CHAPTER VI. Sultan BÂBER-His Early Adventures-Conquest of India -His Character-HUMÂYUN-His Flight from IndiaBirth of Akber-Humâyun's Adventures-He recovers Câbul And India-His Death-Sheer Shâh-SelîmMohammed. BABER, the founder of the Mogul empire in India, was sixth in descent from Timûr. His father was Omar Sheykh Mirza, who was married to a Mogul princess of the family of Chingiz. In the division of his father's dominions, while Bokhara and Samarcand fell to one of his brothers, Balkh to another, and Câbul to a third, the portion of Bâber was the rich and fertile Ferghâna on the Upper Jaxartes. Bâber was only twelve years old when (1494) the death of his father left him a throne and a war with two of his uncles. The deaths of these princes favoured him, and in the confusion which ensued, this monarch of fifteen years of age ventured to attempt the conquest of Samarcand, and though he failed more than once, he was finally successful (1497). His ambition, however, was beyond his means; while he was engaged in Samarcand, one of his principal officers, named Tambol, revolted in Ferghana, and after a reign of only one hundred days, Bâber was obliged to quit Samarcand, which immediately cast off its obedience. A severe fit of illness now brought him to the very point of death, and when he recovered, he found Ferghâna lost as well as Samarcand. Still he did not despair; with some slight aid from his Mogul uncle, he succeeded in recovering Ferghâna (1499), and while thus occupied, he received invitations to return to Samarcand, but ere he reached it, he learned that both it and Bokhara had been occupied by the Uzbegs, who now were rising into power 9. Meantime Tambol had recovered Ferghâna, and Bâber was now obliged to seek refuge in the rugged mountains to the south of that country. Hearing while there, that Shybânee, the Uzbeg Khân, was gone on an expedition, he resolved, though with only 240 followers, to make another attempt on Samarcand. He entered it by night, mastered the guards, and the citizens rose in his favour. The whole country now declared for him, and Shybânee was forced to retire to Bokhara. In vain Bâber tried to prevail on the neighbouring princes to unite for their common interests against the Uzbegs. He was forced to give them battle alone, and owing to the baseness of his Mogul troops, who quitted the field to plunder the baggage, he was totally defeated. He then shut himself up within the walls of Samarcand, whence, after having endured siege and famine during four months, he was obliged once more to seek his safety in flight. Baber now spent nearly two years in poverty and distress. So low was he brought, that he had nearly determined to retire to China, and there pass the remainder of his days in obscurity. He succeeded, however, once more in recovering Ferghâna; but Tambol called in the Uzbegs, and Bâber, after maintaining an obstinate contest in the streets of the city, was forced to fly, and in his flight he was captured. He, however, regained his liberty, but the whole of the country beyond the Oxus being 9 The Uzbegs were Turks, with a mixture of Mongols. They still possess the country beyond the Oxus. now in the hands of the Uzbegs, he took a last farewell of his favourite Ferghana, and proceeded to try his fortune in more southern regions. He entered Bactria with not more than between two and three hundred followers, most of them only armed with clubs, and two tents, of which the best was reserved for his mother. But the army there declared for him, and at the head of it he entered Câbul (1504), which submitted at once, and of which he never again lost possession. It may surprise those who look through the preceding sketch of Bâber's exploits and adventures, to learn that he was not yet three-and-twenty years of age; but such is the real fact. Contests with his old enemies the Uzbegs, with the mountain tribes of Afghanistân, and with his relations of the house of Timûr, occupied Bâber for many years, and he ran risks at times equal to any he had encountered in his early days. length he turned his thoughts toward India, and became, as we have seen, the sovereign of that country. At After the battle of Pânîput, Delhi and Agra opened their gates to the conqueror. But the whole of the country to the east, in which various Afghân chiefs were more or less independent, remained yet to be subdued. The summer, too, came on so excessively hot that his troops were unable to endure it, and they clamoured to be led back to Câbul, and some were even preparing to return without leave. Bâber then assembled his officers, and representing to them, that as