Page:Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.djvu/220

216 tion was at first confined to his own dominions, was afterwards transmitted by his orders to various places in the Nizám's territory, with the object of inducing all true believers to join his standard, and to aid him in exterminating the English from India. In writing to the Mughal Emperor in the previous year he said: –

'This steadfast believer, with a view to the support of the firm religion of Muhammad, undertook the chastisement of the Nazarene tribe, who, unable to maintain the war I waged against them, solicited peace in the most abject manner. With the divine aid and blessing of God, it is now again my steady determination to set about the total extirpation and destruction of the enemies of the faith.'

He apparently took little heed about disguising his real sentiments, although at the same time carrying on a professedly amicable correspondence with the English Government. But of his habitual duplicity there are ample proofs. For example, when his troops were besieging the fort of Nargúnd. previously mentioned, he instructed his commander Búrhán-ud-dín to temporize, and employ every means, 'fair or foul,' to induce the besieged to surrender the place.

Allusion has been made in a previous chapter to the wholesale deportation of the unfortunate people of Coorg. The Sultán in his memoirs gives the following account of his proceedings at Zafírábád, as he chose to call Merkára, the capital: –

'It is the custom with you for the eldest of five brothers to marry, and for the wife of such brother to be common to