DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9551#0016
4
JUDICIAL AND REVENUE SYSTEMS OF INDIA.
duction of a vast number of castes and sects, .destroying-
every texture of social and political unit)-, the countryr
(or, properly speaking, such parts of it as were con-
tiguous to foreign lands,) was at different periods invaded,
and brought under temporary subjection to foreign
princes, celebrated for power and ambition.
About 900 years ago, the Mahommedan princes,
advancing by the north-west, began to ravage and over*
run the country; and after continued efforts, during
several centuries, they succeeded in conquering the best
parts of India. Their rule was transferred in succession
from one dynasty of conquerors to another (Ghazni,
Ghor, and kfghan,) till 1525 of the Chtistian era, when
prince Babur, a descendant of Timur (or Tamerlane),
in the fifth generation, established his throne in the
centre of Hindustan. His offspring (the Moghul dynasty)
exercised the uncontrolled sovereignty of this empire'*
for nearly two centuries, (with the exception of about
sixteen years) under a variety of changes, according to
the rise or decrease of their power.
In the year 1712, the star of the Moghul ascendancj
inclined towards descent, and has since gradually sunk
below the horizon. The princes oftener consulted their
own personal comfort than the welfare of the state, and
relied for success on the fame of their dynasty, rather
than on sound policy and military valor. Not only their
crowns, but their lives also, depended on the good will of
the nobles, who virtually assume^ independence of the
* It may be considered as consisting of the following twenty
provinces : Delhi, .Lahore, Cashmere, Cabul, Candhahar, Ajmere,
Multan, (Inzrat, Agra, Oude, Allahabad, Behar, Bengal, Orissa,.
Malwah, Khandesh, Berar, Aurungabad, Golconda, Bejapoor.
JUDICIAL AND REVENUE SYSTEMS OF INDIA.
duction of a vast number of castes and sects, .destroying-
every texture of social and political unit)-, the countryr
(or, properly speaking, such parts of it as were con-
tiguous to foreign lands,) was at different periods invaded,
and brought under temporary subjection to foreign
princes, celebrated for power and ambition.
About 900 years ago, the Mahommedan princes,
advancing by the north-west, began to ravage and over*
run the country; and after continued efforts, during
several centuries, they succeeded in conquering the best
parts of India. Their rule was transferred in succession
from one dynasty of conquerors to another (Ghazni,
Ghor, and kfghan,) till 1525 of the Chtistian era, when
prince Babur, a descendant of Timur (or Tamerlane),
in the fifth generation, established his throne in the
centre of Hindustan. His offspring (the Moghul dynasty)
exercised the uncontrolled sovereignty of this empire'*
for nearly two centuries, (with the exception of about
sixteen years) under a variety of changes, according to
the rise or decrease of their power.
In the year 1712, the star of the Moghul ascendancj
inclined towards descent, and has since gradually sunk
below the horizon. The princes oftener consulted their
own personal comfort than the welfare of the state, and
relied for success on the fame of their dynasty, rather
than on sound policy and military valor. Not only their
crowns, but their lives also, depended on the good will of
the nobles, who virtually assume^ independence of the
* It may be considered as consisting of the following twenty
provinces : Delhi, .Lahore, Cashmere, Cabul, Candhahar, Ajmere,
Multan, (Inzrat, Agra, Oude, Allahabad, Behar, Bengal, Orissa,.
Malwah, Khandesh, Berar, Aurungabad, Golconda, Bejapoor.