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sacred stream. His object was the extermination of these inoffensive people; and he partly succeeded. From this place, turning to the north-west, along the foot of Mount Sewalick, he continued his massacres, though not without opposition, until he arrived on the frontiers of Cashmere. He spent little more than five months between the time of his crofsing and recrofsing the Indus; and appears to have paid more attention to seasons than Alexander did: as Timur chose the fair season for his expedition, whereas Alexander was in the field, in the Panjab, during a whole rainy season, (See Memoir, Sect. III.) Timur, however, may be said rather to over-run, than to subject, or conquer; for he did not disturb the order of succefsion in Hindoostan, but left Mahmood on the throne: reserving to himself the pofsefsion of the Panjab country only; and this his succefsors did not retain long. His views were at this time directed towards the Turkish empire; and this made him neglect India, which did not promise so plentiful an harvest of glory as the other. During his life, which ended in 1405, he was prayed for in the mosques of Hindoostan, and the coin was struck in his name: but this might be more the effect of policy in the usurpers of Mahmood's throne, than the act of Timur. It does not appear from Ferishta, any more than from Sherefeddin, that this prince carried much treasure out of Hindoostan with him. But Nadir Shah's acquisition of the precious metals, at a later period, was great, beyond all ideas of accumulation in Europe: and is only to be accounted for, by the influx of those metals from America, during that interval.

For the geography of Timur's marches, the reader is referred to the third section of the Memoir; and to the map.

If Hindoostan was in confusion before this invasion, it may be expected that on Timur's departure, matters became much worse. The death of Mahmood happened in 1413; and with him ended the Patan dynasty, founded by Cuttub in 1205. The throne was then filled by Chizer, a Seid (that is, one of the race of the pró

phet Mahomed), whose posterity continued in it until 1450: when Belloli, an Afghan of the tribe of Lodi, took possession of it, on the abdication of Alla II. under whom all Hindoostan fell into separate governments; and a potentate, styled King of the EAST, whose residence was at Jionpour, in the province of Allahabad, became the most formidable among them; while the King of Delhi had but the shadow of authority remaining to him. The son of Belloli recovered a considerable part of the empire; and in 1501, made Agra the royal residence. It was during this reign, that the Portuguese first accomplished the passage to India, by the Cape of Good Hope: but as their connexions were entirely with the maritime parts of the Deccan, which were independent of Delhi, no notice of this event is taken by Ferishta, in his history of Hindoostan. The empire fell again into utter confusion, under Ibrahim II. in 1516; and this paved the way for the conquest of Hindoostan by Sultan Baber, a descendant of Tamerlane and of Gengiz Kan; who reigned over a kingdom composed generally of the provinces situated between the Indus and Samarcand. Being dispossessed of the northern parts of his dominions by the Usbecs, he determined to try his fortune in Hindoostan, whose distracted situation flattered his hopes of conquest. His residence at this time was at Cabul, from whence he undertook his first expedition across the Indus, in 1518. After this, he made four others: and in the fifth (A. D. 1525), he defeated the Emperor of Delhi, and put an end to the dynasty of Lodi. It is said that Baber crossed the Indus, this last time, with only 10,000 chosen horse; the enemy's generals, by their revolts, furnishing him with the rest of his army. In this, we have a fresh instance of the small dependance that the Hindoostan emperors could have on their viceroys and generals. Baber reigned only five years in Hindoostan; during which, his chief employment was the reduction of the eastern provinces. Nor did he relinquish his Persian provinces, by crossing the Indus. His son, Humaioon, succeeded him in 1530; but

