The Tale Of The Tulasi Plant And Other Stories

1916

TO
MY MANY INDIAN FRIENDS IN

POONA AND

THE WESTERN DECCAN

TIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY

INSCRIBED

NOTE TO SECOND EDITION.

The second edition of this book has been corrected
by my friend Rao Bahadur D. B. Parasnis, who
never wearies in his assistance to my labours.

C.A.K,

PREFAOE..

^
As nearly all the ensuing sketches have already

appeared in the Times of India and are reproduced
with the kind permission of its editor, no preface is
really required. Since, however, the article on
Marathi proverbs gave, when published, some offence
to Deccani readers, I take this opportunity of
assuring them that the suggestion that Maharashtra
meant the country of the Mhars (Mahar Rashtra)
was not mine at all. It may be found at p. yyifi of
the Preface to Molesworth's Dictionary. I am glad,
however, to state that my old and valued friend
Sir Eamkrishna Bhandarkar, C.I.E., has convinced
me that Molesworth's derivation must on philo-
logical grounds be incorrect. I have therefore re*
written the latter half of the said article. The
other articles are practically unaltered.

0, A.K,

"La inuraille chinoise que Fignorance avait
. , s'abaisse de plus en plus. Quand die aura disparu,
on sera bien 6tonn< de d^couvrir que derri&re il y avait taut
de braves gens. L'ceuvre de demolition est commenc^e depuis
longtemps. En donnant ces pages de mon journal 6erites
star le sol mime de TJle inconnue f y vais de mon petit coup
de marteau."

Pierre de Coulevain.
(L ? ile inconnue,)

THE TALE OF THE TULSI
PLANT.

say that it has often happened that a
young Englishman riding past an Indian's house has
seen a small plant growing in a pot just opposite the
door and has enquired its name. The answer has
been that it is the Tulsi, a plant sacred to Vishnu.
If incurious, this answer has satisfied the questioner.
If curious to probe into the secrets of the world around
him, he will have returned home and searched for
th^ word Tulsi in Molesworth's dictionary. Therein
it is written that the Tulsi is the Basil plant or
"Ocymum Sanctum." If Basil be traced in the
leaves of Webster, the searcher will learn that Basil
is derived from the Greek word b$spikon, meaning
kingly, and that the Basil plant ha HI Erance been
styled la plante royale^nd in Germany the koib%g*$
kraut The next stage will be a pursuit for the
Greek words basilikon dendronin the pages of LIddell
and Scott ; but here the pursuit will be vain, for the
term was unknown in classical Greece. As it is not
unlikely that no further clue will be f orthcoinmg I
have ventured to write the present article in the hop6
of throwing some light on the subject.

* By the kindness of a friend* I have been sup-
plied with two extracts which show that in Italy a
in Greece the Basil pknt was credited

2 TALK OF THE TULSI PLANT

strange occult properties. In the second part of
the Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont, translated by
W. Ward, 1563, there is this entry :

" To make a woman shall eate of nothing that
is set upon the table. Take a little greene Basill and
when men bring the dishes to the table put it
underneth them, yet the woman perceive it not, for
men saye that she will eate of none of that which is in
the dish whereunder the Basill lieth."

In " The Cyclades " by P. Bent there occurs the
following passage:

" I have frequently realized how much prized
the Basil is in Greece for its mystic properties. The
herb, which they say grew on Christ's grave, is almost
worshipped in the Eastern Church. On St. Basil's
Day women take sprigs of this plant to be blefised in
Church. On returning home they cast more on the
floor of the house to secure luck for the ensuing year.
They eat a little with their household, and no sick-
ness, they maintain, will attack them for a year.
Another bit they put in the cupboard and firmly be-
lieve that their embroideries and silken raiment will
be free from the visitation of rats, mice and moths
for the same period."

We find too a reference to the Basil in Keats 5
"Isabella/ 3 Therein, it will be remembered, that
Isabella after exhuming the murdered Lorenzo's
head:

" (She) wrapped it up ; and for its tomb did choose

w A garden pot, wherein ahe laid it by

*' And covered it with mould, aad o'er it set

*' Sweet Bastt, which her tears kept ever wet."

But as neither classical Oreece nor Rome can
us to explain the origin of the Tula's or Basil's

O1T 1<HE TCJLSI FIiASft 3

sanctity let us return to India. And here we shall
not be disappointed. For this is the tale that is told
in the Padma Parana by Naradmuni* to King
Prithuraj. One day whoa ludra went to seek for
Shiva in Kailas, his heaven, Indra saw no one except
a man of terrifying aspect, of whom he asked
whither Shiva had gone. The man stood silent,
although Indra repeated several times the question.
Then Indra gre;v augry and hurled at him hia
thunderbolt. The man disappeared and in his place
stood Shiva, who wa.48o wrotli, that to save Indra's
life, BrahaBpati, the priest of Ihegodb*, had to throw
himself at Shiva't* [cot, and thus obtain Indra's life
as a boon. But Lho li^litaiag, Uul ia Shiva's wrath
had, to kill indra, flashed from his third eye, could
not return whoaee ib came, so Bhiva, that Indra
might not bo struck, hurled it into the sea where
the Ganges meets it. And o the union of that
lightning with Ocean a boy way born whom Brah-
madev caught up to lumBolf and to whom he gave
the name of Jalandhar or oea-fcjeizecL And to
him Brahmadev gave the boon that by no hand
but Shiva's could ho perish, Jalandhar grew tip
strong and tall and conquered the Icings o! the
earth and in duo time married Vrinda, the daugh-
ter of the demon KalnoinL And under the rule of
Jalandhar the demons, who had been by the gods
driven into hell, came forth and urged Jalandhar to

* Nanulraum watt tho *on of Bruktnutlw, And, 03 tb> t&ta &3t0wft the
michiof- maker of the god*, Xho word i/i ovon novr iw<kl
for a iniiwtiiflf-makor. la this talo, m I havo no Swiakrifc, I ftm
Oobtd to a tranalation kindly mado for rno from tfw Banakrit

- Uikufcut of

4: TALE OP THE TULSl PLAOT

make war on them* And by Rahu% his messenger,
Jalandhar ordered Indra to hand over the jewels
which had sprung from the churning of Ocean* But
Indra refused saying that Ocean had sheltered the
enemies of the gods and that, therefore, they had
rightly churned Ocean and had robbed him of his
jewels*

So Jalandhar and the demons fought Indra and
the gods in the forest of Nandan, and as the gods fell
Brahaspati revived them with the nectar plant that
grew on the slopes of Dronadri. But Jalandhar
hurled Dronadri into the sea and the terrified gods
fled for shelter into the caves that pierce the sides of
Suwarna or the gold mountain. Ihen the gods
prayed to Vishnu and he came forth to rescue them,
but against Jalandhar Vishnu's thunderbolts were
harmless because of the boon granted by Brahmadev.
And Jalandhar with his mace smote Vishnu's eagle
so that it reeled, and Vishnu stayed the fight and
granted Jalandhar a boon. And he asked Vishnu to
bring Laxmi and live with him on earth in his place.
Vishnu perforce consented and Jalandhar ruled as
undisputed lord of the three worlds. The rain fell
at the appointed times, poverty was unknown, the
ryots lived freed alike from misery and sickness, t
and all but the gods rejoiced under the sway of Jal an-
dhar. But Naradrmini, the mischief tfxaker, went to
Ms court* He saluted Naradmuni and asked him
whence he came. He replied that he had come from

*Ba,lra was the messenger of the demom Originally a Mafcg by
fafehead was cut off by Vishmi. Bahuand Koto, the sevorsd patt
hifla* ftOtf amuse themselves by swallowing the 8un and Moon wtxd so
causing Eclipses.

t fc$ Wifreif Jtogwtfs Jalandlxar'a rule ra<tfoly a<? a change of

TALB OF THE TXJLSI PLANT 5

Kailas where he had seen Shiva and ;Parvati and
herds of Kamdhenus, or Cows that grant desires, and
forests of Kalpavriksh, or trees that fulfil wishes, and
masses of Chintamanis or the jewels that bestow
favours, and that he had come to see whether in the
three worlds there was any wealth like that of Shiva
or any beauty like that of Parvati. And in this wise
Naradmuni stirred up hatred against Shiva in Jalan-
dhar and he gent by Rahu a message calling on him
to hand over his wife and wealth, and covering him-
self with ashes to live for ever in the burning ground-
Then Shiva was exceedingly wroth, and from his eye-
brow there came forth a terrible shape with a man's
body and a lion's face. It ran to eat up Rahu, but
Shiva, as he was a herald, saved Mm, and ordered the
shape to eat up its own arms and legs. And then to
console it Shiva granted it the boon of being always
at the door of his temples and gave it the name of
Kktimukh or Fameface,* But he sent Rahu with a
scornful answer back to Jalandhar and he and Shiva
fought each other on the slopes of Kailas.

