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-
rounded 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 FEATURES 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-west
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 world. 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 ph3 7 sical 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 years, is the natural separation of the north from the
south effected by the broad belt of hill and forest running
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
Tke RALPH D. REED LIBRARY
DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
*^ifc of Oil Companies of Southern Cali-
fornia, Alumni and Faculty of Geology Depart-
ment and University Library.
1940
S
, /f/ ?<
W. fr D. Downey
GEORGE V, KINO-EMPEROR
THE OXFORD
STUDENT'S HISTORY OF
INDIA
BY
VINCENT A. SMITH
M.A. (DUBL. & OXON.), i.c.s. , RETIRED
AUTHOR OF 'THE EARLY HISTORY OF INDIA ', ETC.
FIFTH EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED
14 MAPS AND 34 ILLUSTRATIONS
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK, TORONTO
MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD
1915
BVDD1IA
D5
EXTRACT FROM PREFACE TO
FIRST EDITION
THIS little book, like its many rivals, is designed primarily
to meet the wants of. students preparing for the matriculation
examination of the Calcutta University, as defined in the latest
Syllabus. But it is hoped that other readers also may find it
useful as an introduction to the study of Indian history.
Although it would be unbecoming for me to criticize the
performances of my predecessors individually, it may be per-
missible to observe that I have aimed at a standard of accuracy
higher than that attained by any of the seven or eight more or
less similar books which I have had the opportunity of testing,
and that certain inveterate errors continually recurring in
text-books will not be found in this work. One such error
the use of the misleading phrases ' the Pathan empire ' and
' the Pathan kings ', long since given up by scholars unfor-
tunately has crept into the official Syllabus. I have done my
best to avoid introducing fresh blunders of my own. . . .
Every topic mentioned in the Syllabus is dealt with in this
volume, and can be traced with facility in the table of contents
and index. The Syllabus is reprinted as Appendix D for con-
venience of reference. Useful tables have been inserted as
required. Many readers, I think, will be glad to find in
Appendix A the full text of the Queen's Proclamation, dated
November 1, 1858.
644400
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
THE three earlier revisions of this book were directed almost
exclusively to the correction of minute inaccuracies, the paging
and bulk of the volume remaining unaltered. On this occasion,
while 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 widely used for six years, 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
PREFACE 7
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.
It may be convenient to specify the principal subjects now
treated with fullness greater than before, and the more impor-
tant additions to the text. They include :
Book I. India in the Vedic age ; India of the epics ; the
rise of Islam ; Buddhism ; caste.
Book II. The Gupta period ; Kumarila-bhatta and San-
karacharya ; the Hinduizing of foreigners ; the social condition
of the mediaeval kingdoms ; the Pala dynasty of Bengal.
Book III. Description of Vijayanagar ; causes of Muslim
victories.
Book IV. Administration of Sher Shah ; the growth of
the Madras and Bombay presidencies ; the history of Akbar,
with special reference to the Jesuit evidence ; the reign of
Jahangir, as illustrated by his authentic Memoirs, now acces-
sible ; the reign of Shahjahan, with quotations from De Lae't
and the recently published Travels of Peter Mundy ; the life
and institutions of Sivaji ; the causes of Aurangzeb's failure ;
the history of the Peshwas ; the causes of the decline and fall
of the Mughal empire.
Book V. The independence of Bengal under Allahvardi
Khan ; the Anglo-French wars ; Maratha affairs ; Mysore
wars ; Lord Dalhousie's reforms : dates of the Mutiny, and
explanation of its failure.
Book VI. A single chapter of the earlier editions has been
expanded so as to form four chapters of the new Book VI,
and the narrative has been continued to 1914.
The index has been recast. Many new maps and illustrations
have been inserted. The 'Message to his People Overseas'
issued by King George V in 1914 is printed as Appendix C.
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 600 B.C. TO A.D. 1193:
MAHMUD OF GHAZNI
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 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 Ghaznl ....... 97
XI. Hindu civilization on the eve of the Muhammadan rule
in Hindustan 102
A3
10 CONTENTS
BOOK III
THE MUHAMMADAN CONQUEST; THE SULTANATE
OF DELHI (SO-CALLED ' PATHAN EMPIRE') FROM
A.D. 1193 TO 1526
CHAPTER PAGE
XII. Muhammad of Ghor (Ghori) : conquest of Hindustan,
Bengal, and Bihar ; Kutb-ud-dm 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 dynasty . 151
XVII. European voyages to India : discovery of the Cape route ;
the Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, French, and English
Companies ; early settlements . . . . .159
XVIII. The reign of Akbar : Todar Mall ; Abul Fazl . . .168
XIX. The reigns of Jahanglr and Shahjahan : Sir Thomas
Roe ; Bernier ; 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
li
BOOK V
THE BRITISH OR ANGLO-INDIAN PERIOD ; RULE
OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY FROM 1761 TO 1858
CHAPTER PAGE
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 first Maratha war . 259
XXV. Mr. Macpherson ; Lord* Cornwallis ; Pitt's India Act ;
Permanent Settlement and reforms ; the third Mysore
war ; Sir John Shore ...... 275
XXVI. Lord Wellesley : 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, Pindari, 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 . . . __ w - . . . . 318
XXXII. Lord Canning : the Mutiny ; the Queen's Proclamation . 326
BOOK VI
THE BRITISH OR ANGLO-INDIAN PERIOD ; INDIA
UNDER THE CROWN, 1858-1914
XXXIII. 1858-69 : Reconstruction ; Lord Canning ; Lord Elgin I ;
Lord Lawrence .......
XXXIV. 1869-84 : Lord Mayo ; Lord Northbrook ; Lord Lytton
and the second Afghan war ; Lord Ripon and non-
intervention ; self-government .....
333
338
12 CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XXXV. 1884-98 : Lord Dufferin and the third Burmese war ; Lord
Elgin II . . ".'"'.'".- . . . .346
XXXVI. 1899-1914 : Lord Curzon and his successors . 349
APPENDIX
A. THE QUEEN'S PROCLAMATION, NOVEMBER 1, 1858 . . 365
B. IMPERIAL MESSAGE TO PRINCES AND PEOPLES OF INDIA,
NOVEMBER 2, 1908 . . CJ8
C. THE KING'S MESSAGE TO HIS PEOPLES OVERSEAS (1914). 370
D. THE HISTORY SYLLABUS OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY . 372
INDEX 375
PAGE
GEORGE V, KING-EMPEROR . . . . Frontispiece
BUDDHA (from a brass statuette of sixth century) . .4
ALEXANDER THE GREAT (the Tivoli Herm) . . . .58
SARNATH CAPITAL ASOKA PERIOD , . , 65
ASOKA'S INSCRIPTION (at Rummindei) ".*.. . . . 67
ASOKA PILLAR (at Lauriya-Nandangarh, Champaran District) 69
BUDDHA (Graeco-Buddhist) . . . . . . .75
THE GREAT STUPA (Sanchi, restored) . . . * " . . 76
SEATED BUDDHA, SARNATH GUPTA PERIOD . , 84
SKANDA-GUPTA'S PILLAR, BHITARI . . .< .- . 87
PILLARS, JAIN TEMPLE, OSIA lOrn OR HTH CENTURY . . 106
A TIBETAN LAMA 107
KUTB MINAR . . . . . . : . 117
GATEWAY, ATALA DEVI MOSQUE, JAUNPUR . .135
THE COUNCIL HALL, .VIJAYANAGAR ..... 137
GURU NANAK * . . . . . . . 146
CHAITANYA (from a photo of a contemporary wooden statue pre-
served at Pratapapur, Orissa, supplied by Babu N. N. Vasu) . 149
BABUR . .152
TOMB OF HUMAYUN . 157
ALBUQUERQUE . . 161
COIN OF CHARLES II (Bombay rupee) . . . . 165
AKBAR (from a MS. in the Bodleian Library) . . . 170
DlWAN-1-KHA.s OF DELHI PALACE . i .... 202
THE TAJ MAHAL ... ..".'.. 206
AURANGZEB .......... 208
NAWAB SHAYISTA KHAN 211
INDIAN COINS . . . 220
LORD CLIVE 257
WARREN HASTINGS . . . . . . . . 262
LORD CORNWALLIS . . 27"
THE MARQUESS WELLESLEY ...... 28o
LORD WILLIAM CAVENDISH-BENTINCK ..... 307
MARQUESS OF DALHOUSIE . . . . . . .319
VICTORIA (from an engraving by Wyon) .... 352
MAPS
PAGE
INDIA, PHYSICAL FEATURES 20-21
ALEXANDER'S ROUTE ........ 60
EMPIRE OF ASOKA . . . . . . .71
CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRAGUPTA AND THE GUPTA EMPIRE . 78
INDIA IN A. D. 640 89
INDIA IN 1605 182
THE CARNATIC 247
PARTS OF BENGAL, &c. 254
INDIA IN 1795 . .285
MARATHA WARS 288
RANJIT SINGH'S DOMINIONS 317
THE BURMESE WARS 321
INDIA IN 1857 329
INDIAN EMPIRE AND CEYLON, 1915 . . To face, page 364
BOOK I
PHYSICAL FEATURES : ANCIENT INDIA
CHAPTER I
The geographical foundation of history : the physical 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 history of its own, is not naturally a part of India. Its affairs,
therefore, will not be discussed in this book, except incidentally
as episodes in the Indian story. The island 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
Secretary of State for the Colonies. For this reason, and also
because 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-
rounded 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 FEATURES 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-west
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 world. 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, Kavirlpaddanam, 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 years, is the natural separation of the north from the
south 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-defined, 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
dakshina, 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
ARABIAN
JND I A
SHOWING
PHYSICAL FEATURES
Scale of Miles
10050 100 200 300 400 500
"^Nicobar Is.
GEORGE fH.LIP J SON, LTO,
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 easily
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 smaller 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 Tinnivelly.
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. 1 The
passes, which do not change like rivers, have necessarily deter-
1 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 Terekhol, 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 king-
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 Tinnivelly 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 1914 have proved that the union
between India and England does not rest merely upon con-
quest. Community of material interests is hallowed by a
common feeling of loyal 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 ; Dravidians ;
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. Rudely 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
by 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 the first metal 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, pure copper, not bronze, was used
to make tools is called the Copper Age. 1 It is possible that
some of the Rigveda hymns may date from that age, but com-
mentators 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 Rigveda, seems to recognize the use of iron, which
1 The use of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, common in Europe, was
rare in India, which had no Bronze Age.
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 impossible to say where one variety of man ends and another
begins '.
Two main types. But, notwithstanding infinite crossing,
two main types are clearly 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
Pars! 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 undoubtedly
were 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 Saras vati 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 300, the whole space between the Himalaya
and the Vindhyas from sea to sea was acknowledged to be
Aryavarta, ' 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 settlers 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 Bishi
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
with the Aryan immigration from the north-west.
Dravidians. 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
Dravidian 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 family. 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 briefly what 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 century 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
Panjab, 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 was known 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 empire 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 Hunas, a term used vaguely
like the term Sakas, and covering, no doubt, many different
hordes or tribes. European writers distinguish the Indian
Hunas 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 Gujars, 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
opposition of his hostile kinsmen. The Muhammadan era of
the Hijra (often corruptly spelt Hegira), or Flight, dates from
A. D. 622. x 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,
Syria, 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 first Indian province permanently
occupied by Musalmans was the Panjab, annexed by Sultan
Mahmud 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
1 Hijra dates arc denoted by the letters A. H., meaning Anno Hijrae, '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
with that of the earlier dark inhabitants. The strangest fact
in the story is 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, however 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 ; Smfiti ; the Puranas ; the epics ;
Buddhism and Jainism ; caste.
The four Vedas. Although it is true that few of the modern
Hindus possess an intimate knowledge of the Vedic literature,
and that the Hinduism of recent times has little obvious con-
nexion with the teaching of that literature, it is also true that
nearly all Hindus profess to revere the Vedas and regard them,
especially the Upanishads, in theory as the foundation of their
system of life. Some account of the Vedic literature, the gift
of the Aryans, therefore, is an indispensable introduction to
the history of ancient and modern India.
