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EX  LIBRIS 


LOUISE  ARNER  BOYD 


?r.  &  D.  Dcicncy 


OEOKGE  V,   KIKG-EMPEEOR 


THE  OXFORD 

STUDENT'S  HISTORY  OF 

INDIA 


BY 


VINCENT  A.  SMITH,  CLE. 

M.A.    (dUBL.  &  OXON.),  HON.  LITT.  D.  (dUBL.),  I.C.S.  RETIHEC, 

AUTHOR  OF  'THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  INDIA ', 

*  THE  OXFORD  HISTORY  OF  INDIA  ',  ETC. 


NINTH  EDITION 

REVISED  BY 
H.  G.  RAWLINSON,  M.A.,  I.E.S. 

15  MAPS  AND  32  ILLUSTRATIONS 


OXFORD 
AT  THE  CLARENDON  PRESS 

LONDON      EDINBURGH      GLASGOW      NEW  YORK 
TORONTO    MELBOURNE    CAPE  TOWN    BOMBAY 

HUMPHREY  MILFORD 
1921 


EXTRACT  FROM  PREFACE  TO 
FIFTH  EDITION 

The  three  earlier  revisions  of  this  book  were  directed  ahnost 
exclusively  to  the  correction  of  minute  inaccuracies,  the  paging 
and  bulk  of  the  volume  remaining  unaltered .  On  this  occasion, 
^vhile  the  process  of  minute  correction  has  been  continued  and 
possibly  completed,  the  principal  purpose  of  the  revision  has 
been  different.  When  the  book  was  first  planned,  I  was  re- 
quested to  make  it  small  and  condensed.  Now  that  it  has 
been  A\idely  used  for  six  j^ears,  experienced  teachers  ask  that 
the  historical  facts  should  be  narrated  in  fuller  detail,  that  the 
causes  of  important  revolutions  should  be  clearly  explained, 
that  the  state  of  society  in  different  periods  should  be  described, 
that  the  story  of  India  under  the  Crown  should  be  'told  at 
greater  length,  that  the  narrative  should  be  brought  down  to 
the  present  time,  that  a  sketch  of  the  nature  of  the  sources  or 
original  authorities  should  be  supplied,  and  that  the  number 
of  maps  and  illustrations  should  be  largely  increased.  The 
advantages  to  be  obtained  by  adopting  those  suggestions  seem 
to  outweigh  the  evil  of  increased  bulk.  A  book  as  highly  con- 
densed as  the  earlier  editions  were  must  be  rather  dry,  and 
omit  so  much  that  the  truth  is  apt  to  be  distorted.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  writer  of  a  school  history  should  be  extremely 
careful  not  to  overload  his  pages.  Young  students  should 
not  be  burdened  with  anything  like  the  mass  of  detail  which 
is  proper  in  a  history  composed  on  a  large  scale.  The  author 
has  tried  to  attain  the  golden  mean  by  complying  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  with  the  suggestions  offered,  while  refusing 
to  insert  much  matter  which  some  people  would  prefer  to 
include.  Special  attention  has  been  paid  to  simplicity  of 
language  and  the  avoidance  of  difficult  words. 

The  three  notes  on  the  nature  of  the  sources  or  original 

\ 

2091 4 1  a 


6  PREFACE 

authorities  for  the  history  of  the  Hindu,  Muhammadan,  and 
British  periods  have  been  inserted  by  special  request,  and  are 
designed  for  the  benefit  of  teachers  rather  than  of  pupils. 

VINCENT  A.  SMITH. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  NINTH 
EDITION 

Owing  to  the  lamented  death  of  the  Author,  I  have  been 
asked  to  prepare  a  fresh  edition  of  this  book  for  the  press. 
Mr.  Vincent  Smith's  vast  knowledge  of  the  whole  field  of 
Indian  history  and  his  accuracy  in  detail  leave  little  work 
for  the  reviser  to  undertake.  There  are,  however,  many  points 
upon  which  historians  will  always  differ,  and  I  have  ventured  to 
make  some  slight  alterations  in  certain  passages  which  might 
hurt  the  susceptibilities  of  Indian  readers.  For  this  reason 
I  have  revised  certain  paragraphs  concerning  the  Vedic 
age,  and  have  rewritten  others  relating  to  Sivaji,  Akbar, 
and  Aurangzeb.  I  have  added  a  paragraph  to  Chapter  VII 
on  the  importance  of  Indian  overseas  trade  during  the 
Buddhist  period.  I  have  also  rewTitten  the  last  ten  pages 
of  the  book  so  as  to  bring  the  narrative  completely  up  to 
date  ;  in  these  pages  I  have  tried  to  explain  to  my  young 
readers  exactly  what  India  did  in  the  Great  War,  and  I  have 
attempted  to  analyse  in  simple  language  the  Montagu- 
Chelmsford  reforms.  In  doing  this,  I  have  followed,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  excellent  pamphlet  entitled  The  New  India, 
by  Sir  Narayan  Chandavarkar,  recently  issued  by  the  Oxford 
University  Press,  which  puts  the  whole  scheme  in  an  admirably 
clear  and  simple  manner.  To  those  who  think  that  a  dispro- 
portionate amount  of  space  has  been  devoted  to  this  part  of 
the  subject  I  would  venture  to  point  out  that  a  training  in 
citizenship  is  a  crying  need  of  India  to-day.       It  is  of  the 


PREFACE  7 

utmost  importance  that  young  men  of  the  upper  forms  of 
schools,  who  are  just  about  to  go  out  into  the  world,  should 
have  a  clear  conception  of  their  duties  and  privileges  as 
citizens  of  the  Indian  Empire. 

It  is  probable  that  this  little  book  may  still  contain  state- 
ments which  are  unpalatable  to  some  classes  of  readers.  To 
these  I  can  only  say  that  in  revising  the  following  pages,  I  have 
tried  to  be  strictly  impartial  and  to 

Nothing  extenuate 
Nor  aught  set  down  in  malice. 

H.  G.  RAWLINSON. 

Dharwar,  1920. 


.sivAJi 


CONTENTS 

BOOK  I 

PHYSICAL  FEATURES  :    ANCIENT  INDIA 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    The   geographical   foundation   of   history :     the   physical 

features  of  India        ,  .  .  .  .  .  .15 

II.    The  peoples  of  India  :  aborigines  ;  Aryans  ;  Indo-Aryans  ; 

Dravidians ;   foreign  elements     .....       24 

III.  Early    Hindu    civilization :      the    Vedas ;     Smriti ;     the 

Puranas  ;   the  epics  ;   Buddhism  and  Jainism  ;   caste     .       31 

BOOK  II 

HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.D.  1193: 
MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI 

Sources  of  Hindu  history  before  the  Muhammadan  conquest       53 

IV.  The  dynasties  preceding  the  Mauryas  :  Kosala  ;  Magadha  ; 

the  Nandas  ;   Alexander  the  Great        ....        55 
V.    The  Maurya  empire  :    Chandragupta ;    accounts  of  India 

by  Greek  writers  ;  Asoka  and  his  successors  .  .       61 

VI.    The  foreign   dynasties   of   the   north-west :     the   Kushan 
(Kusana)  empire  ;    Kanishka  ;    the  Saka  era  ;    art  and 
literature  ........       72~ 

VII.    The  Gupta  empire  :    the  Hunas  or  White  Huns  ;    reign 
of   Harsha  ;     state   of   civilization  ;     Chinese   pilgrims  ; 
Kalidasa  ;  foreign  trade      ......        77 

VIII.    The   Muhammadan   conquest   of   Sind :     the    rise   of   the 

Rajputs  ;   some  Rajput  kingdoms        ....       88 

IX.    The  kingdoms  of  the  Deccan  and  the  Far  South        .  .       93 

X.    The    Muhammadan    conquest    of    the    Panjab :      Sultan 

Mahmud  of  Ghazni     .......       97 

XI.    Hindu  civilization  on  the  eve  of  the  Muhammadan  rule 

in  Hindustan     ........     102 

A3 


10  CONTENTS 


BOOK  III 

THE    MUHAMMAD  AN    CONQUEST;     THE    SULTANATE 

OF  DELHI  (SO-CALLED  '  PATHAN  EMPIRE')  FROM 

A.D.  1193  TO  1526 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Sources  of  Indo-Muhammadan  history     ...  109 

XII.  Muhammad  of  Ghor  (Ghorl) :  conquest  of  Hindustan, 
Bengal,  and  Bihar ;  Kutb-ud-din  Ibak  ;  the  so-called 
'  Pathan  dynasties  '  ;  the  Mongol  (Mughal)  invasions  ; 
end  of  the  Slave  Kings        .  .  .  .  .  .111 

XIII.  The  Khilji  sultans  of  Delhi :    Ala-ud-din  ;     the  Tughlak 

dynasty    .........      120 

XIV.  Decline  of  the  sultanate  of  Delhi :     Firoz  and  the  other 

successors   of  Muhammad   bin  Tughlak  ;    Timur  ;    the 
Lodi  dynasty    .  .......      125 

XV.  The  Muhammadan  kingdoms  of  Bengal,  Jaunpur,  Gujarat, 
Malwa,  and  the  Deccan :  the  Hindu  kingdoms  of 
Vijayanagar,  Mewar,  and  Orissa ;  literature  and 
architecture  ;  the  Urdu  language  ;  spread  of  Muham- 
madanism  :   Hindu  religious  sects        .  .  .  .130 


BOOK  IV 

THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  A.D.  1526  TO  1761 

XVI.    Babur  :   Humayun  ;   Sher  Shah  and  the  Sur  dynast^'         .      1.!>1 

XVII.  European  voyages  to  India  :  discovery  of  the  Cape  route  ; 
the  Portuguese,  Dutch,  Danish,  French,  and  English 
Companies ;   early  settlements     .  .  .  .  .      1 59 

XVIII.    The  reign  of  Akbar :  TodarMall;  Abu-lFazl       .  .        .      168 

XIX.    The    reigns    of,  Jahangir    and    Shahjahan  :     Sir    Thomas 

Roe;   Bemier ;   Mughal  architecture    .  .  .  .191 

XX.    The  reign  of  Aurangzeb  :    his  treatment  of  the  Hindus  ; 

the  Rajput  revolt;    Sivaji  and  the  rise  of  the  Marathas     207 

XXI.  The  successors  of  Aurangzeb :  Bahadur  Shah,  &c.  ; 
Muhammad  Shah  ;  invasion  of  Nadir  Shah  ;  growth 
of  Maratha  power ;  Ahmad  Shah  Durrani  ;  the  third 
battle  of  Panlpat       .......     225 


CONTENTS 


11 


BOOK  V 

THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD ;    RULE 
OF  THE  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY  FROM  1761  TO  1858 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Sources  of  Anglo-Indian  history  .  236 

XXII.    Transitional  period  :   conflict  of  the  French  and  English  in 

Southern  India  :   Dupleix,  &c.  ;  Haidar  Ali  and  Mysore      238 
XXIII.    The  English  in  Bengal :  Siraj-ud-daula  ;  battle  of  Plassey  ; 

the  Company  as  sovereign  of  Bengal     ....      248 

XXIV.    Bengal  affairs :    the  Regulating  Act ;    Warren  Hastings, 

the  first  Governor-General ;  the  fii-st  Maratha  war        .       2.59 

XXV.  Mr.  Macpherson  ;  Lord  Cornwallis  ;  Pitt's  India  Act ; 
Permanent  Settlement  and  reforms  ;  the  third  Mysore 
war ;    Sir  John  Shore  ......      27.5 

XXVI.    Lord  AVellesley :     fourth   Mysore   war ;    second  Maratha 

war;   subsidiary  alliances  .  .  .  .  .  .282 

XXVII.    Lord  Cornwallis  again  ;  Sir  George  Barlow  ;  Lord  Minto  ; 

abolition  of  trade  monopoly        .....     290 

XXVIII.    Lord  Hastings  :    Nepalese,  Pindarl,  and  Maratha  wars  ; 

Lord  Amherst ;   first  Burmese  war       ....      295 

XXIX.    Lord  William  Bentinck  :    reforms  ;     charter  of  1833  ;    Sir 

Charles  Metcalfe  and  the  press    .....     305 

XXX.  Lords  Auckland,  Ellenborough,  and  Hardinge :  first 
Afghan   war ;     conquest    of    Sind  ;     war   with    Sindia ; 

first  Sikh  war .  .312 

XXXI.  Lord  Dalhousie :  second  Sikh  war ;  second  Burmese 
war  ;  doctrine  of  lapse  ;  annexations  ;  material 
progress    .........     318 

XXXII.    Lord  Canning  :   the  Mutiny  ;   the  Queen's  Proclamation    .     326 


BOOK  VI 

THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 
UNDER  THE  CROWN 


INDIA 


XXXIII.  1858-69  :   Reconstruction  ;   Lord  Canning  ;   Lord  Elgin  I ; 

Lord  Lawrence  .......      333 

XXXIV.  1869-84  :    Lord  Mayo  ;    Lord  Northbrook  ;    Lord  Lytton 

and  the  second  Afghan  war  ;    Lord  Ripon   and  non- 
intervention ;   self-government     .....     338 


12 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGK 

XXXV.  1884-98 :  Lord  DufEerin  and  the  third  Burmese  war  ;  Lord 

Elgin  II 346 

XXXVI.  1899-1920:  Lord  Curzon  and  his  successors;  the  Great 

War :  the  Reforms         .......     349 


APPENDIXES 

A.  The  Queen's  Peoclamation,  Novembeb  1,  1858      .         .     387 

B.  Imperial  Message  to  Princes  and  Peoples  of  India, 

November  2,  1998 37U 

C.  The  King's  Message  TO  HIS  Peoples  Overseas  (1914)     .     372 

D.  The    King's    Proclamation    at    Passing    op    Reform 

Bill  (1919) 374 


PAGE 

20-21 


MAPS 

Ikdia,  Physical  Features  ...... 

Alexander's  Route     .......       60 

Empire  of  Asoka  ........       71 

Conquests  of  Samudbagupta  and  the  Gupta  Empire  .       78 

India  in  a.  d.  640        .         .     ' 89 

India  in  1605       .'       .         .         .         .         .         .         -         .182 

The  Carnatic 247 

Parts  of  Bengal,  &c. 254 

Plan  of  the  Battle  of  Plassey  (Rennell)         .         .         .     257 

India  in  1795       .         .         . 285 

Maratha  Wars .     288 

Ran  jit  Singh's  Dominions 317 

The  Burmese  W^ars     .         .         .         .       , .         .         .         .321 

India  in  1867 329 

Indian  Empire  and  Ceylon,  1915         .         .  To  face  -page  364 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


George  V,  Kikg-Emperor     ....  Fronti 

Buddha  (from  a  brass  statuette  of  sixth  century)  - 
Sivaj! .......... 

Alexander  the  Great  (the  Tivoli  'Herm)     .  .  . 

Sarnath  Capital — Asoka  Period  .... 

Asoka's  Inscription  (at  Rummindei)    .... 

Asoka  Pillar  (at  Lauriya-Nandangarhj  Champaran  District) 
Buddha  (Graeco-Buddhist)    ...... 

The  Great  Stupa  (Sanchi,  restored)      .... 

Seated  Buddha,  Sarnath — Gupta  Period   . 

Pillars,  Jain  Temple,  Osia — 10th  or  11th  Century    . 

A  Tibetan  Lama  ....... 

KUTB  MiNAR  .  .  .     ' 

Gateway,  Atala  Devi  Mosque,  Jaunpur 

The  Council  Hall,  Vijayanagar 

Guru  Nanak         ...... 

Chaitanya  (from  a  photo  of  a  contemporary  wooden  statue  pre 

served  at  Pratapapur,  Orissa,  supplied  by  Babu  N.  N.  Vasu) 
Babur  ...... 

Tomb  of  Humayun      ..... 

Albuquerque       ..... 

Coin  of  Charles  II  (Bombay  rupee)     . 
Akbar  (from  a  MS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library) 
DiWAN-i-KHAS  of  Delhi  Palace    . 

The  Taj  Mahal 

aurangzeb  ....... 

Xawab  Shayista  Kh.an  .... 

Indian  Coins         ...... 

Warren  Hastings        ..... 

Lord  Cornwallis         .         .  .         . 

The  Marquess  Wellesley 

Lord  William  Cavendish-Bentinck     . 

iNlARQUESS  of  Dalhousie       .... 


PAGE 

spiece 
4 


Gita. 


And  East  and  West,  without  a  breath 
Mix  their  dim  lights,  Hke  Life  and  Death, 
To  broaden  into  boundless  day. 

Tennyson. 


BOOK  I 
PHYSICAL  FEATURES :   ANCIENT  INDIA 

CHAPTER  I 

The  geographical  foundation  of  history  :  the  phj'sical  features  of  India. 

Geography  the  foundation  of  history.  '  Geography  is',  as 
has  been  well  said, '  the  foundation  of  all  historical  knowledge.' 
The  history  of  India,  like  that  of  other  lands,  cannot  be  under- 
stood unless  regard  is  paid  to  the  physical  features  of  the  stage 
on  which  the  long  drama  of  her  story  has  been  played,  and 
before  we  attempt  a  rapid  survey  of  the  actors'  deeds  we  must 
pause  to  consider  the  manner  in  which  the  position  and 
structure  of  India  have  affected  human  action. 

Exclusion  of  Burma  and  Ceylon.  The  Indian  empire  as  now 
constituted  includes  the  kingdom  of  Burma  to  the  east  of  the 
Bay  of  Bengal,  which  was  annexed  in  three  instalments  in 
the  years  1826,  1852,  and  1886.  Burma,  however,  which  has 
a  histor}'  of  its  own,  is  not  naturally  a  part  of  India.  Its  affairs, 
therefore,  will  not  be  discussed  in  this  book,  except  incidentally 
as  ei^isodes  in  the  Indian  story.  The  islajid  of  Ceylon,  on  the 
other  hand,  although  physically  an  imperfectly  severed  frag- 
ment of  the  mainland,  is  not  a  part  of  the  Indian  empire,  being 
administered  as  a  Crown  colony  under  the  direction  of  the 
Secretarj'  of  State  for  the  Colonies.  For  this  reason,  and  also 
Jjecause  the  island,  like  Burma,  has  a  history  of  its  own,  the 
annals  of  Ceylon  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  book, 
except  so  far  as  they  have  been  affected  by  the  direct  action 
of  Indian  powers. 

Boundaries  of  India.  The  India  with  which  we  are  con- 
cerned is  the  distinct  geographical  unit  bounded  on  the  north 


16  PHYSICAL  FEATURES 

by  the  ranges  of  the  Himalaya  and  Karakoram,  on  the  north- 
west by  the  mountains  to  the  west  of  the  Indus,  on  the  north- 
east by  the  hills  of  Assam  and  Cachar,  and  everywhere  else 
by  the  sea.  The  unit  so  defined  includes  both  a  continental 
area,  outside  the  tropics,'  extending  from  the  mouths  of  the 
Indus  in  N.  lat.  25°  on  the  west  to  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges 
in  about  N.  lat.  23°  on  the  east,  and  a  triangular  peninsular  area 
within  the  tropics,  terminating  at  Cape  Comorin,  N.  lat.  8°  4'. 
The  northern  land  frontier  measures  about  1,600,  the  north- 
western about  1,200  and  the  north-eastern  about  500  miles. 
The  length  of  the  sea -coast  may  be  taken  as  3,400  miles,  more 
or  less. 

Physical  isolation  of  India.  The  leading  fact  in  the  position 
above  described  as  affecting  history  is  the  obvious  physical 
isolation  of  India.  In  ancient  times,  when  no  power  attempted 
to  assert  full  command  of  the  sea,  a  country  so  largely  sur- 
rovmded  by  the  ocean  was  inaccessible  for  the  most  part,  and 
could  be  approached  by  land  through  its  continental  section 
only.  The  north-eastern  hills  and  the  gigantic  Himalayan 
and  Karakoram  ranges  present  few  openings  at  all  passable, 
and  none  easy  of  passage  for  considerable  bodies  of  men. 
But  the  hills  west  of  the  Indus  are  pierced  by  many  passes 
more  or  less  open.  The  land  gates  of  India  are  all  on  her 
north-western  frontier,  and  this  physical  fact  dominated  her 
whole  history  for  thousands  of  years. 

Isolation  destroyed  by  command  of  the  sea.  The  command 
of  the  sea  acquired  by  the  Portuguese  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century  and  ultimately  inherited  by  the  British  has  destroyed 
the  isolation  of  India.  To  a  modern  power  possessing  an 
adequate  fleet,  the  sea  is  a  bond  of  union  not  a  barrier  of 
separation,  and  so  it  has  come  about  that  India,  while  still 
separated  from  the  adjoining  continental  empires  of  Russia, 
Persia,  and  China  by  mountain  ramparts,  is  closely  bound  to 
the  remote  island  of  Great  Britain  by  means  of  the  British 
control  of  the  ocean  routes. 

Modern  importance  of  the  ports.    The  ports  are  now  the 


PHYSICAL  FEATUrtES  17 

main  gates,  and  the  north-western  passes  are  but  posterns. 
No  hostile  force  entering  India  by  any  of  the  ancient  land 
routes  could  hold  more  than  a  limited  area  in  the  north-Avest 
against  a  power  exercising  command  of  the  sea.  While  the 
traveller  from  Bombay  easily  reaches  London  in  a  fortnight, 
Delhi  is  still  almost  as  far  from  Ghazni  or  Samarkand  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  Mahmud  and  Babur. 

Distribution  of  the  great  cities.  In  former  times  the  great 
cities  and  capitals  of  states  were  built  inland  and  usually  on 
the  banks  of  rivers,  which  offered  the  best  means  of  communi- 
cation and  transport.  Now,  the  position  of  the  greatest  cities 
is  determined  by  the  facilities  for  harbour  accommodation,  and 
it  is  desirable  that  the  capital  of  the  empire  should  be  in  close 
touch  with  the  sea.  Bombay  owes  her  modern  greatness 
solely  to  her  magnificent  natural  harbour,  which  enables  her 
to  deal  with  the  commerce  of  the  w^orld.  Calcutta,  although 
not  so  favoured  by  nature,  is  still  a  great  port,  and  as  such 
was  well  qualified  to  be  the  imperial  capital,  as  it  was  from 
1774  to  1912.  The  remoteness  from  the  sea  is  a  serious  dis- 
advantage to  Delhi,  the  newly  appointed  official  capital. 

Want  of  harbours  on  the  east  coast.  The  lack  of  good 
harbours  on  the  eastern  coast  fit  for  big  modern  ships  has 
killed  or  half  killed  the  ancient  towns  on  that  side  of  India. 
Ports  which  were  good  enough  for  the  tiny  vessels  of  ancient 
times  are  of  no  use  for  the  great  steamers  of  these  days. 
Madras,  in  order  to  save  herself  from  ruin,  has  been  obliged 
to  supply  natural  deficiency  by  the  construction  of  an  artificial 
harbour  at  enormous  cost.  Most  of  the  harbours  on  the 
eastern  side  of  India,  such  as  they  were,  have  become  so  choked 
with  sand  and  silt  as  to  be  almost  useless,  even  for  small 
coasting  craft.  This  physical  change  has  involved  the  utter 
ruin  of  famous  old  ports,  Kaviripaddanam,  Korkai,  and  others. 

Natural  division  between  north  and  south.  Next  in  impor- 
tance to  the  physical  isolation  of  India,  as  it  existed  for  count- 
less  3^ears,  is  the  natural  separation  of  the  north  from  the 
isouth  effected  by  the  broad  belt  of  hill  and  forest  running 


18  PHYSICAL  FEATURES 

from  the  Gulf  of  Cambay  on  the  west  to  the  mouths  of  the 
Mahanadi  on  the  east.  The  country  lying  between  this  barrier 
and  the  Himalaya,  although  not  altogether  devoid  of  hills,  is 
essentially  a  plain  watered  by  two  river  systems,  those  of  the 
Indus  and  the  Ganges.  The  parting  or  watershed  of  the  two 
systems  is  marked  by  the  Aravalli  (Pariyatra)  hills  of  Rajpu- 
tana.  The  great  plain,  formed  of  silt  deposited  from  the 
rivers,  has  been  the  scene  of  nearly  all  the  Indian  historical 
events  interesting  to  the  outer  world.  It  lies  outside  the 
tropics.  ^The  peninsular  region  to  the  south  of  the  forest 
barrier  lies  wholly  within  the  tropics,  and  until  recent  times 
has  been  so  secluded  from  the  rest  of  the  world  that  the  history 
of  its  many  principalities  and  powers,  excepting  some  on  the 
coast,  has  been  little  known  or  regarded. 

The  forest  barrier,  or  Mahakantara,  and  the  Narbada  river. 
The  forest  barrier  itself,  Mahakantara  of  old  books,  used  to  be 
a  no-man's-land,  lying  outside  the  limits  of  the  regularly  con- 
stituted states,  and  usually  left  in  the  hands  of  its  wild  inhabi- 
tants. It  is  now  shared  by  several  provincial  governments, 
and  is  gradually  losing  its  former  distinct  character.  In  very 
early  times  this  forest  belt  was  practically  impenetrable  at 
most  points,  and  the  slight  intercourse  between  north  and 
south  had  to  be  conducted  usually  either  by  sea  or  by  a  land 
route  along  the- eastern  coast.  The  forest  barrier  being  broad 
and  ill-defmed,  a  more  definite  boundary  is  needed  for  literary 
use.  Ancient  authority,  accordingly,  warrants  the  assumption 
of  the  Narbada  river  as  the  conventional  line  dividing  the 
north  from  the  south,  and  this  convention  is  sufficiently  sup- 
ported by  the  facts  of  history  to  be  justified  in  practice. 

Aryavarta,  or  Hindustan  and  the  Deccan.  The  northern 
plains  were  called  by  Hindu  authors  Aryavarta,  '  the  Aryan 
territory,'  and  by  the  Muhammadans  Hindustan,  '  the  Hindu 
territory.'  Modern  usage  sometimes  extends  the  term  Hindu- 
stan to  the  whole  of  India.  The  ancients  generally  designated 
the  whole  southern  peninsular  area  by  the  Sanskrit  word 
daJcshina,  meaning  '  south  ',  which  is  familiar  in  its  corrupt 


PHYSICAL  FEATURES  19 

English  form  as  '  the  Deccan  '.  But  the  term  '  Deccan  '  is  now 
commonly  restricted  to  the  plateau  or  highlands  to  the  north 
of  the  Kistna  (Krishna)  and  Tungabhadra  rivers,  which  are 
mostly  included  in  the  Nizam's  Dominions  and  the  Bombay 
Presidency.  The  Far  South,  or  Tamil  Land  {Tamilakam), 
which  comprises  the  bulk  of  the  Madras  Presidency  with  the 
addition  of  the  Mysore,  Cochin,  and  Travancore  States,  is 
treated  as  distinct  from  the  Deccan.  But  historically  Mysore 
has  been  more  closely  connected  with  the  Deccan  states  than 
with  those  of  Tamil  Land. 

The  historian's  three  divisions  of  India.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  three  divisions  of  Hindustan  or  Aryavarta,  to  the 
north  of  the  Narbada  ;  the  Deccan,  between  the  Tapti  and 
the  Tungabhadra  ;  and  the  Far  South  or  Tamil  Land,  from  the 
Tungabhadra  to  Cape  Comorin,  usually  have  had  separate 
histories.  The  historian  of  India,  therefore,  finds  it  con- 
venient to  restrict  his  main  narrative  of  events  before  the 
British  period  to  Hindustan,  which  was  most  in  touch  with 
the  outer  world,  and  to  devote  distinct  chapters  to  the  account 
of  events  in  the  Deccan  and  the  Far  South.  Most  of  the  events 
of  at  all  general  interest  occurred  in  one  or  other  of  the  three 
regions  named  above.  The  affairs  of  Mahakantara,  or  the 
central  belt  of  jungle,  of  the  Himalayan  slopes  and  valleys, 
including  Nepal  and  Kashmir,  as  well  as  those  of  the  basin 
of  the  Brahmaputra,  including  Assam,  ordinarily  fall  outside 
of  the  main  current  of  Indian  history.  The  administrative 
arrangements  of  modern  India  take  little  account  of  physical 
features  and  natural  geographical  boundaries. 

Basins  of  the  Indus  and  Ganges.  Within  the  area  of  Arya- 
varta or  Hindustan  we  must  distinguish  the  basin  of  the  Indus 
and  its  tributaries,  comprising  the  Panjab,  Sind,  Cutch,  and 
Rajputana  to  the  west  of  the  Aravalli  hills,  from  the  basin  of 
the  Ganges  and  its  affluents.  The  history  of  the  countries 
along  the  lower  course  of  the  Ganges,  the  modern  province  of 
Bengal,  is  distinct  in  large  measure  from  that  of  the  countries 
along  the  upper  course  of  the  same  river,  now  mostly  included 


■  Maldiue  Is. 


22  PHYSICAL  FEATURES 

in  the  United  Provinces  of  Agra  and  Oudh.  South  Bihar  and 
Tirhut,  the  ancient  Magadha  and  Mithila  respectively, although 
now  under  the  government  of  the  newly  formed  artificial  pro- 
vince of  '  Bihar  and  Orissa  ',  are  associated  historically  rather 
more  with  the  upper  than  with  the  lower  provinces.  The  out- 
lying peninsula  of  Surashtra,  or  Kathiawar,  being  most  easil}' 
accessible  through  Malwa,  was  often  included  in  the  northern 
-empires  of  the  Gangetic  basin. 

The  *  Lost  River  '.  The  extensive  desert  which  now  occupies 
so  large  an  area  in  Rajputana  and  Sind  was  much  smaJler  in 
ancient  times,  when  the  '  Lost  River  ',  the  Hakra  or  Wahindah 
flowed  through  the  Bahawalpur  State,  and  with  its  tributaries 
fertilized  wide  regions  now  desolate.  During  the  Muham- 
madan  period  that  river  was  the  recognized  boundary  between 
Sind  and  Hind,  or  India  Proper.  It  disappeared  finally  in  the 
•eighteenth  century,  but  its  ancient  channels  and  the  ruins  of 
forgotten  cities  on  their  banks  may  be  seen  still.  Failure  to 
appreciate  the  enormous  scale  of  the  changes  in  the  courses  of 
the  rivers  of  Northern  India  has  caused  much  misunderstanding 
of  history.  In  olden  days  the  command  of  the  rivers  was  as 
important  as  the  command  of  the  sea  is  now. 

The  Western  and  Eastern  Ghats  ;  the  plain  of  Tinnevelly. 
The  long  chain  of  hills  or  mountains  of  moderate  height, 
known  as  the  Sahyadri  or  Western  Ghats,  which  extends,  with 
■only  one  short  break  at  Palghat,  from  the  Narbada  to  Cape 
■Comorin,  plays  an  important  part  in  Indian  history.  It  shuts 
off  from  the  interior  highlands  the  low-lying  fertile  strip  of  land 
between  the  hills  and  the  sea,  called  the  Konkans,  which  has 
been  the  seat  of  trade  with  Europe  since  remote  ages.^  The 
passes,  which  do  not  change  like  rivers,  have  necessarily  deter- 

^  Ancient  Hindu  authorities  name  '  Seven  Konkans',  extending  to  Cape 
Comorin.  '  The  Konkan  is  now  held  to  include  all  the  land  which  lies 
between  the  Western  Ghats  and  the  Indian  Ocean,  from  the  latitude  of 
Daman  on  the  north  [20°  25']  to  that  of  Torekhol,  on  the  Goa  frontier 
[about  15°  43'],  on  the  south.  This  tract  is  about  320  miles  in  length ' 
{Bombay  Gazetteer,  1896,  vol.  i,  part  ii,  p.  ix). 


PHYSICAL  FEATURES  23 

mined  the  lines  of  intercourse  between  the  coast  and  the  kmg- 
doms  of  the  interior.  The  facilities  for  erecting  forts  on  the 
flat-topped  hills  of  the  Ghats  and  Deccan  have  largely  influ- 
enced the  course  of  history,  especially  during  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  when  the  Maratha  power  was  based 
on  the  possession  of  the  hill -fortresses.  The  ill-defined  range  of 
the  Eastern  Ghats  has  less  historical  significance.  The  arid 
plain  of  Tinnevelly  and  Madura  in  the  south-east  of  the  penin- 
sula is  a  well-marked  natural  feature  which  became  the 
seat  of  a  separate  kingdom,  that  of  the  Pandyas,  at  a  very 
early  date. 

The  temptations  of  India.  The  wealth  extracted  by  an 
industrious  population  from  the  teeming  soil  of  the  hot 
northern  plains  has  always  been  a  temptation  to  the  hardy 
races  of  the  less  favoured  parts  of  Asia,  and  has  supplied  the 
motive  for  innumerable  invasions  of  armies  and  immigrations 
of  more  peaceful  settlers.  The  new-comers,  entering  from  the 
north,  have  thence  pushed  into  the  less  attractive  regions  of 
the  Deccan  table-land,  whenever  they  were  strong  enough  to 
do  so,  but  none  of  the  invaders  from  the  north  were  able  to 
establish  effective  dominion  over  the  extreme  south.  The 
riches  of  Tamil  Land — especially  pearls,  pepper,  and  spices — 
always  have  been  sought  by  foreigners  who  came  by  sea,  not 
overland.  The  eagerness  of  merchants  belonging  to  European 
naval  states  to  secure  the  trade  in  those  precious  commodities 
has  resulted  in  the  most  wonderful  fact  of  modern  history,  the 
conquest  of  all  India  by  the  subjects  of  an  island  kingdom  in 
the  Far  West.  The  events  of  the  Great  War  have  proved  that 
the  union  between  India  and  England  does  not  rest  merely 
upon  conquest.  Community  of  material  interests  is  hallowed 
by  a  common  feeling  of  loj^al  devotion  to  the  person  of  the 
King-Emperor.  The  sincerity  of  Indian  feeling  has  been  made 
manifest  to  the  world  by  the  free-will  offering  of  blood  and 
treasure  tendered  by  the  princes  and  peoples  of  India,  and 
accepted  in  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  by  the  king,  parliament, 
and  people  of  the  United  Kingdom. 


24  ANCIENT  INDIA 


CHAPTER  II 

The  peoples  of  India  :  aborigines ;  Aryans  ;  Indo- Aryans ;  Dravidian^  ; 
foreign  elements. 

The  stone  Age.  Poets  dream  of  a  golden  age  when  the 
world  was  young  and  men  lived  in  innocent  peace  and  happy 
plenty.  Sober  science  tells  a  different  tale  and  teaches  that 
everywhere  the  earliest  men  were  rude  savages,  dwelling  in 
caves  or  huts,  ignorant  even  of  the  use  of  fire  and  the  com- 
monest arts  of  life.  Pudely  chipped  flints  or  other  hard  stones 
were  their  only  tools  and  are  their  sole  memorial.  Later,  but 
still  very  ancient,  men  made  better  stone  implements,  often 
exquisitely  finished,  and  learned  how  to  make  pottery,  at  first 
bj'  hand  only,  afterwards  with  the  aid  of  the  wheel.  India, 
like  other  lands,  yields  many  relics  of  such  early  men,  who  had 
not  been  taught  the  use  of  metals,  and  are  therefore  said  to 
have  lived  in  the  Stone  Age. 

The  Copper  Age,  In  Northern  India  one  of  the  first  metals  to 
become  known  was  copper.  Hundreds  of  curious  implements 
made  of  pure  copper  have  been  found  in  the  Central  Provinces, 
in  old  beds  of  the  Ganges  near  Cawnpore,  and  in  other  places 
from  Eastern  Bengal  to  Sind  and  the  Kurram  valley.  They 
are  supposed  to  date  from  2000  B.C.,  more  or  less.  The  time 
when,  iron  being  unknown,  tempered  or  hardened  pure  copper, 
not  bronze,  was  used  to  make  tools  is  called  the  Copper  Age.i 
It  is  possible  that  some  of  the  Eigveda  hymns  may  date  from 
that  age,  but  commentators  differ. 

The  Iron  Age.  In  process  of  time  the  use  of  iron  became 
familiar,  having  been  introduced,  perhaps,  from  Babylonia. 
Since  then  men  have  lived  and  still  live  in  the  Iron  Age.  The 
Atharvaveda,  which,  although  very  ancient,  is  later  in  date 
than  the  Eigveda,  seems  to  recognize  the  use  of  iron,  which 

»  The  use  of  bronze,  an  alloy  of  copper  and  tin,  was  rare  in  India,  wliick 
had  no  Bronze  Age.    The  art  of  tempering  copper  has  been  lost. 


ANCIENT  INDIA  25 

certainly  was  known  to  the  people  of  Northern  India  before 
500  B.C.,  and  probably  long  before  that  date. 

Variety  of  races  in  India.  How  far  the  existing  peoples  of 
India  are  descended  from  the  ancient  men  who  used  stone  and 
copper  tools  nobody  can  tell.  The  most  casual  observer  can- 
not fail  to  perceive  that  the  present  population  of  nearly  three 
hundred  millions  is  made  up  of  the  descendants  of  many  diverse 
races,  some  of  which  have  been  settled  in  the  country  since  the 
most  remote  times,  while  others  are  known  to  have  entered 
it  at  various  periods.  In  the  course  of  ages  those  diverse 
races  have  '  now  become  so  intermixed  and  confounded  that  it 
is  imi)ossible  to  say  where  one  variety  of  man  ends  and  another 
begins  '. 

Two  main  types.  But,  notwithstanding  infinite  crossing, 
two  main  types  are  clearlj'  discernible.  The  short,  dark,  snub- 
nosed,  and  often  ugly  type  is  represented  by  the  Kols,  Bhils, 
and  countless  other  Jungle  tribes,  as  well  as  by  an  immense 
mass  of  low-caste  folk  in  Northern  India.  The  Southern  races 
also,  with  certain  exceptions,  are  more  akin  to  this  type  than 
to  the  second,  which  is  tall,  fair,  long-nosed,  and  often  hand- 
some, as  represented  by  the  Kashmiris  and  many  high-caste 
people  in  the  north  and  some  in  the  south. 

Aryans  and  Aborigines.  The  people  of  the  short,  dark  type 
undoubtedly  are  the  descendants  of  the  older  races  who  occu- 
pied the  country  before  the  tall,  fair  people  came  in.  They  are, 
therefore,  often  called  '  aborigines  '  to  indicate  that  they 
represent  the  earliest  or  original  inhabitants,  so  far  as  can  be 
ascertained.  Attempts,  based  chiefly  upon  philology,  or  the 
science  of  language,  are  sometimes  made  to  distinguish  races 
— Kolarian,  Dravidian,  and  so  forth — among  these  '  abori- 
gines ',  but  with  little  success.  The  tall,  fair  people  certainly 
came  in  from  the  north-west,  and  the  earliest  invaders  of  whom 
we  know  anything,  the  people  of  the  Rigveda  hymns,  called 
themselves  Aryans,  or  '  kinsmen  '.  Their  blood  may  be  as- 
sumed to  flow  in  the  veins  of  certain  Brahmans  and  other 
classes  at  the  present  day,  but  it  is  mixed  with  strains  derived 


26  ANCIENT  INDIA 

from  later  invaders  of  similar  physical  type.  The  question  of 
the  original  seat  of  the  Aryan  stock,  one  branch  of  which 
entered  India  from  about  1500  B.C.  or  earlier,  has  given  rise 
to  many  theories,  which  agree  only  in  not  being  proved.  It  is, 
however,  safe  to  say  that  the  Aryan  settlers  in  India  were  akin 
to  the  Persians  or  Iranians,  and  probably  to  many  other  races 
of  Asia  and  Europe. 

Indo-Aryans.  These  Aryan  settlers  in  India  are  con- 
veniently called  Indo-Aryans  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
continental  Aryans  on  the  other  side  of  the  passes.  The 
Parsi  or  Persian  colonies,  whose  ancestors,  fleeing  from 
Muhammadan  persecution,  reached  Western  India  in  the  eighth 
century,  may  be  regarded  as  Aryans  of  pure  blood.  The 
earliest  settlements  of  the  Vedic  Indo-Aryans  apparently 
Avere  made  in  the  Panjab,  the  '  land  of  the  five  rivers  ',  or  '  of 
the  seven  rivers  ',  according  to  an  ancient  reckoning.  Thence 
the  strangers  spread  slowly  over  Northern  India,  advancing 
chiefly  along  the  Ganges  and  Jumna,  but  making  use  also  of 
the  Indus  route.  One  section  seems  to  have  moved  eastwards 
along  the  base  of  the  mountains  into  Mithila  or  Tirhut.  The 
distinctive  Brahmanical  system  was  evolved,  not  in  the  Panjab, 
but  in  the  upper  Ganges  valley  in  the  Delhi  region,  between 
the  Sutlaj  and  Jumna.  Manu  honours  the  small  tract  between 
the  Sarasvati  and  Drishadvati  rivers  by  the  title  of  Brahma- 
varta,  '  the  land  of  the  gods  ',  giving  the  name  of  Brahmarshi- 
desa,  or  '  the  land  of  divine  sages  ',  to  the  larger  region  com- 
prising Brahmavarta  or  Kurukshetra  (Thanesar),  with  the 
addition  of  Matsya  (Eastern  Rajputana),  Panchala  (between 
the  Ganges  and  Jumna),  and  Surasena  (Mathura).  When  the 
treatise  ascribed  to  Manu  assumed  its  present  shape,  perhaps 
about  A.D.  200  or  earlier,  the  whole  space  between  the  Hima- 
laya and  the  Vindhyas  from  sea  to  sea  was  acknowledged  to  be 
Arya varta,  '  the  Aryan  territory  '.  The  Indo -Aryan  advance 
thus  indicated  must  have  been  spread  over  many  centuries.  As 
they  advanced  the  Aryans  subdued,  more  or  less  completely,  the 
'aborigines  ',  whom  they  called  Dasyus,  and  by  other  names. 


ANCIENT   INDIA  27 

Southern  expansion  of  Aryans  checked.  The  central  forest 
barrier,  or  Mahakantara  {ante,  p.  18),  long  checked  the  Aryan 
advance  towards  the  south,  and,  indeed,  no  large  body  of 
Aryan  settlerb  can  be  proved  to  have  passed  it.  But,  in  course 
of  time,  the  ideas  and  customs  of  the  Aryans  spread  all 
over  India,  even  into  lands  where  the  people  have  little  or 
no  Aryan  blood  in  their  veins.  Tradition  credits  the  Rishi 
Agastya  with  the  introduction  of  Aryan  Hindu  institutions 
into  the  South. 

Aryan  languages.  The  Indo-Aryans  spoke  a  language  which 
in  a  later  literary  form  became  known  as  Sanskrit,  and  be- 
longed to  the  same  family  as  Persian,  Latin,  Greek,  English, 
and  many  other  Asiatic  and  European  languages.  From  the 
early  Indo-Aryan  speech,  Marathi,  Hindi,  Bengali,  and  other 
languages  of  Northern  India  have  been  evolved  during  the 
course  of  ages.  But  multitudes  of  people  who  are  not  Aryan 
by  descent  now  speak  Aryan  languages.  Community  of  lan- 
guage is  no  proof  of  community  of  blood. 

Immigration  from  the  north-east.  Strangers  distinct  from 
the  Aryans,  and  belonging  to  the  Mongoloid  type  of  mankind, 
more  or  less  akin  to  the  Chinese,  came  down  from  the  north- 
eastern hills,  and  are  believed  to  form  a  considerable  element 
in  the  population  of  Eastern  Bengal  and  Assam.  This  move- 
ment from  the  north-east  was  of  minor  importance  compared 
■\dth  the  Aryan  immigration  from  the  north-west. 

Dra vidians.  The  people  of  the  south  are  described  as 
Dravidians  because  Dravida  was  the  old  name  of  the  Tamil 
country.  Some  writers  extend  the  meaning  of  the  term 
Dra  vidian  so  as  to  comprise  most  of  the  so-called  aboriginal 
races,  even  in  the  north,  but  such  an  extension  of  a  purely 
geographical  name  is  not  to  be  commended.  The  Southerners 
undoubtedly  include  several  distinct  races,  but  almost  all  of 
the  short,  dark  type.  The  Tamils  are  the  most  important. 
Learned  men  have  many  theories  about  the  origin  of  these 
races,  which  agree  only  in  their  uncertainty.  No  positive 
assertion  on  the  subject  is  justified. 


28  ANCIENT  INDIA 

Dravidian  languages  and  civilization.  The  principal  lan- 
guages spoken  in  the  south,  namely  Tamil,  Telugu,  Kanarese, 
Malayalam,  and  Tulu,  which  are  closely  related  one  to  the 
other,  form  a  group  or  family  totally  distinct  from  the  Aryan, 
and  known  to  philologists  as  the  Dravidian  familJ^  It  is 
equally  distinct  from  the  Kolarian  or  Munda  family  spoken 
by  many  of  the  so-called  aboriginal  tribes.  Tamil,  a  rich  and 
copious  tongue,  the  most  cultivated  of  the  Dravidian  group, 
possesses  a  fine  early  literature,  perfectly  independent  of  the 
Sanskrit.  Although  our  knowledge  of  the  ancient  life  of 
the  Dravidian  nations  is  scanty,  enough  is  known  to  justify 
the  assertion  that  they  were  far  from  being  rude  barbarians 
when  Aryan  teachers  first  reached  them,  several  centuries 
before  the  Christian  era. 

The  foreign  elements  of  the  Indian  population.  As  already 
observed,  the  origin  of  the  southern  races  is  not  known,  and 
foreign  immigration  from  the  north  into  the  south  cannot  be 
proved  to  have  taken  place  on  a  large  scale.  The  known 
foreign  elements  in  the  Indian  population  came  in  mainly  from 
the  north-west  and  settled,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  north  of 
the  Vindhyas.  It  will  be  useful  to  state  briefiy  Avhat  those 
elements  are.  The  first  swarm  of  immigrants  about  which 
anything  can  be  ascertained  is  that  of  the  Indo -Aryans  {ante, 
p.  26),  whose  movement  undoubtedly  lasted  for  centuries. 

The  Sakas.  In  the  second  centur}^  b.  c.  we  begin  to  hear 
of  the  Sakas,  hordes  of  nomad  tribes  from  Central  Asia,  who 
descended  on  the  Indian  plains,  formed  settlements  in  the 
Pan  jab,  with  extensions  probably  as  far  as  Mathura,  and 
occupied  Kathiawar  or  Surashtra,  of  which  they  became  the 
masters.  The  ancient  Indians  having  been  accustomed  to  use 
the  term  Saka  in  a  vague  way  to  denote  all  foreigners  from  the 
other  side  of  the  passes,  without  nice  distinctions  of  race  and 
tribe,  it  is  possible  that  many  of  the  people  called  Sakas  may 
have  been  akin  to  the  Aryans  of  the  olden  time. 

The  Yuehchi  or  Kushans  (Kusana).  The  third  recorded 
inrush  of  strangers  from  Central  Asia  in  large  numbers  began 


ANCIENT  INDIA  29 

in  the  first  century  after  Christ.  At  that  time  the  leading 
horde  Avas  kno^vn  to  the  Chinese  historians,  the  principal 
source  of  information  on  the  subject,  as  the  Yuehchi,  a  people 
probably  akin  to  the  Turks,  and  perhaps  to  the  Aryans.  The 
Kushans  (Kusana),  the  principal  clan  or  sept  among  the 
Yuehchi,  founded  a  powerful  emi^ire  in  Northern  India,  the 
history  of  which  will  be  noticed  in  Chapter  VI. 

The  White  Huns  or  Ephthalites.  Indistinct  indications 
suggest  that  India  may  have  been  invaded  by  Persians  or 
Iranians  in  the  third  century  of  the  Christian  era,  but  the 
next  clearly  proved  irruption  took  place  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries,  when  multitudes  of  fierce  folk  from  the  Asiatic 
steppes  swooped  down  on  Persia  and  India,  The  Indians 
called  them  all  by  the  name  of  Hiinas,  a  term  used  vaguely 
like  the  term  Sakas,  and  covering,  no  doubt,  many  different 
hordes  or  tribes.  European  writers  distinguish  the  Indian 
Himas  as  the  White  Huns,  or  Ephthalites,  from  the  other 
Huns  who  invaded  Europe.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Sakas,  we 
cannot  say  positively  whether  or  not  the  White  Huns  were 
akin  to  the  fair,  tall  Aryans  and  Turks,  or  to  the  small  yellow- 
faced  Mongols.  But  it  is  now  known  that  many  existing 
Rajput  clans  and  other  castes — Giijars,  Jats,  Kathi,  &c. — are 
descendants  of  either  the  Hunas  or  the  Gurjaras  or  of  other 
similar  hordes  which  followed  them.  The  appearance  of  the 
Rajputs,  Jats,  and  Gujars  indicates  that  their  foreign  ancestors 
must  have  belonged  to  one  of  the  fair,  tall  types  of  mankind, 
and  not  to  the  yellow -faced,  narrow-eyed.  Mongoloid  type. 

Early  spread  of  Islam.  A  new  force  which  came  into 
existence  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventh  century  ultimately 
produced  enormous  effects  on  the  population  of  India. 
Muhammad,  an  Arab  of  the  desert,  born  about  a.  d.  570,  con- 
ceived in  middle  life  the  idea  of  proclaiming  a  reformed  religion 
which  should  abolish  the  rude  heathen  practices  of  the  Arabs, 
and  be,  in  his  belief,  an  improvement  on  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  religions  as  known  to  him.  For  years  he  had  little 
success,  but  he  began  to  acquire  political  power  from  the  time 


30  ANCIENT  INDIA 

that  he  fled  from  Mecca  to  Medina  in  order  to  escape  from  the 
0]5position  of  his  hostile  kinsmen.  The  Muhammadan  era  of 
the  Hijra  (often  corruptly  spelt  Hegira),  or  Flight,  dates  from 
A.  D.  622.1  During  the  remaining  ten  years  of  his  life,  his 
prophetic  teaching,  summed  up  in  the  phrase,  '  There  is  no  God 
but  Allah,  and  Muhammad  is  his  messenger  ',  made  such 
progress,  helped  largely  by  the  sword,  that  Muhammad,  when 
he  died  in  632,  was  practically  master  of  Arabia.  His  position 
as  such  brought  his  successors  into  conflict  with  the  empires 
of  Persia  and  Constantinople,  resulting  in  a  series  of  wars,  in 
which  the  Arabs  won  marvellous  success.  Within  the  short 
space  of  eighty  years  after  the  prophet's  death,  the  adherents 
of  his  religion — Islam — reigned  supreme  over  Arabia,  Persia, 
SjT^ia,  Western  Turkistan,  Sind,  Egypt,  and  Southern  Spain. 
We  may  say  with  truth  that  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Arab  arms 
was  mainly  due  to  the  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  prophet's 
teaching,  aided  by  the  weakness  of  the  kingdoms  attacked ;  but 
no  man  has  ever  yet  succeeded  in  explaining  how  the  teaching 
of  a  prophet  like  Muhammad  should  arouse  so  quickly  the  zeal 
of  his  followers  and  make  them  invincible.  The  spread  of 
a  new  religion  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  human  nature,  which 
do  not  yield  their  secret  to  attempts  at  summary  explanation. 
Muslim  element  in  Indian  population.  Sind,  then  regarded 
as  distinct  from  India  proper,  was  conquered  by  Muhammad 
bin  Kasim  in  a.  d.  712,  and  the  occupation  of  Kabul  followed 
in  870.  But  the  conquest  of  those  outlying  territories  did  not 
much  concern  India.  The  flrst  Indian  province  permanently 
occupied  by  Musalmans  was  the  Panjab,  annexed  by  Sultan 
MahmM  of  Ghazni  about  1021 .  From  the  closing  years  of  the 
twelfth  century,  when  the  conquest  of  Hindustan  was  systema- 
tically undertaken,  a  stream  of  Muslim  strangers  began  to  flow 
into  the  plains  of  India,  and  continued  to  flow,  with  some 
interruptions,  until  the  eighteenth  century,  profoundly  chang- 
ing the  character  of  the  population  over  immense  areas.     The 

^  Hijra  dates  are  denoted  by  the  letters  a.h.,  meaning  An7w  Hijrac,  'in 
the  year  of  the  Hijra  '. 


ANCIENT  INDIA  31 

Muslim  immigrants  from  the  north-west  belonged  mostly  to 
tall,  fair  races,  resembling  the  Aryans  rather  than  the  earliest 
inhabitants  of  India. 

Lasting  effect  of  the  early  Aryan  immigration.  Thus  it 
appears  that  for  thousands  of  years  millions  of  foreigners, 
beginning  with  the  Vedic  Aryans,  and  mostly  fair-skinned 
people,  have  kept  pouring  into  India  and  mingling  their  blood 
^\-ith  that  of  the  earlier  dark  inhabitants.  The  strangest  fact 
in  the  storjris  that  the  most  profound  effect  was  wrought  by 
the  earliest  known  swarm  of  immigrants,  the  Vedic  Aryans, 
who  have  stamped  an  indelible  mark  on  the  institutions  of 
India,  and  given  the  country  as  a  whole  its  distinctive  character. 
Sakas,  Yuehchi,  Hunas,  and  many  other  alien  tribes  who  came 
in  later  are  now  mere  names.  They  have  left  scarcely  a  trace 
of  their  peculiar  institutions  or  customs,  and  have  been  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  gulf  of  Hinduism.  The  Muslims  alone,  thanks 
to  their  zeal  for  their  religion,  have  succeeded  in  keeping  dis- 
tinct and  separate.  Modern  Hinduism,  hoAvever  much  it  may 
differ  from  the  religion  and  social  system^of  the  ancient  Rishis, 
undoubtedly  has  its  roots  in  the  institutions  of  the  Vedic 
Aryans,  and  not  in  those  of  subsequent  immigrants.  In  the 
next  chapter  some  of  the  effects  of  the  Aryan  occupation  will 
be  considered. 

CHAPTER  III 

Early  Hindu  civilization :   the  Vedas  ;  Smriti ;  the  Puranas ;  the  epics ; 
Buddhism  and  Jainism ;  caste. 

The  four  Vedas.  The  Hindu  religion,  like  all  religions, 
has  been  considerably  modified  in  the  course  of  time.  The 
ancient  Aryans,  on  settling  in  Hindustan,  doubtless  absorbed 
many  of  the  customs  of  their  predecessors.  During  the 
Buddhist  period  other  cha^nges  took  place,  and  many  were 
doubtless  introduced  by  the  Sakas  and  other  invaders  from 
the  North- West.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  Vedas  remain  to 
nearly  all  Hindus  what  the  Bible  is  to  Christians  and  the 
Koran  to  Muhammadans.  Some  account  therefore  of  Vedic 
literature  is  an  indispensable  introduction  to  the  study  of 
Indian  historv. 


32  ANCIENT  INDIA 

The  word  Veda  means  *  knowledge  ',  and  specially  the  philo- 
sophical and  religious  knowledge  which  Hindus  believe  to  have 
been  revealed  to  the  most  ancient  Aryan  sages  (rishis).  The 
books  imparting  such  knowledge  are  known  as  '  the  four 
Vedas  '. 

Contents  of  the  four  Vedas.  Each  Veda  comprises  three  parts, 
all  regarded  by  most  Hindus  as  sruti,  or  revelation — namely 
(1)  a  collection  or  collections  {samhita)  of  hymns,  prayers, 
invocations,  or  spells  {mantra)  ;  (2)  prose  treatises,  designed  to 
explain  the  meaning  of  the  ritual  of  sacrifice  and  to  serve  as 
text-books  for  the  use  of  Brahmans  (Brahmana) ;  and  (3) 
philosophical  discourses  {Uj^anisliad),  chiefly  devoted  to  the 
exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  the  identity  of  the  world-soul  with 
the  individual  soul  {dtman,  brahma),  and  the  means  of  escape 
from  the  evils  of  existence  by  absorption  into  the  world-soul. 
Technically  the  Upanishads  form  part  of  the  Brahmanas, 
which  also  include  supplementary  treatises  called  AranyaJcas, 
specially  designed  for  the  study  of  advanced  students  living 
in  the  solitudes  of  forests  (aranya).  But  the  matter  of  the 
Uj^anishads  differs  so  much  from  that  of  the  other  parts  of  the 
Brahmanas,  that  they  may  be  regarded  with  propriety  as 
forming  a  distinct  section  of  the  Vedas.  Some  Upanishads 
are  presented  as  chapters  of  Aranyahas,  while  others  stand 
alone.  The  Upanishads  are  the  foundation  of  the  later  and 
more  systematic  Vedanta  philosophy.  Their  metaphysical 
doctrine  is  summed  up  in  the  formula  tat  tvam  asi,  '  that  thou 
art ',  They  also  give  the  earliest  indication  of  the  doctrine  of 
karma,  so  prominent  afterwards  in  Buddhism,  and  defined  by 
Manu  in  the  words  :  '  action  of  every  kind,  whether  of  mind, 
or  speech,  or  body,  produces  results  good  or  evil,  and  causes 
the  various  conditions  of  men,  highest, lowest, or  intermediate '. 

The  Rigveda  and  Samaveda  samhitas.  The  oldest  samhita^ 
that  of  the  Rigveda  {rich  =  stanza  of  praise),  comprises  1,017 
hymns  in  praise  of  the  various  powers  of  nature — the  sky,  fire, 
winds,  and  so  forth — worshipped  as  gods.  Often,  however,  the 
poets  rise  to  a  higher  level,  and  clearly  perceive  'the  only  God 


ANCIENT  INDIA  33 

above  the  gods  '.  Some  of  these  hymns  must  be  as  old  as 
2000  B.  c,  and  may  be  even  older.  The  Samaveda  Sa7hhitd, 
Vliich  is  merely  a  book  of  chants  (sdman),  nearly  all  taken 
from  the  Rigveda,  is  of  comparatively  slight  importance.  The 
chants  relate  to  the  soma  sacrifices.  The  soma  was  a  plant, 
the  identity  of  which  still  is  matter  of  dispute. 

The  Yajurveda  samhita.  The  Yajurveda  samhita,  existing 
in  two  principal  forms,  the  Black  and  White,  is  mainly  com- 
posed of  original  matter,  half  in  prose,  although  it  includes 
some  hymns,  amounting  to  about  one-fourth  of  the  whole, 
extracted  from  the  Rigveda.  It  may  be  described  as  a  book  of 
sacrificial  prayers,  and  its  compilation  is  the  work  of  a  period 
M'hen  unduly  high  value  was  attached  to  sacrificial  ritual,  and 
'  the  truly  religious  spirit '  of  the  Rigveda  had  been  obscured 
by  formalism.  The  comparatively  late  date  of  this  Veda  is 
indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  Hindu  holy  land,  which  for  the 
poets  of  the  Rigveda  was  the  Panjab,  the  basin  of  the  Indus  and 
its  tributaries,  is  shifted  in  the  Yajurveda  to  Brahmavarta 
or  Kurukshetra,  in  the  Gangetic  basin,  between  the  Sutlaj  and 
the  Jumna. 

The  Atharvaveda  samhita.  The  Atharvaveda  samhita,  of 
which  about  the  sixth  part  is  in  prose,  consists  mainly  of 
a  collection  of  spells,  charms,  and  incantations  for  use  in 
sorcery  and  witchcraft.  Although  many  of  these  formulas 
evidently  have  come  down  from  extremely  remote  times,  the 
collection  as  a  whole  was  not  recognized  as  a  Veda  until  long 
after  the  sanctity  of  the  other  three  Vedas  had  been  established, 
and  its  authority  still  is  denied  by  some  of  the  leading  Brah- 
mans  of  the  south.  Nevertheless,  as  early  as  150  b.  c,  the 
grammarian  Patanjali  considered  it  to  be  '  the  head  of  the 
Vedas  ',  and  the  compilation  of  the  work  must  be  referred 
to  a  time  several  centuries  before  that  date,  and  not  later  than 
600  B.  c. 

The  Brahmanas,  Upanishads,  and  Sutras.  Although  it  is 
impossible  to  date  the  Brahmana  treatises  with  any  approach 
to  accuracy,  their  composition  is  supposed  to  have  taken  place 

1776  B 


34  ANCIENT  INDIA 

between  500  and  300  B.C.  The  oldest  of  the  numerous  Upani- 
shads,  which  are  of  widely  different  ages,  may  go  back  as  far 
as  700  or  600  b.  c.  The  Vedic  siltras  (about  500-200  b.  c.)  are 
compressed  treatises  dealing  chiefly  with  ritual  and  customary 
law  in  aphorisms,  or  terse  sayings,  reduced  to  the  utmost 
possible  limits  of  brevity.  They  are  classed  as  Srauta,  dealing 
with  ritual  ;  Grihya,  dealing  with  domestic  ceremonies  ;  and 
Dharma,  dealiAg  with  custom,  including  law. 

The  Vedangas.  All  the  works  composed  in  this  strange 
style  are  considered  to  be  Vedangas,  or  members  of  the  Veda, 
and  as  such  are  divided  into  six  groups — ^namely  (1)  phonetics 
or  pronunciation  (siksha)  ;  (2)  metre  {chhandas)  ;  (3)  grammar 
{vyaharana)  ;  (4)  etymology  {nirukta)  ;  (5)  religious  practice 
{kalpa)  ;  and  (6)  astronomy  or  astrology  (jyotisha).  In  ancient 
times  the  Vedic  literature  being  taught  solely  by  word  of 
mouth,  trained  linguistic,  grammatical,  and  metrical  skill  was 
needed  to  secure,  as  it  has  actually  secured,  the  correct  preser\^- 
ation  and  transmission  of  the  sacred  texts.  Astronomical 
and  astrological  knowledge  was  equally  necessary  to  determine 
the  dates  of  eclipses,  the  luck}^  days  for  ceremonies,  and  so  forth. 
Thus  nearly  all  ancient  Hindu  science  sprang  from  religious 
needs  and  served  religious  and  ritual  purposes. 

Uncertain  date  of  Rigveda.  The  Rigveda,  meaning  the 
collection  of  hymns  {samliitd),  is  of  deep  interest  to  scholars, 
because  it  is  certainly  by  far  the  oldest  book  in  an  Aryan  lan- 
guage. What  its  date  may  be  no  man  can  say.  Some  of  the 
individual  hymns  may  be  of  immense  antiquity,  while  others 
may  be  centuries  later.  At  some  particular  time  they  were 
arranged  in  a  book,  but  when  that  was  done  we  cannot  tell. 
Probably  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  composition  of  the  hymns 
ranges  between  2000  and  1000  b.  c,  and  that  the  arrange- 
ment of  them  in  a  book  may  be  assigned  to  somewhere  about 
the  later  date.  This  utter  uncertainty  in  the  chronology 
makes  it  difficult  to  realize  the  state  of  societ}^  in  the  age  of  the 
Rigveda,  or  to  compare  it  with  that  in  other  lands. 

Early  but  not  primitive.    The  society  pictured,  although  of 


ANCIENT  INDIA  35 

an  ec^rl}'  type,  is  not  exactl}^  primitive.  The  hymns  them- 
selves are  artificial, literary  compositions,  arranged  by  scholars. 
The  language,  metres,  and  style  all  show  a  considerable  amount 
of  learning.  Probably  the  scholars  did  not  know  how  to  read 
or  write,  but  that  did  not  prevent  them  from  being  learned 
after  their  fashion.     Thej'  had  splendid  memories. 

Social  organization.  The  people  were  divided  into  numerous 
tribes,  of  which  many  are  named,  and  each  tribe  consisted  of 
many  families  or  households,  each  governed  by  its  head.  The 
Raja.  Avith  the  help  of  the  elders,  governed  the  tribe,  much  as 
the  father  managed  his  family.  The  several  tribes  were  often 
at  war.  one  with  another,  or  with  the  early  aboriginal  dwellers 
in  India.  Their  wealth  consisted  chiefly  in  cattle,  and  their 
principal  occupation  in  peace  was  tending  the  kine.  But  they 
also  used  the  plough,  and  were  familiar  with  the  crafts  of  the 
carpenter,  smith.  Jeweller,  and  other  artisans.  They  rode  in 
chariots,  and  fought  chiefly  with  bows  and  arrows,  sometimes 
also  with  spears  and  battle-axes.  In  short,  their  mode  of  life 
seems  to  have  been  in  many  respects  not  unlike  that  of  certain 
tribes  on  the  Afghan  frontier  in  recent  times,  before  firearms 
came  into  use. 

Diet,  &c.  The  Aryans  normally  used  a  vegetarian  diet,  but 
at  sacrifices  and  on  special  occasions  flesh  was  consumed. ^ 
In  this  they  differed  from  modern  high-caste  Hindus.  The 
doctrine  of  the  sacredness  of  all  life  (ahimsa)  came  in  with 
Buddhism,  The  juice  of  a  plant  called  Soma  was  drunk  at 
sacrifices.  Gambling  appears  to  have  been  a  common  vice 
among  princes  and  rich  men. 

Religion.  They  worshipped  the  powers  of  nature,  con- 
ceived as  living  persons.  The  hymns  accordingly  are 
nearly  all  addressed  to  such  deities.  Indra,  the  lord  of 
thunder,  lightning,  and  rain,  received  most  homage.  Agni 
or  Fire  comes  next  in  favour.  The  Wind,  Sun,  Dawn,  and 
many  other   powers  or  aspects  of  nature  are  appealed  to. 

'■  In  Bhavabhuti's  Uttararamcharila,  a  '  fatted  calf  "  is  killed  on  the 
occasion  of  Vasishta's  visit  to  the  hermitage  of  Valmiki. 


36  ANCIENT  INDIA 

Some  of  the  hymns,  presumably  included  among  those 
comparatively  late  in  date,  strike  a  very  lofty  note,  as  already 
observed,  and  indicate  the  beginnings  of  the  philosophy 
worked  out  in  the  U panishads  and  subsequent  treatises. 
Part  of  the  Creation  Hymn,  the  most  impressive  and  noble 
of  the  lyrics  (x.  129),  maybe  quoted  in  Professor  MacdonelFs 
version : 

Non-being  then  existed  not,  nor  being  : 

There  was  no  air,  nor  heaven  which  is  beyond  it. 

What  motion  was  there  ?     Where  ?     By  whom  directed  ? 

Was  water  there — and  fathomless  abysses  ? 

Death  then  existed  not,  nor  life  immortal ; 

Of  neither  night  nor  day  was  any  semblance. 

The  one  breathed  calm  and  v/indJess  by  self -impulse  : 

There  was  not  any  other  thing  beyond  it. 

Darkness  at  first  was  covered  up  by  darkness  ; 
This  universe  was  indistinct  and  fluid. 
The  empty  space  that  by  the  void  was  hidden, 
That  One  was  by  the  heat  engendered. 

This  world-creation,  whence  it  has  arisen. 
Or  whether  it  has  been  produced  or  has  not. 
He  who  surveys  it  in  the  highest  heaven. 
He  only  knows — or  e'en  He  does  not  know  it. 

Panini.  The  oldest  extant  Sanskrit  grammar,  the  wonderful 
work  composed  in  sutra  style  by  Panini,  a  native  of  the 
Panjab,  was  constructed  in  the  first  instance,  like  its  numerous 
lost  predecessors,  to  ensure  accurate  teaching  of  the  sacred 
books  by  highly  trained  Brahmans.  The  passion  of  the  ancient 
writers  for  brevity  is  expressed  by  the  saying  that  the  composer 
of  a  grammatical  sutra  would  have  delighted  as  much  in  the 
saving  of  a  short  vowel  as  in  the  birth  of  a  son.  Panini 's  work 
is  so  compressed,  that  although  it  deals  with  the  whole  San- 
skrit language,  it  could  be  printed  in  thirty-five  small  octavo 
pages.     The  date  of  this  prince  of  grammarians  is  uncertain, 


ANCIENT  INDIA  37 

some  authorities  placing  him  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  and 
others,  apparently  with  better  reason,  two  or  three  centuries 
earlier.  Yaska,  who  wrote  an  etymological  commentary  on 
the  Vedas,  long  preceded  Panini. 

Smriti ;  Manu,  &c.  The  whole  of  the  sfdra  literature  is 
regarded  as  smriti,  or  venerable  traditional  matter,  not  as 
sruti,  or  direct  revelation,  like  the  Vedas.  The  six  systems  of 
philosophy  {darsana)  were  developed  from  the  Upanishads  in 
course  of  time,  and  the  law-books  {dharmasastra)  based  on  the 
siitras,  were  composed  at  various  dates  by  the  Brahman 
teachers  of  different  schools,  as  manuals  of  dharma,  or  the 
Hindu  rules  of  life.  The  most  famous  dharmasastra  is  the  Md- 
nava,  common!}'  called  the  Laws,  or  Institutes,  of  Manu,  a  com- 
position containing  much  ancient  matter,  but  supposed  bysome 
scholars  to  date  in  its  present  form  from  about  a.d.  200.  It 
may  be  much  earlier.  This  treatise  deals  with  the  rights 
and  duties  of  Hindus  in  all  ranks  and  conditions  of  life,  and  is 
the  foundation  of  the  systems  of  modified  Hindu  law  now 
administered  by  the  courts  of  British  India. 

The  eighteen  Puranas.  The  eighteen  Puranas,  which  record 
the  story  of  the  gods,  interwoven  with  legends  and  traditions 
on  many  subjects  human  and  divine,  are  closely  connected 
with  the  Laws  of  Manu  as  well  as  with  the  epics.  They  have 
been  described  as  being  '  the  Veda  of  popular  Hinduism  ',  and 
sometimes  are  even  called  'the  fifth  Veda  *.  The  Bhagavata 
and  Vishnu  Puranas  exercise  the  most  influence  on  the  re- 
ligion of  the  present  day.  The  Vdyu  Purcina,  believed  to  be 
one  of  the  oldest  of  the  eighteen,  seems  to  date  in  its  present 
shape  from  the  fourth  century  after  Christ,  but  much  of  its 
contents  may  be  far  older.  It  is  intimatelj^  related  to  the 
Harivamia,  which  is  a  supplement  to  the  Mahabharata.  His- 
torical traditions  of  high  value  to  the  historian  of  northern 
India  are  preserved  in  several  of  the  earlier  Puranas.  This 
class  of  works  has  little  concern  with  the  south,  which  has 
Puranas  of  its  own  that  are  not  familiar  to  most  scholars. 


38  -  ANCIENT  INDIA 

The  Epics.  The  two  great  Sanskrit  epics  (itihasa),  the 
Mahabharata  and  the  Ramayana,  are  invaluable  as  pictures  of 
life  in  ancient  India  before  the  time  when  authentic  history 
begins.  The  Ramayana,  which  consists  of  about  24,000  coup- 
lets (slokas),  divided  into  seven  books,  is  essentially  the  work 
of  a  single  author,  Valmiki,  to  which  subsequent  additions 
of  moderate  bulk  have  been  made.  The  Mahabharata,  more 
than  four  times  as  bulky,  and  divided  into  eighteen  books, 
although  traditionally  ascribed  to  a  mythical  author  named 
Vyasa,  really  is  a  collection  of  many  separate  poems  by  various 
nameless  poets  of  different  ages,  loosely  strung  together  and 
appended  to  an  original  narrative  comprising  only  about 
24,000  couplets.  The  bulk  of  the  Ramayana  is  believed  to 
have  been  composed  before  500  B.C.,  but  some  of  the  additions 
seem  to  be  several  centuries  later.  The  Mahabharata,  which 
in  its  present  form  is  rather  '  an  encyclopaedia  of  moral 
teaching  '  than  an  epic  properly  so  called,  includes  composi- 
tions supposed  to  range  in  date  between  400  b.  c.  and  a.  d.  400. . 

Story  of  the  Ramayana.  The  main  theme  of  Valmiki's  poem 
is  the  story  of  Prince  Rama,  son  of  Dasaratha,  king  of  Ajodhya, 
who  was  driven  into  exile  along  with  Sita,  his  faithful  wife, 
in  consequence  of  a  palace  intrigue.  In  the  course  of  his 
wanderings,  accompanied  by  his  brother,  Lakshmana,  in  the 
wild  regions  of  the  south  Rama  suffered  the  loss  of  his  consort, 
who  was  carried  off  by  the  giant  Ravana.  But  the  hero,  after 
many  adventures,  rescued  his  wife,  and  defeated  and  slew  the 
giant.  In  the  end,  Rama  and  Sita,  having  been  delivered 
from  all  their  troubles,  returned  to  Ajodhya,  where  Rama  and 
his  loyal  brother  Bharata  reigned  gloriously  over  a  happy  and 
contented  people. 

Story  of  the  Mahabharata.  The  subject  of  the  truly  epic 
portion  of  the  Mahabharata  is  the  Great  War  between  the 
Kauravas,  the  hundred  sons  of  Dhritarashtra,  led  by  Duryo- 
dhana,  and  the  Pandavas,  the  five  sons  of  Pandu,  brother  of 
Dhritarashtra,  led  by  Yudhishthira.  The  poet  relates  all  the 
circumstances  leading  up  to  the  war,  and  then  narrates  the 


AXCIEXT  INDIA  39 

tale  of  the  fierce  conflict  which  raged  for  eighteen  days  on  the 
plain  of  Kurukshetra,  near  Thanesar.  to  the  north  of  Delhi. 
All  the  nations  and  tribes  of  India,  from  the  Himalaya  to  the 
farthest  south,  are  represented  as  taking  part  in  this  combat 
of  giants.  The  Panda va  host  comprised  the  armies  of  the 
states  situated  in  the  countries  equivalent  to  the  United 
Provinces  of  Agi-a  and  Oudh,  Western  Bihar,  and  Eastern 
Rajputana,  ^dth  contingents  from  Gujarat  in  the  west  and 
from  the  Dra vidian  kingdoms  of  the  extreme  south.  The 
Kaurava  cause  was  upheld  by  the  forces  of  Eastern  Bihar, 
Bengal,  the  Himalaya,  and  the  Panjab.  The  battles  ended 
in  the  utter  destruction  of  nearly  all  the  combatants  on  both 
sides,  excepting  Dhritarashtra  and  the  Pandavas.  But  a 
reconciliation  was  effected  between  the  few  survivors,  and 
Yudhishthira  Panda  va  was  recognized  as  king  of  Hastinapur 
on  the  Ganges.  Ultimately  the  five  sons  of  Pandu,  accom* 
panied  by  Draupadi,  the  beloved  wife  of  them  all,  and  attended 
by  a  faithful  dog,  quitted  their  royal  state,  and,  journeying  to 
Mount  Meru,  were  admitted  into  Indra's  heaven. 

Episodes  of  the  Mahabharata.  One  of  the  most  justly  cele- 
brated narrative  episodes  is  the  charming  story  of  Xala  and 
Damaj^antl.  The  profound  philosophical  poem,  the  Bhagavad- 
gUa,  familiarly  known  as  the  Glta,  or  '  the  Song  ',  which  forms 
the  basis  of  much  later  pantheistic  speculation,  and  the  date 
of  which  is  quite  imcertain,  is  inserted  in  the  form  of  a  dia- 
logue between  Kiislma  and  Arjuna  Pandava,  supposed  to 
have  been  sjDoken  on  the  eve  of  battle. 

Influence  of  the  epics.  These  few  words,  of  course,  give 
a  very  inadequate  notion  of  the  contents  of  the  two  great 
itihdsas,  which  are  the  one  department  of  Sanskrit  literature 
familiar  in  substance  to  Hindus  of  all  classes  in  every  part  of 
India.  These  poems  are  to  India  all  that  Homer's  reputed 
works  were  to  Greece,  and,  like  the  Homeric  poems,  the  Maha- 
bharata and  Ramayana  form  inexhaustible  treasure-houses 
filled  with  material  for  every  kind  of  literature.  The  characters 
in  both  works  supjDly  the  Hindu  vnXh.  examples  of  his  highest 


40  ANCIENT  INDIA 

ideal  of  man  and  woman.  The  hero  Rama,  especiallj^  has 
become  the  man-God  of  countless  millions  and  the  object  of 
intense  devotion. 

The  Hindi  Ramayana.  In  Northern  India  the  popular 
conception  of  the  perfect  man  is  derived,  not  directly  from  the 
Sanskrit  of  Valmiki,  but  from  the  Rdmcharit-manas,  a  Hindi 
poem  on  the  subject  of  the  Ramayana,  composed  in  the  six- 
teenth century  by  Tulsi  Das.  This  noble  work  is  an  independent 
composition  of  the  highest  merit,  and  the  characters  depicted 
in  it  '  live  and  move  with  all  the  dignity  of  a  heroic  age  '. 

Social  conditions  in  the  epics.  The  world  of  the  Rigveda 
{ante,  p.  34)  is  so  strange  and  remote  that  it  is  difficult  to  form 
a  distinct  picture  of  it  in  the  mind.  The  Indo -Aryans  of  that 
shadowy  time  had  not  yet  become  Hindus. 

When  we  read  the  Ramayana  or  the  narrative  portions  of 
the  Mahabharata  we  find  ourselves  on  more  familiar  ground. 
Whatever  may  be  the  dates  of  composition  of  the  poems,  both 
deal  with  a  thoroughly  Hindu  India,  in  which  caste  was  fully, 
developed,  and  the  leading  ideas  of  Hinduism  were  generally 
accepted.  The  heroes  and  heroines  of  the  stories  resemble 
modern  Hindus  sufficiently  to  seem  real  live  men  and  women, 
fit  to  serve  as  models  and  exemplars  to  their  descendants.  All 
or  nearly  all  the  ordinary  features  of  Hindu  life  are  depicted, 
and  the  differences  in  manners  and  customs  as  compared  with 
those  of  existing  society  are  not  very  numerous.  The  incident 
which  is  the  most  shocking  to  modern  Hindu  notions  of  dMrma 
is  the  marriage  of  Draupadi  to  five  brothers  at  once.  Such  a 
relationship,  although  still  lawful  in  Tibet  and  among  sundry 
Himalayan  tribes,  would  be  regarded  now  in  India  proper  as 
horrible  incest.  The  practice  of  svayamvara,  or  free  choice  of 
her  husband  by  a  maiden,  is  almost  equally  opposed  to  existing 
sentiment.  But,  as  I  have  said,  such  cases  are  rare,  and  the 
general  impression  produced  by  the  poems  is  that  of  a  picture 
of  old-fashioned  Hindu  life,  such  as  may  be  still  seen  in  a  purely 
Hindu  native  state.  The  government  described  in  the  ei)ics 
is  that  of  any  Raja  in  such  a  state. 


ANCIENT  INDIA  41 

Religion.  As  regards  religion  and  mythology,  the  Vedic 
gods  and  modes  of  worship  had  dropped  out  of  sight  for  the 
most  part.  Vishnu  in  different  forms  had  become  the  most 
prominent  divinity,  the  heroes  Rama  and  Krishna  both  being 
treated  as  incarnations,  or  descents  in  human  form  (avatar)  of 
him.  Brahma  and  Siva  also  appear,  as  well  as  Kuvera, 
Oanesh,  and  many  other  minor  deities  still  worshipped.  The 
epic  mythology  seems  thoroughly  familiar  to  every  Hindu,  and 
the  characteristic  Hindu  doctrines  of  Karma  {ante,  p.  32)  and 
incarnation  {Cavatdra)  are  recognized  in  the  poems  as  freely 
as  they  are  to-day.  The  existing  Hindu  feeling  concerning  the 
sacredness  of  cows  was  then  nearly  as  strong  as  it  is  now,  and 
many  minor  differences  in  religion  and  custom  had  arisen. 

Southern  literature.  The  ancient  Indian  literature  and 
philosophy  known  generally  to  the  outer  world  are  Aryan  in 
origin  and  Sanskrit  in  language,  as  indicated  in  the  foregoing 
'  sketch.  But  the  historian  of  ail  India  must  not  forget  the  fact, 
already  noted,  that  the  Tamil  or  Dravidian  peoples  of  the 
Far  South  possessed  an  ancient  civilization  of  uncertain  origin 
independent  of,  and  even  hostile  to,  the  Aryan  system  of  the 
north.  They  produced  an  extensive  literature,  chiefly  in  the 
Tamil  language,  which  includes  epics,  lyrics,  and  philosophical 
poems.  These  compositions,  although  enshrined  in  the  hearts 
of  the  southerners,  are  unfamiliar  to  readers  of  other  nations. 
The  few  European  scholars  sufficiently  versed  in  the  language 
to  appreciate  the  charms  of  the  Tamil  poetry  are  loud  in  their 
praise  of  its  merits,  and  the  translations  published  justify 
their  verdict.  The  following  extract  from  Gover's  version  of 
a  Tamil  song  may  serve  as  a  specimen  : 

The  wise  man  saith 
That  God,  the  omniscient  Essence,  fills  all  space 
And  time.     He  cannot  die  or  end.     In  Him 
All  things  exist.     There  is  no  God  but  He. 
If  thou  wouldst  worship  in  the  noblest  way. 
Bring  flowers  in  thy  hand.     Their  names  are  these  : 
Contentment,  Justice,  Wisdom.     Offer  them 
To  that  great  Essence — then  thou  servest  God. 
b3 


42  ANCIENT  INDIA  , 

No  stone  can  image  God — to  bow  to  it 

Is  not  to  worship.     Outward  rites  cannot  '' 

Avail  to  compass  that  reward  of  bliss 

That  true  devotion  gives  to  those  who  Inoiv. 

Buddhism  and  Jainism.  About  550  e.g.,  a  time  when 
speculation  was  active  in  several  parts  of  the  world,  two 
systems  of  religious  philosophy,  which  developed  into  separate 
religions,  took  shape  in  the  north  of  India.  These  two  sys- 
tems. Buddhism  and  Jainism,  both  grew  out  of  Brahmanical 
Hinduism,  as  modified 'by  the  teaching  of  reformers  of  noble 
Kshatriya,  not  Brahman  birth,  who  failed  to  find  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Brahman  schools  satisfactory  solutions  of  the 
problems  of  life.  Both  of  the  new  systems  were  preached  first, 
at  about  the  same  time,  in  the  same  region,  namely  Magadha, 
or  South  Bihar,  and  the  neighbouring  districts.  Both  rely  on 
the  support  of  an  organized  society  of  monks  or  friars,  reject 
the  authority  of  the  Vedas  and  the  exclusive  claims  of  the 
Brahmans,  abhor  bloody  sacrifices,  and  teach  with  insistence 
the  doctrine  of  extreme  respect  for  every  form  of  animal  life 
(aJiiihsd).  These  obvious  and  real  resemblances  between 
Buddhism  and  Jainism  are  balanced  by  differences,  equally 
real,  if  less  obvious.  The  followers  of  the  two  creeds  revere 
distinct  saints,  study  distinct  scriptures,  and  diverge  widely  in 
both  doctrine  and  practice.  The  Jains  do  honour  to  twenty- 
four  Jinas  or  Tirthankaras  ;  the  Buddhists  to  twenty-four 
Buddhas.  The  Jain  scriptures  are  called  Angas  and  by  other 
names  ;  the  Buddhist  books  form  the  great  collection  known 
as  the  Tripitaka,  or  '  Three  Baskets  ',  dealing  with  doctrine, 
monastic  discipline,  and  philosophical  comment  and  specula- 
tion. The  Pali  books  of  Ceylon  give  the  Buddhist  Canon  in 
its  earliest  known  form.  Later  developments  are  dealt  with 
in  Sanskrit,  Tibetan,  Mongolian,  and  Chinese  works.  While 
both  Jains  and  Buddhists  profess  to  venerate  the  Three  Jewels 
(triratna),  they  use  the  term  in  different  senses.  To  the  Bud- 
dhist the  Three  Jewels  are  the  Buddha,  the  Law  [dJiarma),  and 
the  Order  of  Monks  {samgha).    To  the  Jains  they  are  Right 


ANCIENT  INDIA  43 

Faith,  Right  Cognition,  and  Right  Morals.  The  Jains  are 
divided  into  two  great  sects,  the  Svetambara,  or  white-robed, 
and  the  Digambara,  or  nude  (lit.  'sky-clad").  The  nudity 
affected  by  the  latter  is  extremely  offensive  to  Buddhist  feeling. 
The  practice  of  suicide  by  starvation,  which  is  highly  esteemed 
by  the  Jains,  is  strictly  forbidden  to  the  Buddhists.  These 
instances  will  suffice  to  show  that  Buddhism  and  Jainism, 
not^N^ithstanding  their  points  of  resemblance,  are  radically 
different.  The  actual  facts  of  the  lives  of  the  founders  of 
the  Jain  and  Buddhist  systems  are  obscured,  like  those  of  the 
founders  of  all  religions,  by  legends  due  to  the  imaginations 
of  pious  followers,  but  the  following  brief  statement  may  be 
accepted  as  authentic  : 

Life  of  Mahavlra.  Vardhamana,  surnamed  Mahavira,  a 
young  nobleman  of  Vaisali,  the  modern  Basar  to  the  north  of 
Patna,  then  the  chief  city  of  the  famous  Licchhavi  tribe,  joined 
an  ascetic  order  which  had  been  founded  by  an  ancient  teacher 
named  Parsvanath.  Becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  doctrine 
of  his  masters,  he  quitted  their  fraternity  when  about  forty 
years  of  age,  and,  like  many  another  Hindu  reformer,  set 
about  devising  a  system  of  his  owii  and  organizing  a  new 
society  of  friars  to  give  effect  to  his  opinions.  He  spent  the 
remaining  thirty  years  of  his  life  in  preaching-tours,  wandering 
with  his  disciples  all  over  South  Bihar  (Magadha)  and  Tirhut 
(Mithila  or  Videha),  until  he  died  at  Pawa  or  Papa  in  the  Patna 
district.  Widely-accepted  tradition  assigns  his  death  to  the 
year  527 B.C.,  but  the  exact  year  is  open  to  doubt.  Some  autho- 
rities assign  the  event  to  477  or  467  B.C.  His  relationship 
through  his  mother  with  the  reigning  kings  of  Videha,  Magadha, 
and  Anga  (Bhagalpur)  gained  for  his  preaching  the  advantage 
of  official  patronage. 

Life  of  Gautama  Buddha.  Gautama,  surnamed  the  Buddha, 
because  he  claimed  to  have  attained  bodJii,  or  supreme  know- 
ledge, the  secret  of  existence,  was  for  some  years  the  contem- 
porary of  Mahavlra.  His  father,  Suddhodhana,  was  a  prince 
or  nobleman  in  the  small  town  of  Kapilavastu,  situated  in  the 


44  ANCIENT  INDIA 

territory  of  the  Sakya  clan,  which  took  rank  among  the 
Kshatriyas.  Hence  he  is  often  called  Sakyamuni,  or  the  Sakya 
sage.  The  land  of  the  Sakyas  was  the  narrow  strip  of  country 
between  the  Rapti  river  and  the  mountains,  now  mostly  in- 
cluded in  the  Nepalese  Tarai  and  lying  to  the  north  of  the 
Basti  District  in  the  United  Provinces  of  Agra  and  Oudh. 

The  legends  dwell  with  much  play  of  imagination  on  the 
manner  in  which  the  young  prince  became  oppressed  by 
sadness  and  lost  all  desire  for  the  delights  of  a  court.  He 
became  convinced  that  existence  is  misery  leading  to  old  age, 
disease,  and  death,  and  sought  an  escape  from  the  endless  circle 
of  rebirth.  Sitting  under  a  tree  near  Gaya,  he  tried  to  win 
salvation  by  the  severest  penance,  but  found  no  peace.  At 
last  he  saw  the  light,  put  away  penance  as  vanity,  and,  going 
to  Benares,  preached  to  a  few  disciples  his  three  great  prin- 
ciples that  '  all  the  constituents  of  being  are  transitory,  are 
misery,  and  are  lacking  in  an  ego,  or  permanent  self  {dtman) '. 
His  philosophy  was  based  on  those  doctrines,  but  as  a  moralist 
he  taught  a  lofty  system  of  practical  ethics,  impressing  on  men 
the  necessity  for  personal  striving  after  holiness,  and  laying 
special  stress  on  the  virtues  of  truthfulness,  reverence  to 
superiors,  and  respect  for  animal  life.  Like  Mahavira,  he 
wandered  for  the  rest  of  his  life  with  his  disciples  through 
Magadha  and  the  neighbouring  kingdoms,  and,  after  a  ministry 
of  forty-five  years,  passed  away  at  the  age  of  eighty  at  Kusina- 
gara,  a  small  town  probably  situated  near  Tribeni  Ghat,  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Little  Rapti  with  the  Gandak.  The  date  of 
his  death  is  uncertain,  but  there  is  good  reason  for  believing 
that  the  event  happened  in  or  about  543  B.  c,  the  traditional 
date. 

Diffusion  of  Buddhism.  From  these  small  beginnings  arose 
the  great  Buddhist  religion,  which,  after  many  ages  of  success 
in  India,  slowly  died  out,  and  almost  completely  disappeared 
from  the  land  of  its  birth  about  seven  centuries  ago.  But 
it  still  flourishes  abundantl}^  in  Ceylon,  Burma,  Siam,  Nepal, 
Tibet,  Mongolia,  China,  and  Japan.     The  well-organized  order 


ANCIENT  INDIA  45 

of  monks  and  nuns  {saiigha)  was  the  most  effective  instrument 
in  the  spread  of  this  religion,  which  was  much  helped  by  the 
powerful  patronage  of  Asoka. 

Buddhism  as  a  religion.  Gautama,  the  Buddha,  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  had  or  to  have  taught  a  religion,  projaerly  so 
called.  He  had  a  philosophy,  the  nature  of  which  has  been 
indicated  above,  although  it  is  impossible  here  to  bring  out  the 
full  meaning  of  his  principles.  He  also  taught,  as  others  had 
taught  before  him,  a  simple,  easily  understood  dJiarma  or  rule 
of  life.  That  rule  required  his  disciples  to  aim  at  purity  in 
deed,  word,  and  thought  ;  observing  ten  commandments — 
namely  not  to  kill,  steal,  or  commit  adultery  ;  not  to  lie, 
invent  evil  reports  about  other  people,  indulge  in  fault-finding 
or  iwofane  language  ;  to  abstain  from  covetousness,  and 
hatred,  and  to  avoid  ignorance.  But  he  did  not  profess  ta 
expound  the  relation  of  God  to  man — in  fact,  without  denying 
the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Deity,  he  ignored  it.  It  was  the 
devotion  of  his  followers  to  the  person  of  Buddha  which  made 
Buddhism  a  religion  capable  of  warming  the  hearts  of  men  and 
women.  That  ardent  personal  devotion  developed  early  and 
ended  in  practically  making  Buddha  a  god,  iflstead  of  a  mere 
dead  moralist  and  philosopher.  The  primitive  Buddhism,  which 
ignored  the  Divine,  was  known  in  later  times  as  the  Hina-yana, 
or  Lesser  Vehicle  of  Salvation,  while  the  modified  religion^ 
which  recognized  the  value  of  prayer  and  regarded  Buddha 
as  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  was  called  Maha-yana,  or  the 
Greater  Vehicle.  Siam,  Ceylon,  and  Burma  mostly,  but  by 
no  means  exclusively,  follow  the  primitive  Hina-yana  doctrine  ; 
the  other  Buddhist  countries  have  adopted  the  Maha-yana 
in  diverse  varieties,  some  of  which  in  both  doctrine  and  ritual 
closely  resemble  certain  forms  of  Christianity.  The  Pala 
kings  of  Bengal,  from  the  eighth  to  the  twelfth  century,  also 
adhered  to  Maha-yana  Buddhism,  which,  as  practised  in 
Bengal  smd  Bihar,  was  not  always  easy  to  distinguish  from 
Hinduism. 

Causes  of  decay  of  Buddhism.    The  decay,  Hke  the  growth,. 


46  ANCIENT  INDIA 

of  a  religion  is  a  complioated  matter  not  to  be  described  or 
explained  in  a  few  sentences.  But  we  may  note  that  the  decay 
of  Buddhism  was  extremely  gradual,  spread  over  many  cen- 
turies, and  that  it  was  not  in  any  large  measure  the  result 
of  active  persecution.  Undoubtedly,  certain  kings  from  time 
to  time  did  treat  Buddhists  with  cruelty,  but  deeper  causes 
were  at  work.  The  principal  cause,  perhaps,  was  the  con- 
tinuous hostility  of  the  Brahmans,  who  had  never  lost  their 
influence  in  India  throughout  the  ages.  We  can  see  that  the 
Oupta  period  was  marked  by  a  strong  Hindu  or  Brahmanical 
revival  which  was  carried  further  by  Kumarila-bhatta  in  the 
eighth  century  (see ^osf,  chapter  vii).  In  the  end,  the  Brahmans 
defeated  both  Buddhism  and  Jainism.  The  Muhammadan 
conquest  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  happened  to  include 
South  Bihar,  the  province  in  which  Buddhism  then  had  its 
strongest  hold.  Muslim  violence  at  that  time  had  much  to  do 
with  the  almost  sudden,  and  complete  extinction  of  Buddhism 
in  India  proper.  The  corruptions  introduced  into  the  Saiigha, 
or  monastic  order,  by  the  growth  of  wealth  in  the  monasteries, 
no  doubt  had  effect  in  lessening  popular  respect  for  the  Bud- 
dhist teachers.  The  foreign  settlers  who  entered  India  in  large 
numbers  during  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  were  not  much 
attracted  by  Buddhist  teaching,  while  they  found  it  easy  to 
accept  more  or  less  fully  the  Hindu  rule  of  life,  and  so  became 
converted  into  Hindu  castes,  guided  by  Brahmans.  That 
process  will  be  discussed  in  chapter  viii. 

Jainism  confined  to  India.  Jainism  never  attempted  distant 
conquests.  Although  it  became  powerful  in  the  south  as  well 
as  in  the  north  for  several  centuries,  it  never  spread  to  any 
considerable  extent  beyond  the  limits  of  India,  and  now-  tends 
to  decline  rather  than  increase  in  influence.  Its  followers 
number  about  a  million  and  a  quarter,  and  are  mostly  found 
among  the  trading  classes  of  Western  India  and  Rajputana. 

Dravidian  resistance  to  the  Aryan  religions.  The  three 
northern  religions — Hinduism,  Jainism,  and  Buddhism — had  to 
fight  a  hard  fight  against  the  native  '  devil-worship  '  of  the 


AXCIEXT  INDIA  47 

Draviclian  or  Tamil  nations  in  the  south,  who  long  resisted 
Aryan  teaching  in  any  form.  But  ultimately  the  resistance 
of  the  southerners  was  overcome,  and,  after  the  decay  of 
Buddhism  and  Jainism,  Hinduism  emerged  triumphant,  India 
from  end  to  end  becoming  the  '  land  of  the  Brahmans  '  and 
the  home  of  caste,  the  specially  Brahman  institution. 

Caste.  The  basis  of  Hindu  society  and  of  Hindu  ethics  or 
morals  is  the  institution  knowTi  to  Europeans  as  '  caste  '  or 
*  the  caste  system  ',  The  word  caste  is  Portuguese  ;  the 
thing  is  so  peculiarly  Indian  that  it  cuts  off  India  from  the 
rest  of  the  world  by  a  barrier  far  more  impassable  than  deserts, 
seas,  or  mountains. 

In  many  countries,  ancient  and  modern,  distinctions  of 
classes,  often  hereditary,  may  be  observed,  which  more  or  less 
resemble  the  Indian  institution  of  caste.  But  the  resemblance 
is  never  verj^  close, 

India  alone  presents  now,  and  has  presented  for  thousands 
of  years,  the  spectacle  of  hundreds  or  thousands  of  distinct  com- 
munities each  kept  apart  from  its  neighbours  by  strict  rules 
regulating  marriage,  diet,  and  every  detail  of  life.  Moreover, 
all  these  thousands  of  sections  agree  in  regarding  the  joeople 
of  the  rest  of  the  world  who  are  not  Hindus  as  mere  mlecchas 
— that  is  to  say,  outcasts  and  barbarians.  Even  kings  and 
viceroys  of  foreign  race  are  so  regarded  from  the  caste  point 
of  view. 

Origins  of  the  institution.  Much  ink  has  been  spilled  in 
trying  to  find  the  origins  of  the  Hindu  caste  system  and  in 
offering  explanations  of  its  unique  nature.  The  results  have 
not  been  Avholly  satisfactory.  In  fact,  the  subject  is  too 
intricate  to  admit  of  summary  disposal  in  a  few  words,  and 
any  writer  who  professes  to  state  in  two  or  three  sentences  the 
origins  and  nature  of  Indian  caste  misleads  his  readers,  I  will 
not  attempt  to  perform  the  impossible,  and  must  content 
myself  with  certain  brief  observations,  true  as  far  as  they  go, 
which  may  help  the  junior  student. 

We  know  for  certain  that  the  system  of  castes  was  well 


48  ANCIENT  INDIA 

established  in  its  essential  features  two  thousand  four  hundred 
years  ago,  and  consequently  that  its  beginnings  must  go  back  to 
a  time  many  centuries  earlier. 

It  is  clear  that  one  reason  why  the  system  developed  in 
India  so  much  more  fully  than  elsewhere  was  the  physical 
isolation  of  the  country  {ante,  p.  16),  which  forced  its  in- 
habitants to  work  out  for  themselves  their  own  rule  of  life 
(dharma).  Such  isolation  of  the  whole  country  was  repeated 
on  a  smaller  scale  in  the  interior,  where  each  village  community 
stood  for  itself.  The  wide  difference  in  feeling  and  habits 
between  the  Indo -Aryans  and  the  earlier  '  aboriginal '  in- 
habitants of  other  races  had  a  large  share  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion for  caste  distinctions.  The  formation  of  separate  castes 
was  helped  by  diversities  in  occupation,  language,  religion,  and 
place  of  residence.  Some  castes  are  in  the  main  trade-guilds, 
while  some  are  almost  identical  with  religious  sects  {sam- 
praddya).  The  Brahmans,  the  most  intellectual  class  of  the 
Indo-Aryans,  established  their  supremacy  over  Indian  minds 
at  a  very  early  date.  Those  Brahmans  had  extremely  strict 
notions  about  ceremonial  purity,  and  an  intense  horror  of  defile- 
ment. The  respect  for  ceremonial  purity,  with  the  corresponding 
horror  of  defilement,  is  really  the  essence  of  the  caste  sentiment. 
Everybody  knows  that  'loss  of  caste '  is  always  due  to  defilement 
in  some  shape  or  other.  The  Brahmans  .set  the  ideal  of  dharma, 
or  duty,  and  all  other  classes  of  the  population  tried  to  live  up 
to  that  ideal.  The  nearer  a  caste  comes  to  the  Brahman  ideal 
the  higher  it  ranks,  while  the  farther  from  that  ideal  a  caste 
remains,  the  lower  it  is  in  the  social  scale.  So  much  must 
suffice  concerning  the  origins  and  nature  of  the  caste  system.* 

The  four  varnas.  Brahman  theory  regards  Hindus  as 
divided  into  four  varnas,  or  groups  of  castes,  according  to 

*  In  Southern  India  the  castes  mostly  represent  either  original  tribes  or 
colonies  of  foreign  settlers.  Their  formation  does  not  depend  much  on 
occupation.  A  Vellala,  for  instance,  may  follow  any  decent  occupation, 
and  the  members  of  the  Vellala  caste  can  do  nearly  everything  needed  to 
keep  a  village  community  going. 


ANCIENT  INDIA  49- 

occupation.  The  first  varna  is  that  of  the  Brahmans,  the 
learned,  literary  class,  qualified  to  direct  religious  ceremonies- 
and  to  teach  and  interpret  the  sacred  scriptures.  The  second 
varna  is  that  of  the  Kshatriyas,  whose  business  was  war  and 
government,  with  the  help  of  Brahman  ministers.  The  third 
vartia  is  that  of  the  Vaisyas,  tradesmen  and  agriculturists. 
The  fourth  is  that  of  the  Sudras,  the  common  folk,  who  were 
expected  to  be  content  with  doing  ser\"ice  to  their  betters,  the 
three  higher  varnas,  called  'twice-born  '  (divija),  in  virtue  of 
certain  ceremonies,  not  permissible  for  Sudras. 

Brahman  authors  expressed  the  relative  rank  of  the  varnas 
by  sa\dng  that  the  Brahmans  proceed  from  the  mouth,  the 
Kshatriyas  from  the  arms,  the  Vaisyas  from  the  thighs,  and 
the  iSMras  from  the  feet  of  Brahma,  the  Creator. 

Early  Buddhist  wTiters  sought  to  exalt  the  Kshatriyas  to  the 
foremost  rank,  speaking  sometimes  of  *  base-born  Brahmans  ' : 
but  in  the  end  the  Brahmans  won,  and  now  their  claim  to  the 
first  place  is  acknowledged  by  all  or  nearly  all  Hindus.^ 

It  is  a  mistake  to  translate  varna  by  the  word  caste,  and 
to  say,  as  is  often  said,  that  originally  there  v.ere  four  castes 
in  India.  Each  varna  always  included  a  multitvide  of  separate 
castas  ijati).  The  varnas  are  simply  a  theoretical  grouping  of" 
pre-existing  castes.  Whether  a  particular  caste  (jati)  should  be 
included  or  not  in  a  particular  var7ia  is  a  matter  for  arbitrary 
judgement.  For  example,  the  modern  Kayasths  claim  to  be 
Kshatriyas,  while  other  people  regard  them  as  Siidras.  The 
t^erms  Vaisya  and  Siidra  are  not  in  ordinary  use  in  Northern 
India,  and  are  to  be  met  with  only  in  books  and  in  discussions- 
about  the  rank  of  certain  castes.  If  any  pro\dnce  were  to  be 
taken,  no  two  people  would  agree  as  to  the  list  of  castes  in  it 
to  be  assigned  to  each  varna.  The  number  of  separate  castes- 
in  the  whole  of  India  is  believed  to  exceed  three  thousand .^ 

'  Exceptions  are  the  Lingayat  sect  in  the  south,  and  to  some  extent  the- 
Jats  in  the  north. 

^  The  word  varna  primarily  means  '  colour ',  but  no  one  could  venture 
to  affirm  that  the  four  varnas,  in  the  sense  of  caste  groups,  are  to  be  actually 


50  ANCIENT  INDIA 

The  good  and  evil  of  caste.  The  division  of  the  Hindu  popu- 
lation of  about  two  hundred  milHons  into  thousands  of  separate 
-caste  compartments,  the  extreme  reverence  paid  to  Brahmans, 
and  the  corresponding  degradation  of  the  lowest  castes,  are 
"facts  which  have  obvious  inconveniences  and  disadvantages. 
The  breaking  up  of  the  people  into  so  many  distinct  blocks 
prevents  or  obstructs  the  growth  of  patriotic  or  national  feeling, 
checks  combination  in  social  and  public  life,  excites  sectional 
jealousies,  and  is  hostile  to  all  modern  democratic  notions. 
Hinduism  does  not  profess  to  regard  men  as  equal.  A  Brahman 
■cannot  possibly  look  on  a  Chamar  as  equal  to  himself,  and  can 
hardly  help  feeling  a  certain  amount  of  arrogance.  The  position 
of  the  low  castes  is  depressed  by  the  servility  required  from 
i)hem.  The  inconveniences  resulting  from  the  strict  enforcement 
of  the  rules  concerning  ceremonial  purity  are  felt  daily,  and 
are  a  serious  obstruction  to  the  conduct  of  business  on  modern 
lines.  Caste  is  an  old-world  institution,  constantly  clashing 
■with  the  ideas  and  requirements  of  the  twentieth  century. 

On  the  other  hand,  Hindu  society  is  built  on  caste,  and  if 
the  foundation  be  dug  away  the  whole  structure  must  fall. 
The  system  has  succeeded  in  holding  Hindu  society  together 
throughout  long  ages  of  despotism,  each  caste  being  a  power- 
ful organization  hard  to  crush.  However  deficient  the  mem- 
bers of  any  one  caste  may  be  in  sympathy  for  outsiders,  and 
however  devoid  of  the  feeling  of  general  brotherhood,  encour- 
aged in  different  degrees  by  the  Christian  and  Muslim  religions, 
the  caste-followers  at  any  rate  hang  together  and  support  each 
other  in  all  sorts  of  ways.  Caste  is  an  extremely  conservative 
institution,  and  has  done  much  to  preserve  Hindu  tradition. 
It  has  also  secured  the  hereditary  passing  on  of  arts  and 
sciences  from  father  to  son.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile 
it  with  the  rapid  progress  in  material  arts  and  appliances 
which  marks  the  present  age. 

distinguished  by  four  different  colours.  Wlien  a  Hindu  author  assigns  the 
colours  white,  yellow,  red,  and  black,  to  the  four  several  varnas,  he  is  merely 
indulging  his  fancy  without  regard  to  facts. 


ANCIENT  INDIA  51 

Ethics  or  morals.  The  caste  system  hinders  the  acceptance 
of  any  universal  doctrine  of  morals.  Each  caste  is  a  law  unto 
itself,  and  Hindus  readily  admit  that  actions  very  wrong  for 
one  man  may  be  quite  right  for  another.  The  BJiagavad  Gltd 
lays  down  the  Hindu  view  plainly  : 

'  Better  one's  own  duty  (dharma),  though  destitute  of  merit, 
than  the  duty  of  another  well  discharged.  Better  death  in  the 
discharge  of  one's  own  duty  :  the  duty  of  another  is  full  of 
terror  '  (iii.  35).  The  sentiment  is  repeated  in  a  later  passage, 
with  the  addition  : 

'  He  who  takes  action  {karma)  in  accordance  with  liis  own 
nature  (bhciva)  does  not  incur  sin  '  (xviii.  47).  Each  caste  is 
looked  on  as  a  separate  species  of  mankind,  with  its  own  nature, 
producing  action  in  accord  with  that  nature. 

The  future  of  caste.  Many  changes  in  the  working  of  the 
institution  have  occurred  during  the  long  course  of  ages.  For 
example,  the  intermarriages  between  different  varnas,  as 
between  Brahmans  and  Kshatriyas,  which  were  not  uncommon 
even  in  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  are  no  longer 
permitted.  The  pressure  of  practical  convenience  often. com- 
pels people  to  evade  or  defy  old-fashioned  restrictions.  Every- 
body in  India  knows  how  railways,  waterworks,  and  other 
modern  inventions  have  modified  the  rules  about  defilement. 
But  in  spite  of  all  changes  on  the  surface,  the  institution 
remains  substantially  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Alexander 
the  Great.  So  far  as  I  can  see,  the  abolition  of  caste  in 
India  is  impracticable,  even  if  it  be  granted  that  the  evil  of 
the  system  outweighs  the  good.  Reformers  must  be  content, 
for  many  centuries  to  come,  to  accept  the  existence  of  caste  as 
a  fact  and  make  the  best  of  it,  by  bringing  the  practice  of 
caste  dJmrma  into  harmony  with  the  conditions  of  modern  life, 
so  far  as  may  be.  The  British  Government  acts  steadily  on 
that  principle.  When  the  authorities  thoughtlessly  have 
violated  it,  as  at  Vellore  in  1806,  and  in  the  matter  of  the 
greased  cartridges  in  1857,  grave  trouble  has  resulted. 

The  four  stages  of  a  Brahman's  life.     In  theory  every 


52  ANCIENT  INDIA 

Brahman  was  supposed  to  divide  his  life  into  four  stages 
(asrama)  :  first,  for  many  years  as  a  student ;  secondly,  a& 
a  married  householder  ;  thirdly,  as  a  hermit  in  the  forest ; 
and  fourthly,  as  a  religious  mendicant  or  beggar.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  add  that  this  theory  was  never  fully  acted  on^ 
and  that  it  is  wholly  unworkable  in  these  days. 

Absorbent  power  of  the  caste  system.  The  rigid  caste  system 
as  it  exists  at  the  present  day  takes  notice  of  Hindus  only  ; 
all  outsiders,  native  or  foreign,  high  or  low,  being  regarded 
as  mlecchas,  or  casteless  people.  Nevertheless,  the  system 
has  always  shown  a  wonderful  230wer  of  absorption,  and  almost 
all  foreigners  resident  permanently  in  India  have  yielded  to  its 
seductions.  Yavanas,  Sakas,  Hiinas,  and  many  other  swarms 
of  foreign  immigrants  have  disappeared,  losing  their  separate 
existence  in  the  sea  of  caste,  either  through  being  admitted 
into  old  castes  by  the  help  of  legal  fictions,  or  through  the 
formation  of  new  castes.  Even  Islam,  the  principles  of  which 
are  utterly  hostile  to  caste  distinctions,  has  been  unable  to 
resist  the  pressure,  and  multitudes  of  Indian  Muhammadans, 
like  their  Hindu  neighbours,  are  fast  bound  in  the  trammels 
of  caste,  although  they  do  not  actually  become  Hindus,  as 
the  descendants  of  earlier  invaders  did. 

The  ascetic  orders  and  caste.  The  ascetic  orders,  whether 
Jain,  Buddhist,  or  orthodox  Hindu,  usually  have  been  and  still 
are  willing  to  admit  to  membership  persons  of  almost  any 
caste,  and  to  ignore  distinctions  of  birth  among  the  brethren. 
Some  writers  erroneously  have  supposed  Buddhism  to  have 
been  a  revolt  against  caste,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  lay 
Buddhist  retained  his  caste,  just  as  the  Jain  layman  does 
now.  It  is,  however,  true  that  the  free  offer  of  the  way  of 
salvation,  made  to  all  comers  by  both  Buddhism  and  Jainism, 
clashed  with  the  Brahman  doctrine  that  the  teaching  of  the 
highest  truths  should  be  reserved  for  the  highest  castes,  and  so 
far  both  religions  diminished  the  importance  of  caste  dis- 
tinctions. But  neither  Mahavira  nor  Gautama  sought  to 
abolish  caste. 


BOOK  II 

SOURCES  OF  HINDU   HISTORY  BEFORE   THE  MUHAMMADAN 

CONQUEST 

Materials  exist.  In  all  countries  the  materials  for  exact  history  of  remote 
ages  are  scanty.  People  used  to  think  that  practically  no  such  materials 
existed  in  India,  but  they  were  mistaken.  Modem  research  has  disclosed 
the  hidden  sources  of  history,  and  experiment  has  proved  that  a  fairly 
consecutive  narrative  of  the  storj'  of  India  before  the  Muhammadan  inva- 
sions can  be  written. 

