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INDIA 209 other sons, Sliuja, Murad, and Aumngzebe, who had each been appointed viceroys over important provinces, immediately revolted and prepared by force of arms to assert their pre- tensions to the succession. Shuja was defeated, but Atirungzebe by stratagem obtained posses- sion of his father's person, and kept him in seclusion till he died, seven years afterward. Murad was also soon seized and imprisoned by Aurungzebe, who caused himself to be pro- claimed emperor. Dara continued the contest for some time longer, but was finally captured and put to death. Shnja was driven with his family into exile, where they all perished. The reign of Aurungzebe, though it began with civil war and confusion, was more peaceful and or- derly than that of any of his successors. The Mogul empire in India attained under him its greatest extent, including nearly all that is now known as Hindostan. He died in 1707 in the 89th year of his age, after a reign of 49 years. He was an ambitious and unscrupulous mon- arch, possessed of great talents, and eminent both as a statesman and a soldier. The Mo- hammedan historians regard him as the great- est of all the Mogul emperors. ' During his reign the foundation of the Mahratta empire was laid in the Deccan by an adventurer named Sbevajee. (See MAHRATTAS.) Aurungzebe's eldest son, who succeeded him under the title of Bahadoor Shah, was involved at the begin- ning of his reign in civil war with two of his brothers, both of whom were killed in bat- tle, and toward the end in a contest with the Sikhs, who were just beginning to acquire im- portance in the northwest of India. He died in 1712, and was succeeded by his eldest son Jehandar Shah, a weak and profligate ruler, who in the second year of his reign was de- feated in battle and afterward strangled to death by his rebellious nephew Ferokshere. The reign of the latter lasted six years, and was remarkable only for conspiracies, insurrections, and general disorders in the capital and the provinces. He was at length put to death by his vizier and commander-in-chief, who in the course of the next eight months successively placed on the throne three infant descendants of Aurungzebe, the last of whom, Mohammed Shah, a youth of 17, soon became impatient of their control, of which he got rid by causing one to be assassinated and the other deprived of office. The emperor, however, was fickle and dissolute, and his dominions were invaded on one side by the Mahrattas, now rapidly be- coming formidable, and on the other by the Persians, whose warlike monarch, Nadir Shah, passed the Indus with a great army, and, over- throwing the imperial forces, took posses- sion of Delhi in 1739. He remained sev- eral weeks in the Mogul capital, which he plundered of treasure amounting, according to the lowest estimate, to $100,000,000, after mas- sacring a great part of the inhabitants. He then returned to his own country, leaving Mo- hammed Shah in possession of his throne, and depriving him only of the provinces west of the Indus. Mohammed Shah died in 1748, and was succeeded by his son Ahmed Shah, who after a reign of six years was deposed, and Alumghir raised to the throne, in the third year of whose reign Hindostan was invaded by the Afghans and again plundered. The Mah- rattas, who were now at the height of their power, took advantage of the distress of the empire, and carried their arms into the north- ern provinces. The Afghans, under their sov- ereign Ahmed Shah AbdallL, met them at Paniput in January, 1761, and a great battle was fought, the forces on both sides amounting to 400,000 men. The Mahrattas were defeated with great slaughter, and it is said that 200,000 of them perished in the battle and the pursuit. The Afghans returned to their own country after this great victory, and left the govern- ment of Delhi to take care of itself. From this time, however, the Mogul empire was practically at an end. The English had now become the most important power in India. (See EAST INDIA COMPANIES.) The first of the nations of modern Europe who obtained terri- torial possessions in Hindostan were the Portu- guese, who early in the 16th century seized some ports on the western coast, and in the course of the century made themselves masters of Diu, Damaun, Bassein, Salsette, Bombay, Choul, Dabul, Goa, Mangalore, Cananore, Cran- ganore, Calicut, Cochin, and Quilpn. Their capital was Goa, where they maintained a vice- roy and an archbishop. During the union of Portugal with Spain, from 1580 to 1640, these distant possessions were neglected, and many of them were taken by the Dutch or regained by the native powers. Goa and a few small places of no political or commercial im- portance are all that now remain of the Portu- guese empire in India. The English East India company, which was chartered at London in 1600, obtained permission of the Mogul empe- ror Jehanghir in 1613 to erect a factory at Surat. In 1628 they established a trading post at Armegoor, 70 m. north of Madras, and erected the first English fortifications in India there. They were allowed to build a factory at the mouth of the Hoogly, by a firman from the emperor Shah Jehan granted in 1634. In 1669 the island of Bombay was ceded to them by Charles II., who had acquired it as part of the dowry of his wife, the infanta of Portu- gal. It was in Bengal, however, that the com- pany first began to acquire military and politi- cal power. They moved the factories on the Hoogly to Calcutta in 1698. They took into their pay bodies of native soldiers who were called sepoys, and were armed and trained in the European manner, and with the aid of these mercenaries they soon acquired a con- siderable degree of influence in the country. In 1744, France and England being at war in Europe, hostilities broke out between the Eng- lish and French in India. The capital of the French possessions was Pondicherry, which