LAST VISIT OF MR. CASAMAIJOR.

195

But his downfall approached apace. On the 18th January 1833, Sir Fred. Adam, Governor of Madras, addressed a long letter to the Rajah of Coorg, giving him a sound lecture on the principles of good Government, warning him most earnestly, and positively demanding compliance, in future, with the order of Government, communicated to the Rajah in 1827, to report all capital punishments taking place in Coorg. Sir Fred. Adam informed the Rajah, that Mr. Casamaijor was desired to proceed to Coorg in order to have à personal conference with the Rajah, and that Government demanded free passage for any person, who might desire to accompany Mr. Casamaijor on his return out of Coorg. The interview between the Rajah and Mr. Casamaijor took place before the end of January 1833, at Mercara. Seven years, Mr. Casamaijor observed, had produced a marked change in the Rajah. The Resident wondered; for he had not, could not have, an idea of the extreme profligacy of the man nor of the strength of his murderous propensities, that had steeped him deep in blood during the interval between 1826 and 1833. The Rajah looked uneasy, seemed to be subject to sudden alarms and very unsteady of purpose. The presence of an English gentleman and a representative of the great Sarkar, to which he owed allegiance, must have been very distressing to the abandoned, guilty man, whom folly, passion and a maddened conscience were now hurrying onward to ruin.

While Mr. Casamaijor was at Mercara, Viraraja was deep in intrigues. He had lately entertained the Bedmaker of the Rajah of Mysore, who had come on a secret mission of treason to the Company. He had endeavoured to engage the services of a merchant of Mysore, Nun Lál Barti, for the murder of Channa Basava, and for opening a communication with Ranjit

Sing, whom he was led to believe to be a secret enemy of the English. He succeeded in finding out a Seik man, a native of Lahore, called Lahore Sing, and persuaded him to go on an embassy to the Seik-ruler, undeterred by the shrewd remark of the stranger, that Lahore being so far from Mercara, it would be difficult for Ranjit Sing to avail himself of the friendly offices of the Maharajah of Coorg. He had secretly encouraged a rebellious Polygar of Nagara, of the name of Súryappa, who had given considerable trouble to the English authorities. And now he had to confront Mr. Casamaijor. He could not but look embarrassed, alarmed, unsteady. The Resident solemnly warned the Rajah to abstain in future from his cruelties, and advi.sed him to relax the rigor with which he had shut up his people from communication with their neighbours under the rule of the Company. Viraraja contended, that he could not do away with, nor even relax, ancient observances without losing his authority. When Mr. Casamaijor hinted, that he knew more, than he chose to say, of the Rajah's disaffection, and that further disobedience might be punished with deposition, the Rajah used the language of calumniated innocence, and made the strongest professions of obedience to the Company. Formerly, when very young, he might have been too severe, he admitted; but now he was more considerate. As for a change of system, however, he was most reluctant, and when Mr. Casamaijor pressed the point, he turned round and asserted, that he would do as he pleased. Coorg was an independent country, etc. Mr. Casamaijor replied, that Coorg had been subject to Tippu, and was now subject to the Company, as was proved by the annual tribute of an elephant, in lieu of the former payment of Rs. 24,000. When the Resident requested the Rajah, to treat Devammaji and the other members of his family kindly, he answered, that

MURDER OF DEVAMMAJI AND HER SISTER. 197

he required so such monitions; but as for Devammaji and her family, they were all dead, long since. This was the most barefaced lie. Devammaji indeed, and her sister Mahadevammaji, had been murdered, probably before the end of 1832, a month or two before Mr. Casamaijor's visit, * but her three children were still

*Shortly after the flight of Channa Basava and his wife, Devammaji, her sister Maha Devammaji and their children, were taken by the Rajah's orders and by his Sipahis to the Appagalla Panya, one of the private farms belonging to the Rajah, about four miles distant from Mercara. After some days, the Devan Basavappa and an eunuch, named Mandaya, a Jemadar of the Palace, came there one morning early, conveyed Devammaji and her sister Mahadevammaji, to the Fort at Mercara, and confined them in the store room in rear of the palace, placing a strong guard over them. The same morning, before noon. the Devan with the same eunuch came to the store-room, and in presence of some of the guard, compelled them to put their hands into boiling ghee. They left them shut up till about 2 o'clock P. M., when the Devan and the eunuch came again, and ordered one of the Jemadars on guard to bring two ropes. When brought, the Devan himself adjusted them round Devammaji's neck, who made great resistance and implored to be taken before the Rajah, whilst the Jemadar and some of the guards held her hands, and pulled at the rope, which was thrown over a beam in the roof. In this manner both sisters then and there were put to death. As soon as life was extinct, they were taken down, wrapped up in matting and placed just outside the store room beneath a small plantation of sugarcane. In the meantime orders had been sent by the Devan to the guard of Valekárs, Pariahs, at the Kumblagiri barrier, about a mile from the fort, to dig a hole for too bodies in a secluded part of the jungle, and for some of the said guard, to be in attendance in the evening at the Sallyport, (a secret passage, leading under the ramparts,) by 7 P.M. Several of them attended and, with the help of some of the men from the store roomguard, conveyed the two bodies to the hole already prepared; the Devan accompanying the party and witnessing the interment."

