Page:Akbar and the Rise of the Mughal Empire.djvu/79

 CHAPTER IX

GENERAL CONDITION OF INDIA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

The empire conquered south of the Sutlej by the Afghán predecessors of the Mughal had no claim to be regarded as the empire of Hindustán. It was rather the empire of Delhi, that is, of the provinces called up to the year 1857 the North-western Provinces, in- cluding that part of the Bengal Presidency which we know as Western Behar, and some districts in the Central Provinces and Rájpútána. It included, like- wise, the Punjab. For a moment, indeed, the princes of the House of Tughlak could claim supremacy over Bengal and almost the whole of Southern India, but the first invasion from the north gave the opportunity which the Hindu princes of the south seized to shake off the uncongenial yoke, and it had not been re-imposed. The important kingdom of Orissa, extending from the mouth of the Ganges to that of the Godávari, had always maintained its independence. Western India, too, had for some time ceased to acknowledge the way of the foreign invader, and its several states had become kingdoms.