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The History of Aryan Rule in India- Book Summary - Indian History - 10, Summaries of United Kingdom History

The History of Aryan Rule in India

Typology: Summaries

2010/2011

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AKBAR AS CHAKRA-VARTIN

serving in the imperial army, for Akbar had lost two of his

most able and devoted Rajput adherents, Rajas Bhagwan Das

and Todar MaU, who died on the same day in 1589. The

steadfast loyalty,

conspicuous abiUty, and

high character of

these three Rajput chieftains had contributed more than

anything else to the security of Akbar's throne and the

contentment of the Indian people.

The Padshah's authority now extended over an empire

far greater than that of Harsha. With the exception of the

Rana of Mewar's

territory, which remained in the midst of

the Mogul Empire as the last independent

stronghold of Indo-

Aryan royalty, he was undisputed master of the whole of

the

ancient Aryavarta from the Himalayas to the Narbada river,

and was recognised by the vast majority of his Hindu subjects

as fulfilling

their ideal of an Aryan monarch, although four

centuries of Muhammadan rule and the considerable dilution

of the Aryan element in the population had dimmed the

memories of the golden days when Aryavarta was the most

advanced in true culture and civihsation, the freest and richest

of

aU countries in Asia or in Europe. The village

communities

and townships had indeed lost the poUtical influence they

possessed tmder Hindu rule ;

the village elders were no longer

addressed by State ofiicials in terms of respect which belonged

to royalty. But they were again left free in the management

of local affairs ;

the burden of oppressive taxation

had been

removed

;

justice was impartially administered ; Hindus

enjoyed exactly the same poUtical and social rights as the

ruling race, the Moguls, and as the native Musalmans. Almost

half of the imperial armies

was Hindu,i and individually

every

Hindu was as

free as any of Akbar's subjects, for it was not a

mere

academic theory that the highest offices of State, mihtary

and civil, were open to him—they were, in fact, usually occupied

by Indians and Hindus whose

abiUties commended them to

the Padshah. The

Din-Ilahi, moreover, was a bold

attempt

on Akbar's part to

give back to the people a share in

the

management of

the spiritual affairs of the empire such

as

1 BadaunJ, IjQwe's translation, vol. ii, p. 350,

ARYAN RULE IN INDIA

they had

when Harsha-Vardhana convoked the

General

Assembly of the Sangha

at Kanauj to listen

to the arguments

of the Master of the I^aw.

Further than this in the path of constitutional reform no

Musalman

monarch, Indian or foreign, could have

gone. It

was, indeed, a signal proof of Akbar's extraordinary power

as a statesman and of his influence in Islam that he could go

so far without provoking a general revolt of his Musalman

subjects. But Akbar owed much to the time in which he

lived and the country in which he was born. It probably would

have been impossible for him to have achieved so much in

any earher period of Muhammadan domination in India, or in

any other country than India. From a Mogul and dynastic

point of

view

the success

of his policy was equally remarkable.

The imperial army was not only a war-machine thoroughly

well equipped and drilled to a high state of efficiency

;

it was

animated by the highest spirit of

patriotism and recognised

by the

people

as their own defence against misrule and foreign

aggression—a pohtical factor of incalculable importance for

the future of the Mogul Empire.

Though the burden of taxa-

tion upon

agriculture and trade had been greatly Hghtened,

the imperial revenue had enormously increased and the

treasuries were filled to

overflowing. No other monarch in

Asia or in Europe

could command the wealth which Akbar

had at

his disposal for providing the sinews of war, and no

other monarch was

better served by his officers and

men.

And the insecurity,

misery, and misrule which had been

prevalent

over the greater part of

Hindustan

at

the

beginning

of

Akbar's reign had given

place to order, contentment,

and

prosperity in Uttle

more than thirty years. Akbar's system

of civil

administration was

essentially bureaucratic,

but no

bureaucracy

was ever more

efficient both in promoting

the

welfare of the State

and in reconcihng the rulers with

the

ruled. His

government was not

only more

efficient than

that of

any former Musalman

ruler of India, but it

was more

permanent in its

effects ;

its excellent organisation maintained

the soHdity of the

Mogul Empire

long after his

personal influence

ARYAN

RULE IN

INDIA

wholesale

murder of the surviving

members of the royal

family, but ten months later

was

himself imprisoned and put

to death by lois Prime Minister, after a reign of terror in

which

mob-law

prevailed and the Indian Muhammadans made a

general

massacre of their foreign

co-religionists.

