Mahomedan kingdoms of the Deccan by Aurungzebe; and such was the spirit he inspired that, forty years after his death, the nation he had created extorted at Delhi, from the great Mogul himself, grants of revenue and privilege which, to use Sir Henry Lawrence's words, not only confirmed them in their own possessions, but authorized their inquisitorial interference in every province of the Deccan; and where the Mahratta had the right of inter ference he soon gained the sovereignty. The nation soon became the most powerful one in India; and, had it not been for the check they received from the Afi'ghan invaders on the north-west, and afterwards from the English, the Mahrattas would have been the lords paramount in India to a greater extent than ever the Moguls were. The numerous Mahratta states still existing show, like rocks left on land by some great inundation, how far their power extended.