C H A P T E R V. 
The rich and fertile kingdoms of Hindostan were inhabited 
entirely by the Hindoos, until the year 976 of the Christian sera, 
when the Islamites, or Mahomedans, commenced their conquests 
in the northern provinces, and formed the empire of Ghizni. 
These invaders were Tartars, from the northern parts of Asia, who 
brought with them the most bigotted attachment to the Mahome- 
dan faith; and under a pretence of converting the Hindoos to 
the tenets of the Koran, they destroyed their temples, and plun- 
dered them of the wealth which had been accumulating for 
ages. The treasures of gold and jewels found in some of those 
sacred repositories, appear almost incredible. History informs us, 
that the Sultaun Moaz-ul-Dien, who made nine expeditions into 
Hindostan, left behind him in diamonds alone, of various sizes, 
five hundred maunds in weight, which is little less than twenty 
thousand pounds in avoirdupois: and the avarice and cruelty of 
Mahmood, the first sultaun of Ghizni, in consequence of an im- 
pious vow, are too shocking to relate. These invaders at length 
reduced all the northern kingdoms; the Mahomedan religion was 
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