; THE DAY T MISSIONS LIB^A^Y fALE'lJNIVERSiTT1'"'! IM)llimilni»>»iMiiiiilmiiniii»m)t»«»J>»iM«mn»iiiBmn,: THE TAJ MAHAL THE OXFORD HISTORY OF INDIA From the Earliest Times to the end of 1911 BY VINCENT A. SMITH, CLE. M.A. (Dubl. & Oxon), Hon. Litt.D. (Dublin), Indian Civil Service Retired, M.R.A.S. Gold Medallist of the Royal Asiatic Society ; Author of Asoka, The Early History of India, A History of Fine Art in India, and Ceylon, Akbar the Great Mogul, &c. OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1920 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY HUMPHREY MILFORD PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY PREFACE The purpose of this book is to provide in one volume of moderate bulk and price a compendious up-to-date History of India as a whole, based on the results of modern research and extending from the earliest times to the end of 1911. It has been designed with the desire to preserve due proportion throughout in the Ancient, Hindu, Muhammadan, and British Periods alike, the space being carefully allotted so as to give prominence to the more significant sections. The author has sought to attain scrupulous accuracy of statement and impartiality of judgement, so far as may be. The subject has engaged his attention for nearly half a century. While foot-notes have been confined within narrow bounds, the authorities used are indicated with considerable fullness. The lists of authorities are not intended to be bibliographies. They merely mention the publications actually consulted. Chrono logical tables, maps, and other aids for the special benefit of pro fessed students have been provided, but it is hoped that the volume may prove readable by and useful to all persons who desire to possess some knowledge of Indian history and do not find a mere school-book sufficient. No book on lines at all similar is in existence. The older works of Meadows Taylor, Marshman, and other authors are necessarily useless for the Hindu Period, which was treated consecutively and critically for the first time in the Early History of India, published originally in 1904, and revised in subsequent editions. The accounts of the Muhammadan Period in the writings of Elphinstone and in other books now current are inadequate and out of date, being far behind the present state of knowledge in every section. In the present work much unfamiliar material concerning that period has been utilized, as explained in the second section of the Introduction. The British Period, the subject of innumerable books, offers less opportunity for novelty or originality of treatment. Notwithstanding the obvious truism that no man can be master in equal degrees of all the parts of India's long story, it is desirable in my opinion that a general history should be the work of a single PREFACE author. Composite histories, built up of chapters by specialists, suffer from the lack of literary unity and from the absence of one controlling mind so severely that their gain in erudition is apt to be outweighed by their dullness. The memorable visit of Their Majesties the King-Emperor and his consort at the close of 1911 seems to be the best stopping-place for the narrative. The years since that event have been passed for the most part under the shadow of the Great War, with which history cannot yet dare to meddle. A bare list of some of the happenings during those terrible years is appended. The spelling of Asiatic words and names follows the principle observed in my work on Akbar, with, perhaps, a slight further indulgence in popular literary forms. The only diacritical mark used as a general rule is that placed over long vowels, and intended as a guide to the approximate pronunciation. Consonants are to be pronounced as in English. Vowels usually have the Italian sounds, so that Mir is to be read as ' Meer ' and Mul- as ' Mool- '. Short a with stress is pronounced like u in ' but ', and when without stress as an indistinct vowel like the A in ' America '. The name Akbar consequently is pronounced ' Ukbur ' or ' Ukber '. No simpler system is practicable, for we cannot revert to the barbarisms of the old books. Much research and care have been devoted to the collection and reproduction of the numerous illustrations. My acknowledgements are due to the Secretary of State for India for general liberty to use illustrations in official publica tions ; to B. Lewis Rice, Esq., CLE. , for the use of two illustra tions from Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions ; and to K. Panikkar, Esq., for the loan of an engraving of Mahadaji Sindia. A few coins have been copied from the Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, by permission. Copyright extracts are reproduced by permission of Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner& Co. (from Gover) ; Mr. William Heinemann (from Professor Macdonell) ; Robert Sewell, Esq., I.C.S. Retired (Vijayanagar) ; and the India Society (from version of Kablr). The kind attention of readers is invited to the list of Additions and Corrections. Note. — As the book probably will be used in colleges, it seems well to say that the two sections of the Introduction are not intended for junior students, who may leave them unread. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION SECTION PAGE 3 . The geographical foundation ; diversity in unity and unity in diversity ; the scenes and periods of the story ; sea-power ; forms of government ; the history of thought . . . i 2. The Sources, or the Original Authorities ..... xiv BOOK I. ANCIENT INDIA CHAP. 1. Prehistoric India ; the elements of the population ... 1 2. Literature and Civilization of the Vedic and Epic Periods ; the Puranas ; caste ......... 16 3. The pre-Maurya states ; the rise of Jainism and Buddhism ; the invasion of Alexander the Great ; India in the fourth century b. c. . . . . . . . . .43 BOOK II. HINDU INDIA FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MAURYA DYNASTY IN 322 B. C. TO THE SEVENTH CENTURY A. C. 1. Chandragupta Maurya, the first historical emperor of India, and his institutions ; Bindusara ....... 72 2. Asoka Maurya and his institutions ; diffusion of Buddhism ; end of the Maurya dynasty ; the successors of the Mauryas . . 93 3. The Indo-Greek and other foreign dynasties of north-western India; the Kushans or Indo-Scythians ; Greek influence ; foreign commerce ; beginning of Chola history ..... 121 4. The Gupta period ; a golden age ; literature, art, and science ; Hindu renaissance ; the Huns ; King Harsha ; the Chalukyas ; disorder in northern India ....... 147 BOOK III. THE MEDIAEVAL HINDU KINGDOMS FROM THE DEATH OF HARSHA IN A.D. 647 TO THE MU HAMMADAN CONQUEST 1. The transitional period ; Rajputs ; the Himalayan kingdoms and their relations with Tibet and China 172 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE 2. The northern and western kingdoms of the plains . . .180 3. The Kingdoms of the Peninsula Section 1. The Deccan Proper and Mysore . . . 197 Section 2. The Tamil Powers of the Far South ... 205 BOOK IV. THE MUHAMMADAN POWERS OF NORTHERN INDIA 1. The Rise of the Muhammadan Power in India and the Sultanate of Delhi, A. D. 1175-1290 217 2. The Sultanate of Delhi continued ; a. d. 1290 to 1340 ; the Khilji and Tughlak dynasties ... . . 230 3. The Decline and Fall of the Sultanate of Delhi, a. d. 1340-1526 ; the Tughlak dynasty concluded ; TimQr ; the Sayyids ; the Lodi dynasty ; Islam in Indian life . . . 242 4. The Muhammadan kingdoms of Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, and Kashmir ..... . . 263 BOOK V. THE SOUTHERN POWERS 1. The Bahmani Dynasty of the Deccan, 1347-1526 . . . 275 2. The Five Sultanates of the Deccan, and Khandesh, from 1474 to the seventeenth century ....... 286 3. The Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, from a. d. 1336 to 1646. 299 BOOK VI. THE MOGUL EMPIRE 1. The Beginnings of the Mogul Empire ; Babur, Humavun, and the Sur Dynasty, a. d. 1526-56 . . . . 321 2. The Early European Voyages to and Settlements in India ; the East India Company from 1600 to 1708 ..... 330 3. Akbar, 1555-1605 . . 343 4. Jahanglr ..... 375 5. Shahjahan and the War of Succession ; climax of the Mogul Empire 391 6. Aurangzeb Alamglr (1659-1707) ... ... 423 7. The Later Moguls ; decline of the empire ; the Sikhs and Marathas 452 CONTENTS BOOK VII. THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY TO 1818 CHAP. PAGE 1 . The South ; French and English ; Haidar AH and Mysore . . 469 2. Bengal affairs ; Siraju-d daula ; battles of Plassey and Buxar ; the ' double government ' ; the famine of 1770 . . . 487 3. Warren Hastings as governor of Bengal, 1772-4 ; the Rohilla war ; the Regulating Act 510 4. Warren Hastings as Governor-general ; the policy and character of Hastings ; Sir John Macpherson 523 5. Lord Cornwallis ; reforms ; the third Mysore war ; the ' perma nent settlement ' ; Sir John Shore, a man of peace . . . 556 6. Lord Wellesley ; the fourth and last Mysore war ; annexations ; treaty of Bassein and the second Maratha war ; policy and achievement . . ...... 578 7. Reaction; peace at any price policy of Lord Cornwallis in his second administration and of Sir George Barlow ; Lord Minto's strong foreign and cautious internal policy ..... 607 8. The Marquess of Hastings ; Nepalese, Pindari, and Maratha wars ; establishment of British supremacy in 1818 .... 620 BOOK VIII. THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY FROM 1819 TO 1858 ] . The Marquess of Hastings continued ; reconstruction and internal reforms ; Mr. Adam and the press ; Lord Amherst ; the first Burmese War ......... 637 2. Lord William Cavendish-Bentinck ; reforms ; relations with native states ; abolition of suttee ; suppression of thuggee ; renewal of charter ; Sir Charles Metcalfe 655 3. Lord Auckland and Lord Ellenborough ; the first Afghan War ; annexation of Sind ; affairs of Gwalior ; abolition of slavery 672 4. Sir Henry (Lord) Hardinge ; first Sikh War ; treaties of Lahore ; Lord Dalhousie; sec ' ' " " ' " "" vv,,r ' annexations ; reforms ir Henry (Lord) Hardinge ; nrst MKn war ; treaties ui j_,a>.u.^ , Lord Dalhousie ; second Sikh War ; second Burmese War ; ° 689 5. Lord Canning ; the Mutiny ; the Queen's Proclamation and the passing of the East India Company . . . • • 710 CONTENTS BOOK IX. INDIA UNDER THE CROWN ; THE VICEROYS FROM 1858 TO 1911 CHAP. PAGE 1. Lord Canning continued ; reconstruction ; Lord Elgin I ; Lord Lawrence ; Lord Mayo ; and Lord Northbrook ; from 1858 to 1876, a period of almost unbroken peace .... 732 2. Lord Lytton ; Royal Titles Act ; famine ; finance ; Vernacular Press Act ; second Afghan War ; Lord Ripon ; reversal of Afghan policy ; internal administration ; Lord Dufferin ; Panj- deh incident ; third Burmese War ; Tenancy Acts . . . 746 3. Lord Lansdowne ; frontier defence ; Manipur ; exchange and currency; Lord Elgin II; Chitral and Tirah campaigns ; plague and famine ; Lord Curzon ; famine ; foreign affairs and frontier arrangements ; internal administration ; Lord Minto II ; constitutional changes ; anarchist crime ; Lord Hardinge of Penshurst ; visit of Their Majesties ..... 764 APPENDIXES A. Some events from 1912 to 1918 specially concerning India and the Indian Army ........ 784 B. East India Company ..... . 785 C. Governors-general and Viceroys . . . 785 INDEX 787 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Frontispiece The Taj Mahal . Burial urn, Tinnevelly Copper axe (celt) Copper harpoon . Kushan (Kanishka) coin Kharoshthi script on silver scroll Mahavira Vardhamana Gautama Buddha (Sarnath fifth century) Coins of Taxila . Poros medal Ancient Indian arms (Cun ningham) Alexander the Great Punch-marked coins Four-horsed chariot of sun Boys armed as soldiers Veddah bow Coin of Ptolemy Philadelphos The Bo-tree at Anurajapura Asoka's inscription on the Rummindel Pillar Capital, Sarnath . Great Stupa, Sanchi (restored) Inscription of Dasaratha Andhra coin Coins of Diodotos II, Euthy demos, and Demetrios Heliodoros Column Coins of Eukratides, Menan- der, Antialkidas, and He liokles Coins of Hermaios and Gon dophernes Ancient cross, Kottayam Coin of Kadphises II . Coin of Kanishka Buddha coin of Kanishka A Kushan king, Mat Head of Bodhisattva . Bodhisattva Gandhara frieze . Medallion, Amaravati . Coins of Huvishka and Vasu deva Coins of Pantaleon, Agatho kles, and Nero Coin of Chandragupta I Coin of Samudragupta : horse sacrifice type . Coin of Samudragupta : lyrist type 3 459 46 50 51 61 6466698283849799 102 112 113 117 119 123 124 125126 127 128130132 135136 137138 139 140 141148148151 Coin of Chandragupta II Coin of Ujjain Coin of Kumaragupta I Lauriya-Nandangarh Pillar Monkeys, Ajanta Woman and child, Ajanta Column, Gupta Period Hippogryph, Gupta Coin of Toramana Signature of Harsha Gurkha coin Tibetan Ijronze . Martand Temple . Ahom coins Tibetan bronze : Kuvera and Sakti Coin of Adi Varaha (Bhoja) Sculpture, Pala Period Temple, Khajuraho Coin of Sabuktigin Coin of Govindachandra Face of Gomata, Sravana Bel gola Punch-marked coin ; Early Chalukya coin . A copper-plate grant . Pallava coin (?) . Ganesa Ratha Muktesvara Temple, Kanchi Coin of Rajaraja . Pandya coin Chera coin . Minaret at Ghazni Coin of Paramarddi Great arch, Kutb Mosque Coin of Iltutmish Coin of Raziyya . Coin of Balban . Coin of Alau-d din Khilji Coin of Tughlak Shah . Tomb of Tughlak Shah Bengal coin of Fakhru-d din Khalif coin of Muhammad bin Tughlak . A jaital .... Coin of Firoz Shah Coin of Ibrahim of Jaunpur Atala Devi Mosque, Jaunpur A bahloli .... Khilji coin of Malwa . Coin of Mahmud Blgarha Panel, Adalaj Wav, Ahmada- bad PAGE 151 152156157 158 159 160161 163168175177178179183 184 185187 190195199 200201207208209211 214215219222224225 226 228 232236237243244251251 254255 256265269 272 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PAGE Kashmir coin of Zaihu-1 'Abi- Dupleix 477 din .... 273 Gheria Fort 490 Coin of Flroz Bahmani 277 Clive .... 506 Dargah of Amir Barid Shah, Warren Hastings (as a young Bidar .... 288 man) 512 Tombs in Golkonda style, Bl- Sir William Jones 515 japur .... 298 Sir Philip Francis 521 Coin of Krishna deva Raya . 303 Sir Elijah Impey 530 Portrait image of Krishna Gwalior Fort 534 deva Raya 304 Count de Boigne 536 Coin of Babur 321 Haidar AH . 544 Tomb of Babur . 324 Warren Hastings (in old age) 549 Babur .... 325 William Pitt the younger 552 Tomb of Sher Shah 328 Lord Cornwallis . 557 Rupees of Sher Shah and Islam Mahadajl Sindia • 573 Shah .... 329 Sir John Shore . 576 Albuquerque 333 Sir Arthur Wellesley . 579 Indo-Portuguese coin . 335 Napoleon .... 581 Indo-Dutch coin . 336 Seringapatam in 1792 . 584 Indo-Danish and Indo-French Tippoo Sultan . 585 coins .... 337 Nana Farnavls . 596 Portcullis coin of Elizabeth, Bajl Rao Peshwa 597 for India 337 Gateway, Gawllgarh 601 Early Bombay coin 339 Bhurtpore Fort . 604 Bombay Fort, from the sea . 340 Marquess Wellesley 605 Dutch epitaph, Sadras 341 Lord Minto 613 Rana Partap Singh 355 Marquess of Hastings . 621 Gold coins of Akbar 356 A Nepalese stockade 622 Akbar .... 367 Colonel Tod and his Jain Akbar on throne . 368 Pundit .... 632 Abu-1 Fazl .... 372 Murshldabad half-rupee 641 Raja Birbal 373 Sir Thomas Munro 645 Coin of Jahangir and Nurja- Bandula's armed observation han .... 377 post 651 The Rev. Edward Terry 382 Lord William Cavendish- Jahangir .... 383 Bentinck 655 Tomb of Itimadu-d Daula, Sir William Sleeman 668 Agra .... 389 Bala Hissar, Kabul 681 Rupee of Murad Bakhsh 410 Maharaja Ranjit Singh 692 Shahjahan .... 416 Lord Dalhousie . 697 A mlnar or pillar of dead men's Sir Henry Lawrence 700 heads 417 Lord Canning 711 Fathpuri Mosque at Taj en The Residency, Lucknow (be trance . " . 420 fore the Mutiny) 718 Rupee of Shahjahan 421 The well and Biblghar, Cawn pore Shayista Khan 424 719 Sivaji 426 Sir Jung Bahadur 722 Aurangzeb . 447 Bahadur Shah II 724 Rupee of Aurangzeb Alamglr 449 East India House, 1858 726 Nadir Shah 459 Sir John Lawrence 738 La Bourdonnais . 472 Lord Mayo . Lord Lytton 743 Nawab Muhammad AH 473 747 Stringer Lawrence 474 Lord Dufferin 758 Trichinopoly Fort 475 Council Chamber", Mandalay 762 Autograph of Clive 476 Lord Curzon of Kedleston 769 MAPS AND PLANS the Hyphasis and back PAGE India, Physical .......... ii Changed course of Son North-western Physical Features . North-western Passes and Countries Kurukshetra ..... Alexander's Route from the Hindu Kush to to Jhelum ..... The Empire of Asoka, 250 B. c. . Bactria, &c. ..... The Conquests of Samudragupta, A. d. 340, and the Gupta Empire A. d. 400 India, A. d. 640 ..... The Bahmani Kingdom, as in A. D. 1480 ; Khandesh and the five Sultanates of the Deccan (Bljapur, Bidar, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, and Berar) as in A. d. 1566 . . .... 287 India in 1561 .... Sketch map to illustrate Akbar's campaigns in Rajputana and Gujarat ..... India in 1605 Plan of the battle of Panipat, by Casi Ram Plan of the battle of Plassey (Rennell) . Map to illustrate Mysore history to 1799 Map to illustrate Lord Lake's Campaigns, 1804-6 French and British Islands in the Indian Ocean Malay Peninsula, &c, 1914 . Sind Ranjit Singh's Dominions in 1839 The Burmese wars, 1826, 1852, 1885 . Indian Empire, showing Political Divisions vn 2960 105122150 166 349 353 365463493 588603616 618676 691 703 facing 786 ABBREVIATIONS a. c. — After Christ. a. d. — Anno Domini. A. H. — Anno Hijrae (Hegirae).1 Aln. — Ain-i Akbarl, by Abu-1 Faz), transl. Blochmann and Jarrett. A. S. — Archaeological Survey. A. S. B. — Asiatic Society of Bengal. As. Res. — Asiatic Researches. A. S. W. I. — Archaeological Survey of Western India. A. V. — Alharvaveda. B. c. — Before Christ. B. M. — British Museum. E. & D. — The History of India as told by its own Historians, by Sir H. M. Elliot and Professor John Dowson, 8 vols., 1867-77. E. H. I.— The Early History of India, by Vincent A. Smith, 3rd ed. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1914). E. I. Co. — East India Company. Ep. Ind. — Epigraphia Indica, Calcutta, in progress. Gaz. — Gazetteer. H. F. A. — A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, by Vincent A. Smith (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1911). I. G. — Imperial Gazetteer of India (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1907, 1908). Ind. Ant.— Indian Antiquary, Bombay, 1872 to date. I. O. — India Office, London. J. A. O. S. — Journal of the American Oriental Society. I. db Proc. A. S. B. — Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta. J. As. — Journal Asialique, Paris. J. A. S. B. — Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta. J. Bom. Br. R. A. Sr — Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. J. B. O. (or J. B. db O.) Res. Soc. — Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society. J. P. H. S. — Journal of the Panjab Historical Society. J. R. A. S. — Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London. J. U. P. H. S. — Journal of the United Provinces Historical Society. MM. — Mahamahopadhyaya, a title. N. S. — New style. N. W. P. — North- Western Provinces. O. S.— Old style. Prog. (Progr.) Rep. — Progress Report. R. A. S. — Royal Asiatic Society. R. I. — Rulers of India Series. R. V. — Rigveda. S. B. E. — Sacred Books of the East. U. P. — United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Note. — An index number above the title of a book indicates the edition ; e. g., Annals of Rural BengaV means the 7th edition of that work. 1 The word hijra is rendered by ' withdrawal ' more precisely than by ' flight ', the equivalent usually given. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS Page 34, 1. 1. Messrs. F. E. Pargiter and K. P. Jayaswal attach to the Puranic genealogies a value higher than I have been disposed to allow. Jayaswal ventures to assign 1727 b. c. for the beginning of the Brihadratha dynasty. Such an attempt to give an approximately precise date for events so remote necessarily involves many assumptions (J. B. O. Res. Soc, vol. iv (1918), p. 33). I take this opportunity of emphasizing the high value of Mr. Pargiter's book, The Purana Text of the Dynasties of the Kali Age, the outcome of much patient labour, and indispensable to the student of primary authorities. Pages 48, 58 n., 70. Messrs. Banebji and Jayaswal have published a satisfactory edition of the Kharavela inscription with adequate facsimiles in J.B.O. Res. Soc, vol. iii (Dec. 1917), pp. 425-507. Although the interpretation is open to doubt on certain minor points, the main chrono logical results as stated on p. 58 n. are established. Exacfr dates depend on the year assumed for the accession of Chandragupta, which may be as early as 325. The King of Rajagriha (Magadha) defeated by Kharavela and forced to retire on Mathura was Pushyamitra, the first of the Sunga dynasty. He was called also Brihaspati (Bahapati in the inscription, Bahasati of coins and certain short inscriptions). The two alternative names are substantially synonymous, Brihaspati being the regent of the nakshatra or zodiacal asterism Pushya, also named Tishya, in the constella tion Cancer or the Crab. Many other facts and inferences of importance are recorded in or deducible from the Kharavela record. See my short article in J. R. A. S., July 1918. Now (August 1918) I am disposed to agree with K. P. Jayaswal and Harit Krishna Deb (J. B. O. Res. Soc, iv. 91-5) that the term Navananddh should be interpreted as meaning the ' New ' or ' Later ' Nandas, not the ' Nine '. On that supposition they are to be distinguished from Kshemendra's Purvanandah, the ' Early' Nandas, namely Nanda (or Nandi-) vardhana and Mahananda (or -nandin). Harit Krishna Deb gives good reasons for believing that Chandragupta Maurya was a kinsman of the respectable Early Nandas, and not a Sudra or low-caste man, like the Later Nandas of ill-repute. The Kharavela inscription proves that Nandavardhana was reckoned as a Nanda. Page 65. Balochistan is correct, not Baluchistan as in I. G. (M. Long- worth Dames, J. R. A. S., 1914, p. 457). Page 71, 1. 42. Add after ' text ', ' A still later work is An Epitome of Jainism, a Critical Study, &c, by Puran Chand Nahar and Krishna- Chandra Ghosh, Vedantachintamoni, Calcutta, Gulab Kumar Library, 46 Indian Mirror Street. The book, which seems to be based on full knowledge, is badly produced and disfigured by careless proof-reading. The authors controvert Mrs. Stevenson on various matters. Page 157. The illustration of the Lauriya-Nandangarh Asoka pillar was accidentally misplaced. Page 171, end. Insert ' Mr. Panna Lall, I.C.S., in ' The Dates of Skandagupta and his Successors ' (Hindustan Review, Jan. 1918), argues that the reign of Skandagupta ended about a. d. 467 ; that Hiuen Tsang erroneously attributed the defeat of Mihiragula to Baladitya ; that there were only two emperors or kings named Kumaragupta ; and that Fleet erred in his interpretation of the Mandasor inscription. My review {J. R. A. S., Oct. 1918) accepts the essayist's conclusions'. Pages 174, 175. From ' Srong-tsan Gampo ' to ' India '. The text follows the opinions of A. H. Franke and Hoernle, now proved to be erroneous ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS by Berthold Laufer (J. A. O. S., vol. 38 (1918), pp. 31-4.6). The chronology of the Chinese and Mongolian authors should be followed. King Srong-tsan Gampo was born in a. d. 617, and ascended the throne in A. D. 629, when in his thirteenth year. The date of his marriages, A. d. 641, as stated on p. 180, is correct. He died in A. D. 650, not 698. The Tibetan alphabet came, not from Khotan, but from India. Relations between Tibet and Khotan began in a. d. 670 when the Tibetans conquered the ' Four Garri sons ' (Khotan, Kucha, Tokmak, Kashgar). See Waddell in J. R. A. S., 1909, pp. 945-8 ; and I. J. Schmidt's translation of the history by Sanan Setsen (Ssanang Ssetsen) Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen, &c. (St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 3 829), pp. 29, &c. A copy of Schmidt's rare book is in the . Malan Library, Indian Institute, Oxford. Page 191, 1. 29. An error of Kielhorn led me to confound Visala deva with the much latter Vigraha-raja. The statements assuming their identity in E. H. I.', pp. 386, 387, require correction. Page 216. M.dd, after ' Probsthain, 1916 ' (1. 38) : ' vol. ii, with 8 plates, 32 pp. ; Pondicherry, sold by the translator, 32 Perumal Covil Street, 1918. The volume has been reduced to a few pages because the author was called up to serve in the army.' Page 261. A new and excellent translation of Kablr's poems made directly from the Hindi has been published at Hamlrpur, U.P., in 1917 by Mr. Ahmad Shah, who edited the text in 1911 (Cawnpore). The Tagore and Underhill version is from the Bengali. Mr. Ahmad Shah's works are favourably reviewed at length by Grierson in J.R. A. S., 1918, pp. 151-60. Page 262. Another version of Ibn Batuta's travels in India, China, &c, will be found in the Hakluyt Society's edition of Cathay and the Way Thither by Yule and Cordier, 1916, vol. iv, pp. 1-166, including Introduc tory Notice, pp. 1-79. The notes are not up to date. Page 339, 1. 47. Aungier's grave is no longer ' nameless '. It has been identified with certainty sufficient to justify the insertion of a new marble tablet in one of the inner walls of the tomb believed to be that of Aungier. The tablet was put up in 1916. Aungier died on June 30, 1677 (Prog. Rep. A. S. W. I., 1916-17, p. 42). Pages 396, 397. Another full account of the siege of Hooghly (HQgli or Bandel), written in 1633 by Father John Cabral, S.J., who was present, has been translated by the Rev. L. Besse, S.J., and published in the Catholic Herald of India (Jan. 30-April 10, 1918) by the Rev. H. Hosten, S.J., who has kindly sent me a reprint. The narrative is of great interest. The Mogul attack was invited by a traitor, Martin Afonso de Mello. Page 439. Sarkar's improved version of the famous letter is printed in The Modern Review (Allahabad) for Sept. 1908, p. 21. The text of the document has been settled by collation of the London manuscript with another belonging to the A. S. B. Its date is said to be ' evidently the close of A. d. 1679 '. It purports to have been composed by Nil Prabhu Munshl. Page 483 n. Siraju-d daula was older than twenty-five, having been born in a. h. 1140 (=Aug. 1727-July 1728). He succeeded his grandfather in A. h. 1169 (=Oct. 1755-Sept. 1756). He was, therefore, twenty-nine or thirty years of age at his death (Bengal Past and Present, xii. 244 ; citing Persian authorities). Page 492, note 2. But see Forrest. Page 509. Sir G. Forrest's Life of Clive was published in Sept. 1918. Page 510, 1. 1. For an account of the strange career of Willem Bolts, who was a Dutchman, see Ind. Ant., 1917, pp. 277 foil. INTRODUCTION SECTION 1 The geographical foundation ; diversity in unity and unity in diversity ; the scenes and periods of the story ; sea-power ; forms of government ; the history of thought. The geographical unit. The India of this book is almost exclusively the geographical unit called by that name on the ordinary maps, bounded on the north, north-west, and north-east by mountain ranges, and elsewhere by the sea. The— extensive Burmese territories, although now governed as part of the Indian empire, cannot be described as being part of India. Burma has a separate history, rarely touching on that of India prior to the nineteenth century. Similarly, Ceylon, although geologically a fragment detached from the peninsula in relatively recent times, always has had a distinct political existence, requiring separate historical treatment. The island is not now included in the Indian empire, and its affairs will not be discussed in this work, except incidentally. Certain portions of Balochistan now administered or controlled by the Indian Government lie beyond the limits of the geographical unit called India. Aden and sundry other out lying dependencies of the Indian empire obviously are not parts of India, and the happenings in those places rarely demand notice. Vast extent of area. Formal, technical descriptions of the geographical and physical features of India may be found in many easily accessible books, and need not be reproduced here. But certain geographical facts with a direct bearing on the history require brief comment, because, as Richard Hakluyt truly observed long ago, ' Geographie and Chronologie are the Sunne and the Moone, the right eye and the left eye of all history.' The large extent of the area of India, which may be correctly designated as a sub-continent, is a material geographical fact. The history of a region so vast, bounded by a coast-line of about 3,400 miles, more or less, and a mountain barrier on the north some 1,600 miles in length, and inhabited by a population numbering nearly 300 millions, necessarily must be long and intricate. The detailed treatment suitable to the story of a small country cannot be applied in a general history of India. The author of such a book must be content to sketch his picture in outlines boldly drawn, and to leave out multitudes of recorded particulars. Continental and peninsular regions. Another geographical fact, namely, that India comprises both a large continental, sub tropical area, and an approximately equal peninsular, tropical area, has had immense influence upon the history. Three territorial compartments. Geographical conditions 1976 b ii INTRODUCTION divided Indian history, until the nineteenth century, into three well-marked territorial compartments, not to mention minor dis tinct areas, such as the Konkan, the Himalayan region, and others. The three are : (1) the northern plains forming the basins of the Over 3000 feet. 1500-3000 » 600-1500 » 0 - 600 >, fathom line - ¦ O 200 400 goo Miles 0 200 400 600 800 iooo Km. INDIA PHYSICAL. Indus and Ganges ; (2) the Deccan plateau lying to the south of the Nttrbadii, and to the north of the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers ; and (3) the far south, beyond those rivers, comprising the group of Tamil states. Ordinarily, each of those three geogra phical compartments has had a distinct, highly complex story of DOMINANCE OF THE NORTH iii its own. The points of contact between the three histories are not very numerous. Dominance of the north. The northern plains, the Aryavarta of the old books, and the Hindostan of more recent times, always have been the seat of the principal empires and the scene of the events most interesting to the outer world. The wide waterways of the great snow-fed rivers and the fertile level plains are natural advantages which have inevitably attracted a teeming population from time immemorial. The open nature of the country, easily accessible to martial invaders from the north-west, has given frequent occasion for the formation of powerful kingdoms ruled by vigorous foreigners. The peninsular, tropical section of India, isolated from the rest of the world by its position, and in contact with other countries only by sea-borne commerce, has pursued its own course, little noticed by and caring little for foreigners. The historian of India is bound by the "nature of things to direct his attention primarily to the north, and is able to give only a secondary place to the 'story of the Deccan plateau and the far south. No southern power ever could attempt to master the north, but the more ambitious rulers of Aryavarta or Hindostan often have extended their sway far beyond the dividing line of the Narbada. When Dupleix in the eighteenth century dreamed of a Franco- Indian empire with its base in the peninsula he was bound to fail. The success of the English was dependent on their acquisition of rich Bengal and their command of the Gangetic waterway. In a later stage of the British advance the conquest of the Panjab was conditioned by the control of the Indus navigation, previously secured by the rather unscrupulous proceedings of Lords Auckland and Ellenborough. The rivers of the peninsula do not offer similar facilities for penetration of the interior. Changes in rivers. The foregoing general observations indi cate broadly the ways in which the geographical position and con figuration of India have affected the course of her history. But the subject will bear a little more elaboration and the discussion of certain less conspicuous illustrations of the bearing of geography upon history. Let us consider for a moment the changes in the great rivers of India, which, when seen in full flood, suggest thoughts of the ocean rather than of inland streams. Unless one has battled in an open ferry-boat with one of those mighty masses of surging water in the height of the rains, it is difficult to realize their demoniac power. They cut and carve the soft alluvial plains at their will, recking of nothing. Old beds of the Sutlaj can be traced across a space eighty-five miles wide. The Indus, the Ganges, the Kosi, the Brahmaputra, and scores of other rivers behave, each according to its ability, in the same way, despising all barriers, natural or artificial. Who can tell where the Indus flowed in the days of Alexander the Great ? Yet books, professedly learned, are not afraid to trace his course minutely through the Panjab and Sind by the help of some modern map, and to offer pretended identifications of 'sites upon the banks of rivers which certainly iv INTRODUCTION were somewhere else twenty -two centuries ago. We know that they must have been somewhere else, but where they were no man can tell. So with the Vedic rivers, several of which bear the ancient names. The rivers of the Rishis were not the rivers of to-day. The descriptions prove that in the old, old days their character often differed completely from what it now is, and ex perience teaches that their courses must have been widely diver gent. Commentators jn their arm-chairs with the latest edition of the Indian Atlas opened out before them are not always willing to be bothered with such inconvenient facts. Ever since the early Muhammadan invasions the changes in the rivers have been enormous, and the contemporary histories of the foreign con querors cannot be understood unless the reality and extent of those changes be borne constantly in mind. One huge river- system, based on the extinct Hakra, or Wahindah river, which once flowed down from the mountains through Bahawalpur, has wholly disappeared, the final stages having been deferred until the eighteenth century. Scores of mounds, silent witnesses to the existence of numberless forgotten and often nameless towns, bear testimony to the desolation wrought when the waters of life desert their channels. A large and fascinating volume might be devoted to the study and description of the freaks of Indian rivers. Position of cities. In connexion with that topic another point may be mentioned. The founders of the more important old cities almost invariably built, if possible, on the bank of a river, and not only that, but between two rivers in the triangle above the confluence. Dozens of examples might be cited, but one must suffice. The ancient imperial capital, Pataliputra, represented by the modern Patna, occupied such a secure position between the guarding waters of the Son and the Ganges. The existing city, twelve miles or so below the confluence, has lost the strategical advantages of its predecessor. Historians who forget the position of Pataliputra in relation to the rivers go hopelessly wrong in their comments on the texts of the ancient Indian and foneign authors. Changes of the land. Changes in the coast-line and the level of the land have greatly modified the course of history, and must be remembered by the historian who desires to avoid ludicrous blunders. The story of the voyage of Nearchos, for instance, cannot be properly appreciated by any student who fails to compare the descriptions recorded by the Greeks with the surveys of modern geographers. When the changes in the coast-line are understood, statements of the old authors which looked erroneous at first sight are found to be correct. The utter destruction of the once wealthy commercial cities of Korkai and Kayal on the Tinnevelly coast, now miles from the sea and buried under sand dunes, ceases to be a mystery when we know, as we do, that the coast level has risen, in other localities, some not very distant from the places named, the converse has happened, and tlie sea has advanced, or, in other words, the land has sunk. The careful investigator of ancient history needs to be continually on his guard CHANGES OF THE LAND v against the insidious deceptions of the modern map. Many learned professors, German and others, have tumbled headlong into the pit. The subject being a hobby of mine I must not ride the steed too far. The scenes of Indian history. Emphasis has been laid on the fact that most of the notable events of Indian history occurred in one or other of the three great regions separated from each other by natural barriers. Hindostan, the Deccan, and the far CHANGED COURSE OF SON. south continued to be thus kept apart until the rapid progress of scientific discovery during the nineteenth century overthrew the boundaries set by nature. The mighty Indus and Ganges are now spanned by railway bridges as securely as a petty water course is crossed by a six-foot culvert. The No Man's Land of Gondwana — the wild country along the banks of the Narbada. and among the neighbouring hills — no longer hides any secrets. Roads and railways climb the steepest passes of the Western Ghats, which more than once tried the nerves of our soldiers in the old wars. The magnificent natural haven of Bombay always was a: good as it is now, but it was of no use to anybody as long as it was cut off from the interior of India by creeks, swamps, and b 3 VI INTRODUCTION mountains. The changes in modern conditions, which it would be tedious to enumerate, have made Bombay the premier city of India. Royal command may decree that the official head-quarters of the Government of India should shift from Calcutta to Delhi, but no proclamations can make the inland city of the Moguls the real capital of India, so long as the Indian empire is ruled by the masters of the sea. The claim to the first place may be disputed NORTH-WESTERN PHYSICAL FEATURES. No rival can share in the com- between Calcutta and Bombay. petition. Fortresses. The progress of modern science has not only de stroyed the political and strategical value of the natural barriers offered by mountains, rivers, and forests. It has also rendered useless the ancient fortresses, which used to be considered impreg nable, and were more often won by bribery than by assault. Asirgarh in Khandesh, which in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was reckoned to be one of the wonders of the world so FORTRESSES vii that it was ' impossible to conceive a stronger fortress \ defied the arms of Akbar, yielding only to his gold. Now it stands desolate, without a single soldier to guard it. When Lord Dufferin decided to pay Sindia the compliment of restoring Gwalior Fort to his keeping, the transfer could be effected without the slightest danger to the safety of the Empire. The numberless strongholds on the tops of the hills of the Deccan before which Aurangzeb wasted so NORTH-WESTERN PASSES AND COUNTRIES. many years are now open to any sightseer. The strategical points which dominated the military action of the Hindu and Muhammadan sovereigns are for the most part of no account in these days. The sieges of fortresses which occupy so large a space in the earlier history will never occur again. Modern generals think much more of a railway junction than of the most inaccessible castle. The northern record. One reason why the historian must devote most of his space to the narrative of events occurring in northern India has been mentioned. Another is that the northern viii INTRODUCTION record is far less imperfect than that of the peninsula. Very little is known definitely concerning the southern kingdoms before a. d. 600, whereas the history of Hindostan may be carried back twelve centuries earlier. The extreme deficiency of really ancient records concerning the peninsula leaves an immense gap in the history of India which cannot be filled. Sea-power. The arrival of Vasco da Gama's three little ships at Calicut in 1498 revolutionized Indian history by opening up the country to bold adventurers coming by sea. The earlier maritime visitors to the coasts had come solely for purposes of commerce without any thought of occupation or conquest. It is needless here to recall how the Portuguese pointed out to their successors, Dutch, French, and English, the path of conquest, and so made possible the British empire of India. The country now is at the mercy of the power which commands the sea, and could not pos sibly be held by any power unable to control the sea routes. The strategical importance of the north-western passes has declined as that of Bombay and Karachi has risen. Endless diversity. The endlesss diversity in the Indian sub continent is apparent and has been the subject of many trite remarks. From the physical point of view we find every extreme of altitude, temperature, rainfall, and all the elements of climate. The variety of the flora and fauna, largely dependent upon climatic conditions, is equally obvious. From the human point of view India has been often described as an ethnological museum, in which numberless races of mankind may be studied, ranging from savages of low degree to polished philosophers. That variety of races, languages, manners and customs is largely the cause of the in numerable political subdivisions which characterize Indian history before the unification effected by the British supremacy. Mega- sthenes in the fourth century b.c. heard of 118 kingdoms, and the actual number may well have been more. Even now the Native or Protected States, small and great, may be reckoned as about 700. In all ages the crowd of principalities and powers has been almost past counting. From time to time a strong paramount power has arisen and succeeded for a few years in introducing a certain amount of political unity, but such occasions were rare. When no such power existed, the states, hundreds in number, might be likened to a swarm of free, mutually repellent molecules in a state of incessant movement, now flying apart, and again coalescing. Unity in diversity. How then, in the face of such bewildering diversity, can a history of India be written and compressed into a single volume of moderate bulk ? The difficulties arising from the manifold diversities summarily indicated above are real, and present serious obstacles both to the writer and to the reader of Indian history. A chronicle of all the kingdoms for thousands of years is manifestly impracticable. The answer to the query is found in the fact that India offers unity in diversity. The under lying unity being less obvious than the superficial diversity, its UNITY IN DIVERSITY ix nature and limitations merit exposition. The mere fact that the name India conveniently designates a sub-continental area does not help to unify history any more than the existence of the name Asia could make a history of that continent feasible. The unity sought must be of a nature more fundamental than that implied in the currency of a geographical term. Political union. Political union attained by the subjection of all India to "one monarch or paramount authority would, of course, be sufficient to make smooth the path of the historian. Such political union never was enjoyed by all India until the full establishment of the British sovereignty, which may be dated in one sense so recently as 1877, when Queen Victoria became Empress of India ; in another sense from 1858, when Her Majesty assumed the direct government of British India ; and in a third sense from 1818, when the Marquess of Hastings shattered the Maratha power, and openly proclaimed the fact that the East India Company had become the paramount authority throughout the whole country. Very few rulers, Hindu or Muhammadan, attained sovereignty even as extensive as that claimed by the Marquess of Hastings. The Mauryas, who after the defeat of Seleukos Nikator held the country now called Afghanistan as far as the Hindu Kush, exercised authority more or less direct over all India Proper down to the northern parts of Mysore. But even Asoka did not attempt to bring the Tamil kingdoms under his dominion. The empires of the Kushans and Guptas were confined to the north. In the fourteenth century Muhammad bin Tughlak for a few years exercised imperfect sovereign powers over very nearly the whole of India. Akbar and his historians never mention the Tamil states, and so far as appears never heard of the powerful Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, which broke up in 1565. But the Great Mogul cherished a passionate desire to subdue the kingdoms of the Deccan plateau. His success, however, was incomplete, and did not extend beyond Ahmadnagar in the latitude of Bombay. His descendants pursued his policy, and at the close of the eighteenth century Aurangzeb's officers levied tribute two or three times from Tanjore and Trichinopoly. Thus Aurangzeb might be regarded as being in a very loose sense the suzerain of almost all India. The Kabul territory continued to be part of the empire until 1739. The periods of partial political unification thus summarily indicated afford welcome footholds to the historian, and are far easier to deal with than the much longer intervals when no power with any serious claim to paramountcy existed. The political unity of all India, although never attained per fectly in fact, always was the ideal of the people throughout the centuries. The conception of the universal sovereign as the Chakravartin Raja runs through Sanskrit literature and is empha sized in scores of inscriptions. The story of the gathering of the nations to the battle of Kurukshetra, as told in the Mahabharata, implies the belief that all the Indian peoples, including those of the extreme south, were united by real bonds and concerned in x INTRODUCTION interests common to all. European writers, as a rule, have been more conscious of the diversity than of the unity of India. Joseph Cunningham, an author of unusually independent spirit, is an exception. When describing the Sikh fears of British aggression in 1845, he recorded the acute and true observation that ' Hindo stan, moreover, from Caubul to the valley of Assam, and the island of Ceylon, is regarded as one country, and dominion in it is asso ciated in the minds of the people with the predominance of one monarch or one race '-1 India therefore possesses, and always has possessed for considerably more than two thousand years, ideal political unity, in spite of the fact that actual complete union under one sovereign, universally acknowledged by all other princes and potentates, dates only from 1877. The immemorial persistence of that ideal goes a long way to explain the acquiescence of India in British rule, and was at the bottom of the passionate outburst of loyal devotion to their King-Emperor so touchingly expressed in many ways by princes and people in 1911. Fundamental unity of Hinduism. The most essentially fundamental Indian unity rests upon the fact that the diverse peoples of India have developed a peculiar type of culture or civilization utterly different from any other type in the world. That civilization may be summed up in the term Hinduism. India primarily is a Hindu country, the land of the Brahmans, who have succeeded by means of peaceful penetration, not by the sword, in carrying their ideas into every corner of India. Caste, the characteristic Brahman institution, utterly unknown in Burma, Tibet, and other border lands, dominates the whole of Hindu India, and exercises no small influence over the powerful Muhammadan minority. Nearly all Hindus reverence Brahmans,2 and all may be said to venerate the cow. Few deny the authority of the Vedas and the other ancient scriptures. Sanskrit every where is the sacred language. The great gods, Vishnu and Siva, are recognized and more or less worshipped in all parts of India. The pious pilgrim, when going the round of the holy places, is equally at home among the snows of Badrmath or on the burning sands of Rama's Bridge. The seven sacred cities include places in the far south as well as in Hindostan. Similarly, the cult of rivers is common to all Hindus, and all alike share in the affection felt for the tales of the Mah&bh&rata and Rdmdyana. India beyond all doubt possesses a deep underlying fundamental unity, far more profound than that produced either by geographical isolation or by political suzerainty. That unity transcends the innumerable diversities of blood, colour, language, dress, manners, and sect. Limitations of unity. But the limitations are many. Caste, which, looked at broadly, unites all Hindus by differentiating them from the rest of mankind, disintegrates them by breaking 1 History of the Sikhs' (1853), p. 283. 2 The Lingayats of the Kanarese country are the principal exception, but others exist. LIMITATIONS OF UNITY xi them up into thousands of mutually exclusive and often hostile sections. It renders combined political or social action difficult, and in many cases impossible ; while it shuts off all Hindus in large measure from sympathy with the numerous non-Hindu population. The Muhammadans, by far the largest part of that population, are not concerned with most of the reasons which make all Hindus one in a sense. An Indian Muslim may be, and often is, far more in sympathy with an Arab or Persian fellow- believer than he is with his Hindu neighbour. The smaller com munities, Christians, Jews, Parsees, and others, are still more distant from the Hindu point of view. Nevertheless, when all allowances are made for the limitations, the fundamental unity of Hindu culture alone makes a general history of India feasible. Dravidian culture. The Brahmanical ideas and institutions, although universally diffused in every province, have not been wholly victorious. Prehistoric forms of worship and many utterly un-Aryan social practices survive, especially in the peninsula among the peoples speaking Dravidian languages. We see there the strange spectacle of an exaggerated regard for caste coexisting with all sorts of weird notions and customs alien to Brahman tradition. While it is not improbable that the Dravidian civilization may be as old as or even older than the Indo-Aryan Brahmanical culture of the north, which was long regarded in the south as an unwelcome intruder to be resisted strenuously, the materials available for the study of early Dravidian institutions are too scanty and imperfectly explored to permit of history being based upon them. The historian's attention necessarily must be directed chiefly to the Indo-Aryan institutions of the north, which are much more fully recorded than those of the south. An enthusiastic southern scholar has expressed the opinion that ' the scientific historian of India . . . ought to begin his study with the basin of the Krishna, of the Cauvery, of the Vaigai [in Madura and the Pandya country] rather than with the Gangetic plain, as it has been now long, too long, the fashion '. That advice, however sound it may be in principle, cannot be followed in practice at present ; and, so far as I can see, it is not likely that even in a distant future it will be practicable to begin writing Indian history in the manner suggested. Lack of political evolution. The interest attaching to the gradual evolution of pplitical institutions is lacking in Indian history. The early tribal constitutions of a republican, or at any rate, oligarchical character, which are known to have existed among the Malavas, Kshudrakas, and other nations in the time of Alexander the Great, as well as among the Lichchhavis and Yaudheyas at much later dates, all perished without leaving a trace. Autocracy is substantially the only form of government with which the historian of India is concerned. Despotism does not admit of development. Individual monarchs vary infinitely in ability and character, but the nature of a despotic government xii INTRODUCTION remains much the same at all times and in all places, whether the ruler be a saint or a tyrant. Extinction of tribal constitutions. The reason for the ex tinction of the tribal constitutions appears to be that they were a Mongolian institution, the term Mongolian being used to mean tribes racially allied to the Tibetans, Gurkhas, and other Hima layan nations. The Mongolian element in the population of northern India before and after the Christian era was, I believe, much larger than is usually admitted. When the Mongolian people and ideas were overborne in course of time by the strangers who followed the Indo-Aryan or Brahmanical cult and customs, the tribal constitutions disappeared along with many other non-Aryan institutions. The Brahmanical people always were content with autocracy.1 I use the term ' autocracy ' or the equivalent ' despotism ' without qualification intentionally, because I do not believe in the theory advocated by several modern Hindu authors that the ancient Indian king was a ' limited ' or constitutional monarch. Those authors have been misled by taking too seriously the admonitions of the text -book writers that the ideal king should be endowed with all the virtues and should follow the advice of sage counsellors. In reality every Indian despot who was strong enough did exactly what he pleased. If any limitations on his authority were operative, they took effect only because he was weak. A strong sovereign like Chandragupta Maurya was not to be bound by the cobwebs of texts. Long afterwards, Akbar, notwithstanding his taste for sententious moral aphorisms, was equally self-willed. Village and municipal institutions. Much sentimental rhetoric with little relation to the actual facts has been written about the supposed indestructible constitution of the Indo-Aryan village in the north. The student of highly developed village institutions, involving real local self-government administered on an elaborately organized system, should turn to the south and examine the con stitution of the villages in the Chola kingdom as recorded for the period from the tenth to the twelfth centuries of the Christian era, and no doubt of extremely ancient origin.2 Those institutions, like the tribal constitutions of the north, perished long ago, being killed by rulers who had no respect for the old indigenous modes of ad ministration. The development of municipal institutions, which furnishes material for so many interesting chapters in European history, is a blank page in the history of India. History of Indian thought. The defects in the subject- matter of Indian history pointed out in the foregoing observa- * On this obscure subject see the author's papers entitled ' Tibetan Affinities of the Lichchhavis ' (Ind. Ant., vol. xxxii (1903), pp. 238 foil. ; and Tibetan Illustration of the Yaudheya Tribal Organization ' (ibid., vol. xxxv (1906)), p. 290) ; and K. P. Jayaswal, ' Republics in the Maha- bharata (J. O. db B. Res. Soc, vol. i, pp. 173-8). A well-executed treatise on the subject would be welcome. 2 E. H. I.3 (1914), pp. 459, 464, with references. HISTORY OF INDIAN THOUGHT xiii tions undoubtedly tend to make the political history of the country rather dry reading. The more attractive story of the development of Indian thought as expressed in religion and philosophy, literature, art, and science cannot be written intelligibly unless it is built on the solid foundation of dynastic history, which alone can furnish the indispensable chronological basis. Readers who may be dis posed to turn away with weariness from the endless procession of kingdoms and despots may console themselves by the reflection that a working acquaintance with the political history of India is absolutely essential as a preliminary for the satisfactory treatment of the story of the development of her ideas. I have tried to give in this work, so far as unavoidable limitations permit, an outline of the evolution of Indian thought in various fields. Students who desire further information must consult special treatises when such exist. Divisions of the history. The main divisions of a book on Indian history hardly admit of variation. I have drawn the line between the Ancient Period and the Hindu Period at the beginning of the Maurya dynasty as a matter of convenience. In the Hindu Period the death of Harsha in a. d. 647 marks a suitable place for beginning a fresh section. The subdivisions of the Muhammadan Period, occupying Books IV, V, VI, and including the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, are almost equally self-evident. Three books, VII, VIII, and IX, are devoted to the British Period. The dividing line between Books VII and VIII should be drawn in my opinion at the year 1818, and not at the close of the administration of the Marquess of Hastings. The significance of the events of 1858, when the series of Viceroys begins, cannot be mistaken. Authorities The subject-matter of this section has been treated previously by the author in several publications, namely, in E. II. I.3 (1914), Introduction ; Oxford Students History of India, latest ed., chap, i ; and the Oxford Survey of the British Empire (1914), chap. vii. A good formal geographical book is the Geography of India by G. Patterson (Christian Literature Soc for India, London, 1909). See also /. G. (Indian Empire), 1907, vol. i, and the Atlas of the same work (1909). The little book entitled The Funda mental Unity of India (Longmans, 1914), by Prof. Radhakumud Mookerji is well written, learned, and accurate, notwithstanding its avowed political purpose. The influence of sea-power upon Indian history is expounded by Sir A. Lyall in The Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion in India (Murray, 1910). xiv INTRODUCTION SECTION 2 The Sources, or the Original Authorities. Undated history before 650 B.C. A body of history strictly so-called must be built upon a skeleton of chronology, that is to say, on a series of dates more or less precise. In India, as in Greece, such a series begins about the middle or close of the seventh century before Christ.1 Nothing approaching exact chronology being attainable for earlier times, the account which the historian can offer of those times necessarily is wanting in definiteness and pre cision. It is often difficult to determine even the sequence or suc cessive order of events. Nevertheless, no historian of India and the Indians can escape from the obligation of offering some sort of picture of the life of undated ancient India, in its political, social, religious, literary, and artistic aspects, previous to the dawn of exact history. The early literature, composed chiefly in the Sanskrit, Pali, and Tamil languages, supplies abundant material, much of which is accessible in one or other European tongue. The thorough exploration of the gigantic mass of literature, especially that of the southern books, is a task so vast that it cannot ever be completed. Large fields of study have been hardly in vestigated at all. But a great deal of good work has been accom plished, and the labours of innumerable scholars, European, American, and Indian have won results sufficiently certain to warrant the drawing of an outline sketch of the beginnings of Indian life and history. Although the lines of the sketch are some what wanting in clearness, especially with reference to the Vedic age and the early Dravidian civilization, we moderns can form a tolerably distinct mental picture of several stages of Indian history prior to the earliest date ascertained with even approximate accuracy. Such an outline sketch or picture will be presented in the second chapter of Book I. Chronological puzzles. Definite chronological history begins about 650 b. c. for Northern India. No positive historical statement can be made concerning the peninsula until a date much later. Even in the north all approximate dates before the invasion of Alexander in 326 B.C. are obtained only by reasoning back from the known to the unknown. The earliest absolutely certain precise date is that just named, 326 b.c. The student may be glad to have in this place a brief exposition of the special difficulties which lie in the way of ascertaining precise 1 ' The first exact date we have bearing on the history of Greece ' is April 6, 648 b. c, when an eclipse of the sun occurred which was witnessed and noted by the poet Archilochus (Bury, Hist, of Greece, ed. 1904, p. 119). But the earliest really historical date known with any approach to accuracy seems to be that of Cylon's conspiracy at Athens, which is placed about 632 b.c. The archonship of Solon is put in either 594-593 or 592-591 b c. (ibid., pp. 178, 182). ' CHRONOLOGICAL PUZZLES xv dates for the events of early Hindu history. Numerous dates are recorded in one fashion or another, but the' various authorities are often contradictory, and usually open to more than one interpre tation. Dates expressed only in regnal years, such as ' in the 8th year after the coronation of King A. B.', are not of much use unless we can find out by other means the time when King A. B. lived. Very often the year is given as simply ' the year 215 ', or the like, without mention of the era used, which to the writer needed no specification. In the same way when modern Europeans speak of the ' year 1914 ', everybody understands that to mean ' after Christ ', a. d. or a. c. In other cases an era may be named, but it is not certain from what date the era is to be reckoned. For example, many dates recorded in the Gupta era were known long before historians could make confident use of them. When Fleet was able to prove that Gupta Era, year 1 = a. d. 319-20, the whole Gupta dynasty dropped at once into its proper historical setting. The fixation of that one date brought order into several centuries of early Indian history. Dated inscriptions of the Indo- Scythian or Kushan kings are even more abundant, but up to the present time we do not know to which era a record of theirs dated, say, ' in the year 98 ' should be referred ; and in consequence an important section of Indian history continues to be the sport of conjecture, so that it is impossible to write with assurance a narra tive of the events connected with one of the most interesting dynasties. That chronological uncertainty spoils the history of religion, art, and literature, as Well as the purely political chronicle, for the first two centuries of the Christian era. More than thirty different eras have been used in Indian annals from time to time.1 Difficulties of various kinds, astronomical and other, are involved in the attempt to determine the dates on which the various eras begin. Although those difficulties have been sur mounted to a large extent many obscurities remain. Synchronisms ; old and new styles. Several puzzles have been solved by the use of ' synchronisms ', that is to say, by the use of stray bits of information showing that King A. of unknown date was contemporary with King B. of known date. The standard example is that of Chandragupta Maurya, the contemporary of Alexander the Great for some years. The approximate date of King Meghavarna of Ceylon in the fourth century a. c. is similarly indicated by the ' synchronism ' with the Indian King Samudra gupta ; many other cases might be cited. The testimony of foreign authors is specially useful in this con nexion, because they often give dates the meaning of which is known with certainty. Indian historians obtain much help in that way from the chronicles of Greece, China, and Ceylon, all of which have well-known systems of chronology. The subject might be further illustrated at great length, but what has been said may suffice to give the student a notion of the difficulties of 1 Cunningham's Book of Indian Eras (1883) discusses 27, and many more are mentioned in records. xvi INTRODUCTION Hindu chronology, and some of the ways in which many of them have been cleared away. In the Muhammadan period chronological puzzles are mostly due to the innumerable contradictions of the authorities, but trouble is often experienced in converting Muslim Hijri dates exactly into the terms of the Christian era. Akbar's fanciful Ilahi, or Divine Era, and Tippoo Sultan's still more whimsical chronology present special conundrums. In the British period nearly all dates are ascertained with ease and certainty, subject to occasional conflict of evidence or confusion between the old and new styles, which differ by ten days in the seventeenth and by eleven days in the eighteenth century.1 Six classes of sources of Hindu history. The nature of the sources of or original authorities for Hindu history from 650 b. c. will now be considered briefly. The native or indigenous sources may be classified under five heads, namely : (1) inscriptions, or epigraphic evidence ; (2) coins, or numismatic evidence ; (3) monuments, buildings, and works of art, or archaeological evidence ; (4) tradition, as recorded in literature ; and (5) ancient historical writings, sometimes contemporary with the events narrated. The sixth source, foreign testimony, is mostly supplied either by the works of travellers of various nations, or by regular historians, especially the Cingalese, Greek, and Chinese. The value of each class of evidence will now be explained. Inscriptions. Inscriptions have been given the first place in the list because they are, on the whole, the most important and trustworthy source of our knowledge. Unfortunately, they do not at present go further back than the third century b.c. with cer tainty, although it is not unlikely that records considerably earlier may be discovered, and it is possible that a very few known documents may go back beyond the reign of Asoka. Indian in scriptions, which usually are incised on either stone or metal, may be either official documents set forth by kings or other authorities, or records made by private persons for various purposes. Most of the inscriptions on stone either commemorate particular events or record the dedication of buildings or images. The commemora tive documents range from the simple signature of a pilgrim to long and elaborate Sanskrit poems detailing the achievements of vic torious kings. Such poems are called prasasti. The inscriptions on metal are for the most part grants of land inscribed on plates of 1 Pope Gregory XIII undertook to reform the Roman calendar by correcting the error which had gradually grown to inconvenient dimensions in the course of centuries. Accordingly he decreed in 1582 that October 5 by the old calendar of that year should be called October 15. The reform was adopted either immediately or soon by Portugal, France, and several other nations ; but in Great Britain and Ireland the change was not effected until 1752, Parliament having passed an Act enacting that September 3 of that year should be deemed to be September 14, new style ; eleven days being dropped out of the reckoning. Russia still adhered to the old style until 1917 and was then nearly 13 days In error. CLASSIFICATION OF SOURCES xvii copper. They are sometimes extremely long, especially in the south, ancl usually include information about the reigning king and his ancestors. Exact knowledge of the dates of events in early Hindu history, so far as it has been attained, rests chiefly on the testimony of inscriptions. Records of an exceptional kind occur occasionally. The most remarkable of such documents are the edicts of Asoka, which in the main are sermons on dharma, the Law of Piety or Duty. At Ajmer in Rajputana and at Dhar in Central India fragments of plays have been found inscribed on stone tablets. Part of a treatise on architecture is incised on one of the towers at Chitor, and a score of music for the vina, or Indian lute, has been found in the Pudukottai State, Madras. A few of the metal inscriptions are dedications, and one very ancient document on copper, the Sohgaura plate from the Gorakhpur District, is concerned with Government storehouses. The inscriptions which have been catalogued and published more or less fully aggregate many thousands. The numbers in the peninsula especially are enormous. Coins. The legends on coins really are a class of inscriptions on metal, but it is more convenient to treat them separately. The science of numismatics, or the study of ancient coins, requires special expert knowledge. Coins, including those without any legends, can be made to yield much information concerning the condition of the country in the distant past. The dates frequently recorded on them afford invaluable evidence for fixing chronology. Even when the outline of the history is well known from books, as is the case for most of the Muhammadan period, the numismatic testimony helps greatly in settling doubtful dates, and in illustra ting details of many kinds. Our scanty knowledge of the Bactrian, Indo-Greek, and Indo-Parthian dynasties rests chiefly on inferences drawn from the study of coins. Archaeological evidence. The archaeological evidence, re garded as distinct from that of inscriptions and coins, is obtained by the systematic skilled examination of buildings, monuments, and works of art. Careful registration of the stratification of the ruins on ancient sites, that is to say, of the exact order in which the remains of one period follow those of another, often gives valuable proof of date. The excavations on the site of Taxila, for instance, have done much to clear up the puzzle of the Kushan or Indo-Scythian chronology already mentioned. The scientific description of buildings erected for religious or civil purposes, such as temples, stupas, palaces, and private houses, throws welcome light on the conditions prevailing in ancient times. The study of works of art, including images, frescoes, and other objects, enables us to draw in outline the history of Indian art, and often affords a most illuminating commentary on the statements in books. The history of Indian religions cannot be properly understood by students who confine their attention to literary evidence. The testimony of the monuments and works of art is equally important, xviii INTRODUCTION and, in fact, those remains tell much which is not to be learned from books. Intelligent appreciation of the material works wrought by the ancients is necessary for the formation of a true mental picture of the past. Such observations apply equally to the Hindu and the Muhammadan periods. Tradition almost the sole source of undated history. The knowledge, necessarily extremely imperfect, which we possess concerning ancient India between 650 and 326 B.C. is almost wholly derived from tradition as recorded in literature of various kinds, chiefly composed in the Sanskrit, Pali, and Tamil languages. Most of the early literature is of a religious kind, and the strictly historical facts have to be collected laboriously, bit by bit, from works which were not intended to serve as histories. Some valuable scraps of historical tradition have been picked out of the writings of grammarians ; and several plays, based on historical facts, yield important testimony. Tradition continues to be a rich source of historical information long after 326 b. c. Absence of Hindu historical literature explained. The trite observation that Indian literature, prior to the Muhammadan period, does not include formal histories, although true in a sense, does not present the whole truth. Most of the Sanskrit books were composed by Brahmans, who certainly had not a taste for writing histories, their interest being engaged in other pursuits. But the Rajas were eager to preserve annals of their own doings, and took much pains to secure ample and permanent record of their achievements. They are not to blame for the melancholy fact that their efforts have had little success. The records labo riously prepared and regularly maintained have perished almost completely in consequence of the climate, including insect pests in that term, and of the innumerable political revolutions from which India has suffered. Every court in the old Hindu kingdoms maintained official bards and chroniclers whose duty it was to record and keep up the annals of the state. Some portion of such chronicles has been preserved and published by Colonel Tod, the author of the famous book, Annals and Antiquities of Raj asthan, first published in 1829, but that work stands almost alone. The great mass of the Rajas' annals has perished beyond recall.1 Some fragments of the early chronicles clearly are preserved in the royal genealogies and connected historical observations recorded in the more ancient Puranas ; and numerous extracts from local records are given in the prefaces to many inscriptions. Thus it appears that the Hindus were not indifferent to history, although the Brahmans, the principal literary class, cared little for historical composition as a form of literature, except in the form of prasastis, some of which are poems of considerable literary merit. Such Sanskrit histories as exist usually were produced in the border countries, the best being the metrical chronicle of Kashmir, ealled the Raja-tar -angini, composed in the twelfth century. Even that 1 The survey of Rajputana literature now in progress will disclose many more historical works. LACK OF HINDU HISTORIES xix work does not attain exactly to the European ideal of a formal history. Several Brahman authors, notably Bana in the seventh century, wrote interesting works, half history and half romance, which contain a good deal of authentic historical matter. Our exceptionally full knowledge of the story of Harsha vardhana, King of Thanesar and Kanauj, is derived largely from the work of Bana entitled ' The Deeds of Harsha '. Historical or semi-historical compositions are numerous in the languages of the south. The Mackenzie collection of manuscripts catalogued by H. H. Wilson contains a large number of texts which may be regarded as histories in some degree. Foreign evidence. The indigenous or native sources enume rated above, which must necessarily be the basis of early Hindu history, are supplemented to a most important extent by the writings of foreigners. Hearsay notes recorded by the Greek authors Herodotus and Ktesias in the fifth century b. c. record some scraps of information, but Europe was almost ignorant of India until the veil was lifted by the operations of Alexander (326 to 323 b. c.) and the reports of his officers. Those reports, lost as a whole, survive in considerable extracts quoted in the writings of later authors, Greek and Roman. The expedition of Alexander the Great is not mentioned distinctly by any Hindu author, and the references to the subject by Muhammadan authors are of little value. Megasthenes, the ambassador of Seleukos Nikator to Chandragupta Maurya in the closing years of the fourth century, wrote a highly valuable account of India, much of which has been preserved in fragments. Formal Chinese histories from about 120 b. c. have something to tell us, but by far the most important and interesting of all the foreign witnesses are the numerous Chinese pilgrims who visited the Holy Land of Buddhism, between a. d. 400 and 700. Fa-hien, the earliest of them (a. d. 399-414), gives life to the bald chronicle of Chandragupta Vikramaditya, as constructed from inscriptions and coins. The learned Hiuen Tsang, or Yuan Chwang, in the seventh century, does the same for Harsha vardhana, and also records innumerable matters of interest concerning every part of India. I-tsing and more than sixty other pilgrims have left valuable notes of their travels. A book on the early history of Hindu India would be a very meagre and dry record but for the narratives of the pilgrims, which are full of vivid detail. Alberuni. AlberunI, justly entitled the Master, a profoundly learned mathematician and astronomer, who entered India in the train of Mahmud of Ghazni early in the eleventh century, applied his powerful intellect to the thorough study of the whole life of the Indians. He mastered the difficult Sanskrit language, and produced a truly scientific treatise, entitled ' An Enquiry into India ' (Tahkik-i Hind), which is a marvel of well-digested erudition. More than five centuries later that great book served as a model to Abu-1 Fazl, whose ' Institutes of Akbar ' (Ain-i Akbari) plainly betray the unacknowledged debt due to Alberuni. xx INTRODUCTION Muhammadan histories. Muhammadans, unlike the Brah mans, always have shown a liking and aptitude for the writing of professed histories, so that every Muslim dynasty in Asia has found its chronicler. The authors who deal with Indian history wrote, as a rule, in the Persian language. Most of the books are general histories of the Muslim world, in which Indian affairs occupy a comparatively small space, but a few works are confined to Indian subjects. The most celebrated is the excellent and con scientious compilation composed by Firishta (Ferishta) in the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir, which forms the basis of Elphin- stone's History of India and of most modern works on the subject. A comprehensive general view of the Indian histories in Persian is to be obtained from the translations and summaries in the eight volumes of The History of India as told by its own Historians (London, 1867-77) by Sir Henry Elliot and Professor John Dowson. Sir Edward Bayley's incomplete work entitled the History of Gujarat is a supplement to Elliot and Dowson's collection. The English translations of the Tabakat-i Nasiri by Raverty ; of the Ain-i Akbari by Blochmann and Jarrett ; of the Akbarndma and the Memoirs of Jahangir by H. Beveridge ; of Badaoni's book by Ranking and Lowe ; and Prof. Jadunath Sarkar's learned account of Aurangzeb's reign may be specially mentioned. Many other important books exist. The author of this volume has published a detailed biography of Akbar. The modern historian of India, therefore, when he comes to the Muhammadan period, finds plenty of history books ready made from which he can draw most of his material. He is not reduced to the necessity of piecing together his story by combining fragments of information laboriously collected from inscriptions, coins, traditions, and passing literary references, as he is compelled to do when treating of the Hindu period. His principal difficulties arise from the contradictions of his authorities, the defects of their mode of composition, and endless minor chronological puzzles. The epigraphic, numismatic, and monumental testimony is needed only for the completion and correction of details. The histories written in Persian have many faults when judged by European standards, but, whatever may be the opinion held concerning those defects, it is impossible to write the history of Muhammadan India without using the Persian chronicles as its foundation. Foreign evidence for the Muhammadan period. Foreign testimony is as valuable for the Muhammadan period as it is for the Hindu. From the ninth century onwards Muslim merchants and other travellers throw light upon the history of mediaeval India. Some scanty notes recorded by European observers in the fifteenth century have been preserved ; and from the sixteenth century numerous works by European travellers present a mass of authentic information supplementary to that recorded by the Muslim historians, who looked at things from a different point of view, and omitted mention of many matters interesting to foreign JESUIT TESTIMONY xxi observers and modern readers. The reports of the Jesuit mission aries for the Mogul period possess special value, having been written by men highly educated, specially trained, and endowed with powers of keen observation. Large use is made in this volume of those reports which have been too often neglected by modern writers. References to the works of the leading Jesuits and the other foreign travellers will be given in due course. Authorities for Indo-European history and British Period. State papers and private original documents of many kinds dating as far back as a thousand years ago are fairly abundant in most countries of Europe, and supply a vast quarry of material for the historian. In India they are wholly wanting for both the Hindu and the pre-Mogul Muhammadan periods, except in so far as their place is supplied by inscriptions on stone and metal. A few documents from the reigns of Akbar and his successors survive, but most of what we know about the Moguls is derived from the secondary evidence of historians, as supplemented by the testimony of the foreign travellers, inscriptions, and coins. The case changes with the appearance of Europeans on the scene. The records of the East India Company go back to the beginning of the seven teenth century, and the Portuguese archives contain numerous documents of the sixteenth century. From the middle of the eighteenth century, the commencement of the British period, the mass of contemporary papers, public and private, is almost infinite. Considerable portions of the records have been either printed at length or catalogued, and much of the. printed material has been worked up by writers on special sections of the history, but an enormous quantity remains unused. In the composition of this work I have not attempted to explore manuscript collections, and have necessarily been obliged to content myself with printed matter only so far as I could manage to read and digest it. No person can read it all, or nearly all. The leading authorities consulted will be noted at the end of each chapter. Present state of Indian historical studies. A brief survey of the present state of Indian historical studies will not be out of place in connexion with the foregoing review of the original authorities. No general history of the Hindu period was in existence before the publication in 1904 of the first edition of the Early History of India. The more condensed treatment of the subject in this volume is based on the third edition of that work, published in 1914, but much new material has been used ; and the subject has been treated from a point of view to some extent changed. Many sections of the story need further elucidation, and it is certain that research will add greatly to our knowledge of the period in the near future. Numerous eager inquirers are now at work, who contribute something of value almost every month. The Muhammadan period. The publication in 1841 of Elphinstone's justly famous History of India made possible for the xxii INTRODUCTION first time systematic study of the Indo-Muhammadan history of Hindostan or Northern India down to the battle of Panlpat in 1761. Although Elphinstone's book, mainly based on the compilations of Firishta and Khafi Khan, is of permanent value, it is no dis paragement of its high merit to say that in these changed times it is no longer adequate for the needs of either the close student or the general reader. Since Elphinstone wrote many authorities unknown to him have become accessible, archaeological discoveries have been numerous, and corrections of various kinds have become necessary. Moreover, the attitude of readers has been modified. They now ask for something more than is to be found in the austere pages of Elphinstone, who modelled his work on the lines adopted by Muslim chroniclers. The history of the Sultans of Delhi is in an unsatisfactory state. Much preliminary dry research is required for the accurate ascer tainment of the chronology and other facts. The subject is not attractive to a large number of students, and many years may elapse before a thoroughly sound account of the Sultanate of Delhi can be written. A foundation of specialized detailed studies is always needed before a concise narrative can be composed with confidence and accuracy. I have not attempted in this volume to probe deeply among the difficulties connected with the histories of the Sultanate, but venture to hope that I may have succeeded in presenting the subject with a certain amount of freshness, especially in dealing with the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlak. Although considerable advance has been made in the study of the history of the Bahmani empire and other Muslim kingdoms which became independent of Delhi in the fourteenth century, there is plenty of room for further investigation. The chapters on the subject in this volume are based on the examination of various and sometimes conflicting authorities. The story of the extensive Hindu empire of Vijayanagar (1336-1565) has been largely eluci dated by the labours of Mr. Sewell, whose excellent work has been continued and in certain matters corrected by several authors of Indian birth. In these days some of the best historical research is done by Indian scholars, a fact which has resulted in a pro found change in the presentation of the history of their land. The public addressed by a modern historian differs essentially in com position and character from that addressed by Elphinstone or Mill. ^ The true history of the Mogul dynasty is only beginning to be known. The story of Babu,r, Humayun, and Akbar has been illuminated by the researches of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Beveridge, and the study of Akbar's life by the author of this volume includes much novel matter. The interesting reign of Jahangir has been badly handled in the current books, Elphinstone's included. The publication of a good version of that emperor's authentic Memoirs, and the use of the forgotten third volume of Du Jarric's great work, not to speak of minor advantages, have enabled me to°give an abbreviated account of Jahangir's reign, which, so far as it HISTORICAL STUDIES xxiii goes, may fairly claim to be nearer to the truth than any narrative yet printed. The reign of Shahjahan, prior to the war of succession, still awaits critical study, based on the original authorities ; but my treatment of the material available will be found to present a certain amount of novelty. The long and difficult reign of Aurangzeb is being discussed by Professor Jadunath Sarkar with adequate care and learning. His work, so far as it has been published, is an indispensable authority. The dreary history of the later Moguls has been considerably elucidated in the monographs by Irvine and other works by specialists. The British Period. James Mill's famous work, the History of British India, published between 1806 and 1818, brought together for the first time, to use the author's words, ' a history of that part of the British transactions, which have had an immediate relation to India '. Mill's book, notwithstanding its well-known faults, will always be valuable for reference. But it is a hundred years old, and much has happened since it was written. A history of the British period, whether long or short, must now be planned on somewhat different- lines, and must include at least the whole of the nineteenth century. No really satisfactory work on the period exists. The reason perhaps is- that the material is too vast to be handled properly. The absence of any first class work on a large scale renders impos sible at present the preparation of a condensed history capable of satisfying the ideals of an author or the requirements of skilled critics. The composition of a sound, large work on the subject would be more than sufficient occupation for a long life. A writer who aims only at producing a readable, reasonably accurate, and up-to-date general history of India within the limits of a single volume, must be content to do his best with so much of the over abundant material as he has leisure to master. Changed methods. It will be apparent from the foregoing summary review of the present condition of Indian historical studies, that the writer of a comparatively short history, while enjoying various advantages denied to his predecessors even a few years ago, is not at present in a position to supply a uniformly authentic and digested narrative in all the sections of his work. In some fields the ground has been thoroughly, or at any rate, laboriously cultivated, whereas in others, it has been but lightly scratched by the plough of investigation. The value and interest of history depend largely on the degree in which the present is illuminated by the past. Our existing conditions differ so radically from those which prevailed in the times of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and our positive knowledge of the facts of the past has increased so enormously that a new book onlndian history — even though avowedly compressed — must be composed in a new spirit, as it is addressed to a new audience. Certain it is that the history of India does not begin with the battle of Plassey, as some people think it ought to begin, and xxiv INTRODUCTION that a sound, even if not profound knowledge of the older history will always be a valuable aid in the attempt to solve the numerous problems of modern India. Authorities The references here given for pre-Muhammadan history are merely supplementary to those in E. H. I.3 (1914). The easiest book on systems of chronology, suitable forthe use of ordinary people,is the Bookof Indian Eras, by Sir Alexander Cunningham (Calcutta, Thacke'r, Spink, and Co., 1883). Chronological lists of events are given in The Chronology of India from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century, by C. Mabel Duff (Mrs. W. R. Rickmers), Constable, Westminster, 1899 ; a good book, no longer quite up to date ; and in The Chronology of Modern India for four hundred years from the close of the fifteenth century (a.d. 1494^1894), by J. Burgess (Grant, Edinburgh, 1913). For the ancient musical score inscription, of about seventh century A.c.on a rock at Kudimiya-malai in the Pudukottai State, see Ep. Ind., xii, 226. The extremely ancient Sohgaura copper-plate, perhaps about half a century prior to Asoka, was edited and described by Buhler (Vienna Or. J., vol. x (1896), p. 138; and also in Proc. A.S. B., 1894) and Fleet (J.R. A.S., 1907, pp. 509-32) ; but the document needs further elucidation. The excavations at Taxila, which are likely to continue for many years, have been described in preliminary reports, e.g., in J.R.A.S., 1915, p. 116. See also J.P.H.S., the Archaeol. S. Reports, and. A Guide to Taxila (1918). For historical allusions in Tamil literature the student may consult M. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Tamil Studies (Madras, 1914) ; and Prof. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India (London, Luzac, 1911 ; and Madras, S.P.C.K. Depository) and The Beginnings of South Indian History, Tod may be read most conveniently in the Popular Edition (2 vols., Routledge, 1914). An annotated edition, prepared by Mr. William Crooke, is ready, but held up by war conditions. The Mackenzie MSS. were catalogued by H. H. Wilson (1828 ; and Madras reprint, 1882). Probably the best small book on the British Period to the Mutiny is India, History to the End of the E. I. Co., by P. E. Roberts (Clarendon Press, 1916), in which India Office MS. records have been utilized. BOOK I ANCIENT INDIA CHAPTER 1 Prehistoric India ; the elements of the population. Antiquity of man. Man has existed on the earth for a time beyond the possibility of computation, but certainly to be estimated in hundreds of thousands rather than in thousands of years. By far the greater part of the long story of the ' ascent of man ' is and always must remain unknown. The extreme limit of human tradition as preserved in Egypt may be placed roughly at 5000 b. c. or 7,000 years from the present day. Beyond that limit nothing can be clearly discerned, nor is any trustworthy estimate of date practicable. Indian tradition does not go back so far as that of Egypt and Babylonia. Evidence, however, exists that certain parts of India were occupied by human beings at a time immensely remote, when the hippopotamus and other strange beasts of which no memory remains dwelt in Indian forests and waters. Palaeolithic or 'quartzite ' men. The pleasant belief of poets that primitive man enjoyed in an earthly paradise a golden age free from sin, sorrow, want, and death finds no support from the researches of sober, matter-of-fact science. On the contrary, abundant and conclusive evidence proves that the earliest men, whether in India, Europe, or elsewhere, were rude savages, cowering for shelter under rocks or trees, or roughly housed in caves and huts. They lived by the chase or on jungle produce, and may not have known how to make a fire. They were certainly unable to make pottery and were ignorant of any metal. They were dependent for tools or weapons of all kinds on sticks, stones, and bones. The sticks, of course, have perished, and in India bone implements are rarely found, probably by reason of the white ants. Stone tools, which are imperishable, may be said to constitute the sole memorial of the most ancient Indian men, whose skulls and bones have vanished. They did not construct tombs of any sort. The stone implements, laboriously shaped by chipping into forms suitable for hammering, cutting, boring, and scraping, are found in large numbers in many parts of India, more especially in the districts along the eastern coast. The Madras or Chingle- put District presents the ' most numerous and important traces of palaeolithic man known in Southern India '. The chipped stones, which had to serve all purposes of peace or war, are usually 1976 R 2 ANCIENT INDIA pieces of a rock called quartzite, but when quartzite was not avail able other hard rocks or minerals were used. The ' quartzite men ', as Logan calls them, may possibly have been of the same race as the ' river-drift ' men of Europe, who made similar tools ; and it is also possible that they may have been preceded in India by some earlier people of whom no trace remains. So far as our positive knowledge extends, or is likely to extend, the ' quartzite men ' rank as the oldest inhabitants of India. That stage in the long story of mankind which is marked by the exclusive use of merely chipped stone implements is called technically Palaeolithic, from Greek words meaning ' old stone '. Neolithic men. In the next stage of human advance men were for a long time still ignorant of metals, except gold, and were consequently obliged to continue using stone tools. They did not altogether give up the use of tools merely chipped, but most of their implements, after the chipping had been completed, were ground, grooved, and polished, and thus converted into highly finished objects of various forms, adapted to divers purposes. That further stage of advance is called Neolithic, from Greek words meaning ' new stone '. The remains of Indian neolithic man are far more abundant than those of his palaeolithic forerunner, and have been noted in most provinces. They can be studied to special advantage in the Bellary District, Madras, where Foote discovered the site of an ancient factory, with tools in every stage of manufacture. The neolithic people used pottery, at first hand made, and later, turned on the potter's wheel. They kept domestic animals, cultivated the land, and were in a state of civilization far above that of palaeolithic man. Several authors suppose that the neolithic folk were not descended from the palaeolithic, and that the two periods were separated by a gap of many centuries or millenniums. That theory, although supported by certain observed facts, is improbable, because gaps rarely occur in nature, and there is little reason to suppose that ' a break in the chain of humanity ' ever occurred. The seeming gap probably is to be explained by the imperfection of the record and our consequent ignorance. The neolithic people certainly were the ancestors of the users of metal tools and thus of a large proportion of the existing Indian population. Ample proof exists that the transition from stone to metal was ordinarily gradual, and that both materials often were used side by side. The early metal forms are close copies of the stone forms. Burial and cremation. While the * quartzite men ' presumably were content to leave their dead to be devoured by the beasts, the neolithic people buried theirs and constructed tombs. In Europe sepulchres of neolithic age are extremely numerous, and commonly of the ' megalithic ' kind, that is to say, built with huge blocks and slabs of stone arranged so as to form a chamber for the deceased. In India graves of the neolithic period seem to be surprisingly rare, perhaps because they have not been sought. In fact, the only clearly recorded examples appear to be those PREHISTORIC INDIA Burial urn, Tinnevelly. found by Cockburn in the Mirzapur District, U.P., where the bodies interred in deep graves lay extended north and south on stone slabs. The tombs were surrounded by stone circles. The Indian megalithic tombs, of which hundreds have been noted in the peninsula, usually con tain iron objects and maybe assigned to the Early Iron Age. Similar tombs contain ing stone implements only do not seem to be recorded. Many prehistoric cemeteries exist in the Tinnevelly District along the course of the Tamraparni river, the most ancient seat of the pearl and chank or conch-shell fishery. The largest covers an area of 114 acres, a fact which implies the former existence of a dense population. The bodies were interred in great earthen ware jars. The peculiarities of the Tinne velly interments suggest many problems as yet unsolved. Burial preceded cremation or burning of the dead in most countries, and India appears to conform to that general rule. The Hindu preference for cremation, which has been established for many centuries, seems to be a result of Indo- Aryan Brahmanical influence. Mining and trade. The connexion between the early settle ments on the Tamraparni river and the pearl fishery is not an isolated fact. The position of the neolithic and early iron age settlements of both Europe and Asia was largely determined by the facilities offered for mining arid for trade in articles specially valued. Professor Elliot Smith rightly affirms that the coincidence in the distribution of the megalithic monuments of Europe and Asia with that of mining centres is ' far too exact to be due to mere chance. Ancient miners in search of metals or precious stones, or in other cases pearl-fishers, had in every case estab lished camps to exploit these varied sources of wealth ; and the megalithic monuments represent their tombs and temples.' x The extraordinary graves in Tinnevelly may be those of foreign colonists who settled there for trading purposes, and continued to reside for centuries. Gold-mining was equally attractive to the ancient men, who knew the use of gold long before they acquired a knowledge of copper or iron for the purpose of making tools. A late neolithic settlement, for instance, existed at Maski in the Nizam's Dominions, where the old gold-miners' shafts are the deepest in the world. The mines probably were still worked in the days of Asoka (240 b. c), who recorded one of his edicts on a rock at Maski.2 Similar connexions between other Indian 1 Manchester Memoirs, vol. 60, part 1, 1915, p. 29 of reprint. 2 The Foote Collection of Indian Prehistoric and Protohistoric Antiquities, Madras, 1916, vol. ii, pp. 29, 125. The inscription has been published in a separate memoir (1915) by the Hyderabad Archaeological Survey. 4 ANCIENT INDIA prehistoric settlements and mines or fisheries will be detected when attention is directed to the subject. The investigation of the prehistoric remains of India has not gone far as yet. Iron age ; copper age. In southern India stone tools were superseded directly by iron, without any intermediate step. The time when iron became the ordinary material of tools and weapons is called the Iron or Early Iron Age. In northern India the case is different. There the metal first used for tools, harpoons, swords, and spear-heads was copper, prac tically pure. Copper implements and weapons, often of peculiar forms, but sometimes closely resembling those found in Ireland, have- been dis covered in large numbers in the Cen tral Provinces, Chutia Nagpur, old beds of the Ganges near Cawnpore, and elsewhere. Silver objects are asso ciated with them, but no iron.1 Prob ably copper tools were in useTwhen the Copper axe (celt). Rigveda hymns were composed, but commentators differ. Iron certainly was known to the authors of the Atharvaveda, a very ancient book, and was in common use in 500 b. c. We may safely assume that the metal was utilized in northern India from at least 1000 B.C. It may have been introduced very much earlier, and from Babylonia. The earliest of the copper tools may well be as old as 2000 b.c. In southern India the discovery or introduction of iron may have occurred much later and quite independently. No bronze age in India. In several extensive regions of Europe a Bronze Age intervened between the Neolithic and the Early Iron Periods. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, usually made with about nine parts of copper to one of tin. Itis much harderthan pure copper and consequently better adapted for the manufacture of tools and weapons. No bronze age can be traced in India. The few Indian implements made of bronze, only five or six in number, which are of early date, vary much in the percentage of tin which they contain, and may have been either imported or made as experiments. It is certain that tools or arms made of bronze never came into general use. The numerous bronze objects found in the megalithic tombs of southern India and in the Tinnevelly urns are either ornamental or articles of domestic use, such as bowls. They are never imple ments or weapons. Many of the bronze objects seem to have been imported. In modern India alloys of copper and zinc are more commonly used than the alloys made with tin. Earliest inhabitants of India. In prehistoric times communi cation between the north and south must have been difficult and rare. The people of either region presumably knew little or nothing of those in the other, and the two populations probably were 1 The ancients knew methods of hardening copper, hammering being one, and an admixture of iron another. PREHISTORIC INDIA 5 totally different in blood. Even now they are very distinct in their ideas and customs, although physical characters have become blended. Peninsular India, built up of the most ancient rocks, has been permanent land for uncounted millions of years. The plains of northern India, on the contrary, were formed ages later by the gradual filling up of a sea with material brought down from the highlands of Asia. Although the sea had been filled up long before the appearance of man on the earth, the surface of the regions now forming the basins of the Indus and Ganges must have taken thousands of years to become fit for human habitation. COPPER HARPOON. It is highly probable that the earliest inhabitants of India, whoever they may have been, settled on the ancient high and dry land of the peninsula, and not in the plains of the north. ' Quartzite man', as we have seen, is to be traced for the most part to the south of the Narbada. Numbers of queer tribes with extraordinary customs, hidden away in different parts of the peninsular area, look like the descendants of the true 'aborigines' or earliest people. Northern India presents fewer such specimens, but certain ' parts of that region, especially the Aravallis and the Salt Range, are composed of primaeval rocks like the peninsula, and un doubtedly were dry land in a very early stage of the earth's history. In those parts certain tribes now in being may be the descendants of ' aborigines ' as ancient, or almost as ancient, as those of the peninsula. North and South. It is desirable to understand and remember that the distinction between the peoples of the north and those of the south goes back far beyond the dawn of history. The peninsula was isolated by reason of its position and ordinarily could not receive either new inhabitants or novel institutions except by sea. The unceasing immigration of strangers by land into northern India, which has made the population there the mixture which it is, did not affect the south, which was shut off by the wide and almost impenetrable barrier of hill and forest, represented by the Narbada, the Vindhya, and the Satpura ranges. It is worth while to dwell upon the natural separation of the north from the south even in the most remote ages, because the roots of the present go down deep into the past to a depth far beyond measure ment. The incomplete unity of India discussed in the first section of the Introduction depends mainly on the diffusion through the reluctant south of the Hindu ideas of the north, a process which probably had not begun earlier than 1000 b. c. Its slow and Q ANCIENT INDIA gradual progress forms no small element in the real inner history of India, that history which never has been and hardly can be reduced to writing. The conflict between the Dravidian ideas of the south and the Indo-Aryan ideas of the north, which has lasted for three thousand years more or less, still continues, although on the surface the victory of the north seems to be complete. The modern population mixed. In my judgement it is absolutely impossible to decide who were the earliest inhabitants of India, either in the north or south, or to ascertain whence they came. Nor can we say what their bodily type was. The modern population of India almost everywhere is far too mixed to admit of the disentangling of distinct races each of a well-marked physical type. In the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, where I served, the low-caste Chamar or leather-dresser and even the sweeper (Bhangi, &c.) often is handsome, and better looking than many Brahmans. I do not believe that anything worth knowing is to be learned by measuring the skulls or otherwise noting the physical characters of individuals in a population of such mixed origin. So in England it often happens that in one family, one member will be long-headed (dolicho-cephalic) and another short-headed (brachy-cephalic). The absurdity of classing two brothers as belonging to distinct races because their heads differ in shape is obvious. The inferences drawn by anthropologists in India often have been quite as absurd. The mixture of races on Indian soil was going on for countless ages before any history was recorded, and it is hopeless now to unravel the different lines of descent. Two main types : the fair type. When India as a whole is looked at broadly, without theorizing, anybody can see that the population comprises two main physical types. The tall, fair- skinned, long-nosed, and often handsome type is chiefly found in northern India among the upper Hindu castes and the Muham madans. It is well exemplified by the Brahmans of Kashmir, who may be of tolerably pure Indo-Aryan descent. The type occurs in southern India among the Nambudri Brahmans of Malabar, whose ancestors came from the north. The ancestry of the tall, fair people in fact is known to a large extent. They are mostly, or perhaps wholly, descended, with more or less inter mixture of other strains, from some or other of the innumerable strangers from the north-west who are known to have poured into the basins of the Indus and Ganges during the last four thousand years. Where such immigration has not taken place the type does not occur. Its appearance occasionally among low-caste and outcaste people probably is due to irregular unions. The short, dark type. The second type, short in stature, often ugly in face, snub-nosed, and dark-skinned, is found in almost all the jungle tribes occupying the regions built of primaeval rocks, and to a very large extent among the low-caste population of the plains. We may feel assured that the people of that type represent and in great measure are actually descended from the neolithic peoples, or perhaps even from the palaeolithic. Some of ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION 7 the isolated jungle tribes may have preserved their descent com paratively pure, with little admixture of outside blood. The people of the peninsula originally may have been and probably were, as previously said, originally quite distinct from those of the north, but it seems to be impossible to draw any definite line of physical, that is to say, bodily distinction between the bulk of the inhabitants of the two regions at the present time. The modified Mongolian type. A third and less prominent element of the population is now found chiefly in the Himalayan region. The Tibetans may be taken as the type. The Burmese and Gurkhas are more or less similar to them in appearance. All those nations and several other communities exhibit modified forms of the yellow-tinted Mongolian type of the Chinese, and usually are beardless. The evidence of ancient sculptures, as seen at Barhut (Bharhut) and Sanchi, combined with that of certain institutions, indicates clearly that eighteen hundred or two thousand years ago the Tibetan type was much more prominent in the plains of northern India than it is at the present day. In the Mahdbhdrata, for instance, we find Draupadi married to five brothers at once. That kind of marriage, technically called polyandry, still is a Tibetan and Himalayan custom, and is absolutely opposed to Aryan principles.1 The famous Lich- chhavis of Vaisali in Tirhut administered criminal justice on Tibetan lines. Many other proofs might be adduced to show that the Himalayan type was and is a considerable factor in the forma tion of the mixed population of northern India, especially in Bengal and Bihar. Many arrivals of the fair type. The tall, fair people, as has been said, clearly are descended from immigrants from the north west, belonging to diverse races, who resembled more or less the Afghans of the border, the Persians, and the Turks of Central Asia. No man can tell when such people began to pour into the tempting plains of India, but the process certainly was going on several thousand years ago and continued with intervals on a large scale until the reign of Babur in the sixteenth century. Since that time the inflow of strangers from the north-west has been small. The In do- Aryans. The earliest invaders or settlers about whom anything at all definite is known were the people of the Rigveda hymns, who called themselves Aryans, and are conveniently designated as Indo- Aryans in order to distinguish them from their brethren who remained at the other side of the passes. They separated themselves sharply from the non-Aryan dark-skinned early inhabitants of India, and were no doubt tall and fair. They 1 The term ' phratrogamy ' might be coined to denote the form of polyandry which requires all the husbands to be brethren. Polyandry, both in the ' phratrogamic ' and the unrestricted form, was prevalent in the highlands of Ceylon until checked by legislation in 1859. The practice may still exist in a quiet way (Papers on the Custom of Polyandry as practised in Ceylon, Colombo, Government Printer, 1899). 8 ANCIENT INDIA were akin to the Iranians or Persians, who also called themselves Aryans. It is certain that they slowly worked their way across the Panjab and down the courses of the Indus and Ganges. Prob ably they advanced as far as Prayag (Allahabad) at a tolerably early date, but Bihar and Bengal long continued to be reckoned as non- Aryan countries. The peninsula was not affected at all by the early Indo-Aryan movements. The people there went on their own way and developed a distinct Dravidian form of civiliza tion. The later conversion of southern India to Hinduism was the result of ' peaceful penetration ' by missionaries or small colonies, and was not a consequence of the southward march of Indo- Aryan tribes. The amount of Aryan blood in the people to the south of the Narbada is extremely small, in fact, negligible. Lasting effect of Indo-Aryan movements. The Indo-Aryan movement must have continued for a long time. The guesses of some of the best European scholars place it somewhere between 2400 and 1500 b. c, but they are only guesses, and no near approach to accuracy is possible. Perhaps 2000 b. c. may be taken as a mean date.1 It is a strange fact that the Vedic Indo-Aryans, the earliest known swarm of immigrants, have stamped an indelible mark on the whole country from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin. Modern Hinduism, however much it may differ from the creed and social usages of the ancient Rishis, undoubtedly has its roots in the institutions and literature of the Vedic Indo-Aryans. Plenty of other strangers have come in since, but none of them, not even the Muslims, have produced effects comparable in magnitude with those resulting from the Indo-Aryan settlements made three or four thousand years ago. The Greeks and the Sakas. Nothing positive is known concerning any influx of foreigners which may have taken place during many centuries after the close of the Indo-Aryan movement, except the comparatively small settlements of Greek origin in 1 Professor Macdonell inclines to later dates and suggests 1500 B. c. as the earliest limit for the Vedic literature. The estimates which assume considerably earlier dates seem to me more probable. B. G. Tilak goes further than other scholars of reputation, and on astronomical grounds argues temperately that the Aditi, or pre-Orion period, the earliest in the Aryan civilization, may be roughly placed between 6000 and 4000 b. c. ; that the Orion period, from about 4000 to. 2500 B.C., was the most im portant in the history of Aryan civilization, the separation of the Parsees having taken place between 3000 and 2500 B.C.; that the Taittiriya Samhita and several of the Brahmanas should be assigned to the third period, from 2500 to 1400 b. c, during which the hymns had already become antiquated and unintelligible ; that the fourth and last period of the old Sanskrit literature extended from 1400 to 500 b. c, and saw the composition of the Sutras and the evolution of the philosophical literature. I do not possess the knowledge of either astronomy or Vedic texts which would qualify me to pass judgement on Mr. Tilak's startling propositions as expounded in Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, Ashtekar & Co., Poona, 1916. So far as I understand the matter his dates are carried back too far. ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION 9 the Panjab and north-western frontier consequent on Alexander's invasion m 326 b c. and the existence of the Bactrian kingdom and its offshoots between 246 b.c. and a.d. 50. The next exten sive immigration of which any definite knowledge has survived is that of the Sakas, which began in the second century b.c. The term Saka was used by the Indians in a vague way to denote all foreigners from the other side of the passes, without nice distinctions of race or tribe. It may have included both ugly, narrow-eyed Mongols, and handsome races like the Turks, who resemble the Aryans in physique. The Sakas formed kingdoms in thl,Fanjab, at Mathura, and in the Kathiawar peninsula. * k % Yue£-°hl- , In the first century after Christ another nomad tribe from Central Asia called the Yueh-chi descended upon the plains of northern India. Their leading elan, the Kushans, founded ?v,greT?T lm?ire w^ch extended southwards apparently as far as the Narbada. The Kushans appear to have been big fair- complexioned men, probably of Turkl race, and possibly akin to the Iranian or Persian Aryans. The Saka and Yueh-chi conquests must have introduced a large element of foreign blood into the Indian population. Obscure indi cations exist of Iranian in vasions in the third century of the Christian era, but nothing definite has been ascertained about them, if they really occurred. The Hunas or Huns. There is no doubt that during the fifth and sixth centuries great multitudes of fierce folk from the Central Asian steppes swooped down on both Persia and India. Those invaders are called hy the Indians Hunas, or in English Huns, a term used in a general sense like the earlier term Sakas, to cover a mass of various tribes.1 Other Huns who invaded Europe are known to have been hideous creatures of the Mongolian kind ; but the assailants of India are distinguished as Ephthalites or White Huns, a name which may imply that they were fair people like the Turks. Many of the Rajput castes or clans, as well as the Jats, Gujars, and certain other existing communities, are descended either from the Hunas or from allied hordes which arrived about the same time. The appearance of the existing castes so descended indicates that their foreign ancestors must have been mostly of the tall, fair, good-looking type. The population of the Panjab and the United Provinces is free from Mongolian features except in the sub-Himalayan and Himalayan regions. The Hun irruptions mark a distinct epoch in the history of northern India, the significance of which will be explained later. 1 A Brahman author, writing about a. d. 1600, applied the term to the Portuguese. B3 Kushan (Kanishka) coin. 10 ANCIENT INDIA They are mentioned prominently in this place because they contributed some of the best elements to the population. Type of Muhammadan settlers. The last movement which introduced a large new class of recruits to the Indian population was that of the Muhammadans, beginning with the inroads of the Arabs at the commencement of the eighth century and ending with the establishment of the Mogul dynasty in the sixteenth century. Subsequent Musalman immigration has been on a small scale. The Muslim invaders and settlers, other than the Arab conquerors of Sind, belonged to various Asiatic races, including a certain number of narrow-eyed, yellow-tinted, beardless Mongols. But the majority were collected from nations or tribes of better appearance, and were tall, good-looking, fair-complexioned, bearded men. They comprised Iranian Persians akin to the Indo- Aryans, Turks, Afghans of many varieties, and sundry peoples of mixed descent. The admixture of Mongol blood having been overborne by the other elements has left little trace in the features of modern Indian Muslims. The effect of the immigration on the whole has been to increase materially the proportion of tall, fair- complexioned people in the country. The physical type of the Muhammadan immigrants was far more like that of the Indo- Aryan Brahmans than it was to the dark ' aboriginal ' type indigenous in India. Rapid spread of Islam. The rapidity of the spread of Islam, the religion of Muhammad, and the dramatic suddenness with which the adherents of his creed rose to a position of dominant sovereignty constitute one of the marvels, or it might be said the miracles of history. No cut-and-dry explanation that can be offered is felt to account adequately for the astounding facts. But history records not a few other unexplained marvels, and we must be content to acknowledge that many things in the past, as in the present, pass man's understanding. The prophet Muhammad, a native of Mecca, was more than fifty years of age before he attained any considerable success. He believed himself to be the divinely appointed messenger of a revelation destined to supersede the Jewish and Christian religions, as well as the rude paganism of his countrymen. His fellow citizens at Mecca were so hostile that in a. d. 622 he was obliged to quit his birthplace and take refuge at Medina. That event, renowned as the Flight, or Hijra, is the epoch of the Muham madan Hijri Era, vulgarly called the Hegira.1 The remaining ten years of his life sufficed to make him substantially the sovereign of Arabia and the accepted Prophet of the Arabs. Soon after his death in a.d. 632 his successors, the early Khalifs ('Caliphs'), found themselves in conflict with the mighty'Persian and Byzantine empires. Nothing could withstand the furious enthusiasm of the 1 Muhammadan dates are usually designated as a. h. (anno heeirae). For example, a. h. 1335=a. d. 1916-17, from October to October. The Hijri year is lunar, of about 354 days, and so is 11 days shorter than the solar year. ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION 11 Arabs from the desert, beneath whose attack ancient thrones tottered and fell. Within the brief space of eighty years from the Prophet's death his Arab followers had become the masters, not only of Arabia, ,but of Persia, Syria, western Turkistan, Sind, Egypt, and southern Spain. They carried their new religion with them, and either imposed it on their opponents at the point of the sword, or com pelled them to ransom their lives by heavy payments. Islam in the borderlands. The Indian borderlands soon attracted the attention of the Khallfs. The Arabs reached the coast of Makran as early as a.d. 643. The conquest of Sind was effected by Muhammad bin Kasim in a.d. 712, and thenceforward for centuries that country remained under Arab rule. Kabul was subdued or made tributary at a later date. From the beginning of the eighth century many Arabs and Muslims of other nations must have settled in Sind and the neighbouring countries, effecting a marked change in the character of the population. But India proper remained substantially unaffected,' although Arab traders occasionally visited the western kingdoms for business purposes. The Indian Rajas rarely troubled themselves about events taking place to the west of the Hakra river, then the boundary between Sind and Hind.1 Islam in India proper. The annexation of the Panjab to the Ghazni kingdom about a. d. 1020 by Sultan Mahmud neces sarily involved extensive settlement of Muslim strangers in that province, although the rest of India continued to be free from their presence. From the closing years of the twelfth century, when Muhammad of Ghor began the systematic conquest of the country, a constant stream of Muslim immigrants continued to flow in ; and during the period of the growth of the Sultanate of Delhi new comers arrived without ceasing. During the decline of the Sultanate from 1340 to 1526 the immigration must have diminished, but in the latter year it received a fresh impetus from the victories of Babur. During the-- next two centuries a certain number of Muhammadans from beyond the border effected a lodgement, although the total was not very great. The older colonies, however, multiplied/'cWwds of converts from Hinduism were made, and intermarriages between the old and new Muslims took place. The tendency of the Muslim population is to increase, its fertility being superior to that of the Hindus. The immigrant Muhamma dans, although thoroughly naturalized, retain their distinctness and never become merged in the Hindu majority, as their pre decessors the Sakas, Hunas, and the rest were absorbed. The reason is to be found in the definite character of the Muslim creed resting on scriptures of known date, and consisting essentially of only two doctrines, the unity of God and the divine mission of Muhammad. That simple creed inspires intense devotion and 1 The Hakra, which finally dried up in the eighteenth century, used to flow through the Bahawalpur State and the region which is now the Sind desert. 12 ANCIENT INDIA offers unbroken resistance to the seductions of Hinduism, although Indo-Muhammadan social practice is affected considerably by its surroundings. The looser beliefs of the early immigrants from Central Asia were not strong enough to withstand the subtle influence of the Brahmanical environment. The Shamanism of the nomad invaders, like the demon-worship of the Dravidians, yielded before the attractive force of the Hindu system, so that each successive wave of pre-Muhammadan foreigners quickly melted away in the ocean of caste. Smaller foreign communities. Since the fifteenth century a considerable population of mixed Indo-European blootl, originat ing from unions of Portuguese, English, and other Europeans with Indian women, has grown up, which forms an important element in the population of the great cities, the Bombay Konkan, and the settlements on the lower Himalayan ranges. The Jews, Parsees, Armenians, and certain other small foreign communities maintain their isolation so strictly that they hardly affect the racial character of the general population. Language no proof of race. Sanskrit, with its derivative vernaculars ; the old Persian, or Zend language ; Greek, Latin, German, English, and many other European tongues, form a well- defined group or family of languages which is designated either as Indo-Germanic or as Aryan. Many authors have shown a tendency to assume that the various peoples who speak Aryan tongues must be of Aryan race, connected one with the other more or less closely by ties of blood. That assumption is wholly unwarranted. Community of language is no proof of community of -blood. The population of India, as we have seen, comprises extremely various elements, descended from all sorts of people who formerly spoke all sorts of languages. In the north, for instance, no trace remains of the Central Asian tongues spoken by the diverse tribes comprised under the terms Saka, Huna, or Yueh-chi. The descendants of those people now speak Hindi and other languages closely related to Sanskrit. Similar cases may be observed all over the world. Languages become extinct and are replaced by others spoken by races whose position gives them an advantage. Thus, in Great Britain, the Cornish language is absolutely extinct, and the Cornish people, who are of different race from the English, now speak nothing but English. Aryan ideas and institutions have shown marvellous power and vitality in all parts of India, but the proportion of Aryan blood m the veins of the population, which is small almost every where, is non-existent in some provinces. Languages. The most important family of Indian languages, the Aryan, comprises all the principal languages of northern and western India, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, GujaratI, and many others, descended from ancient vernaculars or Prakrits, closely akin both to the Vedic and to the later literary forms of Sanskrit. The family or group of tongues second in importance is the Dravidian in the peninsula, comprising Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION 13 Kanarese, and Tulu, besides some minor tongues. Both Tamil and Telugu have rich literatures. The Tamil is the principal and perhaps the oldest language of the group. The grammar and structure of the Dravidian speech differ wholly from the Aryan type. The most ancient Tamil literature, dating from the early cen turies of the Christian era, or even earlier, was composed on Dravi dian lines and independent of Sanskrit models. The later literature in all the languages has been largely influenced by Brahmanical ideas and diction. The linguistic family is called Dravidian because Dravida was the ancient name of the Tamil country in the far south. In fact, Tamil is really the same word as the adjective Dravida. Three other families of languages, namely, the Munda, the Mon-Khmer, and the Tibeto-Chinese, are repre sented on Indian soil, but as they possess little or no literature, and are mostly spoken by rude, savage, or half-civilized tribes, it is unnecessary to discuss their peculiarities. The speakers of those tongues have had small influence on the course of history. The Indo-Aryan movement. The Indo-Aryans, after they had entered the Panjab — the ' land of the five rivers ', or ' of the seven rivers ' according to an ancient reckoning — travelled gene rally in a south-easterly direction. For reasons unknown they called the south dakshina, or ' right-hand ', a word familiar in its English corruption as ' the Deccan '. The larger part of the tribes crossed the Panjab and then moved along the courses of the Ganges and Jumna, but some sections at an early period had advanced a considerable distance down the Indus, while others, at a later date, apparently marched eastward along the base of the moun tains into Mithila or Tirhut. While resident in the Panjab the strangers had not yet become Hindus, but were only Hindus in the making. The distinctive Brahmanical system appears to have been evolved, after the Sutlaj had been passed, in the country to the north of Delhi. The apparently small tract between the rivers Sarasvatl and Drishadvati, which it is difficult to identify with precision, is specially honoured by Manu as Brahmavarta, ' the land of the gods ' ; the less-exalted title of Brahmarshi-desa, ' the land of divine sages', being given to the larger region com prising Brahmavarta or Kurukshetra, roughly equivalent to the tract about Thanesar, with the addition of Matsya or eastern Rajputana, Panchala, or the Doab between the Ganges and Jumna, and Surasena, or the Mathura district.1 1 The difficulty in precise identification of the Sarasvatl and Drishadvati is due to the extensive changes in the course of the rivers of northern India which are known to have occurred. Modern maps are utterly misleading, and it is impossible to construct maps of the ancient river system for any time preceding the Muhammadan invasions. The following passage may be commended to the attention of careful students : It is, however, a reasonable conjecture that within the period of history the Sutlei united with the Sarasvatl and Ghaggar to form the great river [sett. Hakra] which once flowed into the Indus through Bahawalpur and that then Brahmavarta was a Doab [space between rivers] which 14- ANCIENT INDIA When the legal treatise ascribed to Manu had assumed its present shape, perhaps about a.d. 200 or earlier, the whole space between the Himalaya and the Vindhyas from sea to sea was recognized as Aryavarta, or ' Aryan territory '. The advance thus indicated evidently was a slow business and occupied a long time. The dark-skinned inhabitants of the country subdued by the invaders were called Dasyus and by other names. They are now represented generally by the lower castes in the plains and by certain tribes in hilly regions. Aryan penetration of the south. Although there is no reason to believe that any large Indo-Aryan tribal body ever marched into the peninsula, which was well protected by the broad belt of hills and forests marked by the Narbada river and the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, the peaceful penetration of the Deccan by Indo-Aryan emissaries began many centuries before the Christian era. Tradition credits the Vedic Rishi Agastya, or a namesake of his, with the introduction of Aryan ideas and institutions into the Dravidian south. Probably the chief line of communication was along the eastern coast, and certainly the propagation of the new ideas was effected by Brahmans. The obscure story of the gradual advance of the caste system and other Indo-Aryan institutions in India to the south of the Narbada has not yet been thoroughly investigated, and it is impossible to discuss the subject in these pages. Distinct Dravidian civilization. When the Brahmans suc ceeded in making their way into the kingdoms of the peninsula, including the realms of the Andhras, Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas, they found a civilized society, not merely a collection of rude barbarian tribes. The Dravidian religion and social customs differed widely from those of northern India. Caste was unknown, as it now is in Burma, and the religion is described as demon- worship. The original demons have since been adopted by the Brahmans, given new names, and identified with orthodox Hindu gods and goddesses. The Hindu theory that mankind is divided into four varnas, or groups of castes — Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra — was wholly foreign to the southerners. To this day Kshatriyas and Vaisyas do not exist among them.1 The laws of marriage and inheritance also differed completely from those of the Brahmans. Even now, when Hinduism, with its strict caste rules and its recognized system of law, has gained the mastery, the old and quite different Dravidian ideas may be traced in a thousand directions. The ancient Dravidian alphabet called Vatteluttu, of Semitic origin, is wholly distinct from any of the northern alphabets. Tradition as recorded in the ancient Tamil literature indicates that from very remote times wealthy cities existed in the south and that many of the refinements and luxuries might be compared with that of the Ganges and Jumna ' (C. Pearson, i ^u" ' Porus> and the Panjab ', in Ind. Ant., vol. xxxiv, 1905 p 254 . Ine fact is not affected by the ludicrous efforts of certain castes to obtain recognition as Kshatriyas. ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION 15 of life were in common use. The good fortune of Tamil Land (Tamilakam) in possessing such eagerly desired commodities as gold, pearls, conch-shells, pepper, beryls, and choice cotton goods attracted foreign traders from the earliest ages.1 Commerce supplied the wealth required for life on civilized lines, and the Dravidians were not afraid to cross the seas. Some day, perhaps, the history of Dravidian civilization may be written by a competent scholar skilled in all the lore and languages required for the study of the subject, but at present the literature concerned with it is too fragmentary, defective, and controversial to permit of condensa tion. Early Indian history, as a whole, cannot be viewed in true perspective until the non-Aryan institutions of the south receive adequate treatment. Hitherto most historians of ancient India have written as if the south did not exist. Authorities Prehistoric India. V. A. Smith, ' Prehistoric Antiquities,' chap, iv, vol. ii, /. G., 1908, with a large number of selected references ; the first general outline of the subject. R. B. Foote, (1) Catalogue of Prehistoric Antiquities in the Madras Museum, Madras, 1901 ; (2) Indian Prehistoric and Protohistoric Antiquities, Foote Collection, Madras, 1916, 2 vols. ; (3) several articles in A. S. India, Annual Rep., for 1902-3 and 1903-4, and in the Progress Reports, A. S., Southern Circle. A. C. Logan, Old Chipped Stones of India, Calcutta, Thacker, Spink, 1906. The investigation is being continued by the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, as well as by the Archaeological Society and the Archaeological Survey of Hydera bad. Occasional articles appear elsewhere, but no general work on Pre historic India exists. Ample material is available, and a good book on the subject is badly wanted. languages. Sir G. Grierson, (1) chap, vii in vol. i, I. G., 1907, with ample list of references ; (2) The Languages of India, Calcutta, 1903, reprinted from Census Report, India, 1901 ; (3) Linguistic Survey of India, not yet completed. The work is on a vast scale, and eleven large quarto volumes or parts have appeared. Several more volumes are yet to come. Dravidian religion. Whitehead, The Village Gods of South India, Oxford University Press, 1916 ; Elmore, Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism, Hamilton, N.Y., 1915 (reprinted from University Studies of the University of Nebraska, 1915). 1 The Tamil Land of early ages was much more extensive than the area in which Tamil is now spoken. It included the Kanarese, Malayalam, and Tulu-speaking countries. Ceylon, too, was in close relations with the Tamil- speaking peoples of the mainland. The jewels and spices of the island may therefore be reckoned among the attractions of Tamil Land. The Telugu -speaking country possessed cotton manufactures and diamond mines. 16 ANCIENT INDIA CHAPTER 2 Literature and Civilization of the Vedic and Epic Periods ; the Puranas ; caste. Isolation of the oldest literature. The Vedic Indo-Aryans, whose progress has been sketched- in bare outline, are known to us through their literature only, which is all, or almost all, so ancient that it cannot be illustrated either by contemporary books or from monuments. No literature in any Indo-European or Aryan language is nearly as old as the hymns of the Rigveda, which ' stands quite by itself, high up on an isolated peak of remote antiquity ' ; and even if some literary fragments from Egypt or Babylonia in languages of different families be as old, they do not help us to understand the Vedic scriptures. No buildings of any thing like Vedic age survive in India, nor are there any contemporary material remains, except the copper tools and weapons of the north already mentioned, which may be reasonably assigned to an early stage of the Vedic period. The oldest Indo-Aryan litera ture, as a rule, must be interpreted by means of itself, and we must be content to learn from it alone what we can discover about the Indo-Aryans whose Rishis composed that literature. External sources of information are almost wholly wanting, but the Zend- Avesta, the scriptures of the ancient Iranians or Persians, although not so old as the Veda, contributes illustrative matter of value. The Veda ; faith and science. The oldest literature of the Indo-Aryans is known collectively as Veda, which means ' know ledge ' — the best of all knowledge in Hindu eyes. It is also desig nated in the plural as ' the Vedas ', '.the three Vedas ', or ' the four Vedas '. Most Hindus accept the whole Veda, forming in itself an enormous literature, as inspired revelation (sruti) in opposition to later venerable books classed as traditional learning (smriti). But the adherents of the Arya Samaj, and possibly those of some other sects, allow the rank of revealed matter to the hymns alone, while denying it to the rest of the Veda. The belief that the Vedas were revealed complete as they stand without any process of development seems to be widely held,1 and means for reconciling such belief with the results of scientific investigation of the documents may not be beyond the powers of human in genuity. In these pages theories of inspiration will not be further noticed, and the Vedic literature will be treated merely as what it professes to be, the production of individual men and a few women, who composed their works at times widely separated and with varying degrees of literary power. The Veda, regarded as literature, demands from students of humanity the most respectful attention on account of its remote antiquity, its unique character, and the light which it sheds upon 1 Hopkins (p. 3) quotes the saying : Na hi chhandansi kriyanle, nityani chhanddnsi; ' Vedic verses are not made, they are eternal.' VEDIC PERIOD 17 the evolution of mankind, especially in India. The Rigveda, as Whitney observes, contains ' the germs of the whole after-develop ment of Indian religion and polity '. Definition of the Veda. Opinions have varied concerning the definition of the Veda. Kautilya, in the Arthasastra ascribed to the fourth century b. c, states that ' the three Vedas, Sama, Rik, and Yajus, constitute the triple Vedas. .These together with Atharvaveda and the Itihasaveda are known as the Vedas. . . . Purana, Itivritta (history), Akhyayika (tales), Udaharana (illustrative stories), Dharmasastra, and Arthasastra are (known by the name) Itihasa.' 1 Kautilya's definition is wider than that ordinarily accepted, which excludes the later, although ancient literature comprised by him under the comprehensive term Itihasa, Common usage recognizes four and only four Vedas, namely (1) the Rigveda,2 (2) the Samaveda, (3) the Yajurveda, and (4) the Atharvaveda. The claim of the last named to be included in the canon has not always been recognized, and not long ago it could be said that ' the most influential Brahmans of southern India still refuse to accept the authority of the fourth Veda, and deny its genuineness '. But for most people the Vedas are four, and must be described as such. Contents of the Veda. The essential fundamental part of each of the four Vedas is a samhita, or collection of metrical hymns, prayers, spells, or charms, mixed in some cases with prose passages. But certain supplementary writings are also considered by general consent to be actually part of the Vedas, and are regarded by many Hindus as inspired revelation like the samhitds. Those supplements written in prose are the Brdhmanas and the Upanishads. The Brdhmanas are theological and ritual treatises designed as manuals of worship and explanations of the samhitds. They are of consider ably later date than the verses but still very ancient, and in some cases preserve the written accent, which was disused very early. They are the oldest examples of Indo-European or Aryan con tinuous prose composition. The Brdhmanas include certain mystic treatises called Aranyakas, or ' Forest-books ', supposed to be ' imparted or studied in the solitude of the forest '. The Upanishads, exceeding a hundred in number, are philosophical tracts or books, ' which belong to the latest stage of Brahmana 1 Arthasastra, revised translation by R. Shama Sastri (Bangalore Government Press, 1915), Book I, chaps. 3, 5, pp. 7, 11. Kautilya, it will be observed, places the Samaveda first. 2 The name Rigveda is a compound of the words rich and veda, ch becoming g by the rules of sandhi. Rich signifies ' any prayer or hymn in which a deity is praised. As these are mostly in verse, the term becomes also applicable to such passages of any Veda as are reducible to measure according to the rules of prosody. The first Veda, in Vyasa's compilation comprehending most of these texts, is called the Rigveda ; or as expressed in the Commentary on the Index, " because it abounds in such texts (rich) " ' (Colebrooke). 18 ANCIENT INDIA literature '. Certain of the Upanishads are the parts of the Veda best known to Hindu readers in modern days, as being the founda tion of the later and more systematic Vedanta philosophy. The Sutras. The Sutras, 'compendious treatises dealing with Vedic ritual on the one hand, and with customary law on the other ', are admitted by all to rank only as traditional learning (smriti), but they are usually regarded as included in the Veda. They are written in a laboriously compressed style, sometimes approaching the structure of algebraic formulas, unintelligible without the help of authoritative commentaries. Such exaggerated value used to be attached to mere brevity of expression that a sutra writer was supposed to derive as much pleasure from the saving of a short vowel as from the birth of a son. The Sutras comprise the Srauta, dealing with the ritual of the greater sacrifices; the Grihya, explaining the ceremonial of household worship ; and Dharma, treating of social and legal usage. The third section is that which mainly concerns the historian, being the foundation of the Dharmasdstras, such as the well-known Laws of Manu, so called. Sama- and Yajurvedas. Having enumerated the principal classes of works usually included in the Veda, we return to the metrical samhitds which are the real Veda. Only two need be noticed particularly, because the Sama- and Yajurvedas are com paratively unimportant. The former is a hymn-book, ' practically of no independent value, for it consists entirely of stanzas (excepting only 75) taken from the Rigveda and arranged solely with reference to their place in the Soma sacrifice '. The Yajurveda, which also borrows much matter from the Rigveda and exists in several forms, is a book of sacrificial prayers, and includes some prose formulas. The Rigveda samhita. The Rigveda unquestionably is the oldest part of the literature and the most important of the Vedas from the literary point of view. The samhitd contains 1,017 (or by another reckoning 1,028) hymns, arranged in ten books, of which the tenth certainly is the latest. The collection about equals in bulk the Iliad and Odyssey together. Books II- VII, known as the ' family books ', because they are attributed to the members of certain families, form ' the nucleus of the Rigveda, to which the remaining books were successively added '. Difficulties of the Vedic hymns. The Vedic hymns present innumerable difficulties to the student. The language and grammar, which differ widely from those of the • classical ' Sanskrit, require profound expert investigation before the verses can be compelled to yield sense so as to permit the text to be construed. Even when a literal version in more or less grammatical English has been produced, the meaning behind the words often eludes the translator. The ideas of the Rishis are so remote from those of the modern world that the most learned Sanskritist, whether Indian or foreign, may fail to grasp them. Interpretations consequently differ to an enormous extent, and after all possible has been said and done much remains obscure. Subject to such inherent difficulties and VEDIC PERIOD 19 to necessary limitations of space, I will try to give the reader some slight notion of the contents of the Rigveda and Atharvaveda hymnals, to indicate the nature of the poets' religion, and to draw a faint sketch of the social condition of the Indo-Aryans. The poetry of the Veda. Professor Macdonell observes that -by far the greater part of the poetry of the Rigveda consists of religious lyrics, only the tenth [and latest] book containing some secular poems. . . . The Rigveda is not a collection of primitive popular poetry. ... It is rather a body of skilfully composed hymns produced by a sacerdotal class,' for use in a ritual which was not so simple as has been sometimes supposed. The metres and arrangement are the highly artificial work of persons who may be justly called learned, although probably ignorant of the art of writing. The same competent critic holds that, although the poetry is often marred for our taste by obvious blemishes, the diction is generally simple and unaffected, the thought direct, and the imagery frequently beau tiful or even noble. The poems naturally vary much in literary merit, having been composed by many diverse authors at different times. The best may be fairly called sublime, while the worst are mechanical and commonplace. Subject-matter. Most of the hymns are invocations addressed to the gods, conceived as the powers of nature personified. Agni, or Fire, and Indra, primarily the god of thunder, and secondarily the god of battle, are the favourite deities. Indeed the religion may be regarded as being .based upon fire-worship. The gods are represented as great and powerful, disposed to do good to their worshippers, and engaged in unceasing conflict with the powers of evil. The poets usually beg for material favours and seek to win the deity's good will by means of prayers and sacrifices. Nothing indicates that images were used as aids to worship. The Heaven or Sky, personified as Varuna, is the subject of striking poems, and the Sun is addressed as Surya, or by other names in several compositions of much merit. Two specimens of Rigveda poetry may help readers to form some estimate of the poetic skill of the Rishis and to appreciate their religious aspirations. Hymn to the Dawn. The first is part of a hymn to the Dawn (Ushas), who is styled by Professor Macdonell ' this fairest creation of Vedic poetry '. The rendering is his. To the Dawn (R. V., i, 113 ; Hist, of Sanskrit Liter. (1900), p. 83.) There Heaven's Daughter has appeared before us, The maiden flushing in her brilliant garments. Thou sovran lady of all earthly treasure, Auspicious Dawn, flush here to-day upon us. In the sky's framework she has shone with splendour ; The goddess has cast off the robe of darkness. Wakening up the world with ruddy horses, Upon her well-yoked chariot Dawn is coming. 20 ANCIENT INDIA Bringing upon it many bounteous blessings, Brightly shining, she spreads her brilliant lustre. Last of the countless morns that have gone by, First of bright morns to eome has Dawn arisen. Arise ! the breath, the life, again has reached us : Darkness has gone away and light is coming. She leaves a pathway for the sun to travel : We have arrived where men prolong existence. The tenth book. Commentators have different views concerning the exact meaning of the Rigvedic mythology, some denying that the gods addressed severally were really regarded as separate beings. However that may be,the latest book, the tenth, exhibits a somewhat advanced aspect of religious thought which prepares the way for the speculations of the Upani hads and the Vedanta. From among the many versions of the celebrated Creation Hymn, ' the earliest specimen of Aryan philosophic thought ', I choose the metrical rendering by Max Miiller, who wrote it with the aid of a friend. Creation Hymn (R. V., x, 129 ; Chips from a German Workshop (1869), vol. i, p. 78). Nor Aught nor Nought existed ; yon bright sky Was not, nor heaven's broad woof outstretched above. What covered all ? what sheltered ? what concealed ? Was it the water's fathomless abyss ? There was not death — yet was there nought immortal, There was no confine betwixt day and night; The only One breathed breathless by itself, Other than It there nothing since has been. Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled In gloom profound — an ocean without light — ¦ The germ that still lay covered in the husk Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat. Then first came love upon it, the new spring Of mind ' — yea, poets in their hearts discerned, Pondering, this bond between created things And uncreated. Comes this spark from earth Piercing and all-pervading, or from heaven? Then seeds were sown, and mighty powers arose — Nature below, and power and will above — Who knows the secret ? who proclaimed it here, Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang? The Gods themselves came later into being — Who knows from whence this great creation sprang? He from whom all this great creation came, Whether his will created or was mute, The Most High Seer that is in highest heaven, He knows it — or perchance even He knows not. The Atharvaveda. The Atharvaveda or Atharvana is described as being on the whole ' a heterogeneous collection of spells . . . 1 Macdonell translates better : Desire then at the first arose within it, Desire, which was the earliest seed of spirit. VEDIC PERIOD 21 a collection of the most popular spells current among the masses ', and consequently breathing the spirit of a prehistoric age. Some of its formulas may go back to the most remote ages prior even to the separation of the Indo-Aryans from the Iranians. The fact that the book preserves so much old-world lore makes it rather more interesting and important for the history of civilization than the Rigveda itself. But it is far inferior as literature. The Atharvaveda may now be read at small cost in the literal anno tated version by Whitney as revised by Lanman. Although every line has been Englished word for word, mueh remains unintelligible as it stands in the translation. A specimen spell. A specimen, selected chiefly because it is short, will illustrate the character of the spells, and the extreme obscurity of the subject-matter. Against the Poison of Snakes (A. V., vi, 12, Whitney and Lanman, vol. i, p. 289.) '1. I have gone about the race of snakes, as the sun about the sky, as night about living creatures other than the swan ; thereby do I ward off thy poison. 2. What was known of old by priests, what by seers, what by gods ; what is to be, that has a mouth — therewrth do I ward off thy poison. 3. With honey I mix the streams ; the rugged mountains are honey ; honey is the Parushni [a river], the Sipala ; weal be to thy mouth, weal to thy heart.' Such sentences read very like nonsense at first sight. They must, of course, have had a definite meaning for the author, which may be discoverable, but it is not easy to make sense of them. The spell quoted is a perfectly fair sample'of the collection and the translation. A notable poem. Fortunately, the Atharvaveda includes some compositions of a higher order, although, as Lanman observes, they are ' few indeed '. The best known of such passages, that expressing the omniscience of the heavens personified as Varuna, deserves quotation. The sentiments and diction find many echoes in the Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament. The Omniscience of Varuna (A. V., iv, 16, 1-5 ; after Muir, in Kaegi, p. 65.) , As guardian, the Lord of worlds Sees all things as if near at hand. In secret what 'tis thought to do That to the gods is all displayed. Whoever moves or stands, who glides in secret, Who seeks a hiding-place, or hastens from it, What thing two men may plan in secret council, A third, King Varuna, perceives it also. And all this earth King Varuna possesses, His the remotest ends of yon broad heaven ; And both the seas in Varuna lie hidden,1 But yet the smallest water-drop contains him. 1 ' Also the two oceans are Varuna's paunches ' (Lanman) ; ' The loins of Varuna are these two oceans ' (Macdonell). 22 ANCIENT INDIA Although I climbed the furthest heaven, fleeing, I should not there escape the monarch's power ; From heaven his spies descending hasten hither, With all their thousand eyes the world surveying. Whate'er exists between the earth and heaven, Or both beyond, to Varuna lies open. The winkings of each mortal eye he numbers, He wields the universe, as dice a player. The Indo-Aryan tribes. The Indo-Aryan invasion or immigra tion evidently was a prolonged movement of a considerable number of tribes, five or more, apparently related one to the other, who called themselves collectively Aryas, as the Iranians did.1 The term Arya, which seems originally to have meant merely ' kinsman ', was understood in later times to imply nobility or respectability of birth, as contrasted with Anarya, ' ignoble '• The habits of the tribes, while dwelling to the west of the Indus, were those of an agricultural and pastoral people, who reckoned their wealth in terms of cows. The description of the Indo-Aryans by some writers of authority as ' nomads ' is opposed to the evidence of the hymns. Many passages of the Rigveda, both in the earliest and the latest books, testify to the habitual cultivation of yava, which primarily means ' barley ', but may include wheat, which is not mentioned separately.2 The tribes as they settled down in interior India naturally would have become more agricultural and less pastoral, like the Gujars and Ahirs of later ages. Some of the tribal names, as, for example, Puru and Chedi,3 survived into the Epic period, while many died out. Each tribe was a group of families, and in each family the father was master. The whole tribe was governed by a Raja, whose power was checked to an undefined extent by a tribal council. The tribes dwelt in fortified villages, but there were no towns. The details recorded suggest that the life of the people was not unlike that of many tribes of Afghanistan in modern times before the introduction of fire-arms.4 Arts of peace and -war. The bow and arrow were the principal weapons, but spears and battle-axes were not unknown. Chariots, each carrying a driver and a fighting man, were employed in battle, 1 Compare the story of the gradual Hellenization of the land of Greece (Bury, chap, i, sec. 4). 2 e.g. R. V., x, 134, 2 'As men whose fields are full of barley reap the ripe corn removing it in order ' ; and vii, 67, 10 ' barley cut or gathered up ' (Griffith). Barley is grown all over north-western India, in Afghanistan and in the Himalayan valleys up to a height of 14,000 feet. Rice, unknown to the Rigveda, is often mentioned in the Atharvaveda, e.g. iv, 34, 35. But the theory that the Indians originally were nomads is supported by Megasthenes, who was told that 'the Indians were in old times nomads like those Scythians who do not plough but wander about in their waggons, &c.' (Arrian, Indika, chap. 7). 3 Puru seems to be the Poros of Greek authors. 1 Discussion concerning the original seat or home of the Aryans is omitted purposely, because no hypothesis on the subject seems to be established. VEDIC PERIOD 23 a fact which implies considerable advance in the mechanical arts. Armour was worn. The Rigvedic Indo-Aryans were also acquainted with the processes of weaving, tanning, and metallurgy, although their knowledge of iron is doubtful. We have seen that the copper implements of the Gangetic basin may reasonably be referred to Rigvedic times. Bronze tools and weapons were not ordinarily used. Gold was familiar and was made into jewellery. The tribes fought with each other when so disposed, but all united in hostility to the dark-skinned Indians, whom they despised, and whose lands they annexed. Diet. The Indo-Aryans, while sharing the ancient Iranian veneration for the cow, felt no scruple about sacrificing both bulls and cows at weddings or on other important occasions. The persons who took part in the sacrifice ate the flesh of the victim, whether bull, cow, or horse. But meat was eaten only as an exception. Milk was an important article of food, and was supple mented by cakes of barley or wheat (yava), vegetables, and fruit. Strong drinks. The people freely indulged in two kinds of intoxicating liquor, called soma and surd. The Parsees of Yezd and Kirman in Persia, as well as those of the Deccan and Bombay in India, who still occasionally offer soma sacrifices, identify the plant with one or other species of Asclepias or Sarcoslemma. The plants of that genus have a milky juice which can be trans formed into a rather unpleasant drink. But the real soma plant may have been different, and has not yet been clearly identified.1 Surd probably was a kind of beer. Soma juice was considered to be particularly acceptable to the gods, and was offered with elaborate ceremonial. kThe Samaveda provides the chants appro priate for the ceremonies. Amusements. Amusements included dancing, music, chariot- racing, and dicing. Gambling with dice is mentioned so frequently in both the Rigveda and the later documents that the prevalence of the practice is beyond doubt. One stanza from the well-known ' Gambler's Lament ' (R. V ., x, 34, in Kaegi, p. 84) may be quoted : My wife rejects me and her mother hates me ; The gamester finds no pity for his troubles. No better use can I see for » gambler, Than for a costly horse worn out and aged. Dimness of the picture. When all possible care has been bestowed on the drawing of the outline, it must be confessed that the picture of the Indo-Aryans in the Rigvedic period remains indistinct and shadowy. The impossibility of fixing the age of the poems or of the life which they illustrate within limits defined even approximately leaves the Indo-Aryans suspended in the air, so to speak, and unconnected with any ascertained historical realities. The difficulties of the language of the poems, the strange modes of expression, and the remoteness of the ideas hinder 1 Kautilya prescribes that ' Brahmans shall be provided with forests for soma plantation ' (Arthasastra, Book II, chap. 2). See also Jalakas, Nos. 525 and 537. 24 ANCIENT INDIA a vivid realization of the people by whom and for whom the litera ture was produced. The matter of the greater part of the Atharva veda, as already observed, produces an impression of prehistoric antiquity even deeper than that produced by the Rigveda, although it is certain that the book, as a book, is later in date. Vedic Aryans and Hinduism. However dim may be the picture of the life of the Vedic Indo-Aryans, it is plain that their religion and habits differed materially from those of Hindus in modern or even in early historical times. The detestation of cow-slaughter and the loathing for beef, which are to-day the most prominent outward marks of Hinduism, have been so for many centuries, perhaps for something like two thousand years. The Indo-Aryans had not those marks. It is quite certain that they freely sacrificed bulls and cows and ate both beef and horse flesh on ceremonial occasions. Nevertheless, it is true that the roots of Hinduism go down into the Rigvedic age. The pantheon, that is to say, the gods viewed collectively, although widely different from that of Hinduism, contains the germs of later Hindu develop ments. Even now the Vedic deities are not wholly without honour, and in southern India the Nambudri Brahmans 1 of Malabar devote their lives to keeping up Vedic ritual as they understand it. The predominance of the Brahman had already begun when the Rigveda was composed, and the foundations of the caste system had thus been laid. The Yajurveda helps to bridge the gap between the Rigveda and Hinduism. It refers to the country between the Sutlaj and the Jumna, not to the Indus basin. The god Siva is introduced under that name, while Vishnu is more prominent than in the earlier work. The old nature worship has dropped into the background, and a much more mechanical form of religion, depending on elaborate cere monies and highly skilled priests, is described. Vedic political history. The hymns of the Rigveda contain abundant material for political history in the shape of names of kings, kingdoms, and tribes. They even describe battles and other incidents. The references occur in a manner so natural and incidental that in all probability they record a genuine tradition and are concerned with real events. But the utter impossibility of determining an even approximate chronology for either the hymns or the events mentioned in them renders the information almost valueless for historical purposes. The attempts made to connect the Vedic names with Hindu history by means of the long genealogies preserved in the Puranas and other works have failed to yield tangible results. Bharata, Sudas, Janamejaya, and other kings named in the hymns, although they may be accepted as real persons, cannot be invested with much interest from the historian's point of view. Historical geography. The study of the geographical data in the hymns is more fruitful, and throws a certain amount of light on the course of the Indo-Aryan migration and the origins of 1 The name is also written Nambutiri or Namburi. VEDIC PERIOD 25 Hinduism. In fact, the accepted belief in the Indo-Aryan immi gration from Central Asia depends largely on the interpretation of the geographical allusions in the Rigveda and Yajurveda. Direct testimony to the assumed fact is lacking, and no tradition of an early home beyond the frontier survives in India. The amount of geographical knowledge implied in the literature is considerable. Such knowledge in those ancient days could have been acquired only by actual travelling. The hymn ' In Praise of the Rivers (Nadi-stuti) ' in the tenth book (x. 75) is specially interesting as a display of geographical information. The author, while devoting his skill chiefly to the praises of the Sindhu or Indus, enumerates at least nineteen rivers, including the Ganges. The fifth stanza, which gives a list of ten streams, small and great, in order from east to west, is remarkable : Attend to this my song of praise, O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvatl, Sutudri, Parushni ; Together with Asiknl, O Marudvridha, and with Vitasta, O Arjikiya, listen with Sushoma. The names of the Ganges, Jumna, and Sarasvatl remain unchanged. The Sutudri is the modern Sutlaj, although its course has been greatly altered. The Parushni is supposed to be the Ravi. The Asiknl and Vitasta undoubtedly mean respectively the Akesines or Chinab, and the Vyath or Jhelum. The Marudvridha is the Maruwardwan, which flows from north to south through the Maru valley of the Kashmir-Jamu State, and joins the Chinab on its northern bank at Kashtwar. The Sushoma is the Sohan in the Rawalpindi District, and the Arjikiya probably is the Kanshi in the same district. The mention of the Marudvridha is surprising, and it is difficult to understand how a stream of so little importance, hidden away among high mountains in an almost inaccessible valley, can have come to the knowledge of the author. The list suggests matter for curious speculation.1 River changes. It is of much importance, as already observed, that careful students of early Indian history and interpreters of the Vedas or other ancient records should bear in mind the fact that the snow-*fed rivers of northern India have undergone immense changes even within historical times. The entire Indus system has been subject to tremendous transformations both in the mountains and in the plains. Earthquakes, elevations, subsidences, and landslips have affected the upper courses of the rivers, while the changes in the soft alluvium of the plains have occurred frequently on a gigantic scale and are still in progress. Some rivers, notably the Hakra or Wahindah, which once formed the boundary between Sind and Hind, have ceased to exist. Others, like the Kurram in the west and the Sarasvatl in the east, which 1 See Max Miiller, India, What can it Teach us (1883), pp. 163-75 ; Stein in J. R. A. S., 1917, p. 91 ; and the translations by Griffith and others. I think the Arjikiya must be the Kanshi, and not as Stein suggests. 26 ANCIENT INDIA once were violent and impetuous, have dwindled into feeble, inconsiderable streams. The positions of the confluences in both the Indus and the Gangetic systems have shifted many miles. The existing delta of the Indus has been formed since the time of Alexander the Great. The whole group of rivers connected with or related to the Sutlaj has been completely transformed more than once. The Sutlaj itself has wandered over a bed eighty-five miles in width. Illustrations of the subject might be adduced in endless detail. What has been said may suffice to inspire caution in the interpretation of ancient texts and in attempts to identify places mentioned in those texts.1 Vedangas and Upavedas. Two supplementary sections of the vast Vedic literature which are known as Vedangas (' members of the Veda ') and Upavedas (' subsidiary Vedas ') may be briefly mentioned. The Vedangas comprise six groups of treatises written in the sutra style on subjects more or less closely connected with ritual or the preservation of the Vedic texts. The subjects are : (1) pho netics or pronunciation (siksha); (2 ) metre (chhandas); (3)grammar (vydkarana) ; (4) etymology (nirukti or nirukta) ; (5) religious practice (kalpa) ; and (6) astronomy, or rather astrology (jyotisha). The Upavedas treat of more distinctly secular subjects, namely: (1) medicine (Ayurveda) ; (2) war, or literally ' archery ' (Dhanur- veda) ; (3) music (Gandharvaveda) ; and (4) architecture and art (Arthasastra).2 Vedanta. The term Vedanta (' end of the Veda ' ) is now commonly applied to the philosophy taught in most of the Upani shads. So used it is interpreted to mean the ' final goal of the Veda '. In practice many people when speaking of the Vedas mean the Upanishads, and by them the Vedanta is regarded as ' the ultimate bound of knowledge '. In a more literal sense the term means the treatises, namely, the Upanishads, appended to the end of the Brahmanas. The concise phrase tat tvam asi, ' that art thou' , is accepted as summing up the ontology of the Vedanta. The epics. When passing from the Vedic lyrics to the Sanskrit epics we enter a new world. Not only are the grammar, vocabulary, 1 Students who desire to appreciate the force of the remarks in the text should read, mark, and digest Raverty's difficult memoir entitled ' The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries ; a Geographical and Historical Study ' in J. A. S. B., vol. lxi, part 1, 1892. Unfortunately the copious matter is ill arranged, so that the treatise is exceptionally hard reading. It deals chiefly with the Indus, pp. 297-317 ; Hydaspes or Vitasta, pp. 318-36 ; Chinab, pp. 336-52 ; Ravi, pp. 352-71 ; Bias, pp. 372-90 ; Sutlaj, pp. 391-418 ; Hakra, pp. 418-22 and 454-66. Discussion of results occupies pp. 469-508. I have learned much by repeated reading of the disquisition. For extensive changes in the rivers of the far south see The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago, 1904, p. 236. 2 Weber, History of Indian Literature (Trubner, 1882), pp. 271, 273. The term Arthasastra has another meaning in Kautilya's work on state craft. EPIC PERIOD 27 metres, and style different, but the religion has been transformed and social conditions have been profoundly modified. Before those changes can be further considered it is necessary to explain briefly the character of the epics regarded as books. Two huge poems or masses of verses, the Ramdyana and the Mahdbharata, are commonly described as epics. The Ramayana. The Ramdyana deserves the name of epic because it is essentially a single long narrative poem composed by one author named Valmiki, and is devoted to the celebration of the deeds of the hero Rama with due regard to the rules of poesy. The work is in fact the first example of the Sanskrit Kdvya or artificially designed narrative poem. The simple, easily intelligible style, while free from the ingenuities and verbal gym nastics favoured by later authors, is by no means devoid of orna ment. Five out of the seven books seem to constitute the epic as conceived by Valmiki. Critics regard the first and last books as later additions. Episodes unconnected with the story are few. The grammar and language, which are'; gemote from those of the Veda, closely approximate to those of ' classical ' Sanskrit. The poem is known in three different recensions, the variations being- due to the liberties taken by professional reciters. It is not possible to determine which form represents the original composed by Valmiki, but the Bombay recension on the whole seems to preserve the oldest text. The text of narrative poems not being regarded as sacred like that of the Vedas, no obligation to preserve its purity was recognized. The seven books contain about 24,000 slokas, or 48,000 lines. Theme of the Ramayana. The main theme is the story of Prince Rama, the son of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya by Queen Kausalya. The jealousy of Kaikeyi, the second queen, drove Rama into exile and secured possession of the throne for her son, Bharata. Lakshmana, the third prince, voluntarily shared the exile of Rama and Sita his beloved wife. The adventures of the banished prince, the abduction of Sita by Ravana, the giant king of Lanka, the aid given to the prince by Hanuman, king of the monkeys, the vindication of Sita from unjust aspersions on her chastity, and a thousand other incidents are even more familiar to Hindus in every part of India than the Bible stories are to the average European Christian. The story ends happily, and Rama shares the kingdom with Bharata. ¦ The heroic legend thus indicated has been edited by Brahmans so as to transform the poem into a book of devotion consecrated to the service of God in the form of Vishnu. Rama, who is pictured as an incarnation of the deity, has thus become the man-god and saviour of mankind in the eyes of millions of devout worshippers, who have his name in the ejaculation, ' Ram, Ram ', continually on their lips. He is venerated as the ideal man, while his wife, Sltsj,, is reverenced as the model of womanhood. Hindus unac quainted with Sanskrit bathe in ' the lake of the deeds of Ram ' by the help of vernacular translations or imitations, among which 28 ANCIENT INDIA the most celebrated is the noble poem entitled the Rdm-charit mdnas, composed by Tulsi Das in the days of Akbar. The moral teaching of the Rdmdyana in all its forms tends to edification, and the influence of Tulsi Das in particular may be truly described as wholly on the side of goodness. The Mahabharata. The Mahabhdrata, as we possess it in two recensions, a northern and a southern, cannot be designated correctly as an epic poem. It is a gigantic mass of compositions by diverse authors of various dates extending over many centuries, arranged in eighteen books or parvans, with a supplement called the Harivamsa, which may be reckoned as the nineteenth book. The number of slokas exceeds 100,000, and the lines consequently are more than 200,000. The Harivamsa contains over 16,000 slokas. The episodes, connected by the slightest possible bonds with the original narrative nucleus, constitute about four-fifths of the whole complex mass, which has the character of an 'encyclo paedia of moral teaching ' as conceived by the Brahman mind. The epic portion. The subject of the truly epic portion of the Mahabhdrata is the Great War between the Kauravas, the hun dred sons of Dhritarashtra, led by Duryodhana, and the Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu, brother of Dhritarashtra, led by Yudhi- shthira. The poet relates all the circumstances leading up to the war, and then narrates the tale of the fierce conflict which raged for eighteen days on the plain of Kurukshetra near Thanesar, to the north of modern Delhi and the ancient Indraprastha.1 All the nations and tribes of India from the Himalaya to the farthest south are represented as taking . part in this combat of giants. The Pandava host comprised the armies of the states situated in the countries equivalent to the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Western Bihar, and Eastern Rajputana, with contingents from Gujarat in the west and from the Dravidian kingdoms of the extreme south. The Kaurava cause was upheld by the forces of Eastern Bihar, Bengal, the Himalaya, and the Panjab. The battles ended in the utter destruction of nearly all the combatants on both sides, excepting Dhritarashtra and the Pandavas. But a reconciliation was effected between the few survivors, and Yudhishthira Pandava was recognized as king of Hastinapur on the Ganges. Ultimately, the five sons of Pandu, accompanied by Draupadi, the beloved wife of them all, and attended by a faithful dog, quitted their royal state, and journeying to Mount Meru were admitted into Indra's heaven. The epic narrative, thus inadequately summarized, now occupies about 20,000 slokas, but in its earliest form comprised only '8,800. That fact, which is clearly recorded, proves beyond doubt the unlimited rehandling which the Mahdbhdrata has undergone at the hands of professional reciters, poets of different ages, and Brahman editors. The mediaeval Hindi epic, the Chand-Raisd, has been subjected to similar treatment and expanded from 1 See map on p. 29. The caution that the rivers have changed immensely must be remembered. The map shows only the courses as in recent times. EPIC PERIOD 29 5,000 to 125,000 verses. The original form of that poem is said to be still in existence. The Bhagavad-G-ita., &c. The profound philosophical poem called the Bhagavad-Gitd, which may be Englished as ' the Lord's Song ', or in Edwin Arnold's phrase as ' the Song Celestial ', divided into eighteen chapters or discourses, has been thrust into the sixth book of the Mahabhdrata. 