TH

HE following account is divided into two parts: the first of which, contains the provincial divifion of the empire, under the Moguls, fo far as the particulars have come to my knowledge; the other contains the prefent divifion of it, into independant states,

of

very unequal extent and power. It will not be expected that the revenues or military force, of thofe ftates, fhould be, in general, well ascertained; or that the exact relation in which many of the inferior provinces stand, to the more powerful ones in their neighbourhood, should be correctly known: fince the knowledge requifite for such a detail, can only be collected from persons who have had opportunities either of making the proper enquiries on the fpot, or of confulting fuch documents, as have received the fanction of authority. In fome inftances, it has been found impoffible to refort to authorities of this kind; as there are large tracts within this widely extended country, which no European of character (as far as I have heard) has visited, of late years. To this may be added, that the changes are fo frequent, that the progress of enquiry and information would scarcely keep pace with them, throughout the whole region.

ACBAR'S DIVISION of HINDOOSTA N.

I SHALL not attempt to trace the various fluctuations of boundary that took place in this empire, fince the era of the Mahomedan conquests, according as the feat of government was removed from Ghizni to Lahore, to Delhi, or to Agra, as suited the politics of the times. It is fufficient for my purpose that I have already impreffed on the mind of the reader, an idea that the provinces of Hindooftan proper have feldom continued under one head, during a period of twenty fucceffive years, from the earliest history, down to the reign of Acbar in the 16th century: and that Malwa, Agimere, Guzerat, Bengal, &c. were, in turn independent; and that fometimes the empire of Delhi was confined within the proper limits of the province of that name.

During the long reign of Acbar in the 16th century, the internal regulation of the empire was much attended to. Enquiries were fet on foot, by which the revenue, population, produce, religion, arts, and commerce of each individual district, were afcertained, as well as its extent and relative pofition. Many of thefe interefting and useful particulars, were, by Abul Fazil, collected into a book called the *AYIN ACBAREE, or INSTITUTES of ACBAR; and which, to this day, forms an authentic register of these matters. Acbar began by dividing HINDOOSTAN PROPER into eleven foubahs + or provinces, fome of which were in extent equal to large

*It is with pleasure I inform the reader, that an English translation of the whole AYIN ACBAREE has been made, and published in Bengal, by Mr. Gladwin; and was begun under the patronage of Mr. Haflings; to whofe munificence, and attention to useful literature, the world will be indebted for the means of access to a most valuable repository of intelligence refpecting the former ftate of Hindooftan.

An account of the contents of the Ayin Acbaree, will be found at the end of Mr. Fraser's history of Nadir Shah. Gatalogue of Oriental MSS. page 12

+ It is probable that Acbar might have changed the boundaries of fome of the old soubahs,, by adding or taking away certain circars, by way of rendering each province more compact, and the provincial capital more centrical to the feveral parts of it.

European kingdoms. The foubahs were again divided into circars, and thefe fub-divided into purgunnabs. If I was to apply English names to thefe divifions, I fhould ftyle them kingdoms (or vice-royalties) counties, and hundreds *. The names of the eleven foubahs were Lahore, Moultan (including Sindy) Agimere, Delhi, Agra, Oude, Allahabad +, Bahar, Bengal, Malwa, and Guzerat. A 12th foubah, that is, Cabul, was formed out of the countries contiguous to the western fources of the Indus, and included Candahar and Ghizni; and three new ones were erected out of the conquefts in the Deccan: viz. Berar, Candeish, and Amednagur; in all fifteen.

A flight infpection of the map will afford more information. respecting the relative pofitions of these foubahs to each other, and to the adjacent countries, than whole fheets of writing. It may be neceffary, however, to make a few remarks on the boundaries of those foubahs that bordered on the Deccan, in order to understand the extent of the new conquefts.

Guzerat, then, extended fouthward to Damaun, where it touched on the district of Baglana, a divifion of Amednagur.