Burhan's son, Ismail Nizam Shah, was then put upon the

throne, but two years later the nobles of Ahmadnagar invited

Burhan himself to take it, which he did with the help of an

army sent from Bijapur, where his sister, Chand BIbi, AH

'Adil Shah's widow, had considerable influence. It was not

long,

however, before Burhan was at

war with his relative,

Ibrahim 'Adil Shah II, the ruler of Bijapur, and in league

with the Hindu Raja of Vijayanagar, Ranuaj's

brother and

successor—a reversal of the

situation which obtained some

thirty years previously, when Ibrahim's uncle had alHed

himself with Ramraj to crush Ahmadnagar. Ibrahim, how-

ever, with the help of his Mahratta cavalry,

defeated the

allied forces under the walls of Sholapur, and Burhan died

soon afterwards, leaving the throne of Ahmadnagar to his

son Ibrahim Nizam Shah, born of an

Abyssinian mother.

After a

reign of four months Ibrahim of Ahmadnagar was kUled

in battle, and the Abyssinians of the royal body-guard there-

upon espoused the cause of his infant son, Bahadur

Nizam

Shah, and invited his great-atmt, Chand

Bibi, to assume the

regency during his minority.

Chand Bibi, as has been told, was the daughter of Husain,

the third king of the

Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar,

and consequently of Brahman descent. From the time of

her marriage with Ali 'Adil Shah, as a part of the compact

made by the Musalman dynasties of the Dekhan for the

destruction

of

Vijayanagar, she had played a conspicuous part

in the poUtics of Bijapur. She had acted as regent during

the minority of her husband's nephew and successor, Ibrahim,

a task which demanded the highest

courage and diplomatic

skill. At one time she was

the ruling power in the State, at

another confined in prison by the minister who opposed her.

At last, in

when Ibrahim's sister was married to htx

AKBAR AS CHAKRA-VARTIN

nephew,

the son

of Murtezza Nizam Shah, she

left BijapOr

to reside at her brother's court—a change which by no

means

diminished the diificulties of her position. Eleven years later,

when the Abyssinians of the royal body-guard offered her the

regency of Ahmadnagar, there

were three competitors for the

throne besides her own grand-nephew. The leader

of one

of the rival parties had written to Akbar's son, Prince

Murad,

then in command of the Mogul army in Gujerat, asking for

his assistance. The Prince eagerly seized the opportunity,

and, together with the Khan Khanan, whom Akbar sent to

assist him, marched to Ahmadnagar. But when the Mogul

forces arrived under the walls of the fortress they found that

the approach

of

the foreign interlopers

—as

the

Mogtils were

still regarded in the Dekhan—^had caused the majority of the

contending factions to unite under Chand Bibi in offering a

desperate resistance to their entry into the city.

Chand

Bibi's gallant defence

of

Ahmadnagar

has made her

one of the heroines of Indian folk-lore in the Dekhan.

She

aroused the enthusiasm of the garrison and the admiration of

the imperiaUsts by appearing on the ramparts veiled but with

sword in hand to encourage the defenders, recklessly exposing

herself to the heavy fire of the enemy and directing the repair

of the breaches made by

the Mogul mines. At the

same time

she despatched messengers to call to her aid the forces of

Bijapur and other states whose independence would be

threatened by the success of the imperiaUsts. Akbar, on the

other hand, was badly served

in this campaign

by his son.

Prince Murad,

whom he trusted to uphold the prestige of

the

house

of Timur. The Prince, though not lacking in coiurage,

was a confirmed drunkard, hot-tempered and insolent towards

the able and experienced general deputed by Akbar to advise

him. After a siege of about four months the imperialists had

made little headway and

found themselves confronted

by a for-

midable confederation

of the other Musalman kingdoms in

the

Dekhan. Prince Murad was therefore glad to accept Chand Bibi's

offer to come to terms, by which Ahmadnagar retained its inde-

pendence

by

surrendering its claims to the suzerainty of Berar.

2L

AKBAR AS CHAKRA-VARTIN

Asirgarh, which experienced soldiers considered to be the

strongest in Asia and perhaps in the whole world. The place,

however, surrendered to Akbar after a

siege of eleven months,

mainly owing to a virulent epidemic which swept off a great

part of the garrison and reduced the remnants to despair.