30 ANCIENT INDIA Other notable episodes, or inserted poems, are the charming tale of Nala and Damayanti, accessible in Milman's elegant English version ; the story of Sakuntala, forming the groundwork of Kalidasa's play ; and the legend of Savitri, the Hindu Alcestis. Age of the epics. The separate heroic and legendary tales imbedded in both the Ramdyana and the Mahabhdrata may in some cases go back to the most remote antiquity, but both of the epics in their existing form are far later than any of the Vedic hymns, and probably posterior to all the Brdhmanas. The two epics, as Hopkins has proved in detail, are intimately related and include a large number of substantially identical verses. The language of both belongs essentially to the same period in the development of Sanskrit. Probably the greater part of the existing text of the Mahabhdrata was complete by a. d. 200, but the work as a whole cannot be said to belong to any one era. The original work of Valmiki, that is to say, Books II — VI of the Ramdyana, is believed by Professor Macdonell to have been completed before the epic kernel of the Mahabhdrata had assumed definite shape. The Ramayana not historical. Most Hindus regard the epic narratives as statements of absolute historical facts, and would not be disturbed by sceptical criticism more than the ordinary unlearned Christian is by the so-called ' higher criticism ' of the Gospels.1 Foreign scholars, and even trained Indian scholars to a large extent, naturally look upon the poets' tales in a different light. Professors Jacobi and Macdonell, for instance, regard the Ramdyana as being neither historical nor allegorical, but a poetic creation based on mythology. That interpretation sees in Sita ('the furrow') an earth -goddess, and in Rama an equivalent of Indra. Such speculations may or may not be accepted, but I feel fairly certain that the Ramdyana does not hand down much genuine historical tradition of real events, either at Ayodhya or in the peninsula. The poem seems to me to be essentially a work of imagination, probably founded on vague traditions of the kingdom of Kosala and its capital Ayodhya. Dasaratha, Rama, and the rest may or may not be the names of real kings of Kosala, as recorded in the long genealogy of the solar line given in the Purdnas. But the investigation of the genealogies, on which a distinguished scholar has lavished infinite pains, is inconclusive, and the story of the epic is so interwoven with mythological fiction that it is impossible to disentangle the authen tic history. The attempts to fix an approximately definite date for the adventures of Rama rest on a series of guesses and are altogether unconvincing to my mind. The Great War. The traditional belief that the Great War of the Mahabharata actually was fought in the year 3102 B.C., the era of Yudhishthira, is strongly held. Although that date will hardly bear criticism, most people seem to be agreed that the poet of the original epic based his tale on the genuine tradition 1 ' According to the Hindu notion the stories which are called mythology by Europeans are nothing short of history ' (Ketkar, ii. 477). EPIC PERIOD 31 of a real Great War, just as the author of the Iliad had his imagina tion guided by dim recollections of an actual siege of Troy. The story, however, has been so much edited and moralized by different hands at times widely apart that little genuine tradition can be left. Persistent local memory undoubtedly has always recognized the sites of Hastinapura on the Ganges, the original Kaurava capital, and of Indraprastha on the Jumna, the newer town founded by the Pandavas. But nothing visible exists at either site to confirm the popular belief. Hastinapura is supposed to be marked by a small hamlet of the same name on the high bank of the Ganges in the Meerut District, and the absence of remains is explained by the theory that the ancient town has been washed away by the Ganges. Every tourist is familiar with the fact that the walled village of Indarpat, situated near the bank of the Jumna between Shahjahan's Delhi and Humayun's tomb, is pointed out as occupying part of the site of Indraprastha. The Nigambodh Ghat, or river stairs, and the Nilichatri temple farther north, near Salimgarh, are believed to have been included in the ancient city, the northern limit of which is supposed to have extended to 'the north-eastern end of the street called Dariba — almost in the heart of the modern city \x As at Hastinapur, no ancient remains of any sort have been found to support the identification of the site. The traditions fixing the positions of the two towns, however, may be accepted, and we may believe that a famous local war between the chiefs of Indraprastha and Hastinapura, supported severally by many tribes of northern India, occurred at a very remote date. Beyond that it is difficult to go. The reasons for believing that the Pandavas were, as Hopkins suggests, ' a new people from without the pale ', and for discrediting the alleged relationship between them and the Kauravas, are strong and cut at the root of the whole story. If the Pandavas were non-Aryan hill-men, which in my judgement is probable, the poets and editors have transformed the story of their doings to such an extent that nothing truly historical is left. The allegation that the chiefs of all India, including even the Pandyas from the extreme south of the peninsula, took part in the fray is absolutely incredible.2 Whether the date of the battle be placed about 3000 b. c, as some people argue, or two thousand years later, as others prefer, it is impossible that at either period distant powers like the Pandyas or the King of Assam (Pragjyo- tisha) should have been interested in the local quarrels between the Kauravas and Pandavas, which directly concerned only a small area in the neighbourhood of the city now called Delhi. The entire framework of the story is essentially incredible and 1 Carr Stephen, Archaeology and Monumental Remains of Delhi, LQdiana and Calcutta, 1876, p. 5. 2 Compare the ' catalogue of ships ' interpolated in the Iliad. As all Greece desired to be credited with a share in the Trojan war after it had been made famous by Homer, so all India claimed places in the Great War of the Mahabhdrata. 32 ANCIENT INDIA unhistorical. It may be that the royal genealogies for ages before and after the Great War, as recorded in the Purdnas at length and in the epics less fully, are not wholly fictitious. But even if it be admitted that the lists often give the names in the proper order with approximate correctness, and indicate the existence of certain real relations friendly or hostile between the princes of certain dynasties, we are still a long way from finding intelligible history. The attempt to construct a rationalized narrative out of the materials available rests on a series of assumptions and guesses which can never lead to conclusions of much value. I confess my inability to extract anything deserving the name of political history from the epic tales of either the Ramdyana or the Mahdbhdrala. Social conditions. Both poems describe much the same state of society ; but that proposition is subject to the qualification that certain parts of the Mahdbhdrala retain distinct traces of early practices, such as cow-killing and human sacrifice, which were regarded with horror when the later parts of the work were composed.1 Other features are clearly non-Aryan, notably the polyandry of the Pandavas, who all shared the one wife, Draupadi, after the manner of the Tibetans and certain other Himalayan tribes in the present day. The name Pandava means ' pale-face', and the conjecture seems to be legitimate that the sons of Pandu may have been the representatives of a yellow-tinted, Himalayan, non-Aryan tribe, which practised polyandry. That hypothesis involves the further inference (which may be supported for other reasons) that the alleged relationship between the Pandavas and the Kauravas was an invention of the Brahman editors who undertook to moralize the old tales and bring them all into the Aryan fold. The subject is too speculative for further discussion in this place. When the epics were finally recast in their present shape, be the date a. d. 200 or another, the doctrine of ahimsd, or non injury to living creatures, had gained the upper hand. It is taught emphatically in many passages, although others, as observed above, retain memories of older practices. The Vedic nature-worship had been mostly superseded by the cult of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. New gods and goddesses unknown to the Veda, such as Ganesa and Parvati, had arisen ; and the Vedic deities had been reduced to a subordinate position, except Indra, who still retained high rank as the king of the heaven which warriors hoped to attain. The doctrine of rebirth, often loosely called transmigration of souls, had become generally accepted, and the belief in the incarnations of Vishnu had been formulated. The Bhagavad-Gitd, of which the date is quite uncer tain, presents the Supreme Deity incarnate in the guise of the charioteer Krishna, who expounds the religion of duty, subject to the limitations of the four orders or varnas, in ' plain but noble language '. The tribal organization of the State is much less 1 For details and references see Vidya, p. 118, and Hopkins, p. 378. EPIC PERIOD 33; prominent than it was in the Vedic period, and territorial kingaoins had arisen. The life of the court of Ayodhya as depicted in the Rdmdyana is much the. same as that of any old-fashioned Hindu state in recent times. Caste was already an ancient institution, and it may be said with confidence that the atmosphere of the epic world is that of familiar Hinduism, with certain exceptions indicated above, which occur chiefly in the Mahabhdrata. The kingdoms mentioned were numerous and comparatively small. No hint seems to be given that a great paramount power existed. But it is not safe to affirm that the political and social conditions depicted in the epics are those of any one definite age. Both works as literary compositions may be roughly placed between 400 b.c. and a.d. 200. The Rdmdyana in its original form may have been composed by Valmiki in the earlier half of the six centuries thus indicated, and it seems probable that the redaction of the Mahabhdrata to something like its present shape took place in the later half of the same period. But determination of the dates of composition of the poems, if it could be effected, would not throw any light on the historical place of Rama, Arjuna, and the other epic heroes. They are, I think, the creatures of imagination, guided more or less by dim traditions of half-forgotten stirring events which happened ' once upon a time ', but cannot be treated as ascertained facts which came into existence at any particular period. The Indian epic heroes, in short, seem to me to occupy a position like that of the Knights of the Round Table in British legend, and it is as futile to attempt the distillation of matter-of- fact history, whether political or social, from the Mahdbhdrata and Rdmdyana as it would be to reconstruct the early history of Britain from the Morte d Arthur or from its modern version, the Idylls of the King. The Piiranas. The nature of the works called Pur anas which have been referred to demands brief explanation. The Purdnas commonly recognized in the north of India are eighteen in number. Others, about which little is known to European scholars, are used in the south. A Purdna, according to the Indian definition, best exemplified by the Vishnu Purdna, should treat of five subjects, namely, primary creation, secondary creation, genealogies of gods and patriarchs, reigns of various Manus, and the history of ancient dynasties. The treatises consequently are bulky and crowded with -legendary matter of various kinds. They have been well described by Biihler as * popular sectarian compilations of mytho logy, philosophy, history, and the sacred law ; intended, as they are now used, for the instruction of the unlettered classes, including the upper divisions of the Siidra varna '-1 Much of the contents comes down from remote antiquity, as the name Purdna, meaning ' old ', testifies, but the books as they stand are of various dates. The Vdyu Purdna, one of the oldest, finally edited perhaps in the fourth century after Christ, is closely connected with the supplement to the Mahdbhdrata entitled the Harivamsa, already 1 Laws of Manu, S.B.E., xxv, p. joii, 1976 34 ANCIENT INDIA mentioned. The Puranic genealogies of kings in prehistoric times, as intimated above, seem to be of doubtful value, but those of the historical period or Kali Age, from about £00 b. c, are records of high importance and extremely helpful in the laborious task of reconstructing the early political history of India. Each of the Purdnas is more or less specially consecrated to the service of a particular form of the godhead. Caste. The existing institution of caste is peculiar to India, is at least three thousand years old, is ' the most vital principle of Hinduism ', dominating Indian social life, manners, morals, and thought ; and is founded on the intellectual and moral superiority of the Brahmans, which dates from Rigvedic times. It consists essentially in the division of Hindu mankind into about three thou sand hereditary groups, each internally bound together by rules of ceremonial purity, and externally separated by the same rules from all other groups. Those propositions describing the institution of caste as it exists to-day in general terms are as accurate as any brief abstract description of an institution so complex can be. 'Definition of a caste. A caste may be defined as a group of families internally united by peculiar rules for the observance of ceremonial purity, especially in the matters of diet and marriage. The same rules serve to fence it off from all the other groups, each of which has its own set of rules. Admission to an established caste in long settled territory can be obtained nowadays by birth only, and transitions from one caste to another, which used to be feasible im ancient times, are no longer possible, except in frontier regions like Manipur. The families composing a caste may or may not have traditions of descent from a common ancestor, and, as a matter of fact, may or may not belong to one stock. Race, that is to say, descent by blood, has little concern with caste, in northern India, at all events, whatever may be the case in the south. The individual members of a caste may or may not be restricted to any particular occupation or occupations. The members may believe or disbelieve any creed or doctrine, religious or philosophical, without affecting their caste position. That can be forfeited only by breach of the caste regulations concerning the dharma, or practical duty of members belonging to the group. Each caste has its own dharma, in addition to the common rules of morality as accepted by Hindus generally, and considered to be the dharma of mankind. The general Hindu dharma exacts among other things reverence to Brahmans, respect for the sanctity of animal life in varying degrees, and especially veneration for horned cattle, pre-eminently the cow. Every caste man is expected to observe accurately the rules of his own group, and to refrain from doing violence to the feelings of other groups concerning their rules. The essential duty of the member of a caste is to follow the custom of his group, more particularly in relation to diet or marriage.1 1 ' Caste means a social exclusiveness with reference to diet and marriage. . . . Birth and rituals are secondary ' (Shama Sastri, The Evolution of Caste, p. 13). J CASTE 35 Violation of the rules on those subjects, if detected, usually involves unpleasant and costly social expiation and may result in expulsion from the caste, which means social ruin and grave inconvenience. The Hindus have not any name for the caste institution, which seems to them part of the order of nature. It is almost impossible for a Hindu to regard himself otherwise than as a member of some particular caste, or species of Hindu mankind. Everybody else who disregards Hindu dharma is an 'outer barbarian' (mlechchha) no matter how exalted his worldly rank or how vast his wealth may be. The proper Sanskrit and vernacular term for ' a caste ' is jdti (jdt), ' species ', although, as noted above, the members of a jdti are not necessarily descended from a common ancestor. Indeed, as a matter of fact, they are rarely, if ever, so descended. Their special caste rules make their community in effect a distinct species, whoever their ancestors may have been. The fiction of four original castes. The common notion that there were four original castes, Brahman, Kshatriya or Rajanya, Vaisya, and Sudra, is false. The ancient Hindu writers classified mankind under four varnas or ' orders ', with reference to their occupations, namely : (1 ) the learned, literate, and priestly order, or Brahmans; (2) the fighting and governing classes, who were grouped together as Rajanyas or Kshatriyas, irrespective of race, meaning by that term ancestry ; (3) the trading and agricultural people, or Vaisyas ; and (4) common, humble folk, day labourers, and so forth, whose business it was to Serve their betters. Every family and caste (jdti) observing Hindu dharma necessarily fell under one or other of those four heads. Various half-wild tribes, and also communities like sweepers, whose occupa tions are obviously unclean, were regarded as standing outside the four orders or varnas. Such unclean communities have usually imitated the Hindu caste organization and developed an elaborate system of castes of their own, which may be described by the paradoxical term ' outcaste castes '. Nobody can understand the caste system until he has freed himself from the mistaken notion based on the current interpreta tion of the so-called Institutes of Manu, that there were ' four original castes '. No four original castes ever existed at any time or place, and at the present moment the terms Kshatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra have no exact meaning as a classification of existing castes. In northern India the names Vaisya and Sudra are not used except in books or disputes about questions of caste precedence. In the south all Hindus who are not Brahmans fall under the denomination of Sudra, while the designations Kshatriya and Vaisya are practically unknown.1 The Purusha-sukta hymn. The .famous Purusha-sukta 1 According to the Census of 1901 for the Madras Presidency the figures are : Brahman, 3-4 per cent. ; Sudra, 94-3 = 97-7 per cent. The small resi duum is made up of a few Telingas and Kanarese who called themselves Kshatriyas or Vaisyas (Richards, The Dravidian Problem, p. 31). 36 ANCIENT INDIA hymn included in the latest book of the Rigveda (x, 90), -and commonly supposed to be ' the only passage in the Veda which enumerates the four castes ', has nothing to do with caste. The hymn has for its subject a cosmogony or theory of creation. The poet tries to pieture creation as the result of immolating and cutting up Purusha, that is to say ' embodied spirit, or Man personified and regarded as the soul and original source of the universe, the personal and life-giving principle in all animated beings '. The Vedas, horses, cattle, goats, and sheep, the creatures of the air, and animals both wild and tame are depicted as being products of that ' great general sacrifice '. The poet proceeds next to expound the creation of the human race, and finally, of the sun, moon, and elements. I quote Colebrooke's version because it is free from the effect of the prepossession of other translators, who, under the influence of Manu and his followers, have assumed the reality of a reference to the supposed ' four original castes '. ' 10. Into how many portions did they divide this being whom they immolated ? what did his mouth become ? what are his arms, his thighs, and his feet now called ? 11. His mouth became a priest [Brahmana] ; his arm was made a soldier [Rajanyd] ; his thigh was transformed into a husbandman [Vaisya] ; from his feet sprang the servile man (Sudra]. 12. The moon was produced from his mind ; the sun sprung from his eye ; air and breath proceeded from his ear ; and fire rose from his mouth. 13. The subtile element was produced from his navel ; the sky from his head ; the earth from his feet ; and space from his ear ; thus did he frame worlds.' 1 The general drift of the whole passage is plain enough. The verses give a highly figurative, imaginative theory of creation. Both the Brahman and fire come from Purusha's mouth, just as the servile man or Sudra and earth both proceed from his feet. No suggestion of the existence of caste groups is made. Mankind is simply and roughly classified under four heads according to occupation, the more honourable professions being naturally assigned the more honourable symbolical origin. It is absurd to treat the symbolical language of the poem as a narrative of supposed facts. Distinctions between varna and jati. Most of the misunder standing on the subject has arisen from the persistent mistransla tion of Manu's term varna as ' caste ', whereas it should be rendered ' class ' or ' order ', or by some equivalent term.2 1 Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays, 1873, vol. i, p. 184. 2 ' The words Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras were names of classes rather than of castes during the pre-Buddhistic period ' (Shama Sastri, p. 13). ' Varna, once a common name of all classes, perhaps taken from the colour of the garments that differed with different classes, as for example, white for the Brahmans, red for the Kshatriyas, yellow for the Vaisyas, and black for the Sudras, came to mean a caste in post-Bud dhistic literature ' (ibid., p. 44). CASTE 37 The compiler of the Institutes of Manu was well aware of the distinction between varna and jdti. While he mentions about fifty different castes, he lays much stress on the fact that there were only four varnas. The two terms are carelessly confused in one passage (x, 31), but in that only. Separate castes existed from an early date. Their relations to one another remain un affected whether they are grouped theoretically under four occupa tional headings or not. Enormous number of existing castes. My statement that three thousand distinct castes, more or less, exist at the present day is made on the authority of an estimate by Ketkar. Whether the number be taken as 2,000, 3,000, or 4,000 is immaterial, because the figure certainly is of that order. Many reasons, which it would be tedious to specify, forbid the preparation of an exact list of castes. One of those reasons is that new castes have been and still are formed from time to time. But the intricacies of the caste system in its actual working must be studied in the numerous special treatises devoted to the subject, which it is impossible to discuss in this work. Antiquity of the institution. The assertion made on an earlier page that the institution in some of its essential features is at least three thousand years old probably errs on the side of caution. We know that caste existed before 300 b-.c, because the most obvious features of the institution are noticed by the Greek authors of ascertained date ; and it is reasonable to believe that castes, separated from one another by rules of ceremonial purity, as they now are, were in existence at least six or seven centuries earlier. I do not find any indication of the existence of caste in Rigvedic times. But the pre-eminence of the ' Brahman sacrificers ', which was well assured even in that remote age, is the foundation of the later caste system. The people of the Rigveda had not yet become Hindus. The learned, priestly, and intellectually superior class of the Indo-Aryans who were called Brahmans gradually framed extremely strict rules to guard their own ceremonial purity against defilement through unholy food or undesirable marriages. The enforcement of such rules on themselves by the most respected members of the Indo-Aryan community naturally attracted the admiration of the more worldly classes of society, who sought to emulate and imitate the virtuous self-restraint of the Brahmans. It being clearly impossible that ordinary soldiers, business men, peasants, and servants could afford to be as scrupulous as saintly, or at least professedly religious Brahmans, a separate standard of dharma for each section of society necessarily grew up by degrees. Kings, for instance, might properly and must do things which subjects could not do without sin, and so on. The long-continued conflict with the aboriginal Indians, who held quite different ideals of conduct, made both the Brahmans and their imitators more and more eager to assert their superiority and exclusiveness by ever- increasing scrupulosity concerning both diet and marriage. 38 ANCIENT INDIA The evolution of caste. The geographical isolation of interior India favoured the evolution of a distinct and peculiar social system. A student of the Rigveda texts, without knowledge of historical facts, might reasonably presume that the Indus basin where the immigrants first settled would have become the Holy Land of Hinduism. The Rishis never tire of singing the praises of the mighty Indus with its tributary streams. But the strange fact is that the basin of the Indus, and even the Panjab beyond the Sutlaj, came to be regarded as impure lands by the Brahmans of interior India at quite an early date.1 Orthodox Hindus are still unwilling to cross the Indus, and the whole Panjab between that river and the Sutlaj is condemned as unholy ground, unfitted for the residence of strict votaries of dharma. The reason appa rently is that the north-western territories continued to be overrun by successive swarms of foreigners from Central Asia, who dis regarded Brahmans and followed their own customs. The inroads of those foreigners blotted out the memory of the Indo-Aryan immigration from the north-west, which is not traceable either in the popular Puranic literature or in the oral traditions of the people. To the east of the Sarasvatl and Sutlaj the Indo-Aryans were usually safe from foreign invasion and free to work out their own rule of life undisturbed. They proceeded to do so and thus to create Hinduism with its inseparable institution of caste. In ternally the Indian territory was broken up into a multitude of small units, each of which had a tendency towards an exclusive, detached way of living. Effect of ahimsa on caste. The sentiment in favour of respect ing animal life, technically called the ahimsa doctrine, had a large share in fixing on the necks of the people burdensome rules of conduct. That sentiment, which is known to have been actively encouraged by Jain and Buddhist teachers from about 500 b. c, probably originated at a much earlier date. The propagation of ahimsa necessarily produced a sharp conflict of ideas and principles of conduct between the adherents of the doctrine and the old- fashioned people who clung to bloody sacrifices, cow-killing, and meat eating. Communities which had renounced the old practices and condemned them as revolting impieties naturally separated themselves from their more easy-going and self-indulgent neigh bours, and formed castes bound strictly to maintain the novel code of ethics.2 The Mahdbhdrata, as already noted, contains many 1 The combined testimony of the Jatakas and the Greek authors proves that in the fourth century b.c. Taxila in the north-western Panjab still was a centre of Vedic learning. The change may have been due to the Indo-Seythian rule in the first two centuries a. c. 2 Mr. Shama Sastri, who believes the existing caste system to be of comparatively modern post-Buddhistic origin, expresses his view of the effect of Jain and Buddhist teaching in language stronger than I am disposed to use : ' It is easy to perceive that if the Brahmans of the Gupta period ceased to continue to observe the long-established custom of marrying wives CASTE 39 inconsistent passages which indicate the transition from the ancient ideas to the new. The same conflict of ideals and practice still goes on, and may be observed in many localities of both southern and northern India. The first Rock Edict of Asoka, published about 256 b. c, enables us to fix one date in the long story and to mark an early instance of the change of attitude produced by Buddhist teaching. ' Formerly, in the kitchen of His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the King each day many [hundred] thousands of living creatures were slaughtered to make curries. But now, when this pious edict is being written, only three living creatures are slaughtered daily for curry, to wit, two peacocks and one antelope — the antelope, however, not invariably. Even those three living creatures henceforth shall not be slaughtered.' Any person acquainted with modern India does not need to be told how the habit of flesh or fish eating separates certain castes from their vegetarian brethren. Effect of the Muhammadan conquest. It is impossible to pursue the subject, which branches off into endless ramifications. One more observation may be recorded to the effect that the process of the Muhammadan conquest, from the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, tended to tighten the bonds of caste. The Hindus, unable on the whole to resist the Muslims in the field, defended themselves passively by the increased rigidity of caste association. The system of close caste brotherhoods undoubtedly protected Hindus and Hinduism during many centuries of Muslim rule. Modern Hinduism is incapable of accepting the old legal fiction that foreign outsiders should be regarded as fallen Kshatriyas. When the compiler of the Laws of Manu was writing it seemed quite natural to treat Persians, Dards, and certain other foreign nations as Kshatriyas who had sunk to the condition of Sudras by reason of their neglect from the three lower classes, it was not from any intention to preserve the purity of their blood, for it was already tainted and saturated with that of the other classes. It appears to be mainly an act of self-preservaljon against the charge of sexual intemperance brought by the Jaina and Buddhist monks. It is also easy to perceive that if they discontinued the immemorial custom of eating flesh and drinking liquor along with the employment of flesh-eating people as cooks in their households, it was not from any love of vegetarianism, but mainly from a determined effort to avoid the charges of intemperance and cruelty to animals brought against them by the Buddhists. Thus the passing of the Brahmans from class life into caste life was . . . brought about against the will of the Brahmans themselves ; for it demands a good deal of self-denial to give up the pleasures of the bed and the table. As a compensation for this self-denial, the reformed or reforming Brah mans apparently perceived a decided advantage accruing to themselves ; for that reform moved a death-blow to the existence of Buddhism itself. . . . Thus, with the introduction of flesh and liquor as articles of diet not condemned for the common people, the Vaisyas and Sudras seem to have formed themselves into separate castes, following the Brahmans ' (p. 11). Those propositions seem to me to be only slightly exaggerated expressions of important truths. 40 ANCIENT INDIA of sacred rites and their failure to consult Brahmans (x, 44). The change in the Hindu attitude towards foreigners seems to be mainly due to the Muhammadan conquest. We may take it that from the eleventh and twelfth centuries of the Christian era the caste institution has subsisted in substantially its modern form. That proposition is subject to the qualification that minor local and superficial modifications are taking place con tinually. But the institution as a whole remains unchanged and unshaken. Demerits of caste. The demerits of the peculiar Hindu institu tion are obvious. Anybody can perceive that it shuts off Indians from free association with foreigners, thus making it difficult for the Indian to understand the foreigner, and for the stranger to understand the Indian. It is easier for the English adminis trator to attain full sympathy with the casteless Burman than it is for him to draw aside the veil which hides the inmost thoughts of the Chitpawan or Nambudri Brahman. No small part of the mystery which ordinarily confines interest in Indian subjects to a narrow circle of experts is due ultimately to caste. It is not pleasant for an Englishman or Frenchman to know that, however distinguished he may be personally, the touch of his hand is regarded as a pollution by his high-caste acquaintance. Yet that is the disagreeable fact. Within India caste breaks up society into thousands of separate units, frequently hostile one to the other, and always jealous. The institution necessarily tends to hinder active hearty co-operation for any purpose, religious, political, or social. All reformers are conscious of the difficulties thus placed in their path. Each individual finds his personal liberty of action checked in hundreds of ways unknown to the dwellers in other lands. The restrictions of caste rules collide continually with the conditions of modern life, and are the source of endless inconveni ences. The institution is a relic of the ancient past and does not readily adapt itself to the requirements of the twentieth century. Although necessity compels even the strictest Brahmans to make some concessions to practical convenience, as, for instance, in the matters of railway travelling and drinking pipe water, the modifica tions thus introduced are merely superficial. The innate antique sentiment of caste exclusiveness survives in full strength and is not weakened materially even by considerable laxity of practice. The conflict between caste regulations and modern civilization is incessant, but caste survives. Further, the institution fosters intense class pride, fatal to a feeling of brotherhood between man and man. The Malabar Brahman who considers himself defiled if an outcaste stands within twenty paces of him cannot possibly be interested in a creature so despised. The sentiment pervades all classes of Hindu society in varying degrees of intensity. Such objections to the caste institution, with many others which might be advanced, go far to justify, or at any rate explain, the vigorous denunciations of the system found abundantly in Indian literature as well as in the writings of foreigners. Four stanzas CASTE 41 by Vemana, the Telugu poet, may serve as a summary of the numerous Indian diatribes on the subject. Caste If we look through all the earth, Men, we see, have equal birth, Made in one great brotherhood, Equal in the sight of God. Food or caste or place of birth Cannot alter human worth. Why let caste be so supreme ? 'Tis but folly's passing stream. . . . Empty is a caste-dispute : All the castes have but one root. Who on earth can e'er decide Whom to praise and whom deride ? Why should we the Pariah scorn, When his flesh and blood were born Like to ours ? What caste is He Who doth dwell in all we see ? L The dictum of Sir Henry Maine, the eminent jurist, that caste is ' the most disastrous and blighting of human institutions ' may suffice as a sample of adverse opinions expressed by European writers. The merits of caste. The hostile critics have not got hold of the whole truth. Much may be said on the other side, which needs to be presented. An institution which has lasted for thou sands of years, and has forced its passage down through the peninsula all the way to Cape Comorin in the face of the strongest opposition, must have merits to justify its existence and universal prevalence within the limits of India.2 The most ardent defenders of caste, of course, must admit its unsuitability for other lands. ' Thinking men ', as Sir Madhava Row observed, ' must beware lest the vast and elaborate social structure which has arisen in the course of thousands of years of valuable experience should be injured or destroyed without anything to substitute, or with a far worse structure to replace it.' The institution of caste cannot be treated properly as a thing by itself. It is an integral part of Hinduism, that is to say, of the Hindu social and economic system. It is, as Ketkar justly observes, intimately associated with the Hindu philo sophical ideas of karma, rebirth, and the theory of the three gunas. But such abstract ideas cannot be discussed in this place. More writers than one have observed that the chief attribute of the caste 1 Gover, The Folk-songs of Southern India, London, Trubner, 1872, p. 275 ; a charming and instructive book. 2 ' The hatred which existed between the early Dravidians and the Aryans is best preserved in the Kuricchans' (a hill tribe in Malabar, corresponding to the Kuravas of the Tamil country) custom of plastering their huts with cow-dung to remove the pollution caused by the entrance of a Brahman ' (Tamil Studies, p. 90). The Kuravas in Travancore rank very low and bury their dead (The Travancore State Manual, ii. 402). C3 42 ANCIENT INDIA system regarded historically is its stability. The Hindu mind clings to custom, and caste rules are solidified custom. That stability, although not absolute, has been the main agent in preserving Hindu ideas of religion, morals, art, and craftsmanship. The Abbe Dubois was much impressed by the services which the institution renders to social order. Monier Williams concisely observes that ' caste has been useful in promoting self-sacrifice, in securing subordination of the individual to an organized body, in restraining vice, [and] in preventing pauperism '. Similar quotations might be largely multiplied.1 The future of caste. With reference to the future, the practical conclusion is that talk about the abolition or even the automatic extinction of caste is futile. Caste within India cannot be either abolished or extinguished within a measurable time. The system grew up of itself in remote antiquity because it suited India, and will last for untold centuries because it still suits India on the whole, in spite of its many inconveniences. " Hindu society without caste is inconceivable. Reformers must be content to make the best of a system which cannot be destroyed. The absolutely indispensable compromises with modern conditions will arrange themselves from time to time, while the huge mass of the Indian agricultural population will continue to walk in the ancestral ways. The deep waters of Hinduism are not easily stirred. Ripples on the surface leave the depths unmoved. The ' Laws of Manu '. In connexion with the subject of the evolution of caste, the famous law-book commonly called the ' Laws ', or ' Code ', or ' Institutes of Manu ' (Mdnava-dharma- sdstra in Sanskrit) demands notice. The treatise, written in lucid Sanskrit verse of the ' classical ' type, comprises 2,684 couplets (sloka) arranged in twelve chapters ; and is the earliest of the metrical law-books. It professes to be the composition of a sage named Bhrigu, who used the works of predecessors. The date of composition may lie between 200 b.c. and a.d. 200. About one-tenth of the verses is found in the Mahdbhdrata. The Laws of Manu form the foundation of the queer medley of inconsistent systems of jurisprudence administered by the Privy Council and the High Courts of India under the name of Hindu Law. The prevalent error concerning the supposed ' four original castes ' rests partly, as proved above, on erroneous interpretation of the text, and partly on fictitious explanations of the facts of caste offered by the author. The early Sanskritists unduly exalted the authority of the. Laws of Manu, which they regarded as veritable laws instead of the mere rulings of a text book writer, which they actually are. The fuller knowledge of the present day sees the book in truer perspective, but the old errors still exert a baneful influence in many directions. 1 Some of the quotations are taken from Aiya, The Travancore State Manual, 1906, vol. ii, pp. 229 foil. AUTHORITIES 43 The books named are merely those which the author has found most useful. The first place is due to Prof. A. A. Macdoneix, A History of Sanskrit Literature (Heinemann, 1900), a masterly summary of an enormous subject. Kaegi, The Rigveda, transl. by Akrowsmith (Boston, 1886), is a good small book. The metrical version of The Hymns of the Rigveda by Griffith (2 vols., 2nd ed., Benares, 1887) is an unpretentious work of sound scholarship. The literal translation of the Atharva Veda by Whitney and Lanman (2 vols., Harvard Or. Series, 1905) is indispensable, but difficult to understand. The History of Sanskrit Literature by Weber (transl., 2nd ed., Triibner, 1882) is highly technical. Max Muller's Chips from a German Workshop (vol. 1868), and India, What can it Teach us ? (1883) are still of service. I have also derived benefit from Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays (collected ed. in 2 vols., Triibner, 1873) ; Manning, Ancient and Mediaeval India (2 vols., 1869) ; and R. W. Frazer, A Literary History of India (1898). Rajendralal Mitra's essays on ' Beef in Ancient India ' and cognate topics, reprinted in Indo-Aryans (London and Calcutta, 1881), are sound and important. Mr. B. G. Tilak temperately expounds an extreme theory in Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas (Poona, 1916). For the Epic period, Hopkins, The Great Epic of India (New York and London, 1901), is of high authority. Epic India by C. V. Vaidya (Bombay, 1907), although a rather fanciful book, has some good points. Mr. F. E. Pargiter's papers on early Indian history in the J. R. A. S. from 1908 present novel views. See also his Dynasties of the Kali Age (1913). The most illuminating book on caste which I have met with is The History of Caste in India by Shridar V. Ketkar (vol. i, Ithaca, N.Y., 1909 ; vol. ii, ' An Essay on Hinduism', Luzac, London, 1911). The book apparently is not known as well as it deserves to be. The Evolution of Caste, a pamphlet by R. Shama Sastri (44 pp., S. P. C. K. Press, Madras, 1916), is a suggestive paper. A short essay entitled ' Caste in India ' was published by me in East and West (Bombay, June 1913). ' Influence of the Indian King upon the growth of Caste ' by H. J. Maynard (J. P. H. S., vol. vi, pp. 88-100) is a novel and important essay. Certain other writers are quoted in the notes, and a very long list of books might be given. CHAPTER 3 The pre-Maurya states ; the rise of Jainism and Buddhism ; the invasion of Alexander the Great ; India in the fourth century B. c. Continuity of Indian civilization. China excepted, no region of the world can boast of an ancient civilization so continuous and unbroken as that of India. Civilized life may have begun earlier in Egypt and Babylonia, but in those countries the chain connecting the distant past with the present was rudely snapped long ago. No living memory of the Chaldees and Pharaohs or of their institu tions survives. In India the ideas of the Vedic period still are a vital force, and even the ritual of the Rishis is not wholly disused. The lack of ancient records inscribed on imperishable material, such as abound in Egypt and Babylonia, forbids the writing of early Indian history in a manner at all comparable with that 44 ANCIENT INDIA feasible in the countries named. The historian of India has nothing but tradition to guide him until quite a late period, and his handling of really ancient times is necessarily devoid of any chronological framework, being vague and sketchy. Dated history begins in seventh century b.c. No attempt at Indian history dated even in the roughest fashion can be made before the seventh century b. c. The first exact date known, as already mentioned, is 326 b. c, the year of Alexander's invasion. By reckoning back from that fixed point, or from certain closely approximate Maurya dates slightly later, and by making use of the historical traditions recorded in literature, a little information can be gleaned concerning a few kingdoms of northern India in the seventh century. No definite affirmation of any kind can be made about specific events in either the peninsula or Bengal before 300 b. c. The scanty record of events in the northern kingdoms has to be mostly picked out of books written primarily to serve religious purposes. Those books, Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanical, naturally deal chiefly with the countries in which religious movements were most active. The traditionary accounts are deeply tinged by the sectarian prejudices of the writers, and often hopelessly discordant. India in the seventh century b.c. Recent excavations give reason for believing that a capital city occupied part of the site of Taxila in the Panjab at a remote period, but at present it is not possible to say anything more definite about the history of that region. Other cities, too, both in the north and the south of India, seem to have been in existence from immemorial antiquity. In the seventh century b. c. we may be assured that although vast territories in most parts of India were still covered by forest, the home of wild beasts and scanty tribes of savage men, extensive civilized settlements of long standing existed in the plains of the Indus and Ganges basins. Ujjain in Sindhia's dominions, still a considerable town retaining its ancient name unchanged, ranks as one of the seven sacred cities of India, and rivals Benares in its claims on Hindu veneration.1 In the seventh century it was the capital of the kingdom of Avanti, known later as Malwa, which evidently was one of the leading Indian powers for a considerable time until the supremacy passed into the hands of Magadha. Kosala, or Northern Oudh, of which the capital was Sravastl on the Rapti, probably represented by Sahet-Mahet, was another important state which competed with Magadha for the headship of Aryavarta. Magadha. Magadha, or South Bihar, the seat of the Magadha tribe, rose to unquestioned pre-eminence in the fourth century b. c, and at a much earlier date had been intimately associated with the development of historical Jainism and Buddhism. The literary traditions of northern India consequently are mostly 1 The seven sacred cities are Benares (Kasi), Hardwar (Maya), Kanchi (Conjeeveram), Ayodhya (Oudh), Dvaravati (Dvarika), Mathura, and Ujjain or Avantika. THE PRE-MAURYA STATES A5 devoted to the affairs of Magadha, and the history of that state has to do duty as the history of India, because hardly anything is known about the annals of less prominent kingdoms. King Bimbisara. The regular story of Magadha begins with the Saisunaga Dynasty, established before 600 b. c, perhaps in 642 B.C., by a chieftain of Benares named Sisunaga (or Sisunaka), who fixed his capital at Girivraja or old Rajagriha, among the hills of the Gaya District.1 The first monarch about whom anything substantial has been recorded is the fifth king, Bimbisara or Srenika, who extended his paternal dominions by the conquest of Anga, the modern Bhiigalpur and Mungir Districts. He built the town of New Rajagriha (Rajgir), and may be regarded as the founder of the greatness of Magadha. He appears to have been a Jain in religion, and sometimes is coupled by Jain tradition with Asoka's grandson, Samprati, as a notable patron of the creed of Mahavira. His reign of twenty-eight years may be dated approximately from 582 to 554 b.c, according to the amended reckoning. Persian occupation of Indus valley. During the period of his rule, according to one theory, or that of Darsaka, according to another, at a date subsequent to 516 b.c, Darius, son of Hystaspes, the capable autocrat of Persia (521-485 b. c), dispatched an expedition commanded by Skylax of Karyanda in Karia with orders to prove the feasibility of a sea passage from the mouths of the Indus to Persia. Skylax equipped a fleet on the upper waters of the Panjab rivers in the Gandhara country, made his way down to the coast, and in the thirteenth month reached the sea. Darius was thus enabled to annex the Indus valley and to send his fleet into the Indian Ocean. The archers from India supplied a contingent to the army of Xerxes, the son of Darius, and shared the defeat of Mardonius at Plataea in Greece in 479 b.c. The province on the Indus annexed by Darius was formed into the twentieth satrapy, which was considered to be the richest and most populous province of the Persian empire. It paid a tribute of 360 Euboic talents of gold-dust, equivalent to at least a million sterling, and constituting about one-third of the total bullion revenue of the Asiatic provinces. The Indian satrapy, which was distinct from Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Kandahar), and Gandharia (Taxila and the north-western frontier), must have extended from the Salt Range to the sea, and probably included part of the Panjab to the east of the Indus. The courses of the rivers in those days were quite different from what they now are, and there is reason for believing that extensive tracts now desert were then rich and populous. The high tribute paid is thus explained. No distinct evidence exists to show that there was any communica tion in the fifth century b.c. between the Persian province on the Indus and the growing kingdom of Magadha. But it would 1 See Jackson, 'Notes on Old Rajagriha' (Ann. Rep. A. S., India, for 1913-14 (1917), pp. 265-71, PI. lxxi. 46 ANCIENT INDIA be extremely rash to affirm that no JW -f< ^ f£- "C^ such communication existed. It is not — * c C*^ £P c\U known at what date Persia ceased to "^ ?t* -^ fvrv. c_ exercise effective control over the twen ty »fs V- «— j~" tieth satrapy. At the time of Alexan- ~C- lh> der's invasion the Indus was still recog- v- •?~' ""t < nized as the official boundary between <"- C^ cA C*k* the Persian empire and India, but the £5, x^-. J^ „r. £^~ authorities do not mention the presence <£ j^ c_^ y^ j£) of Persian officials along the course of j> c^, J** 5^ t_ the river, the banks of which were occu- lj~ S^~ C** js. c^ piedbysundrysmallstateswithrulersof 5T* Cvi SV f^, JV* their own, and seemingly independent. ^ 5£> •sfv. ^ ** 9-. The Kharoshthi alphabet, derived 3"- c^ t\_ t~* *^ -J from the Aramaic script, and written _ X~T ~£-* 3t~ J from right to left, which continued to «--. O be used on the north-western frontier ZJ: «^ c^- £_ jo until about the fourth century of the IV-, y^ ^ O* X- w Christian era, appears to have been in- JV- cA "V- t *""" I ^ troduced by Persian officials and may "^ c^. "5 cJ jST § ^e regarded as a memorial of the days " *^* ^ when the Indus valley was part of the '*•¦» f^ r*. J"8 of, £ Achaemenian empire. A "* -j*. Jt\ >T* I >¦ King Ajatasatru. Bimbisara was V V" tv. tv 5ji8| O succeeded in or about 554 b.c. by his „„, nr> ^ ^*"* ^S H son Ajatasatru or Kunika, whose reign cV»"f* :? P€> »>^J pu may be taken as having lasted for f» c_ 3T &" *^~ tf twenty-seven years. He built the for- ' <-. "5 I « tress of Patali on the Son, which after- ^T* ^* «C^ -C- M wards developed into the imperial city " <^ ^> K of Pataliputra. His mother was a lady «V. |_ »r" c*» >{V. & °f the famous Lichchhavi tribe, and he §¦% fv ^ -S- <* was marrie(I to a princess of Kosala. I O He waged successful wars against both I ^ the Lichchhavis and his consort's king- I ju dom. Kosala disappears from history M as an independent kingdom, and evi- f^s K- 1 tv^0 dently was absorbed by Magadha. V .S-^ ^L ^ The Lichchhavis. The Lichchhavi nation, tribe, or clan, which played a prominent part in Indian legend and history for more than a thousand years, claims a few words of notice.1 The Lich- !> Si A"" chhavis dwelt in the land of the Vrijjis, ®fc C>- ^ >^» the region now called the Muzaffarpur C*a kj> v* s. District of Bihar to the north of the ""¦>*• tT Ganges. Their capital was Vaisali, a noble city ten or twelve miles in circuit, •^ fH JV* represented by the villages and ruins at 1 The spelling of the name varies. THE PRE-MAURYA STATES 47 or near Basarh, twenty miles to the north of Hajipur, and on the northern side of the river about twenty-seven miles distant in a direct line from Pataliputra (Patna). The Lichchhavis were governed by an assembly of notables, presided over by an elected chief (ndyaka). Good reason exists for believing that they were hill-men of the Mongolian type akin to the Tibetans. They certainly followed the unpleasant Tibetan custom of exposing the bodies of the. dead, which were sometimes hung upon trees, and their judicial procedure in criminal cases was exactly the same as the Tibetan. The first Tibetan king is said to have belonged to the family of Sakya the Lichchhavi, a kinsman of Gautama, the sage of another branch of the Sakyas. The more I consider the evidence of such traditions and the unmistakable testimony of the early sculptures as at Barhut and Sanchi, dating from about 200 b.c, the more I am convinced that the Mongolian or hill-man element formed a large percentage in the population of northern India during the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian era. I think it highly probable that Gautama Buddha, the sage of the Sakyas, and the founder of historical Buddhism, was a Mongolian by birth, that is to say, a hill-man like a Gurkha with Mongolian features, and akin to the Tibetans. Similar views were expressed long ago by Beal and Fergusson, who used the terms Scythic or Turanian in the sense in which I use Mongolian. The Lichchhavis retained an influential position for many centuries. The marriage of Chandragupta I with a Lichchhavi princess at the close of the third century a. c. laid the foundation of the great ness of the Imperial Gupta dynasty, and the tribe supplied a line of rulers in the Nepal valley up to the seventh century. In early times the Mailas of Pawa. and Kusinagara, who are often mentioned in Buddhist legends, probably were akin to the Lichchhavis. Mahavira, the founder of historical Jainism, likewise may have been a Mongolian hill-man. The Brahman writers regarded the Lichchhavis as degraded Kshatriyas, a purely fictitious mode of expression. Kings Darsaka and Udaya. Ajatasatru was succeeded in or about 527 b. c. by his son Darsaka, who is mentioned in a play by the early dramatist Bhasa, which came to light in 1910. He was followed about 503 by his son Udaya, who built the city of Kusumapura on the Ganges, a few miles from Pataliputra on the Son. The two names are sometimes used as synonyms. The posi tion of the confluence of the Son with the Ganges and the courses of both rivers in the neighbourhood of Pataliputra have undergone extensive changes since the days of Udaya. Parricide story. Buddhist tradition from various sources is unanimous in affirming that Ajatasatru, weary of awaiting the course of nature, murdered his father, and the crime is said to have been instigated by Devadatta, the heretical cousin of the Buddha. I used to accept the story of the parricide as historically true, but am now disposed to reject it as being the outcome of 48 ANCIENT INDIA odium theologicum, or sectarian rancour, which has done so much to falsify the history of ancient India. The Jains, representing Ajatasatru as a devout follower of their religion who ' ruled the country for eighty years according to the laws of his father ', ignore and implicitly deny the accusation of parricide. The truth seems to be that Ajatasatru, like many later Indian sovereigns, did not confine his royal favour to any one sect. At different times he bestowed his bounty on the followers of the ' former Buddhas ' led by Devadatta, on the adherents of Gautama's reformed Buddhism, and on the Jains. Both Buddhists and Jains claimed him as one of themselves. The Jain claim appears to be well founded. When the Buddhists had secured pre-eminence in northern India in consequence of Asoka's patronage, leanings towards Jainism became criminal in the eyes of ecclesiastical chroniclers, who were ready to invent the most scandalous stories in order to blacken the memory of persons deemed heretical. The legends told by orthodox Buddhists about Gautama's cousin Devadatta seem to have no other foundation. It will be shown presently that the history of the Nandas has been falsified in a similar fashion. For those reasons I now reject the Buddhist tale of Ajatasatru's murder of his father. According to the traditions of the Jains, their ancient temples in Magadha were destroyed by the Buddhists when they attained power. Kings and prophets. The main interest of the reigns of Bimbisara and his son lies in the close association of both kings with the lives of Gautama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira Tirthankara, who are usually described respectively as the founders of Buddhism and Jainism. The traditions concerning the inter course of the kings with the prophets are discrepant in many particulars which need not be discussed, but it seems to be fairly certain that King Bimbisara was related to Mahavira, and was contemporary for some years with both him and Gautama Buddha. Credible evidence affirms that Ajatasatru visited both of those teachers, and that during his reign Gautama Buddha died. In the third edition of The Early History of India (1914) I assumed that Gautama died in 487 b. c, in the reign of Ajatasatru, which began about 502 b. c. I refrained from denning the date of Mahavira*s death. But, if the revised reading of the Kharavela inscription is correctly interpreted (post, p. 58 n.), all the Saisunaga dates must be moved back more than fifty years. The tentative chronology in the table on page 70 post has been revised accordingly. If it is at all correct, it supports the Ceylon date, 544 or 543 b. C, for the death of Gautama Buddha. But no hypothesis can reconcile all the conflicting testimonies and traditions. Religion in sixth century b.c. The sixth century b.c. was a time when men's minds in several widely separated parts of the world were deeply stirred by the problems of religion and salvation. The Indian movement was specially active in Magadha and the neighbouring regions where the Hinduizing of the population was incomplete and distinctions of race were clearly marked. Intelli- JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 49 gent members of the governing classes, who were regarded as Kshatriyas by the Brahmans from the west, were inclined to consider themselves better men than their spiritual guides, whose arrogant class-pride aroused warm opposition. It seems to me almost certain, as already indicated, that the Saisunagas, Lich chhavis, and several other ruling families or clans in or near Magadha were not Indo-Aryan by blood. They were, I think, hill-men of the Mongolian type, resembling the Tibetans, Gurkhas, Bhtitias, and other Himalayan tribes of the present day. The racial distinction between the Brahmans and their pupils neces sarily evoked and encouraged the growth of independent views on philosophy and religion. The educated men of the upper classes, called Kshatriyas by the Brahmans, rebelled against the claim of the strangers to the exclusive possession of superior knowledge and the key of the door to salvation. Many sects arose advocating the most diverse opinions concerning the nature of God and the soul, the relation between God and man, and the best way of attaining salvation. Most Indian thinkers contemplate salvation or deliverance (moksha) as meaning the release of the soul from all liability to future rebirths. At that time the religion favoured by the Brahmans, as depicted in the treatises called Brdhmanas, was of a mechanical, lifeless character, overlaid with cumbrous ceremonial. The formalities of the irksome ritual galled many persons, while the cruelty of the numerous bloody sacrifices was repugnant to others. People sought eagerly for some better path to the goal of salvation desired by all. Some, who hoped to win their object by means of transcendental knowledge, sounded the depths of novel systems of philosophy. Others sought to subdue the body and free the soul by inflicting on themselves the most austere mortifications and cruel self-tortures. Jainism and Buddhism. All the numerous schools and sects which then sprang up or flourished died out in the course of time save two. The doctrines of the two surviving sects now known as Jainism and Buddhism have brought into existence two powerful churches or religious organizations which still affect profoundly the thoughts of mankind. Buddhism, although almost extinct in the land of its birth, is at this day one of the greatest spiritual forces in the world, dominating, as it does in various forms, Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Tibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan. Jainism, which never aspired to "such wide conquests, now claims but a comparatively small number of adherents, resident chiefly in Rajputana and western India. The influence of the religion, however, even now is much greater than that indicated by the census returns. In former times it pervaded almost every province of India and enjoyed the patronage of mighty kings. Both Jainism and Buddhism as historical religions originated in Magadha or the territories adjoining that kingdom in the reigns of Bimbisara and his son Ajatasatru. Those two faiths, it need 50 ANCIENT INDIA hardly be said, did not come into being independently of previous conditions. The teaching of Mahavira the Jain and of Gautama the Buddha was based on the doctrine of earlier prophets. Maha vira started his religious life as a reformer of an ancient ascetic order said to have been founded by Parsvanath two centuries and a half earlier. Gautama's preaching was related to the cult of the ' former Buddhas ', whose prophet was Devadatta, Gautama's cousin. But we need not trouble about the obscure precursors of Jainism and Buddhism, who may be left to the research of anti quarians. The history of India is concerned seriously only with those historical religions as started respec tively by Mahavira and Gautama. Although the stories of the lives of both prophets are obscured by a veil of legend and mytho logy, certain facts seem to be established with sufficient certainty. We will take first Jainism, the minor and prob ably the older religion of the two. Career of Mahavira. Vardhamana, better known by his title in religion of Mahavira, was the son of a Lichchhavi noble of Vaisali. He gave up his honourable rank and joined the ascetic order of Parsvanath, in which he remained for some years. Becoming dissatis fied with the rules of that order, he started on his own account as a religious leader when about forty years of age. During the remainder of his life, which lasted more than thirty years, he travelled as a preacher through Magadha or South Bihar ; Videha, otherwise called Mithila or Tirhut ; and Anga or Bhagalpur. In the course of his ministry he organized a new religious order consisting of professed friars and nuns, lay brethren and lay sisters. When he died at Pawa. in the Patna District his adherents are said to have exceeded 14,000 in number. Being related through his mother to the reigning kings of Videha, Magadha, and Anga, he was in a position to gain official patronage for his teaching, and is recorded to have been in personal MAHAVIRA VARDHAMANA. JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 51 touch with both Bimbisara and Ajatasatru, who seem to have followed his doctrine. The traditional dates for his death vary so much that it is impossible to obtain certainty in the matter. The date most commonly accepted, 527 B.C., is difficult to reconcile with the well-attested fact of his interview with Ajatasatru and with the Kharavela inscription. Professor Jacobi advocates 477 b. c. as the approximate year of the decease of Mahavira. Career of Buddha . The career of Gautama, the sage of the Sakyas (Sakyamuni), known generally as Buddha or the Buddha, because he claimed to have attained supreme knowledge of things spiritual (bodhi), was very similar to that of Mahavira. Gautama, like his rival prophet, was the son of a noble Sakya, the Raja, of Kapilavastu in the Nepalese Tarai, a dependency of Kosala, and was classed by the Brahmans as a Kshatriya. The legends relate in endless imaginative detail the story of the young prince's disgust for the luxurious life of a palace, and of his resolve to effect the Great Renunciation. Leaving his home, he went to Gaya and there sought salvation by subjecting his body to the severest penances. But while sitting under the holy tree he made the discovery that mere asceticism was futile, and decided to spend the rest of his life in preaching the truth as he saw it. He proceeded to the Deer Park at Sarnath near Benares, where five disciples joined him. From that small beginning arose the great Buddhist Sangha or Order. Gautama continued his preaching for forty-five years and died aged eighty at Kusinagara, which probably was situated in Nepalese territory at the junction of the Little Rapti with the Gandak near Bhavesar Ghat. The well-known remains near Kasia in the Gorakhpur District appear to be those of the monastic establishment of Vethadipa, subordinate to the head monastery at Kusinagara. Both were called Parinirvdna GAUTAMA BUDDHA. (Sarnath, fifth century.) 52 ANCIENT INDIA monasteries as being connected with the death of Buddha.1 The date of his decease, like that of Mahavira, cannot be determined with accuracy. I formerly accepted 487 or 486 b.c. as the best attested date, but the new reading of the Kharavela record pushes back all the early dates. It appears that both Mahavira and Buddha . were contemporary with kings Bimbisara and Ajatasatru, both dying in the reign of the latter. Jainism and Buddhism contrasted. The close parallelism of the careers of the two prophets, combined with certain superficial resemblances between the doctrines of the sects which they founded, induced some of the older scholars to regard Jainism as a sect of Buddhism. That opinion is now recognized to be erroneous. The two systems, whether regarded as philosophies or religions, are essentially different. The word ' sects ' as applied above to the Jain and Buddhist churches is correctly used, because both Mahavira and Buddha may be justly regarded as having been originally Hindu reformers. Neither prophet endeavoured directly to overthrow the caste framework of Hindu society so far as it had been established in their time, although both rejected the authority of the Vedas and opposed the practice of animal sacrifice. Followers of either Mahavira or Gautama were not asked to give up their belief in the Hindu gods, which always have received veneration from both Jains and Buddhists. Indra, Brahma, and other gods play a prominent part in Buddhist legend and belief. In Ceylon even the great gods Siva and Vishnu are worshipped as satellites of Buddha. The Jains of the present day continue, as their forefathers always did, to employ Brahmans as their domestic chaplains for the performance of birth or death ceremonies, and even sometimes, it is said, for temple worship. Jainism has never cut itself away from its roots in Hinduism. Many Jains consider themselves to be Hindus, and describe their religion accordingly in census returns. That continuous close connexion between Brahmanical Hinduism and Jainism probably is the principal reason why the latter faith made no conquests outside of India. Buddhism developed a much more independent existence. Both as a philosophy and a religion it so adapted itself to the needs of foreigners that in the course of time it nearly died out in India while acquiring new life in foreign lands. The Jains give the laity a prominent place, while the Buddhists rely mainly on their organized Sangha — the Community or Order of ordained friars. That organized Order has been the main instrument of Buddhist missionary expansion. No avowed Buddhist in any country would dream of describing himself as a Hindu by religion.2 Readers 1 See the author's article ' Kusinagara ' in Hastings, Encycl. of Religion and Ethics. Kasia cannot represent Kusinagara, because that site was and long had been deserted in the time of the Chinese pilgrims, whereas building was continuous at Kasia all through the Gupta period and afterwards. 3 For unavowed, veiled, or crypto-Indian Buddhists see Nagendra Nath Vasu, The Modern Buddhism and Us Followers in Orissa (Hare Press, JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 53 who desire to understand thoroughly the philosophical, ethical, and theological tenets of Jainism and Buddhism, the points of agreement or divergence in the two systems, and the church regulations must study some or other of the many excellent books now available. Only a few points can be noted here. Jain doctrines. Jain teaching lays stress upon the doctrine that man's personality is dual, comprising both material and spirit ual natures. It rejects the Vedantist doctrine of the universal soul. Jains believe that not only men and animals, but also plants, minerals capable of growth, air, wind, and fire possess souls (jiva) endowed with various degrees of consciousness.1 They hold that it is possible to inflict pain on a stone, or even on air or water. The belief in a supreme Deity, the creator of the uni verse, is emphatically denied. God is defined as being ' only the highest, the noblest, and the fullest manifestation of all the powers which lie latent in the soul of man '. From that point of view Jainism may be said to anticipate Comte's ' religion of humanity '. In ethics or practical morality ' the first principle is ahimsd, non-hurting of any kind of life, howsoever low may be the stage of its evolution '. The strange doctrine affirming the existence of jivas in objects commonly called inanimate extends the Jain idea of ahimsa far beyond the Brahmanical or Buddhist notions. The reader of Indian history is sometimes perplexed by the apparent contradiction of principles involved when a king orders the execution of a convict, guilty perhaps only of the killing of an animal. The following authoritative ruling on the subject helps to make intelligible the position taken up by Kumarapala, king of Gujarat in the twelfth century, who ruthlessly inflicted the capital penalty on all persons who in any way offended against the ahimsd doctrine : ' A true Jaina will do nothing to hurt the feelings of another person, man, woman, or child ; nor will he violate the principles of Jainism. Jaina ethics are meant for men of all positions — for kings, warriors, traders, artisans, agriculturists, and indeed for men and women in every walk of life. ..." Do your duty. Do it as humanely as you can." This, in brief, is the primary principle of Jainism. Non-killing cannot interfere with one's duties. The king, or the judge, has to hang a murderer. The murderer's act is the negation of a right of the murdered. The king's, or the judge's, order is the negation of this negation, and is enjoined by Jainism as a duty. Similarly, the soldier's killing on the battle-field.' Calcutta, 1911), with the extremely learned Introduction by M. M. H. P. Sastri. 1 Compare Wordsworth, Prelude (ed. 2, 1851), Book III, p. 49 : To every natural form, rock, fruit, or flower, Even the loose stones that cover the high-way, I gave a moral life : I saw them feel, Or linked them to some feeling : the great mass Lay bedded in a quickening soul, and all That I beheld respired with inward meaning. The poet felt those sentiments while he was an undergraduate at Cambridge. 54 ANCIENT INDIA Jainism is an austere religion, demanding severe self-control in diverse ways, and imposing many inconvenient restraints. The teaching theoretically condemns caste, but in practice ' the modern Jaina is as fast bound as his Hindu brother in the iron fetters of caste '. The Jains are divided into two main sects, the Svetambara, or ' white-robed ', and the Digambara, or ' sky-clad ', that is to say nude, which separated about the beginning of the second century a. c Each sect has its own scriptures. A modern offshoot of the Svetambaras, called Sthanaka-vasi, rejects the use of idols in worship. Jains highly approve of suipide by slow starvation. The practice, abhorred by Buddhists, seems to outsiders inconsistent with the ahimsd doctrine, but Jain philosophy has an explanation, which will be found expounded in Mrs. Stevenson's book. The teaching of Buddha. Gautama Buddha, like Mahavira and almost all prophets in his country, took over from the common stock of Indian ideas the theories of rebirth and karma, accepted generally by Indian thinkers as truths needing no proof. The karma doctrine means that the merits and demerits of a being in past existences determine his condition in the present life. Buddha held that to be born is an evil, that the highest good is deliverance from rebirth, that good karma will effect such deliver ance, and that the acquisition of good karma requires a strictly moral life. His disciples were admonished to aim at purity in deed, word, and thought ; observing ten commandments, namely, not to kill, steal, or commit adultery ; not to lie, invent evil reports about other people, indulge in fault-finding or profane language ; to abstain from covetousness and hatred, and to avoid ignorance. Special stress was laid on the virtues of truthfulness, reverence to superiors, and respect for animal life. He held that men should follow what he called the ' Noble Eightfold Path ', practising right belief, right thought, right speech, right action, right means of livelihood, right exertion, right remembrance, and right meditation. That path was also described as the Middle Path, lying midway between sensuality and asceticism. Men and women of the laity could attain much success in travelling the way of holiness, but full satisfaction could be obtained only by joining the Sangha or Order of ordained monks, or rather friars. Women were permitted to become nuns, but nuns never occupied an important place in Buddhism. The Sangha of monks developed into a highly organized, wealthy, and powerful fraternity, which became the efficient instrument for the wide diffusion of Buddhism in Asia. Popular Buddhism. Buddha can hardly be said to have intended to found a new religion. He taught an abstruse doctrine of metaphysics, which he used chiefly as the rational basis of his practical moral code. He was unwilling to discuss questions concerning the nature of God or the soul, the infinity of the uni verse, and so forth, holding that such discussions are unprofitable. JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 55 Without formally denying the existence of Almighty God, the Creator, he ignored Him. Buddha, although he denied the author ity of the Vedas, did not seek to interfere with the current beliefs in the Hindu gods or with familiar superstitions ; and, as a matter of fact, popular Buddhism from the very earliest times has always differed much from the austere religion of the books. Modern Burma, where everybody worships the Nats or spirits, while accepting without question the orthodox teaching of the monks, offers the best illustration of the state of things in ancient Buddhist India,. as vividly represented in the sculptures. Buddhism in practice was a cheerful religion in India long ago, as it is in Burma now. The change to Piiranic Hinduism has made India a sadder land. Transformation of Buddhism. The person of Buddha inspired in his disciples such ardent affection and devotion that very soon after his death he was regarded as being something more than a man. By the beginning of the Christian era, if not earlier, he had become a god to whom prayer might be offered. The primitive Buddhism which ignored the Divine was known in later times as the Hina-yana, or Lesser Vehicle of salvation, while the modified religion which recognized the value of prayer and acknow ledged Buddha as the Saviour of mankind was called the Maha- yana, or the Greater Vehicle. While the original official Buddhism was a dry, highly moralized philosophy much resembling in its practical operation the Stoic schools of Greece and Rome, the later emotional Buddhism approached closely to Christian doctrines in substance, although not in name. In another direction it became almost indistinguish able from Hinduism. No Buddhist period. It must be clearly understood that Brahmanical Hinduism continued to exist and to claim innumer able adherents throughout the ages. It may well be doubted if Buddhism can be correctly described as having been the prevailing religion in India as a whole at any time. The phrase ' Buddhist period', to be found in many books, is false and misleading. Neither a Buddhist nor a Jain period ever existed. From time to time either Buddhism or Jainism obtained exceptional success and an unusually large percentage of adherents in the population of one kingdom or another, but neither heresy ever superseded Brahmanical Hinduism. Mahavira, as has been mentioned, had about 14,000 disciples when he died, a mere drop in the ocean of India's millions. Subsequent royal patronage largely extended his following, and at times Jainism became the state religion of certain kingdoms, in the sense that it was adopted and encouraged by certain kings, who carried with them many of their subjects. Instances of kings changing their creed are numerous. Buddhism probably continued to be an obscure local sect, confined to Magadha and the neighbouring regions, until Asoka gave it his powerful patronage more than two centuries after the death of Buddha. The fortune of Buddhism was made by Asoka, but even he never 56 ANCIENT INDIA attempted to force all his subjects to enter the Buddhist fold. While he insisted on certain rules of conduct concerning diet and other matters being observed by everybody in accordance with the orders of government, he did not interfere with anybody's faith. Akbar pursued the same policy in the sixteenth century. Even in Asoka's age it is likely that the majority of the people in many, if not in most, provinces followed the guidance of the Brahmans. The relative proportions of orthodox Hindus and Buddhist dissenters varied enormously according to locality. Many details on the subject can be extracted from the narratives of the Chinese pilgrims in the fifth and seventh centuries after Christ, and there can be no doubt that similar relations between the various Indian sects or religions must have existed in earlier times. The Hinduism of the Brahmans did not remain unchanged. The attacks delivered by Mahavira, Buddha, and other less celebrated prophets on the elaborate ritual and bloody sacrifices favoured by the Brahmans of the sixth century b.c. resulted, not only in the development of Jainism and Buddhism as distinct sects or religions, but in profound modification in the ideas of those Hindus who still professed obedience to the Vedas and to Brahman gurus. The ahimsd principle of non-injury to animal life gained many adherents, so that the more shocking elements in the old Hindu ritual tended to fall into disrepute. The change of feeling, as already noted, can be traced in many passages of the Mahdbhdrata. Bloody sacrifices still retain the approval of considerable sections of the population, but the general tendency during the last two thousand years has been to discredit them. The movement of sentiment on the subject continues to this day, and may be observed on a large scale in the peninsula. The slaughter of victims in appalling numbers is still practised in the Telugu country. For instance, at Ellore in the Kistna (Krishna) District, a thousand victims may be slain on one day at a certain festival, so that the blood flows down from the place of sacrifice ' in a regular flood '. But in the Tamil country ' there is a wide spread idea that animal sacrifices are distasteful to good and respectable deities ', with the result that such offerings are going out of fashion.1 The reader will not fail to take note of the proof that two thousand years are not nearly enough for the completion of a single change in religious sentiment throughout India. Perhaps the zeal of ardent reformers may be chilled by the thought. Brahmanical cults. The reaction against the atheistic tendency of both Jainism and Buddhism on the one hand and against the formalism of a religion of ritual on the other resulted in the evolution among Brahmanical Hindus of the religion of bhakti, or lively loving faith in a personal, fatherly God. Although it is impossible to fix dates, Bhandarkar has shown that such devotion to the Deity under the name of Vasudeva may be traced 1 Whitehead, The Village Gods of Southern India (1916), pp. 66, 94. THE NANDAS 57 back as far as Panini's time, whatever that was.1 Other facts indicate the existence of the worship of Vasudeva in the two centuries immediately preceding the Christian era. The noble Bhagavadgitd, the date of which cannot be determined, offers the earliest formal exposition of the bhakti doctrine, the Deity being represented under the name and person of Krishna. The Bhakti religion, which still has numerous adherents in the western parts of Hindostan and many other provinces of India, seems to have arisen in the Brahmarshi region in the neighbourhood of Mathura and Delhi. Vasudeva and Krishna both became identified with Vishnu, whose cult has a long history. Simulta neously the cults of Siva and other forms of the Deity were developed, especially in the south. It is impossible to trace the details of religious evolution in a general history, but it is important to remember that much was happening inside the fold of Brahmanical Hinduism while Buddhism and Jainism were being founded and started on their more conspicuous adventures outside. The ' Nine Nandas '. The dynastic lists of the older Puranas, which are the best authority on the subject, state that the Saisunaga dynasty comprised ten kings, of whom the last two were named Nandivardhana and Mahanahdin. Their reigns are said to have covered eighty-three years. They were followed by the Nine Nandas, namely, King Mahapadma and his eight sons, whose rule altogether is said to have lasted a century. It is clear that the history has been falsified in some way and that the chronology cannot be right. The traditions about the Nandas as recorded in the Puranas, sundry Jain and Buddhist books, the Mudrd Rdkshasa drama, perhaps composed in the fourth or fifth century a. c, and by the Greek writers, are hopelessly discrepant in many respects, but it is certain that the king deposed and slain by Chandragupta Maurya with the aid of his Brahman minister Chanakya, alias Kautilya or Vishnugupta, was a Nanda, that he was of low caste, that he was a heretic hostile to the Brahmans and Kshatriyas, and that he was a rich, powerful sovereign, believed by the Greeks to control an army of 20,000 horse, 200,000 foot, 2,000 chariots, and 3,000 or 4,000 elephants. Many unsuccessful attempts have been made to harmonize the conflicting traditions and to evolve a reasonable scheme of chronology. I cannot pretend to solve the puzzle, but would suggest that the existence in the twelfth century of a form of the Vikrama era called A-nanda or ' without Nanda ' may possibly give the clue. It has been proved that the Hindi poet Chand used the A-nanda mode of computation, leaving out the period of 91 (or 90) years belonging to the dynasty of the Nine Nandas, who were considered to be unholy persons unworthy of inclusion in orthodox Hindu annals. That fact suggests that the dynasty of the Nine Nandas may have begun 91 years before the accession of Chandragupta Maurya, which took place about 322 b. c If that hypothesis should prove 1 Most probably the seventh century b. c. in my opinion, for which good authority might be cited. 58 ANCIENT INDIA correct, the beginning of the dynasty of the Nine Nandas must be placed in about 413 B.C. The last two Saisunaga kings of the Puranic lists, namely, iVandi-vardhana and Maha-nandin, must be reckoned also as Nandas as their names would seem to indicate. It is unquestionable that the Nanda king dethroned by Chandragupta Maurya was a heretic in Hindu eyes, because , the concluding verse of Kautilya's Arthasastra states that 'this Sdstra (scripture) has been made by him who from intolerance (of misrule) quickly rescued the scriptures (testram) and the science of weapons (saslram) and the earth which had passed to the Nanda king.' The necessary inference seems to be that the hated Nanda king was either a Jain or a Buddhist, whom orthodox writers did not care to acknow ledge as a lawful sovereign. The supposition that the last Nanda was a follower of either Mahavira or Gautama is confirmed by the fact that one form of the local tradition attributed to him the erection of the Panch Pahari at Patna, a group of ancient stupas which might be either Jain or Buddhist.1 Invasion of Alexander the Great. The invasion of India by Alexander the Great of Macedon in 326 b. c, which occurred during the rule of the Nandas in Magadha and is more interesting than any other episode of early Indian history to most European readers, made so little impression on the minds of the inhabitants of the country that no distinct reference to it is to be found in any branch of ancient Indian literature. Our detailed knowledge of his proceedings is derived solely from Greek authors.2 The name of Sikandar or Alexander is often on the lips of the people in the Panjab, but it is doubtful how far a genuine tradition of the Macedonian invader survives in that country. Spurious traditions are apt to be generated from confused recollections of the investiga tions and talk of modern archaeologists. There is also reason to believe that the popular memory sometimes confounds Sikandar of Macedon with his namesakes, the Lodi Sultan of Delhi (1489- 1517) and the image-breaking Sultan of Kashmir (1394-1420). A genuine tradition of Philip's son undoubtedly has been preserved in the families of no less than eight chieftains in the neighbourhood of the Indus and Oxus, all of whom claim the honour of descent from Alexander. The claims may be well founded to some extent, because the historians record that Kleophis, Queen of the Assakenoi, 1 The rendering of the Arthasastra text is that of Shama Sastri. The text of the Kharavela inscription has been settled in 1917 by R. D. Banerji and K. P. Jayaswal as far as possible (J. B. O. Res. Soc, vols, iv, v), Kharavela's 13th year = the year 165 or 164 of the era of ' Raja Muri'ya', sal. Chandragupta, which began about 322 B.C., and so = about 157 or 158 B. c. A Nanda king, probably Nandivardhana, had made a canal about 300 years before the fifth year of Kharavela (165 b. c), and so in about 465 b. c. For the Patna stupas see Beal, Records, ii. 94. Some people ascribed them to Asoka. 2 Archaeological evidence, chiefly numismatic, corroborates the Greek historians in certain details. ALEXANDER THE GREAT 59 was reputed to have borne a son to Alexander.1 The Tungani soldiers who formed the garrison of Yarkand in 1835 also alleged that Macedonian soldier colonists left behind by the conqueror were their ancestors. Alexander, after completing the conquest of Bactria to the south of the Oxus, resolved to execute his cherished purpose of surpassing the mythical exploits of Herakles his reputed ancestor, Semiramis the fabled Assyrian queen, Cyrus, king of Persia, and the divine Dionysos, by effecting the subjugation of India. When he under took the task very little accurate information about the scene of the proposed conquests was at his disposal. The sacred soil of India had never been violated by any earlier European invader, nor had the country been visited by travellers from the west, so far as is known. Wild tales concerning the marvels to be seen beyond the Indus were current, but nothing authentic seems to . have been on record, and the bold adventurer was obliged to collect the necessary intelligence as he advanced. Alexander, however, although adventurous, was not imprudent. He never moved without taking adequate precautions to maintain communication with his distant base in Macedon thousands of miles away, and to protect his flanks from hostile attack. His intelligence department seems to have provided him with informa tion accurate enough to ensure the success of each operation. Campaign in the hills. He crossed the Hindu Kush moun tains in May, 327 b. c, and after garrisoning either Kabul itself or a stronghold in the neighbourhood, spent the remainder of the year in subduing the fierce tribes which then as now inhabited the valleys of Suwat (Swat) and Bajaur. He gave them a lesson such as they have never received since from Afghans, Moguls, or English, and penetrated into secluded fastnesses which no European has ever seen again. His ruthless operations effected their purpose so thoroughly that his communications were never harassed by the tribes. The Indus crossed. In February, 326 B.C., at the beginning of spring, he crossed the Indus, then regarded as the frontier of the Persian empire, by a bridge of boats built at Und or Ohind above Attock. Thence he advanced to Takkasila or Taxila, ' a great and flourishing city', the capital of Ambhi, ruler of the region between the Indus and the Hydaspes or Jihlam (Jhelum) river. Ambhi, who was at feud with the chiefs of neighbouring princi- Salities, welcomed the invader and received him hospitably at is capital. The rich presents offered by the Indian king were requited tenfold by his generous and politic guest. It is worthy of note that the supplies tendered by Ambhi comprised ' 3,000 oxen fatted for the shambles ' besides 10,000 or more sheep. 1 The chieftains referred to are : (1) the former Mirs of Badakhshan, dispossessed about 1822 ; (2-5) the chiefs of Darwaz, Kulab, Shighnan, and Wakhan ; and (6-8) the chiefs of Chitral, Gilgit, and Iskardo (Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, &c, 2nd ed., 1835, vol. iii, pp. 186-90). ALEXANDER THE GREAT 61 That statement, made incidentally, is good evidence that in 326 b.c. the people of Taxila were still willing to fatten cattle for slaughter and the feeding of honoured guests, in Vedic fashion. Taxila. The situation of Taxila in a pleasant valley, amply supplied with water, well adapted for defence, and lying on the highroad from Central Asia to the interior of India, was admirably suited for the site of a great city. The occupation of the site began at a period so remote that when the excavations now in progress under skilled guidance shall be further advanced we may hope to find traces of the most ancient known urban settlement in India. The brilliantly successful operations conducted by the Director- General of Archaeology have as yet barely touched the Bir mound in the southern part of the ruins of Taxila, which represents the city where Alexander halted.1 The remains of the ancient capital, or rather series of successive capitals, gradually shifted from south to north, cover a space of at least twelve square miles at Hasan Abdal and several other villages situated about twenty miles to the north-west of Rawalpindi, which is the strategical representa tive of Taxila. The cantonment of Rawalpindi is the most im portant military station in India. The line of the ancient highway has been followed by the Grand Trunk Road and the North- Western Rail way. In the time of Alexander the Panjab was divided among a large number of small states, Taxila being the capital only of the tract Coins of Taxila. between the Indus and the Hydas- pes. Its military importance, therefore, was less than that of its modern representative. The invader having been received by the local king as a friend, no fighting took place in the neighbourhood of Taxila, and no information concerning its defences is recorded. Ambhi supplied a contingent of five thousand men to help Alexander. The testimony of the Buddhist Jdtaka or Birth stories, which, although undated, may be applied fairly to the age of Alexander, proves by a multitude of incidental allusions that Taxila was then the leading seat of Hindu learning, where crowds of pupils from all quarters were taught the ' three Vedas and the eighteen accom plishments '. It was the fashion to send princes and the sons of well-to-do Brahmans on attaining the age of sixteen to complete their education at Taxila, which may be properly described as a university town. The medical school there enjoyed a special reputation, but all arts and sciences could be studied under the most eminent professors. Strange Taxilan customs. The willing offering of 3,000 oxen to be converted into beef has been noted as a remarkable feature in the social usage of the Taxilans. They had also several 1 The remark refers to 1917. 62 ANCIENT INDIA * peculiar customs, which struck the Greek* observers as ' strange and unusual '. The practices described are so startling that it is well to quote the exact words of Strabo, who copied Aristoboulos, a companion of Alexander, and an author deserving of the fullest credit. ' He makes mention of some strange and unusual customs which existed. Those who are unable from poverty to bestow their daughters in marriage expose them for sale in the market-place in the flower of their age, a crowd being assembled by sound of the [conch] shells and drums, which are also used for sounding the war-note. When any person steps forward, first the back of the girl as far as the shoulders is uncovered for his examination and then the parts in front, and if she pleases him and allows herself at the same time to be persuaded, they cohabit on such terms as may be agreed upon. The dead are thrown out to be devoured by vultures. The custom of having many wives prevails here and is common among other races. He says that he had heard from some persons of wives burning themselves along with their deceased husbands and doing so gladly ; and that those women who refused to burn themselves were held in disgrace. The same things have been stated by other writers.' 1 The marriage market obviously suggests comparison with the similar institution in the territory of Babylon, fully described with approval by Herodotus (1. 196), who observes that the sales took place once a year in every village. He heard that the Venetians of Illyria had a like custom. The casting out of the dead to be devoured by vultures was a practice of the Zoroastrian Iranians, and also of the Tibetans. The definite proof of the usage of widow- burning or suttee at such an early certain date is interesting. Among the Kathaioi of the eastern Panjab also ' the custom prevailed that widows should be burned with their husbands '. The scanty evidence as to Taxilan institutions taken as a whole suggests that the civilization of the people was compounded of various elements, Babylonian, Iranian, Scythian, and Vedic. Suttee probably was a Scythian rite introduced from Central Asia. Religion and civilization. When the fact is remembered that in later times the Panjab came to be regarded as an unholy, non-Aryan country, it is worthy of note that the Jdtakas represent Taxila as the seat of study of the three Vedas and all the other branches of Hindu learning. The population of the Panjab in Alexander's time probably included many divers races. Strabo (Book XV, chap, i, sees. 61, 63-8) gives an interesting account of the Brahman ascetics of Taxila, chiefly derived from the works of Aristoboulos and Onesikritos. It is clear that the Brahmanical religion was firmly established, notwithstanding the survival of strange customs, and in all likelihood the co-existence of Zoroastrian or Magian fire-worship and other foreign cults. It is manifest that a high degree of material civilization had been attained, and that all the arts and crafts incident to the life of a wealthy, 1 Strabo, Book XV, chap, i, sec. 62 ; transl. McCrindle in Ancient India as described in Classical Literature (Constable, 1901), p. 69. In sec. 28 Strabo observes that Taxila was governed by ' good laws '. ALEXANDER THE GREAT 63 cultured city were familiar. The notices accorded by Alexander's officers permit no doubt that in the fourth century b. c. the history of Indian civilization was already a long one. Their statements have a material bearing upon discussions concerning the date of the introduction of writing and the chronology of Vedic literature. Advance against Poros. Alexander, after allowing his army a pleasant rest at hospitable Taxila, advanced eastward, to attack Poros, or Puru, the king of the country between the Hydaspes (Jihlam) and Akesines (Chinab), who felt himself ' strong enough to defy the invader. The Greeks, who were much impresse'd by the high stature of the men in the Panjab, acknowledged that ' in the art of war they were far superior to the other nations by which Asia was at that time inhabited '. The resolute opposition of Poros consequently was not to be despised. Alexander expe rienced much difficulty in crossing the Hydaspes river, then, at POROS MEDAL. the end of June or the beginning of July, in full flood and guarded by a superior force. His horses would not face the elephants on the opposite bank. After a delay of several weeks he succeeded in stealing a passage at a sharp bend in the river some sixteen miles above his camp and getting across with the help of a con venient island. . The hostile armies met in the Karri Plain marked by the villages Sirwal and Pakral. Battle of the Hydaspes. The army of Poros, consisting of 30,000 infantry, four thousand cavalry, three hundred chariots, and two hundred mighty war elephants, was defeated after a hard fight, and annihilated. All the elephants were captured or killed, the chariots were destroyed, twelve thousand men were slain, and nine thousand taken prisoners. The total Macedonian casual ties did not exceed a thousand. The primary cause of the Greek victory was the consummate leadership of Alexander, the greatest general in the history of the world. Poros, a giant six and a half feet in height, fought to the last, and received nine wounds before he was taken prisoner. The victor, who willingly responded to his captive's proud request that he might be treated as a king, secured the alliance of the Indian monarch by prudent generosity. 64 ANCIENT INDIA The elephants on which Poros had relied proved unmanageable in the battle and did more harm to their friends than to their foes. The archers in the chariots were not a match for the mounted bowmen of Alexander ; and the slippery state of the ground hindered the Indian infantry from making full use of their formidable bows, which they were ac customed to draw after resting one end upon the earth, and pressing it with the left foot. The Indian infantry man also carried a heavy two-handled sword slung from the left shoulder, a buckler of undressed ox-hide, and sometimes javelins in place of a bow. Advance to the Hyphasis. In due course Alexander advanced eastwards, regardless of the rain, defeated the Glausai or Glaukanikoi, crossed both the Akesines (Chinab) and the Hy- draotes or Ravi, stormed Sangala, the stronghold of the Kathaioi, and threat ened the Kshudrakas (Oxydrakai), who dwelt on the farther bank of the Ravi. The king then advanced as far as the Hyphasis or Bias, where he was stopped by his soldiers, who refused firmly to plunge farther into unknown lands occupied by formidable king doms. The limits of the Greek advance were marked by the erection of twelve altars of cut stone on the northern bank of the Bias, at a point where it flows from east to west between Indaura in the Kangra. and Mirthal in the Gurdaspur District, close to the foot of the hills. The cutting back of the northern bank, which has extended for about five miles, has swept away all traces of the massive buildings.2 Retreat and river voyage. Alexander, intensely disappointed; was forced to return along the way by which he had come. He appointed Poros to act as his viceroy over seven nations which shared the territory between the Hyphasis and Hydaspes, while he himself made preparations for executing the astonishingly bold project of taking his army down the course of the Panjab rivers to the sea. A fleet, numbering perhaps two thousand vessels of all sizes, had been built by his officers on the upper waters of the Hydaspes, When all was ready in October, 326 b. c, the 1 (1) Dagger ; (2) sword, hung from shoulder ; (3) infantry shield ; (4), (5) cavalry shields ; (6) pike or javelin ; (7) vajra, carried in king's hand ; (8), (9) axes ; (10) trident ; (11) elephant goad. 2 Addenda to E. H. I., 3rd ed. (1914), p. 511, as confirmed by later communications from Mr. Shuttleworth. Ancient Indian Arms.1 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 65 voyage began, the ships being escorted by an army of 120,000 men marching along the banks. The extensive changes in the courses of the rivers of the Panjab and Sind, as mentioned more than once, forbid the tracing of Alexander's progress in detail, but he certainly passed through the Sibi country, now in the Jhang District, and then inhabited by rude folk clad in skins and armed with clubs, who submitted and were spared. Seven cen turies later, when Sibi had become more civilized, its capital was Sivipura or Shorkot.1 A neighbouring tribe, called Agalassoi by the Greeks, who dared to resist the invader, met with a terrible fate. The inhabitants of one town to the number of 20,000 set fire to their dwellings and cast themselves with their wives and children into the flames — an early and appalling instance of the practice of jauhar so often recorded in Muhammadan times. The most formidable opposition to the Greek invaders was offered by a confederacy of the Malavas (Malloi), Kshudrakas (Oxydrakai), and other tribes dwelling along the Ravi and Bias. The confederate forces, said to have numbered 80,000 or 90,000 well-equipped infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 700 or 800 chariots, should have sufficed to destroy the Macedonian army, but the superior generalship of Alexander as usual gave him decisive victory, The survivors of the Malavas submitted. The Kshudra kas, luckily for themselves, had been late for the fighting and so escaped the ruthless slaughter which befell their allies. Wealth of the Malavas. The presents offered by the envoys of the Malavas and their allies indicate the wealth of the community and the advanced state of their material civilization. The gifts comprised 1,030 (or according to another account 500) four- horsed chariots ; 1,000 bucklers ; a great quantity of cotton cloth ; 100 talents of ' white iron ', probably meaning steel ; the skins of crocodiles ('very large lizards'); a quantity of tortoise shell ; and some tame lions and tigers of extraordinary size. Patala, Several nations in Upper Sind having been subdued, Alexander reached Patala at the apex of the delta as it then existed. The town was not far from Bahmanabad, the ancient city subse quently superseded by Mansuriya. It is impossible to fix localities with accuracy for the reason already stated. Alexander made arrangements for establishing a strong naval station at Patala. Movements of Alexander and Nearchos. He sent Krateros with elephants and heavy troops into Persia through the Mulla Pass and across Balochistan, while he himself advanced to the mouths of the Indus, then in a position very different from that which they now occupy. In those days the Runn of Cutch was a gulf of the sea and one arm of the Indus emptied itself into it. Most of the existing delta has been formed since Alexander's time. Early in October, 325 b.c, Alexander, having spent about ten months on the voyage down the rivers, quitted the neighbourhood of the modern Karachi with his remaining troops, crossed the 1 The name Sibipura occurs in a Buddhist inscription from Shorkot dated 83 [g. e.]=a. d. 402-3 (Vogel in J. P. H. S., vol. i, p. 174). 1076 D 66 ANCIENT INDIA Arabis or Habb river forming the boundary between India and Gedrosia,1 and started to march for Persia through absolutely unknown country. The troops suffered terribly from heat and thirst, which destroyed multitudes of the camp followers, but in February the remnant of the soldiers emerged in Karmania, having got into touch with the fleet which had started late in October and sailed round the coast under Admiral Nearehos. The story of the adventures of both Alexander and Nearehos is of surpassing interest, but unfortunately far too long for insertion. Its interest depends on the details. In May, 324 b.c, Alexander arrived safely at Siisa in Persia. His Indian expedition had lasted just three years. He died at Babylon, near the modern Baghdad, in June, 323 b. c, in the thirty-third year of his age. ' Into thirteen years he had compressed the ener gies of many lifetimes.' Disappearance of Greek authority. Alexander un doubtedly had intended to annex permanently the In dian provinces in the basin of the Indus and to include them in his vast empire ex tending across Asia into Greece. The arrangements which he made to carry out his intention were suitable and adequate, but his pre mature death rendered his plans fruitless. When the second partition of the empire was effected at Triparadeisos in 321 b. c, Antipater appointed Poros and Ambhi as a matter of form to the charge of the Indus valley and the Panjab. The conditions, how ever, did not permit them to fulfil their commission, and by 317 at latest all trace of Macedonian authority in India had vanished. Effect on India of the invasion. Although the direct effects of Alexander's expedition on India appear to have been small, his proceedings had an appreciable influence on the history of the country. They broke down the wall of separation between west and east, and opened up four distinct lines of communication, three by land and one by sea. The land routes which he proved 1 See Addenda, E. H. I., ed. 3 (1914), p. 511. I am now convinced that Tomaschek is right. The Arabis certainly means the Habb (Hab of I. 6.) and not the Purali. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. INDIA IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B. C. 67 to be practicable were those through Kabul, the Mulla Pass in Balochistan, and Gedrosia. Nearehos demonstrated that the sea voyage round the coast of Makran offered few difficulties to sailors, once the necessary local information had been gained, which he lacked. The immediate formation of Greek kingdoms in Western Asia ensured from the first a certain amount of exchange of ideas between India and Europe. The establishment of the Graeco-Bactrian monarchy in the middle of the third century B.C. brought about the actual subjugation of certain Indian districts by Greek kings. The Hellenistic influence on Indian art, which is most plainly manifested in the Gandhara sculptures dating from the early centuries of the Christian era, may be traced less con spicuously in other directions. There is good reason to believe that Buddhist teaching was considerably modified by contact with the Greek gods, and that the use of images in particular as an essential element in the Buddhist cult was mainly due to Greek example. Whatever Hellenistic elements in Indian civilization can be detected were all indirect consequences of Alexander's invasion. The Greek influence never penetrated deeply. Indian polity and the structure of society resting on the caste basis remained substantially unchanged, and even in military science Indians showed no disposition to learn the lessons taught by the sharp sword of Alexander. The kings of Hind preferred to go on in the old way, trusting to their elephants and chariots, sup ported by enormous hosts of inferior infantry. They never mastered the shock tactics of Alexander's cavalry, which were repeated by Babur in the sixteenth century with equal success. Indian influence on Europe. On the other hand, the West learned something from India in consequence of the communica tions opened up by Alexander's adventure. Our knowledge of the facts is so scanty and fragmentary that it is difficult to make any positive assertions with confidence, but it is safe to say that the influence of Buddhist ideas on Christian doctrine may be traced in the Gnostic forms of Christianity, if not elsewhere. The notions of Indian philosophy and religion which filtered into the Roman empire flowed through channels opened by Alexander. The information about India collected by Alexander's officers under his intelligent direction received no material additions until the closing years of the fifteenth century, when Vasco da Gama finally rent the veil which had so long hidden India from Europe and Europe from India. India in the fourth century B.C. Although it is impossible to write the history of any Indian state in the fourth century B.C., except that of Magadha to a certain extent, we are not altogether ignorant of the conditions, political, social, economical, and religious which prevailed in that age. It is clear that no paramount imperial power existed. In the Panjab and Sind, the two provinces actually visited by . Alexander, the separate states were numerous and independent. The country between the Hydaspes and the Hyphasis alone was occupied by seven 68 ANCIENT INDIA ¦distinct nations or tribes. Some of the states, like Taxila and the realm of Poros, were ruled by Rajas. Others, like the territories of the Malavas and Kshudrakas (Malloi and Oxydrakai), were governed as republics, apparently by aristocratic oligarchies. The Kshudrakas, who sent a hundred and fifty of their most eminent men to negotiate terms, pleaded their special attachment to freedom and self-government from the most ancient times. Unfortunately the nature of the government in the numerous republican states of ancient India is imperfectly recorded. The existence of such states is noticed in the Arthasastra, and their cha racteristics 'are the subject of a special section of the Mahdbhdrata.1 The statement made by Megasthenes twenty years or so after Alexander's invasion that 118 distinct nations or tribes were said to exist in the whole of India proves that the large number of distinct governments in the Panjab and Sind was in no way exceptional. Such states were engaged in unceasing wars among themselves, with endless changes of rank and frontiers. Alexander profited by the dissensions of the Panjab Rajas, and the Arthasastra frankly lays down the principles : 'Whoever is superior in power shall wage war. Whoever is rising in power may break the agreement of peace. The king who is situated anywhere on the circumference of the con queror's territory is termed the enemy.' Such maxims, German in their unscrupulousness, could not but result in chronic warfare. The treatise quoted is in my opinion a faithful mirror of Indian political conditions in the days of Alexander. The administrative system described in it will be noticed more con veniently in connexion with the account of the Maurya government. Extensive commerce. The numerous details recorded both by the Greeks and by Kautilya prove beyond doubt that the Indians of the fourth century b. c were advanced in material civilization, that they conducted extensive commerce internal and foreign, and were amply supplied with the luxuries of life. Incidental observations show that the countries of the extreme south were well known in the north, and that active intercourse for business purposes bound together all parts of India. A few details will establish the accuracy of that proposition. We learn that the 'best elephants came from the eastern realms ; Anga (Bhagalpur and Mungir). Kalinga (Orissa), and Karusa (Shahabad) being specially named. The worst animals came from Saurashtra (Kathiawar), and Panchajana (probably the Panch Mahals in Gujarat). Those of medium quality were obtained along the Dasan river of Bundelkhand and farther west. Kautilya was of opinion that the commerce with the south was 1 Sdnti Parva, 107 ; transcribed and translated by K. P. Jayaswal, ' Republics in the Mahabhdrata ' (J. B. O. Res. Soc, vol. i (1915), p. 173). The subject has been discussed with much learning and at considerable length by R. C. Majumdar in Corporate Life in Ancient India, chan. iii, Calcutta, 1918. r INDIA IN THE FOURTH CENTURY B. C. 69 of greater importance than that with the north, because the more precious commodities came from the peninsula, while the northern regions supplied only blankets, skins, and horses. Gold, diamonds, pearls, other gems, and conch shells are specified as products of the south. The Tamraparni river in Tinnevelly, the Pandya country of Madura, and Ceylon are named. We hear of textile fabrics from Benares, Madura, the Konkan, and even from China. Commerce by land and sea with foreign countries was regulated by many ordinances, and passports were required by all persons entering or leaving India.1 The coinage was of a primitive character. The coins most commonly used were of the kind called ' punch- marked ', because their surface is stamped with separate marks PUNCH-MARKED COINS. made at different times by different punches. Such coins in base silver are found all over India. Specimens in copper occur, but are rare. The greater number are roughly square or oblong bits of metal cut out of a strip. The circular pieces are scarce. Roughly cast coins of early date are common in some localities. Religion. Certain matters concerning the history of religions have been discussed in connexion with Taxila. A few other miscellaneous observations will not be out of place. The deities specifically mentioned include Zeus Ombrios — the rain-god — which term must be intended to denote Indra ; the Indian Herakles worshipped by the Surasenas of Mathura, who may be identified with Krishna's brother Balarama ; and the river Ganges.2 The dated references to the Krishna cult and the veneration of the Ganges are worth noting. The authority of the Brahmans was secure and fully recognized. They occupied a town in the Malava territory, which probably was an agrahdfa or proprietary grant, and everywhere they were 1 Arthasastra, Book II, chaps. 2, 11, 16, 28, 34 ; Book VII, chap. 12. 2 Strabo, Book XV, chap, i, sees. 59, 69 ; Arrian, Indika, chap. 8. 70 ANCIENT INDIA the councillors of the Rajas. In Sind they used their influence to induce the local chiefs to resist the invader, and paid with their lives for their advice.1 Quintus Curtius notes the cult of trees, and asserts that violation of sacred trees was a capital offence. Brahmans are said to have been accustomed to eat flesh, but not that of -animals which assist man in his labours. That remark seems to imply the sacred- ness of horned cattle in the eyes of Brahmans, although other people might still eat beef. TENTATIVE CHRONOLOGY OF THE SAISUNAGA AND NANDA DYNASTIES Serial No. King, as in Matsya Purdna Probable date of ac cession B.C. Remarks. Saisund gas. ¦ 1 Sisunaga 642 Originally Raja, of Kasi or 2 Kakavarna Benares. 3 Kshemadharman - No events recorded ; 60 years 4 Kshemajit or Kshatraujas , allowed for four reigns. 5 Bimbisara or Srenika 582 Built New Rajagriha ; con quered Anga ; contemporary with Mahavira and Buddha ; reputed to be a Jain. 6 Ajatasatru or Kunika 554 Built fort of Pataliputra ; de feated rulers of Vaisali and Kosala ; death of Buddha; death of Mahavira. 7 Darsaka 527 Mentioned in Svapna-Vdsava- dattd of Bhasa. 8 Udasin or Udaya 503 Built city of Kusumapura on the Ganges near Pataliputra on the 9 Nandivardhana . 470 , Few events recorded ; may be 10 Mahanandin I considered to be Nandas, as indicated by the names. (Kha The Nine iS Jandas. ravela inscription.) 11 1 Mahapadma and 413 Low caste heretics, hostile to 12 8 sons, 2 genera (91 years be Brahmans and Kshatriyas ; tions fore Chan destroyed by Chandragupta and dragupta) Kautilya. Maury is. 13 Chandragupta 322 (? 325) Date approximately correct. Arrian, Anab., Book VI, chaps. 7, 17. AUTHORITIES 71 CHRONOLOGY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT (Dates accurate) B.C. / 334. A. started on campaign against Persia ; battle of the Granicus (Thargelion). 333. Battle of Issus. 332. Conquest of Egypt. 331. Foundation of Alexandria in Egypt ; battle of Gaugamela (Arbela). 330. A. in Persia ; death of Darius. 328-7. A. in Bactria. Indian Expedition (leading dates only) 327. May. Crossing of Hindu Kush range. 327. June to December. Campaign in the hills of Bajaur and Suwat (Swat). 326. February. Crossing of the Indus. 326. Beginning of July. Battle of Hydaspes. 326. September. Arrival at the Hyphasis ; erection of altars ; forced return. 326. End of October. Beginning of voyage down the rivers. 325. January. Defeat of the Malavas (Malloi). 325. October, beginning of. A. started on march through Gedrosia. 325. October, end of. Nearehos started on voyage along the coast to Persian Gulf. 324. February. A. and the remains of his army in Karmania. 324. May. A. at SQsa in Persia. 323. June. Death of Alexander at Babylon. Authorities The references given here are merely supplementary to those in E.H. I.' (1914), and in the foot-notes to this chapter. Sir J. H. Marshall has issued preliminary reports of his excavations at Taxila in the Annual Reports of the Archaeol. Survey of India ; J. P. H. S., vol. iii (1914, 1915) ; and J. R. A. S. for 1914 and 1916. The articles by S. V. Ven-katesvara on ' The Ancient History of Magadha ' (Ind. Ant., 1916, pp. 16, 28) are useful and suggestive, even when not convincing. Shamasastry (Shama Sastri) published his revised version of Kautil- ya's Arthasastra in an 8vo volume at Bangalore, 1916. The difficult and hitherto obscure subject of Jainism has been made fairly intelligible by two authoritative books, namely, Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson, M.A., Sc.D., The Heart of Jainism, Oxford University Press, 1915 ; and Jagmanderlal Jaini, M.A., Outlines of Jainism, Cambridge University Press, 1916. Both have been quoted in the text. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar's treatise on Vaishnavism, &c, in the Grundriss (Strassburg, 1913) is important. The story of Alexander's reign prior to the Indian expedition may be read best in Bury, A History of Greece (Macmillan, 1904). The fullest account of the Indian campaign is that in E. H. I.3 The dates of the dynasties have been arranged to suit, the new readings of the Kharavela inscription, ante, p. 58 n. BOOK II HINDU INDIA FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MAURYA DYNASTY IN 322 B.C. TO THE SEVENTH CENTURY A. C. CHAPTER 1 Chandragupta Maurya, the first historical emperor of India, and his institutions ; Bindusara. From darkness to light. The advent of the Maurya dynasty marks the passage from darkness to light for the historian. Chrono logy suddenly becomes definite, almost precise ; a huge empire springs into existence, unifying the innumerable fragments of distracted India ; the kings, who may be described with justice as emperors, are men of renown, outstanding personalities whose qualities can be discerned, albeit dimly, through the mists of time ; gigantic world-wide religious movements are initiated, of which the effects are still felt ; and the affairs of secluded Hind are brought into close touch with those of the outer world. The manners of the court, the constitution of the government, the methods of administration, the principles of law, and the course of commerce under the Maurya sovereigns for nearly a hundred years in the fourth and third centuries b. c. are known to us in the twentieth century a. c far more intimately than are the doings and institutions of any other Indian monarch until the days of Akbar, the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. Authorities for the Maurya age. We are indebted for this extraordinary wealth of knowledge concerning a section of the remote past mainly to three sources, namely, the treatise on statecraft composed by Chandragupta Maurya's able minister, the Brahman variously known as Vishnugupta, Kautilya (Kautalya), or Chanakya ; the testimony of the Greeks who visited India either with Alexander or a generation later ; and the imperishable records of Asoka inscribed on rocks and pillars. Indian tradition recorded in various forms, combined with critical study of the monuments which have defied the ravenous tooth of time, enables the historian to fill in the outline of his picture with certain additional details. When all sources of information have been exhausted the result is a picture of astonishing com pleteness. The external political facts, although on record to a considerable extent, are known far less perfectly than the particulars of the internal government and administration. The revolution in Magadha. The exact course of the events which led to the overthrow of the Nandas and the establishment MAURYA DYNASTY 73 of the Mauryas in their royal seat is not fully ascertained. Many alleged incidents of the revolution in Magadha are depicted vividly in the ancient political drama entitled the ' Signet of Rakshasa ' (Mudrd-Rakshasa), written, perhaps, in the fifth century after Christ. But it would be obviously unsafe to rely for a matter-of-fact historical narrative on a work of imagination composed some seven centuries after the events dramatized. The information gleaned from other authorities is scanty, and in some respects discrepant. It appears, however, to be certain that Chandra or Chandragupta, who when quite young had met Alexander in 326 or 325 B.C., was a scion of the Nanda stock. According to some accounts he was a son of the last Nanda king by a low-born woman. Acting under the guidance of his astute Brahman preceptor, Vishnugupta, better known by his patronymic Chanakya, or his surname Kautilya or Kautalya, Chandragupta, who had been exiled from Magadha, attacked the Macedonian officers in command of the garrisons in the Indus basin after Alexander's death, and destroyed them, with the aid of the northern nations. About the same time the youthful adventurer and his wily counsellor effected a revolution at Pataliputra (Patna), the capital of the Magadhan monarchy, and exterminated the Nanda family. It is not clear whether the Magadhan revolution preceded or followed the attack on the Macedonian garrisons. However that may have been, Chandragupta undoubtedly succeeded to the throne of Pataliputra, secured his position against all enemies, and established a gigantic empire. He is the first strictly historical person who can be properly described as emperor of India. Chronology. Alexander having died at Babylon in June, 323 b.c, the news of his passing must have reached the Panjab a month or two later. It may be assumed with safety that the campaign against the foreign garrisons began in the following cold season of 323 to 322, and we cannot be far wrong if we date Chandragupta's accession in 322 b.c. The Magadhan revolution seems to have occupied at least a year from beginning to end.1 If it had been completed before Alexander's death, which is possible, the change of dynasty might be antedated to 325 b.c The true date certainly lies between 325 and 320 inclusive, which is sufficiently precise for most purposes. War and peace with Seleukos. Alexander not having left an heir capable of wielding his sceptre, his dominions were divided among his generals. The supreme power in Asia was disputed by Antigonos and Seleukos. After a long struggle the latter recovered Babylon in 312, and assumed the style of king six years later. He is known in history as Seleukos Nikator, the Conqueror, and is called King of Syria, but would be more accurately de scribed as the King of Western Asia. Hoping to recover Alexander's 1 Malayaketu, son of the king of the mountains, says : Nine months have o'er us passed since that sad day My father perished. (Mudrd-Rakshasa, Act iv.) r>3 74 HINDU INDIA Indian provinces, he crossed the Indus to attack the reigning Indian sovereign, Chandragupta Maurya. The invader was defeated, probably somewhere in the Panjab, and compelled to retire beyond the frontier. The terms of peace involved the cession by Seleukos to Chandragupta of the provinces of the Paropanisadai, Aria, and Arachosia, the capitals of which were respectively Kabul, Herat, and Kandahar, and also Gedrosia, the modern Balochistan. The Indian king gave in exchange a com paratively small equivalent in the shape of five hundred elephants, which Seleukos needed for the wars with his western enemies, A matrimonial alliance also was arranged, which may be inter preted as meaning that a daughter of Seleukos was married to Chandragupta. Megasthenes. The peace so concluded between Syria and India remained inviolate, and Seleukos, in or about the year 302 b. c, sent as his envoy to the court of Pataliputra an officer named Megasthenes, who had served in Arachosia (Kandahar). The ambassador employed his leisure in compiling an excellent account of the geography, products, and institutions of India, which continued to be the principal authority on the subject until modern times. Unfortunately his book is no longer extant as a whole, but a great part of it has been preserved in the form of extracts made by other authors. Megasthenes is a thoroughly trustworthy witness concerning matters which came under his own observation. His work has been sometimes discredited unfairly because he permitted himself to embellish his text by the insertion of certain incredible marvels on hearsay testimony. Ghandragupta's empire. Little more than what has been stated is known concerning the political events of Chandragupta's reign, which lasted for twenty-four years. His dominions certainly included the country now called Afghanistan, the ancient Ariana, as far as the Hindu Kush range ; the Panjab ; the territories now known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Bihar, and the peninsula of Kathiawar in the far west. Probably they also comprised Bengal. It is safe to affirm that Chandragupta, when his reign terminated about 298 b.c, was master of all India north of the Narbada, as well as of Afghanistan. At present there is no good evidence that his conquests extended into the Deccan, but it is possible that he may have carried his victorious arms across the Narbada. Late traditions in Mysore go so far as to assert the extension of the Nanda dominion to that country. Chandragupta's severity. The Roman historian Justin, who affirms that Chandragupta was the author of India's liberty after Alexander's death, adds the comment that 'when he had gained the victory and ascended the throne, he transformed nominal liberty into slavery, inasmuch as he oppressed with servitude the people whom he had rescued from foreign rule '. The known facts concerning his administration prove that he was a stern despot, who lived in daily fear of his life, and enforced strict order by a highly organized autocracy supported by punish- MAURYA DYNASTY 75 ments of ruthless severity. All tradition agrees that the ship of state was steered with exceptional ability by his Brahman minister, whose writings show that his statecraft was not hampered by any moral scruples. The date or manner of the minister's disappearance from the scene is not recorded. According to the confused traditions collected in the seventeenth century by the Tibetan author Taranath, Chanakya continued to guide the counsels of Chandragupta's successor, Bindusara. The statement may be well founded.1 The fate of Chandragupta. The only direct evidence throwing light on the manner in which the eventful reign of Chandragupta Maurya came to an end is that of Jain tradition. The Jains always treat the great emperor as having been a Jain like Bimbisara, and no adequate reason seems to exist for discrediting their belief. The Jain religion undoubtedly was extremely influential in Magadha during the time of the later Saisunagas, the Nandas, and the Mauryas. The fact that Chandragupta won the throne by the contrivance of a learned Brahman is not inconsistent with the supposition that Jainism was the royal faith. Jains habitually employ Brahmans for their domestic ceremonies, and in the drama cited above a Jain ascetic is mentioned as being a special friend of the minister Rakshasa, who served first the Nanda and then the new sovereign. Once the fact that Chandragupta was or became a Jain is ad mitted, the tradition that he abdicated and committed suicide by slow starvation in the approved Jain manner becomes readily credible. The story is to the effect that when the Jain saint Bhadrabahu predicted a famine in northern India which would last for twelve years, and the prophecy began to be fulfilled, the saint led twelve thousand Jains to the south in search of more favoured lands. King Chandragupta abdicated and accompanied the emigrants, who made their way to Sravana Belgola (' the white Jain tank ' ) in Mysore, where Bhadrabahu soon died. The ex-emperor Chandragupta, having survived him for twelve years, starved himself to death. The tradition is supported by the names of the buildings at Sravana Belgola, inscriptions from the seventh century after Christ, and a literary work of the tenth century. The evidence cannot be described as conclusive, but after much consideration I am disposed to accept the main facts as affirmed by tradition. It being certain that Chandragupta was quite young and inexperienced when he ascended the throne in or about 322 b. c, he must have been under fifty when his reign terminated twenty-four years later. His abdication is an adequate explanation of his disappearance at such an early age. Similar renunciations 1 Wilford printed a story that the ' wicked minister ' repented and retired to "Shookul Teerth, near Broach, on the banks of the Nerbudda', where he died. Chandragupta is said to have accompanied Chanakya (As. Res., ix. 96). One version of the story is said to be based on the Agni Purdna, and another on alleged traditions related by Wilford's Pundit. See Rdsmdla, i. 69 n. 76 HINDU INDIA of royal dignity are on record, and the twelve years' famine is" not incredible. In short, the Jain tradition holds the field, and no alternative account exists. King Bindusara. Chandragupta was succeeded by his son Bindusara, whose title Amitraghata, ' slayer of enemies ', suggests a martial career. Unfortunately nothing definite is recorded concerning him except a trivial anecdote showing that he main tained friendly correspondence with Antiochos Soter, whose ambassador, Deimachos, replaced Megasthenes. An envoy named Dionysios sent by Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt (285-247 B.C.) to the court of Pataliputra must have presented his credentials to either Bindusara or his son Asoka. A tradition recorded by Taranath represents Bindusara as having conquered the country between the eastern and the western seas. The tradition may well be founded on fact, because the immense extent of Asoka's empire is known, and he himself made no conquests except that of Kalinga. Asoka's dominion in the peninsula extended over the northern districts of Mysore, and it seems likely that the conquest of the Deccan was effected mostly by Bindusara. But, as already re marked, it is possible that the southern extension of the empire may have been in part the work of Chandragupta, who certainly held the remote province of Kathiawar or Surashtra in the west. Maurya organization. The narrative of political events will now be interrupted to permit of a survey of the institutions of the Maurya empire according to the authorities above mentioned. Most of the arrangements adopted by Chandragupta remained in force during the reigns of his son and grandson. The modifica tions introduced by Asoka will be noticed in due course. The reader should understand that the Nanda kingdom of Magadha was strong, rich, extensive, protected by a numerous army, and no doubt administered on the system described in the Arthasastra. The enlargement of the kingdom into an empire did not necessarily involve radical changes in the administrative machinery, although it is reasonable to credit Chandragupta and his prime minister with effecting improvements and increasing the efficiency of the mechanism of government. The Maurya state was organized elaborately with a full supply of departments and carefully graded officials with well-defined duties. The accounts leave on my mind the impression that it was much better organized than was the Mogul empire under Akbar, as described in Abu-1 Fazl's ' survey. Akbar's officials, except certain judicial functionaries, all ranked as military officers. Even the underlings in the imperial kitchen were rated and paid as foot soldiers. The bulk of the army was composed of irregular contingents supplied by either subordi nate ruling chiefs or by high officials with territorial jurisdiction, and the standing army was quite small. The Mauryas, on the contrary, had a regular civil administration and maintained a huge standing army paid directly by the Crown — an instrument of power infinitely more efficient than Akbar's militia, which failed miserably when confronted with small Portuguese forces, whereas the Maurya MAURYA DYNASTY 77 was more than a match for Seleukos. The control of the Maurya central government over distant provinces and subordinate officials appears to have been far more stringent than that exercised by Akbar, who did not possess the terrible secret service of his early predecessor. That service was worked very much on the lines followed by the modern German government and with an equal absence of scruple. The Maurya government, in short, was a highly organized and thoroughly efficient autocracy, capable of controlling an empire more extensive than that of Akbar as long as the sovereigns possessed the necessary personal ability. They were equal to the task for three generations. Although the figure of Bindusara is shadowy, and absolutely nothing definite is known about his acts, he must have been a competent ruler. Otherwise he could not have reigned for a quarter of a century and transmitted to his son Asoka the gigantic empire created by and inherited from his father Chandragupta, probably enlarged by additions in the south. Pataliputra, the capital. Pataliputra, Chandragupta's capi tal, was a great and noble city extending along the northern bank of the Son for about nine miles, with a depth of less than two miles. Much of the area is now covered by Patna, Bankipore, and sundry neighbouring villages. Kusumapura, the more ancient site, stood on the Ganges, and evidently became merged in Patali putra, for the two names are often used as synonyms. The Maurya city was built in the tongue of land formed by the junction of the Son with the Ganges, a defensible position recommended by the writers of text-books and frequently adopted by the ancient Indians in actual practice. Modern Patna no longer enjoys the strategical security of its predecessor, the confluence being now at the cantonment of Dinapore, about twelve miles above Patna. The old river beds and even the ancient embankments or quays may still be traced. The city was defended by a massive timber palisade, of which the remains have been found at several places. The gates were sixty -four, and the towers five hundred and seventy in number. The palisade was protected by a deep moat filled with water from the Son. The palace. The imperial palace, which probably stood close to the modern village of Kumrahar, was chiefly constructed of timber, like the splendid regal edifices of Mandalay in Burma. Its gilded pillars were adorned with golden vines and silver birds, and a fine ornamental park studded with fish-ponds and well furnished with trees and shrubs served as setting for the edifices. Reasons exist for believing that the buildings were designed in imitation of the Persian palace at Persepolis, but the resemblance is not yet definitely established. According to a Greek author the abode of Chandragupta excelled the palaces of Susa and Ekbatana in splendour, and there is no reason to doubt the truth of the statement. The court was main tained and served with barbaric ostentation. Gold vessels measur ing six feet across are said to have been used. The king, when he appeared in public, was either carried in a golden palanquin or 78 HINDU INDIA mounted on an elephant with gorgeous trappings. He was clothed in fine muslin embroidered with purple and gold. The luxuries of all parts of Asia, including China, were at his -disposal. Within the spacious precincts of the palace the sovereign relied for protec tion chiefly on his Amazonian bodyguard of armed women. It was considered lucky that when he got up in the morning he should Jbe received by his female archers. The harem or women's quarters were on an extensive scale and carefully guarded. No commodities were allowed to pass in or out except under seal. Royal amusements. Although the early Brahman writers repeatedly condemned hunting as a grave form of vice, and solemnly debated whether it or gambling should be considered the worse, the ancient kings indulged freely in the pleasures of the chase. Large game preserves were enclosed for the exclusive royal use, and the slightest interference with the sport of kings entailed instant capital punishment. The tradition of the sanctity of the imperial hunting-ground long survived. Jahangir in the seventeenth century did not hesitate to kill or mutilate some unlucky men who had accidentally spoiled his shot at a blue bull. In England the Norman kings were equally tenacious of their sporting privileges. Asoka kept up the practice of hunting for many years, but abandoned it, as will be narrated presently, when he adopted Buddhist ideas. Chandragupta, who still followed the chase when Megasthenes was at his court late in his reign, is alleged to have been a Jain. It is not easy to understand how a Jain, even a king, could possibly hunt at any time. It may be that Chandragupta was a Brahmanical worshipper of Siva, or possibly, as Dr. Spooner thinks, a Magian, for the greater part of his reign, and that he was not converted to Jainism by Bhadrabahu until almost the end.1 Gladiatorial combats, such as even Akbar enjoyed watching, and the fights between animals, which may still be witnessed in the Native States, were included in the list of royal amusements. The races run with chariots, to each of which a mixed team of horses and oxen was harnessed, with horses in the centre and an ox at each side, were a curious kind of diversion. Such races are not to be seen nowadays in India, so far as I know, although good trotting oxen are still to be found. The course measured about 6,000 yards and the races were made the subject of keen betting.2 1 Arthasastra (Book II, chap. 4) prescribes that in the centre of the capital city shrines should be provided for Aparajita, Apratihata, Jayanta, Vaijayanta, Siva, Vaisravana (i. e. Kuvera), and the Asvins. The first four are Jain deities. 2 Dr. Coomaraswamy informs me that 'bull-racing' is a ' very common pastime in Ceylon, and creates immense excitement. The bulls are har nessed to the light cars called " hackeries " '. In 1679, when Dr. Fryer was at Surat, ox-races were still in favour. He describes them in his customary quaint fashion : ' The Coaches . . . Those for Journeying are something stronger than those for the Merchants to ride about the City or to take the Air on : which with their nimble Oxen they will, when they meet in MAURYA DYNASTY 79 Courtesan attendants. Accomplished courtesans of the dancing-girl class enjoyed a privileged position at court, an evil practice continued by most Indian princes up to recent times, and perhaps, in some cases, to the present day. Such women were employed as housemaids, shampooers, and garland makers. They were entitled to present the king with water,' perfumes, dress, and garlands. They held the royal umbrella, fan, and golden pitcher. and attended the sovereign when he was seated on his throne, or riding in a litter or chariot. They were subject to strict official control, and those who practised their profession paid licence fees to the treasury. Similar customs at Vijayanagar in the south are recorded in the sixteenth century. The secret service of the Maurya government did not disdain to make use of intelligence collected by the public women. Iranian influence. Up to the time of Alexander's invasion the Indus was regarded as the traditional frontier of the Persian empire, although at that date the Great King does not seem to ' have actually asserted his authority over the Indian satrapy conquered in the time of Darius the son of Hystaspes. The proximity of the Panjab to territory which was a Persian province for a century or more, and the constant although unrecorded inter course which must have existed between the Achaemenian monarchy and the Indian kingdoms, cannot have failed to make Persian institutions familiar to the people of Hind. At a somewhat later date the continuance of strong Persian influence upon India is indicated by the prevalence of the Kharoshthi script, a variety of Aramaic, in the provinces near the frontier ; by the long con tinued use of the Persian title of Satrap ; by the form of the Asoka inscriptions ; and by the architecture. Some small particulars which happen to be recorded are sufficient to show that in the time of the first Maurya emperor the court was affected by Iranian practices. The Arthasdstra rule that the king, when consulting physicians and ascetics, should be seated ' in the room where the sacred fire has been kept ' seems to be an indication that Magian ritual was honoured at the Maurya court. We are told also that the ceremonial washing of the king's hair was made the occasion of a splendid festival when the courtiers vied one with the other in offering rich presents to the king. That observance appears to be an obvious imitation of the Persian hair-washing ceremony on the sovereign's birthday, as described by Herodotus. Researches the fields, run races on, and contend for the Garland as much as for an Olympiak Prize : which is a Diversion To see a Cow gallop, as we say in scorn ; but these not only pluck up their Heels apace, but are taught to amble, they often riding on them ' (Fryer, A New Account, &c., ed. Crooke, Hakluyt Soc., 1915, vol. iii, pp. 157, 158). I have not found anywhere a notice of mixed teams of horses and oxen. The Arthasastra (Book IV, chap. 20) provides official rules for gambling. Superintendents of gambling and betting collected the licence fee, and 5 per cent, of the winnings, as well as the charges for hire of the accessories and for water-supply and accommodation in gaming houses. 80 HINDU INDIA now in progress promise to reveal the existence of Magian influence on Indian religions and other institutions to a degree previously unsuspected, but I abstain from the discussion of doubtful hypo theses. The facts so far as disclosed suggest that the influence was Magian rather than Zoroastrian in the strict sense. The undoubted close relationship between Vedic religion and that of Iran must be borne in mind. Legendary accounts of the early connexion of Persia with India may be read in Firishta and other authors. Whatever may be the fate of the various hypotheses debated by scholars, there can be no doubt that ancient India was largely indebted to Iranian ideas and practices.1 Autocracy. The normal government of an Indian kingdom appears to have been always untempered autocracy or despotism.2 The royal will was not controlled by any law, and the customary respect shown to Brahmans was an ineffective check upon a sove reign resolved to have his own way. According to the Arthasdstra ¦ a Brahman convicted of ordinary heinous crime, murder included, was exempt from torture, and should be either banished or sentenced to the mines for life. But the author expressly authorizes the execution by drowning of a Brahman guilty of high treason, whereas other traitors were to be burnt alive. A strong, tyrannous man like Chandragupta would not have allowed himself to be hampered by nice regard for Brahman privileges. The sovereign was not bound to consult anybody, but in practice the most self- willed despot is obliged to depend largely upon his ministers. ' Sovereignty is possible only with assistance. A single wheel can never move. Hence he [the king] shall employ ministers and hear their opinion.' 3 The Maurya monarch, according to the ruling of Chanakya, was not constrained to limit his Privy Council to any particular number of ministers. The Council should ' consist of as many members as the needs of his dominion require '. The sovereign was recommended to be content with the advice of not more than four ministers on any given matter. In any case the decision rested with him alone. Akbar in the sixteenth century, although it is unlikely that he had ever heard of Chanakya or his treatise, acted on the principles laid down in that work so far as his relations with his ministers were concerned. The only real check. The only real check upon the arbitrary royal authority was the ever-present fear of revolution and assassina tion. A king who trampled on custom and overstrained his power was apt to come to an untimely end. Chandragupta, who had won the throne by rebellion and the extermination of his prede- 1 The Ionic Jandiala temple in the Sir Kap section of Taxila appears to have been a fire-temple (J. P. H. S., iii. 77 ; Ann. Rep. A. S., India, 1912-13, p. 35, pi. xxxiv, b). It dates from about the beginning of the Christian era. 6 2 The text refers only to monarchical governments ; and not to the tribal republics or oligarchies, such as those of the Malavas, Kshudrakas, Lich chhavis, and Yaudheyas. a Arthasdstra, Book I, chap. 7. MAURYA DYNASTY 81 cessor's family, naturally led an uneasy life, and was obliged to take unceasing precautions against conspiracies. He dared not incur the risk either of sleeping in the day-time, or occupying the same bedroom two nights in succession. A king of Burma at the beginning of the nineteenth century is recorded to have taken similar precautions. The dramatist already cited, who tells the traditional story of the revolution which overthrew the Nandas, gives a vivid account of the varied expedients by which the adherents of the old dynasty sought to destroy the young usurper, and how all failed, so that the disappointed ex-minister exclaims : 'Tis ever thus. — Fortune in all befriends The cruel Chandragupta. When I send A messenger of certain death to slay him, She wields the instrument against his rival, Who should have spoiled him of one -half his kingdom ; And arms, and drugs, and stratagems are turned In his behalf against my friends and servants ; So that whate'er 1 plot against his power Serves but to yield him unexpected profit. The usurper's powerful military force, which will be now described, secured him in possession of his dangerous throne. The normal Indian army. An Indian army, in accordance with immemorial tradition, comprised four ' arms ' — namely ele phants, chariots, cavalry, and infantry. The war-elephants were regarded as the most important because ' the victory of Kings depends mainly upon elephants ; for elephants, being of large bodily frame, are able not only to destroy the arrayed army of an enemy, his fortifications, and encampments, but also to undertake works that are dangerous to life '. The high value thus set upon elephants, justified by the conditions and experience of purely Indian warfare, was discredited when a bold European general like Alexander confounded the traditional Indian tactics by novel methods of attack. Chariots, which had been in use in Rigvedic times, played an important part in ancient Indian warfare for many centuries. It is not known with certainty when or why they went out of fashion. The Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsang, writing in the middle of the seventh century, when giving a general description of India, states that the army was composed of the four divisions or ' arms ' above mentioned, and remarks that officers used to ride in chariots. ' The army is composed of Foot, Horse, Chariot, and Elephant soldiers. The war-elephant is covered with coat-of-mail, and his tusks are provided with sharp barbs. On him rides the Commander-in-Chief, who has a soldier on each side to manage the elephant. The chariot in which an officer sits is drawn by four horses, whilst infantry guard it on both sides.' 1 Apparently at that time chariots were used by officers only. The same author, when describing the army organized by his 1 Watters, On Yuan Chwang, vol. i, p. 171. The translation by Beal (Records, i. 83) differs materially and appears to be erroneous. 82 HINDU INDIA contemporary, Harsha of Kanauj, credits that powerful king with possessing originally 5,000 elephants, 20,000 cavalry, and 50,000 foot After some years he is said to have increased his war elephants to 60,000, and his cavalry to lOO.OOO.1 No mention of chariots is made. It is legitimate to infer that the use of chariots was obsolescent in the pilgrim's time, and did not survive the seventh century. I do not know of any subsequent mention of their em ployment in warfare. The Rajput horsemen in later ages were renowned for their courage and the undisciplined fury of their charges. The only authentic record we possess of action by cavalry in ancient times is in the Greek narratives of the battle of the Hydaspes. The mounted troops of Poros on that occasion did their best, but could not resist effectively the Mace donian cavalry. The Indians were almost all destroyed. It was cus tomary in India to employ enor mous hosts of foot soldiers, but the line between soldiers and fol lowers not being strictly drawn, the military value of the infantry often was very small. The Maurya army. Chandragupta maintained the traditional ' four-fold ' army. His military organization does not betray any trace of Greek ideas. The force at the command of the last Nanda was formidable, being estimated at 80,000 horse, 200,000 foot, 8,000 chariots, and 6,000 fighting elephants. The Maurya raised the numbers of the infantry to 600,000, and of the elephants to 9.000. But his cavalry is said to have mustered only 30,000. The number of his chariots is not recorded. Assuming that he main tained them as in the time of his predecessor, that each chariot required at least three, and that each elephant carried at least four men, his total force must have amounted to not less than 690,000, or in round numbers 700,000 men. Megasthenes expressly states that the soldiers were paid and equipped by the state. They were not a mere militia of contingents. It is not surprising that an army so strong was able both to ' overrun and subdue all India ', as Plutarch asserts, and also to defeat the invasion of Seleukos, whose force must have been far inferior in numbers. According to the Arthasdstra an Indian army was organized in 1 Watters summarizes the passage, omitting details. Beal (i. 213) accidentally gives 2,000 as being Harsha's original cavalry force. Julien clearly is right in stating 20,000 as the number. Four-horsed chariot of sun. MAURYA DYNASTY 83 squads of ten men, companies of a hundred, and battalions of a thousand each. Chandragupta probably followed the same Eractice. The author of the treatise, who contemplated India as eing divided in the normal manner into a multitude of small states, does not describe the con stitution of the empire which he did so much to establish. He therefore treats the Raja as the Commander-in-Chief of the army, and betrays no knowledge of any professional head-quarters or ganization. But Megasthenes in forms us that Chandragupta's host was controlled and adminis tered under the direction of a War Office elaborately constituted. A commission of thirty members was divided into six Boards (pan- ch&yats), each with five members, and severally charged with the administration of the following departments, namely : Board No. I (in conjunction with the ad miral), Admiralty; Board No. II, Transport, Commissariat, and Army Service ; Board No. Ill, In fantry ; Board No. IV, Cavalry ; Board No. V, War-chariots ; and Board No. VI, Elephants. No similar organization is re corded elsewhere, and the credit of devising such efficient machi nery must be divided between Chandragupta and his exception ally able minister. Equipment. The equipment of the army was effective and adequate. A fighting elephant carried at least three archers besides the driver. The chariots usually were four-horsed, but two-horsed cars also were in use. fighting men in addition to the driver. Six men formed the complement of each of the four-horsed chariots employed by Poros at the battle of the Hydaspes. Each horseman was armed with two lances resembling the Greek saunia, and was protected by a buckler. The principal weapon of the infantry was a straight broadsword suspended, by a belt from the shoulder.1 Javelins and 1 Col. Hendley noted that many Rajputs in recent times carried the sword in the same way (J. I. A., No. 130, 1915, p. 8). BOYS ARMED AS SOLDIERS. Each chariot had at least two 84 HINDU INDIA bows and arrows were additional arms. The arrow was discharged with the aid of pressure from the left foot on the extremity of the bow resting on the ground, and with such force that neither shield nor breastplate could withstand it. At the Hydaspes the Indian archers were rendered in effective by the greasy condition of the ground which prevented the soldier from securing a firm rest for the end of his bow.1 Defensive armour was supplied to men, elephants, and horses. The transport animals included horses, mules, and oxen. According to Chanakya, an am- Veddah bow. bulance service was provided in the rear during an action consist ing of surgeons supplied with instruments, medicines, and dress ings, and of women with prepared food and beverages (Book X, chap. 3). It is clear, therefore, that the army, as improved by Chandra gupta, was extremely formidable. Diplomacy and force. But the Maurya did not rely solely on his armed strength. Indian statesmen have always shown a leaning towards the employment of diplomacy in preference to force. The dictum of Chanakya that ' intrigue, spies, winning over the enemy's people, siege, and assault are the five means to capture a fort,' is characteristic, and indicates the nature of the subsidiary means employed to create the Maurya empire. Long afterwards, Akbar was content to secure by bribery the fortress of Asirgarh, which his arms were unable to reduce, and Aurangzeb gained possession of Maratha forts usually by the same ignoble means. The writers of text-books debated the relative value of forqe and diplomacy. The author of the Arthasdstra had no hesitation in deciding that 'skill in intrigue (or "diplomacy") is better ', because the crafty intriguer can always overthrow kings who are superior in warlike spirit and power (Book IX, chap. 1). Similarly, Machiavelli was prepared to prove by many examples that the prince who ' best personated the fox had the better success '.2 The theory of politics expounded in the Arthasdstra is substantially identical with that of The Prince. Bana s criticism of Kautilya or Chanakya. It is right to add that the cynical principles of the Arthasdstra, worked out ' on ground cleared of the hindrances of private justice ', did not meet with universal acceptance. King Harsha's friend Bana in the seventh century regarded them with horror : 1 Compare the Veddah method as illustrated from Tennent, Ce«/to»Sj vol. i, p. 499. 2 The Prince, transl. in Universal Library ed., Routledge, 1893, p. 110. MAURYA DYNASTY 85 'Is there anything', he exclaims, 'that is righteous for those for whom the science of Kautilya, merciless in its precepts, rich in cruelty, is an authority ; whose teachers are priests habitually hard-hearted with practice of witchcraft ; to whom ministers, always inclined to deceive others, are councillors ; whose desire is always for the goddess of wealth that has been cast away by thousands of kings ; who are devoted to the application of destructive sciences ; and to whom brothers, affectionate with natural cordial love, are fit victims to be murdered ? ' The treatise criticized having been written avowedly ' for the benefit of the Maurya ', we may feel assured that Bana's scruples were not shared by Chandragupta, who evidently acted, as Justin indicates, in accordance with the principles of his preceptor The late conversion of the first Maurya emperor to the merciful creed of Jainism, if it be a fact, as I think it was, may be ascribed- to a revulsion of conscience from the hateful teaching of the Atharvan Brahman.1 Severity of the government. Whatever we may think about the principles of Chandragupta, his masterful government was effective. The text-books define the art of governing as dandaniti, 'the science of punishment'. The details preserved show clearly that that definition was accepted heartily by Chandragupta, who acted on it without hesitation. Whether we consult the Arthasdstra or the Greek authorities we receive the same impression of ruthless severity -in the enforcement of fiscal regulations for the benefit of the treasury, and of stern repression of crime. Mega sthenes noted that while he resided in the imperial camp with a population of 400,000 people the daily thefts reported did not exceed 200 drachmae in value, equivalent to about eight pounds sterling. Such security of property was attained by the application of a terribly severe code, based, as Chanakya observes, on the precepts laid down ' in the scriptures of great sages '. When we come to the history of the purely Hindu empire of Vijayanagar in the sixteenth century we shall find that property in that realm was protected by the most appalling penalties for even petty thefts. Torture. A person in the Maurya dominion accused of theft and arrested within three days after the commission of the crime was ordinarily (with certain exceptions) subjected to torture in order to elicit a confession, unless he could prove either an alibi or enmity on the part of the complainant. Although the author of the Arthasdstra was fully aware of the danger of eliciting false confessions by torture and insists on the necessity for the produc tion of conclusive evidence, it seems clear that the police must have relied chiefly on the use of torture. The general principle is 1 Many passages in the Arthasdstra prove that the author was an admirer of the Atharva, the Veda of magic and spells. Book XIV, entitled ' Secret Means ', treats of weird sorceries supposed to compass the destruction of an enemy. 86 HINDU INDIA laid down that ' those whose guilt is believed to be true shall be subjected to torture '. In the face of such a comprehensive rule exceptions would have had little practical effect. All experienced magistrates, among whom the author of this book may be included, know how deeply the tradition of torturing a prisoner in order to extort a confession, true or false, is engrained in the mind of every Indian policeman and how difficult it is to check the practice even under modern conditions. The author of the Arthasdstra gives a horrible list of eighteen kinds of torture, remarking calmly that ' each day a fresh kind of the torture may be employed ', and that in certain aggravated cases, by special order, the prisoner might be ' subjected once or many times to one or all of the above kinds of torture '. . When the prisoner had been convicted, the modes of punishment were many, including fines, mutilation, and death in various forms, with or without torment. Mutilation could sometimes be compounded for by a fine. The caste and rank of the offender were taken into consideration. A Brahman could not be tortured, but might be branded, exiled, or sent to the mines for life. The authorities were instructed to take notice of ' equitable distinctions among offenders, whether belonging to the royal family or to the common people '. Theft to the value of 40 or 50 silver panas (probably nearly equivalent to shillings) was punishable with death. Among other capital offences were homicide, housebreaking, Dreaching the dam of a tank, and damage to royal property, with many more. Megasthenes notes that death was the penalty for injury to an artisan in the royal employment, and that even evasion of the municipal tithe on goods sold was punished in the same drastic fashion. There is no reason to suppose that the severity of the criminal code was seriously modified under the Buddhist government of Asoka. His Censors were specially charged to deal with cases of unjust imprisonment or corporal punishment, and prisoners lying under sentence of death are mentioned. The Arthasdstra prescribes the modest fine of only 48 panas on the superintendent of a jail for inflicting unjust torture ; and even if he beat a prisoner to death he was merely to be fined 1,000 panas. Asoka's institution of Censors may, perhaps, have rendered the redress of such wrongs somewhat easier than it can have been in the time of his grandfather ; but it is always difficult to detect or punish the misdoings of officials. Town prefect and census. The author of the Arthasdstra contemplated the division of a normal small kingdom into four provinces, each administered by a governor. He applied the same principle to the administration of the capital city, and presumably to that of other large towns. The capital was divided into four quarters or wards, each in charge of a sub-prefect (sthdnika), who was assisted by subordinates (gopa), each responsible for from ten to forty households. The whole city was administered by a prefect MAURYA DYNASTY 87 (ndgaraka), whose duties resembled those of the kotwdl in later times. The town authorities were expected to know everything about everybody within their jurisdiction, and to keep a sharp watch upon all comings and goings. The official activities included the maintenance of a permanent census, the gopa being required to ' know not only the caste, gotra [caste sub-division], the name, and occupation of both men and women in the households of his block, but also to ascertain their income and expenditure '. Such inquisitorial registration enormously enhanced the power of the central government for taxation and all purposes. Precautions against fire and simple sanitary regulations were enforced. A person who intentionally set fire to a house was to be thrown into the same fire. Maurya municipal commission. Chandragupta's municipal organization for his huge imperial capital was more complex. He provided a commission of thirty members, divided like that for the War Office, into six Boards or Committees. The Commissioners in their collective capacity had charge, in addition to their special departments, o'f all matters concerning the public welfare, including the repairs of public works, the maintenance of markets, harbours, and temples, and the regulation of prices. The departmental functions of the six Boards or Committees were as follows : (1) industrial arts ; (2) care of foreigners ; (3) registration of births and deaths ; (4) retail trade and barter, with supervision of weights and measures, and the due stamping of produce sold ; (5) super vision of manufactures and sale of the same duly stamped ; and (6) collection of the tithe on the price of goods sold. The perfection of the arrangements thus indicated is astonishing, even when exhibited in outline. Examination of the departmental details increases our wonder that such an organization could have been planned and efficiently operated in India in 300 b.c Akbar had nothing like it, and it may be doubted if any of the ancient Greek cities were better organized. Board No. 1 ; arts. Artisans were regarded as being devoted in a special manner to the, royal service, and capital punishment was inflicted on any person who impaired the efficiency of a craftsman by causing the loss of a hand or eye. Board No. 1 no doubt regulated wages, enforced the use of pure and sound materials, and exacted a full tale of work in exchange for the proper wage. The subject might be illustrated at length from the rules of the Arthasdstra concerning the duties of departmental officers as described in that work, and from the practice of later ages, but it is impossible here to follow out the details. Board No. 2 ; foreigners. Board No. 2 performed duties which in modern times are entrusted to consuls and in ancient Greece were carried out by the officers called proxenoi (irpo|et"u). The members of the Board were required to find lodgings for foreigners, to keep them under observation, to escort them out of the country ; and in case of sickness or death to provide for 88 HINDU INDIA the treatment or burial of the stranger, whose property they were obliged to protect and account for. The existence of such officials and regulations affords conclusive proof that the Maurya empire was in constant intercourse with foreign states and that many strangers visited the capital on business. Board No. 3 ; births and deaths. The registration of births and deaths was expressly designed both to facilitate taxation, probably a poll-tax of so much per head, and for the information of the government. It was a development and necessary conse quence of the register or permanent census described in the Arthasdstra. It may be assumed that the exceptionally efficient government of Chandragupta introduced improvements on the arrangements of his predecessors. Boards 4-6 ; trade and tolls. It has always been the practice of Indian rulers to exercise strict supervision oyer private trade and to levy duties on sales, the goods being stamped officially to guarantee payment. Manufactures were treated on the same principles. Procedure in such matters varied so little in India from age to age that the best comment on the statement of Megasthenes is afforded by an extract from the travels of Ta vernier, the French jeweller who journeyed through India on business in the seventeenth century. He states that at Benares there were ' two galleries where they sell cottons, silken stuffs, and other kinds of merchandise. The majority of those who vend the goods are the workers who have made the pieces, and in this manner foreigners obtain them at first hand. These workers, before exposing anything for sale, have to go to him who holds the contract [set/, for collecting the tax on sales], in order to get the king's stamp impressed on the pieces of calico or silk, otherwise they are fined and flogged.' The stamp usually was impressed in vermilion. It is called ' identity-stamp ' (abhijndna-mudrd) by Chanakya, and is the 0-vtro-qfj.ov of the Greek accounts.1 False statements made by importers or vendors were punishable as theft, that is to say, by fine, mutilation, or even death. Evasion of the municipal tithe collected by the sixth Board was specially made a capital offence, as already noted. Full particulars of the methods of collection of duties on sales and manufactures will be found in the Arthasdstra, and some indication of the nature of Indian trade in the fourth century B. c has been given in the account of the Nanda dynasty. Viceroys. We have seen that according to the Arthasdstra the normal small kingdom described in that book should be divided into four provinces, each under a governor (sthanika). We do not know positively how many viceroys were required for Chandra gupta's immense empire extending from the Hindu Kush to at least as far as the Narbada, but it is noticeable that four viceroys seem to have sufficed for the still larger empire of Asoka. They will be mentioned more particularly in the history of his reign. 1 McCrindle repeatedly mistranslated the words airb ovoai\no\i as meaning ' by public notice '. MAURYA DYNASTY 89 Departments. The Arthasdstra describes in much detail the duties of the heads of the numerous departments in the adminis tration of a properly regulated Hindu state. The book refers to about thirty such departments. The Greek accounts prove that the departmental organization was maintained by Chandragupta. We hear specifically of officers in charge of markets, rivers, canal irrigation, public works, and sundry branches of fiscal business, besides the superintendents of hunters, wood-cutters, blacksmiths, carpenters, and miners. Innumerable details might be filled in from the Arthasdstra, but limitations of space permit notice of only a few selected topics. Official corruption . In spite of the drastic penal code and the enhanced severities visited upon offending officials the public service suffered from corruption. The experienced minister records his opinion that just as it is impossible not to taste the honey or the poison that finds itself at the tip of the tongue, so- it is impossible for a government servant not to eat up, at least, a bit of the King's revenue. Just as with fish moving under water it cannot possibly be discerned whether they are drinking water or not, so it is impossible to detect government servants employed on official duties when helping themselves to money. It is possible to mark the movements of birds flying high up in the sky ; but it is not possible to ascertain the secret movements of government servants.' ' There are ', the same authority observes, * about forty ways of embezzlement ; what is realized earlier is entere.d later on ; what iS realized later is entered earlier ; what ought to be realized is not realized ; ' and so on through the whole list. Rewards were promised to informers who disclosed cases of defalcation ; but, on the other hand, the informer who failed to prove his charges was liable to severe punishment, which might be capital. Secret service. The secret service to which reference has been made may be described as the mainstay of the government, next to the army. The king employed hosts of spies or detectives, masquerading in disguises of all kinds, who were controlled by an espionage bureau, as in modern Germany. Cipher writing was used and the services of carrier pigeons were enlisted. The doctrine of the necessity for constant espionage in every branch of the administration pervades the whole of the Arthasdstra, which treats every form of villany as legitimate when employed in the business of the state. The evidence of Chanakya's treatise is corroborated by the Greek testimony. News writers at the head quarters of provincial administrations supplied secret reports to the government, and the information obtained from courtesans was not despised. We are told that the king, having set up spies over his ministers, ' shall proceed to espy both citizens and country people'. The drama already cited more than once exhibits the system at work. Property in land. The question whether or not private pro perty in land existed in ancient India has been often debated, but 90 HINDU INDIA without any satisfactory result, by reason of the ambiguity lurking in the term property. The disputants who affirm the existence of private property in land use the term in one sense and their opponents in another. The clearest example of absolute private property in land, apparently closely resembling the English freehold, is to be found in Malabar, the home of the Nayars (Nairs), Coorgs, and Tulus, whom Dubois regarded as the three aboriginal tribes of the western coast. He expressed the opinion that Malabar ' is the only province in India where proprietary right has been preserved intact until the present day. Everywhere else the soil belongs to the ruler, and the cultivator is merely his tenant.' The Abbe then proceeds to explain at considerable length exactly what he means.1 The proposition enunciated by Dubois that ' everywhere else the soil belongs to the ruler ' has been generally accepted in northern and western India, and is now, as Baden-Powell testifies, the doctrine current in the Native States. The commentator on the Arthasdstra (Book II, chap. 24) had no doubt on the subject. He declares that ' those who are well versed in the scriptures admit that the King is the owner of both land and water, and that the people can exercise their Tight of ownership over all other things excepting these two '. The author of the treatise, as a whole, seems to accept that view. The rules in chapter 1 of Book II, for instance, instruct the king that ' lands prepared for cultivation shall be given to tax-payers (karada) only for life (ekapurushikdni) ' ; and that 'lands maybe confiscated from those who do not cultivate them, and given to others '. The author evidently held that land of all kinds was at the disposal of the government. Most native Indian governments, including those of the Muhammadan dynasties, have taken in the shape of land revenue and cesses so large a proportion of the produce that the actual cultivator was left at most a bare subsistence. The government share, it is true, was always limited theoretically, but in practice the state usually took all it could extort. In those circumstances no room was left for economic rent, or for a landlord class receiving rent. Nothing intervened between the poverty-stricken peasant and the state. Ordinarily the peasant's customary right to retain his land as long as he paid all official demands was respected, but his ill-defined right of occupancy, which was not protected by positive law, differed widely from ownership. In the Bombay Presidency, where the State still deals directly with the cultivating peasant or ' ryot ', the ownership of the government is expressly recognized by law. In Bengal and the Upper Provinces the British authorities have gone out of their way to develop, or even to create a class of rent- receiving landlords, whose rights are often described as amounting 1 Hindu Manners, &c, ed. Beauchamp, 3rd ed. (1906), p. 56. See The Travancore State Manual, Trivandrum, 1906, for the theory and details of the Malabar ' birth-right ' tenure. MAURYA DYNASTY 91 to full ownership. But in the background there is always the lien of the State on the soil to enforce the punctual payment of the land revenue, that is to say, the cash commutation for the share of the produce to which every Indian government is entitled by immemorial tradition. The so-called ' ownership ' was in former times and still is also subject to the customary rights of subordinate tenure-holders and of the cultivating peasants ; those rights being substantial, although undefined by law and inadequately secured before the middle of the nineteenth century. Land revenue. The land revenue, or State share of the produce, which always has been the mainstay of Indian finance, may be regarded as rent rather than as taxation on the assumption that the ultimate property in land is vested in the State. The normal share of the produce admitted to be claimable by the government was one-fourth. But Akbar took one-third, and the Sultans of Kashmir claimed one-half. The nominal percentage of land revenue to the produce did not much matter, because the govern ment usually made up for any deficiency by exacting a multitude of extra periodical cesses, not to speak of occasional forced contribu tions. The ordinary result was that the peasant might consider himself lucky if he was left enough to fill tolerably the stomachs of himself and family and to provide seed. Nothing was available for the payment of rent to a private landlord. In Anglo-Indian official phraseology the term ' settlement ', a translation of the Persian word bandobast, is applied to the whole process by which the amount of the land revenue or crown- rent is assessed, and the officer who carries out the operations is called a ' settlement officer '. The authorities do not explain the nature of the ' settlements ' made in Maurya times, and we do not know whether the assessment was varied yearly or fixed for longer periods. Irrigation. Irrigation, which is essential in most parts of India for the security of the crops and consequently of the revenue, received close attention, and was under the supervision of depart mental officers. A system of canals with sluices was maintained, and water-rates of varying amounts were levied as they are now. Roads. The main roads were kept in order by the proper department, and pillars marking the distances, equivalent to our milestones and the Mogul kos mindrs, were set up at intervals of ten stadia, or about 2,022J English yards, half a kos by Indian reckoning. The Mogul emperors were content with a pillar for each kos. A great highway, now represented by Lord Dalhousie's Grand Trunk Road, connected Taxila and the north-western frontier with Pataliputra, the capital. The Arthasastra mentions the construction of roads as one of the duties of a king. Rules were laid down concerning the correct width of each class of road. Liquor. The drinking of and traffic in liquor were recognized officially and encouraged as a source of revenue. The whole business was under the control of a Superintendent, who was responsible for the necessary police and licensing arrangements, as well as 92 HINDU INDIA for the collection of the government dues. Public-houses or drinking-shops were not to be close together, and the consumption, whether on or off the premises, was duly regulated. The shops were to be made attractive by the provision of seats, couches, scents, garlands, water, and other comforts suitable to the varying seasons. Chanakya mentions six principal kinds of liquor. Special licences for manufacture were granted for a term of four days on the occasions of festivals, fairs, and pilgrimages. General observations. It is impossible to reproduce in a reasonable space nearly all the information on record concerning the institutions of Chandragupta Maurya and his immediate predecessors. The particulars recounted in the foregoing pages may suffice to give the modern student a fairly accurate and vivid notion of the nature of the civilization of northern India at the close of the fourth century b. c Many readers probably will be surprised to learn of the existence at such an early date of a govern ment so thoroughly organized, which anticipated in many respects the institutions of modern times. The dark spots on the picture are the appalling wickedness of the statecraft taught in the Arthasdstra and the hateful espionage which tainted the whole administration and was inspired by the wicked statecraft of the books. The policy inculcated by Kautilya or Chanakya was not the invention of that unscrupulous minister. The book attributed to him on sub stantial grounds is avowedly founded upon many earlier treatises no longer extant, all of which seem to have advocated the same principles. The author of the Arthasdstra, while frequently disagreeing with his predecessors concerning details, clearly was in general agreement with them concerning the policy to be pursued. Attention has been drawn to the emphatic repudiation of the Arthasdstra doctrines by Bana in the seventh century after Christ. He does not stand quite alone, although it might be difficult to cite any passage exactly similar from other authors. The spirit of the Dharmasdstras is far more humane than that of Chanakya's ruthless treatise, and the story of Rama, whether told in Sanskrit or Hindi, is that of a noble prince. Kamandaka, on the other hand, describes the author of the Arthasdstra as ' wise and Brahma (god)i like ' ; and Dandi calls him ' a revered teacher '. How did the atrocious policy taught in the books of the Arthasa stra class originate and gain wide acceptance ? The minister pro fesses to write in accordance with the ' customs of the Aryas ', and to revere the ' triple Veda ', but his practical advice, so far as it has a Vedic foundation, is based on the fourth Veda, the Atharva, a storehouse of sorcery and spells. The question which I have asked suggests curious speculations.1 1 The ' triple Veda ' (traiji) is defined as comprising the ' Sama, Rik, and Yajus '. The order of enumeration is noteworthy. The author, when specifying the ' four sciences ', places first Anvikshaki or philosophy (comprising Sankhya, Yoga, and Lokdyata) ; and assigns the ' triple Veda' to the second place. The third science called Vdrta deals with the practical affairs of common life, namely, agriculture, cattle-breeding, ASOKA 93 Authorities Most of the necessary references will be found in E. II. I.3 Oxford, 1914. The revised version of the Arthasdstra by R. Shamasastry (Shama Sastri) is now conveniently available in an octavo volume published at Bangalore Government Press in 1915. A considerable literature of books and essays is growing up round the text of the Arthasastra, which came to light in 1905. The most important treatise subsequent to the publication of E. II. I.3 is Public Administration in Ancient India by Pramathanatha Banerjea (Macmillan, 1916) ; a learned and accurate work, although the author's notion that the Maurya monarchy was ' limited ' (p. 50) or 'constitutional' (p. 51) is not tenable. Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity, vol. i, by Narendra Nath Law, with a good introduction by Professor Radhakumud Mookerji, is also useful (Longmans, 1914). The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology, Book 1, by Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar (Panini Office, Allahabad, 1914), may be consulted with advantage on certain matters, notwithstanding its cumbrous title. Many parts of the Arthasdstra still remain obscure, and the treatise must become the subject of much more discussion from various points of view. CHAPTER 2 Asoka Maurya and his institutions ; diffusion of Buddhism ; end of the Maurya dynasty ; the successors of the Mauryas. Accession of Asoka. When the reign of Bindusara terminated in 273 b.c he was succeeded by one of his sons named Asoka- vardhana, commonly called Asoka, who seems to have been selected by his father as heir apparent, and possibly may have enjoyed for some time the rank of sub-king or upardjd. According to tradition he had served as Viceroy, first at Taxila in the north-west, and subsequently at Ujjain in Malwa. The fact that his formal conse cration or coronation (abhisheka) was delayed for some four years until 269 b. c. confirms the tradition that his succession was contested, and it may be true that his rival was an elder brother named Susima, as affirmed by one of the many Wild legends which have gathered round Asoka's name. The story told by the monks of Ceylon that he slaughtered 98 or 99 brothers in order to clear his way to the throne is absurd and false ; the fact being, as the inscriptions prove, that Asoka took good care of his brothers and sisters long after his succession. The grotesque tales about Asoka's alleged abnormal wickedness prior to his conversion to Buddhism, which were current in the north as well as the south, are equally baseless and obviously concocted for purposes of edification. and trade ; the fourth, styled alternatively Arthasdstra or Dandanlli, is the subject of his treatise. 'This Arthasdstra'' , he says in his opening sentence, ' is made as a compendium of almost all the Arthasaslras, which, in view of acquisition and maintenance of the earth, have been composed by ancient teachers.' See Book I, chaps. 1—&, and the concluding chapter of the work. 94 HINDU INDIA Authorities. The monkish legends, whether of Ceylon or other countries, do not afford a safe basis for a matter-of-fact history of the great Buddhist emperor, although some of the Ceylon dates seem to be correct, while others are erroneous. The only sound foundation for his history is to be found in his numerous and wonderful inscriptions, which may be fairly considered the most remarkable set of inscriptions in the world. Their testimony is supplemented by that of a few other epigraphs, by literary tradition in many forms and languages, and by inferences deduced from study of the extant monuments and their distribution. The coins of Asoka's age, which do not bear his name or titles, are of little use to the historian. The Arthasdstra and certain other books in various languages provide materials for illustrative comment on the narrative. Little political activity. Asoka having been a man of peace for the greater part of his long reign, the recorded political events during it are few, and nothing is known about his military force. The interest of the story is centred on the movement initiated by him which transformed Buddhism from a local sect into one of the world-religions and on the gradual development of the emperor's personal character and policy. His imperishable records con stitute in large measure his autobiography written in terms manifestly dictated by himself. Asoka waged only one war of aggression, that directed to the acquisition of Kalinga on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. His gigantic empire, which extended from the Hindu Kush to the northern districts of Mysore, consequently must have been inherited, with the exception of Kalinga, from his father, and must have been acquired either by Bindusara or by Chandragupta, or by both. Chronology. His inscriptions date the events of the reign by regnal years reckoned from the time of his consecration or corona tion in 269 b. c. The month in which that ceremony took place not being known, it is impossible to equate accurately the regnal with the calendar years. Nor is it practicable to define the dates b. c. with absolute precision for various reasons. Two of the chief of those reasons are that the exact year of Chandragupta's accession is not ascertainable, and that the length of Bindusara's reign is variously stated as either twenty-five or twenty-eight years. For convenience dates will be given in this chapter as if they were precise, but the reader is invited to bear in mind that they are subject to slight correction for possible error, probably not exceed ing two years. Asoka's reign, as counted from his father's death, extended to forty or forty-one years ; or, as counted from his consecration, to thirty-six or thirty seven years. The dated inscriptions begin in the ninth and come down to the twenty- eighth regnal year, equivalent approximately to the period including 261 and 242 b.c. The reign is taken as extending from 273 to 232 b.c Asoka's early years. No definite political event can be assigned to the early years of Asoka's government. His personal ASOKA 95 reminiscences prove that he then lived the life of his predecessors, consuming flesh food freely, enjoying the pleasures of the chase, and encouraging festive assemblies accompanied by dancing and drinking. No sound reason exists for believing that his conduct was particularly sinful or vicious. The nature of his diet and amusements in those days affords conclusive evidence that he cannot have been a follower of the Jain religion. It may be presumed that he was a Brahmanical Hindu, and most likely a worshipper of Siva. His religious cult or ceremonial possibly may have been affected by Magian practices of Iranian origin, but it is not probable that he was a professed Zoroastrian. The sudden change in his beliefs and habits was produced by the remorse which he felt for the unmerited sorrows inflicted upon the people of the kingdom of Kalinga in the east by his attack on and annexa tion of that country in 261 b. c. The Kalinga -war. The Kalinga war, which was the turning point in Asoka's career, thus became one of the decisive events in the history of the world. The miseries of the campaign, the sufferings of the prisoners, and the wailings for the de.ad were soon forgotten by the vanquished, as they have been forgotten by other conquered nat'ions after thousands of wars ; but the effect which they produced upon the conscience of the victor is still traceable in the world of the twentieth century. Asoka himself tells us in the striking language of his longest Rock Edict (No. XIII) how he was haunted by remorse for the calamities caused by his ambition, and was driven to take refuge in the Law of Piety or Duty, which he identifies elsewhere with the doctrine of the Buddha. ' Kalinga was conquered by His Sacred and Gracious Majesty when he had been consecrated eight years [261 B.C.]. 150,000 persons were thence carried away captive, 100,000 were there slain, and many times that number perished. Directly after the annexation of the Kalingas began His Sacred Majesty's zealous protection of the Law of Duty, his love of that Law, and his giving instruction in that Law (dharma). Thus arose His Sacred Majesty's remorse for having conquered the Kalingas, because the conquest of a country previously unconquered involves the slaughter, death, and carrying away captive of the people. That is a. matter of profound sorrow and regret to His Sacred Majesty.' The royal author proceeds to develop in detail the sentiment above expressed in general terms, and continues : ' Thus, of all the people who were then slain, done to death, or carried away captive in the Kalingas, if the hundredth or the thousandth part were to suffer the same fate, it would now be matter of regret to His Sacred Majesty. Moreover, should any one do him wrong, that too must be borne with by His Sacred Majesty, if it can be possibly borne with. Even upon the forest folk in his dominions His Sacred Majesty looks kindly and he seeks their conversion, for, if he did not, repentance would come upon His Sacred Majesty. They are bidden to turn from evil ways that they be not chastised. For His Sacred Majesty desires that all animate beings should have security, self-control, peace of mind, and joyousness.' 96 HINDU INDIA ..True conquest. Asoka goes on to explain that true conquest consists in the conquest of men's hearts by the Law of Duty or Piety,1 and to relate that he had already won such real victories, not only in his own dominions, but in kingdoms six hundred leagues away, including the realm of the Greek king Antiochos, and the dominions of the four kings severally named Ptolemy, Antigonos, Magas, and Alexander, who dwell beyond (or ' to the north of) ' that Antiochos ' ; and likewise to the south, in the kingdoms of the Cholas and the Pandyas, as far as the Tamraparni river ; and also in the king's dominions among the various tribes or nations called Yonas, Kambojas, Nabhapamtis of Nabhaka, Bhojas, and Pitinikas, as well as among the Andhras and Pulindas 2 — in fact, 'everywhere', he says, 'men hearing His Sacred Majesty's ordi nance based on the Law of Duty and his instruction in that Law, practise and will practise that Law '. The royal preacher then extols the true conquest wrought by the Law as being full, not only of transitory delight, but of precious fruit which remains sound in the next world. He concludes by exhorting his sons and grandsons to pursue the path of true conquest ; and, if perchance they should become involved in a con quest by force of arms (or ' from self-will ', as Hultzsch), to take their pleasure in patience and gentleness, so that they may by effort attain that joy of spirit which avails for both this world and the next. Special Kalinga edicts. The subject is continued in the two special edicts which the victor composed a little later for the benefit of the conquered provinces, one being addressed to the high officers of a town named Samapa, and the other to those of a second town called Tosali. A postscript enjoins the viceroys of Taxila and Ujjain, the governments which Asoka himself had held as Prince, to apply the principles enunciated, and to take effectual steps by means of periodical tours and public proclama tions on certain holidays to see that the imperial commands were translated into practice. The emperor starts by affirming that ' all men are my children ', echoing a saying attributed to Buddha. He then seeks to win the confidence of the unsubdued border tribes, and announces that specially trained officers will be sent to look after their interests. He laments that some servants of the state, failing to realize his 1 Milton offers a surprisingly exact parallel passage : They err, who count it glorious to subdue By conquest far and wide, to overrun Large countries, and in fields great battles win, Great cities by assault . . . But if there be in glory aught of good, It may by means far different be attained Without ambition, war, or violence ; By deeds of peace, by wisdom eminent, By patience, temperance (Paradise Regained, iii. 71-92). 2 Rock Edict V adds the Rashtrikas of the Maratha country, and the Gandharas of the north-western frontier. ASOKA 97 paternal sentiments, had at times gone so far as to inflict unjust imprisonment or torture. He warns his officers that they must beware of yielding to the vices of ' envy, lack of perseverance, harshness, impatience, want of application, laziness, and indolence ', threatening them with his displeasure if they should fail in their Those admirable instructions, which could not be bettered to-dav show how Asoka's remorse for the horrors of his one aggressive war bore fruit in the practical administration of his frontier provinces. Contemporary powers. The references in the edict first quoted to other potentates, nations, and tribes obviously have much historical importance. When duly interpreted they prove that Asoka was contemporary with Antiochos Theos, grandson of. Seleukos Nikator, the foe and afterwards the ally of Asoka's grandfather ; with Ptolemy Philadelphos of Egypt ; 1 with Magas, the ruler of Cy rene to the west of Egypt ; and with an Alex ander, probably King of Epi- rus. Chronologists show that the last year in which those four princes were alive to gether appears to have been 258 B.C., and that the edict ^S*sS5s=h|>3l/ V^&/ consequently cannot be much v '''-"" later in date. It is actually , . ,,. , „, , , , , dated in either the thirteenth Com °f Ptolemy phl^deIphos. or fourteenth regnal year, equivalent to 257 or 256 B.C. The document further proves that the emperor of India enjoyed the privilege of friendly intercourse with the Hellenistic kings named, that he was at liberty to conduct Buddhist propaganda in their dominions, and that he succeeded in gaining attention to his teaching. We also learn that the Tamil kingdoms of the Cholas and Pandyas were then in existence, the Maurya emissaries penetrating as far as the Tamraparni river in Tinnevelly, the seat of the pearl and the conch-shell trade, chiefly conducted at the now vanished port of Korkai. Another edict mentions two more Tamil kingdoms, namely that of Keralaputra, or the Malabar coast, and that of Satiyaputra, probably equivalent to the Satya- mangalam province of the later kingdom of Madura. That province skirted the borders of Mysore, Malabar, Coimbatore, and Madura, along the line of the western Ghats. We thus obtain a welcome glimpse of the history of the Far South at a definite date ; the first, and for a long time the only chronological foothold in the story of the Tamil kingdoms. We are further informed concerning the names of sundry 1 Ptolemy was a king with great power and wealth, and a liberal patron of literature and science. Euclid lived at Alexandria in his time. Ptolemy founded colonies on the Red Sea coast. 1976 e 98 HINDU INDIA, considerable tribes or nations who were included more or less completely in Asoka's dominions or had been brought under his influence. The accuracy of the Greek accounts concerning the relations between Seleukos Nikator and Chandragupta is confirmed by the edicts, which disclose the friendship of the grandson of Seleukos with the grandson of Chandragupta.1 Foreign Buddhist missions. The surprising intimation that Buddhist missions were dispatched in the middle of the third century b.c to distant Hellenistic kingdoms in Asia and Africa, and perhaps in Europe, opens up a wide field for reflection and speculation. While the primary authority for the history of Asoka must always be his inscriptions, much valuable supplementary informa tion is obtained from other sources. One of those sources is to be found in the chronicles of Ceylon called the Mahdvamsa and Dipavamsa. The latter, the older of the two, seems to have been composed in the fourth or fifth century a. c. The statements of the edicts concerning the imperial Buddhist propaganda are amplified by the Ceylonese chroniclers, who describe nine distinct missions, which embraced seven Indian countries lying between the Himalayas and Peshawar in the north and a region called Mahishamandala in the south, usually identified with the southern portion of the Mysore state. Two other missions are said to have been dispatched to countries outside India proper, namely, Suvarnabhumi, or Lower Burma, and Lanka, or Ceylon. The chronicler gives the names of the missionaries employed in each case, and some of those names are also recorded in inscriptions from the Bhflsa, topes. The list may be accepted as correct, subject to the remark that the propaganda in Lower Burma seems to have had little effect. The earliest form of Buddhism in that country, so far as definite evidence goes, was of the Mahayana kind, 1 The versions of the edicts are extracted from those in Asoka3, Oxford, 1909, with corrections. The name of the conquered province is written in the edict both in the singular and the plural. It was sometimes known as the ' Three Kalingas ' The name Tamraparni refers to the river in the Tinnevelly District, and not to Ceylon, as wrongly stated in Asoka3, pp. 156, 174. The inter course of Asoka with the island did not begin until after the accession of Devanampiya Tissa, several years subsequent to the date in the thirteenth and partly in the fourteenth regnal year, equivalent to about 257 and 256 B. c. Tissa's accession may be dated about 251 B. c. Exact dates in the early history of Ceylon cannot be determined with complete certainty. The Satiyaputra kingdom should be identified as in the text, and not with the Tulu country, as in IS. II. I.3, Oxford, 1914, pp. 163, 185, 446, 459. See Ind. Ant., vol. xii (1912), p. 231 ; vol. xlv (1916), p. 200. For the meaning of Devanampiya and Piyadasi used as royal titles see Asoka?, p. 22. Mr. Yazdani interprets Piyadasi as meaning ' the well-wisher (of all) '. However the titles may be analysed etymoldgically they were used merely as formal royal style or protocole, and are best translated by approximate equivalents. ASOKA 99 fromrTorthem India Uddhism °f Asoka' and aPParently imported Mission to Ceylon. The mission to Ceylon was a complete S«CCf SA *lthouSh the conversion of the island was not suddenly effected by a series of astounding miracles as related in the monkish stones. It was, no doubt, a gradual, although tolerably rapid process, aided materially by powerful royal encouragement.1 The mission came in 251 or 250 b. c on the initiative of Kino- Tissa who ascended the throne about that time, and reigned, like his THE BO-TREE AT ANARAJAFOORA. friend Asoka, for forty years. During his rule he expended most of his energy in measures for the propagation of the Buddhist religion, and in erecting splendid buildings for its service. The leading missionary was Mahendra or Mahinda, Asoka's younger brother, who settled down in the island and died there about 204 b. c His memory is perpetuated by monuments which bear his name. He was aided by his sister, who is remembered by her title Sanghamitra, ' Friend of the Church ', or ' Order ', and was as successful among the women as Mahendra was among the men. The Indian tradition which represents Mahendra as the younger brother of Asoka is of greater authority than the island legends which describe him as a son of the emperor. Buddhism won a decisive victory in Ceylon during the long reign of Tissa, and has never lost its hold on the island, where its influence, 1 I believe that the missionaries came from Mahendra's monastery at Madura in Pandya territory. 100 HINDU INDIA on the whole, has been for good. A well-informed and sympathetic writer observes that : ' The missions of King Asoka are amongst the greatest civilizing in fluences in the world's history ; for they entered countries for the most part barbarous and full of superstition, and amongst these animistic peoples Buddhism spread as a wholesome leaven. The history of Ceylon and Burma, as of Siam, Japan, and Tibet, may be said to begin with the entrance into them of Buddhism ; and in these lands it spread far more rapidly and made a far deeper impression than in China with its already ancient civilization. As to-day Christianity spreads very rapidly amongst the animistic peoples of Africa, India, and the South Sea islands,_exerting a strong influence and replacing superstition and chaos by a reasonable belief in One God and an orderly universe, so Buddhism in these eastern lands has exerted a beneficent influence by putting Karma, the law of cause and effect, in the place of the caprice of demons and tribal gods, and a lofty system of morals in the place of tribal custom and taboo. The Buddhist missionaries, moreover, brought with them much of the culture of their own land. It seems clear, for instance, that it was Mahinda who brought into Ceylon the arts of stone carving and of irrigation which his father had so successfully practised in India ; and the Ceylon Buddhist of to-day thinks of his religion as the force to which his country owes the greatness of her past history. . . . Not far from the ruined city of Anuradhapura a lovely rocky hill rises out of a dense sea of jungle, and here is the rock-hewn ' study ' and the tomb of the great and gentle prince Mahinda, who about 250 B.C. brought Buddhism to Ceylon. From that day to this Buddhism has been the dominant religion of the island. Its king, Tissa, entered into alliance with Asoka, and did all he could to foster the religion of Gautama ; and he and all his successors built the great Sacred City of Anuradhapura, in which vast hill-like dagobas, higher than St. Paul's Cathedral and covering many acres. of ground, rear their mighty domes above the trees of a royal park and royal baths and palaces given to the Sangha. . . . The 7,774 Bhikkhus [monks or friars] who to-day keep alive the religion are thus descendants in an unbroken succession of the great Mahinda himself, and in Ceylon monasti- cism has had a unique chance of proving its worth.' 1 Anuradhapura or Anurajapura, the Buddhist Rome, may serve as the measure and symbol of Asoka's influence on the world. Council of Pataliputra. But the monkish authors of Ceylon, whom many European writers on Buddhism have been too readv to accept as primary authorities, give none of the credit to the emperor. According to them, the conversion of the island and other lands was the work of the saint or thera named Tissa, who convoked a church council at Pataliputra and then sent out his emissaries. The Ceylonese stories, written many centuries after the events described, have no just claim to be regarded as authorities superior to the words of Asoka, who never mentions either the saint or the 1 K. J. Saunders, The Story of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 1916, pp. 76-9. ' Rome of to-day is a mean thing, the Forum a mean jostle of littleness, compared with the extended enormous ruin of the Sacred City — vast, resigned, silent, leisurely, with full consciousness of an eternity of desolation to face ' (Farrer, In Old Ceylon, 1908, p. 346). ASOKA 101 Council, while emphatically presenting all the measures taken for the furtherance of religion as having been initiated by himself. I believe Asoka's word. The Council of Pataliputra may be accepted as a fact, because it is vouched for by Indian as well as Ceylonese tradition. But, in my opinion, the monks have dated it wrongly. The probability is that it was convoked towards the close of the reign of Asoka, after the publication of his principal sets of inscriptions, the Fourteen Rock Edicts, and the Seven Pillar Edicts. It may have been the occasion for the promulgation of his latest known records, the Minor Pillar Edicts, which deal specially with the deadly sin of schism, although those documents do not refer expressly to the Council. Upagupta and Thera Tissa. Northern tradition, which was much more likely to be well founded than the tales composed by the Ceylon monks and distorted by theological bias, testifies that the instructor of Asoka in Buddhism was Upagupta of Mathura, son of Gupta the perfumer of Benares. A monastery bearing his name still existed in the seventh century a. c. at Mathura. No doubt is possible that Upagupta was a real historical person, the fourth patriarch of the Buddhist church. The incidents of his story have been transferred by the Ceylon chroniclers to the Thera Tissa, the son of Moggali. The proof that the two names refer to the same person is absolutely conclusive. Asoka a monk. The admonitions of Upagupta produced many effects besides the dispatch of missionaries. He took his imperial pupil in 249 b. c. on a tour round the principal holy places of the faith,1 beginning with the Lumbini Garden, the modern Rummindei in the Nepalese Tarai, where the perfect inscription on a pillar still standing commemorates the emperor's visit. Asoka also gave up hunting and the practice of eating meat, in which he had previously indulged. All slaughter of animals for the royal kitchen was prohibited. Asoka at least once temporarily assumed the garb of a monk. Long afterwards the Chinese pilgrim I-tsing saw a statue representing him as so robed. Buddhist ' orders ' not being irrevocable, it is open to any layman to become a monk for a short time and then to return to the world. In fact, every male Burmese at the present day is expected to make a stay, long or short, in a monastery. Imperial review of policy. In 242 b. c.', Asoka, who was then growing old, and had been on the throne for over thirty years, undertook to review the measures taken during his reign for the promotion of religion, the teaching of moral duty, and the welfare of his subjects. That review was embodied in a series of edicts inscribed on pillars, and hence called the Seven Pillar Edicts, which must be read as an appendix or supplement to the earlier 1 M. Foueher has proved that a sculpture on the eastern gate at Sanchi must represent the solemn visit of Asoka to the sacred tree at Bodh Gaya (La Porte orientate du Stupa de Sanchi, Paris, 1910, pp. 30, 75). 102 HINDU INDIA proclamations engraved on rocks. The foreign missions are not mentioned ; I do not know why. Ahimsa. The fifth Pillar Edict expresses the emperor's matured views on the subject of ahimsd, or abstention from injury to or slaughter of animals. He indicates his disapproval of the practice FACSIMILE TRANSLITERATION 1. Devanapiyena piyadasina lajina visativasabhisitena 2. atana agacha mahiyite hida budhe jate sakyamuniti 3. sila vigadabhicha kalapita silathabhecha usap'apite 4. hida bhagavam jateti lumminigame ubalikekate 5. athabhagiyecha ASOKA'S INSCRIPTION ON THE RUMMINDEI PILLAR. of castration or caponing, and publishes many rules for the pro tection of living creatures. It is a surprising fact that horned cattle are not included in the list of animals the slaughter of which was forbidden ; whereas the Arthasdstra (Book II, chap. 26) contains the clause : y ' ' Cattle such as a calf, a bull, or a milch cow shall not be slaughtered.' We have seen that the government of Taxila had felt no scruple m presenting Alexander with thousands of cattle fatted for slaughter. That Taxilan sentiment probably explains Asoka's ASOKA 108 abstention from forbidding a practice which his old subjects in the north-west would not readily abandon. It is unlikely that the feelings of the public of Taxila had changed materially during the seventy-four years which had elapsed since the Macedonian visit to their city. The facts thus noted throw light on the obscure problem of the development of the passionate feeling in favour of the sanctity of the cow, which is now the most conspicuous and universal outward mark of Hinduism. It is clear that the feeling in anything like its present vehemence was not fully developed in the days of either Alexander or Asoka. The prohibitions against animal slaughter in Pillar Edict V coincide to a considerable extent with those recorded in the Arthasdstra. Both documents, for instance, forbid the killing of parrots, starlings, and ' Brahminy ' ducks. Asoka's last years. The publication of the Seven Pillar Edicts in 242 B.C. is the last event in Asoka's reign which can be precisely dated. The Council of Pataliputra may be placed, as already observed, a little later, somewhere about 240 b. c, and I would assign the same date approximately to the Minor Pillar Edicts. which denounce the sin of schism. The Council is said to have been convoked in order to repress heresy, and the publication of the special edicts directed against divisions in the church may be reasonably regarded as a result of the deliberations of the Council- Some traditions represent Asoka as having become in his old age a doting devotee, who wasted the resources of the empire in indiscriminate charity to monks and monasteries. It has also been asserted that he abdicated. His authentic records give no support to such legends or notions. They exhibit him to the last as a masterful autocrat ruling Church and State alike with a strong hand, as Charlemagne did in Europe more than a thousand years later. It is possible, of course, that Asoka may have descended from the throne towards the close of his life and devoted the short remainder of his days to religious exercises, but there is no good evidence that he actually did so. Classes of inscriptions. It will be convenient at this point to explain briefly the nature and distribution of the remarkable inscriptions so often cited. They fall naturally into two main classes, those inscribed on rocks in situ or on detached boulders, and those inscribed on highly finished monolithic columns or pillars. The rock edicts, which are the earlier in date, occur mostly in the more distant and out-of-the-way localities. The columns or pillars are found in the home provinces, where the fine sandstone needed for their construction was procurable. The records, of which many are substantially and some absolutely perfect, may be arranged in eight groups in chronological order as follows : (i) The Minor Rock Edicts ; two documents dating from about 258 or 257 B.C. No. 1 is found in variant recensions at seven localities ; but No. 2 is known at one only. (ii) The Bhabru Edict, on a detached boulder, now in Calcutta. 104 HINDU INDIA The purport of the record is unique. The date probably is the same as that of the Minor Rock Edicts. (iii) The Fourteen Rock Edicts, in seven more or less complete recensions, varying considerably, and dating after 257 and 256 b. c (iv) The Kalinga Edicts, in two recensions, referring only to the conquered province, and substituted for certain of the Fourteen Rock Edicts ; they may be dated in 256 b. c (v) The Cave Inscriptions, being records of dedications inscribed on the walls of three caves hewn in the rock of the Barabar hills near Gaya, in 257 and 250 b. c. ' (vi) The Tarai Pillar Inscriptions, being two commemorative records on columns in the Nepalese Tarai, erected in 249 b. c. (vii) The Seven Pillar Edicts in six recensions (excepting Edict 7, which is found at one place only), dating from 243 and 242 B.C. (viii) The Minor Pillar Edicts, four in number, dating between 242 and 232 b. c Two documents, one at Sarnath, and the other at Sanchi, are inscribed on separate columns ; the others are postscripts to the Pillar Edicts at Allahabad. Distribution of inscriptions. The distribution of the inscrip tions is indicated on the map of Asoka's empire. The Rock Edicts, including the Minor Rock Edicts, the Bhabrii Edict, and the Cave Inscriptions, are widely distributed from the extreme north western corner of the Panjab to the northern districts of Mysore. They are found on the coasts of both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, so that they may be said to cover an area extending from 34° 20' to 14° 49' N. lat., and from about 72° 15' to 85° 50' E. long., that is to say, twenty degrees of latitude and thirteen of longitude. Additions to the list probably will be discovered when Afghanistan and certain other frontier regions shall be open to research. The Maski inscription in the Nizam's Dominions was not noticed until 1915. It is particularly precious because it is the only record which specifies the emperor's personal name Asoka.1 All the other documents describe him by his titles only. It is not unlikely that more records may be found within the limits of India. Although some of the sites of the Rock Edicts are now in the wilderness, every one of the localities in Asoka's time was frequented either as a place of pilgrimage or for other good reason. The positions of more than thirty monolithic columns or pillars of Asoka are recorded. Ten of those now visible are inscribed. The area of their distribution is not so large as that of the rock inscriptions, probably owing to the difficulty of obtaining suitable blocks of stone. One, which formerly stood at a village in the Ambala (Umballa) District, Panjab, is now at Delhi. Others still exist at Sanchi in the Bhopal State, Central India. Those two localities are the most remote from Pataliputra the capital. Extent of the empire. The extent of Asoka's empire is known with sufficient precision from the details of the distribution of 1 It begins with the words Devanampiyasa Asokasa. G.EQRGE PHILIP A SOtt. LTO. E3 106 HINDU INDIA his monuments, from the internal testimony of his inscriptions, and from various forms of literary historical tradition. The empire comprised the countries now known as Afghanistan, as far as the Hindu Kush ; Balochistan and Makran, Sind, Cutch (Kachchh) ; the Swat (Suwat) Valley, with adjoining tribal territories, Kashmir, Nepal, and the whole of India proper, except ing Assam, as far south as the northern districts of Mysore. The Tamil states of the extreme south were independent. It is possible, but not clearly proved, or perhaps probable, that the emperor also exercised jurisdiction in Khotan, now in Chinese Turkistan. The reader, of course, will understand that the empire thus defined was not all under the direct imperial rule. It necessarily comprehended numerous autonomous states, owing more or less obedience or paying some sort of homage to the sovereign power. It also included many wild or half-wild tribes in the hills.and forests who cared little for any government, and ordinarily lived their own life in their own way. Viceroys. But the area actually governed by imperial officers was enormous. We hear of four Viceroys, who seem to have been usually, if not always, princes of the imperial family. The viceroy of the north-west, whose capital was Taxila, con trolled the Panjab, and his jurisdiction may have extended over Sind, Balochistan, Makran, and Afghanistan, to use modern names. An eastern viceroy resided at a town called Tosali, probably in Kalinga. The western provinces were administered from Ujjain ; and the capital of the Deccan was Suvarnagiri (' Golden hill ' ), probably situated somewhere in one of the ancient gold- fields.1 It is possible that there may have been other viceroys, but only four happen to be mentioned. The reader may remember that the Arthasdstra recommends that a kingdom should be divided into four provinces. Censors. Asoka inherited from his predecessors a good bureau cratic organization. The higher officials or ministers were called mahdmdtras, as in the Arthasdstra, and a regular gradation of official ranks existed. About the time of the promulgation of the Fourteen Rock Edicts the emperor created a new class of ministers called Dharma-mahdmdtras, whose title may be rendered by the term Censors. "Phey received instructions to enforce the Law of Duty or Piety (dharma) among people of all religions and ranks, including even members of the royal family. Similar officials have been appointed in several Hindu states in modern times.2 The moral principles and rules of conduct enjoined in the Edicts, although expressly associated with Buddhist doctrine in some of 1 Maski, where the Asoka inscription was discovered in 1915, is situated in country which 'abounds in numerous ancient gold workings'. The shaft at Hutti is ' the deepest in the world ' (Hyderabad Archaeol. Series, No. 1, 1915). Maski was an important settlement even in the late neolithic period (Foote Coll. Indian Prehistoric, vol. of notes, pp. 31, 125, 126). 2 The muhtasibs appointed by Aurangzeb to enforce Islamic law had similar duties. ASOKA 107 the documents, were suitable to a large extent for the adherents of any denomination. The stringency of the regulations prohibiting the slaughter or mutilation of animals, increasing with Asoka's years, no doubt pressed hardly on many classes. The imperial legislation, which directly affected the Brahmanical custom of bloody sacrifices, hampered the activities of hunters, fishermen, and many other poor people. It is likely that the discontent which must have been caused by the strict enforcement may have had much to do with the break up of the empire which ensued on Asoka's decease. It was the business of the Censors to see that the imperial commands were obeyed. It is easy to imagine the many openings which were offered for vexatious interference with private life, for malicious accusations, and for bribery to secure immunity from penalties. If we may judge from the history of later Hindu and Jain kings who pursued the same ideals and issued similar regulations, it may be assumed that offenders were liable even to capital punishment. Summary of moral code. Asoka's moral code is most con cisely formulated in the second -Minor- Rock Edict recorded on a rock in the north of the Mysore state and there only. ' Thus saith His Majesty : " Father and mother must be obeyed ; similarly respect for living creatures must be enforced ; truth must be spoken. These are the virtues of the Law of Duty (or ' Piety ', dharma) which must be practised. Similarly, the teacher must be reverenced by the pupil, and proper courtesy must be shown to relations. This is the ancient standard of duty (or ' piety ') — leads to length of days, and according to this men must act." ' 1 The three obligations — of showing reverence, respecting animal life, and telling the truth — are inculcated over and over again in the edicts. In the summary quoted above reverence is placed first, but the general tenor of the teaching is to lay stress primarily on the respect for animal life. Sundry virtues taught. The imperial moralist did not limit his catalogue of indispensable virtues to the three named in the summary. He took much pains to inculcate the duties of compassion to all, kind treatment of slaves and hired servants, almsgiving, and toleration for the creeds of other people. Moreover, he displayed anxious solicitude for the bodily well-being of his subjects. Special attention was paid to the comfort of travellers by the provision of wells, rest-houses, and trees planted along the roads to supply both shade and fruit. Arrangements for the healing of man and beast alike were made, not only within the limits of the empire, but also in the territories of friendly independent kingdoms. Extracts from the edicts. A few brief extracts from the edicts serve better than any paraphrase to enable the student to appreciate their spirit. 1 Mr. Yazdani compares the style of this document with that of the Sikshdvalli section of the Taittiriya Upanishad, transl. in S. B. E., xv, part ii. There is some resemblance. 108 HINDU INDIA ' Everywhere in my dominions the subordinate officials, and the Com missioner and the District Officers every five years must proceed on circuit, as well for their other business as for this special purpose, namely, to give instruction in the Law of Duty (or " Piety ") to wit — " A meritorious (' excellent ') thing is the hearkening to father and mother ; a meritorious thing is liberality to friends, acquaintances, relations, Brahmans, and ascetics ; a meritorious thing is abstention from the slaughter of living creatures ; a meritorious thing is small expense and small accumulation " ' (Rock Edict III). ' There is no such almsgiving as the almsgiving of the Law of Duty (or " Piety ") — friendship in duty, liberality in duty, association in duty! Herein does it consist — in proper treatment of slaves and servants, hearkening to father and mother, &c.' (Rock Edict XI). ' A man must not do reverence to his own sect or disparage that of another man without reason. Depreciation should be for specific reasons only, because the sects of other people all deserve reverence for one reason or another. By thus acting, a man exalts his own sect, and at the same time does service to the sects of other people. By acting contrariwise, a man hurts his own sect, and does disservice to the sects of other people ' (Rock Edict XII).1 ' Both this world and the next are difficult to secure save by intense love of the Law of Duty (or " Piety "), intense self-examination, intense obedience, intense dread, intense effort ' (Pillar Edict I). ' " The Law of Duty is excellent." But wherein consists the Law of Duty ? In these things, to wit — little impiety, many good deeds, compassion, liberality, truthfulness, and purity ' (Pillar Edict II). ' With various blessings has mankind been blessed by former kings, as by me also ; by me, however, with the intent that men may conform to the Law of Duty (or " Piety "), has it been done even as I thought ' (Pillar Edict VII). It would be easy to illustrate in detail every one of Asoka's precepts from Buddhist books, as well as from the existing practice in countries where Buddhism now prevails. Jain and Brahmanical writings also might be quoted to show that the morality inculcated was, on the whole, common to all the Indian religions. The Jains, however, go even farther than the Buddhists in applying the principle of ahimsd, or non-injury to living creatures, while those Brahmanical Hindus who considered bloody sacrifices indispensable necessarily were unable to give complete assent to the imperial doctrine. The gradual growth of a feeling of distaste for animal sacrifices discussed in an earlier chapter of this work undoubtedly was stimulated by the action of Asoka continued for many years and supported by all the power of an efficient imperial organization. The Buddhist teaching was superior to that of the rival religions in the prominence it gave to the ' happiness of all creatures ' as the main object of morality. Buddhism, in spite of its agnostic, 1 ' Every sect favourably regards him who is faithful to its precepts, and in truth he is to be commended ' (Akbar's ' Happy Sayings ', Ain, vol. iii, tr. Jarrett, p. 391). ASOKA 109 pessimistic philosophy, is in practice a creed which tends to cheer fulness ; a fact apparent to all observers in Burma. Asoka an ardent Buddhist. Asoka, although tolerant of competing creeds, and even willing to pursue the policy of con current endowment, as proved by his costly gifts to the Ajivika ascetics, an order closely akin to the Digambara or nude Jains, was personally an ardent Buddhist. His zeal for the teaching of Gautama Buddha is expressed emphatically in the unique Bhabrii Edict of early date, inscribed on a boulder in Eastern Rajputana and addressed to the Church. ' You know, Reverend Sirs, how far extend my respect for and faith in the Buddha, the Sacred Law, and the Church. Whatsoever, Reverend Sirs, has been said by the Venerable Buddha, all that has been well said.' He then proceeds to enumerate seven passages or texts from the Sacred Law, which he commends to the study of monks and nuns, as well as of the laity, male and female. All of those passages have been identified in the Canon. They begin with the well- known First Sermon, and end with the remarkable admonition by Buddha to his son Rahula on the necessity of speaking the exact truth.1 Three of the Minor Pillar Edicts ( Sarnath, Sanchi, and Kausambi), which prescribe the penalty of excommunication for schism, and the two Tarai Pillar Edicts are equally Buddhist. Asoka's hard -work. Asoka worked hard, very hard ; carrying out conscientiously the instructions of his grandfather's preceptor. ' If a king is energetic ', says the author of the Arthasdstra, ' his subjects will be equally energetic . . . when in court, he shall never cause his peti tioners to wait at the door. . . . He shall, therefore, personally attend to the business of gods, of heretics, of Brahmans learned in the Vedas, of earth, of sacred places, of minors, the aged, the afflicted, and the helpless, and of women ; all this in order, or according to the urgency or pressure of such kinds of business. All urgent calls he shall hear at once, and never put off ; for when postponed they will prove too hard or even impossible to accomplish. ... Of a king the religious vow is his readiness for action ; satisfactory discharge of duties in his performance of sacrifice ; equal attention to all is as the offer of fees and ablution towards consecration. In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness ; in their welfare his welfare ; whatever pleases himself he shall consider as not good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good. Hence the king shall ever be active and discharge his duties ; the root of wealth is activity, and of evil its reverse.' Asiatic idea of kingship. The Asiatic idea of kingship has ordinarily required that the monarch should hear personally as many causes and complaints as possible, should dispose of them on 1 The Chinese version of the admonition to Rahula has been translated into French by M. Sylvain Levi (J. As., 1896, Mai-Juin), and into English by Beal (Texts from the Buddhist Canon commonly known as Dhammapada; Kegan Paul, 1902). Rockhill gives a summary abstract of the Tibetan version in Uddnavarga (Kegan Paul, 1892). 110 HINDU INDIA the spot by final orders untrammelled by legal formalities, and that he should be easily accessible to the meanest of his subjects, even at the cost of much personal inconvenience. Long after Asoka's time the Timtirid emperors of India acted on those principles, and made the daily public audiences an essential feature of their policy. Even Jahangir, who sometimes failed in the higher duties of his station, was extremely particular to do justice as he conceived it in person, and to appear in public three times a day. A saying of Akbar that ' divine worship in monarchs consists in their justice and good administration ' reproduces one of the sentiments quoted above from Kautilya. Asoka on himself. Asoka expressed similar ideas with all possible emphasis : ' For a long time past it has not happened that business has been dis patched and that reports have been received at all hours. Now by me this arrangement has been made that at all hours and in all places — whether I am dining, or in the ladies' apartments, or in my private room, or in the mews, or in my (?) conveyance, or in the palace gardens — the official Reporters should report to me on the people's busi ness ; and I am ready to do the people's business in all places. ... I Have commanded that immediate report must be made to me at any hour and in any place, because I never feel full satisfaction in my efforts and dispatch of business. For the welfare of all folk is what I must work for — and the root of that, again, is in effort and the dispatch of business. And whatsoever exertions I make are for the end that I may discharge my debt to animate beings, and that while I make some happy here, they may in the next world gain heaven ' (Rock Edict VI, amended version). It is easy to criticize such regulations from the point of view of an official in Europe and to prove that the orderly dispatch of business would be hindered and obstructed by constant interrup tions. The criticism would be sound whether in Europe or Asia, but the extreme importance attached by the eastern nations to the personal intervention and the accessibility of their rulers wins so much popularity for a sovereign who satisfies the sentiment of his people that a king may find it worth his while to submit to the inconveniences which necessarily result from regulations such as those laid down by Asoka. Maurya art. When writing on another occasion about the art of the Gupta period, I recorded an observation which is equally applicable to the Maurya age, especially to the reign of Asoka, and may be repeated here, as I cannot express my meaning better. ' In India the establishment of a vigorous dynasty ruling over wide dominions has invariably resulted in the application of a strong stimulus to the development of man's intellectual and artistic powers. Such a dynasty, exercising its administrative duties effectively, fostering commerce, maintaining active intercourse, commercial and diplomatic, with foreign states, and displaying the pomp of a magnificent court, both encourages the desire to do great things,and provides the material patronage without which authors and artists cannot live.' 1 1 Oslasiatische Zeitschrift, April-Juni, 1914, p. 1. ASOKA 111 The reign of Asoka presents in perfection all the conditions enumerated in that extract as being favourable to the development of notable schools of art and literature. It may be that art had flourished almost in equal measure under the rule of his father Bindusara and his grandfather Chandragupta. In fact, there are substantial grounds for believing that buildings of exceptional magnificence were erected in the time of the first Maurya emperor. Splendid architecture necessarily involves the successful cultivation of sculpture, painting, and all the decorative arts. Greek testimony, as already mentioned, declares that the palace of Chandragupta surpassed the royal abodes of Persia, and records some details of the rich ornament of the building. But the whole has vanished, and there is little reason to expect or hope that the excavations at Taxila and Pataliputra begun in 1913 will reveal much art work of the time of the early Maurya kings preserved well enough to furnish material for satisfactory aesthetic criticism. The principal reason is that, so far as our present knowledge extends, the great edifices built by Asoka's predecessors were constructed mainly of perishable wood, just as the magnificent structures at Mandalay were constructed by the latest Burmese sovereigns. In the time of Chandragupta Maurya and his son brick and stone seem to have been used chiefly for the foundations and piinths of timber super structures. Wooden architecture implies the execution of most of the decorative features in material equally perishable. Unless the progress of exploration should disclose an unexpected treasure of early Maurya sculpture in stone or terra-cotta, materials for the history of art during the reigns of Chandragupta and Bindusara must continue to be scanty. The general use of stone in northern India for building, sculpture, and decoration certainly dates from the reign of Asoka, who was influenced by Persian and Greek example. I do not either assert or believe that prior to the days of Asoka the art of building in stone was absolutely unknown in India, or that all artistic work was executed in perishable material ; but the ascertained facts indicate that previous to his reign permanent materials were used rarely and sparingly either for architecture or for ornament. When Megasthenes was at Patali putra the city was defended by a wooden palisaded The walls, the stone palace within the city, and many sacred edifices are ascribed to Asoka.1 The definite history of Indian art, therefore, still begins with Asoka. At present it is impossible to write any earlier chapter. Asokan sculpture. No building of Asoka's age is standing, unless some of the stupas near Bhilsa. may have been built by him. An early stupa, being merely a domical mound of masonry, does 1 The text refers only to Asoka's empire, and more especially to northern India. In the Tamil countries, during the early centuries of the Christian era, Hindu temples were built of wood or brick. Stone structures did not come into fashion until late in the sixth century, in the Pallava kingdom (Jouveau-Dubreuil, Pallava Antiquities, Probsthain, London, 1916, p. 74). 112 HINDU INDIA not offer much scope for architectural design. We can judge of Asokan art better from sculpture than from architecture. The noble sculpture of Asoka's age exhibits a mature form of art, the evolution of which through earlier attempts is hidden from our eyes for the reasons explained above. Many details indica'te that the artist in stone closely followed the example set by his fellow craftsmen in wood and ivory. Indeed, ordinary Indian usage seems to have favoured the exer cise of his skill by a carver in any material that came to his hand. If Asoka insisted, as he did, on his statuary and reliefs being executed in enduring stone, he was able to uti lize the services of skilled Indian workmen accus tomed to work in more perishable materials, who were clever enough to adapt their technique to the permanent medium. The art of his time, al though obviously affected by Persian and Hellenis tic influences, is mainly Indian in both spirit and execution. Take, for in stance, the celebrated Sarnath capital. Much of the design was sug gested by Persia. But even the lions in the round are wholly different from and far superior to their Persian prototypes in pose and style, while the bas-reliefs of the guardian animals of the four quarters on the sides of the abacus are purely Indian. It is improbable that they could have been executed by any sculptor who had not been soaked in ancient Indian tradition, although his previous practical experience might have been gained by working in wood or ivory. Perfect execution. The perfection of the execution of the best examples of Asokan sculpture is astonishing. Sir John Marshall, who has had wide experience of Greek art, praises the Sarnath capital in the following terms : ' Lying near the column were the broken portions of the upper part of the shaft and a magnificent capital of the well-known Persepolitan bell- Capital, Sarnath. ASOKA 113 shaped type with four lions above, supporting in their midst a stone wheel or dharmachakra, the symbol of the law first promulgated at Sarnath. Both bell and lions are in an excellent state of preservation and master pieces in point of both style and technique — the finest carvings, indeed, that India has yet produced, and unsurpassed, I venture to think, by anything of their kind in the ancient world.' The same expert critic elsewhere comments on ' the extraordinary precision and accuracy which characterizes all Maurya work, and which has never, we venture to say, been surpassed even by the finest workmanship on Athenian buildings '. The skill of the stone-cutters of the age could not be surpassed. GREAT STUPA, SANCHI (restored). The monolithic columns of fine-grained sandstone, some of which exceed forty feet in height, exclusive of the separate capital, are marvels of technical execution.1 The art of polishing hard stone was carried to such perfection that it is said to have become a lost art beyond modern powers. The sides of the Barabar caves excavated in most refractory gneiss rock are polished like glass mirrors. The burnishing of Firoz Shah's Ldt, the column from Topra, now at Delhi, is so exquisite that several observers have believed the column to be metallic. Quaint Tom Coryate in the seventeenth century described the monument as ' a brazen pillar ' ; and even Bishop Heber, early in the nineteenth century, received the impression that it was 'a high black pillar of cast metal'. The stonework of Asoka's time is equally well finished m all other respects. Most of the inscriptions are incised with extreme 1 See illustration of Lauriya-Nandangarh pillar on p. 157. 114 HINDU INDIA accuracy in beautifully cut letters. Dr. Spooner notes similar 4 absolute perfection ' in the carpentry of the mysterious wooden platforms at Kumrahar, probably dating from the reign of Chandra gupta. Skill in all arts. The engineering ability displayed in the handling and transport of huge monolithic columns conveyed over immense distances is remarkable. When the excavations in pro gress at Taxila and Pataliputra shall be more advanced, additional evidence of the skill of the Maurya engineers may be expected. Some has been disclosed already. The combined testimony of books, material remains, and pictorial relief sculpture proves that in the fourth and third centuries b. c. the command of the Maurya monarchs over luxuries of all kinds and skilled craftsmanship in all the manual arts was not inferior to that enjoyed by the Mogul emperors eighteen centuries later. Some fine jewellery, dating from 250 b. c and associated with a gold coin of Diodotos and debased silver punch-marked coins, has been found in the Bir mound, the oldest part of the Taxila site.1 The relief sculptures at Bharhut (Barhut) and Sanchi, some of which are little if at all later than the time of Asoka, and may be regarded as pictures executed in stone, exhibit most vividly all the details of the life of the age. It was a bustling, cheerful life, full of wholesome activity and movement. The artists delighted in representing it with frank realism, and in decorating their panels with ornaments of charming design treated with good taste. Education. Asoka's decision to publish his views on Buddhist doctrine and the moral code deemed suitable for ' all sorts and conditions of men ' in documents composed in vernacular dialects and inscribed in two distinct scripts implies a comparatively wide diffusion of education in his empire. The sites of all the inscriptions were carefully chosen at places where crowds of people either passed or congregated for one reason or another. The heavy cost of publication in such an enduring form would have been wasted if people could not read the edicts. Probably the numerous Buddhist monasteries served the purpose of schools, as they do now in Burma, and so produced a higher general percentage of literacy among the population than that existing at present. Most of the records are incised in the Brahml script, the ancient form of the modern characters used in writing Sanskrit and the allied languages of northern and western India ; but two sets of the Fourteen Rock Edicts placed near the north-western frontier were engraved in the Kharoshthi script, a form of Aramaic writing used in that region. The language of the records exhibits several dialectic varieties, suitable for the different provinces. Literature. The style of the Asoka inscriptions is not wanting in force and dignity. It recalls in some cases that of certain Upanishads. The most interesting of the documents present unmistakable internal evidence of being essentially the composi tion of the emperor himself. The edicts undoubtedly are closely 1 J, P. H. S., iii. 9 ; Ann. Rep. A. S., India, 1912-13, p. 41, pi. xxxix. ASOKA 115 related as literature to the Arthasdstra of Kautilya or Chanakya, who devotes a chapter to the subject of the drafting of royal orders and correspondence. A famous collection of moral aphor isms (Chdnakya Cataka) attributed to Chandragupta's minister has been printed and may have been arranged by him. The chronology of ancient Indian literature is so ill defined that it would be difficult to name any other literary works as dating from the Maurya age. Professor Rhys Davids's belief that the Kathd- vatthu, an important Buddhist treatise in Pali, was actually com posed in the time of Asoka is not shared by all scholars. But it is certain that the reigns of three emperors covering ninety years, during which magnificent courts were maintained and every form of art and luxury was cultivated with success, cannot have been unadorned by the works of eminent authors. It is clear that in the fourth century b. c Indian literature could look back on a long past extending over many generations. Its history cannot have been interrupted in the third century at a time when the Indian empire had attained its widest extent and was in close touch with the civilizations of western Asia and northern Africa. Asoka and Akbar. Few if any students of Indian history will be disposed to dispute the proposition that the most conspicuous and interesting names in the long roll of Indian monarchs are those of Asoka and Akbar. It so happens, as already observed, that both are better known to us than any others. Although it is impossible to draw a portrait of Asoka, he has disclosed so much of his character in his edicts that he seems to me at all events, after many years of special study, a very real and familiar figure. His remorse for the sufferings caused by the Kalinga war would have amused Akbar, who was one of the most ambitious of men and eager for the fame of a successful warrior, gloriae percupidus, as the Jesuit says. Akbar never was disturbed because his numerous aggressive wars caused infinite suffering. In that respect he resembled most ambitious kings. The attitude of Asoka was peculiar and obviously sincere. He has his reward in the vast diffusion of Buddhism, which constitutes his special work in the world, and may be counted to his credit as that ' true conquest ' which was his ideal. Asoka, although devout and zealous in the cause of his religion, was equally energetic in performing his kingly duties. There is no occasion for doubting that he did his best to live up to the admirable principles which he took so much pains to inculcate. Nothing could be better than the instructions addressed to his officers in the newly conquered province of Kalinga, which have been quoted. A proclamation issued 'by Mr. Robert Cust to the Sikhs in the year 1848, between the first and the second Sikh wars, under instructions from John Lawrence, is strangely similar in both sentiment and expression : ' If any of your relations have joined the rebels, write to them to come back before blood is shed ; if they do so, their fault will be forgiven . . . what 116 HINDU INDIA is your injury I consider mine : what is gain to you I consider my gain. . . . Consider what I have said and talk it over with your relations . . . and tell those who have joined in the rebellion to return to me, as children who have committed a fault return to their fathers, and their faults will be forgiven them. ... In two days I shall be in the midst of you with a force which you will be unable to resist.' l I think that Asoka, who was a capable man of affairs, as well as a pious devotee, always kept an iron hand within the velvet glove, like John Lawrence, who was equally pious and equally practical. The excellence of the art of Asoka's reign indicates that the Maurya emperor resembled Akbar in being a man of good taste. He spared no cost or pains, and knew how to employ people who used sound materials and did honest work. The administration of the Mauryas strikes me as having been singularly efficient all round in peace and war. The ' extraordinary precision and accuracy ' noted by Sir John Marshall as characteristic of Maurya work in stone are the outward expression of similar accuracy and precision in the working of the government machine. Living under the eyes of the innumerable spies employed by the Maurya kings must have been dangerous and unpleasant for individuals at times ; but the espionage system, worked as Chanakya describes it, was an instrument of extraordinary power in the hands of a strong, capable sovereign. If Asoka had not been capable he could not have ruled his huge empire with success for forty years, and left behind a name which is still fresh in the memory of men after the lapse of more than two millenniums. Asoka's sons. We do not know how or where Asoka passed away from the scene of his strenuous labours. A Tibetan tradition is said to affirm that he died at Taxila, and if that should be true it is possible that the researches in progress at that site so full of surprises may throw some light on the last days of the great Buddhist emperor. The names of several of his sons are on record. One, named Tivara, is mentioned in an inscription. Another, called Kunala and by other names, is the centre of a cycle of wild legends of the folklore type. A third, named Jalauka, the subject of a long passage in the Kashmir chronicle, clearly was a real personage, although certain fabulous stories are attached to his name. Several localities still identifiable are associated with his memory. He did not share his father's devotion to Buddhism, but on the contrary was an ardent worshipper of Siva, as was his consort Isanadevl. He is also credited with the expulsion from the valley of certain unnamed non-Hindu foreigners (mlechchhas). He may have been the viceroy of his father and become independent after the death of Asoka. The chronicler includes both Asoka and Jalauka in the list of the kings of Kashmir. Asoka's grandsons. Asoka seems to have been succeeded 1 Issued under direction of John Lawrence to the headmen of the Hoshyarpur District (Aitchison, Lord Lawrence (Rulers of India), 1905, p. 45 n.). ASOKA'S SUCCESSORS 117 directly by two grandsons, Dasaratha in the eastern, and Samprati, son of Kunala, in the western provinces. The real existence of the former is vouched for by brief dedicatory inscriptions in caves granted to the Ajivika ascetics, and not far from the similar caves bestowed on the same order by Asoka. The inscriptions, which were recorded immediately after the accession of Dasaratha, are conclusive evidence of that prince's rule in Magadha. The existence of the other grandson named Samprati has not yet been verified by any early inscription. But there is no reason to doubt that he actually ruled the western provinces after his grandfather's death. According to Jain authorities Ujjain was his capital. His name has been handed down by numerous local INSCRIPTION OF DASARATHA. traditions extending from Ajmer in Rajputana to Satrunjaya in Kathiawar, where the most ancient of the crowd of Jain temples is said to have been founded by him. He is also credited with the erection of a temple at Nadlai in Jodhpur, now represented by a more modern building on the site ; and with the foundation of the fortress of Jahazpur, which guarded the pass leading from Mewar to Bundi. He is reputed to have been as zealous in promoting the cause of Jainism as Asoka had been in propagating the religion of, Gautama.1 It seems reasonable to assume that Asoka's empire was divided in the first instance between his two grandsons ; but no decisive proof of the supposed fact has been discovered, and nothing is known about the further history of either Dasaratha or Samprati. The last Maurya. The Puranas record the names of several others successors of Asoka, with various readings, which need not 1 Tod, Annals of Mewar, chap, iv (pop. ed., i, 201 n.) ; Forbes, Rdsmdla (1856), i, p. 7 ; Rajputana Gaz. (Simla, 1880), iii, 52 ; Bombay Gaz. (1896), vol. i, part 1, p. 15. 118 HINDU INDIA be recited, as nothing material is known about the princes named. It is impossible to determine the extent of the dominions ruled by those later Mauryas. Brihadratha, the last prince of the dynasty, was slain about 185 b. c by his commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra (or Pushpamitra) Sunga. The Sunga dynasty. The usurper established a new dynasty known as that of the Sungas, which is said to have lasted for 112 years until 73 b.c Their dominions apparently included Magadha and certain neighbouring provinces, extending south wards as far as the Narbada. The names of the founder of the dynasty and some of his descendants ending in mitra have suggested the hypothesis that Pushyamitra may have been an Iranian, a worshipper of the sun (Mithra). He celebrated the asvamedha or horse sacrifice, a rite certainly associated with sun-worship. It marked the successful assertion by the prince performing it of a claim to have vanquished all his neighbours. Menander's invasion. Pushyamitra was defeated by Khara vela of Kalinga, but repelled the invasion of a Greek king, apparently Menander, the Milinda of Buddhist tradition, king of Kabul and the Panjab. He advanced (about 175 b. c.) with a strong force into the interior of India ; annexed the Indus delta, with the peninsula of Surashtra (Kathiawar), and some other territories on the western coast ; occupied Mathura, on the Jumna ; besieged Madhyamika, now Nagari near Chitor in Rajputana ; invested Saketa in southern Oudh ; and threatened, or perhaps took Pataliputra, the Sunga capital. Madhyamika, then the chief towa of a branch of the Sibi people, who seems to have emigrated from the Panjab, was in those days a place of much importance, which an invader could not safely pass by. Although the ruins have supplied much material for the building of Chitor, traces of a Maurya edifice can still be discerned, and two inscriptions of the Sunga period have been found, which record the performance of asvamedha and vdjapeya sacrifices. Brahmanical reaction. Pushyamitra, whatever his origin may have been, was reckoned to. be a Hindu. Sun-worship is consistent with Hinduism, and even at this day sects of Sauras or sun-worshippers exist. Good reasons warrant the belief that in ancient times the cult of the sun in north-western India, Surashtra, and Rajputana, was much more prominent than it is now. Tradition represents the first Sunga king as a fierce enemy of Buddhism and relates that he burnt a multitude of monasteries, carrying his ravages as far north as Jalandhar. The reign of Pushyamitra appears to mark a violent Brahmanical reaction against Buddhism, which had enjoyed so much favour in the time of Asoka. It is possible that the Hinduism of the Sungas may have been coloured by Magian practices. They were followers of the sacrificial Sama veda.1 The celebrated grammarian Patanjali was a contemporary of Pushyamitra, whose story is partly told in ' Malavika and Agni- 1 M. M. Haraparshad Sastri, in J. & Proc. A. S. B., 1912, p. 287. ASOKA'S SUCCESSORS 119 mitra ' (Mdlavikdgnimilra), a play by Kalidasa, composed probably in the fifth century a. c. The Kanva dynasty. Devabhuti, or Devabhumi, the last of the Sungas, a man of licentious habits, lost his life while engaged in a scandalous intrigue. His death was contrived by his Brahman minister, Vasudeva, who seated himself on the vacant throne, and so founded a short-lived dynasty of four kings, whose reigns collectively occupied only forty-five years. The brevity of the rule of each indicates a period of disturbance. Nothing is known about the doings of the Brahman kings, whose dynasty is called Kanva or Kanvayana. The last of them was killed, about 28 b. c, by an Andhra king whose identity is doubtful. The Andhras. It will be convenient to give in this place a brief notice of the Andhra dynasty comprising thirty kings, whose rule endured for the exceptionally long period of four centuries and a half in round numbers. The details of their history are too obscure and con troverted for discussion in this work. The original kingdom of the Andhras, the Telugn speaking people of the coun try afterwards called Telingana, was situated in the deltas of the Godavari and Krishna. It was reckoned power- Andhra coin. ful even in the time of Megasthenes, but nothing is known about its rulers at that date. The historical dynasty seems to have been established about the time of Asoka's death. His inscriptions mention the Andhras in terms which ap parently imply that their Raja, was in some measure subordinate to the emperor. It- may be assumed that his decease enabled the Andhras, like many other people, to assert their complete inde pendence. After a short interval we find the kings exercising authority in the region of the western Ghats, so that their domi nion stretched right across the Deccan from sea to sea. They engaged in wars with both the dynasties of western Satraps, namely, the early Kshaharata line which had its capital in the western Ghats, and the somewhat later family which ruled at Ujjain. Both of the Satrap dynasties were of foreign origin, and associated with the Sakas. The Andhra kings assumed the position of protectors of Hinduism and the caste institution. The most powerful of the later Andhras was Gautamiputra Yajna Sri, who reigned for twenty-nine years, from about a.d. 173 to 202, or possibly a little earlier. The story of the decline and fall of the dynasty has not been fully recovered. The end of it may be placed somewhere about a. d. 225. Although the Andhras may at some time or other have controlled Magadha and the ancient imperial capital, Pataliputra, clear evidence that they did so has not yet come to light. 120 HINDU INDIA CHRONOLOGY (Dates nearly correct, but the Indian ones not guaranteed exact) Maurya Dynasty b. c. Event. 326 or 325. Chandragupta Maurya in his youth met Alexander. 323, June. Death of Alexander at Babylon. 323-322. Expulsion of Macedonian garrisons. 322. Accession of Chandragupta Maurya. [Date possibly earlier.] 312. Seleukos Nikator recovered Babylon and established Seleu- kidan era. 306. Seleukos assumed title of king. 305. Seleukos invaded India unsuccessfully. 302. Megasthenes sent to Pataliputra as ambassador. 298. Accession of Bindusara Amitrag-hata. Deimachos succeeded Megasthenes as ambassador. 285. Ptolemy Philadelphos, king of Egypt, ace. 280. Seleukos Nikator died ; Antiochos Soter ace. 278 or 277. Antigonos Gonatas, king of Macedonia, ace. 273. Asoka[-vardhana] ace. 272. Alexander, king of Epirus, ace. 269. Consecration or coronation (abhisheka) of Asoka. [218 A.B. (anno Buddhae) in chronology of Ceylon]. 261. Antiochos Theos, king of Syria, ace. ; the Kalinga war. 259. Asoka abolished the imperial hunt, and dispatched mission aries. 258. Magas, king of Cyrene died ; ? Alexander, king of Epirus, died. 257, 256. The Fourteen Rock Edicts, the Kalinga Edicts, and appoint ment of Censors. 254. Asoka enlarged for the second time the stupa of Konagamana. 251. Tissa, king of Ceylon, ace. 251 or 250. Mission of Mahendra (Mahinda) to Ceylon. [236 A. B.] 249. Asoka's pilgrimage to the holy places. ? 248. Independence of Bactria and Parthia. 247. Ptolemy Philadelphos, king of Egypt, died. 247 or 246. Antiochos Theos, king of Syria, died. 246. She-hwang-ti became ruler of Tsin in China. 242. Publication of the Seven Pillar Edicts. 242 or 239. Antigonos Gonatas, king of Macedonia, died. 240-232. Council of Pataliputra; Minor Pillar Edicts condemning schism. 232. Asoka died ; his grandson Dasaratha ace. in eastern pro vinces ; and probably Samprati, another grandson, ace. in western provinces. 221. She-hwang-ti became emperor of China. 211. Tissa, king of Ceylon, died ; Uttiya ace. 204. Mahendra (Mahinda) died in Ceylon. 203. Sanghamitra, sister of Mahendra, died in Ceylon. 185. Bridhadratha, the last Maurya king, killed. INDO-GREEK KINGS 121 Sunga Dynasty 185. Pushyamitra (Fushpamitra) ace. Brahmanical reaction ; Patanjali. 175. Invasion of Menander. 73. Devabhuti (-bhumi), the last Sunga king, killed. 73-28. Kanva or Kdnvdyana Dynasty. Andhra Dynasty about 230 Beginning of dynasty. 30 kings for about 4J centuries. A. D. 173-202. Yajna Sri, king. [Possibly 7 or 8 years earlier.] about 225. End of dynasty. Authorities The following references are additional to those in the foot-notes and in E. H. I.3 (1914) and Asoka3 (1909). Professor Hultzsch's edition of the Asoka inscriptions, of which a large part is in print, cannot be completed while the war lasts. The new Maski inscription has been well edited in Hyderabad Archaeological Series, No. 1 (Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta, 1915 ; price one rupee). For the Ajivikas see Hoernle's exhaustive article in Hastings, Encycl. of Religion and Ethics, vol. i (1908). D. R. Bhandarkar describes remains at Nagari or Madhyamika in Progr. Rep. A. S., Western Circle, 1915-16, p. 52. Ancient India, by Prof. Rapson (Cambridge University Press, 1914), is a good sketch. Sundry papers in J. R. A. S. and other periodicals throw some fresh light on the period. CHAPTER 3 The Indo-Greek and other foreign dynasties of north-western India ; the Kushans or Indo-Scythians ; Greek influence ; foreign commerce ; beginning of Chola history. Revolt of Bactria and Parthia. About the middle of the third century, within a year or two of 250 B.C., while Asoka was at the height of his power, two important provinces, Bactria and Parthia, broke away from the Seleukidan empire, and set up almost simultaneously as independent kingdoms, with results which subsequently had considerable effect upon India. Parthia. The movement in Parthia, the territory lying to the south-east of the Caspian Sea and inhabited by hardy horsemen with habits similar to those of the modern Turkomans, was of a national character, and seems to have lasted for several years. The independence of the kingdom may be dated approximately in 248 b. c. The chief named Arsakes, who had led his countrymen 122 HINDU INDIA in their fight for liberty, founded the Arsakidan dynasty of Persia which lasted for nearly five centuries until it was superseded by the Sassanians in a.d. 226. The Parthian power gradually extended eastwards until it comprised most of the dominions once ruled by the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia ; but its influence on India did not make itself felt until more than a century after the foundation of the kingdom. MAP OF BACTRIA, ETC. Bactria. The revolution in Bactria, the rich and civilized region between the Hindu Kush and the Oxus, which was reputed to contain a thousand towns and had been regarded as the premier province of the empire in Achaemenian times, was effected in the ordinary Asiatic manner by the rebellion of a governor named Diodotos. INDO-GREEK KINGS 123 Coin of Diodotos II. hi Inasmuch as the newly formed kingdom adjoined Asoka's Kabul or Paropanisadai province, echoes of the revolution must have been heard at the court of Pataliputra, although Indian documents are silent on the subject. While Asoka lived his strong arm and his friendly relations with the Hellenistic princes pro tected India against the ambition of " Alexander's successors. When he had vanished from the scene and his em pire had crumbled to pieces, many years did not elapse until the pro vinces beyond the Indus became the object of Greek aggression. Syrian raid on Kabul. Euthy- demos, the third king of Bactria, had become involved in a quarrel with Antiochos the Great of Syria, which was ended about 208 b.c by the formal recognition of Bactrian independence. Shortly afterwards Antiochos crossed the Hindu Kush, and attacked an Indian prince named Subhagasena (Sophagasenas), ruler of the Kabul valley. The invader, having extorted a large cash in- | demnity and many elephants, went home through Arachosia (Kandahar) and Drangiana. That raid had no permanent effect. Demetrios, King of the Indians. But Demetrios, the fourth king of Bactria, and son of Euthydemos, became so powerful that he was able to subdue all Ariana or Afghan istan, and even to annex considerable terri tories in the Panjab and western India. Hence Coin of Euthydemos. he was known as ' King of the Indians '. The nearly contemporary square coins of Pantaleon and Agathokles present. Indian features derived from the native coinage of Taxila and prove that Greek principalities, connected in some way with the conquests made by Demetrios, were established on the north western frontier late in the second j century B.C. A rival named Eu- kratides deprived Demetrios of Bactria about 175 b. c and founded a new line of frontier princes. The names of about forty such rulers are known from coins. It is im possible to ascertain the exact re lationship between the princes or to specify their respective terri tories with precision. Menander. The most remarkable king was Menander, who reigned in Kabul from about 160 to 140 b.c His invasion of India has been already described. He acquired a widespread reputation, and it is said that when he died various cities con tended for the honour of giving sepulture to his ashes. His fine Coin of Demetrios. 124 HINDU INDIA coinage is abundant in many interesting types. Specimens have been found in India even to the south of the Jumna. Antialkidas. We obtain an unexpected and startling glimpse of a slightly later king named Antialkidas, who ruled at Taxila, from an inscription at Besnagar near Bhilsa in Central India, which may be dated be tween 140 and 130 b.c. The record was incised by direction of Dion's son, Helio- doros of Taxila, who was sent as envoy to the ruler of Besnagar by King Antialkidas. Heliodoros dedicated a monolithic column to the honour of Vasudeva, a form of Vishnu, whose worshipper he professed himself to be. The document is of value in the history of Indian religions as giving an early date for the bhakti cult of Vasudeva, and as proving that people with Greek names and in the service of Greek kings had become the fol lowers of Hindu gods. End of Bactrian monarchy. In the interval between 140 and 120 b. c. a swarm of nomad tribes from the interior of Asia, consisting of Sakas and others, attacked both Parthia and Bactria.1 Two Parthian kings were killed, and Greek rule in Bactria was extinguished. The last Graeco-Baetrian king was Heliokles, a member of the family of Eukratides. The end of the Bactrian monarchy, which had lasted little more than a century, may be placed somewhere between 140 and 130 b.c. Precise dates are not ascertainable. Parthia and India. Mithridates I of Parthia (c. 171 to 136 b.c.) had annexed the country between the Indus and the Hydaspes, that is to say, the kingdom of Taxila, towards the close of his reign, about 138 b.c The kings of Parthia were not able to retain effective control of the terri tory thus annexed, but the connexion established between the Parthian or Per sian kingdom and India was sufficiently close to bring about the adoption of the Persian title of Satrap or Great Satrap by many Indian rulers of foreign origin. The use of that title continued for several hun dred years. The last ruler to use it was the Saka Satrap of Sura- 1 Indians used the term Saka (Saka, Shaka) vaguely to denote foreigners from beyond the passes. In later times the name was often applied to Muhammadans, as in the Eklinga Mahatmya. Heliodoros Column. INDO-GREEK KINGS 125 shtra who was conquered and dethroned by the Gupta emperor towards the close of the fourth century a. c Indo-G-reek and Indo-Parthian princes. -Although Heliokles, the last Greek king of Bactria, probably had disappeared before Coin of Eukratides. 130 b.c, numerous princes with Greek names continued to govern principalities in the Kabul country and along the north-western frontier of India much longer. The last of them was named Coin of Menander. Coin of Antialkidas. Hermaios, who shared his power with a barbarian chief named Kujula-Kara-Kadphises, a member of the Great Yueh-chi horde, in the first century after Christ. &srV - - "* Coin of Heliokles. During the interval sundry ruling families of foreigners appear in the frontier provinces, some of the princes having distinctly Parthian names. The details are too obscure and doubtful for discussion in this work. 126 HINDU INDIA Coin of Hermaios. Gondophernes and St. Thomas. The most interesting per sonage among those princes is Gondophernes, whose name is clearly Persian or Parthian: His reign may be placed between a.d. 20 and 48. He ruled an extensive realm which included Ara chosia or the Kandahar country, Kabul, and the kingdom of Taxila. The name of Gon dophernes or Gondophares has become more or less familiar to European readers because early ecclesiastical legends, going back to the third century a. c, affirm that the apostle St. Thomas preached Christianity in his dominions and was there martyred. Another group of traditions alleges that the same apostle was martyred at Mailapur (Mylapore) near Madras. Both stories obviously cannot be true ; even an apostle can die but once. My personal impression, formed after much examination of the evidence, is that the story of the martyrdom in southern India is the better supported of the two versions of the saint's death. But it is by no means certain that St. Thomas was martyred at all. An early writer, Heracleon the Gnostic, asserts that he ended his days in peace. The tale of his visit to the kingdom of Gondo phares may have originated as an explanation of the early presence in that region of ' Christians of St. Thomas ', disciples who fol lowed the practices associated with the name of the apostle. Some writers try to reconcile the two stories in some measure by guessing that St. Thomas may have first visited the kingdom of Gondo phernes and then gone on to the peninsula. But that guess is no real explanation. The subject has been discussed by many authors from every possible point of view, and immense learning has been invoked in the hope of establishing one or other hypothesis, without reaching any conclusion approaching certainty. There is no reason to expect that additional evidence will be discovered. The puzzle of Kushan dates. The principal puzzle of Indian history still awaiting solution is that concerning the chronology of the powerful foreign kings of Kabul and north-western India who belonged to the Kushan clan or sept of the Yueh-chi horde of nomads. The most famous of those kings being Kanishka, the problem is often stated as being 'the question of the date of Kanishka '. Until it is solved, the history of northern India for three centuries or so must remain in an unsatisfactory condition. But definite progress towards a conclusive solution of the problem Coin of Gondophernes. KUSHAN DYNASTY 127 based upon solid facts has been made. It may now be affirmed with confidence that the order of the five leading Kushan kings is finally settled,1 and that the uncertainty as to the chronology has been- reduced to a period of forty years in round numbers. Or to state it otherwise, the question is, ' Did Kanishka come to the throne in a. d. 78, or about forty years later ? ' When the third edition of the Early History oj India was published in 1914, my narrative was based upon the working hy pothesis that Kanishka's accession took place in a.d. 78 ; although it was admitted to be possible that the true date might be later. Further consideration of the evi dence from Taxila now available leads me to follow Sir John Mar shall and Professor Sten Konow in dating the beginning of Kanishka's reign approximately in a. d. 120, a date which I had advocated many years ago on different grounds. In the following narrative the cor rectness of that hypothesis will be assumed without any examination of the intricate archaeological evi dence, which cannot be presented advantageously in a brief summary. The Yueh-chi migration. The horde of nomads called the Great Yueh-chi, who were driven out of Western China between 174 and 160 b. c, migrated westwards along the road to the north of the Tak- lamakan (Gobi) desert. In the course of their long wanderings they encountered another nomad nation, the Sakai or Sakas (Se or Sai of the Chinese), who dwelt to the north of the Jaxartes or Syr Darya river. The Sakai, being defeated by the Yueh-chi, were constrained to yield their pasture-grounds to the victors, and themselves to seek new quarters in the borderlands of India. The victorious Yueh-chi, in their turn, were vanquished by a third horde named Wu-sun and driven from the lands which had been wrested from the Sakas. The Yueh-chi then settled in the valley of the Oxus, with their head-quarters to the north of the river, 1 The five referred to are Kadphises I, Kadphises II, Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva I. The word Englished as Kushan appears in various forms in diverse scripts and languages. The long vowel in the second syllable is correct. The name of the sept in Khotanese may have been really Kusi or Kushi (nom. from stem Kusa) ; the word represented by ' Kushan ' being a genitive plural. It would, perhaps, be more correct to speak of the Kushi (Kusi) sept, but I retain Kushan as being familiar and in accordance with the views of some scholars. Ancient cross, Kottayam. 128 HINDU INDIA but probably exercising more or less authority over Bactria to the south. , , „ , Kadphises I. In the course of time, which cannot be defined precisely the Great Yueh-chi horde lost their nomad habits and occupied the Bactrian lands, becoming divided into five princi palities, at a date which cannot be determined with any approach to exactness. More than a century later, the Kushan section or sept of the Yueh-chi attained a predominant position oyer the other sections of the horde, under the leadership of a chieftain named Kujula-Kara-Kadphises, who is conveniently designated by modern historians as Kadphises I. He may be regarded as having become king of the Kushans or Yueh-chi from somewhere about a.d. 40.1 ... Kadphises I was soon impelled to attack the rich territories to the south of the Hindu Kush, presumably finding the limits of Bactria too narrow tor the growingpopulation of his dominions. He enjoyed a long life and prosperous reign, in the course of which he consolidated his strength in Bactria, and conquered the Kabul region south of the mountains. He annexed Ki-pin, which may be interpreted with good reason as meaning Gandhara, in cluding the kingdom of Taxila to the east of the Indus, where he seems to have succeeded Gondophernes in a. d. 48. He also attacked the Parthians. The operations indicated must have occupied many years, during which the Kushan or Indo-Scythian rule gradually replaced that of the Indo-Greek, Saka, and Indo-Parthian princes in the Indian borderlands. Kadphises I attained the age of eighty, and may be assumed to have died about a. d. 77 or 78. Kadphises II. He was succeeded by his son Wima Kadphises, whose personal name is transliterated as Wemo (Ooemo) in his Greek coin legends, and is given as Yen-kao-ching by Chinese historians. It is convenient to designate him as Kadphises II. He set himself to accomplish the conquest of northern India, and effected his purpose. It is reasonable to believe, although strict proof is lacking, that the Saka era of a. d. 78 dates from the beginning of his reign, either from his actual accession or from his formal enthronement a little later. That hypothesis seems now to present less difficulties than any other. The evidence for the extent of the Indian conquests oiF Kadphises II is meagre and rests largely on the distribution of his extremely numerous coins, 1 Between A. D. 25 and 81, but nearer to the earlier year, according to Franke, pp. 72, 73. Coin of Kadphises II. KUSHAN DYNASTY 129 The abundance of his coinage certainly implies a long reign. He seems to have secured the supremacy in the Gangetic valley at least as far down as Benares, and also of the Indus basin. It may be that his power extended southwards as far as the Narbada. The Saka satraps in Malwa, and western India appear to have owned him as their overlord. Collision with China. The course of his conquests brought him into collision with the Chinese, who had first entered into relations with western Asia in the reign of the Emperor Wu-ti (140 to 86 b. c ), when an embassy under Chang-kien was dispatched from the Middle Kingdom to the powers on the Oxus. Chang-kien returned home about 120 b. c, the exact date being stated variously by different authorities. For some reason or other Chinese inter course with the western regions ceased in a. d. 8 ; and when the first Han dynasty came to an end in a. d. 23, Chinese influence in those countries had been reduced to nothing. Fifty years later Chinese ambition reasserted itself, and General Pan-chao, in the time from a. d. 73 to 102, advanced victoriously through Khotan and the other districts now called Chinese Turki- stan and across Persia, until he carried his country's flag right into Parthia and to the shores of the Caspian Sea. The advance through Khotan opened up the road to the south of the Taklamakan (Gobi) desert. The route to the north of that desert was cleared in a. d. 94 by the reduction of Kucha and Kara- shahr. Chinese victory. The progress of Chinese arms alarmed the Kushan monarch,namely Kadphises II, according to the chronology adopted in this chapter. In a. d. 90 he boldly asserted his equality with the Son of Heaven by demanding in marriage the hand of a Chinese princess. The proposal being resented as an insult, General Pan-chao arrested the Kushan envoy and sent him home. Kadphises II then prepared a formidable force of 70,000 cavalry under the command of his viceroy Si, which was dispatched across the Tsung-ling range or Taghdumbash Pamir. The appalling difficulties of the route, involving the crossing of the Tashkurghan Pass, 14,000 feet high, so shattered the Kushan host that when it emerged in the plain of either Kashgar or Yarkand it was easily defeated. Kadphises II was compelled to pay tribute to China, and the Chinese annals note that in the reign of the Emperor Ho-ti (a. d. 89-105) the Indians often sent missions to China bearing presents which were regarded as tribute. Interval between Kadphises II and Kanishka. The exten sive issues of coin by Kadphises II prove, as already observed, that he enjoyed a reign of considerable length. But, inasmuch as his father, according to Chinese authority, had died at the age of eighty, it is unlikely that Kadphises II can have reigned for much more than thirty years. The close of his life and rule may be placed somewhere about a. d. 110. It is recorded that he appointed military governors to rule the Indian provinces, and it is possible that those officers controlled India for some years after his decease. 130 HINDU INDIA Coin of Kanishka. They may have issued the anonymous coins of the so-called Nameless King, who used the title of Soter Megas or Great Saviour, and certainly was closely associated with Kadphises II. Kanishka, the next king, was not a son of Kadphises II, his father's name being Vajheshka ; and there is some reason for believing that he was a member of the Little Yueh-chi section of the horde, who seem to have settled in the Khotan region, whereas his predecessor was a Great Yueh-chi from Bactria. On the whole, it seems to be probable that an appreciable space of time intervened between the death of Kadphises II, which may be dated in or about a. d. 110, and the accession of Kanishka, which may be assigned to a. d. 120 approximately. Nothing is on record to show how the sceptre was transferred from the hands of Kadphises II to those of Kanishka. Era of Kanishka. A new era running from the accession of Kanishka, or perhaps from his formal enthronement a little later, came into use in northern India, including Kabul. The regnal reckoning thus started either by Kanishka himself, or by his subjects, continued to be used by people in the reigns of his successors. Private inscrip tions certainly so dated extend from the year 3 to the year 99. Consequently, if the date of Kanishka's accession was known, the chronology of the period would exhibit few difficulties. Kanishka's dominions. Kanishka is described as having been king of Gandhara. The capital of his Indian dominions, and apparently the seat of his central government, was Purusha- pura or Peshawar, where he erected remarkable Buddhist buildings. Portions of those edifices have been disclosed by the researches of the Archaeological Department. Kanishka in his earlier years annexed the valley of Kashmir, consolidated his government in the basins of the Indus and Ganges, and warred with the Parthians. At a later date he avenged his predecessor's defeat in Chinese Turkistan. There seems to be no doubt that he succeeded in accomplishing the supremely difficult feat of conveying an effective army across the Pamirs and subduing the chiefs or petty kings in the Khotan, Yarkand, and Kashgar regions who had been tributary to China. He exacted from one of those princes hostages who were assigned residences in the Panjab and the Kabul province. Tradition affirms that Kanishka, who must have been then an old man, was smothered while on his last northern campaign by officers who had grown weary of exile beyond the passes. Kanishka spent most of his life in waging successful wars. While absent on his distant expeditions he left the government of the Indian province in the hands, first of Vasishka, apparently his elder, and then of Huvishka, apparently his younger son. Those KUSHAN DYNASTY 131 princes, while acting as their father's colleagues, were allowed to assume full regal titles. Vasishka evidently predeceased Kanishka, but Huvishka lived to ascend the imperial throne, which he occu pied for at least twelve, and perhaps for twenty, years. No coins bearing the name of Vasishka are known. The extensive and varied coinage of Huvishka may have been issued only after Kanishka's death, but it is possible that part of it was minted while Huvishka occupied the position of his father's colleague.1 The Chinese admissions that their information concerning the Western Countries was interrupted by the death in a.d. 124 of Pan-yang, the historian, who had succeeded his father Pan-chao as governor of Turkistan, and that Khotan was lost to the empire in A. d. 152 as the result of a local revolution in the course of which Governor Wang-king was killed, are in agreement with the belief that Kanishka established his suzerainty over the chiefs or petty kings of Chinese Turkistan between the years 125 and 160. The silence of Chinese annalists, as distinguished from Buddhist story-tellers, concerning Kanishka is explained by the well-known unwillingness of the historians of the Middle Kingdom to dwell on events discreditable to the imperial court. Kanishka's religion. Modern research has disclosed the exist ence of a large number of inscriptions incised in the reigns of Kanishka and his successors, which give some indications of the extent of his dominions and other particulars concerning him. But his fame rests mainly on the fact that in the latter part of his career he became an active and liberal patron of the Buddhist church. Buddhist authors, writing for purposes of edification, consequently treat him as having been a second Asoka. We do not know what reasons induced Kanishka to show favour to the Buddhist church. The explanations given in the books look like an adaptation of the stories about the conversion of Asoka. Kanishka, as his coins prove, honoured a curiously mixed assortment of Zoroastrian, Greek, and Mithraic gods, to which Indian deities were added. We find the Sun and Moon with their Greek names, Helios and Selene (spelt ' Salene '), as well as Herakles. The moon again appears as an Iranian deity, under the name of Mao. Other strangely named gods, obviously Iranian or Persian, are Athro, or Fire, Miiro, or the Sun, Nana, Oaninda, Lrooaspo, &c. The Indian Siva, who had already appeared in a two-armed form on the coins of the Parthian Gondophernes and the Great Yueh-chi, 1 The theory stated in the text, first suggested by R. D. Banerji, is the only one adequate to explain the facts. The known dates include : Kanishka — year 3 (Sarnath) ; 18 (Manikyala) ; and 41 (Ara) : Vasishka — with full titles, year 24 in words and figures (Isapur, Mathura) ; year ? 28 (Sanchi, probable) ; year 29 (Mathura, possible) : Huvishka — year 33 (Mathura) ; 51 (Wardak, W. of Kabul) ; and 60 (Mathura) : Vasudeva — 74 (Mathura) ; 80, 83, 87, 98 (same place). All the dated inscriptions were recorded by private persons ; none are official. 132 HINDU INDIA Buddha coin of Kanishka. Kadphises II, is seen on Kanishka's coins in both the two-armed and four-armed forms. Buddha (Boddo) is figured standing and clad in Greek costume ; and also seated in the Indian manner. The queer assembly of deities offers an unlimited field for specula tion. Perhaps it may be safely said that Kanishka followed the practice of his Parthian pre decessors in adoptingaloose form of Zoroastrianism which freely admitted the deities of other creeds. We knowthat Indian monarchs, as for example, Harsha of Kanauj in the seventh cen tury, often felt themselves at liberty to mix Buddhism with other cults ; and it is probable that Kanishka, even after his alleged ' conversion ', continued to honour his old gods. His successor, Huvishka, certainly did so. It is obvious that the character of Buddhism in north-western India and the neighbouring countries must have been profoundly modified by the lax practices to which the coinage of Kanishka and Huvishka bears witness. Kanishka's Council. Kanishka followed the example set by Asoka in convening a Council of theologians to settle disputed questions of Buddhist faith and practice. The decrees of the Council took the form of authorized commentaries on the canon, which were engraved on sheets of copper, enclosed in a stone coffer, and placed for safety in a stupa erected for the purpose at the capital of Kashmir where the Council met. It is just possible that the documents may be still in existence and may be disclosed by some lucky excavation. The Buddhist sect which alone sent delegates to Kanishka's Council was formally classed as belonging to the Hina-ydna, or Lesser Vehicle, the more primitive form of Buddhism. But the cult actually practised more exten sively in Kanishka's time was that usually associated with the Mahd-ydna, or Great Vehicle, as is clearly proved by the numerous sculptures of the age. Images of Buddha. The early Buddhists, whose doctrines are expressed in the stone pictures of Sanchi and Barhut (Bharhut), did not dare to form an image of their dead teacher. When they wished to indicate his presence in a scene, they merely suggested it by a symbol, an empty seat, a pair of footprints, and so forth. The Buddhists of the Kushan age had no such scruples. They loved to picture Gautama, as the Sage of the Sakyas, the Bodhi sattva, and the Buddha, in every incident of his last life as well as of his previous births. His image, in endless forms and replicas became the principal element in Buddhist sculpture. The change obviously was the result of foreign influence, chiefly Greek (or more accurately, Hellenistic), and Persian or Iranian. KUSHAN DYNASTY 133 Transformation of Buddhism. The transformation of Buddhism which was effected for the most part during the first two or three centuries of the Christian era is an event of such significance in the history of India and of the world that it deserves exposition at some length. The observations following, which were printed many years ago, still express my opinion and are, I think, in accordance with the facts. Although they are rather long, it seems worth while to reprint them without material modification. Buddhism had been introduced into the countries on the north western frontier of India as early as the reign of Asoka in the third century b.c ; and in 2 b. c. an unnamed Yueh-chi chieftain was interested in the religion of Gautama so far as to communicate Buddhist scriptures to a Chinese envoy. Buddhist sculpture of some sort must have been known in those regions for centuries before the time of Kanishka, but it was not the product of an organized school under liberal and powerful royal patronage, so that remains of such early Buddhist art are rare. Probably the ancient works were executed chiefly in wood. When the great monarch Kanishka actively espoused the cause of Buddhism and essayed to play the part of a second Asoka, the devotion of the adherents of the favoured creed received an impulse which speedily resulted in the jcopious production of artistic creations of no small merit. The religious system which found its best artistic exponents in the sculptors of Kanishka's court must have been of foreign origin to a large extent. Primitive Buddhism, as expounded in the Dialogues, so well translated by Professor Rhys Davids, was an Indian product based on the Indian ideas of rebirth, of the survival and transmission of karma, or the net result of human action, and of the blessedness of escape from the pains of being. Primitive Buddhism added to those theories, which were the common possession of nearly all schools of Indian thought, an excellent practical system of ethics inculcating a Stoic devotion to duty for its own sake, combined with a tender regard for the feelings of all living creatures, human or animal ; and so brought about a combination of intellect with emotion, deserving the name of a religion, even though it had no god. But when the conversion of Asoka made the fortune of Buddhism it sowed at the same time the seeds of decay. The missionaries of the imperial preacher and their successors carried the doctrines of Gautama from the banks of the Ganges to the snows of the Himalaya, the deserts of Central Asia, and the bazaars of Alexandria. The teaching which was exactly attuned to the inmost feelings of a congregation in Benares needed fundamental change before it could move the heart of the sturdy mountaineer, the nomad horseman, or the Hellenized Alexandrian. The moment Indian Buddhism began its foreign travels it was bound to change. We can see the transformation which was effected, although most of the steps of the evolution are hidden from us. 134 HINDU INDIA Influence of the Roman empire. Undoubtedly one of the principal agencies engaged in effecting the momentous change was the unification of the civilized world, excepting India and China, under the sway of the Caesars.1 The general peace of the Roman empire was not seriously impaired by frontier wars, palace revolutions, or the freaks of half-mad emperors. During that long-continued peace nascent Christianity met full-grown Buddhism in the academies and markets of Asia and Egypt, while both religions were exposed to the influences of surrounding paganism in many forms and of the countless works of art which gave expres sion to the ideas of polytheism. The ancient religion of Persia contributed to the ferment of human thought, excited by improved facilities for international communication and by the incessant clash of rival civilizations. Novel ideals. In such environment Buddhism was transmuted from its old Indian self into a practically new religion. The specially Indian ideas upon which it had been founded sank into com parative obscurity, while novel ideals came to the front. The quietist teacher of an order of begging friars, who had counted as a glorious victory the recognition of the truth, as he deemed it, that ' after this present life there would be no beyond ' ; and that ' on the dissolution of the body, beyond the end of his life, neither gods nor men shall see him ', was gradually replaced by a divinity ever present to the hearts of the faithful, with his ears open to their prayers, and served by a hierarchy of Bodhisattvas and other beings, acting as mediators between him and sinful men. In a word, the veneration for a dead Teacher passed into the worship of a living Saviour. That, so far as I understand the matter, is the essential difference between the old Indian Buddhism, the so-called Hma-yana, and the newer Buddhism or Maha-yana. Although the delegates to Kanishka's Council were classed officially as HInayanists, the popular cult of the time unquestionably was the expression of Mahayanist ideas, which were formulated and propagated by Nagarjuna, who was to some extent the contem porary of Kanishka. The age from a.d. 105 to 273, during which Palmyra flourished as the chief emporium for the commerce between East and West, and the Kushan kings ruled in north-western India, may be taken as marking the time when the Mahayana system was developed and the art forming its outward expression attained its highest achievement. It is hardly necessary to add that, the movements of the human mind never fit themselves into accurately demarcated chronological compartments, and that all evolutions, such as that of the newer Buddhism, have had their beginnings long before 1 I agree with Luders that in the Ara inscription Kanishka took the title of Caesar' (Kaisarasa) ; but, as it is possible to dispute the reading, it is better not to lay stress upon it. Kanishka's accumulated titles imply a claim to the sovereignty of the four quarters of the world (Sitzungsber. d. konigl. Preuss. Akad. der Wissenschaften, 1912, p. 829). KUSHAN DYNASTY 135 the process of change becomes clearly visible. The rigorous doc trine of the earliest form of Buddhism was too chilly to retain a hold upon the hearts of men unless when warmed and quickened by human emotion. The Buddhism of the people in every country always has been different from that of the Canon, although the authority of the scriptures is nowhere formally disputed. When it is said that the development of the Mahayana was mainly the result of foreign influence, I must not be understood as denying that the germs of the transformed religion may have existed in India from a very early stage in the his tory of the Buddhist church. Literature and art. In literature the memory of Ka nishka is associated with the names of the eminent Bud dhist writers Nagarjuna, As- vaghosha, and Vasumitra. Asvaghosha is described as having been a poet, musician, scholar, religious controver sialist, and zealous Buddhist monk, orthodox in creed, and a strict observer of discipline. Charaka, the most celebrated of the early Indian authors treating of medical science, is reputed to have been the court physician of Kanishka. Architecture, with its sub sidiary art of sculpture, en joyed the liberal patronage of Kanishka, who was, like Asoka, a great builder. The tower at Peshawar, built over the relics of Buddha, and chiefly constructed of timber, stood four hundred feet high. The Sir Sukh section of Taxila hides the ruins of the city built by Kanishka, as yet almost unexplored. A town in Kashmir, still represented by a village, bore the king's name ; and Mathura (Muttra) on the Jumna was adorned by numerous fine buildings and artistic sculptures during the reigns of Kanishka and his successors. A remarkable portrait statue of Kanishka, unluckily lacking the head, has been found near Mathura, with similr.r statues of other princes of his line. Those works do not betray any marks of Greek influence. The Gfandhara school. Much of the Buddhist sculpture of A KUSHAN KING, FROM MAT. 136 HINDU INDIA the time of Kanishka and his successors is executed in the style of Gandhara, the province on the frontier which included both Peshawar and Taxila. That style is often and properly called Graeco-Buddhist because the forms of Greek art were applied to Buddhist subjects, with considerable artistic success in many cases. Images of Buddha appear in the likeness of Apollo, the Yaksha Kuvera is posed in the fashion of the Phidian Zeus, and so on. The drapery follows Hellenistic models. The style was transmitted to the Far East through Chinese Turkistan, and the figures of Buddha now made in China and Japan exhibit distinct traces of the Hellenistic modes in vogue at the court of Kanishka. The explorations of Sir M. A. Stein and other archaeologists have proved that -the Khotan region in Chinese Turkistan was the meeting place of four civilizations — Greek, Indian, Iranian, and Chinese — during the early centuries of the Christian era, including the reign of Kanishka. _ The eastward advance of the Roman F*% ?"JI&i&^3 .«, .¦+££?% frontier in the days of Trajan and " Hadrian (a.d. 98-138) was favour able to the spread of Hellenistic ideas and artistic forms in India and other Asiatic countries. The Indo-Greek artists found their inspiration in the schools of Pergamon, Ephesus, and other places in Asia Minor rather than in the works of the earlier artists of Greece. In other words, the Gan dhara style is Graeco-Roman, based on the cosmopolitan art of Asia Minor and the Roman empire as practised in the first three centuries of the Christian era. Much of the best work in that style was executed during the second century a. c. in the reigns of Kanishka and Huvishka. Other sculpture. Although the Gandhara school of sculpture was the most prolific, the art of other centres in the age of Kanishka and Huvishka was not negligible in either quantity or quality. Sarnath near Benares, Mathura on the Jumna, and Amaravati on the Krishna (Kistna) river in the Guntur District, Madras, offer many examples of excellent sculpture. Each of the three localities named had a distinctive style. The best known works are the elaborate bas-reliefs from Amaravati, more or less familiar to all visitors to the British Museum from the exhibition of a series of specimens on the grand staircase of that institution. Tradition connects the buildings at Amaravati with Nagarjuna. The work there extended over many years, but most of it probably was executed in Huvishka's reign. Huvishka. Huvishka or Hushka, presumably Kanishka's son, Head of Bodhisattva. KUSHAN DYNASTY 137 who had governed the Indian provinces for many years on be half of his father, while he was engaged in distant wars, suc ceeded to the, imperial throne about a.d. 162. Little is known about the events of his reign. His coinage, which exhibits con siderable artistic merit, is even more varied than that of Ka nishka, and presents recogniza ble portraits of the king as a burly, middle-aged or elderly man with a large nose. The Yueh-chi princes had no resem blance to the 'narrow-eyed' Mongolians. They were big pink- faced men, built on a large scale, and may possibly have been re lated to the Turks. They dressed in long-skirted coats, wore soft leather boots, and sat on chairs in European fashion. Their lan guage was an Iranian form of speech ; and their religion, as we have seen, was a modified Zoroastrianism. The name of Huvishka was associated with a town in Kashmir and with a Buddhist monastery at Mathura. His coin types exhibit the strange medley of Greek, Indian, and Iranian deities seen on the coin age of Kanishka, but no distinc tively Buddhist coins have been found. So far as appears, he retained possession of the exten sive territories ruled by Kanishka. His death may be dated some where about a.d. 180 or 185. He must have been an old or elderly man, because his inscrip tions, which overlap those of his predecessor, range from the year 33 to the year 60 of Kanishka's regnal era. End of the Kushan empire. Huvishka's successor was Vasu deva I, in whose time the empire began to break up. The manner in which the Kushan power in India came to an end has not been clearly ascertained, but there is no doubt that Huvishka was the last monarch to maintain an extensive empire until his death. Such indications as exist concerning the decay of the empire are chiefly F3 BODHISATTVA. IBS HINDU INDIA derived from the study of coins, and the inferences drawn from material so scanty are necessarily dubious. But it is certain that the coinage of the successors of Vasu deva, some of whom bore the same name, became gradually Persianized, and the suggestion seems to be reasonable that the dissolution of the Kushan empire in India was connected in some way with the rise of the Sassanian power in A. d. 226, and the subsequent conquests of Ardashir Papakan, the first Sassanian king, and his successors, which are alleged to have ex tended to the Indus, but without sufficient evidence. Strong Kushan dynasties con tinued to exist in Kabul and the neigh bouring countries until the Hun invasions of the fifth century ; and some principali ties survived even until the Arab conquest of Persia in the seventh century. The name of Vasudeva proves the rapid ity with which the Kushans had been changed into Hindus. Its form suggests the worship of Vishnu as Vasudeva, but the coins bear the images of Siva and his bull, which had already appeared on the coins of Kadphises II. The history of the third century, whether religious or poli tical, is too obscure and uncertain for further discussion in these pages. Greek influence. The question as to the extent of Greek, or more accurately, Hellenistic influence upon Indian civiliza tion is of interest, and always has been warmly debated by European scholars, who naturally desire to find links connect ing the unfamiliar doings of isolated India with the familiar Greek ideas and institu tions to which Europe owes so much. It will be well, therefore, to devote a few pages to the consideration of the facts bearing on the question. The trade rela tions between the Hellenistic world and India which existed for centuries, and will be noticed presently, are not relevant in this connexion. Such relations had little effect on the ideas or institutions of either India or Europe. The business people, then, as they usually do in all ages, confined themselves to their trade affairs without GREEK INFLUENCE 139 troubling about anything else. They left no records, and, so far as appears, did not communicate much information to scholarly persons like Pliny and Strabo. If modern Europe had to depend upon Bombay and Calcutta merchants for its knowledge of India it would not know much. Effects of Alexander's campaign. Alexander's fierce campaign produced no direct effects upon either the ideas or the institutions of India. During his brief stay in the basin of the Indus he was occupied almost solely with fighting. Presumably he was remembered by the ordinary natives of the regions which MEDALLION, AMARAVATI. he harried merely as a demon-like outer barbarian who hanged Brahmans without scruple and won battles by impious methods in defiance of the scriptures. The Indians felt no desire to learn from such a person. They declined to learn from him even the art of war, in which he was a master ; preferring to go on in their own traditional way, trusting to a ' four-fold ' army and hosts of elephants. When Chandragupta Maurya swept the Macedonian garrisons out of the Panjab, that was the end of Hellenism on Indian soil for the time. The failure of the invasion by Seleukos Nikator a few years later secured India from all further Greek aggression. Maurya civilization. Then followed seventy or eighty years of peaceful, friendly intercourse between the Maurya court and the Hellenistic princes of Asia and Africa, to which we are indebted for the valuable account of the Maurya empire compiled by Megasthenes. His book does not indicate any trace of Hellenic influence upon the political or social institutions of India. On 140 HINDU INDIA Coin of Huvishka. the contrary, the close agreement of the testimony recorded by the Greek ambassador with the statements of the Sanskrit books proves clearly that the Maurya government managed its affairs after its own fashion in general accordance with Hindu tradition, borrowing something from Persia but nothing from Greece. Even the Maurya coinage continued to be purely Indian, or at any rate Asiatic, in character. Asoka did not care to imitate the beautiful Bactrian issues, or to follow Greek example by putting his image and superscription on his coins. He was content to use the primitive punch-marked, cast, or rudely struck coins which had formed the currency of India before his time. In the domain of the fine arts some indications of the operation of Greek example and good taste may be discerned. The high quality of Maurya sculpture clearly was due to the happy blending of Indian, Iranian, and Hellenic factors. It is reasonable also to connect Asoka's preference for the use of stone in building and sculpture with the opportunities which he enjoyed for studying the Hellenistic practice of work ing in permanent material. The design of Indian build ings, so far as is known, rarely owed anything to Greek prin ciples, but the excavations at Taxila suggest, or perhaps prove, that in some cases Greek models may have heen imitated in that region. Columns of the Ionic order undoubtedly were inserted in Taxilan buildings. Taxila, however, was half-foreign and only half-Indian, so that practices considered legitimate there would not have been approved in the interior provinces. Demetrios and others. Direct contact between the Hellenistic states and the Panjab was brought about early in the second century b.c, forty or fifty years after Asoka's death, by the conquests of the Bactrian sovereign Demetrios, ' King of the Indians'. The elephant's head on his coins is a record of his Indian connexions. A little later we find a king with the Greek name of Pantaleon striking coins in the square Indian shape, copied from the indigenous coinage of Taxila. About the same time Agathokles also adopted bilingual legends, first employed by Demetrios, giving his regal style in both Greek and a kind of Prakrit. The Indian tongue is inscribed in Brahmi, an old form of the script now called Nagari or Devanagari. Bilingual legends continued to be used by many kings. Coin of Vasudeva. GREEK INFLUENCE 141 Coin of Pantaieon. Coin types. Antialkidas (c. 140-130 b.c), the king of Taxila who sent Heliodoros as envoy to the Raja of Besnagar, adopted the Indian standard of weight for his coins. The idea of striking coins with two dies, obverse and reverse, one side bearing the effigy and titles of the king, was foreign to India, and was gra dually adopted by Indian princes in imitation of the issues minted by dynasties of foreign origin — Sakas, Parthians, Yueh-chi, and the rest. Indian artists, who attained brilliant success in other fields, never cared greatly about die-cutting, and conse quently never produced a really fine coin. The best Indian coins, being a few gold pieces struck by the Gupta kings before and after a.d. 400 under the influence of western models, although good, are not first-rate, and do not bear comparison with the magnificent dies of the earlier Bactrian kings, not to speak of Syracusan masterpieces. In do - Roman gold coinage. The Yueh-chi, Indo-Scythian, or Kushan kings of the first and second centuries a. c. evidently maintained active trade communications with the Roman empire, then far ex tended eastwards. Hence we find an unmistakable copy of the head of either Augustus or Tiberius on certain coins of Kadphises I, who seems to have made an alliance with Hermaios. the last Greek king of Kabul. Kadphises II carried much farther his imitation of Roman usage by striking an abundant and excellent issue of gold coins agreeing close ly with the Caesarian aurei in weight and not much inferior in fineness. Imported Roman coins have been often found in the Panjab, Kabul, and neighbouring terri tories, but the bulk of the considerable inflow into India of Roman Coin of Nero. gold, as testified to by Pliny in a. d. 77, seems, so far as the northern kingdom was con cerned, to have been melted down and reissued as orientalized aurei, first by Kadphises II, and afterwards by Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva. In peninsular India the Roman aureus circulated as currency, just as the British sovereign now passes current in Coin of Agathokles. 142 HINDU INDIA many lands. The gold indigenous currency of the south, introduced apparently at a later date, has never had any connexion with European models. Greek script and gods. Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva used for their coin legends the Khotanese language, a near relative of the Saka tongue, but engraved it in a form of Greek characters only. For some reason or other they did not use any Asiatic script. The strange mixture of deities found in the coin types of Kanishka and Huvishka and the peculiarities of the Graeco- Buddhist school of sculpture have been sufficiently discussed above. The presumed influence of Hellenistic polytheism on the development of the later Buddhism has also been examined. The evidence of all kinds shows that, while foreigners like Heliodoros were ready to adopt Indian gods, the Indians were slow to worship Greek deities. The few Greek deities named on the Kanishka and Huvishka coins belonged also to the Persian pantheon and were taken over from the Parthians. The tendency certainly was for Indo-Greek princes and people to become Hinduized, rather than for the Indian Rajas and their subjects to become Hellenized. The Brahmans were well able to take care of them selves and to keep at arm's length any foreign notions which they did not wish to assimilate. Scanty traces of Greek rule. The visible traces of the long- continued Greek rule on the north-western frontier of India are surprisingly scanty, if the coin legends be excluded from considera tion. No inscription in the Greek language or script has yet (1917) been found, and the Greek names occurring in inscriptions are few, perhaps half a dozen. Two records, one of which comes from Taxila, mention the District Officer serving under some Indo- Greek king by the designation of ' meridarch ' (ueptSip^rj'), a detail which indicates the use of Greek for official purposes to a certain extent. Greek must have been spoken at the courts of the Indo-Greek kings, but the language does not seem to have spread among any Indian nation. The exclusive use of a Greek script to express Khotanese legends on the coins of Kanishka and his successors may be due, as has been suggested, to Khotanese having been first reduced to writing in the Greek character. The Greek lettering on the coins does not imply a popular knowledge of the Greek alphabet. Only a small proportion of the Indian population has ever been able to read coin legends, whatever the language or script might be. The coins of the ruling power for the time being are accepted as currency without the slightest regard to the inscriptions on them. Summary. To sum up, it may be said that Greek or Hellen istic influence upon India was slight and superficial, much less in amount than I believed it to be when the subject first attracted me thirty years ago. If any considerable modification of the Indian religions was effected by contact with Hellenism, Buddhism alone was concerned, Jainism and Brahmanical Hinduism remain ing untouched. The remarkable local school of Graeco-Buddhist GREEK INFLUENCE 143 sculpture in the Gandhara frontier province, which was imitated to some extent in the interior, permanently determined the type of Chinese and Japanese Buddhist images. Some details of Hellen istic ornament became widely diffused throughout India. An undefinable but, I think, real element of Greek feeling may be discerned in the excellent sculpture of Asoka's age. If any buildings on a Greek plan were erected they were apparently confined to Gandhara. Indian artists never produced fine coin-dies. Any at all good were copied from or suggested by Graeco-Roman models. The Greek language never obtained wide currency in India, but must have been used to some extent at the courts of the border princes with Greek names. Many of those princes must have been of mixed blood. 'The Indo-Bactrian Greeks', it has been said, ' were the Goanese of antiquity.' The early medical knowledge as expounded by Charaka, Kanishka's physician, has been supposed to betray some acquaintance with the works of Hippocrates, but the proof does not seem to be convincing. Long after the period treated in this chapter, western influence again made itself felt in Indian art, literature, and science during the rule of the Gupta emperors. That subject will be noticed in due course. Commerce by land. Some reference has been made to the •commerce between India and the Roman empire during the rule of the Kushan kings. The overland commerce of India with western Asia dated from remote times and was conducted by several routes across Persia, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. Be tween a.d. 105 and 273 the principal depot of the trade was Palmyra or Tadmor in Syria. The Chinese silk trade followed the same roads. Commerce by sea. The sea-borne trade of the peninsula with Europe through Egypt does not seem to have been consider able before the time of Claudius, when the course of the monsoons is said to have become known to the Roman merchants. But, a certain amount of commerce with Egypt must have existed from much earlier days. In 20 b. c. we hear of a mission to Augustus from ' King Pandion ', the Pandya king of Madura in the far south. During the first and second centuries of the Christian era the trade between southern India and the Roman empire was extensive. Merchants could sail from an Arabian port to Muziris or Cranganore on the Malabar coast in forty days during July and August, and return in December or January after transacting their business. There is reason to believe that Roman subjects lived at Muziris and other towns. The trade was checked, and perhaps temporarily stopped, bv Caracalla's massacre of the people of Alexandria in a. d. 215. Payment for the Indian goods was made in aurei, of which large hoards have been found. Goods and ports. The goods most sought by the foreign visitors were pearls from the fisheries of the Tamraparni river in Tinnevelly ; beryls from several mines in Mysore and Coimbatore ; corundum from the same region ; gems of various kinds from 144 HINDU INDIA Ceylon; and pepper with other spices from the Malabar coast. The list is not exhaustive. The two principal ports on the Malabar coast were Muziris or Cranganore, and Bakarai or Vaikkarai, the haven of Kottayam, now in the Travancore State. Korkai on the Tamraparni river was the principal seat of the pearl trade. Puhar, also called Pukar or Kaverlpaddinam, then at the mouth of the Kaverl (Cauvery) river, was for some time a rich and prosper ous port. It, with the other ancient ports in that region, is now desolate, a gradual elevation of the land having changed the coast-line. The Tamil states. The Tamil states of the far south became wealthy and prosperous in virtue of their valuable foreign trade, and attained a high degree of material civilization at an early period. Megasthenes heard of the power of the Pandya kingdom, and the names of the states are mentioned in Asoka's edicts. Boundaries varied much from age to age, but three principal powers, the Pandya, Chera or Kerala, and Chola, were always recognized. Asoka named a fourth minor kingdom, the Kerala- putra, absorbed subsequently in the Pandya realm, which was reputed the most ancient of the states, and may be described roughly as embracing the Madura and Tinnevelly Districts. The Kerala or Chera kingdom included the Malabar District with the modern Cochin and Travancore States, and sometimes extended eastwards. The Chola kingdom occupied the Coromandel or Madras coast. Cotton cloth formed an important item in the commerce of the Cholas, who maintained an active fleet, which was noj afraid to sail as far as the mouths of the Irawaddy and Ganges, or even to the islands of the Malay Archipelago. Tamil literature. During the early centuries of the Christian eia Tamil was the language of all the kingdoms named, ^Malayalam not having then come into being. A rich literature grew up, of which the golden age may be assigned to the first three centuries A. c. Madura may be called the literary capital. The period indicated produced three works of special merit, the 'Rural' (Cural), the ' Epic of the Anklet ', and the ' Jewel-belt '. The ' Kural ' is described as being ' the most venerated and popular book south of the Godavarl . . . the literary treasure, the poetic mouthpiece, the highest type of verbal and moral excellence among the Tamil people '. The author taught ethical doctrine of singular purity and beauty, which cannot, so far as I know, be equalled in the Sanskrit literature of the north. A few stanzas from Gover's excellent versions may be quoted : LOVE Loveless natures, cold and hard, Live for self alone. Hearts where love abides regard Self as scarce their own. . . . TAMIL STATES 145 Where the body hath a soul, Love hath gone before. Where no love inlils the whole, Dust it is — no more. PATIENCE How good are they who bear with scorn And think not to return it ! They're like the earth that giveth corn To those who dig and burn it. . . . Though men should injure yon, their pain Should lead thee to compassion. Do nought but good to them again, Else look to thy transgression. Dynastic history. No continuous narrative of political events in the Tamil kingdoms can be constructed for the period dealt with in this chapter, or, indeed, until centuries later. But the literature gives a few glimpses of dynastic history. Karikkal or Karikala, the earliest known Chola king, whose mean date may be taken as a.d. 100, contemporary with Kadphises II, is credited with the foundation of Puhar or Pukar, and with the construction of a hundred miles of embankment along the Kaveri river (Cauvery ), built by the labour of captives from Ceylon. Almost continual war with the island princes is a leading feature in the story of the Tamil kingdoms for many centuries. It need hardly be added that the kings fought among themselves still more continuously. The first historical Pandya king was contemporary more or less exactly with Karikala Chola's grandson, with a certain powerful Chera monarch, and with Gajabahu, king of Ceylon, who reigned in the last quarter of the second century, and gives the clue to the chronology. After that time no more dynastic history is possible until the Pallavas make their appearance in the fourth century. SYNCHRONISTIC TABLE OF THE FOREIGN DYNASTIES AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES (All Indian dates of events are merely approximate) b. c. c. 250-248. Revolts of Bactria and Parthia. c. 232. Death of Asoka. c. 208. Recognition of Bactrian independence. c 200-190. Demetrios, 'King of the Indians' c. 190-180. Pantaleon and Agathokles, kings of Taxila. c 174-160. Western migration of the Great Yueh-chi from China. c. 180-160. Menander (Milinda), king of Kabul. c. 140-130. Antialkidas, king of Taxila ; Heliokles, last Greek king of Bactria ; invasions of Sakas, &c. c. 138. Conquest of kingdom of Taxila by Mithridates I, king of Parthia. 146 HINDU INDIA B. C c. 122-120. c. 95. C. 58.30. A. D. 14. c. 20-48. 23. c. 40. 41. c. 48. c. 77 or 78.78. 89-105. c. 90.98. 105. c. 110. c. 110-20. 116. 117. c. 120. c. 123. c. 138. c. 144-50. c 150-62. c. 161. c. 162. c. 182.193 c. 194-218. v. 220.226.240. 273. Return of Chang-K'ien to China. Maues, Saka or Indo-Parthian king of Arachosia and Panjab, ace. Azes I ace. in same regions ; 58-57, epoch of Vikrama era. Roman conquest of Egypt. Augustus Caesar died ; Tiberius, Roman emperor, ace. Gondophernes (Gondophares, &c.) ; king of Taxila, &c. ; probably succeeded Azes II. End of First Han dynasty of China. Kadphises I (Kujula Kara Kadphises, &c), Kushan, became king of all the Great Yueh-chi. Claudius, Roman emperor, ace. Kadphises I succeeded Gondophernes at Taxila. Death of Kadphises I. ? Kadphises II ace. ; epoch of the Saka era. Ho-ti, Chinese emperor. Defeat of Kadphises II by Pan-chao, Chinese general. Trajan, Roman emperor, ace. Rise of Palmyra to importance. Death of Kadphises II. ? The ' Nameless King ' in N.W. India. Conquest of Mesopotamia by Trajan. Hadrian, Roman emperor, ace. ; retrocession of Mesopotamia. Kanishka Kushan (? Little Yueh-chi) ace. ; year 1 of his regnal era. Sarnath inscription of Kanishka (year 3). Manikyala inscription of Kanishka (year 18) ; Antoninus Pius, Roman emperor, ace. Vasishka, (?) son and viceregal colleague of Kanishka in India (year 24 to (?)30). Huvishka, (?) son and viceregal colleague of Kanishka in India (years 30-42). Ara inscription of Kanishka (year 41) ; Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, ace. Huvishka succeeded Kanishka as Kushan emperor. Vasudeva I ace. Septimius Severus, Roman emperor, ace. Inscriptions of Vasudeva I (years 74-98). Death of Vasudeva I. Establishment of Sassanian dynasty of Persia by Ardashir or Artaxerxes I. Shapur (Sapor) I ace. in Persia. Destruction of Palmyra by Aurelian. Authorities References in addition to those in E. II. I.3 (1914) might be given to numerous papers in the ./. R. A. S. and other periodicals, which it would be tedious to specify. Special attention may be directed to Sir John Marshall's articles on Taxila in J. P. H. S., vol. iii, and Ann. Rep. A. S., India, for 1912-13. The exploration of the site will continue for years. Another notable contribution is Professor Sten Konow's paper AUTHORITIES 147 ' Indoskythische Beitrage ' in Sitzungsber. d. kunigl. Preuss. Akad. der Wissen- schaften, 1916, a copy of which I was fortunate enough to receive through an official channel. The Besnagar pillar is discussed in Ann. Rep. A. S., India, for 1908-9, in Progr. Rep. A. S., Western Circle, for 1914-15, and Ann. Rep. A. S., India, for 1913-14. Buddhist China, a good book by R. F. Johnston (Murray, 1913), contains valuable observations on the development of Mahayana doctrines in India at an early date from Hinayana discussions and disputes. Professor Poussin discourse's ' exhaustively on Bodhisattvas in Hastings, Encycl. Rel. and Ethics, s.ti. CHAPTER 4 . The Gupta period ; a golden age ; literature, art, and science ; Hindu renaissance ; the Huns ; King Harsha ; the Chalukyas ; disorder in northern India. Definite chronology from a.d. 320. The transition from the unsettled and hotly disputed history of the foreign dynasties to the comparatively serene atmosphere of the Gupta period is no less agreeable to the historian than the similar passage from the uncertainties of the Nandas to the ascertained verities of the Mauryas. In both cases the experience is like that of a man in an open boat suddenly gliding from the misery of a choppy sea out side into the calm water of a harbour. The chronology of the Gupta period, taking that period in a wide sense as extending from a. d. 320, or in round numbers from A. d. 300, to a. d. 647. or the middle of the seventh century, is not only certain in all its main outlines, but also precise in detail to a large extent, except for the latter half of the sixth century. It is possible, therefore, to construct a continuous narrative of the history of northern and western India for the greater part of three centuries and a half, without the embarrassment which clogs all attempts at narrative when the necessary chronological framework is insecure. Rise of the Gupta dynasty. The exact course of events which brought about the collapse of the Indo-Scythian or Kushan empire in India at some time in the third century is not known. The disturbed state of the country seems to be the explanation of the lack of contemporary inscriptions or other memorials of the time, and of the hopeless confusion of tradition as recorded in books. Many independent states must have been formed when the control of a paramount authority was withdrawn. The Lichchhavis of Vaisali, last heard of in the days of Buddha, now emerge again after eight hundred years of silence. It would seem that the clan or nation must haveobtained possession of Pataliputra, the ancient imperial capital, and have ruled there as tributaries or feudatories of the Kushans, whose head-quarters were at Peshawar. Early in the : fourth century a Lichchhavi princess gave her hand to a Raja, in Magadha who bore the historic name of Chandragupta. The 148 HINDU INDIA Coin of Chandragupta 1. matrimonial alliance with the Lichchhavis so enhanced his power that he was able to extend his dominion over Oudh as well as Magadha, and along the Ganges as far as Prayag or Allahabad. Chandragupta recognized his dependence on his wife's people by striking his gold coins in the joint names of himself, his queen (Kumara Devi), and the Lichchhavi nation.1 He felt himself sufficiently important to be jus tified in establishing a new era, the Gupta, of which the year 1 ran from February 26, 320, pre sumably the date of his enthrone ment or coronation, to March 13, 321 . The era continued in use in parts of India for several centuries. The reign of Chandragupta I was short, and may be assumed to have ended about a. d. 330. His son and successor was always careful to describe himself as being ' the son of the daughter of the Lichchhavi ', a formula implying the acknowledgement that his royal authority was derived from his mother. Samudragupta. Samudragupta, the second Gupta monarch,2 who reigned for forty or fifty years, was one of the most remarkable and accomplished kings recorded in Indian history. He undertook and succeeded in accomplishing the formidable task of making himself the paramount power in India. He spent some years first in thoroughly subduing such princes in the Gangetic plain as declined to acknowledge his au thority. He then brought the wild forest tribes under control, and finally executed a military progress through the Deccan, ad vancing so far into the peninsula that he came into conflict with the Pallava ruler of Kanchi (Conjeeveram) near Madras. He then turned westward and came home through Khandesh, no doubt using the road which passed Asirgarh. That wonderful expedition must have lasted at least two or three years. Samudragupta did not attempt to retain permanently his conquests to the south of the Narbada, being content to receive homage from the vanquished princes and to bring back to his capital a vast golden treasure. He celebrated the asvamedha or horse sacrifice, which had been long 1 That seems to me the natural interpretation of the coin legends. Mr. Allan, of the British Museum, regards the coins as having been struck by Samudragupta in honour of his parents, a view which I cannot accept. 2 Kacha (Kacha), who struck a few gold coins, may have intervened for a few months, if he was distinct from Samudragupta ; but the best opinion is that they were identical. Coin of Samudragupta. Horse-sacrifice type. GUPTA PERIOD 149 in abeyance, in order to mark the successful assertion of his claim to imperial rank, and struck interesting gold medals in com memoration of the event. Samudragupta's empire. At the close of Samudragupta's triumphal career his empire — the greatest in India since the days of Asoka — extended on the north to the base of the mountains, but did not include Kashmir. The eastern limit probably was the Brahmaputra. The Narbada may be regarded as the frontier on the south. The Jumna and Chambal rivers marked the western limit of the territories directly under the imperial government, but various tribal states in the Panjab and Malwa,, occupied by the Yaudheyas, Malavas, and other nations, enjoyed autonomy under the protection of the paramount power. Tribute was paid and homage rendered by the rulers of five) frontier kingdoms, namely Samatata, or the delta of the Brahma putra ; Davaka, perhaps Eastern Bengal ; Kamarupa, roughly equivalent to Assam ; Kartripura, probably represented by Kumaon and Garhwal ; and Nepal. Relations -with foreign powers. Samudragupta further claims that he received respectful service from the foreign Kushan princes of the north-west, whom he grouped together as ' Saka chiefs ', and even from the Sinhalese.1 It is clear, therefore, that his name was known and honoured over the whole of India proper, j He did not attempt to carry his arms across the Sutlaj or to dispute the authority of the Kushan kings who continued to rule in and beyond the Indus basin. The fact of the existence of friendly relations with Ceylon about a. d. 360 is confirmed by a Chinese historian who relates that King Meghavarman of Ceylon (c. 352-79) sent an embassy with gifts to Samudragupta and obtained his permission to erect a splendid monastery to the north of the holy tree at Bodh Gaya, for the use of pilgrims from the island. The extensive mound which marks the site of the building has not yet been excavated. Personal gifts. Samudragupta was a man of exceptional personal capacity and unusually varied gifts. His skill in music and song is commemorated by certain rare gold coins or medals which depict the king seated on a couch playing the Indian lute (vina). He was equally proficient in the allied art of poetry, and 1 The great inscription, which records in line 23 the rendering of ' acts of respectful service ' by ' Daivaputra-Shahi-Shahanushahi-Saka-murun- das, Sinhalese, and others ', must be interpreted in the light of modern research as meaning that the civilities were tendered by Meghavarman, king of Ceylon, and by sundry Kushan princes of the north-west, described collectively as ' Saka-murundas ', or ' Saka chiefs ', who used the styles of Daivaputra ( = Chinese 'Son of Heaven'), Shahi, or 'king'; and Shahanushahi or ' King of Kings '. Shdhanu is a genitive plural. See Konow's paper as cited in chap. 3. The Puranas treat the Murundas as distinct from the Sakas, but originally the word meant simply ' chief ' = Chinese wang. In practice the name Murunda was employed to denote a section of the Sakas. GUPTA PERIOD 151 is said to have composed numerous works worthy of the reputation of a professional author. He took much delight in the society of the learned, whose services he engaged in the defence of the sacred scriptures. Although himself a Brahmanical Hindu with a special devotion to Vishnu, like the other members of his house, that fact did not prevent him from showing favour in his youth to Vasubandhu, the cele brated Buddhist author. The exact date of Samudra gupta's death is not known ; but he certainly lived to an ad vanced age, and when he passed away had enjoyed a reign of apparently uninterrupted pros perity for nearly half a century. Chandragupta II. About A. D. 375 he was succeeded by a son specially selected as the most worthy of the crown, who assumed his grandfather's name and is therefore known to history as Chandragupta II. Later in life he took the additional title of Vikramaditya (' Sun of power '), which was associated by tradition with the Raja of Ujjain who is believed to have defeated the Sakas and established the Vikrama era in 58-57 B.C. It is possible that such a Raja may really have existed, although the tradi- JLM\ ^ .'02\ " Coin of Samudragupta. Lyrist type. Coin of Chandragupta II. tion has not yet been veri fied by the discovery of in scriptions, coins, or monu ments. The popular legends concerning ' Raja, Bikram ' probably have been coloured by indistinct memories of ChandraguptaII,whoseprin- cipal military achievement was the conquest of Malwa,- Gujarat, and Surashtra or Kathiawar, countries which had been ruled for several centuries by foreign Saka chiefs. Those chiefs, who had been tributary to the Kushans, called themselves Satraps or Great Satraps. The conquest was effected between the years a.d. 388 and 401. 395 may be taken as the mean date of the operations, which must have lasted for several years. The advance of the imperial arms involved the subjugation of the Malavas and certain other tribes which had remained outside the frontier of Samudragupta, although enjoying his protection. Rudrasimha, the last of the Satraps, was killed. A scandalous tradition, recorded by an author of the seventh century, affirmed that the king of the Sakas, ' while courting another man's wife, was butchered by Chandragupta, concealed in his mistress's dress'. The reader is at liberty to believe or disbelieve the tale as he pleases. 152 HINDU INDIA Trade with -west ; Ujjain. The annexatignj3f_theJ3atraps' territories added provinces of exceptional wealth~andTertility to the northern empire, which had become an extremely rich and powerful state at the beginning of the fifth century. The income from the customs duties collected at the numerous ports on the western coast which were now brought under Gupta rule must have been a valuable financial resource. From time immemorial Bharoch (Broach), Sopara, Cambay, and a multitude of other ports had carried on an active sea-borne trade with the countries of the west. Ujjain appears to have been the inland centre upon which most of the trade routes converged. The city, dating from immemorial antiquity, which still retains its ancient name un changed and exists as a prosperous town in Sindia's Dominions, has been always reckoned as one of the seven sacred Hindu cities, little inferior to Benares in sanctity. Longitudes were reckoned from its meridian inancienttimes. The favourable position of the city for trade evidently was the foundation both Coin of Ujjain. of its material prosperity and of the sanctity attaching to a site which enjoyed the favour of successive ruling powers by whom religious establish ments of all kinds were founded from time to time. The Great Satraps of Maharashtra. Two distinct dynasties of foreign Saka princes using the style of Great Satrap ruled in western India, and should not be confounded by being lumped together under a single designation as the ' Western Satraps '. The earlier dynasty ruled in Maharashtra or the region of the western Ghats, its capital apparently being at or near Nasik. The date of its establishment is not known, and so far the names of only two princes, Bhumaka and Nahapana, have been recovered, but others may haye existed. About a. d. 117, during the assumed interval between the death of Kadphises II and the accession of Kanishka, an Andhra king called Gautamlputra extirpated the line of Nahapana and annexed the dominions of the dynasty, restriking their coins. The Great Satraps of Ujjain. At nearly the same time, or probably a few years earlier, a chieftain named Chashtana became Great Satrap of Malwa, with his capital at Ujjain. He must have been a subordinate of Kadphises II. His reign was not long, and his son did not come to the throne. Possibly both father and son may have been killed in battle, for the times were troubled. Chashtana s grandson, named Rudradaman, in or about a.d. 128, and certainly before a. d. 130, won afresh for himself the position of (jrreat Satrap, presumably under the suzerainty of Kanishka, and ?i!CTe,uhetrUIer of western India, including the provinces which the Andhra had wrested from the Satrap of Maharashtra a few years previously Chashtana's successors must have continued to be tribu taries of Huvishka. When the Kushan empire broke up, the rulers ot the west, who continued to style themselves Great Satraps, be- GUPTA PERIOD 153 came independent, and preserved their authority until the twenty- first Greaf^Satrap was killed by Chandragupta II at the close of the fourth century, when his country was incorporated in the Gupta empire, as already mentioned. The names and dates of the Great, Satraps of Ujjain have been well ascertained, chiefly from coins, but little is known about the details of their history.1 Character of Chandragupta II. The principal^ Gupta kings, except the founder of the dynasty, all enjoyed long reigns, like Akbar and his successors in a later age. Chandragupta Vikrama- ditya occupied the throne for nearly forty years until a. d. 413. The ascertained facts of his career prove that he was a strong and vigorous ruler, well qualified to govern and augment an extensive empire. He loved sounding titles which proclaimed his martial prowess, and was fond of depicting himself on his coins as engaged in the sporty of kings, personal combat with a lion. Lions were numerous in the northern parts of the United Provinces as late as the time of Bishop Heber in 1824, but are now found only in Kathiawar. The last specimen recorded in northern India was killed in the Gwalior State in 1872. Fa-hien, Chinese pilgrim. The indispensable chronological skeleton of Gupta history constructed from the testimony of numerous dated inscriptions and coins is clothed with flesh chiefly by the help of foreign travellers, the pilgrims from China who crowded into India as the Holy Land of Buddhism from the begin ning of the fifth century. Fa-hien or Fa-hsien, the earliest of those pilgrims, was on his travels from a. d. 399 to 414. His laborious journey was undertaken in order to procure authentic -texts of th£—Zinaya-pitaka, or Buddhist Jbooks_on_monastic_disGipline. The daring traveller after leaving western China followed the route to the south of the Taklamakan (Gobi) Desert, through Sha-chow and Lop-nor to Khotan, where the population was wholly Buddhist, and chiefly devoted to the Mahayana doctrine.2 He then crossed the Pamirs with infinite difficulty and made his way into Udyana or Suwat (Swat), and so on to Taxila and Purushapura or Peshawar. He spent three years at Pataliputra and two at Tamralipti, now represented by Tamliik in the Midnapore District of Bengal. In those days Tamralipti was an important port. Its modern successor is a small town at least sixty miles distant from the sea. Fa-hien sailed from Tamralipti on his return journey, going home by sea, and visiting Ceylon and Java on the way. His stay in India proper, extending from a. d. 401 to 410, thus fell wholly within the limits of the reign of Chandragupta II. About six years were spent in the dominions of that monarch. The enthusiastic pilgrim was so absorbed in the religious task to which his life was devoted that he never even mentions the 1 Much difference of opinion has been expressed concerning the date of Nahapana, and the question has not been settled. 3 The details of the pilgrim's route from Lop-nor to Khotan have not been worked out properly by any of the translators and are obscure ; but he certainly passed Lop-nor. 154 HINDU INDIA name of any 'reigning sovereign. His references to the facts of ordinary life are made in a casual, accidental fashion, which guarantees the trustworthiness of his observations. Although we moderns should be better pleased if the pious traveller had paid more attention to worldly affairs, we may be thankful for his brief notes, which give a pleasing and fairly vivid picture of the condition of the Gangetic provinces in the reign of Chandragupta II. He calls the Gangetic plain Mid-India or the Middle Kingdom, which may be taken as equivalent roughly tothe modern Bihar, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Malwa, and part of Rajputana. The whole of Mid-India was under the rule of the Gupta emperor. State of the country. The towns of Magadha or South Bihar were large ; the people were rich and prosperous ; charitable institutions were numerous ; rest-houses for travellers were pro vided on the highways, and the capital possessed an excellent free hospital endowed by benevolent and educated citizens. Pataliputra was still a flourishing city, specially interesting to Fa-hien because it possessed two monasteries — one of the Little, and one of the Great Vehicle, where six or seven hundred monks resided, who were so famous for their learning that students from all quarters attended their lectures. Fa-hien spent three happy years at the ancient imperial capital in the study of the Sanskrit language and Buddhist scriptures. He was deeply impressed by the palace and halls erected by Asoka in the middle of the city, and still standing in the time of the pilgrim. The massive stone work, richly adorned with sculpture and decorative carving, seemed to him to be the work of spirits, beyond the capacity of merely human craftsmen. The site of that palace, somewhere in the heart of the modern city, has not yet been fully identified. Pataliputra probably continued to be the principal royal resi dence in the reign of Samudragupta, but there are indications that in the time of his successor Ajodhya was found to be more convenient as the head-quarters of the government. In the course of a journey of some 500 miles from the Indus to Mathura on the Jumna the traveller passed a succession of Buddhist monasteries tenanted by thousands of monks. Mathura alone had twenty such institutions with three thousand residents. Fa-hien noted that Buddhism was particularly flourishing along the course of the Jumna. Administration. He liked the climate and was pleased with the mildness of the administration. He notes that people were free to come or go as they thought fit without the necessity of being registered or obtaining passes ; that offences were ordinarily punished by fine only ; the capital penalty not being inflicted, and mutilation being confined to the case of obstinate rebellion, meaning probably professional brigandage. Persons guilty of that crime were liable to suffer amputation of the right hand. The revenue was derived mainly from the rent of the crown lands, 'land revenue ' in modern language. The royal guards and officers were paid regular salaries. GUPTA PERIOD 155 Habits of the people. The Buddhist rule of life was generally observed. ' Throughout the country ', we are told, " no one kills any living thing, or drinks wine, or eats onions or garlic . . . they do not keep pigs or fowls ; ', there are no dealings in cattle, no butchers' shops or distilleries in their I market-places.' The Chandalas or outcastes, who did not observe the rules of purity, were obliged to live apart, and were required when entering a town or bazaar to strike a piece of wood as a warning of their approach, in order that other folk might not be polluted by contact with them. Those observations prove that a great change had occurred in the manners of the people and the attitude of the government since the time of the Mauryas. The people of Taxila had had no scruple in supplying Alexander with herds of fat beasts fit for the butcher ; even Asoka did not definitely forbid the slaughter of kine ; while the Arthasdstra not only treated the liquor trade as a legitimate source of revenue, but directed that public-houses should be made'attractive to customers. Fa-hien's statements may be, and probably are, expressed in terms too comprehensive, and without the necessary qualifications. Sacrifice, for instance, must have been practised by many Brahmanical Hindus. It is hardly credible that in a. d. 400, ' throughout the whole country ', nobody except the lowest outcastes would kill any living thing, drink strong liquor, or eat onions or garlic.1 But Fa-hien's testi mony may be accepted as proving that the ahimsd sentiment was extraordinarily strong in ' Mid-India ' when he resided there. Evidently it was far more generally accepted than it is at the present day, when Buddhism has been long extinct. The pilgrim's statements, no doubt, apply primarily to the Buddhists, who seem to have been then the majpjrity. The traveller's account of the precautions enforced on Chandala outcastes in order to protect caste people from defilement may be illustrated by modern descrip tions of the customs prevalent either now or not long ago in the extreme south of the peninsula ; but it is not applicable to northern India in recent times ; nor, so far as I know, can similar evidence for that region be quoted from any other author for any age. That remark does not imply disbelief of Fa-hien's positive statement on the subject. It merely means that the extreme rigour of caste rules directed against the possibility of personal pollution as described by the pilgrim has ceased to be observed in northern India for many centuries. Good government. Fa-hien's incidental observations taken as a whole indicate that the Gupta empire at the beginning of the fifth century was well governed. The government let the people 1 The assertion in the same chap, xvi that ' in buying and selling they use cowries ' must not be pressed to mean that coins were unknown. Chandragupta II coined freely in gold, and more sparingly in silver and copper. 156 HINDU INDIA live their own lives without needless interference ; was temperate in the repression of crime, and tolerant in matters of religion. The foreign pilgrim was able to pursue his studies in peacevrherever he chose to reside, and could travel all over India without molesta tion. He makes no mention of any adventures with robbers, and when he ultimately returned home he carried to his native land his collections of manuscripts, images, and paintings. Many other Chinese pilgrims followed his example, the most illustrious being Hiuen Tsang or Yuan Chwang in the seventh century. Kumaragupta I. In a.d. 413 Chandragupta II was succeeded by a son named Kumaragupta who ^P?<-9f> .^jitS?^ ruled the empire for more than forty *&- /f^fc^iifc years> Details of the events of his u% a-*$»^ reign are not on record, but it is prob- | able that he added to his inherited dominions, because he is known to have celebrated the horse-sacrifice, which he would not have ventured to Coin of Kumaragupta I. do unless he had gained ^military successes. Skandagupta, the last great Gupta. He died early in a.d. 455, when the sceptre passed into the hands of his son Skandagupta. In the latter part of Kumaragupta's reign the empire had been attacked by a tribe or nation called Pushyamitra, perhaps Iranians, who were repulsed. Soon after the accession of Skandagupta a horde of Hunas, or Huns, fierce nomads from Central Asia, made a more formidable inroad, which, too, was successfully repelled. But fresh waves of invaders arrived and shattered the fabric of the Gupta empire. The dynasty was not destroyed. It continued to rule diminished dominions with reduced power for several generations. Skandagupta, however, was the last of the great imperial Guptas, as Aurangzeb Alamglr was the last of the Great Moguls. The Gupta golden age. Before we deal more closely with the Hun invasions and their consequences we shall offer a summary review of the golden age of the Guptas, which may be reckoned as extending from a.d. 320 to 480, comprising the reigns of Chandra gupta I ; Samudragupta ; Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya ; Ku maragupta I ; and Skandagupta, who followed his grandfather's example in taking the title Vikramaditya. A learned European scholar declares that ' the Gupta period is in the annals of classical India almost what the Periclean age is in the history of Greece '. An Indian author regards the time~aa that of 'the Hindu Renaissance '. Both phrases are justified. The age of the great Gupta kings presents a more agreeable and satisfactory picture than any other period in the history of Hindu India. Fa-hien's testimony above quoted proves that the govern ment was free from cruelty and was not debased by the horrible system of espionage advocated by Kautilva and actually practised by the Mauryas. Literature, art, and science flourished in a degree A GOLDEN AGE 157 beyond the ordinary, and gradual changes in religion were effected without perse cution. Those propositions will now be developed in some detail. Hindu renaissance. The energetic and long continued zeal of Asoka probably suc ceeded in making Buddhism the religion of the majority of the people in northern India, during the latter part of his reign. But neither Brahmanical Hinduism or Jainism ever died out. The relative prevalence of each of the three religions varied im mensely from time to time and from province to province. The Buddhist convictions of the Kushan kings,- Kanishka and Huvishka, do not seem to have been deep. In fact^ the personal faith of those monarchs apparently was a corrupt Zoroastrianism or Magism more than anything else. Their predecessor, Kad phises II, placed the image of Siva and his bull on his coins, a practice renewed by Hu- vishka's successor, Vasu deva I. The Satraps of Ujjain, although tolerant of Bud dhism, were themselves Brah manical Hindus. The Gupta kings, while showing as a family preference for devotion to the Deity under the name of Vishnu or Bhagavata, al lowed Buddhists and Jains perfect freedom of worship and full liberty to endow their sacred places. Although we moderns can discern from our distant point of view that the' Hindu renaissance or reaction had begun the conquest of Buddhism in the fifth century, LAURIYA-NANDANGARH PILLAR. 158 HINDU INDIA or even from an earlier date, Fa-hien was not conscious of the movement. India was simply the Buddhist Holy Land in his eyes, and the country in which the precepts of his religion were best observed. Sanskrit. The growing power of the Brahmans, as compared with the gradually ' waning influence of the Jain and Buddhist churches, was closely associated with the increased use of Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Brahmans. Asoka never used Sanskrit officially. All his proclamations were composed and published in easily intelligible varieties of the vernacular tongue, and so were accessible to anybody who knew how to read. The Andhra kings too used Prakrit. The earliest known inscriptions written in grammatical standard Sanskrit date from the time of Kanishka, MONKEYS, AJANTA. when we find a short record at Mathura dated in the year 24 ( = about a.d. 144), and a long literary composition at Girnar in Surashtra, recorded about a.d. 152, which recites the conquests of the Great Satrap Rudradaman. Literature ; Kalidasa. The increasing use of Sanskrit is further marked by the legends of the Gupta coins, which are in that language, and by the development of Sanskrit literature of the highest quality. Critics are agreed that Kalidasa surpasses all rivals writing in Sanskrit whether as dramatist or as poet. Something like general assent has been won to the proposition that the literary work of the most renowned of Indian poets was accomplished in the fifth century under the patronage ^of the Gupta kings. Good reason has been shown for believing that Kalidasa was a native of Mandasor in Malwa (now in Sindia's dominions), or of some place in the immediate neighbourhood of that once famous town. He was thus brought up in close touch LITERATURE 159 with the court of Ujjain, and the active commercial and intellectual life which centred in that capital of western India. His early descriptive poems, the Ritusamhdra and the Meghaduta, may be assigned to the reign of Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya, the conqueror of Ujjain, and hir dramas to that of Kumaragupta I (a.d. 41 3-55 ) ; but it is probab'e that his true dates may be slightly later. Sakuntald, the most famous of his plays, secured enthusiastic admiration from European critics the moment it was brought to their notice, and the poet's pre-eminence has never been questioned _in either East or. West.1 WOMAN AND CHILD, AJANTA. Other literature. Good authorities are now disposed to assign the political drama entitled the ' Signet of the Minister ' (Mudra Rdkshasa) to the reign of Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya ; and the interesting play called ' The Little Clay Cart ' (Mrichchhaka- tikd) may be a little earlier. The Vdyu Purdna, one of the most ancient of the existing Puranas, may be assigned to the first half of the fourth century in its present form. All the Puranas contain matter of various ages, some parts being extremely ancient ; any date assigned to such a composition refers only to the final literary form of the work. 1 For Kalidasa's birthplace see M. M. Haraparshad Shastri in J. B. & O. R. Soc, vol. i, pp. 197-212. I accept the continuous tradition that the Ritusamhdra is an early work of Kalidasa. 160 HINDU INDIA COLUMN, GUPTA PERIOD. The eminent Buddhist author, Vasubandhu, lived in the reigns of Chandragupta 1 and Samudra gupta, dying in the third quarter of the fourtn century. Samudra gupta, while prince and passing under the name of Chandrapra- kasa, was intimate with Vasu bandhu, who attended hisfather's court. Science. The sciences of ma thematics and astronomy, in cluding astrology, were cultivated with much- success during the Gupta period. The most famous writers on those subjects are Aryabhata, born in a.d. 476, who taught the system studied at Pataliputra, and including Greek elements ; Varahamihira (a.d. 505-87), who was deeply learned in Greek science and used many Greek technical terms ; and, at the close of the period, Brahma- gupta, who was born in a.d. 598, Fine arts. The skill of Samu dragupta in nnisic has been re corded. We may be assured that the professors of that art, as the recipients of liberal royal patron age, were numerous and prosper ous. The three closely allied arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting attained an extraordi narily high point of achievement. The accident that the Gupta empire consisted for the most part of the provinces permanently occupied at an early date by the Muhammadans, who systemati cally destroyed Hindu buildings for several centuries, obscures the history of Gupta architecture. No large building of the period has survived, and the smaller edifices which escaped destruction are hidden in remote localities away from the track of the Muslim armies, chiefly in Central India SCIENCE AND ART 161 and the Central Provinces. They closely resemble rock-cut temples. The most important and interesting ^extant stone temple of Gupta age is one of moderate dimensions at Deogarh in the Lalitpur subdivision of the Jhansi District, U.P., which may be assigned to the first half of the sixth, or perhaps to the fifth, century. The panels of the walls contain some of the finest specimens of Indian sculpture. The larger brick temple at Bhitargaon in the Cawnpore District, U.P., may be ascribed to the reign of Chandra gupta II. It is remarkable for vigorous and well - designed sculpture intetraHcotta. Frag-- ments, including some beauti ful sculptures, indicate that magnificent stone temples of Gupta age stood at Sarnath near Benares and elsewhere. Sarnath has proved to be a treasure-house of Gupta figures and reliefs, among which are many of high quality dating from the time of Samudragupta and his successors. The Gupta artists and craftsmen were no less capable in working metals. The pillar at Delhi, madT"of wrougM_iron in the time of Samudragupta, is a marvel of metallurgical skill. The art of casting copper statues on a large scale by the cire perdue process was practised with con spicuous success. A copper image of Buddha about 80 feet high was erected at Nalanda, in Bihar at the close of the sixth century ; and the fine Sultan- ganj Buddha, 71 feet high, is still to be seen in the Museum at Birmingham. It dates from the reign of Chandragupta II. The highest development of the arts may be assigned to the flfth^ century, the age of Kalidasa, in the reigns of Chandragupta II and his son. Two of the finest caves at Ajanta, Nos. XVI and XVII, were excavated in the same cen tury of brilliant achievement.1 It is needless to dwell upon the high merits of the paintings in the Ajanta caves, which are now freely recognized. A Danish artist, who has published a valuable professional criticism, declares that ' they represent the climax to which genujn^Jlndian art has attained' ; and that ' everything in these pictures from the composition as a whole to the smallest pearl 1 J. R. A. S., 1914, p. 335. 1976 n. HIPPOGRYPH, GUPTA. 162 HINDU INDIA or flower testifies to depth of insight coupled with the greatest technical skill '.1 The closely related frescoes at Sigiriya in Ceylon were executed between a. d. 479 and 497, soon after the close of the reign of Skandagupta. Hindu art at its best. The facts thus indicated in outline permit no doubt that the fine arts of music, architecture, sculpture, and painting attained a high level of excellence during the Gupta period, and more especially in the fifth century, which in my judgement was the time when Hindu art was at its best. The Gupta sculpture exhibits pleasing characteristics which usually enable a student familiar with standard examples to decide with confidence whether or not a given work is of Gupta age. The physical beauty of the figures, the gracious dignity of their attitude, and the refined restraint of the treatment are qualities not to be found elsewhere in Indian sculpture in the same degree. Certain more obvious technical marks are equally distinctive. Such are the plain robes showing the body as if they were transparent, the elaborate haloes, and the curious wigs. Others might be enumerated. Many of the sculptures are dated. Exchange of ideas. The extraordinary intellectual vitality of the Gupta period undoubtedly was largely due to. the constant and lively exchange of ideas with foreign landa in both East and West. Between a.d. 357 and 571 we read of ten embassies or missions, some probably only of a commercial character, which were sent to China from one part of India or the other. The stream of Buddhist pilgrims from the Celestial Empire, set in motion by Fa-hien, continued to flow, while, in return, another stream of Indian sages flowed to China. One of the earliest of such travellers was Kumarajlva in a.d. 383. Active communication between the Indian coasts and the island^ of the Archipelago was maintained. The Chinese say that the conversion of the Javanese to Buddhism was effected by Gunavarman, Crown Prince of Kashmir, who died at Nanking in China in a. d. 431. The Ajanta frescoes record intercourse between western India and Persia early in the seventh century. Three missions to Roman_ emperors in a. d. 336, 361, and 530 are mentioned. The coinage bears unmistakable testi mony to the reality of Roman influence, and the word dinar, the Latin denarius, was commonly used to mean a gold coin. The conquest of western India bv Chandragupta II at the close ot the fourth century brought the Gangetic provinces into direct communication with the western ports, and so with Alexandria and Europe. Trade also followed the land routes through Persia. 