After such a narrative (and there are some others that will follow) the candid reader shall have it now in his power to form a judgment of Aoreng-zib, of the Prince of Mascat, of the Monarch of Iran, and of some others. He will soon find the nobility or baseness of each character, and the vileness and infamy of each individual, and will thenceforth conclude for himself and make his choice of what models he intends for his pattern, and what for his detestation and contempt. After this digres­sion, which we have thought of use, nothing remains now for us, but to return to our history, and to the Radjp8t Princes.

This escape of the consorts and children of Radja Djesvent-sing’s (escape that did so much honour to the bravery and fidel­ity of the Radjp8ts), and this protection afforded him by the Ranna, added to the fatal consequences to which it gave birth, incensed Aoreng-zib to such a high degree, that he set out for Adjmir with an intention to destroy the Ranna’s family. His hatred to Gentoos rose now to a pitch; so that he ordered the Capitation-tax* to be raised rigorously, sent circular orders for that purpose throughout all the provinces, and enforced his commands with great asperity, both in his camp and Capital. The Capita­tion-tax enforced by Aoreng-zib, against the Hindoos. As the Gentoos in that city amounted to several lacs, many thousands amongst whom were too poor to afford the tax, they assembled in vast multitudes under the place where they knew the Emperor was sitting, and they set up a plaintive tone of voice, which by degrees rose to the cupola of heaven. Aoreng-zib, so far from granting their request, did not so much as take notice of their sobs and complaints. The Gentoos consterned, but not without hopes, waited for the next Friday, when the Emperor was to go, as usual, to perform his devotions at the cathedral, and then they assembled by ten thousands and by lacs, so as to fill up all the space betwixt the gate of the citadel and the great mosque, together with the adjacent streets and lanes. The passage being intirely barred up, cries, sobs, and Their very singular and respectful way of com­plaining of it. lamentations commenced on all sides, and little by little, they rose to the highest skies. No efforts were wanting to clear up the way, and the guards striking mercilessly over heads and hands, maimed and wounded numbers of people; for all that, no passage could be cleared; and no sooner had the moving throne advanced the length of two yards, than it was stopped short again. At last it became equally impossible to move backwards or forwards from the spot where it was jammed in; nor could the Emperor move in his own throne, nor any man from his place; and yet the throng seemed to increase, and it pressed so hard as to render respiration difficult. The Emperor, after paus­sing awhile, called for a number of lofty elephants, which carry the Imperial streamers and insignia, and had gone forwards; he also commanded the elephants destined for the Imperial per­son, and he directed that they should be brought together, and made to force a passage by forming several ranks. The order being executed, numbers of people were under-trodden by the elephants, or wounded by the horses, grown unruly; the rest fled to their homes, and expecting nothing from the Emperor’s com­passion, submitted to their fate, and paid the tax. All this mer­cilessness, and all this hardness of heart proved of little avail, and for very little purpose. His obstinate wars in Decan necessarily slackened the stiffness of the law. Nor did those very bloody battles, and very laborious expeditions of his, produce any very great advantage to the Empire; for no man will attribute to the Emperor the battles fought, and the conquests made, in Decan, in Bengal, and in Asham, by those immortal Lieutenants of his, the heroes of the age, all Commanders equally intrepid and pru­dent; for instance, Qhan-djehan-cocal-tash, the Lord of Lords, Muäzzem the Moghul, the Afghans Dilir-qhan, Agher-qhan, and Da8d-qhan the Corëishy, and so many others who everywhere exhibited feats of prowess, that would have attracted the admira­tion of any age. All these were disgusted, one after another, on seeing the little notice taken of their services; and the conse­quence of that disgust and universal discontent was, that several of his armies met with the most shameful and unaccountable defeats; such, indeed, as it is difficult and improper to mention at length. Hence the reason why we find so great a chasm after the first ten years of that Prince’s history, the analysts of his reign having been forbidden in the tenth year of it to continue their chronicles; and hence the reason why after those ten years we find no detail of many parts of that long reign.