India had been the great object of their labours, it would be a disgrace to abandon it now, he added, that he would remain, but that all who wished might return to Câbul. This firmness had the desired effect on the greater number, though some would not remain. Most of the Afghân chiefs, then, finding from this that Bâber's was not, like Timûr's, a mere transient invasion, but that he was resolved to remain in the country, now made their submission, and others were reduced by Bâber's son Humayun. The Mussulmans having thus submitted, or been reduced, Bâber had now to take the field against the Hindoos. Sanga, rajah of Mêwâr, joined by other rajahs and by Mahmûd, a prince of the house of Lôdi, advanced with a large army to Sikri, within twenty miles of Agra. The advanced guard of Bâber's army was driven back with great loss, but with the usual want of strategic skill characteristic of the Hindoos, the victors, instead of pushing on and completing the victory, retired, and suffered him to take up a position and fortify it. Unluckily for Bâber there just then happened to arrive in his camp a celebrated astrologer, who from the aspect of the planet Mars announced a total defeat to the royal army. The spirits of both officers and men were depressed by this untoward prediction, and desertion began to prevail. Bâber, though he despised it, saw its dangerous efficacy; he, therefore, to counteract it, had recourse to religion; he repented of his sins, forswore the use of wine, vowed to let his beard grow, and to remit taxes, and then assembling his officers, made a strong appeal to their sense of honour. They swore on the Koran to conquer or die: he then drew up his army in front of his camp, and galloped from right to left along the line, encouraging the soldiers. The Hindoos advanced to the attack, but were to tally routed; several of the rajahs fell, and Sanga escaped with difficulty. After the victory the astrologer approached to congratulate the sultan, but Bâber poured on him a torrent of abuse, then giving him a large present, he ordered him to quit his dominions (1527). The reduction of Hindoo rajahs and Afghân chiefs now occupied the active sultan, and success uniformly attended him. As the Afghân king of Bengal seemed resolved to retain North Bahâr, which belonged to the crown of Delhi, Bâber crossed the Ganges at the head of an army; he then passed the Gagra, behind which the Bengalese army was posted, and speedily drove it off the field, and the king of Bengal was glad to sue for peace. Bâber then pursued a body of Afghâns who had seized the city of Lucknow in Oude. They retired at his approach, and a division of his troops chased them over the Ganges and the Jumnah (1528). This was the last of sultan Bâber's military exploits. He seems now to have fallen into ill-health, and his death was brought on in the following unusual manner. His son Humâyun was attacked by a severe disease, the physician had given him over, when Bâber, according to a superstition of the East, declared that he would devote his own life for that of the prince. He accordingly walked three times round the bed of the patient, and then spent some moments in prayer, and so strong thence grew his assurance of success, that he repeatedly cried out, "I have borne it away." From that hour the health of Humâyun began to improve, and that of Bâber to decline. Feeling the approach of death, he called his sons and his ministers about him, and explained to them his last wishes, enjoining concord and unanimity. He then breathed his last (Dec. 26th, 1530), in the fiftieth year of his age, the thirty-eighth of his reign, and the fifth of his residence in India. The character of sultan Bâber is the most pleasing that is to be met with in Oriental history. It is also the one with which we are best acquainted, for we possess his autobiography, memoirs actually written by himself, in which his thoughts and his feelings are displayed as well as his actions. Here we become acquainted with his love for plants and flowers, his unaffected admiration of beautiful landscapes, his relish for simple and natural pleasures, his social and amiable temper, his kind and affectionate heart, and his cheerful and buoyant disposition, which no reverses of fortune could overcome. It is very pleasing to hear him telling how he never enjoyed himself more than when, after he had been obliged to quit Samarcand, he at length got a full meal, a quiet night's sleep, and a temporary release from toil and care. Humayun succeeded his able father; but a plan had been formed for excluding him and giving the crown to another; for Khalifah, the