1 he effect of easy communication with Europe is plainly visible in the astronomy of Aryabhata and Varahamihira, who must have known Greek. The belief of Windisch that the many striking resemblances in form between the classical Indian dramas and the plays of the school of Menander are not accidental rests on sub- 1 Ann. Rep. Archaeol. Dept. Nizam's Dom., for 1914-15, App. H, by Axel Jarl. > ft- > j - SCIENCE AND ART 163 stantial arguments. The influence of Greek taste on the sculpture of the Gupta age, although necessarilyTess obvious, is not less certain. The works are truly Indian. They are not copies or even imitations of Greek originals, and yet manifest the Greek spirit, forming a charming combination of East and West, such as we see on a vast scale in the inimitable Taj many centuries later. When the intercourse with Europe died away in the seventh century India developed new schools of sculpture in which no trace of foreign example can be detected. Some expert critics maintain that the works of the eighth century mark the highest achievement of Indian art ; but those of the fifth century commend themselves, as already observed, to my taste, and appear to me to be on the whole superior to those of any other age. The Huns. The meagre annals of the Gupta monarchs subse quent to Skandagupta present little matter of interest, and may be passed by with a mere allusion. But the nature of the foreign inroads which broke down the stately fabric of the Gupta empire demands explanation. The work of destruction was effected by hordes ofLnomads from Central Asia who swarmed across the north-western passes, as the Sakas and Yueh-chi had done in previous ages. The Indians generally spoke of all the later barbarians as Hunas or Huns, but the Huns proper were accompanied by Gurjaras and other tribe,s. The section which encamped in the Oxus valley in the fifth cen- Coin of Toramana. tury was distinguished as the White Huns or Ephthalites. They gradually occupied both Persia and Kabul, killing the Sassanian king Firoz in a.d. 484. Their first attack on the Gupta empire about a.d. 455 was repulsed, but the collapse of Persian resistance opened the flood-gates and allowed irresistible numbers to pour into India. Their leader, Toramana, who was established in Malwa, in a.d. 499 or 500, was succeeded about a.d. 502* by his son Mihiragula ('Sun-flower'), whose Indian capital appears to have been Sakala or Sialkot in the Panjab. India at that time was only one province of the Hun .empire which extended from Persia on the west to Khotan on the east, comprising forty provinces. The head-quarters of the horde were at Bamyin near Herat, and the ancient city of Balkh served as a secondary capital. The power of Mihiragula in India was broken about a. d. 528 by Yasodharman, king of Malwa, helped perhaps by the Gupta king of Magadha. Mihiragula retired to Kash mir, where he seized the throne, and died. His history is obscured by fanciful legends. Soon after the middle of the sixth century the Hun kingdom on the Oxus was overthrown by the Turks, who became masters of the greater part of the short-lived Hun empire. A turning-point in history. The barbarian invasions of the 164 HINDU INDIA fifth and sixth centuries, although slurred over by the Indian authorities, constitute a turning-point in the history of northern and western India, both political and social. The political system of the Gupta period was completely broken up, and new kingdoms were formed. No authentic family or clan traditions go back beyond the Hun invasions. All genuine tradition of the earlier dynasties has been absolutely lost. The history of the Mauryas, Kushans, and Guptas, so far as it is known, has been recovered laboriously by the researches of scholars, without material help from living tradition.1 The process by which the foreigners became Hinduized and the Rajput clans were formed will be discussed in the next chapter. Valabhi and other kingdoms. When the Gupta power became restricted at the close of the fifth century western India gradually passed under the control of rulers belonging to a foreign tribe called Maitraka, possibly Iranian in origin. The Maitrakas established a dynasty with its capital at Valabhi (Wala, or Vala of I. G., Wullubheepoor of the Rds Mala), in the Surashtra penin sula, which lasted until about 770. when it seems to have been overthrown by the Arabs. The names and dates of the long line of the kings of Valabhi, who used the Gupta era, are known with sufficient accuracy. The kingdom attained considerable wealth and importance. In the sixth century the capital was the resi dence of renowned Buddhist teachers, and in the seventh it rivalled Nalanda, in Bihar as a centre of Buddhist learning. The modern town is insignificant and shows few signs of its ancient greatness. After the overthrow of Valabhi its place as the chief city of western India was taken by Anhilwara (Nahrwalah, &c, or Patan), which in its turn was superseded in the fifteenth century by Ahmadabad. The Gurjaras, who have been mentioned as associated with the Huns, founded kingdoms at Bharoch (Broach) and at Bhinmal in southern Rajputana. The history of India during the sixth century is exceedingly obscure. The times evidently were much disturbed. About the middle of that century a chief belonging to the Chalukya clan, which probably was connected with the Gurjaras and had emigrated from Rajputana, founded a principality at Vatapi, the modern Badami in the BIjapur District, Bombay, which developed into an important kingdom in the early years of the seventh century, and became for a time the leading power in the Deccan, which will be noticed more particularly in a later chapter. Nothing definite of moment can be stated about the Tamil kingdoms of the Far South during the period dealt with in this chapter. Ample material for seventh century. The embarrassing 1 The Jain traditions of Samprati constitute a small exception to the statement in the text. HARSHA 165 lack of material for the history of the latter half of the sixth century is no longer felt when the story of the seventh has to be told. The invaluable description of India recorded by Hiuen Tsang or Yuan Chwang, the eminent Chinese pilgrim ; his biography written by his friends ; the official Chinese historical works ; and an historical romance composed by Bana, a learned Brahman who enjoyed the friendship of King Harsha, when combined with a considerable amount of information derived from inscriptions, coins, and other sources, supply us with knowledge surpassing in fullness and precision that available for any other period of early Hindu history, except that of the Mauryas. Harsha of Kanauj, the able monarch who reduced anarchy to order in northern India, and reigned for forty-one years, as Asoka had done, is not merely a name in a genealogy. His personal characteristics and! the details of his administration, as recorded by men who knew himl intimately, enable us to realize him as a living person who achieved greatness by his capacity and energy. King Harsha, a. d. 606-47. Harsha, or Harsha-vardhana, was the younger son of Prabhakara-vardhana, Raja'of Thanesar, the famous holy town to the north of Delhi, who had won consider able military successes over his neighbours — the Gurjaras, Malavas, and others, in the latter part of the sixth century. His unexpected death in a. d. 604 was quickly followed by that of his elder son, who was treacherously assassinated by Sasanka, king of Gaura, or Central Bengal. His younger son, Harsha, then only sixteen or seventeen years of age, was constrained by his nobles to accept the vacant throne, and to undertake the difficult task of bringing northern India into subjection and tolerable order. The young sovereign, who reluctantly accepted the trust imposed upon him in October 606, was obliged to spend five years and a half in constant fighting. The Chinese pilgrim who came to India a few years later tells us that during that strenuous time Harsha ' went from east to west subduing all who were not obedient ; the elephants were not unharnessed, nor the soldiers unhelmeted '. His con quests were achieved with a force of 5,000 "elephants, 20,000 cavalry, and 50,000 infantry. He seems to have discarded chariots. When he had finished his task the cavalry had increased to 100,000, and the elephants are said to have numbered 60,000, a figure hardly credible, and probably erroneous. Harsha's subjugation of upper India, excluding the Panjab, but including Bihar and at least the greater part of Bengal, was completed in 612, when he appears to have been solemnly enthroned. But the new era established by him, which attained wide currency, was reckoned from-the beginning of his reign in October 606. His last recorded campaign in 643 was directed against Ganjam on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. A few years earlier he had waged a successful war with Valabhi, which resulted in the recognition of Harsha's suzerainty by the western powers. In the east his name was so feared that even the king of distant Assam was obliged to obey his imperious commands and to attend his court. GEORGE PHILIP 4 SON, LTD. MAP OF INDIA, a. n. 640. HARSHA 167 War with the Chalukyas. The Chalukya kingdom in the Deccan, founded, as has been mentioned, in" the middle of the sixth century, was raised to a paramount position by its king, Pulakesin II, the contemporary of Harsha. The northern monarch, impatient of a rival, attacked Pulakesin about a. d. 620, but was defeated, and obliged to accept the Narbada as his southern frontier. So far as is known that defeat was Harsha's only failure. During the greater part of his reign, although his armies may have been given occupation from time to time, he was free to devote his exceptional powers to the work of administration and to consecrate an extraordinarily large share of his time to religious exercises and discussions. Kanauj the capital. The ancient town of Kanauj (Kanya- kubja) on the Ganges, which was selected by Harsha as his capital, was converted into a magnificent, wealthy, and well-fortified city, nearly four miles long and a mile broad, furnished with numer ous lofty buildings, and adorned with many tanks and gardens. The Buddhist monasteries, of which only two had existed in the fifth century, numbered more than a hundred in Harsha's time, when Brahmanical temples existed in even larger numbers. The inhabitants were more or less equ-ally divided in their allegiance to ) Hinduism and Buddhism. The city, after enduring many vicissi tudes, was finally destroyed by Sher Shah in the sixteenth century. It is now represented by a petty Muhammadan country town and miles of shapeless mounds which serve as a quarry for railway ballast. No building erected in Harsha's reign can be identified either at Kanauj or elsewhere. Administration ; literature. Harsha, who was only forty- seven or forty-eight years of age when he died late in a.d. 646 or early in 647,' was in the prime of life throughout his long reign. We hear nothing of the elaborate bureaucratic system of the Mauryas, although an organized civil service must have existed. The king seems to have trusted chiefly to incessant personal supervision of his extensive empire, which he effected by constantly moving ' about, except in the rainy season when the roads were impassable. He marched in state to the music of golden drums, and was accommodated, like the Burmese kings of modern times, in temporary structures built of wood and bamboos, which were burnt on his departure. Many provinces were governed in detail by tributary Rajas. The Chinese pilgrim thought well of the royal administration, although it was less mild than that of the Guptas in the fifth century. The penalty of imprisonment, inflicted after the cruel Tibetan fashion, which left the prisoner to live or die, was freely awarded, and mutilation was often adjudged. The roads, apparently, were not as safe as they had been in the days of Vikramaditya. Official records of all events were kept up in each province by special officers. Education was widely diffused, and the great Buddhist monasteries at Nalanda in Magadha and other places were centres_of learning and the -arts. The king himself was an accomplished scholar. He is credited with the composition 168 HINDU INDIA of a grammatical work, sundry poems, and three extant Sanskrit plays, one of which, the Ndgdnanda, with an edifying Buddhist legend for its subject, is highly esteemed and has been translated into English. A Brahman named Bana, who was an intimate friend of the king, wrote an account of part of his master's reign in the form of an historical romance, which gives much accurate and valuable information wrapped up in tedious, affected rhetoric, as tiresome as that of Abu-1 Fazl in the Akbarndma. Religion. Harsha, who was extremely devout, assigned many hours of each day to devotional exercises. Primarily a worshipper of_Siva, he permitted himself also tojionour the 13un and Buddha. In the latter part of his reign he became more and more BudcThist in sentiment, and apparently set himself the task of emulating Asoka. He ' sought to plant the tree of religious merit to such an extent that he forgot to sleep or eat ' ; and forbade the slaughter of any living thing or the use of flesh as food throughout the ' Five Indies ', under pain of death without hope of pardon. v&is ^C Hc^siiAy* SIGNATURE OF HARSHA. The details of his proceedings make interesting reading; indeed, the historical material is so abundant that it would be easy to write a large volume devoted solely to his reign. Hiuen Tsang or Yuan Chwang, the most renowned of the Chinese pilgrims, being our leading authority, it is desirable to give a brief account of his memorable career. Hiuen Tsang or Yuan Chwang, He was the fourth son of a learned Chinese gentleman of honourable lineage, and from childhood was a grave and ardent student of things sacred. When he started on his travels at the age of twenty -nine (a.d. 629) he was already famous as a Buddhist sage. His intense desire to obtain access to the authentic scriptures in the Holy Land of India nerved him to defy the imperial prohibition of travelling westward, and sustained him through all the perils of his dangerous journey, which exceeded three thousand miles in length, as reckoned from his starting place in western China to Kabul, at the gates of India. The narrative of his adventures, which we possess in detail, is as interesting as a romance. The dauntless pilgrim travelled by the northern route, and after passing Lake Issik Kul, Tashkend, Samarkand, and Kunduz arrived in the kingdom of Gandhara about the beginning of October 630. Between that date and the close of 643 he visited almost every province in India, recording numberless exact observations on the country, monuments, HARSHA 169 people, and religion, which entitle him to be called ' the Indian Pausanias '-1 He returned by the southern^joute, crossing the Pamirs, and passing Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, and Lop-nor — a truly wonder ful journey. Eightyears, 635 to 643, had been mostly spent in Harsha's dominions. Early in 645 he reached his native land, bringing with hina a large and valuable collection of manuscripts, images, and relics. He occupied the remainder of his life in working up the results of his expedition with the aid of a staff of scholars, and died in 664 at the age of sixty-four or sixty-five. His high character, undaunted courage, and profound learning deservedly won the respect and affection of the Chinese emperor and all his people. The memory of the Master of the Law, the title bestowed upon him by universal consent, is still as fresh in Buddhist lands as it was twelve hundred years ago. It is impossible to .overestimate the debt which the history of India owes to Hiuen Tsang. Assemblies at Kanauj and Prayag. King Harsha, who was in camp in Bengal when he first met the Master, organized in his honour a splendid assembly at Kanauj the capital, which was attended by twenty tributary Rajas, including the King of Assam from the extreme east, and the King of Valabhi from the extreme west. After the close of the proceedings at Kanauj, Harsha carried his honoured guest with him to Prayag (Allahabad), where another crowded assembly was held, and the royal treasures were distri buted to thousands of the holy men of all the Indian religions, Brahmanical, Jain, and Buddhist. On the first day the image of Buddha received honours of the highest class, the effigies of the Sun and Siva being worshipped respectively on the second and third days with reduced ceremonial. The assembly at Prayag in 643 was the sixth of its kind, it being Harsha's custom to distribute his accumulated riches at intervals of five years. He did not live to see another celebration. The pilgrim was dismissed with all honour and presented with lavish gifts. Death of Harsha ; results. Either late in 646 or early in 647 the king died, leaving no heir. The withdrawal of his strong arm threw the whole country into disorder, which was aggravated • by famine. Then a strange incident happened. A Chinese envoy named Wang-hiuen-tse was at Harsha's court, attended by an escort of thirty men. A minister who had usurped the vacant throne attacked the envoy, plundered his goods, and killed or captured 1 See map prepared by the author at the end of vol. ii of Watters, On Yuan Chwang s Travels in India (1905). For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with Greek history it may be mentioned that Pausanias travelled through Greece in the second century a. c. and recorded his detailed observations in the form of an Itinerary divided into ten books. The Chinese pilgrim's Travels or Records of Western Lands comprise 12 books (chuan): but the last three books, equivalent to chaps, xvi-xviii of Watters, seem to be interpolated and are of inferior authority (Watters, ii, 233). G3 170 HINDU INDIA the men of his escort. Wang-hiuen-tse succeeded in escaping to Nepal, which was then tributary to Tibet. The Tibetan king, the famous Srong-tsan Gampo, who was married to a Chinese princess, assembled a force of Tibetans and Nepalese, who descended into the plains, stormed the chief city of Tirhiit, defeated the Indian army with great slaughter, and captured the usurper with his whole family. The captive was sent to China, where he died. Tirhiit remained subject to Tibet until a.d. 703. The death of Harsha having loosened the bonds which had held his empire together, the experiences of the third and sixth centuries were repeated, and a rearrangement of kingdoms was begun, of which the record is obscure. It is impossible to say exactly what happened in most of the provinces for a considerable time after his disappearance from the scene. His rival, Pulakesin II, Chalukya, who had successfully defended the Deccan against aggression from the north, had met his fate five years before Harsha's death. He was utterly defeated and presumably killed in 642 by Narasimha-varman, the Pallava king of Kanchi or Conjeeveram in the far south, who thus became the paramount sovereign of the peninsula. The story will be told from the southern point of view in a later chapter. Unity of history lost. The partial unity of Indian history vanishes with Harsha and is not restored in any considerable measure until the closing years of the twelfth century, when the extensive conquests effected by and for Muhammad of Ghor brought the most important provinces under the sway of the Sultans of Delhi. The story of Hindu India from the middle of the seventh century until the Muhammadan conquest, which may be dated approximately in a. d. 1200 for the north and a. d. 1300 for the south, cannot be presented in the form of a single continuous narrative. The subject will be treated in Book III. CHRONOLOGY A.D. 320. Chandragupta I, ace. ; epoch of the Gupta era. c. 330. Samudragupta, ace. c. 360. Embassy from Meghavarna, king of Ceylon. c. 375. Chandragupta II, ace. c 395. Conquest of western India. 405-11. Travels of Fa-hien in Gupta empire. 413. Kumaragupta I, ace. 448. Establishment of Huns in Oxus basin, and epoch of Hun era. 455. Skandagupta, ace. ; first Hun war. 476. Aryabhata, astronomer, born. c. 480-90. Partial break up of Gupta empire. 484. Firoz, king of Persia, killed by the Huns. c. 490-770. Dynasty of Valabhi. 499. Latest date of Budhagupta. 500. Accession of Toramana in Malwa (coins dated 52, scil. of Hun era). CHRONOLOGY 171 A. D. 502. Accession of Mihiragula in Malwa. 505. Varahamihira, astronomer, born. c. 528. Defeat of Mihiragula, the Hun, by Indian powers. 542. Death of Mihiragula. 578. Brahmagupta, astronomer, born. 606. Harsha-vardhana, ace. ; epoch of Harsha era. 606-12. Conquest of northern India by Harsha. c. 620. Defeat of Harsha by Pulakesin II, Chalukya. 622. Flight of Muhammad to Medina ; epoch of Hijri era. 629-45. Travels of Hiuen Tsang (Yuan Chwang). 641. Arab conquest of Persia. 642. Defeat of Pulakesin II, Chalukya, by the Pallavas. 643. Harsha's assemblies at Kanauj and Prayag. 645. Hiuen Tsang arrived in China. 647. Death of Harsha ; usurpation by minister 664. Death of Hiuen Tsang. Authorities Most of the necessary references will be found in E. II. I." (1914). A few others are given in the notes to the text. Gupta art has been dealt with by the author in a well-illustrated paper entitled ' Indian Sculpture of the Gupta Period, a. d. 300-650 ', published in Ostasiatische Zeiiung, April- June, 1914, just before the war. The same subject is treated in the Cata logue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sarnath by Daya Ram Sahni and J. Ph. Vogel (Calcutta, 1914) ; and in the Reports of the Archaeological Survey. The B. M. Catalogue of the Coins of the Gupta Dynasties, &c., by John Aixan (London, 1914) supersedes earlier publications to a large extent. The most important publication on the Ajanta paintings since H. F. A. (1911) is the atlas of plates entitled Ajanta Frescoes, with introductory essays, issued by the India Society (Oxford University Press, 1915). Two important essays appear in the Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume, Poona, 1917. D. R. Bhandarkar in ' Vikrama Era ' rejects the hypothesis (ante, p. 151) that the era was founded by Vikramaditya. It seems to have been called Krita originally. Prof. K. B. Pathak in 'New Light on Gupta Era and Mihirakula ' justifies his title. He shows sound reasons for believing that the estab lishment of the Hunas in the Oxus basin (ante, p. 163) took place in a.d. 488, the epoch of the Hun era; that Toramana became king of Malwa in a.d. 500 (or late in a.d. 499); that he was succeeded in a.d. 502 by his son Mihiragula, who was born in a.d. 472 and died in a.d. 542, at the age of seventy. Those dates, which seem to be correct, have been inserted in the table. They rest mainly upon the evidence of Jain chronicles supported by certain inscriptions and coins. Pathak dates the Meghaduta of Kalidasa (ante, p. 159) in the reign of Skandagupta. Mr. K. P. Jayaswal expounds other and less convincing theories in Ind. Ant., ]917, pp. 145-53. BOOK III THE MEDIAEVAL HINDU KINGDOMS FROM THE DEATH OF HARSHA IN A.D. 647 TO THE MUHAMMADAN CONQUEST CHAPTER 1 The transitional period ; Rajputs ; the Himalayan kingdoms and their relations with Tibet and China. A period of transition. The disorder following upon Harsha's death, in which the attack on the Chinese envoy with the conse quent subjugation of Tirhiit by the Tibetans was an episode, lasted for a considerable number of years concerning which little is known. That time of confusion may be regarded conveniently for purposes of systematic study as forming the transition from Early to Mediaeval India, during which the hordes of foreign invaders were absorbed into the Hindu body politic and a new grouping of states was gradually evolved. The transitional period was marked by the development of the Rajput clans, never heard of in earlier times, which begin from the eighth century to play a conspicuous part in the history of northern and western India. They become so prominent that the centuries from the death of Harsha to the Muhammadan conquest of Hindostan, extending in round numbers from the middle of the seventh to the close of the twelfth century, might be called with propriety the Rajput Period. Nearly all the kingdoms were governed by families or clans which for ages past have been called collectively Rajputs. That term, the most generally used, is sometimes replaced by Chhattri, the vernacular equivalent of the Sanskrit Kshatriya, or by Thakur. Origin of the Rajputs. The term Rajput, as applied to a social group, has no concern with race, meaning descent or relationship by blood. It merely denotes a tribe, clan, sept, or caste of warlike habits, the members of which claimed aristocratic rank, and were treated by the Brahmans as renresenting the Kshatriyas of the old books. The huge group of Rajput clan-castes includes people of the most diverse descent. Manv of the clans are descended from the foreigners who entered India during the fifth and sixth centuries, while many others are descended from indigenous tribes now represented, so far as the majority of their members is con cerned, either by semi-Hinduized peoples or by inferior castes. Probably it would be safe to affirm that all the most distinguished clan-castes of Rajputana or Rajasthan are descended mainly from foreigners, the ' Scythians ' of Tod. The upper ranks of the "invad- RAJPUTS 173 ing hordes of Hunas, Gurjaras, Maitrakas, and the rest became Rajput clans, while the lower developed into Hindu castes of less honourable social status, such as Gujars, Ahirs, Jats, and others. Such clan-castes of foreign descent are the proud and chivalrous Sisodias or Quhilots of Mewar, the Parihars (Pratiharas), the Chauhans (Chahumanas), the Pawars (Pramaras), and the Solankis, otherwise called Chaulukyas pr Chalukyas.1 The Rashtrakutas of the Deccan ; the Rathors of Rajputana, whose name is only a vernacular form of the same designation ; the Chandels and the Bundelas of Bundelkhand, are examples of ennobled indigenous peoples. The Chandels evidently originated from among the Gonds, who again were closely associated with the Bhars. It is impossible to pursue further the subject, which admits of endless illustration. Brahmans and Kshatriyas. In ancient times the line of demarcation between the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas, that is to say, between the learned and the warrior groups of castes, was not sharply defined. It was often crossed, sometimes by change of occupation, and at other times by intermarriage. Ordinarily, the position of the leading Brahman at court was that of minister, but sometimes the Brahman preferred to rule directly, and himself seized the throne. Thus in early times the Sunga and Kanva royal families were Brahman. Similar cases of Brahman dynasties occur later. In the seventh century Hiuen Tsang noted the exis tence of several Brahman Rajas, as at Ujjain and in Jijhoti or Bundelkhand. Usurpations by Brahman ministers also continued to happen. When a Brahman succeeded in founding a dynasty, and so definitely taking up Kshatriya work, his descendants were recognized as Kshatriyas, and allowed to intermarry freely with established Kshatriya families. It must be remembered that the Brahmans themselves are of very diverse origin, and that many of them, as for instance the Nagar Brahmans, are descended from the learne,d or priestly class of the foreign hordes. The Maga Brahmans were originally Iranian Magi. During the transitional stage, while a Brahman family was passing into the Kshatriya group of castes, it was often known by the composite designation' of Brahma-kshatri. Several cases of the application of that term to royal families are recorded, the most prominent being those of the Sisodias of Mewar and the Senas of Bengal. Rajputs not a race. The Rajputs, as already stated, are not to be regarded as a people originally of one race, bound together by ties of blood descent from a common ancestor. Even within 1 Pandit Mohanlal Vishnulal Pandia admits that Bapa, the Guhilot ancestor, was brought up as a concealed or reputed Brahman (J. db Proc A. S. B., 1912, pp. 62-99), and has not succeeded in refuting the reasoning of D. R. Bhandarkar concerning the origin of the Ranas of Mewar. If the frank statement of facts as revealed by modern research should give offence in any quarter that result is to be regretted. But, as Asoka observed long ago, ' truth must be spoken '. 174 HINDU PERIOD the limits of Rajputana the clans were originally descended from many distinct racial stocks. Such common features as they presented depended on the similarity of their warlike occupations and social habits. Now, of course, the operation of complicated. caste rules concerning intermarriage during many centuries has produced an extensive network of blood-relationship between the clans, which have become castes. Those condensed observations may help the student to under stand in some measure why the Rajput clans begin to play so prominent a part in Indian history from the eighth century. The Hun invasions and their consequences, as observed in the chapter preceding, broke the chain of historical tradition. Living clan traditions rarely, if ever, go back beyond the eighth century, and few go back as far. The existing clan-castes only began to be formed in the sixth century. The Brahmans found their advantage. in treating the new aristocracy, whatever its racial origin, as representing the ancient Kshatriya class of the scriptures, and the novel term Raja-putra or Rajput, meaning ' king's son ', or member of a ruling family or clan, came into use as an equivalent of Kshatriya. Before entering upon a summary review of outstanding features in the history of the leading Rajput kingdoms of the plains, we must bestow a passing glance on the Himalayan States — Nepal, Kashmir, and Assam — and on their relations with Tibet and China. China and the Indian border. The short-lived Hun empire was broken up by the Western Turks, who in their turn succumbed to the Chinese. For a few years, from 661 to 665, China enjoyed unparalleled prestige. Kafiristan (Kapisa or Ki-pin) was a province of the empire, and the ambassadors in attendance at the imperial court included envoys from the Suwat vallev and from all the countries extending from Persia to Korea. Such glory did not last long. In 670 the Tibetans occupied Kashgaria, and a little later the Turks regained power. In the first half of the eighth century an ambitious emperor, Hiuen-tsung, succeeded in once more establishing Chinese rule over the western countries. Even kings of Kashmir then received investiture from China. The advance of the Arabs in the middle of the eighth century put an end to Chinese claims to sovereignty over the mountains of Kashmir, and since that time no state of the Indian borderland, except Nepal, has had political relations with China. Tibet ; Srong-tsan Gampo. In the seventh and eighth centuries Tibet was a powerful state, in close touch with India as well as with China. The routes from China through Lhasa and Nepal into India now closed were then open and frequently used by pilgrims and other travellers. Srong-tsan Gampo, the most renowned of Tibetan kings, whose great reign is placed by the best authorities between a. d. 629 and 650, annexed Nepal, defeated the usurper who had dared to occupy the throne vacated by Harsha, occupied Tirhiit, and strengthened his position by marrying a Chinese princess as well as a Nepalese one. Acting under the RELATIONS WITH CHINA 175 influence of his Buddhist consorts he introduced their religion into his kingdom, and gave his people the means of acquiring knowledge by importing from India the alphabet now used in Tibet. He founded Lhasa, for which, according to tradition, he prepared the site by filling up a lake with stones. In the first half of the eleventh century Atisa and other eminent monks from the seats of learning in Magadha came to Tibet on the invitation of the reigning king and effected extensive reforms or changes in the Buddhist church, which became the foundation of modern Lamaism. ' The object of all these reformations was not, as is often supposed, to go back to the early Buddhism as it was preached by Gautama, but to build up a church which represented the doctrines of the Mahayana school of Buddhism in a pure form. The doctrines of Nagarjuna were propounded by all the great teachers of Tibet. But the Kala-chakra philosophy with its monotheistic tendencies was also favoured by them.' l Nepal. The kingdom of Nepal as at present constituted is an extensive territory lying along the northern frontier of British India for about five hundred miles from Kumaon on the west to Sikkim on the east. The Nepal of ancient Indian history means the restricted valley about twenty miles long and fifteen broad, in which the Gurkha Coin. capital, Kathmandu, and other towns are situated. Some of the adjoining country may have been included at times in the kingdom, but the bulk of the territory now comprised in the Nepal state, whether in the hills or the strip of plain at their base, used to be occupied by inde pendent tribes and principalities. The valley certainly formed part of Asoka's empire, but the Kushans do not seem to have meddled with it. In the fourth century a. c. Nepal acknowledged in some degree the sovereignty of Samudragupta. In the seventh century the influence of Tibet was paramount, and after Harsha's death the country became actually subject to Tibet for half a century.2 The theory that 1 A. H. Francke, Antiquities of Indian .. Tibet (Calcutta, 1914), p. 52. For the Kala-chakra and other late corrupt forms of Buddhism see the excellent little book by Nagendra Nath Vasu and M. M. H. P. Sastri, entitled Modern Buddhism and Us Followers in Orissa (Calcutta, 1911). 2 In a. d. 703 both Nepal and India [scil. Tirhiit] threw off the Tibetan sovereignty. The king of Tibet was killed while attempting to reassert his authority (Parker, ' China, Nepaul, &c.' in J. Manchester Oriental Soc, 1911, pp. 129-52). That date, recorded in the histories of the T'ang dynasty, was not known to earlier European writers. 176 HINDU PERIOD Harsha conquered Nepal and introduced his era seems to be erroneous. The Gurkhas who now rule Nepal conquered the country in 1768. The foreign policy of the state is controlled by the government of India, although China from time to time has asserted claims to tribute. The long and blood-stained story of the mediaeval dynasties is not of general interest, and may be left to students specially concerned with the local history. Modern students of Nepalese affairs have been chiefly interested in the silent conflict of religions which has gone on for centuries and still may be watched in progress. A corrupt form of Buddhism, which allows even the strange institution of married monks, may be seen slowly decaying and yielding to the constant pressure of Brahmanical Hinduism, which is the religion of the government. The Nepalese libraries contain a rich store of Buddhist manuscripts, first made known by the labours of Brian Hodgson between 1820 and 1858, which have supplied much material for the study of the various forms of Buddhist religion and philosophy. The general current of Indian history has not been affected by the transactions in Nepal, which usually has remained isolated. The existing government discourages foreign visitors, and guards the passes so strictly that very little is known about the greater part of the area of the state. Art. The art of Nepal is closely related to that of Tibet. The craftsmen of both countries excel in metal-work, and the Tibetan artists have been eminently successful in producing realistic portrait statuettes of Buddhist saints and similar images of deit-ies belonging to the populous pantheon of later Buddhism. Some of the Tibetan painting has considerable merit. The architecture of Nepal in modern times is usually copied from Chinese models. Kashmir. The history of Hindu Kashmir, from the seventh century after Christ, when the trustworthy annals begin, is recorded in ample detail in the metrical chronicle called the Rdjatarangini, written in the twelfth century by a learned Brahman named Kalhana or Kalyana, which has been admirably edited and trans lated by Sir M. A. Stein. The story, although of much interest in itself, has little concern with the general history of India ; the reason being that the mountain barriers which enclose the vale of Kashmir have usually sufficed to protect the country against foreign invasion and to preserve its isolated independence. Never theless, both the Mauryas and the Kushans exercised effective authority over the valley. The Guptas did not concern themselves with it, and Harsha, while in a position to bring pressure to bear upon the Raja, did not attempt to annex the country. The narrative of the doings of the mediaeval Hindu rulers teems with horrors. Harsha, a half-insane tyrant who reigned in the latter part of the eleventh century, has been justly described as the ' Nero of Kashmir '. Few regions in the world can have had worse luck than Kashmir in the matter of government, a fate due partly to the cowardly character of the population, which invited oppression. The avowed policy of the Hindu rulers KASHMIR 177 throughout the ages was to fleece the peasantry to the utmost and to leave them at best a bare subsistence. The majority of the people was forced to accept Islam in the fourteenth century, and dynasties of Muhammadan Sultans ruled until Akbar annexed the kingdom in 1587 with little difficulty. The lot of the common TIBETAN BRONZE. people continued to be hard, whether the government was in the hands of Hindus or Musalmans. In modern times the Kashmiris were oppressed successively by the Afghans and the Sikhs, and never enjoyed the advantages of decently good administration until late in the nineteenth century. But, although Kashmir has ordinarily occupied a position politi- 178 HINDU PERIOD cally isolated from India, the influence of the country on the religion and civilization of its neighbours has been considerable. The valley has been the abode of Sanskrit learning at least from the time of Asoka, and has played an important part as being, the intermediate stage through which Indian civilization and art reached Khotan and the adjoining territories of Chinese Turkistan, and so passed into the Far East. The valley includes many sacred sites both Buddhist and Brahmanical. Jainism does not seem to have entered it. An interesting local style of architecture was MARTAND TEMPLE. developed in the eighth and ninth centuries. The Martand temple dedicated to the Sun-god in the reign of Lalitaditya (a.d. 724-60) is the best-known example, but many others exist. Assam. Assam, roughly equivalent to the ancient Kamarupa, resembled Kashmir in being protected by natural fortifications, and thus enabled, as a rule, to preserve its independence. - The country does not seem to have'been included in either the Maurya or the Kushan empire, but in the fourth century, its ruler, who belonged to an ancient Hindu dynasty, acknowledged in some degree the overlordship of Samudragupta. Buddhism never succeeded in establishing itself. Nevertheless, the ruling king in the seventh century insisted on receiving a visit from Hiuen ASSAM 179 Tsang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, who was hospitably enter tained. The king, although not directly subject to Harsha, was constrained to obey his imperious commands and to attend humbly in his train when summoned. Certain Muhammadan leaders who invaded the country on several occasions between 1205 and 1662 always met with disaster more or less complete. The Muslim historian who describes the latest venture, that made by Aurangzeb's general Mir Jumla in the seventeenth century, expresses the horror with which the country and people were regarded by outsiders in striking phrases which deserve quotation. ' Assam', he observes, ' is a wild and dreadful country abounding in danger. ... Its roads are frightful like the path leading to the nook of Death ; Fatal to life is its expanse like the unpeopled city of Destruction. . . . The air and water of the hills are like the destructive Simoom and deadly poison to natives and strangers alike.' The inhabitants 'resemble men in nothing beyond this, that they walk i;-;Lr Ahom Coins. erect on two feet '. They were reputed to be expert magicians. ' In short, every army that entered the limits of this country made its exit from the realm of Life ; every caravan that set foot on this land deposited its baggage of residence in the halting-place of Death.' l Early in the thirteenth century Assam was invaded by the Ahoms, a Shan tribe from Upper Burma, who gradually acquired the sovereignty of the country, which they retained until it was occu pied by the Burmese in 1816 and by the British in 1825. The Ahoms brought with them a tribal religion of their own, which they abandoned in favour of Hinduism about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Their language, too, is almost, if not com pletely, extinct. The Ahoms have become merged in the Hindu population, and speak Assamese, an Aryan language akin to Sanskrit and Bengali. When in power they had an efficient, although severe or even cruel, system of administration. They produced a considerable historical literature, and carried the art of carving wood to a high degree of excellence. The Muslim writer quoted expresses unbounded admiration of the decorations of the palace at Garhgaon. No trace of them remains. 1 Talish, as transl. by Prof. Jadunath Sarkar in J. B. & O. Res. Soc, vol. i, pp. 179-95. 180 HINDU PERIOD Assam is a province of much interest to the student of Indian religion as being the meeting ground of Mongolian and Indian ideas. The contact has resulted in the evolution of a peculiar Tantric form of Hinduism, which offers special honour to female forms of the deity called Saktis. The temple of Kamakhya near Gauhati is recognized as one of the most important shrines of the cult. All the processes by means of which the members of rude animistic tribes become fanatical Hindus, and strange tribal gods are converted into respectable Brahmanical deities, may be illustrated in Assam. CHRONOLOGY A. D. (Miscellaneous Dates) 629. Srong-tsan Gampo, king of Tibet, ace. 639. Srong-tsan Gampo founded Lhasa. 641. Srong-tsan Gampo married Chinese and Nepalese princesses. 643. Hiuen Tsang visited Kamampa. 647. Death of Harsha of Kanauj. 661-5. Chinese supremacy over Kapisa. 670. Tibetans wrested Kashgaria or Chinese-Turkistan from China. 703. Nepal and Tirhiit became independent of Tibet. 713. Hiuen-tsung, Chinese emperor, ace. 720. 733. Kings of Kashmir received investiture from China. 751. Chinese defeated by the Arabs. 1038. Mission of Atisa to Tibet (Waddell, Lhasa 3, p. 320). 1089-1111. Harsha, king of Kashmir. 1339. Muhammadan dynasty established in Kashmir. - 1587. Annexation of Kashmir by Akbar. 1768. Gurkha conquest of Nepal. Authorities The authorities are indicated sufficiently in the foot-notes and in E. H. I? (1914). The learned and beautiful book entitled The Gods of Northern Buddhism, by Alice Getty and J. Deniker (Clarendon Press, 1914), is a treasury of Tibetan art and mythology. See Laufer, in J. A. O. S.. vol. 38 (1918), pp. 31-46. * CHAPTER 2 The northern and western kingdoms of the plains. Countless kingdoms. During the five and a half centuries intervening between the death of Harsha and the Muhammadan conquest, .in which no permanent foreign occupation was effected, fh°ei& ln PanJab, the greater part of India was indifferent to the Muhammadan power and knew nothing about it. The count less Hindu states, .which took shape from time to time, varying continually m number, extent, and in their relations one' with the other, seldom were at peace. It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that their rulers and people thought of nothing else than war and rapine. Royal courts of no small magnificence were maintained, and the arts of peace were cultivated with success. COUNTLESS KINGDOMS 181 Stately works of architecture, enriched lavishly with sculptures often of high merit, were erected in almost every kingdom ; and learned men, writing for the most part in the Sanskrit language, enjoyed liberal and intelligent patronage from princes who not unfrequently wielded the pen as well as the sword. Hindi, Bengali, Gujarat!, and the other languages now spoken gradually attained the dignity of recognized existence, and the foundations of vernacu lar literatures were laid. In a general history it is impossible to narrate in detail the stories of the several states, which are recorded in many cases with so much fullness that they would suffice to fill several volumes each as large as this work. The effects of- the great foreign invasions in the fifth and, sixth centuries lasted for hundreds of years. The Gurjaras, with their kinsmen and allies bearing other names, had been converted, as has been shown, into ruling Rajput clans, and had acquired a dominant position in Rajputana, which served as the basis of more extended dominion. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Gurjara-Pratiharas (Parihars) became the leading power in north western India. Bengal came under the sway of the Palas, appa-" rently an indigenous dynasty, for more than four centuries ; while Malwa, Gujarat, and several other kingdoms obtained a large share of wealth and power. The course of history. The history of northern India ordinarily pursued its own course, regardless of the events happening in the peninsular kingdoms. But occasionally the rulers of the Deccan made inroads into the rich plains of Aryavarta or Hindostan, which resulted in the temporary extension of their power to the banks of the Ganges. No northern prince attempted to conquer the Deccan. The Tamil realms of the Far South formed a world of their own, its isolation being complete, save for frequent wars with the kings of the Deccan and Ceylon and for extensive foreign trade. The ancient states of the Pandyas, Cholas, and Cheras were overshadowed for a long time, especially in the seventh century, by the Pallava dynasty of uncertain origin, which had its capital at Kanchi (Conjeeveram). In the eleventh century the Chola kingdom became paramount in the south, and probably was the most powerful state in India. Changes so extensive, disconnected, and incessant as thd'se indicated cannot be described in a single continuous narrative arranged in strict chronological order. The political revolutions were accompanied by silent local modifications in religion, manners, and art equally incapable of comprehensive narration. The never-ending dynastic wars and revolutions did not bring about any development of political institutions. No republics were formed, no free towns were established. All the states continued to be governed in the old-fashioned way by despotic Rajas, each of whom could do what he pleased, so long as his power lasted, unless he suffered his will to be controlled by Brahman or other religious guides. 182' HINDU PERIOD Lack of unity. It will be convenient to deal in this chapter only with certain outstanding features in the history of some of the more prominent northern and western kingdoms of the plains. The fortune of the peninsular states will similarly form the subject of the chapter following ; the few points of contact between the two being duly noted. The lack of unity in the subject-matter involves the same defect in its treatment by the historian. The facts which make India one in a certain sense, as explained in the Introduction to this work, are not capable by themselves of securing the political unity of all the Indian diverse races and creeds under one government. ¦The confused picture drawn in outline in these chapters is a faithful representation of the normal condition of India when left to her own devices. Even now, in the twentieth century, she would relapse quickly into that condition, if the firm, although mild control exercised by the paramount power should be withdrawn. Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom. The Gurjaras, aided by the allied or kindred tribes bearing other names who entered India in the early years of the sixth century, established kingdoms or principalities in various places. The state among those so founded' that was most closely associated with the general history of India was the Gurjara kingdom of southern Rajputana, the capital of which was Bhinmal or Bhilmal to the north-west of Mount Abu, the site of the fire-pit from which the Parihars and several other Rajput clans originated according to the legend. When Hiuen Tsang visited that Gurjara kingdom in the first half of the seventh century the king, although undoubtedly of foreign descent, was already recognized as a Kshatriya. About a. d. 725 a new local dynasty was founded by a chief named Nagabhata, who belonged to the Parihar (Pratihara) section or sept of the Gurjaras. Nearly a century later, in or about a. d. 816, his descendant, another Nagabhata, invaded the Gangetic region, captured Kanauj, deposed the reigning king, and pre sumably transferred the seat of his own government from Bhilmal to the imperial city of Harsha, where his descendants certainly ruled for many generations. The Parihars remained in possession for two centuries until 1018-19 when Sultan Mahmiid of Ghazni occupied Kanauj and forced the Raja to retire to Bari. -Kanauj. Kanauj must have suffered much during the long- continued troubles which ensued on the decease of Harsha. Nothing definite is known about it until 731 when its king, Yasovarman by name, sent an embassy to China, probably to invoke the assistance of the emperor against the Raja's powerful enemies. No help came. In or about 740 Yasovarman was defeated and slain by Lahtaditya, the most renowned of the kings of Kashmir, the builder of the Martand temple. Yasovarman's successor similarly was overthrown by Lalitaditya's son. Again, about 810, Dharmapala, king of Bengal, deposed the reigning king of Kanauj, replacing him by a nominee of his own. That nominee in his turn was expelled, as related above, by Nagabhata Parihar GURJARA-PRATIHARAS 183 of Bhinmal. Thus, within a space of about seventy-six years (c. a. d. 740-816), four kings of Kanauj were violently deposed by hostile powers. The fact illustrates vividly the disturbed condition of northern India in that age. The Gurjara empire of Bhoja. King Mihira Parihar of Kanauj, commonly known by his cognomen of Bhoja, reigned with great power and might for half a century (c. a. d. 840-90). His successors being known to have held both Saurashtra and Oudh, those countries may be assumed to have formed part of Bhoja's dominions, A TIBETAN BRONZE ; KUVERA AND SAKTI. which were extensive enough to be described as an empire with out exaggeration. Its limits may be defined as, on the north, the foot of the mountains ; on the north-west, the Sutlaj ; on the west, the Hakra, or ' lost river ', forming the boundary of Sind, and then the Mihran to the Arabian Sea ; on the south, the Jumna, forming the frontier of Jejaka-bhukti ; on the south-west, the lower course of the Narbada ; and on the east, the frontier of the Pala kingdom of Magadha. His son, Mahendra-pala (c. a.d. 890-908), seems to have retained possession of all the dominions of his father. An inscription of his which mentions the province and district of Sravasti suggests that that famous city was still inhabited in the 184 HINDU PERIOD tenth century. Magadha or South Bihar seems to have been tribu tary for a short time. Hardly anything is known about the internal condition of the transitory Gurjara or Parihar empire of Kanauj. An Arab traveller tells us that in the middle of the ninth century the king, namely Bhoja, commanded a powerful army, including the best cavalry in India and a large force of camels. The territories in Rajputana have always been famous for their breed of camels, which is still maintained. The Maharaja of Bikaner's camel-corps has played an honourable part in the Great War. The extreme mobility of Bhoja's cavalry and camelry must have given him an immense advantage over the less active armies of the ordinary Hindu state. The king was extremely rich, and ' no country in India was more safe from robbers ', a brief remark which implies the existence of efficient internal administration. Bhoja was a Hindu specially devoted to the worship of Vishnu in the boar incarnation and of the goddess Bhagavati or Lakshmi. He placed on his coins, which are very common, the words Adi Varaha, meaning 'primaeval boar' or Vishnu. The coins, like the other issues of the White Hun and Gurjara princes, are degenerate imi tations of Sassanian pieces, with reminiscences of the Greek drachma, the name of which survived in the word dramma applied to the Gurjara coins. The foreign invaders of India in those times never took the trouble to devise coin types of their own and were content to use barbarous and degraded derivatives of the Persian coinage. Rajasekhara. Mahendrapala, the son and successor of Bhoja, was the pupil of Rajasekhara, a poet from the Deccan who attended his court and was the author of four extant plays. One of those entitled Karpura-manjari from the name of the heroine, is a curious and interesting work, written wholly in Prakrit.' Professor Lanman has published a clever English translation' of it. The dramatist also composed a work on the art of poetry, which has been edited in the Gaikwar's Oriental Series. Before we proceed to describe the decline and fall of the Gurjara empire and the capture of Kanauj by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni m 1018-19, it will be convenient to give a brief account of the Pala dynasty of Bengal and the Chandel rulers of Jijhoti or Bundel khand, the two leading kingdoms of northern India which were contemporary with the Gurjara kingdom or empire of Kanauj ; adding a slight notice of other states. Bengal ; Adisura. The history of Bengal and Bihar after the decease of Harsha is obscure. The rulers of part of Magadha or Coin of Adi Varaha (Bhoja). BENGAL 185 South Bihar in the latter part of the seventh century were members of the imperial Gupta family, who had as neighbours in another section of the province Rajas belonging to a clan called Maukhari. Bengal tradition has much to say about a king named Adisura, who ruled at Gaur or Lakshmanavati, and sought to revive the Brahmanical religion which had suffered from Buddhist predomi nance. He is believed to have imported five Brahmans from Kanauj, who taught orthodox Hinduism and became the ancestors of the Radhiyaand Varendra Brahmans. His date may be placed in or after a. d. 700. The Pala dynasty ; Dhar- mapala. Then Bengal suffered from prolonged anarchy which be came so intolerable that the people (c. a.d. 750) elected as their king one Gopala, of the ' race of the sea ', in order to introduce settled government. We do not know the details of the events thus indi cated. Gopala's son, Dharmapala, who enjoyed an unusually long reign, was the real founder of the greatness of his dynasty, which is conveniently known as that of the ' Pala Kings ' of Bengal, because the names of the sovereigns ended in the word -pala. Dharmapala succeeded in carrying his arms far beyond the limits of Bengal and Bihar. He made himself master of most of northern India, and, as already mentioned, was strong enough to depose one Raja, of Kanauj and substitute another in his, place. He is said to have effected the revolution with the assent of nine northern kings, whose designations indicate that the influence of the Bengal monarch extended even to Gandhara on the north-western frontier. Those events must have happened about or soon after a. d. 810. Dharmapala, like all the members of his house, was a zealous Buddhist. He founded the famous monastery and college of Vikramasila, which probably stood at Pattharghata in the Bha- galpur District. The Buddhism of the Palas was very different from the religion or philosophy taught by Gautama, and was a corrupt form of Mahayana doctrine. Devapala. ' Dharmapala's son Devapala, who is reckoned by Bengal tradition to have been the most powerful of the Palas, SCULPTURE, PALA PERIOD. 188 HINDU PERIOD also enjoyed a long reign. His rule and that of his father together covered something like a hundred years, and may be taken as having extended through almost the whole of the ninth century. Devapala's general, Lausena or Lavasena, is said to have annexed both Assam and Kalinga. No buildings of Pala age seem to have survived, but the remembrance of the kings is preserved by many great tanks or artificial lakes excavated under their orders, espe cially in the Dinajpur'District. Sculpture in both stone and metal was practised with remarkable success. The names of two eminent artists, Dhlman and Bitpalo or Vitapala, are recorded, and it is possible that some of the numerous extant works may be attributed rightly to them. Mahipala, &c. ; the Senas. The popular memory has attached itself to Mahipala, the ninth king of the dynasty (c. a.d. 978-1030), more than to any other. He reigned for about half a century and underwent the ^ strange experience of being attacked about a.d. 1023 by Rajendra Chola, the Tamil king of the Far South, who prided himself on having advanced as far as the bank of the Ganges. The mission of Atlsa to Tibet, as already mentioned, was dispatched in a. d. 1038, in the reign of Nayapala, the successor of -Mahipala. The dynasty, which underwent various ups and downs of fortune, lasted until the Muhammadan conquest of Bihar in 1199. Part of Bengal came under the sway of a new dynasty, that of the Senas, early in the eleventh century. Vallala-sena or Ballal Sen, who seems to have reigned from about 1158 to 1170, is credited by Bengal tradition with having reorganized the caste system, and introduced the practice of ' Kulinism ' among Brahmans, Baidyas, and Kayasths. The Senas originally were Brahmans from the Deccan, and their rise seems to have been a result of the Chola invasion in 1023. The details of their chronology and history : are obscure. Among_ the more important Indian ruling families the Palas and the Andhras alone attained the distinction of enduring each for four and a half centuries. Chandel dynasty. But the Chandel dynasty of Jijhoti or Bundelkhand, although it never attained a position as exalted as that of the greatest Andhra and Pala kings, had a still longer history, and played a considerable part on the Indian political stage for about three centuries. The early Chandel Rajas appear to have been petty Gond chiefs in the territory now called the Chhatarpur State in the Central India Agency. In the ninth century they overthrew neighbouring Parihar (Pratihara) chief tains of foreign origin, who must have been connected with the Bhinmal-Kanauj dynasty, and advanced their frontier towards ¦• the north in the region now called Bundelkhand, until they ' approached the Jumna. The principal towns in the kingdom, which was called Jejaka-bhukti or Jijhoti, were Khajuraho in Chhatarpur, Mahoba in the Hamirpur District, and Kalanjar in the Banda District, U. P. The military power of the king- TEMPLE, KHAJURAHO. 188 HINDU PERIOD ¦dom depended largely on the possession of the strong fortress of Kalanjar. . The Chandel Rajas, who probably had been tributary to Bhoja of Kanauj, became fully independent in the tenth century. King Dhanga, whose reign covered the second half of that century, was the most notable prince of his family. He joined the Hindu confederacy formed to resist Amir Sabuktigin, the earliest Muslim invader, and shared the disastrous defeat suffered by the allies on the Afghan frontier. Ganda, a later Raja, took part in the -opposition to Sultan Mahmud, which will be noticed presently more particularly. In the second half of the eleventh century Raja KIrtivarman restored the glories of his house, defeated Kar- nadeva, the aggressive king of Chedi, the ancient Mahakosala, equivalent in large measure to the modern Central Provinces, and widely extended the frontiers of his dominions. KIrtivarman is memorable in literary history as the patron of the curious alle gorical play, entitled the Prabodha chandrodaya, or ' Rise of the Moon of Intellect ', which was performed at his court about a.d. 1065, and gives in dramatic form a clever exposition of the Vedanta system of philosophy. The Raja's memory is also pre served by the name of the Kirat Sagar, a lake situated among the hills near Mahoba. The last Chandel Raja, to enjoy the position of an independent king of importance was Paramardi or Parmal, who was defeated by Prithlraj Chauhan in 1182, and by Kutbu-d din Ibak in 1203. After that date the Chandel Rajas sank into obscurity, but long continued to reign as local princes in the jungles of Bundelkhand. DurgavatI, the noble Queen of Gondwana, who so gallantly resisted the unprovoked aggression of Akbar's general, Asaf Khan, in 1564, was a Chandel princess. She was married to a Gond Raja, thus renewing the ancient relation between the tribes men of the forest and their ennobled Rajput kinsmen of the plain. The dynasty even now has a representative in the Raja, of Gidhaur in the Monghyr (Mungir) District of Bihar, whose ancestor emi grated from Bundelkhand in the thirteenth century. Chandel architecture. One of the beautiful lakes which Chandel princes formed by damming up valleys among the low forest-clad hills of Bundelkhand has been mentioned. Many others exist, on the banks of which I often pitched my tents in my youth. The embankments are gigantic structures faced with stone and sometimes crowned by magnificent temples of granite, or rather gneiss. A large group of such temples still standing at Khajuraho is familiar to all students of Indian architecture. Some of the best examples were erected by King Dhanga in the second half of the tenth century. The Jain religion had numerous ad herents in the Chandel dominions during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, although it is now nearly extinct in that region. Ancient Jain temples and dated images may still be seen in many villages. Buddhism had but a slight hold on the country, and Buddhist images, although not unknown, are rare. CHANDELS 189- Raja. Bhoja of Dhar, The Pawars or Paramaras, one of the: clans of foreign origin supposed to have been born from the fire-pit of Mount Abu, founded a dynasty in Malwa, which took its share in the wars of the period and attained considerable dis tinction. The most renowned prince of the dynasty was Raja Bhoja, who reigned for more than forty years, from about 1018. to 1060 -1 He was an accomplished scholar and a liberal patron. of Sanskrit learning. His name in consequence has become proverbial as that of the ideal Hindu prince. The defeat of Bhoja in or about 1060 by the allied armies of Gujarat and Chedi reduced the Raja, of Malwa, to a position of little political importance. Dhar or Dhara,, now the head-quarters of a petty state, was the capital of Bhoja, who adorned the town with handsome edifices,, of which some vestiges remain in spite of the long-continued Muslim occupation. The immense Bhojpur lake formed by damming the Betwa river and a smaller stream, and covering an, area exceeding 250 square miles, was constructed by Raja Bhoja. Early in the fifteenth century the dam was cut by Hoshang Shah, Sultan of Malwa, with the result that a large area of valuable land was reclaimed for cultivation. The Indian Midland Railway now traverses the dry bed of the lake. Gujarat. A passing reference to the Solanki or Chaulukya- dynasty of Gujarat established by Mularaja in the tenth century must suffice, although stories about Mularaja occupy a prominent place in the semi-historical legends of the province. If tradition. may be believed, Mularaja was a son of the king of Kanauj, apparently Mahipala, who probably had appointed his son to be viceroy in the west. Mularaja seems to have seized an opportunity" to rebel and set up as an independent sovereign. We now return to the north and resume the thread of the story of Kanauj with that of other northern kingdoms. Mahipala of Kanauj. The Parihar empire began to break up in the reign of Mahipala (c. a. d. 910-40), who was a grandson of' Bhoja. His power suffered a severe shock in a.d. 916 when Indra III, the Rashtrakuta king of the Deccan, captured Kanauj. Although the southern monarch did not attempt to secure a permanent dominion on the banks of the Ganges, his successful raid necessarily weakened the authority of Mahipala, who could no longer hold- the western provinces. The Chandel king helped Mahipala to recover his capital. Some years later Gwalior became independentr but the Kanauj kingdom still continued to be one of the leading states. Raja. Jaipal of Bathindah. The rule of the Parihars had never extended across the Sutlaj, and the history of the Panjab between the seventh and tenth centuries is extremely obscure. At some 1 Care should be taken not to confound him with Bhoja or Mihira Parihar of Kanauj who reigned from about A. d. 840 to 890, and has been forgotten by Indian tradition. Names like Mahipala, Mahendrapala, and many others occur in distinct dynastic lists, and it is easy to confound the bearers of the names. 190 HINDU PERIOD time not recorded a powerful kingdom had been formed, which extended from the mountains beyond the Indus, eastwards as far as the Hakra or ' lost river', so that it comprised a large part of the Panjab, as well as probably northern Sind. The capital was Bathin- dah (Bhatinda), the Tabarhind of Muhammadan histories, now in the Patiala State, and for many centuries an important fortress on the military road connecting Multan with India proper through Delhi. At that time Delhi, if in existence, was a place of little consideration. In the latter part of the tenth century the Raja, of Bathindah was Jaipal, probably a Jat or Jat. Freedom of the Hindu states. Until almost the end of the tenth century the Indian Rajas were at liberty to do what they pleased, enjoying exemption from foreign invasion and freedom from the control of any paramount authority. Their position was gravely disturbed when an aggressive Muhammadan power, alien in religion, social customs, ideas, and methods of warfare, appeared on the scene and introduced an absolutely novel element into the interior polities of India, which had not been seriously affected either by the Arab conquest of Sind at the beginning of the eighth century or by the later Muslim occupation of Kabul. Amir Sabuktigin. An am bitious Muhammadan chief named Sabuktigin, Amir of Ghazni, ef fected a sudden change. In a.d. 986-7 (a. h. 376) he made his first raid into Indian territory, and came into conflict with Raja Jaipal of Bathindah. Two years later the Hindu prince retaliated by an invasion of the Amir's territory, but being defeated was compelled to sign a treaty binding him to pay a large indemnity and to surrender four forts to the west of the Indus besides many elephants. Jaipal broke the treaty and was punished for his breach of faith by the devasta tion of his border-lands and the loss of the Lamghan or Jalalabad District. After a short interval, in or about a.d. 991, Jaipal made a vigorous effort to ward off the growing Muslim menace by organizing a confederacy of Hindu kings, including among others Rajyapala, the Parihar king of Kanauj, and Dhanga, the ruler of the distant Chandel kingdom to the south of the Jumna. The allies were defeated disastrously somewhere in or near the Kurram (Kurmah) valley, and Peshawar passed under Muhammadan rule. Sultan Mahmud. In a.d. 997 the crown of Ghazni descended after a short interval to Sabuktigin's son Mahmud, who assumed the title of Sultan, the royal style preferred by the Muhammadan kings in India for several centuries. Mahmud was a zealous Musalman of the ferocious type then prevalent, who felt it to be a duty as well as a pleasure to slay idolaters. He was also greedy of treasure and took good care to derive a handsome profit from his Coin of Sabuktigin. GHAZNI DYNASTY 191 holy wars. Historians are not clear concerning either the exact number or the dates of his raids. The computation of Sir Henry Elliot that Mahmud made seventeen expeditions may be accepted. Whenever possible he made one each year. Hindu authorities never mention distinctly his proceedings, which are known only from the testimony of Muhammadan authors, who do not always agree. It was the custom of the Sultan to quit his capital early in October and utilize the cold weather for his operations. Three months of steady marching brought him into the heart of the rich Gangetic provinces ; and by the time he had slain his tens of thousands and collected millions of treasure he was ready at the beginning of the hot season to go home and enjoy himself. He carried off crowds of prisoners as slaves, including no doubt skilled masons and other artisans whom he employed to beautify his capital ; as his successors did in later times. It would be tedious to relate in full the story of all his murderous expeditions. Their character will appear sufficiently from a brief notice of the more notable raids. Early raids. In November 1001, not long after his accession, in the course of his second expedition, he inflicted a severe defeat near Peshawar on Jaipal, who was taken prisoner with his family. The captive, who was released on terms after a time, refused to survive his disgrace. He committed suicide by fire and was succeeded by his son Anandpal, who continued the struggle with the foreigners, but without success. He followed his father's example and organized a league of Hindu Rajas, including the rulers of Ujjain, Gwalior, Kanauj, Delhi, and Ajmer, who took the field with a host which was larger than that opposed to Sabuktigin, and was under the supreme command of Visala-deva, the Chauhan Raja, of Ajmer. The hostile forces watched each other on the plain of Peshawar for forty days, during which the Hindus received reinforcements from the powerful Khokhar tribe of the Panjab, while the Sultan was compelled to form an entrenched camp. The camp was stormed by a rush in force of the new allies, who slew three or four thousand Musalmans in a few minutes. Victory seemed to be within the grasp of the Hindus when it was snatched from their hands by one of those unlucky accidents which have so often determined the fate of Indian battles. The elephant carrying either Anandpal himself or his son Brahmanpal, for accounts differ as usual, turned and fled. The Indians, on seeing this, broke in disorder. The Muhammadan cavalry pursued them for two days and nights, killing eight thousand and capturing enormous booty. Loosely organized confederacies of Hindu contingents each under its own independent chief almost always proved incapable of withstanding, the attack of fierce foreign cavalry obeying one will. Kangra.. The decisive victory thus gained enabled the Sultan to attack with success the strong fortress of Kangra or Bhimnagar, with its temple rich in treasure accumulated by the devotion of generations of Hindus (a. d. 1009). Vast quantities of coined money 192 HINDU PERIOD and gold and silver bullion were carried off. The treasure in cluded ' a house of white silver, like to the houses of rich men, the length of which was thirty yards and the breadth fifteen. It could be taken to pieces and put together again. And there was a canopy, made of the fine linen of Rum, forty yards long and twenty broad, supported on two golden and two silver poles, which had been cast in moulds'. The Sultan returned to Ghazni with his booty and astonished the ambassadors from foreign powers by the display of ' jewels and unbored pearls and rubies, shining like sparks, or like wine congealed with ice, and emeralds like fresh sprigs of myrtle, and diamonds in size and weight like pomegranates '. The fortress was held by a Muslim garrison for thirty-five years, after which it was recovered by the Hindus. It did not pass finally under Muhammadan rule until 1620, when it was captured by' an officer of Jahangir. The buildings were ruined to a great extent by the earthquake of 1905. Mathura and Kanauj . The expedition reckoned as the twelfth was directed specially against Kanauj, the imperial city of northern India, then under the rule of Rajyapala Parihar. The Sultan, sweeping away all opposition, crossed the Jumna on December 2, 1018, and was preparing to attack Baran or Bulandshahr when the Raja, by name Hardatt, tendered his submission and with ten thousand of his men accepted the religion of Islam. Mathura, the holy city of Krishna, was the next victim. ' In the middle of the city there was a temple larger and finer than the rest, which can neither be described nor painted.' The Sultan was of opinion that two hundred years would have been required to build it. The idols included ' five of red gold, each five yards high ', with eyes formed of priceless jewels. ' The Sultan gave orders that all the temples should be burnt with naphtha and fire, and levelled with the ground.' Thus perished works of art which must have been among the noblest monuments of ancient India. Rajyapala, not daring to attempt the serious defence of his capital, fled across the Ganges. The seven forts which guarded Kanauj were all taken in one day, in January 1019, and the Sultan's troops were let loose to plunder and make captives. It was reported that the city contained nearly ten thousand temples, but it is not said distinctly that they were destroyed. The Sultan, after making an excursion into the Fatehpur District and to the borders of Jijhoti (Bundelkhand), retired to Ghazni with his prisoners and plunder. Collapse of Ganda Chandel. The cowardly flight of the Kanauj Raja angered his fellow Rajas who, under the command of a Chandel prince, combined against Rajyapala, slew him, and replaced him by Trilochanapala. Mahmud, who regarded the slain Raja, as his vassal, resolved to punish the chiefs who had dared to defy his might. He marched GHAZNI DYNASTY 193 again in the autumn of a. d. 1019, forced the passage of the Jumna, and entered the territory of Ganda Chandel, who had assembled a host so vast that the Sultan was frightened. But Ganda, a faint hearted creature, stole away in the night, and allowed the enemy to carry off to Ghazni 580 elephants and much other booty. When Mahmud came back again in 1021-2 Ganda once more refused to fight, and was content to buy off the invader. Somnath. The most celebrated and interesting of Mahmud's expeditions was the sixteenth, undertaken with the object of sacking the temple of Somnath or Prabhasa Pattana on the coast of Surashtra or Kathiawar, which was known to be stored with incalculable riches. The authorities differ concerning the chronology of the operations, probably because some of them ignore the fact that Mahmud spent about a year in Gujarat.1 He seems to have quitted Ghazni in December, A. d. 1023 (A. h. 414), with a force of 30,000 horsemen besides volunteers. He advanced by Multan and from Ajmer through the Rajputana desert to Anhilwara or Patan in Gujarat. The march through a country lacking in both food and water required extensive commissariat arrangements and a considerable expenditure of time. The Sultan consequently did not appear before Somnath until the middle of the eleventh month of a.h. 414, or about March, a.d. 1024, or, according to other authorities, 1025. A fiercely contested fight gave the invaders possession of the fortified temple and of an enormous mass of treasure. The number of the slain exceeded fifty thousand. The object of worship was a huge stone lingam enshrined in the sanctum of a temple constructed mainly of timber. The princi pal hall had fifty-six columns of wood covered with lead. The Sultan returned through Sind by a route more westerly than that he had used in coming. His army suffered severely from want of water. He arrived at Ghazni about April 1026, loaded with plunder. The Somnath expedition was the last important military operation of Mahmud. His final Indian expedition in a.d. 1027 was directed against the Jats in the neighbourhood of Multan. The remainder of his life was occupied by domestic troubles, and he died in April, a. d. 1030 (a. h. 421 ), at the age of sixty-two. Results of the raids. The Panjab, or a large part of it, was annexed to the Ghazni Sultanate. That annexation constitutes the sole claim of Mahmud to be counted as an Indian sovereign. While Muhammadan historians regard him as one of the glories of Islam, a less partial judgement finds in his proceedings little deserving of admiration. His ruling passion seems to have been avarice. He spent large sums in beautifying his capital and in endowing Muhammadan institutions in it. Like several other ferocious Asiatic conquerors he had a taste for Persian literature, and gained a reputation as a patron of poets and theologians. Firdausi, the author of the immense Persian epic, the Shdhndma, 1 For the year's stay see Forbes, Rdsmald, i, 79, and Elphinstone. The I. G. (1908), s. v. Somnath, correctly dates the operations in 1024-6. 1976 H 194 HINDU PERIOD considering himself to have been treated with insufficient gene rosity, composed a bitter satire upon the Sultan which is extant. Such matters, which occupy a prominent place in the writings of Elphinstone and other authors, really have no relevance to the history of India and need not be noticed further. So far as India was concerned Mahmud was simply a bandit operating on a large scale, who was too strong for the Hindu Rajas, and was in con sequence able to inflict much irreparable damage. He did not attempt to effect any permanent conquest except in the Panjab, and his raids had no lasting results in the interior beyond the destruction of life, property, and jpriceless monuments. ' Alberuni. The most distinguished ornament of Sultan Mahmud's reign was the profound scholar commonly called Alberuni,1 who had little reason to feel gratitude to the raiding Sultan, although patronized intelligently by his son Masaud. Alberuni, who was born in a. d. 973 and died in a* d. 1048, was a native of the Khwarizm or Khiva territory, and was brought to Ghazni either as a prisoner or as a hostage. When the Sultan succeeded in occupying the Panjab, Alberuni took up his residence for a time in the newly acquired province, and used the opportunity to make a thorough survey of Hindu philosophy and other branches of Indian science. He mastered the Sanskrit language, and was not too proud to read even the Puranas. He noted carefully and recorded accurately numerous observations on the history, character, manners, and customs of the Hindus, and was thus able to compose the wonderful book conveniently known as ' Alberuni's India ', which is unique in Muslim literature, except in so far as it was imitated without acknowledgement more than five centuries later by Abu-1 Fazl in the Ain-i Akbari. The author, while fully alive to the defects of Hindu literary methods, was fascinated by the Indian philosophy, especially as expounded in the Bhagavad-Gitd. He was consumed with a desire to discover truth for its own sake, and laboured con scientiously to that end with a noble disregard of ordinary Muham madan prejudices. As his learned translator observes : His book on India is ' like a magic island of quiet impartial research in the midst of a world of clashing swords, burning towns, and plundered temples '. His special subjects were ' astronomy, mathematics, chronology, mathematical geography, physics, chemistry, and mineralogy ', all treated with such consummate learning that few modern scholars are capable of translating his treatises, and the versions, when accomplished, are often beyond the comprehension of even well-educated readers. Alberuni undoubtedly was one of the most gifted scientific men known to history. Some of his writings have been lost, and others remain in manuscript. The translation by Sachau of his Chronology of Ancient Nations, published in 1 His full designation was Abu-RIhan (Raihan) Muhammad, son of Ahmad. He became familiarly known as Bu-Rlhan, Ustad ('Master'), Al-Beruni ('the foreigner'). The spellings Al-Biruni and Al-Beruni are both legitimate, KANAUJ 195 1879, is a valuable work of reference, but very difficult to understand. The Gaharwars' of Kanauj. The Parihar dynasty of Kanauj came to an end in some manner unknown prior "to a. d. 1090 and was succeeded by Rajas belong ing to the Gaharwar (Gahada- vala) clan, who were connected with the Chandels and were of indigenous origin. Govinda- chandra, grandson of the founder of the new dynasty, enjoyed a long reign lasting for more than half a century (c. a.d. 1100 to Coin of Govindachandra. 1160), and succeeded in restoring the glory of the Kanauj kingdom to a considerable extent. Numer ous inscriptions of his. reign are extant. Raja, Jaichand. His grandson, renowned in popular legend as Raja, Jaichand (Jayachchandra), was reputed by the Muham madan writers to be the greatest king in India and was known to them as King of Benares, which seems to have been his principal residence. The incident of the abduction of his not unwilling daughter by the gallant Rai Pithora or Prithiraj Chauhan of Ajmir is a famous theme of bardic lays. When Jaichand essayed to stem the torrent of Muslim invasion in 1194, Muhammad of Ghor (Shihabu-d din, or Muizzu-d din, the son of Sam) defeated the huge Hindu host with immense slaughter at Chandrawar in the Etawah District near the Jumna. The Raja, was among the slain, and his capital, Benares, was plundered so thoroughly that 1,400 camels were needed to carry away the booty. That battle put an end to the independent kingdom of Kanauj, but local Rajas more or less subordinate to the ruling power of the day long continued to rule in the ancient city. The Gaharwar Rajas were succeeded by Chandels. Innumer able migrations of Rajput clans caused by the early Muhammadan invasions are recorded in village traditions and rude metrical chronicles kept by court bards. The Chauhans ; Prithiraj . The Chauhan chiefs of Sambhar and Ajmer in Rajputana fill a large place in Hindu tradition and in the story of the Muhammadan conquest of Hindostan. One of them named Vigraharaja (IV) may be mentioned as a noted patron of Sanskrit literature, who was credited with the composition of a drama, fragments of which are preserved on stone tablets at Ajmer. His brother's son was Rai Pithora or Prithiraj, already mentioned, who carried off Jaichand's daughter about a.d. 1175, and defeated the Chandels in 1182. He led the resistance to Muhammad of Ghor ten years later, was defeated at the second battle of Tarain, captured, and executed. His city of Ajmer was sacked, and the inhabitants were either massacred or enslaved. He is the most popular hero of northern India to this day, and his exploits are the subject of bards' songs and vernacular epics. 196 HINDU PERIOD The Chand Raisa. The most celebrated of such epics is the Chand Rdisd composed by Prithiraj's court poet Chand Bardai. The poem, written in archaic Hindi, has been constantly enlarged by reciters, as no doubt the Homeric poems were, and is believed to comprise about 125,000 verses. But the original composition, of only 5,000 verses, is said to be still in existence and in the custody of the poet's descendant, who resides in the Jodhpur State, and still enjoys the grant of lands made to his illustrious ancestor. It is much to be desired that the precious original manuscript should be copied and printed. The supposed error in Chand Bardai's dates does not exist. He used a special form of the Vikrama era, ninety or ninety-one years later than that usually current. Many other compositions of a similar character are to be found in Rajputana. History of Delhi. Delhi, meaning by that term the old town near the Kutb MInar, was founded, according to an authority cited by Raverty, in a.d. 933-4.1 It was held in the eleventh century by Rajas of the Tomara clan, who erected numerous temples, which were destroyed by the Muhammadans, who used the materials for their buildings. In the twelfth century the city was included in the dominions of Prithiraj. The wonderful iron pillar, originally erected somewhere else, perhaps at Mathura in the fourth century, seems to have been moved and set up in its present position by the Tomara chief in the middle of the eleventh century. It is a mass of wrought iron nearly 24 feet in length and estimated to weigh more than six tons. The metal is perfectly welded and its manipulation is a' triumph of skill in the handling of a refractory material. It is not the only proof that the ancient Indians possessed exceptional mastery over difficult problems of working in iron and other metals. The current belief that Delhi is a city of immemorial antiquity rests upon the tradition that the existing village of Indarpat marks the site of part of the Indraprastha of the Mahdbhdrata at a very remote age. The tradition may be correct, but there is not a vestige of any prehistoric town now traceable. The first of the many historical cities, known collectively as Delhi, was founded near the close of the tenth century after Christ, and did not attain importance until the time of Ananga Pala Tomara in the middle of the eleventh century. Most people probably have a vague impression that Delhi always was the capital of India. If they have, their belief is erroneous. Delhi never figured largely in Hindu history. It was ordinarily the head-quarters of the Sultans of Hindostan from 1206 to 1526, but did not become the established Mogul capital until Shahjahan moved his court from Agra in 1648. It continued to be the usual residence of his succes sors until 1858 when their dynasty was extinguished. Since 1912 a new Delhi has been declared the official capital of the Govern ment of India. The decision then taken is open to criticism from many points of view. 1 But other dates also are recorded. SELECTED DATES 197 A. D. 647. Death of Harsha. c. 700. Adisura in Bengal. 712. Arab conquest of Sind. 731. Embassy to China of Yasovarman, king of Kanauj. c. 740. Yasovarman defeated by Lalitaditya, king of Kashmir (a. d. 733-69). c. 750. 'Pala dynasty of Bengal founded by Gopala. c. 810. Dharmapala, king of Bengal, deposed a king of Kanauj and appointed another. c. 816. Parihar capital transferred from Bhinmal to Kanauj. c. 840-90. Bhoja, or Mihira, the powerful Parihar king of Kanauj. 933-4. Probable date of foundation of Delhi. c. 942-97. Mularaja, king of Gujarat. c. 950-99. Dhanga, the most powerful of the Chandel kings. 973-1048. Alberuni, scientific author. 997. Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, aec. 1001 . Sultan Mahmud defeated Jaipal. 1008-19. The Sultan defeated Anandpal and took Kangra. 1018-19. The Sultan took Kanauj. c. 1018-60. Bhoja Pawar, king of Malwa. c. 1023. Incursion of Rajendra Chola into Bengal. Dec. 1023 — April 1026. Somnath expedition of Sultan Mahmud. 1030. Death of Sultan Mahmud. 1038. Atisa sent on Buddhist mission to Tibet by Nayapala, king of Bengal. c. 1049-1100. KIrtivarman, Chandel king. c. 1100-60. Govindachandra, Gaharwar, king of Kanauj. c. 1158-70. Ballal Sen (Vallala Sena), king of part of Bengal. 1182. Parmal Chandel defeated by Raja Prithiraj Chauhan. 1192. Defeat and death of Prithiraj. Authorities Full references are given in E. H. I.3 A few supplementary ones are in the foot-notes to this chapter. CHAPTER 3 THE KINGDOMS OF THE PENINSULA Section 1. The Deccan Proper and Mysore. Groups of states. The mediaeval history of the peninsula concerns itself chiefly with those of two groups of states, namely, the kingdoms of the Deccan plateau lying between the Narbada on the north and the Krishna and Tungabhadra on the south, and those beyond those rivers. Mysore, which belongs geographi cally to the Far South, having been generally more closely con nected with the Deccan kingdoms than with the Tamil states, may be treated as an annexe of the Deccan proper. The history of the Tamil group of kingdoms — Pandya, Chera, Chola, and Pallava — forms a distinct subject. The Deccan proper, Mysore 198 HINDU PERIOD or the Kanarese country, and Tamilakam or Tamil Land were constantly in close touch one with the other, but the points of contact between the peninsular powers and those of northern India were few. Difficulties of the subject. Although modern research has had much success in piecing together the skeleton of peninsular history, it is not often possible to clothe the dry bones with the flesh of narrative. The greater part of the results of painstaking, praise worthy, and necessary archaeological study must always remain unattractive to the ordinary reader of history and extremely difficult to remember. The names of the sovereigns and other notables of southern India present peculiar obstacles in the path of the student of history. They are often terribly long, and each king commonly is mentioned by several alternative cumbrous names or titles which are extremely confusing.1 Names, too, frequently recur in the lists and are liable to be misunderstood. The kingdoms, moreover, were so completely isolated from the outer world that their history in detail can never possess more than local interest. For those reasons, to which others might be added, the story of the mediaeval southern kingdoms is even less manage able than that of the northern realms, which is sufficiently per plexing. In this chapter no attempt will be made to narrate consecutively the history of any of the dynasties, the treatment being confined to summary notices of a few leading powers and personages, coupled with observations on the changes which occurred in religion, literature, and art in the course of the centuries. Notwithstanding the political isolation of the South, religious and philosophical movements originated in " that region which pro foundly affected the thought of the North. The influence exercised by Ramanuja and other southern sages on the whole country from Cape Comorin to the recesses of the Snowy Mountains is the best evidence of that inner unity of Hindu India which survives the powerful disintegrating forces set in motion by diversity in blood, language, manners, customs, and political allegiance. Early mediaeval history. The history of the Deccan for a considerable time subsequent to the disappearance of the Andhra power early in the third century a. c. is extremely obscure. Our information concerning Mysore or the Kanarese country is somewhat fuller than that available for the Deccan proper, and two dynasties which All a large space in the publications of the archaeologists may receive passing notice. Kadambas. A clan or family called Kadamba enjoyed inde pendent power in the districts now called North and South Kanara and in western Mysore from the third to the sixth century. Their capital Banawasi, also known as Jayanti or Vaijayanti, was so ancient that it is mentioned in the edicts of Asoka. The Kadambas 1 e. g., an inscription mentions a man called Medini Misara Gandakat- tari, Trinetra-Saluva Narasana Nayaka ; and the King Pulakesin Chalukya I appears also as Satyasraya, Ranavikrama, and Vallabha. No author who meddles largely with such names can expect to be read. THE SOUTHERN KINGDOMS 199 resembled several other royal families of distinction in being of Brahman descent, although recognized as Kshatriyas by reason of their occupation as rulers. Kadamba chiefs in subordinate positions may be traced as late as the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the powerful Rayas of Vijayanagar, who founded a great kingdom early in that century, are supposed by some authorities to have had Kadamba connexions. Gangas. A still more distinguished dynasty was that of the Gangas, who ruled over the greater part of Mysore from the second to the eleventh century, and played an important part, in the incessant mediaeval wars. The Gangas of the tenth century were FACE OF GOMATA, SRAVANA BELGOLA. zealous patrons of Jainism, which had a long history in the penin sula from the fourth century b. c. The colossal statue of Gomata, 56J feet in height, wrought out of a block of gneiss on the top of an eminence at Sravana Belgola, and justly described as being unrivalled in India for daring conception and gigantic dimensions, was executed in about a. d. 983 to the order of Chamunda Raya, the minister of a Ganga king.1 A branch of the Gangas ruled in Orissa for about a thousand years from the sixth to the sixteenth century. Early Chalukyas. The most prominent of the early mediaeval dynasties in the Deccan was that of the Chalukyas, founded in the middle of the sixth century by Pulakesin I, who established himself as lord of Vatapi or Badami, now in the Bijapur District of the Bombay Presidency.2 His grandson, Pulakesin II (608-42), 1 Two similar but smaller colossi of much later date exist at Karakala or Karkala and Yenur in South Kanara. For the former see H. F. A., pi. liii. 3 The Chalukyas adopted the figure of a boar as their emblem, which was borrowed later by the Rayas of Vijayanagar and other dynasties. 200 HINDU PERIOD was almost exactly the contemporary of Harsha of Kanauj (606- 47), and in the Deccan occupied a paramount position similar to that enjoyed in northern India by his rival. When Harsha, about a.d. 620, sought to bring the Deccan under his dominion, Pulakesin was too strong for him and repelled his attack, maintaining the Narbada as the frontier between the two empires. The court of the sovereign of the Deccan was visited in a.d. 641 by Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, who was much impressed by the power of Pulakesin, and the loyalty of his warlike vassals. The capital probably was at or near Nasik, and the traveller experienced much difficulty in penetrating the robber-infested jungles of the Western Ghats. Even then the country was known as Maha rashtra; as it is now. The Buddhist monasteries in the kingdom numbered more than a hundred with a population of monks exceeding five thousand. A large proportion of the inhabitants of the realm did notfollow the Buddhist religion. Hiuen Tsang gives a brief and indistinct account of the Ajanta caves, which he seems to have visited. Most of the excellent sculptures and paintings in the caves .had then been completed. The fame of Pulakesin extended even to distant Persia, whose king ex changed embassies with him. The intercourse with Persia is commemo rated in the cave frescoes. The loyal valour of the chieftains of the Deccan did not avail to' save their lord from ruin. Only a year after Hiuen Tsang's visit the Chalukya king was utterly defeated and presumably slain by the Pallava king of Kanchi (642), named Narasimhavarman, who thus became the paramount power in the peninsula. The acts of the conqueror will be noticed more particularly as part of the story of the Pallavas. Thirteen years later (655) a son of Pulakesin revenged his father's death and captured Kanchi. The conflict between the Pallavas and the Chalukyas continued for many years, with varying fortune, until the middle of the eighth century (753), when a Rashtrakuta or Ratta chieftain overthrew the reigning Chalukya. The sovereignty of the Deccan, which had been held by the Chalu kyas for some two hundred years, thus passed to the Rashtra- kutas in whose hands it remained for nearly two centuries and a quarter. Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. The Chalukya or Solanki princes^ although provided by obsequious Brahmans with a first- class Hindu pedigree going back to the hero Rama of Ajodhya, really were of foreign origin, and belonged to the Huna-Guriara group of invading tribes. The Rashtrakutas or Rattas seem to have been indigenous, and naturally were hostile to the foreigners. Punch-marked coin. Early Chalukya coin. CHALUKYAS AND OTHERS 201 Usually, although not always, the Rajput clans of foreign descent were opposed to the clans formed from indigenous tribes. Religion. The early Chalukya kings, while tolerant of all religions, like most Indian rulers, were themselves Brahmanical Hindus. In their time Buddhism slowly declined, while the sacri ficial form of Hinduism grew in favour, and became the subject of numerous treatises. Handsome temples were erected in many places, and the practice of excavating cave-temples was borrowed by orthodox Hindus from their Jain and Buddhist rivals. The sixth-century Brahmanical caves at Badami contain excellent sculptures in good preservation. The Jain creed had many followers in the Southern Maratha country. A COPPER-PLATE GRANT. It is needless to detail the wars of the Rashtrakutas. The reign of Krishna I (ace. c. a.d. 760) is memorable for the rock-cut temple called Kailasa at Ellora, now in the Nizam's Dominions, which is one of the most marvellous works of human labour. The whole temple," hewn out of the side of a hill and enriched with endless ornament, stands clear as if built in the ordinary way. Amoghavarsha. King Amoghavarsha (c. 815-77) enjoyed one of the longest reigns recorded in history. Sulaiman, the Arab merchant who travelled in western India in the middle of the ninth century, knew the Rashtrakuta sovereign by his title of Balhara,, a corruption of Vallabha Rai, and states that he was acknowledged not only as the most eminent of the princes of India, but also as the fourth of the great monarchs of the world, the other three being the Khalif (Caliph) of Baghdad, the emperor of China, and the emperor of Rum or Constantinople. The Rashtrakuta kings kept on the best of terms with the Arabs of Sind, and enriched H3 202 HINDU PERIOD their subjects by encouraging commerce. Amoghavarsha possessed multitudes of horses and elephants, with immense wealth, and maintained a standing army regularly paid. His capital was Manyakheta, now Malkhed in the Nizam's Dominions. He adopted the Jain religion and showed marked favour to learned Jains of the Digambara or nude sect. The rapid progress of Jainism in the Deccan during the ninth and tenth centuries involved a decline in the position of Buddhism. Chalukyas of Kalyani. In a. d. §73 the second Chalukya dynasty, with its capital at Kalyani, was founded by Taila or Tailapa II, who dethroned the last of the Rashtrakutas. The kings of the new dynasty fought numerous wars with their neigh bours. At the beginning of the eleventh century the Chalukya country was cruelly ravaged by Rajaraja the Great, the Chola king, who threw into it a vast host of hundreds of thousands of merciless soldiers, by whom even Brahmans, women, and children were not spared. In a. d. 1052 or 1053 Somesvara Chalukya defeated and slew Rajadhiraja, the then reigning Chola king, in a famous battle fought at Koppam on the Krishna,.1 Vikramanka. Vikramanka or Vikramaditya, who reigned from a.d. 1076 to 1126, was the most conspicuous member of his dynasty. He secured his throne by a war with one brother, and later in life had to fight another brother who rebelled. He con tinued the perennial wars with the southern powers, the Cholas in that age having taken the place of the Pallavas and become the lords of Kanchi, which Vikramanka is said to have occupied more than once. His success in war with his neighbours was so marked that he ventured to found an era bearing his name, which never came into general use. His exploits in war, the chase, and love are recorded at great length in an historical poem composed by Bilhana, his chief pundit, a native of Kashmir. The poem, which recalls Bana's work on the deeds of Harsha, was discovered by Biihler in a Jain library, and well edited and analysed by him. It is interesting to note that Vikramanka was chosen by one of his consorts as her husband at a public swayamvara in the ancient epic fashion. The celebrated jurist, Vijnanesvara, author of the Mitdkshard, the leading authority on Hindu law outside of Bengal, lived at Kalyani in the reign of Vikramanka, whose rule appears to have • been prosperous and efficient. Bijjala Kalachurya. During the twelfth century the Chalukya power declined, and after 1190 the Rajas sank into the position of petty chiefs, most of their possessions passing into the hands of new dynasties, the Yadavas of Devagiri and the Hoysalas of Dorasamudra. A rebel named Bijjala Kalachurya and his sons held the' Chalukya throne for some years. Bijjala abdicated in 1167. The Lingayat sect. His brief tenure of power was marked by 1 Fleet (Ep. Ind. xii, 298), correcting an earlier identification of the battle-field, as in E. H. I.3, p. 431. CHALUKYAS AND OTHERS 203 the rise of the Lingayat or VIra Saiva sect, which is still powerful in the Kanarese country, especially among the trading classes. The members of the sect worship Siva in his phallic (lingam) form, reject the authority of the Vedas, disbelieve in the doctrine of rebirth, object to child-marriage, approve of the remarriage of widows, and cherish an intense aversion to Brahmans, not withstanding that the prophet of their creed was Basava, alleged to have been a Brahman minister of Bijjala, and said by some to have been originally a Jain. The sect when established displayed bitter hostility to Jainism. Vishnuvardhana Hoysala. The Hoysala or Poysala kings of the Mysore territory were descended from a petty chieftain in the Western Ghats, and first rose to importance in the time of Bittideva or Bittiga, better known by his later name of Vishnu vardhana, who died in a. d. 1141,1 after a reign of more than thirty years, more or less in subordination to the Chalukya power. The Hoysalas did not become fully independent until about a.d. 1190. Bittiga engaged in wars of the usual character, which need not be specified, and so extended his dominions ; but his substantial claim to remembrance rests on the important part played by him in the religious life of the peninsula and on the wonderful develop ment of architecture and sculpture associated with his name and the names of his successors. Bittiga in his early days was a zealous Jain and encouraged his minister Gangaraja to restore the Jain temples which had been destroyed by Chola invaders of the Saiva persuasion. In those days, although many, perhaps most, Rajas practised the normal Hindu tolerance, political wars were sometimes embittered by sectarian passion, and serious persecution was not unknown. The destruction of Jain temples by the Cholas was an act of fierce intolerance. About the close of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century Bittiga came under the teaching of the famous sage Ramanuja, who converted him to faith in Vishnu. The king then adopted the name of Vishnuvardhana and devoted himself to the honouring of his new creed by the erection of temples of unsurpassed magnificence. The current Vaishnava story that Vishnuvardhana ground the Jain theologians in oil-mills certainly is not true. The statement seems to be merely a picturesque version of the defeat of the Jain disputants in argument. Good evidence proves that the converted king continued to show toleration for various forms of religion. One of his wives and one of his daughters professed the Jain creed. Hoysala style of art. The style of the temples built by Vishnu vardhana and his successors in the twelfth and thirteenth century, which was used alike by Jains and Brahmanical Hindus, should be termed Hoysala, not Chalukyan as in Fergusson's book. It is characterized by a richly carved base or plinth, supporting the temple, which is polygonal, star-shaped in plan, and roofed by a low pyramidal tower, often surmounted by a vase-shaped 1 Lewis Rice in J. R. A,S., 1915, p. 529. 204 HINDU PERIOD ornament. In many cases there are several towers, so that the temple may be described as double, triple, or quadruple. The whole of a Hoysala building is generally treated as the background for an extraordinary mass of complicated sculpture, sometimes occurring in great sheets of bas-reliefs, and generally comprising many statues or statuettes, almost or wholly detached. The temple at Halebld or Dorasamudra, described by Fergusson, is the best known, but many others equally notable exist. Much of the sculpture is of high quality. It was the work of a large school of artists, scores of whom, contrary to the usual Indian practice, have recorded their names on their creations. Artistic skill is not yet dead in Mysore.1 Ramanuja. Ramanuja, the celebrated Vaishnava philosopher and teacher, who converted the Hoysala king, was educated at Kanchi, and resided at Srirangam near Trichinopoly in the reign of Adhirajendra Chola ; but owing to the hostility of that king, who professed the Saiva faith, was obliged to withdraw into Mysore, where he resided until the decease of Adhirajendra freed him from anxiety. He then returned- to Srirangam, where he remained until his death. The exact chronology of his long life is not easy to determine. His death may be placed about the middle . of the twelfth century. His system of metaphysics or ontology based on his interpretation of the Upanishads is too abstruse for discussion or analysis in these pages. He is regarded as the leading opponent of the views of Sankaracharya.2 The later Hoysalas. Vira Ballala, grandson of Vishnuvardhana, extended the dominions of his house, especially in a northerly direction, where he encountered the Yadavas of Devagiri (a.d. 1191-2). His conquests made the Hoysalas the most powerful dynasty in the Deccan at the close of the twelfth century. Their short-lived dominion was shattered in 1310 by the attack of Malik Kafur and Khwaja Haji, the generals of Alau-d din Khilji, who ravaged the kingdom and sacked the capita], Dorasamudra or Halebid, which was finally destroyed by a Muhammadan force a few years later, in 1326 or 1327. After that date the Hoysalas survived for a while as merely local Rajas. Yadavas of Devagiri. The Yadavas of Devagiri or Deogiri, known in later ages as Aurangabad, were descendants of feudatory nobles of the Chalukya kingdom. In the closing years of the twelfth century, as mentioned above, they were the 'rivals of the Hoysalas. The most influential member of the dynasty was Smghana early in the thirteenth centurv, who invaded Gujarat and other regions, establishing a considerable dominion which lasted only for a few years. In 1294 the reigning Raja was attacked by Alau-d din Khilji. who carried off an enormous amount of treasure. In 1309 Ramachandra. the last independent sovereign of the Deccan, submitted to Malik Kaf Or. His son-in-law, : 1 Ind. Ant., 1915, pp. 89 foil. 2 For an abstract of the doctrine see Sri Rdmdnujdchdrya, part ii, by T. Rajagopala Chariar, Madras, Natesan & Co., n.d. CHALUKYAS AND OTHERS 205 Harapala, having ventured to revolt against the foreigner, paid the penalty by being flayed alive at the order of his barbarous conqueror (1318). That tragedy was the end of the Yadavas. The story of the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar, which was founded about 1336, and developed into an extensive empire to the south of the Krishna, will be related with considerable detail in a later chapter in connexion with the southern Muhammadan dynasties. Section 2. The Tamil Powers of the Far South. Origin of the Pallavas. At the close of chapter 3 of Book II we took a passing glance at the early history of the Tamil king doms during the first and second centuries of the Christian era. It is impossible to construct anything like a continuous narrative until a date much later. After the time of Karikala Chola and Gajabahu of Ceylon the power which appears first on the stage of history is that of the Pallavas. In the middle of the fourth century Samudragupta encountered a Pallava king of Kanchi or Conjee veram, and it is not unlikely that the dynasty may have originated in the third century after the disappearance of the Andhras. The Pallavas constitute one of the mysteries of Indian history. The conjecture that they were Pahlavas, that is to say Parthians or Persians from the north-west, was suggested solely by a super ficial verbal similarity and may be summarily dismissed as base less. Everything known about them indicates that they were a peninsular race, tribe, or clan, probably either identical or closely connected with the Kurumbas, an originally pastoral people, who play a prominent part in early Tamil tradition. The Pallavas are sometimes described as the ' foresters ', and seem to have been of the same blood as the Kallars, who were reckoned as belonging to the formidable predatory classes, and were credited up to quite recent times with ' bold, indomitable, and martial habits '. The present Raja, of Pudukottai, the small Native State lying between the Trichinopoly, Tanjore, and Madura Districts, is a Kallar and claims the honour of descent from the Pallava princes. He has abandoned the habits of his forefathers and is a respectable ruler of the modern type, guided by the counsels of the Collector of Trichinopoly.1 1 According to Srinivasa Aiyangar, who writes with ample local know ledge, the Pallavas belonged to the ancient Naga people, who included a primitive Negrito element of Australasian origin and a later mixed race. Their early habitat was the Tondai mandalam, the group of districts rr\,..lfi Madras; Tanjore and Trichinopoly being later- conquests. The Pallava army was recruited from the martial tribe of Pallis or Kurumbas. The Pallava chiefs were the hereditary enemies of the three Tamil kings, and were regarded as intruders in the southern districts. Hence the term Pallava in Tamil has come to mean ' a rogue ', while a section of the Pallava subjects who settled in the Chola and Pandya countries became known 206 HINDU PERIOD The history of the Pallavas, although alluded to in some verna cular writings, had been almost wholly forgotten by everybody, and was absolutely unknown to Europeans before 1840, when inscriptions of the dynasty began to come to light. Since that date the patient labours of many investigators have recovered much of the outline of Pallava history and have restored the dynasty to its rightful place in Indian history, a place by no means insignificant. Limits of the Tamil states . The normal limits of the territories of the three ancient ruling races of the Tamil country were defined by immemorial tradition and well recognized, although the actual frontiers of the kingdoms varied continually and enormously from time to time. The Pandya kingdom, as defined by tradition, extended from the Southern Vellaru river (Pudukottai) on the north to Cape Comorin, and from the Coromandel (Chola-mandala) coast on the east to the ' great highway ', the Achchhankovil Pass leading into Southern Kerala, or Travancore. It comprised the existing Districts of Madura and Tinnevelly with parts of the Travancore State. The Chola country, according to the most generally received tradition, extended along the Coromandel_ coast from Nellore to Pudukottai, where it abutted on the Pandya territory. On the west it reached the borders of Coorg. The limits thus defined include Madras with several adjoining Districts, and a large part of the Mysore State. But the ancient literature does not carry the Tamil Land farther north than Pulicat and the Venkata or Tirupathi Hill, about 100 miles to the north-west of Madras. In the middle of the seventh century, when Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, travelled, the Pallavas held most of the Chola traditional territory, and the special Chola principality was restricted to a small and unhealthy area, nearly coincident with the Cuddapah District. The Chera or Kerala territory consisted in the main of the rugged region of the Western Ghats to the south of the Chandragiri river, which falls into the sea not far from Mangalore, and forms the boundary between the peoples who severally speak Tulu and Malayalam. No such traditional limits are attributed to the dominions of the Pallavas, although their early habitat, the Tondainadu, com prising the districts near Madras, was well known. They held as much territory as they could grasp, and Kanchi or Conjeeveram, their capital, was in the heart of Chola-mandalam. The facts indicate that they overlay the ancient ruling powers, and must have acquired their superior position by means of violence and blackmail, as the Maratha freebooters did in the eighteenth century.as Kallar or ' thieves '. All these people doubtless belonged to the Naga race. Those statements support the view expressed in the text, as formu lated many years ago. See Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas, Pondicherry, 1917. PALLAVAS 207 Outline of Pallava history. For about two hundred years from the middle of the sixth to the middle of the eighth century the Pallavas were the dominant power in the Far South. All the princes of the ancient royal families seem to have been more or less subordinate to them in that period. Simhavishnu Pallava, in the last quarter of the sixth century, recorded a boast that he had vanquished the Pandya, Chola, and Chera kings, as well as the ruler of Ceylon. In the time of their glory the home territories of the Pallavas comprised the modern Districts of North Arcot, South Arcot, Chingleput or Madras, Trichinopoly, and Tanjore ; while ? Pallava coin. their sovereignty extended from the Narbada and Orissan frontier on the north to the Ponnaiyar or Southern Pennar river on the south, and from the Bay of Bengal on the east to a line drawn through Salem, Bangalore, and Berar on the west.1 Although the Pallavas had to cede the Vengi province between the Krishna and the Godavari to the Chalukyas early in the seventh century, and never recovered it, that century was the time in which they attained their highest point of fame and during which they raised the imperishable monuments which constitute their best claim to remembrance. At the close of the ninth century the sceptre passed definitely from the hands of the Pallavas into those of the Cholas. Having thus outlined the general course of Pallava history, we proceed to more definite chronicling and to a brief account of Pallava achievements. Mahendra- varman. Mahendra-varman I (c. a. d. 600-25), son and successor of the victorious King Simhavishnu mentioned above, is memorable for his public works, which include rock-cut temples and caves, the ruined town of Mahendravadi between Arcot and Arconam, and a great reservoir near the same. About a.d. 610 he was defeated by Pulakesin II Chalukya, who wrested from him the province of VengI, where a branch Chalukya dynasty was established which endured for centuries. Narasimha- varman. Mahendra's successor, Narasimha- varman (c. a.d. 625-45), was the most successful and distinguished member of his able dynasty. In a. d. 642 he took Vatapi (Badami), the Chalukya capital, and presumably killed Pulakesin II, thus putting an end to the rule of the Early Chalukyas, and making the Pallavas the dominant power not only in Tamil Land, but also in the Deccan for a short time. Hiuen Tsang at Kanchi. Two years before that victory Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim, had visited Kanchi, which seems to have been the southern terminus of his travels. Civil war in Ceylon prevented him from crossing over to that country. 1 I. G. (1908), s. v. Chingleput District. Trichinopoly and Tanjore were not included in the Tondai nadu. 208 HINDU PERIOD His observations on the island and on the Pandya territory were based on information collected at Kanchi. The pilgrim does not mention the king's name, nor does he use the term Pallava. lo him the kingdom of Kanchi was simply Dravida or the lamil country. He notes that the soil was fertile and well cultivated, and credits the inhabitants with the virtues of courage, trust worthiness, public spirit, and love of learning. The language whether spoken or written, differed from that of the north. It was Tamil then as now. The capital of Malakotta, or the Pandya GANESA RATHA. country, presumably Madura, was a city five or six miles in circum ference. A modern observer much admired the plan of Kanchi : 'Here', Professor Geddes writes, 'is not simply a city made monumental by great temples and rich and varied innumerable minor ones ; what rejoices me is to find the realization of an exceptionally well-grouped and comprehensive town plan, and this upon » scale of spacious dignity, com bined with individual and artistic freedom to which I cannot name any equally surviving parallel whether in India or elsewhere.' > That testimony to the good taste of the architect of Pal lava times is supported by the excellence of the buildings and sculpture. The kingdom contained more than a hundred 1 Town Planning of Ancient Dekhan, p. 78, by C. P. Venkatarama Aiyar, Madras, 1916. PALLAVAS 209 Buddhist monasteries occupied by over ten thousand monks of the Sthavira school, while non-Buddhist temples, chiefly those of the nude Jain sect, were nearly as numerous. Certain buildings were ascribed to Asoka. The Buddhist edifices seem to have been taken over and modified or reconstructed by the Hindus, and so have mostly escaped notice. In 1915 Mr. T. A. Gopinatha Rao, after a few hours' search, discovered five large images of Buddha in Conjeeveram, two being in the Hindu temple of Kamakshi.1 Further investigation will assuredly disclose many traces of Buddhism in the Pallava country. MUKTESVARA TEMPLE, KANCHI. Pallava art. Narasimha founded the town of Mamallapuram or Mahabalipuram and caused the execution of the wonderful Rathas, or ' Seven Pagodas ' at that place, each of which is cut out from a great rock boulder. His artists also wrought the re markable relief sculptures in the rocks at the same place. The most notable of those works is the celebrated composition which, as commonly stated, depicts the Penance of Arjuna. The alterna tive explanation, although plausible, seems to be erroneous.2 1 Ind. Ant. 1915 p. 127. 3 Pallava Antiquities, i, 75. In H. F. A (1911), p. 222, pi. xlvi, I followed the older interpretation, which appears to be correct (Ind. Ant., 1917, pp. 54-7). 210 HINDU PERIOD The sculptures were continued by Narasimha's successor, but had to be abandoned incomplete about a. d. 670 in consequence of the Chalukya attacks. The splendid and numerous structural temples at Kanchi and other places are slightly later in date, and were mostly erected in the reign of Rajasimha in the early years of the eighth century. It thus appears that the history of Indian architecture and sculpture in the south begins at the close of the sixth century under Pallava rule. Earlier works, which were executed in imper manent materials, necessarily have perished. It is impossible here to go further into details, but it may be said that the Pallava school of architecture and sculpture is one of the most important and interesting of the Indian schools. The transition from wood to stone effected for northern India under Asoka in the third cen tury b. c. was delayed for nearly a thousand years in the Far South. That fact is a good illustration of the immense length of the course of Indian history and of the extreme slowness with which changes have been effected so as ultimately to cover the whole country. End of the Pallavas. A severe defeat inflicted in a.d. 740 on the reigning Pallava king by the Chalukya may be regarded as the beginning of the end of the Pallava supremacy. The heirs of the Pallavas, however, were not the Chalukyas, who had to make way for the Rashtrakutas in a.d. 753, but the Cholas, who, in alliance with the Pandyas, inflicted a decisive defeat on the Pallavas at the close of the ninth century. Pallava chiefs continued to exist as local rulers down to the thirteenth century, and nobles bearing the name may be traced even later. But after the seven teenth century all trace of the Pallavas as a distinct race or clan disappears, and their blood is now merged in that of the Kallar, Palli, and Vellala castes. There is every reason to believe that future historians will bj able to give a fairly complete narrative of the doings of the Pallava kings, and that the mystery which surrounds their origin and affinities may be elucidated in large measure. The brief notice of the subject in this place may be concluded by a few words on the history of religion during the Pallava rule. Religion. The earliest king who can be precisely dated, and who ruled in the fifth century, certainly was a Buddhist. The later kings were mostly Brahmanical Hindus, some being speciallv de voted to the cult of Vishnu, and others to that of Siva. Mahendra, who originally was a Jain, was converted to the faith of Siva by a famous Tamil saint, and, with the proverbial zeal of a convert, destroyed the large Jain monastery in South Arcot, which bore the name of Pataliputtiram, transferred at an early date from the ancient capital of India. The testimony of Hiuen Tsang proves that in the seventh century the nude or Digambara sect of Jains was numerous and influential, and his language implies that the various sects lived together peaceably as a rule, although exceptions may have occurred. The prevailing form of religion throughout the Pallava country in modern times is Saiva. Parantaka I Chola. The Chola chronology is known with PALLAVAS 211 accuracy from a. d. 907, the date of the accession of Parantaka I, son and successor of Aditya, the conqueror of the Pallavas. Parantaka, who reigned for forty-two years, was an ambitious warrior king, and among other achievements drove the Pandya king into exile, captured Madura his capital, and invaded Cevlon. Wars between the Tamil sovereigns and the rulers of Ceylon were almost incessant. The events are recorded in a multitude of Indian inscriptions as well as in the chronicles of the island. Rajaraja the Great. The most prominent of the Chola monarchs were Rajaraja-deva the Great, who came to the throne in a.d. 985, and his son Rajendra Choladeva I, whose reign ended in a. d. 1035. The interval of fifty years covers the period of the most decisive Chola supremacy over the other Tamil powers. The Pandyas, who never admitted willingly the pre tensions of their rivals, which they long resisted, were forced to sub mit more or less completely to their overlordship. The exploits of both Rajaraja and his at least equally aggressive Coin of Rajaraja. son are celebrated m innumerable inscriptions beginning from the eighth year of Rajaraja, whose earliest conquest was that of the Chera kingdom.1 His conquests on the mainland up to his fourteenth year com prised the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of VengI, which had been wrested from the Pallavas at the beginning of the seventh century, Coorg, the Pandya country, and large areas in the table-land of the Deccan. During subsequent years he subdued Quilon or Kollam on the Malabar coast, Kalinga, and Ceylon. About a.d. 1005 he sheathed the sword and spent the rest of his days in peace. During his declining years he associated the Crown Prince with him in the government, according to the current practice of the southern dynasties.2 Rajaraja possessed a powerful navy and annexed a large number of islands, probably including the Lacca- dives and Maldives. When he passed away, he left to his son substantially the whole of the modern Madras Presidency, except Madura and" Tinnevelly. Rajendra Choladeva I. Rajendra Choladeva I carried his arms even further than his father had done. He sent a fleet across the Bay of Bengal, and thus effected the temporary occupation of Pegu, as well as of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. He even ventured on an expedition to the north, about a. d. 1023, and defeated Mahipala, the Pala king of Bihar and Bengal. In commemoration of that exploit he assumed the title of Gangai- konda, and built in the Trichinopoly District a new capital city 1 Not of the Chera fleet, as in E. H. I.3, p. 465. The correction is due to T. A. Gopinatha Rao in Travancore Archaeol. Ser., vol. ii, pp. 3-5. 3 That practice accounts for sundry discrepancies in the accession dates. 212 HINDU PERIOD called Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, adorned by a magnificent palace, a gigantic temple, and a vast artificial lake. The ruins, which have never been properly described or illustrated, have been much damaged by spoliation for building material. The later Cholas. The death of Rajendra's son, Rajadhiraja, on the battle-field of Koppam in a.d. 1052 or 1053, when fighting the Chalukya, has been already mentioned. Ten years later the Chalukyas were defeated in their turn in another hard-fought contest. King Adhirajendra, who was assassinated in a. d. 1074, has been named as having been the enemy of the sage Ramanuja. Rajendra Kulottunga I, the successor, but not the son of Adhirajendra, was the most conspicuous of the later Cholas, who are known as Chalukya-Cholas, because of their relationship with the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. Rajendra, who reigned for forty-nine years, effected extensive conquests, and also directed an elaborate revision of the revenue survey of his dominions in a. d. 1086, the year of the survey for the Anglo-Norman Domesday Book. During the thirteenth century the Chola power gradually declined, and later in that century the Pandya kings reasserted themselves and shook off the Chola yoke. The Muhammadan inroad in 1310 and the subsequent rise of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar extinguished the ancient Chola dynasty with its institutions. Chola administration. The administration of the Chola kingdom was highly systematized and evidently had been organized in very ancient times. Our definite knowledge of the details rests chiefly upon inscriptions dated between a. d. 800 and 1300. Certain records of Parantaka I supply particularly full information about the actual working of the village assemblies during the first half of the tenth century. The whole fabric of the administration rested upon the basis of the village, or rather of unions of villages. It was usually found more convenient to deal with a group or union of villages (kurram) rather than with a single village as the administrative unit. Each kurram or union managed its local affairs through the agency of an assembly (mahdsabhd), which possessed and exercised extensive powers subject to the control of the royal officers (adhikdrin). The assembly was elected by an elaborate machinery for casting lots, and the members held office for one year. Each union had its own local treasury, and enjoyed full control over the village lands, being empowered even to sell them in certain contingencies. Committees were appointed to look after tanks, gardens, justice, and other departments. A certain number of kiirrams or unions constituted a District (liddu), a group of Districts formed akdttam or Division, and several Divisions formed a province. The kingdom was divided into six provinces. That specially designated as Chola-mandalam was roughly equivalent to the Tanjore and Trichinopoly Districts. The theoretical share of the gross produce claimed by the state as land revenue was one-sixth, but petty imposts in great variety were levied, and the total demand has been estimated as four- CHOLAS 213 fifteenths. It may well have been often much more. Payment could be made either in kind or in gold. The currency unit was the gold kdsu, weighing about 28 grains Troy. Silver coin was not ordinarily used in the south in ancient times. The lands were regularly surveyed, and a standard measure was recorded. Details concerning the military organization are lacking. A strong fleet was maintained. Irrigation works were constructed on a vast scale and of good design. The embankment of the artificial lake at Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, for instance, was sixteen miles in length, and the art of throwing great dams or ' anicuts ' across the Kaveri (Cauvery) and other large rivers was thoroughly understood. Various public works of imposing dimen sions were designed and erected. The single block of stone forming the summit of the steeple of the Tanjore temple is 25£ feet square, and is estimated to weigh 80 tons. According to tradition it was brought into position by being moved up an incline four miles long. It seems that forced labour was employed on such works. The principal roads were carefully maintained. The particulars thus briefly summarized give an impression that the administrative system was well thought out and reasonably efficient. The im portant place given to the village assemblies assured the central government of considerable popular support, and individuals probably submitted readily to the orders of their fellow villagers who had the force of public opinion behind them. The system- appears to have died out along with the Chola dynasty early in the fourteenth century, and ever since that distant time has been quite extinct. Wrhile it is obvious that a dead institution of such antiquity cannot be revived in its old form, it is permissible to regret that modern conditions present so many difficulties in the way of utilizing village assemblies. Chola art. The story of South Indian art, meaning by that term architecture and sculpture, because no paintings to signify have survived,1 is of special interest, inasmuch as the art appears to be wholly of native growth, untouched by foreign influence, and to have moved slowly through a. long course of natural evolution. The early works of art, executed in impermanent materials, have perished utterly and cannot be described. But beyond all doubt they existed in large numbers and were the foundation of more enduring works. The artists who designed the Pallava temples and wrought the sculptures on the rocks of Mamallapuram were not novices. They had served their apprenticeship, and when the call came to them to express their ideas in imperishable forms of stone they brought to bear on the new problem the skill acquired by generations of practice. The art of the Chola period is the continuation of that of Pallava times. No violent break separates the two stages. The changes which occurred took place gradually by a process of spontaneous development. The earliest Chola temple described hitherto is that at Dada- 1 M. Jouveau-Dubreuil has noted some faint traces of Pallava frescoes. A fine series of paintings executed in the fifth century exists at SIgiriya in Ceylon (II. F. A., plates lviii-lx). 214 HINDU PERIOD puram in the South Arcot District dating from the tenth century. The best known examples of Chola architecture, the huge temples of Tanjore and Gangaikonda-Cholapuram, are slightly later in date. Their design pleases the eye because the lofty tower over the shrine dominates the whole composition. In later Chola art the central shrine was reduced to insignificance, while endless labour was lavished on mighty gopurams or gateways to the temple enclosure, as at Chidambaram. The result, although imposing, is unsatisfying. The Hindu temples of Ceylon seem to belong to the school of the earlier Cholas, as exemplified in comparatively small buildings. The figure sculpture in the panels of the Gangaikonda-Chola puram temple is of high quality and recalls the best work in Java. Similar sculptures are to be seen elsewhere. Religion. The Chola kings, apparently without exception, were votaries of the god Siva, but as a rule were tolerant of the other sects in the normal Indian manner. Sometimes, however, they violated the good custom, as when a Chola army destroyed the Jain temples in the Hoysala coun try, and a Chola king drove Ramanuja into exile. The dynasty is said to have patron ized Tamil literature. The Pandya kingdom. The re maining Tamil powers — the Pandya Pandya coin. and Chera — require little notice. In the seventh century, Hiuen Tsang, who did not personally visit the Pandya country, gives no in formation about the character of the government, nor does he name the capital, which must have been Madura. The Pandya Raja, at that time presumably was tributary to the Pallavas of Kanchi. Buddhism was almost extinct, the ancient monasteries being mostly in ruins. He was informed that near the east side of the capital the remains of the monastery and stupa built by Asoka's brother, Mahendra, were still visible.1 It is to be feared that search for the site is not now likely to be successful. No attempt has been made so far to trace Buddhist monuments in the Pandya kingdom. Hindu temples were then numerous, and the nude Jain sect had multitudes of adherents. Persecution of the Jains. Very soon after Hiuen Tsang's stay in the south, the Jains of the Pandya kingdom suffered a terrible persecution at the hands of the king variously called Kuna, Sundara, or Nedumaran Pandya, who originally had been a Jain and was converted to faith in Siva by a Chola queen. He signal ized his change of creed by atrocious outrages on the Jains who refused to follow his example. Tradition avers that eight thousand of them were impaled. Memory of the fact has been preserved in various ways, and to this day the Hindus of Madura, where the 1 I think it probable that Mahendra undertook the conversion of Ceylon from his base at Madura, and not at all in the manner described in the Buddhist ecclesiastical legends. CHOLAS 215 tragedy took place, celebrate the anniversary of ' the impalement of the Jains ' as a festival (utsava).1 The later Pandyas. The Pandya chiefs fought the Pallavas without ceasing, and at the close of the ninth century joined the Cholas in inflicting on their hereditary enemies a decisive defeat. The Pandyas also engaged frequently in war with Ceylon. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries they were obliged unwillingly to submit to the Chola suzerainty, but in the thirteenth century they regained a better position, and might be considered the leading Tamil power when the Muhammadan attacks began in 1310. After that time they gradually sank into the position of mere local chiefs. Marco Polo's visit. A glimpse of the Pandya kingdom in the days of its revival is obtained from the pages of the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, who visited Kayal on the Tamraparni twice, in 1288 and 1293. That town was then a busy and wealthy port, frequented by crowds of ships from the Arabian coast and China, in one of which the Venetian arrived. He describes Kayal (Gael) as 'a great and noble city', where much business was done. The king possessed vast treasures and wore upon his person the most costly jewels. He maintained splendid state, showed favour to merchants and foreigners so that they were glad to visit his city, and administered his realm with equity. In consequence of the gradual elevation of the land, Old Kayal is now two or three miles from the sea.' Traces of ancient habita tions may be discerned for miles, but the site is occupied only by a few miserable fishermen's huts.2 It would be difficult to find a more striking example of the vicissitudes of fortune. Many ruined buildings must be hidden beneath the sands, but no serious attempt to excavate the locality has been made. Several Jain statues have been noticed both at Kayal and at the still more ancient neighbour ing site of Korkai. The Chera kingdom. Little is known about the details of the mediaeval his tory of the Chera kingdom, which was subject to the more powerful members of the Chola dynasty. The conquest was the first military operation on a large scale undertaken in the reign of Rajaraja Chola, about a.d. 990. The kingdom ordi narily included the greater part of the modern Travancore State. Village assemblies exercised extensive powers, as in the Chola territory. The Kollam or Malabar era of a.d. 824-5, as commonly used in inscriptions, seems to mark the date of the foundation of Kollam or Quilon. 1 T. A. Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, vol. i, Introd., p. 55 ; Madras, 1914. 2 Ind. Ant., vi, 80-3, 215. Chera coin. 216 HINDU PERIOD SELECTED DATES A. D. .c. 600-25. Mahendra-varman Pallava (cave-temples, &c.„i. 608-42. Pulakesin II Chalukya. c. 610. Eastern Chalukya dynasty of Vengi founded. c. 620. Defeat of Harsha of Kanauj by Pulakesin. c. 625-45. Narasimha-varman Pallava (rathas, reliefs, &c). Kiina (alias Sundara or Nedumaran) Pandya, who impaled the Jains, was contemporary. 640. Hiuen Tsang at Kanchi. 641. Hiuen Tsang at the court of Pulakesin. 642. Defeat and deposition of Pulakesin by Narasimha-varman Pallava. 740. Defeat of Pallavas by Chalukyas. 753. Overthrow of Early Chalukyas by the Rashtrakutas or Rattas. c. 760. Krishna I Rashtrakuta, ace. ; Kailasa temple at Ellora. c. 815-77. Amoghavarsha Rashtrakuta. 907. Parantaka I Chola, ace. 973. Taila founded Second Chalukya Dynasty of Kalyani. c 983. Colossal Jain statue at Sravana Belgola. 985. Rajaraja Chola, ace. c. 1023. Expedition of Rajendra Choladeva to Bengal. 1052 or 1053. Battle of Koppam ; Cholas defeated by Chalukyas. 1076-1126. Vikramanka or Vikramaditya Chalukya. c. 1110-41. Bittiga or Vishnu-vardhana Hoysala ; Ramanuja. c. 1160-7. Bijjala usurper ; Lingayat sect founded. 1288, 1293. Marco Polo visited Kayal. 1310. Invasion by Malik Kafur. 1318. Harapala Yadava flayed alive. 1326-7. Destruction of Dorasamudra and the Hoysala power. 1336. Foundation of Vijayanagar. Authorities Most of the necessary references are given in the foot-notes and in E. H. I.' (1914) ; but the recent publications of Prof. G. Jouveau- Dubreuil, of the College, Pondicherxy, which are not well known, deserve prominent notice : 1. Archiologie du Sud de Vlnde ; Tomes I et II ; Paris, Geuthner, 1914; 2. Pallava Antiquities (in English) ; vol. i ; London, Probsthain, 1916 ; 3. Dravidian Architecture (in English) ; Madras, S.P.C.K. Press, 1917; 4. The Pallavas (in English), 87 pp. ; Pondicherry ; sold by the author, 1917. An important work. The learned Professor's studies are characterized by penetrating insight, scientific method, and convincing logic. Another valuable treatise is Tamil Studies by M. Srinivasa Aiyangab; Madras, Guardian Press, 1914. Many of the author's views are disputable, and the quotations in Tamil character are somewhat excessive, but much may be learned from the book. The Travancore Archaeological Series in progress since 1910 contains a great mass of useful facts. One of the latest disquisitions is a short paper, ' The Early Cholas ', by H. Kkishka Sastri in Ann. Rep. A. S., India, for 1913-14 (Calcutta, 1917). BOOK IV CHAPTER 1 The Rise of the Muhammadan Power in India and the Sultanate of Delhi a. D. 1175-1290. Rise and decline of Muhammadan power. The Muham madan conquest of India did not begin until the last quarter of the twelfth century, if the frontier provinces of Kabul, the Panjab, and Sind be excluded from consideration. It may be reckoned to have continued until 1340, when the empire of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlak attained its maximum extent, comprising twenty- four provinces more or less effectively under the control of the Sultan of Delhi.1 The provinces included a large portion of the Deccan, and even a section of the Ma'abar or Coromandel coast. After 1340 the frontiers of the Sultanate of Delhi rapidly con tracted, many new kingdoms, both Musalman and Hindu, being formed. The quick growth of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar checked the southern progress of Islam and recovered some territory which had passed under Muslim rule. Elsewhere, too, Hindu chiefs asserted themselves, and it may be affirmed with truth that for more than two centuries, from 1340 to the accession of Akbar in 1556, Islam lost ground on the whole. Under Akbar and his successors the Muslim frontier was extended from time to time until 1691, when the officers of Aurangzeb were able for a moment to levy tribute from Tanjore and Trichinopoly in the Far South. After the date named the Marathas enlarged the borders of Hindu dominion until 1818, when their power was broken and they were forced to acknowledge British supremacy, as based on the conquest of Bengal and Bihar between 1757 and 1765. That, in brief, is the outline of the rise, decline, and fall of Muhammadan sovereign rule in India. From 1818 to 1858 the empire of Delhi was merely titular. This chapter and the next will be devoted to a summary account of the progress of the Muhammadan conquest from a.d. 1175 to 1340. Most of the conquests, after the earliest, were made by or for the Sultans of Delhi, whose line began in 1206. The dynasty of Gh5r (Ghori). The first attack was made by a chieftain of the obscure principality of Ghor, hidden away among the mountains of Afghanistan to the south-east of Herat. Little is known about the country, which has never been visited by any European. Even the position of the ancient town of Ghor, believed to be now in ruins, has not been ascertained with precision. The fortune of the Ghor chiefs was made by means of a quarrel 1 The list is in Thomas, Chronicles, p. 203. 1976 T 218 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD with the successors of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. One of those successors named Bahrain having executed two princes of Ghor, the blood-feud thus started prompted Alau-d din Husain to take vengeance by sacking Ghazni in a.d. 1150 (=a. h. 544). The unhappy city was given to the flames for seven days and nights, during which ' plunder, devastation, and slaughter were continuous. Every man that was found was slain, and all the women and children were made prisoners. All the palaces and edifices of the Mahmudi kings which had no equals in the world ' were destroyed, save only the tombs of Sultan Mahmud and two of his relatives. Shortly afterwards Khusru Shah, the representa tive of Mahmud, was obliged to leave Ghazni and retire to Lahore (1160). But Ghazni was not incorporated in the dominions of Ghor until twelve or thirteen years later (1173), when it was annexed by Sultan Ghiyasu-d din of Ghor, who made over the conquered territory with its dependencies, including Kabul, to the government as Sultan of his brother Muhammad, the son of Sam, who is also known by his titles of Shihabu-d din and Muizzu-d din (r-daulat). It is most convenient to designate him as Muhammad Ghori, or ' of Ghor ', Sultan of Ghazni, and conqueror of Hindostan. Early operations of Muhammad Ghori. He began his Indian operations by a successful attack_ on Multan (1175-6), which he followed up by the occupation of Uchh, obtained through the treachery of a Rani. Three years later he moved southwards and attempted the conquest of rich Gujarat. But Mularaja of Anhilwara was too strong for the invader, who was defeated and repulsed with heavy loss (1178). The victory protected Gujarat, as a whole, from any serious Muhammadan attack for more than a century, although intermediate raids occurred, and Anhilwara was occupied two years later. Such checks to the progress of Islam as Mularaja inflicted were rare. In 1187 Muhammad Ghori deposed Khusru Malik, the last prince of the line of Sabuktigin and Mahmud, and himself occupied the Panjab. Havinjj already secured Sind he was thus in possession of the basin of the Indus, and in a position to make further advances into the fertile plains of India, teeming with tempting riches, and inhabited by idolaters, fit only to be ' sent to hell ' according to the simple creed of the invaders. First battle of Tarain. The Sultan organized a powerful expedition as soon as possible, and in 1191 (a. h. 587) advanced into India. The magnitude of the danger induced the various Hindu kings to lay aside their quarrels for a moment and to form a great confederacy against the invader, as their ancestors had done against Amir Sabuktigin and Sultan Mahmud. All the leading powers of northern India sent contingents, the whole being under the command of Rai Pithora or Prithiraj, the Chauhan ruler of Ajmer and Delhi. The Hindu host met the army of Islam at Tarain or Talawari, between Karnal and Thanesar, and distant BATTLES OF TARAIN 219 fourteen miles from the latter place. That region, the modern Karnal District, is marked out by nature as the battle-field in MINARET AT GHAZNI. which the invader from the north-west must meet the defenders of Delhi and the basin of the Ganges. The legendary ground qf Kurukshetra, where the heroes of the Mahdbhdrata had fought 220 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD before the dawn of history was not far distant, and Panlpat, where three decisive battles were lost and won in later ages, is about thirty miles farther south. The Sultan, who met the brother of Prithiraj in single combat, was severely wounded, and as a consequence of that accident his army was ' irretrievably routed '. The Hindus did not pursue, but permitted the defeated foe to retire and gather strength for a fresh inroad. Second battle of Tarain. In the following year the Sultan returned, met the Hindu confederates on the same ground, and in his turn defeated them utterly (1192, a. h. 588). Rai Prithiraj, when his cumbrous host had been broken by the onset of ten thousand mounted archers, fled from the field, but was captured and killed. His brother fell in the battle. Raja, Jaichand of Kanauj fell in another fight. Ajmer, with much other territory, was occupied at once by the victors. In fact, the second battle of Tarain in 1192 may be regarded as the decisive contest which ensured the ultimate success of the Muhammadan attack on Hindo stan. All the numerous subsequent victories were merely conse quences of the overwhelming defeat of the Hindu league on the historic plain to the north of Delhi. No Hindu general in any age was willing to profit by experience and learn the lesson taught by Alexander's operations long ago. Time after time enormous hosts, formed of the contingents supplied by innumerable Rajas, and supported by the delusive strength of elephants, were easily routed by quite small bodies of vigorous western soldiers, fighting under one undivided command, and trusting chiefly to well-armed mobile cavalry. Alexander, Muhammad of Ghor, Babur, Ahmad Shah Durrani, and other capable commanders, all used essentially the same tactics by which they secured decisive victories against Hindu armies of almost incredible numbers. The ancient Hindu military system, based on the formal rules of old-world scriptures, was good enough for use as between one Indian nation and another, but almost invariably broke down when pitted against the on slaughts of hardy casteless horsemen from the west, who cared nothing for the shdstras. The Hindu defenders of their country, although fully equal to their assailants in courage and contempt of death, were distinctly inferior in the art of war, and for that reason lost their independence. The Indian - caste system is unfavourable to military efficiency as against foreign foes. Kutbu-d din Aibak. After the victory of Tarain the Sultan returned to Khurasan, leaving the conduct of the Indian campaign in the hands of Kutbu-d din Aibak or Ibak, a native of Turkestan, who had been bought as a slave, and was still technically in a servile condition while conquering Hindostan. In 1 1 93 (a. h. 589 ) Kutbu-d din occupied Delhi, and advanced towards Benares. Kanauj does not appear to have been molested, but must have come under the control of the invaders. Soon afterward Gwalior fell, and in 1197 Anhilwara, the capital of Gujarat, was occupied, although the province was not subdued. Conquest of Bihar. The subjugation of the eastern kingdoms CONQUEST OF BIHAR 221 was effected with astounding facility by Kutbu-d din's general, Muhammad Khilji, the son of Bakhtyar. The Muslim general, acting independently, after completing several successful plundering expeditions, seized the fort of Bihar, probably in 1197, by an audacious move, and thus mastered the capital of the province of that name. The capture of the fort was effected by a party of two hundred horsemen. The prevailing religion of Bihar at that time was a corrupt form of Buddhism, which had received liberal patronage from the kings of the Pala dynasty for more than three centuries. The Muhammadan historian, indifferent to distinctions among idolaters, states that the majority of the inhabitants were ' shaven-headed Brahmans ', who were all put to the sword. He evidently means Buddhist monks, as he was informed that the whole city and fortress were considered to be a college, which the name Bihar signifies. A great library was scattered. When the victors desired to know what the books might be no man capable of explaining their contents had been left alive. No doubt everything was then burnt. The multitude of images used in mediaeval Buddhist worship always inflamed the fanaticism of Muslim warriors to such fury that no quarter was given to the idolaters. The ashes of the Buddhist sanctuaries at Sarnath near Benares still bear witness to the rage of the image- breakers. Many noble monuments of the ancient civilization of India were irretrievably wrecked in the course of the early Muhammadan invasions. Those invasions were fatal to the exist ence of Buddhism as an organized religion in northern India, where its strength resided chiefly in Bihar and certain adjoining territories. The monks who escaped massacre fled, and were scattered over Nepal, Tibet, and the south. After a.d. 1200 the traces of Buddhism in upper India are faint and obscure. Conquest of Bengal. Bengal, then under the rule of Laksh- mana Sena, an aged and venerated Brahmanical prince, succumbed even more easily a little later, probably at the close of 1199. Muhammad Khilji, son of Bakhtyar, riding in advance of the main body of his troops, suddenly appeared before the capital city of Nudiah (Nuddea) with a party of eighteen troopers, who were supposed by the people to be horse dealers. Thus slenderly escorted he rode up to the Raja's palace and boldly attacked the doorkeepers. The raider's audacity succeeded. The Raja, who was at his dinner, slipped away by a back door and retired to the neighbourhood of Dacca, where his descendants continued to rule as local chiefs for several generations. The Muslim general de stroyed Nudiah, and transferred the seat of government to Laksh- manavati or Gaur, an ancient Hindu city. Muhammad secured the approval of his master, Kutbu-d din, by giving him plenty ; of plunder, and proceeded to organize a purely Muhammadan 1 provincial administration, in practical independence. Mosques '' and other Muslim edifices were erected all over the kingdom. The conquest so easily effected was final. Bengal never escaped ffiom the rule of Muhammadans for any considerable time until 222 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD they were superseded in the eighteenth century by the British, whose victory at Plassey was gained nearly as cheaply as that of Muhammad Khilji. Conquest of Bundelkhand. The strong Chandel fortress of Kalanjar in Bundelkhand was surrendered by the minister of Raja Parmal (Paramarrdi), in 1203, to Kutbu-d din. The gratified historian of the con queror's exploits states that ' the temples were converted into mosques and abodes of goodness, and the ejaculations of the bead-counters [wor shippers using rosaries] and the voices of Coin of Paramarrdi. the summoners to prayer ascended to the * highest heaven, and the very name of idolatry was annihilated. . . . Fifty thousand men came under the collar of slavery, and the plain became black as pitch with Hindus.' The victor passed on and occupied Mahoba, the seat of the Chandel civil government. Death of Muhammad of Ghor. In the same year Ghiyasu-d din, the Sultan of Ghor, died and was succeeded by his brother Muhammad, who thus united in his person all the dominions of the family. Muhammad had returned to Ghazni after the capture of Kalanjar. Two years later, in 1205, he was recalled to the Panjab in order to suppress a revolt of the powerful Khokhar tribe. The Sultan treated the foe in the drastic manner of the times. He ' sent that refractory race to hell, and carried on a holy war as prescribed by the canons of Islam, and set a river of the blood of those people flowing '. But fate overtook him. As he was on the march towards Ghazni in March 1206 (a.h. 602) he was stabbed by a sectarian fanatic at Dhamiak, a camping-ground now in the Jihlam ( Jhelum) District. The first Sultan of Delhi. Kutbu-d dm, who had been dignified with the title of Sultan by Muhammad Ghori's brother's son, Ghiyasu-d din Mahmud, succeeded Muhammad Ghori as sovereign of the new Indian conquests, and from 1206 may be reckoned as the first Sultan of Delhi. But his enthronement took place at Lahore. The new sovereign sought to strengthen his position by marriage alliances with influential rival chiefs. He himself married the daughter of Taju-d din Yalduz (Eldoz), and he gave his sister to Nasiru-d din Kubacha, who became the ruler of Sind. Iltutmish (Altamsh), governor of Bihar, married Kutbu-d din's daughter. The three persons named, Yalduz, Kubacha, and Iltutmish, had been slaves like Kutbu-d din himself. The dynasty founded by Kutbu-d din and continued by other princes of servile origin is consequently known to history as the Slave Dynasty. Kutbu-d din died in 1211 from the effects of an accident on the polo-ground, having ruled as Sultan for a little more than four years. EARLY INVADERS 223 Ferocity of the early invaders. He was a typical specimen of the ferocious Central Asian warriors of the time, merciless and fanatical. His valour and profuse liberality to his comrades endeared him to the bloodthirsty historian of his age, who praises him as having been a ' beneficent and victorious monarch. . . . His gifts ', we are told, ' were bestowed by hundreds of thousands, and his slaughters likewise were by hundreds of thousands.' All the leaders in the Muslim conquest of Hindostan similarly rejoiced in committing wholesale massacres of Hindu idolaters, armed or unarmed. Their rapid success was largely due to their pitiless ' frightfulness ', which made resistance terribly dangerous, and could not always be evaded by humble submission. The author of the Tabakdt-i Ndsiri quoted above thoroughly approved of the ferocity of his heroes, and centuries later we find much the same temper shown in the writings of Firishta and Badaoni. The modern reader of the panegyrics recorded by Muslim authors in praise of ' beneficent ' monarchs who slaughtered their hundreds of thousands with delight often longs for an account of their character as it appeared to the friends and countrymen of the victims. But no voice has come from the grave, and the story of the Muhammadan conquest as seen from the Hindu point of view was never written, except to some extent in Rajputana. The current notions of Indian mediaeval history, based chiefly on the narrative of Elphinstone, who worked entirely on materials supplied by Muslim authors, seem to me to be largely erroneous and often to reflect the prejudices of the historians who wrote in Persian. Architecture of the early Sultans. The prevailing favourable or at least lenient judgement on the merits of the earlier and appallingly bloodthirsty Sultans in India is due in no small measure to the admiration deservedly felt for their architectural works. The ' Kutb ' group of buildings at Old Delhi, although named after the saint from Ush who lies buried there, rather than after the first Sultan, undoubtedly is in part the work of Kutbu-d din Aibak, who built the noble screen of arches. The question whether the famous Minar was begun by him and completed by Iltutmish, or was wholly built by the later sovereign, has given rise to differences of opinion depending on the interpretation of certain inscriptions. Indo-Muhammadan architecture, which derives its peculiar character from the fact that Indian craftsmen necessarily were employed on the edifices of the foreign faith, dates from the short reign of Kutbu-d din Aibak. The masterpieces of the novel form of art cost a heavy price by reason of the destruction of multitudes of equally meritorious ancient buildings and sculptures in other styles. The materials of no less than twenty-seven Hindu temples were used in the erection of the ' Kutb ' mosque. The end of Muhammad, son of Bakhtyar. The ludicrous facility with which Bihar and Bengal had been overrun and annexed tempted Muhammad bin Bakhtyar to a more adventurous enterprise. 224 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD ' The ambition of seizing the country of Turkestan and Tibbat [Tibet] began to torment his brain ; and he had an army got ready, and about 10,000 horse were organized.' Unfortunately, the information available is not sufficient to determine exactly either the line of his march or the farthest point of his advance. He seems to have moved through the region now known as the Bogra and Jalpaiguri Districts, and to have GREAT ARCH, KUTB MOSQUE. crossed a, great river supposed to be the Karatoya by a stone bridge of twenty arches, the site of which has not been identified. The rivers, have completely changed their courses. The TIsta for instance, now a tributary of the Brahmaputra, formerly joined the Karatoya. He is said to have reached ' the open country of Tibbat ', but what that phrase may mean it is not easy to say. Beyond a certain point, perhaps to the north of Darjeeling, he was unable to proceed and was obliged to retreat. His starving force, finding tbe bridge broken, attempted to ford the river. All were drowned, except about a hundred including the leader, who struggled across somehow. Muhammad, overcome by shame and remorse, took to MUHAMMAD BIN BAKHTYAR 225 his bed and died, or, according to another account, was assassi nated.1 His death occurred in the Hijri year 602, equivalent to a.d. 1205-6. Early in the reign of Aurangzeb Mir Jumla attempted to invade Assam and failed nearly as disastrously as his predecessor had done. The mountains to the north of Bengal were never reduced to obedience by any Muhammadan sovereign. Sultan Iltutmish. Aram, the son of Kutbu-d din, who suc ceeded to the throne, did not inherit his father's abilities, and was quickly displaced (1211 ) in favour of his sister's husband, Iltutmish, corruptly called Altamsh, who assumed the title of Shamsu-d din, ' the sun of religion '. Much of his time was spent in successful fighting with his rival slave chieftains, Yalduz and Kubacha. Before he died in 1236 he had reduced the greater part of Hindostan to subjection, more or less complete. The Kutb MTnar was built, except the base ment story, under his direction about a. d. 1232. He made other important additions to _ . .s.. . ., the Kutb group of buildings, and is buried unn ot iltutlmsn- there in a beautiful tomb, ' one of the richest examples of Hindu art applied to Muhammadan purposes that Old Delhi affords'. Iltut mish is also responsible for a magnificent mosque at Ajmer, built like that at Delhi from the materials of Hindu temples. Chingiz Khan. In his days India narrowly escaped the most terrible of all possible calamities, a visit from Chingiz Khan, the dreaded Great Khan or Khakan of the Mongols.2 He actually advanced as far as the Indus, in pursuit of Jalalu-d din MankbarnI, the fugitive Sultan of Khwarizm or Khiva, who took refuge at the court of Delhi, after surprising adventures. The western Panjab was plundered by the Mongol troopers, but no organized invasion of India took place. Chingiz Khan had some thoughts of going home to Mongolia through India and Tibet, and is said to have asked permission to pass through the territories of Iltut mish ; but happily he changed his mind and retired from Peshawar. 1 See Blochmann in J. A. S. B., part i for 1875, p. 282. 2 The spelling of the name varies much. Howorth gives Chinghiz as the most correct form. Raverty uses both Chingiz and Chingiz. The coin of a governor of Multan with the same name has y**z~ without dots or vowel marks. The Encycl. Brit, has the form Jenghiz, while Chambers gives Genghis. Chingiz seems to be the simplest and safest spelling. Mongol (Monggol) is the same word as Mughal (Mogul, &e.), but it is convenient to confine the term Mongol to the heathen followers of Chingiz, who were mostly ' narrow-eyed ' people, reserving the term Mogul in its various spellings for the more civilized tribes, largely of Turk! blood, who became Muhammadans in the fourteenth century, and from whom sprang the Chagatai or Jagatai section of Turks to which Babur and his successors in India belonged. The Turki races ordinarily resemble Europeans in features, and have not the Mongolian ' narrow eyes ' strongly marked, but Turks and Mongols intermarried freely, and the Mongol blood often asserted itself. It shows in the portraits of Akbar. 13 226 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Chingiz Khan was the official title of the Mongol chieftain Temujin or Tamiirchi, born in 1162, who acquired ascendancy early in life over the tribes of Mongolia. About the beginning of the thirteenth century they elected him to be the head of their confederacy and he then adopted the style of Chingiz Khan, probably a corruption of a Chinese title. In the course of a few years he conquered a large portion of China and all the famous kingdoms of Central Asia. Balkh, Bokhara, Samarkand, Herat, Ghazni, and many other cities of renown fell under his merciless hand and were reduced to ruins. The vanquished inhabitants, men, women, and children, were slain literally in millions. Those countries even to this day have not recovered from the effects of his devastations. He carried his victorious hordes far into Russia to the bank of the Dnieper, and when he died in 1 227 ruled a gigantic empire extending from the Pacific to the Black Sea. The author of the Tabakdt-i Ndsiri, who admired a Muslim, but abhorred a heathen slayer of men, has drawn a vivid sketch of the conqueror, which is worth quoting : ' Trustworthy persons have related that the Chingiz Khan, at the time when he came into Khurasan, was sixty-five "[lunar] years old, a man of tall stature, of vigorous build, robust in body, the hair on his face scanty and turned white, with cat's eyes, possessed of great energy, discernment, genius, and understanding, awe-striking, a butcher, just, resolute, an overthrower of enemies, intrepid, sanguinary, cruel.' The author goes on to say that the Khan was an adept in magic, and befriended by devils. He would sometimes fall into a trance and then utter oracles dictated by the devils who possessed him. Perhaps, like Akbar. Peter the Great, and several other mighty men of old, he may have been an epileptic. Sultan Raziyyatu-d din. Sultan Iltutmish, knowing the incapacity of his surviving sons, had nominated his daughter Raziyya or Raziyyatu-d din ('accepted by religion') as his successor.1 But the nobles thought that they knew better and placed on the throne Prince Ruknu-d din, a worthless debauchee. After a scandalous reign of a few months he was put out of the way and replaced by his sister, who assumed the title of Sultan CoinofRaziyya. and did her best to play the part of a man. She took an active part in the wars with Hindus and rebel Muslim chiefs, riding an elephant in the sight of all men. But her sex was against her. She tried to compromise by marrying a chief who had opposed her in rebellion. Even that expedient did not save her. Both she and her husband were killed by certain Hindus. She had a troubled reign of more than three years. The author of the Tabakdt-i Ndsiri, the only contemporary authority for the period, gives Sultan Raziyyatu-d dm a high character from his Muslim point of view. She was, he declares, ' She also bore the title of Jalalu-d din (Thomas, Chronicles, p. 138). Ibn Batuta gives her name simply as Raziyyat— his words are wa bintari lasmi Raziyyat (Defremery, iii. 160). SULTAN RAZIYYA 227 ' a great sovereign, and sagacious, just, beneficent, the patron of the learned, a dispenser of justice, the cherisher of her subjects, and of warlike talent, and was endowed with all the admirable attributes and qualifica tions necessary for kings ; but as she did not attain the destiny in her creation of being computed among men, of what advantage were all these excellent qualifications unto her ? ' Sultan Nasiru-d din. A son and grandson of Sultan Iltutmish were then successively enthroned. Both proved to be failures and were removed in favour of Nasiru-d din, a younger son of Iltutmish (1246), who managed to retain his life and office for twenty years. The historian, Minhaj-i Siraj, who has been quoted more than once, held high office under Nasiru-d din and called his book by his sovereign's name. His judgement of a liberal patron necessarily is biased, but no other contemporary authority exists, and we must be content with his version of the facts. So far as appears, the Sultan lived the life of a fanatical devotee, leaving the conduct of affairs in the hands of Ulugh Khan Balban, his father-in-law and minister. ' At this time ', the historian observes, " many holy expeditions, as by creed enjoined, wee undertaken, and much wealth came in from all parts.' Mongol raids. The Mongols whom Chingiz Khan had left behind, or who crossed the frontier after his retirement, gave constant trouble during the reign. They had occupied and ruined Lahore in 1241—2 and continued to make many inroads on Sind, including Multan. Nasiru-d din, who had no family, nominated Ulugh Khan Balban as his successor.1 The nature of the warfare of the period is illustrated by the description of the campaign in Sirmur, a hill state of the Panjab, to the south of Simla. ' Ulugh Khan Azam, by stroke of sword, turned that mountain tract upside down, and pushed on through passes and defiles to Sirmur, and devastated the hill-tract, and waged holy war as by the faith enjoined ; over which tract no sovereign had acquired power, and which no Musalman army had ever before reached, and caused such a number of villainous Hindu rebels to be slain as cannot be defined or numbered, nor be contained in record nor in narration.' Sultan Balban. Balban, as Elphinstone observes, ' being al ready in possession of all the powers of king, found no difficulty in assuming the title '. He had been one of the ' Forty Slaves ' attached to Sultan Iltutmish, most of whom attained to high positions. Balban's first care was to execute the survivors of the forty, in order to relieve himself of the dangers of rivalry. He had no regard for human life, and no scruples about shedding blood. He was, indeed, a ' ruthless king '. ' Fear and awe of him took possession of all men's hearts,' and he maintained such pomp and dignity at his court that all beholders were impressed with respect for his person. He never laughed. His justice, executed 1 Elphinstone's account of the reigns intervening between Iltutmish and Balban is incorrect in several particulars. Ibn Batuta alleges that Balban murdered Nasiru-d din. 228 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD without respect of persons, was stern and bloody. He secured his authority in the provinces by an organized system of espionage, and spies who failed to report incidents of importance were hanged. He refused to employ Hindu officials. Before his accession he had put down the Mewati brigands who infested the neighbourhood of Delhi with such severity that the country was quieted for sixty years. The disgusting details must be quoted in order to show the character of the Sultan and the age. After the army had success fully traversed the haunts of the robbers for twenty days, it returned to the capital with the prisoners in January 1260. ' By royal command many of the rebels were cast under the feet of elephants, and the fierce Turks cut the bodies of the Hindus in two. About a hundred met their death at the hands of the flayers, being skinned from head to foot ; their skins were all stuffed with straw, and some of them were hung over every gate of the city. The plain of Hauz-Rani and the gates of Delhi remembered no punishment like this, nor had one ever heard such a tale of horror.' Even after those cruel ties the Mewatis broke out again. Six months after the executions Ulugh Khan (Balban) once more in vaded the hills by forced marches so as to surprise the inhabitants (July 1260). ' He fell upon the insurgents unawares, and captured them all, to the number of twelve thousand — men, women, and children — whom he put to the sword. All their valleys and strongholds were overrun and cleared, and great booty captured. Thanks be to God for this victory of Islam ! ' When quite an old man he spent three years in suppressing the rebellion in Bengal of a Turk! noble named Tughril who had dared to assume royal state. The rebel's family was exterminated, including the women and the little children. The country-side was terrified at the sight of the rows of gibbets set up in the streets of the provincial capital. The governorship of Bengal continued to be held by members of Balban's family until 1338, when the revolt occurred which resulted in the definite independence of the province. However horrible the cruelty of Balban may appear, it served its purpose and maintained a certain degree of order in rough times. When he died ' all security of life and property was lost, and no one had any confidence 'in the stability of the kingdom'. Refugee princes. Balban's magnificent court was honoured by the presence of fifteen kings and princes who had fled to Delhi for refuge from the horrors of the Mongol devastations. No other Muhammadan court remained open to them. Many eminent Coin of Balban. END OF SLAVE DYNASTY 229 literary men, the most notable being Amir KhusrQ the poet, were associated with the refugee princes. The Sultan's main anxiety was caused by the fear of a Mongol invasion on a large scale, which prevented him from undertaking conquests of new territory. His eldest and best loved son was killed in a fight with the heathens. That sorrow shook the strong constitution of Balban, the ' wary old wolf, who had held possession of Delhi for sixty years '. He died in 1286 at an advanced age. Sultan Kaikobad. Balban left no heir fit to succeed him. In those days no definite rule of succession existed and the nobles were accustomed to select whom they pleased by a rough election. Kaikobad, a grandson of Balban, aged about eighteen years, who was placed on the throne, although his father was living in Bengal, as governor of that province, disgraced himself by scandalous debauchery, and was removed after a short reign. End of the Slave Kings. Balban's hopes of establishing a dynasty were thus frustrated, and the stormy rule of the Slave Kings came to an end. They were either fierce fanatics or worth less debauchees. The fanatics possessed the merits of courage and activity in warfare, with a rough sense of justice when dealing with Muslims. Hindu idolaters and Mongol devil-worshippers had no rights in their eyes and deserved no fate better than to be ' sent to hell '. The Sultan took no count of anybody except the small minority of Muhammadan followers on whose swords the existence of the dynasty depended. ' The army ', says the historian, ' is the source and means of government.' Naturally such rulers made no attempt to solve the problems of civil govern ment. Politically, they acquired a tolerably firm hold on the regions now called the Panjab, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, with Bihar, Gwalior, Sind, and some parts of Rajputana and Central India. Their control of the Panjab was disputed by the Mongols, from the time of Chingiz Khan (1221). Bengal was practically independent, although Balban's severities enforced formal submission to the suzerainty of Delhi and the occasional payment of tribute. Malwa, Gujarat, and all the rest of India continued to be governed by numerous Hindu monarchs of widely varying importance to whom the tragedies of the Sultanate were matters of indifference. CHRONOLOGY A.D. Sultan Muhammad of Ghor (Ghori, with titles of Shihabu-d dm and Muizzu-d din, son of Sam) Occupied Multan and Cchh ..... 1175-6 Defeated by Raja of Gujarat Deposed Khusru Malik of Lahore First battle of Tarain Second battle of Tarain Reduction of Delhi, Benares, Bihar, &c Conquest of Bengal Capture of Kalanjar . Death of the Sultan . . 1178 . 1187 . 1191 . 1192 1193-7 1199-1200 1203 . 1206r 230 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Sultans of Delhi ; the Slave Kings A.D. Kutbu-d din Aibak or Ibak ..... . 1206 Aram Shah . . . . . 1210 Iltutmish (Altamsh) .... . 1211 Mongol invasion . . . . 1221, 1222 Death of Chingiz Khan .... . 1227 Ruknu-d din and Raziyyatu-d din (Raziyya) . 1236 Bahram, &c. . . ... . 1240 Nasiru-d dIn Mahmud . 1246 Ghiyasu-d din Balban .... . 1266 Muizzu-d dIn Kaikobad ... . 1286 Murder of Kaikobad ; end of dynasty . 1290 Authorities The leading contemporary authority, and to a large extent the only one. is the Tabakdt-i Ndsiri, translated in full by Raverty (London, 1881), with learned but diffuse annotation. Part of the work is translated in E. & D., vol. ii. Other Persian authorities are given in that volume and vol. iii. Firishta mostly copies from the Tabakdt-i Ndsiri through the Tabakdt-i Akbari. Elphinstone's account requires correction in some particulars, as he relied chiefly on Firishta. Raverty's Notes on Afghanistan (London, 1888), a valuable, though an ill-arranged and bulky book, has been serviceable to me. CHAPTER 2 The Sultanate of Delhi continued ; A. d. 1290 to 1340 ; the Khilji and Tughlak dynasties. Sultan Jalalu-d din Khilji. Kaikobad having been brutally killed, a high official named Firoz Shah, of the Khalj or Khilji tribe, who was placed on the throne by a section of the nobles, assumed the title of Jalalu-d din. Although the Khalj or Khilji tribe is reckoned by Raverty among the Turks, the contemporary author Ziau-d din Barani, who must have known the facts, states that Jalalu-d din ' came of a race different from the Turks ', and that by the death of Sultan Kaikobad ' the Turks lost the empire '. Jalalu-d din was an aged man of about seventy when elected. His election was so unpopular that he did not venture to reside in Delhi,_and was obliged to build himself a palace at the village of KilQghari or Kilukheri, a short distance outside, which became known as Naushahr or 'Newtown'. The year after his accession a famine occurred so severe that many Hindus drowned themselves in the Jumna. The administration of the Sultan is criticized as having been too lenient, and it seems probable that he was too old for his work. On one occasion he is recorded to have lost his temper and to have cruelly executed an unorthodox holy man named Sidi Maula. That irregular execution or murder was believed to have been the cause of the Sultan's evil fate. A Mongol invasion made in strong force in the year 1292 was stopped by negotiation, and probably by the payment of heavy SULTAN JALALU-D DIN KHILJI 231 blackmail. The historian's account seems to lack candour. Many of the Mongols elected to stay in India, becoming nominally Musalmans. _ They were spoken of as New Muslims, and settled down at Kilughari and other villages near Delhi. Murder of Jalalu-d din. In 1294 Alau-d din, son of the Sultan's brother, and also son-in-law of Jalalu-d din, obtained permission for an expedition into Malwa. But he went much farther, plunging into the heart of the Deccan, and keeping his movements concealed from the court. He marched through Berar and Khandesh, and compelled Ramachandra, the Yadava king of Deogiri and the western Deccan, to surrender Ellichpur (Ilichpur). Alau-d din collected treasure to an amount unheard of, and showed no disposition to share it with his sovereign. In fact, his treasonable intentions were patent to everybody except his doting old uncle and father-in-law, who closed his ears against all warnings and behaved like a person infatuated. Ultimately, Jalalu-d din was persuaded to place himself in his nephew's power at Kara in the Allahabad District. When the Sultan grasped the traitor's hand the signal was given. He was thrown down and decapitated. His head was stuck on a spear and carried round the camp. Lavish distribution of gold secured the adhesion of the army to the usurper, and Alau-d din became Sultan (July 1296). Thuggee. Jalalu-d din, although he did not deserve his cruel fate, was wholly unfit to rule. We are told that often thieves brought before him would be released on taking an oath to sin no more. One of his actions was particularly silly. At some time during his reign about a thousand thugs (thags) were arrested in Delhi. The Sultan would not allow one of them to be executed. He adopted the imbecile plan of putting them into boats and transporting them to Lakhnauti (Gaur), the capital of Bengal. That piece of folly probably is the origin of the river thuggee in Bengal, a serious form of crime still prevalent in modern times, and possibly not extinct even now. The story, told by Ziau-d din Barani, is of special interest as being the earliest known historical notice of thuggee. It is evident that the crime must have been well established in the time of Jalalu-d din. The organization broken up by Sleeman presumably dated from remote antiquity.1 Sultan Alau-d din Khilji. The African traveller Ibn Batuta. in the fourteenth century expressed the opinion that Alau-d din deserved to be considered ' one of the best sultans '.2 That some- 1 By an unluckv slip, when editing Sleeman, I attributed Jalalu-d din's folly to Firoz Shah Tughlak (1351-88), a more sensible monarch. My eye was caught by the page-heading (E. & D., iii. 141), ' Tdrlkh-i Firoz- Shdhi' (Rambles and Recollections, ed. 1915, p. 652). 