Official  annals  lost :  but  traces  remain.  Although  the  Brahmans  who 
composed  most  of  the  Sanskrit  books  did  not  care  to  write  formal  literary 
histories,  we  must  not  fancy  that  the  princes  of  the  olden  time  neglected  to 
record  their  own  lineage  and  deeds.  On  the  contrary,  every  Raja,  took 
pains  to  keep  up  a  record  of  his  genealogy  and  an  exact  chronicle  of  his 
doings.  Owing  to  the  frequent  wars  and  revolutions  which  have  desolated 
India,  those  old  official  records  have  disappeared  almost  everywhere.  Some, 
however,  have  been  preserved  in  Rajputana,  and  Colonel  Tod  has  shown,  in 
his  immortal  Annals  of  Bajaslhan  (1829),  the  good  use  which  can  be  made 
of  the  tribal  chronicles  kept  up  by  official  bards.  Fragments  of  the  ancient 
court  genealogies  and  annals  obviously  are  preserved  in  the  prefaces  to  many 
inscriptions.  In  a  few  cases  the  body  of  the  inscription  recites  historical 
events  in  some  detail.  The  most  notable  examples  of  such  documents, 
perhaps,  are  the  fourth -century  inscription  of  Samudra-gupta  at  Allahabad 
and  the  Tanjore  inscriptions  of  Rajaraja  Chola  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eleventh  century.  The  lists  of  dynasties  in  the  Puranas  must  have  come 
from  the  same  source,  the  official  records  of  the  various  states.  Although 
most  of  those  lists  have  become  corrupted  in  course  of  time,  a  few  cf  them 
are  accurate  and  trustworthy. 

Inscriptions.  Inscriptions,  even  when  quite  short,  are  often  invaluable 
for  fixing  dates  and  the  order  of  succession  of  kings.  They  also  supply 
information  about  details  of  all  sorts. 

Coins.  The  legends  on  coins  supplement  the  evidence  of  the  inscriptions, 
and  when  interpreted  by  skilled  experts,  can  be  forced  to  yield  a  surprising 
amount  of  information,  concerning  both  political  and  artistic  historj'. 

Tradition  in  literature.  Ancient  tradition  is  recorded  in  literarj-  works 
of  many  kinds.  The  Buddhist,  Jain,  and  Brahmanical  books,  intended 
primarily  for  religious  purposes,  are  full  of  references  and  allusions  capable 
of  being  used  by  the  historian.  Something  can  be  got  even  out  of  the 
grammarians'  works,  and  several  plays,  notably  the  Mudrd-Rakshasa,  throw 
much  light  on  political  and  social  history. 


54  SOURCES  OF  HINDU  HISTORY 

Buildings  and  works  of  art.  The  testimony  of  inscriptions,  coins,  and 
recorded  tradition  is  supported  and  amplified  by  the  critical  study  of  the 
remains  of  ancient  buildings  and  works  of  art.  Careful  examination  of  the 
order  in  which  the  layers  of  ruins  of  different  ages  lie  in  excavations  on  old 
sites  is  a  great  help  in  fixing  the  relative  dates  of  remote  events. 

Histories.  More  or  less  formal  Hindu  histories  are  not  wholly  wanting. 
The  earliest  work  which  can  be  so  classed  is,  I  think,  the  Harsha-charita 
of  Bana,  written  in  the  seventh  century,  to  celebrate  the  deeds  of  King 
Harsha  of  Kanauj.  Works  of  a  similar  character — half  history  and  half 
romance — recount  the  doings  of  certain  kings  of  Bengal  and  the  South. 
The  Sanskrit  book  which  comes  nearest  to  the  European  notion  of  a  regular 
history  is  the  Rdjatarangiin  of  Kalhana,  a  metrical  chronicle  of  Kashmir, 
written  in  the  twelfth  century  by  the  son  of  a  minister  of  the  Raja.  The 
Pali  chronicles  of  Ceylon  record  versions  of  early  Indian  traditions,  which 
deserve  consideration,  and  many  other  books  presenting  a  certain  amount 
of  genuine  history  mixed  with  much  fanciful  legend  exist  in  the  literatures 
of  Tibet,  Nepal,  Assam,  and  other  border  countries. 

Summary  of  indigenous  sowces.  Taken  as  a  whole,  the  sources  of  the 
history  of  Hindu  India,  available  in  India  itself,  are  fairly  copious.  They 
may  be  summed  up  as,  (1) Inscriptions  (epigraphic);  (2)  Coins  (numismatic); 
(3)  Buildings  and  art  (archaeological) ;  (4)  Tradition,  recorded  in  literature, 
and  (5)  Histories,  more  or  less  regular,  and  to  some  extent  contemporary 
with  the  events  narrated. 

Foreign  authors.  A  sixth  source  is  opened  up  by  the  writings  of  foreigners, 
whose  works  have  proved  specially  valuable  for  fixing  exact  dates.  It  is 
difficult,  for  many  reasons  which  cannot  be  explained  here,  to  fix  dates 
from  purely  Hindu  evidence.  The  foreigners,  making  use  of  the  known 
chronology  of  their  own  countries,  often  settle  problems  otherwise  almost 
insoluble.  For  example,  when  we  know  that  Chandragupta  Maurya  was 
identical  with  Sandrakottos,  the  contemporary  of  Alexander  of  Macedon, 
we  know  approximately  when  Chandragupta  lived,  because  there  is  no  doubt 
as  to  the  dates  of  Alexander.  Many  other  examples  might  be  cited.  The 
foreign  authors  who  help  the  Indian  historian  are  chiefly  the  Greeks  and 
Chinese.  Some  of  those  authors  travelled  in  India,  while  others  compiled 
books  from  the  notes  of  travellers.  The  Roman  authors,  who  sometimes 
wrote  in  the  Latin  language,  usually  copied  from  the  Greeks.  The  Greek 
notices  of  India  begin  with  Herodotus  and  Ktesias  in  the  fifth  century  B.C. 
We  have  next  the  evidence  of  the  companions  of  Alexander  the  Great,  late 
in  the  fourth  century  b.  c,  then  the  testimony  of  Megasthenes  about  300  b.  c, 
and  the  observations  of  the  author  of  the  Periplus  of  the  Eryilirean  Sea, 
or  '  Voyage  round  the  Arabian  Sea  ",  about  a.d.  70.  Some  of  the  works 
referred  to  are  preserved  only  in  fragments. 

Chinese  evidence.  The  Chinese  evidence  is  contained  both  in  formal 
histories  and  in  the  accounts  written  by  travellers,  especially  Buddhist 
pilgrims.    China  possesses  an  immense  historical  literature  of  great  antiquity. 


SOURCES  OF  HINDU  HISTORY  55 

The  notices  of  affairs  connected  with  India  in  the  Chinese  histories  begin 
about  120  B.C.  The  accounts  recorded  by  the  Buddhist  pilgrims  are  still 
more  valuable.  Fa-hien,  the  earliest  pilgrim  (a.d.  399-413),  gives  much 
information  about  the  state  of  India  during  the  reign  of  Chandragupta  II.. 
Vikramaditya.  Hiuen  Tsang  (or  Yuan  Chwang).  perhaps  the  most  learned 
of  the  pilgrims,  who  travelled  between  629  and  645,  is  the  most  interesting 
witness  of  his  class,  and  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  history  of  Harsha  of 
Kanauj,  and  other  matters.  Many  other  Chinese  pilgrims  contribute  to 
the  sum  total  of  knowledge. 

Muhammadan  evidence.  From  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  Muham- 
madan  travellers  and  historians  begin  to  help.  They  tell  us  many  things 
concerning  the  Hindu  dynasties  which  first  met  the  invaders,  and  describe 
the  manner  of  the  Muhammadan  conquest.  Our  knowledge  of  the  raids  of 
Mahmiid  of  Ghazni  is  derived  wholh"  from  Muslim  authors. 

Further  details  will  be  found  in  the  author's  Early  History  of  India,. 
3rd  ed.  (Oxford,  1914),  and  Oxford  History  of  India  (1919),  which  give 
references. 

Kingdom  of  Vijayanagar.  SeweU,  A  Forgotten  Empire,  1900  ;  articles  in 
Ann.  Eep.  A.  S.  India,  1907-8  ;  J.R.A.S.,  1915  ;  and  Ind.  Ant.,  1914, 
1915  ;  S.  Krishnaswami  Aiyengar,  A  Little  Knoivn  Chapter  of  Vijayanagar 
History,  Madras,  1916  ;    and  Oxford  History  of  India,  Book  v,  chap.  3. 

HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.D.  1103  ; 
I^IAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI. 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  dynasties  preceding  the  Mauryas  :   Kosala  ;  Magadha  ;  the  Nandas  : 
Alexander  the  Great. 

Beginning  of  regular  history.  The  preceding  chapters  have 
dealt  with  events  which,  excepting  the  foundation  of  the  Jain 
and  Buddhist  systems,  cannot  be  dated.  Regular  history-  is- 
concerned  only  \\dth  events  which  can  be  arranged  in  order 
of  time  and  are  capable  of  being  dated  approximately,  if  not 
exactly.  In  the  case  of  India  such  history  cannot  be  attempted 
before  about  650  B.C.,  when  we  obtain  a  glimpse  of  a  few 
definite  pohtical  facts.  But  even  then,  and  for  about  three 
centuries  later,  our  knowledge  is  extremely  scanty,  and 
almost  wholly  confined  to  certain  states  in  the  Gangetic  basin. 
Nothing  definite  is  known  about  the  Deccan  or  the  Far  SoutK 
in  those  early  times. 

Sixteen  northern  powers.    The  most  ancient  Buddhist  books 


56     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

•give  a  list  of  sixteen  states  or  tribal  territories  which  exist-ed 
in  Northern  India  about  the  time  of  the  rise  of  Buddhism 
or  a  little  earlier.  These  extended  from  Gandhara,  the 
country  of  the  Gandharas,  on  the  extreme  north-west  of  the 
Panjab,  including  the  modem  districts  of  Peshawar  and 
Rawalpindi,  to  Avanti,  or  Malwa,  with  its  capital  Ujjain, 
Avhich  still  retains  its  ancient  name  unchanged.  Among 
these  sixteen  states  two  are  prominent  in  tradition — namely 
Kosala,  or  the  territory  of  the  Kosalas,  and  Magadha,  or  the 
territory  of  the  Magadhas. 

Magadha.  The  kingdom  of  Magadha  (S.  Bihar),  approxi- 
mately equivalent  originally  to  the  Gaya  and  Patna  Districts 
south  of  the  Ganges,  is  mentioned  in  the  Mahabharata  as 
Iiaving  attained  the  rank  of  a  paramount  power  under  King 
•Jarasandha.  The  earliest  capital  was  the  hill -fort  of  Raja- 
griha  or  Rajgir  (Giri\Taja).  The  most  ancient  king  who  can 
be  approximately  dated  was  Sisunaga  (about  650  B.C.),  but 
nothing  is  knoAvn  about  him  or  his  next  three  successors. 

Bimbisara  ;  Ajatasatru  ;  Darius.  Bimbisara,  or  Srenika, 
the  fifth  Saisunaga  king,  is  credited  with  the  foundation  of 
New  Rajgir,  the  outer  town  at  the  base  of  the  hill,  and  with 
the  annexation  of  the  small  kingdom  to  the  east,  Anga  or 
■Champa,  roughly  equivalent  to  the  Bhagalpur  District,  and 
probably  including  Monghyr  (Mungir).  This  annexation  was 
the  first  step  in  Magadha  "s  progress  to  greatness  during 
historical  times.  After  a  reign  of  twenty-eight  years  Bim- 
bisara abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son  Ajatasatru,  or  Kuniya, 
v/ho  is  said  to  have  starved  his  father  to  death,  according  to 
Buddhist  stories.  Gautama  Buddha  is  said  to  have  met 
Ajatasatru  and  reproved  him  for  his  crime.  The  Jains  deny 
the  alleged  murder.  A  fort  built  by  this  king  at  Patali,  to 
check  the  incursions  of  the  Licchhavis  of  Vaisali  from  the 
north  side  of  the  I'iver,  developed  into  the  magnificent  city 
•of  Pataliputra,  the  modern  Patna  and  Bankipore. 

About  500  B.C.,  in  the  reign  of  either  Darsaka  or  Udaya 
'(for  dates  are  uncertain),  Darius,  son  of  Hystaspes,  king  of 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  660  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193    57 

Persia,  sent  an  expedition  commanded  by  Skyiax  of  Karyanda, 
to  explore  the  rivers  of  the  Panjab.  The  admiral  reached  the 
sea,  and  the  Indus  valley  became  a  province  of  the  Persian 
empire,  to  which  it  yielded  a  large  revenue.  Indian  archers 
were  included  in  the  Persian  army  defeated  at  Plataea,  in 
Greece,  in  479  B.C.  The  Persians  probably  ruled  the  Indus 
region  for  many  years,  but  how  or  when  they  lost  control  of 
it  is  not  known. 

Kosala.  Bimbisara  of  Magadha  was  married  to  the  sister 
of  Prasenajit,  king  of  Kosala,  who  went  to  war  with  Ajata- 
satru,  j)erhaps  because  he  murdered  his  father.  The  war  was. 
waged  with  varying  fortune,  but  ultimatelj'  peace  was  made 
and  Prasenajit  gave  a  daughter  to  Ajatasatru  in  marriage. 
Some  three  years  later,  Virudhaka,  Crown  Prince,  rebelled 
against  his  father  Prasenajit,  who  fled  to  the  capital  of  his 
former  enemy  of  Magadha,  but  died  before  he  entered  the 
gates.  Viriidhaka  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Kosala,  and  is 
remembered  as  the  author  of  a  cruel  massacre  of  the  Sakyas, 
the  kinsmen  of  Buddha.  After  his  time  the  kingdom  of 
Kosala  was  overshadowed  by  the  growing  power  of  Magadha . 
At  an  early  date  Kosala  had  absorbed  the  smaller  kingdom 
of  Kasi  or  Benares,  and  when  at  its  greatest  extent  included 
the  whole  of  Oudh,  and  all  the  countr}-  between  the  Ganges^ 
the  Gandak,  and  the  mountains.  The  capital  was  the  city  of 
Sravasti,  on  the  upper  course  of  the  Rapti,  probably  the 
modern  Saheth-Maheth  in  Northern  Oudh.  The  whole  of 
this  territory  passed  under  the  rule  of  Magadha,  but  we  cannot 
fix  the  date. 

The  *  Nine  Nandas '.  Mahapadma  Nanda.  the  son  of  the 
last  Saisunaga  king,  Mahanandin,  by  a  Sudra  woman,  usurped 
his  father's  throne,  and  is  said  to  have  been  succeeded  by  his- 
eight  sons.  The  dynasty  of  two  generations  is  therefore 
Imowii  to  tradition  as  that  of  the  Nine  Nandas.  Mahapadma 
was  reigning  when  Alexander  the  Great  was  in  India,  and  the 
invader  was  told  that  the  king  of  Magadha  possessed  an  army 
of  200,000  infantry,  20,000  cavalry,  2.000  chariots,  and  3,( 


ALEXANDER   THE    GREAT   (tHE   TIVOLI   HERM) 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193      59 

or  4,000  war  elephants  ;  but  he  was  so  unpopular  that  there 
was  reason  to  believe  his  army  would  not  support  him, 
Alexander  did  not  get  the  chance  of  testing  the  accuracy  of 
this  information,  as  his  own  troops  refused  to  plunge  farther 
into  unknown  countrj-, 

Alexander  the  Great.  Alexander,  king  of  Macedon,  in  the 
north  of  Greece,  in  the  course  of  the  years  from  334  to  331  B.C. 
had  conquered  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Egypt,  and  Persia,  defeating 
the  Persian  monarch,  Darius  Codomamius,  in  three  pitched 
battles,  and  taking  his  place.  Having  resolved  to  conquer 
India,  he  crossed  the  Indus  at  Ohind  in  February  or  March, 
326,  and  was  hospitablj"  received  by  the  king  of  Taxila,  then 
a  great  city,  the  ruins  of  which  are  traceable  near  Hasan 
Abdal,  in  the  Attock  District,  Panjab.^  The  Raja  of  the 
coimtry  between  the  Indus  and  the  Jihlam  or  Hydaspes  river, 
whom  Greek  and  Roman  writers  call  Porus,  tried  to  stop  the 
invader,  but  was  defeated  in  a  battle  near  Jililam.  Alexander" 
then  pushed  on  eastward,  passing  Sialkot,  across  the  rivers 
of  the  Panjab,  until  he  came  to  the  last  of  them,  the  Bias 
or  Hyphasis,  when  his  European  troops  refused  to  go  on,  and 
he  was  obliged  to  turn  back,  and  retrace  his  steps.  Mea^ntime 
his  officers  had  built  near  Jihlam  a  fleet  of  about  2,000  vessels, 
on  which  he  embarked  part  of  his  army.  The  rest  marched 
along  the  banks  of  the  Hydaspes  and  other  rivers,  and  after 
ten  months  the  whole  force,  fighting  its  wa}^,  reached  the 
mouths  of  the  Indus.  The  courses  of  the  rivers  have  changed 
so  much  tha.t  it  is  not  possible  to  trace  the  stages  of  Alex- 
ander's voyage  and  marches  from  north  to  south  through  the 
Panjab  and  Sind.  The  fleet  sailed  round  by  sea  to  the 
Persian  Gulf,  and  Alexander  himself  led  a  division  of  his 
armj^  through  Balochistan  or  Gedrosia .  After  much  suffering 
and  heavy  losses,  he  met  his  fleet,  and  brought  what  Ayas  left 
of  his  army  into  Persia.     He  had  previously  sent  another 

*  Excavations  now  (1918)  in  progress  are  yielding  remarkable  and  unex- 
pected results.  The  earliest  part  of  the  site,  known  as  the  Bhir  mound, 
is  believed  to  be  of  immense  antiquity. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193     61 

division  back  to  that  country  by  the  Mula  Pass  route.  In 
June,  323  B.C.,  Alexander  died  at  Babylon,  aged  thirty -two. 
No  other  man  in  the  history  of  the  world  ever  accompHshed 
so  much  in  so  short  a  time  and  at  such  an  early  age. 

He  had  intended  to  annex  the  Panjab  and  Sind  to  his 
empire,  but  his  premature  death  made  the  task  impossible — 
no  other  hand  could  wield  the  sceptre  of  universal  dominion. 
The  empire  fell  to  pieces  and  was  carved  into  kingdoms  by 
his  generals,  none  of  whom  was  strong  enough  to  hold  the 
distant  Indian  provinces.  In  three  or  four  years  all  traces  of 
Macedonian  rule  in  the  Indus  valley  had  disappeared,  and  the 
local  powers  were  left  to  their  own  devices.  Indian  writers 
do  not  mention  Alexander's  raid,  for  our  knowledge  of  which 
we  are  indebted  to  Greek  authors.  The  Macedonian  invasion 
had  practically  no  direct  effect  on  Indian  institutions.  The 
Greek  influence  Avhich  made  itself  felt  in  certain  respects 
afterwards  came  from  the  Bactrian  kingdom,  and  still  later 
from  the  Asiatic  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire. 

CHAPTER  V 

The  Maurya  empire :  Chandragupta ;  accounts  of  India  by  Greek  writers ; 
Asoka  and  his  successors. 

Chandragupta  Maurya.  About  the  time  of  Alexander's 
death,  or  a  little  earlier,  a  revolution  took  place  in  Magadha, 
which  cost  the  unpopular  Nanda  king  his  throne  and  life. 
A  young  man  named  Chandragupta,  who  is  said  to  have  met 
Alexander,  and  seems  to  have  been  related  to  the  Nanda  royal 
family,  assembled  a  force  of  robber  clans  from  the  north  and 
seized  the  kingdom  of  Magadha,  the  capital  of  which  was  then 
Pataliputra,  the  modern  Patna.  His  agent  in  effecting  the 
revolution  was  Chanakya,  also  called  Kautilya  or  Vishnugupta, 
a  wily  Brahman,  who  became  his  minister.  An  ancient 
treatise  called  Arthak'istra,  attributed  to  Kautilya,  gives  pre- 
cise details  of  the  systems  of  government  in  the  small  Hindu 
kingdoms  of  Northern  India  as  worked  before  Chandragupta 


62     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

made  himself  the  master  of  them  all.  The  accession  of 
Chandragupta  may  be  dated  in  322  or  325  B.C.,  but  at  this 
period  it  is  impossible  to  fix  dates  with  absolute  precision. 
The  family  name  Maurya  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from  Mura, 
the  mother  of  Chandragupta.  The  line  of  his  successors  down 
to  about  184  B.C.  is  spoken  of  as  the  Maurya  dynasty. 

The  first  emperor  of  India.  Before  the  time  of  Chandragupta 
India  had  been  parcelled  into  a  multitude  of  small  states, 
some  monarchies,  some  tribal  reiDublics,  which  were  con- 
tinually fighting  among  themselves,  and  owned  no  allegiance 
to  any  overlord.  But  the  new  king  of  Magadha,  a  stern  and 
masterful  man,  was  determined  to  bring  his  neighbours  into 
subjection.  In  the  course  of  a  reign  of  twenty-four  years  he 
carried  out  this  plan  and  made  himself  the  sovereign  of  at 
least  all  Northern  India.  He  is  the  first  historical  person  who 
can  be  described  as  Emperor  of  India,  but,  of  course,  his  rule 
did  not  extend  to  the  Far  South.  Its  exact  limits  southwards 
are  not  known. 

Seleucus  Nikator.  When  Alexander's  empire  was  finallj'- 
partitioned  in  321  B.C.  among  his  generals,  one  of  them, 
8eleucus,  surnamed  Nikator,  '  the  Vi^orious,'  obtained  as  his 
share  Syria,  Asia  Minor,  and  the  eastern  provinces.  After 
a  prolonged  struggle  with  rivals  he  was  crowned  king  at 
Babylon  in  312  B.C.,  and  is  known  to  historians  as  king  of 
Syria.  Seleucus  thought  that  he  would  like  to  recover 
Alexander's  conquests.  About  305  b.  c.  he  crossed  the  Indus 
with  the  intention  of  subduing  the  country.  But  Chandra- 
gupta Avas  too  strong  for  him,  and  Seleucus  was  obliged  to 
retreat,  surrendering  all  claim  to  the  satrapies  or  provinces 
west  of  the  Indus.  Those  provinces  passed  under  the  sway 
of  Chandragupta,  who  thus  ruled  the  countries  now  called 
Balochistan  and  Afghanistan,  as  well  as  all  Northern  India. 
Seleucus  was  content  to  take  five  hundred  elephants  as 
comj)ensation  for  three  rich  provinces,  and  concluded  a  matri  - 
monial  alliance  with  Chandragupta,  probably  giving  a  daughter 
to  the  Indian  king. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193     63 

Megasthenes,  and  Greek  accounts  of  India.  Soon  afterwards 
the  Syrian  monarch  sent  an  envoy  named  Megasthenes  to 
the  court  of  Chandragupta  at  Pataliputra.  That  ofiicer  Hved 
there  a  long  time  and  spent  his  leisure  in  compihng  a  careful 
account  of  the  geography,  products,  and  institutions  of  India, 
which  continued  to  be  the  principal  authority  on  the  subject 
for  European  readers  until  modern  times.  Although  his  book 
has  been  lost,  copious  extracts  from  it  have  been  preserved  by 
other  writers,  which  give  the  pith  of  the  work.  Our  know- 
ledge of  the  system  of  government  in  the  time  of  Chandra- 
gupta is  derived  largely  from  Megasthenes.  His  statements 
disclose  a  well-ordered  State,  governed  by  a  stern,  capable 
despot,  who  did  not  hesitate  to  shed  blood,  and  consequently 
lived  in  daily  fear  of  assassination.  But,  so  far  as  appears, 
Chandragupta  died  in  his  bed.  According  to  some  traditions 
he  was  a  Jain,  abdicated,  and  .starved  himself  to  death.  His 
empii'e  certainly  passed  undiminished  to  his  son  and  grandson. 

The  army  of  the  Mauryas.  The  main  instrument  of  authority 
was  a  powerful  standing  army  of  paid  soldiers  equipped  from 
government  arsenals,  and,  as  usual  in  ancient  India,  com- 
prising the  four  arms  of  infantry,  cavalry-,  chariots,  and 
elephant  corps.  The  war  elephants  niunbered  9,000,  attended 
by  36,000  men,  the  cavalr}-  were  30,000,  and  the  infantry 
600,000.  The  chariots  kept  by  Mahapadma  Nanda  numbered 
8,000,  and  Chandragupta 's  force  in  that  arm,  of  which  the 
strength  is  not  stated,  probably  was  still  greater.  The  four 
arms  were  administered  b}'  four  Boards  ;  transport,  com- 
missariat, and  army  service  were  the  business  of  a  fifth  Board, 
and  a  sixth  attended  to  admiralty  affairs. 

The  capital  and  civil  administration.  The  capital  city, 
Pataliputra,  situated  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Son,  which 
then  joined  the  Ganges  below  the  city,  was  strongly  fortified, 
and  administered  by  a  Municipal  Commission  composed  of  six 
Boards  or  ]ianchayats,  consistmg  each  of  five  members,  and 
charged  with  various  duties.  The  other  great  cities  of  the 
empire  probably  were  governed  on  similar  lines.     The  general 


64     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

civil  administration  also  was  effective.  Elaborate  rules  pro- 
viding for  the  proper  treatment  of  strangers  show  that  the 
empire  had  constant  dealings  with  foreign  states.  The 
mainstay  of  finance  was  then,  as  now,  the  land  revenue,  or 
Crown  rent,  generally  amounting  to  one-fourth  of  the  gross 
produce.  Like  the  modern  Government  of  India,  the  king 
levied  water-rates,  and  assessed  land  at  rates  varying  with 
the  mode  of  irrigation.  The  subject  of  irrigation  was  carefully 
attended  to  by  a  special  department,  as  it  is  now  by  the 
Canals  branch  of  the  Public  Works  staff.  Besides  the  land 
revenue  and  water  rates,  many  other  taxes  and  cesses  were 
levied,  among  the  most  profitable  to  the  treasury  being  the 
tax  on  goods  sold. 

Revenue  and  criminal  law.  The  revenue  and  criminal  law 
was  severe  and  sternly  administered.  Theft  was  ordinarily 
punished  by  mutilation,  which  was  also  the  penalty  for 
wilful  false  statements  made  to  revenue  officers,  and  for 
sundry  other  crimes.  Evasion  of  the  town  duty  on  goods 
sold  was  punishable  with  death,  which  was  inflicted  without 
scruple  for  many  offences.  But  this  severity,  if  repugnant 
to  modern  feeling,  had  the  good  effect  of  maintaining  order. 
Judicial  torture  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  confessions  was 
recognized  and  freelj'  used,  the  principle  laid  down  being  that 
*  those  whose  guilt  is  believed  to  be  true  shall  be  subjected  to 
torture  ',  of  which  there  were  eighteen  kinds,  including  seven 
varieties  of  Avhipping.  A  regular  system  of  excise  w^as  in 
force,  the  drinking-shops  being  under  official  supervision,  as 
they  now  are. 

Reign  of  Bindusara.  About  300  b.c.  Chandragupta  either 
died  or  abdicated,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Bindusara 
Amitraghata.  No  detailed  record  of  the  events  of  his  reign 
has  survived,  but  the  history  of  Asoka  shows  that  Bindusara 
certainly  maintained  and  probably  enlarged  the  empire 
inherited  from  his  father. 

Asoka— 273  or  272  B.  C.  Asoka,  or  to  give  him  his  full 
name,  Asoka-vardhana,  was  viceroy  of  Ujjain  at  the  time  of 


)i.4. 


Sabnath  Capital  (Asoka  Period) 


1776 


66     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

his  father's  death,  if  Buddhist  tradition  may  be  believed. 
The  Buddhist  monks  pretend  that  Asoka  in  his  youth  was 
cruel  and  wicked,  attaining  the  throne  by  the  murder  of 
ninety-eight  ou^t  of  ninety-nine  brothers.  But  there  does  not 
seem  to  be  any  truth  in  these  tales,  because  Asoka 's  mscrip- 
tions  prove  that  long  after  his  accession  he  had  brothers  and 
sisters  living  for  whose  welfare  he  took  anxious  care.  His 
inscriptions,  which  are  numerous,  are  the  best  authority  for 
the  events  of  his  reign.  The  coronation  of  Asoka  (about 
269  B.  c.)  did  not  take  place  until  four  years  after  his  accession. 
The  delay  may  or  may  not  have  been  due  to  some  dispute 
about  the  succession. 

War  with  Kalinga.  Some  eight  years  after  his  coronation, 
Asoka  went  to  war  with  Kalinga,  the  country  on  the  coast  of 
the  Bay  of  Bengal  between  the  Mahanadi  and  Godavari  rivers. 
After  hard  fighting  he  overcame  all  resistance  and  conquered 
that  kingdom.  But  he  was  horrified  at  the  suffering  caused 
by  his  ambition,  and  has  recorded  his  '  remorse  on  account  of 
the  conquest  of  the  Kalingas,  because,  during  the  subjugation 
of  a  previouslj^  unconquered  country,  slaughter,  death,  and 
taking  away  captive  of  the  people  necessarily  occur,  whereat 
His  Majesty  feels  profound  sorrow  and  regret  '.  Asoka 's  first 
war  was  his  last,  and  for  the  rest  of  his  life  he  devoted  himself 
to  winning  '  the  chiefest  conquest,  the  conquest  by  the  Law  of 
Piety  or  Duty  (dhanna)  ' . 

Asoka's  devotion  to  Buddhism.  This  sudden  change  in  his 
feelings  seems  to  have  been  due  to  his  acceptance  of  the 
teachings  of  Buddhism,  to  which,  as  the  years  went  on,  he 
became  more  and  more  devoted,  even  to  the  extent  of  assum- 
ing the  robes  and  vows  of  a  monk. 

Asoka  is  said  to  have  convened  at  his  capital  a  council 
of  Buddhist  monks  to  reform  the  church  and  revise  the 
scriptures.  As  a  means  of  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the 
Buddhist  dharma,  or  moral  law,  he  engraved  a  series  of 
edicts  on  rocks  and  stone  pillars  throughout  his  dominions, 
which  have  been  deciphered  by  European  scholars  since  1837. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.D.  1193     67 

These  records,  which  are  found  in  Orissa,  Mysore,  the  Panjab, 
.on  the  Bombay  coast,  and  in  other  places,  prove  that  Asoka 
ruled  all  India,  except  the  extreme  south  below  the  fourteenth 
parallel  of  latitude. 

FACSIMILE 


HO tf/ili^ ^  J  ^^^^^^^'^ 


TRANSLITERATION 

1.  Devanapiyena  piyadasina      lajina  visativasabhisitena 

2.  atana  agacha       mahiyite       hida  budhe  jate       sakyamuniti 

3.  sila  vigadabhicha  killapita       silathabhecha       usapapite 

4.  hida  bliagavam  jateti      lumminigame     ubalikekate 

5.  athabhagiyecha 

Asoka' s  Inscription  at  Rummindei 

Asoka's  teaching.  One  of  these  inscriptions,  on  a  rock  in 
Mysore,  may  be  quoted  as  giving  a  short  summary  of  his 
moral  teaching.  It  runs  :  '  Thus  saith  His  Majesty  : — 
"  Father  and  mother  must  be  obeyed  ;   similarly,  respect  for 


6S      HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

living  creatures  must  be  enforced  ;  truth  must  be  spoken. 
These  are  the  virtues  of  the  Law  of  Piety  {dJiwma),  which 
must  be  practised.  Similarly,  the  teacher  must  be  revered 
hy  the  pupil,  and  proper  courtesy  must  be  shown  to  relations. 
This  is  the  ancient  standard  of  piety — this  leads  to  length  of 
da^-s,  and  according  to  this  men  must  act."  ' 

Censors  were  appointed  to  enforce  obedience  to  these  rules 
with  all  the  power  of  the  government,  and  the  moral  regula- 
tions \yeve  supplemented  by  works  of  practical  piety.  Banyan 
trees  for  shade  and  mango  trees  for  fruit  were  planted  along 
the  high-roads,  wells  were  dug,  rest-houses  were  built,  watering 
places  were  prepared  for  travellers,  and  abundant  provision 
was  made  for  the  relief  and  cure  of  the  poor  and  sick.  All 
the  forms  of  Indian  religion  were  treated  with  respect,  and 
the  emperor  enjoined  his  subjects  to  abstain  from  spea,king 
evil  of  their  neighbour's  faith.  Everybody,  however,  what- 
ever his  creed  might  be,  had  to  obey  the  regulations  of  the 
government  concerning  his  conduct.  Men  might  believe 
what  they  liked,  but  must  do  as  they  were  told. 

Asoka's  missions.  The  emperor  organized  a  system  of 
missions  to  carry  his  teaching  to  all  the  protected  states  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  empire,  including  the  Himalayan  regions, 
to  the  independent  Tamil  kingdoms  of  the  Far  South, 
to  Ceylon,  and  to  the  Greek  monarchies  of  Syria,  Egypt, 
Cyrene  (west  of  Egypt),  Macedonia,  and  Epirus,  thus  embrac- 
ing three  continents,  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe.  If  mission- 
aries were  sent  also  to  Burma,  as  stated  by  some  authorities, 
they  produced  little  effect.  The  leading  missionary  to 
Ceylon  was  Mahendra  (Mahinda),  the  brother,  or,  according 
to  others,  a  son,  of  Asoka.  In  this  way,  Buddhism,  which  had 
been  merely  the  creed  of  a  local  Indian  sect,  became  one  of 
the  chief  religions  of  the  world,  a  position  which,  in  spite 
of  man}"  ups  and  downs,  it  still  holds.  This  result  is  the  work 
of  Asoka  alone,  and  entitles  him  to  rank  for  all  time  in  that 
small  body  of  men  who  may  be  said  to  have  changed  the 
faiths  of  the  world.     The  numerous  and  wealthy  Buddhist 


ASOKA  PILLAR 


70      HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

monasteries  founded  in  the  time  of  Asoka  and  in  later  ages 
did  much  to  spread  Buddhism,  and  no  doubt  looked  after  the 
education  of  the  j'oung,  as  the  monks  now  do  in  Burma. 

The  later  Mauryas.  In  or  about  232  b.  c.  the  great  Asoka 
passed  awa^^  the  most  notable  figure  in  the  early  history  of 
India.  One  tradition  asserts  that  he  died  at  Taxila,  but 
nothing  is  known  with  certainty  concerning  his  latter  days 
or  his  death.  Inscriptions  prove  that  he  was  succeeded  in 
the  eastern  part  of  his  dominions  by  his  grandson  Dasaratha, 
and,  according  to  tradition,  the  western  provinces  passed 
under  the  rule  of  another  grandson,  Samprati,  who  favoured 
the  Jain  religion.  The  names  of  five  later  members  of  the 
dynasty  are  recorded,  but  nothing  is  knowii  about  their 
reigns.  It  is  clear  that  these  princes  must  have  enjoyed  only 
limited  power,  and  that  the  empire  could  not  be  held  together 
after  the  removal  of  Asoka 's  controlling  hand.  The  last  of 
the  Mauryas,  Brihadratha,  was  slain,  in  or  about  184  B.C., 
by  his  commander-in-chief,  Pushyamitra  Sunga. 

Sunga  Kanva  and  Andhra  dynasties.  Very  little  is  on  record 
about  the  Sunga  dynasty  founded  by  Pushyamitra,  which 
is  said  to  have  lasted  for  a  hundred  and  twelve  years.  The 
great  grammarian,  Patanjali,  was  a  contemporary  of  Push- 
yamitra, in  whose  time  a  Greek  king,  most  likely  Menander, 
invaded  India. 

Th«  Sungas  were  succeeded  by  the  Kanva  dynasty,  to  which 
forty -five  years  are  assigned  by  the  lists  in  the  Puranas.  The 
last  Sunga  was  killed  by  an  Andhra  prince,  about  27  b.  C. 
But  the  Andhra  dynasty  had  been  established  some  two 
centuries  earlier,  probably  soon  after  the  death  of  Asoka,  and 
had  acquired  a  wide  dominion  extending  across  the  Deccan 
from  sea  to  sea.  There  is  no  distinct  evidence  that  the 
Andhras  held  Magadha,  and  the  history  of  the  dynasty  is 
extremely  obscure. 


Rock  Edicts . 

Minor  Roch  Edicts x 

Pillar  Edicts -x 

Kingdom '<<■ 


GEORGE    PHILIP  A   SON.   LTO. 


72     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 


The  Kings  of  Magadlm. 
Approximate  and  disputed  dates,  mostly  not  exact. 


Sisnnaga 

Bimbisara 

Ajiitasatru 

Death  of  Gautama  Buddha 
The  Nino  Nandas 

Campaign  of  Alexander  the  G 
Cbandragiipta  Maurya 

Invasion  of  Seleucus  Nikator 

Embassy  of  Megastlienes 
Bindiisara 
Asoka     .... 

Coronation 

War  with  Kalinga 

Death  of  Asoka    . 
Other  Mauryan  kings 
Sunga  dynasty 

Invasion  of  (?)  Menander 
Kanva  djaiasty 


B.  c. 
ace.   642 

ace .   582  ( Prasenaj  it  of  Kosala  contemp. ) 
ace.    554 

?   543  Death  of  Mahavira  ?  527 
ace.    413 
reat       326-325  (date  exact), 
ace.    322  or  325 
305 
303 
ace.    298  or  301 
ace.    273 
269 
261 
232 

232-184 
184-72 
?    175 
72-27 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  foreign  dynasties  of  the  north-west :    the  Kushan  (Kusana)  empire  ; 
Kanishka  ;   the  Saka  era  ;   art  and  literature. 

Bactrian,  Indo-Greek,  and  Indo-Parthian  kings.  Parthia, 
the  country  south-east  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  Bactria,  the 
country  between  the  Hindu  Kush  mountains  and  the  river 
Oxus,  which  had  been  both  included  in  the  kingdom  of 
Seleucus  Nikator,  became  independent  monarchies  under  kings 
of  Greek  descent  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century  B.C., 
when  Asoka  was  emperor  of  India.  He  probably  continued  to 
hold  the  provinces  west  of  the  Indus — the  modern  Bal5chistan 
and  Afghanistan,  which  had  been  ceded  to  his  grandfather  by 
Seleucus.  After  Asoka's  death  no  Indian  sovereign  could 
retain  those  distant  dependencies,  which  were  broken  up  into 
a  multitude  of  principalities  governed  by  Greek  kings,  whose 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D    1193     73 

names  are  known  from  coins.  One  of  these  kings,  Menander, 
lord  of  Kabul,  appears  to  have  invaded  India  about  175  b.  c, 
reached  Oudh,  and  met  the  army  of  Pushyamitra  Sunga. 
Parthian  princes  also  governed  parts  of  the  frontier  regions 
after  140  b.  c.  About  that  date  Mithradates  I  of  Parthia  had 
annexed  the  Western  Pan  jab,  and  united  it  for  a  time  with  the 
Parthian  emj)ire,  which  included  Persia. 

Saka  and  Kushan  invasions.  From  about  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  B.C.  the  nomad  and  pastoral  tribes  of  Central 
Asia  for  some  reason  or  other,  probably  achange  of  climate,  were 
obliged  to  leave  their  home  territories  and  move  to  the  south 
and  west  in  search  of  pasturage  for  their  herds  and  subsistence 
for  themselves.  These  wild  people  overwhelmed  the  Greek 
kingdom  of  Bactria  and  set  up  governments  of  their  own.  The 
earliest  swarm  was  known  to  the  Indians  by  the  name  of  Sakas. 
They  made  their  way  into  Sistan  on  the  Hilmand  river,  west 
of  Kandahar,  which  was  consequently  called  Sakastan,  or  the 
Saka  country.  Saka  rulers  also  established  themselves  in 
Surashtra  or  Kathiawar,  and  probably  at  Taxila  and  Mathura. 
Another  horde  of  nomads,  called  Yueh-chi  by  the  Chinese 
historians,  descended  through  Bactria  and  Kabul  to  India. 
The  leading  clan  of  this  horde  was  named  Kushan  or  Kusana. 
About  the  last  quarter  of  the  first  centmy  after  Christ  the 
Kushan  chief,  known  to  historians  as  Kadphises  II,  conquered 
the  various  Indo-Greek  and  Indo-Parthian  princes  on  the 
frontier  and  made  himself  master  of  a  large  part  of  North- 
western India,  where  his  coins  are  found  abundantly. 

Kanishka.  His  successor  after  an  interval  was  Kanishka, 
son  of  Vajheshka,  also  a  Kushan,  but  of  a  family  other  than 
that  of  Kadphises  II.  Recent  researches  give  support  to  the 
opinion  that  Kadphises  II  came  to  the  throne  in  a.d.  78,  and 
reigned  for  more  than  thirty  years,  until  about  A.d.  110,  and 
that  Kanishka  attained  supreme  power  about  a.d.  120.  His 
capital  was  Purushapura  (Peshawar),  from  which  he  ruled 
Kabul,  Kashmii',  and  all  Northern  India,  perhaps  as  far  as  the 
Narbada,     In  his  later  years  he  favoured  Buddhism,  and,  like 

c3 


74     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

Asoka,  assembled  a  council  of  Buddhist  monks,  which  prepared 
authorized  commentaries  of  the  scriptures.  He  spent  many 
years  in  war  on  the  other  side  of  the  difficult  Pamir  passes,  and, 
after  the  death  of  the  Chinese  general,  Pan-chao  (a.d.  102),  is 
believed  to  have  annexed  Kashgar  and  Khotan,  now  in  Chinese 
Turkestan.  He  is  said  to  have  been  smothered  by  discon- 
tented officers.  During  his  long  absence  India  seems  to  have 
been  governed,  first  by  Vashislika  and  then  by  Huvishka, 
presumably  his  sons,  whose  dates,  consequently,  overlap  those 
of  Kanishka.  About  a.d.  150  or  153  Huvishka  succeeded  to 
the  sole  government,  certainly  of  India,  and  probably  of  the 
whole  empire  He  was  a  powerful  king,  and  is  kno"WTi  to  have 
founded  a  town  in  Kashmir  and  a  monastery  at  Mathura. 
In  or  about  a.d.  182  Huvishka  was  succeeded  by  Vasudeva  I, 
during  whose  reign  the  empire  began  to  break  up.  Scarcely 
anything  is  known  of  the  history  of  Northern  India  from  his 
time  to  the  rise  of  the  Gupta  dynasty  in  a.d.  320.  There  is 
reason  to  hope  that  the  chronology  of  Kanishka,  his  pre- 
decessors and  successors,  will  soon  be  settled  definitely. 
Until  that  is  done,  an  important  section  of  the  history  of  India 
must  continue  to  be  vague  and  confusing. 

The  Saka  era.  Opinions  differ,  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
Saka  era  of  a.d.  78  dates  from  the  coronation  of  Kadphises  II, 
the  Saka  Icing,  who  subdued  Northern  India.  Indian  authors 
use  the  term  Saka  vaguely  to  denote  all  foreigners  from  beyond 
the  passes,  and  would  not  have  hesitated  in  calling  a  Kushan 
a  Saka.  In  later  ages  the  era  was  known  as  that  of  Salivahana. 

Buddhist  architecture  and  art.  Both  Kanishka  and  Hu- 
vishka were  great  builders,  and  spent  much  money  on  Bud- 
dhist monasteries  and  stiipas  at  Mathura,  Peshawar,  and  other 
places,  of  which  some  traces  still  exist. ^  Ever  since  the  time 
of  Asoka,  India  had  been  filled  with  magnificent  Buddhist 

^  The  remains  of  Kanishka's  huge  stapa  at  Peshawar  were  excavated 
in  1908-9,  and  a  remarkable  relic  casket  was  found  bearing  the  image  of 
the  king  and  an  inscription.  An  inscribed  portrait  statue  of  Kanishka, 
lacking  the  head,  was  found  at  Mat  near  Mathura  in  1912. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D  1193     75 

buildings.  The  monasteries  were  often  huge  structures  built 
of  timber  on  brick  foundations,  several  stories  high  and 
splendidly   decorated.     The    stupas    were    domed    cupolas, 


BUDDHA   (GKAECO-BUDDHIST) 


generally  constructed  of  brick,  designed  either  to  enshrine 
relics  or  to  mark  some  holy  spot.  The  larger  ones  were 
often  surrounded  by  richly  carved  stone  railings  with  highly 
ornamented  gateways,  and  no  expense  was  spared  in  the 
adornment  of  the  buildings  in  every  possible  way.     The  best 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193      77 

preserved  example  is  the  great  stupa  at  Sanchi  in  Bhopal.  The 
finest  carved  railing  was  that  which  surrounded  the  stiopa  of 
Amaravati  on  the  Kistna  river  in  the  Guntur  District,  Madras. 
In  and  about  the  Peshawar  District  the  remains  of  numerous 
stupas  and  monasteries  of  Kushan  age  exist,  and  multitudes  of 
well -executed  sculptures  resembling  in  style  the  Graeco-Roman 
work  of  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  have  been 
found.  The  Buddhists  also  were  fond  of  hewing  chapter- 
houses, or  churches,  out  of  the  solid  rock.  The  best  examples 
of  these  are  at  Karle  and  other  places  in  the  Bombay  Presi- 
denc3^  The  practice  lasted  for  many  centuries,  and  some  of 
the  cave-temples  were  excavated  for  Jain  and  Hindu  worship. 
The  Jains  also  built  stupas  exactly  like  those  of  the  Buddhists. 
Two  famous  Buddhist  teachers,  Nagarjuna  and  Asvaghosha, 
as  well  as  a  medical  author,  Charaka,  are  reputed  to  have 
lived  in  Kanishka's  time. 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Gupta  empire  :  the  Hiinas  or  White  Huns ;  reign  of  Harsha  ;  state 
of  civilization  ;  Chinese  pilgrims  ;  Kalidasa  j  foreign  trade. 

The  Gupta  dynasty.  The  next  prominent  dynasty  of  which 
records  have  been  preserved  is  that  of  the  Guptas.  A  Raja  of 
Pataliputra,  who  took  the  name  of  Chandragupta  (I),  enhanced 
his  power  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  by  marrying 
a  princess  of  the  influential  Licchhavi  clan  of  Vaisali  in  Tirhut, 
and  formed  a  considerable  kingdom  extending  along  the 
Ganges  to  Prayag  or  Allahabad.  In  319-20  he  established 
the  Gupta  era  to  commemorate  his  coronation. 

Samudragupta.  The  founder  of  the  Gupta  empire  is  a  dim 
figure,  hardly  more  than  a  dated  name.  His  son  and  chosen 
successor,  Samudragupta,  stands  forth  as  a  real  man — scholar, 
poet,  musician,  and  warrior.  The  early  years  of  his  vigorous 
reign  were  devoted  to  the  thorough  conquest  of  Upper  India, 
that  is  to  say,  the  country  now  known  as  the  United  Provinces 


i^Rt*l!"4i'-.,<^>'' 


^,   &ij>r'll,h    Al'<    ^Srarasti     l5 


■  G    LI    P  T  A'       %    E   M    P   I    R    E  J:_. 

Nasik    <^        Devagi 
Soparab    ""^ 


B  A    Y     0  F 


B    E    N    G 


The  Conquests  of 
SAMUDRAGUPTA,340A,D. 

and  the 

GUPTA  EMPIRE,  400  A, D. 

(Travels  of  Fa-hien) 

Scale  of  Miles 

'  I I I I 

0  :.0  100     200      300     400 

GE010E    PHILIP  Jt    SON,   ltd/ 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193       79 

of  Agra  and  Oudh  with  the  Central  India  Agency  and  Bengal, 
but  not  including  the  Panjab.  When  that  conquest  was 
finished,  he  turned  his  arms  against  the  south.  Marching 
across  the  wild  regions  of  the  tributary  states  of  Orissa,  he 
advanced  by  the  road  of  the  eastern  coast  until  he  reached 
about  the  latitude  of  Nellore.  He  then  turned  westwards  and 
came  home  through  Khandesh.  He  did  not  try  to  annex  the 
realms  bej'ond  the  Narbada.  He  was  content  with  receiving 
the  humble  subinission  of  the  vanquished  princes  and  bringing 
home  a  huge  store  of  golden  booty.  Having  thus  proved  his 
title  to  be  Lord  Paramount  of  India,  he  celebrated  the  horse- 
sacrifice  (asvamedha),  lawful  only  for  a  king  of  kings.  Extant 
medals  testify  to  the  liberal  share  of  his  bounty  then  bestowed 
on  the  Brahmans.  When  he  died  his  dominions  comprised 
all  the  most  populous  and  fertile  regions  of  Northern  India, 
extending  from  the  Hooghly  on  the  east  to  the  Sutlaj  and 
Chambal  on  the  west,  and  from  the  Himalayan  slopes  on  the 
north  to  the  Narbada  on  the  south.  Beyond  those  limits  of 
his  du'ect  government  he  controlled  the  wild  bribes  of  the 
Himalaya  and  the  Vindhyas,  as  well  as  the  free  clans  of  Raj- 
putana  and  Malwa,  while  his  ambassadors  had  dealings  with 
the  rulers  of  Cej  Ion  in  the  Far  South  and  of  the  Scythian 
kingdom  on  the  Oxus  in  Central  Asia.  His  empire  was  far 
greater  than  any  that  India  had  seen  since  the  days  of  Asoka, 
six  centuries  earlier.  The  elegant  inscription  at  Allahabad 
which  records  the  conquests  of  Samudragupta  tells  also  of 
his  personal  qualities,  and  its  evidence  as  to  his  musical  skill 
is  confirmed  by  the  medals  which  exhibit  the  king  in  the  act 
of  playing  the  Indian  lute  (i^lna).  Pataliputra  apparently 
continued  to  be  the  capital  of  the  immense  empire  won  and 
held  by  Samudraguj)ta. 

Chandragupta  Vikramaditya.  The  next  king,  Chandra- 
gupta  II,  surnamed  Vikramaditya,  who  annexed  Malwa  and 
Ujjaiii  to  his  empire,  probably  is  the  original  of  Raja  Bikram, 
famous  in  legend.  He  dispossessed  the  Saka  rulers  of  Surash- 
tra,  who  used  the  Persian  title  of  Satrap,  and  are  called  the 


80      HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

"Vyestern  Satraps  by  modern  writers.  Chandragupta  II  seems 
to  have  made  Ajodhya  his  capital.  His  reign  (about  375  to 
413)  may  be  regarded  as  marking  the  climax  or  highest  point 
attained  by  the  imperial  Guptas,  a  singularly  able  line  of  kings, ^ 

Kumaragupta,  Skandagupta,  and  the  Huns.  His  successor, 
Kumaragupta  I  (413-55),  was  troubled  towards  the  end  of  his 
reign  b}^  irruptions  of  a  fresh  horde  of  Central  Asian  nomads, 
the  White  Huns  or  Ephthalites,  who  overcame  the  next  king, 
Skandagupta,  and  broke  up  tlip  Gupta  empire,  about  a.d.  470. 
For  a  short  time  Northern  India  became  a  province  of  a  huge 
White  Hun  empire,  which  embraced  forty  countries,  extending 
from  Persia  on  the  west  to  Khotan  in  Chinese  Turkestan  on  the 
east.  In  India  the  tyranny  of  the  Hun  chief,  Mihiragula, 
bscoming  unbearable,  he  was  defeated  by  Yasodharman,  Raja 
of  Malwa,  and,  perhaps,  also  by  Narasimha  Baladitya  Gupta, 
in  or  about  a.d.  528,  and  forced  to  retire  into  Kashmir.  The 
nomad  immigrants,  known  collectively  to  Indians  a.s  Huns, 
but  comprising  various  tribes,  settled  in  large  numbers  in 
the  Pan  jab  amd  Raj  pu  tana,  and  caused  great  changes.  But 
history  is  almost  silent  as  to  details  of  events  in  the  sixth 
century.  It  was  certainly  a  time  of  confused  warfare,  and 
there  was  no  paramount  power. 

The  Vikrama  era.  The  popular  belief  which  associates  the 
Vikrama  era  of  58-57  B.C.  with  a  Raja  Vikramaditya  or 
Bikram  of  Ujjain  at  that  date  may  be  erroneous.  No  such 
person  is  known.  It  is,  however,  true  that  the  earliest  known 
use  of  the  era  was  in  Malwa  and  it  may  have  been  invented 
by  the  astronomers  of  Ujjain.  An  early  name  of  it  was  the 
Malwa  era.  The  term  Vihrama-kdla  used  in  later  times  may 
refer  to  one  or  other  of  the  many  kings  with  the  title  of 
Vikramaditya  or  Vikrama,  who  was  believed  to  have  estab- 
lished the  era.    The  king  referred  to  maj'  be  presumed  to  be 

*  The  phrase  '  Guptas  of  Kauauj '  is  an  ancient  error ;  Kanauj  never 
was  the  Gupta  capital.  The  designation  of  the  Western  Satraps  as  '  the 
Shah  kings '  is  another  '  vulgar  error ',  based  on  an  old  misreading  of  coin 
legends. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193     81 

Chandragupta  II,  Vikramaditya,  who  conquered  Ujjain  about 
A.D.  390.  The  Gupta  and  Saka  eras  changed  their  names 
similarly,  becoming  known  in  after  ages  as  the  Valabhi  and 
the  Salivahana  eras  respectively. 

Reign  of  Harsha  of  Kanauj.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century  a  strong  man  arose,  Harsha,  Raja  of  Thanesar, 
who,  in  the  short  space  of  six  years  (606-12),  made  himself 
master  of  Northern  India  as  far  as  the  Sutlaj,  fixing  his  capital 
at  Kanauj,  and  became  the  paramount  power  even  over 
Surashtra  and  Gujarat  in  the  west,  and  Assam  and  Bengal  in 
the  east.  The  equally  vigorous  ruler  of  the  Deccan,  Pulakesin 
II  Chalukya  (608-42),  prevented  him  from  extending  his  domi- 
nions south  of  the  Narbada.  Harsha  died  early  in  647,  and  his 
death  was  followed  by  another  period  of  anarchy  and  confusion. 

Chinese  pilgrims  ;  Fa-hien.  Our  knowledge  of  events  in 
the  Gupta  period  and  age  of  Harsha  is  largely  derived  from  the 
narratives  of  Chinese  Buddhist  pilgrims,  who  crowded  into 
India  as  the  Holy  Land  of  their  faith,  and  eagerly  sought  for 
Buddhist  books,  relics,  and  images.  The  earliest  of  these 
pilgrims  was  Fa-hien  (399-413),  who  came  overland  through 
Khotan  and  returned  to  China  by  sea.  He  remained  for  six 
years  in  the  dominions  of  Chandragupta  II  Vikramaditya 
studying  Buddhist  literature,  and  was  much  pleased  with  the 
country.  Pataliputra  was  still  a  flourishing  city,  with  numerous 
charitable  institutions,  including  a  free  hospital.  In  Malwa 
the  penal  code  was  mild,  and  the  people  were  not  worried  by 
official  regulations.  Order  was  well  preserved,  and  the  pilgrim 
was  free  to  pursue  his  studies  in  peace.  Although  the  Gupta 
king  was  himself  an  orthodox  Vaishnava  Hindu,  Buddhism 
flourished  and  was  fully  tolerated. 

Hiuen  Tsang,  or  Yuan  Chwang.  Hiuen  Tsang,  or  Yuan 
Chwang,  the  prince  of  pilgrims  (629^5),  came  to  India  over- 
land by  the  road  to  the  north  of  the  Takla  Makan  desert,  and 
then  through  Samarkand,  returning  by  the  Pamirs  and  Khotan 
— a  terribly  long  and  arduous  journey  both  ways.  He  visited 
almost  every  part  of  India,  and  recorded  his  experiences  in  a 


82      HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

book  of  inestimable  value.  He  became  a  personal  friend  of 
King  Harsha,  who,  in  his  latter  days,  took  a  fancy  to  Bud- 
dhism. The  king  was  a  vigorous  despot,  keeping  his  dominions 
in  order  by  personal  supervision  exercised  during  constant 
touring,  interrupted  only  by  the  rains.  The  penal  code  was 
rather  more  severe  than  in  the  days  of  the  Guptas,  and  the 
roads  were  not  quite  so  safe,  but  the  country  seems  to  have 
been  fairly  well  governed. 

Buddhism  was  still  strong,  although  orthodox  Hinduism  was 
gaining  way.  The  king  favoured  all  the  Indian  religions, 
doing  honour  in  turn  to  Siva,  the  Sun,  and  Buddha,  with  a 
personal  preference  for  the  last-named.  The  pilgrim  attended 
a  strange  assembly  held  at  Kanauj,  the  capital,  for  the  purpose 
of  disputations  on  religious  subjects,  at  which  twenty  tributary 
Rajas  were  present,  including  the  rulers  of  Assam  in  the  east, 
and  Surashtra  on  the  west.  Pataliputra  was  in  ruins.  No 
record  of  the  fall  of  the  ancient  imperial  city  has  survived,  but 
it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  disaster  was  a  consequence 
of  the  Hun  wars.  Harsha  lavished  his  favours  on  Kanauj, 
an  old  city  between  the  Ganges  and  Jumna,  which  he  made 
the  seat  of  his  government,  filling  it  with  splendid  buildings. 
The  Kanauj  assembly  moved  on  to  Prayag  (Allahabad),  where 
the  sovereign  ceremoniously  distributed  the  wealth  of  his 
treasury  to  people  of  all  denominations  on  the  ground  at  the 
junction  of  the  Ganges  and  Jumna  where  the  great  fair  is  now 
held  annually.  Harsha  was  in  the  habit  of  making  such  dis- 
tributions every  five  years,  and  the  celebration  in  which  Hiuen 
Tsang  assisted  was  the  sixth  of  the  reign. 

The  Gupta  period  a  golden  age.  The  Gupta  period,  and 
more  especially  the  fifth  century,  may  be  justly  regarded  as 
the  golden  age  of  Northern  India.  Powerful  and  long-lived 
kings  of  exceptional  personal  ability  made  extensive  conquests 
and  established  a  well-governed  empire,  in  which  the  energies 
of  gifted  men  had  free  scope.  The  kings  maintained  a  splendid 
court,  and  gathered  round  their  throne  men  of  eminence  in 
every  branch  of  knowledge,  on  whom  the}^  bestowed  liberal 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193      83 

patronage.  Literature,  art,  and  science  were  alike  cultivated 
with  success  and  distinction. 

Literature  :  Kalidasa.  The  name  of  Kalidasa,  whose 
activity  may  be  referred  to  the  reign  of  Kumaragupta  I,  in 
the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century,  enjoys  unquestioned  pre- 
eminence. Unanimous  opinion  proclaims  him  as  the  chief  of 
Sanskrit  dramatists  and  poets.  The  Ritu-samhara,  or  '  Cycle 
of  the  Seasons  ',  and  the  Megliaduta,  or  '  Cloud  Messenger ', 
both  charming  descriptive  poems  of  a  lyrical  character,  seem 
to  be  among  his  early  works.  The  heroic  epic  entitled 
JRagkuvamh,  or  '  The  Race  of  Raghu  ',  a  product  of  his  more 
mature  genius,  gives  eloquent  expression  to  the  Hindu  national 
ideal.  Sakuntald,  acclaimed  by  all  critics  as  the  best  of  his 
three  dramas,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  plays  in  the 
literature  of  the  world,  has  succeeded  in  delighting  alike 
European  and  Indian  readers. 

Sculpture,  painting,  and  architecture.  The  sculpture  of  the 
Gupta  age,  the  excellence  of  which  was  not  fully  recognized 
until  recently,  may  be  reasonably  considered  the  best  of  all 
Indian  sculpture,  but,  of  course,  tastes  differ.  Although  no 
examples  of  Gupta  painting  have  survived  in  Northern  India, 
the  power  of  the  artists  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  is 
proved  by  the  beautiful  frescoes  of  the  Ajanta  caves  in  the 
west  and  of  Sigiriya  in  Ceylon.  The  accident  that  the  Gupta 
empire  was  mostly  made  up  of  those  provinces  which  were 
continually  overrun  by  Muhammadan  armies  and  permanently 
occupied  by  Muslim  governments  explains  the  rarity  of  Gupta 
buildings,  Muhammadan  Sultans  and  Padshahs  seldom 
spared  a  Hindu  edifice.  But  the  little  that  has  survived 
suffices  to  prove  that  the  architecture  of  the  Gupta  period  was 
worthy  of  the  sculpture  which  adorned  the  buildings. 

Coins  and  music.  The  only  Hindu  coins  possessing  any 
considerable  artistic  merit  are  certain  pieces  struck  by 
Samudragupta  and  Chandragupta  II.  We  have  seen  how 
Samudragupta  practised  and  patronized  the  art  of  music. 

Science.    Mathematical  and  astronomical  science  was  largely 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193      85 

advanced  by  Aryabhata  (born  a.  d.  476),  who  taught  the 
system  studied  at  Pataliputra,  which  was  based  on  the  works  of 
Greek  authors. 

Causes  of  intellectual  activity.  It  is  impossible  to  go  further 
into  details  or  to  mention  less  famous  names,  but  what  has 
been  said  is  enough  to  show  that  every  form  of  mental  activity 
made  itself  felt  during  the  Gupta  period.  The  intelligent 
patronage  of  a  series  of  able  and  wealthy  kings  for  more  than 
a  century  had  much  to  do  with  the  prosperity  of  the  arts  and 
sciences.  A  deeper  cause  was  the  conflict  of  ideas  produced 
by  the  active  intercourse  between  the  Gupta  empire  and  the 
great  powers  of  both  East  and  West.  Many  embassies  to  and 
from  China  are  recorded,  while  communication  with  the  By- 
zantine Roman  empire  through  Alexandria  in  Egypt  was  made 
easy  by  the  conquests  of  Chandragupta  II  in  the  closing  years 
of  the  fourth  century.  Although  the  works  of  the  Gupta 
authors  and  artists  are  thoroughly  Indian  in  subject  and  treat- 
ment, it  may  be  doubted  if  they  would  ever  have  been  produced 
but  for  the  stimulus  given  to  Indian  minds  by  their  contact 
with  the  ideas  of  strangers. 

Religion  :  Sanskrit.  When  the  Travels  of  Fa-hien  (399-413) 
are  compared  with  those  of  Hiuen  Tsang  (629-645),  it  becomes 
clear  that  during  the  interval  between  the  two  pilgrims 
Buddhism  had  declined,  while  Brahmanical  Hinduism  had 
advanced.  The  Gupta  kings,  who  were  officially  Vaishnava 
Hindus,  showed  a  wise  tolerance  for  other  creeds.  Some  of 
them,  indeed,  took  a  lively  interest  in  Buddhist  teaching. 
But,  as  the  years  rolled  on,  the  influence  of  Buddhism  slowly 
faded  away,  and  that  of  orthodox  Brahmans  increased.  That 
change  was  accompanied  by  a  freer  use  of  Sanskrit,  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Brahmans,  in  books  and  inscriptions,  and  by 
the  disuse  of  the  Prakrit  dialects. 

Harsha  and  Bana.  The  revival  of  Hinduism,  with  the 
parallel  decay  of  Buddhism,  continued  in  the  seventh  century, 
during  and  after  the  reign  of  Harsha,  who  was  a  zealous  patron 
of  Sanskrit  literature,  although  personally  inclined  to  Buddhist 


86      HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

doctrine.  The  king  is  the  reputed  author  of  a  play  called 
Batnavall  and  other  works,  The  most  famous  author  of  his 
day  was  his  friend  Bana,  who  celebrated  the  deeds  of  his  royal 
patron  in  the  Harshacharita.  The  book  is  of  high  value  as 
history,  but  the  fantastic,  involved  style  of  the  composition 
is  annojang  to  most  readers. 

Kumarila-bhatta  and  Sankaracharya.  The  Hindu  reaction 
against  Buddhism  was  carried  further  early  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury by  Kumarila-bhatta,  an  Assamese  Brahman,  who  taught 
the  Mimansa  philosophy,  and  is  popularly  supposed  to  have 
led  an  active  j)ersecution  of  Buddhists.  The  reality  of  the 
alleged  persecution  is  doubtful.  About  a  century  later,  San- 
karacharya, a  Nambudri  Brahman  of  Malabar,  taught  a  form 
of  Vedantist  philosophy,  which  still  has  great  vogue.  He 
travelled  throughout  India  and  established  many  rnaths,  or 
monasteries,  several  of  which  still  exist,  the  principal  one  being 
at  Sringeri  in  Mysore.  Professor  Barnett  observes  that,  '  the 
religious  attitude  of  Sankara  is  summed  up  in  a  fine  verse 
ascribed  to  him  ' : 

Though  difference  be  none,  I  am  of  Thee, 

Not  thou,  0  Lord,  of  me  ; 
For  of  the  Sea  is  verily  the  Wave, 

Not  of  the  Wave  the  Sea. 

Foreign  trade  in  the  Buddhist  period.  As  we  have  seen, 
during  the  Buddhist  period  India  occupied  an  important 
international  position  among  Eastern  countries,  and  her 
intellectual  and  commercial  influence  spread  far  and  wide. 
Buddhism,  unlike  Hinduism,  was  a  missionary  religion,  and 
sought  converts  in  foreign  lands.  Even  in  the  Jdtakas.  the 
birth-stories  of  the  Buddha,  we  hear  of  Indian  traders  going 
as  far  afield  as  Babylon.  Broach,  Kalyan,  and  other  parts  of 
Western  India  drove  a  thriving  trade,  especially  in  jjepper, 
spices,  and  precious  stones,  with  the  Seleukid  princes  of  Asia 
Minor,  the  Ptolemies  of  Egypt,  and  later  with  the  Roman 
Empire,  by  way  of  the  great  emporium  of  Alexandria.    Great 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.C.  TO  A. D.  1193      87 

trade-routes  intersected  the  country,  one  of  them  being  the 
famous  Royal  Road  of  the  Mauryas,  which  ran  from  the  capital 
at  PataHputra  to  the  North-West  Frontier.  Another  one  ran 
from  Masulipatam  through  Paithan  to  Broach.  Some  of 
the  most  important  of  the  regulations  drawn  up  by  Kautilya 
for  the  Emperor  Chandragupta  related  to  shipping,  commerce, 
and  the  treatment  of  foreign  merchants.  Embassies  from 
Indian  courts  proceeded  from  time  to  time  to  Rome.  Great 
wealth  poured  into  Southern  and  Western  India  in  this 
manner.  Pliny,  writing  in  the  first  century  a.c,  says  that  over 
one  million  pounds  annually  went  to  the  East  in  exchange  for 
spices  and  other  luxuries,  and  the  hordes  of  Roman  coins 
unearthed  in  Southern  India  corroborate  this  statement. 
The  Buddhist  merchants  spent  the  wealth  they  acquired  very 
liberally,  and  the  cave-temples  of  Karla,  Kanheri,  and  other 
places,  were  to  a  great  extent  erected  by  means  of  their 
generous  contributions.  Unfortunately,  with  the  revival  of 
orthodox  Hinduism,  the  idea  began  to  be  prevalent  that  a 
journey  overseas  destroyed  caste.  In  the  Code  of  Manu  Ave 
find  travelling  to  foreign  countries  severely  condemned.  The 
result  was  fatal.  India  became  self-centred  and  cut  off  from 
intercourse  with  her  neighbours.  Trade  dwindled,  and  when, 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  foreign  invaders  began  to  arrive  from 
the  West,  she  had  no  navy  to  defend  her  coasts. 


88      HINDU  INDIA  FROM  650  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 


Reign  of  Harshavardhana  {Siladiiya) 

Accession        .  .  .  606 

Conflict  with  Pulakesin  II        about  620  (Brahmagupta,  astronomer,  628) 

Assembly  at  Kanauj,  almsgiving 

atPrayag      .  .  .  643  (Hiuen  Tsang,  Chinese  pilgrim) 

Death     ....         early  in  647  (or  late  in  646). 
Usurpation  by  Harsha's  minister  647-8 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Muhammadan  conquest  of  Sind  :  the  rise  of  the  Rajputs  ;  some  Rajput 

kingdoms. 

New  grouping  of  powers  after  Harsha's  death  ;  the  Rajput 
period.  It  is  imposvsible  to  narrate  in  detail  the  histories  of 
the  many  powers  which  emerged  in  India  when  the  anarchy 
and  disturbance  consequent  upon  Harsha's  death  in  a.  d.  647 
began  to  settle  down.  In  some  cases  the  story  of  a  single 
dynasty  would  be  enough  to  fill  a  volume.  Most  of  the  new 
states  took  shape  during  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  under 
chiefs  belonging  to  various  Rajpiit  clans,  who  claimed  to  be 
the  successors  of  the  Kshatriyas  of  ancient  times.  The  whole 
period  between  the  death  of  Harsha  and  the  Muhammadan 
conquest  of  Hindustan  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  com- 
prising about  five  and  a  half  centuries,  may  be  called  the 
Rajput  period.  We  must  Consider  who  the  Rajpiits  were, 
and  how  they  come  so  much  into  view  at  this  particular  time. 
But  in  this  chapter  we  shall  confine  our  attention  to  the  affairs 
of  Northern  India  before  the  time  of  Mahmud  of  Ghazm, 

Muhammadan  conquest  of  Sind.  The  new  powers,  as  has 
been  said,  almost  without  exception  were  Rajput.  The 
principal  exception  was  Sind.  An  ancient  SMra  dynasty, 
with  its  capital  at  Aror  (Alor),  had  ruled  the  country  from  the 
Salt  Range  to  the  sea.  In  the  seventh  century  the  sceptre 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Chach,  a  Brahman.  But  meantime 
the  Arabs,  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  Muhammadan  religion, 
then   just   started    on   its   victorious   career,   had   occupied 


90     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.  C.  TO  A.D.  1193 

Balochistan  (Makran).  In  a.d.  712,  under  the  command  of  a 
general  named  Muhammad,  son  of  Kasim,^  they  invaded  Sind, 
slew  the  reigning  king,  Dahir,  son  of  Chach,  and  established 
a  Muslim  state  which  endured  for  centuries.  The  boundary 
between  it  and  India  proper  was  the  '  Lost  River  ',  the  Hakra 
{ante,  p.  22).  The  Muhammadan  occupation  of  Sind  did  not 
much  affect  interior  India,  and  the  serious  Muslim  attack  on 
the  countries  east  of  the  Indus  did  not  occur  until  nearly  three 
centuries  later. 

The  rise  of  the  Rajputs.  Most  of  the  existing  Rajput  clans 
trace  back  their  ^Dedigrees  to  the  eighth  or  ninth  century,  but 
no  farther,  and  the  reason  seems  to  be  that  their  ruling  families 
became  prominent  about  that  time.  Multitudes  of  foreign 
settlers,  Hunas,  Gurjaras,  and  others,  who  had  taken  up  their 
abode  in  the  Pan  jab  and  Rajputana  during  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries  {ante,  p.  80),  became  Hinduized  in  the  course  of  two 
or  three  generations,  and  were  then  recognized  as  Hindu  castes. 
War  and  government  being  the  business  of  a  Kshatriya,  the 
chiefs  and  their  kinsmen,  when  they  adopted  the  Hindu 
dharma,  or  rule  of  life,  were  considered  Kshatriyas,  while  the 
humbler  folk  took  rank  in  castes  of  less  degree. 

How  foreigners  became  Hinduized.  Several  causes  made  it 
easy  for  the  new  comers  to  become  Hindus  quickly.  The 
invaders  must  generally  have  arrived  without  their  woman- 
kind. When  they  settled  down  in  India  they  married  Hindu 
wives,  who  naturally  continued  to  follow  their  old  customs 
which  they  taught  to  their  children!  The  men,  being  far 
away  from  home,  could  not  possibly  keep  up  the  mode  of  life 
to  wliich  they  had  been  used  in  Turkistan.  They  thus  readily 
dropped  into  the  ways  of  their  wives,  children,  and  neighbours. 
In  order  to  be  a  good  Hindu  it  is  not  necessary  to  hold  any 
particular  creed.  All  that  is  needed  is  to  follow  the  Indian 
dharma,  or  rule  of  life,  which  may  be  defined  roughly  as 
reverence  for  Brahmans,  respect  for  the  sanctity  of  cows,  and 
scrupulous  care  about  diet  and  marriage.  In  the  course  of  a 
*  Not  '  Muhammad  Kasim  '. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193     91 

generation  or  two  the  descendants  of  the  original  invaders  began 
to  adopt  the  Hindu  dharma,  and  so  became  Hindus.  The  Brah- 
mans  were  then  ready  to  find  everybody  a  suitable  place  in  the 
caste  system.  The  ruling  classes,  as  stated  above,  were  treated 
as  Kshatrij'as,  while  the  common  people  were  recognized  as 
castes  included  in  either  the  Vaisya  or  the  Sudra  group.  The 
Central  Asian  tribes  which  entered  India  during  the  fifth 
and  sixth  centuries  do  not  seem  to  have  possessed  any  or- 
ganized or  well-defined  religion  of  their  own,  which  could 
hinder  their  acceptance  of  Hindu  belief  and  practice. 

Exactly  the  same  process  has  often  been  observed  going 
on  in  modern  times.  In  the  wilder  parts  of  the  country, 
multitudes  of  so-called  '  aboriginal  '  tribes  graduallj''  slide 
into  Hinduism,  almost  without  knowing  it.  SuiDerintendents 
of  the  census  profess  to  distinguish  among  such  tribes  between 
Animists,  or  the  worshippers  of  sundry  spirits  or  demons,  and 
Hindus,  but  in  reality  no  line  can  be  dra.wn  separating  the 
two,  because  the  tribesmen  continue  to  mix  up  '  animist  ' 
rites  ^Wtli  the  worship  of  the  regular  Hindu  gods.  Even  after 
the  lapse  of  many  centuries  it  is  still  possible  to  trace  '  Scythian' 
customs  in  the  practice  of  high-caste  Rajput  clans. 

Foreign  origin  of  some  clans.  It  has  been  proved  that  the 
Parihar  Rajputs  of  the  present  day  are  descended  from  the 
Gurjaras,  who  came  into  India  as  foreigners,  and  it  is,  of 
course,  obvious  that  Gujars  are  the  same  as  Gurjaras.  But 
the  Parihars  count  as  Kshatriyas  or  Rajpiits  because  they 
were  a  ruling  clan  in  ancient  days,  while  the  Giijars,  who 
represent  the  rank  and  file  of  the  old  Gurjaras,  now  form 
a  large  middle-class  caste,  much  inferior  in  social  standing  to 
Rajputs.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  many  other  famous 
Rajpiit  clans  originated  in  the  same  way  from  the  ruling  septs, 
of  foreign  tribes. 

Aboriginal  origin  of  other  clans.  Another  group  of  Rajpiit 
clans  has  been  formed  by  the  promotion  of  the  so-called 
aborigines.  For  instance,  the  famous  Bais  clan  of  Oudh  is 
closelv  connected  with  and  seems  to  be  descended  from  the 


92     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

Bhars,  who  are  now  represented  by  a  numerous  caste  of  very- 
low  rank,  and  the  Chandels  of  Bundelkhand  are  similarly 
associated  with  the  Gonds  of  the  Central  Provinces.  While 
the  Rajas  and  the  kinsmen  of  Rajas  of  aboriginal  blood  are 
universally  acknowledged  to  be  Kshatriyas,  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  old  tribes  now  form  all  sorts  of  lower-grade  Hindu 
castes.  Very  often  the  clans  of  aboriginal  origin  had  a  stand- 
ing feud  with  neighbours  of  foreign,  or  Scythian,  origin,  as  the 
Chandels  had  with  the  Parihars,  but,  of  course,  this  arrange- 
ment did  not  always  hold  good.  Rajput  clans  of  all  sorts 
combined  occasionally  to  resist  the  Muhammadans. 

Kingdom  of  Kanauj  or  Panchala.  In  a.  d.  880  the  most 
poiverful  state  in  Northern  India  was  that  of  Panchala  or 
Kanauj,  then  ruled  by  Raja  Bhoja  Parihar,  whose  Gurjara 
ancestors  had  been  masters  of  a  large  kingdom  in  Rajputana, 
At  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  one  of  those  princes 
occupied  Kanauj  and  made  it  the  capital  of  his  dynasty.  For 
fifty  or  sixty  years  after  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century  the 
kings  of  Kanauj  governed  a  dominion  rivalling  that  of  Harsha 
in  extent.  It  included  Kathiawar  or  Surashtra,  and  extended 
from  the  boundary  of  Magadha  (South  Bihar)  to  the  Sutlaj. 
Unluckily,  hardly  anything  is  known  about  Raja  Bhoja 's 
method  of  government,  or  the  state  of  the  country  in  his  time, 

Pala  dynasty  of  Bengal.  At  the  same  time  the  so-called  Pala 
kings  were  lords  of  Bengal  and  Bihar  and  enjoyed  great  power. 
They  were  often  at  war  with  Kanauj,  and  early  in  the  ninth 
century  Dharmapala  was  strong  enough  to  depose  a  king  of 
Kanauj  and  replace  him  by  another.  At  that  moment  the  Pala 
sovereign  was  the  most  powerful  monarch  in  Northern  India. 

Chandel  dynasty  of  Jejakabhukti.  Another  important  king- 
dom was  that  of  the  Chandels  of  Jejakabhukti,  the  modern 
Bundelkhand.  The  capital  was  Mahoba  (now  in  the  Hamirpur 
District)  and  the  strong  fortress  of  Kalanjar  (now  in  the  Banda 
District)  gave  much  importance  to  the  Raja.  This  kingdom, 
separated  from  that  of  Kanauj  by  the  Jumna,  was  at  the  height 
of  its  grandeur  in  a.  d.  1000. 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193    93 

Raja  Bhoja  of  Dhara.  Many  more  Rajput  kingdoms, 
Gwalior,  Chedi,  and  others,  played  a  part  in  the  history  of  the 
times,  but  are  too  numerous  for  mention.  The  learned  Raja 
Bhoja,  of  Dhara  in  Malwa,  who  was  a  Pawar  Rajput,  and' 
reigned  from  about  a.  d.  1018  to  1060,  must  not  be  confounded 
with  Raja  Bhoja  Parihar  of  Kanauj  mentioned  above.  Raja 
Bhoja  of  Dhara  was  a  liberal  patron  of  Sanskrit  learning,  and 
his  name  has  become  proverbial  as  that  of  the  model  king 
according  to  the  Hindu  standard. 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  kingdoms  of  the  Dcccan  and  the  Far  South. 

The  Deccan  and  the  Far  South.  Before  proceeding  to 
narrate  the  story  of  the  Muhammadan  conquest  of  the  Panjab- 
we  shall  turn  aside  for  a  moment  to  bestow  a  passing  glance 
on  the  kingdoms  of  the  Deccan  and  the  Far  South,  which,  for 
the  reasons  explained  in  chapter  i  {ante,  p.  18),  were  rarely  ia 
touch  with  the  North. 

The  Andhras,  and  the  Chalukyas  of  Vatapi.  The  Andhra 
dynasty  {ante,  p.  70)  held  the  Deccan  until  about  a.  d.  236. 
The  next  dynasty  of  which  we  know  anything  substantial  is 
that  of  the  Chalukya  Rajpiits,  which  established  itself  at  Vatapi 
(Badami)  in  the  Bijapur  District.  The  most  notable  prince  of 
this  line  was  Pulakesin  II  (608—42),  who  has  been  mentioned 
{ante,  p.  81)  as  having  successfully  opposed  the  attempt  mad& 
by  Marsha  to  intrude  on  the  south.  His  capital,  probably 
then  at  or  near  Nasik,  was  visited  by  the  Chinese  pilgrim 
Hiuen  Tsang,  in  a.  d.  641,  who  noted  that  the  king  was  a 
Kshatriya  by  caste  and  that  his  people  had  a  high  and  warlike 
spirit,  Pulakesin,  relying  on  his  brave  soldiers  and  mighty 
elephants,  received  loyal  service  from  his  subjects  and  treated 
neighbouring  countries  with  contempt.  Learning  was  prized. 
The  kingdom  contained  more  than  a  hundred  Buddhist  monas- 
teries with  more  than  five  thousand  residents,  but  votaries  of 
the  Hindu  gods  were  also  numerous. 


94    HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

In  the  following  year,  642,  this  proud  monarch  was  humbled 
and  deprived  of  his  kingdom  by  the  Pallava  king  of  Kanchi 
(Conjeeveram).  Thirteen  years  later  the  Chalukya  line  was 
restored,  and  lasted  for  a  century  longer.  The  kingdom  of 
the  Eastern  Chalukyas  of  Vengi  between  the  Godavari  and 
Krishna  (Kistna)  rivers,  an  offshoot  of  the  Western  Chalukj^a 
monarchy,  lasted  for  about  four  centuries  from  a.  d.  615.  In 
the  end  it  became  merged  in  the  Chola  kingdom  of  the  south. 

The  Rashtrakutas.  In  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Deccan  passed  to  the  Rashtrakiitas, 
a  Rajpiit  dynasty  of  uncertain  origin,  whose  capital,  at  first  at 
Nasik,  was  transferred  to  Manyakheta,  now  Malkhed,  in  the 
Nizam's  dominions.  The  Rashtrakuta  kings  acquired  great 
power,  and  were  regarded  as  the  leading  princes  in  India  by 
Muhammadan  writers  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  In  fact, 
Amoghavarsha,  who  reigned  in  the  ninth  century  for  more  than 
sixty  years,  was  reckoned  to  be  the  fourth  among  the  great 
kings  of  the  world,  the  other  three  being  the  Khalif  of  Baghdad, 
the  Emperor  of  China,  and  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople 
(Riim).  The  rank  and  power  of  the  Rashtrakiita  prince  were 
largely  due  to  his  immense  wealth,  acquired  apparently  by 
commerce.  The  members  of  his  dynasty  were  alwaj^s  on  the 
best  of  terms  with  the  Arab  rulers  of  Sind,  with  whom  no  doubt 
the  Indian  kingdom  did  profitable  trade.  The  Gurjaras  of 
Rajputana  and  Kanauj,  on  the  contrary,  were  as  hostile  to  the 
Arabs  as  they  were  to  the  Rashtrakiitas,  who  actually  captured 
Kanauj  in  a.  d.  916.  Amoghavarsha  was  a  great  patron  of  the 
Digambara  Jains. 

The  Chalukyas  of  Kalyani.  In  973  the  Rashtrakutas  had 
to  give  way  to  the  second  Chalukya  dynasty  of  Kalyani,  which 
lasted  for  more  than  two  centuries,  and  was  engaged  in  con- 
stant wars  with  the  neighbouring  powers. 

The  Hoysala  and  Yadava  dynasties.  When  Muhammadan 
armies  entered  the  Deccan,  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  and 
the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  the  Mysore  country 
v/as  held  by  the  Hoysala  dynasty,  and  the  western  side  of  the 


HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.C.  TO  A.  D.  1193      95 

Deccan  was  under  the  rule  of  the  Yadava  kings  of  Deogiri. 
The  Hoysala  capital,  Dorasamudra,  was  captured  by  Malik 
Kafur  and  Khwaja  Haji  in  1310,  and  reduced  to  ruins  by 
Muhammad  bin  Tughlak  in  1327.  Ramachandra,  the  Yadava 
king,  was  forced  to  submit  first  to  Ala-ud-din,  and  then  to 
Malik  Kafiir,  purchasing  his  life  by  payment  of  enormous 
treasures.  His  son  Harapala,  who  tried  to  shake  off  the 
foreign  yoke,  was  defeated  in  1318  by  Kutb-ud-dln  Mubarak, 
who  barbarously  caused  him  to  be  flayed  alive. 

Religion.  During  the  centuries  summarily  noticed  in  the 
preceding  paragraphs,  many  changes  occurred  in  the  religious 
condition  of  the  kingdoms  on  the  Deccan  table-land  and  in 
Mysore.  Buddhism,  which  had  never  obtained  very  wide 
acceptance  in  Southern  India,  slowly  declined,  and  can  be 
hardly  traced  after  the  twelfth  century.  Jainism,  Avhich, 
according  to  tradition,  had  been  introduced  into  Mysore  in 
the  days  of  Chandragupta  Maurya,  continued  to  be  popular 
for  many  ages.  As  already  observed,  the  religion  of  Mahavira 
was  specially  favoured  by  Amoghavarsha  Rashtrakiita  in 
the  ninth  century.  The  conversion  of  Bittiga  or  Vishnu, 
Hoysala  king  of  the  twelfth  century,  from  Jainism  to  Vish- 
nuism,  under  the  influence  of  the  famous  reformer  Ramanuja, 
testified  to  the  growth  of  orthodox  Hinduism,  and  contributed 
to  the  decay  of  Jain  influence.  We  hear  from  time  to  time 
of  fierce  conflicts  between  the  adherents  of  rival  creeds,  and 
occasionally  of  violent  persecutions. 

Art  and  literature.  Some  of  the  best  paintings  in  the  caves 
of  Ajanta  date  from  the  time  of  the  first  Chalukya  dynasty  in 
the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries.  The  marvellous  rock -cut 
Kailasa  temple  at  EUora,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world,  was 
■executed  under  the  orders  of  Krishna  I,  Rashtrakiita,  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighth  century.  The  rule  of  the  Hoysala  kings 
of  Mysore  is  memorable  for  the  erection  during  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  of  many  magnificent  Hindu  temples, 
covered  with  elaborate  ornament  and  adorned  by  multitudes 
of    fine    statues.     Sanskrit    literature    was    cultivated    with 


96     HINDU  INDIA  FROM  500  B.  C.  TO  A.  D.  1193 

success  at  many  Rajas'  courts,  but  no  great  original  work  of 
general  fame  was  iDroducecl. 

The  three  kingdoms  of  the  Far  South.  From  very  ancient 
times  the  Far  South,  or  Tamil  Land  (Tamilakam),  was  shared 
between  three  Dra vidian  kingdoms  :  (1)  the  Pandj^a,  corre- 
sponding with  the  Madura  and  Tinnevelly  Districts,  (2)  the 
Chera  or  Kerala,  in  the  Malabar  region,  and  (3)  the  Chola,  on 
the  Madras  or  Coromandel  coast. ^  These  kingdoms  kept  up 
a  brisk  trade  with  the  Roman  empire  in  the  early  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era,  and  possessed  an  advanced  civilization  of 
their  own,  with  institutions  quite  different  from  those  of  the 
Aryan  north.  Very  little  is  known  about  their  political  history 
before  the  ninth  century. 

Chola  supremacy.  In  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries  the 
Chola  kingdom,  under  Rajaraja  and  his  successors,  became  the 
leading  power  in  the  south,  and  maintained  a  strong  fleet,, 
which  ventured  across  the  Bay  of  Bengal  and  annexed  Pegu, 
The  Chola  kings  ordinarily  were  zealous  devotees  of  Siva,  and 
some  of  them  are  said  to  have  cruelly  persecuted  the  Jains. 
Such  persecution  seems  to  have  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
the  gradual  decline  of  Jainism  in  Southern  India.  When 
the  Muhammadans  came,  at  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  the  power  of  all  the  old  Dra  vidian  kingdoms 
had  become  much  weakened.  Even  Madura,  the  Pandya 
capital,  was  held  by  Muhammadan  governors  from  about  1311 
to  1358.  During  the  fourteenth  century  the  new  Hindu  state 
of  Vijayanagar  arose  and  dominated  the  whole  of  the  Far 
South  until  its  fall  in  1565. 

The  Pallavas.  Between  the  fourth  and  eighth  centuries  the 
ancient  Dravidian  states  were  disturbed  and  overshadowed 
by  an  intrusive  and  vigorous  dynasty  of  uncertain  origin,  the 
Pallavas,  who  made  Kanchi  (Conjeeveram)  their  capital,  and 
attained  the  maximum  of  their  power  in  the  seventh  century, 
when  they  destroyed  Pulakesin  II,  Chalukya,  as  already  stated. 

•  The  word  Coromandel  is  a  corruption  of  Chola-mandala,  '  Chola  terri- 
tory'. 


MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI  97 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Muhammadan  conquest  of  the  Panjab  :    Sultan  Mahmud  of  Ghazni. 

Muhammadan  invasion  ;  Amir  Sabuktigin.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  tenth  century  the  Hindu  Rajput  states  of  Northern 
India,  which  had  enjoyed  long  immunity  from  foreign  attack, 
■were  disturbed  by  the  intrusion  of  Muhammadan  invaders 
through  the  north-western  passes.  About  a,  d.  962,  Alptigin, 
a  Turk,  who  had  been  a  slave  in  the  service  of  the  Samani  king 
of  Khurasan  and  Bukhara,  established  himself  in  practical 
independence  as  master  of  a  small  principality  with  its  capital 
at  Ghazni,  between  Kabul  and  Kandahar.  When  he  died 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ishak.  After  a  few  years,  in 
A.D.  977,  Sabuktigin,  who  also  had  been  a  slave,  became  chief 
of  Ghazni,  and,  like  his  predecessors,  bore  the  style  of  Amii\ 
Subsequently  he  received  the  title  of  Nasir-ud-din  from  the 
Khalifa. 

Wars  between  Sabuktigin  and  Jaipal.  In  a.  d.  986-7,  Amir 
Sabuktigin  began  to  make  raids  into  the  territory  of  Jaipal 
Raja  of  the  Panjab,  whose  capital  was  at  Bathindah,  now  in 
the  Patiala  state.  A  year  or  two  later  the  Indian  king  retaliated 
by  invading  the  Ghazni  territory,  but  lost  most  of  his  army 
from  the  excessive  cold,  and  was  forced  to  purchase  peace. 
Jaipal,  having  broken  the  treaty,  was  promptly  punished  by 
a  fresh  invasion,  in  the  course  of  which  the  Amir  reduced  to 
subjection  the  Laraghan  territory  between  Peshawar  and 
Kabul.  Jaipal  then  organized  a  great  league  of  Hindu  princes, 
including  the  Rajas  of  distant  Kanauj  and  Kalanjar,  and  made 
a  final  effort  to  save  his  country  by  leading  the  allied  army  of 
100,000  men  into  the  dominions  of  the  Amir.  A  fierce  battle, 
probably  fought  somewhere  in  the  Kurram  valley,  ended  in 
the  total  rout  of  the  Hindus.  The  invaders,  eaters  of  meat, 
inured  to  war,  and  bound  together  by  fierce  religious  fanati- 
cism, were  too  much  for  the  Hindus. 

Sultan  Mahmud  of  Ghazni.     In  a.d.  997  (a.h.  387),  the 

1776  D 


98  MAHMUD  OF  GIIAZNI 

crown  of  the  Amir  Sabuktigin  descended,  after  a  short  interval 
of  dispute,  to  his  famous  son  Mahmiid,  then  twenty -six  years 
of  age,  the  first  Musahnan  chief  who  enjoyed  the  title  of  Sultan. 
Mahmiid,  urged  by  religious  zeal  and  love  of  plunder,  vowed 
to  carry  on  what  he  considered  to  be  a  '  holy  war  '  against  the 
idolaters  of  India,  and  to  lead  an  expedition  into  that  land 
each  year.  To  the  best  of  his  ability  he  kept  his  vow,  and,  in 
pursuance  of  it,  is  computed  to  have  made  fifteen  or,  according 
to  some  authorities,  seventeen  expeditions  of  which  the  more 
important  will  now  be  noticed. 

Defeat  and  Death  of  Jaipal,  a.  d.  1001.  During  the  course 
of  his  second  expedition  the  sultan  met  Jaipal  on  the  plain 
near  Peshawar,  on  the  27th  of  November,  a.  d.  1001,  and  utterly 
defeated  him,  taking  him  and  his  family  prisoners.  After 
a  while  the  Raja  was  released,  but  on  return  to  his  own  country, 
committed  suicide  by  fire,  and  Anandpal,  his  son,  reigned  in 
his  stead.     The  Peshawar  territory  was  annexed  by  the  sultan. 

Capture  of  Multan,  Mahmud"s  fourth  expedition  (a.h.  396 
=  A.  D.  1005-6)  was  directed  against  Multan,  but  before  he 
captured  that  city  the  invader  attacked  Anandpal, '  stretching 
out  upon  him  the  hand  of  slaughter,  imprisonment,  pillage, 
depopulation,  and  fire,  and  hunted  him  from  ambush  to 
ambush.' 

Rout  of  Anandpal  and  his  son.  The  sixth  expedition 
(a.  h.  399  =  1008-9)  was  aimed  specially  against  Anandpal,. 
who,  following  his  father's  example,  organized  a  league  of  the 
Hindu  powers,  including  the  Rajas  of  Uj jain,  Gwalior,  Kalanjar, 
Kanauj,  Delhi,  and  Ajmer,  and  assembled  a  greater  army  than 
had  ever  taken  the  field  against  the  Amir  Sabuktigin.  The 
hostile  forces  watched  each  other  in  the  plain  of  Peshawar  for 
forty  days,  the  Hindus  meantime  receiving  reinforcements 
from  the  powerful  Khokhar  tribe.  The  sultan  was  obliged  to 
be  cautious,  and  formed  an  entrenched  camp.  Thirty  thou- 
sand Khokhars  by  a  sudden  rush  stormed  it,  and  in  a  few 
moments  had  slain  three  or  four  thousand  Musalmans.  Victory 
seemed  to  be  in  the  grasp  of  the  Hindus,  but  at  the  critical 


MAHMUD  OF  GHAZXl  99 

moment,  the  elephant  carrying  Anandpal  turned  and  fled.* 
The  Indians,  thinking  this  accident  to  be  a  signal  of  defeat, 
gave  way  and  broke.  The  Musalman  cavalry  pursued  them 
for  two  days  and  nights,  killing  8,000  and  capturing  thirty 
elephants  and  enormous  booty. 

Capture  of  Kangra.  This  decisive  victory  was  followed  up 
by  the  capitulation  of  the  fort  of  Kangra,  also  known  as 
Nagarkot  or  Bhimnagar,  where  treasure  of  immense  value  was 
taken.  '  Among  the  booty  was  a  house  of  white  silver,  like  to 
the  houses  of  rich  men,  the  length  of  which  was  thirty  yards, 
and  the  breadth  fifteen.  It  could  be  taken  to  pieces  and  put 
together  again.' 

Expedition  against  Kanauj  and  Mathura.  One  of  the  most 
celebrated  of  Sultan  MahmM's  raids  was  that  which  is 
reckoned  as  the  twelfth,  and  had  for  its  object  the  conquest 
of  Kanauj,  the  imperial  city  of  Northern  India.  The  sviltan 
started  from  Ghazni  in  October,  passed  all  the  rivers  of  the 
Panjab,  and  crossed  the  Jumna  on  December  2,  a.  d.  1018. 
He  captured  the  forts  which  obstructed  his  path,  and  was 
preparing  to  attack  Baran,  the  modern  Bulandshahr,  when  the 
local  Raja,  Hardatt  by  name,  tendered  his  submission,  and 
with  ten  thousand  men  accepted  the  religion  of  Islam.  The 
holy  and  wealthy  city  of  Mathura  having  been  taken,  '  the 
sultan  gave  orders  that  all  the  temples  should  be  burned  with 
naphtha  and  fire,  and  levelled  with  the  ground  ". 

Conquest  of  Kanauj.  In  January,  a.  d.  1019,  the  ever 
victorious  invader  appeared  before  Kanauj.  The  Raja, 
Rajyapal  Parihar,  fled  to  the  other  side  of  the  Ganges,  and 
allowed  his  capital  to  be  occuj)ied  without  serious  resistance. 
The  seven  forts,  or  lines  of  fortification,  guarding  it  fell  in  one 
day,  and  were  given  over  to  plunder,  Rajyapal  submitted, 
and  the  city,  as  a  whole,  seems  to  have  been  spared,  although 
the  temples  were  destroyed,  many  of  the  inhabitants  slain,  and 
much  plunder  was  acquired.  Mahmiid  then  advanced  through 
the  Fatehpur  District  and  entered  the  hills  of  Bundelkhand 

^  Al  Utbi  says  that  the  Hindu  leader  was  Brahmanpal,  son  of  Anandpal. 


100  MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI 

before  he  returned  to  Ghazni  at  the  beginnmg  of  the  hot 
season. 

Death  of  Rajyapal.  The  submission  of  Rajyapal  to  the 
foreigner  angered  the  neighbouring  Hindu  princes,  who  under 
the  leadership  of  Vidyadhara,  son  of  Ganda,  the  Chandel  Raja 
of  Kalanjar,  and  the  chieftain  of  Gwalior,  attacked  Kanauj, 
and  slew  Rajyapal.     He  was  succeeded  by  Trilochanpal.^ 

The  vengeance  of  the  sultan.  MahmM,  who  regarded  the 
king  of  Kanauj  as  his  vassal,  was  furious  when  he  heard 
the  news  and  determined  to  punish  the  audacious  Hindus. 
Again  leaving  Ghazni  in  the  autumn  of  1019,  he  forced  the 
passage  of  the  Jumna  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  Trilochanpal, 
and  advanced  into  the  territory  of  Ganda  Chandel,  who  had 
assembled  a  huge  army.  Even  MahmM "s  stout  heart  quaked, 
and  '  he  regretted  having  come  thither  ' .  But  during  the 
night  the  courage  of  Ganda  failed,  and  he  shamefully  stole 
away  with  a  few  followers,  leaving  his  camp  and  580  elephants 
a  prey  to  the  sultan,  who,  '  loaded  with  victory  and  success, 
returned  to  Ghazni '.  In  1021-2  Mahmiid  once  more  entered 
the  Chandel  dominions,  and  invested  the  famous  fortress  of 
Kalanjar,  now  in  the  Banda  District,  which  was  held  by  the 
Raja.  Again  Ganda  feared  to  fight,  and  was  content  to  buy 
peace.  The  sultan,  laden  as  usual  with  '  immense  riches  and 
jewels,  victoriously  and  triumphantly  returned  to  Ghazni '. 

Expedition  to  Somnath.  The  most  adventurous  of  Mah- 
miid's  expeditions  was  that  against  the  shrine  of  Somnath  at 
Prabhasa  in  the  south  of  the  Surashtra  peninsula.  Starting 
from  Ghazni  in  the  middle  of  December,  a.d.  1023  (10th 
Shaban,  a.  h.  414),  and  marching  through  difficult  country  by 
way  of  Multan,  Ajmer,  and  Anhilwara  in  Gujarat,  he  arrived 
at  his  destination  in  the  beginning  of  March,  a.  d.  1024  (middle 
of  Zi-1-ka'da).^     Overcoming  a  fierce  resistance,  he  stormed 

^  These  kings  of  Kanauj  had  no  connexion  with  the  Pala  kings  of  Bengal, 
as  a  certain  text-book  alleges  them  to  have  had. 

-  According  to  other  authorities  Mahmiid  left  Ghazni  in  1024,  and  sacked 
Somnath  in  the  beginning  of  102.5.  The  exact  chronology  of  the  early 
Muhammadan  history  of  India  is  not  easy  to  settle. 


MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI  101 

the  Hindu  fortress  which  stood  on  the  sea -shore  and  was 
washed  by  the  waves.  A  dreadful  slaughter  followed,  the 
magnificent  temple  was  laid  low,  and  the  sacred  lingam,  one 
of  the  twelve  most  holy  ones  in  India,  was  smashed,  parts  of 
it  being  taken  to  Ghazni,  and  cast  down  at  the  threshold 
of  the  great  mosque  to  be  trodden  underfoot.  The  gates 
now  lying  in  the  Agra  Fort,  brought  from  Ghazni  in  1842  as 
being  those  of  the  temple  of  Somnath  and  made  the  subject 
of  a  silly  proclamation  by  Lord  Ellenborough,  are  Musalman 
work  and  never  came  from  a  Hindu  temple.  The  sultan's 
army  suffered  severely  on  its  return  march  through  the  Sind 
desert,  but  enjoyed  compensation  in  the  vast  treasure  plun- 
dered from  the  shrine,  which  was  estimated  to  exceed  two 
millions  of  dinars. 

Death  of  Sultan  Mahmud  :  his  patronage  of  scholars.  The 
last  of  Mahmud's  Indian  expeditions  took  place  in  a.d.  1027, 
when  he  attacked  the  Jats  near  Multan,  and  is  said  to  have 
fought  them  on  the  rivers  with  a  fleet  of  boats  constructed 
for  the  purpose.  During  the  rest  of  his  life  he  was  occupied 
with  troubles  at  home.  He  died  in  April,  a.d.  1030  (a.h.  421). 
Sultan  Mahmiid  is  famous  for  the  magnificence  of  his  court 
and  buildings  and  for  his  patronage  of  numerous  Persian 
poets»,  especially  Unsari  and  Firdausi,  although  it  is  true 
that  the  latter,  the  author  of  the  epic  poem  called  SKahndma, 
did  not  consider  himself  well  treated  by  the  sultan,  who 
bears  the  reproach  of  avarice.  Alberuni,  a  mathematician 
and  astronomer  of  profound  learning,  accompanied  Mahmud 
to  India,  and  wrote  in  Arabic  a  valuable  account  of  the 
country  and  its  institutions,  which  he  completed  in  the  year 
of  his  patron's  death. 

Destruction  of  Ghazni.  The  wars  and  dynastic  troubles  in 
the  kingdom  of  Ghazni  which  followed  on  the  death  of  Mah- 
miid do  not  concern  India  and  need  not  be  related.  It  will 
suffice  to  say  that  the  cruelties  practised  by  Bahram,  one 
of  his  successors,  on  a  chieftain  of  Ghor,  an  obscure  princi- 
pality in  the  mountains  to  the  south-east  of  Herat,  were 


102  MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNl 

terribly  avenged  by  that  chieftain's  brother,  Ala-ud-din 
Husain,  who,  in  a.d.  1150  (a.h.  544),  sacked  Ghazni  for  seven 
days  and  nights  and  destroyed  all  its  splendid  buildings, 
except  the  tombsof  Sultan  Mahmud  and  two  of  his  descendants. 
The  Province  of  Lahore.  This  disaster  did  not  immediately 
deprive  the  dynasty  of  Ghazni  of  the  Indian  province  of 
Lahore,  or  the  Panjab,  which  had  been  annexed  by  Sultan 
Mahmud.  Khusru  Malik,  the  last  prince  of  the  house  of 
Sabuktigin,  a  weak  and  pleasure-loving  man,  retained  posses- 
sion of  Lahore  until  a.d.  1186  or  1187  (a.h.  582  or  583),  when 
he  was  expelled  by  Shihab-ud-dln,  the  Ghori,  otherwise  called 
Sultan  Muizz-ud-din,  Muhammad,  son  of  Sam.  Khusru 
Malik  was  shut  up  in  a  fortress  and  put  to  death  fifteen  or 
sixteen  years  later.  The  student  should  remember  that  the 
province  of  Lahore  was  the  sole  permanent  possession  in 
India  acquired  by  Mahmiid,  who  made  no  attempt  to  hold 
the  regions  in  the  interior  which  he  overran  in  the  course  of 
his  raids. 

Sultan  Mahmud  of  Ghazni. 

A.D. 

Accession 997  or  998 

Defeat  of  Jaipal 1001 

Defeat  of  Anandpal         ....  1005-6 

Defeat  of  Brahmanpal  (or  Anandpal)         .  1008-9 

Capture  of  Kanauj  .         .         .       Jan.  1019 

Rout  of  Ganda  Chandel  ....  1020 

Somnath  expedition        ....  1024  or  1025 

Last  Indian  expedition   ....  1027 

Death  .......  1030  (Alberuni) 

CHAPTER  XI 

Hindu  civilization  on  the  eve  of  the  Muhammadan  rule  in  Hindustan. 

Survival  of  the  Hindu  kingdoms.  The  forays  of  Sultan 
Mahmiid,  destructive  though  they  were  of  life  and  property, 
did  not  shatter  the  Hindu  kingdoms  of  the  interior,  which 
survived  the  passing  storms,  and  were  left  free  to  conduct 
their  affairs  in  their  own  fashion.     The  Panjab  alone  had 


MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNl  103 

become  a  Muhammaclan  province.  So  far  as  appears,  no 
considerable  body  of  foreigners  settled  in  India,  excepting 
Sind  and  the  Panjab,  for  about  six  centuries,  from  a.d.  600 
to  1200,  in  round  numbers.  The  serious  efforts  of  the  Musal- 
mans  to  establish  a  permanent  Indian  dominion  did  not 
begin  until  the  closing  years  of  the  twelfth  century. 

Great  Hindu  powers  of  the  twelfth  century.  At  that  time 
the  great  Hindu  powers  of  Northern  India  were  no  longer  the 
same  as  they  had  been  in  the  tenth  century  {ante,  p.  92),  and 
msLj  be  named  as  (1)  the  Gaharwars  of  Kanauj,  (2)  the  Tomaras 
of  Delhi,  (3)  the  Chauhans  of  Sambhar  and  Ajmer,  (4)  the 
Palas  and  Senas  of  Bihar  and  Bengal,  and  (5)  the  Baghelas  of 
Gujarat.  Of  course,  there  were  plenty  of  other  kingdoms, 
but  those  mentioned  were  the  principal. 

The  Gaharwars  of  Kanauj.  The  Parihar  djTiasty  of  Kanauj 
was  ruined  by  MahmM,  and  soon  faded  into  obscurit}-. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  another  Rajpiit  clan, 
of  '  aboriginal '  origin,  the  Gaharwars,  afterwards  known  as 
Rathors,  occupied  Kanauj  and  founded  a  new  dynasty, 
which  attained  considerable  power  under  Govindachandra  and 
his  successors  during  the  twelfth  centur3\  Raja  Jaichand 
(Jayachchandra),  the  last  of  them,  famed  in  song  and  legend, 
who  fell  in  the  struggle  with  the  Musalmans,  was  the  grandson 
of  Govindachandra. 

The  Tomaras  of  Delhi.  Delhi,  including  under  that  name 
a  series  of  cities  built  under  different  names  by  many  kings, 
but  excluding  the  legendar}-  Indraprastha  of  the  Mahdhharata, 
is  one  of  the  most  modern  of  Indian  capitals,  and,  according  to 
the  best  authority,  was  not  founded  till  a.d.  993,  Anangapala, 
a  Tdmara  chief  in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  was  the 
first  prince  to  beautif}^  the  newly  founded  city  with  handsome 
buildings.  He  erected  a  group  of  twenty-seven  fine  temples, 
from  the  materials  of  which  the  Kutb  mosque  was  built  a 
century  and  a  half  later,  and  set  up  beside  them  the  famous 
and  ancient  iron  pillar,  which  was  removed  from  its  original 
position,  perhaps  at  Mathura.   Anangaj)ala  and  his  successors 


104  MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNl 

made  Delhi  the  centre  of  a  kingdom  of  moderate  extent.  The 
common  belief  that  the  Tomaras  also  held  Kanaiij  is  an  error. 

The  Chauhans  of  Sambhar  and  Ajmer.  After  about  a 
century  of  Tomara  rule,  Delhi  was  unsuccessfully  attacked 
by  Vigraha-raja  (IV),  the  Chauhan  Raja  of  Sambhar  and 
Ajmer  in  Rajputana,  a  prince  of  much  distinction.  His 
nephew  was  the  famous  Prithiraj,  who  distinguished  himself  by 
carrying  off  the  daughter  of  Raja  Jaichand  of  Kanauj  about 
1175,  by  defeating  Parmal,  the  Chandel  Raja  of  Mahoba  in 
1182,  and  finally  by  his  gallant  leadership  of  the  Hindu  host 
against  the  Muhammadans  a  few  years  later.  Most  historians 
state  that  the  mother  of  Prithiraj  was  a  daughter  of  Anan- 
gapala,  Raja  of  Delhi,  but  she  seems  really  to  have  been 
a  princess  of  the  Chedi  kingdom  in  the  south. 

The  Palas  of  Bengal  and  Bihar.  Harsha,  when  at  the  height 
of  his  power,  appears  to  have  enjoyed  full  dominion  over 
Western  and  Central  Bengal.  After  his  death  in  647,  that 
country,  like  the  rest  of  his  empire,  fell  into  disorder.  Very 
little  is  known  about  its  history  for  nearly  a  century.  About 
730  or  740,  the  people  of  Central  Bengal  established  order  by 
electing  as  their  king  one  Gopala,  the  first  of  the  dynasty 
known  to  history  as  the  Palas.  Towards  the  end  of  a  long 
reign  he  annexed  South  Bihar.  The  second  king  Dharmapala, 
and  the  third,  Devapala,  whose  reigns  covered  about  a  century, 
raised  Bengal  to  the  rank  of  one  of  the  great  powers  of  India. 
We  have  seen  {ante,  p.  92)  how  Dharmapala  was  able  to  pull 
down  one  king  of  Kanauj  and  set  up  another  in  his  place. 
All  the  members  of  the  dynasty  were  devoted  adherents  of 
Buddhism  in  its  later  forms.  Early  in  the  eleventh  century, 
two  kings,  Mahipala  I  and  Nayapala,  were  zealous  enough 
to  send  missionaries  to  Tibet  in  order  to  revive  Buddhism 
in  that  country.  The  last  powerful  king  of  the  line  was 
Ramapala  (about  1084-1130),  who  conquered  Tirhfit  or 
North  Bihar.  The  Palas,  after  enduring  the  ups  and  downs 
of  fortune  for  about  four  centuries  and  a  half,  were  finally 
uprooted  by  the  Muhammadan  conquest  in  1197. 


MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI  105 

The  Senas  of  Eastern  Bengal.  In  the  first  quarter  of  the 
twelfth  century  the  greater  part  of  Bengal  was  formed  into 
a.  separate  kingdom  by  Vijaj^asena,  whose  successors  are 
known  as  the  Sena  kings.  The  Senas  greatly  reduced  the 
power  of  the  Palas,  who,  however,  usually  retained  possession 
of  South  Bihar  and  sometimes  held  North  Bihar  or  Tirhut. 
At  the  time  of  the  Muhammadan  conquest  in  a.d.  1197-1200, 
the  Pala  capital  ajapears  to  have  been  either  Mungir  (Monghyr) 
or  the  town  of  Bihar,  while  the  Sena  capital  was  at  NMiah 
(Xuddea,  Navadwip),  in  Bengal.  The  Senas  were  orthodox 
Hindus.  Ballala  Sena  is  famous  in  the  traditions  of  Bengal 
as  the  king  who  is  believed  to  have  introduced  the  system  of 
caste  rules  known  as  "  Kulinism '  among  the  Brahmans, 
Baidyas,  and  Kayasths.  After  the  Muhammadan  conquest 
Sena  princes  continued  to  rule  Eastern  Bengal  from  Bikram- 
pur  near  Dacca. 

The  Baghelas  of  Gujarat.  During  the  twelfth  century  the 
kingdom  of  Gujarat  attained  to  great  power  under  the  rule 
of  the  Chaulukya  or  SolankI  kings,  Siddharaja  and  Kumara- 
pala,  and  it  is  even  alleged  that  the  authority  of  the  latter 
extended  as  far  east  as  the  Ganges.  Towards  the  end'  of  the 
same  century  the  throne  passed  from  the  Chaulukyas  to 
a  Baghela  dynasty.  Raja  Viradhavala  of  that  dynasty  was 
strong  enough  to  repel  an  attack  on  his  country  led  by 
Muhammad  of  Ghor,  defeating  the  Musalmans  with  great 
slaughter. 

