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 22

IIISTOKV OV INDIA.

[HfiOK I.

B.C. 1300?

Kxpoilitinii of Suiiiir-

Great jire- paratious.

EiicOTinter with Stau- robates.

staiuling the minuteness with vvhichthe 'letails are given. Tl»e leafier of this expedition wivs the famoas Assyrian queen Seniirarnls Having learned that India was the greatest and riche.st country in the world, and wa.s ruled }>y a ])owerful iiiMiiJnch (railed Stauroljates, who had innumerable hosts of wjldiers, and a great number of elephants trained to war, and m equipped as tfj insjtire terror, slie determined to give herself no re.st till she had made proof of her j)roweas against him. She accordingly commenced preparations, and canied them on uj)on so immense a scale, that though myriads of artificers were employefl, three years were spent in completing them. All the country west of the Indus Avas already subject to her power, but in order to cross that mighty river, an immense number of ships was necessaiy. In order to provide them, she Ijrought sliip -builders from Phoenicia, Syiia, and Cypms. As the banks of the ln<las fiu-nislied no timber, she was obliged to procure it in the adjacent territory of Bactria, the modem Bokhara. Here she establislied her building yards, and fitted out her ships in such a manner that she could afterwards transport them piece-meal on the backs of camels, and launch them when they were required. In the number of her troops, which Diodorus, quoting Ctesias as his authority, states at the fabulous number of 3,000,000 infantry, 500,000 cavalry, and 100,000 war-chariots, each provided with a charioteer and carrpng a soldier armed with a sword 6 feet long, she considered herself more than a match for Staiu'obates; but she feared his elephants, and as this was a kind of force in which she had no means of coping with him, she had recoiu-se to a singular stratao;eni. HaAdnof collected 300,000 black cattle, and slaufjhtered them to feed the countless workmen employed in her vast arsenal in Bactria, she caused skins to be sewe<:l together in such a manner that each, when a camel was placed inside with a man to guide it, bore such a resemblance to an elephant as to be readily mistaken for it. By this deAnce she hoped that the Indians would be ten'or-struck on seeing themselves opposed .to a species of force which they had imagined to be exclusively their own. Meanwhile Stanrobates, on his part, had not been idle. Besides a land force scarcely less nmnerous than that of Semiramis, and headed by a formidable array of elephants, his fleet, composed of 4000 vessels constructed out of reeds or bamboos, covered the river. Here the fii'st encoimter took place, and a great naval battle was fought. Victory was long undecided, but at length, o'ing mainly to the superior naval skill of the Phoenician and C'priot sailors, declared in favour of the warlike queen. Staurobates, with the loss of a large portion of his fleet, and an immense carnasfe of his soldiers, was obliged to withdraw and leave the passage of the river free. The queen immediately caused a bridge of boats to be constructed, and crossing with her whole army, hastened fonvard, with the hope of soon completing the conquest which she had so successfully begun. Staurobates, however, had no idea of submission, and stood prepared for her approach. At first, in the general engagement which ensued, the Indians


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 23 were greatly disconcerted at the appearance of the fictitious elephants, and a kind of panic took place; but the trick which had imposed upon them was soon discovered, and the real elephants advancing to the charge, carried everything before them. It was now the turn of Semiramis to flee. Most of her army perished in the field, or in attempting to regain the right bank of the river. She herself, severely wounded during a personal encounter with Stauro- bates, made her escape with difficulty with a mere handful of troops, and retiring into the interior with humbled pride, dreamed no more of crowning her fame by the conquest of India.

Notwithstanding the circumstantiality with which the Indian expedition of Semiramis is detailed, it is impossible to doubt that the whole account is coloured, and in many parts not less fictitious than her elephants. Of the enormous army which she is said to have collected. Sir Walter Raleigh quaintly and shrewdly observes, that no one place on the earth could have nourished so vast a concourse of living creatures, "had every man and beast but fed on grass." Similar exaggeration is apparent in other parts of the narrative; and grave doubts have even been raised as to the individual existence of Semiramis, whom some maintain to have been a creation of Assyrian mythology, and others to have been the common name of an Assyrian dynasty. As Ctesias, from whom Diodorus borrowed the account, is said to have extracted it from Persian records, it is not improbable that its ba.sis of fact has been overlaid with the embellishments which usually adorn a Persian tale.

When India is next brought under notice, the portion of it lying along the right or west bank of the Indus figures as a satrapy or province of the Persian empire. This position it naturally assumed when the Assyrian empire was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. Thus incorporated, it paid nearly a third of the whole tribute which Darius levied from his twenty satrapies, and must, therefore, be presumed to have been the wealthiest and most populous, if not the most extensive of them all. In this fact it is easy to find a more rational account of the curiosity which Darius Hystaspes felt in regard to the Indus, than that which is assigned by Herodotus. According to him, the Persian monarch was merely desirous to know where the river had its mouth, and with this view caused some ships to be fitted out, and gave the command of them to Scylax, a Greek of Caryanda, who, after sailing down the stream to the ocean, turned west, and spent two years and a half in a tedious voyage along the coast.

That Darius, when he fitted out the expedition, entertained the thought of enlarging his dominions by new conquests, is confirmed by the statement which Herodotus adds, that immediately after the voyage was completed, he made himself master of the sea and subdued the Indians. These terms, how- ever, are so general, that no definite limits can be assigned to the new territory thus subjected to Persian rule.

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 24

llLSTOIiV OF INDIA.

[li^XJK I.

B.C. 332.

i%

The Plinmiiciaus.

Hitherto only a succession of ambitioas inonarchs has appeared on the scene, and India has become the prey successively of devastating annies from Ky luiid and sea, and an active trade hiul been estaljlished, by which the East and VN'est exchanged their peculiar products against each other, to the great advantage of both. Tim trade was chiefly in the hands of the Phoenicians, who.se cajntal, T^tc, situated on the shores of the Levant, had in consequence risen to be one of the richest, mightiest, and most

Tyre.

RiiNS OF Tyre. — From Cassas, Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, ic.

splendid cities in the world. ^ This unexampled prcsperity had engendered many vices, and the day of retribution, which prophets had been Divinel}' com- missioned to denounce, was fast approaching. "Miile Alexander the Great was

1 Tyre had its original site on the mainland, and stretched along the Syrian coast, from the mouth of the Leontes to the headland of Eas-el-Ain, a distance from north tosouth of about seven miles. Immediately opposite to the centre of the town, and separated from it by a strait about 1200 yards or two-thirds of a mile ■wide, was an island nearly three miles in circuit. It is more than probable, that while the city on the mainland was standing, the island also was partly built upon; but it never became the proper site of the city, which, in contradistinction to Old, was called New Tyre, till the inhabitants, obliged to flee before the countless hosts of Assyrian conquerors, found the necessity of placing the sea between them and their enemies. They accordingly abandoned the mainland and took up their abode on the island, which, under the fostering influence of commerce, soon rose to be one of the finest and wealthiest cities in the world. Such was the Tyre to which Alexan- der laid siege. Nearly in the direction of a line drawn due north through the letter E, was the strait already mentioned. On the north and south sides of the island, are two curves which formed liar-

bours, protected by a chain of rocky islets and sea- walls or breakwaters from the surges of the Medi- terranean and the various prevailing winds. The north harbour, marked A, was the better and more frequented of the two; but the commerce of Tyre must have required the use of both, and additional facilities were given by a canal a a, which established a navigable communication between them. Alexan- der having no ships, must have seen at once that there was no possible way of taking a city thus situated, ex- cept by making a pathway across the strait. On both shores the water was shallow; and near the centre, where it was deepest, it did not exceed 6 fathoms. With the immense force at his command, there could be no want of labourers, while the materials neces- sary were within easy reach. The most formidable obstacle to success was in the means of resistance which the inhabitants possessed; and had Tyre been as fortunate as Syracuse, in having an Archimedes, Alexander must have failed. The mound of Alex- ander, once completed, formed a nucleus to which the waves of the sea and the winds of the desert made constant accretions, and hence, in coarse of time, the


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 Cfi.vr. I.]

THE SIEGE OF TYP.E.

'Zo

B.C. 332.

The riiu.iiic:iiri

I*

making his first campaigns against the Persians, the inhabitants of Tyre had taken part with the hitter, and by their maritime superiority, kept the coast of Macedonia and Greece in pei'petual ahirm. Alexander, incensed, tm'ned back from his Persian conquests, and after subduing several of the adjoining cities, laid siege to Tyi'e. To a mind capable of being repelled by ordinary obstacles, tlie difficulty of the task would have been a sufficient dissuasive from attempt- ing it. To him it was only an additional incentive, because, if he succeeded, liis fame would be the greater. It also appears from a speech which Arrian puts into his mouth,' that he was actuated as much by policy as by revenge. While the Tyrians remained inde- pendent and maintained a hostile attitude, he could not ventm-e with safety to prosecute the am- bitious schemes which he had begun in the East, and was also contemplating in Egypt. Hope- less, therefore, as it might have seemed for a land army to at- tempt the captiu-e of a great mari- time city strongly fortified by art, and rendered still stronger by its natural position on an island, and the possession of a powerful fleet commanding all the approaches to it, he at once commenced opera- tions by constructing a mound, which, after the greatest difficulties had been surmounted, connected the island with the mainland, and formed a highway for the passage of his troops. The result was that, in about seven months. Tyre lay in ruins It might have risen from them acrain, for the lucrative trade which it Fail of Tyre, monopolized would soon have made wealth to flow in upon it, and furnished the means of repairing its disaster. The fatal blow which extinguished its greatness was not struck till Alexander, after a successful campaign in Egypt, laid the foundation of Alexandi'ia. The site was so happily chosen that the new city soon

A. Northern Harbour. B. Southern Harbour.

C. Northern (or Sidonian) Roadstead.

D. Southern (or Eg.viitian) Roadstead.

E. Isthmus formed by Alexander the Great.

a a. Line of Ancient Canal, connecting the Northern and Southern Harbours.

pliy.-,ical features of the locality have undergone a re- markable change. What was once an island is now a peninsula. Other chan^'es have taken place; and there is reason to believe that the island had at one time a larger extent than now appears. In fact, the encroachment of the sea is established by the ap- pearance of walls, which are now coverea by a con- VoL. T.

siderable depth of water, but are supposed to have been originally built on the western shore.

