Part 6 of 6
276. See Description of the Kingdom of Assam, &c. Asiat. An. Register for 1800, Miscellaneous Tracts, p. 47, 48.
277. Goguet, Origin of Laws, part iii. book vi. ch. ii. He adds, “I should be greatly tempted to compare this nation with the Chinese. I think a good deal of resemblance and conformity is to be perceived between one people and the other.” Ibid. Had the Hindus been then as fully described as they are now, he would have found a much more remarkable similarity between them and the Egyptians.—Exaggeration was long in quitting its hold of Egypt. At the time of the Arabian conquest, in the seventh century, “We may read,” (says Gibbon, ix. 446) “in the gravest authors, that Egypt was crowded with 20,000 cities or villages: that exclusive of the Greeks and Arabs, the Copts alone were found on the assessment, six millions of tributary subjects, or twenty millions of either sex, and of every age: that three hundred millions of gold or silver were annually paid to the treasury of the Caliph.” He adds in a note, “And this gross lump is swallowed without scruple by d’Herbelot, Arbuthnot, and De Guignes. They might allege the not less extravagant liberality of Appian, in favour of the Ptolemies; an annual income of 185, or near 300 millions of pounds sterling; according as we reckon by the Egyptian or the Alexandrian talent.” If this be wonderful, what is to be said of the lumps swallowed by the admirers of the Hindus? Voltaire remarks, “Que les Egyptiens tant vantés pour leurs lois, leurs connaissances, et leurs pyramides, n’avaient presque jamais été qu’un peuple esclave, superstitieux et ignorant, dont tout le merite avait consisté à elever des rangs inutiles de pierres les unes sur les autres par l’ordre de leurs tyrans; qu’en bátissant leurs palais superbes ils n’avaient jamais su seulement former une voῦte; qu’ils ignoraient la coupe de pierres; que toute leur architecture consistait à poser de longues pierres plates sur des piliers sans proportion; que l’ancienne Egypte n’a jamais eu une statue tolerable que de la main des Grecs; que ni les Grecs ni les Romains n’ont jamais daigné traduire un seul livre des Egyptiens; que les elemens de geometrie composés dans Alexandrie le furent par un Grec, etc. etc.....on n’aperçoit dans les lois de l’Egypte que celles d’un peuple très borné.” Voltaire, Supplement à l’Essai sur les Mœurs, &c. Remarque Premier
278. Essay on the History of Astronomy, p. 27.
279. Rennel’s Geography of Herodotus, p. 305. The Major, who is here puzzled with a mistranslation of 600, for 360, corrects the hyperbolical statement of the amount of the tribute, though he doubts not it was great. Herodot. lib. iii. cap. 94, 95. It is by no means impossible, or perhaps improbable, that Cyrus subdued part of India. Herodotus, who knew India, says that his General, Harpagus, subdued one part of Asia, and he another, παν τθνος καταςρεφομενος, και ονδεν ΰαριεις. . . . παντα τα της ηπειρον ύποχειρια εποιησατο. Herodot.lib. i. cap. 147. Justin says that Cyrus, having reduced Asia, and the East in general, carried war into Scythia: lib. i. cap. 8. Xenophon says expressly, ηρξε δε κακτριων και Ινδιν. Cyri Institut. lib. i. cap. i. The Persian historians describe the Persians, in the early ages, as chiefly occupied by wars in Turan and India.
280. The notices relating to the conquests of Alexander and his successors in India are collected in Robertson’s Disquisition concerning Ancient India, and Gillies’ History of the World. Strabo and Arrian are the authorities from whom almost every thing we know of the transactions of the Greeks in India, is borrowed.
281. A curious history of the Greek kingdom of Bactria has been compiled by Bayer, entitled, Historia regni Græcorum Bactriani. In this, and in Strabo, lib. xi. Diod. lib. xv. and Justin, lib. xli. the only remaining memorials of this kingdom are to be found. The progress of the barbarians by whom it was destroyed has been traced by De Guignes, Mem. de Literat. xxv. 17, and Hist. de Huns, Passim. Herodotus says that those of the Indians, whose mode of life most resembled that of the Bactrians, were the most warlike of all the Indians, (lib. iii. cap. 102) which would seem to indicate a nearer affinity between the Hindus, and their Bactrian neighbours, than is generally supposed. There is some confusion however in this part of Herodotus, nor is it easy to know whether he means the people called Indians on the Euxine Sea, or those beyond the Indus, when he says they were like the Bactrians. He distinguishes them from the Indians living προς νοτον ανεμον, by saying they were contiguous to the city Caspatyrus and the Pactyan territory, and lying προς βορεον ανεμον (lib. iii. cap. 102) but (cap. 93 of the same book) he says that the Pactyan territory is contiguous to Armenia, and the countries on the Euxine Sea. Yet in another place (lib. iv. cap. 44) he says that Scylax setting out from the city Caspatyrus, and the Pactyan territory, sailed down the Indus eastward to the sea. And Rennel places Caspatyrus and Pactya towards the sources of the Indus, about the regions of Cabul and Cashmere. Rennel’s Mem. Introd. p. xxiii. Rennel’s Herodot. sect. 12.
