A. D. 1677-80.

to be employed, because the former was, he said, the invention of idolaters, and he persisted in it, heedless of all remonstrances and of its disagreement with the course of the seasons. He made sundry other changes, all indicative of his aversion to the Hindoos and their religion. At the present time he went still further, and he revived the tax named the Jezeeah, which Akber had abolished, and levied it with the utmost rigour. The imposition of it now caused great murmurs and complaints in Delhi, but the people were awed into submission. It, however, completely alienated the Rajpoots from the throne, and in the Deckan it made every Hindoo an open or secret partizan of the Maratta chief, who was the zealous upholder of the Hindoo creed (1677).

Shortly after the imposition of the Jezeeah, rajah Jeswunt Sing, who was commanding beyond the Indus, died, and his widow, with her two children, set out on her return home. As she did so without having applied for permission, and even forced the passage of the Indus, Aurungzîb resolved to seize her children, and surrounded her camp with soldiers for the purpose. The Rajpoot leader, Durga Dâs, having obtained leave to send the women and children home, the ranee and her children were placed among them in disguise. One of her female attendants remained in the camp to personate her, and her sons were personated in like manner by children of their own age. Aurungzîb, whose suspicions were speedily awakened, sent off instant orders for the ranee and her children to be brought into the citadel. The Rajpoots, to give the real ranee time to escape, refused compliance; troops were sent against them, they defended themselves long and obstinately, till the greater part of them were slain; the supposed ranee and her children were then seized, but the real ranee had reached Jodpoor, and was in safety.

This insult to the family of such a man as Jeswunt Sing, together with the imposition of the Jezeeah, made the Rajpoot rajahs resolve to unite in defence of their rights. Their chief was the Rana of Oudipoor. Aurungzîb marched in person against him, and forced him to submission; but he had hardly returned to the capital, when he learned that the Rana had violated the treaty. Troops were now collected from all sides, and the Rana was forced to seek shelter in the Aravalli mountains, while his country was ravaged in the most fearful manner, Aurungzib's orders being to spare nothing, but to make the Rajpoots feel all the horrors of war. The Rajpoots, however, did not suffer without revenge; they cut off convoys, made night-attacks, and frequently gained important advantages. Durga Dâs was even able to seduce, by promise of the crown, the emperor's youngest son Akber from his allegiance, and that prince was soon at the head of 70,000 men, on his march for Ajmeer, where his father was encamped with not more than a thousand. But the sagacious emperor soon saw reason to suppose that the greater part of Akber's troops had not revolted willingly, and he quickly induced them to return to their allegiance. The Rajpoots then, fearing to engage the whole Mogul army, retired, and Akber was forced to fly to the protection of the Marattas (1681). 5 The title Rana was peculiar to this rajah. Ranee (above) is a princess.

39

The war with the Rajpoots was continued to the mutual injury of both parties, and Aurungzîb was glad to bring it to a close by a treaty honourable to the Rana of Oudipoor, and in which no mention was made of the Jezeeah. But the former amity and confidence was never restored, and war prevailed more or less between them during the remainder of the reign of Aurungzîb.

We now return to Sevajee. The death of the king of Bejapoor (1672), and the weakness and confusion that thence arose in that state, facilitated the progress of his arms, and in the course of the two following years he reduced the remainder of the Côncan and a large tract above the Ghâts. He then (1674) had himself crowned again with great solemnity and magnificence, and he changed the Persian titles of his officers into Sanscrit ones. At the same time, to counteract the Moslem bigotry of Aurungzib, he manifested the utmost zeal for the Hindoo religion and all its observances.

In the following year (1675), he ventured for the first time to cross the Nerbudda, and plunder the Mogul territory beyond it. Supposing then that he had thus struck terror into the Moguls, which would keep them quiet, he thought he might venture on an act he had long meditated, namely, the recovery of his father's jagheer in Mysore, which was now held by his younger brother, Vêncajee. With this view he formed an alliance with the king of Golconda, and then set out with an army of 30,000 horse and 40,000 foot (1676). He passed the river Kistna at Cudupah, and, proceeding by Madras on the sea-coast, appeared before the strong hill-fort of Gingee, which was surrendered to him. He then besieged and took the fort of Vellore, and afterwards that of Arni and others. He had thus recovered the whole of the jagheer, when he was called off to aid his ally against the Moguls and the king of Bejapoor. It was, meantime, arranged that Vêncajee should hold the jagheer, paying half the revenue to Sevajee, who, as the king of Golconda had come to an arrangement with the Moguls, proceeded homewards, and reached his capital after an absence of eighteen months (1678).