Of the present condition of Tyre it is unnecessary to say more than that it is little better than a fishing village, composed of wretched hovels huddled together in narrow, crooked, and filthy streets.

' Arrian's Anabasis Alcxandri, b. ii. c. 17.


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 -<> JIISTOJtY OF INDIA, [liwK I.

B.C. s.'ii became the central emporium of tlie Eixnt and tlie West. The tra/le of the world was thus diverted into a new channel, and Plujenician i^rosjierity, once fallen, amid not be revived. The downfall of Tyre has been dwelt upon here, both because it was indirectly the means of greatly extending the intercourse with India, and because to it proljaldy is to be ascribed the determination which Alexander now expressed to persevere in his Enfined within the limits of Persia, is foreign to our subject, but the course which it subsequently took brings us at once to the most interesting period in tlie history of ancient India. Flight of After the battle of Arbela, which was fought B.C. 331, and decided the fate

Darius. . . . . . ..

of the Persian empire, Darias continued his flight eastwards into Bactria, through a pass in the Elbm-z Mountains, kno^vn to the Greeks by the name of the Cas- pian Gates. Alexander, following in pursuit, was informed that Bessas, the satrap of Bactria, had not only throvn off all allegiance to the Persian monarch, but had made him his prisoner. With mingled feelings of compassion for the fallen monarch, and indignation at the conduct of the satrap, he quickened hLs pace, and was flattering himself with the hope of a speedy capture, when he learned that Bessus, to increase his speed, and, at the same time, remove a great obstacle to his ambition, had disencumbered himself of his royal ma.ster, and left him on the road, dying of woimds which he had treacherously inflicted. AMien Alexander reached the spot, Darius was breathing his last. A]exander's Determined to punish the atrocity, Alexander lost no time in continuing the L^m ° pm-sviit of the perpetrator. A thorough knowledge of the coimtry gave Be-ssus great advantages, and these he improved to the utmost, by burning and devastating, so as to interpose a desert between him and his piu^uer. Fortime seemed to favour his escape, when Alexander was obliged, by a revolt, to retrace his steps. Dm-ing the winter of B.C. 330, Bessus was, in consequence, left in imdistiirbed possession of the usurped title of King of Persia. In the folloAdng spring, however, the pvirsuit was resumed, and the criminal having been delivered up by his own associates, paid the forfeit of his crimes by a barbarous mutilation and an excruciating death.

In aveno-ino- the death of Darius, Alexander had advanced far to the east, and seen a new world open before him. For a time, however, sensuality seemed to have gained the mastery over him, and many months were wasted in Bactria in ch-unken and licentious reveUings. Ambition did not re-assume its ascendency till B.C. 327, when he reached the banks of the Indus, and prepared to cross it with an army consistmg of 1 20,000 foot and 15,000 horse. About 70,000 of these were Asiatics. The point at which he first reached the Indus has been made a


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 Chap. I.J

EXPEDITION OF ALEXANDER.

27

Alexander crosses the ludus.

question ; but it is admitted on all hanels that he crossed it in the north of the ^c 3i Punjab, where the towTi of Attock now stands. Here a bridge of boats had been constructed by Hephsestion and Perdiccas, who had been sent forward with a division of the army for that purpose. When Alexander arrived, the south- west monsoon had set in, and the river was gi-eatly swollen by the rains. Had the passage been opposed, it could scarcely have been forced ; but Taxiles, the chief whose territories lay on the eastern bank, had hastened to give in his sub- mission, and thus, instead of an enemy, proved a valuable auxiliary. In Taxila, his capital, described as a populous and wealthy city, unequalled by any situated, Uke itself, Ijetween the Indus and its nearest tributary, the Hydaspes or Jailum, Alexander and his army were hospitably entertained. In return for this hospitality, Taxiles received an arbitrary grant of as much adjoining territory as he chose to ask.

If Alexander expected that all the Indian princes would prove as pusillani- Passage moiis as Taxiles, he was soon undeceived. Porus, a native rulei', whose terri- Hv.hili)es. bounded those of _^_

tones

demand for tribute with army on the left bank of the river, Alexander found rapid, and inmiediately saw passage could not be effected boats. The neighbom'hood materials, he caused the

Alrxanuer the Great.'

Taxiles on the east, met a defiance, and lay with his the Hydaspes. On reaching it running broad, deep, and that even an undisputed without a gi-eat number of not furnishing the necessary boats which he had used

on the Indus to be taken to pieces, and transported overland. The more serious obstacle still remained. Porus kept strict watch on the bank. His army appears to have been greatly outnumbered by that of Alexander, for the main body consisted of only 30,000 infantry, with an inconsiderable body of cavalry, 200 elephants, and 300 chariots; but placed as he was, numl)ers counted as nothing against him, since he could easily, with a mere handful of troops, overmatch any numl)er, provided the attempt to force a passage were made openly. Alexander was too skilful a tactician not to per- Aiex.uuier-s ceive this at a single glance, and had, accordingly, from the very fii-st, determined to trust less to open force than to stratagem. By a series of movements and comiter-movements, he distracted the attention of the enemy, and kept him in a state of uncertainty as to the point where the attempt at crossing was likely to ■^ be made. Next, by selecting a number of stations along the bank, and making false alarms during the night, he obliged the troops of Porus to be always in motion, till natm-e itself was completely exhausted by want of repose. Lastly, by ordering provisions to be brought in from all quarters, he encouraged the belief that he had abandoned the idea of crossing until the swollen waters had sub- sided. Under this impression, the vigilance of Porus relaxed. Meanwhile, in

' Silver tetradrachma of Lysimacbus. — From Briti.sh Museum.


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1


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 28 IILSTOKY OF INDIA. [Book I.

B.C. 327. the course of reconnoitring, Alexander luul di.scovered a Hj)ot where the cliannel

was greatly contracted by an island. It was a good way nj> the stream, and, to Alexander's lull suspicion, nonc of his troops were allowed to be seen near it Craterus was stationed considerably below, with the main body of the army; and Poru.s, think- ing that there tlie greatest danger lay, was encamped oj»i)Osite to him. Alexan- der, selecting a body of chosen troops, amounting U) about 6000 men, quitted the banks of the river and marched back into the interior, as if he ha/1 been called away by some sudden emergency. When out of sight he bent gradually round, and in the course of the night arrived on the bank opposite the island. The boats of the Indus were hastily launched, and he was steering his way among the foremost to tlie opposite bank, when the enemy's sentinels discovered him and gave the alarm. Porus first sent forward one of his sons with a small body, but these being speedily routed, he himself, leaving only a few troops to watch the motions of Craterus, hastened to the encounter. It was too late. Alexan- der, with a large portion of his detachment, had effected a landing, and stood on the bank among marshes, into which the elephants, to which Porus mainly trusted, could not venture. He therefore withdrew to the nearest spot of solid ground, and calmly waited Alexander's approach. As this is the first battle- field in which the soldiers of Europe were arrayed against those of India, a deep interest naturally attaches to all its arrangements, and will justify a fuller detail than might have been necessary under different circumstances. Battle of the Porus stationed his elephants in front, with an interval of 100 feet between Hydaspes. q^q]^ q^ them. The infantry were placed in a second line behind the elephants, and in such a way as to fill up the intervals. The two "wings consisted of cavalry, and of the chariots ranged on either side beyond them. Alexander commenced the battle by attacking the enemy's left wing with his cavalry and mounted archers. He had anticipated that this attack would compel the enemy's right wing to move forward in support of its left, and had ordered that, in that case, a detachment of his cavalry under Ccenus should move round to the rear, and thus place the enemy's cavalry, as it were, between two fir&s. The result was as he had foreseen ; and the enemy's cavalry was obliged, in order to meet the double attack, to face about and form two fi-onts. Taking advantage of the partial confusion thus produced, Alexander brought up his phalanx to the charge, and the enemy's wing.s, totally imable to sustain it, sought .shelter by rushing into the intervals between the elephants. By these powerful animals the fortune of the day seemed for a short time to be retrieved, as they pressed forward and trampled down everything that opposed. The advantage, however, was only momentary. The Macedonians, imder thorough discipline, opened their ranks, and then, as the elephants passed, attacked them on flank and rear, shooting down their guides, and inflicting wounds which, without being mortal, so galled them that they became utterly unmanageable. Thus hunied back among the Indian ranks, they produced irremediable confusion. At this critical


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 I

 * 't

30 • inSTOKV OF IM)IA. [li'joK. 1.

BC. 327. more than lO.OOO iiiliahitHiits, The terror of his name iiu preceded him, and the chiefs hastened to make their Hubmission. Jt would weem that, before quit- ting the Hydaspes, his tliouglits had been turned homewards; for on finding timber well fitted for the purpose, he caased innneiLse quantities to h>e cut down and employed in building vessels, with which he proposed, at a later period, t^> descend the Indus. Meanwhile his ambition urged him forward, and he arrived Pa^aKoof at the banks of the Acesines or Chenaub. Thougli much l^roa/ler and more impetuous than the Hydaspes, there was no enemy to dispute the pas.sage, and it was crossed with comparative ea.se. It seems, however, that though no enemy appeared, the country was in possession of one whose name, somewhat strange to sa}^ was also Poras. He was not only not related to the Poras of whom the above account has been given, but was at open enmity with him, and, probably under the influence of this enmity, had, prcAdously to the battle of the Hydaspes, sent in his submission to Alexander. It appears, however, that the favour into which the other Porus had been received had offended or alarmed him ; and therefore, on the news of Alexander's approach, instead of waiting either to welcome liim as a friend or oppose him as an enemy, he suddenly disappeared, cariying almost all the youth of the country fit for arms along with him. Alex- ander, offended, endeavoured to overtake him ; and in the course of the pursuit arrived at another of the Punjab rivers, called the Hydraotes or Ravee. Before crossing it, he bestowed the tenitories of the fugitive Porus on his more deserving namesake. The passage, which, according to Rennel,' took place near Lahore, he appears to have effected without difficulty; but in the country beyond, he found a formidable combination formed to resist him. Three native states, of which that of the Malli was the most powerful, had united their forces agamst the invader. In the campaign which followed, Alexander was di'awn far to the south, where a strong city, which bore the name of Sangala or Sagala was situated, somewhere between Lahore and Mooltan. Both from the description and the name of the inhabitants, it is conjectured to have been nearer the latter. Resistance in the open field soon proved hopeless; and the confederates, as a last refuge, shut them- selves up in Sangala, which occupied a commanding position, and was othei'wise as strono- as Indian art coiild make it. Alexander commenced the siecre, and carried it on with so much gour that the place soon feU into his hands. The resistance had exasperated him ; and forgetting the magnanimity which he had displayed in the case of Porus, he disgraced himself by a horrible massacre, in which neither age nor sex was spared. Anivai at From tlus atrocity Alexander tm-ned to make new conquests, and reached

sis. ' the banks of the H3q)hasis or Beas. Here he was met by an obstacle more for- midable than any he had yet encountered. His Em'opean troops, worn out with long service, had become impatient ; and, when he formally intimated his inten- tion to cross the river, broke out into loud murmurs. In vain he harangued

' Eeune], Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan.


