly before his death recovered his
senses, rejected this candidate, because he
also was without offspring, and declared
that he had received a private intimation

and called in the Rohillas, against whom the vizier
took the field in person. — (Scott, vol. ii., p. 225.)

* The Mahrattas have borrowed this term from
the Moguls, finding it perfectly applicable to their
favourite mode of warfare.

of the existence of a posthumous son of
Sevajee II., who had been concealed by
Tara Bye. The story sounded sufficiently
improbable : but the peishwa and Tara Bye
agreed in asserting its truth ; and the former
procured from the rajah an instrument,
transferring to him all the powers of the
government, on condition of his maintaining
the royal dignity in the house of Sevajee,
through its newly-discovered representative
and his descendants. Whether this docu-
ment was authentic or not, the peishwa
acted as if it had been so, by placing the
alleged grandson of Tara Bye on the throne,
with the title of Ram Raja, and by removing
all obstacles to his own supremacy either by
force, fraud, or bribery. The prithee nidhee
was seized and thrown into prison, and
Sawatri Bye goaded into performing suttee,
in accordance with her own declaration,
made before her husband's death, to dis-
guise her real designs. Rugojee Bhonslay,
who was anxious to prosecute his annual
incursions into Bengal — not having then
come to the above-mentioned agreement
with Ali Verdi — formally acknowledged the
succession of Ram Raja, receiving, in return,
a portion of the confiscated lands of the
prithee nidhee, and other concessions;
while the good-will of Holcar and Sindia
was secured by assignments of almost the
entire revenue of Malwa.t Believing his path
now clear, Balajee Bajee left the rajah at
Sattara, under the control of Tara Bye, and
starting from Poona, to which place he
had before transferred his residence, and
which may be henceforth considered as the
Mahratta capital, proceeded to take part in
the civil war that had broken out between
the sons of the late nizam. He was speedily
recalled to Delhi by the machinations of
Tara Bye, who, having vainly endeavoured
to induce her weak and timid grandchild to
assert his independence, and set aside the
dominant influence of the peishwa, vehe-
mently declared, that she believed he was,
after all, no true descendant of Sevajee, but
a base-born Gonedulee,{ having been
changed, at nurse, by the cottagers to
whose ch;irge he had been confided; then
throwing him into a damp, stone dungeon,
with the coarsest grain doled out as food,

£1,500,000, £750,000 was allotted to Holcar;

£650,000 to Sindia; and £100,000 to Puar and

other chiefs.— (DufFs Mahrattas, vol. ii., p. 40.)

+ The Gonedulees are a low cast of musicians, in

1 the house of one of whcm Rajah Ram (according to

t Of the annual revenue, estimated at about I the statement of Tara Bye) had been first concealed.

THE EMPEUOR, AHMED SHAH, BLINDED AND DEPOSED— 1754. 175

the old virago assumed the government in
her own name, and called in the assistance
of Dummajee Guicowar, who had previously
refused to acknowledge the succession of
Ham Rajah. Dummajee was treacherously-
captured by the peishwa at a pretended
friendly interview, and his army completely
dispersed. Tara Bye proved a more trouble-
some opponent, being regarded by the people
as the rightful regent ; besides which, popular
superstition attributed to her the possession
of supernatural power ; but whether she was
a deo or a dyt — that is, a good or an evil
spirit — was a disputed point, though one on
which most persons, acquainted with her
character and history, would scarcely enter-
tain much doubt.

At Delhi, another revolution was impend-
ing. During the absence of the vizier in
Rohilcund, the Dooraui king had extorted
from the emperor the cession of the Punjaub ;
and this arrangement, though it would seem
to have been almost inevitable, the vizier
made the pretext for insult and reproach;
and soon after, vented his jealous spleen by
the assassination of Jaweed, a eunuch much
favoured by the emperor and his mother, at
a banquet to which the victim had been
purposely invited. Exasperated by this out-
rage, Ahmed Shah turned to the ameer-
ool-omra for aid against the vizier. Tliis
young man, named Shaab-oo-deen,* was
grandson to Asuf Jah, and had inherited too
much of his ancestor's unprincipled am-
bition to hesitate taking any part that pro-
mised to gratify his dominant passion ; he,
therefore, gladly sided with the emperor
against the very man whose patronage had
placed him in an influential position. -A
civil war ensued, determined not by one
great battle, but carried on for six months
in daily combats in the streets, during which
time the vizier being a Sheiah, and his oppo-
nent a Sunni, the war-cry of their respective
adherents was the test-word of either sect.
Becoming wearied of this unprofitable con-
test, the rival ministers came to terms ; and
the unhappy monarch, betrayed by both,
made an effort to assert his independence ;
but being captured by the Mahratta auxili-
aries of his treacherous servants, under
Mulhar Rao, was delivered over into the
hands of the ameer-ool-omra, by whom he
was deposed and blinded, together with the
queen his mother, a.d. 1754.

* Ho also bore his father's and grandfather's title
of Ohazi-oo-deen ; but to avoid confusion, I have
adhered to his original appellatitm.

Alumgeer II. — Under this name a prince
of the blood was placed on the vacant throne
by Shaab-oo-deen, who, upon the death of
the vizier, which happened about this
time (at Lucknow, the capital of Oude), took
upon himself the vacant office, and soon
afterwards marched towards Lahore, secretly
hoping to take advantage of the state of
affairs in the Punjaub. Upon the death
of the Mogul governor, whom Ahmed Shah
had continued in his office after the cession,
his infant son had been appointed to the
viceroyalty under the tutelage of his mother.
It so happened, that Shaab-oo-deen had been
affianced to the daughter of the late viceroy,
and he now approached on pretence of claim-
ing his bride. The marriage festivities were in
course of celebration, when a sudden attack
was made upon the town, and the governess
captured in her bed. While being conveyed
to the camp, she vehemently denounced the
treachery which had been practised, declar-
ing, that the vengeance of Ahmed Shah
would be swift and terrible. Her prediction
was verified: the Doorani king marched
rapidly from Candahar, passed through the
Punjaub without opposition, and advanced
upon Delhi to enforce his demand of pecu-
niary compensation. The culprit escaped
through the intercession of his mother-in-
law, whom he had contrived to conciliate;
but the devoted city was again given over
to pillage and slaughter, Alimed Shah, if
willing, being quite unaljle to restrain the
excesses of his soldiery. A detachment
was sent into Bengal to levy a contribution,
and Ahmed proceeded in person to Agra,
against the Jats, with n similar object. The
troops enforced his exactions by the most
barbarous methods, and found, in bigotry,
an excuse and incentive for the indulgence
of their natural ferocity. The ancient and
venerated city of Muttra was surprised dur-
ing the celebration of a religious festival, and
the defenceless worshippers massacred with-
out distinction of sex or age.

Happily, the career of these destroyers
was stopped by the excessive heat, which
occasioned an alarming mortality among
them, and compelled Ahmed Shah to re-
nounce the siege of the citadel of Agra,
which was defended by a Mogul governor,
and be content with the money already
levied. Before returning to his own terri-
tories, he married a princess of the house
of Timur, and affianced another to his son,
afterwards Timur Shah. He also caused an
able and enterprising Roliilla chief, named

176

ALUMGEER II. ASSASSINATED— NOVEMBER, 1759.

Nujeeb-oo-dowla, to be appointed ameer-
ool-omra at the especial request of the
emperor, who hoped to find in him a coun-
terpoise against his intriguing vizier. This
scheme failed ; for Shaab-oo-deen called in
the assistance of the Mahrattas, under
Ragoba (brother to the peishwa), who had
recently acquired notoriety by his proceed-
ings in Guzerat, and in levying contributions
on the Rajpoot states. Thus aided, the
vizier forcibly re-established his paramount
influence in Delhi, the prince, afterwards
Shah Alum, having first escaped to a place
of safety, and Nujeeb to his own country
about Seharunpoor, to the north of Delhi.

