The Press., 1894-09-13
THE GREAT MOGULS.
THE PROGRESS WHlCN INDIA MADE
 UNDER THEIR BULB.


 Mighty Empire, and Who Was One of
 the Wisest and Best Men of His Time.
 When we visit Agra and Delhi, we come in contact with the empire of the great moguls, the very name of which strikes upon the mind with picturesque effect. For many centuries after the Ar van invasion of India the country had developed under their rule They had established the caste system, appropri- ating to themselves the three highest grades-those of priests, warriors and husbandmen - and assigning to the fourth, the lowest, the non-Aryan abo- rigines of the soil The highest caste, the Brahmans-had developed great religion and created literature which in these days commands the admiration of scholars. Buddhism arose, attained great power; but was driven out of h. dia after fourishing 5 centuries-from 600 B. 0. to 300 A. D. The country was divided into many kingdoms which con- tended with each other with varying fortunes. And ingenious people ill fer tile land created great wealth, which was too often taken away from the pro- ducers by oppressive rulers India offer ed great temptations to the conqueror Alexander the Great penetrated to the Indus and left colonies which survived for some time, but left no traces but the science of astronomy, their coins and the subtle influences of their art, still observed in the remains of the PunJab
 The Mohammedan incursions began early in the eighth century and con- tinued for TOO years. Several Moham- medan kingdoms were established of longer or shorter endurance. The dy- nasty of the slave kings was founded ill 1906 by Kutab-ud-di who began life as a Turki slave, and the Kutub Minar, one of the loftiest and most beautiful name in Delhi. Timour (Tamerlane), the Tartar, came in 1898, but the traces he left were plundered temples and deso- late cities. Many other waves of con- quest followed through the Afghan passes from the teeming hives of Tar tary. It was a man of the house of Iii mour-Babar, ''the Lion" " sixth in de- scent from. Timour-who founded the Mogul dynasty. He found India divided between the local Mohammedan kings, his conquering predecessors, and Hin doc princes. His conquest was easy, but it was his grandson, Akbar the Great, who welded the jarring communities into mighty empire. Akbar was one of the ablest and wisest men of his age. He reigned from 1856 to 1905, so that he was a contempory of Queen Eliza beth of England. Akbar was a man of liberal views and statesman of the highest type. He was great pacificator and organizer. Babar had favored the Mohammedans, but Akbar brought the Hindoos also into public employment and established the foundations of his empire on equal justice to all races and creeds. His own religious views were liberal, and he delighted to bring to- gether the representatives of different religions and discuss with them tho tenets of their faith. One of his wives was a Hindoo; another is said to have been Christian. Finding that no creeC was exclusively true, he finally estab lished a new state religion which he called ''the Divine Faith, :" based upon reason and comprising the best prac- tices of all known forms of belief. He worshiped the sun as the best represent ative men see of the divine soul that animates the universe, while he was himself worshiped by the ignorant mul- titude, though it is doubtful how far he encouraged this popular adoration of his person.
 O G Tl1T1n fn fI1l TN1,oR Rf1fs of the Hindoos He forbade trial by or deal, animal sacrifices and child mar riages, one of the evils of the present time in India. He legalized the remar- riage of Hindoo widows, and although unable to abolish widow burning on the husbands funeral pyre he took steps to insure that the act, if committed, should be voluntary He abolished the hated tax on non -Mussulmans and had the HindOo sacred books translated into Per sian. He who reads the life of Akbar to- day finds that he was one of the most enlightened monarchs of his age-one of those great men fit to command and to found an empire. And it was Akbar who really established the empire of the great moguls, whose magnifcence we still trace in the unrivaled architec- tural monuments of Agra and Delhi. Akbar built the great fort at Agra and the marvellous buildings at Fatchpur- Sikri, his favorte residence. The other world famous constructions were by his successors. His line continued with va rying fortune, but falling into decay in the last hundred years until his seven teenth successor was banished to Ran- goon in 1857 for complicity in the sepoy mutiny and died in 1862.-Cor. Boston Herald.