35 
the frail body, and to secure its ultimate absorption by the deity, 
which they called the state of Nirvana. The fourth and last race 
were the Mohammedans. Mohammed, who was born 4.pD. 622, 
founded essentially a conquering religion. His successors, 
within a hundred years of his death, had invaded India, and 
sought to convert at the edge of the sword the mild Hindu to 
the faith of Islam, but it was not until 400 years had elapsed 
that they were able to make any impression, and it was A.D. 1,000 
before they succeeded in establishing any permanent hold in the 
north-west provinces and the Punjaub. The Maghuls, in 1526, 
« great Moguls,” who, under the famous Akhbar and others, 
developed such power, such wealth and magnificence, leaving 
behind them palaces and_ mosques, at once the admiration and 
wonder of the world. Their last representative Mohammed, 
Bahadur Shah, King of Delhi, emerged for a moment as a rebel 
in 1857, and died a State prisoner in 1862. At no time did the 
rule of the great Moguls embrace, like our own, the whole of 
India. 
Passing mention was made of the reign of the great Akhbar, 
and the splendour of Aurungzebe, of his great revenue, which 
in 1695 was estimated at 80,000,000, while our own to-day was 
little more than half that amount, With his death began the 
downfall of the Mogul power. Disputed successions among his 
sons gave rise to internal dissension among the people, and very 
soon the Sikhs, the Mahrattas, and Rajputs closed in upon the 
empire, and it was the cruelties exercised upon them, especially 
the Sikhs, by his successors, during the next century, which 
created their bitter hatred of Delhi, and which served the British 
cause so well in the mutiny in 1857. We must remember that 
they were in many respects nearly 300 years behind ourselves. 
The spread of education, the diffusion of wealth, the general 
means of enjoyment amongst the people was probably quite as 
great in our own country in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, as 
was the case in India to-day. Until the British became the 
ruling power in India there seemed to have been no impetus 
given to the education of the people. 
On the whole, the trade and agriculture of India were of a 
decidedly expanding character, though liable to fluctuations from 
special causes. The exports of 1886-7 were of a decidedly satisfac- 
tory character. On December 31st, 1887, there were 14,068 miles 
of railway open, leaving a nett working profit of 5-32 per cent. 
There was an excise duty on liquor and drugs which yielded an 
income in the same year of £4,375,000. The people of India, 
generally, were extremely abstemious, the consumption of spirits 
being confined to the lower classes, and that mainly on their 
national religious holidays. Drunkenness in the English sense 
