Page:History of the French in India.djvu/97

 CHAN DA SAHIB TAKES TK1CHINAPALL1. 75 In her distress, the Rani appealed to Dost Ali for assist- chap. ance. The opportunity was too tempting to be fore- IIL gone. Dost Ali despatched a force, of which his son Safdar Ali was the nominal, his son-in-law Chanda Sahib the real, commander, to take possession of the disputed territories. The kingdom was soon overrun ; the capital alone bade defiance to the invaders. Of this, however, Chanda Sahib obtained possession the 26th April, 1736, on taking an oath,* that his troops should be employed only in the service of the Eani. But he kept this oath only until Trichinapalli was in his power; he then imprisoned the Ram, and being invested by Safdar Ali, who returned to Arkat with plenary powers, he assumed the government as lieutenant for his father- in-law. While in that position he continued to main- tain intimate relations with the French. Adjoining Trichinapalli, lying between it and the Koromandel coast, lay the Hindu kingdom of Tanjur. This was bounded on the north side by the river Kolriin, which falls into the sea about thirty miles below Pondi- chery. Tanjur, one of the conquests of Shahji, father of the famous Sfvaji, had been bestowed in perpetuity by the latter on his brother V enkaji. Venkaji was succeeded by his son Tukaji. This latter, dying in the month of February 1738, left behind him three sons — Baba Sahib, and Sahuji, legitimate, the third, Partab Singh, the offspring of a concubine. Baba Sahib succeeded to the sovereignty, but died, the same year, without issue. After a short interregnum, during which Sa'id Khan, the Muhammadan commandant of Tanjur, raised two candidates only to cause them immediately to disappear, the surviving legitimate son, Sahuji, obtained possession of power. But in a very short time Sa'icl Khan brought the country believed that the Rani of the oath, because he had taken it had fallen in love with Chanda Sa- upon a brick instead of upon the Ku- hib; hut the story is improbable. ran— the brick having been wrapped Chanda Sahib may have considered upintheusualcoveringof the Knran.
 * Orme states that the people of himself free from the responsibility