Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.166

v3.c42.s2.t1.166

Gordhandas,¹ the natural son of the regent, was then about twenty-seven,² quick, lively, intelligent, and daring. His conduct to his sovereign’s family has been precisely the reverse of his brother’s, and in consequence he lived on terms of confidential friendship with them, especially with the heir-apparent and prince, Prithi Singh, whose disposition corresponded with his own. His father, who viewed this child of his old age with perhaps more affection than his elder brother, bestowed upon him the important office of Pardhan, which comprehends the grain-department of the State. It gave him the command of funds, the amount of which endangered the declared succession. The brothers cordially detested each other, and many indignities were cast upon Gordhandas by Madho Singh, such as putting him in the guard, which kindled an irreconcilable rancour between them. Almost the only frailty in the character of the regent was the defective education of his sons : both were left to the indulgence of arrogant pretensions, which ill accorded with the tenor of his own behaviour through life, or the conduct that was demanded of them. Dearly, bitterly has the regent repented