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Rh From the date of the final Muhammadan conquest, in the beginning of the 13th century, the history of Oudh becomes extremely involved down to the establishment of the Nawáb Wazírs upon the throne of Lucknow. It is true, the Muhammadan historians of Delhi supply a copious list of imperial governors and successful wars; while the local traditions of parganás give some account of the national life. But hardly any points of contact occur between the two. The foreign rule of the Delhi Emperors and their lieutenants took the place of the old paramount powers which formerly dominated over the local Rájás from Kanauj or Patna. The very memory of Hindu nationality in its wider form became extinct, and political interest was confined to the petty affairs of little baronies, no larger than the smallest principalities of Germany. On the other hand, the old and compact social system of the Hindus formed an effectual barrier against the dissolving influence of the Musalmán invasion. Although the foreign overlords reigned supreme over the whole country, the Bráhman still regulated the family life of the people, and the Kshattriya Rájá still gathered their levies to battle, or administered justice in a court ruled by Hindu laws and observances. In spite of tyrannical governors or foreign wars, the cultivator tilled his fields as of old, and paid his customary obedience to his Hindu lord. Thus the two streams of history seldom or never mingle in their course. The fortunes of the great Muhammadan vassals, who ruled over Oudh in the name of the Delhi Empire from or, belong rather to the tangled imperial story of the Afghán and Mughal dynasties than to provincial annals; while, on the other hand, the vicissitudes of the little Hindu principalities into which the country was parcelled out afford no material of interest for the general historian.

The newly established Hindu chiefs of Southern Oudh appear during the early days of the Muhammadan supremacy to have been engaged in a desultory warfare with the receding Bhars. As soon as the aborigines had been entirely subdued, the Muhammadan Kingdom of rose beyond them in the valley of the Ganges. Ibráhím Sháh Sharki, the ablest of the Jaunpur rulers, turned his attention to the fruitful Province which lay in the direct path between his capital and Delhi. He attempted thoroughly to reduce Oudh to the condition of a Musalmán country. For this purpose he placed Muhammadan governors in every principal town, and appointed Muhammadan officials to administer the unknown and hated laws of Islám. During the lifetime of Ibráhím, the most powerful chieftains fled from their homes, and the people sullenly acquiesced. But on his death, the national spirit reasserted itself with all the native vitality of the Hindu creed and its social system. Rájá Tilok Chand, probably a descendant of the Kanauj sovereigns, led the reactionary movement. Ibráhím's foreign agents