The Prince, Aluf Khan, ascends the throne, and assumes the title of Mahomed. — Invasion of the Choghtay Tartars, under Toormooshreen Khan. — Expeditions from Dehly into the Deccan. — Disaffection throughout the kingdom. — The army mutinies. — Expedients to recruit the King's finances — they fail. — The King sends an army to invade China — its total destruction. — Insurrection in the Deccan by the King's nephew — he is delivered up by the Raja, Bilal Dew, and suffers a cruel death. — The King makes Dewgur his capital, and causes it to be called Dowlutabad. — Compels the inha­bitants of Dehly to occupy Dowlutabad. — Insurrection in Mooltan. — Dehly repeopled. — Invasion of Punjab by the Afghans. — Famine in Dehly. — The Gukkurs overrun Pun-jab. — Revolt in Sumbhul. — Confederacy of the Hindoos in the Deccan. — Revolt of the King's troops in the Deccan. — Revolt in Malwa. — Revolt in Guzerat. — Death of the King from a surfeit of fish.

ON the third day after the King's funeral, his eldest son Aluf Khan ascended the throne, by the title of Mahomed Toghluk, and proceeded from Toghlukabad to Dehly. On this occasion, the streets of the city were strewed with flowers; the houses adorned; drums beaten; and every demon­stration of joy was exhibited. The new monarch ordered some elephants laden with gold and silver to precede and follow the procession, from which money was scattered among the populace. Tartar Khan, whom the late Gheias-ood-deen Toghluk had adopted as his son, and appointed to the government of Soonargam, was honoured with the title of Beiram Khan, and received a hundred elephants, a crore of golden tunkas (166,666l. 3s. 6d.), two thousand horses, and was appointed to the government of Bengal. To Mullik Sunjur Budukhshy were also given seventy lacks (116,666l. 4s. 4d.); to Mullik-ool-Moolk Imad-ood-Deen, eighty lacks (133,333l. 6s. 8d.; and to Mowlana Azd-ood-deen, the King's preceptor,

A. H. 725.
A. D. 1325.

forty lacks (66,666l. 3s. 4d.); all on one day. Mowlana Nasir-ood-Deen Koomy had an annual pension of one lack; and Mullik Ghazy, the poet, had also a pension to the same amount. Nizam-ood-deen Ahmud Bukh-shy, surprised at the vast sums stated by histo­rians as having been lavished by this Prince, took the trouble to ascertain, from authentic records, that these tunkas were of the silver currency of the day, in which was amalgamated a great deal of alloy, so that each tunka only exchanged for 16 copper pice. * In the early part of his reign, the King's liberality attracted to Dehly some of the most learned men of Asia, who returned to their countries laden with honours and with gifts. He established hospitals for the sick, and almshouses for widows and orphans, on the most liberal scale. He was the most eloquent and accomplished prince of his time; and his letters, both in Arabic and Persian, display so much elegance, good taste, and good sense, that the most able secretaries of later times study them with admiration. He was fond of history, and had so retentive a memory, that he recollected almost every event he read of, and the time it occurred. He was skilled, also, in the sciences of physic, logic, astronomy, and ma­thematics; and he had the talent of discovering the character of persons from a very slight ac­quaintance. He even went so far as to attend himself on patients afflicted with any remarkable disease. He studied the philosophy of the Greek schools, and after his accession to the throne he maintained disputes with Assud Muntuky, the me­taphysician; Oobeid the poet; Nujm-ood-deen Intishar; and Mowlana Ein-ood-deen Shirazy, be­sides other learned men. He, however, took no delight in works of fiction written for amusement, such as tales or romances, nor did he encourage buffoons or actors. He wrote some good Persian poetry himself, and was the patron of literary men in general. He was not less famous for his gallantry in the field than for those accomplishments which render a man the ornament of private society. His constant desire of extending his territory accounts for his having passed the greater part of his life in the camp. He is represented by contemporaries as one of the wonders of the age in which he lived, from his possessing, in so eminent a degree, qualities and accomplishments so opposite. He even wished to unite in his own person the duties of a mon­arch with those of a high priest. He was always regular at his own daily prayers, and punished those persons who neglected theirs. He abstained from fornication, drunkenness, and other vices forbidden in the holy book. But with all these admirable qualities, he was wholly devoid of mercy or of consideration for his people. The punish­ments he inflicted were not only rigid, and cruel, but frequently unjust. So little did he hesitate to spill the blood of God's creatures, that when any thing occurred which excited him to proceed to that horrid extremity, one might have supposed his object was to exterminate the human species altogether. No single week passed without his having put to death one or more of the learned and holy men who surrounded him, or some of the secretaries who attended him. On his nobles and relatives, however, he conferred great honours and distinctions, and the following were among those who were mostfavoured: Mullik Feroze, his cousin, was appointed Naib of the Barbik, or deputy grand usher; Mullik Bedar Khiljy was graced with the title of Kuddur Khan, and was made go­vernor of Luknowty on the death of Nasir-ood-Deen Khiljy. Kootloogh Khan was made Vakeel-i-Dur; Mullik Mukbool was created Imam-ool-Moolk, and was nominated Vizier-ool-Momalik. Ahmud Ayaz received the title of Khwaja Jehan, and the government of Guzerat; Mullik Mokbil was created Khan Jehan, and appointed vizier of Guzerat. Mahomed, the son of Kootloogh Khan, also received an estate for his support in Guzerat; and Mullik Shahab-ood-Deen was created Mullik-oot-Toojar (chief of the merchants), and received the estate of Nowsary for his maintenance. In