282. What is known to us from the Greek and Roman authors, of the Parthian empire, is industriously collected in Gillies’ History of the World; from the oriental writers by D’Herbelot, Biblioth, Orient. ad verba Arschak, Arminiah. See also Gibbon, i. 316.
283. In Gibbon, vols. vii. viii. ix. the reader will find a slight sketch, correctly but quaintly given, of this portion of the Persian history. Gibbon’s first object unfortunately was to inspire admiration of the writer; to impart knowledge of his subject only the second. The results of the Persian records (if such they may be called) are carefully collected in D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orient. under the several titles.
284. Gibbon, ix. 364; D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orient. ad verb.
285. Polyb. Hist. lib. x.; M. de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii.; Gibbon’s Roman Empire, iv. 367.
286. The rise and progress of the power of the Turkish horde may be collected from Abulghazi, Hist. Genealogique des Tartars; De Guignes, Hist. des Huns; and D’Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. Mr. Gibbon, vii. 284, throws a glance at the leading facts.
287. See D’Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. ad verb. Thaher, Soffar, et Saman; Gibbon, x. 80; De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, i. 404—406.
288. D’Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. ad verb. Buiah.
289. D’Herbelot, Biblioth, Orient. ad verb. Sebecteghen, Mahmoud, Gaznaviah; Ferishta, by Dow, i. 41, 2d Ed. in 4to.
290. The origin and progress of the Indo-Scythæ are traced in D’Anville sur l’Inde, p. 18, 45, and 69, &c. His authorities are drawn from Dionys. Perieget. 1088, with the Commentary of Eustathius, and Cosmas, Topograph. Christ. lib. ix.
291. Ferishta, (apud Dow, Hist. of Hindost. i. 40—42;) D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. ad verb. Mahmoud.
292. Ferishta, ut supra, p. 42—44; D’Herbelot, ut supra.
293. Ferista, ut supra, p. 47—50; D’Herbelot, ut supra.
294. Viz. of the Hegira; 1011, A. D.
295. Ferishta, ut supra, p. 51—58; D’Herbelot, ut supra.
296. It may be necessary once for all to state, that in this sketch of Mahomedan history, the distances are given generally as in the native historians. Their very inaccuracies (here they do not mislead) are sources of information.
297. D’Herbelot, ut supra; Ferishta, p. 56—60. Ferishta says, that the taste of the sovereign for architecture being followed by his nobles, Ghizui soon became the finest city in the East. Ibid. p. 60. So that the grandeur, and riches, and beauty, he so lavishly ascribes to some of the Hindu cities, get an object of comparison, which enables us to reduce them to their true dimensions. The architecture of the Mahomedans was superior to that of the Hindus.
298. This incorrect expression, which refers to the fourth avatar, shows the carelessness and ignorance of Ferishta and the Persian historians, in regard to the Brahmenical faith.
299. D’Herbelot, misled by some of the Persian historians, makes Sumnaut the same with the city of Visiapore in Deccan. Biblioth. Orient. ad verbun Soumenat.
300. Ferishta says “some crores of gold.” Dow says in a note, at the bottom of the page, “ten millions,” which is the explanation of the word crore. Mr. Gibbon says rashly and carelessly, that the sum offered by the Brahmens was ten millions sterling. Decl. and Fall. x. 337.
301. Ferishta apud Dow, Mahmood I.; D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. adverb. Mahmoud.
302. Ferishta mentions a city to which he came (the place not intelligibly marked,) the inhabitants of which came originally from Chorasan having been banished thither with their families, for rebellion, by an ancient Persian king. See Ferishta, Dow, i. 117.
