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IlJSTOJiV OF INDIA.

[Hook I.

A IX LIT-.'

Siege of Cliittoor.

Akber shoot; .lagmul.

Sheikh Seliiri.

liad susttiiuL'(l to justify liiiii in uguiii drawing the sword, siinj>ly replied, "Praise be to God that he has rescued me once more to see your majesty's wmntenance." This impudent hypocrisy had saved him on a former occasion, but it now provi;d unavailing; for some of the officers, afraid perhaps of a renewal of the kings ill-judged leniency, put him to death without orders. The i-evolt of the Usbeks being now considered at an end, Akber returned to Agi"a in July, 1.jG7.

Akber next marched against Rana Cody Sing, who had hitherto refased to acknowledge the Mogul supremacy. He immediately directed his steps against Cliittoor, in Rajpootana. The rana quitted it before his arrival, and retired into the mountains, but left it am])ly provisioned and strongly garrisoned Ijy 8000 Rajpoots. It was immediately invested by AkVjer, who.se ap[jroaches are said to have been made in the most scientific manner, in the mode recommended by Vauban, and practised by the best engineers of modem times. After arriving near the walls by means of zigzag trenches and stuffed gabions, two mines were carried under bastions, filled with gunpowder, and fired. The stonning party advanced, and, finding a practicable breach, di'ided, with the view of entering both breaches at once. From some cause only one of the mines had exploded, and the second division was close upon the other when the second explosion took place, and 500 of the Moguls were blown into the air. The consequence was, that both attacks failed.

Akber's spu-it generally rose with the difficulties he encountered, and he immediately began to run new mines and carry on other works. One even- ing while they were in progress, he perceived Jagmul, the governor, superin- tending the repair of the breaches by torch-light. Seizing a matchlock from one of his attendants, he fired with so sure an aim as to lodge the ball in Jagmul's forehead. The garrison were at once seized with despair, and erecting a funeral pile for the dead body of their chief, bm-ned their wives and cliildren along with it. Akber, aware of what was going on, ordered his men forward to the breaches under the cover of night. Not a soul appeared, and they entered the fort without opposition. The Rajpoots had retired to their temples, and there, disdaining to accept of quarter, perished to a man.

Akber's cliildi-en had hitherto died ; but in 1569, shortly after he had made a pilgrimage to a celebrated shrine at Ajmeer. and paid a dsit to Sheikli Selim Chishty, in the village of Sikra, his favourite sultana gave birth to his son Selim. In the following year another son, whom he called Murad, was bom to him. As both births had taken place in the village of Sikra, he regarded it as a particularly propitious spot, and selected it as the site of a city, which at a later period received the name of Futtipoor.

Gujerat had long been torn by intestine factions, and also become a common asylum for all the chiefs who had risen in rebellion against Akber's government. Having therefore resolved to march against it in person, he set out in Septem- ber, 1572. Puttun and Ahmedabad fell into his hands without a blow. At