CHAP. II.] FATE OF HIS FAMILY. 27 too was Rani women His placed in the Mughal harem. Parvati, Bir Singh's widow, who died of her wounds. A more terrible fate awaited the captive ladies who survived: mothers and daughters of kings, they were robbed of their religion, and forced to lead the infamous life of the Mughal harem,*-to be the unloved plaything of their master's passion for a day or two and then to be doomed to sigh out their days like bondwomen, without knowing the dignity of a wife or the joy of a mother. Sweeter far for them would have been death from the hands of their dear ones than submission to a race that knew no generosity to the fallen, no chivalry to the weaker sex. Children con- verted to Islam. Three captives of tender age, (two sons and one grandson of Jhujhar,) were made Musal- mans. Another son, Udaybhan, and Shyam Dawa the old and faithful minister of the house, who had taken refuge in Golkonda and been delivered to Shah Jahan, refused to apostatize and were executed in cold blood.† The fort of Jhansi, with its big guns and war
- Abdul Hamid, I. B. 133. Khafi Khan, i. 519.
† Abdul Hamid, I. B. 133, 139. Khafi Khan, 519, 523. According to the latter the converts were Durgabhan, Digitized by Microsoft Ⓡ
