40 H I N D O 
and, when the feafon appeared ripe for attempting with 
fuccefs the recovery of his empire, Tahmafp gave him the 
afliftance of ten thoufand horfe, with which he commenced 
his march back to Kindooftan ; but this number was infi¬ 
nitely increafed when he reached the frontiers of his own 
dominions. 
When the alarming news arrived of the return of the 
Mogul emperor at the head of fo formidable an army, Se- 
cunder exafted an oath of fidelity frqm his omrahs, and 
marched with eighty thoufand horfe, a great train of artil¬ 
lery, and a number of elephants, towards the Indus, to 
decide in one fignal aftion the fate of the empire. Upon 
the laft day of Rigib, in the year of the hegira 962, Se- 
cunder, with great judgment and military (kill, drew up 
the Patan forces, and offered battle. Humaioon, far 
from declining the challenge, drew out the Mogul army. 
He gave the command of the right wing to his faithful 
omrah Byram ; and of the left to another chief of equal 
valour and fidelity. He took his own ftation in the centre, 
with his valiant ion Akbar by his fide; and advanced 
with a firm but flow ftep towards the enemy, who waited 
for the attack. The aftion was moil obftinately difputed, 
and continued doubtful for fome time. Humaioon, and 
his gallant general Byram, difplayed equal bravery and 
prefence of mind ; while the young prince Akbar diftin- 
. guiflied himfelf by many afts of great perfonal valour. 
The enemy at lad were driven off' the field with great 
{laughter, and Secunder fled with precipitation to the 
mountains of Sewalic for fhelter and fafety. 
After this decifive viftory, the Mogul army entered 
Delhi in triumph. But the end of the reign of Humaioon 
now rapidly approached. In the evening of the feventh 
of the firfl: Ribbi, Humaioon walked out upon the terrace 
of the palace in Delhi, and fat down for fome time to en¬ 
joy the frefli air. But/ as he was defeending the deps of 
the daircafe from the terrace, he was feized with an apo¬ 
plectic fit, and fell. 1-Ie was taken up infenfible, and laid 
upon his bed; he fome time afterwards recovered his 
fpeech ; but on the eleventh of the fame month he died. 
He was buried in the new city, by the fide of the river; 
and a noble 'maufoleum was erefted over him, fome years 
after, by his ion Akbar. Humaioon died at the age of 
fifty-one, after a perplexed and chequered reign of twenty- 
five years in Cabul and India, in the year of the hegira 
963, A. D. 1555. 
RESTORATION of the MOGUL DYNASTY in the 
PERSON of the RENOWNED AKBAR. 
On the death of Humaioon, Akbar, though then at a 
great didance from the capital, was proclaimed emperor 
by the omrahs and generals of the imperial army. On 
his arrival at Delhi, all the efforts of his power and mind 
were called into aftion, for the edablifhment of order in 
his capital, and vigour in his army. For iome time he 
Jiad entraded the reins of the government to Byram ; 
but that able chief had become arrogant in oonfecjuence 
of his high authority, and had involved the omrahs m dif- 
a deft ion and rebellion. Akbar, therefore, taking the 
fupreme, authority, and the command of, the army, into 
his own handf, foon found himfelf obliged to ufe his 
ntmod force agai nd the impregnable fortrefs of Chitore, 
fituated in theprovir.ee of Mhlva, on the fummitof a lofty 
mountain, twelve miles in compafs, and only accefiible 
by one narrow path cut out of the {olid rock. This for¬ 
trefs had refilled for ages the arms of the kings of Delhi; 
and had never known a conqueror, except in the renowned 
Alla ul Dien. It was now governed by jamel, a dauntlefs 
rajah, who had invaded the Mogul provinces, and bade 
defiance to their authority. Akbar thought, with pro¬ 
priety, that the capture of it would drike'terror into the 
neighbouring rajahs, and give fplendour to his rifing fame. 