3 wa kdna min khaiydr alsaldtin, ' il fut au nombre des meilleurs sultans ' (.Defremery, iii. 184). The obvious rashness of Ibn Batuta's expression of opinion may serve as a warning when similar praise of other bloodthirsty monarchs is found in the pages of divers authors, and contra diction is not so easy as it is in the case of Alau-d din. M 232 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD what surprising verdict is not justified either by the manner in which Alau-d din attained power or by the history of his acts as Sultan. Ziau-d din Barani, the excellent historian who gives the fullest account of his reign, justly dwells on his crafty cruelty and on his addiction to disgusting vice 'He shed, we are told, 'more innocent blood than ever Pharaoh was guilty of , and he ' did not escape retribution for the blood of his patron . He ruthlessly killed off everybody who could be supposed to endanger his ill-gotten throne, cutting up root and branch all the nobles who had served under his uncle, save three only. Even innocent women and children were not spared, a new horror. Up to this time no hand had ever been laid upon wives and children on account of men's misdeeds.' The evil precedent set by ' one of the best sultans ' was often followed in later times. Elphinstone s judge ment of Alau-d din's charac- .tjiSSu ter is too lenient. The facts 5SL. do not warrant the assertions wt«g£S5vfe that he exhibited a ' just exer- :j'VUttU *;<,>?- cise of his power ', and that H^^m^f' his reign was 'glorious'. In A.-^liV' -W- reality he was a particularly "Vi^^r^t- savage tyrant, with -very little '^-.fcifcs*-' N regard for justice, and his Coin of Al.u-d din Khilji. -^alth „u gh^marked by the successful predatory raids, and the storming of two great fortresses, was exceedingly disgraceful in many respects.1 Political events. The political events of Alau-d din s reign comprised numerous plots and revolts, savagely suppressed; five or six invasions of the Mongols ; the conquest of Gujarat ; repeated raids on the Deccan, and the capture of two strong Rajput fortresses, Ranthambhor and Chitor, the former of which is now in the Jaipur, and the latter in the Udaipur State. The Mongol invasions seem to have begun in a.d. 1297 and to have continued until about 1305, but the exact chronology of the reign has not been settled. The conspiracies and revolts may be passed over without further notice. The most serious Mongol invasion is assigned to 1303, when a vast host of the fierce foreigners invested Delhi for two months and then retired. The histories suggest a supernatural reason for their unexplained withdrawal, but it may be suspected that they were simply bought off by a huge ransom. Their final attack on Multan is dated in 1305. It is certain that during the remaining years of Alau-d din's reign Hindostan enjoyed a respite from their ravages. 1 The reign of Alau-d din requires critical study in a separate monograph. Many points are obscure, and the chronology is far from settled. I cannot attempt to clear up the difficulties in this work. Badaoni, writing in the sixteenth century, was equally puzzled, and plaintively remarks : ' His torians have paid little attention to the due order of events, but God knows the truth.' SULTAN ALAU-D DIN KHILJI 233 Massacre of Mongols. Early in the reign, apparently in 1297 or 1298, an attempted rising of the recently converted Mongols settled in the villages near Delhi induced Alau-d din to perpetrate a fearful massacre, in the course of which all the male settlers, estimated to number from 15,000 to 30,000, were slaughtered in one day. Expeditions to the south. The expeditions into the Deccan conducted by the eunuch Malik Kaffir, the infamous favourite of the Sultan, were ended in 1311, when the victorious general returned to Delhi with an almost incredible amount of spoil collected from the accumulated treasures of the south. The Hindu kingdoms of the Yadava dynasty of Deogiri (Daulatabad), the Hoysala dynasty of Mysore, with its capital at Dora Samudra ; and of the Ma'abar or Coromandel coast were overrrun, plundered, and to a certain extent subjugated. Musalman governors were estab lished even at Madura, the ancient capital of the Pandyas. The invaders practised dreadful cruelties. Ranthambhor and Chitor. The first attack on Ranthambhor in the year 1300 failed, but in the year following the fortress fell after a long siege. The romantic legends recorded by the Rajput bards concerning the sack of Chitor in 1303 may be read in Tod'.s pages. They cannot be regarded as sober history and are far too lengthy to be repeated here. But there can be no doubt that the defenders sacrificed their lives in a desperate final fight after the traditional Rajput manner, and that their death was preceded by ' that horrible rite, the jauhar, where the females are immolated to preserve them from pollution or captivity. The funeral pyre was lighted within the " great subterranean retreat ", in chambers impervious to the light of day, and the defenders of Chitor beheld in procession the queens, their own wives and daughters to the number of several thousands. . . . They were conveyed to the cavern, and the opening closed upon them, leaving them to find security from dishonour In the devouring element.' Tod inspected the closed entrance, but did not attempt to pene trate the sacred recesses. Follies of the Sultan. Alau-d din was intoxicated by the successes of his arms. ' In his exaltation, ignorance, and folly he quite lost his head, forming the most impossible schemes, and nourishing the most extravagant desires.' He caused himself to be dubbed the ' second Alexander ' in the khutba or ' bidding prayer ' and in the legends of his extensive coinage, dreaming dreams of universal conquest. He persuaded himself that he had the power to establish ' a new religion and creed ', with himself as prophet, but had sense enough to listen patiently to the bold remon strances of the historian's uncle, the kolwdl or magistrate of Delhi, and to recognize the fact that ' the prophetic office has never appertained to kings, and never will, so long as the world lasts, though some prophets have discharged the functions of royalty '. In that matter Alau-d din showed himself wiser than 234 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Akbar, who persisted in a similar project and so made himself ridiculous. Policy towards Hindus. Alau-d din's policy in relation to the Hindus, the bulk of his subjects, was not peculiar to himself, being practised by many of the earlier Muslim rulers. But it was defined by him with unusual precision, without any regard to the rules laid down by ecclesiastical lawyers. Ziau-d din states the Sultan's principles in the clearest possible language. He required his advisers to draw up ' rules and regulations for grinding down the Hindus, and for depriving them of that wealth and property which fosters disaffection and rebellion '. The culti vated land was directed to be all measured, and the Govern ment took half of the gross produce instead of one-sixth as pro vided by immemorial rule. Akbar ventured to claim one-third, which was exorbitant, but Alau-d din's demand of one-half was monstrous. ' No Hindu could hold up his head, and in their houses no sign of gold or silver ... or of any superfluity was to be seen . These things, which nourish insubordination and rebellion, were no longer to be found. . . . Blows, confinement in the stocks, imprisonment and chains, were all employed to enforce payment.' Replying to a learned lawyer whom he had consulted, the Sultan said : ' Oh, doctor, thou art a learned man, but thou hast had no experience ; I am an unlettered man, but I have seen a great deal ; be assured then that the Hindus will never become submissive and obedient till they are reduced to poverty. I have, therefore, given orders that just sufficient shall be left to them from year to year, of corn, milk, and curds, but that they shall not be allowed to accumulate hoards and property.' Tyranny. His tyranny was enforced by an organized system of espionage and ferocious punishments. Prices were regulated by order, and state granaries on a large scale were constructed. His measures succeeded in preserving artificial cheapness in the markets of the capital even during years of drought, but at the cost of infinite oppression. All his fantastic regulations died with him. Buildings and literature. Alau-d din loved building and executed many magnificent works. He built a new Delhi called Sir! on the site now marked by the village of Shahpur, but his edifices there were pulled down by Sher Shah and have wholly disappeared. He made extensive additions to the ' Kutb ' group of sacred structures, and began a gigantic minor which was intended to far surpass the noble Kutb Minar. The unfinished stump still stands. When building Sir! he remembered that ' it is a condition that in a new building blood should be sprinkled ; he therefore sacrificed some thousands of goat-bearded Mughals for the purpose '. In early life he was illiterate, but after his accession acquired the art of reading Persian to some extent. In spite of his personal SULTAN ALAU-D DlN KHILJI 235 indifference to learning several eminent literary men attended his court, of whom the most famous is Amir Khusru, a voluminous and much admired author in both verse and prose. Death of Alau-d din. The tyrant suffered justly from many troubles in his latter days, and ' success no longer attended him '. His naturally violent temper became uncontrollable, and he allowed his guilty infatuation for Malik Kafur to influence all his actions. His health failed, dropsy developed, and in January 1316 he died. ' Some say that the infamous Malik Kafur helped his disease to a fatal termination.' Malik Kafur placed an infant son of the Sultan on the throne, reserving all power to himself. He imprisoned, blinded, or killed most of the other members of the royal family, but his criminal rule lasted only thirty-five days. After the lapse of that time he and his companions were beheaded by their slave guards. Sultan Kutbu-d din Mubarak. Kutbu-d din or Mubarak Khan, a son of Alau-d din, who had escaped destruction, was taken out of confinement and enthroned. The young sovereign was wholly evil, the slave of filthy vice, and no good for anything. He was infatuated With a youth named Hasan, originally an out cast parwdri, the lowest of the low, whom he ennobled under the style of Khusru Khan. ' During his reign of four years and four months, the Sultan attended to nothing but drinking, listening to music, debauchery, and pleasure, scattering gifts, and gratifying his lusts.' By good luck the Mongols did not attack. If they had done so there was no one to oppose them. Kutbu-d din Mubarak attained two military successes. His officers tightened the hold of his government on Gujarat, and he in person led an army into the Deccan against Deogiri, where the Raja, Harpal Deo, had revolted. The Hindu prince failed to offer substantial resistance and was barbarously flayed alive (1318). After his triumphant return from the Deccan the Sultan became still worse than before. ' He gave way to wrath and obscenity, to severity, revenge, and heart- lessness. He dipped his hands in innocent blood, and he allowed his tongue to utter disgusting and abusive words to his companions and attend ants. ... He cast aside all regard for decency, and presented himself decked out in the trinkets and apparel of a female before his assembled company ; ' and did many other evil deeds. Ultimately the degraded creature was killed by his minion, Khusru Khan, aided by his outcast brethren, ' and 'the basis of the dynasty of Alau-d din was utterly razed '. The vile wretches who thus attained momentary power abused it to the utmost. Khusru even ventured to marry his late sove reign's chief consort, who had been a Hindu princess. The usurper favoured Hindus as against Muslims, and it was said that ' Delhi had once more come under Hindu rule '- The orgy of low-born triumph did not last long. After a few months the usurper was defeated and beheaded by Ghazi Malik, a Karaunia Turk noble, 236 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD governor of Debalpur in the Panjab. Everything was in con fusion and no male scion of the royal stock had been left in existence. Ghiyasu-d din Tughlak Shah. The nobles having thus a free hand, and recognizing the fact that the disordered State required a master, elected Ghazi Malik to fill the vacant throne. He assumed the style of Ghiyasu-d din Tughlak, and is often called Tughlak Shah (a.d. 1321). His father, a Turk, had been a slave of Balban ; his mother, a Jat woman, was Indian born. His conduct justified the confidence bestowed on him by his colleagues. He restored a reasonable amount of order to the internal administra tion and took measures to guard against the ever pressing danger from Mongol inroads. He sent his son Juna Khan into the Deccan, where the countries conquered by Alau-d din had refused obedience. The prince reached Warangal or Orangal, now in the eastern part of the Nizam's dominions, and undertook the siege of the fort. The strong walls of mud resisted his efforts, pestilence broke out, his men deserted, and he was forced to return to Delhi with only 3,000 horse, a mere remnant of his force. But a second expedition was more successful, resulting in the capture of both BIdar and Warangal. At that time Warangal had recovered its independence, and was under the rule of a Hindu raja,. The Sultan meantime, having been invited to in tervene in a disputed succession, had marched Coin of Tughlak Shah across Bengal as far as Suna.rga.on near Dacca, and on his way home had annexed Tirhiit. He left Bengal practically independent, although he brought to Delhi as a prisoner one of the claimants to the provincial throne. Murder of Tughlak Shah. His son Juna, or Muhammad, who had returned from the south, was then in charge of the capital. His proceedings had given his father reason to suspect his loyalty. The Sultan desired his son to build for him a temporary reception pavilion or pleasure-house on the bank of the Jumna. Jfina Khan entrusted the work to Ahmad, afterwards known as Khwaja Jahan, who was head of the public works department and in his confidence. The prince asked and obtained permission to parade the elephants fully accoutred before his father, who took up his station in the new building for afternoon prayers. The confederates arranged that the elephants when passing should collide with the timber structure, which accordingly fell on the Sultan and his favourite younger son, Mahmud, who accompanied him. Juna Khan made a pretence of sending for picks and shovels to dig out his father and brother, but purposely hindered action being taken until it was too late. The Sultan was found bending over the boy's body, and if he still breathed, as some people assert that he did, he was finished off (a.d. 1325). After nightfall his body was removed and interred in the massive sepulchre which GHIYASU-D DIN TUGHLAK SHAH 237 he had prepared for himself in Tughlakabad, the mighty fortress which he had built near Delhi.1 Accession of Muhammad bin Tughlak, February 1325. The parricide gathered the fruits of his crime, as Alau-d din Khilji had done, and seated himself on the throne without opposition.2 He occupied it for twenty-six years of tyranny as atrocious as any on record in the sad annals of human devilry and then died in his bed. Like Alau-d din he secured favour by lavish largess, scattering without stint the golden treasure stored by his father 4 TOMB OF TUGHLAK SHAH. within the grim walls of Tughlakabad. It was reported that Tughlak Shah had constructed a reservoir filled with molten gold in a solid mass. Don Batuta ; character of the Sultan. Our knowledge of the second sovereign of the Tughlak dynasty, who appears in history as Muhammad bin (son of) Tughlak, is extraordinarily detailed and accurate, because, in addition to the narrative of an unusually 1 The facts as recorded by Ibn Batuta (vol. iii, p. 213) are certain, having been related to the traveller by Shaikh Ruknu-d din, the saint, who was present when the carefully arranged ' accident ' occurred. No reason whatever exists for giving Juna Khan the ' benefit of the doubt ' 3 ' Lorsque le sultan Toghlok fut mort, son fils Mohammed s'empara du royaume, sans rencontrer d'adversaire ni de rebelle.' 238 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD good Indian historian (Ziau-d din Barani), we possess the observa tions of the African traveller, Ibn Batuta, who spent several years at the court and in the service of the Sultan until April 1347, when he succeeded in retiring from his dangerous employment. He was then sent away honourably as ambassador to the emperor of China. But the ships on which the members of the embassy embarked were wrecked off Calicut and the mission was broken up. Ibn Batuta escaped with his life, and ultimately made his way safely to Fez in northern Africa, in November 1349, after twenty-five years of travel and astounding adventures. He expe rienced the usual fate of men who come home with strange traveller's tales, and was deemed to be a daring liar. But he was no liar, so far as his book deals with India. His account of his Indian experiences, with which alone we are concerned, bears the stamp of truth on every page. Most of his statements concerning Muham mad bin Tughlak are based on direct personal knowledge.1 Ziau-d din of Baran (Bulandshahr) also was a contemporary official and wrote in the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlak's cousin and successor, Firoz Shah. Although he naturally does not exhibit the impartial detachment of the foreign observer, his narrative is full of vivid detail. If space permitted the materials would suffice for a long story, but in a short history room can be found only for a brief selection of the doings of one of the most astonishing kings mentioned in the records of the world. Notwithstanding that Muhammad bin Tughlak was guilty of acts which the pen shrinks from recording, and that he wrought untold misery in the course of his long reign, he was not wholly evil. He was ' a mixture of opposites ', as Jahangir was in a later age. He established hospitals and almshouses, and his generosity to learned Muslims was unprecedented. It was even possible to describe him with truth both as '"the humblest of men ' and also as an intense egotist. Elphinstone's just summary of his enigmatic character deserves quotation : ' It is admitted, on all hands, that he was the most eloquent and accom plished prince of his age. His letters, both in Arabic and Persian, were admired for their elegance long after he had ceased to reign. His memory was extraordinary ; and, besides a thorough knowledge of logic and the philosophy of the Greeks, he was much attached to mathematics and to physical science ; and used himself to attend sick persons for the purpose of watching the symptoms of any extraordinary disease. He was regular in his devotions, abstained from wine, and conformed in his private life to all the moral precepts of his religion. In war he was distinguished for his gallantry and personal activity, so that his contemporaries were justified in esteeming him as one of the wonders of the age. Yet the whole of these splendid talents and accomplishments were given to him in vain ; they were accompanied by a perversion of judgement, which, after every allowance for the intoxication of absolute power, leaves us in doubt whether he was not affected by some degree of insanity. 1 ' Quant aux aventures de ce roi-ci, la plupart sont au nombre de ce que j'ai vu durant mon sejour dans ses Etats ' (vol. iii, p. 216). SULTAN MUHAMMAD BIN TUGHLAK 239 His whole life was spent in pursuing visionary schemes, by means equally irrational, and with a total disregard of the suflerings which they occasioned to his subjects ; and its results were more calamitous than those of any other Indian reign.' To that discriminating passage the remark may be added that the Sultan, like Jahangir afterwards, believed himself to be a just man, and was persuaded that all his atrocities were in accordance with the principles of justice and Muslim law. There is no reason to suppose that his conscience troubled him. On the contrary, he deliberately defended his conduct against criticism and avowed his resolve to continue his course to the end. ' I punish ', he said, ' the most trifling act of contumacy with death. This I will do until I die, or until the people act honestly, and give up rebellion and contumacy. I have no such minister (wazir) as will make rules to obviate my shedding blood. I punish the people because they have all at once become my enemies and opponents. I have dispensed great wealth among them, but they have not become friendly and loyal. Their temper is well known to me, and I see that they are disaffected and inimical to me.' Thus, he went on, unmoved from his fell purpose, although some times permitting himself to be influenced by mere rage and the lust of vengeance. His inhuman tyranny was the direct cause of the break up of the empire of Delhi. Premising that the authorities are discrepant concerning the order of events, and that the chronology of the reign is consequently uncertain to some extent, the leading events of the Sultan's rule will be now narrated.1 Evacuation of Delhi. In the year a.d. 1326-7 (a.h. 727) the Sultan, having taken offence at the inhabitants of Delhi because they threw into his audience-hall abusive papers criticizing his policy, decided to destroy their city. He marched to Deogiri in the Deccan, where he constructed the strong fort to which he gave the name of Daulatabad, and resolved to make his capital there, in a situation more central than Delhi.2 Ibn Batuta, who was in the Sultan's service from about 1341 or 1342 to 1347, gives the following account : ' He decided to ruin Delhi, so he purchased all the houses and inns from the inhabitants, paid them the price, and then ordered them to remove to Daulatabad. At first they were unwilling to obey, but the crier of the monarch proclaimed that no one must be found in Delhi after three days. The greater part of the inhabitants departed, but some hid themselves in the houses. The Sultan ordered a rigorous search to be made for any that remained. His slaves found two men in the streets; one was paralyzed, and the other blind. They were brought before the sovereign, who ordered the paralytic to be shot away from a manjanik [catapult], and the blind 1 My narrative is based on the table constructed by Defremery and Sanguinetti, chiefly on the authority of Khondamir (Voyages d'Ibn Batuta (1858), vol. iii, pp. xx-xxiv), as checked by the coin dates. But the subject requires special investigation in a separate essay. Obscurities in detail remain. 2 A gold coin was struck at Deogiri in a. h. 727 (Thomas, No. 174. p. 209). 240 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD man to be dragged from Delhi to Daulatabad, a journey of forty days' distance. The poor wretch fell in pieces during the journey, and only one of his legs reached Daulatabad. All the inhabitants of Delhi left ; they abandoned their baggage and their merchandize, and the city remained a perfect desert. A person in whom I felt confidence assured me that the Sultan mounted one evening upon the roof of his palace, and, casting his eyes over the city of Delhi, in which there was no fire, smoke nor light, said : "Now my heart is satisfied, and my feelings are appeased." Some time after he wrote to the inhabitants of different provinces, commanding them to go to Delhi and repeople it. They ruined their own countries, but they did not populate Delhi, so vast and immense is that city. In fact, it is one of the greatest cities in the universe. When we entered this capital we found it in the state which has been described. It was empty, abandoned, and had but a small population.' Ziau-d din confirms the traveller's account, saying : ' The city, with its sardis, and its suburbs and villages, spread over four or five kos [about 7 to 10 miles]. All was destroyed. So complete was the ruin, that not a cat or a dog was left among the buildings of the city, in its palaces or in its suburbs.' According to Firishta the population of Delhi was removed to Daulatabad for the second time in 1340 (a. h. 741). The Mongols bought off. The numerous revolts which characterized the reign began as early as 1327, when the governor of Multan rebelled. About the same time Tarmashirin, Khan of the Jagatai or Chagatai section (ulus) of the Mongols, advanced with a large force to the gates of Delhi, and had to be bought off by a heavy payment of blackmail. The Sultan was then obliged to remain for three years at Delhi in order to guard against a repetition of the invasion.1 Attack on Persia. Early in the reign an abortive attempt to conquer the Persian province of Khurasan with a gigantic cavalry force ended in the dispersal of the army and widespread ruin. Forced currency. The Sultan's extravagances naturally disordered his finances. Casting about for relief he bethought him self of the paper currency of China, and argued that if the Chinese emperor could use paper money with success he could pass copper or brass as if it were silver in virtue of his royal command. Accord ingly he issued orders to that effect and struck vast quantities of copper money, inscribed with legends denoting their value as if the pieces were silver. The official issues were supplemented by an immense unauthorized coinage. ' The promulgation of this edict turned the house of every Hindu into a mint, and the Hindus of the various provinces coined millions and hundreds of thousands (karors, lakhs) of copper coins. With these they paid their tribute, and with these they purchased horses, arms, and fine things of all kinds. . . . Every goldsmith struck copper coins in his workshop and the treasury was filled with these copper coins.' 1 Ziau-d din accuses the Sultan of ' patronizing and favouring the Mughals ' (E. ct- D., iii. 251). He used the savages as instruments of his cruelty. SULTAN MUHAMMAD BIN TUGHLAK 241 But the smash soon came, and the Sultan was obliged to repeal his edict, 'till at last copper became copper, and silver, silver'. The discarded coins were piled up in mountainous heaps at Tugh lakabad, and ' had no more value than stones '-1 Attack on China. Another disastrous project was that of the conquest of China, to be effected through Nepal, and by crossing the Himalayan ranges. A force of 100,000 cavalry under the command of Khusru Malik, son of the Sultan's sister, was dis patched on that crazy enterprise in 1337-8 (a. h. 738). Naturally, the horsemen came to grief among the mountains, and when they encountered the Chinese were defeated. The few men, about ten, who survived to return to Delhi were massacred by their bloodthirsty master. Fate of Bahau-d din. Another sister's son of the Sultan named Bahau-d din rebelled at a date not specified. He failed and was betrayed.. His appalling fate is thus related by Ibn Batuta : ' They bound his legs and tied his arms to his neck, and so conducted him to the Sultan. He ordered the prisoner to be taken to the women his relations, and these insulted and spat upon him. Then he prdered him to be skinned alive, and, as his skin was torn off, his flesh was cooked with rice. Some was sent to his children and his wife, and the remainder was put into a great dish and given to the elephants to eat, but they would not touch it. The Sultan ordered his skin to be stuffed with straw, and to be placed along with the remains of Bahadur Bura,2 and to be exhibited throughout the country.' When Kishlu Khan, governor of Sind, received the loathsome objects he ordered them to be buried. His action infuriated the Sultan, who pursued the governor to death, and flayed alive a KazI who had supported him. Even after the lapse of so many centuries it is painful to copy the accounts of such horrors, but it is necessary to tell the truth about a man like Muhammad bin Tughlak, and not to permit him to escape condemnation because he was attentive to the ritual of his religion, decent in private life, and extravagantly liberal to persons who1 attracted his capricious favour. Many pages might be filled with stories of the crimes committed by the murderous tyrant, but I forbear. Ruin of the country. The internal administration of the coutltry went to ruin. The taxes were enhanced to a degree unbearable, and collected so rigorously that the peasantry were reduced to beggary, and people who possessed anything felt that they had no resource but rebellion. The Sultan came to hate his subjects and to take pleasure in their wholesale destruction. At one tijne he ' led forth his army to ravage Hindostan. He laid the country waste from 1 The 'forced currency bears the dates a. h. 730, 731, and 732 = a.d. 1329-32. 2 A relative of Balban and claimant to the viceregal throne of Bengal. 242 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Kanauj to Dalmau [on the Ganges, in the Rai Bareli District, Oudh], and every person that fell into his hands he slew. Many of the inhabitants fled and took refuge in the jungles, but the Sultan had the jungles surrounded, and every individual that was captured was killed.' The victims, of course, were all or nearly all Hindus, a fact which added to the pleasure of the chase. The short-lived empire. Muhammad bin Tughlak, in the early part of his reign, controlled more or less fully an empire far larger than that under the rule of any of his Muhammadan predecessors. It was divided into twenty-four provinces, com prising, in modern terms, the Panjab, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, Bihar, Tirhiit, Bengal, Sind, Malwa,, Gujarat, and a large portion of the Deccan, including part of Mysore and the Coromandel coast or Ma'abar.1 The degree of subjection of the various provinces varied much, but in a large part of the enormous area indicated the Sultan's authority, when he chose to assert it, was absolute. The earlier revolts, which were many, were suppressed in the ruthless manner of which some examples have been cited. Later, the Sultan's tyranny became so intolerable, and the resources at his command so much reduced, that he was unable to resist rebellion with success or to prevent the break up of his empire. The turning-point was reached in 1338-9 = a. h. 739, when both Bengal and Ma'abar or Coromandel revolted and escaped from the Delhi tyranny. The decline and fall of the Sultanate, which may be dated from that year, or from 1340 in round numbers, will form the subject of the next chapter.2 CHAPTER 3 The Decline and Fall of the Sultanate of Delhi, a.d. 1340-1526 ; the Tughlak dynasty concluded ; Timur ; the Sayyids ; the Lodi dynasty ; Islam in Indian life. Revolt of Bengal. Bengal had been ruled since the close of the twelfth century by governors who were expected to recognize the suzerainty of Delhi and to send tribute more or less regularly to court. We have seen how Balban suppressed with merciless ferocity Tughril Khan's attempt to attain formal independence. After the extermination of Tughril Khan and his followers, the 1 The list (from Siraju-d din) is in Thomas, Chronicles, p. 203. By a slip the text mentions 23 provinces, while the list specifies 24. The name Ma'abar, given correctly in Arabic characters ( _^>" ), is misprinted Malabar in the English transliteration. No Sultan of Delhi had any concern with Malabar on the western coast. Briggs, the translator of Firishta, Con founded Ma'abar with Malabar, and other people have made the same mistake. 3 The chronology and authorities will be given at the end of chapter 3. REVOLT OF BENGAL 243 Bengal coin of Fakhru-d din. governorship was held by Balban's second son, the father of Sultan Kaikobad, and after him by other members of Balban's family. A contest between two brothers for the viceregal throne resulted, as already mentioned, in the interference of Tughlak Shah, who marched across Bengal and carried off to Delhi Bahadur Shah, the claimant whose pretensions had been disallowed. The captive was pardoned and sent back to Bengal by Muhammad bin Tughlak, but rebelled unsuccessfully. He was killed and his stuffed skin was hawked about the empire along with that of the Sultan's, nephew, until both were buried by Kishlu Khan, with tragic' results, as already stated. In 1338-9 (a.h. 739) Fakhru-d din or Fakhra started a rebellion in Eastern Bengal, which eventually involved the whole province and brought about its com plete separation from the Sultanate of Delhi. Muham mad bin Tughlak was too much occupied elsewhere to be able to assert his sove reignty over Bengal. He let the province go, and it con tinued to retain its indepen dence until reconquered by Akbar. Occasional ceremo nial admissions of the supe rior rank of the Sultan or Padshah of Delhi did 'not impair the substantial independence of the kings of Bengal. Rebellions in the south. About the same time, approximately 1340, Saiyid Hasan, the governor of Ma'abar or Coromandel, revolted, and slew the Sultan's officers. In 1341-2 (a.h. 742) Muhammad bin Tughlak marched south wards, intent on restoring his authority in the peninsula and inflicting condign punishment on the rebel. But when he arrived at Warangal, and was still distant three months' march from his goal, an epidemic of cholera broke out in the camp, which killed many and endangered the life of the sovereign, who was attacked by the disease. He was forced to retire to Daulatabad,. and thence to Delhi, having given permission that any persons who desired to do so might return to their old homes in the" capital. The Warangal or Telingana territory was lost to the empire. Famine. Thousands of people made the attempt to return, but few survived the journey, because an awful famine then raged throughout Malwa, and was particularly severe at Delhi. All cultivation had ceased, failure of the rains combining with misrule and anarchy to make agriculture impossible. The famine lasted for several years. The Sultan made some feeble efforts to restore tillage by offering loans from the treasury, but the cattle had perished and the people were too exhausted to make use of money. Vijayanagar and Bahmani kingdoms. A few years earlier the southern expansion of the Muslim power had been checked, 244 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD and territory had been lost to the Hindus by the rapid rise of the kingdom of the Rayas of Vijayanagar to the south of the Krishna. The traditional date for the foundation of the city is 1336. Ten years later the new kingdom had become an important power. In 1347 the rebellion of Hasan or Zafar Khan, an officer of the Sultan, and either an Afghan or a Turk, laid the foundation of the great Bahmani kingdom, with its capital at Kulbarga or Ahsanabad. The history of both the Bahmani and Vijayanagar kingdoms or empires will be narrated with considerable fullness in Book V and need not be pursued farther in this place. Submission to the Egyptian Khalif . At this time of general insurrection the crazy Sultan took it into his head to fancy that his sovereignty required the sanction of the Khalif (Caliph), the head of Islam. He took much pains to satisfy himself as to the identity of the prince entitled to the rank of Khalif, and at length was convinced that the Sultan of Egypt possessed the power to grant the desired investiture. An embassy was sent to Egypt, and the ambassador dispatched from that country with a favourable reply was received with extravagant vener ation. Muhammad bin Tughlak pro fessed himself to be merely the vice gerent of the Khalif, removed his own name from the coinage, and replaced it Khalif coin of Muhammad by *hat of tne supreme ruler of Islam. bin Tughlak. The coins struck on that principle were issued during about three years, from 1340 to 1343 (a. h. 741-3). Firoz Shah, the successor of Muhammad bin Tughlak, also secured investiture from the Egyptian Khalif, and was as proud of the honour as his cousin had been. Death of the Sultan. The historians give ample details of the endless revolts which marked the latter years of Muhammad bin Tughlak's disastrous reign, and of his attempts at suppression, in some measure successful. ' The people were never tired of rebelling, nor the king of punishing.' It is needless to follow the wearisome story through all its horrors. The Sultan, after ineffectual efforts to recover the Deccan, where he retained nothing except Daulatabad, moved into Gujarat in order to suppress the disorders of that province, where he spent three rainy seasons. He quitted Gujarat late in 1350 to pursue a rebel, and crossed the Indus into Sind, although his health had failed. While he was still on the bank of the river and a consider able distance from Thatha (Tattah), the capital of Lower Sind, his illness increased and developed into a violent fever which killed him in March 1351. Thus 'the Sultan was freed from his people, and the people from their Sultan'. It is astonishing that such a monster should have retained power for twenty-six years, and then have died in his bed. The misery caused by his savage misrule is incalculable. Politically, he destroyed the hardly-won supremacy of the Delhi Sultanate. COURT OF THE SULTAN 215 Court of the Sultan. The arrangements and ceremonial of the court of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlak differed widely from those, mainly based upon the Persian model, which were observed by Akbar and his successors, as described in detail by Abu-1 Fazl and numerous European travellers. At the Sultan's court the proceedings were dominated by the forms of religion, each cere mony being preceded by the ejaculation ' In the name of God ', and precedence being given to theologians. The Mogul ceremonial, on the contrary, was purely secular, precedence being" given first to members of the royal family and then to officials according to rank. Executions. The interior of the Sultan's palace was approached by three gates in succession. Outside the first gate were platforms on which the executioners sat. The persons condemned were executed outside the gate, where their bodies lay exposed for three days. The remains were then collected and thrown into a pit near the huts of the executioners. The relatives were not allowed to give the victims decent burial, but sometimes managed to do so by means of bribery. The approaches to the palace were commonly blocked by mangled corpses.1 Audience-halls. The second gate opened on a spacious audience- hall for the general public. The ' scribes of the gate ' sat at the third portal, which could not be passed without the authorization of the Sultan, who gave his formal audiences inside in the ' Hall of a Thousand Columns '. The columns were of varnished wood, and the ceiling was of planks, admirably painted. The formal audience usually was given after prayers in the afternoon, but sometimes at daybreak. Order of precedence. The order of precedence for placing and presentations was (1 ) the Chief Kazi, or judge of Muslim law ; (2) the Chief Preacher ; (3) the other KazTs ; (4) leading lawyers ; (5) principal descendants of the Prophet (Sayyids) ; (6) Shaikhs, or holy men ; (7) brothers and brothers-in-law of the Sultan, who had no son ; (8) principal nobles ; (9) foreign notables ; (10) generals. Ceremonial at the 'Ids. Special ceremonial was observed on the occasions of the two great Id festivals ('Idu-l fi.tr and 'Idu-l kurbdn). One peculiar incident may be mentioned. On those occasions there was set up a great perfume-holder (cassolette) made of pure gold in sections, each of which required several men to carry it. Inside were three niches or compartments occupied by men whose business it was to diffuse incense from the burning of two kinds of aloe-wood, with ambergris, and benzoin. The whole audience-hall was filled with the vapour. Boys carrying gold and silver barrels of rose-water and orange-water sprinkled the contents freely over all present. 1 Badaoni says : ' Moreover there was constantly in front of his royal pavilion and his civil Court a mound of dead bodies and a heap of corpses, while the sweepers and executioners were wearied out with their work of dragging (the wretched victims) and putting them to death in crowds ' (transl. Ranking, i. 317). 246 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Daughters of Hindu kings made captive during the year were compelled to dance and sing, and then distributed to persons of distinction. Ceremonial when the Sultan returned. When the Sultan returned from a progress a large leather reservoir was provided, filled with essence of roses and syrup dissolved in water, which everybody was free to drink. The Sultan, on several occasions when entering the capital, caused small catapults to be mounted on elephants from which were discharged gold and silver coins to be scrambled for by the populace. In that proceeding he followed the precedent set by Alau-d din Khilji immediately after his usurpation, when he sought to win popular acquiescence by scattering in the same way ' golden stars ', the half- and quarter-/anams forming part of the immense booty brought from the Deccan. Meals in public. The Mogul sovereign always dined alone in the private apartments of the palace. Muhammad bin Tughlak used to dine in the audience-hall and share his meal with about twenty persons of eminence. He also provided a public banquet twice a day, once before noon and again in the afternoon. The order of precedence was the same as that observed at levees, the judges and theologians being served first. The menu included loaves like cakes ; other loaves split and filled with sweet paste ; rice, roast meats, fowls, and mince.1 Accession of Firoz Shah, 1351. The death of the Sultan left his army camped on the bank of the Indus masterless and helpless. The fighting force, as usual in India, was hampered by a crowd of women, children, and camp followers. When it attempted to start on its long homeward march it was assailed by Sind rebels and Mongol banditti. Much baggage was lost, and the women and children perished. Firoz Shah, the first cousin of the deceased sovereign and governor of one-fourth of the kingdom, was then in the camp, but was unwilling to assert himself and occupy the seat of his terrible relative. The army endured utter misery for three days by reason of the want of guidance. Then all the chief men, Muslims and Hindus alike, decided that the only person who could deliver the expeditionary force from destruction was Firoz Shah. Although he professed unwillingness to accept the responsi bility of government, and probably was sincere in his reluctance, he was forced to ascend the throne and assume command. He was enthroned in the camp on March 23, 1351. The existence of a leader soon effected an improvement, and the new Sultan ultimately succeeded in bringing back the survivors of the army to Delhi through Multan and Debalpur. 1 Ibn Batuta, transl. Defremery and Sanguinetti, tome iii, pp. 217-42. The whole account, which is well worth reading, has not been translated at all in E.dbD.; but some details from another and less authoritative author are given in vol. iii, pp. 575 foil. For Alau-d din see Ziau-d din Barani in E. db D., iii. 158. SULTAN FIROZ TUGHLAK 247 A pretender. Meanwhile, Khwaja Jahan, the aged governor of Delhi, misled by an untrue report of Firoz Shah's death, had set up as Sultan a child falsely alleged to be the son of Muhammad bin Tughlak. When Firoz Shah approached the capital, Khwaja Jahan, finding resistance hopeless, surrendered. The Sultan wished to spare him, but his advisers insisted that high treason must meet its just punishment. The old man, accordingly, was executed. The late Sultan, as a matter of fact, had left no son, so that the enthronement of a supposititious child could not be justified. Wars with Bengal. In 1353-4 (a.h. 754) Firoz Shah engaged in a war with the king of Bengal which lasted for eleven months. The Bengal monarch was defeated in a battle, the locality of which is not clearly indicated. Firoz Shah offered a silver tanka for each enemy head. If the historian may be believed the heads counted and paid for exceeded 180,000. The campaign had no result except the wanton slaughter thus evidenced. No territory was annexed and the practical independence of the eastern province continued unimpaired. Some years later the war with Bengal was renewed. After some fighting terms of peace were arranged, and from that time, about 1360 (a.h. 761), the independence of Bengal was uncontested. The Sultan was entangled on his return in the wild country of Chutia, Nagpur and was not heard of for six months. Firoz Shah made no attempt to recover his late cousin's dominions in the Deccan. On the contrary, he tacitly acknowledged the autonomy of the Bahmani king by receiving an embassy from him, and he likewise received envoys from the ruler of Ma'abar. Attacks on Sind. The Sultan sought to avenge his predecessor by making two attempts to subdue Thathah in Sind. On the first occasion, about 1361, he assembled 90,000 cavalry and480 elephants. The result was disastrous. Supplies failed and all the horses perished. Under pressure of dire necessity retreat to Gujarat was ordered. The army, misled, it was alleged, by treacherous guides, suffered unutterable misery in crossing the Runn of Cutch. For six months no news from it reached Delhi, and everybody believed that the Sultan had perished. Order was maintained by Khan Jahan, the resourceful minister in charge of the capital, and in due course the Sultan with the remnant of his army emerged in Gujarat. After receiving reinforcements and equipping a fresh force Firoz Shah again advanced into Sind from Gujarat. On this occasion the invaders secured the crops in time, with the result that the people of the country in their turn suffered from famine. When Thathah appeared to be seriously threatened the Jam with another chief surrendered, and accompanied Firoz Shah to Delhi, where they took up their residence, apparently as hostages. A relative of theirs continued to rule at Thathah, so that the government of Delhi failed to secure any substantial benefit from two costly campaigns and a final nominal success. 248 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Personal tastes of Firoz Shah. It seems to be plain that Firoz Shah possessed no military capacity. His early campaigns both in the east and the west were absolutely futile, and during the greater part of his long reign he abstained from war. His personal tastes were wholly inconsistent with the pursuit of glory in the field. He was extremely devout, although he allowed himself the kingly privilege of drinking wine, and spent much time in hunting. He was fond of the study of history, and his master- passion was a love for building. He followed the example of his predecessors, by building a new Delhi called Ffrozabad, which included the site of Indarpat or Indraprastha, famous in epic legend. The two inscribed Asoka columns now standing near Delhi were brought there by order of Firoz Shah,- the one from Topra, in the Ambala District, and the other from Meerut. The contemporary historian describes in interesting detail the ingenious devices used to ensure the safe transport and erection of the huge monoliths. The Sultan also founded the cities of Hisar Firoza (Hissar, to NW. of Delhi), and of Jaunpur (to the NW. of Benares), making use in each case of earlier Hindu towns and buildings. He has left on record under his own hand a list of the principal works executed during his reign of thirty-seven years, comprising towns, forts, mosques, colleges, and many other buildings, besides em bankments and canals. The canal constructed to supply Hisar Firoza with water was repaired in the reign of Shahjahan and haG been utilized in the alinement of the Western Jumna Canal. His chief architect was Malik Ghazi Shahna, whose deputy was Abdu-1 Hakk, also known as Jahir Sundhar. Asiatic kings, as a rule, show no interest in buildings erected by their predecessors, which usually are allowed to decay uncared for. Firoz Shah was peculiar in devoting much attention to the repair and rebuilding of ' the structures of former kings and ancient nobles . . . giving the restora tion of those buildings the priority ' over his own new constructions. Internal administration. The internal administration of the country, as distinct from the Sultan's personal hobbies, was in the hands of Khan Jahan, the minister, a converted Hindu from Telingana. When he died in 1370-1 (a.h. 772) his place was taken by his son, who assumed the same title of Khan Jahan, and conducted the government to the end of the reign. Sultan Alau-d din, who had been in the habit of paying cash salaries to his officers, had disapproved of the system of payment by jdgirs, or the assign ment of lands and of the revenue which otherwise would be paid to the state, believing that that system tended to produce insub ordination and rebellion. But Firoz Shah and his advisers ma'de the grant of jdgirs the rule. Akbar reverted to cash payments from the treasury and direct official administration so far as was practicable. Alleged prosperity. The statements of Ziau-d din Barani in praise of Firoz Shah cannot be accepted without reserve. It is no doubt true that the Sultan ' made the laws of the Prophet SULTAN FIROZ TUGHLAK 249 his guide ', and desired to check oppression. But when we are told that ' the peasants grew rich and were satisfied . . . Their houses were replete with grain, property, horses, and furniture ; every one had plenty of gold and silver ; no woman was without her ornaments, and no house was wanting in excellent beds and couches. Wealth abounded and com forts were general. The whole realm of Delhi was blessed with the bounties of the Almighty ' : the exaggeration of courtly flattery is obvious. The historian states that it had been the practice of previous Sultans to leave the peasant only one cow and take away all the rest. The milder rule of Firoz Shah, although it certainly diminished the tyranny practised, cannot have produced a paradise* Slave raiding. We are informed by the same author that ' the Sultan was very diligent in providing slaves, and he carried his care so far as to command his great fief-holders and officers to capture slaves whenever they were at war, and to pick out and send the best for the service of the court. . . . Those chiefs who brought many slaves received the highest favour. . . . About 12,000 slaves became artisans of various kinds. Forty thousand were every day in readiness to attend as guards in the Sultan's equipage or at the palace. Altogether, in the city and in the various fiefs, there were 180,000 slaves, for whose maintenance and comfort the Sultan took especial care. The institution took root in the very centre of the land, and the Sultan looked upon its due regulation as one of his incumbent duties.' Such wholesale slave raiding clearly must have been the cause of much suffering, even though it be admitted that the slaves after capture were well treated. Sir Henry Elliot absurdly called Firoz Shah ' this Akbar of his time ', forgetting that Akbar at a very early date in his reign forbade the enslavement of prisoners of war. The slaves, of course, all became Musalmans, and the proselytism thus effected probably was the chief reason why the Sultan favoured the system. After his death most of his slaves were killed by his successors. During his lifetime they must have been a strong bulwark of the throne. Abolition of torture. We have the good fortune to possess a tract written by Firoz Shah himself which enumerates his good deeds as he understood them to be. One reform, the abolition of mutilation and torture, deserves unqualified commendation, and the orders must have been acted on to a considerable extent during his lifetime. The enumeration of the ' many varieties of torture ' employed under former kings is horrible : * amputation of hands and feet, ears and noses ; tearing out the eyes, pouring molten lead into the throat, crushing the bones of the hands and feet with mallets, burning the body with fire, driving iron nails into the hands, feet, and bosom, cutting the sinews, sawing men asunder ; these and many similar tortures were practised. The great and merciful God made me, His servant, hope and seek for His mercy by devoting myself to prevent the unlawful killing of Musalmans and the infliction of any kind of torture upon them or upon any men.' 1076 K 230 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Intolerance. But Firoz Shah could be fierce when his religious fanaticism was roused. He records the following facts : ' The sect of Shias, also called Rawdfiz, had endeavoured to make proselytes. ... I seized them all and I convicted them of their errors and perversions. On the most zealous I inflicted capital punishment (siydsat), and the rest I visited with censure (tdzlr), and threats of public punishment. Their books I burnt in public and by the grace of God the influence of this sect was entirely suppressed.' An immoral sect, which followed obscene practices, resembling those of certain Hindu Saktas, was dealt with in a drastic fashion, which had more justification than his treatment of the Shlas. ' I cut off the heads of the elders of this sect, and imprisoned and banished the rest, so that their abominable practices were put an end to.' He caused the * doctors learned in the holy Law ' to slay a man who claimed to be the Mahdi, ' and for this good action ', he wrote, ' I hope to receive future reward'. He was much shocked on hearing of the erection of certain new Hindu temples. ' Under divine guidance I destroyed these edifices, and I killed those leaders of infidelity who seduced others into error, and the lower orders I subjected to stripes and chastisement, until this abuse was entirely abolished.' He went in person to a certain village named Maluh, apparently near Delhi, where a religious fair was being held, which was attended even by ' some graceless Musalmans '. ' I ordered that the leaders of these people and the promoters of this abomination should be put to death. I forbade the infliction of any severe punishment on the Hindus in general, but I destroyed their idol temples and instead thereof raised mosques.' He caused certain Hindus of Kohana who had built a new temple to be executed before the gate of the palace, ' as a warning that no zimmi [scil. non-Muslim paying the jizya as the price of his life] could follow such wicked practices in a Musalman country '- The historian witnessed the burning alive of a Brahman who had practised his rites in public. Those unquestionable facts prove that Firoz Shah carried on the savage tradition of the early invaders, and believed that he served God by treating as a capital crime the public practice of their religion by the vast majority of his subjects. He was far indeed from sharing the views held by Akbar in middle and later life, although that sovereign in the early years of his reign had followed to some extent the precedent set by Firoz Shah. Bought conversions. The Sultan continues : ' I encouraged my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the prophet, and I proclaimed that every one who repeated the creed and became a Musalman should be exempt from the jizya or poll-tax. Information of this came to the ears of the people at large, and great numbers of Hindus presented themselves, and were admitted to the honour of Islam. Thus they came forward day by day from every quarter, and, adopting the faith, SULTAN FIROZ TUGHLAK 251 A jaital. were exonerated from the jizya, and were favoured with presents and honours.' Such was the origin of a large part of the existing Muhammadan population. Several other sovereigns continued the process of conversion by bribery. The jizya. The jizya in Delhi was assessed in three grades ; namely, 1st class, 40 tankas ; 2nd class, 20 tankas ; 3rd class, 10 tankas. In former reigns Brahmans had been excused. Firoz Shah, after consulta tion with his learned lawyers, resolved to include them. The Brahmans assembled, and fasted near his new palace on the Ridge for several days until they were at the point of death. The difficulty thus threatened was compromised by the assess ment of a reduced all-round rate on Brah mans of 10 tankas and 50 jaitals. The silver tankah of 175 grains was worth a little less than the later rupee of 180 grains.1 Credit due to the Sultan. Firoz Shah, when due allowance is made for his surroundings and education, could not have escaped from the theory and practice of bigoted intolerance. It was not possible for him in his age to rise, as Akbar did, to the conception that the ruler of Hindostan should cherish all his subjects alike, whether Musalman and Hindu, and allow every man absolute freedom, not only of conscience, but of public worship. The Muslims of the fourteenth century were still dominated by the ideas current in the early days of Islam, and were convinced that the tolerance of idolatry was a sin. Firoz Shah, whatever may have been his defects or weaknesses, deserves much credit for having mitigated in some respects the horrible practice of his predecessors, and for having introduced some tincture of humane feeling into the administration. He was naturally a kind charitable man, and his good deeds included the foundation of a hospital. Death of Firoz Shah in 1388. Anarchy. Firoz Shah, who had been forty-two years of age when called to the throne, lost capacity for affairs as the infirmities of ad vancing years increased. Experiments made in the way of associating his sons with himself in the government were not successful, and his minister, the younger Khan Jahan, was tempted to engage in treasonable practices. In Sep tember 1388 the old Sultan died, aged about eighty. The government fell into utter confusion. A series of puppet sultans, all equally wanting in personal merit, pass rapidly across the stage. The kingdom, in fact, ceased to exist, and the governor of every province assumed practical independence. For 1 Thomas, Chronicles, pp. 218 «., 219 n., 232, 281 n. 64 jaitals made one tankah in the fourteenth century. A Brahman, consequently, paid about ten rupees a year. The coin No. 207 of Thomas shows that the word J^!^- should be vocalized as jaital. Coin of Firoz Shah. 252 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD about three years, from 1394 to 1397, two rival Sultans had to find room within the precincts of the Delhi group of cities. Sultan Mahmud, a boy grandson of Firoz Shah, was recognized as king in Old Delhi, while his relative Nusrat Shah claimed similar rank in Firozabad a few miles distant. ' Day by day, battles were fought between these two kings, who were like the two kings in the game of chess.' It is not worth while to either remember or record the unmeaning struggles between the many rival claimants to a dishonoured throne. Mahmud and his competitor, Nusrat Shah, were the last of the series of nominal Sultans who filled up the interval between the death of Firoz Shah in 1388 and the invasion of TImur ten years later. Invasion of TImur, 1398. Amir TImur (Timur-i-lang, the Tamerlane or Tamburlaine of English literature) was a Barkis Turk, whose father was one of the earliest converts to Islam. Born in 1336 TImur attained the throne of Samarkand in 1369, and then entered on a career of distant conquests, rivalling those of Chingiz Khan, whom he equalled in ferocity and cruelty, although he was a Musalman and equipped with considerable knowledge of Muslim lore. He died in 1405, when meditating the conquest of China and looking forward with eager anticipation to the slaughter of millions of unbelievers. He needed no formal pretext for his attack on India. The feebleness of the government, the reputed wealth of the country, and the fact that most of the inhabi tants were idolaters offered more than sufficient inducement to undertake the conquest. Early in 1398 one of his grandsons, commanding an advanced guard, laid siege to Multan, and captured it after six months. In the autumn TImur himself crossed the Indus, with a large cavalry force, said to number 90,000 ; sacked Tulamba, to the north-east of Multan, massacring or enslaving the inhabitants. Near Panlpat, where Mahmud Tughlak essayed to oppose him, the invader won an easy victory. He then occupied Delhi and was proclaimed king. Some resistance by the inhabitants provoked a general massacre. Previously nearly 100,000 prisoners had been slain ift cold blood. The city was thoroughly plundered for five days, all the accumulated wealth of generations being carried off to Samarkand, along with a multitude of women and other captives. TImur was careful to bring away all the skilled artisans he could find to be employed on the buildings at his capital. He had no intention of staying in India. He returned through Meerut, storming that city, and slaying everybody. He then visited Hardwar, and marching along the foot of the mountains, where it was easy to cross the rivers, quitted India as he had come by the way of the Panjab, ' leaving anarchy, famine, and pestilence behind him '. The so-called Sayyids. The appalling atrocities of Timur's raid, which have been barely indicated in the preceding paragraphs, destroyed all semblance of government in Upper India. The rest INVASION OF TIMUR 253 of the country, of course, remained wholly unaffected by it, and it is probable that many kingdoms hardly knew that the invasion had occurred. No regular Sultan's government was established at Delhi until more than half a century after Timur's departure. From 1414 to 1450 the affairs of the city and a very small territory adjoining were administered, first by Khizr Khan, who had been governor of the Panjab, and then by three of his successors. Those princes, who never assumed the royal style or struck coins in their own names, professed to regard themselves as Timur's deputies.1 They pretended to be Sayyids, and consequently are described in the history text-books as the Sayyid dynasty. Their insignificant doings do not merit further notice. The last of the line, named Alau-d din, was allowed to retire to Budaon, where he lived in peace for many years. Sultan Bahlol Lodi. Bahlol Khan, an Afghan of the Lodi tribe, who had become governor of the Panjab and independent of Delhi, seized the throne in 1450, and was proclaimed Sultan. He engaged in a war with the king of Jaunpur in the east, that kingdom having thrown off its allegiance during the anarchy following on Timur's invasion ; and when he died had succeeded in dispossessing Husain Shah, the king of Jaunpur, and in replacing him by his own son Barbak Shah as viceroy. He may be said to have recovered a certain amount of control over territory extending from the foot of the mountains to Benares, and as far south as the borders of Bundelkhand. Pathan Kings of Delhi. Many authors, including some who should have known better, erroneously call all the Sultans of Delhi from 1206 to 1450 Pathans or Afghans. In reality Bahlol Lodi was the first Pathan or Afghan Sultan. The only other Afghan rulers in Delhi were the Sflr family of Sher Shah, who disputed the kingdom with Humayun and Akbar. All historical errors are hard to kill. I do not know any error which has shown more vitality than the false designation ' Pathan Kings of Delhi ' applied to Turks and people of all sorts. Sikandar Lodi. The nobles promptly chose Nizam Khan, a son of Bahlol, as his father's successor. He assumed the royal style of Sultan Sikandar Ghazi (1489). The principal political event of his reign was the expulsion of his brother Barbak Shah from Jaunpur, and the definite annexation of that kingdom. The Sultan also annexed Bihar and levied tribute from Tirhiit. The reader must understand that in those days ' annexation ' meant no more than an extremely lax control over the Afghan military chiefs of districts, who were compelled by superior force to yield temporary and imperfect obedience to the Sultan of Delhi. Muhammadan authors speak well of Sultan Sikandar, who was a furious bigot. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, con verting the buildings to Muslim uses, and generally was extremely 1 E. Thomas proved that Firishta was mistaken in asserting that the so-called Sayyids struck coin in the name of Timur. The coins they issued bore the names of the regular Sultans of Delhi who preceded them. 254 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD hostile to Hinduism. He strictly followed Koranic law, and wais a careful, scrupulous ruler, within the limits of his excessive bigotry. He took a special interest in medical lore. His reign was remarkable for the prevalence of exceptionally low prices for both food and other things, so that ' small means enabled their possessor to live comfortably '. Agra, which had been ruined by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, and had sunk into insignificance, was improved by Sultan Sikandar, who generally resided there. Sikandara, where Akbar's tomb stands, i^ named after the Lodi monarch. A terrible earthquake, extending to Persia, occurred in 1505, and did much damage in northern India. But the historians, as usual, fail to give any particulars, confining their efforts at descrip tion to piling up adjectives. Sikandar died a natural death at the close of 1517. The kingdom of Jaunpur. It will be convenient to notice briefly in this place the history of the short-lived kingdom of Jaunpur, the relations of which with the Lodi Sultans supplied the most important political events of their reigns. The foundation of the Muhammadan city of Jaun pur by Firoz Shah Tughlak has been mentioned. In 1394 Mah mud Tughlak appointed a power ful eunuch noble entitled Khwaja Jahan to be 'Lord of the East' (Maliku-sh shark) with his head-quarters at Jaunpur. In those days the control exercised by Delhi was so feeble that every pro vincial governor was practically independent. After the violence of TImur had shattered the Delhi government in 1398, Khwaja Jahan's adopted son seized the opportunity and set up as an inde pendent king with the style of Mubarak Shah Shark! (scil. Eastern), in 1399. The newly made king was quickly succeeded in 1400 by his younger brother Ibrahim, who reigned prosperously for forty years. Like Sikandar Lodi he was a bigoted Musalman, and ' a steady, if not bloody persecutor '. He won the approval of the historians who shared his religious sentiments, but, as usual, the other side of the case is not on record. Ibrahim's son Mahmud also is spoken of as a successful ruler. Husain Shah, the last independent king, was overcome by Bahlol Lodi in or about 1476, and driven to take refuge with his namesake of Bengal. The expedient attempted at the beginning of Sikandar Lodi's reign of leaving Jaunpur to his elder brother Barbak Shah in full sovereignty was a failure, and led to war, in which Delhi was successful. The experiment, when repeated at the time of Ibrahim LodFs accession, again failed. Jalal Khan, Ibrahim's brother, who had been set up as king of Jaunpur, was defeated and killed. From Coin of Ibrahim of Jaunpur. KINGDOM OF JAUNPUR 255 that time the ' Kingdom of the East ' no longer pretended to an independent existence. It may be considered to have come to an end in or about 1476, when Bahlol Lodi expelled his brother Barbak Shah. All the members of the Jaunpur dynasty were patrons of Persian and Arabic literature. Their principal memorial is the group of ATALA DEVI MOSQUE, JAUNPUR. noble mosques at Jaunpur, designed in a peculiar style, including many Hindu features. The buildings are unusually massive, have no minarets, and are characterized by stately gateways with sloping walls. The mosques date from the reigns of Ibrahim, Mahmud, and Husain Shah. Ibrahim Lodi. The new Sultan, Ibrahim, who succeeded his father Sikandar, could not succeed in keeping on good terms with his Afghan nobles, and his reign was mostly occupied by conflicts with them. When he was victorious he took cruel vengeance. 256 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Ultimately the discontent of the Afghan chiefs resulted in an invitation being sent by Daulat Khan Lodi to Babur, the King or Padshah of Kabul. Babur, after several indecisive incursions, started on his final invasion in November 1525 ; and on April 21, 1526, inflicted on Sultan Ibrahim a crushing defeat at Panlpat, which cost him his throne and life. The battle will be described in connexion with the reign of the victor. Low prices. The reign of Ibrahim was even more remarkable than that of his father for the extreme lowness of prices, due partly to copious rain followed by abundant harvests, and largely to the want of metallic currency. We are told that ' gold and silver were only procurable with the greatest difficulty ', and that sellers were ready to offer most extravagant quantities of produce for cash. ' If a traveller wished tp proceed from Delhi to Agra, one bahloli would suffice for the expenses of himself, his horse, and four attendants.'1 The coin referred to appears to be the piece weighing about 140 grains, composed of billon or mixed copper and silver in varying proportions. The most valuable pieces cannot' have been worth more than two or three pence each. Timur's invasion, apparently, must have produced tremendous economic effects, which have been very imper- A bahloli. fectly recorded. Gold and silver seem to have been still abundant in the time of Firoz Shah Tughlak, before Timur's operations. The Sultanate of Delhi. The bloodstained annals of the Sultanate of Delhi, extending over nearly three centuries and a quarter (1206-1526), are not pleasant reading. They do not repay minute study in detail, except for special purposes. The episodes of Chingiz Khan and TImur are filled with sickening horrors, and the reigns of several Sultans offer little but scenes of bloodshed, tyranny, and treachery. All the Sultans without exception were fierce bigots. Even Firoz Shah Tughlak, who exhibited a certain amount of kindly humanity, and felt some desire to do good to his people, was by' no means free from the savage intolerance of his contemporaries. Many of the Sultans, including the most ferocious, had nice taste in the refinements of Arabic and Persian literature. They liked to be surrounded by men learned in the peculiar lore of Islam, and were liberal patrons of the accomplishments which interested them. They introduced into India several new styles of architecture, based primarily on the model of buildings at Mecca, Damascus, and other cities of the Muslim world, but profoundly modified by Hindu influences. The innumerable Hindu buildings overthrown supplied materials for the new mosques and colleges, for the construction of which the conquerors were compelled to utilize 1 Thomas, Chronicles, p. 360 ; E. db D., iv. 476. THE SULTANATE OF DELHI 257 the services of Indian craftsmen. The buildings of the Sultanate consequently display characteristics which distinguish them readily from the Muslim edifices in other parts of the world. Numerous authors group all the styles' of architecture during the peripd of the Sultanate under the term 'Pathan', a most inappropriate and misleading designation. Bahlol Lodi, who came to the throne in the middle of the fifteenth century, was the first Pathan ruler of Delhi, and his dynasty consisting of three members (1451-1526) was the only Pathan line of Sultans. The Sur family of Sher Shah, who enjoyed a certain amount of contested and precarious power as rulers of Hindostan from 1542 to 1556, also were Pathans or Afghans, but they cannot be reckoned properly in the succession of Sultans. No such thing as a Pathan style of architecture ever existed. Several distinct styles current in different localities and at various times during the period of the Sultanate may be dis tinguished, but the subject is too technical for further notice in this place. Causes of Muslim success. The Muhammadan invaders undoubtedly were superior to their Hindu opponents in fighting power and so long as they remained uncorrupted by wealth and luxury were practically invincible. The explanation of their success, already briefly discussed in relation to the earliest cam paigns, is not far to seek. The men came from a cool climate in hilly regions, and were for the most part heavier and physically stronger than their opponents. Their flesh diet as compared with the vegetarian habits prevalent in India, combined with their freedom from the restrictions of caste rules concerning food, tended to develop the kind of energy required by an invading force. Their fierce fanaticism, which regarded the destruction of millions of non-Muslims as a service eminently pleasing to God, made them absolutely pitiless, and consequently far more terrifying than the ordinary enemies met in India. While they employed every kind of frightfulness to terrify the Indians, they were themselves ordinarily saved from fear by their deep conviction that a GhazI — a slayer of an infidel — if he should happen to be killed himself, went straight to all the joys of an easily intelligible paradise, winning at the same time undying fame as a martyr. The courage of the invaders was further stimulated by the consciousness that no retreat was open to them. They must either subdue utterly by sheer force the millions confronting their thousands or be completely destroyed. No middle course was available. The enormous wealth in gold, silver, and jewels, not to mention more commonplace valuables, accumulated in the temples, palaces, and towns of India fired their imagination and offered the most splendid conceivable rewards for valour. The Hindu strategy and tactics were old-fashioned, based on ancient text-books, which • took no account of foreign methods ; and the unity of command on the Indian side was always more or less hampered by tribal, sectarian, and caste divisions. Each horde of the foreigners, on the contrary, obeyed a single leader in the field, K3 258 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD and the commanders knew how to make use of shock tactics, that is to say, well-directed cavalry charges, which rarely failed to scatter the Hindu hosts. Elephants, on which Hindu tradition placed excessive reliance, proved to* be useless, or worse than useless, when pitted against well-equipped, active cavalry. The Hindu cavalry does not seem to have attained a high standard of efficiency in most parts of the country. Thus it happened that the Muslims, although insignificant in numbers when compared with the vast Indian population, usually secured easy victories, and were able to keep in subjection for cen turies enormous multitudes of Hindus. Nature ot the Sultans' government. Bengal, after it had been overrun by a few parties of horsemen at the close of the twelfth century, remained for ages under the heel of foreign chiefs who were sometimes Afghans, and the province never escaped from Musalman rule until it passed under British control. The wars with Bengal of which we read during the period of the Sultanate were concerned only with the claim preferred by Delhi to receive homage and tribute from the Muslim rulers of Bengal. Those rulers, in their turn, often seem to have left Hindu Rajas undis turbed in their principalities, subject to the payment of tribute with greater or less regularity. Indeed the same practice necessarily prevailed over a large part of the Muslim dominions. Some sort of civil government had to be carried on, and the strangers had not either the numbers or the capacity for civil administration except in a limited area. The Sultans left no fruitful ideas or valuable institutions behind them. Alau-d din Khilji, an unlettered savage, issued, it is true, many regulations, but they were ill-founded and died with him. The government both at head-quarters and in the provinces was an arbitrary despotism, practically unchecked except by rebellion and assassination. A strong autocrat, like Alau-d din, never allowed legal scruples to hamper his will, and Muhammad bin Tughlalc, who professed reverence for the sacred law, was the worst tyrant of them all. The succession to the throne usually was effected by means of an irregular election conducted by military chiefs, and the person chosen to be Sultan was not necessarily a relative of his predecessor. Islam in Indian life. The permanent establishment of Muhammadan governments at Delhi and many other cities, combined with the steady growth of a settled resident Muslim population forming a ruling class in the midst of a vastly more numerous Hindu population, necessarily produced immense changes in India. The Muhammadan element increased continually in three ways, namely, by immigration from beyond the north western frontier, by conversions, whether forcible or purchased, and by birth. In modern times statistics prove that Muhammadans in India tend to multiply more rapidly than Hindus, and the same ratio probably held good in the days of the Sultanate. We do not possess any statistics concerning the growth of the Muhammadan ISLAM IN INDIAN LIFE 259 population in any of the three ways mentioned, but we know that it occurred in all the ways. It was impossible that the presence of a strange element so large should not bring about important modifications of Indian life. Strength of Muhammadan religion. The Muhammadans were not absorbed into the Indian caste system of Hinduism as their foreign predecessors, the Sakas, Huns, and others, had been absorbed in the course of a generation or two. The definiteness of the religion of Islam, founded on a written revelation of known .date, preserved its votaries from the fate which befell the adherents of Shamanism and the other vague religions of Central Asia. When the Sakas, Huns, and the rest of the early immigrants set tled in India and married Hindu women they merged in the Hindu caste system with extraordinary rapidity, chiefly because they possessed no religion sufficiently definite to protect them against the power of the Brahmans. The Muslim with his Koran and his Prophet was in a different position. He believed in his intelligible religion with all his heart, maintained against all comers the noble doctrine of the unity of God, and heartily despised the worshippers of many gods, with their idols and ceremonies. The Muhammadan settlers consequently regarded themselves, whether rich or poor, as a superior race, and ordinarily kept apart so far as possible from social contact with the idolaters. But, in course of time, the barrier was partially broken down. One cause which promoted a certain degree of intercourse was the necessity of continuing the employment of unconverted Hindus in clerkships and a host of minor official posts which the Musalmans could not fill themselves. Another was the large number of conversions effected either by fear of the sword or by purchase. The Hindus thus nominally converted retained md'st of their old habits and connexions. Even now. their descendants are often half-Hindu in their mode of life. Evolution of Urdu. The various necessities which forced the Muhammadans and Hindus to meet each other involved the evolution of a common language. Some Muhammadans learned Hindi and even wrote in it, as Malik Muhammad of Jais did in the time of Humayun. Multitudes of Hindus must have acquired some knowledge of Persian. A convenient compromise between the two languages resulted in the formation of Urdu, the camp language, the name being derived from the Turki word, urdu, ' camp ', the original form of the English word ' horde '. Urdu is a Persianized form of Western Hindi, as spoken especially- in the neighbourhood of Delhi. Its grammar and structure continue to be Hindi in the main, while the words, are largely Persian. The. language of Persia after the Muhammadan conquest became filled with Arabic words, which, consequently, are numerous in Urdu. No definite date can be assigned to the beginnings of Urdu, which shades off into Hindi by insensible gradations, but it is certain that during the Sultanate period the evolution of a language intelligible to both the conquerors and the conquered went on unceasingly. Urdu gradually became the vernacular of 260 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Indian Muhammadans and developed a literature. Many Hindi words occur in the writings of Amir or Mir Khusru, who died in 1325, and is sometimes reckoned as a writer of Urdu. Modification of Hindu religion. The introduction o/ the religion of the Prophet as a permanent factor in the life of India could not but modify the notions of Hindu thinkers. Although it is hardly necessary to observe that the idea of the unity of God always has been and still is familiar to even uneducated Hindus, it seems to be true that the prominence given to that doctrine by Muslim teaching encouraged the rise of religious schools which sought for a creed capable of expressing Muhammadan and Hindu devotion alike. Ramanand and Kablr. The most famous teacher whose doctrine was the basis of such schools was Ramanand, who lived in the fourteenth century, and came from the south. He preached in Hindi and admitted people of all .castes, or of no caste, to his order. He had twelve apostles or chief disciples, who included a Rajput, a currier, a barber, and a Muhammadan weaver, namely, Kablr. The verses of Kablr, which are still familiar in northern India, show clear traces of Muhammadan influence. He condemned the worship of idols and the institution of caste. Both Musalmans and Hindus are included among his followers, who are known as Kablrpanthis, or ' travellers on the way of Kablr ', who claimed to be ' at once the child of Allah and of Ram '. A few stanzas may be quoted to prove how Hinduism and Islam reacted one upon the other in the days of the Lodi Sultans : i O Servant, where dost thou seek Me ? Lo ! I am beside thee. I am neither in temple nor in mosque ; I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash : Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation.' If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me : thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabir says, ' O Sadhu ! God is the breath of all breath.' It is needless to ask of a saint the caste to which he belongs; For the priest, the warrior, the tradesman, and all the thirty-six castes, alike are seeking for God. It is but folly to ask what the caste of a saint may be ; The barber has sought God, the washer-woman, and the carpenter — Even Raidas was a seeker after God. The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by caste. Hindus and Moslems alike have achieved that End, where remains no mark of distinction. XLII There is nothing but water at the holy bathing places ; and I know that they are useless, for I have bathed in them. The images are all lifeless, they cannot speak ; I know, for I have cried aloud to them. RAMANAND AND KABlR 261 The Purana and the Koran are mere words ; lifting up the curtain, I have seen. Kabir gives utterance to the words of experience ; and he knows very well that all other things are untrue.1 Such teaching is closely akin to that of the Persian mystics, Jalalu-d din Rumi, Hafiz, and the rest, whose doctrine was embraced in the sixteenth century by Abu-1 Fazl and Akbar. Kabir is the spiritual ancestor of Nanak, the founder of the Sikh sect. Dr. Farquhar truly observes that ' it is a most extraordinary fact that the theology of Kabir was meant to unite Hindus and Muhammadans in the worship of the one God ; yet the most implacable hatred arose between the Sikhs and the Muhammadans ; and from that hatred came the Khalsa, the Sikh military order, which created the fiercest enemies the Mughal emperors had. It is also most noteworthy that caste has found its way back into every Hindu sect that has disowned it.' 3 Seclusion of women. Although ancient Indian literature, such as the Arthasdstra of Kautilya, alludes occasionally to the practice of the seclusion of women, many records indicate that the seclusion, even among the wealthy and leisured classes, although practised, was less strict than it is now in most parts of India. The example of the dominant Muslims, combined with the desire of the Hindus to give the female members of their families every possible protection against the foreigners, has made the practice of living ' behind the curtain ' both more fashionable and more widely prevalent than it used to be in ancient times. CHRONOLOGY OF THE SULTANATE, 1290-1526 The Khilji (Khalj) Dynasty Jalalu-d dIn (Firoz Shah) Famine ..... Mongol inroad . . Annexation of Ellichpur (Ilichpur) Alau-d dIn, ace. ; murder of Jalalu-d din Conquest of Gujarat . Mongol invasions Massacre of Mongols at Delhi Southern campaigns of Malik Kafur Sack of Chitor_ . Kutbu-d din Mubarak Destruction of Harpal Deo Yadava [Khusru Khan, usurper, &c.] 1 One Hundred Poems of Kabir. Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, assisted by Evelyn Under'hill. Published by the India Society, London, at the Chiswick Press, 1914.' Miss Underhill dates Kabir from about 1440 to 1518. He used to be placed between 1380 and 1420. 2 Primer of Hinduism, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1912, p. 138. ace. 1290 . 1291 . 1292 . 1294 . 1296 1297-8 . 1297-1305 . ?1298 1302-11 . 1303 ^ce. Jan. 1315 . 1318 1318-20 262 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD The Tughlak Dynasty Ghiyasu-d dIn Tughlak Shah (Ghazi Malik) Wars in Bengal and Deccan Muhammad Adil bin Tughlak (Fakhru-d din Juna, Ulugh Khan) Evacuation of Delhi ; foundation of Daulatabad Forced currency of brass and copper for silver Bxpedition against China . Revolt of Bengal and Ma'abar General break-up of empire began about Prolonged famine for several years began Vijayanagar a powerful kingdom Bahmani' kingdom of the Deccan founded The Sultan in Gujarat and Sind FiROz Shah Tughlak War in Bengal . Attacks on Sind Death of Firoz Shah . Break up of the Sultanate Sundry insignificant princes, Mahmud Tughlak, &c. . Invasion of Timur . ... Independence of Jaunpur . ... Anarchy ........ The so-called Sayyids at Delhi and neighbourhood ace. 1321 about 1321-4 also styled . Feb. 1325 1326-7 1329-32 1337-8 1338-9 . 1340 . 1342 . 1346 . 1347 1347-51 ace. 1351 1353-4 about 1360-2 . Sept. 1388 1388-98 . 1398 . 1399 1399-1414 1414-50 The Lodi Dynasty Sultan Bahlol Lodi .... ace. 1450 Recovery of Jaunpur .... about 1476 Sultan Sikandar LodI . ..... ace. 1489 Earthquake in Hindostan and Persia ..... 1505 Sultan IbrahIm LoDi ....... ace. 1517 First battle of Panipat, defeat and death of Ibrahim ; end of the Sultanate ......... 1526 Authorities The leading authority for the Khilji and Tughlak dynasties is the Tdrikh-i Firoz Shahi by Ziau-d din Barani in E. db D., iii. For the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlak I have made large use of Ibn Batuta's travels, translated into French by Defremeryand Sanguinetti (with Arabic text), Paris, 1853-8. Part of that work" has been rendered into English in E. db D., vol. iv, App. The English translation of the Travels by Lee (Or. Trans. Fund, 1829) is not much good, having been made from an imperfect manuscript. Other authors will be found in E. db D., iv ; and, of course, Firishta, Badaoni, &c., give abstracts. The history of Timur's invasion, from his own Memoirs and other sources, is in E. db D., iv, and the Lodi history in vol. v. I have also found E. Thomas, Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi, useful, but the whole period needs critical examination in detail. The exact dates often are uncertain. For Kabir see text ed. by Rev. Ahmad Shah, Cawnpore, 1911 ; and excellent transl. by same, Hamirpur, 1917. BENGAL 263 CHAPTER 4 The Muhammadan kingdoms of Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, and Kashmir. Scope of this chapter. Although it is impossible in the course of a general survey of Indian history to delineate in detail the story of each outlying kingdom, it is necessary for the completion of the picture to draw a sketch of the prominent events which happened in the more important of such kingdoms. The history of the Muhammadan Bahmani kingdom or empire of the Deccan, founded in 1347, which possesses features of special interest ; the compli cated affairs of the five kingdoms erected on the ruins of the Bah mani empire ; and the history of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar will be narrated in Book V. The short-lived kingdom of Jaunpur has been already dealt with. This chapter will be devoted to a summary notice of the more interesting passages in the histories of the Muhammadan kingdoms of Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, and Kashmir, during the period of the Delhi Sultanate. No attempt will be made to write a series of consecutive narratives. Bengal The independence of Bengal, that is to say, the definite separation of the Muhammadan provincial government from the Sultanate of Delhi, may be dated from 1340, as the result of Fakhru-d din's - rebellion against the tyranny of Muhammad bin Tughlak. A few years later Firoz Shah Tughlak practically renounced all claim to the suzerainty of Delhi over the revolted province, which continued under a separate government until 1576, when Akbar's generals defeated and killed Daud Shah, the last of the Afghan kings. The vicissitudes of the various dynasties which ruled Bengal between 1340- and 1526, when the Sultanate of Delhi came to an end,v present few events of intrinsic importance, or such as the memory readily retains. The wars, rebellions, and assassinations which usually fill so large a space in the histories of Muslim dynasties become almost unreadable when the drama is presented on a purely provincial stage isolated from the doings of the larger worid. The story of the independent Muhammadan kings of Bengal seldom offers any points of contact with that world, even within the limits of India. The province ordinarily went its own way, apparently disregarding and disregarded by all other kingdoms, except for certain wars on its frontiers. Very little is known at present concerning the condition of the huge Hindu population during the period in question, that population being almost wholly ignored by the historians writing in Persian. Bengali scholars are, it is understood, engaged on researches which may throw some light on the inner history of the province during the Sultanate, but the results of their labours are not yet easily accessible. Husain Shah. The best and most famous of the Muhammadan Kings of Bengal was Husain Shah (Alau-d din Husain Shah, 264 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD A. d. 1493-1519), a Sayyid of Arab descent who had held the office of vizier or prime minister under a tyrant named Shamsu-d din Muzaffar Shah. When the tyrant was deposed and killed the chiefs unanimously elected Husain Shah to be their sovereign. He justified their choice. His name is still familiar throughout Bengal ; and no insurrection or rebellion occurred during his reign, which lasted for twenty-four years. He died at Gaur, having ' enjoyed a peaceable and happy reign, beloved by his subjects, and respected by his neighbours '. He hospitably received his namesake the fugitive king of Jaunpur. Nusrat Shah. Husain Shah left eighteen sons, the eldest of whom, Nusrat Shah, was elected by the chiefs as his successor. Nusrat Shah departed from the usual custom of Asia in regard to his brothers, whom he treated with affection and liberality. He occupied Tirhiit, and arranged with Babur honourable terms of peace. He is said to have become a cruel tyrant during his latter years. Buildings. The mosques of Gaur and the other old cities of Bengal were constructed almost entirely of brick and in a peculiar style. At Gaur the tomb of Husain Shah and the Lesser Golden Mosque built in his reign, with the Great Golden Mosque and the Kadam Rasul built by Nusrat Shah may be mentioned as being specially noteworthy. The huge Adina mosque at Pandua, twenty miles from Gaur, built by Sikandar Shah in 1368, has about four hundred small domes, and is considered to be the most remarkable building in Bengal. The vast ruins of Gaur are estimated to occupy from twenty to thirty square miles. Hindu literature. The learned historian of Bengali literature states that the most popular book in Bengal is the translation of the Sanskrit Rdmdyana made by Krittivasa, who was born in A. d. 1346. It may be called the Bible of Bengal, where it occupies a position like that held in the upper provinces by the later work of Tulsi Das. Some of the Muhammadan kings were not indifferent to the merits of Hindu literature. A Bengali version of the Mahd bhdrata was prepared to the order of Nusrat Shah, who thus antici pated the similar action of Akbar. An earlier version of the same poem is believed to date from the fourteenth century, and another was composed in the time of Husain Shah, by command of his general, Paragal Khan. ' Frequent references are found in old Bengali literature indicating the esteem and trust in which the Emperor Husen Saha was held by the Hindus.' In fact, it seems to be true that ' the patronage and favour of the Muhammadan emperors and chiefs gave the first start towards the recognition of Bengali in the courts of the Hindu Rajas ', who, under the guidance of their Brahman teachers, were more inclined to encourage Sanskrit.1 1 Dinesh Chandra Sen, History of the Bengali Language and Literature, Calcutta University, 1911, pp. 12, 14, 170, 184, 201, 203. MALWA 265 Mdlwd Malwa, (Malava), the extensive region now included for the most part in the Central India Agency, and lying between the Narbada on the south, the Chambal on the north, Gujarat on the west, and Bundelkhand on the east, had been the seat of famous kingdoms in the Hindu period. Iltutmish raided the country early in the thirteenth century. In 1310 it was brought more or less into ' subjection by an officer of Alau-d din Khilji, and thereafter continued to be ruled by Muslim governors until the break-up of the Sultanate of Delhi. The Ghori Dynasty. Shortly after TimQr's invasion in 1398 the governor, a descendant of the great Sultan, Shihabu-d din Muhammad of Ghor,. set up as king on his own account under the style of Sultan Shihabu-d din Ghori (1401). He had enjoyed his new rank for only four years, when he died suddenly, probably having been poisoned by his eldest son. The independent kingdom thus founded lasted for a hundred and thirty years from 1401 until 1531, when it was annexed by Gujarat. Four years later Humayun brought the country temporarily under the dominion of Delhi, but it did not become finally part of the Mogul empire until the early years of Akbar's reign (1561—4). The political annals of the Muhammadan kingdom present few features of permanent interest, and the Sultans are now remembered chiefly for their magnificent buildings at Mandu. The first capital of the new kingdom was Dhar, where Raja, Bhoja had once reigned, but the second Sultan, who assumed the title of Hoshang Shah, moved his court to Mandu, where he erected many remarkable edifices. He was defeated in a war with Gujarat, and was a prisoner for a year, but was restored to his. throne, and retained his ill-gotten power until 1432, when he was succeeded by his son, Sultan Mahmud, the third and last king of the Ghori dynasty, a worthless drunken creature. The Khilji Dynasty. Sul tan Mahmud Ghori was poisoned in 1436 1 by his minister, Mahmud Khan, a Khilji or Khalj Turk, who seized the throne and founded the Khilji dynasty, which lasted almost a century. He was by far the most eminent of the sovereigns of Malwa and spent a busy life fighting his neighbours, including the Sultan of Gujarat, various Rajas of Rajasthan, and Nizam Shah Bahmani. Firishta, ignoring the irregularity of the methods by which he won his crown, specially extols his justice and gives him a good general character. 1 A. H. 840 — A. d. July 16, 1436-July 4, 1437, as proved by coin No. 15 in Wright's Catalogue. The books give the date as 1435. Khilji coin of Malwa. 266 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD ' Sultan Mahmud', we are told, ' was polite, brave, just, and learned; and during his reign, his subjects, Muhammadans as well as Hindus, were happy, and maintained a friendly intercourse with each other. Scarcely a year passed that he did not take the field, so that his tent became his home, and his resting-place the field of battle. His leisure hours were devoted to hearing the histories and memoirs of the courts of different kings of the earth read.' It is pleasant to learn that in his time the Hindus were treated with consideration. Husain Shah, later in the century, pursued the same intelligent policy in Bengal, as already mentioned. The fight with the Rana. of Chitor apparently must have been indecisive, because the Rana, commemorated his alleged victory by the erection of a noble Tower of Victory, which still stands at Chitor ; while the Sultan, making a similar claim for himself, built a remarkable seven-storied tower at Mandu. That monument unfortunately has collapsed and fallen to ruin so completely that the Archaeologi cal Department experienced considerable difficulty in determining its site. Sultan Nasiru-d din parricide. The next Sultan, Ghiyasu-d din (1469-1501), was poisoned by his son Nasiru-d din. When Jahangir was staying at Mandu in 1617 he liked the place greatly, and was much impressed by the old buildings, which at that time had not fallen into irretrievable ruin. He had spent three lakhs of rupees in repairing them and adapting the most suitable to his own use. He lodged in the palace built by Bahadur the last king of Gujarat. He tells the story of the parricide Sultan in a lively passage, which deserves quotation. Having mentioned some of the principal edifices, Jahangir goes on to say : ' After this I went to the building containing the tombs of the Khalji rulers. The grave of Nasiru-d din, son of Sultan Ghiyasu-d din, whose face is blackened for ever, was also there. It is well known that that wretch advanced himself by the murder of his own father, Ghiyasu-d din, who was in his 80th year. Twice he gave him poison, and he [the father] twice expelled it by means of a poison antidote amulet (zahr-muhra) he had on his arm. The third time he [the son] mixed poison in a cup of sherbet and gave it to his father with his own hand, saying he must drink ft. As his father understood what efforts he was making in this matter, he loosened the zahr-muhra from his arm and threw it before him, and then turning his face in humility and supplication towards the throne of the Creator, who requires no supplication, said : " O Lord, my age has arrived at 80 years, and I have passed this time ' in prosperity and happiness such as has been attained to by no king. Now as this is my last time, I hope that thou wilt not seize Nasir for my piurder, and that reckoning my death as a thing decreed, thou wilt not avenge it." After he had spoken these words, he drank off that poisoned cup of sherbet at a gulp and delivered his soul to the Creator. . . . It is reported that when Shir Khan, the Afghan [Sher Shah], in the time of his rule, came to the tomb of Nasiru-d din, he, in spite of his brutish nature, on account of Nasiru-d din's shameful conduct, ordered the head of the tomb to be beaten with sticks. Also when I went to his tomb I gave it several kicks, and ordered the servants in attendance on me to MALWA 267 kick the tomb. Not satisfied with this, I ordered the tomb to be broken open, and his impure remains to be cast into the fire. Then it occurred to me that since fire is Light, it was a pity for the Light of Allah to be polluted by burning his filthy body ; also, lest there should be any diminu tion of torture for him in another state from being thus burnt, I ordered them to throw his crumbled bones, together with his decayed limbs, into the Narbada.' l Nasiru-d din proved to be a cruel brute when in power. He died of fever in 1512, and was succeeded by his son, Mahmud II, the last king of his race, who was defeated by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, and executed. The other male members of the royal family were exterminated, with the exception of one who was at Humayun's court, and the kingdom was annexed to Gujarat (a.h. 937= a.d. 1531). v Buildings. The fortified city of Mandu, now in ruins, stood on the extensive summit of a commanding hill, protected by walls about twenty-five miles or more in total length. The massive buildings still recognizable are numerous, and of much architectural merit. They include a splendid Jami Masjid, or chief mosque, the Hindola, Mahall, the Jahaz Mahall, the tomb of Hoshang Shah, and the palaces of Bahadur and RupmatI, besides many other remarkable edifices built of sandstone and marble, which have been repaired and conserved to a considerable extent by the officers of the Archaeological Department and the authorities of the Dhar State. The hill, which was dangerously infested by tigers and other wild beasts for more than two centuries, can now be visited and explored in the utmost comfort. Gujarat The country. The name Gujarat is of wide and indefinite signification. It may be taken in its most extended sense to mean all the territory in which the Gujarat! language is used, and so to include the peninsula of Cutch (Kachchh), which is not usually reckoned as part of Gujarat.2 In the ordinary use of the term, , Cutch being excluded, Gujarat comprises a considerable region on the mainland and also the peninsula now known as Kathiawar, which used to be called Saurashtra by the ancient Hindus and Sorath by the Muhammadans. The definition of the mainland region has varied from time to time. Some people fix the southern boundary at the Narbada, while others extend it to Daman. Certainly, in Muhammadan times, Surat at the mouth of the Tapti and Daman farther south always were considered as belonging 1 Memoirs of Jahangir, transl. Rogers and Beveridge, R. As. Soc, 1909, . vol. i,pp. 365-7. Firishta expresses disbelief in the accusations of parricide preferred against Hoshang Shah and Nasiru-d din Shah, but, so far as I can judge, the charges seem to be true in both cases. As regards the latter, it is highly improbable that both Sher Shah and Jahangir should have been misinformed. Cases of parricide among the Muhammadan Sultans are numerous. 3 Gujarat! is the official and literary language of Cutch, but the spoken vernacular is a special dialect of Sindhi. 268 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD to Gujarat. The Gujarat on the mainland of the Muhammadan period may be taken as extending north and south from the neighbourhood of Sirohi and Bhinmal in Rajputana to Daman, and east and west from the frontier of Malwa, to the sea, and the Runn of Cutch. The region so defined comprises in modern terms six Districts of the Bombay Presidency, namely, Ahmadabad, Kaira, Panch Mahals, Broach (Bharoch), Surat, and part of the Thana District, with the Baroda State or Dominions of the Gaikwar, and many smaller native states. The peninsula of Kathiawar, which is shared by a great multitude of such states, is now and was in the Muhammadan period reckoned as part of Gujarat. The province, especially the mainland section, enjoys exceptional natural advantages, being fertile, well supplied with manufactures, and possessed of numerous ports where profitable overseas commerce has been practised since the most remote times. A country so desirable necessarily has attracted the attention of all the races which have effected conquests in northern and western India. Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznl's famous raid in a. d. 1024 effected the destruction of the temple at Somnath and provided his army with much booty, but no attempt at permanent conquest was then made. The Muslim invasions in the latter part of the twelfth century also failed to produce any permanent result, and the country continued to be ruled by Hindu dynasties. In 1297 an officer of Alau-d din Khilji annexed it to the Sultanate of Delhi. Muslim governors continued to be appointed from the capital after that date as long as the Sultanate lasted. Independence. Zafar Khan, the last governor, who was appointed in 1391, and had been practically independent, formally withdrew his allegiance in 1401, x and placed his son Tatar Khan on the provincial throne as Sultan, with the title of Nasiru-d din Muhammad Shah. The new Sultan seems to have been poisoned by his father in 1407. But four years later the old man, who had become Sultan Muzaffar Shah, was poisoned in his turn by his grandson, Alp-Khan, who assumed the style of Ahmad Shah. Ahmad Shah. Ahmad Shah, who reigned for thirty years from 1411 to 1441, may be regarded as the real founder of the indepen dent kingdom of Gujarat. His father and grandfather during their few years of power had controlled only a comparatively small territory in the neighbourhood of Ahmadabad, then called Asawal. Ahmad Shah devoted his energy and considerable ability to extending his territories, spreading the religion of the Prophet, and improving the administration of his own dominions. Through out his reign he never suffered a defeat, and his armies invariably prevailed over those of the Sultanate of Malwa, the chiefs of Asirgarh, Rajputana, and other neighbouring countries. Sultan Ahmad was a close friend of Sultan Firoz Bahmani, and, like him, was zealous in fighting the infidels and destroying their temples. He built the noble city of Ahmadabad adjoining the old Hindu 1 Wright gives a.h. 806= a. d. 1403—1; following a paper by G. P. Taylor in J. Bom. Br. R. A. S., for 1902. GUJARAT 269 town of Asawal. ' Travellers ', the local historian avers, ' are agreed that they have found no city in the whole earth so beautiful, charming, and splendid.' Sultan Mahmud Bigarha. Sultan Mahmud Begara, or BIgarha a grandson of Ahmad Shah, ascended the throne at the age of thirteen in (a.h. 863) 1459 and reigned prosperously for fifty-two years until (a.h. 917) 1511. He was by far the most eminent sovereign of his dynasty. His achievements and personal pecu liarities were so remarkable that travellers carried his fame in a legendary form to Europe. Although a mere boy at the time of his accession he seems to have assumed a man's part from the first and to have been able to dispense with a Protector, such as was imposed on Akbar at the same age. 'He added glory and lustre to the kingdom of Gujarat, and was the best of alt the Gujarat kings, including all who preceded and all who succeeded him ; and whether for abounding justice and generosity, for success in religious war, and for the diffusion of the laws of Islam and of Musalmans • for soundness of judgement, alike in boyhood, in manhood, and in old age ; for power, for valour, and victory — he was a pattern of excellence.' That vigorous eulogy by the lead ing Muslim historian of his country seems to be justified by the facts as seen from his point of view. We must, however, be content to accept the old Sultans as they were, and to admit that most of them were fierce, intolerant fana tics, whatever their other merits might be. The more fanatical they were the better the historians liked them. Mahmud was eminently successful in war. He made himself master of the strong fortresses of Champaner to the north-east of Baroda, and of Junagarh in Kathiawar ; overran Cutch and gained victories over the Sultan of Ahmadnagar and other potentates. Towards the end of his reign he came into conflict with the Portuguese and allied himself with the Sultan of Turkey against them, thus entering the field of European politics. In 1507 an officer of his secured the aid of some Turkish troops and ten ships for an attack on the Portuguese, whom the Ottoman Government was most anxious to expel from the Indian seas. On that occasion the Muhammadan assailants were successful and sank a great ship with a valuable cargo, near Chaul, to the south of Bombay. But two years later, in 1509, the Musalman fleet was annihilated in a battle fought off Diu in Kathiawar, then included in the Gujarat kingdom. The foreigners, who finally secured Goa from Bijapur in 1510, were thenceforward always able to maintain their possessions against the Indian powers, but did not obtain a fort at Diu until 1535. Even victorious Akbar was unable to disturb them seriously, although no project was nearer to his heart Coin of Mahmud Bigarha. 270 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD than the expulsion of the hated intruders from the soil of , his richest province. The personal peculiarities of Mahmud made a deep impression on his contemporaries, and became known in Europe, as told in fantastic tales chiefly conveyed through the agency of the Italian traveller, Ludovico di Varthema. The Sultan's moustaches were so long that he used to tie them over his head and his beard reached to his girdle. His appetite, like that of Akbar's secretary, Abu-1 Fazl, was so abnormal that he was credited with eating more than twenty pounds' weight of food daily. He was believed to have been dosed with poison from childhood and thus to have become immune against its effects, while his body was so saturated with venom that if a fly settled on his hand it would drop dead. The legend has found its way into English literature through Samuel Butler's reference to it : The Prince of Cambay's daily food Is asp, and basilisk, and toad.1 Sultan Bahadur Shah. The latest notable Sultan of Gujarat was Mahmud Bigarha's grandson, Bahadur Shah, who reigned from the close of 1526 to February 1537, when his uneasy life was ended by a tragic death at the hands of the Portuguese. He earned a full share of military glory by his defeat of Mahmud II Khilji, involving the annexation of Malwa, in 1531-2, and by his storm of Chitor in 1534, when the Rajputs made their usual dreadful sacrifice. In the following year, 1535, Bahadur was utterly defeated by Humayun Padshah, driven from his kingdom, and forced to take refuge in Malwa. The fortress of Champaner was gallantly taken by Humayun, who was himself among the earliest to escalade the walls. But the Mogul was soon recalled from the scene of his western triumphs by the necessity of meeting his Afghan rival, Sher Khan (Shah), and Bahadur was then able to return to his kingdom. Ordinarily the relations between the Portuguese and the Govern ment of Gujarat were hostile, but the Mogul pressure forced Bahadur to buy the promise of Portuguese help by the surrender of Bassein, and to conclude a treaty of peace with the proud foreigners. Negotiations on the subject of the port and fortress of Diu, then of much importance as a trading station, induced Bahadur Shah to visit Nuno da Cunha, the Portuguese governor, and go aboard his ship. No less than eight distinct accounts of what then happened — namely, four Portuguese and four Muham madan — are on record, all differing in details. Colonel Watson, who examined them all critically, came to ' the conclusion . . . that on either side the leader hoped "by some future treachery to seize the person of the other ; and that mutual suspicion turned into a fatal affray a meeting which both parties intended should pass peacefully and lull the other into a false and favourable security'. 1 Hudibras, Part ii, Canto i, published in 1664. GUJARAT 271 It is certain that the Sultan of Gujarat fell overboard, and while in the water was knocked on the head by a sailor. He was only thirty-one years of age. Manuel de Souza, captain of the port of Diu, also lost his life at the same time. Bahadur Shah's intemperance in the use of liquor and drugs clouded his brain and made him prone to acts of ill-considered impulse. He left no son. Later history. The history of the province from the time of his death in 1537 to its annexation by Akbar after the lightning campaigns of 1572-3 is a record- of anarchical confusion, into the details of which it is unnecessary to enter. Disturbances continued to be frequent even after the absorption of the kingdom into the Mogul empire. Architecture. The exquisite architecture of Gujarat, further beautified by wood-carving of supreme excellence, is the special distinction of the province. The Muhammadan conquerors adopted with certain modifications the charming designs of the old Hindu and Jain architects, filling Ahmadabad, Cambay, and many other towns with a multitude of buildings singularly pleasing to the eye, and enriched with most delicate stone lattices and other ornaments. The ancient Hindu monuments of both mainland Gujarat and Kathiawar have been described by Dr. Burgess in two large, finely illustrated quarto volumes of the Archaeological Survey. The same author has described and illustrated with equal copious ness the Muhammadan architecture on the mainland in three other handsome volumes. The architects of the province still retain much of the skill of their ancestors. Ahmadabad is par ticularly rich in noble buildings, and during the time of its glory, extending from its foundation to the eighteenth century — a period of about three centuries — undoubtedly was one of the handsomest cities in the world. The population is said to have numbered 900,000, and millionaires were to be found among the merchants. Even now the city is wealthy and prosperous, the second largest in the Bombay Presidency, with a population approaching 200,000. According to a local saying the prosperity of Ahmadabad hangs on three threads — silk, gold, and cotton. Kashmir The country. The dominions of the Maharaja of Kashmir — or, more accurately, of Kashmir and Jamu (Jummoo), as defined by the treaty of 1846, made after the first Sikh war and still opera tive, include extensive mountainous regions unconnected with the Kashmir of Hindu and Muhammadan history. In that history the name Kashmir refers only to the beautiful valley on the upper course of the Jihlam (Jhelum), which is about eighty-five miles long and from twenty to twenty-five broad. The long and inter esting story of the Hindu kingdom of the valley is painful reading on the whole, many of the Rajas having been atrocious tyrants. The first Sultan. Early in the fourteenth century a Musalman adventurer from Swat, named Shah Mirza, or Mir, who had been 272 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD minister to the Raja, seized the throne and established a Muham madan dynasty of Sultans which lasted until nearly the middle of the sixteenth century. The short-lived Chak dynasty overthrown by Akbar in 1586 did not obtain power until about 1560. Shah MIrza, the first Sultan, took the title of Shamsu-d din. PANEL, ADALAJ WAV, AHMADABAD. Sultan Sikandar. The sixth Sultan, Sikandar (about 1386- 1410), who was ruling at the time of Timur's invasion in 1398, managed to avoid meeting that formidable personage, and remained safely protected by his mountain walls. Sikandar was a gloomy, ferocious bigot, and his zeal in destroying temples and idols was so intense that he is remembered as the Idol-Breaker. He freely used the sword to propagate Islam and succeeded in forcing the bulk of the population to conform outwardly to the Muslim religion. Most of the Brahmans refused to apostatize, and many KASHMIR 273 of them paid with their lives the penalty for their steadfastness. Many others were exiled, and only a few conformed. Sultan Zainu-1 'Ahidin. The eighth Sultan, Zainu-1 'Abidln, who had a long and prosperous reign of about half a century from 1417 to 1467, was a man of very different type. He adopted the policy of universal toleration, recalled the exiled Brahmans, re pealed the jizya or poll-tax on Hindus, and even permitted new temples to be built. He abstained from eating Hi; J ^ A« flesh, prohibited the slaughter of kine, "M ' ;" and was justly venerated as a saint. He encouraged literature, painting, and music, and caused many trans lations to be made of works composed Kashmir coin of Zainu-1 'Abidin. in Sanskrit, Arabic, and other lan guages. In those respects he resembled Akbar, but he differed from that monarch in the continence which enabled him to prac tise strict fidelity to one wife. Later History. The reigns of the other Sultans are not of sufficient importance or interest to justify the insertion of their annals in this history. For eleven years (1541-52) a relative of Humayun, named Mirza Haidar, who had invaded the valley, ruled it, nominally as governor on behalf of Humayun, but in practice as an independent prince. Some years later the Chak dynasty seized the throne. The details of the chronology of the Sultans of Kashmir are uncertain, and any dates given must be regarded as being only approximate. CHRONOLOGY (Leading dates only) Bengal Independence of Fakhru-d din . Husain Shah Nusrat Shah ..... Bengal annexed by Akbar Malwa Independence of Sultan Shihabu-d din Ghori Sultan Mahmud Ghori .... Sultan Mahmud Khilji, founded Khilji dynasty Malwa annexed by Bahadur Shah of Gujarat Malwa annexed by Akbar Gujarat Independence of Nasiru-d din Muhammad Shah . Sultan Ahmad Shah ; foundation of Ahmadabad Sultan Mahmud Bigarha, . . . . . Naval battles with Portuguese . . . . Occupation of Goa by Portuguese Sultan Bahadur Shah . . . . . about 1340 1493-1518 1518-32 . 1576 . 1401 . 1432 . 14361531 1561-4 about 1401 1411-31 1459-1511 1507, 1509 . 1510 1526-37 274 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Malwa annexed ...... Chitor stormed . . . . Bahadur defeated by Humayun Bahadur killed by Portuguese . Gujarat annexed by Akbar . 1531 . 1534 . 1535 . 1537 1572-3 Kashmir Sultan Shamsu-d din .... Sultan Sikandar, the Idol-Breaker Sultan Zainu-1 'Abidin Mirza Haidar ... . . Kashmir annexed by Akbar . about 1334 . about 1386-1410 about 1417-67 about 1541-52 . 1586 Authorities For my slight notice of the annals of Bengal I have used chiefly Firishta, and Stewart, History of Bengal, 1813. Firishta gives the most convenient summary of Malwa history. The best and most authoritative abstract of Gujarat Muhammadan history is that by Colonel Watson in the Bombay Gazetteer (1896), vol. i, part i. The same volume contains a good account of Mandu, the capital of Malwa. I have also consulted Bayley, History of Gujarat (1886) ; and Whiteway, The Rise of Portuguese Power in India, 1497-1550 (Constable, 1899). Various articles in the I. G. (1908) are serviceable for all the kingdoms. The Kashmir history is given by Firishta and Abu-1 Fazl (Ain, vol. ii, transl. Jarrett), as well as in the I. G., but many details remain obscure. The story of the Sultans was discussed by C. J. Rodgers at considerable length in J. A. S. B., part i, 1885, in a paper on ' The Square Silver Coins of the Sultans of Kashmir ' . The coins of the various kingdoms are described by H. N. Wright in the Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, vol. ii, Clarendon Press, 1907, with references to other publications. -The works by Burgess are the leading authority on the art of the province of Gujarat, namely : 1. Report on the Antiquities of Kdthidwad and Kachh, 1876 (aswi, vol. ii = Imperial Series, vol. ii) ; 2. Muhammadan Architecture in Gujarat, 1896 (aswi, vi = Imp. Ser., xxiii); 3. Muhammadan Architecture of Ahmadabad, Part I, 1900 (aswi, vii = Imp., Ser. xxiv) ; 4. Ditto. Part II, 1905 (aswi, viii = Imp., Ser. xxxiii) ; . 5. Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat, 1903 (aswi, ix = Imp. Ser., xxxii). BOOK V CHAPTER 1 The Bahmani Dynasty of the Deecan, 1347-1526. Bahmani dynasty ; Sultan Alau-d din I. A series of rebellions between the years 1343 and 1351, caused by the mad tyranny of Muhammad bin Tughlak, left to the sovereign of Delhi only a small portion of the extensive empire which he had controlled for a few years. Hasan, entitled Zafar Khan, an Afghan or Turki officer of the Delhi Sultan, occupied Daulatabad in the Deccan in 1347, and proclaimed his independence before the end of the year. He is known to history as Sultan Alau-d din I, the founder of the Bah mani dynasty of the Deccan, which played an important part in India for nearly two centuries, from 1347 to 1526. He assumed the name or title of Bahman, because he claimed descent from the early Persian king so-called, better known as Artaxerxes Longi- manus, the Long-armed (Ardashir Darazdast), who is identified with Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther.1 Kulbarga, the capital. The new Sultan established his capital at Kulbarga, now in the Nizam's Dominions, to which he gave the Muhammadan name of Ahsanabad.2 After the death of Muhammad bin Tughlak in 1351 Alau-d din undertook the con quest of a large part of the Deccan, and when he passed away in 1358 was master of an extensive dominion, reaching to the sea on the west and including the ports of Goa and Dabhol. The latter place, now a small town in the Ratnagiri District, Bombay, was the principal port of the Konkan from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. The eastern frontier of the' Bahmani Sultanate was marked by Bhonagir or Bhongir (17° 31' N. ; 78° 53' E.), now a considerable town in the Nizam's Dominions. The Pen Ganga river formed the northern, and the Krishna the southern boundary. 1 The current story derived from Firishta that the title Bahman or Bahmani is a corruption of the word Brahman, because the first Sultan had been in the service of Gangii or Gangu Brahman, is incredible and false. Hasan was a fierce, bigoted Muslim who would not have dubbed himself a Brahman for any consideration. The legend finds no support from coins or inscriptions and has been rightly rejected by King and Haig. The Burhdn-i Ma'dsir correctly states that ' in consequence of his descent the King was known as Bahman '. It is immaterial whether the descent was claimed with good reason or not. 3 Ahsanabad, or Hasanabad, with reference to the Sultan's name Hasan (see E. db D., viii, p. 16 n). Kulbarga is the Gulbarga of I. G. and Haig ; G and K being often confounded in Persian writing. The Hyderabad officials use the erroneous form Gulbarga. The name may be correctly written as Kalburga ( efi^cJTfT ), or Kulbarga ( cf-^^Tf-r ), or Kulburga ( cJuj-dirT ). See King, p. Vb. The second form has been adopted in the text. 276 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Muhammad Shah I ; wars with Hindus. The reign of the second Sultan, Muhammad Shah I (1358-73)' was chiefly occupied by savage wars waged against the Hindu rulers of Vijaya nagar and Talingana or Warangal. Horrid cruelties were committed on both sides. «The ferocious struggle continued until the Sultan was reputed to have slain half a million of Hindus. The population was so much reduced that the Kanarese country did not recover for ages. At last the butchery was stayed and the parties agreed to spare the lives of prisoners and non-combatants. Muhammad Shah was as bloodthirsty when dealing with brigandage in his own dominions as he was against his external Hindu foes. Like the Mogul emperors later he sought to suppress robbery by indis criminate massacres, and in the course of six or seven months sent nearly eight thousand heads of supposed robbers to be piled up near the city gates. He accumulated immense treasures and possessed three thousand elephants. Firishta, who did not dis approve of cruelty to unbelievers, gives him a good character, but the Burhdn-i Ma'dsir states that his death was due to an ' irreligious manner of living ', which probably means indulgence in strong drink. Saifu-d din Ghori, an eminent minister who had served the first Sultan faithfully, managed the internal affairs of the kingdom during the reign of the second, and continued his work until the accession of the sixth, when he died at an age exceeding a hundred years. Firoz, 8th Sultan, 1397-1422. Passing over intermediate revolutions and short reigns, we come to the reign of Firoz, the eighth Sultan, who was a son of the youngest brother of Muhammad Shah I. ' In 1396 the dreadful famine, distinguished from all others by the name of the Durga Devi, commenced in Maharashtra. It lasted, according to Hindu legends, for twelve years. At the end of that time the periodical rains returned ; but whole districts were entirely depopulated, and a very scanty revenue was obtained from the territory between the Godavari and Krishna for upwards of thirty years afterwards.' • Firoz was a fierce bigot, who spent most of his time in pitiless wars against his Hindu neighbours, ' being determined to use his best endeavours in the suppression of infidelity and the strengthen ing of the faith '. He went on an expedition almost every year, forcing the Raya of Vijayanagar to pay tribute, and extending his conquests as far as Rajamahendri or Rajamundri at the apex of the Godavari delta. He so far violated the principles of his; religion as to drink hard and enjoy music. He kept an enormous number of women from many countries, including Europe, and was reputed to be able to talk with each lady in her own tongue. He had facilities for importing European curiosities through Goa and Dabhol. Firoz loved building, and constructed a fortified' palace at Flrozabad on the Bhima to the south of the capital. He adorned Kulbarga with many edifices, the most notable being the principal mosque, alleged to have been planned in imita tion of the mosque at Cordova in Spain. It is the only large 1 Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, ed. 1826, vol. i, p. 59. «^ FIROZ SHAH 277 mosque in India which is completely roofed.1 Firoz went on one expedition too many. About 1420, towards the close of his reign, he suffered a severe defeat at Pangal, to the north of the Krishna,,, and came home a broken-down old man. He spent the rest of his days in works of piety according to his lights and left affairs of state in the hands of two Turki slaves. Notwithstanding his aversion to Hindus, he anticipated one measure of Akbar's policy by marrying two Hindu ladies, one being a princess of Vijayanagar. Although he gratified his curiosity by reading the Old and New Testament, it is not correct to affirm, as Meadows Taylor does, that ' in religion he was perfectly tolerant of all sects and creeds '. As a matter of fact, he was a particularly ferocious bigot. Firishta was of opinion that the house of Bahman attained its . greatest splendour in the days of Firoz. Ahmad Shah, 1422-35. The administration of the Turki slaves being displeasing to the Sultan's brother Ahmad that prince, with the aid of a foreign merchant named Khalaf Hasan Basri, deposed Firoz and murdered him with his son. Such tragedies were common in Bahmani his tory and do not seem to have offended public opi nion. The murderer as cended the throne without opposition, and resumed the war with the Hindus, burning to revenge the losses suffered by the " army of Islam ' in his brother's time. He attacked the Vijayanagar territory, with savagery even greater than that shown by his predecessors. 'Ahmad Shah, without waiting to besiege the Hindu capital, overran the open country ; and wherever he went, put to death men, women, and children without mercy, contrary to the compact made by his uncle and predecessor, Muhammad Shah, and the Raya of Vijayanagar. Whenever the number of slain amounted to twenty thousand, he halted three days, and made a festival in celebration of the bloody event. He broke down also the idolatrous temples and destroyed the colleges of the brahmans.' Those atrocious proceedings enabled the Sultan to assume the title of Wall, or Saint. Ultimately peace was concluded with Vijayanagar. The operations against Warangal in 1424 or 1425 had finally destroyed the independence of that Hindu kingdom. About the year 1420 the Deccan again suffered from a severe famine. Ahmad Shah also engaged in wars with the Sultans of Malwa. and Gujarat and with the Hindu chiefs of the Konkan. The war with 1 Kulbarga decayed after the death of Firoz, when it ceased to be the capital, and then lay neglected for centuries. It has revived lately, being now a prosperous town of about 30,000 inhabitants with extensive trade. I Haig denies that the mosque is copied from that at Cordova (Historic Landmarks, p. 94). Coin of Firoz Bahmani. 278 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Gujarat was ended by a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive, which subsisted for many years. Nizam Shah benefited by it in 1462. Change of capital to Bidar. Ahmad Shah, who had suffered from illness at Kulbarga, and regarded the place as unlucky, shifted his capital to Bidar (Ahmadabad or Muhammadabad), distant about sixty miles to the north-east. The wisdom of the transfer is fully justified by the description of the new capital recorded by Meadows Taylor : ' There is no more healthy or beautiful site for a city in the Deccan than Bidar. The fort had been already erected on the north-east angle of a tableland composed of laterite, at a point where the elevation, which is considerable, or about 2,500 feet above the level of the sea, trends southward and westward, and declines abruptly about 500 feet to the wide plain of the valley of the Manjera, which it overlooks. The fortifications, still perfect, are truly noble ; built of blocks of laterite dug out of the ditch, which is very broad and has a peculiar mode of defence met with nowhere else, two walls of laterite, the height of the depth of the ditch, having been left at equal distances between the faussebraye and the counterscarp all round the western and southern faces of the fort.1 . . . The city adjoined the fort, space being left for an esplanade, and stretched southwards along the crest of the eminence, being regularly laid out with broad streets. There was a plentiful supply of beautiful water, though the wells are deep ; and in every respect, whether as regards climate, which is much cooler and healthier than that of Kulbarga, or situation, the new capital was far preferable to the old one. At the present time, though the city has dimin ished to a provincial town, and the noble monuments of the Bahmani kings have decayed, there is no city of the Deccan which better repays'^ a visit from the traveller than Bidar.' 3 Alau-d din II. Ahmad Shah was succeeded quietly by his eldest son, Alau-d din II (1435-57). Renewed war with Vijaya nagar resulted ultimately in a peace favourable to the Sultan. Firishta notices the curious fact that during that war the Raya (Deva Raya II) engaged Muhammadan mercenaries to fight against the army of Islam, and even erected a mosque at his capital for the use of his Muslim soldiers. After the termination of the war the Sultan neglected his duties and abandoned himself to the fleshly delights of wine and women. The efficiency of the public service was much impaired by the quarrels between two factions — the one comprising the native or Deccanee Muhammadans allied with the Abyssinian (or Habshi) settlers, who were mostly Sunnls ; and the other the so-called ' foreigners ', that is to sav, the Arabs, Turks, Persians, and Moguls, who usually were Shias. The enmity between the factions led to the commission of a horrid crime by permission of the drunken Sultan. When a force under one of his foreign officers had been defeated in the Konkan by the Hindus, the remnant took refuge in a fort named Chakan situated 1 Scarp or escarp is the steep inner side of the ditch next to the rampart r* counterscarp is the opposite slope of the ditch next to the besieger. Fausse- brayes are defined as ' lower parapets outside the bastions ' (Chambers, Cyclop.) ¦ or as ' a small mound of earth thrown up about a rampart' (Webster). Both the thing and name, I believe, are now obsolete. 3 Manual, p. 169. ALAU-D DIN II 279 to the north of Poona. The Deccanee party, having trumped up false accusations of treasonable intent against the refugees, per suaded the Sultan to sanction the extermination of the Sayyids and Moguls in the fort. The Deccanee chiefs secured the confidence of their victims by a show of kindness, and then fell upon them treacherously, slaying every male, including 1,200 Sayyids of pure descent and about a thousand other foreigners. Khalaf Hasan, the man who had helped Ahmad Shah to gain the throne, and had subsequently become prime minister, was among the slain. The women were treated ' with all the insult that lust or brutality could invoke '. The Sultan, when he found that he had been deceived, punished the authors of the massacre. Humayun . Alau-d din was followed by his eldest son Humayun (1457-61 ), who had already earned a terrible reputation for fero cious cruelty. An attempt to displace him in favour of a younger brother was easily defeated, and the new Sultan was free to indulge his maniacal passion for the infliction of pain. Men and women, suspected without reason of favouring rebellion, were stabbed with daggers, hewn in pieces with hatchets, or scalded to death by boiling water or hot oil. ' The fire of his rage blazed up in such a way that it burned up land and water ; and the broker of his violence used to sell the guilty and innocent by one tariff. The nobles and generals when they went to salute the Sultan used to bid farewell to their wives and children and make their wills. Most of the nobles, ministers, princes, and heirs to the sovereignty were put to the sword.' Humayun, who is remembered by the epithet Zalim, or the Tyrant, resembled his prototype Muhammad bin Tughlak of Delhi, in being ' learned, mad, merciless, and cruel '. Some authorities suggest that he died a natural death, but the more probable account avers that while intoxicated he was assassinated by his servants. A versifier ingeniously expressed the universal joy at the death of the monster by the chronogram : Humayun Shah has passed away from the world. God Almighty, what a blessing was the death of Humayun ! On the date of his death the world was full of delight, So ' delight of the world ' gives the date of his death.1 Strange to say the tyrant was served by an excellent minister,. Khwaja Mahmud Gawan, who apparently was unable to check his master's furious rage. The minister lived long enough to do good service under Humayiin's successors, and to be murdered for his pains. Muhammad Shah III ; conquests ; famine. The next sultan of importance was Muhammad Shah III, who reigned for nearly twenty years (1463-82), and enjoyed the services of Khwaja -Mahmud Gawan, the capable minister who had served Humayun, and was equally competant as a general and as a civil administrator. The Khwaja took the strong fortress of Belgaum (1473), and 1 The Persian words are ^V^j*. (jjj, %auk-i jahan. The numerical values of the letters total 865, the Hijri year, corresponding to a.d. 1460-1 j thus, 2=700, au (w)=6, k=100, j=S, 7j=5, a (alif)=l, and n=50. 280 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD recovered Goa, which had been lost by one of the earlier sultans to the Raya of Vijayanagar, at a date not known exactly. The result of his operations was an increase of the Bahmani dominions ' to an extent never achieved by former sovereigns '. A disastrous famine, known as the ' famine of BIjapur ' because, it began in that state, devastated the Deccan in 1473 or 1474 and caused many deaths. The rains failed for two years, and when they came at last, in the third year, ' scarcely any farmers remained in the country to cultivate the lands '. The title of Ghazi. When Kondapalli (Condapilly) was surrendered early in 1481, previous to the raid on Kanchi, to be described presently, an incident occurred which illustrates the ferocity of the spirit of fanaticism characteristic of the Bahmani kings. ' The King,' Firishta relates, ' having gone to view the fort, broke down an idolatrous temple and killed some brahmans who officiated at it, with his own hands, as a point of religion. He then gave orders for a mosque to be erected on the foundations of the temple, and ascending the pulpit, repeated a few prayers, distributed alms, and commanded the Khutba to be read in his name. Khwaja Mahmud Gawan now represented that as his Majesty had slain some infidels with his own hands, he might fairly assume the title or-Ghazif'ah appellation of which he was very proud.^ Muhammad Shah was the first of his race who had slain a brahman ; and it is the belief of the Decannees that this act was inauspicious, and le'd to the troubles which soon after perplexed the affairs of himself and his family, and ended in the dissolution of the dynasty.' The virtuous minister, it will be observed, was quite as fanatical and bloodthirsty as his master. Akbar in the following century earned the much desired title of Ghazi in a similar way by smiting . the helpless prisoner, Hemfi, his Hindu rival.1 Raid on Kanchi or Gonjeeveram. The most remarkable military exploit of the reign was the successful raid made on Kanchi or Conjeeveram, one of the seven Hindu sacred cities, during the • course of a campaign against Vijayanagar in 1481. The remote position of Kanchi, forty-two miles SSW. of Madras, had secured it from Muhammadan attacks, so that the inhabitants believed themselves to be perfectly safe. The Sultan was encamped at Kondapalli near Bezwada, now in the Kistna (Krishna) District of Madras, when glowing accounts of the rich booty to be obtained in the holy city induced him to plan a surprise. The story is best told in the words of Firishta, as follows : i ' On his [Muhammad Shah's] arrival at Kondapalli [Condapilly], he was informed by the country people that at the distance of ten days' journey was the temple of Kanchi, the walls and roof of which were covered with plates of gold and ornamented with precious stones, but that no Muhammad an monarch had as yet seen it or even heard of its name. Muhammad Shah accordingly selected six thousand of his best cavalry, and leaving the rest of his army at Kondapalli, proceeded by forced marches to Kanchi. He moved so rapidly on the last day, according to the historians of the time, that only forty troopers kept up with him, among which number were Nizamu-1 Mulk Bahri and Yurish Khan Turk. On approaching the 1 That is the true account of Akbar's action. See post, Book VI. MUHAMMAD SHAH III 281 temple some Hindus came forth, one of whom, a man of gigantic stature, mounted on horseback, and brandishing a drawn sabre by way of defiance, rushed full speed towards the King, and aimed a blow which the latter parried, and with one stroke of his sword cleaved him in twain. Another infidel then attacked the King, whose little band was shortly engaged man to man with the enemy ; but Muhammad Shah had again the good fortune to slay his opponent, upon which the rest of the Hindus retired into the temple. Swarms of people, like bees, now issued from within and ranged themselves under its walls to defend it. At length, the rest of the King's force coming up, the temple was attacked and carried by storm with great slaughter. An immense booty fell to the share of the victors, who took away nothing but gold, jewels, and silver, which were abundant. The King then [March 12, 1481] sacked the city of Kanchi, and, after remaining there for a week, he returned to his army.' The authorities differ considerably concerning the raid. The Burhdn-i Ma'dsir certainly exaggerates when it asserts that the Muhammadans ' levelled the city and its temples with the ground and overthrew all the symbols of infidelity '. The force present was not capable of such laborious demolition, and as a matter of fact several fine ancient temples, built many centuries prior to the raid, are still standing. Mr. Sewell is too sceptical in rejecting the whole story of the Kanchi expedition as being ' exceedingly improbable '. Murder of Mahmud Gawan. Muhammad Shah, a confirmed drunkard, gave way to his besetting sin more and more as time went on. His intemperance was the direct cause of the crime which disgraced and deservedly embittered the last year of his life. Khwaja Mahmud Gawan, his great minister, being a Persian, necessarily was counted as a 'foreigner', and consequently was hated by the Deccanee faction, which unceasingly sought his ruin. At last, early in April 1481, the plotters managed to lay before their intoxicated sovereign a treasonable letter falsely attributed to the minister, although an obvious forgery. The besotted Sultan, with out taking the slightest trouble to ascertain the facts, ordered the instant execution of his aged and faithful servant. When it was too late he found out the deceit practised on him and tried to drown his remorse in drink, until he killed himself by his excesses in March 1482. Consequences of the crime. Meadows Taylor justly observes that the death of Mahmud Gawan was ' the beginning of the end ', and that ' with him departed all the cohesion and power of the Bahmani kingdom ', a remark probably suggested by the epitaph of Colonel Palmer on Nana, Farnavls that ' with him departed all the wisdom and moderation of the Mahratta govern ment '. The minister was a devout and even fanatical SunnI Musalman, as ruthless as any one else in slaying and despoiling idolaters. Subject to that qualification, which counted as a virtue in the eyes of his co-religionists, his character seems to deserve the praise bestowed upon it by Firishta, which is echoed by Meadows Taylor in language still more emphatic, and deserving of quotation, even though it may seem tinged with exaggeration : Character of Mahmud Gawan. 'The character of Mahmud Gawan', Taylor observes, ' stands out broadly and grandly, not only among all 1976 T 282 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD his contemporaries, but among all the ancient Muhammadans of India, as one unapproachably perfect and consistent . . . his noble and judicious reforms, his skill and bravery in war, his justice and public and private benevolence have, in the aggregate, no equals in the Muhammadan history of India. . . . Out of the public revenues of his ample estates, while he paid the public establishments attached to him, he built and endowed the magnificent college at Bidar, which was practically destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder in the reign of Aurangzeb, and which, while he lived at the capital, was his daily resort ; and the grand fortresses of Ausa, Parenda, Sholapur, Dharur [Darur], and many others attest alike his military skill and science.' ' Mahmud Shah, 1482-1518 ; end of the dynasty. Little more remains to be said about the annals of the Bahmani dynasty. The successor of Muhammad III was his son Mahmud, a boy of twelve years of age, who lived and in a manner reigned until 1518, but never possessed real power. The Sultan was a worthless creature, who, when he grew up, totally neglected the affairs of his government, spending his time with low-born favourites in vulgar debauchery. The provincial governors, one after the other, declared their independence, and only a small area round the capital, which became the separate Sultanate of Bidar a few years later, remained under the nominal jurisdiction of Mahmud. The actual government was in the hands of Kasim Barld, a crafty Turk, and after his death in those of his son, Amir Barid. It is unnecessary to relate the story, of the murders, quarrels, and rebellions of Mahmiid's miserable reign. They may be read by the curious in the pages of Firishta and the Burhdn-i Ma'dsir. After the death of Mahmud four puppet Sultans in succession were placed on the throne, until in 1526 Amir Barld felt that the time had come for the assertion of his right to rule on his own account. Character of the dynasty. Before we proceed to notice some of the more pro'minent events in the complicated history of the five separate Sultanates formed out of the fragments of the Bah mani dominion, it will be well to pause for a moment in order to consider the nature of the achievement of the Bahmani Sultans of the Deccan, and to estimate the position in history to which they are entitled. The story of the dynasty as it appears in the books is not attrac tive reading. Between 1347 and 1518 the throne was occupied by fourteen Sultans, of whom four were murdered, and two others were deposed and blinded. With the exception of the fifth Sultan, a quiet peaceful man, all the sovereigns who attained maturity were bloodthirsty fanatics. The record of their wars with the neighbouring Hindu powers is a mass of sickening horrors. Huma yun was a monster, comparable only with the most infamous tyrants named in history. Several of the Sultans were drunken debauchees, and little is recorded about any member of the family 1 See map p. 287. Ausa (Owsah) is 70 miles NNW. of Kulbarga, Parenda is 70 miles W. of Ausa, Sholapur is 70 miles NW. of Kulbarga^ and Darur is about 22 miles E. of Raichur. Burgess gives a photograph and plan of the ruined college (A. S. W. I., vol. iii, plates xxviii, xxix). It is illustrated also in the Ann. Rep. A. S. Nizam"s Dominions for 1914-15. CHARACTER OF THE DYNASTY 283 which is calculated to justify a favourable opinion of his character. The only person mentioned who deserves much praise is the minister Mahmud Gawan, and even he was fanatical and bloodthirsty. It would be difficult to specify any definite benefit conferred upon India by the dynasty. No doubt, as Meadows Taylor points out, the Bahmanis gave a certain amount of encouragement to purely Muslim learning, and constructed irrigation works in the eastern provinces, which incidentally did good to the peasantry while primarily securing the crown revenue. But those items to their credit weigh lightly against the wholesale devastation wrought by their inhuman wars, massacres, and burnings. Misery of the common people. Our estimate of the character of the Bahmani Sultans and the effect of their rule upon the people committed to their charge need not be based merely upon inferences drawn from the story of their conspicuous doings. Observations on the conditions of life of the unregarded Hindu peasantry must not be looked for in the pages of Muhammadan historians, whether they deal with the north or the south. The scanty information recorded concerning the commonalty of India in ancient times is obtained almost wholly from the notes made by observant foreign visitors. Such a visitor, a Russian merchant named Athanasius Nikitin, happened to reside for a long time at Bidar and to travel in the Bahmani dominions between the years 1470 and 1474 in the reign of Muhammad Shah III. By a lucky accident his notes were preserved, and have been made accessible in an English version. The merchant tells us that: ' The Sultan is a little man, twenty years old,1 in the power of the nobles. There is a Khorassanian Boyar [scil. Persian noble from Khurasan], Melik Tuchar [scil. Maliku-t Tuj jar, ' Lord of the merchants ', or ' merchant- prince ', a title of Khwaja Mahmud Gawan], who keeps an army of 200,000 men ; Melik Khan keeps 100,000 ; Kharat Khan, 20,000 ; and many are the khans that keep 10,000 armed men. The Sultan goes out with 300,000 men of his own troops. The land is overstocked with people ; but those in the country are very miserable, whilst the nobles are extremely opulent and delight in luxury. They are wont to be carried on their silver beds, preceded by some twenty chargers caparisoned in gold, and followed by 300 men on horseback, and by 500 on foot, and by horn men, ten torchbearers, and ten musicians. The Sultan goes out hunting with his mother and his lady, and a train of 10,000 men on horseback, 50,000 on foot ; 200 elephants adorned in gilded armour, and in front 100 horsemen, 100 dancers, and 300 common horses in golden clothing ; 100 monkeys, and 100 concubines, all foreign.' The armies -were armed mobs. It is obvious that such an overgrown establishment of armed men, women, and beasts, controlled by a selfish minority of luxurious nobles, must have sucked the country dry. There is no difficulty in believing the positive statement that the common people were ' very miserable '. The mass of the people in the Hindu Empire of Vijayanagar was equally oppressed and wretched. The huge armies maintained were little better than armed mobs, eager to murder tens of 1 He was in his tenth year in 1463 (King, p. 98). The remark therefore applies to 1473 or 1474. 284 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD thousands of helpless peasants, but extremely inefficient in warfare. Similar unwieldy hosts were maintained by the neighbouring states, Muhammadan and Hindu. Various recorded incidents prove that such masses of undisciplined men had little military value, and often were routed by quite small forces of active assailants. But, on the whole, the armed mobs of the Muham madan Sultans were a little more efficient than those of their Hindu opponents, and, in consequence, usually were victorious. Fortresses and other buildings. It is characteristic of the nature of the rule of the Bahmanis that Meadows Taylor, who judged the Sultans with excessive partiality, should declare that the fortresses built by them are ' perhaps their greatest and most indestructible monuments, and far exceed any of the same period in Europe '. He mentions Gawllgarh and Narnala, both in Berar, and especially the latter, as being choice specimens of the grandeur of design appropriate to mountain fortresses, and of work executed in good taste with munificent disregard of cost. The first gateway at Narnala is decorated with elegant stone carving, which in Taylor's day was as perfect as it had ever been, and probably still is in the same condition. The works at Ausa and Parenda are Commended for the military science displayed in their trace. The fortresses were equipped with huge guns built up of bars welded and bound ¦ together, of which several specimens still exist. The buildings at Kulbarga are described as being heavy, gloomy, and roughly constructed. Those at Bidar, the capital from about 1430, which are much superior in both design and workmanship, seem deserving of more notice than they have yet received. The accounts given by Fergusson and Burgess offer few details. Enamelled tiles, a favourite Persian form of decoration, were applied to the Bidar edifices. The Muhammadan population of the Deccan. The Bah mani Sultans failed in the atrocious attempt made more than once by members of the dynasty to exterminate the Hindu population of the Deccan, or in default of extermination to drive it by force into the fold of Islam. They succeeded in killing hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children, and in making consider able numbers of ' converts ' ; but in spite of all their efforts the population continues to be Hindu in the main, the percentage of Musalmans in the Nizam's Dominions and the Bijapur District at present being only about eleven. The origin of that section of the inhabitants, as noted by Meadows Taylor, is mainly a conse quence of the Bahmani rule, under which large numbers of Persians, Turks, Arabs, and Moguls settled in the country and formed unions with native women. Many Hindu families also were forcibly converted, and the continuance of Muslim dynasties in large areas for centuries has kept up or even increased the propor tion of the Musalman minority, Muhammadans being usually more fertile than Hindus. The author cited was willing to credit the Bahmani influence with ' a general amelioration of manners ' in the Deccan, but that opinion might be disputed. The monu ments of Hindu civilization certainly suffered severely. CHRONOLOGY 285 Sultans of the Bahmani Dynasty of the Deccan Name. 1. Alau-d din Hasan 2. Muhammad I 3. Mujahid 4. Daiid 5. Muhammad II 6. Ghiyasu-d din 7. Shamsu-d din 8. Firoz 9. Ahmad 10. Alau-d din II 11. Humayun 12. Nizam 13. Muhammad III 14. Mahmud Accession. A. II. 748 759 775 A.D. 1347 1358 1373 779 or 780779 or 780 799799 800 825 838802865867887 1377 or 1378 1377 or 1378 139713971397 1422 14351457 146114631482 Remarks. Full official title (according to the Burhdn-i Ma'dsir) was Sultan Alau-d din Hasan Shah al-wali al Bahmani. He had been known previously as Zafar Khan. Died a natural death. Son of No. 1. Died from the effects of ' an irreligious man ner of living ', presumably meaning drink. Son of No. 2. Drank hard ; murdered by No. 4. Son of brother of No. 2 : mur dered by a slave. Brother of No. 4. Died a natural death. No wars or rebellions. Erroneously called Mahmud by Firishta. Son of No. 5, and a minor. Blinded and deposed. Brother of No. 6. Deposed and imprisoned, or blinded, accord ing to Firishta. Son of younger brother of No. 2. Deposed and strangled by No. 9. Brother of No. 8 : changed capi tal to Bidar. Died a natural death. Son of No. 9. Died a natural death. Son of No. 10, probably assassin ated. Son of No. 11, a minor. Died suddenly. Brother of No. 12. Died from effects of drink. Son of No. 13. Died a natural death in Dec. 1518, when the dynasty practically ended. Note. — The names, genealogy, and order of succession are in accordance with the Burhdn-i Ma'dsir and other authorities, supported by the coins. Firishta, who differs in certain matters, is in error. The dates also are given variously in the books ; the most serious discrepancy, amounting to four years, being that concerning the death of No. 10, and the accession of No. 11. Many discrepancies occur in the minute details of dates which are not shown in the table. Kalimullah, the last nominal Sultan, escaped to Bijapur, and thence retired to Ahmadnagar, where he died. 286 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Authorities The Persian histories are the leading authorities, Firishta and others. The account of the dynasty in Meadows Taylor, Manual of Indian History 2 (Longmans, London, 1895), is based on Firishta, supplemented by local knowledge. Much additional material, completing the information from Persian books, has been printed by J. S. King in The History of the Bahmani Dynasty, founded on the Burhdn-i Ma'dsir (Luzac, London, 1900) ; reprinted from Ind. Ant., vol. xxviii (Bombay, 1899), with additions from other chroniclers. The history is further elucidated by T. W. Haig in ' Some Notes on the Bahmani Dynasty ' (J. A. S. B., part i, vol. lariii, 1904) ; and in Historic Landmarks of the Deccan (Pioneer Press, Allahabad, 1907). Some interesting material is obtained from the notes of Athanasius Nikitin, a Russian merchant, as edited in India in the Fifteenth Century, by R. H. Major,. Hakluyt Soc. (issued for 1858). The inscriptions are treated by Haig, as above ; and by Horowitz, Epigraphia Moslemica (Calcutta, 1909-10, 1912), s. v. Bidar, Gawilgarh, Gulbarga, and Kolhapur. The coins are described and illustrated by O. Codrington in Num. Chron. 1898 ; and by H. N. Wright, Calal. of Coins in I. M., vol. ii (Clarendon Press, 1907). Both writers give references to earlier papers. The architecture has been discussed to some extent by Fergusson, and also by Burgess (A. S. W. I., vol. iii, London, 1878). The subject is being further examined by the Archaeological Survey op the Nizam's Dominions, and by the Hyderabad Archaeological Society. CHAPTER 2 The Five Sultanates of the Deccan, and Khandesh, from 1474 to the seventeenth century. The five Sultanates. During the inglorious reign of Mahmud Shah Bahmani (1482-1518), the provincial governors, as already mentioned, declared their independence one after the other, and set up five separate kingdoms or Sultanates, namely, the Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar ; the Nizam Shahi of Ahmadnagar ; the Adil Shahi of BIjapur ; the Barld Shahi of Bidar ; and the Kutb Shahi of Golkonda. Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar (Birar). The earliest defection was that of the province of Berar (Birar), the most northern portion of the Bahmani dominions, and more or less equivalent to the ancient Vidarbha, famous in Sanskrit literature. Berar was one of the four provinces into which the first Bahmani Sultan of the Deccan had divided his dominions. Late in the fifteenth century the province comprised two districts, namely, Gawilgarh, the northern, and Mahur, the southern. Early in the reign of Mahmud Bahmani, in the year 1484, according to most authorities, or 1490, according to others, the governor of Gawilgarh, a converted Hindu, named Fathullah and entitled Imadu-1 Mulk, proclaimed his independence, and made himself master of the whole province. THE FIVE SULTANATES 287 He thus founded a dynasty, the Imad Shahi, which lasted for four generations, until about 1574, when the principality was absorbed by Ahmadnagar. The details of its separate history, so far as recorded, are not of interest. The province was ceded in 1596 to Sultan Murad, son of Akbar. The imperial governor resided at first at Balapur, and later at Ilichpur (Ellichpur). Barld Shahi dynasty of Bidar. The small principality governed by the Barld Shahi Sultans was simply the residuum of the Bahmani Empire, consisting of the territory near the capital, left over after the more distant provinces had separated. Kasim Barld, minister of Mahmud Shah Bahmani, was practically his own master from about the year 1492, which is given in some books as the date of the establishment of the dynasty. But he and his son Amir long delayed to assume royal rank, and even after the death of Mahmud in 1518 continued to set up and murder nominal 288 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Bahmani Sultans until 1526, when the formality was dispensed with, and Amir openly assumed an independent position.1 The dynasty lasted until about 1609 or a little later, when the territory was annexed by Bijapur. The Barld Sultans did little, if anything, deserving of remembrance ; but some of their buildings are note worthy. DARGAH OF AMlR BARlD SHAH, BlDAR. Kutb Shahi dynasty of G-oIkonda, The three considerable states formed out of the fragments of the Bahmani empire were.* Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golkorida (Gulkandah). The Gol-*"" konda Sultanate, although founded the last of all, in 1518, and the 1 According to Firishta, who depended on oral tradition for this dynasty,-; Amir Barid, who died in a.d. 1539 (a.h. 945), never called himself Sultan or by any equivalent title. His son, All Barid, 'is the first of this dynasty who adopted the style of Shah or King ; for though his grandfather Kasim Barid assumed regalia, he did not take the royal title'. Compare the case of the so-called Sayj'id dynasty of Delhi, the members of which never assumed the royal title or struck coins in their own names. GOLKONDA 289 latest survivor, may be noticed first, because it remained in a comparatively detached position, taking only a minor part in the endless wars and quarrels, in which Ahmadnagar and Bijapur intervened more freely. But there was much fighting with Bijapur, and in 1565 Golkonda joined the transitory confederacy of the four Muhammadan kings which brought about the defeat and destruction of the Vijayanagar Raj. The territory of Golkonda. The new kingdom was the representative and successor of the ancient Hindu Kakatiya principality of Warangal,1 which had been reduced by Ahmad Shah Bahmani early in his reign, about 1423. The territory was extensive, lying for the most part between the lower courses of the Godavari and Krishna rivers, and extending to the coast of the Bay of Bengal, along the face of the deltas. The western frontier was mostly identical with the eastern boundary of the Bidar principality. A northern extension was enclosed between the Godavari, Pen Ganga,, and Wain Ganga rivers. The land was fertile, and the old irrigation works of Hindu times were main tained and extended by the Sultans. The Sultans. The founder of the dynasty, a Turki officer, who assumed the title of Sultan Kull Kutb Shah, had been ap pointed governor of the eastern province by Mahmud Gawan. He withdrew from the Bahmani court after the wrongful execution of that minister, but continued to recognize the sovereignty of Mahmud Shah until 1518, when he refused to submit any longer to the Barld ascendancy, and declared his independence. The first Kutbi Sultan enjoyed a long life and prosperous reign, surviving until he had attained the age of ninety in 1543, when he was murdered at the instigation of his son Jamshid. The parricide reigned for seven years. The crown was then (1550), after a short interval, offered to and accepted by a brother of Jamshid named Ibrahim, who joined in the confederacy against Vijayanagar (1565), and died in 1580. His administration is reputed to have been good. In his time Hindus were freely employed in the service of the State and were permitted to attain high official rank. His son, Muhammad Kuli, lived until 1611, after which date the dynasty almost ceased to have a separate history, its affairs becoming entangled with those of the Mogul emperors of Hindostan. The State was finally annexed by Aurangzeb in 1687. The capital. The capital had been moved from Warangal to Golkonda by the first Sultan at the beginning of his reign. The new city was greatly developed in the reign of Ibrahim, but in 1589 it had become unhealthy. The court was then transferred to Bhagnagar a few miles distant, which soon afterwards was called Hyderabad. The city thus created developed later as the capital ' Warangal is a corruption of Orukkal, meaning ' solitary rock ', with reference' to a prominent feature of the site of the old capital. Few of the numerous inscriptions at Warangal have been published, but they will be examined by the new Archaeological Department and the Archaeological Society of Hyderabad. L3 290 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD of the Nizams and now has a population of nearly half a million, taking rank as the fourth city in India. Golkonda, largely in ruins, is best known for the tombs of the Kutb Shahi kings. The Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar. Nizamu-1 Mulk Bahrl, the head of the Deccanee party at Bidar, who had contrived the death of Mahmud Gawan, came to a violent end himself not long after. His son Malik Ahmad, governor of Junnar (Joonair) to the north of Poona, then revolted. In 1490 he defeated decisively the army of Mahmud Bahmani, and established himself as an independent sovereign. After a time he moved his court to a more convenient and strategically better position further east, and so founded the city of Ahmadnagar. The new sovereign having assumed the title of Ahmad Nizam Shah, the dynasty established by him is called the Nizam Shahi. Ahmadnagar is still a considerable town and the head-quarters of a District in the Bombay Presidency. The main efforts of Ahmad Nizam Shah for years were directed to the acquisition of the powerful fortress of Deogiri or Daulatabad, formerly the capital of the Yadava kingdom. Ultimately, he ob tained the surrender of the place, in or about a. d.1499, and thus consolidated his dominion. The second and third Sultans. The second sovereign, Burhan Nizam Shah, who reigned for forty-five years (1508-53), was engaged in many wars with the neighbouring States, and made a new departure about 1550 by allying himself with the Hindu Raya of Vijayanagar against the Sultan of Bijapur. Some years earlier (1537) Burhan had himself adopted the Shia form of Islam. His successor, Husain Shah, joined the confederacy which sacked Vijayanagar in 1565. Later history. The subsequent history of the dynasty may be read in great detail in the pages of Firishta, who long resided at Ahmadnagar, but the incidents are not of much interest. Berar was absorbed in 1574. Chand BIbl, the queen dowager of Bijapur* who had returned to Ahmadnagar, made a gallant and successful resistance to Akbar's son, Prince Murad, in 1596, purchasing peace by the cession of Berar. But war soon broke out again, and in August 1600 the Mogul army stormed Ahmadnagar. Chand Bibi then perished. According to some accounts she was murdered by a eunuch, according to others she took poison. Those events, which belong to the history of Akbar rather than to that of the minor kingdom, will be dealt with more fully when the story of his reign comes to be told. Akbar, although he formally gave Ahmadnagar the rank of a new Siiba or province, never obtained possession of more than a small portion of the kingdom. The remainder continued an obscure independent existence, and the State was not finally annexed until 1637 in the reign of Shahjahan. The Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur ; the first Sultan . Bija pur, the most important and interesting of the five sultanates or kingdoms, deserves more extended notice. The dynasty was known as the Adil Shahi, from the name of its founder, Yusuf Adil Khan, BIJAPUR 291 governor of Bijapur, who declared his independence in 1489, almost simultaneously with his colleagues in Berar and Ahmadnagar. Yusuf Adil, so far as public knowledge went, was simply a Geor gian slave who had been purchased by Khwaja Mahmud Gawan, and by reason of his own abilities and the discerning patronage of the minister had risen to high office at the Bahmani court, ultimately becoming governor of Bijapur. But according to private information, accepted by Firishta on respectable authority, he was really a son of Sultan Murad II of Turkey, who annexed Salonica and died in 1451, leaving the succession to his son Muham mad, by whom Constantinople was taken two years later. If the romantic tale may be believed Yusuf Adil in his infancy had been saved by stratagem from the massacre of princes which usually occurred in Asiatic Turkey at the accession of a new sovereign, and had been brought up secretly in Persia, with the cognizance of his mother, who kept herself informed concerning his movements. When the disguised prince was seventeen years old he seems to have found continued residence in Persia to be unsafe, and there fore allowed himself to be disposed of as a slave and sold in Bidar to the minister of the Bahmani Sultan. The story obviously is open to critical doubt, but it is not absolutely incredible, and whoever cares to do so can believe it. Firishta apparently was satisfied as to its truth. Firishta's history. Firishta's history, written in a spirit of remarkable independence, presents an agreeable contrast when compared with Abu-1 Fazl's too courtly Akbarndma. It is neither possible nor desirable to reproduce in this book Firishta's detailed account of the doings of ' the illustrious monarchs who have reigned over Beejapoor '. Most of the wars and intrigues which seemed so important to the historian at the beginning of the seven teenth century are now seen to have had little or no effect on the development of India as a whole, and to be of only provincial interest. Except for purposes of purely local study, it is not worth while to master or remember the details of the incessant fighting between the five kingdoms of the Deccan. But certain matters in the story of Bijapur and its rulers still deserve a place in the pages of even a short history of India. Preference of Yusuf Adil Shah for the Shia religion. Yusuf Adil Shah waged wars against Vijayanagar and his Muham madan neighbours with varying fortune. When residing in Persia in his youth he had learned to prefer the Shia form of Islam, and subsequently made a vow to profess publicly that faith. In 1502 he carried out his purpose, making the Shia creed the State religion, while giving free and untrammelled toleration to the Sunnis. The change, although accepted by many of his subjects, aroused violent opposition, which resulted in a dangerous confederacy of the neighbouring princes against Bijapur. The Sultan dis creetly restored the SunnI creed as the official religion and broke up the confederacy. When he had gained his purpose ' he renewed the public exercise of the Shia religion '. 292 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Capture of Goa by the Portuguese. In those days Goa was a favourite residence of Yusuf Adil Shah, who at one time thought of making the port the seat of his government. It was. the rendez vous of the Muhammadans of the Deccan who used to embark; there for the pilgrimage to Mecca. In February 1510 (a.h. 915) the king's officers negligently permitted the Portuguese commander, Albuquerque, to surprise the city and occupy it without the loss 'of a man. The victor used his good fortune with moderation and forbade his soldiers under pain of death to do any injury to the inhabitants. But the Sultan, being determined to recover his much prized possession, prepared an overwhelming force and won back Goa in May of the same year 1510 (a.h. 916). Albu querque's fleet, which was reduced to intense distress during the rainy season, received reinforcements in the autumn. The death of Yiisuf Adil Shah at the age of seventy-four, in October or November, weakened the defence, so that the Portuguese succeeded in storming the city after a hard fight. The resistance offered so incensed Albuquerque that he ordered a general massacre of the Muhammadan population without distinction of age or sex, and encouraged his soldiers to commit frightful cruelties. He treated the Hindus with kindness and established an effective government. The Portuguese thus finally won Goa in November 1510 (a.h. 916), and have retained it ever since. Marriage with Marathi lady. Instances of Muhammadan princes in the Deccan marrying Hindu wives have been mentioned. Yusuf Adil Shah early in his reign defeated a Maratha chieftain named MukundRao, whose sister he espoused. She took the Musal man name of Bubuji Khanam, and became the mother of the second Sultan as well as of three princesses who were married to members " of _ the royal families of the neighbouring Muhammadan States. Yusuf Adil Shah freely admitted Hindus to offices of trust. The Marathi language was ordinarily used for purposes of accounts and business. Character of Yiisuf Adil Shah. The first Sultan or Shah of Bijapur js given a high character by Firishta, who testifies on good "¦authority that he was ' a wise prince, intimately acquainted with human nature', handsome, eloquent, well read, and a skilled musician. ' Although he mingled pleasure with business, yet he never allowed the former to interfere with the latter. He always warned his ministers to act with justice and integrity, and in his own person showed them an example of attention to those virtues. He invited to his court many learned men and valiant officers from Persia, Turkistan, and Rum, also several eminent artists, who lived happy under the shadow of his bounty. In his reign the citadel of Bijapur was built of stone.' He lies buried, not at Bijapur, but at Gugl or Gogi, farther to the east, near the grave of a saint whom he venerated. ' No mausoleum was built over him ; and in the precincts of the holy burying-ground his open tomb is as simple as many others, and an endow ment, which has been preserved, still provides a covering of cotton chintz YUSUF ADIL SHAH 293 for it, renewed from year to year. Thus, as the people of Gogi assert, with an honourable pride, there are not as yet faithful servants wanting to the noble king to light a lamp at night at his grave, and to say fatihas for his soul's peace, while the tombs of the great Bahmani kings and of all his enemies in life are desecrated.' * Ismail Shah. The new king, Ismail, being a minor, the govern ment was carried on by Karnal Khan, an officer of the late ruler, as regent. He proved faithless, and conspired to seize the throne for himself, but lost his life in the attempt. Like other kings of the period Ismail was fated to spend most of his time in fighting his neighbours. He recovered from Vijayanagar the Raichur Doab, the much disputed country between the Krishna and Tungabhadra. Ismail was so much pleased at the arrival of an embassy from the Shah of Persia, who recognized Bijapur as an independent State, that he directed the officers of his army to wear the head-dress distinctive of the Shia sect. He rests beside his father, whom he resembled in character and accomplishments. The son, Mallu, who succeeded him, proved to be incurably vicious and incompetent. Accordingly he was blinded and deposed, the sceptre passing into the hands of his brother Ibrahim after a few months. Bjrahim Adil Shah I. The new ruler, who assumed the title of Ibrahim Adil Shah, rejected foreign practices, including the use of the Shia head-dress, and reverted completely to Sunni ritual. He favoured the Deccanees, with their allies the Abyssinians, as against the Persians and- other foreigners. Many of the strangers entered the service of Rama Raya the de facto ruler of Vijayanagar. At this time revolutions occurred at Vijayanagar which will be noticed more particularly in the history of that kingdom. In 1535 the Bijapur Sultan accepted the invitation of the chief of one of the Hindu factions and paid a visit to Vijayanagar lasting a week. He departed enriched by an enormous present of gold coin, in addition to valuable horses and elephants. Subsequently the Sultans of Bidar, Ahmadnagar, and Golkonda combined against Bijapur, which emerged victorious, thanks to the ability of the minister, Asad Khan, whose reputation is scarcely inferior to that of Mahmud Gawan. It is needless to follow in detail the wars and intrigues which lasted throughout the reign. The Sultan towards the end of his life abandoned himself to drink and debauchery, ruining his health and temper. The unlucky physicians who failed to cure him were beheaded or trampled under foot by elephants. Ibrahim came to a dishonoured death in 1557, and was buried at Gogi by the side of his father and grandfather. AH Adil Shah. All Adil Shah, having succeeded his father, Ibrahim, began his administration by publicly resuming the Shia creed, professing it with a degree of intolerance which his ancestor had carefully avoided. In 1558, the Sultan having made a transi tory alliance with Rama Raja, the combined Hindu and Muham madan armies invaded the territory of Ahmadnagar, which they 1 Meadows Taylor, Manual, p. 198. 