a celebrated and extensive country of Asia, bounded on the north by Great and Little Thibet; on the south, by the hither peninsula of India, part of the Indian Sea, and Bay of Bengal; on the west, by Peria; and on the east, by Thibet and the farther peninsula. It is situated between 84° and 102° of east longitude, and between 21° and 36° of north latitude; being in length about 1204 miles, and in breadth 960; though in some places much less.

This country was in early times distinguished among the Greeks by the name of India, the most probable derivation of which is from Hind the Persian name. We are assured by Mr Wilkins, that no such words as Hindoo or Hindoostan exist in the Sanscrit or learned language of the country; in which it is named bharata, a word totally unknown to Europeans. The first accounts we have of Hindoostan are from Herodotus, who lived 113 years before the expedition of Alexander the Great. His accounts, however, convey very little information, as he appears only to have heard of the western part of the country, and that on account of its being tributary to Persia. He informs us, that Darius Hystaspes, about 508 B.C. had sent Scylax of Caryandra to explore the river Indus. He set sail from Calpatryus, a town near the source of the Indus, and the territories of Padya (which major Rennel supposes to be the modern Pehkely), and continued his course eastward to the sea; then altering his course to the west, he arrived at that place where the Phoenicians had formerly sailed round the continent of Africa; after which Darius subdued the Indians, and became master of that sea. The northern inhabitants of India, he says, resembled the Bactrians in their manners, and were more valiant than the rest; those far to the southward were as black as the Ethiopians, killed no animals, but lived chiefly upon rice; and clothed themselves with cotton. By the expedition of Alexander, the Greeks acquired a little more knowledge of the country of Hindoostan, though he did little else than march over the tracts described by Herodotus. He was informed of the existence of the river Ganges, which had not been known to Herodotus; and the story of his supposing that he had discovered the source of the Nile, when near the head of the Indus, is well known, as well as his surprize and consternation when he arrived at the mouth of that river, on account of the high tides. Major Rennel is of opinion that both these stories are falsehoods. He thinks it is impossible that Alexander could have been ignorant of the writings of Herodotus, who gave an account of the discoveries of Scylax; and with regard to the other circumstance he expresses himself as follows. "The story of Alexander's surprize at seeing the tides in the Indus, appears to me equally improbable; seeing that the same Herodotus, book iii., speaks very particularly of the tides in the Red Sea, and describes them as being not only strong, but ebbing and flowing every day. (That most intelligent and ingenious traveller M. Volney informs us, that the tide ebbs and flows three feet and an half at Suez). Arrian takes no notice of the tides until Alexander's fleet had arrived near the mouth of the river. It is true, the tide in the Indus does not go up so high as in other rivers of equal bulk, and that run on so small a descent; but nevertheless, as the tide is perceptible at 50 or 60 miles above the river's mouth, we may conclude, that it could hardly escape the notice of Alexander and his people in their voyage from Pattala to the sea, supposing they had not been apprised of the circumstance. Besides, Arrian's account of the tide which did so much mischief to the fleet, is descriptive of the bore, or sudden influx of the tide, in a body of water elevated above the common surface of the sea; such as occurs in the Ganges, &c. He says, those ships which lay upon the land were swept away by the fury of the tide; while those that stuck in the mud were set afloat again without any damage. To the generality of readers no reason will appear why the circumstances of the ships should be different in the mud and on the sand; the fact is, that the bottoms of channels in great rivers are muddy, while their shallows are formed of sand; and it is the nature of the bore to take the shortest cut up a river, instead of following the windings of the channel; consequently it must cross the sand-banks it meets in its way, and will also prove more destructive to whatever it meets with aground than what is a float." For an account of the exploits of Alexander in Hindoostan, see the article Macedon.

The Grecian expedition into India soon excited a general curiosity in the Europeans to become acquainted with a country so wealthy and so remote. Megasthenes, the ambassador of Seleucus, resided long at the Mogul Palibothra the capital of an Indian nation, and from him the ancient writers learned most of what they means knew concerning that part of the world. He lived about 300 years before the Christian era, and kept a journal during the time he resided in India.