It is those very parts which the historian, Hashem-aaly-qhan-qhafi, seems just to indicate, which I have expressly selected for publication, and which I shall mention here, in his own words, to save my own credit; they are as follow:—Although the analysts of those times were forbidden to continue in their chronicles the rest of that religious, that equitable Emperor’s history, after those tenyears; nevertheless, some by-standers, and especially Mustáed-qhan, used to commit secretly to writ­ing some of the events relative to the wars in Decan, passing slightly over the blamable parts of his conduct, and insisting only upon conquests of cities and fortresses, and upon victories. But as this is far from filling up the chasm of forty remaining years, I have endeavoured to make up the deficiency by assem­bling from all parts, and bringing together in one point of view, some scattered members of knowledge and intelligence transmitted to posterity by by-standers equally impartial and clear-sighted. And as, notwithstanding that, I find no particular account of the second ten years of that incomparable Emperor’s reign, such at least as is digested in months and years, and it is impossible, of course, to bring such a disjointed part into regular order, I have endeavoured to give some account of this second decade as far as the nineteenth year, by Comparing together the Gazettes sent to the presence, with the annals of several neighbouring provinces, as drawn up by witnesses present and unconcerned; and it is from such materials, that I shall endeavour to continue this historical account, taking it up at the twentieth year of that reign.

Qhan-djehan, after his expedition of Haider-abad, was disgraced, and he retired to his Djaghiry lands, where he died of a broken heart. That General had chastised the Marhattas in such a manner, as to compel them to a quiet submissive behaviour, for some time before the arrival of the Emperor’s victorious standards in those parts. Yet it happened that after the arrival of such numerous forces with the Emperor himself at their head; after the conquest of so many fortresses and cities; after spending so many corors of money, and full twenty-six years of his life in that expedition; those countries, at his death, were more unsettled than ever, and those infidels, so often beaten and vanquished, were become more warlike and more insolent than ever. They were settling their abades upon the ancient territory of the Empire, and very often giving his armies shameful defeats, which cannot be attributed to any thing, but to that general discontent, and that universal disgust, that had spread among his officers and Ministers; disgraces which after having obscured the glory of his armies under his eyes, had extended to more distant provinces with a contagion and a rapidity hardly to be conceived; although such disgraces had never happened to Qhan-djehan, nor had he ever suffered such a defeat as might affect his character or endanger his honor. Nothing in that General’s history, but famous battles, and glorious engagements. Besides his expeditions Brilliant character of Qhan-djehan against the Kings of Bidja-p8r and Haïder-abad, we see one continual series of heroical exertions, and so much Generalship and personal prowess, as to amaze the historians as well as the readers. The former relate of that General that, although he laboured then under the imputation of some underhand dealing with the Marhattas, he gave those insolent free-booters two defeats, that deserve to be recorded in the historical page. He was gone upon an expedition against them, and had advanced about forty or fifty cosses in their country, leaving the city of Aoreng-abad in his rear, when two of Simbadji’s Generals, as great pillagers as ever existed, gave him the slip; and with thirty thousard horse, as famished of booty and plunder as themselves, they advanced to the very gates of that city with a firm resolution to plunder it. That populous city trembled, and saw its suburbs plundered and sacked. Qhan-djehan, informed of their intention, turned about and followed them with so much expedition, that when he overtook them, he had no more than two thousand horse with him. With these few he attacked vigorously, without giving time to the enemy to reconnoitre his numbers; and a bloody engagement taking place, he was performing wonders, and strewing the field with dead, when the rest of his troops arrived, and a general massacre commenced. It was remarked that wherever he fell, he never failed to mow down every thing about him. Whilst he was yet engaged with only his two thousand horse, the Marhattas found out his small numbers; and they were so encouraged by the discovery, that they attacked him repeatedly, and with so much vigor, that when his other troops arrived, he had only sixty troopers about his person (amongst these was Agher-qhan with his two or three brothers, and his son); and yet with these sixty men he was still a dangerous enemy. He detached himself from that small troop, overtook his own runaways, and by encouraging them with the voice and hand, he brought them back to the field, and engaged them to stand by him. It was at this time that his other troops overtook him; at which sight even those that had fled far off, came back of themselves, and joined in the general massacre. It is this battle which is so famous all over those parts to this day, and is talked of with admiration all over Hindostan under the name of the The famous battle of Hersol. Battle of Hersol. The massacre was so general, and the number of Marhatta dead bodies so incredible, that a great number of towers and pyramids were raised with their heads made up with moistened clay, all round the city of Aoreng-abad. A vast number of cart-loads of Marhatta spears and bucklers was at the same time sent into the Citadel, together with an infinity of mares*