The Fall Of The Moghul Empire Of Hindustan

CONTENTS.

PART I.

CHAPTER I

Preliminary Observations on Hindustan and the City of Dehli

CHAPTER II.

Greatness of the Timurides

Causes of Empire’s decline

Character of Aurungzeb

Progress of disruption under his descendants

Muhamadan and Hindu enemies

The stage emptied

CHAPTER III.

Muhamad Shah

CHAPTER IV.

Ahmad Shah

Alamgir II.

CHAPTER V,

Afghan invasion

CHAPTER VI.

Overthrow of Mahrattas at Panipat

PART II.

CHAPTER I.

A.D. 1760-67.

1760. Movements of Shahzada Ali Gohar, after escaping from Dehli

            Shojaa-ud-Daulal

            His Character

            Ramnarayan defeated

            M. Law

1761. Battle of Gaya

1762. March towards Hindustan

1763. Massacre of Patna

1764. Flight of Kasim and Sumroo

            Battle of Buxar

1705.   Treaty with British

1767.   Establishment at Allahabad

            Legal position

CHAPTER II.

A.D. 1764-71.

1764. Najib-ud-Daula at Dehli

       Mirza Jawan Bakht Regent

            The Jats

            The Jats attacked by Najib

            Death of Suraj Mal

1765. Jats attack Jaipur .

1766. Return of Mahrattas

1767. Ahmad Abdali defeats Sikhs .

1768. Mahrattas attack Bhartpur

1770. Rohillas yield to them

            Death of Najib-ud-Daula

            State of Rohilkand

            Zabita Khan .

1771. Mahrattas invite Emperor to return to Dehli

CHAPTER III.

A.D. 1771-76

           Agency of Restoration .

           Madhoji Sindhia

           Emperor’s return to Dehli.

1772.  Zabita Khan attacked by Imperial force under Mirza

           Najaf Khan

           Flight of Zabita

           Treaty with Rohillas

           Zabita regains office

           Mahrattas attack Dehli

1773.  Desperation of Mirza Najaf .

           Mahrattas attack Rohilkand .

           Opposed by British

           Advance of Audh troops

           Restoration of Mirza

           Abdul Ahid Khan

           Suspicious conduct of Rohillas

           Tribute withheld by H. Rahmat

1774.  Battle of Kattra

1775.  Death of Shojaa-ud-Daula

           Zabita Khan rejoins Jats

           Najaf Kuli Khan

           Successes of Imperial army

1776.  Zabita and the Sikhs

           Death of Mir Kasim

CHAPTER IV.

A.D. 1776-85

                Vigour of Empire under M. Najaf

                Zabita rebels again

1777. Emperor takes the field .

            And the rebellion is suppressed

            Sumroo’s Jaigir

1778. Abdul Ahid takes the field against the Sikhs

            Unsuccessful campaign

1779. Sikhs plunder Upper Doab

            Dehli threatened, but relieved

1780. Mirza Najaf’s arrangements

            Popham takes Gwalior

            Death of Sumroo

1781. Begam becomes a Christian

1782. Death of Mirza

            Consequent transactions

            Afrasyab Khan becomes Premier

            Mirza Shaffi at Dehli

1783. Murder of Shaffi

            Action of Warren Hastings

1784. Flight of Shahzadah Jawan Bakht

            Madhoji Sindhia goes to Agra

            Afrasyab murdered

1785. Tribute demanded from British, but refused

            Death of Zabita

            Sindhia supreme

            Chalisa Famine

            State of Country

CHAPTER V.

A.D. 1786-88.

1786. Gholam Kadir succeeds his father Zabita

            Siege of Raghogarh

1787. British policy

            Measures of Sindhia

            Rajput confederacy

            Battle of Lalsot

            Mohammed Beg’s death

            Defection of his nephew Ismail Beg

            Greatness of Sindhia

            Gholam Kadir enters Dehli

            But checked by Begam Sumroo and Najaf Kuli

            Gholam Kadir joins Ismail Beg

1788. Battle of Chaksana

            Emperor proceeds towards Rajputana

            Shahzada writes to George III.

            Najaf Kuli rebels

            Death of Shahzada

            Siege of Gokalgarh

            Emperor’s return to Dehli

            Battles of Fatihpur and Firozabad

            Confederates meet at Dehli

            Sindhia is inactive

            Benoit de Boigne

CHAPTER VI.

