HISTORY OF CASHMIR. 79 



deserved the success she enjoyed : his death however was the ruin of her 

 credit, if not of her power, and she appears hereafter in the character on- 

 ly of a cruel, libidinous, and ambitious woman. 



At this period Abhimanyu died, our author says of a consumption : Mo- 

 hammed Azim asserts that he was poisoned by his mother. The former ac- 

 count, however, is most trust-worthy, especially as corroborated by the 

 sequel, which represents her as engaged for a year afterwards, in laying 

 the foundations of cities, and pious and public edifices, in order to dispel 

 her grief. In this way she is said to have founded Cancanapur and Didda- 

 pur Matlias, for the Saura and Lata Brahmans, and the temples of Abhiman- 

 yu Sivdmi and Didda Swdmi ; several Chatur Solas or Serais, and many 

 Vihdrs, and to have made the conflux of the Smdh and Vitasta a place 

 of great sanctity. At the end of twelve months, however, her ambition reviv- 

 ed, and upon reassuming the administration she thought it advisable to rid 

 herself of her grandson Nandigupta, who had succeeded his father, and 

 whom she put to death. 



Tribhuvana, another grandson, was next placed upon the throne, but 

 speedily shared the fate of his brother, and a third named Bhimagupta 

 was elevated to the dangerous distinction. Didda now chose anew favorite, 

 and a Cliasa named Tung a, originally a keeper of buffaloes, and subse- 

 quently a courier in the service of the minister, enjoyed her affection and 

 favours. He soon acquired the ascendancy at court, and thrust himself and 

 his five brothers into all the most important posts, The intrusion of this up- 

 start race, was warmly resented by the Cashmirian nobles, who called to 

 their assistance Vigraha Vaga, a nephew of the queen's, and a man of 

 high spirit and great power: Tung a was obliged to resign his newly ac- 

 quired authority, and preserved his life only by the interference of the 

 Brahmans, whom the bribes of the queen had induced to intercede. Vigra- 

 ha, finding it impracticable therefore to afford that redress to the Cashmi- 

 rians which they had solicited, retired to his own territory, and left the as- 

 cendancy to be recovered by the favorite of the queen, who notwithstand- 



