AME
48
his inheritanee lies the first tangible clue to the progress of the Amethl taluqa. From his father he obtained 153 villages ; and these alone he held until 1803. In the following year, however, having worked himself into the good graces of the Ndzim SftalparshM, he was allowed to engage The for the entire pargana, with the single exception of Raghipur, present raja contends that he was thus put into possession of no more than
had been taken from his grandfather in 1743 but there is no conclusive proof that such was the case, or that any of his predecessors had ever held the same position of authority. Nor did Har Chand Singh enjoy it long. In 1810, Saddat Ali Khan, aided by his diwan, Dayd Shankar, made a land settlement of the province, large estates were broken up, and the respective portions of them settled with their rightful proprietors. This measure led to the cancellation of Har Chand Singh's pargana engagement, and he was deprived of all but 48 rent-free villages. In the same year, very possibly chagrined at this, degradation, he abdicated in favor of his son Dalpat Sah. But the policy of Saadat Ali Khan was too strongly opposed to the spirit of the age to produce any permanent result, and before three years had well elapsed, Dalpat Sah found himself in possession of all that his father had held before 1803. Arjun Singh, a second son of Har Chand Singh, was then alive but forbearing to make any demand upon his elder brother, succeeded in making a comfortable provision for himself by the independ;
ent acquisition of Gangoli.
Dalpat Sah died in 1815, and the estate he transferred to his heir Bisheshwar Singh was no larger than Drigpal Singh had held at the time of his death in 1798. Almost immediately, however, it swallowed up several of its weaker neighbours of an aggregate bulk equal to half its own and then, as if worn out with the exhaustion consequent on such' a mighty effort, remained in a state of torpidity for more than a quarter of a
century.
Bisheswar Singh died childless in 1842, and the inheritance devolved on Madho Singh, the present raja. The Amethi domains were thus augmented by the not inconsiderable estate of Gangoli, but it yet remained for them to receive their last and principal accession. In the year 1845, Maharaja Man Singh was appointed to the Sultanpur nizamat, and the first events of his term of office portended but little good to the fortunes of the house of Amethi. The mahiiraja was not of a temper to possess the semblance without the substance of authority, and was prepared to make his power felt throughout his district. The ambitious young chief on the other hand, was equally determined to shape his course exactly in accordance with his own notions of propriety and, if necessary, to resort to arms to prevent official interference. Hostilities were the natural consequence of such a state of things, and a grand battle was fought in the year 1845 between the forces of the nazim and the taluqdar. his cousin
It was followed by an indecisive result however, and the combatants soon began to perceive that more advantage was likely to be gained by negotiation than warfare. Arrangements were entered into in the highest degree favourable to Madho Singh ; and in pursuance of them he was in the same year admitted to engage for the revenue of the entire pargana with
