and becomes king, 1210. doon Altmish called to the throne, 1216. defeated Arám in an engagement near Dehly, and was crowned defeats Arám, king. All these events happened in the same year, 1210, and before he had well established his authority Shumsh-ood the Toorky cavalry in his service rebelled and advanced upon Dehly, but were defeated by the king, who had now no one to oppose him. In the year Magna Charta 1215, Táj-ood-deen Eldooz, king of Ghuzny, made an effort to recover the Indian dominions, and advanced upon Dehly with a large army, but was defeated by Altmish on the plain already memorable from former battles, and taken prisoner. signed by King John, Taj-ood deen Eldooz attacks Altmish, but is defeated. Henry III. king of England. Invasion of Khan. In 1217 Altmish next endeavoured to reduce Nasir-ood-deen Kubáchá, who was independent in Sinde, but failed in his purpose after a severe struggle. Meanwhile the dominions of the Sooltan of Kharizm had been invaded by the Moghuls under Chengiz or Jengiz Khan, who under Jengiz overran the country, and penetrated as far as Ghuzny. Jelal-ood-deen, the son of the Sooltan of Kharizm, vainly endeavoured to save the eastern portion of his dominions, but was pursued to the Indus, and narrowly escaped with his life. He repaired to Altmish, and endeavoured to induce him to act against the Moghuls, but in the face of their overwhelming numbers and power he declined the expedition. Jelal-ood-deen, however, subsequently recovered part of the Ghuzny dominions in Persia. Altmish invades Northern Sinde and Malwah conquered. Gwalior recaptured. In 1217 Shumsh-ood-deen Altmish again invaded Sinde, and having defeated his brother-in-law, who was afterwards drowned in the Indus, annexed the province to andexes it. his dominions. It must be understood, however, that this conquest relates to Northern Sinde and Mooltan only. Southern Sinde was still in possession of the Suméra Rajpoots, and there is no record of any attempt to subdue them having been made by the Mahomedans up to this period. In A.D. 1226 Malwah, including the celebrated fort of Mandoo, was conquered, which was followed in 1231 by the recapture of Gwalior, which had again fallen into the hands of the Hindoos; and in this campaign Oojeyn, the former Oojeyn taken. capital of Rajah Vikram-Aditya the Great, and one of the oldest and most famous Hindoo cities of India, fell into the king's hands, when all the idols of the celebrated temples there were destroyed. Altmish also re-established his authority over the provinces of Bengal, which had been interrupted by the rebellion of its governor. Thus before his death, which deen Altmish occurred on April 30, 1235, Shumsh-ood-deen Altmish dies, 1235. had established the Mahomedan sovereignty over the whole of Northern India, from the Indus to the Ganges, and in Shumsh-ood this large tract, the power of the Hindoos was completely broken. Such of the native chiefs as were permitted to govern their hereditary dominions paid tribute; but the largest portion of the country appears to have been under a direct Mahomedan administration. Shumsh-ood-deen Altmish had reigned twentysix years with honour, and forms another instance of self-elevation by his talent, from his originally low condition. his son, Deposed and Ruzeea Rookn-ood-deen, the eldest son of the late king, was governor of Budaoon, and was at Dehly on his father's death. He Rookn-oodwas crowned without opposition on May 1, 1235, but deen Feroze, at once abandoned himself to every species of licenti- succeeds. ousness, of which the consequences were immediately apparent in several serious rebellions. His mother, a cruel woman, virtually conducted the administration; but the nobles of the kingdom were so disgusted with the conduct both of the mother and son, that they put forward Ruzeea Sooltana, his eldest sister, to supersede him; and the princess, having put herself at the head of an army and marched against him, he was delivered up to her, and placed in confinement. Ruzeea Sooltana was no ordinary woman. It is rare among the families of succeeded by Eastern princes to find any example of vigour or Sooltana. heroism in the female members; but Ruzeea possessed both in an eminent degree. Ferishta writes of her, comparing her with the late king's sons:-'She had a man's head and heart, and was better than twenty such sons;' she had no fault, 'but that she was a woman.' She was well educated, and had been her father's constant companion; and while engaged in his Gwalior campaign, he had appointed her