History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.149

v2.c41.149

The affairs of Orissa now degenerate into an acrimonious correspondence, devoid of sincerity on both sides. The English East India Company was determined not to make an open avowal of their refusal to pay the chauth. Jānuji and his descendants were too weak to attack the English and enforce their demands and, therefore, had recourse alternately to cajolery and threat. On the 14th of February a letter was written to Bhavānī Pandit in which it is stated that the Governor was glad to hear of the defeat of Śivarām Bhaṭṭa, Shyāmji and other rebellious zamindars.² A letter received on the 17th February by Nabakṛishna De, the notorious Nobkishen of Anglo-Indian history, one of the Bengali banians, from Mīr Zain-ul-Abidīn, states that the latter was captured by many Rājās and reached Ramtek near Nagpur on the 28th December (1766). A letter written by Jānuji to Clive arrived on the same day in which the latter upbraids the English for their perfidy and states that on the strength of the assurance of the English he borrowed twenty lakhs of rupees from the merchants and bankers of Nagpur but is unable to repay it. The long letter is full of cajolery and threat.¹ Udepurī Gosāin, the *Wakil*, wrote to the Governer expressing his desire to come to Calcutta. He was informed on the 23rd of February that there were important questions to be settled and he should come to Calcutta immediately. A letter received from the same person informs the Governor that the former was waiting at Katak for Zain-ul-’Abidīn according to the instructions of Lord Clive. A general circular order was issued to all officers in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa on the 24th February intimating that Captain Carter had been appointed to survey the country and requiring them to help him in every way.² A letter received from Bhavānī Pandit on the 27th of the same month informs us of the flight of Śivārām Bhaṭṭa towards Calcutta and the destruction of Shyāmji with the forts of “Shujiny” and “Rinetu.”³ Another letter received from Udepurī Gosāin informed the Governor that Zain-ul-’Abidīn had left Nagpur with dispatches from Rājā Jānuji and would in a short time arrive at Calcutta.⁴ A long report was sent by Mīr Zain-ul-’Abidīn Khān to Muḥammad Riza Khān, Na’ib Nāzim of Murshidabad, and Lord Clive about his mission to Rājā Jānuji. He obtained an audience of Rājā Jānuji on the 26th December and [Figure: Temple of Nīlamādhava (Separate front View) Gandharadi Baudh State]