But even Shiva could not prevail against Jafl&a-
dhar So long as his wife Vrinda remained chaste. So
Vishnu, who had lived with her and Jalandhar &&<!
had learnt this secret, plotted h 01* downfall. Q&e day
when she, sad at Jalandhar's absence, had left her
gardens to walk in the waste beyond, two
met her and pursued her. She ran with the
following until she saw a Rishi at whose feei sfcfe fell
and asked for shelter. The Rishi wi,th'h& magic
burnt up the demons into thin ash. Yrinda. t!xe$ ask-
ed him for news of her husband. At onoe two ;$>'

* Th& KMimolieh te still carved oa **e

6 TALE OF THE tftfLSl PtAHT

laid before her Jalandhar's head, feet and hands.
Vrinda, thinking that he was dead, begged the'Eishi
to restore him to her. The E/ishi said that he would
try, and in a moment he and the corpse had disap-
peared and Jalandha? stood by her. She threw her-
self into his arms and they embraced each other*
But some days later she learnt that he with whom
she was living was not her husband, but Vishnu
who had taken his shape. And she cursed Vishnu
and foretold that in a later Avatar the two demons,
who had frightened her, would rob him of his wife;
and that to recover her he should have to ask the aid
of the apes who had brought Jalandhar's head, feet
and hands. Vrinda then threw herself into a bur-
ningpit. And Jalandhar, once Vrinda's chastity had
gone, fell a prey to Shiva's thunderbolts. Then the
gods came forth from their hiding place and garlan-
ded Shiva. The demons were driven back to hell and
men once again passed under the tyranny of the gods.
But Vishnu came not back from Vrinda's palace, and
those who sought him found him mad for grief, rolling
in her ashes. Then Parvati, to break the charm of
Vrinda's beauty, planted in her ashes three seeds.
And they grew into three plants, the Tulsi, the Avail
and bhe Haiti, and by the growth of these seeds
Vishnu was released from Vrinda's charm. There-
fore, he loved them all, but chiefly the Tulsi plant,
which, as he said, was Vrinda's very self. Yet was
her curse fulfilled. For the Avatars of Vishnu were
these : Matsya or the fish, Kurma or the tortoise,
V$*aha or the boar, Narasinh or the lion, Waman or
the dwarf, Parashurama or the lord of the axe*
then, Kamchattdra the world conqueror %

TALE OF THE TULSI PLANT 7

In this 7th incarnation the two demons, who had
frightened Vrinda, became Ravan and his brother
Kumbhakarna. And they bore away Sita to Lanka.
And to recover her Ramchandra had to implore the
help of the two apes who had brought her Jalandhar's
head and hands, and in this incarnation they became
Hanuman and his warriors. But in the 8th incar-
nation which was that of Krishna, the Tulsi plant
took the form of a woman Radha, and as such wed-
ded on Kartik Sud twelfth, the gay and warlike lord of
Dwarka. And thu s it is, when the Indian nights grow
crisp with the coming cold, the women,from the full-
moon of Aahwina io rt'cfuH-zrcon of Kartik lighthigh
above their houses the Akashdiwa or heavenly lamp,
and so celebrate the wedding of Krishna* and Radha
and the reconciliation of Vishnu with the demon-lady
whom he wronged- Good luck attends the house
of her who waters the Tulsi plant, and the worship of
Vishnu is incomplete, unless the Tulsi plant is placed
on the black Shaligram stone which, picked up in the
bed of the Gandak river, is regarded as the symbol of
the godhead.

Lastly, the comic element is not wholly absent,
for when in Marathi one wishes to say that one mwt
somtimesdo evil that good may cotne, it is best
expressed by the saying "tulsiche mtilant kand&
lavavalajato " (One must place an onion in the toot
of the Tulsi plant). While an unworthy sou of >
noble father (patris heroi films degener) is styled
bhang growing in a Tulsi (to tulshint bhang ahe),

* Krishna was marriod to Kadha under tfcfc &a*ne of ;Datooda*v
ntwfy $&& thafe Sa o*4er to reeta&i hfe youthful frolics, hi*
lTe**^ tied hito with * rope (dam o* daye)rotuaa tfc* afcowttw*
to a flFfcoao mortar.

THE TALE OF THE SHAMI TREE.

In my last chapter I gave my readers the story
of the Tulsi plant. I now venture to put before them
the legends that have gathered round the Shami tree
or Mimosa Suma, a big thorny tree not unlike the
babul. One may see it both in the Deccan and in
Kathiawad and in the latter province rags are often
tied to it as votive offerings. The first legend, which
is that of its metamorphosis from a young girl, is
given in Chapter 33 of the Kridakand from the latter
half of the Ganeshpurana. One day when Narad-
muni* was walking up and down the three worlds he
came to Indra's capital, Amraoti. Indra rose and
saluted, and in the course of their talk asked JSFarad-
muni whether he knew and, if so, he would tell him
the story of Aurava, the Eishi And Narad told him
the following tale : " Once upon a time there lived
in Malva a Brahman named Aurava, who was ripe
with the learning of the Vedas. His face shone like
the sun and his knowledge was such that all gold to
him was dross and all that his mind willed he could do,
for he could create, cherish or destroy as he listed,
By his wife, Sameghan, he had born to him late in
life & beauiif ul daughter, called Shami, to whom he
gave aJi her heart's desire* When she was seven
years old he wedded her to the Rishi Dhoumya's Son,

* My leaders win remember that ^aradtmmi is the mischief-maker of
the god* It was he Who tempted Jalaadhar to make war on Shiva.

Otf THE SHAMI TESS3 9,

Mandar, who lived and studied with a preceptor,
named Shaunak. After their wedding the girl and
boy parted until they had reached the fulness of
youth. Then Mandar went to the house of Aurava
the Rishi, and taking Shami from her father's house,
get forth with her to the house of Shaunak, his guru*
On the road they passed by the house of a mighty
Rishi or sage, called Bhrushundi* He was the untir-
ing worshipper of Ganpati and by his austerities he
had won from the god the boon that he also might
grow a trunk from his forehead. When Shami and
Mandar saw the trunk-faced sage they burst out
laughing, and he in anger cursed them. And the curse
was that they should become trees from which even
animals turned away.)^ And so Mandar became the
Mandar tree, whose leaves no beast will eat, and Sha-
mi the Shami tree on whose thorns no bird may rest.
Some days passed and the guru Shaunak, anxious
that Shami and Mandar tarried, went in search of
them. He went first to the house of the sage Aurstfra
and heard that they had left it. Then Aurava and
Shaunak searched everywhere until they came to th#
hermitage of Bhrushundi and learnt of the curse tfab$
had befallen Mandar and his bride. The two old:
men then practised suoh terrible atisterities ,
Ganpati's honour that he revealed himself to
10 cubits high aad riding on a lion. They begged of
him as a boon that he should restore to them Shaftoi
and Mandar. But the god feared to displ&ase h&
disciple Bhrushundi and granted them instead t&at
the two trees should be honoured throughout ilia
three worlds and that neither Khiva's nor his
worship should be complete without theit

TALE OF THE SHAMJ TKBE

When the god vanished Shaunak went his way,
but Aurava in despair left his mortal covering and
became the fire which lies hidden within the trunk
of the Shami tree."