294 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD ravaged mercilessly — the Hindus taking the opportunity to avenge without pity all the injuries which they had suffered from Muslim hands in the course of two centuries. The barbarous excesses committed by Rama Raja and the insolence shown by him to his Muhammadan allies alienated All Adil Shah, who was advised that no single Musalman sovereign was capable of contending with success against the wealth and hosts of the arrogant Hindu prince. Ultimately all the four Sultans of Bijapur, Bidar, Ahmadnagar, and Golkonda were convinced that their interests required them to sacrifice their rivalries and combine in an irresistible league in order to effect the destruction of the infidel. With a view to draw closer the bonds of alliance, All Adil Shah married Chand Bibi, daughter of Husain Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar, whose sister was given to the son of the Sultan of Bijapur. Alliance against Vijayanagar. In December 1564 the four allied sovereigns established their joint head-quarters at the small town of Talikota, situated about twenty-five miles to the north of the Krishna, in 16° 28' N. lat. and 76° 19' E. long. The town, now included in the Bijapur District, Bombay, was then in the dominions of AH Adil Shah, who received his allies as his guests. The Vijayanagar Government, in full confidence of victory, prepared to meet the threatened invasion by the assemblage of enormous levies numbering several hundred thousand men. Two large armies were sent forward under the command of Rama Raja's brothers, Tirumala and Venkatadri, with orders to prevent the army of Islam from crossing the Krishna. When the allied princes moved southwards to the bank of the river, twenty-five miles distant from Talikota, they found that it was impassable except at the ford of Ingaligi, which was protected by an immense host. They endeavoured to mislead the enemy by marching along the bank as if seeking for another crossing-place, and succeeded by this simple stratagem in outwitting their Hindu opponents and passing the river unopposed. The aged Rama Raja then moved up from Vijayanagar with the main army, and encamped some where near the fortress of Mudgal, so often the subject of dispute between the Hindus and the Musalmans. Battle of Talikota. Battle was joined in the space between the Ingaligi ford and Mudgal, marked by a little village called Bayapur or Bhogapur. The forces on both sides being unusually numerous the fighting must have extended over a front of many miles. The conflict took place on Tuesday, January 23, 1565, equivalent to 20 Jum. II, a.h. 972.1 The Muslim centre was commanded by Husain Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar, who possessed a powerful park of artillery ; Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur led the right wing ; and the left wing was entrusted to All Barid Shah of Golkonda. ' The artillery, fastened together by strong chains and ropes, was drawn 1 Mr. Sewell correctly points out that the week-day was Tuesday, not Friday, as stated by Firishta. BATTLE OF TALIKOTA 295 up in front of the line, and the war elephants were placed in various positions, agreeable to custom. Each prince erected his particular standard in the centre of his own army, and the allies moved in close order against the enemy.' Rama Raja, then an old man, although in full possession of his faculties, commanded the centre opposed to the king of Ahmad nagar. His brother Tirumala encountered AH Adil Shah of Bijapur, while his other brother, Venkatadri, fought against the princes of Bidar and Golkonda. After much strenuous fighting the Bijapur and Golkonda chiefs gave way and thought of retiring, but the Ahmadnagar Sultan stood firm in the centre. Just then a furious elephant rushed at the litter in which Rama Raja was seated, so that his frightened bearers let him drop. He was thus taken prisoner, and at once beheaded by Husain Nizam Shah with his own hands. The head was placed on the point of a long spear so that it might be seen by the enemy. It was care fully preserved at Ahmadnagar and annually exhibited to pious Muslims up to 1829 when Briggs published his translation of Firishta. ' The Hindus, according to custom, when they saw their chief destroyed, fled in the utmost disorder from the fieid, and were pursued by the allies with such success that the river was dyed red with their blood. It is computed by the best authorities that above one hundred thousand infidels were slain during the action and the pursuit.' Results of the battle. The victory, known to history as the battle of Talikota, because the allies had assembled at that town, distant about thirty miles from the battle-field, was one of the most decisive of the conflicts recorded in the whole course of Indian history. The Hindus made no attempt to dispute the verdict of the sword. The great Hindu empire of the South, which had lasted for more than two centuries, was definitely ended, and the ' supremacy of Islam in the Deccan was assured. The noble city1; of Vijayanagar was blotted out of existence and remains desolate, to this day. The details of the destruction wrought will be described more fully in the history of Vijayanagar. The dominions of both Bijapur and Golkonda were enlarged considerably. League against the Portuguese ; death of the Sultan. In 1570 the sovereigns of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar again joined their forces and attempted to capture the settlements of the Portuguese, then at the climax of their power. But even the help of the Zamorin of Calicut and the Raja, of Achln did not suffice to enable them to win success. The envied and hated foreign infidels survived and prospered, until they had to yield the pride of place to other European powers. The siege of Goa by a huge army was raised, after ten months, although the defence had been maintained by only seven hundred European soldiers, supported by three hundred friars and priests, a thousand slaves, and some ill-equipped boats. De Sousa records the curious fact that All Adil Shah sent to Arch bishop Gaspar of Goa to fetch Fathers and books of the Law,' but without any good result, because the request was made from 296 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD mere curiosity.1 AH Adil Shah was killed in 1579 by a eunuch who had good reason for his act. Ibrahim Adil Shah II. The heir to the throne, Ibrahim Adil Shah II, being a minor, was taken charge of by his mother, Chand Bibi, while ministers ruled the kingdom. In 1584 the queen mother returned to her native city of Ahmadnagar, and never visited Bijapur again. We shall hear presently of her gallant doings in the conflict with Akbar. In 1595 the last fight between Bijapur and Ahmadnagar took place, and the Ahmadnagar monarch was killed. From that time the separate history of both States may be said to end, their annals becoming merged in those of the Mogul empire. Ibrahim Adil Shah II survived until 1626, when he died, leaving a great reputation as an able administrator. The testimony of Meadows Taylor, who was well acquainted with the country and local tradition, may be quoted : ' Ibrahim Adil Shatr^died in 1626, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He was the greatest of all the Adil Shahi dynasty, and in most respects, . except its founder, the most able and popular. Without the distraction of war, he applied himself to civil affairs with much care ; and the land settlements of the provinces of his kingdom, many of which are still extant among district records, show an admirable and efficient system of registration of property and its valuation. In this respect the system of Todar Mull introduced by the Emperor Akbar seems to have been followed with the necessary local modifications. Although he changed the profession of the State religion immediately upon assuming the direction of State affairs from Shia to Sunni, Ibrahim was yet extremely tolerant of all creeds and faiths. Hindus not only suffered no persecution at his hands, but many of his chief civil and military officers were Brahmans and Marathas.2 With the Portuguese of Goa he seems to have kept up a friendly intercourse. Portuguese painters decorated his palaces, and their merchants traded freely in his dominions. To their missionaries also he extended his protection ; and there are many anecdotes current in the country that his tolerance of Christians equalled, if it did not exceed, that of his contemporary Akbar. He allowed the preaching of Christianity freely among his people, and there are still existent several Catholic churches, one at Chitapur, one at Mudgal, and one at Raichur, and others, endowed by the king with lands and other sources of revenue, which have survived the changes and revolutions of more than 300 years. Each of these churches now consists of several hundred mem bers and remains under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goa.' Ibrahim's dominions extended to the borders of Mysore. At the time of his death he left to his successor a full treasury and a well- paid army of 80,000 horse. 1 Transl. and quoted in Monserrate, Commentarius, p. 545, ed. Hosten (Memoirs, A. S. B., 1914). Gaspar was archbishop from 1560 to 1567, and again from 1574 to 1576 (Fonseca, p. 71). 3 Ibrahim's partiality for Hindus led his Muslim subjects to give him the mocking title of Jagad-guru, or ' World-Preceptor '. Akbar conferred that title in all seriousness on his own favourite Jain instructor, and received it himself informally from Hindu admirers. IBRAHIM ADIL SHAH II 297 The splendid architectural monuments of his reign will be noticed presently. It is not necessary to pursue the local history further. The capital was taken and the country was annexed bv Auransrzeb in 1686. The Adil Shah! Kings or Sultans of Bijapur Accession. 1. Yusuf 2. Ismail 3. Mallu 4. Ibrahim I 5. Ali 6. Ibrahim II 7. Muhammad 8. Ali II 9. Sikandar A.D. 14901510 15341535 15571580 162616561673 Had been governor under the Bahmani kinc. Son of No. 1. ; deposed and blinded after six Son of No. 2 ; months. Brother of No Son of No. 4 ; 3. assassinated. Destruction of Vijayanagar in 1565. Nephew of No. 5 ; good civil administration ; fine buildings. Son of No. 6 ; became tributary to Shahjahan in 1636 ; Maratha aggression began. Son of No. 7 ; war with Sivaji. Made captive by Aurangzeb, and dynasty extinguished in 1686. Farukl dynasty of Khandesh. Before quitting the subject of the Muhammadan kingdoms of the Deccan we may bestow a passing glance on the small kingdom of Khandesh in the valley of the Tapti, whose rulers were known as the Farukl dynasty. The principality, which did not form part of the Bahmani kingdom, was established in 1388 at the close of the reign of Sultan Firoz Tughlak of Delhi, and took a share in the innumerable local wars. It was sometimes a dependency of Gujarat. The importance of the State resulted chiefly from its possession of the strong fortress of Asirgarh. The seat of government was Burhanpur. The surrender of Asirgarh to Akbar in January 1601 put an end to the dynasty and the independence of the State, which became the Suba of Khandesh or Dandesh. Art and Literature. The monuments of the Bahmani dynasty at Kulbarga and Bidar have been briefly noticed. At Ahmadnagar the principal ancient building is the ruined Bhadr Palace in white stone, built by the founder of the city,.; which possesses few other architectural remains of importance. The chief mosque at Burhanpur, the capital of the Farukl kings of Khandesh, erected by AH Khan in 1588, is described as a fine building adorned with stone carvings executed in perfect taste. But Fergusson formed the opinion that the edifices of the town have ' very little artistic value '. At Golkonda and Bijapur important schools of architecture developed, differing one from the other and from the styles of northern India. The precincts of the Golkonda fortress include a multitude of palaces, mosques, and other ancient buildings. The tombs of the Kutb Shahi kings, which stand outside the fortress 298 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD about half a mile to the north, are built of granite and characterized by narrow-necked domes of peculiar form. The works executed to the orders of the Adil Shahi kings of Bijapur are ' marked by a grandeur of conception and boldness in construction unequalled by any edifices erected in India '.) The gigantic walls of the city, begun by Yusuf, the first Sultan,/ and completed by AH, the fifth sovereign, are six and a quarter miles in circumference, and still perfect for the most part. — TOMBS IN GOLKONDA STYLE, BIJAPUR. The four leading builders at Bijapur were the Kings Yusuf (1490-1510), Ali (1558-80), Ibrahim II (1580-1626), and Mu hammad Shah (1626-56). The principal mosque, an admirably proportioned building, erected by All, is still perfect, and would accommodate five thousand worshippers. The same sovereign constructed aqueducts for the supply of water to all parts of the city, and also built the spacious audience-hall or Gagan Mahall (1561). The richly decorated tomb of Ibrahim II is an exquisite' structure ; and the mausoleum of his successor, Muhammad' (1626-56), built at the same time as the Taj, is a marvel of skilful construction. The dome is the second largest in the world. The names of the architects employed do not seem to be recorded, and ART AND LITERATURE 299 it is impossible to say whether they were foreigners or of Indian birth. The style shows traces of both foreign and native ideas. Fine libraries are known to have existed at Ahmadnagar and Bijapur. One illuminated manuscript from the latter is in the British Museum. The excellent history of Muhammad Kasim, surnamed Firishta, was written to the command of Ibrahim II of Bijapur. The author mentions many earlier writers whose works are not now extant. The town of Bijapur, which long lay deserted and desolate, has revived in modern times, and is the prosperous head-quarters of a District in the Bombay Presidency, with considerable trade and a population of about 25,000 persons. Authorities The Five Sultanates and Khandesh The principal authority is Firishta, whose narratives are supplemented by observations recorded by Sewell (A Forgotten Empire) and Meadows Taylor (Manual of the History of India). For relations with the Portuguese I have used Fonseca, Sketch of the City of Goa (Bombay, Thacker, 1878), a sound book based on the official records of the settlement. The monuments are briefly described in Fergusson, Hist, of Eastern and Ind. Archil.3, 1910, and other works there cited. The information about Bijapur is tolerably full, and the principal buildings there are in good condition. See also V. A. Smith, H.F.A., Oxford, 1911. A good detailed catalogue of the Bijapur buildings (with plan of city) will be found in the Revised Lists of Antiquarian Remains in the Bombay Presidency, 2nd ed., 1897 (vol. xvi, A. S. India, New Imp. Ser.). All works on Bijapur are superseded by the magnificent volume Bijapur and its Architectural Remains, with an Historical Outline of the Adil Shahi Dynasty. By Henry Cousens, Bombay Government Central Press, 1916 ; pp. xii, 132 ; cxviii plates and 28 text illustrations ; quarto, half -morocco. The coinage is described in the monograph by Mr. Cousens, pp. 127, 128, pi. cxv. The known specimens, issued by five of the Sultans, comprise three gold and two or three hundred copper coins, besides the curious Idrins, made of stamped silver wire. The newly formed Archaeological Society of Hyderabad has plenty of unpublished material of all kinds on which to work. The first number of the Journal contains an interesting article on Warangal. CHAPTER 3 The Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, from a. d. 1336 to 1646. Special interest of the history. Although the history of the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar is closely entwined with that of the Muslim Bahmani empire and the later sultanates of the Deccan for more than two centuries, it is impracticable to combine the two histories in a single narrative. Separate treatment is inevitable, but a certain amount of repetition cannot be avoided. The story cf the Hindu monarchy which set itself up as a barrier co check the onrush of the armies of Islam is one of singular 300 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD interest, and might be narrated with a fullness of detail rarely possible in Indian history. The multitude of relevant inscriptions, numbering many hundreds, is extraordinary. Several European and Muslim travellers from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century have recorded the historical traditions of the empire with vivid descriptions of the system of government and the glories of the magnificent capital. The study of the polity, manners, customs, and religion of the Vijayanagar empire merits particular attention, because the State was the embodiment of the Telinga or Telugu and Kanarese forms of Hinduism which differed widely from the more familiar forms of the north. The sources of our knowledge are not confined to inscriptions and the notes of foreign observers. The Muhammadan historians who lived in the Deccan, headed by Firishta, give valuable information ; and much may be learned from critical examination of the monuments and coins. A remark able school of art was developed at Vijayanagar, and literature, both Sanskrit and Telugu, was cultivated with eminent success. No complete history yet -written. It is matter for regret that no history of the Vijayanagar empire in the form of a readable, continuous narrative, embodying the results of specialist studies after critical sifting, has yet been written. Mr. Robert Sewell's excellent book entitled A Forgotten Empire, Vijayanagar, published in 1900, which recalled attention to the long-neglected subject, and largely increased the store of historical material by making the Portuguese accounts accessible, is avowedly a pioneer work designed as ' a foundation upon which may hereafter be constructed a regular history of the Vijayanagar empire '. The profoundly learned essays by Mr. H. Krishna Sastri, which deal with the annals of the first, second, and third dynasties, as published in the Annual Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India for 1907-8, 1908-9, and 1911-12, add much to the information collected by Sewell, and go a long way towards removing the numerous diffi culties which beset critical treatment of the subject. But those essays do not pretend to be more than a presentation of the data for a history, chiefly obtained from study of the inscriptions. The desired narrative in literary shape still is wanting, and much additional matter collected in the publications of other writers remains to be worked up. My readers, therefore, will understand that it is not possible for me at present to offer a thoroughly satisfactory summary account of Vijayanagar history within the narrow limits of this chapter. Such an account cannot be prepared until the endless problems of detail and chronology presented by the original authorities have been disposed of by special studies and the net results incor porated in a well-digested narrative. I cannot attempt to go deeply into the difficulties. My account of the political history of the empire must be confined to a brief outline. The few pages available will be devoted chiefly to descriptions of the internal conditions of the State and of the havoc wrought by the Muham madan victors in 1565. ORIGIN OF THE EMPIRE 301 Origin of the kingdom or empire. The traditionary accounts of the origin of the kingdom or empire vary widely. Sewell enumerates six or seven. There is, however, no doubt that the new power was the outcome of the efforts made by five brothers, sons of one Sangama, to stay the tide of Muslim invasion and to preserve Hindu dharma in the peninsula. Good authority exists for regarding the brothers as fugitives from the eastern Telinga or Telugu kingdom of Warangal, the capital of which was taken by the Muhammadans in 1323. Equally good, or perhaps better, authority views them as chieftains under the Kanarese dynasty of the Hoysala or Ballala kings of the Mysore country, whose capital, Dhora-Samudra, was sacked in 1327. It is certain that the activity of the five brothers was a reply to the Muhammadan attacks on both Warangal and Dhora-Samudra. The mad tyranny of Muhammad bin Tughlak of Delhi prevented him from retaining control over his southern conquests. The Bahmani kingdom founded by one of his revolted governors in 1347 upheld the stan dard of Islam independently of Delhi. When that kingdom broke up in the closing years of the fifteenth century, the five new sultanates formed from it, having inherited its traditions, were normally at war with Vijayanagar, and with the Telinga Raj of Warangal, which reasserted itself at times, until 1425, when it was finally destroyed. Foreign relations of Vijayanagar. The external history of the Vijayanagar empire, consequently, is mainly that of wars with the various Muhammadan dynasties of the Deccan, But from the middle of the fifteenth century both parties occasionally found it convenient to forget their principles and to enter into unholy temporary alliances. In the end the Muslims, who were more vigorous, better mounted, and better armed than the Hindus, won the long contest. Their destruction of the city of Vijayanagar in 1565, carried out with a completeness which no Prussian could surpass, effectually put an end to the Hindu empire of the south as such. But the victory did not immediately increase very largely the territory under Muslim rule. The peninsula to the south of the Tungabhadra continued to be essentially Hindu, governed by a multitude of Hindu chiefs, uncontrolled by any paramount power. While the foreign relations of Vijayanagar were in the main concerned with the Musalman sultanates, the Hindu empire also had important dealings with the Portuguese, who first arrived on the Malabar coast in 1498, and established themselves permanently at Goa late in 1510. The transactions with the Portuguese bring the affairs of Vijayanagar into touch with the outer world ; and we are indebted to Portuguese authors for the best accounts of the polity and manners of the great Hindu State. Early chiefs ; Harihara I and -Bukka. The two most prominent of the five brothers who led the Hindu opposition were named Hakka or Harihara (I) and Bukka. The traditional date for their foundation of Vijayanagar on the southern, or safe, bank of the Tungabhadra,,1 facing the older fortress of Anegundi on the 1 The name of the city is sometimes written Vidyanagara or Vidyanagari. 302 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD northern bank, is a.d. 1336. The building of it was finished in 1343. It is certain that ten years later the brothers were in a position to claim control over ' the whole country between the Eastern and the Western Oceans '. They never assumed royal rank. Bukka died in 1376. Two years before his decease he thought it advisable to send an embassy to Tai-tsu, the Ming emperor of China.1 Most of his life was spent in waging ferocious wars against the Bahmani kings. During the reign of Muhammad Shah (1358- 73) it is supposed that half a million of Hindus were destroyed.2 His successor, Mujahid Shah (1373-7), on one occasion penetrated the outer defences of Vijayanagar and was able to damage an image of Hanuman the monkey-god by a blow from his steel mace. Harihara II, independent king. Harihara II (ace. 1379) was the first really independent sovereign of Vijayanagar who assumed full royal state or titles. His reign coincided almost exactly with that of Muhammad Shah I, the fifth of the Bahmani sultans, and the only peaceable man of his family. Harihara consequently had a quiet time so far as the Muhammadans were concerned, and enjoyed leisure for the task of consolidating his dominion over the whole of southern India, including Trichinopoly and Conjeeveram (Kanchi). He was tolerant of various forms of religion, but gave his personal devotion to Siva-Virupaksha. He died in August 1404, and, as usual, the succession was disputed. Deva Raya I. The next sovereign to secure a firm seat on the throne was Deva Raya I (Nov. 1406 to about 1410). He and his successors had to engage in constant fighting with the Bahmani Sultan Firoz, who took the field against the Hindus almost every year. Early in his reign (1406) Firoz invaded the Hindu territory in great force and actually entered some of the streets of the capital, although unable to take the place. He remained encamped to the south of the city for four months, ravaging the land and taking prisoners by tens of thousands. Deva Raya was constrained to sue for peace and to submit to the humiliation of giving his daughter in marriage to the Muslim sovereign. The Sultan visited Vijayanagar during the marriage festivities, but took offence because, when he was leaving, the Raya did not accompany him the whole way back to his camp. Thus the marriage bona failed to heal the hereditary enmity. Right and left-hand castes. Nothing particular is recorded about the doings of Deva Raya's successor, Vijaya (1410 to about 1419), but it is worth while to note that an inscription of the reign mentions the existence of the right-hand and left-hand groups of castes as an institution then not new. So much speculation has been devoted unsuccessfully to attempted explanations of that curious grouping of castes in the south that it is important to know' that the distinction was already well established in a.d. 1400. Deva Raya II. Deva Raya II (1421-48) had to meet the 1 Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches, ed. 1910, vol. ii, p. 222. 2 We must remember that the far south remained immune from the Bahmani attacks and continued to supply men and riches to Vijayanagar. DEVA RAYA II 303 attacks of Firoz Shah's brother and successor, Ahmad Shah (1422-35) a ferocious brute who held high festival for three days whenever on any one day the victims — men, women, and children — in a defenceless population, numbered twenty thousand. The Hindu kingdom of Warangal was finally overthrown by him in 1425. The war with the Musalmans continued during the reign of Alau-d din Bahmani (1435-57), and ended unfavourably for the Hindu cause. Deva Raya, impressed with the facts that the Islamite armies owed their success largely to being better mounted than their opponents and supported by a large body of expert archers, tried the expedient of enlisting Muhammadans in his service and equipping them in the Bahmani fashion. But the experiment was not a success, and the Raya had to submit to the . payment of tribute. The visit of the Italian Nicolo Conti, to Vijayanagar took place at the beginning of Deva Raya's reign, and that of Abdu-r Razzak in 1443, towards its close. The story of Vijayanagar during the second half of the fifteenth century is obscure. The kings were of little personal merit, palace intrigues were rife, and the Government was feeble. The first usurpation of Narasinga Saluva. Narasinga Saluva, the powerful and semi-independent governor of Chandra- giri in 1486, was obliged to depose the weak nominal sovereign reigning at the time and take the cares of government on his own shoulders, an event known as the First Usurpation. In the course of a few years he effected extensive conquests in the Tamil country to the south and restored the credit of the Government. His administration made so deep an impression on the public mind that the Vijayanagar empire was often designated by Europeans as the ' kingdom of Narsingh '. He was constantly at war with the Muhammadans. The new sultanate of Bijapur, which began its separate existence from 1489 or 1490, now took the leading position on the Muslim side, the last Bahmani kings being restricted to a small principality close to Bidar, their capital. Second usurpation of Narasa Nayaka. The power of Narasinga Saluva was transmitted to his son Immadi Narasinga, who in 1505 was killed by his general, Narasa Nayaka, a Tuluva That was the Second Usurpation. The details of the transactions connected with both usurpa tions are obscure and controverted. Krishna Raya . The third or Tuluva dynasty thus founded produced one really great ruler, Krishna deva Raya, whose reign began in 1509 Coin of Krishna and lasted. until 1529. He was, therefore, the deva Raya. contemporary of Henry VIII of England. After his coronation early in 1510 Krishna Raya stayed at home in his capital for a year and a half, learning his kingly duties and forming plans for the aggrandizement of his realm. He set to work methodic ally on his scheme of conquest and at an early date reduced the fortress of Udayagiri in the Nellore District. Many other strong- 304 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD PORTRAIT IMAGE OF KRISHNA DEVA RAYA. holds surrendered to his arms. His most famous fight took place on May 19, 1520, and resulted in the recovery of the much disputed fortress of Raichur from Ismail Adil Shah of Bijapur. The Hindus gained a glorious victory in a contest so deadly that they lost more than 16,000 killed. The story of the fight, vividly told by the contemporary Portuguese chronicler, Nuniz, is too long to be repeated here. The Raya, a man of a generous and chivalrous temper, used his victory with humanity and moderation. In the course of sub sequent operations he temporarily oc cupied Bijapur, which was mostly de stroyed by the soldiers tearing down buildings in order to get fuel for cook ing ; and he razed to the ground the fortress of Kulbarga, the early capital of the Bahmanis. In 1529 the noble Raya ' fell sick of the same illness of which all his ances tors had died, with pains in the groin, of which die all the kings of Bisnaga '. Description of the Raya by Paes. Paes gives a good personal description of Krishna Raya : ' This king is of medium height, and of fair complexion and good figure, rather fat than thin ; he has on his face signs of small pox. He is the most feared and perfect king that could possibly be, cheerful of disposi tion and very merry ; he is one that seeks to honour foreigners, and receives them kindly, asking about all their affairs what ever their condition may be. He is a great ruler and a. man of much justice, but sub ject to sudden fits of rage, and this is his title : " Crisnarao Macacao, king of kings, lord of the greater lords of India, lord of the three seas and of the land." He has this title because he is by rank a greater lord than any, by reason of what he possesses in armies and territories, but it seems that he has in fact nothing com pared to what a man like him ought to have, so gallant and perfect is he in all things.' It is pleasant to read such unreserved praise in the writings of a foreigner. KRISHNA RAYA 305 Character of Krishna Raya. The dark pages of the sanguinary story of the mediaeval kingdoms of the Deccan, whether Hindu or Muhammadan, are relieved by few names of men who claim respect on their personal merits. The figure of Krishna Raya stands out pre-eminent. A mighty warrior, he * was in no way less famous for his religious zeal and catholicity. He respected all sects of the Hindu religion alike, though his personal leanings were in favour of Vaishnavism. . . .'Krishna Raya's kindness to the fallen enemy, his acts of mercy and charity towards the residents of captured cities, his great military prowess which endeared him alike to his feudatory chiefs and to his subjects, the royal reception and kindness that he invariably bestowed upon foreign embassies, his imposing personal appearance, his genial look and polite conversation which distinguished a pure and dignified life, his love for literature and for religion, and his solicitude for the welfare of his people ; and, above all, the almost fabulous wealth that he conferred as endowments on temples and Brahmans, mark him out indeed as the greatest of the South Indian monarchs, who sheds a lustre on the pages of history.' l In his time the Vijayanagar empire comprised substantially the same area as the modern Presidency of Madras, with the addition of Mysore and the other native States of the peninsula. Achyuta Raya. Krishna Raya was succeeded by his brother, Achyuta, a man of weak and tyrannical character, lacking even in personal courage. He soon lost the fortresses of Mudgal and Raichur, situated between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra, which had been recovered by his able brother at a great price. Obscure intrigues led to an invitation to Ibrahim Adil Shah to visit Vijayanagar as the ally of one of the factions at court. He came, and was induced to retire by the payment of an immense subsidy in cash, amounting to something like two millions sterling, besides other valuable gifts. Sadasiva Raya. When, Achyuta died in 1542 his place was taken by his brother's son, Sadasiva, who was a merely nominal king, the whole control of the government being in the hands of Rama Raja (or Raya) Saluva, son of Krishna Raya's able minister, Saluva Timma, and closely connected with the royal family by marriage. In 1543 Rama Raja made an alliance with Ahmadnagar- and Golkonda in order to effect a combined attack on Bijapur, which was saved from destruction by the abilities of Asad Khan, a clever and unscrupulous minister. Fifteen years later (1558) Bijapur and Vijayanagar combined to attack Ahmadnagar. The territory of that State was so cruelly ravaged by the Hindus, and Rama Raja treated his Muslim allies with such open contempt, that the Sultans were convinced of the necessity for dropping their private quarrels and combining against the arrogant infidel. Alliance of the four sultans. In 1564 the combination was duly effected, the parties to it being the four sultans or kings of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkonda, and Bidar. The ruler of Berar did not join. The allies began their southward march on Christmas 1 Krishna Sastri in Ann. Rep. A. S. India for 1908-9, p. 186. 306 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Day, 1564. In January, 1565, they assembled their combined forces at the small town of Talikota in Bijapur territory to the north of the Krishna. That circumstance has given the current name to the ensuing battle, although it was fought on the south of the river at a distance of about thirty miles from Talikota. ' At Vijayanagar there was the utmost confidence. Remembering how often the Moslems had vainly attempted to injure the great capital, and how for over two centuries they had never succeeded in penetrating to the south, the inhabitants pursued their daily avocations with no shadow of dread or sense of danger ; the strings of pack-bullocks laden with all kinds of merchandise wended their dusty way to and from the several seaports as if no sword of Damocles was hanging over the doomed city ; Sadasiva, the king, lived his profitless life in inglorious seclusion, and Rama Raya, king de facto, never for a moment relaxed his haughty indifference to the movements of his enemies. " He treated their ambassa dors", says Firishta, "with scornful language, and regarded their enmity as of little moment." ' l > > Battle of Talikota, 1565. If mere numbers could have assured victory, the confidence of the rulers and people of Vijayanagar would have been justified. Estimates of the forces at the command of Rama Raja vary, but it seems certain that his vast host numbered between half a million and a million of men, besides a multitude of elephants and a considerable amount of artillery. On the other side, the Sultan of Ahmadnagar brought on the ground a park of no less than six hundred guns of various calibres. The total of the allies' army is supposed to have been about half that of the Vijayanagar host. The battle was fought on January 23, 1565, on the plain between the Ingaligi ford and Mudgal. At first the Hindus had the advan tage, but they suffered severely from a salvo of the Ahmadnagar guns shotted with bags of copper coin, and from a vigorous cavalry charge. Their complete rout followed on the. capture of Rama Raja, who was promptly decapitated' by the Sultan of Ahmad nagar with his own hand. No attempt was made to retrieve the disaster. About 100,000 Hindus were slain, and the great river ran red with blood. The princes fled from the city with countless treasures loaded upon more than five hundred elephants, and the proud capital lay at the mercy of the victors who occupied it almost immediately. ' The plunder was so great that every private man in the allied army became rich in gold, jewels, effects, tents, arms, horses, and slaves ; as the sultans left every person in possession of what he had acquired, only taking elephants for their own use.' Ruin of Vijayanagar. The ruin wrought on the magnificent city may be described in the words of Sewell, who is familiar withs; ^ the scene of its desolation. When the princes fled with their treasures, 'then a panic seized the city. The truth became at last apparent. This was not a defeat merely, it was a cataclysm. All hope was gone. 1 Sewell, p. 200. RUIN OF VIJAYANAGAR 307 The myriad dwellers in the city were left defenceless. No retreat, no flight was possible except to a few, for the pack-oxen and carts had almost all followed the forces to the war, and they had not returned. Nothing could be done but to bury all treasures, to arm the younger men, and to wait. Next day the place became a prey to the robber tribes and jungle, people of the neighbourhood. Hordes of Brinjaris, Lambadis, Kurubas, and the like pounced down on the hapless city and looted the stores and shops, carrying off great quantities of riches. Couto states that there were six concerted attacks by these people during the day. The third day saw the beginning of the end. The victorious Musalmans had halted on the field of battle for rest and refreshment, but now they had reached the capital, and from that time forward for a space of five months Vijayanagar knew no rest. The enemy had come to destroy, and they carried out their object relentlessly. They slaughtered the people without mercy ; broke down the temples and palaces ; and wreaked such savage vengeance on the abode of the kings, that with the exception of a few great stone-built temples and walls, nothing now remains but a heap of ruins to mark the spot where once the stately buildings stood. They demolished the statues, and even succeeded in breaking the limbs of the huge Narasimha monolith. Nothing seemed to escape them. They broke up the pavilions standing on the huge platform from which the kings used to watch the festivals, and overthrew all the carved work. They lit huge fires in the magnificently decorated buildings forming the temple of Vittha- laswami near the river, and smashed its exquisite stone sculptures. With fire and sword, with crowbars and axes, they carried on day after day their work of destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought, and wrought so suddenly, on so splendid a city ; teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plenitude of prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged, and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre and horrors beggaring description.' The pathetic language of the Hebrew prophet lamenting the ruin of Jerusalem applies accurately to the Indian tragedy : ' How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people ! how is she become as a widow ! she that was great among the nations, and a princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary I . . . The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets : my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword. . . . How is the gold become dim ! how is the most fine gold changed ! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.' l Rama Raja's brother, Tirumala, who along with Sadasiva the nominal king took refuge at Penugonda, himself usurped the royal seat some few years after the battle. This third usurpation, the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, may be dated in or about 1570. The most remarkable king of the new dynasty was the third, by name Venkata I, who came to the throne about 1585. He seems to have moved his capital to Chandragiri, and was noted for his patronage of Telugu poets and Vaishnava authors. It is unnecessary to follow the history of his successors, who gradually degenerated into merely local chiefs. In 1639 a Naik subordinate to Chandragiri granted the site of Madras to Mr. Day, an English factor. In 1645 1 Lam. i. 1 ; ii. 21 ; iv. 1. 308 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD that transaction was confirmed by Ranga II, who was the last, representative of the line with any pretensions to independence. Much of the Deccan was overrun by the Muhammadans and passed under the sovereignty of the Sultans of Bijapur and Golkonda, who in their turn were overthrown by Aurangzeb in 1686 and 1687. The most important of the principalities formed by Hindus in the far south out of the fragments of the Vijayanagar empire was that of the Nayaks of Madura. Tirumala Nayak is justly celebrated for his buildings, which exhibit much dignity of design and splendour in execution. The Raja of Anegundi is now the representative of Rama Raja's dynasty. The city in the fourteenth century. The grandeur of the city, the splendour of the buildings, the wealth of the bazaars, the volume of trade, and the density of the population are amply attested by a series of witnesses beginning in the fourteenth century, when Vijayanagar was only a few years old, down to the date of its irremediable ruin, and also by survey of the existing remains. No contemporary written account, except inscriptions, dating from the fourteenth century, has survived, but much traditional information relating to that time is embodied in the works of authors who wrote in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The city, after its foundation in or about 1336, ' speedily grew in importance and became the refuge of the outcasts, refugees, and fighting men of the Hindus, beaten and driven out of their old strongholds, by the advancing Muhammadans '. The historian Firishta admits that as early as 1378 the Rayas of Vijayanagar were greatly superior in power, wealth, and extent of country to the Bahmani kings. Goa was then temporarily in possession of the Raya, and his capital drew much wealth from commerce passing through the ports of the western coast. Bukka II (1399-1406) improved and enlarged the fortifications of Vijayanagar. His most notable work was the construction of a huge dam in the Tungabhadra river, forming a reservoir from which water was conveyed to the city by an aqueduct fifteen miles in length, cut out of the solid rock for a distance of several miles. Firishta's account of the ceremonial at the marriage between Firoz Shah Bahmani and the daughter of Deva Raya I gives some idea of the magnificence of the capital in 1406. We are told that the road for six miles was spread with cloth of gold, velvet, satin, and other rich stuffs, the sides of the way being lined with innumer able shops. The Raya bestowed on his guest vast treasures in jewels and other precious things. Nicolo Gonti's description, 1420. The earliest foreign visitor whose notes have been preserved was an Italian named Nicolo Conti or dei Conti, who was at Vijayanagar about 1420, in the reign of Deva Raya II. He estimated the circumference of the city to be sixty miles, and was much impressed by the strength of the fortifications, which were carried up the hills so as to enclose the valleys at their base. He considered the Raya to be more powerful THE CITY IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY 309 than any other monarch in India. The traveller observes that the king had 12,000 wives, of whom no less than 2,000 or 3,000 were required to burn themselves with him when he died.1 The idol processions and three annual festivals were celebrated with exceeding splendour. Abdu-r Razzak in 1443. The next visitor was the learned Abdu-r Razzak of Herat, who was sent by the Great Khan (Khakan Sa'id) or Sultan Shahrukh, son of TImur, as ambassador to the Zamorin or Samurl of Calicut, a busy port on the Malabar coast. While the envoy was residing at Calicut a herald brought intelli gence that the king of Vijayanagar required that he should be sent instantly to his court. The Zamorin, although at that time not directly subject to the authority of the Raya, dared not disobey. Abdu-r Razzak, accordingly, sailed to Mangalore, ' which is on the borders of the kingdom of Bijanagar ', and thence travelled by land to his distant destination, through the country now known as Mysore. A few miles from Mangalore he saw a wonderful temple, a perfect square measuring about ten yards by ten, and five yards high, constructed wholly of ' molten brass '. At Belur he admired greatly a magnificent temple, which he dared not describe ' without fear of being charged with exaggera tion'. Presumably he saw the fine structure erected in a.d. 1117 by the Hoysala King Bittiga, which still exists and has been sur veyed by the archaeological department of Mysore.2 In due course, towards the end of April 1443, the traveller arrived at Vijayanagar, where he was hospitably received and comfortably lodged. 'The city ', he observes, ' is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. It is so built that it has seven fortified walls, one within the other.' The writer goes on to illustrate his description by a comparison with the citadel of Herat. ' The seventh fortress is placed in the centre of the others, and occupies ground ten times greater than the chief market of Hirat. In that is situated the palace of the king. From the northern gate of the outer fortress to the southern is a. distance of two statute parasangs [about 7 or 8 miles], and the same with respect to the distance between the eastern and western gates. Between the first, second, and third walls there are cultivated fields, gardens, and houses. From the third to the seventh fortress, shops and bazaars are closely crowded together. By the palace of the king there are four bazaars, situated opposite one to another. On the north is the portico of the palace of the Rai.3 At the head of each bazaar there is a lofty arcade and magnificent gallery, but the palace of the king is loftier than all of them. The bazaars are very long and broad, so that the sellers of flowers, notwithstanding that they place high stands before their shops, are yet able to sell flowers from both 1 Suttee (sati) was terribly common in the empire. The sacrifice was effected by burning in a pit, or, among the Telugus, by burial alive. 2 There is no need to suppose that any place other than Belur is meant. It is 80 or 90 miles by road from Mangalore. 3 This sentence is from the version in Sewell. The rendering in E. dh D.' does not give sense. The rest of the quotation is from E. db D. 310 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD sides. Sweet scented flowers are always procurable fresh in that city, and they are considered as even necessary sustenance, seeing that without them they could not exist. The tradesmen of each separate guild or craft have their shops close to one another. The jewellers sell their rubies and pearls and diamonds and emeralds openly in the bazaar. In this charming area, in which the palace of the king is contained, there are many rivulets and streams flowing through channels of cut stone, polished and even. . . . The country is so well populated that it is impossible in a reasonable space to convey an idea of it. In the king's treasury there are chambers, with excavations in them, filled with molten gold, forming one mass. All the inhabitants of the country, whether high or low, even down to the artificers of the bazaar, wear jewels and gilt ornaments in their ears and around their necks, arms, wrists, and fingers.' Account by Paes in 1522. Passing by the accounts given by certain other travellers, we come to the detailed description recorded by Domingos Paes, a Portuguese, about 1522, in the reign of Krishna Raya, just after the capitulation of Raichur, when the empire was at the height of its glory. The observations of Paes are far too long to copy, and it is not possible to find room for mention of more than a few particulars. His account, which is obviously truthful, may be accepted with confidence. It is well worth reading in full as translated by Sewell. Size of the city ; the palace. Paes found a difficulty in esti mating the size of the city, because the hills prevented him from seeing the whole at once. So far as he could judge, it was as large as Rome. The houses were said to exceed 100,000 in number. If that guess be near the truth, the population cannot have been less than half a million. The numerous lakes, water-courses, and orchards attracted his admiration. As to the people, he could only say that they were countless. He considered Vijayanagar to be ' the best provided city in the world . . . for the state of this city is not like that of other cities, which often fail of supplies and provisions, for in this one everything abounds '. Paes was shown round a large part of the palace enclosure, which contained thirty- four streets. He saw one room which was ' all of ivory, as well the chamber as the walls from top to bottom, and the pillars of the cross-timbers at the top had roses and flowers of lotuses all of ivory, and all well executed, so that there could not be better — it is so rich and beautiful that you would hardly find anywhere another such'.1 Space fails to tell of the other wonders of the palace, which the Muhammadans took special pains to destroy utterly. Nuniz, another Portuguese, who wrote some thirteen years later, in the reign of Achyuta Raya, mentions that all the utensils used in the royal service were of gold or silver. Some of the golden vessels were of immense size. The court. The ceremonial of the court was extremely elaborate,1 and everything was done with barbaric magnificence. The royal words, as at the Mogul court, were carefully noted down by 1 Compare the ' ivory palaces ' of Psalm xlv, 8. THE CITY IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY 311 secretaries, whose record was the sole evidence of the commands issued. Nuniz declares that ' no written orders are ever issued, nor any charters granted for the favours he (the King) bestows or the commands he gives ; but when he confers a favour on any one it remains written in the registers of these secretaries. The King, however, gives to the recipient of a favour a seal impressed in wax from one of his rings, which his minister keeps, and these seals serve for letters patent.' In that respect the practice differed widely from that followed in the northern courts, where regular office routine was observed. The king always dressed in white. On his head he wore ' a cap of brocade in fashion like a Galician helmet, covered with a piece of fine stuff, all of fine silk, and he was barefooted '. His jewels, of course, were the finest possible. The army. The permanent army in the king's pay is said to have numbered ' a million fighting troops, in which are included 35,000 cavalry in armour '. On a special occasion the sovereign could raise a second million. Paes declares that in 1520 Krishna Raya actually assembled for the operations against Raichur 703,000 foot, 32,600 horse, and 551 elephants, besides an uncounted host of camp-followers, dealers, and the rest. The statement of Megasthenes that Chandragupta Maurya in the fourth century b.c. kept and paid 600,000 foot, 30,000 horse, and 9,000 elephants, besides chariots, may be compared. Chariots had gone out of use before the time of the Rayas. Nuniz gives many details in confirmation of his general statements on the subject, which agree substantially with those of Paes. The efficiency of the huge army described was not proportionate to the numbers of the force. The soldiers were in terror of the Muslims, and their action against a fortress like Raichur was ludicrously feeble. The men are described as being physically strong and individually brave. Sometimes they fought gallantly, but the army as an organized force was inefficient. Administration. The empire was divided into about two hundred provinces or districts, each under a great, noble, who was-" bound to furnish a certain amount of revenue and a fixed contingent of troops. The king also maintained a large force attached to his person. Each provincial governor could do much as he pleased within his territory, but was himself at the mercy of the king, who was an autocrat of the most absolute possible kind, unrestrained by any form of check. No mention is made of courts of justice. The Raya kept a certain amount of lands in his own hands, like the khdlsa of the Mogul empire. Whenever he wished he could deprive the nobles of their property, and he was regarded as the sole proprietor of the soil. The governors were expected to pay over to the treasury half of their gross revenue, and to defray all the expenses of their households, contingents, and government from the other half. While the great people were inordinately rich and luxurious, the common people suffered from grievous tyranny and were exposed to much hardship. Nevertheless, they multiplied freely, for all accounts agree that the empire was densely 312 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD populated and well cultivated. The ordinary people were trained to show the utmost submissiveness to their superiors, and to work hard for their benefit. Assessment. The assessment on the peasantry was crushingly heavy. Nuniz declares that they ' pay nine-tenths to their lord ', but the exact meaning of that statement is not clear. They could not possibly have paid nine-tenths of the gross produce. The theoretical share of the State recognized by Hindu law all over India as a rule was one-sixth of the produce, but in practice the Government usually took much more. Wilks, who had access to sources of information not now available, states that in very ancient times the cultivators had the option of paying either in kind or in cash. In a.d. 1252 'Boote Pandi Roy ' fixed money rates for Kanara on the basis of 30 seers of ' grain ' for the rupee. In 1336 Harihara I of Vijayanagar fixed his cash demand on the basis of the rate of 33| seers for the rupee, which was more favourable to the ryot. Payments in kind were absolutely forbidden. The existence of the rate stated as from 1336 is ' perfectly authenti cated '. The money rent is said to have been equivalent at the Harihara price to the traditional one-sixth of the produce. When Wilks wrote at the beginning of the nineteenth century the current price was much the same as it had been in the fourteenth century, a remarkable fact. Harihara, while maintaining the traditional rate of assessment, secured a large increase of income by imposing a multitude of vexatious cesses, reckoned by Wilks as twenty. He thus pursued a policy directly the contrary of that adopted by Akbar, who boldly doubled the State proportion of the produce, raising it from one-sixth to one-third, while professing to relieve the cultivator by abolishing all cesses. There is good reason for believing that Akbar's orders for the abolition of cesses were not acted on, and that his assessment, as worked, was extremely severe. Harihara's measures probably had the same effect, and resulted in the extraction from the peasant of the last copper to be had. It is said that the ordinary practice in the south was to leave the cultivator only half of his crop.1 The Sultans of Kashmir in Akbar's time followed the same rule, which Akbar did not relax in that province. Punishments. The extreme ferocity of the punishments inflicted for offences against property was well designed to protect the rich against the poor. * The punishments that they inflict in this kingdom', Nuniz states, 'are these : for a thief, whatever theft he commits, howsoever little it be, they forthwith cut off a foot and a hand ; and if his theft be a great one he is hanged with a hook under his chin. If a man outrages a respectable woman or a virgin he has the same punishment, and if he does any other such violence his punishment is of a like kind. Nobles who become traitors are sent to be impaled alive on a wooden stake thrust through the belly; and people of the lower orders, for whatever crime they commit, he forth with commands to cut off their heads in the market-place, and the same 1 Ind. Ant., 1916, p. 36, quoting Caldwell. DUELLING 313 for a murder unless the death was the result of a duel These are the more common kinds of punishments, but they have others more fanciful ; for when the King so desires, he commands a man to be thrown to the elephants, and they tear him to pieces. The people are so subject to him that if you told a man on the part of the King that he must stand still in a street holding a stone on his back all day till you released him, he would do it.' i The narrative of Knox proves that similar horrors were constantly perpetrated under the kings of Ceylon. He gives horrible pictures of a man with a heavy stone on his back, and of execution by elephants and impalement. Indeed all, or almost all, ancient Hindu governments from very early times seem to have been equally cruel, as may be learned from many testimonies. The appalling torture involved in hanging an offender on a hook under his chin until he died seems to have been peculiar to Vijayanagar. When the severity of the penalties inflicted by the Vijayanagar kings is considered, it is not surprising to learn that there were ' very few thieves in the land '. Chandragupta Maurya attained the same result by similar drastic methods. Duelling. The exceptional custom of duelling, which has been alluded to, deserves more particular notice. Nuniz states that ' great honour is done to those who fight in a duel, and they give the estate of the dead man to the survivor ; but no one fights a duel without first asking leave of the minister, who forthwith grants it '. The usage was not confined to Vijayanagar. Duels fought with swords were common among the Nayars of Malabar until recent times, probably as late as the nineteeenth century. The practice was imitated by the Musalmans of the Deccan early in the sixteenth century, much to the horror of Firishta, who denounces ' this abominable habit ', as being unknown in any other civilized country in the world. He attributed the introduc tion of the ' vile custom ' into Ahmadnagar to Ahmad Nizam Shah, who was fond of the single-sword exercise and encouraged the young men to fight with swords in his presence. A general custom of duelling thus became fashionable in the Deccan, even among learned divines and philosophers, as well as among nobles and princes. The historian tells a story that in the streets of Bijapur six men of good position, threp on each side, lost their lives in the course of a trivial quarrel, within a few minutes. I have not met with other references to the custom, which seems to have been unknown in northern India. Legalized prostitution. Prostitution was a recognized institution and an acceptable source of revenue. The women attached to the temples, as Paes informs us, ' are of loose character, and live in the best streets that are in the city ; it is the same in all their cities, their streets have the best rows of houses. 1 Knox, An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon, in the East Indies (London, 1681), gives terribly realistic drawings of ' the execution by an eliphant ' ; ' one impaled on a stake ' ; and of ' the manner of extorting their fine '. The last-named plate shows a poor man crouching with a heavy stone on his back, while his rich creditor stands over him. 1976 m 314 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD They are very much esteemed, and are classed among those honoured ones who are the mistresses of the captains ; any respectable man may go to their houses without any blame attaching thereto. These women (are allowed) even to enter the presence of the wives of the King, and they stay with them and eat betel with them, a thing which no other person may do, no matter what his rank may be. . . . Some of them eat flesh ; they eat all kinds except beef and pork, and yet', nevertheless, they cease not to eat this betel all day.' Some such women were immensely rich ; one was reputed to possess 100,000 gold pieces. Abdu-r Razzak gives further details on the subject. ' Opposite the mint ', he writes, ' is the office of the Prefect of the City, to which it is said 12,000 policemen are attached ; and their pay, which equals each day 12,000 fanams, is derived from the proceeds of the brothels. The splendour of these houses, the beauty of the heart-ravishers, their blandishments and ogles, are beyond all description. It is best to be brief on the matter. One thing worth mentioning is this, behind the mint there is a sort of bazaar, which is more than 300 yards long and 20 broad. On two sides of it are houses (khdnahd), and fore-courts (safhahd), and in front of the houses, instead of benches (kursi ), lofty seats are built of excellent stone, and on each side of the avenue formed by the houses there are figures of lions, panthers, tigers, and other animals, so well painted as to seem alive. After the time of mid-day prayers, they place at the doors of these houses, which are beautifully decorated, chairs and settees on which the courtesans seat themselves. Every one is covered with pearls, precious stones, and costly garments. . . . Any man who passes through this place makes choice of whom he will. The servants of these brothels take care of whatever is taken into them, and. if anything is lost they are dismissed. There are several brothels within these seven fortresses, and the revenues of them, which, as stated before, amount to 12,000 fanams, go to pay the wages of the policemen. The business of these men is to acquaint themselves with all the events and accidents that happen within the seven walls, and to recover everything that is lost, or that may be abstracted by theft ; other wise they are fined.' An interesting comparison might be made between the state ments of the Persian envoy and the regulations in the Arthasdstra concerning the City Prefect and the courtesans in Maurya times. Then, as at Vijayanagar,* the public women played an essential part in court ceremonial. The Maurya Government levied from each woman the earnings of two days in the month, that is to say, between six and seven per cent, of her income at least. Shahjahan, also, was not ashamed to draw revenue from the same source. Laxity in diet. The reader may have noticed the observation of Paes that some of the women used to eat flesh of all kinds m except beef and pork. Although vegetarian Brahmans were numerous at Vijayanagar and greatly pampered by the authorities, the diet of the general population and of the kings departed widely from the Brahmanical standard. Animal food was very freely used. Paes dwells with pleasure on the variety of meat and birds procurable in the markets. The sheep killed daily were countless. Every street had sellers of mutton, so clean and fat that it looked like pork. Birds and game animals were abundant and cheap ; DIET 315 those offered for sale included three kinds of partridges, quails, doves, pigeons, and others, ' the common birds of the country ', besides poultry and hares. In the city fowls were purchaseable at about a halfpenny each, and in the country they were still cheaper. The same author mentions that pork also was sold and that pigs kept in certain streets of butchers' houses were ' so white and clean that you could never see better in any country '. His statements are confirmed by Nuniz, who writes that : ' These Kings of Bisnaga eat all sorts of things, but not the flesh of oxen or cows, which they never kill in all the country of the heathen because they worship them. They eat mutton, pork, venison, partridges, hares, doves, quail, and all kinds of birds ; even sparrows, and rats, and cats, and lizards, all of which are sold in the market of the city of Bisnaga. Everything has to be sold alive so that each one may know what he buys — this at least so far as concerns game — and there are fish from the rivers in large quantities.' That was a curious dietary for princes and people, who 'in the time of Krishna Raya and Achyuta Raya were zealous Hindus with a special devotion to certain forms of Vishnu. The kings of the first dynasty preferred to honour Siva. Bloody sacrifices. The numerous bloody sacrifices, similar to those still performed in Nepal, were equally inconsistent with the ordinary practice of Vaishnava religion. Paes mentions that all the sheep required for the market supply of mutton for Hindu consumption were slaughtered at the gate of one particular temple. The blood was offered in sacrifice to the idol, to whom also the heads were left. The same writer states that on a certain festival the king used to witness the slaughter of 24 buffaloes and 150 sheep, the animals being decapitated, as now in Nepal, by a single blow from a ' large sickle ' or ddo. On the last day of the 'nine days' festival' 250 buffaloes and 4,500 sheep were slaughtered.1 Such practices prove clearly that the Hinduism of Vijayanagar included many non-Aryan elements. At the present day lizards and rats would not be eaten by anybody except members of certain debased castes or wild jungle tribes,2 and such objects certainly are not now to be seen in the market anywhere in India, north, south, east, or west. When and how did practices of the kind die out ? 1 Bishop Whitehead states that in the Telugu country as many as 1,000 sheep are sometimes sacrificed atT"bnce on the occasion of an epidemic (Village Deities, Madras, 1907, p. 136, as corrected in 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1916, p. 56). All the practices mentioned in the text seem to be Telugu or Kanarese. The modern Tamils usually are becoming averse to bloody sacrifices. The Kanarese still offer them freely. [3 e. g. the Vaddas, who are numerous in Mysore, and said to come from Orissa, will eat any animal food, except beef or tortoise. ' Sheep, goats, pigs, squirrels, wild cats, lizards, and mice are equally welcome to them ' (Ethnogr. Survey of Mysore, Prelim. Issue, No. XI, p. 10, Bangalore, Govt. Press, 1907). Sewell (p. 13) suggests that the kings may have belonged to the Kuruba tribe or caste, who are shepherds and blanket- weavers primarily. For the Kurubas see Ethnogr. Survey, No. I, 1906. 316 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD The government of Vijayanagar Telinga and foreign. Doubts may be felt as to whether the founders of Vijayanagar had been in the service of the Hoysala king or in that of the Raja, of Warangal, but it is certain that they were foreigners in the Kanarese country, the Carnatic, properly so called. Wilks, who was in a position to speak with authority on such matters, and believed that Bukka and his brethren were fugitives from Warangal, writes : ' This origin of the new government at once explains the ascendancy of the Telinga [Telugu] language and nation at this capital of Carnatic, and proves the state of anarchy and weakness which had succeeded the ruin of the former dynasty. The government founded by foreigners was also supported by foreigners ; and in the centre of Canara a Telinga court was supported by a Telinga army, the descendants of whom, speaking the same language, are to be traced at this day nearly to Cape Comorin, in" the remains of the numerous establishments, resembling the .Roman colonies, which were sent forth from time to time for the purpose of con firming their distant conquests, and holding the natives in subjection. The centre and the west, probably the whole of the dominions of the late dynasty, including the greater part of the modern state of Mysoor, were subdued at an early period ; but a branch of the family of Belial [=Hoy-t sala] was permitted to exercise a nominal authority at Tonoor until 1387, in which year we begin to find direct grants from the house of Vijeyanuggur as far south as Turkanamby beyond the Caveri. The last of thirteen rajas or rayeels of the house of Hurryhur [Harihara I], who were followers of Siva, was succeeded in 1490 by Narsing Raja, of the religious sect of Vishnoo, the founder of a new dynasty, whose empire appears to have been called by Europeans Narsinga, a name which, being no longer in use, has perplexed geographers with regard to its proper position. Narsing Raja seems to have been the first king of Vijeyanuggur who extended his conquests into Drauveda [Dravida, the Tamil country], and erected the strong forts of Chandragerry and Vellore ; the latter for his occasional residence, and the former as a safe place for the deposit of treasure ; but it was not until about 1509 to 1515 that Kistna Rayeel [Krishna Raya] reduced the whole of Drauveda to real or nominal subjec tion.' The fact that the kings and nobles of Vijayanagar were foreigners lording it over a subject native population would explain the abject servility of the commonalty and the severity of the govern ment. It should be observed, however, that the Telugu or Telinga people themselves are noted for their submissiveness to official authority.1 Patronage of literature. The Rayas of Vijayanagar, although their title was Kanarese in form, gave their patronage to Sanskrit and Telugu literature rather than to Kanarese. Sayana, the cele brated commentator on the Vedas, who died in a. d. 1387, was minister in the early part of the reign of Harihara II, and his learned brother Madhava served Bukka. The first dynasty had 1 Wilks, reprint, vol. i, p. 9. See the good article ' Telugu ' in Balfour, Cyclopaedia, based on Caldwell's works. The dates given by Wilks require some slight correction. LITERATURE AND ART 317 close associations with the great monastery of Sringeri. The achieve ments of Narasinga Saluva, the founder of the second dynasty, were enthusiastically celebrated by Telugu poets. Krishna Raya, himself a poet and author, was a liberal patron of writers in the Telugu language. His poet laureate, Alasani-Peddana, is regarded as an author of the first rank. The tradition of the court was carried on by Rama Raja and the other Rayas of the fourth or Aravidu dynasty. Rama Raja and his brothers were themselves accom plished scholars, and under their protection a great revival of Vaishnava religion was accomplished. Architecture and art. "The kings of Vijayanagar from the beginning of their rule were distinguished as builders of strong fortresses, immense works for irrigation and water supply, gorgeous palaces, and temples decorated with all the resources of art, both sculpture and painting. It is impossible in this place to attempt description of their creations. They evolved a distinct school of architecture which used the most difficult material with success, and were served by a brilliant company of sculptors and painters. Enough of the sculpture survives to show its quality, ,but the paintings necessarily have disappeared. The descriptions recorded by the Portuguese authors and Abdu-r Razzak permit lof no doubt that the painters in the service of the kings of Vijaya nagar attained a high degree of skill. The scenes from the Rama yana, sculptured in bas-relief on the walls of Krishna Raya's Chapel Royal, the Hazara Rama-swamI temple, built in 1513, are much admired. No adequate account of the buildings and sculptures at Vijayanagar has yet been prepared. Such a work, properly illustrated, would fill several large volumes. The Rayas of Vijayanagar Name. AceA.D. Chiefs, not of royal rank Harihara I, his brother Bukka (Bhukka, or Bukkana) I, and three other brothers, sons of Sangama; succession apparently disputed Rayas of royal rank First dynasty ; descendants of Sangama Harihara II, son of Bukka I Bukka II, son of Harihara II Disputed succession Deva Raya I VlRA VlJAYA 1336 1343 1379 ?1404 14061410 Remarks. Traditionary date for foundation of Vijaya nagar. Bukka I died 1376. Worshippers of Siva Viriipaksha. A brother named Virii paksha also a. claimant. 318 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD The Rayas of Vijayanagar (continued). Name. Ace.A.D. Remarks. Rayas of royal rank First dynasty ; descendants of Sangama Deva Raya II (alias Immadi, Pratapa, or Praudha) ; at first associated with Vira Vijaya.; became sole ruler 1424 Empire prosperous and extensive. Mallikarjuna, son of Deva Raya II 1447 Saluva Narasingha min ister in power from about 1455. VlRUPAKSHA 1465 Decay of empire. Praudhadeva Raya (Padea Rao) ? Second or Saluva dynasty Worshippers of Vishnu. Narasingha Saluva 1486 Immadi Narasingha, alias Tammaya (Dharma) Raya ; son of Narasingha Saluva ?1492 Power in hands of Narasa. Third or Tuluva dynasty Narasa Nayaka 1505 Course of events open to doubt. General revolt Vira Narasingha (Bhujabala) ?1506 Krishna deva Raya 1509 Battle of Raichur 1520 Climax of the empire. Achyuta ; brother of Krishna Raya 1529 Sadasiva, son of another brother of 1542 Nominal king ; Rama Achyuta Raja in power. Battle of Talikota 1565 Break up of empire. Death of Rama Raja ; confusion 1565 Fourth dynasty ; Aravidu or Karndia Tirumala, brother of Ramaraja about Capital at Penugonda, 1570 now in Anantapur Dis trict. Ranga, son of Tirumala about Venkata I,- brother of Ranga 15731585 Capital removed to Chandragiri . Other princes Ranga 1642 Local chief. Practical end of dynasty 1646 Ranga's inseri ptions con- tinuetol684. Note. — Dates and many details, especially those relating to disputed successions, are often doubtful. SYNCHRONISTIC TABLE 319 Vijayanagar. Bahmani. Bijapur. Harihara I, &c. 1330 Bukka I 1343 Alau-d din I Muhammad I Mujahid Daud 1347 135813731377 Harihara II 1379 Muhammad II Ghiyasu-d din Shamsu-d din Firoz 13781397 13971397 Bukka II ?1404 Deva Raya I 1406 Vira Vijaya 1410 Ahmad 1422 Deva Raya II 1424 Alau-d din II 1435 Mallikarjuna 1447 HumayunNizam 14571461 Muhammad HI 1463 VirOpaksha 1465 Praudha deva Raya •' Mahmud 1482 Narasingha Saluva 1486 Yusuf 1490 Immadi Narasingha ?1492 Narasa Nayaka 1505 Vira Narasingha ?1506 Krishna deva Raya 1509 Ismail 1510 Achyuta 1529 Mallu Ibrahim I 15341535 Sadasiva 1542 Ali 1557 Tirumala c.1570 Ranga c.1573 Ibrahim II 1580 Venkata I 1585 Others — Muhammad 1626 Ranga 1642 Authorities The leading authorities used are Sewell, A Forgotten Empire ( Vijayana gar), London, 1900, which alone gives the Portuguese narratives ; and three articles, chiefly based on inscriptions and Telugu literature, by H. Krishna Sastri in Annual Rep. A. S. India for 1907-8, 1908-9, and 1911-12. Early discussions of the subject will be found in H. H. Wilson's Introduc tion to the Descriptive Catalogue of the Mackenzie MSS., 1828, reprint 1882 ; 320 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD and in Wilks, Historical Sketches . . . History of Mysoor, 1810-14, reprint, 1869. The account in Meadows Taylor's Manual, good when written, is no longer up to date. I have also consulted S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, A Little Known Chapter of Vijayanagar History, Madras, S.P.C.K. Press, 1916 ; Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, London, 1909 ; the same author's Mysore Gazetteer, revised ed., London, 1897 ; and many articles in the A. S. Progress Reports of the Southern Circle (Madras); Indian Antiquary, &c. The coins are described by Hultzsch, Ind. Ant., xx (1891) ; and V. A. Smith, Catal. Coins in I. M., vol. i, Oxford, 1906. The art of the dynasty is briefly noticed in H. F. A. New inscriptions are published continually. Many dates and other matters of detail remain unsettled, and cannot be disposed of until somebody takes the trouble to write a bulky monograph. The small book (144 pp. 8vo) by A. H. Longhurst, Superintendent, Archaeological Department, Southern Circle (Madras Government Press, 1917), entitled Hampi Ruins described and illustrated, has 69 illustrations, and is good as far as it goes. The price is 3 rupees or 4s. 6d. BOOK VI THE MOGUL EMPIRE CHAPTER 1 The Beginnings of the Mogul Empire ; Babur, Humayun, and the Sin- Dynasty, a. d. 1526^36. Babur. Babur, king of Kabul, whose aid Daulat Khan invoked against Sultan Ibrahim of Delhi, was the most brilliant Asiatic prince of his age, and worthy of a high place among the sovereigns of any age or country. His proper name was Zahlru-d din Muham mad, but the world knows him only by his Mongol nickname or cognomen of Babur, which he adopted officially.1 Fifth in descent from TImur in the direct male line, and claiming kinship with Chingiz Khan through a female, he united in his person the blood of the two most dreaded Asiatic conquerors. He was cradled in war, and at the age of eleven was called to the throne of Samarkand. In the course of a stormy youth filled with romantic . adventures he lost that throne twice. In 1504 he made himself master of Kabul, and so came into touch with India. The wealth of Ind naturally tempted his ad venturous spirit and suggested more than one raid. In 1519, following in the footsteps of Alexander, he besieged and took Bajaur, slaying its infidel defenders without mercy. He then crossed the Indus and claimed the Panjab as his inheritance in virtue of his descent from TImur. But his operations at that time were only in the nature of a reconnaissance, as were those on two subsequent occasions. His entry into the Panjab in 1524, on the invitation of Daulat Khan, the governor of that province, and Alam Khan, an uncle of Sultan Ibrahim, was intended to be a serious invasion. The speedy defection of Daulat Khan, however, compelled Babur to retire to Kabul for reinforcements, so that his final invasion was not begun until November 1525. Invasion of India. Even then his total force, including camp- followers, did not exceed 12,000 men, a tiny army with which to i attempt the conquest of Sultan Ibrahim's realm, comprising, as ^expressed in modern terms, the Panjab, the United Provinces 1 The name Babur has no connexion? with the Persian word babar, meaning ' lion ' or ' tiger ', but has the same meaning. M3 Coin of Babur. »322 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD of Agra and Oudh, and parts of Rajputana. Moreover, the vast mass of Hindu India lay behind the Afghan dominions. The enterprise, indeed, seemed to be rash, and Babur candidly admitted that many of his troops were ' in great tremor and alarm '. Yet the bold attack succeeded. Battle of Panipat, 1526. The hostile armies came to grips on April 21, 1526, on that plain of Panipat where the prize of India has been so often the reward of the victor. Babur possessed a large park of artillery, the new-fangled weapon then coming into use in Turkey and Europe, but previously unknown in northern India. Its power had already made itself felt at the siege of Bajaur. Carts, 700 in number, drawn by bullocks, were lashed together by chains, so as to form a barrier in front of the enemy,1 gaps being left sufficient for the cavalry to charge through. On the other side, Sultan Ibrahim brought into the field an immense host believed to number at least 100,000 men, supported by nearly 100 elephants. Although the exact numbers drawn up by Babur in battle array are not stated, there is no doubt that they were immeasurably out numbered by the enemy. But the Afghan Sultan, ' a young inexperienced man, careless in his movements, who marched without order, halted or retired without method, and engaged without foresight ', was no match for Babur, a born general, and a veteran in war although his years were few. The battle, which raged from half-past nine in the morning until evening, again demonstrated the inherent weakness of an ill-compacted Hindu host when attacked by an active small force under competent leadership, and making full use of bold cavalry charges. The decisive movement, the furious cavalry wheel round the flank of the enemy, delivering a charge in his rear, was exactly the same as that employed by Alexander against Poros at the battle of the Hydaspes, and had the same result. When the sun set Sultan Ibrahim lay dead on the field, surrounded by 15,000 of his brave men, and the Hindu host had been scattered. ' By the grace and mercy of Almighty God', Babur wrote, 'this difficult affair was made easy to me, and that mighty army, in the space of half a day, was laid in the dust.' Occupation of Delhi and Agra. Delhi and Agra were promptly occupied, and the immense spoil was divided among all ranks of the victorious army with lavish generosity. The heat being terrible, the troops, who longed for the cool Kabul hills, began to murmur. Like Alexander, Babur sought to rouse their pride by a stirring address, and, unlike his great predecessor, succeeded in persuading his men to follow the path of glory, and despise the dangers which beset them in a strange land. Babur secured the support of the Afghan chiefs by judicious management, and so was free to devote himself to the task of subduing Hindu India, a work more formidable even than the conflict with the army of the Sultan. 1 Mrs. Beveridge rejects the earlier interpretation of 'ardba as meaning guns ; but the word may be rendered 'gun-carriages '. RANA SANGA 323 Rana Sanga. The leader of the Hindu confederacy was Rana, Sangram Singh, commonly called Sanga, the head of the chivalry of the Mewar or Chitor state, now usually designated as Udaipur, which was then, as it is to this day, the acknowledged premier kingdom of Rajasthan. The Rana, was worthy of his honoured position. He had already been the hero of a hundred fights, and could be truly described as ' the fragment of a warrior ', lacking an eye and an arm, crippled by a broken leg, and scarred by eighty wounds from lance or sword. He commanded an enormous host, Composed of the contingents of 120 chiefs, and including 80,000 horse with 500 war elephants. The small army of Babur was much dispirited at the prospect of the unequal fight. Its commander encamped twenty-three miles to the west of Agra at Sikrl, where Akbar afterwards built his wondrous palace-city of Fathpur. Babur's vow. Babur, conscious that the lives of himself and of every man under his command depended on victory, resolved to renounce his besetting sin. He broke his cups, poured out his stores of liquor on the ground, and vowed never again to touch strong drink. He kept his pledge. Battle of Khanua. Battle was joined on March 16, 1527, at Khanua or Kanwaha, a village nearly due west from Agra and now in the Bharatpur State, just across the British border. The tactics which had won the victory at Panipat were repeated with the same result. The rout of the Hindu host was complete and final, although the gallant Rana, escaped from the field and survived for two years until 1529.1 Battle of the Ghaghra. Babur followed up his victory by crossing the Jumna and storming the fortress of Chanderi, now in the Gwalior State. The Afghan chiefs of Bihar and Bengal were the next enemies to be attacked. They suffered defeat in 1529 on the banks of the Gogra (Ghaghra) near the junction of that river with the Ganges above Patna. The series of victories thus gained made Babur master of a wide realm extending from the Oxus to the frontier of Bengal and from the Himalaya to Gwalior. Death of Babur. During 1530 Babur was ailing. A well- known anecdote attributes his fatal illness to his parental devotion. His eldest son, Humayun, who was at Sambhal suffering from fever, was conveyed by boat to Agra where his father resided. Babur entered the sick-room, and walked three times round the patient's bed, saying, ' On me be all that thou art suffering '. The son having recovered while his father died, people believed that the prayer of love had been answered. On December 26, 1530, Babur breathed his last in his garden-house at Agra. His body was conveyed in accordance with his commands to Kabul, where it rests in the garden which he loved at the foot of one of the turreted hills guarding the city. A favourite consort sleeps by his side. 1 He died in a. h. 935 and Samvat 1586. The time common to those two years extends from March 11 to September 4, 1529, 324 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD More than a century later, in 1646, his descendant Shahjahan marked the spot by a pretty mosque and shrine of white marble. Character of Babur. ' Babur', Mr. Lane-Poole observes, 'is the link between Central Asia and India, between predatory hordes and imperial government, between Tamerlane and Akbar. The blood of the two great Scourges of Asia, Chingiz and Timur, mixed in his veins, and to the daring and ristlessness of the nomad Tatar he joined the culture and urbanity of the Persian. He brought the energy of the Mongol, the courage and capacity of the Turk, to the listless Hindu ; and himself a soldier of fortune and no architect of empire, he yet laid the first stone of the splendid fabric which his grandson Akbar achieved. . . . TOMB OF BABUR. His permanent place in history rests upon his Indian conquests, which opened the way for an imperial line ; but his place in biography and in literature is determined rather by his daring adventures and persevering efforts in his earlier days, and by the delightful Memoirs in which he related i them. Soldier of fortune as he was, Babur was not the less a man of fine literary taste and fastidious critical perception. In Persian, the language of culture, the Latin of Central Asia, as it is of India,he was an accomplished poet, and in his native Turki he was master of a pure and unaffected style alike in prose and verse.' His cousin, himself an excellent historian, records that Babur 'ex celled in music and other arts. Indeed, no one of his family before him ever possessed such talents, nor did any of his race perform such amazing exploits or experience such strange adventures.' 1 Havelock, The War in Affghanislan, London, 1840, vol. ii, pp. 147, 149, 314-16 ; Masson, Narrative, vol. ii, p. 238. CHARACTER OF BABUR 325 Babur' s Memoirs. The Memoirs referred to, having been originally written in Turki, were transcribed by his son Humayun with his own hand, and were translated into Persian with scrupulous accuracy by the Khan Khanan under the direction of Akbar. They were rendered into good English by Leyden and Erskinel in 1826, and into French in 1871. A revised version by Mrs. Bever-* idge has been published. Struggle for dominion in N. India, 1530-76. Babur had neither time nor inclination for the work of consolidation or civil administration. All his energy was required to make good his military occupation of Upper India. When he died he had secured possession by force of ; arms of the Gangetic plain as far as the border of Bengal, which he did not attempt to conquer ; but his position was extremely insecure, and could be maintained by his successors only through victorious fight ing. The struggle of his de scendants to establish a firmly seated dynasty with fairly com plete control of northern India lasted from his death at the close of 1530 until 1576 when Akbar had been twenty years on the throne. Accession and position of Humayun. Humayun, when he succeeded to his father's throne and his contested claim to the lordship of India, was nearly 23 years of age, and had served an apprenticeship in the arts of war and government. He had three brothers, Kamran, Hindal, and Askari. Kamran, the eldest, was already in possession of Kabul and Kandahar as governor, and Humayun found himself constrained to let him take the Panjab also. Minor charges were assigned to the younger boys. The separation of Kamran's dominions left Humayun as king of Delhi in a difficult position, because he was threatened on one side by the strong kingdom of Gujarat and on the other by the Afghan chiefs of Bihar and Bengal, while he was deprived of the resources in men and money which Afghanistan and the Panjab could supply. Character of Humayun . The personal adventures of Humayun and his rather ineffectual struggles against his manifold difficulties are narrated at length in Elphinstone's work. But they do not much concern the history of India, and a brief outline of the main facts will suffice for our purpose. Humayun, although a cultivated gentleman, not lacking in ability, was deficient in the energetic BABUR. 326 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD promptitude of his versatile father. His addiction to opium probably explains his failures to a considerable extent. When either he or Babur is described as a cultivated gentleman, and there is much to justify the description, it must be understood that all these TImurid princes were Asiatic despots, imbued with the sanguinary traditions of their family, class, and age. None of them — not even Akbar — had much regard for human life, and they were all capable of ordering ferocious massacres and inflicting cruel punishments. Wars with Gujarat and Sher Khan. Humayun was under the necessity of continually fighting to retain his position in Upper India — the South never concerned him. In 1535 he made a brilliant raid into Gujarat and exhibited his personal valour by forming one of the party which escaladed the strong fortress of Champaner (about NE. of Baroda). He was unable to hold Gujarat because of more pressing danger arising from the revolt of Sher Khan, an Afghan chief in Bihar, who was established at Sahasram, and had acquired the forts of Chunar and Rohtas. Humayun took Chunar and spent a long time during 1538 at Gaur in Bengal, where he thought more of pleasure than of business. He was forced to retreat westwards. Sher Shah. Sher Khan, who had assumed the title of king (Shah or Sultan) and will henceforward be designated as Sher Shah, intercepted Humayun at Chausa, on the Ganges (in the Shahabad District), utterly defeated him, and compelled him to fly for his life in June, 1539. Nearly a year later, May 1540, Sher Shah again defeated Humayun still more decisively opposite Kanauj, now in the Farrukhabad District, V. P., and was recog nized to be so strong that Kamran ceded the Panjab to him. The wanderings of Humayun. Humayun became a homeless wanderer, fleeing first to Sind and then to Marwar (Jodhpur) in Rajputana. The hunted ex-king, unable to obtain effective aid from any chief, was exposed to every kind of indignity and hardship, until he was forced to return to the deserts of Sind with a small band of dispirited followers. In the midst of his misery his son Akbar was born at Umarkot on November 23, 1542.1 Humayun, after further adventures, retired to Persia in 1544 and claimed protection from Shah Tahmasp, who granted the request on condition that his suppliant should conform to the Shia sect of Islam. Humayun, not being in a position to resist, was constrained to comply with the demand of his host and to promise that Kandahar when recovered should be handed over to Persia. The Shah placed at his disposal a considerable force, with the aid of which Kandahar was taken in the autumn of 1545. Humayun after a short time broke faith with his protector and seized the city for himself. Kamran, his brother, was then expelled from Kabul, and Humayun recovered his little son Akbar, who had been detained by his uncle and exposed to many perils. Years 1 The official date is October 15. See my work, Akbar the Great Mogul', and Ind. Ant., 1915, pp. 233-4, with corrections of misprints in Errata. I HUMAYUN 327 of fighting followed with varying fortune. At last Kamran was taken prisoner and blinded. Second reign and death of Humayun. Humayun, when relieved from his brother's opposition, was able to invade India. He occupied Delhi and Agra in July 1555, and so regained his father's capital cities. But he was not permitted to consolidate his conquest or to establish a regular civil government. He was still engaged in making the necessary arrangements when an accidental fall from the staircase of his library at Delhi ended his troubled life in January 1556. His second reign had lasted barely seven months. Although more than twenty-five years had elapsed since the death of Babur in 1530, the effective reign of Humayun, including both his first and second periods of rule, had subsisted for only about ten years. During the remaining fifteen years members of the Sur family had enjoyed a precarious sovereignty over Hindostan. Reign of Sher Shah. It has been convenient to give a rough outline of Humayiin's adventures as a continuous story. Attention must now be directed to the proceedings of his Afghan rivals. The family of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi did not seriously attempt to regain the kingdom lost at Panipat in 1526. Sher Shah, after the flight of Humayun in 1540, made vigorous efforts to subdue Rajputana, Malwa, and Bundelkhand, which met with only partial success. He disgraced himself by ordering a treacherous massacre of the garrison of Raisin in Central India, and was killed in 1545 while directing the siege of Kalanjar in Bundelkhand. Sher Shah's government. Sher Shah was something more than the capable leader of a horde of fierce, fanatical Afghans. He had a nice taste in architecture, manifested especially in the noble mausoleum at Sahasram (Sasseram) in Bihar which he pre pared for himself. He built a new city at Delhi and a second Rohtas in the Panjab. He also displayed an aptitude for civil government and instituted reforms, which were based to some extent on the institutions of Alau-d din Khilji and were developed by Akbar. He maintained his authority by means of a powerful army, said to have comprised 150,000 horse, 25,000 foot, and 5,000 elephants. His scheme for branding the horses in the government service in order to check the prevalent evil of fraudulent musters was copied by Akbar. He also anticipated that monarch in a system of land revenue assessment based on the measurement of the land, and if he had lived longer might have enjoyed a reputation equal to that of Raja Todar Mall, Akbar's famous minister. Justice of a rough and ready kind was administered under his strict personal supervision, and the responsibility of village communities for crimes committed within their borders was enforced by tre mendous penalties. No man could expect favour by reason of his rank or position, and no injury to cultivation was tolerated. Sher Shah, like Asoka and Harsha, accepted the maxim that ' it behoves the great to be always active '. His time was divided by TOMB OF SHER SHAH. SHER SHAH 329 Rupee of Sher Shah. stringent rules between the duties of religion and those of govern ment. He followed the example of the best Hindu sovereigns by laying out high roads, planting trees, and provid- I ^e^SSEv, ing wells and sarais for the accommodation of travel lers. He reformed the coin age, issuing an abundance of silver money, excellent in both fineness and exe cution. That is a good record for a stormy reign of five years. If Sher Shah had been, spared he would have established his dy nasty, and the ' Great Moguls ' would not have appeared on the stage of history. His right to the throne was quite as good as that of Humayun. Both princes were merely foreign military adventurers, seeking to carve out a kingdom by the sword, and Sher Shah was personally far abler than his rival. Islam Shah ; Muham mad Adil Shah. When Sher Shah died the choice of the nobles fell on his second son, Jalal Khan, who ascended the throne under the style of Islam Shah, often corruptly Rupee of Islam Shah. written and pronounced as Sallm Shah. His brief and disturbed reign ended in 1553. He issued many regulations, but did not share his father's ability. After an interval of disputed succession the throne was usurped by Muhammad Adil Shah, or Adall, brother of a consort Of Islam Shah. He was inefficient, and left the control of his affairs in the hands of Hemu, a clever Hindu tradesman. The right to the sovereignty was contested by two nephews of Sher Shah, whose fate will be related in a later chapter. CHRONOLOGY First battle of Panipat April 21, 1526 Babur proclaimed as Padshah . . ... . April 27, 1526 Battle of Khanua (Kanwaha), defeat of Rana Sanga . March 1527 Battle of the Ghaghra (Gogra) river ...... 1529 Death of Babur ; accession of Humayun .... Dec. 1530 Humayun in Bengal ...... . . 1538 Defeat of Humayun at Chausa ...... June 1539 Final defeat of Humayun at Kanauj ..... May 1540 Enthronement of Sher Shah .'..... Jan. 1542 330 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Birth of Akbar at Umarkot ..... Nov. 23, 1542 Death of Sher Shah ; accession of Islam Shah .... 1545 Death of Islam Shah ; Muhammad Adil Shah (Adali) ace. ; other claimants ......... 1553-4 Restoration of Humayun . . . . . . June 1555 Death of Humayun Jan. 1556 Authorities The main original authority for Babur is his book of Memoirs, transl. by Leyden and Erskine, 1826, and by Mrs. A. Beveridge, in progress. Contemporary accounts of Humayun are the Memoirs of Jauhar, transl. by Stewart, 1832 ; Life and Memoirs of Gulbadan Begam, Akbar's aunt, transl. by Mrs. A. Beveridge, R. A. S., 1902 ; and Memoirs of BayazId Biyat, abstracted in J. A. S. B., part i, for 1898, p. 296. Other leading Persian authorities for the period are the Akbarndma of Abu-l Fazl, transl. by H. Beveridge, and various authors in E. db Z>.,vols.iv, v; also Firishta, transl. by Briggs. Erskine's History of India under Babar and Humayun, 2 vols., 1854, is a valuable work on a large scale. Lane-Poole's Babar, in Rulers of India, 1898, is an excellent and well-written little book, suffi cient for most readers. The skeleton of the Sur history is presented by E. Thomas in Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi (1871). The story of the Sur kings needs to be worked out critically in detail. CHAPTER 2 The Early European Voyages to and Settlements in India ; the East India Company from 1600 to 1708. The foreigners and the Mogul Empire. Inasmuch as the influence of European settlers on the coasts made itself felt in Indian politics from the beginning of the sixteenth century, it is desirable to take a comprehensive, although summary view of the steps by which the western powers acquired a footing in India, before we enter upon the detailed history of the Mogul empire, as established by Akbar, and maintained for a century after his death. That empire was much concerned with Portuguese, and to a less extent with British affairs from the beginning of Jahan- glr's reign. Even as early as the days of Humayun the king of Gujarat had found his advantage in engaging the aid of the foreigners. Akbar maintained frequent intercourse with Goa from the time of the conquest of Gujarat in 1573, and it is impossible to understand fully the history of his reign without a certain amount of knowledge concerning the intruders from the west whom he was so anxious to expel from his borders. In this chapter the narrative, necessarily much condensed, will be carried down to 1708, the year in which the union of the rival English companies was completed, soon after the death of Aurangzeb, the last of the Great Moguls. The union of the companies, as Anderson observes, ' is an epoch which properly closes the Early History of the English RELATIONS OF EMPIRE WITH FOREIGNERS 331 in India'. It is -convenient to give an outline of the whole story to that date in a single chapter, anticipating the narrative of the imperial history. The Arab monopoly of Indian trade. We have seen how extensive was the trade, both overland and maritime, maintained between India and the Roman Empire during the first three centuries of the Christian Era, how that trade almost ceased in' the fourth century, and revived to some extent in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Arab conquest of Egypt and Persia in the seventh century definitely closed the direct communication between Europe and India. Thenceforward all Indian wares which reached the West passed through Muhammadan hands, and so were transmitted from the markets of the Levant to Venice, which acquired enormous wealth and influence by its monopoly of Eastern commerce. Portuguese exploration of African coast. The Portuguese kings of the fifteenth century looked with envy on the riches of Venice, and eagerly desired to obtain a share in her profitable trade. Prince Henry the Navigator devoted his life to the dis covery of a direct sea route from Portugal to India, and, when he died in 1460, his adventurous captains had succeeded in passing the river Senegal on the west coast of Africa. But much further effort was needed before the circumnavigation of Africa could be accomplished. Ultimately the feat was performed by Bartholomew Diaz de Novaes, who was driven by storms considerably to the south of the Cape, and made land half-way between the Cape of Good Hope and Port Elizabeth. He sailed up the eastern coast sufficiently far to satisfy himself of its north-easterly trend and to be convinced that the long-sought route had been opened. He returned toLisbon inDecember 1488. The year in which he rounded the Cape should be stated as 1487, in preference to the traditional date, 1486. Vasco da Gama's arrival at Calicut. The discovery was followed up ten years later by Vasco da Gama, who sailed in July 1497 with three tiny ships, none exceeding 120 tons, and, like his predecessor, worked round to the east coast of Africa. In April 1498 he reached Melinda, 200 miles north of Zanzibar, and there obtained pilots competent to guide him to India. On May 20, 1498, he anchored at Calicut, then governed by a Hindu prince known as the Zamorin, who ruled well a prosperous realm. The Zamorin was inclined to' be friendly to the strangers, but the opposition of the Arab traders prevented da Gama from doing much business. After visiting Cannanore he went home and reached Lisbon at the end of August 1499. Cabral's voyage. Next year (1500) the king of Portugal dispatched a larger fleet under Pedro Alvares Cabral, who estab lished a factory or agency at Calicut, and obtained good cargoes at Cannanore and Cochin, which were under Hindu rulers. The Portuguese, who hated all Musalmans and killed them without mercy, usually were on good terms with the Hindus. The king 332 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD of Portugal, with papal sanction, assumed the lofty style of ' Lord of the Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India ' — a proceeding which shows that his ambition was not limited solely to commercial gain. The resistance of the Arab Mappilah (Moplah) merchants to the intrusion of their European rivals provoked horrid cruelties practised in retaliation •by the Portuguese commanders. de Almeida's ' blue water ' policy. Two rival policies divided Portuguese opinion. Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first viceroy (1505-9), may be described as the leader of the 'blue water' school. He disbelieved in the policy of multiplying settlements on land, holding that Portugal did not possess men enough to occupy many forts, and that such factories as might be established should rely for protection on Portuguese fleets in command of the sea. 'He regarded as visionary any idea of establishing a Portuguese empire in the East, maintaining the doctrine that ' the greater the number of fortresses you hold, the weaker will be your power ; let all our forces be on the sea. . . . Let it be known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at sea, you will hold India as yours ; and if you do not possess this power, little will avail you a fortress on shore.' AUbuquerque's occupation policy. Affonso de Albuquerque, who succeeded de Almeida, with the rank of Governor, held different views. His purpose was to found a Portuguese empire in the East. ' His system ', as Mr. Morse Stephens observes, ' rested on four main bases. He desired to occupy certain important points for trading purposes, and to rule them directly ; he desired to colonize the selected districts by encouraging mixed marriages with the native inhabitants ; where he could not conquer or colonize he desired to build fortresses ; and when this was impracticable he desired to induce the native monarchs to recognize the supremacy of the king of Portugal and to pay him tribute.' The ability and strong character of Albuquerque induced the Home Government to sanction his policy. But it failed, partly from its inherent defects, partly from the extraordinary folly of the attitude adopted by the Portuguese Government after he was gone. Acquisition and government of Goa. In pursuit of his policy he effectively occupied the island of Goa — the principal port in the dominions of the Sultan of Bijapur — in 1510, and worked out a system of administration for the small District acquired, the first bit of Indian territory directly governed by Europeans since the time of Alexander the Great." All Muhammadans were excluded from office. Portuguese officers were appointed as Thdnaddrs, each combining revenue and criminal jurisdiction, like an English District Officer, and assisted by Hindu clerks for whose education he established schools. He upheld the constitution of the ancient Hindu village communities, and enrolled native soldiers commanded by Hindu officers, the first ' sepoys '. An interesting innovation was the abolition of suttee, a measure not carried out in British India until 1829. MALACCA 333 Albuquerque's designs. Albuquerque did not confine his attention to India. He aimed at depriving the Muhammadans, or Moors as he called them, of the whole trade between the East J.C. t-fUra. scufc Ofotp. in 7y/uJtey~-AjLl774: ALBUQUERQUE. and Europe, and concentrating it in European hands. One valuable section of that trade, which came from the Spice Islands or Moluc cas, lying between Celebes and New Guinea, passed, along with the commerce of China and Japan, through the Straits of Malacca. Importance of Malacca. In those days the town of Malacca 334 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, which possessed a good though shallow harbour, was the principal emporium of the trade with the Spice Islands and the Far East. In these latter times it has been eclipsed by both Penang and Singapore, so that it became for some years a little town, rarely visited by ships. The rubber industry has revived it. In 1511 its possession carried with it the control of a vast commerce. Penang and Singapore did not become important until the nineteenth century. At the time of Albuquerque's attack Malacca was crowded by men of all the trading nations of the East, Arabs, Chinese, Javanese, Gujaratis from the west, and Bengalis from the east of India. Excepting the Muhammadans, whom he abhorred, Albuquerque showed favour to all those races. He indulged in the dream that the success of his enterprise would result in ' quenching the fire of this sect of Muhammad ' and ' in the Moors resigning India altogether to our rule, for the greater part of them — or perhaps all of them — live upon the trade of this country, and are become great and rich, and lords of extensive treasures '. He held it to be ' very certain that if we take this trade of Malacca away out of their hands, Cairo and Mecca will be entirely ruined, and to Venice will no spices be conveyed, except what her merchants go and buy in Portugal '. Exploration of the Spice Islands. When he had taken possession of the town in 1511 Albuquerque protected it by build ing a fortress held by a garrison, which secured Portuguese rule for a hundred and thirty years, after which time the place passed into the hands of the Dutch. It finally became British territory in 1824. From Malacca Albuquerque dispatched an expedition to explore the Spice Islands. Meantime, during the great commander's absence, Goa had been closely besieged by an army of the Sultan of Bijapur, supported by Turkish and Egyptian contingents. After hard fighting Albuquerque effected its relief in 1512. Attempt on Aden. One main object of Portuguese policy was the destruction of the trade carried on by Muhammadans in the Red Sea, and the Home Government strongly urged the effective prosecution of that purpose. Albuquerque attempted to take Aden but failed, and the Portuguese never succeeded in gaining a mastery over the navigation of the Red Sea. Occupation of Ormuz. Albuquerque was more successful in the Persian Gulf. Shortly before his death in 1515 he occupied the island of Ormuz (Hormuz) and built a fortress there. At that time the port of Ormuz rivalled Malacca in importance, and like it was thronged by traders of all nationalities. The Portuguese retained possession until 1622, when they were ousted by an expedition of English ships sent from Surat, and supported by a Persian contingent. From that date Ormuz declined, and its trade passed to the new port of Bandar Abbas, not far distant. The place is now of little consequence, but still exports a considerable quantity of excellent haematite, or iron ore. MIXED MARRIAGES 335 Policy of mixed marriages . Albuquerque's policy of coloniza tion by means of mixed marriages, which was peculiar to himself, deserves special notice. ' His aim ', as Mr. Stephens observes, ' was to form a population which should be at once loyal to Portugal and satisfied to remain in India for life.' He did not expect to be able to retain many of the officers, and chiefly devoted his efforts to the willing detention of gunners and artisans. He married them off by the hundred to Muhammadan and Hindu women, especially the widows of the Muhammadans whom he had slaugh tered. The brides had to submit to baptism, but on the other hand, if they asked for the houses which had been in possession of their deceased fathers or husbands, he ordered that those should be given to them. He thus created the large class of Portuguese half-castes, often blacker in colour than ordinary Indians of full blood, who are now so numerous at Bombay and along the west coast. Most of these people have hardly a trace of the European about them, except high-sounding Portuguese names, and they devote themselves largely to domestic service. Their religion alone has prevented them from being absorbed into the mass of the popula tion. Albuquerque did not foresee that his plan would produce a degenerate race 'absolutely destitute of the qualities to which Europeans owe their success in the world. Causes of decline and fall of Portuguese power. The strange story of the de cline and fall of the Portuguese dominion in the East, which was rapid, and, I may add, fully de served, cannot be told in this work. The cruelty of the Portu guese, especially to Muhammadans, was horrible, and Albuquerque himself did not hesitate to procure the poisoning of both the Zamorin of Calicut and a Persian official at Ormuz. After Albuquerque's death the Government of Portugal under the guidance of King John III, a bigoted fanatic, based its policy on a desire to make Christians by fair means or foul, rather than on political or com mercial motives, and engaged in an insane attempt to force the natives of India to adopt Christianity. The Inquisition, which had been established at Goa in 1560, indulged from the beginning of the seventeenth century in an atrocious religious persecution, torturing and burning relapsed converts and unlucky wretches supposed to be witches. Those measures alone were enough to ruin the Portuguese design of creating an Indian dominion. The decay of the Portuguese empire in the East was hasteifid by other causes acting in a wider sphere. The local governments were utterly corrupt, the men were degraded by their marriages with native women, and the women were given up to debauchery. The Indo-Portuguese coin. 336 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD temporary union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal in 1580 dragged the smaller country into the European quarrels of the larger, while Portugal, with its limited area and scanty population, lacked the resources to supply and control a distant empire. Thus the Portuguese rule on the coasts of the Eastern seas decayed as rapidly as it had grown, and the Portuguese settlements fell an easy prey to their Dutch and English rivals. Portuguese India now consists of three small settlements — Goa, 1,301 square miles ; Daman, 100 miles N. of Bombay, 149 square miles ; and the island of Diu, in the south of Kathiawar, 20 square miles. In Africa Portugal has Portuguese E. Africa on the Zambesi and Limpopo, with Portuguese Guinea on the Guinea coast ; as well as Macao in China. Dutch and English rivalry with the Portuguese. The Dutch and English almost simultaneously took measures to contest the claim of Portugal to the monopoly of Oriental commerce, and from the moment they appeared on the scene at the beginning of the seventeenth century the Portuguese were unable to resist them effectually. One after another most of the Indian settlements fell into their hands, and, in the first instance, passed into Dutch . possession. The English then, in due course, took the place of the Dutch. Goa, it is true, escaped actual capture, although it was often blockaded by Dutch fleets ; but its importance had dwindled so steadily after the de struction of Vijayanagar in 1565 that in the seventeenth century it did not much matter who held it. Dutch control of the Spice Islands and Far East trade. The United East India Company, of the Netherlands, formed in 1602, promptly sent out large fleets. Batavia in Java, founded in 1619, became the head-quarters of the Company's operations. It is still the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The capture of Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641 gave the control of the commerce of the Spice Islands and the Far East to Holland, while during the twenty years between 1638 and 1658 Ceylon passed from Portuguese into Dutch hands. Dutch settlements in India. The settlements of the Hollanders on the coasts of India, although numerous, were never individually considerable or important. Their first fort on the mainland of India was built at Pulicat, north of Madras, in 1609. From leeO^ their principal station was Negapatam on the Madras coast. The attention of the Dutch Company was chiefly devoted to Java. and the Spice Islands. The notorious massacre of Amboyna in 1623, when a number of Englishmen and Japanese were Cruelly tortured and executed, effectually checked British competition in that region. Cromwell, thirty-one years later, exacted an indemnity Indo-Dutch coin. DANES AND FRENCH 337 Indo-Danish coin. from Holland, and at the same time asserted by treaty with Portugal the British right to share in the trade. The Dutch, however, continued to be supreme in the Malay Archipelago. The Hollanders never acquired any formidable military power in India, so that the English in the course of the wars of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth found little difficulty in obtaining possession of the Dutch Indian settlements. Danish settlements. The Danish settle ments demand a passing notice. A Danish ¦East India Company was established in 1616, and four years later (1620) the factory at ¦Tranquebar on the east coast was founded. The principal settlement of the Danes at Serampore near Calcutta .dates from about 1676. The Danish factories, which were not im portant at any time, were sold to the British Government in 1845. French settlements. The French appeared late on the scene, their official organization, ' La Compagnie des Indes ', having been ¦established in 1664. Their principal set tlement, Pondicherry, founded ten years later, still is a moderately prosperous town. The French never succeeded in capturing a large share of the Indian trade, and their settlements never received sufficient steady support from home. The Re public still possesses Pondicherry, Chan- dernagore near Calcutta, and several smaller settlements of no political significance. The struggle between the English and French for supremacy in the peninsula during the second half of the eighteenth century will be narrated in due course as part of the general history of India. First Charter of the East India Company. The glorious victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 stimulated British maritime enterprise, and suggestedplansforclaim- ing a share in the lucrative commerce of the Eastern seas. Those plans assumed definite form on the last day of 1 600 when Qu een Elizabeth granted a charter with rights of exclusive trading to ' the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies'. The Separate Voyages. The early ' Separate Voyages ' organized by the Company were directed chiefly to the Spice Islands rather than to India. They were called Separate Voyages because each venture was arranged by a body of individual subscribers, who divided the profits among themselves. Joint stock enterprises Indo-French coin. Portcullis coin of Elizabeth, for India. 338 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD • began in 1612. A ship of the Third Separate Voyage in 1608 reached Surat and did some trade, but Portuguese opposition was strong ; and it was not until 1612 that the English obtained by treaty with the Mogul governor of Gujarat the right to trade at Surat, Cambay, and two other places. After a fierce sea-fight in that year the British established their position in spite of the Portuguese, and founded a factory at Surat protected by an imperial farmdn. Surat thus became the seat of a presidency of the East India Company, which in time developed into the Presidency of Bombay and the British empire in India. The Dutch also had a factory in Surat. English capture of Ormuz . In 1 61 5 the English again defeated the Portuguese at sea, and their capture of Ormuz in 1622, with the aid of a Persian military force, so weakened the Portuguese power that thenceforward they had little to fear from Portugal. Embassy of Sir T. Roe. In 1615 James I sent Sir Thomas Roe as his ambassador to the Emperor Jahangir. During his stay of about three years in India, Sir Thomas, although he could not obtain all he asked for, succeeded in securing important privileges for his countrymen. From time to time British adventurers established many factories or trading stations at various points along the western coast, including one at Anjengo in Travancore. But their activity was not confined to that coast, the more easily accessible. Settlements on Bay of Bengal. In the course of a few years they made-their way into the Bay of Bengal, and founded factories. One of the earliest, built about 1625, was at Armagaon in the Nellore District, but the settlement at Masulipatam had been founded a few years before that date. The first fortification was at Armagaon, where the ruins of the Company's fort still exist. Foundation of Madras. Business at Masulipatam and Ar magaon was so hampered by the exactions of the local rulers ' that Mr. Francis Day, the Agent at Masulipatam, was directed to see if he could buy or rent a piece of land within the limits of which the Company's merchants might work without hindrance. The old Portuguese settlement at San Thome near Madras was then in very low water, and the poverty-stricken Portuguese half- caste residents, who had lost most of their trade, were willing to welcome Mr. Day and his colleagues. The place possessed a fort, which Day probably could have rented if he pleased. But, on thinking the matter over, he preferred a site where he should be independent. Accordingly, with the help of the friendly local Portuguese, he arranged to rent a strip of land to the north of San Thome, about a mile broad and four miles long. ' It had nothing apparently to commend it. It was devoid of beauty of scenery, and had no harbour, although there was good anchorage in its roads. It was nothing but a dreary waste of sand, on which a monstrous sea broke in a double line of surf, giving it an inhospitable look, which it retains to the present day.' The evil-smelling Cooum river protected it from unwelcome FOUNDATION OF MADRAS 539 visitors. On this unpromising spot Day resolved to build. He rented the land for a payment of about £600 a year. The agreement was recorded early in 1639, as customary, on a gold plate, which was lost afterwards, as well as other similar documents, perhaps when the French took Madras in 1746. Thus England acquired her first proprietary holding on Indian soil, and the foundation of the Presidency of Madras was laid. The grantor was a chief subordinate to the Raja, of Chandragiri, the representative of the Vijayanagar dynasty. Day lost no time in starting the necessary buildings for the accommodation of his people and erecting a fort, to which latter step the Directors at home strongly objected. That fort, named after the patron saint of England, still gives its official designation to Madras as the Presidency of Fort St. George. Foundation of Calcutta. Truculent and masterful Job Charnock, ' always a faithful man to the Company ', founded Calcutta on an equally unpromising site in August 1690. He had been turned out of Bengal some two years earlier by the Mogul officers, as a consequence of Sir Josiah Child's foolish war with Aurangzeb, but being invited to return by the reigning Nawab, Ibrahim Khan, accepted the invitation, and, landing with a guard of only thirty soldiers, doggedly set to work building and fortifying on the -mud flat assigned to him. That was the beginning of Fort William — so called after William III — and also of the Presi dency of Fort William or Bengal. Acquisition of Bombay. Bombay was acquired by the Crown in 1661 as part of the dowry of Catharine of Braganza, queen of Charles II. The cession was made by the Portuguese in order to secure English support against the Dutch. A few years later the king, who had failed to ap preciate the value of the ac quisition, granted the island to the East India Company in return for the trifling sum of ten pounds a year. Gerald Aungier. The real founder of the city was the early governor, Gerald Aungier (1669-77), who fore saw the future greatness of his charge, declaring that it ,^g%as3> Early Bombay coin. was 'the city which by God's assistance is intended to be built'. Aungier, although rarely mentioned in the current general his tories, was one of the noblest of the founders of the Indian empire. He is described as being ' a.chivalric and intrepid man ... a gen tleman well qualified for governing ', who made it his ' daily study to advance the Company's interest and the good and safety of the people under him '. His grave at Surat, to which Bombay was subordinate in his time, is marked by a tablet. Keigwin's rebellion. The military revolt of Captain Keigwin at Bombay in 1683 was a curious incident. The gallant captain, 340 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD who really was a loyal subject, Was driven into rebellion by the tyranny of John Child, the President of Surat, who carried out the policy of his influential chief and namesake, Sir Josiah Child, in London. The rebels declared that ' we are therefore resolved not to suffer these abuses any longer, but revolt to His Majesty, taking all into our possession for his use'. Keigwin held Bombay for a year, governing it well and honestly. He then surrendered the island peacefully on honourable terms to a king's officer. Keigwin died in 1690 as an officer and a gentleman, bravely leading his men to an attack on one of the West India islands. The statement BOMBAY FORT FROM THE SEA. made in a multitude of books that the two Childs were brothers is erroneous. They do not appear to have been related in any way. After the rebellion Bombay became the head-quarters of the English in western India instead of Surat. The Bombay terri tory, however, did not attain much importance until the time of Warren Hastings. The noble harbour could not be fully utilized until the passage of the Western Ghats had become practicable. The United Company. Towards the close of the seventeenth century the East India Company encountered much opposition in England, which resulted in the formation of a rival body entitled 'The English Company trading to the East Indies'. The old company was brought to the brink of ruin. But its Directors were full of fight, and declared that 'two East India Companies in England could no more subsist without destroying one the other, than two kings, at the same time regnant in one kingdom '. UNITED COMPANY 341 After much bitter and undignified quarrelling in both England and India an . agreement was arranged in 1702. The difficult financial questions at issue were finally set at rest in 1708 by the award of Lord Godolphin, with the result that the rivals were combined in a single body styled ' The United Company of Mer chants of England trading to the East Indies '. The United Company thus formed is the famous corporation which acquired the sovereignty of India during the century extending from 1757 to 1858. Failure of Portuguese, Dutch, and French. The Portuguese, who had the advantage of the start in the race for the control of the Indian trade, deservedly lost everything from causes sufficiently obvious, which have been already indicated. The Dutch never seriously directed their attention to India proper, preferring to il^iiERLEYtfBEGpAV£'^lDEMANHAFTB| ABENTdLEBOLlTlMSMtVE^EBRSTE \ | JKAFITElNENMAVbORreRCEYl^SE j j MiUTiElNDiENSf DER V£TOfcltfGDE ! EBERLANDSE($timDi§^ <*&*&& DUTCH EPITAPH, SADRAS. gather riches by their monopoly of the trade of the Archipelago and Spice Islands. The French entered the field too late, and failed to show sufficient enterprise or to receive adequate backing from their government at home. The English proved their superiority at sea against all comers from an early date. Their commercial affairs in India were looked after by agents often of dubious character, but always daring, persistent, and keen men of business. The trade was supported from the first by the efforts of the home government. During the time of the Great Moguls the British territory in India was of negligible area, comprising only a few square miles in the island of Bombay, Madras city, and three or four other localities. But even then the prowess of their sea captains had made their nation a power in Indian politics. Haifa century after the death of Aurangzeb, when rich Bengal was acquired, nothing, not even an Act of Parliament, could stop the masters of the sea and the Gangetic valley from becoming the rulers of India. 342 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD CHRONOLOGY Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut Portuguese conquest of Goa .... Death of Albuquerque ..... Trade of Goa injured by destruction of Vijayanagar Union of crowns of Spain and Portugal Defeat of the Spanish Armada . . Charter to E. I. Co. of merchants of London United E. I. Co. of the Netherlands . Accession of Jahangir ..... Third ' Separate Voyage ' ; Capt. Hawkins at Surat Joint stock voyages began ; English factory established Portuguese defeated at sea . Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe Danish settlement at Tranquebar . Capture of Ormuz by English and Persians Massacre of Amboyna .... Early English factories on Eastern coast Death of Jahangir ; accession of Shahjahan Grant of site of Madras .... Accession of Aurangzeb . Cession of Bombay ; charter of Charles II . French ' Compagnie des Indes ' established . Gerald Aungier at Bombay Pondicherry founded .... War of E. I. Co. with Aurangzeb Calcutta founded ..... The new ' English Company trading to the East Indies Union of the new and old companies . Lord Godolphin's award ; the ' United Company of England trading to the East Indies ' May 1498 . 1510 . 1515 . 1565 . 1580 . 1588 Dec. 31, 1600 . 1602 . 1605 . 1608 at Surat ; . 1612 1615-18 . 1620 . 1622 . 1623 1625-34 1627-8 March 1, 1640 1658-9 . 1661 . 1664 1669-77 . 1674 1685-7 . 1690 . 1698 . 1702 Merchants of . 1708 Authorities Innumerable books might be cited. The slight sketch in this chapter is based chiefly on the summary in I. G. (1907), chap, ii ; H. Morse Stephens, Albuquerque (Rulers of India, 1892), an excellent book ; Fonseca, Sketch of the City of Goa (Bombay, 1878), ' a most carefully compiled volume ' ; Whiteway, The Rise of Portuguese Power in India (West minster, 1899) ; Malabari, Bombay in the Making (London, 1910) ; Anderson, The English in Western India (Bombay and London, 1854) ; Strachey, Keigwin's Rebellion (Clarendon Press, 1916), a first-rate and most entertaining book ; Penny, Fort St. George, Madras (London, 1900) ; and Bruce, Annals of the E. I. Go. (London, 1810). Numerous references will be found in the works mentioned. An immense mass of unworked material is buried in the three series of volumes contain ing documents relating to the E. I. Co., published by the Clarendon Press at various dates, and mostly edited by Mr. William Foster and Miss Sainsbury. For foundation of Madras see W. Foster, The Founding of Fort St. George (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1902) ; and Love, Vestiges of Old Madras (Murray, 1913). ENTHRONEMENT OF AKBAR 343 CHAPTER 3 Akbar, 1555-1605. Humayun's sons. When Humayun died he left two sons, Akbar, the elder, aged thirteen, and Muhammad Hakim, the younger, who was more than two years junior to his half-brother. The Kabul province remained nominally in the charge of the younger prince, and, although regarded officially as a dependency of Hindostan, was ordinarily administered as an independent principality. Akbar, at the time of his father's death, was in camp with his guardian, Bairam Khan the Turkoman, engaged in the pursuit of Sher Shah's nephew, Sikandar Sur, who had collected a force in the Panjab and sought to win the crown for himself. Enthronement of Akbar. Arrangements having been made to conceal Humayun's decease for a time sufficient to allow of the peaceful proclamation of Akbar's accession, the enthronement of the heir, was duly effected at Kalanaur, in the Gurdaspur District, on February 14, 1556. The brick platform and seat used in the ceremony still exist and are now reverently preserved. But the enthronement ceremony merely registered the claim of Humayun's son to succeed to the throne of Hindostan. The deceased monarch neveT had had really assured possession of his kingdom, and during his brief second reign of a few months was in the position of an~ adventurer who had secured a momentary military success. He could not be regarded as an established legitimate sovereign. In fact, as already observed, the representatives of his great rival Sher Shah had claims quite as strong as those of Akbar to the lordship of Hindostan. Two Sur claimants. At that moment the effective claimants representing the Sur dynasty were two nephews of Sher Shah. The first of the two, King Muhammad Shah Adil or Adali, had actually succeeded for a time in establishing himself as the successor of Sher ShaH's son, Islam Shah, who had died in 1554. But at the time of Humayun's fatal accident he had retired to the eastern provinces and was residing at Chunar, near Mirzapur. Sher Shah's other nephew, Sikandar, as already mentioned, was in the Panjab engaged in operations on his own behalf. Hemu, a third claimant. King Adali's interests in the north were in the charge of his capable Hindu minister and general, Hemu, a trader or Baniya, by birth, who had already won many victories for his master. Hemu, advancing through Gwalior, occupied both Agra and Delhi, thus gaining a very important advantage. TardI Beg, who had been entrusted by the Protector, Bairam Khan, with the defence of Delhi, failed in his duty, and allowed the city to fall into the enemy's hands. For that offence he was executed by order of Bairam Khan. The punishment, although inflicted in an irregular fashion without trial, was necessary and substantially just. 344 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Hemu, after his occupation of Delhi, bethought himself that he was in possession of a powerful army, many elephants, and much treasure, while his sovereign was far away in Chunar. He came to the conclusion that he had better claim the throne for himself rather than on behalf of Adali. Accordingly, he secured the support of the Afghan contingents by liberal donatives, and ventured to assume royal state under the style of Raja, Bikramajit or Vikrama ditya, a title borne by several renowned Hindu kings in ancient times. He thus became Akbar's most formidable competitor, while both Adali and Sikandar Sur dropped into the background for the moment. Second battle of Panipat. Bairam Khan, with Akbar, advanced through Thanesar to the historic plain of Panipat, where, thirty years earlier, Babur had routed and slain Sultan Ibrahim Lodi. Hemu approached the same goal from the west. The Hindu general, although he had the misfortune to lose his park of artillery in a preliminary engagement, possessed a powerful host of 1,500 war elephants on which he relied, and was in command of troops far superior in number to those of his adversary. The armies met in battle on November 5, 1556. At first Hemu was successful on both wings. Probably he would have been the victor but for the accident that he was hit in the eye by an arrow and rendered unconscious. His army, when deprived of its leader, the sole reason for its existence, dispersed at once. Bairam Khan and Akbar, who had left the conduct of the battle to subordinate officers, rode up from the rear. Their helpless dying opponent was brought before them. The Protector desired his royal ward to earn the coveted title of Ghazi by slaying the infidel with his own hand. The boy, naturally obeying the instruction of his guardian, smote the prisoner on the neck with his scimitar, and the bystanders finished off the victim. The commonly accepted story that young Akbar exhibited a chivalrous unwillingness to strike a wounded prisoner is a later, courtly invention. Hemu's head was sent to Kabul and his trunk was gibbeted on one of trie gates of Delhi. A tower was built with the heads of the slain, according to the ghastly custom of the times. Famine, 1555-6. During the years 1555 and 1556 the upper provinces of India, and more especially the Agra and Delhi terri tories, suffered from an appalling famine due primarily to the failure of rain and much aggravated by the long continued opera tions of pitiless armies. Hemu had displayed the most brutal indifference to the sufferings of the people, and had pampered his elephants with rice, sugar, and butter, while men and women ate one another. He deserved his fate. End of the Sur dynasty. The victors pressed the pursuit of the broken foe and promptly occupied both Agra and Delhi. During the year 1557 the pretensions of the Sur family to the sovereignty of Hindostan came to an end. Sikandar Sur, whoi surrendered, was generously treated and provided with a fief in the eastern provinces. King Adali made no attempt to dispute the BAIRAM KHAN 345 verdict of the sword at Panipat. He remained in the east, and was killed in a conflict with the King of Bengal. Akbar's position as the successor of Humayun was thus unchallenged, although he had still much fighting to do before he attained a position as good as that occupied by his father during his first reign. Progress of reconquest. In the course of the years 1558-60 the recovery of the Mogul dominion in Hindostan progressed by the occupation of Gwalior, the strong fortress of Central India, Ajmer, the key of northern Rajputana, and the Jaunpur province in the east. An attempt on the Rajput castle of Ranthambhor failed for the moment, to be renewed successfully a few years later. Preliminary arrangements for the conquest of Malwa, were interrupted by the events connected with Akbar's assumption of personal rule and the dismissal of Bairam Khan, his guardian and Protector. Dismissal of Bairam Khan. Early in 1560 the young sovereign, then in his eighteenth year, began to feel galled by the tutelage of his guardian, who was a masterful man, prone to exert his authority without much regard for other people's feelings. Akbar's natural impatience was encouraged by Hamlda Ba.no Begam, his mother ; by Maham Anaga, chief of the nurses and ranking as a foster-mother of the sovereign ; by her son, Adham Khan ; and by Shihabu-d din, her relative, the governor of Delhi. All those personages, who had much influence over Akbar, disliked Bairam Khan for reasons of their own. In the spring of 1560 Akbar dismissed the Protector from office and announced his intention of taking the reins of government into his own hands. Bairam Khan, after some hesitation, submitted to the royal commands, and started for Mecca as ordered. But, on second thoughts, being angered because he was hustled on his way by an ungrateful upstart named PIr Muhammad, he rebelled, although in a half-hearted fashion. He was defeated in the Panjab and again compelled to submit. Akbar treated the ex-regent with generosity and allowed him to proceed on his journey towards Mecca with all ceremonial honour. Bairam Khan reached Patan in Gujarat, where he was murdered by a private enemy in January 1561. His little son, Abdurrahlm, was saved, and lived to become the principal nobleman in the empire. The intrigue against the Regent was engineered by a court clique who desired his destruction. Akbar at that time was under petticoat government and had little concern with state affairs. His personal conduct in the affair shows a generous temper, so far as appears. The faults of Bairam Khan certainly deserved indulgence from Akbar, who, like his father, was indebted for his throne to the loyalty of the Turkoman. Petticoat government, 1560-2. The next two years are the most discreditable in Akbar's life. The 'young monarch, as his biographer repeatedly observes, ' remained behind the veil ', and seemed to care for nothing but sport. He manifested no interest in the affairs of his kingdom, which he left to be mismanaged by unscrupulous women, aided by Adham Khan, PIr Muhammad, 1976 N 346 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD and other men equally devoid of scruple. The conquest of Malwa, entrusted to Adham Khan and PIr Muhammad, was effected with savage cruelty to which Akbar made no objection. The fortress of Mirtha, (Merta) in Rajputana was taken in 1562. Emancipation of Akbar. The emancipation of Akbar from a degrading tutelage came in May 1562. His appointment in the previous November of Shamsu-d din as prime minister was ex tremely distasteful to Maham Anaga and her friends, who feared that their ill-used power might slip from their hands. Adham Khan one day swaggered into the palace where the prime minister was at work and stabbed him to death. Akbar, hearing the noise, came out from an inner apartment and narrowly escaped injury from the ruffian murderer. But a stunning blow from the heavy royal fist felled the traitor, who was then hurled from the battle ments, thus suffering in a summary fashion the just penalty of his crime. From that time Akbar was a free man, although the final emancipation was deferred until two years later (1564), when he inflicted equally summary and just punishment on another murderer, his mother's brother, a half-insane monster named Khwaja Muazzam. Political state of India. The political divisions of India as they existed in 1561 or 1562, when Akbar had reigned for five or six years, are exhibited in the map, and explained in the state ment facing it. Reforms. At a very early stage in his career he realized thoroughly that it was no longer possible for the Padshah of Hindostan to be the king of the Muslim minority only. His throne, if it was to be firmly established, must rest on the broad foundation of general loyalty, accorded willingly by Hindus and Musalmans alike. That resolve, involving a policy the exact contrary of that pursued by Firoz Shah Tughlak and most of the other Sultans, appears to have been the personal act of Akbar, the result of his own meditations, and not of outside suggestion. In pursuance of his new policy he made his first marriage with a Hindu princess early in 1562, some months before the execution of Adham Khan. The lady honoured was a daughter of Raja Bihar Mall of Amber or Jaipur, and became the mother of the Emperor Jahangir. The marriage secured the loyalty and support of the powerful Jaipur family for several generations. Marriages with princesses of other Rajput states followed in later years. At this period (1562-4) Akbar effected several important reforms. He abolished the taxes on Hindu pilgrims ; forbade the enslavement of prisoners of war, thereby reversing the policy of Firoz Shah Tughlak ; and also remitted the jizya or poll-tax on non-Muslims. ' It may be that the royal orders were not invariably acted on, and that local magnates at a distance from the capital often ignored the innova tions ; but, however that may be, Akbar deserves immense credit for the originality and courage which prompted his orders. The reforms were his own doing, carried out many years before he came under the influence of Abu-1 Fazl and the other persons POLITICAL STATE OF INDIA 347 • whose names are associated with his later policy in matters of religion. From March 1564, when Khwaja Muazzam suffered his well- earned punishment and Akbar was in his twenty-second year, he had become thoroughly emancipated from the control of the ladies of the household and the corrupt men through whom they acted. His policy for the forty-one remaining years of his reign was his own. The ambition of Akbar. Akbar, one of the most ambitious of men, who loved power and wealth, brooking no rival near his throne, now set himself to effect the systematic subjugation of north-western and central India, to be followed later by the con quest of the west, east, and south. His designs were purely aggressive, his intention being to make himself the unquestioned lord paramount of India, and to suppress the independence of every kingdom within the reach of his arm. He carried out that policy with unflinching tenacity until January 1601, when the mighty fortress of Asirgarh, his last acquisition, passed into his hands. Circumstances beyond his control prevented him from continuing his career of conquest until his death in October 1605. He began by encouraging a great noble, Asaf Khan (I), governor of Kara, and the eastern provinces, to destroy the independence of Gondwana, equivalent to the northern portion of the present Central Provinces, then governed by the Dowager Rani Durgavati, an excellent princess, with whose administration no fault could be found. She was driven to her death, her country was overrun, and the wealth accumulated in the course of centuries was plundered without mercy. Her independence was her only fault. Injudicious flatterers of Akbar have printed much canting nonsense about his supposed desire to do good to the conquered peoples by his annexa tions. He never canted on the subject himself, or made any secret of the fact that he regarded as an offence the independence of a neighbour. ' A monarch ', he said, ' should be ever intent on conquest, otherwise his neighbours rise in arms against him. The army should be exercised in warfare, lest from want of training they become self-indulgent.' Throughout his reign he acted con sistently on those avowed principles. Rebellions. The acquisition of the leading fortresses was an essential preliminary for securing the firm grasp of the imperial government on Hindostan or upper India. Gwalior, Chunar, and Mirtha had been acquired early in the reign. The next object of attack was Chitor in the territory of the Sisodia Rana, of Mewar in Rajputana, now better known as the Udaipur State. Some delay in the execution of the Padshah's ambitious projects was caused by the outbreak of several rebellions headed by Uzbeg officers, who disliked Akbar's Persianized ways, and would have preferred Kamran's son, his cousin, to occupy the throne. In 1565 Akbar felt bound, as a matter of state necessity, to order the private execution of that cousin in order to prevent him from being used as a pretender. The act was the first of the long series 348 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD INDIA IN 1561 When Akbar ascended the throne in January 1556 he possessed no ¦ definite territory. Five years later he held firmly the Panjab, with the Multan district ; the basin of the Ganges and Jumna as far east as Prayag (later known as Allahabad), and also Gwalior.in Central India, and Ajmer in Rajasthan. The Kabul territory (excluding Kandahar with its depen dencies, then in Persian hands, see Raverty, Notes on Afghanistan, pp. 592, 600) was governed in practical independence by the guardians of Akbar's younger half-brother, Mirza Muhammad Hakim. The various Himalayan States, including Kashmir, were completely independent. Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa were under the government of an Afghan prince, Sulaiman Kararani. Orissa then meant the modern Midnapore, Puri, Katak (Cut- tack), and Balasore Districts. The numerous chiefs in Rajasthan or Raj putana, Sind, and the extensive wild country now forming the Central Provinces, Chutia Nagpur, and Orissa Tributary States, recognized no man as master. Gujarat, which had been occupied by Akbar's father, Humayun, was ruled by a Muhammadan dynasty, as was Malwa. The five kingdoms of the Deccan plateau, namely, Ahmadnagar, Birar (Berar), Bidar, Bijapur, and Golkonda, constituted out of fragments of the Bahmani Empire, were autonomous under Musalman dynasties, constantly at war one with another or with Vijayanagar. The boundaries frequently changed. Bijapur was the most powerful of the five States. The small Muhammadan principality of Khandesh in the valley of the Tapti was practically inde pendent. The whole peninsular area to the south of the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers was under the lordship of the Hindu kings of Vija yanagar. The Portuguese were strongly established on the western coast in fortified settlements taken from the Sultans of the Deccan, and situated at Goa, with a considerable territory attached ; Chaul, Bombaim (Bombay) with neighbouring places ; Bassein (see Malabari, Bombay in the Making, 1930, p. 21).; Daman, and Diu. Their fleet controlled the mercantile and pilgrim traffic of the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. No other European power had gained any footing on the soil of India, and no Englishman had even landed in the country. All delineations of frontiers and boundaries necessarily are merely approximate. The boundaries of the Sultanates of the Deccan are taken from Sewell's map in A Forgotten Empire (1900). 35.' . - .^PROVINCE. 350 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD of similar executions which have stained the annals of the Mogul dynasty. The rebellions of Khan Zaman and the other Uzbeg chiefs came to an end in 1567, leaving Akbar free to prepare for the siege of Chitor. He deeply resented the independent position assumed by the Rana, who was acknowledged universally to be the head of the Rajput clans. His family never allowed a daughter to enter the Mogul palace. Udai Singh, the reigning Rana in 1567, unfortunately was a coward, unworthy of his noble ancestry, but his personal unworthiness did not prevent his brethren from organizing a gallant defence. Siege of Chitor. The siege of Chitor, the most famous and dramatic military operation of the reign, lasted from October 20, 1567, to February 23, 1568, and would have lasted much longer had not Akbar by a lucky shot killed Jaimall, the chieftain who was the soul of the defence, having assumed the place which the recreant Rana should have occupied. The garrison abandoned all hope when deprived of their leader. The women were immolated on funeral pyres to save them from dishonour, a dread rite known as jauhar, and usually practised by Rajputs when hard pressed. The clansmen of the regular garrison threw themselves on the Mogul swords and perished fighting. Akbar was so enraged by the fierce resistance that he massacred 30,000 of the country people who had taken part in the defence. The gates of the fortress were taken off their hinges and removed to Agra. The huge kettledrums which used to proclaim for miles around the exit and entrance of the princes, and the massive candelabra which lighted the shrine of the Great Mother also were carried away to adorn the halls of the victor. Chitor was left desolate, so that in the eighteenth century it became the haunt of tigers and other wild beasts. In these latter days it has partially recovered, and the lower town is now a prosperous little place with a railway station. Fate of Rajputana. The fall of Chitor, followed in the next year (1.569) by that of Ranthambhor, made Akbar master of Rajputana, although not in full sovereignty. The clans of Mewar never submitted to him, and he had to fight them from time to time during the greater part of his reign. But no doubt remained that the Mogul had become the paramount power over his Rajput neighbours. Most of the princes were content to receive official appointments as salaried dignitaries of the empire, and several gave daughters in marriage to the emperor. Rajputana or Rajasthan was reckoned as a province or Suba with the head quarters at Ajmer, and the chivalry of the clans for the most part became devoted soldiers of the Padshah. The strong fortress of Kalanjar in Bundelkhand to the south of the Jumna opened its gates in 1569, the year in which Rantham bhor was taken. Akbar was thus left at liberty to indulge his ambition in other directions, and to extend his conquests as far as the Arabian Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on the east. ART AND BUILDINGS 351 Akbar's love of art. The -activity of Akbar's versatile mind was never limited to the business of war and conquest. As early as his seventh regnal year he had taken pains to requisition the services of Tansen, the best singer in India, and he always retained an intelligent interest in music. Every form of art also attracted him, and as a boy he had learned the elements of drawing and painting under two renowned artists. He commemorated the gallantry of Jaimall and Patta'-the heroes of Chitor, by causing their effigies to be carved and set on stone elephants placed at the gate of the Agra fort. Buildings. He loved building and possessed excellent taste in architecture. The magnificent stone-faced walls of the Agra Fort were begun in 1565, and hundreds of buildings modelled on the designs of Bengal and Gujarat architects were erected within the precincts. Most of them were pulled down by Shahjahan, whose canons of taste differed. The palace-city of Fathpur-Sikri, twenty- three miles to the west of Agra, was begun in 1569, and finished about six or seven years later. It became the royal residence in 1570 or 1571. Akbar's sons. Akbar, having had the misfortune to lose at least two infant children while living at Agra, came to regard that place as unlucky. A famous Muslim holy man, Shaikh Salim Chishti, who dwelt among the rocks at SIkrI, promised the emperor three sons who should survive. The prophecy was ful filled. The eldest, born in August 1569, and named Prince Salim, in honour of the saint, became the Emperor Jahangir in due course. Murad, the second prince, born in 1570, died from the effects of intemperance, about six years prior to his father's decease. The third son, Daniyal, met the same fate, some four years later than his brother. Fathpur-Sikri. The emperor, believing that the neighbourhood of SIkrI, where the saint dwelt, would be lucky for himself, resolved to build a vast mosque there for the use of the Shaikh, and beside it a palace and royal residence, equipped with all the conveniences thought necessary in that age and adorned with all the resources of art. After the conquest of Gujarat in 1573 the new city Was named Fathabad or Fathpur, 'Victory town'. In order to distinguish it from many other places of the same name it is usually known as Fathpur-Sikri. The great mosque is still perfect, and several of the more important palace buildings, now carefully conserved, are almost uninjured. They are constructed of the local red sand stone, a fine durable building material. Artists from all countries accessible to Akbar were collected to decorate the buildings with carving and frescoes. Most of the carving has escaped damage, but few fragments of painting survive. Fathpur-Sikri was occupied as the capital of the empire for only about fifteen years from 1570 to 1585, when Akbar went north and quitted his fantastic city for ever, excepting a passing visit in 1601. The latest building of importance is the Buland Darwaza 352 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD or Lofty Portal of the mosque, erected in 1575-6, probably as a triumphal arch to commemorate the conquest of Gujarat. Gujarat. The rich province known as Gujarat, lying between Malwa and the Arabian Sea, had been held by Humayun for a short time, and long before had been subject to the Sultanate of Delhi in the days of the Khiljls and Muhammad bin Tughlak. Akbar, therefore, could advance reasonable claims to the recovery of the province, which, in any case, invited aggression by its wealth. Just then, too, the government had fallen into disorder and the intervention of Akbar was actually asked for by a local chief. Conquest of Gujarat. The campaign began in July 1572. Surat was taken after a siege, and Akbar gave brilliant proof of his personal courage and prowess in a hard-fought skirmish at Sarnal.1 When the emperor, as he may now be called, started for home in the April following, he believed that the newly conquered province had been securely annexed and might be left safely in the charge of his officers. But he was hardly back in Fathpur- Slkrl when he received reports of a formidable insurrection headed by certain disorderly cousins of his known as the Mlrzas, who already had given much trouble, and by a noble named Ikhtiyaru-1 Mulk. Akbar, who was then in his thirty-first year and in the fullest enjoyment of his exceptional powers, bodily and mental, rose to the occasion. He prepared a fresh expeditionary force with extraordinary rapidity, looking after everything personally, and sparing no expense. He declared that nobody would be ready to start sooner than himself, and made good his promise. Having sent on a small advanced guard, he rode out of his capital on August 23 with a few attendants — all mounted on swift she-camels. The party, using what conveyance they could get, rushed across Rajputana at hurricane speed and reached the outskirts of Ah madabad, nearly six hundred miles distant, in eleven days all told — nine days of actual travelling — a marvellous feat of endurance. The emperor, with a tiny force of about three thousand horsemen, fought twenty thousand of the enemy near Ahmadabad on Sep tember 2, 1573, and gained a decisive victory. He was back again in his capital on October 4, Gujarat having then become definitely part of the empire. The province was disturbed many times afterwards, but the imperial supremacy was never questioned until 1758 when the Marathas occupied Ahmadabad. The conquest of Gujarat an epoch. The conquest of Gujarat marks an important epoch in Akbar's history. The annexation gave his government free access to the sea with all the rich commerce passing through Surat, and the other western ports. The territory and income of the State were vastly extended, so that the viceroyalty of Gujarat became one of the most important posts in the gift of the sovereign. Akbar now first saw the sea and came into direct contact with the Portuguese, thus opening up relations which seriously affected the history of India, and introduced new influences operating upon his mind. The province became the practising 1 Near Thasra in the Kaira District, Bombay. CONQUEST OF GUJARAT 353 ground for Raja, Todar Mall, the able financier, who made his first revenue ' settlement ' on improved principles in Gujarat.1 Reforms. The conclusion of the conquest gave Akbar and his advisers an opportunity for introducing several administrative reforms. The Government made a determined effort to check the extensive frauds continually practised by the officials and fief-holders who ?§^|MJiTOM8,GUJARr\T so o spMiles Fortresses^- Battlefields <& Akbari Bautzjhigusl-September Ib73^f ' were bound each to supply a certain number of mounted men. The expedient principally relied on was known as the ' branding regulation ', based on precedents set by Alau-d din Khilji and Sher Shah. Elaborate rules were laid down for branding every horse in the service of Government and thus making fraudulent 1 The word ' settlement ' in this technical sense is a translation of the Persian term bandobast. It includes all the processes necessary for the assessment of the ' land revenue ' or crown rent, that is to say, the State's share of the produce of the cultivated land or its cash equivalent. N3 354 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD musters of cavalry more difficult. The measure met with so much covert opposition from influential persons whose interests were affected that the success attained was only partial. Akbar sought to diminish the power of the fief-holders or jdgirddrs, and to enhance the authority of the crown by ' converting jdgirs into crown-lands (khdlsa) ', that is to say, by dividing the imperial territory into convenient jurisdictions under the direct administration of salaried officials. Firoz ^jShjLh__TjighJak had favoured the system of paying his officers by assigning to each a district, from which the assignee collected' the land revenue and 'cesses which otherwise would have been paid to the State. Akbar perceived clearly that that system tended to increase the power of local magnates and predisposed them to rebellion, while being also injurious to the fiscal interest of the central Government. He was fond of money and always keen to increase his income. He therefore gave up the practice of assigning jdgirs or fiefs, so far as possible, and preferred to appoint officials remunerated- by definite salaries. The consequent increase of officialdom, if it was to become an efficient instrument of government, involved the establishment of a bureaucracy or graded service of State officials. Akbar accordingly regularized the previously existing system of mansab- ddrs, or office-holders, and classified them in thirty-three grades. His arrangements will be described more particularly later. Here the fact is to be noted that all the above-mentioned measures of administrative and financial reform were worked out in the interval between the conquest of Gujarat in 1573 and the invasion of Bengal in 1575. The regulations were further perfected in subsequent years. Conquest of Bengal. Akbar needed no pretext to induce' him to undertake the extension of his empire eastward and the subjugation of Bengal which long before had been subject to the Sultanate of Delhi. But even if he had been unwilling, the adven ture was forced upon him by the rashness of Daud Khan, the young Afghan king of Bengal, who openly defied Akbar and be lieved himself to be more than a match for the imperial power. His father, Sulaiman Karara.nl, had been careful to give formal' recognition of the Padshah's suzerainty, while preserving his practical independence. In 1574 Akbar undertook the chastise ment of the presumptuous prince. He voyaged down the rivers, and drove Daud from Patna and Hajipur iri the height of the rainy season, when Hindu custom forbade active operations. But Akbar cared for weather conditions as little as Alexander of Macedon had done, and insisted on the campaign being pressed, much against the inclination of his officers. He himself returned to Fathpur-Sikri. Daud was defeated early in 1575 at Tukaroi in the Balasore District. The battle would have been decisive and ended the war, but for the ill-judged lenity of old Munim Khan, the commander-in-chief, who granted easy terms and allowed Daud to recover strength. Another campaign thus became RANA PARTAP SINGH 355 necessary, and Daud was not finally defeated and killed until July 1576, in a battle fought near Rajmahal. From that date Bengal became an integral part of the empire. Orissa was not annexed until 1592. Defeat of Rana Partap Singh. In this year (1576), which saw the annexation of Bengal, Kunwar Man Singh of Amber (Jaipur), whose sister by adoption was married to the emperor, inflicted a crushing defeat on the brave Rana, Partap Singh of MewSr, the son of the craven Udai Singh. The battle was fought at the entrance of the Haldighat Pass, near the town of Gogunda, and is spoken of indifferently by either name. The Rana was driven to take refuge in remote fastnesses, and the strongholds of his kingdom passed into the hands of the im perialists. But before his death in 1597 he had recovered most of them. Ajmer, Chitor, and Mandalgarh always remained in possession of the Padshah's officers. The empire in 1576. The conquest of Bengal in 1576, twenty years after his accession, made Akbar master of all Hin dostan, including the entire basins of the Indus and Ganges, excepting Sind on the lower course of the Indus, which did not come into his possession until many years later. He had thus become sovereign of the most valuable regions of India, ex tending from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalaya to the Narbada ; be sides the semi-independent Kabul province. The territories under his rule, with their huge population, fertile soil, numerous manu factures, and vast commerce, both internal and sea-borne, con stituted even then an empire richer probably than any other in the world. The subsequent additions to his dominions, com prising Kashmir, Orissa, Sind, Kandahar, Khandesh. arid a portion of the Deccan, with the complete absorption of the Kabul province, merely rounded off the compact empire which had been gradually acquired and consolidated in the first twenty years of his reign. The ' House of Worship '. From 1575 Akbar ordinarily left the command of armies in the field to his trusted officers, Man Singh, Todar Mall, Abdurrahim, or others. Early in that year, RANA PARTAP SINGH. 356 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD when he returned from Patna, he busied himself with building in the gardens of the palace at Fathpur-Sikri near the mosque a handsome edifice called the House of Worship ('Ibddat Khdna) to be used as a debating-hall for the discussion of questions of religion and theology in which he was deeply interested. During the first three years, until 1578 or 1579, the discussions were limited to the various schools of Muslim theology. Even then they were sometimes embittered. From 1579 to 1582, when the debates came to an end, representatives of other religions -were admitted and the disputants met in the private apartments of the palace. The site of the House of Worship has been utterly forgotten and no trace of the building, which was large and highly decorated, has been discovered. The probability is that Akbar pulled it down . when he had no longer any use for it. ^m^m ^ggs & ~^'-¦'-''¦ 16481649 1652 165316531654 Sunday, Oct. 28, 1627 . Feb. 1628 1630-2 . 1631 June 17, 1631 . 1632 . 1632 . 1632 . 1636 . July 1636 . 1637 . 16381639 Transfer of capital from Agra to Delhi (Shahjahanabad) Kandahar taken by Persians ; first siege by Aurangzeb Second siege of Kandahar by Aurangzeb Third siege of Kandahar by Dara Shikoh .... Aurangzeb reappointed to Deccan . .... Demolition of walls of Chitor ....... Murshid Kuli Khan appointed Diwan of the Deccan ; siege of Gol konda by Aurangzeb ; death of Sadullah Khan and appointment of Mir Jumla as prime minister ; death of Muhammad Adil Shah of Bijapur 1656 Invasion of Bijapur . . .... March 1657 War of Succession Illness of Shahjahan ..... Battle of Bahadurpur, defeat of Shuja Battle of Dharmat, defeat of Jaswant Singh Battle of Samugarh, defeat of Dara Shikoh Captivity of Shahjahan and Murad Bakhsh Informal enthronement of Aurangzeb . Battle of Khajwah, defeat of Shuja Battle of Deorai, defeat of Dara Shikoh Formal enthronement of Aurangzeb Execution of Dara Shikoh . Death of Shuja, Betrayal of Sulaiman Shikoh Authorities The events, as viewed in relation to the biography of Aurangzeb, are discussed critically by Professor Jadunath Sarkar in History of Aurang zeb, vols, i, ii (Calcutta, 1912). For translations of the leading Persian authorities see E. db D., vol. vii. The European authorities used include the travels of Bernier (transl. and ed. Constable and V. A. Smith, Oxford University Press, 1914); Olearius, transl. Davies (London, 1669); Manucci, transl. anded. Irvine (London, Murray, 1907,1908) ; ManhiQOT, Itinerario (in Spanish, Roma, 1649) ; Mundy, ed. Temple, vol. ii (Hakluyt . September 1657 . February 1658 . April 15, 1658 May 29, 1658 . June 1658 July 21, 1658 . January 5, 1659 April 12-14, 1659 . June 1659 August 1659 . May 1660 . Dec. 1660 AUTHORITIES 423 Society, 1914) ; and Tavernier, transl. and ed. V. Ball (London, Macmillan, 1889). The following works also have been consulted : de Laet, De Imperio Magni Mogolis, sive India Vera, including the ' Fragmentum Historiae Indicae ' by President van den Broecke (Elzevir, 1631, two impressions); Growse, Mathura* (Allahabad, 1883) ; Hosten, 'A Week at the Bandel Convent, Hugli,' in Bengal Past and Present, vol. x (Calcutta); Journal of the Panjab Historical Society (J. P. II. S., Lahore and Calcutta) ; and Sir C. Ly all's article on ' Bihar! Lai ' in Encycl.Brit.11 The art of the reign is discussed in H. F. A. The coins are described in the official catalogues of the B. M., I. M., and Lahore (Panjab) Museum, as well as in other publications. The published inscriptions are listed in Horowitz, Epigraphia Indo- Moslemica (Calcutta, 1912). CHAPTER 6 Aurangzeb Alamgir (1659-1707). Second enthronement of Aurangzeb. The fate of Aurangzeb's father, brothers, and nephews has been related in the last preceding chapter, although some of the events took place in 1659 and 1660, after his formal assumption of the imperial dignity and titles. He re-entered Delhi in May 1659 and was enthroned for the second time in June with complete ceremonial. His name was then read in the khutbah, and coins were issued with his superscription (a.h. 1069). He assumed the title of Alamgir, by which he is usually designated in the .writings of Muhammadan authors. His earlier title of Aurangzeb being more familiar to European readers has been retained in this work. The new sovereign at once showed his respect for Muslim usage by discontinuing the Ilahi era of Akbar, and reverting completely ~t to the Muhammadan lunar calendar, notwithstanding its incon veniences in practice. Nominal remission of taxes. Like many other newly installed rulers he sought the goodwill of his subjects by abolishing oppressive imposts, which were especially vexatious at the time by reason of a famine of intense severity.1 He remitted nearly eighty taxes and cesses of various kinds, and issued strict orders prohibiting their collection. But the leading historian of the" reign records distinctly that, with one or two exceptions, ' the royal prohibition had no effect', and the local officers continued to collect for their own benefit nearly all the prohibited taxes. In fact, when Khafi Khan wrote in the reign of Muhammad Shah, the local officers and landholders used to exact more than ever by way of transit duties, so that goods in transit often had to pay more than double their cost price. Mir Jumla's war with Assam, 1661-3. Aurangzeb's success 1 See Tod, i. 310, for a vivid description of the horrors of the famine as experienced in Mewar in Samvat 1717= a. d. 1660-1. 424 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD against his rivals had been due in -large measure to his alliance with Mir Jumla. After his accession that officer did further good service by hunting down Shuja, and bringing him to his miserable end. The emperor was glad to keep Mir Jumla in Bengal as governor at a distance from the capital. A raid by the Ahoms of Assam, who captured twenty guns from the commandant of GauhatI, tempted the governor to plunge into the Assamese wilds and dream of an attack on China. He penetrated the difficult country as far as Ghargaon on the Brahmaputra, but was driven back by heavy rain and the lack of sup plies. His experiences dur ing the retreat were similar to those of his early prede cessor, Muhammad Khilji, son of Bakhtyar, in 1205, and resulted in the almost complete destruction of the invading army, although the invader secured a treaty on nominally favourable terms. Aurangzeb was not sorry when his too powerful subject died in 1663 from the effects of the hardships of the campaign. Mir Jumla is highly praised for the humanity and justice which he displayed in the conduct of the operations. Shayista Khan in Ben gal. Mir Jumla was suc ceeded in the government of Bengal by Aurangzeb's maternal uncle, Shayista Khan, who was transferred from the Deccan in consequence of the events to be related pre sently. Shayista Khan continued to govern Bengal for about thirty years (excepting an interval of less than three years, from 1677 to 1680), and died at Agra in 1694, when over ninety years of age. Early in his rule he cleared out the Portuguese pirates who infested the waterways of the Brahmaputra delta, and com pelled the king of Arakan to cede the Chittagong (Chatgaon) district (1666). Visit to Kashmir. Aurangzeb became seriously ill in the sum mer of 1664 and went in the following cold weather to Kashmir in order to restore his health, but he never revisited that country, which he disliked. Bernier, who was in the service of a learned SHAYISTA KHAN. AURANGZEB IN KASHMIR 425 noble with the title Danishmand Khan, accompanied the emperor on the march, and arrived in the ' paradise of the Indies ' early in 1665. He has recorded an admirable description of the incidents of the march and the objects of interest in the valley.1 The journey was performed very slowly, the huge camp being detained for more than two months at Lahqre in order to await the melting of the snow on the mountains of Kashmir. The travelling was extremely uncomfortable, and the passage of the Chinab river in particular was a scene of confusion and danger. A horrid accident occurred in the PIr Panjal Pass, when one of the elephants carrying the ladies stepped back and forced the animals behind him over the precipice, to the number of fifteen. Only three or four of the women were killed. Some of the elephants were observed to be still alive two days later. Respite of the Deccan. In 1657, when the serious illness of Shahjahan became known, Aurangzeb, who was then Viceroy of the Deccan, was within measurable distance of effecting the destruction of the sultanates of Bijapur and Golkonda, which he ardently desired. The ensuing war of succession gave those much harried states a respite and enabled them to prolong their exist ence for nearly thirty years. But, meantime, Bijapur suffered many losses from the operations of Sivajl, a young Maratha chief tain, son of Shahjl Bhonsle, originally an officer of the Ahmadnagar State, who had transferred his services to Bijapur, a few years before the Nizam Shahi kingdom was annexed to the empire. Early life of Sivaji. Sivajl, who was born in 1627, began operations in a small way as a robber chief in Bijapur territory, while still a boy, and took his own line, without consulting his father, in whose jdgir the irregular proceedings took place. Shahjl, however, who could not escape suspicion of having abetted his unruly son, suffered in consequence four years' confinement at Bijapur, and was in imminent danger of losing his life. The young adventurer, when only nineteen years of age, made his first impor tant advance by gaining possession of a hill-fort named Torna, about twenty miles to the south-west of Poona. He gathered round him the men of the hills in the Western Ghats called Mawalis, who are described as an ' uncouth, backward, and stupid race '. But, however mentally defective they might be, they were well adapted to serve SivajI's purposes^ because they were hardy, brave, and intensely devoted to their new leader. They knew 1 The dates are conclusively fixed in detail by Bernier in his letters to M. de Merveilles, the first being dated December 14, 1664, probably in n. s. He marched on the night of that day (ed. Constable and V. A. Smith, 1914, p. 350). Irvine (Ind. Ant., 1911, p. 76) erroneously gives the date of Aurangzeb's illness as from May to August 1662, and that of the visit to Kashmir as extending from December 1662 to October 1663. The error of two years committed by a writer so careful as Irvine is instruc tive, especially as it occurs in an essay designed to settle the obscure chronology of the reign. Lane-Poole gives the correct date. Sarkar (iii. 12) adopts the wrong date 1662, and makes no reference to Bernier. 426 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD every path and rock in their native wilds and could pit their know ledge of woodcraft against the military training of their Muslim enemies. Their ability to climb cliffs like monkeys specially fitted them for success in a war which was mainly devoted to the capture of the steeply scarped hill-forts so numerous in their country. Fort after fort yielded to the young chieftain, who built other strongholds on his own account. He next turned his attention to the Konkan, the rich strip of broken ground between the crest , of the mountains and the sea. One of his officers gained possession of the important town of Kalyan in that region. In 1655 Sivajl com mitted an atrocious crime by direct ing the treacherous murder of the Raja of Jaoll, who had refused to join him in rebellion. Murder and defeat of Afzal Khan. The Bijapur authorities, being otherwise occupied, had not paid much attention so far to the operations of Sivajl. But, in 1659, while Aurangzeb was still busy securing his throne, they thought that the time had come to suppress the audacious rebel. An imposing army, numbering about ten thou sand men and equipped with moun tain guns, was organized and dis patched under the command of Afzal Khan, a brave and experienced officer. Sivajl, not being capable of meeting his foe in the field, opened negotiations, and a -Brahman envoy was sent by the Musal man general to his adversary. The envoy played the traitor, per mitting his sympathies as a Hindu to outweigh his duty to his master. The Brahman and Sivajl so arranged a plot to inveigle Afzal Khan into an interview at which he could be killed with little risk to the Maratha. Afzal Khan fell into the trap readily, and, accompanied only by a single Sayyid officer, advanced close to Partabgarh and met Sivajl, who also had but one companion, Tanaji Malusre. The Maratha professed the most abject sub mission and threw himself weeping at the general's feet. When Afzal Khan stooped to raise him and embrace him in the customary manner, Sivajl wounded him in the belly with a horrid weapon called ' tiger's claw ', which he held hidden in his left hand, and followed up the blow by a stab from a dagger concealed in his sleeve. The treacherous attack succeeded perfectly, and the Mara thas ambushed in the surrounding jungles destroyed Afzal Khan's army. Among the immense amount of spoil taken four thousand good horses were specially welcome.1 1 For the details I follow Mtinkar, The Life and Exploits of Sivdji, 2nd SIVAJI. SIVAJI 427 Shayista Khan. Bijapur never succeeded in retrieving the disaster, and Sivajl was left free to turn his arms against the more formidable Mogul power. In 1660 Aurangzeb, although still much occupied personally in the north, found it necessary to send Shayista Khan, his maternal uncle, to the Deccan. The new com mander did not know how to deal with his wily foe. Every day and on every march, we are told, the hill-men fell upon his baggage and carried off whatever they could secure. Shayista Khan retired to Poona for the rainy season, taking precautions which he fondly imagined were sufficient to secure him from attack. But the cunning Maratha was too much for him. Sivajl himself, attended by a few trusty followers, managed by means of clever stratagems to penetrate into the lodging of Shayista JChan, who narrowly escaped death and was thankful to get off with the loss of three fingers and of his son. The humiliated general was obliged to ask for his recall. His request was granted, and he was posted to Bengal, as already stated. Prince Muazzam and Raja. Jai Singh. Aurangzeb replaced him by his own son, Prince Muazzam, with whom was associated in the command Raja, Jai Singh of Jaipur, who was supposed to be a suitable person to deal with a Hindu enemy. But the new generals were as helpless as their predecessor had been, and were unable even to protect the rich port of Surat, which was plundered at the beginning of 1664 with ruthless cruelty. The Raja, who had always maintained more or less friendly relations with Sivajl, persuaded him to surrender to the imperial authority in 1665. The Maratha went to court under Jai Singh's protection and was received by Aurangzeb at Agra, but refused to comply with the rules of etiquette, and resented being treated merely as ' a com mander (mansabddr) of 5,000 ', instead of as a sovereign prince. He was, consequently, kept under surveillance, from which he managed to escape with the connivance of Ram Singh, a son of Jai Singh, returning in safety to his own country in December 1666, after many adventures. His absence had lasted nine months.1 Raja, Jai Singh died in 1667, while still in the Deccan, having been poisoned by his son, KIrat Singh, probably at the instigation of Aurangzeb, who publicly rejoiced at the news of the Raja's death. He felt that the decease of his leading Hindu officer gave him greater liberty in his policy of persecution. He availed himself of the liberty so gained by destroying the gigantic temple at Mathura. ed., Bombay, 1886 ; a valuable little book, now almost unprocurable ; and also Grant Duff. 1 According to some authorities Aurangzeb received Sivajl at Delhi, but Agra certainly is correct. The Tdrikh-i Mardihah MS. in the I. O., as I learn from an unpublished essay by Mr. Zahiru-d din Farukl, states that Sivajl displayed extreme conceit, refused to make obeisance, struck the chamberlain, and actually sat down in the imperial presence. Other accounts of the incident exist. Sivajl certainly considered himself to have been insulted at the audience. 428 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Prince Muazzam and Raja Jaswant Singh. The replace ment of Jai Singh by Raja, Jaswant Singh of Marwar (Jodhpur), who had served previously in the Deccan, did not effect any im provement in the situation of the imperialists. Both the Raja, and his colleague Prince Muazzam accepted large sums of money from Sivajl and deliberately abstained from effective operations. They even persuaded Aurangzeb to grant Sivajl the title of Raja in 1667.1 The Maratha power continued to increase steadily, and the newly appointed Raja, was left at liberty to devote the years 1668 and 1669 chiefly to the organization of the internal arrangements of his Government. In 1670 active hostilities were resumed, and in December of that year Sivaji's officers exacted from the local authorities of certain places in Khandesh written promises to pay to Sivajl or his deputies one-fourth of the yearly revenue due to Government. ' Regular receipts were promised on the part of Sivajl, which should not only exempt them from pillage, but ensure them protection. Hence we may date the first imposition of Maratha chauth on a province immediately subject to the Moguls.' 