Perhaps Devammaji had revealed the place, where she had deposited her wealth, on a promise that her life would be spared, and therefore, in her anguish, desired to be brought before the Rajah. Certain it is, that the Exrajah learned from her the exact spot, where her jewels had been immured; for he depatched a Munshi of his, a Yedavanadu man, of the name of Kalingaya, in company with the Devan Basava to Devammaji's house, some time after her removal from it, and instructed the Devan to break the wall of the room

alive, and were murdered at Nalkanadu, when the British troops crossed the frontiers of Coorg.†

66

adjoining Devammaji's bed room, a little above the floor, where he would find the treasure. "On our digging," Kalingaya says, a brass vessel of a size holding one and an half seer of water, with the mouth properly closed, was discovered. It could have been lifted with one hand. We did not open the mouth of the vessel, but brought it to Mercara, and the Devan Basavappa delivered it to the Rajah. It was not opened in my presence. I am not aware, what description of coins or jewelry or precious stones it contained. The vessel was not full, as on taking it up in the hands the contents were shaking about." Devammaji probably had given her treasure to the Rajah as a ransom for her life; but by this very surrender of her wealth she sealed her doom. Devammaji is described as a person of a commanding figure, fair complexion and round face. Her sister Mahadevammaji was short and slender, but also fair. Thus ended two daughters of Dodda Virarajendra and of his beloved Rani.

+The grand children of Dodda Viraraja and the remaining members of Appaji's and Lingaraja's families, the nearest relatives of the Exrajah, were carried to Nalkanadu palace, when the Rajah himself retired to that secluded spot, in March 1834. Their removal to Nalkanadu boded no good. They were kept in a couple of garden houses, under strict watch.

“One day subsequent to our troops entering the country, orders were given in the morning by the Devan, to dig a pit for a dozen persons, and in the dusk of the evening five women were put into one house and seven children into another, and the Kapales (a jungle-tribe residing in the Nalkanadu forest) and some of the Yedavanadu men (Kunta Basava's especial followers), who had assisted in the murder of Devammaji and Mahadévammaji, were sent into both houses with ropes, and then and there strangled every one of them, and afterwards tied them up in mats, the Devan Basavappa standing outside and accompanying the party, when the bodies were interred. The Rajah, also on this occasion, was close by the scene of murder, though not present. On the following morning, when walking with the Devan in front of the Nalkanadu palace, on observing the Kapales, he said to the Devan, that as they, the Kapales, had executed the murders, they had better be put to death also. But the Devan interceded for them. They are old servants, he said, who have come from a foreign country (the Maleyalem). He suggested, that they might be sent out of the country, and a present given to them, which was done accordingly. But instead of quitting the country, they proceeded with their families some miles distance into the jungle, where they remained about a month; and when all was quiet, they returned to Nalkanadu."

This account shows that, sometimes at least, the Devan was more humane than his master.

COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITY.

199

Mr. Casamaijor's personal conference with the Rajah was fruitless. Viraraja became rather more reckless. He harboured rebels, intrigued with Mysore, and scarcely cared for appearances. In July 1833, Mr. Casamaijor strongly recommended, that a native Regiment should be quartered in the vicinity of Mercara, in order to keep the Rajah in check and to protect his subjects. But Government were loath to go to extremities. The greater part of the year was spent in fruitless negotiations. As the Rajah appeared to have a particular, personal dislike to Mr. Casamaijor, the latter proposed, that some other person of authority should be entrusted with the Coorg negotiations. Mr. Graeme was deputed from Madras, to make a last attempt at a peaceable settlement of the question. However, the Rajah was unwilling, again to meet a Bri-. tish representative. Having an extraordinary idea of his power and the strength of his country, he resolved on war. He addressed the most insolent letters to the Governor of Madras and to Lord William Bentinck. He imprisoned an agent of Mr Graeme, and refused to set him at liberty. Now the patience of the Governor General, whom no one acquainted with his character will accuse of a spirit of aggrandizement, was exhausted.

General Fraser was ordered to proceed to Coorg and to depose the delinquent Rajah. The Company's troops marched into Coorg from East and West, North and South. Proclamations and counter proclamations were published. But lo, the war ended, before it had well

Proclamation of Viraraja.

*Abstract translation of the Proclamation published by the Coorg Rajah, received from the Officer Commanding in Wynaad with his letter of the 31st March 1834.

Proclamation published for the information and guidance of the Hindoos, Musulmans, Poligars, public servants, Ryots, Chetty Merchants, and people of other castes in Hindoostan.