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The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan, by H. G. Keene
THE FALL OF THE MOGHUL EMPIRE OF HINDUSTAN,
A NEW EDITION,
WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.
1887
PREFACE.
Two editions of this book having been absorbed, it has been
thought that the time was come for its reproduction in a form
more adapted to the use of students. Opportunity has been taken
to introduce considerable additions and emendations.
The rise and meridian of the Moghul Empire have been related in
Elphinstone's " History of India: the Hindu and Mahometan Period;
" and a Special Study of the subject will Also be found in the "
Sketch of the History of Hindustan" published by the present
writer in 1885. Neither of those works, however, undertakes to
give a detailed account of the great Anarchy that marked the
conclusion of the eighteenth century, the dark time that came
before the dawn of British power in the land of the Moghul. Nor
is there is any other complete English book on the Subject.
The present work is, therefore, to be regarded as a monograph on
the condition of the capital and neighbouring territories, from
the murder of Alamgir II. in 1759 to the occupation of Dehli by
Lake in 1803. Some introductory chapters are prefixed, with the
view of showing how these events were prepared; and an account of
the campaign of 1760-1 has been added, because it does not seem
to have been hitherto related on a scale proportioned to its
importance. That short but desperate struggle is interesting as
the last episode of medi¾val war, when battles could be decided
by the action of mounted men in armour. It is also the sine qua
non of British Empire in India. Had the Mahrattas not been
conquered then, it is exceedingly doubtful if the British power
in the Bengal Presidency would ever have extended beyond Benares.
The author would wish to conclude this brief explanation by
reproducing the remarks which concluded the Preface to his second
edition.
"There were two dangers," it was there observed; "the first, that
of giving too much importance to the period; the second, that of
attempting to illustrate it by stories — such as those of Clive
and Hastings — which had been told by writers with whom
competition was out of the question. Brevity, therefore, is
studied; and what may seem baldness will be found to be a
conciseness, on which much pains have been bestowed."
"The narrative," it was added, "is one of confusion and
transition; and chiefly interesting in so far as it throws light
on the circumstances which preceded and caused the accession of
the East India Company to paramount power in India." The author
has only to add an expression of his hope that, in conjunction
with Mr. S. Owen's book, what he has here written may help to
remove doubts as to the benefits derived by the people of India
from the Revolution under consideration.
Finally, mention should be made of Mr. Elphinstone's posthumous
work, "The Rise of British Power in the East." That work does
not, indeed, clash with the present book; for it did not enter
into the scope of the distinguished author to give the native
side of the story, or to study it from the point of view here
presented. For the military and political aims and operations of
the early British officers in Madras and Bengal, however,
Elphinstone will be found a valuable guide. His narrative bears
to our subject a relation similar to that of the "Roman de Rou"
to the history of the Carling Empire of Northern France.
OXFORD, 1887.
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.
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