During the Maratha war, a tributary chief, Chait Singh, raja of Benares, neglected to perform the demands made upon him, and showed a dangerously independent spirit. In 1781 Hastings imposed an enormous fine upon him; he revolted and was defeated, and his estates were confiscated and given to a kinsman. Though the raja's conduct was contumacious, Hastings seems to have acted with undue severity. He was pressed for money, and left the raja no choice between paying a very large sum and losing his estates. Difficulties increased, and he called on Asaf-ud-Daula, then nawab wazir of Oudh, to pay his heavy arrears of debt to the company. The begams, the mother and widow of the late nawab, had a vast treasure which should have belonged to the state. Hastings was informed that these powerful ladies were helping Chait Singh; it was necessary to get money from the wazir, and he bade him force the ladies to give up their treasure. The resident at Lucknow brought up some troops; the begams' palace at Faizabad was blockaded, and their eunuch-ministers imprisoned and maltreated until the resident obtained enough to liquidate the wazir's debt. The wazir threw the odium of this transaction on the English. Hastings defended his conduct as just and politic. He was not directly responsible for the severe measures adopted by the wazir, but it was certainly not a matter in which the British governor-general and his officers should have taken any part. His conduct in this matter as well as towards the Benares raja was misrepresented and used against him in England.