Indian Antiquary Vol 20

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 90

78
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY..
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[FEBRUARY, 1891.
both sides, and although the Sikhs were defeatod they made nineteen Europeans prisoners. Gulab singh now wrote a letter of apology to the British officers, assuring them that the attack had been made in consequence of the Maharaja Dalip Singh's minority, and that according to the treaty of friendship with the late Mahârâjâ Ragjit Singh, Peace ought to prevail. The letter having been delivered by Lala Chuni Lal Harkábashi and Lâlâ Anant Ram to Sir Henry Lawrence, who wrote a reply from the cantonment of Firôzpůr, dated the 11th February 1846, informing Gülab Singh that it was not the intention of the Honourable East India Company to destroy the Sikh government, but only to repress the unwarranted hostilities which had not yet ceased, although the Sikhs had been defeated in four battles; and that if it should bereafter become necessary to punish the rebels further, the Court would be held responsible. Before, however, the envoys had even spokon, or this letter was written, the English forces attacked the Sikhs'at daybreak, ontering their trenches unawares, and a sanguinary contest ensued. When Teja Singh, the commander of the Sikhs, perceived that they were beginning to yield, he destroyed the bridge across the river to cut off their retreat, bat many of the fugitives leaped into the water and perished, as well as the Sardar Sham Singh Atariwala, who, however, fell on the battle field fighting bravely, while the Raja L&L Singh, who had before heard, the roar of the English artillery, did not venture into the fray, but remained quietly sitting esconced in a corner. On that occasion Major (Sir Henry) Lawrence sent a few linee, dated the 13th February 1816, to Gulab Singh, to inform him that he desired to have a private interview with him, and urgently requesting him to make the necessary arrangements for that purpose. (To be concluded.)
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FOLKLORE IN SOUTHERN INDIA. Wh
i le BY PANDIT NATESA SASTRI, M.F.L.S. No. 35. - The Komatti that suits the stake. Komotri that with SAW
! In the city of Panganar there lived a merchant, of the Komatti caste, named Ankubetti: He had been very rich, but, having lost all his wealth in speculative transactions, he was in very reduced circumstances at the time that our story commences. He was, however, still the owner of a big house, which he had, when affluent, built to live in. "HUA MO AY WAGA CHALLEN
W
H O ! In those good old days lime and mortar were unknown, and houses were generally built of mud, and Ankušeti's mansion was no exception to the rule, and in an unusually severe winter a great portion of the back of it had fallen down. Weeping much over the damages that the rains had done, and true to his love for the only property left to him in this world, he gave orders for its repair. In those days, when labour was very cheap and the cost of materials extremely low, repairing a house was not a difficult undertaking. Half a dozen coolies mixed some water and clay, and made some balls of mud, and, heaping these one over the other, soon patched up
the gaps in
Now Ankubetti's house was a large one, and a thief, who had no idea of the real state of Ankusetti's wealth, was led astray by the size of his mansion, and so on a certain night, soon after the repairs had been made, he bored a hole into the back wall. But unfortunately for the scoundrel, the weight of the still undried mod of the repaired part of the wall descended upon him just as he was putting his head in, and before he could withdraw it, the weight of the whole wall was on his neck, and he died without a struggle. As this took place in a corner at the back of the house, the inmates knew nothing of it till their attention was called to it in the following manner:
The thief had spoken about his intended adventure to a comrade, who, missing him and sospecting something wrong, had been searching for him for nearly two days when he discovered
11 His death is mentioned in Ch. 46 of the Zafarnama, where those events are likewise recorded.