For some short time the western provinces of India continued subject to the Syrian empire founded by Seleucus; but he quickly ceded these distant countries to one Sandrocottus, who gave him only 500 elephants in exchange. Soon after this the province of Bactria likewise became independent; and thus the connection between India and the western parts of the world was entirely dissolved, and we are almost entirely ignorant of the transactions of that country till the time of the Mohammedan conquest. That the extensive country we now call Hindoostan was divided among many different nations, we have no reason to doubt; but major Rennel is of opinion, that however this might be the case, there was generally a large empire or kingdom, which occupied occupied the principal part of that immense valley through which the Ganges takes its course; the capital of which has fluctuated between Delhi and Patna, as the limits of the empire have varied. This was named the kingdom of the Pafij or Gangarida in the times of Alexander and Megalithenes. Major Rennel is of opinion that it extended westward to the Panjab country; and he also thinks it probable that the capital named Palibothra stood on the same spot which is now occupied by the city of Patna. The kingdom, according to this supposition, would occupy part of Bengal; and he thinks that it could not be less than that of France. It was on the borders of this kingdom that Alexander's army mutinied and refused to proceed any farther. Arrian informs us, that the people were rich, excellent soldiers, and good husbandmen; that they were governed by nobility, and that their rulers imposed nothing harsh upon them.

The Hindoos themselves pretend to an extravagant antiquity; but we are informed by major Rennel, that "there is no known history of Hindoostan (that rests on the foundation of Hindoo materials or records) extant before the period of the Mohammedan conquests; for either the Hindoos kept no regular histories, or they were all destroyed, or secluded from common eyes by the Pundits. We may judge of their traditions by that existing concerning Alexander's expedition; which is, that he fought a great battle with the emperor of Hindoostan near Delhi; and though victorious, retired to Persia across the northern mountains; so that the remarkable circumstance of his sailing down the Indus, in which he employed many months, is sunk altogether. And yet, perhaps, few events of ancient times rest on better foundations than this part of the history of Alexander, as appears by its being so highly celebrated, not only by contemporaries, but by several of the most eminent authors for some centuries following. The only traces of Indian history we meet with are in the Persian historians. In the beginning of the 17th century, Mohammed Ferishta composed an history of Hindoostan, most of which was given in that of colonel Dow, published upwards of 30 years ago; but with regard to the early part of it, major Rennel is of opinion that it cannot at all be depended upon.

The authentic history of Hindoostan commences with the conquests of Mahmud or Mahmood Gazni, about the year 1000. His kingdom had arisen out of that of the Saracens, who under the khalif Al Walid had extended their conquests immensely both to the east and west. Mahmud was the third from Abittagi a governor of Khorasan, who had revolted from the king of Backharia. He possessed great part of that country formerly known by the name of Bactria. Gazni, Gazna, or Ghizni, was the capital; a city which stood near the source of the Indus, though Balakh likewise claimed this honour. Subaetagi, the father of Mahmud, had projected the conquest of the western part of India; but dying before he could put his designs in execution, Mahmud took upon himself the conduct of the expedition; but previous to his invasion of India, he strengthened himself by the conquest of the whole of the ancient Bactria. His first invasion took place in the year 1000; during which he made no farther progress than the province of Moulton. That part of the country was inhabited by the Kuttry and Rajpoot tribe, the Malli and Catheri of Alexander, Hindoostan, who still retained their ancient spirit, and made a very stout resistance to the armies of that furious enthusiasm. As he was prompted to this undertaking no less by a desire of exterminating the Hindoo religion than by that of conquest, a league was at last formed against him among all the Indian princes from the banks of the Ganges to the Nerbudda. Their allied forces, however, were defeated, and the year 1008 was marked by the destruction of the famous temple of Nagracut in the Panjab country. Having satiated himself with plunder on this occasion, Mahmud returned to his own country; but in 1011 invaded Hindoostan once more, destroying Tanasar a city on the west of Delhi, and a more celebrated place of worship than Nagracut itself. Delhi was reduced on this occasion; and in seven years after Canoge was taken; the temples of Matra or Methura, the Methora of Pliny, a city of great antiquity, and remarkable for a place of worship near Agra, were likewise demolished; but he failed in his attempts on the Rajpoots of Agimere, either through their own valour or the strength of their country. His 12th expedition took place in the year 1024, when he destroyed the celebrated temple of Sumnaut in the peninsula of Guzerat, adjoining to the city of Puttan on the sea-coast, and not far from the island of Diu, now in the hands of the Portuguese. In this expedition he proved very successful, reducing the whole peninsula of Guzerat, with many cities, the temples of which he constantly destroyed; and indeed seemed no less pleased with the overthrow of the Hindoo religion than with the conquest of the country. At his death, which happened in 1028, he was possessed of the eastern and by far the largest part of Persia, and nominally of all the provinces from the western part of the Ganges to the peninsula of Guzerat; as well as those lying between the Indus and the mountains of Agimere; but the Rajpoots in that country still preserved their independency, which they have done all along, even to the present time.

