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 BILASPUR.

448 every

member

women, and

number of over 400 men With the diwdn, most of the records of the

of the small community, to the

children.

dynasty perished.

iMohan Singh, of the Raipur house, a young man, was generally regarded as the But Mohan Singh chanced to be away on Raja’s destined successor. a hunting expedition, when Raj Singh was thrown violently from his Finding himself near death, and the young man not appearing, horse. the Raja placed the pagri on the head of Sardar Singh. A few days After these

and

vigorous

after

occurrences

attractive

Raj Singh’s death, Mohan Singh arrived, but only to find Sardar In a fit of rage he departed, muttering that he installed.

Singh duly

would yet return and assume the government. Sardar Singh, however, ruled quietly for twenty years, and was succeeded, in 1732, by his brother Raghunath Singh, a man over sixty years old. Eight years later the Maratha general, Bhaskar Panth, invaded Bilaspur with an army of 40,000 men. At that time Raghunath Singh was bowed down by a heavy sorrow, having lately lost his only son. The heart-broken old man made no attempt to defend himself, and gave no sign till part Then one of of his palace was already in ruins from the enemy’s fire. Thus the Ram's mounted the parapet and exhibited a flag of truce. The Maraingloriously ended the rule of the Haihai Bans! dynasty. thas, after exacting a heavy fine and pillaging the country, permitted the fallen Raja to carry on the government in the name of the Bhonslas. Meantime Mohan Singh had become a favourite of Raghuji Bhonsla and on the death of Raghunath Singh, the ambition of his youth was In 1758, Bimbaji Bhonsla sucgratified by his installation as Raja. ceeded, and ruled at Ratanpur for nearly thirty years; and when he died, his widow, Anandi Bai, held the real authority till about 1800.

From

this

time

till

the deposition of Apa Sahib by the British in 1818,

The occupation of a succession of subahddrs misgoverned Bilaspur. the District by a iSIaratha army, the raids of the Pindan's, and the exactions of the subahddrs or deputies, had half ruined the country,

From was placed under Colonel Agnew’s superintendence. In 1830 the last Raghuji came of it has begun to improve. On the lapse of the age, and ruled from that time until his death. Nagpur Province to the British Government in 1854, Chhatisgarh was formed into a separate Deputy Commissionership with head-quarters at Raipur ; but the charge proved too heavy for a single officer, and when

it

this date

finally,

in

a separate District, commade, the northern section of During the Mutiny, no disturbance occurred

1861, Bildspur was

constituted

prising, with the additions subsequently

the Chhatisgarh country. except at Sonakhan, a small estate

among

the

hills at

the south-eastern

corner of the District, the zaminddr of which, breaking out from Raipur jail, where he was confined on a charge of dacoity with murder, returned