303. Hist. of Bengal, by Charles Stewart, Esq. sect. iii.
304. This fact; the passage of an army from Tartary, through Tibet into Bengal (if real) is of no small importance. Ferishta gives us no further intelligence of the place; and it is in vain to inquire. Chitta may perhaps correspond with Kitta or Kitay, or Catay, which is one of the names of China, but is also applied by the Persian historians to many parts of Tartary; to the country, for example, of the Igoors; to the kingdom of Koten, south from Cashgar, &c. See D’Herbelot, Biblioth. Orient. articles Igurs, Cara Calhai, Tarikh Khatha, Kholan. — Mr. Stewart, (See Hist. of Bengal, p. 62,) says, that the invasion which is here spoken of by Ferishta was an invasion of Orissians only, not of Moguls.
305. Ferishta. Mr. Stewart says, that in his MSS. the name is Bagora.
306. Mr. Stewart has greatly softened the account of the insolence of Kei Kobad.
307. It is written Khuliji by Major Stewart.
308. Written Deogire, by Col. Wilks, and declared to be the Tagara of Ptolemy. The author of the Tibcat Nasiri says, that Alla left Corah on pretence of a hunting party, and passing through the territories of many petty rajahs, too feeble to think of opposing him, he came upon Ramdeo by surprise. Ferishta, i. 231. The proofs of the division and subdivision of India into a great number of petty states meet us at every step in its authentic history.
309. This is the first mention which we find of any of the tribes to whom the term Mahrattor, or Mahratta, is applied, by the Moslem historians. From this statement we can only conjecture, that some district in Deccan, inhabited by the description of Hindus to whom this name was applied, was overrun, and nominally parcelled out by Cafoor.
310. Wilks, Hist. of Mysore, p. 6.
311. The neighbouring Rajahs, says Ferishta, hastened to the assistance of the Rajah of Warunkul; another proof of the division into petty sovereignties.
312. Besides several chests, of jewels, pearls, and other precious things, the gold alone amounted to about one hundred millions sterling. Col. Dow thinks this not at all incredible: Hist. of Hindost. i. 276: and Col. Wilks (Hist. of Mysore, p. 11) seems to have little objection.
313. According to Wilks, what is here called Malabar was not the district which is now called by that name, but the hilly belt along the summit of the Ghauts, from Soonda to Coorg. Hist. of Mysore, p. 10.
314. A circumstantial history of the Bahmenee sovereigns was composed by Ferishta; and to Jonathan Scott we are indebted for an instructive translation of it. The above sketch of the origin of the Bahmenee dynasty is drawn partly from Ferishta’s Deccan, translated by Scott; partly from his history of Delhi, translated by Dow. The facts are very shortly mentioned, or rather alluded to, by Lieut.-Col. Mark Wilks, (Historical Sketches of the South of India, ch. i.
where the reader will also find all that research has been able to procure of Hindu materials, and all that sagacious conjecture has been able to build upon a few imperfect fragments of the history of the ancient Hindu governments in the south of India.
315. Such is the account of Ferishta. Mr. Stewart, (Hist. of Bengal, sect. iv.) follows other authorities, who represent Bengal as now erected into a Mahomedan kingdom, perfectly independent.
316. The two dynasties of Gaur are spoken of occasionally by the Oriental historians under the title of the Afghaun and Patan government of India; Afghaun and Patan, as also Abdauly, and several others, being names, applied to the whole or a part of the people who inhabit the chain of mountains from Heart, to the mouths of the Indus.
317. By Ferishta, as translated by Dow, he is called Shabiani, ii. 100.
318. This district, which gave its name to the Rohillas, a people considerable in the history of British India, is said by Major Stewart, on his Persian authorities, to have been the original seat of the Afghauns, whose mountainous country (Roh signifies a mountainous country; and Rohillas, mountaineers or highlanders) extended, according to the same authorities, in length from Sewad and Bijore to the town of Sia, in Bukharest, and in breadth from Hussin to Rabul. Stewart’s Bengal, p. 127.
319. What relates to Bengal, in these transactions, is extracted minutely by Mr. Stewart, (Hist. Bengal, sect. 5.)
320. This is a stage of civilization to which the Hindus had not arrived.
321. For the succeeding sketch of the history of the Mahomedan sovereignties in Deccan, Ferishta’s History of Deccan, translated by Captain Jonathan Scott, and Wilk’s Historical Sketches of the South of India, have been the principal guides.
322. Called Bisnagar, in the common maps, and Vijeyanuggur by Col. Wilks. Bijanuggur was but a modern power, in the south of India, and had risen upon the ruins of the Rajahship of Warunkul. Historical Sketches, by Col. Wilks, ch. i.
