R O H 



Shah, who entered Rohilcund with a powerful armament, 

 and took poMcflion of the open country. At length he was 

 compelled to furrender himfelf to the king-, but by the mter- 

 ceflion of Kummer ud Dein he was pardoned. With this 

 event, which happened in the year 1745, the power of the 

 Rohillas was annihilated in Rohilcund ; and all their officers 

 and principal people were removed to Delhi. Ali, ha\ ii 

 mained about a year at Delhi, under the protection of the 

 vizier, was, by his recommendation, appointed the military 

 governor of Sirhind, who, during his refidence in this 

 place, was joined by a body of 2000 or 30CO marauding 

 Afghans ; fo that his party was computed to confift of 

 10,000 cavalry, and 15,000 or 20,000 infantry, of various 

 denominations. Whillt the Mogul and Afghan armies were 

 preparing for action, he quitted the Panjab and retired to 

 Hurdvvar, from whence he penetrated, in 1747, into Rohil- 

 cund, which he rapidly conquered, and foon after died at 

 Owlah. The lait army that might be reckoned imperial, 

 was, in 1749, defeated by the Rohillas; by which their 

 independency was firmly eltablifhed in theealtem part of the 

 province of Delhi. About the year 1750, the territory 

 which had been personally poflefled by Ali Mahomet, was, 

 by the deliberation and agreement of the principal Rohilla 

 officers, divided among his fons. At length, however, 

 Hafiz Ahmed, who poffefTed military talents, in the exercife 

 of which he had acquired influence in Rohilcund, fuperfeded 

 the authority of Saud Ullah, the third fon of Ali Mahomet, 

 and was advanced to the fupreme admini It ration of affairs ; 

 and at the death of Saud Ullah, which happened at Owlah 

 in 1 76 1, the power of Hafiz was eltablifhed. The form 

 of government adopted by the Rohillas in India, fimilar to 

 that which fubfifted in their native country, may be deno- 

 minated feudal. The fucceffors of one of the firll invaders, 

 via. Daoud Khan, polleffing very moderate hereditary 

 pretenfions, and furrounded by perfons who had afforded 

 euential affiitance in the firll conqueft, held but a limited 

 fway. Two of the moll refpectable of the Rohillas never 

 1 to oppofe the progrefs of Hafiz Rhamuf, who aimed 

 at fovereign authority ; but zcaloufly attached to the in- 

 tereft of the widow of Saud Ullah, they formed a counter- 

 poife to the encroaching power of that chief. The Afghan 

 conquerors of Rohilcund, were a bold, rapacious, and law- 

 lefs let of men ; and after they had cl'ablilhcd a kind of 

 o-overnment in India, they adopted the more effeminate vices 

 of the fouth, and became intriguing, deceitful, and trea- 

 cherous. The Rohillas, particularly thole of the lower 

 clafs, were, with few exceptions, the only Mahometans in 

 India who cxercifed the profeffion of hufbandrv, and 

 their attention to agriculture was amply recompenfed by the 

 abundance and fuperior qualities of the productions of Ro- 

 hilcund. This country is faid to have yielded to the Ro- 

 hillas one million fterling, a fum which, in later times, has 

 been very confiderably reduced. According to Mr. Ha- 

 milton, the Rohillas themfelves have been the great caufe of 

 the ruin of the country which bears their name ; it was par- 

 celled out among their chiefs, who had afterwards but a 

 feeble connection with each other ; while their dependence 

 on Hafiz (Haffey) Rhamut, their prince, was more no- 

 minal than real. In the year 1773 'he' Mahrattas crofted the 

 Ganges to invade the Rohilla country ; but a brigade of 

 the Britifh marched to the weftern frontier of that country, 

 and drove the Mahn.tt.is acrofs tli" river. For this pro- 

 tection the Rohilla chiefs had flipulated to pay Sujah Dow- 

 lah, nabob of Oude, 40 lacks of rupees ; but when this 

 effential fervice was performed by the Britifh army, which 

 moved as the allies of Sujah Dowlah, the payment of the 

 monev was evaded. This breach of treat y led to the iuvafron 



ROH 



and conqueft of the Rohilla country in the following year, 

 1 774J and it was then added to the fubah of Oude. Since' 