In the year 1158 the empire of Gazna fell to pieces division of from the same causes by which other large and un-empire wieldy states have been destroyed. The western and of Gazna, and various largest part, which still retained the name of Gazna, was seized upon by the family of Gaurides, so named Hindooed from Gaur or Ghor, a province beyond the Ilian by dian Caucasus; while those contiguous to both shores venturers of the Indus were allowed to remain in the possession of Chufero or Cufrooe, whose capital was fixed at Lahore. In 1184 the posterity of this prince were driven out of their territories by the Gaurides; by which means the Mohammedans became neighbours to the Hindoos, and in a short time began to extend their dominions to the eastward. In 1194 Mohammed Gorri penetrated into Hindoostan as far as Benares, and repeated the same scenes of devastation which had formerly taken place under Mahmud Gazni. At this period major Rennel is of opinion, that the purity of the language of Hindoostan began to decline, and continued to do so till it became what it is at present; the original dialect being what is called the Sanscrit, and which is now a dead language. Mohammed Gorri also reduced the southern part of the province of Agimere, and the territory to the south of the river Jumna, taking possession of the strong fortresses of Gualior. After his death in 1205, the empire of Gazna was again divided; and the Patan or Afghan empire was founded by Cuttub, who had the Indian part, the Persian remaining to Eldooze. Cuttub fixed his imperial residence at Delhi; and in 1210 the greatest part of Hindolitan Proper was conquered by the emperor Al-tumith, the successor of Cuttub. After his time the government of Bengal was always bestowed upon one of the reigning emperor's sons; and during his reign the bloody conqueror Genghis Khan put an end to the other branch of the Gaznian empire, known by the name of Khurram; of which revolution an account is given under the article GAZNA; but Hindolitan was at that time left undisturbed. In 1242 the Moguls began to make incursions into Hindolitan, but did not at this time make any permanent conquest. The country was now in much the same state in which it had been before the invasion of the Mahomedans, viz., divided into a great number of states tributary to the emperor, but in a great measure independent; and which did not fail to revolt whenever a favourable opportunity offered. The kingdom of Malwa, which had been reduced by Cuttub in 1205, shook off the yoke in the year 1265, and the Rajpoots were on every occasion ready to revolt, notwithstanding that their country lay in the neighbourhood of the capital. The most dreadful massacres, rebellions, and confusion, now took place, which from that period almost to the time that the British government commenced, make up the history of Hindolitan. The empire being parcelled out among a set of rapacious governors, the people were reduced to the last degree of misery, and were at last so far misled as to imagine that it was their interest to take up arms, in order to render these governors independent. Had the emperors of Hindolitan consulted their true interest, they would have given up the provinces which lay beyond the upper part of the Indus and the deserts of Agimere; as these formed a barrier which could not easily be passed by any invader. By neglecting this precaution, however, they at last gave an opportunity to the Moguls to penetrate into their country; and these, after several invasions, became at last so formidable, that they were permitted by the emperors, in the year 1292, to settle in the country. At this time the reigning emperor was Feroze II., of the tribe of Chilgiz or Killigiz, so named from Kil-lige near the mountains of Garrr; and in 1293 this emperor projected the conquest of the Deccan; by which was meant at that time all the territory lying to the southward of the Nerbudda and Mahanada and Cattack rivers; an extent of dominion almost equal to all that he already possessed in Hindolitan. Feroze was incited to attempt this by the riches of one of the princes of Deccan; and the person who proposed it was one Alla, governor of Gurrah, a country nearly bordering upon that which he was about to invade. Alla, having accomplished his undertaking, during which he amassed an incredible quantity of treasure, deposed and murdered the emperor, affuming to himself the sovereignty of Hindolitan. He then began a new plan of conquest; and the first instance of his success was the reduction of Guzerat, a strong fortress, which had hitherto remained independent, and, while it continued so, was a strong obstacle to his designs upon the Deccan. He next reduced Rantapour and Cheitore, two of the strongest forts in the Rajpoot Hindolitan country. In 1303 the city of Warangole, capital of a kingdom of the Deccan, named Tellingana, was reduced; but in the midst of these conquests the Moguls invaded the country from an opposite quarter, and plundered the suburbs of Delhi. Notwithstanding this check the emperor resumed his plan of conquest; the remainder of Malwa was subdued; and in 1306 the conquest of the Deccan was again undertaken. The conduct of the war was now committed to Cafoor, who not only carried his army into Dowlatabad, but, in 1310, penetrated into the Carnatic also. The extent of his conquests in that country is not known; and indeed his expeditions seem to have been made with a view rather to plunder than to achieve any permanent conquest. The quantity of riches he amassed was so great, that the soldiers are said to have carried away only the gold, leaving silver behind them as too cumbersome. As the treasure carried off on this occasion had been accumulating for a number of ages, it is probable that the country had long remained in a state of tranquillity.