General  condition  ;  architecture  ;  literature.  The  states 
above  described  were  independent  one  of  another,  frequently 
at  war,  and  not  subject  to  any  controlling  power.  They  rarely 
could  combine,  and  when  a  confederacy  was  formed  in  a 
desperate  emergency,  it  was  loosely  held  together  and  easily 
dissolved.  Many  of  the  Rajas'  courts  were  splendidly 
appointed,  and  in  the  principal  cities  handsome  buildings 
were  numerous.  The  Palas  were  the  onty  considerable  princes 
who  continued  to  profess  and  support  Buddhism  ;  in  all 
other  provinces  either  Jainism  or  Hinduism  prevailed,  and 

D3 


Pillars,  Jain  Temple,  Osia  (10th  or  Uth  Cent.) 


MAHMtJD  OF  GHAZNI 


107 


the  doctrine  of  Buddha  was  little  regarded.  The  Buddhist 
buildings  of  the  Pala  dynasty  in  Bihar  have  nearh'  all  been 
destroyed,  but  many  Hindu  and  Jain  temples  of  the  period 


A   TIBETA>i"    LAMA 


survive  elsewhere.  The  beauty  of  the  Jain  temples  of  Mount 
Abu,  built  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  is  unsur- 
passed, and  the  Hindu  temples  erected  by  the  Chandel  kings 
at  Khajuraho,  a  little  before  and  after  a.d.  1000,  are  among 
the  best  examples  of  Indian  architecture.  The  venerated 
temple  of  Jagannath  at  Purl  in  Orissa,  built  by  order  of 


108  MAHMUD  OF  GHAZNI 

Anantavarman  Cholaganga  in  the  closing  years  of  the  eleventh 
century,  is  inferior  in  merit  as  a  work  of  art.  In  the  ninth 
century,  during  the  reigns  of  Dharmapala  and  Devapala,  two 
Bengal  artists,  Dhiman  and  his  son  Bitpalo,  or  Vitapala, 
attained  high  fame  as  painters,  sculptors,  and  bronze-founders. 

Literature  was  encouraged  by  many  Rajas.  For  instance, 
Rajasekhara,  the  dramatist,  graced  the  court  of  two  Parihar 
kings  of  Kanauj  ;  Bhoja  Pawar  of  Dhara,  himself  an  author, 
was  always  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  scholars ;  and  Vlsala- 
deva,  the  Tomara  ruler  of  Delhi,  both  produced  and  patronized 
poetry.  Kalhana,  who  wrote  the  Rdjatarangim,  a  Sanskrit 
metrical  chronicle  of  Kashmir,  in  1149,  was  the  son  of  a 
minister  at  the  Srinagar  court.  The  GUa  Govinda  of  Jayadeva 
was  composed  shortly  before  the  Muslim  conquest  of  Bengal. 

The  foundations  of  vernacular  literature  were  laid  during 
this  period  by  the  bards,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
Chand  Bardai,  the  author  of  the  Chand  Raisa,  an  epic  in 
ancient  dialects  of  Hindi,  dealing  with  the  exploits  of  Pri- 
thiraj  and  other  chieftains.  The  poem,  in  the  shape  generally 
known,  has  been  immensely  expanded  by  later  additions.  The 
manuscript  of  the  work  in  its  original  form  is  said  to  be  still 
preserved  in  the  Jodhpur  state. 


BOOK  III 

THE  MUHAMIVIADAN  CONQUEST  ;  THE  SULTANATE 
OF  DELHI  (SO-CALLED  '  PATH  AN  EMPIRE  ')  FROM 
A.D.  1193  TO  1526. 

SOURCES  OF  INDO-MUHAMMADAN  HISTORY 

Muhammadan  histories  numerous.  Muhammadan  literary  men,  unlike 
the  Brahmans,  had  a  strong  liking  for  the  writing  of  histories,  which,  conse- 
quently, exist  in  great  numbers,  in  Arabic,  Persian,  and  Turkish.  Every 
Indo-Muhammadan  dynasty,  I  think,  has  been  treated  in  at  least  one  formal 
history.  The  modem  writer,  therefore,  when  undertaking  to  tell  the  story 
of  Muhammadan  rule  in  India,  turns  first  to  the  historj"  books  Inscriptions, 
coins,  and  the  evidence  to  be  deduced  from  the  remains  of  ancient  buildings 
or  works  of  art,  are  of  much  less  importance  than  they  are  for  the  Hindu 
period,  although  they  still  afford  evidence  of  much  value  about  details,  and 
often  settle  doubtful  dates. 

Most  of  the  histories  dealing  with  India  were  written  in  Persian,  and  many 
of  them  have  been  printed  and  translated  into  English  or  other  European 
languages.  But  many  exist  only  in  manuscript,  and  there  is  room  for  moie 
good  translations. 

Elliot  and  Dowson.  The  best  view  of  the  Muhammadan  sources  of 
Indian  history  is  to  be  obtained  from  The  History  of  India  as  told  by  its  mvn 
Historians,  by  Sir  H.  M.  Elliot  and  Professor  John  Dowson  (8  vols.,  London, 
1867-77).  Sir  E.  C.  Bayley's  volume  on  the  History  of  Gujarat  (London, 
1886)  is  a  supplement  to  the  work  of  Elliot  and  Dowson.  The  labours  of 
those  gentlemen  are  invaluable.  The  editors  were  pioneers  in  the  subject,, 
and  naturally  could  not  attain  perfection,  especially  in  the  earlier  volumes, 
but  the  errors  in  detail  are  as  nothing  compared  with  the  benefit  conferred 
on  students  by  such  a  library  of  translations.  L'nfortunately,  the  book  is 
now  scarce  and  expensive. 

It  would  take  up  too  much  space  to  enumerate  individual  works.  The 
authorities  for  Akbar's  reign  are  specially  good,  and  are  mostly  accessible 
in  one  or  other  European  language.  The  substance  of  the  Jesuit  accounts 
will  be  found  in  Mr.  (Sir)  E.  D.  Maclagan's  admirable  treatise,  '  The  Jesuit 
Missions  to  the  Emperor  Akbar  '  {J.  As.  Soc.  Bengal,  Part  I,  vol.  Ixv  (1896), 
pp.  38-113).  For  the  reign  see  V.  A.  Smith,  Alcbar  the  Great  Mogul  (Oxford, 
1917). 

Firishta.  Elphinstone  relied  principally  on  Firishta  or  Ferishta,  a  careful 
compiler  who  wrote  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  best  translation  is 
that  by  Briggs,  which  is  most  cheaply  accessible  in  the  reprint  issued  by 
Cambray  &  Co.  (Calcutta,  1908-10,  4  vols.)      But  the  rendering  by  Briggs 


110  THE  MUHAMMAD  AN  CONQUEST 

is  far  from  being  perfect,  and  is  spoiled  by  the  insertion  of  passages  which 
are  not  in  the  original. 

Royal  memoirs.  The  memoirs  written  by  various  kings  form  an  excep- 
tionally interesting  section  of  the  Muhammadan  histories.  We  have  a  short 
tract  by  Firoz  Shah  Tughlak  of  the  fourteenth  century  (Elliot  and  Dowson, 
vol.  iii),  and  Memoirs  written  or  dictated  by  Timur,  Babur,  and  .Jahangir. 
No  use  should  be  made  of  the  edition  of  Jahanglr's  Memoirs  translated  by 
Price  in  1829,  which  is  mostly  fiction.  The  only  genuine  form  of  the 
Memoirs  is  that  translated  by  Rogers  and  Beveridge  (R.  As.  Soc,  2  vols., 
1909,  1914),  which  is  a  work  of  high  value.  Jauhar's  Private  Memoirs  of 
Humuyun  (transl.  Stewart,  1832),  and  the  Life  and  Memoirs  of  Gulbadan 
Begam,  Akbar's  aunt  (transl.  Beveridge,  R.  As.  Soc,  1902),  are  nearly  as 
intimate  as  the  works  written  by  sovereigns  in  person. 

State  papers.  In  all  European  countries  the  mass  of  original  state  papers 
relating  to  the  centuries  during  which  Musalman  rule  lasted  in  India  is 
enormous.  Very  few  of  such  documents  have  escaped  Indian  revolutions 
and  white  ants.  Such  as  exist  chiefly  concern  the  reign  of  Aurangzeb. 
A  manuscript  in  London  contains  a  collection  of  small  slips  of  brown  paper 
forming  what  may  be  called  the  Court  Circular  of  about  thirty  years  of 
Aurangzeb's  reign.  His  correspondence  has  been  preserved  in  large  quan- 
tity, but  has  never  been  properly  edited.  A  good  Persian  scholar  well  read 
in  history  might  employ  several  years  to  advantage  in  bringing  out  a  critical 
edition  and  partial  translation  of  Aurangzeb's  correspondence.  The  task 
would  be  a  difficult  one  (see  Sarkar,  Hist,  of  Aurangzeb,  vol.  ii,  1912,  p.  309). 
We  also  possess  some  of  the  letters  issued  in  Akbar's  name,  and  preserved 
by  the  Jesuits,  besides  a  good  many  written  by  his  secretary,  Abu-1  Fazl. 
A  iew  far  mans  and  other  official  documents  of  various  reigns  have  escaped 
destruction. 

Inscriptions.  A  list  of  the  published  Muhammadan  inscriptions  of 
India,  compiled  by  Dr.  Horovitz  under  the  title  Epigraphia  Indo-Moslcmica, 
has  been  printed  (Calcutta,  1912,  Superintendent  of  Government  Printing, 
India). 

Coins.  The  Indo-Muhammadan  coins  have  been  fully  discussed  in  the 
official  catalogues  of  the  collections  in  the  British  Museum,  Indian  Museum, 
Calcutta,  and  the  Lahore  Museum. 

European  travellers.  Numerous  European  travellers  throw  an  immense 
amount  of  light  on  Indo-Muhammadan  history.  One  of  the  best  of  them, 
the  Frenchman  Bernier,  wrote  a  formal  and  excellent  narrative  of  the  war 
of  succession  by  which  Aurangzeb  won  the  throne.  His  book,  in  English, 
ihas  been  reprinted,  with  notes  by  Mr.  A.  Constable  and  the  author  of 
this  history,  by  the  Oxford  University  Press  (1914).  A  small  cheap  book 
by  Mr.  E.  F.  Oaten,  entitled  European  Travellers  in  India  during  the  Fif- 
teenth, Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries  (London :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench, 
TrubncT  &  Co.,  1909),  gives  a  serviceable  list  and  summary  of  the  principal 
works,  many  of  wliicli  are  rare  and  costly.     The  writings  of  de  Laet  and 


THE  MUHAIVMADAN  CONQUEST  111 

Manrique,  published  in  the  reign  of  Shahjahan,  deserve  modern  editions. 
De  Laet's  valuable  little  Latin  book  was  partly  translated  by  Lethbridge  in 
the  Calcutta  Beview  for  1873.  Manrique,  who  wrote  in  Spanish,  has  never 
been  translated  completely.  Partial  version  in  J.  Panjab  Hist.  Soc.,  vol.  i. 
and  Bengal  Past  and  Present,  vols,  xii,  xiii. 

Modern  histories.  See  Books  iv-vi  of  the  Oxford  History  of  India 
(1919).  It  is  no  disparagement  of  Elphinstone's  justly  admired  work, 
first  pubUshed  in  1841,  to  say  that  it  is  no  longer  adequate.  Professor 
Stanley  Lane-Poole's  Mediaeval  India  under  Mohammedan  Rule,  712-1764 
(Unwin,  1903),  a  good  sketch,  does  not  pretend  to  be  more.  The  History  of 
Aurangzib,  nminly  based  on  Persian  Sources,  by  Professor  Jadunath  Sarkar 
(vols,  i,  ii,  iii,  Calcutta,  1912,  1916),  at  present  only  comes  down  to  the  year 
1681.     The  work  is  of  much  importance. 

The  later  Mughals.  The  late  Mr.  William  Irvine,  best  known  as  the  editor 
of  Manucci,  had  purposed  to  write  in  great  detail  from  the  original  authorities 
a,  history  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Mughal  empire  from  the  death  of 
Aurangzeb  in  1707  to  the  capture  of  Delhi  by  Lord  Lake  in  1803.  But  he 
was  never  able  to  complete  his  design,  and  had  to  be  content  M'itli  the  publica- 
tion of  fragments  in  various  periodicals.  References  to  his  more  important 
papers  are  as  follow  : 

{l)J.A  .S.B.,yo\.  Ixiii,  Part  I,pp.l  12-43, '  Guru  Gobind  Singh  and  Bandah  ' ; 

(2)  Ibid.,  vol.  Ixv,  Part  I,  pp.  136-212  ;  from  the  death  of  Bahadur  Shah 
to  Jahandar  Shah,  inclusive  ; 

(3)  Ibid.,  vol.  Ixvii,  Part  I,  pp.  141-66  ;  the  reign  of  Farruksiyar.  Both 
papers  give  full  lists  of  authorities,  and  are  the  most  satisfactory  state- 
ments on  the  rather  dreary  subject ; 

(4)  '  The  Emperor  Aurangzeb  Alamgir,  1658-1707,'  in  Ind.  Ant.,  1911, 
pp.  69-85.  This  paper  settles  many,  though  not  all,  doubtful  points  in 
the  chronology. 

Irvine  contributed  to  vol.  ii  of  the  '  Indian  Empire'  in  the  new  edition 
of  the  Imjierial  Gazetteer,  1908,  chajiter  x,  a  summary  of  the  history  of 
Muhammadan  India,  which  is  generally,  although  not  perfectly,  accurate. 
He  also  published  in  1903  a  treatise  on  the  army  of  the  Mughals,  based  on  a 
paper  contributed  in  1896  to  the  J.  R.  A.  S.  for  1896,  pp.  509-70.  Irvine 
aimed  in  all  his  publications  at  the  compilation  of  an  exact  chronicle  filled 
with  minute  details. 

CHAPTER  XII 

Muhammad  of  Ghor  (Ghori)  :  conquest  of  Hindustan,  Bengal,  and 
Bihar  :  Kutb-ud-din  Ibak  ;  the  so-called  '  Pathan  dynasties  '  ;  the  Mongol 
(Mughal)  invasions  ;  end  of  the  Slave  Kings. 

Muhammad  of  Ghor  (Muhammad  Ghori,  Shihab-ud-din). 

Sultan  Ala-ud-din  Husain,  the  destroyer  of  Ghazni,  died 
about  four  years  after  the  sack  of  that  city  {ante,  p.  102),  and 
■was  succeeded  in  Ghor  by  his  son,  who   was  assassinated 


112  THE  MUHAMMAD  AN  CONQUEST 

a  year  later.  The  local  nobles  then  raised  to  the  throne  the 
murdered  chief's  cousin,  elder  son  of  Baha-ud-din  Sam,  who 
assumed  the  title  of  Sultan  Ghiyas-ud-din.  His  younger 
brother,  Muhammad,  was  known  in  early  life  as  Shihab-ud-din 
('the  flame  of  religion'),  but  afterwards  as  Sultan  Muizz-ud- 
din.  His  coins,  also  describe  him  as  Muhammad,  son  of  Sam. 
The  historians  of  India  are  accustomed  to  designate  him,  with 
various  corruptions,  either  as  Shihab-ud-din  or  Muhammad 
GhorL     We  shall  call  him  Muhammad  of  Ghor. 

Occupation  of  Sind  and  the  Panjab.  Muhammad  of  Ghor, 
having  reduced  Ghazni  to  obedience  of  his  brother,  turned  his 
attention  to  the  rich  plains  of  India.  In  a.d.  1175-6  he 
attacked  Multan,  and  shortly  afterwards  obtained  possession 
of  IJchh  in  Sind  through  the  treachery  of  the  Rani.  In  1178-9 
Muhammad  attempted  to  penetrate  into  Gujarat,  but  was 
badly  defeated  by  the  Raja  of  Anhilwara.  In  1186  or  1187, 
as  already  mentioned  {a7ite,  p.  102),  he  deposed  Khusru  Malik, 
the  last  prince  of  the  house  of  Sabuktigin,  and  so  made  himself 
master  of  the  Panjab,  as  well  as  of  Sind. 

First  and  second  battles  of  Tarain.  But  the  ambition  of 
Muhammad  was  not  satisfied  by  the  possession  of  these 
frontier  provinces.  He  desired  to  enjoy  the  plunder  and 
acquire  the  sovereignty  of  the  richer  kingdoms  of  the  interior. 
The  Hindu  Rajas  combined  against  him,  as  they  had  done 
against  the  Amir  Sabuktigin  and  the  Sultan  Mahmud,  and 
met  the  invader  on  the  plain  of  Tarain  or  Talawari,  fourteen 
miles  from  Thanesar.  The  Hindus,  under  the  supreme- 
command  of  the  brave  Prithiraj  Chauhan,  Raja  of  Ajmer  and 
Delhi  {ante,  p.  104),  routed  the  sultan,  who  was  wounded  in  the- 
arm  (a.d.  1191).  Next  year,  a.d.  1192,  the  sultan  returned,, 
fought  the  Hindu  confederacy  on  the  same  ground,  charged 
the  enemy  with  twelve  thousand  picked  cavalry,  utterly 
defeated  them,  and  captured  the  commander-in-chief, 
Prithiraj,  who  was  executed.  Ajmer  was  sacked  and  the 
inhabitants  either  killed  or  sold  as  slaves. 

Reduction  of  Hindustan.    In  the  years  following,  a.d.  119S 


THE  MUHAIVBIADAN  CONQUEST  113 

and  1194  (a.h.  589,  590),  Delhi,  Benares,  and  other  places 
fell  before  the  resistless  invader.  In  1 196  Gwalior  suiTendered. 
In  1197,  Anhilwara,  which  had  baffled  the  Muslim  arms  nearly 
twenty  years  before,  was  taken,  and  in  a.d.  1203  the  capitula- 
tion of  Kalanjar,  the  strong  fortress  of  the  Chandels,  completed 
the  reduction  of  Upper  India.  The  Gaharwar  Rajputs  of 
Kanauj  migrated  to  Marwar  in  Rajputana,  where  they  became 
known  as  Rathdrs  and  founded  the  Jodhpur  State.  Many 
similar  movements  of  Rajput  clans  occurred  about  the  same 
time  in  order  to  escape  from  the  armies  of  Islam. 

Death  of  the  sultan.  After  these  momentous  events  the 
sultan,  who  had  succeeded  his  brother  early  in  a.d.  1203, 
returned  to  Ghazni,  but  in  the  cold  season  of  a.d.  1205  was 
recalled  to  India  by  the  revolt  of  the  Khokhars,  a  powerful 
tribe  in  the  Central  Panjab.  Having  '  set  a  river  of  blood 
of  those  people  flowing  ',  he  started  for  Ghazni,  and  was 
murdered  on  the  road  by  a  fanatic  of  the  Mulahidah  sect  in 
March,  a.d.  1206: 

The  martyrdom  of  the  sovereign  of  sea  and  land,  Muizz-ud-din, 
From  the  beginning  of  the  world  the  like  of  whom  no  monarch 

arose. 
On  the  third  of  the  month  Sha'ban  in  the  year  six  hundred 

and  two. 
Happened  on  the  road  to   Ghazni  at   the  halting-place  of 

Damyak.^     (Dhamiak  in  Jihlam  (Jhelum)  District.) 

Kutb-ud-din  Ibak  as  general  and  viceroy.  The  successes 
gained  in  India  by  the  arms  of  Muhammad  of  Ghor  were 
largely  due  to  the  ability  of  his  general,  Malik  Kutb-ud-din 
Ibak,  a  native  of  Turkestan,  who  had  been  bought  as  a  slave 
bv  the  sultan,  and  was  still  legally  a  slave  when  he  subdued 
Hindustan.  He  led  the  vanguard  in  the  action  of  Chandwar 
near  Itawa,  when  Raja  Jaichand  of  Kanauj  was  killed  by  an 

*  Tabakat-i'N asiu.  This  account  by  a  contemporary  should  be  accepted, 
not  that  which  appears  in  Elphinstonc  and  the  text -books.  The  Khokhars 
usually  are  miscalled  '  Gakkars ',  who  were  a  totally  different  tribe  in  the 
Salt  Ranwe. 


114  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

arrow  which  struck  him  in  the  eye.  He  then  pushed  on  to 
Benares  and  acquired  a  vast  amount  of  booty.  The  sultan 
having  returned  to  Ghazni,  Kutb-ud-din  was  left  in  charge  of 
the  operations  in  India.  The  capture  of  Kalanjar  was  his 
work,  and  on  that  occasion  50,000  captives  were  enslaved. 
He  next  occupied  Mahoba,  the  Chandel  capital  {ante,  p.  92), 
and  thence  returned  to  Delhi  through  Budaon.  He  received 
the  title  of  sultan  from  Sultan  Ghiyas-ud-din  Mahmud,  the 
successor  of  Muhammad  of  Ghor  on  the  throne  of  Ghor  and 
Ghazni. 

Kutb-ud-din  Ibak  as  Sultan  of  Delhi.  From  this  time 
^A.D.  1206)  Kutb-ud-din  Ihay  be  regarded  as  an  independent 
Indian  sovereign,  the  first  of  the  long  line  of  the  sultans  of 
Delhi.  He  strengthened  his  position  by  judicious  matri- 
monial alliances,  himself  marrying  the  daughter  of  Taj-ud-din 
Yalduz  (Eldoz),  a  rival  chief,  who,  like  Kutb-ud-din,  had  been 
a  slave  ;  giving  his  sister  to  Nasir-ud-din  Kubacha,  another 
slave,  who  became  the  lord  of  Sind  ;  and  his  daughter  to 
Iltutmish  (Altamsh),  governor  of  Bihar,  and  also  a  slave. 
He  died  in  thej-ear  a.h.  607  (a.d.  1210-11)  from  the  effects  of 
a  fall  from  his  horse.  '  His  gifts ',  says  the  chronicler,  '  were 
bestowed  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  his  slaughters 
likewise  were  b}^  hundreds  of  thousands.' 

The  Kutbi  Mosque  and  Minar.  During  the  period  of  his 
viceroyalty,  between  the  jears  a.d.  1193  and  1198,  Kutb-ud- 
din  built  the  great  mosque  near  Delhi,  which  was  subsequently 
enlarged  by  his  son-in-law,  the  Sultan  Iltutmish  (Altamsh),  who 
also  finished  the  celebrated  tower  known  as  the  Kutb  Minar. 
Both  mosque  and  minar  are  called  KutbT,  not  because  they 
were  built  by  Kutb-ud-din  Ibak,  but  because  they  are  con- 
secrated to  the  memory  of  the  saint  Kutb-ud-din  Ushi,  who 
lies  buried  close  b3% 

Conquest  of  Bihar.  Kutb-ud-din  Ibak  was  well  served  by 
his  lieutenant,  Ikhtiyar-ud-din  Muhammad,  son  of  Bakhtyar, 
A  Khalj  Turk,  who  is  ordinarily  called  in  the  text-books 
'  Muhammad  Bakhtiyar ',  father  and  son  being  rolled  into 


FROM  A.D.  1193  TO  1526  115 

one.  In  or  about  a.d.  1197,  several  years  after  the  fall  of 
Delhi,  this  officer  secured  the  control  of  Bihar  by  a  raid  of 
almost  incredible  audacity,  seizing  the  fort  of  the  town  of 
Bihar  with  a  party  of  only  two  hundred  horsemen.  The 
Buddhist  "monasteries,  which  still  flourished  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  Pala  kings  {ante,  p.  104),  were  destroyed,  and  the 
monks  killed  or  dispersed.  The  Muhammadan  onslaught 
extinguished  the  life  of  Buddhism  in  its  old  home  and  last 
refuge.  After  this  time  the  indications  of  the  existence  of 
that  religion  anywhere  in  India  are  very  slight. 

Conquest  of  Bengal.  Bengal  was  brought  under  MusHm 
domination  about  two  years  later  (a.d.  ?  1199)  with  even 
greater  ease.  The  Sena  king,  perhaps  Raja  Lakhmaniya  or 
Lakshmana-sena,  surprised  in  his  capital  of  NMiah  (Nuddea, 
Navadvipa)  by  a  party  of  only  eighteen  horsemen,  fled  by 
the  back  door  and  took  refuge  in  the  Dacca  district,  leaving 
Niidiah  to  the  fury  of  the  conqueror,  who  sacked  the  town 
and  made  Lakhnauti  or  Gaur  the  seat  of  his  government. 
Muhammad  and  his  officers  endowed  mosques,  colleges,  and 
Muhammadan  monasteries  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and 
sent  much  booty  to  their  chief,  Kutb-ud-din. 

Death  of  Muhammad,  son  of  Bakhtyar.  Some  years  later, 
m  A.D.  1204-5  (a.h.  601),  Muhammad,  the  son  of  Bakhtyar, 
rashly  undertook  to  invade  the  mountains.  He  managed 
to  enter  those  beyond  Darjeeling,  but,  being  unable  to  secure 
any  safe  foothold,  was  compelled  to  retreat.  During  the 
retirement  he  lost  almost  all  his  force.  Next  year  he  was 
assassinated. 

The  so-called  '  Pathan  dynasties '  and  '  Pathan  empire ' . 
The  sultans  of  Delhi,  beginning  with  Kutb-ud-dIn  in  1206, 
ending  with  Ibrahim  LodI  in  1526,  and  including  the  Siir 
claimants  up  to  1556,  are  often  erroneously  called  the  '  Pathan 
kings  ',  and  their  rule  is  designated  the  '  Pathan  empire  '. 
But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  only  the  sultans  of  the  Lodi  and 
Siir  families  were  Pathans  (properly  Patans),  that  is  to  say, 
Afghans.     Kutb-ud-din  and  the  other  so-called  Slave  Kings 


116  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

were  natives  of  Turkestan,  of  Turkish  blood.  The  sultans  of 
the  Khalji  (Khilji)  dynasty  also  were  Turks.  The  Tughlak 
sultans  seem  to  have  been  of  mixed  Turkish  and  Hindu  blood, 
and  the  so-called  Sayyid  princes  claimed  Arab  descent  from 
the  prophet  Muhammad. 

Sultan  Iltutmish  (Altamsh).  Aram,  the  adopted  son  of 
Kutb-ud-din,  succeeded  him,  but  proved  incapable,  and  was 
soon  replaced  (a.d.  1211)  by  Shams-ud-din  Iltutmish  (Altamsh 
&c.,  of  the  text -books),  governor  of  Bihar.  The  new  sultan 
had  to  fight  and  overcome  his  brother  slaves  Taj-ud-din 
Yalduz  (lyaldiiz)  and  Nasir-ud-din  Kubacha.  He  compelled 
the  successors  of  Muhammad,  the  son  of  Bakhtyar,  in  Bengal 
to  acknowledge  his  authority.  After  some  more  fighting  in 
various  directions  Iltutmish  died  in  May  1236,  and  was  buried 
beside  the  mosque  which  he  had  enlarged  and  the  minar 
which  he  had  completed  at  Delhi. 

Sultan  Raziyah  (Raziyyat-ud-din).  Rukn-ud-din,  son  of 
Iltutmish,  a  worthless  fellow,  '  whose  inclinations  were  wholly 
towards  buffoonery,  sensuality,  and  diversion ',  was  deposed 
after  seven  months  of  misrule,  his  place  being  taken  by  his 
sister  Raziyyat-ud-din,  commonlj^  called  Raziyah,  a  capable 
sovereign,  whose  chief  fault  seems  to  hsPve  been  her  sex, 
'  Sultan  Raziyyat — may  she  rest  in  peace  ! — was  a  great 
sovereign,  and  sagacious,  just,  beneficent,  the  patron  of  the 
learned,  a  dispenser  of  justice,  the  cherisher  of  her  subjects, 
and  of  warlike  talent,  and  was  endowed  with  all  the  admirable 
attributes  and  qualifications  necessary  for  kings  ;  but,  as 
she  did  not  attain  the  destiny  in  her  creation  of  being  com- 
puted among  men,  of  what  advantage  were  all  these  excellent 
qualifications  unto  her  ?  '  She  tried  to  secure  her  throne 
by  submitting  to  marriage  with  a  turbulent  Turki  chief,, 
but  other  nobles,  who  would  not  endure  a  woman's  rule,, 
defeated  hei^in  October,  a.d.  1240,  after  a  disturbed  reign 
of  three  and  a  half  years.  She  and  her  husband  were  killed 
by  certain  Hindus. 

Sultan  Nasir-ud-dIn  Mahmud.     She  was  followed  by  twa 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526 


117 


insignificant  princes,  and  in  1246  Nasir-ud-din  Mahmud,  one 
of  her  brothers,  became  sultan  of  Delhi.  He  was  a  quiet, 
studious  man,  ill  fitted  for  rule  in  such  times,  but  managed 
to  retain  his  throne  for  twenty  years  by  the  help  of  an  able 
slave  minister,  Ulugh  Khan,  otherwise  called  Ghiyas-ud-din 


KUTB  J11^AR 


Balban,  whose  daughter  was  married  to  the  sultan,  and  who 
fought  hard  throughout  his  master's  reign  to  establish  the 
Muslim  supremacy  in  Hindustan.  The  TabahU-i-Nasin, 
a  valuable  history  by  Minhaj-i-Siraj,  the  chief  Kazi,  was 
written  in  this  reign  and  derives  its  name  from  the  sultan. 
Some  quotations  from  it  are  made  in  this  work. 

Sultan  Ghiyas-ud-din  Balban.     '  Balban,  being  already  in 
possession  of  all  the  powers  of  king,  found  no  difficulty  in 


118  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

assuming  the  title.'  He  was  nearly  sixty  years  of  age  when 
he  ascended  the  throne,  but  age  had  not  quenched  his  vigour. 
He  proved  himself  to  be  a  strong  ruler,  severe  and  even  cruel 
in  his  punishments,  and  utterly  regardless  of  bloodshed.  The 
Mewatis  near  Delhi  gave  him  much  trouble,  and  were  chastised 
with  merciless  ferocity.  His  principal  military  operation  was 
the  suppression  of  a  revolt  in  Bengal.  His  court  was  adorned 
by  many  princely  fugitives  from  various  kingdoms  of  Asia 
then  devastated  by  the  Mongol  hordes,  and  he  was  a  liberal 
patron  of  Persian  literature,  and  especially  of  Amir  Khusru, 
the  poet. 

The  Mongols  or  Mughals.^  A  young  Mongol  chief  named 
Temujin,  born  in  1162,  gradually  acqviired  supreme  power 
among  the  nomads  of  the  steppes,  and  was  elected  as  their 
sovereign  with  the  title  of  Chingiz  Khan,  by  which  (with 
various  corruptions)  he  is  generallj'^  known.  Having  made 
himself  master  of  Mongolia,  Northern  China,  and  Turkestan, 
he  fell  with  his  savage  hordes  upon  the  kingdom  of  Khwarizm 
(Khiva),  sacked  Bukhara,  Samarkand,  Merv,  and  other 
cities,  destroying  the  inhabitants  by  millions.  The  murderous 
conqueror  and  his  generals  then  overran  the  country  now 
called  Afghanistan,  sacked  what  remained  of  Ghazni,  stormed 
Herat,  and  even  occupied  Peshawar.  Jalal-ud-din,  the  Shah 
of  Khwarizm,  who  had  fled  before  the  Khan,  attempted 
to  make  a  stand  on  the  Indus,  but  was  defeated,  and  fled 
to  Delhi,  where  he  was  received  by  the  sultan  (1221,  1222). 
The  Khan  thought  of  returning  to  Mongolia  through  India 

*  Mongol  (or,  more  strictly,  Monggol)  and  Mughal  (Mogul,  &c.)  really  are 
only  different  forms  of  the  same  word,  the  nasalized  g  being  represented  in 
Arabic  by  ghain.  But  it  is  convenient  and  desirable  for  a  historian  of  India 
to  apply  the  term  Mongol  to  the  '  narrow-eyed  '  and  heathen  nomads  who 
formed  the  bulk  of  the  hordes  led  by  Chinghiz  Khan,  and  to  restrict  the 
term  Mughal  to  the  section  of  the  Muhammadan  Turks  represented  by 
Babur  and  his  successors.  The  Turks  and  Mongols  often  associated  and 
intermarried,  and  Babur  himself,  a  Turk  on  the  father's  side,  was  of  Mongol 
descent  on  the  mother's  side.  The  Turks  resemble  Europeans  (Aryans)  in 
l>hysique,  and  are  not  '  narrow-eyed  '. 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526 


119 


and  Tibet,  and  even  asked  the  permission  of  Sultan  Iltutmish 
to  do  so,  but  liappily  desisted  from  his  purpose,  so  that 
India  was  spared  the  unspeakable  horrors  which  befell 
Central  Asia,  and  from  the  effects  of  which  those  regions 
have  never  recovered.  Raids  by  bodies  of  Mongol  troops 
long  continued,  and  gave  much  anxiety  to  the  Sultan  Ghiyas- 
ud-din  Balban,  whose  eldest  son  was  killed  in  battle  with 
them.  The  death  of  this  son,  who  became  known  as  the 
Mart\T  Prince,  deeply  affected  Balban,  then  about  eighty 
j^ears  of  age,  and  hastened  his  end.  On  the  west  the  Mongol 
hordes  penetrated  into  Europe  as  far  as  the  Dnieper  in 
Russia . 

Sultan  Kaikobad  ;  end  of  Slave  Kings.  When  Balban  died 
in  1287  he  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  Delhi  by  his  grand- 
son Kaikobad  (Muizz-ud-din).  a  good-for-nothing,  debauched 
youth.  Some  Turkish  chiefs  of  the  Khali  or  Khilji  tribe  put 
him  out  of  the  w&y,  and  raised  to  the  throne  one  of  them- 
selves, by  name  Jalal-ud-din.  Thus  ended  in  (a.h.  689) 
A.D.  1290^  the  dynasty  of  the  Turkish  Slave-Sultans  of  Delhi, 
which  had  begun  with  Kutb-ud-din  Ibak  in  1206. 

Muhammadan  Conquest  of  Hindustan. 


Sultan  Muhammad  of  Ghor  (C4hori,  Shihab-ud-dln 

Muizz-           A.D. 

ud-din) 

Occupied  Cclih  in  Sincl 

.     117.5-G 

Defeated  by  Raja  of  Gujarat 

1178-9 

Deposed  Khusru  Malik  of  Lahore    . 

118G  or  1187 

First  battle  of  Tarain     .... 

1191 

Second  battle  of  Tarain 

1192 

Reduction  of  Del'nij  Benares,  and  Bihar 

1193-7 

Conquest  of  Bengal       .... 

1199  or  1200 

Capture  of  Anhilwara    .... 

1197 

Cajjture  of  Kalanjar      .... 

1203 

Death  of  the  sultan                .... 

1206 

^  Elphinstone's  date,  a.d.   1288  =  a.h. 
erroneous. 


687,   as   given  by  Firishtah,   is 


120  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 


Kutb-ud-din  Ibak 
Aram  Shah    . 
Iltutmish  (Altamsh) 
Rukn-ud-dln  and  Raziyah 
Bah  ram,  &c. 

Nasir-ud-din  Mahmud  . 
Balban  (CThiyas-ud-dIn)  . 
Kaikobad  (Muizz-ud-din). 


The  Sultans  of  Delhi. 

The  Slave  Kings. 

ace.  1206  (mosque  at  Delhi) 
ace.  1211 

ace.  1211  (Mongol  invasion,  1221,  1222) 
ace.  1236 
ace.  1240 

ace.  1246  (Tahakdt-i-Ndsirl) 
ace.  1266 
ace.  1286  or  1287 
killed  1290 


CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Khilji  sultans  of  Delhi :    Ala-ud-din  ;   the  Tughlak  dynasty. 

Jalal-ud-din  Khilji.  Sultan  Jalal-ud-din  was  an  old  man 
seventy  years  of  age  when  he  was  called  to  undertake  the  rule 
of  Hindustan.  A  famine  occurred  in  a.d.  1291,  of  such 
severity  that  the  historian  records  that  multitudes  of  Hindus, 
'  from  excess  of  hunger  and  want ',  drowned  themselves  in  the 
Jumna.  Jalal-ud-din  conducted  an  indecisive  campaign  in 
Malwa,  and,  like  his  predecessors,  had  to  defend  his  realm 
against  incursions  of  the  Mongols  (Mughals  of  the  Muham- 
madan  waiters).  His  forces  repelled  them  from  Lahore,  and 
three  thousand  of  the  nomads,  who  surrendered,  became 
Muhammadans  and  entered  the  service  of  the  sultan,  who 
allotted  them  for  residence  a  suburb  of  Delhi,  thence  called 
Mughalpur.  Jalal-ud-dln,  being  far  advanced  in  years,  left 
most  of  the  fighting  to  be  done  by  his  brother's  son,  Ala-ud-din, 
who  was  also  his  son-in-law. 

Expedition  of  Ala-ud-din  to  the  Deccan.  The  first  attack 
by  the  armies  of  Islam  on  the  countries  to  the  south  of  the 
Narbada  was  made  in  a.d.  1294  by  Ala-ud-dln,  who  marched 
seven  hundred  miles  into  Berar  and  Khandesh,  and  compelled 
Raja  Ramachandra-devjt.,  the  Yadava  ruler  of  Deogiri  and  the 
Western  Deccan  {cmte,  p.  95),  to  surrender  Elichpur  with  its 
dependencies.     Immense  booty  was  brought  to  Delhi. 

Murder  of  Jalal-ud-din.    Ala-ud-din  was  on  bad  terms  with 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  121 

his  wife,  the  daughter  of  the  sultan,  as  well  as  with  her  mother, 
and  this  domestic  feud  may  have  influenced  him  in  his 
treachery  to  his  uncle,  who  trusted  him  blindly,  and  would 
listen  to  no  warnings.  However  that  may  be,  the  old  man 
was  persuaded  to  place  himself  in  the  power  of  Ala-ud-din  at 
Kara  in  the  Allahabad  district  during  the  month  of  Ramazan, 
A.H,  695  (July  1296),  and  was  there  foully  murdered  as  he 
clasjied  his  nephew's  hand. 

Aia-ud-din  Khilji.  The  army,  won  over  '  by  the  hope  of 
the  red  gold  '  which  Ala-ud-din  distributed  lavishly,  condoned 
the  crime  and  accepted  the  murderer  as. sultan.  The  sons 
and  various  relatives  and  adherents  of  the  old  monarch  were 
massacred,  and  the  usurper's  throne  thus  secured.  During 
his  reign  the  Mongols  entered  India  no  less  than  five  times, 
but  were  always  repulsed.  The  last  repulse  in  1303,  when 
they  threatened  Delhi,  was  so  effectual  that  '  from  that  day 
the  Mughals  lost  their  enthusiasm  for  the  conquest  of  Hindu- 
stan, and  the  teeth  of  their  ambition  became  blunted  '. 
Ala-ud-din  found  the  Mongol  converts  to  Islam  troublesome, 
and  had  a  general  massacre  of  them  carried  out  under  secret 
orders  on  a  fixed  day  in  a.d.  1297.  He  captured  the  strong 
fortresses  of  Ranthambhor  and  Chitor  in  Rajputana. 

Malik  Kafur's  conquest  of  the  south.  The  most  notable 
events  of  the  reign  are  the  campaigns  conducted  in  the  south 
by  Malik  Kaffir,  a  slave  eunuch  high  in  the  sultan's  favour. 
During  the  many  ages  since  the  time  of  Samudragupta  no 
northern  army  seems  to  have  entered  the  south,  except  that 
led  into  Khandesh  and  Berar  by  Ala-ud-din  in  1294,  during 
his  micle's  reign.  These  southern  campaigns  lasted  from 
A.D.  1302  to  1311,  and  in  the  course  of  his  operations  Malik 
Kafiir  overran  the  Yadava  kingdom  of  Deogiri,  the  Hoysala 
kingdom  of  Mysore  (Dorasamudra),  and  the  Tamil  states  of 
the  Far  South  {ante,  p.  96).  Musalman  governors  were 
established  on  the  Ma'abar,  or  Coromandel  coast.  The 
southern  currency  was  then  exclusively  in  gold,  of  which 
metal  enormous  treasures  were  brought  to  the  capital. 


122  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

Buildings  at  Delhi.  Tiie  sultan  employed  the  wealth  thus 
gamed  in  extensive  building  operations  at  Delhi,  where  he 
formed  a  new  citj^  called  Siri,  enlarged  the  Kutbl  mosque,  and 
erected  a  noble  gateway.  The  savagery  of  the  times  is  illus- 
trated by  the  remark  of  Amir  Khusru,  concerning  the  new 
fortress  at  Delhi  :  '  It  is  a  condition  that  in  a  new  building 
blood  should  be  sprinkled  ;  he  therefore  sacrificed  some 
thousands  of  goat-bearded  Mughals  for  the  purpose  '.  He 
began  a  huge  mmar  intended  to  outshine  the  creation  of 
iltutmish,  but  the  work  was  soon  stopped. 

Death  and  character  of  Ala-ud-din.  Towards  the  close  of 
his  reign  the  sultan's  health  was  impaired,  and  he  became  the 
prey  of  unjust  suspicions  of  others,  while  placing  implicit 
confidence  in  the  eunuch  Kafur,  who  is  suspected  of  ha\"ing 
hastened  his  end.  He  died  in  January,  a.  d.  1315.  Ala-ud- 
din  was  a  fierce  despot  of  the  Central  Asian  type — illiterate, 
arrogant,  fanatical,  cruel,  and  sanguinary.  He  was  an  able 
general,  and,  in  times  when  sultans  were  not  expected  to  be 
merciful,  was  reputed  a  capable  sovereign.  He  liked  to  be  con- 
sidered a  '  second  Alexander  ',  and  used  that  title  in  his  coin 
legends.  His  internal  policy  was  characterized  by  many 
arbitrary  and  vexatious  regulations,  which  died  with  him. 
As  regards  the  Hindus,  the  bulk  of  his  subjects,  his  policy  was 
to  '  grind  them  down  '  and  reduce  them  to  poverty. 

Kutb-ud-din  Mubarak.  Malik  Kafur  tried  to  retain  power 
by  placing  on  the  throne  an  infant  son  of  the  deceased  sultan, 
but  the  minister  was  promptly  assassinated,  and  an  adult  son 
of  Ala-ud-din's,  by  name  Kutb-ud-din  Mubarak,  was  made 
sultan.  At  first  he  showed  some  energy,  marching  into  the 
Deccan  and  defeating  Harapala,  the  Yadava  Raja  of  Deogiri, 
whom  he  cruelly  flayed  alive.  On  his  return  he  gave  himself 
up  to  filthy  sensuality,  and  allowed  a  low-born  Hindu  convert, 
Khusru  Khan,  to  mismanage  state  affairs.  In  1320  this 
minister  murdered  his  worthless  master  and  seized  the  throne. 
He  tried  to  organize  a  Hindu  reaction  during  his  brief  tenure 
of  power,  but  had  not  the  personal  qualities  deserving  of  sue- 


FROM  A.D.  1193  TO  1526  123 

cess.  Four  months  later  he  paid  the  penalty  of  his  ill  deeds, 
and  was  himself  killed  by  Fakhr-ud-din  Juna  Khan,  son  of 
Ghazi  Khan  (or  MaHk  or  Beg)  Tughlak,  governor  of  the  Panjab, 
GhazI  Khan  was  invited  by  the  nobles  to  assume  the  royal 
power,  and,  in  1320  (a.  h.  720),  became  sultan  under  the  style 
of  Ghiyas-ud-din. 

The  Tughlak  dynasty  ;  Ghiyas-ud-din.  The  new  sovereign 
is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  Turk  slave  of  the  Sultan 
Balban  by  a  Hindu  Jat  mother.  Certainly  he  was  not  a 
'  Pathan  '.  During  his  reign  of  four  years  he  won  a  good 
reputation  as  an  administrator,  and  reduced  to  a  certain 
amount  of  obedience  the  Muhammadan  princes  who  then  ruled 
Bengal  and  Eastern  Bengal  in  practical  independence.  In 
February,  a.d.  1325  (a.  h.  725),  he  was  killed  by  the  fall  of 
a  pavilion  erected  for  his  reception  by  his  son  Fakhr-ud-din 
Juna.  There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the  '  accident ' 
was  caused  intentionally. 

Muhammad  Adil,  son  of  Tughlak.  No  opposition  was  made 
to  the  assumption  of  power  by  Juna,  who  is  generally  known 
to  history  as  Muhammad,  son  of  (bin)  Tughlak.  He  enjoyed 
a  long  reign  of  twenty -six  years,  and  during  the  earlier  part 
of  it  controlled  twenty-four  provinces,  a  dominion  far  larger 
than  that  of  any  of  his  predecessors.  But  the  empire  never 
was  at  rest ;  no  sooner  was  one  section  brought  back  to  its 
allegiance  than  another  would  seek  to  assert  its  independence, 
and  by  the  end  of  Muhammad's  reign  it  was  falling  to  pieces. 

A  vein  of  insanity  ran  through  the  sultan's  character,  which 
is  rightly  described  by  BadaonI  as  '  a  mixture  of  opposites  '. 
His  natural  great  abilities  were  constantly  perverted,  and  he 
could  not  resist  indulgence  in  mad  schemes,  which  ruined  his 
people  and  shook  the  throne.  In  spite  of  all,  he  died  in  his 
bed  ;  as  the  historian  observes,  'at  length  disease  overcame 
him,  and  the  sultan  was  freed  from  his  people,  and  the  people 
from  their  sultan.'  This  deliverance  was  accomplished  in 
March,  a.  d.  1351,  near  Tatta  (Thattah)  in  Sind,  where  the 
sultan  was  engaged,  as  usual,  in  the  pursuit  of  rebels. 


124  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

Transfer  of  capital  to  Daulatabad.  One  of  the  maddest  of 
his  schemes  was  the  transfer  of  the  capital  from  Delhi  to 
Deogiri  in  the  Deccan,  which  he  renamed  Daulatabad.  The 
tyrant's  order  was  carried  out  with  sucli  ruthless  completeness 
that  Delhi  '  became  so  deserted  that  there  was  not  left  even  a 
dog  or  a  cat  in  the  city  '.  Ibn  Batuta,  the  contemporary 
traveller,  found  Delhi  '  almost  a  desert ',  and  tells  a  gruesome 
story  that,  the  sultan's  '  servants  finding  a  blind  man  in  one  of 
the  houses  and  a  bedridden  man  in  another,  the  emperor  com- 
manded the  bedridden  man  to  be  projected  from  a  balista,  and 
the  blind  one  to  be  dragged  by  his  feet  to  Daulatabad,  which 
is  at  the  distance  of  ten  days,  and  he  was  so  dragged  ;  but  his 
limbs  dropping  off  by  the  way,  only  one  of  his  legs  was  brought 
to  the  place  intended,  and  was  then  thrown  into  it  ;  for  the 
order  had  been  that  they  should  go  to  this  place  '.  The  un- 
happy people  were  afterwards  forced  to  return  to  Delhi. 

Other  mad  schemes  ;  cruelty.  The  sultan  aspired  to  the 
fame  of  a  universal  conqueror,  and  accordingly  collected  a  vast 
army  for  the  subjugation  of  Persia,  which  dispersed  without 
effecting  anything  beyond  pillage  of  his  subjects.  Again, 
he  thought  to  subdue  China  and  sent  100,000  men  into  the 
Himalayas,  where  80,000,  mostly  cavalry,  perished  miserably. 
In  order  to  provide  funds  for  his  schemes  of  world-wide  con- 
quest, he  tried  to  force  people  to  take  copper  or  brass  money  as 
silver,  engraving  upon  it  the  legend, '  He  who  obeys  the  sultan, 
truly,  he  obeys  God  '.  But,  of  course,  the  scheme  failed  in 
practice,  'till  at  last  copper  became  copper,  and  silver,  silver', 
while  heaps  of  the  brass  coins  lay  at  Tughlakabad  (a  Delhi  fort), 
'and  had  no  more  value  than  stones'.  His  administration, 
which  he  believed  to  be  the  perfection  of  justice,  was  so  cruel 
and  sanguinary  that '  there  was  constantly  in  front  of  his  royal 
pavilion  and  his  civil  court  a  mound* of  dead  bodies  and  a  heap 
of  corpses,  while  the  sweepers  and  executioners  were  weary  of 
dragging  the  wretched  victims  and  putting  them  to  death  in 
crowds.  So  that  the  people  were  never  tired  of  rebelling,  nor 
the  king  of  punishing  '.    He  also  committed  frightful  massacres 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  125 

on  a  large  scale,  and  is  said  to  have  organized  man-hunts, 
driving  men  and  women  like  game  to  the  slaughter. 

Ruin  of  the  empire.  In  the  earlier  days  of  his  reign  Muham- 
mad had  completed  the  reduction  of  the  Deccan  and  brought 
it  into  some  sort  of  order  like  the  home  provinces.  But  Bengal 
secured  its  independence  about  1340,  and  before  the  end  of 
the  reign  the  Deccan,  conquered  with  so  much  difficulty,  had 
shaken  off  its  allegiance. 

Character  of  Muhammad  bin  Tughlak.  Mr.  E.  Thomas  has 
fairly  summed  up  this  '  mixture  of  opposites  '  by  describing 
him  as  '  learned,  merciless,  religious,  and  mad  '.  He  was  elo- 
quent, accomplished,  skilled  in  Arabic,  Persian,  logic,  mathe- 
matics, and  Greek  philosophy.  He  abstained  from  strong 
drink,  the  ruin  of  so  many  kings  of  Delhi,  led  a  moral  life, 
and  was  distinguished  for  his  personal  gallantry.  But  all  these 
fine  qualities  were  more  than  neutralized  by  his  savage  temper 
and  insane  ambitions,  so  that  his  reign  stands  out  as  one  of  the 
most  calamitous  in  Indian  history. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Decline  of  the  sultanate  of  Delhi :  Firoz  and  the  other  successors  of 
Muhammad  bin  Tughlak ;  Timur;  the  Lodi  dynastj'. 

Firoz  Shah  Tughlak.  Flroz,  the  first  cousin  and  designated 
heir  of  Sultan  Muhammad  Adil,  was  invited  by  the  nobles 
present  at  Thattah  to  accept  the  crown  and  rescue  the  state, 
Firoz  accepted  his  election  with  great  reluctance.  As  soon  as 
possible,  and  with  much  difficulty,  he  brought  back  the  army 
to  the  capital.  Three  years  later  he  built  the  new  city  of 
Firozabad  near  Delhi.  The  sultan's  principal  interest  lay  in 
building  and  the  carrying  out  of  public  works.  Firoz  Shah's 
name  is  now  chiefly  remembered  for  the  system  of  canals  which 
he  constructed  for  the  supply  of  water  from  both  the  Jumna 
and  the  Sutlaj.  Although  most  of  these  works  have  been 
obliterated  by  changes  in  the  courses  of  the  rivers  and  other 


126  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

causes,  one  of  them  still  exists  in  a  modified  form  and  does  good 
service  as  the  Western  Jumna  canal. 

Events  of  his  reign.  In  1356  Firoz  Shah  held  the  whole 
of  Hindustan,  except  Bengal,  which  he  twice  attempted  to 
subdue  ;  and  was,  of  course,  obliged  to  assert  his  authority  in 
Hindustan  by  expeditions  in  various  directions.  As  he  grew 
old  he  left  affairs  of  state  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  his 
ministers,  a  father  and  son,  who  both  took  the  title  of  Khan-i- 
Jahan.  As  early  as  1359  he  had  associated  his  own  son,  Fath 
Khan,  with  himself  in  the  royal  power,  and  long  after  the  death 
of  that  son  he  made  another  son,  Muhammad  Shah,  his  col- 
league in  1387,  but  in  the  next  year  removed  him  and  nomi- 
nated a  grandson  in  his  place.  Fir5z  Shah  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  ever  well  fitted  for  his  position  by  reason  of  strength 
of  will,  but  he  was  a  man  of  lofty  character  and  comparatively 
merciful  disposition,  and  has  left  a  good  reputation  behind  him. 

Firoz  a  bigot.  The  praises  lavished  by  Muhammadan 
historians  on  the  personal  character  and  comparatively  peace- 
ful reign  of  Firoz  Shah  must  be  qualified  by  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  thoroughgoing  Sunni  bigot,  hke  Aurangzeb 
in  a  later  age.  His  historian  relates  how  he  caused  a  Brahman 
to  be  burnt  alive  for  practising  Hindu  rites  in  public.  A  brief 
tract  ■svritten  by  the  Sultan  himself  is  extant,  in  which  he 
tells  us  that  he  cut  off  the  heads  of  certain  Shia  missionaries, 
and  that  he  destroyed  all  new  idol  temples,  executing  the 
builders  as  a  warning  that  Hindus  should  not  take  liberties 
'  in  a  Musalman  country  '.  He  encouraged  his  Hindu  subjects 
to  embrace  the  religion  of  the  prophet  by  promising  exemption 
from  the  poll-tax  (jizya),  in  consequence  of  which  promise 
'  great  numbers  of  Hindus  presented  themselves  and  were 
admitted  to  the  honour  of  Islam  '.  It  is  thus  clear  that  he 
regarded  himself  as  the  sultan  of  the  Muslim  minority,  not 
as  the  impartial  sovereign  of  all  races  in  his  dominions. 

Successors  of  Firoz  Shah.  The  death  of  Firoz  Shah  in 
September  1388,  at  the  age  of  79,  was  followed  by  a  prolonged 
struggle  for  the  succession  between  various  sons  and  grand- 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  127 

sons,  the  details  of  which  have  been  related  by  the  Muhamma- 
dan  historians,  but  are  not  worthy  of  remembrance.  A  series 
of  worthless  or  puppet  sultans  pass  across  the  stage,  without 
doing  anything  deserving  of  record.  The  kingdom  dwindled 
almost  to  nothing,  and  at  one  time,  for  three  years,  from  about 
1394  to  1397,  things  came  to  such  a  pass  that  Sultan  Mahmiid 
was  known  as  king  in  Old  Delhi,  while  his  relative  Nusrat  Shah 
enjoyed  the  same  rank  and  title  in  Firozabad,  a  few  miles 
distant.  'Day  by  day',  BadaonI  says,  '  battles  were  fought 
between  these  two  kings,  who  were  like  the  two  kings  in  the 
game  of  chess.'  'And',  he  adds,  'all  over  Hindustan  there 
arose  parties  each  with  its  own  Malik  '  (lord). 

TImur.  Towards  the  end  of  a.  d.  1398  this  squalid  squabbling 
was  stilled  by  the  irruption  of  another  terrible  chieftain  from 
Central  Asia,  Timur  the  Lame,  the  Tamerlane  of  tradition, 
who  entered  India  by  way  of  Multan,  and  reached  Firozabad 
near  Delhi,  '  sweeping  the  greater  part  of  the  country  with  the 
bitter  whirlwind  of  rapine  and  pillage  '.  At  his  camp  opposite 
Delhi  he  butchered  50,000,  or,  according  to  some  authorities, 
100,000,  prisoners,  not  even  sparing  the  Indian-born  Musal- 
mans,  although  himself  a  Muhammadan,  and  found  little  diffi- 
culty in  occupying  Delhi,  which  he  sacked  without  mercy. 
Happily  he  did  not  stay  long.  When  departing,  he  made  over 
the  charge  of  the  city  and  its  dependencies  to  Khizr  Khan, 
a  reputed  Saiyid,  and  then  returned  to  Samarkand.  At  that 
time  Mahmud  Tughlak,  the  last  of  his  line,  and  always  '  a  very 
shadow  of  a  king  ',  was  the  nominal  sultan  of  Delhi.  He  lived 
imtil  February,  a.  d.  1413.  After  the  departure  of  Timur 
'  such  a  famine  and  pestilence  fell  upon  the  capital  that  the 
city  was  utterly  ruined,  and  those  of  the  inhabitants  who  were 
left  died,  while  for  two  whole  months  not  a  bird  moved  a  wing 
in  Delhi '. 

Dynasty  of  the  so-called  Saiyids.  Khizr  Khan,  whom  Timiir 
had  left  in  charge,  died  in  a.  d.  1421,  after  some  seven  years  of 
constant  fighting.  He  was  succeeded  on  the  precarious  throne 
of  his  limited  dominions  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Delhi  by 


128  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

three  members  of  his  family,  the  last  of  whom,  Ala-ud-diu  or 
Alam  Shah,  abdicated  in  1451,  and  retired  to  Biidaon,  which 
he  was  permitted  to  rule  in  peace  by  virtue  of  a  friendly  agree- 
ment with  Bahlol  Lodi,  an  Afghan  noble,  who  had  made  him- 
self the  leading  man  in  the  state. 

The  Patan  (Pathan),  or  Afghan,  Lodi  dynasty  ;  Sultan 
Bahlol.  Bahlol  Lodi,  who  assumed  the  cares  of  sovereignty 
in  1451,  really  was  an  Afghan  or  Pathan,  and  is  the  first  person 
entitled  to  be  called  a  'Pathan  king  of  Delhi'.  At  that  time 
the  kingdom  of  Jaunpur  had  been  independent  for  more  than 
fifty  years,  and  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Bahlol  had  to 
accept  the  situation,  the  king  of  Jaunpur  and  he  agreeing  to 
retain  their  respective  possessions.  Sultan  Bahlol  could  not 
endure  this  rival  monarch,  and  presently  engaged  in  wars,  in 
which  he  uniformly  won,  while  Sultan  Husain  '  met  with  the 
defeat  which  had  become  a  second  nature  to  him  '.  Llti- 
mately  Bahlol  annexed  the  Jaunpur  kingdom,  known  as  the 
Sharki,  or  Eastern,  and  bestowed  it  on  his  son  Barbak  Shah. 
In  July  1489  (a.  h.  894)  Bahlol  died  in  the  Doab.  He  is- 
described  by  Muslim  writers  as  '  a  man  of  siinple  habits,  pious, 
brave,  and  generous  '. 

Sikandar  Lodi.  On  hearing  of  the  death  of  Bahlol,  one  of 
his  sons  named  Nizam  Khan,  hastened  to  Delhi,  and  was  pro- 
claimed sultan  under  the  title  of  Sikandar  without  serious 
opposition.  His  elder  brother,  Barbak  Shah  of  Jaunpur,  after 
a  time  came  to  terms,  and  tendered  his  allegiance.  Sultan 
Husain,  the  ex-king  of  Jaunpur,  also  tried  to  recover  his 
heritage,  but  was  defeated  as  usual.  Sultan  Sikandar  then 
annexed  Bihar  and  Tirhiit,  which  had  been  held  by  the  king 
of  Jaunpur,  and  occupied  much  time  in  bringing  the  territories 
near  Gwalior  into  subjection.  He  had  an  intense  horror  of 
idolatry,  and  made  a  point  of  destroying  all  the  temples  and 
images  which  he  came  across.  Muhammadan  writers  give  him 
a  good  character,  and  praise  his  administration  as  having  been 
Just  and  vigorous.  We  have  no  record  of  Hindu  opinion. 
After  a  prosperous  reign  of  twenty-eight  years,  during  which 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  129 

he  had  extended  his  dominions  considerably,  he  passed  away  in 
November,  a.d.  1517.    Food  was  extremely  cheap  in  his  reign. 

Earthquake  ;  buildings  at  Agra.  A  notable  event  of  his 
time  was  the  earthquake  in  a.d.  1505,  which  shook  the  whole 
of  Hindustan  and  Persia,  so  that  '  men  supposed  that  the  day 
of  resurrection  had  arrived  ',  and  believed  that  no  such  earth- 
quake had  been  known  since  the  days  of  Adam.  Sikandar  was 
the  first  of  the  kings  of  Delhi  to  make  Agra  his  occasional 
residence.  The  village  of  Sikanclra,  where  Akbar's  mausoleum 
stands,  bears  his  name,  and  the  building  there  known  as  the 
Baradari  is  a  palace  built  by  him  in  1495. 

Ibrahim  Lodi.  The  nobles  selected  Ibrahim,  the  third  son 
of  Sikandar,  to  succeed  his  father  as  sultan  of  Delhi,  bestowing 
the  kingdom  of  Jaunpur  on  the  second  son,  Sultan  Jalal. 
This  arrangement  naturally  led  to  friction,  and  a  war  between 
Ibrahim  and  his  brother  of  Jaunpur  ended  in  the  destruction 
of  Jalal.  Ibrahim  could  not  get  on  well  with  his  nobles,  and 
was  troubled  continually  with  revolts,  which  he  punished  with 
arrogant  severity.  Ultimately  Daulat  Khan  Lodi,  a  governor 
in  the  Panjab,  applied  for  help  against  his  sovereign  to 
Babur,  king  of  Kabul,  who  gladly  seized  the  opportunity  for 
invading  India.  On  the  field  of  Panlpat,  to  the  north  of 
Delhi,  and  not  very  distant  from  the  ancient  battlefields  of 
Kurukshetra  and  Tarain,  on  April  21,  1526,  Ibrahim  met 
Babur,  and  suffered  a  crushing  defeat,  which  cost  him  his 
throne  and  life. 

Interruption  of  the  narrative.  The  battle  will  be  described 
in  connexion  with  the  reign  of  Babur,  but  before  we  enter 
on  the  history  of  the  Mughal  dj^iasty,  it  will  be  well  to  pause 
and  take  note  of  the  principal  kingdoms  which  shaped  them- 
selves in  various  parts  of  India  during  the  decay  of  the  Sul- 
tanate of  Delhi  following  on  the  death  of  Muhammad  bin 
Tughlak.  We  shall  also  pass  briefly  in  review  the  state  of 
society,  religion,  literature,  and  art  during  the  period  of  the 
Delhi  sultanate  (a.  d.  1206-1526),  commonh'  miscalled  the 
'  Pathan  empire  '. 

1776  jiJ 


130 


THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 


The  Sultans  of  Delhi. 

The.  Khiljt  {KhaljT)  Dynasty 
(Omitting  some  minor  names). 
Jalal-ud-din  (Firoz  Shah)  . 

Famine  .... 

Annexation  of  Elichpur 
Ala-ud-din  (Muhammad  Shah)    . 

Massacre  of  Mongol  converts 

Southern  campaigns  of  Malik  Kafur 

Mongol  raid         .... 
Kutb-ud-din  Mubarak 

Destruction  of  Harapala  Yadava  . 
[Khusru  Khan  (Nasir-ud-din),  usurper 

TugJilak  Dynasty. 
Ghiyas-ud-din            ..... 
Muhammad  Adil  (Fakhr-ud-din-Juna) 
Firoz  Shah 

Struggle  for  the  succession 

(Including  the  so-called  Saiyid  dynasty) 

Sack  of  Delhi  by  Timur      .... 


The  Lod'i  Dynasty. 


Bahlol 

Sikandar  (Nizam  Khan) 

Earthquake 
Ibrahim 
Battle  (first)  of  Panipat 


ace. 

1290 

1291 

1294 

ace. 

1296 

? 

1297 

1302-11 

1303 

ace. 

1315 

1318 

1320] 

ace. 

1321 

ace. 

Feb.  1325 

ace. 

Mar.  1351 

died 

1388 

1388-1451 

1414-50) 

1398 

ace. 

1450 

ace. 

1489 

1505 

1517 

1526 

CHAPTER  XV 


The  Muhammadan  kingdoms  of  Bengal,  Jaunpur,  Gujarat,  Malwa,  and 
the  Deccan  :  the  Hindu  kingdoms  of  Vijayanagar,  Mewar,  and  Orissa ; 
literature  and  architecture  ;  the  Urdu  language  j  spread  of  Muhammadan- 
ism  ;   Hindu  religious  sects. 

The  Muhammadan  kingdom  of  Bengal.  From  the  time  of 
the  successful  raid  b}'^  Muhammad,  the  son  of  Bakhtyar,  in 
A.D.  1199  [ante,  p.  115),  Bengal  was  considered  to  be  a  province 
of  the  sultanate  of  Delhi,  and  its  rulers  were  regarded  officially 
as  the  deputies  of  the  sultans.     But  the  control  of  Delhi  was 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  131 

little  more  than  nominal,  and  the  governors  of  Bengal,  twenty- 
five  in  number,  between  1193  and  1338,  usually  could  do  what 
they  liked.  The  Muhammadan  province  of  Bengal,  or  Lakh- 
nauti,  ordinarily  consisted  of  the  territory  bounded  by  the 
Sundarbans  on  the  south,  by  the  Brahmaputra  on  the  east,  by 
Kuch  Bihar  and  the  Tarai  on  the  north,  and  by  the  Kosi  river 
on  the  west.  But  at  times  Tirhiit  and  South  Bihar  were  added 
to  the  kingdom,  which  did  not  include  either  Orissa  or  Chutia 
Nagpur.  The  three  ancient  capitals,  Gaur  or  Lakhnauti, 
Pandua  or  Firozabad,  and  Tanda  were  all  situated  in  the 
Malda  District. 

Iliyas  Shah  and  his  successors.  During  the  reign  of  Muham- 
mad bin  Tughlak  {ante,  p.  125)  Ihyas  Shah  established  himself 
as  independent  king,  and  was  formally  recognized  as  such  by 
Sultan  Firoz  in  1355.  He  was  reputed  to  be  a  vigorous  and 
successful  ruler.  His  son,  Sikandar  Shah  (1358-89),  equally 
capable,  is  famous  as  the  builder  of  the  Adinah  mosque 
at  Pandua,  apparently  copied  from  the  great  mosque  at 
Damascus,  and  regarded  as  the  finest  building  in  Bengal. 

Husain  Shah  and  Nasrat  Shah.  Husain  Shah  (1493-1518) 
is  considered  to  have  been  the  best  and  greatest  of  the  Mu- 
hammadan kings  of  Bengal.  He  gave  shelter  and  a  residence 
to  Sultan  Husain  of  Jaunpur,  when  that  prince  was  turned  out 
of  his  kingdom  by  Bahlol  Lodi  {ante,  p.  128).  The  occupation 
by  the  Lodi  sultan  of  Bihar,  which  had  been  held  by  the  kings 
of  Jaunpur,  brought  the  sultans  of  Bengal  and  Delhi  into 
direct  touch  with  one  another.  Nusrat  Shah  of  Bengal  (1518- 
32)  annexed  Tirhut,  and  consequently  was  attacked  by  Babur, 
but  peace  was  made. 

Sher  Shah  and  his  Afghan  successors.  After  Babur's  death 
in  1530  a  long  struggle  ensued  between  Sher  Shah,  the  Afghan 
governor  of  Bihar,  and  Babur's  son  Humayun.  In  the  course 
of  this  struggle  Sher  Shah  made  himself  sultan  of  Bengal,  and 
a  little  later  (1520)  became  for  a  time  also  the  king  of  Delhi. 
Sher  Shah's  dynasty  soon  came  to  an  end,  and  another  line 
of  Afghan  chiefs  obtained  the  sultanate  of  Bengal.     The 


132  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

last  of  this  line,  Daud  Shah,  was  defeated  and  executed  by 
Akbar's  general  in  1576,  from  which  time  Bengal  became  a 
province  or  Siiba  of  the  Mughal  empire.  Subsequently  Orissa 
was  nominally  included  in  the  Siiba  of  Bengal,  but  was  never 
thoroughly  mastered  by  the  Musalman  governments. 

The  Muhammadan  kingdom  of  Jaunpur.  The  history  of 
the  kingdom  of  Jaunpur  is  short,  extending  over  less  than 
a  century.  The  present  city  was  founded  by  Firoz  Shah  of  the 
Tughlak  dynasty  in  a.  d.  1360,  on  the  site  of  a  Hindu  town. 
In  1394  the  powerful  noble  Khwaja  Jahan  was  appointed  by 
MahmM  Tughlak  to  be  the  Lord  of  the  East  {Malik-us- shark), 
with  his  head -quarters  at  Jaunpur.  The  troubles  ensuing  on 
the  sack  of  Delhi  by  Timiir  in  a.d.  1398  {ante,  p.  127)  enabled 
Khwaja  Jahan's  adopted  son  to  sever  the  slight  bond  of  allegi- 
ance which  bound  him  to  Delhi,  and  to  set  up  as  a  king  with 
the  style  of  Mubarak  Shah  SharkT. 

Ibrahim  and  his  successors.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
younger  brother  Ibrahim,  the  most  famous  of  the  Jaunpur 
kings,  who  reigned  prosperously  from  1400  to  1440.  He  is 
described  by  Abiil  Fazl,  from  the  Muhammadan  point  of  view, 
as  '  an  active  and  good  prince,  equally  beloved  in  life,  as  he 
was  regretted  by  all  his  subjects  '.  Perhaps  the  Hindus  may 
have  thought  otherwise,  for  Ibrahim  is  also  described  as  '  a 
bigoted  Musalman,  and  a  steady  if  not  a  bloody  persecutor'. 
Unluckily,  no  Hindu  version  of  the  story  of  the  sultanate  of 
Delhi  and  other  kingdoms  exists.  All  our  information  comes 
from  Muslim  writers  who  believed  in  the  merit  of  sending 
Hindus  '  to  hell ' — to  use  their  habitual  language.  Ibrahim's 
son  Mahmiid  was  equally  able,  and  conducted  his  wars  with 
success.  The  last  independent  king  of  Jaunpur  was  the  un- 
lucky Sultan  Husain,  who  was  driven  from  his  throne  by 
Bahlol  Lodi  in  or  about  1476,  and  took  refuge  with  his  name- 
sake in  Bengal  {ante,  p.  127).  Bahlol  appointed  his  own 
eldest  son  Barbak  to  be  viceroy  of  the  Jaunpur  kingdom  in 
1486.  Bahlol's  successor,  Sikandar  Lodi,  completed  the 
reduction  of  the  Jaunpur  dominions,  including  Bihar. 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  133 

Literature  and  art  under  the  kings  of  Jaunpur.     All  the 

members  of  the  Shark!  dynasty  were  patrons  of  Persian  and 
Arabic  literature,  and  Sultan  Husain,  although  unfortunate 
in  war,  was  distinguished  as  a  musician  and  composer.  The 
reputation  of  Jaunpur  stood  so  high  that  the  city  was  described 
as  '  the  Shiraz  of  India  '.  The  great  mosques  of  Jaunpur,  the 
Atala,  built  by  Ibrahim,  the  Lai  or  Red,  built  by  his  son,  and 
the  Jami,  built  by  Husain,  are  among  the  most  notable  monu- 
ments of  the  miscalled  '  Pathan  '  ^.rchitecture.  These  mosques 
have  no  minarets  and  are  characterized  by  their  massive  and 
imposing  gateways  with  walls  sloping  inwards. 

The  Muhammadan  kingdom  of  Gujarat.  Gujarat,  the  fine 
pro^^nce  corresponding  to  the  northern  parts  of  the  Bombay 
Presidency,  with  Baroda  and  the  southern  portion  of  Rajput- 
ana,  was  annexed  by  Sultan  Muhammad  of  Ghor  in  1196, 
and  thenceforward  continued  to  be  more  or  less  subject  to 
the  rulers  of  Delhi  until  the  invasion  of  Timur  in  1398.  At 
that  time  the  governor,  like  his  colleague  in  Jaunpur,  set  up  as 
an  independent  king  under  the  title  of  Muzaffar  Shah.  His 
grandson,  Ahmad  Shah  (1411-43),  founded  Ahmadabad,  which 
replaced  Anhilwara  as  the  capital,  and  waged  many  wars  with 
Malwa  and  other  neighbouring  states. 

Mahmud  Shah  and  Bahadur  Shah.  The  best  and  most 
renowned  of  the  kings  of  Gujarat  was  Mahmiid  Shah  Bigarha, 
who  came  to  the  throne  as  a  boy  of  thirteen,  and  reigned  for 
fifty-two  years  (1459-1511).  He  carried  on  a  long  war  with 
the  Rana  of  Mewar,  and  was  victorious  in  many  conflicts  with 
his  neighbours.  He  was  less  successful  in  his  resistance  to  the 
Portuguese,  who  were  now  becoming  a  power  in  Western  India, 
and  lost  his  fleet  in  a  battle  fought  with  them  off  Diu  in  1509. 
At  about  the  same  time  Sikandar  Lodi,  the  sultan  of  Delhi, 
recognized  the  independence  of  the  kingdom  of  Gujarat. 
Bahadur  Shah,  grandson  and  fourth  successor  of  Mahmiid, 
annexed  the  kingdom  of  Malwa  in  1531  and  three  years  later 
besieged  and  took  the  fortress  of  Chitor  from  the  Rana  of  Mewar. 

The  last  sultan  of  Gujarat,  Muzaffar  Shah,  was  crushed  by 


134  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

Akbar,  who  annexed  the  kingdom  to  his  empire,  completing 
the  conquest  in  1572-3. 

Architecture  in  Gujarat.  Many  very  beautiful  Hindu  and 
Jain  temples,  erected  in  the  time  of  Siddharaja  and  Kuma- 
rapala  {ante,  p.  105),  served  to  a  large  extent  as  materials  and 
models  for  the  equally  beautiful  architecture  of  the  Muham- 
madan  kings.  Ahmadabad  was  made  the  handsomest  city  in 
India,  and  still  deserved  that  epithet  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  its  buildings  being  unsurjoassed  for  elegance,  grace, 
and  profuse  decoration.  Architecture  is  still  a  living  art  in 
Gujarat,  which  is  almost  the  only  province  where  modern 
architects  retain  the  early  traditions  of  their  craft  and  to  a 
considerable  extent  the  skill  of  the  ancients. 

The  Muhammadan  kingdom  of  Malwa.  Malwa,  which  had 
been  conquered  by  Ala-ud-dln  Khilji,  and  then  administered 
by  governors  for  about  a  century,  became  independent  shortly 
after  Timur's  invasion.  The  most  famous  of  its  kings  was 
Hoshang  Shah  (1405-32),  who  made  Mandu  the  capital.  The 
buildings  of  that  city  rivalled  those  of  Ahmadabad.  For 
a  short  time  (1531)  Malwa  was  absorbed  by  Gujarat,  and  in 
1564  it  was  annexed  to  the  empire  of  Delhi  by  Akbar. 

The  Muhammadan  kingdom  of  Khandesh.  The  small  king- 
dom of  Khandesh  in  the  valley  of  the  Tapti  became  indepen- 
dent, like  so  many  other  provinces,  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  continued  to  exist  under  the  govern- 
ment of  a  family  of  Arab  descent  until  a.d.  1601,  when  Akbar 
obtained  possession  of  the  fortress  of  Asirgarh,  which  com- 
manded the  road  to  the  Deccan.  Prince  Daniyal  was  made 
governor  of  the  conquered  province,  to  which  in  compliment 
to  him  the  emperor  gave  the  name  of  Dandesh. 

The  Muhammadan  kingdoms  of  the  Deccan :  the  Bahman! 
kingdom.  The  numerous  independent  states  formed  in  the 
Deccan  can  be  noticed  only  very  briefly.  An  Afghan  officer 
named  Hasan,  and  surnamed  Gangu  BahmanI,  established 
during  the  reign  of  Muhammad  bin  Tughlak  (1347)  an  exten- 
sive kingdom  with  its  capital  first  at  Kulbarga,  in  the  south- 


GaXEvVAY,   AiaLA   Dii\l   Axuo-.^Li;,   Jaunpur 


136  FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526 

west  of  the  territory  now  constituting  the  Nizam's  dominions, 
and  afterwards  at  Bidar,  sixty  miles  distant.^  The  dynasty 
became  known  as  the  Bahmani  from  the  surname  of  its  founder. 
For  more  than  a  century  (1347-1482)  the  Bahmani  kingdom 
stretched  right  across  India  from  sea  to  sea,  including  a  large 
part  of  what  is  now  the  Bombay  Presidency,  as  well  as  the 
Nizam's  dominions,  and  the  '  Northern  Circars  '  of  the  Madras 
Presidency.  The  kings  were  mostly  engaged  in  war  with  the 
powerful  Hindu  state  of  Vijayanagar  on  the  south,  which  then 
dominated  the  whole  of  the  Tamil  territory.  After  1482  the 
kingdom  was  split  up,  and  the  later  Bahmani  kings  had  merely 
nominal  rank.  A  Turkish  officer  founded  a  small  independent 
principality,  which  is  known  to  history  as  the  kingdom  of 
Bidar,  and  lasted  for  more  than  a  century.  The  rulers  of  this 
principality  are  called  the  Barid  Shahis. 

Other  Muhammadan  kingdoms  :  Bijapur.  The  Bahmani 
dynasty,  Avhich  saw  its  best  days  in  the  early  part  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  was  no  longer  able  to  control  the  more 
distant  territories  in  the  time  of  its  decline.  In  1490  a  Turkish 
governor  of  Bijapur  threw  off  his  allegiance,  and  set  up  as  an 
independent  king.  The  dynasty  so  founded,  known  as  the 
Adil  Shahi  from  the  title  of  its  founder,  lasted  until  1686, 
when  Aurangzeb  put  an  end  to  it.  The  ancient  city  is  said  to 
measure  thirty  miles  round,  and  impresses  all  visitors  by  the 
grandeur  of  its  ruins.  The  great  mosques  and  tombs  of  the 
Adil  Shahi  kings,  which  differ  much  in  style  from  those  at 
Agra  and  Delhi,  are  pronounced  by  a  good  judge  to  be 
'  scarcely,  if  at  all,  inferior  in  originality  of  design  and  boldness 
of  execution '. 

Ahmadnagar.  The  Nizam  Shahi  dj'^nasty  of  Ahmadnagar 
was  founded  at  about  the  same  time  as  the  Adil  Shahi  by 
another  rebellious  governor,  Ahmad  Shahi,  son  of  Nizam-ul- 
mulk.  The  details  of  its  history  are  not  of  general  interest, 
and  it  will  be  sufficient  to  note  that  a  gallant  lady,  Chand  Bibi, 
had  the  good  fortune  to  repulse  Akbar  in  1596.  Four  years 
^  Gulbarga  is  tho  Hyderabad  spelling,  Kulbarga  is  better. 


E3 


138  FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526 

later  the  capital  fell  temporarily  into  the  hands  of  the  emperor, 
who  formally  constituted  a  Siiba,  or  province  of  Ahmadnagar, 
but  an  Abyssinian  minister  named  Malik  Ambar  recovered 
possession  of  the  city,  and  the  final  annexation  of  the  kingdom 
did  not  take  place  until  1637. 

Golkonda.  The  kingdom  of  Golkonda  (more  accurately, 
Gulkandah),  another  fragment  of  the  Bahmani  dominion,  sepa- 
rated in  1518.  The  dynasty,  known  as  the  Kutb  Shahi,  lasted 
until  1687,  when  it  was  suppressed  by  Aurangzeb.  Golkonda  is 
close  to  Hyderabad,  now  the  capital  of  the  Nizam's  dominions. 
The  ancient  fortress,  which  contains  some  magnificent  tombs, 
is  used  by  the  Nizam  as  a  state  prison  and  treasure-house. 

Berar  or  Elichpur.  Yet  another  revolted  governor  set  up 
a  small  kingdom  in  Berar,  with  its  capital  at  Elichpur,  which 
lasted  for  about  eighty-four  years,  until  1574,  when  it  was 
annexed  by  Ahmadnagar.  The  kings  are  spoken  of  as  the 
Imad  Shahi  dynasty. 

The  five  sultans  of  the  Deccan  :  summary.  Thus  it  appears 
that  on  the  ruins  of  the  Bahmani  kingdom  arose  five  distinct 
Muhammadan  sultanates,  namely  : 

(1)  the  Barid  Shahis  of  Bidar  ; 

(2)  the  Adil  Shahis  of  Bijapur  ; 

(3)  the  Nizam  Shahis  of  Ahmadnagar  ; 

(4)  the  Kutb  Shahis  of  Golkonda  ;'»and 

(5)  the  Imad  Shahis  of  Berar  or  ElichjDur, 

The  history  of  Southern  India  between  a.d.  1400  and  1565 
may  be  summed  up  as  that  of  a  conflict  between  the  Hindu 
kingdom  of  Vijayanagar  and  the  five  sultans  of  the  Deccan, 
which  ended  in  the  decisive  victory  of  the  Musalman  powers, 
who  in  their  turn  were  forced  to  bow  before  the  might  of  the 
Mughal  emperors  of  Delhi. 

The  Hindu  kingdom  of  Vijayanagar.  Shortly  after  the 
destruction  by  Muhammad  bin  Tughlak  of  the  Hoj^sala  power 
{ante,  p.  95)  five  brothers,  feudatories  of  that  state,  began  to 
create  an  independent  kingdom  to  the  south  of  the  Krishna 
and  Tungabhadra  rivers.     Two  of  them,  Harihara  I  and  Bukka 


THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI  139 

(a.d.  1336-76)  are  counted  as  the  first  two  kings  of  Vijaya- 
nagar.  The  new  kingdom  grew  so  quickly  that  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  brothers  the  Muhammadans  were  driven  from 
Madura,  the  old  Pandya  capital,  and  the  Chola  kingdom  also 
was  absorbed  in  the  dominions  of  the  new-born  state.  The 
learned  Brahman  Madhavacharya,  and  his  brother  Sayana,  the 
famous  commentator  on  the  Vedas  and  other  sacred  literature, 
were  ministers  of  the  first  four  kings. 

The  city.  The  capital  was  established  at  Vijayanagar,  now 
represented  by  the  extensive  ruins  at  Hampi  and  the  neigh- 
bourhood in  the  Bellary  District  of  Madras.  The  kings,  who 
were  Kanarese  by  birth,  assumed  the  Kanarese  title  of  Raya. 
Under  their  care  the  city  progressed  with  such  rapidity  that 
when  it  was  visited  in  1443  by  a  Persian  ambassador  named 
Abdur  Razzak,  it  was  one  of  the  most  magnificent  cities  in  Asia. 
Its  ruins,  which  have  been  surveyed  recently  in  detail,  are 
crowded  with  fine  Hindu  buildings,  and  cover  many  square 
miles.  The  city  was  protected,  like  ancient  Kanauj  and  Delhi, 
by  seven  distinct  lines  of  fortifications,  and  its  bazaars  swarmed 
with  dealers  in  all  the  commodities  of  the  eastern  world. 

A  few  sentences  from  Abdur  Razzak 's  detailed  description 
may  be  quoted  : 

'  The  city  is  such  that  the  pupil  of  the  eye  has  never  seen 
a  place  like  it,  and  the  ear  of  intelligence  has  never  been  in- 
formed that  there  existed  anything  to  equal  it  in  the  world. 
It  is  built  in  such  a  manner  that  seven  citadels  and  the  same 
number  of  walls  enclose  each  other.  Around  the  first  citadel 
are  stones  of  the  height  of  a  man,  one  half  of  which  is  sunk  in  the 
ground,  while  the  other  half  rises  above  it.  These  are  fixed 
one  beside  the  other  in  such  a  manner  that  no  horse  or  foot 
soldier  could  boldly  or  with  ease  approach  the  citadel.  .  .  . 

'  Above  each  bazaar  is  a  lofty  arcade  with  a  magnificent 
gallery,  bvit  the  audience-hall  of  the  king's  palace  is  elevated 
above  all  the  rest.    The  bazaars  are  extremely  long  and  broad. 

'  Flowers  are  sold  everywhere.  These  people  could  not  live 
without  flowers,  and  they  look  upon  them  as  quite  as  necessary 
as  food.  .  .  .  Each  class  of  men  belonging  to  each  profession 
has  shops  contiguous  the  one  to  the  other ;  the  jewellers  sell 


140  FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526 

publicly  in  the  bazaars  pearls,  rubies,  emeralds,  and  diamonds. 
In  this  agreeable  locality,  as  well  as  in  the  king's  palace,  one 
sees  numerous  running  streams  and  canals  formed  of  chiselled 
stone,  polished  and  smooth.  .  .  .  This  empire  contains  so  great 
a  population  that  it  would  bcrimpossible  to  give  an  idea  of  it 
without  entering  into  extensive  details.  In  the  king's  palace 
are  several  cells,  like  basins,  filled  with  bullion,  forming  one 
mass.  .  .  .  The  throne,  which  was  of  extraordinary  size,  was 
made  of  gold,  and  enriched  with  precious  stones  of  extreme 
value.' 

Government,  &c.,  of  the  kingdom.  Portuguese  authors, 
especially  one  named  Nuiiiz,  who  wrote  about  1535,  give  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  government,  administration,  and  institu- 
tions of  the  Vijayanagar  kingdom  or  empire  in  the  days  of  its 
splendour. 

The  government  was  of  the  most  absolute  kind  possible, 
the  king's  power  over  everybody,  great  or  small,  being  without 
check  of  any  kind.  All  the  attendance  on  the  king  was  done 
by  women,  many  of  whom  were  armed. 

'  These  kings  of  Bisnaga  eat  all  sorts  of  things,  but  not  the 
flesh  of  oxen  or  cows,  which  they  never  kill  in  all  the  country 
of  the  heathen  because  they  worship  them.  The}'  eat  mutton, 
pork,  venison,  partridges,  hares,  doves,  quail,  and  all  kinds.of 
birds ;  even  sparrows,  and  rats,  and  cats,  and  lizards,  all  of 
which  are  sold  in  the  city  of  Bisnaga.'^ 

The  empire  was  divided  into  about  two  hundred  provinces 
or  districts,  each  under  the  control  of  a  governor,  who  was 
absolute  in  his  domain,  but  was  himself  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  the  king.  Each  governor  had  to  supply  a  certain  number 
of  equipped  soldiers.  The  army  thus  raised  numbered  fully 
a  million  of  men.  A  huge  revenue  was  collected.  While  the 
king  andnobles  lived  m  luxury,the  common  people  were  ground 
down  to  the  dust,  and  left  barel}'  enough  to  support  life. 

The  punishments  for  crime  were  of  appalling  severity. 

^  Bisnaga  is  the  Portuguese  form  of  the  name.  '  Heathen  '  means  Hindus, 
as  distinguished  from  '  Moors  ',  or  Muslims. 


THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI  141 

'  For  a  thief,  whatever  theft  he  commits,  howsoever  little  it 
be,  they  forthwith  cut  off  a  foot  and  a  hand,  and  if  his  theft  be 
a  threat  one  he  is  hanged  with  a  hook  under  his  chin.' 

It  is  not  surprising  to  be  told  that  thieves  were  '  very  few  '. 
Impalement  and  the  other  horrible  penalties  then  common 
throughout  India  were  also  inflicted. 

Duelling  was  permitted,  with  the  sanction  of  the  minister, 
and  persons  who  fought  duels  were  held  in  high  honour.  The 
victor  was  given  the  estate  of  the  opponent  whom  he  killed.^ 
Suttee  (sat't)  was  widely  j^ractised,  and  when  the  king  died, 
four  or  five  hundred  of  his  women  had  to  burn  with  him. 
Telugu  women  were  buried  alive  with  their  husbands. 

Such  was  life  under  a  purely  Hindu  government  m  the  early 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

Later  history  of  Vijayanagar ;  Krishnaraya  Deva.  As  already 
observed,  the  external  history  of  the  Vijayanagar  kingdom 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  statement  that  the  Rayas  were 
engaged  continually  in  fighting  their  Musalman  rivals — at 
first  the  Bahmani  kingdom,  and  then  the  five  sultanates  of 
the  Deccan.  The  most  notable  of  the  Rayas  was  Krishnaraya 
Deva  (1509-29)  M'ho  overcame  the  armies  of  Orissa,  Golkonda, 
and  Bijapur.  He  was  the  last  great  Hindu  sovereign  of 
Southern  India.  Krishnaraya  Deva  was  famous  for  his  re- 
ligious zeal  and  his  charming  disposition. 

'  His  kindness  to  the  fallen  enemy,  his  acts  of  mercy  and 
charity  towards  the  residents  of  captured  cities,  his  great 
military  prowess,  which  endeared  him  alike  to  his  feudatory 
chiefs  and  to  his  subjects,  the  royal  reception  and  kindness  that 
he  invariably  bestowed  upon  foreign  embassies,  his  imposing 
personal  appearance,  his  genial  look  and  polite  conversation 
which  distinguished  a  pure  and  dignified  life,  his  love  for 

^  Mr.  Frederick  Fawcett  informs  me  that  in  the  Malabar  District  the 
custom  of  duelling  among  the  Nayars  was  well  remembered  less  than  twenty 
years  ago,  and  celebrated  in  popular  ballads.  The  weapons  used  were 
swords. 


142  FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526 

literature  and  for  religion,  and  his  solicitude  for  the  welfare 
of  his  people,  and  above  all,  the  almost  fabulous  wealth  that 
he  conferred  as  endowments  on  temples  and  Brahmans,  mark 
him  out  indeed  as  the  greatest  of  the  South  Indian  monarchs 
who  sheds  a  lustre  on  the  pages  of  history.'  ^ 

Battle  of  Talikota.  When  Sadasiva  became  nominal  Raya, 
the  actual  power  was  wielded  by  his  brother-in-law,  Ramaraja, 
whose  pride  so  incensed  his  neighbours  that  four  of  the  five 
sultans  laid  aside  their  private  quarrels  to  combine  against  the 
common  Hindu  enemy.  Enormous  armies  on  both  sides  met 
in  battle  in  January  1565,  at  a  spot  to  the  north  of  the  Tunga- 
bhadra  not  far  from  the  capital.  The  battle  is  known  in  history 
by  the  name  of  Talikota,  although  that  village  is  distant  from 
the  scene  of  the  conflict.  The  Hindu  host  was  utterly  defeated, 
and  Ramaraja  was  captured  and  killed.  His  splendid  city  was 
mercilessly  sacked,  and  ever  since  has  lain  desolate. 

Grant  of  the  site  of  Madras.  The  history  of  the  kingdom 
of  Vijayanagar  as  an  important  dominant  state  ends  with  the 
disaster  of  Talikota,  but  the  successors  of  Sadasiva  long  ruled 
a  considerable  principality  in  the  south,  with  their  capital 
at  first  at  Penukonda,  and  afterwards  at  Chandragiri.  In 
1639  (O.S.)  a  chief  subordinate  to  the  Raja  of  Chandragiri,  in 
consideration  of  a  yearly  rent,  conveyed  a  strip  of  sandbank, 
situated  on  the  bank  of  the  Couum  river  to  the  north  of  the 
dacayed  Portuguese  settlement  of  San  Thome,  to  Mr.  Francis 
Day,  a  British  merchant,  Member  of  Council  in  the  East  India 
Company's  Agency  at  Masulipatam.  On  the  site  so  granted 
the  city  of  Madras  was  founded.  The  gold  plate  on  which  the 
conveyance  was  recorded  was  lost  with  other  similar  docu- 
ments subsequently,  perhaps  during  the  French  occupation 
of  Madras,  1746-9. 

The  Hindu  state  of  Mewar  (Udaipur).  The  Rana  of  Mewar, 
who  belongs  to  the  Sisodia  or  Gahlot  clan  of  Rajpiits,  is 
admittedly  the  premier  Rajpiit  prince.     His  ancestors  never 

^  Krishna  Sastri, '  The  Second  Vijayanagara  Dynasty  ',  in  Ann.  Bep.  A.  S., 
India,  1908-9,  p.  186, 


THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI  143 

permitted  the  purity  of  their  blood  to  be  defiled  hy  marriage 
of  their  daughters  with  the  Mughal  emperors,  and  their  state 
never  submitted  to  Musalman  power,  except  to  Jahangir  on 
honourable  terms.  The  ancient  capital,  the  famous  fortress  of 
Chitor,  is  supposed  to  have  been  occupied  in  the  eighth  century. 
Its  three  sieges,  by  Ala-ud-din  Khilji  in  1303,  by  Bahadur 
Shah  of  Gujarat  in  1534,  and  by  Akbar  in  1568,  gave  occasion 
for  the  display  of  prodigies  of  valour  by  the  Rajput  defenders, 
and  for  ghastly  tragedies  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  women  by  fire 
(Johar)  to  save  them  from  capture.  Before  the  last  siege  the 
Rana  changed  his  residence  to  LMaipur,  A\'hich  has  been  the 
capital  ever  since.  The  two  towers  at  Chitor  known  as  the 
Kirti  Stambh  and  Jai  Stambh  are  notable  works  of  Hindu 
art.  The  conflict  between  Rana  Sanga  and  Babur  will  be 
noticed  in  the  next  chapter. 

The  Hindu  kingdom  of  Orissa.  Orissa,  including  the  modern 
Division  of  that  name  in  the  province  of  Bihar  and  Orissa, 
as  well  as  the  Ganjam  and  Vizagapatam  Districts  of  Madras, 
always  lay  by  reason  of  its  situation  outside  the  mam  stream 
of  Indian  history.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  period  of 
the  sultanate  of  Delhi  the  country  was  governed  by  the  Eastern 
Ganga  dynasty.  The  first  of  this  line  in  Orissa,  Anantavarman 
Cholaganga,  reigned  for  seventy-one  years  (a,  d.  1076-1147), 
and  established  his  power  over  the  whole  territory  between  the 
Ganges  and  Godavari,  The  temple  of  Jagannath  at  Puri  was 
built  under  his  orders  towards  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century. 

Muhammadan  attacks  on  Orissa.  The  Muhammadan 
liistorians  apply  the  name  of  Jajnagar  to  Orissa.  The  first 
Muhammadan  inroad  into  the  province  was  made  by  an  officer 
of  Muhammad -i-Bakhtyar  in  1205.  Later  incursions  were  led 
by  Firoz  Shah  and  others,  tempted  by  the  facilities  for  obtain- 
ing elephants  in  the  country.  Akbar  subdued  tb(>  kingdom 
more  or  less  completely,  and  attached  it  to  the  Suba  of  Bengal. 
The  way  had  been  prepared  for  this  measure  by  tiie  invasion 
of  Kala  Pahar,  a  general  of  the  sultan  of  Bengal,  a  few  years 
earlier. 


144  FROM  A.  D    1193  TO  1526 

Orissan  architecture.  The  province  offers  a  long  series  of 
fine  examples  of  the  '  Indo-Aryan  '  style  of  temples  with  heavy 
steeples  and  few  pillars.  The  noble  temple  of  the  Sun 
(Konarka,  Kanarue)  at  Konakona  is  proved  by  inscriptions  to 
have  been  built  or  rebuilt  by  Raja  Nrisimha  in  the  thirteenth 
century  (1238-64),  but  looks,  and  probably  is  in  part,  much 
older.  The  magnificent  group  of  temples  at  Bhuvanesvar 
appears  to  extend  over  a  considerable  period. 

Government  of  the  sultans  of  Delhi.  The  government  of 
the  sultans  of  Delhi  was  an  absolute  despotism,  tempered  by 
rebellion  and  assassination.  The  control  over  distant  provinces 
v/as  lax  and  slight,  and  the  bonds  which  connected  them  with 
Delhi  were  easily  broken  in  the  disturbed  times  which  followed 
the  tj^ranny  of  Muhammad  bin  Tughlak.  The  subordinate 
governments  were  equally  despotic,  and  when  the  rulers  were 
Musalmans  the  Hindus  generally  seem  to  have  had  a  bad  time. 
Fir5z  Shah  Tughlak  was  the  only  sultan  who  cared  to  execute 
public  works  for  the  general  benefit. 

Literature  and  architecture.  Many  of  the  Muhammadan 
princes  had  a  nice  taste  in  Persian  literature,  which  they 
liberally  patronized,  and,  as  we  have  seen  {ante,  p.  105),  the 
Hindu  Rajas  often  maintained  brilliant  courts  and  encouraged 
Sanskrit  letters.  The  numerous  splendid  architectural  works 
in  the  various  provinces  have  been  noticed,  as  well  as  some  of 
the  buildings  with  which  Delhi  was  adorned.  The  name  of 
Delhi  is  applied  for  convenience  to  a  series  of  cities  beginning 
with  the  Old  Delhi  (Dilli)  of  Ananga  Pala  in  the  eleventh 
century  and  extending  to  the  New  Delhi  (Shahjahanabad)  of 
Shahjahan  in  the  seventeenth.  Yet  another  Delhi  is  now 
being  built  to  serve  as  the  official  capital  of  India  from  1912, 
in  pursuance  of  the  command  of  H.M.  the  King-Emperor. 
The  architecture  of  the  sultanate — that  is  to  say,  of  the 
Muhammadan  buildings — was  designed  in  various  foreign 
styles,  executed  and  modified  by  Hindu  architects,  whom 
the  conquerors  were  obliged  to  employ.  The  term  '  Pathan 
architecture  '  is  as  erroneous  and  misleading  as  the  corre- 


THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI  145 

spending  terms  'Pathan  kings'  and  '  Pathan  empire'.  The 
architects  imitated  various  Muslim  buildings  in  Damascus, 
Mecca,  and  other  places. 

The  Urdu  language.  The  Urdu,  or  Persianized  Hindustani, 
language  grew  up  gradually  as  a  means  of  communication 
between  the  foreign  conquerors,  who  generally  spoke  either 
TurkI  or  Persian,  and  their  Hindu  subjects.  The  Western 
Hindi  dialect  of  Delhi  and  the  upper  Doab  is  the  basis  of  the 
language  now  called  Hindustani.  When  Persian  and  Arabic 
words  and  phrases  are  freely  admitted,  that  language  takes 
the  name  of  Urdu.  The  word  Urdu  is  the  Turk!  for  '  camp  ', 
and  is  the  origin  of  the  English  word  '  horde  '.  It  was  specially 
applied  to  the  encampment  of  the  warrior  Musalman  kings, 
whose  camp  was  their  court,  and  in  the  Mughal  period  coins  are 
often  marked  as  struck  in  the  urdu,  or  royal  camp.  The  Urdu 
language,  therefore,  means  the  form  of  Hindustani,  or  polished 
Western  Hindi,  spoken  about  the  court,  and  thus  diffused,  in 
several  varieties,  over  the  greater  part  of  India.  The  earliest 
Urdu  literature,  written  in  verse,  in  the  ReTchta  dialect,  was  com- 
jDosed  in  the  Deccan  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
L^rdu  prose  is  a  recent  development  under  English  influence. 

Spread  of  Muhammadanism.  We  have  seen  something  of 
the  ferocity  displayed  by  the  early  Muhammadan  conquerors 
.against  Hindus,  Jains,  and  Buddhists,  all  equally  hated  because 
of  their  use  of  images  in  worship.  Occasionally  a  Hindu  Raja 
and  his  followers  were  tempted  to  save  their  lives  by  professing 
the  creed  of  Islam,  and  many  of  the  Indian  Musalman  families 
of  the  present  day  are  descended  from  converts  made  at  the 
point  of  the  sword  in  the  period  of  the  sultanate.  Desire 
to  escape  payment  of  the  jizya  or  poll-tax  imposed  on  all  non- 
Muhammadans  was  a  powerful  motive  which  influenced  many 
conversions,  especially  among  the  lower  classes.  Constant 
immigration  of  Musalmans  also  went  on,  and  the  natural 
increase  of  the  offspring  of  such  settlers  soon  formed  a  large 
Muhammadan  element  in  many  parts  of  India,  most  numerous 
at  and  near  the  capital  cities. 


Guru  Nanak 


FROM  A.  D.  1193  TO  1526  147 

Causes  of  Muslim  victories.    The  student  may  ask  for  an 

explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  Muslim  armies  were  almost 
always  victorious  over  much  more  numerous  Hindu  hosts. 
The  combatants  on  both  sides  were  equally  brave  and  ready 
to  sacrifice  life  for  the  sake  of  a  cause,  and  the  Hindu  failure 
was  not  due  to  cowardice.  But  the  Muhammadans  were  in 
practice  the  better  fighting  men,  because  they  were  better 
equipped,  animated  by  a  fierce  fanatical  spirit  which  wel- 
comed death,  and  bound  together  by  a  sentiment  of  equality 
and  unity.  They  were  free,  too,  from  the  excessive  respect  for 
the  traditions  of  antiquity  which  fettered  the  freedom  of 
Hindu  action.  The  invaders,  coming  from  colder  climates 
and  using  a  meat  diet,  were  personally  more  hardy  and 
vigorous  on  the  whole  than  their  opponents.  They  were 
better  provided  with  armour,  and  from  the  time  of  Babur 
utilized  the  European  invention  of  big  guns.  Islam  regards 
all  Muslims  as  equal  and  as  brethren.  The  Muhammadans, 
rich  and  poor,  freemen  and  slaves,  fought  with  one  mind,  and 
so  had  an  enormous  advantage  over  the  Hindus,  broken  up 
by  endless  caste  divisions  and  sectional  jealousies.  Union 
was  strength,  as  it  always  is.  The  comparatively  small 
numbers  of  the  invaders  forced  them  to  fight  for  victory  or 
death.  They  had  no  fear  of  death,  but  rather  longed  for  it  as 
the  gate  to  the  paradise  reserved  for  the  ghazl,  the  slayer  of  the 
idolatrous  infidel,  whom  it  was  a  pleasure  '  to  send  to  hell  '. 
The  Hindu  could  not  look  forward  to  anj^  such  special  reward 
for  slaying  a  Musalman,  The  Indian  generals  thought  too 
much  of  antiquated  rules  of  their  sMstras,  and  relied  too  con- 
fidently on  their  elephants.  Thej'  had  quite  forgotten  the 
lesson  taught  them  ages  earlier  by  Alexander  of  Macedon,  who 
proved  the  uselessness  of  elephants  against  horsemen  and 
archers  well  led  by  bold  commanders.  Ingenuity  might,  per- 
haps, suggest  other  reasons,  but  so  many  may  sufiice. 

Influence  of  Islam  on  Hinduism.  The  religion  of  the  stran- 
gers, with  its  insistence  on  the  great  doctrine  that '  there  is  one 
Grod',  undoubtedly  influenced  the  spirit  of  Hindu  teaching 


148  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

and  had  much  to  do  with  the  appearance  of  a  number  of 
religious  reformers  who  preached  to  the  effect  that  all  religions 
are  essentially  the  same,  and  all  honour  the  one  God  under 
different  names. 

Ramanuja,  Ramanand,  Kabir,  Nanak,  Chaitanya.  Rama- 
nuja,  who  lived  at  Srirangam  in  the  south  at  the  close  of  the 
eleventh  and  in  the  first  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  is  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  teachers  who  gave  special 
devotion  to  the  Deity  in  the  form  of  Vishnu.  '  It  was  the 
school  of  Ramanuja  ',  Professor  Barnett  observes,  '  that  first 
blended  into  a  full  harmony  the  voices  of  reason  and  of  devotion 
by  worshipping  a  Supreme  of  infinitely  blessed  qualities  both 
in  His  heaven  and  as  revealed  to  the  soul  of  man  in  incarnate 
experience ' — a  doctrine  hardly  to  be  distinguished  in  substance 
from  the  Christian  idea  of  the  Incarnation.  The  teaching  of 
Ramanuja,  which  even  in  his  lifetime  was  not  confined  to  the 
south,  was  propagated  in  the  north  during  the  fourteenth 
century  by  Ramanand,  who  sought  especially  to  save  the  souls 
of  the  poorer  and  more  despised  classes.  He  preferred  to 
honour  God  under  the  name  of  Rama.  The  most  renowned  of 
his  twelve  disciples  was  Kabir  (died  ?  a.d.  1518),  whose  terse 
sayings  are  on  everybody's  lips  in  Upper  India.  His  teaching 
appealed  equally  to  Musalmans  and  Hindus.  In  the  fifteenth 
century,  Nanak,  the  founder  of  the  Sikh  sect,  taught  his  dis- 
ciples on  Kabir's  lines,  and  had  followers  among  the  Musal- 
mans as  well  as  the  Hindus.  Bengal  especially  venerates  the 
memory  of  Chaitanya  of  Nuddea  (Navadvipa,  1485-1533), 
who  denounced  the  use  of  animal  food,  the  practice  of  bloody 
sacrifice,  and  the  use  of  stimulants.  He,  in  common  with 
many  other  teachers,  rejected  the  old  Brahman  doctrine  of 
salvation  by  knowledge,  and  pleaded  that  men  and  women 
could  be  saved  only  by  fervent  living  faith  {bJmkti)  in  a  per- 
sonal, loving  God. 

The  doctrine  of  faith  {bhakti).  This  doctrine  of  bhakti^ 
which  has  much  in  common  with  some  forms  of  Christianity, 
may  be  traced  back  to  the  Bhagavad-gUd  {ante,  p.  39),  and  lies  at 


Chaitanya 

(From  a  photo  of  a  contemporary  wooden  statue  preserved 
at  Pratapapur,  Orissa,  supplied  by  Babu  N.  N.  Vasu.) 


150  THE  SULTANATE  OF  DELHI 

the  base  of  a  great  part  of  mediaeval  and  modern  Hindu  litera- 
ture in  the  various  vernaculars.  The  writers  may  be  divided 
into  three  classes  according  as  the  object  of  their  worship  is 
Rama,  Krishna,  or  some  form  of  Siva  or  his  consort.  Tulsi 
Das  {ante,  p.  40)  (1532-1623)  has  done  much  to  teach  the 
masses  of  the  people  in  Upper  India  the  beauty  of  faith  in 
Rama,  the  Saviour.  Chaitanya  found  the  objects  of  his  devo- 
tion in  Krishna  and  his  divine  queen,  Radha,  and  by  the 
addition  of  the  feminine  element  produced  a  highly  emotional 
form  of  religion,  congenial  to  the  Bengali  temperament. 


BOOK  IV 

THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  A.D.  1526  TO  1761 
CHAPTER  XVI 

Babur^ ;  Humayun  ;  Slier  Shah  and  the  Sur  dynasty. 

Early  life  of  Babur.  Babur  (Zahlr-ud-din  Muhammad),  king 
of  Kabul,  whom  Daulat  Khan  called  in  as  his  ally  against 
Sultan  Ibrahim  Lodi  of  Delhi  {ante,  p.  129),  was  the  most  re- 
markable prince  of  his  age.  Descended  in  the  male  line  from 
Timur,  in  the  female  from  the  stock  of  Chingiz  Khan,  he 
succeeded  his  father,  Omar  Shaikh,  on  the  throne  of  the  little 
Central  Asian  kingdom  of  Ferghana  or  Khokand  at  the  age  of 
eleven.  In  the  course  of  a  stormy  youth  he  passed  through 
countless  adventures,  and  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-eight 
years  of  age  (a,  d.  1511)  had  been  driven  out  of  his  ancestral 
realm  and  had  twice  won  and  lost  the  kingdom  of  Samarkand. 
Seven  years  earlier  he  had  seized  Kabul,  and  from  that  time, 
being  disappointed  in  his  ambition  to  restore  the.  empire  of 
Timiir  in  Central  Asia,  directed  his  thoughts  and  hopes  towards 
the  rich  plains  of  India. 

Raids  on  India,  a.d.  1505-25.  In  1505  Babur  occupied 
Ghazni  and  raided  the  Indian  frontier  as  far  as  the  Indus,  but 
he  did  not  cross  that  river  until  1519,  when  he  effected  a  tem- 
porary occupation  of  part  of  the  Panjab.  That  campaign  was 
notable  for  Babur 's  effective  use  of  European  artillery,  then 
a  novelty  in  the  East,  In  1524,  in  response  to  the  appeal  of 
Daulat  Khan  and  of  Alam  Khan,  the  uncle  and  rival  of  Sultan 
Ibrahim,  he  reached  Lahore  and  Debalpur,  sacking  both.  But 
in  consequence  of  Daulat  Khan's  desertion,  Babur  was  obliged 

1  Babur  or  Babur,  not  Babar  (J.  and  Proc.  A.  8.  B.,  1910,  vol.  vi,  N.S., 
extra  number,  p.  iv). 


r 


o\^- 


7^/rf 


BABUR 


\  ,  4 


\    i 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761      153 

to  return  to  Kabul  for  reinforcements,  and  his  final  invasion 
of  India  did  not  begin  until  November,  1525. 

First  battle  of  Panipat,  1526.  Babur's  little  force  of  less 
than  12,000  men  met  the  host  of  Sultan  Ibrahim,  estimated  to 
number  about  100,000  men,  on  the  plain  of  Panipat,  some  fifty- 
miles  to  the  north  of  Dslhi,  on  April  21,  1526.  The  invader  had 
the  advantage  of  possessing  a  large  number  of  field-guns  ;  the 
sultan,  after  the  Indian  manner,  relied  on  his  elephants  and, 
like  Porus,  found  them  useless  to  protect  his  infantry  against 
cavalry  well  handled.  Babur  executed  the  manoeuvre  which 
Alexander  had  found  so  successful  against  Porus,  and  wheelmg 
his  horsemen  round  with  resistless  speed,  attacked  the  enemy's 
rear.  In  the  course  of  the  forenoon  the  army  of  Delhi  was 
completely  routed,  and  Sultan  Ibrahim  lay  dead  on  the  field 
with  fifteen  thousand  of  his  men.  'By  the  grace  and  mercy 
of  Almighty  God  ',  Babur  wrote,  'this  difficult  affair  was  made 
easy  to  me,  and  that  mighty  army,  in  the  space  of  half  a  day, 
was  laid  in  the  dust.' 

Babur  proclaimed  as  Padshah.  The  victor,  who  used  the  title 
of  Padshah  in  preference  to  that  of  Sultan,  quickly  occupied 
Delhi  and  Agra,  being  proclaimed  sovereign  at  both  cities  on 
Friday,  April  27.  Vast  booty  having  been  distributed,  Babur's 
troops,  disgusted  with  the  intense  heat,  longed  to  return  to  the 
cool  hills  of  Kabul,  and  were  aj)peased  with  difficulty  by  a 
speech  from  their  commander. 

Battle  of  Kanwaha  or  Sikri,  1527.  During  the  short 
remainder  of  his  life  Babur  was  employed  in  trying  to  secure 
the  foothold  which  he  had  obtained  in  the  country,  and  had  no 
leisure  to  think  of  the  problems  of  civil  government.  His 
most  formidable  foe  was  the  gallant  Rana  Sanga,  lord  of  the 
fortress  of  Chitor,  chieftain  of  Mewar,  head  of  the  Rajput  clans, 
and  leader  of  a  confederacy  comprising  more  than  a  hundred 
Hindu  princes.  The  Rana,  the  '  fragment  of  a  man ',  a  'col- 
lection of  casualties  ',  whose  valour  in  countless  fights  was 
proved  by  the  eighty  wounds  on  his  body,  brought  into  the 
field  a  huge  army  supposed  to  number  200,000.     Babur's  force, 


154    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

which  was  much  inferior  in  numbers  but  superior  in  artillery 
and  generalship,  met  the  Hindu  host  at  Kanwaha  (Kanwa, 
Khanua,  or  Khanwah)  near  SikrI,  about  twenty  miles  from 
Agra,  on  March  16,  1527.  From  morning  until  evening  the 
battle  was  fiercely  contested,  but  was  decided  against  the 
Hindus  by  the  tactics  which  had  succeeded  at  Panipat.  The 
victory  was  complete,  and  the  Rajput  power  was  broken.  The 
storming  of  Chanderi,  a  strong  fortress  in  the  south-east  of 
Malwa,  crowned  the  victory,  and  left  Babur  free  to  deal  with 
other  enemies. 

