358 Lieut.-Colonel Bit was on the Life and Writings of Ferishta. 



internal dissensions. In this state of affairs liis treasures, instead of return- 

 ing to India, found their way into the coffers of Sohman, wlio acquired, in 

 consequence, the destructive appellation of the Magnificent. 



After this short digression concerning the Portuguese power, and that of 

 the Muhamedan kings of the Deccan, 1 return to the state of the kingdom 

 of Dehli. Torn asunder by factions, with a weak and penurious prince 

 upon the throne, the nobles, headed by the king's brother, invited Baber the 

 first of the race of the present Great Mogul to invade India. He made four 

 attempts in vain ; but in the fifth he slew Sikunder Lodi, king of Dehli, in 

 the same year in which Charles V. of Germany and Francis I. of France 

 concluded the treaty of Madrid. I do not think it necessary to trace the 

 current of events which succeeded, till the death of Humaiun the son and 

 successor of Baber. He left his kingdom, feebly protected, to his son 

 Akber, a boy of twelve years of age. The energy of his preceptor and 

 general, Bairam Khan Turkoman, preserved the tottering empire of the 

 Moguls ; and the wisdom of his pupil was evinced in the sagacity of the 

 instruments he selected to recover the fallen fortunes of the state of Dehli. 

 Akber was the first Muhamedan sovereign who openly gave to the Hindu 

 princes and chiefs of India places in his court. He not only permitted the 

 fullest toleration to their religion, but he enrolled them among his nobles, 

 intermarried on terras of equality with their princes, and conferred upon 

 them the most distinguished civil and military ofiices. 



The confidence lie aftbrded them was more than repaid l)y the fidelity, 

 attachment, and devotion of these noble chieftains. Instead of having to 

 contend alone against the factions of the late court, and to content himself 

 with the limited tract of country which belonged to the late kings of Dehli, 

 Akber was enabled, during a reign which was protracted to half a century, 

 to incorporate in his empire all the Muhamedan kingdoms of India ; with 

 the exception only of Bider, Hyderabad, and Bijapur. He was succeeded 

 by his son Selim, under the title of Jehangir ; and it was to his court 

 that Ferishta was deputed, to congratulate him on his accession, about the 

 time when he finisiied his history : and when the first English East-India 

 Company was formed, and had established a factory in Surat. Subsequently 

 to this period our own annals serve to supply the deficiency of the Mu- 

 hamedan chronicles. 



Jehangir was succeeded by Shah Jehan : and at his death, Alumgir, or, 

 as he is more usually called in Europe, Aurungzeb, ascended the throne. 



