MAHADAJEE SCINDIA. 
227 
so that at his death his successor found himself not 
only in possession of a vast extent of territory, hut 
also of a well-filled treasury. The mystery which 
hung over the origin of his family he never appears 
to have been at any pains to remove; but that he 
considered himself to be of Rajpoot descent seems 
to me to be more than probable from a circumstance 
mentioned by Colonel Tod, in a note at page 117, vol. i. 
of his Annals and Antiquities of Rajast’han. " On 
the death of Mahadajee Scindia,” says that writer in 
the note alluded to, “ the females of his family, in 
apprehension of his successor, sought refuge and pro- 
tection with the Rajah of Duttea. An army was 
sent to demand their surrender, and hostility was 
proclaimed as the consequence of refusal. This brave 
man would not even wait the attack, but at the head 
of a devoted band of three hundred horse, with their 
lances, carried destruction among their assailants, nei- 
ther giving nor receiving quarter, and thus he fell in 
defence of the laws of sanctuary and honour. Even 
when grievously wounded, he would accept no aid, 
and refused to leave the field, but disdaining all com- 
promise, awaited his fate. The author has paused 
upon the spot where this gallant deed was performed, 
and from his son, the present Rajah, had the annals of 
his house.” 
The circumstance of the “ females of Scindia’s 
family” placing themselves at his death under a 
Rajpoot chieftain, would fairly lead to the inference 
that they were of that tribe ; and the rigid strictness 
which the Rajpoots invariably exercised to prevent 
their women from forming alliances with any other 
