Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/460

Rh 424 A H M A I D i more ancient city, Bhingar. This Ahmad established a new monarchy, which lasted until its overthrow by Shah Jahan in 1636. In 1759 the Peshwa obtained possession of the place by bribing the Mahometan commander; and in 1797 it was ceded by the Peshwa to the Marhattd chief Daulat Rao Sindhia. During our war with the Marhattas in 1803 Ahmadnagar was invested by a British force under General Wellesley, and captured. It was after wards restored to the Marhattas, but again came into the possession of the British in 1817, according to the terms of the treaty of Puna. The town has rapidly advanced in prosperity under British rule. It now contains a popula tion of 32,841 souls, is an important station on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, and has been created a muni cipality, as is mentioned above. AHMED SHAH, founder of the Dur/ini dynasty in Afghanistan, born about 1724, was the son of Sammaun- Khan, hereditary chief of the Abdali tribe. While still a boy Ahmed fell into the hands of the hostile tribe of Ghilzais, by whom he was kept prisoner at Kandahar. In March 1738 he was rescued by Nadir Shah, who soon afterwards gave him the command of a body of cavalry composed chiefly of Abdalis. On the assassination of Nadir in 1747, Ahmed, having failed in an attempt to seize the Persian treasures, retreated to Afghanistan, where he easily persuaded the native tribes to assert their inde pendence, and accept him as their sovereign. He was crowned at Kandahar in October 1747, and about the same time he changed the name of .his tribe to Durani. Two things may be said to have contributed greatly to the con solidation of his power. He interfered as little as possible with the independence of the different tribes, demanding from each only its due proportion of tribute and military service; and he kept his army constantly engaged in bril liant schemes of foreign conquest. Being possessed of the Koh-i-noor diamond, and being fortunate enough to inter cept a treasure on its way to the Shah of Persia, he had all the advantages which great wealth can give. He first crossed the Indus in 1748, when he took Lahore; and in 1751, after a feeble resistance on the part of tho MaJiome- lan viceroy, he became master of the entire Panjab. In 1750 he had taken Nishapur, and in 1752 he subdued Kashmir. His great expedition to Dehli was undertaken in 1756 in order to avenge himself on the Great Mogul for the recapture of Lahore. Ahmed entered Dehli with his army in triumph, and for more than a month the city was E^iven over to pillage. The Shah himself added to his wives a princess of the imperial family, and bestowed another upon his son Timur Shah, whom he made governor of the Panjab and Sirhind. As his viceroy in Dehli he left a Rohilla chief in whom he had all confidence, but scarcely had he crossed the Indus when the Mahometan vizier drove the chief from the city, killed the Great Mogul, and set another prince of the family, a tool of his own, upon the throne. The Mahratta chiefs availed themselves of these circumstances to endeavour to possess themselves of the whole country, and Ahmed was compelled more than once to cross the Indus in order to protect his territory from them and the Sikhs, who were constantly attacking his garrisons. In 1758 the Mahrattas obtained possession of the Panjab, but on the 6th January 1761 they were totally routed by Ahmed in the great battle of Panipat. In a later expedition he inflicted a severe defeat upon the Sikhs, but had to hasten westwards immediately afterwards in order to quell an insurrection in Afghanistan. Meanwhile the Sikhs again rose, and Ahmed was now forced to abandon all hope of retaining the command of the Panjab. After lengthened suffering from a terrible disease, said to have been cancer in the face, he died in 1773, leaving to his son Timur the kingdom he had founded. AHRIMAN or AEIMANES (Angra-Mainyus, Hostile or Destroying Spirit), in the Zend-Avesta, the principle of evil, opposed to Ormuzd, the principle of good, the one being symbolised by darkness and the other by light. Both were visible manifestations of the Zervan-Akerene (Infinite Time), and existed from all eternity, according to the doc trine of the Magians. Zoroaster himself, however, seems to have taught that Ormuzd alone was eternal, while Ahriman was created. In the Avesta this world is repre sented as the theatre of a fierce conflict between the two spirits, which is to last for 12.000 years. In the end Ahriman is to acknowledge the supremacy of Ormuzd. (See ZOROASTER.) AHWAZ, a town in Persia, on the left bank of the river Karoon, about 100 miles N.E. of Bassorah. Though now an insignificant place, it occupies the site of what was once an extensive and important city. Of this ancient city vast remains are left, extending 12 miles along the bank of the river. Among the most remarkable are the ruins of a bridge and a palace, besides vestiges of canals and water- mills, which tell of former commercial activity. There is also, in a ruined state, a bund or stone dyke of great strength thrown across the river for purposes of irrigation. It extends 100 feet in length, and many single blocks in it measure from 8 to 10 feet in thickness. Ahwaz reached the height of its prosperity in the time of the earliest Mahometan caliphs. AI (Sept. Ayyai, Ayyai, and Tat; Vulg. //* ), a royal city of the Canaanites, east of Bethel. It existed in the time of Abraham, who pitched his tent between the two cities (Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 3); but it is chiefly noted for its capture and destruction by Joshua (vii. 2-5; viii. 1-29), who made it &quot; a heap for ever, even a desolation.&quot; At a later period Ai was, however, rebuilt, and is mentioned by Isaiah (x. 28), and also after the captivity. The site was known, and some scanty ruins still existed, in the time of Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast., s.v. Ayyat). Dr Robin son was unable to discover any certain traces of either. He remarks (Bib. Researches, ii. 313), however, that its situa tion with regard to Bethel may be well determined by the facts recorded in Scripture. That Ai lay to the east of Bethel is distinctly stated ; and the two cities were not so far distant from each other but that the men of Bethel mingled in the pursuit of the Israelites as they feigned to flee before the king of Ai, and thus both cities were left defenceless (Josh. viii. 17). A little to the south of a village called Deir Diwan, and one hour s journey from Bethel, the site of an ancient place is indicated by reservoirs hewn in the rock, excavated tombs, and foundations of hewn stone. This, Dr Robinson thinks, may mark the site of Ai, as it agrees with all the intimations as to its position. In this view more recent authorities generally coincide. Kiepert s map gives it a place near these ancient ruins. Stanley places it at the head of the Wady Harith. AID AN, a king of Scottish Dalriada, who reigned about the close of the 6th century. He usurped the succession from the son of Conall, and was crowned by Columba, who personally preferred another, and, it is said, was compelled to perform the ceremony by an interposition of divine power. During Aidan s reign the Scottish Dalriada was completely freed from subjection to the Irish monarchs. (See Adamnan, lib. iii., c. 5; and Bode.) AIDAN, ST, first bishop of Lindisfarne or Holy Island, embraced a religious life in the monastery of lona. Oswald, king of Northumbria, having requested a mission of monks from lona to labour for the conversion of his subjects, Aidan was chosen by the abbot as leader of the expedition, and was consecrated a bishop about 634-5 A.D. Bede speaks of the holiness of his life, of the influence of his preaching as seen in the conversion of multitudes, and also