The ascendancy of his ally being se-
cured, Ragoba next turned his attention to
the Punjaub, where a turbulent chief, named
Adina Beg, whose whole career had been a
aeries of intrigues, was plotting the over-
throw of Ahmed Shah's sway by means of
the Sikhs, who, during the late disorders,
had again become considerable. Ragoba,
seeing in this disorganisation the promise
of an easy conquest, marched to Lahore
(May, 1758), and took possession of the
whole of the Punjaub, the Dooranis retiring
across the Indus without hazarding a battle.
The death of Adina Beg threw the power
wholly into the hands of the Mahrattas,
who now began to talk unreservedly of
their plans for the obtainment of unques-
tioned supremacy over the whole of Hin-
doostan. These pretensions, though little
likely to be vigorously contested by the no-
minal emperor, were opposed to the interests
of various individuals, especially of Shuja-
oo-dowla, who had succeeded his father,
Sufdur Jung, in the government of Oude,
and who now joined his hereditary foes,
Nujeeb-oo-dowla and the Rohillas, against
the common enemy. The first result of
this alliance was the invasion of Rohilcund
by the Mahrattas, and the destruction of
1,300 villages in little more than a month :
but Shuja marched from Lucknow to the
relief of his allies, and drove the invaders,
with heavy loss, across the Ganges, obliging
their leader, Duttajee Sindia, to conclude a
peace, which he did the more readily on
account of the reported approach of Ahmed
Shah from Cabool.

The retaliation of the Afghan ruler for
the expulsion of his son from the Punjaub,
had been retarded by the attempt of Nadir
Khan, chief of the Beloochees, to establish his
entire independence ; but this question was
no soouer settled than Ahmed, for the fourth

time, invaded India (September, 1759), ad-
vancing by the southern road of Shikarpoor
to the Indus, and marching along its banks
to Peshawer, where he crossed the river and
entered the Punj aub. The Mahrattas ofi"ered
no obstacle ; and he continued his progress
towards Delhi, avoiding the swollen rivers,
keeping near the northern hills until he
passed the Jumna, opposite Seherunpoor.

The approach of the Afghans greatly
alarmed the vizier, who, conscious of the
friendly feeling existing between Ahmed
Shah and the emperor, thought to remove
an obstacle from his path, and ensure a safe
tool, by causing the assassination of Alum-
geer II., and hurrying from the palace-prison
of Selimghur to the throne, another ill-
fated descendant of Aurungzebe.

Extinction of Mogul power. — The title of
the prince brought forward by Shaab-oo-
deen was never recognised; and the heir-
apparent (Shah Alum) being, happily for
himself, beyond the reach of his father's
murderer, the strange confederacy of Mo-
guls, Mahrattas, and Jats, against Doorani
and Rohilla Afghans, had no crowned leader
whose uncontested supremacy epuld aiford a
bond of union to all concerned.

At this crisis, the question naturally arises
— where were the Rajpoots, and how occu-
pied, at an epoch so favourable for the
assertion of national independence and in-
dividual aggrandisement? Their eloquent
historian. Colonel Tod, candidly admits, that,
absorbed in civil strife, enfeebled by luxury,
degraded by intrigue — their position, in no
small degree, resembled that of the once
powerful dynasty, whose most distinguished
members they had opposed so bravely, or
served so loyally. Yet, even had Mewar
possessed a rana able and energetic as Pertap
or Umra — Marwar, a rajah like Jeswunt or
Ajeet; or Amber (Jeypoor), like Maun or
Jey Sing, it is still not probable that
Rajast'han would have become the nucleus
of a Hindoo empire. The characteristics of
feudal confederacies are, under any circum-
stances, scarcely consistent with compre-
hensive and enlightened patriotism ; and the
temporary alliances between Rajpoot states,
formed in an hour of mutual peril, were
thrown aside as soon as their immediate
cause was removed. The spirit of clanship,
unrestrained by higher and holier princi-
ples, prompted in proud and ardent breasts
many deeds which, at the first glance, seem
grand and heroic, but when tried by the
standard of Christian law, severe in its sim-

MAHRATTA POWER AT ITS ZENITH— a.d. 1759.

177

plicity, are found to be fair-seeming fruit
rotten at the core. To raise the honour of
a clan — to humble a rival — to avenge an
affront — these were objects to be gained at
any cost of blood or treasure, and without
regard to the character and true interest of
the state. It was by taking advantage of the
opportunities thus oiFered, and by becoming
partisans in disputed successions, that the
Mahrattas, as much by stratagem as by
force, were enabled to levy chout over all
Rajast'han.

The Mahratta power was now at its
zenith. The whole territory, from the Indus
and Himalaya, on the north, to nearly the
extremity of the Peninsula, was either sub-
jugated or tributary. The authority of the
peishwa had become absolute, Tara Bye
having, though ungraciously enough, been
compelled to enter into terms of peace. She
still, however, persisted in retaining the un-
fortunate Rajah Ram in rigorous confine-
ment, a measure which entirely coincided
with the views of the wily Brahmin, who
ensured its continuance by perpetually so-
liciting its revocation. The army, no longer
composed of predatory bands, now included
a large body of well-paid and well-mounted
cavalry, 10,000 infantry, and a train of artil-
lery. Nor were external signs of increasing
wealth and dominion wanting. The pomp
which had characterised the palmy days of the
Delhi court, together with much of the cere-
monial of Rajpoot states, was now observed
at Poona; and the peishwa and inferior
ministers, possessing the comely forms and
courteous manners common among Concan
Brahmins, bore their new-fledged honours
with natural dignity. The case was very
different with the field-oflBcers, who, by ex-
changing the rude but picturesque garb and
homely manners of former days, for the
cumbersome attire and wearisome conven-
tionalities, in which they rather caricatured
than copied the Moguls, not only rendered
themselves ridiculous, but really lost much
eflBciency in vain attempts to assume a
stateliness of demeanour in correspondence
with the cloth-of-gold uniforms in which
their short, sturdy, active, little bodies were
now encased. Their love of plunder had,
however, undergone no change : they even
seemed to have become more extortionate

* The Bhow, or brother, is a terra commonly ap-
plied by the Mahrattas to cousins German.

t llagoba remained in the Deccan, having given
offence by his improvidence in previous campaigns.

I The Jats (who, according to Tod, are " assuredly

in proportion to their growing passion for
ostentatious display. Their conduct, at this
epoch, brought its own punishment; for,
although there were 30,000 Mahratta horse
in the field, in two bodies, at some distance
from each other, when the Dooranis crossed
the Jumna, the country people, exasperated
by their depredations, kept them in com-
plete ignorance of the movements of the
enemy. Ahmed Shah was consequently
enabled to prevent their junction; and,
coming suddenly on the body under Dut-
tajee Sindia, slew that chief and two-thirds
of his force, while the other division was
overtaken and almost destroyed by a de-
tachment which had made an extraordinary
march for that purpose. The news of this
inauspicious commencement of the war,
enraged but did not dispirit the Mahrattas,
who prepared for a desperate and decisive
encounter. The command of the assembled
force was given to the peishwa's cousin,
Sewdasheo Rao Bhow, commonly called the
Bhow,* a brave soldier, but too violent and
headstrong for a safe general. He was ac-
companied by Wiswas Rao, the youthful
son and heir-apparent of the peishwa,
and by almost all the leading Mahratta
chiefs. t The pressing necessity of uniting
to repel the common foe of the Hin-
doos, seems to have aroused even the Raj-
poots from their apathy, and induced them
to lay aside their private quarrels ; for seve-
ral Rajpoot detachments were sent to join
the Mahratta force on its march from the
Deccan, and Suraj Mul came to meet them
with 30,000 Jats. This experienced old
chief beheld with dismay the gorgeous ap-
pearance of the advancing cavalcade, and
earnestly entreated the Bhow to leave his
heavy baggage, infantry, and guns, under
the protection of the strong forts in the Jat
territory, and practise the same tactics
which had so often proved successful;
urging, that if the war could only be pro-
tracted, the Dooranis, who had been already
many months in India, would probably be
constrained by the climate to withdraw to
their native mountains. This judicious
counsel, though seconded by the Mahratta
chiefs, was haughtily rejected by their com-
mander, who affected to despise the Jats; J
treated Suraj Mul as a petty zemindar,

a mixture of the Rajpoot and Yuti, Jit, or Jete races")
formed the cliief part of the agricultural popula-
tion of Agra in the reign of Aurungzebe, by whose
persecutions they were driven to rebel and elect
Choramun for their leader and rajah.