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 may be said to
comprise three parts, all ranking as truti, or revelation namely
(1) a collection or collections (samhitd) 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 (Brdhmana); and (3)
philosophical discourses (Upanishad), 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 Aranyakas,
specially designed for the study of advanced students living
in the solitudes of forests (aranya). But the matter of the
Upanishads 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 Aranyakas, 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, ' thou art
that '. 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 samhitd,
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. Occasionally the
poets rise to a higher level, and dimly perceive ' the only God
ANCIENT INDIA 33
above the gods '. Some of these hymns must be as old as
1000 B. c., and may be much older. The Samaveda Samhitci,
which is merely a book of chants (saman), 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
when 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 Pan jab, 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 siitras (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, dealing 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 (tiksha) ; (2) metre (chhandas) ; (3) grammar
(vyaTcarand) ; (4) etymology (niruJcta) ; (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 preserv-
ation and transmission of the sacred texts. Astronomical
and astrological knowledge was equally necessary to determine
the dates of eclipses, the lucky days for ceremonies, and so forth.
Thus 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 (samhitd), 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 society 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 early type, is not exactly 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. They 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, with 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. Ordinarily the Indo- Aryans used a diet of vegetable
food and milk, but they partook of flesh offered in sacrifice,
including beef, and so differed widely from modern Hindus.
They liked strong drink, of which there were two kinds
namely beer (sura), and a liquor made from a plant (soma)
found formerly in the hills and not certainly identified. They
amused themselves largely with gambling.
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, light-
ning, 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. The worshippers tried
to get all they could out of their gods, and ordinarily sought
from them nothing higher than riches and worldly welfare.
36 ANCIENT INDIA
Professor Barnett bluntly observes that ' the Vedic religion,
as presented to us in the Rigveda, is not noble '. It seems to
me that he is right.
Some of the hymns, presumably included among those com-
paratively late in date, strike a loftier note, as already observed,
and indicate the beginnings of the philosophy worked out in
the Upanishads and subsequent treatises. Part of the
Creation Hymn, the most impressive and readable of the lyrics
(x. 129), may be quoted in Professor Macdonell's 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 windless 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
ANCIENT INDIA 37
pages. The date of this prince of grammarians is uncertain,
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 sutra 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 (dharmas astro) based on the
sutras, 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 of the dharmasastras is
the Manava, commonly called the Laws, or Institutes, of Manu,
a compilation which contains much ancient matter, but is
supposed to date in its present form from somewhere about
A. D. 200 or 300. This treatise deals with the rights and duties
of Hindus in all ranks and conditions of life, and is the founda-
tion 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 BMgawta
and Vishnu Puranas exercise the most influence on the re-
ligion of the present day. The Vayu Purana, 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
conterits may be far older. It is intimately 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 (itihdsa), 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 Panda vas, 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
ANCIENT 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 Agra and Oudh, Western Bihar, and Eastern
Rajputana, with contingents from Gujarat in the west and
from the Dravidian 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 Pandava 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 Nala and
Damayanti. The profound philosophical poem, the Bhagavad-
gita, familiarly known as the Glta, or ' the Song ', which forms
the basis of much later pantheistic speculation, and may date
from about 100 or 200 B. c., is inserted in the form of a dia-
logue between Krishna and Arjuna Pandava, supposed to have
been spoken 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 supply the Hindu with examples of his highest
40 ANCIENT INDIA
ideal of man and woman. The hero Rama, especially, 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 Ramcharit-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 dharma
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 epics
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,
Ganesh, 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 are recognized in the poems as freely as they are
to-day. The existing Hindufeeling concerning the sacredness of
cows was then as strong as it is now. Nobody could imagine
Rama sitting down like a Vedic rishi to dine on beef.
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 all 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 know.
Buddhism and Jainism. About 500 B.C., 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
(ahimsa). 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 (dharma), 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,
notwithstanding 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 Mahavlra, 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 own 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 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 bodhi, 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 (atman) '.
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 487 B.C., possibly four or
five years later.
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 abundantly in Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Nepal,
Tibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan. The well-organized order
ANCIENT INDIA 45
of monks and nuns (sangha) 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, properly 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 dharma 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 profane language ; to abstain from covetousness, and
hatred, and to avoid ignorance. But he did not profess to
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, instead 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 and Bihar, was not always easy to distinguish from
Hinduism.
Causes of decay of Buddhism. The decay, like the growth,
46 ANCIENT INDIA
of a religion is a complicated 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
Gupta period was marked by a strong Hindu or Brahmanical
revival which was carried further by Kumarila-bhatta in the
eighth century (see post, 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
ANCIENT INDIA 47
Dravidian 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 known 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 very 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 people
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 wholly 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-
pradaya). 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 conies 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. 1
The four varnas. Brahman theory regards Hindus as
divided into four varnas, or groups of castes, according to
1 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
varna 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 service to their betters, the
three higher varnas, called ' twice-born ' (dwija), in virtue of
certain ceremonies, not permissible for Sudras.
Brahman authors expressed the relative rank of the varnas
by saying that the Brahmans proceed from the mouth, the
Kshatriyas from the arms, the Vaisyas from the thighs, and
the Sudras from the feet of Brahma, the Creator.
Early Buddhist writers 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. 1
It is a mistake to translate varna by the word caste, and
to say, as is often said, that originally there were four castes
in India. Each varna always included a multitude of separate
castes (jati). The varnas are simply a theoretical grouping of
pre-existing castes. Whether a particular caste (jati) should be
included or not in a particular varna is a matter for arbitrary
judgement. For example, the modern Kayasths claim to be
Kshatriyas, while other people regard them as Sudras. The
terms Vaisya and Sudra 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 province 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. 2
1 Exceptions are the Lingayat sect in the south, and to some extent the
Jats in the north.
2 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 millions 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
them. 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 colouru. When 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 Bhagavad Grtd
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 his own
nature (bhava) 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 dharma 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
(dsrama) : first, for many years as a student ; secondly, as
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 power of absorption, and almost
all foreigners resident permanently in India have yielded to its
seductions. Yavanas, Sakas, Hunas, 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 Mahavlra nor Gautama sought to
abolish caste.
BOOK II
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. Modern research has disclosed
the hidden sources of history, and experiment has proved that a fairly
consecutive narrative of the story 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 Bajasthan (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 corns 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 history.
Tradition in literature. Ancient tradition is recorded in literary 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
54 SOURCES OF HINDU HISTORY
grammarians' works, and several plays, notably the Mudra-Rakshasa, throw
much light on political and social 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 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 Rajatarangim 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 sources. 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 Sandrak ottos, 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 Erythrean Sea,
or ' Voyage round the Arabian Sea ', about A. D. 80. Some of the works
referred to are preserved only in fragments.
Chinese evidence. The Chinese evidence is contained both in formal
SOURCES OF HINDU HISTORY 55
histories and in the accounts written by travellers, especially Buddhist
pilgrims. China possesses an immense historical literature of great antiquity.
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
Mahmud of Ghazm is derived wholly from Muslim authors.
Further details will be found in the author's Early History of India,
3rd ed. (Oxford, 1914), which gives references.
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B.C. TO A.D. 1193 ;
MAHMtJD 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 with 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 600 B.C., when we obtain a glimpse of a few
definite political facts. But even then, and for nearly three
centuries later, our knowledge is extremely scanty, and
almost wholly confined to certain states in the Gangetic basin.
Nothing is known about the Deccan or the Far South in those
early times.
Sixteen northern powers. The most ancient Buddhist books
56 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
give a list of sixteen states or tribal territories which existed
in Northern India about the time of the rise of Buddhism
or a little earlier. These extended from Gaiidhara, the
country of the Gandharas, on the extreme north-west of the
Pan jab, including the modern districts of Peshawar and
Rawalpindi, to Avanti, or Malwa, with its capital Ujjain,
which 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
having attained the rank of a paramount power under King
Jarasandha. The earliest capital was the hill-fort of Raja-
griha or Rajgir (Girivraja). The most ancient king who can
be approximately dated was Sisunaga (about 600 B.C.), but
nothing is known 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,
who would not await the course of nature, and cruelly starved
his father to death. Gautama Buddha is said to have met
Ajatasatru and reproved him for his crime. A fort built by
this king at Patali, to check the incursions of the Licchhavis of
Vaisali from the north side of the river, developed into the
magnificent city of Pataliputra, the modern Patna and
Bankipore.
About 500 B.C., in the reign of either Bimbisara or Ajatasa-
tru (for dates are uncertain), Darius, son of Hystaspes, king of
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193 57
Persia, sent an expedition commanded by Sky lax of Karyanda,
to explore the rivers of the Pan jab. 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 naturally went to war with
Ajatasatru when he murdered his father. The war was
waged with varying fortune, but ultimately 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. Virudhaka 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 country 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
known 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 3,000
ALEXANDER THE GREAT (THE TIVOLI HERM)
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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 country.
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 Codomannus, 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 hospitably received by the king of Taxila, then
a great city, the ruins of which are traceable near Hasan
Abdal, in the Attock District, Pan jab. 1 The Raja of the
country 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 Jihlam. Alexander
then pushed on eastward, passing Sialkot, across the rivers
of the Pan jab, 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. Meantime
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 way, reached the
mouths of the Indus. The courses of the rivers have changed
so much that 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
army through Balochistan or Gedrosia. After much suffering
and heavy losses, he met his fleet, and brought what was left
of his army into Persia. He had previously sent another
1 Excavations now (1914) in progress are yielding remarkable and unex-
pected results. The earliest part of the site is believed to be of immense
antiquity.
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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 accomplished
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 effect on Indian institutions. The Greek
influence which 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 later, 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 Arthasastra, attributed to Kautilya, gives pre-
cise details of the systems of government in the small Hindu
kingdoms of Northern India as worked before Chandraenpta
62 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
made himself the master of them all. The accession of
Chandragupta may be dated in 322 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 republics, 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 6ut 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 finally
partitioned in 321 B.C. among his generals, one of them,
Seleucus, surnamed Nikator, ' the Victorious,' 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 was 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
compensation for three rich provinces, and concluded a matri-
monial alliance with Chandragupta, probably giving a daughter
to the Indian king.
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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 officer lived
there a long time and spent his leisure in compiling 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
empire 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 numbered 9,000, attended
by 36,000 men, the cavalry 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 by 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 panchayals, consisting 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 600 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 freely 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 whipping. A regular system of excise was in
force, the drinking-shops being under official supervision, as
they now are.
Reign of Bindusara. About 298 B.C. Chandragupta either
died or abdicated, and was succeeded by his son Bindusara
Amitraghata. No 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
\ \
SABNATH CAPITAL (ASOKA PEBIOD)
1776
66 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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 out of ninety -nine brothers. But there does not
seem to be any truth in these tales, because Asoka 's inscrip-
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 receded his ' remorse on account of
the conquest of the Kalingas, because, during the subjugation
of a previously 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 chief est conquest, the conquest by the Law of
Piety or Duty (dharma) '.
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 scrip-
tures. 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 during the last eighty years.
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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
TRAN SLIT ERATION
1. Devanapiyena piyadasina lajina visativasabhisitena
2. atana agacha mahiyite hida budhe jate sakyamumti
3. sila vigadabhlcha kalapita silathabhecha usapapite
4. hida bhagavam 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
68 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B.C. TO A. D. 1193
living creatures must be enforced ; truth must be spoken.
These are the virtues of the Law of Piety (dharma), which
must be practised. Similarly, the teacher must be revered
by the pupil, and proper courtesy must be shown to relations.
This is the ancient standard of piety this leads to length of
days, -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 were 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 speaking
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,
Gyrene (west of Egypt), Macedonia, and Epirus, thus embrac-
ing three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe. The state-
ment of some authorities that missionaries were sent also to
Burma does not seem to be correct. 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 many 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 600 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 young, as the monks now do in Burma.
The later Mauryas. In or about 232 B. c. the great Asoka
passed away, 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 known 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.
The Sunga s 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.
ore
'o/nt Calimere
(Cro
C.Comonn Tamraparni '
(Gfcylon)
THE EMPIRE
OF
A SO K A
260 B.C.
Scale of Miles
50100 200 300 400
Roch Edicts A
Minor Rock Edicts x
Pillar Edicts j.
Kingdom X.
72 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D.l 193
The Kings of Magadha.
Approximate dates, mostly not o-
B. c.
Sisunaga .... ace. 600
Bimbisara .... ace. 528 (Prasenajit of Kosalcontemp.)
Death of Mahavira . .- ? 527
Ajatasatru .... ace. 500
Death of Gautama Buddha . . ? 487
rhe Nine Nandas . . ace. 371
Campaign of Alexander the Great 326-325 (date exact).
Chandragupta Maurya . . . ace. 322
Invasion of Seleucus Nikator 305
Embassy of Megasthenea . 303
Bindusara .... ace. 298
Asoka . . . . . ace. 273
Coronation . . . 269
War with Kalinga . . 261
Death of Asoka ... 232
Other Mauryan kings . . 232-184
Sunga dynasty . . . 184-72
Invasion of (?) Menander . ? 155
Kanva dynasty . . . 72-27
CHAPTER VI
Fhe foreign dynasties of the north-west : the Kushan (Kusana) mpire ;
Kanishka ; the Saka era ; art and literature.
