Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/157

 CHAPTER XI

Nepál and Oudh

At this period the State of Nepál was very unsettled. The Mahárájá had proceeded to Benares on a pilgrimage, to expiate the guilt which might attach to himself and his family in consequence of the assassination of thirty-five chiefs in the Audience Hall at Khatmandu. He was accompanied by the Rání and her two children, while the heir-apparent remained behind with the Minister, Jang Bahádúr. The latter was himself deeply implicated in the murder of the chiefs, under the orders, it is alleged, of the Rání, in revenge for the assassination of her principal Minister.

These proceedings were involved in much mystery, but the following is an outline of the story as reported at the time to the Governor-General. The Minister of the Rání had been shot during his devotions. On hearing the news, the Rání hastened to the spot with her female attendants, and, taking the Sword of State in her own hands, walked on foot to the Audience Hall in the Palace. Jang Bahádúr, who was then in command of the army, observed that, as the Rání had been invested with full powers, it behoved