A.D. 1788

Defection of Moghuls and retreat of Hindu Guards

Confederates obtain possession of palace

Emperor deposed

Palace plundered

Gholam Kadir in the palace

Emperor blinded

Approach of Mahrattas

Apprehensions of the spoiler

Moharram at Dehli

Explosion in palace

Gholam Kadir flies to Meerut

His probable intentions

His capture and punishment

Sindhia’s measures

Future nature of narrative

Poetical lament of Emperor

PART III.

CHAPTER I.

A.D. 1788 - 94.

       Sindhia as Mayor of palace

       British policy

1789. Augmentation of Sindhia’s Army

1790. Ismail Beg joins the Rajput rising

       Battle of Patan

       Sindhia at Mathra

       Siege of Ajmir

       Jodhpur Raja

       Battle of Mirta

       Rivals alarmed

       French officers

1792. Sindhia’s progress to Puna

       Holkar advances in his absence

       Ismail Beg taken prisoner

       Battle of Lakhairi

       Sindhia rebuked by Lord Cornwallis

       His great power

       Rise of George Thomas

1793. He quits Begam’s service

       Sindhia at Punah

1794. His death and character

CHAPTER II.

A.D. 1794 - 1800.

       Daulat Rao Sindhia

       Thomas adopted by Appa Khandi Rao

1795. Revolution at Sardhana

       Begum delivered by Thomas

       Becomes a wiser woman

       Movements of Afghans

       Battle of Kurdla

1796. De Boigne retires

1797. General Perron

       Musalman intrigues

       Afghans checked

       Succession in Audh

1798 War of the Bais

1799. Afghans and British, and treaty with the Nizam

       Rising of Shimbunath

       Thomas independent

       Revolt of Lakwa Dada

1801. Holkar defeated at Indor

       Power of Perron

CHAPTER III.

A.D. 1801-3.

       Feuds of Mahrattas

       Perron attacks Thomas

       Thomas falls

1802. Treaty of Bassein

1803. Marquis of Wellesley

       Supported from England

       Fear entertained of the French

       Sindhia threatened

       Influence of Perron

       Plans of the French

       The First Consul.

       Wellesley’s views

       War declared

       Lake’s Force

       Sindhia’s European officers

       Anti-English feelings, and fall of Perron

       Battle of Dehli

       Lake enters the capital

       Is received by Emperor

       No treaty made

CHAPTER IV.

CONCLUSION

Effect of climate upon race

Early immigrants

Early French and English

Empire not overthrown by British

Perron’s administration

Changes since then

The Talukdars

Lake’s friendly intentions towards them

Their power curbed

No protection for life, property, or traffic

Uncertain reform without foreign aid

     Concluding remarks

APPENDIX.

THE FALL OF THE MOGHUL EMPIRE OF HINDUSTAN.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

Preliminary Observations on Hindustan and the City of Dehli.

THE country to which the term Hindustan is strictly and properly applied may be roughly described as a rhomboid, bounded on the north-west by the rivers Indus and Satlej, on the south-west by the Indian Ocean, on the south-east by the Narbadda and the Son, and on the north-east by the Himalaya Mountains and the river Ghagra. In the times of the emperors, it comprised the provinces of Sirhind (or Lahore), Rajputana, Gujrat, Malwa, Audh (including Rohilkand, strictly Rohelkhand, the country of the Rohelas, or Rohillas of the Histories), Agra, Allahabad, and Dehli: and the political division was into subahs, or divisions, sarkars or districts; dasturs, or sub-divisions; and parganahs, or fiscal unions.

The Deccan, Panjab (Punjab), and Kabul, which also formed parts of the Empire in its widest extension at the end of the seventeenth century, are omitted, as far as possible, from notice, because they did not at the time of our narration form part of the territories of the Empire of Hindustan, though included in the territory ruled by the earlier and greater Emperors.

Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa also formed, at one time, an integral portion of the Empire, but fell away without playing an important part in the history we are considering, excepting for a very brief period. The division into Provinces will be understood by

reference to the map. Most of these had assumed a practical independence during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, though acknowledging a weak feudatory subordination to the Crown of Dehli.

The highest point in the plains of Hindustan is probably the plateau on which stands the town of Ajmir, about 230 miles south of Dehli. It is situated on the eastern slope of the Aravalli Mountains, a range of primitive granite, of which Abu, the chief peak, is estimated to be near 5,000 feet above the level of the sea; the plateau of Ajmir itself is some 3,000 feet lower.