323. Col. Wilks thinks that the whole of the south of India, (i. e. India to the south of the Kistna) had for a considerable space of time been comprised in the empire of Vijeyanuggur. Ibid. p. 20. After the ruin of the Rajahship of Warunkul, when was the time for such an aggrandisement?
324. Ayeen Akberry, ii. 2.
325. Written also Brampore, and Boorhanpore.
326. Ferishta’s History of Deccan, by Scott, i. 400–403. Umber was one of the adventurers from Abyssinia, of whom so many sought, and obtained, their fortunes in Deccan, during the existence of the Afghâun dynasties.
327. Ibid. p. 339, 340; and 409, 410.
328. The fall of Dowlatabad is somewhat differently related by Dow in his history of Nizam Shah, p. 151. We have here followed the account of Ferishta. Scott’s Deccan, i. 402.
329. We meet with boasts, in the Oriental historians, of kings, whose administration of justice was so perfect, that a purse of gold might be exposed on the highways, and no man would touch it. Never was justice better administered in India than under the reign of Shah Jehan; yet knowing more of the circumstances of his reign, we know better what the general enlogies of the Oriental historians mean. Bernier, describing his situation at the time of his arrival at the court of Shah Jehan, speaks of “le peu d’argent qui me restoit de diverses rencontres de voleurs.” Hist. des Estats du Grand Magol, p. 5.
330. For these transactions of Aurungzebe and Emir Jumla, see Bernier, ut supra, p. 22–32, and the reign of Shah Jehan, chap. v. in Dow.
331. Dow, who follows his Persian authority, says, the malady was paralysis and strangury, brought on by excesses in the haram; Bernier the physician speaks of it in the following terms: “Je ne parlerai point ici de sa maladie, et je n’en raporteray pas les particularitez. Je diray seulement qu’elle estoit peu convenable à un vieillard de soixantedix ans et plus, qui devoit plῦtot songer a conserver ses forces qu’à les ruiner comme il fit.” Ut supra, p. 33.
332. Bernier had not heard of the attempt of Morâd upon the life of Aurungzebe. It is here stated upon the Persian authorities of Dow. Bernier, ut supra, p. 109–114. Dow’s Shah Jehan, ch. iii. Hist. of Hindostan, vol. iii.
333. This account of the fate of Mahomed is given by Mr. Stewart, (Hist. Bengal, p. 276) on the authority of the Muasir Alumgiery, and varies from the account of Ferishta, who says he died in Gualior.
334. Dow, (Hist. of Aurungzebe, chap. iv.) places the Emperor’s illness after the famine. But Bernier, who was on the spot, and mentions the arrival of ambassadors from the Khan of the Usbecks first among the events succeeding the termination of the civil war, says, that those ambassadors, who remained somewhat more than four months, had not departed from Delhi when the Emperor was taken ill. Bernier, Evenemens Particuliers des Etats du Mogul, p. 10.
335. Bernier, ut supra, p 87.
336. The Pousta is thus described by the physician, Bernier. Ce pousta n’est autre chose que du pavot écrasé qu’on laisse la nuit tremper dans de l’eau; c’est ce qu’on fait ordinairement boire à Goualeor, à ces princes ausquels on ne veut pas faire couper la teste; c’est la premiere chose qu’on leur porte le matin, et on ne leur donne point à manger qu’ils n’en ayent beu une grande tasse, on les laisseroit plῦtot mourir de faim; cela les fait devenir maigres et mourir insensiblement, perdans pen à peu les forces et l’entendement, et devenus comme tout endormis et étourdis, et c’est par là qu’on dit qu’on s’est defait de Sepe-Chekouh, du petit fils de Morad, et de Soliman meme. Bernier, Hist. de la derniere Revolut. des Estats du Grand Mogul, p. 170. It is said, that when the gallant Soliman was, by the treachery of the Rajah of Serinagur, delivered into the cruel hands of Aurungzebe, and introduced into his presence, when every one was struck with the noble appearance of the graceful and manly youth, he entreated that he might be immediately beheaded; and not reserved to the lingering destruction of the pousta; when the hypocritical Aurungzebe forbade him to fear, adding, that he was cautious, but not cruel. Bernier, Ibid. p. 169. Dow, Reign of Aurungzebe, ch. iv.
337. Bernier, (Evenemens Particul. des Etats du Mogul, p. 88–101) speaks of these Portuguese as infamous buccaneers; and their own historian, Faria de Sowza, countenances the assertion, which might have been founded upon the reports of enemies. The Portuguese followed their merchandize as their chief occupation, but, like the English and Dutch of the same period, had no objection to plunder, when it fell in their way.