Bactrian, Indo-Greek, and Indo-Parthian kings, irthia,
the country south-east of the Caspian Sea, and Bactn, the
sountry between the Hindu Kush mountains and th river
Oxus, which had been both included in the kingdm of
Seleucus Nikator, became independent monarchies undekings
Df Greek descent about the middle of the third centur B.C.,
when Asoka was emperor of India. He probably contined to
hold the provinces west of the Indus the modern Balocistan
ind Afghanistan, which had been ceded to his grandfater by
Seleucus. After Asoka 's death no Indian sovereign ould
retain those distant dependencies, which were broken u into
a, multitude of principalities governed by Greek kings, -hose
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D 1193 73
nares are known from coins. One of these kings, Menander,
lor< of Kabul, appears to have invaded India about 155 B. c.,
reaaed Oudh, and met the army of Pushyamitra Sunga,
Paihian princes also governed parts of the frontier regions
aftr 140 B. c. About that date Mithradates I of Parthia had
annxed the Western Pan jab, and united it for a time with the
Parian empire, which included Persia.
Ska and Kushan invasions. From about the middle of the
secnd century B.C. the nomad and pastoral tribes of Central
for some reason or other, probably a change of climate, were
obi*ed to leave their home territories and move to the south
an' west in search of pasturage for their herds and subsistence
forthemselves. These wild people overwhelmed the Greek
kindom of Bactria and set up governments of their own. The
eaiest swarm was known to the Indians by the name of Sakas.
Thy made their way into Sistan on the Hilmand river, west
of vandahar, which was consequently called Sakastan, or the
Saa country. Saka rulers also established themselves in
Srashtra or Kathiawar, and probably at Taxila and Mathura.
Anther horde of nomads, called Yueh-chi by the Chinese
hi-orians, descended through Bactria and Kabul to India.
Tb leading clan of this horde was named Kushan or Kusana.
Aout the middle of the first century after Christ the Kushan
cief, known to historians as Kadphises II, conquered the
vrious Indo -Greek and Indo -Parthian princes on the frontier
ad made himself master of a large part of North-western
Idia, where his coins are found abundantly.
anishka. His successor seemingly was Kanishka, son of
\jheshka, also a Kushan, but of a family other than that of
Kdphises II. Recent researches have made it probable that
Knishka came to the throne in A.D. 78, and reigned for more
tan forty years, until about A.D. 120, but it is possible that
b true date may be some years later. His capital was Puru-
sapura (Peshawar), from which he ruled Kabul, Kashmir, and
a Northern India, perhaps as far as the Narbada. In his
leer years he favoured Buddhism, and, like Asoka, assembled
03
72 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
The Kings of Magadha.
Approximate dates, mostly not exact.
B. c.
Sisunaga .... ace. 600
Bimbisara .... ace. 528 (Prasenajit of Kosala contemp. )
Death of Mahavira . . ? 527
Ajatasatru .... ace. 500
Death of Gautama Buddha . . ? 487
The Nine Nandas . . ace. 371
Campaign of Alexander the Great 326-325 (date exact).
Chandragupta Maurya . . . ace. 322
Invasion of Seleucus Nikator 305
Embassy of Megasthenes . 303
Bindusara .... ace. 298
Asoka . . . . . ace. 273
Coronation . . . 269
War with Kalinga . . 261
Death of Asoka . . . 232
Other Mauryan kings . . 232-184
Sunga dynasty . . . 184-72
Invasion of (?) Menander . ? 155
Kanva dynasty . . . 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 Balochistan
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 600 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 155 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 empire, 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 a change 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 middle of the first century 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 seemingly was Kanishka, son of
Vajheshka, also a Kushan, but of a family other than that of
Kadphises II. Recent researches have made it probable that
Kanishka came to the throne in A.D. 78, and reigned for more
than forty years, until about A.D. 120, but it is possible that
his true date may be some years later. His capital was Puru-
shapura (Peshawar), from which he ruled Kabul, Kashmir, and
all Northern India, perhaps as far as the Narbada. In his
later years he favoured Buddhism, and, like Asoka, assembled
C3
74 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
a council of Buddhist monks, which prepared authorized com-
mentaries of the scriptures. He spent many years in war on
the other side of the difficult Pamir passes, a nd, 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 discontented officers. During
his long absence India seems to have been governed, first
by Vashishka and then by Huvishka, presumably his sons,
whose dates, consequently, overlap those of Kanishka. About
A. D. 120 or 123 Huvishka succeeded to the sole government,
certainly of India, and probably of the whole empire. He was
a powerful king, and is known to have founded a town in
Kashmir and a monastery at Mathura. In or about A. D. 140
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 predecessors 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 accession or coronation of
Kanishka, the Saka king. Indian authors use the term Saka
vaguely to denote all foreigners from beyond the passes, and
would have had no hesitation 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 stupor at Mathura, Peshawar, and other
places, of which some traces still exist. 1 Ever since the time
of Asoka, India had been filled with magnificent Buddhist
1 The remains of Kanishka's huge stupa 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 600 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 stupor 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 600 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 stupa 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
w r ork 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 Bombaj 7 Presi-
dency. 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 Hunas or White Huns ; reign of Harsha ; state
of civilization ; Chinese pilgrims ; Kalidasa.
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
rfL, ^^gS%^
VE M P I R E Jf^rL&r.V^
Cape Comer" 1
The Conquests of
SAMUDRAGUPTA.340A.D.
and the
GUPTA EMPIRE, 400 A, D.
(Travels o/ Fa-hien)
t Scale of Mile*
50 100 200 300 400
GEORGE PHILIP 4 SON, LTD.
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B.C. TO A. D. 1193 79
of Agra and Oudh with the Central India Agency and Bengal,
but net 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 beyond the Narbada. He was content with receiving
the humble submission 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 literal 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 direct government he controlled the wild tribes 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 Ceylcn 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 (vlna). Pataliputra apparently
continued to be the capital of the immense empire won and
held by Samudragupta.
Chandragupta Vikramaditya. The next king, Chandra-
gupta II, surnamed Vikramaditya, who annexed Malwa and
Ujjain 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 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
Western 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. 1
Kumaragupta, Skandagupta, and the Huns. His successor,
Kumaragupta I (413-55), was troubled towards the end of his
reign by irruptions of a fresh horde of Central Asian nomads,
the White Huns or Ephthalites, who overcame the next king,
Skandagupta, and broke up the Gupta empire, about A. D. 480.
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,
becoming unbearable, he was defeated by Narasimha Bala-
ditya, a Gupta king, and Yasodharman, Raja of Malwa, in or
about A. D. 528, and forced to retire into Kashmir. The
nomad immigrants, known collectively to Indians as Huns, but
comprising various tribes, settled in large numbers in the
Panjab and Rajputana, and caused great changes. But
history is 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 Uj jain at that date is erroneous. There was no such
person then. It is, however, true that the earliest known use
of the era was in Malwa and probably it was invented by the
astronomers of Ujjain. The first name of it was the Malwa
era. The term Vikrama-kala used in later times must refer to
one or other of the many kings with the title of Vikramaditya
or Vikrama, who was believed to have established the era.
The king referred to may be presumed to be Chandragupta II,
1 The phrase ' Guptas of Kanauj ' 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 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193 81
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 in 647, and his death
was followed by another dark 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 (629-45), 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 600 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
gaming 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 they bestowed liberal
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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 Meghaduta, or ' Cloud Messenger ',
both charming descriptive poems of a lyrical character, seem
to be among his early works. The heroic epic entitled
Raghuvamta, 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 cf 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
SEATED BUDDHA, SARNATH (GUPTA PERIOD)
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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.
Harsh a 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 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
doctrine. The king is the reputed author of a play called
Ratndvali 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 annoying 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 persecution 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 maths, 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, Lord, of me ;
For of the Sea is verily the Wave,
Not of the Wave the Sea.
Gupta Dynasty.
Dates (nearly exact).
A.D.
Chandragupta I ... ace. 320 (Gupta era, 319-20)
Samudragupta .... ace. 330 or a little later.
Temporary conquest of South 347-60
Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya ace. 375
Conquest of Malwa and
Surashtra ... 395 (Fa-hien's Travels, 399-413)
Kumaragupta I ... ace. 413
First Hun invasion . . 450 (? Kalidasa)
Skandagupta, Vikramaditya . ace. 455
Hun wars, to about . . 480 (Aryabhata born, 476)
Other Gupta kings, from about 480
Defeat of Mihiragula the Hun 528
88 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
Reign of Harshavardhana (Slladityd)
Accession .... 606
Conflict with Pulakesin II . 620 (Brahmagupta, astronomer, 628)
Assembly at Kanauj, almsgiving
at Prayag . . . 643 (Hiuen Tsang, Chinese pilgrim)
Death 647 (or late in 646).
Usurpation by Harsha's minister 617-8
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 impossible 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 Rajput 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, and we must consider who the Rajputs 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 Ghazni.
Muhammadan conquest of Sind. The new powers, as has
been said, almost without exception were Rajput. The
principal exception was Sind. An ancient Sudra 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
INDIA
in 640 A.D.
Empire of Harsha..M&.
Scale of Miles
50 100 200 300 400
90 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 B. C. TO A.D. 1193
Balochistan (Makran). In A.D. 712, under the command of a
general named Muhammad, son of Kasim, 1 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 pedigrees 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 Panjab 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 which 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 600 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 Kshatriyas, 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 gradually slide
into Hinduism, almost without knowing it. Superintendents
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 drawn separating the
two, because the tribesmen continue to mix up ' animist '
rites with 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 elans. 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 Rajputs because they
were a ruling clan in ancient days, while the Gujars, 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
Rajput clans originated in the same way from the ruling septs
of foreign tribes.
Aboriginal origin of other clans. Another group of Rajput
clans has been formed by the promotion of the so-called
aborigines. For instance, the famous Bais clan of Oudh is
closely connected with and seems to be descended from the
92 HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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
powerful 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 600 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 Deccan and the Far South.
The Deccan and the Far South. Before proceeding to
narrate the story of the Muhammadan conquest of the Pan jab
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 in
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 Rajputs, 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 made
by Harsha 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 600 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 Chalukya
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 Rashtrakutas,
a Rajput 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
{Rum). The rank and power of the Rashtrakuta prince were
largely due to his immense wealth, acquired apparently by
commerce. The members of his dynasty were always 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 Rashtrakutas, 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
\vas held by the Hoysala dynasty, and the western side of the
HINDU INDIA FROM 600 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
Kaffir 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 Kafur, 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-dm 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, which,
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 Rashtrakuta 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 Ellora, one of the wonders of the world, was
executed under the orders of Krishna I, Rashtrakuta, 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 600 B. C. TO A. D. 1193
success at many Rajas' courts, but no great original work of
general fame was produced.
The three kingdoms of the Far South. From very ancient
times the Far South, or Tamil Land (Tamilakam), was shared
between three Dravidian kingdoms : (1) the Pandya, 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. 1 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 Dravidian 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.
1 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, Alptigln,
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 Ghaznl, 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 Amir.
Subsequently he received the title of Nasir-ud-dln 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 Lamghan 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 GHAZNl
crown of the Amir Sabuktigin descended, after a short interval
of dispute, to his famous son Mahmud, then twenty-six years
of age, the first Musalman chief who enjoyed the title of Sultan.
Mahmud, 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 Ujjain,Gwalior,Kalanjar,
Kanauj, Delhi, and Ajmer, and assembled a greater army than
had ever taken the field against the Amir Sabuktigm. 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
MAHMCD OF GHAZNI 99
moment, the elephant carrying Anandpal turned and fled. 1
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 Mahmud'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 sultan
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 occupied 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. Mahmud then advanced through
the Fatehpur District and entered the hills of Bundelkhand
1 Al Utbi says that the Hindu leader was Brahmanpal, son of Anandpal.
100 MAHMUD OF GHAZNI
before he returned to Ghazni at the beginning of the hot
season.
Death of Rajyapal. The submission of Rajyapal to the
foreigner angered the neighbouring Hindu princes, who under
the leadership of Vidhyadhara, son of Ganda, the Chandel Raja
of Kalanjar, and the chieftain of Gwalior, attacked Kanauj,
and slew Rajyapal. He was succeeded by Trilochanpal. 1
The vengeance of the sultan. Mahmud, 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 Mahmud'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 Mahmud 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-
mud'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). 2 Overcoming a fierce resistance, he stormed
1 These kings of Kanauj had no connexion with the Pala kings of Bengal,
as a certain text-book alleges them to have had.