The country at large is, probably, the upheaved basin of an exhausted sea which once rendered the highlands of the Deccan an island like a larger Ceylon. The general quality of the soil is accordingly sandy and light, though not unproductive; yielding, perhaps, on an average about one thousand lbs. av. of wheat to the acre. The cereals are grown in the winter, which is at least as cold as in the corresponding parts of Africa. Snow never falls, but thin ice is often formed during the night. During the spring heavy dews fall, and strong winds set in from the west.  These gradually become heated by the increasing radiation of the earth, as the sun becomes more vertical and the days longer.

Towards the end of May the monsoon blows up from the Indian Ocean and from the Bay of Bengal, when a rainfall averaging about twenty inches takes place and lasts during the ensuing quarter.  This usually ceases about the end of September, when the weather is at its most sickly point. Constant exhalations of malaria take place till the return of the cold weather.

After the winter, cacurbitaceous crops are grown, followed by sowings of rice, sugar, and cotton. About the beginning of the rainy season the millets and other coarse grains are put in, and the harvesting takes place in October. The winter crops are reaped in March and April. Thus the agriculturists are never out of employ, unless it be during the extreme heats of May and June, when the soil becomes almost as hard from heat as the earth in England becomes in the opposite extreme of frost.

Of the hot season Mr. Elphinstone gives the following strong but just description: — The sun is scorching, even the wind is hot, the land is brown and parched, the dust flies in whirlwinds, all brooks become dry, small rivers scarcely keep up a stream, and the largest are reduced to comparative narrow channels in the midst of vast sandy beds. It should, however, be added, that towards the end of this terrible season some relief is afforded to the river supply by the melting of the snow upon the higher Himalayas, which sends down some water into the almost exhausted stream-beds. But even so, the occasional prolongation of the dry weather leads to universal scarcity which amounts to famine for the mass of the population, which affects all classes, and which is sure to be followed by pestilence. Lastly, the malaria noticed above as following the monsoon gives rise to special disorders which become endemic in favouring localities, and travel thence to all parts of the country, borne upon the winds or propagated by pilgrimages and other forms of human intercourse. Such are the awful expedients by which Nature checks the redundancy of a non-emigrating population with simple wants. Hence the construction of drainage and irrigation-works has not merely a direct result in causing temporary prosperity, but an indirect result in a large increase of the responsibilities of the ruling power. Between 1848 and 1854 the population of the part of Hindustan now called the North-West Provinces, where all the above described physical features prevail, increased from a ratio of 280 to the square mile till it reached a ratio of 350. In the subsequent sixteen years there was a further increase. The latest rate appears to be from 378 to 468, and the rate of increase is believed to be about equal to that of the British Islands.

There were at the time of which we are to treat few field-labourers on daily wages, the Metayer system being everywhere prevalent where the soil was not actually owned by joint-stock associations of peasant proprietors, usually of the same tribe.

The wants of the cultivators were provided for by a class of hereditary brokers, who were often also chandlers, and advanced stock, seed, and money upon the security of the unreaped crops.

These, with a number of artisans and handicraftsmen, formed the chief population of the towns; some of the money-dealers were very rich, and 36 per cent. per annum was not perhaps an extreme rate of interest. There were no silver or gold mines, external commerce hardly existed, and the money-price of commodities was low.

The literary and polite language of Hindustan, called Urdu or Rekhta, was, and still is, so far common to the whole country, that it everywhere consists of a mixture of the same elements, though in varying proportions; and follows the same grammatical rules, though with different accents and idioms. The constituent parts are the Arabised Persian, and the Prakrit (in combination with a ruder basis, possibly of local origin), known as Hindi.  Speaking loosely, the Persian speech has contributed nouns substantive of civilization, and adjectives of compliment or of science; while the verbs and ordinary vocables and particles pertaining to common life are derived from the earlier tongues.  So, likewise, are the names of animals, excepting those of beasts of chase.

The name Urdu, by which this language is usually known, is said to be of Turkish origin, and means literally camp. But the Moghuls of India first introduced it in the precincts of the Imperial camp; so that as Urdu-i-muali (High or Supreme Camp) came to be a synonym for new Dehli after Shahjahan had made it his permanent capital, so Urdu-ki-zaban meant the lingua franca spoken at Dehli. It was the common method of communication between different classes, as English may have been in London under Edward III. The classical languages of Arabia and Persia were exclusively devoted to uses of law, learning, and religion; the Hindus cherished their Sanskrit and Hindi for their own purposes of business or worship, while the Emperor and his Moghul courtiers kept up their Turkish speech as a means of free intercourse in private life. The Chaghtai dialect resembled the Turkish still spoken in Kashgar.

