was dominant, and Hindostan, at that time divided into four great kingdoms, i.e. Dehli, Canouje, Mewar, and Guzerat. The first, second and last-named had magnificent capitals. Subuctugi, the father of Mahmoud, from a slave had risen to sovereignty, and at the time of his death Mahmoud was absent in Khorassan. His brother Ismael seized the empire, and attempted by bribery and corruption to secure his position on the usurped throne. Mahmoud first tried persuasion upon his treacherous brother, but soon had to reconquer his crown and capital at the point of the sword, and was clemently satisfied, to confine his mischievous relative for life in the luxurious fortress of Georghan. At the age of twenty-eight [A.D 997] Mahmoud's supremacy was acknowledged from the frontiers of Persia, to the banks of the Indus, from Balkh to the Arabian Sea. He reigned without a rival in the East. He was no less a scholar than a warrior, delighting in the liberal arts, building gorgeous palaces, and laying out exquisite gardens; a prince, splendid and magnificent, even in the land of splendour itself. Besides these more civilised tastes, the lust of conquest and the fanaticism of the "true believer" possessed him. His avarice was largely tempted, by what, during his father's life-time, had become known to him of the riches of India, and had he needed it, the warrant of the Prophet was not wanting to encourage him in a war of extermination against all unbelievers. "The sword" says Mahomet, is the key of paradise, whoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven." The comparatively effeminate Hindoos must have seemed a pleasant and easy prey to these fierce fanatics from the North, whose swiftness to shed blood,

desolated during 300 years the Eastern world. During a period of twenty-four years Mahmoud made twelve expeditions against the cities and temples of India. Every object of Hindoo worship was ruthlessly destroyed; the plunder brought back to Ghuzni from the ravaged lands was fabulous alike in quantity and quality. The Rajpoot king of Lahore, on being taken prisoner in battle, collected a funeral pile, to which he set fire with his own hand, and so died, but not before ten necklaces had been taken from his neck, one of which alone was valued at £82,000. It is however to be borne in mind that the quantity and value of jewels and gold taken from the Princes and temples of India owe much to the oriental imagination. After this victory Mahmoud established a Mahommedan governor in the Punjaub, and returned to Ghuzni.

He annexed Moultan and the whole of the Peshawur Valley, and the greater part of Scinde, and exacted tribute from every sovereign from Cashmere to the mouths of the Indus. One of his expeditions was directed against the temple and fort of Binné, a structure said to have been roofed and paved with gold, and the enterprise of its conquerors was rewarded by incredible amounts of gold, silver and jewels.*

Andipal, king of Lahore, entreated the conqueror to spare the temple of Tannassar, the most holy of their sacred places; the Mecca of the Hindoos. Mahmoud replied that "the followers of Mahomet were vowed to root out idolatry." The shrine of the god was pillaged, and the image of Jug-Soom smashed into a thousand

*Sir Edward Sullivan's "Princes of India."

atoms, which were sent to pave the streets of Ghuzni, Mecca, and Bagdad. After plundering Dehli, Mahmoud returned to Ghuzni laden with treasure, and accompanied by 40,000 male and female captives. In the year 1013 he turned his destructive steps towards Cashmere, the paradise of Persian poets. This happy valley was devastated by his troops, and in the year 1018, after settling some little difficulties with his northern neighbours, the kings of Bokhara and Charism, he marched on Canouje the capital of Hindostan. His Afghan and Tartar bands struck terror into the hearts of the inhabitants of the capital, and they fled in all directions, whilst the craven prince Korra, Maharajah of Canouje, after paying an enormous ransom, embraced the Mahommedan faith, and three years later was with his whole family put to death for his apostacy, by neighbouring Hindoo princes. But this submission on his part did not save Muttra, the fabled birth-place of the divine Krishna, from devastation. For 20 days it was given. up to plunder and massacre, and 63,000 Hindoo devotees to the shrine, were slain in cold blood. The wealth acquired by Mahmoud was enormous. Great idols of pure gold, with eyes of rubies and adorned with sapphires were among the spoils borne homewards on 350 elephants, followed by 50,000 captives. With the accumulated plunder of eight expeditions Mahmoud now proceeded to beautify his Alpine capital. Ghuzni, built on a rock 300 feet above the surrounding plains, soon became a city of groves, temples, and palaces, the beauty of which was unrivalled in Asia. It would be impossible to follow the insatiable and rapacious

Mahmoud through the twelve expeditions, which mark his ambitious and cruel progress. His last raid was on Anhulwarra, the capital of Guzerat, the third and most wealthy of the kingdoms of Hindostan. After occupying Anhulwarra he proceeded to Somnauth "the Dwelling of the Deity," where for forty centuries had stood the temple of the Hindoo god Soma, "The Lord of the Moon." From the extreme confines of Balkh and Persia, from the uttermost regions of the Carnatic and Bengal, millions of credulous pilgrims had from time immemorial wended their way hither, to lay their offerings at the feet of the Hindoo Pluto. Fabulous accounts of the riches of this shrine had reached Mahmoud's ears, and he resolved to make its treasures his own. His troops however, at the last moment, wavered, and could not penetrate beyond the outworks of the sacred portions of the holy city. Then the grey-haired warrior, rising in his stirrups called aloud on the name of Allah, and taking his favourite general by the hand, shouted to all true sons of the Prophet to follow him. The troops rallied ; a final charge was made, and the prize which he had come 2,000 miles to conquer, lay at length at his feet. The Brahmins offered enormous sums to save their God, but in vain. Amidst the groans of an agonised multitude Mahmoud, raising his mace, struck the desecrated idol a blow on the face, and his soldiery speedily concluded the work their sovereign had begun. The idol was hollow. Piles of diamonds and sapphires, a ruby of enormous size, and a quantity of pure gold were extracted from the shrine.

The last days of Mahmoud were overshadowed by the

consciousness, that his successes notwithstanding, the empire of Ghuzni was already tottering to its fall. The very Tartar hordes that had proved such valuable adjuncts in his victorious hands, threatened to become his most dangerous enemies. The size of the empire constituted its chief danger. A few days before his death, he entered his treasury; then bursting into tears, closed the doors in silence, on the vast wealth which it contained. A day later he reviewed his troops, and as legion after legion passed before him, he again wept bitterly; then retiring in silent anguish to his "Palace of Delights," raised with the plunder of numberless Hindoo shrines and cities, after thirty-four years of adventure and success, he breathed out a saddened soul at last. It is now just thirty-four years ago, since British arms bore back in triumph to the capital of Hindostan those world-renowned sandal-wood gates, which Mahmoud tore from the temple of Somnauth, and which his successors raised in remembrance and glorification of that act above his tomb. Equally successful in war and in peace, Mahmoud was not without some of the milder virtues. Mussulman historians depict him as a benefactor of the human race, and to this day Moslem priests read the Koran, over the tomb of this true son of the Prophet, Hindoos describe him as a consuming firebrand, whose claim to immortality lies in the magnitude of his crimes. But little of his private life is known. He is said to have been just, and anecdotes are told in confirmation of the assertion. His favourite wife, the daughter of his treacherous foe, the king of Cashgar, was called the "Sun of Beauties," but as a