Battle  of  the  Ghaghra  (Gogra).  Babur's  third  great  Indian 
battle  was  fought  in  May,  1529,  near  the  confluence  of  the 
Ghaghra  with  the  Ganges,  against  the  Afghan  chiefs  of  Bihar 
and  Bengal,  who  had  taken  uj)  the  cause  of  Mahmud,  the 
brother  of  Sultan  Ibrahim,  who  fell  at  Panipat.  This  conflict 
too  resulted  in  victory  for  the  Padshah,  who  made  a  treaty 
with  Nasrat  Shah,  the  independent  king  of  Bengal,  and  became 
the  sovereign  of  Bihar.  But  Babur's  sovereignty  was  of  a  very 
precarious  kind,  and  depended  solely  on  the  power  of  his 
sword  ;  the  task  of  converting  a  mere  military  occupation  into 
a  well-ordered  government  was  reserved  for  his  grandson. 

Death  of  Babur.  Babur's  stormy  life  ended  in  1530,  when  he 
was  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  A  pathetic  story  re- 
lated in  an  appendix  to  his  Memoirs  tells  how  his  beloved  son 
Humayun  was  desperately  ill  with  fever,  and  was  believed  to 
have  been  saved  by  his  father's  taking  the  malady  on  himself. 
'  He  entered  his  son's  chamber,  and  going  to  the  head  of  the 
bed,  walked  gravely  three  times  round  the  sick  man,  saying  the 
while  :  "  On  me  be  all  that  thou  art  suffering."  '  The  prayer 
was  answered.  The  son  regained  health  and  the  father  died. 
This  touching  incident  happened  at  Agra,  then  the  capital. 
On  December  26,  1530,  Babur  passed  away  in  his  palace  at 
Agra.  His  dust  lies  in  the  garden  below  the  hill  at  Kabul, 
'the  sweetest  spot  in  the  neighbourhood ',  which  he  had  chosen 
to  be  his  last  resting-place. 

Character  of  Babur.    Few  warrior  princes  have  left  behind 


THE  IVIUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     155 

them  a  memory  as  pleasing  as  that  of  Babur,  Like  all  the 
kings  of  his  family  he  loved  literature  and  the  society  of 
polished  and  learned  men.  In  his  inimitable  Memoirs  he  has 
drawn  a  living  picture  of  himself,  his  virtues  and  vices,  his 
wisdom  and  his  folly,  which  stands  almost  alone  in  literature. 
Valiant,  strong,  and  fearless  beyond  the  common,  he  was  no 
mere  soldier,  but  is  justly  entitled  to  the  higher  praise  due  to 
a  capable  general.  At  times,  no  doubt,  he  allowed  himself  to 
display  something  of  the  bloodthirsty  ferocity  of  his  ancestors, 
but  in  general  his  conduct  was  marked  by  chivalrous  generosity. 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  affections,  and  inspired  by  a  tender, 
passionate  admiration  for  the  beauties  of  nature  which  is  rare 
among  the  '  men  of  blood  and  iron ' ,  For  some  years  he,  like 
many  of  his  ancestors  and  descendants,  allowed  his  noble 
qualities  to  be  obscured  by  intemperance.  His  will,  however, 
was  strong  enough  to  subdue  his  vice,  and  when  he  found 
himself  committed  to  a  life-and-death  struggle  with  Rana 
Sanga  he  broke  his  cups  and  rarely  tasted  wine  again.  But  he 
missed  his  liquor  sorely,  and  lamented  in  verse  : 

'  Distraught  I  am  since  that  I  gave  up  wine  ; 
Confused,  to  nothing  doth  my  soul  incline.' 

Humayun.  Humayun,  the  eldest  of  his  four  sons,  and 
designated  by  Babur  as  his  successor,  was  nominall}'  master  of 
an  empire  extending  from  the  Karamnasa  on  the  frontier  of 
Bengal  to  the  Oxus,  and  from  the  Himalayas  to  the  Narbada. 
But  he  was  obliged  immediately  to  relinquish  the  Kabul  and 
Panjab  territories  to  his  next  brother,  Kamran,  in  practical 
independence,  and  had  no  firm  hold  of  any  part  of  his  wide 
dominions.  The  Mughal  Padshah  at  this  time  was  merely  the 
leader  of  a  horde  of  foreign  adventurers  comj)elled  continually 
to  battle  for  existence  against  the  leaders  of  earlier  settled 
Muslim  hordes  and  innumerable  Hindu  Rajas. 

Expulsion  of  Humayun,  1540.  Cut  off  from  the  north- 
western territories  by  Kamran 's  kingdom,  Humayun  was 
placed  between  two  strong  powers — Gujarat,  under  Bahadur, 


156     THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

on  the  west,  and  Bihar,  under  Sher  Khan,  on  the  east.  Early 
in  his  reign  Humayun  defeated  Bahadur  and  marched  across 
his  country  to  Cambay  on  the  coast,  but  was  recalled  to  meet 
the  eastern  danger,  and  Bahadur  quickly  recovered  his  king- 
dom. Sher  Khan,  the  Afghan,  who  had  made  himself  master 
of  Bihar  and  the  strong  fortress  of  Rohtas  inflicted  two  crush- 
ing defeats  on  Humayun,  at  Chausa  on  the  Ganges  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Karamnasa  (1539),  and  again  in  the  following 
year  at  Kanauj.  The  last  battle  cost  Humayun  his  throne, 
which  was  occupied  by  his  opponent  under  the  title  of  Sher 
Shah  (1540).  As  Sher  Shah  belonged  to  the  Siir  tribe  of 
Afghans  or  Pathans  his  dynasty  is  known  by  the  name  of 
Siir.  It  is  the  fashion  to  regard  him  as  an  usurper,  because 
in  the  end  his  rival  won,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Sher  Shah 
had  as  good  a  right  to  the  throne  as  Humayun  had.  Neither 
had  any  right  save  that  of  the  sword. 

Exile  of  Humayun.  Humayun  now  became  a  homeless 
wanderer.  He  tried  in  vain  to  obtain  help  from  his  brother 
Kamran,  but  that  prince  withdrew  to  Kabul,  and  left  the 
Pan  jab  to  Sher  Shah.  The  exile  then  sought  aid  from  the 
chiefs  of  Sind  and  the  Hindu  Raja,  Maldeo  of  Marwar,  without 
success.  In  the  course  of  painful  wanderings  with  a  few 
followers  through  waterless  desert  Humajmn  reached  Umarkot 
in  Sind,  where,  on  November  23,  1542,  his  son  Akbar  (Muham- 
mad Jalal-ud-din)  was  born.^  Thence  the  ex-king  moved  to 
Kandahar,  then  held  by  his  brother  Askari  under  Kamran,  and 
ultimately  was  obliged  to  throw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  Shah 
Tahmasp  of  Persia.  During  these  times  the  child  Akbar  under- 
went many  dangers  and  was  long  separated  from  his  father. 

Sher  Shah's  government.  Sher  Shah,  the  new  ruler,  con- 
trolled Bihar  and  Bengal  as  well  as  North-western  India,  and 

*  14th  Shaban,  949  a.  h.  =  Thurs.,  Nov.  23,  1542,  as  recorded  by  Jauhar, 
who  was  with  Humayun  at  the  time.  The  official  date,  Sunday,  October  15 
(Old  Style),  given  by  Abu-1  Fazl  and  other  historians,  probably  was  adopted 
in  order  to  conceal  the  true  time  of  the  nativity,  and  so  protect  Akbar  against 
witchcraft,  as  well  as  for  other  reasons.    {Ind.  Ant.,  1915,  pp.  233-44.) 


158    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

waged  successful  war  with  Malwa,  but  did  not  live  long  enough 
to  establish  a  settled  form  of  government,  being  killed  in 
May,  1545,  by  an  explosion  while  besieging  the  fortress  of 
Kalanjar  in  Bundelkhand.  Sher  Shah  was  something  more 
than  the  successful  leader  of  a  swarm  of  plundering  Afghans, 
and  had  some  notion  of  civil  government.  He  followed  the 
example  of  the  old  Hindu  sovereigns  by  laying  out  high  roads, 
planting  them  with  trees,  and  providing  the  stages  with 
accommodation  for  travellers.  He  repressed  crime  by  enforc- 
ing strictly  the  liability  of  the  villagers  for  all  offences  com- 
mitted Avithin  their  borders.  The  punishments  he  inflicted 
were  savage  and  terrifying.  No  man  could  expect  favour 
by  reason  of  his  rank,  and  the  king's  rough  justice  was  equal 
to  all.  No  injury  to  the  lands  of  cultivators  was  permitted. 
An  elaborate  system  of  revenue  '  settlement ',  based  on  the 
measurement  of  lands,  was  devised,  which  served  as  the  basis 
for  the  better-known  measures  of  Raja  Todar  Mall,  Akbar's 
finance  minister.  The  coinage,  which  had  been  in  much 
disorder,  was  reformed,  and  silver  rupees,  excellent  alike  in 
purity  and  execution,  were  abundantly  issued.  Sher  Shah 
erected  many  notable  buildings.  The  tomb  at  Sahsaram, 
where  he  lies,  is  one  of  the  finest  monuments  in  India. 

Islam  (Salim)  Shah  Sur,  1545-54.  Sher  Shah  was  succeeded 
by  his  second  son,  Islam  or  Salim,  who  managed  to  retain  the 
throne  for  more  than  seven  years,  although  not  without  con- 
tinual dispute.  He  is  reputed  to  have  been  an  able  man,  but 
the  times  were  too  unsettled  to  permit  him  to  make  his  mark. 
When  he  died  his  infant  son,  who  was  proclaimed  king,  was 
promptly  murdered  by  his  maternal  uncle,  Mubariz  Khan. 

Muhammad  Shah  Adil  and  other  Sur  claimants.  The 
murderer  ascended  the  throne  under  the  title  of  Muhammad 
Shah  Adil,  the  last  word  meaning  '  just ',  being  singularly 
inapplicable  to  a  man  who  was  a  good-for-nothing  sensualist. 
He  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  reigned,  because  all  power  was 
in  the  hands  of  his  minister  Hemu,  a  clever  Hindu  baniya  of 
Mewat,  and  Muhammad  Adil's  right  to  the  royal  seat  was 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     159 

contested  by  two  relatives — Ibrahim,  at  Agra  and  Delhi,  and 
Ahmad  Khan,  who  took  the  title  of  Sikandar  Shah,  in  the 
Panjab.^  Muhammad  Shah  Adil  withdrew  to  Chunar  in  the 
east.  It  is  unnecessary  to  recount  the  details  of  the  contests 
between  these  claimants. 

Return  of  Humayun.  Early  in  1555,  Humajmn,  who  had 
secured  Persian  help  by  conforming  to  the  Shiah  creed,  crossed 
the  Indus,  his  forces  being  commanded  by  Bairam  Khan, 
a  competent  officer.  The  exiled  king  reoccupied  Delhi  in 
July,  1555,  but  enjoyed  his  recovered  throne  for  a  few  months 
only,  losing  his  life  in  January,  1556,  by  a  fall  from  the  stairs 
of  his  library. 

Character  of  Humayun.  As  a  private  gentleman  Humajmn 
deserved  nothing  but  praise.  Like  most  members  of  his 
family,  he  was  highly  educated  and  deeply  interested  in  litera- 
ture and  science,  his  special  hobbies  being  mathematics  and 
astronomy.  As  a  king  in  troublous  times  he  was  not  a  success, 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  weakness  and  instabiUty 
of  character  which  he  displayed  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs 
were  largely  due  to  his  addiction  to  the  vice  of  opium-taking, 
which  benumbed  his  will  and  energies.  He  was  generous  and 
merciful  in  disposition,  and  seems  to  have  been  almost  free 
from  the  Mongol  ferocity,  flashes  of  which  sometimes  broke 
out  even  in  Akbar. 

CHAPTER   XVII 

European  voyages  to  India  :   discovery  of  the  Cape  route  ;  the  Portuguese, 
Dutch,  Danish,  French,  and  English  Companies  ;   early  settlements. 

Survey  of  early  European  settlements.  Before  entering  on 
the  story  of  the  Mughal  empire  as  established  by  Akbar  it  will 
be  convenient  to  take  a  brief  survey  of  the  early  European 
intercourse  with  and  settlements  in  India,  which  began  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century  and  steadily  developed  during 

^  Hemu  evidently  is  the  short  colloquial  form  of  some  name  like  Hemchand 
or  Hemraj.  Such  short  forms  of  names  are  commonly  used  in  Northern 
India. 


160    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  time  of  the  glory 
of  the  '  Great  Moguls  '.  Reference  has  been  made  to  the 
victory  gained  by  the  Portuguese  in  1509  over  the  combined 
fleets  of  Egypt  and  Gujarat  {ante,  p.  133) ;  and  the  frequent 
mention  of  the  foreign  settlers  on  the  coasts  in  the  following 
pages  will  be  made  more  easily  intelligible  by  the  help  of 
a  connected  account  of  their  proceedings. 

Discovery  of  the  Cape  route.  Although  in  the  early  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era  the  Roman  merchants  had  been  familiar 
with  the  navigation  between  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Malabar 
coast,  the  Muhammadan  occupation  of  Egypt  in  the  seventh 
century  completely  closed  all  intercourse  between  Europe  and 
the  East  through  Egypt,  and  the  trade  by  sea  passed  exclu- 
sively into  Muhammadan  hands.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the 
European  explorers,  then  very  active,  and  having  no  hope  of 
reopening  the  old  Egyjatian  route,  busied  themselves  with 
trying  to  discover  a  long  sea  route  by  sailing  round  Africa, 
a  process  commonly  called  '  doubling  the  Cape  ',  that  is  to  say, 
sailing  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  That  process,  now  so 
easy,  was  difficult  in  the  fifteenth  century  for  tiny  sailing  ships, 
commonly  of  less  than  one  hundred  tons  burden.  But  in  1487 
a  Portuguese  captain,  Bartholomeu  Diaz  de  Novaes,  showed 
how  the  thing  could  be  done. 

Vasco  da  Gama  at  Calicut,  1498.  Eleven  years  later,  in 
the  summer  of  1498,  another  Portuguese  officer,  Vasco  da 
Gama,  following  the  track  of  Diaz,  arrived  at  Calicut  on  the 
Malabar  coast  with  three  little  ships,  and  having  done  some 
trade  with  friendly  Hindu  princes,  made  his  way  back  to 
Lisbon,  the  capital  of  Portugal.  The  king  of  Portugal,  de- 
lighted at  the  prospect  of  acquiring  the  riches  of  the  Indies, 
was  arrogant  enough  to  assume  the  title  of  '  Lord  of  the  con- 
quest, navigation,  and  commerce  of  Ethiopia,  Arabia,  Persia, 
and  India '. 

Conquest  of  Goa,  &c.  ;  Albuquerque.  Many  other  Portu- 
guese expeditions  followed,  and  gradually  the  foreigners  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  either  factories — that  is  to  say,  trading 


1776 


ALBUQUERQUE 


162    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

stations — or  fortresses  at  Calicut,  Cannanore,  Goa,  and  other 
places  on  the  western  coast.  They  also  occupied  Ceylon,  the 
island  of  Socotra  near  the  entrance  to  the  Red  Sea,  Ormuz 
in  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  Malacca  in  the  Far  East.  The  basis 
of  the  Portuguese  power  was  Goa,  captured  in  1510  by  Albu- 
querque, the  greatest  of  the  Portuguese  governors.  The 
strangers  assumed  full  sovereign  powers  within  the  limits 
of  the  island  of  Goa,  where  they  built  a  magnificent  city,  now 
desolate  and  in  ruins,  but  still  under  the  Portuguese  flag. 
Albuquerque,  who,  like  all  his  countrymen,  hated  Muham- 
madans  with  a  bitter  hatred,  begotten  of  the  long  struggle  in 
Europe  between  the  Portuguese  and  the  Musalman  kingdom  of 
Southern  Spain,  disgraced  his  victory  at  Goa  by  the  massacre 
of  the  whole  Muhammadan  population,  men,  women,  and 
children. 

Albuquerque's  administration  of  Goa.  Albuquerque's  cruelty 
was  reserved  for  the  followers  of  Islam,  for,  as  an  old  Mu- 
hammadan wTiter  puts  it,  '  he  evinced  no  dislike  towards 
the  Nairs  and  other  Pagans  of  similar  descriptions'.  In  the 
administration  of  the  Goa  district  he  made  free  use  of  Hindu 
officials  and  clerks,  and  established  schools  for  the  education 
of  the  latter.  He  also  employed  a  force  of  sepoys,  or  native 
soldiers,  and  had  the  courage  to  prohibit  absolutely  the  burning 
of  widows  as  satis,  which  continued  to  be  lawful  in  British 
India  until  1829. 

The  Portuguese  empire  and  its  decline.  Although  during 
almost  the  whole  of  the  sixteenth  century,  uj)  to  1595,  the- 
Portuguese  were  masters  of  the  Eastern  seas,  and  held  the 
monopoly  or  sole  control  of  the  Indian  sea-borne  foreign, 
trade,  their  power  declined  as  quickly  as  it  had  risen,  and 
before  the  date  named  had  been  much  reduced.  The  destruc- 
tion in  1565  of  the  Hindu  kingdom  of  Vijayanagar,  with  which 
Goa  did  much  business,  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  prosperity  of 
that  city.  The  union  of  the  crowns  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
in  the  person  of  Philip  II  in  1580  dragged  the  lesser  kingdom 
into  the  Spanish  wars  with  Holland  and  England,  and  the 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     165 

strain  of  keeping  up  a  maritime  empire  in  the  East  proved 
to  be  too  great  for  the  resources  of  so  small  a  country  as- 
Portugal.  Grave  mistakes  in  policy  also  were  made,  of  which 
the  most  fatal  was  the  mad  attempt  to  force  all  natives  in 
the  Portuguese  possessions  to  become  Christians.  Of  course- 
the  attempt  failed,  but  while  it  lasted  was  attended  by  much 
cruelty  and  oppression.  This  blunder  was  the  work  of  Albu- 
querque's successors,  not  of  the  '  Great  Captain  '  himself.  The 
small  settlements  at  Goa,  Daman,  and  Diu  on  the  western 
coast  are  now  all  that  is  left  of  the  Portuguese  dominions  ini 
India. 

Dutch  command  of  the  Eastern  seas.  In -the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century  the  command  of  the  Eastern  seas 
gradually  passed  to  the  Dutch,  with  whom  it  was  disputed  by 
the  English.  In  1602  all  the  Dutch  private  trading  companies 
were  combined  under  state  patronage  into  '  The  United  East 
India  Company  of  the  Netherlands  ',  which  quickly  became^ 
a  rich  and  powerful  corporation.  At  various  dates  the  Portu- 
guese settlements  on  the  coast  of  India  were  attacked  or 
occupied,  and  in  1658  the  Dutch  drove  the  Portuguese  from 
Ceylon.  But  the  centre  of  the  Dutch  power  in  the  East  always^ 
was  in  the  Malay  Archipelago  rather  than  in  India,  and 
Holland,  in  spite  of  many  ups  and  downs  of  fortune,  still  retains 
Java  and  other  valuable  possessions  in  the  Far  East. 

Danish  settlements.  Denmark  made  an  efifort  to  share  in 
the  profits  of  the  Indian  trade,  and  in  1620  founded  a  settle- 
ment at  Tranquebar  in  the  Tanjore  district,  where  a  mint  was- 
established.  Later,  Serampore  near  Calcutta  was  occupied. 
The  Danes  never  mado  any  deep  impression  on  India,  and  in 
1845  were  content  to  sell  their  small  settlements  to  the  British 
Government. 

Struggle  between  the  Dutch  and  English.  The  struggle 
during  the  seventeenth  century  between  the  Dutch  and  the 
English  for  command  of  the  Eastern  seas  and  control  of  the 
sea-borne  trade  was  long  and  severe.  The  general  result  was 
that  the  Dutch  retained  their  leading  position  in  the  Malay 


164    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Archipelago  and  Ceylon,  but  failed  to  attain  considerable 
power  in  India.  Their  principal  settlements  on  the  mainland 
were  at  Pulicat  and  Tuticorin  on  the  Coromandel  coast  and  at 
Chinsurah  near  Calcutta.  Clive  forced  Chinsurah  to  capitulate 
in  1759,  and  now  nothing  remains  of  the  Dutch  settlements 
except  many  tombs  with  quaint  armorial  bearings,  and  a  few  old 
houses  and  small  canals.  During  the  Napoleonic  wars  Holland 
lost  Ceylon,  and  even  Java,  but  that  valuable  possession  was 
restored  to  her  in  1816.  Ceylon  was  retained  by  England, 
and  ever  since  has  been  administered  as  a  Crown  colony. 

The  Company's  first  charter  ;  Portuguese  opposition.  The 
first  serious  effort  made  by  Englishmen  to  claim  a  share 
in  the  Eastern  trade  was  marked  on  the  last  day  of  the  year 
1600  by  the  incorporation  under  charter  from  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  the  East  India  Company  in  its  first  form  as  '  The  Governor 
and  Company  of  Merchants  of  London  trading  into  the  East 
Indies  '.  The  Portuguese  and  Dutch  did  their  best  to  hinder 
the  progress  of  their  liew  rivals,  but  the  Portuguese  opposition 
was  crushed  by  naval  defeats  inflicted  on  them  in  1612  and 
1615  ofE  Swally  (Suvali)  near  Surat,  and  by  the  temporary 
occupation  in  1622  of  Ormuz  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  Cromwell, 
in  1654,  forced  the  Portuguese  to  acknowledge  by  treaty 
England's  right  to  trade  in  the  Eastern  seas. 

Factory  at  Surat ;  Sir  Thomas  Roe.  The  first  EngHsh 
factory  or  trading  station  was  established  at  Surat  in  1608  and 
confirmed  by  Imperial  grant  after  the  naval  victory  over  the 
Portuguese  in  1612.  Three  years  later  King  James  I  of 
England  sent  out  Sir  Thomas  Roe  as  his  ambassador  to  the 
Padshah  Jahangir.  Sir  Thomas  spent  more  than  three  years 
in  India,  and,  although  he  failed  to  obtain  the  treaty  which  he 
asked  for,  was  able  to  do  a  good  deal  to  help  his  countrymen. 
He  Avrote  a  book  giving  a  very  interesting  account  of  the 
character,  court,  and  administration  of  Jahangir  as  they 
appeared  to  an  intelligent  foreigner.  Sir  Thomas  Roe's 
chaplain,  the  Rev.  Edward  Terry,  also  recorded  his  experience 
and  observations  in  a  quaint  book. 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     165 

English  stations  on  western  coast  ;  Bombay.  From  time 
to  time  during  the  seventeenth  century  English  trading 
stations,  or  factories,  were  established  at  various  points  on 
the  Indian  coasts,  including  one  set  up  in  1644  at  a  place 
called  Vizhingam  in  Travancore.  The  cession  by  the  Portu- 
guese in  1661  of  the  island  of  Bombay  as  part  of  the  dowrj^ 
of  Princess  Catharine  of  Braganza,  who  married  King  Charles  II 
of  England,  was  intended  to  check  the  Dutch  power,  and 
marks  an  important  stage  in  the  development  of  the  Anglo- 
Indian  Empire.     But  so  little  was  the  future  grandeur  of 


COIX   OF   CHARLES   II  :     BOMBAY   EUPEE 

Bombaj^  foreseen  that  the  king  granted  the  island  to  the- 
East  India  Companj-  for  £10  a  year,  equivalent  in  purchasing 
power  to  about  a  thousand  ruj^ees  at  the  present  time. 

The  English  settlement  at  Bombay  made  little  progTess 
during  the  eighteenth  centurj-.  Most  of  the  territory  now 
governed  from  Bombay  was  acquired  as  the  result  of  the 
Maratha  wars  waged  under  the  direction  of  the  Marquess 
Welleslej'  and  the  Marquess  of  Hastings  during  the  early  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Aden  was  taken  in  1839,  and 
►Sind  was  added  in  1843. 

Growth  of  the  Presidency  of  Madras.  The  purchase  of  the 
site  of  Madras  in  1639  has  been  already  mentioned  {ante, 
p.  142).  The  area  so  bought  comprised  only  fom'  square  miles 
of  '  a  dreary  waste  of  sand  ' .  The  next  considerable  piece  of 
territory  acquired  by  the  Madras  settlers  was  the  Jaglr, 
now  the  Chingleirat  District,  granted  in  perpetuity  by  the 


166    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Nawab  of  the  Carnatic  in  1763.  The  northernmost  districts 
of  the  Madras  Presidency,  formerly  known  as  the  '  Northern 
Circars '  (Sarkars),  were  taken  over  in  1765,  1766,  and  1788. 
Lord  Wellesley  annexed  the  dominions  of  the  Nawab  of  the 
Carnatic  in  1801.  The  rest  of  the  territory  now  controlled 
by  the  Government  of  Madras  was  mostly  acquired  as  the 
result  of  the  third  and  fourth  Mysore  wars,  which  ended 
respectively  in  1792  and  1799. 

English  stations  on  eastern  coast ;  Calcutta.  The  earhest 
English  trading  stations  on  the  eastern  coast  were  established 
about  1625  at  Armagaon  in  the  Nellore  District  and  at 
Masulipatam  in  the  Kistna  (Krishna)  District.  A  few  years 
later,  about  1633,  factories  were  founded  at  Balasore  and  an 
obscure  place  called  Hariharpur  in  Orissa.  In  1651  a  settle- 
ment was  made  at  Hugli  (Hooghly),  official  favour  being  won 
through  the  professional  services  rendered  by  a  surgeon 
named  Gabriel  Boughton  to  the  family  of  the  Muhammadan 
governor  of  Bengal.  Job  Chamock,  the  chief  of  the  station 
at  Hugli,  tried  to  set  up  a  branch  establishment  on  the  site 
of  Calcutta  in  1686,  but  was  driven  out  by  the  hostility  of 
Nawab  Shayista  Khan,  Aurangzeb's  uncle,  and  obliged  to 
take  refuge  at  Madras.^  In  1690  he  came  back,  under  authority 
given  by  Aurangzeb,  and  definitely  founded  the  small  settle- 
ment which  has  grown  into  Calcutta,  now  the  second  largest 
city  in  the  British  Empire. 

Early  history  of  Calcutta.  The  settlement  founded  by  Job 
Charnock,  who  died  in  1692  and  lies  buried  in  the  cemetery 
of  St.  John's  Church,  was  at  the  village  of  Siitanuti;  Fortifi- 
cations were  erected  by  permission  of  the  Nawab  of  Bengal 
in  1696,  and  the  fort  built  a  few  years  later  was  named 
Fort  William,  in  honour  of  King  William  III,  the  reigning 
sovereign  of  England.  During  the  eighteenth  century  the 
original  fort  was  replaced  by  the  present  structure.  About 
1700    the    Company    purchased    Siitanuti    with    two    other 

'  Shayista  Khan  was  transferred  in  1663  from  the  Deccan  to  Bengal.  He 
died  in  1694,  aged  91  or  93  lunar  years,  at  Agra. 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     167 

villages,  Kalikata  and  Govindpur,  from  Azim-ush-shan, 
governor  of  Bengal,  grandson  of  Aurangzeb,  and  father  of  the 
Emperor  Farrukhsiyar.  The  city  which  began  to  grow  up 
on  the  sites  of  the  three  villages  became  known  as  Calcutta. 
Important  privileges  are  said  to  have  been  again  secured  to 
the  settlers  by  means  of  services  rendered  by  another  surgeon, 
named  Hamilton,  to  Farrukhsiyar.  In  1742  the  Marathas 
under  Balaji  Rao  Peshwa  were  at  the  height  of  their  power, 
and  their  attitude  was  so  threatening  that  the  English  obtained 
permission  from  Nawab  Allahvardi  Khan  to  protect  their 
settlement  by  an  outer  line  of  imperfect  fortification,  which 
remained  for  a  long  time  famous  as  '  the  Mahratta  ditch  '. 
It  corresponds  with  the  line  of  the  modern  Circular  Road. 

After  the  tragedy  of  the  Black  Hole  in  1756  and  the  battle 
of  Plassey  in  the  following  year,  the  history  of  Calcutta 
merges  in  that  of  British  India.  Its  rank  as  the  capital  of 
the  Indian  Empire  dates  from  1774,  when  Warren  Hastings 
was  appointed  the  first  Governor-General,  and  lasted  until 
1912,  when  the  seat  of  the  Government  of  India  was  moved 
to  Delhi.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  Bengal  settlements 
had  been  subordinate  to  Madras,  which  was  itself  supposed 
to  be  dependent  on  Surat. 

Early  history  of  the  East  India  Company.  The  Company, 
notwithstanding  Queen  Elizabeth's  charter,  had  serious  rivals 
in  other  associations  of  English  merchants,  and  did  not 
become  really  prosj)erous  until  1661,  when  it  obtained  a  fresh 
Charter  from  Charles  II,  and  was  granted  the  rights  of  coinage 
and  jurisdiction  over  English  subjects  in  the  East.  But  some 
thirty  years  later  the  Company  again  became  involved  in 
great  difficulties,  which  lasted  until  1702,  when  it  was  recon- 
structed as  '  The  United  Company  of  Merchants  of  England 
trading  to  the  East  Indies  '.  The  union  of  the  rival  Com- 
panies was  confirmed  by  Parliament  in  1708. 

The  subsequent  dealings  of  the  Crown  and  Parliament  with 
the  Company  will  be  noticed  from  time  to  time  in  the  course 
of  the  historical  narrative. 


168    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

French  settlements.  The  French  were  late  in  making  their 
aiDpearance  on  the  Indian  coasts,  and  never  acquired  direct 
control  of  any  considerable  territory.  Various  early  adven- 
tures having  proved  to  be  failures,  a  strong  association, 
entitled  La  Compagnie  des  Indes,  was  formed  in  1664  under 
the  patronage  of  King  Louis  XIV.  But  the  French  Govern- 
ment failed  to  keep  up  a  lively  interest  in  the  Company's 
affairs,  and  French  enterj)rise  in  India  always  suffered  for 
want  of  adequate  suj)port  from  home.  However,  Pondicherry 
on  the  Madras  coast,  founded  in  1674,  became  a  flourishing 
settlement,  and  still  is  a  fairly  prosperous  town.  After  the 
Napoleonic  wars  the  French  were  permitted  to  retain  or 
recover  Pondicherry  and  Karikal  on  the  Madras  coast,  Mahe 
on  the  west  coast,  Yanaon  at  the  mouth  of  the  Godavari,  and 
Chandernagore  near  Calcutta,  over  all  of  which  the  flag  of 
the  French  Republic  still  waves.  These  settlements  are  of  no 
political  importance.  The  events  of  the  contest  between  the 
French  and  English  for  suj^remacy  in  Southern  India  will  be 
dealt  with  as  incidents  in  the  general  history. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

The  reign  of  Akbar  :  Todar  Mall ;  Abu-1  Fazl. 

Accession  of  Akbar.  When  Humayun  died  {ante,  p.  159), 
his  eldest  son  Akbar,  a  boy  of  thirteen,  was  in  the  Panjab 
with  his  guardian  Bairam  Khan,  an  officer  much  trusted  by 
Humayun,  and  then  in  command  of  an  army  engaged  in  the 
pursuit  of  Sikandar  Sur,  one  of  the  claimants  to  the  throne. 
Humayun 's  death  was  concealed  for  a  few  days  in  order  to 
allow  of  arrangements  being  made  for  Akbar 's  accession.  The 
proper  moment  having  come,  the  young  prince  was  enthroned, 
with  such  ceremony  as  was  possible,  at  Kalanaur,  a  town  then 
of  some  importance,  situated  to  the  west  of  Gurdaspur.^ 

^  The  throne  still  exists.  It  is  a  plain  brick  structure,  built  on  a  masonry 
platform.     At  a  later  date  it  was  surrounded  by  a  garden  and  ornamental 


'  THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     169 

At  the  time  of  his  enthronement  Akbar  had  no  kingdom. 
News  came  in  that  Hemii  had  succeeded  in  taking  both 
Delhi  and  Agra,  Hemii  renounced  his  allegiance  to  Muham- 
mad Adil  Siir,  the  other  claimant  to  the  throne,  then  far  away 
to  the  east  at  Chunar  near  Mirzapur,  and  set  up  as  an  inde- 
pendent king,  under  the  title  of  Raja  Bikramajit  (Vikrama- 
ditya),  borne  so  often  by  famous  Hindu  monarchs  of  the 
olden  time.  Timid  counsellors  advised  retreat  to  Kabul, 
but  Bairam  Khan  resolved  that  the  empire  of  Hindustan 
was  worth  fighting  for,  and  prepared  to  meet  the  foe.  We 
may  feel  assured  that  Akbar  agreed  to  the  decision. 

Second  battle  of  Panipat,  November  5,  1556.  The  Hindu 
claimant,  '  with  1,500  elephants  of  war,  and  treasure  without 
end  or  measure,  and  an  immense  army,  came  to  offer  battle 
at  Panipat',  on  the  field  where  Ibrahim  Lodi  and  so  many 
gallant  men  had  met  their  death  thirty  years  before  {ante, 
p.  153).  Hemu  began  badly  by  losing  his  artillery,  but 
relied  chiefly,  in  the  old  Hindu  fashion,  on  his  elephants, 
which  delivered  a  terrifying  charge.  They  were  received 
with  a  shower  of  arrows,  one  of  which  struck  Hemii  in  the  eye, 
rendering  him  unconscious.  His  army  then  fled,  and  Hemu, 
who  still  breathed,  was  captured.  The  boy  Akbar  refusing  to 
flesh  his  sword  on  a  dying  prisoner,  Bairam  Khan  and  some 
of  his  officers  dispatched  him.  '  Nearly  1,500  elephants,  and 
treasure  and  stores  to  such  an  amount  that  even  fancy  is 
powerless  to  imagine  it,  were  taken  as  spoil.'  A  minaret  was 
built  of  the  heads  of  the  slain,  and  Delhi  and  Agra  were 
promptly  occupied  by  the  victors. ^ 

buildings,  which  were  destroyed  by  railway  contractors  in  search  of  ballast. 
Recently,  measures  have  been  taken  to  preserve  reverently  what  is  left,  and 
an  inscribed  tablet  has  been  put  up. 

^  The  account  of  Hemu's  death  in  the  text  follows  Badaoni  (Lowe's 
transl.,  vol.  ii,  p.  9).  Abu-1  Fazl,  Faizi  and  the  Tdrikh-i-Daudi  agree  that 
Akbar  refused  to  strike.  But  Jahangir,  in  his  authentic  Memoirs  (Rogers 
&  Beveridge,  vol.  i,  p.  iO),  states  that  Akbar  '  told  one  of  his  servants  to  cut 
off  his  head '.  Ahmad  Yadgar  (Elliot  v,  66)  asserts  that  '  the  Prince, 
accordingly,  struck  him,  and  divided  his  head  from  his  unclean  body '. 

F3 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     171 

Occupation  of  Ajmer,  Gwalior,  and  Jaunpur.  Akbar  was 
now  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of  the  sultans  of  Delhi, 
Avhich  had  been  occupied  for  a  few  years  by  his  father  and 
grandfather,  but  he  had  yet  many  fights  to  wage  before  he 
could  feel  himself  emperor  of  Hindustan,  During  the  next 
three  years  the  claimants  belonging  to  the  Sur  dynasty  were 
defeated,  and  Ajmer,  Gwalior,  and  Jaunpur  were  occupied. 
Bairam  Khan,  with  the  title  of  Khan-i-Khanan,  governed  on 
behalf  of  Akbar  as  Regent  or  Protector. 

Dismissal  and  death  of  the  regent.  In  March,  1560,  j^oung 
Akbar,  conscious  of  the  joowers  of  budding  manhood,  and 
spurred  on  by  the  ladies  of  the  court,  determined  to  free 
himself  from  the  control  of  his  too-masterful  regent,  and  sent 
a  message  to  Bairam  Khan,  requiring  him  to  proceed  on 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  in  these  terms  :  '  As  I  was  fully  assured 
of  your  honesty  and  fidelity,  I  left  all  important  affairs 
of  State  in  your  hands  and  thought  only  of  my  own  plea- 
sures. I  have  now  determined  to  take  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment into  my  own  hands,  and  it  is  desirable  that  you  should 
make  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  upon  which  you  have  been 
so  long  intent.  A  suitable  jagtr  out  of  the  parganas  of 
Hindustan  will  be  assigned  for  your  maintenance,  the  re- 
venues of  which  shall  be  transmitted  to  your  agent.'  The 
regent  yielded  to  this  imperious  command  and  surrendered 
the  insignia  of  office,  but,  on  second  thoughts,  attempted 
rebellion.  He  was  defeated,  pardoned,  and  sent  off  to  Mecca. 
He  arrived  at  Patau  in  Gujarat,  and  was  there  stabbed  to 
death  by  an  Afghan,  whose  father  had  been  executed  by  his 
orders.  Thus  was  Akbar  freed  from  his  Bismarck,  and  left 
at  liberty  for  forty-five  years  to  carry  out  his  policy  of  con- 
verting a  military  occupation  into  an  ordered  empire. 

Akbar's  wars.  But  when  we  speak  of  an  '  ordered  empire  ' 
we  must  not  think  of  a  country  as  peaceful  as  the  India  of  the 

De  Laet  agrees  that  '  the  unworthy  deed  '  was  done  by  Akbar's  hand  {De 
Imperio  Magni  Mogolis,  1631,  2nd  issue,  p.  174).  I  now  accept  the  version 
of  Ahmad  Yadgar  and  de  Laet.  See  my  paper,  '  The  Death  of  Hemu  ',  in 
J.R.A.S.,  1916. 


172    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

present  day.  Throughout  Akbar's  long  reign  the  sword  was 
never  sheathed,  and  the  great  nobles  were  never  at  rest. 
The  detailed  chronicles  of  the  time  are  full  of  stories  of 
intrigues,  murders,  rebellions,  and  wars.  Akbar  himself, 
although  terrible  in  his  hot  wrath,  was  of  a  merciful  and 
forgiving  disposition,  and  rarely  allowed  himself  to  be  tempted 
to  the  commission  of  deeds  of  cruelty.  His  generals  often 
displayed  the  old  Mongol  ferocity,  and  even  Badaonl,  who 
was  not  easily  shocked,  was  horrified  at  the  bloodthirsty 
proceedings  of  Pir  Muhammad  Khan  during  the  reduction  of 
Malwa  in  the  early  years  of  the  reign.  The  main  interest  of 
Akbar's  notable  rule  lies,  not  in  his  numerous  wars,  which 
were  like  other  wars,  but  in  his  personal  character  and  his 
unique  policy. 

Siege  of  Chitor,  1567-8.  Among  the  most  famous  military 
feats  of  the  reign  was  the  storming  of  the  Rajput  fortress  of 
Chitor  {ante,  p.  133),  the  siege  of  which  lasted  for  four  months, 
from  October,  1567,  to  February,  1568.  The  operations  of 
the  besiegers  were  under  the  personal  direction  of  Akbar, 
who  himself  shot  the  Rajput  commander,  Jaimall,  through 
the  head.  That  shot  decided  the  fate  of  the  fortress.  The 
defenders  quitted  the  walls,  and  saved  the  honour  of  their 
wives  and  daughters  by  the  awful  rite  of  jauhar,  or  sacrifice 
by  fire.  Then  they  devoted  themselves  to  death,  fighting  in 
every  house  and  for  every  foot  of  ground,  until  they  were 
all  slain.  The  Rana  was  not  in  the  fortress  during  the  siege, 
but  remained  in  hiding,  and  subsequently  transferred  his 
capital  to  Udaipur.  Within  the  following  two  years  Akbar 
compelled  the  surrender  of  Ranthambhor  in  Rajputana  and 
Kalanjar  in  Bundelkhand,  then  considered  two  of  the  strongest 
forts  in  India, 

Reduction  of  Gujarat.  The  next  great  mihtary  operation 
undertaken  was  the  conquest  of  Gujarat,  which  had  long  been 
independent  {ante,  p.  133),  and  was  occupied  only  temporarily 
by  Humayun  in  1535.  But  that  transitory  conquest  effected 
by  his  father  was  enough  to  give  Akbar  a  pretext  for  an  effort 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     173 

to  re-annex  the  kingdom,  and  so  to  make  himself  master  of 
Western  India  to  the  sea-coast.  The  imperial  designs  were 
furthered  by  dissensions  among  the  local  nobles.  The  annexa- 
tion was  carried  out  without  verj^  much  fighting,  and  the 
unheroic  king,  Muzaffar  Shah,  was  found  hiding  in  a  corn- 
field. He  was  treated  with  contemptuous  lenity  and  given  a 
pension  of  thirty  or  forty  rupees  a  month.  After  some  years 
he  escaped  and  gave  much  trouble  until  he  committed  suicide. 

Surat  ;  suppression  of  revolt,  1573.  The  important  fortress 
of  Surat  was  taken  in  the  early  part  of  1573,  after  investment 
for  a  month  and  a  half.  On  this  occasion  the  emperor  for 
the  first  time  came  into  contact  with  the  Portuguese,  who 
sent  an  embassy  from  Goa  to  meet  him.  At  Cambay  he  had 
his  first  look  on  the  sea.  In  June  Akbar  returned  to  Sikri 
near  Agra,  and  was  hardly  back  when  reports  were  received 
of  a  revolt  in  the  newly  conquered  kingdom.  He  made  all 
necessary  military  arrangements  with  the  utmost  quickness, 
and  starting  himself  from  Sikri  in  August,  mounted  on  a  swift 
dromedary,  covered  the  800  miles  between  that  place  and 
the  outskirts  of  Ahmadabad  in  nine  days.  The  rebels,  who 
could  hardly  believe  the  news  of  his  arrival,  were  defeated 
after  a  hard  fight,  and  Akbar  returned  to  Sikri  on  October  6, 
after  an  absence  of  fortj- -three  daj's.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  find  in  history  an  example  of  equally  rapid  and  decisive 
action  by  the  sovereign  of  a  great  monarchy.  Sikri  was  given 
the  name  of  Fathpur,  '  the  city  of  victory,'  and  became  the 
usual  residence  of  the  court  until  1585. 

Daud,  king  of  Bengal.  Bengal,  as  we  have  seen  {ante, 
p.  131),  had  been  independent,  usualh'  under  Muhammadan 
kings,  since  the  fourteenth  century.  Sulaiman,  an  able 
monarch,  whose  general,  Raju,  surnamed  Kala  Pahar,  had 
plundered  the  temple  of  Jagannath  and  overriui  Orissa, 
acknowledged  a  nominal  dependence  on  Akbar.  When  he 
died  in  1572  he  was  succeeded,  after  an  interval  of  dispute,  by 
his  son  Daiid,  who  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to  the  Mughal 
power.     He  is  described  as  '  a  dissolute  scamp,  who  knew 


174    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

nothing  of  the  business  of  governing  '.  Akbar,  while  engaged 
in  Gujarat,  kept  his  eye  on  the  affairs  of  Bengal,  and  as  soon 
as  he  had  arranged  the  business  in  the  west,  commissioned 
Todar  Mall  to  undertake  the  subjugation  of  the  east. 

Defeat  and  death  of  Daud,  1576.  In  1574,  during  the  height 
of  the  rainy  season,  Akbar  in  person  appeared  on  the  scene 
near  Patna,  defeated  DaM,  and  occupied  Patna,  where 
immense  booty  was  taken.  Daud  escaped  into  Orissa,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  1575  Akbar  returned  to  Fathpur-SikrI. 
Soon  afterwards  the  king  of  Bengal  was  forced  to  consent 
to  do  homage  and  pay  tribute,  but  quickly  broke  his  engage- 
ments. Next  year  (July,  1576)  he  was  captured  by  the 
imperial  officers  and  put  to  death.  Thus  ended  the  inde- 
pendent kingdom  of  Bengal.  But  when  historians  speak  of 
independent  Bengal,  the  phrase  must  be  understood  as 
referring  only  to  the  independence  of  the  kingdom  from  the 
control  of  the  rulers  of  Delhi  and  Agra.  In  those  days  the 
Hindu  population  of  the  province  was  of  little  account,  and 
possessed  no  authority,  the  kings  and  chiefs  who  fought  the 
sultans  and  Padshahs  of  the  north-west  being  usually  foreign 
chiefs  of  Afghan  origin. 

Rajput  rising  ;  battle  of  Gogunda,  1576.  During  the  pro- 
gress of  the  operations  in  Bengal  the  emperor's  forces  had  to 
contend  with  a  formidable  uprising  in  Rajputana,  under  the 
leadership  of  Rana  Partab  Singh  of  Udaipur.  He  was 
defeated  in  June  1576  by  Man  Singh  at  Gogunda  (also 
known  as  Haldighat),  north  of  Udaipur,  in  a  hotly  contested 
battle,  vividly  described  by  the  historian  Badaoni,  who  took 
an  active  part  in  it.  Arrangements  were  made  to  curb  the 
Rajpiits  by  building  fifty  blockhouses  {thanas)  in  the  hills, 
but  the  Udaipur  country  was  never  really  subdued.  In  fact, 
Partab  Singh  gradually  recovered  possession  of  most  of  his 
country  before  Akbar's  death. 

Result  of  twenty  years'  war.  In  1576,  twenty  years  after 
the  second  battle  of  Panlpat,  Akbar  had  succeeded  in  making 
himself  the  lord  paramount  of  all  India  proper  to  the  north 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     175 

of  the  Vindhyas,  exacting  a  more  or  less  complete  and  willing 
obedience  from  innumerable  turbulent  feudatories.  But 
fighting  never  ceased,  and  the  imperial  generals  had  much  to 
do  in  Bengal  and  Bihar  until  1586.  Those  provinces  were 
not  wholly  quieted  until  1592. 

Revolt  of  Bengal  and  Bihar  in  1580.  A  serious  rebellion 
in  Bengal,  which  began  in  1580,  was  caused  partly  by  the 
anger  of  the  Muhammadan  nobles  at  the  harsh  measures  of 
the  imperial  officials,  who  cut  down  their  revenue-free  grants, 
and  partly  by  resentment  against  Akbar's  growing  hostility 
to  Islam.  That  hostility,  which  had  its  root  in  his  early 
studies  of  Siifism,  may  be  said  to  have  become  marked  from 
1574  when  Abul  Fazl  came  to  court,  and  to  have  come  to 
a  head  in  1579  when  Akbar  compelled  the  leading  theologians 
to  admit  the  right  of  the  emperor  to  pass  rulings  on  matters 
of  religion.  That  remarkable  decree  will  be  cited  in  full 
presently.  It  is  mentioned  here  because  it  was  closely 
connected  with  the  revolt  of  Bengal  and  other  disturbances. 
The  rebels  in  Bengal  desired  to  replace  Akbar  by  his  more 
orthodox  half-brother,  Muhammad  Hakim  of  Kabul.  Ulti- 
mately the  Bengal  rebellion  was  suppressed. 

Absorption  of  Kabul,  1585.  Muhammad  Hakim  Mirza, 
who  was  born  at  Kabul  in  1554,  and  so  was  twelve  years 
junior  to  Akbar,  had  been  recognized  from  infancy  as  the 
nominal  ruler  of  the  Kabul  province,  which  was  actually 
administered  by  various  nobles  in  succession,  apparently  in 
practical  independence.  In  1581  Muhammad  Hakim,  who 
had  hopes  of  winning  his  brother's  Indian  throne,  invaded 
the  Pan  jab,  but  was  repulsed  and  obliged  to  accept  Akbar's 
suzerainty.  His  death,  due  to  drink,  in  July  1585,  enabled 
Akbar  to  include  Kabul  in  his  dominions  as  a  Suba  or  province. 

Lahore,  Akbar's  capital  for  thirteen  years.  The  death  of 
his  brother  and  other  pressing  affairs  made  it  necessary  for 
the  emperor  to  move  towards  the  north-west.  Starting  from 
Fathpur-Sikri  in  the  autumn,  1585,  he  reached  Attock  (Atak- 
Banaras)  towards  the  end  of  December.     He  remained  in  the 


176    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

north  until  November  1598,  making  Lahore  his  capital  for 
nearty  thirteen  years.  At  the  end  of  1585  four  imperial  armies 
were -in  motion,  directed  severally  against  the  tribesmen  in  the 
Khyber  Pass  on  the  road  to  Kabul,  the  Yiisufzi  of  the  Pesha- 
war country,  the  Balochis,  and  Kashmir,  which  kingdom 
Akbar  was  resolved  to  annex.  Early  in  1586  the  force 
operating  against  the  Yfisufzi  suffered  a  severe  defeat,  the 
slain  including  Raja  Birbal,  the  Brahman,  one  of  Akbar's 
dearest  and  most  intimate  friends.  The  tribesmen  were 
sternly  chastised,  but  not  subdued. 

Conquest  of  Kashmir,  1586-7  ;  and  Sind.  From  the  time 
of  Babur,  the  Mughal  sovereigns  of  India  had  felt  a  desire  to 
possess  the  delightful  valley  of  Kashmir,  but  neither  Babur 
nor  Humayun  had  leisure  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  the 
country.  A  cousin  of  Babur's,  Haidar  Mirza  Doghlat,  the 
celebrated  author  of  the  history  entitled  Tdrikh-i-Rash'idi, 
made  himself  master  of  it,  and  ruled  well  and  wisely  for 
eleven  years,  until  1551.  In  1572  the  reigning  king,  also 
a  Musalman,  made  a  formal  recognition  of  the  suj)remacy  of 
Akbar,  by  consenting  that  his  name  should  be  recited  as  that 
of  the  sovereign  in  the  public  prayers.  But  then,  and  for  many 
years  afterwards,  Akbar  was  far  too  busy  in  Gujarat,  Bengal, 
and  elsewhere  to  be  able  to  attend  to  Kashmir.  He  could  not 
attempt  the  conquest  of  the  mountain  kingdom  until  he  had 
made  his  position  in  the  plains  fairly  safe.  When  he  was  free 
to  make  the  attempt,  a  pretext  for  interference  was  easily 
found.  The  occupation  was  effected  by  Akbar 's  generals 
without  excessive  difficulty  in  1586-7,  and  from  that  time 
Kashmir  became  an  integral  part  of  the  Mughal  empire, 
attached  to  the  Suba  of  Kabul.  A  little  later,  after  a  tedious 
campaign,  the  province  of  Sind,  partially  subdued  in  1588, 
was  finally  conquered,  and  united  with  the  Suba  of  Multan» 
Kandahar  was  taken  from  the  Persians  in  1595. 

Result  of  forty  years'  wars.  By  1596  Akbar  was  master 
of  the  whole  of  Northern  India,  from  the  Bay  of  Bengal  on  the 
east  of  the  Arabian  Sea  on  the  west,  as  well  as  of  the  Indus 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     177 

valley,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  present  kingdom  of  Afghan- 
istan, The  conquest  of  the  south  remamed.  But  that  great 
design  was  not  destined  to  be  accomplished,  except  to  a  small 
extent. 

Preparations  for  invasion  of  the  Deccan.  Akbar's  long- 
cherished  designs  on  the  Deccan  were  much  aided  by  the 
dissensions  of  the  local  princes  and  nobles,  who  were  unable 
to  form  a  firm  league  among  themselves  to  Avithstand  the 
common  foe.  The  ordinary  political  strife  was  made  more 
bitter  by  sectarian  quarrels  of  the  Shiah  with  the  Sunni 
Muhammadans.  In  1591  Akbar  sent  embassies  to  the  four 
kingdoms  of  the  Deccan,  Khandesh,  Bijaj^ur,  Golkonda  or 
Hyderabad,  and  Ahmadnagar,  to  demand  recognition  of  his 
authority.  The  sultan  of  the  small  state  of  Khandesh 
submitted  readily,  and  thus  secured  for  the  emperor  free 
passage  by  the  Burhanpur  and  Asirgarh  road,  but  the  other 
kingdoms  refused  to  do  homage. 

Siege  of  Ahmadnagar,  1595.  Traitorous  invitations 
smoothed  the  path  of  the  Mughals,  and  in  December  1595 
the  emperor's  second  son,  Prince  Murad,  invested  Ahmad- 
nagar. The  imperialist  operations  were  weakened  by  discord 
between  the  prince  and  his  colleague,  Abdurrahim  Khan-i- 
Khanan,  the  son  of  Bairam  Khan,  regent  in  Akbar's  youth. 
The  defence  was  heartened  by  the  gallantry  of  a  woman, 
Chand  Bibi,  a  lady  of  the  royal  house,  rightly  called  Chand 
Sultan,  who  donned  armour,  and  sword  in  hand  held  the  breach 
made  by  the  besiegers'  mines.  The  attemirt  to  storm  failed, 
and  Murad  withdrew  when  Chand  Bibi  agreed  to  cede  Berar. 

Fall  of  Ahmadnagar,  1600.  In  the  autumn  of  1600,  Chand 
Bibi  meantime  having  been  murdered,  Ahmadnagar  was  again 
besieged  and  taken  by  Prince  Daniyal,  Akbar's  youngest  son. 
The  emperor  formally  constituted  a  new  Suba,  or  government, 
under  the  name  of  Ahmadnagar,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
greater  part  of  the  kingdom  remained  under  the  rule  of 
members  of  the  local  royal  family,  and  was  not  really  annexed 
until  1637,  in  the  reign  of  Shahjahan. 


178     THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Siege  and  capture  of  Asirgarh,  January  1601.  Meantime, 
the  little  state  of  Khandesh,  which  had  been  friendly  to 
Akbar  in  1591,  had  become  hostile  in  consequence  of  local 
revolutions.  The  ruler  of  this  kingdom  possessed  the  strong- 
hold of  Asirgarh,  situated  north-east  of  Burhanpur  on  a  spur 
of  the  Satpura  range,  and  thus  commanded  the  main  road 
to  the  Deccan.  The  capture  of  this  fortress,  the  strongest  in 
India,  was  necessary  for  the  progress  and  safety  of  the  imperial 
army.  The  siege  accordingly  was  begun  early  in  1600  and 
lasted  for  more  than  eleven  months,  until  January  1601 
(Ilahl  year  45),  when  Akbar,  unable  to  storm  the  place,  gained 
possession  of  it  by  bribery.  In  1820  the  same  fortress  sur- 
rendered to  Sir  John  Malcolm  after  a  bombardment  of  twenty- 
four  days. 

The  last  of  Akbar's  conquests.  The  taking  of  Ahmadnagar 
and  Asirgarh  closes  the  long  roll  of  the  victories  of  Akbar, 
who  was  unable  tb  make  further  progress  in  the  subjugation 
of  the  south.  His  force  was  now  spent,  and  the  record  of  the 
last  four  years  of  his  strenuous  life  leaves  on  the  mind  a  painful 
impression  of  disillusion,  disappointment,  sorrow,  and  failure. 
Akbar  returned  to  Agra  during  the  year  which  witnessed  the 
fall  of  Asirgarh,  leaving  his  youngest  son  Daniyal  as  viceroy 
of  the  southern  and  western  provinces.  Khandesh  was 
renamed  Dandesh  in  compliment  to  the  prince. 

Akbar's  unworthy  sons.  Prince  Daniyal,  a  good-for-nothing, 
drunken  sot,  was  undeserving  of  the  paternal  favour,  and  died 
from  the  effects  of  drink  a  year  and  a  half  before  his  father 
passed  away.  The  same  vice  had  destroyed  Prince  Murad  five 
years  earlier.  The  eldest  son,  Prince  Salim,  although  equally 
intemperate,  had  a  stronger  constitution  than  his  brothers, 
and  survived  to  become  the  successor  of  Akbar. 

Rebellion  of  Prince  Sallm.  Salim,  in  accordance  with  many 
evil  precedents,  was  eager  to  anticipate  the  course  of  nature 
and  usurp  his  father's  place.  Akbar,  well  informed  concern- 
ing his  traitorous  designs,  endeavoured  to  keep  him  employed 
by  commissions  to  hunt  down  rebels  in  Rajputana  and  Bengal, 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     179 

but  the  prince  would  neither  come  to  court  nor  proceed  to 
execute  the  imperial  orders.  He  continued  to  sulk  and  play 
the  tyrant  at  Allahabad,  and  at  last,  in  1601,  there  assumed 
the  imperial  titles  and  took  possession  of  the  treasures  of 
Bihar. 

Murder  of  Abu-I  FazI  by  order  of  Salim.  A  little  later,  in 
August  1602,  Sallm  inflicted  a  deadly  wound  on  his  father's 
feelings  by  causing  a  Bundela  robber-chieftain  to  wajday  and 
murder  Shaikh  Abu-I  Eazl,  the  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend 
of  the  emperor.  '  If  Sallm',  said  Akbar, '  wished  to  be  emperor, 
he  might  have  killed  me  and  sj)ared  Abu-1  Fazl.'  Ultimately, 
through  the  mediation  of  Sultan  Salimah  Begam,  widow  of  the 
regent  Bairam  Khan,  who  long  before  had  become  one  of 
Akbar's  many  consorts,  a  peace  was  patched  up,  and  Salim 
was  induced  to  come  to  court. 

Salim  nominated  as  successor.  By  this  time,  Akbar,  much 
affected  by  the  death  of  his  youngest,  and  the  ingratitude 
of  his  first-born  son,  and  further  weakened  by  indulgence  in 
the  dangerous  consolations  of  opium,  was  failing  visibly,, 
Raja  Man  Singh  and  several  other  influential  nobles,  who 
dreaded  the  assumption  of  absolute  power  by  Salim,  sought 
to  set  him  aside  and  substitute  his  son  Khusrii.  But  these 
schemes  came  to  naught.  No  account  written  by  an  eye- 
witness of  the  last  days  of  Akbar  exists.  The  long  story  usually 
quoted  is  that  told  in  the  so-called  Memoirs  of  Jahangir 
as  translated  by  Price,  a  document  largely  falsified  and  wholly 
■udthout  authority.  The  best  evidence  is  that  of  the  Dutch 
writer  van  den  Broecke  (in  de  Laet,  1628  or  1629),  who 
based  his  work  on  an  official  chronicle.     He  states  that 

'  the  King,  while  hopes  of  his  recovery  still  existed,  was 
visited  by  Prince  Sallm,  on  whose  head  he  placed  his  own 
turban,  girding  him  at  the  same  time  with  the  sword  of  his 
own  father  Humayun.' 

That  simple  statement  may  be  accepted  as  probably  true. 
Assuming  its  truth,  the  failure  of  the  plot  in  favour  of  Khusrii 
is  explained  by  the  natural  unwillingness  of  the  nobles  to 


180    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

defy  the  expressed  will  of  the  great  monarch  whom  they  had 
obeyed  for  so  long. 

Death  of  Akbar.  Akbar,  then  almost  sixty-three  solar  years 
of  age,  died  at  Agra  on  October  17,  1605,  in  the  presence  of 
a  crowd  of  anxious  nobles.  Salim  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  present.  The  partisans  of  Khusrii  made  a  feeble 
attempt  to  put  their  candidate  forward,  but  Raja  Ramdas 
declared  for  Salim  and  settled  the  question  by  posting 
a  strong  guard  of  Rajput  cavalry  over  the  immense  treasure 
in  the  fort,  which  included  nearly  two  hundred  millions  of 
rupees'  worth  of  coin,  in  addition  to  great  sums  stored  in 
six  other  fortresses.  Salim 's  succession  was  thus  secured. 
On  the  third  day  Raja  Man  Singh  and  the  Khan-i-Azam 
effected  an  outward,  though  insincere,  reconciliation  between 
Khusru  and  his  father.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
fulfilment  of  Akbar's  will  was  due  to  the  trusty  Rajputs  on 
whose  devotion  he  had  relied  for  so  many  years.i  Before 
attempting  to  estimate  the  character  of  India's  greatest 
sovereign  since  the  time  of  Asoka,  we  must  devote  a  few 
pages  to  a  consideration  of  his  policy  and  innovations,  and 
to  the  enumeration  of  the  leading  men  among  his  chosen 
advisers  and  friends. 

Principle  of  Akbar's  conquests.  The  summary  chronicle 
recorded  in  the  foregoing  narrative,  if  it  stood  alone  without 
comment,  would  naturally  lead  the  reader  to  regard  Akbar 
merely  as  a  specially  able  king  of  the  ordinary  aggressive 
type.  But,  although  no  doubt  he  accepted  the  current 
opinion  that  a  respectable  monarch  is  bound  to  enlarge  his 
dominions,  Akbar  the  victorious  kept  before  his  mind  a  pur- 

^  Akbar  died  on  Oct.  27,  New  Style  (Du  Jarric,  Latin  tr.,  ii.  495,  iii.  131)  ; 
=  Oct.  17,  Old  Style,  as  reported  by  Jerome  Xavier,  then  in  Agra  ;  =  14  Ju- 
mada  II,  A.  H.  1014;  on  Wednesday-Thursday  night  by  Muhammadan, 
Thursday  a.m.  by  European  reckoning.  The  Portuguese  adopted  the  New- 
Style  or  reformed  calendar  from  Oct.  ^\,  1582.  In  the  seventeenth  century 
the  difference  between  the  Old  and  New  Styles  was  10  days.  Asad  Beg 
(E.  &D.  vi.  171)  and  Du  Jarric  support  de  Laet's  account.  Manrique  and 
de  Laet  give  the  official  treasure  inventory.  * 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     181 

pose  higher  than  that  of  mere  ambition.  It  is  clearly  apparent 
that  at  an  early  stage  in  his  career  he  formed  a  plan  for 
bringing  all  India  under  his  sole  government  in  such  a  way 
that  all  races,  native  and  foreign,  Hindus  as  well  as  Musal- 
mans,  might  be  brought  to  work  together  for  the  common 
good.  He  believed  himself  to  be  the  vicegerent  of  the  Most 
High,  and  as  such  empowered  to  give  India  a  better  govern- 
ment than  her  own  sons  could  provide. 

Abolition  of  the  jizya.  As  early  as  the  ninth  year  of  his 
reign,  when  he  was  a  young  man  tAventy-two  years  of  age, 
and  long  before  he  came  under  the  influence  of  the  free- 
thinkers, Faizi  and  Abu-1  Fazl,  Akbar  had  abolished  the  jizya, 
or  special  poll-tax  imposed  on  non-Muhammadans,  which  was 
intensely  galling  to  the  Hindus  forming  the  great  majority 
of  the  population.  That  measure  alone,  which  was  supple- 
mented later  by  the  abolition  of  the  tax  on  pilgrimages,  is 
enough  to  prove  that  Akbar  in  early  youth  realized  that  he, 
a  foreigner,  could  not  build  up  a  stable  empire  without  the 
aid  of  the  indigenous  civilization. 

Marriages  with  Rajput  princesses ;  Hindu  friends.  The 
royal  marriages  with  Rajput  jorincesses,  perhaps  following  the 
example  of  Humayun,  Vvho  is  said  to  have  had  one  Hindu 
consort,  were  arranged  on  the  same  principle,  and  all  the 
leading  states,  except  Mewar,  sent  daiTghters  to  court.  The 
Emperor  Jahangir  was  the  son  of  a  princess  of  Jaipur.  Several 
of  Akbar' s  most  trusted  officers  and  intimate  friends  were 
Hindus.  Raja  Bhagwan  Das  of  Jaipur  and  Raja  Man  Singh 
of  the  same  state  fought  valiantly  by  his  side  even  against 
Rajputs  and  were  raised  to  the  highest  dignities.  Man  Singh 
governed  in  succession  the  great  provinces  of  Kabul  and 
Bengal.  Another  dear  Hindu  friend  of  the  emperor  was 
a  Brahman  musician  of  Kalpi  named  Mahesh  Das,^  known  to 
history  as  Raja  BIrbal,  the  reputed  author  of  many  wise  and 
witty  sayings  still  current,   whom  even  Badaoni  admits  to 

'  Badaoni  calls  him  Gadai  Brahma  Das,  but  his  real  name  was  Mahesh  Das. 


GEORGE  PHILIP  S.  SON,   LTa 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    183 

have  been  '  possessed  of  a  considerable  amount  of  capacity 
and  genius  '.  He  lost  his  life  in  battle  with  the  Yusufzi 
tribesmen  {ante,  p.  176). 

Raja  Todar  Mall  and  land  *  settlement '.  Raja  Todar  Mall, 
a  Khatri  from  Oudli  and  a  devout  Hindu,  who  rendered  good 
service  as  a  general  in  the  Khyber  and  Peshawar  country, 
is  chiefly  remembered  for  his  revenue  administration  and 
system  of  land  settlement,  based  on  foundations  laid  by  Sher 
Shah  {ante,  p.  158),  and  serving  in  its  turn  as  the  basis  of  the 
existing  system  in  Upper  India.  He  caused  a  detailed  survey 
of  the  land  and  elaborate  calculations  of  the  average  produce 
and  the  Government's  share  of  the  same  to  be  made.  The 
collections  were  ordinarily  made  in  cash.  The  '  settlements  ', 
or  contracts  with  the  landholders^  at  first  annual,  were 
subsequently  extended  for  an  indefinite  period. 

Subas,  sarkars,  &c.  For  administrative  purposes  the  empire 
was  divided  into  fifteen  Subas,  or  local  governments,  namely, 
Agra,  Ahmadabacl,  Ajmer,  Allahabad,  Bengal  (including 
Orissa),  Bihar,  Delhi,  Kabul  (including  Kashmir),  Lahore, 
Malwa,  Multan  (including  Sind),  and  Oudh,  with  the  addition 
of  Ahmadnagar  {ante,  p.  177),  Berar,and  Khandesh  orDandesh, 
in  the  Deccan,  late  in  the  reign.  The  Siibas  were  divided  into 
more  than  a  hundred  Sarkars,  or  districts,  subdivided  into 
Parganas  or  Mahals,  which  were  grouped  into  Dastijrs  for 
certain  fiscal  purposes.  For  example,  the  Suba  of  Agra 
included  13  Sarkars  and  203  Parganas  ;  the  Sarkar  of  Agra, 
1,864  square  miles  in  area,  comprising  31  Parganas,  grouped 
in  4  Dastiars.  The  Siibadar,  or  Sipah-salar,  the  governor  of 
a  Suba,  was  either  a  prince  of  the  blood  or  other  great  noble, 
vested  with  practically  unlimited  powers,  subject  to  the 
obligation  of  providing  men  and  money  for  the  needs  of  the 
empire. 

Mansabdars,  &c.  The  executive  officials,  who  all  ranked  as 
military  officers,  however  employed,  were  called  Mansabdars, 
classified  in  thirty-three  grades,  regulated  nominally  by  the 
number  of  horsemen  supposed  to  be  supplied  by  the  officers. 


184    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

The  grades  ranged  from  commands  of  10,000  to  those  of  10. 
The  Mansabdars  drew  pay  in  proportion  to  their  rank,  and  in. 
practice  had  not  to  furnish  the  number  of  men  indicated  by 
their  grade.  The  highest  grades  were  reserved  for  members 
of  the  imperial  family.  The  grading  of  Mansabdars,  borrowed 
from  Persia,  was  organized  as  a  regular  system  by  Akbar  in 
1573-4.  Many  officials  held  grants  of  land  or  fiefs  (jCiglr),  sub- 
ject to  conditions  of  service.  Free  grants  to  men  of  reputed 
sanctity  or  learning  were  called  Sayiirghals. 

Finance  and  army.  The  mainstay  of  the  imperial  treasury, 
as  always  in  India,  was  the  land  revenue,  or  Crown  rent,  the 
state's  share  of  the  produce,  paid  in  either  kind  or  cash.  The 
land  revenue  in  1600  is  estimated  to  have  amounted  to  about 
nineteen  millions  of  pounds  sterling,  and  the  customs  and 
miscellaneous  revenue  to  about  as  much  again,  but  the  figures 
are  open  to  doubt.     Many  taxes  were  remitted  by  Todar  Mall. 

The  army  was  chiefly  a  cavalry  militia  raised  by  the  Man- 
sabdars and  Jagirdars,  who  were  much  addicted  to  making 
false  returns.  Akbar  tried  to  correct  such  abuses,  but  with 
only  partial  success.  The  standing,  or  permanently  enrolled, 
army  was  small,  25,000  men  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign,  of 
whom  about  half  were  troopers,  the  rest  being  gunners  and 
infantry.  The  practice  of  enslaving  jjrisoners  of  war  was 
forbidden  in  1563. 

Ain-i-Akbari  and  Abu-1  Fazl.  The  imperial  regulations  con- 
cerning the  court  and  every  department  of  the  administra- 
tion are  recorded  in  detail  in  the  unique  work  of  Abu-1  Fazl 
entitled  A'm-i-Akbari,  or  '  Institutes  of  Akbar  ',  which  forms 
part  of  the  Akbarndma  or  '  History  of  the  Reign  of  Akbar '. 
Shaikh  Abu-1  Fazl,  who  was  introduced  to  Akbar  in  1574,  was 
one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his  age,  and  is  still  remembered 
as  '  the  great  munshi '.  He  was  the  most  influential  of  Akbar's 
councillors,  and  the  emperor's  gradual  estrangement  from 
Islam  was  largely  due  to  his  intimacy  v/ith  Abu-1  Fazl  and 
his  equally  learned  and  freethinking  brother,  Shaikh  Faizi, 
who  had  come  to  court  six  years  earlier.    The  nature  of  Abu-1 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    185 

Fazl's  philosophy  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  lines 
composed  by  him  : 

'  0  God,  in  every  temple  I  see  people  that  seek  Thee,  and  in 
every  language  I  hear  spoken,  people  praise  Thee  !  .  .  . 

If  it  be  a  mosque,  people  murmur  the  holy  prayer,  and  if  it 
be  a  Christian  church,  people  ring  the  bell  from  love 
•     of  Thee, 

Sometimes  I  frequent  the  Christian  cloister,  and  sometimes 
the  mosque. 

But  it  is  Thou  whom  I  search  for  from  temple  to  temple  '. 

Akbar's  loss  of  faith.  The  teaching  of  Abu-1  Fazl  and  his 
brother  was  only  one  of  the  influences  which  shook  the  faith 
of  Akbar.  As  a  boy  he  had  been  attracted  by  the  heretical 
mysticism  of  the  Siifl  poet  Hafiz,  closely  akin  to  certain  Hindu 
doctrines,  and  from  an  early  age  he  had  been  much  in  company 
with  Hindus.  His  marriages  with  Hindu  princesses,  who 
practi-sed  their  religious  rites  within  the  palace,  gave  ample 
opportunities  for  filling  him  with  Hindu  notions.  Akbar, 
while  extremely  curious  about  religious  problems,  found  it 
hard  to  accej)t  any  definite  creed.  He  delighted  in  hearing  the 
arguments  of  rival  Christian,  Hindu,  Muslim,  Jain  and  Zoro- 
astrian  teachers,  but  would  never  declare  himself  the  disciple 
of  any  one  guide. 

Akbar  and  Christianity.  The  arrival  of  two  Jesuits  in 
Bengal  in  1576  first  drew  the  attention  of  the  emperor  to 
Christianity.  He  became  much  interested,  and  asked  the 
Portuguese  at  Goa  to  send  him  learned  theologians.  They 
complied  gladly  and  dispatched  three  separate  missions  which 
stayed  at  court  respectively  from  1580  to  1583,  from  1590 
to  1591,  and  from  1595  to  the  end  of  the  reign,  and  later. 
The  Jesuits  at  one  time  had  good  hopes  of  converting  Akbar, 
but  he  onl}"  played  with  them,  and  was  never  in  real  earnest. 
The  story,  when  read  in  detail,  is  of  fascinating  interest. 

.Akbar's  supremacy  in  religious  matters.  Although  Akbar 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  which,  if  any,  of  the  rival  religions 
was  true,  he  decided  quite  clearly  that  Islam  was  false.     That 


186    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

conviction  may  be  dated  from  about  1579.  In  that  year  he 
forced  the  leading  maulavis,  or  Muhammadan  theologians, 
to  sign  a  decree  declaring  the  binding  force  of  an  imperial 
ruling  on  any  religious  question.  The  enacting  part  of  the 
decree  runs  as  follows  : 

'  Further,  we  declare  that  the  king  of  Islam,  Amir  of  the 
Faithful,  Shadow  of  God  in  the  world — Abii-1-fath  Jalal-ud- 
din  Muhammad  Akbar  Padshah  GhazI — whose  kingdom  God 
perpetuate  !  is  a  most  just,  a  most  wise,  and  a  most  God- 
fearing king.  Should,  therefore,  in  future  a  religious  question 
come  up,  regarding  which  the  opinions  of  the  mujtahids 
[theologians]  are  at  variance,  and  His  Majesty,  in  his  penetrat- 
ing understanding  and  clear  wisdom,  be  inclined  to  adopt, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  nation,  and  as  a  political  expedient,  any 
of  the  conflicting  opinions  existing  on  that  point,  and  issue  a 
decree  to  that  effect,  we  do  hereby  agree  that  such  decree 
shall  be  binding  on  us  and  on  the  whole  nation. 

'  Further,  we  declare  that  should  His  Majesty  think  fit  to 
issue  a  new  order,  we  and  the  nation  shall  likewise  be  bound  by 
it,  provided  that  such  order  be  not  only  in  accordance  with 
some  verse  of  the  Koran,  but  also  of  real  benefit  to  the  nation  ; 
and  further,  that  any  opposition  on  the  part  of  his  subjects  to 
such  an  order  passed  by  His  Majesty  shall  involve  damnation 
in  the  world  to  come,  and  loss  of  property  and  religious 
privileges  in  this.' 

Akbar  thus  assumed  a  position  similar  to  that  taken  up  by 
Henry  VIII  of  England  when  he  established  the  royal  supre- 
macy over  the  English  Church,  in  virtue  of  which  he  ventured 
to  deal  with  matters  of  faith,  as  defined  in  the  Ten  Articles 
of  1536. 

Hostility  to  Islam.  From  the  date  of  the  decree  onwards 
Akbar  showed  open  hostility  to  Islam,  and  issued  a  multitude 
of  orders  which  violated  his  declared  principle  of  toleration 
for  all  forms  of  belief. 

For  instance,  the  public  prayers  and  call  to  prayers  were 
stopped,  the  Ramazan  fast  and  the  Mecca  pilgrimage  were 
forbidden.  In  short,  as  Badaoni  puts  it,  '  every  command 
and  direction  of  Islam,  whether  special  or  general  .  » .  all  were 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    187 

doubted  and  ridiculed.'  Wanton  insults  to  Muhammadan 
feeling  were  offered,  as,  for  example,  mosques  were  turned 
into  stables,  the  name  of  Muhammad  was  proscribed,  and  so 
forth. 

It  is  a  wonder  that  Akbar  did  not  lose  his  throne.  The 
fact  that  he  did  not  is  the  best  proof  possible  of  the  immense 
personal  power  which  he  exercised  over  the  minds  of  men.  If 
the  British  Government  should  try  to  do  any  one  of  such 
things,  it  would  not  last  a  week. 

Akbar  having  tried  all  creeds,  found  defects  in  every  one  of 
them.  He  therefore  thought  that  he  could  form  an  eclectic 
religion  which  combined  the  good  points  of  all. 

In  the  words  of  the  poet,  he  sought 

To  gather  here  and  there 
From  each  fair  plant,  the  blossom  choicest  grown, 
To  wreathe  a  crown,  not  only  for  the  King, 
But  in  due  time  for  every  Mussalman, 
Brahmin  and  Buddhist,  Christian  and  Parsee, 
Through  all  the  warring  world  of  Hindustan. 

Akbar  was,  no  doubt,  really  in  earnest  in  his  endeavour. 
Not  only  did  he  wish  to  found  an  ideal  religion,  but  he  desired 
to  find  a  common  basis  of  w^orship  for  all  his  subjects,  and  to 
heal  those  unhappy  dissensions  of  caste  and  creed  which  have 
hitherto  prevented  India  from  becoming  a  nation.  It  was 
a  noble  dream,  but  an  impossible  one.  Akbar  thought  that, 
as  autocratic  ruler  of  a  vast  empire,  he  could  do  as  he  chose. 
But  even  a  despot  cannot  alter  the  deep-seated  religious 
beliefs  of  millions  of  people,  and  his  attempt  was  fore- 
doomed to  failure.  Only  a  few  courtiers  and  personal 
friends  joined  his  new  Faith,  which  he  called  the  Divine  Unity 
{Tauhld  Ildhi)  or  Divine  Faith  {Din  Ildhi).  It  laid  stress 
on  the  unity  of  God,  and  half  deified  the  Padshah  as  his  Vice- 
regent  on  earth. 

Literature  and  art.  Akbar  resembled  most  of  the  members 
of  his  family  in  enjoying  and  patronizing  literature  and  art. 
As  a  boy  he  had  steadily'-  refused  to  learn  his  lessons,  and  to 
the  end  of  his  days  was  absolutely  ignorant  of  reading  and 


188    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

wTiting.  He  could  not  even  read  or  sign  his  own  name.  But 
he  kept  other  people  busy  reading  to  him  continually,  and  so 
learned  by  the  ear  more  than  most  men  can  learn  by  the  eye. 
He  had  a  marvellously  strong  memory  and  an  extremely  keen 
understanding. 

He  collected  an  enormous  library,  comprising  24,000  manu- 
scripts, valued  at  nearly  six  and  a  half  millions  of  rupees. 
The  high  valuation,  working  out  at  about  270  rupees,  then  equal 
to  thirty  pounds  sterling,  a  volume,  was  due  to  the  employ- 
ment of  the  most  famous  scribes  to  write  the  texts,  and  the 
most  skilled  artists  to  illustrate  the  contents  and  bind  the 
books.  A  few  volumes  have  escaped  destruction,  and  many 
works  by  the  artists  employed  are  extant. 

In  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign  Akbar  compelled  the  Raja 
of  Riwa(Bhath)to  send  to  court  Tansen,the  poet  and  musician. 
Abu-1  Fazl  says  that  such  a  singer  had  not  been  Ijnown  in 
India  for  a  thousand  years. 

The  excellent  imperial  taste  in  architecture  is  best  attested 
by  the  numerous  beautiful  buildings  still  standing  at  Fathpur- 
Sikri.  Akbar  lavished  huge  sums  on  building  that  city, 
which  was  occupied  for  a  few  years  only. 

Character  of  Akbar.  Although  Akbar  cannot  be  described 
as  '  a  mixture  of  oj)posites  ',  like  Muhammad  bin  Tughlak  or 
Jahangir,  his  nature  was  complex,  and  not  easy  to  understand. 
He  was  a  very  human  man,  not  a  saint,  and  was  not  free  from 
serious  faults  and  frailties.  The  portrait  drawn  by  most 
historians — all  light  with  no  shadow — is  false.  In  the  early 
years  of  his  reign,  after  the  fall  of  Bairam  Khan,  he  was  in  the 
hands  of  bad  advisers,  including  the  scoundrel  Pir  Muhammad, 
who  was  allowed  to  commit  appalling  cruelties  in  Malva 
without  censure,  so  far  as  appears.  Towards  the  close  of  the 
reign,  when  Akbar  had  exercised  uncontrolled  power  for  some 
forty  years,  and  his  generous  nature  had  become  to  a  certain 
extent  corrupted,  he  committed  various  foolish  and  unworthy 
acts,  especially  the  deliberate  insults  to  Islam  above  mentioned. 
He  had  previously  acquired  the  evil  opium  habit,   which 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    189 

-probably  sliorjbened  his  life.     In  earlier  days  he  sometimes 
■drank  more  than  was  good  for  him. 

The  Jesuits,  who  give  by  far  the  best  personal  descriptions, 
Tightly  praise  Akbar's  zeal  and  care  in  the  administration  of 
justice.  It  must  be  understood  that  the  justice  was  of  the 
bloody,  ferocious  kind  then  in  fashion,  and  that  men  were 
commonly  impaled,  torn  to  pieces  by  elephants,  and  mutilated. 
Akbar,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  taken  pleasure  in 
witnessing  such  scenes,  as  Jahangir  and  .Shahjahan  did. 

Akbar's  vanity  was,  perhaps,  his  weakest  point,  as  may  be 
learnt  from  the  critical  pages  of  Badaoni.  His  insatiable 
curiosity  led  him  into  absurd  positions  from  time  to  time. 

Nevertheless,  when  all  that  can  be  said  against  him  has 
been  said,  it  remains  true  that  Akbar  was  one  of  the  greatest  of 
kings,  comparable  in  India  with  Asoka  alone,  and  fully  worthy 
to  stand  as  an  equal  beside  his  European  contemporaries 
Elizabeth  of  England  (1558-1603)  and  Henry  IV  of  France 
(1593-1610). 

He  possessed  exceptional  bodily  strength,  and  courage  as 
undaunted  as  that  of  Alexander  of  Macedon.  His  fights  in 
Gujarat  and  his  nine  days'  ride  to  Ahmadabad  were  heroic 
performances. 

The  Jesuit  accounts.  Space  does  not  permit  me  to  quote 
in  full  the  vivid  Jesuit  accounts  of  Akbar  as  he  was  in  1582, 
when  forty  years  of  age,  but  a  few  of  their  phrases  must  be 
cited.  In  eating  he  was  ordinary  and  simple  to  a  notable 
degree.  He  was  a  man  of  excellent  parts  with  much  judge- 
ment, prudence,  and  intelligence,  and  exceedingly  sagacious. 
He  was  also  very  magnanimous  and  generous,  pleasant- 
mannered  and  kindly,  while  still  preserving  his  gravity  and 
sternness.  There  was  nothing  that  he  knew  not  how  to  do, 
whether  matters  of  war,  or  administration,  or  the  mechanical 
arts.  He  rarely  lost  his  temper,  but  his  occasional  outbursts 
of  wrath  were  terrible.  He  was  ready  to  forgive,  being 
naturally  gentle,  humane,  and  kind.  '  In  truth ',  we  are  told, 
*  he  was  great  with  the  great,  and  lowly  with  the  lowly.'     It 


190    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

was  not  easy  to  find  the  clue  to  his  thoughts,  because,  although 
a'pparently  free  from  mystery  and  guile,  he  was  in  reality  close 
and  self-contained;^ 

That  picture,  even  when  thus  drawn  in  bare  outline,  is 
a  noble  one. 

Akbar's  deeds  as  a  conqueror  and  administrator  stand  out 
clearly  on  the  page  of  history.  He  was  the  real  founder  of  the 
Mughal  empire,  and  succeeded  m  establishing  an  authority 
which  nothing  could  shake  during  his  lifetime.  He  took  the 
broad  views  of  a  true  statesman.  He  knew  how  to  choose, 
use,  and  keep  loyal^ervants.  His  policy  of  toleration  for  all 
religions  was  wholly  his  own,  unknown  in  Europe  or  Muham- 
madan  Asia  in  his  days. 

The  stately  eulogy  bestowed  by  Wordsworth  on  a  hero  now 
obscure  may  be  applied  fitly  to  Akbar  the  Great  : 

'  Yet  shall  thy  name,  conspicuous  and  sublime, 
Stand  in  the  spacious  firmament  of  time, 
Fixed  as  a  star  ;  such  glory  is  thy  right.' 


Chronology  of  Akbar's  reign. 

Death  of  Humayun,  accession  of  Akbar  .  .  .     Jan.,  1556 

Second  battle  of  Panlpat ;    defeat  and  death  of  Hemu         .    Nov.,  1556 

Occupation  of  the  Panjab         .......  1556 

Assumption  of  full  authority  by  Akbar     .  .  .  March,  1560 

Abolition  of  the  jizya  tax  .......  1565 

Siege  of  Chitor 1567-8 

Foundation  of  Fathpur  SikrI  .  ......  1569 

Reduction  of  Gujarat      ........  1573 

Capture  of  Surat ;   suppression  of  revolt  in  Gujarat ;   completion 

of  fort  at  Agra 1573 

Introduction  of  Abul  Fazl  at  court   ......  1574 

Conquest  of  Bengal  and  Bihar  ;    death  of  Daiid  .  .  .  1574-6 

Rajpiit  rising  ;   battle  of  Gogunda  ...  ...  1576 


^  Translated  from  various  passages  in  the  Italian  of  Peruschi  and  Bartoli. 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     191 


Decree  making  Akbar  head  of  the  Church 

Death  of  Muhammad  Hakim  ;     absorption  of  Kabul 

Akbar's  capital  at  Lahore 

Defeat  of  Raja  Birbal  by  the  Yusufzl 

Conquest  of  Kashmir 

Conquest  of  Sind 

Embassies  to  the  kingdoms  of  the  Deccan 

Annexation  of  Kandahar 

Defence  of  Ahmadnagar  by  Chand  Bibi 

Famine  in  Hindostan    . 

Death  of  Prince  Murad 

Fall  of  Ahmadnagar 

Capture  of  Asirgarh 

Rebellion  of  Prince  Salim  ;    murder  of  Abu-l  Fazl 

Death  of  Akbar      .         .         .  .         t.         . 


Oct. 


1579 

1585 

1585-98 

1586 

1586-7 

1588-9a 

1591 

1595 

1595 

1595-8 

1599 

1600 

1601' 

1602- 

1605- 


CHAPTER  XIX 


The  reigns  of  Jahangir  and  Shahjahan  :  Sir  Thomas  Roe  ;  Bcmier  ;  Mughal 

architecture. 

Accession  of  Jahangir  ;  rebellion  of  Khusru.  Prince  Salim,^ 
then  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  hi.s  age,  ascended  the  throne- 
without  open  opposition,  taking  the  style  of  Jahangir,  '  World- 
seizer '.  Five  months  after  his  accession  the  intrigues  begun 
during  the  preceding  reign  produced  a  rebellion  in  favour  of 
his  eldest  son  Khusru,  who  occupied  Lahore.  Jahangir,  acting 
on  his  doctrine  that  '  kingship  regards  neither  son  nor  son-in- 
law  :  no  one  is  a  relation  to  a  king  ' — pursued  the  rebel  with 
untiring  diligence  and  crushed  the  revolt  in  three  weeks. 
Khusrii  was  captured  while  trying  to  cross  the  Chinab,  and  was 
brought  in  chains  before  his  father,  who  inflicted  a  terrible 
penalty  on  his  son's  followers.  Under  a  date  early  in  May 
1606,  the  emperor  writes  in  his  authentic  Memoirs  : 

'  For  the  sake  of  good  government  I  ordered  posts  to  be  set  up- 
on both  sides  of  the  road  from  the  garden  [where  I  lodged]  to 
the  city  [Lahore],  and  ordered  them  to  hang  up  and  impale 
the  seditious  Aimaqs  and  others  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
rebellion.  Thus  each  one  of  them  received  an  extraordinary 
punishment.' 


192    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

The  men  impaled  are  said  to  have  numbered  300.  The 
Dutch  author  de  Laet  (1631)  adds  that  Jahanglr  mounted  his 
unhappy  son  on  an  elephant  and  led  him  between  the  lines  of 
his  writhing  followers,  while  Mahabat  Khan  (Zamana  Beg) 
recited  the  names  of  the  sufferers. 

Khusru  was  partially  blinded  and  kept  in  confinement,  more 
or  less  strict,  until  1622,  when  he  was  reported  officially  to 
have  died  of  colic.  But  there  is  sound  reason  for  believing 
that  he  was  strangled  by  order  of  his  half-brother,  Prince 
Khurram  (Shahjahan),  who  was  resolved  to  clear  away  every 
relative  who  might  possibly  claim  succession  to  the  throne. 
The  remains  of  Khusru  lie  in  the  well-known  garden  at  Allah- 
abad which  bears  his  name. 

Wars.  Jahanglr,  although  mentally  and  morally  inferior 
to  his  father,  was  no  fool,  and  was  able  to  preserve  nearFy 
intact  without  much  effort  the  empire  which  he  had  inherited. 
Early  in  his  reign  he  visited  Kabul,  and  some  years  later  sup- 
pressed a  rebellion  in  that  province.  The  central  Subas  gave 
him  little  trouble,  but  from  time  to  time  armies  had  to  be  sent 
into  Rajputana,  Bengal,  and  the  Deccan,  as  well  as  to  Kabul 
and  Kangra. 

Jahanglr' s  ambitions  ;  Kandahar.  Jahanglr  inherited  from 
his  father  and  personally  cherished  two  great  objects  of 
ambition — one,  to  recover  the  ancestral  dominions  of  his  house 
beyond  the  Oxus,  the  other  to  bring  all  Southern  India^nder 
his  sway.  He  did  not  succeed  in  effecting  either  purpose. 
His  armies  never  got  near  the  Oxus.  Kandahar,  betrayed  to 
Akbar  in  1595,  was  easily  regained  by  the  Persians  in  1622. 
Jahanglr  planned  an  expedition  to  recover  the  city,  but  it 
was  never  sent. 

The  Deccan.  In  the  Deccan,  Ahmadnagar,  taken  by  Akbar's 
forces  in  1600  {ante,  p.  177),  had  been  recovered  for  the  local 
dynasty  by  an  Abyssinian  minister  named  Malik  Ambar,  who 
forced  the  imperial  troops  to  retire  to  Burhanpur,  and  harassed 
them  by  attacks  of  light  cavalry,  worked  in  that  Maratha 
fashion  which,  at  a  later  date,  proved  too  much  for  all  iha 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    193 

resources  of  Aurangzeb.  Jahangir  was  never  able  to  make 
much  progress  in  the  conquest  of  the  Deccan,  although  the  city 
of  Ahmadnagar  was  regained  for  a  time. 

Bengal.  A  rebellion  in  Bengal,  headed  by  Usman  Khan, 
an  Afghan  chief,  which  had  begun  in  the  preceding  reign,  was 
ended  in  1612  by  the  killing  of  the  rebel  leader. 

Mewar.  Amar  Singh,  the  proud  Rana  of  Mewar  (Udaipur), 
and  head  of  the  Rajpiit  clans,  whose  ancestors  had  defied 
Babur  and  Akbar,  was  reduced  to  submission  in  the  ninth 
year  of  the  reign  (1614)  b}^  Prince  Khurram  (Shahjahan). 
The  Rajput  prince  was  pursued  so  unceasingly  that  he  could 
hold  out  no  longer.  He  and  his  son  Karan,  who  were  received 
with  marked  honour  and  courtesy  by  the  prince,  acknowledged 
the  Padshah  as  their  superior  lord.  Jahangir  caused  life-sized 
marble  statues  of  the  Rana  and  his  son  to  be  carved  and 
set  up  in  the  garden  under  the  audience -window  at  Agra.. 
Unfortunately,  those  interesting  works  of  art  have  disappeared. 

Conquest  of  Kangra.  Another  important  military  success 
was  gained  later  in  the  reign  (1620)  by  the  reduction  of  the 
famous  fortress  of  Kangra  in  the  Panjab,  which  Akbar  had 
failed  to  subdue.  Jahangir  was  extremely  proud  of  this 
victory.  Afterwards,  he  visited  the  stronghold  and  des- 
troyed its  sanctity  in  Hindu  eyes  by  slaughtering  a  bullock 
and  erecting  a  mosque  within  the  precincts. 

Plague.  In  the  tenth  year  of  the  reign  a  deadly  outbreak 
of  plague  occurred  in  the  Panjab.  The  disease,  which  Jahangir 
believed  to  have  been  previously  unknown  in  India,  spread  to 
Delhi,  Kashmir,  and  most  parts  of  Hindustan.  Rats  were 
aJBfected,  just  as  they  have  been  by  the  plague  which  began 
in  1896. 

The  Empress  Nurjahan.  Perhaps  the  marriage  of  Jahangir, 
in  May  1611,  with  the  Persian  lady  named  Mihr-un-nisa 
may  be  regarded  as  the  most  important  event  of  his  reign, 
because  she  became  the  real  sovereign,  the  power  behind  the 
throne.  That  lady,  on  whom  Jahangir  conferred  at  first  the 
title  of  Nurmahall  ('  Light  of  the  Palace  '),  and  later  that  of 

1776  G 


194    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Nurjahan  ('  Light  of  the  World  '),  by  which  she  is  usually 
known,  had  attracted  his  admiration  during  his  father's  life- 
time. Akbar  discouraged  the  prince's  suit,  and  married  Mihr- 
un-nisa  to  an  officer  named  Ali  Kuii,  better  known  by  his  title 
of  Sherafgan  Khan  ('  the  tiger-thrower  ').  After  the  accession 
of  Prince  SalTm  to  the  throne  Sherafgan  was  appointed 
Governor  of  Bardwan  in  Bengal.  He  incurred  the  displeasure 
of  Jahangir,  who  sent  his  own  foster-brother  Kutb-ud-din  Khan 
with  orders  to  dispatch  Sherafgan  to  court,  and  if  he  should 
resist  to  punish  him.  When  Kutb-ud-din  attempted  to  enforce 
his  orders  Sherafgan  killed  him  and  was  himself  slain  by  the 
followers  of  the  imperial  official,  who,  to  quote  Jahangir's 
words,  fell  upon  Sherafgan,  '  cut  him  in  pieces,  and  sent  him 
to  hell '.  The  emperor  adds  the  comment  that  '  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  place  of  that  black-faced  scoundrel  will  ever  be 
there  '.  Although  there  is  no  positive  evidence  that  Jahangir 
ordered  the  destruction  of  Sherafgan  in  order  that  he  might 
gain  possession  of  the  widow,  the  ferocity  of  the  remark  quoted 
permits  of  little  doubt  on  the  subject.  Mihr-un-nisa  was 
brought  to  court,  but  allowed  fully  four  years  to  pass  before  she 
consented  to  accept  the  position  of  principal  consort  to  Jahangir. 
Once  she  was  installed  as  empress,  her  husband  submitted  to 
her  guidance  without  reserve,  and  granted  her  privileges 
beyond  all  j)recedent.  She  sat  at  the  audience -window  to  hear 
petitions,  and  her  name  appeared  on  the  coinage  along  with 
that  of  Jahangir.  In  fact,  she  governed  the  empire.  The 
Muhammadan  chroniclers  affirm  that  Jahangir  used  to  say  that 
'  Nurjahan  was  wise  enough  to  conduct  the  business  of  State, 
while  he  wanted  only  a  bottle  of  wine  and  a  piece  of  meat 
wherewith  to  make  merry'.  Nurjahan  certainly  exercised 
a  good  influence  on  her  husband,  whose  intemperance  and 
cruelty  she  checked  to  some  extent.  She  is  said  to  have  been 
'  an  asylum  to  all  sufferers  '  and  a  generous  patron  of  many 
needy  suppliants,  especially  of  dowerless  girls.  Her  power 
came  to  an  end  after  the  accession  of  Shahjahan,  but  she  was 
well  treated  and  allowed  a  liberal  income.     She  lived  until 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    195 

1645,  when  she  died  at  Lahore,  where  she  was  buried  by  the 
side  of  Jahangir.  Her  father,  Itimad-ud-daula,  her  able 
brother,  Asaf  Khan,  and  numerous  other  relatives  had  shared 
her  wealth  and  power  while  they  lasted. 

Intrigues ;  rebellion  of  Prince  Khurram.  The  empress 
sought  to  secure  her  position  at  court  by  marrying  to  Prince 
Khurram,  third  son  of  the  emperor,  her  brother's  daughter, 
the  famous  Mumtaz  Mahall,  '  the  Lady  of  the  Taj  ',  and  by 
uniting  her  own  daughter  by  her  first  husband  to  Shahryar, 
the  youngest  son  of  Jahangir.  At  first  she  favoured  Prince 
Khurram,  but  when  the  Deccan  wars  enhanced  his  reputation, 
she  grew  jealous  and  transferred  her  support  to  Prince  Shahr- 
yar. Her  intrigues  on  his  behalf  drove  the  elder  brother 
into  rebellion.  He  was  defeated  by  Mahabat  Khan,  his  father's 
general,  and  compelled  to  flee,  first  to  Masulipatam  on  the  east 
coafet,  and  thence  to  Bengal.  In  1625  he  was  partially  recon- 
ciled with  his  father,  who  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  Shah' 
jahan,  '  King  of  the  World '. 

Rebellion  of  Mahabat  Khan.  In  course  of  time,  Mahabat 
Khan  in  his  turn  became  the  object  of  the  jealousy  of  the 
empress,  and  was  forced  to  rebel  in  self-defence.  In  the  year 
1626,  when  Jahangir  was  on  his  way  to  Kabul,  the  insurgent 
general  cleverly  secured  the  trump  card  in  the  game  of 
intrigue  by  seizing  the  emperor's  person,  and  in  the  next  year 
Nurjahan,  with  equal  cleverness,  enabled  him  to  regain  his 
freedom. 

Sir  Thomas  Roe.  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  the  dignified  ambassador 
of  James  I  of  England  {ante,  p.  164),  was  admitted  to  close  in- 
timacy with  the  drunken  monarch  to  whom  he  was  accredited, 
and  had  to  do  his  best  to  take  his  share  in  the  frequent  mid- 
night orgies.  He  has  left  on  record  a  lively  description  of 
Jahangir  and  his  court.  Another  Englishman,  William 
Hawkins,  who  had  visited  Agra  a  few  years  earlier,  and  joined 
more  willingly  in  the  royal  potations,  was  much  disgusted 
by  the  bloodthirsty  cruelty  of  the  emperor. 

Death  of  Jahangir,  1627.     Jahangir  habitually  spent  the 


196    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

hot  season  in  Kashmir,  which  he  called  '  a  garden  of  eternal 
spring,  a  delightful  flower-bed,  and  a  heart -expanding  heritage 
for  dervishes  '.  In  October-  1627,  when  returning  thence, 
he  was  taken  ill  and  died  suddenly  after  a  reign  of  twenty-two 
years.  His  remains  lie  in  a  fine  mausoleum  at  Lahore,  which 
city  was  usually  treated  as  his  capital. 

Character  of  Jahangir.  Jahanglr  has  been  described  as 
'  a  talented  drunkard  ' .  In  his  youth  he  had  been  sjioiled,  and 
he  grew  up  to  be  a  wilful,  cruel  man,  easy-going  and  good- 
natured  when  not  thwarted,  but  a  ferocious  savage  when 
angered.  Like  Muhammad  bin  Tughlak,  he  was  '  a  mixture 
of  opposites  '.  We  know  all  about  him,  because  we  have  his 
own  account  of  nineteen  years  of  his  reign  recorded  in  his 
authentic  Memoirs,  in  addition  to  many  narratives  by  Indian 
and  European  writers,  not  to  speak  of  numerous  life-like 
portraits,  the  work  of  skilled  artists.  We  can  thus  see  the 
man  as  he  was — the  typical  Asiatic  despot,  a  strange  compound 
of  tenderness  and  cruelty,  justice  and  caprice,  refinement  and 
brutality,  good  sense  and  childishness.  Jahanglr  prided 
himself  especially  on  his  love  of  justice.  When  recording  the 
execution  of  a  notable  personage  for  the  crime  of  murder,  he 
observes  :  '  God  forbid  that  in  such  affairs  I  should  consider 
princes,  and  far  less  that  I  should  consider  Amirs.'  But  his 
justice  was  bloody  and  cruel,  rarely  tempered  with  mercy. 
For  instance,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  sentencing  hundreds  of 
men  at  a  time  to  be  impaled  on  sharp  stakes.  He  could  feel 
the  most  acute  grief  for  the  loss  of  a  wife  or  child,  and  yet  ham- 
string and  kill  certain  wretched  beaters  who  had  accidentally 
spoiled  his  shot  at  an  antelope.  He  loved  both  nature  and  art. 
He  was  an  exjDert  judge  of  painting  and  delighted  in  fine 
scenery  or  lovely  flowers.  The  blossom  of  the  dhah  tree,  he 
remarks, '  is  so  beautiful  that  one  cannot  take  one's  eyes  off  it '. 
The  Rev.  Edward  Terry,  Sir  Thomas  Roe's  chaplain,  while 
admitting  that  the  emperor  did  not  always  abide  by  his 
promises,  records  the  fact  that  Englishmen  '  found  a  free  trade, 
a  peaceable  residence,  and  a  very  good  esteem  with  that  king 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     197 

and  people  '.  The  life  and  reign  of  Jahangir  deserve  treat- 
ment better  than  they  have  received  from  most  historians. 

Shahryar  and  Dawar  Baksh  ;  accession  of  Shahjahan.  When 
Jahangir  died  two  of  his  sons  still  lived.  Prince  Khurram  or 
Shahjahan,  the  elder  of  the  two  and  the  ablest  member  of  the 
family,  was  then  far  a^ay  in  the  Deccan.  Shahryar,  the  younger, 
hurried  to  Lahore.^  Asaf  Khan,  whose  daughter,  Mumtaz 
Mahall,  was  married  to  Shahjahan,  naturally  desired  his  son- 
in-law  to  succeed.  In  order  to  gain  time  until  he  should 
arrive,  Asaf  Khan  set  up  as  Padshah,  Khusrii's  son,  Dawar 
Baksh,  nicknamed  Bulakl,  who,  according  to  some  authorities, 
had  been  nominated  as  heir-apparent  by  Jahangir.  Shahryar, 
who  was  known  as  Na-shudani  or  '  Good  for  nothing ',  was 
easily  defeated  by  Asaf  Khan  and  blinded.  Shahjahan,  sum- 
moned by  an  express  messenger,  hastened  to  the  north  and 
gave  orders  for  the  killing  of  all  his  male  relations  who  might 
possibly  claim  the  throne.  His  orders  were  carried  out  so 
secretly  that  the  exact  truth  could  not  be  known,  and  authors 
consequently  differ  concerning  both  the  names  of  the  princes 
who  perished  and  the  manner  of  their  deaths.  It  is  certain 
that  Shahryar  and  several  young  cousins  of  Shahjahan  were 
put  to  death.  Dawar  Baksh  escaped  to  Persia,  where  two 
European  travellers,  Olearius  and  Tavernier,  met  him. 

Shahjahan,  having  thus  cleared  away  all  rivals,  ascended 
the  throne  in  February  1628. 

Wars  in  the  Deccan.  Shahjahan,  like  his  father  and  grand- 
father, aimed  at  the  recovery  of  the  lost  provinces  near  the 
Oxus  and  the  conquest  of  Southern  India.  He  was  more 
successful  in  both  projects  than  Jahangir  had  been.  His  early 
wars  in  the  Deccan  lasted  for  nearly  seven  years  (1630-6).  At 
the  beginning  of  them  he  had  to  suppress  a  troublesome  revolt 
by  a  noble  named  Khan  Jahan  Lodi,  who  was  hunted  down 
and  killed  (1631).     Five  and  a  half  years  later  the  king  of 

^  The  fate  of  Khusru,  the  eldest  son,  has  been  narrated.  Parviz,  the 
second  son,  died  a  year  before  his  father.  A  son  named  Jahandar  had  died 
in  childhood. 


198    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Bijapur  made  his  submission.  In  1632  the  kingdom  of 
Ahmadnagar  had  been  finally  annexed  to  the  empire.  To- 
wards the  close  of  the  reign  (1657)  both  Bijapur  and  Golkonda 
were  again  attacked  and  seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of  sub- 
mission, when  operations  were  suspended  owing  to  the  war  of 
succession  between  Shahjahan's  four  sons. 

Kandahar,  Balkh,  and  Badakshan.  A  much  desired  acquisi- 
tion was  secured  in  1638  when  Ali  Mardan  Khan,  an  officer  of 
the  king  of  Persia,  was  persuaded  to  sell  Kandahar  for  a  lakh 
of  rupees,  and  to  take  service  under  Shahjahan,  who  promoted 
him  to  high  honour.  In  1645  Ali  Mardan  Khan  took  possession 
of  the  province  of  Balkh,  the  ancient  Bactria,  situated  between 
the  Hindu  Kush  mountains  and  the  Oxus.  Prince  Murad 
Bakhsh,  the  emperor's  youngest  son,  then  occupied  Badakh- 
shan,  the  mountainous  region  to  the  east  of  Balkh,  but  left  his 
government  without  leave,  and  was  superseded  by  his  younger 
brother,  Prince  Aurangzeb,  who  was  driven  out  of  Balkh  with 
heavy  loss  (1647).  Kandahar  was  recovered  by  the  Persians 
in  February  1649,  and  so  passed  for  ever  from  the  control 
of  the  Mughals. 

Famine  in  Gujarat,  1630-2.  During  the  early  years  of  the 
Deccan  wars,  both  the  Deccan  and  Gujarat  (including  Khan- 
desh)  suffered  from  a  fearful  famine  (1630-2),  described  in  the 
BadsMh-nama,  and  also  in  the  Travels  of  Peter  Mundy,  an 
English  merchant,  who  journeyed  on  business  from  Surat  to 
Agra  and  Patna  and  back  again  while  the  famine  and  conse- 
quent pestilence  were  raging.  People  were  afraid  to  travel 
for  fear  of  being  eaten,  and  '  the  flesh  of  a  son  was  preferred 
to  his  love  '.  The  ground  was  strewn  with  corpses  so  thickly 
that  Mundy  could  hardly  find  room  to'  pitch  a  small  tent.  In 
towns  the  dead  were  dragged  '  out  by  the  heels,  stark  naked, 
of  all  ages  and  sexes,  and  there  are  left,  so  that  the  way  is  half 
barred  up.  Thus  it  was  for  the  most  part  hitherto  ',  that  is  to 
say,  midway  between  Surat  and  Burhanpur.  The  sickness 
was  so  deadly  that  at  Surat  seventeen  out  of  twenty-one 
English  traders  died.    Meantime,  the  camp  of  Shahjahan  at 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    199 

Burhanpur  was  overflowing  with  provisions.  So  far  as  Mundy 
saw,  the  Government  did  nothing  to  help  the  people,  but  the 
author  of  the  Badshali-ndma  asserts  that  vShahjahan  opened 
a  few  soup-kitchens,  gave  a  lakh  and  a  half  of  rupees  in  charity 
spread  over  twenty  weeks,  and  remitted  one-eleventh  of  the 
revenue.  The  relief  thus  granted  was  too  trifling  to  be  of  any 
use.  Of  course  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  collect  the 
full  assessment.  Sir  Richard  Temple  justly  observes  that 
'  it  is  worth  while  to  read  Mundy's  unimpassioned,  matter-of- 
fact  observations  on  this  famine,  if  only  to  grasp  the  difference 
of  the  conditions  of  native  life  under  the  Mogul  and  the  British 
Governments  '. 

Destruction  of  Hindu  temples.  Shahjahan,  who  wished  to 
be  considered  an  orthodox  Musalman,,  unlike  Akbar  and 
Jahanglr,  issued  orders  in  1632  for  the  destruction  throughout 
his  dominions  of  all  Hindu  temples  recently  built.  In  the 
Benares  District  alone  seventy-six  temples  were  destroyed  in 
compliance  with  that  order.  Figures  for  other  localities  are 
not  recorded. 

The  Portuguese  of  Hugli.  Both  Akbar  and  Jahanglr  had 
shown  favour  to  Christians  and  Christianity,  one  motive  which 
influenced  Jahanglr  being  his  desire  to  benefit  from  European 
trade.  The  Portuguese,  who  had  been  allowed  to  settle  and 
build  at  Hugll  (Hooghly),  nearly  thirty  miles  above  the  site 
of  Calcutta,  abused  the  privileges  granted  and  broke  the  peace 
of  the  empire  by  shameless  piracy  and  a  cruel  slave-trade. 
They  were  rash  enough  to  give  special  offence  to  Mumtaz 
Mahall,  who  used  her  all-powerful  influence  to  compass  their 
destruction.  In  1632,  the  year  after  her  death,  an  officer  of 
Shahjahan  stormed  the  Portuguese  stronghold,  killing  about 
10,000  of  the  defenders,  who  were  '  either  blown  up  with 
powder,  drowned  in  water,  or  burnt  by  fire  '.  Between  4,000 
and  5,000  prisoners  were  brought  to  Agra  and  treated  with 
great  cruelty.  Their  misery,  Bernier  tells  us,  was  '  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  modern  times  '.  Unfortunately, 
it  cannot  be  said  that  their  sufferings  were  wholly  undeserved. 


200    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Shahjahan  pulled  down  the  belfry  of  the  church  at  Agra, 
but  did  not  completely  destroy  the  building,  part  of  which 
still  exists. 

Character  and  administration  of  Shahjahan.  Most  modern 
historians,  dazzled  by  the  beauty  of  the  imperial  buildings,  and 
misled  by  a  phrase  of  Ta vernier  to  the  effect  that  Shahjahan 
governed  his  people  '  like  a  father '  with  exceptional  mildness, 
as  well  as  by  the  authority  of  Elphinstone,  have  been  inclined 
to  give  Shahjahan  undeserved  praise  for  the  supposed  excel- 
lence of  his  personal  character  and  the  alleged  efficiency  of  his 
administration.  Aurangzeb  has  been  held  up  to  universal 
re]5roach  because  he  made  his  way  to  the  throne  through  the 
blood  of  his  brothers,  while  Shahjahan,  who  did  exactly  the 
same  thing,  is  allowed  to  escape  without  censure.  He  was 
even  credited  by  Elphinstone  with  '  a  life  not  sullied  '  by  crime. 
Older  writers  knew  better.  Ta  vernier,  notwithstanding  his 
use  of  the  phrase  cited  above,  states  plainly  that  Shahjahan 
'  by  degrees  murdered  all  those  who  from  having  shown 
affection  for  his  nephew  had  made  themselves  suspects,  and 
the  early  years  of  his  reign  were  marked  by  cruelties  which 
have  much  tarnished  his  memory  '.  The  Dutch  author  van 
den  Broecke  (in  de  Laet),  writing  in  1629  or  1630,  while  ad- 
mitting that  the  character  of  the  new  monarch  had  not  j^et 
become  fully  known,  was  convinced  that  a  kingdom  won  by 
so  many  crimes  and  the  slaughter  of  so  many  innocent 
victims,  could  not  prosper.  In  reality,  the  personal  character 
of  the  much-censured  Aurangzeb  was  superior  to  that  of 
the  much-praised  Shahjahan,  who  was  treacherous,  cruel, 
sensual,  and  avaricious.  The  '  justice  '  with  which  he  has 
been  credited  was  usually  nothing  better  than  the  savage 
ferocity  practised  by  his  father. 

Peter  Mundy,  who  has  been  already  quoted,  gives  a  glimpse 
into  the  actual  state  of  the  empire  early  in  the  reign  (1630-3). 
When  staying  at  Patna,  he  found  that  travelling  whether  by 
river  or  road  was  unsafe,  because  '  this  country,  as  all  the 
rest  of  India,  swarms  with  rebels  and  thieves  '.     Provincial 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    201 

governors  sought  to  repress  disorder  by  wholesale  massacres, 
which  they  were  allowed  to  commit  without  check  by  the 
imperial  Government.  At  a  place  in  the  Cawnpore  District 
Mundy  saw  more  than  200  small  masonry  pillars  {mmars)  each 
three  or  four  yards  high,  and  each  containing,  set  in  plaster, 
thirty  or  forty  heads  of  persons  supposed  to  be  thieves.  When 
he  came  back  a  few  months  later  to  the  same  camping-ground, 
sixty  more  such  pillars  had  been  added.  Thus  in  that  one 
locality  a  single  governor  had  slaughtered  about  8,000  people 
in  a  short  time.^  That  state  of  affairs  was  not  exceptional. 
'  Minars ',  we  are  told,  '  are  commonly  near  to  great  cities,' 
Much  other  contemporary  evidence  might  be  cited  to  prove  the 
misgovernment  of  Shahjahan's  dominions,  especially  in  the 
earlier  years  of  his  reign.  Some  improvement  probably  took 
place  between  1644  and  1656,  when  the  office  of  prime  minister 
was  held  by  Sadullah  Khan  AllamI,  who  is  reputed  to  have 
been  the  best  minister  ever  known  in  India.  Whatever  good 
administration  really  existed  during  the  reign  should  be 
attributed  to  him  rather  than  to  his  unscrupulous  master. 
Murshid  Kuli  Khan  did  good  work  by  introducing  into  the 
Deccan  the  revenue  system  of  Todar  Mall,  with  certain 
necessary  local  variations. 