Bahadur was sent to join his ally of Ahmadnagar in captivity

at Gwalior and Khandesh was annexed to the Mogul Empire.

The

success of the Mogul arms induced the Sultans of BijapQr

and

Golconda to come to an understanding with Akbar, and a

marriage

was arranged between Prince

Daniyal and a daughter

of Ibrahim 'Adil Shah. In 1602 Akbar returned in triumph to

Agra and assumed the title of Emperor of the Dekhan, leaving

Abul Fazl in administrative charge.

It was not, indeed, the success of the campaign in the Dekhan,

but a serious situation which had arisen since his departure

from Hindustan, which induced Akbar to return. lyike many

other great men, Akbar was unfortunate in his children, none

of whom inherited the high intellectual power and strong moral

fibre of their father. The hordes of parasites and low adven-

turers on the outskirts of the court

— ^Akbar's

secret enemies

were powerless against the Padshah himself, but took their

revenge in debauching his children and in stimulating their

headstrong tempers. Strong and wise as Akbar had proved

himself to be in controlling the turbulence and unscrupulous-

ness of his nobles, he had shown an indulgence

bordering

on

weakness towards the misconduct of his children. The good

counsellors whom Akbar appointed to guide them not infre-

quently found themselves unsupported by the

Padshah

in

checking the misbehaviour of their

wards. Prince Salim, the

eldest—now past any tutor's

control, for he was over thirty

years of age—was

not only an habitual drunkard like his

brothers, but

had already made an exhibition of fiendish cruelty

which

Akbar would not have tolerated in any of his generals.

He

had an implacable hatred of the

honest Abul Fazl,

who

had often risked annoying his

sovereign

by

bringing Salim's

misconduct to his notice.

Akbar seemed to consider that

any punishment

inflicted upon the imperial princes would be

ARYAN RULE

IN INDIA

more

damaging to the prestige

of the

dynasty than the disgrace

they

brought upon it themselves, and endeavoured to wean

them from

their vices by a father's loving counsel and to

bring them to

a

higher

sense of responsibility by giving them

a larger share in the administration

of the

empire. Before

his

departure

from the Dekhan Akbar had formally nominated

Prince Salim as

his successor, made him Viceroy of Ajmir,

with the redoubtable Raja Man Singh as his

adviser, and

entrusted him with the conduct of a new campaign against the

Rana of Mewar.

But as soon as fresh disturbances in Bengal

called Man Singh back to his own viceroyalty Salim flung off

all restraint and, thinking that the situation in the Dekhan

gave him

a fine opportunity, marched his army towards Agra

with the bold intention

of

turning

the Padshah

off his throne.

The governor of the fortress, however, shut the gates against

him.

Salim then marched off to Allahabad, and, having suc-

ceeded in occupying

the fortress and seizing the contents of

the imperial treasury, publicly assumed the royal title.

Akbar, as soon as the news reached him, acted with his usual

promptitude and returned to Agra with a picked body of the

imperial army

;

but instead of taking the field against his

disloyal son, as Salim no doubt expected, sent him an affec-

tionate letter warning him against the consequences of con-

tinued disloyalty, but promising forgiveness if he would at once

return to his allegiance. Salim thought it politic to send a

submissive reply ftdl of professions of filial devotion, but being

informed by

his spies that the main body of the imperial

army

was stiU in the Dekhan, he marched to meet the Padshah at the

head of a considerable force which he had collected. Akbar

then sent a stern letter

ordering him either to come to

court

with a small

retinue or to return at once to Allahabad. Salim

reluctantly accepted the former alternative and a reconciliation

took place. Akbar, hoping to keep him out

of further mischief,

granted him the provinces of

Bengal and Orissa. At the same

time the Padshah

wrote a full account of what had happened

to

his faithful henchman, Abul Fazl, and ordered him to return

to court, where his presence

was urgently required.