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 I

I

Chap. L] EXPEDITION OF ALEXANDER. 31

them, and pointed to the country beyond, where new victories and rich spoils b.c. 327. awaited them. Their hearts were set on home, and they plainly declared their determination not to proceed. Even Coenus, one of the generals who stood highest in his favom-, espoused the cause of the soldiers, and delivered a speech which, if less rhetorical than that of his master, made a deeper impression, and was received with acclamations. For a time Alexander was immoveable, and declared that, even if his own countrjonen should abandon him, he would place himself at the head of his Asiatic subjects. This, however, was mere bravado ; and on finding that his Greeks were not to be worked upon, either by threats or promises, he announced his intention to return.

Late in the autumn of B.C. 327, he had retraced his steps to the Hydaspes, Alexanders and found the fleet which he had ordered to be constructed, in readiness to carry him down the stream. The voyage itself was not free from danger ; but the greatest risk which Alexander ran, was during one of the frequent descents which he made on land for the pm-pose of subjugating the adjoining territories. While storming: one of the cities of the Malli, he found himself almost alone on the rampart. He could easily have saved himself by a retrograde movement, but di.sdaining to have it said that he had tiu-ned his back, he leaped inside, and was for a time exposed to the whole fury of the defenders. Having gained a tree and placed his back against it, he made almost superhuman exertions, and kept his opponents at bay till an arrow pierced deep into his shoulder, and he fell down in a swoon. Another moment and his death was inevitable ; but the time gained by his defence had been gallantly redeemed by his troops, and seve- ral of his officers rushing in, placed their shields around him. The wound, at tirst deemed mortal, spread grief and consternation among his followers; but the vigour of his constitution and the skill of his physicians prevailed, and he was able ere long to make his appearance amid general rejoicings.

In proceeding down the river, Alexander formed his army into three divi- Descent of sions, two of which marched along the opposite bank, while the third, under his ***** '"'*™' o^vn command, kept the stream. He afterwards despatched Craterus with a thii'd of the army by an inland route across Arachosia and Drangiana to Carmania or Kerman, and proceeded with the remainder down the Indus. On arrival at Pattala, evidently the modern Tatta, situated near the apex of the delta, he remained for some time ; and, on departing, sent a body of troops to explore the adjoining coimtry, and afterwards join him at a fixed place of rendezvous. He selected the west branch of the river for the remainder of his voyage, during which his want of pilots and ignorance of navigation exposed him to serious danorer. This was not diminished but rather increased on reach- ing the estuary. Acciuainted only with tlie insignificant tides of the Meditei*- ranean, what was his astoni.shment and that of his Greeks when they beheld the magnificent tide of the Indian Ocean rushing in, and, in consequence of the sudden contraction of the opposite shores, moving rapidly along in one volume


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 32 IIISTOIJV OP' INF^TA. [Br>oK I.

DC. :i2o. of water several feet lii^^li! 'J'lii.s .sin;;ular |jlienoinenori, now well known to niai'iuers by the name of the bore, and common to the Indas with many othei- rivei"s similarly situated, produced not only wonder but ten'or, because it seemed to portend the destruction of the whole Heet. In point of fact, considerable damage was sustained Ijefore the necessary precautions could )je taken.

Voyage of Here Alexanders maritime adventures ended. The little he luul seen of the

"^"^ sea had j)roljably left him no desire to become better acquainted with its dangers. These he left Nearchas to encounter, by giving him the command of the fleet, with injunctions to skirt and explore the shore from the Indas west- ward. He himself with the main body of the army, took leave of India for ever by an inland route, which, though he was not aware of the fact, was the more periloas of the two, as it led through the heart of a sandy desert, which stretches, almost without inteiruption, from the eastern edge of the basin of the Indas across the south of the Asiatic and the north of the African continent to the Atlantic Ocean.

K.Tecuof The Indian expedition of Alexander cannot be justified on moral grounds.

expedition. It was dictated by a wild and ung jvernable ambition ; and spread misery and death among thousands and tens of thousands who had done nothing to offend him, and were peacefully pursuing their different branches of industry, when he made his appearance among them like a destropng demon. Such exploits, once deemed the only avenues to fame, are now judged more wisely. Still it Ls impossible to deny that conquerors were often in early times pioneers of ciW- lization, commerce following peacefully along their bloody track, and compen- sating for their devastation by the blessings which it diffused. Such was certainly the result of the Indian expedition of Alexander; and therefore, while reprobating the motives in which it originated, we cannot but rejoice that it was so overrviled by Proddence as to be productive of mo.st impoi-tant and valuable results.

The conquests of Alexander were never consolidated, and foimed only a nominal Macedonian empire, which fell to pieces on his death, and was parti- tioned by his officers. The most eastern portion was given to Seleucixs Nicator, who established himself in Babylon, and became the foiinder of the d}Tiasty of tlie SeleucidsB, which lasted for two centmies and a half In the early part of his reign, the stiiiggles which he had to maintain with powerful competitoi-s completely engi-ossed his attention ; but when, by the overthrow of Antigonas, he felt firmly seated on the throne, he appeai-s to have become animated with an ambition to imitate the exploits of Alexander, and caiTv his arms far to the East, India, indeed, he natvu'aUy regarded as fonning ]-)art of Ms tenitory, and, on hearing that the natives had risen in insmTection, killed Alexander's prefects, and thro^vn off* the Macedonian yoke, he resolved to treat them as rebels. Accordingly, after ha'ing made himself master of Bactria, he crossed the Indus, and entered the territories of which Taxiles and Ponis were still ridel's. Neither

Selenois Nicator.


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of them disptited his authority, and he continued his progress till he reached the country of the Prasii, over whom

Sandracottus had usurped the sovereignty, after he had murdered their lawful king.

This usurper, whose identity with Chandragupta, who tigures in the traditions and also in a drama of the Hindoos, has been established, was of low origin, and, according to Justin, the chief classical authority for all that is known of him, owed his rise to a pretended zeal for liberty. His countrymen, believing him, placed power in his hands, and the first use he made of it was to enslave them.

Unprincipled though Sandracottus had proved himself to be by the mode in which he attained the throne, he soon showed by his talents that he was not unworthy of reigning, and, by force, fear, or persuasion, had extended his dominions on every side, till he was able to bring into the field an army estimated by hundreds of thousands. Such was the enemy with whom Seleucus was about to come into collision. We cannot wonder that the prospect made him pause, and that, more especially on learning how much his presence was required s^n'iracot-

tii3 and

in the West, where new wars were raging, he was glad to propo.se terms of Seieucus. accommodation. Sandracottus, aware of his advantage, made the most of it ; and all that Seleucus obtained was 500 elephants, in return for which he ceded all his Indian territories on both sides of the Indus. As a means of cementinfj the treaty, Sandracottus married the daughter of Seleucus. The capital of the king- dom of the Px-asii, called by classical writers Palibothra, and by the Hindoos Pataliputra, and believed to have stood on or near the site of the modern Patna, formed a quadrangle of vast extent, inclosed by wooden walls loop-holed for arrows.^

The alliance between Seleucus and Sandracottus was not disturbed; and Meacasthenes, who loner lived at Palibothra as ambassador from the former, wrote a work which, notwithstanding its excessive leaning to the marvellous, was the great source from which ancient classical writers derived most of what they knew concerning the interior of India. The period of Indian history subsequent to the reign of Seleucus is very imperfectly known. Recently an unexpected light has been thrown upon it by the discovery of large quantities of coins, which show that the western portion of the country continued subject to the Greek kings, who had the seat of their government in Bactria Con.siderable Cioek Kiiig« progress, also, has been made in deciphering and interpreting certain monumental iascriptions which are written in an imknown alphabet, and, like the Egyptian liierogly|-)hics, seemed as if they had been designed not so much to inform as to Lpuzzle posterity. The key having at length been found, some valuable infor- mation has already been obtained, and more may be expected; but as yet the amount is too scanty to justify any attempt at detail. All that need be said lere is, that after several of the Seleucid.B, among whom Antiochus the Great is lost conspicuous, and several Kings of Bactria. which fii-st became independent

' Justiu, IliMoriie I'lulippica; b. xv. c. -1. '•' Strabo, .v. 1, 35.

Vol. I. 5


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 34

nT.STl;' OF INDIA.

fB'^OK I.

U.C. 20.

Huns ami Hcythians.

Vicraina- ditya.

Roman in- tercourse with India.