4 According to other authorities Mahmud left Ghazni in 1024, and sacked
Somnath in the beginning of 1025. The exact chronology of the early
Muhammadan history of India is not easy to settle.
MAHMCD 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 Ghaznl, 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 Mahmud 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 Shahnama,
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 Ghaznl. The wars and dynastic troubles in
the kingdom of Ghaznl which followed on the death of Mah-
mud do not concern India and need not be related. It will
suffice to say that the cruelties practised by Bahrain, one
of his successors, on a chieftain of Ghor, an obscure princi-
pality in the mountains to the south-east of Herat, were
102 MAHMDD OF GHAZNI
terribly avenged by that chieftain's brother, Ala-ud-dm
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 Pan jab, which had been annexed by Sultan
Mahmud. Khusru Malik, the last prince of the house of
Sabuktigm, 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-dm, 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 Mahmud, 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
Mahmud, 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 GHAZNI 103
become a Muaammadan 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
may 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 dynasty of Kanauj
was rained by Mahmud, and soon faded into obscurity.
Towards the end of the eleventh century another Rajput 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 century. 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 legendary Indraprastha of the Mahabharata,
is one of the most modern of Indian capitals, and, according to
the best authority, was not founded till A.D. 993. Anangapala,
a Tomara chief in the middle of the eleventh century, was the
first prince to beautify 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. Anangapala 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 Kanauj is an error.
The Chauhans of Sambhar and Ajmer. After about a
century of Tomara rule, Delhi was annexed by Visaladeva
(Bisal deo), the Chauhan Raja of Sambhar and Ajmer in Raj-
putana, who thus became a powerful prince. 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 Tirhut 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 Vijayasena, 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 appears to have been either Mungir (Monghyr)
or the town of Bihar, while the Sena capital was at Nudiah
(Nuddea, 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 only considerable princes
who continued to profess and support Buddhism ; in all
other provinces either Jainism or Hinduism prevailed, and
D3
]
PILLARS, JAIN TEMPLE, OSIA (lOra OR HTH CENT.)
MAHMUD OF GHAZNl
107
the doctrine of Buddha was little regarded. The Buddhist
buildings of the Pala dynasty in Bihar have nearly all been
destroyed, but many Hindu and Jain temples of the period
A TIBETAN 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 Puri 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 Visala-
deva, the Tomara ruler of Delhi, both produced and patronized
poetry. Kalhana, who wrote the Rajatarangiril, a Sanskrit
metrical chronicle of Kashmir, in 1149, was the son of a
minister at the Srinagar court. The Gita Govinda of Jayadeva 1
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 MUHAMMADAN CONQUEST ; THE SULTANATE
OF DELHI (SO-CALLED ' PATHAN 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 modern writer, therefore, when undertaking to tell the story
of Muhammadan rule in India, turns fi rst to the history 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 more
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 own
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. Unfortunately, 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).
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 Jahangir'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
Humayun (transl. Stewart, 1832), and the Life and Memoirs of Gulbadan
Begam, Akbar's aunt (transl. Beveridge, E. 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, Abul Fazl.
A few farmdns and other official documents of various reigns have escaped
destruction.
Inscriptions. A list of the published Muhammadan inscriptions of
India, compiled by DP. Horovitz under the title Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica,
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,
has 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,
Triibner & Co., 1909), gives a serviceable list and summary of the principal
works, many of which are rare and costly. The writings of De Laet and
THE MUHAMMAD AN 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 Review for 1873. Manrique, who wrote in Spanish, has never
been translated.
Modern histories. No good critical modern history of Musalman rule in
India exists. It is no disparagement of Elphinstone's justly admired work,
first published in 1841, to say that it is no longer adequate. Professor
Stanley Lane-Poole's Mediaeval India under Mohammedan Rule, 712-1764
(Unwin, 1903), is the best sketch, but does not pretend to be more. The His-
tory of Aurangzib, mainly based on Persian Sources, by Professor Jadunath
Sarkar (vols i, ii, Calcutta, 1912) at present only comes down to the begin-
ning of the War of Succession. The work promises to be 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 with the public-
ation of fragments in various periodicals. Pveferences to his more important
papers are as follow :
(1) J. A. 8. B., vol. Ixv, Part I, pp. 136-212 ; the reigns of Bahadur Shah
to Jahandar Shah, inclusive ;
(2) Ibid., voL Ixvii, Part I, pp. 141-66 ; the reign of Farrukslyar. Both
papers give full lists of authorities, and are the most satisfactory state-
ments on the rather dreary subject ;
(3) 'The Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, 1618-1707,' in Ind. Ant., 1911,
pp. 69-85. This paper settles many doubtful points in the chronology of
the reign.
Mr. Irvine contributed to vol. ii of the ' Indian Empire ' in the new edition
of the Imperial Gazetteer, 1908, chapter 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. B. A. 8. for 1896, pp. 509-570. Mr. 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 Ghazm, 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 MUHAMMADAN 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-dm. His younger
brother, Muhammad, was known in early life as Shihab-ud-din
('the flame of religion'), but afterwards as Sultan Muizz-ud-
dm. 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-dm or Muhammad
Ghori. We shall call him Muhammad of Ghor.
Occupation of Sind and the Panjab. Muhammad of Ghor,
having reduced Ghazm 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 Uchh 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 (ante, 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 Taram. 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 Sabuktigm 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. The following year, A.D. 1193
THE MUHAMMAD AN CONQUEST 113
(A.H. 589), Delhi, Kanauj, and Benares all fell before the resist-
less invader. Three years later Gwalior surrendered. In 1197
Anhilwara, which had baffled the Muslim arms nearly twenty
years before, was taken, and in A. D. 1203 the capitulation 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 Rathors 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 Ghazm, 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 Ghazm, 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-dm,
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. 1 (Dhamiak in Jihlam (Jhelum) District.)
Kutb-ud-dln 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-dm
Ibak, a native of Turkestan, who had been bought as a slave
by the sultan, and was stih 1 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
1 Tabakat-i-Nasirl. This account by a contemporary should be accepted,
not that which appears in Elphinstone and the text-books. The Khokhars
usually are miscalled ' Gakkars ', who were a totally different tribe in the
Salt Range.
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-dm 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. 1208) Kutb-ud-din may 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-dm
Yilduz (Eldoz), a rival chief, who, like Kutb-ud-dm, had been
a slave ; giving his sister to Nasir-ud-dm 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 the year 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 by hundreds of thousands.'
The Kutbi Mosque and Minar. During the period of his
viceroyalty, between the years 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 built the celebrated tower known as the Kutb Minar.
Both mosque and minar are called Kutbi, not because they
were built by Kutb-ud-dm Ibak, but because they are con-
secrated to the memory of the saint Kutb-ud-din Ushi, who
lies buried close by.
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 Muslim
domination about two years later (A.D. ? 1199) with even
greater ease. The aged Sena king, Raja Lakhmaniya or
Lakshmana-sena, surprised in his capital of Nudiah (Nuddea,
Navadvipa) by a party of only eighteen horsemen, fled by
the back door and took refuge in the Dacca district, leaving
Nudiah 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,
in 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 ' Pat ban dynasties ' and ' Pat han empire ' .
The sultans of Delhi, beginning with Kutb-ud-dln in 1206,
ending with Ibrahim Lodi in 1526, and including the Sur
claimants up to 1556, are often erroneously called the ' Pa than
kings ', and their rule is designated the ' Pathan empire '.
But, as a matter of fact, only the sultans of the Lodi and
Sur 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-dm, succeeded him, but proved incapable, and was
soon replaced (A.D. 1211) by Shams-ud-dm Iltutmish (Altamsh
&c., of the text-books), governor of Bihar. The new sultan
had to fight and overcome his brother slaves Taj-ud-dm
Yilduz (lyalduz) and Nasir-ud-dm 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 built at Delhi.
Sultan Razlyah (Raziyyat-nd-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, commonly called Raziyah, a capable
sovereign, whose chief fault seems to have 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 Turk! chief,
but other nobles, who would not endure a woman's rule,
defeated her 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-dln Mahmud. She was followed by two
FROM A. D. 1193 TO 1526
117
insignificant princes, and in 1246 Nasir-ud-dm 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-dm
KUTB MINAR
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 Tabakat-i-Nasiri,
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-dm 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 (Mughals of the Syllabus). 1 A young Mongol
chief named Temujin, born in 1162, gradually acquired
supreme power among the nomads of the steppes, and was
elected as their sovereign with the title of Chinghiz Khan,
by which (with various corruptions) he is generally known.
Having made himself master of Mongolia, Northern China,
and Turkestan he fell with his savage hordes upon the king-
dom 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
Ghazm, 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
1 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
physique, and are not ' narrow-eyed '.
FROM A. D. 1193 TO 1526 119
India and Assam, and even asked the permission of Sultan
Iltutmish to do so, but happily desisted from his purpose,
and 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
Martyr Prince, deeply affected Balban, then about eighty
years 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-dm), a good-for-nothing, debauched
youth. Some Turkish chiefs of the Khalj or Khilji tribe put
him out of the way, and raised to the throne one of them-
selves, by name Jalal-ud-din. Thus ended in (A.H. 689)
A.D. 1290 l the dynasty of the Turkish Slave-Sultans of Delhi,
which had begun with Kutb-ud-dm Ibak in 1206.
Muhammadan Conquest of Hindustan.
Sultan Muhammad of Ghor (Ghori, Shihab-ud-dln, Muizz- A.D.
ud-din)
Occupied Uchh in Sind "", 7 '" ','. . . 1175-6
Defeated by Raja of Gujarat .... 1178-9
Deposed Khusru Malik of Lahore .... 1186 or 1187
First battle of Tarain 1191
Second battle of Tarain 1192
Reduction of Delhi, Kanauj, Benares, and Bihar . 1193-7
Conquest of Bengal 1199 or 1200
Capture of Anhilwara . .... . . 1197
Capture of Kalanjar 1203
Death of the sultan 1206
1 Elphinstone's date, A.D. 1288 = A.H. 687, as given by Firishtah, is
erroneous.
120 THE SULTANATE OF DELHI
The Sultans of Delhi.
The. Slave Kings.
Kutb-ud-din Ibak . . ace. 1206 (mosque at Delhi)
Aram Shah .... ace. 1210
Iltutmish (Altamsh) . . ace. 1211 (Mongol invasion, 1221, 1222)
Rukn-ud-dln and Razlyah . ace. 1236
Bahrain, &c. . . . ace. 1240
Nasir-ud-din Mahmud . . ace. 1246 (Tabakdt-i-Ndsin)
Balban (Ghiyas-ud-dm) . . ace. 1266
Kaikobad (Muizz-ud-din) . ace. 1286 or 1287
killed 1290
CHAPTER XIII
The Khilji sultans of Delhi : Ala-ud-dln ; 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 writers). 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-din, being far advanced in years, left
most of the fighting to be done by his brother's son, Ala-ud-dm,
who was also his son-in-law.
Expedition of Ala-ud-dln 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-dm, who marched
seven hundred miles into Berar and Khandesh, and compelled
Raja Ramachandra-deva, the Yadava ruler of Deogiri and the
Western Deccan (ante, p. 95), to surrender Elichpur with its
dependencies. Immense booty was brought to Delhi.
Murder of Jalal-ud-din. Ala-ud-dm 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
clasped his nephew's hand.
Ala-ud-din Khilji. The army, won over ' by the hope of
the red gold ' which Ala-ud-dm 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 Kafur, 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 uncle's reign. These southern campaigns lasted from
A.D. 1302 to 1311, and in the course of his operations Malik
Kafur 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. The sultan employed the wealth thus
gained in extensive building operations at Delhi, where he
formed a new city called Sir!, enlarged the Kutbi 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 minar intended to outshine the creation of
Iltutmish, but the work was soon stopped.
Death and character of Ala-ud-dm. 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 having
hastened his end. He died in January, A. D. 1316. 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-dm 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-dm's, by name Kutb-ud-dln 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 Malik 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 l 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-three 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 such 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 dynasty.
Firoz Shah Tughlak. Flroz, the first cousin and designated
heir of Sultan Muhammad Adil, was invited by the nobles
present atThattah 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
Fir5zabad 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 Flr5z 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. Firoz 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 merciful dis-
position, and has deservedly 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, like Aurangzeb
in a later age. A brief tract written by the Sultan himself is
extant. In it he relates with pride how he caused a Brahman
to be burnt alive for practising Hindu rites in public. He
also tells us that he cut off the heads of certain Shia mission-
aries, 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 Mahmud
was known as king in Old Delhi, while his relative Nasrat 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
until 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 Timur
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-dm or
Alam Shah, abdicated in 1451, and retired to Budaon, which
he was permitted to rule in peace by virtue of a friendly agree-
ment with Bahl5l Lodi, an Afghan noble, who had made him-
self the leading man in the state.