A. H. 727.
A. D. 1327.

the year 727, in the beginning of the reign of Mahomed Toghluk, before the government was settled, Toormooshreen Khan, a chief of the tribe of Choghtay, and a Mo­gul general of great fame, invaded Hindoostan with a vast army, in order to make an entire conquest of it. He subdued Lumghan, Mooltan, and the northern provinces, and advanced rapidly towards Dehly. Mahomed Toghluk, seeing he could not cope with the enemy in the field, and that the city must soon fall, sued for peace. He sent valuable presents in gold and jewels, to soften the Mogul chief, who at last consented, on receiving almost the price of the kingdom, to withdraw to his own country, retreating through Guzerat and Sind on his return; both of which territories he plundered, and carried off many of the inhabitants. Zeea-ood-Deen Burny, who flourished under this reign, has omitted to make mention of this eventful irruption for fear of giving offence to his successor. Mahomed Toghluk, however, turned his thoughts to conquest within India; and he so completely subjected the distant provinces of Dwar-Sumoodra, Maabir, Kumpila, Wurungole, Luknowty, Chutgaun (Chitagong), and Soonargâm; that they were as effectually incorporated with the empire as the villages in the vicinity of Dehly. He also subdued the whole of the Carnatic, both in length and breadth, even to the shore of the sea of Ooman. * But in the convulsions which soon after shook the empire, all these conquests, with the exception of Guzerat, were wrested from him, and continued separate. The causes of the disturbances were chiefly these: the heavy taxes which in this reign were imposed on the inhabitants of the Dooab, and other provinces; the passing of copper money for silver, by public decree; the raising of 370,000 horse for the conquest of Khorassan and Mawur-ool-Nehr; the sending of 100,000 horse towards the mountains between India and China; the cruel massacre of many Mahomedans, as well as Hindoos, in different parts of India; and many other lesser reasons, which, for the sake of brevity, we forbear to mention.

The duties levied on the necessaries of life realised with the utmost rigour, were too great for the power of industry to cope with: the country, in consequence, became involved in poverty and distress. The farmers fled to the woods, and maintained themselves by rapine; the lands were left uncultivated; famine desolated whole pro­vinces, and the sufferings of the people oblite­rated from their minds every idea of subjection. The copper money, for want of proper regu­lations, was productive of evils equal to those already specified. The King, unfortunately for his people, adopted his ideas upon currency from a Chinese custom of using paper on the Em­peror's credit, with the royal seal appended, in lieu of ready money. Mahomed Toghluk, instead of stamped paper, struck a copper coin, which he issued at an imaginary value, and caused it to pass current by a decree throughout Hindoostan. The mint was under bad regulations. Bankers acquired large fortunes by coinage. Foreign merchants made their payments in copper to the home manu­facturers, though they themselves received for the articles they sold silver and gold in foreign mar­kets. There was so much corruption practised in the mint, that for a premium to those persons who had the management of it, merchants had their coin struck considerably below the legal value; and these abuses were connived at by the government. The great calamity, however, conse­quent upon this debasement of the coin arose from the known instability of the government. Public credit could not long subsist in a state so liable to