178 FINAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE MAHRATTAS AND AFGHANS.

incapable of judging of politics on a large
scale; and marched on, in defiance of all
counsel, with his whole force to Delhi, which
was held by a small garrison of Dooranis and
their partisans, Ghazi-oo-deen having sought
refuge in the Jat country. The citadel
yielded after a feeble defence. The Bhow
triumphantly entered the ill-fated capital;
defaced the palaces, tombs, and shrines, for
the sake of the rich ornaments which had
been spared by the Persians and Afghans ;
tore down the silver ceiling of the hall of
audience (which was coined into seventeen
lacs of rupees) ; seized the throne, and all
other royal ornaments ; and even talked of
proclaiming Wiswas Rao emperor of India.
Disgusted and alarmed by these rash and
grasping proceedings, Suraj Mul returned
to his own territory, and the Rajpoots like-
wise withdrew from the confederacy. Ahmed
Shah passed the rainy season on the fron-
tier of Oude, and during that time suc-
ceeded in procuring the co-operation of
Shuja-oo-dowla. He then marched rapidly
towards Delhi, and on reaching Cunjpoora,
on the Jumna, learned that the Doorani
garrison stationed there had been captured
by the enemy, and put to the sword. In a
paroxysm of rage, the Shah, thirsting for
revenge, crossed the river between fording
and swimming ; and this impetuous act, by
which many lives were sacrificed, so asto-
nished the Mahrattas, that they retired to
Paniput, and intrenched their camp.

The force of Ahmed Shah was computed
at less than 100,000 men; that of his oppo-
nent at 300,000, including followers.* This
disparity prevented the invader from ven-
turing an attack, and induced him to en-
camp, and fortify his position. For three
months the hostile armies remained face to
face, without coming to any decisive en-
gagement. During that time the state of
affairs underwent a material change. The
Mahrattas at first endeavoured to provoke
an attack, by cutting off the supplies of the
Doorani camp ; and with this object a chief,
named Govind Rao Bondela, was ordered to
collect troops on the lower course of the
Jumna, and spread over the country in the

* The Bhow's force consisted of 65,000 caTalry, in
regular pay, with at least 15,000 predatory Mahratta
horse, and 15,000 infantry ; of whom, 9,000 were
disciplined sepoys, under Ibrahim Khan Gardi, a
Mussulman deserter from the French service. He
had 200 guns, with numerous wall-pieces, and a great
supply of rockets, which is a favourite weapon with
the Mahrattas. These troops, with their immediate
followers, made the numbers within his lines amount

Mahratta fashion. Govind Rao obeyed, and
levied 10,000, or 12,000 men, who proved
very successful plunderers, until their leader
was surprised in a mango-grove and cut off,
with about a thousand followers, by a body
of horse, who had come upon them, after
performing a march of sixty miles. Other
disasters followed ; and, at length, all means
of forage being cut off, Ahmed Shah suc-
ceeded in establishing a rigid blockade ; and
the resources of the town of Paniput, which
was within the lines, being quite exhausted,
the pressure of want began to be severely felt ;
and, from clamouring for arrears of pay, the
Mahrattas now began to lack daily food.
Cooped up amidst the stench of a besieged
camp, among dead and dying animals, sur-
rounded by famished followers, the once
mighty host grew weaker daily ; and, to the
dispiriting influences of physical evils, the
knowledge of the dissensions between the
Bhow, Holcar, and minor chiefs, added
greatly. The position of Ahmed Shah was
one of considerable difficulty; but he rejected
the overtures of peace made through the
intervention of Shuja-oo-dowla, judging,
by the impatience and weariness of his own
troops, of the condition of the foe, and feel-
ing convinced that they would soon be
driven into quitting their intrenchments, as
the only alternative from starvation. Mean-
while he kept a vigilant guard, visiting his
posts, reconnoitring the enemy, and riding
fifty to sixty miles a-day. Among the last
efforts of the besieged, was the dispatch of a
party, with innumerable camp-followers, on
a midnight foraging expedition. The at-
tempt was discovered by the watchful picket
stationed by Ahmed Shah, and the defence-
less crowd were surrounded and slaughtered
in prodigious numbers. On this, the chiefs
and soldiers called upon the Bhow to put an
end to their sufferings and suspense, by
leading them to the attack. The necessary
orders were given; the last grain in store
distributed among the famishing troops ;
and, an hour before day-break, the Mah-
rattas quitted their intrenchments, marching
forth with the ends of their turbans loosened,
and their hands and faces dyed with turmeric;

to 300,000 men. Ahmed Shah had about 4,000
Afghans and Persians, 13,000 Indian horse, and a
force of Indian infantry, estimated at 38,000, of which
the part consisting of Kohilla Afghans would be very
efficient ; but the great majority, the usual rabble
of Indian foot-soldiers. He had, also, about thirty
ijieces of cannon of different calibres, chiefly be-
longing to the Indian allies, and a number of
wall-pieces. (Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 679.)

TERMINATION OF MOHAMMEDAN POWER IN INDIA.

179

their gait and expressions bespeaking vic-
tims prepared for sacrifice, rather than war-
riors hoping for conquest. The sight of the
foe revived their courage ; a fierce onslaught
was made on the centre of the Mohammedan
army ; and a general encounter followed,
which lasted in unabated violence until noon
— the field of action being one mass of dust
and confusion, the combatants fighting hand
to hand, and the shrieks and groans of the
dying drowned by the incessant " Allah ! "
and "Deen \" of the Mohammedans, and the
"Hur! Hur! Mahdeo !" of the Mahrattas.
Up to this period, victory seemed to incline
to the latter party ; but a reserve, sent for-
ward by Ahmed Shah, who, from his little
red tent, had eagerly watched the engage-
ment, decided the fortune of the day. The
Bhow and Wiswas were slain.* Holcar and
Dummajee Guicowar quitted the field ; and
" all at once, as if by enchantment, the
whole Mahratta army turned their backs,
and fled at full speed." f The victors pur-
sued them with the utmost fury, giving no
quarter, and slaying without mercy all who
fell into their hands. Men, women, and
children crowded into the town of Paniput,
where they were blockaded for the night,
and the next morning divided into allot-
ments by their barbarous captors, the
women and children being taken for slaves,
the men ranged in lines, and prevented
from fainting by a few grains of parched
corn, and a little water poured into the
palms of their hands preparatory to their
decapitation ; after which, their heads were
piled around the doors of the tents,J as
fitting trophies of what men call "a glorious
victory." These atrocities Ahmed Shah
made no effort to restrain ; but, on the
contrary, sanctioned by example the cold-
blooded massacre of the most distinguished
prisoners, among whom was Jancojee Sindia,

* The body of Wiswas Rao was brought to the
tent of the Shah, where the whole camp assembled
to look upon it, and admire the extraordinary beauty
which, strange to say, a violent death had not
marred. Yet the Afghans, untouched by pity, looked
upon the pale corpse only as an evidence of victory ;
and were, with difficulty, induced by Shuja-oo-dowla
to renounce the idea of having " it dried and stuffed,
to carry to Cabool." Concerning the fate of the
Bhow considerable uncertainty prevailed, although a
headless trunk was said to be recognised as his by a
scar on the back — certain marks in the hands and feet,
which seemed to bear evidence of the 1,400 prostra-
tions he made daily before the sun, and what the
astrologers term the Puddum Mutch, or fortunate
lines in his foot.

t See narrative of Casi Rai, an officer in the ser-
vice of Shuja-oo-dowla. {Asiatic Mesearches, vol. iii.)

a youth about the age of Wiswas Rao.
Ibrahim Khan was cruelly treated; and it
was even reported that his death had been
caused by the poison put into his wounds.