The Pat an (Pat ban), 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 '. Ulti-
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 as ' a man of simple 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 Tirhut, 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.
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 Sikandra, 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 Lodl. 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 Lodl, a governor
in the Pan jab, applied for help against his sovereign to
Babur, king of Kabul, who gladly seized the opportunity for
invading India. On the field of Panipat, 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 dynasty, 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), commonly miscalled the
4 Pathan empire '.
1776 E
130 THE SULTANATE OF DELHI
The Sultans of Delhi.
The Khilji (Khalji) Dynasty
(Omitting some minor names):'
Jalal-ud-dln (Firoz Shah) ace. 1290
Famine ,1291
Annexation of Elichpur ..... 1294
Ala-ud-dln (Muhammad Shah) ..... ace. 1296
Massacre of Mongol converts .... 1297
Southern campaigns of Malik Kafur . . . 1302-11
Mongol raid 1303
Kutb-ud-din Mubarak ...... ace. 1316
Destruction of Harapala yadava .... 1318
[Khusru Khan (Nasir-ud-dln), usurper . . . 1320]
TugUak Dynasty.
Ghiyas-ud-dm ....... ace. 1320
Muhammad Adil (Fakhr-ud-din-Juna) . . . ace. Feb. 1325
Firoz Shah ace. Mar. 1351
died 1388
Struggle for the succession 1388-1451
(Including the so-called Saiyid dynasty) . . . 1414-51)
Sack of Delhi by TImur 1398
The Lodi Dynasty.
Bahlol ........ ace. 1451
Sikandar (Nizam Khan) ...... ace. 1489
Earthquake . . . . . . . 1505
Ibrahim 1517
Battle (first) of Panlpat 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 ; spread of Muhammadan-
ism ; Hindu religious sects.
The Muhammadan kingdom of Bengal. From the time of
the successful raid by 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
the} T liked. The Muhammad an 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 Tirhut 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) Iliyas 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 Adlnah 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. Nasrat 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 Suba of the Mughal empire. Subsequently Orissa
was nominally included in the Suba 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
Mahmud 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 Timur 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 Shark!.
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 Abul 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 Mahmud 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 1476, and took refuge with his namesake 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 ' architecture. 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
province 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 Mahmud 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, fourth son and successor of Mahmud, annexed
the kingdom of Malwa in 1531 and three years later besieged
and took the famous fortress of Chitor from the Rana of Mewar.
The last sultan of Gujarat was crushed in 1572 by Akbar,
134 THE SULTANATE OF DELHI
who annexed the kingdom to his empire, completing the con-
quest in 1592-3.
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 unsurpassed 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-dm 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 (1405-35), 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 Taptl 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. 1610, when Akbar's
son, Prince Daniyal, took the fortress of Asirgarh, which com-
manded the road to the Deccan. The prince was made gover-
nor of the conquered province, to which in compliment to him
the emperor gave the name of Dandesh.
The Muhammadan kingdoms of the Deccan : the Bahmani
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 Gulbarga, in the south-
GATEWAY, ATALA DEVI MOSQUE, JAUNPXJB
136 FROM A. D. 1193 TO 1526
west of the territory now constituting the Nizam's dominions,
and afterwards at Bidar, sixty miles distant. 1 The dynasty
became known as the Bahmani from the surname of its founder.
For more than a century (1374-1482) 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, which 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 dynasty 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, Chanel Bibi,
had the good fortune to repulse Akbar in 1596. Four years
1 Mr. Scwcll spells ' Kulburga ', but Gulbarga seems to be correct.
E3
138 FROM A. D. 1193 TO 1526
later the capital fell temporarily into the hands of the emperor,
who formally constituted a Suba, 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 Bahmam dominion, sepa-
rated in 1512. 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 Bahmam kingdom arose five distinct
Muhammadan sultanates, namely :
(1) the Barld 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 Elichpur.
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 Hoysala 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 three 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, but the audience-hall of the king's palace is elevated
above all the rest. The bazaars are extremely long and broad.
' Roses are sold everywhere. These people could not live
without roses, 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 be impossible 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 Nuniz, 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. They 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 and nobles lived in luxury, the common people were ground
down to the dust, and left barely enough to support life.
The punishments for crime were of appalling severity.
1 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 great 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. 2
Suttee (satl) was widely practised, 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 in 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) who 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 catholicity.
' 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
1 Mr. Frederick Fawcett informs me that in the Malabar District the
custom of duelling among the Nairs 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.' 1
Battle of Talikota. When Sadasiva became nominal Raya,
the actual power was wielded by his brother-in-law, Ramaraja,
whose arrogance so incensed his neighbours that 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 Tungabhadra
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
1640 (N.S.) the Raja of Chandragiri, in consideration of a
yearly rent, executed a conveyance of a strip of sandbank,
situated on the bank of the Couum river to the north of the
decayed Portuguese settlement of San Thome, in favour of
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 is said to have been recorded is alleged
to have been lost 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 Rajputs, is
admittedly the premier Rajput prince. His ancestors never
1 Krishna Sastri, ' The Second Vijayanagara Dynasty ', in Ann. Rep. A. 8.,
India, 1908-9, p. 186.
THE SULTANATE OF DELHI 143
permitted the purity of their blood to be defiled by 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-dm Khilji in 1303, by Bahadur
Shah of Gujarat in 1534, and by Akbar in 1567, 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. After the last siege the
Rana changed his residence to Udaipur, which 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 main 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
historians 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 the kingdom
more or less completely, and attached it to the Suba of Bengal.
The way had been prepared for this measure by the 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, Kanaruc) 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
was lax and slight, and the bonds which connected them with
Delhi were easily broken in the disturbed times which followed
the tyranny 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.
Firoz 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 (Dili!) of Ananga Pa-la 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 'Pa than kings' and ' Pa than 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
Turk! 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 Mekhta dialect, was com-
posed in the Deccan towards the close of the sixteenth century.
Urdu 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 any such special reward
for slaying a Musalman. The Indian generals thought too
much of antiquated rules of their shdstras, and relied too con-
fidently on their elephants. They had quite forgotten the
lesson taught them ages earlier by Alexander of Macedon, who
proved the uselessncss of elephants against horsemen and
archers well led by bold commanders. Ingenuity might, per-
haps, suggest other reasons, but so many may suffice.
Influence of Islam on Hinduism. The religion of the stran-
gers, with its insistence on the great doctrine that ' there is one
God', 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, Kablr, 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 (A. D. 1380-1420), 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, 1486-1534),
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 (bhakti) 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-glta (ante, p. 39), and lies at
CHAITANYA
(From a photo of a contemporary wooden statue preserved
at Pratapapur, Orissa, supplied by Babu N. N. Va&u.)
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. Tulsl
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 1 ; Humayun ; Sher Shah and the Sur dynasty.
Early life of Babur. Babur (Zahir-ud-dln 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 Chinghiz 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
countlesa 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
Timur 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
Ghaznl 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 Pan jab. 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. S. B., 1910, voL vi, N.S.,
extra number, p. iv).
KABUK
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 Panlpat, 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 Panlpat, some fifty
miles to the north of Delhi, on April 21, 1526. The invader
had the advantage of possessing seven hundred 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 wheeling
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 appeased 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 up 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 only forty-eight years of age. A pathetic story related 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 Sambhal in Rohilkhand.
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 MUGHAL 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 never 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 nominally 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 compelled 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 Sur tribe of
Afghans or Pathans his dynasty is known by the name of
Sur. 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 Humayun reached Umarkot
in Sind, where, on November 23, 1542, his son Akbar (Muham-
mad Jalal-ud-dln) was born. 1 Thence the ex-king moved to
Kandahar, then held by his brother Askarl 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
1 14th Shaban, 949 A. H. =Thura., Nov. 23, 1542, as recorded by Jauhar,
who was with Humayun at the time. The official date, Sunday, October 15
(Old Style), given by Abul 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. (J.A.S. B., part i, 1886, p. 88.)
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 within 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 (Sallm) Shah Sur, 1545-54. Sher Shah was succeeded
by his second son, Islam or Sallm, 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
Pan jab. 1 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, Humayun, 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 Humayun
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 instability
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
1 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 Egyptian 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
at
1776
ALBUQUERQUE
F
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 writer 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, up 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 163
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 in
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 effort 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 maclo 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 new rivals, but the Portuguese opposition
was crushed by naval defeats inflicted on them in 1612 and
1615 off 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 English
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 wrote 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 dowry
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
COIN OP CHARLES II : BOMBAY RUPEE
Bombay foreseen that the king granted the island to the
East India Company for 10 a year, equivalent in purchasing
power to about a thousand rupees at the present time.
The English settlement at Bombay made little progress
during the eighteenth century. Most of the territory now
governed from Bombay was acquired as the result of the
Maratha wars waged under the direction of the Marquess
Wellesley 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 1640 has been already mentioned (ante,
p. 142). The area so bought comprised only six square miles
of ' a dreary waste of sand ' . The next considerable piece of
territory acquired by the Madras settlers was the Jaglr,
now the Chingleput District, granted in perpetuity by the
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 earliest
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 Charnock, 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. 1 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 Sutanuti. 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 Sutanuti with two other
1 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 Azlm-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 prosperous 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 171
French settlements. The French were late in makin their
appearance on the Indian coasts, and never acquired lirect
control of any considerable territory. Various early dven-
tures having proved to be failures, a strong assoc.tion,
entitled La Compagnie des Indes, was formed in 1664mder
the patronage of King Louis XIV. But the French C.vern-
ment failed to keep up a lively interest in the Com^ny's
affairs, and French enterprise in India always sufferd for
want of adequate support from home. However, Pondioerry
on the Madras coast, founded in 1674, became a flourhing
settlement, and still is a fairly prosperous town. Aftx the
Napoleonic wars the French were permitted to retai or
recover Pondicherry and Karikal on the Madras coast, . ihe
on the west coast, Yanaon at the mouth of the Godavariand
Chandernagore near Calcutta, over all of which the fle of
the French Republic still waves. These settlements are t no
political importance. The events of the contest betweeithe
French and English for supremacy in Southern India wi be
dealt with as incidents in the general history.
CHAPTER XVIII
The reign of Akbar : Todar Mall ; Abul Fazl.
Accession of Akbar. When Humayun died (ante, p. 19),
his eldest son Akbar, a boy of thirteen, was in the Parab
with his guardian Bairam Khan, an officer much trusted )y
Humayun, and then in command of an army engaged in ie
pursuit of Sikandar Sur, one of the claimants to the throe.
Humayun 's death was concealed for a few days in order o
allow of arrangements being made for Akbar 's accession. Te
proper moment having come, the young prince was enthrond,
with such ceremony as was possible, at Kalanaur, a town thn
of some importance, situated to the west of Gurdaspur. 1
1 The throne still exists. It is a plain brick structure, built on a mason,'
platform. At a later date it was surrounded by a garden and ornamenll
HE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 169
Atfche time of his enthronement Akbar had no kingdom.
News came in that Hemu had succeeded in taking both
Delhand Agra. Hemu renounced his allegiance to Muham-
madvdil Sur, the other claimant to the throne, then far away
to tb east at Chunar near Mirzapur, and set up as an inde-
pendnt king, under the title of Raja Bikramajit (Vikrama-
ditya, borne so often by famous Hindu monarchs of the
oldei time. Timid counsellors advised retreat to Kabul,
but iairam Khan resolved that the empire of Hindustan
was rorth fighting for, and prepared to meet the foe. We
may eel assured that Akbar agreed to the decision.
Seond battle of Panipat, November 5, 1556. The Hindu
claimnt, ' with 1,500 elephants of war, and treasure without
end r measure, and an immense army, came to offer battle
at Bmpat ', on the field where Ibrahim Lodi and so many
gallnt men had met their death thirty years before (ante,
p. 13). Hemu began badly by losing his artillery, but
relid chiefly, in the old Hindu fashion, on his elephants,
whia delivered a terrifying charge. They were received
witla shower of arrows, one of which struck Hemu in the eye,
rencring him unconscious. His army then fled, and Hemu,
whcetill breathed, was captured. The boy Akbar refusing to
fleslhis sword on a dying prisoner, Bairam Khan and some
of b officers dispatched him. ' Nearly 1,500 elephants, and
treaure and stores to such an amount that even fancy is
pov>rless to imagine it, were taken as spoil.' A minaret was
buL of the heads of the slain, and Delhi and Agra were
proiptly occupied by the victors. 1
builings, which were destroyed by railway contractors in search of ballast.
