CHAPTER II. Sultans of Gour were their vassals or viceroys. At other times the Sultans of Gour were independent sovereigns. In one instance, which will appear hereafter, the Sultan of Gour conquered all Hindustan and the Punjab.29

pedition from

Bakhtiyar had conquered Bihar and Bengal with so much ease that he tried to conquer his neighbours. To the east, beyond the lower Brahmaputra, was the kingdom of Kámrúp, the modern Assam. Due north, beyond the Himalayas, and beyond the upper Brahmaputra, was the kingdom Mussulman ex- of Thibet. Bakhtiyár prepared to invade Thibet. Gour to Thibet. He proceeded up the valley of the Brahmaputra with ten thousand horsemen. He crossed the river at a great stone bridge, having twenty arches, and then pushed on for fifteen days through narrow valleys and over lofty mountains. There he was attacked by a powerful army of warriors, who fought with spears and long bows, and wore helmets and cuirasses of bamboos fastened together with raw silk.30 An obstinate battle followed. Bakhtiyár lost many men, and was told that another large army was on the way to attack him.31 Accordingly he

29 This was notably the case in the sixteenth century, when Shir Shah the Afghan possessed himself of Gour, and then drove the Moghul emperor Humayun out of Hindustan and the Punjab. The case is curious. The British government in like manner conquered Hindustan and the Punjab from the side of Bengal. 30 These people were unquestionably Abors. (Compare Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 27.) This identification was pointed out by Mr T. T. Cooper. The Abors are still inhabiting these localities.

31 The story of this expedition into Thibet is somewhat obscure, but it is full of interest. Bakhtiyar was induced to turn back by the information which he received from his prisoners. They told him that fifteen miles from the field of battle there was a very large and strongly fortified city, called Kurmputtun, which was inhabited by Brahmans and Booteas; that their prince was a Christian, but that he had in his service an innumerable army of brave Tartars; that a thousand to fifteen hundred horses were daily sold in its market; that on the first appearance of the Mussulmans an express had been sent off to the city; and that, without

turned back, but the retreat was most disastrous. CHAPTER II. The people had burnt all the grain and forage on the way. The Raja of Kámrúp had broken down two of the arches of the stone bridge, and taken away all the boats.32 The Mussulmans began to prepare rafts, but found that the army of Kámrúp was surrounding them with a stockade. Bakhtiyár saw that he was in extreme peril. He plunged his horse into the river and reached the opposite shore, but only a hundred horsemen escaped with him. All the rest had been either killed in the battle, or had perished in the retreat, or had been drowned in the Brahmaputra. He died of grief shortly afterwards. The history of his immediate successors is of no moment. It will suffice to repeat that sometimes they were viceroys and sometimes independent princes. 34

33

of the Slave

of the details.

Kutb-ud-dín died in 1210; but his dynasty, Meagre annals known as the Slave-kings, lingered on at Delhi kings, 1210-90. until 1290. The annals of the period are inex- Insignificance pressibly wearisome. They tell of revolts which are without interest, and of reigns which are without significance.35 A few brief notices of the principal

doubt, a powerful force would arrive from thence early next morning. See Stewart's History of Bengal, sect. iii.

32 Strange to say, the ruins of this bridge are still standing about twenty miles from Gowhatty. Mr T. T. Cooper, in the personal narrative of his journey through the Mishmee hills to the borders of Thibet, writes as follows:-"Behind a large hill, twenty miles inland from the right bank of the river [Brahmaputra], there stand in the centre of a large lake, . . the ruined arches of a bridge which formerly spanned the Brahmaputra." Mr Cooper has informed me that this is the only ancient bridge over the Brahmaputra in this part of the country. The river has so changed its course that it is now twenty miles from the bridge. Mr Cooper did not see the bridge himself, but was told that it consisted of eighteen arches. This precisely accords with the Mussulman authority given above.

35 It is a curious fact that three Sultans of this dynasty, namely, Kutb-ud-dín,

whole.

CHAPTER II. Sultans might be strung together as types of the Kutb-ud-din is said to have been just and generous as a viceroy, but indolent and luxurious after he became a Sultan. Altamsh suppressed all revolts, and reigned supreme over both kingdoms of Delhi and Gour. He also established an ascendancy over the Rajpoots, and brought the contests with the Hindús to an end. Razíah, his daughter, succeeded to the throne, but was deposed on account of an amour with an Abyssinian. Mahmúd the Second was an austere type of the old Khalifs at Medina. He lived like a hermit; married only one wife, who cooked his food; and every day copied out a portion of the Koran. Balban was a usurper, who maintained a magnificent court, and defeated the Rajpoots. Kai Kubád was fond of wine, and very fond of "silver-bodied damsels with musky tresses." In 1290 he was assassinated; and an old man, named Jelál-ud-dín, who belonged to the tribe of Khiljis, became Sultan of Delhi.

