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the plateau districts of the Central Provinces, the central and coast districts of Bombay, and a part of the Punjab, the distress was alleviated by the improvements in railway communication. There followed in the train of the famine, an outbreak of the bubonic plague, in addition to the usual epidemics consequent on famines. Bombay suffered heavily from this plague, and during December it is said that 250,000 people left the city. The disease was prevalent among the lower classes, the European and well-to-do classes of the natives generally escaping the infection. The danger of famine has always presented a difficult problem in India. Between 1802-1854 there were 13 famines, and the estimated loss of life during that period was 5,000,000. Between 1860 and 1879 there were 16 famines, and the loss of life was estimated at over 12,000,000.

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Movement of Population, etc. — From the table at the head of this article, it appears that the population of British India is very unequally distributed. While Bengal resembles a city in the density of its population, the adjoining provinces of Assam and Burmah, although no less fertile, have a very small number of inhabitants. The recurrence of famines in this over-peopled district shows the importance of encouraging emigration; but the annual number of emigrants is comparatively small. In 1894 there were 17,932 coolie emigrants from India, most of whom went to the British colonies, especially to Demerara, Trinidad, and Mauritius. The vital statistics of India are very defective. The average death-rate for the whole country has fluctuated greatly, ranging from about 21 per 1000 in 1880 to 33.08 in 1894. In that year the highest birth-rate was found in the Punjab, where it was 43.9 and the highest death-rate in the Northwest Provinces, and in Oude, where it was 42.51. The birth-rate in Madras was 27.7 and the death-rate 20. The census of 1891 showed the distribution of the population according to occupation. At that time a great deal more than of the population (171,735,000) was engaged in agriculture. Next in importance stood the occupations which were classified under the name of earthwork and general labor, with 25,468,000. Between 12,000,000 and 13,000,000 of the inhabitants were employed in the making of textile fabrics and dress, and between 14,000,000 and 15,000,000 were engaged in the preparation of food, drinks, and stimulants. In personal, household, and sanitary service there are over 11,000,000 engaged, and the state and local administrations employ 5,600,000. In regard to languages, out of a total of 287,223,431, in 1891, 85,680,000 spoke the Hindu tongue, and 41,340,000 spoke Bengali. To the linguistic group entitled Aryo-Indic, 195,460,000 belonged. Only a small portion of the population in India were born in foreign countries. In 1891 the total number of persons not born in India was 661,637, and the British-born population amounted, in the year, to 100,551. According to the census of 1891 there were 75 towns with over 50,000 inhabitants. Two of these, Calcutta and Bombay, had each over 800,000, the population of the former, including its suburbs, being 861,764, and of the latter, 821,764. Madras had a population of 452,518, and Hyderabad, with its suburbs, 415,039. Lucknow and Benares had each a population of between 200,000 and 300,000, and there were 22 cities, each having a population of between 100,000 and 200,000. Religion. The dominant religion in India is Hinduism, for a description of which see the preceding article. The next in point of numerical strength is Mohammedanism. The Hindus, in 1891, numbered 207,731,727; the Mohammedans, 57,321,164; both together they made up more than 92% of the population. Mohammedanism was first introduced in India after the invasion of the 11th century, and spread rapidly after the establishment of the Mogul empire, in the 16th century. The Buddhists are still numerous, numbering over 7,000,000, in 1891, and there is a still larger number of nature-worshipers, classified in the census of 1891 as Animistic, and numbering in that year 9,280,467. India was one of the earliest fields of Christian missions. Tradition assigns it as the scene of the apostle Thomas's labors and martyrdom. Whether this was the case or not, we find a Syrian church planted in Malabar in southern India, which undoubtedly had a very early origin. The Jesuit missionaries, from the middle of the 16th c. onwards, had a large success in India. See XAVIER, FRANCIS. The earliest Protestant missionaries in India came from Holland and Denmark. With the latter mission the eminent Schwartz was connected. England's first missionary effort was put forward by the society for the propagation of the Gospel, and the Christian knowledge society, which commenced in the beginning of the 18th c., by aiding the Danish mission already established in southern India. Subsequently, the East India company adopted the policy of excluding missionaries altogether from their territories; but since the beginning of this century, when these restrictions were withdrawn, a great work has been entered on, in which all denominations are represented. In the proclamation to the princes, chiefs, and people of India, read in the principal cities, on Nov. 1, 1858, it was declared "that none shall be in any wise favored, none molested or disquieted, by reason of their religious faith and observances, but that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impartial protection of the law." The fullest toleration in matters of faith is enjoyed throughout British India. Fanaticism only, as when it seeks to enforce the burning of widows or suttee (q.v.), or offers human beings in sacrifice, is curbed by the ruling power. There is no exclusively endowed state church, but government continues to pay the state grants made to Hindu temples and to Mohammedan mosques. Clergymen of the church of England, the church of Scotland, and the Roman Catholic church, are retained on the government establishment as civil or military chaplains. There are church of England bishops at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The number of Christians in India, in 1891, was given in the census as 2,284,380, of whom the majority (1,315,263) were Roman Catholics. The members of the church of England numbered about 295,000; the Dissenters nearly 237,000; and the Armenian and Greek sects over 201,000.

