Fírúz Shah died in 1388. His reign is the last of any moment. Ten years later, in 1398-99, the kingdom of Delhi was subverted by Timúr. This event will be noticed hereafter in dealing with the history of Moghul India; it is of little moment beyond the fact that it put an end to the Tughlak dynasty. It was followed by a blank of a century and a quarter.66 At last, in 1526, a descendant of Timúr, named Báber, invaded Hindustan, and founded the Moghul empire. The Moghul was destined to become the paramount power in India.

Thus far the history of Mussulman India illustrates the ordinary progress of Asiatic rule. It treats of a consecutive line of Sultans; it betrays the utter insecurity of thrones and dynasties. The government was spasmodic; good or bad according to the virtues or vices of the reigning Sultan. The dominion was sometimes expanded by further con

were given for raising a pile of faggots at the door of the Durbar [i. e. the as-
sembly hall]. The Brahman was tied hand and foot and cast upon it; the tablet
was thrown on the top and the pile was lighted. The writer of this book was
present at the Durbar, and witnessed the execution. The tablet of the Bráhman
was lighted in two places, at his head and at his feet; the wood was dry, and the
fire first reached his feet, and drew from him a cry, but the flames quickly enveloped
his head and consumed him." Elliot's History of India, vol. iii.
The process of converting Mussulman women to idolatry may be easily con-
jectured. Brahmans affect to heal the barrenness of women, to secure the affection
of the husband, to promote the prosperity of children. Under such circumstances
it would be no difficult task to tempt Mussulman women into idolatry.

66 The history of Delhi from 1399 to 1526 is little better than a chronicle of dynasties. After Timúr retired from India, four officers reigned in succession as his Viceroys; their rule was confined to Delhi and its immediate neighbourhood. They are known as Sayyids, because they belonged to the family of the prophet. They were doubtless Shíahs; thus a Shíah element must have been at work in Hindustan during the fifteenth century. Unfortunately there is an utter want of data. The Sayyid dynasty ended in 1450, when an Afghan seized the throne, and founded the so-called Lodi dynasty. The Lodi Sultans were Sunnís; they seem to have conquered Hindustan as far as Bengal. Their history throws no light upon the collision between Mussulmans and Hindús; it is too obscure to throw any light upon the struggle between Shíahs and Sunnís; it may therefore be consigned to oblivion.

quests in India; sometimes it was contracted by in- CHAPTER II. ternal revolutions. The province conquered by Mahmúd of Ghazní formed the basis of the independent kingdom founded by Kutb-ud-dín; the kingdom grew into an empire under Alá-ud-dín. In consequence of the internal troubles during the reign of Muhammad Tughlak it became dismembered; it lost the outlying provinces of Bengal and the Dekhan. Finally, when the independent sovereignties were exhausted by internecine wars, the Moghuls stepped in and subverted the whole. Such has been the political working in India from the dawn of history. Conquerors from the north have founded a kingdom; the kingdom has grown into an empire; the empire has overshadowed the Indian continent; it has become dismembered. Conquerors from the north have again founded a kingdom to undergo the same transformations.67

rebellion.

The fact that there was a consecutive line of Temptations to Sultans from Mahmúd to Fírúz Shah does not betoken unbroken rule. It merely expresses the idea that in oriental nations a sovereign is a necessity. The Sultan was the embodiment of all the power of the state; he was hedged around with divinity; he was almost treated as a deity. If he died suddenly, or was cut off by assassination, a new Sultan was at once placed upon the throne; all possible rivals were either consigned to a state dungeon, or deprived of their eyesight, or put to death. Any delay in the succession was fatal to the peace and security of the realm; rebel

67 The empire of British India is exceptional. Still Indian statesmen may bear in mind the warnings of history. Is there no element of dismemberment at work in India? Is there no Moghul power, under another name, hungering after an Indian empire?

CHAPTER II. princes sprang up in a night, and soon filled the kingdom with anarchy. There was every temptation to rebel; consequently there was every reason to fear a rebellion. A prince might be the brother of a Sultan; his dependence upon that brother resembled the abasement of a slave before an imperious master. By assassinating the Sultan, he avenged himself for past wrongs; he assumed the supreme power; he acquired the treasury, the harem, and the throne. The courtiers and ministers had no alternative; they could only accept the usurper, or rally round a rival. They generally paid their homage to the usurper; they intrigued for places and honours. They offered no opposition to the blinding, imprisoning, or slaughtering of all possible rivals; they acquiesced in every deed of violence which prevented further rebellions or complications. Meantime the multitude were satisfied. At every succession to the throne they were gladdened with money, shows, and feasting. They heard the Khutba read in the name of the new Sultan at morning prayers; they saw his titles upon the new coins; they accepted the fact that a new Sultan had begun to reign.

Hindu proclivities of Mus

In the foregoing history of Mussulman India one sulman rulers. important element is still obscure. It is easy to understand the materialistic religion of Muhammad; it is not difficult to realize the metaphysical religion of the Hindús. But little as yet can be ascertained of the character and results of the conflict between the two forms of faith and worship. There is an account of the Hindú revolt at Delhi; there is a story of the martyrdom of the Bráhman who perverted the believers into idolatry. But although these data are suggestive, they do

not bring out the developments which followed CHAPTER II. the antagonism between Islam and Brahmanism. The main point, however, is sufficiently obvious. So long as the Mussulmans were breaking down temples and idols, they might preserve their own faith intact. So long as the Hindús were compelled to stand on the defensive, they might hold fast to their idolatry. When Mussulman princes

married Hindú wives, and were hood-winked by Hindú favourites, observant men might have foreseen that a revolution was at hand. When Bráhman missionaries deluded believers into the worship of idols, it might have been inferred that the religious thought of the two races was intermingling in undercurrents. Movements of this nature demand the closest study from the outset. Contemporary annalists saw what was going on; they failed to realize the significance. Later historians may have read the facts; they have failed to bring out the lessons. It will be seen in the sequel that such facts and such inferences are the life and soul of the history of India.

CHAPTER III.

ences at work in the Dekhan: effect on the Mussulmans.

CHAPTER III.

SHÍAH REVOLT IN THE DEKHAN.

A. D. 1347 TO 1565.

THE Mussulman conquest of the Dekhan and PenHindú influ- insula throws further light upon the collision between Islam and Hinduism. So long as the Mussulmans stayed in the Punjab and Hindustan, they were recruited from the hot-beds of Islam in Central Asia: a; they were held tightly together in the brotherhood of the faith; they continued to be orthodox, bigoted, and intolerant. There was no tampering with Hinduism, no intermarrying with Hindú princesses, no development of Hindú influences at the court and capital at Delhi. From the moment the Mussulmans struck into the south, their political and religious life entered upon a new phase. Their history widened out into unexplored countries; they came in contact with fresh races and languages; they became isolated from their fellow Mussulmans of the Punjab and Hindustan; they probably formed connections with Hindú women of the south ; they leaned1 towards Hinduism and Hindús. The Hindú element told upon them; it rendered them

1 It is significant that Mahmúd of Ghazni originally displayed the utmost bitterness and bigotry towards the idolaters of India. It was only after the conquest of Kanouj and Guzerat that he began to soften towards the Hindús.