wretches were blown into the air. The effects of this catastrophe were, however, speedily dissipated by the death of the active and intrepid Jye Mal, who was shot by Akbar himself as the former was busily superintending the repairs of the breach by torchlight. The garrison, disheartened by this casualty, abandoned all hope of successfully maintaining the defence. They retired into the inner fort, and devoted themselves to death with the usual Rajpoot solemnities. After having committed their wives and all their female relatives to the flames, they rushed on the imperial troops as they topped the ramparts of Chittore, and perished sword in hand to the number of 8,000 men. (March 1568.) This success was followed in the ensuing year by the capture of the strong fortresses of Rintambor and Kullinjer.

Akbar now determined to undertake the conquest of Guzerat. That kingdom was at this time rent and torn by insurrections, assassinations, and internecine strife; and the emperor was invited to put an end to them by summarily annexing the province to the empire. He set out for this purpose from Delhi in September 1572, and was met between Patan and Ahmedabad by the pageant king Mozzuffur III., by whom a formal transfer of the crown of Guzerat was made to the Shah. After some time spent in reducing various refractory chiefs, Surat was finally besieged by the emperor in person. Learning that the principal leaders of the enemy were leaving the place by stealth, he advanced against them with such imprudent haste, that he found himself with but 156 followers in the presence of the enemy, who were 1,000 strong. Taking his stand in a lane formed by strong cactus hedges on each side, he maintained the unequal struggle for some time with desperate courage and resolution; but he would without doubt have been finally overpowered and slain, had it not been for the exertions of his faithful Hindoo allies, Rajah Bhugwan Sing of Jyepore and his nephew and adopted son Rajah Man Sing. To them is mainly to be attributed the ultimate success of the day. The chiefs fled in disorder; one was cut off in Guzerat, and the rest fell into the hands

of the imperial officers in their endeavour to escape beyond the Indus. One, however, Mirza Hussun, escaped, and ere Akbar had been a month in his capital of Agra, he heard of an attempt made by this man to recover Guzerat. Although the rains had set in, so as to render the march of a regular army impossible, the emperor, with his usual activity, threw forward a detachment of 2,000 horse, whilst he followed immediately after them with 300 men on camels. With such celerity did he advance, that although the distance from Agra was 450 miles, he appeared at the head of 3,000 men before the enemy on the ninth day from leaving his capital. Taken by surprise, they were completely defeated, after a wellcontested struggle; their chiefs slain, and Akbar returned in triumph to Agra.

were

The emperor next turned his atten-tion to the conquest and annexation of Bengal, which province, with a large portion of Behar, was at this time held by a weak and dissolute prince named Daood. He had at one time engaged to pay an annual tribute to the emperor, but had lately been induced by evil councillors to re-assert his independence. Akbar lost no time in marching against him, although it was the rainy season, conveying his stores, provisions, and ammunition in boats down the rivers Ganges and Jumna. Daood hastily evacuated Behar, and retired to Bengal Proper, when Akbar returned to Agra, leaving his subordinates to finish the campaign. This was not, however, an altogether easy task. Daood withdrew to Orissa, whence, after collecting his forces, he issued forth, and inflicted two severe defeats on the imperial troops; and although he was subsequently worsted, his enemies considered him strong enough to be allowed to retain the province of Orissa for himself. On the conclusion of peace, the emperor recalled his lieutenants to Agra, leaving only one officer of high standing in Gour, the then capital of Bengal, to look after the imperial interests in the east. This man having succumbed before long to the pestiferous influence of the climate, Daood once more renewed the war, and overran the whole of Ben

gal with his troops; but the imperialists having been largely reinforced, a decisive battle was fought in Behar, in which Daood was defeated and slain. The strong fortress of Rhotas, deemed by the Natives to be impregnable, immediately surrendered, Bengal and Behar were annexed to the empire, and thus the remains of the Affghan monarchy in Hindoostan were completely extinguished. But the flames of the rebellion were not altogether quenched. Several of the Mogul nobles, who had seized on the jagheers of the dispossessed Affghans, were irritated by the rigorous account demanded of them by the emperor. They revolted in Bengal, and then in Behar, and soon appeared in arms against their master, at the head of 30,000 men. It was only after a struggle of three years that the rebellion was finally suppressed by the energy and capacity of Azeem Khan, whom Akbar had deputed to Bengal for the purpose. In the mean time, several of the old Affghan adherents of Daood Khan, taking advantage of these dissensions, suddenly appeared in the field, under a chief called Kuttoo, and made themselves masters of Orissa and of all the country up to Burdwan. Rajah Man Sing was despatched by the emperor to put down this fresh rising: his detachments were, however, defeated in detail, and his son was taken prisoner. Matters began now to assume a gloomy complexion, when the death of Kuttoo suddenly changed the aspect of affairs. He was succeeded by Isa, with whom a compact was concluded, by which the son of Kuttoo was permitted to retain Orissa, resigning the rest of the possessions which his father had claimed. But the violence of the successors of Isa did more for the emperor than the courage and endurance of the imperial troops. Having offered some indignity to the shrine of Juggurnath, they roused the animosity of the Hindoos against them, and Akbar, seizing the opportunity, sent a strong force into Orissa, by which the Affghan chiefs were irretrievably overthrown, and driven into Cuttack. Then, by an admixture of conciliation and rigour, the country was finally reduced to submission.