This great overthrow was a blow from
which the aspiring Mahrattas never whollj
recovered. In the course of the cam-
paign, 200,000 of them are alleged to have
perished, including nearly all their leading
chiefs. The disastrous intelligence reached
the Deccan through the medium of a letter
addressed to the soucars or bankers, who
generally contrive to obtain the earliest
tidings of all afiairs affecting the money-
market. The letter-carrier was intercepted
by the peishwa while about to cross the
Nerbudda, on his way to Hindoostan, and
its brief contents — " two pearls have been
dissolved ; twenty-seven gold mohurs have
been lost ; and, of the silver and copper, the
total cannot be cast up" — revealed to him
the fate of his beloved sou and cousin, of
the officers and army. The shock proved
fatal to a mind worn down with intrigue,
and a frame enfeebled by indolence and sen-
suality; and the peishwa, retiring towards
Poona, died in a temple which he had erected
near that city. Notwithstanding the personal
faults of Balajee Bajee Rao, his political
sagacity, polished manners, and great ad-
dress, together with the honoured names
he bore, had rendered him popular, and his
death increased the gloom which overhung
the country. §

With the battle of Paniput || the Moham-
medan portion of the history of India natu-
rally closes. Ahmed Shah quitted Hindoo-
stan without attempting to profit by the fruits
of his victory; and Alum Shah, after endur-
ing many vicissitudes of fortune, ended his
days as a pensioner of the powerful company
whose proceedings will occupy the chief por-
tion of the following section.

I The Dooranis said, that " when they left their
own country, their mothers, wives, and sisters de-
sired, that whenever they should defeat the un-
believers, they would kill a few of them on their
account, that they also might possess a merit in the
sight of God." — (Casi Rai.)

§ Tara Bye did not long survive her old adversary,
the peishwa. She died, aged eighty-six, full of
exultation at the misfortunes which had overtaken
her foes. The rajah was then taken out of prison,
and suffered to reside at large in Sattara ; his origi-
nally weak intellect, still further broken down by
persecution, rendering such a procedure free from
any danger to the interests of Madhu Kao, the
youthful son and successor of the late minister.

II Paniput is in 29' 22' N., 76° 51' E. ; the town,
about four miles in circumference, was formerly sur-
rounded by a brick wall, of which a part still remains.

ISO INDO-MOHAMMEDAN DYNASTIES, FROM 1001 to 1760, a.d.

Mohammedan Conquerors and Rulers of Ilindoosfan.

House or
Dynasty.

House of

Ghuznee—

Subuktugeen

dynasty.

Ghor dynasty

Slave Kings.

House of
Khilju.

House of
TogUak.

Lodi.

The Seyeds,
or Seids.

House of
Lodi.

Mogul
dynasty.

Afghan
dynasty.

Mogul
dynasty.

Name or Title.

Mahmood

Mohammed

Masaud

Ahmed , , . . .

Modood

Abul Hussun

Abul Baschid

Toghi-al

Farokshad

Ibrahim

Masaud II

Arslan i .

Behram ... . . .

Khosru

Khosru Malik

Shahab-oo-deen . . . .

Kootb-oo-decn

Aram

Altamsh .....*.

Rukn-oo-deea

llezia (Sultana) ....
Behram (Moiz-oo-deen). .
Masaud (Ala-oo-deen) . .
Mahmood (Nasir-oo-deen) .
Bulhun, or Balin ....

Kei Eobad

Jelal-oa-deen

Ala-oo-deen

Mobarik

Gheias-oo-deen . . . .

Mohammed (Juno) . . .

Feroze

Gheias-oo-deen

Abubekir

Nasir-oo-deen

Humayun ......

Mahmood Toghlak . . .

Doulat Khan Lodi . . .

Seyed Khizer Khan . .

Moiz-oo-deen, or Seyed )

J^ Mobarik J

j Seyed Mohammed' . .
LSi'ved Al-oo-deen . . . .

Bheilol Lodi . . , .

Seeander Lodi

Ibrahim Lodi ...

Baber

Humayun . . ...

Sheer Shah Soor . . . .

Selim Shah Soor ....

Feroze Soor

Mohammed Shah Soor AdUi

Ibrahim III

^Seeander Soor

/Humayun

Akber

Jehangeer

Shah Jehan

Aurungzebe (Alumgeer) ,
) Bahadur Shah

Jehandar Shah ....

Ferokshere

Mohammed Shah ....

Ahmed Shah

Alumgeer II

VAlum Shah

Date.

1001
1030
1030
1040
1041
1049
1051
10.52
1052
1058
10S9
1114
1118
1160
1167
1186
1206
1210
1211
1236
1236
1239
1241
1246
1266
1286
1288
1295
1317
1321

1325

1351
1388
1389
1390
1390
1394
1412
1414

1421

1436
1444
1450
1488
1517
1526
1530
1542
1545
1552
1552
1554
1554
1555
1556
1605
1627
1658
1707
1712
1713
1719
1748
1754
1760

Capital.

Ghuznee . . .

Ditto . . .

Ditto

Ditto . . .
Do. and Lahore

Ditto . . .

'Ghor, Ghuz-1

nee, & Delhi /
"Delhi .

Ditto

Ditto
■. Ditto

Ditto

/Deoghiri, or ")

t Doulatabad ./

Delhi . .

Ditto .

Ditto .
Agra . .
Delhi & Gwalior
Gwalior
Chunar
Delhi.
Agra .
Delhi .

]. Delhi* Agra I

■' Delhi .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Successor.

Son .
Brother . ,
Nephew
Son . .
Brother .
Uncle ....
No Relation . .
Prince of the Blood
Brother ....

Son

Son . .
Brother .
Son ....
Son .

Conqueror . .
His slave & general
Son ....
Brother-in-law
Son ....
Sister , . .
Brother . . .
Son of Rukn .
Grandson of Altamsh
His Vizier . . ,
Son of Bakhara .
A Khilji Chief. .
Nephew ....

Sou

Vizier

Son

Nephew ....

Grandson . . .

Ditto of Feroze .

Son of Feroze . .

Son

Brother, a Minor .
No Relative
No Relative
Eldest Son . .

Son. .

Son

Conqueror . . ,

Son

Conqueror . . .

Son

Usurper .
Youngest Son . .

Son

Uncle ....
(■Division of Domi-"l

Death or Deposition.

^ nion J

Humayun . . .

Son

Fourth Son .
Son . .

Eldest Son . . .
Son of Azim-u-Shan

Nephew , .

Son. . . .
Prince of the Blood

Son

No successor . .

Natural death, 1030.

Deposed and blinded.

Deposed and murdered.

Murdered.

Natural death.

Deposed.

Murdered.

Assassinated. \

Assassinated.'

Natural death.

Murdered.

Natural death.

Imprisoned and murdered.

Assassinated.

Natural death.

Deposed after 7 mths. reign.

Imprisoned and murdered.

Natural death.

Assassinated,

Assassinated.

Poisoned.

Murdered.

Killed, supposed by his son.

Natural death.

Deposed and murdered.

Deposed.

Natural death.

Driven from Delhi by TimtiT

Expelled,

Natural death.

Murdered in a Mosque.

Natural death.

Abdicated.

Natural death.

Slain in battle at Paniput,

Natural death.

Driven into Persia.

Killed at a siege.

Natural death.

Assassinated in 3 days.

Expelled and slain.

Imprisoned and slain.

Defeated in battle, and fled

Killed by a fall.

Natural death.

Deposed.

Natural death..

Natural death.

Murdered

Deposed and slain.

Natural death.

Deposed and eyes put out.

Murdered.

Natural death.

Nctte. — Of the above 65 conquerors and rulers, 24 were assassinated or poisoned ; 1 1 were deposed, driven from th,e throne,
or abdicated ; two were slain in battle ; one killed by a fall ; and 27 were said to have died a natural death. Fifteen
princes of the Ghaznivede dynasty had an average duration of reign of II years ; 10 Slave kings of eight years ; three
Khiljii of 10 years; eight Toghlak of 11 years; four Seyeds of nine years; three Lodi of 25 years; two Mogul
of eight years ; six Afghan of two years; and 12 Mogul of 17 years each. If the reign of Akber, which lasted for
49 years, and that of Aurungzebe, for 49 = 98, be deducted, the average duration of the remaining 10 princes' reigns
was only lOJ years. The period of 751 years gives an average reign, to each prince, of exactly H years. These state-
ments must, however, be regarded rather as affording a general view of the Indo-Mohammedan Dynasties, than aa
^sertions of opinions on various disputed points respecting the death and exact date of accession of several potentates :
for accounts of the minor Mohammedan kingdoms see pp. 93 to 107. The Great Moguls alone assumed the title of
Padsha, or Emperor.