Recitly, measures have been taken to preserve reverently what is left, and
an iscribed tablet has been put up.
1 "he account of Hemu's death in the text follows Badaoni (Lowe's
trail., vol. ii, p. 9). Abul Fazl, Faizi and the Tarikh-i-Daudi agree that
Aklr refused to strike. But Jahanglr, in his authentic Memoirs (Rogers
& Bveridge, voL i, p. 40), states that Akbar ' told one of his servants to cut
off is head '. Ahmad Yadgar (Elliot, v, 66) asserts that ' the Prince,
accrdingly, struck him, and divided his head from his unclean body '.
F3
168 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
French settlements. The French were late in making their
appearance 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 enterprise in India always suffered for
want of adequate support from home. However, Pondicherry
on the Madras coast, founded in 1674, became a nourishing
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 supremacy in Southern India will be
dealt with as incidents in the general history.
CHAPTER XVIII
The reign of Akbar : Todar Mall ; Abul 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. 1
1 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 Hemu had succeeded in taking both
Delhi and Agra. Hemu renounced his allegiance to Muham-
mad Adil Sur, 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 Pa nip at, 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 Panlpat ', on the field where Ibrahim Lodl 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 Hemu 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. 1
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.
1 The account of Hemu's death in the text follows Badaoni (Lowe's
transl., vol. ii, p. 9). Abul Fazl, FaizI and the Tdrikh-i-Ddudi agree that
Akbar refused to strike. But Jahanglr, in his authentic Memoirs (Rogers
& Beveridge, voL i, p. 40), 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,
which 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, young
Akbar, conscious of the powers 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 jdglr 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 Patan 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 (Dc
Imperio Magni Mogolis, 1631, 2nd issue, p. 174). It is difficult to decide
which of the stories is true. I am disposed to believe Ahmad YadgSr.
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 Badaom, 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 johar, 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 military 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 very 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 forty-three days. 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 1584.
Baud, king of Bengal. Bengal, as we have seen (ante,
p. 131), had been independent, usually under Muhammadan
kings, since the fourteenth century. Sulaiman, an able
monarch, whose general, Raju, surnamed Kala Pahar, had
plundered the temple of Jagannath and overrun Orissa,
acknowledged a nominal dependence on Akbar. When he
died in 1572 he was succeeded, after an interval of dispute, by
his son Daud, 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 Baud, 1576. In 1574, during the height
of the rainy season, Akbar in person appeared on the scene
near Patna, defeated Daud, 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 Badaom, who took
an active part in it. Arrangements were made to curb the
Rajputs by building fifty blockhouses (thdnas) 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 Panipat, 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 1579. A serious rebellion
in Bengal, which began in 1579, 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 Sufism, 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.
Annexation 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 1582 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 fourteen 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 August 1584, 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
nearly fourteen 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 Yusufzi of the Pesha-
war country, the Bal5chis, and Kashmir, which kingdom
Akbar was resolved to annex. Early in 1586 the force
operating against the Yusufzi 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 1 of Babur's, Haidar Mirza Doghlat, the
celebrated author of the history entitled Tarikh-i-Rashidi,
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 supremacy 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 1594.
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 remained. 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 withstand the
common foe. The ordinary political strife was made more
bitter by sectarian quarrels of the Shiah with the Sunm
Muhammadans. In 1591 Akbar sent embassies to the four
kingdoms of the Deccan, Khandesh, Bijapur, 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 attempt 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, tho
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 Aslrgarh, 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 Aslrgarh, 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
(Ilahi year 45), when an outbreak of pestilence within the
walls rendered the place untenable. In 1820 the same fortress
surrendered to Sir John Malcolm after a bombardment of
eleven days.
The last of Akbar's conquests. The taking of Ahmadnagar
and Aslrgarh closes the long roll of the victories of Akbar,
who was unable to 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 Aslrgarh, 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 few months before his father
passed away. The same vice had destroyed Prince Murad six
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 Salim. 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 Abul Fazl by order of Salim. A little later, in
August 1602, Salim inflicted a deadly wound on his father's
feelings by causing a Bundela robber-chieftain to waylay and
murder Shaikh Abul Fazl, the guide, philosopher, and friend of
the emperor. ' If Salim ', said Akbar, ' wished to be emperor,
he might have killed me and spared Abul Fazl.' Ultimately,
through the mediation of Sultan Sallmah 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 tb 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 Khusru. But these
schemes came to naught. No absolutely trustworthy account
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
without 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 Salim, 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 Khusru
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 15, 1605, in the presence of
a crowd of anxious nobles. Salim does not seem to have
been present. The partisans of Khusru 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. 1 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
1 Authorities differ concerning the exact date of Akbar's death. Mr.
W. Irvine, who kindly examined them for me, found that the weight of evi-
dence is in favour of October 15, Old Style = October 25, New Style. The
Dutch authority is followed for the facts relating to Sallm's succession.
The exact amount of the treasure left by Akbar is recorded by Manrique,
Mandelslo, and Do Laet. The cash may be taken as equal to twenty-two
millions of pounds sterling. Maniiquc describes in detail how he obtained
the figures from an official document.
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 twenty-two years of age,
and long before he came under the influence of the free-
thinkers, Faizi and Abul 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 princesses, following the example
set by Humayun,who had one Hindu consort, were arranged
in pursuance of the same principle, and all the leading states,
except Mewar, sent daughters 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 of Kalpi named Gadal Brahmandas, 2 known to
history as Raja Birbal, the reputed author of many wise and
witty sayings still current, whom even Badaoni admits to
1 This is the name given by Badaoni. Count von Noer calls him Mahesh
Das, following another authority.
184 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
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 Mansabdar system appears to
have been devised by Akbar. It is not mentioned before his
reign. Many officials held grants of land or fiefs (jaglr), sub-
ject to conditions of service Free grants to men of reputed
sanctity or learning were called Sayurghals.
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 Jaglrdars, 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 prisoners of war was
forbidden in 1573.
Am-i-Akbari and Abul Fazl. The imperial regulations con-
cerning the court and every department of the administra-
tion are recorded in detail in the unique work of Abul Fazl
entitled Am-i-Akbari, or ' Institutes of Akbar ', which forms
part of the Akbarnama or ' History of the Reign of Akbar '.
Shaikh Abul 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 munsh! '. He was the most influential of Akbar's
councillors, and the emperor's gradual estrangement from
Islam was largely due to his intimacy with Abul Fazl and
his equally learned and freethinking brother, Shaikh FaizT,
who had come to court six years earlier. The nature of Abul
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 185
Fazl's philosophy may be gathered from the following lines
composed by him :
' O 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 Abul 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 Sufi 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
practised 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 accept 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 from
Bengal in 1570 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 1501, and from 1505 to the end of the reign, and later.
The Jesuits at one time had good hopes of converting Akbar,
but he only 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
184 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
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 Mansabdar system appears to
have been devised by Akbar. It is not mentioned before his
reign. Many officials held grants of land or fiefs (jaglr), sub-
ject to conditions of service. Free grants to men of reputed
sanctity or learning were called Sayurghals.
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 Jaglrdars, 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 prisoners of war was
forbidden in 1573.
Ain-i-Akbari and Abul Fazl. The imperial regulations con-
cerning the court and every department of the administra-
tion are recorded in detail in the unique work of Abul Fazl
entitled Ain-i-Akbari, or ' Institutes of Akbar ', which forms
part of the Akbarnama or ' History of the Reign of Akbar '.
Shaikh Abul 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 munshl '. He was the most influential of Akbar 's
councillors, and the emperor's gradual estrangement from
Islam was largely due to his intimacy with Abul Fazl and
hie equally learned and freethinking brother, Shaikh Faizi,
who had come to court six years earlier. The nature of Abul
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 185
Fazl's philosophy may be gathered from the following lines
composed by him :
' O 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 Abul 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 Sufi 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
practised 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 accept 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 from
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 only 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 Abu-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.
The Din Hani, or Divine Faith. Akbar, not finding any
religion to suit him, fancied that he could devise a new one
made to order out of the best bits of the old ones. He was
foolish enough to believe that such an invention could be set
up by the imperial authority as a substitute for the existing
religions, and that it might be accepted as a bond of union
throughout the empire. That was a mad dream. His new
creed laid stress on the doctrine of the unity of God and half
deified the Padshah as the representative of God on earth.
He called it ' Tauhld Ilahl ', the Divine Unity, or ' Dm Ilahl ',
the Divine Faith.
Certain time-serving courtiers accepted it, and took the
required four vows to sacrifice in Akbar's service life, property,
honour, and religion, but, outside the court, the scheme was
a failure.
It died with its author, or perhaps earlier.
Akbar almost a Hindu. Towards the close of his life, Akbar
became practically a Hindu in most respects, adopting many
Hindu usages, such as shaving his beard and whiskers, ab-
staining from beef, and to a large extent from meat of any
kind. He issued many regulations framed on Hindu models,
and sanctioned suttee (sati), provided that the woman's con-
sent was ascertained.
But notwithstanding those facts, there is fairly good evidence
that on his death-bed he made formal profession of the
Muhammadan faith.
Literature and art. Akbar resembled most of the members
188 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
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
writing. 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.
Abul Fazl says that such a singer had not been known in India
for a thousand years.
The excellent imperial taste in architecture is best attested
by the numerous beautiful buildings still standing at Fathpur-
Slkri. Akbar wasted 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 opposites ', 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
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 189
extent corrupted, he committed various foolish and unworthy
acts, especially the deliberate insults to Islam above mentioned.
He had then acquired the evil opium habit, which probably
shortened his life. In earlier days he sometimes drank more
than was good for him.
The Jesuits, who give by far the best personal descriptions,
rightly 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 Badaonl. 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
190 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
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
was not easy to find the clue to his thoughts, because, although
apparently free from mystery and guile, he was in reality close
and self-contained. 1
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 in 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 servants. 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 1572
Capture of Surat ; suppression of revolt in Gujarat ; completion
of fort at Agra ........ 1573
Introduction of Abul Fazl at court ; abolition of tax on pil-
grimages ......... 1574
Conquest of Bengal and Bihar ; death of Daud . . . 1574-6
Rajput rising ; battle of Gogunda 1576
1 Translated from various passages in the Italian of Peruschi and Bartoii.
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 191
Decree making Akbar head of the Church .... 1579
Death of Muhammad Hakim ; annexation of Kabul . . . 1585
Akbar's capital at Lahore 1585-98
Defeat of Raja Birbal by .the Yusufzi 1586
Conquest of Kashmir . . . .-..:. . . 1586-7
Conquest of Sind . . . . ...:,. . . 1588-90
Embassies to the kingdoms of the Deccan . . . .1591
Annexation of Kandahar '.' . '' . 'V- " ' '' ' 1594
Defence of Ahmadnagar by Chand Bibi . '.' ' -j' , . . . 1595
Death of Prince Murad . ... . .1,*, .-,; . . - 1599
Fall of Ahmadnagar . . ., . . .... .,.'.. - 1600
Capture of Asirgarh . , . . : . .' ., 1601
Rebellion of Prince Salim ; murder of Abul Fazl . ! ; . 1602
Death of Akbar ^ . Oct., 1605
CHAPTER XIX
The reigns of Jahangir and Shahjahan : Sir Thomas Roe ; Bernier ; Mughal
architecture.
Accession of Jahangir ; rebellion of Khusru. Prince Salim,
then in the thirty -seventh year of his age, ascended the throne
without open opposition, taking the style of Jahangir, ' World-
seizer '. Four 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 a month. Khusru
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 the date Thursday, April 23, 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 Jahangir 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. Jahangir, although mentally and morally inferior
to his father, was no fool, and was able to preserve intact
without much exertion 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.
Jahangir' s ambitions ; Kandahar. Jahangir 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 under
his sway. He did not succeed in effecting either purpose.
His armies never got near the Oxus. Their most distant
achievement was the recovery of Kandahar from the Persians
early in the reign. Later, towards the close of 1621, the
Persians retook the city.
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 tho
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.
