Our visit to Hindostán, Kashmir and Ladakh

· 1879 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1EXTENT OF THE MAHRATTA COCJNTRY. 115

2title of king, and became the founder of the djmasty

3of Adil Shah. Yusuf Adil was a son of the Ottoman

4sultan. On the accession of his brother Mahomet 11. to

5the throne of Constantinople, he alone escaped being put

6to death with the remainder of his brothers, his mother

7secretly conveying him to Persia whilst yet an infant.

8At the age of sixteen he was obliged to fly from thence

9on account of some suspicion of his birth, — was then

10induced to go to the Bahmani court, and there sold as

11a slave.

12In 1565 the Mohammedans formed a league against

13Bam Rajah ; a great battle was fought on the Kishna,

14near Talicot ; after a fierce conflict the Hind6s were de-

15feated, and the monarchy of Bijyanagar was at an end,

16though, owing to the jealous spirit which prevailed

17amongst the victors, their territories were not much

18extended, and a great deal fell into the hands of cer-

19tain petty princes. The Mohammedans had still not

20recovered a great deal of what had been possessed by

21them in the time of Mahommed Toghlak, but this was

22all that they re-acquired up to the time of Aurungzebe.

23That part of the Dekhan in which Belgaum is situated

24is inhabited by a Mahratta people, who occupy a large

25tract of country reaching from the southern watershed

26of the Nerbudda on the north to a little below Belgaum

27on the south, its western boundary being the Indian

28Ocean, and its eastern limit extending inland about 300

29miles from the coast, — its extreme length from north to

30south being about 350 miles. Its great feature is the

31line of Gh4ts, which vary in height from 3000 to 5000

32feet, and run along its western side at a distance of

33thirty or forty miles from the sea. Native legends say

34that the sea once washed the foot of these Gh&ts, and