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the family. Having thus said, she laid her head at the babu'a and added, 'Now I am in your power, and I am ready to die.' Here a companion of the babu's, who was in his confidence, rode up and suggested that the hour had come but Eustam Sdh replied that no one that placed their life in his hands should be hurt, so he desired his own men to convey her over the Gogra, where they had connections, and he set off for Dera. She was duly carried across the river, and it is related, as

tlie credit of

feet,



instance of her indomitable pluck, that during the nine days she was She was compelled to write a deed kept there, she never drank water. in favour of Eustam Sah, which I have seen, and she was then released but so great was the shock that her proud nature had sustained, that in a few months she pined and died."*

an

Eustam Sah then took possession of the estate, and spent Es. 35,000 But he had another enemy. in reconciling the clansmen to his accession. Eaja Man Singh had formed designs upon the estate similar to those which he had planned for Maniarpur. He accompanied Eustam Sah to the fort of Dera, and then the two, in apparent amity, moved together to Kadipur there, to his astonishment, Eustam Sah heard people referring to Mdngarh. It turned out that, not only had the faithless raja determined to take possession himself of this Eajkumar estate, belonging to his old ally and faithful servant, but had actually changed the name to Mdingarh, calling

—

Eustam Sah at once answered " Its name is Dipnagar you may call it Mangarh or Be-imangarh," the house of treachery. That night he left the camp and fled across the border, having been assured by a pandit that the moment was not propitious for open hostilities. At last, by paying Eaja Man Singh a douceur of Es. 95,000, he got possession of it after

himself.

the estate. He was loyal during the mutiny, and after it was over received the estate of the rebel Karnai raja of Mau Jadbanspur.

While the house

of Dera

was thus

steadily flourishing, the fortunes of the

We have already seen that old Zalim Singh and three of his sons perished in the field of Masora, 1809. Zorawar Singh, the wounded survivor, left no children, although he survived many jrears his brothers, though, had many. When Zorawar Singh died, all quarrelled about the division of his share. He had generally lived with the children of one of his brothers. Those claimed the whole of his inheritance ; all the others objected, and demanded an equal division. Sarabd^n, who had led them all to battle when he revenged Zalim's death, and his nephew, were invited to an arbitration by his first cousins, who claimed the whole of the share in dispute, Shiuraj, Fateh Bahadur, and Eaghubar Dayal. The appointed place was in British territory. The former came unsuspectingly, and as they sat down to rest on a charpoy, they were murdered in cold blood. All three were outlawed. Shiuraj resisted apprehension by English officers. He was at the time in the camp of Eaja Man Singh, who seems to have been always in alliance with the daring youths of this clan. Hfe escaped, but was met by a larger body of his pursuers, and his head was cut off. This dispute about a share caused the death of the four foremost men of the day on the Fyzabad border, and the outlawry of the fifth, while the share remained in The Meopur

Meopur branch were "more chequered.

family,




 * Pargaiia Aldemau, page 13.