Towards the middle of the seventh century, the west coast of
India from Malabar to Scind, was frequently raided by those Arab
Mahometans , but no Mahometan power can be said to have made any impression on Hindostan until the eleventh century of the
Christian era.

Mahmood, the son of Sabatagin, better known as Sultan Mah- mood, had at this period established himself at Ghuzni, in Afghan- istan, and founded the Ghuznividian dynasty. He rose from a humble station, and about A.D. 999 conquered Korasan.

In 1001 he invaded and conquered Lahore, extended his con- quests to Guzerat, and his fame is remembered and execrated to this day by Hindoos generally as the destroyer of many monuments of their idolatry, notably the temples of Napakote and Somnaut.
His dominions extended from the banks of the Ganges to the shores of the Caspian Sea; but in many of the conquered districts his power was more nominal than real. This nominal supremacy was the cause of frequent inroads into India by successive princes of the dynasty, for the purpose of enforcing tribute due from pro- vinces subdued by former invaders. The successors of Mahmood having been driven from Ghuzni by the Afghan house of Ghoor, their capital was established at Lahore. The last of this line of princes was treacherously murdered by Mahomed Ghoory, with whom began the Gaurian dynasty.

In 1193 Delhi was wrested from its Hindoo ruler by Kotb-od- deen, Mahomed's general. In this reign Ajmere, Guzerat, and
Agra fell under the Mahometan rule, and succeeding princes of the dynasty carried their conquests to Bengal.

On the death of Mahomed, Kotb-od-deen proclaimed himself

independent, and with him commenced the Mahometan power at
Delhi. This dynasty did not survive many generations, and was succeeded by that of Khilgy. Feroze, the first prince of this house, carried war into the distant Deccan (1294), where immense booty was secured and transferred to Delhi. The last ruler of the
Khilgy dynasty, Moobarik by name, was murdered, and his throne usurped, by a trusted servant. This man was, in his turn, slain by Ghazi Khan Toghluk, Governor of the Punjab Province, the founder of the Toghluk dynasty.

During this dynasty the capital of the Mahometan power was transferred to Deoghur, a conquered Hindoo city, afterwards named, by Mahomed Toghluk, Dowlatabad. To this city the in- habitants of Delhi were forced to migrate, and their ancient capital was left to fall into ruin, as is testified to-day by the vast remains of Toghlukabad, near modern Delhi.

But events had been occurring in Europe which, in due course, were destined to place a rival Mahometan power on the throne of
Delhi. The Mogols or Mongols, after overrunning Western and
Central Asia under their leader, Chengiz Khan, invaded Eussia,
Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary, and were the terror of Europe.
They arrived on the frontiers of India as early as 1219, and fre- quently raided the adjacent territories, carrying fire and sword wherever they went. In 1398, about ten years after the death of
Feroze Toghluk, Timour or Timourlang (commonly written
Tamerlane), meaning " Timour the Lame," advanced against
Delhi. The Government was at that time in disorder, the throne being disputed and contested by rival princes of the house of
Toghluk. The victory gained was an easy one, and Timour was proclaimed Emperor. Contributions were demanded of the in- habitants, but, these not being forthcoming with sufficient celerity to satisfy the savage conqueror and his cruel followers, the city was given to the fire, and its luckless people to the sword. Timour left Delhi almost immediately, and retired to his Central Asian fastnesses with an immense treasure. Thence he invaded Syria, destroyed Bagdad, and, about 1404, turned his victorious arms

towards China, which country he invaded at the head of 200,000 followers. He died in the province of Khokand in 1405.

Thus were the first seeds of the mighty Mogul Empire planted in the fertile plains of Hindostan.

The confusion and anarchy consequent on the conquest by
Timour and the weak government of Khizr, who shortly after his departure ruled at Delhi, was the signal for revolt in the distant provinces, the governors of which declared their independence, and the Mogul power sank to insignificance, until Mahomed Baber, a descendant of Timour' s, who was proclaimed sovereign of the
Moguls in Tartary in 1494, after reducing Samarkand which had revolted, turned his attention to India, which he considered his by right of former conquest, and consequently invaded.

At Panipat, near Delhi, in 1526, he conquered the Afghan ruler after a hotly-contested day, and secured possession of the capital.
Hoomayoon, his son, pushed on at once and captured Gwalior.
Baber secured his power not without difficulty, but at length suc- ceeded in firmly establishing the Mogul Empire in India. He was his own biographer, and left a most curious account of his life and doings, which was translated and published in 1826.

Hoomayoon succeeded Baber, but was forced to vacate the throne of Delhi in favour of Sheer, an Afghan ; on the death of
Sheer, Hoomayoon again seized the reins of government. His successor was Akbar, his son, who in 1556 was, at an early age, proclaimed Emperor. His reign was stormy and long ; he reduced many of the revolted states to subjection, and invaded the Deccan, of which he styled himself Emperor, although his success was but partial, but he firmly established his empire, which included
Cabul, Kandahar, the whole of Hindostan, and part of the Deccan.
Students of Indian geography will understand the extent of his
Indian empire by a perusal of the provinces into which it was divided ; they were Delhi, Bengal, Allahabad, Oude, Behar, Berar,
Ajmere, Agra, Moltan, Lahore, Cabul, Kandeish, Ahmednagar,
Guzerat, and Mahe.

Akbar, who is generally considered to have been a just ruler, was

tolerant of religion. He reigned nearly fifty-one years, and was followed by his son Selim (better known as Jehangir) in 1605.
The principal event of this reign, so far as this short chapter of
Indian history is concerned, is the reception at the Court of
Jehangir of an embassy from England, under Sir Thomas Eoe,f sent by James I. to the Mogul Court in 1615, to ask for the protection of the Great Mogul for the English traders, who, under the name of the London East India Company, had, in 1600, established trade at Bantaun in Java, for the Malayan archipelago and China, and later at Surat, for Hindostan.

Having brought the history of India down to the earliest days of the East India Company, and as the exploits of succeeding
Emperors will necessarily be touched upon in recording the doings of the English in India, it is time to return to the Portuguese, who, under Vasco de Gama, as before mentioned, reached India in
1497-98, or, in other words, during the period of the poorly- established rule at Delhi, which took place between the conquest of
Timour and the triumph of the arms of his descendant, Mahomed
Baber, in 1526.J

Gama first landed at Calicut, on the south-western or Malabar coast ; here he was well received and hospitably treated, so much so that an alliance and treaty of commerce was proposed to him by the authorities of the land. Besides the natives, he found many
Arab Mahometans established in India. These were mostly the descendants of those Arabs who had made incursions into India, and possessed themselves of the western sea-board extending from the
Goa of to-day to the Indus ; their numbers had greatly increased,