338. Dow, Reign of Aurunzebe, ch. vi.
339. Mheerut, or Mharat, the name of a district, which under the Deccanee sovereigns was part of the province of Dowlutabad, may in former ages, says Mr. Jonathan Scott, have given name to a larger division of Dekkan, and the original country of the Mahrattas. Scott’s Deccan, Introd. p. x. Ibid. i. 32. The Mahratta language extends along the coast from the island of Bardez to the river Tapti. Orme, Histor. Frag. p. 57. It is said by Col. Wilks (Hist. Sketches, p. 6) that “from Beder the Mahratta language is spread over the whole country to the northwestward of the Canara, and of a line which, passing considerably to the eastward of Dowletabad, forms an irregular sweep until it touches the Tapti, and follows the course of that river to the western sea—but that in the geographical tables of the Hindus, the name of Maharashtra, and by contraction Mahratta dasum (or country) seems to have been more particularly appropriated to the eastern portion of this great region, including Baglana, part of Berar and Candeish: the western was known by its present name of Coucan.”
340. Aurungzebe’s Operations in Dekkan, translated by Scott, p. 6.
341. Aurungzebe’s operations in Dekkan, a translation from a Persian manuscript, by Jonathan Scott, p. 6;—Appendix A. to Lord Wellesley’s Notes on the Mahratta war;—East India Papers, printed by the House of Commons, 1804, p. 255. Lord Wellesley seems to have followed Scott. Ekogee, as he is called by Mr. Orme and others, is written Angojee in Mr. Scott’s translation, p. 32. The history and origin of the family is related with considerable variations, by Col. Wilks, on Mahratta authorities. (Hist. Sketches, chap. iii) But if Hindu authority were better than Persian, (and it is far inferior) the facts are not worth the trouble of a critical comparison. It is of some importance to state what is related (ibid.) by Wilks, that Shahjee went second in command in the army of the King of Beejapore which proceeded to the conquest of the Carnatic in 1638; that he was left provincial governor of all the Beejapore conquests in Carnatic, when the general in chief returned to the capital; that his first residence was at Bangalore, but that he afterwards seems to have divided his time between Colar and Balapoor. Wilks infers from some grants of laud by Shawjee, of which the writings still remain, that he affected independence of the declining government which he had served. The acquisition of Tanjore was made, as the Colonel thinks, not by Shawjee, but after his death by Ekojee his son; and his accomplice was not the Rajah or Folygar of Mudkul, but the Naik of Madura, which however appears to have been called Mudkul by the Persian historians. Naik and Polygar were Hindu names of governors of districts, who, as often as they dared to assume independance, affected the title of Rajah. Naik was a title of inferior dignity to Polygar.
342. The mountainous districts, lying between the provinces of Agra and Guzerat, and forming part of the provinces of Malwa and Ajmere, were inhabited by a race of warlike Hindus, named Rajpoots, who, from pride of superior prowess, claimed to be of a higher caste than the mass of other Hindus. They had been divided into three principal Rajahships; that of Abnir or Ambeer, called afterwards Jeypore and Jyenagur, on the borders of Agra; that of Jodepore or Marwar, south west from Abnir, approaching the centre of Ajmere; and lastly that of Chitore, called also Odeypore, from another city, lying further south. Of these Rajahs the most powerful had been the Rajah of Chitore, whose distinctive title was Rana. Jesswint Sing, the Rajah of Judpore, having married the daughter of the last Rana, had merged those two kingdoms of Rajapoots into one. Mr. Orme seems not to have been aware of the marriage of Jesswint Sing, and of its effects; as he mentions with some surprise, that the name of the Rajah of Chitore no where appears in the history of the present transactions. Bernier, Revol. p. 52, 56; Dow. Reign of Shah Jehan, ch. v. p. 212; Scott, ut supra, p. 10; Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 18; Rennel’s Memoir, Introd. p. cxxxii. To the above nations of Rajapoots should also be added those of Boudela, or Bundelcund, a district between the provinces of Agra and Malwa, extending from Jeypore, by Gualior and Callinger, as far as Benares. Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 17: Rennel, ut supra, p. cxxxii.
343. Scott, ut supra, p. 11–17. Mr. Orme, from scattered reports, has stated the circumstances differently. Historical Frag. p. 17, &c.