his regent at the capital. She was well acquainted rot only with the routine of ordinary current affairs, but with the political transactions of the State. After her assumption of the royal authority she gave public audiences, sat in the royal seat, and transacted all business in public. Such a person must needs have had, and perhaps made, many enemies, and there were many intrigues against her; but for a time she succeeded in breaking them up, and in establishing full order in the State and its most distant dependencies. The princess was unmarried, and the favour with which she regarded her master of the horse, who was permitted to lift her on her horse when she rode out, gave offence to many. Her cha racter, In the year 1239, the popular feeling was expressed in the rebellion of the Viceroy of Lahore; but the queen marched promptly against him, and reduced him to obedience. A second revolt was that of Mullik Altoonia Toork, governor of Bitunda. In proceeding thither from Lahore, the Toorky chiefs of the army mutinied, and carried the queen to Altoonia, by whom she was detained, H The queen marries Altoonia and her brother. to regain and to whom she was shortly after married. Meanwhile the Prince Beiram, her brother, had been elected king, and when the queen marched from Bitunda, to re-estais deposed by blish her authority, at the head of an army which she and her husband had collected, they were met by She attempts the forces of Beiram, and after a severe action the queen was defeated. She rallied her army, however, but was defeated finally on August 24, 1239. In her Put to death, flight from the fatal field of Keithul, the unfortunate lady and her husband were taken prisoners, and put to death, on November 14 of the same year. Ruzeea Begum Sooltana had reigned three and a half years. power, but is defeated twice. 1239. CHAPTER VI. THE SLAVE KINGS OF DEHLY (continued), A.D. 1239 to 1288. Beiram, Ruzeea Sooltana, succeeds, 1239-40. MOIZ-OOD-DEEN BEIRAM ascended the throne on April 21, 1239-40, but in an unquiet reign of two years displayed no brother of ability. On November 22, 1241, the Moghuls, advancing from Ghuzny, had seized Lahore; the viceroy had fled, and the vizier, Yekhtyar-ood-deen, was dispatched from Dehly to oppose them at the head of such troops as could be collected. When the danger was past, as the Moghuls did not remain, the vizier formed a plot to depose the king: and on his return to Dehly besieged the capital, which, after a long siege, was taken on May 10, 1241, and the king imprisoned and afterwards put to death. He had reigned little more two years. He was succeeded by Alla-ood Imprisoned Alla-ood-deen deen Musaood, son of Rookn-ood-deen, whose reign of four years is remarkable only for two partial invasions by the Moghuls-one of Bengal by way of Tibet, the other of a part of the Punjab-both of which were repelled by the local authorities. Musaood entered upon a career of detestable profligacy and cruelty, and the nobles at court, wearied of his vices, requested his uncle Nasir-ood-deen to come to the capital. On his arrival, on June 10, 1246, he found the king already 1246. deposed, and in confinement, where he remained till Beiram deposed, his death. Nasir-ood-deen Mahmood, in many respects, was a remarkable character. He was the son of Shumsh-ood-deen Altdeen Mah- mish, and had been nominated by his father to the ceeds, 1256. government of Bengal, but was too young to undertake Nasir-ood mood suc racter. ment. the charge. The widow of his father, who was not his mother, had confined him; but he was released by King Musaood, and appointed to the government of Byraich, which he conducted in an able manner. His personal habits were very His habits simple; and during his imprisonment he had supported and cha himself by making copies of the Korán, an occupation which he never abandoned. Ferishta writes of him, that he had but one wife, whom he obliged to do all homely offices, refusing even the assistance of a servant; and when she complained one day of having burnt her fingers in baking bread, he exhorted her to persevere and God would reward her; as for himself, he was only a trustee of the State funds, and would allow of no extra expenses. If the king had been earlier employed in large public affairs, as his father intended, it is probable he would have made a better ruler, and trusted less to others; nevertheless, his reign brought no disaster on the State, and his virtuous private character was an admirable contrast to the profligate princes who had preceded