HINDOOSTAN, 
at his feet. Ferifhta, vol.i. p.221. With the fame vi¬ 
gorous arm he repelled the barbarians of the north; and 
reduced the lavage mountaineers of thefouth. The Khan 
of Ulbeck Tartary trembled at the name of Akbar; the 
determined race of Rajapouts, the molt unconquerable 
clafs of Hindoo foldiers, bowed before him ; and the fo- 
vereigns of Vifiapour and Golconda exhaufled their trea- 
l'ures to purchale his forbearance and protection. His 
generofity and clemency were unbounded. To him may 
be attributed the glory of eltablifhing on a firm bafis that 
mighty empire, of which Baber laid the foundation in 
Hindoottan; which Humaioon had nearly loll; but which 
was left to be reltored and perfected by the vigour and 
enterprife of the refiltlefs Akbar. 
We mult not, in this place, withhold from the public 
eye, (an expreflion which may be warranted to us, after 
having fupplied a demand for this Encyclopasdia to up¬ 
wards of Eight Thousand Subscribers,) the highly- 
finilhed character of Akbar, which the Rev. Mr. Maurice 
has given of that renowned fovereign, in his Modern Hif- 
tory of Hindoollan;—a work which we ardently recom¬ 
mend to all who are folicitous for authentic records, 
and genuine information, whether ancient or modern, re¬ 
lative ! to the molt important affairs of the Ealtern World. 
This noble character Mr. Maurice exprefies in the follow¬ 
ing words: 
“ In civil and domeltic concerns he was a bright ex¬ 
emplar to all the potentates of the earth. The Ayeen 
Akbeiy'contains the noblelt inltitutes ever promulged for 
the government of an Afiatic empire, and at the fame 
time abounds with the molt enlarged and liberal fenti- 
ments in religion and morals, at a period, and in a coun¬ 
try, in which the former was polluted by the bafelt fuper- 
ftition, and the latter had become aimoit an empty name. 
The profelfor of Mohammedifm, while he fhuddered at 
the confequence of an omitted ablution, fcrupled not to 
commit aCts of the molt fanguinary atrocity, and wal¬ 
lowed in all the turpitude or' inceltuous and unnatural 
lull. Inltead of exterminating, with the remorfelefs fury 
of his bigotted predeceflors, the race of patient and timid 
Hindoos^ trampling to the earth their beloved idols, the 
fymbols of the attributes of God, and plundering and 
burning their augult and venerable Ihrines, Akbar nobly 
and wifely extended to them the tolerating fyltem of their 
own benevolent creed; gave inviolable fecurity to their 
perfons, andunfhaken liability to their property. He was 
alfo, in a high degree, the friend and patron of letters and 
genius, of which Abul Fazil and many other learned 
men, carelfed and penfioned at his court, are illultrious 
proofs. He ardently encouraged commerce, both domef- 
tic and foreign; and, if we may believe the Portuguefe 
hiltorians, he not only allowed the merchants of their na¬ 
tion, fettled at Agra, molt extenfive immunities, but built 
them a church in that city. In Frafer’s more authentic 
publication may be leen the tranllation of a very curious 
letter from this monarch to the king of Portugal, dated 
A. H. 990, or A. D. 158a, in which he requefts of him to 
fend him an Arabic or Perfian tranfiation of the Scrip¬ 
tures, and with it proper perfons to explain its genuine 
principles. That this letter, as Frafer hints, never went 
farther than Goa, is a circumltance, on many accounts, 
greatly to be lamented. In Ihort, the hillory of Alia 
fcarcely exhibits a parallel to Akbar, either in extent and 
grandeur of his deiigns, the vigour and wifdom of his 
counfels, his moderation in peace, or his fuccefs and glory 
in war. The verdure of the double laurel which he ob¬ 
tained in the field of fcience and arms Kill blooms with 
unfading lultre 5 a lullre that illumines, though it can no 
longer animate, the fallen defcendants of the great Timur.” 
It was in this reign that our renowned queen Elizabeth 
firft granted a charter for the purpofe of erecting a com¬ 
mercial eftablifhment in the Eaft-Indies ; which judicious 
plan was followed up by her immediate fucceffor James I. 