3 That scandalous submission to blackmail is conclusive proof of the feebleness of Aurangzeb's Government even early in his reign. His administration, in truth, never was successful at any date during the half-century of his rule. In October of the same year Sivajl had again plundered the city of Surat for three days in a leisurely fashion, but was not able to damage the European factories. Jat rebellions. Grave disorders occurred close to the capital. Early in 1669 the Jat peasantry of the Mathura District rebelled under the leadership of a man named Gokula,, and killed the imperial faujddr or commandant, a zealous Musalman, who had been in the service of Shahjahan. A big battle ensued in which the rebels lost five thousand and the imperialists four thousand men. Severe measures restored quiet in the following year, but the trouble was renewed in 1681 and again in 1688, from which date it continued to the end of the reign.3 We have seen how in 1691 the rebels inflicted the gravest possible affront on their enemy the emperor by plundering the sepulchre of his ancestor Akbar and burning his bones. When such scenes could occur close to Agra it is no wonder that the control of the Government over the Deccan provinces was feeble in the extreme. Satnami insurrection. In this connexion mention may be made of an insurrection by the members of a Hindu sect called Satnami which occurred in the fifteenth year of the reign, a.d. 1*7ki* The sectarians are described by Khafi Khan as ' a gang of bloody miserable rebels, goldsmiths, carpenters, sweeperst 1 Grant Duff, ed. 1826, i. 220. • Grant Duff, ibid., p. 249. 3 Professor J. Sarkar in Modern Review, April 1916, pp. 383-92. 4 Elphinstone gives the name erroneously as Satnarami, and in the margin of ed. 5 the date is stated wrongly as 1676. The term satnami means ' devotees of the true Name ', scil. God. SATNAMI INSURRECTION 429 tanners, and other ignoble beings ', who had their head-quarters at the town of Narnaul, now in the Patiala State. The insurgents, who numbered about 5,000, took possession of Narnaul, and being persuaded that they were proof against human weapons fought with desperation. After some time they were defeated with great slaughter, few escaping the sword. The losses of the imperialist troops also were considerable, in spite of the charms consisting of extracts from the Koran which the emperor wrote out with his own hand and caused to be affixed to the standards of his officers, Afghans and Sikhs. Nearly at the same time the imperial troops were engaged in difficult operations against the Afghan tribes, in the course of which the advantage usually lay with the tribes. Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh guru, was executed in 1675 because he refused to accept Islam. The famous prophecy attri buted to him will be quoted in the next chapter. Coronation of Sivajl. Continued success emboldened Sivajl to claim for himself a dignity more exalted than the rank of a titular Raja, conferred at the pleasure of Aurangzeb. He aspired to the position of an independent king ruling in his own right, and not in virtue of delegation by a suzerain. In pursuance of his ambition he took his seat on the throne at his fortress of Raigarh in June 1674, with all possible solemnity, and established a new era dating from his enthronement. Mr. Henry Oxinden, who had been sent from Bombay to negotiate a commercial treaty with the Marathas, happened to be present at the festivities, of which he recorded an account.1 Southern conquests of Sivajl. In 1676 Sivajl planned and began to execute operations, described by Grant Duff as ' the most important expedition of his life '. His design was to recover the southern jdgirs which had been held under the Bijapur Govern ment by his father and were still partly in the hands of Sivaji's younger brother, Vyankajl (Venkajee). Sivajl, at the head of a powerful force, visited Golkonda (Hyderabad), where he succeeded in inducing the Sultan to become his ally and lend him a train of artillery. Proceeding south he took the strong fortress of JinjI (Gingee) in South Arcot, with Vellore and other important places, compelling his brother to surrender a half-share in the Tanjore principality. On his way home Sivajl captured Bellary, and a little later entered into alliance with his old enemy the Sultan of Bijapur, thereby relieving the pressure exercised on the kingdom by the Mogul armies. The success of the Maratha leader had been secured in large measure by Aurangzeb's entanglement in the hostilities with the Afghan tribes on the north-western frontier, which lasted until 1678, when peace was arranged. Sarkar remarks with justice that ' ruinous as the Afghan war was to imperial finances, its political effect was even more harmful. It made the employment of Afghans in the 1 Grant Duff, i. 263. Oxinden's narrative is inserted in Fryer's book, A New Account, &c, vol. i, pp. 198-210. 430 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD ensuing Rajput war impossible, though Afghans were just the class of soldiers who could have won victory for the imperialists in that rugged and barren country [Rajputana]. Moreover, it relieved the pressure on Shivaji by draining the Deccan of the best Mughal troops for service on the N.W. frontier.' Death of Sivajl. The victorious career of the Maratha chieftain was ended by his death after a short illness at Raigarh in the fifty-third year of his age. His decease, which was concealed for a time, probably occurred on April 5 (o.s.), 1680.1 His country men believed that his passing was marked by the simultaneous appearance of a comet and a lunar rainbow, as well as by an earthquake ; but, as a matter of fact, Newton's comet, the one referred to, was not visible in India until November. Before proceeding with the narrative of the events of Aurangzeb's reign, it is desirable to give a short account of the institutions of Sivajl, and to attempt an appreciation of the qualities which enabled him to become the creator of a new nation and to take a com manding part in the history of his times. The Maratha country. Maharashtra, or the Maratha country, in which the Maratha language is the prevailing tongue, is most compendiously defined by Elphinstone as ' lying between the range of mountains which stretches along the south of the Narbada [scil. the Satpura], parallel to the Vindhya chain, and a line drawn from Goa, on the sea-coast, through Bidar to Chanda on the Warda. That river is its boundary on the east, as the sea is on the west.' The prominent feature of the country is the range of the Western Ghats. The mountains are so formed that the flat summits are protected by walls of smooth rock, constituting natural fortresses, which various princes, throughout many centuries, had converted by elaborate fortification into strongholds almost impregnable against the means of assault available in ancient times. Most of the hill-tops are well provided with water. The Maratha people. The Maratha people do not play a conspicuous part in early history. The Brahmans of Maharashtra, especially the Chitpawan section of the Konkan — the narrow strip of broken, rugged country be tween the crest of the Ghats and the sea — are an extremely intelligent class, to which the Peshwas belonged. The bulk of the people would be classed according to the theory of Manu as Sudras. Elphinstone's description is the best : ' Though the Marathas had never appeared in history as a nation, they had as strongly marked a character as if they had always formed a united commonwealth. Though more like to the lower orders in Hindostan than to their southern neighbours in Kanara and Telingana, they could n >ver for a moment be confounded with either. They are small sturdy men, well made, though not handsome. They are all active, 1 April 5 is the date according to Grant Duff and Orme. Fryer gives June 1 (iii. 167, with Crooke's note). Mankar (p. Ill) states the Hindu equivalent date as Sunday, Chait 15, 1602 Saka, in the Rudra year. But, according to chronological tables, April 5, 1680, was Mondav. THE MARATHAS 431 laborious, hardy, and persevering. If they have none of the pride and dignity of the Rajputs, they have none of their indolence or want of worldly wisdom. A Rajput warrior, as long as he does not dishonour his race, seems almost indifferent to the result of any contest he is engaged in. A Maratha thinks of nothing but the result, and cares little for the means, if he can attain his object. For this purpose he will strain his wits, renounce his pleasures, and hazard his person ; but he has not a conception of sacrificing his life, or even his interest, for a point of honour. This difference of sentiment affects the outward appearance of the two nations ; there is something noble in the carriage even of an ordinary Rajput, and something vulgar in that of the most distinguished Maratha. The Rajput is the most worthy antagonist — the Maratha the most formidable enemy ; for he will not fail in boldness and enterprise when they are indispensable, and will always support them, or supply their place, by stratagem, activity, and perseverance. All this applies chiefly to the soldiery, to whom more bad qualities might fairly be ascribed. The mere husbandmen are sober, frugal, and industrious, and, though they have a dash of the national cunning, are neither turbulent nor insincere. The chiefs, in those days, were men of families who had for generations filled the old Hindu offices of heads of villages or functionaries of districts, and had often been employed as partisans under the governments of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur. They were all Sudras, of the same cast with their people, though some tried to raise their consequence by claiming an infusion of Rajput blood.' Sivaji's environment. Such was the country to which Sivajl belonged, and such were the people whose virtues and vices he shared. His father, Shahjl, a member of the Bhonsle family or clan, was one of the class of chiefs mentioned by Elphinstone, and, as already noted, had passed from the service of Ahmadnagar to that of Bijapur. Sivaji's mother, Jiji Bal, came from a family of higher social rank. She was an intensely devout Hindu, and by her example and teaching did much to stimulate the zeal of her famous son in defence of Brahmans, cows, and caste, the three principal objects of Hindu veneration. The devotion of the young chief was fostered by the Marathi poets, Ramdas and Tukaram, with whom he lived on terms of close communion. The former was his chosen guide, philosopher, and friend ; while the latter, who refused to come to his disciple's court, impressed on the mind of Sivajl the mystic doctrines which form the main subject of Hindu poetry. ' There is one Truth in the world : there is one Soul in all Being. Pin thy faith to This Soul, see thyself mirrored in Ramdas : Do this, O Prince, and thou and the whole world shall be blest therein ; thy fame will pervade the Universe, saith Tuka.' The more practical Ramdas pointed out to his royal pupil the duties of kingship as he conceived them : ' Gods and Cows, Brahmans and the Faith, these are to be protected : therefore God has raised you up. . . . In all the earth there is not another who can save the Faith ; a remnant of the Faith you have saved. ... When the Faith is dead, death is better than life ; why live when 432 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Religion has perished ? Gather the Marathas together, make religion live again : our fathers laugh at us from Heaven ! ' * The poet's pious opinion that Treachery should be blotted out reads strangely when contrasted with his ode of congratulation on the treacherous murder of Afzal Khan. . But Maratha sentiment, which recked nothing of the means employed to attain a pious and patriotic end, had no censure to pass on the slayer of the impious Muslim, who, when on his way to the place appointed for him to die, was alleged to have foully defiled the most sacred shrines of the people whom he despised. The Marathas, including Sivajl and the mother whom he adored, believed with one accord that their patron goddess sanctioned the execution of their oppressor even by treacherous means, which rightly shock the conscience of more scrupulous critics. The suggestion made in some of the Maratha writings that Afzal Khan tempted fate by meditating the assassina tion of Sivajl is not in accordance with the ascertained facts. The troops of the Muhammadan general were kept out of the way, while the forest round the meeting-place swarmed with hidden Marathas awaiting their chief's signal. Sivajl, later in life when proceeding on his daring southern expedition in 1676, exhibited a marked access of religious fervour, and is reported to have even meditated the sacrifice of his own life in a temple, after the manner formerly common in the south, The power of Sivajl over his people rested at least as much on his intense devotion to the cause of Hinduism as on his skill in the special kind of warfare which he affected, or on his capacity for organization. Indeed, it is safe to affirm that his religious zeal was the most potent factor in arousing the sentiment of nationality which inspired his lowly countrymen to defy the Mogul legions. One of those countrymen proudly declares that ' the king was no doubt an incarnation of the Deity. . . . No such hero was ever born, nor will there be any in the days to come.' Sivaji's special virtues. The foregoing observations go a long way towards explaining the personal influence wielded by Sivajl and his conspicuous success, both as a robber chief in the early part of his career and as the responsible ruler of a kingdom in his latter years. But they do not exhaust the subject. Sivajl possessed and practised certain special virtues which nobody would have expected to find in a man occupying his position in his time and surroundings. It is a curious fact that the fullest account of those special virtues is to be found in the pages of the Muhammadan historian, Khafl Khan, who ordinarily writes of Sivajl as ' the reprobate ', 4 a sharp son of the devil ', ' a father of fraud ', and so forth. An author who habitually applies such terms of abuse to his subject cannot be suspected of undue partiality towards him. Neverthe- ' Rawlinson, Shivdji the Maratha, 1915, pp. 113-22. SIVAJI'S POLICY 433 less Khafi Khan honours himself as well as Sivaji by the following passage : ' Adil Khan of Bijapur, on hearing of this [Afzal Khan's] defeat, sent another army against Sivajl, under the command of Rustam Khan, one of his best generals. An action was fought near the fort of Parnala, and Rustam Khan was defeated. v In fine, Fortune so favoured this treacherous worthless man that his forces increased, and he grew more powerful every day. He erected new forts, and employed himself in settling his own territories, and in plundering those of Bijapur. He attacked the caravans which came from distant ports, and appropriated to himself the goods and women . But he made it a rule that wherever his followers went plundering, they should do no harm to the mosques, the Book of God, or the women of any one. Whenever a copy of the sacred Kuran came into his hands, he treated it with respect, and gave it to some of his Musalman followers. When the women of any Hindu or Muhammadan were taken prisoners by his men, and they had no friend to protect them, he watched over them until their relations came with a suitable ransom to buy their liberty. Whenever he found out that a woman was a slave-girl, he looked upon her as being the property of her master, and appropriated her to himself. He laid down the rule that whenever a place was plundered, the goods of poor people, copper money, and vessels of brass and copper, should belong to the man "who found them ; but other articles, gold and silver, coined or uncoined, gems, valuable stuffs and jewels, were not to belong to the finder, but were to be given up without the smallest deduction to the officers, and to be by them paid over to Sivaji's government.' His army differed from all other Indian armies of the period, and even from the Anglo-Indian armies of Wellesley's time, in its complete freedom from the curse of female followers. ' No man in the army was to take with him wife, mistress, or prostitute ; one who infringed this rule was to lose his head.' Discipline was strictly maintained, and death was the penalty for either disobedience of orders or grave neglect of duty. Organization of the army. The army, which originally consisted of infantry only, was organized in a sensible fashion with a due gradation of officers. The lowest rank of officer was that of ndik, or corporal, who commanded a squad of ten men. Above him were the havilddr, or. sergeant, the jumladdr, or captain of a company, the battalion commander, and the brigade commander, or brigadier. The brigade was reckoned as 5,000 men. The com mander-in-chief was styled Sarnobat or Senapati. When cavalry was introduced there was sometimes a separate chief for that arm. The troopers comprised bdrgirs, mounted by the state, and sildhddrs (sillidars), who provided their- own horses. Sivajl disliked the jdgir system, and preferred to pay his officers' salaries from the treasury. The garrisons of the forts were carefully constituted, and special precautions were taken against the risk of the comman dants being corrupted. The forts played a very important part in Sivaji's kingdom, and required all possible care. Regular drill was not practised, but in that respect Sivaji's army was no worse than that of any rival power. The army retired into quarters for 434 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD the rainy season, when military operations in Maharashtra are almost impossible.1 The campaigning season began in accordance with Hindu practice by a grand review held at the Dasahra festival in October, and lasted until about April. A considerable fleet was built and stationed at Kolaba, in order to check the power of the Sidl or Abyssinian pirate chiefs of Janjira and to plunder the rich Mogul ships. Civil administration. Much of the revenue of the Maratha state was derived from simple robbery, and another large portion came from payments in the nature of blackmail made by dis tricts under the government of other powers which desired pro tection from plunder. The army was organized primarily for the purpose of plunder, and not so much for the extension of territory directly administered. The principal blackmail payment was called chauth, or ' the fourth ', being one-quarter of the authorized land revenue assessment of the district claiming protection. We have seen how as early as 1670 a portion of Khandesh, although imperial territory, was compelled to submit to the payment of chauth. Sometimes an extra tenth, called sardesmukhi, was extorted. The details were purposely made as intricate as possible, so that nobody except the professional Maratha Brahman accountants could understand them. All clerical and account work was in Brahman hands. The fighting Marathas, including Sivaji himself, ordinarily refused to learn the arts of reading, writing, and ciphering, which they considered unworthy of a soldier. The kingdom or principality under the direct rule of Sivaji at the time of his death in 1680, although considerable, was not very extensive. The home territory consisted of a long narrow strip comprising chiefly the Western Ghats and the Konkan be tween Kalyan, now in the Thana District, and Goa, with some dis tricts to the east of the mountains, the extreme breadth from east to west being about a hundred- miles. The provinces or districts in the far south, and shared with Sivaji's brother, Vyankajl (Ven- kajee), were scattered in a fashion not easily definable. Sivaji's civil institutions applied only to the territories under his direct rule. The government. The government of the kingdom was conducted by the Raja, aided by a council of eight ministers, of whom the chief was the Peshwa, or prime minister. The other members held departmental charges, such as finance, foreign affairs, and so forth. They included a Shastri, or officer whose duty it was to expound Hindu law, to deal with matters of religion, criminal jurisdiction, and astrology. The whole administration was based on the principles of the Hindu scriptures or shdstras. The eight ministers usually were actually employed on military business, the work of their offices at the capital being performed by deputies. Each district officer similarly had eight principal sub ordinate officials, to deal with correspondence, accounts, and the treasury. 1 The older European writers ''all the rainy season in western India ' the winter '. CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 435 Civil disputes were settled in the immemorial Hindu fashion by a panchdyat, or jury of neighbours. Revenue system. The revenue system was based on the practice of Dadajl Konadeo, Sivaji's early instructor. Farming of the revenues was stopped, and the assessment was made on the crop; the normal share of the state being two-fifths. But the Raja's districts had suffered terribly from constant war, and Sivaji never had sufficient leisure to complete his revenue arrangements as a working system. The English traveller, Dr. Fryer (1673), paints an unpleasant picture of his government as in actual operation. Writing from Goa he speaks of Vengurla, now in the Ratnagiri District, as being under the ' tyrannical government of Sivajl ' ; and with reference to Karwar, the important port in North Kanara, then recently occupied by the Marathas, observes : ' It is a general calamity and much to be deplored to hear the complaints of the poor people that remain, or are rather compelled to endure the slavery of Sivajl. The Desais [headmen of districts or petty chiefs] have land imposed upon them at double the former rates, and if they refuse to accept it on these hard conditions (if monied men) they are carried off to prison, there they are famished almost to death ; racked and tortured most inhumanly till they confess where it is. They have now in limbo several Brahmans, whose flesh they tear with pincers heated red-hot, drub them on the shoulders to extreme anguish (though according to their law it is forbidden to strike a Brahman). This is the accustomed sauce all India over, the princes doing the same by the governors when removed from their offices, to squeeze their ill-gotten estates out of them ; which when they have done, it may be they may be employed again. And after this fashion the Desais deal with the Kunbis [an agricultural caste] ; so that the great fish prey on the little, as well by land as by sea, bringing not only them but their families into eternal bondage. However, under the King of Bijapur the taxations were mueh milder, and they lived with far greater comfort.' ' The robber State. Similarly, when the first sack of Surat occurred in 1664, an Englishman named Smith saw Sivaji seated in a tent and employed in ordering the cutting off the heads and hands of those who concealed their wealth. No reason exists for branding that statement by an eyewitness as ' a gross exaggera tion '.2 Sivaji, when gathering plunder, behaved as Indian dacoits and banditti always have done, and still do, although his barbarities were mitigated by certain chivalrous practices already noted, which may be ascribed with probability to the teaching of Tukaram. Hindus are prone to worship power as such, and Sivaji's brilliant success alone would have sufficed to win popular veneration. When that success was combined with intense devotion to the gods, reverent liberality to Brahmans, and protection to cows, the brave and victorious leader was well qualified to be considered an incarnation of the deity. But the fact that Sivaji possessed 1 A New Account, ed. Crooke, vol. ii, p. 3, but printed in modern fashion. 3 Rawlinson, p. 98 note. The statement is quoted by Grant Duff ., vii. 183. Aurangzeb's mosque, the Alam- giri Masjid, is the most prominent building in Benares, and occupies the site of the Saiva Visvesvara temple destroyed in 1669, erroneously called Bishannath by the Muhammadan author. The name of Islamabad has been long disused. For the temple of Kesava deva see Growse, Mathura3, Allahabad, 1883. 1 The detailed chronology of the Rajput war is given by Sarkar, vol. iif, App. ix. RAJPUT WAR 439 If Your Majesty places any faith in those books by distinction called divine, you will there be instructed that God is the God of all mankind, not the God of Muhammadans alone. The Pagan and the Musalman are equally in His presence. Distinctions of colour are of his ordination. It is He who gives existence. In your temples, to His name the voice is raised in prayer ; in a house of images, when the bell is shaken, still He is the object of adoration. To vilify the religion or customs of other men is to set at naught the pleasure of the Almighty. When we deface a picture we naturally incur the resentment of the painter ; and justly has the poet said, " Presume not to arraign or scrutinize the various works of power divine." In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindus is repugnant to justice ; it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish {he country ; moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of Hindostan.' 1 The testimony of the writer to the general misery caused by the misgovernment of Aurangzeb during the earlier years of his reign deserves particular notice. Rajputana suffered all the horrors of war in their most extreme form ; because the Rana, who had retired to the western hills, devastated the plains in order to hamper the progress of the invader, while the Mogul armies destroyed the little that was left. Temples were demolished wholesale with fanatical fury. For example, in May 1679, Khan Jahan Bahadur received warm praise from Aurangzeb for bringing from Jodhpur several cartloads of idols taken from temples which had been razed. The images were treated in the most insulting ways possible, ' until at last not a vestige of them was left '. During the campaign of 1679-80 enormous damage was wrought among the shrines of Rajputana. At or near Udaipur 123, and at Chitor in the same state 63 temples weTe overthrown. The friendly state of Amber (Jaipur) was treated with equal severity and suffered the loss of 66 temples. Thus, in two states, no less than 252 shrines were destroyed in one year. Many other figures will be found in Sarkar's History. Clearly it is no exaggeration to affirm that Aurangzeb in the course of his long reign caused the demolition of thousands of temples, inflicting irreparable injury on the monuments of ancient civilization and on 1 The authorship of the letter lies between Rana Raj Singh, favoured by Tod, and Sivaji, to whom Professor Sarkar ascribes it (Mod. Review, Allahabad, 1908, p. 21) on the authority of R. A. S. MS. No. 71. The writer is said to have been Nil Prabhu Munshi, a Brahman adviser of Sivajl. The chief, who was illiterate, could not have composed and dictated such a document. The rate of the jizya assessment in Bengal, according to Stewart (p. 308n.) was 6J per thousand on all property. Christians paid 1J per cent, on their trading in addition. The sick, lame, and blind were excused. The following quotation explains Stewart's statement about the tax on Christians. ' As for the three European Companies, they flatly refused to pay it (the jizya), on which Aurangzebe, while exempting them from the impost, obtained its equivalent by raising the duties on Europe goods to 3£ per cent., instead of the 2 per cent, which had hitherto been allowed them by special charter ' (Strachey, Keigwin's Rebellion, p. 45). 440 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD irreplaceable works of art. The testimony of books is amply confirmed by local traditions in all parts of the country, many of which I have heard on the spot. The ruin was not confined to new or recent structures. Temples of all ages were attacked indiscriminately. Aurangzeb employed all his three adult sons, the Princes Muaz zam, Azam, and Akbar, in the Rajput war, with poor success and several serious reverses. Marwar (Jodhpur) was formally annexed to the empire late in 1679, but the conquest was far from complete, and fighting in that territory continued without interruption for nearly thirty years longer. If the traditions recorded by Tod may be accepted, the imperialists more than once owed their escape from overwhelming disaster to the unpractical chivalry of their opponents. Revolt of Prince Akbar. Prince Akbar, although supposed to be his father's favourite son, dreamed of a throne for himself to be won by Rajput swords, and went over to the enemy on the first day of 1681 . He addressed singularly outspoken remonstrances in reply to a letter from his father, written probably early in January 1681. Aurangzeb had endeavoured to win back his son by a combination of promises with threats, and in the course of his argument exposed his real sentiments concerning his gallant Rajput subjects by describing them as ' Satans in a human shape . . . beast-looking, beast-hearted, wicked Rajputs'. Akbar responded by urging his personal claims to consideration, and repelling his father's foul abuse of the clans. ' All sons have equal claims to the property of their father. . . . Verily, the guide and teacher of this path [scil. of rebellion against a father] is Your Majesty ; others are merely following your footsteps. How can the path which Your Majesty himself chose to follow be called "the path of ill-luck"?' The writer recalls how Akbar had conquered the realm of Hindostan with the help of the Rajputs, and continues : ' Blessings be on this race's fidelity to salt, who without hesitation in giving up their lives for their master's sons, have done such deeds of heroism that for three years the Emperor of India, his mighty sons, famous ministers, and high grandees have been moving in distraction against them, although this is only the beginning of the contest.' The Prince proceeds to expound the oppression of the govern ment, the misery of the Deccan as well as of other provinces, and the universal official corruption. ' The clerks and officers of state have taken to the practice of traders, and are buying posts with gold and selling them for shameful considerations. Every one who eats salt destroys the salt-cellar." ' Akbar continued with admonitions to his father to retire from the world, and ' make his soul ', to use the Irish idiom. He added bitter personalities in verse : What good did you do to your father That you expect so much from your son ? REVOLT OF PRINCE AKBAR 441 O thou that art teaching wisdom to mankind Administer to thine own self what thou art teaching to others 1 Thou art not curing thyself, Then, for once, give up counselling others. A caustic pen was not enough to save the prince, who was no match for his wily father. Decisive action at the right moment would have overwhelmed Aurangzeb, who was almost destitute of troops for a short time. Akbar allowed the opportunity to slip, and spent his time in unseasonable pleasures. When he was ready to attack it was too late, reinforcements having reached the emperor. Aurangzeb, who always preferred guile to force, com pleted the discomfiture of his son by a trick. He forged a letter written in Akbar's name intimating the prince's intention to betray his allies, and arranged that it should fall into the hands of the Rajputs. They were simple enough to take the bait, and in their wrath deserted in a body. When they discovered the deception the cause of the rebel was past mending, and he was forced to ride hard for the Deccan, escorted by a small retinue of faithful followers, and guided by Durgadas, the devoted servant of the Raj. Sivaji having died in 1680, Akbar took refuge with his son Raja, Sambhaji, but ultimately was constrained to quit India and retire to Persia. His subsequent designs aimed against his father came to naught, and he died in exile in 1704.1 Hostilities with Mewar were ended in June 1681, by a treaty which provided for the cession of certain territory by the Rana, in lieu of the payment of the jizya, the demand for that odious impost being dropped. War in Marwar, as already mentioned, continued for thirty years until 1709, when Aurangzeb's successor, Bahadur Shah, formally and finally acknowledged the rights of Jaswant Singh's son, Ajit Singh, as Raja and ruler of Marwar. Although Aurangzeb always commanded a certain amount of service from several of the Rajput clans, his unwise fanaticism alienated the two principal states, and deprived his throne of the loyal support gladly tendered to his wiser ancestors. Aurangzeb goes to the Deccan. In 1681 Aurangzeb resolved to proceed to the Deccan in person, hoping that the presence of the sovereign might remove the danger threatening from Akbar's presence, secure the long-deferred conquest of the Sultanate, and curb the growing insolence of the Marathas. The recent death of Sivajl seemed to offer a favourable opportunity. The Mogul generals, as Bernier observes, used to ' conduct every operation . . . with languor and avail themselves of any pretext for the prolongation of war which is alike the source of their emolument and dignity. It is become a proverbial saying that the Deccan is the bread and support of the soldiers of Hindostan.' 1 For the correct date see E. db D., vii. 196, and Sarkar, History. Beale and other writers wrongly give the year as 1706. The quotations from Akbar's letter are taken from Sarkar's article in The Modern Review, January 1915, pp. 44-8. 1976 q 442 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Fryer quotes the same saying, observing that the policy of Aurang zeb was ' frustrated chiefly by the means of the soldiery and great Amirs (Ombrahs), who live lazily and in pay, whereupon they term the Deccan (Duccan) " the bread of the military men " '- The emperor left Ajmer in September, and arrived at Burhanpur in November 1681. In the year following he moved to Aurangabad; and in 1683 pitohed his camp at Ahmadnagar, from which place he marched in 1685 to Sholapur. Those years were spent in the unsuccessful attempt to capture Prince Akbar and in sundry operations against the Marathas, disastrous for the most part. The campaign against Golkonda in 1685 was entrusted to Prince Muazzam, who came to terms with the enemy, which were accepted officially but disapproved privately by the emperor. Surrender of Bijapur. The investment of Bijapur ended in October 1686, by the surrender of the city and of the young king, Sikandar, who became a prisoner for life. The independence of the state and the existence of the Adil Shahi dynasty thus came to an end. Sikandar's death in prison fifteen years later was, as usual, attributed to poison. The noble city remained desolate for many years, but has now recovered some small measure of prosperity. The buildings of the kings rival and in some respects surpass the Mogul monuments of northern India. Capture of Golkonda. Abu-1 Hasan, King of Golkonda or Hyderabad, had incurred Aurangzeb's wrath in a special measure because he had employed Brahman ministers and had sent money to Sambhajl. The dissoluteness of his private life was alleged as another reason for treating him with the utmost severity. When the final attack on the fortress of Golkonda came in 1687 the king gave up his evil ways, and played a man's part by conducting a gallant defence, with the aid of a brave and faithful lieutenant named Abdu-r Razzak. Aurangzeb and his generals tried every means known to them — mines, bombardment, and escalade — without success. The fortress, like Asirgarh in Akbar's time, was so amply provided with food and munitions that it was prepared to hold out indefinitely. The emperor, therefore, following the precedent of his ancestor, had recourse to bribery, and gained admittance through the treachery of one of the officers of the garrison, who opened a gate. Abdu-r Razzak, fighting to the last, fell covered with seventy wounds. Aurangzeb, admiring his courage and fidelity, placed him under the care of surgeons, who succeeded in effecting his cure. After about a year he accepted unwillingly a post in the imperial service. Khafi Khan states that Aurangzeb received the captive king ' very courteously ' and provided him with a ' suitable allowance ' for his maintenance in the fortress of Daulatabad. Manucci, on the contrary, tells a horrid and improbable story that Abu-1 Hasan was beaten unmercifully in the presence of Aurangzeb in order to force him to account for his treasures. DECCAN CAMPAIGN 443 The fall of Golkonda in October 1687 closed the story of the Kutb Shahi dynasty. Impolicy of the conquest. Aurangzeb had thus attained what he considered to be the main purpose of the campaign, and had won the prize which had seemed to be within his grasp thirty years earlier, but had then eluded him. All historians agree in pointing out the impolicy of the destruction of the Sultanates, which annihilated the only Muhammadan governments in the south, let loose a swarm of discharged soldiers to plunder the country, and freed the Maratha chiefs from any fear of local rivalry. Aurangzeb did not yet fully understand the strength of his Maratha enemies, whom he despised. Execution of Raja. Sambhaji. In 1689 his troops captured Sivaji's successor, Sambhaji, with his Brahman minister Kalusha. The Raja is said to have used abusive language to his captors. It is certain that he, his minister, and ten or twelve other persons were executed with horrid barbarity, their tongues being torn out and many other tortures inflicted. Aurangzeb personally ordered those atrocities, which stain his memory. Sambhaji's son, a boy of seven years of age, whose real name was Sivajl, but who is ordinarily known by the nickname of Sahu or Shahu, was spared, appointed a mansabddr of 700, and brought up in the imperial palace. Farthest advance of Mogul power. The capture and execu tion of Sambhaji naturally aroused hopes that the Maratha resistance would collapse. The imperialists actually did obtain a certain measure of success, and in 1691 were able to levy tribute even on Tanjore and Trichinopoly in the far south. That year, accordingly, may be taken as marking the most distant advance of the Mogul power. Arrest of Prince Muazzam. Aurangzeb's eldest surviving son, Prince Muazzam or Shah Alam, had shown a sentiment of tenderness towards the Sultans of both Golkonda and Bijapur, whose utter destruction he regarded as impolitic. He seems to have gone so far as to have entered into treasonable correspondence with his father's enemies and to have furnished supplies to Bijapur during the investment of that city. His arrest for those alleged offences was effected in March 1687. He remained in confinement, at first of the severest kind, but later much relaxed, for more than seven years until April 1694, when he was released and appointed governor of Kabul. During the period of Prince Muazzam's imprisonment, his next brother, Prince Azam, believed himself to be the heir apparent and chosen successor of his father. He was much disappointed by the unexpected end of his brother's detention, which was arranged by the old emperor with his accus tomed cunning. The immediate motive for the release of the eldest prince was an attempt of Prince Akbar to invade India with Persian help, and make a bid for the crown. He advanced with twelve thousand Persian horsemen to the neighbourhood of Multan, but was obliged to retire when confronted by a superior force under Shah Alam (Prince Muazzam). 444 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD A fatuous campaign. After the execution of Sambhaji the Maratha government was carried on by his brother, Raja Ram, who retired to Jinji in the south. When he died a few years later (1700), his widow Tara, Bal, an able and energetic woman, adminis tered the affairs of the state as regent, and gave the Moguls no peace. Her capital was Satara. The natural expectation that the death of three Rajas within a few years should weaken the Maratha resistance was completely falsified. From about 1698, if not earlier, Aurangzeb's prolonged campaign may be described as a complete failure. Although he seemed to be still physically strong, he had lost the capacity for controlling his subordinates, who wasted time and money in the most unblushing manner. Zulfikar Khan, son of Asad Khan, the prime minister, and supposed to be one of the best imperial generals, deliberately played with the siege of Jinji for some seven years and purposely allowed Raja, Ram to escape. Prince Kambakhsh, the emperor's youngest and favourite son, entered into traitorous correspondence with the enemy, whom he even thought of joining, so that Zulfikar Khan was obliged to send him to his father under arrest, a liberty which Aurangzeb privately resented.1 Plague and cholera desolated the Deccan for about eight years, floods more than once swept through the imperial camp, and hardly any pretence of fighting was main tained. Aurangzeb, with almost incredible fatuity, devoted his energies to the capture of individual forts, and, as a rule, was content to buy them from the commandants. Khafi Khan gives a long list of forts so acquired, and mentions only one or two as having been honestly stormed. The story is an astonishing record of incompetence and folly. It seems clear that Aurangzeb towards the end of his unduly prolonged life was in his dotage and quite incapable of effective executive action, although still retaining his old cunning.2 Khafi Khan discreetly observes that Prince Azam had noticed ' the altered temper of his father, whose feelings were not always in their natural state '. Aurangzeb had never trusted anybody, and had tried to look after all the affairs of a great empire in person. Naturally he failed disastrously even while he was young. When he was approaching the age of ninety it was manifestly impossible for him to control even the war of the Deccan. The affairs of the rest of India slipped from his grasp almost completely, and the gigantic hoards of treasure amassed by his father were squandered without result.3 Thus the too cunning old autocrat wasted the last twenty-six 1 See letter clxxiv in Bilimoria for the treason of Prince Kambakhsh. Gemelli-Careri calls the prince Sikandar, apparently in error, confounding him probably with the ex-Sultan of Bijapur. 2 ' One cannot rule without practising deception. ... A government that is joined to cunning lasts and remains firm for ever, and the master of this [art] becomes a king for all time. ... It is contrary to the Koran to consider stratagem as blameable ' (Sarkar, Anecdotes of Aurangzeb, p. 96). 3 In letter clxiii (Bilimoria) Aurangzeb expressly says that the expenses of the Deccan war were ' defrayed from the treasury 'of Northern India ' VISIT OF GEMELLI-CARERI 445 years of his reign. The Deccan, from which he never returned, was the grave of his reputation as well as of his body. Dr. Gremelli-Careri's description. One of the most inter esting of the many narratives by European travellers who visited India during the reign of Aurangzeb is the account of the camp and court of the aged emperor in the Deccan early in the year 1695 as recorded by the learned Italian lawyer, Dr. Gemelli-Careri, who spent six years in going round the world, and undertook a troublesome and dangerous journey from Goa for the sole purpose of seeing the Great Mogul. Aurangzeb was then, in March and April, encamped at Galgala or Galgali, on the northern bank of the Krishni (Kistna), about fourteen miles distant from the town of Mudhol.1 The enclosure of the royal tents alone measured about three miles, and the whole camp, with a circumference of some thirty miles, had a population of half a million. The separate bazaars or markets numbered two hundred and fifty, and every class of goods, even the most costly, was on sale. The traveller- was accorded the honour of a private audience in the morning before the public reception, which began about ten o'clock. Aurangzeb received him courteously, questioning him about his travels and the war with the Turks in Hungary. The emperor, who was then approaching the age of eighty, was bowed by the weight of years, and leant on a crutched stick, but was able to write his orders on petitions without using spectacles. He was of small stature, with a large nose, and white rounded beard. His coat and turban were of white cotton, his sash or waistband of silk, all quite inexpensive, but his head-dress was adorned by a gold band and a great emerald surrounded by smaller stones. The traveller confirms the Muhammadan accounts of the extraordinary austerity of Aurangzeb's personal habits. He slept little, spent hours in devotion, confined himself to vegetable diet, and often fasted. His attendants marvelled how a man of his age could endure the hard conditions to which he subjected his body. The public reception was conducted with the pomp customary at the Mogul court. Aurangzeb never either compelled other people to adopt his ascetic personal habits, or allowed any diminu- 1 Gemelli-Careri details the stages of his journey (Tomo iii, pp. 87 foil.). The distance is about 125 miles on the map, or 150 for travelling. Galgala must be Galgali in the Bagalkot Taluka of the Bijapur District, Bombay, 7 kos from Mudhol (16° 20' N. and 75° 19' E.). The position of the Galgala camp does not appear to have been defined until now. Lane-Poole, who quotes Gemelli-Careri, gives no indication of its situation. Later in the year 1695 Aurangzeb moved his camp to Brahmapuri or Islampuri in the Sholapur District, miscalled Bairampur by Khafi Khan and Lane-Poole. I have used the very rare Italian enlarged and revised second edition in nine volumes, Venezia, 1719. The traveller gives a curious woodcut, of the emperor leaving his tent. The population of the camp was half a million (500,000), not ' five millions ', as quoted by Lane-Poole. The correct number of infantry is 100,000, and that of camels 50,000 (Tomo iii, p. 103). 446 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD tion in the accustomed magnificence of his surroundings. His letters show that he was extremely jealous in his care of the royal prerogative and watchful to prevent the slightest infringements of etiquette. Death of Aurangzeb. The last or almost the last petty success of the imperialists was won in 1705 by the capture of the fort of Wakinkera which had been evacuated by the enemy. About the same time the health of Aurangzeb broke down, and he was seized with fainting fits which rendered him temporarily unconscious. Whenever he grew a little better he gallantly fought his disorder and forced himself to make a public appearance. At last, ' slowly and with difficulty', he marched back to Ahmadnagar, where he had encamped twenty-four years earlier, filled with hopes of conquest and glory. Now, when he nerved himself to sit in the hall of audience, he was ' very weak and death was clearly stamped upon his face '. The fever increased, but he still attended scrupu lously to the prescribed times of prayer. On the morning of Friday, February 21 (o.s.), 1707, when one watch of the day had gone, and the prayers and creed had been duly recited, his weary spirit was released. His viscera were buried where he died. His embalmed body was carried to the village of Rauza or Khuldabad near Daulatabad, and there laid to rest in holy ground beside the tombs of famous saints. He left written instructions that his obsequies were to be conducted with studied austerity. Four rupees, two annas (9s. 6d.), earned as the price of caps made by himself, were to be spent on his shroud. 305 rupees gained by copying Korans were to be given to poor holy men. His body was to be buried bare headed, and the top of the coffin was to be covered merely with a piece of white canvas. No canopy was to be raised over him.1 His tomb is a perfectly plain block of plastered masonry on an open platform.2 Aurangzeb's ideal. Thus Aurangzeb died as he had lived, striving to attain the ideal of a strict Muslim ascetic of the school of Hanifa. He endeavoured to follow the Law and Traditions in every detail of his personal conduct and habits. He learned the whole Koran by heart after his accession, and was well versed in the works of theologians, especially those of the Imam Muhammad Ghazza.ll.3 He Was careful to educate his children, including his daughters, in sacred lore. He abstained scrupulously from the slightest indulgence in any prohibited food, drink, or dress ; and, although well skilled in the theory of music, refused to enjoy the pleasures of that art from an early date in his reign. Every ritual prescription of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving was obeyed 1 Sarkar, Anecdotes, p. 52. 2 The tombs at Rauza (' the garden ', scil. of Paradise) are described by Haig, Historic Landmarks of the Deccan (1907), pp. 56-8. Khuld means ' paradise ', with allusion to Aurangzeb's posthumous title Khuld-makan, whose abode is in paradise '. '_ Abu Hamid Muhammad Zainu-d din of Tfis near Mashhad (a. d. 1058-1111), a renowned philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. AURANGZEB'S IDEALS 447 exactly, even at the risk of his life. He desired all judicial pro ceedings to be conducted in precise accordance with Muslim law. He excluded Hindus from holding office so far as possible, cast down their temples, and harassed them by insulting regulations because he believed that he was bound to do so by the precedent of the early Khallfs. For the same reason he enforced the levy of the jizya, and in his latest years refused to allow the least relaxation in the collection of the tax, even for the purpose of secur ing supplies for his own camp.1 It is not to be wondered at that such conduct has won him the reverence of Muhammadans. Failure as a sovereign. But when he is judged as a sovereign he must be pro nounced a failure. The criti cism of Khafi Khan emphasizes equally his merits as an ascetic and his demerits in the prac tical government of an empire : ' Of all the sovereigns of the House of TImur — nay, of all the sovereigns of Delhi — no one, since Sikandar Lodi, has ever been ap parently so distinguished for devo tion, austerity, and justice. In courage, long-suffering, and sound judgement he was unrivalled. But from reverence for the injunctions of the Law he did not make use of punishment, and without punish ment the administration of a coun try cannot be maintained.2 Dis sensions had arisen among his nobles through rivalry. So every plan and project that he formed came to little good ; and every enterprise which he undertook was long in execution and failed of its object. Although he lived for ninety [lunar] years, his five senses were not at all impaired, except his hearing, and that to only so slight an extent that it was not perceptible to others. He often passed his nights in vigils and devotion, and he denied himself many pleasures naturally belonging to humanity.' The censures of the friendly Muhammadan critic do not exhaust the list of Aurangzeb's defects as a ruler. His intense suspiciousness, 1 Sarkar, Anecdotes, p. 142. 2 Confirmed by Gemelli-Careri. ' II cessa d'etre sanguinaire comme auparavant ; il devint meme si bon (' good-natured') que les Gouverneurs & les Omrahs ne lui obei'ssoient pas regulierement, se fiant a sa clemence ' (French transl., iii. 227). See also Italian text, tomo iii, p. 105. His letters give further proof of the weakness of his rule. AURANGZEB. 448 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD already mentioned, poisoned his whole life. He never trusted anybody, and consequently was ill served. His cold, calculating temperament rarely permitted him to indulge in love for man or woman, and few indeed were the persons who loved him. His reliance on mere cunning as the principal instrument of statecraft testified to a certain smallness of mind, and, moreover, was ineffective in practice. Although he had many opportunities for winning military distinction, he failed to show ability as a general, whether before or after his accession. His proceedings in the Deccan during the latter part of his life were simply ridiculous as military operations. In fact, nothing in the history of Aurangzeb justifies posterity in classing him as a great king. His tricky cunning was mainly directed, first to winning, and then to keeping the throne. He did nothing for literature or art. Rather it should be said that he did less than nothing, because he discouraged both. Aurangzeb's death-bed letters. The famous letters to his sons, written shortly before his death, must not be interpreted as implying that he felt remorse for the means by which he gained the throne, or for any acts of perfidy committed later in the supposed interest of the state. He regarded his treatment of his relatives as prompted and justified by self-defence ; and it is true that his brothers, if they had not been executed by him, would have been delighted to take his life. Perfidy was the most essential element in policy to his thinking, and he did not hesitate to avow that belief, which has been and still is cherished by many kings and statesmen. The death-bed letters simply express the weariness of an aged man who had lived too long, had failed in cherished plans, and was tormented by morbid fears about his fate in the next world — fears based upon his theological creed, and perfectly sincere. The following collection of passages includes extracts from all the three letters, which are nearly identical : ' I know not who I am, where I shall go, or what will happen to this sinner full of sins. Now I will say good-bye to every one in this world and entrust every one to the care of God. My famous and auspicious sons should not quarrel among themselves and allow a general massacre of the people who are servants of God. . . . My years have gone by profitless. God has been in my heart, yet my darkened eyes have not recognized his light There is no hope for me in the future. The fever is gone, but only the skin is left. . . . The army is confounded, and without heart or help, even as I am ; apart from God, with no rest for the heart. . . . When I have lost hope in myself, how can I hope in others ? . . . You should accept my last will. It should not happen that Musalmans be killed and the blame for their death rest upon this useless creature. ... I have greatly sinned and know not what torment awaits me. ... I commit you and your sons to the care of God and bid you farewell . . . May the peace of God be upon you.' The sternest critic of the character and deeds of Aurangzeb can hardly refuse to recognize the pathos of those lamentations or to feel some sympathy for the old man on his lonely death-bed. Transactions with European nations. The transactions in which European nations, chiefly the English, were prominently TRANSACTIONS WITH EUROPEANS 449 concerned lie so much apart from the general current of events in the reign that it is convenient to notice them separately, rather than in their chronological setting. But it is not possible to go into details of the incidents, which were numerous and complicated. The Portuguese, in the days of Aurangzeb, were of so little account that the dealings between them and his government may be passed by. The struggle for the eastern maritime trade then lay between the English and the Dutch. But the Hollanders devoted their attention chiefly to the commerce with the Indian Archipelago and Spice Islands, keeping very quiet in their Indian factories. The small settlements on the coasts made by the French and Danes during the reign did not seriously concern the Mogul empire. The real trouble was with the English traders who began to assert themselves and to claim the right of fortifying their 'factories' or commercial stations. The English factory at Surat was gallantly defended against Sivaji and his Maratha robbers on two occasions, in 1664 and 1670. Sir George Oxinden's brave repulse of the marauders on the first occasion won approval and honours from Aurangzeb. Disputes concerning cus toms duties between the Eng lish traders on the Hugli and Nawab Shayista Khan, the governor of Bengal,, had the curious result of bringing Rupee of Aurangzeb Alamgir. about a semi-official war be tween England and the Mogul empire. The authorities of the East India Company in London ordinarily were averse to acqui sition of territory or to fortifying their factories, but Sir Josiah Child, the masterful chairman or governor of the Company, who was ambitious, aimed at laying ' the foundation of a large, well- grounded, sure English dominion in India for all time to come'. In 1685 he persuaded King James II to sanction the dispatch of ten or twelve ships of war with instructions to seize and fortify Chittagong. The expedition, rashly planned and unfortunate in execution, was an utter failure. Subsequently, in 1688, the English found themselves obliged to abandon Bengal altogether. Sir John Child, the President of Surat, acting under instructions from home, defied Aurangzeb's power on the western coast, with the result that the factory at Surat was seized, and orders were issued by the emperor to expel all Englishmen from his dominions. Ultimately terms were arranged on both sides of India. Ibrahim Khan, the successor of Shayista Khan as governor of Bengal, invited Job Charnock, who had been chief of the settlement on the Hugli, to return. The invitation was accepted. On August 24, 1690, Charnock hoisted the English flag on the banks of the Hugli and laid the humble foundation of the small settlement destined to develop into the city of Calcutta. Q3 450 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD The scandalous quarrels between the old East India Company of London and the New English Company, which lasted from 1698 to 1702 and to some extent later, were brought prominently to the notice of Aurangzeb, who could not make out which Company was the genuine one. ¦ His great officers profited largely by receiving heavy bribes from both associations, but the queer story is too long and intricate for brief narration. After the ignominious failure of the warlike policy of the two Childs and the complete fusion of the rival companies in 1708 the English merchants kept clear of politics and fighting for almost half a century.1 Administration. In the latter years of Aurangzeb's reign the fifteen provinces (siibas) of Akbar's time had increased to twenty- one. Thathah (Tatta), or Southern Sind, Kashmir, and Orissa, formerly included respectively in Multan, Kabul, and Bengal, had been separated, and the provinces of the Deccan had become six instead of three. The system of administration, while substantially the same as in Akbar's days, was worse in operation, because Aurangzeb failed to keep a firm hand over his subordinates, and when he grew old was unable to make his authority respected. Several authors have taken much trouble to compare various statements of the revenue of the empire at different times, but their labours have been fruitless. The figures on record cannot be forced to yield trustworthy results. I therefore refrain from quoting or discussing them. The army, which made a brave show on paper or in camp, was of little military value. Manucci's estimate that 30,000 good European soldiers could sweep away the imperial authority and occupy the whole empire seems to be fully justified by the facts. The navy was utterly inefficient. The assertion of one of the Persian historians that Aurangzeb renounced the practice of confiscating the estates of deceased notables is contradicted decisively by the emperor's letters. The few letters translated by Bilimoria give three instances of such confiscation being ordered by Aurangzeb under his own hand. When Amir Khan, governor of Kabul, died the authorities were instructed to seize everything belonging to him, so that ' even a piece of straw ' should not be left (Letter xcix). Similar orders were given concerning the estates of Shayista Khan, the emperor's maternal uncle, and Mahabat Khan (Letters cxxvm, cxlvi). The receipts from such confiscations were exceedingly large, and the treasury was not in a position justifying the sur render of revenue, 'because', as the emperor wrote, 'the royal treasury belongs to the public'. 1 Mr. Strachey has proved that the two Childs, Sir Josiah and Sir John, were not brothers. They were not even related (Keigwin's Rebellion, Clarendon Press, 1916, App. A). CHRONOLOGY 451 Leading Dates only (For dates of war of succession see ante, p. 422.) Formal enthronement of Aurangzeb ; murder of Afzal Khan by Sivajl 1659 Cession of Bombay by Portuguese to English .... 1661 Mir Jumla's expedition to Assam ..... 1661-3 Aurangzeb's illness ; first sack of Surat by Sivajl ; foundation of French Compagnie des Indes ...... 1664 Death of Shahjahan ; annexation of Chittagong by Shayista Khan 1666 Prohibition of Hindu worship ; demolition of temples ; first Jat rebellion .......... 1669 First levy of chauth on Mogul territory ; second sack of Surat by Sivaji 1670 Satnami insurrection ...... Enthronement of Sivajl as independent Raja Sivaji's expedition to the south ..... Death of Raja Jaswant Singh ..... Reimposition of the jizya .... Death of Sivajl ....... Rajput war ; rebellion of Prince Akbar Second Jat rebellion ; Aurangzeb goes to the Deccan . Sir Josiah Child's war ..... Annexation of Bijapur ...... Annexation of Golkonda ...... Total withdrawal of the English from Bengal Execution of Raja Sambhaji ..... Return of the English to Bengal and foundation of Calcutta Greatest southern extension of imperial authority Indecisive war in the Deccan Union of the rival East India Companies Retreat of Aurangzeb to Ahmadnagar Death of Aurangzeb 167216741676 1678 16791680 1680-1 1681 1685-6 1686 168716881689 1690 1691 1692-1705 1702-8 January 1706 February 21 (o.s.), 1707 Authorities Copious extracts from Khafi Khan and other writers in Persian are translated in E. db D., vol. vii. Professor Jadunath Sarkar gives a sum mary history of the reign and many interesting details in Anecdotes of Aurangzib and Historical Essays (Calcutta, 1912). Vol. iii of the same author's History of Aurangzib comes down to A. D. 1681, excluding Deccan affairs. For a rather crude version of selected correspondence, Bilimoria, Letters of Aurangzebe (London (Luzac) and Bombay, 1908), is useful. The leading authority for Maratha affairs is Grant Duff, History of the Mahrallas (1826, and reprints). That work, being founded on personal knowledge and manuscripts now lost, ranks as an original source. The little book by Mankar (2nd ed., Bombay, 1886), translated from a lost manuscript, is of considerable value. It is entitled The Life and Exploits of Shivdji, and has become very scarce. Professor Rawlinson's sketch. Shivaji the Maratha (Clarendon Press, 1915), is too slight and needs revision. Its special interest lies in the translations from Ramdas and Tukaram. 452 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Elphinstone knew the Maratha country and people so intimately that his narrative counts as a primary authority for some purposes. Many European travellers illustrate the story of the reign. The most serviceable works are those of Bernier (ed. Constable and V. A. Smith, Oxford University Press, 1914) ; Fryer (ed. Crooke, Hakluyt Society, 1909, 1912, 1913) ; and Gemelli-Careri (French version2, 1727). I have obtained from Rome a copy of the very rare Italian original, Venice, 1719, second edition, in nine volumes. The first edition appeared at Naples in 1699-1700 in 6 vols. Tod, Annals of Rajasthan (popular ed.) ; Stewart, History of Bengal (London, 1813) ; Strachey, Keigwin's Rebellion (Clarendon Press, 1916), and other books have been consulted. Stanley Lane-Poole's Aurangzib (R. I., 1896), the most readable account of the whole reign, requires con siderable correction in certain details. It may be well to note that the spelling Aurangzib represents the Persian and Aurangzeb the Indian pronunciation. CHAPTER 7 The Later Moguls ; decline of the empire ; the Sikhs and Marathas. War of succession : Bahadur Shah. The practical certainty that his sons would fight for the throne of Hindostan as soon as he should die weighed heavily on the heart of Aurangzeb, who attempted to prevent the inevitable war of succession by admoni tions which have been already quoted. He cannot possibly have believed in their efficacy. He also left behind him a memorandum suggesting a partition of the empire, but could not have had any real expectation that his heirs would accept that solution of the difficulty. The same reasons which had brought about the war of succession between Aurangzeb and his brothers forced his sons to fight. The eldest, Prince Muazzam, also called Shah Alam, was far away in Kabul, and so for the moment at a disadvantage. The second, Prince Azam, and the third, Prince Kambakhsh, who were both at hand in the Deccan, lost no time in asserting their claims. Each promptly proclaimed his accession, and struck coins in his own name. The immediate objective of all the three claimants was the seizure of Agra with its hoards of treasure. Whoever could first obtain possession of the cash in the Agra vaults would be able to buy unlimited support. Prince Muazzam, aided by an able officer named Munim Khan, moved down from Kabul with all speed, and met the army of his brother Azam at Jajau to the south of Agra on June 10, 1707. Kambakhsh, who had occupied Bijapur and Golkonda or Hyderabad, was not able to leave the Deccan. The hotly contested battle at Jajau ended in the defeat and death of Prince Azam. Shah Alam secured the Agra treasure, which he distributed liberally among the nobles and soldiery. He assumed the style of Bahadur Shah. The new emperor then made arrangements to keep the Rajput chiefs quiet, and marched south to meet Kambakhsh, who was defeated near Hyderabad and died of wounds early in 1708.1 1 No sympathy need be wasted on either Azam or Kambakhsh, who SIKH REBELLION 453 Release of Shahu. Bahadur Shah, acting on the astute advice of Zulfikar Khan, released Shahu (Sivaji II), the great Sivaji's grandson, who had been educated at court, and sent him back to his own country, then under the government of Tara Bal, the widow of the young prince's uncle, Raja Ram. The expected civil war among the Marathas which ensued prevented them from troubling the imperial government, thus justifying Zulfikar Khan's counsel. News of Sikh rebellion. Bahadur Shah, when returning from the Deccan, committed the government of the south to Zulfikar Khan, who passed on the duties of administration to Daud Khan, a ferocious Afghan ruffian, concerning whose barbarities Manucci relates many horrible stories.1 When the emperor reached Ajmer in 1710 he received reports that the town of Sihrind had been sacked by the Sikh sectaries under a leader known as Bandah (' the slave '), and sometimes described as the False Guru, who had committed innumerable atrocities. The news received was so serious that Bahadur Shah resolved to proceed in person against the rebels. In order to render the situation intelligible it is necessary to narrate briefly the origin and early development of the Sikh movement. The early Sikh gurus. The Sikhs, or ¦ disciples ', originally were a pious sect of Hindus following the precepts of their first guru or prophet named Nanak, who lived from a.d. 1469 to 1539. He resembled Kabir and many other sages in his teaching which laid stress on the unity of God, the futility of forms of worship, and the unreality of caste distinctions. The first four gurus were merely leaders of a peaceable reformed sect, with no thought of either military organization or political power. In 1577 Akbar, who liked the Sikh teaching so far as he knew it, granted to the fourth guru the site of the tank and Golden Temple at Amritsar, and so established that town as the head-quarters* of the Sikh faith. The fifth guru, Arjun, combined business with spiritual guidance, and acquired wealth from the offerings of the faithful. He was tortured and executed in 1606 by order of Jahangir because he refused to pay the fine imposed on him for having assisted Khusru, not on account of his religious teaching. The Adi Granth, or original Sikh Bible, was compiled in 1604 at the dictation of Arjun. Hargobind. Hargobind, the sixth head of the sect (1606-45), when presented at his installation with the turban and necklace of his predecessors, refused to accept them, saying : ' My necklace were both unfit to rule. The former is described as being ' very choleric, a debauchee, rough and discourteous to everybody, also avaricious ' (Irvine, Manucci, iv. 462). The latter was a half-insane tyrant, who behaved with 'outrageous cruelty', doing acts to his servants, companions, and confidants, such ' as before eye never saw, nor ear heard '. 1 Meadows Taylor describes the brute as ' an officer of great distinction, ability, and bravery '. Elphinstone, too, gives no indication of the man's real character. 454 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD shall be my sword-belt, and my turban shall be adorned with a royal aigrette.' He thus began the transformation of a sect of quiet mystics into a fierce military order or brotherhood. He was imprisoned for twelve years by Jahangir, and, after the death of that emperor, constantly fought the officers of Shahjahan. Tegh Bahadur. Tegh Bahadur, the ninth guru, rejected the demand of Aurangzeb that he should embrace Islam, and in consequence was executed (1675). According to a famous story he was accused while imprisoned at Delhi of turning his gaze in the forbidden direction of the imperial female apartments. He replied to the charge by saying : ' Emperor Aurangzeb, I was on the top story of my prison, but I was not looking at thy private apartments, or at thy queen's. I was looking in the direction of the Europeans who are coming from beyond the seas to tear down thy hangings (pardas) and destroy thy empire.' The anecdote was firmly believed by the Sikhs, who used the prophecy as a battle-cry during the siege of Delhi in 1857. A somewhat similar prophecy is attributed to Guru Govind. Govind Singh. The tenth atid last guru, Govind Singh (1675- 1708), was the real founder of the Sikh military power, which he organized to oppose the Muhammadans. He bound the Sikh fraternity together by instituting or adopting two sacraments, perhaps suggested by Christian example. The ceremony of pdhul or baptism consists essentially of drinking consecrated water stirred by a sword or dagger. The communion rite was specially designed to break caste. The communicants seated in a circle partake of a mixture of consecrated flour, butter, and sugar, and thus set them selves free from the restrictions of caste. The brotherhood so constituted was termed the Khalsa or Pure, and may be compared with the Templars and other military orders of mediaeval Europe. The Sikhs are not, and never have been, a nation in any intelligible sense. One member of a family may be a Sikh or Singh, while the others are orthodox Hindus. The members of the order are only a fraction of the population in the districts where they reside, and at the present day many Sikhs describe themselves as Hindus. In fact, the distinction between Hinduism and Sikhism is not well defined, the observance of the sacraments often being neglected by men who are recognized as Sikhs. Guru Govind required the members of the brotherhood to abjure tobacco, which he detested. ' Wine', he said, ' is bad ; Indian hemp (bhang) destroyeth one generation ; but tobacco destroyeth all generations.' The initiated members of the brotherhood wore also commanded to wear the 'five K's ', meaning five things of which the Hindi or Panjabi names begin with that letter — namely, long hair, short drawers, an iron bangle or discus, a small steel dagger, and a comb. Those commands are not all fully observed now, and modern Sikhism owes its continued existence chiefly to the influence of the corporate spirit of the Sikh regiments. A supplementary Granth or Bible containing the compositions of Govind was compiled after his death. SIKH HISTORY 455 He decided to support Bahadur Shah (Shah Alam) in the war of succession, and consequently accepted service under that prince when he gained the throne. Govind, who was murdered at Nander in the Deccan by an Afghan in 1708, was the last of the gurus. Since his decease the holy Granth has been regarded as the repre sentative and successor of the Gurus. Govind seems to have authorized a man of uncertain origin to take over the military command, but not the spiritual headship, of the Sikh Khalsa. The person so nominated is known as Bandah, ' the Slave ', and sometimes is called the ' False Guru '. His special mission was the taking vengeance on Wazir Khan, the commandant of Sihrind, who had cruelly executed the young sons of Guru Govind. Bandah. Bandah accomplished his commission with appalling ferocity and completeness. Irvine draws a lively picture of his proceedings. 'The scavengers and leather-dressers and such-like persons, who were very numerous among the Sikhs, committed excesses of every description. For the space of four days the town [Sihrind] was given up to pillage, the mosques were defiled, the houses burnt, and the Muhammadans slaughtered ; even their women and children were not spared . . . In all the parganahs occupied by the Sikhs, the reversal of previous customs was striking and complete. A low scavenger or leather-dresser, the lowest of the low in Indian estimation, had only to leave home and join the Guru, when in a short time he would return to his birthplace as its ruler, with his order of appointment in his hand. As soon as he set foot within the boundaries, the well-born and wealthy went out to greet him and escort him home. Arrived there, they stood before him with joined palms, awaiting his orders. A scavenger, from the nature of his duties, is intimately acquainted with the condition of every household. Thus the new ruler had no difficulty in exacting from every one their best and most valuable belongings, which were confiscated for the use of the Guru, or for his treasury. Not a soul dared to disobey an order, and men, who had often risked themselves in battle-fields, became so cowed, that they were afraid even to remonstrate. Hindus who had not joined the sect were not exempt from those oppressions.' Bahadur Shah and Munim Khan succeeded in defeating the Sikhs and driving them into the hills, but Bandah escaped. Death of Bahadur Shah. Bahadur Shah, then an old man in his sixty-ninth year, died in 1712. The prolonged repression which he endured under his father had destroyed his spirit. Al though he had no vice in his character, and possessed a generous, forgiving disposition, he could not govern, and justly earned the nickname of Shdh-i be khabar, the ' Heedless King '. War of succession : Jahandar Shah. His four sons engaged in the customary war of succession. Azimu-sh shan, governor of Bengal, and the best of the four, was killed in battle with the other three, who then fell out among themselves. Jahandar Shah, the eldest and worst of them, a worthless profligate, became emperor. Farrukhsiyar. After a disgraceful reign of eleven months he was killed in a barbarous fashion by order of Azimu-sh shan's 456 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD son, Farrukhsiyar, who ascended the degraded throne (1713). He executed many notable people, including Zulfikar Khan, and established a state of terror in the court by his savage fury. During the scandalous reign of Farrukbsiyar, who was a good-for-nothing and shameless debauchee, the power of the government was mostly in the hands of two brothers, Abdullah and Husain Ali, Barha Sayyids, whose clan had been eminent in the imperial service since the days of Akbar. They deposed Farrukhsiyar in 1719, and put him to death in a horrible way. The short reign of Farrukhsiyar was marked by a futile attempt to reimpose the jizya, and by the capture of Bandah, who was executed with fiendish tortures. About a thousand of his followers were killed in large batches (1715). In the same year the East India Company, worried by the exactions of the Bengal provincial government, sent two factors to Delhi in order to seek redress. The envoys took with them j£30,000 worth of gifts, and in the course of two years obtained valuable trade concessions and exemptions from customs duties. Their success was due partly to the fact that an English surgeon named William Hamilton cured the emperor of ' a malignant distemper', and partly to the fears of the Delhi government that the British fleet might hold up the Surat trade. Muhammad Shah. After the cruel murder of Farrukhsiyar the Sayyid king-makers placed on the throne several phantom emperors.1 They quickly disappeared and were replaced by another worthless inmate of the palace, named Muhammad Shah (1719), who, strange to say, retained his life and dignity until 1748. He got rid of Sayyid Husain All by assassination, and imprisoned Abdullah. Break up of empire. In 1722 Asaf Jah (Chin Kilich Khan) became Vizier. He found it impossible to bring the government into order, and in the year following retired to his province the Deccan, where he became independent and founded the existing dynasty of the Nizam, with effect from 1724. In the same year Saadat Khan, the progenitor of the kings of Oudh, became ruler of that province, which he governed in practical independence. Similarly, Allahvardi Khan, the governor of Bengal (1740-56), ceased to pay tribute or to recognize in practice the sovereignty of the emperor. The Rohillas, an Afghan clan, made themselves masters of the rich tract to the north of the Ganges, which consequently became known as Rohilkhand. Thus, in the space of seventeen years after the death of Aurangzeb, the empire had broken up. The process of decay was continued in subsequent years. The capital was the scene of incessant intrigues and treasons, unworthy of record or remembrance. 1 Their names are Raflu-d darajat, Rafiu-d daulat (Shahjahan II), Nekusiyar, and Ibrahim. The ' reigns ' of the first three fall between February 18 and August 27, 1719. Ibrahim claimed the throne in 1720, from October 1 to November 8, and struck coins, now very rare. See the genealogy at the end of this chapter. MARATHA AFFAIRS 457 New system of Maratha government. Meantime, momentous changes had been effected after long struggles in the Maratha government, which resulted during Muhammad Shah's lifetime in the Marathas becoming the most considerable power in India. The excellent system of internal administration instituted by Sivaji had not survived that chief. It fell to pieces, as we have seen, in the hands of his son, Sambhaji. During the civil war be tween different parties of Marathas which followed on the return of Shahu to his native country, after his release by Bahadur Shah, a new system of government was gradually evolved. The first Peshwa, Balaji Visvanath. Raja, Shahu, who had to defend his position as Raja, against a rival claimant, leant for support chiefly on a Brahman from the Konkan, named Balaji Visvanath, who held from 1714 the office of Peshwa, as the second minister was called in the early Maratha administration.1 By reason of his personal qualities Balaji Visvanath made the office to count in practice as the first, and not the second. When he died in 1720. his official position was inherited by his son, Baji Rao (I), a man still abler than himself. The appointment of Peshwa thus became hereditary, and soon overshadowed the Raja, who sank into a purely ornamental position, exactly as the Maharajadhiraj of Nepal has done in modern times. After Shahu the descendants of Sivaji dropped out of sight so completely that all readers of history think of the Maratha government in the eighteenth century as that of the Peshwas. Their dynasty, as we may call it, comprised seven persons, and may be regarded as having lasted from 1714 to 1818, a little more than a century. Shahu, who survived until 1748, granted his minister full powers in 1727. Chauth and Sardesmukhi. Balaji Visvanath, as minister of Shahu, had succeeded in introducing a certain amount of order into the Maratha administration, and had made elaborate arrange ments for collecting the assignments of revenue from provinces belonging to other powers on which his government chiefly lived. The Marathas of those days administered only comparatively small districts directly, preferring to raise contributions from provinces governed, nominally at all events, by the emperor of Delhi or other potentates of that confused and anarchical time. In 1720 Muhammad Shah, confirming arrangements made by Sayyid Husain Ali, recognized by treaty the authority of Raja Shahu, admitted his right to levy the chauth, or assessment of one-fourth of the land revenue over the whole Deccan, and per mitted him to supplement that levy by an additional tenth of the land revenue called sardesmukhi. Balaji Visvanath claimed that those levies should be calculated on the revenue as fixed either by Todar Mall in Akbar's, or by Malik Ambar in Shahjahan's time, well knowing that no such amount of revenue could be raised from a ruined country. He thus secured 1 In Sivaji's time the Pratinidhi did not exist, and the Peshwa was the first minister. 458 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD the advantage of always keeping a bill for arrears in hand. He artfully arranged that several Maratha chiefs should share the collections from a single district, in that way purposely introducing complications into the accounts and increasing the power of his Brahman caste-fellows, who alone had the knowledge and intelli gence equal to dealing with such accounts. Nobody except the Brahmans rightly knew what was due, or to whom it was due. The second Peshwa, Baji Rao. Bajl Rao (1720) inherited the instrument of extortion so cunningly devised by his father, and used it with supreme skill. He resolved to establish the power of his nascent nation by reorganizing the army, and directing it against the northern territories of Hindostan held by the nerveless hands of Muhammad Shah. He also made arrangements by which he checked the growing power of Asaf Jah as ruler of the Hyderabad territories. The quarrels between Asaf Jah and Bajl Rao ended in the rivals coming to terms (1731). Origin of the Gaikwar, Sindia, and Holkar. We may take note that at the period in question the ancestors of, the existing great Maratha chiefs, namely, the Gaikwar of Baroda, Sindia of Gwalior, and Holkar of Indore, became prominent personages and laid the foundations of the fortune of their families, which by strange good luck survived at the final settlement in 1818 of the rivalry between the Marathas and the British. The ancestor of the Gaikwar was an adherent of a defeated opponent of Bajl Rao, whom the Peshwa treated with politic generosity ; the progenitors of Sindia and Holkar were men of humble origin who became officers of Bajl Rao and rose gradually in his service. Maratha appearance before Delhi. The Marathas, having made themselves masters of Gujarat, Malwa, and Bundelkhand, made a startling demonstration of the weakness of the empire and of their own power by evading the imperial army and suddenly appearing in the suburbs of Delhi in 1737. They did not attempt to occupy the capital, and returned to the Deccan to meet Asaf Jah, who had again taken the field against them. The Nizam, as we may now call him, was no match for his nimble enemy and was forced to make a formal cession of Malwa, to the Marathas. Weakness of the empire invited attack. Bajl Rao, Elphin stone observes, ' took possession of his conquests ; but before he could receive the promised confirmation from the emperor, the progress of the transaction was arrested by one of those tremendous visitations, which for a time render men in sensible to all other considerations. The empire was again reduced to the same state of decay which had on former occasions invited the invasions of Tamerlane and Babar ; and a train of events in Persia led to a similar attack from that country.' Nadir Shah ; battle of Karnal. Nadir (or Tahmasp) Kuli Khan, ' the greatest warrior Persia has ever produced ', had over thrown the Safavi dynasty in 1736, and been acclaimed king of that country under the style of Nadir Shah. When established on his throne he easily found pretexts for the invasion and plunder NADIR SHAH 459 of the rich and defenceless Indian plains. Advancing in 1739 through Ghazni, Kabul, and Lahore, he met with no real obstruc tion until he had approached the Jumna, within 100 miles of Delhi, when he encountered the imperial army entrenched at Karnal, not very far from the field of Panipat. After a fight lasting two hours the imperialists were routed, some 20,000 being slain, and immense booty falling into the hands of the conqueror. Mu hammad Shah made no attempt at further resistance, but attended Nadir Shah in his camp, where he was received courteously. Both kings entered Delhi together, and good order was preserved until a false report of Nadir Shah's death gave occasion to a rising of the inhabitants, in the course of which several hundreds of the invaders were killed. Nadir Shah took terrible vengeance. Seated in the Golden Mosque of Ro- shanu-ddaula, situated in the main street of the city, he commanded and watched for nine hours the indiscriminate massacre of the people in uncounted thousands. At last he yielded to the prayers of Muhammad Shah and stayed the carnage, which ceased in stantly. Nadir Shah then proceeded systematically and remorselessly to collect from all classes of the population the wealth of Delhi, the accumulation of nearly three centuries and a half. After a stay of fifty-eight days he departed for his own country laden with treasure of incalculable richness, includingthe world-famed peacock throne of Shahjahan. He annexed all the territory to the west of the Indus and the now extinct Hakra, river (nala of Sankrah) under the provisions of a treaty dated May 26, 1739. Afghanistan was thus severed from the Indian monarchy. Anarchy ; Ahmad Shah of Delhi. Nadir Shah left the Mogul empire bleeding and prostrate. No central government worthy of the name existed, and if any province enjoyed for a short time the blessing of tolerably good administration, as was the case in Bengal, that was due to the personal character of the noble or adventurer who had secured control over it. Very few indeed of the prominent men of the time possessed any discernible virtues. It is not worth while to relate the intrigues which occupied the corrupt and powerless court of Delhi. Maratha affairs will be noticed presently. Here it will suffice to note that in 1748 Muhammad Shah was succeeded peaceably by his son Ahmad Shah. NADIR SHAH. 460 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Ahmad Shah Durrani. A month before the death of Muham mad Shah his army, under the command of the heir apparent, Prince Ahmad, and the vizier, Kamalu-d din, had repulsed at Sihrind on the Sutlaj Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan chief who had succeeded Nadir Shah in the eastern portion of that monarch's dominions. But, notwithstanding his repulse, the Durrani was strong enough to exact tribute from the Panjab. After the accession of Ahmad Shah to the throne of Delhi his Durrani namesake came back and obtained the formal cession of the Panjab from the helpless Indian government, which was distracted by civil war. Asaf Jah, the founder of the Nizam's dynasty, having died at a great age in 1748, his grandson Ghaziu-d din became Vizier at Delhi. That nobleman blinded and deposed Ahmad Shah in 1754 replacing him by a relative who was styled Alamgir II. Two years later Ahmad Shah Durrani invaded India for the third time, and captured Delhi, which again suffered from the horrors of massacre and pillage (1756). Mathura, too, was once more the scene of dreadful slaughter. In the summer of 1757 the Durrani returned to his own country. We must now revert to Maratha affairs. Balaji, third Peshwa. Bajl Rao, the second Peshwa, who had become the ruler of the Marathas with hardly any pretence of dependence on the nominal Raja, engaged in war with the Nizam after his return from his Delhi raid in 1737. He died in 1740, leaving three sons, the eldest of whom, Balaji Rao, succeeded him as Peshwa, although not without much opposition from other Maratha chiefs. In 1750 Balaji consolidated his authority, making Poona his capital, and becoming the head of a confederacy of chiefs. RaghujI, the most prominent rival chief, had meantime acquired possession of the province of Cuttack or Orissa. Maratha occupation of the Panjab. In 1758, when Ragoba or Raghunath, the brother of the Peshwa, having taken possession of Lahore, had occupied the whole of the Panjab, it seemed as if the Marathas were destined to become the sovereigns of India. That prospect seriously alarmed. the Muhammadan rulers. Shujau-d daula, Nawab of Oudh, accordingly combined with the Rohilla Afghans, who had settled in Rohilkhand a few years earlier, against the aggressive Hindus. Ahmad Shah Durrani, too, was not content that the Panjab, which he had held for a time, should be in Maratha hands. In 1759 he returned to India and reoccupied that province. Alamgir II, the nominal emperor of Delhi, was murdered at this time, and succeeded by Shah Alam, or Prince Gauhar Ali, then in Bengal. The new emperor was recognized later by Ahmad Shah Durrani. Maratha power at its zenith. The Maratha power was now, as Elphinstone observes, •at its zenith. Their frontier extended on the north to the Indus and Himalaya, and on the south nearly to the extremity of the peninsula ; all the territory within those limits that was not their own paid tribute. MARATHA POWER 461 The whole of this great power was wielded by one hand . . . and all pre tensions of every description were concentrated in the peshwa.' Elphinstone's statement requires correction in so far that the ' one hand ' which directed the Maratha government was that of Sadasheo (Sadasiva) Bhao, the Peshwa's first cousin, and was not that of Balaji himself, who was addicted to sensual indulgence and ' left the entire management of all the affairs of government ' to his cousin, a man well trained in the conduct of business and accustomed to steady work. Sadasheo Bhao, having organized a regular well-paid army, including a large train of artillery, and 10,000 infantry, disciplined more or less completely after the European manner and under the command of a Muhammadan general named Ibrahim Khan GardI, believed himself qualified to dispute the sovereignty of India with the Durrani. Muhammad Shah, the nominal emperor of Delhi, was not taken into serious account. Renewed invasion of Upper India. In 1760 the Maratha government decided to renew the invasion of Upper India and to attempt the achievement of Maratha supremacy. The command of the enterprise having been declined by the Peshwa's brother, Raghunath Rao, the Peshwa's son, Viswas Rao, a lad of seventeen, was appointed titular generalissimo, ' according to the ancient custom of the Mahrattas ', with Sadasheo Bhao as his adviser. The Bhao, to use his ordinary designation, was actually in full control of the whole army. All the Maratha contingents under their various chiefs were summoned to the standard, and the promise of the aid of the Jats of Bhartpur under their leader, Suraj Mall, was secured.1 Both sides, that is to say, the Muham madans, Ahmad Shah- Durrani with his allies the Rohillas on one side, and the Marathas on the other, negotiated for the adhesion of Shujau-d daula, the young ruler of Oudh. The Maratha commander obtained possession of Delhi without difficulty and quartered his host there during the rainy season of 1760. The Durrani encamped at Anupshahr, on the Ganges, now in the Bulandshahr District. Shujau-d daula mounted guard over his own frontier. When the rains had ended and the Dasahra festival had passed Ahmad Shah Durrani managed to bring his army across a dangerous ford of the Jumna on October 23 and 24. The Maratha commander failed to take advantage of the oppor tunity thus offered to him. The armies in contact. A few days later the advanced guards of the two armies came -into contact, and at the end of October the Bhao fixed his head-quarters at Panipat, enclosing his whole camp as well as the town with a ditch sixty feet wide and twelve feet deep. His guns were mounted on the rampart. The Durrani camped about eight miles' from the Maratha lines on a front of about seven and a half miles, defending his encamp ment by an abattis of felled trees. He pitched a small red tent for 1 The Jats took no part in the battle. They withdrew in disgust at the arrogance and folly of the Bhao. 462 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD himself at some distance in front of his lines, and devoted incessant care to the inspection of his troops and defences. The Marathas cut his communications, thereby causing severe distress in the Afghan camp. A bold and successful attack on the force of Gobind Pundit, which was operating on the lines of communica tion, opened up the sources of supply and delivered Ahmad Shah from all danger of starvation. The enormous crowd shut up in the Maratha entrenchments then began to feel the pressure of hunger. Several engagements took place, but afforded no relief to the starving host. The Bhao made desperate efforts to negotiate, going so far as to offer Ahmad Shah peaceful possession of the Panjab up to Sihrind. The Durrani was inflexible. He agreed with the Rohilla leader that ' the Marathas are the thorn of Hindostan ', and that ' by one effort we get this thorn out of our sides for ever '. ' Ahmad Shah declared that the Hindostan! chiefs, all of whom desired to make terms, might negotiate or do what they pleased. He understood, he said, the business of war, and would settle .the matter finally in his own way. The Marathas were thus reduced to the ' last extremity ' and forced to fight. As the Bhao said, ' The cup is now full to the brim and cannot hold another drop.' Third battle of Panipat. He was constrained to take the offensive. At dawn on January 13, 1761, the Maratha army advanced eastwards and battle was joined.1 The fighting was fierce, and up to noon the balance of advantage rested with the Hindus. An hour later reinforcements pushed forward by the Shah delivered a charge, which produced a terrible effect. Between two and three o'clock the Peshwa's son, Viswas Rao, was wounded and unhorsed. About three o'clock, ' all at once, as if by enchantment, the whole Mahratta army at once turned their backs and fled at full speed, leaving the field of battle covered with heaps of dead. The instant they gave way, the victors pursued them with the utmost fury ; and as they gave no quarter, the slaughter is scarcely to be conceived, the pursuit continuing for ten or twelve coss [more than 20 miles] in every direction in which they fled.' 1 The ' black mango-tree ' which marked the battle-field is now replaced by a simple masonry memorial with railing (Prog. Rep. A. S., N. Circle, 1910-11, Muhammadan and British Monuments, pi. xv). Explanation. The right side of the map faces nearly north-east. Eight miles separated the town from the Durrani camp. A. Panipat town and Maratha camp. The contingents or 'divisions' ' are :— (1) Ibrahim Khan ; (2) Amaji Gaikwar ; (3) Sheodeo Patel ; (4) the Bhao and Viswas Rao; (5) Jaswant Rao; (6) Shamsher Bahadur; (7) Malhar Rao ; (8) Jankajl Sindia. B. The Durrani camp, with (C), Ahmad Shah's advanced tent. The con tingents or ' divisions ' are -. — (1) Barkhurdar Khan ; (2) Amir Beg, &c. ; (3) Dhundhi Khan ; (4) Hafiz Rahmat Khan ; (5) Ahmad Khan Bangash; (6) Grand Vizier ; (7) Shujau-d daula ; (8) Najibu-d daula ; (9) Shall Pasand Khan ; (10) Persian musketeers. PLAT3 OX THE BATTI.E OH F-AJMXPTTT. 464 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Such was the third battle of Panipat, a conflict far more deter mined and sanguinary than either of the battles fought on the same ground in the sixteenth century.1 Numbers engaged and killed. The forces engaged were large on both sides, but the Marathas possessed a superiority. KasI Raja, Pundit, who was present at the battle and made exact inquiries based on the Shah's muster rolls, states that Ahmad Shah's army consisted of 41,800 cavalry, 38,000 infantry — say, in all, 80,000 in round numbers, supplemented by something like four times as many irregulars. That estimate evidently includes mere camp followers. He says that the Marathas had 55,000 cavalry, besides 15,000 Pindaris, but reckons their infantry at only 15,000. They certainly were immensely superior in artillery. Elphinstone supposes that the total number of men within their lines may have been about 300,000. It is not known how many camp followers they had. The number of Hindus slaughtered was thought to approach 200,000. Thousands of prisoners were destroyed, ' so that in the Durrany camp (with an exception of ths Shah and his principal officers) every tent had heads piled up before the door of it.' Nearly all the Hindu leaders of note were slain. The body of Viswas Rao was found and identified, but some slight doubt remained as to the correctness of the identification of the head and trunk said to be those of the Bhao. Sindia and Holkar both escaped, as did the Brahman, famous in after years as Nana Farnavls. The losses were reported to the Peshwa in enigmatical language easily interpreted : ' Two pearls have been dissolved, twenty-seven gold mohurs have been lost, and of the silver and copper the total cannot be cast up.' The casualties on the side of the victors are not recorded. Causes of the Maratha. defeat. Ahmad Shah had won by patient, skilled generalship. The Bhao had lost by reason of blind pride and obstinacy. He trusted in his guns and disciplined infantry, scornfully rejecting the wise words of the chiefs who counselled him to fight in the old and well-tried Maratha fashion, and to free himself from the encumbrance of guns and followers. His fate was determined from the moment when he shut himself up in his lines with a multitude whom he could not feed. The Shah's ambition baulked. The Shah had planned his ably conducted campaign with the purpose of seizing the empire of Hindostan. His ambition was baulked, as that of Alexander had been long before, by the mutiny of his soldiers. The Durranis mutinied in a body and passed completely out of his control, demanding payment of their arrears for two years past and immediate return to Kabul. Ahmad Shah was powerless against such opposition and had to go home. Shujau-d daula, the Nawab of Oudh, who had taken no active part in the battle, although 1 Battles of Panipat : (1) Babur and Ibrahim Lodi, 1526 ; (2) Akbar and Hemu, 1556 ; (3) Ahmad Shah and Marathas, 1761. EFFECTS OF THE BATTLE 465 nominally on the side of the Shah, also slipped away to his own dominions. Effects of the battle in India. The effects of the battle on the political state of India are well summarized by Elphinstone, who observes that ' the history of the Mogul empire here closes of itself ', and states that ' never was a defeat more complete, and never was there a calamity that diffused so much consternation. Grief and despondency spread over the whole Maratta people ; most had to mourn relations, and all felt the de struction of the army as a death-blow to their national greatness. The peshwa never recovered the shock. He slowly retreated from his frontier towards Puna, and died in a temple which he had himself erected near that city. The wreck of the army retired beyond the Nerbadda, evacuating almost all their acquisitions in Hindostan. Dissensions soon broke out after the death of Balaji, and the government of the peshwa never recovered its vigour. Most of the Maratta conquests were recovered at a subsequent period ; but it was by independent chiefs, with the aid of European officers and disciplined sepoys. The confederacy of the Maratta princes dissolved on the cessation of their common danger.' Causes of decline of Mogul empire. The Mogul empire, like all Asiatic despotisms, had shallow roots. Its existence depended mainly on the personal character of the reigning autocrat and on the degree of his military power. It lacked popular support, the strength based upon patriotic feeling, and the stability founded upon ancient tradition ; nor were there any permanent institutions to steady the top-heavy structure. Akbar, the real founder of the empire, was a man truly great, notwithstanding his frailties, and during his long personal reign of forty -five years (1560-1605) was able to build up an organization strong enough to survive twenty-two years of Jahanglr's feebler rule. Shahjahan, a stern, ruthless man, kept a firm hand on the reins for thirty years, and was followed by Aurangzeb, who maintained the system more or less in working order for almost fifty years longer. Thus, for a century and a half, from 1560 to 1707, the empire was preserved by a succession of four sovereigns, the length of whose reigns averaged thirty-four years, a very unusual combination. Even Jahangir, the weakest of the four, was no fool. The three others were men of unusual ability. Akbar's exceptional gifts made him a most successful general as against Asiatic foes, and enabled him to construct a military machine much superior to anything of the kind possessed by other Indian states. That machine failed in the time of Shahjahan when used against the Persians, but was still good enough to keep India fairly quiet during the first half of Aurangzeb's reign. The mechanism thenceforward steadily deteriorated. The last of the Great Moguls attained an age far beyond the limit of efficiency ; his sons, benumbed by the crushing weight of parental control, lost all capacity for government ; excessive luxury enervated the nobles, and gradually brought the army to the condition of a helpless mob. Then the hardy, frugal Marathas pricked the bubble, and proved by experiment the worthlessness of the 466 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD glittering imperial host. The long absence of Aurangzeb in the Deccan undermined the foundations of government, which degener ated in every department. Lack of control engendered oppression ; and oppression begat poverty, entailing financial ruin, which was intensified by reckless spending and the lack of honest adminis tration. The powerful Hindu support of the throne, won so cleverly by Akbar, was weakened by the erroneous policy of Shahjahan and, in still greater degree, by the austere fanaticism of Aurangzeb. The prolonged anarchy involved in the repeated wars of succession was a potent influence in bringing about the -ruin of the imperial fabric. Long before Aurangzeb's death the military power of the state had become contemptible, and the authority of the emperor could be defied with impunity. When the breath left his body no man remained in India who was fit to take the helm of the ship of state, which soon drifted on the rocks. The collapse of the empire came with a suddenness which at first sight may seem surprising. But the student who has acquired even a moderately sound knowledge of the history will be surprised that the empire lasted so long rather than because it collapsed suddenly. It would be easy to expand such observations, and to indicate other causes, as, for example, the neglect of sea-power, which contributed to the ruin of the Mogul empire ; but it is needless to work out the theme in further detail. Every attentive reader of the story can fill in the outline in his own fashion. Revolution between 1756 and 1761. In 1715-17, when we last had occasion to notice the affairs of the East India Company, the mercantile representatives of the Company in Calcutta were content to devote their energies exclusively to trade and to avoid meddling with Indian politics or wars. They were then in no wise ashamed to send merchants bearing costly gifts in order to beg or buy commercial favours from the degraded wretch who polluted the throne of Aurangzeb. Until the catastrophe of 1756 they adhered to that humble policy. But during the short space of time which intervened between June 1756 and the tragedy of Panipat in January 1761 a marvellous change was wrought in the English position both in Bengal and in the peninsula. The conflicts in the south between the English and the French, in which each side was supported by Indian allies, began in 1746 with the loss of Madras and ended on January 6, 1761, a week before the battle of Panipat, with the unconditional surrender to British arms of Pondicherry, the chief French settlement. The events in Bengal were still more startling and fateful. The traders who fled in terror to Fulta in June 1756 were the masters of a rich kingdom exactly twelve months later. The story of those memorable events and the connected happen ings, which cannot be conveniently interwoven with the narrative of Mogul and Maratha affairs, will be told in the chapters following. Note. — Authorities differ concerning the date of the battle of Panipat. Grant Duff gives January 6 ; Casi Raja, January 7 ; and Ibrahim Khan, Jamadi II, 6, a. h. 1174, equated with January 12 (E. db D., viii. 151 note); but the true equivalent is Tuesday, January 13, which Irvine rightly gives in I. G. (1907), ii. 411. The Later Moguls (principal names only) AURANGZEB ALAMGIR Muhammad Sultan (executed 1676) Muazzam, Bahadur Shah I or Shah Alam I (ace. 1707, d. 1712) Jahandar Shah (ace. 1712, murdered 1713) Alamgir II (ace. 1754, murdered 1759) Shah Alam II (aec. 1759, d. 1806) Akbar II (ace. 1806, d. 1837) Bahadur Shah II (ace. 1837, deposed 1857) Muhammad Azam (killed at Jajau, 1707) Bedfir Bakht (killed at Jajau) I Akbar (d. in Persia, 1704) Nekusiyar (ace. and d. 1719) Kambakhsh (killed at Hyderabad, 1709) Azimu-sh shan (killed in battle) Farrukhsiyar (ace. 1713, murdered 1719) Rafiu-sh shan (killed in battle) Jahanshah (killed in battle) Muhammad Shah (ace. 1719, d. 1748) I Ahmad Shah (ace. 1748, deposed 1754) Rafiu-d Daulat (aec. and died 1719) I Rafiu-d Darajat or Shahjahan II (ace. and died 1719) Muhammad IbrahIm (1720, for a month) 468 MUHAMMADAN PERIOD Leading Dates Death of Aurangzeb .... February 21 (o.s.), 1707 Battle of Jajau; defeat of Azam; accession of Bahadur Shah June 1707 Defeat and death of Kambakhsh .... January 1709 Sikh rebellion 1710 Death of Bahadur Shah ; war of succession .... 1712 Accession of Farrukhsiyar ....... 1713 Balaji Visvanath Peshwa ........ 1714 Execution of Bandah ; mission from E. I. Co. .... 1715 Murder of Farrukhsiyar ; accession of Muhammad Shah . . 1719 Bajl Rao I Peshwa 1720 Independence of the Deccan and Oudh ..... 1724 Marathas appeared under Delhi ...... 1737 Invasion of Nadir Shah ........ 1739 Balaji Rao Peshwa ; independence of Bengal .... 1740 Death of Muhammad Shah ; accession of Ahmad Shah of Delhi . 1748 Ahmad Shah deposed ; accession of Alamgir II . . . . 1754 Sack of Delhi by Ahmad Shah Durrani ..... 1756 Temporary occupation of Panjab by the Marathas . . . 1758 Third battle of Panipat ; Madho Rao Peshwa .... 1761 Note. — The events connected with the French and English settlements are treated separately. Authorities Elphinstone enters into much detail. His narrative is based on the Siyaru-l Muldkhirin ; Khafi Khan's history, now to be read in E. db D., vol. vii ; Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas ; and some few other books. A mass of minute and usually accurate information will be found in Irvine's articles in J. A. S. B., part 1, for 1894, 1896, 1898, which are extracts from his unfinished book, designed to give the history in full from 1707 to 1803. He supplies references to all original authorities, printed and manuscript. The leading original authority for the battle of Panipat and connected events is the lucid narrative of Kasi (Casi) Raja Pundit, translated from the Persian and published in Asiatic Researches, vol. iii, 1799.1 The plan of the battle is his. The history of the Sikhs may be studied in Cunningham, History of the Sikhs (1849 and 1853), or compendiously in Lepel Griffin, Ranjit Singh (Rulers of India, 1898), an excellent little book. Several other works on the subject exist. The extensive treatise by Macauliffe, entitled The Sikh Religion (6 volumes, Oxford, 1909), is the only authoritative detailed account of the religion and scriptures of the sect. Among numerous secondary authorities for the period generally the works by H. G. Keene and Sidney Owen, both entitled The Fall of the Mogul Empire, may be mentioned. It is out of the question to give a list at all exhaustive. 1 The translator and editor, as Grant Duff mentions (Hist., ii. 149 «., ed. 1826), was Mr. James Browne. He was Resident at Delhi from 1782 to 1785, and published a volume entitled India Tracts in 1788 (Diet. Ind. Biogr., corrected). The book includes an account of the Sikhs, probably the earliest in English. Nana Farnavis gives a short description of the battle in the autobiographical fragment translated by Briggs in Trans. R. A. S., 1829, vol. ii, part i. On the Maratha side 'confusion prevailed in every direction '. BOOK VII THE RULE OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY TO 1818 CHAPTER 1 The South ; French and English ; Haidar Ali and Mysore. Period of transition, 1761-1818. Anglo-Indian history does not attain any semblance of unity until 1774, when, under the provisions of the Regulating Act of the preceding year, Warren Hastings was appointed the first Governor-General of Bengal and invested with a certain amount of ill-defined control over the other British settlements in India. The distinct recognition of the East India Company, representing the British Government, as the paramount authority in India was deferred until 1818. The period between 1761 and 1818 which -will be now discussed was one of transition. The Mogul emperor, whose acts had previously filled the pages of history, had shrunk into an insignifi cant phantom, almost powerless to influence the course of events. The traditional authority of the court of Delhi during the earlier years of the period merely served as the means of giving a colour of legality to the forcible and essentially lawless proceedings of the various parties who from time to time invoked the sanction of the imperial seal. After 1803 the ghost of imperial control was finally laid and the successor of Akbar became a purely titular sovereign, subsisting as a pensioner of the East India Company. In the years following the disaster of Panipat, which had destroyed the first Maratha confederacy and annihilated for the moment Hindu hopes of supremacy, the predatory armies of the Marathas under the leadership of Sindia, Holkar, and other independent chiefs recovered strength with surprising rapidity, and soon acquired a position offering a reasonable prospect of renewed Hindu domination in both the Deccan and Hindostan. Two Muhammadan kingdoms in the south, ruled respectively by the Nizam and the upstart Haidar (Hyder) Ali, and also the Muslim Subadar of Bengal, disputed the Maratha, claims to levy systematic blackmail and so to exercise substantially sovereign authority over all the states within their reach. Meantime the foreign settlers on the coast had begun to realize the practical value of European superiority in armament, the art of war, and general knowledge. They had learned, even before the close of the seventeenth century, that the ' country powers ', to use the old phrase, were eager to compete for the help to be derived from small bodies of European gunners and disciplined 1976 r, 470 THE BRITISH PERIOD soldiers.1 The two principal European nations represented by the factories on the coast were drawn into conflict with e"ach other and as allies of one or other of the warring neighbouring states. Within the brief space of fifteen years between 1746 and 1761 the European rivalry was decided once and for all in favour of the English, French influence both in the south and in Bengal being reduced almost to nothing. Subsequent French efforts did not affect the result of the conflict which had been decided nine days after the carnage of Panipat. Treatment of the subject. The transactions of the transitional period thus summarily reviewed in outline are fully recorded in a multitude of documents and books written in French and English, not to mention Dutch or other tongues'. The history, although crowded with incidents of a stirring and often heroic character, has lost much of its interest by reason of the lapse of time and the complete disappearance from the Indian scene of all the parties to the ancient quarrels, save the sole survivor. Few modern readers can brace themselves to the task of mastering in detail the copious narratives of Orme and other writers of the olden time, who seem to belong to a vanished world. People living in the twentieth century are more interested in studying the causes and effects of the events of the eighteenth century than in the particulars of the events themselves, which are apt to seem petty or trivial.2 But an author whose fate it is to write while the whole world is convulsed in the agonies of the Great War, when an army of 100,000 men is regarded as a small force, must be on his guard against the illusion produced by mere bigness. The battles of the eighteenth century, fought upon a narrow stage where tens perished as compared with the thousands of to-day, were as significant as the gigantic struggles now (1917) in progress and were often more decisive. Clive won the rich prize of Bengal at the cost of twenty-two killed and forty-nine or fifty wounded. Even at Assaye (1803), where the number of wounded was considered to be ' fearfully large ' and the enemy had at least a seven-fold superiority in numbers, the killed on the British side were less than four hundred, and the tale of wounded was estimated to be between fifteen and sixteen hundred. Yet the battle of Assaye had consequences far more definite and of more obvious political value 1 In 1676 Francois Martin took by assault the fort of Valdur for a local prince named Sher Khan. ' Done, pour la premiere fois avec F. Martin et des l'epoque de Louis XIV, longtemps avant Dumas, Dupleix ou Bussy, on voyait des Francais entrer dans les querelles des souverains indigenes, commander et encadrer leurs troupes, esperant se faire payer de ces services en concessions territoriales ou commerciales ' (Kaeppelin, ' 3 Wilks, when justifying himself for giving unusually- detailed accounts of the Anglo-French fighting, gives as his excuse 'the extraordinary character of the war of Coromandel, in which the operations of a handful of troops assumed the political importance, and outstripped the military glory of the mightiest armies ' (reprint, i. 207). FRENCH POSSESSIONS 471 than many of the nameless wholesale massacres of these latter years. The high importance of the period in question in the story of India's development demands attentive study of its essential features, although people no longer have leisure to acquire an inti mate knowledge of local military operations or of the intrigues of forgotten potentates. In this book room cannot be found for more than a sketch of the period, and numberless deeds of heroism which it would be a pleasure to rescue from oblivion must be passed by in silence. It is convenient to begin with the transactions in the south. The French possessions. It is needless to linger over the early feeble efforts of the French to secure a share of the Indian trade by setting up agencies (loges or comploirs) at Surat and other ports.1 The first serious effort to compete with the Dutch and English in common was marked by the establishment in 1664 of the French East India Company (La Compagnie des Indes Orien- tales), organized by Colbert, the correspondent of Bernier and finance minister of Louis XIV. Ten years later Francois Martin, accompanied by sixty other Frenchmen driven out of St. Thome and Masulipatam by the Dutch, landed at the village of Pondi cherry, eighty-five miles south of Madras, and by permission of the local authorities built a small commercial agency or factory, which was slightly fortified in subsequent years. The site of the village was purchased in 1683 and a town began to grow. The adventurers, equipped with extremely limited resources, were unable to resist the Dutch, who seized the settlement in 1693 and held it for six years, until they were constrained to restore it under the provisions of the treaty of Ryswick (1697). During the following half-century Pondicherry was fortunate in its governors, who included F. Martin, Dumas, and Dupleix. Under their care the settlement prospered and its trade attained considerable dimensions. Dupleix assumed charge in 1742. Chandernagore (Chandarnagar), the second in rank of the French settlements, was o'ccupied first about 1673 and acquired perma nently fifteen years later. Dupleix, who was in charge of the town before his transfer to Pondicherry, did much to improve the build ings and develop trade. Its situation on the Hooghly (Hugli) above Calcutta prevented the settlement from ever possessing political importance. It is now a quiet country town with little external trade. The other French settlements, Mahe on the Malabar coast, Karikal on the Coromandel coast,- and Yanaon in the delta of the Godavari, acquired at various dates, are and always were insig nificant. The French possessions as a whole, notwithstanding the efforts of Dupleix and his predecessors, continued to be far inferior to the British in strength, wealth, and trade. 1 For full details see H. Castonnet Des Fosses, L'Inde Francaise avanl Dupleix, Paris (Challamel), 1887. 472 THE BRITISH PERIOD Madras taken by the French. The European war of the Austrian Succession extended to India in 1746. An English squadron which appeared on the Coromandel coast was weakly handled and retired without doing anything effectual. The way was thus opened for the French privateer captain, La Bourdonnais,1 who attacked and captured Madras in September without the loss of a man. No serious resistance was offered and the town was held to ransom for eleven lakhs of pagodas, equal to about forty-four lakhs of rupees, payable in bills falling due at intervals. The attack had been arranged with the approval and aid of the Governor and Council of Pondicherry.^ La Bourdonnais argued that the commission which he held as admiral made him inde pendent of the Pondicherry authorities, while Dupleix maintained that as head of the French settlements it was his business to settle the fate of the town.- On that point he seems to have been in the right. La Bourdonnais, act ing on his assumption of in dependence, had promised to restore the town in three months, but Dupleix repu diated the promise, and held possession until 1749, when he was compelled to relinquish it in accordance with the terms of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. The fleet of La Bourdonnais was disabled and almost de stroyed by a storm in October 1746 ; and subsequently the commander was taken prisoner by the English, who released him and allowed him to return to France. On his arrival he was treated as a traitor and imprisoned in the Bastille. After three years' confinement he was liberated, but only to die. The circumstances of the surrender of Madras and the consequent quarrel between La Bourdonnais and Dupleix have been the subject of prolonged con troversy, especially in the pages of French authors. The evidence, as now ascertained, establishes clearly that before the capitulation treaty was signed La Bourdonnais exacted an engagement to pay him personally 100,000 pagodas, of which 88,000 were actually paid over in cash, bullion, and jewels.2 Dupleix carried his point 1 The name is written by several French authors as in the text, but the more accurate form is de la Bourdonnais. 3 The proof is given by H. D. Love, Vestiges of Old Madras (Ind. Records Ser., Murray, 1913), vol. ii, pp. 369, 270, 584 n. LA BOURDONNAIS. DEFEAT OF NAWAB 473 and kept the town until he was forced to give it up by the action of his superiors. He failed in an attempt on the other small English settlement on the Coromandel coast called Fort St. David, formerly known as Tegnapatam. Defeat of the Nawab. Anwaru-d din, the Nawab of the Carnatic, whose capital was at Arcot, resented the pretensions of the French to dispose of Madras without his permission, and sent a consider able army under the command of his eldest son to capture the place. A tiny force of Frenchmen under Paradis won a complete victory over the Nawab's host commanded by his son at Mailapur (Mylapore ) or St. Thome close to Madras. All historians are careful to point out the impor tance of that fight as proving the helplessness of an old- fashioned Indian army against an extremely small body of disciplined Europeans. A naval attack on Pondi cherry was repelled with heavy British losses in 1748 by Du pleix, whose reputation was justly enhanced by the success. His wider political ambitions may be dated from about that time. In his earlier days he had been concerned with bold commercial speculations rather than with high politics. Disputed successions. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 ought to have defi nitely stopped all fighting be tween the French and English on Indian soil, but it did not ; and the opposition between the local representatives of the two nations soon developed into an unofficial war waged without the sanction of the governments in Europe. At that time the English set the example of interfering in the tortuous politics of the prin cipalities of the Far South by taking a side in a quarrel concerning the succession to the Raj of Tanjore. The death of the old Nizam Asaf Jah, at an advanced age in 1748, gave rise to disputes among his sons and grandsons, which were complicated by somewhat simi lar contentions in the Carnatic, in all of which the local French and English authorities judged it expedient to intervene.1 1 It is convenient to designate the ruler of the Deccan throughout as the Nizam. Asaf Jah held the title of Nizamu-1 Mulk, but is generally referred to by his contemporaries as the Subadar or Suba of the Deccan. Macaulay calls Anwaru-d din 'Anaverdy Khan', and similar corruptions are found in other writers. So Muzaffar is disguised as ' Mirzapha ', &c. NAWAB MUHAMMAD ALI. 474 THE BRITISH PERIOD The succession to the Nizam's throne was not then claimed by the eldest of his six sons, who was employed in high office at the court of Delhi. Nasir Jang, the second son, and Muzaffar Jang, a grandson, son of a daughter of Asaf Jah, fought for the vacant throne A little later Anwaru-d din, whom Asaf Jah had ap pointed to be Nawab of the Carnatic, was killed, and his heritage was claimed by his illegitimate son, Muhammad All, of the one part, and Chanda Sahib, the son-in-law of a former Nawab, of the other part. The French for reasons of their own backed Muzaffar Jang lor the Nizamat and Chanda Sahib for the Nawabi, while the English favoured Nasir Jang and Muhammad Ali respectively. After the death of Anwaru-d din in 1749, Muhammad Ali took refuge in the fort of Trichinopoly supported by British troops, while Chanda Sahib with the aid of his French allies obtained pos session of the rest of the Carnatic. Towards the close of 1 750 Nasir Jang was killed, and Muzaffar Jang, his rival, was solemnly installed at Pondicherry as Nizam. He paid the French well for their services and professed to recognize Dupleix as the titular sovereign of southern India from the Krishna to Cape Comorin, or, in other words, of Mysore, Tanjore, and Madura. Soon after wards, in 1751 , Muzaffar Jang was killed and replaced by the old Nizam's third son, Salabat Jang, under French protection. Temporary French success. So far the French seemed to have won the game. They had succeeded in raising two nominees of theirs in succession to the throne of the Deccan, and had secured the Carnatic, except Trichinopoly, for their friend Chanda Sahib. The local English authorities being unwilling to allow Muhammad Ali to be utterly crushed, sought to relieve Trichinopoly, a task for which the means at their disposal were inadequate. Clive and Arcot. At this point Robert Clive entered upon the scene and turned the tables on the French. Clive, who had come out as a writer in the service of the East India Company, had been permitted to join the small military force of the Madras government under Major Stringer Lawrence, an officer of exceptional STRINGER LAWRENCE. O so PL, oWo>— i B5 H 476 THE BRITISH PERIOD capacity, and in 1751 held the rank of captain, being then twenty- six years of age. In order to relieve Trichinopoly he proposed to attack Arcot, Chanda Sahib's capital, and so divert the besiegers from Trichinopoly. The plan was approved. ' Fort St. David and Madras were left, the one with 100, the other with less than 50 men, in order to supply the greatest force that could be col lected for this enterprise.' After all was done the force consisted of only 200 Europeans and 300 sepoys, led by eight officers, four of whom were civil servants. The little band was allowed to occupy Arcot without opposition. The fort was ruinous and at first sight seemed incapable of defence, but Clive and his men worked wonders and threw up improvised fortifications. ' The acquisition of the fort of Arcot soon produced the effect which had been expected from it,' and attracted a large force of the enemy from under the walls of Trichinopoly. That force battered the tiny garrison of Arcot for fifty-three days (September 23 to November 14), and at last made one attempt at storm, which was repulsed with heavy loss to the assailants. That failure disheartened Chanda Sahib's army, which suddenly withdrew from before the town. The heroic garrison had lost 45 Europeans and 30 sepoys killed, besides a large num- AUTOGRAPH OF CLIVE. ber of wounded. The gallantry of the de fence, in which the sepoys had taken a most honourable part, made a deep impression throughout India. The British and their allies presently gained further successes at Kaveripak east of Arcot and at other places, with the result that in 1752 the French resigned all claims to Trichinopoly. Chanda Sahib, having sur rendered to the Raja, of Tanjore, was perfidiously executed, at the instigation of Muhammad Ali, by order of the Raja, who desired apparently to get rid of an embarrassing prisoner.1 Chanda Sahib is given a good character by Orme, who describes him as ' a brave, benevolent, humane and generous man, as princes go in Indostan. His military abilities were much greater than are commonly found in the generals of India, insomuch that if he had had an absolute command over the French troops, it is believed he would not have committed the mistakes which brought on his catastrophe, and the total reduction of his army.' The military successes and the death of Chanda Sahib made Muhammad Ali undisputed Nawab of the Carnatic. His worthless and discreditable life lasted until 1795. Bussy. In 1751 Muzaffar Jang, having been made Nizam, was escorted to Aurangabad, then treated as the capital, by a distin guished French officer, usually known as Bussy.2 On the death of 1 See Wilks, reprint, i. 177. 2 His full designation was Charles Joseph Patissier, Marquis de Bussy- Castelnau. In 1751 he was thirty-five years of age. BUSSY 477 Muzaffar Jang and the accession of Salabat Jang in the same year, Bussy became the adviser and guide of the new Nizam, whose government he directed for seven years with eminent skill, until he was recalled by Lally. In 1753 Bussy obtained the assign ment of the revenue of the ' Northern Circars ' for the payment of his troops, but the country had been so devastated by long continued fighting that the revenue actually realizable was not large.1 His temporary successful administration of the Deccan produced no lasting results and did not directly affect the course of the events in the Carnatic briefly summarized in the preceding pages, except that Bussy supplied Dupleix with funds to a cer tain extent. Incidentally, he amassed an immense fortune for himself, and ' in the course of a year passed from poverty to opulence '. Recall of Dupleix. In 1753 Dupleix became con scious of the failure of his plans, which had aimed at the complete expulsion of the English from India, including Bengal, and the establishment of France as the paramount power. He therefore opened negotiations with the Madras authorities, whom he at tempted to deceive by pro ducing a forged imperial grant purporting to appoint him Nawab of the Carnatic. The negotiations came to nothing. Meantime the Governments of both France and England were much disturbed by the advices received from India. The coun tries being officially at peace, the home authorities regarded it as intolerable that their servants should dare to wage unofficial wars in the Far East and enter into alliances with Indian princes on their own account without the slightest authorization. The whole scheme of ambitious policy pursued by Dupleix was directly opposed 1 Wilks (reprint, i. 209) writes that Bussy obtained the ' absolute cession of the whole of those provinces, now denominated the northern Circars '. Mr. Roberts (Historical Geography, India, p. Ill) denies that there was any unconditional grant of territory, asserting that merely an assignment of revenue was granted for the- support of Bussy s troops ' as long as' they were in the service of the Subadar '. While Bussy retained power the practical result was the same. The Northern Sarkars were equivalent to the modern Districts, ^unlur, Godavari, Kistna (Krishna), Ganjam, and Vizagapatam, of the Madras Presidency. R3 DUPLEIX. 478 THE BRITISH PERIOD to the standing orders of the French East India Company and of the king's Government. The official documents published by Cultru permit of no doubt on the subject. In 1752, for example, the Directors wrote that ' it is not compatible either with the Company's interest or with prudent onduct on your part to engage in wars in the interior of India ... a solid and durable peace is the sole end at which you should aim . . . the object of the Company is not to become a land-power ', and so on. Accordingly the Governments of both countries agreed to stop the irregular proceedings in India. The French authorities deputed M. Godeheu, one of the Directors, to proceed to India with stringent orders requiring him to arrange terms of peace. Dupleix was recalled and Godeheu was authorized to arrest him if he should be disposed to resist. Dupleix, however, submitted to the royal orders without the slightest attempt at opposition and returned to France, where he lived until 1763. Godeheu has been abused most unfairly for his action. He simply did his unpleasant duty in carrying out the king's commands expressed in the most positive terms. He might, perhaps, have shown less harshness in his manner, but it is clear that he expected resistance and thought it necessary to be peremptory. Dupleix was not condemned to poverty by his superiors. On the contrary, he was given liberal passage money, and was allowed to retain a jdgir assignment of revenue bringing in a large income, although the acceptance of the jdgir had been a breach of French law. It was his misfortune that the almost immediate renewal of war between the two countries in 1756 stopped his Indian income. He had been granted the title of Marquis in 1752. The Seven Years' War ; Lally. The outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 (May 17) again involved the French and English settlements in India in authorized hostilities. In those days communication between Europe and India was so slow that Count de Lally, the general selected by the French Government to drive the English into the sea, did not arrive at Pondicherry until April 1758.1 By that time the relative positions of the two nations in India had changed radically, because the English were in firm possession of Bengal, and whatever might happen to Madras their footing in India was secure. At the time that fact, now obvious, was not so well understood, and Lally did not feel conscious of having been sent on a hopeless errand. He even cherished hopes of conquering Bengal. One of the first steps that he took was to recall Bussy and so to destroy French influence at the Nizam's court. 1 His full personal style was Thomas Arthur, Comte de Lally, Baron de Tollendal. Two documents invested him with full powers, (1) as Lieutenant-General, commander-in-chief ; and (2) as Commissary of the King, empowered to exercise complete control over all persons military and civil in the French settlements in India, as well as in Madagascar, the He de France or Mauritius, and Bourbon . The first bore date November 19, and the second December 31, 1756. FAILURE OF LALLY 479 Failure of Lally. Lally, the son of an Irish exile and a French lady, was born in 1700, and from a very early age had taken an active part in the continental wars of the period, attaining high military distinction and marked favour at court. In 1756, when selected to represent his sovereign in the East, he was regarded as ' one of the wealthiest as well as one of the bravest men in the French army '. The Government which sent him out evidently believed him to be the best officer available for the purpose, and willingly furnished him with such men, sliips, and money as could be spared. At that time France was deeply concerned for the defence of Canada, and was obliged to withdraw for that purpose certain forces originally intended for India. From the start Lally was pursued by ill luck. The admiral delayed on the voyage most unreasonably and never showed either a good fighting spirit or readiness to co-operate with the commander-in-chief of the land forces. The local authorities at Pondicherry, who knew that the royal commissary possessed full powers and carried strict orders enjoining him to suppress the numerous abuses in the administra tion, were deliberately negligent and almost openly hostile. They had made no preparations whatever for war, and had failed even to collect information, although they had been given full notice by ships which arrived long in advance of Lally.1 He displayed the most feverish energy, and, in spite of want of supplies and every imaginable difficulty, quickly captured Fort St. David and other small places. His countrymen left his army to starve, so that the troops became mutinous. The attack which Lally launched against Madras in 1758 was hampered by the apathy of the Pondicherry Government, resisted by the able defence of Mr. Pigot and Stringer Lawrence, and finally stopped by the appearance of a British fleet. Lally, reduced to a condition of starvation and extreme distress, was constrained to give battle to a superior force commanded by Eyre Coote at Wandiwash in 1760, and was utterly defeated. He retired with difficulty to Pondicherry, which he defended gallantly from May 1760 to January 16, 1761, when he was forced by hunger to capitulate at discretion. It is said that towards the end food was so scarce that a dog sold for twenty-four rupees. Lally was sent to England as a prisoner of war. When he returned to France, at the close of hostilities in 1763, his enemies succeeded in having him arrested and confined in the Bastille. After two and a half years he was ' convicted of having betrayed the interests of the king, his dominions, and the Company of the Indies ; of abuses of authority, &c.', and condemned to death. The sentence was executed with accompaniments of cruel insult a few days later. Execution of Lally. Nobody now doubts that his condemna tion was unjust and brought about by the malignity of his numerous 1 The above accords with the narrative of Malleson and most authors. Wilks, who was very hostile to Lally, says, on the contrary, that ' no useful energy was omitted in seconding the impracticable orders of M. Lally ' (reprint, i. 243). Lally certainly succeeded in ' putting everybody's back up ' and had himself to thank for much grudging service. 480 THE BRITISH PERIOD enemies. It is also true that Lally was ill fitted for service in India. He neither knew nor cared anything about the customs of the country and made no effort to restrain his violent temper. An English writer notes that ' Monsieur Lally is arrived amongst us. Notwithstanding his fallen con dition, he is now as proud and haughty as ever. A great share of wit, sense, and martial abilities, obscured by a savage ferocity, and an undis tinguished contempt for every person that moves in a sphere below that of a General, characterizes' this odd compound of a man. . . . He was so generally hated (if I may be allowed the expression) that the very dogs howled at him. It is a convincing proof of his abilities, the managing so long and vigorous a defence in a place where he was held in universal detestation.'He was equally hated, and with good reason, by the natives of the country, whom he had outraged in various ways. After the revolution had begun the parliament of Paris reversed his con demnation and restored his estates to his son, in 1778. Destruction of Pondicherry. The English victors felt bound to take stern measures for their own security. When Lally captured Fort St. David he had allowed the inhabitants only three days to evacuate the town, which he then destroyed. It was known that his orders directed him to ' demolish all the maritime places that he might take from the English, and to transport all the Europeans he should find in them to the Island of Bourbon '. Mr. Saunders, the able President of Madras, who took over Pondicherry, felt the necessity of making his own settle ment safe. The fortifications and most of the buildings in the captured town were accordingly demolished, the inhabitants being allowed nearly three months in which to move. ' In a few months more', to quote Orme's words, 'not a roof was left standing in this once fair and flourishing city.' Result of the operations. The result of the operations thus briefly sketched may be described in the words of Thornton : ' From the time when Pondicherry fell, the French power in the Carnatic was virtually at an end. Gingee [Jinji] still remained in their possession, as did also Thiagur, which had been restored by the Mysoreans on their departure : but the former yielded to a force under Captain Stephen Smith ; and the latter, after sustaining sixty-five days of blockade and bombard ment, capitulated to Major Preston. Mahe, and its dependencies on the coast of Malabar, also surrendered ; and early in the year 1761 the French had neither any regular force in any part of India,1 nor-any local possessions, except their factories of Calicut and Surat, which were merely trading establishments.' Chandernagore had been captured by Clive and Watson in 1757. The districts near the Godavari commonly known as the Northern Sarkars (' Circars '), of which the revenues had been assigned by the Nizam to Bussy, were occupied (Guntur excepted) in 1758-9 by a force dispatched from Bengal by Clive and landed at Vizaga- 1 Parties of French gunners and other adventurers continued for many years to help Haidar Ali and other enemies of the British. ' CAPTURE OF MANILLA 481 patam in October 1758.1 Clive had responded to an appeal made by the Hindu Raja of Rajamahendri, and, regardless of risk, had denuded Bengal of troops in order to make the expedition a success. The commander, Colonel Forde, a capable officer, completely defeated the army under French command at Kundiir (Condore), forty miles from Rajamahendri, stormed Masulipatam, and took possession of the districts. Subsequently he returned to Bengal and defeated the Dutch of Chinsura. General defeat of France. Orme, when commenting on the results gained in India by the British forces, observes : ' For two years before, the fortune of France had been declining in every other part of the world ; they had lost their settlements on the coast of Africa, half their West India islands, the whole region of Canada ; their naval force was utterly ruined, and their armies were struggling under defeats in Germany.' 2 Capture of Manilla. The comprehensive policy of Pitt had aimed yet another blow at the enemy by means of an expeditionary force sent from Madras in 1762 to seize Manilla in the Philippine Islands, then belonging to Spain, an ally of France. The combined naval and military operations on the spot occupied only twelve days. The town was stormed with small loss to the assailants, and honourable terms were accorded to the garrison and inhabitants. The brilliant feat of arms had no permanent effect, and is now almost forgotten, because the colony was restored to Spain in the following year, 1763, when the general peace of Paris was signed. A Manilla trophy at Madras is the only visible memorial of the temporary British occupation of the Philippines, which have been annexed by the United States of America as the result of operations extending from 1898 to 1901. Causes of French failure. The collapse of the French power which had seemed to occupy such a strong position from 1746 to 1751 demands explanation more explicit than that to be deduced from perusal of a summary narrative of the Anglo-French wars. Many causes contributed to the result. The French East India Company was far inferior to its English rival in constitution, enterprise, and wealth. It was merely a minor department of the king's government and was usually administered badly in France. The shareholders, who were assured 1 The Districts, excepting Guntiir, were ceded formally in 1765 ; Guntur being reserved as the jdgir of Basalat Jang, a son of the old Nizam. It came definitely into British possession in 1788, but the cession was not confirmed finally until 1823. 3 In 1759 Wolfe captured Quebec in Canada ; the French were defeated at Minden in Germany, and several times at sea. In 1760 Canada submitted. Senegal in West Africa and several West Indian islands, which had been occupied during the war, were ceded to England at the peace in 1763. Although Pitt had resigned in October 1761, the Manilla expedition had been planned by him. The student should remember that in those days Prussia was the ally of England and was supported against her enemies by British efforts. 482 THE BRITISH PERIOD of a fixed dividend, took no active part in the management of the Company's affairs. The spirit of bold individual and corporate effort, so often exhibited in the doings of the English adventurers, was rarely imitated by the French, and few of their local officials were men of mark. Funds were always deficient. The home Govern ment, entangled as it was in unceasing wars in Europe and America, could not furnish the money required for the successful working of ambitious schemes in India. Except Dupleix, and to some extent Bussy, the Company's representatives at the settlements rarely desired to meddle much with the politics of the adjoining states. They were content to hold only so much territory as sufficed to provide opportunities for unmolested trading on a modest scale. They were not prepared to support bold projects for ac quiring sovereign power over extensive territories. Dupleix himself was a trader for the greater part of his career, somewhat daring in commercial speculations, and not always successful, but no politician. His plans of extended dominion are not traceable before 1748, when the possession of Madras and his justifiable elation at the successful defence of Pondicherry inclined him to entertain large ambitions. The compulsory restoration of Madras in 1749 was.a severe blow to him. The loss of Arcot in 1751 and of Trichi nopoly in 1752 ruined his prospects. His failure, however, did not depend merely on such local mishaps. His resources never were adequate for his purposes, and the British conquest of rich Bengal in 1757 rendered his dream of empire absolutely incapable of realization, no matter what happened in the course of fights near the extremity of the peninsula. The mastery of the sea, which usually, although not invariably, remained in British hands, gave the opponents of the French an advantage which no minor successes on land could balance. In April 1758, when Lally arrived, he was too late. The position of the French was then hopeless, and would have been equally past remedy if Dupleix had not been recalled in 1754. His continuance in office would not have made any differ ence. He was a ruined man before Godeheu's arrival. Bussy's influential position at the court of the Nizam afforded little support, beyond some financial assistance, to the grand projects of the governor of Pondicherry. Neither Bussy nor Dupleix singly, nor both combined, had a chance of success against the government which controlled the sea routes and the resources of the Gangetic valley. It is futile to lay stress upon the personal frailties of Du pleix, Lally, or lesser men in order to explain the French failure. Neither Alexander the Great nor Napoleon could have won the empire of India by starting from Pondicherry as a base and con tending with the power which held Bengal and command of the sea. No southern potentate had ever either attained or seriously sought to attain the sovereignty of India. Even a local peninsular empire like that of Vijayanagar in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was unattainable in the conditions of the eighteenth century. Character and merits of Dupleix. The character and achieve- CAUSES OF FRENCH FAILURE 483 ments of Dupleix hardly merit the admiration which they have generally received. The hero worshipped by Malleson and Hamont loses much of his lustre under close inspection. Thornton's description of him as ' this man, in whose character, ambition, vanity, and duplicity reigned in a degree which makes it impossible to determine which predominated', although not exactly untrue, does not do Dupleix full justice. The ambition, vanity, and duplicity were all there, but ambition in a man who aspires to be a statesman cannot properly be counted as a vice. The vanity of Dupleix is undoubted and appears prominently in the intimate disclosures of Ananda Ranga Pillai, now in course of publication. Vanity, however, is a weakness common to many great men. The Marquess Wellesley, who resembled Dupleix in ambition and contempt for his employers, was notoriously vain. The large plans of the French governor and the considerable success which he attained may be deemed sufficient cover for some personal frailties. The accusation of duplicity cannot be denied, although it is going too far to brand the repudiation of the treaty of La Bourdonnais as an act of ' atrocious perfidy '. Dupleix had a good case against the admiral, who rated his official powers too high. Putting that affair aside, there is no doubt that Dupleix was prone to tortuous intrigue and too ready to use the disreputable trickery practised by the decadent Indian princes of his time. He was content to be a Nawab or Subadar, without much regard for veracity. His morality in money matters was of a low standard, and his wife, a Portuguese half-caste, was a shameless bribe-taker. Dupleix was not gifted with military talents, and was reputed to be some what lacking in personal courage. He was a capable administrator, but failed as a statesman mainly because he could not adjust the measure of his grand schemes to that of his limited resources. He deserves credit for the dignified fortitude with which he received his abrupt dismissal. The harshness displayed by Godeheu seems to have been due, not to malignity, but to a genuine fear that Dupleix might revolt. Rise of Haidar Ali. While in the Peninsula the conflict between the French and English was in progress and in Bengal events of equal or greater importance were happening, which will be narrated presently, a new and formidable power under a Mu hammadan prince was growing up in the south. The Mysore country, roughly equivalent to the mediaeval Hoysala kingdom, had been included in the empire of Vijayanagar. When that empire was broken up in 1565 the territory of Mysore gradually passed under the rule of the Hindu Wodeyar dynasty. That dynasty in the middle of the eighteenth century had lost its energy, and its weakness offered an opportunity to a bold adventurer. Such an adventurer was Haidar (Hyder) Ali, born in 1722, the son of an officer of the Mysore Government. He secured the favour of Nanjaraj, the powerful minister, by organizing a small body of troops better equipped than the rest of the Raja's army. His appointment in 1755, when he was thirty-three years of age, as 484 THE BRITISH PERIOD Faujdar or commandant of Dindigul may be regarded as the beginning of his successful career. At a later date he received the district of Bangalore as his jdgir and became commander-in-chief of the Mysore army. In 1761, the year of Panipat and the fall of Pondicherry, he controlled directly more than half of the domi nions of his nominal sovereign and actually was ruler of the whole kingdom. His fortunes then underwent a temporary eclipse, but two years later, in 1763, he emerged victorious. Fate of Khande Rao. A cunning Brahman named Khande Rao who owed his advancement to Haidar Ali had presumed to join his patron's enemies. When the combination was defeated, ' Kunde Row was given up and confined ; and his official servants as well as himself were of course plundered to the utmost extent of their means. Before it had been determined that Kunde Row should be sur rendered, a joint message was sent to Hyder from the Raja and the ladies of the palace praying for mercy towards that unfortunate man as a prelimi nary to the adjustment of public affairs. Hyder replied that Kunde Row was his old servant, and that he would not only spare his life, but cherish him like a parroquet ; a term of endearment common in conversing with women, from that bird being a favourite pet in the harems of the wealthy. When he was afterwards gently admonished of his severity to Kunde Row, he ironically replied that he had exactly kept his word ; and that they were at liberty to inspect his iron cage and the rice and milk allotted for his food ; for such was the fate to which he had doomed Kunde Row for the remainder of his miserable life.' The unhappy captive survived for a year. In 1786, when Robson was writing, the cage containing the dead man's bones was still to be seen in the public bazaar of Bangalore. Conquest and sack of Bednur. In the same year, 1763, which saw the defeat of Khande Rao, Haidar Ali conquered Bednur (Bednore), now represented by a petty country town or large village called Nagar in the western part of the Mysore State,- but then a place of such importance that Wilks felt justified in de scribing it as ' the most opulent commercial town of the east ; eight miles in circumference, and full of rich dwellings'. The same author affirms that the booty ' may, without risk of exaggeration, be estimated at twelve millions sterling '. The huge figure suggests scepticism, but Wilks was in a good position to judge and no .materials exist for forming a closer estimate.1 Haidar Ali always spoke of the Bednur windfall as ' the foundation of all his subsequent greatness'. Career of Haidar Ali, 1766-9. The death of the Raja of Mysore in April 1766 still further increased the power of the upstart, who ruthlessly plundered the palace, although he went through the form of recognizing a new Raja. The following three years were occupied by obscure complicated 1 Mark Wilks, F.R.S., colonel and major-general, was born about 1760 and died in 1831. He quitted India in 1808, having been Resident in Mysore from 1803. Previously he had held various offices at Madras. The first volume of his great book was published in 1810. CAREER OF HAIDAR ALI 485 intrigues and fights in which Muhammad Ali, the scoundrelly Nawab of the Carnatic ; the corrupt and weak government of Madras, his tools and abettors ; the vacillating Nizam ; the greedy Marathas ; and ambitious Haidar Ali were concerned in varying combinations. In 1767 the Nizam and Haidar Ali, who had joined forces for the moment, were severely defeated at Trinomalai by Colonel Joseph Smith. But the inefficient rogues at the Presi dency so mismanaged the war that early in 1769 Haidar Ali appeared under the walls of Madras, and dictated a treaty providing for the mutual restitution of conquests, and binding each party to help the other if attacked. Thus ended the First Mysore War. Double government. The ' double government ' of the Madras Council and the Nawab at that time was quite as bad as or worse than the similar arrangements in force in Bengal between 1757 .and 1772. Corruption was rampant, and the country was horribly oppressed. Wilks, who had an intimate knowledge of all the persons concerned, observes that ' the strange combination of vicious arrangements, corrupt influence, and political incapacity which directed the general measures of the Govern ment of Madras have been too constantly traced to demand recapitulation'. CHRONOLOGY The French Settlements Establishment of the French East India Company (La Compagnie des Indes orientales) Foundation of Pondicherry Dutch occupation of Pondicherry Dupleix became Governor of Pondicherry Recall of Dupleix .... 1664 . 1674 1693-9 . 1742 . 1754 The First Anglo-French War (War of the Austrian Succession) Madras captured by the French ...... 1746 British attack on Pondicherry repulsed ; treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; death of Asaf Jah, Nizam 1748 Restoration of Madras to the English ; death of Anwaru-d din, Nawab of the Carnatic 1749 The Second Anglo-French War (unofficial) Siege of Trichinopoly by Chanda Sahib and the French ; defence of Arcot by Clive ....¦••¦• 1751 Trichinopoly given up by the French ; death of Chanda Sahib . 1752 Recall of Dupleix and end of the war 1754 486 THE BRITISH PERIOD The Third Anglo-French War (The Seven Years' War) War began .......... 1756 Chandernagore taken by Clive and Watson ; the Northern Sarkars occupied by Bussy ........ 1757 Lally arrived in India ; captured Fort St. David, &c. ; failed to take Madras ; Col. Forde occupied the Northern Sarkars . . 1758 Battle of Wandiwash 1760 Fall of Pondicherry 1761 Capture of Manilla by the British 1762 Peace of Paris ; end of the Seven Years' War .... 1763 Execution of Lally 1766 Haidar Ali and the First Mysore War Haidar Ali born 1722 Haidar Ali appointed Faujdar of Dindigul . . . . 1755 Haidar Ali became master of Mysore ...... 1761 Defeat of Khande Rao by Haidar Ali ; capture and sack of Bednur 1763 Defeat of Haidar Ali and the Nizam by Col. Joseph Smith, at Trinomalai . . 1767 Treaty of Madras ; end of the war ...... 1769 Authorities It is unnecessary to describe the well-known general histories by Mill, Thornton, Marshman, &c. The small book by P. E. Roberts, History of India to the End of the E. I. Co. (in Historical Geography of the British Dependencies, Clarendon Press, 1916), is a generally sound and judicious summary of the history of the period treated in this chapter and of the whole Anglo-Indian history to 1858. The story of the French Settlements is best told in P. Kaeppelin, La Compagnie des Indes Orientales (Paris, Challamel, 1908) ; and H. Weber, La Compagnie Francaise des Indes (Paris, Rousseau, 1904). The leading authority on Dupleix is P. Cultru, Dupleix (Paris, Hachette, 1901). G. B. MalleSon's work, History of the French in India (1st ed., 1867 ; 2nd ed., Edinburgh, Grant, 1893), has much merit, but is more French than the French and spoiled by adulation of Dupleix. It was written with very imperfect knowledge of the documents in Paris. The same author's views are expressed on a smaller scale in Dupleix (Rulers of India, 1890), and reaffirmed by T. Hamont, Dupleix, Paris, 1881. Stringer Lawrence by Col. J. Biddulph (London, Murray, 1901) is a good little book, with an excellent portrait of Dupleix. Copious details of the Anglo-French wars in the peninsula will be found in R. Orme, A History of Ike Military Transactions, &c. (London, 1763, 1778) ; ' and in M. Wilks, Sketches of the South of India, &c. (London, 1810, 1817). Both those works rank as first-class original authorities. Wilks gives an excellent account of Haidar Ali. The scarce Life of Hyder Ally by Captain Francis Robson (London, Hooper, 1776) ; and the anonymous compilation, Memoirs of Count Lally (London, Kiernan, 1766), have been consulted, besides other works. Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan by Lewin B. Bowring (Rulers of India, 1893) is a valuable book, illuminated by accurate local knowledge. 1 Orme was corrupt and extortionate ; see Vestiges of Old Madras, vol. ii, especially p. 519. LOW STANDARD OF PUBLIC LIFE 487 CHAPTER 2 Bengal affairs ; Siraju-d daula ; battles of Plassey and Buxar ; the ' double government ' ; the famine of 1770. Low standard of public life. In the eighteenth century, during the anarchical period which intervened between the death of Aurangzeb and the establishment of the British supremacy, the character of the princes and other public men of India had sunk -to an extremely low level. Nearly all the notable men of that age lived vicious lives, stained by gross sensuality, ruthless cruelty, and insatiable greed. Nawab Shuj'au-d din. One of the few good men of that evil time was Shuj'au-d din, the Subadar or governor of the eastern provinces from 1725 to 1739, who is recorded to have been ' universally regretted as a man of strict veracity, general philanthropy, and unbounded liberality '. His administration of the provinces was marked by impartial justice, and he refrained from advancing pretensions to independence, being content to remit regularly the tribute due to his sovereign at Delhi. Usurpation of Allahvardi Khan. SarfaTaz Khan, the son and successor of that admirable man, was scrupulous in performing all the ceremonies of his religion, but indifferent and incapable as a ruler. At the time of his accession the governor of Bihar was a brave, able, and unscrupulous officer, named Mirza, Muham mad Ali, but better known by his title of Allahvardi (or AHvardi) Khan, who had been raised from obscurity by Shuj'au-d din, and had been appointed by him prime minister. Allahvardi Khan, taking advantage of the troubles resulting from Nadir Shah's invasion, and basely ignoring the debt of gratitude due to the son of his patron, revolted. Sarfaraz Khan having been killed in the ensuing battle, Allahvardi Khan took his seat upon the vacant provincial throne. He had previously bought from the corrupt court of Delhi letters patent appointing him governor of the eastern provinces. Having secured condona tion of his rebellion and usurpation by further lavish presents to Muhammad Shah and his courtiers, he never sent a rupee of tribute again, and ruled until the end of his life as an independent sovereign. Allahvardi Khan as Nawab. For eleven years Allahvardi Khan was mainly occupied in efforts to repel the plundering inroads of the Marathas, who overran all Bengal to the west of the Ganges at one time or another. In 1742, Calcutta being threatened, the English inhabitants caused to be dug the imperfect fortification known as the Maratha Ditch, which long formed the boundary of the settlement. Two years later the Nawab secured a temporary respite by the treacherous massacre of Bhaskar Rao Pundit, with nineteen of his retinue. More definite relief was attained in 1751 at the cost of the cession of Orissa (Cuttack) and the promise to pay twelve lakhs of rupees annually as the chauth 488 THE BRITISH PERIOD of Bengal. Orissa remained under the heel of the banditti until 1803.1 The Marathas never attempted to establish any civil administration in the province, being content to allow the local chiefs to rule as they best could, subject to the necessity of satisfying so far as possible the boundless rapacity of the robber state. Allahvardi Khan in his latter days, being then between seventy and eighty years of age, showed the weakness of an old man by bestowing doting affection on his grandson, Mlrza, Mahmud (or Muhammad), infamous under his title of Siraju-d daula. The young man, who was the son of the Nawab's youngest daughter, a dissolute woman, was almost wholly evil.2 In 1750, when he had dared to revolt against his grandfather, the dotard not only showed no resentment, but confirmed the youth's right of succession and allowed him to control the government. Allahvardi Khan to some extent atoned for his many political crimes by a strictly moral private life, and by carefully regulated administration much better than that of most of the contemporary princes. But he was in his eightieth lunar year when he died in April 1756, and for some time previously had become inefficient. He had declined to act on advice to expel the English merchants from his dominions and is reported to have used this remarkable language : ' What have the English done against me that I should use them ill ? It is now difficult to extinguish fire on land, but should the sea be in flames, who can put them out ? ' Nawab Siraju-d daula. Siraju-d daula, then about twenty- eight years of age, succeeded to his grandfather's throne without much serious opposition, although his vices were notorious.3 Disregarding the old man's sage counsels concerning the strangers who had come across the sea, the young Nawab longed to seize the riches of the foreign merchants, which were magnified by report far beyond the reality. Grievances sufficient to give a plausible excuse for war were not wanting. The tiny English factory at Kasimbazar (Cossimbazar ) near Murshldabad, the capital of Bengal, was easily taken, and Siraju-d daula moved on Calcutta with an army of about 50,000 men. The settlement was ill prepared for 1 The Cuttack (Katak) province was distinct from the part of Orissa in British hands, comprising the Midnapur District and part of Hooghly 2 See the tract by S. C. Barman and B. N. Banerii entitled Begams of Bengal, Calcutta, Mitter & Co., 1915. » The statement that Siraju-d daula was only nineteen at the time of his death is found in Orme and most books, but Busteed (ed. 4, p. 7) makes him to be ' about 25 years old ' at the time of his accession. That must be nearly correct, as he had rebelled six years earlier, and he could not have done so at the age of twelve or thirteen. Ives (p. 154) says : ' He had not quite compleated his 25th year, and but one of his reign, when he thus fell. Law of Lauriston writes : ' Telle fut la fin de Souradjotdola, a la fleur de son age, ayant a peine 25 ans ' (M&moire, ed. Martineau ; Pans, Larose, 1913). But he was really 29 or 30 (Bengal Past and Present, xii, 244). SIRAJU-D DAULA 489 resistance. The fortifications had been neglected and were com manded by private houses which had been allowed to grow up close to the walls. ' The garrison did not amount to two hundred ; not more than a third of their number were Europeans, and few, if any, had ever been in action.' The militia was useless and de serted soon after the siegev began. A determined enemy could have taken the place in an hour. The Nawab appeared before the town on June 16, equivalent to the 17th of Ramazan, the month of the Muhammadan fast. On the 19th of that month the outposts were captured. The final capitulation took place in the afternoon of June 20, Ramazan 21. Mr. Drake, the governor, a peaceful merchant, who at the beginning of the operations, according to Stewart, ' had not betrayed any signs of personal fear, but ex posed his person on the ramparts ', did not maintain his courage to the end. He was afraid of being put to death if captured, yielded to disgraceful panic, and slipped away down the river in a ship, accompanied by the Commandant and all those who could get on board the vessels. Mr. Holwell, a member of the Council, was thus left behind with about 190 Europeans. He too, it was alleged, would have embarked if he could, but was unable to do so. He then made a gallant and determined defence for a short time, until he was forced to capitulate on the afternoon of June 20. The ' Black Hole ' tragedy. It is unnecessary to repeat in detail the oft-told story of the horrors of the Black Hole. But it is indispensable to observe that recent attempts to discredit the story as an invention are not well founded. The incident certainly occurred, although some uncertainty may exist concerning one or other detail. The Nawab was not personally and directly responsible for the atrocity. He left the disposal of the prisoners to a subordinate who forced them all into a stifling guard-room, barely twenty feet square, and not large enough to hold a quarter of the crowd. Although the Nawab did not personally order the barbarous treatment of his prisoners, he did not either reprove his officers for their cruelty or express any regret at the tragic result. It is generally stated that 146 were put in for the night, of whom only 23, including one lady, came out alive in the morning ; but the exact number of the sufferers is not certain, and there is good reason for believing that the prisoners confined included several women of whom only one survived. The fugitives at Falta. The fugitives from Calcutta landed at Falta, now in the Diamond Harbour subdivision, the site of an old Dutch factory on the Hooghly, a considerable distance below the capital, and there passed a miserable time until they were relieved in the following January. Many perished from a malignant fever. Mr. Drake dispatched a small vessel with news ot the disaster to Madras, where the tidings caused much excitement and debate.' It so happened that Admiral Watson with a small British squadron was then at Madras, and had Clive, now a colonel, with him. The squadron had sailed from England early in 1754. 490 THE BRITISH PERIOD The Gheria expedition. Clive, who had gone home in 1753 after his successes in the unofficial war in the south, returned in 1755 and landed at Bombay with three companies of the king's artillery intending to operate with the aid of the Marathas against the French. The peace or truce negotiated by Godeheu and Saunders having rendered hostilities against the French impossible, the civil, naval, and military authorities agreed that the oppor tunity should be seized of rooting out the nest of troublesome pirates at Gheria or Vijayadurg, an excellent harbour on the coast, GHERIA FORT. 170 miles south of Bombay. The expedition was entirely success ful, and the important stronghold was captured at the expense of no more than twenty killed and wounded on the British side. About 250 ' pieces of cannon ' were taken with much other valuable booty.1 Bankot, with nine dependent villages, was ceded by the Marathas, and thus t ' became the first British possession on the mainland of western India. It was renamed Fort Victoria, and was highly valued as supplying Bombay 1 Surgeon Ives gives a vivid account of the Gheria operations illustrated by good plates. RECAPTURE OF CALCUTTA 491 with provisions, and also as affording the inhabitants a change of air and scene.' The fortress of Gheria was made over to the Marathas. Recapture of Calcutta. Watson and Clive sailed from Gheria to Madras, where they heard the bad news from Bengal. The local authorities, as early as July 20 (Orme), had sent a detachment of 230 or 240 men under Major Kilpatrick to Bengal, hoping that it would be in time to relieve Calcutta, the fall of which was not known until August 5. The climate and conditions at Falta were so deadly that nearly all the men perished. According to Ives, only about thirty were alive and ten fit for duty when the larger relief force arrived in December. After two months' debate Clive was selected to command the land forces dispatched with Watson's ships. The squadron sailed from Madras on October 16. The voyage was difficult and dangerous owing to the season and the strength of the currents, so that the expedition did not reach Falta until December 14. A series of successful operations brought the ships under the walls of Fort William on January 2, 1757. The enemy evacuated the fort without serious resistance, and Admiral Watson replaced the runaway Drake in his office as governor. The town of Hooghly (Hugli) was then stormed. The admiral dispatched an officer to England with the news in a tiny sloop of only 60 tons. At the present time a steamer of 5,000 tons is con sidered to be rather small to carry the Calcutta mail. Capture of Chandernagore. The commanders now had to consider the problem of meeting the Nawab, who was marching from Murshldabad with a large army. Complicated negotiations ensued, fully narrated and illustrated by documents in the vivid pages of Surgeon Ives. War with France having begun again, the fleet under Watson and the troops under Clive took the French settlement of Chandernagore in March, after a spirited resistance which caused many naval casualties. Clive described the place as being ' a large, rich, and thriving colony ', of which the loss was ' an inexpressible blow to the French Company '. The French inhabitantsjnostly took refuge in the Dutch settlement of Chinsura adjoining Hooghly. Later, in 1759, a stern decree commanded the utter demolition of the buildings, public and private. We have seen that the same policy was pursued at Pondicherry when it was taken in 1761. Both towns had to be rebuilt after the peace of 1763. Plot with Mir J'afar. The danger from the French having thus been removed, the admiral renewed his correspondence with the Nawab, who, in February, had signed a treaty, which each party accused the other of violating. In June, Clive, supported by Mr. Watts, resolved to depose Siraju-d daula and replace him by Mir J'afar, who had married Allahvardi Khan's sister, and was now engaged in a secret plot against his young master. Mir J'afar accordingly executed a treaty, which was signed on the British side by Admiral Watson, Colonel Clive, and Counsellors Drake and Watts. 492 THE BRITISH PERIOD The forged treaty. This was the occasion on which Clive devised the notorious trick played on Amtrchand (Omichund), the rich Sikh banker, who was concerned in the plot, but had threatened to divulge it, unless his silence was bought by a pay ment of thirty lakhs, or three millions of rupees, subsequently reduced to two millions. After the battle of Plassey Clive deceived the banker by showing him a forged duplicate containing the promise of payment, which was omitted from the original genuine treaty. His signature was then appended by Mr. Lushington under Clive's direction. It is impossible to justify Clive's action in this matter, and the special pleading of the authors who have attempted to defend the fraud is sophistical. Amirchand at the time naturally was overwhelmed with disappointment, but the story that he lost his reason is untrue. Subsequently he resumed business with the English, and in his will bequeathed a considerable sum to the Foundling Hospital in London.1 He also left money to the Sikh shrine of Guru Gobind. The secret agreement with Mir J'afar rendered a fight with the Nawab inevitable. Accordingly, on June 13 Clive wrote a long letter reproaching him for various delinquencies, and ending with the intimation that as the rains were approaching and an answer could not be received in time, the writer found it necessary to ' wait upon ' his correspondent immediately. Battle of Plassey. The same day Clive marched northwards. His small force consisted of about 3,000 men in all, with eight six-pounder guns, and one howitzer, or two, according to Orme. The fort at Katwa (Cutwa) was yielded by the enemy without serious resistance, and a welcome addition to the supplies of the British force was obtained. The Nawab's army, said to comprise 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse, and about fifty guns of heavy calibre, entrenched on the bank of the BhaglrathI river near the village of Plassey.2 On June 23, Clive, after some hesitation whether he should fight at once or wait for the close of the rains, encamped in a mango grove which had partly disappeared in 1780 when Rennell drew his plan, and has now been wholly carried away by the river. The traitor Mir J'afar was on the extreme left of the Nawab's line. The enemy's intention was to envelop the small force under Clive's command, but the manoeuvre was not successful. About three o'clock in the afternoon the Nawab's host retreated to its entrenched camp, being considerably hampered by the cumbrous heavy guns, each of which was drawn by forty or fifty pairs of oxen, many of which were killed. A sudden attack by Eyre Coote caused a general 1 18,750 rupees in 1762, then equivalent to about £2,000 (Secretary's letter to author dated December 5, 1910). The banker, as Orme points out, owned the best houses in Calcutta and had many interests there which he could not afford to sacrifice. 3 Clive held a council of war, voting in the majority of thirteen for postponing action, while Eyre Coote led the minority of seven. Most writers state that Clive changed his mind an hour later, but the papers used by Forrest give another account. BATTLE OF PLASSEY GAINED BY COLONEL CLIVE JUNE 23rd, 1757 -&2 §**v®Mutpour Mangora Batcher: Kirlah Barcoree A. Position qf the British Army at 9 in the Morning. B. Four guns advanced to check the fire of the French Party at the tank D. C. The Nabob's Army. D. A Tank from whence the French Party cannonaded till 3 in the Afternoon, when part of the British One Mile Army took Post there, and the Enemy retired within their En trenched Camp. E (A Redoubt and mound taken by <£j Assault at £ past 4, and which F. 1 completed the Victory. (3. The Nabob's Hunting House. The dotted line BE shows the encroach ment of the River since the Battle. 