SECTION 11.

EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE— RISE AND GROWTH OF BRITISH POWER.

Some light is thrown on the communication
between the eastern and western hemis-
pheres by the scriptural account of the fre-
quent supplies of spices and other oriental
products obtained by Solomon from the sou-
thern parts of Asia, b.c. 1000. The Phoe-
nicians were even then supposed to have
long been the chief carriers in the Indian
trade, by way of the Red Sea and the Per-
sian Gulf; but an overland intercourse ap-
pears to have been simultaneously main-
tained through Persia and Arabia. Of the
Asiatics themselves, and of their territories,
little was known in Europe until the inva-
sion of the Indian frontier by Alexander the
Great, b.c 331. For nearly three centuries
after his death, the Indian traffic was chiefly
conducted by Egyptian and Arabian mer-
chants, by way of the Red Sea, the Nile,
and the Mediterranean; the marts being
Berenice, Coptos, and Alexandria. There
were, besides, two other and far less fre-
quented routes : the first lay through Persia
and the upper part of Arabia to the Syrian
cities, and stretched over a long and dreary
desert tract, in which the only halting-place
was the famous Tadmor or Palmyra — the
city of palms — whose independence and
growing prosperity exciting the jealousy of
imperial Rome, proved the occasion of its
destruction, notwithstanding the determined
efibrts of its brave queen, Zenobia. With
Palmyra the overland traffic of the desert,
which had existed since the time of Abra-
ham, terminated ; but the other route,
across the rocky passes of the Hindoo
Koosh, is still in existence, and by this
means an inland trade is maintained between
India, Persia, and Russia {vid Bokhara.)

In the middle of the first century of the
Christian era a discovery was made by a
Greek, named Hippalus, the commander of
an Egyptian East-Indiaman, of the steady
course of the monsoon, at fixed periods, in a
certain direction. The result of his observa-
tion and daring adventure was to reduce a
tedious voyage, of two months' duration,
within the compass of a few days ; mariners
thenceforth steering from the mouth of the
RedSea directly across the ocean to Nelcunda
(the site of which Dr. Vincent traces in the
2b

modern Nelisuram), instead of following the
circuitous line of the Arabian and Persian
coasts. Here pepper in great abundance, cot-
ton cloths, and exquisitely fine muslins, silk,
ivory, spikenard, pearls, diamonds, amethysts,
with other precious stones, and tortoiseshell,
awaited the arrival of the merchants, and
were largely exported, as also from Tyndis
and Musiris (Barcelore and Mangalore), and
other emporia on the Indian coast, in exchange
for gold and silver, (in vessels and specie,)
cloth, coral, incense, glass, and a little wine.
The weakness and distraction of the Ro-
man empire checked this profitable traffic,
and the rise of Mohammedan power subse-
quently cut off aU direct communication
between Europe and India. The Arabians
then formed settlements on the eastern
coasts of the Deccan, and by their vessels, or
by inland caravans, the rich productions of
India were sold to the Venetians or Genoese
on the shores of the Mediterranean or of the
Euxine. These merchant-princes, though
characterised by maritime enterprise, were
naturally little desirous of prosecuting dis-
coveries calculated to break up their mono-
poly, and transfer to other hands at least a
large proportion of the Indian trade. The
leading European states, engrossed by na-
tional or internal strife, were slow to recog-
nise the superiority of an extended commerce
as a means of even political greatness, over
the sanguinary warfare into which whole
kingdoms were repeatedly plunged to gratify
the ambition or malignity of a few persons —
often of a single individual. The short-lived
triumphs of the sword only paved the way
for new contests, envenomed by bitter recol-
lections ; and it followed inevitably, that all
peaceful interests — arts and sciences, me-
chanics, and agriculture — were neglected in
the paramount necessity of finding means
to meet the heavy drain of blood and treasure
so wantonly incurred. The true principle of
trade — the greatest good of the greatest
number — was quite overlooked: the citizens
of a leading emporium forgot, in triumphing
over a defeated rival, that they were exulting
in the destruction of one of their own mar-
kets ; and were far from understanding the
more remote connexion which, in the absence

182 FIRST EUROPEAN VOYAGE TO INDIA, 1498— VASCO DE GAMA.

of a holier principle of union, binds nation
to nation, forming of the whole a body-cor-
porate, through which the blood circulates
more or less freely according to the healthy
or diseased action of each and every member.

Portuguese Discovery and Dominion.*
— A new epoch commenced for Europe,
dating from the time when John I. and
Prince Henry — worthy representatives of
the royal house of Portugal — struck out for
themselves and their country a path to power
and renown, by becoming the patrons of
maritime discovery. Portugal was then, as
now, of limited extent and fertility : her
previous history afforded little scope for
boastful recollection, either while under the
sway of the Romans, as the province of
Lusitania, or when, in the middle ages, she
lay crushed beneath the iron yoke of the
Moors, who, after having overrun nearly the
whole Peninsula, erected Portugal into a
kingdom, under the name of Algarve. But
the fiery furnace of adversity developed mar-
vellously the latent energies of the Portu-
guese. Religious zeal became the inspiring
theme with them, as it had formerly been
with their conquerors ; and, after a struggle
of many hundred years' duration, they, like
their Spanish neighbours, succeeded in ex-
pelling from their shores the numerous, war-
like, and fanatical hordes united under the
banner of the crescent.

Acting on the false principle of their late
persecutors, — that hostilities against infidels
vrere meritorious in the sight of God, — the
Portuguese pursued the Moors into Africa,
retaliating by every possible means the long

* The authorities for the Portuguese proceedings
are Lopez de Castanheda; Stevens' translation of
Faria y Sousa ; and the accounts given in Harris's
Voyages,\he World displayed ; Murray's Discoveries ;
and other collections of travels by land and sea, in
which Juan de Barros and Osorio are largely quoted.

t Pp. 92 to 106. J Page 41.

§ The origin of the zamorins, or Tamuri rajahs, is
discussed by Buchanan (vol. ii., p. 474) and Sousa
(vol. ii., p. 225.) In accordance with the custom of
the country, the name of the individual then reigning
was withheld from the Portuguese ; but their inter-
preter, a Moor of Tunis (long resident at Calicut),
described him " as a very good man, and of an hon-
nurable disposition." He proved to be a person of
majestic presence and advanced age : dressed in fine
white calico, adorned with branches and flowers of
beaten gold, and rare gems (with which latter his whole
person was bedecked), he reclined on cushions of white
silk, wrought with gold, under a magnificent canopy.
A golden fountain of water stood beside him, and a
gold basin filled with betel and areca: the hall of
audience was richly carpeted, and hung with tapestry
of silk and gold. De Gama found some difficulty

series of outrage and thraldom to which they
had been subjected. The pecuhar situation
of Portugal, and its long range of coast-
line, bordered by the yet unmeasured ex-
panse of the Atlantic, favoured maritime
enterprise ; and the exploration of the shores
of western, southern, and eastern Africa
was followed by the expedition of Vasco de
Gama, who, after crossing the Indian Ocean
(by the aid of a Hindoo pilot, obtained at
Mehnda), succeeded in gaining the Malabar
coast, and landed at Calicut in May, 1498.
The general condition of India at this
period has been shown in previous pages.f
Secander Soor sat on the throne of Delhi :
in the Deccan, the Mohammedan rulers
were Mohammed II., of the Bahmani
dynasty ; Yusuf Adil Shah, of Beejapoor ;
and Ahmed Nizam Shah, of Ahmednuggur.
The country visited by the Portuguese had
anciently formed the southern division of
the kingdom of Kerala; J but in the course
of the ninth century had revolted from its
prince (who had become a Mohammedan),
and been formed into many petty Hindoo
principalities. Of these, the chief was that
now governed by a ruler styled the samorin,
or Tamuri rajah,§ to whom several lesser
rajahs seem to have been feudatory ; his
capital, called Calicut, had attained wealth
and celebrity as a commercial emporium.
By this prince the adventurers were well
received; and notwithstanding some awk-
ward blunders, occasioned by their igno-
rance of the language, customs, and religion
of the country, II all went on favourably
until their proceedings excited the jealousy
of the Mohammedan traders, whom they

from thewant of the costly presents with which all
diplomatic intercourse in the east begins and ends.
The zamorin desired an image of Mary, in gold, of
which he had heard : this was refused, on the plea
that it was only wood, gilt, but valuable " because it
had preserved them at sea" — an answer calculated to
confirm the assertion of the Moors, that these Euro-
peans, unlike the native Christians, were idolaters.