36

The dynasty of Slave-kings was thus brought to a close about the end of the thirteenth century. Three hundred years had passed away since the Punjab had been invaded by Sabaktigín and Mahmúd. Yet hitherto the history has been one of conquest alone. It reveals no results of the collision between Mussulmans and the Hindús, beyond the destruction of idols, the plunder of temples, and the building of mosques. The Mussul

Altamsh, and Balban, were originally slaves. They had been purchased as slaves, they had served as slaves, and then they had risen to favour and usurped the throne. It is, however, difficult to draw any inferences from the circumstance.

36 It is a moot question whether the Khiljis were Afghans or Turks. The point, however, is of no political or religious importance. Although the races are different, it is impossible always to distinguish between Turks and Afghans.

mans fixed their yoke upon the Hindús without the CHAPTER II. aid of native allies,27 and without the slightest interference from the south. Hindustan was conquered

by the Mussulmans, and the Dekhan and Peninsula looked listlessly on.

38

ing under

Khan,1154-1226.

Whilst the Punjab and Hindustan were thus Moghul uprisdwelling under Mussulman rule, the Asiatic world Chenghiz outside the Indus and Himalayas was overwhelmed by hosts of Tartars. In the neighbourhood of the desert of Gobi and mountains of Altai, some wretched tribes of Tartar nomades had been wandering for ages amongst the pastures under the name of Mongols or Moghuls. They were ugly barbarians, with yellow complexions, high cheek

37 The relations between Mahmûd and the Rajas of Kanouj and Guzerát were only of a temporary character. The alliance between Muhammad Ghori and Jai Chand of Kanouj was soon brought to a close by treachery.

38 Throughout the whole of these three centuries, from about 990 to 1290, only four Sultans are deserving of remembrance, namely, Mahmúd of Ghazní, Muhammad Ghori, Kutb-ud-dín, and Muhammad Bakhtiyar. The courts of the Slavekings are veiled from view. Glimpses may be obtained of fortified palaces swarming with officials, servants, and guards; of princes and warriors assembled in the council hall; of jewelled nobility, gazing on jugglers, wrestlers, prizefighters, or dancing girls; or listening to singers, writers of poetry, tellers of stories, or readers of the Koran and Shah Námeh. It would be also possible to picture some of the inmates of the harem; the queens, the concubines, the wait. ing-maids, the eunuchs, and the slaves. But the precise details of real life are altogether wanting.

Students in Mussulman history may consider this assertion too sweeping. It should however be borne in mind that details which are interesting to students are not always necessary to the general reader, who desires to learn more of the political and religious developments of the people than of sovereigns and dynasties. The numismatic history of India has charms for all archæologists. Mr Thomas's Chronicles of the Pathan (Afghan) kings of Delhi opens up new and interesting fields of inquiry. The new and valuable edition of Marsden's Numismata Orientalia, which is in course of publication by Messrs Trübner & Co., falls under the same category. It comprises Marsden's highly-finished engravings as well as the latest information contributed by the foremost scholars of the day. Both works are complete in themselves; both are of unquestionable value to lovers of Indian archæology; but neither as yet are closely connected with political or religious history. Consequently the present history is an introduction to such studies, rather than an exposition of their results.

of

CHAPTER II. bones, flat noses, small eyes, and large mouths. Their history begins with Chenghiz Khan. He was born in 1154 and died in 1226. His career marks him out as a type of the world conquerors antiquity. By sheer force of genius, by the power of creating armies and drilling them into machines, he established his sovereignty over the northern steppes from Western China to the Volga and Caspian. He then turned south and invaded Central Asia; he overran Bokhara, Kábul, Kandahar, and Khorassan; he subdued all Persia to the westward. His empire covered an area nearly four times as vast as that of India. The narrative of his wars is a mere story of battles and sieges, massacres and devastations. The callous Tartar soldiery committed every conceivable outrage and atrocity; they carried away large populations into hopeless slavery. Chenghiz Khan reached the banks of the Indus, but never crossed the river into India. After his death the Punjab was frequently exposed to Moghul raids, as will appear in the progress of the history.39

Dynasty of Khilji Sultans, 1290-1320.

The annals of the new dynasty of the Khilji Sultans supply data which are wanting in the history of the slave kings. They reveal the life of courts as well as that of camps; the intrigues of the harem as well as the movements of armies. There were but three Sultans of the house of Khilji; their united reigns only lasted thirty years; yet their history is of peculiar value. They carried their arms into the Dekhan and the Peninsula;

39 The characteristics of the Moghuls will be reviewed hereafter in dealing with the rise of the so-called Moghul empire in India under Báber and his successors. (See infra, chap. iv.) The life of Chenghiz Khan was compiled from oriental historians and other sources by the learned Petis de la Croix. It was the labour of ten years. An English translation was published in 8vo, London, 1722.