of the House of Muhammad. In the 16th century Sultan Salim, the great Osmanli conqueror, obtained the Caliphate from the last Caliph at Cairo; till recently the Osmanli rulers of Turkey assumed the title of Caliph, and were recognised as spiritual head, Shaikh-ul-Islam, by the bulk of the Sunnis in India and elsewhere. In November 1922, the Grand National Assembly at Angora declared that the office of Sultan had ceased to exist, and provided that in future the Caliph, whose office was previously held by the Sultan, should be elected from among the Princes of the House of Osman. The Caliphate was abolished by the same Assembly in March 1924. Eras.—The Muhammadan era of the Hijra takes its name from the “departure” of Muhammad from Mecca, commencing with the date of Friday, the 16th of July 622 A.D., ordered by the Khalifa Omar to be used as their era by Muhammadans. Their year consists of twelve lunar months, as follows :— Their year, therefore, is 11 days short of the solar year, and their New Year's Day is every year 11 days earlier than in the preceding year. In every 30 years the month Zil Hijja is made to consist II times of 30 days instead of 29, which accounts for the 9 hours in the lunar year, which is thus 354 days, 9 hours. To bring the Hijra year into accordance with the Christian year, express the former in years and decimals of a year, multiply by .970225, add 621.54, and the total will correspond exactly to the Christian year. Or to effect the same correspondence roughly, deduct 3 per cent. from the Hijra year, add 621.54, and the result will be the period of the Christian year when the Muhammadan year begins. The Muhammadan year 1342 Hijra commenced on the 14th August 1923. The Tarikh Ilahi or Era af Akbar, and the Fasli or Harvest Era. These eras begin from the commencement of Akbar's reign on Friday, the 5th of Rabi us-sani, 963 A.H. = 19th of February 1556 A.D. MUHAMMADAN FESTIVALS Bakar Id, Id-ul-uzha, or uz-zoha, or Id-i-kurban (sacrifice), is held on the 10th of Zil Hijja in memory of Abraham's offering of Ishmael, which is the version of the Koran. Camels, cows, sheep, goats, kids, or lambs, are sacrificed. Muharram (The Sacred 1), is a period of mourning (the Shias fast on some of the days) in remembrance of the death of Husain, the son of Ali by Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. Hasan, eldest son of Ali, was poisoned at the instigation of the future Khalif Yezid in 49 A.H., and Husain was murdered at Karbala on the 10th of Muharram, 61 A.H. 9th October 680 A.D. The fast begins on the 1st of Muharram and lasts ten days. Muslims of the Shia persuasion assemble in the Ta'ziya Khana, or house of mourning. On the night of the 7th an image of Burak, the animal (vehicle) on which Muhammad is popularly supposed to have ascended to heaven, is carried in procession, and on the 10th Tabuts2 or Taziyas (biers). These are thrown into the sea, or other water, and in the absence of water are buried in the earth. The mourners move in a circle, beating their breasts with cries of "Ya! Hasan Ya Husain !" or "Ya Ali!" At this time fanatical spirit is apt to run high, and serious disturbances sometimes take place (see "Hobson-Jobson" in the Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, Yule and Burnell, Murray, 1903). Akhiri-Chahar Shamba, held on the last Wednesday of Safar, when Muhammad recovered a little in his last illness and bathed for the last time. It is proper to write out seven blessings, wash off the ink and drink it, as also to bathe and repeat prayers. Bárah Wafát, held on the 12th of Rabi ul awal in memory of Muhammad's death, II A.H. Shab-i-barát (night of allotment), held on the 16th of Sh'aban, when it is supposed that human deeds are measured and their meeds allotted: only observed in India; celebrated with fireworks. The Koran ought to be read all night, and the next day a fast should be observed. Ramazan3, the month of fasting of the Muhammadans. The night of the 27th is called Lailat-ul-Kadr, "night of power," because the Koran came down from heaven on that night. 'Idu 'l-fitr, the festival when the fast of the Ramazan is broken. The evening is spent in rejoicings. MUHAMMADAN RULE IN INDIA The first connection of the Muhammadans with India in the 7th and 8th centuries was naturally by the old coastal route between Arabia and W. India, and from the seat of power of the Caliphate at Bagdad. 1 The name is derived from the corresponding old Arabic month, in which it was unholy to wage war. 2 The shape of this is intended to simulate the tomb of Ali at Karbala. 3 The name is derived from ramaz, burning, this month being the middle summer month in the first Muhammadan year. When this power grew weak, first the Seljuk kingdom broke away from it on the E., and then the kingdoms of Ghazni and Ghor in the. Afghan mountains split off in turn. Early in the 11th century the N. of India, as far as Benares, Gujarat, and Kathiawar, was subjected to repeated invasions by the famous Mahmud of Ghazni and at the close of the 12th century the Prince of Ghor and his lieutenants effected the permanent conquest and occupation of that part of the country. For three hundred years the Slave dynasty and the other dynasties, chiefly Pathan, which succeeded it, ruled at Delhi and extended their authority to Bengal and Gujarat, and even to the Deccan; but the repeated invasions of the Mughals on the N., and probably the failure of robust recruits from the Afghan mountains, led to the gradual weakening of the central power, which was finally shaken to its