Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 4.djvu/132

MOGHULS. intention of subduing all the independent monarchies there, as to perfect his ambitious project of uniting all India under one government. This policy eventually proved the real cause of the destruction of the Mahomedan empire. As the local Mahomedan strength after each kingdom had fallen, was, in fact, reduced, the Mahrattas, hitherto unknown, rose under their celebrated chieftain, Sivajee, and gradually gained power, while they weakened that of the empire; and Aurungzeeb's last military campaign ended in a retreat before rebels, whom a comparatively few years before had been utterly despised by the proud imperial soldiery. Before his death, and for several years, symptoms of a general decay of imperial power had set in. They were hastened by the policy of the emperor; and at the time of his death, in 1617, the elements of disorder and general disorganization had gained a strength and consistency which could not be repressed. Aurungzeeb was a bigot of the real narrow-minded Mahomedan type. He persecuted all Hindoos, made many forcible conversions, set a tax upon them, and denied them public employment. This, and his insatiate ambition in the destruction of the IMahomedan kingdoms of the Deccan, are the two salient points which influenced his ruin of the empire. Aurungzeeb succeeded in uniting, during the last few years of his life, the whole of India under one government, but only in a nominal degree. The ill-founded edifice was ready to crumble to pieces; and as the emperor's life closed, after fifty years of reign, and eighty-nine of age, the whole collapsed, and became a struggling mass of conflict and scramble for power, in which the locally strongest got the greatest shares. In this struggle, viceroys became kings, feudatories of the empire independent princes; above all, the Mahrattas, in power and numbers unknown before, began to ravage and to desolate the empire, and to levy tribute and plunder in every province without molestation.

Bahadar Shah, Jehandar Shah, and Ferokh Shere followed in succession to Aunmgzeeb; and their reigns are but records of increasing distress and irredeemable confusion. To the last, in September, 1719, succeeded Mahomed Shah, during whose reign India was invaded by Nadir Shah, and the events of the visit of Tamerlane repeated at Delhi. The imperial treasures were carried off, and the people of the city ruthlessly plundered and massacred. In April, 1748, Mahomed Shall died. He was the last emperor who preserved any semblance of power, and what remained was dissipated very speedily after he had passed away. Ahmed Shah and Alumgir II. followed in turn; witnessing daily defections of their servants, and the ever growing power of the Mahrattas now thundering at the very gates of the capital. Oude, Bengal, the Deccan, and the Carnatic had been usurped by local Mahomedan governors, and were now independent kingdoms. Cabul, and all imperial provinces west of the Indus, had reverted to the local native chiefs. The Sikhs had driven the Mahomedans out of the Punjab; the