History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c3.27

c3.27

In preparing this work I have received the utmost encouragement from Sir Denison Ross, Sir Wolseley Haig and Professor Sylvain Lèvi, the world-famed French Indologist, who alas! is no longer in the land of the living. He generously procured for me copies of MSS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris and took a keen interest in the progress of my studies. Sir Wolseley Haig, indefatigable to the last in the service of India's history, was ever ready to give advice and assistance. He too has gone to join the Choir Invisible but the spirit of his work will endure and continue to inspire generations of students. Whenever I had occasion to consult him, there of superior might, also began to assert itself, and in the Deccan particularly there was talk of organising a confederacy of Hindu Rajas for the defence of religion and the vindication of national honour. Circumstances promised support to such an enterprise, and when trouble arose on all sides, the energy of the state was scattered, and concentrated armed action became impossible. What aggravated the situation was the Sultan's unwillingness to consider coolly the causes of unrest. His confidence in his own strength and ability to bear down all opposition prevented him from tempering force by conciliation. At last autocracy brought about its own nemesis, and the authority of the state was defied in all quarters.