CHAP. II.] FIRST BUNDELA WAR. I7
Emperor's accession. But an army of 34,500 soldiers — cavalry, foot musketeers, and sappers, penetrated into his country from three directions, stormed the fort of Irich, slaughtered 2000 of the garrison including "many young and old,'* and quickly forced the Rajah to make submission. He secured pardon only by promising a large tribute and sending a contingent of his clansmen to fight in the Emperor's wars in the South.*
To this race of primitive warriors a peaceful life was impossible. War was their sole occupa- tion, their sole means of earning glory and riches, and their only amusement. This restless spirit made the Bundelas, when not usefully occupied
- Abdul Hamid, I. B. 240 — 242, 246 — 248, Jhujhar's
life in given in M.U. ii. 214 — 217. The cause of his flight is stated to have been his fear lest the stricter administration of Shah Jahan should make him disgorge his father's unautho- rised annexations of territory. Dow says that "having come to pay his respects at the court of Agra, he found that an addition was made in the books of the Imperial Treasury, to the tribute which he and his ancestors had formerly paid to the house of Timur. Instead of petitioning for an abatement of the impost, he fled without taking leave of the Emperor." (iii. 108.) Khafi Khan, i, 406, says that Jhujhar was alarmed and fled on learning that Shah Jahan had been thinking of extirpating his father for his annexa- tions and exactions during Jahangir's last years. Irich is stiuated on a bend of the Betwa river, 40 miles N. E. of Jhansi {Ind. Atlas, sheet 69 N. W.).
