Page:Report of a Tour Through the Bengal Provinces of Patna, Gaya, Mongir and Bhagalpur; The Santal Parganas, Manbhum, Singhbhum and Birbhum; Bankura, Raniganj, Bardwan and Hughli in 1872-73.djvu/104

80 and eloped with him. Seodhar pursued and overtook them, but his wife refused to return, telling him, with unmeasured contempt, that as he had neglected her when she lived with him, it was now too late to run after her. But Seodhar would not listen; he and Lori fought, and he was overpowered, and Lori and Chandáin then went leisurely on. On the road near Baragaon, where the headless statue now lies, they met the chief of the juwaris or gamblers, named Mahapatia, a Dosâd by caste from Juafar. Lori wanted to play a game with him, and the two sat down and played till Lori lost everything he had, including Chandáin. Mahapatia now got up to seize her, but she said, I have indeed been staked and lost, but the jewels on my person were not staked, so play one game more with the jewels for a stake. The gambler sat down to play, and Chandáin went behind her lover Lori, and stood facing the gambler, apparently watching the game. She pretended to be so absorbed in the game, that, as it were unconsciously, she gathered up her petticoat into her hand, exposing her person. The gambler overcome by her beauty and by lust, could not take his eyes off her, and he began losing, till Lori had not only won back all he had lost, but also all that the gambler had, who at last ceased playing. Now Chandáin came forward and told Lori what she had done, and how the man had greedily looked on her. "Kill this infamous man, that he may not boast of having seen me exposed," she said. Lori was a very powerful man; his sword weighed two maunds, and was named Bijádhar. With one stroke of it he sent the gambler's head flying to Juafar, while his body fell where he was seated, and both have since turned to stone. Lori was the son of a Gwâla named Budhkithai; he had been married to a girl in the village Agori, now Rajauli, on the road from Hâzaribagh to Bihár, but his wife Satmanain was not of age, and the gauná had not yet been performed. She had a sister named Lûrki. Lori had a brother, Semru, who, being an orphan, had been brought up by Lori’s father as a son. He lived near Agori, at a village which, from the circumstance of his having been brought up as an adopted son, "pâlak," was named Pâli; the place is said to be a few miles north of Rajauli.

Lori and Chandáin now went on to Hardui, a place said to be two days' march (manzils) from Mongir on the north. Here they fought with and defeated the Raja and conquered the country. The expelled Raja sued for aid at the Court of the Raja of Kalinga, and succeeded with his aid in capturing