Wealth  of  Shahjahan.'  The  wealth  amassed  by  Shahjahan 
far  exceeded  the  vast  treasure  left  by  Akbar  and  was  of 
almost  incredible  amount.  The  German  traveller  Mandelslo 
(1638)  states  that  he  was  '  credibly  informed  '  that  the  Mogul's 
treasure  (no  doubt  including  jewels  and  bullion)  exceeded 
1,500  millions  of  crowns,  or  3,000  millions  of  rupees,  equivalent 
to  337 1  millions  of  pounds  sterling  at  the  then  current  rate  of 
exchange  (2s.  3d.  to  the  rupee).  Whatever  the  exact  figures 
should  be,  the  total  undoubtedly  was  stupendous. 

Shahjahan  thus  possessed  practically  unlimited  funds  to 
spend  on  the  costly  buildings  which  were  his  hobby.  The  Taj 
and  connected  structures  probably  cost  something  like  four 
million  pounds  sterling,  and  the  expenditure  on  Delhi  was 

^  260  pillars  x  30,  the  minimum  number  of  heads  in  each  =  7,800. 

G3 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     203 

equally  extravagant.  The  splendour  of  the  court  was  unex- 
ampled, millions  being  lavished  on  the  famous  peacock  throne. 
All  this  reckless  display  was  paid  for  by  the  people,  who  were 
ground  down  by  hundreds  of  official  oppressors.  A  learned 
Hindu  historian  describes  the  Mughal  empire  as  '  a  system  of 
organized  brigandage  '.  The  phrase  has  an  element  of  truth 
in  it. 

The  four  sons  of  Shahjahan.  Shahjahan  had  four  sons, 
Dara  Shikoh,^  Shuja,  Aurangzeb,  and  Murad  Bakhsh.  In  1657, 
when  the  emperor  became  seriously  ill,  these  four  sons,  all 
men  of  mature  age,  prepared  to  contest  the  succession  to  the 
throne.  Their  father  had  attempted  to  secure  the  succession 
for  the  eldest  by  keeping  him  at  Agra  and  appointing  his 
brothers  to  distant  governments,  but  the  device  failed,  and  each 
claimant,  ignoring  the  sovereign's  will,  gathered  his  forces 
and  made  ready  for  battle.  'Each  had,  as  Bernier,  the  French 
traveller,  observed,  '  no  choice  between  a  kingdom  and  death.' 

The  contest  for  the  crown.  Shuja  in  Bengal  and  Murad 
Bakhsh  in  Gujarat  each  assumed  imperial  titles  and  struck  coin 
in  his  own  name,  of  which  specimens  exist.  The  cautious  and 
wily  Aurangzeb  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  army  of  Dara 
Shikoh,  which  had  speedily  put  Shuja  to  flight,  now  had  a  more 
serious  task  to  face  in  confronting  Aurangzeb.  He  moved 
northwards  in  the  spring  of  1658,  dexterously  representing  him- 
self as  being  merely  desirous  to  help  Murad  Bakhsh,  with  whose 
levies  he  united  his  own.  A  fiercely  contested  battle  between 
Aurangzeb  and  Murad  Bakhsh  on  one  side  and  Dara  Shikoh  on 
the  other,  fought  at  Samugarh,  nine  miles  from  Agra,  ended  in 
the  decisive  victory  of  the  younger  j)rinces. 

Shahjahan  confined  ;  Murad  Bakhsh  captured.  In  June, 
1658,  Aurangzeb,  who  had  a  friend  at  court  in  the  person  of 
his  sister  Roshan  Rai,  made  his  father  prisoner,  confining  him 

*  The  title  means  '  equal  in  splendour  to  Darius '.  The  common  practice 
of  citing  the  prince's  name  as  Dara  (Darius),  although  convenient,  is 
inaccurate.  His  personal  name  was  Muhammad.  The  forms  Shikoh  and 
Shukoh  are  both  in  use. 


204    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

to  the  precincts  of  the  palace,  where  he  had  the  society  of  his 
other  daughter,  Jahanara.  Next  month  the  hapless  Murad 
Bakhsh  learned  the  true  value  of  his  brother's  professions  of 
unselfish  support.  No  difficulty  was  found  in  making  the 
foolish  young  prince  hopelessly  drunk,  and  throv/ing  him  into 
chains  to  await  execution  at  a  more  convenient  time,  which 
came  in  1661. 

Fate  of  Dara  Shikoh  and  Shuja.  The  pursuit  of  Dara  Shikoh 
was  continued  with  unceasing  vigour,  and  at  last  he  was  run 
down  at  Dadar  in  Sind,  brought  to  Delhi,  and  paraded 
through  the  streets,  dressed  in  the  meanest  clothes,  and 
mounted  on  a  scarecrow  elephant.  In  August  (O.S.),  1659,  he 
was  beheaded,  on  the  j^retext  that  he  had  become  an  apostate 
from  Islam  and  the  ally  of  infidels.  It  is  true  that  Dara 
Shikoh  shared  his  great-grandfather's  scepticism,  but,  of  course, 
his  execution  was  due  to  his  position  as  claimant  of  the  throne. 
Shuja  made  one  more  effort  in  Bengal,  and  was  even  able  to 
occupy  Benares,  Allahabad,  and  Jaunpur,  He  was  overcome 
by  Aurangzeb's  able  lieutenant,  MTr  Jumla,  and  ultimately 
driven  into  Arakan,  where,  according  to  some  accounts,  he  was 
last  seen  fleeing  over  the  mountains,  accompanied  bj^  three 
faithful  men  and  one  woman.  He  certainly  perished,  one  way 
or  another,  and  was  never  heard  of  again. 

Accession  of  Aurangzeb  ;  death  of  his  father.  Aurangzeb, 
who  had  been  informalh^  proclaimed  emjjeror  in  July  1658, 
was  now  able  to  assume  the  imperial  position  with  full  cere- 
mony in  June,  1659.  His  old  father,  although  never  permitted 
to  quit  the  palace  enclosure,  and  subjected  to  many  indignities, 
was  allowed  plenty  of  dancing-girls,  and  lived  a  voluptuous 
life  until  January  22  (O.S.),  1666,  when  he  died  at  the  age  of 
seventy -four.  He  was  buried  in  the  Taj ,  the  superb  monument 
which  he  had  erected  to  the  memory  of  his  favourite  consort. 

Mumtaz  Mahall ;  sensuality  of  Shahjahan.  That  lady, 
known  by  the  title  of  Mumtaz  Mahall  (of  which  '  Taj  '  is  a  cor- 
ruption), was  the  niece  of  Niirjahan,  the  able  empress  of 
Jahanglr.     She  was  the  mother  of  fourteen  of  Shahjahan's 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     205 

children,  in  all  sixteen  in  number,  and  during  her  lifetime  was 
the  object  of  his  devoted  affection.  But  after  she  was  gone  he 
allowed  himself  to  indulge  in  unseemly  pleasures,  and  lost 
all  cajDacity  for  serious  business  in  his  old  age. 

Mughal  architecture.  The  masterpieces  of  Mughal  archi- 
tecture belong  by  universal  consent  to  the  reign  of  Shahjahan, 
in  connexion  with  whom  the  subject  is  best  considered.  The 
beautiful  domed  architecture  of  the  Mughal  period  is  not 
a  product  of  India.  It  is  essentially  foreign,  that  is  to  say, 
Persian  in  style.  But  the  earlier  specimens  were  considerably 
affected  in  details  by  the  employment  of  Hindu  artisans,  and 
the  later  examples  are  much  enriched  by  the  use  of  the  Floren- 
tine style  of  inlay  {pietra  dura)  apparently  imported  from  Italy 
by  European  artists  in  the  service  of  Shahjahan. 

Early  Mughal  buildings.  Babur  and  Humayun,  who  both 
possessed  excellent  taste,  are  recorded  to  have  erected  many 
splendid  edifices,  but  nearly  all  these  have  perished.  Akbar 
loved  building,  and  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  the  early 
Mughal  style  is  the  massive  mausoleum  or  tomb  of  his  father 
near  Delhi,  finished  inthe  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign,  and  erected 
at  the  expense  of  Haji  Begam,  the  senior  widow  of  Humayun. 
While  the  general  design  suggests  that  of  the  Taj,  the  earlier 
building  is  far  more  simple  and  severe  than  the  great  edifice 
of  Shahjahan.  The  buildings  of  Fathpur-SikrI,  begun  in 
1569,  are  universally  admired.  The  mausoleum  of  Akbar,  at 
Sikandra  near  Agra,  planned  and  erected  under  the  orders  of 
Jahanglr,  is  unique  in  design.  The  other  works  of  Jahangir's 
time  are  chiefly  at  Lahore. 

Works  of  Shahjahan.  Everybodyis  agreed  that  the  crowning 
glory  of  Mughal  architecture  is  the  mausoleum  of  Mumtaz 
Mahall  at  Agra,  commonly  known  as  the  Taj,  which  occupied 
a  multitude  of  workmen  incessantly  for  twenty-two  years. 
New  Delhi,  or  Shahjahanabad,  was  built  under  the  direction 
of  Shahjahan,  whose  palace  there,  when  perfect,  probably  was 
the  most  magnificent  edifice  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  During 
recent  years,  especially  under  Lord  Curzon's  orders,  much  has 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    207 

been  clone  to  preserve  and  restore  the  numerous  Mughal 
buildings  at  Agra,  Delhi,  and  elsewhere.  The  Indo-Persian 
paintings  of  Shahjahan's  time  are  very  fine,  and  include  a  long 
series  of  charmiftg  portraits. 


CHAPTER  XX 

The  reign  of  Aurangzeb :   his  treatment  of  the  Hindus  ;   the  Rajpiit  revolt ; 
Sivajl  and  the  rise  of  the  Marathas. 

Aurangzeb  at  the  time  of  his  accession.  In  June,  1659, 
when  Aurangzeb  assumed  the  full  honours  of  the  imperial 
dignity  under  the  title  of  Alamglr,  conferred  by  his  father,  he 
was  forty  years  of  age,  mature  in  bod}^  and  mind,  well  skilled 
in  affairs,  both  civil  and  military,  and  firmly  convinced  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  uphold  his  religion  at  any  cost.  The 
history  of  his  long  reign,  extending  like  Akbar's  over  a  period 
of  fifty  years  save  one,  may  be  condensed  as  being  that  of 
the  failure  of  an  attempt  to  govern  a  vast  empire,  inhabited 
chiefly  by  Hindus,  on  the  principles  of  an  ascetic  Muslim  saint. 

Aurangzeb' s  principles  of  government.  Aurangzeb  never 
flinched  from  the  practical  action  logically  resulting  from  his 
theory,  that  it  was  his  duty  as  a  faithful  Muslim  king  to  foster 
the  interests  of  orthodox  Sunni  Islam,  to  suppress  idolatry, 
and,  as  far  as  possible,  to  discourage  and  disown  all  idolaters, 
heretics  (including  Shiah  Muhammadans),  and  infidels.  He 
could  not  do  all  he  would,  but  he  did  all  he  could  to  carry  his 
principles  into  effect.  No  fear  of  unpopularity,  no  consider- 
ation of  political  expediency,  no  dread  of  resistance,  was 
suffered  to  turn  him  for  a  moment  from  his  religious  duty  as 
he  conceived  it.  The  Emperor  Aurangzeb  was  a  man  of  high 
intellectual  powers,  a  brilliant  writer,  as  his  letters  prove,  an 
astute  diplomatist,  a  soldier  of  undaunted  courage,  a  skilled 
administrator,  a  just  and  merciful  judge,  a  pious  ascetic  in  his 
personal  habits,  and  yet  a  failure. 

Palliation  of  his  fight  for  the  throne.    He  crossed  a  river 


AURANGZKE 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    209 

of  blood  to  gain  the  throne.  The  best  defence  that  can  be 
offered  for  the  crimes  by  which  he  won  it,  is  that  indicated  in 
his  letter  reproaching  his  old  tutor  : 

'  Ought  you  not ',  he  writes,  '  to  have  foreseen  that  I  might 
at  some  future  period  be  compelled  to  contend  with  my 
brothers,  sword  in  hand,  for  the  crown,  and  for  my  very  exis- 
tence ?  Such,  as  you  must  well  know,  has  been  the  fate  of  the 
children  of  almost  every  king  of  Hindustan.' 

That  defence,  as  far  as  it  goes,  is  sound.  If  any  one  of  his 
brothers  had  gained  the  prize,  Aurangzeb  would  have  suffered 
death,  and  he  can  hardly  be  blamed  because  he  preferred  to 
inflict,  rather  than  suffer,  death.  The  deposition  of  his  father 
w'as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  defeat  of  Dara  Shikoh,  who 
had  already  assumed  the  imperial  authority  with  the  assent 
of  the  aged  emperor,  who  was  then  no  longer  fit  to  rule.  Once 
the  deposition  had  been  effected,  Aurangzeb  spared  his  father's 
life  though  sternly  refusing  him  liberty.  The  brutal  treat- 
ment of  Dara  Shikoh,  which  cannot  be  justified,  is  explained 
by  Aurangzeb 's  intense  hatred  for  all  forms  of  religious  heresy. 
His  eldest  brother,  an  avowed  freethinker,  was  to  him  a  thing 
accursed,  and  a  fit  object  for  extremest  insult.  Aurangzeb 
regarded  the  world  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  Muslim  ascetic, 
and  as  against  the  rights  of  orthodoxy  the  claims  of  kindred  or 
of  justice  to  Hindu  unbelievers  were  nothing  in  his  eyes.  He 
took  up 'the  position  of  Philip  II  of  Spain  in  relation  to  the 
people  of  the  Netherlands.  Like  that  monarch  he  was  intensely 
suspicious,  trusting  neither  man  nor  woman.  His  love,  al- 
though sometimes  given,  was  seldom  sought  and,  perhaps, 
never  returned,  except  by  one  grandson,  Prince  Bedar  Bakht, 

Mir  Jumla's  attack  on  Assam.  In  the  earlier  part  of 
the  reign  the  only  wars,  other  than  that  of  the  succession, 
which  claim  notice  are  those  with  Assam  and  Arakan.  Mir 
Jumla,  the  able  general,  who  had  done  such  good  service  for 
Aurangzeb  when  he  was  viceroy  of  the  Deccan,  and  again  in 
hunting  down  Shuja,  was  rash  enough  to  follow  in  the  footsteps 
of  Muhammad  the  son  of  Bakhtyar  {ante,  p.  115)  and  to  invade 


210    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Assam.  Mir  Jumla  failed  like  his  early  jDredecessor,  and,  like 
him,  died  soon  after  his  return  (1663). 

Annexation  of  part  of  Arakan  by  Shayista  Khan.  In  the 
course  of  the  same  year,  Aurangzeb's  uncle,  Shayista  Khan, 
who  had  allowed  himself  to  be  surprised  by  the  Marathas  in 
the  Deccan,  was  transferred  to  Bengal  as  the  successor  of  Mir 
Jumla.  He  governed  the  eastern  province  for  about  thirty 
years.  His  expulsion  of  the  English  merchants  from  his  terri- 
tory in  1686  has  been  mentioned  {ante,  p.  166).  At  an  earlier 
date  (1666)  he  had  cleared  out  the  Portuguese  and  other  pirates 
who  infested  the  rivers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Chittagong, 
and  sent  an  expedition  against  the  king  of  Arakan,  who  had 
abetted  the  evil-doers,  and  was  compelled  to  cede  the  Chitta- 
gong territory. 

Twenty  years'  peace.  '  The  expeditions  into  Assam  and 
Arakan  did  not  disturb  the  general  peace  of  Hindustan.  A 
profound  tranquillity,  broken  by  no  rebellion  of  any  political 
importance,  reigned  throughout  Northern  India  for  the  first 
twenty  years  of  Aurangzeb's  rule.'  It  is  true  that  for  nearly 
three  years  (1673-5)  the  Afghan  clans  beyond  the  Indus  gave 
trouble,  and  during  part  of  that  time  Aurangzeb  in  person 
superintended  the  operations  of  his  generals,  but  the  peace  of 
India,  as  a  whole,  was  not  disturbed  by  skirmishing  on  the 
north-western  frontier. 

Aurangzeb's  bigotry.  Aurangzeb  was  a  religious  bigot,  and 
he  reversed  in  every  respect  the  wise  policy  of  Akbar  towards 
his  Hindu  subjects.  In  1669,  hearing  that  certain  Brahmans 
were  giving  religious  lectures  at  Multan  and  Benares,  he 
ordered  '  all  governors  of  provinces  to  destroy  with  a  willing 
hand  the  schools  and  temples  of  the  infidels  '.  In  consequence, 
the  temple  of  Vishvanath  at  Benares  was  destroyed.  In 
1672  a  Hindu  religious  sect  called  the  Satnamis  rebelled,  and 
was  crushed  with  ruthless  severity.  In  1675,  Tegh  Bahadur, 
the  ninth  of  the  Sikh  gurus  (see  pp.  225-6),  was  taken,  and 
executed  because  he  refused  to  embrace  Islam.  In  1678, 
Raja  Jaswant  Singh  of  Marwar  died.     The  emperor  tried  to 


Nawab  Shayista  Khan 


212     THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

seize  his  children  and  have  them  brought  up  as  Muslims. 
He  adopted  the  same  policy  towards  the  young  Maratha 
prince  Shahu.  Finally  in  1679  he  revived  the  hated  jizya  or 
poll-tax  which  Akbar  had  abolished.  By  his  bigotry Aurangzeb 
rent  in  pieces  the  mighty  Mughal  empire,  and  paved  the  way 
for  the  British  conquest  of  India. 

Alienation  of  the  Rajputs.  After  some  time  the  Rana  of 
Mewar  (Udaipur)  made  an  honourable  peace,  by  a  treaty 
which  contained  no  allusion  to  the  odious  jizya,  and  Raja 
Jaswant  Singh's  son  was  recognized  as  chieftain  of  Marwar. 
The  mischief,  however,  had  been  done,  and  Aurangzeb  had 
wantonly  thrown  away  his  most  trusty  weapon,  the  devotion 
of  the  Rajput  chivalry.  During  the  following  struggle  in  the 
Deccan  he  learned  the  extent  of  his  loss,  but  never  repented  of 
his  action  or  swerved  a  hair's  breadth  from  his  principles. 
Notwithstanding  the  treaty,  Rajputana  was  not  pacified,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  country  continued  in  revolt  until  the 
end  of  the  reign. 

Prohibition  of  histories.  A  curious  decree  of  the  eleventh 
year  of  the  reign  abolished  the  office  of  imperial  chronicler  and 
forbade  the  publication  of  histories  by  private  persons.  This 
prohibition  has  caused  a  certain  amount  of  indistinctness  in 
the  details  and  obscurity  in  the  chronology  of  the  greater  part 
of  Aurangzeb 's  long  reign.  Such  histories  as  were  written 
secretly  had  to  wait  for  publication  until  the  emperor's  death. 

Aurangzeb  and  the  Deccan.  In  1657,  when  called  away  to 
take  his  part  in  the  fight  for  the  throne,  Prince  Aurangzeb, 
then  viceroy  of  the  Deccan,  that  is  to  say  of  Khandesh,  Berar, 
Telingana,  and  Ahmadnagar,  seemed  to  be  on  the  point  of 
annexing  the  kingdoms  of  Golkonda  and  Bijapur  and  bringing 
the  whole  of  the  Deccan  under  the  rule  of  his  father.  Many 
years  elapsed  before  Aurangzeb  as  emperor  was  able  to  return 
to  the  scene  of  his  early  labours.  Meantime  a  new  power  had 
arisen,  which,  rashly  despised  at  first,  became  strong  enough 
to  baffle  all  the  efforts  of  the  imperial  grand  army,  and  to  con- 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761     213 

demn  the  aged  emperor  to  long-drawn  years  of  fruitless  toil, 
ending  in  lonely  death,  '  without  heart  or  help  ' . 

The  new-born  Maratha  power.  Before  taking  up  the  story 
of  Aurangzeb's  campaigns  in  the  Deccan  during  the  twenty-six 
3'ears  from  the  close  of  1681  to  1707,  we  must  go  back  to  trace 
the  origin  of  the  new-born  Maratha  power  and  sketch  the  life 
of  Sivajl,  who  gave  it  birth.  The  Marathas  are  the  Hindu 
population  of  Maharashtra,  the  country  of  the  Western  Ghats, 
lying  to  the  south  of  the  Satpura  hills,  to  the  west  of  the  Warda 
river,  and  extending  southwards  as  far  as  Goa.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  this  region  had  been  the  centre  of  the  Yadava 
power  {ante,  p.  94).  Its  best  known  towns  are  Poona,  Satara, 
Kolhapur,  and  Nasik. 

Description  of  the  Marathas.  The  inhabitants  of  the  barren 
uplands  of  the  Deccan,  with  its  fierce  heat  and  uncertain 
rainfall,  are  a  frugal,  manly  race.  '  They  are,'  says  Elphinstone, 
*  small,  sturdy  men,  well-made  though  not  handsome.  They 
are  all  active,  laborious,  hardy,  and  persevering.  If  they  have 
none  of  the  pride  and  dignity  of  the  Rajpiits,  they  have 
none  of  their  indolence  or  their  want  of  worldly  wisdom.' 
One  feature  of  the  Deccan  must  be  particularly  noted.  It  is 
intersected  by  a  number  of  mountain-ranges,  and  high  fiat- 
topped  hills  rise  up  on  all  sides.  These  hills  are  easily  con- 
vertible, by  means  of  a  few  bastions,  into  forts  which  are 
almost  impregnable  without  the  use  of  siege  artillery.  These 
natural  strongholds  played  an  important  part  in  the  great 
struggle  against  the  Muhammadans.  The  Marathas  would 
retire  to  them  when  hard  pressed,  and  then,  when  the  oppor- 
tunity offered,  they  would  sally  forth  and  hang  upon  their 
opponents'  flanks  like  a  pack  of  wolves,  cutting  off  stragglers 
and  intercepting  supplies.  The  Marathas  were  admirably 
adapted  for  these  guerilla  tactics. 

Early  life  of  Sivaji.  Sivaji,  the  great  Maratha  champion, 
belonged  to  the  Bhosle  family.  His  father  Shahji  was  a 
soldier  of  fortune,  and  while  he  was  away  on  distant  campaigns 


214  THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

in  Southern  India,  on  behalf  of  the  kings  of  Bijapur,  the  lad 
was  brought  up  at  Poona  under  his  mother  Jijabai.  He 
became  inspired  with  the  idea  of  freeing  his  country  from  the 
Muhammadan  yoke.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  began  his 
career  by  seizing  some  of  the  hill  forts  in  the  Poona  district. 
In  1659  the  Bijapur  government  began  to  realize  that  the 
danger  was  serious.  Afzal  Khan,  a  famous  general,  was  sent 
with  a  large  force.  But  he  became  entangled  in  the  dense 
jungles  between  Wai  and  Mahableshwar,  near  Sivaji's  fort  of 
Pratapgarh.  Here  Afzal  Khan  was  tempted  to  a  conference 
and  cut  down.  His  army  was  suddenly  attacked  from  every 
side  and  completely  annihilated.  Bijapur  now  thought  it 
prudent  to  come  to  terms. 

Shayista  Khan.  The  Maratha  now  ventured  to  ravage  the 
Mughal  territories,  and  thus  provoked  Aurangzeb  to  send  hia 
uncle,  Shayista  Khan,  to  suppress  him.  But  the  Mughal  com- 
mander, having  allowed  himself  to  be  surprised,  was  trans- 
ferred to  Bengal,  as  already  narrated  {ante,  p.  210). 

Aurangzeb' s  mistake.  Other  generals,  including  Prince 
Muazzam,  were  now  sent  against  the  rebel,  and  after  some  time 
(1665)  Raja  Jai  Singh  of  Jaipur  compelled  Sivaji  to  submit 
and  even  to  come  to  Agra  to  do  homage.  Aurangzeb  enforced 
the  court  rules  of  etiquette  on  his  opponent,  and  so  incurred 
his  undying  enmity.  SivajT  escaped  secretly  from  the  court, 
returned  to  the  Deccan,  and  in  February  1668  compelled 
Aurangzeb  to  recognize  him  as  Raja. 

Renewed  war ;  death  of  Sivaji,  1680.  The  war  was  soon 
renewed,  and  the  Maratha  freely  plundered  the  imperial  terri- 
tories, including  the  rich  towii  of  Surat,  but  excepting  the 
English  factory  there.  In  1674  Sivaji  proclaimed  himself 
sovereign  of  his  territories  with  royal  pomp  at  his  capital  of 
Raigarh.  He  then  crossed  the  Narbada,  and  levied  the  chauih, 
or  fourth  part  of  the  land  revenue,  a  species  of  blackmail,  pay- 
ment of  which  was  supposed  to  protect  a  district  from  plunder. 
In  the  south,  where  his  father  and  brother  had  held  jdglrs,  he 
occupied  the  fortresses  of  Vellore  and  JinjI  (Gingee),  and  was 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761      215 

granted  additional  territory  by  the  king  of  Bijapur,  in  payment 
for  help  against  the  Mughals.  In  1680  he  died  at  the  age  of 
fifty-three  leaving  behind  him  a  great  reputation  as  the  cham- 
pion of  Hinduism,  the  creator  of  a  nation,  and  the  founder  of 
a  powerful  kingdom. 

Civil  administration.  Sivaji,  who  had  begun  life  as  a  mere 
robber  chieftain,  showed,  as  his  power  grew,  that  he  knew  how 
to  govern  his  unruly  subjects.  He  was  a  devout  Hindu,  and, 
although  illiterate  and  unable  to  sign  his  name,  was  well  versed 
in  the  sacred  stories  dear  to  all  Hindus.  His  government, 
accordingly,  was  organized  on  a  Hindu  pattern.  The  supreme 
authority  under  the  Raja  was  a  council  of  eight  ministers 
who  followed  the  principles  of  Brahman  law.  The  chief 
minister  was  called  the  Peshwa.  Other  members  of  the  coun- 
cil severally  looked  after  various  departments — finance,  the 
army,  and  so  forth.  The  Maratha  territory  was  divided  into 
districts,  each  with  a  staff  of  officials,  and  each  village  had 
its  headman  (jxitcl).  Higher  local  officers  were  known  as 
Desadhikars,  Talukdars,  and  Subadars.  The  ministers  usually 
held  military  commands,  and  left  their  civil  duties  to  deputies 
{Karbaris).  The  revenue  settlements  were  made  annually. 
Justice  was  in  the  hands  of  panchdyats. 

Army  and  navy.  The  army  was  controlled  by  a  commander- 
in-chief,  below  whom  was  a  regular  gradation  of  officers. 
The  men  were  paid.  At  first  Sivaji  relied  on  his  infantry 
recruited  from  the  Western  Ghats  and  the  Konkan — men  who 
could  climb  like  monkeys  and  capture  the  hill  forts  which 
w^ere  the  seat  of  his  power.  Gradually  the  light  cavalry  be- 
came the  most  important  Maratha  arm.  The  horsemen  pre- 
ferred the  lance  to  any  other  weapon.  Discipline  was  strict. 
No  soldier  was  allowed  to  bring  a  woman  into  the  field,  on 
pain  of  death.  In  this  respect  Sivaji's  force  differed  widely 
from  the  armies  of  the  Mughals,  and  even  from  those  of  the 
East  India  Company,  which  were  always  clogged  by  a  train 
of  female  followers.  Plunder,  the  chief  object  of  Maratha 
operations,  all  belonged  to  the  Raja,  and  had  to  be  accounted 


216    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

for  strictly.  Cows,  cultivators,  and  women  were  not  to  be 
injured.  A  fleet  capable  of  carrying  four  thousand  soldiers 
helped  the  operations  of  the  army  on  the  coast. 

Character  of  Sivaji.  Sivaji  was  a  born  leader  of  men,  and 
a  real  master  of  guerilla  warfare.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  really  believed  himself  to  be  born  with  a  mission  '  to 
protect  Brahmans  and  kine  ',  and  to  set  his  country  free. 
He  lived  in  a  dark  and  cruel  age,  when  religious  feeling  ran 
high,  and  admittedly  his  career  was  stained  by  many  deeds 
which  would  be  condemned  in  modern  times.  Of  the  death 
of  Afzal  Khan  it  is  impossible  to  speak  with  certainty,  but  the 
murder  of  the  two  Maratha  chiefs,  Chandrarao  More  and  Baji 
Ghorpade,  and  the  extermination  of  their  towns,  is  hard  to 
defend.  Even  more  cruel  were  the  brutal  tortures  inflicted  on 
the  Hindu  banyans  of  Surat  to  extract  their  hidden  treasures. ^ 
But  on  the  whole  he  was  a  chivalrous  and  gallant  foe,  and 
perhaps  we  may  trust  the  character  given  to  him  by  Khafi 
Khan,  the  Muhammadan  historian,  who  was  certainly  not 
biased  in  his  favour  : 

'  He  made  it  a  rule  that,  wherever  his  followers  went 
plundering,  they  should  do  no  harm  to  mosques,  the  Book  of 
God,  or  any  one's  women.  Whenever  a  copy  of  the  holy 
Kuran  came  into  his  hands,  he  treated  it  with  respect,  and 
gave  it  to  some  of  his  Mussalman  followers.  When  the 
women  of  any  Hindu  or  Muhammadan  w  ere  taken  prisoners 
by  his  men  and  they  had  no  friend  to  protect  them,  he  watched 
over  them  till  their  relations  came  to  buy  them  their 
liberty.' 

Aurangzeb  assumes  command  in  the  Deccan.  At  the  close 
of  1681,  a  year  after  Sivaji' s  death,  Aurangzeb  in  person  took 
command  of  the  army  of  the  Deccan,  resolved  to  extinguish 
the  kingdoms  of  Golkonda  and  Bijapur,  to  curb  the  insolence 
of  the  Marathas,  and,  if  possible,  to  bring  the  whole  south 
under  Mughal  rule. 

'  See  Professor  Sirkar's  Shivaji  (Calcutta,  1919),  p.  114. 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761  '  217 

His  treatment  of  the  Hindus.  The  emperor's  obstinate 
adherence  to  his  wrong-headed  policy  of  annoying  his  Hindu 
subjects  added  immensely  to  the  inherent  difficulties  of  his 
task.  The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  issue  stringent  orders  for 
the  collection  of  the  arrears  of  the  jizya  tax  in  the  southern 
provinces,  and  in  three  months  he  compelled  his  officers  to 
squeeze  26,000  rupees  out  of  Burhanpur.  Insult  was  added 
to  pecuniary  injury  by  a  proclamation  that  no  Hindu  should 
ride  in  a  palankin  or  on  an  Arab  horse  without  si)ecial  licence. 
Such  measures,  of  course,  made  the  entire  Hindu  population 
the  friends  of  his  foes  ;  but  no  consideration  of  prudence 
sufficed  to  turn  Aurangzeb  from  his  fixed  policy. 

The  affairs  of  Golkonda.  When  he  returned  to  the  Deccan 
he  found  the  government  of  Golkonda  in  confusion.  The  king, 
Abul  Hasan,  had  abandoned  himself  to  pleasure  and  ceased  to 
take  any  part  in  public  affairs,  which  were  controlled  by  the 
representative  of  the  emperor  at  his  court  and  by  two  Hindu 
officials.  Aurangzeb,  who  could  not  endure  Hindu  influence, 
sent  his  son.  Prince  Muazzam,  to  restore  order.  The  prince 
dallied  over  his  task,  but  at  last  attacked  the  city  of  Hyderabad, 
which  his  soldiers  plundered  without  permission.  The  king 
took  refuge  in  the  adjoining  fortress  of  Golkonda.  In  1685 
the  prince,  having  made  peace  on  terms  displeasing  to  his 
father,  was  recalled. 

Annexation  of  Bijapur,  1686.  The  emperor,  leaving  Gol- 
konda alone  for  the  moment,  deputed  another  son,  Prince 
Azam,  to  reduce  Bijapur.  He  had  little  success,  and  was 
superseded  by  his  father,  who  took  the  capital  in  1686  after  an 
investment  lasting  more  than  a  year.  The  kingdom  ceased  to 
exist,  and  the  splendid  city  became  the  abode  of  desolation,  as 
it  is  for  the  most  part  to  this  day. 

Siege  and  annexation  of  Golkonda.  Aurangzeb  then  resolved 
to  make  an  end  of  the  sister  state  of  Golkonda,  and  to  depose 
the  king,  who  was  accused  of  sending  money  to  the  Marathas, 
and  allying  himself  with  infidels.     When  Abul  Hasan  perceived 


218    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

that  his  destruction  was  decided  on,  he  is  said  to  have  become 
a  changed  man,  to  have  cast  aside  his  evil  habits  and  played 
the  part  of  a  hero.  Certainly  the  city  was  put  in  a  good  state 
of  defence,  and  when  the  siege  began  early  in  1687,  the  imperial 
troops  found  that  they  had  been  set  a  hard  task.  The  Mara- 
thas  cut  off  the  supplies  of  the  besiegers,  who  were  reduced  to 
extremities  by  famine  and  plague.  An  assault  ordered  by  the 
emperor  failed  utterly,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  siege  must  be 
raised.  But  a  traitor  admitted  the  Mughal  army,  and  Gol- 
konda  fell  (Sept.  1687).  By  these  conquests  and  later  opera- 
tions the  imperial  commanders  were  able  to  levy  tribute  from 
Tanjore  and  Trichinopoly  in  1691,  which  date  may  be  taken 
as  marking  the  furthest  southern  extension  of  Mughal  power. 

Struggle  with  the  Marathas.  The  two  Muhammadan  king- 
doms had  been  destroyed,  but  the  Marathas  remained  un- 
subdued, and  the  remaining  twenty  years  of  Aurangzeb's  life 
were  spent  in  the  vain  attempt  to  subdue  them.  The  emperor 
never  returned  to  the  north,  and  wasted  those  wearj''  years 
gaining  '  a  long  series  of  petty  victories  followed  by  larger 
losses  '.  His  armies  seemed  to  be  getting  the  upper  hand 
between  1698  and  1701,  but  in  the  succeeding  years  the  enemy 
recovered  the  lost  groimd. 

Maratha  method  of  warfare.  The  Marathas  never,  or  hardly 
ever,  risked  a  general  engagement,  expending  all  their  energies, 
like  the  Boers  in  the  South  African  War,  in  cutting  off  supplies, 
intercepting  convoys,  and  incessantly  harassing  the  enemy. 
Mounted  on  hardy  ponies,  they  were  able  to  move  Avith  a 
quickness  which  completely  baffled  the  imperial  armies  ;  and, 
as  each  man  carried  with  him  his  simple  food  and  belongings, 
they  needed  no  transport  trains. 

InefiQciency  of  the  Mughal  army.  The  Mughal  forces,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  unwieldy  and  almost  immovable.  The 
roj'al  tents  alone  occupied  a  sjiace  three  miles  in  circuit,  and 
a  contemporary  traveller  describes  the  whole  camp  as  being 
'  a  moving  city  containing  half  a  million  of  souls  '.    The  officers 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    219 

were  corrupted  by  luxury'  and  incapable  of  active  effort. 
Grant  Duff  sums  up  the  situation  in  these  words  :  '  These 
apparently  vigorous  efforts  of  the  government  were  unsub- 
stantial ;  there  was  motion  and  bustle,  without  zeal  or  efficacy ; 
the  empire  was  unwieldy,  its  s^ystem  relaxed,  and  its  officers 
corrupt  beyond  all  example.'  Success  was  impossible  for  such 
a  government. 

Execution  of  Sambhaji ;  Raja  Shahu.  For  a  time  the 
emperor's  arms  had  a  promise  of  success,  and  Aurangzeb  had 
the  poor  satisfaction  of  putting  to  death  with  torture  Sambhaji, 
a  son  of  Sivaji,  in  1689.  He  spared  the  life  of  Sivaji  junior, 
nicknamed  Shahu  (Sahu),  the  infant  son  of  Sambhaji,  and  kept 
him  at  court  until  his  own  death,  when  the  yoimg  man  was 
released  and  returned  to  his  OAni  dominions,  He  became  Raja 
in  1708  after  a  contest. 

Tara  Bai.  A  few  years  after  Sambhaji's  execution,  Tara 
Bai,  widow  of  Raja  Rama,  another  son  of  Sivaji,  had  retrieved 
the  Maratha  losses,  and  directed  the  policy  of  devastating  the 
imperial  territories  with  such  energy  that  the  emperor  was 
shut  up  in  his  camp,  and  his  treasure  was  plundered  almost 
under  his  eyes. 

Retreat  and  death  of  Aurangzeb.  The  Mughal  army 
crumbled  to  pieces,  general  famines  and  pestilences  occurred 
more  than  once,  and  ultimately  (1706)  Aurangzeb  was  forced 
to  retire  on  Ahmadnagar,  where  he  died  at  the  beginning  of 
March,  1707  (New  Style),  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  reign  and 
the  eighty -eighth  of  his  life.  His  dust  lies  under  a  plain  tomb 
in  the  village  of  Rauza  or  Khuldabad  near  Daulatabad.  His 
viscera  were  buried  separately  at  Ahmadnagar. 

Aurangzeb' s  farewell  words.  However  severely  the  policy 
and  conduct  of  Aurangzeb  may  be  judged,  it  is  impossible  to 
refuse  pity  to  the  old  man  on  his  death-bed  when  he  addressed 
his  sons  in  these  sad  words  : 

'  I  know  not  who  I  am,  where  I  shall  go,  or  what  will  happen 
to  this  sinner,  full  of  sins.  Now  I  will  say  good-bye  to  every 
one  in  this  world  and  entrust  everv  one  to  the  care  of  God. 


^<r^j:i»w 


.^ic-i'^^i* 


5 


Indian  Coins 
1.  Coin  of  Sher  Shah  2.  Coin  of  Akbar 

3.  Coin  of  Jahanqie  4.  Coin  of  Auranqzeb 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    221 

My  famous  and  auspicious  sons  should  not  quarrel  among 
thei)|selves  and  allow  a  general  massacre  of  the  people  who  are 
the  servants  of  God.  .  .  .  My  years  have  gone  by  profitless. 
God  has  been  in  my  heart,  yet  my  darkened  eyes  have  not 
recognized  His  light.  .  .  .  There  is  no  hope  for  me  in  the  future. 
The  fever  is  gone,  but  only  the  skin  is  left.  .  .  .  The  army  is 
confounded,  and  without  heart  or  help,  even  as  I  am  ;  apart 
from  God,  with  no  rest  for  the  heart.  .  .  .  When  I  have  lost 
hope  in  myself,  how  can  I  hope  in  others  ?  .  .  .  You  should 
accept  my  last  will.  It  should  not  happen  that  Musalmans 
be  killed  and  the  blame  for  their  death  rest  upon  this  useless 
creature.  ...  I  have  greatly  sinned  and  know  not  what  torment 
awaits  me.  ...  I  commit  you  and  your  sons  to  the  care  of 
God,  and  bid  you  farewell.  .  .  .  May  the  peace  of  God  be 
upon  you.' 

Aurangzeb  had  lived  too  long. 

Causes  of  Aurangzeb's  failure.  The  causes  of  Aurangzeb's 
failure  are  obvious  enough,  and  have  been  indicated  in  the 
course  of  the  narrative,  but  it  may  be  Avell  to  sum  them  up 
briefly.  Aurangzeb  acted  as  if  he  were  merely  the  head  of  the 
Sunni  sect  of  Muhammadans,  and  not  the  protector  of  all  the 
races  and  creeds  of  India.  Akbar  had  realized  the  truth  that 
the  authority  of  the  monarch  of  an  empire  inhabited  chiefly 
by  Hindus  could  not  be  lasting  unless  it  rested  on  the  support 
of  all  his  people.  During  the  greater  part  of  his  reign  he 
treated  all  religions  with  impartial  justice.  Only  in  his  latter 
da3^s  he  forgot  himself  so  far  as  to  violate  his  avowed  prin- 
ciples by  heaping  insults  upon  Islam.  Jahangir  accepted  and 
put  in  practice  the  tolerant  maxims  of  his  father,  encouraging 
the  building  of  Hindu  temples  as  well  as  of  Christian  churches. 
Shahjahan  revived  the  old  evil  policy  of  persecution,  harrying 
the  Christians  and  razing  temples  to  the  ground.  Aurangzeb 
went  farther,  especially  after  1678,  when  the  death  of  Raja 
Jaswant  Singh  deprived  his  countrymen  of  their  most  power- 
ful support.  The  emperor,  then,  in  1679,  reimposed  the 
hateful  jizya  or  poll-tax  on  non-Muslims  which  Akbar  had 
wisely  abolished.  He  carried  to  monstrous  lengths  the  policy 
of  destroying  the  holy  places  of  Hinduism,   and  may  be 


222    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

reasonably   charged   with   the   overthrow   of   thousands   of 
temples.^  ^. 

His  measures  forced  all  Hindus  to  regard  him  as  their  enemy 
and  deprived  him  of  the  willing  service  of  the  Rajput  clans. 
Sivaji,  whom  the  emperor  despised  as  a  mere  robber  chief,  was 
honoured  by  the  Marathas  as  a  god,  the  champion  and  pro- 
tector of  Hinduism  against  the  imperial  bigot.  Aurangzeb's 
Sunni  bigotry  made  him  as  hostile  to  the  Shia  states  of  Bijapur 
and  Golkonda  as  he  was  to  the  Hindu  powers.  He  thus  shat- 
tered the  forces  of  Islam  in  the  Deccan,  by  which  the  Hindu 
revolt  of  the  Marathas  might  have  been  held  in  check.  The 
emperor's  suspicious  disposition,  which  prevented  him  from 
trusting  anybody,  deprived  him  likewise  of  all  chance  of  finding 
trustworthy  agents.  He  Avas,  consequently,  ill  served.  His 
life  was  so  prolonged  that  he  continued  to  grasp  the  sceptre 
after  he  had  lost  the  strength  to  use  it  with  effect.  His 
officers,  corrupted  by  luxury,  lacked  the  vigour  of  their  ances- 
tors and  were  incapable  of  honest  exertion.  The  long-drawn- 
out  Deccan  wars  exhausted  a  large  part  of  the  huge  treasure 
of  Shahjahan,  and  ruined  the  finances  of  the  empire.  Finan- 
cial ruin  involved  the  collapse  of  the  whole  administration, 
The  subject  might  be  treated  from  many  other  points  of  view, 
but  what  has  been  said  may  suffice. 

Chronolcgy  of  Aurangzeb's  reign. 

Deposition  of  Shahjahan  and  informal  accession        .         .      July  1658 
Formal  installation  of  Aurangzeb     .         .  .  .  .June  1G59 

Charter  granted  by  Charles  II  to  the  E.  I.  Company ;   Bombay 

ceded  by  the  Portuguese  to  the  English     ....     1 661 

Mir  Jumla's  attack  on  Assam  ......     1662-3 

Shayista  Khan  surprised  by  the  Marathas  ....     1663 

Foundation  of  the  French  Coynpagnic  dcs  Indes  .         .  .     1664 

*  In  1679-80  the  ruin  effected  in  Rajputana  was  enormous.  At  or  near 
Udaipur  123,  at  Chitor  63,  and  in  Amber  (Jaipur)  66  temples  were  over- 
thrown, that  is  to  say  252  temples  in  two  states  in  the  course  of  a  year. 
How  many  buildings  were  ruined  in  the  course  of  forty -one  years  throughout 
theemplre  no  man  can  tell.  (Maasir-i-Alamglrlin  Elliot  and  Dowson,  vii.  188.) 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    223 


Death  of  Shahjahan  ;   annexation  of  part  of  Arakan  by  Shayista 

Khan  1666 

Prohibition  of  public  idolatrous  worship  .....  1669 

Sivaji  formally  proclaimed  as  sovereign    .....  1674 

Revival  of  the  jizya        .         .         .  .  .  .  .  .  1679 

Death  of  Sivaji ••  1680 

Rebellion  of  the  Rajputs  and  Prince  Akbar        ....  1680  1 

Assumption  of  command  in  the  Deccan  by  Aurangzeb  .  .  1681-2 

Annexation  of  Bijiipur ;    expulsion  of  the  English  from  Bengal 

by  Shayista  Khan  ........  1686 

Annexation   of  Golkonda ;    greatest   extension   of   the   Mughal 

empire  .........  1687-91 

Execution  of  Sambhajl,  son  of  Sivaji         .....  1689 

Foundation  of  Calcutta  by  Job  Charnock  ....  1690 

United  East  India  Company  ......  1702-3 

Retreat  of  Aurangzeb  to  Ahmadnagai"     .....  1706 

Death  of  Aurangzeb       .         .         .         c         .         .         .        .  1707 


224  THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 


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THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    225 


CHAPTER  XXI 

The  successors  of  Aurangzeb  :  Bahadur  Shah,  &c.,  Muhammad  Shah  ; 
invasion  of  Nadir  Shah  ;  growth  of  Maratha  power  ;  Ahmad  Shah  Durrani  ; 
the  third  battle  of  Panipat. 

War  of  succession.  Aurangzeb  left  behind  him  four  sons, 
the  princes  Muazzam,  Azam,  Akbar,  and  Kambakhsh. 
Akbar,  a  rebel  and  exile,  no  longer  counted ;  the  three 
others  were  all  equally  eligible  candidates  for  the  vacant 
throne.  A  document  in  the  nature  of  a  will  found  under  the 
pillow  of  the  dead  emperor  suggested  a  division  of  the  empire 
between  these  three  sons,  but  none  of  them  had  the  slightest 
hitention  of  being  content  with  anything  less  than  the  whole. 
The  eldest.  Prince  Muazzam,  had  himself  proclaimed  at  Kabul, 
while  his  brother,  Prince  Azam,  assumed  the  imperial  dignity 
in  the  Deccan  camp.  Both  of  these  claimants  assembled  large 
armies,  which  met  at  Jajau,  to  the  south  of  Agra,  in  June  1707. 
The  battle  ended  in  the  total  defeat  of  Prince  Azam,  who  was 
killed,  along  with  two  adult  sons.  Shah  Alam  or  Muazzam 
thus  secured  possession  of  Agra,  the  treasure  city  of  the 
empire,  and  the  command  of  abundant  cash,  which  he  distri- 
buted freely  among  his  followers.  In  February  1708  Prince 
Kambakhsh  was  defeated  in  the  Deccan,  and  died  from  his 
wounds.  Thus  Prince  Muazzam  became  undisputed  Padshah. 
He  is  known  to  history  as  either  Bahadur  Shah  (I)  or  Shah 
Alam  (I). 

Reign  of  Bahadur  Shah  (I).  He  conciliated  the  Marathas 
by  the  release  of  their  Raja,  Shaliu  [ante,  p.  219),  and  patched 
up  a  peace  with  the  Rajputs.  The  most  important  event  of  his 
short  reign  was  a  severe  conflict  with  the  Sikh  sectaries  of  the 
Panjab,  and  it  will  be  convenient  to  notice  briefly  in  this  r)lace 
the  origin  and  early  stages  in  the  development  of  the  Sikh 
power. 

Origin  and  rise  of  the  Sikhs.  The  Sikhs,  or  '  disciples ', 
are  one  of  the  many  reformed  sects  of  Hinduism  which  have 

1776  H 


226    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  'i76i 

arisen  from  time  to  time.  The  teaching  of  Nanak,  the  first 
guru  of  the  sect,  late  in  the  fifteenth  century,  which  was  based 
on  that  of  Kablr  (ante,  p.  148),  did  not  attract  much  official 
attention  until  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  in 
Jahangir's  reign,  when  the  guru  of  the  day  was  put  to  death. 
That  act  of  severity  roused  the  zeal  of  the  martyr's  adherents, 
who  took  up  arms  under  the  leadership  of  his  son  Har  Gobind 
and  became  the  declared  enemies  of  the  government. 

Sikh  organization.  Guru  Gobind  Singh  (1675-1708),  grand- 
son of  Har  Gobind,  converted  the  sect  into  a  political  power 
by  means  of  an  organization  (known  as  the  Khalsa)  and  rule 
of  life  which  sharply  separated  the  Sikhs  from  the  rest  of  the 
population  and  united  them  closely  among  themselves.  The 
disciples,  who  were  forbidden  to  use  tobacco  in  any  form,  were 
required  to  wear  their  hair  long,  and  to  practise  sundry  other 
special  observances.  The  fact  that  most  of  the  Sikhs  were 
Jats  by  caste  supplied  another  bond  of  union,  and  the  result 
was  that  during  the  eighteenth  century  the  sect  gradually 
became  a  ruling  power.  But,  although  the  Jats  have  fur- 
nished the  majority  of  Sikh  converts,  it  must  be  clearly  under- 
stood that  people  of  all  castes  may  be  initiated  as  Sikhs,  and 
that  within  the  sect  no  distinction  of  caste  is  recognized. 

Ravages  of  Banda,  the  Sikh  leader.  When  Bahadur  Shah 
died  at  Lahore,  in  February,  1712,  he  Avasengaged  in  endeavours 
to  check  the  barbarous  ravages  committed  by  the  Sikhs  at 
Sahrind  and  other  places  in  the  Panjab,  under  the  leadership 
of  Banda,  the  nominee  of  Guru  Gobind  Singh.  Bahadur 
Shah  was  a  good-natured,  generous  man,  but  lacking  in  the 
strength  needed  by  a  ruler  in  troublous  times.  He  was  nick- 
named the  '  Heedless  King  '  {Shdh-i-bckhabar) . 

War  of  succession  ;  Jahandar  Shah  ;  Farrukhsiyar.  The 
death  of  the  emperor  was  followed  by  the  usual  war  between 
his  four  sons.  The  most  competent  claimant,  Azim-ush-shan, 
governor  of  Bengal,  had  the  ill  luck  to  be  the  first  killed  in 
battle.  Two  others  perished  in  further  fighting.  The  sur- 
vivor, Jahandar  Shah,  a  worthless  debauchee  of  low  tastes. 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    227 

was  proclaimed  emperor  by  Zulfikar  Khan,  a  powerful  noble, 
who  became  Vazir  (1712).  After  a  few  months  Jahandar  Shah 
was  put  out  of  the  way,  and  Farrukhslyar,  son  of  Azim-ush- 
shan,  was  placed  on  the  throne  (January,  1713)  by  the  in- 
fluence of  two  Sayyids  of  Barha.  For  some  years  this  clan 
of  Sayyids  enjo3'ed  the  position  of  king-makers,  and  appointed 
whom  they  chose  to  occupy  the  seat  of  Aurangzeb.  The 
imperial  dignity  was  quickly  becoming  an  empty  although 
dangerous  honovir. 

Defeat  of  the  Sikhs.  The  principal  event  in  Farrukhslyar's 
reign  was  the  crushing  defeat  of  the  Sikhs,  whose  leader  Banda 
was  captured  and  executed  with  the  most  inhuman  tortures. 
About  a  thousand  of  his  followers  also  were  slain.  This 
severity  kept  the  Sikhs  quiet  for  a  generation.  Allusion  has 
been  made  above  {a7ite,  p.  167)  to  the  important  trading  privi- 
leges gained  for  the  English  merchants  by  the  surgeon  Hamil- 
ton, who  attended  Farrukhslyar.  The  emperor,  a  timid,  help- 
less creature,  not  personally  of  any  importance,  was  murdered 
early  in  1719. 

Accession  of  Muhammad  Shah  ;  break-up  of  the  empire. 
Several  nonentities  having  been  set  up,  who  lasted  only  a  few 
months,^  the  Sayyids  selected  another  insignificant  prince, 
Mho  ascended  the  throne  as  Muhammad  Shah,  in  October, 
1719.  During  his  reign,  which  was  long,  and  continued  until 
1748,  the  empire  began  to  break  to  pieces.  The  emperor  of 
Delhi  was  gradually  reduced  to  a  position  like  that  of  the  later 
members  of  the  Tughlak  dynasty  {ante,  p.  127),  while  the 
outlying  powers,  Hindu,  Muhammadan,  and  foreign,  came  to 
the  front,  with  the  ultimate  result  that  the  sceptre  passed 
into  English  hands. 

Independence  of  the  Deccan  ;  the  Nizam. — A  Turki  noble, 
named  Chin  Kilich  Khan,  generally  known  by  his  title  of 

^  Rafi-ud-darajat,  Rafi-ud-daulat  (Shahjahan  II),  Nikusiyar,  Ibrahim. 
The  '  reigns '  of  the  first  three  fall  between  February  18  and  August  27, 
1719.  Ibrahim  claimed  the  throne  in  1720,  from  October  1  to  November  8, 
and  struck  coins,  now  very  rare. 


228    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Asaf  Jah,  the  son  of  a  favourite  officer  of  Aurangzeb,  had 
become  viceroy  of  the  Deccan.  For  a  time  he  held  the  office 
of  vazir  at  Delhi,  but  in  1723  he  retired  from  court,  and  after 
that  date  may  be  regarded  as  an  independent  sovereign.  He 
was  the  ancestor  of  the  present  Nizam  of  Hyderabad.  Before 
the  withdrawal  of  Asaf  Jah  to  the  south,  the  king-making  clan 
of  Sayyids  had  lost  their  power  through  the  murder  of  Husain 
Ali  and  the  imprisonment  of  his  brother  Abdullah,  who  had 
been  their  leaders. 

Practical  independence  of  Oudh  ;  Saadat  Khan.  About  this 
time,  Saadat  Khan,  governor  of  Oudh,  likewise  made  himself 
practically  independent  and  founded  the  line  of  the  Nawab- 
Vazirs,  who  were  recognized  later  as  kings  of  Oudh, 

Bengal  ;  Alivardi  Khan,  The  Siiba  of  Bengal,  including 
Bihar  and  Orissa,  although  nominally  under  the  control  of  the 
emperor,  was  really  as  little  subject  to  his  authority  as  the 
Afghan  kings  of  Bengal  had  been  before  the  time  of  Akbar. 
Allahvardi  (Alivardi)  Khan,  the  Subadar  from  1740  to  1756, 
an  able  despot,  ceased  to  pay  tribute  to  the  imperial  court. 

The  Rohillas  ;  general  revolt  of  provinces.  To  the  north 
of  the  Ganges,  the  Rohillas,  a  clan  of  Afghan  immigrants, 
made  themselves  masters  of  the  rich  tract  now  called  Rohil- 
khand.  In  short,  everywhere  a  general  revolt  of  the  provinces 
began  in  the  reign  of  Muhammad  Shah,  and  was  completed  in 
the  time  of  his  successors. 

Shahu  and  Balaji  Visvanath,  Peshwa.  Tara  Bal  was  the  last 
notable  member  of  Sivaji's  line.  Shahu,  who  became  Raja 
early  in  J  708  {ante,  p.  219),  had  been  brought  up  at  the  Mughal 
court,  and  was  more  Muhammadan  than  Hindu  in  his  habits. 
He  preferred  pleasure  to  business,  and  was  glad  to  leave 
afifairs  of  state  in  the  hands  of  ministers,  especially  in  those 
of  a  Brahman  named  Balaji  Visvanath,  who  was  appointed 
his  Peshwa  in  1714,  and  tried  to  introduce  some  order  into  the 
confused  Maratha  government. 

Baji  Rao  I,  Peshwa.  When  Balaji  Visvanath  died,  in  1720, 
he  was  succeeded  by  his  elder  son,  Baji  Rao  [I],  after  an 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    229 

hiterval  of  some  months.  The  dignity  of  Peshwa  thus  became 
hereditary.  Owing  to  Shahu's  easy-going  disposition,  the 
minister  overshadowed  his  nominal  master,  and  from  1727, 
when  the  Peshwa  was  granted  full  powers,  the  Raja  ceased 
to  count.  Shahu  survived  until  1748,  but  Baji  Rao  was  the 
real  head  of  the  government,  and  was  able  to  pass  on  his 
authority  to  his  son.  Baji  Rao  was  an  able  soldier  as  a  leader 
of  plundering  bands,  but  with  no  taste  for  civil  administration. 
He  largely  extended  Maratha  influence  in  the  dominions  still 
under  the  nominal  authority  of  the  emperor  of  Delhi. 

Balaji ;  the  Peshwa  dynasty.  On  the  death  of  Baji  Rao  I, 
in  1740,  his  place  as  Peshwa  was  taken,  after  a  struggle,  by 
his  son  Balaji,  who  became  practically  the  sovereign  of  the 
Marathas.  Nobody  asks  who  succeeded  Shahu  as  Raja  of 
Satara.  All  readers  of  history  rightly  think  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Marathas  in  the  eighteenth  century  as  that  of  the 
Peshwas.  Their  position  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  ministers 
in  modern  Nepal,  who  have  thrust  their  nominal  sovereigns 
into  the  background.  The  name  of  the  Maharajadhiraj  in 
that  country  has  no  interest  for  anybody.  Thus  the  line  of 
the  Peshwas  became  substantially  a  ruling  dynasty,  which 
may  be  taken  to  date  from  1727,  when  Shahu  bestowed  full 
powers  on  Baji  Rao  I.  The  dynasty  lasted  until  the  general 
settlement  of  India  effected  by  the  Marquess  of  Hastings  in 
1818,  but  retained  little  power  after  the  treaty  of  Bassein, 
in  1802. 

Change  in  Maratha  government.  During  the  rule  of  the 
first  three  Peshwas  the  character  of  the  Maratha  government 
changed.  The  hereditary  dominions  in  the  Ghats  and  Konkan 
left  by  Sivaji  became  of  comparatively  small  importance. 
The  main  efforts  of  the  Maratha  rulers  were  directed  to  securing 
their  power  over  the  dominions  of  the  Mughal  emperor  and 
the  Nizam,  by  compelling  the  sovereigns  of  those  countries  to 
submit  to  Maratha  blackmail  or  extortion.  Countries  which 
consented  to  pay  the  chauth,  or  one-fourth  of  the  land  revenue, 
plus  the  sardesmukhi,   or  one-tenth,   were  supposed   to    be 


230    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

protected  from  plunder.  The  emperor  Muhammad  Shah,  in 
1720,  during  the  lifetime  of  Balajl  Visvanath  Peshwa,  had 
been  forced  not  only  to  acknowledge  the  Maratha  title  to 
the  hereditary  dominions  of  Sivaji  (svaraj),  but  to  recognize 
formally  the  Maratha  right  to  levy  chauth  and  sardesmiikhl 
from  the  six  Subas  of  the  Deccan. 

Complex  accounts.  The  assessment  and  collection  of  the 
claims  were  purposely  made  extremely  complex,  so  that  the 
accounts  should  not  be  intelligible  to  any  one  except  the 
Brahmans  in  the  Peshwa's  employ,  and  an  excuse  for  demand- 
ing arrears  might  thus  always  be  at  hand.  The  curious 
details  of  the  system  are  explained  at  length  in  Grant  Duff's 
History  of  the  Mahrattas.  The  institutions  of  Sivaji  were 
neglected,  and  his  rules  of  discipline  were  disregarded. 

Origin  of  existing  Maratha  states.  About  this  time  the 
chiefs  who  founded  the  still  existing  Maratha  djaiasties  of  the 
Gaikwar  of  Baroda,  of  Holkar  at  Indore,  and  of  Sindia  at 
Gwalior,  come  into  notice.  The  ancestor  of  the  Gaikwar  was 
an  adherent  of  a  defeated  opponent  whom  Baji  Rao  I  thought 
it  prudent  to  conciliate.  The  chiefs  of  Indore  and  Gwalior 
are  descended  from  men  of  humble  origin  who  became  officers 
of  Baji  Rao  and  gradually  rose  to  distinction  in  his  service. 
At  the  great  settlement  of  1818  those  three  dynasties  were 
lucky  enough  to  be  confirmed  in  their  possessions.  But  the 
Bhonsla  Raj  of  Nagpur  or  Berar  lost  its  indejDendence  at  the 
same  date,  and  was  finally  extinguished  by  Lord  Dalhousie  in 
1853.  The  Raj  had  been  founded  in  1743  by  a  Maratha 
leader  named  RaghujI,  who  acquired  Cuttack  (Katak)  in  1751, 
and  claimed  from  Bengal  twelve  lakhs  of  rupees  as  chauth. 
RaghujI  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Raghoba  or  Raghunath 
Rao,  the  younger  son  of  Baji  Rao  I,  who  became  prominent 
in  the  first  Maratha  war. 

Foreign  invasion  ;  Nadir  Shah.  Unhappy  India,  already 
bleeding  to  death  from  internal  disorders,  had  yet  a  calamity 
still  greater  to  suffer.  For  more  than  two  centuries  she  had 
been  spared  the  misery  caused  by  serious  invasions  from 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    231 

beyond  the  passes  of  the  north-western  frontier,  but  was  now 
to  undergo  experiences  which  recalled  the  days  of  Mahmud 
and  Tiniur.  Early  in  1736,  the  throne  of  Persia  was  seized  by 
Nadir  Shah,  an  adventurer  who  had  earned  a  right  to  the 
highest  place  by  the  display  of  extraordinary  abilities  as  a 
general.  Being  dissatisfied  at  the  delay  of  the  Delhi  govern- 
ment in  redressing  certain  grievances  of  which  he  complained, 
he  occupied  Ghazni  and  Kabul,  and,  advancing  without  meet- 
ing serious  resistance,  was  within  a  hundred  miles  of  Delhi 
before  Muhammad  Shah  could  do  anything  to  stop  him. 

Battle  of  Karnal ;  massacre  at  Delhi.  Early  in  1739,  at 
Karnal,  not  far  from  the  historic  field  of  Panlpat,  the  imperial 
forces  ventured  to  bar  the  invader's  path,  and  were  easily 
routed.  Muhammad  Shah  submitted,  and,  being  courteously 
received,  entered  Delhi  with  the  victor.  Nadir  Shah  at  first 
held  his  troops  in  check  and  protected  the  city,  but  when  the 
populace  attacked  him  and  his  men,  he  let  loose  20,000  soldiers 
to  burn,  plunder,  and  kill.  Not  less  than  30,000  people  perished 
in  the  massacre,  which  lasted  for  half  a  day. 

Return  home  of  Nadir  Shah,  1739.  Nadir  Shah  wanted 
something  more  than  blood.  The'  seizure  of  the  crown  jewels 
and  the  peacock  throne  {ante,  p.  203)  alone  was  sufficient  to 
enrich  the  robber  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,  but  he  was 
not  content  until  he  had  extorted  from  the  surviving  citizens, 
great  and  small,  the  larger  part  of  their  possessions,  every  form 
of  cruelty  being  used  to  compel  payment.  He  then  made  a 
treaty  with  Muhammad  Shah,  providing  for  the  cession  of  the 
provinces  beyond  the  Indus,  reseated  him  on  the  throne,  and 
after  a  stay  of  fifty-eight  days  returned  to  his  own  country, 
laden  with  coin,  plate,  jewels,  and  precious  things  of  every 
kind  to  the  value  of  many  millions  sterling.  Like  the  early 
invaders,  he  also  brought  away  with  him  hundreds  of  skilled 
artisans. 

The  court  of  Delhi.  The  impotent  court  of  Delhi  continued 
to  be  the  scene  of  endless  intrigues  and  assassinations.  The 
most  prominent  personages  there  were  the  vazlr  Kamar-ud-din 


232    THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Khan  and  Ghazi-ud-din,  son  of  Asaf  Jah,  viceroy  of  the 
Deccan. 

Ahmad  Shah  Durrani.  In  1747  Nadir  Shah,  king  of  Persia, 
who  had  become  an  insane  tyrant,  was  murdered,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  his  eastern  territories  by  a  chieftain  named  Ahmad 
Khan,  head  of  the  Abdali  or  Durrani  clan  of  the  Afghans,  who 
took  the  title  of  Ahmad  Shah.  Next  year  the  Durrani  in- 
vaded the  Panjab,  and  was  driven  back,  after  a  hard  fight  at 
Sahrind,  by  the  iiiAperial  forces  under  the  command  of  the  heir- 
apparent.  Prince  Ahmad,  and  the  vazir,  who  was  killed  in 
action . 

Ahmad  Shah  of  Delhi,  1748.  In  April  of  the  same  year, 
Muhammad  Shah  died  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Ahmad 
Shah,  who  must  not  be  confounded  with  his  Durrani  namesake 
and  contemporary. 

Annexation  of  the  Panjab  by  the  Durrani.  During  the  reign 
of  Ahmad  Shah,  Ghazi-ud-din  and  other  nobles  were  engaged 
in  constant  fighting  with  one  another,  and  Ahmad  Shah 
Durrani  annexed  the  Panjab.  In  1754  Ghazi-ud-din  blinded 
his  nominal  sovereign,  and  selected  as  his  successor  a  son  of 
Jahandar  Shah. 

Sack  of  Delhi  by  Ahmad  Shah  Durrani.  This  prince  was 
enthroned  under  the  title  of  Alamgir  II,  but  had  nothing 
beyond  the  title  in  common  with  Aurangzeb.  In  1756  Ahmad 
Shah  Durrani  sacked  Delhi  and  repeated  the  horrors  of  Nadir 
Shah's  massacres  seventeen  years  before.  He  also  disgraced 
himself  by  a  cruel  slaughter  of  unarmed  Hindus  at  Mathura. 
Next  year  the  heat  caused  sickness  among  his  troops  and 
obliged  him  to  retire  to  his  own  country. 

Maratha  conquest  of  the  Panjab.  The  son  of  Ghazi-ud-din, 
who  bore  the  same  name  as  his  father,  called  in  the  Marathas 
to  help  him  against  his  rivals,  and  the  imperial  city  and  the 
Panjab  were  occupied  by  a  Maratha  chief  named  Raghuba 
(1758),  the  j'ounger  son  of  Baji  Rao  I. 

Maratha  empire  at  its  greatest  extent,  1760.  This  bold 
advance  of  the  upstart  Hindu  power  alarmed  the  Muham- 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    233 

madan  princes,  and  induced  them  to  combine  for  the  expul- 
sion of  the  intruders,  by  whom  almost  the  whole  of  India, 
from  the  Himalaya  and  the  Indus  to  Tanjore,  was  dominated 
for  the  moment.  The  Maratha  army  now  included  a  large 
park  of  artillery  and  10,000  disciplined  infantry,  modelled  on 
European  principles,  as  well  as  Jat  and  Rajpiit  contingents. 
The  Bhao  at  Delhi.  Sadasheo  Rao  Bhao,  commonly  called 
*  the  Bhao  ',  nephew  of  the  Peshwa  Baji  Rao,  took  Delhi,  and 
completed  the  ruin  of  the  palace  and  city,  stripping  the  silver 
plating  from  the  ceiling  of  the  hall  of  audience  {dtwan  khass), 
which  produced  seventeen  lakhs  of  rupees. 

Third  battle  of  Panlpat,  Jan.  1761.  Ultimately,  on  Jan.  6, 
1761,  the  Maratha  host,  with  little  or  no  support  from  the 
Jats  and  Rajpiits,  confronted  the  army  of  Ahmad  Shah 
Durrani,  who  was  supported  by  the  troops  of  Oudh  and  other 
Muhammadan  principalities,  on  the  plain  of  Panipat,  where 
the  fate  of  India  has  been  so  often  decided.  Delay  in  bringing 
on  a  battle  reduced  the  Maratha  army  to  a  state  of  famine, 
and  at  last  the  Bhao  was  compelled  either  to  fight  or  to  starve. 
He  was  utterly  routed  with  enormous  slaughter,  in  which 
most  of  the  Maratha  chiefs  fell.  The  Peshwa  soon  after  died. 
The  third  battle  of  Panipat  was  the  death-blow  to  the  power 
of  the  Peshwa,  as  the  sovereign  of  the  Marathas,  the  tem- 
porary revival  of  Maratha  influence  a  few  years  later  being 
chiefly  the  work  of  Sindia,  Holkar,  and  other  independent 
prmces.^ 

Withdrawal  of  the  Durrani.  The  Durrani  made  no  use  of 
his  victory,  and  was  constrained  by  mutiny  to  go  home  with  his 
plunder.  In  April,  1767,  after  inflicting  several  defeats  on  the 
Sikhs,  he  reappeared  once  more  for  a  moment  near  Panipat 
with  50,000  Afghan  cavalry,  and  then  retired,  troubling  him- 
self no  more  with  the  affairs  of  Hindustan. 

^  The  three  battles  of  Panipat : 

(1)  Defeat  of  Ibrahim  Lodi  by  Babur,  1526  ; 

(2)  Defeat  of  Hernu  by  Bairam  Khan  and  Akbar,  1556  ; 

(3)  Defeat  of  Marathas  by  Ahmad  Shah  Durrani,  1761, 

H3 


234   THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761 

Causes  of  decline  of  Mughal  empire.  Akbar,  Jahangir, 
Shahjahan,  and  Aurangzeb  were  all  strong,  hardy  men  of 
dauntless  personal  courage,  able  and  willing  to  meet  man  or 
beast  in  deadly  combat,  as  many  anecdotes  prove.  But  the 
sons  of  Aurangzeb  seemed  to  be  of  a  different  breed.  All  the 
spirit  was  crushed  out  of  them  by  their  father.  Their  sons 
and  grandsons  grew  up  as  nerveless  weaklings  in  the  society 
of  women,  eunuchs,  and  the  riff-raff  of  the  palace.  The" nobles 
became  as  debased  as  the  members  of  the  royal  family,  and 
were  better  fitted  to  buy  over  a  commandant  than  to  storm 
his  fort.  They  went  to  war  riding  in  palankins,  attended  by 
a  swarm  of  worthless  followers  of  both  sexes,  and  were  served 
in  camp  with  all  the  jDomp  and  luxury  of  the  Delhi  court. 
Such  people  could  not  be  successful.  The  rule  of  a  despotic 
monarch  cannot  be  maintained  except  by  a  man  who  knows 
how  to  rule.  The  successors  of  Aurangzeb  had  not  such 
knowledge.  It  is  not  surprising  that  in  the  course  of  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  the  Mughal  dynasty  should  have  lost  its 
vigour ;  the  wonder  rather  is  that  the  Padshahs  for  four  suc- 
cessive generations  j)ossessed  character  and  ability  sufficient 
to  hold  together  a  vast  empire  and  to  govern  it  in  such  a 
fashion  that  it  made  at  least  a  show  of  strength.  The  Deccan 
wars  exposed  the  internal  rottenness  of  the  imperial  organiza- 
tion. In  the  whole  of  India  there  was  not  a  man  capable 
of  efiEecting  the  necessary  reforms.  The  weakness  of  the 
empire  was  plainly  seen  by  European  observers.  Manucci, 
the  Italian  phj^sician,  writes,  late  in  Aurangzeb's  reign  : 

'  Ha\'ing  set  forth  all  the  grandeur  and  power  of  the  Moguls, 
I  will,  with  the  reader's  permission,  assert  from  what  I  have 
seen  and  tested,  that  to  sweep  it  entirely  away  and  occupy 
the  whole  empire,  nothing  is  required  beyond  a  corps  of  thirty 
thousand  trusty  European  soldiers,  led  by  competent  com- 
manders, who  would  thereby  easily  acquire  the  glory  of  great 
conquerors.' 

That  opinion  probabl}'  was  quite  sound.     It  was  held  a  little 
later  by  Clive,  although  he  did  not  care  to  act  upon  it. 


THE  MUGHAL  EMPIRE  FROM  1526  TO  1761    235 

Condition  of  India  under  Aurangzeb's  successors.  The  con- 
dition of  India  during  the  half-century  following  the  death 
of  Aurangzeb  may  be  summed  up  in  one  word — misery. 
Even  before  his  death,  the  French  physician  Bernier,  not  an 
unfriendly  critic,  declared  that  'no  adequate  idea  can  be 
conveyed  of  the  sufferings  of  the  people  '.     He  writes  of 

'  a  tyranny  so  excessive  as  to  deprive  the  peasant  and  artisan 
of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  leave  them  to  die  of  misery  and 
exhaustion — a  tyranny,  owing  to  which  these  wretched  people 
either  have  no  children  at  all,  or  have  them  only  to  endure  the 
agonies  of  starvation,  and  die  at  a  tender  age — a  tyranny,  in 
fine,  that  drives  the  cultivator  from  his  wretched  home.  .  .  . 
As  the  ground  is  seldom  tilled  otherwise  than  by  compulsion, 
and  no  person  is  found  willing  and  able  to  repair  the  ditches 
and  canals  for  the  conveyance  of  water,  it  happens  that  the 
whole  country  is  badly  cultivated  and  a  great  part  rendered 
unproductive  from  the  want  of  irrigation.  The  houses,  too, 
are  left  in  a  dilapidated  condition,' 

After  the  old  emperor  had  passed  awaj%  hell  was  let  loose, 
and  the  people  were  ground  to  the  dust  by  selfish  nobles, 
greedy  officials,  and  plundering  armies.  Hardly  any  one 
appears  on  the  stage  of  history  who  is  worthj^  of  remembrance 
for  his  owTi  sake,  and  there  is  little  to  be  said  about  literature 
or  art.^  In  most  parts  of  the  country  the  '  great  anarchy ' 
continued  for  another  half -century,  until  the  advance  of  the 
English  power,  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
brought  some  measure  of  relief  to  a  suffering  land. 

From  out  the  sunset  poured  an  alien  race. 
Who  fitted  stone  to  stone  again,  and  Truth, 
Peace,  Love,  and  Justice  came  and  dwelt  therein, 

Tennyson. 

'  Certain  Muhammadan  historical  compilations  and  tolerable  paintings 
in  Indo-Persian  style  were  produced. 


BOOK  V 

THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD;    RULE 
OF  THE  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY  FROM  1761  TO 

1858 

SOURCES  OF  ANGLO-INDIAN  HISTORY 

Immense  mass  of  autborities.  The  mass  of  original  authorities  for  the 
British  period  of  Indian  history  is  so  great  as  to  be  practically  infinite. 
No  man  could  explore  more  than  a  minute  fraction  even  of  the  official 
documents  stored  in  the  record-rooms  of  the  Indian  Governments  in  England 
and  India,  not  to  speak  of  the  piles  of  manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum 
and  other  collections.  In  addition  to  the  official  documents,  many  other 
sources  of  information  exist,  including  newspapers,  memoirs,  letters,  and 
the  writings  of  travellers.  Some  small  portion  of  the  official  records  has 
been  either  printed  at  length  or  summarily  catalogued  in  print.  The 
Government  of  India  has  had  prepared  many  printed  hand-lists  of  manu- 
scripts which  are  little  known  and  rarely  consulted.  Considerable  blocks 
of  documents  have  been  published  more  or  less  fully  in  Selections  from  the 
Records  issued  by  various  governments.  The  work  of  that  kind  done  by 
Sir  George  Forrest,  C.I.E.,  is  extensive  and  valuable. 

East  India  Company.  Three  series  of  volumes  dealing  with  the  early 
history  of  the  East  India  Company,  eighteen  in  all,  up  to  date,  published 
at  the  Clarendon  Press,  deserve  special  mention.  The  titles  are  :  (I)  Letters 
to  the  East  India  Company  from  its  Servants  in  the  East,  1602-17  (6  volumes)  ; 
(II)  The  English  Factories  in  India,  1618-50  (8  volumes) ;  and  (III)  The  Court 
Mimites  of  the  East  India  Company,  1635-54  (4  volumes). 

At  present,  no  readable  compendious  history  of  the  famous  Company 
exists.  The  volumes  mentioned  are  a  quarry  of  splendid  material  ready 
for  the  hand  of  a  competent  historian. 

Travellers.  The  works  of  travellers  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries  throw  much  light  both  on  the  relations  between  the  European 
settlers  and  the  native  powers,  and  on  the  inner  life  of  the  settlements. 
Oaten  gives  a  list  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  {European  Travellers 
in  India,  Kegan  Paul  &  Co.,  1909).^    The  writings  of  the  eighteenth-century 

*  But  Oaten's  account  of  Mandelslo  (pp.  177-83)  is  misleading.  Man- 
delslo  wrote  little  of  value;  The  bulk  of  the  book  passing  under  his  name 
is  padding  from  other  authors  inserted  by  Olearius  and  the  French  trans- 
lator, de  Wicquofort. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  237 

travellers,  Ives  and  the  rest,  although  less  important,  are  of  considerable 
value.  '  When  the  Macaulay  of  British  India  historj'  arises,  he  will  enliven 
the  earlier  part  of  his  narrative  with  references  to  these  many  travellers' 
tales.' 

History  of  British  India.  For  the  history  of  British  India  Books 
vii-ix  of  the  author's  Oxford  History  of  India  (1919)  may  be  consulted. 
Mill's  great  work,  as  continued  by  Wilson,  only  comes  down  to  1835,  and 
has  well-known  defects,  while  all  the  other  books — Hunter's,  Thornton's, 
Marshman's,  &c. — are  either  fragmentary  or  wanting  in  some  important 
respect.  Marshman's  work  is,  perhaps,  the  best.  Among  the  small  histories 
I  recommend  A.  D.  Innes,  A  Short  History  of  the  British  in  India  (Methuen, 
1902)  ;  and  P.  E.  Roberts,  India,  to  the  end  of  the  E.  I.  Com-pany  (Oxford, 
Clarendon  Press,  1916). 

Biographies.  Biographies  form  an  important  source  of  Anglo-Indian 
history,  and  enshrine  or  entomb  many  documents.  All  the  earUer  Lives 
of  Clive  are  unsatisfactory,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  those  of  Warren 
Hastings.  Sir  George  Forrest,  who  has  published  a  Life  of  Clive  which  should 
supersede  its  predecessors,  has  provided  much  material  for  the  biography  of 
Hastings  in  various  publications,  especially  his  Selections  from  the  State 
Papers  of  the  Governors-General  of  India  ;  Warren  Hastings  (2  vols.,  8vo, 
Oxford,  Blackwell,  1910). 

Letters.  Numerous  immense  collections  of  letters  and  dispatches  have 
been  published.  The  most  generally  useful  books  of  the  kind  are  Mr.  Sidney 
Owen's  volumes  entitled  A  Selection  from  WeUesley''s  Despatches  (Clarendon 
Press,  1877),  and  .4  Selection  from  the  Wellington  Despatches  (1880),  which 
are  well  edited. 

Lord  Minto  L  The  interesting  and  little-known  story  of  Lord  Minto  I 
maybe  read  at  first  hand  in  the  two  volumes  of  his  Lift  and  Letters  (1874, 
1880).  Unfortunately,  Lord  Minto  was  not  given  a  place  in  the  Rulers  of 
India  series,  although  much  more  worthy  of  it  than  several  persons  who 
were  included  in  that  most  serviceable  collection  of  short  biographies. 

Marquess  of  Hastings  :  Marathas.  Several  contemporary  books,  notably 
H.  T.  Prinsep's  History  of  the  Political  and  Military  Transactions  in  India 
during  the  Administration  of  the  Marquess  of  Hastings,  1813-23  (published 
in  1825),  tell  the  events  of  the  government  of  that  eminent  Governor-General. 

Grant-DufE's  History  of  the  Mahrattas  (1826  and  reprints)  ranks  as  an 
original  authority,  because  it  is  founded  on  personal  knowledge  and  docu- 
ments now  lost. 

Lord  William  Bentinck,  «&c.  The  only  biography  of  Lord  William 
Cavendish-Bentinck  is  Mr.  Demetrius  Boulger's  excellent  little  volume 
(1897)  in  the  Rulers  of  India  series. 

The  Sikh  wars  form  the  subject  of  a  considerable  literature.  Cunning- 
ham's History  of  the  Sikhs  (1st  edition,  1849)  may  be  specified. 

For  Lord  Dalhousic's  administration,  the  Life  by  Sir  W.  Lee-Warner  and. 
other  works  may  be  consulted. 

The  Mutiny.     The  books  about  the  Mutiny  would  fill  a  large  library. 


238     THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO  INDIAN  PERIOD 

The  work  by  Holmes,  which  has  reached  several  editions,  is  the  best  short 
history.  The  latest,  and  presumably  the  most  accurate,  of  the  large  histories 
is  that  by  Sir  George  Forrest.  Good  biographies  of  the  Lawrences  and 
other  heroes  of  the  period  exist. 

Afghan  wars.  Among  the  numerous  books  treating  of  the  Afghan  wars 
the  work  of  Lady  Betty  Balfour,  entitled  The  Indian  Administration  of  Lord 
Lytton  (1899),  may  be  named,  because  it  includes  many  original  documents. 

The  later  Viceroys.  Sir  William  Hunter  treated  Lord  Mayo  satisfactorily. 
Mr.  Lovat  Fraser's  work,  India  under  Curzon  and  After  (1912),  is  useful. 

Lord  Minto  II  and  Lord  Hardinge  II  await  their  biographers. 

The  foregoing  notes,  which  might  be  extended  indefinitely,  will,  it  is  hoped, 
be  of  some  use  to  teachers.  A  fuller  list  of  books  will  be  found  in  Appendix  II 
of  the  Short  History  by  Mr.  Innes,  cited  above. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

Transitional  period :    conflict  of  French  and  English  in  Southern  India ; 
Dupleix,  &c. :  Haidar  All  and  Mysore. 

The  epoch  of  1761.  The  selection  by  historians  of  the  year 
1761  as  marking  the  dividing  hne  between  the  Mughal  and 
British  periods  does  not  rest  solely  upon  the  occurrence  of  the 
battle  of  Panipat  in  that  year.  Four  years  earlier,  in  1757, 
Olive's  victory  at  Plassey  had  laid  Bengal  and  its  dependencies 
at  the  feet  of  the  East  India  Company,  the  military  position 
of  which  was  secured  in  1764  by  the  battle  of  Buxar,  and 
legalized  in  1765  by  the  grant  under  imperial  seal  to  the 
Company  of  the  Diwani,  or  revenue  jurisdiction  over  the  pro- 
vince. In  the  year  of  Panipat,  the  fall  of  Pondicherry,  the 
capital  of  the  French  possessions,  completed  the  ruin  of  the 
French,  who  had  been  routed  at  Wandiwash  in  the  preceding 
year.  In  June,  1761,  Haidar  Ali  made  himself  master  of 
Mysore,  and  so  founded  a  power  which  lasted  until  the  close 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  while  in  1764  the  Sikhs  occupied 
Lahore,  and  became  independent.  Thus,  from  every  point  of 
view,  we  may  take  1761,  or,  more  precisely,  the  years  1760-5, 
as  the  end  of  the  old  and  the  beginning  of  the  new  era. 

Nominal  survival  of  the  Mughal  empire.  The  Mughal  empire 
continued  to  exist  as  the  shadow  of  a  great  name  until  1858, 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  239 

when  the  last  titular  emperor  was  exiled  as  the  penalty  for 
his  share  in  the  Mutiny.  But  all  the  princes  who  bore  the 
imperial  titles  during  the  century  extending  from  1759  to  1858 
were  equally  insignificant,  and  the  course  of  events  was  in  no 
way  affected  by  the  succession  of  one  nonentity  to  another.^ 
The  real  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Marathas,  the  British, 
the  Sikhs,  and  the  Muhammadan  states  of  Oudh,  Bengal,  and 
the  Deccan.  India  continued  to  be  a  mass  of  conflicting, 
unstable  states  until  1818,  when  the  settlement  made  by  the 
Marquess  of  Hastings  definitely  established  the  British  govern- 
ment of  the  East  India  Company  as  the  supreme,  controlling 
power.  But  it  is  true  to  affirm  that  from  1761  the  Company 
was  the  most  important  and  influential  authority  in  India. 

The  transitional  period.  In  the  following  pages  we  shall 
trace  in  outline  the  process  by  which  the  dominion  over  India 
passed  from  the  hands  of  the  Hindu  and  Muhammadan  powers 
to  those  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  thence  to  the  Crown. 
In  order  to  make  the  subject  intelligible  we  must  depart  from 
strict  chronological  order  and  go  back  for  some  years,  dealing 
first  with  the  south,  where  the  growing  strength  of  the  Euro- 
pean settlers  first  made  itself  distinctly  felt.  The  history  of 
this  period  of  transition  cannot  be  presented  in  a  single  con- 
tinuous narrative,  because  India  in  those  days  was  merely 
a  geographical  expression  and  had  no  unity  within  herself. 

Conflict  between  French  and  English.  The  competition 
between  the  French  and  English  settlements  on  the  Madras 
coasts  for  the  control  of  the  sea-borne  trade  developed  into 

1  Their  names  are:  Shah  Alam  II,  Dec.  1759-Nov.  1806;  Akbar  II, 
Nov.  1806-Oct.  1837;  and  Bahadur  Shah  II,  Oct.  1837-March  1858.  Other 
pretenders  were  Shahjahan  III,  Dec.  1758-Oct.  1760;  and  Bidar  Bakht, 
Aug.-Oct.  1788.  Shah  Alam  at  the  time  of  his  predecessor's  murder  was 
a  fugitive,  under  the  protection  of  the  Nawab-Vazir  of  Oudh.  He  tried, 
unsuccessfully,  to  establish  himself  in  Bihar,  and  from  1765  to  1771  was  the 
dependant  of  the  English  at  Allahabad.  From  1771  to  1803  he  was  generally 
under  the  control  of  Maratha  chiefs.  In  1788  he  was  cruelly  blinded  by  an 
Afghan  ruffian  named  Ghulam  Kadir.  From  the  time  of  Lord  Lake's  entry 
into  Delhi  in  1803  he  became  simply  a  pensioner  of  the  British  Government, 
and  his  successors  occupied  the  same  position. 


240    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

a  struggle  for  political  mastery,  in  which  the  native  powers 
allied  with  one  side  or  the  other  played  only  a  secondary  part. 
In  that  struggle  the  naval  superiority  of  England  was  the 
decisive  factor.  From  Madras,  where  he  had  already  done 
much  for  his  country,  Robert  Clive  transferred  tjie  conflict  to 
Bengal,  and  there  too  was  victorious  by  the  aid  of  sea -power. 
On  the  Bombay  side  the  Marathas  were  too  strong  to  allow  the 
European  settlements  much  scope  for  expansion.  The  British 
empire  in  India  was  founded  in  Madras  and  Bengal,  the  English 
traders  being  first  forced  into  political  action  by  French  rivalry 
in  the  south. 

Pondicherry  ;  Governors  Dumas  and  Dupleix.  The  French 
settlement  of  Pondicherry,  about  a  hundred  miles  to  the  south 
of  Madras,  founded  in  1674,  was  greatty  developed  under  the 
government  of  M.  Dumas  (1735-41),  who  won  a  high  reputa- 
tion by  his  repulse  of  a  large  Maratha  force.  His  successor, 
M.  Dupleix,  who  had  already  distinguished  himself  as  head  of 
the  Chandernagore  settlement  near  Calcutta,  found  in  the 
south  a  larger  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  abilities,  and  devised 
an  ambitious  policy  based  on  interference  in  the  affairs  of  the 
native  states  and  aimed  at  the  destruction  of  the  English 
settlements. 

First  Anglo-French  war.  In  1746,  war  between  France  and 
England  having  been  declared,  on  account  of  a  dispute  about 
the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Austria,  a  fleet  from  the  island 
of  Mauritius  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  then  a  French  colony,  cap- 
tured Madras,  which  was  held  by  France  luitil  1749,  when  it 
was  restored  to  England  under  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
During  the  interval  the  English  possessions  in  the  south  were 
reduced  to  the  one  small  fort  of  St.  David,  near  Cuddalore. 

Origin  of  the  second  Angle-French  war.  The  second  war 
between  the  French  and  English  settlers  arose  out  of  disputed 
successions  to  the  thrones  of  two  Indian  princes,  the  Subadar 
or  Nizam  of  the  Deccan  at  Hyderabad,  and  his  vassal,  the 
Nawab  of  the  Carnatic,  at  Arcott 

Disputed  succession  in  the  Deccan.    As  far  back  as  1724, 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  241 

Asaf  Jah,  Subadar  of  the  Deccan,  had  ceased  to  pay  allegiance 
to  the  emperor  at  Delhi,  and  had  become  practically  an  inde- 
pendent king.  When  he  died  at  a  great  age  in  1748  he  left 
six  sons.  The  eldest,  who  was  employed  at  Delhi  as  prime 
minister,  did  not  trouble  about  his  father's  dominions.  Nasir 
Jang,  the  second  son,  claimed  the  throne  of  the  Deccan,  and 
was  opposed  by  his  nephew,  Muzaffar  Jang,  son  of  a  daughter 
of  old  Asaf  Jah.  War  ensued  between  the  rival  claimants,  with 
the  result  that  within  about  three  j^ears  (1751)  both  Nasir 
Jang  and  Muzaffar  Jang  had  been  killed.  Salabat  Jang,  third 
son  of  Asaf  Jah,  then  became  Nizam  and  retained  his  position 
for  eleven  years.  He  was  deposed  in  1762  by  his  next  brother, 
Asaf  Jah's  fourth  son,  Nizam  Ali,  the  ancestor  of  the  present 
Nizam  of  Hyderabad. 

So  much  account  of  the  disputes  concerning  the  throne  of 
the  Deccan  may  suffice. 

Disputed  succession  in  the  Carnatic.  The  business  was 
complicated  by  another  quarrel  concerning  the  succession  to 
Anwar-ud-din  Khan,  Nawab  of  the  Carnatic,  who  had  been 
appointed  by  Asaf  Jah  in  1744  and  had  been  killed  in  1749. 
The  claimants  to  the  succession  were  Muhammad  All,  son  of 
Anwar-ud-din,  and  Chanda  Sahib  (Husain  Dost  Khan),  son- 
in-law  of  a  former  Nawab. 

French  and  English  take  sides.  The  French,  for  reasons  of 
their  own,  backed  Muzafifar  Jang  in  his  claim  to  be  Nizam,  and 
Chanda  Sahib  in  his  claim  to  be  Nawab,  while  the  English 
supported  the  respective  rival  claimants,  Nasir  Jang  and 
Muhammad  All.  The  quarrels  between  these  two  sets  of 
claimants  are  not  of  the  slightest  interest  or  importance  in 
themselves.  Their  only  right  to  remembrance  is  that  they 
served  as  the  occasion  for  the  French  and  English  to  fight  out 
their  struggle  for  the  empire  of  India.  The  French,  as  we 
know,  were  beaten,  and  the  English  were  victorious.  In  that 
way  the  disputes  between  the  claimants  to  the  two  South 
Indian  thrones  may  be  said  to  have  brought  about  the  founda- 
tion of  the  British  empire  in  India. 


242    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Ambition  of  Dupleix.  Dupleix,  the  able  head  of  the  French 
settlement  at  Pondicherry,  aimed  definitely  at  the  total  expul- 
sion of  the  English  and  the  establishment  of  French  rule. 
His  intrigues  and  alliances  with  native  claimants  or  states  were 
all  directed  to  those  ends.  The  English  naturally  objected  to 
being  driven  out, and  necessarily  sided  with  the  princes  opposed 
to  the  friends  of  Dupleix. 

Unofficial  war.  The  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1748 
having  established  formal  peace  between  France  and  England, 
and  Madras  having  been  restored  accordingly  to  the  English 
in  the  following  year,  the  officials  of  the  French  and  English 
rival  Companies  had  no  business  to  mix  themselves  up  with  the 
quarrels  of  Indian  princes  and  go  to  war  with  each  other.  But 
they  paid  no  heed  to  the  treaty  made  in  Europe,  and  were 
guided  solely  by  the  needs  of  the  local  situation  in  India,  which 
seemed  to  require  fighting. 

Trichinopoly.  The  first  conflict  in  the  unofficial  war  occurred 
in  1751  at  Trichinopoly,  where  Muhammad  Ali  and  his  English 
allies  were  besieged  by  Chanda  Sahib  and  the  French.  At  the 
moment  it  seemed  that  the  French  would  succeed  in  driving 
out  the  English.  Muzaffar  Jang  had  become  Nizam  and  had 
appointed  Dupleix  to  be  governor  of  the  peninsula  from  the 
Krishna  (Kistna)  river  to  Cape  Comorin.  The  resources  of 
Madras  did  not  suffice  to  effect  directly  the  relief  of  distant 
Trichinopoly. 

Capture  and  defence  of  Arcot.  Robert  Clive,  a  young 
'  writer  '  in  the  Company's  service,  who  had  recently  accepted 
a  commission  as  captain  in  the  army,  under  his  old  friend 
Major  Stringer  Lawrence,  saw  that  the  proper  way  to  relieve 
Trichinopoly  was  to  attack  Arcot,  the  capital  of  the  Carnatie, 
and  so  force  Chanda  Sahib  to  withdraw  troops  from  the  siege 
of  the  southern  town.^  He  persuaded  his  superiors  to  allow 
him  to  make  the  attack  with  an  absurdly  small  force,  com- 
prising only  200  British  soldiers,  300  sepoys,  and  three  small 
field-pieces.  Clive  being,  as  Pitt  called  him,  '  a  heaven-born 
^  Arcot  is  65  miles  WSW.  from  Madras. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  243 

general ',  succeeded  not  only  in  taking  Arcot,  but  in  holding 
it  for  fifty-four  days  against  3,000  of  Chanda  Sahib's  best 
troops  aided  by  150  Frenchmen.  Thus  Trichinopoly  was 
relieved  indirectly,  and  the  fame  of  the  British  arms  was  spread 
throughout  India.  The  sepoys  showed  the  utmost  devotion  to 
Clive  as  their  leader,  and  generously  offered  the  scanty  supply 
of  rice  to  their  British  comrades,  saying  that  the  water  in 
which  it  was  boiled  would  suffice  for  themselves.  The  French 
and  their  allies  finally  surrendered  all  claims  to  Trichinopoly 
in  1752.  Further  victories  at  Kaveripak,  to  the  east  of  Arcot, 
and  certain  other  places  resulted  in  the  driving  out  of  Chanda 
Sahib.  Muhammad  All  became  undisputed  Nawab  of  the 
Camatic,  and  retained  the  rank  to  the  end  of  his  long  and 
worthless  life  in  1795.  Clive  was  thus  free  to  return  to 
England  for  rest  in  1753.         ^ 

Ruin  of  Dupleix.  The  career  of  Dupleix  and  all  his  schemes 
of  lofty  ambition  were  ruined  by  the  victories  of  Clive  and 
Stringer  Lawrence  in  the  unofficial  war.  The  Governments  of 
England  and  France  disapproved  of  their  subjects  fighting 
in  India  while  the  nations  were  officially  at  peace  in  Europe. 
An  envoy  sent  from  France  superseded  Dupleix,  who  was 
recalled  and  allowed  to  die  in  poverty.  His  claim  that  liis 
large  private  fortune  had  been  expended  in  financing  the 
expansion  of  French  power  was  disallowed  by  the  government 
of  France  as  being  unfounded. 

Lally  ;  battle  of  Wandiwash  ;  fall  of  Pondicherry.  In  175(j 
the  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  Europe  set  the  French 
and  English  in  Southern  India  fighting  again,  this  time  with 
official  authority.  The  French  Government  appointed  as  their 
governor  and  commander-in-chief  a  distinguished  officer.  Count 
de  Lally.  Voyages  in  those  days  being  slow,  he  did  not  arrive 
in  India  until  April,  1758.  At  first  he  gained  some  small  suc- 
cesses, notably  the  capture  of  Fort  St.  David,  but  the  English 
fleet  protected  Madras  and  forced  him  to  retire  to  Pondicherry 
in  1760.  On  land  the  French  forces  were  routed  by  Sir 
Eyre  Coote  at  Wandiwash  in  that  year.     In  January,  1761, 


244    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

PondicheiTy  surrendered  after  a  gallant  defence  for  nine 
months.  Lally  was  taken  prisoner,  and  later  sent  to  France. 
His  countrymen  treated  him  badly,  and  after  some  years'  im- 
prisonment, he  was  executed  in  1766  on  conviction  for  having 
'  betrayed  the  interest  of  the  [French]  King  and  the  India 
Company,  for  abuse  of  authority  and  exactions  against  the 
subjects  of  the  King  and  the  foreign  residents  of  Pondicherry  '. 
Although  Lally  was  a  foolish  and  ill-tempered  man  he  was  not 
a  traitor  to  his  King,  and  ought  not  to  have  been  executed. 
After  some  years  the  sentence  was  annulled,  and  his  estates 
were  restored  to  his  son. 

Ruin  of  the  French.  The  Seven  Years'  War  was  ended 
in  1763  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris.  In  India  the  result  of  the 
operations  was  ruinous  to  the  French,  who  were  left  without 
any  regular  military  force,  or  ^ny  local  possessions,  except 
their  factories  of  Calicut  and  Surat,  which  were  mere  trading 
stations.  The  fortifications  of  Pondicherry  and  the  buildings 
within  them  were  destroyed,  so  that,  as  Orme  puts  it,  '  not 
a  roof  was  left  standing  in  this  once  fair  and  flourishing  city  '. 
The  town  was  rebuilt  subsequently-. 

De  Bussy  and  the  '  Northern  Circars  '.  When  Lally  arrived 
in  India,  a  countryman  of  his,  Monsieur  de  Bussy,  controlled 
the  Nizam's  court  at  Hyderabad,  and  had  taken  possession  of 
the  districts  then  known  as  the  '  Northern  Circars  '  (Sarkars).^ 
Colonel  Forde,  marching  from  Bengal,  turned  the  French  out 
of  those  districts  in  1758  and  1759,  while  de  Lally's  ill-judged 
interference  destroyed  de  Bussy's  influence  in  the  Deccan,  so 
that  the  Nizam  was  brought  over  to  the  English  side.  Mean- 
time the  battle  of  Plassey  had  been  fought,  and  the  English 
had  become  mastere  of  Bengal,  as  will  be  narrated  in  the  next 
chapter. 

Summary.     The  outline  of  the  leading  events  in  the  three 

*  The  Northern  Sarkars  in  Mughal  times  were  Guntur,  Kondapalli,  EUore, 
Rajahmundry,  and  Chicacole,  the  chief  town  being  Masulipatam.  The 
corresponding  Districts  in  the  Madras  Presidency  are  Guntur,  Godavari, 
Kistna  (Krishna),  Ganjam,  and  Vizagapatam.  But  Guntur  was  not 
acquired  by  the  East  India  Company  until  the  time  of  Lord  Cornwallis. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  245 

Anglo-French  wars  waged  in  the  south  of  India  may  be  con- 
veniently summarized  in  the  following  statement,  which  makes 
no  mention  of  the  contemporary  events  in  Bengal  and  else- 
where : 

The  Anglo-French  Wars  in  the  South. 

I.  War  of  tlie  Austrian  Succession,  declaration  of  war  by  France 

against  England      .......      1744 

Capture  of  Madras  by  the  French    .....     1746 

Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  ......     1748 

Restoration  of  Madras  to  the  English        .  .  .  .1 749 

II.  Unofficial  War. 

Siege  of  Trichinopoly  by  Chanda  Sahib  and  the  French  : 

capture  and  defence  of  Arcot  by  Clive        .  .  .  1751 

Surrender  of  Trichinopoly  by  the  French  :    other  British 

successes  ........  1752 

Return  of  Clive  to  England    ......  1753 

Recall  of  Dupleix 1754 

III.  The  Seven  Years'  War.— Began 1756 

The  '  Northern  Circara  ',  held  by  de  Bussy  .  .  .      1757 

Arrival  of  Count  de  Lally  ;  the  French  capture  Fort  St. 
David  and  attack  Madras  ;  Colonel  Forde  occupies  the 
'Northern  Ci  rears '  .....  1758-9 

Battle  of  Wandiwash 1760 

Fall  of  Pondicherry         .....  January  1761 

Treaty  of  Paris,  end  of  the  Seven  Years'  War    .  .  .      1763 

In  1782-3  Admiral  de  Suffrcn  fought  actions  with  a  British  fleet  off  the 
Madras  coast,  which  may  be  called  a  fourth  Anglo-French  war.  Those 
actions  were  indecisive,  and  operations  were  stopped  by  the  Treaty  of  Ver- 
sailles in  1783.  The  armies  in  Hindustan,  led  by  French  officers,  were 
destroyed  by  Lord  Lake  in  1803. 

Effect  of  sea  power.  The  French  ill  success  in  these  wars 
was  partly  due  to  the  incompetence  of  Count  de  Lally,  the 
capacity  of  Major  Stringer  Lawrence,  and  the  genius  of  Robert 
Clive ;  but  those  personal  accidents  are  not  the  whole  explana- 
tion. The  most  essential  element  in  the  French  failure  and 
the  British  victory  was,  as  already  observed,  the  superior 
English  naval  power.  The  small  land  forces  of  the  Madras 
authorities  Avere  well  supported  by  the  British  fleet,  which, 
as  a  rule,  was  able  to  beat  the  French  squadrons.     Pondicherry 


246    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

might  have  held  out  against  the  land  forces  alone,  but  it  could 
not  resist  them  and  the  navy  together.  The  ambitious 
schemes  of  Dupleix  really  never  had  a  chance  of  lasting  success, 
because  he  lacked  the  support  of  a  fleet  strong  enough  to  bring 
him  a  constant  supply  of  men  and  stores,  while  preventing 
the  English  from  receiving,  as  they  did,  such  supplies  in 
abundance. 

The  kingdom  of  Mysore.  When  the  kingdom  of  Vijayanagar 
was  broken  up  after  the  battle  of  Talikota  in  1565  {ante,  p.  142), 
its  component  parts  passed  under  the  rule  of  various  chieftains. 
One  of  those  parts — the  province  of  Mysore,  varying  in  extent 
from  time  to  time — continued  to  be  governed  by  a  dynasty 
of  Hindu  Rajas  who  had  been  feudatories  of  the  Vijayanagar 
kings. 

Haidar  Ali  becomes  master  of  Mysore.  In  1749  Haidar  Ali, 
then  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  joined  as  a  volunteer  horseman 
the  corps  under  the  command  of  his  elder  brother  Shahbaz, 
an  officer  in  the  service  of  the  Mysore  Raja.  The  young  man, 
having  attracted  notice  during  the  defence  of  a  fort,  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  a  small  force  with  the  rank  of 
Nayak  ;  and  in  due  course  was  promoted  to  be  Faujdar  of 
Dindigal.  He  used  his  authority  to  raise  a  large  body  of 
organized  plunderers,  and  thus  became  a  power  in  the  state. 
A  treacherous  palace  intrigue  drove  him  from  office,  but  by 
various  stratagems  he  recovered  his  position,  and  in  June 
1761  had  made  himself  practically  master  of  both  the  Raja  and 
Mysore.  The  weakness  of  the  Marathas  after  the  battle  of 
Panipat  in  that  year  gave  him  his  oj)portunity,  and  the  capture 
of  Bednore  with  treasure  perhaps  too  highly  valued  at  twelve 
millions  sterling  supplied  him  with  funds. 

First  Mysore  war.  The  Marathas  could  not  willingly  brook 
the  rise  of  a  new  and  aggressive  power.  In  1765  they  inflicted 
a  severe  defeat  on  Haidar  Ali  and  comjielled  him  to  pay  a  heavj' 
indemnity.  Next  year  he  compensated  himself  by  the  con- 
quest of  Malabar.  The  Nizam,  who  at  first  had  opposed 
Haidar  Ali,  now  joined  him  against  the  English,  but  the  allies 


GEORGE   PHILIP  JL  SON,  LTD. 


248    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

were  defeated  by  Colonel  Smith.  In  1769  Haidar  Ali  appeared 
before  Madras  and  frightened  the  incompetent  local  govern- 
•ment  into  making  a  treaty  with  him,  on  the  basis  of  mutual 
restitution  of  conquests,  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  reciprocal 
assistance  in  defensive  war.  The  conflict  thus  ended  is  known 
as  the  first  Mysore  war.  Three  years  later  the  Marathas  again 
proved  themselves  too  strong  for  him  and  forced  him  to  buy 
them  off  at  a  high  price. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

The  English  in  Bengal ;  Siraj-ud-daula  ;  battle  of  Plassey ;  the 
Company  as  sovereign  of  Bengal. 

The  Company's  war  with  Aurangzeb,  1685.  The  beginnings 
of  European  settlement  on  the  Indian  coasts  and  the  early 
stages  in  the  history  of  the  East  India  Company  have  been 
recorded  in  chapter  xvii  {ante,  pp.  159-68).  The  first  de- 
liberate bid  by  the  Company  for  political  power  in  India  was 
made  in  1685,  when  the  Directors,  in  pursuance  of  a  quarrel 
with  the  Sfibadar  of  Bengal,  obtained  the  sanction  of  King 
James  II  to  the  dispatch  of  armed  squadrons  to  operate  against 
the  ports  of  both  the  eastern  and  western  coasts.  The  expe- 
dition to  the  Hooghly  not  only  failed,  but  resulted  in  the 
temporary  expulsion  of  the  English  from  Bengal  {ante,  p.  166). 
On  the  western  side  the  English  fleet  caused  so  much  annoy- 
ance by  stopping  the  pilgrim  ships  sailing  from  Surat  that  in 
1690  Aurangzeb,  who  had  no  navy  and  was  busy  with  the 
Marathas,  came  to  terms  with  his  assailants  on  both  coasts  and 
permitted  Job  Charnock  to  return  to  the  Hooghly  and  found 
Calcutta.  Soon  afterwards.  Fort  William  was  built,  and  the 
merchants,  feeling  safe  within  its  walls,  devoted  themselves 
to  making  money  and  put  away  all  thoughts  of  empire. 

Independence  of  Bengal  ;  Allahvardi  Khan.  The  govern- 
ment of  Bengal,  Bihar,  and  Orissa  became  practically  inde- 
pendent of  Delhi  in  1740,  when  the  lawful  siibadar  or  nawab 


FROM  1761  TO  1S58  249 

of  those  provinces  was  treacherousl3'  slain  by  a  Turkoman 
officer  named  AUahvardi  (Alivardi)  Khan,  who  usurped 
the  dead  man's  place.  Lavish  bribes  to  the  value  of 
about  seventeen  millions  of  rupees  secured  the  approval  of 
the  imperial  court,  and  the  usurper  retained  office  until 
his  death.  Once  he  was  established  as  ruler  of  the  provinces 
he  never  sent  anything  more  to  Delhi,  and  was  really, 
although  not  in  name,  king  of  his  dominions.  The  titular 
emperor  at  Delhi  exercised  no  control  over  Bengal  after  1741, 
For  several  years  (1742-51),  AUahvardi  Khan  was  much 
troubled  by  Maratha  invasions.  The  atrocious  murder  by  the 
subadar  of  a  Maratha  general  and  his  officers  did  not  stop 
the  plague,  and  ultimately  AUahvardi  Khan  was  obliged  to  buy 
off  the  marauders  by  ceding  the  Cuttack  province  in  Orissa 
and  engaging  to  pay  twelve  lakhs  of  rupees  yearly  as  chauth 
for  Bengal. 

When  his  power  was  concerned,  AUahvardi  Khan  was  as 
unscrupulous  as  the  other  politicians  of  his  day,  but  as  a  ruler 
of  his  people  he  was  far  above  his  contemporaries.  Stewart, 
the  British  historian  of  Bengal,  declares  that  he  was  '  afiable 
in  manners,  wise  in  state  affairs,  courageous  as  a  general.  He 
possessed  every  noble  quality ' .  Orme  is  equally  compli- 
mentary, and  gives  him  the  quaint  praise  that  he  '  remained, 
perhaps,  the  only  prince  in  the  East  whom  none  of  his  subjects 
wished  to  assassinate  '.  In  his  old  age,  however,  he  made 
a  bad  mistake  by  naming  as  his  successor  his  grand-nephew, 
Mirza  Mahmud,  better  known  by  his  title  of  Siraj-ud-daula, 
who  was  a  debauched,  cruel,  and  utterly  worthless  young  man, 
about  twenty-eight  years  of  age  when  he  succeeded  his  grand- 
uncle  in  1756.^ 

Capture  of  Calcutta  by  Siraj-ud-daula.  The  officials  of  the 
East  India  Company  at  Calcutta  offended  the  young  Nawab 
by  sheltering  one  Kishan  Das,  a  rich  Hindu,  whom  the 
Nawab  desired  to  rob.     Moreover,  news  having  been  received 

*  Siraj-ud-daula  means  '  lamp  '  or  '  sun  of  the  state  '.  The  title  is  usually 
written  in  incorrect  forms.     It  has  even  appeared  as  '  Sir  Roger  Dowler'. 


250    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

of  the  approaching  outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years'  War  in 
Europe,  the  Calcutta  people  thought  it  prudent  to  strengthen 
their  fort,  and  so  gave  further  offence.  Siraj-ud-daula,  who 
believed  Calcutta  to  be  much  richer  than  it  really  was,  resolved 
to  loot  the  place  and  drive  out  the  English. 

The  Calcutta  merchants,  who  had  been  living  quietly  without 
thought  of  anything  but  business  for  more  than  half  a  century, 
did  not  know  how  to  defend  themselves  properly.  When 
Siraj-ud-daula  came  near  with  a  large  army,  Mr.  Drake,  the 
governor  had  an  extremely  weak  force,  including  only  174 
Europeans,  with  which  to  resist.  He  did  something  at  first, 
but  soon  took  fright,  and  slipped  away  down  the  river  with 
other  cowards. 

The  deserted  garrison  elected  Mr.  Holwell,  a  brave  man,  as 
their  leader.  He  did  all  that  was  possible  to  defend  his  charge 
for  a  short  time,  but  on  June  20  was  overwhelmed  by  the 
greatly  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy  and  forced  to  surrender. 

The  Black  Hole.  The  prisoners,  146  in  number,  were  care- 
lessly thrust  into  a  tiny  lock-up  room  on  a  hot  night  in  June, 
and  left  there  to  live  or  die.  Next  morning,  when  the  door 
was  opened,  only  twenty-three  were  taken  out  alive,  including 
Mr.  Holwell.  This  tragedy  is  known  to  English  writers  as 
the  affair  of  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  Siraj-ud-daula,  who 
was  in  no  way  concerned  about  the  death  of  his  prisoners, 
confiscated  all  the  Company's  property,  and  the  English  for 
the  second  time  lost  their  footing  in  Bengal. 

