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The Modern Traveller nn THE MODERN TRAVELLER, VOLUME THE SEVENTH. INDIA. VOL, I. THE MODERN TRAVELLER, DESCRIPTION, GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL, VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE GLOBE. IN THIRTY VOLUMES. BY JOSIAH CONDER. VOLUME THE SEVENTH. LONDON: JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER-ROW. MDCCCXXX. LONDON: Printed by W. CLOWES, Stamford-street. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. ! PAGE BOUNDARIES OF INDIA 1 ANCIENT NAMES AND DIVISIONS &. TERRITORIAL EXTENT AND POPULATION 6 POLITICAL DIVISIONS 9 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY -... 10 THE INDUS 11 THE GANGES 21 THE BRAHMAPOOTRA 31 CLIMATE, SOIL, &c. 39 VEGETABLE AND MINERAL PRODUCTIONS 47 NATURAL HISTORY 67 ANCIENT HISTORY OF INDIA 103 EARLY MARITIME TRADE WITH INDIA 143 COURSE OF THE OVERLAND TRADE 145 NAVIGATION OF THE ERYTHREAN SEA BY THE ROMAN FLEETS 153 MOHAMMEDAN HISTORY 162 GH1ZNIAN DYNASTY 164 GHOURIAN DYNASTY 188 KHULJIAN DYNASTY 203 FIRST MOGUL INVASION UNDER TIMOUR 223 SULTAN MOHAMMED BABER 238 FOURTH PATAN DYNASTY 268 RESTORATION OF THE MOGUL DYNASTY 270 ACCESSION OF AURUNGZEBE 289 iv CONTENTS. MM ORIGIN OF THE MAHRATTA POWER UNDER SE- VAJEE 297 DEATH AND CHARACTER OF AURUNGZEBE 330 ORIGIN OF THE SEIKS 338 ORIGIN OF THE NIZAM STATE 346 PERSIAN INVASION UNDER NADIR SHAH 349 ORIGIN OF THE DOORAUNEE MONARCHY OF CAUBUL '. 355 DISSOLUTION OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE 356 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. MAP of INDIA to face the Title THE MODERN TRAVELLER, INDIA. A region of Asia, lying between lat. 6 and 35 N., and long. 66* 4<y and 92 E. Bounded, N., by the Himalaya Mountains ; E,, by the Burrampooter and the Bay of Bengal ; S., by the the Indian Ocean ; and W., by the Indian Ocean, Indus, and the Solimaun Mountains.] UNDER the classical appellation of India, the an- cients appear to have comprised the whole of that vast region of Asia stretching east of Persia and Bactria, as far as the country of the Since ; its northern boundary being the Scythian desert, and its southern limit, the ocean. The name is generally supposed to have been derived from the river Indus, which waters its western extremity, and which signifies the Blue or Black River. The extensive application of the word renders it, however, more probable, that it was em- ployed to denote the country of the Indi, or Asiatic the Persian Ethiops ; answering to Hindoo-stan, or the country of the Hindoos.* By the Brahmins, the * The Greeks gave the appellation of Indians both to the south- ern nations of Africa and to the Hindoos, using the words Indian and Ethiop as convertible terms. Herodotus describes the eastern Ethiops, or Indians, as differing from those of Africa by their long hair, as opposed to the woolly head of the Caffre. Virgil speaks of the Abyssinian Ethiops under the same name. (Georg. iv. 293. JEn. vi. 794.) See Vincent's Periplus, Prel. Dis. 10,11. Sir W. PART I. B 2 INDIA. country is denominated Medhyama, or Medhya- Whumi, the central land,* and PunyaUhumi, the land of virtue ; appellations vague and unmeaning : it is also called Bharat-khand, the kingdom of Bharat, who is fabled to have been its first monarch. Taken in its most extended application, as denoting the countries inhabited by the Hindoos, it comprises a of considerable territory west the Indus ; and part of Affghanistan, as well as Tatta and Sinde, must be included within its limits. t By the Mohammedan writers, the term Hindostan is restricted to the eleven provinces lying to the north of the Nerbuddah river, which belonged to the empire of the Mogul sovereigns of Delhi. This is now usually distinguished as Hin- dostan Proper. : Jones's Works, 4to, i. 114. Bryanfs Anal., iv. 272, et eq. No such words, Mr. Wilkins says, as Hindoo or Hindostan, are to be found in the Sanscrit dictionary. The name, however, which seems to have originated with the Persians, is as ancient as the earliest pro- fane history extant. * The appellation, Middle land, is said to have been given to the country from its occupying the centre of the back of the tor- toise tliat supixnts the world. The Chinese, however, in like manner, call their country Chung-we, the central kingdom, and Tchon-koo, the centre of the world. This geographical place of honour has been claimed by many semi-barbarous nations. " t Whether Sind, westward of the Indus, belongs properly to Persia or to India, is, perhaps, as doubtful a circumstance as the appropriation of Egypt to Asia or to Africa. Strabo and Arrian, after Eratosthenes, declare India limited by the Indus westward ; yet, in this direction, our modern Sind extends considerably be- yond the river, while it is generally assigned to Hindustan by the Eastern writers." OUSELEY'S Tmvels, vol. i. p. 149. The Orien- tals distinguish, perhaps arbitrarily, between Sind and Hind : they apply the latter word to India, (as Bahr al Hmd, the Indian Sea,} the former to the Persian side of the Indus. D'Herbelot says, that the Persians call the Abyssinians Siah Hindou, black Indians. Can Sinde be a contraction of the two words ? Strictly speaking, the name ought to be applied only to that part which lies to the north of the parallels of 21 or 22. The INDIA. 