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 CHANDA SAIIIB ATTACKED BY MAR AT HAS. 80 a yearly revenue of 10,000 rupees. This cession was chap. soon afterwards confirmed by a firman from the Court k After a stay of several days in Pondichery the visitors left, Safdar Ali with his father's family proceeding to Arkat, Chanda Sahib, leaving his wife and family with their jewels in Pondichery, making his way alone to Trichinapalli. To the immediate fortunes of this chief- tain we must now turn our attention. That M. Dumas had a strong idea that all danger from the Marathas had not passed away, is evident from the fact that even after their departure, he continued to labour at the fortifications and to store supplies. That he had communicated these suspicions to Chanda Sahib, and had induced him, on the strength of them, to leave his family and valuables at Pondichery, is extremly probable. Yet it is certain that Chanda Sahib had no sooner quitted Pondichery than he began to act in a manner entirely inconsistent with the idea that he had any fear of a second Maratha inroad. During the first invasion, he had taken the precaution to store Trichinapalli with grain, under the conviction that with ample supplies within the walls, the fortifications were strong enough to keep out the Marathas for an indefi- nite period. But no sooner had he returned from his visit to Pondichery, than, as though he felt assured of the future, he sold the grain, and so far from thinking that any necessity to defend his own territories could arise, he began to entertain a design of adding to them, and sent for that purpose his brother, Bara Sahib, to Madura. This was in the end of November. An account of the movements of Bara Sahib and the un- provided state of Trichinapalli was quickly conveyed to Raghuji, who at the head of his Marathas, had retired only to Sivaganga, some eighty miles in a southerly direction from the capital. The news was that for which Raghuji had been waiting. Without an hour's of Delhi. 1740.