344. Not without suspicion of poison.—Mr. Scott’s author, who probably wished to spare Aurungzebe, says, by his moonshee, or secretary (p. 17). Mr. Orme says, by order of Aurungzebe (p. 27). But the Rajah was worn out with age and laborious services; and the only poison, perhaps, was the anguish of disgrace. He is praised by the Mahomedan historians as the most eminent, in personal qualities, of all the Hindus they had yet known; acomplished in Persian and Arabian learning. His successor, of whom more will be heard hereafter, was celebrated for his astronomical learning, and for the observatory which he erected at Jeypore. Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 18. Note (1) by Scott.
345. Wilks, (p. 80) says nine, upon what authorities he, as usual, omits to state.
346. This expedition into the Carnatic is noticed by Scott, ut supra, p. 32; by Orme, Hist. Frag. p. 82–87. Col. Wilks, however, (ch. iii. ut supra,) has given the most distinct account, and is here followed.
347. Orme’s Hist. Frag. p. 9 to 11, 79 to 81.
348. Ibid. p. 133, 134. Wilks says he died in 1680, (ubi supra, p. 91).
349. Orme’s Hist. Frag. p. 68–72.
350. Scott’s Operations of Aurungzebe in Deccan, p. 53. Orme, ut supra, p. 100–105, and 119–121.
351. Scott, ut supra, p. 54–64; Orme Hist. Frag. p. 134–152.
352. Scott, ut supra, p. 65–73.
353. The greatest part of Carnatic had belonged to the rajahs of Beejanugger, in the flourishing state of that empire. After the reduction of that state by the Mahomedan powers of Deccan, it was divided between the states of Golconda and Beejapore. Aurungzebe’s Operations in Deccan, Scott, p. 73, 74, 75. Orme, p. 119–130.
354. Scott, ut supra, p. 77–80; Orme, p. 230–234. Wilks (p. 215) says it was taken in 1698.
355. For the last seven years of the reign of Aurungzebe, the author of Aurungzebe’s operations in Deccan, by Scott, (p. 73–123,) is our principal authority. The age of Aurungzebe is stated on the authority of Golam Hussein Khan (Seer Mutakhareen, i. 2). Mr. Scott’s author mentions not the age. Both writers miscalculate the length of the reign (which began in August 1658, and ended in February 1707); the one calling it more than fifty, the other more than fifty-one years.
356. The reign of Shah Aulum is related by two Persian noblemen, both cotemporary with the events, Eradut Khan, (Mem. p. 11–64,) and Golâm Hussein Khan, Seer Mutakhareen, p. 1–23.
357. This was the highest office in an Indian government, and seldom bestowed unless on some great emergency. Scott, Memoirs of Eradut Khan, p. 46.
358. Chief paymaster; an office of great trust and dignity. Ibid.
359. Sir John Malcolm writes it Grant’h. Sketch of the Sikhs, p. 25.
360. Golâm Hussein, (Seer Mutakhareen, i. 87–93) who gives a pretty detailed account of the origin of the Seiks; and Scott, (Hist. of Aurungzebe’s Successors, p. 142) who gives an abridged one, agree pretty exactly in the facts. Eradut Khan (Mem. p. 61) describes the reduction of Daber. Some general remarks are found in a paper of Mr. Wilkins, in the first vol. of the Asiatic Researches. The more detailed account of Sir John Malcolm, (Sketch of the Sikhs, p. 1–85,) taken from Seik authorities, differs widely in the history of Nannuk; but though the inaccurate Persians are not much to be trusted, the fabling Seiks, making every thing miraculous in the origin of their sect, are still less.
361. Eradut Khan, (Memoirs, p. 65–67,) and Golam Hussein Khan, (Seer Mutakhareen, i. 23–36, agree in the general points of this struggle for the crown; the former describing it like an eye-witness, but not a very curious one; the other from report merely, but not without diligence and criticism.
362. The Memoirs of Eradut Khan finish with the reign of Jehandar Shah. He describes the scenes with the knowledge of an eye-witness, but with little favour to Jehandar Shah or Zulfeccar, the victims of the severity or cruelty of the prince under whom he wrote, and whom it was adviseable not to offend. Golam Houssein is more candid and more discerning. Seer Mutakhareen, i. 42–63.
363. Before the departure of Hussun, the marriage of the Emperor was celebrated with the daughter of Maharaja Ajeet Sing, stipulated for, in the conditions lately imposed by Hussun upon the Rajah. She had been conveyed from her father’s palace to that of Hussun, as her adopted father, who graced her nuptials with a magnificence which surpassed all that hitherto had been seen in Hindustan.
