I N D I A. 



37 



7 < i! ;-.:- 



of a feeble and declining State. About this time, Ben- 

 became independent of Delhi, under Alivercly 

 Cawn, (see BENGAL) ; and not long afterwards, a vast 

 army of Mahratt.i-, both from Puonah and Berar, for 

 they were now divided into two states, invaded it, under 

 the pretence that their object was to recover it for the 

 emperor. The Mogul empire now became a prey to all 

 the neighbouring states that were sufficiently contigu- 

 ous and powerful to attack it. The Rohillas erected an 

 independent state on the cast of the Ganges, within 80 

 mile* of Delhi. 



They were originally an Afghan or Patan race, who 

 emigrated from the province of Cabul about the be- 

 ginning of the 13th century. They then consisted of 

 several independent tribes, who acted in concert when 

 necessary, and were remarkable for the hatred which 

 subsisted between them and the M.ihr..tta. About 

 the year 17*0, the Afghan chief* Risharat and Daood, 

 accompanied by a great number of their countrymen, 

 came into Hindostan in quest of military service. Here 

 they established themselves. Daood waa succeeded as 

 their principal leader by AH Mahomed, under whom, 

 taking advantage of the distracted state of Hindottan, 

 they acquired the territory which has been mentioned, 

 to which they gave the name of Rohilcund. 



Th Siaa, In the year* I74O and I7H, the Mahrattas invaded 

 the Carnatic : and the intelligence of these invasions 

 hastened the departure of the Sixain from Delhi to the 

 Decan ; fur the C'anulic was included in his govern- 

 ment, and he wa* anxious to recover it Before how. 

 ever he left Delhi, he delegated hit power at court to 

 hi* ddeat 100. On his arrival in the Carnatic, he suc- 

 ceeded in settling it for the present ; but this part of 

 the Mogul empire was now not only really but nominal- 

 ly rendered independent. 



In the year 1747, Nadir Shah died ; and in the con- 

 fusion which followed, Abdalla Ahmed Shah, a soldi, r 

 of fortune, who had been raised to high rank by Nadir, 

 seised on the eastern part of Persia, and on the conti- 

 guou* province* of India, which had been reded by 

 Mahomed to Nadir. These he formed into a kingdom, 

 and united it to Calm), of which be had also nude 

 himelf the chief. The province* thus wr.^tcd from the 

 empire, nearly comprised the ancient empire of 



In the rear of this invasion of India by Ah. 



>oijwd Shah died, after a reign of 39 years. 

 Though by no means qualified either in talenta or ha- 

 bits for the turbulent timei in which he lived, he seems 

 to have been humane and respectable prince. 

 ., .. He wu succeeded by his son Ahmed Shah. Before 



I>- . 



A. D. 1740. 



N*r. 

 A.D 



x 



Ml? Ab. 





v ?, 



l4m- 



<M. 



A O. 17** 



, he hud manifested many proof* of spirit 

 it scarcely wa he seated on the throne, 

 when he disappointed hb subject, by giving himself 

 up entirely to di*ipation and pleasure. His reign, 

 which lasted about MX year*, wai a scene of confusion, 

 owing to the turbulence of the nobles, and the incur- 

 .-hhouring power*. Before he died, the 

 entire division of the remainder of the empire took 

 place, nothing remaining to the house of Tisnur except 

 a small territory round Delhi, together with the city 

 haelf ; and thi* WM comUntly exposed to depredations 

 mmmmt, and famine*, by the contest* of invader*. 

 The last imperial army was defeated by the Rohilla* in 

 the year 17*9 ; and the result of Urn defeat, was the 

 complete csUbli-hmcnt of the independency of the Ro- 

 hilla* in the eastern port of the province of Delhi. 



