way the
water. In that state he was cut down by Bihari,[6] another feudal
Rajput baron, who aspired to the seals, and some of his friends, who
had been placed there on purpose by the Raja. He obtained the seals
by his service, and, as he was allowed to place one brother in
command of the forces, and to make another chamberlain, he hoped to
retain them longer than any of his predecessors had done. Gambhir
Singh's brother, Jhujhar Singh, and the husband of his sister,
hearing of his murder, made off, but were soon pursued and put to
death. The widows were all three put into prison, and all the
property and estates were confiscated. The movable property amounted
to three lakhs of rupees.[7] The Raja boasted to the Governor-
General's representative in Bundelkhand of this act of retributive
justice, and pretended that it was executed merely as a punishment
for the robbery; but it was with infinite difficulty the merchants
could recover from him any share of the plundered property out of
that confiscated. The Raja alleged that, according to our _rules_,
the chief within whose boundary the robbery might have been
committed, was obliged to make good the property. On inspection, it
was found that the robbery was perpetrated upon the very boundary
line, and 'in spite of pride, in erring reason's spite', the Jhansi
Raja was made to pay one-half of the plundered treasure.

The old Raja, Bikramajit, died in June, 1834; and, though his death
had been some time expected, he no sooner breathed his last than
charges of 'dinai', slow poison, were got up, as usual, in the zenana
(seraglio).

Here the widow of Raja Bahadur, a violent and sanguinary woman, was
supreme; and she persuaded the present Raja, a weak old man, to take
advantage of the funeral ceremonies to avenge the death of his
brother. He did so; and Bihari, and his three brothers, with above
fifty of his relations, were murdered. The widows of the four
brothers were the only members of all the families left alive. One of
them had a son four months old; another one of two years; the four
brothers had no other children. Immediately after the death of their
husbands, the two children were snatched from their mothers' breasts,
and threatened with instant death unless their mothers pointed out
all their ornaments and other property. They did so; and the spoilers
having got from them property to the amount of one hundred and fifty
thousand rupees, and been assured that there was