Relief  by  Admiral  Watson  and  Clive.  But,  happily  for  the 
British  reputation,  the  services  of  the  Company  included  men 
who  were  not  cowards.  It  so  happened  that  an  expedition 
under  the  command  of  Admiral  Watson  and  Robert  Clive,  then 
on  his  way  out  from  England,  had  been  operating  successfully 
against  the  pirates  of  the  Bombay  coast,  and  had  just  returned 
to  Madras  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  capture  of  Calcutta. 
Some  people  in  Madras  wished  to  keep  what  resources  they 
had  in  order  to  fight  the  French.  The  matter  was  hotly 
debated  for  two  months,  but  ultimately  the  right  decision 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  251 

was  taken,  and  the  available  force,  consisting  of  Admiral 
Watson's  fleet,  with  900  European  soldiers,  and  1,500  sepoys 
under  Olive's  command,  was  dispatched  to  Bengal  in  October, 
and  sailed  up  the  Hooghly  in  December  1756. 

Action  at  Dum-dum  and  capture  of  Chandernagore.  In 
February  1757  the  Nawab  was  badly  defeated  in  an  action 
at  Dum-dum,  and  obliged  to  agree  to  the  return  of  the  English, 
the  fortification  of  Calcutta,  and  the  establishment  of  a  mint 
there.  But,  when  he  heard  of  the  outbreak  in  Europe  of  the 
contest  known  as  the  Seven  Years'  War,  his  hopes  of  receiving 
French  aid  revived,  and  he  invited  the  French  general,  de' 
Bussy,  to  come  up  from  the  south.  By  way  of  reply,  Olive 
and  Watson  took  possession  of  Chandernagore,  the  French 
settlement. 

Misgovernment  of  Siraj-ud-daula  ;  Omichand.  The  mis- 
government  of  Siraj-ud-daula,  a  good-for-nothing  prince,  pro- 
voked discontent,  directed  by  Mir  Jafar,  brother-in-law  of 
Allahvardi  Khan,  who  entered  into  negotiations  with  CUve. 
The  English  officers  agreed  in  May  and  June  to  place  Mir  Jafar 
on  the  throne  of  Bengal  in  return  for  175  lakhs  of  rupees  besides 
compensation  for  losses.  In  order  to  secure  the  indispensable 
support  of  Aminchand  (Omichand),  an  influential  Sikh  banker, 
Clive  descended  to  the  meanness  of  inserting  in  a  forged  copy 
of  the  agreement  with  the  Nawab  a  promise  to  pay  the  banker 
a  large  sum,  which  was  omitted  from  the  genuine  document. 
Aminchand  naturally  was  horrified  when  Clive,  after  Plassey, 
confessed  to  the  deception,  but  the  current  story  that  he  lost 
liis  reason  from  the  shock  and  died  an  imbecile  is  false.  The 
old  Calcutta  records  prove  that  after  an  interval  he  resumed 
business  and  engaged  in  several  transactions  with  the  English. 
As  Mr.  Marshman  observes,  '  this  is  the  only  act  in  the  bold 
and  arduous  career  of  CUve  which  does  not  admit  of  vindica- 
tion, though  he  himself  always  defended  it  and  declared 
that  he  was  ready  to  do  it  a  hundred  times  over  '.  Admiral 
Watson  refused  to  sign  the  false  document,  but  Chve  ordered 
Mr.  Lushington  to  sign  in  his  name.    Negotiations  between  the 


252    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

English  and  the  Nawab  having  failed  to  produce  any  satis- 
factory results,  Clive  advanced  on  June  13,  informing  the 
Nawab  that  he  had  '  found  it  necessary  to  wait  upon  him 
immediately  '. 

Battle  of  Plassey,  June  23,  1757.  On  the  23rd  of  J\me, 
1757,  a  year  after  the  tragedy  of  the  Black  Hole,  Clive  met  the 
army  of  the  Nawab  at  Plassey,  in  the  Nadiya  District,  near 
Kasimbazar,  and  not  far  from  Murshidabad.  The  English 
commander's  force  consisted  of  a  little  more  than  3,000  men, 
including  about  950  Europeans,  and  his  guns  were  fewand  light. 
His  opponent  had  at  his  disposal  50,000  infantry,  18,000 
cavalry,  and  fifty- three  guns,  mostly  of  heavy  calibre,  besides 
some  forty  or  fifty  Frenchmen  with  four  light  field-pieces. 
The  Nawab  displayed  abject  personal  cowardice,  and,  after 
many  hours'  feeble  fighting,  his  huge  host  was  utterly  routed. 
The  handful  of  '  vagabond  Frenchmen  ',  as  Orme  calls  them, 
under  the  command  of  a  man  named  Sinfray,  made  a  brave 
stand,  but  were  unable  to  save  the  cause  of  the  coward  whom 
they  served.  The  loss  on  the  British  side  was  trifling,  amount- 
ing to  only  twenty-two  killed  and  forty-nine  wounded.  The 
Nawab's  losses  were  supposed  to  be  at  least  five  hundred  men 
killed  and  wounded.  Shortly  after  the  battle,  which  hardly 
deserves  the  name,  Siraj-ud-daula  was  captured  and  put  to 
death  by  a  follower  of  Mir  Jafar.  In  accordance  with  the 
agreement  made,  Mir  Jafar  was  recognized  by  the  English 
authorities  as  Nawab,  the  title  generally  given  at  that  period 
to  the  subadar,  and  was  compelled  to  pay  heavily  for  his 
promotion. 

Conquest  of  the  Northern  Sarkars  (Circars).  In  1758  CHve 
took  a  bold  step,  by  dispatching  Colonel  Forde,  with  a  force 
which  Bengal  could  ill  spare,  to  wrest  the  Northern  Sarkars 
{ante,  p.  244)  from  the  French,  whose  hold  on  the  province 
had  been  weakened  by  Count  de  Lally's  orders  recalling  de 
Bussy.  The  expedition,  which  was  well  managed  and  wholly 
successful,  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  valuable  territory  by 
the  Company,  and  the  transference  by  the  Nizam  of  his  alliance 
from  the  French  to  the  English  side. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  253 

Defeat  of  the  Dutch.  MIl-  Jafar,  the  new  Nawab,  having 
soon  found  that  his  English  patrons  were  disposed  to  be 
masters,  resented  the  position  and  sought  deliverance  by- 
negotiations  with  the  Dutch.  But  Clive  put  a  stop  to  them 
by  inflicting  a  severe  defeat  on  the  Hollanders  near  their 
settlement  of  Chinsurah,  adjoining  Hooghly  (1759).  Next 
year  he  returned  to  England,  where  he  was  received  with 
honour  by  King  George,  and  Mr.  Pitt,  the  Prime  Minister. 
He  was  given  an  Irish  peerage  as  Baron  Clive  of  Plassey.^ 

Massacre  of  Patna.  During  Clive's  absence  the  Company's 
affairs  in  Bengal  were  ill  managed  by  Mr.  Vansittart,  a  weak 
but  tolerably  honest  man,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  colleagues  not  at  all  honest.  These  men  oppressed 
the  people  by  means  of  a  cruelly  worked  salt  monopoly  and 
other  devices  for  their  own  enrichment.  They  replaced  Mir 
Jafar  as  Nawab  by  his  son-in-law,  Mir  Kasim,  making  a  good 
profit  out  of  the  transaction,  and  obtaining  for  the  Company 
the  cession  of  Bardwan,  Midnapur,  and  Chittagong.  The  mis- 
conduct of  Mr.  Ellis,  *a,  civil  official  at  Patna,  resulted  in  the 
outbreak  of  war  with  the  Nawab,  who,  having  been  defeated 
in  actions  at  Katwa  (Cutwa)  and  other  places,  took  refuge  in 
Oudh,  and  some  years  later  died  at  Delhi  in  extreme  poverty. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  British  lost  Mr.  Ellis  and  a  number 
of  other  officials  and  soldiers,  about  200  in  all,  who  had  been 
taken  prisoners,  and  were  barbarously  massacred.  Most  of 
them  (148)  were  slaughtered  at  Patna  by  Walter  Reinhardt, 
nicknamed  Sumroo  or  Sombre,  a  German  soldier  of  fortune 
then  in  the  service  of  Mir  Kasim  (October  1763). 

Battle  of  Buxar,  1764.  A  year  later  (October  1764)  Major, 
afterwards  Sir  Hector,  Munro  encountered  at  Buxar,  on  the 
Ganges,  the  combined  forces  of  Mir  Kasim  and  the  Nawab - 
Vazir  of  Oudh,  who  had  united   in  an  effort  to  expel  the 

*  An  Irish  peer  does  not  become,  as  such,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  may  sit  in  the  House  of  Commons,  as  Clive  actually  did.  Twenty- 
eight  representative  peers,  elected  by  the  Irish  peerage,  have  seats  in  the 
House  of  Lords. 


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FROM  1761  TO  1858  255 

foreigners.  The  allies  were  decisively  defeated,  after  a  real 
hard-fought  battle,  in  which  the  Company's  force  lost  847 
killed  and  wounded,  and  the  country  as  far  west  as  Allahabad 
lay  at  the  disposal  of  the  victor.  The  emperor  Shah  Alam 
took  no  part  in  the  action,  and  came  into  the  British  camp  on 
the  next  day.  Buxar  completed  the  work  of  Piassey,  and 
finished  once  for  all  the  military  subjugation  of  Bengal  and 
Bihar.  The  Marathas  at  that  date  had  not  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  the  disaster  at  Panipat,  and  hardly  counted  among 
the  Indian  powers  for  a  few  years. 

Clive's  return  to  India  ;  his  non-aggressive  policy.  In  May 
1765  Clive,  who  had  been  sent  out  again  from  England  to 
settle  the  disorder  in  Bengal,  returned  to  Calcutta.  He  found, 
to  use  his  own  words,  '  a  presidency  divided,  headstrong,  and 
licentious,  a  government  without  nerves,  a  treasurj^  without 
money,  and  a  service  without  subordination,  discipline,  or 
public  spirit '.  He  knew  well  that  the  empire  of  Hindustan 
was  within  his  grasp,  if  he  chose  to  take  it. 

'  We  have  at  last  arrived  ',  he  wTote,  '  at  that  critical  period 
which  I  have  long  foreseen,  that  period  which  renders  it  neces- 
sary to  determine  whether  we  can  or  shall  take  the  whole 
to  ourselves.  ...  It  is  scarcely  hyperbole  to  say  that  to-morrow 
the  whole  Moghul  empire  is  in  our  power.' 

But  he  disapproved  of  a  policy  of  adventure,  and  refused  the 
empire  which  was  to  be  had  for  the  taking. 

Grant  of  the  Diwani,  Aug.  12,  1765.  He  was  content  to 
legalize  the  Company's  position  in  Bengal,  Bihar,  and  Orissa 
('  Orissa  '  including  only  the  Midnapur  District  and  part  of 
Hixgli)  by  accepting  from  the  titular  emperor  a  grant  of  the 
Diwani,  that  is  to  say,  power  to  collect  and  administer  the 
revenues  of  those  provinces.^  The  Company  was  thus  placed 
in  the  legal  position  of  the  diwan  or  civil  colleague  of  a  subadar 
under  the  Mughal  system.  It  undertook  to  pay  twent3'-six 
lakhs  of  rupees  annually  to   the  imperial  treasur}-.     Some 

*  The  Cuttack  (Katak)  province  in  Orissa  was  then  in  the  hands  of  tha 
Marathas  in  virtue  of  the  cession  made  by  AUahvardi  Khan  in  1751 


256    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

months  earlier  the  emperor  had  granted  the  sarkars  of  Benares 
and  Ghazipur  as  fiefs  to  be  held  direct  by  the  Company. 

Double  government  ;  Oudh.  In  his  anxiety  to  disturb 
traditional  arrangements  as  little  as  possible,  Clive  worked  the 
Diwani  or  revenue  administration  through  native  agents,  and 
left  all  police  and  executive  business  in  the  hands  of  the 
subadar,  or  Nawab,  as  he  was  then  generally  called.  This 
system,  essentially  weak,  worked  badly  in  practice,  and  was 
defensible  only  on  the  ground  that  nothing  better  was  possible 
at  the  time.  The  Company  did  no't  possess  the  staff  necessary 
for  a  regular  administration.  Oudh  was  left  in  the  possession 
of  the  Nawab-Vazir,  subject  to  the  cession  to  the  emperor 
of  the  Allahabad  and  Kara  Siiba  (excluding  Ghazipur  and 
Benares),  as  the  equivalent  of  tribute  due,  which  had  never  been 
paid.  This  arrangement  was  agreeable  to  Shah  Alam,  who, 
on  his  part,  granted  to  the  Company  the  '  Northern  Circars  ', 
of  which  he  was  not  in  possession.  He  took  up  his  residence 
at  Allahabad,  and  remained  there  for  six  years,  practically  as 
a  pensioner  of  the  English. 

Mutiny  of  British  officers  (1766)  ;  reforms.  Certain  reduc- 
tions in  the  allowances  {batta)  to  the  British  officers  having 
been  retrenched  under  orders  from  the  Directors,  great  dis- 
content arose  among  the  persons  affected,  and  most  of  the 
officers  in  Bengal  so  far  forgot  their  duty  as  to  form  mutinous 
combinations.  This  dangerous  movement  was  met  by  Clive 
with  inflexible  sternness  and  frustrated  within  a  fortnight. 
Civil  as  well  as  military  reforms  were  pressed  with  vigour, 
civil  officers  being  required  to  sign  covenants  and  abstain  from 
accepting  gifts.  A  scheme  was  devised  for  giving  the  officials 
adequate  legitimate  pay,  but  met  with  only  partial  acceptance 
from  the  Directors.  All  these  measures  of  reform  aroused 
much  hostility  among  persons  whose  pecuniary  gains  were 
diminished. 

Clive' s  return  to  England  and  death.  In  1767  illness  com- 
pelled Clive  to  return  home,  leaving  his  work  unfinished.  On 
arrival  in  England  he  was  at  first  received  with  due  honour,  but 


BATTLE  OF  PLASSEY 

GAINED  BY 

COLONEL    CLIVE 

JUNE   23rd,  1757 


Mangora 


Batcher 


A.  Position    of  the    British  Army   at 

9    in  the  Morning. 

B.  Four  guns  advanced  to   check   the 

Jire   of  the  French  Party  at  the 
tank  D. 

C.  The  Nabob's  Army. 

D.  A    Tank  from  whence  the   French 

Party   cannonaded  till   3  in   the 
Afternoon,  when  part  of  the  British 


1500  Yards 


Army  took  Post  there,  and  thi- 
Enemy  retired  within  their  En- 
trenched Camp. 

E  (A    Redoubt    and   mound   taken   br/ 

<fcj     Assault  at  |  past  4,  and  which 

f"-  v     completed  the  Victory. 

(3_  Th£  jVaboVs  Hunting  House.  The 
dotted  line  BE  shews  the  encroach- 
ment of  the  River  since  the  Battle. 


1776 


258    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

after  a  time  his  enemies  began  to  pursue  him  with  malignant 
calumny.  Ultimately  the  House  of  Commons,  while  unable 
to  approve  of  all  his  acts,  resolved  that  '  Robert,  Lord  Clive, 
did,  at  the  same  time,  render  great  and  meritorious  services 
to  his  country  '.  The  attacks  on  him  then  ceased,  but  his 
health  had  suffered,  and  he  was  afflicted  by  sleeplessness.  In 
November,  1774,  weary  of  an  ungrateful  world,  he  cut  his 
throat  with  a  penknife,  in  his  fiftieth  year. 

Character  of  Clive.  Throughout  his  brief  life  of  action 
(1751-67)  Clive  retained  the  qualities  which  he  had  dis- 
played as  a  young  man  in  the  defence  of  Arcot.  No  danger 
could  daunt  his  calm  courage,  no  difi&culties  could  exceed  his 
resources,  no  resistance  could  shake  his  will.  In  his  youth, 
although  absolutely  untaught  in  the  science  of  war,  he  had 
proved  himself  to  be  'a  heaven-born  general  ',  and  in  the 
maturity  of  his  powers  he  displayed  the  gifts  of  a  far-seeing 
statesman.  Posterity  has  endorsed  the  verdict  of  the  House  of 
Commons  that  he  '  did  render  great  and  meritorious  services  to 
his  country  ',  and  the  rider  may  now  be  added  that  during  his 
second  administration  he  did  his  best  to  serve  India  as  well  as 
England,  although  some  of  his  acts  are  open  to  censure.^ 

Misgovernment  and  famine,  1767-72.  The  interval  of  five 
years  between  the  departure  of  Clive  in  1767  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  Warren  Hastings  as  Governor  of  Bengal  in  1772  was 
marked  by  shocking  misgovernment,  due  to  the  division  of 
authority,  the  rapacity  of  the  Company's  officials  when  freed 
from  the  strong  controlling  hand,  and  general,  demoralization. 
In  1769  and  1770  an  awful  famine,  still  remembered,  desolated 
the  land,  and  is  believed  to  have  destroyed  at  least  one-third 
of  the  population.  In  all  ages  India  has  been  familiar  with 
the  horrors  of  famine,  and  several  visitations  of  the  kind  have 
been  alluded  to  in  previous  pages,  but,  so  far  as  is  known,  none 

1  The  story  of  Clive  is  most  agreeably  read  in  Macaulay"s  well-known 
essay,  which  is  trustworthy  on  the  whole.  Certain  minor  errors  are  corrected 
in  the  notes,  by  the  author  of  this  history,  appended  to  the  edition  published 
by  the  Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1911, 


FriOM  1761  TO  1858  259 

of  them  surpassed,  or  perhaps  equalled,  the  famine  of  1770, 
which  extended  far  beyond  the  hmits  of  Bengal.^  The  ill- 
compacted  S3'stem  of  '  double  government '  then  existing  was 
not  competent  to  deal  with  a  tremendous  emergency.  Neither 
the  English  nor  the  native  authorities  held  the  knowledge 
requisite  for  working  adequate  measures  of  relief,  which  could 
not  be  S3riously  attempted.  The  effects  of  the  calamity  were 
still  felt  forty  years  later. 

The  Company  sovereign  of  Bengal.  Having  thus  traced 
the  process  by  which  the  East  India  Company  acquired  the 
sovereignty  of  Bengal,  Bihar,  Ghazipur,  Benares,  Orissa,  and 
the  '  Northern  Circars  ',  with  a  controlling  influence  over  the 
politics  of  all  Northern  India,  we  proceed  to  narrate  the  steps 
by  which  Warren  Hastings,  the  first  and,  perhaps,  the  greatest 
of  the  Governors-General,  laid  the  foundations  of  a  regular 
sj'Stem  of  government. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

Bengal  affairs  :   the  Regulating  Act ;   Warren  Hastings,  the  first  Governor- 
General  ;    the  first  Maratha  war. 

Confusion  in  Bengal.  When  Clive  quitted  India  in  1767, 
only  eleven  years  had  elapsed  since  the  English  had  been 
expelled  from  Calcutta  with  contumely.  During  that  short 
interval  the  East  India  Company  was  surprised  to  find  that 
it  had  become  the  actual  sovereign  of  Bengal,  Bihar,  the 
'  Northern  Circars  ',  and  Orissa,  in  the  limited  sense  meaning 
Midnapur  and  part  of  Hughli,  with  a  commanding  influence 
over  the  policy  of  the  ruler  of  Oudh.^  The  Company  was  not 
prepared  for  this  sudden  increase  of  responsibility.  Its  ofi&cials 
were   merchants   ill   qualified   to    undertake    the    duties   of 

-  The  best  printed  account  is  that  in  Sir  William  Hunter's  Annals  of 
Bural  Bengal,  first  published  in  1866. 

-  Ghazipur  and  Benares  had  been  restored  to  Oudh  in  1765  by  order  of  the 
Directors.     The  rest  of  Orissa  was  not  annexed  until  1803. 


260    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

government.  Clive,  as  we  have  seen,  tried  to  administer  the 
country  on  the  old  Mughal  lines,  but  the  experiment  failed,  and 
the  consequent  disorder  made  new  arrangements  absolutely 
necessary.  The  Directors  sought  for  a  strong  man  who  could 
be  trusted  to  remedy  the  miseries  of  Bengal  and  to  introduce 
the  elements  of  civilized  government.  They  found  him  in  the 
person  of  Warren  Hastings,  who  took  over  charge  of  the  office 
of  Governor  of  Bengal  in  April  1772. 

Early  life  of  Warren  Hastings.  Warren  Hastings,  the  son 
of  an  impoverished  member  of  an  ancient  English  family,  had 
joined  the  Company's  service  as  a  lad  eighteen  years  of  age  in 
1750,  and  afterwards  had  done  good  work  under  Clive,  enjoying 
a  high  reputation  for  '  great  ability  and  unblemished  char- 
acter ',  as  certified  by  the  Directors.  Early  in  1764  he  re- 
turned to  England,  where  he  stayed  until  the  beginning  of 
1769.  The  Directors  then  sent  him  out  to  Madras  as  member 
of  Council  at  that  settlernent,  where  he  conducted  himself  with 
such  discretion  in  difficult  circumstances  that  he  was  selected 
to  fill  the  more  arduous  position  of  ruler  of  Bengal.  He  en- 
joyed his  employers'  '  perfect  confidence  '  and  was  given  secret 
orders  expressing  their  '  singular  trust  and  dependence  upon  ' 
his  impartiality  and  prudence. 

Hastings  as  Governor  of  Bengal ;  internal  reforms,  1772-4. 
The  new  Governor  lost  no  time  in  carrying  out  his  instructions, 
and  in  taking  measures  to  introduce  effective  government 
under  the  avowed  authority  of  the  Company.  The  two  Indian 
officials,  Muhammad  Raza  in  Bengal  and  Raja  Shitab  Rai  in 
Bihar,  who  had  despotically  managed  the  revenue  affairs  of 
the  two  provinces  as  deputies  of  the  Nawab,  were  removed, 
and  a  Revenue  Board  was  created  at  Calcutta,  which  became 
the  capital.  British  officers  were  appointed  as  Collectors  of 
Districts  and  Divisional  Commissioners,  the  foundation  thus 
being  laid  of  the  administrative  system  which  exists  to  this  day. 
Hastings  found  himself  obliged  to  construct  a  government 
from  top  to  bottom.  He  had  practically  no  foundations  on 
which  to  build.     He  had  to  create  every  department,  and  do 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  261 

the  best  possible  with  the  few  ill-trained  men  at  his  disposal. 
The  collections  were  farmed  for  five  years,  an  unsatisfactory 
settlement  of  the  revenue  difficulty,  but  the  best  that  could  be 
made  at  the  time.  Civil  and  criminal  courts  were  established 
at  Calcutta  and  in  the  provinces,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  translating  works  on  Indian  law.  Large  economies  were 
effected  by  reductions  in  the  allowances  paid  to  the  titular 
Nawab  of  Bengal,  residing  at  Murshidabad,  and  severe 
measures  were  taken  to  check  the  ravages  of  the  dacoits  or 
gangs  of  robbers.  During  this  period  Hastings  usually  enjoyed 
the  support  of  his  colleagues,  and  was  able  to  carry  out  his 
reforms  without  factious  opj)osition.  His  zeal,  industry,  and 
integrity  deserve  all  the  praise  that  can  be  given.  Through- 
out his  long  life  he  felt  a  warm  interest  in  literature,  art,  and 
science,  and  was  eager  to  take  any  possible  measures  for  the 
moral,  intellectual,  and  material  advancement  of  India.  It 
is  imjjossible  to  go  into  details  here,  but  we  may  note  that 
lie  was  a  good  Persian  scholar,  encouraged  the  study  of  the 
Indian  languages,  patronized  artists  liberally,  promoted  Major 
Rennell's  scientific  surveys,  opened  up  intercourse  with  Tibet, 
and  established  for  a  time  overland  communication  with 
Europe.  All  such  matters  engaged  his  sympathies  from  the 
first. 

Oudh  and  the  Emperor  Shah  Alam.  Clive  in  1765  had 
made  over  to  the  Emperor  Shah  Alam  the  districts  of  Allahabad 
and  Kara  in  the  hope  that  he  would  be  able  to  hold  them  and 
keep  out  the  Marathas,  But  the  Marathas,  although  hit  hard 
"by  the  disaster  of  Panipat,  soon  began  to  recover  power,  and  in 
the  early  part  of  1771  Mahadaji  Sindia  occupied  Delhi.  He  per- 
suaded Shah  Alam  to  quit  Allahabad  and  return  to  the  capital. 
The  emperor  thus  became  a  dependant  of  the  Marathas,  and 
Hastings  was  justified  in  withholding  payment  of  the  Bengal 
tribute,  and  in  treating  Allahabad  and  Kara  as  abandoned  by 
the  emperor.  He  was  not  at  liberty  to  take  over  the  govern- 
ment of  those  provinces,  being  bound  by  strict  orders  to  abstain 
from  annexation.     He  came,  therefore,  to  the  conclusion  that 


Warren  Hastings  in  old  age 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  263 

the  best  thing  he  could  do  was  to  assign  them  for  payment  to 
the  Nawab-Vazir  of  Oudh,  who  had  formerly  held  them.  In 
1773,  accordingly,  Allahabad  and  Kara  were  made  over  to 
that  potentate  in  exchange  for  fifty  lakhs  of  rupees,  and 
arrangements  were  made  for  supplying  a  British  brigade  as  an 
auxiliary  force  whenever  needed  by  the  Oudh  Government. 
When  the  necessities  and  difficulties  of  Hastings's  position  are 
realized  and  the  urgency  of  the  Maratha  menace  is  rightly 
estimated,  these  transactions  were  fully  justified,  as  the 
Directors  held  them  to  be.  In  1774,  when  the  Rohilla  war  was 
undertaken,  the  titular  emperor  gave  formal  sanction  to  the 
transfer  of  Allahabad  and  Kara  to  Oudh. 

The  Rohilla  war,  1773-4.  The  provinces  of  Katehar  and 
Sambhal,  north  of  the  Ganges,  which  were  then,  and  had  been 
for  about  thirty-five  years,  ruled  by  the  Rohillas,  a  clan  of 
Afghan  adventurers,  consequently  had  become  known  as 
Rohilkhand.  The  country,  being  fertile,  was  an  object  of 
desire  to  both  the  Marathas  and  the  ruler  of  Oudh.  The 
Marathas  already  had  begun  to  make  raids  in  it,  and  the 
Nawab-Vazir  was  eager  to  annex  it.  Hastings,  who  had  long 
regarded  the  Rohillas  as  being  dangerous  to  the  Vazir,  the  only 
useful  ally  of  the  Company,  had  reason  to  fear  that  they  might 
join  the  Marathas,  and  then  destroy  the  buffer  state  of  Oudh. 
He  therefore  held  that  the  danger  could  be  averted  only  by  the 
conquest  of  Rohilkhand,  and  when  his  ally  of  Oudh  asked  for 
help  in  that  undertaking,  Hastings  lent  him  the  promised  bri- 
gade under  the  command  of  Colonel  Champion.  The  enterprise 
succeeded  in  its  purpose.  Rohilkhand  was  annexed  to  Oudh, 
and  the  Bengal  frontier  was  secured  against  Maratha  invasion. 
But  the  transaction  was  criticized  severely  because  troops 
under  a  British  commander  were  placed  in  exchange  for  a 
money  payment  at  the  disposal  of  an  Indian  ruler,  whose 
forces  were  alleged  to  have  permitted  themselves  a  degree  of 
licence  forbidden  by  the  customs  of  civilized  warfare.  Many 
of  the  Rohillas  quitted  the  province,  but  one  chief  was  per- 
mitted to  retain  his  fief,  now  the  small  state  of  Rampur,  near 


264    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Bareilly,  and  still  governed  by  a  Rohilla  Nawab,  a  prince  of 
approved  loyalty.  The  villagers  of  the  province,  Hindus  for 
the  most  part,  once  the  storm  of  war  had  passed,  simply  had 
to  accept  a  change  of  masters,  a  matter  of  little  concern  to 
them.  They  went  on  tilling  their  lands  as  usual,  and  the 
province  suffered  little  injury,  although  some  villages  were 
burned  in  the  course  of  the  operations.  Hastings's  conduct  in 
the  affair  of  the  Rohilla  war,  which  offers  no  real  occasion 
for  blame,  was  grossly  misrepresented  by  his  enemies  in 
Parliament,  and  subsequently  by  Macaulay. 

The  Regulating  Act,  1773.  The  irregular  acquisition  of 
a  wide  dominion  in  India  by  a  mercantile  company  necessarily 
engaged  the  attention  of  Parliament  and  the  King's  Govern- 
ment in  England,  and  all  parties  were  agreed  that  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  East  India  Company  must  be  regulated  by  law. 
Discussion  resulted  in  the  passing  by  Lord  North's  Govern- 
ment of  the  measure  known  as  the  Regulating  Act.  This 
statute,  the  foundation  of  the  existing  system  of  government, 
limited  the  powers  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Company,  required 
the  submission  of  dispatches  to  the  King's  ministers  for  infor- 
mation, transformed  the  Governor  of  Bengal  into  a  Governor- 
General  in  Council  with  partial  controlling  powers  over  all 
British  establishments  in  India,  and  constituted  a  Supreme 
Court  of  Judicature  consisting  of  a  chief  justice  and  three 
judges.  The  council,  which  under  Clive's  government  had 
consisted  of  eleven  or  twelve  members,  Avas  reduced  to  four 
only,  or  five  including  the  Governor-General. 

Hastings  first  Governor-General,  1774.  Warren  Hastings 
was  appointed  the  first  Governor-General  of  Bengal,  with  ill- 
defined  powers  of  control  over  other  settlements,  in  matters  of 
peace,  war, and  alliances,  retaining  his  position  also  as  Governor 
of  Bengal.  The  councillors  appointed  to  assist  him  were 
Richard  BarAvell,  a  servant  of  the  Company  and  a  member  of 
the  old  Bengal  council,  General  Clavering,  Colonel  Monson, 
and  Philip  Francis.  The  Governor-General  and  his  councillors 
were  appointed  by  name  for  five  years  certain.     The  new 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  265 

Government  took  over  charge  in  October,  1774.  The  chief 
justice  was  Sir  Elijah  Impey,  an  old  schoolfellow  and  frieM  of 
Hastings,  and  at  one  time  counsel  to  the  East  India  Company. 

Hostile  Councillors.  When  the  council  met,  Hastings  found 
that  he  could  rely  on  the  support  of  Mr.  Barwell  alone,  the 
other  members  being  hostile.  The  Act  having  given  him  no 
jDOwer  to  overrule  his  colleagues,  the  Governor-General  was 
always  in  a  minority.  This  state  of  affairs  resulted  in  constant 
friction  and  some  scandalous  scenes,  which  lasted  for  nearly  two 
years,  until  Colonel  Monson  died  and  Hastings  became  master 
in  his  own  house  by  means  of  his  casting  vote  as  president. 
A  year  later  General  Clavering  passed  away,  and  the  subse- 
quent official  changes  did  not  seriously  limit  the  power  of  the 
Governor-General,  who  was  able  during  the  eight  subsequent 
years  of  his  government  to  give  effect  to  his  far-seeing  policy 
without  much  official  opposition. 

Raja  Nandkumar.  The  most  famous  and  disputed  incident 
of  the  personal  struggle  between  the  Governor-General  and  his 
councillors  is  that  of  the  death  of  Raja  Nandkumar  (Nun- 
comar),  a  clever  and  influential  Brahman,  who  had  long  been 
an  enemy  of  Hastings,  while  intimate  with  his  opponents.  In 
1775  Hastings  instituted  a  charge  of  conspiracy  against  the 
Raja.  While  that  was  pending  a  private  person  accused 
Nandkumar  of  uttering  a  forged  bond.  The  forgery  case, 
which  was  tried  with  exceptional  care  by  the  full  Supreme 
Court  and  a  jury,  resulted  in  the  conviction  and  execution  of 
the  Raja,  in  accordance  with  the  stern  English  law  of  the  time, 
under  which  forgery  was  treated  as  a  capital  crime.  The  re- 
sult of  the  trial  was  so  advantageous  to  Hastings  that  naturally 
he  has  been  suspected  of  influencing  it.  But  he  denied  on  oath 
that  he  had  any  concern  in  the  business,  and  no  particle  of 
evidence  connecting  him  with  it  has  been  discovered.  The 
Nandkumar  affair,  which  occupies  so  much  space  in  the 
biographies  of  Hastings,  was  of  little  importance  as  an  event 
of  Indian  history,  the  course  of  which  was  not  materially 
affected  by  either  the  life  or  the  death  of  the  Brahman. 

13 


266    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Conflict  with  the  Supreme  Court.  The  prolonged  struggle 
between  the  Governor-General  and  his  council  revealed  one 
fault  of  the  Regulating  Act,  in  that  it  allowed  the  responsible 
head  of  the  administration  to  be  overruled  by  his  colleagues. 
The  second  defect  of  the  statute  was  its  failure  to  define  either 
the  powers  of  the  Supreme  Court  or  its  relations  with  the 
Executive.  The  court  asserted  extravagant  claims  to  juris- 
diction, which  if  allowed  would  have  made  the  Government 
powerless,  and  the  unseemly  contest  which  followed  was  not 
stilled  until  Hastings  hit  on  the  device  of  appointing  Sir  Elijah 
Impey  to  be  head  of  the  Company's  courts  as  well  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  arrangement,  although 
disallowed  by  the  Home  Government,  put  an  end  to  the  scandal 
of  open  conflict  between  the  Court  and  the  Executive.  An 
amending  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  1781  duly  defined  the 
duties  of  the  Supreme  Court  as  limited  to  Calcutta  and  also  its 
jurisdiction  over  British  subjects  elsewhere.  The  same  Act 
legalized  the  Company's  courts.  The  modern  High  Court 
possesses  the  powers  of  both  the  Supreme  Court  and  the 
tribunal  of  the  Company. 

The  first  Maratha  war.  The  war  known  as  the  first  Maratha 
war  arose  out  of  a  disputed  succession  to  the  office  of  Peshwa. 
Madho  (Madhava)  Rao,  the  fourth  Peshwa,  died  in  1772,  the 
year  in  which  Hastings  became  Governor  of  Bengal,  and  was 
replaced  by  his  brother  Narayan  Rao,  who,  nine  months  later, 
was  murdered  by  his  uncle  Raghoba  (Raghunath).  The 
succession  was  contested  between  the  murderer  and  the  sup- 
porters of  his  victim's  posthumous  child,  who  set  up  a  regency. 
The  English  authorities  at  Bombay  promised  their  support 
to  Raghoba  at  the  price  of  the  cession  of  Salsette  and  Bassein, 
and  an  agreement  to  that  effect,  the  Treaty  of  Surat  (1775), 
was  concluded  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Governor- 
General  .1  But  he  found  himself  obliged  to  support  the  Bombay 
President  in  the  war  which  ensued.     In  1779  Commissioner 

^  The  Treaty  of  Purandhar,  substituted  for  the  Treaty  of  Surat  by  Hastings 
and  his  colleagues,  never  took  effect,  and  need  not  be  noticed  in  detail. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  267 

Carnac  concluded  with  the  Marathas,  guided  by  Nana  Farnavis, 
an  arrangement  known  as  the  Convention  of  Wargaon,  the  pro- 
visions of  which  were  considered  so  disgraceful  that  Carnac  and 
other  officers  concerned  were  dismissed  the  service.  Hastings 
saved  the  Bombay  settlement  from  destruction  by  the  dispatch 
of  an  expedition  under  Colonel  Goddard,  which  marched  right 
across  India  from  Bengal  to  Surat,  a  remarkable  achievement 
in  those  days.  The  alliance  then  concluded  between  the 
British  Government  and  the  Gaikwar  of  Baroda  has  never 
been  broken.  In  the  following  year  (1780)  the  fortress  of 
Gwalior,  suj^posed  to  be  impregnable,  was  taken  by  Major 
Popham  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man.  This  brilliant  feat 
did  much  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  of  the  '  infamous  '  Con- 
vention of  Wargaon. 

Treaty  of  Salbai.  Towards  the  close  of  1779  the  Nizam 
had  organized  a  coalition  embracing  all  the  Maratha  princes, 
except  the  Gaikwar,  and  including  Haidar  Ali  of  Mysore,  for 
the  purpose  of  destroying  the  growing  British  j)ower.  War 
followed,  in  which  the  principal  Maratha  army  was  defeated. 
The  Raja  of  Nagpur  was  cleverly  bought  off  without  fighting. 
Haidar  Ali,  who  had  attacked  the  Carnatic  fiercely  in  1780, 
was  menaced  by  the  dispatch  of  a  Bengal  force  under  Colonel 
Pearse,  which  marched  by  land  through  seven  hundred  miles 
of  unknown  countrj^  to  the  aid  of  Sir  Eyre  Coote.  That 
exploit  was  second  only  to  Goddard's  wonderful  march  across 
India  to  Surat. 

Ultimatel}^  peace  \^ith  the  Marathas  was  arranged  through 
the  aid  of  Mahacjaji  Sindia,  the  ablest  of  the  Maratha  chiefs, 
who  treated  on  their  behalf  with  full  powers  and  guaranteed 
the  execution  of  the  treaty .^  The  document,  signed  at  Salbai 
in  Sindia 's  territory,  secured  Salsette  for  the  English  at 
Bombay,  provided  Raghoba  with  a  pension,  and  in  most  other 
respects  restored  the  former  state  of  affairs.  The  terms  thus 
stated  may  seem  to  be  of  small  moment,  but  the  Treaty  of 
^  The  correct  spelling  of  the  name  is  Mahadajl  (^If  T^^)  •  The  forms 
Madho  and  Madhava,  given  in  some  books,  are  incorrect. 


268    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Salbai  in  1782  deserves  to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  land- 
marks of  Indian  history,  because  it  secured  peace  with  the 
formidable  Maratha  power  for  twenty  years,  and  plainly 
signified. that  the  East  India  Company  had  already  become 
the  leading  authority  in  the  country. 

Mahadaji  Sindia.  Mahadajl  Sindia,  who  took  such  a  pro- 
minent part  in  bringing  about  the  peace  so  much  needed  by 
Hastings,  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  a  village  headman  named 
Ranoji,  who  had  begun  life  as  slipper-bearer  to  the  Peshwa, 
but  had  risen  in  the  world,  as  often  haj)pened  in  those  stirring 
times.  Mahadaji  had  taken  part  in  the  battle  of  Panlpat  and 
was  one  of  the  few  Maratha  chiefs  who  escaped  with  life  from 
that  field  of  death.  He  succeeded  to  his  father's  jdgirs,  and 
quickly  became  the  most  prominent  of  the  Maratha  chieftains. 
In  those  days  the  glory  of  the  Peshwa  had  become  obscured, 
and  the  real  power  of  the  Maratha  confederacy  was  shared 
mostly  by  four  territorial  princes  :  Sindia  of  Gwalior,  Holkar 
of  Indore,  the  Raja  of  Nagpur  or  Berar,  and  the  Gaikwar  of 
Baroda.  In  1771,  when  Shah  Alam,  the  titular  emperor,  had 
quitted  British  protection  and  returned  to  Delhi,  he  came 
under  the  control  of  Mahadaji  Sindia,  whose  importance 
was  thus  increased.  Mahadaji  was  so  much  impressed  by  the 
military  successes  gained  by  the  officers  under  Hastings  in 
1780  and  1781  that  he  thought  it  safer  to  treat  with  the  British 
than  to  fight  them.  That  was  the  reason  which  induced  him 
to  take  so  much  trouble  in  carrying  through  the  Treaty  of 
Salbai.    He  died  in  February,  1794. 

Second  Mysore  war  ;  defeat  of  Baillie.  We  must  now  turn 
our  attention  to  the  south,  where  the  rapid  growth  of  Haidar 
All's  power  had  become  a  constant  menace.  The  rise  of  the 
Mysore  adventurer  up  to  1772  has  been  narrated  in  brief 
{ante,  p.  246).  When  the  war  with  France  began  in  1778, 
Hastings,  acting  under  orders  from  home,  and  against  the 
advice  of  Sir  Thomas  Rumbold,  the  Governor  of  Madras, 
seized  the  French  settlements,  including  the  little  port  of  Ma  he 
on  the  Malabar  coast,  which  Haidar  Ali  had  used  for  the  entry 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  269 

of  supplies,  and  claimed  as  his.  He,  being  deeply  offended  at 
that  act  and  for  other  reasons,  prepared  a  mighty  force  of 
about  90,000  men,  with  100  guns,  directed  by  Europeans,  to 
drive  out  the  English.  Hastings  was  then  busy  with  the 
Marathas  and  hoped  that  the  threatened  storm  in  the  south 
raiglit  blow  over.  But  it  burst  with  awful  suddenness.  In 
July,  1780,  Haidar  All's  host  swept  down  on  the  Carnatic 
plain,  slaying,  maiming,  burning,  and  ravaging  with  fiendish 
cruelty.  He  overwhelmed  and  destroyed  a  gallant  force  of 
3,720  men  under  Colonel  Baillie  near  Conjeeveram,  and  so 
inflicted  on  the  English  the  greatest  disaster  which  they  had 
yet  suffered  in  India.  Sir  Hector  Munro,  the  victor  at  Buxar 
in  1764  {ante,  p.  253),  who  was  no  longer  as  competent  as  he 
had  been  when  younger,  shut  himself  up  with  the  few  troops 
remaining  in  Madras,  and  did  nothing.  An  urgent  appeal 
for  help  was  sent  to  Calcutta. 

Energy  of  Hastings.  This  calamity  was  a  terrible  addition 
to  the  heavy  load  of  trouble  already  resting  on  the  shoulders 
of  Hastings.  His  spirit  rose  to  the  occasion.  He  super- 
seded the  corrupt  acting  Governor  of  Madras,  persuaded  Sir 
Eyre  Coote  to  resume  command,  sent  every  available  soldier 
and  rupee  from  Bengal,  and  abandoned  all  other  plans  in 
order  to  meet  the  urgent  danger.  He  succeeded,  but  not 
until  nearly  a  year  later. 

Battle  of  Porto  Novo.  The  incompetence  of  the  Madras 
Government  put  difficulties  of  all  sorts  in  the  way  of  Sir  Eyre 
Coote,  who  was  in  bad  health,  but  at  last  he  was  able  to  venture 
on  a  general  engagement.  On  July  1 ,  1781 ,  at  Porto  Novo  on  the 
coast,  he  decisively  defeated  Haidar  Ali,  who  lost  about 
10,000  men,  while  the  Company's  loss  did  not  exceed  306. 
The  brigade  under  Colonel  Pearse  which  Hastings  had  sent 
overland  from  Bengal  joined  Coote,  who  gained  some  further 
minor  successes. 

Effect  of  command  of  the  sea.  Notwithstanding  another 
British  disaster,  the  defeat  of  Colonel  Braithwaite  and  a  force 
of  2,000  men  by  Haidar  All's  son  Tippoo,  Haidar  Ali  began  to 


270    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

feel  that  the  war  was  too  much  for  him.  Shortly  before  his 
death  he  acknowledged  in  remarkable  words  the  effect  of 
England's  command  of  the  sea. 

'  I  have  committed  ',  he  said  '  a  great  error  ;  I  have  pur- 
chased a  draught  of  spirits  at  the  price  of  a  lakh  of  pagodas  ; 
I  shall  pay  dearly  for  my  arrogance  ;  between  the  English 
and  me  there  were  perhaps  mutual  grounds  of  dissatisfaction, 
but  not  sufficient  cause  for  war,  and  I  might  have  made  them 
m}'  friends  in  spite  of  Muhammad  Ali  [Nawab  of  the  Carnatic], 
the  most'  treacherous  of  men.  The  defeat  of  many  Braith- 
waites  and  Baillies  will  not  destroy  them.  I  can  ruin  their 
resources  by  land,  but  I  cannot  dry  up  ,the  sea  ;  and  I  must 
be  the  first  to  weary  of  a  war  in  which  I  can  gain  nothing  by 
fighting.' 

Death  and  character  of  Haidar  Ali.  In  December,  1782, 
Haidar  Ali  died,  at  the  age  of  sixtj^,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
son  Tippoo  (Tlpu),a  man  much  inferior  in  ability.^  Haidar  Ali, 
by  far  the  most  remarkable  man  evolved  from  the  chaos  of  the 
eighteenth  century  in  Southern  India,  possessed  abilities  and 
fertility  of  resource  which  enabled  him  to  overcome  the  caprices 
of  fortune  and  build  up  a  military  state  strong  enough  to 
threaten  the  stability  of  the  growing  British  Empire.  Although 
vmable  to  read  or  write  beyond  signing  his  initial  upside  down, 
he  spoke  five  Indian  languages  fluently,  and  his  conduct  of 
business  was  a  model  of  regularity  and  dispatch. 

He  is  described  as  being  never  for  a  moment  idle  from 
morning  to  night.  He  relied  for  success  on  strict  personal 
supervision  of  every  act  of  government  and  on  a  system  of 
ferocious  tyranny., 

'  By  his  power ',  writes  a  contemporary  historian,  '  mankind 
were  held  in  fear  and  trembling  ;  and  from  his  severity  God's 
creatures,  day  and  night,  were  thrown  into  apprehension  and 
terror.  .  .  .  No  person  of  respectability  ever  left  his  house  with 
the  expectation  of  returning  safe  to  it.' 

The  English  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  the  misfortune  to 

*  Haidar  Ali  was  bom  in  1722,  not  1702,  and  when  he  died,  was  not  '  an 
old  man  of  eighty  ',  as  alleged  in  several  books. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  271 

be  taken  prisoners  suffered  agonies  from  his  unfeeling  cruelt3^ 
He  had  no  religion,  no  morals,  no  compassion. 

The  subsequent  history  of  Mysore  will  be  dealt  with  in  con- 
nexion with  the  administrations  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and  Lord 
Wellesley. 

Failure  of  promised  French  help.  Haidar  Ali  had  always 
relied  much  on  hopes  of  effective  French  support,  and  had 
always  been  disappointed.  The  arrival  on  the  coast  in  1782 
of  a  French  fleet  under  Admiral  de  Suffren  revived  his  hopes, 
but  the  actions  fought  by  that  officer  with  Admiral  Hughes 
proved  indecisive,  and  the  Mysore  government  did  not  benefit. 
Still,  the  British  affairs  seemed  to  be  in  a  very  gloomy 
position  in  1782,  a  year  of  great  events.^  Good  fortune,  or  an 
overruling  Providence,  dispelled  the  clouds.  A  victory  gained 
by  Rodney  in  the  West  Lidies  restored  the  British  command 
of  the  sea,  which  had  been  endangered  and  for  a  short  time 
lost.  In  1783  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  ended  the  war.  France 
never  again  attempted  to  attack  the  Indian  coast. 

Treaty  of  Mangalore.  Tippoo,  who  was  not  a  party  to  the 
Treaty  of  Versailles,  continued  the  war  in  the  south  and  cap- 
tured Mangalore,  where  Colonel  Campbell  had  made  a  gallant 
defence  no  less  notable  than  the  more  famous  defence  of 
Arcot  by  Clive.  The  war  with  Tippoo  was  ended  in  1784  by 
the  Treat j^  of  Mangalore,  arranged  by  the  Government  of 
Madras,  whose  officers  were  subjected  to  the  most  galling 
insults.  The  basis  was  the  mutual  restitution  of  conquests  and 
the  exchange  of  prisoners.  The  prisoners  in  Mysore  had  been 
treated  with  the  utmost  brutality.  The  contemporary  accounts 
of  their  sufferings  are  painful  reading.  Hastings  loathed 
the  treaty  and  the  misconduct  of  the  Madras  Government, 
but  at  the  time  was  restrained  from  interference  by  orders 
from  England  and  a  certain  amount  of  opposition  in  his  own 

^  Other  events  in  that  year  were  the  resignation  of  Lord  North,  who  had 
been  Prime  Minister  of  England  from  1770  ;  the  repulse  of  the  main  attack 
by  the  French  and  Spaniards  on  Gibraltar;  and  the  establishment  of 
*  Grattan's  Parliament '  in  Ireland. 


272    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Council.  The  peace  concluded  at  Mangalore  lasted  for  six 
years. 

Two  disputable  incidents.  From  1778  to  1782  the  burden 
cast  upon  Hastings  was  almost  more  than  a  man  could  bear. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  some  of  his  actions  in  that 
critical  time,  when  submitted  to  close  scrutiny,  should  be  open 
to  hostile  criticism.  The  critics  forget  that  his  conduct  should 
be  judged  as  that  of  a  sovereign  beset  by  unscrupulous  enemies, 
and  not  as  that  of  a  private  person  or  subordinate  official.  In 
those  days  the  Governor-General  was  obliged  to  bear  his  own 
burdens  and  to  act  on  his  own  responsibility.  Modern 
financial  facilities  were  not  available,  and  when  war  was  on, 
a  supply  of  ready  cash  was  indispensable.  That  urgent  need 
of  cash  for  public  purposes,  not  for  private  gain,  gave  rise  to 
the  two  incidents — the  affair  of  Raja  Chait  Singh  and  the 
transactions  with  the  Begams  of  Oudh — which  furnished 
much  material  to  the  accusers  of  Hastings,  and  must  be 
regarded  as  blots  on  his  reputation. 

The  affair  of  Raja  Chait  Singh.  In  1775  the  fief  of  Raja 
Chait  Singh  of  Benares,  illegitimate  son  of  an  upstart  chief, 
had  been  transferred  by  his  suzerain,  the  Nawab-Vazir  of 
Oudh,  to  the  Company  and  the  Raja  thus  became  bound  to 
render  customary  service  to  his  new  lords  When  called  upon 
in  1778  to  pay  a  contribution  of  five  lakhs  for  military  purposes 
he  complied  grudgingly.  The  similar  demands  made  in  the 
next  two  years  were  partially  evaded,  and  in  1781  Hastings, 
being  pressed  for  money,  determined  to  make  an  example  of 
the  Raja,  who  had  given  him  offence  in  other  ways.  A  fine 
of  forty  or  fifty  lakhs,  about  half  a  million  sterling,  was  decided 
on,  and  Hastings  went  to  Benares,  intending  to  impose  and 
levy  it.  Although  escorted  by  an  inadequate  force,  he  rashly 
and  without  sufficient  reason  arrested  Chait  Singh,  whose 
people  rose,  slew  the  Governor-General's  sepoys,  and  forced 
Hastings  to  flee  for  his  life  to  Chunar.  The  Raja  raised  an 
army  of  40,000  men,  but  Hastings  never  lost  his  head,  and 
quickly  made  arrangements  which  resulted  in  the  total  defeat 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  273 

of  the  enemy.  The  main  purpose  of  the  dangerous  adventure, 
however,  failed,  because  the  victorious  army  appropriated  as 
prize-money  the  forty  lakhs  of  rupees  taken  in  the  Raja's 
stronghold.  The  Company  gained  no  direct  advantage  except 
a  nearly  doubled  assessment  on  the  estates  of  Chait  Singh, 
which  were  made  over  to  his  nephew  and  are  still  held  by 
a  descendant,  His  Highness  the  Maharaja  of  Benares,  a  much 
respected  and  loyal  prince.  It  is  impossible  either  to  deny 
a  certain  amount  of  har.shness  in  the  proceedings  of  Hastings 
against  Chait  Singh,  or  to  acquit  him  of  rashness  in  the 
execution  of  his  plans. 

The  affair  of  the  Begams  of  Oudh,  1782.  The  second 
incident  arose  out  of  the  failure  to  secure  Chait  Singh's  cash. 
At  that  time  the  Nawab-Vazir  of  Oudh,  Asaf-ud-daula,  was 
deeply  in  debt  to  the  British  Government  for  the  pay  of  the 
auxiliary  troops  supplied  to  him,  and  was  unable  to  raise  the 
money  required,  unless  he  could  lay  hands  on  the  treasures 
held  adversely  to  him  by  his  mother  and  grandmother,  known 
as  the  Begams  of  Oudh.  Those  treasures  undoubtedly  should 
have  been  treated  as  State  property,  but  Hastings's  hostile 
Councillors  had  guaranteed  them  to  the  Begams  as  personal 
belongings,  and  had  rejected  the  just  claims  of  the  Nawab- 
Vazir.  The  Begams  having  actively  supported  the  cause  of 
Chait  Singh,  Hastings  felt  justified  in  revoking  the  guarantee 
given  by  the  Council  improperly  and  against  his  opinion. 
Troops  were  sent  to  Fj^zabad,  where  the  ladies  resided,  the 
palace  eunuchs  were  thrown  into  chains  and  half-starved, 
and  seventy-six  lakhs  of  rupees  were  extracted.  At  the 
trial  of  Hastings  in  England  these  censurable  facts  were 
enormously  exaggerated  by  the  rhetoric  of  his  accusers,  made 
familiar  to  all  readers  in  Macaulay's  brilliant  but  untrustworthy 
essay.  The  seventy-six  lakhs  did  not  nearly  exhaust  the 
accumulations  of  the  Begams,  the  3^ounger  of  whom  was  '  alive 
and  hearty  and  very  rich  '  twenty-one  years  later,  when  one 
of  the  roughly  treated  eunuchs  also  was  still  living,  '  well,  fat, 
and  enormoush^  rich.'     Sir  Alfred  Lyall's  judgement  may  be 


274     THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

accepted,  that '  the  employment  of  personal  severities,  under  the 
superintendence  of  British  officers,  in  order  to  extract  money 
from  women  and  eunuchs,  is  an  ignoble  kind  of  undertaking' ; 
but  his  award  ©f  '  serious  blame  '  to  Hastings  is  partly  met  by 
the  remark  that  Hastings  did  not  directly  order  the  severities. 

Close  of  the  career  of  Hastings.  The  conclusion  of  the 
treaties  of  Versailles  and  Mangalore  left  Hastings  free  to 
return  to  England,  after  thirteen  years  of  rule,  as  Governor  of 
Bengal  for  two  years  and  a  half,  and  as  Governor-General  for 
the  rest  of  the  time.  His  activity  was  so  incessant  and  his 
services  to  the  country  so  many  that  it  is  impossible  to  present 
a  really  fair  picture  of  his  work  in  small  compass.  But  what 
has  been  said  may  suffice  to  satisfy  the  junior  student  that 
Warren  Hastings  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  men  and  a  true 
friend  of  India,  notwithstanding  his  rare  errors. 

Impeachment  and  death  of  Hastings.  His  proceedings,  some 
of  which  undoubtedly  were  open  to  adverse  criticism,  had 
raised  up  njany  enemies.  The  opposition  to  his  policy,  stimu- 
lated by  motives  of  English  party  politics,  resulted  in  the 
impeachment  of  the  ex-Governor-General  by  the  House  of 
Commons  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Lords. ^  The  court  sitting 
only  for  a  few  days  in  each  year,  the  trial  dragged  on  for  seven 
years.  At  last,  in  April  1795,  Hastings  was  acquitted  on  all 
the  charges  which  had  been  pressed.  The  Directors  having 
made  the  necessary  provision  for  his  expenses  and  support,  he 
lived  at  Daylesford  as  a  benevolent  country  gentleman  until 
1818,  when  he  died  in  his  eighty-sixth  year. 

Character  of  Warren  Hastings.  The  character  of  Warren 
Hastings  has  given  rise  to  so  much  bitter  controversy  that  even 
now  it  is  difficult  to  pass  a  judgement  likely  to  command 
universal  assent.  Perhaps  a  general  agreement  may  be  assumed 
that  his  acquittal  was  right,  and  that  his  errors  were  not  of  the 
kind  deserving  of  judicial  penalties.     Undoubtedly  he  was 

^  la  an  impeachment  the  House  of  Commons  orders  and  directs  the 
prosecution,  while  the  House  of  Lords  sits  as  a  court  and  judges  the  case. 
The  process  is  now  obsolete.     The  last  case  was  that  of  Lord  Melville  in  1806. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  275 

a  great  Englishman,  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country,  and 
not  unmindful  of  his  duty  to  the  land  in  which  he  did  so  much 
to  make  his  nation  supreme.  In  labour  he  was  unwearied,  in 
resolve  inflexible,  in  adversity  patient,  in  danger  imperturbable, 
and  in  policy  far-seeing.  If  he  displayed  at  times  somewhat 
of  arrogance,  or  intolerance  of  opposition^  his  consciousness  of 
superior  knowledge  and  capacity  must  be  his  excuse.  In  a 
greedy  age  and  surrounded  by  men  whose  god  was  money,  he 
was  distinguished  by  clean  hands  which  scorned  to  grasp 
polluted  riches.  In  private  life  he  was  a  well-bred  gentleman, 
of  amiable  manners,  refined  taste,  and  generous  beyond  the 
bounds  of  prudence. 

British  India  in  1785.  Annexation  was  not  in  favour  with 
Hastings,  whose  acquisitions  were  limited  to  the  Ghazlpur  and 
Benares  districts  on  the  Ganges,  and  the  small  islands  of 
Salsette  and  Elephanta,  close  to  Bombay.  When  he  went  home, 
British  India  comprised  Bengal,  Bihar,  a  small  area  of  Orissa, 
Ghazipur,  Benares,  the  '  Northern  Circars  '  (except.  Guntur),^ 
Madras,  and  a  limited  area  adjoining,  with  Fort  St,  David  and 
some  other  little  settlements  on  the  east,  besides  Bombay, 
Surat,  and  a  few  other  places  on  the  west  coast.  Orissa 
(excluding  Midnapur  and  part  of  Hugli)  although  included  in 
the  imperial  grant  of  the  Dlwani,  was  held  bj^  the  Marathas  of 
Nagpur,  and  did  not  come  into  the  Comjoany's  effective  posses- 
sion until  1803. 

CHAPTER  XXV 

Mr.  Macpherson  ;    Lord  Cornwallis  ;    Pitt's  India  Act  ;  Permanent  Settle- 
ment and  reforms  ;    the  third  Mysore  war  ;    Sir  John  Shore. 

Mr,  Macpherson  ;  Lord  Cornwallis.  Pending  the  arrival  of 
a  permanent  successor,  Warren  Hastings  made  over  charge 
to  Mr.  Macpherson  (afterwards  Sir  John),  the  senior  member  of 
Council,  as  acting  Governor  General.  The  Home  Government 
deeming  it  necessary  to  appoint  a  statesman  of  reputation^ 
unconnected  with  the  East  India  Company,  to  take  charge  of 
^  Ceded  by  the  Nizam  to  Lord  Cornwallis. 


276    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

the  now  extensive  British  dominions  in  India,  selected  Earl 
Cornwallis.  A  special  Act  was  passed  in  1786  conferring  ujion 
the  Governor-General  that  power  of  overruling  his  Council 
which  Hastings  had  so  much  missed. 

Pitt's  India  Act,  1784.  The  system  of  the  Home  Govern- 
ment was  changed  by  Mr.  Pitt's  India  Act  of  1784,  which 
])laced  Indian  affairs  in  the  hands  of  a  secret  committee  con- 
sisting of  the  chairman,  vice-chairman,  and  senior  member  of 
the  Court  of  Directors,  acting  under  the  supervision  of  a  board 
of  six  commissioners,  commonly  called  the  Board  of  Control, 
appointed  by  the  Crown.  The  Directors  were  allowed  to 
retain  the  patronage,  but  the  real  power  now  passed  to  the 
King's  ministers,  of  whom  the  President  of  the  Board  was  one. 
Mr.  Dundas  was  appointed  the  first  salaried  President,  and 
practically  became  the  Minister  for  Indian  Affairs.  After 
a  short  time  the  Board  never  met,  the  President  taking  action 
in  its  name.  That  system  lasted  without  substantial  change 
until  1858,  when  the  Crown  assumed  the  direct  administration, 
and  a  Secretary  of  State  for  India  was  substituted  for  the 
President  of  the  Board  of  Control. 

Administrative  reforms  of  Lord  Cornwallis.  Lord  Cornwallis, 
when  he  assumed  charge  at  Calcutta  in  September,  1786,  was 
vested  with  full  authority  as  both  Governor-General  and 
Commander-in-Chief  to  control  all  civil  and  military  affairs  of 
the  British  settlements  in  India,  and,  if  necessary,  to  overrule 
opjDosition  by  his  colleagues.  He  also  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  the  Ministry  at  home,  and  thus  started  his  Avork  with  ad- 
vantages never  possessed  by  Hastings.  The  first  three  years 
of  his  administration  were  devoted  to  internal  reforms,  and 
especially  tothe  organization  of  a  regular  Civil  Service  properly 
paid  by  fixed  salaries,  and  not  by  fluctuating  commissions  or 
irregular  trading  profits.  The  beginnings  of  this  necessary  re- 
form were  the  work  of  Clive  and  Hastings,  but  neither  was  able 
to  complete  the  change,  which  was  effected  by  Lord  Cornwallis 
with  comparative  ease,  o^dng  to  his  more  favourable  position. 

The  Permanent  Settlement.    The  most  famous  measure  of 


Lord  Cornwallis 


218     THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Lord  Cornwallis  is  the  Permanent  Settlement  of  Bengal,  Bihar, 
and  Orissa,  concluded  in  1793,  when  the  then  existing  assess- 
ment of  land  revenue,  which  had  been  made  for  ten  years,  was 
■declared  to  be  perpetual.  Two  years  later  the  same  supposed 
boon  was  conferred  upon  the  province  of  Benares.^  The  policy 
of  the  Permanent  Settlement,  carried  out  by  Lord  Ccfrnwallis 
against  the  advice,  but  with  the  help,  of  his  most  esteemed 
councillor,  Sir  John  Shore  (Lord  Teignmouth),  and  with  the 
full  approval  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  Board  of  Control,  is  un- 
doubtedly open  to  the  criticism  that  it  was  adopted  with  undue 
haste,  and  that  it  has  imposed  an  unequal  burden  on  the  less 
favoured  parts  of  the  empire.  No  attempt  was  made  to  follow 
the  example  of  Todar  Mall  by  surveying  the  lands  or  calculating 
their  value.  The  assessment  was  made  roughly  on  the  basis 
of  accounts  of  previous  collections,  and  was  necessarily  done  in^ 
■a  haphazard  fashion.  Probably  most  competent  judges,  not 
"being  personally  interested,  are  of  opinion  both  that  the 
measure  was  a  mistake  and  that  now  it  is  too  late  to  rectify 
the  error.  The  author  of  the  Permanent  Settlement  fancied 
that  he  would  create  a  race  of  ideal  landlords,  eager  to  improve 
their  estates,  and  was  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  facts 
of  Indian  life  to  know  the  baselessness  of  such  a  fancy.  He 
also  designed  to  protect  the  subordinate  tenure -holders  and 
cultivating  tenants  against  the  oppression  of  their  lords,  and, 
so  far  as  words  went,  the  regulations  gave  such  protection. 
But,  in  practice,  tenants  with  grievances  had  little  chance  of 
redress  until  long  afterwards,  when  Act  x  of  1859  was  passed, 
and  provided  more  or  less  effective  remedies.  The  difficulty  of 
reconciling  the  conflicting  interests  of  landlords  and  tenants  in 
Bengal  and  elsewhere  still  continues  acute  in  spite  of  much 
modern  legislation.  Of  course,  the  provinces  permanently 
settled  have  received  many  obvious  advantages  from  the  hasty 
benevolence  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  but  those  benefits  have  been 
gained  at  the  expense  of  other  provinces  not  less  meritorious. 

'  Now  included  in  the  United  Provinces  of  Agra  and  Oudh.    '  Orissa'  meant 
Midnapur  and  parf  of  Hugll. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  279 

The  Cornwallis  Code.  Lord  Cornwallis  also  carried  out 
judicial  reforms,  supplementing  the  work  begun  by  Hastings. 
The  new  courts  were  provided  with  a  bulky  code,  prepared  by 
Mr.  George  Barlow,  which  is  a  monument  of  good  intentions. 
But  it  was  far  too  elaborate,  being  loaded  with  formalities  and 
technical  rules  ill  suited  to  a  people  only  just  delivered  from 
the  rude  simplicity  of  Mughal  jurisprudence  and  procedure. 
The  courts  of  appeal  established  by  Lord  Cornwallis  were 
abolished  long  ago,  and  all  his  detailed  judicial  arrangements 
have  been  modified  by  later  legislation,  but  the  existing  system 
is  built  on  his  foundations.  The  criminal  courts  under  his  regu- 
lations were  governed  by  the  Muhammadan  law,  shorn  of  some 
of  its  more  barbarous  peculiarities ;  mutilation,  for  instance, 
being  forbidden.  The  English  civil  courts  were  assisted  by 
a  Hindu  pundit  as  adviser  on  Hindu,  and  a  Musalman  Kazi  or 
Maulavi  as  adviser  on  Muhammadan  law.  The  administrative 
arrangements  of  Lord  Cornwallis  were  marred  by  his  excessive 
distrust  of  Lidian  agency.  The  natives  of  the  country  were  ex- 
cluded from  office  except  of  the  most  petty  kind,  and  a  burden 
greater  than  it  could  bear  was  thrown  on  the  covenanted  Civil 
Service,  which  at  that  time  comprised  only  about  three  hundred 
members  and  had  to  supply  all  the  executive  and  judicial 
appointments  of  any  importance. 

The  third  Mysore  war.  At  the  time  of  passing  the  India 
Act  Parliament  had  declared  that  '  to  pursue  schemes  of  con- 
quest and  acquisition  of  territory  was  contrary  to  the  wish, 
the  honour,  and  the  policy  of  the  British  nation  '.  The 
Oovernor-General  was  also  forbidden,  in  the  absence  of  express 
sanction  from  home,  to  enter  upon  or  make  any  treaty  with 
any  of  the  Indian  princes,  except  in  defence  of  the  British 
dominions  or  the  territory  of  an  ally.  Such  a  strict  rule, 
considering  the  length  of  the  voyage  between  England  and 
India  in  those  days,  was  absurd  and  could  not  possibly  be 
obeyed.  Absolute  necessity  compelled  every  Governor^ 
Oeneral  to  either  evade  or  violate  it.  Instructions  given  by 
the  Directors  in  accordance  with  the  Act  of  Parliament  were 


280     THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

honestly  accepted  at  first  by  Lord  Cornwallis,  but  long  before 
his  rule  ended  he  had  to  bow  to  necessity  and  lead  in  person  a 
victorious  army  to  extensive  conquests.  In  1790,  only  thirty- 
three  years  after  the  battle  of  Plassey,  an  attack  by  Tippoo,  the 
ruler  of  Mysore,  on  distant  Travancore,  an  ally  of  the  British 
Government,  compelled  the  Governor-General  to  declare  war. 
An  alliance  with  the  Nizam  and  thePeshwa  was  arranged  on  the 
condition  that  all  conquests  should  be  divided  equally  among 
the  three  allied  powers.  The  earlier  operations  of  the  war  were 
unsatisfactory  owing  to  the  failure  of  the  Madras  authorities 
to  provide  supplies,  and  Lord  Cornwallis  found  himself  con- 
strained to  use  his  special  powers  and  take  command  himself. 
In  the  third  season's  operations  the  British  force,  assisted  by 
a  contingent  from  Bombay,  cajitured  the  outworks  of  Seringa - 
patam,  Tippoo's  capital  (1792).  The  sultan  was  forced  to 
accept  the  hard  terms  dictated  by  the  victor,  which  exacted 
the  cession  of  half  his  dominions,  the  payment  of  three  hundred 
lakhs  (thirty  millions)  of  rupees,  and  the  delivery  of  two  of  his 
sons  as  hostages.  The  districts  thus  acquired  by  the  Company, 
namely,  Malabar,  Coorg,  and  parts  of  Salem  and  Madura, 
forming  the  nucleus  of  the  existing  Presidency  of  Madras, 
yielded  a  revenue  of  forty  lakhs  of  rupees,  or  four  millions 
sterling.  The  Home  Government  confirmed  the  proceedings 
of  the  Governor-General,  and  the  King  raised  Lord  Cornwallis 
to  the  rank  of  marquess. 

Various  events  ;  death  of  Mahadaji  Sindia.  In  1793  the 
long  war  between  France  and  England,  caused  by  the  French 
Revolution,  began.  In  India  the  immediate  result  was  the 
capture  without  difficulty  of  Pondicherry  and  the  other  French 
settlements.  In  the  same  year  the  charter  of  the  East  India 
Company  was  renewed  for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  the  Com- 
pany's monopoly  of  trade  being  confirmed,  with  a  small  excep- 
tion. While  Lord  Cornwallis,  with  the  nominal  help  of  the 
Peshwa,  was  crushing  Tippoo,  the  Maratha  chiefs  in  Northern 
India  were  fighting  among  themselves.  Mahadaji  Sindia  in 
those  days  was  the  most  powerful  prince  in  the  country  {ante, 
p.  268),  having  made  himself  irresistible  by  means  of  an  army 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  281 

organized  by  the  Savoyard  de  Boigne,  and  other  foreign 
officers.  He  inflicted  a  signal  defeat  on  his  rival  Holkar,  who 
also  had  utilized  the  services  of  European  adventurers.  In 
February,  1794,  Mahadaji  Sindia  died  suddenly,  bequeathing  to 
his  grand-nephew  Daulat  Rao,  the  dominant  position  in  a  largo 
part  of  Malwa  and  the  Deccan,  as  well  as  in  Hindustan,  from 
the  Sutlaj  to  Allahabad.  In  October,  1793,  Lord  Cornwallis 
quitted  India,  making  over  charge  to  his  trusted  colleague 
Sir  John  Shore,  and  leaving  behind  him  a  high  reputation 
for  industry,  dignit}^  honour,  and  integrity. 

Administration  of  Sir  John  Shore  ;  Sikhs  and  Afghans. 
Sir  John  Shore,  a  man  of  peace, failed  to  support  the  Nizam, and 
allowed  that  prince  to  be  defeated  decisively  by  the  Marathas 
under  the  direction  of  Nana  Farnavis,  an  able  minister,  at  the 
battle  known  by  the  name  of  Kardia  in  1795.^  This  weak 
policy  of  non-intervention  dangerously  enhanced  the  Maratha 
power,  and,  of  course,  ensured  the  hostility  of  the  Nizam.  It 
also  stimulated  the  ambition  of  Tippoo,  who  sent  embassies  to 
the  French,  Afghans,  and  other  powers,  in  the  hope  of  forming 
a  combination  strong  enough  to  expel  the  English  from  India. 
Shah  Zaman,  the  ruler  of  Afghanistan,  actually  entered  the " 
Panjab  in  1796  and  occupied  Lahore,  but  luckily  was  com- 
pelled to  retire  quickly  on  account  of  a  Persian  attack  on  his 
western  provinces.  Ordinarily  during  this  period  the  hostility 
between  the  Sikhs  and  the  Afghans  protected  India  from 
invasion  through  the  north-western  passes.  Sir  Alfred  Lyall 
has  pointed  out  that  '  the  effect  was  "to  maintain  among  the 
fighting  powers  in  Northern  India  an  equilibrium  that  was 
of  signal  advantage  to  the  English  by  preserving  their  north- 
Avest  frontier  unmolested  during  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  a  critical  period  when  they  were  fully 
occupied  by  Mj^sore  and  the  western  Marathas  '. 

^  Farnavis  is  a  coiTuption  of  the  Persian  fard-nams,  and  meant  '  finance 
minister  '  in  the  Maratha  system  of  government.  All  the  histories  give  the 
name  of  the  battle-field  as  Kardia,  but  it  is  Kharda,  now  in  the  Ahmadnagar 
District,  Bombay. 


282    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

Lord  Wellesley :    fourth  Mysore  war ;    second  Maratha  war ;    subsidiary 

alliances. 

Lord  Wellesley  assumes  charge,  1798.  In  May,  1798,  Sir 
John  Shore,  who  had  been  created  an  Irish  peer  as  Lord  Teign- 
moTith,  made  way  for  a  man  of  a  different  type,  Richard,  Earl 
of  Mornington  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  and  Baron  Wellesley 
in  that  of  Great  Britain,  who  had  been  for  four  years  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Control.  Lord  Vv'ellesley,  when  he  assumed 
charge,  was  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  in  the  full  vigour  of  his 
powers,  and  thoroughly  well  informed  on  Indian  affairs  as  seen 
by  the  Home  Government.  His  younger  brother,  Arthur, 
afterwards  the  famous  Duke  of  Wellington,  already  was  serving 
at  Madras  in  the  army.  The  rule  of  Lord  Wellesley,  which 
lasted  for  a  little  more  than  seven  years,  until  July,  1805,  has 
been  pronounced  to  have  been  '  the  most  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  the  Company  ',  and  good  reasons  may  be  alleged  in 
support  of  that  opinion. 

Preparations  for  war  with  Mysore.  Immediately  after  his 
arrival  the  news  of  Tippoo's  intrigues  with  the  revolutionary 
government  of  France  determined  him  to  crush  the  power  of 
Mysore  and  to  finish  the  work  of  Lord  Cornwallis.  The 
Governor-General's  plans  from  the  first  were  definite,  com- 
prising a  march  on  the  capital  of  Mysore,  the  seizure  of  the 
sultan's  conquests  in  Malabar,  the  appointment  of  a  British 
Resident  at  his  court,  the  expulsion  of  all  Frenchmen  from  his 
service,  and  the  compulsion  on  him  to  defray  the  whole  expense 
of  the  war.  As  a  preliminary  the  Nizam,  then  much  weakened 
by  the  Maratha  victory  at  Kardla  (properly  Kharda), 
was  induced  to  accept  a  treaty  which  imposed  on  him  the 
support  of  a  British  sepoy  force  of  six  thousand  men,  and 
required  the  dismissal  of  all  the  French  officers  in  his  employ, 
The  Nizam  took  some  part  in  the  campaign,  and  was  hand- 
somely rewarded. 


THE  MARQUESS  AVELLESLEY 


284    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Fourth  and  last  Mysore  war,  1799  ;  restoration  of  Hindu 
dynasty.  The  war  when  it  came  was  short  and  sharp.  General 
Harris  took  command  on  February  3,  1799,  and  on  the  5th  of 
the  following  month  his  troops  entered  Mysore.  On  the  4th  of 
May  Tippoo  lay  dead  inside  the  breach  in  the  walls  of  Serin- 
gapatam,  which  had  been  stormed  by  General  Baird  and  his 
men  in  seven  minutes.  Thus  was  fulfilled  the  saying  that 
Haidar  Ali  was  born  to  win,  and  Tippoo  to  lose,  a  kingdom. 
This  one  exploit  practically  ended  the  war,  which  had  carried 
the  Governor-General  farther  than  he  had  anticipated.  He 
had  planned  to  bridle  the  power  of  Mysore,  and  found  that  he 
had  utterly  destroyed  it.  The  sultan's  territory  was  divided. 
The  Company  took  Kanara,  the  entire  sea-coast,  and  other 
districts  which  gave  them  an  uninterrupted  dominion  from  sea 
to  sea.  The  Nizam  received  a  considerable  amount  of  lands 
to  the  north,  while  the  Marathas  were  offered,  on  conditions 
which  they  declined,  certain  smaller  areas  adjoining  their 
territories.  On  their  refusal,  those  lands  were  divided  between 
the  Nizam  and  the  British. ^  The  rest  of  the  kingdom  was 
assigned  to  a  youthful  representative  of  the  old  dynasty  of 
Hindu  Rajas,  dispossessed  by  Haidar  Ali.  The  new  State 
thus  constituted  was  placed  under  the  control  of  a  Resident, 
The  3^oung  chief,  Krishna  Raja  Wodeyar,  did  well  at  first,  but 
lapsed  into  evil  ways,  and  in  1831  the  Government  of  India 
was  obliged  to  deprive  him  of  all  authority,  and  to  confide  the 
administration  directly  to  British  officers. 

Rendition  of  Mysore,  1881.  That  arrangement,  with  various 
changes  of  form,  lasted  until  1881,  .when  Lord  Ripon  felt 
justified  in  again  making  over  the  State  to  a  native  govern- 
ment. This  event,  knoAvn  as  the  Rendition  of  Mysore,  took 
place  on  the  25th  of  March,  1881,  when  Maharaja  Chama 
Rajendra  Wodeyar,  adopted  son  of  &"ishna  Raja,  was  installed 
A^nth  befitting  ceremon}',  and  the  disinterested  good  faith  of 
the  British  Government  was  triumphantly  vindicated.     The 

'  The  territories  acquired  by  the  Nizam  in  1792  and  1799  were  given  up 
to  the  Company  in  1800  to  pay  for  the  support  of  a  subsidiary  force. 


286    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

subsequent  excellent  administration  of  the  state  has  justified 
the  confidence  and  generosity  exhibited  by  Lord  Ripon  and 
the  Home  Government. 

Significance  of  the  destruction  of  Tippoo's  power.  The 
splendid  success  of  the  Mysore  war  roused  enthusiasm  in  all 
parts  of  British  India,  and  the  news  was  received  in  England 
with  universal  applause.  The  .  Governor-General  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  marquess  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland,  and 
endowed  by  the  Directors  of  the  Company  with  an  annuity  of 
£5,000  for  twenty  years.  The  destruction  of  Tippoo's  power 
was  rightly  recognized  as  being  a  serious  blow  to  the  schemes 
of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Avhose  dream  of  an  Eastern  empire 
had  been  finally  dissipated  in  August  of  the  preceding  year 
(1798)  by  Nelson's  naval  victory  at  the  battle  of  the  Nile. 

Wellesley's  policy  ;  subsidiary  alliances.  The  Mysore  war 
finally  pacified  the  south.  The  north  and  west  continued 
to  be  unquiet  in  consequence  of  the  domination  of  the  restless 
Maratha  chiefs.  Lord  Wellesley  aimed  avowedly  at  the  estab- 
lishment of  British  supremacy  in  the  Avhole  of  India,  and  so 
necessarily  came  into  conflict  with  the  Maratha  power.  He 
sought  to  gain  his  end  by  a  system  of  subsidiary  alliances, 
involving  the  subordination  of  the  Indian  princes  to  the  British 
Government  in  all  matters  of  external  policy,  the  dismissal  of 
officers  belonging  to  other  European  nations,  and  the  accep- 
tance of  the  services  of  a  contingent  of  troops  under  the  orders 
of  the  Government  of  India,  and  usually  paid  by  an  assign- 
ment of  territory. 

Annexation  of  the  Carnatic.  Muhammad  Ali,  the  old  Nawab 
of  the  Carnatic,  died  in  1795.  Six  years  later  the  Governor- 
General  very  properly  annexed  his  territory  and  so  got  rid  of 
the  '  double  government '  which  had  lasted  so  long  in  Southern 
India  and  had  caused  untold  misery  to  the  people,  as  well 
as  grave  corruption  izi  high  places.  Muhammad  Ali  was  a 
thoroughly  worthless  person  throughout  his  long  life. 

Treaty  of  Bassein,  1802.  The  wars  between  the  rival 
Maratha  chiefs  gave  the  opportunity  and  created  the  necessity 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  287 

for  British  intervention.  In  1795  Ahalj'a  Bai,  the  saintly 
Maratha  lady  who  had  guided  the  affairs  of  Holkar's  dominions 
with  wisdom  and  justice  for  nearly  thirty  years,  died,  and  in 
the  scramble  for  the  succession  which  followed,  Jaswant  Rao 
Holkar,  a  wild  and  unscrupulous  leader  of  banditti,  made 
himself  master  of  the  state.  His  defeat  of  the  Peshwa,  Bajl 
Rao,  at  Poona  in  1802  constrained  that  prince  to  seek  British 
protection,  and  to  accept  from  Lord  Wellesley  a  treaty  of 
subsidiary  alliance  in  the  usual  form. '  The  document  record- 
ing the  agreement  is  known  as  the  Treaty  of  Bassein,  and 
marks  the  extinction  of  the  independent  power  of  the  Peshwas. 
Daulat  Rao  Sindia,  who  had  succeeded  the  great  Mahadaji  in 
1794,  and  the  Bhonsla  of  Xagpur,  also  known  as  the  Raja  of 
Berar,  at  once  prepared  for  war  with  the  Company. 

Second  Maratha  war  ;  Assaye,  Laswari,  &c.  General  Arthur 
Wellesle}^  defeated  the  army  of  Sindia,  at  least  seven  times 
more  numerous  than  his  owti,  at  Assaye  near  Aurangabad,  on 
September  23,  1803.  A  little  later  the  Bhonsla  was  defeated 
even  more  decisively  at  Argaon  in  Berar.  The  capture  of  the 
ancient  BahmanI  fortress  of  Gawilgarh,  also  in  Berar,  followed, 
and  the  Bhonsla  was  brought  to  his  knees.  By  the  Treaty  of 
Deogaon  he  accepted  a  subsidiary  alliance,  and  gave  up  the 
province  of  Cuttack  (Katak)  in  Orissa.  The  war  in  Hindustan 
was  in  the  competent  hands  of  General  Lake,  who  captured 
Aligarh,  defeated  the  army  under  the  command  of  Monsieur 
Perron,  the  successor  of  de  Boigne  {ante,  p.  281),  and  entered 
Delhi  in  September,  1803.  In  the  following  month  the  re- 
maining troops  of  Sindia  were  defeated  at  Laswari  in  the  Alwar 
state  with  great  slaughter.  By  the  Treaty  of  Surji  Arjangaon, 
concluded  at  the  end  of  the  year,  that  prince  surrendered  all 
the  territory  m  the  Doab  between  the  Ganges  and  Jumna, 
recognized  the  rights  of  several  Rajpiit  chiefs,  and  submitted 
to  a  subsidiary  alliance.  Holkar  remained  to  be  subdued,  and 
an  expedition  was  sent  against  him,  but  he  gained  an  unex- 
pected advantage  by  the  folly  of  Colonel  Monson,  a  relative 
of  his  namesake,  Hastings's  opponent,  who  '  advanced  without 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  28S 

reason,  and  retreated  in  the  same  manner  ',  in  south-eastern 
Rajputana  (1804),  losing  thereby  nearly  the  whole  of  his 
force.  Holkar  next  suffered  a  severe  defeat  at  Dig  (Deeg), 
but  was  not  yet  wholly  subjugated.  General  Lake,  who  did 
not  well  understand  siege  operations,  was  repulsed  in  repeated 
attempts  to  storm  the  Jat  fort  of  Bhurtpore  (Bharathpur)  in 
1805.  The  Raja,  although  he  succeeded  in  holding  the  fort, 
submitted  to  a  treaty.  The  titular  emperor,  poor  old  blind  Shah 
Alam,  was  handsomely  pensioned,  and  all  pretence  of  regarding 
him  as  a  power  in  the  land  was  avowedly  dropped. 

Recall  of  Lord  Wellesley.  The  authorities  at  home  had 
long  been  restive  at  Lord  Wellesley's  bold  policy,  which 
seemed  to  them  needlessly  expensive,  while  the  tone  of  his 
dispatches  was  not  calculated  to  soothe  their  feelings.  The 
disaster  suffered  by  Colonel  Monson's  force  filled  the  cup.  On 
receipt  of  the  news,  the  Directors  and  the  Board  of  Control 
resolved  to  recall  the  Governor-General,  and  reverse  his  policy 
through  the  agency  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  who  was  persuaded  to 
accept  office  at  Calcutta  for  the  second  time.  As  has  happened 
so  often  to  timid  Governments,  the  event  proved  that  the  home 
authorities  in  seeking  peace  had  been  preparing  war.  Their 
shortsighted,  although  natural,  caution  plunged  a  large  area  of 
India  into  acute  misery  for  many  years,  and  resulted  in  a  for- 
midable war  in  the  time  of  the  Marquess  of  Hastings.  Great 
Britain,  having  become  the  paramount  power,  could  not  enjoy 
the  gains  without  assuming  the  duties  of  the  position.  The 
recall  of  Wellesle}^  left  the  Maratha  power  still  face  to  face 
with  the  English.  The  struggle  for  mastery  was  bound  to 
come. 

Lord  Wellesley's  internal  reforms  and  character.  The 
primary  importance  of  Lord  Wellesley's  wars  in  settling  to  a 
large  extent  the  fate  of  India  must  not  make  us  forget  that  the 
Governor-General  was  a  scholarly  man  of  many  interests,  as 
keen  to  devise  internal  reforms  as  he  was  determined  to  assert 
the  inevitable  British  supremacy.  The  college  founded  by 
him  at  Fort  William  for  the  training  of  3^oung  civil  servants 

1776  K 


290    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

was  reduced  by  the  Directors  to  the  rank  of  a  school  of  Oriental 
languages,  but  even  as  such  it  was  a  valuable  institution. 
Calcutta  owes  to  him  Government  House,  erroneously  believed 
to  be  modelled  on  Lord  Scarsdale's  mansion  at  Kedleston,  and 
sundry  other  civic  improvements.  In  spite  of  his  costly  wars, 
he  improved  the  public  credit,  and  brought  the  finances  into 
order  with  the  aid  of  Mr.  Tucker.  Lord  Wellesley's  solid  merits 
were  to  some  extent  obscured  by  his  imjjerious  temper,  a 
tendency  to  inflated  language  in  speech  and  writing,  and  an 
excessive  fondness  for  ceremonial  display.  He  lived  until 
1842,  when  he  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  having  filled  many 
important  positions  after  his  retirement  from  India. 

Wars  with  31  y sore. 

First,  1767-9,  ended  by  treaty  dictated  by  Haidar  Ali  under  the  walls  of 

Madras. 
Second,  1780-4,  ended  by  Treaty  of  Mangalore,  based  on  mutual  cession  of 

conquests. 
Third,  1790-2,  ended  by  peace  dictated  by  Lord  C'ornwallis  under  the  walls 

of  Seringapatam,  which  deprived  Tippoo  of  half  his  kingdom. 
Fourth,  March  to  May,  1799,  ending  in  the  death  of  Tippoo,  the  capture  of 

Seringapatam,  and  the  partition  of  his  kingdom,  part  of  which 

was  formed  into  a  protected  Hindu  state. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

Lord  Cornwallis  again  ;    Sir  George  Barlow  ;    Lord  Minto ;    abolition  of 
trade  monopoly. 

Lord  Cornwallis  ;    Sir  George  Barlow  ;    and  Lord  Minto. 

Lord  Cornwallis,  when  summoned  to  resume  charge  of  the 
Indian  Government  in  order  to  carry  out  the  policy  of  non- 
intervention, was  in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age  and 
feeble  health,  and  consequently  unfitted  for  the  task  imposed 
upon  him.  He  reached  Calcutta  on  July  30,  1805,  and  having 
proceeded  up  country,  died  at  Ghazlpur  on  October  5.  In  the 
short  interval  he  found  time  to  address  letters  to  the  Directors 


FROM  1761   TO  1858  291 

and  Lord  Lake  expressing  in  distinct  terms  his  resolve  to 
reverse  the  policy  of  Lord  Welleslej'.  He  found  a  willing 
disciple  in  Sir  George  Barlow,  the  senior  member  of  Council, 
who  succeeded  him  as  Governor- General,  pending  an  appoint- 
ment from  home.  Ultimately  Lord  Minto,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Control,  and  great-grandfather  of  the  Viceroy  v/ho 
succeeded  Lord  Curzon  in  1905,  was  appointed  Governor- 
General,  and  assumed  charge  on  July  31,  1807. 

Mutiny  of  Vellore,  1806.  Even  Sir  George  Barlow  could 
not  bring  himself  to  carry  out  the  desire  of  the  Directors  to 
withdraw  from  the  Treaty  of  Bassein  {ante,  p.  287),  and  to 
permit  the  resumption  by  the  Peshwa  of  his  old  position  as 
head  of  the  Maratha  states.  He  also  insisted  on  maintaining 
the  control  of  the  Resident  over  the  policy  of  the  Nizam. 
His  period  of  rule  was  marked  by  the  mutiny  of  the  sepoys  at 
Vellore,  where  the  sons  of  Tippoo  had  been  assigned  a  residence. 
Those  princes  had  been  rashly  allowed  to  assemble  a  following 
of  eighteen  hundred  men,  besides  some  three  thousand  other 
immigrants  from  Mysore.  Such  a  gathering  of  refugees  from 
a  recently  conquered  kingdom,  and  close  to  its  frontier,  neces- 
sarily became  a  centre  of  disaffection,  and  encouraged  the 
mutiny  of  the  troops,  which  was  jorovoked  directly  by  inju- 
dicious orders  prescribing  a  new  form  of  turban  and  other 
matters  of  the  kind.  During  the  disturbances  113  Europeans, 
including  fourteen  oflticers,  were  massacred.  The  Directors 
blamed  Lord  William  Bentinck,  the  Governor  of  Madras,  for 
his  policy,  and  recalled  him,  a  decision  which  he  always 
resented  as  unjust. 

Travancore  rebellion ;  mutiny  of  officers.  The  new 
Governor-General  soon  discovered  that,  whatever  his  prejudices 
and  instructions  might  be,  he  could  not  avoid  interference  with 
the  native  states.  In  1808  the  minister  of  the  Raja  of  Travan- 
core in  the  extreme  south  engaged  in  a  mad  rebellion,  attacking 
the  British  Resident  and  murdering  a  surgeon  and  thirty-three 
privates  of  the  12th  Regiment.  The  rising  was  put  down 
early  in  the  following  year.     During  the  same  yeai    (1809) 


292    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

much  anxiety  was  caused  by  the  mutinous  conduct  of  the 
officers  of  the  army  of  Madras,  where  Sir  George  Barlow  had 
been  appointed  Governor.  Lord  Minto  went  down  to  the 
south,  but  the  trouble  had  passed  before  his  arrival. 

Bundelkhand.  In  Bundelkhand,  as  in  Travancore,  the 
Governor-General  found  the  policy  of  non-intervention  to  be 
impracticable.  The  anarchy  in  that  province,  which  had  been 
ceded  by  the  Marathas,  forced  him  to  declare  that  '  it  was 
essential,  not  only  to  the  preservation  of  political  influence  over 
the  chiefs  of  Bimdelkhand,  but  to  the  dignity  and  reputation 
of  the  British  Government,  to  interfere  for  the  suppression  of 
intestine  disorder  '.  The  ensuing  military  operations  resulted 
in  the  surrender  of  the  fort  of  Ajaygarh  and  the  capture  of  the 
famous  fortress  of  Kalanjar  after  a  difficult  sieg^.  The  sup- 
pression of  the  growing  Pindari  outrages  in  Central  India,  and 
the  checking  of  Gurkha  and  Burmese  encroachments  on  the 
northern  and  north-eastern  frontiers,  were  recognized  by  Lord 
Minto  as  necessary  measures,  but  he  was  obliged  to  leave  their 
execution  to  his  successor,  his  own  action  in  these  matters 
being  hindered  by  the  disposition  of  the  Home  Government. 

Lord  Minto  and  the  Sikhs.  On  the  north-western  frontier 
he  acted  with  uncompromising  firmness,  and  did  not  allow 
himself  to  be  deterred  by  the  non-intervention  bogy  from 
defining  the  line  of  the  Sutlaj  as  the  frontier  separating  the 
British  dominions  from  those  of  Ranjit  Singh,  the  lord  of  the 
Panjab.  We  have  already  noticed  the  early  history  of  the 
>Sikh  sect  {ante,  p.  226),  which  was  gradually  hammered  into 
the  shape  of  an  organized  military  power  by  its  conflicts  with 
the  Afghans  during  the  eighteenth  century.  After  the  last 
invasion  and  withdrawal  of  Ahmad  Shah  Durrani  in  1767  the 
Sikhs  occupied  the  country  between  the  Jumna  and  Rawal- 
pindi. Their  progress  was  then  checked  by  the  Marathas,  but 
when  the  Maratha  power  in  Hindustan  was  broken  by  Lord 
Lake  in  1803  (ante,  p.  287),  some  of  the  Sikh  chiefs  between  the 
Sutlaj  and  the  Jumna  tendered  their  allegiance  to  the  victor, 
and  all  looked  to  the  British  Government  as  their  protector. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  293 

Rise  of  Ranjit  Singh.  At  that  time  the  Sikh  community 
was  organized  into  twelve  sections  or  fraternities  called  7nisls. 
One  of  these  came  under  the  rule  of  Ranjit  Singh,  who,  in 
1799,  when  nineteen  years  of  age,  had  helped  Zaman  Shah  of 
Kabul  in  his  invasion  of  the  Panjab.  The  Afghan  ruler,  who 
claimed  the  sovereignty  of  the  countrj-,  appointed  Ranjit 
Singh  governor  of  Lahore.  From  that  vantage  ground  the 
young  chief  gradually  made  himself  master  of  the  Panjab 
and  Kashmir,  retaining  his  power  until  his  death  in  1839.  He 
followed  the  example  of  the  more  southern  princes  by  engaging 
European  adventurers  to  train  his  troops,  and  thus  organized 
the  fine  army  which  fought  the  British  so  stoutly  in  1846  and 
1849. 

Treaty  of  Amritsar,  1809.  In  1809,  encouraged  bj'  Sir 
George  Barlow's  non-intervention  policy,  Ranjit  Singh  claimed 
control  of  all  the  Sikh  principalities  between  the  Sutlaj  and 
Jumna.  Lord  Minto,  without  waiting  to  refer  home  for  orders, 
made  up  his  mind  that  Ranjit  Singh's  pretensions  could  not  be 
admitted  without  breach  of  faith  to  allies  and  imminent  danger 
to  the  British  possessions.  The  Sikh  ruler  naturally  was  un- 
willing to  submit  to  dictation,  but  the  arrival  of  a  British  army 
on  the  Sutlaj  put  an  end  to  his  hesitation,  and  on  April  25, 
1809,  at  Amritsar,  he  signed  a  brief  treaty-  of  fifteen  lines 
establishing  '  perpetual  amity  between  the  British  Government 
and  the  state  of  Lahore  '.  During  the  remaining  thirtj^  years 
of  his  life  Ranjit  Singh  observed  this  engagement  with  honour- 
able fidelity.  A  British  garrison  was  posted  at  Ludiana,  which 
now  became  the  frontier  station,  and  so  it  happened  that  a 
Governor-General,  appointed  to  carry  out  the  non-intervention 
policy,  practically  advanced  the  British  boundary  from  the 
Jumna  to  the  Sutlaj. 

Foreign  embassies  outside  India.  During  the  whole  of  Lord 
Minto's  term  of  office  Great  Britain  was  engaged  in  the  deadly, 
world-wide  struggle  with  Napoleon,  in  which  the  ruler  of  India 
had  to  take  his  share.  His  predecessors  had  extinguished  the 
French  power  in  India  ;   Lord  Minto  made  it  his  business  to 


294    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

curb  it  in  the  adjoining  countries  and  surrounding  seas.  His 
Pan  jab  policy  was  partly  based  on  the  fear  of  French  inter- 
ference, and  the  embassies  sent  by  him  under  Malcolm  to  Persia 
and  Mountstuart  Elphinstone  to  Kabul  were  decided  on  solely 
with  the  object  of  checkmating  Napoleon's  plans.  A  treaty 
with  Persia  was  arranged,  but  the  results  hardly  justified  the 
heavy  cost  of  the  mission.  The  embassy  intended  for  Kabul 
never  arrived  there  in  consequence  of  the  deposition  of  Shah 
Shuja  (Soojah),  the  Afghan  ruler  to  whom  it  had  been  dis- 
patched.    We  shall  meet  Shah  Shuja  again. 

Expeditions  by  sea.  Lord  Minto's  expeditions  by  sea  were 
more  fruitful,  and  testify  to  his  broad  grasp  of  political 
problems.  In  those  days  Mauritius  and  the  neighbouring 
islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the  east  of  Madagascar  formed 
a  French  colony,  which  was  used  as  the  base  of  a  privateer 
fleet  to  prey  on  Indian  commerce.  In  the  course  of  fifteen 
years  the  Mauritius  privateers  had  plundered  property  of 
Calcutta  merchants  worth  three  millions  sterling.  The 
Oovernor-General  determined  to  stop  this,  and  in  1810  a  fleet 
acting  under  his  orders  captured  Mauritius  and  its  depen- 
dencies. Mauritius  still  is  a  British  Crown  Colony,  but  the 
neighbouring  island  of  Bourbon  or  Reunion  was  restored  to 
France  at  the  peace  of  1815.  Lord  Minto's  expedition  to  Java 
and  the  Spice  Islands,  Dutch  colonies  then  under  French 
control,  was  even  more  daring  and  brilliantly  successful.  The 
Oovernor-General,  who  accompanied  the  force  intended  for  the 
reduction  of  Java,  which  was  under  the  command  of  Sir  Samuel 
Auchmuty,  made  suitable  arrangements  for  the  civil  govern- 
ment of  the  island.  Batavia,  the  capital  of  Java,  was  taken 
after  a  hard  fight  at  the  end  of  August  1811,  and  the  opera- 
tions, naval  and  military,  being  admirably  arranged,  were 
successful  at  all  points.  The  valuable  conquests  so  gallantly 
won  were  unfortunately  surrendered  at  the  general  peace. 

Abolition  of  the  Company's  monopoly  of  the  Indian  trade. 
The  renewal  of  the  East  India  Company's  charter,  granted  in 
1793  {ante,  p.  280),  was  to  hold  good  for  only  twenty  years.    As 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  295 

the  end  of  the  term  fixed  drew  near,  a  lively  discussion  took 
place,  the  Directors  fighting  to  keep  their  monopoly,  while  the 
general  public  in  Great  Britain  demanded  liberty  for  all  to  take 
part  in  Eastern  commerce.  In  the  end  Parliament  decided  to 
throw  open  the  Indian  trade  to  all  comers,  while  maintaining 
the  Company's  exclusive  rights  in  the  China  seas.  On  these 
terms  the  charter  was  renewed  in  1813  for  twenty  years 
longer.  At  the  same  time  permission  was  given  for  missionaries 
to  enter  India  as  freely  as  merchants,  a  reform  also  resisted 
strenuously  by  the  Directors. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII 

Lord  Hastings  :    Nepalese,  Pindari,  and  Maratha  wars ;    Lord  Amherst ; 
first  Burmese  war. 

The  Earl  of  Moira,  Marquess  of  Hastings.  Lord  Minto  was 
succeeded  by  the  Earl  of  Moira,  better  known  by  his  later 
title  as  the  Marquess  of  Hastings,  who  was  almost  fifty-nine 
years  of  age  and  had  seen  much  service  in  high  military 
employ.  He  came  out  full  of  the  doctrines  of  the  non-inter- 
vention school  then  in  fashion,  but  soon  found  himself  con- 
strained to  act  as  a  disciple  of  Lord  Wellesley.  He  assumed 
charge  on  October  4,  1813,  and  ruled  India  until  January, 
1823,  for  nine  years  and  a  quarter,  without  rest  or  holiday. 
After  his  retirement  he  became  Governor  of  Malta,  where  he 
died  in  November,  1826, 

Result  of  non-intervention.  Lord  Minto,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  done  brilliant  service  for  his  country  by  defeating  French 
hostility  in  foreign  lands  and  beyond  the  seas,  where  he  was 
able  to  act  with  a  free  hand.  But  within  the  limits  of  India 
his  action  had  been  hampered  by  instructions  which  he  could 
not  venture  to  disregard  altogether.  The  result  was  the  accu- 
mulation of  internal  difficulties  and  the  tying  of  knots  which 
must  be  cut  by  the  sword.  Lord  Hastings,  consequently,  when 
he  took  over  the  reins  of  government,  found  '  seven  different 
quarrels  likely  to  demand  the  decision  of  arms  '  thrust  uj)on 


296    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

him,  and  six  years  of  his  term  of  office  were  spent  in  constant 
and  unavoidable  war, 

Nepalese  encroachments.  The  most  pressing  of  the  pending 
quarrels  was  that  with  the  Gfirkhas  of  Nepal,  whose  encroach- 
ments on  British  territory  could  not  be  longer  endured.  A 
Gurkha  chief  having  overcome  the  ancient  principalities  of 
the  valley  of  Nepal  in  1768,  he  and  his  successors  subsequently 
extended  their  power  over  the  whole  hill  region  from  the 
frontier  of  Bhutan  on  the  east  to  the  Sutlaj  on  the  west,  and 
constantly  sought  expansion  of  their  dominion  in  the  richer 
regions  of  the  plains.  The  cession  of  the  Gorakhpur  territory 
by  the  Nawab-Vazir  of  Oudh  in  Lord  Wellesley's  time  had 
brought  the  British  boundary  to  the  frontier  of  Nepal,  and 
unceasing  difficulties  arose  on  the  border.  Before  1813  the 
Nepalese  had  seized  more  than  two  hundred  villages  on  the 
British  side  of  the  ill-defined  frontier.  Their  annexation  of 
the  districts  of  Butwal  and  Sheoraj  brought  the  quarrel  to  a 
head,  and  their  refusal  of  restitution  made  war  inevitable.- 
Hostilities  began  in  October  1814. 

War  with  Nepal,  1814-16.  Lord  Hastings,  who  was  his 
own  commander-in-chief,  worked  out  an  excellent  plan  of 
operations,  providing  for  the  attack  on  the  Gurkha  positions 
at  four  widely  separated  points.  The  British  force  was  supe- 
rior to  the  enemy  in  numbers,  and,  in  spite  of  the  difficult 
nature  of  the  country,  speedj^  s,uccess  should  have  been  secured 
but  for  the  incapacity  of  most  of  the  generals  employed.  One 
of  them.  General  Gillespie,  a  brilliant  officer,  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  in  Java,  lost  his  life  in  making  a  rash  frontal 
attack  on  a  stockade  contrary  to  orders,  and  three  others 
muddled  away  their  opportunities  through  sheer  imbecility. 
Many  lives  were  needlessly  throwii  aw^ay  and  little  progress 
was  made,  except  in  Kumaon,  where  Colonels  Nicholls  and 
Gardner  occupied  Almora  by  a  force  of  irregulars,  and  in  the 
territories  along  the  Upper  Sutlaj ,  which  had  been  invaded  by 
a  force  from  Ludiana,  under  the  command  of  General  (after- 
wards Sir  David)  Ochterlony,  a  highly  capable  leader.     la 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  297 

May,  1815,  Ochterlony  compelled  the  brave  Gurkha  com- 
mander, Amar  Singh,  to  surrender  the  fort  of  Malaon.  The 
success  of  these  operations  inclined  the  Nepalese  Government 
to  peace,  and  a  treaty  was  signed.  But  on  second  thoughts 
the  Darbar  refused  to  ratify  it  and  the  war  began  again. 

Treaty  of  Sagauli,  1816.  In  February,  1816,  Ochterlony 
penetrated  the  hills  by  a  daring  night  march  and  attained 
a  position  threatening  Kathmandu,  the  capital.  The  Gurkhas 
then  gave  in  and  the  Treaty  of  Sagauli  was  signed  in  March. 
It  provided  for  the  cession  by  the  Nepalese  of  Kumaon  to  the 
west  of  the  Kali  river,  their  withdrawal  from  Sikkim,  the 
surrender  of  most  of  the  Tarai,  or  lowlands  below  the  hills,  and 
the  acceptance  of  a  British  Resident  at  the  court  of  Kath- 
mandu. The  treaty  has  been  observed  faithfully  ever  since, 
and  friendship,  although  with  considerable  reserve,  has  been 
maintained  unbroken  between  the  contracting  Governments. 
The  Gurkha  regiments  recruited  in  Nepal  are  a  most  valuable 
element  in  the  Indian  Army,  and  during  the  troubled  times  of 
the  Mutiny  a  Nepalese  force  gave  welcome  aid  to  the  British 
authorities.  In  the  great  war  of  1914  they  have  again  freely 
shed  their  blood  in  the  cause  of  the  British  Raj .  The  sites  of 
the  hill  stations  of  Almora,  Naini  Tal,  Mussoorie,  Simla,  &c., 
were  acquired  by  the  cession  of  Kumaon. 

General  unrest.  The  news  of  the  British  failures  during  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  Nepalese  war  excited  every  court  in  India 
and  raised  hopes  of  the  expulsion  of  the  foreigner.  Ranjit 
Singh  moved  troops  tov/ards  the  Sutlaj  ;  Amir  Khan,  the 
leader  of  the  roving  Pathan  bands  in  Rajputana,  watched 
events  with  a  force  of  30,000  men  and  125  guns,  while  the 
Maratha  chiefs,  the  Peshwa,  the  Bhonsla  of  Nagpur,  Sindia, 
and  Holkar,  all  began  to  arm.  If  the  jealousies  of  these 
powers  had  permitted  their  effective  combination  at  the  right 
moment,  the  Governor-General  had  not  the  force  to  withstand 
them.  But  the  '  Company's  ikbcil ',  or  good  luck,  prevailed  ; 
the  effective  combination  did  not  take  place,  and  each  of  the 
hostile  powers  was  overcome  in  due  course. 

K3 


298    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

The  Pindaris.  Still  more  urgent  than  the  danger  from  all 
those  territorial  powers  was  the  peril  caused  by  the  Pindari 
hordes  of  marauders,  who,  starting  from  a  central  position  in 
Malwa  and  the  Narbada  valley,  where  they  were  loosely 
attached  to  the  armies  of  Sindia  and  Holkar,  ravaged  India 
with  fiendish  cruelty  from  Gujarat  to  Ganjam.  The  Pindaris, 
first  heard  of  during  the  struggles  between  Sivajland  Aurang- 
zeb,  had  grown  enormously  in  numbers  and  strength  during 
the  century  of  anarchy  which  followed  the  death  of  the  Great 
Mogul.  1  They  were  bands  of  lawless  men,  drawn  from  all 
castes  and  classes,  who  took  advantage  of  the  absence  of  a 
strong  government  to  make  their  living  by  organized  plunder. 
Mounted  on  hardy  ponies,  a  body  of  two  or  three  thousand 
men  could  cover  fifty  miles  in  a  day,  harry  a  district,  and  be 
far  away  with  their  booty  long  before  anj^  regular  troops  could 
appear.  They  worked  in  conjunction  with  the  Marathas,  one 
division  being  specially  connected  with  Holkar  and  another 
with  Sindia.  Towards  the  end  of  1815  the  Pindaris  laid  waste 
the  Nizam's  dominions  as  far  south  as  the  Kistna  (Krishna) 
river,  and  «arly  in  the  next  year  ravaged  the  Northern  Circars, 
which  had  enjoyed  security  for  half  a  century.  The  Governor- 
General  reported  the  case  of  a  village  in  which  the  inhabitants 
had  been  driven  to  the 

'  desperate  resolution  of  burning  themselves  with  their  wives 
and  children.  .  .  .  Hundreds  of  women  belonging  to  other 
villages  have  drowned  themselves  in  the  wells,  not  being  able 
to  survive  the  pollution  they  had  suffered.  All  the  young 
girls  are  carried  off  by  the  Pindaris,  tied  three  or  four,  like 
calves,  on  a  horse,  to  be  sold.  .  .  .  They  carried  off  booty  to  the 
value  of  more  than  a  million  sterling ' . 

Nevertheless,  the  authorities  in  England,  fearing  a  war  with 
Sindia,  hesitated  to  permit  the  punishment  of  the  villains,  and 
their  timidity  was  shared  by  Lord  Hastings's  Councillors  at 
Calcutta.  But  at  last,  early  in  1817,  the  Council  could  no 
longer  shirk  the  decision  that  '  vigorous  measures  for  the 

^  The  origin  of  the  word  Pindari  is  uncertain. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  299 

suppression  of  the  Pindaris  had  becomean  indispensable  object  of 
public  duty ' .  Lord  Hastings  then  took  the  necessary  measures 
to  organize  his  forces  and  to  smooth  their  path  by  diplomac}'. 

Plan  of  campaign.  The  plan  devised  provided  for  the 
surrounding  of  the  Pindari  lair  in  Mahva,  by  a  converging 
force  of  about  120,000  men,  divided  into  eight  sections  or 
divisions,  comprised  in  two  armies,  the  southern  under  the 
command  of  Sir  Thomas  Hislop,  and  the  northern  led  by 
the  Governor-General  in  person.  The  force,  the  largest  ever 
collected  up  to  that  time  under  the  British  flag  in  India,  was 
provided  with  300  guns,  and  comprised  about  13,000  Euro- 
peans. A  skilful  movement  subjected  Sindia  to  such  pressure 
that  he  reluctantly  signed  a  treatj^  binding  him  to  assist  the 
English,  and  the  circle  was  closed  round  the  Pindaris.  But 
the  operations  of  the  Governor-General  were  much  hindered  bj'- 
the  sudden  outbreak  of  an  epidemic  of  cholera,  and  some  of  the 
ruffians  broke  through  the  line.^ 

Third  Maratha  war.  Operations  were  prolonged  by  a  general 
rising  of  the  Maratha  powers,  excepting  Sindia  and  the 
Gaikwar,  and  the  hunt  of  the  Pindaris  became  merged  in  the 
third  Maratha  war.  During  November  and  December,  1817, 
the  Peshwa,  the  Bhonsla,  and  Holkar  successively  took  up 
arms.  Baji  Rao,  the  Peshwa,  having  been  decisively  beaten 
by  a  small  British  force  at  Kirki  near  Poona  (November  13, 
1817),  was  driven  as  a  fugitive  from  his  capital.  The  Bhonsla 
was  defeated  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  at  Sitabaldi,  near 
Nagpur,  in  one  of  the  most  brilliant  actions  ever  fought  ;  and 
Holkar  was  routed  at  Mahidpur  on  the  Sipra  river,  to  the  north 
of  Ujjain  (December  21,  1817).  Amir  Khan,  the  leader  of 
the  Pathan  host  of  rovers,  was  induced  to  settle  do\^^l  as  Nawab 
of  Tonk  in  Rajputana,  where  his  successors  still  flourish. 
Karim  Khan,  one  of  the  Pindari  leaders,  was  given  an  estate 
in  Gorakhpur,  still  enjoyed  by   his  descendants  ;  ^    another 

^  The  common  belief  that  cholera  first  appeared  in  India  in  1817  is  mis- 
taken. 

■"  Now  in  the  Basti  District,  separated  from  Gorakhpur  in  1865- 


300    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO  INDIAN  PERIOD 

leader,  weary  of  being  hunted,  ended  his  life  by  poison,  and 
Chitu,  the  most  famous  of  all  the  bandit  captains,  was  driven 
into  a  jungle,  where  he  was  killed  by  a  tiger.  On  January  1, 
1818,  the  Peshwa  suffered  another  defeat  at  Koregaon  near 
Poona,  and,  a  few  days  later,  yet  another  at  Ashti,  where  his 
gallant  general,  Gokula,  met  a  soldier's  death.  The  Peshwa, 
who  was  no  hero,  surrendered  to  Sir  John  Malcolm,  whom  he 
persuaded  into  promising  him  the  extravagant  pension  of  eight 
Jakhs  a  year.  With  this  allowance  he  was  sent  into  retire- 
ment at  Bithur,  near  Cawnpore.  Nana  Sahib,  notorious  for  his 
cruelty  in  the  Mutiny,  was  the  adopted  son  of  Bajl  Rao,  the 
last  Peshwa.  Lord  Hastings,  following  the  Mysore  precedent, 
sought  out  a  descendant  of  SivajT,  and  presented  him  with  a 
portion  of  the  Maratha  dominion  under  the  title  of  Raja  of 
Satara.  The  rest  of  the  country  was  annexed  to  the  British 
dominions,  and  the  Presidency  of  Bombay  thus  was  extended 
to  nearly  its  present  dimensions  in  India  Proper.  The 
Bhonsla's  territory  also  was  annexed  in  part,  and  in  part 
made  a  protected  state.  It  now  forms  the  Central  Provinces. 
Holkar,  treated  with  less  severity,  was  allowed  to  retain  the 
districts  which  constitute  the  state  of  Indore.  The  final 
operation  in  the  war  was  the  capture  in  1819  of  AsTrgarh,  the 
famous  stronghold  in  Khandesh,  but  the  contest  had  been 
decided  early  in  1818. 