The year 1581' was remarkable for a

second unsuccessful attempt of Mirza Hakim to seize the Punjab, and by a serious insurrection in Guzerat. Mozzuffur III., who, as we have above related, had transferred his crown to the emperor, had been allowed to reside, without being subjected to any surveillance, on a jagheer which the king had given him. New intrigues having, however, arisen in Guzerat, he was invited to return to that province by Sher Khan Fuladi, which he accordingly did. The imperial troops being unprepared for this sudden outbreak, were taken by surprise, and compelled to fall back on Patan, in the north of Guzerat, whilst Mozzuffur III. at once re-occupied Ahmedabad, Baroach, and almost the whole of the province. Mirza Khan, the son of the late minister Behram Khan, was forthwith sent against him. He defeated Mozzuffur, and recovered the continental part of Guzerat; but the latter having retired amongst the independent chieftains of the peninsula, all attempts to secure his person were found ineffectual. The war, as a natural consequence, languished till A. D. 1593, nearly twelve years from the date of Mozzuffur's rebellion, when that unfortunate competitor for a throne was seized in an incursion he rashly made into the settled part of the province. Whilst on his way to Agra, the unfortunate man committed suicide, by cutting his throat with a razor.

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The death of Prince Mirza Hakim, and the expected invasion of Cabool by Abdoollah Khan, who had expelled Soliman from Badakshan, brought the emperor into the neighbourhood of Cashmere. His fears from the west having proved groundless, he turned his thoughts to the conquest of that beautiful valley. "This terrestrial Paradise," says Elphinstone, can only be approached by difficult and dangerous passes. The road, though a sharp ascent on the whole, often rises and descends over rocky ridges; sometimes winds through long and close defiles, and sometimes runs along the face of precipices overhanging deep and rapid rivers." The emperor was encouraged to undertake the conquest of this valley by the dissensions-which prevailed amongst the reigning family; and he accordingly in A. D. 1586 sent a force

under Shah Rakh Mirza and Rajah Bhugwan Doss of Jyepore. The progress of the army was so obstructed by the snow, and the natural difficulties of the country, that by the time the latter had been surmounted, the supplies of the troops were nearly exhausted. The two commanders therefore entered into an agreement with the ruling power of Cashmere, by which the latter consented to pay tribute to the emperor, on the understanding that Akbar was not in any way to interfere with the internal government of the country. Akbar refused to ratify this treaty, and accordingly despatched another army in the ensuing year, with better success. The passes

were not defended by the enemy, several important posts were abandoned by them, and the valley lay at the mercy of the invaders: the king therefore submitted, was enrolled amongst the nobles of Delhi, and was allowed a large jagheer in Behar.

Hitherto, success had followed the arms of the emperor in every direction. They were now to meet with an unexpected and terrible reverse. The conquest of Cashmere had brought Akbar into contact with the Eusofzais, whose territory includes the northern part of the plain of Peshawur, and "stretches up the mountains to the snowy range of the Hindoo Koosh, full of narrow glens, hemmed in by high precipices, or lost in woods and forests." The people added, to the hardy valour of mountaineers, the vigour drawn from democratic institutions. The Emperor Baber had endeavoured to reduce them to submission, but had failed. The present quarrel originated in a fanatical spirit. A man named Bayazid had assumed the character of a prophet, set aside the koran, and propounded the theory that the Deity despised all worship, and rejected all mortifications, but exacted implicit obedience to him, Bayazid, as his prophet. He soon formed a numerous sect, called the Roushunias, or "the enlightened," and established his authority in the hills of Suliman and the Khyber. The emperor determined to put him down, and Bayazid, having rashly met the imperial troops in the plains, was signally defeated. He shortly afterwards died of vexation and fatigue. His youngest son, Jellalah, however, in

