Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/132

120 great historic importance. It extended along tLe eastern coast about 600 miles in length, and from 50 to 100 miles in breadth. It was bounded on the N. by the Guntoor circar, the limit being the small River Gundezama, which falls into the sea at Muntapilly, and thence it stretched southward to Cape Comorin. It was divided into the Southern, Central, and Northern Carnatic. The region south of the Kiver Coleroon which passes the town of Trichinopoly, was called the Southern Carnatic. The principal towns of this division were Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madura, Tranquebar, Negapatam, and Tinevelly. The Central Carnatic extended from the Coleroon River to the River Pennar ; its chief towns were Madras, Pondicherry, Arcot, Vellore, Cuddalore, Pullicat, Nellore, &c. The Northern Carnatic extended from the River Peimar to the northern limit of the country ; and the chief towns were Ongole, Carwaree, and Samgaum. The Carnatic, as above defined, comprehended within its limits the maritime provinces of Nellore, Chingleput, South Arcot, Tanjore, Madura, and Tinevelly, besides the inland districts of North Arcot and Trichinopoly. The population of this region consists chiefly of Brahmanical Hindus, the Maho metans being but thinly scattered over the country. The Brahmans rent a great proportion of the land, and also fill different offices in the collection of the revenue and the administration of justice. Throughout the country they appropriate to themselves a particular quarter in every town, generally the strongest part of it. The country in former times was the scene of unremitting violence and strife between the numerous chieftains and petty potentates, among whom it was divided ; and forts and fortresses accordingly crown almost all the elevated points. They are built of a square form ; from the long period of inter nal tranquillity which the country has enjoyed, they are now rapidly falling into decay. Large temples and other public monuments of civilization abound. The temples are commonly built in the middle of a square area, and en closed by a wall 15 or 20 feet high, which conceals them completely from the public view, as they are never raised above it. In the early centuries of the Christian era, the Carnatic or Carnata seems to have been formed part of the Panja or Pandion kingdom; but about the middle of the llth century it passed under the power of the Belalas, a family of Rajput race, which at that time was making itself supreme in Southern India. Of the greatness of this dynasty the ruins of Bisnagar, their capital, still give striking witness ; but it succumbed before the mightier Mahometan potentates. The Carnatic was first invaded by this new power in 1310 A.D., when they defeated the Hindu sovereign and conquered the country, which, after being divided between the kingdoms of Bijapore and Golconda, became ultimately tributary to the sovereigns of the Deccan. In the 17th century it was overrun by the armies of Aurungzebe ; but it was again dismembered from the Mongol empire in 1717, when Nizam ul-Mulk obtained possession of the Deccan and the south of India. In 1743 he appointed Anwar ud-Deen nabob of the Carnatic, with his capital at Arcot ; in 1754 a competition for the government arose ; and after a long and tedious war, in which the English and the French took different sides, Mahomet Ali was left in possession of that portion of the Carnatic which was the fruit of the successes achieved by the British. Central Carnatic was laid completely waste by Hyder Ali, but was again reconquered by the British in 1783. In 1801 all the possessions of the nabob of the Carnatic were transferred to the British by a treaty, the conditions of which were, that a revenue of several lacs of pagodas should be reserved to the nabob annually, and that the British should under take to support a sufficient civil and military force for the protection of the country and the collection of the revenue. On the death of the nabob in 1853 it was determined to put an end to the nominal sovereignty, a liberal establish ment being provided for the family. The Southern Carnatic, when it came into the possession of the British, was occupied by military chieftains called polygars, who ruled over the country, and held lands by doubtful tenures. They were unquestionably a disorderly race ; and the country, by their incessant feuds and plunderings, was one continued scene of strife and violence. Under British rule they have been reduced to order, and their forts and military establishments have been destroyed.  CARNEADES, a Greek philosopher, founder of the Third or New Academy, was born at Cyrene about 213 B.C. Little is known of his life. He learned dialectics under Diogenes the Stoic, and under Hegesinus, the third leader of the Academy in descent from Arcesilaus. The chief objects of^his study, however, were the works of Chrysippus, opposition to whose views is the mainspring of his philo sophy. &quot; If Chrysippus had not been, I had not been either,&quot; he is reported to have said on one-occasion. The most notable incident in his life was the embassy to Rome in 15G. His eloquence and powerful reasoning excited among the Roman youth an enthusiasm for philosophical speculations, and roused the ire of Cato, who insisted ou Carneades, with his companions, being sent from the city. According to Diogenes Laertius, Carneades died in his eighty-fifth year, i.e., in 129 B.C. ; according to Cicero ho survived to the age of ninety. Carneades is the most powerful of the ancient sceptics. Fundamentally he is at one with Arcesilaus (see ); but he carried out his principles with such fulness and skill, both on the negative and on the positive side, that he is called with justice the founder of the New Academy. Negatively, the philosophy of Carneades is a polemic against the Stoic theory of knowledge in all its aspects. Experience, he thinks, clearly shows that there is no true impression. There is no notion that may not deceive us ; it is impossible to distinguish between false and true impressions ; (pavraala. xara/.jjTr/XTj must be given up. There is no criterion of truth. Not content with attacking this fundamental position of the Stoic philosophy, Carneades also assailed their theology and physics. In answer to the Stoic doctrine of final cause, of design in nature, he points to those things which cause destruction and danger to man, to the evil committed by men endowed with reason, to the miserable condition of humanity, and to the misfortunes that assail the good man. There is, he con cludes, no evidence for the doctrine of a divine superintend ing providence. Even if there were orderly connection of parts in the universe, this may have resulted quite naturally. No proof can be advanced to show that this world is any thing but the product of natural forces. Carneades further attacked the very idea of God. He points out the contra diction between the attributes of infinity and individuality. Like Aristotle, he insists that virtue, being relative, cannot be ascribed to God. Not even intelligence can be an attribute of the divine Being. Many of the arguments employed in this connection by Carneades have little value, but the general line of criticism is highly suggestive and anticipates much in modern thought. The positive side of Carneades s teaching resembled in all essentials that of Arcesilaus. Knowledge being impossible, a wise man should practise eVo^, withholding of judgment. He will not even be sure that he can be sure of nothing. Ideas or notions are never true, but only probable ; nevertheless, there are degrees of probability, and hence degrees of belief, leading to action. This theory 