. Pictorial history of China and India; comprising a description of those countries and their inhabitants. itary chiefs, to repel the invasionsof that people, and Hyder Ali, whose plan was to raise himself, by degrees, 4S8 INDIA, HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. to the sovereignty, performed such signal services against them that he wasappointed commander of the Mysorean army, and after a time became chiefminister at the court, although he could neither read nor write. It would be tedious to trace the various artifices by which the bold adven-turer reached the point at which he aimed : suffice it t
. Pictorial history of China and India; comprising a description of those countries and their inhabitants. itary chiefs, to repel the invasionsof that people, and Hyder Ali, whose plan was to raise himself, by degrees, 4S8 INDIA, HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. to the sovereignty, performed such signal services against them that he wasappointed commander of the Mysorean army, and after a time became chiefminister at the court, although he could neither read nor write. It would be tedious to trace the various artifices by which the bold adven-turer reached the point at which he aimed : suffice it to say, that aftermeeting with some reverses he succeeded in deposing the raja, and seatinghimself on the throne of Mysore, about the time that the English completedthe conquest of Bengal. He then began to extend his territories on everyside, by invading and conquering those of the neighboring princes, andaugmented his treasures by the plunder of their capitals. Among the important conquests by which Hyder Ali established a largeand powerful kingdom in the south of India, was that of Calicut, so famous. Calicut. in the history of the Portuguese, and ruled, as at the time of their first land-ing in India, by a prince called the zamorin, who, to avoid falling into thehands of the victor, set fire to his palace and perished in the flames. Hyder was a barbarian in warfare. A terrible instance of his cruelty wasexhibited during the invasion of Calicut, when he offered a reward of fiverupees for every human head that should be brought to him, and sat instate to receive, and pay for, the dreadful trophies, of which, it is said,above seven hundred were presented to the merciless conqueror withoutexciting in him the least signs of remorse, till a soldier appeared, bearingtwo heads so remarkably beautiful, that he was touched with pity, and gaveorders to stop the massacre. The rapid successes of Hyder Ali naturally alarmed the other potentates,especially Nizam Ali, soubehdar of the Deccan
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsearsrob, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookyear1851