'//

^nmJM

Silver Coin or Eucratides.' — From a specimen in British Hoseum.

under Tlieo(l<>tus about B.C. 200, had li(ld sovereignty to a greater or les.s extent in India, a horde of Scythiaii.s, driven }>y the Hun.s from the 8hore.s of the Jax- aites, made their aj>])earance ab^ut a century l>efore the Chri.stian era, and gained a firm footing in the lower basin of the Indas. Here they fonned what has been called the Indo-Scythic province of Scinde, and were endeavouring, against a bold and often successful oj^position from the natives, to force their

way into the fertile ba.sin of the -"f^^i^W N',^, Ganges, when another horde ar-

rived from Persia about B.C. 26 under the leadership of Yu-chi, who gained for them a tem- porary ascendency, and became the founder of an Indo-Scythian dynasty. About the same time a native prince called Vicrama- ditya, who is one of the greatest heroes in Hindoo story, established an extensive sovereignty, which had the Nerbudda for its southern boundary; and at Oojein, his capital, held a court, remarkable not only for its splendour, but for the number of learned men whom the enlightened liberality of the sovereign had drawn around him. In Southern India, also, several native sovereignties appear to have been estab- lished as early as the Christian era. Among these the mo.st conspicuoas are Pandya, which occupied a large tract in the south-west of the peninsula, and one of whose kings, called Pandion, is said by Strabo to have sent an ambas.sador to the Roman emperor Augustus; and Chola, which, including the Camatic, extended over a large portion of the south-east of the peninsula, and reached north to the banks of the Godavery. They are now, however, little better than empty names, as they do not furnish during their long duration any facts so well authenticated as to entitle them to a place in history.

It is somewhat remarkable that the Romans, though they boasted of being the rulers of the world, never possessed an inch of ten*itoiy in India. On several occasions during their wars in the East, they came into collision with sovereigns whose dominions reached beyond the Indus, but the tide of Roman ^-ictoiy invariably stopped, as if it had met an insuperable barrier, before it reached that celebrated stream. It was not ignorance or indifference that led the Romans thus to contract the limits of their eastern frontier. On the contrary, several of their most popular wTiters had made them well acquainted with the geography and the leading physical features of India, while many of its peculiar products were exhibited for sale in their marts, and found eager pm-chasers, often at enormous prices. The}'^ must often have longed to be masters of a countr}-

' Eucratides, King of Bactria (about B.C. 181) was and appears to Lave been one of the most powerful contemporary with Mitbridates I., King of Parthia, of the Bactrian kings.


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 Chap. l.J ROUTES OF INDIAN COMMERCE. 3.">

which ministered so greatly to their luxury and comfort; and however much they b.c. - may have wished it to be thought that they could have carried their conquests farther, had they believed that there was anything beyond to tempt their am- bition, it is sufficiently obvious that India never felt the terror of their power, merely because inhospitable deserts and warlike nations interposed to place it lieyond their reach.

While it is impossible to give the Romans credit for moderation in refraining from any attempt to conquer India, it is pleasing to find in their conduct an illustration of the important fact, that the peaceful intercourse which commerce carries on between distant nations, besides escaping all the horrors which war carries in its train, secures all and more than all the advantages which could have been hoped from the most absolute and least expensive form of con- quest. In Rome and all its dependencies, the rich products of the soil and the looms of India arrived as surely, as abundantly, and as cheaply as they could have done had the whole country from the Himalaya to Cape Comorin been one vast Roman province.

Before leaving ancient India, it will not be out of ])lace to take a survey of Leading

_ _ routes of

the leading routes by which, at this early period, the traffic between the East Indian com- and West was conducted. Overland the only practicable method of traffic w.is by means of caravans, which, after (quitting the western confines of India, pro- ceeded directly to Bactria. Here the first great halt was made at Balkh, on the southern frontiers, and a great emporium was established. From Bactria the usual line of route was toward Babylon, which, in like manner, became another great emporium. In pursuing this line the shores of the Caspian were nearly approached, and advantage was often taken of it to ship goods, which were carried north to a convenient spot, and then conveyed by land to the Black Sea, by wiiich not only the countries adjacent to the coasts could be supplied, but an easy access could be had through the Dardanelles to the ports of the Mediter- ranean. From Babylon the route westward led directly to Palmp-a, which, in imand consequence of the mart thus establislied, overcame all the di.sadvantages of its situation in the heart of a desert, and became the capital of a powerful and oi)ulent kingdom. From PalmjTa the coast of the Levant was reached without much difficidty, and its harbours became places of exchange for the three quar- ters of the globe, bartering the spices of India and the frankincense of Ai-abia !• against the peculiar products both of Europe and Africa. Besides the direct overland route now traced, there were many lines of divergence from what may

tbe called its main trunk. These were chiefly intended to supj^ly the places which lay at a distance on either side of it, and thus furnished the means of transport for a very extensive inland trade. The overland route, which, but for the camel, would have been altogether impracticable, was necessarily slow, toilsome, and expensive, and was therefore less extensively used than the maritime route, especially after a knowled<Te of


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 36

IIIsroKV OF INDIA.

[Ii<^OK I

Maritime

routes.

B.C. — the monsoons in the Indian Ocean liad emboldened navigaU^rs, even before the

compass was discovered, to humch <.»ut intefore it was

discovered the trade by sea obtained great importance. Mention ha« already

been made of the Phoenicians, who, by means of it, acquired an opulence which

made the merchants of Tyre princes, and a power which it took all the skill,

prowess, and perseverance of Alexander the Great to overthrow. As they could

not communicate directly with India, and were unwilling to depend for transport

on the Egyptian.s, who might at any time, by declining to perform their yjart of

it, have extinguished the trade, they, by force or negotiation, made themselves

masters of some convenient harbours on the Arabian coast, near the entrance

of the Red Sea, and, using them as entrepots, formed a communication with

TjTe by a land route, of which they had .secured the entire cfjntrol. The

distance was still so great as to be very inconvenient; and lience new facilities

for the trade were obtained when tlie Phoenicians took pos.se.ssion of Rhino-

colura, the nearest port in the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It is true that

before the goods could reach Tyre a double re-shipment thus became nece.s-

Routeused sary ; but the diminished land carriage more than compensated for this dis- hy the pucenicians. advantage, and enabled tliem, by the abundance and cheapness with which

they could supply other nations, to establish almost a complete monopoly of

the Indian trade.

On the destruction of Tyre and the foundation of Alexandria, the trade with India entered a new channel, in which it continued afterwards to flow for nearly eighteen centuries. Alexander had the merit of selecting this channel, but died too soon to see its advantages realized. So thoroughly, however, had he imparted his ideas to Ptolemy Lagu.s, that that officer, on becoming master of Egypt, made Alexandria his capital, and provided its harbour with a light-house, in the erection of which so much magnificence and engineering skill were dis- played, that it ranked as one of the seven wonders of the world. His ^'ievvs were followed out by his son and successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, who, after endeavouring, but without succes.s, to form a canal acro.ss the istlimus of Suez, which would have given a continuous water communication to Alexandria, founded the new city of Berenice on the west coast of the Red Sea. From this city a land carriage, not unattended with difficulties, which great exertions were made to surmount, brought the products of India to Coptos. Tlie remaining distance to Alexandria was ea.sily completed by a short canal and the Nile.

Through the channel thus opened, the wealth of India continued to flow into Egypt so long as it remained an independent kingdom. Outward vessels leaving Berenice with such articles of European and African export as were in

Route by Alexandria.


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Rh courtly wise the great rout ended. Etzel’s men betook them to the booths; men gave them lodgings stretching far away on every side. The day had now an end; they lay at ease, till the bright morn was seen to dawn again, then many a man betook him to the steeds. Ho, what pastimes they gan ply in honor of the king! Etzel bade the Huns purvey all with fitting honors. Then they rode from Tulna to the town of Vienna, where they found many a dame adorned. With great worship these greeted King Etzel’s bride. There was ready for them in great plenty whatever they should have. Many a lusty hero rejoiced at prospect of the rout.

The king’s wedding feast commenced in merry wise. They began to lodge the guests, but quarters could not be found for all within the town. Rüdeger therefore begged those that were not guests to take lodgings in the country round about. I ween men found all time by Lady Kriemhild, Sir Dietrich and many another knight. Their rest they had given over for toil, that they might purvey the guests good cheer. Rüdeger and his friends had pastime good. The wedding feast fell on a Whitsuntide, when King Etzel lay by Kriemhild in the town of Vienna. With her first husband, I trow, she did not win so many men for service. Through presents she made her known to those who had never seen her. Full many among them spake to the guests: “We weened that Lady Kriemhild had naught of goods, now hath she wrought many wonders with her gifts.”

The feasting lasted seventeen days. I trow men can no longer tell of any king whose wedding feast was


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 demand in the East, skirted the Arabian and Persian coasts, taking advantage B.C. — of such prominent head-lands as enabled them to steer direct without following the windings of the shore, and thus reached the Indian coast near the mouths of the Indus. How far they afterwards proceeded south is not known; but as there was no obstacle in the way, and some of the most prized products of the country lay in that direction, it is to be presumed that, instead of confining themselves to a few isolated spots, they formed a general acquaintance with the whole sea-bord. To secure the command of tliis lucrative trade, the Egyptian kings maintained a large fleet at sea, which, while it kept down piracy, deterred other nations from entering into competition with them. The nation which could have done so with most effect was Persia, which possessed the obvious and very im})ortant advantage of a far shorter sea passage. From the Persian Gulf they could have reached India in about half the time which the Egyptians must have taken. The Persians, however, had long an aversion to maritime enter- Tiie Persians prise — an aversion so great, that they are said to have erected barriers across the maritime Tigris and Euphrates for the purpose of rendering it impossible. Be this as it may, it seems established that the Indian produce which they obtained for their own use, or the supply of adjacent countries, came mostly overland by the caravans. Another cause of the supineness of the Persians in regard to mari- time intercom'se with India, may be found in the erroneous ideas generally entertained respecting the proper limits of the Caspian Sea on the north, and its relative position to the Black Sea. The Caspian was somewhat unaccount- ably imagined to be a branch of the great Northern Ocean, and it was believed that by means of it a channel of communication might be opened up with Europe, which might thus be made to receive the products of India by a far Krrorein shorter route than the Indian Ocean, and consequently at a far cheaper rate than they could be furnished by the Egyptians. Ideas of this kind seem to have weighed particularly with some of Alexander's successors in the East. Seleucus Nicator, the first and one of the ablest of them, is even said to have contemplated a canal which would have joined the Caspian and Black Seas, and thereby secured a monopoly of European and Indian traffic.