Achievement  of  Lord  Hastings.  In  the  long  roll  of  brilliant 
Governors-General  the  name  of  the  Marquess  of  Hastings 
deserves  a  place  of  the  highest  honour  in  virtue  of  personal 
achievement.  In  October  1817  he  was  confronted  by  forces 
of  more  than  150,000  men— Pindaris,  Marathas,  and  Pathans 
—with  500  guns.  Four  months  later  the  power  of  Sindia 
was  paralysed  ;  that  of  Holkar  broken  ;  the  Pathan  armies  of 
Amir  Khan  and  Ghafiar  Khan  had  ceased  to  exist  ;  the  Raja 
of  Nagpur  was  a  captive  ;  the  Peshwa  was  a  fugitive,  and  the 
Pindaris  had  disappeared.  The  campaign  finally  extinguished 
the  Maratha  empire,  at  which  Lord  Wellesley  had  struck  the 
first  blow.     This  great  and  necessary  work,  by  which  countless 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  301 

millions  were  delivered  from  cruel  tjTanny,  was  done  by  Lord 
Hastings  alone,  in  the  teeth  of  opposition  from  colleagues  and 
superiors. 

Fall  of  the  Maratha  empire.  The  Maratha  empire  thus 
ended  in  1818  its  brief  career,  perishing  deservedly,  because  it 
had  never  deserved  to  exist.  The  government  of  the  Maratha 
confederacy,  whether  before  or  after  the  Treaty  of  Bassein,  was 
organized  solely  for  the  purposes  of  plunder  and  blackmail. 
It  fulfilled  none  of  the  proper  functions  of  a  government,  and 
in  its  latter  days  had  not  even  the  merit  of  being  national. 
The  armies  defeated  by  Lord  Lake,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  and 
the  Marquess  of  Hastings  had  little  distinct  Maratha  character, 
being  filled  up  with  Musalmans,  vagabond  Europeans,  and 
rascals  of  all  sorts.  Those  armies  were  closely  associated  with 
tlie  purely  criminal  gangs  of  Pindarl  marauders,  '  the  refuse  of 
the  Mahratta  armies ',  as  Grant  DufiE  calls  them.  The  con- 
nexion was  so  close  that  the  operations  of  the  Marquess  of 
Hastings,  directed  primarily  against  the  Pindari  hordes,  passed 
almost  insensibly  into  war  with  the  Maratha  governments, 
which  willingly  shared  in  all  the  Pindari  atrocities.  The 
Maratha  chiefs  never  did  any  good  for  India,  and  left  behind 
them  nothing  but  ruin  and  devastation. 

The  student  should  realize  that  the  year  1818  marks  art 
epoch  in  the  history  of  India. 

Internal  administration.  The  internal  administration  of 
the  marquess  achieved  notable  progress.  Laying  down  the 
maxim  that  '  it  would  be  treason  against  British  sentiment 
to  imagine  that  it  ever  could  be  the  principle  of  this  Govern- 
ment to  perpetuate  ignorance  in  order  to  secure  paltry  and  dis- 
honest advantages  over  the  blindness  of  the  multitude  ',  he 
established  and  encouraged  schools  and  colleges,  and  permitted 
the  issue  of  the  first  vernacular  newspaper.  The  '  ryotwari  * 
settlement  of  the  Madras  territories  was  carried  out  by  Sir 
Thomas  Munro,  and  the  imperial  finances  were  administered 
with  success  and  enhanced  credit.  Much  was  done  to  improve- 
Calcutta;  the  ancient  Jumna  canal  near  Delhi  {ante,-p.  125)  was- 


302    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

reopened,  and  many  other  works  of  public  utility  were 
executed . 

Lord  Amherst  ;  Barrackpore  mutiny ;  Bhurtpore.  The 
government  was  carried  on  for  seven  months  after  Lord 
Hastings's  departure  (January  1  to  August  1,  1823)  by 
Mr.  Adam,  the  senior  member  of  Council.  He  was  relieved 
by  Lord  Amherst,  who,  like  most  of  the  Governors-General, 
sought  peace  and  found  war.  Before  narrating  the  story  of 
the  Burmese  war,  the  principal  event  of  his  term  of  ofHce,  we 
must  notice  the  two  other  most  memorable  incidents — the 
mutiny  at  Barrackpore  and  the  capture  of  Bhurtpore  (Bharath- 
pur).  The  mutiny  of  the  47th  Native  Infantry  at  Barrackpore, 
under  the  windows  of  the  Governor-General's  country  house, 
caused  by  the  unwillingness  of  the  sepoys  to  proceed  to  Burma, 
was  promptly  suppressed  (October,  1824).  The  operations 
against  Bhurtpore  arose  out  of  a  disputed  succession  to  the 
principality,  which  rendered  necessary  the  intervention  of  the 
Government  of  India.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  on  this  occasion 
the  Governor-General  in  Council  stood  forth  avowedly  as  '  the 
paramount  power  and  conservators  of  the  general  peace  '. 
After  a  short  siege  the  fortress,  before  which  Lord  Lake  had 
failed  in  1805  {ante,  p.  289),  was  stormed  by  Lord  Comber- 
mere,  and  the  general  belief  that  it  could  never  be  taken 
was  destroyed  (January,  1826). 

First  Burmese  war.  At  about  the  same  time  as  the  English 
conquered  Bengal,  an  adventurer  named  Alaungpra  (Alompra) 
founded  an  aggressive  djmasty  in  Burma  (1752-60).  He  and 
his  successors  extended  their  conquests  into  Assam,  Cachar, 
and  Manipur,  and  threatened  the  British  frontier  Districts  of 
Sylhet  and  Chittagong.  The  Burmese  had  an  unbounded 
conceit  of  themselves,  and  went  so  far  as  to  require  the  Mar- 
quess of  Hastings  to  surrender  Eastern  Bengal,  including 
Dacca  and  Murshidabad.  In  1824  their  defiant  seizure  of  a 
British  outpost  compelled  Lord  Amherst  to  declare  war,  which 
the  Burmese  awaited  with  eager  confidence.  The  Governor- 
General,  who  did  not  possess  his  predecessor's  military  genius. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  303 

was  advised  that  the  occupation  of  the  port  of  Rangoon  by 
a  naval  expedition  would  quickly  prove  decisive.  The  occu- 
pation was  easily  effected  by  a  force  sent  from  Madras,  but 
sickness  and  the  want  of  supplies  crippled  the  troops.  As.'^am 
was  occupied  early  in  1825  by  General  Richards,  but  attempts 
to  enter  Burma  overland  failed,  and  a  detachment  was  cut  up 
at  Ramii  on  the  Chittagong  frontier.  The  campaign,  as  a 
whole,  was  badly  planned,  and  much  preventible  loss  was 
incurred  ;  ultimately,  however,  when  Prome  was  occupied,  and 
the  Burmese  capital  threatened,  the  king  was  forced  to  sue  for 
peace.  In  February  1826  the  Treaty  of  Yandabo  was  signed, 
which  ceded  to  Great  Britain  the  provinces  of  Assam,  Arakan, 
and  Tenasserim.  The  king  further  agreed  to  abstain  from  all 
interference  in  Cachar,  Jaintia,  and  Manipur,  and  to  pay  an 
indemnity.^  Thus,  in  spite  of  many  errors  in  planning  and 
execution,  the  war  ended  in  a  triumphant  success  for  JBritish 
arms,  and  the  acquisition  of  extensive  provinces  then  little 
esteemed,  but  now  recognized  as  possessing  high  value.  The 
annexation  closed  up  the  north-eastern  frontier  of  the  empire 
and  protected  it  against  foreign  aggression. 

The  Maratha  Wars 

First,  1775-82,  Warren  Hastings  Governor-General;  Convention  of 
Wargaon,  1778;  capture  of  Gwalior,  1780;  ended  by  Treaty 
of  Salbai,  1782.  (Some  writers  treat  this  war  as  ,two  wars, 
namely,  the  first,  up  to  the  Treaty  of  Surat,  and  the  second, 
from  1778  to  1782.) 

Second,  1803 :  Lord  Wellcsley  Governor-General ;  battles  of  Assaye, 
Argaon,  and  Laswari ;  occupation  of  Delhi ;  ended  by  Treaties 
of  Surji  Arjangaon  and  Deogaon.     War  with  Holkar,  1805. 

Third,  1817-19 :  Lord  Hastings  Governor-General ;  battles  of  Kirki, 
Sitabaldi,  Mahldpur,  Ashti,  and  Koregaon  ;  ended  by  capture 
of  Aslrgarh,  and  general  pacification  by  nineteen  treaties. 

Sindia  was  subsequently  defeated  in  1843.     His  descendant 
is  now  a  loyal  supporter  of  the  King-Emperor. 

'  Assam  and  Arakan  were  attached  to  Bengal.     Tenasserim  was  placed 
oindar  a  Commissioner  responsible  directly  to  the  Government  of  India. 


304    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 


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FROM  1761  TO  1858  305- 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

Lord  William  Cavendish-Bentinck,  commonly  called  Lord  William  Ben:- 
tiiick  :   reforms  ;    charter  of  1833  ;   Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  and  the  press. 

Lord  William  Bentinck.  After  the  departure  of  Lord 
Amherst,  Mr.  Butterworth  Bayley  acted  as  Governor-General 
until  the  arrival,  in  July,  1828,  of  Lord  William  Bentinck, 
who  had  been  recalled  from  Madras  twenty-one  years  earlier, 
and  had  since  held  various  appointments.  The  India  of  1828 
was  very  different  from  the  India  of  1807,  and  Lord  William, 
during  his  long  term  of  office,  nearly  seven  years,  was  able  to 
devote  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  business  of  internal 
administration  and  reform.  W^hen  he  became  Governor- 
General  the  only  independent  powers  left  in  India  were  the 
8ikhs  of  the  Panjab  and  the  Amirs  of  Sind.  whose  subjugation 
was  reserved  for  his  successors.  The  friendship  between  the 
Government  of  India  and  Ranjit  Singh  was  solemnly  affirmed 
in  1831,  when  Lord  William  Bentinck  met  the  Sikh  j^otentate 
at  Rupar  on  the  Sutlaj  with  splendid  ceremony. 

Annexation  of  Cachar  and  Coorg  ;  Mysore.  But  even  the 
most  peaceful  of  the  rulers  of  India  was  unable  to  escaj^e 
the  necessity  for  small  annexations.  The  Raja  of  the  princi- 
pality of  Cachar,  to  the  east  of  Syihet,  given  up  by  the 
Burmese  under  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Yandabo, 
having  been  murdered,  leaving  no  heirs,  the  Governor-General 
acceded  to  the  prayers  of  the  inhabitants  and  annexed  the 
country.  It  now  forms  a  valuable  District  in  the  prosperous 
province  of  Assam,  and  is  largely  occupied  by  European  tea- 
planters.  The  little  province  of  Coorg,  lying  between  Mysore 
and  the  Malabar  coast,  had  the  mi.sfortune  to  come  under  the 
rule  of  a  mad  Raja,  who  treated  his  people  with  ferocious 
cruelty  and  exterminated  all  his  male  relatives.  Lord  William 
Bentinck  was  obliged  to  occupy  the  pro\4nce,  and,  with  the 
full  consent  of  the  people,  to  depose  the  Raja,  in  May,  1834. 
Coorg  is  now  governed  by  a  Commissioner,  subordinate  to  the- 


306    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO  INDIAN  PERIOD 

Besident  of  Mysore  as  Chief  Commissioner  under  the  Govern- 
ment of  India. 

The  action  of  Lord  William's  Government  in  Mysore  has 
"been  noticed  above  {ante,  p.  284). 

Opinions  on  Lord  William's  policy.  In  dealing  with  the 
protected  states  Lord  William  Bentinck  showed  hesitation 
and  was  not  always  successful,  but  the  significance  of  his  term 
of  ofi&ce  lies  in  his  internal  administration,  of  which  we  must 
now  give  a  brief  account.  Like  all  reformers  he  excited  bitter 
hostility,  which  has  found  expression  in  Thornton's  History, 
but  general  opinion  has  settled  down  to  a  favourable  verdict 
on  his  policy,  and  on  the  whole  endorses  the  eulogium  recorded 
in  the  inscription  on  his  statue  at  Calcutta,  composed  by  Lord 
Macaulay,  his  friend  and  colleague,  which  extols  him  as  the 
man  who  '  ruled  India  with  eminent  prudence,  integrity,  and 
benevolence  ',  and  '  whose  constant  study  it  was  to  elevate 
the  intellectual  and  moral  character  of  the  nation  committed 
to  his  charge '. 

Finance.  The  Burmese  war  having  caused  a  deficit  of 
a  million  sterling,  the  Governor-General  was  constrained  to 
pay  close  attention  to  finance.  Additions  to  revenue  were 
obtained  by  imjDroved  organization  of  the  opium  monopoly 
and  by  the  revision  of  land  settlements  in  the  Agra  provinces 
and  in  Madras.  The  precedent  of  the  Permanent  Settlement 
of  Bengal  was  not  followed  in  either  the  north  or  the  south. 
The  Madras  assessments  had  been  made  under  the  able  super- 
vision of  Sir  Thomas  Munro  on  the  '  ryotwari '  system  of 
direct  contracts  between  the  Government  and  the  cultivators 
for  a  term  of  years.  The  assessments  of  the  Agra  or  North- 
western Provinces  were  generally  confirmed  for  tliirt}'^  years, 
and  the  contracts  were  made,  not  with  large  proprietors  as  in 
Bengal,  but  with  the  village  zemindars,  or  their  representatives. 

Army,  &c.  Extensive  economies  were  effected  in  both 
the  civil  and  military  services.  The  cessation  of  war  gave 
opportunities  for  profitable  retrenchments,  and  in  1831  Lord 
William  Bentinck  took  a  free  hand  by  assuming  the  office  of 


LoBD  William  Cave^lish-Be^ti^ck. 


308    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Commander-in-Chief  in  addition  to  that  of  Governor-GeneraL 
His  studies  of  mihtary  organization  led  him  to  form  a  poor 
opinion  of  the  Indian  army,  which  he  stigmatized  in  a  con- 
fidential minute  as  '  the  least  efficient  and  most  expensive  in 
the  world  '.  After  the  general  settlement  effected  by  the 
Marquess  of  Hastings  in  1818  the  spirit  of  the  sepoys  had 
rapidly  declined,  and  the  army  was  not  nearly  as  good  as  it 
had  been  in  Lord  Lake's  time.  The  events  of  the  Mutiny 
in  1857  proved  that  Lord  William  understood  the  defects 
of  the  Indian  system  much  better  than  most  people.  He 
appreciated  the  strategical  advantages  given  by  steam  power 
in  navigation,  at  that  time  a  novelty,  and  did  much  to  develop 
communication  with  Europe  by  the  Red  Sea  and  Suez  route. 
He  also  formed  a  just  estimate  of  the  importance  of  Singapore 
in  Malacca,  acquired  finally  by  treaty  v/ith  the  Dutch  in  1824, 
and  made  it  the  capital  of  the  Straits  Settlements.  Constant 
tours  enabled  Lord  William  to  exercise  supervision  over  all 
branches  of  the  administration  and  to  acquire  personal 
knowledge  of  local  needs. 

Prohibition  of  suttee.  The  most  famous  reform  associated 
with  his  name  is  the  prohibition  of  suttee  {satl),  enacted  in 
1829.  The  Regulation  declared  '  the  practice  of  suttee,  or 
burning  or  burying  alive  the  widows  of  Hindus,  illegal  and 
punishable  by  the  Criminal  Courts  ',  and  rightly  pronounced 
it  to  be  '  revolting  to  the  feelings  of  human  nature,  and 
nowhere  enjoined  by  the  religion  of  the  people  as  an  imperative 
duty '.  The  practice  had  attained  terrible  prevalence  in 
Bengal,  where  in  some  years  eight  hundred  or  more  women 
had  been  sacrificed,  and  the  only  strenuous  opposition  to 
Lord  William's  measure  came  from  Bengal.  A  better  feeling 
on  the  subject  exists  now,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  is  no 
longer  necessary  to  defend  the  j)rohibition,  which  was  enacted 
owing  to  the  zeal  and  courage  of  the  Governor-General. 

Thuggee.  Another  social  reform  was  effected  by  the  sup- 
pression of  thuggee  [thagt),  the  practice  of  wholesale  strangling 
for  the  sake  of  plunder  by  strong  armed  gangs  who  infested 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  309 

the  highways  of  every  province  in  India  except  the  Konkan, 
and  inveigled  unwary  travellers  to  their  death.  More  than 
three  thousand  of  the  Thugs  were  arrested,  and  an  elaborate 
system  of  detection  and  punishment  was  organized,  under 
the  control  of  Major  (Sir  William)  Sleeman,  which  extirpated 
the  system  almost  completely. 

Employment  of  Indians  and  judicial  reforms.  Lord  William 
Bentinck's  judicial  reforms  and  arrangements  for  the  employ- 
ment of  natives  of  the  country  in  appointments  hitherto 
reserved  for  Europeans  were  intimately  associated  with  his 
financial  economies.  The  practical  exclusion  of  the  native 
races  from  all  official  emplojanent  except  of  the  most  humble 
kind,  which  was  the  blot  on  the  arrangements  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  had,  in  addition  to  its  other  demerits  the  objection 
of  expense.  Lord  William's  measures  threw  open  to  Indian 
candidates  responsible  employment  in  the  judicial  and 
executive  service,  with  the  ultimate  result  that  now  Indian 
judges  have  seats  in  all  the  High  Courts  as  well  as  the  Judicial 
Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  the  bulk  of  the  judicial 
business  of  the  country  is  done  by  the  natives  of  it.  In  1910 
Indians  were  appointed  to  the  Executive  Councils  of  the 
Supreme  and  Provincial  Governments.  The  dilatory  Pro- 
vincial Courts  of  Appeal  and  Circuit  established  by  Lord 
Cornwallis  were  abolished  and  replaced  by  a  more  workable 
system,  which  need  not  be  described  in  detail. 

English  education.  Important  as  were  the  reforms  indicated 
in  the  preceding  pages,  some  observers  give  an  even  higher 
place  to  '  the  momentous  decision  to  make  the  English 
language  the  official  and  literary  language  '  of  the  countr}', 
and  regard  that  decision  as  the  event  which  makes  the  ad- 
ministration of  Lord  William  Bentinck  a  landmark  in  Indian 
history.  Previous  Governors,  Warren  Hastings  and  the 
Marquess  of  Hastings  especially,  had  not  been  unmindfid 
of  the  claims  of  Oriental  literature  on  the  attention  of  the 
rulers  of  India,  but  the  idea  of  a  general  system  of  education 
was  first  brought  forward  during  the  discussions  concerning 


310    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

the  renewal  of  the  Company's  charter  in  1833.  Among  other 
things,  the  new  charter  provided  for  the  appointment  of 
a  Law  Member  to  the  Governor-General's  Council.  The  first 
holder  of  the  office  was  Mr.  Thomas  (Lord)  Macaulay,  after- 
wards famous  as  the  historian  of  England.  His  influence 
decided  the  Government,  as  against  the  advocates  of  purely 
Oriental  learning,  to  accept  his  view  that  '  it  is  possible  to 
make  natives  of  this  country  thoroughly  good  English  scholars, 
and  that  to  this  end  our  efforts  ought  to  be  directed  '.  The 
possibility  has  been  abundantly  demonstrated,  and  the  ex- 
isting system  of  education  in  India  is  based  on  the  lines 
laid  down  by  Macaulay.  That  system  is  open  to  much  criti- 
cism, but  few  of  its  critics  will  dispute  the  propriety  of  the 
decision  to  make  the  English  language  the  vehicle  for  higher 
instruction. 

The  charter  of  1833.  In  1813  the  Indian  trade  had  been 
thrown  open  to  all  comers  {ante,  p.  295),  and  the  Company  had 
been  allowed  to  retain  its  monopoly  only  in  the  commerce 
with  China.  As  the  time  approached  for  another  renewal  of 
the  charter,  reform  of  all  kinds  was  in  the  air,  the  English 
Reform  Act  having  been  passed  in  1832,  and  it  was  clear  that 
the  last  vestige  of  monopoly  must  go.  The  main  question  at 
issue  was  whether  the  Crown  should  take  over  the  direct 
administration  of  the  Indian  Empire,  now  an  established  fact, 
or  continue  to  exercise  its  powers  through  the  medium  of  the 
Company.  The  Ministry  of  the  day  not  feeling  ready  to  under- 
take the  direct  government.  Parliament  preferred  to  continue 
the  use  of  the  Company's  machinery.  But  the  Company 
ceased  to  exist  as  a  commercial  body  ;  its  assets  were  bought 
at  a  valuation,  and  its  organization  became  merely  an  extra 
wheel  in  the  mechanism  of  the  Imperial  Government.  That 
was  the  main  effect  of  the  legislation  of  1833,  although  other 
important  changes  were  effected.  The  Government  of  India 
was  now  formally  empowered  to  pass  laws,  and  its  statutes 
were  given  the  title  of  Acts  instead  of  Regulations.  At  the 
same  time  Madras  and  Bombay  were  deprived  of  the  legis- 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  311 

lative  power,^  and,  as  already  mentioned,  a  Law  Member  was 
added  to  the  Governor-Generars  Council.  A  Commission 
was  appointed  to  devise  a  system  of  Anglo-Indian  law,  and 
after  many  years  its  labours  resulted  in  the  existing  Codes. 
The  North-Western  Provinces  (now  the  Agra  Province)  were 
formed  into  a  fourth  Presidency,  but  soon  afterwards  they 
were  reduced  to, the  standing  of  a  lieutenant-governorshij), 
Europeans  were  permitted  to  hold  lands,  and  a  declaration 
^as  recorded  that  '  no  native  of  India,  nor  any  natural-born 
subject  of  His  Majesty,  should  be  disabled  from  holding  any 
place,  office,  or  employment  by  reason  of  his  religion,  place  of 
birth,  descent,  or  colour  '.  As  everybody  knows,  the  liberty 
so  granted  was  confirmed  by  Queen  Victoria's  Proclamation 
in  1858  and  has  been  freely  used.  Two  Indians  now  sit  on 
the  Secretary  of  State's  Council,  which  takes  the  place  of  the 
Secret  Committee  of  the  Court  of  Directors  under  Pitt's  India 
Act  and  subsequent  charters.  Further  changes  are  in  progress. 
Eminent  men  of  the  period.  The  review  of  Lord  WiUiam 
Bentinck's  memorable  administration  may  be  closed  by  men- 
tioning the  names  of  some  of  the  illustrious  men,  British  and 
Indian,  who  adorned  the  period.  The  Indian  career  of 
Mountstuart  Elpliinstone  ended  the  year  before  Lord  William's 
arrival,  when  he  was  succeeded  as  Governor  of  Bombay  by 
Sir  John  Malcolm.  Elphinstone's  history  of  India  during  the 
Muhammadan  period,  although  no  longer  adequate,  has  not 
lost  its  reputation,  and  Malcolm's  account  of  Central  India 
and  other  works  are  still  standard  authorities.  James  Prinsep 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  scientific  study  of  Indian  anti- 
quities and  early  history  ;  Horace  Hayman  Wilson  and  other 
scholars  handed  on  the  torch  of  Sanskrit  learning  received 
from  the  hands  of  Sir  William  Jones  and  Colebrooke.  Colonel 
James  Tod,  author  of  the  inimitable  Annals  of  JRajastJian, 
retired  in  1823  and  died  twelve  years  later.  Another  famous 
historian  of  the  period  is  Grant  Duff,  who  told  the  story  of 
the  Marathas  in  a  work  which  ranks  as  an  original  authority. 
*  Afterwards  restored. 


312    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

His  namesake,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Duff,  was  one  of  many 
eminent  missionaries  who  were  the  pioneers  of  education  in 
India.  Raja  Rammohan  Rai,  the  founder  of  the  Brahmo 
Samaj,  and  a  zealous  opponent  of  suttee,  died  in  England  in 
1833.  Isvar  Chandra  Gupta,  editor  of  a  Bengali  newspaper 
in  1830,  is  famous  as  a  poet  in  his  mother  tongue. 

Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  and  the  press.  The  short  term  of  office 
of  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Comj)an3"s 
servants,  who  held  charge  pending  the  arrival  of  Lord  Williani_ 
Bentinck's  successor,  is  memorable  for  the  Act  repealing  all 
restrictions  on  the  press,  which  at  that  time  was  almost  wholly 
confined  to  Calcutta  and  in  European  hands.  The  censor- 
ship, introduced  during  the  French  wars  in  order  to  prevent 
communication  of  intelligence  to  the  enemy,  was  withdrawn 
in  1818  by  Lord  Hastings,  and  replaced  by  the  issue  of  rules, 
which  editors  were  required  to  obey.  Mr.  Adam,  who 
deported  the  editor  of  the  Calcutta  Journal,  made  the  rules 
more  stringent.  Lord  William  Bentinck,  while  making  no 
change  of  system  and  maintaining  that  the  press  should  be 
subject  to  '  rigid  control ',  ordinarily  allowed  the  journalists 
a  free  hand.  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  believing  in  absolute 
freedom,  passed  an  Act  applicable  to  the  whole  of  India, 
removing  all  checks  on  the  press.  Anarchical  conspiracies 
having  shown  the  dangers  of  '  the  liberty  of  unlicensed 
printing  ',  both  the  Government  of  India  and  the  protected 
States  have  been  obliged  to  reimpose  certain  restrictions. 

CHAPTER  XXX 

Lords  Auckland,  Ellenborough,  and  Hardinge  :  first  Afghan  war  ;  conquest 
of  Sind  ;  war  with  Sindia;  first  Sikh  war. 

Lord  Auckland  ;  first  Afghan  war.  Changes  in  the  English 
]V'Iinistry  caused  some  delay  in  choosing  a  successor  to  Lord 
William  Bentinck.  Ultimately  the  choice  fell  on  Lord  Auck- 
land, a  respectable  Whig  politician,  who  arrived  in  Calcutta 
on  March  5,  1836.  He  proved  himself ,  in  my  judgement,  the 
weakest  and  most  mischievous  of  the  Governors-General.     On 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  313 

more  than  one  occasion  he  showed  a  disregard  for  honest, 
truthful  dealing.  In  Lord  Minto's  time,  when  Napoleon  was 
at  the  height  of  his  power  and  the  Tsar  of  Russia  was  his 
humble  servant,  embassies  had  been  sent  from  Calcutta  to 
Kabul,  Sind,  and  Persia  with  the  object  of  securing  the  North- 
western frontier  against  French  ambition  working  through 
Russian  agency.  When  Lord  Auckland  came  out.  Napoleon 
\vas  dead,  French  dreams  of  interference  in  the  affairs  of  Asia 
had  vanished,  and  Russia  had  recovered  freedom  of  action.^ 
She  had  used  that  freedom  on  her  own  behalf  to  extend  her 
dominion  in  Central  Asia  to  the  east  of  the  Casj^ian  Sea  and 
to  acquire  a  commanding  influence  at  the  court  of  Persia.  The 
Russian  advance  was  regarded  by  some  politicians  in  both 
England  and  India  as  a  menace  to  India,  and  when  the  Persians 
besieged  Herat,  Lord  Auckland  was  much  alarmed.  He  came 
to  the  conclusion,  in  agreement  with  Lord  Palmerston  and 
other  Ministers  in  England,  that  the  best  way  to  check  Russia 
was  to  support  Shah  Shuja,  then  living  as  an  exile  in  the  Panjab 
(ante,  p.  294),  in  his  claim  to  the  Afghan  throne,  at  that  time 
occupied  by  Dost  Muhammad  Barakzai,  who  was  believed  to 
be  under  Russian  influence.  In  1838  a  '  tripartite  treaty  * 
was  drawn  up  between  the  Government  of  India,  Shah  Shuja, 
and  Ranjit  Singh,  and  an  army  was  sent  into  Afghanistan. 
The  troops  advanced  through  both  the  Bolan  and  Khyber  Passes 
Mith  great  difficulty,  and  occupied  Kandahar,  Ghazni,  and 
Kabul.  Dost  Muhammad  surrendered,  and  Shah  Shuja  was 
enthroned.  But  the  i\fghans  did  not  want  him,  and  in  1841 
they  rose,  murdered  Sir  William  Macnaghten,  the  Political 
Agent,  and  forced  the  British  out  of  Kabul.  The  English 
commanders  and  political  officers  were  incompetent,  the  troops 
lost  heart,  and  in  January,  1842,  the  entire  Kabul  force  of 
about  15,000  souls,  including  followers,  when  trjdng  to  retire 
through  the  Khyber  Pass,  was  utterly  destroyed,  excepting 
about  120  prisoners  and  one  officer.  Dr.  Brydon,  who  made  his 

^  Napoleon  died  at  St.  Helena  in  1821,  having  been  confined  in  the  island 
since  1815. 


314    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

way,  wounded  and  exhausted,  to  Jalalabad,  where  General 
Sale  held  out. 

Lord  Ellenborough  ;  the  avenging  army.  After  this  disaster, 
the  worst  which  has  ever  befallen  the  British  in  India,  Lord 
Auckland  was  relieved  in  the  ordinary  course  by  Lord  Ellen- 
borough,  With  some  hesitation  he  sanctioned  the  advance 
of  General  Nott  from  Kandahar  and  General  Pollock  through 
the  Khyber  to  Kabul.  The  great  bazaar  there  was  blown  up, 
the  prisoners  were  recovered,  and  the  avenging  army  returned 
to  India.  Meantime  Shah  Shuja  had  been  killed,  and  the 
Government  of  India  wisely  resolved  not  to  meddle  any  more 
in  Afghanistan.  Dost  Muhammad  was  allowed  to  return  to 
the  vacant  throne  Avithout  conditions,  and  retained  it  until  his 
death  at  a  great  age  in  1863.  Everybody  is  now  agreed  that 
the  policy  of  Lord  Auckland  and  Lord  Palmerston  was  mis- 
taken. Lord  Ellenborough  welcomed  the  returning  army  with 
unbecoming  festivities  and  boastful  proclamations,  which  pro- 
duced an  unfavourable  impression  in  India  and  Europe. 

Conquest  of  Sind.  The  Governor-General,  who  was  dis- 
satisfied with  the  Amiss  of  Sind  for  their  conduct  during  the 
Afghan  war,  was  anxious  to  annex  that  province,  and  his 
sentiments  were  shared  by  his  agent,  Sir  Charles  Napier,  who 
conducted  the  negotiations  with  the  chiefs  in  a  provocative 
spirit,  which  goaded  the  people  into  open  hostility.  In 
Eebruary,  1843,  the  Residency  was  attacked  by  a  mob  of 
Balochis,  and  war  began.  The  Amirs  having  been  defeated 
in  a  fiercely  contested  battle  at  Miani,  near  Hyderabad,  and 
in  other  fights,  the  country  was  annexed  and  subsequently 
attached  to  the  Presidency  of  Bombay.  The  military  opera- 
tions were  well  managed,  but  the  crooked  policy  which  led  to 
the  war  cannot  be  justified.  The  annexation  was  followed  by 
mutinies  of  the  sepoy  regiments  stationed  in  the  province, 
which  were  dealt  with  in  a  feeble  fashion. 

Gwalior  affairs.  About  the  same  time  trouble  arose  in 
•Gwalior,  owing  to  the  death  of  Jankaji  Sindia  without  issue. 
A  son  having  been  adopted  by  the  widow,  Tara  Bai,  a  regent 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  315 

was  appointed  with,  the  sanction  of  the  Government  of 
India.  Palace  intrigues  expelled  the  regent,  and  the  Resident 
was  obliged  to  withdraw.  The  peace  of  the  coiuitry  being 
threatened  by  the  arrogance  of  the  Gwalior  armj^  which  was 
too  strong  for  the  state,  Lord  Ellenborough  and  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, Sir  Hugh  Gough,  brought  up  troops  as  a  pre- 
caution, and  demanded  the  reduction  of  the  local  force. 
Negotiations  failed,  and  the  inevitable  conflict  took  place  at 
Maharajpur,  near  Gwalior  (December  29,  1843).  The  army 
of  Sindia  was  defeated  after  a  hard  fight,  and  on  the  same  day 
another  battle  took  place  at  Paniar.  The  requisite  steps  were 
then  taken  to  ensure  the  subordination  of  the  Gwalior  state  to 
the  paramount  power,  but  no  territory  was  annexed. 

Sir  Henry  Hardinge  (Lord  Hardinge).  The  Directors,  with 
good  reason,  being  dissatisfied  with  Lord  Ellen  borough's 
conduct  of  afEciirs,  recalled  him,  and  appointed  in  his  place 
Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  a  distinguished  military  officer,  who  was 
fifty-nine  years  of  age,  and,  like  all  his  predecessors,  came  out 
as  the  friend  of  peace.  But,  like  most  of  them,  he  found  his 
business  to  be  not  peace  but  war.  From  the  moment  of  his 
arrival  he  was  compelled  to  take  precautions  against  the 
threatening  attitude  of  the  Sikh  army  in  the  Panjab,  and  to 
strengthen  the  garrisons  on  the  frontier. 

The  Sikhs  after  Ranjit  Singh's  death.  When  Ranjit  Singh 
died  in  1839,  during  the  Afghan  war,  he  was  nominally  suc- 
ceeded by  his  imbecile  son,  Kharak  Singh.  A  series  of  intrigues 
and  murders  ensued,  resulting  in  the  proclamation  as  Maharaja 
of  Dilip  (Dhuleep)  Singh,  a  child  five  years  of  age,  falsely 
reputed  to  be  a  son  of  Ranjit  Singh.  But  all  real  authority 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  panchdyats,  or  committees,  com- 
manding the  powerful  armj'  of  the  Khalsa,  as  the  Sikh  com- 
munity was  called.  At  last  the  Rani,  the  mother  of  Dilip 
Singh,  and  two  of  her  friends,  Lai  Singh  and  Tej  Singh,  -v^ere 
constrained  to  tempt  the  army  which  was  beyond  their  control 
by  holding  out  the  promise  of  the  plunder  of  Delhi,  and  to 
give  the  order  to  cross  the  Sutlaj.     Early  in  December,  1845, 


316    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

a  force  of  nearly  60,000  Sikhs,  with  numerous  camp-followers 
and  guns,  crossed  the  river,  the  boundary  fixed  by  Lord  Minto 
in  1809,  and  so  declared  war. 

The  Sutlaj  campaign :  four  battles,  1845-6.  On  December  18, 
1845,  the  British  army,  taken  by  surprise  and  attacked  at 
Mudki  (Moodkee),  was  victorious,  but  at  a  heavy  cost.  Three 
days  later,  the  same  force,  strengthened  by  fresh  troops, 
attacked  the  Sikh  entrenchments  at  Ferozeshah  (properly 
Plurushahr),  in  the  Firozpur  district  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  Sutlaj.  The  battle  lasted  for  two  days,  and  after  a 
desperate  struggle,  in  which  the  British  army  lost  2,415  in 
killed  and  wounded,  the  entrenchments  were  carried  and  the 
Sikhs  compelled  to  retreat.  In  this  battle  the  Governor- 
General,  in  order  to  encourage  the  men,  chivalrously  served  as 
second  in  command  to  Sir  Hugh  Gough,  the  Commander-in- 
Chief.  Five  of  his  aides-de-camp  were  killed  and  four  wounded. 
A  few  days  later  a  third  battle  was  fought  at  Aliwal  in  the 
Ludiana  district,  and  again  the  Sikhs  were  worsted.  The 
final  struggle  took  place  at  Sobraon  (Subrahan)  on  the  bank  of 
the  Sutlaj,  where  the  Sikhs  were  strongly  entrenched  and 
defended  by  powerful  artillery.  They  were  driven  into  and 
across  the  river  with  a  loss  of  about  10,000  men.  The  casu- 
alties on  the  British  side  also  were  heavy,  nearly  2,400.  Thus, 
in  less  than  two  months  four  great  battles  had  been  fought  and 
won,  and  the  Panjab  lay  at  the  disposal  of  the  victors.  The 
Governor-General  and  Commander-in-Chief  received  peerages, 
and  honours  never  were  more  hardly  earned  or  better  deserved. 

Treaties  of  Lahore.  Lord  Hardinge  did  not  wish  to  annex 
the  whole  province,  nor  at  the  time  had  he  the  means  to  do  so. 
A  treaty  concluded  at  Lahore  stipulated  for  the  reduction  of 
the  Sikh  army  and  the  surrender  of  the  guns  used  in  the  war. 
Major  Henry  Lawrence  was  left  at  the  capital  with  a  British 
force,  and  after  a  short  time  a  fresh  treaty  was  drawn  up 
providing  for  a  regency  under  British  control  during  the 
Maharaja's  minority.  Gulab  Singh,  an  upstart  chief  who  was 
already  in  possession  of  Jamu,  was  guaranteed  in  his  position 


318    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

as  ruler  of  that  country  and  allowed  to  oceupv'  Kashmir  on 
payment  of  seventy-five  lakhs  of  rupees.  The  Sikhs  thus  lost 
the  control  of  the  hill  regions,  and  were  further  weakened  by 
the  cession  to  the  Company  of  the  tract  between  the  Sutlaj  and 
Bias.  At  the  beginning  of  1848  Lord  Hardinge  returned  to 
England,  and  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Dalhousie. 

Civil  reforms.  Amid  the  clash  of  arms  the  voice  of  the 
reformer  is  little  heard.  The  whole  history  of  Lord  Auck- 
land's administration  is  contained  in  that  of  the  Afghan 
disaster,  but  some  civil  progress  was  effected  in  the  time  of  his 
successors.  Lord  Ellenborough's  Government  carried  out  two 
notable  reforms,  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  prohibition 
of  state  lotteries.  Lord  Hardinge  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
having  pushed  on  the  construction  of  the  Ganges  Canal,  and 
taken  effective  steps  to  check  the  j^ractice  of  suttee  in  the 
protected  states. 

CHAPTER  XXXI 

Lord  Dalhousie :    second  Sikh  war ;    second  Burmese  war ;    doctrine  of 
lapse  ;    annexations  ;    material  progress. 

Lord  Dalhousie.  Lord  Dalhousie,  a  brilliant  young  Scotch 
nobleman  with  some  official  experience,  and  only  thirty-five 
years  of  age,  took  over  charge  at  Calcutta  in  January,  1848, 
receiving  from  his  predecessor  an  assurance  that  so  far  as 
human  foresight  could  predict,  '  it  would  not  be  necessary 
to  fire  a  gun  in  India  for  seven  years  to  come '.  A  year  later 
the  Governor-General's  army  fought  the  Sikhs  in  two  deadly 
battles,  and  the  Panjab  became  British  territory.  Then  for 
three  years  there  was  peace,  followed  b}^  the  second  Burmese 
war  and  the  annexation  of  Pegu.     Such  is  human  foresight. 

Second  Sikh  war  ;  battles  of  Chilianwala  and  Gujrat.  The 
arrangements  for  the  government  of  the  Punjab  made  by  Lord 
Hardinge  on  the  lines  of  the  Wellesley  polic}-,  and  obviously 
luistable,  temporary  makeshifts,  did  not  last  long.  The  trouble 
began  at  Multan,  held  by  a  governor  named  Mulraj  in  practical 


atARQUESS  OF  CALHOUSIE 


320    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

independence.  He  resigned  his  office  when  the  new  adminis- 
tration came  into  power,  and  two  young  British  officers  were 
sent  to  take  over  charge.  Disputes  having  arisen,  the  officers 
were  attacked  and  murdered,  and  Mulraj  went  into  open  re- 
bellion. The  revolt  quickly  spread  over  the  whole  province 
and  war  became  inevitable.  '  Unwarned  by  precedent,  un- 
influenced by  example  ',  said  the  Governor-General  in  October, 
'  the  Sikh  nation  has  called  for  war,  and  on  my  word,  sirs, 
they  shall  have  it  with  a  vengeance.'  They  got  it.  Multan, 
after  a  gallant  defence,  was  taken  on  January  28,  1849,  Lord 
Gough,  the  Commander-in-Chief,  having  fought  a  bloody 
battle  at  Chilian wala,  on  the  Jihlam,  on  the  13th.  The  con- 
flict has  been  unjustly-  described  as  '  an  evening  battle  fought 
by  a  brave  old  man  in  a  passion  '.  In  reality.  Lord  Gough, 
who  had  intended  to  encamp,  was  forced  to  fight  by  the  Sikhs 
moving  from  their  entrenchments.  Darkness  coming  on,  the 
Sikh  army  retired  a  short  distance,  but  the  British  lost  four 
guns  and  the  colours  of  three  regiments.  Both  sides  claimed 
the  victory,  and  the  contest  may  be  called  a  drawn  battle. 
The  authorities  in  England  blamed  Lord  Gough,  and  ordered 
his  supersession  by  Sir  Charles  Napier.  But  before  the  new 
Commander-in-Chief  could  arrive.  Lord  Gough,  on  Februarj'  21, 
1849,  retrieved  his  reputation  by  winning  at  Gujrat,  in  the 
district  of  that  name,  near  the  Chinab  river,  a  victory  so 
complete  that  the  Sikhs  had  no  option  but  unconditional 
submission. 

Annexation  of  the  Panjab.  Lord  Dalhousie  rightly  decided 
on  annexation,  suitable  j^rovision  being  made  for  the  young 
Maharaja  and  other  people  with  claims.  The  annexation  of 
the  Panjab  completed  the  extension  of  British  dominion  over 
the  whole  of  India  Proper.  The  Governor-General  pi'acticaily 
took  over  the  government  himself,  working  through  a  board  of 
three  commissioners,  replaced  after  a  time  by  a  Chief  Com- 
missioner, who  has  since  developed  into  a  Lieutenant-Governor. 
In  Lord  Dalhousie's  time  the  real  authority,  even  when  Sir 
John  Lawrence  was  Chief  Commissioner,  vested  in  the  Governor- 


THE 

BURMESE  WARS 

1826,  1852,  1885. 

Statute   Miles 


GEORGE  PHILIP  A    SON,  LTD- 


322    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

General,  the  local  ruler  being  his  agent.  Under  the  foster- 
ing care  of  Lord  Dalhousie  and  the  able  officers  chosen  by, 
him,  the  province  rapidly  advanced  in  prosperity,  and  the  Sikh 
soldiers,  who  had  fought  so  bravely  against  the  British  power, 
became  its  loyal  supporters.  In  the  Mutiny  the  Pan  jab  was 
a  tower  of  strength  to  the  Government,  and  since  then  many 
of  its  gallant  sons  have  given  their  lives  on  many  fields  in  the 
cause  of  their  sovereign.  A  Sikh  battalion  took  part  in  the 
Burmese  war  only  three  years  after  the  annexation  of  the 
Panjab. 

Second  Burmese  war,  1852.  After  an  interval  of  three 
years'  peace  another  war  was  forced  upon  Lord  Dalhousie  by 
the  arrogance  of  the  King  of  Burmah,  who  committed  various 
outrages  on  British  subjects,  refused  redress,  and  deliberately 
insulted  the  officers  deputed  to  demand  it.  War  was  declared, 
and  in  April,  1852,  the  pagoda  at  Rangoon  was  captured  and 
the  town  occupied.  The  taking  of  Pro  me  followed  in  October, 
and  in  December  the  war  was  ended  by  a  proclamation 
a,nnexing  the  province  of  Pegu,  the  inhabitants  of  which 
•eagerly  accepted  deliverance  from  Burmese  cruelties.^  No 
treaty  was  made  because  the  court  of  Ava  declined  to  nego- 
tiate. The  conduct  of  the  operations  presented  a  strong  con- 
trast to  the  proceedings  of  1826  under  the  feeble  guidance 
of  Lord  Amherst.  Lord  Dalhousie  saw  to  everything  him- 
self, and  took  care  that  everything  should  be  well  done.  The 
annexation  of  Pegu  completely  shut  off  Upper  or  independent 
Burma  from  the  sea. 

The  doctrine  of  lapse.  No  ruler  of  India  surpassed,  or 
perhaps  equalled,  Lord  Dalhousie  in  strength  of  will,  love  of 
justice,  and  devotion  to  duty.  He  gave  his  life  to  India  and 
his  country.  He  came  out  a  young  man  in  his  prime  ;  after 
eight  years  of  office  he  returned  a  cripple  on  crutches,  fit  only 
for  death,  which  was  not  long  delayed.  Those  eight  years 
were  crowded  with  unceasing  labours,  dedicated  in  large  part 

*  Pegu  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  Commissioner.  The  province  of  Lower 
Burma,  including  Arakan,  Pegu,  and  Tenasserim,  was  not  formed  until  1862. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  323 

to  the  affairs  of  the  native  states.  The  system  of  subsidiary 
aUianees,  started  by  Lord  Wellesley  and  continued  by  his 
successors,  was  a  necessary  stage  in  the  relations  between  the 
protected  states  and  the  paramount  power,  but  by  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century  it  had  served  its  purpose.  Nearly 
all  the  princes  who  occupied  their  thrones  under  British  pro- 
tection abused  their  powers,  lived  lives  of  selfish  indulgence,  and 
misgoverned  their  subjects.  Lord  Dalhousie,  therefore,  was 
convinced  that  the  subjects  of  any  native  state  would  benefit 
immensely  by  the  substitution  of  direct  British  government 
for  the  rule  of  a  licentious  prince,  freed  by  the  protection  of 
superior  authority  from  the  restraints  imposed  by  the  fear  of 
revolt.  Wherever  he  turned — to  Oudh,  the  Panjab,  or  else- 
where— he  found  the  same  abuses.  He  was  thus  led,  in  the 
interests  of  the  people,  to  act  systematically  on  the  doctrine 
of  lapse — that  is  to  say,  he  refused  to  acknowledge  the  right  of 
a  childless  Raja  or  Nawab  to  pass  on  the  sovereignty  of  his 
state  to  an  adopted  son,  and  held  that  in  such  a  case  the 
sovereignty  lapsed  to  the  supreme  government.  The  doctrine 
was  already  well  established  in  principle,  but  Lord  Dalhousie 
applied  it  with  greater  strictness  than  his  predecessors.  The 
question  first  arose  with  reference  to  Satara  {ante,  p.  300),  the 
Maratha  principality  created  by  Lord  Hastings,  which  was 
annexed  by  Lord  Dalhousie  in  the  first  year  of  his  rule,  on  the 
principle  above  stated.  That  principle  subsequently  was 
applied  in  the  cases  of  JhansI,  Nagpur,  the  relic  of  the  Bhonsla 
dominions,  and  in  several  others  of  minor  importance.  It  was 
also  invoked  to  stop  the  large  pension  paid  to  the  ex-Nawab 
of  the  Carnatic.  The  refusal  to  continue  to  the  Nana  Sahib  of 
Bithur,  adopted  son  of  Baji  Rao,  the  ex-Peshwa,  who  died  in 
1851,  the  pension  of  eight  lakhs  granted  by  Lord  Hastings 
(ante,  p.  300)  was  not  a  case  of  the  application  of  the  doctrine 
of  lapse,  for  Sir  John  Malcolm  had  expressly  declared  the 
allowance  to  Baji  Rao  to  be  a  '  life  pension  '  ;  and  as  such  it 
died  with  him.  The  Nana  Sahib,  as  adopted  son,  admittedly 
inherited  twenty-eight  lakhs  of  rupees,  and,  as  an  act  of  favour, 


324    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

was  given  Si  jdglr  besides.  He  had  not  any  just  grievance.  In 
all  cases  where  the  doctrine  of  lapse  of  sovereignty  was 
enforced,  the  adopted  son  inherited  under  Hindu  law  the 
private  property  of  the  deceased,  and  the  Nana  Sahib  received 
in  full  everything  to  which  he  was  entitled.  On  November  4, 
1859,  at  Cawnpore,  Lord  Canning  announced  the  withdrawal 
of  the  doctrine  of  lapse,  and  assured  the  assembled  princes 
that  in  future  adopted  sons  would  be  recognized  as  heirs  to  the 
states.  - 

Annexations  otherwise  than  by  lapse  or  conquest.  A  portion 
of  Sikkim  on  the  north-eastern  frontier  was  annexed  as  punish- 
ment for  the  Raja's  ill-treatment  of  Dr.  (Sir  John)  Hooker  and 
another  officer.  Sambhalpur,  on  the  south-west  of  Bengal, 
was  taken  over  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  the  deceased 
Raja,  who  deliberately  abstained  from  adopting  an  heir. 
Oudh  was  annexed  during  the  closing  days  of  Lord  Dalhousie's 
rule,  in  consequence  of  the  persistent  misgovernment  of  the 
country.  This  drastic  measure  was  taken  by  express  order 
of  the  home  authorities,  and  in  opposition  to  the  Governor- 
General's  recommendation  that  the  king,  in  special  considera- 
tion of  the  faithfulness  of  his  dynasty  to  the  English  alliance, 
might  be  maintained  in  his  royal  state  and  dignity,  the  ad- 
ministration being  taken  over  by  the  Government  of  India. 
The  rulers  of  Oudh,  who  were  allowed  to  assume  the  title  of. 
king  in  1819,  had  misgoverned  the  country  for  a  century,  and 
had  uniformly  refused  to  listen  to  the  remonstrances  pressed 
by  Lord  William  Bentinck,  Lord  Hastings,  and  a  long  succes- 
sion of  Residents.  Sir  William  Sleeman's  Journey  through  the 
Kingdom  of  Oudh,  1819-50,  gives  an  appalling  picture  of  the 
state  of  the  country,  which  formed  an  ample  moral  basis  for 
the  decision  to  annex. 

Modern  system  of  government  founded.  Lord  Dalhousie 
made  a  beginning  in  framing  a  system  of  government  on 
kiodern  lines,  and  got  rid  of  absurd  traditions  which  had  come 
down  from  the  old  mercantile  days  of  the  Company.  The 
first    sensible    distribution    of    the    work    of   administration 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  •  325 

among  distinct  departments  dates  from  his  time,  and  each 
department  created  received  his  sj^ecial  and  ever-watchful 
attention.  Nothing  escaped  him,  and  every  official  felt  him 
to  be  master. 

Railways.  The  Governor-General,  when  oiScially  employed 
in  England,  had  been  in  touch  with  the  growth  of  the  railway 
system,  then  a  noveltj- ;  and  when  he  came  to  India,  was  re- 
solved that  India  should  have  railways  of  her  own.  The 
prophets  declared  that  they  would  not  be  used,  w^ould  not 
pay,  and  so  forth,  but  Dalhousie  persevered' and  Avas  able  to 
open  a  short  line  in  1853. 

Postal  and  telegraph  departments.  When  he  assumed 
charge,  India  had  no  postal  organization  worthy  of  the  name, 
the  mails  being  convej-ed  by  prehistoric  methods  under  the  con- 
trol of  local  officers.  Dalhousie  founded  the  Postal  Department 
now  so  efficient,  and  also  introduced  the  electric  telegraph. 

Public  works.  Roads,  irrigation  works,  na\igable  canals, 
and,  in  shdrt,  material  improvements  of  every  kind,  were 
designed  and  executed  under  his  personal  guidance  and  super- 
vision. The  Grand  Trunk  Road  from  Calcutta  to  the  Panjab 
was  constructed  in  his  time.  AU  this  labour  was  performed  in 
spite  of  painful  bodily  suffering  and  crushing  domestic  sorrow. 

Education.  The  Governor-General  was  busy  considering 
the  subject  of  education  when  he  received  a  dispatch  from  the 
♦Secretary  of  State,  Sir  Charles  Wood  (Lord  Halifax),  '  con- 
taining a  scheme  of  education  for  all  India,  far  -wdder  and  more 
comprehensive  than  the  local  or  the  Supreme  Government 
could  have  ventured  to  suggest '.  That  celebrated  document 
provided  for  the  establishment  of  vernacular  schools  in  all 
Districts,  colleges,  aided  schools,  and  universities.  Lord 
Dalhousie  took  action  under  it  without  delay,  and  organized 
the  Department  of  Public  Instruction. 

Charter  of  1853.  The  charter  of  the  East  India  ComjDany 
was  renewed  for  the  last  time  in  1853,  not  for  any  sjaecific 
period,  but  during  the  pleasure  of  Parliament.  The  system 
of  government  established  in  1833  was  continued,  with  the 


326    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

exceptions  that  certain  changes  were  made  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Court  of  Directors,  the  Governor-General  was  relieved 
of  the  charge  of  Bengal  and  Bihar,  a  Lieutenant-Governor 
being  provided,  and  the  patronage  of  the  Civil  Service  was 
withdrawn  from  the  Directors,  the  appointments  being  thrown 
open  to  public  competition. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

Lord  Canning  :   the  Mutiny  ;   the  Queen's  Proclamation. 

Lord  Canning.  Lord  Canning,  son  of  Mr.  George  Canning, 
who  was  Prime  Minister  in  1827,  relieved  Lord  Dalhousie 
on  the  last  day  of  February,  1856,  and  remained  in  office  for 
a  little  more  than  six  years,  until  March,  1862.  Like  Lord 
Dalhousie,  he  wore  himself  out  in  the  service  of  his  country, 
and  returned  home  only  to  die.  When  he  assumed  charge  of 
the  government,  England  was  involved  in  wars  "with  Persia 
and  China,  and  the  Home  Government  required  India  to  con- 
tribute contingents  of  European  troops,  which  the  country- 
could  not  spare.  The  troubles  which  ensued  were  largely  the 
result  of  the  reduction  of  the  European  garrison  of  India 
below  the  safety  point. 

Unrest.  The  history  of  Lord  Canning's  administration  is 
the  story  of  the  Mutiny,  its  suppression,  and  the  consequent 
reorganization.  Unrest  was  in  the  air  when  he  arrived.  The 
annexation  of  Oudh,  however  justifiable  on  moral  grounds, 
undoubtedly  had  unsettled  men's  minds  and  displeased  the 
Bengal  army,  which  was  largely  recruited  from  the  ex-king's 
dominions.  England,  only  just  emerging  from  the  long 
Crimean  war  with  Russia,  found  herself  engaged  in  lesser 
conflicts  with  Persia  and  China,  and  it  seemed  to  the  numerous 
classes  in  India  who  were  dissatisfied  for  one  reason  or  another 
with  the  British  rule,  that  the  power  of  the  Government  was 
shaken  and  might  be  defied.  They  could  not  realize  the 
existence  of  hidden  reserves  of  strength. 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  327 

The  Mutiny.  A  panic  in  the  sepoy  army  was  caused  in 
January,  1857,  by  the  discovery  that  the  cartridges  for  the 
new  Enfield  rifle  had  been  greased  with  animal  fat,  and  that 
the  purity  of  the  sepoy's  caste  was  consequently  endangered. 
The  authorities  did  their  best  to  remedj^  the  blunder  ignorantly 
committed,  but  the  alarm  extended  throughout  the  army,  and 
was  not  to  be  allayed,  the  men  believing  that  the  Government 
intended  to  force  them  to  become  Christians.  Trouble  began 
with  incendiary  fires  at  Barrackpore,  followed  in  February 
and  March  by  mutinies  there  and  at  Berhampore,  the  canton- 
ment of  Murshldabad.  In  distant  Umballa,  too,  fires  in  the 
lines  during  March  and  April  indicated  the  rebellious  spirit  of 
the  troops.  The  decisive  outbreak  occurred  at  Meerut  on 
May  10,  when  the  native  regiments  broke  out,  burnt  the  station, 
murdered  Christians,  and  set  off  for  Delhi.  The  commanding 
officer  at  Meerut,  an  imbecile  old  man,  did  nothing  with  the 
2,200  European  troops  at  his  disposal,  but  allowed  the  revolted 
regiments  to  escape  and  occupy  the  ancient  capital,  where  the 
Christian  population  was  slaughtered,  and  the  sepoys  tendered 
their  allegiance  to  the  titular  emperor,  Bahadur  Shah,  then 
more  than  eighty  years  of  age.  Within  a  month  nearly  every 
regiment  between  Allahabad  and  the  Sutlaj  had  mutinied,  and 
in  most  districts  of  the  United  Provinces  of  Agra  and  Oudli 
civil  government  was  at  an  end.  Those  days  are  still  remem- 
bered as  '  the  time  of  disorder  '  (ghadr  or  balwd  ka  waht). 

Cawnpore.  At  Cawnpore,  on  June  27,  General  Wheeler, 
after  a  gallant  defence  of  an  untenable  entrenchment  for  three 
weeks,  was  compelled  to  surrender  on  terms,  which  were 
immediately  violated.  All  the  prisoners,  men,  women,  and 
children,  were  barbarously  massacred  under  the  orders  of  the 
Nana  Sahib  of  Bithur,  adopted  son  of  the  late  Peshwa  [ante, 
p.  300),  who  caused  himself  to  be  proclaimed  Peshwa  on  July  1. 
'  The  great  company  of  Christian  people,  chiefly  women  and 
children  ',  who  were  slaughtered  at  the  Bibighar,  and  cast  into 
a  well,  are  believed  to  have  numbered  about  200.  The 
avenging  troops,  led  by  Havelock  and  Neill,  who  arrived  on 


328    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

July  17,  were  just  too  late  to  prevent  this  crime,  which  was 
perpetrated  on  the  15th. 

Lucknow.  The  small  European  garrison  and  population  of 
Lucknow,  including  many  women  and  children,  held  out  in  the 
Residency,  at  first  under  the  command  of  Sir  Henry  Lawrence, 
until  he  was  killed  on  July  4,  and  afterwards  of  his  successor, 
Brigadier-General  Inglis.  On  September  25,  when  the  siege 
had  lasted  for  eighty-seven  days.  Generals  Outram  and  Have- 
lock  with  a  relieving  force  fought  their  way  into  the  Residency 
through  the  streets  of  the  city,  and  brought  a  welcome  rein- 
forcement to  the  hard-pressed  defenders,  who  were  finally 
delivered  and  withdrawn  safely  by  Sir  Colin  Campbell  in 
November,  after  standing  a  siege  for  five  months  with  unsur- 
passed heroism.  The  defence  had  been  materially  aided  by 
a  small  number  of  gallant,  loyal  sepoys,  including  Sikhs,  who 
remained  '  true  to  their  salt  '. 

Battle  of  Cawnpore  ;  Rani  of  JhansI  and  Tantia  Topi.  The 
troops  which  relieved  the  Residency  at  Lucknow  were  obliged 
to  withdraw  from  the  city  in  order  to  rescue  Cawnpore  from 
the  hands  of  the  Gwalior  contingent,  25,000  strong,  which  had 
occupied  that  place.  Sir  Colin  gained  a  complete  victory  on 
December  6  over  the  Maratha  rebel  leader,  Tantia  Topi,  who 
then  united  the  remnant  of  his  forces  with  those  of  the  Rani  of 
JhansT,  the  ablest  of  the  rebel  leaders.  The  campaign  in  Central 
India  against  the  Rani  and  Tantia  Topi  was  conducted  by  Sir 
Hugh  Rose  (Lord  Strathnairn)  in  command  of  an  army  brought 
up  from  Bombay.  The  princess  was  killed  in  June,  1858, 
fighting  bravely  at  the  head  of  her  troops,  like  another  Chand 
Bibi,  and  in  the  following  year  Tantia,  who  was  deeply  im- 
plicated in  the  Cawnpore  atrocities,  was  •  captured  and  de- 
servedly executed.  Lucknow,  being  held  in  force  by  the  rebels, 
was  not  retaken  until  March,  1858. 

No  unity  of  purpose  among  the  rebels.  The  rebels  did  not 
agree  in  aiming  at  any  one  political  object.  The  mutinous 
sepoys  of  the  Bengal  army  tendered  their  allegiance  to  Bahadur 
Shah,  and  attempted  the  restoration  of  the  Mughal  monarchy, 


L  3 


330    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

chiefly  because  the  outbreak  of  the  mutiny  happened  to  occur 
at  Meerut  close  to  Delhi,  which  offered  to  them  the  only  possible 
rallying  point.  Most  of  the  mutineers  were  Hindus,  who  had 
little  cause  to  love  Mughal  rule  for  its  own  sake.  Nana  Sahib, 
far  from  supporting  the  cause  of  the  titular  emperor,  pro- 
claimed himself  as  Peshwa,  and  sought  to  revive  the  Maratha 
supremacy,  destroyed  in  1818.  The  Gwalior  contingent  and 
Central  Indian  rebels  generally  had  more  sympathy  with  the 
Maratha  than  with  the  Mughal.  The  Rani  of  Jhansi  fought 
for  her  own  hand,  and  in  other  places  sundry  local  interests 
influenced  the  rebels.  This  lack  of  unity  greatly  weakened 
the  power  of  the  rebellion,  which  was  never  controlled  by  any 
one  mind,  whereas  the  British  operations  were  guided  by  the 
firm  hand  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  acting  in  concert  with 
and  under  the  general  supervision  of  the  Governor-General. 
Each  section  of  the  rebels  was  separately  crushed.  When  all 
was  over,  the  old  Bengal  army  had  ceased  to  exist. 

Delhi.  Important  as  were  the  operations  at  Cawnpore, 
Lucknow,  and  other  places,  the  critical  point  was  Delhi. 
A  tiny  British  force  had  established  itself  in  June  on  the 
famous  Ridge  to  the  north  of  the  city,  but  was  barely  able  to 
hold  its  ground  against  the  insurgent  hosts  until  reinforce- 
ments and  a  siege  train  from  the  Panjab,  collected  by  Sir  John 
Lawrence  at  the  risk  of  losing  hold  on  his  own  province, 
arrived  during  August  and  September.  Atlast,  on  September  14, 
1857,  the  assault  was  delivered,  the  rebels  were  swept  out, 
and  Bahadur  Shah  was  a  prisoner.  The  joy  of  victory  was 
dimmed  by  the  fall  of  heroic  John  Nicholson.  The  recapture 
of  Delhi  was  the  turning-point  of  the  war,  and  broke  the  rebel 
organization,  such  as  it  was.  The  subsequent  operations, 
some  of  which  have  been  related,  were  conducted  against 
detached  forces  unconnected  by  any  bond  of  union.  By  the 
end  of  1858  the  authority  of  the  Government  had  been  gener- 
ally restored,  although  in  some  localities  the  troubles  continued 
into  the  following  year. 

The  Queen's  Proclamation,  November  1,  1858.    The  news 


FROM  1761  TO  1858  331 

of  the  rebellion  determined  Parliament  to  abolish  the  powers 
of  the  Company  and  transfer  the  government  of  India  directly 
to  the  Crown/  substituting  a  Secretary  of  State  for  India  and 
a.  Council  of  fifteen  members  for  the  President  of  the  Board  of 
Control  and  the  Secret  Committee .^  At  Allahabad,  on 
November  1,  1858,  Lord  Canning  published  the  Queen's  Pro- 
clamation, which  appointed  him  to  be  the  '  first  Viceroy  and 
Governor-General  ',  and  announced  the  principles  on  which 
Her  Majesty  proposed  to  govern  the  Indian  empire.  The  text 
of  this  weighty  message  from  the  '  mother  of  her  people  '  to 
her  children  in  the  East  is  reprinted  in  Appendix  A.^  A  few 
days  after  the  solemnity  at  Allahabad,  the  last  of  the  Mughal 
emperors  passed  through  on  his  way  to  Burma,  where  he  spent 
the  rest  of  his  days  in  confinement  as  the  penalty  for  his 
passive  share  in  the  doings  of  the  rebels  at  Delhi. 

Causes  of  the  Mutiny.  In  the  beginning  the  rebellion  was 
simply  the  result  of  the  panic  caused  in  the  Bengal  army  by  the 
greased  cartridges  incident ;  the  Bombay  and  Madras  armies 
being  but  slightly  affected.  The  fighting  took  place  almost 
wholly  to  the  north  of  the  Narbada,  and  for  the  most  part  was 
confined  to  the  plains  of  Hindustan.  Oudh  was  the  only 
province  in  which  the  insurrection  became  general,  and  nearly 
every  great  landholder  rebelled.  The  displeasure  at  the  recent 
annexation  had  something  to  do  with  this  fact,  but  much  of 
the  trouble  in  Oudh  must  be  attributed  to  the  lawless  condition 
of  the  kingdom  after  a  century  of  gross  misgovernment. 
The  cause  of  the  Mutiny,  expressed  in  the  most  general  terms 
and  without  regard  to  specific  grievances,  was  the  revolt  of 
the  old  against  the  new,  of  Indian  conservatism  against 
European  innovation.  The  spirit  of  revolt  undoubtedly  had 
been  stimulated  by  the  annexation  of  Oudh  and  the  trend  of 

^  The  East  India  Company  was  formally  dissolved  as  from  January  1, 
1874,  by  an  Act  of  Parliament  passed  in  1873  (36  Vict.  c.  17). 

*  An  Act  of  1889  authorized  the  reduction  of  the  Council  to  ten  members. 

2  It  has  been  confirmed  and  extended  by  the  gracious  Message  of  His 
Majesty  the  King-Emperor,  Edward  VII,  dated  November  2,  1908  (App.  B). 


332    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 


Lord  Dalhousie's  policy,  which  alarmed  men's  minds.  Every 
one  of  his  actions  was  prompted  by  the  highest  motives,  and 
each  can  be  justified  in  detail,  but  the  cumulative  effect  of 
them  all  was  profound  unrest.  Railways,  telegraphs,  and 
other  material  and  educational  improvements,  now  matters  of 
course,  were  in  those  days  unorthodox,  disturbing  novelties, 
which  contributed  largely  to  unsettle  the  minds  of  the  people 
and  support  the  delusion  that  their  religions  were  in  danger. 
Mutiny  in  the  army  was  nothing  new  ;  several  instances  have 
been  mentioned  in  the  preceding  pages,  and  there  were  others 
besides.  The  military  organization  had  become  rusty  and 
antiquated,  and  discipline  was  lax.  The  Bengal  army,  thus  ill 
organized  and  mutinous,,  seeing  England  engaged  in  distant 
wars,  and  the  European  garrison  diminished,  believed  itself 
to  be  master,  and  in  its  ignorance  rushed  blindly  to  destruction. 


Leading  Events  and  Dates  of  the  Mutiny. 


I.  Delhi  area. 


II.  Lucknow. 


III.  Cavrapore. 


IV.  Central  India 

and  Bundelkhand. 

V.  Rohilkhand. 


1857,  May  10  :    Mutiny  at  Meerut ;    rebel  occupa- 

tion of  Delhi. 

June  8  :  occupation  of  the  Ridge  by  a  small 
British  force. 

Sept.  14  :    British  recovery  of  Delhi. 

July  1  :    defence  of  Residency  began. 

Sept.  25.  reinforcement  of  garrison  by  Have- 
lock  and  Outram. 

Nov.  22  :  final  relief  by  Sir  Colin  Campbell 
and  Outram  ;  withdrawal  of  the  garrison. 

1858,  March  21  :    British     recovery     of     city     of 

Lucknow. 

1857,  June  6  :    defence  of  entrenchment  began. 
June  27  :    defence  of  entrenchment  ended. 
June  27-July  16  :    surrender  and  massacres. 
July  17  :    entry  of  avenging  force. 

Nov.  27 :    defeat    of   Windham    by    Gwalior 

contingent. 
Dec.  6  :    victory  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell  (battle 

of  Cawnpore). 

1858,  June  :    death  of  Rani  of  Jhansi. 

1859,  April :    execution  of  Tantia  Topi. 

1858,  June  :    recovery  of  Bareilly  by  the  British. 


1858,  Nov.  1  :  Queen's  Proclamation  announced. 


BOOK  VI 

THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD  : 
INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN 

CHAPTER  XXXIII 

1858-69  :   Reconstruction  ;  Lord  Canning  ;  Lord  Elgin  I ;  Lord  Lawrence. 

The  Mutiny  '  a  fortunate  occurrence '.  Sir  Lepel  Griffin 
ventured  to  write,  in  1898,  that  'perhaps  a  more  fortunate 
occurrence  than  the  Mutiny  of  1857  never  occurred  in  India  *. 
The  saying,  though  a  hard  one,  is,  I  think,  true.  If  we  can 
])lace  ourselves  at  the  point  of  view  of  a  general  who  sends 
thousands  of  men  to  certain  death  for  the  sake  of  their  country's 
cause,  and  close  our  eyes  to  the  horrors  of  Cawnpore  and  a 
hundred  other  places,  we  can  now  see  that  the  bloodshed  of 
1857-9  brought  more  good  than  evil.  The  conflict  betAveen 
the  old  ideas  and  the  new  had  to  be  fought  out,  and  if  the 
struggle  had  not  been  begun  in  1857  on  the  question  of  the 
greased  cartridges,  it  must  have  come  a  little  later  over  some 
other  issue.  The  proposition  that  '  without  shedding  of  blood 
is  no  remission  '  has  a  meaning  beyond  the  theological  sense. 

'  The  Mutiny  ',  to  continue  the  quotation  from  Sir  Lepel 
Griffin,  '  swept  the  Indian  sky  clear  of  many  clouds.  It  dis- 
banded a  lazy,  pampered  army,  which,  though  in  its  hundred 
years  of  life  it  had  done  splendid  service,  had  become  impos- 
sible ;  it  replaced  an  unprogressive,  selfish,  and  commercial 
system  of  administration  by  one  liberal  and  enlightened,  and  it 
attached  the  Sikh  people  closely  to  their  rulers,  and  made  them 
what  they  are  to-day,  the  surest  support  of  the  Government. 
Lastly,  it  taught  India  and  the  world  that  the  English  possessed 
a  courage  and  national  spirit  which  made  light  of  disaster, 
which  never  counted  whether  the  odds  against  them  were  two 


334    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

or  ten  to  one  ;    and  which  marched  confident  to   victory, 
although  the  conditions  of  success  appeared  all  but  hopeless.' 

The  tragic  events  of  the  Great  War  give  fresh  force  to  those 
words,  and  have  shown  that  not  only  the  Sikhs,  but  all  the 
Indian  races,  are  now  to  be  reckoned  among  the  sure  supports 
of  a  Government  which  honestly  tries  to  do  its  duty  to  all. 

Lord  Canning's  attitude.  Lord  Canning,  although  he  could 
not  possibly  see  the  far-reaching  effects  of  the  Mutiny  as  clearly 
as  we  see  them  now,  set  himself  bravely  to  the  work  of  recon- 
struction. The  dignified  calmness  of  his  attitude,  undisturbed 
by  much  scurrilous  abuse,  was  a  wholesome  restraint  on  panic 
fear  and  furious  passion,  which,  if  left  free  from  control,  would 
have  prompted  many  evil  deeds.  The  Governor-General,  like 
other  people,  made  some  mistakes,  but,  on  the  whole,  he 
deserves  the  highest  credit  for  the  manner  in  which  he  fulfilled 
the  duties  of  his  office,  and  sought  to  heal  rather  than  to 
inflame  the  wounds  inflicted  by  civil  war. 

Reform  of  the  army.  The  reorganization  of  the  army 
obviously  was  one  of  the  most  pressing  duties  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  European  force  had  until  then  been  divided  into 
two  bodies,  the  Queen's  and  the  Company's,  an  arrangement 
which  often  caused  much  friction.  The  amalgamation  or 
union  of  the  two  was  rightly  decided  on  and  carried  out,  in 
the  face  of  great  difficulties.  So  many  changes  have  occurred 
since,  that  it  is  needless  to  dwell  on  details.  The  Native  or 
Indian  Army  was  reformed  at  the  same  time.  It,  too,  has 
been  vastly  changed  since  the  days  of  Lord  Canning,  and  has 
now  proved  itself  worthy  to  fight  side  by  side  with  its  British 
comrades  on  the  huge  battlefields  of  Europe. 

Finance.  Finance,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  government, 
claimed  equal  attention.  The  immense  cost  of  the  military 
operations  had  necessarily  resulted  in  a  large  deficit,  the  expense 
much  exceeding  the  income.  The  old,  crude  methods  of  the 
Company  no  longer  sufficed.  Skilled  financial  experts,  at 
first  Mr.  James  Wilson  and  then  Mr.  Samuel  Laing,  were 
brought  out  from  England  to  set  things  straight.   They  intro- 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  335 

duced  the  income  tax  and  other  new  imposts,  enforced  strict 
economy,  and  soon  converted  the  deficit  into  a  surplus.  The 
methods  of  doing  financial  business  were  much  improved. 

Education ;  Universities.  The  Education  Dispatch  sent 
out  by  Sir  Charles  Wood  in  1854  {ante,  p.  325)  had  borne 
immediate  fruit  under  Lord  Dalhousie's  care,  in  a  large  ex- 
tension of  village  schools.  The  three  universities  of  Calcutta, 
Madras,  and  Bombay  were  founded  by  Lord  Canning  in  1857, 
the  very  year  of  the  Mutiny.  In  those  days  people  thought 
too  much  of  examinations.  The  first  Indian  universities,  ac- 
cordingly were  purely  examining  bodies,  on  the  model  of  the 
University  of  London  as  it  then  existed.  Since  that  time  a 
change  of  opinion  has  taken  place,  and  it  is  recognized  that 
universities  should  teach  as  well  as  examine.  New  univer- 
sities have  come  into  being  at  Allahabad  and  Lahore,  while 
others  are  promised  or  in  course  of  erection  at  Dacca,  Patna, 
and  Rangoon.  The  proper  mode  of  constituting  and  managing 
such  institutions  is  constantly  under  discussion,  and  there  is 
reason  to  hope  that,  even  if  perfection  be  not  attained,  much 
improvement  will  result. 

The  impulse  given  by  the  universities  to  the  study  of  English 
and  all  the  subjects  taught  through  the  medium  of  that  lan- 
guage has  produced  an  effect  on  India  too  profound  to  be 
measured. 

Codes  of  law.  The  useful  work  of  codification  began  after 
the  Mutiny,  during  Lord  Canning's  term  of  office.  The  Penal 
Code,  on  which  Macaulay  and  other  experts  had  been  long  at 
work,  saw  the  light  in  1860,  and  was  followed  in  the  next  year 
by  the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure.  The  Penal  Code  has 
stood  the  test  of  experience  wonderfully  well,  and  has  needed 
but  slight  amendment.  The  procedure  codes  naturally  re- 
quire to  be  re-edited  from  time  to  time.  In  the  course  of 
years  most  branches  of  Anglo-Indian  law  have  been  reduced  to 
the  form  of  codes.  The  only  considerable  branch  remaining 
uncodified  is  that  of  torts,  or  civil  wrongs. 

Other  reforms  in  1861.     The  year  1861  was  marked  by 


336    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

other  important  reforms.  Chartered  High  Courts — that  is 
to  say,  courts  constituted  under  the  authority  of  royal 
charters — replaced  both  the  old  Supreme  Court  and  the 
Company's  courts,  known  by  the  Persian  names  of  Sudder 
Dewanee  or  Civil,  and  Nizamat  or  Criminal,  Adawluts.  The 
change  got  rid  of  many  abuses  and  legal  obscurities. 

The  Indian  Civil  Service  Act  listed  the  appointments  re- 
served for  the  Civil  Service  of  India,  while  throwing  open  all 
others,  with  certain  reservations. 

Changes  were  also  made  in  the  constitution  of  the  Executive 
and  Legislative  Councils  of  the  Governor-General,  which  have 
been  carried  much  further  in  recent  years. 

The  Rent  Act.  The  Rent  Act,  x  of  1859,  which  applied  to 
Bengal,  Bihar,  the  North-Western  Provinces  (now  the  Agra 
Province),  and  the  Central  Provinces,  did  much  to  secure  the 
rights  of  cultivating  tenants,  which  the  Regulations  of  the 
Permanent  Settlement  (ante,  p.  276)  had  failed  to  protect. 
The  arbitrary  rule  that  continuous  cultivating  possession  of 
a  field  for  twelve  years  should  confer  tenant-right,  or,  as  the 
Act  called  it,  '  a  right  of  occupancy ',  was  now  laid  down  for 
the  first  time.  Experience  has  revealed  many  defects  in 
Act  X  of  1859,  which  has  been  superseded  by  later  legislation 
in  the  several  provinces.  The  problem  involved  in  trying  to 
give  definite  legal  force  to  the  old  vague  tenant-right  usages 
is  immensely  difficult,  and  the  success  attained  is  imperfect. 

Death  of  Lord  Canning  and  Lord  Elgin  L  The  work  men- 
tioned, and  much  besides,  wore  out  and  killed  Lord  Canning, 
who  retired  in  March,  1862.  He  survived  his  retirement  for 
only  three  months.  He  was  succeeded  by  the  Earl  of  Elgin, 
who  died  at  Dharmsala  in  November,  1863.  During  the  in- 
terval pending  the  arrival  of  a  permanent  Viceroy  two  acting 
officers  carried  on  the  government. 

Lord  Lawrence  appointed  Viceroy.  At  the  beginning  of 
]  864,  Sir  John  Lawrence,  who,  as  Chief  Commissioner  of  the 
Pan  jab,  had  done  so  much  to  suppress  the  Mutiny  and  recover 
Delhi,  was  appointed  Viceroy  and  Governor-General  with 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  337 

general  approval.  The  rule  that  a  member  of  the  Civil  Service 
of  India  should  not  be  promoted  to  the  highest  office  under 
the  Crown,  although  recognized  to  be  valid  in  all  ordinary 
cases,  was  held  not  to  apply  to  his  special  claims.  He  was 
subsequently  raised  to  the  peerage,  and  so  may  be  called  Lord 
La"vvrence.  His  term  of  office  may  be  considered  to  close  the 
period  of  reconstruction  after  the  Mutiny.  He  laid  himself 
out  to  carry  on  a  purely  peaceful,  administrative  programme, 
and  to  keep  out  of  all  political  and  warlike  troubles,  so  far  as 
possible. 

*  Masterly  inactivity.'  This  disposition  led  Lord  Lawrence 
to  preserve  an  absolute  neutrality  in  Afghan  affairs.  When 
the  old  Amir,  Dost  Muhammad,  died,  in  1863,  various  candi- 
dates fought  for  the  throne.  Lord  Lawrence  intimated  that 
he  would  recognize  the  prince  who  came  out  top,  whoever  he 
might  be.  Accordingly,  when  Sher  Ali  won  the  vacant  throne, 
he  was  duly  recognized.  This  policy,  called  '  masterly  inac- 
tivity '  by  the  admirers  of  the  Lawrence  system,  did  not  always 
approve  itself  as  masterly.  It  was  reversed  by  Lord  L5rtton, 
and  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  his  view.  At  any  rate,  the 
inactive  policy  had  the  merit  of  being  cheap. 

Internal  affairs.  In  internal  affairs  we  may  mention  the 
terrible  Orissa  famine  of  1866,  which  was  not  well  managed, 
and  caused  vast  loss  of  life.  The  want  of  roads  and  railways 
made  relief  very  difficult.  Many  people  were  ruined  about  the 
same  time  by  the  failure  of  wild  speculations  in  Bombay, 
where  the  American  Civil  War  had  given  occasion  for  rash 
dealings  in  cotton.  Lord  Lawrence  throughout  his  life  took 
a  warm  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  cultivating  peasantry, 
as  distinguished  from  the  landlords.  He  passed  a  valuable 
measure  for  protecting  the  tenantry  in  Oudh,  and  drafted  a 
similar  measure  for  the  Panjab,  which  was  passed  after  he 
had  left  India. 

The  rule  of  Lord  Lawrence.  Lord  Lawrence  was  not  quite 
as  successful  a  Governor- General  as  he  had  been  a  Chief  Com- 
missioner of  the  Panjab.     He  carried  too  far  his  dislike  of 


338    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

pomp  and  ceremony,  and  never  fully  attained  the  position  of 
mastery  over  his  colleagues  which  the  head  of  the  Government 
should  possess.  It  is  unlikely  that  a  member  of  the  Civil 
Service  of  India  will  ever  again  be  appointed  Viceroy.  The 
ministry  at  home  should  not  have  waited  to  give  Sir  John 
Lawrence  his  peerage  until  after  his  retirement,  as  they  did. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

1869-84  :    Lord  Mayo  ;    Lord  Northbrook  ;    Lord  Lyttoii  and  the  second 
Afghan  war  ;  Lord  Ripon  and  non-intervention  ;  local  self-government. 

Lord  Mayo.  The  Earl  of  Mayo,  chosen  by  the  Conservative 
Government  as  the  successor  of  Lord  Lawrence,  was  a  man  of 
a  totally  different  type,  gifted  with  singular  charm  of  manner 
and  lively  sympathies — qualities  which  endeared  him  to  the 
chiefs  of  the  protected  states  in  a  degree  never  attained  by 
any  other  Governor-General. 

Relations  with  the  Native  or  Protected  States.  The  taking 
over  of  the  direct  government  of  India  by  the  Queen  had  com- 
pletely changed  the  position  of  the  Native  or  Protected  States, 
which  now  had  become  parts  of  the  British  Empire,  although 
not  included  in  British  India.  All  the  chiefs,  small  and  great, 
from  1858  owed  personal  allegiance  to  the  Queen  of  England 
as  their  sovereign.  No  question  of  annexations,  such  as  had 
occurred  in  Lord  Dalhousie's  time,  could  jjossibly  again  arise. 
The  sovereign  could  not  annex  territory  forming  part  of  her 
dominions.  But  tjie  paramount  power  necessarily  retained 
the  right  to  change  the  ruler  of  a  state,  in  case  of  grave  mis- 
government.  Lord  Mayo  fully  understood  the  new  conditions 
and  acted  on  them  in  the  cases  of  Alwar  in  Rajputana  and  cer- 
tain small  states  in  Kathiawar.  His  personal  qualities  assured 
his  success  in  all  such  measures.  He  arranged  for  the  founda- 
tion at  Ajmer  of  a  Chiefs'  College,  which  was  actually  estab- 
lished after  his  death.  Similar  institutions  now  exist  at 
Lahore  and  at  Rajkot  in  Kathiawar. 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CEOW'N  33? 

Friendship  with  the  Amir  of  Afgha-nistan.'  The  Viceroy  was 
successful  in  establishing  friendly  relations  with  Sher  Ali,  the 
Amir  of  Afghanistan,  who  had  been  disgusted  by  the  cold  and 
a\o^^■edly  selfish  policy  of  Lord  Lawrence.  In  those  days 
the  rapid  progress  of  Russian  arms  in  Central  Asia  made  it 
necessary  to  watch  that  Afghanistan  should  not  become  a 
dependency  of  Russia.  Lord  Mayo  was  permitted  to  promise 
the  Amir  a  general  support  as  against  Russia,  on  condition  that 
the  Government  of  India  should  decide  the  manner  of  help  to 
be  given. 

Visit  of  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh.  The  visit  to  India 
in  1869  of  H.R.H.  the  late  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  second  son  of 
Queen  Victoria,  was  an  event  of  high  political  importance,  as 
marking  the  beginning  of  those  close  relations  between  the 
sovereign  and  her  Indian  Empire  which  have  been  made  so 
much  more  intimate  in  later  years. 

Internal  affairs.  Lord  Mayo  was  as  active  and  energetic  in 
dealing  with  internal  affairs  as  he  was  in  other  fields.  Before 
his  time  the  Supreme  Government  used  to  keep  all  money 
matters  in  its  own  hands,  and  every  item  of  expenditure, 
however  trifling,  had  to  be  sanctioned  by  it.  The  result  was 
that  the  time  of  the  highest  authorities  was  wasted,  and  that 
the  provincial  Government  which  gave  the  most  worry  got 
most  money.  Lord  Mayo  abolished  that  absurd  system,  and 
made  the  Government  of  each  province  responsible  for  its  own 
finance  within  certain  limits.  His  measure  is  known  bj'  the 
name  of  decentralization,  meaning  that  much  business  was 
transferred  from  the  centre  of  the  government  to  the  branches. 
The  reform  has  been  carried  further  since  Lord  Mayo"s  time. 
Much  attention  was  given  to  public  works,  especialh'  railways 
and  canals.  A  regular  census  of  Bengal,  taken  for  the  first 
time,  revealed  the  astounding  fact  that  the  population  of  the 
province  as  then  constituted  exceeded  the  official  estimate 
by  twenty-six  millions. 

Murder  of  Lord  Mayo.  Lord  Mayo's  warm  interest  in  prison 
administration  brought  about  the  sudden  end  of  his  useful 


340    THE  BRITISH  OR  J^NGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Life.  He  had  gone  to  the  Andaman  Islands  to  visit  the  penal 
settlement  there,  and  on  January  24,  1872,  was  getting  into 
his  boat  after  making  an  inspection  tour,  when  a  convict,  a 
desperate  frontier  Pathan,  sprang  on  his  back  and  stabbed 
him  to  death.  All  India  loathed  the  crime  and  mourned  the 
victim. 

Lord  Northbrook.  After  a  short  interval,  Lord  Northbrook, 
a  member  of  the  wealthy  banking  house  of  Baring,  was  ap- 
pointed as  Lord  Mayo's  successor.  The  new  Viceroy  proved 
himself  to  be,  as  might  be  expected,  a  good  man  of  business. 
He  was  destitute  of  the  personal  charm  which  won  affection  as 
well  as  respect  for  his  predecessor,  and  he  lost  the  friendship 
of  Sher  Ali,  Amir  of  Afghanistan,  who  turned  away  from  the 
British,  and  showed  an  inclination  to  join  Russia. 

Visit  of  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales.  The  visit,  in  1875-6, 
of  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  King  Edward  VII, 
deepened  the  impression  made  some  years  earlier  by  his 
brother's  visit,  and  evoked  ardent  expressions  of  loyalty  to 
the  throne  from  princes  and  people. 

Deposition  of  the  Gaikwar  of  Baroda.  A  disagreeable  inci- 
dent was  the  trial  of  H.H.  the  Gaikwar  of  Baroda  by  a  special 
Commission  on  the  charge  of  having  attempted  to  poison  the 
Resident,  Colonel  Phayre,  by  administering  diamond  dust. 
The  Commissioners  differed  in  opinion,  and  the  Government  of 
India,  while  refraining  from  pronouncing  a  verdict  of  guilty, 
held  the  Gaikwar  to  be  unfit  for  his  position  and  removed  him. 
A  young  man,  a  distant  relative,  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

Famine  in  Bihar.  In  1873-4  a  serious,  although  not  very 
severe,  famine  was  experienced  in  Bihar.  The  Government 
was  so  afraid  of  repeating  the  mistake  made  in  Orissa  in  1866, 
when  too  little  was  done,  that  it  threw  away  money  with  both 
hands.  Seven  millions  sterling  or  more  were  spent,  with  much 
waste,  but  the  mortality  from  starvation  was  prevented,  and 
there  were  practically  no  deaths. 

Lord  Lytton.  Lord  Northbrook  retired  before  his  term  of 
office  was  ended.     The  appointment  of  Lord  Lytton  as  his 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  S41 

successor  was  a  surprise.  He  was  a  professional  diplomatist, 
being  at  the  time  British  Minister  in  Portugal.  Lord  Beacons- 
field,  then  Prime  Minister,  selected  him  because  he  believed 
that  India  at  the  moment  needed  'a  statesman',  capable  of 
dealing  properly  with  the  dangers  threatening  from  the  side 
of  Russia  and  Afghanistan. 

Things  have  changed  so  much  that  it  is  difficult  for  the. 
generation  now  living  to  realize  the  anxiety  concerning  the 
advance  of  Russia,  and  her  designs  for  the  conquest  of  India, 
which  prevailed  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Nobody  then  could 
have  imagined  that  in  1914  Russia  and  England  would  be  the 
best  of  friends,  closely  allied,  and  fighting  together  against 
the  hosts  of  German}^,  or  that  five  years  later  Russia  would 
be  absolutely  powerless.  But  in  Lord  Lyttons  time  there 
were  very  influential  people  in  Russia  who  desired  to  effect 
the  conquest  of  India,  and  thought  they  could  do  it.  All 
English  and  Anglo-Indian  parties  were  then  agreed  that 
Russia  must  be  prevented  from  gaining  control  over  Afghanis- 
tan, although  opinions  differed  widely  concerning  the  proper 
means  to  attain  that  desired  end. 

Lord  Lytton's  policy.  Lord  Lytton,  instructed  by  Lords 
Salisbury  and  Beaconsfield,  came  to  India  with  perfectly  dis- 
tinct and  logical  views  on  the  subject.  He  held  that  Amir 
Sher  Ali,  if  he  would  not  be  a  friend  of  the  British,  should  be 
treated  as  an  enemy,  and  that  the  danger  threatening  from 
Kabul  should  be  averted  by  separating  Herat  and  Kandahar 
so  as  to  form  a  distinct  state.  The  Viceroy  also  was  convinced 
that  Balochistan  must  be  occupied,  and  the  Bolan  and  Khojak 
Passes  secured  by  establishing  a  garrison  at  Quetta. 

Second  Afghan  war  ;  Treaty  of  Gundamuk.  Action  was 
taken  accordingly.  When  Sher  Ali  received  Russian  envoys 
while  refusing  to  receive  an  English  mission,  war  ensued. 
Sher  Ali  was  driven  from  his  throne.  Yakub  Khan,  one  of 
his  sons,  was  recognized  by  the  Treaty  of  Gundamuk  (Gan- 
damak,  1879)  as  Amir,  and  was  compelled  to  accept  the 
English  mission. 


342    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Murder  of  envoy  ;  renewal  of  war  ;  resignation  of  Lord 
Lytton.  Sir  Louis  Cavagnari,  who  was  sent  to  Kabul  as  envoy, 
was  murdered  with  his  escort  after  a  few  weeks.  That  crime, 
of  course,  brought  on  a  renewal  of  the  war.  General  (Lord) 
Roberts  distinguished  himself  greatly  in  a  series  of  brilliant 
military  operations,  deposed  Yakub  Khan,  and  inflicted  severe 
punishment  on  Kabul.  Lord  Lytton,  feeling  that  the  frontier 
had  been  secured  by  the  occupation  of  Balochistan  and 
Quetta,  did  not  care  what  happened  at  Kabul,  and  was  content 
to  let  the  Afghans  choose  an  Amir  at  their  leisure.  He 
arranged  for  the  government  of  the  Kandahar  province,  and 
was  working  out  detailed  plans,  when,  in  April,  1880,  news 
arrived  that  Mr.  Gladstone  had  come  into  power  as  Prime 
Minister,  and  that  the  Afghan  policy  of  the  Conservative 
Oovernment  was  disapproved.  Lord  Lytton,  consequently, 
was  obliged  to  resign.  He  was  relieved  by  Lord  Ripon  on 
June  8,  1880. 

Title  of  Empress  of  India.  Before  finishing  the  story  of  the 
Afghan  business,  we  must  note  certain  other  events  of  Lord 
Lytton 's  term  of  office. 

In  1876,  Lord  Beaconsfield  had  induced  Parliament,  rather 
unwillinglj',  to  pass  the  Imperial  Titles  Act  authorizing  Queen 
Victoria  to  assume  the  title  of  Empress  of  India  {Kaisar-i- 
Hind) .  The  new  style  of  Her  Majesty  was  proclaimed  with  great 
pomp  at  an  Imperial  Assembly  held  at  Delhi  on  January  1, 
1877,  the  first  of  a  series  of  similar  displays.  The  assump- 
tion of  the  title  carried  further  the  policy  announced  in  1858, 
all  the  princes  being  required  to  do  homage  to  Her  Majestj'^'s 
representative,  acting  on  her  behalf. 

Famine  of  1877  and  1878.  A  terrible  famine  ravaged  the 
Deccan  and  the  greater  part  of  the  Madras  and  Bombay 
Presidencies  during  1877  and  1878.  In  spite  of  the  most 
zealous  exertion  and  immense  expenditure,  some  five  millions 
of  people  perished.  Lord  Lytton  showed  that  he  understood 
the  true  principles  of  famme  relief,  namely  (1)  perfect  freedom 
of  inland  trade  in  grain ;    (2)  the  systematic  planning  and 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  343 

execution  of  large  relief  works  of  lasting  usefulness  ;  (3)  the 
preparation  of  well-considered  measures,  especially  railways 
and  canals,  for  the  prevention  of  famine. 

Abolition  of  Customs  hedge.  The  abolition  of  the  barbarous 
customs  line  or  hedge,  which  ran  across  India  for  1,500  miles, 
from  near  Attock  to  Berar,  was  a  great  boon.  That  hedge, 
supplemented  b}^  others  like  it  in  the  Bombay  Presidency, 
had  been  constructed  to  make  easier  the  collection  of  the  duty 
on  salt.  It  is  surprising  that  such  a  monstrous  thing  should 
have  lasted  so  long. 

Repeal  of  Vernacular  Press  Act.  Lord  Ripon  repealed,  in 
1882,  a  measure  passed  by  Lord  Lj^ton  for  the  control  of  the 
vernacular  press.  The  sedition  which  followed  Lord  Curzon's 
term  of  office  has  rendered  necessary  fresh  legislation  on  the 
subject,  which  is  too  closely  connected  with  the  politics  of 
the  day  to  be  discussed  in  this  place. 

Rendition  of  Mysore.  The  restoration  of  Mysore  to  the 
Hindu  dynasty  in  1881  has  been  mentioned  already  {ante, 
p.  284).  The  present  Maharaja,  who  attained  his  majority  in 
1902,  governs  his  country  well,  and  is  an  eminently  loyal 
supporter  of  His  Majesty  the  King-Emperor. 

The  Ilbert  Bill.  A  great  turmoil  was  raised  by  a  measure 
kno\^n  as  the  Ilbert  Bill,  from  the  name  of  the  official  who 
introduced  it.  The  purpose  was  to  make  European  British 
subjects  triable  like  natives  of  India  by  magistrates  of  Indian 
nationality.  After  much  angry  controversy  the  Bill  was 
dropped  and  the  right  to  claim  trial  by  jury  was  reserved  to 
European  offenders. 

Local  self-government.  Lord  Ripon,  who  was  extremely 
anxious  to  associate  non-official  Indians  more  closely  with  the 
administration,  passed  measures  for  local  self-government, 
colloquially  known  in  Northern  India  as  '  local  sluff  ',  which 
provided  for  the  establishment  of  district  boards,  more  or 
less  modelled  on  English  county  councils.  For  many  reasons, 
the  success  of  such  measures  could  only  be  partial.  The 
Viceroy  regarded  them  as  instruments  for  political  and  popular 


344    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

education  rather  than  as  the  means  for  increased  efficiency. 
How  far  they  have  succeeded  in  their  purpose  is  a  matter  on 
which  opinions  may  differ.    Further  reforms  are  in  progress. 

Final  stages  of  the  Afghan  war.  When  Lord  Ripon  took 
over  charge,  on  June  8,  he  hastened  to  recognize  Sher  Ali's 
nephew,  Abdurrahman,  as  Amir,  and  to  make  arrangements 
for  restoring  Kandahar  to  him  and  getting  clear  of  Afghan 
affairs.  But  in  July  1880  Ayub  Khan,  a  rival  of  Abdurrah- 
man, inflicted  a  serious  defeat  at  Maiwand,  near  Kandahar,  on 
a  British  force,  commanded  by  General  Burrows,  to  whose 
ill  management  the  reverse  was  due.  The  defeated  army  took 
refuge  in  Kandahar,  which  was  relieved  by  General  (Lord) 
Roberts,  who  made  his  celebrated  forced  march  from  Kabul 
with  2,800  European  and  7,000  Indian  soldiers,  besides  about 
8,000  camp-followers,  covering  the  distance,  318  miles,  in 
twenty-three  days.  Ayub  Khan  was  then  defeated  and 
Kandahar  was  made  over  to  the  Amir,  Abdurrahman. 

Results  of  Lord  Lytton's  policy.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  Lord  Lytton's  policy,  although  so  far  reversed,  was  barren 
of  results.  Balochistan  had  been  brought  under  British  con- 
trol, and  the  strong  strategical  position  of  Quetta  had  been 
permanently  garrisoned.  Those  measures  threw  open  the 
Bolan  andKhoJak  Passes  and  exposed  the  flank  of  Afghanistan, 
so  that  the  country  could  be  entered  at  any  moment  without 
troubling  about  the  dangerous  Khyber  Pass.  A  few  years 
later  the  Kurram  Pass  was  occupied,  and  in  due  course  a 
railway  through  the  Bolan  was  made  and  extended  to  Chaman 
beyond  Quetta.  Thus  the  Government  of  India  has  a  hold  on 
Afghanistan  such  as  it  never  possessed  before  Lord  Lytton's 
time.  The  proper  way  to  deal  with  Afghanistan  is  still  the 
subject  of  much  difference  of  opinion.  One  thing  is  certain, 
even  at  this  day,  that,  as  Lady  Betty  Balfour,  Lord  Lytton's 
daughter,  wrote  in  1899,  '  the  problem  of  our  permanent  rela- 
tions with  Afghanistan  is  still  awaiting  a  durable  and  satis- 
factory solution.'  From  1905,  Habibullah,  son  and  successor 
of  Abdurrahman,  was  allowed  royal  rank  in  diplomatic 
correspondence . 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  345 

Popularity  of  Lord  Ripon.  The  sympathetic  spirit  of  Lord 
Ril3on"s  government  approved  itself  to  educated  Indians,  with 
whom  he  was  popular  to  a  degree  never  attained  by  any  of 
his  numerous  more  brilliant  predecessors.  In  England  he 
was  never  regarded  as  more  than  a  painstaking,  well-trained 
official  of  moderate  abilities.  But  in  India  he  aroused  burning 
enthusiasm.  When  he  retired,  in  December,  1884,  '  his  journey 
from  Simla  to  Bombay  w^as  a  triumphal  march  such  as  India  has 
never  witnessed — a  long  procession  in  which  seventy  millions 
of  people  sang  hosannas  to  their  friend  '.  The  time  for  fixing 
his  final  place  in  history  has  not  yet  come. 

The  Afghan  Wars 

First. 

1838.  Tripartite  Treaty  between  the  Government  of  India,  Shah  Shu}a, 

and  Ran  jit  Singh. 
Lord  Auckland  declares  war  with  Dost  Muhammad. 

1839.  Advance  of  British  armies  ;   death  of  Ranjit  Singh. 

1840.  Surrender  of  Dost  Muhammad. 

1841.  Rising  at  Kabul  (November). 

1842.  General  Elphinstone  capitulates  (Jan.  1)  ;    British  army  destroyed 

(Jan.  6-13). 
Defeats  of  Afghans  (March-October)  ;   bazaar  at  Kabul  blown  up  ; 
British  withdrawn  from  Afghanistan. 

Second. 

1878.  Beginning  of  war  (Nov.  21). 
Flight  of  Amir  Sher  Ali  (Dec.  13). 

1879.  Treaty  of  Gundamuk  (May  26). 

Murder  of  Sir  L.  Cavagnari  and  his  escort  (Sept.  3). 
Retribution  ;    abdication  of  Amir  Yakub  Khan  (October). 

1880.  British  defeat  at  Maiwand  (July  27). 

Ayub  Khan  defeated  by  Roberts  at  Kandahar  (Sept.  1). 

1881.  Kandahar  taken  over  by  Amir  Abdurrahman. 

(The  operations  after  the  murder  of  Sir  Louis  Cavagnari  are  sometimefc 
called  the  third  Afghan  war.) 


346    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

1884-98  :    Lord  Dufiferin  and  the  third  Burmese  war ;    Lord  Lansdowne  ; 
Lord  Elgin  IL 

Lord  Dufferin.  Lord  Dufiferin,  who  became  Governor- 
G^neral  and  Viceroy  in  1884,  brought  to  India  ripe  experience 
gathered  by  him  in  diplomacy  during  a  long  career  in  Russia, 
Turkey,  Egypt,  and  Syria,  and  in  government  as  Governor- 
General  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  He  was  gifted  with 
singular  tact,  and  knew  how  to  get  his  own  way  without 
ofifending  anybody. 

The  Panjdeh  affair.  He  made  friends  with  Abdurrahman, 
Amir  of  Afghanistan,  whose  chief  anxiety  was  to  keep  British 
ofilicers  and  troops  out  of  his  country.  In  1885  an  afiEray 
between  Russian  and  Afghan  outj)osts  concerning  a  boundary 
dispute  at  a  place  called  Panjdeh,  situated  between  Herat  and 
Merv,  nearly  brought  on  war  with  Russia.  But  the  Amir 
remained  calm,  and  the  business  was  amicably  settled. 

Third  Burmese  war  ;  annexation  of  Upper  Burma.  The 
most  notable  event  of  Lord  Dufferin 's  term  of  office  was  the 
annexation  of  Upper  Burma,  following  on  the  third  Burmese 
war.  The  main  cause  of  the  war  was  the  attempt  of  King 
Theebaw  to  put  himself  under  French  protection  by  means  of 
a  treaty  giving  France  special  consular  and  commercial 
privileges.  The  Viceroy  was  determined  to  keep  France  out 
of  Burma,  and  was  quite  prepared  to  annex  the  country  in 
order  to  effect  that  purpose  The  king  gave  further  provo- 
cation by  imposing  an  enormous  fine  on  a  trading  company 
and  imprisoning  its  officials.  The  resulting  war  involved  no 
serious  fighting  and  was  over  in  a  fortnight,  November  14-27, 
1885.  King  Theebaw  surrendered  and  was  deported  to  Rat- 
nagiri  on  the  Bombay  coast,  where  he  lived  for  many  years. 

Subsequent  disturbances.  The  real  war  began  after  the 
official  war  was  ended,  and  lasted  for  five  years.  Sundry  pre- 
tenders to  the  throne  appeared,  while  the  disbanded  soldiers 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROW^'  347 

and  every  disorderl}-  person  in  the  country  formed  themselves 
into  robber  gangs,  which  kept  the  land  in  turmoil  and  com- 
mitted shocking  atrocities.  At  one  time  30.000  regular  troops 
had  to  be  employed.  Gradually  roads  were  made,  the  gangs 
were  hunted  down,  and  peaceful  administration  was  introduced 
bit  by  bit.    Upper  Burma  has  long  been  quiet  and  prosperous. 

Close  of  era  of  conquests.  The  annexation  of  Upper  Burma 
completed  the  list  of  conquests  on  a  large  scale  open  to  the 
ambition  of  a  Governor-General  of  India.  The  settlement 
made  by  Lord  Hastings  in  1818  had  brought  the  whole  of  India 
Proper  within  the  control  of  the  British  Government,  with  the 
exception  of  the  two  outlying  provinces,  Sind  and  the  Panjab, 
which  were  annexed  respectively  in  1843  and  1849,  The 
Burmese  empire,  which  had  no  close  geographical  or  historical 
connexion  with  India,  was  taken  over  in  three  instalments,  in 
1826.  1852,  and  1885.  The  final  operation  completely  closed 
in  the  Indian  frontier  in  the  narrower  sense,  and  at  the  same 
time  brought  the  enlarged  Indian  empire  into  touch  with 
China,  Siam,  and  the  French  dominions  in  the  Far  East. 
The  Government  of  India  nawadaj's,  whether  it  likes  it  or 
not,  must  be  prepared  to  deal  with  external  foreign  politics. 

Internal  affairs.  Gwalior,  the  famous  fortress  in  Central 
India,  which  had  served  as  the  state  prison  in  Mughal  times, 
and  had  been  taken  so  cleverly  bj'  Popham  in  1780,  had  lost 
all  strategical  value  owing  to  the  changes  in  the  art  of  war. 
In  1886  Lord  Dufferin  did  a  graceful  act  by  restoring  the 
fortress  to  Sindia,  receiving  suitable  compensation. 

In  1887  Queen  Victoria's  Jubilee,  marking  the  completion 
of  fifty  years  of  her  reign,  was  celebrated  all  over  India  with 
appropriate  festivities  and  genuine  enthusiasm. 

Important  Rent  Acts  concerning  Bengal,  Oudh,  and  the 
Pan  jab  were  passed. 

Lord  Lansdowne.  Lord  Dufferin  retired  for  personal  reasons 
before  the  full  customary  five  years  of  office  had  elapsed,  and 
was  succeeded  in  1888  by  another  distinguished  Irish  nobleman, 
Lord  Lansdo^vTie,  who  devoted  special  attention  to  questions 


348    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

concerning  frontier  defence  and  the  reorganization  of  the  army. 
The  Imperial  Service  troops,  which  have  done  splendid  service 
in  the  Great  War,  date  from  his  time. 

Rising  in  Manipur.  In  1891,  during  the  course  of  a  rising 
in  Manipur,  a  small  hill  state  on  the  north-eastern  frontier, 
Mr.  Quinton,  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Assam,  and  several 
other  officers  were  treacherously  murdered.  The  guilty  parties 
were  suitably  punished  and  the  state  was  placed  under  British 
management  for  some  years. 

Currency.  In  India,  for  several  centuries,  the  standard  of 
value  had  been  silver— that  is  to  say,  the  debts,  whether  of  the 
State  or  private  persons,  were  payable  in  silver  rupees,  not  in 
gold  or  anything  else.  From  1874,  owing  to  various  causes, 
the  value  of  silver  fell  rapidly,  and  the  rupee,  which  once  had 
been  worth  the  eighth  part  (2s.  6d.)  of  an  English^old  sove- 
reign, and  for  many  years  had  been  worth  the  tenth  part  (2s.), 
decreased  until  it  was  worth  only  about  the  nineteenth  part 
(Is.  Old.)  of  a  sovereign.  This  fall  made  it  very  difficult  for 
India  to  pay  her  debts  to  England  and  other  countries  with 
gold  ciirrencies.  Arrangements  begun  by  Lord  Lansdowne  in 
1893,  and  completed  in  Lord  Curzon's  time  (1899),  have  made 
gold  a  legal  tender  in  India — that  is  to  say,  any  Indian  or  the 
Indian  Government  may  pay  a  debt  in  either  gold  or  silver. 
The  rate  of  exchange  was  fixed  as  fifteen  silver  rupees  to  the 
gold  sovereign,  or,  in  other  words,  Is.  4:d.  to  the  rupee.  Little 
fluctuation  in  the  rate  thus  fixed  occurred  until  the  Great  War 
disturbed  all  exchanges.     In  1919  the  rupee  rose  to  2s. 

Lord  Elgin  II ;  frontiers  settled.  In  1894,  Lord  Lansdowne 
made  over  charge  to  Lord  Elgin,  son  of  the  nobleman  who  had 
been  Governor-General  for  a  short  time  in  1862  and  1863. 
Lord  Elgin's  Government  continued  the  work  of  settling  dis- 
puted frontiers  which  had  been  begun  by  his  predecessor. 
The  lines  separating  the  Indian  empire  from  Burma,  Siam, 
and  China  were  marked  out,  and  a  Commission  defined  the 
Afghan  frontier.  Disputes  with  Russia  were  prevented  by 
a  treaty  which  settled  the  limits  of  Russian  and  British  influ- 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROW^^  349 

ence  in  the  remote  region  of  the  Pamirs  beyond  Kashmir. 
Two  frontier  campaigns  were  fought  during  Lord  Elgin's  term 
of  office,  namely,  a  small  though  difficult  one  in  Chitral,  and 
a  series  of  more  extensive  operations  in  the  Tirah  country  to 
•  the  south  of  the  Khyber  Pass.  The  valleys  of  Tirah  were 
then  explored  for  the  first  time,  but  the  tribesmen  are  still  far 
from  being  subdued. 

Plague — the  Oriental  or  bubonic  plague — which  devastated 
London  in  1665,  is  no  stranger  to  India,  epidemics  of  the 
disease  being  recorded  at  intervals  since  the  seventeenth^ 
or  perhaps  the  fifteenth  century.  It  seems  to  exist  more  or 
less  at  most  times  in  Garhwal.  The  epidemic  which  began  at 
Bombay  in  1896,  in  the  time  of  Lord  Elgin  II,  is  generally 
believed  to  have  been  introduced  from  China.  The  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  stamp  out  the  disease  have  met  with  poor 
success,  and  we  must  be  content  to  hope  that  it  may,  in  the 
course  of  time,  disappear  from  India,  as  it  has  disappeared  from. 
England.     It  is  a  disease  of  rats,  transmitted  to  men  by  fleas. 

The  Burmese  Wars 

First.        1824-6  ;   Lord  Amherst  Governor-General ;  Treaty  of  Yandabo  ; 

annexation  of  Arakan  and  Tenasserim,  1826. 
Second.    1852  ;   Lord  Dalhousie  Governor-General ;   annexation  of  Pegu  ; 

no  treaty. 
Third.       1883  ;    Lord  Dufferin  Governor-General ;    annexation  of  Upper 

Burma  (Jan.  1,  1886). 
Fighting  with  gangs  lasted  for  five  years  longer. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

1899-1914  :    Lord  Curzon  and  his  successors. 

Lord  Curzon.  At  the  beginning  of  1899  Lord  Elgin  was 
succeeded  by  Lord  Curzon  of  Kedleston,  who  was  then  in  his 
fortieth  year,  and  had  achieved  high  distinction  in  Parliament 
and  as  a  traveller  in  Asia.  The  whole  period  since  the  Mutiny 
is  too  recent  for  historical  treatment  like  that  which  is  aj)plic- 
able  to  earlier  times.     When  we  come  to  events  so  near  us  as 


350    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

those  of  Lord  Curzon's  memora-ble  administration  it  is  im- 
possible to  approach  them  in  the  detached  spirit  of  the  impartial 
historian.  His  Lordship  and  many  other  actors  in  the  scene 
are  still  living,  the  passions  and  feelings  aroused  by  the  acts 
of  the  Viceroy  are  still  burning,  and  the  record  is  necessarily, 
imperfect.  Although  many  years  must  elapse  before  docu- 
ments now  confidential  can  become  public  property,  so  that 
it  will  be  possible  to  appraise  correctly  the  place  of  Lord 
Curzon  in  Indian  history,  it  is  safe  to  affirm  that  he  proved 
himself  to  be  one  of  the  ablest  in  the  long  series  of  Governors- 
General.  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  he  seems  to  have 
taken  as  his  model  Lord  Dalhousie.  Lord  Curzon,  like  his 
prototype,  was  masterful,  full  of  consuming  energy,  and 
devoted  to  the  attainment  of  efficiency  in  all  departments. 
I  venture  to  think  that,  like  Lord  Dalhousie,  he  did  too  much, 
and  forced  the  pace  of  reform  too  fast.  Whatever  differences 
of  opinion  may  exist  concerning  the  merits  of  Lord  Curzon 's 
policy  in  several  matters  of  high  importance,  everybody  must 
acknowledge  that  he  approached  each  problem  with  an  acute 
intellect,  instructed  understanding,  unwearied  industry,  and 
lofty  motives.  He  effected  many  improvements  in  adminis- 
tration to  which  no  objection  can  be  taken. 

