h. 4. The Great Moguls, or Mongul Emperors begin with. Baber,
HlSTÔfctCâ
.E pochs.
J525 ; and continued, with à fhort interruption, by the Patans- to-Shah
Aulum, 1760.
The invaffon by Timur, and at a diftant interval that by Nadir, alfo
form remarkable epochs in the hiftorÿ of this paffivd edhntfy.- The
Jatter may be faid to have virtually diflblved- the Mogul empire. The
Fortugucfe fettlements were followed by thbfe of the Dutch. The
French power began to predominate in f749, bilt' fpeedijÿ clofetf ih
1761, with the- lofs of their principal lèttlement, Pondicherry.'; As merchants
the Engliflt had* long held ImaH fettlements in Hindoftan, but the
expedition into Tanjore, »749, was the firft- enterprize againft a nativë
prince. Other contefts followed concerning Arcot in- the kingdom of ’
Camada, or what we call the Carnatic. In 1756 the fort of Calcuttaj.
our chief fettlement in Bengal, was taken by the Nabob, and: ihatny of
our brave countrymen periihed.in a Shocking manner from, bekig jion-
fined in a fmall chamber. The battle of Plaffey, Fought! in Jurife,, t ŸS'ft-
laid the foundation of the fubfequent power of Britaiir. Tmrf* CliVe j.
Governor of Bengal, 1765, obtained a grant from the nominal Mcfgul,,
of Bengal^ Bahar, and part of Griffa, on condition of an annual tribute.
Soon, after the Englifh were engaged in a conteft with Hytfer Alii, a
fbldier of fortune who had dethroned the lineal fovereign of Mayffur,, oh
Myfore, and extended niff corrqueffs to the- adjacent territories; Somé-
conflicts followed on the confinés of Carnada-. and Myfore ;; but the
event was little advantageous to- either party. Hyder dying in 1783;.
was fueceeded by his fon- Tippoo, who- feems to havejbeén a prince - of
inferior abilities, and expiated, his ill arranged, glairs by his death, and;
the partition of his territories, in 1799.
The Bengal provinces have been in our pefleffiom fi’nce 1-755 5 and5
Benares was added in 1775. This portion might conftitute a confider-r
able kingdom-, and is fufficientlÿ cprapaét, and fecure, by natural ad^-
vantages, independent of a formidable force. The Sircars, or detached
provinces, partly belong; to Golconda; and! partly to ‘Ori-fla,.
forming a long narrow flip of country from twenty to feventy fivé miles
wide, but about three hundred and fifty,in length. The word Sircar
is almoft fynonymous with an Englifh county, implying a divifion of
a Sötiba*
a .Souba, or' great province; and thefe;detached Sircars, or counties,
beï%gl':to^the north of Madras, on which they are dependant, are icóm-
monly ftyled the Northern Sircars.5 ; In 1754 they were acquired by
■ the French; and conquered by the Englifh under Colonel Clive in
The Englifh fettled at Madras about the year 1640; and their ter-
' ritory here extends-' about a hundred "and eight Britifh miles 'along the
fhore, andio®ty;-foven in breadth, in the centre of the ancient kingdom
ofiGarnadti I The ’ recent and extenfiveacquffitionsin the fouth have
been already mentioned.
I^-Nor 'amoig;.: the modern hiftoriéal’ epochs o f Hindoftan fault the
eelehraféd- - battlé o f<■ Panhlput, not far to the N. W .o f - Delhi, -hè
omitted, which was fought in 1761, between the’Mahometans under
Abdalla King of Candahar, -and the Marattas, in which thq-latter were
-defeated, r «he Mahometans were computed at 150,000, and the
-Marattas at'feuo,o©o.
The ancient monument^ of Hindoftan are very numerous; and of
various dèferiptions, exclufive ■ of the tombs- and other edifices of the
-mahometan conquerors. ‘ Softie of the ynoft remarkable arc excavated
^empléê^ft^tues, relievos, &c. in an ifland near Bombay; hut the moft
•magnificent and extenfive are .near the town of Ellora, about two hundred
miles to, the eaft of Bombay.6 The latter are minutely deferibed
•and -illuftrated with plates in the fixth volume of the Afiatic Refearches,
to which the reader is referred. The idols reprefented feem clearly, to
‘belong to the prefent mythology of Hindoftan; but at what period
thefe edifices were modelled', whether three hundred, or three thoufand
years ago, 'muft be left in the darknefs of Hindoo chronology. Several
ancient grants of land, feme coins, and feals, have alfo been found.
Yet all thefe remains little correfpond with the exaggerated ideas en-
■ tertained concerning the early civilization of this renowned country;
while the> Egyptian ' pyramids, temples, and obelifks, .ftrongly confirm
the accounts preferved by the ancient hiftorians.-
Though the mythology of the Hindoos may pretend to great antiquity,
yet their prefent form of religion is fuppofed to vary confider-
5 Renndl, cxxxiv. . - * A f ™1. 80(1 *
ably
HisToeiCA!
ÎC.-OGKS.
Ancient M<*
numents.
Mythology.
K K 2