Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.33

v3.c42.s2.t1.33

Murder of Sarūp Singh.—Such was the powerful opposition arrayed against the protector in the very commencement of his career. The conspiracy was hardly formed, however, before it was extinguished by the murder of the Maharaja by the hands of the Dhabhai, the banishment of the assassin, and the flight of the Bhangrot. The rapidity with which this drama was enacted struck terror into all. The gaining over the foster-brother, the making him the instrument of punishment, and banishing him for the crime, acted like a spell, and appeared such a masterpiece of daring and subtilty combined, that no one thought himself secure. There had been no cause of discontent between the Maharaja and the Dhabhai, to prompt revenge; yet did the latter, in the glare of open day, rush upon him in the garden of Brajvilas,¹ and with a blow of his scimitar end his days. The regent was the loudest in execrating the author of the crime, whom he instantly seized and confined, and soon after expelled from Haraoti. But however well acted, this dissimulation passed not with the world; and, whether innocent or guilty, they lay to Zalim’s charge the plot for the murder of the Maharaja. The Dhabhai died in exile and contempt at [524] Jaipur; and in abandoning him to his fate without provision, Zalim, if guilty of the deed, showed at once his knowledge and contempt of mankind. Had he added another murder to the first, and in the fury of an affected indignation become the sole depository of his secret, he would only have increased the suspicion of the world; but in turning the culprit loose on society to proclaim his participation in the crime, he neutralized the reproach by destroying the credibility of one who was a self-convicted assassin when he had it in his power to check its circulation. In order to unravel this tortuous policy, it is necessary to state that the Dhabhai was seduced from the league by the persuasion of the regent, who insinuated that the Maharaja formed plans inimical to the safety of the young prince, and that his own elevation was the true object of his hostility to the person entrusted with the charge of the minor sovereign. Whatever truth there might be in this, which might be pleaded in justification of the foul crime, it was attended with the consequences he expected. Immediately after, the remaining member of the adverse junta withdrew, and at the same time many of the nobles abandoned their estates and their country. Zalim evinced his contempt of their means of resistance by granting them free egress from the kingdom, and determined to turn their retreat to account. They went to Jaipur and to Jodhpur; but troubles prevailed everywhere; the princes could with difficulty keep the prowling Mahratta from their own doors, and possessed neither funds nor inclination to enter into foreign quarrels for objects which would only increase their already superabundant difficulties. The event turned out as Zalim anticipated; and the princes, to whom the refugees were suitors, had a legitimate excuse in the representations of the regent, who described them as rebels to their sovereign and parties to designs hostile to his rule. Some died abroad, and some, sick of wandering in a foreign land dependent on its bounty, solicited as a boon that "their ashes might be burned with their fathers'." In granting this request, Zalim evinced that reliance on himself, which is the leading feature of his character. He permitted their return, but received them as traitors who had abandoned their prince and their country, and it was announced to them, as an act of clemency, that they were permitted to live upon a part of their estates; which, as they had been voluntarily abandoned, were sequestrated and belonged to the crown.