ARYAN

RULE IN INDIA

would be upheld

by the text-books of a certain modern

school

of diplomacy. Akbar,

who was now sixty years

of age, had

suffered periodically from an

internal disorder,

and the loss of

so many of his dearest friends and staunchest supporters

might well have

affected his usual buoyant spirits and resolute

courage. Most of the great men who had helped him in

securing the foundations

of the Mogul Empire

Shaikh Mubarak,

Faizi,! Abul Fazl, Todar Mall,

and Bhagwan Das—^had

already

gone. Akbar was more than ever alone. Of his three sur-

viving sons, Murad had died ;

his brother Daniyal was rapidly

drinking

himself to death. Salim, in spite of his debauchery

and savage temper, was

a strong man who could

count upon

powerful support in the imperial army. If the Padshah had pro-

ceeded to use military force against him he might have provoked

a conflict

which

would have plunged the whole empire

into

confusion, shattered the entire fabric

he had so

laboriously built

up, and opened the gates once more to India's foreign aggressors.

The

only

potential candidate for the succession whose repu-

tation stood higher than Salim's was the Prince's youngest son,

Khurram, who eventually succeeded his father under the title

of Shah Jahan and did much as a ruler to justify his grand-

father's

good opinion

of

him. Raja

Man Singh, Salim's

brother-in-law, and now the most powerful of Akbar's Hindu

nobles, was in favour of the nomination of his nephew by

marriage. Prince Khusru

Khurram's eldest brother.

A

violent feud already existed between

the

latter and his father,

and Akbar seemed unwilHng to do anything to widen the

breach. Under all the circumstances he probably showed the

wisest statesmanship in continuing to recognize Salim's heredi-

tary right

to

the throne according to the traditions

of the

house of Timur, though plenty of precedents might have been

found in Indo-Aryan constitutional law for setting him aside.

Akbar only lived about three years after the death of

Abul

^

Faizi died seven years before the murder of Abul Fazl. Even Badauni

draws a pathetic picture of Akbar hurrjong with the court hakims to the

bedside of the dying poet, gently lifting up his head, and joining in Abul Pazl's

grief when he found that the end had come.

AKBAR AS CHAKRA-VARTIN

Fazl in 1602, but persisted

to the

end. in his endeavours to

control his incorrigible son. Knowing that SaHm was amenable

to

womanly influence (under the spell of Nur Jahan he later

on developed

some sense of regal responsibiUty), the Padshah

sent the Sultana

Salima, Bairam Khan's widow and

now one

of Akbar's wives, who according

to

an Indian custom had

adopted SaHm as her son after the death of his own mother,

to reason with him—the result being that he appeared again

at court in a chastened mood. Akbar received him kindly,

gave him permission to use the imperial insignia, and sent him

back

to Rajputana to renew the campaign against the Rana

of Mewar —for the Rajputs of Mewar some years

previously

had emerged from their letreats in the Aravali hills and had

gradually won back a great deal of lost ground. But the

Prince conducted himself so badly as a general in the field

that Akbar

recalled him and sent him back to

Allahabad.

There his continued

drunkenness and

the violent scenes which

took place between himself and his equally intemperate son,

Khusru, so affected the mind of Khusru's mother that she

took poison and died. In a fit of repentance SaHm reappeared

at Akbar's court and submitted to being put tmder medical

treatment

for a

time

; but the quarrels

between the Prince

and his eldest son, who did his best to inflame Akbar's mind

against his father, again became a public scandal.

That these domestic troubles weighed heavily upon Akbar

and hastened his end there can be no doubt. It is improfit-

able to speculate

what Akbar might

have done if he had lived

longer and Salim's outrageous conduct had continued. But

the Padshah knew weU that the only alternatives to the course

he actually took were to put his son to death or imprison

him for hfe, and these were alternatives which he could

never bring himself to take, for

in spite of all he loved his son,

and under

'

Shaikhu Baba's

' ^

violent temperament there were

hidden some of

the fine qualities of Babur's stock.

In the

beginning of

another blow feU upon Akbar

The pet name which Akbar gave Salitn, after his foster-father, the Shaikh

SaHm Chishti.

AKBAR AS CHAKRA-VARTIN

malicious,

declare that he accidentally

poisoned himself

by

swallowing a deadly pill intended for one of his nobles—

a

hoary

fable of unknown antiquity which has been fastened on

the tomb of many other monarclis besides Akbar. The truth

seems to be that

Akbar, following his physician's

advice, was

accustomed to take

a weak decoction of opium for the

internal

disorder from which he suffered,

and it may well

be

believed that

during the stress and sorrow of his later years he sometimes

sought to soothe his troubled mind by the same means. He was

neither an ascetic nor a saint of the conventional type ; but

few

of the great rulers of the earth can show a better record

for deeds of righteousness,

or more

honourably and consistently

maintained their ideals of a religious life devoted to the service

of humanity. In the Western sense his mission was political

rather than religious

; but in his endeavours to make the

highest

religious principles the motive power of State pohcy

he won an imperishable name in

Indian history and lifted the

poUtical ethics of Islam into

a

higher plane than they had ever

reached before.

