in a naval combat on one of the branches of the Indus, he fought and vanquished four thousand boats of the natives. Dehli, Lahor, and Multan, were compelled to open their gates: the fertile kingdom of Guzarat attracted his ambition and tempted his stay; and his avarice indulged the fruitless project of discovering the golden and aromatic isles of the Southern Ocean. On the payment of a tribute, the rajahs preserved their dominions; the people, their lives and fortunes; but to the religion of Hindostan the zealous Musulman was cruel and inexorable: many hundred temples, or pagodas, were levelled with the ground; many thousand idols were demolished; and the servants of the prophet were stimulated and rewarded by the precious materials of which they were composed. The pagoda of Sumnat was situate on the promontory of Guzarat, in the neighbourhood of Diu, one of the last remaining possessions of the Portuguese (7). It was endowed with the revenue of two thousand villages; two thousand Brahmins were consecrated to the service of the deity, whom they washed each morning and evening in water from the distant Ganges: the subordinate ministers consisted of three hundred musicians, three hundred barbers, and five hundred dancing girls, conspicuous for their birth or beauty. Three sides of the temple were protected by the ocean, the narrow isthmus was fortified by a natural or artificial precipice; and the city and adjacent country was peopled by a nation of fanatics. They confessed the sins and the punishment of Kinnoge and Dehli; but if the impious stranger should presume to approach their holy precincts, he would surely be overwhelmed by a blast of the divine vengeance. By this challenge, the faith of Mahmud was animated to a personal trial of the strength of this Indian deity. Fifty thousand of his worshippers were pierced by the spear of the Moslems; the walls were scaled; the sanctuary was profaned; and the conqueror aimed a blow of his iron mace at the head of the idol. The trembling Brahmins are said to have offered ten millions* sterling for his ransom; and it was urged by the wisest counsellors, that the destruction of a stone image would not change the hearts of the his excellent Memoir on his Map of Hindoostan, p. 37-43.): 300 jewellers, 30,000 shops for the arreca nut, 60,000 bands of musicians, &c. (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274. Dow, vol. i. p. 16.), will allow an ample deduction. (7) The idolaters of Europe, says Ferishta ( Dow, vol. i. p. 66.). Consult Abulfeda (p. 272.), and Rennel's Map of Hindoostan. and Schlegel (Indische Bibliothek, vol. ii. p. 394.) concur in identifying Palimbothra with the Patalipura of the Indians; the Patna of the moderns.-M. * Ferishta says some "crores of gold." Dow says, in a note at the bottom of the page, "ten millions," which is the explanation of the word "crore." Mr. Gibbon says rashly, that the sum offered by the Brahmins was ten millions sterling. Note to Mill's India, vol. ii. p. 222. Col. Briggs's translation is "a quantity of gold." The treasure found in the temple, "perhaps in the image," according to Major Price's authorities, was twenty millions of dinaurs of gold, above nine millions sterling; but this was a hundred-fold the ransom offered by the Brahmins. Price, vol. ii. p. 290. 12 His character. Gentoos; and that such a sum might be dedicated to the relief of the 66 66 From the paths of blood, and such is the history of nations, I cannot refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers of science or virtue. The name of Mahmud the Gaznevide is still venerable in the East: his subjects enjoyed the blessings of prosperity and peace; his vices were concealed by the veil of religion; and two familiar examples will testify his justice and magnanimity. I. As he sat in the Divan, an unhappy subject bowed before the throne to accuse the insolence of a Turkish soldier who had driven him from his house and bed. Suspend your clamours," said Mahmud; “ in"form me of his next visit; and ourself in person will judge and "punish the offender." The sultan followed his guide, invested the house with his guards, and extinguishing the torches, pronounced the death of the criminal, who had been seized in the act of rapine and adultery. After the execution of his sentence, the lights were rekindled, Mahmud fell prostrate in prayer, and rising from the ground, demanded some homely fare, which he devoured with the voraciousness of hunger. The poor man, whose injury he had avenged, was unable to suppress his astonishment and curiosity; and the courteous monarch condescended to explain the motives of this singular behaviour. "I had reason to suspect that none, except one of my sons, could dare to perpetrate such an outrage; " and I extinguished the lights, that my justice might be blind and inexorable. My prayer was a thanksgiving on the discovery of "the offender; and so painful was my anxiety, that I had passed "three days without food since the first moment of your complaint." II. The sultan of Gazna had declared war against the dynasty of the Bowides, the sovereigns of the western Persia: he was disarmed by an epistle of the sultana mother, and delayed his invasion till the manhood of her son (8). "During the life of my husband," said the artful regent," I was ever apprehensive of your ambition: he "was a prince and a soldier worthy of your arms. He is now no 66 (8) D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, p. 527. Yet these letters, apophthegms, &c. are rarely the language of the heart, or the motives of public action. * Rather than the idol broker, he chose to be called Mahmud the idol breaker. Price, vol. ii. p. 289.