1850.] or Chronicles of Tripurd. 547 



his father soon after died of small pox having reigned 47 years, his 

 corpse was followed to the pyre by a great number of women. 



Ananta Manik succeeded to the throne by the help of his father-in- 

 law the quondam cook, with whom Ananta always dined. After the 

 king reigned 1^ years he was strangled at the instigation of his father- 

 in-law who mounted the throne under the title of TJdaya Manik. His 

 daughter demanded to burn as a sati with her husband, but this was 

 refused, she then claimed the throne and was allowed to be Rani of 

 Chandipur, while Udaya made Rangamati his capital, which he adorned 

 with beautiful buildings, temples, and tanks, changing its name to 

 Udayapur. He kept 240 wives who were so dissolute that they per- 

 suaded not only other men but even the prince of Gaur to cohabit with 

 them, as he was on a visit to the Raja of Tripura. When the Raja heard 

 of it, he had some of them trampled to death by elephants, and others 

 devoured alive by dogs. As the Patans were marching on Chittagong, 

 the Tripura troops were sent to attack them, which they did during 

 the night, notwithstanding the unfavourable omens of the flapping of 

 the vulture's wings, falling of fire from the sky and the barking of foxes. 

 The Tripura troops were routed with a loss of 40,000 men while the 

 Patans lost only 5,000. The war lasted for five years. Udaya Manik 

 died five years after this from having taken a poisoned pill of quick- 

 silver given by a woman. At this period numbers died from famine 

 and from disease the result of it. 



Jaya Manik, the son of the late king, succeeded, but only nominally, 

 as his uncle Runag Narayan had the real power ; as the latter saw that 

 Amara Manik had great influence, he asked him one day to dinner with 

 the intention of intoxicating and then killing him, but a friend at table 

 by cutting the stalk of a pan leaf hinted to him the intention of his 

 enemies, he pretended to be unwell retired from table and went instantly 

 to the stable — but the horse was gone ! on this he seized by force the 

 horse of a Khaista and made his escape. He soon rallied his friend's 

 sons around him and proceeded to attack Runag, he provided each of 

 his soldiers with a piece of cloth 9 feet long to strangle their enemies 



climbed a tree belonging to a Brahman who beat him so severely that he was driven 

 from the place in great disgrace, he became a cook to the Raja, then a Chaukidar, 

 afterwards having taken an oath on the Salagram he was appointed Commander- 

 in-Chief and his daughter was subsequently married to the Raja's son. 