Malwa extended to the fouth of the Nerbudda river; and an angle of it touched on Baglana and Candeish on the fouth-weft and fouth, and on Berar on the eaft, The Nerbudda formed the rest of the southern boundary of Malwa, and alfo of Allahabad. The government of Bengal extended to Cattack | and along the river Mahanuddy; but the foubah of Oriffa appears not to have been formed at that time.

Of the newly erected foubahs in the Deccan, Candeish § the smallest of them, occupies the space between Malwa on the north, Berar on the east, and Amednagur on the weft and fouth. '

Few circars are of lefs extent than the largest English counties.

+ Called alfo Illahabad.

Guzerat is by fome of the Hindoos confidered as lying without the limits of Hindoostan. Vide Berar Rajah's letters.

I Called alfo Cuttack.

Named by Acbar, DANDEISH, in honour of Prince Danial; but at present it bears its old name.

Berar,

Berar, according to the prefent definition, has Allahabad and Malwa on the north; Candeish and Amednagur on the weft; Tellingana and Golconda on the fouth; and Oriffa on the east. I apprehend that only the western parts of Berar were reduced by Acbar.

J

Amednagur, the fouthmoft of Acbar's foubahs, had Candeifh and Malwa on the north; the Gatte, or Balagat mountains on the weft; Bejapour (or Vifiapour) and Tellingana on the fouth; and Berar on the east. The limits of this foubab (Amednagur) are not defined in the Ayin Acbarce; and as Acbar had wars in the Deccan during almost his whole reign, it may be fuppofed that its limits were perpetually fluctuating.

་་

Tellingana, which in the Ayin Acbaree is called a circar of Berar, was poffeffed only in part by Acbar. Tellingana, of which Warangole + was the capital, comprehended the tract lying between the Kistna and Godavery rivers, and east of Vifiapour (anfwering to the modern province of Golconda) and was probably in more early times, an extenfive kingdom; as the Tellinga language. is faid to be in ufe, at prefent, from the river Pennar in the Carnatic, to Oriffa, along the coaft, and inland to a very confiderable distance.

Thus we have a flandard for the geographical division of Hin» dooftan proper, in the time of Acbar; but for the Deccan in general, no authority on record has ever come to my knowledge. It appears that Acbar reduced the western fide of it, as far down as the 18th degree of north latitude: and under his fucceffors, the remainder of it, together with the peninfula, as we have already feen, was either entirely fubjected, or rendered tributary to the throne of Delhi (the mountainous tracts held by the Mahrattas, excepted) and formed into one government under the name of the

• The capital of this foubah being originally eftablifhed at the city of Amednagur, it gave name to the whole province, but the name of the fortress of Dowlatabad has in turn fuperfeded it. In like manner the name of Tellingana has now given way to that of Golconda.

+ Called Arinkill by Ferifhta. The rampart of this place can still be traced, and thews that it must have been a place of vast extent.

DEC

;

DECCAN * which name, in its most extenfive fignification, includes the whole peninsula south of Hindooftan proper. However, in its ordinary acceptation, it means only the countries fituated between Hindooftan proper, the Carnatic, and Oriffa; that is, the provinces of Candeifh, Amednagur, Vifiapour, Golconda, and the western part of Berar. When the Mogul empire was extended to its utmost limits, by the addition of this vaft province, its annual revenue exceeded 32 millions of pounds fterling : and to enable the reader to make a just estimation of its abfolute value, it is neceffary to repeat, that the products of the earth are about four times as cheap in Hindoöftan, as in England.

I do not mean to infinuate that the country in queftion fit obtained its name of DECCAND under the fucceffors of Acbar on the contrary, it has been fo diftinguished from the earliest times. It fignifies the SOUTH; as PooRUB does the EAST, when applied to Bengal and its dependencies , "

Mr. Frafer, in his Life of Nadir Shah, ftates the revenues of the provinces under Aureng zebe, as follows:

TOTAL-30 crores, 18 lacks of ficca rupees, or about 32 millions of pounds fterling.

Bengal is rated in the Ayin Acbaree (towards the clofe of the 16th century) at 149 Jacks; in Sujah Cawn's Nabobship, A. D. 1727, at 142; and in 1778, at 197 lacks, net

revenue.

in

PRESENT