to life, and relaxing their attention, left him in the night, as they imagined, asleep; but the Tanjorine soon seized the opportunity of their absence to creep to a corner of the hut, where a lamp was burning, and with it set fire to the thatch; which, in that dry season of the year, caught the blaze so fiercely, that he was suffocated before it was possible to reach him.*

We shall conclude these examples of desperate acts of courage, by relating a more recent melancholy event. A body of English troops was sent in January, 1809, against Lutchman Dow, Rajah of Adjyghur in the province of Bundelcund.† We are ignorant of the cause of dispute.

* See Orme's History of the Transactions of the British nation in Hindustan, vol. i. p. 116.

+ Bundela, or Bundelcund, is a mountainous tract on the S.W. of the Jumnah, of about a hundred miles square, inhabited by a tribe of Rajabpouts. Contiguous to it on one side are the English possessions of Oude and Benares, and on the other side those of the Mahrattas. In it are the diamond mines of Panna and Purna, supposed to be the Panassa of Ptolemy.

After various operations, Adjyghur was besieged, and on the 9th February surrendered to the English, it being agreed to give the Rajah, by way of indemnity, a Jaghire, or estate, in another quarter. After the surrender of his fort, he took up a temporary residence at Bandah, in the British territories, leaving his family in the meantime at a village near to Adjyghur, named Terwaney. He had continued to reside at Bandah till the beginning of June, when he suddenly disappeared. Apprehension of his having absconded with some hostile design, induced the English chief in the province of Bundelcund, to send instructions to the officer commanding at Adjyghur, to arrest the family of the Rajah at Terwaney. A party was accordingly despatched from Adjyghur for this purpose, and all the men of the family were conveyed to the fort, except an old man, father-in-law of Lutchman Dow, who was directed to prepare the women and children for their removal. Having entered the apartments of the women

in consequence of the order he had received, the door was immediately shut behind him. The person who commanded the party, after waiting a considerable time, advanced to open it, but it was found fastened: repeated calls were made to those within, but no answer was given; nor on listening, could any sound be heard. The door was then forced open, when the dead bodies of the whole family, women, children, and the old man himself, were seen extended, in their blood, on the floor. From the perfect silence which had prevailed, it was evident that no compulsion had been used, and that all had preferred death to the risk of exposing themselves to insult. It seemed equally evident, that the women themselves had supplied the instrument of death, which was found lying on the ground; for it is stated that the old man, when he went into the apartment, had no weapon of any kind. A nephew of the Rajah, who was among those who had been carried into the fort, also attempted to destroy himself, but was prevented,

though not till after he had given himself a severe wound. It was discovered, unhappily too late, that Lutchman Dow, far from absconding for any hostile purpose, had repaired secretly to Calcutta, to communicate to the supreme government certain grievances of which he had to complain.*

*See Asiatic Annual Register, for 1809, p. 3.

The fort of Adjyghur, situated on the summit of a high mountain, affords another of the many examples that exist in India, of works of high antiquity, and of wonderful execution.

"When the British entered the fort, they were struck with the objects that presented themselves. Here were seen three large reservoirs, of very fine fresh water, cut with wonderful labour out of a solid rock: there, the ruins of three most magnificent Hindu temples, built of stones, laid without cement, but most nicely fitted to each other, and adorned within and without with sculpture of chaste design, and the most exquisite workmanship..

"The æra of the erection of these venerable buildings is lost in antiquity; but they are evidently much older than the fortress, which was built by an ancient Rajah, called Ajygopaul, and after him called Adjyghur; the latter adjunct signifying a fortress.

"Ajygopaul himself lived beyond the reach of any

When a Hindū finds that life is near its end, he will talk of his approaching dissolution with entire composure; and if near to the Ganges, or any other sacred river, will desire to be carried out to expire on its bank; nor will he do any thing to preserve life, that may be in any way contrary to the rules of his cast, or his religion.

That a sense of honour, or of what are thought religious duties, should produce such instances of active courage as we have quoted, notwithstanding the general mildness of temper and resignation under misfortune, that eminently characterize the Hindūs, are circumstances that do not seem to us incompatible with that character. We have in the history of the Christian religion, many examples of females submitting to suffer the most cruel torments of mar

known record. The temples have two large tables with inscriptions; but the language and characters are unknown. The letters are in relief, the stone being cut away from them, according to the frequent custom of antiquity."-As. Ann. Register for 1809, p. 4.