1904] 
G. N. Dutt —History of the Hutwa Uaj. 
185 
Sirdar Shahi had made peace with the Majliowli Baja, was that the 
latter was not to go about with Nishans (flags), and drums (Dankas), 
ensigns of Rajaship, until he had retaken these by force from the Husain- 
pur (Hutwa) Rajas; and that the Majhowli chiefs, though they are still 
known as Rajas, yet go about conforming to the conditions of this, as they 
deem it, ignominious treaty. These Nishans and Dankas of Majhowli 
are said to be still in possession of the Tumcohi Rajas, the elder branch 
of the Hutwa Raj family, residing in Gorakhpur District. This must 
have been during the total fall of the Delhi Empire which ensued after 
the invasion and departure of Nadir Shah. The Marhattas were the 
masters of the whole Deccan and commenced depredation in Bengal and 
Behar exacting Chauth under the leadership of Raghuji Bhonsli ; 
Malwa and Guzerat had separated from the Empire; the Sikhs were 
powerful in Punjab and the Rohillas were virtually independent. In 
short the Emperor was Emperor of India only in name, and the local 
chiefs fought with each other with impunity. 
Next we come to a period of which we have authentic records which 
well supply an omission of events yet unrecorded by any historian of 
Warren Hastings’ administration. Even Burke with all his mastery of 
details in his ‘ Impeachment ’ was not cognisant of the State of Behar 
at that time. The 99th of the line was Maharaja Fateh Shahi Bahadur, 
who, as we have already stated, was a rebel against the British Govern¬ 
ment in 1767. His lot was cast in troubled and eventful times. The 
Mahomedan power was fast waning, and the English Government had 
not yet been firmly established in the land. The last of the Moghuls, 
Shah Alam II, by repeated invasions, did more to unsettle the affairs of 
Behar than to gain any advantage for himself. He had been incited to 
these attempts, by some of the chief zemindars, amongst others, Balvant 
Singh of Benares, a relation and friend of Fateh Shahi’s family. Mir 
Kasim’s attempt at uprooting the British power had signally failed, and 
fallen on his feet dozing, and his forehead touched the Maharajah toe. “ Thou art 
a Raja now and I will give you a Raj, ” exclaimed the Maharaja, and promised that 
the distance he would carry him in sleep in a Palki would be his Raj. The Palki- 
bearers went round a considerable portion of the Maharaja’s estate, who was only 
awakened by the cries of his honest men alarmed to see the Maharaja’s doom. 
The portion thus got by the Palki-bearers now forms the Perdowna Estate in 
Gorakhpur, and although the Roy Sahebs of Perdowna (the decendants of the re¬ 
cipient of the grant) are bigger Zemindars in the district than the present Maharaja 
himself, they attend on the Majhowli Maharaja on the Dasehra day with Hathar 
chilinchi to exhibit their loyalty. 
The high position then held by the Majhowli chief must have been one of 
envy to Maharaja Sirdar Sahi, and to humiliate the former must have been the 
latter’s ambition. 
j. i. 24 
