Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official Part 31

16. In the reign of Muizz-ud-din, Muhammad bin Sam, also known by the names of Shibab-ud-din, and Muhammad Ghori. He struck billon coins at the Gwalior mint. the correct date is A.D. 1196. The Hijri year 592 began on the 6th Dec., A.D. 1195.

17. Shams-ud-din iltutmish, 'the greatest of the Slave Kings', reigned from A.D. 1210 to 1235 (A.H. 607-633). He besieged Gwalior in A.H. 629 and after eleven months' resistance captured the place in the month Safar, A.H. 630, equivalent to Nov.-Dec. A.D. 1232. The date given in the text is wrong. The correct name of this king is iltutmish (_Z.D.M.G._, vol. lxi (1907), pp. 192, 193). It is written Altumash by the author, and Altamsh by Thomas and Cunningham. A summary of the events of his reign, based on coins and other original doc.u.ments, is given on page 45 of Thomas, _Chronicles of the Pathan Kings of Delhi_. iltutmish recorded an inscription dated A.H. 630 at Gwalior (ibid. p. 80). This inscription was seen by Babur, but has since disappeared.

18. Ibrahim Lodi, A.D. 1517-26. He was defeated and killed by Babur at the first battle of Panipat, A.D. 1526. the correct date of his capture of Gwalior, according to Cunningham (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p.

340), is 1518.

19. Humayun was son of Babur, and father of Akbar the Great. His first reign lasted from A.D. 1530 to 1540; his second brief reign of less than six months was terminated by an accident in January A.D.

1556. The correct date of the surrender of Gwalior to Sher Shah was A.D. 1542, corresponding to A.H. 949 (_A. S .R._, vol. ii, p. 393), which year began 17th April, 1542.

20. Sher Khan is generally known as Sher (or Shir) Shah. A good summary of his career from A.D. 1528 to his death in A.D. 1545 (A.H.

934 to 952) is given by Thomas (op. cit. p. 393). He struck coins at Gwalior in A.H. 950, 951, 952 (ibid. p. 403).

21. Gohad lies between Etawah (Itawa) and Gwalior, twenty-eight miles north-east of the latter. The chief, originally an obscure Jat landholder, rose to power during the confusion of the eighteenth century, and allied himself with the British in 1789 (Thornton, _Gazetteer_, s.v. 'Gohad').

22. This memorable exploit was performed during Warren Hastings's war with the Marathas, Sir Eyre Coote being Commander-in-Chief. Captain Popham first stormed the fort of Lahar, a stronghold west of Kalpi (Calpee), and then, by a cleverly arranged escalade, captured 'with little trouble and small loss' the Gwalior fortress, which was garrisoned by a thousand men, and commonly supposed to be impregnable. 'Captain Popham was rewarded for his gallant services by being promoted to the rank of Major' (Thornton, _The History of the British Empire in India_, 2nd ed., 1859, p. 149). 'It is said that the spot (for escalade) was pointed out to Popham by a cowherd, and that the whole of the attacking party were supplied with gra.s.s shoes to prevent them from slipping on the ledges of rock. There is a story also that the cost of these gra.s.s shoes was deducted from Popham's pay when he was about to leave India as a Major-General, nearly a quarter of a century afterwards' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 340).

23. James Bruce, 'the celebrated traveller', was Consul at Algiers.

He explored Tripoli, Tunis, Syria, and Egypt, and travelled in Abyssinia from November 1769 to December 1771. He returned to Egypt by the Nile, arriving at Cairo in January 1773. His travels were published in 1790. He died in 1794.

24. The Sindhia family of Gwalior was founded by Ranoji Sindhia, a man of humble origin, in the service of the Peshwa. Ranoji died about A.D. 1750, and was succeeded by one of his natural sons, Mahadaji (corruptly Mahdaju, &c.) Sindhia, whose turbulent and chequered career lasted till 1794, when he was succeeded by his grand-nephew, Daulat Rao. The Maratha power under Daulat Rao was broken in 1803, by Sir Arthur Wellesley at a.s.saye and Argaum, and by Lord Lake at Laswari. Mahadaji's career is treated fully by Grant Duff, _A History of the Mahrattas_ (1826 and reprint). Mr. H. G. Keene in his little book (_Rulers of India_, Oxford, 1892) erroneously gives the chiefs name as 'Madhava Rao'. The anthor's 'Madhoji' also is wrong.

25. It is impossible within the limits of a note to give an account of the extraordinary career of General De Boigne. His Indian adventures began in 1778, and terminated in September 1796, when he retired from Sindhia's service, and sold his private regiment of Persian cavalry, six hundred strong, to Lord Cornwallis, on behalf of the East India Company, for three lakhs of rupees (about 30,000). He settled in his native town, Chamberi in Savoy, and lived, in the enjoyment of his great wealth, and of high honours conferred by the sovereigns of France and Italy, until 21st June, 1830. He was created a Count, and was succeeded in the t.i.tle by his son. See G. M.