Cafoor still proceeding in his conquests, ravaged a second time the northern part of the Deccan, and obliged the inhabitants of Tellingana and the Carnatic to become tributary to him. Rebellions took place in 1322; but the country was again reduced in 1326, and the whole Carnatic ravaged from one sea to the other. This year Alla died, and his successors, not being possessed of his abilities, were unable to retain the dominions he had left. Under the emperor Mahammed III., the people of the Deccan again revolted, and, drove the Mahomedans so completely out of the whole of these countries, that nothing remained to them but empire. The forts of Dowlatabad. In 1344 the city of Bijinagar, properly Bijinagar, was founded by Belaldeo the king of Deccan, who had headed the inhabitants in their late revolt. Mohammed in the mean time attempted to extend his dominions towards the east; but while he employed himself in this, many provinces were lost by rebellions in Bengal, Guzerat, and the Panjab. His successor Feroze III., who ascended the throne in 1351, seemed more delirious of improving the remains of his empire than of extending it; and, during his reign, which continued for 37 years, agriculture and the arts were the favourite objects of his pursuit. After his death, in 1388, a rebellion and civil war took place, and continued for several years; and matters were brought to a crisis in the time of Mahmud III., who succeeded to the throne in 1393; and, during this time, the empire of Hindolitan exhibited the singular circumstance of two emperors residing in the same capital, and in arms against each other. While matters remained in this situation, Tamerlane, after having subdued all the western part of Tartary and Asia, turned his arms against Hindolitan in the year 1398. His conquest was easy, and his behaviour such as rendered him worthy of the name by which he is yet known in Hindolitan, "the detroying prince." After having brought into captivity a vast number of the poor inhabitants, he caused a general massacre to be commenced lest they should join the enemy in case of any sudden emergency; and in consequence of this cruel order, upwards of 100,000 were put to death in one hour. In the beginning of the year 1399 he was met by the Indian army, whom he defeated with great slaughter.