BOOK

V.

Khorásán, and, professing an anxious desire to make peace with Khusru Malik, released his son, who had been hitherto kept as a hostage. Khusru Malik, entirely thrown off his guard by these appearances, quitted Láhór, and set out to meet his son, so unexpectedly restored to him; when Shaháb u dín put himself at the head of a strong body of chosen cavalry, and, marching with celerity and secrecy through unfrequented routes, suddenly interposed himself between Khusru Malik and his capital; and, surrounding his camp by night, made him prisoner, and soon after occupied Láhór, which A. D. 1186, no longer offered resistance. Khusru and his family were sent to Gheiás u dín and imprisoned in a castle in Ghirjistán, where many years after they were put to death by one or other of the contending parties during the war with the king of Khárizm.

Α ́ Η. 582.

Wars with the Hin

dús.

Shaháb u dín had now no Mahometan rival left, and the contest between him and the Hindús seemed at first sight very unequal. As his army was drawn from all the warlike provinces between the Indus and Oxus, and was accustomed to contend with the Seljúks and the northern hordes of Tartars, we should not expect it to meet much resistance from a people naturally gentle and inoffensive, broken into small states, and forced into war without any hopes of gain or aggrandisement: yet none of the Hindú principalities fell without a severe struggle; and some were never entirely subdued, but still remain substantive states after the Mussulman empire has gone to ruin.

púts.

IV.

This unexpected opposition was chiefly owing CHAP. to the peculiar character of the Rájpúts, arising from their situation as the military class in the The Rájoriginal Hindú system. The other classes, though kept together as casts by community of religious rites, were mixed up in civil society, and were under no chiefs except the ordinary magistrates of the country. But the Rájpúts were born soldiers; each division had its hereditary leader; and each formed a separate community, like clans in other countries, the members of which were bound by many ties to their chiefs and to each other. The rules of cast still subsisted, and tended to render more powerful the connection just described.

As the chiefs of those clans stood in the same relation to the rája as their own retainers did to them, the king, nobility, and soldiery all made one body, united by the strongest feelings of kindred and military devotion. The sort of feudal system that prevailed among the Rájpúts* gave additional stability to this attachment, and all together produced the pride of birth, the high spirit and the romantic notions, so striking in the military class of that period. Their enthusiasm was kept up by the songs of their bards, and inflamed by frequent contests for glory or for love. They treated women with a respect unusual in the East; and were guided, even towards their enemies, by rules of honour, which it was disgraceful to violate. But, although they had so many of the characteristics of chivalry,

* See page 144. of this volume.

V.

BOOK they had not the high-strained sentiments and artificial refinements of our knights, and were more in the spirit of Homer's heroes than of Spenser's or Ariosto's. If to these qualities we add a very strong disposition to indolence (which may have existed formerly, though not likely to figure in history), and make allowances for the effects of a long period of depression, we have the character of the Rájpúts of the present day; who bear much the same resemblance to their ancestors that those did to the warriors of the "Mahá Bhárat.”*

With all the noble qualities of the early Rájpúts was mixed a simplicity derived from their want of intercourse with other nations, which rendered them inferior in practical ability, and even in military efficiency, to men actuated by much less elevated sentiments than theirs.

Among the effects of the division into clans, one was, that although the Rájpúts are anything but a migratory people, yet, when they have been compelled by external force to leave their seats, they have often moved in a body like a Tartar horde; and when they occupied new lands, they distributed them in the same proportions as their former ones, and remained without any alteration but that of place.

Shortly before the time of Shaháb u dín, the four

* Their modern history is full of instances of loyalty and military honour. Their last great war was between the rájas of Jeipúr and Jodpúr for the hand of a princess of Oudipúr. (See Tod's Rajasthan, and other books and official publications.)

greatest kingdoms in India were - Delhi, then held by the clan of Tomára; Ajmír, by that of Chouhán; Canouj, by the Ráthórs; and Guzerát, by the Baghilas, who had supplanted the Chalúkas : but the Tomára chief, dying without male issue, adopted his grandson Pritwí, rája of Ajmír, and united the Tomáras and Chouháns under one head.

As the rája of Canouj was also grandson of the Tomára chief by another daughter, he was mortally offended at the preference shown to his cousin; and the wars and jealousies to which this rivalship gave rise contributed greatly to Shaháb u dín's success in his designs on India.

His first attack was on Pritwí Rája, king of Ajmír and Delhi. The armies met at Tirouri, between Tanésar and Carnál, on the great plain, where most of the contests for the possession of India have been decided. The Mussulman mode of fighting was to charge with bodies of cavalry in succession, who either withdrew after discharging their arrows, or pressed their advantage, as circumstances might suggest. The Hindús, on the other hand, endeavoured to outflank their enemy, and close upon him on both sides, while he was busy with his attack on their centre. Their tactics were completely successful on this occasion: while Shaháb u dín was engaged in the centre of his army, he learned that both his wings had given way, and soon found himself surrounded, along with such of his adherents as had followed his example in re

V.

BOOK fusing to quit the field. In this situation he defended himself with desperate courage. He charged into the thickest of the enemy, and had reached the viceroy of Delhi, brother to the rája, and wounded him in the mouth with his lance, when he himself received a wound, and would have fallen from his horse with loss of blood, had not one of his followers leapt up behind him and supported him until he had extricated him from the conflict, and carried him to a place of safety.

The rout, however, was complete. The Mahometans were pursued for forty miles; and Shaháb u dín, after collecting the wreck of his army at Láhór, returned, himself, to the other side of the Indus. He first visited his brother at Ghór, or Fírúz Cóh, and then remained settled at Ghazni, where he seemed to forget his misfortunes in pleasure and festivity. But, in spite of appearances, his disgrace still rankled in his bosom, and, as he himself told an aged counsellor," he never slumbered in ease, or waked but in sorrow and anxiety.”: Return of At length, having recruited an army, composed of Túrks, Tájiks, and Afgháns, many of whom had their helmets ornamented with jewels, and their A. D. 1198, armour inlaid with silver and gold, he again began his march towards India. †

Shaháb u

dín to India.

A. H. 589.

*

Pritwí Rája again met him with a vast army, swelled by numerous allies who were attracted by

*Briggs's Ferishta, vol. i. p. 173.

+ This description is from Ferishta: he fixes the number at 120,000 horse.