name of Tamerlane,[1] a descendant of the renowned Mogul Chief, Zingis Kan,[2] who, having subdued all the neighbouring Tartar tribes, extended his conquests far and wide, leaving to his successors a larger extent of dominion than Rome possessed at the period of her highest grandeur. Timour, who was emphatically called "The Firebrand of the Universe," crossed the Indus and advanced towards Delhi, his course being everywhere marked by the most horrible excesses; and of this we need no more glaring proof than his having once put to death one hundred thousand prisoners, in cold blood, to free himself from their incumbrance.
Timour having taken, sacked, and burnt Delhi, returned to the capital of his Tartar dominions with a booty so vast that the historian Ferishta refrains from mentioning the reputed amount, inasmuch as it exceeded all belief. After he quitted Delhi, his authority there virtually ceased; new kingdoms sprung into independent existence, and in a brief period a very small district round the city of Delhi was all that remained of its former sovereignty.
In the year 1526, however, the dynasty of Timour the Mogul was restored and established in India by the celebrated Baber, one of the bravest and most drunken monarchs that ever wielded a sceptre.[3] After some abortive attempts he succeeded in seating himself on the throne of Delhi, and extended his conquests as far as Bahar, when death put an end to his progress. He was
- ↑ Properly Timour lung (Persian), or the lame.
- ↑ The real name of this great chief, which is so disfigured by European historians, was formed of the two Persian words jung-ees, war-exciting. Thus Jungees Khaun, and not Zingis or Gengis, or Chengiz Kan, as he is called in Europe, was the "War-exciting Lord." Our readers are probably aware that Oriental names are frequently indicative of some virtue or defect, mental or physical: Thus, Jehanghir, Conqueror of the World, Noor Mahal, Light of the Harem, &c.
- ↑ The following is an extract from the very entertaining autobiography of this extraordinary man: – "About the time of noon-day prayers, I mounted to take a ride; and, afterwards going on board of a boat, we had a drinking-bout. We continued drinking spirits in the boat till bed-time prayers, when, being completely drunk, we mounted, and, taking torches in our hands, came at full gallop to the camp from the river-side, falling sometimes on one side of the horse and sometimes on the other. I was miserably drunk, and next morning, when they told me of our having galloped into the camp with lighted torches in our hands, I had not the slightest recollection of the circumstance."