II The Portuguese, acquainted by the accounts of
]SIarco Polo and other travellers with the existence
of a Christian community on this coast, looked for
the signs of Christian or rather llomish worship;
and, filled with this idea, actually entered a splendid
])agoda with lofty pillars of brass, and prostrated
themselves before an assemblage of strange and
grotesque forms, which they took for the Indian
ideal of the Madonna and saints. The strings of
beads worn by the priests, the water with which the
company were sprinkled, the powdered sandal-wood,
and the peal of bells, could not, however, quell
the suspicions excited by the numerous arms and
singular accompaniments of many of the figures;
and one of the Portuguese started to his feet, ex-
claiming, " If these be devils, it is God I worship."

PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION UNDER ALVAREZ CABRAL— a.d. 1500. 183

termed the Moors,* settled in Calicut. These
merchants having, through their factors,
received intelligence of the contests which
had taken place, during the voyage, between
Vasco de Gama and the people of Mozam-
bique, Mombas, Melinda, and other places
on the coast of Africa, informed the zamorin
of the outrages that had been committed
on this and previous occasions, urging,
with sufficient reason, that people who, on
frivolous pretences, fired upon and destroyed
towns, carried off the inhabitants as slaves,
and scrupled not to extort information by
the most barbarous tortures, were more pro-
bably pirates than ambassadors,t especially
as they came unprovided with any offer-
ing from their sovereign. Notwithstanding
these representations, the Portuguese were
suffered to make an advantageous disposition
of their cargo (of scarlet cloth, brass, coral,
&c.) at Cahcutj but a dispute subsequently
arising, the factor and secretary were made
prisoners. De Gama dissembled his alarm,
and continued to communicate with the
Indians as if nothing had occurred, until he
had succeeded in entrapping on board his
vessel a party, comprising six nairsf and
fifteen other persons of distinction. He
then demanded the release of his officers as
their ransom ; but when this condition was
complied with, forfeited his pledge by re-
taining possession of several of his captives.
Enraged by this dishonourable and insulting
conduct, the zamorin dispatched a squadron
of boats against the Portuguese, and suc-
ceeded in procuring the co-operation of
neighbouring powers; so that in a short
time every bay, creek, and river was fiUed
with boats, ready, at a given signal, to
attack the intruders. Such at least was
the intelligence, wrung by tortures of the
most cruel and disgusting description, from
a spy who came out from Goa. De Gama,
by the aid of favourable winds avoided the
encounter, steered homewards, and reached

* This designation seems frequently applied to
Arabian and African Mohammedans, in contradis-
tinction to Moguls and Patans. Sousa speaks of
them as "inhabiting from Choul to Cape Comorin."

t Prince Henry's characteristic motto, " Talent de
bien faire," was sadly misapplied by the Portuguese
commanders, who, almost without exception, treated
the natives of newly-discovered territories with such
shameless cruelty, that their skill and courage fails
to disguise tlie fact, that they were little else than
pirates and robbers on an extensive scale ; — worse
than all, they were stealers of men ; and thereby
guilty of a crime which could not and did not fail
to bring a curse upon their nation. In vain they
strove to strengthen themselves with forts and can-

the Tagus in August, 1499, after an absence
of two years and two months ; only fifty-five
of the 16011 ™6n who had accompanied him
on his perilous enterprise, surviving to share
the honours of his triumphant entry into
Lisbon; but of these, every individual re-
ceived rewards, together with the personal
commendation of King Emanuel,

An armament, comprising thirteen ships
and 1,200 men, was immediately fitted out
and dispatched to take advantage of the
new discovery. The com.mand was entrusted
to Alvarez Cabral, De Gama being excluded
on the plea of being spared the hazard, but
probably either on account of an opposite
interest having begun to prevail at court, or
because even his own report of his Indian
proceedings may have borne evidence that
the beneficial results of the skill and courage
which had enabled him to triumph over the
perils of unknown seas, were likely to be
neutralized by his indiscreet and aggressive
conduct on shore. Cabral reached Calicut
in September, 1500, having, on his way,
discovered the coast of Brazil, and lost four
of his ships in the frightful storms encoun-
tered in rounding the Cape of Good Hope,
Bartholomew Diaz being one of those who
perished in the seas he had first laid open
to European adventure. The captives car-
ried off by De Gama were restored by Cabral,
and their representations of the honourable
treatment they had received in Portugal,
together with costly presents of vessels of
gold and silver of delicate workmanship,
and cloths ingeniously wrought, obtained
for the admiral a gracious reception, and
permission to establish a factory at Calicut.
Cabral endeavoured to ingratiate himself
still further by intercepting and driving into
the harbour or roadstead of Calicut a large
vessel, then passing from the neighbouring
port of Cochin, laden with a rich cargo, in-
cluding seven elephants, one of which the
zamorin had vainly endeavoured to pur-

non — spreading the terror of their name over the
whole African sea-coast': their power has dwindled
away like a snow-ball in the sun ; and now only
enough remains to bear witness of lost dominion.
Five-and-twenty years ago, when serving in the
navy, I visited the great fortress of Mozambique,
where we landed the marines of our frigate to pre-
vea t the governor-general (then newly-arrived from
Lisbon) being massacred by a horde of savages. At
Delagoa, Inhamban, Sofala, and other places, the
Portuguese governor and officers were unwilling to
venture beyond the reach of the rusty cannon on
the walls of their dilapidated forts.

X Military class of Malabar, of the Soodra cast.

II According to Sousa. Castanheda says, 108.

184 HOSTILITIES PROVOKED BY PORTUGUESE IN MALABAR— a.d. 1501,

chase ; but this unscrupulous use of power
gave alarm rather than satisfaction, and
added weight to the arguments of the Moors,
regarding the danger of encouraging such
officious interlopers. The result was, that
the Portuguese, unable to effect any pur-
chases from the native merchants, in their
impatience construed a hasty expression,
dropped by the zamorin when wearied by
their solicitations and complaints, into per-
mission to seize a Moorish cargo of rich
spices, on condition of the payment of an
equitable price. This outrage provoked the
resentment of both the Moors and the Hin-
doo inhabitants of Calicut. The newly-
erected factory was broken open, and out of
its seventy occupants, fifty-one were killed,
the remainder escaping only by leaping into
the sea, and swimming to their boats. Cabral
retaliated by the capture and destruction of
ten Moorish ships, seizing the cargoes, and
detaining the crews as prisoners. Then,
bringing his squadron as close as possible to
the shore, he opened a furious discharge of
artillery upon the city, and having set it
on fire in several places, sailed southward to
Cochin, whose ruler, having rebelled against
the zamorin, gladly embraced the offer of
foreign commerce and alliance. Here an
abundant supply of pepper, the commodity
chiefly desired' by the Europeans, was ob-
tained, and Cabral returned to Lisbon,
taking the opportunity of a favourable wind
to avoid a fleet of sixty sail, sent against
him from Calicut. It was now manifest
that the aggressive policy of the Portuguese
could succeed only if power-fully supported ;
and Emanuel being desirous, in the words
of Faria y Sousa, "to carry out what the
apostle St. Thomas had begun," during
his alleged visit to India, resolved, at all
hazards, to avail himself of the papal grant
to Portugal of all the eastern regions
discovered by her fleets, and tenanted by
infidels. He assembled a larger armament
than had yet been sent into the eastern
seas, and assuming the title of " Lord of
the navigation, conquest, and commerce of
Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India," dis-
patched Vasco de Gama to enforce his
authority. The conduct of the envoy was
marked by the most savage cruelty. On
the coast of Arabia he met and captured a
large Moorish ship, seized its stores, shut up
the crew in the hold, and set it on fire.
Appearing before Calicut, he collected fifty
Indians from several captured vessels, and
in consequence of some delay which oc-

