187 
1904.] G. N. Dutt— History of the Hutwa Raj. 
country and commenced anew his career as a border freebooter. Con¬ 
stant complaints now began to be received at the Central Board of 
Patna, from the officers entrusted with tlie collections, of the various 
depredations committed by Fateh Shahi; and in the beginning of May, 
1775, the Provincial Council, which then had taken the place of the 
Central Board, received information that both Babu Basant Shahi and Mir 
Jumla had been killed by him in a night-attack which he had made on 
them at a place called Jadopur on the bank of the Gandak. It is said 
that Fateh Shahi was at the jungle of Charkhia on the opposite side of 
the river Khauwa , bordering on the district of Gorakhpur, when he had 
received information that Babu Basant Shahi was collecting rent at 
Jadopur which was about 22 miles from his abode. Fateh Shahi started 
at once with one thousand horsemen and three hundred matchlock men, 
and marching the whole night reached his enemy’s abode early in the 
morning of the next day and surrounded it. Two legends are current 
regarding the murder of Babu Basant Shahi. One is that Fateh Shahi 
had implored Basant Shahi to join his side against the English, which 
proposal Basant Shahi had stubbornly refused on the ground that he 
had pledged not to be disloyal to the English. Thereupon Fateh Shahi 
challenged Basant Shahi to a duel in which the latter was killed. The 
other is that Fateh Shahi, after overtaking Basant Shahi, was overpower¬ 
ed with a feeling of fraternal affection and w T as retreating, when he was 
questioned by one of his menial servants, Gopal Bari, and a kinsman- 
follower, why he let off Basant Shahi after getting him within his hold 
with so much trouble. To this the Maharaja is said to have abusively 
replied, “ I let him off because he was my cousin. Was he your son-in-law 
that you let him off ? ” Thus incited, these two men at once rushed 
upon Basant Shahi and beheaded him. The place where he was behead¬ 
ed, once a garden, is still called Mudkataya Bag , and th e peepul tree under 
which this atrocious act was committed, is yet worshipped by the Maha¬ 
rajas of Hutwa, who directly owe their origin to Basant Shahi. Maha¬ 
raja Fateh Shahi then sent the head of the deceased to his wife at Hu- 
sainpur, who with her husband’s head on her lap ascended the funeral pyre 
followed by 13 of her maid-servants, uttering at the same time an ever¬ 
lasting curse to her progeny who would ever have any connection what¬ 
soever with Fateh Shahi’s family—a mandate still strictly adhered to 
by the Maharajas of Hutwa, who when passing through the Tamcohi 
(Fateh Shahi’s) Raj do not even drink water or take any food belonging 
to the place. Under the shadowy grove of an ancient Banian tree in the 
fort of Husainpur there exist 14 Stupas wherein are enshrined the ashes 
of these 14 Satis who are worshipped annually and every time the 
Maharajas and Maharanis of Hutwa visit the place. 