Upon the death of Akbar, his fon, Selim Shah, who 
now afcended the throne of Hindoollan, aifumed the fur- 
43 
name of Jehanguir, or “ Conqueror of the World.” He 
was born at Fettipore, Augult, 1569, and was crowned 
on the 21 ft of Oftober, 1605, in the thirty-fixth year of 
his age. He had not reigned above fix months, when his 
eldelt fon Khofro, role up in rebellion againlt him. In this 
extraordinary event, the hand of Providence feemed to 
exert itfelf, in order that he, wliofe unprovoked rebellion 
had embittered the. laft days of an affectionate father, 
fhould in his turn feel the bitter pangs which are inflicted 
by the unnatural revolt of a beloved fon. 
This foul meafure was upheld by two principal omrahs, 
Haflan Beg and Abdulrahim; and the fcene of ufurpa- 
tion was in the diftant province of Lahore. To crulh 
thele infurgents, Jehanguir began his march at the head 
of an army too powerful to be contended with by troops 
fo inferior both in number and difcipline. The very dread 
of the fultan’s approach unnerved the finews of their rafli 
leaders; and on the firft attack the rebels gave way on 
every fide, and the rout became univerfal. Not only the 
two generals, but the prince himfelf, in his flight towards 
Lahore, was taken by his purfuers ; and, being placed on 
an elephant, was conducted to the royal camp. Early in 
the morning, Khofro was brought before his father, with 
a chain of gold fattened from his left hand to the left foot, 
according to the laws of Gengis Khan. On the right 
hand of the prince Hood Haflan Beg, and on his left Ab¬ 
dulrahim. Khofro trembled and wept. He was ordered 
into confinement; but Haflan Beg was fewed up in the 
raw hide of an ox, and Abdulrahim in that of an afs, and 
both were led about the town on afles, with their faces 
towards the tail. The ox's hide became fo dry and con¬ 
tracted under the rays of the feorching iun, that before 
the evening Haflan Beg was fuffocated; but the afs’s hide 
being kept moiltened with water by the friends of Ab¬ 
dulrahim, he furvived, and afterwards obtained the ful¬ 
tan’s pardon. From the garden of Kamran to the city of 
Lahore, two rows of iharp flakes were fixed deep in the 
ground, upon which many of the rebels w r ere impaled 
alive; and the unhappy Khofro, chained to an elephant, 
was led, during the execution, through the ranks of thefe 
wretched fufferers. At the lhocking fight of three hun¬ 
dred of his principal adherents, whom he had been the in- 
llniment of caufing thus to be writhing on flakes, the ill- 
fated prince declared to his father that he alone deferved 
death, and that his life might be made the atonement for 
thofe brave men, whom his folly and wickednefs had be¬ 
guiled from their duty. Thefe fentiments of contrition 
appear to have had but little weight with the fultan ; for 
he not only ordered his fon into confinement, but fen- 
tenced him to the lofs of his eyes. 
The inexorable difpoiition of Jehanguir towards offend¬ 
ing criminals feems to have manifefted itfelf at an early pe» 
riod of his reign; for, according to the hiiloriah Glad¬ 
win, the firft public order which he iflued, after his accef- 
fion to the throne, was for the conftruction of the “gol¬ 
den chain of juftice.” It was made of pure gold, and 
meafured thirty yards, confiding of fixty links, weighing 
four maunds of Hindoollan. One end of the chain was 
fulpended from the royal baftion of the fortrefs of Agra, 
and the other fattened in the ground near the lide of the 
river. The intention of this extraordinary invention was, 
that if the officers of the courts of law were partial in. 
their decifions, or dilatory in the adminiftration of juftice,.. 
the injured parties might come themfelves to this chain, 
and making a noife, by lhaking the links of it, give no¬ 
tice that they were waiting to reprefent their grievances 
to the fultan in perfon. It was in this reign that the firft 
ambaflador, lirThomas Roe, lent from the Englifh nation, 
had an audience at the imperial court of Hindoollan. Je¬ 
hanguir, after being fatiated with immolating his rebel¬ 
lious fubjects, and tired of the noife and tumult of war, 
eagerly returned to his luxuriant palace in Agra, to fo- 
lace himfelf in the fofter toils of the harem. Inflamed 
with the irrefiftible charms of the fair Nourmahal, wife of 
Shere Af kun, a gallant officer, whom the fultan had bafely 
facriiiced 
1 
