Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/247

 RAE 239 six parganas attached to Purwa (i.e., all the Baiswara parganas in Unao except Mauránwán), as he would then be nearest the seat of Government, and be best able to keep on good terms with the Governor. Achal Singh was received into high favour by Mansur Ali Khan, who entrusted to him the collection of revenue throughout all Baiswara. Udat Singh was less fortunate. The Simbasi and Naihesta branches combined to recover their former possessions in Pátan Bihár. Amar Singh (Simbasi), ancestor of the present Rána Raghunáth, and Chet Ráe of Pachhimgaon, were their leaders, and defeated the force of Udat and Achal Singh in a battle in which Udat lost his life. Achal Singh retired to his fort at Purwa greatly dispirited, and when his enemies determined to attack him there, it was with great difficulty that he was persuaded to try the chance of a second battle. But in the meantime something had re-opened the old quarrel between the Simbassis and Naihesta, and Chet Ráe withdrew his forces in the middle of the fight, Amar Singh in consequence was totally defeated, and lost even those attend- ants of victory in which a Rajput's pride is so much wrapped up, bis nagáras or kettle-drums. Achal Singh sent them to Daundia Khera to be carefully kept by the head of the house, and they were there till the rebellion broke out, and probably were destroyed when the fort of Daundia Khera was taken by Sir H. Grant in April, 1858. Not long before the anneration Ráng Baghanath Singh sent to Ráo Bám Bakhsh Singh to negotiate about their restoration, to which the Ráo replied that the only way in which they could be recovered was the same as the way in which they had been lost. This challenge the rána did not care to take up. In 1655, when Shujá-ud-daula had been defeated by the Company's troops at Buxar, he fled along the banks of the Ganges to Farukhabad. As he passed Daundia Khera, Rúo Raghunath Singh shut his gates on him, and refused not only to admit him, but also to assist him with pro- visions and men. He then pursued his way till he reached Harha where Achal Singh was at the time, and was received by him with every mark of sympathy and respect. Achal gave him both supplies and men, and as he was travelling too lightly to carry a large treasury with him, sent a quarter's revenue, which was due from Baiswára, to him at Farukhabad. The province was so much disturbed that he had to conceal the money in fagots of wood, which he put on men's heads, who thus passed through the country unmolested. When peace was restored, Shujá-ud-daula marked his grati- tude by showing him the highest favour and remitting three lakhs from the revenue assessment of Baiswara, and also by conferring the title of rája--an honour which strange to say has been acknowledged and confirmed by the people. This is perhaps the only case in which a title conferred by Government on a Rajput Taluqdar has met with the sanction of the brotherhood, and has taken root in popular parlance,