Garamantes whose power was overthrown in the days of Augustus by L. Cornelius Balbus Minor, who captured Ghadames (Cydamus). It is not unlikely that Roman settlers may have been attracted to the spot by the presence of the warm springs which still rise in the heart of the town, and spread fertility in the surrounding gardens. In the 7th century Ghadames was conquered by the Arabs. It appears afterwards to have fallen under the power of the rulers of Tunisia, then to a native dynasty which reigned at Tripoli, and in the 16th century it became part of the Turkish vilayet of Tripoli. It has since then shared the political fortunes of that country. In the first half of the 19th century it was visited by several British explorers and later by German and French travellers.
See J. Richardson, Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara in 1845–1846 . . . including a Description of . . . Ghadames (London, 1848); G. Rohlfs, Reise durch Marokko . . . und Reise durch die Grosse Wüste über Rhadames nach Tripoli (Bremen, 1868).
GHAT, or Rhat, an oasis and town, forming part of the Turkish
vilayet of Tripoli. Ghat is an important centre of the caravan
trade between the Nigerian states and the seaports of the
Mediterranean (see Tripoli).
GHATS, or Ghauts (literally “the Landing Stairs” from the
sea, or “Passes”), two ranges of mountains extending along
the eastern and western shores of the Indian peninsula. The
word properly applies to the passes through the mountains,
but from an early date was transferred by Europeans to the
mountains themselves.
The Eastern Ghats run in fragmentary spurs and ranges down the Madras coast. They begin in the Orissa district of Balasore, pass southwards through Cuttack and Puri, enter the Madras presidency in Ganjam, and sweep southwards through the districts of Vizagapatam, Godavari, Nellore, Chingleput, South Arcot, Trichinopoly and Tinnevelly. They run at a distance of 50 to 150 m. from the coast, except in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, where in places they almost abut on the Bay of Bengal. Their geological formation is granite, with gneiss and mica slate, with clay slate, hornblende and primitive limestone overlying. The average elevation is about 1500 ft., but several hills in Ganjam are between 4000 and 5000 ft. high. For the most part there is a broad expanse of low land between their base and the sea, and their line is pierced by the Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery rivers.
The Western Ghats (Sahyadri in Sanskrit) start from the south of the Tapti valley, and run south through the districts of Khandesh, Nasik, Thana, Satara, Ratnagiri, Kanara and Malabar, and the states of Cochin and Travancore, meeting the Eastern Ghats at an angle near Cape Comorin. The range of the Western Ghats extends uninterruptedly, with the exception of a gap or valley 25 m. across, known as the Palghat gap, through which runs the principal railway of the south of India. The length of the range is 800 m. from the Tapti to the Palghat gap, and south of this about 200 m. to the extreme south of the peninsula. In many parts there is only a narrow strip of coast between the hills and the sea; at one point they rise in magnificent precipices and headlands out of the ocean. The average elevation is 3000 ft., precipitous on the western side facing the sea, but with a more gradual slope on the east to the plains below. The highest peaks in the northern section are Kalsubai, 5427 ft.; Harischandragarh, 4691 ft.; and Mahabaleshwar, where is the summer capital of the government of Bombay, 4700 ft. South of Mahabaleshwar the elevation diminishes, but again increases, and attains its maximum towards Coorg, where the highest peaks vary from 5500 to 7000 ft., and where the main range joins the interior Nilgiri hills. South of the Palghat gap, the peaks of the Western Ghats rise as high as 8000 ft. The geological formation is trap in the northern and gneiss in the southern section.
GHAZĀLĪ [Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī]
(1058–1111), Arabian philosopher and theologian, was born at Tūs, and belonged to a family of Ghazāla (near Tūs) distinguished for its knowledge of canon law. Educated at first in Tūs, then in Jorjān, and again in Tūs, he went to college at Nīshāpūr, where he studied under Juwainī (known as the
Imām ul-Ḥaramain) until 1085, when he visited the celebrated
vizier Nizām ul-Mulk, who appointed him to a professorship in
his college at Bagdad in 1091. Here he was engaged in writing
against the Isma’ilites (Assassins). After four years of this
work he suddenly gave up his chair, left home and family and
gave himself to an ascetic life. This was due to a growing scepticism,
which caused him much mental unrest and which gradually
gave way to mysticism. Having secured his chair for his brother
he went to Damascus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Mecca, Medina and
Alexandria, studying, meditating and writing in these cities.
