Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c12.9

v1.c12.9

Whatever may have been the real reason for the premature termination of his official career at the age of forty, ill-health was put forward as the ostensible cause of his retirement. He had served for about twenty-four years in the Indian plains without any leave; he had long suffered from malaria; and, though he hardly suspected it at the time, an attempt had been made by one of his servants to poison him with Datura; he had met with a serious accident when, by chance or design, his elephant-driver dashed his howdah against the gate of Begūn fort in eastern Mewār. In spite of all this, he retained sufficient health to make, on the eve of his departure from India, the extensive tour recorded in his Travels in Western India. Neither on his retirement, nor at any subsequent period, were his services, official and literary, rewarded by any distinction.