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 FYZ

472

At

the close of the last century there were two great leaders of the Raj-

—

Zalim Singh of Meopur and Madho Singh of Der^. had been fought in 1798 between these two rival houses, aided by 6thers. InthatBeniBakhsh.ayouth of nineteen, the chief of Deip., assisted by his two brothers, still younger, fought and defeated Z^lim Sin^ Balkarap, at the village of Stirampurj for which they were quarrelling. One of these younger brothers, shot himself because he was detained from attacking the village before everything was ready ; the third, Madho, a. tnere boy, distinguished himself greatly. Beni Bakhsh died of smallpox, and Madho Singh took possession of the estate, which then contained only 100 villages ; that of Meopur wais still smaller, only sixty-five villages. iDera now Contains 198, and the various divisions of Meopur 270.

kumars

One

in Fyzabad,

great battle

Both The

families were rapidly aggrandising themselves by the usual means. But a calamity occurred in 1809. There was a

battle of Masora.

^Y^^g^ belonging to an impoverished branch of the Palwars called Masora in Surharpur, near the Tons. This branch was also sub-divided six families claimed right and divided land, four transferred It was apparent that the their shares to the Rajkumiir house of Dera. with Machiavelian policy entire village would soon be lost to the Palwars they transferred the fifth share to the Meopur house of the Rajkumars.



Now, according to the unwritten law and general custom of the province, the owner of a share in a joint estate has a right of pre-emption derived from the share already in his possession and when the Meopur house went to take possession of its purchase, the Dera clan, headed by Madho Singh and aided by the Palwars, who thus wished to balance the rivals, met them at the village. The battle was fierce Zalim Singh of Meopur, an aged and renowned warrior, fell on the field with three of his sons, and the fourth, Zorawar Singh, was carried off with seventeen wounds.



Both parties were materially weakened. Seven months afterwards another battle was fought, in which young Sarabd^n Singh of Meopur led the forces; of his house. He revenged the death of his grandfather and uncles by killing many of the Dera leaders, and he won the day ; but from this time the encroachments of the Rajkumars upon the Palwars received a check. of Dera died in 1823. He was succeeded by his widow. and Sarabdan Singh at Meopur, gradually enlarged their

Madho Singh She

at Dera, possessions.

This estate consisted of 101 villages in 1801. of 18,3 of 337

in 1808. in 1847.

entire property of the Sakarwar Chhattris, an ancient and powerful 111 out of 117 villages, were acquired by the Rajkumdrs. Similarly, the Raghubansis were reduced from sixty-nine to eighteen. The Kurmis and Musalmans similarly yielded to the Rdjkumfc The Kachhwdhas of Surharpur lost all of their seventy-seven villages.

The

clan.

This was not, however, a conquest by the sword, neither was

it

an

obli-

teration of ancient rights. The three successive chiefs of Dera were good managers and good courtiers ; they saved their money and they attended darb^rs ; they thus acquired influence. The revenue was punctually paid.