Page:James Thomason (Temple).djvu/89

Rh Hindustán became once more the arena of armed violence. Soon the Maráthás arose, worse than any despoilers hitherto known. After waging some deadly struggles with Persian and Afghan invaders, they succeeded in making Delhi a portion of their short-lived dominion in India. But the Moslem ruler of Oudh, and the Rohillás of Rohilkhand maintained independence for a time. Lastly the British East India Company appeared on the scene of action.

As the result of three decisive battles, at Buxár in 1763, at Delhi in 1803, at Fatehgarh in 1805, and the storming of the Aligarh arsenal in 1803, the East India Company became the mistress of Hindustán and its dependencies. These territories were consolidated under the designation of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces in 1806. Some further additions were yet destined to be made; for in 1816 the war with Nepál ended by the cession of the Himálayan tract of Kumáun and Garhwál; the Pindárí War in 1818 caused the accession of the Narbadá valley; and in 1832 the Delhi territory, already under the control, was brought under the direct administration of the British.

The aborigines of Hindustan had, many centuries previously, given place for the most part to Aryan immigrants from Central Asia, who became noted in history as the Hindus, divided into the well-known castes. Remnants of the aborigines survived everywhere as the lower castes; otherwise territorially and socially the tribes of pure origin, the