INTRODUCTOEY 9 



A vast development of the resources of these central 

 regions followed the coming of Akber. A great highway 

 between Upper India and the Deccan was established 

 through a gap in the Satpura mountains. A vast city- 

 arose in the Tapti valley, which became the seat of govern- 

 ment of the southern province of the empire. Armies 

 marching to and fro, and the retinues of a great court, 

 brought with them a demand, before unheard of, for the 

 necessaries and the luxuries of life. The open country, 

 under the rule of Akber, was rapidly reclaimed by Hindu 

 immigrants, arriving simultaneously from the north and 

 from the west. Nor were they long in extending into the 

 fat lands of the great valleys in the territories of the Gond 

 princes. The reclamation of the heavy lands of the 

 Narbada valley, and the country now known as the Berars, 

 had probably been entirely beyond the resources of the 

 aboriginal races. The immigrants brought with them the 

 necessary energy and the necessary resources; and from 

 this time a process commenced which resulted in the 

 wholesale deprivation of the indigenous races of their 

 birthright in the richest portions of their country, and the 

 estabUshment therein of the arts of agriculture and 

 commerce. 



The Gonds retired to the higher plateaux and slopes 

 of the central hills, where their hunting instincts, and 

 rude system of raising the coarse grains on which they 

 subsist, could still find scope ; the more extensive plateaux 

 were also soon invaded by the aggressive race, and their 

 level black soils covered with crops of wheat and cotton. 

 These elevated plains are surrounded by belts of rugged, 

 imculturable country, which remained in the possession 

 of the aborigines ; and thus, ere long, the tribes were not 

 only surroimded but interpenetrated by large bodies of 

 Hindus. 



The Brahman priest accompanied the warlike Rajpiit 

 and the industrious Hindu peasant to their new country ; 

 and brought with him the worship of the Hindii gods and 

 the institution of caste. No separation from the holy 

 mysteries of his faith was demanded from the immigrant. 

 Not only was he persuaded that he was still imder the 