An indisposition of the Emperor, rather inconvenient at the time of a marriage, cured by a medical gentleman of the name of Hamilton, is said to have been the cause of obtaining the first phirmaun of free trade, for the East India Company. Scott’s Successors of Aurungzebe, p. 139.
364 £ 3,500,000.
365 £ 1,500,000.
366 £ 15,000,000.
367 £ 1,000,000.
368£ 11,000,000.
In all, if we believe our authorities, £32,000,000.
369. Aurungzebe’s Successors, by Scott, p. 214.
370. The most valuable of the details respecting the invasion of Nadir are furnished us by Golam Hussein, (Seer Mutakhareen, i. 325–344.) Scott, as usual, gives chiefly an abridgement of the Seer Mutakhareen, but here, enriched with some particulars from the known historians of Nadir. An interesting account of the march of the Persian army back, and its operations in Bucharia, and Karisme, to which Nadir immediately proceeded, is given us by an eye-witness, Khojeh Abdulkurreem, a Cashmerian of distinction, who accompanied him from Hindustan, and whose narrative has been translated for us by Mr. Gladwin. Khojeh Abdulkurreem differs from Scott, in the day of the conqueror’s departure from Delhi, which he makes the 4th of May. Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, p. 1. A curious letter of Nadir Shah himself, giving an account to his son of his march towards Delhi, of the battle, and of his intention not to seize the crown of Mahomed, has been translated by Sir John Malcolm. (Asiat. Res. x. 539.)
371. For the circumstances of Nizam ul Mulk’s resumption of his government in Deccan, see Seer Mutakhareen, iii. 3, 8.
372. Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, p. 183.
373. Seer Mutakhareen, (iii. 20–26); Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, (p. 183–185). Scott gives a very short and unsatisfactory abridgement of the passage in the Seer Mutakhareen; Aurungzebe’s Successors, p. 218.
374. Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, p. 204.
375. Seer Mutakhareen, (iii. 38–52); Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, p. 186, 203–207. Life of Ahmed Shah, king of the Abdallees, who are also called Duranees, from the custom of wearing a pearl in one of their ears, translated from the Persian by Henry Vansittart, published in Gladwin’s Asiatic Miscellany.
376. The Seer Mutakhareen is the great authority for this reign; Mr. Scott giving little more than an abridgment of the narrative in that work. Some curious facts are contained in the memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem. Frazer’s Nadir Shah; and the history of that ferocious conqueror, translated into French by Sir Wilham Jones, are to be consulted for the details on the Persian side. In Frazer there is an abridgment of the Mogul history, from Aurungzebe to Mahomed Shah, which is given in a still more abridged form by Holwell in his “Interesting Historical Events.” Frazer’s materials were imperfect.
377. Seer Mutakhareen (iii. 79). Mr. Scott speaks of a vigorous resistance on the part of the Governor (p. 225); but Golâm Hussun says, there was no fighting; and so does Kojeh Abdulkurreem (p. 236).
378. The Jaats or Jauts, inhabiting the mountainous region, from the Chumbul and Jumna eastward, to the Jeypoor Rajahship on the west; and from twenty coss to the southward of Agra, to the province of Delhi on the north, were known as a formidable predatory tribe from the earliest period of the Mohamedan history. The original seat of the Jaats appears to have been near the Indus, in the lower part of Multan. Their chief, or one of their chiefs, was received into the service of Jehandar Shah, and behaved with gallantry in the war between that Prince and Feroksere. Upon the ascendancy gained by the latter Prince, the Jaat retired with his plunder to his fortress of Bhurtpore. This chief was succeeded by his son, who was obliged to become tributary to the Rajah of Jeypoor. To him succeeded his brother, who contrived to throw off his dependance upon the Rajpoot; and, first of his race, assumed the title of Rajah. During the weakness of Mahomed Shah’s administration, he spread his incursions to the very walls of Agra, and left to his son and successor, Sooraje Mull, a considerable kingdom. His power, and vicimty to the capital, rendered him an object of consequence; and the Vizir had attached him to his interests by placing him among the Omrahs of the empire, and other favours. See an account of the Jaats, Asiat. An. Reg. 1802; Characters, p. 12. Also “A Sketch of Rajehpootaneh,” translated from the Persian, in “Tracts, &c.” by William Francklin, a small volume, published in 1811.
