Fall of the Mughal Empire v3.c40.s3.14

v3.c40.s3.14

While thus abandoned by the warriors of his land, Sawāi Pratāp Singh also made Khush-hāli Bohrā his enemy. This old minister had a real affection for his former masters, Mādho Singh and Prithvi Singh. The last-named Rajah had left behind him a son Mān Singh, only six months old at the time of his death. But the little orphan's rights were set at nought by the late king's younger brother Pratāp Singh. To save the child from possible murder, Khush-hāli Rām contrived to send him away to his maternal grandfather's house in Kishangarh. This roused Sawāi Pratāp Singh to fury; he put Khush-hāli Rām in prison and declared Mān Singh a spurious child. But Mān Singh remained a pawn in the hands of those who wanted to save the Kachhwa kingdom by removing a sovereign who only disgraced his throne. Plans were constantly formed and appeals were made to Mahādji Sindhia in the name of the lawful heir of Jaipur to replace Pratāp Singh by Mān Singh with his armed help. The prime mover in these conspiracies was the Narukā Rāo Rājah who aspired to rule the State as guardian of the boy Mān Singh. Khush-hāli Rām Bohra inclined to these plots only when Sawāi Pratāp Singh made his life intolerable, i.e., after 1786. Mahādji, however, never seriously contemplated such a change, and he kept Mān Singh for the rest of his life at Vrindāvan on a jagir given by him.