Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/636

 558

GON

authors of their life, Datt and Bhaw^ni. At the same time the Goshain gave the raja his tooth-pick, and directed him to plant it in Gonda, with the prophecy that as long as it remained green, the family of the Bisens should prosper. It grew into a chilbil bush, throwing out two main branches. In the mutiny, when his rebellion cost Raja Debi Bakhsh Singh his estates, the principal bough was broken off by a hurricane. The second yet remains, and with it are bound up the fortunes of the descendants of Bhawani Singh. The heir of Bhinga, Raja Datt Singh, was quite a boy when, within a few years of the beginning of the seventeenth century, the death of his father put him at the head of his clan. The warlike instincts called into action, and invigorated with the prestige of a first success by his predecessor, found in him a worthy leader, and elevated him before the end of his reign to the first position among the trans-Gogra lords. story relates that, while he was yet a child, a Brahman woman came to pray for redress against the Pathans of Bahraich, who had cruelly mutilated her, cutting His widowed mother tried in vain to keep him in off her left breast. ignorance of the outrage, and putting himself at the head of his clan forces, he retaliated by a raid on Bahraich, during which he cut off the breasts of every Musalman woman who fell into his power. His next exploit was towards the south, where the Tirhi had hitherto bounded his raj, and the close neighbourhood of the Kalhans of Guwarich to Gonda rendered aa extension of frontier in that direction as urgently necessary as it had been to the west during his father's time. His standard was joined by the Utraula Pathans, who remained, till annexation, the most faithful of the Their combined forces gained an easy victory the allies of his house. whole of the chieftainships of Paraspur and Ata were annexed to Gonda, and the new boundary was marked by a pot of charcoal buried at Chunia Dih, a village about two miles to the south of the town of Paraspur. The most celebrated and critical of his wars was with Alawal Khan, the Bahraich Pathan, who had been appointed by the new subahdai, Nawab Saadat Khan, his lieutenant for the trans-Gogra provinces. His first visit to Gonda was received with apparent cordiality, but only served, in fact, to confirm the mutual hatred which already existed.

A



Datt Singh was of a mean stature, and when the gigantic Muhammadan enfolded him in his embrace, he took advantage of the fact to lift him in his arms, and smile over his shoulder at the assembled chiefs. He then begged to be introduced to Bhawani Singh, but Datt Singh was not anxious to expose his brother to a like indignity, and presented for him Bhairon Rae, the tallest of the Gor^ha Bisens, who retaliated on the ndzim by lifting him off his feet. Both parties for the time dissembled their rage but, on the nazim's return to Fyzabad, the raja absolutely declined to pay the Government revenue which was demanded of him. What followed is preserved in a contemporary ballad of remarkable spirit, which is the favourite piece in the repertoire of local minstrels. The nawab commissioned Alawal Khan to reduce the refractory chieftain, and he left Fyzabad with a considerable Muhanamadan force, and a vaunt that he would bring Datt Singh to his master's feet, and make, his own encampment at Gonda. The Gogra was crossed at Pa^ka in Guwdrich, and the Kalhans of that pargana, smarting under their recent defeat and despoliation, flocked eagerly to his standard. His enemy seems to have established an advanced post