Raymond, _Memoire sur la Carriere Militaire et Politique de M. le General Comte de Boigne, 2ieme_ ed., Chambery, 1830. Nine chapters of Mr. Herbert Compton's book, _A Particular Account of European Military Adventurers of Hindustan_ (London, 1892), are devoted to De Boigne.

26. The cession of Gohad to Sindhia, sanctioned in the year 1805, during the brief and inglorious second term of office of Lord Cornwallis, was effected by Sir George Barlow. The transaction is severely censured by Thornton (_History_, p. 343) as a breach of faith. Gwalior was given up to Sindhia along with Gohad. In January 1844, shortly after the battle of Maharajpur, Gwalior was again occupied by the forces of the Company, and the fortress (save for the Mutiny period) continued in British occupation until the 2nd December 1885, when Lord Dufferin restored it to Sindhia in exchange for Jhansi. In June 1857 the Gwalior soldiery mutinied and ma.s.sacred the Europeans, but the Maharaja remained throughout loyal to the English Government.

Sir Hugh Rose recaptured the place by a.s.sault on the 28th June 1858.

In the changed circ.u.mstances of the country, and with regard to the modern developments of the art of war, the Gwalior fortress is now of slight military value.

27. The territory of the Dholpur chief is about fifty-four miles long by twenty-three broad. The town of Dholpur is nearly midway between Agra and Gwalior. The revenue is estimated by Thornton (1858) as seven lakhs, not only three lakhs as stated by the author. It was about eight lakhs in 1904 (_I.G._, 1908).

CHAPTER 37

Content for Empire between the Sons of Shah Jahan.

Under the Emperors of Delhi the fortress of Gwalior was always considered as an imperial State prison, in which they confined those rivals and compet.i.tors for dominion whom they did not like to put to a violent death. They kept a large menagerie, and other things, for their amus.e.m.e.nt. Among the best of the princes who ended their days in this great prison was Sulaiman Shikoh, the eldest son of the unhappy Dara.[1] A narrative of the contest for empire between the four sons of Shah Jahan may, perhaps, prove both interesting and instructive; and, as I shall have occasion, in the course of my rambles, to refer to the characters who figured in it, I shall venture to give it a place. . . .[2]

Notes:

1. 'The prisons of Gwalior are situated in a small outwork on the western side of the fortress, immediately above the Dhondha gateway.

They are called "nau chauki", or "the nine cells", and are both well lighted and well ventilated. But in spite of their height, from fifteen to twenty-six feet, they must be insufferably close in the hot season. These were the State prisons in which Akbar confined his rebellious cousins, and Aurangzeb the troublesome sons of Dara and Murad, as well as his own more dangerous son Muhammad. During these times the fort was strictly guarded, and no one was allowed to enter without a pa.s.s' (_A.S.R._, vol. ii, p. 369), Sulaiman Shikoh, whom Manucci credits with 'all the gifts of nature', was poisoned at Gwalior early in the reign of Aurangzeb, by order of that monarch, paternal uncle of the victim (Irvine, _Storia do Mogor_, i. 380). The author, following Bernier, always calls Shahjahan's eldest son simply Dara. His name really was Dara Shikoh (or Shukoh), meaning 'in splendour like Darius'.

2. The following twelve chapters contain an historical piece, to the personages and events of which the author will have frequent occasion to refer; and it is introduced in this place from its connexion with Gwalior, the State prison in which some of its actors ended their days. [W. H. S.]

The 'historical piece' which occupies chapters 37 to 46, inclusive of the author's text is little more than a paraphrase of _The History of the Late Rebellion in the States of the Great Mogol_ by Bernier, as the disquisition is called in Brock's translation. Mr. A. Constable's revised and annotated translation of Bernier's work (Constable and Co., 1891; reprinted with corrections. Oxford University Press, 1914) renders superfluous the reprinting of Sleeman's paraphrase, which would require much correction and comment before it could be presented to readers of the present day. The main facts of the narrative are, moreover, now easily accessible in the histories of Elphinstone and innumerable other writers. Such explanations as may be required to elucidate allusions to the excised portion in the later chapters of the anthor's work will be found in the notes. The t.i.tles of the chapters which have not been reprinted follow here for facility of reference.

CHAPTER 38

Aurangzeb and Murad Defeat their Father's Army near Ujain.

CHAPTER 39

Dara Marches in Person against his Brothers, and is Defeated.

CHAPTER 40

Dara Retreats towards Lah.o.r.e--Is robbed by the Jats--Their Character.

CHAPTER 41

Shah Jahan Imprisoned by his Two Sons, Aurangzeb and Murad.

CHAPTER 42

Aurangzeb Throws off the Mask, Imprisons his Brother Murad, and a.s.sumes the Government of the Empire.

CHAPTER 43

Aurangzeb Meets Shuja in Bengal and Defeats him, after Pursuing Dara to the Hyphasis.

CHAPTER 44

Aurangzeb Imprisons his Eldest Son--Shuja and all his Family are Destroyed.

CHAPTER 45

Second Defeat and Death of Dara, and Imprisonment of his Two Sons.

CHAPTER 46

Death and Character of Amir Jumla,