mosque.

66

Ali," he said, was only the son-in-law of CHAP, VIII. the Prophet; he was not under the cloak, he was not the offspring of Muhammad. To praise Ali and his family, whilst omitting the names of the three Khalifs who went before him, was contrary to the fundamental principles of Islam."

at Delhi.

The Shíahs were equally hot on the other side. The Shfah outbreak three Khalifs were usurpers; Ali, and Ali alone, was the rightful successor of the Prophet. Another Friday came round; the Sunní zealot once again mounted the pulpit to launch his thunders against this soul-destroying heresy. A number of young Persian Shíahs placed themselves in front, displaying rosaries and amulets of the sacred clay of Kerbela, in which the remains of Ali had been buried. The sight was too much for the thousands of Sunnís that formed the bulk of the congregation. They rushed upon the heretics, drove them out of the mosque, and murdered not a few in the righteous determination of teaching the world who was, and who was not, the rightful successor of the glorious Prophet, the beloved of Allah.

Govind.

In the midst of these troubles there was stirring Death of Guru news from the Punjab. Two sons of Guru Govind had been taken prisoners and put to death. The Guru was hunted down like a wild beast. He took refuge in a remote stronghold far away from his family. He was delivered from his forced captivity by some Afghans. They waited until his beard was grown, and then clothed him in the blue garb of an Afghan highlander, and palmed him off as an Afghan saint. From that day the length of beard and the blue garb became the distinctive marks of the Sikhs. But Guru Govind was broken-hearted at the loss of his sons, and perished in a melancholy mania.

CHAP. VIII.

Massacre of
Sikhs under
Bandu Guru.

Fall of Amír
Jumla,

Bandu, a new chief, became the Guru of the Sikhs. This man is charged by Muhammadan writers with every atrocity of which human nature is capable. The Moghul commandant of Sirhind was stabbed to death by a Sikh fanatic whilst saying his prayers. The Moghul Viceroy of the Punjab fled in terror to Lahore. At last the Moghul Viceroy of Kashmír came down and routed the Sikhs. Bandu Guru was hunted from post to post like a savage of the jungle. He flung himself into the last stronghold of the Sikhs at Gurdaspur, about ten days' journey from Delhi. He was so closely invested that not a grain of corn could find its way within the walls. The beleaguered Sikhs devoured asses and food of the vilest description; they were even driven to eat the sacred flesh of cows. The famine brought on pestilence. At last the pangs of hunger drove them to surrender. Many were tied hand and foot and massacred. The remainder were bound on camels and carried off to Delhi, preceded by a ghastly. display of bleeding heads on pikes. At Delhi the prisoners were beheaded at the rate of a hundred a day. Not a man stirred, except to beg that he might be executed before his fellows. Bandu perished in every agony of mind and body that Asiatic malice could suggest; and the horrible details may well be dropped in oblivion.

About this time Amír Jumla suddenly arrived at Delhi from Patna. He had squandered all the public money; his army was in mutiny for want of pay; his life was threatened by the people of Bihar; and he had fled disguised as a woman in a veiled palanquin. The Emperor, however, would have nothing to say to him. Delhi was soon crowded by disbanded soldiers from Bihar, who clamoured for pay. At last Amír

Jumla was banished to Múltan, and something like CHAP. VIII. quiet was restored to the capital.

at Delhi,

The state of Delhi at this period is brought home English mission to Englishmen by the fact that there was an English mission at Delhi, which stayed there during two years. In 1715, two English merchants and an Armenian had gone from Calcutta to Delhi, accompanied by an English doctor named Hamilton, to lay the wrongs of the little factories at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta before the Emperor. They reported the course of events to their masters at Calcutta, as well as the progress of their mission. They specially dilated upon the breach between the Emperor and the Sayyids; the departure of Husain Ali Khan for the Dekhan; the sickness of the Emperor, which delayed his marriage with the Marwar princess; the death of Dáúd Khan; the arrival of Bandu the Sikh with two thousand heads set upon poles; the escapade of Amír Jumla, and disturbed state of the capital. The English doctor who accompanied the mission succeeded in curing the Emperor of his distemper. The mission got all they wanted after a protracted delay, but the doctor had the greatest possible difficulty in inducing the Moghul to permit him to return to Calcutta.2

