Tráigerta, was formed out of it in ancient times,
and it was again nearly united, when attacked by
the Mahometans, yet it is not noticed in the inter-
mediate Indian history, and when visited by the
Greeks, it was broken into very small principalities:
Porus, one of the greatest chiefs, had not, with all
his friends and dependents, one eighth part of the
whole.

Bhárat.

The date in that case refers to the next time it is heard of in history. The mentioned by Ferishta as the one in which they were conquered by the Mahometans.

Mithili was the capital of the father of Síta, Ráma's wife. Though famous for a school of law, and though giving its name to one of the ten Indian languages, it is little mentioned in history.

Benáres seems to have been independent at the time of the "Mahá Bharat;" it was probably afterwards subject to Magada, as it certainly was, at a later period, to Gour. It was independent when conquered by the Mahometans.

The next mention of Delhi in a probable form, after the "Mahá Bhárat," is its occupation by a tribe of Rájpúts, twenty of whom had reigned in succession, when they were dethroned in 1050 a.d. by an ancestor of Pritwi Rája, who was conquered by the Mussulmans.

СНАР.

I.

The eighth prince, Mánik Rái, reigned in A. D. 695. His descendant, Visal, was the prince who conquered Delhi in 1050. The two states fell together.

It seems to have been before this in the hands of the Málwa kings. It was conquered by a race of Rájpúts from Oud, the same who founded the state of Guzerát.

Jesselmér was founded by a tribe of the family of Crishna, who came from the north-west of India, and who still possess it.

Founded by a Rájpút prince, of a family of descendants of Ráma, who had, some generations before, obtained the petty principality of Narwar.

Sindu is mentioned as one principality in the "Mahá Bhárat." It was divided into four in Alexander's time; but united in 711, when invaded by the Arabs. It was afterwards recovered by the Rájpút tribe of Samera, A. D. 750, and not finally conquered by the Mahometans until after the house of Ghór.

The historians of Cashmír claim about 1200 years earlier, but give no names of kings and no events. After five dynasties, they were conquered by Mahmúd of Ghazni, in A. D. 1015 according to Ferishta.

СНАР.
I.

CHAP. II.

THE DECKAN.

BOOK

IV.

Early state and divisions of the Deckan.

THE history of the Deckan, as it has no pretensions to equal antiquity, is less obscure than that of Hindostan, but it is less interesting. We know little of the early inhabitants; and the Hindús do not attract so much attention where they are colonists as they did in their native seats.* "All the traditions and records of the Peninsula (says Professor Wilson) recognise, in every part of it, a period when the natives were not Hindús;" and the aborigines are described, before their civilisation by the latter people, as foresters and mountaineers, or goblins and demons. Some circumstances, however, give rise to doubts whether the early inhabitants of the Deckan could have been in so rude a state as this account of them would lead us to suppose.

The Támul language must have been formed and perfected before the introduction of the Shanscrit and though this fact may not be conclusive (since the North American Indians also possess a polished language), yet, if Mr. Ellis's opinion be

* The whole of the following information, down to the account of Orissa, is derived from Professor Wilson's Introduction to the Mackenzie Papers; though it may be sometimes modified by opinions for which that gentleman ought not to be answerable.

well founded, and there is an original Támul literature as well as language, it will be impossible to class the founders of it with foresters and mountaineers.* If any credit could be given to the Hindú legends, Rávan, who reigned over Ceylon and the southern part of the peninsula at the time of Ráma's invasion, was the head of a civilised and powerful state; but, by the same accounts, he was a Hindú, and a follower of Síva; which would lead us to infer that the story is much more recent than the times to which it refers, and that part of it at least is founded on the state of things when it was written, rather than when Ráma and Rávan lived.

It is probable that, after repeated invasions had opened the communication between the two countries, the first colonists from Hindostan would settle on the fruitful plains of the Carnatic and Tanjore, rather than in the bleak downs of the upper Deckan; and although the sea might not at first have influenced their choice of an abode, its neighbourhood would in time give access to traders from other nations, and would create a rapid increase of the towns along the coast.

It is, perhaps, a proof of the establishment of Támul literature before the arrival of the Bramins, that some of its most esteemed authors are of the lowest cast, or what we call Pariars. These authors lived in comparatively modern times; but such a career would never have been thrown open to their class if the knowledge which led to it had been first imparted by the Bramins.

CHAP.

II.