him. Having removed some of the oldest and most disaffected officers from frontier posts, he replaced them by others, and The acts of thus established powerful and harmonious garrisons on his governthe west, whence Moghul invasions might be apprehended. He then reduced many of the petty Hindoo princes of the Dooáb, or tract between the Ganges and Jumna, to obedience; and, between 1247 and 1250, the territory between Malwah and the Jumna, with the greater part of Rajpootana, was thoroughly subjected. In the principality of Nurwur, in Bundelkund, he was opposed by the rajah, according to Ferishta, at the head of 5,000 horse and 200,000 foot; and though the numbers may be exaggerated, they go far to establish the extent of the opposition which the king had to encounter in the subjugation of a partially conquered and martial people. It was an interesting circumstance of the year 1250, that Sheer Khan, the viceroy in charge of the western frontier, availed himself of an opportunity of driving the Moghuls out of Ghuzny, and taking possession of it in the name of the king. Another incursion by them into the Punjâb was also repelled. In spite of some domestic intrigues and minor campaigns, the king seems to have enjoyed peace till 1258, when the Mewatees and other Rajpoot tribes broke into rebellion, Rebellion of and were only subjected after a great loss of life on both sides; and in the same year, an envoy from the prince of the Moghuls arrived and was entertained with great honour Nasir-oodand splendour. On February 18, 1265-6, the king, who deen dies, had been long suffering from disease, died. the Mewatees 1266. It is doubtful whether he left any children, for none are mentioned by the Mahomedan historian; and Gheias-ood- Ghelas-ood deen Bulbun succeeds him. Origin of cence of his court, and of public Renewed rebellion of the others deen Bulbun, who had been vizier during the twenty years of the late king's reign, ascended the throne without opposition. Gheias-ood-deen had, like other great men of the time, been originally a Toorky slave. In his youth he had belonged Ghelas-ood to Altmish I., and had raised himself to the highest deen. ranks in the State. His court, after his accession, was esteemed the most dignified and learned in Asia; and he gave refuge to no less than fifteen princes of Central Asia, who had been dispossessed of their dominions by the Moghuls, and allotted The magni- to each a sumptuous establishment at Dehly. The etiquette of his court was very strict, and his public maintenance ceremonies and processions the most magnificent that morality. had ever been seen in India. In his early youth he had been addicted to wine: but after his accession to the throne, he not only gave up the use of it, but prohibited its sale or manufacture in his dominions, while he repressed all public immorality with the utmost strictness, and not unfrequently with cruelty. In 1266, the year of his accession, the Mewatees again rebelled, but were hunted down, and put to death Mewatees and indiscriminately, while the greater part of their counsubdued. try was cleared of forest, and cultivated. Several other rebellions were suppressed with equal severity and effect. It will be remembered that Sheer Khan, an officer of great bravery and merit, had been placed in charge of the western frontier by the late king. In 1267 he died, and the king appointed his eldest son and heir, the Prince Mahomed, as Sheer Khan's successor. His fate will be related hereafter. in Bengal The greatest rebellion during the king's reign was that quelled in 1279, of Toghral Khan, viceroy of Bengal, who had assumed the title of king. Two successive expeditions sent against him had failed; at last the king, notwithstanding his advanced age, proceeded in person to Bengal; and Mullik Mokunder, one of his officers, having discovered the rebel camp, charged into it at the head of only forty men, and in Mokunder. his own tent of audience cut down the rebel's adherents, but Toghral himself escaped. This strange and desperate exploit so terrified the rebels, who considered the king's army was upon them, that they fled. Toghral, however, was pursued and killed. When the king arrived next day, he reproved Mullik Mokunder for his rashness, but afterwards rewarded him. On all concerned in this rebellion, however, he poured out his utmost vengeance. Nor were even women and children spared; and after his return to Dehly, executions of the most cruel character were inflicted upon those Insurrection Exploit of Cruel executions in Bengal, |