Next year (1679) the king of Bejapoor became the object of the attack of the Moguls under their ablest general, Dileer; and, the capital being hard pressed, the government found it necessary to call in the aid of Sevajee. He agreed to give it; but, not thinking himself strong enough to attack the besieging army, he sought to make a division by invading and ravaging with unusual severity the Mogul territories. In one of these expeditions he was near being cut off, and escaped with great difficulty. He then, as the town was pressed very hard, began to cut off the supplies of the besiegers, and did it so effectually, that Dileer found it necessary to raise the siege. Sevajee's reward for this aid was an increase of territory, and the cession of the royal rights over his jagheer in the Mysore. What his ulterior projects might have been is unknown, for death carried him off in the following year (1680), in the fifty-third year of his age.

Like every founder of empire, Sevajee was a man of great talent, activity, and energy. In these qualities none of his successors ever equalled him. Beginning his career, in effect, as a captain of banditti, he formed a state which became the greatest Hindoo power that modern times have witnessed. This he effected, in a great measure, by taking

A. D. 1697-1707.

blanket folded over it. The Maratta slept on the ground, with his spear stuck beside him, and the bridle of his horse tied to his arm, so that, on the slightest alarm, he could spring to horse. It was the Maratta practice never to stand a charge of the heavy Mogul cavalry, but to break and disperse before them. But when, wearied with the fruitless chase, the assailants were returning with their horses exhausted, the Marattas were on them on all sides, cutting off stragglers, breaking into their line, and harassing them in every possible manner. It was their especial delight to cut off convoys; for here plunder, the object next to their heart, was to be obtained, and if they found that treasure was being conveyed nothing could exceed their perseverance and energy. They then surrounded the escort in such numbers that they forced it to halt, and by cutting off all communications and supplies they speedily made it surrender. The men were then stripped of their horses and other property, and dismissed; the chiefs were kept till a ransom was paid.

Santajee and Donajee, by throwing themselves between the royal army and Hindûstân, and thus cutting off its supplies, seemed likely to endanger its existence. Aurungzib therefore resolved to bring the war to as speedy a close as possible. With this view he sent another army, under his son prince Câmbakhsh, against Gingee. Zulficâr, disgusted at being placed under the command of the prince, listened to the overtures of the besieged; the prince, on his side, equally disgusted at the real command being with Zulficâr, entered into communication with Danajee, who had entered the Carnatic with a body of 20,000 horse, and was greatly impeding the operations of the besiegers. The consequence of the dissension between the imperial generals was, that they were obliged to give up the siege and retire to Vandiwash to await the orders of the emperor (1697).

The war now assumed a desultory character. At length Zulficâr, finding that he must either reduce Gingee or be removed from his command with disgrace, began to act with vigour, and ere long that fortress was taken. He had however previously given Rajah Râm the opportunity of making his escape (1698).

Dissensions had now broken out among the Marattas. Danajee, whose side was taken by the rajah, quarrelled with Santajee; and as the latter was unpopular with his troops, on account of his efforts to maintain discipline, a conspiracy was organized in his camp, and he was fallen on and slain. Rajah Râm, who had fixed his residence at Sattâra, now took the field himself at the head of the largest Maratta army that had yet been assembled, and ravaged the whole north of the Deckan. Aurungzîb, on his side, changed his plan of operations. Hitherto he had used to remain stationary himself, and send detachments in different directions; now he resolved to divide his whole army into two portions, and while he himself at the head of one should attack the Maratta fortresses in succession, the other under Zulficâr was to engage their armies wherever they appeared in the field. In pursuance of this plan he quitted Birmapûrî, where he had resided for some years, and led his forces against Sattâra (1700), which surrendered after a siege of some months; during which time Rajah Râm died, and his widow, Târa