After the Romans conquered Egypt and converted it into a province, in B.C. 30, the channels of traffic with the East continued unchanged, while its amount was enormously increased both by land and sea. By the latter, in particular, the traffic received an impulse unfelt before, when a navigator of the name of Hippalus conceived the idea of cutting off" nearly a half of the voyage between HippaUis the. Red Sea and India, by abandoning the timid track ])ursued along the rlnugoof iutervenins: shores, and steering boldlv far out of sioht of land through the very middle of the ocean. The plan seems so natural, and the considerations which suggested it so obvious, that one finds some difficulty in recognizing Hippalus as the inventor, or in giving him much credit for the invention. He


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LADIES NATIONAL MAGAZINE.

EngravedbyGRElis

1843 C.J.PETERSON.


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 choosing the proper seasons, the one would carry him out and the other bring him home.

The course of the voyage, and even the time occupied by it, is minutely to detailed by the elder Pliny. The cargo destined for India being embarked on the Nile, was conveyed by it and a short canal to Coptos, a distance of 303 miles. At Coptos the land carriage commenced, and was continued 258 miles ta Berenice, on the west shore of the Red Sea. From Berenice the vessel started about midsummer, and after a short halt near the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb, took its final departure usually for Musiris on the Malabar coast. The whole time occupied, on an average, from the Mediterranean to India was a little more than three months, or ninety-four days. Of these, the inland navigation to Coptos occupied twelve, the land transport to Berenice twelve, the voyage down the Red Sea thirty, and the voyage across the Indian Ocean forty days. The time occupied by the Red Sea voyage seems out of all proportion to the other, but may be accounted for partly by the difficulty of navigating a sea notorious for

baffling winds and storms, and perhaps partly also by delays which may have been occasioned by calling on both sides of the coast for the purpose of completing the cargo. The homeward voyage, commenced early in December, appears to have been the far more tedious of the two.

Though the Persians had failed to take advantage of their maritime proximity to India, the Romans had no sooner carried their eastern frontier to the


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 Chap. II.]

MEDIEVAL INDIA.

39

banks of the Euphrates, than an important trade sprung up in the Persian Gulf, ad — and Indian produce was transported in large quantities up the river, and then west to Pahnyra, which reaijed the advantajije to such an extent that even Rome I'x^'"" *™<^® condescended at one time to com't its alliance. After this proud city had simiCuif. declined and was tottering to its fall, the Persian monarchs continued the traffic which had been established, and by means of it enriched themselves at the expense of the Greeks, who had made Constantinople the capital of their empire. As we have now touched on medieval times, it may suffice, in concluding the sketch of ancient India, to mention that the great staples of its trade were then nearly the same as at present, and consisted chiefly of cotton and silk goods, dyes, drugs, spices and aromatics, pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and other precious stones. These were paid ciiietiy in the precious metals, but partly also in woollen cloth, lead, tin, brass, wine, and a few foreign perfumes. Though a ])assage in the Institutes of Menu, which refers to sea voyages as well as land journeys, implies that the inhabitants of India had begun at an early period to navigate the ocean, they seem to have confined themselves to coasting, and to have left the external trade entirely in the hands of strangers. This aversicm to commit themselves to the open sea had its origin in superstitious feai-s, which still contiime to operate.

CHAPTEIi 11.

Medieval India— Arab conquests — First appearance of Mahometans in India — Conquest of Scinde by Mohamed Casim— E.xpulsion of the Arabs — House of Ghuznee — Sebektegin — Sultan Mahmood.

Mahuiiiu tniiisiu.

'AHOMETANISM, which had made little progress so long Rapui as persuasion only was employed to propagate it. no sooner began to %vield the sword than it spread rapidly on every side. Before the death of Mahomet, in 632, it had sub- dued all Ai-abia, and made a considerable impression both on Syria and Persia; and iinder his successors it had, in the course of less than a centmy, not only con-solidated these conquests, but established an empire which stretched continuously from Arabia as a centre, west to the Atlantic, engulfing Spain and threatening the fairest portion of France — north and north-east through Pei"sia, to the vast region which extends between the Oxus and the Jaxartes, from the Caspian to Mount Imaus — and east beyond the banks of the Indus. Its progress in this last direction must now be traced. IB As early as the calijihate of Omar, the Arabs, coasting along the shores of I the Indian Ocean, had made predatory descents upon Scinde, chiefly for the


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 40 IIISTOIIV OF INDIA, [Book I,

AD. CGI. purpose of carrying ofF the wouu-n, whose beauty was in iiigli repute, it) julorn the Arabian liarems; but no land expedition deserving of nr)tiai t^jok phice till

Kirstapiiear- 664, wlien i)art of an Arab force which had penetrated from Merv t<^> Ca>K>o!,

Aral* in and gained, it is said, 1 2,000 converts, wfis despatched t^> explore the lower part of the Punjab. This detachment, under the command of Mohalib, who aft<;r- wards figured as a wan*ior in Persia and Arabia, forced its way into Mooltan, and returned with numerous captive.s. The next expedition was on a greater scale, and led to more permanent results. An Arab siiip had been seized at Dewal, a .seaport of Scinde. Restitution was demanded, but Rajah Dahir, who.se territories are said to have included Mooltan and all Scinde, together with some adjacent plains, endeavoiired to evade compliance, by pretending that Dewal was not subject to his authority. The Arabs, thus refused redre.ss, determined to compel it, and, with this view, sent a body con.sisting only of 1000 infantry and 300 horse. It was altogether inadequate, and perished. Exasperated at the failiu-e, Hejaj, governor of Bussorah in 711, despatched a regular force of 6000

Mohame.1 mcu, uudcr the command of his nephew Mohamed Casim, who, though only a ^^™" youth of twenty, possessed great military talents, and after siuroounting all difficulties, encamped under the walls of Dewal. The siege commenced with an attack on a celebrated pagoda contiguous to the town, and inclosed by a high wall of hewn stone. In addition to the Brahmins who XLSually occupied it, it had a strong garrison of Rajpoots. The defence was resolute, and might have been successful, had not Casim learned that the safety of the place was conceived to depend on a flag which was flying from a tower. Acting on this information, he directed all his engines against the flag, and had no sooner struck it dovn, than the resistance became so feeble as to make his entrance easy. With barbarous fanaticism he circumcised all the Brahmins, as a fir.^Jt step to their conversion, and on finding it ineffectual, put all the males above seventeen to death, and made slaves of the women and childreiL The capture

His capture of Dcwal itsclf soon foUowed, and Casim continued his victorious progress, taking in succession, Nerun (the modern Hyderabad), Sehwan, and a fortress called Salim. A more formidable resistance was, however, in preparation; and the arrival of the rajah's eldest son at the head of a strong force, reduced him to the necessity of acting on the defensive. This continued, till the arrival of 2000 Persian horse gave him once more the superiority; and he began to advance on Alor, the capital, which was situated in the north of Scinde, near the modern Bukkur.

Hissubi^- The rajah himself being now, as it were, brought to bay, determined to

make a final stroke for his kingdom, and appeared at the head of an ai-my of 50,000 men. Casim again stood on the defensive, and skilfully compensated for inferiority of numbers by the strength of his position. The rajah, advancing boldly to the attack, was wounded by an arrow, and at the same time the elephant on which he was mounted, being struck by a fireball, rushed oflT in

queiit coil- quests.


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 CiiAP. II.] MOHAMED CART^f. 41

terror and plunged with liini into the river. The occurrence completely dis- a.d. 714. concerted the Indians ; and though Dahir mounted a horse, and displayed both skill and courage in endeavouring to rally them, it was too late. The fortune of the day was decided, and his gallant effort to retrieve it only cost him his life.

The remains of the Indian army took refuge in the city of Brahmanabad. neroic

ilefence of

Casim advanced against it, and met a resistance which probably he had not Brahmana anticipated. The rajah's widow heroically assumed the defence, and made it good while provisions lasted. When they failed, and resistance in consequence became hopeless, she erected a funeral pile, and committed herself and children to the flames. Many of tlie garrison, equally prepared for death, met it by throwing open the gates and rushing out to perish by the swords of the besiegers. Those who remained had no better fate. On the assault, all in arms were slaughtered; the rest were carried into bondage. Casim, in pursuing his conquests, took Mooltan without resistance, and became master of all the terri- tories which had belonged to Rajah Dahii-.

It would seem that, beside the chikh-en who perished with their mother singular in Brahmanabad, the rajah had two daughters possessed of great personal attractions. They were among the captives ; and seeming fit to grace the cali2)h's harem, were accordingly conveyed to Damascus, which was at this time the capital of the caliphate. On their arrival, Walid, the caliph, whose cui'iosity had been excited, ordered the elder to be brought to him. On entering, she burst into tears, exclaiming, "How can I be worthy of your notice, after having been dishonoiu-ed by Casim?" Walid, consulting only his indignation, sent orders forthwith to sew up Casim in a raw hide, and send him forward. When the body arrived, it was produced to the rajah's daughter, who, overjoyed, exclaimed, "Now I am satisfied; Casim was innocent of the crime I imputed to him, but he was the ruin of my family, and I have had my revenge."

After Casim's death in 714, the Arabs made no new conquests in India. Even those which he had effected were maintained only till the downfall of the Ommeiad dynasty in 7oO, when the Hindoos rose in insurrection, and recovered all that had been wrested from them.

Reference has been made to the Ai-ab conquest of the territory between the ^™''

conquest

Oxus and the Jaxartes. From its po.sition it is usually called by classical ofxians writers Transoxiana, and by Arab writers Mawar ul Nahr, words literally meaning beyond the river. Its inhabitants were mostly Pei"sians, living in fixed habitations, and nomadic Tartars, the latter forming apparently the great majority. This territory, which the Arabs first entered in 706, and overran in the course of the eight following years, became finally dissevered from their empire about 820, and was ruled successively by the Tahirites till 872, the ►Sofu-ides till 892, and the Somanis till 1004. The last dynasty becomes iteresting, because during it, and owing to one of its princes, the house of Vol. I. 6


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 42 IIISTOItV OF INDIA. [Book I.

AD. 970. Glmznce, which plays a most important part in the hist^jry of India, was

founded.