-M. more: his sceptre has passed to a woman and a child, and you "dare not attack their infancy and weakness. How inglorious "would be your conquest, how shameful your defeat! and yet the " event of war is in the hand of the Almighty." Avarice was the only defect that tarnished the illustrious character of Mahmud; and never has that passion been more richly satiated.* The Orientals exceed the measure of credibility in the account of millions of gold and silver, such as the avidity of man has never accumulated; in the magnitude of pearls, diamonds, and rubies, such as have never been produced by the workmanship of nature (9). Yet the soil of Hindostan is impregnated with precious minerals: her trade, in every age, has attracted the gold and silver of the world; and her virgin spoils were rifled by the first of the Mahometan conquerors. His behaviour, in the last days of his life, evinces the vanity of these possessions, so laboriously won, so dangerously held, and so inevitably lost. He surveyed the vast and various chambers of the treasury of Gazna; burst into tears; and again closed the doors, without bestowing any portion of the wealth which he could no longer hope to preserve. The following day he reviewed the state of his military force; one hundred thousand foot, fifty-five thousand horse, and thirteen hundred elephants of battle (10). He again wept the instability of human greatness; and his grief was embittered by the hostile progress of the Turkmans, whom he had introduced into the heart of his Persian kingdom. A. D. In the modern depopulation of Asia, the regular operation of Manners and government and agriculture is confined to the neighbourhood of the Turks, or cities; and the distant country is abandoned to the pastoral tribes Turkmans, of Arabs, Curds, and Turkmans (11). Of the last-mentioned peo- 980-1028. ple, two considerable branches extend on either side of the Caspian sea the western colony can muster forty thousand soldiers; the eastern, less obvious to the traveller, but more strong and populous, has increased to the number of one hundred thousand families. In the midst of civilised nations, they preserve the manners of the Scythian desert, remove their encampments with the change of seasons, and feed their cattle among the ruins of palaces and temples. Their flocks and herds are their only riches; their tents, either (9) For instance, a ruby of four hundred and fifty miskals (Dow, vol. i. p. 53.), or six pounds three ounces: the largest in the treasury of Dehli weighed seventeen miskals (Voyages de Tavernier, partie ii. p. 280.). It is true, that in the East all coloured stones are called rubies (p. 355.), and that Tavernier saw three larger and more precious among the jewels de notre grand roi, le plus puissant et plus magnifique de tous les rois de la terre (p. 376.). (10) Dow, vol. i. p. 65. The sovereign of Kinoge is said to have possessed 2500 elephants (Abulfed. Geograph. tab. xv. p. 274.). From these Indian stories, the reader may correct a note in my first volume (p. 190.); or from that note he may correct these stories. (11) See a just and natural picture of these pastoral manners, in the history of William Archbishop of Tyre (1. i. c. vii. in the Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 633, 634.), and a valuable note by the editor of the Histoire Généalogique des Tatars, p. 535–538. black or white, according to the colour of the banner, are covered with felt, and of a circular form; their winter apparel is a sheepskin; a robe of cloth or cotton their summer garment: the features of the men are harsh and ferocious; the countenance of their women is soft and pleasing. Their wandering life maintains the spirit and exercise of arms; they fight on horseback; and their courage is displayed in frequent contests with each other and with their neighbours. For the licence of pasture they pay a slight tri-bute to the sovereign of the land; but the domestic jurisdiction is in the hands of the chiefs and elders. The first emigration of the Eastern Turkmans, the most ancient of their race, may be ascribed to the tenth century of the Christian æra (12). In the decline of the caliphs, and the weakness of their lieutenants, the barrier of the Jaxartes was often violated: in each invasion, after the victory or retreat of their countrymen, some wandering tribe, embracing the Mahometan faith, obtained a free encampment in the spacious plains and pleasant climate of Transoxiana and Carizme. The Turkish slaves who aspired to the throne encouraged these emigrations, which recruited their armies, awed their subjects and rivals, and protected the frontier against the wilder natives of Turkestan; and this policy was abused by Mahmud the Gaznevide beyond the example of former times. He was admonished of his error by a chief of the race of Seljuk, who dwelt in the territory of Bochara. The sultan had inquired what supply of men he could furnish for military service. "If you send," replied Ismael, "one of these arrows into our camp, fifty thousand of your servants will mount "on horseback."