Many persons perish by the way. Gunpowder Europe. the inhabi helpless creatures-women, children, and aged persons—perished by the way. Dehly was, however, for a time almost deserted. In 1340 news arrived of the rebellion of the viceroy of Mooltan; and the king proceeded in person invented in to subdue it, which he effected, and executed the viceroy, who had been taken in his flight. Instead, however, of returning to Dowlatabad, the king proceeded to Debly, where he remained two years; but again abandoning that city, he repaired in 1340 to Dowlatabad, with his family, carrying with him a multitude of the people. It is revolting to follow the career of this capricious and inhuman monster; but it is worthy of record that, incensed with the people of the Dooáb, or tract Massacre of between the Ganges and Jumna, for abandoning cultivation, he drove them out of the woods in which they had taken refuge, massacred them without mercy, and thousands of their heads were hung over the city walls of Dehly. Rebellion in As he proceeded to Dowlatabad, the king heard of Bengal. a successful rebellion in Bengal, which he was unable to repress. Malabar also had risen, and the king proceeded thither, by way of Wurungul. On this journey he fell ill, and his life was despaired of; but having recovered, he returned by way Burial of one of Bheer, where a tooth he had lost was interred with of the king's great ceremony in a fine stone mausoleum, still existing. He now revisited Dehly, permitting those of the inhabitants of Dowlatabad who chose to do so, to return; but a terrible famine prevailed in Northern India, and most of those who set out perished in it. tants of the Dooáb. teeth Bheer. A whimsical idea now possessed the king, that his misfortunes were caused by not having been confirmed as king by the caliph ; and he sent an embassy for that purpose to Arabia, which returned in 1344 with an envoy from the caliph, who was sumptuously entertained, and the caliph's name struck on all the coinage. In the same year, Krishn Nâik, son of the Rajah Luddur Déo of Wurungul, removed to the city of Beejanugger, which had been previously founded; and in concert with Bellál Déo of the Hindoos Dwára Sumoodra, aided by all the martial Hindoos of Mahomedans. their dominions, drove the Mahomedan garrison from Wurungul to Dowlatabad, and cleared the country of all their posts. It may be easily believed how greatly the king was exasperated by this news; and his cruelties, if it were possible, increased. Success of against the From 1344 to 1347, the record of the king's reign is little more than a series of rebellions and insurrections in the distant provinces. In the latter year he proceeded to Guzerat, and while employed there against a local insurrection, Battle of and insurrec heard that most of his troops in the Deccan Proper had mutinied and set up a new king. The Ameer Judeeda, who Various had been viceroy, was at the head of this move- rebellions ment, and a severe battle was fought between him tions. and the king in person, without any decided result. Dowlatabad was in possession of the rebels, and the king besieged it. While thus employed, a fresh rebellion broke out in Guzerat; the governor had been put to death, and the capital had been taken by Mozuffer Khan, the Naib, or deputy-governor. The king, therefore, left the siege of Dowlatabad to be carried on by Ismail-oolMoolk, viceroy of Berar, and returned to Guzerat, where, for a time, the disaffection was checked; but meanwhile his general at Dowlatabad had been defeated by an officer named Hussun Gungoo, and all the royal troops expelled by him. The new king, Ismail, had given up his position, which had been taken by Hussun Gungoo, who had become king, under the title Alla-ood-deen of Alla-ood-deen Hussun Gungoo Bahmuny, and who founds a was destined to become the founder of a noble and long- the Decca, enduring dynasty in the Deccan. Before commencing 1347. the reduction of the great Deccan rebellion, however, the king determined to place the affairs of Guzerat on a sound footing. A friend, Zea-ood-deen Burny, the historian, at this juncture even advised him to abdicate, but the king replied, he had no one whom he could trust, and, whatever happened, was determined to punish rebellion. While in Guzerat, the king projected an invasion of the Lower Sinde territory, where the Sooméra Rajpoots had given refuge to some insurgents, and on his way thither, Mahomed having reached the Indus, he eat fish to