Such was the tale told by Naradmuni to Indra,
but to this day when sacrifices are burnt in the
temples of Shiva and Ganpati, their priests rub to-
gether pieces of the Shami tree and the hidden fire
within it leaps out and kindles the sacrifice.* And
no worship is complete without the Shami leaves and
the Mandar flowers being present on the altar.

A second and later legend and one which is better
known connects the Shami tree with the famous
Pandav brothers. Students of the Mahabharata will
remember how Yudhishtira, tempted by Naradmuni
to perform the Rajsuya, incurred the envy of his
cousin Duryodhana ; how Duryodhana, to gratify
his jealousy, played with Shakunf s aid at dice
with Yudhisthira; how Yudhishthira lost all he
possessed, kingdom, wealth, wife and brothers ; how
Duryodhana's father, Dhritarashtra, gave them to
him all back, and, lastly, how the infatuated Pandav
again gambled with Duryodhana and had to pay as
forfeit twelve years, residence in the woods with his
wife and brothers and then a thirteenth year of dis-
guise in a distant country. If the disguise were
penetrated the Pandavs|were to stay another twelve
years in exile. When the 'first twelve years, those
of the forest life, had passed, the Pandavs with
cast about where the thirteenth year
speat and they fixed on Viratnagar, t the

Ichis iay be see** at stay tem#& of

TT~ ._.....

SHAME TREE 11

modern Wai, where the Camples are still
the waves of the I&dshna. And Yudhisl
disguised himself as a gamblef^^and Bhima as a"
cook and Arjuna as a eunuch* and Nakula as a
groom, and Sahadeva as a milkman and lastly Drau-
padi as a waiting woman. And at the Court of King
Virata, they dwelt until the years of exile were over.
But before assuming their disguises the Pandavs
hid their weapons inside a Shami tree. Here let
me give a translation of the original passage :t

Arjuna said c O Ling, I see a tall Shami tree on a
il sing ground ; it is well if we hang our weapons on it.
For, see, Tbecau se of the great thorns that spread round
it on every side it is hard for any one to climb it* And
again there is no one here now to see what we are
doing, ihe tree too is in a lonely spot wherein live
snafecg and wild beasts, and as it is used as a burning
ground, there is but small fear of men wandering
hither* Therefore, let us place our weapons on this
tree and then let us go to Viratnagar and as already
resolved let us each on his own errand complete i&te0
the days of exile/ And in this wise Arjuna gpcfckfe to
Yudhishthira and all the Pandav got ready to
up their weapons. First Arjutta loosed the
string of the mighty Gandivat Ah ! Gandiva,

*' Arjuna was condemned to be a eunuch because be slighted the
beauty of TJrwaehi Indra's queen. '

f X have not translated from thv r Sanskrit but from Messrs. Datarand
Kodak's admirable Marathi rendering. The book has been published at
great expense by Messrs. Chiplunkar and Go's* at the Indira Press, Poona,
and the second half of the rendering is delayed for want offun.de. X'
would venture to appeal to the Marathi reading public to assistkr purchas-
ing the part already translated, in the publication of the

$ The mwfcQ of Arjufcrt bow given to hixa byAgai
Indra, <

12 $AO 01? THE SHAMI TREE

can describe it ? For by the strength of it did
Arjuna in hie chariot subdue the gods and all men
and all countries. Then Yudhisbthira freed the gut
of the bow by whose aid he had guarded the land of the
Kurus. Next Bhiroa undid the f asteningsof his bow.
O king !* with this bow had Bhima the mighty
defeated in battle the Panchalas and the lord of Sindhu
arid in the hour of victory he had single haned hum-
bled a multitude of warriors* For, king ! the shock
of that bow was like the thunderbolt that falls upon
and shatters the hill crests. Next beautiful sweet-
tongued Nakula untied the bow with which he had
conquered the lands of the West. And last of all
Sahadevaf unstrung the bow by whose help he
had won the kingdoms of the Deccan. In this wise
the Pandavs freed their bow strings and they laid
down their bows and their bright swords, their
jewelled quivers and their piercing arrows.

Yudhishthira gathered them together and told
Nakula to climb the tree. And Nakula did so and
jin the holes and crevices where the arms might
J>est lie and where the rain would not reach them,
phere he placed them and tied them with strong cords.
Then the Pandavs tied a corpse to the tree thinking
that its sight and smell would keep men from wander-
ing thither. Then they walked towards Virat-
nagar and on the road they said to the shepherds
and cowherds and others whom they passed:
* According to the custom of our family we have

* The king here is king Jaamejaya to whomm the forest the sage
YaishaBopayan told the deathless tale of the heroes of the house of
Bharata.

f The comjueate of Sahadsva surme in the name of CoromondeJ
&uro-^Mnclal the province of the Ktorua

TALE OF THE SHAME TREE 13

tied to that tree the corpse of our mother, dead at the
age of 180*. So the Pandavs guarded against the
evil thoughts that arise in men's minds and that they
might there pass the thirteenth year of exile they
entered the mighty city of Viratnagar.'

There is yet a third tale that connects the Shami
tree with Raghu, the grandfather of Ramchandra.;
It runs that one day a young sage called Kautsa
quarrelled violently with his guru or teacher Vartantu
and wished to leave him. But Vartantu before he let
him go dunned him for fourteen crores of rupees as the
price of his apprenticeship. Kautsa went to the
court of king Raghu of Ayodhya to beg his master's
fee. But he came at an unhappy time. King Raghu
had j ust held a mighty sacrifice and he had given every-
thing he possessed to the Brahmanas who had assem-|
bled. So that when Kautsa came to king Raghu's}
court the generous prince was reduced to dine off
earthen plates. Kautsa' s heart sank within him
when he saw king Raghu's poverty nevertheless he
disclosed his object. The prince called his treasurer!
but in vain. The treasure room was as bare $0
Mrs. Hubbard's cupboard. In despair king
prepared to raid Indra's capital Amraoti and rofo
of the fourteen crores asked for by Kautsa. Just at
this time Naradmuni came to Ayodhya and after th^j
customary salutation enquired and learnt the fcause;
of king Raghu' s preparation. He at once .went to!
Amraoti and told Indra. The latter alarmed at the|
resolve of the desperate Kshattriya sent for the godi
Kubera, hia treasurer and the lord of all wealth* and

* The oxtrawdifaarjr age of the old mothcnr s6em$ to have
accepted &e quite tin ordinary statement,

14 TATVTC OF THE SHAMI TKEE

made him for three andra-hftlf ghatkas the same night
shower gold on Ayodhya. And the gold all fell in one
place where a giant Shami tree stood. And next
morning, the 10th of Ashwin Sudh, the day chosen by
his astrologers as auspicious for his advance against
Indra, king Baghu saw masses of gold heaped all-
round the tree. He called Kautsa and told him to take
it away* But the sage said that he wanted but the
fourteen crores with which to pay Vartantu. And
taking them he went his way- But the proud
Kashattriya refused to touch what had been obtained
for the needs of a Brahmana and the rest of the
gold lay there that all who wanted it might help
themselves. And still on the 10th Ashwin Sudh
day that king JEtaghu should have started for
Amraoti and better known as Dassara from Dasha
10th 9 Maratha villagers keep alive his memory. For
first worshipping the trunk of the Shami tree they
cut off its branches and mixing them with earth,
gegamum flowers, Apta leaves, and bajri ears they
offer them to Ganesha who turns them, it is fancied,
into gold. The heap is then taken to the village
boundary and is there looted by the men and
boyg of the village. And this is the ceremony of the

