en Hyder,
declared to the Resident that the boy was not his grandson, and that
his son, Nuseer-od Deen, pretended that he was his son merely to
please his imperious mother, the Padshah Begum, and to annoy his
father, with whom they were both on bad terms. Ghazee-od Deen had,
however, before his death declared that he believed Moonna Jan to be
his grandson.* In February, 1832, the King, Nuseer-od Deen Hyder,
first through the minister, and then in person, assured the Resident
that neither of the boys was his son, and requested that he would
report the same to his Government, and assure the Governor-General
"that both reports, as to these boys being sons of his, were false,
and arose from the same cause, _bribery_ and _ambition_, that Mulika
Zumanee had paid many lacs of rupees to influential people about him
to persuade him to call her son his, and declare him heir-apparent to
the throne; and that Fazl Allee and Sookcheyn had done the same to
induce others to persuade him to acknowledge Moonna Jan to be his
son. But, said his Majesty, I know positively that he is not my son,
and my father knew the same."

[* I believe that Ghazee-od Deen's first repudiation of Moonna Jan
arose entirely from a desire to revenge himself upon his termagant
wife, whose furious temper left him no peace. She was, from his
birth, very fond of the boy; and to question his legitimacy was to
wound her in her tenderest point. This was the "raw" which her
husband established, and which his son and successor afterwards
worked upon.]

The wary minister then, to clench the matter, remarked that his
Majesty had mentioned to him that he had ceased to cohabit with
Moonna Jan's mother for twenty-four months before the boy was born;
and the King assured the Resident that this was quite true. Hakeem
Mehndee was as anxious as Aga Meer had been to keep the King
estranged from his imperious mother, and the only sure way was to
make him persist in repudiating the boy or postponing his claim to
the succession.

Mulika Zumanee's influence over the king had, however, been eclipsed,
first, by Miss Walters, Mokuddera Ouleea, whose history has already
been given; secondly, by the beautiful Taj Mahal; and, thirdly, by
the Kuduseea Begum. She entered the palace as a waiting-woman to
Mulika Zumanee, and, on the 17th of December, 1831, the King married
her; and from that day till her death, on the 21st of August, 1834,
she reigned supreme in the palace and in the Kin