114 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
ance : indeed it is recorded that he numbered five 
thousand buffaloes, five thousand cows, twenty thou- 
sand sheep, and a thousand brood-mares ; and that 
the number of his multiplied family and dependants, 
who were employed in defence of the property against 
marauders, as well as in agricultural labour, amount- 
ed to no less than two thousand able-bodied men, 
besides thousands of women and children. 
Pride and contumely, the common attendants of 
good-fortune, had no place in the presence of Asa 
Aheer ; for, with excellence of understanding, he 
possessed excellence of heart, and, like each of his 
forefathers, was esteemed as a chief and protector 
by all the neighbouring herdsmen. Whether advice 
only, or more substantial assistance, might be re- 
quired, neither one nor the other was ever sought 
in vain from Asa Aheer : his ear was ever open to 
the voice of distress, his hand ever ready to bestow 
relief ; so that some of all classes of his neighbours 
were continually flying to him in cases of difficulty 
and misfortune. A noble specimen of his munifi- 
cence and goodness of heart occurred at the close of 
Moolluk Raja’s reign, which raised him to the highest 
pitch of popularity and esteem. A fearful famine 
had carried devastation and death through all the 
neighbouring countries, reducing many of the 
wealthiest to abject poverty, and sweeping thou- 
sands of the poor into eternity, so that scarcely one- 
third of the inhabitants survived. Asa Aheer was 