Out of such elements was the rich and still growing language of Hindustan formed, and it is yearly becoming more widely spread over the most remote parts of the country, being largely taught in Government schools, and used as a medium of translation from European literature, both by the English and by the natives. For this purpose it is peculiarly suited, from still possessing the power of assimilating foreign roots, instead of simply inserting them cut and dried, as is the case with languages that have reached maturity. Its own words are also liable to a kind of chemical change when encountering foreign matter (e.g., jau, barley: when oats were introduced some years ago, they were at once called jaui — little barley).

The peninsula of India is to Asia what Italy is to Europe, and Hindustan may be roughly likened to Italy without the two Sicilies, only on a far larger scale. In this comparison the Himalayas represent the Alps, and the Tartars to the north are the Tedeschi of India; Persia is to her as France, Piedmont is represented by Kabul, and Lombardy by the Panjab. A recollection of this analogy may not be without use in familiarizing the narrative which is to follow.

Such was the country into which successive waves of invaders, some of them, perhaps, akin to the actual ancestors of the Goths, Huns, and Saxons of Europe, poured down from the plains of Central Asia. At the time of which our history treats, the aboriginal Indians had long been pushed out from Hindustan into the mountainous forests that border the Deccan; which country has been largely peopled, in its more accessible regions, by the Sudras, who were probably the first of the Scythian invaders.  After them had come the Sanskrit-speaking race, a congener of the ancient Persians, who brought a form of fire-worshipping, perhaps once monotheistic, of which traces are still extant in the Vedas, their early Scriptures. This form of faith becoming weak and eclectic, was succeeded by a reaction, which, under the auspices of Gautama, obtained general currency, until in its turn displaced by the gross mythology of the Puranas, which has since been the popular creed of the Hindus.

This people in modern times has divided into three main denominations: the Sarawagis or Jains (who represent some sect allied to the Buddhists or followers of Gautama); the sect of Shiva, and the sect of Vishnu.

In addition to the Hindus, later waves of immigration have deposited a Musalman population — somewhat increased by the conversions that occurred under Aurangzeb. The Mohamadans are now about one-seventh of the total population of Hindustan; and there is no reason to suppose that this ratio has greatly varied since the fall of the Moghuls.

The Mohamadans in India preserved their religion, though not without some taint from the circumjacent idolatry. Their celebration of the Moharram, with tasteless and extravagant ceremonies, and their forty days’ fast in Ramzan, were alike misplaced in a country where, from the movable nature of their dates, they sometimes fell in seasons when the rigour of the climate was such as could never have been contemplated by the Arabian Prophet. They continued the bewildering lunar year of the Hijra, with its thirteenth month every third year; but, to increase the confusion, the Moghul Emperors also reckoned by Turkish cycles while the Hindus tenaciously maintained in matters of business their national Sambat, or era of Raja Bikram Ajit.

The Emperor Akbar, in the course of his endeavours to fuse the peoples of India into a whole, endeavoured amongst other things to form a new religion. This, it was his intention, should be at once a vindication of his Tartar and Persian forefathers against Arab proselytism, and a bid for the suffrages of his Hindu subjects. Like most eclectic systems it failed. In and after his time also Christianity in its various forms has been feebly endeavouring to maintain a footing. This is a candid report, from a source that cannot but be trusted, of the result of three centuries of Missionary labour.

There is nothing which can at all warrant the opinion that the heart of the people has been largely touched, or that the conscience of the people has been affected seriously. There is no advance in the direction of faith in Christ, like that which Pliny describes, or Tertullian proclaims as characteristic of former eras. In fact, looking at the work of Missions on the broadest scale, and especially upon that of our own Missions, we must confess that, in many cases, the condition is one rather of stagnation than of advance. There seems to be a want in them of the power to edify, and a consequent paralysis of the power to convert. The converts, too often, make such poor progress in the Christian life, that they fail to act as leaven in the lump of their countrymen. In particular, the Missions do not attract to Christ many men of education; not even among those who have been trained within their own schools. Educated natives, as a general rule, will stand apart from the truth; maintaining, at the best, a state of mental vacuity which hangs suspended, for a time, between an atheism, from which they shrink, and a Christianity, which fails to overcome their fears and constrain their allegiance. — Extract from Letter of the Anglican Bishops of India, addressed to the English Clergy, in May, 1874.

