1 A GENEALOGICAL HISTORY OF THE JUMMOO FAMILY. 247
2 settle in his territories. He had also, during this period,
3 extended his dominions by the conquest of the hill country
4 as far north as Reaschun.
5 In the year 1773 Bijerei Dehu, the eldest son of the good
6 Rajah Runjeet Dehu, rebelled against his father, and sought
7 to dethrone him. In this wicked design he was aided by the
8 Seik chiefs, Churut Sing Sukerchuckia and Jey Sing Kunnia,
9 whom he invited to Jummoo. The Rajah was, however, so
10 well supported by his subjects and showed so determined a
11 front, that with the aid of a little money bestowed on the mer-
12 cenary auxiliaries of the rebel son, they were induced to with-
13 draw. After this event Runjeet Dehu reigned in peace and
14 prosperity until the year 1780, when he died. His name
15 is to this day greatly respected throughout the hill-country,
16 and his grants, regulations, &c, have still the force of law.
17 He had extended his dominions greatly, but at his death,
18 their total annual revenue did not exceed eighty thousand
19 rupees, the country being but poor and thinly peopled.
20 Runjeet Dehu was succeeded by his weak and dissolute, yet
21 ambitious and intractable son, Bijerei Dehu. When the news
22 of Runjeet's death and Bijerei' s succession reached the plains,
23 Maha Sing, the son of Churut Sing Sukerchuckia, went as
24 far as Seealkote on a visit of condolence to the new Rajah
25 whom he there met. While they were at Seealkote together,
26 the wily Seik chief so insinuated himself into the friendship
27 of the hill-man, that by the ceremony of exchanging turbans
28 he became his Bii bund or Paggree Bra, that is they were
29 thenceforward sworn brothers. On the authority of this close
30 alliance, Maha Sing, in the winter of 1781, visited Jummoo,
31 with a band of twelve hundred men, and finding the Rajah
32 and most of his followers laid up with an epidemic fever, he
33 sacked and burnt the town, and withdrew only on receiving an
34 engagement for the payment of an annual tribute.
35 Bijerei Dehu died in 1786, and was succeeded by his son