It does not detract from his greatness as a man and ruler

that his achievements fell short of his ideals

^that the Din-

Ilahi did not accompUsh the spiritual regeneration of the

ruHng classes or wipe off the slate all the records of previous

centuries of misgovernment, and that his schemes did not

embrace a full recognition of the ancient Aryan system of self-

government upon which the economic strength and

political

greatness of India stood firm longer

than has been the case

with any other empire

in the world. But Akbar's endeavours

to realise the

Aryan ideal are still worthy of imitation both

by British rulers of India and by all statesmen for whom

poUtics is

a

religion rather than a game of craft and skill.

ARYAN RULE

IN INDIA

        1. 456,

460,

461, 469, 471, 477 n., 478, 482, 483,

500, 531. 532, 533

Agta and Oudh, province, 34, 265,

Agra and the Taj Mahall, Handbook

to, cited, 463 n.

Agriculture : among the early Indo-

Aryans, 14, 15 ; the Sukra-niti-

sdra on the profits of, 223 ; revived

under Firuz Shah, 319 ; burdens

on, relieved

by Aibar, 526. See

also Ryots

Ahmad Shah I, Sultan of Gujerat,

Ahmad

Shah II, Sultan of Gujerat,

481

Ahmad Shah Bahmani, Sultan of the

Dekhan, 340, 341, 350, 358

Ahmad Nizam Shah, Sultan of

Ahmadnagar, 340

Ahmad Khan

Lodi: sided with the

reformer Budhan, 380

Ahmadabad : anciently Karnavati,

341

; made his capital by Ahmad

Shah of Gujerat and rebuilt

by

him, 341 ; the Jami' Masjid at,

mentioned, 327, 344,

348, 351, 353. 354. 481. 482, 483.

509,

Ahmadnagar: Chand Bibi's defence

of, 529 ; captured for Akbar, 530 ;

mentioned, 340, 389, 393, 400, 401,

403, 527,

Am-i-Akhan : mentioned,

; Bloch-

mann's translation, cited, 338 n.,

n., 500 «., 507 «., 508 n.,

n., 519 n. ; Jarrett's transla-

tion, cited, 472 n., 476 »., 493 nn.,

n., 502 n., 519 n.

Ain-ul-Mulk Burhan

Nizam Shah's

commander-in-chief, 398

Aitareya Brahmana, cited, 82 n.

Ajanta: architecture at, 146; frescoes

at, 184, 185, 213, 329, 418; men-

tioned, 211

Ajatasatru, King of Magadha, 89

Ajivikas, sect, 91, 107

Ajmir: pillaged by Afghans,

; the

Arhai-din-ka Jhompra at,

;

mentioned, 292, 459, 462, 463, 492,

Ajodhya :

made his capital by Samu-

dragupta, 153 ; mentioned, 37, 41,

42, 151, 155, 167,

Akasd, the cosmic ether, 239

Akbar : birth of, 435 ; left in his

uncle Kamran's hands, 436 ; re-

covered by his father,

; suc-

ceeds to the throne, 450 ; the

Protectorship of Bairam Khan,

Ws physical strength,

his abilities and character, 450,

; defeats the

pretender Hemu,

trouble with the Afghans,

; difiSculties with Bairam

Khan, 452- ; attempted to

reconcile religious differences, 459,

his political creed, 459

;

assumes control of the government,

; marries a Rajput princess,

and wins the loyalty of the Raj-

puts, 462 ; a

' much-married ' man,

his religious tolerance,

463, 472, 473, 474, 492, S ; cam-

paign in Rajputana, 463-464,

; his siege and captmre of Chitor,

294, 306, 467-469 ; attempt on his

life, 465 ; relieved taxation, 465 ;

campaign in Bengal, 466 ; builds

Fatehpur-Sikri, 470; his conquest

of the Dekhan, 470,

;

his love of learning and of philo-

sophical discussion, 472-473, 474-

; adopted Indo-

Aryan political and social ideals,

; the freedom of his opinions,

; his views on marriage, 475-

; his close attention to the

details of government, and his

varied interests, 477- ; his

official gazette, 477- ; early

revenue reforms, 479 ; and hunt-

ing, 479 ; conquers Gujerat, 480-

; conquers Bengal, 484-486,

491 ; revenue reforms, with Todar

Mall, 486-490, 515 ; his steadfast

adherence to the Muslim faith, 492-

the nature of his

religious beUef, 493-494, 495,

502 ; the Sunni sect and, 496 ; the

discussions in the Ibadat-Khana.