41

Bâi, assumed the regency for her son Sevajee. This, however, made no change in the war, and Aurungzîb went on taking forts, and in the course of four or five years he became master of all the principal ones, the defence of many of which had been desperate. Still the war was as far from its termination as ever. Zulficâr's troops were gradually worn out with toils and casualties, the Marattas seemed to multiply daily, and, having made a desert of the Deckan, they spread their ravages into Mâlwa and Gûzerât. They gradually began to retake their forts; they hung about the emperor's army, intercepted its supplies, cut off detachments, and made it unsafe for any one to stir a yard from the camp. If the troops were led against them, they vanished; and, when perhaps wearied and worn out with marching in a wrong direction they returned to camp, they heard of some distant town being taken and burned by the Marattas. The finances also had fallen into disorder, and the emperor could not pay his troops with his accustomed regularity. The war too continued with the Rajpûts, and it was also necessary to employ troops against the Jâts, a native people near Agra. Under these circumstances Aurungzîb proposed an accommodation to the Marattas; but their terms, as they knew his situation, were exorbitant. He then led his troops to Ahmednugur, still harassed by the foe, and in that city, whence twenty years before he had set forth elate with hope to the conquest of the Deckan, he breathed his last, in the eighty-ninth year of his age (1707), and the fiftieth of his reign.

With all Aurungzîb's talents, it was in his reign that the decline of the power of the house of Timûr, which afterwards advanced so rapidly, really commenced. Though this must have occurred in the ordinary course of affairs, much of it may be ascribed to Aurungzîb's personal character. Thus his religious bigotry and intolerance alienated the Hindoos at the very time that the Marattas, a native power, were rising into importance; and hence his overthrow of the Mohammedan states of the Deckan did not add to his power. Then the natural coldness of his heart and his suspicious character put an end to all attachment on the part of his ministers and officers, and even of his children, and little zeal was displayed in his service. Even, however, had he been an Akber, we doubt if the Mogul empire could have been upheld; the power of the Marattas on one side, and the turn which affairs took in Persia and Câbul on the other, must have wrought its downfal, in spite of valour or wisdom in the sovereign.

It is Aurungzîb, and not Bâber or Akber, that is the object of admiration to the Mussulmans of India. His courage, his ability, and his craft, which they regard as wisdom, are the themes of their praises; but they are perplexed to find that, despite of them, his reign was a tissue of ill success, and that the empire dates its decline from it.

Aurungzib, of whom numerous letters are extant, never expresses the slightest remorse for his treatment of his father. But he may have felt it, and he was haunted with the idea of a similar fate awaiting himself. He dreaded death and the judgment to come, confessed that he had committed numerous crimes, but sought to justify them with the flimsy excuse that it had been all for the benefit of his children. He concludes his last letter to

prince Âzim with these words: "Come what may, I have launched my vessel on the waves. Farewell, farewell, farewell."

CHAPTER XIV.

BAHADUR SHÂн-Origin of the Sikhs-JEHANDAR SHAHThe Syuds-FUROKHSÎR-War in the Deckan-Against the Sikhs-MOHAMMED SHAH-Asof Jâh-Fall of the Syuds-The Marattas-Balajee Wiswanât-Bajee RãoInvasion of Hindûstân by the Marattas.

By his last will Aurungzîb directed that his empire should be divided among his three sons; but, regardless of it, Azîm, the second son, caused himself to be proclaimed emperor of India. Moazzim, who was in Câbul, assumed as the elder the crown, taking the title of Bahadur Shah, and the two brothers prepared to assert their claims by force of arms. A bloody battle was fought to the south of Agra, in which Azîm and his two elder sons were slain, and his youngest, an infant, made prisoner.

Bahadur then marched into the Deckan, where prince Câmbakhsh refused to submit to him, and in a battle near Hyderabâd that prince was defeated and slain. In order then to sow dissensions among the Marattas, the emperor released Sâho the rightful rajah, and promised to make peace with him on favourable terms if he should succeed in making good his title. The Marattas, as was anticipated, split into two parties, and as that of Sâho seemed soon to be the stronger, Dâûd Khân Panni, a Patan, who as Zulficâr's deputy was left to govern the Deckan, concluded a treaty with him, by which it was agreed that the chout should be paid him, but not be collected by the Marattas themselves.

