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HISTORY OF INDIA.

(Book III.

A D 1712.

Rypo .t lonfedenuv

Disputed

succession to tlie Mogi J throne.

his own officials, and pay Salio the proceeds. This was at tlie best a very humiliating arrantrement, hut tiie fortunes of the Mogul had already so far declined that any terms were deemed [jreferable to the hazard of a new strui'tfle.

In returning from tlie Deccan, Bahadur Shah was encountered by a new confedera(y of Rajpoots, headed by the Rana of Odeypoor and the Rajahs of

Jeypoor and Marwar. Be- /# fore he could crush it, a new

alarm broke out which ob- liged him to comjjly with their demands, and in fact make them independent in everything but the name. The alarm proceeded from the Punjab, where the Sikh.s, originally an insignificant religious sect, had risen rapid- ly into importance, and were now avenging themselves on their Mu.ssiilman pereecutors by fearful devastations and wholesale massacres. The insurrection was deemed for- midable enough to demand

EAJPOOT.S —From Buinouf, L'Inde Francaise ; Sohyn, Les Hindous ; and the CmperOr's perSOUal pre- Todd's Annals of RnjAsthan. .. ^ i* ll

sence, and was only partially suppressed when he died suddenly at Lahore, in Februarj^ 1712

As usual, the succession was disputed by his four sons. Azim-u-Shan, the second son, was the favourite both with the nobility and the army ; and, by a rapid march from his government of Bengal, where he had for several years been providing himself with the sinews of war, gained so much upon his competitors that resistance seemed all but hopeless. The other three brothers, seeing that their only chance of success was to unite against him as a common enemy, joined their forces, and, under the able guidance of ZuLfikar Khan, forced him to action under circumstances so disadvantageous, that after a short struggle lie lost both the battle and his life. The question of precedence among the remaining brothers stiU remained to be determined ; but Zulfikar Khan settled it by a very summary process. Moiz-u-din, who, as the eldest, had the best legal title, seemed excluded by incapacity; but to Zullikar this was his strongest recommendation. He had determined to use him as a tool, and therefore, espousing his cause, found little difficulty in seating him on the throne, under the title of Jehandar Shah. Zulfikar, almost as a matter of course, became