Immediately on his decease, a powerful party of the no bility Mu igued for the purpose of placing Khosru, the son of Selim, Acber's only surviving son, on the throne ; but their designs were frustrated, and Selim succeeded. The new monarch assumed the appellation of Jehanghire, or conqueror of the world. Scarcely was he seated on the throne, when his nephew Khosru engaged in open rebel lion ; to this step he seems to have been led rather by the advice and intrigues of the nobility, than by his own wishes or judgment. The rebellion, however, was soon quelled, and Khosru thrown into prison. As soon as Jehanghire had restored internal tranquillity to his kingdom, he turned his thoughts to the conquest of the Decan. He seems, however, from some cause, not very apparent, not to have pursued this object with perseverance or zeal. War was also made on the Rajpoots, and the Rana, or chief prince, compelled to sue for peace, on terms most favourable to the emperor.
Jehanghire was a man of talents, and would have proved himself such by his conduct, had not his councils been ren dered vacillating and weak, and his government been con strained, by the influence of his mistress Noor Jean. She was the daughter of Aiaas, a Tartar, and was born in the wilderness, to which the poverty of her father had obliged him to flee. Aiaas afterwards came to the court olJehan gliire, and being a man of considerable abilities, and of probity, he was soon noticed and patronized ; his daughter was educated with the greatest attention and care, and she soon became one of the most accomplished women in Asia. As she was also greatly distinguished for her beauty and her wit, she was not long in attracting the particular notice, and exciting the warm affections, of the young prince Se lim. He requested his father Acber to demand her in marriage for him ; but as she was betrothed to Shere Afkhun, one of the most accomplished and bravest nobles in India, Acber refused to interfere. Selim, therefore, was obliged to wait till he ascended the throne, when, his pas sion still being as ardent as before, he resolved, by what over means, to gratify it. Near Jean was by this time married ; but this circumstance possessed no weight in the mind of the new sovereign. Ile caused her husband to be assassinated, and the widow to be conducted to the royal Zenana. She soon proved that she did not bear implaca ble resentment against the murderer of her husband, and that ambition was more powerful in her breast than affec tion. She became the wife of Jehanghire, and shortly af terwards her influence over him was almost without limits. Her father and brothers were raised to the first offices in the empire, and her relations, to the most remote degree, came from Tartary to the Mogul court, where she heaped upon them wealth, rank, and power.
In one respect, however, her influence, and the situation *.o which she was raised, was beneficial not only to the em peror, but also to the kingdom at large. fler father was appointed prime minister; and as his talents were not weak ened nor abused by his elevation, and his probity remained unimpaired, he did great service to the state. Under the name of Actemad ul Dowlah, he exercised the office of prime minister in such a manner till his death, that his name is to this day revered by the people of Ilindostan. The principles upon which he administered the govern rncnt were similar to those upon which Acber had conduct ed himself; lie regarded the industry of the people, not only as the only source of wealth and prosperity, but also as the surest defence against foreign foes, and the best pre servative of internal quiet. Forests were cut down, and towns and villages were built; manufactures flouridied under his auspices; but it was to the improvement of agriculture that he specially directed his attention and his measures. Those provinces, which during war had b:en desolated, were repeopled and cultivated. Religious per secution was unknown; the Hindoo and the Mahomedan were equally the objects of his care, and placed equally under the protection of the laws. It was in this reign that Sir Thomas Roe was sent as the first English ambassador to the Emperor of Ilindostan. Ile presented a coach to Jehanghire from James I.; and, in spite of the opposition of the Prince Royal, obtained the object of his mission, which was leave to establish a factory at Surat. In the second division of this article, the European establishments will be particularly considered ; we shall, therefore, only remark in this place, that the Portuguese had by this time acquired considerable settlements in Bengal and Guzerat; but only those at Guzerat, where they also possessed some extent of territory, attracted the notice of the court ; and it is curious to observe in what terms the author of the Ayeen Acbaree mentions them. Speaking of the lands of Guzerat, he says, " By the neglect of the king's governors, several of these districts are in the hands of Europeans." Ferislita also, mentioning the site of an ancient Hindoo temple near Diis, says, that it was situated in the districts that were subject to the " idolaters of Europe." The rebellions of his son, Shah Jehan, embittered the latter part of his reign ; and these rebellions were some times fostered and strengthened by the nobles, whose mar tial habits rendered a life of peace irksome to them, and sometimes excited by the intrigues of the empress.