vizir of Bâber, over whose mind he had attained great influence, in order to retain his power, had resolved to set aside his master's own sons, and give the throne to his son-in-law, Mehdi Khaja, a vain, thoughtless young man. Every thing had been arranged, and they were only waiting for the death of Bâber, when suddenly Khalifah threw Mehdi into prison, and declared for Humâyun. The cause was as follows:-As Khalifah was one day visiting Mehdi, he was summoned to the emperor, who was | 19 supposed to be dying. Mehdi attended him with the utmost respect to the door, but as soon as he was out of hearing he muttered to himself, "God willing, I will soon flay your hide off, old boy." Turning round, he saw one standing behind him; he was confounded; but seizing the witness's ear, he gave it a twist, saying, hurriedly, "Mind, the red tongue often gives the green head to the winds." The menace, however, did not avail him; his want of caution lost him the crown. Humayun's reign commenced with the separation of Câbul from India. His brother, Câmrân, who was governor of the former country, refused to submit to him, and he was obliged to acknowledge his independence, and to make the Indus the boundary between their respective dominions. Insurrections of some of the Afghân chiefs in India succeeded, but they were easily suppressed. A war then followed with Bahadur Shah, the Afghân king of Gûzerât, who had lately conquered Malwa, and whose supremacy was acknowledged by the Mohammedan princes of the Deckan. The war was commenced without provocation by Bahâdur. When Humayun entered Gûzerât, he found the enemy posted in an intrenched camp, well supplied with artillery, which was directed by a Turk from Constantinople, and some Portuguese prisonersthe first mention of Europeans in India, Humâyun, however, by cutting off his supplies, obliged him to destroy his guns, and fly in the night, leaving his army to shift for itself. He fled to Cambay, and thence to the little isle of Diu. The open country readily submitted to Humâyun, but the hill-fort of Champaner long held out. At length, one night 300 chosen men, among whom was the emperor himself, scaled it, by fixing iron spikes in the perpendicular rock, while the army made an attack on one of the gates, and it thus was taken (1535). Humayun was soon obliged to quit Gûzerât, and take the field against the most formidable of his opponents. This was Sheer Khân, one of the Afghân chiefs in India, a man of considerable talent, who, by taking advantage of the unsettled state of the country, had made himself master of Bahâr, and was now engaged in the conquest of Bengal, the capital of which, named Gour, he was besieging when Humâyun commenced operations against him, on his return from Gûzerât. In order to check the advance of the monarch, and thus gain time for the reduction of Bengal, Sheer Khân placed a strong garrison in the fort of Chunâr, on the Ganges, south of Benâres, well supplied, and with directions to hold out to the uttermost. The siege accordingly lasted several months. At length the place surrendered, and Humâyun pursued his march unimpeded along the Ganges, and crossing that river he entered Gour, from which city Sheer Khân had retired, after having reduced it. But the rainy season had now commenced; the country was one sheet of water, no operations could be carried on, and the soldiers suffered severely from the damp, unhealthy climate. After a delay of several months, Humâyun found it necessary to commence his retreat. But Sheer Khân had recovered Chunâr and Benâres; he was master of all Bahâr, his posts extended up the Ganges as far as Canouj; he was now engaged in the siege of Juanpûr; and, as a further proof of his power, he at this time assumed the title of king (1538). hope of relief. They were now in despair, but the rajah's son was generous. He advanced with a white flag, and having gently reproached them for having entered the Hindoo territory and killed kine in it, he supplied them with water, and suffered them to proceed. But still the perils of the Desert were to be encountered; all suffered, many died, and Humayun had only seven followers with him when he reached Amercôt. Others, however, joined him in a few days. His reception by Rana Persad, the Hindoo prince of Amercôt, was cordial and friendly. At Amercôt was born his son, the celebrated Akber. His mother was a Persian lady, whom Humayun had met at an entertainment given to Struck At Mongheer a body of troops, which Humâyun | of whom seized the wells in which lay their only had sent in advance under one of his ablest generals, was surprised and