from the distant streams of the holy Ganges for the daily washing of the idols, the revenues of ten thousand villages were assigned for the support of the temple, and princes devoted their daughters to the service of this obscene emblem. Undaunted by the difficulties of the expedition, Mahmúd entered the inhospitable desert, between Multan and Gujerat, his soldiers suffered severely during the march, but they felt that all their toils and perils were rewarded when they beheld the walls of Somnath. The Hindus, animated by the Brahmins, defended themselves with all the rage of fanaticism and despair; but they were unable to resist the enthusiastic fury of the Turks and Afghans, who believed that plunder would would be the reward of life, and paradise the recompense of death. On the second day the fortress was taken by storm, incalculable treasures were found in the temple, which were removed to Ghazni, and the idol was broken to pieces, though the Brahmins offered immense sums for its ransom. Mahmud did not long survive this brilliant conquest; he died after having raised his kingdom to the highest rank among the states of Upper Asia, and collected in his court the most eminent poets and philosophers who had yet contributed to Persian literature.

A disputed succession weakened the Ghaznevid power after the death of Mahmúd; and when Masúd secured the crown by triumphing over all other competitors, his plans of Indian conquest were frustrated by the increasing power of the Seljukian Turks. Pressed forward by other tribes in their rear, vast hordes of Turks had crossed the Oxus, and among them a warlike sept, commanded by the three sons of Seljuk, had obtained permission from Mahmud to occupy the vacant pastures of Khorassan. Masúd, jealous of the strangers, wished to drive them back, but Togrul Beg, the grandson of Seljuk, collected the scattered tribes of Turks, defeated the sultan, and wrested from him all his northern provinces. The Seljukians established their empire over all the country between the Euphrates and the Jaxartes, while the Ghaznevids, expelled from their ancestral possessions, removed to their Indian possessions and made Lahore their capital. When once an eastern dynasty begins to decline, nothing can arrest the progress of decay; in a few years the power of the Ghaznevids had become little better than a name; many of the Hindú princes asserted their independence, resumed the

practice of their idolatrous rites, and retook several of their ancient fortresses. The Mohammedans, indignant at this proof of their sinking supremacy, became anxious to obtain a new and more prosperous race of sovereigns.

The family of Ghor originally possessed the mountainous district of Ghori, south-eastward of Khorassan; it had been connected with the royal family of Ghazni by several intermarriages; but these ties, as is frequently the case in Asia, produced hostility rather than amity; murders from envy and jealousy laid the foundation of bitter feuds. A series of desultory wars ensued, which ended in placing the Ghorians in possession of the ancestral territories of their rivals. Mohammed Ghori having been appointed by his brother, viceroy of Ghazni, resolved to extend his power over Northern India, he invaded the Punjab at the head of an Afghán army, which then, as now, was superior in valour to any military body in Asia, laid siege to Lahore, captured the city by treachery, (A. D. 1187) and the last of the Ghuznevid dynasty, Khosran II. terminated his life in prison.

Mohammed Ghori was emulous of the fame of the first great sultan of Ghazni; he resolved to extend his empire over Hindustan, but he found a formidable opponent in Prithvi Raya, the prince of Ajmir. In the first engagement between the rival sovereigns, the Ghorian monarch was defeated with great loss, and was so depressed by the unexpected result that he remained inactive for several years. At length a pretended saint predicted to him success over the enemies of Islam, and he again marched an army into the territories of Ajmir. Prithvi Raya, lulled into fatal security by his former victory, was surprised in his camp, but he made a desperate though vain resistance. He was at length overcome and taken prisoner. Ajmir, deprived of its monarch, surrendered immediately, and Mohammed, having appointed one of his slaves viceroy of his new dominions, returned to Ghuzni, in order to raise new hordes of Afghans and recruit his army for further conquests. Kuttub, to whom the government had been delegated, was raised from the condition of a slave to that of a general by Mohammed, who was a shrewd judge of merit; he improved with diligence and ability the advantages which his master had gained; he reduced the surrounding districts, and after having taken the fort of Merat, laid siege to Delhi. The garrison ventured to meet him in the field; he de

feated them so severely that the citizens refused to continue their defence, and the city was surrendered.

Jaya Chandra, rajah or prince of Kanauj, had remained a tame spectator of Prithri Raya's downfall: but the wanton cruelty of the Mohammedan conquerors inflamed his courage, and he led an army against the Ghorian viceroy, (A. D. 1194.) Information of this movement, which threatened formidable consequences, was sent to Mohammed, at Ghazni; he immediately assembled his Afghans, crossed the Indus, and effected a junction with the troops of Kuttub. After some preliminary skirmishes, a decisive battle was fought on the banks of the Jumna, in which the Hindus were totally defeated, and Jaya Chandra slain. The results of this victory, were the capture of the holy city of Benares, and the subjugation of Hindustan, even to the confines of China. These conquests consolidated the power of the Mohammedans in India, and laid the foundation of the empire of Delhi.

