m8 



W EST ERN HIND003TAN. 



Ev-DNORE. 



RanaBidda- 



LURA. 



Its HisreRY. 



" Our fmall body, flufhcd with fuccefs, immediately proceeded 

 " with the bayonet, and never flopped till they gained the fum- 

 " mit of the (5^2^^, under W heavy -catinonading all the way." 



Bednore, the <§re:it object of the fatal expedition, ftands on the 

 vaft plains of the fame name, at about nine miles diftance from 

 the edge of the Ghauts. It is the prefent capital of the country, 

 Ixut fince it is come into pofleflion of Ayder Ali^ the name is 

 changed, in honor of him, to Ayder Nager, or the royal city of 

 Ayder. In the hiftory of Ayder, i. 83 *, as a place of uncommon 

 fplendor, beauty, and magnitude, with ftreets two leagues in 

 length, every houfe in the centre of a luxuriant garden, filled 

 with trees, and watered with hmpid ftreams. It was the capital 

 of the ancient kingdom of Canhara, and was called Rana Bid- 

 dahira. Ayder polTefTed himfelf of this place, and the whole of 

 the rich province, by the following accident. The fon of the 

 reigning Queen of Canhara lied to Ayder, imploring his prote<5tion 

 and his afliftance to put him in poiTeffion of his kingdom, which 

 his mother kept from him in a moft iniquitous manner. Ayder 

 acceded to his petition, marched againft the ufurprefs, defeated 

 her army, and, in the end, reconciled the contending parties. She 

 received Ayder with every mark of refpeift, and even lodged him 

 in the royal palace. Under this mafk flie, in concert with her 

 hujfband (for flie had married a fecond, a Brahmin) determined 

 on his dellrudtion by the mofl horrid means, that of blowing him 

 up in the palace with gunpowder. A fubordinate Brahmin dif- 



* By M. M. D. L. T. (de la Tour) General of ten thoufand men in the Mogul empire, 

 and formerly commander in chief of the artillery of Ayder Ali, and of a body of European 

 troops in the fcrvlce of that prince. His work is not in the higheft efteem. 



covered 