Aiptegin, Alptcgin, the founder of the hoase of Ghuznee, wa-s originally a Tinki .slave

tho h.MHo of to Abdulmelek, the fifth prince of the Somani line, and had no higher office

Ghuznee. |.jj.^jj ^j^^^^ ^^ amusing his master hy tumbling and tricks of legerdemain. He

was capable, however, of much better, and gradually rose t^j be governor of

Khorasan. On the death of Abdulmelek, in 961, he lost the favour of his

successor, Mansur, by recommending that another member of the family should

be selected for the throne, was deprived of his government, and ran great ri.sk

of losing both his liberty and his life. After a variety of narrow escapes, in

which he displayed much courage and military talent, he found an asylum with

a body of faithful followers at Ghuznee, among the mountains of Soliman.

Here he declared his independence, and .succeeded in maintaining it till his

death, in 976. He was succeeded by Sebektegin, who, like him.self, had

been originally a Tm-ki slave, but had risen so much in his favour that he gave

him his daughter in marriage, and made him his heir.

Sebektegin: Scbcktegin's futurc Sovereignty is said to have been early foretold. One day,

anecdote of, .,

him. while a private horseman, he hunted down a fawn and was carrying it off, when

he looked behind and saw its mother foUowino- with such sicms of distress, that

he was moved with compassion and set the fawn at libei-ty. The joy and

apparent gratitude expressed by the mother made so strong an impression upon 1

him, that when he went to sleep it became the subject of a dream, in which

Mahomet appeared to him, and announced that as a reward for his humanity ]

li[ he was destined to be a king. The prediction, if it was made, had no sooner

been fulfilled, than an event took place which threatened to render it fruitless.

The inhabitants on the left bank of the Indus had for nearly three centuries

been living in the enjoyment of their recovered independence ; but they knew

enough of the cruelty and oppression which their forefathers had endured

while subjected to an Arab yoke, and were naturally filled with alarm when

they saw a new Mahometan kingdom established on their frontiei"s. It there-

Native con- f^j.^ sccmcd to them good policy not to wait tiU the threatened calamity over- federation or./ J

agaiiiathim. took them, but to cndcavour by anticipating to prevent it. The initiative in this bold enterprise was undertaken by Rajah Jeipal, who ruled over a large extent of territory, and kept his court at Lahore. Crossing the Indus, he advanced till he came up with the troops of Sebektegin, who commanded in person, and was accompanied by his son, who, then only a boy, gave proof of the talents which afterwards made him celebrated under the name of Sultan Mahmood. After some time spent in skirmishing, the annies were on the eve of fighting a great battle, when a fearful storm of wind, thunder, and hail occurred- Both armies suffered gi'eatly, but not to the same extent. The troops of Ghuznee soon recovered from the disaster, whereas those of Hindoostan, being If' at once less hardy and more superstitiou.s, were so dispirited that Jeipal was

^1


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 Chap. II.] SEBEKTEGIN— SULTAN MAHMOOD. 43

glad to propose terms of accommodation. Mahmood stood out, and would be a.d. 997.

satisfied with nothing short of a decisive victory; but his father, more prudent

and moderate, was satisfied with a present payment in elephants and gold, and

the promise of a certain amount of annual tribute. Jeipal returned humiliated

to Lahore, and endeavoured to hide his shame by breaking his promise. When

the messengers of Sebektegin arrived to receive the tribute, he not only refused

it, but threw them into prison.

Warlike preparations on a grander scale than before again commenced Se- war between bektegin advanced to take revenge; and Jeipal, aware how much he had done to amujiljah provoke it, endeavoured to ward it off by means of a confederacy, in which, "^'"" in addition to other rajahs of less importance, he was joined by those of Delhi, Ajmeer, Callinger, and Canouge. Thus supported, he advanced at the head of an army composed of an innumerable host of foot and 100,000 horse. In his Oriental phraseology Ferishta says,^ that when Sebektegin a.scended a hill to view the forces of Jeipal, they "appeared in extent like the boundless ocean, and in number like the ants or locusts of the wilderness ;" but instead of beinsr dis- mayed at his vast inferiority in point of numbers, "he considered himself as a wolf about to attack a flock of sheep." So confident, indeed, was he, that, dis- daining to act on the defensive, he commenced the attack by singling out a certain point in the enemy's line, and charging it by successive squadrons of 500 men. When in this way he had tlirown it into disorder, he made a general assault, and carried everything before him Tiie Hindoos, panic-struck, thought only of flight, and suffered immense slaughter. The Indian camp yielded a rich plunder. The more permanent results of the victory were, that Sebektegin was acknowledged king of all the territory west of the Neelab or Upper Indus, and sent one of his officers with 10,000 horse to govern Peshawer.

Sebektegin died in 997, after a reign of twenty years distinguished by Sebektegins prudence, equity, and moderation. His death was sudden, but during his last moments he named his son Ismael his heir. He appears, indeed, to have had a better title than Mahmood, who, though elder, was illegitimate. Ultimately, however, after a war of succession, in which Ismael was worsted and impri- soned for life, Mahmood, assuming the title of sultan, which, though well known in Arabia, had not previously been borne by any prince of Turkish origin, seated himself firmly on his father's throne.

Mahmood was of an athletic form, but was strongly marked with the small- smtan

. . iiii'i. ic • Mahmood.

pox, and so deficient in personal beauty, that one day, on beholding himself in a glass, he exclaimed, " The sight of a king should brighten the eyes of the beholders, but nature has been so unkind to me that my appearance is positively forbidding." This defect probably made him less disposed to indulge in youth- ful pleasures, and concurred with his natural temper in inducing him to seek fame by military exploits. He has already been seen ui-ging his father to reject

• Brigg's FerislUa, vol. i. p. 18.


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 441 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book /.

AD. inoi. the terms of accommodation ofl'eied l>y llajali Jeipal, and we are therefore prepared to see him enter (jn a career of Indian conquest. At first a series of struggles, which ended in the extinction of the Somani dynasty, engro.ssed his attention, but no sooner were these settled than he turned his eye to India His first expedition took phice in 1001, when, at Peshawer with only 10,000 chosen horse, he encountered his old enemy Rajah Jeipal at the heaxl of 1 2,000 horse, 30,000 foot, and 300 elephants. The field was keenly contested, but at Defeat and hist Jeipal, with fifteen of his chiefs, was taken pri.soner. Mahmood, whose

death of ,

Jeipal. avarice was at least equal to his ambition, was able to gi'atify l)oth pa.ssions by the victory, which, in addition to its fame, yielded him a rich spoil, partly in Jeipal's jewelled necklaces, one of which was valued at 180,000 dinars, or about £81,000. The value of the spoil was largely increased by the large ransom which he obtained for the prisoners. Jeipal did not long avail himself of his freedom. Dispirited by his two defeats, or, it is said, disqualified by them, according to a Hindoo custom, from any longer reigning, he resigned the crown to his son, and placing himself on a funeral pile, set fire to it with his own hand.s.

Defeat of Jn lOOl, ou failure of the tribute promised by the Hindoo.s, Sultan Mahmood

again set out, and passing through the province of Mooltan arrived at a city called Bhateea. Its position is not ascertained ; but it was surrounded by a very high wall and a deep and broad ditch, and belonged to a Rajah Beejy Ray, who, trusting both to its fortifications and the difficult nature of the suiTOundincf country, was not afraid to mea.sure his strength against that of the sultan. He had so skilfully seized the strong posts, that for three days he not only kept the Mahometans at bay, but inflicted on them such severe losses that they were on the point of abandoning the enterprise. In this emergency. Sultan Mahmood displayed his wonted inflexibility of purpose, and in announcing his intention to lead the main attack in person, added, " To-day I have devoted myself to conquest or death." Both armies, indeed, had worked themselves up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm; Beejy Ray, on his side, performing religious services by which he was believed by his followers to have propitiated the gods; while the sultan, after turning his face to Mecca, and prostrating himself in sight of his troops, started suddenly up, exclaiming, "Advance! advance! our prayers have found favour with God!" An obstinate struggle took place, but Mahometan prowess prevailed, and the Indians were pursued to the gates of the town. Here, though a stand of a few days took place, resistance was found to be hope- less; and the rajah being overtaken during an attempt to lead off his troops by night, only escaped imprisonment by rushing on his own sword. Two hundi'ed and eighty elephants, numerous captains, and a large spoil were taken in Bhateea, which with its dependencies was annexed to Ghuznee.

Sultan Mahmood's next Indian expedition took place in 1005. Its main object was

Mahmood '■ '^ "

encountered to chastisc Abul Fattcli Lodi, the chief of 3*Iooltan, who, though a Mu.ssulman,

by Anang- i • ii • it i • i

pal. had thrown off his allegiance and leagued with Anangpal, the son and succes.sor


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 p

■chap. ii.j sultan mahmood's wars. 45

mmf the unfortunate Rajah Jeipal. Not deterred by his father's fate, Anangpal a.d. 1005. encountered Mahmood near Peshawer, and sustained a defeat which compelled him to take refu<xe in Cashmere. The victorious sultan continued his march to Mooltan, and obtained the submission of its chief He would doubtless have exacted more rigorous terms than submission, and also made Anangpal feel the full weiglit of his vengeance, had he not been under the necessity of hastening home to repel the formidable invasion of a Tartar prince of the name of Elik Khan, who had hoped to make an easy comjuest of Khorasan while the Ghuznee forces were beyond the Indus. He had miscalculated ; and on the sultan's arrival, was obliged, after a signal defeat, to recross the Oxus with only a few attendants. On this occasion the sultan's victory was greatly aided by 500 elephants which he had brought from India. The Tartar horses would not face them ; and the soldiers, who had never seen them before, were overawed by their huge bulk and strange appearance, especially after they had seen the one on which the sultan himself was mounted seize Elik Khan's standard-bearer and toss him into the air with his trunk.

Anangpal's escape was only temporary, for Mahmood was no sooner lid of coalition of

. . . rajalis.

the Tartar invader than he hastened Ixick to India at the head of a formidable army. Anangpal meanwhile, anticipating the return of the sultan, had made exertions, and succeeded in forming a powerful coalition of rajahs against the common enemy of their freedom and their faith. Their united forces brought into the Punjab a larger army than had ever been seen in it before. Even the I sultan seemed to hesitate ; and instead of advancing with the headlong courage which he usually displayed, began to entrench himself in the vicinity of Peshawer. This sign of weakness added greatly to the strength of the confede- rates, who were daily joined by new auxiliaries, and received large supplies of money from all quarters, even the Hindoo women selling their jewels and meltinof down the gold of their other ornaments to assist in what was regarded as a holy war.