But there is a still stranger sequel. For in honour
of his grandfather, 'Ramchandra chose algo for his
expedition against king ,Bavan of Lanka the 10th of
Ashwin Sudh and before starting prayed to the Shami
tree for success. And century after the Jlajput
Kings have prayed to the Shami tree and led forth
Against each other or the Mleccha, the heroes of
Jjlew&r and Marwar, And following them theMajrath^

TALE OH 1 OTIS SHAMI TREE 15

captains did likewise and on Dassara started forth
on their raids. Then in the Peshwa's time when
warfare became more scientific and organised
campaigns took the place of razteias, the DaSsara
became a great festival on which the Peshwa distribu-
ted amid regal state dresses of honour to the Indian
princes. And this custom when the Peshwai passed
away was continued by the English Resident until
in the late Empress' time the date was changed from
the Dassara to the Sovereign's birthday, a practice
which continues to this day. And thus it is that
when the Agent for the Sirdars and the Deccan nobles
assemble at the yearly Durbar to express their loyalty
to their august master, the King Emperor, they also
do homage all unwittingly to the legendary sanctity
of King Raghu's Shami tree.

THE STORY OF THE BEL PLANT.

The scientific name of the Bel plant is Aigle Mar-
melos which, as I will freely admit, throws but little
light on the subject. In appearance it is an ordinary
enough shrub with small green leaves and green
apple-shaped fruit. In Hindu religious circles,
however, the Bel tree has a very large place, and its
connection with Sati, the first wife of Shiva, seems
to indicate a pre- Aryan origin of its sanctity. Sati's
story is told in the Shrimat Bhagwat, the tale that
\fras told by the sage Maitrya to Vidura, the brother
of Pandu, and Dritarashtra, and thus the uncle of the
Pandavs and Kuravs, the heroes of the Great War*

Sati was the daughter of King Daksh by his union
with Prasuti, the third daughter of self-sprung Manu.
Now sixteen daughters were born of this union.
And of them thirteen were given in marriage to
Dharma or Religion. And their names were Budhi
or Talent, Medha or Discernment, Shradha or
3Devofcion, Maitri or Friendship, Daya or Pity, Shanti
or Calmness, Tushti or Satisfaction, Titiksha or Pa-
tience, Rhi or Intelligence, Unati or Happiness,
Pushti or Weal and Murti or Shape. And to each of
these was born a son of various names, but to Murti
were born Nar and Narayan* at whose birth the
Heavens burst into music and the angels and the

were ineai^aticms of Vistou although not named among the
principal ones.

STOEY Off THE BEL PILAOT 17

cherubs the Gandarvas and the Kinnara began all
to sing on the fifth note.t The fourteenth daughter
was Swaha or Flame who wedded Agni or Fire* And
the fifteenth daughter was Swadha whom King
Daksh gave in marriage to the Pitars or deified
saints. And the sixteenth was Sati and her he
bestowed on the god Shiva* But of this marriage
only evil came, and here I will give a translation of
the opening passage of the second chapter of the
fourth book of the Shrimat Bhagwat.

" O Vidura, once upon a time King Daksh plan-
ned a sacrifice and he invited to it with their pupils
Vasishta and the sages and the Edshis and their re-
tinues and all the gods and the Munis and the Agnis.t
And shortly after they had come King Daksh en-
tered. And by his lustre, Vidura, the mighty hall
of sacrifice lit up. And all therein seeing this king
among men stood up, save only Brahmadev and
Shiva, And King Daksh, after bowing to Brahmadev
as the guru of all, sat on his appointed throne. But
Shiva had never even moved in his seat and King
Daksh felt so wroth at this that his eyes grew red
as fire. And he go glared at Shiva so that those
seated round expected Shiva to be consumed. Then
Daksh rose and pointing to Shiva said in the
presence of all:

" * O members of the assembly, what I say to you
do not think that I say it lightly or thoughtlessly

f The 7 notes or swars of , Hindu music corresponding to the key of
C Natural are Sa, Be, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, and Ni. Thus the 6th note would
be Gl the note, curiously enough, on which .English clergymen intone.

f There were 49 Agnis either descended from or including the Agni,
who married Swaha,

18 STORY OF THE BEL PLANT

[Here follows a page full of virulent abuse of
Shiva to which Shiva replies at equal length and with
equal acrimony*]

This was how the quarrel commenced and Shiva
rose from his seat before the sacrifice had begun and
went homewards. And King Daksh then initiated
the ceremonies to which the assembled guests had
been invited and which lasted 1,000 years. Sati,
however, had not been present, and does not seem
fully to have appreciated Shiva's explanation that
external honour was only good for those absorbed in
the Karma marg* and that he had really in his heart
honoured King Daksh who had been too unenligh-
tened to see it* Some ages later for time was of little
value to these Mighty ones King Daksh gave another
sacrifice. And to these again he invited the gods and
the saints, the Munis and the Rishis. But Shiva and
Sati received no invitation card. Sati, however, long-
ed to see her parents and her sisters and wished to go
uninvited. She asked Shiva for leave, but he re-
fused. Thereupon she got so angry that she left him
to go on foot to King Daksh's house* Shiva then
relented and sent after her his retinue and his sacred
Bull Nandi Keshwar. So that in full state she duly
arrived at King Daksh' s sacrificial hall But a visit
which had begun with a wife's disobedience to her
husband was predestined not to end well So when

* There are 4 Margs according to the Hindu belief : (a) The Karma
marg, the ordinary path of worldly affairs, followed by the careless and
the unbelieving; (6) the Bhakti marg, the path of devotion and austeri-
ties, followed by the elect; (c) the Raj marg, the path of Government, to,
which the elect are nest promoted ; and (d) the Dnyan marg or path of
knowledge, tbo last stage before Moksh or release from the pain of livi^ !l -
is obtained, i '

STORY OF THE BEL PLANT 19

^

Sati reached her goal only her mother and her sisters
welcomed her. King Daksh and his courtiers openly
ignored her. She then in the style of epic andpura-
nic characters abused her father for several pages and
in the end resolved to destroy the vile body bestowed
by him that she might no longer feel towards him
any obligation. How she did it will be seen from the
following translation :

The sage Maitrya said : " O best of the Kurus
(Vidura), hereupon Sati donned yellow clothes and
sat down with her face to the north. She first per-
formed the Achaman* rite and became silent and
then according to the rules of Yoga, or the True
Science, began the task of entering the state of
Samadhi or Contemplation. She first became rigid
and then united the Pranf and the Apan beneath
her navel. Next by an upward motion of the navel
wheel,t she brought them to her heart and skilfully
fixed them there. Lastly, she slowly forced them
through her throat into her forehead. Now, as by
living with the Lord Shiva she had become well-
versed in the Yoga, she was then able by its means to
produce a flame that enveloped her body."

And so, the end was, the poor lady was entirely
consumed and King Daksh's sacrificial party broke
up in, disorder.