defeated by the corps sent against it by Sheer Khân. He himself had reached Buxâr, on the right bank of the Ganges, half way between Patna and Benâres, when he found Sheer Shâh prepared to cut off his retreat. As the latter had marched thirty-five miles that day, Humâyun was urged to attack him at once; but he declined, and next day Sheer Shâh had fortified his position. Humayun followed his example, and then commenced forming a bridge of boats over the Ganges. Sheer Shâh suffered him to proceed with it for two months; then, secretly quitting his camp with a good part of his troops, he got into the rear of Humayun's position, and, marching by night, attacked his camp in three several places at day-him by the mother of his brother Hindal. break. Humâyun had just time to leap on horseback he was preparing to advance against the assailants, when his officers urged him to consult for his safety; and one of them, seizing his bridle, drew him to the river-side. He plunged into the stream to swim across; ere he reached the further bank his horse was exhausted and sank, and the same would have been the fate of the monarch, had not a water-carrier, who was crossing on his inflated skin-bag, been at hand, who supported him and brought him over. Humâyun himself made his way to Agra; but his whole army was cut to pieces or drowned, and his queen fell into the hands of Sheer Shâh, by whom she was treated with the most scrupulous delicacy and sent to a place of safety (1539). Sheer Shah now resumed operations in Bengal; and Humâyun, being aided by his brother Câmrân, collected another army, with which he advanced to Canouj. Sheer Shâh occupied the opposite bank of the Ganges, and, as Humâyun's troops were beginning to desert, he crossed the river by a bridge of boats, and gave battle. But fortune again proved adverse; his army was totally defeated and driven into the Ganges. Humayun's horse being wounded, he mounted an elephant which he met, but the driver, when desired to attempt the passage of the river with him, refused; the king then hurled him from his seat on the animal's neck, and gave his place to a eunuch who chanced to be also on the elephant. They entered the stream, and reached the opposite bank, which proved too steep to be ascended, and the king might have perished, had not two soldiers tied their turbans together, and thus drawn him up. He then, with some difficulty, made his way to Agra (1540). The empire of India was now lost; for Câmrân resigned the Punjâb to Sheer Shâh, and retired to Câbul, leaving Humâyun to shift for himself. After an ineffectual attempt to get his authority recognized in Sind, Humâyun resolved to throw himself on the protection of Maldeo, rajah of Marwâr. He set out in order to cross the Sandy Desert, but on reaching Jodpûr he learned that he had nothing to expect from the rajah. He now resolved to make for Amercôt, a fort on the Indus. In the march thither over the Desert, the sufferings of himself and his followers were intense. To obtain water they had to fight with the villagers, to whom it was precious as gold, and, to add to their distress, they soon found that they were followed by a strong body of horse, led by Maldeo's son, a party with her beauty, and finding she was not betrothed, he had instantly made love to and married her. She was far advanced in her pregnancy at the time of crossing the Desert. One of the officers, who had lent her a horse, finding his own exhausted, brutally made her dismount, and Humâyun had to place her on his own horse and walk by her side till he met with a baggage camel. When Akber was born, his father happened not to be at Amercôt. It was usual, on such occasions, for the father to give presents to his friends; but Humâyun, when the news reached him, had nothing but a pod of musk. This he broke up, and distributed with a wish that his son's fame might be diffused through the world like that perfume. Humayun could not collect more than a hundred men for the invasion of Sind, but rajah Persad joined him with his troops; and when in that country he was joined by other Hindoo rajahs, so that his force at length amounted to 15,000 horse. Ill-fortune or imprudence, however, prevented him from deriving any advantage from it. One of his Moguls offended Persad, who got so little redress when he complained to the emperor, that he and his friends retired from the camp. Humâyun, unable to maintain himself now in Sind, resolved to make his way, if possible, to Candahâr, where his brother, Mirza Askeri, then commanded for Câmrân. He gave out that his intention was to leave his son there, and proceed himself on