curred during a negotiation, opened by his
demand of compensation for the destruction
of the factory and its occupants, he took up
an hour-glass, and declared, that unless the
matter were settled before the sand had
passed through, the prisoners should all be
massacred. This savage threat he fulfilled
to the letter, flinging on shore the heads,
hands, and feet of the wretched victims.
After pouring a destructive fire on the city,
he proceeded to Cochin and Cananore,
cemented the Portuguese alliance with the
rulers of these territories, and then returned
to Lisbon, leaving a squadron of five vessels
under his uncle, Vincente Sodre, to blockade
the Red Sea, exclude the hostile Moors
from any communication with the coast of
Malabar, and do what he could to protect
the allies of Portugal against the anger of
their liege lord, the zamorin. Instead of
following these injunctions, Sodre engaged
in piratical pursuits, and at length perished
in a violent storm. Triumpara, rajah of
Cochin, was left to make his own defence,
and being driven from his capital, took refuge
in the isle of Vaipeen, whose natural strength
and sacred character would probably not
have sufiiced to ensure him a safe asylum
but for the succour that arrived from Por-
tugal, one detachment being sent under the
afterwards famous Alphonso Albuquerque,
another under his brother Francisco, and a
third under Antonio Saldanha. With their
assistance, Triumpara was replaced on his
throne, and peace concluded with Calicut,
but soon broken by the outrageous conduct
of the Portuguese. The Albuquerques, after
endeavouring to intimidate the zamorin into
a renewal of the violated treaty, set sail for
Europe,* leaving Duarte Pacheco with four
vessels and a few hundred men to assist in
guarding their ally, the rajah of Cochin.

The struggle that ensued aflbrded the first
notable instance of the superiority of a small
force, strengthened by European strategy
and discipline, over an unwieldly Indian
host, and may be said to have laid the
foundation of Portuguese power in India.
Pacheco was skilful and resolute : Trium-
para confided to him the sole direction of
the defence to be made against the advanc-
ing naval and military armament of the
zamorin; and the well-directed fire of his
little squadron enabled him to obtain a com-
plete triumph, which was greatly facilitated

* Alphonso reached Europe safely. Francisco,
with the ships under his command, is supposed to
have perished in a storm near Melinda, in Africa.

ALMEIDA VICEROY— WAE WITH EGYPT AND GUZERAT— 1508. 185

by a destructive sickness that broke out
among the enemy, and compelled their re-
treat to Calicut.* Pacheco was, perhaps, the
ablest as well as the most humane and dis-
interested of the commanders of his nation
in India; for no other, not even Albuquer-
que, obtained such uniform success with
such inadequate means. It would have
been good policy to have left him in the posi-
tion he had so well filled ; instead of which,
he was superseded by Lope Soarez. On re-
turning to Portugal, he was treated by
Emanuel with well-merited distinction ; and
his disregard of his own interests, and zeal for
the public service, were rewarded by the ap-
pointment of governor of El Mina, the chief
settlement on the African coast; but a
violent faction being there raised against
him, he was sent home in chains, impri-
soned for years, and although at length
honourably acquitted, suffered to die in
poverty and neglect.

In 1505, Francisco de Almeida arrived off
Malabar, attended by a powerful fleet, and
dignified with the new and pompous title
of viceroy of India. A more formidable
opposition than any heretofore encountered
now awaited the Portuguese, in the combi-
nation formed against them by Mahmood
Begarra, of Guzerat, with the Mameluk
sultan of Cairo, and the angry and disap-
pointed Venetians. The sultan, incensed by
the diminution of his revenues, by the shame-
ful piracies committed on his vessels, and by
the barbarous massacre of pilgrims on their
way to Mecca (whose cause every zealous
Mohammedan identifies with his own),
equipped twelve large ships in the Red
Sea,t and placed them under an officer
named Meer Hocem, with orders for the
ejftirpation of the infidel invaders from the
whole face of the eastern seas. Malek
Eiaz, the viceroy of Diu, was sent by
Mahmood to join the Mameluks, with an
assemblage of vessels, inferior in size, but
greater in number ; and the combined force
fell upon the Portuguese squadron anchored
off Choul with such effect, that the young
commander, Lorenzo, the only son of Al-
meida, seeing no prospect of successful re-
sistance, and his chief officers, like himself,
being wounded, resolved to take advantage

* Both Moors and Hindoos were provided with
cannon before the arrival of the Portuguese, though
they do not appear to have been skilful in its use.

t The Venetians sent the timber from the forests
of Dalmatia, by way of Alexandria and the Nile.
Venetian carpenters built the fleet, which was
strongly manned with choice Turkish soldiers.

of a favourable tide and proceed out to sea.
The movement was commenced at midnight,
and went on favourably until the ship in
which Lorenzo sailed ran foul of some fish-
ing stakes. The enemy having discovered
the manoeuvre, pressed on in pursuit, while
ineffectual attempts were made to free the
intercepted vessel. Lorenzo was entreated
to enter a boat and escape to the fleet ; but
he refused to forsake his companions, and
drawing them up in fighting order, resolved
to hold out, if possible, until the advancing
tide should float them out to sea. Hostile
ships, bristling with cannon, bore down on
the devoted band, and destroyed their last
hope by opening upon them a tremendous
fire. A ball in the thigh incapacitated
Lorenzo for movement ; but he caused him-
self to be lashed to the mast, whence he
continued to direct and cheer his men till
another shot struck him on the breast, and
terminated at once his struggles and his
life. J The crew, though reduced from one
hundred to twenty men, and all wounded,
were still disposed to resist the boarding of
their vessel ; but Malek Eiaz, by gentleness
and promises of good treatment, prevailed
on them to surrender ; and by his after-
conduct, amply redeemed his pledge. In
truth, Eiaz appears to be almost the only
Mohammedan commander of his age and
country, who in any degree inherited the
chivalry which romance and even history
have associated with Saracen leaders in the
time of the Crusades. He addressed Al-
meida in terms of the most delicate con-
dolence, expressing earnest admiration of
the valour of his lost son ; but the veteran
sternly replied, that he considered excel-
lence more to be desired than long life, and
saw no cause for lamentation in the glorious
death of one who was doubtless now enjoy-
ing the reward of his good conduct. This
semblance of resignation imposed no re-
straint upon the burning impatience with
which he prepared for vengeance. When
about to depart at the head of a fleet of
nineteen ships, an unexpected event de-
ranged his plans, and inflicted a blow which
he bore with far less dignity than he had
done his late bereavement. This was nOr
thing less than his recall and supercessiou

X Sousa says, his countrymen lost 140 men in this
engagement, and the enemy 600. Unfortunately, we
cannot check the Portuguese accounts by those of
their foes, because the Mohammedan historians of
the Deccan have rarely thought fit to narrate their
contests with these " foreign idolaters," whom they
affected to treat with contemptuous indifference.