* This consists of sipping water in the names of Keshav, Narayaxt
and Madhav and throwing it down in the name of Qovind.

f According to Hindu science, there are in each human being 5 Vital
airs: (a) The Pran or air of the lungs ; (6) Apan, the air in the lower
abdomen ; (o) Vyan, the air diffused throughout the tissues of the body ;
(d) TTdan, the air in the throat ; and (e) Saman, the air in the stomach
deemed necessary for dige&tion. '

$ The Nabhichakra is the wheel euDDosed to lie voider tfce human
navel*

20 STOEY OF MCE BEL PLASTT

When the sad news retched the Loijd Shiva he
was inconsolable and wandered vainly up and down
the earth and heavens seeking for mental rest. And
at last he one day found it under a Bel tree. For,
seated in its shade, he cast his eyes upwards and from
the shape of the fruit which resembled Sati's rounded
bosom, he fancied that her spirit had become em-
bodied in its trunk. Now it happened thereafter
that Parwati, the daughter of Himalaya, lord of the
mountains, wished to wed with the Lord Shiva. And
to gain her end, she had practised various austerities.
For twelve years she had sat with downcast eyes
inhaling smoke. Then for sixty-four years she had
sat eating withered leaves. In the month of Magh
(February) she had sat immersed in water; in Vaishak
(May) she had sat between five fires, and in the rains
she had sat without food and without a roof.
Now she had all but reached her object when Narad-
muni, mischief-maker among the gods, visited Hima-
laya, lord of the mountains, and urged him to unite
Parwati to Vishnu. Himalaya agreed, but Parwati
fled with a waiting majd into the desert. There she
drew a linga on the sand, placed on it Bel leaves, and
abandoning all food and water, gave herself up to the
worship of the Lord Shiva. At last, conquered by
her devotion, he appeared and granted her the boon
of wif edom to himself. Thus the Bel is ddubly sacred,
for it granted rest to the Lord Shiva and won
wedlock for ParwatL And he who worships Shiva
without the leaves of the Bel will be consigned to the
blackest depths of Hell for one Kalp or seven ages of
Itodra, each of 7,000year& And the learned in .Hindu
medicine use it in many ways. The young fruit IB

STORY Otf THE BEL PLAOT 21

used as an aperient. The fruit, full grown but gtill
sour; is given as a cure for dysentery. And the fruit
fully ripened is used as an astringent and an appetizer.
The Bel, too, has played a part in history. For, on
the strength of an oath sworn on the Bel bandar, the
First Peshwa, Balaji Vishvanath, trusted himself
to the tender mercies of Damaji Thorat, the jaghir-
dar of Patas. His trust was betrayed, for Balaji was
at once Seized and tortured. When reproached with
his broken oath Damaji replied : " What of it ? the
Bel is only a tree and bandar turmeric I eat every
day," Such ignoble levity only lowered him in his
fellow countrymen's eyes, and, to use an Irish ex-
pression, he never had the same name in the country
afterwards. Lastly, the comparative size of the Bel
fruit and the Avala (Phyllanthus emblica) has given
rise to a humorous proverb : " Avala deun bel
kadane," or as we say " to give a sprat to catch a
salmon-' 5

VISHALGAD.

Gurrh ! Gurh ! went the big car as a somewhat
unskilful hand changed the speeds and we started
with a grating growling sound that put to shame
the contending counsel in the Court that we had
left behind* Kolhapur was our starting point.
Amba was our destination. And between the
two stretched forty miles of straight red road
which we must traverse that evening. Away
then swept the 30 horse power Beaufort that
carried the Diwan and myself through the crowded
city. The cart bullocks at Kolhapur were even
less broken to motor traffic than elsewhere. Some
times petrified with fear they stopped helplessly
in the middle of the road just across our track.
Down went convulsively the driver's feet on the
clutch and brake and the disengaged engines raced
and bellowed with impatient fury. At other times
the bullocks at our approach seemed seized by
devils and rushed violently down the steep 'sides
of the road with a speed and ease that would
have roused keen envy in the swine of Gadara.

Once out of the town we sped past Panehganga,
on whose banks lie the tombs of His Highness*
forebears, and after 12 miles reached the ghat that
leads to Panhala fort. The great car breasted the
steep winding road without changing speed and we
passed under the bastions of the mighty stronghold.

VISHALOAD 23

Our business, however, was not with Panhala so we
skirted its scarped defences and switching ofi rolled
noiselessly down its farther side. Another l^our at
almost full speed along a deserted road and we
entered, amid the musical salute of the Vishalgadh
Chief's armed forces, that feudatory's boundaries
and shortly afterwards alighted at Amba.

The Diwan and I had now reached that day's
journey's end and after careful inspection of maps
and histories we parted early for the night. For
next morning the serious business of our trip was
to begin and we would ride through the woods to
Vishalgadh, At 7 a.m. next day we started and
took a path that had once been trodden by a Bah-
mini army. AUauddin Shah Bahmini II towards
the close of a successful and vigorous reign resolved
to subdue the Konkan. For that purpose he
sent a veteran General, Malik-ul-Tujar, who, after
several raids below the ghats, thought it necessary
to take Khelna fort now known as Vishalgadb.
On the way he captured a fastness defended by
a member of the ancient Maratha house of Shirke
whom he forcibly converted to Islam, The out-
raged noble to gain his revenge offered to lead the
Musalmans to Vishalgadh whose owner Shankar
Rai he represented as his own bitter enemy. Malik-
ul-Tujar fell readily into the trap. For two days
Shirke led .the army along a broad path, and on
the third took them into the forest through which
450 years later my friend and I rode. And this
is how Ferishta* has described it,

* Brigg>aFenshte, Volume n, page <538,

24 TD3HALGAD

"On the third day he led them by paths so
intricate, that the male tiger by apprehension
might change its sex, and through passes more
tortuous than the curly locks of the fair and more
difficult to escape from than the mazes of love.
Demons even might start at the precipices and
caverns in those wilds, and ghosts might be panic-
struck at the awful view of the mountains. Here
the Sun never enlivened with its splendour the
vallies, nor had Providence designed that it should
penetrate their depths. The very grass was tough
and sharp as the fange of serpents, and the air
fetid as the breath of dragons. Death dwelt
in the waters and poison impregnated the breeze."
As we started I quoted the first sentence of
this passage to the Diwan and we both laughed
at what we thought its ridiculous hyperboles. But
before I had ridden 2 miles I began to think that
Ferishta had not gone far beyond the mark. I
have seen many kinds of country both in Europe and
in India but never the fellow of this. At one time
the path rose so steep before us that we seemed
like Shelley's moth to be striving for the embraces
of the stars. In another hour we had descended
so low that we could almost hear the clang of our
horses' hooves echo dismally through the domes
of Eblis. And the path itself, how it twisted
through the jungle here, how sheer -it dropped
there. Did ever lover's feet stumble over such
boulders as those among which our horses strove
to pick their way? When you sported in the
shade, Amaryllis, did your lashes fringe such un-
fathomable depths ? Neaera, did your lover's hand

VISEALGAD 25

liglitly play among such inextricable tangles ? Af-
ter two hours of blind struggling we emerged as
did the Bahmani army on a small valley hemmed
in on every side with hills and still known as the
Badshah's Tal (the Imperial camp)* Here Malik-
ul-Tu jar's army, exhausted utterly, flung themsel-
ves on the ground. Shirke had already disappeared
and had fled to Vishalgad. Thence he at mid-
night returned with its garrison led by his supposed
enemy Shankar 'Rai. They at once threw themsel-
ves on the wearied invaders and killed of them
nearly seven thousand including the confiding
General. Next morning the survivors dispersed
in every direction. Thus the Maratha Chief made
his honour clean.

