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GON
561
Utraula acted as his haraul, carrying the standard at the head of his army, and receiving from him a fixed honorary stipend while within the boundaries of his raj. The district under his immediate rule covered the present parganas of Gonda, Mahadewa, Nawabganj, Digsar, Paharapur, and half Guwarich, while a brother reigned in Bhinga, and a son in Manikapur. The Kanhpurias of Tiloi may have carried their arms over fourteen parganas, but the whole country of which they claimed the zamindari was broken up into a number of strong chieftainships, many of them nearly as powerful separately as their nominal suzerain, and their precarious domination became quite extinct in the third generation. The Bisen of Gonda had no rival, and was absolute master in the territory submitted to his sway; nor was his power broken till the mutiny swept it away. The leading men among his subjects were the Bhayyas, the younger branches of his own family, and the heads of the other clans of Bisens settled in Gonda and after them the principal Brahman houses, who still hold the villages which were in their possession during his chieftainship. The sword song which commemorates his victory over Alawal Khan records among the leaders of his militia the Tiwaris of Aya, the Sukuls of Pharenda, the Pandes of Bangain, and many others whose names are well-known to the settlement officer. To the south, along the banks of the river, were settled a number of small clans of Chhattris, Sombansis, Kalhans, Bais, and Naipurias but though, as subjects, they were strong enough to make most valuable elements in his army, there was not a family from the Kuwana to the Gogra which could by any possibility become dangerous as an enemy.
His son, Baja Udatt Singh, succeeded him, and like his father retained the engagement of the whole of his raj as a separate revenue division under the Lucknow Government. He was more given to religion than war, and gave rise to the proverb, which is still repeated with a regretful recollection of past glories
" Shil,
aarohi,
surowan gaye Datt ke
satli
Jtanjh, majira khanjhari rahe Bisen ke hath."
"With Datt went
courage, the sword and the warrior left the tinkling instruments of the fa<jir."
To the Bisen were
raja made several expeditions to Muttra, and, in imitation of there, built the picturesque edifice in the artificial lake to the west of Gonda. His favourite saint was one Goshain Antipsinand, who dwelt on the spot now occupied by the sarae ; but even his patience was exhausted
The devout
a temple
•
discovered that the holy man was in the habit of paying clandestine the rani's apartments; and, meeting him one day as he issued from the house, he drew his sword upon him. The saint saved himself by a convincing proof of his innocence, whose miraculous character will, however, hardly make it fit for print. Indignant at the unworthy suspicions of the raja, Antipanand gave utterance to the following enigmatical prophecy, which of course came exactly true
when he
visits to
" Je bhage te mare pahar, Je baohe te Ghagrapar, Hamen mitae te mit jae,
Bahut
raj
" He who
He
Badna par
ae."
shall die on the mountain. who escapes shall be beyond Gogra, would destroy me, he shall be destroyed flies
Who A
great rSj shall come upon Badna."
NN