379. The Seer Mutakhareen is followed in the text. Francklin (Hist. of Shah Aulum, p. 4) says, 1755.
380. Seer Mutakhareen, iii, 137.
381. The term Nabob, as equivalent to Subahdar, is very modern in Hindustan; and is said to have begun with Sujah Dowlah. Formerly it was not applied to the Subahdar or governor of the Subah, but to the Subahdar’s deputy, or locum tenens; the literal meaning of the word being deputy. The new use of the term is thus accounted for in the Seer Mutakhareen (iii. 167): When the Prince Alee Gohur was on the visit just mentioned, to Sujah ad Dowlah, and received the compliments of that Governor, he addressed him by the title of brother Nabob, which being reckoned an elegant compliment, passed into conversation, when the name was afterwards currently applied to him, and also to other governors.
382. The events of Aulumgeer’s and the preceding reign are found in considerable detail in the Seer Mutakhareen (iii. 62–192), which is abridged by Scott, Hist. of Aurungzebe’s Successors, p. 224–246. The principal facts are noticed, but in certain respects somewhat differently, by Francklin, life of Shah Aulum, p. 7–27.
383. For these facts, the reader will find the original authors faithfully quoted and extracted, in the Universal History, ii. 352, 354; iv. 309, 393; v. 123. Modern Part, 8vo. Ed. In exploring the Persian and Arabian Authorities, the authors of the Universal History are not the worst of our guides.
384. Vide supra, p. 223.
385. Mr. Grant remarks that Kirkpatrick’s account of Nepaul exhibits a form of government, state officers, civil, and military, nearly the same as were established in Hindustan, under the rule of the Moguls. Grant’s Observations on the Hindus, p. 41. But Kirkpatrick’s account is very imperfect, and he appears to have supplied his want of information, by ideas borrowed from what he knew in other parts of India. Besides, the Nepaulians, as well as the Mahrattas, were in a situation to borrow from the Mahomedans.
386. The Persian version was translated by Major Davy; and edited, with a preface and other additions, by Mr. White, the Arabic Professor at Oxford, in 1783.
387. The Hedaya, or Guide; a commentary on the Mussulman Laws: Translated by order of the Governor-General and Council of Bengal, by Charles Hamilton, in 4 vols. 4to. Preliminary Discourse, by the translator, p. lxxxiii.
388. Hedaya, ii. 614.
389. Hedaya, ii. 615.
390. Ibid. 620.
391. “The moderation of the tribute imposed by all Mahomedan conquerors, and the simplicity of their method of collecting it, accounts for the surprising facility with which they retained possession of their conquests. The form of their government was despotic: but in fact it was not oppressive to the mass of the conquered people. In general they introduced no change, but in the army, and in the name of the sovereign.” Francis, Plan for a Settlement of the Revenues of Bengal, par. 9. “The gentiles (Hindus) are better contented to live under the Mogul’s laws than under Pagan princes, for the Mogul taxes them gently, and every one knows what he must pay, but the Pagan kings or princes tax at discretion, making their own avarice the standard of equity; besides, there were formerly many small Rajahs, that used upon frivolous occasions to pick quarrels with one another, and before they could be made friends again, their subjects were forced to open both their veins and purses to gratify ambition or folly.” Hamilton’s New Account of the East Indies. ii. 26.
392. Sir Thomas Roe, speaking of even the Mogul Emperor and his court, says, “Experience had taught me that there was no faith among these barbarians.” Journal in Churchill’s Voyages, i. 799. Contrasting the opposition he met with, when he had not, and the obsequiousness when he had something to give, he says, “This made me sensible of the poor spirits of those people. Asaph Khan [the minister] was become so much our friend, in hopes to buy some trifles, that he would have betrayed his own son to serve us, and was my humble servant.” Ibid. Sir Thomas Roe said it was better not to send ambassadors to the Mogul’s court, but to employ the money in bribing. “Half my charge,” said he, “shall corrupt all this court to be your slaves.” Letter to the E. I. Company, Ibid. p. 809.
393. Vide supra, p. 13, 14
394. Laws of Menu, ch. i. 14. See the passage quoted at length, supra, vol. i. p. 425.
395. Laws of Menu. ch. i. 14.
396. Ibid. 15.
397. Laws of Menu, ch. i. 15.
398. Ibid. 16.
399. Ibid. 17
400. Ibid. 18.
401. Laws of Menu, ch. i. 19.
402. Not only are consciousness and the five perceptions regarded as separate existences, and separate products of creative power, but various other operations of the mind, and even states of the affections. Thus, among the other creations, it is said, that the Creator “gave being to devotion, speech, complaceny, desire, and wrath.” (Laws of Menu, ch. i. 25.)
403. Ibid. ch. ii. 2.