186 STORMING OF DIU— PORTUGUESE DEFEATED AT CALICUT— 1510.

by Alphonso Albuquerque, who arrived in
1506, bearing a commission as governor-
general of India.* Almeida positively re-
fused to resign his command until he should
have avenged his son's death by the de-
struction of the hostile fleet. Being sup-
ported in his disobedience to the royal man-
date by several leading officers, he refused
to allow Albuquerque even to take part in
the intended expedition, and sailed off to
attack Dabul, a leading emporium, which
had zealously embraced the Egyptian cause.
The troops disembarked at Diu, notwithstand-
ing the discharge of powerful batteries ; for
these, having rather a high range, passed
over the soldiers heads as they landed in
boats, without inflicting any injury. Once on
shore, a deadly conflict commenced with the
bodies of armed citizens who blocked up the
narrow passages to the town : these were
at length overpowered; and by the orders
of the merciless victor, an indiscriminate
slaughter ensued. The streets streamed
with blood, and the distracted multitudes
fled to the caves of the neighbouring moun-
tains, finding that even buildings consecrated
to the service of the One Universal Lord
aflbrded no refuge from the lust and fury
of the savage men who dared to cast dis-
honour on the great name of the Redeemer,
by styling themselves disciples and propa-
gators of a faith whose very essence is peace
and love. This disgraceful scene had a suit-
able conclusion; for Almeida, unable to with-
draw his troops from their horrible employ-
ment, resorted to a violent method of re-
storing some degree of discipline, by causing
the town to be set on fire. The flames ex-
tended rapidly over the light timber roofs,
and after reducing the stately city to a pile
of smoking wood and ashes, reached the
harbour. The native shipping was de-
stroyed ; the Portuguese vessels with diffi-
culty escaped, and proceeded to the Gulf
of Cambay. Here Almeida attacked the
combined fleet, and gained a great but
costly victory. The Mameluk portion was
completely destroyed, and Malek Eiaz com-
pelled to sue for peace. Almeida stipulated
for the surrender of Meer Hocem; but Eiaz
indignantly refused to betray his ally, and
would offer no further concession as the
price of peace than the freedom of all
Jjuropean captives. Having no power of
enforcing other terms, Almeida was com-

• The o£Bce of viceroy and governor-general was
the same, though the title differed.

t Vide British Possessions in jifrica, vol. iii,, p. 4.

pelled to accept these; but unsoftened by
the kindness which the surviving compa-
nions of his son had received from their
brave captor, the Portuguese admiral filled
the measure of his barbarities by causing
his prisoners to be shut up in the prize
vessels and burnt with them. " Many,"
says Faria y Sousa, "judged the unhappy
end of the viceroy and other gentlemen to
be a just punishment of that crime." If
so, it was not long delayed. On the return
of Almeida to Cochin, a contest seemed
about to commence with Albuquerque for
the possession of the supreme authority.
At this crisis, Ferdinand Coutinho, a noble-
man of high character, arrived in command
of fifteen ships and a large body of troops,
having been opportunely dispatched by Ema-
nuel, with powers to act in the very pro-
bable conjuncture which had actually arisen.
By his mediation, Almeida was induced to
resign the viceroyalty, and set sail for his
native country, which he never lived to
reach, — he, who had brought so many to
an untimely end, himself sufi'ering a vio-
lent death at the hands of some Hottentots
at the Cape of Good Hope, of whose cattle
the Portuguese had attempted to take for-
cible possession. t

Albuquerque was now left to carry out
unchecked his ambitious schemes. He com-
menced by the assault of Calicut (January,
1510), in conjunction with Coutinho, who,
being about to return to Portugal, vehe-
mently urged his claim to be allowed to take
the lead on this occasion. As the city could
only be approached through narrow avenues,
amidst thick woods, in which the whole
army had not room to act, it was arranged
that the two commanders should advance, at
day-break on the following morning, in sepa-
rate divisions. That of Albuquerque took the
lead, and obtained possession of a fortified
palace (previously fixed upon as the first
object of assault) before the rival party
reached the spot. Coutinho, greatly annoyed
at being thus anticipated, reproached Albu-
querque with a breach of faith, and declaring
that he would not be again forestalled, made
his way through the streets of Calicut to the
chief palace, wliich lay on the other side of
the city, and formed a little town, enclosed
by a wall. Being the only regular fortifica-
tion in the place, it was defended by the
main strength of the army ; but Coutinho
succeeded in forcing open the gates, and ac-
quired possession of the whole enclosure.
Flushed with victory, he gave his men full

ALBUQUERQUE CAPTURES GOA, 1510— MALACCA, 1511— ORMUZ, 1515. 187

license to plunder, and withdrew, to seek
rest and refreshment in the state apartments.
This over-confidence afforded the Hindoos
time to recover from their consternation ;
and a cry, uttered by one of the chief nairs,
passed from mouth to mouth, to the distance
of several miles, until 30,000 armed men
had assembled, and in turn, surprised the
invaders. Albuquerque, who occupied the
city, vainly strove to maintain the commu-
nication with the fleet : he was hemmed in
with his troops in the narrow lanes and
avenues, and exposed to a continued shower
of arrows and stones, one of which felled
him to the ground. The soldiers set fire to
the adjacent buildings, and escaped to the
ships, bearing away their commander in a
state of unconsciousness. Coutinho was less
fortunate. When, after neglecting repeated
warnings, at last roused by the clash of arms
to the actual state of the case, he sprang to
the head of his troops, and fought with the
fury of desperation, striving not to retain
possession of the place — for that was mani-
festly impossible — but only to cut a path to
the shore. In this the majority of the com-
mon soldiers succeeded ; but Coutinho, with
Vasco Sylviera, and other nobles of distinc-
tion, were left dead on the field. Out of
1,600 Portuguese (according to De Barros),
eighty were killed, and 300 wounded. This
disastrous commencement, so far from
checking, only served to increase the desire
of Albuquerque for territorial dominion, in
opposition to the policy previously pursued
by Almeida, who had considered that fac-
tories, guarded by a powerful fleet, would
better suit the purposes of commerce, and be
less likely to excite enmity.

Disappointed in the hope of gaining pos-
session of the capital of the zamorin, he
looked round for some other city which
might form the nucleus of a new empire ;
for as yet, notwithstanding their high-
sounding titles, the Portuguese had but a
precarious tenure, even of the land on
which their few forts and factories were
erected. A useful, though not creditable ally,
Timojee, a Hindoo pirate, directed his at-
tention to Goa, then comprehended in the
kingdom of Beejapoor. The city was taken
by surprise in the early part of 1510; re-
captured a few months later by Yusuf Adil
Shah, in person ; and finally conquered by

* Portuguese Asia, vol. i., p. 172.

t After making large allowance for t'ne barbarities
common to his age and nation, Albuquerque seems
to have been more than usually cruel in his punish-

Albuquerque, at the close of the same year.
The contest was prolonged and sanguinary ;
and the after-slaughter must have been ter-
rific, — since, according to Sousa, " not one
Moor was left alive in the island."* The
Hindoos were treated very differently; for
Albuquerque, with a politic view to the con-
solidation of his newly-acquired power, con-
firmed them in their possessions, and pro-
moted the intermarriage of their women
with the Portuguese by handsome dowries,
at the same time proving his confidence in
his new subjects, by employing them in
both civil and military capacities. A large
quantity of cannon and military stores were
captured in Goa, and probably assisted in
furnishing the fortifications raised by him in
that city ; and also in fitting out an arma-
ment, comprising 800 Portuguese and 600
Indians, with which Albuquerque proceeded
to attack Malacca. This kingdom was then
of great importance, being what Singapore
is now — namely, the chief mart of the com-
merce carried on between Hindoostan, China,
and the eastern islands. The inhabitants made
a vigorous resistance with cannon and floats
of wild-fire, and defended their streets by
mining with gunpowder ; but they were
overpowered by the Portuguese, who gained
complete possession of the city, and im-
mediately began to erect a strong fort from
the ruins of the shattered palaces, and take
other measures for the permanent establish-
ment of their supremacy. Negotiations
were opened with Siam, Java, and Sumatra ;
and friendly embassies are even asserted
to have been dispatched from these countries
in return. The restless sword of Albu-
querque next found employment in the de-
fence of Goa, where tranquillity was no
sooner restored, than he resumed his plaas
of distant conquest; and after two unsuc-
cessful attempts upon Aden, assembled
1,500 European and 600 Asiatic troops,
in pursuit of the darling object of his am-
bition — the conquest of Ormuz, the famous
emporium of the Persian Gulf. This he ap-
pears to have accomplished with little diffi-
culty, by working upon the fears and weak-
ness of the sovereign, who felt quite in-
capable of combating a formidable force, led
by a commander whose ability was more
than equalled by his ruthless severity ;f
and Ormuz, notwithstanding the counter-

ments. Among many instances, may be cited that
of his sending Portuguese renegades back to their
country with their ears, noses, right-hands, and
thumbs of the left hand cut off. His passions were

188 ALBUQUERQUE^S RECALL AND DEATH— PORTUGUESE POWER— 1515.

intrigues of the Persian ambassador, fell an
easy prize into the hands of the Portuguese.
Albuquerque, delighted with his success,
prepared to return to Goa, there to super-
intend the consolidation o