BENARES 
97 
drunk, that business is quite out of the question till a night's rest 
has rendered them capable of returning to their duty. 
March 10. — I took an early breakfast, and immediately after- 
wards Mr. Neave called to attend me in my visit to the princes, 
sons of Mirza Jewan Bukht Jehander Shah, and to his widow 
.Kutluc Sultaun Begum. He was the eldest son of the present king, 
and the same person who waited on Mr. Hastings when at Lucknow, 
to request assistance for his father. He failed in this applica- 
tion, but procured a settlement for himself of ^5 ,000 rupees per 
month. He resided till his death at Benares, and left three sons. 
The eldest, Shegofta Bukht, is, in direct descent, heir to the throne, 
and has that title cut on his seal. His mother, however, was not 
the first wife, being a woman of no consequence. The second, 
Mirza Khorum, is the son of the Begum, herself of the royal house of 
Timour, and as such is more respected by the British. It does not 
seem improbable, that if the English take any part in the disposal 
of the throne on the death of the present king, they will support 
the pretensions of this man. It is said that Shah AUum will leave 
it to a younger son, who resides with him at Delhi, and actually 
sits beside him on the mi^snud. The right of inheritance is so in- 
definite by the Mahomedan law, that it is impossible to say, who 
has the best claim ; nor is it of much consequence, as force will 
decide. If we do not interfere, the Mahrattas will settle the busi- 
ness.* There is also a third son by a dancing-girl, who is quite 
* Since I left India, the old king has closed his days in peace, under the protection 
of the English^ as he ventured to hope he should do, in his beautiful poem on his loss 
of sight. His favourite son succeeded him. All political inducements for our inter- 
ference with this arrangement were removed, by the annihilation of Scindiah's and 
Perron's influence at the court of Delhi. 
