Battle of ber 26, 1596. on the banks of the Godavery river, on December 27, 1596. The Moghuls were commanded by Mirza Khan, who was now better known under his title of Khan Khanán, soopa, Decemwith Rajah Ally Khan of Khandésh, and Rajah Ram Chundur; the Deccanies by Soheil Khan, who assumed charge of the confederate troops of Ahmednugger, Beejapoor and Golcondah. The action was well fought on both sides; it was, in fact, a national contest for superiority, which both parties, nearly equal perhaps in numbers, maintained with appropriate vigour and bravery. Rajah Ally Khan of Khandésh and Rajah Ram Chundur were killed in the first onset, and by nightfall the action was still undecided. Over the field of battle, parties of Moghuls and Deccanies, separated from their main bodies, wandered in the darkness, through heaps of dead and dying, and frequent collisions and skirmishes ensued, which increased the general confusion and added horror to the scene. As day broke, Soheil Khan, who had contrived to collect 12,000 horse, advanced upon the Moghuls, who were now much inferior in numbers, and the contest was renewed with fury; but he had been badly wounded the day before, and was again wounded; and worn out by loss of blood and fatigue, fell from his horse. He was borne off the field; and his troops, believing him dead, followed. The Moghuls thus kept possession of the field of battle: but were unable to pursue any advantage they had thus gained, and returned to the Prince Moorád, who was at Shahpoor, his cantonment, in Berar. As Khan Khanán and the Prince Moorád could not agree, the emperor recalled the former in 1597, and the prince occupied his troops for the present in reducing Narnalla, Gawilgurh, and other mountain forts of the province. He had married also the daughter of Bahadur Khan Farooky of Khandesh, and established a local court in the new province. The climate of Berar did not, however, suit him, and he fell ill, and died at Shahpoor, in May 1599, to the great Prince grief of his father, who, perceiving that his best troops had made little impression on those of the Deccan, determined upon proceeding to the south himself. He appointed his eldest son, Prince Selim Mirza, to conduct the affairs of govern- The emperor ment, and having dispatched a fresh army under the proceeds to command of the Prince Daniel and Khan Khanán, 1599. he followed them by easy stages to the Deccan. Death of Moorád, 1599. the Deccan, of Ahmed The affairs of Ahmednugger were found to be in a worse state if possible than before; and the queen-dowager, Chánd second stege Beebee, was for a second time obliged to defend her and capture capital against the Moghuls. These events will be nugger, 1600. detailed in the history of that State; but after the queen's murder, the fort was taken by assault, and the young king was sent to reside at Gwalior, as a State prisoner. Meanwhile the ruler of Khandesh, Meerun Bahadur Khan, had evinced a rebellious spirit, and the emperor himself proceeded to Boorhanpoor, whence he directed the siege of Aseergurh: and the fort was eventually surrendered to him, with the accumulated wealth of the ancient Hindoo as well as the Mahomedan dynasties. Khandesh was now finally annexed to the empire; but Ahmednugger continued to resist, and to occupy the exertions of the imperial forces for some years. While the emperor was at Boorhanpoor, he received an embassy from Ibrahim Adil Shah II. of Beejapoor, offering his daughter in marriage to the Prince Daniel, and an escort was dispatched for the bride. Before her arrival, however, the emperor, in 1602, was obliged to return to Agra; and having consolidated the new provinces of Ahmednugger, Berar and Khandésh into one government, he appointed the Prince Daniel as viceroy. The Beejapoor princess arrived shortly afterwards, and the marriage was solemnised in the camp at Paitun, on the Godavery, with great splendour, in June 1604; but the prince did not long survive it. He died at Boorhanpoor on April 8, 1605, of the effects of excessive drinking, from which no one could restrain him. Death of Daniel, 1605. Rebellion of 1600. The cause of the emperor's sudden return to Agra was the conduct of his eldest son Selim, whom he had left in charge of the government. He had been ordered to carry on the war against the Rana of Oodypoor, and Rajah Mán Singh, the viceroy of Bengal, was appointed his coadjutor. The prince had hardly commenced the campaign in Rajpootana, when an Afghan insurrection in Bengal broke out, and the rajah was obliged to proceed to his own government. The prince, freed from restraint, now seems to have formed the idea of asserting his own Prince Selim, independence. He first tried to secure Agra, but the governor was faithful to the emperor, and refused to give up the fort. The prince then proceeded to Allahabad, seized the local treasury, which contained 300,000l., and proclaimed himself king. The grief caused to the emperor by this unlooked for conduct, was aggravated by the news of the murder of Abool Fuzl, his minister and intimate friend, Abool Fuzl, the author of his biography, and one of the most remarkable characters of the period, at or near Oorcha, as he was travelling to join the emperor, from the Deccan. It was a happy circumstance that Akbur never knew whose hand had directed that crime; but the prince himself, in his Memoirs, as the Emperor Jehangeer, not only acknowledges that he had directed the Rajah of Oorcha to kill Abool Fuzl, but justifies the act, as well as his own rebellion, by asserting that the minister had persuaded his Murder of 1602. father to renounce Mahomedanism. In regard to his son's conduct, Akbur displayed his usual consideration and fine temper. Had he proceeded against him in person, or dispatched an army to Oude, there can be little doubt that a civil war would have commenced, and with it the scenes of the Afghan monarchies would have been renewed. Instead of this, the emperor wrote a kindly and impressive remonstrance, at the same time offering his son reconciliation and forgiveness if he would return. The prince seems to have hesitated at first, and even collected troops, with which he advanced towards his father's camp; but being requested to come slightly attended, returned to Allahabad; and it was during this interval of indecision, that he directed the assassination of the minister. The emperor, however, still pursued his policy of reconciliation. He conferred Bengal and Orissa on his son, and sent to him one of his queens, who, on the death of his own mother, had adopted him; and it was probably owing to her good offices that the prince returned to his father's court and made his submission. After a while, he was requested to resume his campaign against Oodypoor; but his conduct continued to be so far from satisfactory, that