Page:The Aristocracy of Southern India.djvu/88

68 enterd the temple dedicated to Sarweswar; and in the course of his usual prayer, he mentioned the object of his visit to the place. The very night, the god, Sarweswar, appeared in a dream to the king of Nandapur, and said that an accomplished prince was present at the temple, and that he was by far the best qualified to receive the hand of his (King's) daughter. This was a surprise to the latter but as he had had no male issue he thought that he had better make the prince his son-in-law, should he be endowed with all the accomplishments as detailed by the god in the dream. With this resolve he went to the temple where, to his surprise and wonder, he beheld the prince dressed shabbily. The coarse garments were lost sight of in the contemplation of his fine form, his upright gait and the intellectual cast of his countenance. After mature deliberation, the King arrived at the conclusion that, as regards the new-comer the prince and his daughter the princess, should he resolve to unite their hands, there would be no circumstance to raise a suspicion of an inequality of social grades to present an insuperable barrier to their union. The prince related to the King the circumstances that took him to the place; thereupon the latter took the former to his house and made him his son-in-law, entrusting to him the management of the State. The new king, named Vinaik Singh Deo, governed the place by a strict adherence to the laws then in existence and by a mixture of moderation and firmness he succeeded in maintaining the peace. For some reason or other, the people of the place rose against him and as he was unable to subdue their turbulence, he had no other alternative than to attempt to find his way back to his native country. In his wanderings he came in contact with one Bonijaro (merchant) Naik, by name Lobinia, who helped the