Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/222

178 been, it must be remembered that he was the son of a very old man, and was himself nearly seventy. Had he been in the prime of life, there might possibly have been a different story to tell.

After the usual struggle for the throne and ensuing massacre of kindred, he was succeeded by his son, Jahandar, utterly incapable and incurably vicious; in less than a year he was murdered, and his nephew, Farrukhsiyar, a despicable poltroon, suffered the like fate six years later (1719). Then, after a couple of youths had been tried for a few months, Mohammad Shah received the title of emperor, which he retained for twenty-eight years. It was but a title, however, for the power and the glory had departed from the house of Babar, and Mohammad was able only to preserve some semblance of authority by intrigue and combination with the various governors and adventurers who now partitioned the distracted empire. By such means he contrived to rid himself of the dictatorship of the Barha Sayyids, two brothers who for some years had usurped the supreme control of affairs in the time of their wretched tool, Farrukhsiyar. But there were other forces which he could not master.

Among these the Sikhs were no longer to be reckoned, for they had been put down in the time of the Sayyids with remorseless brutality, and for many years this valiant people was scarcely heard of. The Marathas, on the other hand, were increasing in power every year. Their only rival in the Deccan was Chin Kulich Khan, better known as Asaf Jah, the founder