Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/287

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Jhánsí.
257

loyal sipáhís occupied Ságar, but not one foot of territory beyond it. The districts of Ságar, Chandérí, Jhánsí, Lalitpur, and Jáláun continued until that period to be overrun by rebels. The Rájá of Bánpur, and others of lesser note, boldly asserted their independence.

At Jabalpur, the headquarters of the territories, the 52d N. I. continued for a long time in the performance of their duty. But in September they too mutinied. They were attacked, however, and completely defeated by a body of Madras troops which had been sent up from Kámthí. They then dispersed, but nevertheless refrained from ravaging the country.

The energetic and far-sighted Ternan, of whom I have already spoken, managed, by means of his good understanding with the natives, to clear the rebels from his district, that of Narsinhpur. The district of Nagód was not so fortunate. The 50th N. I., there located, feigned loyalty for a time, but broke out on the 27th of August, when they coolly dismissed their officers and inaugurated a system of plunder. They, too, formed a part of the rebel force which resisted the progress of Sir Hugh Rose.

It remains now to speak of Jhánsí. The city of Jhánsí was the capital of a dependency which, in the break-up of the Mughal empire which followed the death of Aurangzíb, had been appropriated by one of the Maráthá officers serving the Peshwá, and to him confirmed by sanad.[1] The territory so appropriated comprised nearly 1608 square miles, and a population of a quarter of a million. As long as the Peshwá continued to exercise authority in Western India the Maráthá officer and his successors administered the territory as vassals of that prince. But on the downfall of the Peshwá, in 1817-8, Jhánsí, with its other territories, was transferred to the British. The ruler

  1. Sanad, a patent grant or charter issuing from the Government.