My companion's interest, however, lay further
ahead. So we pushed on to a place within a mile
of Vishalgad fort, known as the Ghod Khind.
My readers must now skip over two hundred years
from the death of Malik-ul-Tujar. In October,
1659, Shivaji destroyed near Pratabgad Afeul-
khan and his army. Before the Bijapur admini-
stration realized their defeat Shivaji had m$c&
himself master of PanhaJa and Vishalgad. Then
at last the Adilshahi Government woke to their
danger and sent the full strength of the monarchy
to cope with it. A great force under a skilifcl
leader, Sidi Johar, and accompanied by SWfl
Muhammad Khan, Af zulkhan's son, marched Against
the rebel. Shivaji, overawed, threw himself ittto
Pawiiala hoping to defend it long enough for his
irregulars without to make Sidi Johar's prisitioB
untenable. But for four months the vefer&n Gene-

26 VISHAL&AB

ral never relaxed his vigilance. In vain the Ma-
vaJis without tried to co-operate with the garrison
within. Famine began to make itself felt among
the defenders of Panhala. Then Shivaji saw that
he had made an error. If the Deccan was to be
liberated he must escape and the plan that he
adopted showed equal skill in design and execution.
Lulling the besiegers by offers of surrender he late
one night slipped with a chosen band from a gate
still known as Shivaji 9 s window and was well on the
march to another fort before his flight was dis-
covered. When it was Sidi Johar acted with
decision and promptitude. He despatched in pur-
suit a light column under Fazil Muhammad Khan*
Desire for vengeance lent wings to the young Musul-
man and as day broke he had overtaken ShivajTs
rear guard The latter's position was highly cri-
tical. The fort was still at some distance and,
even if the van guard reached it, it was quite pos-
sible that the victorious enemy might enter it
mingled with the fugitives. It was at this move-
ment that Shivaji was saved by an officer called
Baji Deshpande, He was a member of the Kayastha
Prabhu caste, a community who claim descend
from Sahasrarjun otherwise known as Kartavirya,
The tale, as I have heard it, runs thus. In the
Sattya Yug Sahasrarjun of the thousand arms was
King of the Haihyas. In the same kingdom there
lived the sage Jamadagni. To achieve perfect
Sanyas he cast from himself all the passions. Among
them wag Anger ; and before expulsion it pleaded
Jteave to stay urging that without anger man achieved
nothing Jamad^gni, however, refused to listen and

Anger was cast out from him. Now one day King
Sahasrarjun visited the sage's hermitage. He was
absent but his wife received the monarch with
fitting respect. But Sahasrarjun made her hos-
pitality an ill-return. For he carried off despite
her protests the calf of the milch-cow of the sacred
oblation. In the subsequent dispute between the
Sage and the King, the former fared badly. Having
cast forth Anger he was unable to lose his temper.
But all the time smiling beatifically he received 21
wounds in the head and died. To avenge the
sage's death Vishnu became incarnate in his son
Parashuram and this is his 6th incarnation. For
each wound in Jamadagnf s head he cleared the
earth once of the Kshattriyas. Now among Para-
shurama's victims was Sahasrarjun's son, Ghandrar
sen, King of Ayodhya. Subsequently Parashuram
came to know that Chandrasen's wife was pregnant
and had fled to the hermitage of the Bishi Dalabhya.
Parashuram went thither also and demanded the
fugitive Queen. The sage handed her over with
Such readiness that in turn Parashuram agreed
to do anything Dalabhya asked him. The wily
Bishi then gained his object and at once asked as
a boon the life of the unborn child, Para&huraaii
was bound by his promise but he made the con-
dition that the boy, as it afterwards proved to fee,
should be bred a writer and not a warrior and tha$
for the name of Kshattriya he should take that 6$
Kayastha as he had been saved in his mother's
kaya or body. Such is the fabled origin of
Kayastha Ihrabhu and their qualities support
fable. For they combine to an extraordinary <

penetrating intellect of the Brahman with the
devotion and fidelity of the Kshattriya. Baji
De$hpande realized his master's and his country's
danger and persuaded Shivaji to press on with the
main body to the fort while he with a picked band
of Mavalis held a gorge against the pursuers. Shi-
vaji with some reluctance agreed and promised
that the cannon of the stronghold would announce
his entry. The small band skilfully posted held
the gorge for some hours and when at length Baji
Beshpande fell covered with wounds the last
sound he heard was the salvo proclaiming Shivaji's
safe arrival,

Now which was the fort to which Shivaji fled
The historians following Grant Duff have identifier
it aa Rangna, Local tradition however, assert
that it was Vishalgad. And it must be admitte<
that the case for Vishalgad is convincing. Shi
taji about to escape from Panhala would natural^
ofeooae the nearer fortress. And Vishalgad i
under forty miles while Bangna is nearly seventy
H5fles away. Again could any, even MavaB Infantry,
cover more than sixty miles between midnigfe.1
? Further if Bangna gave
was the spot which Baji B
I am informed that there
aear enough to #&$

Canaan to reach it. The 0kft JSMnd ta t

feet into the Kaitoe, On the
Jg * ^r^ ^ MOB ta lian whidfc
m hart

against a hundredfold odds. Moreover, local
tradition finds support in two valuable documents.
The first, quoted by Mr. Muzumdar the author of
the Prabhu Ratnamala, is according to him of
great antiquity. It mentions Vishalgad and not
Rangna. The second is the Vishalgad bakhar with
an extract of which I have been kindly furnish-
ed. It not only mentions Vishalgad but marks
Ghod-khind as the scene of the defence. And
lastly Mr. Muzumdar while adhering to the view
that Rangna was Shivaji's destination observes
that the fight occurred near Pandharen Pani. Now
the latter place is no where near Rangna but is
six miles from Vishalgad. My companion and
I at any rate remained quite satisfied that Ghod-
khind was the scene of Baji Deshpande's heroic
death. Leaving it we followed Shivajf s foot steps
until we reached Vishalgad.

Of all the Deccan forts this is probably the stron-
gest* It rises like an island one thousand feet
out of the Konkan. A narrow causeway to the
main land is its only approach. No wonder that
Sidi Johar who followed in Fa^HMu
wake gave up after a futile cannonade hia task
withdrew with his army to Bijapur. Next
Shivaji was able to make reprisals. And it was
from Vishalgad that he swooped down on Mudhol
and killed Baji Ghorpade, who had betrayed 1
father. We did not, however, linger long on ti
Summit. The sun was high in the heavens and
long ride back remained* After inspecting
palace which once sheltered the deliverer of
icfethe Chiefs of

30 V1SHALGAD

recently been hunted by the ghost of a restless
Mahapurush, we descended the fort and prepared
once again to pass through the lovelike mazes of
the forest. It took us three weary hours. But
even the longest journeys and the most tedious
of love affairs have alike an end. Tea awaited
us at Amba. Again the Beaufort car bore us
along the red road. Once more the bullock
carts shot like falling meteors from off its precipi-
tous sides* And the stars had just begun to twin-
kle in the deepening violet of heaven as we hooted
back triumphantly into Kolhapur*

* Kartavirya is sfcill honoured by the Hindus. Whenever an article is
mislaid it is the custom to write on a piece of paper the following Sana-
krit verse :

Kartaviryar juno nam
Raja bahusahasravaa
Tasya smaranmatren
Gatamnastamcha labhyate.

(By merely remembering the ancient name of Kartavirya of the 1,000
arms the lost thing is recovered, The paper is then placed where the
article was mislaid and it reappears.

f The reference is page 72, Volume I. Readers interested in the
'Prabhu caste and acquainted with Marathi could not do better than
purchase this book,)

A FORGOTTEN BATTLEFIELD.

As the fast mail train of the Great Indian Penin-
sula Railway flies along the gradually narrow-
ing plain that divides Poona from Lonavla, it
is probable that but few of itg pas&engers observe
a tiny roadside station just beyond Talegaon. The
mail does not stop there and as it thunders past it
is hard to read the name on the notice board. And
beyond the name there is nothing else which would
attract attention. A little village nestling in the
centre of a rough plateau five or six miles wide
is not an uncommon sight to a traveller in Western
India. Yet name and spot are both worthy of
more than a passing glance. For the name of the
village is Wadgaon and the rough open ground
shut in by the dark cliffs of the Sahyadrig was the
scene of one of the greatest disasters that etw
befell the English arms in the annals of India.

