1:20 II1S'J'()IIV or INIJIA. [Hook F.
A I). I'lM lor 170 years. WliiN; the II'iikIoo mjaliM roinaincd iinitx'fl. the Maljoinetans strove in vain to regain what they had lost, and ma<le scarcely any impression; V>ut wJKin they began again to indulge in internal dissensions, the Mahcnnetans again extended their conquests, subdued Wurungole, and oljtfiined jx^ssession of the country between the Krishna and the Toombudra, ii.dupcna.jnt In Hindoostan and the adjoining territories, various kingdoms independent
sdViM'eign- x»Tvii" 11*11* 1 /'i • 1111
ties in uiii- <>i Uellii wcrc established. Among these, one 01 the mo.st exteiLSive and <lui-able vvas Gujerat, which, instead of being confined b> the teiritor}^ which bore that name, extended over Malwah, which wa.s twice concjuered, and finally annexed to it. The Rajpoots of Mewar also repeatedly bent Ijefore it, and Candeisii acknowledged its supremacy. Hoomayoon occupied it for a short time, but it soon recovered itself, and was inde[)endent at the acceasion of his son Akber. Malwah, before it fell under the power of Gujerat, had long maintained a separate independence, and for some time was under the domination of a Hindoo, who, though not the nominal, was virtually the real sovereign, and filled all the highest offices wath his own countrymen. Bengal ha.s been already mentioned ; and, besides it, Candeish, Jounpoor, Scinde, and Mooltan were all independent at Akber's succession. Of the Rajpoot states, the most important which were independent at the same period, are Mewar, ruled by the Ranas of Odeypoor, though at one time reduced to a kind of vassalage under Gujerat — ^larwar, held by the Rhahtors, who, after being driven out of Canouge, vv^here they had early established themselves, retired to the desert between the table-land and the Indus, subdued the Juts, the onginal inliabitants, and extended then- dominion over a large teriitory, throwing off a younger branch, which afterwards formed the separate state of Bicanere — Jessulmeer, where the BhattLs had made their settlement in the western part of the desert, at so early a period that their history is lost in fable — and Amber, or Jeq)oor, possessed by the tribe of Cach- waha, who do not figure much in early times, but have a proof of their impor- tance in the fact that Akber married their rajah's daughter. Besides these are many minor states in the desert and along the east of the table-land In the north, along the slopes of the Himalaya, fi-om Cashmere east to the highlands which overlook the delta of the Ganges, all the petty states were i-uled by their own independent sovereigns.
coiiinieucc- Sucli was the state of matters when Akber came to the throne in 1 556.
His long and prosperous reign forms a new era in the history of India. It is of importance, however, to remember that before it commenced, another event, in which the future destiny of India was more deeply involved, had occurred. The route to the East by the Cape of Good Hope had been discovered moi-e than half a century before; and the Portuguese had set the first example of those European settlements which, imitated and improved upon, were afterwards to expand, under British energy and prowess, into a magnificent empire. To this great event, therefore, were we now to give om- first attention we should only be
ment of a new era.
