Lieut. -Colonel Briggs on the Life and Writings of Ferishta. 355 



thus shaken by intestine commotion, afforded to Ybuk, a slave of Mu- 

 hamed's, the opportunity of proclaiming himself king of Dehli; at a 

 period somewhat anterior to the signature of Magna Charta by King John 

 in England. A succession of princes reigned in Dehli, continually engaged 

 in extending their dominions, and in propagating the Muhamedan faith: the 

 progress of both these objects, however, was comparatively slow. No Mos- 

 lem general had yet ventured to cross the Nerbudda ; and the Hindoo 

 territories of the Deccan still remained unpolluted by the presence of the 

 carnivorous Muhamedans, at a time when the kingdom of Dehli had attained 

 a degree of power not generally understood. England had just added Wales 

 to her territory through the prowess of Edward the first, when we find India 

 subjected to an invasion of the Moguls of the race of Zengiz Khan. The 

 power of the king of Dehli, however, enabled him to repel the repeated 

 incursions of these hordes, not unfrequently exceeding one hundred thou- 

 sand in number; while it was the boast and glory of Bulbun that his court 

 afforded a safe retreat to thirteen sovereign princes of the West, who, ex- 

 pelled from their dominions by the victorious arms of Zengiz, had found an 

 honourable asylum under the shadow of his bounty. In 1294.; about the 

 period when the Turks founded the Ottoman Empire in the West, Alla-ud- 

 Deen, Prince of Dehli, made a rapid incursion into the Deccan, and first 

 penetrated to Devaguri, since called Dowlutabad. The information ob- 

 tained in this expedition led to others after the accession of Alla-ud-Deen 

 to the throne ; and in less than fifty years from that time, the Muhamedans 

 had levied tribute from the Hindu princes as fir south as the river Kishna. 

 But it is the nature of despotism to bear within itself the germs of its own 

 destruction. The power of an unlimited monarchy is but ephemeral ; since 

 it is liable to terminate with the existence of the individual who holds the 

 sceptre. The successors of Alla-ud-Deen were incapable of sustaining the 

 weight of the empire which their forefatiiers had acquired ; and the unwise 

 and capricious rule of Muhamed Toghluk, though the most accomphshed 

 prince that ever sat on the throne of India, led to the dismemberment of 

 an empire, which justly excited the wonder of the East. Previously to his 

 death in 1348, Bengal, Guzerat, and the Deccan, had declared themselves 

 independent ; and before the conclusion of the fourteenth century, the 

 territory of the mighty Prince of Dehli, limited to within a few miles around 

 the capital, became an easy prey to tiie arms of Timoor ; who found so little 

 remaining of the splendour and power of the famous state of Dehli, that he 