Fully to understand the tangled politics of those
times it is necessary to go back to the death of
the great Bajirao, who, broken-hearted at the
failure of his attempt to destroy the new power in
the Deccan created by the Nizam-ul-Mtdlj:, djted
On the 28th of April 1740, on the banks of tl*e
Narbadda. Of his three legitimate sons OB^ died
in early youth. But the two eldest, Balaji atid
Raghunathrao, both men of few Scruples but great
ability, played foremost parts in the history of

32 FOEGOTTKH BATTLEFIELD

Harathas. The former succeeded his father as
Peshwa and nine years later, on the death of Shahu,
became by the forced " sati " of his widow and by
Tarabai's imprisonment of Bam Raja, Shahu's
heir, the absolute master of the empire. But
as he died, overwhelmed by the news of Panipat
many years before the events with which this
article is concerned, it is unnecessary to refer fur-
ther to him. The days of Raghunathrao, however,
were many and evil, and, while Balaji really foun-
ded the dynasty of the Poona Peshwas, no one
laboured more effectively to destroy it than his
younger brother* Indeed, during his long life,
the, part played by himself and his son after him,
resemble in an extraordinary manner, the part
enacted in France by the princes of the House of
Orleans. In his earlier life the exploits of Raghu-
nathrao recall those of the gallant prince who at
Steinkirk, when only fifteen, broke at the head
of the Great King's glittering guards through the
advancing infantry of William of Orange. With
far more claim to generalship and with a heart
no less bold, Raghunathrao led 50,000 Maratha
qavalry from Poona to Delhi, defeated Ahmed
Shah Abdali's Afghan governor of Sirhind, and
gave to the Peshwas 3 horse the proud spectacle of
the Bhagwa Jhenda's golden pennons dancing in
triumph above the walls of Lahore.

A quarrel, however, with his cousin Sadashivrao
about the cost of this expedition far more than
destroyed its good results. Adopting the tactics
employed by Nicias towards deon, Raghunathrao
suggested that Sadashivrao should himself lead

OEQOTTEtt BAWLBllEIito 33

the next expedition to Hindustan. The result was
what Raghunath both hoped and expected. Sada-
shivrao, without military talents of any kind,
was overwhelmed by the Afghans at Panipat.
He and his nephew, the Grown prince Vishwas
Rao, perished with 200,000 men on that bleak
and bitter plain.

Nor was this all. The Peshwa Balaji was, as
I have said, unable long to survive the news and
in the midst of this calamitous time the vast weight
of the Shaken empire was thrown on the Shoul-
ders of the dead Balaji's second son, then barely
seventeen, and known to history as Madhavrao
BallaL In the face of disasters due wholly to
Raghunath's own jealous nature, it was yet open
to him partially to redeem his conduct by display-
ing towards his young nephew loyalty and deference.
But Raghtmathrao from this time onward com-
mitted towards his brother's children a series of
crimes and treasons which entirely overshadow
those which a few years later brought on Philippe
I(galit6, the execration of all, Europe.

Nettled at Madhavrao's, wish to ta&e some arfc
in the administration, JBaghunathrao assembled
an army and defeated Ziis nephew's troops; and
but for Madhavrao's chivalrous submission the
State would have fallen a prey to the NiaaxnV
advancing army. The union of the two relatives
was Soon rewarded by the great victory of Hak-
shasabhawaa wherein Madhavrao So covered him*
self with glory that Raghunathrao was no longer
able to dispute his Sttprewaey* But when in 1772
the gallant and capable young prince died of con-

34 FORGOTTEK BATTLEFIELD

sumption, Eaghunathrao renewed against his bro-
ther Narainrao the plot which had been foiled by
the talents and character of Madhavrao. Less
than a year after Narainrao's succession he was,
with the connivance of Raghunathrao and at the
instigation of his infamous wife Anandibai, mur-
dered in cold blood by the officers of the palace
guard. It is satisfactory to note that this crime
brought on its author nothing but misery. For
shortly after Narainrao's murder his widow gave
birth to a son, called Madhavrao, after his uncle,
thus again interposing a direct heir between Eaghu-
nathrao and the PeshwaL Having murdered his
king, Eaghunathrao's next step was to betray his
country. By sedulously Spreading falge reports
he convinced the English Government of Bombay
that Madhavrao was a spurious child, and by
offering the cession of a large part of Gujarat he
obtained their armed assistance. On the 18th
May, 1775, Colonel Keating with a small mixed
force of English and sepoys won, near the banks
of the Mahi, the decisive victory of Arass* Some
Seven months previous to this action, however,
the Government of Bengal had assumed the su-
preme control of our Indian possessions, and as the
Bombay Government had carried on this war
without the authority of the Bengal Council, the
latter ended it as Soon as possible by the treaty
of Purandhar and again left Eaghunathrao to his
own devices. La the interpretation of this treaty
difficulties occurred. Had the P^hwas and the
Bombay Government approached the subject with
a little good will, they would, no doubt, have dis*

FOEGOTTBK BATTLEETOLD 85

appeared. But the former were insolently elated
and the latter deeply mortified at the action of
Bengal. And the intrigues of a Rrench adven-
turer, St. Lubin, induced the Bombay Council, in
spite of Warren Hastings' express orders, once
again to attempt by armed intervention the ele-
vation of Raghunathrao to the throne of Poona.
And this closes the introduction to my story.

The expedition which was so disastrously to end
at Wadgaon reached, on the 23rd December, 1778,
Khandala without opposition. The force num-
bered nearly 4,000 men, of whom 591 were Euro-
peans. They were within two marches of Poona,
and had the army advanced with ordinary speed
the capital could not have offered any serious
resistance. The procedure which the officer com-
, manding, Colonel Egerton, adopted was quite differ-
ent. He divided his force into three bodies who,
to use Grant Duff's words, " advanced alternately
at the rate of about three-quarters of a mile daily,
the march rarely exceeding two miles and the
one division always occuping the ground whiph th&
other had quitted/' Eleven days later tow the
Colonel still at Karlee, eight miles from the top
of the ghats, and neither Nana Fadnavis, the regent,
nor Mahadji Shinde, the first soldier in the State,
were the men to waste time* A force und,er
the Maratha General Panse advanced with 9,000
men to harass and detain the British fotce
until the bulk of the forces could arrive. On the,
9th January, however, the inyaders without much,
difficulty reached Talegaon about 20 miles from
Thti retreating S^rfathas fired the

J6 FORGOTTEN BATTLEHBLB

*nd a rumour, baseless as is now believed and pro-
bably arising only from the burning of TaJegaon,
spread that Nana Fadnavis intended similarly
to .destroy Chinchwad and Poona. It is difficult
to understand why this rumour should have alar-
med the Committee of senior officers who, from the
6th January, on Colonel Egerton's sickness, had
assumed the command. A quick march to Poona
would have saved it. But even had this failed
no greater blow could have befallen the Maratha
arms than their own arson of the capital.

Nevertheless* in spite of the protest of a civilian
Mr. Holmes and of the one bright genius m the
force Captain Hartley, the Committee suddenly
determined to retreat secretly to Bombay. Raghu-
nathrao who, until he heard of this resolve had
been indulging in dreams of approaching kingship,
hastened to the Spot and in vain harangued the
Committee. But the evil fortune of the pretender
seemed to paralyse the brains of his allies. For
all his crimes, he was probably the ablest leader
of men then in India and he knew that a single
resolute march would place Poona in his hands.*
No arguments moved the Committee and at 11 p.m.
on the llth January, the victorious army threw
their heavy guns into the lake of Talegaon and
began their retreat. They soon learnt that the
Maratha troops, although unable to check a hostile
t*4vance, did not lack enterprise in a pursuit. Iso-
lated parties pushed on and seized hills in front

r, Natto, ifce writer of an admirable vernacular life of Mahadj*
admits that the Maratha troops of tfcia period ^re worthless.
&3^ Watte," i fti,a&et& saddle stuffing,

FORGOTTEN BATTLEFIELD 37

of the English force so as to enfilade it as it passed
Bodies of horse plundered the baggage and ei>
gaged the head of the retreating army, and but
for the signal skill and bravery of Captain Hartley,
the English force would probably have not long
survived* But every charge of the Deccan horse
was met and defeated by this gallant soldier's
resource and valour. The whole of the 12th Janu-
ary he occupied, in spite of the efforts of the entire
Maratha grand army now arrived to dislodge him,
a low rising ground with big unsupported rear
guard. And as evening fell he was able to make
good his retreat to Wadgaon where the rest of his
comrades had halted.

