1903.] Girindra Nafch Dutt— History of the Hutwa Raj. 61 



the rebellion of Cheyt Singh of Benares when Fateh Shahi with an en- 

 ormous army again invaded the country, but was driven away after 

 a hard struggle by the combined forces of Dhujjoo Singh and the English 

 under Captain Lucas. Fateh Shahi at last became a fakir in 1808, after 

 leading the life of a Robin Hood continuously for 18 years and a retired 

 life for 24 years. The armour which he used to wear is said to exist 

 still in the Tumcohi Raj. 



In 1785 when Government granted the zemindary of Hosseypore to 

 Babu Mohesh Dutt Shahi, son of Babu Basant Shahi, he died a little 

 before the birth of his posthumous son (afterwards Maharaja Bahadur), 

 Chatterdhari Shahi. On the 21st January, 1791, the Government of Lord 

 Cornwallis conferred on Chatterdhari Shahi, a minor of five years old, 

 the confiscated estate of Hosseypore which passed under the protection of 

 the Court of Wards, then newly formed. The Government of Lord Auck- 

 land on the 27th February, 1837, conferred on Chatterdhari Shahi the title 

 of "Maharajah Bahadur." Chatterdhari Shahi rendered valuable ser- 

 vices to British Government during the Mutiny of 1857-58 by placing the 

 whole resources of the Raj at the disposal of Government and, though a 

 very old man, himself fighting against the mutineers and restoring peace 

 and order in the District. As he died soon after the mutiny the 

 British Government granted to his successor, the 100th in descent, 

 Maharaja Rajendra Protap Shahi Bahadur, a perpetual rent-free Jaigir 

 in Shahabad,from the confiscated estates of the rebel Kuar Singh, yielding 

 an annual rental of Rs. 20,000. Rajendra Protap Shahi was installed 

 Maharaja Bahadur in 1858 and died in 1871. The great Hosseypore Raj 

 case by which the Privy Council decreed the estate to be an impartible 

 Raj descendible to the eldest son to the exclusion of all younger brothers 

 took place in his time. He was succeeded by his son the late Maharaja Sir 

 Krishna Protap Shahi Bahadur, K.C.I.E., the 101 in descent, under 

 whom the prosperity of the Hutwa Raj reached its zenith. He died in 

 October, 1896, leaving a son of four years old and a daughter, and the 

 Court of Wards has taken up the administration of the Raj during the 

 minority of the minor Maharaja Guru Mahadevasram Prosad Shahi. 