very foundations by the invasion of Timur at the end of the 14th century (p. 281); and when, a century later, Babar and his Mughals conquered India, the Imperial authority had been reduced to very narrow limits. Meanwhile, one Muhammadan dynasty, an offshoot of the Imperial line, had been established at Gaur, in the Malda district in Bengal (p. 420), from an early date; and another, known as the Bahmani, rather later at Gulbarga, in the Deccan (p. 478), when the power of Delhi recoiled from there, and by the close of the 14th century Muhammadan Governors had also become independent in Gujarat (p. 175) and Malwa (p. 129), and at Jaunpur (p. 381). Thus, though the power of the Delhi capital was being threatened by the revived Hindu forces of Rajputana when Babar became Emperor, N. India generally was under Muhammadan rule at that time. It was then, too, that the Muhammadan kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda (pp. 476, 496, and 516) were founded on the fall of the Bahmani dynasty; and when these kingdoms crushed the only great Hindu power in S. India, that of Vijayanagar (p. 521), at the Battle of Talikota in 1565 A.D., about the time, be it remembered, when Spain attained its greatest power, it looked as if Muhammadan sway would be permanently extended to Cape Comorin. These kingdoms, however, exhausted their energies in internal and internecine quarrels; and when, after subduing the other States of India, the Mughal Emperors turned to them, they fell one by one, but in their fall, and through the consequences of it, dragged down the victor to ruin also. While it lasted, the Mughal dynasty was distinguished by extraordinary outward splendour, which evoked the title of "the Great Mughal," or Mogul, from European travellers; ́ and no dynasty, perhaps, since the world began, ever produced six Princes so great, take them all in all, as Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb, whose united reigns covered a period of nearly two hundred years, 1526-1707. But as its splendour was unparalleled, so were the suddenness and completeness of the fall of the dynasty; and within sixty years of the death of Aurangzeb the Mahrattas were temporarily masters of Delhi, which was simply rent to death by the invasions of the Persian Nadir Shah and the Afghan Ahmad Shah in 1739 and 1757. It is almost impossible to realise that these invasions, which can be paralleled only by those of Attila and Timur, took place at a time when Europe was entering on the modern phase in which we still live, and N. America was about to become a great separate power. Between these two dates the kingdoms of Oudh and Hyderabad had become independent of the central Delhi Power; if the Great Governors of the Panjab did not become so also, this was due simply to their position between the invaders and the capital, and to the presence of the Sikhs in the province. Neither of the new Muhammadan kingdoms, however, possessed any real vital power; and both of them, and Bengal, would have inevitably fallen a prey to the Mahrattas, after their extraordinary recovery from the carnage of Panipat in 1761, but for the intervention of British power. As it was, when Delhi was taken from the Mahrattas in 1803 they practically dominated India from the Panjab to Hyderabad and Mysore, and from Gujarat to Orissa. The resumption of Oudh in 1856 on account of the reckless misgovernment of its rulers, and the conquests of the Mysore dynasty of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan in 1799, and of the Amirs of Sind in 1843, have left Hyderabad the sole remaining Muhammadan power of first-class importance in India, to which can be added as instances of Muhammadan States of recent origin-Khairpur, in Sind (p. 363); Junagadh, in Kathiawar (p. 209); Bahawalpur, in the Panjab (p. 361), and Rampur in Rohilkhand. SOME MUHAMMADAN DATES AFFECTING INDIA A.D. Birth of Muhammad 570 His departure from Mecca to Medina. The Hijra (Hegira) era 16th July 622 Conquest of Mecca. 630 His death 8th June 632 Arab invasions of Sind 637-828 Arabs under Muhammad Kasim conquered Sind 711 1001 1024 The Afghans of Ghor captured Ghazni 1152 Muhammad bin Sam, known as Shahabuddin, Ghori, invaded the 1193-94 Kutb-ud-din (originally a Turki slave) proclaimed himself sovereign of India at Delhi. (1) The Slave-Kings of India, 1206-88. (2) The Khiljis, 1288- Altumish saved India from an invasion by Mughals under Chengiz Ala-ud-din Khilji conquered Southern India; defeated several Muhammad Tughlak (Juna Khan) sought to establish a southern Timur, or Tamerlane, sacked Delhi Babar, the Mughal, sixth in descent from Timur, defeated the Akbar defeated the Pathans at Panipat A. D. 1206 1211-36 1217 1295-1317 1330-40 1398 1526 1527 1526-1707 5th Nov. 1556 Akbar conquered the Rajputs, annexed Bengal, Gujarat, Sind, 1567-94 Death of Akbar at Agra 1605 the Mahrattas 1688 Aurangzeb captured Sambaji, the son of the Mahratta chief Sivaji, and put him to death 1689 Death of Aurangzeb; decline of the Mughal power 1707 Defeat and persecution of the Sikhs. The Mughals put their leader, 1716 Oudh practically independent of Delhi 1721 Hyderabad became independent under Chin Kilich Khan Nizamul-mulk 1724 Kabul severed from the Mughals by Nadir Shah, of Persia 1738 1739 The Mahrattas obtained Malwa Five invasions of the Afghan Ahmad Shah Durani, and cession of 1743 1747-61 The Mahrattas obtained Southern Orissa and tribute from Bengal. 1751 1757 The Mahrattas captured Delhi Defeat of the Mahrattas by the Afghans at the Battle of Panipat 1759 1761 1803 |