494 THE BRITISH PERIOD rout, the only people on the Nawab's side who fought at all steadily being a party of ' vagabond Frenchmen ' under a leader named Sinfray or St. Frais. The rest of the host lacked confidence in their cause and failed to display courage or any other soldierly quality. The pursuit was continued for six miles. The Nawab's whole camp with the guns, baggage, elephants, and horses fell into the hands of the victors, whose loss was extremely small, amounting to about 22 killed and 49 or 50 wounded. The enemy were supposed to have lost about five hundred killed, including their best general, Mir Madan, whose death at an early stage of the contest much discouraged the Nawab and his troops.1 As a battle the fight at Plassey does not deserve critical examination. Mir J'afar took care to do nothing but wait and see which side would win. Results of the battle. However contemptible the battle might appear to a professional soldier, it was sufficient to decide the fate of Bengal, and, in a sense, of all India. Siraju-d daula fled starving and almost naked, but accompanied by Lutfu-n nisa, his wife or favourite concubine, whose fidelity casts a gleam of light on a dark and unpleasant story. Near Rajmahal he was betrayed by a man in whose hut he had taken refuge, and was brought back to Murshidabad, where Mir J'afar's son Mlran caused him to be brutally hacked to death. Mir J'afar received the reward of his treason, and was formally installed as Nawab by Clive, who exercised the real power. It is only fair to remember that Mir J'afar had been grossly insulted by Siraju-d daula, and that his treachery was not altogether unprovoked. The new ruler was made to pay well for his promotion. Clive and the other officials concerned obtained large sums for themselves, while the compensation due to the ' inhabitants of Calcutta for their losses was calculated on a liberal scale, beyond the immediate capacity of the provincial treasury, which contained far less than had been supposed. Clive received the gigantic sum of £234,000, and members of council from £50,000 to £80,000 each. A little later Clive also obtained from the Nawab an assignment of revenue on the lands south of Calcutta, which was known as ' Clive's jdgir ', and brought in nearly £30,000 a year. Dupleix, it may be remembered, had enriched himself in similar fashion. Such transactions were not condemned by the public opinion of the age as they would be now, but discussion of their morality may be deferred until Clive's character as a whole comes under review. The exactions certainly imposed an excessive burden on the finances of Bengal and from that point of view were politically wrong and injurious. The ' Twenty-four Parganas '. The somewhat complicated 1 The figures concerning the strength of the armies, the details of the forces, and the number of casualties vary slightlv in different contemporary authorities. The Nawab certainly had numbers ^twenty-fold those of Clive, not to speak of his huge park of heavy artillery opposed to Clive's nine or ten little pieces. THE TWENTY-FOUR PARGANAS 495 transactions which gave the Company the rights of a zemindar or landholder, not those of a sovereign, over a large tract near Calcutta and led to the grant of ' Clive's jdgir ' are best described in the precise language of a writer in the Imperial Gazetteer (s.v. ' Twenty-four Parganas ' ) : ' After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Mir Jafar, ceded to the East India Company a tract of country which lay principally to the south of Calcutta and comprised about 882 square miles, known as the zaminddri of Calcutta, or the Twenty-four Parganas zaminddri. Under this grant the Company acquired the rights of a zamin- ddr ; 1 and in the following year they obtained from the emperor's chief officer a diwdni sanad, which particularized the lands held by them and fixed the assessment at Rs. 2,22,958, equivalent to nearly £28,000 at that time. In 1759 the emperor confirmed the grant by a farmdn which gave the Company a perpetual heritable jurisdiction over the land. Mean while, by a deed of gift executed in 1759 Lord Clive had been presented, as a reward for services rendered by him to the Nawab Mir Jafar, with the revenue of the District due from the Company ; and this sum continued to be paid to him till his death in 1774, when, by a deed sanctioned by the Mughal emperor, the whole proprietary right in the land and revenues reverted to the Company.' It is necessary to add that the Company, after some hesitation and controversy, had freely sanctioned the enjoyment of the jdgir income by Clive until his death, and accepted the reversion when that event should occur. Defeat of the Shahzada and the Dutch. During 1759 the Shahzada, or Prince, the Mogul emperor's son, who was in rebellion against his father, invaded Bihar, with the aid of the ruler of Oudh. Clive used effectually the Company's troops to repel the invasion, and .to suppress certain rebellions. The same year saw an unofficial war with the Dutch whose country was officially at peace with England. The endless intrigues of the_ period included secret negotiations between the Dutch of Chinsura and Mir J'afar, the. Nawab, who was uneasy under his new masters.2 The Dutch settlement, it must be remembered, lay on the bank of the Hooghly close to the town of that name, and more than twenty miles above Calcutta. First one Dutch ship arrived. About two months later six more from Bdtavia, ' crammed with soldiers ', appeared in the river, and Mir J'afar held a formal reception of the Dutch authorities, who enlisted troops, and addressed a threatening remonstrance to the govern ment at Calcutta complaining of various grievances. The danger to the British was obvious, but nerve was required to meet a risk 1 The text of art. 9 of the treaty with Mir J'afar (1757) is : ' All the land lying to the south of Calcutta, as far as Kalpi, shall be under the Zamindari of the English Company ; and all the Officers of those parts shall be under their jurisdiction. The revenues to be paid by them (the Company) in the same manner with other Zamindars' (Aitchison, ed. 4, vol. i, p. 185). 2 Law of Lauriston, like earlier writers, notes that nothing at an Indian ; court was secret. 'A peine le nabab a-t-il forme un projet qu'il est aussitot sou du dernier de ses esclaves ' (Memoire, p. 107). 496 THE BRITISH PERIOD due to the hostile preparations of a technically friendly power. Clive took the responsibility on himself and made all arrangements to fight the Dutch both on the water and on the land. He con scripted all the European and half-European men in Calcutta, as well as the Armenians, and so put every person available into the field, to the number of 700 or 800. Colonel Forde, who had returned from the successful expedition to the Northern Sarkars, was placed in command of the small military force, while Captain Wilson, with a squadron much inferior to the enemy in apparent strength, attacked the Hollanders' ships and captured them all. On the next day, November 25, Colonel Forde achieved an equal success. At a village called Biderra between Chandernagore and Chinsura he utterly defeated the much larger Dutch force under the command of a French officer. The action, which was ' short, bloody, and decisive ', resulted in the complete submission of the Dutch and their final withdrawal from the field of Indian politics. For that reason the battle of Biderra, the very name of which is seldom mentioned or remembered, has been reckoned by Colonel Malleson among the fifteen decisive battles of India. Chinsura was left in the possession of Holland, which retained it until 1825, when it was ceded to the British Government in exchange for certain settlements in Sumatra. The place now forms part of the town of Hooghly. Departure of Clive. In February 1760 Clive, who had been long desirous to quit India, sailed for England, making over charge to Mr. Holwell, pending the arrival from Madras of Mr. Vansittart, who had been appointed Governor of Bengal. The new Governor assumed office on July 27, 1760. Thus ended the memorable first administration of Clive, which may be reckoned as having lasted just three years from February 1757 to February 1760. During that time, whatever his official designation might be, his was the moving spirit. He was in his thirty-fifth year, ' in the midst of life's path ', when he departed from the stage on which he had played so brilliant a part. Tribute to the navy. While the conquest of Bengal and the suppression of Dutch hostility must always be credited mainly to Clive, the writers and readers of history often forget and ignore the large share in the operations taken by the navy. The transport of the relieving force from Madras to Falta, and up the river to Calcutta was a triumph of seamanship, the merit of which can be realized fully only by perusal of the details furnished by Surgeon Ives. The skill and gallantry displayed by the naval force in the attack on Chandernagore have never been surpassed, and the defeat of the Dutch ships was an equally brilliant achievement. Admiral Watson, who had done so much to recover Calcutta, unfortunately died of a malignant fever two months after Plassey at the age of forty-three. The character of Charles Watson remained unstained during thirty years of honourable service. No action of his calls for either regret or apology. His friend was justified when he wrote that ' in a word, no man ever lived A TIME OF TEMPTATION 497 more esteemed, or died more regretted than Admiral Watson'. His merits received due recognition from his country. A monu ment to his memory was erected in Westminster Abbey at the cost of the East India Company, and his son was created a baronet. A time of temptation. We now turn to the doings of men who were not deserving of much esteem when alive or much regret when dead. Their failings, which look so black on the page of history, were in large measure the outcome of the extraordinary circumstances in which they were placed by events wholly unex pected. The merchants and factors of the Company, trained solely with an eye to business conducted in a country where public opinion was wanting to check abuses, and accustomed to deal with corrupt, unscrupulous officials, whose favour they had been wont to court by intrigue and bribery, suddenly found them selves masters of an enormous territory and in a position to make and unmake kings. Riches were to be had for the asking, nay, without asking. The sudden affluence thrust upon the Calcutta community by the lavish compensation paid for the losses sustained at the time of the capture of the city and the huge ' presents ' given by the new Nawab as the price of his elevation turned the heads of all, and led to a scramble for riches which brought into painful prominence the evil features of human nature. Gentlemen, who in the ordinary course of nature would have been content to retire as successful traders and end their days in respectable obscurity, were tempted to sell their souls for gain and so condemned to leave for the scorn of posterity names tarnished by the stain of ignoble greed. The temptation was great and we must not be surprised that it was too much for the virtue of most of the persons exposed to its snares. The unpleasant details of the period, and especially of the years during Clive's absence in England, which, unfortunately, have been recorded fully, may be passed over lightly in a book like this. The scandals which occurred were almost inevitable, and it is well to remember that they lasted only a short time. From 1772 a serious effort was made to reform the administration, and Warren Hastings, as Governor of Bengal from that year to 1774, did all that could then be done to lay the foundation of a better system.1 1 Warren Hastings, when writing to the Directors on November 11, 1773, justly observed that ' whatever may have been the conduct of individuals or even of the collective members of your former administrations, the blame is not so much imputable to them as to the want of a principle of govern ment adequate to its substance, and a coercive power to enforce it '. He then pointed out the absurdity of trying to govern a great kingdom by the organization of a trading company. ' Among your servants, who for a course of years have been left at large in possession of so tempting a" deposit, it is not to be wondered at that rriany have applied it to the advancement of their own fortunes. . . . Few men are inspired with so large a share of public virtue as to sacrifice their interests, peace, and social feelings to it, and to begin the work of reformation on themselves.' In 498 THE BRITISH PERIOD Inherent difficulties. The inherent difficulties of the situation in which the officials of the Company found themselves placed were enormous, and could not have been wholly overcome if every Englishman in Bengal had been an angel of light. The Indian governments with which the British had to deal were thoroughly debased. Treachery and murder of the most atrocious kinds were almost universally recognized as ordinary methods of statecraft. English officials who had to transact business with the Indian public men of the eighteenth century could hardly help themselves from suffering a certain amount of moral deterioration or from yielding to the temptation of meeting guile by guile. The court of Delhi was hopelessly vicious and corrupt. Every one of the Padshahs or so-called emperors after the death of Bahadur Shah in 1712 was absolutely worthless, and most of them were worse than worthless. The ministers were utterly unscrupulous, and nobody pretended to entertain patriotic sentiments. The minor courts, as a rule, were no better, and it would be difficult to name an honest man among the prominent Indian notables of the time, whether in the north or in the south. The legal position of the personages claiming authority was confused and obscure. For instance, the ruler of Bengal whom the English overthrew at Plassey was supposed to be the subject and tributary of the Padshah of Delhi. As a matter of fact he was neither, and the theoretical suzerainty of the Great Mogul was valuable only as a saleable commodity. Everybody and everything was on sale. Those disagreeable facts must be realized before judgements of unrelenting severity are passed on the failings of the foreigners who had to work in such an atmosphere, and to deal with authorities who never actually were what they professed to be. The political position was further complicated by the existence of the predatory Maratha power. The Maratha govern ment lived by and for plunder. It would be difficult to exaggerate the wickedness of the leaders of the Maratha hordes and their allies the Pindaris. The rapid introduction of good government into a country so disorganized was impossible. The Company could not possibly find competent rulers either in its own ranks or among the natives of the country. So we come back to the proposition that the disorders of the state in the years following the revolution caused by the battle of Plassey were unavoidable to a large extent. Grapes cannot be gathered from thistles, and thistles were an abundant crop in the India of those days. Situation in 1760. In the beginning of 1760 both the Shahzada and the Marathas again invaded the provinces which were reduced to a state of intense distress. Mir J'afar was utterly incompetent to deal with his difficulties, and Clive's intention to leave to him all the responsibilities of government, while the English should a later letter (December 18) he writes : ' God forbid that the government of this fine country should continue to be a mere chair for a triennial succession of indigent adventurers to sit and hatch private fortunes in' (Gleig, i. 368, 377). SITUATION IN 1760 499 ' attend solely to commerce, which was our proper sphere and our whole aim in these parts ', was frustrated. The situation when Mr. Vansittart took over charge in July 1760 is well described by Mill : ' The new governor found the treasury at Calcutta empty, the English troops at Patna on the very brink of mutiny, and deserting in multitudes for want of pay ; the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay totally dependent upon Bengal for pecuniary resources ; the provision of an investment actually suspended ; ' the income of the Company scarcely sufficient for the current expenses of Calcutta ; the allowance paid by the Nabob for the troops several months in arrear ; and the attainment of that, as well as of a large balance upon his first agreements, totally hopeless. Some change by which the revenue of the Company could be placed on a level with their expenditure was indispensable. . . . From the administration of Jaffier, resigned as he was to a set of unworthy favourites — old, indolent, voluptuous, estranged from the English, and without authority — no other consequences were to be expected than those which had already been experienced.' Mir Kasim appointed Nawab. The Calcutta authorities, being forced to make some change, resolved to transfer the control of the administration to the Nawab's son-in-law, Mir Kasim, who appeared *o be the most worthy member of the ruling family, and to leave Mir J'afar on the throne as nominal Nawab. Arrange ments were made accordingly. Mir J'afar's son, MIran, a debauched and tyrannical man, having died suddenly, and perhaps been assassinated, Mir J'afar retired, and Mir Kasim became Nawab. The English promised military aid to their nominee, recouping themselves by securing the cession of the districts of Burdwan, Midnapur, and Chittagong for the payment of the troops — the first instance of the system of ' subsidiary alliances ' adopted later on a large scale by Lord Wellesley.2 The story of Mir Kasim. So far the arrangements made might be justified as offering a prospect of better government and the 1 The ' investment ' meant the supply of goods for export in the trade of the Company. Cash advances were made to the weavers and others who supplied the goods. 3 Treaty dated September 27, 1760 ; articles 4 and 5 are : ' (4) The Europeans and Telingas [Madras sepoys] of the English Army shall be ready to assist the Nawab, Mir Mahomed Kasim Khan Bahadur, in the management of all affairs ; and in all affairs dependent on him they shall exert themselves to the utmost of their abilities. (5) For all charges of the Company and of the said Army, and provisions for the field, &c., the lands of Burdwan, Midnapur, and Chittagong shall be assigned, and Sanads [grants] for that purpose shall be written and granted. The Company is to stand to all losses and receive all the profits of these three countries, and we will demand no more than the three assignments aforesaid ' (Aitchison, ed. 4, vol. i, p. 215). The current official story that Miran was killed by lightning which fired his tent, was disbelieved by Jean Law of Lauriston, who was of opinion that Miran was assassinated, the tent being set on fire during a thunderstorm to conceal the crime (Memoire, ed. Martineau, Paris, 1913, p. 452). 500 THE BRITISH PERIOD restoration of financial solvency. They were spoiled and rendered suspect by the greed of the majority of the Company's officials, who exploited the change in the government to their personal profit. The new Nawab was a man far more competent than his father-in-law, and might have done well if he had been given a fair chance. Vansittart and Warren Hastings, then a young man, who had been brought into the Council in 1761, were anxious to be just, but they were outvoted by their greedy colleagues, who wrongfully claimed a right to carry on the inland trade in country produce free of duties, while their Indian competitors should have to pay them.1 The claim, which was utterly baseless, was enforced with much oppression and disregard of justice. The Nawab sought an escape by moving his court to Monghyr (Mungir) much higher up the Ganges, where he occupied the ruinous fort then haunted by tigers, and evaded the demands of the Council by announcing that the trade of all parties alike should be free of duties. Watts and the other members of the majority of the Council disallowed the Nawab's proposals, which Vansittart and Hastings had ap proved. A Mr. Ellis stationed at Patna was especially violent in his opposition to the Nawab, who was driven into hostilities. Mir Kasim was ' rendered frantic ', to use Vansittart's words, and in October 1763 retaliated in a barbarous fashion by the massacre of all the Europeans in his power, save one, Dr. Fullarton. Ellis was among the victims, who numbered about 200. The majority, about 150, were slaughtered at Patna by a brutal foreign adven turer named Walter Reinhard, commonly known by his nickname of Sombre, Sumroo, or Samru, who survived until 1778. His widow, the famous Begam, had a long and adventurous career. Mir Kasim, defeated in several engagements, took refuge in Oudh, and old Mir J'afar was brought back as Nawab. He died in January 1765, and was succeeded as titular ruler by a son named Najmu-d daula. All these changes were utilized by the majority of the Council as opportunities for making fortunes by the exaction of huge ' presents ' from each successive prince.2 Even Vansittart, who had held out for a time, yielded to the temptation and took five lakhs of rupees in 1 762. Warren Hastings did not soil his hands. Battle of Buxar. The notice of Mir Kasim's fate in the pre ceding lines has anticipated the story of his final military defeat which was accomplished at the battle of Buxar, on October 23, 1764. Mir Kasim, whose army was more efficient than was usual in those times, had the half-hearted support of the titular emperor Shah Alam and the Nawab-Vizier of Oudh. The British force was commanded by Major Munro, afterwards Sir Hector, a king's officer, who had come from Bombay with reinforcements^ 1 The Company was concerned only with the foreign trade. The claim to conduct the inland trade duty-free was based on a forced and inequitable interpretation of the farmdn of Farrukhsiyar, which was loosely worded. 3 For the details as disclosed to the House of Commons committee in 1773 see Mill, ed. 5 (1858), vol. iii, pp. 257-60. The student should note that the name of Warren Hastings is not in the list. BATTLE OF BUXAR 501 and had suppressed a sepoy mutiny with terrible but necessary severity. He led an army of 7,072 men, including 857 Euro peans, and had a train of artillery comprising 20 field-pieces. The force of the allied enemies was variously estimated as numbering from 40,000 to 60,000 men. The fight, which was fiercely contested, lasted from nine in the morning until noon, when the enemy gave way. Pursuit was stopped by the destruction of a bridge of boats two miles distant from the battle-field. The enemy left 2,000 dead on the ground, in addition to about the same number drowned. The British lost 847 in killed and wounded, a large figure for an Indian battle. The victory, which was abso lutely decisive, completed the work of Plassey. The emperor submitted, and came under British protection. In the following February the fortresses of Chunar and Allahabad were captured, so that the power of Shuj'au-d daula, the Nawab-Vizier of Oudh, was broken for ever. ¦ Appointment of Clive. The Directors in London were aghast at the news of the misrule in India, and on April 26, 1764, avowed that they were ' at a loss how to prescribe means to restore order from this confusion '. They were obliged, under pressure from the groprietors, to invoke the aid of Clive, who had been created, iaron Clive of Plassey in the peerage of Ireland as a reward for his earlier services.1 A Select Committee was appointed to assist him, and the Directors could ' only say, that "we rely on the zeal and abilities of Lord Clive and the gentlemen of the Select Committee to remedy " ' the evils of the state. Clive arrived at Calcutta on May 3, 1765, armed with strict instructions and ample powers to reform abuses. Contemporary events. Before proceeding to study the pro ceedings of Clive's second administration from May 1765 to February 1767, the reader should bear in mind the course of contemporary events outside of Bengal, and remember that in 1761 the Maratha power had been temporarily shattered at Panipat, that in the same year French influence had been finally destroyed by the capitulation of Pondicherry, and that Haidar Ali had become supreme in Mysore. The battle of Buxar in 1764 had closed the story of the military conquest of Bengal and Bihar, which from that date were substantially British territory, however the fact might be obscured by confused legal fictions concerning the Padshah of Delhi, the Subadar of Bengal, and other personages whose real position differed widely from that officially ascribed to them. During the five years of Clive's absence from India (1760-5) the situation had changed radically, and strong measures were needed to check the gross abuses prevalent and to prepare the way for a decently ordered administration. 1 Governments in the eighteenth century were slow to confer a peerage of the United Kingdom, or rather of Great Britain (England and Scotland), which carried with it a seat in the English House of Lords. An Irish peer ranked in England as a commoner and could become a member of the House of Commons, as Clive actually became. 1976 a 502 THE BRITISH PERIOD Covenants and inland trade. Clive brought with him two members of the Select Committee nominated to assist him ; the other two, General Carnac and Mr. Harry Verelst, being then employed in Bihar and at Chittagong respectively.1 The orders of the Directors commanding the instant cessation of their servants' interference in the inland trade and the execution of covenants prohibiting the acceptance of ' presents ' except within certain narrow limits, although received in January, had been laid aside by the Calcutta councillors, who simply ignored them. Clive insisted on the immediate execution of the new covenants ; but, in accord with the Select Committee, disobeyed and tried to evade the perfectly clear orders from home concerning the participation of the Company's servants in the inland trade, which was forbidden absolutely by the Directors. Clive and his colleagues formed the opinion that in the circumstances then existing the limited amount of lawful trade open to the servants of the Company was insufficient to provide them with adequate remuneration. Their salaries, as is well known, were mostly of nominal amount. The Directors and proprietors of stock had always displayed a strong dislike to the appearance of a heavy charge for salaries on the face of the accounts. They took no heed of the enormous perquisites often amassed by individual officials, so long as there was no public scandal. Clive and his colleagues accordingly did not propose the obvious remedy of assigning adequate salaries to the officers and prohibiting them, altogether from practising trade. That remedy had to come a little later, but at that time the Directors could not have been persuaded to sanction it. The Society of Trade. Clive unfortunately was induced by his colleagues to accept and defend a fantastic scheme for enriching the senior servants of the Company, civil and military, by insti tuting a Society of Trade, for carrying on the forbidden inland trade in salt, betel-leaf, and opium. The operations of the Society in practice were almost confined to salt, in which a strict monopoly was created. The enormous profits were shared in certain propor tions by the Company and the officers concerned. Clive himself held five shares, which he sold in 1767 to his colleagues, Messrs. Sumner, Verelst, and Sykes, for the considerable sum of £32,000.2 The Directors rightly disallowed absolutely the monstrous scheme, but full effect was not given to their orders until September 1768. The proceedings relating to the business were too compli cated for detailed exposition in this place. The reader who is curious about the particulars of an unpleasant affair will find everything concerning it in the pages of Bolts on one side and of Verelst on the other. 1 The Select or Secret Committee took charge of all political and foreign affairs, thus becoming the parent of the Foreign Department of the Government of India. Ordinary administration remained in the hands of the Council. ' Bolts gives the text of the deed without date, which must have been in 1767. POLITICAL ARRANGEMENTS 503 Political arrangements. The victory of Buxar in 1764 had relieved Clive from the necessity of directing military operations and had left him free to devote his attention to political and administrative problems. The chief political questions, all closely connected one with the other, concerned the Nawab or Subadar of Bengal, Shah Alam, the titular emperor or Padshah, and Shuj'au-d daula, the Nawab-Vizier of Oudh. The new Nawab of Bengal was disposed of by converting him into a titled pensioner stripped of all power. Clive in one of his letters states that the young man was pleased with the arrangement and observed, 'Thank God, I shall now have as many dancing-girls as I please '. Nevertheless, Clive insisted on keeping up the fiction of the ' double government ', and conducting the administration in the name of the Nawab, whose authority was vested in two Naibs or Deputies, Muhammad Raza Khan for Bengal, and a Hindu, Maharaja Shitab Rai, for Bihar. The titular emperor, who was not in a position to have a will of his own and was thankful to get what he could, was pro vided for by the treaty of Allahabad. The districts of Allaha bad and Kora, the latter being often described as Kora (Corah) and Kara (Kurrah),1 were cut off from Oudh and assigned to Shah Alam, who was also granted an annuity of twenty-six lakhs of rupees (2,600,000) from the revenues of Bengal. The Mogul, in return, was required to resign all further claims on the revenue and to confirm formally the right of the Company to the territories in their possession.2 He thus became in substance a dependant and pensioner of the Company. Grant of the Diwani. Shah Alam was further directed to grant to the Company the Diwani of the whole of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The province last named then included only Midnapur and part of the Hooghly District, the rest of Orissa or Cuttack (Katak) being in Maratha hands since 1751. The Grant of the Diwani in 1765, as it is commonly called, meant that the emperor, so far as he could, conferred on the Company the appoint ment of Diwan or coadjutor to the Nawab in all matters connected with the revenue.3 The general administration was still in the hands of the officers who posed as Deputies of the Nawab. The Company did not take up the duties and responsibilities of Diwan 1 Kora is a town in the Fatehpur District, about 100 miles NW. of Allahabad. It was the capital of a sarkar or District in Akbar's time. Kara, about 40 miles NW. of Allahabad,, is a small town in that district, which played a considerable historical part in earlier ages. Some of the early English documents speak of ' Corah ' only, but the territory often is described as ' Corah and Kurrah ' (Strachey, Rohilla War, p. 37 n.). 3 Namely, the Twenty-four Parganas near Calcutta, the Districts of Burdwan, Midnapur, and Chittagong ; and the Northern Sarkars (Circars). 3 Lord Mahon comically, although with all gravity, observes that ' Clive obtained from the fallen Emperor a Dewannee or public deed conferring on the English Company the sole right of administration throughout the provinces of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar' (The Rise of our Indian Empire, ed. 1858, p. 85). 504 THE BRITISH PERIOD until seven years later. The so-called ' grant ' was a paper trans action designed to give a show of legality to the Company's irregular position. English Supervisors appointed to superintend the operations of the Indian revenue officials were not a success. Combination of officers. In 1766 a dangerous mutinous combination of the British officers of the Company's military forces, not quite amounting to open mutiny, took place, which needed Clive's strong nerve for its suppression, and seemed at one time to threaten a revolution. The Directors, eager for financial economies, insisted on the field allowance or batta to the officers being stopped. It had been doubled by Mir J'afar, and the Com pany regarded the increased charge as a serious grievance. On the other hand, many of the junior officers could not live on their small pay without the allowance, and undoubtedly had substantial grounds of complaint when the extra pay was suddenly stopped. Many of the Company's civil servants sympathized with the officers and subscribed in support of their cause. The army had been organized by Clive in three brigades stationed respectively at Monghyr, Allahabad, and Bankipore near Patna. The officers of the third brigade at Bankipore remained loyal, but those of the other two brigades arranged to resist the orders for the stoppage of the allowance by throwing up their commissions simultaneously, hoping that the pressure thus exercised would compel Clive and the Select Committee to refrain from enforcing the Director's orders. The European privates and the Indian sepoys on the whole kept clear of the combination. Clive met the danger with un flinching firmness and within a fortnight had conquered it. Most of the officers submitted and were allowed to remain in the service, but a few were treated with vindictive severity and shipped to Europe with the accommodation provided for common sailors, a harsh measure of at least doubtful legality. Clive deserves full credit for the resolution which he displayed in a perilous emergency, but the details of the hard cases are not pleasant reading. Departure and death of Clive. At the beginning of 1767 Clive felt himself free to return to England, which he had quitted unwillingly. While making no direct personal profit from the trip, he provided handsomely for his surgeon and two other members of his personal staff by dividing among them his large profits derived from the Society of Trade. He stated, and no doubt truly, that he himself was nearly six thousand pounds poorer than when he left England. In February 1767 he left India for ever. The remaining seven years of his life, largely occupied by party conflicts at the India Ilouse and in Parliament, concern his biographer rather than the historian of India and need not be further noticed here. Those years were clouded by depression resulting from painful maladies and enhanced by the excessive use of opium taken to relieve the suffering. In 1774 he cut his throat at his London house in Berkeley Square. Verelst and Cartier. He left the territories in his charge in CHARACTER OF CLIVE 505 a state of perfect outward tranquillity to his successor, Mr. Harry Verelst, an experienced man of considerable ability, and superior in character to many of his colleagues and contemporaries. Two years later Verelst handed on the government to Mr. John Cartier, who also enjoyed a good reputation and retired with a fortune deemed modest in those days.1 Although Clive's exertions had done something to clear the air, grave abuses continued to exist, as will appear from the next chapter. Policy and character of Clive. The acts commonly specified as those staining Clive's reputation are the deception practised on Amirchand (Omichund) and the acquisition of an immense fortune by accepting from Mir J'afar cash ' presents ' on a vast scale to the amount of £234,000 besides the jdgir worth about £28,000 a year. It is needless to discuss minutely the forged treaty business. Although Clive refused to repent of his action, which certain writers have tried to justify, the trick unquestionably was indefensible, both morally and politically. The matter of the ' presents ' and the jdgir is much more complicated when due consideration is given to the time and circumstances. Clive felt that as a conqueror he was entitled to help himself freely to prize- money, which in those days and long afterwards was claimed by victorious armies in a way which now would be deemed discreditable. Clive urged in his defence before Parliament that the Directors his masters had not merely approved his acts but had sent him out again to India, in order to retrieve their affairs by his ' zeal and abilities '. They had not only condoned the acceptance of the jdgir. His enjoyment of the grant for a term of years was formally sanctioned and the reversion of it to the Company was secured. In 1773. Clive. when examined before the committee of the House of Commons, argued that 1 at that time (1757) there were no covenants existing : the Company's servants were at liberty to receive presents : they always had received presents. . . . He never made the least secret of the presents he had received : he acquainted the Court of Directors with it : and they, who are his masters, and were the only persons who had a right to object to his receiving those presents, approved of it.' The propositions thus stated are all true in fact, and the defence, so far as it went, was sound. The House of Commons, while ex pressing general disapproval of the practice current sixteen years earlier, refrained from formulating a personal condemnation of Clive and wisely recorded their judgement that ' Robert, Lord Clive, did at the same time render great and meritorious services to his country '. Clive's proceedings respecting the Society for trade in salt, betel-leaf, and tobacco formed by him and the Select Committee in 1765 and continued in operation until September 1768, in defiance of the Directors' repeated positive orders and in violation of his 1 Both Verelst and Cartier are given good characters by an anonymous writer in 1790, as quoted by Miss Monckton Jones (Warren Hastings in Bengal, 1772-4, p. 114 n.). 506 THE BRITISH PERIOD own express undertaking to abstain from trade, seem to me far more discreditable than his early acceptance of excessive ' presents '. It would be impossible to justify that judgement without entering upon a lengthy disquisition unsuitable for a book like this ; and it must suffice to say that for once I agree with Mill in regarding the affair of the Society as being ' in its own nature shameful ', and in rejecting as altogether unconvincing the elaborate arguments adduced in its defence by H. H. Wilson, Verelst, and other authors.1 CLIVE. It appears to me impossible for the impartial historian to deny that Clive was too willing to meet Asiatic intrigues on their own ground ; too greedy of riches, and too much disposed to ignore delicate scruples in their acquisition. That verdict undoubtedly tarnishes his memory and precludes the historian from according to him the unqualified admiration which his heroic qualities seem to exact. His most outstanding characteristic was an inflexible will which guided his conduct to success in affairs, whether military or civil. His military genius and his gift for leadership were 1 For a full statement and an ample supply of documents see the work of Bolts on one side and that of Verelst on the other. CHARACTER OF CLIVE 507 abundantly manifested both in the peninsula and in Bengal. His abilities as a statesman were exhibited chiefly in his second adminis tration, when he confronted extraordinary difficulties with un flinching courage. The merits and demerits of that administration probably will continue to excite differences of opinion nearly as marked as those expressed in his lifetime. His affection for the dubious scheme of ' double government ' was largely influenced by his desire to veil from rival European -states the real position of the British masters of Bengal as 'the umpires of Hindostan'.1 That policy is expressed with perfect clearness in a letter signed by Clive and his colleagues on January 24, 1767 : 'We may, in our present circumstances, be regarded as the spring which, concealed under the shadow of the Nabob's name, secretly gives motion to this vast machine of government, without offering violence to the original constitution. The increase of our own, and diminution of his power, are effected without encroachment on his prerogative. The Nabob holds in his hands, as he always did, the whole civil administration, the distribution of justice, the disposal of offices, and all those sovereign rights which constitute the essence of his dignity, and form the most convenient barrier between us and the jealousy of the other European settlements.' 3 The argument advanced in the last clause is an inadequate founda tion for such a structure of make-believe. There is no reason to suppose that anybody was deceived by all the pretending. It is, however, proper to note that the French, although beaten and powerless on Indian soil, still retained a naval base at the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, and consequently were in a position to threaten trouble. From the Indian point of view Clive's second administration may be contemplated with some satisfaction as the beginning of the end of an evil time. From the British point of view the controversy concerning his qualities and defects is best closed by the resolution of the House of Commons quoted above. Famine of 1770. The administration of Mr. Cartier, other wise of little interest, was signalized by the famine of 1770, a disaster which, as Hunter truly observed, is ' the key to the history of Bengal for the succeeding forty years'. The famine was due to the early cessation of the rains in 1769, which caused the minor autumn crop of rice to wither and prevented the growth of the main crop due for cutting in December. The lack of roads and the other unfavourable circumstances of the time sufficed to produce a famine of unsurpassed intensity from that one failure of rain. Dacca and the south-eastern districts escaped nearly unhurt. The rest of Bengal and Bihar both north and south of the Ganges was rendered desolate, ' a silent and deserted province'. Yet the trouble was completely over, so far as the crops were concerned, in November 1770, and in the three following years the produce 1 The remarkable phrase used by Verelst on March 28, 1768 (A View, &c., App. p. 41). Nearly three years earlier Clive had written ' The Company are sovereigns in India ' (ibid., p. 252). 3 Verelst, op. cit., App., p. 41. 508 THE BRITISH PERIOD was more than usually abundant. The worst suffering was endured between May and September. The best estimates indicate that one-third of the population perished. The effects of depopulation were long felt, so that even in 1789 Lord Cornwallis could describe Bengal to the extent of one-third as ' a jungle inhabited only by wild beasts '. The puny efforts of private charity, which seems to have been generous, could do little to alleviate the overwhelming distress. At Murshldabad the Resident reported that the living were feeding on the dead and that the streets were choked with corpses. Such scenes were no novelty in India. They had been witnessed twice even in the reign of victorious Akbar, and many times throughout the centuries. The obligation to relieve famine at any cost and to strain every neTve of the administration in order to save life, which was never acknowledged by any native government. Hindu or Muhammadan, was very imperfectly recognized even by the Anglo-Indian govern ment before 1873. In 1770 such notions concerning the duty of a ruling power had not occurred to anybody, Indian or European, and if they had occurred, the means for putting them in practice did not exist. The East India Company's officers cannot be blamed for the failure to deal with the famine on modern lines. They did not then administer the country, of which the revenue affairs were solely, in charge of Muhammad Raza Khan, who did not worry about the sufferings of the people. He collected the revenue almost in full and added 10 per cent, for 1771. Warren Hastings, in his masterly review of the state of Bengal dated November 3, 1772, addressed to the Directors, tells the terrible truth about the methods of revenue administration under the ' double government ' system. ' The effects of the dreadful Famine which visited these Provinces in the Year 1770, and raged during the whole course of that Year, have been regularly made known to you by our former advices, and to the public by laboured descriptions, in which every Circumstance of Fact, and every Art of Languages, have been accumulated to raise Compassion, and to excite Indignation against your Servants, whose unhappy lot it was to be the witnesses and spectators of the sufferings of their fellow-creatures. But its influence on the Revenue has been yet unnoticed, and even unfelt, but by those from whom it was collected ; for, notwithstanding the loss of at least one-third of the inhabitants of the Province, and the consequent decrease of the Cultivation, the nett collections of the year 1771 exceeded even those of 1768, as will appear from the following Abstract of Accounts : ' which follow, but need not be quoted. ' It was naturally to be expected that the diminution of the Revenue should have kept an equal pace with the other Consequences of so great a Calamity. That it did not, was owing to its being violently kept up to its former Standard. To ascertain all the means by which this was effected will not be easy.' Hastings proceeds to dilate on the difficulties of the investigation FAMINE 509 and to denounce specially an iniquitous tax called najai, which was ruthlessly levied. ' This Tax, though equally impolitic in its Institution and oppressive in the mode of exacting it, was authorised by the antient and general usage of the Country. It had not the sanction of Government, but took place as a matter of course.' The consideration of the writer's further observations on the revenue system or lack of system in that age is reserved for the next chapter, which will deal with his memorable, although seldom mentioned administration of Bengal as governor for more than two years. CHRONOLOGY Shuj'au-d din Subadar of Bengal ..... 1725-39 Allahvardi Khan Subadar of Bengal ..... 1740-56 Cession of Orissa (Cuttack) to the Marathas .... 1751 Gheria expedition of Watson and Clive . ... 1755 Siraju-d daula Subadar or Nawab of Bengal ; capture of Calcutta 1756 Recapture of Calcutta ; storm of Chandernagore ; battle of Plassey ; cession of Twenty-four Parganas ; Mir J'afar Subadar or Nawab ......... 1757 Defeat of the Dutch at Biderra ....... 1759 Departure of Clive ; Vansittart governor of Bengal ; Mir Kasim appointed Nawab or Subadar of Bengal .... 1760 Massacre of Europeans at Patna and elsewhere ; restoration of Mir J'afar as Subadar or Nawab ...... 1763 Battle of Buxar ......... 1764 Death of Mir J'afar ; Clive governor of Bengal ; Select Committee 1765 Mutinous combination of European officers .... 1766 Departure of Clive ; Verelst governor of Bengal .... 1767 Cartier governor of Bengal ....... 1769 Famine ........... 1770 Authorities The most useful of the general histories is that by Thornton. The principal special works consulted are Orme ; Stewart, History of Bengal, London, 1813 ; Siydru-l Mutdkherin, vol. i, transl. Briggs (London, Or. Tr. Fund, 1832), and the rest by Haji Mustapha (Raymond), Calcutta, 1789. There is a reprint, 1902. Ives, E., A Voyage from England to India, &c, London, 1773 ; Hill, S. C, Three Frenchmen in Bengal, London, Longmans, 1903 ; Calendar of Persian Correspondence, Imperial Record Dept., Calcutta, vol. i, 1759-67 (publ. 1911) ; vol. ii, 1767-9 (publ. 1914). Holwell's Narrative is reprinted more or less fully in Wheeler, J. Talboys, Early Records of British India, Calcutta, Newman, 1878 ; Busteed, H. E., Echoes from Old Calcutta1, London, Thacker, 1908, and in other works. The long-promised Life of Clive by Sir G. Forrest appeared in September, 1918. The subject has been treated by Sir John Malcolm (Murray, 1836); Gleig, G. R. (Murray, 1861) ; Malleson (Rulers of India), and other authors. The Life bearing the name of Caraccioij, Charles (London, 1775, 1777), is a venomous libel written in the interest of the mutinous S3 510 THE BRITISH PERIOD officers of 1766. The book, Considerations on Indian Affairs by Bolts, W„ is almost equally hostile and needs to be read with .caution (London, .1772). In the same year Verelst, Harry, replied by A View of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the English Government in Bengal. Van sittart, H., defended his administration in A Narrative of the Transactions in Benaal, 1760-4 (3 vols., London, 1766). The four works last named include the texts of the treaties and numerous other documents. All essential information about the famine is given in Hunter, Sir W. W., Annals of Rural Bengal ' (London, Smith, Elder, 1897). For the strange career of William Bolts, who was a Dutchman, see Ind. Ant., 1917, p. 277. CHAPTER 3 Warren Hastings as governor of Bengal, 1772-4; the Rohilla war; the Regulating Act. Early life of Warren Hastings. The creditable conduct of Warren Hastings in the transactions of Mir Kasim's time has been briefly mentioned, but a more explicit statement of the leading facts of his early official career is needed to make his position fully intelligible. Unfortunately it is impossible to relate in this place the fascinating story of his life. The most material facts stated in the briefest possible manner are these. Warren Hastings, a descendant of an ancient and honourable, although impoverished family, was born in December 1732, and came out to Calcutta as a writer in the East India Company's service before he had completed eighteen years of age. After an apprenticeship employed in office work he was posted to Kasim- bazar (Cossimbazaar). When Siraju-d daula captured that factory Hastings was made prisoner. He escaped, joined his countrymen at Falta, and served under Clive, who recognized his merit. In 1761, being then in his twenty-ninth year, Hastings became a member of council at Calcutta. He went home in 1764, and returned to India in 1769 as second in council at Madras, where he was employed chiefly on commercial business. He did his work so well and honestly that the Directors selected him to succeed Mr. Cartier as governor of Bengal. He took charge of that office in April 1772 in the fortieth year of his age and the full ness of his intellectual powers. Confidence of the Directors. It is important to note that Warren Hastings throughout the whole of his earlier service enjoyed the confidence of his superiors in an exceptional degree. The^ Directors, when sending him to Madras, bore testimony to his ' great ability and unblemished character '. In May 1771 the Secret Committee gave him still stronger marks of their esteem by writing confidentially to him that ' they could not have evi denced more clearly the confidence they repose in your abilities, zeal, and integrity than they have done by their appoint ment of you to preside in their council in Bengal'. Two years later they expressed their ' entire approbation ' of his conduct, EARLY LIFE OF WARREN HASTINGS 511 and their * utmost satisfaction ', offering at the same time their ' assurances of protection and support '. The eulogy pronounced by the Prime Minister was still more emphatic and significant : ' On the passing of the Regulating Act in 1773, he [Lord North] stated in the House that as first Governor-General " he should propose a Person who, though flesh and blood, had resisted the greatest temptations — that tho' filling great Offices in Bengal during the various Revolutions that had been felt in that Country, never received a single Rupee at any one of them, and whose Abilities and intense application would be apparent to any gentleman who would consider what he had done during the first six months of his Administration ".' 1 The man who had earned such trust by twenty-three years of faithful service could not possibly have become in the next year the corrupt tyrant depicted in the outrageous libels which poisoned half of his life and still exercise an improper influence on current opinion. It was the misfortune of Hastings that from 1774 he became the object of the ' vile malevolence ' of Philip Francis, who schemed incessantly to usurp his office, and spared no efforts in the attempt to ruin the man whom he envied and hated. The malignant spirit which had composed the venomous Letters of Junius found equally congenial occupation in organizing a con spiracy against Hastings,2 contrived so artfully that even Pitt and Burke were beguiled. Difficulties of Hastings. It is hardly possible to exaggerate the difficulties which confronted Hastings. The imperfect reforms begun by Clive had produced little real improvement, and a government worthy of the name did not exist. The task of Hastings was the creation rather- than the amendment of a tolerable administration. Three months after taking charge he wrote that ' the new government of the Company consists of a confused heap of undigested materials, as wild as the chaos itself. Various branches of business were ' all huddled together % no clear separation of departments being recognized. Arrears of work going back for years had to be cleared away, and honest men were extremely scarce. The small supply of competent officials had been so much diminished by the massacre of Patna in 1763 that mere youths had risen to positions far above their deserts or capacity. The young gentlemen who had been appointed to control the collection of the revenue, called Supervisors at first and Collectors later, monopolized the trade of the country, espe cially in grain, and were themselves the tools of their Bengali ' banyans ', or men of business, whom Hastings described as 1 Quoted by Miss Monckton Jones in Warren Hastings in Bengal, 1772- 1774, p. 104 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1917), from B.M. Add. MS. 29209, 9. The passage does not seem to have been published previously. 3 The first series of the political pamphlets, 70 in number, entitled the Letters of Junius, appeared in the Public Advertiser between January 21 , 1769, and January 21, 1772. The conclusive evidence that Francis was the author is cited by Busteed, Echoes from Old Calcutta1 (1908), p. 59. 512 THE BRITISH PERIOD 4 devils '. The courts of justice were a byword ; the country was ravaged by gangs of savage dacoits or brigands, and huge armies of marauders figuring as religious devotees (Sanyasis) ranged over the province in their thousands. The currency was in hopeless confusion, and coin was insufficient in quantity. The list of evils might be much prolonged, but it is sufficient to say in general terms that everything was wrong. Hastings, who had received stringent confidential instructions from the Directors to ferret out abuses regardless of persons, found it impossible to do all that was required of him, even though, as he said, his hand was against every man, and every man's hand against him. As it was, he con fessed mournfully some years later that his loyal exertions had cost him 'a world of enemies '. He worked with untiring indus try, and did all that man could do, but with neces sarily imperfect success. He was forced sometimes to compromise and even to tolerate 'jobs'. His work laid the foundation on which Lord Cornwallis, more fa vourably situated, was able to build a coherent system. The actual achievement of Hastings will now be described in a summary fashion, omitting much. The achievement of Hastings. The Company having resolved to ' stand forth as Diwan ', the task of collection of revenue was transferred from Murshidabad to a Board of Revenue at Calcutta,1 which thus became the official capital of British India from 1772, a distinction which it continued to enjoy until 1912, when royal command transferred the head-quarters of the Government of India to Delhi. The allowance of the young Nawab of Bengal, who had become merely a distinguished nobleman, was cut down by one-half, but economies in useless expenditure left him more money to spend 1 The whole Council sat as the Board of Revenue. Strachey gives the number of councillors as nine ; other books state it as twelve, and the latter number was advocated by Hastings. The number seems to have varied from time to time. WARREN HASTINGS (as a young man). ACHIEVEMENT OF HASTINGS 513 than he had had before. The appointment of MannI Begam as guardian of the Nawab was afterwards made the subject of foul and absurd charges preferred by Nandkumar and his base English associates. It is sufficient to say that the appointment was sanctioned unanimously by the Calcutta Council and warmly approved by the Directors. The titular emperor, eager to return to Delhi, had thrown himself into the hands of the Marathas, who kept him practically a prisoner and used him as a tool.1 He was constrained to make over to them the provinces of Allahabad and Kara which had been assigned to him for support. Hastings rightly withdrew the tribute or allowance of twenty-six lakhs which had been assigned to him as a dependant of the English. It would have been the height of absurdity to continue the payment for the benefit of the Marathas, the most formidable enemies of the Company. Hastings kept on friendly terms with Shuj'au-d daula, the ruler of Oudh, whose territories he regarded as a buffer state interposed between the British provinces and the Marathas. His steady support of Shuj au-d daula involved him in the Rohilla war, the subject of so much lying declamation. Hastings did what he could to improve the administration of justice, and constituted courts of appeal at Calcutta for both civil and criminal cases. The arrangements made were necessarily crude, and had to be so largely modified later that it would be useless to give details. Some decision concerning the assessment of the land revenue, or ' settlement ' in Anglo-Indian technical language, being urgently required, Hastings and his Council did the best thing then possible by granting farming leases for five years, which in 1777 were replaced by more objectionable annual contracts.2 The system of farming leases, although far from ideal, was the only tolerable one practicable at the time. The Council supported their President as a rule, with the exception of Sir Robert Barker, the Commander-in-Chief, who offered a factious opposition based on personal supposed grievances. Hastings uniformly displayed a conciliating, forbearing temper, and went a long way in his efforts to secure the willing support of his colleagues. Trial of the Deputies. The Directors had insisted that Muhammad Raza Khan and Maharaja Shitab Rai, nominally the deputies of the Nawab, but in reality the governors of Bengal and Bihar respectively, should be put on their trial for alleged embezzlements on charges preferred by Nandkumar and other rascals. The necessary arrests were cleverly effected by Hastings, who entered on the business unwillingly, especially as regards Shitab Rai, a man of exceptionally high character. In him Hastings found 'no defect', observing that he had proved himself to be an ' able financier '. Some years earlier Shitab Rai had 1 The reader should remember that Shah Alam had received no tribute from the Nawabs. The 26 lakhs were ' new money '. 8 The change for the worse was due to Francis and his hostile colleagues. 514 THE BRITISH PERIOD earned from Captain Ranfurlie Knox, a brilliant officer, the high praise : ' This is a real Nawab ; I never saw such a Nawab in my life.' l Both the accused officers were honourably acquitted. Muham mad Raza, Khan subsequently accepted office under the Company, but Shitab Rai died soon after his acquittal. The whole conduct of Hastings in the distasteful business forced upon him was highly creditable to his character. Varied activity. Hastings, the greatest of Anglo-Indian rulers, resembled Akbar, the greatest of the earlier sovereigns, in possessing a genius for organization, and in combining a grasp of broad original principles with an extraordinary capacity for laborious attention to detail. When Hastings took over charge of Bengal he knew nothing about the complex revenue system of the provinces, and was obliged to learn, as he said, ' the whole science ' from its rudiments. That was not an easy task in the days when no books of reference existed, and all details had to be got somehow out of cumbrous Persian files. Hastings was a master of Persian and Bengali, had a good working knowledge of Urdu, and seems to have known some Arabic. His varied knowledge was essential to his masterly handling of every department. Although, as he remarked, 'we have not a lawyer among us', he understood the true principles of legal reform, and, if he had had his way, the absurd Supreme Court of the Regulating Act never would have been constituted. In his letter to Lord Mansfield dated March 21, 1774, when forwarding part of Halhed's work on Hindu law, he stated that he ' desired to found the authority of the British government in Bengal on its ancient laws', and that he hoped Halhed's book might '. serve to point out the way to rule this people with ease and moderation according to their own ideas, manners and prejudices'. It is no wonder that a man with such ideas was almost worshipped- by the natives of the country. He held the balance even between Hindus and Muhammadans, and was as anxious to promote the accurate knowledge of Muslim law as he was to reveal the mysteries of Hindu jurisprudence. At that time no European knew Sanskrit, and Halhed was obliged to work on a Persian version of the abstract of Hindu law prepared in the sacred language by ten pundits. The famous Muhammadan college, the Calcutta Madrasah, was founded in 1781 by Hastings as Governor-General. Like Akbar, he was full of eager, intelligent curiosity about subjects of all kinds. He was deeply interested in geography, and in the distribution of useful plants and animals. Major Rennell, the ' father of Indian geography ', who had been appointed Surveyor-General of Bengal as early as 1764, was a valued friend of his. Rennell's wonderful Bengal Atlas bears the date of 1781.2 1 J. B. O. Res. Soc, iii. 127. 2 For the progress of the survey to 1768 see Verelst, A View, App., p. 109. VARIED ACTIVITY 515 A few years later Hastings supported Sir William Jones in founding the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Hastings sent two missions to Tibet. The first, under George Boyle, visited the Teshu Lama in 1774 ; the second, under Samuel Turner, saluted a new Teshu Lama nine years later. The instructions given to the envoys bear witness to the intellectual versatility of their chief. Hastings all through his life took a lively interest in literature and art, and always found time to read an immense number of books. It is sickening to think that the reputation of such a man should have been blackened first by the ' impish malignity ' of Francis, and then, after it had been rehabilitated, destroyed a second time by Ma- caulay's false magazine article, which still holds the public ear in spite of endless annotation and refutation.1 In the time of Hastings the criminal law administered was stillthat of the Muhammadans, which included the infliction of the barbarous penalty of mutilation, ' too common a sentence of the Mahometan Courts '. Nobody knew pre cisely how far English law was in force within the limits of Calcutta, which had courts of its own, but it is certain that natives of the country had been sentenced to death for forgery in accordance with the stern law of England long be fore Nandkumar's case oc curred. The dacoits or brigand gangs committed terrible depredations, and when convicted were punished with ruthless severity. The Sanyasis. Even more formidable were the ravages of the Sanyasis, which are best described by quoting the language of Hastings from a letter dated March 9, 1773. ' The history of this people is curious. They inhabit, or rather possess the country lying south of the hills of Tibbet from Caubul to China. They go mostlv naked They have neither towns, houses, nor families but rove continually from place to place, recruiting their numbers with the healthiest children they can steal in the countries through which they pass, -mus they are the stoutest and most active men in India. Many are merchants They are all pilgrims, and held by all classes of Gentoos [Hindus] in great veneration. This infatuation prevents our obtaining any intelligence of their motions, or aid from the country against them, notwithstanding 1 The concluding pages of Miss Monckton Jones's book contain a fine appreciation of the character and achievement of Hastings. SIR WILLIAM JONES. 516 THE BRITISH PERIOD very rigid orders which have been published for these purposes, insomuch that they often appear in the heart of the province as if they dropped from heaven. They are hardy, bold, and enthusiastic to a degree surpassing credit. Such are the Senassies, the gipsies of Hindostan.' The Sanyasi bands often numbered several thousand men in each, and at one time no less than five sepoy regiments were engaged in hunting them down. Their incursions into Bengal ceased in the second year of the administration of Hastings, and history does not mention any further depredations by them in other provinces. The bands evidently melted away when the Bengal hunting-ground was closed by the vigilance of the governor. At the present day many queer, criminal tribes and organizations still exist, little known except to the magistrates and police officers who have to deal with them, but nothing at all resembling the Sanyasi hordes has been known for generations. I do not know what race supplied the nucleus of their bands, which, as Hastings tells us, were recruited by kidnapped children, who must have come from all classes. Opium and salt. Hastings put the management of the manu facture and sale of both opium and salt on a sound financial basis. His regulations of 1773 formed the foundation of the modified system in force in our own time. The recent orders discouraging the cultivation of the poppy and the sale of opium have rendered the constitution of the opium department almost obsolete, but the licensed manufacture of salt continues.1 Hastings also began the reform of the coinage and introduced the ' sicca rupee '. The princes and the Crown. The views of Hastings concern ing the desirable relations between the Crown and the rulers of the Native States were original and daring. When writing to Lord North, the Prime Minister of England, on February 26, 1775, he expressed himself in the following remarkable words : ' I am and always have been of opinion that whatever form it may be necessary to give to the British dominion in India, nothing can so effectually contribute to perpetuate its duration as to bind the powers and states with which this Governmsnt may be united, in ties of direct dependence [on] and communication with the Crown. This system has been adopted with respect to the Nabob of Arcot, and, I bel'ieve, has met with national approbation. I thought it might be adopted with the same success in regard to the powers on this side of India. Their confidence would be strengthened by such a relation, which would free them from the dread of annual changes and of the influence of individuals ; and their submission, which is now the painful effort of a necessary policy, would be yielded with pride by men who glory in the external show of veneration to majesty, and even feel the respect which they profess where they entertain an idea of the power to command it. ... I conceive that the late Act of Parliament [the Regulating Act], by admitting the King into a participation in the management of all the Company's affairs, and almost the sole control of their political concerns of course makes him the principal in them, and entitles him to those pledges of obedience and vassalage from the 1 See Imp. Gaz. of India (1907), vol. iv, chap. viii. THE ROHILLA WAR 517 dependents of the British empire in India, which the ideas of the people and immemorial usage have consecrated to royalty.' l Hastings, when he wrote that passage, was thinking specially of Oudh, which no longer exists as a separate state. Things have changed so much since his time that his suggestion that each principal Indian state should have its accredited diplomatic representative in London, which seems to have been his meaning, is no longer suitable or practicable ; but he was right in recognizing the existence of the desire felt by the Indian princes to be in touch directly with their hereditary sovereign and not merely with the ever-changing officials of an administration. The reality of that desire was plainly manifested when Their Majesties personally received the loyal homage of the ruling chiefs in December 1911, and all legitimate means should be adopted to satisfy it. The Rohilla war. The material facts of the much debated Rohilla war having been clearly established by study of the documents and embodied in books easily accessible, the matter may be disposed of in a few words, without the formal discussion and refutation of fairy tales. The country lying to the north-west of Oudh between the Ganges and the hills, comprising the ancient Hindu provinces of Katehar and Sambhal, was and is known as Rohilkhand, because during the ' great anarchy ' Afghan tribesmen called Rohillas, being for the most part Yusufzi from the neigh bourhood of Peshawar, had conquered the land. The bulk of the population consisted of Hindu peasants, but there were several considerable towns, including Bareilly and Pilibhlt. No natural frontier separated Rohilkhand from Oudh, and the Nawab-Vizier's dominions were most easily accessible to an enemy through the Rohilla territory. The Rohillas were not strong enough to keep out the Marathas who raided their country several times. The Rohilla chiefs, who had temporized and intrigued with both the Marathas and the Nawab-Vizier, in June 1772 signed a treaty by which they promised to pay him forty lakhs, or four millions of rupees, if he would expel the Marathas. Early in 1773 the freebooters returned, but were compelled to retire when threatened by the forces of Oudh and the Company. The Nawab-Vizier, who had been put to much expense in equipping his army, de manded payment of the forty lakhs, but, as might be expected, got nothing. In August of the same year Hastings, accompanied by two members of council, met Shuj'au-d daula and concluded the treaty of Benares, which transferred Kora and Allahabad from the titular emperor, then a mere tool in Maratha hands, to the Nawab- Vizier in consideration of a payment of fifty lakhs. An agreement also was made that the Calcutta government should lend a brigade to the Nawab-Vizier for the reduction of Rohilkhand at his demand on certain reasonable financial terms. The ruler of Oudh deferred action- for various reasons, and the government of Bengal, which 1 Note the phrase ' the British empire in India ' used only eighteen years after the battle of Plassey. The quotation is from Gleig, i. 508. 518 THE BRITISH PERIOD doubted how far an apparently adventurous policy might be approved in England, welcomed the delay. In February 1774 the Council was surprised by receiving from Shuj'au-d daula a demand for the promised brigade. It was sent accordingly under the command of Colonel Champion. The Rohillas were defeated on St. George's Day, April 17, at Miran Katra in the Shahjahanpur District, and their gallant leader, Hafiz Rahmat Khan, was killed. Their province was annexed to Oudh, and some 18,000 or 20,000 Rohillas crossed the Ganges to the territory of their country man, Zabita Khan. The Oudh troops burnt some villages and committed a certain amount of ravaging, but no extraordinary violence was used, and the peasantry resumed their daily life at once. One of the Rohilla chiefs was allowed to retain his rule in a portion of the territory, and is now represented by his descendant the loyal Nawab of Rampur. ' Judged by its results,' Sir John Strachey observes, ' the policy of Hastings was eminently successful. . . . More than forty years elapsed before the power of the Marathas was finally swept away, but during the whole of this time they never attacked or seriously threatened Rohilkhand. The occupation of that province gave to Oudh and to Bengal that perma nent protection against the most dangerous of our. enemies which it had been the aim of Hastings to secure.' The proposition thus stated is absolutely correct. Hastings explained his policy to Colonel Champion in a letter dated June 4, 1774, as follows : ' The several propositions (made by Champion) . . . are diametrically opposite to the principle on which the Rohilla expedition was undertaken, which was not merely on account of the pecuniary acquisition of forty lacs of rupees to the Company — for, although this might be an accessory argument, it was by no means the chief object of the undertaking. We engaged to assist the Vizier in reducing the Rohilla country under his dominion that the boundary of his possessions might be completed, by the Ganges forming a barrier to cover them from the attacks and insults to which they were exposed by his enemies either possessing or having access to the Rohilla country. This our alliance with him, and the necessity for maintaining this alliance, so long as he or his successors shall deserve our protection, was rendered advantageous to the Company's interest, because the security of his possessions from invasion in that quarter is in fact the security of ours.' There was nothing to be ashamed of in the policy of the Rohilla war. The House of Commons had the good sense to refuse to include the subject among the articles of impeachment. Financial difficulties. Many committees of the House of Commons charged with the duty of investigating Indian affairs have sat from time to time. The earliest, appointed in 1766, resulted in the passing during 1767 of five Acts of Parliament, including one which required the Company to pay to the Treasury £400,000 annually for two years. At the moment everybody believed that the new Indian acquisitions were capable of yielding untold wealth. The Company soon discovered the baselessness of FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES 519 that pleasing belief. While the proprietors of the shares in the Company clamoured for high dividends, the expenses of governing immense territories swallowed up the expected profits, so that in 1773 the Company was almost insolvent and was forced to beg the ministry for the loan of a million sterling. Need of legislation. The pressure of urgent financial difficulties and the obvious necessity of providing some form of legalized government for the Indian possessions of the Company forced Lord North's government to undertake legislation. It is unneces sary to relate in this work the course of the prolonged discussions in Parliament and at the India House which preceded the enact ment of laws settling the disputes. Those discussions may be read at length in the works of Mill, Thornton, and many other authors. India is concerned only with the result, which was embodied in two Acts of Parliament. One disposed of the financial questions at issue, requiring among other things that the Company should submit half-yearly accounts to the Treasury. Control of Parliament. The other (13 Geo. Ill, c. 63), commonly known as the Regulating Act of 1773, created a new form of government for India, and definitely subjected the Company to the control of the Crown, or, in practice, to the control of the ministry of the day, and ultimately of Parliament to which such ministry is always responsible. The ' constitution' of India. The enactment of the Regulating Act may be regarded as the starting-point of the modern constitu tional history of India. Although the idea of a ' constitution ' is foreign to the traditional Indian modes of thought, which usually have been content to leave government in the hands of an autocrat or despot, the peculiar nature of the connexion of the Indian administration with a parliamentary monarchy in Great Britain has led to the gradual development of an extremely complicated Anglo-Indian constitution. By the term ' constitution ' I mean the mixed body of positive law and established practice which regulates the form of the Indian government both in England and in India ; determines the relations between the Home Government and the Government of India, sometimes called the Supreme Government ; defines the power of the Supreme Government over the provincial administrations ; delimits the functions of the legislature or law-making authority as distinct from the executive power ; prescribes the powers of the judicial courts ; lays down the principles of internal administration ; and, last but not least, guides the adjustment of the delicate relations between the sovereign, the Government of India, and the rulers of the Native or Protected States. Elements of the ' constitution ' . That body of mixed law and custom rests primarily upon the statute law of Parliament, compris ing about fifty enactments, more or less. Subsidiary, although by no means unimportant, elements in its composition are the prerogative power of the Crown as expressed sometimes by charters, sometimes by proclamations ; orders issued by the Directors of the East 520 THE BRITISH PERIOD India Company, or by the Board of Control, or the Secretary of State ; rulings of the Privy Council or House of Lords ; laws or regulations passed or issued in India ; survivals of ancient Indian institutions ; and a long course of settled custom or practice. The body thus constituted is a growing organism subject to incessant growth and development, which has proceeded at a rapid rate since the beginning of the twentieth century. No man can foresee the constitutional consequences of the Great War. Analysis of the Regulating Act. The Regulating Act of 1773, which forms the basis of the Anglo-Indian constitution, dealt with several distinct subjects. My discussion of it and connected matters follows the competent guidance of Sir Courtenay Ilbert. Certain changes were made regulating the appointment of Directors of the Company and the voting by the proprietors of stock or shares which did not concern India closelyand need not befurtherspecified. It is, however, important to note that the Directors were required to submit to the king's ministers copies of all material correspon dence concerning the affairs of the Company. A separate Act, as already mentioned, directed the submission of half-yearly accounts to the Treasury. The subjection of the Company to parliamentary control through the ministry was thus made complete. Sovereignty. ' For the government of the Presidency of Fort William [Calcutta] inBengal, a governor-general and four counsellors were appointed, and the Act declared that the whole civil and military government of this presidency, and also the ordinary management and government of all the territorial acquisitions and revenues in the kingdoms of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, should, during such time as the territorial acquisitions and revenues remained in the possession of the Company, be vested in the governor-general and council of the Presidency of Fort William, in like manner as they were or at any time theretofore might have been exercised by the president and council or select committee in the said kingdoms. The avoidance of any attempt to define, otherwise than by reference to existing facts, the nature or extent of the authority claimed or exercised by the Crown over the Company in the new territorial acquisitions is very noticeable, and is characteristic of English legislation.' The clear assertion of the sovereignty of the king over India was deferred until 1858, and was further extended on January 1, 1877, by the Proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India. Persons appointed. The Governor-general and the four counsellors appointed to start the new government were named in the Act and secured in their positions for five years. That time limit thus fixed by statute in the first instance has been applied by custom to the subsequent appointments of lieutenant-governors and other high officials. Ample salaries were provided, namely, £25,000 a year for the governor-general, and £10,000 for each counsellor.1 They were all forbidden to trade, receive presents, or otherwise add to their income by irregular means. The persons appointed were : Governor-general, Warren 1 The salaries have been much reduced. ANALYSIS OF REGULATING ACT 521 Hastings, Esquire, recommended by Lord North in glowing language which has been quoted; members of council: (1) Lieutenant-General John Clavering, a distinguished officer, who was knighted two years later ; (2) the Honourable George Monson, who had been in Parliament and had served in the army as second in command at the siege of Pondicherry in 1760 ; (3) Richard Barwell, Esquire, who had been in the Company's service since 1758 ; and (4) Philip Francis, Esquire, who had been em ployed as a secretary and in the War Office. Supremacy of Bengal. ' The supremacy of the Bengal Presi dency over the other presidencies was definitely declared. The governor-general and council were to have power of superintending and controlling the government and management of the presi dencies of Madras, Bombay, and Beneoolen,1 so far and in so much ~as that it should not be lawful for any Government of the minor presidencies to make any orders for commencing hostilities, or de claring or making war, against any Indian princes or powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty with any such prince or power without the previous con sent of the governor-general and council, except in such cases of imminent necessity as would ren der it dangerous to postpone such hostilities or treaties until the arrival of their orders, and except also in cases where special orders had been re ceived from the Company. A president and council offending against these provisions might be suspended by order of the governor-general and council. The governors of the minor presidencies were to obey the order of the governor-general and council, and constantly and dutifully to transmit to them advice andintelligence of all transactions and matters relating to the government, revenues, or interest of the Company. The governor-general and council were to be bound by the votes of a majority of those present at their meetings, and in the case of an equal division the governor-general was to have a casting vote ' [in addition to his ordinary vote]. The Supreme Court. The Act further empowered the Crown to establish by charter a Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, consisting of five barristers, namely, a Chief Justice, with a salary of £8,000 a year, and three judges, each with a salary 1 In Sumatra, also called Fort Marlborough. The place was given up to the Dutch in 1824 in exchange for the town of Malacca and certain other stations. SIR PHILIP FRANCIS. 522 THE BRITISH PERIOD of £6,000 a year.1 Sir Elijah Impey, an old schoolfellow of Hastings at Westminster, was appointed Chief Justice ; his colleagues being Robert Chambers, subsequently knighted, John Hyde, and Stephen Caesar Lemaistre. Impey and Chambers were men of considerable distinction, but their two junior colleagues had not earned any notable reputation prior to their appointment. The court was given civil, criminal, admiralty, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. ' Its jurisdiction [subject to certain limitations] was declared to extend to all British subjects who should reside in the kingdoms or provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, or any of them, under the protection of the United Company. And it was to have " full power and authority to hear and determine all complaints against any of His Majesty's subjects for crimes, misdemeanours, or oppressions, and also to entertain, hear, and determine any suits or actions whatsoever against any of His Majesty's subjects in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and any suit, action, or complaint against any person employed by or in the service of the Company or of any of His Majesty's subjects ".' The Act contained many minor provisions concerning the judicial system and other matters which it would be tedious to enumerate. Defects of the Act. Ilbert observes that ' the provisions of the Act of 1773 are obscure and defective as to the nature and extent of the authority exercisable by the governor-general and his council, as to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and as to the relation between the Bengal Government and the court'. The ambiguities and obscurities of the Act and the charter framed under it produced a plentiful crop of disputes, some of which will be noticed in the next chapter. Nobody could tell what law was to be administered by the court. ' The Act was silent. Apparently it was the unregenerate English law, insular, technical, formless, tempered in its application to English cir cumstances by the quibbles of judges and the obstinacy of juries, capable of being an instrument of the most monstrous injustice when administered in an atmosphere different from that in which it had been administered.' Nobody knew how to define the classes of persons, European or Indian, who came under the jurisdiction of the court, or how far the court had power outside the limits of the European settle ment. Endless problems arose out of the loose wording of the Act, and from the manifest absurdity of applying the English law of the eighteenth century to the natives of Bengal. Unfortunately, the statute had been drawn by persons who knew nothing about India and who failed to consult Hastings or anybody else who had some knowledge on the subject. The judges administering the law were equally ignorant of Indian conditions. Another grave defect in the Act was the provision which allowed the Governor-general to be outvoted and overruled whenever three members of his council chose to combine against him. That foolish enactment wrought much mischief. Some of the most glaring faults of the Act were remedied after a few years' experience, 1 The salaries are now lower. DEFECTS OF THE ACT 523 but not until grave injustice had been done and the security of- the state imperilled. The rest of India. Maratha affairs and the various happenings in Bombay, Madras, and other parts of India during the two and a half years of the rule of Hastings in Bengal as governor, before the arrival of the new members of council, will be more conveniently noticed in the next chapter in connexion with events slightly later in date. CHBONOLOGY Warren Hastings governor of Bengal ..... April 1772 Numerous reforms ........ 1772-4 The Regulating Act . ...... 1773 The Rohilla war ......... 1774 Authorities The two special authorities, both based on an exhaustive study of original documents, are : Strachey, Sir John, Hastings and the Rohilla War (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892) ; and M. E. Monckton Jones, Warren Hastings in Bengal, 1772-1774 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1918). I have been favoured with the perusal of the proofs of the second book named, which is an excellent work, and should rank as the standard authority on the subject, excepting the Rohilla war, which has been dis posed of in Sir John Strachey's conclusive monograph. Other books on the Hastings period will be named at the end of the next chapter. The Regulating Act is best studied in Ilbert, Sir Courtenay, The Government of India3 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1915). CHAPTER 4 Warren Hastings as Governor-general ; the policy and character of Hastings ; Sir John Macpherson. The new government. The Judges of the Supreme Court, who arrived in Calcutta on October 17, 1774, were followed two days later by the three Members of Council, General Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. Francis, in another ship. The next day, before Mr. Barwell had taken his seat, the Council met to hear the Directors' instructions. By the orders from home a separate Board of Trade was established for the purpose of relieving the Council from a portion of the purely commercial business of the Company ; strict economy in the military expenditure was enjoined ; the land revenue system established by Hastings was approved ; correspondence with the ' country powers ' — or ' Political business ' in modern official language, — was to be conducted by the Governor-general, subject to the condition that every letter received or sent by him should be laid before the Council ; inquiry was to be made into abuses ; and, finally, all the members were enjoined to work together in harmony with 524 THE BRITISH PERIOD a view to the preservation of peace, the safeguarding of the Com pany's possessions, and the due advancement of the Company's interest. Hostility of Clavering, Monson, and Francis. The trium virate from England at once fastened on the order to inquire into abuses, and displayed open hostility to Hastings. The meeting was adjourned until the 25th in order to allow Mr. Barwell to join, and from that date the Council was divided into two sections, Clavering, Monson, and Francis on one side, Hastings and Barwell on the other. The constitution of the body threw all real power into the hands of the majority and subjected Hastings to the mortification of seeing the officers of his choice dismissed and all his measures, so far as practicable, reversed. That state of affairs lasted for almost two years, until September 1776, when the death of Colonel Monson restored power to Hastings, who could do what he pleased with the help of his casting vote. Disputes in council. The details of the unseemly wranglings in council during those two years need not be recounted at length. The members spent their time in firing off minutes against each other from day to day." They seem to have put everything in writing on the spot, and the unedifying recriminations may now be read in print in the ' consultations '. The biographer of Hastings must wade through the dreary mass in order to understand the personal position of his hero and to realize the astonishing endurance of the man, but the particulars of the disputes have little interest for the historian as distinguished from the bio grapher. In most respects the selfish spite of the triumvirate produced effects of only a temporary character, but a good deal of more or less lasting mischief was done, especially in relation to Oudh, which was compelled to cede the Benares province. The majority in council relied upon support from the Ministry in England, where Indian affairs were then closely intertwined with party politics. Both General Clavering and Mr. Francis aspired to the office of Governor-general, and were resolved to employ every means to drive Hastings into retirement before the expiration of the period of five years for which he had been appointed by Act of Parliament.1 Happily they failed, and Hastings enjoyed eight and a half years of power from September 1776 to February 1785, which enabled him to save the nascent British empire in India from destruction and to establish it upon firm, well-laid foundations. The case of Nandkumar. The most famous incident of the personal struggle between Hastings and his hostile colleagues is the case of Maharaja Nandkumar (Nuncomar), the wealthy and influential Brahman who was executed for forgery on August 5, 1775. That case, like the other incidents of the struggle, has a biographical rather than historical interest, which means that the execution of Nandkumar in itself was a matter of no importance so far as the history of India is concerned. The immense bulk which the case assumes in English literature and in the eyes of 1 His term of office was subsequently extended from year to year. m CASE OF NANDKUMAR 525 the general public is due to the malignant cunning of Philip Francis, who knew how to use the genius of Edmund Buike as his tool. The result of the joint labours of Francis and Burke, supplemented by the disingenuous partisanship of James Mill and the specious rhetoric of Macaulay, has been the growth of a legend almost wholly fictitious. The existence and acceptance of that legend have most unjustly besmirched the characters of Warren Hastings and Sir Elijah Impey, and have done much harm by producing in the public mind an unwarranted belief that the Indian empire rests upon foundations stained by the blood of the victim of a judicial murder, planned and executed by the Governor- general and Chief Justice. Nandkumar's case when looked at from that point of view is of historical interest and importance, and it is therefore necessary to set forth the essential facts. The majority in council, eager to supplant Hastings, and pro fessing to investigate abuses, invited charges against the Governor- general. Nandkumar, a thorough scoundrel, whose misdoings had been familiar to Hastings for many years, had ample reason to expect personal advantage from the overthrow of the Governor- general, who knew too much, and the victory of his enemies who knew nothing. Nandkumar's false charges against Hastings. Accordingly, in March 1775 (11 and 13) Nandkumar responded to the manifest wishes of the majority of the council by submitting through Francis papers charging Hastings with gross corruption, and en closing a letter purporting to be from MannI Begam, the widow of Mir J'afar, offering a bribe. The counsellors proceeded with indecent haste to assume the truth of all the charges, and to require the Governor-general, their President, practically to be tried by them. The letter purporting to come from the widow, a manifest forgery, was accepted without question. The papers having been sent home were submitted in 1 776 to the law officers of the Company, who declared that the information of Nandkumar, even upon the ex parte case before them, could not possibly be true. Nothing more was heard about those accusations against Hastings until thirteen years later in 1789 when Burke founded a charge (No. Ill) upon them, and failed to convince the House of Lords, which unanimously acquitted Hastings in the matter. That fact is often forgotten. Nandkumar prosecuted for conspiracy. To come back to Calcutta. After Nandkumar had made his accusations in March, Hastings and Barwell retorted in April by bringing a charge of conspiracy against him and others. The case came before all the Judges of the Supreme Court, who in' their capacity of justices of the peace considered the evidence for a whole day (April 20) from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and allowed Nandkumar and the other accused persons to be on bail till the 23rd.1 On the 21st Francis 1 See Gleig and the extracts from Barwell's letters in Stephen ; the Story of Nuncomar, chap, xvii, and sundry passages in Gleig, not to speak of the documents of the trial and the impeachment proceedings. 526 THE BRITISH PERIOD and his colleagues were shameless enough to pay an official call on Nandkumar. On the 23rd Hastings was bound over to prosecute at the next assizes. The trial took place in July, when all the defendants were acquitted of conspiring against Hastings, but Nandkumar and a Mr. Fowke were convicted of conspiracy against Mr. Barwell. Nandkumar prosecuted for forgery. Before July came other things had happened. On May 6 Nandkumar had been arrested on a charge of forgery preferred by one Mohan Parshad, attorney for a party in a civil suit. On that date, after an investigation lasting from 9 a.m. to nearly 10 p.m., Judges Hyde and Le Maistre, acting in their capacity as Justices of the Peace, committed Nandkumar for trial on the charge of forgery and lodged him in jail. The proceedings for forgery arose naturally out of an old civil suit, and the complainant had decided to prosecute even before the Supreme Court was established. The delay which made the prosecution coincident in time with the conspiracy case was caused by the difficulty in getting hold of the document alleged to be forged. Marshman truly observes that the coincidence in time was ' purely accidental '. Trial and execution of Nandkumar. The actual trial of Nandkumar for forgery began on June 9, and lasted until 4 a.m. on the 16th. The Court never adjourned, sitting in the hottest reason of the year even on Sunday the 11th, from 8 a.m. until late at night, and on the last day until 4 a.m. All the four judges were present throughout, Hyde and Le Maistre asking more questions than Impey or Chambers. Nandkumar challenged eighteen persons on the panel whom he suspected of being unfavourable to him and was convicted by a unanimous jury of twelve Europeans. The rule prohibiting the appearance of counsel for the defence in felony cases was relaxed in his favour, and probably he would have been acquitted but for the evident perjuries committed in his defence, which made a deep impression on the jury. No man ever had a fairer or more laborious trial. The fairness of his trial is the only relevant issue. All the judges agreed as to the legality of the proceedings, and their law seems to have been correct. The only special share in the proceedings which fell to Impey was the summing up, a task performed by him fairly and impartially. After conviction legal objections were heard, so that sentence was not passed until June 24, and the execution was deferred until August 5. The Court could not recommend the home authorities under the provisions of the Charter to grant a reprieve, because all the judges were satisfied that the conviction was right, while the petition for respite disclosedno legal grounds for action. Clavering, Monson, and Francis refused positively to take any steps towards obtaining a reprieve. Comment. Hastings had nothing to do with the case, and Impey simply did his duty, which he shared with three unanimous colleagues. The prisoner was convicted, not by the judges, but by an independent sworn jury, who alone had the task of passing CASE OF NANDKUMAR 527 a verdict on the facts. It is folly for critics now to retry the case. The attempt to impeach Impey many years later completely broke down. Macaulay's abuse of the Chief Justice is wholly undeserved. The above is a plain statement of the most material relevant facts, which are not open to serious dispute.1 Hastings's oath that he had nothing to do with the forgery case is in exact accordance with the facts established by the record. The propriety of Impey's conduct in every stage of "the proceedings is manifest to anybody who reads the papers with due attention. There is not the slightest foundation for Macaulay's denunciations of the conduct of either Hastings or Impey in connexion with the execution of Nandkumar. The critics of Warren Hastings may make out a case against him in regard to the Rohilla War, Raja, Chait Singh, or the Begams of Oudh. The facts of all those cases admit of divergence of opinion concerning his action, but nobody who has really understood the Nandkumar affair can believe it possible that a judicial murder was committed. The procedure was regular, legal, and deliberate, and the actual trial by jury was more laborious and exhausting, probably, than that of any other case on record. Everybody concerned, without regard to his health or convenience, toiled in the terrible heat of a Calcutta June for eight days from early morning until late at night to get at the truth, and no reason whatever exists for holding that any illegality or injustice was committed by either the four judges or the twelve jurymen. That is enough, perhaps more than enough, about Nandkumar and the. intrigues of eiavering, Monson, and Francis. We may now proceed with the history of India, stopping merely for a moment to note the final collapse of the opposition to Hastings in the council, and to discuss at some length the serious quarrel between the executive government and the Supreme Court. Death of Monson and Clavering. The wearisome story of the incessant squabbling in council, of Hastings's action in empowering his agent in London to tender his resignation, and then cancelling the power, of the acceptance of the offer by the Directors and Ministry, of the complicated intrigues in London, and the final victory of Hastings need not be retold. Those matters concern the biographer rather than the historian. It may suffice to state that, as already mentioned, the death of Colonel Monson in Septem ber 1776 gave Hastings and Barwell the powers of the majority 1 Many irrelevant matters have been introduced into the discussion by many writers. Questions of law were within the province of the judges who were much more likely to be right than their critics. Chambers had been Vinerian Professor at Oxford. So long as the judges decided honestly and in good faith, as they did, it is absurd to abuse them because other people might hold a different opinion on obscure points of law. ' Pitt, I think with perfect propriety, " treated the accusation of a conspiracy between Impey and Hastingsfor the purpose of destroying Nuncomar as destitute of any shadow of proof " ' (Stephen, i. 88). The jury alone, it cannot be too often repeated, were responsible for the verdict on the facts. The rest followed in course of law. 528 THE BRITISH PERIOD by means of the Governor-general's casting vote, and that in June 1777 General (Sir John) Clavering made a rash attempt to seize on the office of Governor-general, in the belief that it had been vacated by the supposed resignation of Hastings. A dangerous crisis extending over four days was ended by the decision of the Supreme Court that Hastings had never actually resigned and that consequently no vacancy existed to be occupied by Sir John Clavering. A few months later, in November, Clavering also died. In August 1780 the Governor-general, in accordance with the code of honour observed at the time, fought a duel with Francis, who was wounded and went home after his recovery.1 He had his revenge later. The executive government and the Supreme Court. Before entering on the history of the relations between Hastings and the native states and the story of the Maratha and Carnatic wars, it will be convenient to notice in some detail the violent conflict between the Supreme Court and the executive which came to a head in 1780, long after the recovery by the Governor-general of his power in council. For several years the executive and the Court had usually kept on good terms, in spite of the difficulties caused by the imperfect constitution of the government, the unsuitability of the Court and its law to the country, and the failure of the Regulating Act to determine the jurisdiction and powers of the Court, or to protect adequately the powers which every executive government must keep in its own hands. Hastings declared in December 1774 that ' the court of justice is a dreadful clog on the government, but I thank God the head of it is a man of sense and moderation. In all England a choice could not have been made of a man more disposed to do good and avoid mischief, which, however, is not wholly in his power, and I am sorry for it.' In the following year, 1775, the Governor-general recorded his desire that the Chief Justice might be given either ' a fixed or occasional seat at the Council Board ' for purposes of legislation and legal advice, thus foreshadowing the appointment of a Legal Member, which was not carried out until Macaulay was appointed in Lord William Bentinck's time. In 1777, as already noted, the Court unanimously supported Hastings against the violent usurpa tion attempted by Clavering, impartially condemning at the same time a foolish resolution passed by Hastings and Barwell that Clavering had forfeited his seat in council. 1 ' My antagonists sickened, died, and fled. I maintained my ground unchanged, neither the health of mv body, nor the vigour of my mind for a moment deserted me ' (Confidential letter of W. H. to David Anderson, September 13, 1786, in Gleig, iii. 304). The extraordinary quarrel at Madras between Lord Pigot, the governor, and his council had some features in common with the case of Hastings. It occurred in 1776-7. The affair was too complicated and local to merit detailed description in this work. It could not be made intelligible without full exposition of the particulars. EXECUTIVE AND SUPREME COURT 529 But later, the temptations to assert the large powers apparently granted to the Court by the Regulating Act proved too much for the self-control of the judges, who allowed themselves to take action which threatened the very existence of the government. The fault lay more with the puisne judges than with Impey, the Chief Justice. The conflict was most marked in the conduct of two famous cases, the Cossijurah case and the Patna Cause, which must be briefly explained. Macaulay's account, largely based on Mill, is, as Stephens bluntly observes, 'false from end to end'. But, although we cannot accept the lurid picture painted by the essayist, the mischief actually done was serious and had to be stopped somehow. The Patna Cause. To take the Patna Cause first. The litigation was between the widow and the nephew of a deceased rich Muhammadan, who left a large property in the Patna District of Bihar. The Court claimed jurisdiction over the nephew as being a farmer or contractor of the revenue, and so in the service of the Company, within the words of the Act. The Court further found that the proceedings of the local Company's officers, acting osten sibly as a court under the designation of a Provincial Council, were null and void, the Provincial Council having allowed its functions to be usurped by the Muhammadan muftis and kazis, whose proper duty was merely to advise as assessors on points of Muslim law and practice. Ultimately, the Court awarded heavy damages amount ing to about £34,000. The Company allowed the time for appeal to the Privy Council to lapse, and, when granted an extension of time by a special statute in 1781, the Directors failed to prosecute the appeal which had been formally lodged. Thus the judgement of the Supreme Court held good, and the damages were paid by the Company. The proceedings produced a good effect by drawing public attention to the impossible situation in Bengal. The powers claimed by the Supreme Court over people in the districts away from Calcutta, while justified by the language of the Regulating Act and the Charter of the Supreme Court, could not be exercised without fatal weakening of the authority of the executive. Accord ingly, the Act 21, George III, c. 70, deprived the Supreme Court of jurisdiction in any matter concerning the revenue or its collection, and even went so far as to sanction customary ' severities ' in the collection, which might mean a good deal in practice. It also legalized the Company's courts, and enabled the Indian govern ment to make Regulations. The Cossijurah case. The Cossijurah case may be more briefly dismissed. A creditor sued the zemindar of Cossijurah, a place about eighty miles distant from Calcutta, for debt in the Supreme Court, averring by affidavit that the defendant came within the jurisdiction of the Court as being a person ' employed ' by the Company. Mr. Justice Hyde issued process. When it was resisted the Sheriff tried to enforce the orders of the Court' by a posse or force of fifty or sixty sailors and other people collected for the 530 THE BRITISH PERIOD purpose. The posse seized the zemindar's belongings in a rough fashion, regardless of Indian customs. Hastings, when he heard of it, sent an officer with a force of sepoys to arrest the sheriff's men, which they did. Impey never could persuade the government to submit the questions at issue to the king in council for decision, and" apparently the legal aspect of the case was never settled. The violent action taken by the executive practically had the effect of confining the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to Calcutta. Sir James Fitzjames Stephen held that ' the Council acted haughtily, quite illegally, and violently, without any adequate reason for their conduct '. The illegality may be ad mitted, but the position was difficult, and the pre tensions of the Court had to be resisted somehow, if the Government was to con tinue to exist. A ruler sometimes finds himself forced to transgress strict law. Impey made head of the Company's courts. One other connected topic remains — the expedient by which Hastings and the council (Francis dissenting) patched up the quarrel. In October 1780 Impey was in duced to accept the duty of supervising the Company's courts as president of the Chief Civil Court (Suddet Dewanee Adaiut). After a short time the salary of Rs. 5,000 a month was attached to his new office in addi tion to the salary which he drew under the Act of Parliament as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The transaction, being ob viously open to objection, was disapproved at home with the result that Impey was recalled and an unsuccessful attempt to impeach him on various grounds was made. He does not appear to have actually drawn any of the additional salary, or at any rate to have retained the money, if he ever drew any. The papers prove that both he and Hastings were actuated by creditable motives in making the arrangement, believing that in no other way could the prolonged conflict be adjusted. Macaulay's epi gram that ' the Chief Justice was rich, quiet, and infamous ' is wholly false. -Impey stated the facts correctly when he wrote : ' I have undergone great fatigue, compiled a laborious code [Reg. vi SIR ELIJAH IMPEY. CHARACTER OF IMPEY 531 of 1781], restored confidence to the suitors and justice and regularity to the courts of justice, and settled the internal quiet of a great empire, without any reward, and for my recompense shall have lost my office, reputation, and peace of mind for ever.' Character of Impey. Impey afterwards entered Parliament and survived until 1809. He was a good judge and in no way deserving of the abuse showered upon him by Burke, Mill, Thornton, Macaulay, and a host of lesser detractors. Sir James Fitzjames Stephen observes : ' I have read everything I could find throwing light on Impey's character, and it appears to me that he was neither much blacker nor much whiter, in whole or in part, than his neighbours. He seems to me to have resembled closely many other judges whom I have known. . . . He seems to have had an excellent education both legal and general, to have been a man of remarkable energy and courage, and a great deal of rather common place ability. I have read through all his letters and private papers, and I can discern in them no trace of corruption.' The same author closes the discussion of the subject by the obser vation that ' slightly to adapt the famous remark of De Quincey in his essay on Murder as a Fine Art, Impey has owed his moral ruin to a literary murder of which Macaulay probably thought but little when he committed it.' Hastings's foreign policy. The period of about eight and a half years, from September 1776, when Monson died, to February 1785, when Hastings retired, during which he possessed the power as well as the rank of Governor-general, included the years of the most intense strain to which the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland have ever been subjected, save only in the darkest times of the Revolutionary War and the Great War. During those years of strain the British Government had to fight France, Spain, Holland, the revolted American colonies, besides the Marathas, and Haidar Ali, and to appease formidable discontent in Ireland by the dangerous concession of an independent Parliament. It is impossible to pass a fair judgement on the policy of Hastings unless it is considered in relation to the events outside of India. The overland route. He was a man of large ideas and wide vision who understood thoroughly that the part played by him in India was only one of many parts played by many various actors on the stage of the world. His prescience and breadth of view are well illustrated by the fact that in 1778 he had organized an overland service via Suez for rapid communication with Europe, through which he received timely accounts of the ill progress of the American war and of the peril arising from French intervention, which enabled him to take measures for defence in India with the necessary promptitude. The strenuous opposition of the Sublime Porte obliged the Directors to discontinue the service, which was not resumed until the time of Lord William Bentinck.1 Bombay intervention in Maratha politics. Bombay has been rarely mentioned so far. The reason is that the settlement 1 See Bengal Past and Present, vol . iv, July-December 1 909, pp . 563-76, 586. 532 THE BRITISH PERIOD there had continued for more than a century after the cession to Charles II by the Portuguese to be a purely commercial station of no political importance. The territory of the presidency was confined to the narrow limits of the island of Bombay and Bankot or Fort Victoria, ceded in 1756 by the Marathas in exchange for Gheria. But in 1775 the President in Council of Bombay, who was ambitious, sought to acquire the neighbouring island of Salsette, and the port of Bassein twenty-eight miles distant, which had been taken by the Marathas from the Portuguese some years earlier. The Bombay government resolved to attain that object by inter vening in domestic Maratha politics and supporting one of the claimants to the office of Peshwa, then in dispute. The government at Calcutta was not consulted in the first instance undeT the provisions of the Regulating Act because the Bombay authorities had not knowledge that the new government at Calcutta had been installed. That intervention of the Bombay government led to the First Maratha War, which lasted until the treaty of Salbai in 1782.1 Origin of the First Maratha War. The temptation to which the Bombay government succumbed arose in this way. Madho Rao, the fourth Peshwa, an able man, and the last to exercise much personal authority, died in 1772, and was succeeded by the fifth Peshwa, Narayan Rao, who after nine months was murdered by the adherents of his uncle, Raghunath Rao, commonly called Ragoba. Civil war ensued between the partisans of the Regent, acting for an infant alleged, and probably with truth, to be a posthumous son of Narayan Rao on the one side, and Raghunath or Ragoba, who denied the child's claims, on the other. Ragoba invoked the aid of the Bombay government, promising the cession of Salsette and Bassein. When he failed to effect the cession, the Bombay people took possession of Salsette, and compelled Ragoba, who was in difficulties, to sign the treaty of Surat, acknowledging the rights of Bombay to both places. The local government was thus involved in a war with the Regency, in the course of which Colonel Keating won a battle at Aras (Adas, Arras) in the Kaira district of Gujarat, at a heavy cost in casualties to his small force. Treaties of Surat and Purandhar : convention of Wargaon. Meantime Francis and his colleagues had come into power. Dis approving strongly of the Bombay proceedings they sent peremp tory orders to stop the war and recall Colonel Keating. They, with the concurrence of Hastings, dispatched an envoy (Col. Upton) who made with the Marathas a disadvantageous compact, called the Treaty of Purandhar (1776). As it was never acted on, 1 It is best to treat all the hostilities between 1775 and 1782 as a single war, the First Maratha War. Some writers prefer to confine that name to the proceedings ending with the treaty of Surat. The Bombay government continued to display an insubordinate spirit even after it had acquired full knowledge of the new law, and strongly resented the autocratic attitude of the Governor-general and Council. Madras was equally averse to control, and often from less respectable motives. FLRST MARATHA WAR 533 its terms need not be recited. Four months later came a dispatch from the Directors approving of the treaty of Surat with Ragoba. In 1778 the Bombay government were emboldened by another dispatch from home to renew their alliance with Ragoba, who had gained successes, and to send an expedition towards Poona. It met with disaster, and was compelled to surrender. Colonel Carnac, who was acting as the Civil Commissioner or political officer with the force, losing courage, concluded the disgraceful Convention of Wargaon (January 1779), which actually stipulated for giving British hostages as security for the restoration to the Marathas of all acquisitions made since 1773, and for the surrender of Ragoba. He relieved the British from the disgrace of betraying him by taking refuge with Sindia and arranging terms with him. In due course the convention was repudiated by the Directors, and the officers concerned were dismissed. Hastings observed that the document ' almost made me sink with shame when I read it '. Goddard's expedition. Hastings having recovered power, as explained above, felt bound to retrieve the disgrace and support the Bombay government to the best of his ability. He conceived the bold plan of dispatching a Bengal force right across India through hostile states and country then unknown, under the con duct at first of Colonel Leslie, and then of Colonel (General) Goddard. The expeditionary force of more than 6,000 sepoys under European officers, and encumbered, as was the fashion of those days, by a crowd- of camp followers and traders number ing about SOjOOO,1 being admirably led, reached Surat in safety. In February 1779 Goddard occupied Ahmadabad and made an alliance with the Gaikwar of Baroda, which continued unbroken through all subsequent troubles. Capture of Gwalior. His brilliant operation was supported by another admirably conducted expedition sent by Hastings into Central India. In August 1780 Major Popham most cleverly escaladed the strong fortress of Gwalior at night and took it without losing a man. Colonel Camac succeeded in surprising Sindia's camp and frightening him. Treaty of Salbai. Towards the close of 1779 the Nizam had organized a coalition embracing all the Maratha princes, except the Gaikwar, and including Haidar Ali of Mysore, in the hopes of destroying the growing English power. The principal Maratha army was defeated, and the Raja, of Nagpur was bought off. Haidar Ali was threatened by the successful march of a Bengal force under Colonel Pearse by land through 700 miles of almost unexplored country, an exploit second only to Goddard's march to Surat. Ultimately, peace was arranged with the aid of Maha- daji Sindia, the ablest and most powerful of the Maratha chiefs.2 ' Rennell, Memoir3, 1793, p. 236 n. 3. The name (TITlTS'^n in Nagari characters) should be spelt as in the text. Authors who call the chief Madho or Madhava are in error. 1976 T GWALIOR FORT. ANNUS MIRABILIS 535 The treaty, signed at Salbal in Sindia' s territory, secured Salsette for the English, gave Ragoba a pension, and in other respects mostly restored the old condition of affairs. Although the terms of peace as thus concisely stated may seem to be of small moment, the treaty of Salbal (1782) should be remembered as one of the landmarks in the history of India because it assured peace with the formidable power of the Marathas for twenty years, and marked the ascendancy of the English as the controlling, although not yet the paramount government in India. The enemies of Hastings sneered at his ' frantic military exploits '. We may applaud unreservedly the energy, boldness, tenacity, and resource which enabled him to grapple successfully with his hydra-headed enemies. He may be described with justice as the Indian Pitt, ' the Chatham of the East'. 1782, an '¦ annus mirabilis '. The year 1782, it may be noted, was remarkable for many other important events in various parts of the world, namely, the resignation of Lord North, who had been in power as Prime Minister of England since 1770 ; the repulse of the Franco-Spanish main attack on Gibraltar ; a great naval victory gained by Rodney in the West Indies ; the death of Haidar Ali ; and the establishment of Grattan's Parliament in Ireland. It was truly an annus mirabilis, a year of wonders. In 1779 the French fleet had become for a short time superior to the British. Rodney's victory gave Britain again tne command of the sea on which the retention of India depends. Mahadaji Sindia. A few words must be devoted to Mahadaji Sindia, the chief through whom the treaty of Salbal was negotiated. He was the illegitimate son of Ranoji Patei, a Maratha of humble origin who had started life as slipper-bearer to the Peshwa, but rose in the world, as happened in those times. Mahadaji was present at the battle of Panipat and was one of the few Marathas of note who escaped with his life, although permanently lamed by a severe wound. He succeeded to his father's jdgirs, and soon became the most prominent of the Maratha chiefs. In those days the glory of the Peshwa had been obscured, and real power was shared, mostly by four territorial chiefs, namely, Sindia of Gwalior, Holkar of Indore, the Gaikwar of Baroda, and the Raja of Nagpur. When Shah Alam, the titujar emperor, quitted British protection in 1771 and attained his desire of re-entering Delhi, Sindia furnished his escort and in practice became his jailor. The military ability displayed in 1780 and 1781 by the commanders whom Hastings had selected convinced Mahadaji that it was safer to treat with the British than to fight them. Accordingly he came to an under standing with Hastings, who was in urgent need of peace with the Marathas. Even without their hostility his enemies were almost more than he could manage, and his financial embarrassment was extreme. The result of the friendly understanding was the treaty of Salbal, signed at the village of that name in Sindia's territory. Mahadaji conducted the negotiations in two capacities, as plenipo tentiary empowered by the Peshwa and as guarantor for the due 536 THE BRITISH PERIOD execution of the compact. The transaction greatly enhanced his influence, so that his power grew rapidly. He trained infantry in the European fashion under foreign officers and by their help became for a few years the arbiter of Hindostan. Hastings has been criticized for his indifference to the aggrandizement of Sindia, but the fact was that he could not afford to quarrel with the Maratha chief. Count de Boigne. The most celebrated of the foreign generals employed by Sindia was Count de Boigne, whose remarkable career may conveniently receive a passing notice in this place. Monsieur de Boigne, after service in the French and Russian armies, made his way to India in 1778 at the age of twenty- seven and obtained a commis sion as ensign in a Madras infantry regiment. While so employed he narrowly escaped from being involved in Baillie's disaster in 1780. Quitting the British army, he tried various ways of making his fortune, and finally settled down to Sindia's service. He served his master well and loyally, and was the principal instrument in establishing Ma- hadaji's temporary lordship over Hindostan. In 1796, after his principal's death, de Boigne left India, and re tired to his native place, Cham- bery in Savoy. In the course of his Indian adventures he had accumulated without dis honour immense wealth, much of which he expended on charitable institutions and municipal improvements in his birthplace. The rulers of France and Savoy loaded him with well-deserved titles and distinctions. In 1830 he died in, his eightieth year. Count de Boigne was the worthiest of the many European free-lances or military adventurers who swarmed at Indian courts in the latter half of the eighteenth and the earlier years of the nine teenth century. Two contested incidents. Before entering upon the history of the Second Mysore War and describing the heroic exertions of Hastings and Sir Eyre Coote to save the Carnatic from the fury of Haidar Ali and his son and to counteract the corrupt incompe tence of the Madras local government, it will be advisable to discuss with some fullness of detail two hotly contested incidents in the career of Hastings. The incidents are his treatment of Raja, Chait Singh of Benares and his extraction of a large sum, supposed to COUNT DE BOIGNE. RAJA CHAIT SINGH 537 have been about 76 lakhs of rupees, from the coffers of the Begams of Oudh. Both affairs were the outcome of the pressing difficulties, political and financial, which beset the Governor- general during the terrible years from 1778 to 1782. No fair judgement can be passed upon his actions unless the existence of those difficulties be constantly present to the mind of the reader of his story. Raja Chait Singh. The action of the Governor-general on which the 1st article of impeachment was based was as follows : When the war with France broke out in 1778 and the British power was in imminent danger, the Governor-general-in-Council required from Raja, Chait Singh, the ruler of Benares and adjoining districts, a special war contribution of five lakhs of rupees (then more than £50,000). An equal sum was exacted in each of the two succeeding years, 1779 and 1780, being fifteen lakhs, or over £150,000 in all. The Raja naturally disliked such demands, and in 1780 so delayed remittances that the government found difficulty in paying Colonel Camac's detachment. The Raja also failed to place 1,000 horsemen at the disposal of the authorities for the defence of Bihar, a province adjoining his territory, as demanded by Sir Eyre Coote, the commander-in-chief. Hastings suspected that the Raja was planning revolt, and was well assured that he had plenty of both men and money. He regarded Chait Singh's delay in making payment of the special contribution in 1780 and his neglect to furnish horsemen in the same year as acts of contumacy and disloyalty, holding that the Raja, as a zemindar or large landholder, under the sovereignty of the Company, was bound to give ready support to his superior in time of stress, in accordance with well-established usage. In his Narrative Hastings frankly states that ' he considered Cheit Sing as culpable in a very high degree towards our state, and his punishment ... as an example which justice and policy required. ... In a word, I had determined to make him pay largely for his pardon, or to exact a severe vengeance for his past delinquency.' In pursuit of that resolve Hastings intended to levy a fine of 40 or 50 lakhs, and com municated his intention to his colleague, Mr. Wheler. No demand for such fine was ever actually made, and nobody except Mr. Wheler knew of the Governor-general's intention. Hastings went to Benares to execute his plans, repelled the humble advances made by the Raja, and ordered his arrest, to which Chait Singh sub mitted quietly. A tumult arose, in the course of which a number of officers and sepoys were killed. Hastings was obliged to fly to the fortress of Chunar. After considerable fighting Chait Singh was defeated and compelled to take refuge among the Marathas. He was deposed and a relative was installed in his place. The army seized the funds taken in his fort as prize-money, so that none of the money reached the Treasury. The new Raja was assessed to land revenue at a sum nearly double that paid by Chait Singh, and was deprived of the power to coin money, as well as of 538 THE BRITISH PERIOD civil and criminal jurisdiction over Benares city, and of criminal jurisdiction in the whole of his country.1 The main issue. For those proceedings Hastings was impeached on the allegation of Pitt that his conduct was ' cruel, unjust, and oppressive '. The main issue taken was the status of Raja Chait Singh. Was he an independent sovereign prince or a mere zemindar ? It was conclusively established that he was only a zemindar, not an independent prince, although allowed the excep tional privilege of coining money. His possession of civil and criminal jurisdiction proved nothing, because under the Muham madan governments all large zemindars exercised such jurisdiction. The sovereignty of the Benares province undoubtedly had been vested in the Company from 1775. It is also certain that Chait Singh was an illegitimate son of his predecessor, and that his succession was due to the personal initiative of Hastings. Criticism. Concerning the justice and propriety of the action taken by Hastings my opinion is that the grave necessities of the situation justified the demand of exceptional war subsidies from a subordinate ruler in the position of Raja Chait Singh ; that he could have afforded to pay them without undue strain ; that he could have supplied and ought to have furnished the 1,000 horse men finally demanded ; and that Hastings was injudicious and imprudent in arresting the Raja, whom he treated with improper harshness. The proposed fine of 40 or 50 lakhs was excessive. All legitimate objects apparently could have been attained without violence. No praise can be too great for the energy and resource shown by Hastings in dealing with the outbreak produced by the arrest of the Raja,. Probably the excessive severity practised and intended by Hastings was partly due to his personal resentment against the Raja, for having sought to curry favour with the hostile members of council while they were in power. The errors of Hastings in the business, whatever they may have been, did not deserve impeachment, and his acquittal on the Benares charge by a large majority of the Lords was right. Affair of the Begams of Oudh. The next case for considera tion is that of the exaction of about 76 lakhs of rupees from the Begams of Oudh, the mother and grandmother of the Nawab- Vizier, Asafu-d daula, and the employment of severities to compel the eunuchs in charge of the treasure to disgorge. Abstract of the facts. The Company always had had a heavy bill pending against the Nawab-Vizier for arrears of subsidy, due for the maintenance of the troops who secured his dominions against external aggression in the midst of wars. The Nawab, Asafu-d daula, was a wretched, worthless creature, wholly incapable of governing and surrounded by gangs of greedy adventurers, Indian and European. In 1781 the arrears were particularly 1 Benares occupied a special position as the head-quarters of Hinduism and the resort of princes and people of all ranks from every part of India, so that the proper administration of the city was a matter of more than local concern. BEGAMS OF OUDH 539 heavy, and the requirements of the Maratha, Benares, and Carnatic wars had exhausted the Company's treasury. After the suppression of Raja Chait Singh, Hastings met the Nawab at Chunar and concluded a treaty or arrangement by which it was hoped that the Nawab's difficulties might be adjusted and the Company's necessi ties satisfied. Hastings undertook to clear the European adven turers out of Oudh and to relieve the Nawab of a portion of the military charges. The Nawab not only agreed but ' expressed a strong desire to resume the jdgirs, or grants of lands made to the Begams ^and other persons, and to recover his father's treasure which tfie Begams had been allowed to retain in 1775, with the sanction of the majority in council hostile to Hastings. In 1781 the Governor-general held that the complicity of the Begams in Chait Singh's revolt was fully established and warranted the cancellation of the arrangement made in 1775 by which the ladies had been allowed to retain the treasure subject to a payment in satisfaction of all demands amounting to 30 lakhs (also stated as 50). When the Nawab was required actually to resume the jdgirs and recover the treasure he naturally hesitated to take proceedings against such near relatives, and the Resident, Mr. Middleton, failed to enforce compliance. Hastings, being determined to get the money from the ' old women ' who, as he observed, ' had very nigh effected our destruction ', wrote severe reproofs to Middleton for his remissness. The screw was then applied vigorously.. The Begams' palace at Fyzabad was occupied by troops, and the ladies with their attendants, although not personally mishandled, were put to much inconvenience. Their two confidential eunuchs in charge of the treasure were placed on short commons, lightly ironed, and perhaps beaten. The Resident certainly handed them over to the Nawab to do what he pleased with them. By those measures, which any Hindu or Muhammadan government would have regarded as normal, the money was obtained and the debt to the Company was cleared off. During the operations Hastings, who was in Calcutta, was not personally cognizant of the details of the severities employed. How far he would have sanctioned them if asked does not appear. It is beyond doubt that no grave personal injury was inflicted on the eunuchs, who lived rich and prosperous for years afterwards. During the impeachment the Begams were among the numerous persons who sent in unsolicited and obviously sincere testimonials in favour of Hastings while the trial was in progress. Comment. If the urgent necessities of the time be remembered Hastings may be considered to have been justified in cancelling the arrangement sanctioned by his hostile colleagues in 1775, and in putting a certain amount of pressure on the Begams to make them disgorge. The severities used by his agents without his immediate personal knowledge, while not legitimate according to European standards of conduct, were thoroughly in accordance with Indian practice, and would have been regarded by Indian opinion as mild measures. The Begams themselves bore no 540 THE BRITISH PERIOD malice for their rough treatment. Critics should remember that until quite recent days, and within my own experience, it was a point of honour in India not to pay money until coercion had been applied. Landholders with the cash tied up in their waistbands would submit to be beaten in order to satisfy the public opinion of their fellows before they would pay out the land revenue admittedly due. Hastings was familiar with such practices and must have had them at the back of his mind when he abstained from asking questions about the exact degree of coercion applied to the people at Fyzabad. The business, which formed the subject of the second charge at the impeachment, was ludicrously exaggerated by the prosecutors and made an excuse for much raving rhetoric. The Lords had the good sense to acquit Hastings on the charge by a majority of 23 to 6. Second Mysore War. The way has now been cleared for the study of the last and most strenuous campaign conducted under the general direction of Hastings — the Second Mysore War, fought primarily for the defence of the Carnatic against Haidar Ali and his son Tippoo (Tipu), but involving various subsidiary military operations and political transactions. The war lasted from July 1780 to March 1784. Capture of the French settlements. France having united her forces with those of the revolted American colonies, war between France and England was declared in 1778. Early intima tion of the event was received by the Governor-general through the overland route, which had been opened for a short time, as already mentioned. The French settlements were promptly attacked, and Pondicherry fell after a gallant resistance. The little French station of Mahe on the Malabar coast was taken in the same month, and, after a short occupation, was dismantled. It was useful to Haidar Ali as a port through which he received supplies, so that the British attack upon the place annoyed him. Sir Thomas Rumbold, the governor of Madras, opposed the operation for that reason, but was overruled by Sir Eyre Coote, who felt bound to carry out the orders of the home government. Hostile confederacy. The current histories generally state that the formation in 1779 of a confederacy against the English by the Nizam, including both the Marathas and Mysore, was due to the Nizam's resentment at the annexation of the Guntur District in the northern Sarkars. That resentment was a factor in the Nizam's policy, but the Rumbold papers show that his displeasure had been aroused at an earlier date by the support given to his enemy Ragoba by the Bombay government, and by a project which Hastings had planned for an alliance with the Maratha Raja, of Nagpur. In 1780 Hastings, by giving up Guntur, secured the neutrality of the Nizam, who was offended by Haidar Ali's intrigues at Delhi.1 1 For the Rumbold papers see Marshman, History of India, vol. i (ed, 1869), Appendix ; and Miss Rumbold's book, A Vindication . . . of Sir GOVERNMENT OF MADRAS 541 The Madras government. The Madras government under Sir Thomas Rumbold in 1779 repeatedly sent warnings to Bengal that an attack by Haidar Ali was to be feared and that the local resources were insufficient to meet it. But in January 1780 Hastings wrote that 'I am convinced from Hyder's conduct and disposition that he will never molest us while we ' preserve a good understanding with him '. When Sir Thomas Rumbold was quitting India in bad health at the beginning of April 1780 he had come round to the same opinion and expressed a belief that peace would be maintained. Both Hastings and Rumbold were honestly mis taken. Although the Madras government was torn by internal dissensions and saturated with corruption, there is excellent reason for believing that the charges of personal corruption against Sir Thomas Rumbold were unfounded. The weakness and other defects of the local administration consequent on the rotten system of 'double government', which still recognized the worthless Nawab as the sovereign of the Carnatic, poisoned the whole policy of Madras and prevented the elaboration of adequate measures for defence. Thornton observes that at that time the moral atmosphere of Madras ' was pestilential : corruption revelled unrestrained. . . . It is not wonderful that where public spirit and public decency were alike extinct, the government should have been neither wise nor strong.' The Nawab was wholly in the hands of money-lenders, whose baneful influence dominated the Madras council. Invasion by Haidar Ali. In June 1780 Haidar Ali moved from Seringapatam his capital, and descended on the Carnatic plain with a force of 70,000 or 80,000 men, including a body of four hundred Europeans under Lally junior. He plundered Porto Novo as well as Conjeeveram, distant less than fifty miles from the capital, and committed horrid cruelties on a systematic plan. The inhabitants, notwithstanding his savagery, seem to have preferred Haidar Ali to their own Nawab, and furnished the .invader with information which was refused to the British defenders of Muham mad Ali. The country was stripped so bare that the most necessary supplies for even a small army were almost unprocurable. The force under the command of Sir Hector Munro, numbering only about 8,000 men, was continually hampered by lack of money, food, and transport. The commander-in-chief, then fifty-four years of age, was no longer the man he had been at Buxar. Indeed, his conduct amounted almost to imbecility, so that Marshman denounces him as ' the dastardly Munro '. Fortunately, Haidar Ali was left to fight his battles alone. The Marathas gave him no support. The Maratha chiefs in Orissa were bought over by Hastings, who was clever enough to per suade them to allow the passage through their territory of a Thomas Rumbold (London, Longmans, 1868). Rumbold went to Europe on urgent medical advice. T3 542 THE BRITISH PERIOD reinforcement under Colonel Pearse which marched from Bengal by land. Disaster of Colonel Baillie. On September 10, 1780, an appalling and apparently wholly unnecessary disaster befell the British army. Colonel Baillie, who was marching with 2,813 men from Guntur, subsequently raised to 3,720 by a reinforcement, in order to join Munro, who had 5,209, was overwhelmed by Haidar Ali's son Tippoo near Conjeeveram, although the commander-in- chief was only about two miles distant. Munro's excuses for his failure to succour Baillie were feeble and unconvincing, and Baillie's leadership was marred by errors. The detachment when surrounded fought so gallantly that out of eighty-six British officers engaged only sixteen surrendered unwounded. Baillie and all the survivors who were taken prisoners suffered unspeakable ill treatment. The painful details have been recorded by several of the victims. Action of Hastings. A special dispatch vessel brought the ill news to Bengal. The spirit of Hastings rose nobly to the occasion. Forsaking all other plans he resolved to hasten peace with the Marathas and to send every man and every rupee he could collect to save the Carnatic. Within three weeks Sir Eyre Coote was dispatched by sea with fifteen lakhs of rupees, about four hundred Europeans and some gunners, a thousand men in all, while the detachment under Pearse marched by land.- The corrupt and incompetent governor of Madras, a person named Whitehill, was suspended, and every possible measure was taken to repair past mismanagement. Space fails to narrate in detail the incidents of the melancholy war which . followed. Its unpleasant story is re deemed by acts of heroism which may be read in the pages of Wilks. Battle of Porto Novo. After several months of ineffectual operations Haidar Ali was brought to bay at Porto Novo on July 1, 1781, and decisively defeated by Coote, with a loss estimated at 10,000 killed and wounded. The casualties on the British side were only 306. It is curious to find that on this occasion Sir Hector Munro, who served under Coote, was praised for ' conduct equally spirited and active ', a strange contrast with his behaviour in the matter of Baillie's disaster. General Stuart, who afterwards displayed utter incompetence as commander-in-chief, also was commended for highly meritorious service. Other less decisive successes were gained by Coote at Pollilore and Sholinghur. Lord Macartney. Lord Macartney, a nobleman of consider able distinction, who had been sent out from England in the hope that he might reform Madras, took charge of the local government just before the battle of Porto Novo. He strongly disapproved of the Maratha war, and was so eager for peace that he sent a most improper letter to the Maratha chiefs, offering to guarantee any treaty that might be arranged by the Governor-general, and LORD MACARTNEY 543 promising the restoration of Gujarat, Salsette, and Bassein.1 It is astounding that a subordinate administration should have dared to issue such a document. The blunder, which did not stand alone, necessarily produced strained relations between the govern ments of Bengal and Madras, and the southern presidency continued to pay the penalty for official friction in high places. Admiral de Suffren. In the course of 1782 the hopes of Haidar Ali were raised by the appearance of a powerful French squadron under the command of Admiral de Suffren (Suffrein), an able officer. Five actions were fought between him and Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, resulting in much damage to both combatants without decisive result. The interruption of sea-borne supplies caused a distressing famine at Madras and a large mortality. The French admiral was accompanied by Bussy, then ' gouty, worn out, and querulous ', and consequently quite useless. Failure and death of Haidar Ali. In December Haidar Ali died at the age of sixty.2 Coote had been obliged by ill health to return to Calcutta, and General Stuart, his successor, lost the opportunity presented by the passing of the ruler of Mysore. Haidar Ali knew before he died that he had failed. Whenever he had met Coote in the field he had been beaten ; the hopes of French aid had come to naught ; the Marathas, according to their nature, had betrayed him, and even meditated an attack upon him from the north ; while the Nayars (Nairs) of Malabar were in revolt. ' Deeply reflecting on this unprosperous aspect of affairs,' he resolved to give up his attempt to hold the Carnatic, concen trating his attention on the western coast and the defence of Mysore. In August 1782 the Bombay government had dispatched Colonel Humberston (Mackenzie) to operate in Malabar. After the rains Haidar Ali sent Tippoo to defend his western provinces. While he was thus engaged his father died. Ingenious arrangements were made to conceal the fact of Haidar's decease until Tippoo had secured the succession. Not long before his death Haidar Ali had a talk with his minister Purnia (Poornea), whom he addressed in this remarkable language : ' I have committed a great error ; I have purchased a draught of spirits at the price of a lakh of pagodas ; 3 I shall pay dearly for my arrogance : 1 The fact is recorded without comment by Mill (iv. 157), who seems to have been unconscious of the enormity of Lord Macartney's offence. On the other hand, the interference of Calcutta sometimes was practised in an irritating way. 3 Wilks gives the date of his death as December 7 (reprint, ii. 33). Robson (p. 155) gives it as November 9. The concealment of the event for a time evidently caused doubts concerning the exact date. Thornton, Forrest, and a crowd of other authors state erroneously either that Haidar Ali died at the age of eighty or at a very advanced age. It is certain that he was, only sixtv, having been born in 1722. 3 Wilks explains the meaning of the exact terms used. A lakh of pagodas was worth £40,000. 544 THE BRITISH PERIOD between the English and me there were perhaps mutual grounds of dis satisfaction, but not sufficient cause for war, and I might have made them my friends in spite of Muhammad Ali, the most treacherous of men. The defeat of many Braithwaites and Baillies will not destroy them. I can ruin their resources by land, but I cannot dry up the sea, and I must be first weary of a war in which I can gain nothing by fighting.' He concluded by lamenting how he had been deceived by the Marathas and disappointed by the French. Colonel Braithwaite, when encamped with about 2,000 men in the Tanjore territory, had been surrounded by a superior force under Tippoo and suffered the fate of Baillie, early in 1782. 1IY11EK ALLY (AIR HAIDAR ALI. Sir Eyre Coote died in 1783, a few months after the decease of his antagonist. Character of Haidar Ali. Haidar Ali in the south and Ranjit Singh in the north were the ablest of the fierce adventurers who rose to power during the turmoil of the eighteenth century. Both were illiterate and absolutely unscrupulous. Haidar Ali had no religion, no morals, and no compassion. He relied on savage terrorism and strict personal supervision of every act of govern ment. 'No person of respectability', it was said, 'ever left his house with the expectation of returning safe to it,' and the highest officers in his service were liable to brutal floggings.1 He spoke five languages fluently and ordered his affairs with regularity and 1 On one occasion he flogged his son Tippoo severely in public. Compare Akbar's more private buffeting of Prince Salim. CHARACTER OF HAIDAR ALI 545 swift dispatch. Like Akbar, he remedied his lack of formal education by a memory of extraordinary power. He could go through complicated arithmetical calculations with accuracy equal and quickness superior to that of an expert accountant. He was skilled in the necessary art of appreciating character, and may be said to have justly earned his success in those wild times by the superiority of his personal endowments as compared with those of his equally wicked but less able rivals. No Indian politician in those days pretended to have any principles. Each one of them fought for his own hand with undisguised selfishness. End of Carnatic war ; peace of Versailles. Before pro ceeding to glance for a moment at the subsidiary operations in Malabar, it will be well to dispose of the war in the Carnatic. Unhappy dissensions between Lord Macartney, the Company's governor of Madras, and General Stuart, a ' King's officer ', holding a commission directly from the Crown, paralysed the operations in Madras territory and imperilled the safety of the army. A force besieging Cuddalore, where French and Mysorean troops had taken refuge, was even in danger of being lost when news arrived in June 1783 that peace between France and England had been signed at Versailles.1 The combatants in India made no attempt to carry on unofficial hostilities. All military operations ceased on July 2, which, accordingly, is the date of the close of the Second Mysore War, so far as the Carnatic was concerned. Defence of Mangalore. Tippoo not being a party to the Ver sailles compact, the war in Malabar continued. The Bombay authorities appointed General Matthews to the supreme command. The incidents of the contest included the taking of Bednur (Bednore) by Colonel Macleod and its recapture by Tippoo, as well as many other interesting happenings deserving of notice if space permitted. The most notable event was Colonel Campbell's gallant defence of Mangalore, ' a common country fort of the fourth or fifth order ', which held out until reduced by famine. General Macleod's failure to relieve the place may be reckoned as the most scandalous occurrence of the campaign, which was marked by more than one scandal. Campbell's defence, which was at least equal to Clive's famous performance at Arcot, had not the good fortune to receive equally brilliant literary applause and is rarely remembered or mentioned. Treaty of Mangalore. Although Tippoo had gained consider able successes, his resources were much exhausted by long con tinued war,2 and his capital was threatened by Colonel Fullarton, who 1 Sometimes, as by Gardiner, called the Treaty of Paris. » The exhaustion of the resources of Haidar Ali and Tippoo is explained by the general remarks of Mr. Verelst contained in a letter to the Directors dated March 28, 1768, which throw much light on the growth of British dominion in India. The writer dilates on ' the general indigence of the Mogul empire ', and proceeds : ' The natural consequence of these circumstances has been, that the different powers find their finances narrow, and their treasures unequal to 546 THE BRITISH PERIOD had occupied Coimbatore with 13,000 men, and had devised a well- planned campaign. A strong, courageous government at Madras might have dictated an advantageous treaty. Unfortunately, Lord Macartney, who desired peace almost at any price, allowed himself to be manoeuvred into the attitude of a suppliant. The advance of Colonel Fullarton was stopped, and envoys were sent to the camp of Tippoo", where they were treated with almost incredible insolence, to which they tamely submitted. At last, when Tippoo realized the danger of being attacked by both the British and Marathas, and feared that the patience even of the long-suffering Lord Macartney might be exhausted, he graciously signed the treaty of Mangalore on March 11, 1784. The document provided for mutual restitution of conquests and the liberation of the surviving prisoners in the hands of the Sultan. Tippoo gave up 180 officers, 900 European soldiers, and 1,600 sepoys, 2,680 in all. But the abject governor of Madras had not spirit enough to insist on a complete jail delivery, and some miser able victims were left in the tyrant's hands to suffer a sad fate later. Hastings, while loathing the disgraceful compact, and resenting the insults which attended its execution, lacked the cordial support of the ministry in England, and was not in a position to refuse ratification. ' What a man is this Lord Macartney ! ' he exclaimed ; ' I yet believe that, in spite of the peace, he will effect the loss of the Carnatic.'1 Thus ended in dishonour the Second Mysore War, including the Carnatic War terminated in July 1783, and the Malabar operations closed in March 1784. Such a peace carried within it the seeds of a new war, which duly followed in the days of Lord Cornwallis. The Madras government, disobeying express instructions to negotiate on the basis of the treaty of Salbal, omitted to make any reference the maintenance of a respectable army, or the prosecution of a war of any duration. Whenever, therefore, they are urged by ambition or necessity to enter on any expedition, they assemble new levies for the purpose with the most unreflecting precipitancy ; they risk every thing on one campaign, because they seldom have resources for a second, and come to an engage ment at all events, because the consequences of a defeat are less terrible than those which must ensue from the desertion, or sedition of an ill-paid and disaffected army. As their troops are chiefly raw men and aliens, they are without attachment to their general, or confidence in each other ; avarietyof subordinate commanders destroys all subordination and author ity ; and the certainty of beggary and starving, from the common accidents of war, throws a damp on the most ardent bravery. These circumstances, I apprehend, gentlemen, have been very principal sources of our repeated victories over these immense Asiatic armies, which have fled before a handful of your troops. ... A second, and no less powerful for the security of our situation, is the discordancy of the principles, views, and interests of the neighbouring powers. . . . The majority of the present princes of Hindostan have no natural right to the countries they possess* (A View, App., p. 101). 1 Gleig. iii. 186. RETIREMENT OF HASTINGS -547 to that document. Hastings had much trouble to persuade Sindia and the other Maratha leaders that he was not responsible for the erroneous form given to the Mangalore compact by the perverse government of Madras. Retirement of Hastings. The work of Hastings in India substantially closed when he gave unwilling assent to the humilia ting treaty of Mangalore. The Court of Proprietors, or general meeting of the shareholders in the East India Company, gave him almost unanimous support, but Pitt, the Prime Minister, had become hostile, and towards the close of 1784 intimated his dis approval of several features in the policy of Hastings. The position of the Governor-general was much affected by the clash of parlia mentary parties. In those days Indian affairs were the battle ground of the party leaders to a degree never known before or since. It is impossible in this place to go into details of the parlia mentary conflicts which ultimately led to the impeachment proceedings. Two India Bills prepared by Fox, the rival and opponent of Pitt, were defeated in 1783, much to the satisfaction of Hastings. But he equally disliked Pitt's bill, which became law in 1784, and clearly perceived that his resignation was desired. The general knowledge that his withdrawal from the Indian stage was imminent seriously weakened his authority both in the Cal cutta council and at Madras. Under such conditions he could not desire to remain in office. He therefore resigned, and on February 1, 1785, made over charge to his colleague, Mr. John Macpherson, who was second in eouncil. Hastings in retirement. The life of Warren Hastings was prolonged after his retirement from India for thirty-three years until 1818, when he passed away at the age of eighty-five in peace with honour. He never again took an active part in public affairs, save as the victim of the long-drawn agony of the impeach ment. When he went home he had every reason to believe that he would receive the rewards justly due for his eminent services to India and his country. The malice of Philip Francis, the frenzied zeal of Burke, and the cold hostility of Pitt not only robbed him of his reward, but consumed his moderate fortune, and subjected him to the fiercest ordeal of inquisition ever endured by any statesman. Impeachment. The responsibility for his prosecution rests solely upon Pitt, whose decision still causes legitimate astonish ment, even when viewed in the light of the words of his colleague Dundas contained in a letter dated March 21, 1787, addressed to Lord Cornwallis : ' The only unpleasant circumstance is the impeachment of Mr. Hastings. Mr. Pitt and I have got great credit from the undeviating fairness and candour with which we have proceeded in it, but the proceeding is not pleasant to many of our friends ; and of course from that and other circumstances, not pleasing to us ; but the truth is, when we examined the various articles of charges against him with his defences, they were so strong, and the defences so perfectly unsupported, it was impossible 548 * THE BRITISH PERIOD not to concur ; and some of the charges will unquestionably go to the House of Lords.' * That statement is open to much criticism, but the story of the impeachment belongs to the domain of biography and parliamen tary polemics rather than to the history of India. It is sufficient to chronicle the bare facts that the trial began on February 13, 1788, and ended on April 23, 1795, with a verdict of acquittal ; that sixteen questions were put to the twenty-nine lords who voted ; that the acquittal was unanimous in two cases, including the principal charges of corruption ; and that the minority in favour of conviction on the other charges ranged from two to six. The Court of Proprietors wished to give Hastings a pension of £5,000 and to pay his costs to the extent of £71,080, but Pitt and Dundas vetoed the proposed grants. The Directors managed to give him an allowance sufficient to permit of his living at Dayles- ford, an estate of 650 acres, as a benevolent country gentleman in decent comfort until the end. Throughout those long years he maintained an attitude of dignified serenity, and when his time came died like a gentleman. The Horatian motto, Mens aequa in arduis, inscribed under one of the best known of his many por traits, indicates exactly his bearing in the face of adversity. Character of Warren Hastings. Probably no person equipped with tolerably accurate knowledge of the facts could now be found to deny that the impeachment of Hastings was undeserved. His few errors, so far as they were real, were those of a statesman exposed to imminent peril and beset by embarrassments so complex that fallible human judgement was bound to err occasion ally. Can any statesman be named who never made a mistake, or perpetrated a job under pressure ? If Hastings deserved impeachment, how many potentates and prime ministers would be entitled to impunity ? Hastings should be judged by the standard applicable to sovereigns or prime ministers. It is im possible to contest the truth of the observation of Lord Cornwallis that he was ' unjustly and cruelly persecuted '. The foulness of the abuse heaped upon him by Burke and the other orators for the prosecution would be incredible were it not recorded to their everlasting shame.2 The violence of Burke's language was so 1 Ross, Correspondence of Marquis Cornwallis3, vol. i, p. 293. The process of impeachment, which had manv defects as a mode of trial, is obsolete and not likely to be revived. After the trial of Hastings it was used only once when Dundas (Lord Melville) was .the accused person. He, too, was acquitted, in 1806. In an impeachment the House of Commons prosecutes through the agency of managers, and the House of Lords finds a verdict after the manner of a jury. Each peer votes separately, giving his finding on his honour. For criticism of the statement by Dundas and the reasons for the apparent weakness of the defences see Forrest, Selections, p. xv. Macaulay gives a brilliant description of the impressive scene at the opening of the trial. 2 For an anthology of Burke's flowers of speech see The History of the Trial, of Warren Hastings, Esq., part v, pp. 151-4 (London, 1796). CHARACTER OF HASTINGS 549 disgusting that on one occasion it drew down the grave censure of the House of Commons. James Mill, who had devoted many pages to unsparing criticism of the acts and policy of Hastings, felt himself constrained when quitting the subject to pen a partial recantation and bear emphatic testimony to the rare gifts of the man whom he had treated so ill. It is true that the praise is qualified by the absurdly false statement that Hastings ' had no genius, any more than Clive, for schemes of policy in cluding large views of the past, and large anticipa tions of the future '. The exact contrary is the truth. Anybody who studies the letters and minutes written by Hastings cannot fail to recognize the largeness of his mind and the breadth of his views. The some what unwilling eulogy pro nounced by Mill includes the following propositions which any of the rulers of India might be glad to have inscribed upon his tomb. ' It is necessary, for the satis faction of my own mi nd, and to save me from the fear of ha ving given a more unfavourable conception than I intended of his character and conduct, to impress upon the reader the obligation of considering two things. The first is, that Mr. Hastings was placed in diffi culties, and acted upon by temptations, such as few public men have been called upon to overcome : and of this the preceding history affords abundant evidence. The second is, that no man, probably, who ever had a great share in the government of the world, had his public conduct so completely explored and laid open to view. ... It is my firm conviction, that if we had the same advantage with respect to other men, who have been as much engaged in the conduct of public affairs, and could view their conduct as completely naked, and stripped of all its disguises, few of them would be found, whose character would present a higher claim to indulgence than his. In point of ability, he is beyond all question the most eminent of the chief rulers whom the Company have ever employed, nor is there any one of them, who would not have succumbed under the difficulties, which, if he did not overcome, he at any rate sustained. . . . He was the first, or among the first, of the servants of the Company, who attempted to acquire any language of the natives, and who set on foot those liberal inquiries WARREN HASTINGS (in old age). 550 THE BRITISH PERIOD into the language and literature of the Hindus,1 which have led to the satisfactory knowledge of the present day. He had the great art of a ruler, which consists in attaching to the Governor those who are governed ; his administration assuredly was popular, both with his countrymen and the natives in Bengal.' 2 It is not easy to recognize as the same man the tyrannical oppressor depicted in such lurid colours by Burke, Sheridan, and Macaulay. ' We may ', as Wilson remarks in a note, ' look now with wonder, not unmixed with contempt, upon the almost insane virulence with which he was assailed, and think of him in no other character than that of the ablest of the able men who have given to Great Britain her Indian Empire.' Warren Hastings should not be treated as a man lucky enough to escape conviction in court and qualified for the indulgence of superior persons. He is entitled to warm appreciation of his uncommon powers, and to the affectionate admiration of Europeans and Indians alike. As a young man he emerged unscathed from temptations to which his contemporaries succumbed. As a mature man of forty he took charge of Bengal with absolutely unsullied hands. Throughout his official life he laboured unceasingly for the public good. Whatever judgement modern critics may pass upon the propriety of certain acts of policy, nobody who knows the facts can deny that Hastings gave his best to the service both of England and of India. His industry was almost superhuman, his resolution inflexible, his patience abounding, his courage imperturbable, and his dignity unfailing. Throughout the long years of the impeachment torture he bore with stoic equanimity the buffets inflicted by lesser men, and at last towards the close of his long life attained general recognition of his merits. In private life, as a contemporary truly said, ' all who knew him loved him, and they who knew him most loved him best'.3 His generosity was inexhaustible and often overstepped the bounds of prudence. It is impossible to read the letters to his ' beloved Marian ' who shared his joys and sorrows for so many years, or those addressed to intimate friends without feeling the charm as well as admiring the ability of the writer. Hastings in his old age was indeed the Happy Warrior, Who, if he rise to station of command, Rises by open means ; and there will stand On honourable terms, or else retire, And in himself possess his own desire. . . . 1 Add ' and Muhammadans '. 2 The admitted popularity of Hastings among the ' natives of Bengal ' is in itself a conclusive answer to the accusations of oppression. The oppressed do not love their tyrants. 3 The extensive, although still very incomplete, publication of the private correspondence of Hastings produces the same effect on students of his life. ' Mr. Hastings's tastes were essentially domestic,' as a corre spondent writes in Gleig, iii. 533. PITT'S INDIA ACT 551 Whose powers shed round him in the common strife, Or mild concerns of ordinary life, A constant influence, a peculiar grace. . . . He who, though thus endued as with a sense And faculty for storm and turbulence, Is yet a Soul whose master bias leans To home-felt pleasures and to gentle scenes. . . . Whom neither shape of danger can dismay, Nor thought of tender happiness betray. . . . This is the Happy Warrior ; this is He Whom every Man in arms should wish to be. Pitt's India Act. The Bills prepared by Fox having been re jected by the Lords, ' like other ministers, Pitt found himself compelled to introduce and defend when in office measures which he had denounced when in opposition. The chief ground of attack on Fox's Bill was its wholesale transfer of patronage from the Company to nominees of the Crown. Pitt steered clear of this rock of offence. He also avoided the appearance of radically altering the constitution of the Company. But his measure was based on the same substantial principle as that of his predecessor and rival, the principle of placing the Company in direct and permanent subordination to a body representing the British Government. The Act of 1784 begins by establishing a board of six commissioners, who were formally styled the " Commissioners for the Affairs of India ", but were popularly known as the " Board of Control ".' The Board met for a time and Pitt took part in its deliberations, but it soon ceased to assemble, and its power was exercised by a single member, the President. In modern times a similar fate has befallen the Board of Trade.1 The Board was given power 'from time to time, to check, superintend, and control all acts, operations, and concerns which in any wise relate to the civil or military government or revenues of the territories and possessions of the said United Company in the East Indies'. At the same time a Committee of Secrecy was constituted, consisting of three Directors of the Company, through whom all important communications from the Board were to be sent. The remaining twenty-one Directors were excluded from any share of political power, and the Court of Proprietors, whose independence had offended ministers, was restricted from inter fering with the decisions of the Board. ' The control of the Governor-general and Council over the minor presi dencies was enlarged, and was declared to extend to " all such points as relate to any transactions with the country powers, or to war or peace, 1 At first a Secretary of State or the senior commissioner present was the President ex officio, and without extra salary. Dundas usually presided. 'The system was changed in 1793, when the presidentship was made a separate appointment with a salary.' Dundas continued to retain the office until 1801 (Malcolm). He was created Viscount Melville in 1802. 552 THE BRITISH PERIOD or to the application of the revenues or forces of such presidencies in time of war ".' An attempt to stay the inevitable development of British dominion in India was made by the emphatic declaration that ' to pursue schemes of conquest and extension of dominion in India are measures repugnant to the wish, the honour, and policy of this nation ', and by the formal positive enactment that ' it should not be lawful for the Governor-general and his council, without the express authority and consent of the Court of Directors, or of the secret committee, to declare war, or commence hostilities, or enter into any treaty for making war, against any of the country princes or States in India, or any treaty for guaranteeing the pos session of any country prince or State, except where hostilities had actually been commenced, or preparations actually made for the commencement of hostilities, against the British nation in India, or against some of the princes or States who were dependent there on, or whose territories were guar anteed by any existing treaty.' • The Act contains many other provisions, but those cited are the most important. Nearly at the same time Acts passed at various dates remedied the worst defects of the Regulating Act of 1773, defining the juris diction of the Supreme Court, giving the Governor-general WILLIAM PITT THE YOUNGER, power to overrule his council, and introducing other adminis trative changes which need not be detailed. Patronage remained in the hands of the Directors, who retained the power even of recalling a Governor-general. When they exer cised that power in the case of Lord Ellenborough Queen Victoria was much annoyed. The modern Secretary of State for India represents the President of the Board of Control, and his Council, which has a Political Committee of its own, takes the place occupied by the secret committee of the Court of Directors. The ' double government ' 1 The quotations are partly from Mill and partly from Ilbert. The latter author notes that ' almost the whole ' of Pitt's India Act (24 Geo. III. sess. 2, c. 25) ' has been repealed, but many of its provisions were re- enacted in the subsequent Acts of 1793, 1813, and 1833 '. SIR JOHN MACPHERSON 553 of Crown and Company set up by Pitt's Act subsisted with little material change until 1858. The machinery was cumbrous and dilatory in working, but no government cared to undertake the task of eliminating the Company from the administrative mechanism until the shock of the Mutiny forced the hand of ministers. Sir John Macpherson. Mr. (Sir John) Macpherson, the senior member of council, who took the place of Hastings pending the appointment of a permanent successor, had a bad record. Origin ally a ship's purser, he had been employed as a secret agent for the Nawab of the Carnatic, whose affairs were a mass of corruption. He got into the service of the Company by backstairs influence, was deservedly, although irregularly, dismissed by Lord Pigot, governor of Madras ; was reinstated by the Directors, and sent out to replace Barwell on the Bengal council. During his administra tion, which lasted for twenty months, Mahadaji Sindia, who had obtained the government of the provinces of Agra and Delhi with complete control of the titular emperor, and the imperial army,1 had the audacity to demand payment of chauth for the British provinces. It need hardly be said that the impudent request met with a peremptory refusal. Macpherson does not seem to have been responsible for the scandalous action of Dundas, President of the Board of Control, who insisted on paying off the alleged debts of the Nawab of the Carnatic amounting to about five millions sterling without examination. The action of the President, although not taken for the sake of personal gain, was essentially corrupt, being dictated by a desire to retain the parlia mentary influence wielded by Mr. Paul Benfield and other dishonest usurers who had secured control of the Nawab's finances. The same motive induced the minister to cancel the assignment of the Carnatic revenues to the Company, which had been arranged by Lord Macartney.2 That nobleman resigned his office as governor of Madras when his principal measure was reversed. Negotiations for his appointment as Governor-general came to nothing, and Lord Cornwallis was appointed. Sir John Macpherson effected some financial economies, chiefly by the reduction of salaries, but deserves no commendation. His successor, Lord Cornwallis, a thoroughly honest man, would neither believe a word he wrote, nor touch the corrupt jobs which he recommended. His government is described as ' a system of the dirtiest jobbing ', and the man himself is justly held up to 1 As a matter of form the Peshwa was appointed Vakil-i mutlak, or ' Vicegerent of the Empire ', and Sindia was styled his deputy. The nominal emperor, of course, had to do as he was told. His name, however, still was respected to a certain extent, and his grants gave a pleasing appearance of legality to lawless proceedings. European writers of the period usually call- the Padshah ' the King ' 2 The alleged jobs of Hastings were trifles compared with the doings ot Dundas, his accuser. 554 THE BRITISH PERIOD scorn as " weak and false to a degree, and he certainly was the most contemptible and the most contemned governor that ever pretended to govern V Sir John Malcolm, while giving full credit to Hastings for his * personal integrity ' and the ' active energy of a great statesman ' directed to the saving of the interests of his country in India from ruin, is constrained to admit that ' the system of government over which he presided was corrupt and full of abuses \2 Hastings did all that man could do in the circumstances to effect an improve ment, and actually succeeded to no small extent. But the system was too strong to be overthrown by a mere servant of the Company. , The retirement of Sir John Macpherson, who belonged to the old unreformed school, marks the close of an evil period in Bengal. The Carnatic had to endure even worse government for some years longer. CHRONOLOGY Hastings Governor-general ; the Supreme Court .... 1774 Cession of Benares province to the Company ; treaty of Surat ; first Maratha war began ; execution of Nandkumar . . 1775 Treaty of Purandhar ; death of Col. Monson .... 1776 War with France ; occupation of French settlements . . . 1778 Convention of Wargaon (Jan.) ; Nizam's confederacy . . . 1779 Capture of Gwalior ; invasion of Carnatic by Haidar Ali ; Baillie's disaster .......... 1780 Battle of Porto Novo ; affair of Chait Singh .... 1781 Affair of the Begams of Oudh ; Treaty of Salbai ; Braithwaite's disaster ; Admiral de Suffren ; death of Haidar Ali ; (European events — Resignation of Lord North, prime minister ; relief of Gibraltar ; Admiral Rodney's victory ; Grattan's Parliament in Ireland) 1782 Surrender of Mangalore to Tippoo ; peace of Versailles . . 1783 Ascendancy of Mahadaji Sindia ; treaty of Mangalore ; Pitt's India Act 1784 Resignation of Hastings ; Sir J. Macpherson acting Governor- general . ... . . . . . . . 1785 Impeachment trial began ........ 1788 Acquittal of Hastings ........ 1795 Death of Hastings ......... 1818 Authorities Forrest, G. W. [Sir], Selections from the Stale Papers of Governors- general, Warren Hastings, 2 vols. (Oxford, Blackwell ; and London, Constable, 1910) may be given the first place. Besides the general histories, 1 Cornwallis Correspondence, (1859), ed. Ross2, i. 383, 454. Thornton is mueh too favourable to Macpherson. 2 The Political History of India, 1826, vol . i, p. 35. The author's explana tion of the causes which brought about the abuses is too long to quote, but deserves study. " AUTHORITIES 555 the following special works, among others, have been used. Anonymous, A History of the Trial of Warren Hastings, Esq. (London, Debrett, 1796), gives an excellent and well-documented account of the impeachment and connected proceedings. The biographical works are numerous. The most accurate is Grier, Sydney C, The Letters of Warren Hastings to his Wife (London and Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1905), a volume which contains much more than its title indicates. The leading Life atill is that by Gleig, G. R., 3 vols. (London, Bentley, 1841). Many smaller biographies exist, written by Sir Alfred Lyai.l and other authors. I am inclined to think that the best is that by Trotter, Lionel, in Everyman's Library (Dent, 1910), which is superior to the volume by the same author in the Rulers of India series. All the biographies, except. Sydney Grier's, contain mistakes. A Vindication of Warren Hastings by Hastings, G. W. (Frowde, 1909) ; and The Private Life of Warren Hastings by Lawson, Sir Charles, (Swan, Sonnenschein, London, 1905), are useful, but not quite free from errors. V. A. Smith, annotated edition of Macaulay's essay (Clarendon Press, 1911). Many other books and a multitude of pamphlets might be named. A huge quantity of unpublished MSS. about Hastings exists, and it is almost hopeless to look for a really satisfactory biography of him. The material is overwhelming in mass, and controversy is endless. Everything about ' Nuncomar ' will be found in Stephen, Sir James, The Story of Nuncomar and the Impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey, 2 vols. (Macmillan, 1905), on one side ; and in Beveridge, H., Maharaja Nun comar (Calcutta, Thaeker, Spink, 1886), on the other. The latter work, a revised reprint of articles in the Calcutta Review, although learned and painstaking, seems to me to be thoroughly wrong- headed. It is based on the assumption that Hastings conspired with Impey to murder ' Nuncomar ' because the death of the Maharaja was of advantage to Hastings. It would be as reasonable to assume that the Governor-general poisoned Colonel Monson, whose death was still more opportune for him. When the jury convicted ' Nuncomar ', the Chief Justice was bound to pass sentence. The proposition that Hastings and Impey joined in a conspiracy to murder, which was rejected by the law officers and by Parliament, is an atrocious calumny, inconsistent with the characters of both the men accused. The title ' Hastings' Confession ' to chapter viii of Mr. Beveridge's big book is a most unfair petiiio principii. No confession ever was made. Most of the points discussed in the book are irrelevant, and later works supply fuller information on some of them. For all Maratha affairs Grant Duff is the leading authority. I possess and have used two biographies of Nana Farnavis, one by Macdonald, A., Captain, Bombay N.I., Bombay, 1851 ; and the other by Briggs, John, An Autobiographical Memoir, dbc, reprinted from the J. R. A. S., vol. ii, part i, London, 1829. Count de Boigne's life is narrated sufficiently by Grant DuFF,and more fullyby Raymond, G.M.,Memoire3,