Me war. Amar Singh, the proud Rana of Mewar (Udaipur),
and head of the Rajput clans, whose ancestors had defied
Babur and Akbar, was reduced to submission in the ninth
year of the reign (1614) by 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 haTe 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
affected, 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 Mmr-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 Q
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 Kuli, better known by his title
of Sher Af gan Khan ( ' the tiger-thrower ' ) . After the accession
of Prince Salim to the throne Sher Afgan 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 Sher Afgan to court, and if he should
resist to punish him. When Kutb-ud-din attempted to enforce
his orders Sher Afgan killed him and was himself slain by the
followers of the imperial official, who, to quote Jahangir's
words, fell upon Sher Afgan, ' 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 Sher Afgan 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 precedent. 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 Jahanglr. 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 Jahanglr. 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
coast, 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 Jahanglr 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
Jahanglr 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 Jahanglr, 1627. Jahanglr 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. Jahangir has been described as
' a talented drunkard ' . In his youth he had been spoiled, 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. Jahangir 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 expert judge of painting and delighted in fine
scenery or lovely flowers. The blossom of the dhak 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 yet received from historians.
Shahryar and Da war 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 away in the Deccan. Shahryar, the younger,
was at Lahore. 1 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, Khusr u's son,Dawar Baksh, nicknamed
Bulaki, 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, summoned by an express
messenger, hurried 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 con-
cerning 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.
Da war Baksh escaped to Persia, where two European travellers,
Olearius and Ta vernier, 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 about seven years (1630-7). At
the beginning of them he had to suppress a troublesome revolt
by a noble named Khan Jahan Lodi, \vho was hunted down
and killed. Six years later the king of Bijapur promised to pay
1 The fate of Khusru, the eldest son, has been narrated. Parvlz, 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
tribute, and in 1637 the kingdom of Ahmadnagar was finally
annexed to the empire. Towards the close of the reign (1657)
both Bijapur and Golkonda were again attacked and seemed
to be on the point of submission, when operations were
suspended owing to the war of succession between Shahjahan's
four sons.
Kandahar, Balkh, and Badakshan. In the year which saw
the fall of Ahmadnagar (1637) 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 1644 Ali Mardan Khan took possession
of the province of Balkh, the ancient Bactria, situated between
the Hindu Kush mountains and the Oxus. Prince Murad
Baksh, the emperor's youngest son, then occupied Badakshan,
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 the following year (1648), and so passed for ever from the
control of the Mughals.
Famine in Gujarat, 1630-2. During the early years of the
Deccan wars, the province of Gujarat (including Khandesh)
suffered from a fearful famine (1630-2), described in the
Badshah-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 Badshah-ndma asserts that Shahjahan 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
Jahangir, 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 Hugll. Both Akbar and Jahangir had
shown favour to Christians and Christianity, one motive which
influenced Jahangir being his desire to benefit from European
trade. The Portuguese, who had been allowed to settle and
build a fort at Hugh" (Hooghly), 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 1631, the year of 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, 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
reproach 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 tamished 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 yet
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 (mlnars) 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. 1 That state of affairs was not exceptional.
' Mlnars ', 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| 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
1 260 pillars x 30, the minimum number of heads in each = 7,800.
03
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, 1 Shuja, Aurangzeb, and Murad Baksh. 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
Baksh 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 Baksh, with whose
levies he united his own. A fiercely contested battle between
Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh on one side and Dara Shikoh on
the other, fought at Samugarh, nine miles from Agra, ended in
the decisive victory of the younger princes.
Shahjahan confined ; Murad Baksh 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
1 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
Baksh 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 throwing him into
chains to await execution at a more convenient time, which
came in 1660.
Fate of Dara Shikoh and Shuja. The pursuit of Dara
Shikoh was continued with unceasing vigour, and at last he
was run down in Cutch (Kacchh), brought to Delhi, and paraded
through the streets, dressed in the meanest clothes, and
mounted on a scarecrow elephant. In September, 1659, he
was beheaded, on the pretext 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, Mir Jumla, and ultimately
driven into Arakan, where, according to some accounts, he was
last seen fleeing over the mountains, accompanied by 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 informally proclaimed emperor in July 1658,
was now able to assume the imperial position with full cere-
mony in May, 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 February 1, 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 Nurjahan, the able empress of
JahangTr. 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 in his old age to indulge in unseemly pleasures,
and lost all capacity for serious business.
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 earl}'
Mughal style is the massive mausoleum or tomb of his father
near Delhi, finished in the 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
Jahangir, is unique in design. The other works of Jahangir's
time are chiefly at Lahore.
Works of Shahjahan. Everybody is 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
a
a
H
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 207
been done 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 charming portraits.
CHAPTER XX
The reign of Aurangzeb : his treatment of the Hindus ; the Rajput revolt ;
Sivajl and the rise of the Marathas.
Aurangzeb at the time of his accession. In May, 1659,
when Aurangzeb assumed the full honours of the imperial
dignity under the title of Alamgir, conferred by his father, he
was forty years of age, mature in body 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
AURANGZEB
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
was 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 intense!} 7
suspicious, trusting neither man nor woman. His love, al-
though perhaps sometimes given, was seldom sought and 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 predecessor, 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.
Attack on Hinduism. Much more important than frontier
fighting was the change in the emperor's internal policy which
began in 1672. Before that date he had not felt himself at
liberty to carry out fully his theory of government, but now
he deemed his position sufficiently assured to justify an attack
on his idolatrous subjects. He went so far as to order ' the
governors of provinces to destroy with a willing hand the
schools and temples of the infidels ; and they were strictly
enjoined to put an entire stop to the teaching and practising
of idolatrous forms of worship '. Of course such orders could
not be carried out completely, but the lofty minarets of the
mosque on the bank of the Ganges at Benares, occupying
NAWAB SHAYISTA KHAN
212 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
the site of a famous temple, bear witness to their partial
execution.
The jizya reimposed. Aurangzeb never became a sanguinary
persecutor. No massacres stain the annals of his reign. He
was content to worry the Hindus, insult their religion, and
make compulsory converts. In pursuance of this perverse
policy he made an attempt to seize the children of the deceased
Raja Jaswant Singh of Marwar, apparently with the intention
of bringing them up as Muslims (? 1678), and, in 1679, against
all advice, reimposed the jizya, or poll-tax on Hindus, which
Akbar had wisely abolished (ante, p. 181).
Rajput rebellion. The outrage on the children kindled
a flame in Rajputana, and produced a serious rebellion in which
both Marwar and Mewar joined, although Jaipur (Amber) still
remained loyal. Prince Akbar, the emperor's fourth son, who
had been sent against the rebels, allowed himself to dream
a dream of empire supported by Rajput swords, and went
over to the enemy. But his father's diplomacy was too much
for him the levies melted away, and the young prince was
ultimately driven into exile in Persia (1681), from which he
never returned. He lived there until 1706.
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
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 213
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-
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
years 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 Sivaji, 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 Maratha people are well
described by Elphinstone, who knew them intimately.
c They are ', he writes, ' 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 Rajputs, they have none of their indolence or their want
of worldly wisdom. A Rajput warrior, as long as he does not
dishonour his race, seems almost indifferent to the result of
any contest he is engaged in. A Maratha thinks of nothing
but the result, and cares little for the means, if he can attain
214 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
his object. For this purpose he will strain his wits, renounce
his pleasures, and hazard his person ; but he has not a con-
ception of sacrificing his life, or even his interest, for a point
of honour.'
To this description of the ordinary low-caste Maratha may
be added the remark that the Brahmans of Maharashtra are
characterized by extreme subtlety and intellectual power,
qualities not always devoted in these latter times to the
service of the British Government.
Early life of Sivaji. Sivaji, 'the mountain rat', who frus-
trated the imperial plans for the subjugation of the south, was
the son of Shahji, who in early life had served the king of
Ahmadnagar, and afterwards became governor of Poona,
under the king of Bijapur. While still a lad of nineteen (1646)
Sivaji began a career as a brigand chieftain, and seized several
hill forts in succession. Between 1649 and 1659 he made
himself master of a large tract of country to the south of
Poona.
Murder of Afzal Khan. In the year 1659 the king of
Bijapur sent an army against him under the command of
Afzal Khan. The Maratha chief, feigning submission, man-
aged to approach the general and to kill him by a treacherous
blow with a concealed weapon, known as a ' tiger's claw '.
Three years later Bijapur made peace, leaving Sivaji in posses-
sion of the territory which he had acquired.
Shayista Khan. The Maratha now ventured to ravage the
Mughal territories, and thus provoked Aurangzeb to send his
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).
Auzangzeb's mistake. Other generals, including Prince
Muazzam, were now sent against the rebel, and ultimately
(1665) Raja Jaswant Singh of Jaipur forced Sivaji to submit
and even to come to Delhi to do homage. Aurangzeb made
the mistake of treating his opponent with disrespect, and so
incurring his undying enmity. Sivaji escaped secretly from
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 215
the court, returned to the Deccan, and in 1667 compelled the
Mughal commanders in practice 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 town 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 chauth,
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 jagirs, he
occupied the fortresses of Vellore and Jinji (Gingee), and was
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 (patel). 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 panchayats.
Army and navy. The army was controlled by a commander-
in-chief, below whom was a regular gradation of officers.
216 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
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
were 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
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 born
in a time when fraud had to be met by fraud and force by
force. None of his enemies surpassed him in guile, nor was
any of them his match in decision and vigour when he re-
solved to employ force. Other things being equal, he pre-
ferred fraud to force. It was not a time for men of nice
scruples, and Sivaji was as unscrupulous as any of his rivals.
The Marathas, honouring him as the champion of Hinduism,
the protector of cows and Brahmans, recognize in him an
avatar or incarnation of the Deity. Less partial critics are
willing to give him full credit for many personal merits
and to palliate his crimes as being the result of his evil
surroundings. 1
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
1 Portraits of Sivaji have been published from time to time, but it is
doubtful if they really represent him. Grant Duff notes that no description
of his person is on record and that no portrait was preserved at either
Kolhapur or Satara.
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 217
of the Marathas, and, if possible, to bring the whole south
under Mughal rule.
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 special licence.
Such measures, of course, made the entire Hindu population
the friends of his foss ; 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 he permitted his soldiers to plunder. 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,
;.{ M
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THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 152TO 1761 219
were corrupted by luxury and incapable c active effort.
Grant Duff sums up the situation in these ords : ' These
apparently vigorous efforts of the governmet were unsub-
stantial ; there was motion and bustle, withouteal or efficacy ;
the empire was unwieldy, its system relaxed and its officers
corrupt beyond all example.' Success was imossible for such
a government.
Execution of Sambhajl ; Raja Shahu. Lr a time the
emperor's arms had a promise of success, and\urangzeb had
the poor satisfaction of putting to death with trture Sambhajl,
a son of Sivaji, in 1689. He spared the life f Sivaji junior,
nicknamed Shahu (Sahu), the infant son of Saibhaji, and kept
him in custody until his own death, when the*oung man was
released and returned to his own dominions, le became Raja
in 1708 after a contest.
Tara Bal. A few years after Sambhaji's xecution, Tara
Bai, widow of Raja Rama, another son of Siva, had retrieved
the Maratha losses, and directed the policy oflevastating the
imperial territories with such energy that te emperor was
shut up in his camp, and his treasure was pandered almost
under his eyes.
letreat and death of Aurangzeb. The Mughal army
jled to pieces, general famines and pestences occurred
in once, and ultimately (1706) Aurarzeb was forced
on Ahmadnagar, where he died at te beginning of
L707 (New Style), in the fiftieth year f his reign and
jhth of his life. His dust lies uner a plain tomb
)f Rauza or Khuldabad near Dulatabad. His
ried separately at Ahmadnagr .
3well words. However sevrely the policy
jgzeb may be judged, its impossible to
in on his death-bed win he addressed
L ere I shall go, or iiat will happen
ow I will say god-bye to every
t every one to te care of God.
218 THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761
and allying himself with infidels. When Abul Hasan perceived
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 weary 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 ground.
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 with 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.
Inefficiency of the Mughal army. The Mughal forces, on
the other hand, were unwieldy and almost immovable. The
royal tents alone occupied a space three miles in circuit, and
a contemporary traveller describes the whole camp as being
' a moving city containing five million 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 system relaxed, and its officers
corrupt beyond all example.' Success was impossible for such
a government.
Execution of Sambhajl ; 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 Sambhajl,
a son of Sivaji, in 1689. He spared the life of Sivaji junior,
nicknamed Shahu (Sahu), the infant son of Sambhajl, and kept
him in custody until his own death, when the young man was
released and returned to his own dominions. He became Raja
in 1708 after a contest.
Tara Bal. A few years after Sambhajfs execution, Tara
Bal, 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 every one to the care of God.
r i
INDIAN COINS
1. COIN OF SHER SHAH 2. COIN OF AKBAB
3. COIN OF JAHANQIR 4. COIN OF AURANGZEB
THE MUGHAL EMPIRE FROM 1526 TO 1761 221
My famous and auspicious sons should not quarrel among
themselves 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 well 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
days 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 jizrja 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. 1
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 was, 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.
