Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/222

HER HIGHNESS NAWAB SEKUNDER BEGUM, G.C.S.I. being of weak intellect, took no very prominent part in public affairs; and for some years during his life and after his death Bhopal was the scene of continued struggles among the Afghan chiefs and the members of the family. Bhopal had, however, attracted attention, and on the return of the Peshwah, Bajee Rao, from Delhi, he encamped with his army near Bhopal, and demanded restitution in the Emperors name of all the lands usurped by the family. Had they resisted then they would have lost all, but they made considerable sacrifices to save a portion, which was guaranteed to them by treaty. At this period the revenues of the Bhopal state were about twenty lacs (£2OO,OOO) per annum. It was during the administration of Fonlad Khan, by birth a Gond, but who had been adopted by Hyat Mahomed Khan, that General Goddard, at the head of a brigade of the Bengal army, marched across India to the assistance of the Bombay troops against the Mahrattas, and was entertained at Bhopal with true kindness and hospitality, and his progress was furthered by every possible, means. This was the first acquaintance of the Bhopal family with the English, and the mutual attachment has never been broken. The ruler himself, unless a man of vigour and ability, seems to have been of little account among this turbulent Pathan family. Fonlad Khan was killed in a family quarrel, and the Begum, wife of Yar Mahomed, who appears to have been actual ruler, chose Chutta Khan as dewan or minister, who advanced the interests of the state and the prosperity of the people very materially, and to the last had the confidence of his princess, one of the most remarkable women of her time.

This successor to Chutta Khan, who was killed in an engagement with members of the family, was Moreed Mahomed Khan, a tyrant and a traitor, who, to protect himself, called in the aid of the Mahrattas, but they were forced to retire by Vizier Khan. They, however, advanced against Bhopai, and besieged the place for nine months; but it was obstinately defended, and they were obliged to retire. On the death of Vizier Mahomed, his second son Nuzzur Mahomed succeeded him. At the commencement of the campaign of 1817, an engagement was entered into by the British at Hooshungabad, with the actual ruler of the country, Nuzzur Mahomed, guaranteeing the Bhopal territory to him and his family, and stipulating for his aiding the British Government with a contingent. He received the fort of Islamnuggur as a reward for his services, and all the original possessions of Bhopal were restored to him. This brave and good prince was killed by an accident; he was playing with his infant daughter, and had laid by his pistols, when his brother-in-law, Fonjdar Khan, then a child eight years old, began playing with one of them, when it accidentally went off and killed the prince. His death was deeply deplored by all classes. After the death of Nuzzur Mahomed there was a dispute regarding the succession, but it ended in the daughter of Nuzzur Mahomed Khan, the present Sekunder Begum, marrying