On the death of Shahab ud din, his new and vast Indian dominion became independent under his general Kutb ud din, who had begun life as a slave.  The dynasty was carried on by another slave Altamish.  Very soon after this the Mongol Chief Chengiz Khan devastated half the world, but left India comparatively untouched.  Altamish established the Mahometan rule of Delhi over all Hindustan.  This series of rulers, known as the slave kings, was brought to an end after eighty-two years by the establishment of the Khilji dynasty in 1288 by the already aged Jelal ud din.  His nephew and chief Captain Ala ud din opened a career of conquest, invading the Deckan even before he secured the throne for himself by assassinating his uncle.  In fact, he extended his dominion over almost the whole of India in spite of frequent rebellions and sundry Mongol incursions all successfully repressed or dispersed.  In 1321 the Khilji dynasty was overthrown by the House of Tughlak.

The second prince of this house, Mahomet Tughlak, was a very remarkable character.  Possessed of extraordinary accomplishments, learned, temperate, and brave, he plunged upon wholly irrational and inpracticable schemes of conquest which were disastrous in themselves and also from the methods to which the monarch was driven to procure the means for his wild attempts.  One portion after another of the vast empire broke into revolt and at the end of the century the dynasty was overturned and the empire shattered by the terrific invasion of Tamerlane the Tartar.  It was not till the middle of the seventeenth century that the Lodi dynasty established itself at Delhi and ruled not without credit for nearly seventy years.  The last ruler of this house was Ibrahim, a man who lacked the worthy qualities of his predecessors.  And in 1526 Ibrahim fell before the conquering arms of the mighty Baber, the founder of the Mogul dynasty.

III.—­Baber and Aber

Baber was a descendant of Tamerlane.  He himself was a Turk, but his mother was a Mongol; hence the familiar title of the dynasty known as the Moguls.  Succeeding to the throne of Ferghana at the age of twelve the great conqueror’s youth was full of romantic vicissitudes, of sharp reverses and brilliant achievements.  He was only four and twenty when he succeeded in making himself master of Cabul.  He was forty-four, when with a force of twelve thousand men he shattered the huge armies of Ibrahim at Panipat and made himself master of Delhi.  His conquests were conducted on what might almost be called principles of knight errantry.  His greatest victories were won against overwhelming odds, at the head of followers who were resolved to conquer or die.  And in three years he had conquered all Hindustan.  His figure stands out with an extraordinary fascination, as an Oriental counterpart of the Western ideal of chivalry; and his autobiography is an absolutely unique record presenting the almost sole specimen of real history in Asia.