-"And if that number," continued Mahmud, "should not be sufficient?"-"Send this second arrow to the horde "of Balik, and you will find fifty thousand more.' "But," said the Gaznevide, dissembling his anxiety, "if I should stand in need of "the whole force of your kindred tribes ?"-" Despatch my bow," was the last reply of Ismael," and as it is circulated around, the "summons will be obeyed by two hundred thousand horse.' The apprehension of such formidable friendship induced Mahmud to transport the most obnoxious tribes into the heart of Chorasan, where they would be separated from their brethren by the river Oxus, and enclosed on all sides by the walls of obedient cities. But the face of the country was an object of temptation rather than terror; and the vigour of government was relaxed by the absence and death of the sultan of Gazna. The shepherds were converted into robbers; the bands of robbers were collected into an army of conquerors as far as Ispahan and the Tigris, Persia was afflicted 66 (12) The first emigrations of the Turkmans, and doubtful origin of the Seljukians, may be traced in the laborious History of the Huus, by M. de Guignes (tom. i. Tables Chronologiques, 1. v. tom. iii. 1. vii. ix. x.), and the Bibliothèque Orientale of d'Herbelot (p. 799-802. 897-901.), Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 331-333.), and Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 221, 222.). the by their predatory inroads; and the Turkmans were not ashamed or afraid to measure their courage and numbers with the proudest : sovereigns of Asia. Massoud, the son and successor of Mahmud, had too long neglected the advice of his wisest Omrahs. "Your "enemies," they repeatedly urged, "were in their origin a swarm "of ants; they are now little snakes; and, unless they be instantly "crushed, they will acquire the venom and magnitude of serpents." After some alternatives of truce and hostility, after the repulse or partial success of his lieutenants, the sultan marched in person against the Turkmans, who attacked him on all sides with barbarous shouts and irregular onset. "Massoud," says the Persian They defeat historian (13), "plunged singly to oppose the torrent of gleaming Gaznevides, arms, exhibiting such acts of gigantic force and valour as never king had before displayed. A few of his friends, roused by his A. D. 1038. "words and actions, and that innate honour which inspires the "brave, seconded their lord so well, that wheresoever he turned "his fatal sword, the enemies were mowed down, or retreated be"fore him. But now, when victory seemed to blow on his stan❝dard, misfortune was active behind it; for when he looked round, "he beheld almost his whole army, excepting that body he com"manded in person, devouring the paths of flight." The Gaznevide was abandoned by the cowardice or treachery of some generals of Turkish race; and this memorable day of Zendecan (14) founded in Persia the dynasty of the shepherd kings (15). 66 The victorious Turkmans immediately proceeded to the election of a king; and, if the probable tale of a Latin historian (16) deserves any credit, they determined by lot the choice of their new master. A number of arrows were successively inscribed with the name of a tribe, a family, and a candidate; they were drawn from the bundle by the hand of a child; and the important prize was obtained by Togrul Beg, the son of Michael, the son of Seljuk, whose surname was immortalised in the greatness of his posterity. The sultan Mahmud, who valued himself on his skill in national genealogy, professed his ignorance of the family.of Seljuk; yet the father (13) Dow, Hist. of Hindostan, vol. i. p. 89. 95-98.. I have copied this passage as a specimen of the Persian manner; but I suspect, that, by some odd fatality, the style of Ferishta has been improved by that of Ossian. * (14) The Zendekan of d'Herbelot (p. 1028.), the Dindaka of Dow (vol. i. p. 97.), is probably the Dandanekan of Abulfeda (Geograph. p. 345. Reiske), a small town of Chorasan, two days' journey from Marû, and renowned through the East for the production and manufacture of cotton. (15) The Byzantine historians (Cedrenus, tom. ii. p. 766, 767. Zonaras, tom. ii. p. 255. Nicephorus Bryennius, p. 21.) have confounded, in this revolution, the truth of time and place, of names and persons, of causes and events. The ignorance and errors of these Greeks (which I shall not stop to unravel) may inspire some distrust of the story of Cyaxares and Cyrus, as it is told by their most eloquent predecessors. (16) Willerm. Tyr. l. i. c. 7. p. 633. The divination by arrows is ancient and famous in the East. *Gibbon's conjecture was well-founded. Compare the more sober and genuine version of Col. Briggs, vol. i. p. 110.-M. and subdue Persia, |