EUROPEAN INTERVENTION IN NATIVE WARS 115

political blunder; since the Tan j ore intervention fur- nished Dupleix with an excellent precedent for taking part in the quarrels of the native rulers precisely at a moment when he was meditating similar designs of a much more important and far-reaching character. He THE MAIN GATEWAY OP THE TEMPLE AT TANJORE. was now ready to develop his policy of assuring the ascendency of France upon a system of armed inter- vention among the candidates who were preparing to settle by the sword the open question of the succession to rulership in South India. His opportunity came in April, 1748, with the death of Asaf Jah, the first Nizam, founder of the dynasty that still reigns over a large territory at Haidarabad. Asaf Jah's succession was disputed between his son