• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

, '..' .' . t..(i!iiiah.wi:!KiiyifiA^fiii:'i.fis'!.iM:r', , /m^ :i.'':!i«fl;!.i.:';';ii:: ""?'' A ''i / F"* % / Tl! /\ YTi A T^ A \/7 C? WARRIORS OF THE CRESCENT. — (j^^pUC^AlO) Mo CO' COURT OF THE GREAT BIOGUL.- {After an engraving of the tijne.) 1. Guard of Omrahs. — 2. Guard of the Derani Khas. —3. Cavalry guard. —4. Elephant of the Padichah.— 5 and 6. Balustrades of silver. — 7. Tent called the Aspek.— 8. The Omrahs. —9. The imperial throne. — 10. Gallery of the Am-Khana.— 11. Park of the Gladiators. 12, 13, and 14. The Citadel. ^Frontispiece. WARRIORS OF THE CRESCENT BY THE LATE W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS AUTHOR OF A BOOK OF EARNEST LIVES BATTLE STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, ETC. NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1892 <^^ .As. \8G2 /^'' ^T OF s:!^."--^ :p Authorized Edition. CONTENTS. BOOK I. THE SULTANS OF GHAZNL CHAPTER I. PAGE MAHMUD THE SULTAN ...... 3 CHAPTER IL A PAGEANT OF KINGS , . , . ^ %2 CHAPTER HI. A TYRANT AND A SCHOLAR ..... 8o CHAPTER IV. TIMUR THE TARTAR . 8o vi CONTENTS. BOOK II. THE GREAT MOGULS. CHAPTER I. PAGE THE EMPEROR BABAR, OR THE lion" . • 139 CHAPTER II. 68 HUMAYUN, THE SECOND OF THE GREAT MOGULS . 1 CHAPTER III. , 182 AKBAR THE GREAT . CHAPTER IV. .221 JAHANGER, THE CONQUEROR OF THE WORLD . CHAPTER V. " FAITH . SHAH JAHAN, ** THE TRUE STAR OF THE 25° CHAPTER VI. OF THE AURANGZIB, OR ALAMGIR, "THE CONQUEROR UNIVERSE" ^4 BOOK I. THE SULTANS OF GHAZNI. CHAPTER I. MAHMUD THE SULTAN. /^~\NE thousand years after the birth of Christ ^^^ there reigned, in .the eastern provinces of the land of Iran, a great prince named Mahmud. He was the son of Subuktigin, a prince who, from the low condition of a slave, had raised himself, by his courage and conduct, to the throne of Ghazni. It was pretended that this man, in his early years of servitude, had received an intimation from Heaven of future greatness. One day, when enjoying the pleasures of the chase, and riding fast and far over hill and dale, he succeeded in hunting down a fawn, and was carrying off his prize when he saw that the dam followed him with painful signs of distress. His heart was touched ; and he released the trembling little captive—to be rewarded by the evident grati- tude of the mother, who frequently turned and fixed 4 WARRIORS OF THE CRESCENT. her gaze upon him as she trotted back to the forest with her offspring. That night the prophet appeared to Subuktigin in a dream, and informed him that in recompense of his humanity, he would be raised to rule over a kingdom, adding, that he must then display the like humanity towards his fellow-men. It was in Subuktigin's reign that the first collision occurred on the north-west frontier of India between the Moslems and the Hindus. Infuriated by the constant forays of the Afghan tribes, Jaipal, the Hindu chief of Lahore, marched through the wild mountain passes to besiege Ghazni. He was encountered and defeated by Subuktigin, who pressed the pursuit with such ardour that he overtook the Hindus before they gained the mountains, and compelled Jaipal to ransom himself and his army for fifty elephants and a sum of one million dirhams (or about ;^2 5,000). Jaipal, on his return to Lahore, held a council, and explained to his nobles and priests the pledge he had given. Said a Brahman on his right, "And wouldst thou degrade thyself by paying ransom to a barbarian prince ? " Said a noble on his left, " Greater the " degradation to break thy plighted word ! Unfortu- MAHMUD THE SULTAN. 5 nately for himself, Jaipal listened to the Brahman, and sent neither elephants nor money. Subuktigin resolved to fetch them, and, followed by a shining array of cavalry, broke through the passes, and swept the land of the Five Rivers with fire and sword. Jaipal drew forth his host to meet him—a host so immense that, to Subuktigin, looking down upon it from the crest of a high hill, it seemed boundless in extent like the ocean, and in number Hke the ants or locusts of the desert. But the old warrior was in no wise dismayed : he felt himself like a wolf (says the historian) about to attack a flock of sheep. He knew the slow and languid Hindus were no fit adversaries for his stern and irresistible horsemen ; and detecting a weak point in their line of battle, he hurled against it in swift succession squadrons of five hundred men, and as soon as a gap was made charged with his entire force, drove through the Hindu masses, and put them to flight with terrible carnage. Then he placed one of his lieutenants in charge of Peshawar, and returned in triumph to Ghazni. Such was Subuktigin, the father and predecessor of the great Mahmud. a 