Education. The education of the people of India is based on the principle that European knowledge should be diffused through the languages understood by the great mass of the people; but that the teaching of English should always be combined with careful attention to the study of the vernacular languages. In 1883 a commission was appointed to investigate the system of education, and the results of its recommendation were to render instruction more general and popular. Private enterprise in teaching was encouraged, and the establishment of native schools was furthered. Attempts were also made to advance the education of women, and the less civilized classes of the community, such as the Mohammedans, but in spite of the improvement, the illiteracy of the mass of the population is still very great. An estimate places the proportion of boys who attend school at less than 21 per cent. of those who have reached the school age, and the percentage of girls at less than 2.2. There are 5 universities-in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad, and the Punjab. These are examining bodies with many affiliated colleges. The largest is the University of Calcutta, whose matriculated students, in 1895, numbered nearly 2,300. There are also schools for the training of teachers, medical colleges, engineering and other technical schools, and art schools. The practical working of the educational system is watched over by inspecting officers, who visit the schools. The educational statistics for 1895 show the number of schools and colleges to have been 149,794, the colleges numbering 159. The total number of scholars in attendance was 4,207,021, of whom 18,787 males and 91 females were in attendance at the colleges.

History. The oldest history of India is entirely legendary; it is shrouded in mythical narratives, which, though of the highest interest from a religious and archæological point of view, do not enlighten us as to the dates of the personages concerned, nor as to the reality of the facts which they record. Thus, the solar and lunar dynasties spoken of in the epic poems, the Ramayana and Mahábhárata, and in the Puránas, as well as other dynasties, like that of Pradyota, S'isunâga, and others mentioned in the Puranas, are for the present, at least, beyond the reach of history, in the sense in which we use this word. The first reliable date to be met with in ancient Hindu history is that of Chandragupta; for he is the king whom the Greek historians call Sandrocottus; and as he was the ally of Seleucus, we may safely conclude that he reigned about 300 B.C. He belonged to the Manrya dynasty, which contains another distinguished name, that of the king Asoka, who plays a prominent part in Buddhist history, and probably reigned from 263 to 226 B.C.; but since the history of this and other dynasties which reigned in different parts of India up to the time of the Mohammedan conquest concerns more the special student of Hindu antiquity and Indian history than the general reader, we must content our selves here with referring those who take an interest in it to the admirable work of prof. Christian Lassen, the Indische Alterthumskunde, where they will not only find the richest material.collected in any one book hitherto devoted to this subject, but also learn to appreciate the difficulties which beset the questions of ancient Hindu history and chronology.

From the Mohammedan Conquest (1001) to the close of Viscount Canning's Administration (1862).-House of Ghizni (1001-1167). The sultan Mahmûd, sovereign of the small state of Ghizni (q.v.), was the first conqueror who permanently established the Mohammedan power in India. In 1186 the house of Ghizni became extinct, and the Hindu princes fell one by one before a succession of Mohammedan dynasties, whose names and dates are as follows: Slave kings of Delhi (1206–1288).—One of these sovereigns, Altmish, who ascended the throne in 1211, added the greater part of Hindustan proper to his dominions, and in his reign the Mongol Genghis Khan devastated the north-eastern parts of India. In Balin's reign (about 1284) the Mongols made a second irruption into Hindustan, but were totally defeated by the monarch's eldest son, the heroic Mohammed, who fell in the action. The Khiljis and House of Toghlak (1288-1412).-In 1290 the Mongols made their third and last great irruption into Hindustan, but were almost annihilated by Zafir Khan, whose name became so proverbial among the Mongols, that when their horses started, they would ask them if they saw the ghost of Zafir Khan. In 1397, during the reign of the last of the Toghlak kings, the Tartar Timur, or Tamerlane, sacked Delhi, and proclaimed himself emperor of India. The Syuds (1412-1450). The House of Lodi (1450-1526). To the kings of this dynasty succeeded the Great Moguls or House of Timur (1526-1707). Baber, who had for 22 years been sovereign of Cabul, invaded India for the fifth time towards the end of the year 1525 (see BABER), and after doing battle with sultan Ibrahim on the plain of Paniput, April, 1526, entered Delhi in triumph, and established himself as emperor of the Mohammedan dominions in India, in right of his ancestor Timur. He died in 1530, and was succeeded by his son Humayun. The celebrated Akbar (q. v.), son of Humayun, became emperor in 1556, and reigned for nearly 25 years. His son ascended the throne in 1605, and his grandson, Shah Jehan, in 1627. In 1658 Shah Jehan was imprisoned by his son, the famous Aurungzebe (q.v.), who usurped the imperial power. This remarkable man raised the Mogul empire to the highest pitch of greatness and splendor, and was the ablest and most powerful, as well as the most ambitious and bigoted, of his race. The death of Aurungzebe took place in 1707, and the decay of the empire, which had begun a few years before then, proceeded rapidly. "A succession of nominal sovereigns, sunk in indolence and debauchery, sauntered away life in secluded palaces." Viceroys of the Great Mogul formed their provinces into independent states; whilst Hindu and Moham.

medan adventurers carved out kingdoms with the sword. The dismemberment of the Mogul empire opened a wide field for ambition and enterprise to the nations of Europe. The Venetians, the Genoese, the Portuguese, and the Dutch had by turns traded with India; and in 1602 the English appeared on the scene. See EAST INDIA COMPANY.

