INDIA
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INDIA
pieces, and for several centuries India became once
more a congress of petty cliieftaincies.
The next foreign invaders were tlie Mohammedans of Afghanistan, who gradually took possession of the northern half of the peninsula, while in the south the supremacy of the Chalukyas was succeeded by that of the Cholas. In the fourteenth century the Afghan Empire had expanded over almost the whole of the country, the chieftaincies of Kashmir, Orissa, Kutch, Junagarh, and the Comorin Coast alone retaining independence. But there was a constant tendency among the various provinces of this empire to throw off the yoke, in which for the most part they succeeded. In the fourteenth century the country south of the Kistna was held by the Indian princes with their cap- ital at Vijayanagar, while north of this the Bahmani kingdom, and those of Malwa, Gondwana, Telingana, Behar, Bengal, Jaunpur, etc., were in various degrees independent of the Afghan dominion of Delhi. Two hundred years later the Afghan empire had shrunk up towards the Himalayas and was fringed round with more or less inde- pendent kingdoms which now included Rajputana, Sind, Multan, Gujerat, Malwa, Gondvvana, Khandesh, Berar, B i d a r , Golconda, Ahmednagar, Bija- pur, etc. The year 1526 marks the en- trance into India of the Moguls, who under the famous Akbar (1550-160.')) finally broke the Afghan power aud set up the Mogul supremacy in its place. The empire of Akbar comprised the provinces of Kabul, Lahore, Mul- tan, Delhi, Agra, Oudh, Allahabad, Ajmere, Gujerat, Malwa, Behar, Bengal, Khandesh, Berar, Ahmed- nagar, Orissa, Sind, and Kashmir, the southern boundary being roughly speaking marked by the River Godaveri and the latitude of Bombay. South of this extended the Moslem sultanates of Ahmed- nagar, Bidar, Golconda, and Bijapur, south of which lay their enemy, the Indian confederacy of Vijayan- agar. The latter power was irrecoveralily defeated by the former in the battle of Talikot (1565). The barrier which had withstood the Moslem power for three centuries was thus removed ; and this prepared the way to an extension southwards as far as Mysore — the sway of the southern princes having now declined so as to become almost negligible. But these victorious Moslem sultans were in turn attacked from the rear by the Mogul power which under Aurung-Zeb (1658- 1707) swallowed up the Kingdoms of Ahmednagar, Bijapur, and Golconda. But the Mogul supremacy, like all former ones, was incapable of permanency. Besides successful efforts after independence made by the tribes of the north, a new enemy now appeared in the rising power of the Mahrattas (Aryans of the Deccan) who under Sivaji (1627-16S0) played havoc wherever they went. By 1750 the Mahratta confed- eracy had extended over the greater part of Central India and the western coast, while the Mogul Empire had been resolved into se\'eral kingdoms of which Rajputana, Ahmedabad, Oudh, Behar, Bengal, the Nizam'sdominions (Hyderabad-Deccan) werethechief — the Dravidian princes still reigning on the Cana-
Ancient Brahminical Temple, Gwalk.
rese and Travancore coasts. By the end of the
eighteenth century the Mahratta confederacy had
still further extended its range northwards so as to
include Rajputana.
Meanwhile various European powers were gradually securing a footing in the country. First came the Portuguese in 149S, and secured certain strips of the western coast (Goa, ("haul, Bomba.v, Bassein, Daraao, Diu). More than a centiu-y later the Dutch, sworn enemies of the Portuguese, estal)lished themselves in Nagapatam, Madras, Pulicat, etc., besides wresting Cochin and other portions of territory from the Portu- guese. The English East India Company (founded in 1600) soon acquired stations at Sarat, Calicut, Masu- lipatam, Madras, and (by cession) Bombay (1661-5). Before 1700 the French had secured Masulipatara, Pondicherry, and Chandernagore, while at the same time the Danes hekl Traiuiueliar and Serampur. In the conflict which followed the Portuguese, Dutch, and Danes counted for little, and the two last named powers ultimately lost all footing in the country. The
struggle was chiefly lietween the English and the P^ r e n c h , both of whom tried to win the various native princes over by persuasion, t reaty, subsidy, or force, and played 1 hem off against the opposing power. The growth of the English supremacy was steady but grad- ual. By 'the battle of Pias.scy in 1757 they became virtu- ally masters of Ben- gal. By 1784 they had secured sway along the east coast (Circars and Car- natic). In 1795 they were dominant in Bengal and Behar, the Circars, Madras, Carnatic, Malabar, etc. In 1805 they had reached up the Ganges valley as far as Delhi, and in the south from Madras as far as Bellary and along the Kanara coasts. In 1.823 British territory reached almost all round the coast from Assam to Gu- jerat, and extended inwards in such a way that the Native States resembled islands in a sea (Trav- ancore, Mysore, Nizam's dominions, Kolhapur, Mah- ratta States, Rajputana, Oudh, etc.). In 1843 Sind was added to the British dominions; in 1849, the Punjab; in 1854, Nagpur; in 1850, Oudh; and in 1885, Burma. Where conquest or cession by treaty did not take place, the Native States were taken under military protection, the British troops stationed in them being an effectual preventative of revolt or foreign alliance. The conquest of India would present an interesting studj' in ethics, as would most other conquests in. the world, but one thing is clear: the history of India before the English supremacy was a history of war, devastation, arbitrary rule, fall of empire upon empire, chaos, and insecurity, while under British rule it has become precisely the opposite. The foregoing sketch, inadequate and incomplete, will suffice to convey a general impression of the whole field; and it will be rendered more intelligible if read with Joppen's "Historical Atlas of India", from which it has chiefly been taken.
Present Political Organization. British India. — India is at present divided into British territory, independent Native States, and protected Native