Chronology of Aurangzeb's reign,
Deposition of Shahjahan and informal accession . . July 1658
Formal installation of Aurangzeb . . . . May 1659
Charter granted by Charles II to the E. I. Company ; Bombay
ceded by the Portuguese to the English . . . .1661
Mir Jumla's attack on Assam ...... 1662-3
Shayista Khan surprised by the Marathas .... 1663
Foundation of the French Compagnie des Indes . . . 1664
1 In 1679-80 the ruin effected in Riijputana 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
the empire no man can tell. (Maasir-i-Alamgirl in Elliot and Dowson, vii. 88.)
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 ..... 1672
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 Bijapur ; expulsion of the English from Bengal
by Shayista Khan . . . '<.. .' . . . 1686
Annexation of Golkonda ; greatest extension of the Mughal
empire . . . . ; . . . . 1687-91
Execution of Sambhaji, son of Sivaji . . . . . 1689
Foundation of Calcutta by Job Charnock .... 1690
United East India Company . . . . ... 1702-8
Retreat of Aurangzeb to Ahmadnagar . . . . . . 1706
Death of Aurangzeb . . . .'._.. . . 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 Panlpat.
War of succession. Aurangzeb left behind him four sons,
the princes Muazzam, Azam, Akbar (ante, p. 212), and Kam-
baksh. Akbar, the rebel 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
intention 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
Kambaksh 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, Shahu (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
Pan jab, and it will be convenient to notice briefly in this place
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 1761
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 persecution roused the zeal of the martyr's adher-
ents, who took up arms under the leadership of his son Har
Go bind 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 wasengaged 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 successor 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-bekhabar) .
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 Farrukhsiyar, 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 enjoyed 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 honour.
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 (ante, 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 sent up, who lasted only a few
months, 1 the Sayyids selected another insignificant prince,
who 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
1 Rafi-ud-darajat, Rafl-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 vazlr 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 Suba 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 J7Q8 (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
affairs 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
interval 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.
Balajl ; the Peshwa dynasty. On the death of Baji Rao I,
in 1740, his place as Peshwa was taken, after a struggle, by
son son Balajl, 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
1719, during the lifetime of Balaji 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 sardesmukhl
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 dynasties 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 independence 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 Timur. 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 Ghazm 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 Panipat, 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 vazir 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 imperial 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-dm 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-dm,
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 younger 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 thei 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 Rajput 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 (diwan khass),
which produced seventeen lakhs of rupees.
Third battle of Panlpat, Jan. 1761. Ultimately, on Jan. 13,
1761, the Maratha host, with little or no support from the
Jats and Rajputs, confronted the army of Ahmad Shah
Durrani, who was supported by the troops of Oudh and other
Muhammadan principalities, on the plain of Panlpat, 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 Panlpat 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
princes. 1
Withdrawal of the Durrani. Ahmad Shah Durrani made
no use of his victory, and was content to go home with his
plunder. In April, 1767, after inflicting several defeats on the
Sikhs, he reappeared once more for a moment near Panlpat
with 50,000 Afghan cavalry, and then retired, troubling him-
self no more with the affairs of Hindustan.
1 The three battles of Panlpat :
(1) Defeat of Ibrahim Lodi by Babur, 1526 ;
(2) Defeat of Hemu 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,
ShahjahSh, 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 pomp 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 possessed 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 effecting the necessary reforms. The weakness of the
empire was plainly seen by European observers. Manucci,
the Italian physician, writes, late in Aurangzeb's reign :
' Having 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 occup} 7 "
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 probably 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 away, 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 worthy of remembrance
for his own sake, and there is little to be said about literature
or art. 1 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.
1 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 authorities. 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 tJie
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
Minutes 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). 1 The writings of the eighteenth-century
1 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 history arises, he will enliven
the earlier part of his narrative with references to these many travellers'
tales.'
No good history of British India. That remark leads me to observe that
a well-written, interesting history of British India, on a scale of moderate
dimensions, does not exist, and is badly wanted. Mill's great work, even
with Wilson's continuation, 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 most serviceable. Among the small histories I recom-
mend A. D. Innes, A Short History of the British in India (Methuen, 1902).
Biographies. Biographies form an important source of Anglo-Indian
history, and enshrine or entomb many documents. All the existing Lives
of Clive are unsatisfactory, and the same may be said of those of Warren
Hastings. Sir George Forrest, who promises 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 Wettesley's Despatches (Clarendon
Press, 1877), and A Selection from the Wellington Despatches (1880), which
are well edited.
Lord Minto I. The interesting and little-known story of Lord Minto I
may be read at first hand in the two volumes of his Life 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 Duff's History of the Mahrattas (1826 and reprint) 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 Dalhousie'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 line between the Mughal and
British periods does not rest solely upon the occurrence of the
battle of Pampat 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 Diwam, or revenue jurisdiction over the pro-
vince. In the year of Pampat, 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 AH 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 little
affected by the succession of one nonentity to another. 1 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 government 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 withiri 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 the 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 greatly 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 until 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 Arcot.
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 years (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 All, 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-dm, 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 Muzaffar 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 All 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 Carnatic,
and so force Chanda Sahib to withdraw troops from the siege
of the southern town. 1 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
1 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
Carnatic, 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, the great private
fortune which he had amassed having been expended by him
in financing the plans he had formed for making France the
ruling power in Southern India.
Lally ; battle of Wandiwash ; fall of Pondicherry. In 1756
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 May, 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
Pondicherry 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 any 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 nourishing 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). 1
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 masters of Bengal, as will be narrated in the next
chapter.
Summary. The outline of the leading events in the three
1 The Northern Sarkars in Mughal times were Guntur, Kondapalli, Ellore,
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 the 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 .... 1749
II. Unofficial War.
Siege of Trichinopoly by Chanda Sahib and the French :
capture and defence of Afcot by Clive , . - .- . , . 1751
Surrender of Trichinopoly by the French : other British
successes ........ 1752
Return of Clive to England . . y *. . .r.^ . 1753
Recall of Dupleix ....... 1754
III. The Seven Years' War. Began 1756
Occupation of ' Northern Circars ' by de Bussy . . 1757
Arrival of Count de Lally ; the French capture Fort St.
David and attack Madras ; Colonel Forde occupies the
' Northern Circars ' 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 Suffren 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 were 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 AH 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 opportunity, and the capture
of Bednore with treasure extravagantly 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 compelled him to pay a heavy
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
SKETCH MAP OF
THE CARNATIC
(Anglo-French Wars, 1746-63.
Wars with Haidar Mi
1769,1780-2).
Statute Miles
* e- >v-v /Pondicherry
$ Cuddalore
'ortoNovo
hinoioly" Tan-lore ' Wcgapatam -^
CEYLON
248 THE BRITISH OR ANGLO-INDIAN PERIOD
were defeated by Colonel Smith. In 1769 Haidar All 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 Subadar 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 subadar or nawab
FROM 1761 TO 1S58 249
of those provinces was treacherously slain by a Turkoman
officer named Allahvardi (AKvardi) 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), Allahvardi 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 Allahvardi 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, Allahvardi 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 ' affable
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,
seventeen years of age when he succeeded his grand -uncle in
1756. 1
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
1 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 believed
Calcutta to be much richer than it really was, and 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 three days, but on the fourth day 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 dive'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, Clive
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 youth, pro-
voked discontent, directed by Mir Jafar, brother-in-law of
Allah vardi Khan, who entered into negotiations with Clive.
The English officers agreed to place Mir Jafar on the throne of
Bengal in return for a payment of 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 overwhelmed when Clive coolly con-
fessed to the deception, but the current story that he lost his
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 Clive 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 allowed Mr.
Lushington to sign in his name. Negotiations between the
252 THE BRITISH OR ANGLO-INDIAN PERIOD
English and the Nawab followed without satisfactory results.
On June 13 Clive advanced, informing the Nawab that he had
' found it necessary to wait upon him immediately '.
Battle of Plassey, June 23, 1757. On the 23rd of June,
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 Murshldabad. The English
commander's force consisted of a little more than 3,000 men,
including about 950 Europeans, and his guns were few and 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 St. Frais, 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 about a thousand 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 Clive
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 1358 253
Defeat of the Dutch. Mir Jafar, the new Nawab, having
soon found that fiis 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 at their settle-
ment 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, and given an
Irish peerage as Baron Clive of Plassey. 1
Massacre of Patna. During Olive'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 Bard wan, 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 Pveinhardt,
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
1 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. Twelve
representative peers, elected by the Irish peerage, have seats in the House
of Lords.
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 Plassey, 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.
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 treasury 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 wrote, ' 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
Hugli) 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. 1 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 twenty-six
lakhs of rupees annually to the imperial treasury. Some
1 The Cuttack (Katak) province in Orissa was then in the hands of the
Marathas in virtue of the cession made by Allahvardi 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 not 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 Suba (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 firmness 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.
Olive'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
LORD CLIVE
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 difficulties 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, to protect the weak and restrain the strong. 1
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 Clivo 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.
FROM 1761 TO 1858 259
of them surpassed, or perhaps equalled, the famine of 1770,
which extended far beyond the limits of Bengal. 1 The ill-
compacted system 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 were
not seriously 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
system 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. 2 The Company was not
prepared for this sudden increase of responsibility. Its officials
were merchants ill qualified to undertake the duties of
1 The best printed account is that in Sir William Hunter's Annals of
Rural Bengal, first published in 1866.
2 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 1765 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 settlement, 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 opposition. 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 impossible to go into details here, but we may note that
he 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 Pampat, soon began to recover power, and at
the close of 1770 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
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 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 threatened 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 a brigade
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, was 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 Barwell, 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 friend 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. Banvell alone, the
other members being hostile. The Act having given him no
power 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 the
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 cf 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
1 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, supposed 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 power. 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 country to the aid of Sir Eyre Coote. That
exploit was second only to Goddard's wonderful march across
India to Surat.
Ultimately peace with the Marathas was arranged through
the aid of Mahadaji Sindia, the ablest of the Maratha chiefs,
who treated on their behalf with full powers and guaranteed
the execution of the treaty. 1 The document, signed at Salbai
in Sindia's territory, secured Salsette for the English at
Bombay, provided Raghoba with a pension, and in most ether
respects restored the former state of affairs. The terms thus
stated may seem to be of small moment, but the Treaty of
1 The correct spelling cf the name is Mahadajl (*?T^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. Mahadaji 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 happened 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 jaglrs, 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 Mahe
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
might blow over. But it burst with awful suddenness. In
July, 1780, Haidar Ali's host swept down on the Carnatic
plain, slaying, maiming, burning, and ravaging with fiendish
cruelty. He overwhelmed and destroyed a gallant force of
2,500 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 acting Governor of Madras, persuaded old 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 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 AH, who lost about
10,000 men, while the Company's loss did not exceed 300.
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 Ali'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
my 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 sixty, and was succeeded by his
son Tippoo (Tipu),a man much inferior in ability. 1 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
unable 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, c 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
1 Haidar Ali was born 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 cruelty.
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. 1 Good fortune, or an
overruling Providence, dispelled the clouds. A victory gained
by Rodney in Europe 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 Fullarton had made a gallant
defence no less notable than the more famous defence of
Arcot b} 7 Clive. The war with Tippoo was ended in 1784 by
the Treaty 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 conduct 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
1 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 cannot be
commended without reserve.
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, H.H. the Maharaja of Benares, a much respected
and loyal prince. It is impossible either to deny a certain
amount of harshness 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 Fyzabad, where the ladies resided, the
palace eunuchs were thrown into chains and half-starved,
and seventy -five 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-five lakhs did not nearly exhaust the
accumulations of the Begams, the younger 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 enormously 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 of ' serious blame ' to Hastings is partly met by
the answer that Hastings did not actually 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 many 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. 1 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
1 In 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 1805.
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 bej-ond 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.
Ghazlpur, Benares, the ' Northern Circars ' (except Guntur), 1
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 Hugll) although included in
the imperial grant of the Dlwani, was held by the Marathas of
Nagpur, and did not come into the Company'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
1 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 upon
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
placed 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 first 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
opposition by his colleagues. He also enjoyed the confidence
of the Ministry at home, and thus started his work 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, owing to his more favourable position.
The Permanent Settlement. The most famous measure of
LORD CORNWALLIS
278 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. 1 The policy
of the Permanent Settlement, carried out by Lord Cornwallis
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 