Afghan  frontier  policy.  Lord  Curzon's  Afghan  policy  was 
directed  to  the  object  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  costly  and 
unfruitful  punitive  expeditions  which  had  been  going  on  for 
so  many  years.  One  method  adopted  to  attain  that  purpose 
was  the  withdrawal  of  British  garrisons  from  the  frontier, 
combined  -with  arrangements  for  guarding  the  passes  by  levies 
of  local  tribesmen.  He  managed  to  avoid  expeditions  during 
his  term  of  office,  with  one  partial  exception,  the  chastisement 
of  the  Waziris.  The  operations  against  that  tribe  were  called 
a  *'  blockade  '.  Another  measure  directed  to  the  same  end 
was  the  formation  of  the  North-Western  Frontier  Province, 
an  irregular  straggling  strip  of  territory  chiefly  to  the  west  of 
the  Indus,  made  up  by  combining  certain  districts  taken  from 
the  Panjab  with  sundry  tribal  territories.     The  new  province 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CRO^VN  351 

was  placed  directly  under  the  Government  of  India,  which 
now  holds  all  the  threads  of  frontier  policy  in  its  own  hand. 
Lord  Curzon's  management  of  the  frontier  has  saved  much 
money  and  may  be  fairly  described  as  successful. 

Tibet  and  Persia.  The  invasion  of  Tibet  in  1904  was  brought 
about  by  Tibetan  intrigues  with  Russia,  obstruction  to  trade 
with  India,  and  neglect  to  answer  letters  from  the  Indian 
Government.  The  expedition  penetrated  to  Lhasa,  the  capital 
of  Tibet,  which  had  long  been  closed  to  European  visitors,  and 
much  interesting  information  was  collected.  The  value  of  the 
political  results  attained  seems  to  be  rather  doubtful,  and 
everybody  is  not  agreed  concerning  the  supposed  necessity  for 
military  operations. 

Lord  Curzon  took  effective  steps  to  preserve  British  influence 
in  Persia  and  the  Persian  Gulf, 

Death  of  Queen  Victoria.  On  January  22,  1901,  Qvieen 
Victoria,  Empress  of  India,  passed  away,  and  was  mourned 
by  the  whole  world.  She  had  lived  for  nearly  eighty-two  and 
reigned  for  nearly  sixty-four  years.  During  that  long  time 
she  had  enjoyed  the  love  as  well  as  the  respect  of  her  subjects, 
being  justly  regarded  as  the  '  mother  of  her  people  '.  She 
always  cherished  a  special  affection  for  her  Indian  empire,  and 
liked  to  have  representatives  of  various  Indian  races  in  attend- 
ance on  her  person;  Her  eldest  son,  who  had  visited  India  as 
Prince  of  Wales  in  1875  {ante,  p.  340),  succeeded  to  the  throne 
as  King- Emperor  Edward  VII. 

A  magnificent  Coronation  Darbar  was  held  at  Delhi  in  1903. 

The  famine  of  1900.  A  grievous  and  wide-spread  famine 
m  1900  gave  ample  scope  for  the  exercise  of  Lord  Curzon's 
remarkable  skill  in  organization  and  his  patient  attention  to 
minute  details.  The  calamity  was  met  by  efforts  on  the  part 
■of  all  concerned  which  could  not  be  surpassed,  and  led  to  the 
preparation  of  elaborate  revised  rules  regulating  measures  for 
the  relief  of  famine  or  scarcity. 

Earlier  famines.  Foolish  people,  ignorant  of  history,  are 
found  from  time  to  time  who  assert  that  famines  are  mainly 


352   THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

the  result  of  British  misgovernment,  and  that  they  were  hardly 
known  in  the  days  of  independence.  Such  assertions  are  ludi- 
crously false.  The  history  of  India  is  full  of  famines.  Several 
of  terrible  severity  have  been  mentioned  in  the  j)ages  even  of 
this  little  book,  from  which  many  others  have  been  omitted.^ 

The  difference  between  the  old  times  and  the  present  is  that 
the  ancient  rulers,  so  far  as  appears,  never  in  any  instance 
took  really  effective  steps  to  relieve  famine  on  a  large  scale, 
and  very  often  did  nothing  at  all  ;  whereas  the  authorities 
of  British  India,  since  1873  at  any  rate,  fully  recognize  the 
duty  of  preserving  life  so  far  as  possible  and  of  giving  sub- 
stantial relief,  even  at  the  cost  of  crores  of  rupees.  The  Govern- 
ment of  India  was  somewhat  slow  in  recognizing  its  duty  in 
the  matter  ;  but  since  the  comparatively  slight  local  Bihar 
famine  of  1873-4,  no  person  possessing  the  least  knowledge  of 
the  facts  can  honestly  accuse  the  Indian  authorities  of  in- 
difference to  the  miseries  caused  by  failure  of  the  rains  and 
consequent  famine.  What  is  possible  is  done.  No  human 
agency  or  lavish  expenditure  can  prevent  enormous  suffering 
and  numerous  deaths  when  the  failure  of  rain  is  widespread 
and  famine  severe.  The  opening  up  of  means  of  communication 
by  roads,  railways,  and  other  modern  inventions  has  done 
much  to  prevent  local  famines,  and  to  make  relief  easier  in  all 
cases.  The  provision  in  immense  areas  of  facilities  for  irriga- 
tion has  protected  a  large  percentage  of  the  best  land  in  the 
country  from  all  danger  of  acute  famine.  We  must  not,  how- 
ever, expect  that  the  occurrence  of  famine  in  India  will  be  or 
can  be  jorevented  altogether. 

Finance.  No  ruler  who  understands  his  business  can  be 
indifferent  to  finance.  Money,  denounced  by  the  moralist  as 
the  root  of  all  evil,  is  certainly  the  root  of  all  government. 
Long  ago,  Kautilya  laid  down  the  sound  doctrine  that  '  all 
undertakings  depend  upon  finance.     Hence  foremost  attention 

^  Balfour's  Cyclopaedia  gives  a  list  of  about  twenty  notable  Indian 
famines  prior  to  1750.  A  famine  of  early  date  is  mentioned  in  Jdtaka,. 
No.  199. 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  353 

shall  be  paid  to  the  Treasury.'  Lord  Curzon  fully  under- 
stood that  principle.  Among  other  reforms,  his  Government 
completed  the  legislation  making  gold  a  legal  tender  for  the 
payment  of  debts  (ante,  p.  348),  raised  the  limit  of  exemption 
from  income  tax,  and  nearly  halved  the  salt  tax.  From  the 
earliest  times  Indian  Governments  have  relied  for  part  of  their 
revenue  upon  a  tax  on  salt,  and  have  retained  a  right  to 
regulate  the  production  of  that  necessary  article.  The  tax, 
when  low  in  rate,  cannot  be  felt  severely  even  by  the  extremely 
poor,  who  form  the  large  majority  of  the  population  of  India  ; 
and  it  has  the  merit  of  taking  some  contribution  for  public 
purposes  from  everybody.     The  rate  used  to  be  too  high. 

Since  1894,  India  has  levied  a  customs  duty,  usually  5  per 
cent.,  on  most  articles  arriving  at  the  ports  by  sea.  The  pro- 
priety of  the  way  in  which  duty  is  levied  on  cotton  goods  has 
been  the  subject  of  much  controversy,  which  continued  in 
Lord  Curzon 's  time. 

Education.  Warren  Hastings,  a  man  of  large  ideas,  who 
saw  far  into  the  future,  was  keenly  alive  to  the  necessity  for 
education,  and  did  what  he  could  to  promote  it.  The  Marquess 
of  Hastings  was  able  to  do  something  more.  His  remark  that 
it  would  be  treason  to  perpetuate  ignorance  has  been  quoted 
(ante,  p.  301).  But  no  general  well-conceived  plan  for  a 
system  of  education  in  all  grades  throughout  the  empire  existed 
until  the  time  of  Lord  Dalhousie.  The  dispatch  sent  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  in  1854  laid  do'W7i  the  principles  to  be 
followed  and  is  the  foundation  of  the  Education  Department 
{ante,  p.  325).  Lord  Dalhousie  gladly  gave  the  fullest  possible 
effect  to  the  instructions  then  sent  out  from  England. 

We  have  seen  how  the  earliest  Indian  universities  were 
established  in  the  year  of  the  Mutiny,  and  that  other  institu- 
tions of  the  kind  have  been  created,  while  still  more  are  to 
come.  Lord  Curzon  devoted  the  most  laborious  study,  even 
to  the  extent  of  injuring  his  health,  to  all  aspects  of  the 
education  problem,  and  rightly  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
in  the  constitution  and  management  of  the  universities  grave 

1776  M 


354     THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO  INDIAN  PERIOD 

abuses  existed.  He  attempted  to  correct  those  abuses  and  start 
a  better  system  by  means  of  the  Universities  Act,  1904.  The 
representatives  of  the  educated  classes  took  u\)  the  erroneous 
notion  that  the  Viceroy  was  opposed  to  higher  education, 
whereas  his  real  objects  were  to  convert  such  education  '  into 
a  reality  instead  of  a  sham  ',  and  to  give  it '  new  life  '.  A  great 
clamour  arose  and  pursued  Lord  Curzon  for  the  rest  of  his 
stay  in  India.  The  turmoil  was  due  largely  to  the  fears  of 
vested  interests,  and  in  a  measure  to  mistakes  made  by  the 
Viceroy.  But  the  opposition  also  rested  on  certain  grounds 
of  principle.  The  subsequent  appointment  of  a  Minister  of 
Education  has  raised  hopes  that  the  exceedingly  difficult 
question  of  university  education  in  India  may  be  solved  in 
a  manner  at  least  tolerably  satisfactory. 

The  Partition  of  Bengal.  Another  act  of  Lord  Curzon's 
which  aroused  intense  bitterness  of  feeling,  especially  in  the 
province  immediately  concerned,  was  the  so-called  Partition 
of  Bengal.  There  can  be  no  question  that  the  huge  area  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal  in  1904 
could  not  be  administered  properly  and  that  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  break  up  the  unwieldy  province.  Lord  Curzon 
hit  on  a  scheme  which  unluckily  gave  deep  offence,  and 
awakened  in  Bengal  a  violent  expression  of  nationalist  feeling 
which  had  not  been  expected  by  the  Government  of  India. 
The  action  of  the  authorities  with  regard  to  the  universities 
and  the  rearrangement  of  the  Bengal  province  was  made  the 
pretext  for  a  furious  seditious  agitation  resulting  in  a  series  of 
murders  and  other  grave  crimes. 

At  the  Imperial  Darbar  held  at  the  close  of  1911,  H.M.  the 
King-Emperor  announced  a  different  arrangement,  which  gives 
satisfaction  except  to  Eastern  Bengal .  The  old  Bengal  province 
is  now  divided  into  three  jurisdictions,  namely,  Bengal,  under 
a  Governor -in-Council ;  Bihar  and  Orissa  under  a  Lieutenant- 
Go  vernor-in-Council;  and  Assam  under  a  Chief  Commissioner. 
Unfortunately  the  crimes  committed  by  dangerous  secret 
societies  of  anarchists  have  not  yet  wholly  ceased  (1919). 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  355 

The  antiquities  of  India.  It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  these 
highly  contentious  subjects  to  measures  of  Lord  Curzon's 
which  have  won,  and  deservedly  won,  universal  approval. 
India  is  full  of  memorials  of  olden  times.  Lord  Curzon  not 
only  passed  an  Act  for  the  Preservation  of  Ancient  Monuments, 
but  worked  out  a  well-conceived  scheme  for  both  the  conser- 
vation of  buildings  which  had  escaped  destruction  and  the 
exploration  of  the  treasures  of  antiquity  buried  in  sites  where 
everjiihing  above  ground  had  perished.  Both  duties — con- 
servation and  exploration — were  entrusted  to  a  skilled  Director- 
General  of  Archaeology,  aided  by  a  staff  of  expert  assistants  in 
the  provinces,  and  supplied  liberally  with  funds.  The  Depart- 
ment, thus  organized  in  a  manner  far  superior  to  the  crude 
arrangements  previously  in  operation,  has  done  admirable 
work,  and  its  reports  become  more  and  more  interesting  every 
year.  The  field  for  research  is  practically  unlimited,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  imagine  a  time  when  the  Director-General  should 
have  nothing  left  to  do.  The  scientific  study  of  the  antiquities 
of  India  was  for  many  years  confined  almost  exclusively  to 
European  scholars,  but  since  about  the  begiiming  of  the  current 
century  numerous  Indian-born  students  have  recognized  that 
the  investigation  of  the  history  of  their  native  land  should 
not  be  abandoned  to  foreigners,  and  have  been  doing  their 
duty  in  making  additions  to  the  world's  store  of  historical 
knowledge. 

Resignation  of  Lord  Curzon.  Lord  Curzon,  having  been 
reappointed  Viceroy  and  Governor-General  after  a  brief  visit 
to  Europe  in  the  summer  of  1904,  during  which  his  place  was 
occupied  by  Lord  Ampthill,  Governor  of  Madras,  resigned 
office  late  in  1905.  His  retirement  was  due  to  a  controversy 
concerning  the  position  and  duties  of  the  Commander-in-Chief 
in  India.  The  Home  Government  having  accepted  the  opinion 
of  Lord  Kitchener  and  rejected  that  of  the  Viceroy,  the  latter 
was  bound  to  resign.  The  Commander-in-Chief  in  India  was 
given  the  combined  duties  of  executive  command  of  the  army 
in  all  its  departments  with  those  of  military  member  of  Council 
or  War  Minister.     Lord  Curzon  held  that  arrangement  to  be 


356    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

opposed  to  the  recognized  principle  that  in  all  well-conducted 
states  the  military  should  be  subordinate  to  the  civil  authority. 
Some  modification  of  Lord  Kitchener's  scheme  appears  to  be 
necessary. 

Lord  Minto  II  :  sedition.  The  nobleman  chosen  to  succeed 
Lord  Curzon  in  1905  was  the  Earl  of  Minto,  great-grandson 
of  the  half-forgotten  Governor-General  who  had  done  such 
excellent  service  during  the  Napoleonic  wars  a  century  earlier 
{ante,  p.  293).  His  period  of  rule  is  marked  chiefly  by  two 
things  namely — grave  unrest  resulting  in  many  atrocious 
erimes ;  and  secondlj%  important  reforms  in  the  machinery  of 
the  government  of  India. 

Lord  Minto  met  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  his  situation 
with  quiet  courage,  and  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  turned 
from  his  course  even  by  a  wicked  attempt  made  upon  his  life. 
The  crimes  of  the  secret  conspirators,  who  foolishly  thought 
to  destroy  the  British  supremacy  by  means  of  the  murder 
of  individual  officials,  were  at  their  height  in  1908  and  1909. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  the  conspiracy  has  been  wholly  rooted 
out  even  now  (1919),  but  since  1912  the  outrages  have  been 
fewer.  The  new  laws  needed  to  check  new  forms  of  crime 
were  duly  passed.  They  include  pro\asions  for  the  regula- 
tion of  seditious  publications,  which  must  remain  in  force  as 
long  as  the  necessity  exists.  The  Government  would  prefer, 
if  possible,  to  maintain  Sir  Thomas  Metcalfe's  policy  of  an 
absolutely  free  press  {ante,  p.  312),  but  the  safety  of  the  Empire 
must  be  the  first  consideration. 

Lord  Minto  rightly  decided  that  the  crimes  of  small  groups 
of  conspirators,  acting  in  concert  with  foreign  anarchists, 
should  not  deter  him  from  carrjang  out  the  reforms  in  the 
Indian  constitution  which  appeared  to  be  desirable  on  their 
merits.  The  repression  of  crime  is  a  matter  to  be  dealt  with 
by  a  good  system  of  police  ;  reforms  in  the  framework  of  the 
government  of  India  are  a  separate  affair,  and  rendered 
necessary  by  reasons  of  permanent  validity. 

Lord  Minto's  Reforms.    Lord  Minto's  reforms  concerned  both 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  357 

the  Government  of  India  and  the  Provincial  Governments. 
The  Governor-General's  Legislative  Council  was  enlarged  to 
contain  sixty  members,  of  whom  not  more  than  twenty-eight 
could  be  officials.  Special  constituencies  were  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  recommending  representatives  for  nomination  by 
Government  to  the  Councils,  and  twenty-seven  seats  in  the 
Council  were  shared  by  them.  The  Provincial  Legislative 
Councils  were  also  enlarged.  Certain  constituencies,  e.  g. 
races  like  the  Muhammadans  and  Sikhs,  and  bodies  like 
Universities,  Municipal  Corporations,  and  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, were  formed  to  recommend  representatives  for  nomina- 
tion by  Government  to  these  Councils.  Official  majorities 
in  these  Councils  were  abandoned,  and  much  greater  freedom  of 
discussion  was  allowed.  An  Indian  member  was  appointed 
to  the  Executive  Council  of  the  Governor-General  and  each  of 
the  Provincial  Governments,  and  also  to  the  Council  of  India, 
which  advises  the  Secretary  of  State  in  London. 

Lord  Hardinge.  In  November  1910,  Lord  Minto  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Lord  Hardinge.  The  great  event  of  Lord  Hardinge 's 
Viceroyalty  was  the  visit  to  India  of  Their  Majesties  King 
George  V  and  Queen  Mary,  December  2,  1911  to  January  10, 
1912.  On  December  12  Their  Majesties  held  a  solemn  Darbar 
at  Delhi,  when  they  announced  their  coronation  to  the  people 
of  India.  His  Majesty  then  took  occasion  to  announce  certain 
boons.  Of  these,  the  most  important  was  the  modification 
of  Lord  Curzon's  partition  of  Bengal,  which  was  thoroughly 
unpopular.  Bengal  was  henceforth  to  be  a  Presidency  under 
a  Governor  in  Council  ;  Bihar,  Orissa,  and  Chota  Nagpur  a 
Lieutenant-Governorship  with  an  Executive  Council ;  and 
Assam  a  Chief  Commissionership.  Delhi,  the  historic  capital 
of  India,  became  once  more  the  capital  of  British  India  in 
place  of  Calcutta.  Other  boons  were  a  grant  of  fifty  lakhs  for 
education,  and  the  throwing-open  of  the  V.C.  to  Indian  sepoys 
for  gallantry  in  the  field.  All  these  concessions  were  enthusias- 
tically received,  and  His  Majesty's  sympathetic  attitude 
towards  the  needs   and  grievances  of  his   Indian  subjects 


358    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGOL-INDIAN  PERIOD 

aroused  a  wave  of  intense  and  genuine  loyalty  throughout 
the  country. 

From  Their  Majesties'  departure  in  1912  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  Great  War  in  1914,  India  pursued  a  prosperous  and,  on  the 
whole,  uneventful  career.  Steps  were  taken  to  realize  His 
Majesty's  express  wish  that  '  there  might  spread  over  this 
land  a  network  of  schools  and  colleges,  from  v/hich  would  go 
forth  loyal  and  manly  and  useful  citizens,  able  to  hold  their 
own  in  industry  and  agriculture  and  all  the  vocations  of  life  '. 
In  1913  the  Government  of  India  issued  a  Resolution  on 
education  declaring  that  their  policy  was  to  double  the  number 
of  primary  schools.  A  recurring  grant  of  ten  lakhs  and  a  non- 
recurring grant  of  sixty-five  lakhs  was  made  to  the  Universi- 
ties. Sir  Sankaran  Nair  was  appointed  Member  for  Education, 
and  new  Universities  sprang  into  being  at  Benares,  Patna, 
Mysore,  Dacca,  and  Burma.  The  question  of  indentured 
labour  in  Natal,  championed  by  the  Hon.  Mr.  Gokhale,  was 
taken  up  by  Lord  Hardinge's  Government.  Royal  Commis- 
sions sat  to  deal  with  the  Public  Services,  Military  Expendi- 
ture, and  Currency,  The  subject  of  Local  Self-Government 
was  dealt  with  in  an  important  Resolution.  Trade  flourished 
and  India  appeared  to  be  entering  upon  a  new  era  of  peaceful 
development. 

The  Great  War.  This  was  the  state  of  things  in  India  when 
Germany  suddenly  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  world  by  her 
wanton  declaration  of  war  upon  the  Allied  Nations  (August  4, 
1914).  One  of  Germany's  cherished  schemes  was  the  Drang 
nach  Osten,  the  Eastern  movement.  She  had  won  over  Turkey, 
and  she  hoped  to  control  the  great  railway  line  running  from 
Constantinople  to  Bagdad.  This  line  branches  off  near  Aleppo, 
and  runs  on  the  one  hand  through  Mosul  to  Bagdad,  and  on 
the  other  to  Damascus  and  on  to  Medina.  It  was  hoped 
shortly  to  continue  the  Eastern  branch  to  Basra.  Control  of 
this  railway  would  mean  the  German  domination  of  the  Near 
East,  a  base  for  naval  attacks  on  the  ports  of  Western  India, 
and  a  direct  threat  to  the  key  of  India,  the  Suez  Canal.    India 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  359 

responded  magnificently  to  the  call  to  arms.  Her  armies  had 
been  recently  reorganized  by  Lord  Kitchener.  The  thin  Hne 
holding  off  the  German  attack  upon  the  Channel  ports  and 
Paris  was  hard  pressed.  England  had  illimitable  resources, 
but  she  required  time  to  develop  them,  and  meanwhile  the 
enemy  had  to  be  kept  back  at  all  costs.  Lord  Hardinge 
dispatched  to  France  two  of  the  finest  divisions  of  the  Indian 
Army,  from  Lahore  and  Meerut.^  These  troops  faced  most 
bravely  the  horrors  of  a  winter  in  the  trenches,  and  took  a 
prominent  share  in  the  fighting  round  Ypres,  Neuve  Chapelle, 
and  Loos.  They  were  withdra-^ai  as  soon  as  battalions  from 
the  New  Armies  were  ready  to  take  their  place.  After  this,  the 
chief  interests  in  the  war,  from  the  Indian  point  of  view, 
were  in  Mesopotamia  and  Palestine. 

The  Campaign  in  Mesopotamia.  In  the  winter  of  1914,  the 
Sixth  (Poona)  Division  set  sail  from  Bombay  for  Basra.  This 
division  is  largely  composed  of  Maratha  troops.  On  landing, 
this  Expeditionary  Force  won  a  number  of  striking  successes, 
Basra,  Amara,  Nasariyeh,  and  Kut-el-Amara  being  succes- 
sively captured.  It  would  have  been  fortunate  had  the 
British  Government  decided  to  stop  there.  Unfortunately 
the  Cabinet  considered  that  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  some 
striking  success  in  the  East  as  an  offset  to  the  evacuation  of 
Gallipoli.  General  Townshend  was  ordered  to  advance,  with 
totally  inadequate  forces,  upon  Bagdad,  the  historic  capital 
of  the  Caliphs.  After  a  brilliant  victory  at  Ctesiphon,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1915,  he  was  forced,  by  overwhelming  numbers,  to  fall 
back  on  Kut-el-Amara,  where  he  was  besieged.  Here,  after 
a  number  of  costly  attempts  to  relieve  him  had  failed,  he 
surrendered  after  a  siege  of  one  hundred  and  forty- seven  days 
(December  3,  1915 — April  29, 1916).  Great  sufferings  were  en- 
dured by  the  troops  engaged  in  these  operations  owing  to  the 
failure  of  medical  stores  and  supplies.  A  Commission  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  subject  severely  blamed  the  Government  of 
Lord  Hardinge  for  this.    After  the  forces  had  been  thoroughly 

'  They  began  to  land  in  France,  September  26,  1914. 


360    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

reorganized,  a  fresh  advance  was  made  and  Bagdad  fell 
(March  11,  1917). 

The  Campaign  in  Palestine.  Meanwhile,  General  Allenby's 
Army,  also  very  largely  composed  of  Indian  troops,  advanced 
from  the  Suez  Canal,  and  entered  Palestine.  Jerusalem  was 
captured  on  December  9,  1917.  Damascus  fell  on  October  1, 
1918.  After  this,  the  Turkish  resistance  collapsed.  The 
downfall  of  Turkey  was  the  signal  for  a  general  debacle  among 
the  Central  Powers. 

Thus  India  took  a  decisive  part  in  the  war.  Her  troops 
also  rendered  important  services  in  minor  theatres,  especially 
East  Africa.  The  Indian  Army,  which  in  1914  numbered 
200,000  or  less,  had  growii  to  nearly  a  million.  It  had 
suffered  106,594  casualties,  including  36,696  deaths.  India  also 
offered  a  gift  of  one  hundred  and  five  million  pounds  to  defray 
expenses.  Lord  Sinha  and  the  Maharajah  of  Bikanir 
represented  India  at  the  Imperial  War  Conference,  and  the 
latter,  together  with  the  Secretary  of  State,  signed  the  Peace 
Treaty  on  India's  behalf. 

The  Montagu-Chelmsford  Reforms  :  the  Announcement. 
Lord  Chelmsford   succeeded    Lord    Hardinge  a§  Viceroy  in 

1916.  In  1917  Mr.  Montagu  became  Secretary  of  State  for  India 
and  in  August  of  the  same  year  made  an  historic  announce- 
ment in  the  House  of  Commons.  It  was  as  follows  :  '  The 
policy  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  with  which  the  Govern- 
ment of  India  are  in  complete  accord,  is  that  of  the  increasing 
association  of  Indians  in  every  branch  of  the  administration, 
and  the  gradual  development  of  self-governing  institutions 
with  a  view  to  the  progressive  realization  of  responsible 
government  in  India  as  an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire. 
They  have  decided  that  substantial  steps  in  this  direction 
should  be  taken  as  soon  as  possible.'  In  order  to  carry  this 
policy  into  effect,    Mr.  Montagu  visited  India  in  November 

1917,  and  in  conjunction  with  the  Viceroy  made  exhaustive 
inquiries  into  the  whole  question.  A  Bill  framed  on  their 
joint  report  passed  into  law  in  December  1919. 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  361 

The  Government  of  India.  Under  the  new  scheme  the 
Government  of  India  is  radically  changed.  The  Executive 
Council  will  henceforth  contain  three  Indians  instead  of  one, 
as  hitherto.  The  Legislative  Council  is  to  consist  of  two 
Chambers,  the  Council  of  State  and  the  Legislative  Assembly. 
The  Council  of  State  is  to  contain  sixty  members,  of  whom  not 
more  than  twenty  are  to  be  officials.  The  Legislative  Assembly 
is  to  contain  one  hundred  and  forty  members,  of  whom  one 
hundred  are  to  be  elected.  The  Viceroy  will  not  preside  at 
the  meetings  of  either  Chamber,  but  will,  at  first,  appoint  a 
President.  The  two  Chambers  are  to  possess  control  over  the 
Budget.  The  Viceroy  is  to  possess  the  power  of  veto  in 
extreme  instances,  when  he  considers  the  action  of  the  two 
Chambers  to  be  contrary  to  public  interest. 

The  Provincial  Governments.  The  Provincial  Legislatures 
are  also  radically  changed,  so  as  to  place  the  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  representatives  of  the  people.  At  least  half  of  the 
Executive  Council  is  to  consist  of  unofficial  Indians.  In  the 
Legislative  Council,  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  members  are  to  be 
elected.  The  electorates  will  consist  of  mercantile,  agricultural, 
and  professional  bodies  ;  and  communities  hke  the  Muham- 
madans,  the  Sikhs,  the  Marathas,  and  the  non-Brahmans  of 
Madras  mil  return  their  own  members.  The  Governor  is 
no  longer  to  preside  at  Council  meetings.  His  place  will  be 
taken  by  a  President,  who  for  the  first  four  years  will  be 
nominated  by  him,  and  afterwards  chosen  by  the  Council. 
The  portfolios  of  certain  departments,  e.  g.  education,  sani- 
tation, and  abkari,  will  be  transferred  to  Ministers  appointed 
by  the  Governor  ;  other  departments  are  to  be  reserved  for 
administration  by  the  Governor  and  his  Executive  Council. 
In  all  cases,  the  Governor  retains  the  final  right  of  vetoing  any 
measure.  The  Budget  is  to  be  placed  before  the  Legislative 
Council,  which  will  thus  acquire  the  most  important  of  all 
powers,  viz.  control  over  finance. 

The  Council  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  The  Secretary  of 
State  for  India  is  an  important  official.    He  is  responsible  to 

m3 


362    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Parliament,  which  through  him  controls  the  Government  of 
India.  He  is  assisted  by  a  Council  called  the  India  Council. 
This  Council  since  1917  has  contained  three  Indians  :  it  is 
now  to  have  more  than  three  \  and  the  Secretary  of  State  is  only 
to  interfere  in  purely  Indian  matters,  when  the  Provincial 
Councils  and  the  Government  of  India  differ.  The  Secretary 
of  State  is  in  future  to  be  paid  out  of  English  revenues,  and 
not  by  India  as  hitherto. 

Conclusion.  We  have  now  come  to  the  close  of  our  brief 
survey  of  the  history  of  the  great  country  of  India.  It  is 
almost  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world,  for  whereas  other 
civilizations  have  arisen  and  perished,  that  of  India  has 
remained,  substantially  the  same  in  spite  of  changes  and 
modifications  inevitable  in  the  course  of  ages,  from  the  Vedic 
period  to  the  present  day.  During  that  time,  she  has  been 
invaded,  overrun,  and  partially  conquered  by  various  races, 
until  at  last  the  English  made  themselves  masters  of  the  entire 
country.  How  has  India  been  affected  by  the  British  conquest? 
This  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  practical  importance  to  us 
to-day.  Let  us  first  take  the  question  of  protection.  We  have 
already  seen  how  terribly  India  has  suffered  from  invasions 
in  the  past.  Timur  (p.  127)  butchered  upwards  of  100,000 
prisoners  when  he  invaded  Hindustan  in  1398,  and  left  the  great 
city  of  Delhi  an  uninhabited  ruin.  A  similar  fate  overtook  the 
capital  in  1739,  when  Nadir  Shah  massacred  30,000  of  the 
inhabitants  (p.  231).  Religious  shrines  were  not  immune 
from  desecration  ;  in  1024,  Mahmud  of  Ghazni  sacked  the 
famous  temple  of  Somnath  (p.  101).  In  a  word,  the  North- 
West  Frontier  has  always  been  a  menace  to  the  peace  of 
India,  and  from  its  gates  countless  hordes  have  poured  down 
upon  its  fertile  plains.  Since  the  English  have  taken  over  the 
country,  this  has  been  stopped  for  ever.  During  the  period 
of  the  British  occupation,  the  Indian  Army  has  been  re- 
organized :  great  fortresses  and  strategic  railways  guard  the 
Khaibar  and  Bolan  Passes,  with  bases  at  Peshawar  and  Quetta. 
During  the  Great  War,  India  was  entirely  immune  from  attack^ 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN  363 

and  all  German  designs  upon  her  were  nipped  in  the  bud.  Then 
there  is  the  protection  afforded  by  the  British  Navy.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  the  enormous  advantage  which  India  reaps 
from  this.  She  is  under  the  aegis  of  an  invincible  fleet,  for 
which  she  pays  nothing,  and  this  means  that  even  in  times  of 
war  her  shores  are  free  from  invasion  and  the  supplies  of  food 
which  she  receives  from  foreign  countries  cannot  be  cut  off. 
Besides,  the  presence  of  a  strong  navy  always  stimulates  trade, 
.  and  it  is  under  British  rule  that  the  great  ports  of  Bombay, 
Karachi,  and  Calcutta  have  sprung  into  existence.  Even  at  the 
height  of  prosperity  of  the  Mughal  Empire,  India  could  only 
boast  of  insignificant  ports  hke  Surat  and  Broach. 

Secondly,  let  us  take  the  question  of  internal  order  and 
security.  Probably  in  ancient  times,  under  strong  despots 
like  Chandragupta  Maury  a,  India  was  efficiently  policed  ;  but 
these  rare  intervals  were  followed  by  long  periods  of  anarchy 
and  rapine.  Even  in  the  days  of  Akbar,  it  was  impossible 
for  travellers  to  go  by  the  great  highroad  from  Surat  to 
the  capital  without  an  escort,  as  the  country  was  infested  by 
Rajput  freebooters.  Still  worse  was  the  state  of  things  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  whole  of  central 
India  was  ravaged  by  the  Maratha  horsemen,  until  Lord 
Hastings  restored  peace  by  exterminating  the  Pindaris. 
Now  a  traveller  can  go  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the 
other  with  as  much  security  as  in  England. 

Next  let  us  take  the  question  of  famine  and  disease.  India, 
like  other  Oriental  countries,  has  always  been  subject  to 
these  scourges.  Famine  caused  more  deaths  than  the  crudest 
invasions,  and  constant  references  in  the  old  historians  show 
that  it  was  of  frequent  occurrence.  Nothing  was  done, 
except  by  private  doles,  to  mitigate  this  curse.  Now,  owing 
to  railways  and  good  roads,  food  can  be  quickly  transported 
to  a  famine-stricken  district.  Irrigation  has  supplied  huge 
tracts  of  land  with  perennial  water,  and  Government  has  a 
large  reserve  of  money  ready  for  such  emergencies.  Plague, 
too,  ravaged  the  country  ;    we  hear  of  a  terrible  outbreak  in 


364   THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

Gujarat  in  1616.  This  disease,  together  with  cholera  and 
malaria,  is  steadily  being  overcome  by  improved  sanitation 
and  by  the  introduction  of  Western  methods  of  prevention  and 
cure. 

Lastly,  let  us  take  the  question  of  self-government. 
Although  %ve  hear  dimly  of  tribal  assemblies  at  certain  times 
in  ancient  India,  practically  all  the  governments  mentioned 
were  of  one  type — absolute  monarchy.  The  Maury  a  empire 
was  organized  on  highly  efficient  lines,  but  it  was  a  bureau-- 
cracy  pure  and  simple,  wherein  order  was  maintained  by 
a  highly-organized  system  of  espionage  and  by  barbarously 
cruel  punishments.  Akbar  was  a  benevolent  but  absolute 
despot.  Sivaji's  Council  of  Eight  {Ashta  Pradhdn)  was 
chosen  without  reference  to  the  people. 

Ever  since  the  days  of  Warren  Hastings,  England  has 
recognized  her  responsibilities  with  regard  to  India.  The 
British  parliament  has  jealously  watched  the  conduct  of  her 
servants  in  the  East,  and  punished  acts  of  irresponsible 
tyranny.  As  long  ago  as  1804,  Lord  William  Bentinck 
enunciated  the  maxim  that  British  greatness,  if  it  is  to  be 
enduring,  must  be  founded  on  Indian  happiness.  Twenty 
years  later.  Sir  Thomas  Munro,  in  an  official  minute,  pointed 
out  that  the  object  of  British  rule  was  '  so  far  to  improve  the 
character  of  our  Indian  subjects  as  to  enable  them  to  govern 
and  protect  themselves'.  Every  Bill  passed  by  Parliament 
from  the  Regulating  Act  of  1773  (p.  264),  Pitt's  India  Act  of 
1784  (p.  276),  and  the  successive  renewals  of  the  Charter 
(pp.  295,  310),  has  led  to  important  improvements  in  the 
administration  of  India.  The  Act  of  1833  opened  the  door  to 
Indians  for  public  employment.  Queen  Victoria's  proclama- 
tion of  1858  marked  a  further  important  advance.  In  1861 
Councils  were  established,  and  Indians  were  for  the  first  time 
allowed  a  voice  in  framing  laws  and  limiting  the  power  of  the 
Executive.  In  1892  the  Councils  were  enlarged.  In  1909  the 
number  of  Indians  was  greatly  increased  and  the  Councils 
acquired  the  power  of  criticizing  the  Government.     Lastly 


TTVTT\TA       TTATT-kTriO      rrXJT?      OTi  CiX^rM 


3fif> 


INDIAN  EMPIRE  &  CEYLON 
1915> 

SHOWING  POLITICAL  DIVISIONS 


INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN 


365 


came  the  Act  of  1919  which  has  practically  converted  the 
Councils  into  a  House  of  Commons,  with  a  non-official  majority 
and  control  over  finance.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  during 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  British  rule,  India  has  enjoyed 
peace  and  prosperity  such  as  she  seldom,  if  ever,  knew  during 
the  troubled  years  of  the  past,  and  has  steadily  moved  forward 
on  the  path  of  self-government,  as  the  progress  of  education 
and  enlightenment  prepared  her  touse  properly  these  privileges. 
And  lastly,  under  British  rule,  India  has  become  conscious  of 
herself  as  a  nation.  Even  to  a  patriot  like  Sivaji,  the  word 
'  India  '  meant  nothing.  To  him,  the  Marathas  were  one 
nation  and  the  Bengalis  another.  Now  India  is  a  nation  in 
sentiment  as  well  as  in  fact,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen 
to  do  his  best  to  further  her  progress  by  loyal,  unbiased,  and 
orderly  conduct,  and  by  obedience  to  the  government  of  the 
realm. 

BRITISH  PERIOD.     LEADING  DATES 


A.  THE  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY 

1748-8.  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession  (First  Anglo-FBench  War). 

1748.  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

1751-4.  Second  Anglo-French  War. 

1751.  Olive's  defence  of  Arcot. 

1754.  Recall  of  Dupleix. 

1756.  Siraj-ud-daula  captures  Calcutta. 

1756-63.  Seven  Years'  War  (Third  Anglo-French  War), 

1757.  Battle  of  Plassey. 
1760,  Battle  of  Wandiwash. 

1763.  Peace  of  Paris. 

1764.  Battle  of  Buxar. 
1765-7.  Clive  Governor  of  Bengal. 
1767-9.  First  Mysore  War. 

1773,  Regulating  Act. 

1774-85.  Warren  Hastings  Governor-General. 

1775-82.  First  Maratha  War. 

1780-4.  Second  Mysore  War. 

1781.  Battle  of  Porto  Novo. 

1782.  Treaty  of  Salbai. 
1784.  Pitt's  India  Act. 

1786-93.  Lord  Comwallis  Governor-General. 

1788-95.  Impeachment  of  Hastings, 

1790-2.  Third  Mysore  War. 

1793.  Permanent  Settlement  of  Bengal. 

1793.  Charter  renewed. 


366    THE  BRITISH  OR  ANGLO-INDIAN  PERIOD 

1793-8.  Sir  John  Shore  Governor-General. 

1798-1805.  Lord  Wellesley  Governor-General. 

1799.  Fourth  Mysore  War. 

1802.  Treaty  of  Bassein. 

1803.  Second  Maratha  War  :   Battles  of  Assaye  and  LaswarL 
1805.  Lord  Cornwallis  Governor-General. 

1805.  Sir  G.  Barlow  Governor-General. 

1807-15.  Lord  Minto  I  Governor-General. 

1809.  Treaty  of  Amritsar  with  Ranjit  Singh. 

1813.  Renewal  of  the  Charter. 

1813-23.  Lord  Hastings  Governor-General. 

1817-19.  Third  Maratha  War. 

1817.  Battle  of  Kirkee. 

1818.  Battles  of  Koregaon  and  Ashti,  final  overthrow  of  the  Peshwas. 
1823-8.  Lord  Amherst  Governor-General. 

1824-6.  First  Burmese  War. 

1828-35.  Lord  William  Bentinck  Governor-General 

1829.  Abohtion  of  sail  and  thagl. 

1836-42.  Lord  Auckland  Governor-General. 

1838.  Tripartite  Treaty. 

1839-42.  First  Afghan  War. 

1842-4.  Lord  Ellenborough  Governor-General. 

1843.  Annexation  of  Sind. 

1844-8.  Lord  Hardinge  I  Governor-General. 

1845-6.  First  Sikh  War. 

1848-56.  Lord  Dalhousie  Governor-General. 

1848.  Doctrine  of  Lapse  :   Satara  annexed. 

1849.  Second  Sikh  War.    Annexation  of  the  Panjab. 

1852.  Second  Burmese  War. 

1853.  Charter  renewed.    First  Indian  railway. 
1856-62.  Lord  Canning  Governor-General. 
1857-9.  Indian  Mutiny. 

1858.  Queen  Victora's  Proclamation.    End  of  the  Company. 

B.  INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN 


1862-4. 

1864-9. 

1869-72. 

1872-6. 

1875-6. 

1876-80. 

1878-80. 

1880-4. 

1880. 

1883. 

1884-8. 

1885-6. 

1887. 

1888-94. 

1894-9. 

1895. 

1896. 

1897. 

Lord  Elgin  I  Gov. -Gen. 
Lord  Lawrence  Gov. -Gen. 
Lord  Mayo  Gov. -Gen. 


1899-1905.  Lord  Curzon  Viceroy. 

1901.         Death  of  Queen  Victoria. 

1905.         Partition  of  Bengal. 
Lord Northbrook  Gov. -Gen.  \  1905-10.  Lord  Minto  II  Viceroy. 
Prince  of  Wales's  Tour.         i  1909.         Indian  Councils  Act. 
Lord  Lytton  Viceroy.  1910-16.  Lord  Hardinge  II  Viceroy. 

Second  Afghan  War.  I  1911.         Visit  of  Their  Majesties. 

1914-18.  The  Great  War. 

1916-21.  Lord  Chelmsford  Viccrov 

1918.  Rowlatt  Sedition  Report. 

1919.  Disturbances    in    the   Paniab 


Lord  Ripon  Viceroy 
Battle  of  Maiwand:   March 
of  Roberts  to  Kandahar. 
Ilbert  Bill. 
Lord  Dufferin  Viceroy 


and  Gujarat. 


Third  Burmese  War.  1919.  Hunter  Committee  Report. 

Queen  Victoria's  Jubilee.  1919-  Peace    of    Rawal    Pindi    with 

Lord  Lansdowne  Viceroy,  j                       Afghans. 

Lord  Elgin  II  Viceroy.  1919.  Peace  Treaty   signed   between 

Chitral  Expedition.  I                        England  and  Germany. 

Plague  in  Bombay.  1919.  New  Government  of  India  Act. 

Tirah  Expedition.  1921.  Lord  Reading  Viceroy. 


APPENDIX  A 

QUEEN'S  PROCLAMATION 

Proclamation  by  the  Queen  in  Council,  to  the  Princes,  Chiefs, 
and  People  of  India. 

VicTOBiA,  by  the  Grace  of  God  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  of  the  Colonies  and  Dependencies  thereof  in 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  America,  and  Australasia,  Queen,  Defender  of 
the  Faith. 

Whereas,  for  divers  weighty  reasons,  we  have  resolved,  by  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and 
Commons,  in  Parliament  assembled,  to  take  upon  ourselves  the  govern- 
ment of  the  territories  in  India,  heretofore  administered  in  trust  for  us 
by  the  Honourable  East  India  Company. 

Now,  therefore,  we  do  by  these  presents  notify  and  declare  that,  by 
the  advice  and  consent  aforesaid,  we  have  taken  upon  ourselves  the  said 
government ;  and  we  hereby  call  upon  all  our  subjects  within  the  said 
territories  to  be  faithful,  and  to  bear  true  allegiance  to  us,  our  heirs  and 
successors,  and  to  submit  themselves  to  the  authority  of  those  whom 
we  may  hereafter,  from  time  to  time,  see  fit  to  appoint  to  administer 
the  government  of  our  said  territories,  in  our  name  and  on  our  behalf. 

And  we,  reposing  especial  ti'ust  and  confidence  in  the  loyalty,  ability, 
and  judgement  of  our  right  trusty  and  well-beloved  cousin  Charles 
John,  Viscount  Canning,  do  hereby  constitute  and  appoint  him,  the 
said  Viscount  Canning,  to  be  our  first  Viceroy  and  Governor-General 
in  and  over  our  said  territories,  and  to  administer  the  government 
thereof  in  our  name,  and  generally  to  act  in  our  name  and  on  our  behalf, 
subject  to  such  orders  and  regulations  as  he  shall,  from  time  to  time, 
receive  through  one  of  our  Principal  Secretaries  of  State. 

And  we  do  hereby  confirm  in  their  several  offices,  civil  and  military, 
all  persons  now  employed  in  the  service  of  the  Honourable  East  India 
Company,  subject  to  our  future  pleasure,  and  to  such  laws  and  regula- 
tions as  may  hereafter  be  enacted. 

We  hereby  announce  to  the  native  princes  of  India,  that  all  treaties 
and  engagements  made  with  them  by  or  imder  the  authority  of  the 


368  APPENDIX  A 

East  India  Company  are  by  us  accepted,  and  will  be  scrupulouslv 
maintained,  and  we  look  for  the  like  observance  on  their  part. 

We  desire  no  extension  of  our  present  territorial  possessions  ;  and^ 
while  we  will  permit  no  aggression  upon  our  dominions  or  our  right* 
to  be  attempted  with  impunity,  we  shall  sanction  no  encroachment  on 
those  of  others. 

We  shall  respect  the  rights,  dignity,  and  honour  of  native  princes  as 
our  own  ;  and  we  desire  that  they,  as  well  as  our  own  subjects,  should 
enjoy  that  prosperity  and  that  social  advancement  which  can  only  be 
secured  by  internal  peace  and  good  government. 

We  hold  ourselves  bound  to  the  natives  of  our  Indian  territories  by 
the  same  obligations  of  duty  which  bind  us  to  all  our  other  subjects, 
and  those  obligations,  by  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God,  we  shall  faith- 
fully and  conscientiously  fill. 

Firmly  relying  ourselves  on  the  truth  of  Christianity,  and  acknow- 
ledging with  gratitude  the  solace  of  religion,  we  disclaim  alike  the  right 
and  the  desire  to  impose  our  convictions  on  any  of  our  subjects.  We 
declare  it  to  be  our  royal  will  and  pleasure  that  none  be  in  any  wise 
favoured,  none  molested  or  disquieted,  by  reason  of  their  religious  faith 
or  observances,  but  that  all  shall  alike  enjoy  the  equal  and  impartial 
protection  of  the  law  ;  and  we  do  strictly  charge  and  enjoin  all  those 
who  may  be  in  authority  under  us  that  they  abstain  from  all  inter- 
ference with  the  religious  belief  or  worship  of  any  of  our  subjects  on 
pain  of  our  highest  displeasure. 

And  it  is  our  further  will  that,  so  far  as  may  be,  our  subjects,  of 
whatever  race  or  creed,  be  freely  and  impartially  admitted  to  office 
in  our  service,  the  duties  of  which  they  may  be  qualified  by  their 
education,  ability,  and  integrity  duly  to  discharge. 

We  know,  and  respect,  the  feelings  of  attachment  with  which  the 
natives  of  India  regard  the  lands  inherited  by  them  from  their  ancestors, 
and  we  desire  to  protect  them  in  all  rights  connected  therewith,  subject 
to  the  equitable  demands  of  the  State  ;  and  we  will  that  generally,  in 
framing  and  administering  the  law,  due  regard  be  paid  to  the  ancient 
rights,  usages,  and  customs  of  India, 

We  deeply  lament  the  evils  and  misery  which  have  been  brought 
upon  India  by  the  acts  of  ambitious  men,  who  have  deceived  their 
countrjinen  by  false  reports,  and  led  them  into  open  rebellion.  Our 
power  has  been  shown  by  the  suppression  of  that  rebellion  in  the  field  ; 
we  desire  to  show  our  mercy  by  pardoning  the  offences  of  those  who 
have  been  misled,  but  who  desire  to  return  to  the  path  of  duty. 


APPENDIX  A  369 

Already,  in  one  province,  with  a  desire  to  stop  the  further  effusion 
of  blood,  and  to  hasten  the  pacification  of  our  Indian  dominions,  our 
Viceroy  and  Governor-General  has  held  out  the  expectation  of  pardon, 
on  certain  terms,  to  the  great  majority  of  those  who,  in  the  late  unhappy 
disturbances,  have  been  guilty  of  offences  against  our  Government, 
and  has  declared  the  punishment  which  will  be  inflicted  on  those  whose 
crimes  place  them  beyond  the  reach  of  forgiveness.  We  approve  and 
confirm  the  said  act  of  our  Viceroy  and  Governor-General,  and  do 
further  announce  and  proclaim  as  follows  : 

Our  clemency  will  be  extended  to  all  offenders,  save  and  except  those 
who  have  been,  or  shall  be,  convicted  of  having  directly  taken  part  in 
the  murder  of  British  subjects.  With  regard  to  such  the  demands  of 
justice  forbid  the  exercise  of  mercy. 

To  those  who  have  willingly  given  asylum  to  murderers,  knowing 
them  to  be  such,  or  who  may  have  acted  as  leaders  or  instigators  of 
revolt,  their  lives  alone  can  be  guaranteed ;  but  in  apportioning  the 
penalty  due  to  such  persons,  full  consideration  will  be  given  to  the 
circumstances  under  which  they  have  been  induced  to  throw  off  their 
allegiance  ;  and  large  indulgence  will  be  shown  to  those  whose  crimes 
may  appear  to  have  originated  in  too  credulous  acceptance  of  the  false 
reports  circulated  by  designing  men. 

To  all  others  in  arms  against  the  Government  we  hereby  promise 
unconditional  pardon,  amnesty,  and  oblivion  of  all  offences  against 
ourselves,  our  crown  and  dignity,  on  their  return  to  their  homes  and 
peaceful  pursuits. 

It  is  our  royal  pleasure  that  these  terms  of  grace  and  amnesty  should 
be  extended  to  all  those  who  comply  with  these  conditions  before  the 
Ist  day  of  January  next. 

When,  by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  internal  tranquillity  shall  be 
restored,  it  is  our  earnest  desire  to  stimulate  the  peaceful  industry  of 
India,  to  promote  works  of  public  utility  and  improvement,  and  to 
administer  the  government  for  the  benefit  of  all  our  subjects  resident 
therein.  In  their  prosperity  will  be  our  strength,  in  their  contentment 
our  security,  and  in  their  gratitude  our  best  reward.  And  may  the 
God  of  all  power  grant  to  us,  and  to  those  in  authority  under  us,  strength, 
to  carry  out  these  our  wishes  for  the  good  of  our  people. 


APPENDIX  B 

IMPERIAL  MESSAGE  OF  KING  EDWARD  VII  TO 
PRINCES  AND  PEOPLES  OF  INDIA 

November  2,  1908 

It  is  now  fifty  years  since  Queen  Victoria,  my  beloved  Mother,  and 
my  August  Predecessor  on  the  Throne  of  these  realms,  for  divers 
weighty  reasons,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  Parliament,  took  upon 
herself  the  government  of  the  territories  theretofore  administered  by 
the  East  India  Company.  I  deem  this  a  fitting  anniversary  on  which 
to  greet  the  Princes  and  Peoples  of  India,  in  commemoration  of  the 
exalted  task  then  solemnly  undertaken.  Half  a  century  is  but  a  brief 
span  in  your  long  annals,  yet  this  half-century  that  ends  to-day  will 
stand  amid  the  floods  of  your  historic  ages,  a  far-shining  landmark. 
The  proclamation  of  the  direct  supremacy  of  the  Crown  sealed  the  unity 
of  Indian  Government  and  opened  a  new  era.  The  journey  was  arduous 
and  the  advance  may  have  sometimes  seemed  slow ;  but  the  incorpora- 
tion of  many  strangely  diversified  communities,  and  of  some  three 
hundred  millions  of  the  human  race,  under  British  guidance  and  control 
has  proceeded  steadfastly  and  without  pause.  We  survey  our  labours 
of  the  past  half -century  with  clear  gaze  and  good  conscience. 

Difficulties  such  as  attend  all  human  rule  in  every  age  and  place  have 
risen  up  from  day  to  day.  They  have  been  faced  by  the  servants  of  the 
British  Crown  with  toil  and  courage  and  patience,  with  deep  counsel 
and  a  resolution  that  has  never  faltered  nor  shaken.  If  errors  have 
occurred,  the  agents  of  my  Government  have  spared  no  pains  and  no 
self-sacrifice  to  correct  them  :  if  abuses  have  been  proved,  vigorous 
hands  have  laboured  to  apply  a  remedy. 

No  secret  of  Empire  can  avert  the  scourge  of  drought  and  plague, 
but  experienced  administrators  have  done  all  that  skill  and  devotion 
are  capable  of  doing  to  mitigate  those  dire  calamities  of  Nature.  For 
a  longer  period  than  was  ever  known  in  your  land  before  you  have 
escaped  the  dire  calamities  of  war  within  your  borders.  Internal  peace 
has  been  unbroken. 

In  the  great  charter  of  1858  Queen  Victoria  gave  you  noble  assurance 
of  her  earnest  desire  to  stimulate  the  peaceful  industry  of  India,  to 
promote  works  of  public  utility  and  improvement,  and  to  administer 
the  government  for  the  benefit  of  all  resident  therein.     The  schemes 


APPENDIX  B  371 

that  have  been  diligently  framed  and  executed  for  promoting  your 
material  convenience  and  advance — schemes  imsurpassed  in  their 
magnitude  and  their  boldness — bear  "witness  before  the  world  to  the 
zeal  with  which  that  benignant  promise  has  been  fulfilled. 

The  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Feudatory  Princes  and  Ruling  Chiefs 
have  been  respected,  preserved,  and  guarded  ;  and  the  loyalty  of  their 
allegiance  has  been  unswerving.  No  man  among  my  subjects  has  been 
favoured,  molested,  or  disquieted  by  reason  of  his  religious  belief  or 
worship.  All  men  have  enjoyed  protection  of  the  law.  The  law  itself 
has  been  administered  without  disrespect  to  creed  or  caste,  or  to  usages 
and  ideas  rooted  in  your  civilization  ;  it  has  been  simplified  in  form, 
and  its  machinery  adjusted  to  the  requirements  of  ancient  communities 
slowly  entering  a  new  world. 

The  charge  confided  to  my  Goverimaent  concerns  the  destinies  of 
countless  multitudes  of  men  now  and  for  ages  to  come  ;  and  it  is  a 
paramount  duty  to  repress  with  a  stern  arm  guilty  conspiracies  that 
have  no  just  cause  and  no  serious  aim.  These  conspiracies  I  know  to 
be  abhorrent  to  the  loyal  and  faithful  character  of  the  vast  hosts  of  my 
Indian  subjects,  and  I  will  not  suffer  them  to  turn  me  aside  from  my 
task  of  building  up  the  fabric  of  security  and  order. 

Unwilling  that  this  historic  anniversary  should  pass  without  some 
signal  mark  of  Royal  clemency  and  grace,  I  have  directed  that,  as  was 
ordered  on  the  memorable  occasion  of  the  Coronation  Darbar  in  1903, 
the  sentences  of  personswhom  ourCourts  have  duly  punished  for  offences 
against  the  law  should  be  remitted,  or  in  various  degrees  reduced ; 
and  it  is  my  wish  that  such  wrongdoers  may  remain  mindful  of  this  act 
of  mercy,  and  may  conduct  themselves  without  offence  henceforth. 

Steps  are  being  continuously  taken  towards  obliterating  distinctions 
of  race  as  the  test  for  access  to  posts  of  public  authority  and  power. 
In  this  path  I  confidently  expect  and  intend  the  progress  henceforward 
to  be  steadfast  and  sure,  as  education  spreads,  experience  ripens,  and 
the  lessons  of  responsibility  are  well  learned  by  the  keen  intelligence 
and  apt  capabilities  of  India. 

From  the  first,  the  principle  of  representative  institutions  began  to 
be  gradually  introduced,  and  the  time  has  come  when,  in  the  judgement 
of  my  Viceroy  and  Governor-General  and  others  of  my  counsellors, 
that  principle  may  be  prudently  extended.  Important  classes  among 
you,  representing  ideas  that  have  been  fostered  and  encouraged  by 
British  rule,  claim  equality  of  citizenship,  and  a  greater  share  in 
legislation  and  government.  The  politic  satisfaction  of  such  a  claim  will 


372  APPENDIX  B 

strengthen,  not  impair,  existing  authority  and  power.  Administration 
will  be  all  the  more  efficient  if  the  officers  who  conduct  it  have  greater 
opportunities  of  regular  contact  with  those  whom  it  affects,  and  with 
those  who  influence  and  reflect  common  opinion  about  it.  I  will  not 
speak  of  the  measures  that  are  now  being  diligently  framed  for  these 
objects.  They  will  speedily  be  made  known  to  you,  and  will,  I  am  very 
confident,  mark  a  notable  stage  in  the  beneficent  progress  of  your  affairs. 

I  recognize  the  valour  and  fidelity  of  my  Indian  troops,  and  at  the 
New  Year  I  have  ordered  that  opportunity  should  be  taken  to  show  in 
substantial  form  this,  my  high  appreciation,  of  their  martial  instincts, 
their  splendid  discipline,  and  their  faithful  readiness  of  service. 

The  welfare  of  India  was  one  of  the  objects  dearest  to  the  heart  of 
Queen  Victoria.  By  me,  ever  since  my  visit  in  1875,  the  interests  of 
India,  its  Princes  and  Peoples,  have  been  watched  with  an  affectionate 
solicitude  that  time  cannot  weaken.  My  dear  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
and  the  Princess  of  Wales  returned  from  their  sojourn  among  you  with 
warm  attachment  to  your  land  and  true  and  earnest  interest  in  its 
well-being  and  content.  These  sincere  feelings  of  active  sympathy  and 
hope  for  India  on  the  part  of  my  Royal  House  and  Line  only  represent, 
and  they  do  most  truly  represent,  the  deep  and  united  will  and  purpose 
of  the  people  of  this  Kingdom. 

May  Divine  protection  and  favour  strengthen  the  wisdom  and 
mutual  goodwill  that  are  needed  for  the  achievement  of  a  task  as  glorious 
as  was  ever  committed  to  rulers  and  subjects  in  any  State  or  Empire  of 
recorded  time. 

[A  Message  read  by  his  Excellency  the  Viceroy  in  Darbar  at  Jodhpur, 
November  2,  1908.] 

APPENDIX  C 

KING  GEORGE'S  MESSAGE  OF  1914 

To  THE  Governments  and  Peoples  of  his  Self-Governinq 

Dominions. 

During  the  past  few  weeks  the  peoples  of  my  whole  Empire  at  Home 

and  Overseas  have  moved  with  one  mind  and  purpose  to  confront  and 

overthrow  an  unparalleled  assault  upon  the  continuity  of  civilization 

and  the  peace  of  mankind. 

The  calamitous  conflict  is  not  of  my  seeking.  My  voice  has  been  cast 
throughout  on  the  side  of  peace.     My  Ministers  earnestly  strove  to 


APPENDIX  C  373 

allay  the  causes  of  strife  and  to  appease  differences  with  which  my 
Empire  was  not  concerned. 

Had  I  stood  aside  when,  in  defiance  of  pledges  to  which  my  Kingdom 
was  a  party,  the  soil  of  Belgium  was  violated  and  her  cities  laid  desolate, 
when  the  very  life  of  *he  French  nation  was  threatened  with  extinction, 
I  should  have  sacrificed  my  honour  and  given  to  destruction  the  liberties 
of  my  Empire  and  of  mankind. 

I  rejoice  that  every  part  of  the  Empire  is  with  me  in  this  decision. 

Paramount  regard  for  treaty  faith  and  the  pledged  word  of  rulers  and 
peoples  is  the  common  heritage  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  Empire. 

To  THE  Princes  and  Peoples  of  India. 

Among  the  many  incidents  that  have  marked  the  unanimous  uprising 
of  the  population  of  my  Empire  in  defence  of  its  unity  and  integrity, 
nothing  has  moved  me  more  than  the  passionate  devotion  to  my  Throne 
expressed  both  by  my  Indian  subjects  and  by  the  Feudatory  Princes 
and  the  Ruling  Chiefs  of  India,  and  their  prodigal  offers  of  their  lives 
and  their  resources  in  the  cause  of  the  realm. 

Their  one-voiced  demand  to  be  foremost  in  the  conflict  has  touched 
my  heart,  and  has  inspired  to  the  highest  issues  the  love  and  devotion 
which,  as  I  well  know,  have  ever  linked  my  Indian  subjects  and  myself. 

I  recall  to  mind  India's  gracious  message  to  the  British  nation  of 
goodwill  and  fellowship  which  greeted  my  return  in  February  1912, 
after  the  solemn  ceremony  of  my  Coronation  Darbar  at  Delhi,  and  I  find 
in  this  hour  of  trial  a  full  harvest  and  a  noble  fulfilment  of  the  assurance 
given  by  you  that  the  destinies  of  Great  Britain  and  India  are  indis- 
solubly  linked. 


APPENDIX  D 

THE  KING'S  PROCLAMATION 

December  25,  1919 

George  V,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  and  of  the  British  Dominions  beyond  the  Seas, 
King,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  Emperor  of  India,  to  my  Viceroy  and 
Governor-General,  to  the  Princes  of  Indian  States  and  to  all  my  subjects 
in  India  of  whatsoever  race  or  creed.  Greeting  : 

1.  Another  epoch  has  been  reached  to-day  in  the  annals  of  India. 
I  have  given  my  Royal  assent  to  an  Act  which  will  take  its  place  among 
the  great  historic  measures  passed  by  the  Parliament  of  this  Realm  for 
the  better  government  of  India  and  for  the  greater  contentment  of  her 
people.  The  Acts  of  1773  and  1784  were  designed  to  establish  a  regular 
system  of  administration  and  justice  under  the  Honourable  East  India 
Company.  The  Act  of  1833  opened  the  door  for  Indians  to  public 
office  and  employment.  The  Act  of  1858  transferred  the  Administra- 
tion from  the  Company  to  the  Crown  and  laid  the  foundation  of  public 
life  which  exists  in  India  to-day.  The  Act  of  1861  sowed  the  seed  of 
representative  institutions  and  the  seed  was  quickened  into  life  by  the 
Act  of  1909.  The  Act  which  has  now  become  law  entrusts  the  elected 
representatives  of  the  people  with  a  definite  share  in  the  government 
and  points  the  way  to  full  responsible  Government  hereafter.  If,  as 
I  confidently  hope,  the  policy  which  this  Act  inaugurates  should  achieve 
its  purpose  the  results  will  be  momentous  in  the  story  of  human  progress; 
and  it  is  timely  and  fitting  that  I  should  invite  you  to-day  to  consider 
the  past  and  to  join  me  in  my  hopes  of  the  future. 

2.  Ever  since  the  welfare  of  India  was  confided  to  us  it  has  been  held 
as  a  sacred  trust  by  our  Royal  House  and  Line.  In  1858  Queen  Victoria, 
of  revered  memory,  solemnly  declared  herself  bound  to  her  Indian 
subjects  by  the  same  obligations  of  duty  as  to  all  her  other  subjects ; 
and  she  assured  to  them  religious  freedom  and  the  equal  and  im- 
partial protection  of  the  law.  In  his  message  to  the  Indian  people  in 
1908  my  dear  father.  King  Edward  VII,  annomiced  his  determination 
to  maintain  unimpaired  the  same  principles  of  humane  and  equitable 
administration.  Again  in  his  Proclamation  of  1908  he  renewed  the 
assurances  which  had  been  given  fifty  years  before  and  surveyed  the 
progress  which  they  had  inspired.  On  my  accession  to  the  Throne  in 
1910  I  sent  a  message  to  the  Princes  and  Peoples  of  India  acknowledging 
their  loyalty  and  homage  and  promising  that  the  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness of  India  should  always  be  to  me  of  the  highest  interest  and  con- 
cern. In  the  following  year  I  visited  India  with  the  Queen  Emjsress  and 
testified  my  sympathy  for  her  people  and  my  desire  for  their  well-being. 

3.  While  these  are  the  sentiments  of  affection  and  devotion  by  which 
I  and  my  Predecessors  have  been  animated,  the  Parliament  and  the 


APPENDIX  D  375 

People  of  this  Realm  and  my  Officers  in  India  have  been  equalty  zealous 
for  the  moral  and  material  advancement  of  India.  We  have  endeavoured 
to  give  to  her  people  the  many  blessings  which  Providence  has  bestowed 
upon  ourselves.  But  there  is  one  gift  which  yet  remains  and  without 
which  the  progress  of  a  country  cannot  be  consumated  :  the  right  of  her 
people  to  direct  her  affairs  and  safeguard  her  interests.  The  defence  of 
India  against  Foreign  aggression  is  a  duty  of  common  imperial  interest 
and  pride.  The  control  of  her  domestic  concerns  is  a  burden  which 
India  may  legitimately  aspire  to  take  upon  her  own  shoulders.  The 
burden  is  too  heavy  to  be  borne  in  full  imtil  time  and  experience  have 
brought  the  necessary  strength  ;  but  opportunity  will  now  be  given  for 
experience  to  grow  and  for  responsibility  to  increase  with  the  capacity 
for  its  fulfilment. 

4.  I  have  watched  with  understanding  and  sympathy  the  growing 
desire  of  my  Indian  people  for  representative  institutions.  Starting 
from  small  beginnings  this  ambition  has  steadily  strengthened  its  hold 
upon  the  intelligence  of  the  comitry.  It  has  pursued  its  course  along 
constitutional  channels  with  sincerity  and  courage.  It  has  survived  the 
discredit  which  at  times  and  in  places  lawless  men  sought  to  cast  upon 
it  by  acts  of  violence  committed  under  the  guise  of  patriotism.  It  has 
been  stirred  up  to  more  vigorous  life  by  the  ideals  for  which  the  British 
Commonwealth  fought  in  the  Great  War  and  it  claims  support  in  the 
part  which  India  has  taken  in  our  common  struggles,  anxiety,  and 
victories.  In  truth  the  desire  after  political  responsibility  has  its  source 
at  the  roots  of  the  British  connexion  with  India.  It  has  sprmig  in- 
evitably from  the  deeper  and  wider  studies  of  human  thought  and 
history  which  that  connexion  has  opened  to  the  Indian  people.  With- 
out it  the  work  of  the  British  in  India  would  have  been  incomplete. 
It  was,  therefore,  with  a  wise  judgement  that  the  beginnings  of 
representative  institutions  were  laid  many  years  ago.  Their  scope 
has  been  extended  stage  by  stage  until  there  now  lies  before  us  a 
definite  step  on  the  road  to  responsible  Government. 

5.  With  the  same  sympathy  and  with  redoubled  interest  I  shall 
watch  the  progress  along  this  road.  The  path  will  not  be  easy  and  in 
the  march  towards  the  goal  there  will  be  need  of  perseverance  and  of 
mutual  forbearance  between  all  sections  and  races  of  my  people  in  India. 
I  am  confident  that  these  high  qualities  will  be  forthcoming.  I  rely 
on  the  new  popular  assemblies  to  interpret  wisely  the  wishes  of  those 
whom  they  represent  and  not  to  forget  the  interests  of  the  masses  who 
cannot  yet  be  admitted  to  franchise.  I  rely  on  the  leaders  of  the  people, 
the  Ministers  of  the  future,  to  face  responsibility  and  endure  mis- 
representation, to  sacrifice  much  for  the  common  interest  of  the  State, 
remembering  that  true  patriotism  transcends  party  and  commimal 
boundaries  ;  and,  while  retaining  the  confidence  of  the  Legislatures, 
to  co-operate  with  my  Officers  for  the  common  good  in  sinking  unes- 
sential differences  and  in  maintaining  the  essential  standards  of  a  just 
and  generous  Government.  Equally  do  I  rely  upon  my  Officers  to 
respect  their  new  colleagues  and  to  work  with  them  in  harmony  and 
kindliness  ;  to  assist  the  people  and  their  representatives  in  an  orderly 
advance  towards  free  institutions;  and  to  ffiid  in  these  new  tasks  a  fresh 


376  APPENDIX  D 

opportunity  to  fulfil  as  in  the  past  their  highest  purpose  of  faithful 
service  to  my  people. 

6.  It  is  my  earnest  desire  at  this  time  that  so  far  as  possible  any 
trace  of  bitterness  between  my  people  and  those  who  are  responsible 
for  my  Government  should  be  obliterated.  Let  those  who  in  their 
eagerness  for  political  progress  have  broken  the  law  in  the  past  respect 
it  in  the  future.  Let  it  become  possible  for  those  who  are  charged  with 
the  maintainance  of  peaceful  and  orderly  government  to  forget  the 
extravagances  which  they  have  had  to  curb.  A  new  era  is  opening. 
Let  it  begin  with  a  common  determination  among  my  people  and  my 
Officers  to  work  together  for  a  common  purpose.  I,  therefore,  direct 
my  Viceroy  to  exercise  in  my  name  and  on  my  behalf  my  Royal 
clemency  to  political  offenders  in  the  fullest  measure  which  in  his 
judgement  is  compatible  with  the  public  safety.  I  desire  him  to  extend 
it  on  this  condition  to  persons  who  for  offences  against  the  State  or  imder 
any  special  or  emergency  legislation  are  suffering  imprisonment  or 
restrictions  upon  their  liberty.  I  trust  that  this  leniency  will  be  justified 
by  the  future  conduct  of  those  whom  it  benefits  and  that  all  my  subjects 
will  so  demean  themselves  as  to  render  it  unnecessary  to  enforce  the 
laws  for  such  offences  hereafter. 

7.  Simultaneously  with  the  new  constitutions  in  British  India,  I  have 
gladly  assented  to  the  establishment  of  a  Chamber  of  Princes.  I  trust 
that  its  counsel  may  be  fruitful  of  lasting  good  to  the  Princes  and  the 
States  themselves  may  advance  the  interests  which  are  common  to 
their  territories  and  to  British  India  and  may  be  to  the  advantage  of  the 
Empire  as  a  whole.  I  take  the  occasion  again  to  assure  the  Princes  of 
India  of  my  determination  ever  to  maintain  unimpaired  their  privileges, 
rights,  and  dignities. 

8.  It  is  my  intention  to  send  my  dear  son,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  to 
India  nextwinterto  inaugurate  on  my  behalf  the  new  Chamber  of  Princes 
and  the  new  constitutions  in  British  India.  May  he  find  mutual  good- 
will and  confidence  prevailing  among  those  on  whom  will  rest  the  future 
service  of  the  country,  so  that  success  may  crown  their  labours  and 
progressive  enlightenment  attend  their  administration. 

And  with  all  my  people  I  pray  to  Almighty  God  that  by  his  wisdom 
and  under  his  guidance  India  may  be  led  to  greater  prosperity  and 
contentment,  and  may  grow  to  the  fuUness  of  political  freedom. 

GOD  SAVE  THE  KING-EMPEROR. 


INDEX 


Abdur  Razzak,  139. 
Aborigines,  25,  28. 
Abu,  temples  at  Mount, 

107. 
Abu-I    Fazl,    110,    179, 

181,  184,  190. 
Adam,  Mr.,  312. 
Adil  Shahis  of  Bijapur, 

136,  138. 
Afghan  wars,  first,  312- 

14;  second,  341,  345. 
Afzal  Khan,  214,  216. 
Agra,  129, 154, 169, 199, 

'207,  214,  225. 
Ahmad  Shah,  (1)  Dur- 
rani, 232,  233  ;   (2)  of 

Delhi,    232;     (3)    of 

Gujarat;  133. 
Ahmadnagar,  136,  138, 

177,    191,    192,    198, 

212. 
ATn-i-Akbciri,  184. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,    treaty 

of,  240,  242,  245. 
Ajatasatru,  56,  57,  72. 
Ajmer,  112,  171.     _ 
AjodhvS,  80. 
Akbar',  (I)  156, 159, 168- 

90,  199;  (II)  239  «.  ; 

Prince,  223,  225. 
Akharnama,  184. 
Alamglr,  (I)   207,  224  : 

(II)  232. 
Aia-ud-din  Khilji,  120- 

2,  130. 
Alberuni,  101,  102. 
Albuquerque,  160-3. 
Alexander     the     Great, 

59-61,  72. 
Aliwal,  battle  of,  316. 
AUahvardi       (Alivardi) 

Khan,  249,  255. 
Alor  (Aror),  88. 
Alptigin,  97. 
Altamsh  =  Iltutmish,  q.v. 
Amaravati,  77. 
Amherst,  Lord,  302,  303. 


Aminchand,  251. 
Amir  Khusru,  118. 
Ampthill,     Lord,     351, 

355. 
Amritsar,  treaty  of,  293. 
Anandpal,  98,  102. 
Andhra  dynasty,  70,  93. 
Anga,  56. 
Anhilwara,  100. 
Antiquities  of  India,  355. 
Arabs,  29,  94. 
Arakan,  303. 
Aram  Shah,  116,  120. 
Aranyaka  treatises,  32. 
Aravalli  hills,  18,  19. 
Architecture,     74,     83, 

105,  144,  188,  205. 
Arcot,  defence  of,  240- 

3,  245. 
Armagaon,  166. 
Army,  amalgamation  of, 

334. 
Art,   74,   83,    108,    188, 

235. 
Aryabhata,  85,  86. 
Aryan  languages,  27. 
Aryans,  25-8,  35. 
Aryavarta,  18, 19,  26. 
Asaf  Jah,  228,  230,  24u. 
Asaf-ud-daula,  273. 
Ashti, battle  of, 300, 303. 
Asirgarh,  178,  191. 
Asoka,  64r-70,  72. 
As'ra7nas,  62. 
Assam,  16,   19,  27,   82, 

209,  303. 
Assaye,  battle  of,  287, 

303. 
Asvaghosha,  77. 
Atharvaveda,  33. 
Auckland,  Lord,  312. 
Aurangzeb,  reign  of,  1 10, 

207-23. 
Avanti,  56. 
Ayiib  Khan,  344,  345. 
Azam,  Prince,  225. 
Az!m-ush-shan,  226. 


Babur,  151-5. 
Babylonia,  24. 
Bactria,  72,  73. 
Baghelas     of     Gujarat, 

103,  105. 
Bahadur  Shah  of  Delhi 

(I)  225,  226  ;  (II)  239 

«.,327,328;  Gujarat, 

133. 
Bahlol  LodI,  128,  130, 
Bahmanl  dynasty,  134. 
Bairam  Khan,159, 168- 

71. 
Bajl  Ghorpade,  216. 
Baji  Rao,  Pe.shwa,  (1), 

228,  233,  304;    (11), 

299,  304. 
Balaji  Rao,  third  Pesh- 

wa,  229,  304. 
Balaji    Visvanath,    finst 

Peshwa,  228,  304. 
Balban,  Sultan,  117-20. 
BallalaSena,  105. 
Balochistan,  72. 
Bana,  86. 
Banda,      Sikh      leader, 

226. 
Barbak,  132. 
Barid  Shahis  of  Bidar, 

136,  138. 
Barlow,  Sir  George,  279, 

290-2. 
Baroda,     Gaikwar     of, 

230, 340. 
Barrackpore        mutiny, 

302. 
BarweIl,Mr.,264. 
Bassein,  treaty  of,  287, 

291. 
Begams  of  Oudh,  273. 
Benares,  57,  211. 
Bengal,  kingdom,   130- 

2  ;  partition  of,  354. 
Bengali    language,    27, 

312. 
Bentinck,  Lord  William, 

291,  305-12. 


378 


INDEX 


Berar,    kingdom,     138, 

212. 
Bernier,  110,  235. 
Bhagavad-gita,  39,  148. 
Bhagwan     Das,     Raja, 

181. 
Bhakti,   148. 
Bhao,  the,  233. 
Bhimnagar,  99. 
Bhoja  Raja,  (1),  Parihar, 

92;     (2),   Pawar,   93, 

108. 
Bhonsla,  the,  230,  297, 

299,  300. 
Bhurtpore  (Bharatpur), 

289,  302. 
Bidar,  Kingdom,  138. 
Bihar,   39,   43,   46,    ,56, 

154,  340. 
Bijapur,  kingdom,   136, 

138,    212,    214,    217, 

223. 
Bimbisara,  56,  57,  72. 
Bindusara,  64,  72. 
Birbal,  Raja,  176,  181. 
Bitpalo,  artist,  108. 
Black  Hole,  250. 
Bombay,  17,  165,  266. 
Boughton,  Gabriel,  106. 
Brahmagupta,  88. 
Brahmaputra  river,  131. 
Brahmavarta,  26, 
Brdhmana  treatises,  32. 
Brahmans,  32,  48. 
Bronze,  24  n. 
Buddha,  43-5. 
Buddhism,  42-6,  66,  68. 
Buddhist  art,  74. 
BulakI,  197. 
Burma,  15,  322,  347. 
Burmese     wars,     first, 

302  ;     second,    322  ; 

third,  346. 
Bussy,  M.  de,  244,  245. 
Buxar,  battle  of,  253. 

Caehar,16,302,303,305. 
Calcutta,   17,   166,   167, 

223,  250,  261. 
Calicut,  160. 
Campbell,  Sir  Colin,  328. 
Canals,  325. 
Canning,     Lord,     326, 

331,334-7. 


Cape  route,  160. 
Cartridges,  greased,  327. 
Caste,  47-52. 
C  avatar  a,  41. 
Cawnpore,     327,     328, 

332. 
Census,  339. 
Ceylon,  15,  68,  79,  162, 

164. 
Chach,  88,  90. 
Chait  Singh,  Raja,  272. 
Chaitanya,  148. 
Chalukyas,  9.3-6. 
Chand   Bibi,    136,    177, 

191. 
Chand  Raisa,  108. 
Ghandel  dynasty,  92. 
Chanderi,   154. 
Chandernagore,         168, 

251. 
Chandragiri,  142. 
Chandragupta,  (1)  Mau- 

rya,     61-4,     72 ;    (21 

Gupta,    (I),    77,   86; 

(II),  79,  80,  86. 
Chandrarao  More,  216. 
Charaka,  77. 
Charles  II,  165. 
Charnock,  Job,  166, 223, 

248. 
Charters  of  East  India 

Company,    164,    167, 

280,  294,  310,  325. 
Chauhans  of  Ajmer,  104. 
Chausa,  battle  of,  156. 
Chauth,  229,  249. 
Chera  kingdom,  96. 
Chiefs'  colleges,  338. 
Chilianwala,    battle    of, 

320. 
China,  16,  44,  55. 
Chinese  pilgrims,  54,  81. 
ChingizKhan,  118,  151. 
Chinsurah,  164,  253. 
Chitor,   sieges   of,    133, 

172,  190. 
Chola  kingdom,  96. 
Cholera,  299. 
Christianity,  185. 
Civil  Service   of   India, 

326,  336. 
Clavering,  General,  264. 
Clive,  Robert  Lord,  242, 

250-8. 


Cochin,  19. 
Codes,  279,  335. 
Coins,  53,  83. 
Colebrooke,   311. 
Comorin,  Cape,  16,  19, 

22. 
Control,  Board  of,  276. 
Coorg,  305. 
Coote,  Sir  Eyre,  269. 
Copper  age,  24. 
Cornwallis,  Lord,   275- 

80,  290. 
Coromandel,  121. 
Councils,  336. 
Crimean  war,  326. 
Currency,  348. 
Curzon    of    Kedleston, 

Lord,  349-56. 
Customs     hedge,     343  ; 

duties,  353. 
Cutch,  19. 
Cyrene,  68. 

Dahir,  90. 

Dalhousie,    Lord,    318- 

26,  350. 
Daman,  22  «.,  163. 
Danish  settlements,  163. 
Daniyal,     Prince,     177, 

178. 
Dara  Shikoh,  203,  204, 

209. 
Darbars,        coronation^ 

351,  354,  357. 
Darius ,  son  of  Hystaspes, 

56 ;  Codomannus,  59. 
Dasaratha,  70. 
Dasyus,  26. 
Daud  Shah,  132,  173. 
Daulat  Khan  LodI,  129, 

151. 
Daulafc     Rao     Sindhia, 

281. 
Daulatabad,  124. 
Dawar  Baksh,  197. 
Deccan,  19,  134,  138. 
Decentralization,  339. 
Delhi,    103,   &c.  ;    siege 

of,  330,  332. 
Deogiri,  124. 
Devapala,  king,104, 108. 
Dharma,  40,  45,  51,  68. 
Dharmapala,  king,  104, 

108. 


INDEX 


379 


Dliarmasastras,  37. 

Dhiman,  artist,  108. 

Diaz,  Bartholomeu,  160. 

Dig  (Deeg),  289. 

Digambara  Jains,  43. 

Dilip  (Dhuleep)  Singh, 
315. 

Bin  J  Wit,  187. 

Diu,  163. 

Diwani,  grant  of,  255. 

Dost  Muhammad,  313, 
314,  337,  345. 

Draupadi,  39,  40. 

Dravidians,  27,  28. 

Duelling,  141. 

Duff,  Alexander,  312  : 
Grant,  311 

Dufferin,  Lord,  346,  347. 

Dumas,  M.,  240. 

Dumdum  (Damdam), 
251. 

Dupleix,M.,240,  243. 

Duryodhana,  38. 

Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany, 163. 


East    India    Company, 

164-7,  216,  222,  236, 

239,  242,  248-50,  253. 

255-60,  264,  294,  325. 
Eastern  Ghats,  22. 
Edinburgh,  H.R.H. 

Duke   of,  339. 
Education,     309,     325, 

353, 
Edward     VII,     Kmg- 

Emperor,  351. 
Egypt,  30,  68,  160. 
Elgin,    Lord    (I),    336  ; 

(II),  348. 
Elichpur,  kingdom,  138. 
EUenborough,         Lord, 

314. 
Ellis,  Mr.,  253. 
Elphinstone,        Mount- 

stuart,    311. 
Empress  of  India  title, 

342. 
Ephthalites,  80. 
Epirus,  68. 
European    voyages    to 

India,  159. 
Exchange,  rate  of,  348. 


Fa-hien,     Chinese     pil- 
grim, 55,  81. 
FaizI,  Shaikh,  184. 
Famines,  120,  127,  198, 

258,    337.    340,    342, 

351,  363. 
Farrukhslyar,  226. 
Fathpur-Sikri,  173,  188, 

190,  20.5. 
Ferozeshah,    battle    of, 

316. 
Finance,  351. 
Firdausi,  101. 
Firishta  (Ferishta),  109. 
FIroz     Shah     Tjighlak, 

125,  130. 
Flint  implements,  24. 
Foreign  trade,  Buddhist 

period,  86-7. 
Francis,  Philip,  264. 
French  settlements,  168;  ; 

wars,  239-46.  | 

Frontier  policy,  351.        | 

Gaharwars   of   Kanauj,  | 

103. 
Gaikwar  dynasty,   230, 

340. 
Gakkar  tribe,  113  n. 
Ganda     Chandel,     100, 

102. 
Ganges,  18,  19,  24,  63, 

82,  156  ;  canal,  318. 
Garhwal,  349. 
Gaur,  115,  131. 
Gautama  Buddha,  43. 
Gaya,  44. 
Gedrosia,  59. 
Geography  and  history, 

15. 
George     V,     King-Em- 
peror, 357. 
Ghats,     Western     and 

Eastern    22. 
Ghazi-ud-din,  232. 
Ghazipur,      256,      259, 

290. 
Ghaznl,  17,97-102,  111, 

231,  313. 
Ghiyas-ud-dln  Tughlak, 
j      123,  130. 
Ghulam  Kadir,  239  «. 
j  Gingee,  214. 
;  Gtta  Govinda,  108. 


Goa,  156,  157. 

Gobind     Singh,     Guru, 

226. 
Godavari,  66. 
Goddard,  Colonel,  267. 
Gogiinda,  battle  of,  174, 

190. 
Golkonda  (Gulkandah), 

kingdom,     138,     198, 

212,216,217. 
Gough,  Sir  Hugh  (Lord), 

315,  316,  320. 
Gopala,  king,  104. 
Greek     language,     27  ; 

authors,  54. 
Gujarat,  kingdom,  105, 

109,    133,    155,    172, 

190. 
Gujars,  29. 
Gujrat,  battle  of,  320. 
Gulab  Singh,  316. 
Gulbadan  Begam,  110. 
Gulbarga,  134,  136  n. 
Gundamuk  (Gandamak), 

treaty  of,  341,  345. 
Gupta  dynasty,  77-80, 

82-6. 
Gurjaras,  29,  90,  91. 
Gurkhas,  286,  296,  297. 
Gwalior,    98,    113,    171, 

267,  347. 

Haidar  Ah,  238,  267-71, 

284. 
Hakra  river,  22,  90. 
Hardinge,  Lord  (I),  315- 

18;  (II),  357-60. 
Harivam^a  37. 
Harsha,  81-8. 
Hastings,  Marquess  of, 

295-301  ;        Warren, 

258,   260-79,   303. 
Hemu,  158,  169,  190. 
Herodotus,  54. 
High  Courts,  309,  338. 
Hijra  era,  30. 
Hilmand  river,  73. 
Himalaya,  16. 
Hinayana,  45. 
Hindi  language,  27. 
Hindu   reformed    sects, 

147. 
Hindu  Kush,  72. 
Hindustan,  18. 


380 


INDEX 


Hindustani       language, 

145. 
Hiuen    Tsang,    Chinese 

pilgrim,  55,  81. 
Holkar,  dynasty  of,  230, 

287. 
Holland,  164. 
Holwell,  Mr.,  250. 
Homer,  39. 
Hoysalas,94,  121. 
Humayun,   154-6,   159, 

168,  190. 
Hugli  (Hooghly),  199. 
Huns  (Hiinas),  52,  80. 
Husain  Shah,  of  Bengal, 

131 ;  of  Jaunpur,  131- 

3. 
Huvishka,  74. 
Hyderabad,    138,    217, 

228. 

Ibn  Batuta,  124. 
Ibrahim,     of    Jaunpur, 

132;    Lodi,  129,  153, 

169  ;  Sur,  159. 
Ilbert  bill,  343. 
Iliyaa  Shah,  131. 
lltutmish.  Sultan,    116, 

120. 
Imad  Shahis  of  Berar, 

138. 
Impey,  Sir  Elijah,  265, 

266. 
India,  physical  features 

of,  15-23 ;  peoples  of, 

24r-31. 

India  Act,  Pitt's,  276. 
Indo-Aryans,  26. 
Indraprastha,  103. 
Indus  river,  16,  18,  19, 

59,  231. 
Inscriptions,  53,  172. 
Iron  age,  24. 
Irrigation,  64. 
Islam,  influence  of,  147. 
Islam  Shah  Sur,  1.58. 
Isvar    Chandra    Gupta, 

312. 

Jagannath,    temple    of, 

107. 
Jahanara   Begam,   204, 

224. 
Jahandar  Shah,  226. 


Jahangir,  reign  of,  191- 

7,  224. 
Jaichand,  Raja,  104. 
Jaimall,  172. 
Jainism,  42, 43,  46. 
Jaintia,  303. 
Jaipal  of  Bathindah,  97, 

98. 
.lai  Singh,  Raja,  214. 
Jalal-ud-din  Khiljl,  120, 

130;Khwarizmi,  118; 

Akbar,  224. 
.Jamu  (Jummbo),  317. 
Japan,  44. 
Jaswant    Singh,    Raja, 

211. 
Jats   (Jats),  29,   49   n., 

226. 
Jaunpur,  kingdom,  132, 

133. 
Java, 164,  294. 
Jayadeva,  108. 
Jejakabhukti,  92. 
Jesuit  authors,  109, 189. 
Jhansi,  323,  328,  332. 
I  Jihlam  (Jhelum)   river, 

59. 
Jinji'fort,  214. 
Jizya  tax,  126,  145,  181, 

190,  212,  221. 
Jodhpur,  113. 
Johar  (jauhar),  172. 
Jones,  Sir  William,  311. 
Jubilee  of   Queen   Vic- 
toria, 347. 
Jumna  river,  82,  292. 

Kabir,  148. 

Kabul,  30,  73,  97,  151, 

153,156,169,175,191, 

192,231,294,313,341, 
Kadphises  II,  73. 
Kaikobad,  Sultan,  119, 

120. 
Kala  Pahar,  143,  173. 
Kalanaur,  168. 
Kalanjar,  97,  113,  158, 

172,  292. 
Kalhana,  54,  108. 
Kalidasa,  83. 
Kalinga,  66,  72. 
Kamar-ud-din,   231. 
Kambaksh,  Prince,  225. 
Kamran,  MIrza,  156. 


Kanarese  language,  28. 
Kanauj,  80  n.,  82,  92, 

94,  99,  103,  104. 
Kanchi,  96. 

Kandahar,  192,198,313. 
Kangra,  99,  193. 
Kanishka,  73. 
Kanva  dynasty,  70,  72. 
Kanwaha,  battle  of,  154. 
Kapilavastu,  43. 
Kara,  121,  152,261. 
Karakoram,  range,  16. 
Kardla  (Kharda),  battle 

of,  281,  282. 
Karikal,  168. 
Karli,  77. 
Karma,  41. 
Kashgar,  74. 
Kashmir,    19,   73,    176, 

191,  196,  318. 
Kasi,  57. 
Kathiawar,  73. 
Katwa  (Cutwa),  253. 
Kauravas,  38. 
Kautilya,  61. 
Kaviripaddanam,  17. 
Kerala  kingdom,  96. 
Khajuraho,  temples  at, 

107. 
Khalsa,  the,  226,  315. 
Khandesh,       kingdom, 

121,  136,  177,  183. 
Kharak  Singh,  315. 
Khiljl  dynasty,    120-3, 

130. 
Khizr  Khan,  127. 
Khokhar  tribe,  113. 
Khotan,  74,  80. 
Khurram,   Prince,    193, 

197. 
Khusru,      Khan,      122, 

130;  Malik,  102, 112; 

Prince,  191. 
Kirki,  battle  of,  299, 303. 
Kistna  (Krishna)  river, 

19,  94. 
Kitchener,  Lord,  355. 
Kolarian  languages,  25, 

28. 
Koregaon.     battle     of, 

300,  303. 
Korkai,  17. 
Kosala,  57,  72. 
Kosi  river,  131. 


INDEX 


381 


Krishna  -  raya        deva, 

141. 
Kshatriyas,  49,  90,  92. 
Pvtesias,  75. 
Kubacha,  Nasir-ud-dln. 

114,  116. 
Kuch  Bihar,  131. 
Kulinism,  105. 
Kumaon,  296. 
Kumaragupta  I,  80,  83, 

86. 
Kumarapala,  105,  134. 
Kumarilabhatta,  86. 
Kuniya,  56. 
Kurram  pass,  344. 
Kurukshetra,  26. 
Kushans  (Kusana),  73. 
Kusinagara,  44. 
Kutb  mlnar  and  mosque, 

114,  117. 
Kutb    Shahis    of    Gol- 

konda,  138._ 
Kutb-ud-din,  Ibak,  114, 

120;    Mubarak,  122, 

130;  Ushi,  114. 

Lahore,  120,  151,  175, 
205  ;  treaties  of,  316. 

Lake,  Lord,  287,  289. 

Lakhnauti,  115,  131. 

Lally,  M.  de,  244,  245. 

Lansdowne,  Lord,  347. 

Lapse,  doctrine  of,  322. 

Laewari,  battle  of,  287. 

Lawrence,  Lord,  336-8  ; 
Sir  Henry,  316,  328; 
Major  Stringer,  245. 

Lhasa,  351. 

Library  of  Akbar,  188. 

Licchavis,  56. 

Lingayats,  49  n. 

Literature,  31,  83,  95, 
105,  133,  144,  155, 
159,188,235,261,309. 

Local  self-government, 
343. 

LodI  dynasty,  128-30. 

Lotteries,  state,  318. 

Lucknow,  328,  332. 

Ludiana,  293. 

Lytton,  Lord,  340-4. 

Ma'abar,  or  Coromandel. 
12L 


Macaulay,    Lord,    306, 

310,  335. 
Macpherson,   Sir   John, 

275. 
Madras,  17, 19,  142,  &c. 
Madura,  23,  96. 
Magadha,  22,  43,  44,  56, 

57,61,72,92. 
Mahabat  Khan,  195. 
Mahabhdrata,  38^0. 
3IahadajI    Sindia,    267, 

268,  280. 
Mahakantara,  18,  19. 
Mahanadi  river,  18. 
Mahapadma  Nanda,  57. 
Maharajpur,    battle    of, 

315. 
Maharashtra,  213. 
Mahavira,  43. 
Mahdyana,  45. 
Mahe,  168, 268. 
Mahendra  (Mahinda) ,  68. 
Mahidpur,     battle     of, 

299,  303. 
Mahipala  I,  king,  104. 
Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  17, 

30,  88,  97-103  ;  Tugh- 

lak,  127  ;  of  Gujarat, 

133. 
Mahoba,  92. 
Maiwand,  battle  of,  344. 
ilalabar,  96. 
Malacca,  162. 
Malayalam      language, 

28. 
Malcolm,  Sir  John,  178, 

300,311,323. 
Malik  Kafur,  95,  121-3. 
Malwa,  kingdom,  22,  56, 

93,  134, 172. 
Man  Singh,  Raja,  181. 
Mangalorc,    treaty     of, 

271,290. 
Manipur,  303,  348. 
Mansabddrs,  183. 
Manu,  laws  of,  37. 
Manyakheta,  94. 
Maratha  wars  (1),  266, 

303;    (2),  287,  303; 

(3),  299,  303. 
Marathas,  213,  218. 
Marathi  language,  27. 
Marwar,  113. 
Masulipatam,  87,  166. 


Mathura,  26,  73,  74, 
99. 

Mauritius,  294. 

Maurya  dynasty,  61-72. 

Mayo,  Lord,  338-40. 

Mecca,  30. 

Medina,  30. 

Meerut,  327. 

Megasthenes,  54,  63. 

Menander,  72,  73. 

Mesopotamia,  campaign 
in,  359. 

Metcalfe,  Sir  Charles, 
312. 

Mewar,  142,  193,  212. 

Mewatis,  118. 

Miani,  battle  of,  314. 

Mihiragula,  80,  86. 

Minto,  Lord  (I),  291-5  ; 
(II),  356-7. 

Mir  Jafar,  251-3. 

Mir  Jumla,  209,  222. 

Mir  Kasim,  253. 

Missionaries,  295. 

Mithila,  22,  43. 

Mithradates  I,  73. 

Moira,  Earl  of,  295. 

Monghyr  (Mungir),  56, 
105. 

Mongolia,  44. 

Mongols,  118. 

Monson,  Col.,  (1),  264; 
(2),  287. 

Montagu  -  Chelmsford 
Reforms,  360. 

Muazzam,  Prince,  214, 
225. 

Mudkl  (Moodkee),  battle 
of,  316. 

Mughals,  118. 

Muhammad,  the  pro- 
phet, 29  ;  bin  Kasim, 
30,90;  of  Ghor,  111- 
13,  119;  son  oi 
Bakhtyar,  114,  115, 
143,  209;  Adil,  bin 
Tughlak,  123-5,  130, 
134,  144  ;  Shah  Adil 
Sur,158;  Hakim,  175; 
Shah,  of  Delhi,  227. 

Muhammadanism, 
spread  of,  30. 

Mulraj,  318. 

Multan,  98,  211. 


382 


INDEX 


Mumtaz    Mahall,     199, 

204,  205. 
Munda  languages,  28. 
Mundy,  Peter,  198,  200. 
Munro,  Sir  Hector,  253, 

269 ;      Sir     Thomas, 

301,306. 
Murad,  Prince,  177. 
Murad  Bakhsii,  Prince, 

203,  224. 
Music,  83. 
Mutinies,  of  officers,  256, 

291  ;    of  sepoys,  256, 

302,  314,  327-32. 
Mysore  history,  246-8, 

268-72,    279,    282-6, 

305  ;  wars,  290. 

Nadir  Shah,  230. 

Nagarjuna,  77. 

Nagarkot,  99. 

Nagpur,  287,  299. 

Nana  Farnavis,  267, 281. 

Nana  Sahib,  300,  304, 
323,  327. 

Nanak,  148,226. 

Nandas,  the  nine,  57, 72 . 

Nandkumar  (Nun- 

comar).  Raja,  265. 

Napier,  Sir  Charles,  314. 

Napoleon,286,  293,  313. 

Narasimha  Baladitya, 
80. 

Narbada  (Nerbudda) 
river,  18,  19,  331. 

Nasir-ud-din  Mahmiid, 
116,  120. 

Nayapala,  104. 

Nepal,  19,  44 ;  war  with, 
296. 

Nizam,  dynasty  of,  241 . 

Nizam  Shahis  of  Ahmad - 
nagar,  136,  138. 

Northbrook,  Lord,  340. 

North-east,  immigra- 
tion from,  27. 

'  Northern  Circars ',  244, 
252,  256,  275,  298. 

North-west,  immigra- 
tion from,  25. 

Nott,  General,  314. 

Nuddea  (Nadiva),  105, 
148.  '      . 

Niirjahan,  193. 


Nusrat  Shah,  of  Delhi, 
127  ;  of  Bengal,  131. 

Ochterlonv,  Sir   David,  ' 

296. 
Omichand  ( Aminchand ) , 

251. 
Orissa,  kingdom,    143  ; 

Diwani  of,  255. 
Ormuz,  162,  164. 
Oudh,    kingdom,    228, 

233,239,253,256,261. 

273,   296;     annexed, 

324. 

Pala  dynasty,  92. 

Palestine,  campaign  in, 
359. 

Pali  books,  42. 

Pallavas,  96. 

Pamirs,  74,  349. 

Panchala,  92. 

Pandavas,   38. 

Pandua,  131. 

Pandya  kingdom,  23, 96. 

Paniar,  battle  of,  315. 

Panini,  36. 

Panipat,  battles  of,  (1). 

I      129,    153;     (2),    169, 

190;  (3),  233,  238. 

Panjab,  19,  59,  67,  97, 
102,  112,  151,  155, 
168,  175,  226,  232, 
292,  293,  315,  318, 
330,  350;  annexed, 
320. 

Panjdeh  affair,  346. 

Parganas,  183. 

Parihars,  91,  92,  99. 

Pariyatra  hills,  18. 

Parmal,  104. 

Parsis,  26. 

Parthia,  73. 

PataUputra,  61,  63,  77, 
87. 

Patanjali,  33,  70. 

'  Pathan  '  dynasties, 
115,  128,  145;  archi- 
tecture, 133,  144 ; 
bands,    297. 

Patna,  63,  174,  253. 

Pearls,  23. 

Pegu,  96,  322. 

Pepper,  23. 


Periplus,  54. 
Permanent    settlement, 

276. 
Perron,  M.,  287. 
Persia,  16,  57,  59,  124, 

129,    156,    231,    294, 

313,  326,  351. 
Persians,  26. 
Peshawar,  56,  73. 
Peshwas,  the  first  three, 

228-30;     the    seven, 

304. 
Physical     features      of 

India,  16. 
Pindaris,  292,  298-301. 
Pitt's   India   Act,   276, 

361. 
Plague,  193,  349. 
Plassey,  battle  of,  167, 

238,  252,  255. 
Pollock,  General.  314. 
Pondicherrv,    168,   240, 

243,  280.' 
Poona,  214,  287. 
Porto  Novo,  battle  of, 

269. 
Ports,  importance  of,  14, 

17. 
Portuguese,      16,      133, 

160,     199  ;      empire, 

162. 
Postal  department,  325. 
Prasenajit,  57. 
Pravag,  77, 82. 
Press,    the,    312,     343, 

356. 
Prince  of  Wales,  340. 
Prinsep,  James,  311. 
Prithiraj,  104,  112. 
Proclamation,   Queen's, 

311,  330. 
Prome,  303,  322. 
Pulakesin  II,  81,93. 
Pulicat,  164. 
Pnrdnas,  37. 
Purandhar,    treaty    of, 

266  n. 
Puri,  107. 
Pushyamitra  Sunga,  70. 

Queen's     proclamation, 

311    330. 
Quetta,  34i,  342,  344. 

Quinton,  Mr.,  348. 


INDEX 


383 


Rafl-ud-darajat,   227. 
Raghoba    (Raghunath), 

232,  266,  267. 
RaghujI,  230. 
Raghuvaihsa,   83. 
Raigarh,  214. 
Railways,  325,  337,  339. 
Rajaraja  Chola,  53,  96. 
Rdjatarangini,  108. 
Rajput       period,      88 ; 

princesses,  181. 
Rajputana,  18,   19,  22, 

94,  172,  174,  212. 
RajpQts,  rise  of,  88-92. 
Rajyapal,  99. 
Rama,  38. 
Rama  Raja  of   Vijaya- 

nagar,  142. 
Ramanand,  148. 
Ramanuja,  148. 
Ramapala,  king,  104. 
Rdmdyana,  38—40. 
Rammolian   Rai,   Raja, 

312. 
Rampur,  263. 
Rangoon,  303,  322. 
Ranjit  Singh,  293,  305, 

313,  315. 
Ranthambhor,  121,  172. 
Rashtrakutas,  94. 
Rathors,  103. 
Ravana,  38. 
Raziya, Sultan,  116 ,120. 
Regulating  Act,  264. 
Regulations    and    Acts, 

310. 
Religion,     Vedic,     35  ; 

epic,41;  Buddhist,45. 
Rent  Acts,  336,  347. 
Republics,  tribal,  62. 
Reunion,  294. 
Rigveda,  32-6. 
Ripon,  Lord,  342-5. 
Rishis,  32,  41. 
Roberts,  Lord,  342. 
Roe,  Sir  Thomas,   164, 

195. 
Rohilla  war,  263. 
Roshanara,   or   Roshan 

Rae,  203,  224. 
Rukn-ud-din,  116,  120. 
Rumbold,  Sir  Thomas, 

268. 
Rupar,  305. 


Russia,   313,   326,   339, 
341,  348, 351. 

I  Saadat  Khan,  228. 
Sabuktigin,  97. 
Sagauli,  treaty  of,  297. 
Sahrind  (Sarhind), 

battle  of,  232. 
Sahyadri  mountains,  22. 
Saiyid  dynasty,  1 27 , 1 30. 
Saka  era,  74. 
Sakas,  28,  31,  73. 
Sakyas,  44. 
Salbai,  treaty  of,  267. 
Sallm,  Shah  Sur,   158; 

Prince,  178-80,  191. 
Salsette,  266. 
Salt  tax,  353. 
Samarkand,  17,  151. 
Sdmaveda,  32. 
Sambhaji,  219. 
Sambhalpur,  324. 
Samprati,  70. 
Samudragupta,  77,  86. 
Samugarh,     battle     of, 

203. 
Sanga  Rana,  153. 
vSankaracharj-a,  86. 
Sanskrit,  27,  28,  36,  38, 

85. 
Sardesmukht,  230, 
Sarkdrs,  183. 
Satara,  213,  300,  323. 
Satnamis,  211. 
Satraps,  Western,  80. 
Sayurqhdls,  184. 
Sayyids  of  Barha,  227. 
Science,  83. 

Seleucus  Nikator,  62, 72. 
Sena  dynasty,  105. 
Serampore,  163. 
Seringapatam,  280,  284, 

290. 
Settlement,  permanent, 

276. 
Shah    Alam    (I),    225; 

(II),  239  n.y  261. 
'  Shah    kings  ',    a    mis- 
reading, 80  n. 
Shahjahan,     reign     of, 

197-207. 
Shahryar,   Prince,    197, 

224. 
Shahu,  Raja,  219,  228. 


Shaj^sta,     Khan,     166, 

210,  214. 
Sherafghan,  194. 
Sher  AU,  337,  339,  341. 
Sher  Shah,  131,157. 
Shihab-ud-din,    111-13, 

119. 
Shore,    Sir   John,    277, 

281,  282. 
Shuja,  Prince,  203,  204, 

224  ;   Shah,  294,  313, 

314,  345. 
Siddharaja,  105,  134. 
Sikandar  Lodi,  128,  130; 

Shah  Sur,  168. 
Sikandra,  205. 
Sikh  history,  148,  225, 

292,   293,    305,    315; 

wars(l),316;  (2), 318. 
Sikkim,  324. 
SikrI,  battle  of,  153. 
Sind,   22,   30,   88,   112, 

123,    156,    176,    191, 

305,  313,  314, 
Sindia,  dynasty  of,  230. 
Singapore,  308". 
Siraj-ud-daula,  249. 
Sistan,  73. 
Sisunaga,  56,  72. 
Sita,  38. 

SItabaldi,  289,  303. 
Sivaji,  213-16,  219,  223. 
Skandagupta,  80,  86. 
Slave  kings,  114-19. 
Slavery  abolished,  318. 
Sleeman,    Sir    AVilUai6, 

309,  324. 
Sobraon,  battle  of,  316. 
Social  condition,  35,  40. 
Socotra,  162. 
Somnath,  100-2. 
Son  river,  63. 
Srenika,  56. 
Sruti,  32,  37. 
Stone  age,  24. 
Stu-pas,  75. 
Sabas,  183. 

Subsidiary  alliances,286. 
Sudras,  49. 

Sumroo  (Sombre),  253. 
Sunga  dynasty,  70,  72. 
Supreme  Court,  264-6, 

336. 
Sur  djTiasty,  156-8, 168. 


384 


INDEX 


Surashtra,  28,  73,  79. 
Surat,164,173,190,214; 

treaty  of,  260. 
Surji  Arjangaon,  treaty 

of,  287,  303. 
Sutlaj  river,  33,  92,  292, 

293,  305,  315,  316. 
Sutras,  Vedic,  34. 
Suttee  (sati),  308. 
Svetambara  Jains,  43. 
Sylhet,  305. 

Tabakat-i-Ndsirl,  117. 
Tahmasp,  Shah,  156. 
Taj,  the,  204,  205. 
Talawari,  battles  of,  1 12, 

119. 
Talikota,  battle  of,  142, 

246. 
Tamil    civilization,    28, 

41  ;     land,    19,    93  : 

religion,  47. 
Tanda,  131. 
Tanjore,  218. 
Tansen,  188. 
Tantia  Topi,  328,  332. 
Tapti  river,  19. 
Tara  Bai  (1),  219;    (2), 

314. 
Tarai,  the,  44,  131,  297. 
Tarain,  battles  of,  112, 

119. 
Taxila,  59,  73. 
Tegh  Bahadur,  211. 
Telegraphs,   325. 
Telugu  language,  28. 
Tenasserira,  30.3. 
Thattah  (Tatta),  123. 
Theebaw,  king,  346. 
Thuggee  (thagi),  308. 
Tibet,  44,  104,  119,  351. 
Timur,  127, 130, 150. 
Tinnevelly,  23,  96. 
Tippoo   (Tipu),   Sultan, 

269-71,    280,    282-6, 

290. 
Tirah  country,  349. 
Tirhilt,  26,  43,  104,  105. 
Tirthankarasy  42. 
Tod,  Colonel  James,  53, 

311. 
Todar  Mall,  Raja,  174, 

183. 


Tomaras  of  Delhi,  103. 
Tonk,  299. 
Tranquebar,  163. 
Travancore,  19, 280, 291. 
Travellers  in  India,  236. 
Trichinopolv,  218,  242. 
Trilochanpal,  100. 
Tripartite  treaty,  313. 
Tripitaka,  42. 
Tropics,  16,  18. 
Tughlak  dynasty,  123-7, 

130. 
Tughlakabad,  124. 
Tulsl  Das,  40,  150. 
Tulu  language,  28. 
Tnngabhadra  river,  19, 

138,  142. 
Turkestan,  30,  113,  116, 

118. 
Turks,  29, 1 16 ;  Muham- 

madan,  118  n. 
Tuticorin,  164. 

tJcch,  112. 

Udaipur=Mewar,  q.v. 
Ujjain,  56,  64,  80. 
Ulugh  Khan,  117. 
Umarkot      (Amarkot), 

156. 
Universities,  335,  353. 
Unsari,  101. 
U pani-shads,  32-4,  37. 
Urdu  language,  145. 

Vaisali,  56. 
Vaisyas,  49. 
Valmiki,  35,  38,  40. 
Vansittart,  Mr.,  253. 
Vardhamana,  43. 
Varnas,  four,  48. 
^'asco  da  Gama,  160. 
Vasishta,  35. 
Vasudeva,  74. 
Vatapi,  93. 
Vcdangas,  34. 
Veddnta,  32. 
Vedas,  the  four,  31-4. 
Vellore,    214 ;      mutiny 

of,  291. 
Vengi,  94. 
Viceroy,  first,  331. 
Victoria,     Queen,     347, 

351  ;   Cross,  357. 
Videha,  43. 


Vijayanagar,  136,  138- 

42,  162,  246. 
Vijayasena,  105. 
Vikrama  era,  80. 
Vikramaditya,    79,    80. 

86,  169. 
Vindhyas,  26,  28. 
Viriidhaka,  57. 
Vishnu  Purdna,  37. 
Vishnugupta,  61. 
Vishvanath,  temple  of, 

211. 
Vizhingam,  165. 
Vyasa,  38. 

Wahindah  river,  22. 
Wales,      H.R.H.       the 

Prince  of,  340. 
AVandiv/ash,    battle    of, 

238  243  245. 
War,  the  Great,  358-60. 
Wargaon,  convention  of, 

267,  303. 
Watson,  Admiral,  250, 

251. 
Wazlris,  350. 
Wellesley,  Lord,  282-9, 

303. 
Wellington,Dukeof,282. 
Western  Ghats,  22,  213  : 

Satraps,  80. 
Wheeler,  General,  327. 
Wilson,  H.  H.,  311;  J., 

334, 

Yadavas,  94,  120,  121, 

213. 
Yajurveda,  32. 
Yakub  Khan,  341,  342, 

345. 
Yalduz,Trij-ud-din,  116. 
Yanaon,  168. 
Yandabo,  treaty  of,  303. 
Yaska,  37. 
Yasodharman,  80. 
Yavanas,  52. 
Yuan  Chwang,  55,  81. 
Yudhishthira,  38. 
Yuehchi,  28,  73. 
Yiisufzi,  176,  183. 

Zaman  Shah,  281,293. 
Zoroastrian  religion,185. 
Zulfikar  Khan,  227. 


Printed  in  England  at  the  Oxford  University  Press 


BY  VINCENT  A.  SMITH,  CLE. 

October,  1921 
THE  OXFORD  HISTORY  OF  INDIA  from  the  Earliest 

Times  to  the  end  of  191 1.  1919.  Crown  8vo  (7^x5^  pp.  xxiv  +  816,  with 
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'Dr.  Vincent  Smith  has  in  tliis  volume  (a  marvel  of  skilful  selection  and  concision) 
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a  tale  in  some  seven  hundred  and  eighty  pages,  to  be  at  once  brief,  accurate,  informing, 
and  entertaining,  is  to  perform  a  feat  which  calls  for  respectful  admiration.  Dr.  Vincent 
Smith  has  achieved  it  with  an  ease  and  success  due  to  long  practice  and  a  life-long 
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...  an  admirable  book  of  reference We  have  described  Dr.  Vincent  Smith's  work  as 

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Muhammadan  Conquest,  including  the  invasion  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
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ASOKA,  the  Buddhist  Emperor  of  India.      Third  edition, 

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TRAVELS  IN  THE  MOGUL  EMPIRE,  a.d.  1636-1668, 

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MACAULAY'S  ESSAY  ON  CLIVE.     Edited  with  Intro- 

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