The myrmidons of the minister, when they found that one had escaped,
were afraid to murder the others, but took their treasure. In spite
of great obstacles, and with much danger to the families of three of
those men, who resided in the capital of Tehri, the magistrate of
Sagar brought the crime home to the minister, and the Raja, anxious
to avail himself of the occasion to fill his coffers, got him
assassinated. The Raja was then about eighty years of age, and his
minister was a strong, athletic, and brave man. One morning while he
was sitting with him in private conversation, the former pretended a
wish to drink some of the water in which his household god had been
washed (the 'chandan mirt'),[5] and begged the minister to go and
fetch it from the place where it stood by the side of the idol in the
court of the palace. As a man cannot take his sword before the idol,
the minister put it down, as the Raja knew he would, and going to the
idol, prostrated himself before it preparatory to taking away 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.
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