pilgrimage to Mecca. He had reached Shâl, within 130 miles of Candahar, when a horseman, sent by one of his friends, galloped up to his tent, and rushing in, announced that Askeri was at hand with the intention of making him a prisoner. He had only time to place his queen on his own horse, and fly with her, leaving the child to the mercy of his uncle. Askeri, on coming up, pretended that his intentions had been altogether friendly; he treated his little nephew with affection, and took him with him to Candahår. Humayun escaped to Sîstân, whence the governor sent him to Herât, there to await the pleasure of the Shâh of Persia (1543). The present monarch of Persia was Shâh Tahmasp, the second of the Suffavi dynasty. He invited Humayun to court, and treated him with the utmost respect. But Shâh Tahmasp was a bigoted Shiah in his faith, and he insisted on the exiled monarch's conforming to his creed. At their first interview Tahmasp required him to wear the red cap, distinctive of the followers of that creed. To this he consented, and a flourish of music announced the important fact. On the subject of the A. D. 1545-53. HUMAYUN-SHEER SHÂH. creed itself, Humâyun does not appear to have been so compliant, for next day, when Tahmasp, going on a journey, passed by Humayun's palace, and the latter went to the gate to salute him, he went on without noticing him. A few days after, when a large quantity of firewood was sent him, he was told that it would serve for his funeral pile, if he refused to conform. To his request to be allowed to proceed on his pilgrimage a decided negative was returned; and it was added, that he must become a Shiah, or take the consequence. At length Humâyun's resolution gave way, and he signed a paper containing a profession of the Shiah faith, with, probably, an engagement to introduce it into India, and an undertaking to put the king of Persia in possession of Candahâr, if recovered by his aid, for which purpose Tahmasp promised a force of 12,000 horse. After some delay Humayun set out (1545) with 700 followers, and in Sîstân he was joined by 14,000 Persian horse, commanded by the Shâh's son, Morad Mîrza. They took the fort of Bost on the river Helmund, and thence marched unopposed to Candahâr, which Askeri defended against them for five months. As none of the chiefs of the country had yet joined Humâyun, the Persians were talking of raising the siege and retiring; but just then partizans began to come in, and the garrison suffering from famine, a part of it fled from the town, while others deserted to the besiegers. Askeri was thus obliged to surrender, and the fort and its treasures were ceded to the Persians. The greater part of the army then returned home, leaving a garrison under Morad Mîrza; but that prince happening, as we are told, to die suddenly, Humâyun contrived to get into the town, where he slaughtered a part of the garrison, and, as a great favour, allowed the remainder to depart. Humayun then advanced to Câbul, whence Câmrân fled, but while the former was away on another expedition, he returned and recovered that city, and when Humâyun besieged him, he had the barbarity to expose the young Akber to the fire of his father's cannon. He was, however, forced to fly; he then surrendered, and was forgiven; he rebelled again, defeated Humâyun, and recovered Câbul, whence he was again expelled. He finally (1553) sought refuge with the Guckers, by whom he was given up to his brother. Humayun for the first two or three days treated him with kindness. He then determined that he should be blinded. The operation was performed, as usual, by piercing the eyes repeatedly with lancets. This he bore patiently; but when lemon-juice and salt were squeezed into his eyes he cried out, "O Lord my God! whatever sins I have committed have been amply punished in this world; have compassion on me in the next." He went to Mecca, where he died. Circumstances in India now proving favourable, Humayun was encouraged to attempt the recovery of that country. He reduced the Punjâb (1555), and a victory at Sirhind opened the way to Delhi and Agra. He did not, however, long live to enjoy his dominion. About six months after his return to Delhi, as he was walking on the terrace of his library, and was descending the stairs (which were on the outside of the building), he heard the call to prayers. He stopped, repeated the creed, and then sat down on the steps, till the crier should 21 have ceased. When he went to rise by the aid of his staff, it slipped on the marble, and he fell over the low parapet of the stairs. He was stunned by the fall, and on the fourth day he breathed