The conquerors next assailed the barbarous Gakkars and reduced them to obedience, but on their return Mohammed Ghori was murdered by two of these mountaineers, who eluded the vigilance of his guards and during the night penetrated to his tent, (A. D. 1206.) As he left no children, the succession to the empire was disputed by his nephews; Kuttub finally prevailed over the other competitors, but resigned himself to sloth and indolence. His son, Aram, exhibited still more deplorable weakness; in less than a year he was deposed by Altmish, originally a slave, whom Kuttub had elevated to the highest dignities, having bestowed upon him the hand of his daughter and declared him his adopted son. The usurper's reign was prosperous, but after his death, his son Feroze dissipated the public treasures and brought the monarchy into such contempt that he was dethroned by his own sister, Ruzia Begum. The queen's feebleness invited rebellion; after a reign of six months she was slain in battle, and the empire remained in confusion until Nassir-eddín Mahmúd, the youngest son of Altmish, obtained the crown, (A. D. 1247.)

Mahmud II. had been consigned to a prison after his father's death, and had been compelled to support himself by his skill in caligraphy; but he never complained of the fatigue of copying books, declaring that "he who would not work for his bread did not deserve it." He was subsequently released, and appointed to

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the government of a province, where his prudent administration obtained such fame that the Omrahs resolved to entrust him with the fortunes of the empire. In his reign the terrible Mongols, who under the command of Jenghiz Khan and his successors, had carried conquest and devastation from the seas of China to the shores of the Mediterranean, crossed the Indus, but retreated on the approach of Mahmúd. After the death of this excellent monarch, who left no children, the vizier Pulbun or Balin, who like several of his predecessors, had been originally a slave, ascended the throne. His reign was long and prosperous-it may also be termed glorious; for not less than fifteen Mohammedan sovereigns, driven from their thrones by the Mongolian successors of Jenghiz Khan, sought refuge in the court of Delhí, and were supported in a manner worthy of their rank by its generous sovereign. The Mongols made a second attempt to penetrate Hindustan, and the king's favourite son, Mohammed, a prince of great promise, was sent against them, while the monarch proceeded to suppress a dangerous insurrection in Bengal. Mohammed encountered the invaders in the province of Multan, and gained a decisive victory; but following the pursuit with too great eagerness, he fell into an ambuscade and was slain. Decisive as his own triumphs were, they could not console the aged monarch, who had reached his eightieth year, for the loss of his heroic son; he sunk under the calamity, and was succeeded by his grandson, Kai Kobad, (A.D. 1286).

A troubled scene of revolutions, destitute of interest or importance, ended in the elevation of Allah-ed-dín Khilji to the throne. Soon after his accession, the Mongols a third time invaded Hindustan with a countless army; they were met and defeated by Zaffer Khan, a general equally remarkable for his personal courage and skill as a commander. The last great battle was fought almost within sight of Delhí, and the gallant Zaffer Khan fell in the arms of victory. Allah-ed-dín was not sorry for the loss of a general whose ambition he suspected, but the empire at large was filled with sorrow at being deprived of its great hero. "The bravery of Zaffer Khan," says Ferishta, "became so proverbial among the Moguls, that when their horses started, they would ask them if they saw the ghost of Zaffer Khan?" Intoxicated by his victories over the Moguls, Allahed-din began to form the most extravagant projects; he resolved

to found a new religion, after the example of Mohammed, and, like Alexander the Great, to intrust his dominions to a viceroy, and undertake the conquest of the world. The very ignorance that led to the formation of designs so insane, prevented the monarch from proceeding any length towards their execution; his first efforts were productive of so many dangers and difficulties that he at once abandoned his ambitious enterprises, but at the same time consulted a holy man as to the means by which he might best transmit his name to posterity. The monarch was fortunate in his choice of an adviser; he was recommended to secure his empire in Hindustan, by subduing the south-eastern provinces of the Peninsula, and to prevent the future incursions of the Moguls, by fortifying Kabul and Kandahar. He engaged with great ardour in the former of these enterprizes, and subdued several Rájáhs, but the remembrance of his follies still rankled in the minds of his nobles, and several conspiracies were formed, from which he escaped with great difficulty. These dangers impressed upon his mind the disadvantages of ignorance; though past the middle age of life he began the study of letters, and, as we are assured by the historians, in a short space of time became eminent for his proficiency. Mallek Kafûr, a general of great reputation, in the mean time carried the Mohammedans' arms into the Dékkan, and gained so many victories, that on his return to Delhí the king himself met him at the gate, and acknowledged that he was his debtor for a new kingdom. An atrocious act of cruelty soon afterwards sullied this generally good reign; the Moguls who had been made prisoners, or who had deserted during the invasions of their countrymen, having become Mohammedans, were enlisted in the royal army; the king from some unknown cause grew jealous of these converts, and disbanded them without pay. In their distress a rebellion was projected; the plot was discovered, and orders issued for the extermination of the Moguls, were obeyed as ruthlessly as they were given. Fifteen thousand of these unhappy men, were seen lying dead on one day in the streets of Delhí, and all their wives and children were enslaved. Allah-ed-dín was poisoned by his favourite general, Mallek Kafûr, (A.D. 1316), who procured the elevation of the king's youngest son, Omar Khilji, to the throne. The nobles of Delhí, dissatisfied with this arrangement, murdered Mallek, dethroned Omar, and chose his brother Mubarik