We did
shoot him, however", said the Raja exultingly, "and they were all
afterwards very glad of it. The tigers in the Tarai do not often kill
men, sir, for they find plenty of deer and cattle to eat,"'
CHAPTER 21
Burning of Deori by a Freebooter--A Suttee.
Sarimant had been one of the few who escaped from the flames which
consumed his capital of Deori in the month of April 1813, and were
supposed to have destroyed thirty thousand souls. I asked him to tell
me how this happened, and he referred me to his attendant, a learned
old pundit, Ram Chand, who stood by his side, as he was himself, he
said, then only five years of age, and could recollect nothing of it.
'Mardan Singh,' said the pundit, 'the father of Raja Arpan Singh,
whom you saw at Seori, was then our neighbour, reigning over Garha
Kota;[1] and he had a worthless nephew, Zalim Singh, who had
collected together an army of five thousand men, in the hope of
getting a little principality for himself in the general scramble for
dominion incident on the rise of the Pindharis and Amir Khan,[2] and
the destruction of all balance of power among the great sovereigns of
Central India.
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