his last, in the forty-ninth year of his eventful life, and the twenty-sixth of his reign. We must now take a retrospect of India during the sixteen years' absence of Shâh Humâyun. Sheer Shah, having taken possession of the Punjâb, and suppressed a rebellion in Bengal, turned his arms against the southern Hindoo states, and reduced Mâlwa. He afterwards besieged the fortress of Raîsîn, which was held by a Hindoo chief. A surrender was offered on condition of the garrison being allowed to depart with all their property. The terms were agreed to, and 4000 Rajpûts issued and encamped within a short distance. But Sheer Shâh was induced by the arguments of some Mohammedan lawyers to break the treaty, and he surrounded them with his troops and commenced a general massacre. The Rajpûts fell to a man, but not unavenged, as double the number of the assailants lay dead on the plain. No Mohammedan prince, but Timûr, had as yet been guilty of such an atrocity in India, and it ultimately proved the cause of the death of its perpetrator. For, as he was besieging the fort of Calinger, where the rajah refused to accept of any terms, as he was sure they would not be kept, and was himself directing the artillery, a magazine, struck by one of the enemy's shot, blew up, and he was so much injured by the explosion that he only survived a few hours. In this interval the fort was taken, and Sheer Shâh, who had not ceased to direct the operations, cried, like Epaminondas and Wolfe, "Thanks be to Almighty God!" and breathed his last (1545). Though Sheer Shâh reigned only five years, he made more internal improvements in the state than most monarchs had done who had occupied the throne for long periods. His principal work was a magnificent causeway extending from Bengal to near the Indus, with caravanserais furnished with provisions at every stage, and wells at every mile and half, and mosks supplied with priests and criers. Along the whole length of this road were planted rows of trees to yield the traveller shade. He was also the first to establish horse-posts along the roads, for the despatch of intelligence and of letters. It was said, that so great was the public security during his reign, that travellers and merchants used to set down their goods and sleep on the highway without apprehension. Adil Khân, the eldest son of Sheer Shâh, being a prince of a feeble character, was induced to resign his claims in favour of his brother Jelâl Khân, on condition of getting the country of Biana. Four of the principal Omrahs were guarantees of this agreement, and when Selîm (the name which Jelâl assumed) gave reason to suppose that he meant to violate it, they took up arms against him. He, however, reduced them, and the rest of his reign passed in tranquillity. On the death of Selîm (1553), his only son, a child of twelve years of age, was murdered by his uncle Mohammed Khân, who then mounted the throne. He proved a monarch of a most odious character, ignorant, fond of low society, and addicted to gross debauchery. His prime minister was a Hindoo, named Hêmoo, who had originally kept a small shop, and whose appearance, it is said, was meaner than his origin. But Hêmoo was a man of talent and of resolution, and he ably upheld the affairs of his master as long as he lived. Mohammed's extravagance quickly wasted the imperial treasure. He then to supply his necessities, or rather to enrich his favourites, proceeded to resume the governments and the lands of his nobles. This gave immediate occasion to rebellions. Ibrahîm Soor, a member of his own family, seized on Delhi and Agra. Another relative, Secunder Soor, became independent in the Punjab. The governor of Bengal then rebelled, and while Hêmoo was preparing to march against him, he learned that Malwa had cast off the yoke, and that Humâyun had entered India, defeated Secunder, and taken Delhi and Agra. Hêmoo engaged, defeated, and captured the governor of Bengal. He then was advancing against Humâyun, when he received intelligence of the death of that monarch, and the accession of his son Akber, who was then in the Punjab. Encouraged by this intelligence, he advanced without halting, his numbers increased every day, he took Agra by siege, defeated Humâyun's Mogul troops under the walls of Delhi, occupied that city, and then set out for Lahore. Akber was only thirteen years of age; the general opinion in his court was in favour of a retreat to Câbul; but Behram Khân, one of his father's ablest and most faithful officers, to whom he had given the conduct of affairs, rejected these timid counsels. With a far inferior force he advanced against