In 1106 he was tempted to go to the West, where the Moravid
(Almoravid) reformation was being led by Yūsuf ibn Tāshfīn,
with whom he had been in correspondence earlier. Yūsuf,
however, died in this year, and Ghazālī abandoned his idea.
At the wish of the sultan Malik Shah he again undertook professorial
work, this time in the college of Nizām ul-Mulk at Nīshāpūr, but returned soon after to Tūs, where he died in December 1111.
Sixty-nine works are ascribed to Ghazālī (cf. C. Brockelmann’s Gesch. d. arabischen Litteratur, i. 421-426, Weimar, 1898). The most important of those which have been published are: a treatise on eschatology called Ad-durra ul-fākhira (“The precious pearl”), ed. L. Gautier (Geneva, 1878); the great work, Ihyā ul-ʽUlūm (“Revival of the sciences”) (Bulaq, 1872; Cairo, 1889); see a commentary by al-Murtada called the Itḥāf, published in 13 vols. at Fez, 1885–1887, and in 10 vols. at Cairo, 1893; the Bidayat ul-Hidāya (Bulaq, 1870, and often at Cairo); a compendium of ethics, Mizān ul-ʽAmal, translated into Hebrew, ed. J. Goldenthal (Paris, 1839); a more popular treatise on ethics, the Kimīya us-Saʽāda, published at Lucknow, Bombay and Constantinople, ed. H. A. Homes as The Alchemy of Happiness (Albany, N.Y., 1873); the ethical work O Child, ed. by Hammer-Purgstall in Arabic and German (Vienna, 1838); the Destruction of Philosophers (Tahafūt ul-Falāsifa) (Cairo, 1885, and Bombay, 1887). Of this work a French translation was begun by Carra de Vaux in Muséon, vol. xviii. (1899); the Maqāṣid ul-Falāsifa, of which the first part on logic was translated into Latin by Dom. Gundisalvi (Venice, 1506), ed. with notes by G. Beer (Leiden, 1888); the Kitāb ul-Munqid, giving an account of the changes in his philosophical ideas, ed. by F. A. Schmölders in his Essai sur les écoles philosophiques chez les Arabes (Paris, 1842), also printed at Constantinople, 1876, and translated into French by Barbier de Meynard in the Journal asiatique (1877, i. 1-93); answers to questions asked of him ed. in Arabic and Hebrew, with German translation and notes by H. Malter (Frankfort, 1896); Eng. trans., Confessions of al-Ghazzali, by Claud Field (1909).
For Ghazālī’s life see McG. de Slane’s translation of Ibn Khallikān, ii. 621 ff.; R. Gösche’s Über Ghazzali’s Leben und Werke (Berlin, 1859); D. B. Macdonald’s “Life of al-Ghazzali,” in Journal of American Oriental Society, vol. xx. (1899), and Carra de Vaux’s Gazali (Paris, 1902); see Arabian Philosophy. (G. W. T.)
GHAZI (an Arabic word, from ghazā, to fight), the name
given to Mahommedans who have vowed to exterminate unbelievers
by the sword. It is also used as a title of honour,
generally translated “the Victorious,” in the Ottoman empire
for military officers of high rank, who have distinguished themselves
in the field against non-Moslem enemies; thus it was
conferred on Osman Pasha after his famous defence of Plevna.
GHAZIABAD, a town of British India in Meerut district of the United Provinces, 12 m. from Delhi and 28 m. from Meerut. Pop. (1901) 11,275. The town was founded in 1740 by Ghazi-ud-din, son of Azaf Jah, first nizam of the Deccan, and takes its name from its founder. It has considerably risen in importance
as the point of junction of the East Indian, the North-Western and the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway systems. The town has a trade in grain and hides.
GHAZIPUR, a town and district of British India, in the Benares division of the United Provinces. The town stands on the left bank of the Ganges, 44 m. E. of Benares. It is the headquarters of the government opium department, where all the opium from the United Provinces is collected and manufactured under a monopoly. There are also scent distilleries, using the produce of the rose-gardens in the vicinity. Lord
Cornwallis, governor-general of India, died at Ghazipur in 1805, and a domed monument and marble statue (by Flaxman) are erected over his grave. Pop. (1901) 39,429.
The district of Ghazipur has an area of 1389 sq. m. It forms part of the great alluvial plain of the Ganges, which divides it into two unequal portions. The northern subdivision lies