A. D. 1585, assumed his mantle, and exercised his authority with such vigour, that the Governor of Cabool found himself unable to resist him. The emperor therefore despatched a force under Zein Khan, and his greatest personal favourite Rajah Beerbul, against the Eusofzais, although that people had severed their connection with Jellalah and his fanatics. The open country was soon overrun, but the Rajah ere long found himself involved among defiles to which there was apparently no outlet. Zein Khan had also made his way perseveringly through many rugged and dangerous mountains, but his troops were so exhausted by fatigue, that he and his colleague were compelled to wait for reinforcements. These arrived shortly afterwards; but new difficulties arose, in the dissensions which sprang up between the commanders. It was determined to risk the whole force in one desperate attack on the Eusofzais. The troops advanced; Beerbul came to a strong pass, which he succeeded in topping after incredible exertions. Whilst in this condition, he was assailed so vigorously by the enemy, that his men, exhausted by their exertions, and appalled by the rugged character of the place in which they found themselves, dispersed in confusion, and made the best of their way to the plains. Zein Khan was simultaneously attacked at the foot of the pass, and defended himself with considerable difficulty. The two commanders then collected their scattered forces, when Zein Khan proposed to capitulate. This was opposed by Rajah Beerbul. The latter, fearing a night-attack, drew off his forces, without communicating his intentions to Zein Khan, was decoyed into a defile, and there attacked by the enemy, who, after overwhelming him with showers of stones and arrows, fell sword in hand on his astonished and disheartened soldiers. The rout was total; men, horses, elephants, and camels were mingled together in one frightful mass of indescribable confusion, and Beerbul himself, with other chiefs of vote, was slain. Zein Khan, who was attacked on the ensuing day, attempted an orderly retreat in the midst of swarming thousands, but at night the cry of" the enemy!" having

been raised, his troops, panic-struck, fled in disorder into the surrounding darkness, losing many killed and more prisoners, while their leader himself escaped on foot, and made his way with difficulty to Attock. A fresh force, under the command of Rajahs Todar Mull and Man Sing was promptly thrown forward, to restore the prestige of the imperial arms. Some fortified positions were occupied by the new commanders, and the measures adopted by them to prevent the Eusofzais from planting and cultivating their fields were so successful, that the mountaineers were glad to come to an accommodation, by which the imperial generals were left to pursue their operations against the Roushunias unmolested. This religious war was continued with varied success. In A. D. 1587, a combined attack, made by Rajah Man Sing from Cabool, and a force detached by the emperor to cross the Indus to the south of the Salt Range and fall upon the rear of the enemy, drove Jellalah out of Eusofzai. In A. D. 1600 he made himself master of Ghuzni, and shortly afterwards died.

Akbar now resolved on the conquest of Scinde, being induced thereto, as in his former wars, by the dissensions that were continually arising between the rulers of that province. A force was sent from Lahore to enter Scinde from the north, and lay siege to Sehwan, the key of Lower Scinde; but the chief of the district showed so bold a front, and entrenched himself with so much judgment, that the invading army could neither assail him, nor attempt the siege of Sehwan while he was thus in its vicinity. The emperor determined to dislodge him from his position, and accordingly pushed forward a force into the province by the way of Omercote; the consequence was, that the chief, deprived of the advantages he had hitherto possessed, and distracted by his awkward situation between two opposing forces, resigned the province, which was at once annexed to the empire (A. D. 1592).

During the troubles and struggles in which Akbar was involved in the earlier part of his reign, the Shah of Persia, Shah Abbass, had succeeded in recovering Candahar, which had been treacherously wrested from him by the late

emperor Humaioon on the return of the latter to India. Akbar, now that order and tranquillity reigned throughout his Indian possessions, turned a wistful eye towards Candahar, and ordered the march of a large force for its recovery. He was everywhere successful, whilst the greatest disorders prevailed in the court of Shah Abbass. The emperor promptly took advantage of this state of confusion, and with a blow and a single campaign obtained possession of both the town and province of Candahar, and annexed them to his dominions in A. D. 1594. By this conquest, the shadow of the imperial sceptre stretched from Candahar to Orissa: the whole of Hindoostan was more entirely under the authority of Akbar than it had been under that of any former monarch.