As war was now to ensue with a power which had lately arisen in the Punjâb, Bahadur resolved to bring the war with the Rajpûts to a close. He therefore conceded all their demands, and peace was concluded (1709).

This new power was the religious sect of the Sikhs, who have since become of such importance in the history of India. This sect commenced about the end of the fifteenth century; its founder was a man of the name of Nânik, who taught, as others before him had done, that all religious forms were indifferent, and that the Moslem and the Hindoo were alike in the sight of God. To this doctrine, the latter would of course assent, but the fanatic Moslems would not admit of such enlarged charity, and its teacher received the crown of martyrdom at their hands (1606). This impolitic cruelty converted the Sikhs from quiet religionists into enthusiastic warriors. They took up arms under his son, Har Govind; but the government proved too strong for them, and they were expelled from their seats in the neighbourhood of Lahore, and forced to take refuge in the mountains to the north. Here they remained, still at enmity with the Moslems, till the year 1675, when their chief, Guru Govind, the grandson of Har Govind, conceived the idea of forming them into a great religious and military republic.

6 This is by some written Seiks. We believe the correct pronunciation to be as our word seek.

To effect his purpose he abolished all distinction of caste and of religion. Mussulman and Hindoo of high or low caste were admitted alike. A peculiar dress was to distinguish the Sîkh, his clothes were to be blue; he was to allow the hair of his head and of all parts of his body to grow unchecked. He was to be a soldier from his entrance into the society, and always to carry steel about his person. While the usual ceremonies and usages of religion were abolished and new ones substituted, Hindooism was not totally renounced; Bramins were to be held in honour, and the flesh of kine was not to be eaten.

But still the Sikhs were unable to resist the imperial arms. They were hunted down and massacred, their forts were taken, and even Guru himself, it is said, was obliged to take service with the Moguls for a subsistence. The cruelties that were exercised on them, however, only served to give strength to their fanaticism. Under a chief named Bandu, of a more ferocious character than Guru Govind, they burst from their mountains, and overran the east of the Punjâb, destroying and massa

cring in the most savage manner wherever they

came. They penetrated as far as Seharanpoor, to the east of the Jumna, and then fixed themselves in the country between the Sutlej and the mountains, whence they soon spread their ravages as far as Delhi on the one side, and as Lahore on the other. It was these last depredations that caused the emperor Bahâdur to march in person against them. He speedily routed them, and drove them back to their hills, and having blockaded Bandu in a fortress, he hoped to end the war by his capture. But he contrived to escape in a sally, one of his followers having personated him in order to attract the attention of the enemy. The emperor returned to Lahore, where he died shortly after, in the fifth year of his reign (1712); for he was an old man when he came to the throne.

On the death of Bahâdur, there was, of course, as we may say, a contest for the crown. As his eldest son, Jehâudâr Shâh, was a man of no capacity, the troops and nobility in general were in favour of the second son, Azeem. But Zulficâr, judging it more for his advantage to have a puppet on the throne, declared for Jehândâr, and Azeem was defeated and slain. Zulficâr was immediately made vizîr, and he treated with the utmost arrogance and disdain the feeble prince whom he served, who had indeed forfeited all title to respect by promoting to high offices the low-born relatives of his favourite mistress, who had been a public dancer.

Jehândâr had put to death all the princes of the blood who were in his power. But Furokhsîr, the son of Azeem, who was in Bengal, threw himself on the protection of two able men, Syuds, or descendants of the prophet, one of whom, Hussun Ally, was governor of Bahâr, and the other, Abdaliah, governor of Allahabad. With their aid he repelled a force that was sent against him, and then advanced to the vicinity of Agra, where he was encountered by Jehândâr and Zulficâr at the head of 70,000 men. The battle was long and bloody, and Hussun was even left for dead on the field. But the

victory finally remained with Furokhsîr, and Jehandâr fled in disguise to Delhi, whither Zulficâr led the remains of the troops. Zulficâr's father, Assad Khân, had meantime made the wretched emperor a prisoner, and when Furokhsîr approached