Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/768

Rh 740 M O N M O N Og.lai Khan. 182,269 ; the remainder, consisting mainly of aboriginal tribes and hill races, profess primitive forms of faith. There are also a few Buddhists and Christians. Seven towns contained upwards of 5000 inhabitants in 1872 Monghyr, 59,698 ; Shaikhpura, 11,536 ; Jamalpur, 10,453; Barhiya, 10,405; Surajgarha, 7935 ; Barbigha, 6362 ; and Jamui, 5197. No trustworthy statistics of the area under cultivation exist since the revenue survey in 1847, when it was returned at 1,311,768 acres ; it is known, however, that cultiva tion has largely extended since then. The land is held principally under the tenure known as bhdoli-jot, by which the tenant pays rent, either in money or in kind, according to the out-turn of his crops in each year. It is of ancient standing, and popular with the tenantry. Monghyr is famous for its manufactures of iron : firearms, swords, and iron articles of every kind are produced in abundance, but are noted for cheapness rather than quality. The art of inlaying sword-hilts aiid other articles with gold and silver affords employment to a few families. The most important manu facture, however, is that of indigo, conducted by means of Euro pean capital and under European supervision. The total area under indigo is estimated at about 10,000 acres, with an average out-turn of 2900 cwts. of dye. Minor industries include weaving, dyeing, cabinet-making, boot-making, soap-boiling, and pottery. The principal exports, sent to Calcutta both by rail and river, are oil-seeds, wheat, rice, indigo, gram and pulse, hides, and tobacco ; and the chief imports consist of European piece goods, salt, and sugar. The value of the former in 1876-77 was 430, 000, and of the latter 314,000. Education is making fair progress, and in 1874- 75 there were 229 Government and aided schools, attended by 6675 pupils. The climate is dry and healthy. The temperature is high in the hot weather, reaching 107 Fahr. in May ; but the cold weather is cool and pleasant. The average ann-ual rainfall is 46^ inches. Malarial fever is comparatively uncommon, but epidemics of cholera occur frequently. Monghyr was one of the principal centres of the Mohammedan administration in Bengal. In the early years of British rule, Monghyr formed a part of Bhagalpur, and was not created a separate district till 1832. MONGHYR, chief town and administrative headquarters of the above district, is situated on the south bank of the Ganges (25 22 N. lat., 86 30 E. long.). The population in 1872 was 59,698: viz., Hindus, 44,900; Mohammedans, 14,346; Buddhists, 33; Christians, 305; &quot;others,&quot; 24. In 1195 Monghyr, a fortress of great natural strength, appears to have been taken by Muhammad Bakhtyar Khilji, the first Moslem conqueror of Bengal. Henceforth it is often mentioned by the Mohammedan chroniclers as a place of military importance, and was frequently chosen as the seat of the local government. After 1590, when Akbar established his supremacy over the Afghan chiefs of Bengal, Monghyr was long the headquarters of his general, Todar Mall ; and it also figures prominently during the rebellion of Sultan Shuja against his brother, Aurangzeb. In more recent times Nawab Mir Kasim, in his war with the English, selected it as his residence and the centre of his military preparations. The fame of Monghyr armourers is said to date from the arsenal which he established. The town is now purely a civil station- and in some respects one of the most picturesque in Bengal. MONGOLS THE early history of the Mongols, like that of all central- Asian tribes, is extremely obscure. Even the meaning of the name &quot; Mongol &quot; is a disputed point, though a general consent is now given to Schott s etymology of the word from &quot; mong,&quot; meaning brave. From the earliest and very .scanty notice we have of the Mongols in the history of the T ang dynasty of China (A.D. 619-90) and in works of later times, it appears that their original camping-grounds were along the courses of the Kerulon, Upper Nonni, and Argun rivers. But in the absence of all historical particulars of their origin, legend, as is usual, has been busy with their early years. The Mongol historian Ssanang Ssetzen gives currency to the myth that they sprang from a blue wolf ; and the soberest story on record is that their ancestor Budantsar was miraculously conceived of a Mongol widow. By craft and violence Budantsar gained the chieftainship over a tribe living in the neighbourhood of his mother s tent, and thus left a heritage to his son. Varying fortunes attended the descendants of Budantsar, but on the whole their power gradually increased, until Yesukai, the father of Jenghiz Khan, who was eighth in descent from Budantsar, made his authority felt over a considerable area. How this dominion was extended under the rule of Jenghiz Khan has already been shown (see JENGHIZ KHAN), and when that great conqueror was laid to rest in the valley of Keleen in 1227 he left to his sons | an empire which stretched from the China Sea to the banks of the Dnieper. Over the whole of this vast region Jenghiz Khan set his second surviving son Oghotai or Ogdai as khakan, or chief khan, while to the family of his deceased eldest son Juchi he assigned the country from Kayalik and Kharezm to the borders of Bulgar and Saksin &quot; where er the hoofs of Mongol horses had tramped ; &quot; to Jagatai, his eldest sur viving son, the territory from the borders of the Uigur country to Bokhara; while Tule, the youngest, received charge of the home country of the Mongols, the care of the imperial encampment and family, and of the archives of the state. The appointment of Ogdai as his successor, be ing contrary to the usual Mongol custom of primogeniture, gave rise to some bitterness of feeling among the followers of Jagatai. But the commands of Jenghiz Khan subdued these murmurs, and Ogdai was finally led to the throne by his dispossessed brother amid the plaudits of the assembled Mongols. The ceremony was completed by Ogdai making three solemn genuflexions to the sun, and by the princes taking an oath by which they swore &quot;that so long as there remained of his posterity a morsel of flesh which thrown upon the grass would prevent the cows from eating, or which put in the fat would prevent the dogs from taking it, they would not place on the throne a prince of any other branch.&quot; In accordance with Mongol customs, Ogdai signalized his accession to the throne by distribut ing among his grandees presents from his father s treasures, and to his father s spirit he sacrificed forty maidens and numerous horses. Once fairly on the throne, he set himself vigorously to follow up the conquests won by his father. At the head of a large army he marched southwards into China to complete the ruin of the Kin dynasty, which had already been so rudely shaken, while at the same time Tule advanced into the province of Honan from the side of Shense. Against this combined attack the Kin troops made a vigor ous stand, but the skill and courage of the Mongols bore down every opposition, and over a hecatomb of slaughtered foes they captured Kai-fung Foo, the capital of their ene mies. From Kai-fung Foo the emperor fled to Joo-ning Foo, whither the Mongols quickly followed. After sus taining a siege for some weeks, and enduring all the horrors of starvation, the garrison submitted to the Mongols, and at the same time the emperor committed suicide by hang ing. Thus fell in 1234 the Kin or &quot;Golden&quot; dynasty, which had ruled over the northern portion of China for more than a century. But though Ogdai s first care was to extend his empire in the rich and fertile provinces of China, he was not forgetful of the obligation under which Jenghiz Khan s conquests in western Asia had laid him to maintain his supremacy over the kingdom of Kharezm. This was the more incumbent on him since Jelal al-din, who had been driven by Jenghiz into India, had returned, reinforced by the support of the sultan of Delhi, whose daughter he had married, and, having reconquered his hereditary domains, had advanced westward as far as Tiflis and Khelat. Once more to dispossess the young sultan, Ogdai sent a force of 300,000 men into Kharezm. With such amazing ra pidity did this army inarch in pursuit of its foe that the