The capital cities of Northern India have always been Dehli and Agra; the first-named having been the seat of the earlier Musalman Empires, while the Moghuls, for more than a full century, preferred to hold their Court at Agra. This dynasty, however, re-transferred the metropolis to the older situation; but, instead of attempting to revive any of the pristine localities, fixed their palace and its environs upon a new—and a preferable—piece of ground.

If India be the Italy of Asia, still more properly may it be said that Dehli is its Rome. This ancient site stretches ruined for many miles round the present inhabited area, and its original foundation is lost in a mythical antiquity. A Hindu city called Indraprastha was certainly there on the bank of the Jamna near the site of the present city before the Christian era, and various Mohamadan conquerors occupied sites in the neighbourhood, of which numerous remains are still extant. There was also a city near the present Kutb Minar, built by a Hindu rajah, about 57 B.C. according to General Cunningham. This was the original (or old) Dilli or Dehli, a name of unascertained origin. It appears to have been deserted during the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni, but afterwards rebuilt about 1060 A.D. The last built of all the ancient towns was the Din Panah of Humayun, nearly on the site of the old Hindu town; but it had gone greatly to decay during the long absence of his son and grandson at Agra and elsewhere.

At length New Dehli—the present city—was founded by Shahjahan, the great-grandson of Humayun, and received the name, by which it is still known to Mohamudans, of Shahjahanabad. The city is seven miles round, with seven gates, the palace or citadel one-tenth of the area. Both are a sort of irregular semicircle on the right bank of the Jamna, which river forms their eastern arc. The plain is about 800 feet above the level of the sea, and is bordered at some distance by a low range of hills, and receiving the drainage of the Mewat Highlands. The greatest heat is in June, when the mean temperature in the shade is 92¡ F.; but it falls as low as 53¡ in January. The situation—as will be seen by the map—is extremely well chosen as the administrative centre of Hindustan; it must always be a place of commercial importance, and the climate has no peculiar defect. The only local disorder is a very malignant sore, which may perhaps be due to the brackishness of the water. This would account for the numerous and expensive canals and aqueducts which have been constructed at different periods to bring water from remote and pure sources. Here Shahjahan founded, in 1645 A.D., a splendid fortified palace, which continued to be occupied by his descendants down to the Great Revolt of 1857.

The entrance to the palace was, and still is, defended by a lofty barbican, passing which the visitor finds himself in an immense arcaded vestibule, wide and lofty, formerly appropriated to the men and officers of the guard, but in later days tenanted by small shopkeepers. This opened into a courtyard, at the back of which was a gate surmounted by a gallery, where one used to hear the barbarous performances of the royal band. Passing under this, the visitor entered the ‘Am-Khas or courtyard, much fallen from its state, when the rare animals and the splendid military pageants of the earlier Emperors used to throng its area.  Fronting you was the Diwan-i-Am (since converted into a canteen), and at the back (towards the east or river) the Diwan-i-Khas, since adequately restored. This latter pavilion is in echelon with the former, and was made to communicate on both sides with the private apartments.

On the east of the palace, and connected with it by a bridge crossing an arm of the river, is the ancient Pathan fort of Salimgarh, a rough and dismal structure, which the later Emperors used as a state prison. It is a remarkable contrast to the rest of the fortress, which is surrounded by crenellated walls of high finish. These walls being built of the red sandstone of the neighbourhood, and seventy feet in height, give to the exterior of the buildings a solemn air of passive and silent strength, so that, even after so many years of havoc, the outward appearance of the Imperial residence continues to testify of its former grandeur. How its internal and actual grandeur perished will be seen in the following pages. The Court was often held at Agra, where the remains of a similar palace are still to be seen. No detailed account of this has been met with at all rivalling the contemporary descriptions of the Red Palace of Dehli. But an attempt has been made to represent its high and palmy state in the General Introduction to the History of Hindustan by the present writer.

Of the character of the races who people the wide Empire of which Dehli was the metropolis, very varying estimates have been formed, in the most extreme opposites of which there is still some germ of truth. It cannot be denied that, in some of what are termed the unprogressive virtues, they exceeded, as their sons still exceed, most of the nations of Europe; being usually temperate, self-controlled, patient, dignified in misfortune, and affectionate and liberal to kinsfolk and dependents. Few things perhaps show better the good behaviour — one may almost say the good breeding — of the ordinary native than the sight of a crowd of villagers going to or returning from a fair in Upper India.  The stalwart young farmers are accompanied by their wives; each woman in her coloured wimple, with her shapely arms covered nearly