his attitude towards

Christianity, 473-474, 495,

; studied Hindu philosophy

and occult science, 500- ; main-

tained the autocratic traditions of

Islam, 502 ; asserts himself as

spiritual leader of Islam in his

empire, 503-506, 511 ; reformed the

administration

of the Crown lands,

506-509 ; and the DTn-Ilahi, 511-

INDEX

; doubtless influenced by Chai-

tanya's teaching, 418 ; his con-

siderate treatment of Hindus, 515-

extends his sway over all

Aryavarta, 520- ; his debt to

the Rajput chieftains, 525 ; recog-

nised as an ideal Aryan mon-

arch, 525 ; the beneficence and

efi&ciency of his rule, and the

success of his policy, 525- ;

his troubles with Prince Salim, 531-

death, 536 ;

his mausoleum

at Sikandra, 536 ; the cause of his

death, 536-537 ; his aim and his

achievement, 537 ; mentioned, 263,

320, 338, 339, 355, 358, 381, 405,

406, 449

Akbar-ndma, the, cited, 515 nn.

Al Idrisi, Arabian historian : on the

Indian character, 250

Al Kadir Eilla-Abassy, Khalif, 285

'Ala-ud-din, Sultan of Delhi: sacks

Deoghur, 300- ; murders Jalal-

ud-din and seizes the throne,

301 ; his tyranny, and adminis-

trative methods, 301-305 ; his con-

quests, 306- ; death, 307, 309 ;

married a Rajput princess, 308 ;

mentioned, 294, 311, 316, 319, 385,

'Ala-ud-din, quondam Sultan of

Gaur, 335

'Ala-ud-din, Sultan of Malwa, 384

' Ala-ud-dlu, brother of Ibrahim Lodi

:

rose against Humayiin, 429

'Ala-ud-din, uncle of Ibrahim Lodi,

'Ala-ud-din, son

  • in - law of Nasir

Khan, 358

'Ala-ud-din Hasan, Afghan chieftain:

sacked Ghazni, 290-

'Alai, Shaikh, MusUm revivalist

:

poses as the Mahdi, 338, 446, 471

;

mentioned, 498

Alberuni, Arabian historian: cited,

210, 243

Albuquerque, Alfonso da, Portuguese

navigator: in India, 345,

Alchemy : studied by

Akbar, 500

Alcohol: abstinence from, promoted

by Asoka's

rules, 100. See Drink

traffic

Alexander the Great: his raid into

the Panjab, 60, 63- ; mentioned,

Alexander, King of Bpirus, 98

AH 'Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapiir,

399-402, 403, 404, 406, 527,

Ali Berid Shah, Sultan of Bidar,

Ali ibn Abu Talib, Khalif,

368,

Ali, Khalif, 331, 399 n.

Ali, son of Burhan Nizam Shah,

Allahabad, 152, 158, 335, 532, 535

Alongoa, widow, 'Timiir's ancestor, in

his fictitious pedigree, 377

Alp Khan, Governor of Gujerat, 308

Alptagln, ruler of Ghazni, 280

Altamsh, Sultan of Delhi, 294, 299

Alwar, 457

Amalaka, ornament of temple spire:

the symbolism of, 112, 113, 180;

mentioned, 179, 182, 245

Amaravati: the ^sculptures at, 130,

146, 180

Amarkot, 434-

Amdtya, or Home Minister,

Amber, Rajput royal family, 462

Amina, wife of Burhan Nizam Shah,

Amir Berid, ruler of Kulbarga,

393,

  1. 396, 397

Amir Khusru, poet,

Amir-al-Umara, title, 462

Ananda, the Buddha's disciple, 97

Ananta

see Sesha

Ancient and Medieval Architecture of

India, cited, 112 n., 146 «., 217 n.,

n.

