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Etext prepared by Ken West, [email protected]

The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan, by H. G. Keene

THE FALL OF THE MOGHUL EMPIRE OF HINDUSTAN, A NEW
EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS.
1887

PREFACE.
Two editions of this book having been absorbed, it has been thought
that the time was come for its reproduction in a form more adapted to
the use of students. Opportunity has been taken to introduce
considerable additions and emendations.
The rise and meridian of the Moghul Empire have been related in
Elphinstone's " History of India: the Hindu and Mahometan Period; "
and a Special Study of the subject will Also be found in the " Sketch of

the History of Hindustan" published by the present writer in 1885.
Neither of those works, however, undertakes to give a detailed account
of the great Anarchy that marked the conclusion of the eighteenth
century, the dark time that came before the dawn of British power in
the land of the Moghul. Nor is there is any other complete English book
on the Subject.
The present work is, therefore, to be regarded as a monograph on the
condition of the capital and neighbouring territories, from the murder
of Alamgir II. in 1759 to the occupation of Dehli by Lake in 1803.
Some introductory chapters are prefixed, with the view of showing how
these events were prepared; and an account of the campaign of 1760-1
has been added, because it does not seem to have been hitherto related
on a scale proportioned to its importance. That short but desperate
struggle is interesting as the last episode of medi¾val war, when battles
could be decided by the action of mounted men in armour. It is also the
sine qua non of British Empire in India. Had the Mahrattas not been
conquered then, it is exceedingly doubtful if the British power in the
Bengal Presidency would ever have extended beyond Benares.
The author would wish to conclude this brief explanation by
reproducing the remarks which concluded the Preface to his second
edition.
"There were two dangers," it was there observed; "the first, that of
giving too much importance to the period; the second, that of
attempting to illustrate it by stories — such as those of Clive and
Hastings — which had been told by writers with whom competition
was out of the question. Brevity, therefore, is studied; and what may
seem baldness will be found to be a conciseness, on which much pains
have been bestowed."
"The narrative," it was added, "is one of confusion and transition; and
chiefly interesting in so far as it throws light on the circumstances
which preceded and caused the accession of the East India Company to
paramount power in India." The author has only to add an expression of
his hope that, in conjunction with Mr. S. Owen's book, what he has
here written may help to remove doubts as to the benefits derived by
the people of India from the Revolution under consideration.
Finally, mention should be made of Mr. Elphinstone's posthumous
work, "The Rise of British Power in the East." That work does not,

indeed, clash with the present book; for it did not enter into the scope
of the distinguished author to give the native side of the story, or to
study it from the point of view here presented. For the military and
political aims and operations of the early British officers in Madras and
Bengal, however, Elphinstone will be found a valuable guide. His
narrative bears to our subject a relation similar to that of the "Roman de
Rou" to the history of the Carling Empire of Northern France.
OXFORD, 1887.
CONTENTS.

PART I.

CHAPTER I
Preliminary Observations on Hindustan and the City of Dehli

CHAPTER II.
Greatness of the Timurides
Causes of Empire's decline
Character of