excess, which Toghluk dies brought on fever, of which he died on March 20, 1351. John II. king He had reigned twenty-seven years, in an almost un- of France. interrupted succession of rebellions and bloody reprisals, executions, and massacres, which are unparalleled, even in the history of Dehly. Hussun kingdom in 1351. CHAPTER X. Mahomedan THE DYNASTY OF TOGHLUK (continued), A.D. 1351 to 1398. Ar the death of Mahomed Toghluk, the dominions of the Mahomedan empire in India Proper had reached the Extent of utmost limit they attained, until, in after times, the dominion in Emperor Aurungzebe united the whole of the continent general under one government. To the north, the provinces dition of the of the Punjab, Dehly and its dependencies, with Oude country, India, and political con 1350-51. Edward III. land. Order of and Bengal, formed an unbroken line of possessions, from which all former Hindoo kingdoms and principalities had disking of Eng appeared. In Central India, Malwah and Bahar were the Garter in- conquered and annexed; but in Rajpootana, the prinstituted. cipalities of the Rajpoot princes were still held by them, on payment of tribute. In the west, Guzerat was a royal province, as was Mooltan; but Lower Sinde as yet remained under the Sooméra Rajpoots, of the Jám dynasty, who had not been interfered with. The dominions of the Yádávás of Déoghur had been incorporated in the empire, and their dynasty was extinct; but some members of the family had escaped to their estates near the Western Ghauts, where they were not molested. Wurungul had fallen, and the eastern territory of the Andhras had been annexed; but a branch of the family had removed to Beejanugger, on the Tumboodra, and founded a kingdom there, which, as will be seen in the sequel, long resisted the Mahomedans of the Deccan, and rose to great power and eminence. In the Deccan Proper, the dominions of the late Yádává kingdom bounded the conquests of the Toghluks. They included Berar to the north, Déogurh and its dependencies, and extended west to the Malabar coast, and part of the Northern Koncan, including Raichore, Moodgul, Goolburgah, Beeder, Beejapoor, and Gunjooty; but the Mahomedan possession of the western part of the Deccan, that is of the present Sattara, Kolapoor and Poona, is doubtful, and was still under the sway of the native Mahratta princes. The line of boundary to the south and south-west may be represented by the Tumboodra and Krishna rivers. Beyond this, southwards, the Bellál dynasty ruled over Mysore, its capital being Tonoor-to be absorbed afterwards by the princes of Beejanugger. The Chola dynasty, still powerful and independent, reigned at Tanjore, and the Pandavas at Madura. It seems very doubtful whether any of the Mahomedan incursions had reached these States; and though Mullik Kafoor is supposed, by some authorities, to have penetrated as far as Ramisseram, on the coast opposite to Ceylon, and built a mosque there in commemoration of the event, the fact is not supported by the Mahomedan historians of the time. This vast empire was, however, already beginning to break up. Before Mahomed Toghluk's death, the royal troops in the Deccan had revolted successfully, and Hussun Gungoo Bahmuny had been crowned king; nor was any attempt to subdue him made afterwards. Wurungul had also revolted, and expelled the Mahomedan garrisons. recurring insurrections. Guzerat was the scene of constantly Bengal was virtually independent, and the provinces immediately surrounding Dehly were wasted and impoverished under the late king's exactions and monstrous cruelties. Mahomed Toghluk suc- ceeded by roze Toghluk. It is not certain whether Mahomed Toghluk left any male offspring; but as soon as his death was known at Dehly, Khwaja Jehan, a relative, placed a boy of six years old on the throne, and he was locally acknowledged as king. But Mahomed Toghluk on his death-bed had declared the Prince Feroze, his cousin, then with the army, to be his successor, and he was proclaimed accordingly. The army was in the utmost disorder, and some of the Moghul officers mutinied, plundered the treasury, and decamped with their spoils. They were, however, pursued and defeated; and Feroze resumed his progress to Dehly. On his arrival there, the pretensions of the boy who had been set up were withdrawn; and on September 14, 1351, Feroze was crowned, under nk crowned, the title of Feroze Toghluk. In 1353 the king made an attempt to regain the royal authority over Bengal, but was obliged by