 this conqtieit, the country lias rapidly degenerated into a 

 wafte, under the deleterious politics of the minifters of 

 Oude. The natives are faid to be a tall, handfome race of 

 people ; and when compared with the other inhabitants, are 

 white and well featured. They continued for a confiderable 

 time to carry about in triumph fome couches and palankeen;, 

 of European officers that were killed by their army in the 

 fatal action of 1774, by which we purchafed a victory at a 

 greater expence of European lives than was ever fuffered 

 by the fame number of troops in India. The capital of 

 Rohilcund is Bereilly or Barelly, which fee. The diltrict 

 of Rampour, fituated at the foot of the Northern moun- 

 tains, and pofTeffed by a Rohilla chief, is included in Ro- 

 hilcund, but it was fecured to Fizzoolah Cawn, the chief, 

 by the treaty of Loldong, in 1774. Jt is valued at 30 

 lacks of rupees per annum ; but he is, in effect, tributary to 

 Oude, (which fee,) by being bound to furnifh his quota to- 

 wards an eflablifhment for the common defence. 



ROHILLAMOW, a town of Hmdooftan, in Oude; 

 21 miles S.S.E. of Kairabad. 



ROHINI, in AJlronnmy, the Sanfkrit name of a Mar, 

 fuppofed to be that defignated on our globes by a. Tauri. 

 In mythology it is an allerifm that furnifhes more poetical 

 allufion than any other in the zodiac. Rohini is one of the 

 fixty daughters of Dakfiia, and one of the twentv-feven 

 efpoufed by Soma, or the moon ; the lunar regent being 

 male among the Hindoos, as it is with fome European my- 

 thologifts. (See Soma.) Under the article NAKSHATRA, 

 which means the aflerifms marking the moon's path, mention 

 is made of the poetical derivations from this fruitful foui 

 and we will here add another inltance of it, relating to Ro- 

 hini, the favourite confort of the fickle Soma. In one of 

 their terreftrial journies, arriving at the fouthern mountain 

 Sahyadri, they unwarily entered the foreft of Gaun, or 

 Parvati, where fome men, having formerly lnrprifed Maha- 

 deva careffing that goddefs, they were punimed by a change 

 of their fex, and the foreft had retained a power of effecting 

 a like change on all males who (hould enter it. Soma, or 

 Chandra, inllantly becoming a female, (Chandri,) was fo 

 afflicted and afhamed, that (he haftened far to the we it, 

 fending Rohini to her feat in the Iky, and concealed herfelf 

 in a mountain, afterwards named Somagiri, where (he per- 

 formed aits of the moft rigorous devotion. Darknefs 

 then covered the world each night, the fruits of the earth 

 were deftroyed, and the univerle was in fuch difmay, that 

 the Devas, or divinities, with Brahma at their head, im- 

 plored the affiftance of Mahadeva, who, placing Chandri 

 on his head, fhe became male again. Mahadeva, in ft attic, 

 and pictures, is ulually feen with the moon on his head and 

 1 •'!, md one of his names is Cliandra-fckra, or moon - 

 ci vned. (See Siva.) Another fable ftates that (he was 

 vifited in her retreat by Surya, or the fun, from which o 

 junction arofe a numerous progeny. Mahadeva is th( Inn ; 

 and this fol-lunarian progeny is, perhap . etation. Under 

 the article \\.\ is another lunarian fable, probably connected 

 with thefe. Siva's fpoufe, Parvati, 1 1 as jealous as Juno. 



Thefe fables, taken from the Afiatic R . vol.iij. 



are related by Mr. Wilford, from Pur. pity; and 



were thus explained to him by an ingenious Pandit. To 



the inhabitant of the countries near thi fource ol the Kali, 

 or Nile, the moon, being in t! 1 ! Rohini, or the 



Pleiades, feemed tu vanith behind the louthcm hum it .. 

 Now when the moon is in op] the fun, it is t\e 



god Chandra 5 in conjunction, the goddefs Chandri. The 

 moon is believed, by Hindoo naturalifts, to have a power- 

 ful 