In 1653 Madras was raised into a presidency, and in 1668 the island of Bombay— which was the dowry of Charles II.'s queen, the Infanta Catherine of Portugal--was transferred by the crown to the company. The invasion of the Persian, Nadir Shah, in 1738, who sacked Delhi, slaughtered its inhabitants, and carried away the peacock throne, and vast treasure, hastened the fall of the Mogul empire.

1745-1761.-Great jealousy existed between the English and French, who had also established themselves in India. On the declaration of war between England and France, hostilities commenced in the Madras presidency, nor were they terminated by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748. The struggle in the Carnatic was continued with ardor, under pretext of supporting the claims of rival native princes to sovereignty. Clive (q.v.), the first and most famous name on that great muster-roll of British soldiers and statesmen who have thrown such luster on the British occupation of India, laid the foundation of his country's supremacy in the east. His memorable defense of Arcot in 1751, and his subsequent victories, broke the spell of French_invincibility. The next memorable event was the siege and capture of Calcutta, on June 20, 1756, by Suraja Dowlah, grandson of Ali Verdi Khan, and governor or subahdar of Bengal. The pris oners, 146 in number, were confined in the small garrison prison or Black Hole, of whom only 23 survived till the morning. Clive quickly took command of an expedition ätted out at Madras, recovered Calcutta (1757), and, assisted by admiral Watson, prosecuted the war with his usual vigor, till after a hollow peace and a renewal of hostilities, Suraja Dowlah was completely defeated by Clive in the memorable battle of Plassey, June 23, 1757. Meer Jaffir, Suraja Dowlah's commander-in-chief, was placed on the musnud by the English, who from this time ruled Bengal as well as Bahar and Orissa.

Political Progress of East India Company (1764–1773).—After the battle of Buxar, fought in 1764 with Sujah Dowlah, the usurping vizier of Oude, the Mogul emperor, Shah Alum, who had previously been in the power of the defeated Sujah Dowlah, claimed the protection of the British. He confirmed the company in their possessions, and granted them the collectorate or perpetual dewannee of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, on condition of receiving the sum of £260,000 per annum. During the subsequent financial difficulties of the company, they repudiated this and other conditions which they had guaranteed to Shah Alum; and the cost to the company of maintaining their authority and standing army prevented them from undertaking public works and devel oping the resources of the country. The regulating act was passed in 1773, and a gov ernor-general was appointed. In 1765 Clive purged the Indian government of oppres sion, extortion, and corruption, and from that, his last visit, dates the purity of the administration of our eastern empire.

Administration of Warren Hastings (1773–85).—Warren Hastings was the first governor-general of India. A new power, the supreme court of judicature, appointed by the regulating act, came into operation during his administration. This council arrogated to itself authority exceedingly embarrassing to the governor-general, to whom it was very hostile. Hastings used very unscrupulous, and at times very unjustifiable means to replenish the East India company's exchequer, but, by his energy and talent, he averted dangers that threatened to annihilate the British supremacy in India. The powerful Mussulman sovereigns, Hyder Ali and the nizam of the Deccan, assisted by French officers, combined with the Mahrattas against the English; sir Eyre Coote broke up the confederacy, and defeated Hyder Ali in 1781. In 1782 the supreme court of judicature was deprived of its independent powers, and the policy of Hastings was successful both in the council and in the field. In 1784 Mr. Pitt instituted the board of control.

Marquis Cornwallis (1786–93).—Lord Cornwallis, who succeeded Warren Hastings, was both governor-general and commander-in-chief. His administrative measures were important, and consisted most notably in fixing the land-rent throughout Bengal on that system of land tenure known as Zemindari, and reforming the judicial system. In 1790 lord Cornwallis, with the nizam, the Mahrattas, and the rajah of Coorg for allies, made war on Tippoo, sultan of Mysore, who had invaded Travancore, then under British protection. Terms were dictated to Tippoo at his capital, Seringapatam, and he was compelled to cede half his dominions to the company.-The marquis Cornwallis was succeeded by sir John Shore (1793-98), whose rule was in no respect memorable.

Marquis Wellesley (1798-1805).-The British empire in the east, like that of Napoleon I. in Europe, could only be maintained by constant fighting; it was the price paid for empire, and to stand still was to retrograde. Tippoo Sahib broke his faith by intriguing against the English both with the French and with native princes: his bad faith cost him his crown and his life. In May, 1799. Seringapatam was captured, and Tippoo slain. The Hindu dynasty, displaced by Hyder Ali, was restored, and the administration carried on most successfully for the youthful rajah by Col. Wellesley (afterwards duke of Wellington). In the famous battle of Assaye, in 1803, he defeated the Mahrattas under Scindia; and the victories of lord Lake in northern India extended very considerably the dominions of the company. The policy of the marquis Wellesley was,

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