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I can remember but one example now: Gustavus Vasa, father of modern Sweden, founder of the present monarchy, came to the throne in 1523 and died in 1560. The last great epoch of the West Asian Cycle coincides, in the west, and reign of Suleyman the Magnificent in Turkey, from 1520 to 1566. At its eastern extremity, Babar founded the Mogul Empire in India in 1526; he reigned until 1556.

Akbar and Bairám were marching on to the plains of Pánípat on the morning of the 5th of November, 1556, when they sighted the army of Hemu moving towards them. The thought must, I should think, have been present in the mind of the young prince that just thirty years before his grandfather, Bábar, had, on the same plain, struck down the house of Lodí, and won the empire of Hindustán.

The abortive result of this third expedition more than ever convinced Bábar that no invasion of Hindustán could with certainty succeed unless he could secure his base at Kandahár. He spent, therefore, the next two or three years in securing that stronghold and the territory between Ghazní and Khorásán.

In spite of the many wars, the general condition of the country was undoubtedly, if the native records may be trusted, very flourishing. It is important to note, in considering the administration upon which we are now entering, that neither Bábar nor Humáyún had changed, to any material extent, the system of their Afghán predecessors in India.

Such was Bábar, a man greatly in advance of his age, generous, affectionate, lofty in his views, yet, in his connection with Hindustán, but little more than a conqueror.

Lo! he is worse than parricide, for he would kill that for which his father gave his life." Now this appeal was a very strong one; for the story of how Babar the Brave gave up his own life to save that of his darling son, Humâyon, is one of the most touching tales in Indian history, and none of Babar's immediate family could even think of it without strong emotion.

Reaching a village, where they found "nice fat flesh, bread of fine flour well baked, sweet melons, and excellent grapes in great abundance," Babar declared that in all his life he never enjoyed himself so much or felt so keenly the pleasures of peace and plenty.

Agra had nothing in common with Lucknow; Delhi with Jaunpur. Heavy tolls marked the divisions of territories, inhabited by races of different origin, who were only bound together by the sovereignty of Bábar over all. He bequeathed to his son, Humáyún, then, a congeries of territories uncemented by any bond of union or of common interest, except that which had been concentrated in his life.

The defeat of that prince by Bábar had greatly affected the power of Mewár, and when Sher Sháh drove Humáyún from India its chiefs had been compelled eventually to acknowledge the overlordship of the conqueror.

Babar's own health had suffered much during his life in India, and he was terribly agitated by the news. When some one suggested that in such circumstances the Almighty sometimes deigned to accept the thing most valued by one friend in exchange for the life of another, Babar exclaimed that of all things his life was dearest to Humayun, as Humayun's was to him.