In India during the latter half of the eighteenth century, the power of the sword was supreme, and in nothing was the wisdom of the Ranee, Ahalya Bhye more remarkable than in her choice of the commander of her troops.

Tukajee Holkar, who was appointed to this high office, was not related to, although of the same tribe as, Mulhar Kao. He was of mature age, unambitious, of excellent character, possessing sound sense, but without brilliant qualities. Ahalya Bhye soon gave Tukajee a large share in the general administration of the country, but whether he was near the capital or in the more distant provinces, he served the Ranee with the utmost fidelity and respect during her long reign of thirty years.

Her Highness had representatives at most of the Courts of India. The administration of justice was scrupulously attended to, the Queen herself being at all times accessible and attending to the most insignificant cases when reference was made for her decision. The accounts of the State receipts and disbursements were kept with the most scrupulous exactitude.

"During thirty years of rule," says Colonel Malleson, "perhaps no prince or princess ever conciliated more respect from foreign sovereigns than did this illustrious Hindu lady. She was extremely pious, much given to devotion, yet she found time to attend to the important affairs of state." She transacted business from 2 p.m. to

6 p.m., and from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Her dominions were but once invaded and then unsuccessfully, and the internal administration was equally fortunate, for nowhere were the people more happy or prosperous. She built forts

and made roads, and Indore, the present capital, she found a village and left a wealthy city.

Fortunate, and held in the highest regard as a ruler, yet the loss of her children under peculiarly painful circumstances, left on her life an impression of sadness which no success in public affairs could alleviate.

Ahalya Bhye died in 1795 at the age of sixty, utterly exhausted by the cares of State. According to Sir John Malcolm this famous lady "was of the middle stature and very thin; her complexion, which was of a dark olive, was clear; and her countenance is described as having been to the last hour of her life agreeable. She was very cheerful, seldom in anger, possessed a cultivated mind, was quick and clear in the transaction of public business, and even flattery appears to have been lost upon her."

Honoured and held in reverence during life for her piety, virtues and good deeds, she died universally beloved and lamented.

Tulsee Bhye, Regent of Indore.-Tulsee Bhye was beautiful, cruel and profligate, and met with a tragical end—a contrast in every respect to Ahalya Bhye.

She was the protegé of a sectarian Brahmin, and would have been considered his daughter did not the vow of celibacy of the holy man forbid such a supposition.

A Mahratta adventurer thought he might promote his own interests through the influence of her beauty on Jeswunt Rao Holkar, the Maharajah of Indore. The prince saw Tulsee Bhye, was at once captivated, and,

Malleson's "Native States of India," and Sir John Malcolm's "Central

India."

notwithstanding that she was a married woman, had her at once placed in the harem, while the husband was sent to prison. Some lingering feeling induced her to entreat her spell-bound lord to liberate the unfortunate husband, who, on receiving a dress of honour, a horse and a small sum of money, departed to seek his fortunes elsewhere. The influence of this new ornament to the harem became supreme over the prince and the State and continued until Holkar became insane, when she was appointed regent, and having no children adopted a son of the Maharajah by another woman. The people bore with her cruel and abandoned conduct until at last, having executed her Prime Minister, an old, popular, and faithful servant of the State, and having appointed a worthless paramour to his high office, her power over the army became little more than nominal, and as she was suspected of intriguing with the English with a view to their protection, some of the leading men in the State conspired against her. She was ruthlessly slain almost in the midst of her soldiers but not a hand was raised to rescue her-beauty and appeals for mercy were unavailing. Thus miserably ended the cruel and criminal career of the beautiful Tulsee Bhye.

Tulsee Bhye was beheaded on December 20, 1817. Her accomplishments and character are thus described by Sir John Malcolm:-" Tulsee Bhye," he writes, "was not thirty years old when she was murdered. She was handsome, and alike remarkable for the fascination of her manners and quickness of intellect. Few surpassed her in fluent eloquence, which persuaded those who approached her to promote her wishes. She rode with

grace, and was always, when on horseback, attended by a large party of the females of the first families of the State. But there was never a more remarkable instance than in the history of this princess, how the most prodigal gifts of nature may be perverted by an indulgence of vicious habits. Though not the wife of Jeswant Rao, yet being in charge of his family, and having possession of the child, who was declared his heir, she was obeyed as his widow. As the favourite of the deceased and the guardian of their actual chief, she had among the adherents of the Holkar family the strongest impressions in her favour, but casting all away, she lived unrespected and died unpitied."*

*Malcolm's "Central India."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE REMARKABLE WOMEN OF INDIA-continued.

Begum Sumroo of Sirdhanah-Walter Reinhart-Chief Officers-Colonel le Vaisseau-George Thomas, a common sailor, afterwards a Rajah— Begum's Court-Adopted Son, Dyce-Sombre-Domestic Chaplain, Father Julius Cæsar.

The Begum Sumroo,* born about 1753, was the illegitimate daughter of a Mohammedan of Arab descent. She was also reported to have been a native of Cashmere, and to have been originally a dancing girl. On the death of her father she and her mother, in order to avoid the persecution of the legitimate heir, removed in 1760 to Delhi. It is not certain when she entered the family of Sumroo, nor even that she ever became his wife. This Sumroo was a native of Treve in the duchy of Luxemburg, his real name, Walter Reinhardt, but more familiar to us by his Indian soubriquet of Sumroo or Sombre. He had come to India as a sailor in the French navy, deserted to the British service, and joined the first European battalion raised in Bengal. Deserting again, he joined the French garrison at Chandernagore, and was one of the few who followed Law when that officer refused to surrender the place to the British. After the capture of his gallant chief, Sumroo, under

* Or Zeb-ul-Nisa, the ornament of the sex, christened Johanna Nobilis.