Andhra dynasty, 123, 130-131,

139,

142,

Andhra, the state : paramount in the

South, 130 ; early relations with

the North, 1 30- 31 ; fall of the

Andhra Empire,

147

' Andli,' nickname of 'Adil Shah,

Anga, Aryan kingdom,

Anhilwar, 341

Animals: the sacrifice of, forbidden

by Asoka,

92 ;

Asoka's humane

concern for, 92, 94 ; Akbar's

concern for, 479

Antardla, temple porch, 117

Antigonos Gonatas, King of Mace-

donia, 98

Antiochos Soter, King of Syria : sends

an embassy to Bindusara's court,

Antiochos Theos, King of Syria,

95,

98

INDEX

art is essentially Indian, 295 ; the

development of Indo-Muhamma-

dan art, 328-330; Islam gave

Indian art a new impulse, did not

change Indian aesthetic principles,

  1. See also Architecture, Paint-

ing, and Sculpture

Artillery : first use of, in the Dekhan,

Arunasa, or Arjuna, usurper, 248-

Aryans, the Indian : closely related to

the Greeks, 4 ;

how they reached

India, 4- ; the early culture of,

5 et seq. ; the early social organisa-

tion of, 5-6, 7-8, 14-22 ; the in-

tellectual generosity of, 6 ; their

civilisation the product of their

own genius,

antiquity of the

civilisation of, 8 ; their conquest

of India essentially an intellectual

one, 9 ; the village system of, 9-

II, 15, 22-29; the coming of, to

India, 13-14, 15, 33 ; patriarchy

among, 14 ; agriculture among, 14,

15 ; assimilated features from the

Dravidian social system, 15 ; the

instinct for racial purity among,

16 ; the scope of the term

'

Aryan

'

widened, 16 ; the five social grades

among, 16 ; and the origin of

caste, 17 ; and the building craft,

; commercial intercourse of,

with the Dravidian kingdoms and

Western Asia, 2 1 , 43

;

political

organisation of the Aryan

tribes,

22 ; the wonderful work of, in

unifying the heterogeneous peoples

of India, 32 ; never widely dis-

tributed over India, 32 ; the physi-

cal characteristics of, 32 ; the

tribes of, did not enslave each

other, 33- ; the origin of king-

ship among, 35-37 ; their idea of

kingship, 35-37, 82-83; constitu-

tion of their king's council, 36

;

the principal kingdoms of, 37-38;

Aryan republics, 38, 68, 69 ;

the

political fusion of Aryans and non-

Aryans illustrated by

the story

of the Great War, 40-41 ; the

Aryan belief in

the divine power of

sacrifice, 47 ; the Buddha's appeal

to Aryan

sentiment, 53 ; the unify-

ing

effect of Buddiism upon the

Aryan

political system, 55- ; the

bond between the

Indo-Aryan,

Helleuic, and Iranian branches of the

Aryan

race, 60, 61 ; moral virtues

of the Aryan character, 62 ; the

foundation of the

Mauryan dynasty

the culminating point

in Aryan

political supremacy in India, 89 ;

the reign of Asoka

marked the

final breaking-down of the racial

barriers between Aryan and

non-

Aryan, 89 ;

the Aryan law of

suc-

cession to the throne, 90 ; the

history of Aryan art begins with

the Mauryan epoch,

104 ; Indo-

Aryan

artistic

tradition and Aryan

royal craftsmen, 105-107 ; the

earliest Aryan religious symbols,

109 ;

early Aryan dwellings

were

of wood, 115-116; Aryan re-

ligious symbolism rejected graven

images and materialistic vehicles

of thought, 1 17-118; new ele-

ments entered the Indo-Aryan

pale as the result of the Turki

invasions, 126 ; the Aryanisation

of the South,

127-131 ; Aryan

civilisation completely superseded

Dravidian, 128- ; the spreading

of Indo-Aryan civilisation over

Asia, 145

; the Aryan revival in

the Gupta era, 149-158, 178

; San-

skrit the language of

Aryan tradi-

tion, 154-155 ; the independence

of the Aryan character,

171 ; Indo-

Aryan mihtary ethics,

173 ; de-

scendants of Hun and Turki in-

vaders admitted within the Aryan

pale, 176-177 ; the adverse effect

of the infusion of barbarian blood

upon Aryan tradition and polity,

Aryan tradition conserved

by the South, 227 ; the worth of

the Aryan constitution,

the

Aryanisation of the South gathered

strength under the disasters to

Aryan civilisation in

the North,

238, 325 ; Europe's indebtedness to

Indo-Aryan culture, 254-255 ; Raj-

put tribes and Aryan ancestry, 260-

261 ; the Indo-Aryan administra-

tive system

adopted by the Mu-

hammadan Sultans,

298 ; the

Indian ideal permeated the social

and spiritual life of the

Muhamma-

dan conquerors, 308 ;