7 may at least shew the manner in which the population is distributed. BRITISH INDIA. Bengal Presidency. Square Miles. Population. Bengal, Bahar, and Benares 162,000 39,000,000* Additions in Hindostan, since A.D. 1765 148,000 18,000,000 Gurwal, Kumaoon, and the tract between the Sutuleje and the Jumna 18,000 500,000 328,000 57,500,000 Madras Presidency ] 54,000 15,000,000 Bombay Presidency 11,000 2,500,000 Territories in the Deccan acquired since 1815 60,000 8,000,000 553,000 83,000,000 BRITISH ALLIES AND TRIBUTARIES. The Nizam 96,000 10,000,000 The Nagpoor Rajah ;'. 70,000 3,000,000 The King of Oude 20,000 3,000,000 The Guicowar 18,000 2,000,000 Kotah, Boondee, and Bopaul 14,000 1,500,000 The Mysore Rajah 27,000 3,000,000t The Satarah Rajah (or Peishwx). 14,000 1,500,000 Travancore and Cochin 8,000 1 ,000,000 Other Rajahs and petty Chiefs 283,000 15,000,000 550,000 40,000,000 * In 1801-2, the returns made to the Governor-general.with regard to the state of the Bengal Presidency, gave the following results : Population. Calcutta division 9,725,000 Dacca division 5,297,789 Moorshedabad 5,995,340 Patna about 7,000,000 Benares 7,654,325 35,672,454 t In the territories of the Mysore Rajah, in 1804, there were 482,612 families, including 2,171,754 souls. Of these families, 1. ,000 were Mohammedans; 25,3/0 Brahmins; 72,627 Lingaits ; and 2063 Jains. 8 INDIA, INDEPENDENT STATES. Square Milet. Population. The Nepaul Rajah 53,000 2,000,000 The Lahore Rajah 50,000 3,000,000 The Ameers of Sinde 24,000 1,000,000 The Dominions of Sindia 40,000 4,0)00,000 TheKingofCaubul 10,000 1,000,000 177,000 11,000,000 BRITISH INDIA 553,000 83,000,000 ALLIES AND TRIBUTARIES 550,000 40,000,000 INDBPBNDBNT 177,000 11,000,000 Grand Total 1,280,000 134,000,000* to According Humboldt -j- Squ. Marine BytheSq. The three Presidencies, with Pro- Leagues Population. League. vinces newly acquired 49,200 55,500,000 1128 Countries under the protection of the Company 40,900 17,500,000 428 Independent Indda 19,000 28,000,000 1473 109,100 101,000,000 925 * Hamilton, vol. i. p. xxxvi. t Humboldt, Pers. Narr., voL vi. pp. 337, 8. In these estimates, the population of Ceylon and the Isles is not included. Mr. Wal- lace gives the following as the nearest approximation to the fact that he could arrive at. Under the direct government of Great Britain 60,000,000 Under the direct influence of the British Govern- ment 40,000,000 Under Independent Chiefs 20,000 000 ID the Islands of the Indian Seas 20,000,000 140,000,OCO The population of Orissa is supposed to be about 4,500,000 Hyderabad 2,500,000 Khandeish 2,000,000 Naundere 500,000 - Berar 2,000,000 11,500,000 In these provinces, the Mohammedans are as 1 to 10; except in Khandeish, where they are as 1 to 6. In the district of Chittagong, INDIA. 11 southern Ghauts ; the latter, the Malayala range, ter- minating at Cape Comorin. The composition and character of these different systems of mountains and rivers, will be more particularly described in our topographical view of the respective grand divisions of the country. With the exception of Cape Comorin at its southern extremity, and Diu Head, the southern point of has Gujerat, India no great promontories ; and the only bendings of the coast which merit the name of gulfs, are the bay of Cutch and that of Cambay, which give a peninsular form to the province of Gujerat. The western coast of the Deccan, although indented by numerous creeks, roadsteads, and mouths of rivers, has, on the whole, one uniform direction. From Cape Comorin to the coast of Bengal, there is not a single natural harbour, and the roads are encumbered with sand-banks. Merchant vessels are obliged to ride at a distance of a mile and a half from shore, and ships of war at two miles. So gradual is the declivity of the bottom, that the depth, at twenty miles from land, does not exceed fifty fathoms. There are few sea- coasts, of such extent, so destitute of islands.
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