Hêmoo, whom he encountered at Pânîput. spite of the talent and courage of its leader, the Indian army was defeated, and Hêmoo himself was made a prisoner (1556). Mohammed's reign thus virtually terminated; and he fell shortly after in battle against another rebel in Bengal. CHAPTER VII. In Dismemberment of the Empire-The Bahmanî EmpireShîahs and Sûnnis-Bejapûr-Ahmednugur-Bidr-Golconda-Elichpûr - Battle of Tâlicote-Gûzerât - The Rajpût States. THE Afghân empire in India began, as we have seen, to be dismembered in the reign of Mohammed Tôghlak. As its recovery and reunion long engaged the arms and policy of the house of Timûr, it is necessary, for the sake of perspicuity, to take a view of the states formed out of it, and of the general extent and character of the Mussulman dominion in India. When Mohammed mounted the throne, the Afghân empire in India embraced the whole continental part of that country, which we have denominated Hindûstân, including Gûzerât and Bengal; the Rajpût states alone being unsubdued. In the Deckan, the extensive forest tract, named Orissa, which extends for 500 miles from the Ganges to the Godâveri, running from 300 to 400 miles inland, remained still in the hands of the wild aborigines. All the rest of the Deckan, excepting a slip along the west coast, and the southern extremity, acknowledged the sovereignty of the court of Delhi. The revolt of Bengal commenced the dismemberment. The Hindoos then recovered Têlingana and the Carnatic, reducing the Moslem dominion in the Deckan within the limits of the Kishna on the south and the meridian of Hyderabâd on the east, and forming from their conquests the states of Warângôl in the north, and Bejâyanugur in the south. After this came the Moslem rebellion in the Deckan, when the court of Delhi ceased to be obeyed to the south of the Nerbudda. Such was the state of the empire at the death of Mohammed, and it continued to have this reduced extent till just before the invasion of Timûr, when Gûzerât and Malwa asserted their independence, and another independent state was formed, named Jûanpûr, consisting of the country on the Ganges as far as the centre of Oude. After the departure of Timûr the remaining provinces threw off the yoke, and the empire only contained the district round Delhi. The Bahmanî empire, founded by Husun Gunga in the Deckan 2, lasted for about one hundred and seventy years, and during all that time the throne was occupied by his descendants. Their wars were with the two Hindoo states of Warangôl and Bejâyanugur, the former of which they subverted, and from the latter they gained the country between the Kishna and the Tumbudra rivers. But in their court and army there prevailed a religious dissension, which eventually dismembered the state. This was the rivalry between the sects of the Shîahs and Sûnnîs, which, as our readers are doubtless aware, divide the Mohammedan church, the latter acknowledging the first three Khalîfehs as rightful successors of the prophet, the former regarding them as usurpers, and maintaining that Ally, the fourth Khalîfeh, was the only rightful one. The Persians alone, we believe, nationally hold the Shiah faith; all the other Moslems, especially the Ottoman Turks, holding the Sûnnî creed. As the courtiers and the army of the first Bahmanî kings were of various countries, Persians, Afghâns, Turks, Moguls, even Georgians and Circassians; there were, of course, among them followers of both creeds. But afterwards, beside the foreigners, there were the Deckanees or native troops, the descendants of the conquerors, and these were of the Sûnnî faith, as also were the Abassinians, who came over the sea in great numbers to take service with the Bahmanî kings. These always took part with the Deckanees against the other foreigners, who were mostly, it would appear, Shîahs. The consequence of this dissension was, that when in the natural order of things in the east the Bahmanî kings had degenerated, and were no longer able to keep the contending parties in order, Yussuf Adîl Khân, a Turk who was the head of the foreigners, the Deckanees having got the better of himself and his party, retired to his government of Bejapûr, where he made himself independent, and founded the dynasty of Adîl Shâh. Soon after, Nizâm-ulMûlk, the leader of the Deckanees, having been assassinated by a Turk, named Kasîm Barid, his son Ahmed cast off his allegiance, and founded a state, the capital of which was named Ahmednugur. Kasîm Barîd having thus attained the chief power at court, continued to govern under the name of a succession of royal puppets; but his son, Amîr 2 See above, p. 16. |