History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c41.330.1

v2.c41.330.1

The Collector of Medinipur wrote to Nānā Rāo, the Faujdār of Balasore, stating the intention of the Company to chastise Rājah Dāmodar Bhañja. A letter was received from the latter on the 14th August by the Collector of Medinipur stating that Maratha troops were stationed in the forts of Amardah and Khānpur, that he has sent his Wakil, Saiyad 'Abdul 'Ali and begging the Collector to remove Captain Fenwick from Beloorichor. The Collector sent a reply on the 15th requesting the Rāja to withdraw his army from Coontau to Hariharpur and to send a Wakil. Evidently Saiyad 'Abdul 'Ali had not yet arrived. On the 31st September, 1781, Peiarce reports that the Wakil who came from Dāmodar Bhañja was not invested with proper authority. A petition was addressed to the Governor-General by Nānā Rāo Mukund, younger brother of Rājārām Mukund Pandit and Rājā Dāmodar Bhañja of Mayurbhañja in which it is stated that Nānā Rāo was proceeding to Calcutta, but on the way he had to return to Medinipur an account of a disorder in his feet. His Wakil has already gone to Calcutta regarding the delivery of eighty-one villages pertaining to the Qila' of Mayurbhañja. It is requested that the claim may be settled by Messrs. Croftes and Charters. There is considerable truth in the petition of Dāmodar Bhañja in which it is stated that he sent papers authenticated by the signature of Ṣadar Qānungoe Jay Nārāyaṇ Rāy but they were rejected by one Chandra Śekhar Ghosh. Peiarce was distinctly averse to him.