The Ganta, Hindoo tribe, established themselves, 

 and (banded a state in the province of Agra This tribe 

 attracted notice in Hindostan for the first time about 



4 



the year 1700. At this period, having migrated from History. 

 the banks of the Indus into the lower part of the pro- ~~~v~ m *' 

 vince ot Moultan, they were permitted to settle in several 

 parts of the Dooab of the Ganges and Jumnah. They 

 were then agricultural, but they soon afterwards became 

 a warlike tribe ; and their subsequent progress was un- 

 commonly rapid. During Aurengzebe's last march to- 

 wards the Decan, one of their leaders pillaged the im- 

 perial baggage, and, with part of the spoil, erected the 

 fort of Bhurtpoor. Afterwards they erected other forts, 

 from which they made incursions into the neighbour- 

 ing territories ; and during the civil wars carried on by 

 the successors of Aurengeebe, they found means to se- 

 cure themselves a large portion of country, and accu- 

 mulated great wealth. 



It may be proper to point out particularly the fate View f 

 of those province*, which once constituted the Mogul "< flte ot 

 empire, at this period. The Decan was usurped by its llre ^"B"' 

 vici-roy the Nizam ; and Bengal by its viceroy Aliver- ^ T 

 dy. Oudc, which at an curly period of the Mahorne- 

 dan invasion had been subdued by the invaders, and 

 had remained under different vicissitudes attached to 

 the throne of Delhi, was seized upon by Seifdar Jung, 

 the nephew of Saadet, who had been appointed soubah- 

 dar of this province during the reign of Mahomed 

 Shah. Allahabad was seized by Mahomed Koo!i. Mai- 

 wmh, which had been invaded and overrun by the Mah- 

 rattas in the year 1707. was finally separated from the 

 Mogul government about the year 17:52, and was divi- 

 ded between the Poonah Mahrattas, and several native 

 prince* and Zemindar* ; the Mahrattas also possessed 

 the greatest part of Guzerat, Berar, and Orissa, besides 

 their ancient territories in the Decan. Ajniecr had 

 never become a regular organised possession of the Mo- 

 gul empire like Agra and Delhi ; but remained in a 

 kind of 1 1.1 If iiulepcmlt-nt state, paying a tribute, and 

 furnishing the imperial armies with a certain number 

 of mercenaries. After Aurengzebe's death in 1707, it 

 continued for some time under a nominal subjection to 

 the Delhi throne ; but about the year 1748 it assumed 

 total independence, and reverted to its ancient master* 

 the Rajpoot prince*. The Seiks also took advantage of 

 the weakness of the Mogul empire, and in 1716 made 

 themaelve* muter* of a considerable port of the Dooab 

 of Ravey and Jallinder. In fact, to use the word* of 

 Major Renncll, ' The whole country of Hindottan 

 proper wa* in commotion from one extreme to another, 

 each party fearing the machination* or attack* of the 

 other ; so that all regular government wa* at an end, 

 and villany wa* practised in every form. Perhaps in 

 the annals of the world, it has seldom happened that the 

 bond* of government were so suddenly dissolved over 

 a portion of country, containing at least CO million* of 

 inhabitants." 



In 1 748, the Nizam died. Hi* eldest ton still re- Death or 

 mained at Delhi ; and hi* second son Nazirjung, taking the Nizam. 

 advantage of his brother's absence, ascended the throne. A. D. 17W. 

 At this period, the French and English first appeared in 

 a military character, a* auxiliaries of the princes of Hin- 

 dostan, in consequence of the war* respecting the sove- 

 reignty of the Decan, and for the nubobship of Arcot. 

 In the first, the French only interfered ; in the Litter, 

 both nation*. These war* lasted till the year 1754, 

 and terminated after much blood had been spilled both 

 in battle and by assassination, in fixing Mahomed Ali 

 in the government of Arcot ; and Salibidjung, one of 

 the *n of the Nizam, in the government of the De- The Mogul 

 can. Although the power of the Mogul emperor had Ti?^ Jj io 

 long ceased to be of political consequence, yet hi* name ret p ef '. 



