Rāwal Akhai Singh, A.D. 1722-62.
Sawai Singh, an infant of three years of age. Akhai Singh collected the Bhattis from all quarters, stormed the castle, put the infant to death, and regained his rights.
Akhai Singh ruled forty years. During this reign, Bahawal Khan, son of Daud Khan, took Derawar, and all the tract of Khadal, the first Bhatti conquest, and added it to his new State of Bahawalpur, or Daudputra.
Rāwal Mūlrāj, A.D. 1762-1820. Conspiracy against Mūlrāj.
The banished prince remained two years and a half with Raja Bijai Singh, who treated him like a son. But he carried his arrogant demeanour with him to Jodhpur; for one day, as he was going out to hunt, a Bania, to whom he was indebted, seized his horse by the bridle, and invoking the an of Bijai Singh, demanded payment of his debt. The prince, in turn, required him, with the invocation “by Mulraj!” to unloose his hold. But the man of wealth, disregarding the appeal, insolently replied, “What is Mulraj to me?” It was the last word he spoke; the sword of Rae Singh was unsheathed, and the Bania’s head rolled on the ground: then, turning his horse’s [266] head to Jaisalmer, he exclaimed, “Better be a slave at once than live on the bounty of another.” His unexpected arrival outside his native city brought out the entire population to see him. His father, the Rawal, sent to know what had occasioned his presence, and he replied that it was merely preparatory to pilgrimage. He was refused admittance; his followers were disarmed, and he was sent to reside at the fortress of Dewa, together with his sons Abhai Singh and Dhonkal Singh, and their families.
Sālim Singh, Prime Minister.
Death of Rāe Singh.
The princes, Abhai Singh and Dhonkal Singh, confined in the fortress of Ramgarh, soon after the murder of Ketsi were carried off, together with their wives and infants, by poison. The murderer then proclaimed Gaj Singh, the youngest but one of all the posterity of Mulraj, as heir-apparent. His brothers sought security in flight from this fiend-like spirit of the minister, and are now refugees in the Bikaner territory. The following slip from the genealogical tree will show the branches so unmercifully lopped off by this monster:
[269.]
Maha Singh, being blind of one eye[[13]] (kana), could not succeed; and Man Singh being killed by a fall from his horse, the Mehta was saved the crime of adding one more “mortal murther to his crown.”