Mahmood kept within his entrenchments, well aware that if they were Defeat of attacked, his position would give him a decided advantage; and that if the Indians, through fear of this, refrained from attacking, their immense tumultuary force could not be long kept together. The first skirmishes were not to his advantage, for the Gukkurs, and other mountaineer tribes, rushing impetuously among the Mahometan cavalry, made such dexterous use of their swords and knives that hoi-se and riders tumbled to the ground, and, to the number of several thousands, were despatched in a twinkling.' Mahmood still remained motionless,

'The Gukkurs, Guckers, Gakkars, Guikkers, or mentioned in the text seems to indicate that, as their

Kahkares (for the name is spelled in all these different mode of warfare bore a considerable resemblance to

ways, and not always in the same way by the same that for which the Ghorkas of Nepanl have recently

author), are first mentioned in the history of the Arab distinguished themselves, they may have had a coni-

coiiquests in India, as forming a league with the Af- mon origin. This, however, is improbable, as their

ghans, and, in union with them, wrestinij; a tract of localities are very remote from each other. The Guk-

territory from the Rajah of Lahore. Their e.|iloit kurs, according to Elphiustone (Cabul, Introduction,

i


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HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book I.

Tenii)le of

NaKiircoto.

x.D. :oo5 watching liis opportunity. It came at Ijust. AnangfjaVs elephant, galled hy the arrows and frightened by the fireballs, turned round and hurried him off the field. The Hindoos, thinking themselves deserted hy their general, slackened their resistance, and finally turned their backs. No time was given them to rally, and ere long 20,000 lay dead upon the field. The rest were so complet<dy dispersed that Mahmood had nothing more to do than gather the fruits of his victory. The one most gratifying to his avaricioas temper was the capture of the fortified temple of Nagarcote, situated on one of the lower ranges of the Himalaya. It owed its sanctity to a natural flame which issued from the ground ; and, from the veneration in which it was held, as well as the strength of its position, was not only rich in votive offerings, but was the common depository of the wealth of the adjacent country. To assist in the recent struggle, its garrison had been withdrawn, and when Sultan Mahmood arrived before it, he was met only by a crowd of defenceless Brahmins clamorou.sly imploring mercy. The inventory of its treasures was, according to Feri.shta, 700,000 golden dinars, 700 maunds of gold and silver plate, 200 maunds of pxire gold in ingots, 2000 maunds of un wrought silver, and 20 maunds of pearl s, corals, diamonds, and rubies. The value mast have been fabuloas, and justifies Ferishta's assertion, that it was greater than ever was collected before into any royal treasury.^ The sultan, on his return to Ghuznee, gave a triumphal banquet, which was spread out on a spacious plain, and lasted three days. The spoils of India, exhibited on thrones of gold, and tables of gold and silver, made a display rivalling the utmost that has been told of Oriental wealth and

Splendid banquet.

vol. i. p. 100) " once possessed the whole country be- tween the Indus and the Hydaspes ( Jailum), but have been driven out by the Siks." In his map, they are re- presented as occupying a considerable tract of the Punjab east of the town of Attock, in the direction of Cashmere. On his homeward journey lie passed through their country, in consequence of a letter of invitation which he received from the .sultan, accom- panied by a vast quantity of grapes, which tlieregrow wild. Shortly after passing Rawil Plndee, lie made a circuit of about forty miles, and saw "the ruins of some Gucker towns destroyed by the Siks, and those of some others, still more ancient, which had suffered the same fate from the Mussulmans." The only other information he gives respecting them is, that they "have still a high military reputation." Ferishta, in narrating the exploit of the Gukkurs in their en- counter with Mahmood, says, that they "repulsed his light troops, and followed them ko closely, that no less than 30,000 Gukkurs, with their heads and feet bare, and armed with various weapons, pene- trated into the Mahometan lines, when a dreadful carnage ensued, and 5000 Mahometans in a few minutes were slain." Price, in his Chronological Re- trospect, or Memoirs of the Principal Events in Ma- hommedan Historji, vol. ii. p. 284, while professedly borrowini,'from Ferishta, improvesupon his narrative, apparently for the purpose of making it still more

graphic, and says, "In spite of the circmnspection of Mahmood, and in the heat of the action, a body of 1000 Kahkares or Guikkers, bareheaded and bare- footed, variously and strangely armed, passed the entrenchments on both flanks : and falling in with astonishing fury among the cavalry, proceeded with the desperation of savages, and with their swords and knives, to cut down and maim both the horse and his rider, until almost in the twinkling of an eye, between 3000 and 4000 men had fallen victims to the rage of these infuriated maniacs."' That the}' had the cunning and vindictiveness of savages will become apparent in the coufse of the narrative, from an assassination which some of them committed under singular circumstances; but that they were under regular government, and ruled by princes who occupied no mean place among their contem- poraries, may be inferred from the fact that they were recognized by the title of sultan, and that the daughter of one of them was considered a fit match for the celebrated Jelalu-din, son of the King of Kharism, and the only prince in whom Gheniihis Khan found a formidable opponent. — See Bri^'g's Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 415-418.

' The value of the ■.;olden dinar is about 9«. ster- ling. Tlie Indian maund weighs 80, and the Persian only 11 lbs. The latter seems to be the one which is here intended.


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 Chap. II.]

SULTAN MAHMOOD'S CONQUESTS.

47

splendoiu'. Mahmood forgot his avarice on the occasion ; and while mjTiads a.d. loio. of spectators were luxuriously feasted, splendid presents were bestowed on merit, and liberal alms given to the poor.

The beginning of the year 1010 was employed by Sultan Mahmood in the Suitan conquest of Ghor, situated among the branches of the Hindoo Koosh east of comiuests Herat, but before the year closed he is again found pursuing his conquests in "' ^"'^'^^ India. For some succeeding years, his operations there were somewhat desultory and interrupted by an important expedition to Transoxiana, dm-ing which he extended his west frontier to the Caspian; but in 1017, determined no longer to confine himself to the Punjab, he set out at the head of an army of 100,000 foot and 20,000 horse, for the purpose of penetrating into the basin of the Ganges, and thus opening up a way into the very heart of Hindoostan. March- ing from Peshawer, he kept close to the mountains till he passed the Jumna, and then turning suddenly south, made his unexpected appearance before Canouge. This great capital, the rajah of which, for some reason not well

Ruins at Canouoe. — From Daniell's Oriental Sceiiorv.

plundered.

explained, took precedence of all the other Rajahs of Hindoostan, is acknowledged by all writers, Hindoo and Mahometan, to have been the largest and most magnificent of Indian cities, but it is unnecessary to give any description of it at present, as Mahmood, delighted with the abject submission of the rajah, who came out with his family and threw him.self upon his mercy, left it uninjured, after a short stay of three days.' He next bent his steps towards Aluttra, one jr«ttra of the most ffimous seats of Hindoo superstition. The treatment it experienced was very diflferent from that of Canouge. During twenty days of plunder, Mahometan fixnaticism and licentiousness had their full swing, and every kind of outrage on humanity was perpetrated. In the midst of these horrors, Mahmood, while struck with the maijnificence of the buildings, divided his thoughts between them and the immense sums which it must have cost to erect them, and Nvi'ote to the governor of Ghuznee a letter, of which the following very characteristic

' This once magnificent city has long since fallen to decay. Its ruins are now surrounded with jungle,

and once formed a place of retreat for desperadoes of all kinds.


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 •t'S 11IS'|-|;V OF INDIA. flJooK I.

A.D. 1022. passage has been preserved: — "Here there are a thfjusand e«lifices as finn as the faith of the faitliful, inost of thcin iiiarhle, besides innumerable temples; nor is it likely that this city has attained its present condition but at the expense of many millions of dinars; nor could such another h»e coastructed und<'r a jxM'iod of two centuries."' After leaving Muttra, Mahmood stormed several other town.s, laid waste a large extent of country, and then returned to Ghuznee, with an incalculable am')unt of spoil and above 5000 captives. riist Of the two next Indian expeditions of Sultan Mahmood, which took place

M.iiionietan respectively in 1022 and 102-3, the second only is deserving of notice, becau.se luOia"" '" <Jiii'hig it a Mahometan garrison was, for the first time, permanently stationed beyond the Indus. This unenviable distinction belongs to the city of Lahore, whose rajah, Jeipal II., the successor of Anangpal, after submitting to Mahmood and living for some time on friendly terms with him, was tempted in an evil hour to throw off his allegiance. The result, which might easily have been foreseen, was the loss of all his territories, whicii were forthwith annexed to Ghuznee. Capture and We liave now arrived at Sultan Mahmood's last expedition to India. It is somtiauth. generally reckoned as his twelfth, and has made more noise than all the rest, though its political results were not important. Its destined goal was Somnauth, one of the most celebrated seats of Hindoo superstition, situated near the shore of the Arabian Sea, in the south of the peninsula of Gujerat. To this expedi- tion, fanaticism and the love of plunder appear to have been the actuating motives. The way from Ghuznee to Somnauth lay for hundreds of miles through a parched sandy desert. The army, whose numbers are not stated, set out in Septembei', 1024<, and reached Mooltan in October. For transport, 20,000 camels had been provided ; and as the soldiers had moreover been ordered to carry as large a supply as possible of provisions, water, and forage, the difficulties of the desert were surmounted without any serioas disaster, and the expedition made its appearance in the cultivated country around Ajmeer. The Hindoos, though aware of the threatened attack upon their temple, had calcu lated on a different route, and were, in consequence, so totally unprepared for resistance, that their only safety was in flight. The usual devastation followed, and the city of Ajmeer was given up to plunder. Continuing his progi-ess, Mahmood entered Gujerat, and arrived at Anhulwara, its capital. He might easily have made himself master of it, for the rajah had fled ; but he was intent on higher game, and refused to be turned aside from it. At lencrth Somnauth was reached. It was situated on a peninsula, which a fortified isthmus connected with the mainland. Here he was met by a herald, who defied him in the name of the god, and menaced him with destruction. ]Iahmood only answered with a shower of arrows, and cleared the walls of defenders, who hastened to the idol to prostrate themselves before it and implore its help. Meantime the besiegers

' Brigg's Ferishta, vol. i p. .53.