he was directed to return to Allahabad. The prince had been long addicted to drinking profusely; and this vice increased upon him so rapidly and materially, that not only may much of his wild and rebellious conduct be attributed to it, but the cruelties he now practised, which, to his humane father, were peculiarly abhorrent. Remonstrance was of no avail; but the emperor's affection could not be restrained, and had in the end some effect upon his son, who repaired to Agra, and for a time submitted to restraint. Here his sons Khoosroo and Khurram quarrelled, both being still boys, and separate parties were formed for each; thus the condition of the imperial family was productive many sad anticipations for the future. In the midst of these trying scenes, the news of the death of the Prince Daniel reached the emperor, and the grief he felt seems to have stricken him down. Daniel was perhaps his favourite son, and was possessed of much real ability; but the vice he was addicted to, though it had produced no bad effect like that of his brother, was even more ineradicable; and in regard to any reformation, as was proved by his sudden and untimely death, the emperor's continuous remonstrances, and the prince's oaths to his father, were alike useless. of it may be From the time he heard of the event, the emperor, said, never completely rallied, nor was the conduct of those around him calculated to soothe his last days; for there was, for a time, every prospect of a contest between the Prince Selim and his sons for the throne. In Sep T Akbur's illness commences. tember 1605 Akbur grew worse. Finding his end approaching, and true to his promises to his son Selim, he assembled the nobles of his court to hear his dying declaration that he was to succeed him. Mr. Elphinstone, from Price's 'Memoirs of Jehángeer,' thus describes the final scene. 'When they were assembled, he (the emperor) made a suitable address to them, and after wistfully regarding them all round, he desired them to forgive any offences of which he might have been guilty towards any of them. Selim now threw himself at his feet, and burst into a passion of tears; but Akbur pointed to his favourite scimitar, and made signs to his son to bind it on in his presence. He seems afterwards to have recovered from this exhaustion; he addressed himself to Selim, and earnestly conjured him to look to the comfort of the ladies of his family, and not to forget or forsake his old friends and dependants. After this he permitted one of the chief Moollahs, who was a personal friend of Selim's, to be brought to him, and in his presence he repeated the confession of faith, and died in all the forms of a good Mussulman ('Hist.' vol. ii. book ix. p. 276). The event occurred at Agra, on October 13, 1605. The emperor was born on October 14, 1542, and had thus completed his sixty-third year, all but a day. Of that period he had reigned, in all the success and glory which have been detailed, for fifty-one years and some months. He was buried in a splendid mausoleum, near Agra, erected by his son Selim, who, as the Emperor Jehángeer, succeeded him, which is well described by Bishop Heber in his Travels,' and is still perfect. Death of the Akbur, 1605. CHAPTER XI. OF THE CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION OF AKBUR. : BUT little romance has ever attached itself to the characters of Indian history and in this respect the difference between the actions of the Moors of Spain, and the early Mahomedans of India, is very remarkable. During the cruel and gloomy reigns, with few exceptions, of the Afghan dynasties of India, there was little scope for romantic incident, or the development of any free or chivalrous spirit among the people; and it is to the research of Colonel Tod, the Froissart of the Rajpoot clans and States, that the history of all that existed among them, exceptional as it was, is due. The Mahomedans of the same period may be considered too cruel and too savage to allow of the existence of any chivalry. Where they predominated, whatever had hitherto existed was crushed out; their conquests were massacres of the people, or captures of them for sale into slavery. Any idea of equality or sympathy with Hindoos and infidels was utterly foreign to their morose and gloomy fanaticism; and consequently there was no birth of that free social intercourse and mutual respect which sprang up afterwards under Shere Khan Soor, and was perfected by Akbur. This, in some respects, may be compared to the relative situation of the Moors and Christians of Spain; hereditary enemies and religious opponents, yet becoming fused together, as it were, under the influence of a common and beneficent civilisa tion. In Akbur's character, romance prevails from the earliest dawn of its development, through its constant exercise, down to his last sad moments in the forgiveness of his son's rebellion. In his wars, in his hunting exploits and expeditions, in his State policy, in the generous and tolerant spirit of his religious principles, and their application to the necessities of the varied classes of his people-instances are so numerous, that nothing short of an entire biography would suffice to exemplify them. Romance may be of two kinds: healthy and vigorous; or, on the other hand, mawkish and sentimental; devoted to public benefits, or confined to private gratifications. In Akbur, it was emphatically the former. It made him humane and merciful in conquest, just and considerate; yet, in all cases, firm and decided in action; and while he permitted no scope for the exercise of national fanaticism, he yet secured the high respect, and often the affection, of his opponents. In former times, the rulers of conquered States in India were either trampled to death by elephants, hewn to pieces, or blinded and consigned to State prisons for life; and there were occasions in Akbur's reign when similar courses would have been applauded by his countrymen and courtiers. Yet they were never followed; and when a foe submitted, he was, in the highest spirit of romance, promoted to dignity, and provided with estates, while very rarely was there any instance of subsequent defection. As one of the first instances of this generous spirit, the case of Báz Bahadur may be stated, who, an usurper of the throne of Malwah himself, and a military adventurer, had no claim but that of his sword to that portion of the imperial dominions. Indolent and voluptuous, he fought badly at first; but he redeemed his character as a soldier, and in the second campaign against him, slew the young emperor's preceptor and friend, and hunted his army nearly to Agra. Continuing afterwards a predatory life, he became unable to bear its privations, and at last threw himself on the emperor's mercy. By any former sovereign of India, his |