The quarrels and contentions by which the Deccan was rent now attracted the attention of the emperor, ever ready to avail himself of the anarchy and disorders to which they necessarily gave rise. He saw in them the means for extending his conquests and influence into Central India. The throne of Ahmednuggur was at this time claimed by four several parties, and the assistance of the emperor was invoked by the chief who was then in actual possession of the capital. This was of course immediately afforded. Prince Murad, the second son of Akbar, advanced from the side of Guzerat, while Mirza Khan pushed on from Malwa, the two armies forming a junction within a short distance of Ahmednuggur. But ere they could reach that city, the party to whose support they were advancing had been compelled by a sudden revolution to fly, and the capital was now in the hands of Chand Sultana, or Chand Beebee, one of the most celebrated women that have ever appeared in India. This princess was acting as regent for her infant nephew Bahadoor Nizam Shah. Learning of the approach of the Moguls, she hastily addressed circular letters to the other contending chiefs (and especially to the King of Beejapore), exhorting them to bury their differences till this power, whose ambition threatened the interests of all alike, was driven from the Deccan. Her warnings and remonstrances were, fortunately for her, attended to; the

King of Beejapore hurried to her assistance, and the other nobles, joining their contingents to the army of that monarch, marched to give battle to the imperial troops. Threatened by this coalition, Prince Murad pressed the siege of Ahmednuggur with all possible energy, but all his efforts were rendered nugatory by the determined fortitude and indomitable courage of the Rajpoots, with Chand Sultana at their head. When the explosion of a mine drove the defenders in panic and confusion from the ramparts, this heroine, clad in full armour, her veil on her face, and a naked sabre in her hand, rushed undismayed to the breach, and by voice and example rallied her followers, and rolled back the advancing tide of Mahomedan triumph. "Matchlocks and arrows were poured on the enemy from the works, guns were brought to bear on the breach, rockets, gunpowder, and other combustibles were thrown among the dense masses in the ditch, so that the Moguls, after a desperate struggle, were obliged to draw off." Yet was not Prince Murad altogether unsuccessful. Chand Sultana, well aware of the heterogeneous materials of which the Hindoo coalition was composed, and of the precarious tenure of a combination like the present, consented to come to terms with the emperor, by which the King of Ahmednuggur ceded the rich province of Berar, which he had just conquered (A.D. 1596.) But the peace was of short duration. Disputes arose about the boundaries of Berar ; and before the expiration of a year, the forces of both parties were again in the field. The King of Candeish ranged himself on the side of the emperor, whilst the King of Golconda came to the assistance of Beejapore and Ahmednuggur. A fiercely contested battle on the banks of the Godavery (December 1596 or January 1597) having brought about no decided results, the emperor hastened in person from the Punjab to the seat of war. Dowlutabad and some minor forts had been taken before his arrival, but so soon as he appeared on the scene, Ahmednuggur was invested and besieged by a force under Prince Dâniál. The heroic Sultana was now not only without the support of those who had aided her in her first struggle

with the Moguls, but her very court was distracted by factious opponents. At length, when, having been driven to despair, she meditated negotiations for peace, her soldiery, instigated by her enemies, and forgetful of her former brilliant services, burst into her apartment, and ruthlessly murdered her. But retribution was not long in overtaking the butchers of as patriotic and gallant a queen as the annals of India can boast of; for within a few days of her death, Ahmednuggur was taken by storm, and the entire garrison put to the sword.

This success was soon followed by the annexation of Candeish, when the emperor appointed Prince Dâniál viceroy of that province and of Berar, left Abul Fazl, his celebrated minister, to finish the war in Ahmednuggur, and hastily returned to Agra, having been called thither by the refractory conduct of his eldest son, Prince Salem, afterwards the Emperor Jehangheer. This young man, who from his youth had been addicted to strong drink, had been appointed Viceroy of Ajmere, with the conduct of the war against the Rana of Oodypore. Rajah Man Sing, Governor of Bengal, had also been sent to assist him with arms and counsel. The latter, however, having been called away by a rebellion in Bengal, and the whole force of the emperor being occupied with the struggle in the Deccan, the prince entertained the design of seizing the provinces of Hindoostan for himself. He accordingly marched against Agra, but being baffled by the governor of that city, he fell back on Allahabad, and took possession of Oude and Behar. Unwilling to drive him to extremities, the emperor wrote to him assuring him of his undiminished affection, and warning him at the same time against the dangerous courses he was pursuing. The prince replied in submissive terms, and marched as far as Etawah on his way to Agra, with the professed intention of waiting on his father; but, as he continued to raise troops as he advanced, he was commanded either to present himself at the capital slenderly attended, or retire at once to Allahabad. Selim adopted the latter course, though it is probable that the retreat was effected by nego