Meanwhile the finances of the empire were in utter Alarms at Delhi. confusion. The Vizier, Abdulla Khan, had left the duties of his office in the hands of a Hindú deputy named Ratan Chand. There were monstrous abuses in the accounts. Jaghírs had been granted to worthless persons. Hindú defaulters were screened from justice by Ratan Chand. There was a talk amongst

2 The correspondence of this mission was published by the author in his "History of Madras in the Olden Time," vol. ii. It will also be found in the "Early Records of British India,” already quoted.

CHAP. VIII. the Muhammedans of resuming the Jaghírs granted to Hindus, and collecting Jezya from all who refused to become Muhammedans; and these threatening rumours only increased the general alarm.

Mahratta

ravages.

The crash.

Mahratta night at Delhi.

Farrukh Siyar

deposed.

Meanwhile the provinces were drifting into anarchy. The Mahrattas were ravaging towns and villages to enforce their claims to chout. The Moghul Viceroys sometimes defeated the Mahrattas, but, in the longrun, were helpless to resist their demands. The Vizier, Abdulla Khan, found that the Emperor and Sunní grandees were bent upon his ruin.

The crash came at last. Husain Ali Khan marched from the Dekhan to Delhi at the head of an army, including a force of Mahratta mercenaries. The people of Delhi were terrified at the appearance of the Mahrattas; they spread abroad the wildest rumours of pillage and massacre. Meanwhile the streets and bazars were occupied by the soldiery, and the palace was surrounded by the forces of the two Sayyids.

The last act of the drama was like a horrible dream. The wretched Emperor was praying the two Sayyids for forgiveness. They showed him the letter which he had written to Dáúd Khan ordering the destruction of Husain Ali Khan. At midnight there was uproar and screaming in the palace. Throughout the city there was a cry that the Mahrattas were plundering and slaughtering the inhabitants. The Mahrattas were assailed by the mob, and hundreds were slain. Some of the Mahratta saddles were broken open, and found full of gold; and the sight rendered the beholders more frantic than ever.

Suddenly there was a lull in the strife. The kettledrums were thundering at the palace gates; the firing of salutes was booming through the morning air.

Farrukh Siyar had ceased to reign; he was deprived CHAP. VIII. of sight, and lay trembling in a dungeon, from which there was to be no deliverance save by the dagger or bowstring. A captive prince was taken out of the state prison of Selimghur, which adjoined the palace, and placed upon the throne of the Moghuls. He was a type of the sinking condition of the Moghul empire; —a state prisoner, unwashed, confused, and disordered, suddenly thrust upon the throne, and adorned with a chaplet of pearls.

Emperors.

The Sayyids were once again masters. The new Puppet Emperor was a puppet, and died within three months. Another puppet was set up, and died within five months more. A third captive prince, with a better constitution, was taken out of the state prison and placed upon the throne. He lived to reign for twenty-eight years; to bear the brunt of the blow which heralded the downfall of the empire. His name was Muhammad Shah.

Shah, 1720-48.

The reign of Muhammad Shah began with plot and Muhammad assassination. The grandees were weary of the Sayyids; the new Emperor was intriguing to get rid of the Sayyids. Husain Ali Khan was marching an army towards the Dekhan, when he was suddenly stabbed to death by a Calmuk. The army declared for Muhammad Shah. The Vizier Abdulla was defeated and slain. The new Emperor took his seat upon the throne without a mentor or a rival.

The reign of Muhammad Shah presents a troubled Troubled times. picture of grandees intriguing for place and rank, and of endless wars against Mahratta bandits. There was no patriotism, no gallant exploit, no public virtue; nothing but rapacity, corruption, and sensuality, such as might be expected from men of the stamp of