Ile appointed governors to the different provinces, and established strict and wholesome regulations for the truid ance of their conduct. The natives of Bengal neither made much resistance to his conquests, nor endeavoured to throw off his yoke ; but the rohust and hardy mountain eers of Ajmeer and Malwah, as well as the inhabitants of Guzerat, still continued to oppose his authority, and seized with avidity and zeal every opportunity to assert their in dependence. Hence these provinces were almost con stantly the scene of insurrections, which it sometimes re quired the whole power of the emperor to subdue. Dur ing his reign, the insurrections in the western part of his dominions also were very frequent and formidable.
The emperor Altmush was contemporary with the ce lebrated Gengis Khan. It was in the year 1221 that this conqueror reduced to subjection, and annihilated the dy nasty of Charasm, which had sate for some time on the throne of Ghazna. Mohammed Shah at this period sate upon the throne, and he claimed also the dominion of some part of India ; but, in consequence of having provoked the rage of Gengis Khan, he had not the leisure nor the means to secure his Indian territories. The lieutenant of Mohammed, in his province of Transoxania, had seized and put to death some Tartar merchants, who were tra velling in a caravan from the camp of Gengis Khan. The Mogul monarch immediately sent to demand an apology, which was imprudently refused. The consequence was, that he immediately invaded Khorassan, which Moham med had conquered in a single battle in the year 1199, and, in spite of the valour displayed by the eldest son of the emperor, the troops of Mohammed were obliged to give way. At first the flight of the emperor was towards India ; but, being intercepted, he was compelled to flee to wards the Caspian Sea, in an island of which he died, A. D. 1220. His son fought long and valiantly, but without success, against Gengis Khan. One of his most desper ate exploits was the swimming across the Indus in sight of the conqueror and his army. Five years afterwards he returned to Persia, and was for a short time successful; but he was at length obliged to yield to the better forttine of his opponent. By the year 1231, Gengis Khan had over-run all Asia to the northward of the latitude of 30"; but the difficulties he experienced in repressing the tur bulent spirit of his Tartar subjects very probably deter red him from attempting the conquest of Hindostan ; though, in the year 1222, he had become the nominal so vereign of the empire of Delhi, and actually subdued all the country on the west side of the Indus, and portioned it out among his favourite generals.
In the short and feeble reigns between the death of Alt mush and the elevation of the Emperor Balin, the Mogul chieftains made several predatory incursions into the Pun jab; and Turmeshirin Khan is reported by Shercfeddin, the historian of Tirnur, to have carried his arms into the Dooab, and to have penetrated even to the confines of Del hi. Ferishta, however, does not mention the progress of this desultory conqueror, hut only describes the inroads of the Moguls into the Punjab, which now frequently hap pened. In the year 1235, Feroze reigned at Delhi ; he
did not, however, long enjoy his dignity ; his sister, who wai a woman of great intrigue and activity, and of won derful beauty, having gained over the chief of the nobles, drove her brother into exile, and took possession of his throne. She, however, in her turn, was exposed to in trigue, in being obliged to flee from her capital, she was killed n endeavouring to escape from her other brother, Baharam, who was then raised to the throne. His reign also was of very short duration ; for in little more than two years his army rebelled, and placed a son of Feroze on the throne ; but he being a man of very weak abili ties, was almost immediately deposed in favour of his uncle Nassurodien Mahmoud, a man of great energy, en terprise, and prudence, as well as of considerable literary attainments. For some time before he became empe ror he had been imprisoned, and during his imprisonment he supported himself by writing, saying, that those who would not gain their bread by their labour did not deserve to eat. Even after he was seated on the throne, he conti nued to supply his private wants by his own industry. He was eminently successful in all his wars, and astonished his subjects by the moderation and clemency with which he pursued his conquests. He died after a prosperous reign of twenty-one years, and, leaving no children, was succeeded by Balin, who was of the same family.
Balin had been originally a Turkish prisoner, who was sold as a slave to a person at Delhi ; here making known and proving his relationship to the reigning family, he was admitted into it, and advanced to the highest rank and pri vileges, even before the death of Mahmoud. The charac ter of Balin is represented as excellent in almost every point of view. It was one of his highest gratifications to make his palace an hospitable asylum for the oppressed and unfortunate ; and at one period lie entertained and supported twenty of the unfortunate sovereigns, whom the irruptions of the Moguls had driven from their domi nions. He employed immense sums in encouraging trade and manufactures, and in patronising the fine arts ; and in vited men of talents and literature from the most distant parts of Asia to reside at his court. Every night a so ciety of poets, philosophers, and divines, met at the house of his eldest son ; and over this society the poet Khosru presided : The patronage of the fine arts was more ex pressly the care of his younger son. The emperor him self encouraged magnificence in architecture, equipage, and dress, but he discountenanced drinking and debauch ery of every kind. As his claim to the throne was rather doubtful, there were frequent insurrections against him, and he is accused of having punished the authors of them in the most cruel manner, it having been remarked that he never pardoned a traitor.