'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎280] (322/476)

280
HISTORY OF BELOOCHISTAN.
disused custom, by which he, as the lord paramount of Kelat, had
a right to enjoy the bride's company on the night of a Hindoo's
nuptials, and even wished to extend this law, evincing the abject
state to which the Hindoos had been reduced *, to all his Moosul-
man Ryots, f
The people had groaned under this system for the space of two
years and some months, the town of Kelat was nearly deserted, and
the heads of tribes had ceased to attend at the Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , or to pay
even the semblance of obedience to the commands of Hajee Mohum-
mud Khan, when Nadir Shah, on his march from Sinde, passed within
seventy or eighty miles of the seat of government, and dismissed
Nusseer Khan, the second son of Abdoolla Khan, and brother of
the tyrant, with a Khil^at and other honourable marks of the royal
favour : this prince had accompanied the victorious monarch to Delhi;
and, on every occasion, shewed such proofs of courage and sagacity,
that Nadir, it is said, advised him at a public levee to depose his
brother, and restore the country to its former prosperity and quiet;
on his arrival at Kelat, he was, therefore, hailed by the few inhabit
ants it contained, and, indeed, the whole population of the province
as their deliverer; and finding that expostulation had no effect on
his brother, he one day entered his apartment when alone, and
stabbed him to the heart J ; the guards made not the slightest oppo
sition to this scene, and the moment the tyrant was dead, they de
clared Nusseer Khan their chief: he accordingly mounted the Musnud
amid the universal joy and rejoicing of his subjects, and immediately
transmitted a report of the events that had taken place to Nadir
• This law was said to have been established by Kumbur on his first seizure of Kelat,
more to deter Hindoos from settling there, than from any other motive or passion,
f Ryots, subjects.
x This transaction is told in two ways. One as above, the other that Nusseer Khan
took the palace guards into the room with him, and made them dispatch his brother.
This seems at first to be the most probable, but Nusseer Khan ever after spoke of the
act he had committed with sincere grief, and said, that nothing but the welfare of his
country and countrymen could ever have induced him to do so.