heavy rains to withdraw from the field. On the succession of a new king of Bengal the effort was renewed; but, by a treaty made with him, the independence of that province was recognised, and though there, as well as in the Deccan, the royal supremacy was acknowledged, and tribute remitted, their kings remained independent. Feroze Togh 1351. opened. canal. The year 1354 was rendered memorable by the founding of a new city adjoining Dehly, which was named Ferozabad, Ferozabad and on July 12 the king opened the great canal he had founded. constructed for purposes of irrigation from the Sutlej Sutlej canal to the Kugger rivers. In 1356 another canal was Jumna canal constructed from the Jumna, by which water for irri- opened, 1356. gation of a peculiarly arid tract was carried as far as The third Hansy. A third canal connected with the Sutlej was also the work of Feroze Toghluk. All these great undertakings, admirable for their period, have been enlarged and restored by the British Government, after the neglect of centuries. The reign of the King Feroze was otherwise rendered memorable by his public works; and Ferishta, quoting the local Mahomedan historian Zea-ood-deen Burny, enumerates 50 dams across rivers to promote irrigation, 40 mosques, 30 colleges with mosques attached, 20 palaces, 100 caravanserais, 200 towns, 30 reservoirs or lakes for irrigation, 100 hospitals, 5 mausoleums, 100 public baths, 10 monumental pillars, 10 public wells, and 150 bridges; all of which were endowed with lands for their future maintenance. No works for irrigation had been constructed in works of Upper India before the era of Feroze Toghluk, even by irrigation. the Hindoos; and it is most probable that, having seen the irrigation system of Telingána in active operation, and understood the immense benefits which resulted from it, he was induced to commence it in the arid districts around his capital. The king did not always reside at Dehly; on the contrary, he made frequent tours in his dominions, which were much more efficiently and peacefully governed than during the reign of his uncle; and up to the year 1385 no very remarkable event occurred. The king had now reached his eighty-seventh year, his powers were fast declining, and his vizier, in order to remove an obstacle to his own schemes, secretly accused the king's son, Prince Mahomed Khan, of a design against his father's life; but the prince, unable to endure the calumny, went secretly to his father, declared his innocence, and having urmasked the vizier's plots, he fled precipitately from the capital. 1387. Nasir-ood crowned, 1387. Eventually, in August 1387, Feroze Toghluk abdicated in Feroze Togh favour of his son, who ascended the throne under the luk abdicates, title of Nasir-ood-deen Mahomed. This prince, however, sadly belied the expectations of his father. He deen Toghluk was dissolute and idle; and a plot was formed against him by his cousins, who raised a large army, and the parties fought in the streets of Dehly for three days, deluging the capital with blood; when the people, weary of the strife, brought the old king out of his palace, and set his palankeen down in the streets between the combatants. On this, the troops rallied round their old master, and the new king was obliged to fly. For a short time Feroze Toghluk continued to exercise authority; but finally breaking down, he nominated his grandson, Gheias-ood Battle of Feroze Togh luk dies, 1388. His benevo lent reforms and acts. deen, to succeed him, and died on October 23, 1388, in the ninetieth year of his age. The memory of this benevolent monarch remained dear to the people. He had abolished the practice of mutilation for crimes, which had long existed, and had been carried to a fearful extent. In the edict he issued, which is engraved upon the mosque of Ferozabad, are enumerated-cutting off hands and feet, noses and ears; putting out eyes, pulverizing the bones of living criminals with mallets, burning the body with fire, crucifixion, nailing down hands and feet, ham-stringing and cutting to pieces: which exemplify the cruel rigour of the early Mahomedan rule. All the former vexatious imposts on trade and upon cultivation were withdrawn, and the increase in tillage and in revenue was most remarkable. The king records also, that he had discovered, as far as possible, the heirs of such persons as had suffered from his uncle's cruelties, and pensioned or otherwise provided for them; but the reader is referred to the edict |