•


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 Chap. II.] SOMNAUTH SACKED. 4.9

advanced, and had nearly effected an entrance, when the defenders returned and ad. 1024. fouglit so furiously, that their enemies, unable to make good a footing, were forced to retire. The next day the attack was repeated, and assumed the form of a general assault, but the result was the same. The third day opened still more propitiously for the defenders, for several native chiefs having vuiited tiieir forces, had advanced to the rescue. Tiie attack could not be continued till this Somnautu new enemy was disposed of The battle which ensued was furiously contested, and seemed at one time about to be decided in favour of the Hindoos by the sudden arrival of the Rajah of Anhulwara with a large body of fresh troops. The Mahometans, who had previously been unable to do more than maintain their ground, now began to waver, and a general route was imminent, when the sultan, recm-ring to a device which had succeeded with him on other occasion.s, prostrated himself in presence of his army, and then, as if confident that his prayer had been heard, leaped to his horse, raised the war cry, and rushed into tlie thickest of the fight. His troops, ashamed not to follow where such a master would lead, followed close upon his track, and bore down all before them. The critical moment was passed, and they had gained a com[)lete victory. No further attempt was made to defend the temple, and the defenders, to the number of 4000, took to their boats. Mahmood, in the comse of his plunderings, had seen the interior of many Hindoo temples, but the magnificence of Somnauth was so surpassing that it filled him with wonder. The interior, its ceiebrat- whose lofty roof was supported by fifty-six pillars curiou.sly carved and glittering with precious stones, received its light, not from the sun, but from a lamp which was suspended in its centre by a golden chain. The real object of worship at Somnauth was simply a cylinder of stone, but Ferishta takes no notice of it, and says that the idol, 15 feet in height, but six of them .sunk beneath the sm-face, stood opposite the entrance. Mahmood at once ordered its destruction, but hesitated when the Brahmins threw themselves at his feet imploring him to spare it, and offering an immense ransom. After a momentary pause, exclaiming that he would rather be known as a breaker than as a seller of idols, he struck the idol with his mace. His followers in.stantly followed up the blow, till the idol broke a.sunder. It was hollow, and disclosed diamonds and other jewels of immense value hidden within it. Mahmood was equally surprised and delighted. The treasure obtained far exceeded •the amount of ransom which the priests had offered, and was regarded by him and his followei-s as a gift from the Prophet in return for the zeal which they had displayed in his cause.

1^ Two pieces of the idol were sent to ]Iecca and Medina, and two to Ghuznee. Tradition as ^r ^ 1 1 1 • 1 tothegatesof

One of the latter was in the palace and another at the grand mosque in the somnauth. sixteenth century, when Ferishta wi'ote his history. It is somewhat remarkable that he says nothing of the gates of the tem})le, which, according to a preva- lent tradition, were also carried to Ghuznee, and ultimately formed one of the Vol. I. ' 7


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«

50

HISTORY OF INDIA.

[Book 1.

J -k-

AD. 1024. trophies placed on Sultan Mahinood's tfjrnb. The Rllence of Ferislita throws consid(rable douht on the authenticity of the tradition; for the gates should liave been there in his time, and if there, he certainly would have mentioned them.

Be this as it may, the tradition was so fiiTnly believed, that when the British army finally quitted Cabool, in 1842, the gates were brought away in triumph, and Lord Ellenboroujfh, then Governor-general of In- dia, made them the sub- ject of a very pompous, unchristian, and impolitic proclamation.'

Mahmood, on his re- turn, stopped for some time at Anhulwara, with which, as well as the surrounding countrv", he was so much pleased that he is said to have had some thoughts of adopt- ing it as a new capital. Many other magnificent projects passed through his mind, but they all vanished in smoke, and he contented himself with setting up a new rajah in Gujerat. The person selected was an anchoret of the ancient royal stock, and seems to have recommended himself to ^lahmood as the person most likely to yield him implicit submission. Another member of the royal stock thought himself better entitled to the rajahship, and, to prevent a disputed succession, his person was secured. AMien Mahmood was leaving Gujerftt, the anchoret rajah requested that his competitor might be delivered up to him ; and, on the assiu-ance that his life woiild be spared, the request was granted. The hj-pocrite kept his promise to the ear. He was too holy a man to be guilty of shedding the blood of any living creature. He only dug a hole, in which he meant to have immured his prisoner, and regaled

Gates of Somnavth. — From Hart's Afghan Scenery.

Sultan MahmooiVs projects.

' Fergusson, in his Hand-Book of Architecture, says that these gates are 7iot of sandal wood, but of the wood of the deodar pine tree; therefore the tradition of their having been the gates of the temple at Somnaiith is wrong. The decorations

bear no resemblance to Hindoo work; and as the ornaments are similar to those of the mosque of Ebn Touloun at Cairo, they show the same date of con- struction, and that the like ornamentation was used at the e.xtreme ends of the Moslem empire.

L


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SULTAN MAHMOOD.

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»

lis ear with his groans. By a wliirl of fortune the position of the parties was reversed; and the anchoret, deposed from his rajahship, was consigned to the hole, while the throne was occupied by his intended victim.

Though Mahmood had made his first passage across the desert without loss, he was less fortunate in returning. He had employed Hindoo guides, who kept the army wandering for three days and nights over desolate tracts, where neither forage nor water could be found. Numbers of the troops died raving mad, from the intolerable heat and thirst. Mahmood, suspecting that the guides had not erred, but led him wilfully astray, ])ut one of them to the torture, and wrunof from him a confession that he was one of the priests of Somnauth, and had sought, by misleading the army, to insm-e its destruction, and thereby obtain a rich revenue.

On the homeward march, Mahmood was greatly harassed by a tribe of Juts, who are described as occupying a district intersected by rivers, which form numerous islands. He determined to chastise them; and with this view took up a position at Mooltan, where he ordered 1400 boats to be built, and armed with iron spikes projecting from tiie bows and sides, to secure them against being boarded, as the Juts were particularly dexterous at this species of warfjire. A series of naval enoragements were fought in tlie neighbom-hood of the locality where Alexander equipped his fleet thirteen centuries before. After a desperate struggle the Juts were overpowered, and those who had not fallen in battle were carried off" into slavery.

Mahmood returned in triumph to Ghuznee, but had ceased to l)e capable of enjoying it, for he was suffering under an excruciating disease, which carried l>im off", April 29, 1030, in the sixty-third year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign. Two days before his death, he ordered all the gold and precious stones which he possessed to be placed before him. He wept with regret to think how soon he must part with them for ever ; but he had not the heart to

A D 1030.

Passage of

the desert.

S!^i

Mahmood's Pii.i.aks, Ghlzsee.'

Mabmood's death

' The two minars or pillara outside the city of Ghuznee were erected, aa appears from inscrii)tion8 in Kufic cliaractera upon them, the one nearest the village of Kozah by Mahmood, the other (nearest Ghuznee) by Masaood, son of Mahmood. The inscrip- tion on Mahmood's pillar is as follows: — " In the name of God the most merciful — the liigh and mighty Sul-

, the melic of Islam, the right arm of the state,

trustee of the faith, the victory crowned, the patron of Moslems, the aid of the destitute, the munificence endowed Malimood (may God glorify his testimony), son of Sabaktageen, the champion of champions, the emir of Moslems, ordered the construction of this lofty of loftiest of monuments; and of a cer- taintj- it has been happily and prosperously com- jdeted." — JownaJ of Asiatic Society of Beugnl, 1843.


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 IIISTOIIV OF 1NI>IA.

[liOOK 1.

Mahraood's character.

His treat- ment of Ferdusi.

A.D. loso. bestcnv any of tliem as fiirewell presents, and sirnply caused them to be taken back to the treasury. The next day he ordered a review of the anny, and, seated on his travellin;^ throne, saw all his elephants, camels, horses, and chariots pass before him. He fesisted his eyes, but could not witisfy his heart, and once more burst into tears. The day after, he- lay on his bed a lifeless corpse, and an impressive example of the vanity of human wishes.

Avarice, which was one of his ruling pa.ssion.s, is generally supixj.sed to be incompatible with true greatness ; and yet it is impossible to deny that Sultan Malimood, the founder of the Mahometan Indian empire, po.ssessed in a high

degree many of the qualities which have procured for otlier sovereigns the name of Great. He gained signal victories, made conquests, and by the ability of his govern- ment retained them, adorned his capital with magnificent buildings, and ke]jt a splendid court, to which he attracted many of the most distinguished writers of his time. He must thus have been a munificent patron of literature and art, though one of the greatest blots on his reputation was his treatment of Ferdusi. That celebrated poet long lived at his court, and was commissioned to write a poem, for which he was promised at the rate of a dinar a line. There can be no doubt that a golden dinar was understood; but Mahmood, on making pajTnent, had the meanness to take advantage of the ambiguity in the term, and gave only silver. Ferdusi quitted the court in disgust, and took his revenge by launching at its sovereign a stinging satire. Mahmood was magnanimous enough not _. =^s^^^i- only to forgive him, but to endea-

"" ^ s^— ■. .-d — vour to make amends for the past,

by sending him a rich present. It was, imfortunately, too late, for while Mahmood's messencrer enter- ed at one door, Ferdusi was beinor carried out on his bier at another. Mahmood does not figure as a

legislator, but several anecdotes are told, Avhich show that he had a high sense of justice, and occasion- ally made great sacrifices of personal feeling in administering it. One of these anecdotes will bear repetition. An inhabitant of Ghuznee, unhappy in a hand-

GoLD AND Silver Coins of Mahmood.'

Exterior of Sultan Mahmood's Tomb. — Hart's Afghan Scenery.

' Gold coin of Malimood - A.H. 33-5, British Museum.

-weight, 76'8 grains. On reverse, "Maho-

med, the apostle of God whom he sent with instruc- tion and the true faith, that he might exalt it above


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