393 
1904.] G. N. Dutt —History of the Hutwa Raj, 
The rebellion of Chait Singh was quelled, peace and tranquility 
restored, and yet we find till 1785 Fateh Shahi at large, the terror of the 
surrounding countries and the source of troubles to British Government, 
and the local authorities were afraid to grant the Raj to the next heir, 
Babu Mahesh Dutt Shahi, the son of Basant Shahi, lest he should ob¬ 
struct the collections and repeat towards the son the same atrocities 
which he had perpetrated on the father. 
Before ascending the funeral pyre with her husband’s head on her 
lap, the wife of Basant Shahi entrusted her only minor son to the care of 
Babu Dhujju Singh, of Bhurthoohi, a Rajput feudal lord of great in¬ 
fluence under the Husainpur Raj, and he served as guardian of the 
minor with fidelity proverbial to his race. He saw the best way to secure 
the interest of his ward was to carry out loyally the wishes of the Bri¬ 
tish Government and set his face against the murderer of his father. 
With this view he expended all that he was worth and borrowed to the 
full extent of his credit, in raising a body of troops. With these men 
and Mahesh Dutt Shahi by his side, he was night and day with Captain 
Coxe traversing the woods in pursuit of Fateh Shahi, and earned the 
good-will of the local authorities for himself and his master. The Re¬ 
venue Council of Patna in their letter to the Governor-General in 
Council, dated 17th April, 1778, recommended, that “ Fateh Shahi 
should be declared to have forfeited his zemindary, and that it should 
be bestowed on the young Mahesh Dutt Shahi, and that some villages 
should be added to the taluha of Dhujju Singh who should be declared 
the Dewan.” To this recommendation the Governor-General in Council 
wrote in reply: “ We have attentively considered your recommenda¬ 
tions of Mahesh Dutt and Dhujju Singh but do not think it proper at 
this time to comply with them. You may inform them that, when, 
with their assistance, we shall have apprehended the person of Fateh 
Shahi, we shall pay proper attention to their pretentions and services.” 
(Vide Appendix). 
With the return of a settled state of things in 1785, Fateh Shahi 
though still at large, and in the enjoyment of that portion of his zernin- 
daries which was situated in the district of Gorakhpur in the dominions 
of the Nawab of Oudh, left off his predatory life and peacefully settled 
himself down, perhaps finding in despair all his attempts to gain inde¬ 
pendence only to prove futile. He became in 1808 a fakir after leading 
the life of a Robin Hood continuously for 18 years and a retired life for 
24 years. It was the constant endeavours of his sons to regain the good¬ 
will of the British authorities in order to recover their lost patrimony. 
In 1790 the youngest son petitioned before Mr. Montgomerie, the Settle¬ 
ment Officer of Saran, to be allowed to settle for the revenue of the 
j. i. 25 
