Page:A revised and enlarged account of the Bobbili zemindari.djvu/66

Rh to single combat, and killed, a Sirdar of the Nizam's forces, who, armed with a sword, mounted himself on a charger. The two opposing forces anxiously observed the duel from a distance. Vengal Rao was severely wounded in the head, and lay unconscious in the fort from the effects of the wound until the battle ended. Afterwards he went to Rajam with his nephew, and till his death in 1765 remained a determined opponent to the authority of the Pusapatis. The valour displayed in this Bobbili battle is greatly praised in "Rangaraya Charitra" and in ballads which are sung up to the present day in every part of the Telugu-speaking country.

There is also something said about the battle in a Persian book called "Hadekhath Alam," written by Meer Abdul Kasim (A. D. 1796). It was again lithographed in 1848 by the permission of Serajal Mulck Bahadur. The author, Abdul Kasim, generally known as Meer Aleem, was the Prime-minister of Nizamalli