6 WARRIORS OF THE CRESCENT. Mahmud was a man of great capacity, of lofty ambition, and inflexible will. Nature had endowed him with extraordinary vigour of mind and body, which he sustained by temperance and frequent exercise. He was not comely in person, however, for he was deeply marked with the small-pox,— " calamity which he openly regretted ; for the sight of a king," he said, "should brighten the eyes of those who look upon him, whereas Nature has treated me so unkindly that my appearance is positively forbidding." He possessed all the qualifications of a successful prince and ruler ; and during his reign the boundaries of the Ghaznevide kingdom were extended from the shores of the Caspian to the mouth of the Indus. The most prominent event in his career was the " holy war," as he entitled it, which he waged against the followers of Brahma, who, as worshippers of idols, were especially hateful to the Muhammadan, the believer in one God, " not made with hands." Having spent four years in strengthening and con- firming his sway to the west of the snow-capped peaks and pinnacles of the Hindu Kush, he entered MAHMUD THE SULTAN. 7 upon his scheme of Indian conquest, and carried it out with the energy and persistency which were such marked features of his character. It is said that he invaded India no fewer than seventeen times. He spent thirteen campaigns in subduing the Punjab, one in overrunning the beautiful valley of Kashmir, and one each was directed against the great fortified cities of Kanauj, Gwalior, and Somnath. " A volume," says the historian Gibbon, " would scarcely suffice to recapitulate the battles and sieges of his various expeditions. Never was the Muhammadan hero dismayed by the inclemency of the seasons, the height of the mountains, the breadth of the rivers, the barrenness of the desert, the multitude of the enemy, or the formidable array of elephants of war. The Sultan of Ghazni surpassed the limits of the conquests of Alexander ; after a march of three months over the hills of Kashmir and Tibet, he reached the famous city of Kanauj, on the Upper Ganges ; and, in a naval combat on one of the branches of the Indus, he fought and vanquished four thousand boats of the natives. Delhi, Lahore and Multan were com^ pel led to open their gates ; the fertile kingdom of 8 WARRIORS OF THE CRESCENT. Guzarat attracted his ambition and tempted his stay ; and his avarice indulged the fruitless project of dis- covering the golden and aromatic isles of the Southern Ocean. On the payment of a tribute, the Rajas preserved their dominions ; the people, their lives the and fortunes ; but to the religion of Hindustan zealous Mussulman was cruel and inexorable ; many hundred temples, or pagodas, were levelled with the idols and ground ; many thousand were demolished ; the servants of the Prophet were stimulated and rewarded by the precious materials of which they were composed." It would weary the reader, and prove very un- profitable, if I told in detail the story of each of those seventeen campaigns. Let us confine ourselves to such of the principal incidents as may illustrate the character of Mahmud or the manners and habits and peculiarities of the peoples and the times. His first campaign brought death and ruin to his father's old antagonist, Jaipal, ruler of Lahore. In a decisive battle, Jaipal and fifteen of his chiefs were taken prisoners. They were admitted to ransom ; and the sums they paid poured a Pactolus of gold MAHMUD THE SULTAN. 9 into the treasury of Ghazni. As for the unfortunate Jaipal, having been twice defeated, he was pro- nounced, according to Hindu custom, unworthy to reign ; and, putting on his royal robes, he solemnly transferred his sceptre to his son, mounted a gorgeous tuneral pile—composed of aromatic and fragrant woods—and passed away in a chariot of fire (looi). In the campaign of 1004 Mahmud invaded the province of Multan and laid siege to a town called Bhutia, which for three days successfully resisted the furious attacks of the Muhammadans. Their losses were so heavy that some among them lost heart, and began to talk of retreat. The Sultan, however, with his usual iron resolution, declared that he would lead the next attack in person—" To-day," " " he exclaimed, I will conquer or die ! In order to arouse the religious ardour of his soldiers, he appeared on the field in a robe of white, and turning towards Mecca, the sacred city of Islam, prostrated himself on the ground in the face of the whole army. Intense silence prevailed. In two or three minutes he sprang to his feet, and, his countenance flushed with triumph, — cried aloud, " Advance ! advance ! my prayers have 10 WARRIORS OF THE CRESCENT.

Load more

  352

Copy Link