Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/294

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The Dominions of Sindhiá.

assumed the upper hand. Their further action depended upon the result of the operations before Dehlí.

Nor, although the Mahárájá Sindhiá was loyal to the core, was it otherwise in the dominions of that potentate. The straggling dominions of Sindhiá contained an area of 19,500 square miles, and comprised the towns of Gwáliár, Nárwár, Bhilsá, Ujjain, Rutlám, and the British cantonment of Nímach.

We have seen how the Gwáliár contingent mutinied on the 14th of June. The contingent represented the feelings of the people over whom the Mahárájá ruled. But he never wavered. Contrasting the British overlordship with the probable result of the triumph of the sipáhís — and of the Mughal — he recognised that the welfare of himself and his people depended upon the ultimate success of the British arms — and he acted accordingly.

The station of Nímach lies 371 miles to the south-west of Dehlí. The garrison there consisted of the 72d Regiment N. I., the 7th Regiment of the Gwáliár contingent, and the wing of the 1st Bengal Cavalry. These troops rose in revolt the 3d of June. The officers and their families escaped to Udaipur. Subsequently Nímach was the scene of many events pertaining more to the history of Rájpútána. The sipáhís ultimately made their way to Dehlí.

To the north-west of the territory which bears the geographical name of Central India lies the province of Rájpútána, one of the most interesting provinces of India. From the time of the departure of the great Lord Wellesley, 1805, to the close of the Pindárí war, 1818, the princes and people of Rájpútána had suffered from the want of an overlordship which should protect them against a foreign foe. The treatment which they endured at that period was still fresh in the memory, alike of princes and people, when the mutiny of 1857 broke out. From the moment