He therefore furrounded the hill with a vaft army, and 
laid clofe fiege to the fortrefs, battering its walls ince.f- 
iantly with Ills cannon for feverai. months. Little fuccefs, 
O S T A N. 
however, crowned Ids efforts. His troops became wearied 
by the tedioufnefs of the fiege, and diminiflied by the 
frequent and vigorous Tallies of the beiieged. * A mine at 
length being fprung, -the befiegers, boldly ruffling in at 
the breach, made a great flaughter of the garrifon. Jamel 
determined neither to be fubdued nor taken; but threw 
himfelf, fabre in hand, aniidft the thickeft of the enemy, 
and there heroically perilhed. Akbar, in commemoration 
of this fignal exploit, as well as in veneration of that va¬ 
lour which he knew how to prize even in an enemy, cau- 
fed the ftatues of Jamel, and Polta, his brother and prin¬ 
cipal commander, rpounted on elephants, to be erefted 
on each fide of the gate of his palace at Delhi. 
In,the year 1570, intelligence reached Akbar, that his 
brother Mohammed Hakim, whom he had appointed his 
viceroy in Cabul, had thrown off his allegiance, and was 
ravaging Lahore at the head of thirty thoufand horfe. 
The fultan immediately fet forward to oppofe him; and 
with incredible fpeed arrived at,Sirhind, where the inva¬ 
ding enemy, being taken by furprife, were at once panic- 
ftruck, and fled to the mountains in great diforder. From 
this flrort feene of aftion, Akbar was called into the pro¬ 
vince of Bengal, where Ziman Khan and Bahadur Khan 
had affirmed the fovereign authority, and were befieging 
Lucknow. With unheard-of rapidity Akbar arrived on 
the banks of the Jumna; where falling luddenly on the 
revolvers, he drove them from their encampment, purfued 
their flying battalions with prodigious flaughter ;*and the 
rebellious chieftains, being overtaken in their flight, fuf- 
fered the punifhment due to their perfidy; the former be¬ 
ing trampled to death, and the latter ftrangled on the 
fpof. 
An interval of peace nqw fucceeaing, Akbar removed 
his court from Delhi to Agra, which he determined to 
make his principal refidence. The old town being much 
decayed, and the palace were the Patan kings had refided 
very incommodious, he refolved to rebuild them both ; 
and that in a manner becoming the auguft monarch of lo 
mighty an empire. Under this impreffion the fultan raifed 
Agra to an eminence in fplendour, beauty, and renown, 
which no city in India, not even Delhi itfelf, had ever 
before enjoyed. Indeed ail the projects of Akbar were 
vaft and cofnprehenfive, like the enlarged mind that form¬ 
ed them ; hence his palace, as noticed at the beginning 
of this article, emulated even that of king Solomon. It 
was built in the form of a crefcent, along the banks of 
the Jumna, which becomes at this place a very confidera- 
b'e river. Its lofty walls were compofed of ftones of an 
enormous fize, hard as marble, and of a reddiffi colour, 
refembling jafper, which at a diftance, in the rays of the 
fun, gave it a radiated and beautiful appearance. It was 
four miles in extent, and confifted of three courts, adorn¬ 
ed with many {lately porticoes, galleries, and turrets, all 
richly painted and gilded, and fome even overlaid with 
plates of gold. The firft court, built round with arches 
that gave a perpetual fliade, fo defirable amidft the heats 
of a burning climate, was intended for the imperial guard ; 
the fecond for the great omrahs and minifters of ftate, 
who had their feverai apartments for the tranfaftion of 
the public bufinefs ; and the third court, within which 
was contained the feraglio, confifted entirely of the ftate- 
apartments of the fultan himfelf; hung round with the 
richeft filks of Perfia, and glittering with a profufion of 
Indian wealth. Behind thefe were the royal gardens, laid 
out in the moft exquiftte tafte, and decorated with all that 
could feail the eye, or gratify the appetite : fhades of the 
deepeft verdure ; grottos of refrefiiing coolnefs ; fruits of 
exquifite flavour ; fountains that never ceafed to flow 3 
mulic that foothed the rugged foul to reft. -In-the front 
of the palace, towards the river, a large area was con- 
Itrufted for the exercife of the elephants, and the battles 
of wild beafts, in which the fultans took great delight; 
and in a park of vaft extent, that feparated the palace 
from the city, a numerous army conftantly encamped, 
whofe 
