INDIA. 



A.D. IJ68. 



A. to. 1M9. 



table asylum for the oppressed and unfortunate, and nt 

 one period be entertained and supported twenty of the 

 unfortunate sovereigns, whom the irruptions of the Mo- 

 guls had driven from their dominions. He employed im- 

 mense sums in encouraging trade and manufactures, and 

 in patronizing the fine arts ; and invited men of talents 

 and literature from the roost distant parts of Asia to re- 

 side at his court. Every night a society of poets, philo- 

 sopher*, and divines, met at the house of his eldest son ; 

 and over this society the poet Khosru presided : The 

 patronage of the fine arts was more expressly the care 

 of his younger son. The emperor himself encouraged 

 magnificence in architecture, equipage, and dress, but 

 he discountenanced drinking and debauchery of every 

 kind. As his claim to the throne was rather doubtful, 

 there were frequent insurrections against him, and he 

 is accused of having punished the authors of them in 

 the most cruel manner, it having been remarked that 

 he never pardoned a traitor. 



In the year 1268, be appointed his eldest son vice- 

 roy at Lahore, where his court became famous for its 

 slftganrr and learning. When Belin was SO years of 

 age, the Mogul* made a violent incursion into Multan, 

 which the emperor sent his son to repel ; in this enter- 

 prise he was slain, ami bis father died soon afterwards. 

 At the time of hi* death, his second son Kera, being 

 absent in his viceroyalty of Bengal, Key Kobad kit 

 son waa placed on the throne of Delhi ; but after a 

 reign of three years, be waa murdered A. D. 1289, and 

 Feme the Second, an Afghan chief, was raised to the 

 twcreigofy* Properly peaking, be WM of toe tribe of 

 Cbilligi ; but as the terms Patan or Afghan are applied 

 manner to all the tribes bordering on the 

 Persia, and Balk . he is in- 



HUuwy 



eluded in 



of India, 

 Patan dynasty. 



Although be waa 70 



yean of age whan be ascended the throne, yet be al- 

 most iawaiitialsly projected the extension of his donnV 

 nions by conquest. To this he irrms to have 

 excited by bis nephew Allaodicn, a man of the 

 restlm and insatiable ambition. Alia 

 of the district of Gurrah. which bordered on the De- 

 can ; it may be proper, however, to premise, that at 

 this period, by the Decan waa meant the country lying 

 generally to the south of the Nerfaodda and Mahanuddy, 

 or Cuttack rivers. This country nearly equalled m 

 extant the dominions of Feme ; for they stretched 

 from the shores at the Indus to the mouth of the Can- 

 ges. ami from the northern mnsjntains to Cutta* V 

 rang, and A imeer, the greatest part of Malwab, and the 

 Guierat and Sind. being then indepenrtsnt Alia ha- 

 ving learned that the king of Deogire, the praunt 

 Dowlatabad. one of the state* of the Decan. waa im- 

 Mosely rich, coannanicaled this ctrcMsaatanre to the 

 aajperor, and represented the f aril sly of 

 riches, and conquering his territories. This 

 the rnvitunsniss of Ferae, and war was 

 Alia, being appointed to condnrt 

 tion into the Dean ; his first expedition waa attended 

 With the capture of Deogire. and with it an mcrc.lil.le 

 quantity of money and jewel*. As soon at Alia gained 

 posssMiun of thaw, be incMssad his array, and 



A.I>. 



A' - 



ing back to Delhi, deposed and murdered the 

 it*5. fa A. D. i 



Alia began his plan of conquests by the redaction of 

 t ; tor, while it continued independent, it pre. 

 a formidable obstacle to the conaoett of the 

 Having (uccecdeil in his designs against Gu- 

 serat, he next reduced RanUmpore and Cbcitore, two 



of the strongest fortresses of the Rajpoots in Ajmeer ; 



this was the first time that the latter fortress had fallen 1 



under the power of the Mahometans. In the year 



1303, he conquered Wurangole, the capital of Tellinga- 



na, another principality of the Decan, comprising near- 



ly the whole of the present district of Golconda. But 



while Alia was pu- liing his conquests in the south, he 



waa suddenly called upon to defend his own capital 



against the Moguls, who laid siege to it with a power- Moguls be. 



ful army, and even plundered the suburbs ; he arrived ticge Del- 



at Delhi jut in time to save it from destruction ; and hi. 



after one of the most obstinate and bloody battles that 



is recorded in Indian history, he utterly defeated the 



Mogul*, who with great difficulty effected their escape 



across the Indus. In the following year the remainder 



of Malwah was conquered ; but the continual and sud- 



den irruptions of the Mogul* rendering the presence of 



the emperor necessary in the northern provinces, the 



conquest of the Decan was assigned to Cafoor, an able 



and enterprising general. He proceeded to the Deo- 



gire county, by the route of Baglana, which he redu- 



ced in his march ; and not only carried his arms into c,,,,,^ ;. 



Deogire, and from thence into Tellingana, but into the r *ded. 



Carnatic also in the year 1310. By the Camatic is here A. D. 1310. 



meant the Peninsula in general, lying to the south of 



the Krishna river. How much farther he penetrated 



into the south of India is not accurately known, but he 



waa instructed by Alia to reduce Mabcr, by which 



Major Rennell understands the southern part of the 



Peninsula. The conquered countries were divided into 



province*, over each of which Cafoor appointed a Ma- 



hnsnedan governor. The Quantity of treasure w hich he 



collected aim oat surpasses belief; it is said that silver 



waa regarded by the soldiers aa too cumbersome, and 



that they would not load themselves with any thing 



but gold: according to Ferishta, the treasure taken 



amosTntrd to 100 millions sterling ; the princes of the 



D.V.I! ha. I !..! .m|.:..\.d m i'i.i-.iri: it IsT li"'--' 



nombec. of years, so that it is probable their country had 

 remained undisturbed all that time. In the year I 

 Cafoor again ravaged the northern part of the Decan, 

 and exacted fresh tribute from Tellingana and the Car- 

 natic ; as, however, hi* expeditions were rather of a 

 predatory nature, agreeably to the genius of hit master 

 and erma 



Alia, the entire 



of those coun- 



trios was not acoompluhed till about three centuries af- 

 terwards. 



In the year 1316, Alia died. An illness under which AIU j. 

 he laboured, was increased by a general indirection, A . o . i 3 | t 

 at the head of which waa Cafoor. He not only direct- 

 ed his ambition to the aiual objects, wealth and con- , 

 qisest, but, in the early part of hit life, he had formed 

 the plans of founding a new religion, and of leaving a 

 viceroy in India, in order to rival Alexander the Great, 

 after wbum he called himself Secunder >.un, Alexan- 

 der the Second As he had raised hinuelf to the throne 

 by the murder of his uncle Feroze, he was constantly 

 the prey of suspicion. In order to guard againat con- 

 spiracies and rebellion more effectually, lie It-vied an 

 itMntntf army, whose services he endeavoured to se- 

 cure by gratuitous advances of pay ; he confiscated the 

 property of several men of rank and influence in the 

 empire ; he published an edict, forbidding all private, 

 meeting* among his grandees, and prohibiting the use 

 of wine, and all intoxicating liquors : he strictly forbade 

 the nobles to marry without license from him ; he ex- 

 acted from bis Mahometan as well as hit Hindoo ub- 

 jects, half the yearly produce of their lands ; and ho 