the short reign of Baber, did not allow time enough to compose the distractions that had so long prevailed; or to exterminate the seeds of rebellion: for the intrigues of his brothers, and the open rebellion of Sheer Kan, drove Humaioon, although a prince of considerable abilities, and great virtues, from his empire, in 1541. His flight towards the Indus, and his sojourn among the Rajpoot princes of Agimere, furnish a striking picture of royal distress. During his stay there, his son Acbar was born, whom we may reckon among the greatest of the sovereigns of Hindoostan. The provinces on the west of the Indus were held by a brother of Humaioon. The usurper Sheer did not long survive his new dignity; being killed at the siege of Cheitore in 1545: and was buried at Saseram in Bahar, his original estate, in a magnificent mausoleum, which he had ordered to be constructed during his lifetime; and of which a drawing has lately been exhibited in this country, by Mr. Hodges. Sheer Kan was of Afghan origin; and held the soubahship of Bahar, when he rebelled: and at his death, his empire extended from the Indus to Bengal. He left his throne to his son Selim: but so very unsettled was the state of Hindoostan, that no less than five sovereigns appeared on its throne, in the course of 9 years. In effect, there could not exist in the minds of the people, any idea of regular government, or regular succefsion: for there had scarcely ever been 12 years together, during the last, or the present century,' without furnishing some example of successful rebellion. This induced a strong party in Hindoostan, to invite Humaioon back; and accordingly, in 1554, he returned, and met with but little resistance: but died in consequence of an accident, the following year. He was celebrated for the mildness and benevolence of his nature: and his return, notwithstanding the shortness of his reign, was a public blessing; as it was the means of seating his son Acbar quietly on the throne. When he was driven from his empire by Sheer, he resided with Shah Tamasp, of Persia, who aided him in the recovery of it: and in the early

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part of his exile, he recovered possession of the provinces beyond

the Indus.

Acbar was about 14 when his father died, in 1555. The reign of this prince has been celebrated by the pen of the famous Abul Fazil, in a book called the Acbar-namma, or history of Acbar. The business of this sketch, being rather to give a sort of chronological table of events, than to aim at a circumstantial history, I shall not attempt to particularize the great events of this long and busy reign of 51 years: but refer the reader to the history of Hindoostan, by Col. Dow: in which, not only a full account of Acbar, but also of his descendants, down to Aurungzebe, will be found. As in the person of Baber, the line of Tamerlane first mounted the throne of Hindoostan; so in that of Acbar, the grandson of Baber, it may be said to be established. The conquest of their ancestor, about a century and a half before, had no share in effecting the present settlement. Baber, was in reality the founder of the Mogul dynasty; and from this event, Hindoostan came to be called the MOGUL empire.*

The first years of Acbar's reign were employed in the reduction of the revolted provinces, from Agimere to Bengal; in which the great Byram, who had a share in recovering the empire for Humaioon, was a principal actor. These conquests were secured in a manner very different from those, achieved by former emperors; that is, by a proper choice of governors; by wise regulations; by an unlimited toleration in religious matters; and by a proper attention to the propensities of the people: to all which, a long and vigorous reign was peculiarly favourable. The Hindoos still formed the bulk of the people; even in those provinces, which, from their vicinity to the country of the conquerors, had been the most

Properly speaking, the MOGUL EMPIRE was that, over which Tamerlane and his immediate successors reigned; and in which, India was not included. Custom, however, has transferred the name to the empire held by the descendants of Tamerlane, in Hindoostan and the Deccan.

frequently over-run: and experience had taught the Mahomedan conquerors, that the passive religion and temper of the Hindoos, would, if left to themselves, never disturb the established government. But the DECCAN was a stumbling block to the Mogul emperors. In 1585, Acbar resolved on the attack of it, and soon after carried the war into Berar, while another army was reducing Cashmere, in an opposite corner of the empire. The Deccan appears at this time, to have been divided into the kingdoms or states of Candeish, Amednagur (or Dowlatabad) Golconda or (Bagnagur) and Visiapour. Berar and the Carnatic, each of which included several distinct governments, are not specified by the historian, as members of the Deccan: by which it would appear that they do not, in strictness, appertain to it. In the popular language of the times, there were reckoned to be four principalities in the Deccan: that is to say, the four first mentioned, above. Most, if not all of these, were at this time governed by Mahomedan princes; although we are not in possession of any history of the conquests or revolutions, that transferred them from the Hindoos to the Mahomedans. At the time of Acbar's death, in 1605, no further progrefs was made in the reduction of the Deccan, and the adjoining countries, than the taking possession of the western part of Berar, Candeish, Tellingana (a division of Golconda) and the northern part of Amednagur; the capital of which, bearing the same name, was taken in 1601, after a long and bloody siege, and an unsuccessful attempt to relieve it, by the confederate princes of the Deccan.

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Acbar was the glory of the house of Timur. Hindoostan proper, had never, at any period since the first Mahomedan conquest, experienced so much tranquillity, as during the latter part of his reign: but this tranquillity would hardly be deemed such, in any other quarter of the world; and must therefore be understood to mean a state, short of actual rebellion, or at least, commotion. Prince Danial, his eldest son, died just before him; and Selim,

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