Hindu polity

contrasted with Islamic, 322- ;

ARYAN RULE

IN INDIA

the effect of the Muhammadan

conquest upon Indo-Aryan art,

327-330 ; the Indo-Aryans ob-

tained ascendancy over the Dravi-

dians by means of their horses, 361-

;

the wisdom of the Aryan

principle of putting commercial

and military interests under high

intellectual direction, 366 ; the

Turkish conquerors absorbed Aryan

culture, 376 ; the essentially demo-

cratic character of the Hindu

political system, 404-405 ; Aryan

village life unaffected by the impact

of Islam, 407-409 ; Aryan culture

preserved through the period of

the Muhammadan conquest, 408

;

Akbar recognised as an ideal Indian

monarch, 525 ; the free institutions

of Aryavarta crushed by Aurangzib,

; Akbar's effort to realise the

Aryan ideal,

Aryavarta: supposed to be crescent-

shaped, 34, 192; the extent of, in

Samudragupta's time, 152; freed

from foreign domination by Samu-

dragupta, 154; Indo-Aryan kings

never sought dominion outside the

confines of, 171 ; the weakness of,

to attack from without, 1

;

Siva's bow the symbol

of, 254 ;

political disunion in, helped the

victorious progress of Islam, 257-

; Akbar extends his sway

completely over, 520-525 ; men-

tioned, 5, 35, 38, 149, 150, 151,

152, 183

Asa Ahir, Hindu chieftain,

356-358,

Asad Khan (Khusru Turk), minister

of Bijapiir, 392, 393,

Asaf Khan, Gujerati general, 354

Asaf Khan, Mogul general, 464, 465-

466, 475

Asana-prajinapaka, or ' Seat-arran-

ger,' 52

Asandhimitra, wife of Asoka, 103

Ascetics :

regulations excluding them

from the villages, 70- ; regard

paid to, 70

Asiatic Review, cited, 494 n., 518 n.,

n.

Asirgarh, fortress: Nasir Khan's plot

to obtain possession of, 356-358 ;

besieged and taken by Akbar,

358,

531

Askari, Mirza, brother of Humayun,

Asoka: gave State recognition to

Buddhism, 57, 89 ; said to have

studied Jainism, 59 ; the reign of,

; early years, 90 ; corona-

tion, 90 ; his imperial standards

bearing his edicts, 90-91, 96-97,

105, 152, 180 ; converted to Bud-

dhism, 91-92 ; his zeal in the

propagation of Buddhism, 92, 93,

95, 97-98 ; details of his govern-

ment, as set forth in the edicts, 92-

sends out Buddhist missions,

95 ; his State pilgrimages, 96-97 ;

character of his rule, 98- ; his

religious tolerance, 99, 118 ; his

Buddhist propaganda, its results

and development, 99-102, 131 ;

death, 102 ; incidents in his

private life, 103 ; btult the original

temple at Bodh-Gaya, 112 ; in

legends, sometimes confused with

Kanishka, 142 ; Fa-Hien on the

ruins of his palace at Pataliputra,

168 ; his propaganda consolidated

Aryavarta, 258 ; mentioned, 43,

62, 73, 83, 88, 104, 106, III, 116,

117, 119, 120, 123, 125, 126, 127,

129, 130, 131, 135, 137, 139, 144,

146, 147, 148, 150, 152, 156, 160,

J64, 166, 196, 202, 220, 268, 320,

Asram, the Brahman village,

38

Assam, 200, 250, 299

Assemblies, village, of the South,

election to, 230-

Asuras, enemies of the Aryans, 4, 73,

Asvamedha, the horse sacrifice,

See Horse sacrifice

Atgah Khan

see Muhammad Atgah

Khan

Atharva Veda: on the building of a

house, 115 ; translated into Persian,

Attock, fortress, 523

Augustus, Emperor: received em-

bassies, from Indian kings, 139-

140

Aurangzib, Mogul emperor, 426

Avanti, ancient name of Malwa,

See Malwa

Avantivarman, King of Kashmir,