Page:Madras in the olden time Volume 1.djvu/42

But we must now return to Delhi ; for notwithstanding the anarchy which prevailed, and the retirement of Timour from India, the descendants of the famous Tartar were destined to hold the sceptre of India, and reign at Delhi under the title of "Great Moguls." The first monarch of this new dynasty was Baber, the son of a great-grandson of Timour; who, after a series of adventures which have stamped him the knight-errant of Asia, obtained the throne of Delhi about 1525. The last of the "Great Moguls" was the miserable wretch, who, after reaching an advanced old age in the enjoyment of the splendid bounty of the great Company, treacherously gave his countenance to the great mutiny of 1857, and now explates his offence in imprisonment at Rangoon.

The reigns of Baber, of Humayoon, and of Akbar, extended over the whole of the sixteenth century. They thus corresponded to the period of Portuguese dominion in India,—to the period of the Reformation,—and to the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth. The name of Akbar occupies a considerable place in Oriental history ; but in the present article we only care to review such portions of Oriental history as will illustrate our own. He died whilst the English and Dutch were just beginning to quarrel over the pepper and nutmegs in Java and the Spice Islands ; and he was succeeded in 1605 by his son Jehangir.

Jehangir is celebrated for his passionate attach- ment to the beautiful Nourmahal, the "Light of the Haram ;" and the story of his loves has been