Here he found that the Committee were unwil-
ling to continue the retreat and had already sent a
Mr. Farmer to negotiate with the enemy. This as
might have been expected did not discourage
the Marathas. And Mahadji Shinde insisted on a
complete surrender and on a cession of not only
all the Company's conquests since the death ol
elder Madhavrao but also of the Company's poor
sessions in Broach and Surat. In vain Hartley
protested, offering himself to conduct the retreat.
And, indeed, under so gallant a leader and with
the spirit of the troops and the junior officers still
unbroken, it is possible that the force mig&$ gfcijl
have even fought its way to Poona* But tja&
courage of the Committee had now So ebbed titat
Hartley's resolute words roused no echo. After a
feeble demuj that they had no powers to negotiate
they consented to evefy demand made by Sliirid%
and i&ey wqre only spared the ignoiioiay of

38 EOBGOTTEN BATTLEJB1ELD

ing away Raghunathrao's liberty by his own as-
tuteness. For correctly gauging the situation, he,
shortly after the retreat began, deserted his allies
and threw himself on Shinde's mercy. On the
acceptance of the latter's terms, a treaty was drawn
up and signed. The Committee were then allowed,
as an act of clemency, to withdraw with their
army to Bombay. I am glad to say that their
conduct received there a fitting punishment. The
senior officers of the expedition were one and all
ignominiously dismissed, and Captain Hartley was
promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Un-
fortunately, his promotion was conferred without
due consideration, and on the petition of such of
his seniors who had not served in the recent cam-
paign, his pay and further promotion were sus-
pended until they had again superseded him.
Mortified beyond measure, he resigned the Com-
pany's service, but recommended by the Court
of the Directors to the King, he was given command
of the 73rd regiment, rose to the rank of Major-
General, and was the animating spirit of the re-
conquest of the Konkan and of the capture of
Bassein.

Such is the stirring story of the lonely station
which the mail trains pass heedlessly by. Nor
has its remembrance lingered with the inhabitants
of the quiet village. I sought in vain with their
help to locate the rising ground so stubbornly
defended by Hartley, and the spot where the treaty
was discussed by Farmer and by Mahadji Shinde.
Bttfc battle, retreat, capitulation all alike hftd
forgotten, Att<3, indeed, when thiwigh the

FORGOTTEN BA1TLBBIBLB 39

mists of a November evening the long purple hills
look calmly down on the babul-dotted plain, on
the old stronghold of the Dabhades and on the
trees mirrored in the sleeping lake, it is hard to
picture that they once enjoyed a spectacle unique
in Western India, the Surrender of an English
army*

THE BAKHAR OF THE DABHADES.

To many probably of my readers the word Bakhar
will be unknown. And perhaps it will be as well
to clear the ground by explaining that the wt>rd
does not mean a he-goat, as I once heard it tran-
slated by an enthusiastic but ill-informed Marathi
student. I am unaware of the origin of the term,
but it is applied to the family histories of the great
Deccan houses and these bakhars formed one of the
mines from which Grant Duff took his materials.
The bakhar with which this article will deal must
have been written not long after the downfall
of the last Bajirao and narrates in simple language
the history of a family that for more than a century
took a leading part in the affairs of the Maratha
Empire. The book a bound manuscript was
kindly lent me by Sirdar Dabhade of Talegaon,
and as I read, at first with difficulty and then with
some fluency, the old Maratha shrift, I seemed
to see, through the medium of this unpretentious
tale, enacted before me all the complex and Strik-
ing events that together made up the history of
the Empire of the Marathas,

The founder of the Dabhade family was one
Dabhade, Mukhadam of Talegaon, who
-obtained service as the personal attendant of
On the latter'a death Yeshpatil continued

BAKHAE OF THE DABHABES 41

t o act as the tutor of the two yotmg Princes Sam-
bhaji and 'Rajaram, while his two sons Khanderao
and SMvaji served as their pages. In 1689 Sambhaji
and in 1690 his son Shahu were captured by Aurang-
zib. Thereupon the Dabhades were retained solely
in the service of Uajaram, and at the council gath-
ered to declare the latter regent, Khanderao repre-
sented the family interests. Shortly, however, after
Shahu 5 s capture, Rajaram at Panhala was in grave
danger of a similar fate. He had taken refuge
in that fort when it was suddenly besieged by a
detachment of the Moghal army under Zulfikar-
khan. But fortunately for their Prince the Dabhade
family were with him. At their father's command,
Khanderao and Shivaji disguised Rajaram and
themselves as grass cutters and so slipped through
the Moghal lines. The Prince, whose health was
never robust, soon tired and would no doubt have
succumbed during the flight had not the two Dabh-
ades if our chronicles can be believed carried
him forty miles in a single day. Shivaji, it is true,
fell down and died of fatigue, but Khanderao
triumphantly bore his Prince out of danger.*
Needless to say the grateful Prince was not slow
to reward hig saviour. Indapuri, Urase, and Dhan-*
kan villages had already been granted to the Dabh-
ades, and to these he added, at the birth of his BOB,
the patelki and kulkarni rights of the talukas of
Junnar, Harichanda, Puna and of the Parganag

* This feat has been attributed by Grant Duff, VoL I, p. 277, to
the Shirks family. And I dare say the honour of saving Rajaram is
claimed by several different houses.

Since writing this the true origin of the word bakhar has
suggested to me. It 9 a corruption of khabar.

ft

42 BAKHAB Otf THE DABHADES

of Akola and Maval. And as the quaint deed
ran : " If any one were to disturb the possession
of the Dabhades his act, were he a Hindu, would
be deemed as heinous as if he had killed both a
cow and a Brahmin at Benares and were he a
Musulman as if he had taken an oath on the Kaaba
and broken it/ 5 And the value of this substantial
gift wag heightened by the title of Sena Khag Khel
or commandant of the royal guards. Rajaram
died in the summer of 1700 and Aurangzib seven
years later. On the latter's death Shahu was
released, and naturally wished to enter into pos-
session of his father's kingdom, but Rajaram's
widow, Tarabai, had for 7 years enjoyed power and
wag unwilling to give it up. She affected to be-
lieve that Shahu was a mere impostor and sent
Khanderao Dabhade who had been his early play-
mate to test him. No doubt the lady thought that
Dabhade would, as a prudent man, decide accor-
ding to her wishes. But if so she was disappointed.
For the gallant Sirdar, after meeting Shahu and
carefully examining him, declared him to be the
true son of Sambhaji and joined his cause. li
was successful and honours rained on the loya]
Khanderao. He was confirmed in the possession
of Rajaram's grants although as the original deeds
had been lost in the war they might well have
been repudiated. And not long after the instal-
lation of BaJaji Vishwanath as Peshwa, Khanderao
Dabhade was raised to the rank of Senapati or
<^mmander-in-Chiet He was now one of the
great officers of State and in order to maintain his
rank he was granted the Sardeshmukhi rights of

BAKHAB Off THE BABHADES 43

the 104 villages of 'the pargana of Banner. The
duties of his new office were first exercised in the
conquest of Gujarat where he, in conjunction with
the Nizam, won against the Syads the decisive
victory of Balapur (A.D. 1720). He did not, how-
ever, long survive the fatigues of this campaign.
On account of his old age he asked to be excused
from further service and begged that his son Trim-
bakrao might be at once invested with hid own
earlier title of Sena Khas Khel. This was granted
and Khanderao returned to Talegaon where he
shortly afterwards died of gravel.

Balaji Vishwanath who had always remained
on friendly terms with the Dhabades, had pre-
deceased Khanderao by a few months and a strug-
gle was shortly to ensue between their sons which
was alike disastrous to the Dhabades and the king-
dom. Trimbakrao had before his father's death
made himself complete master of Baroda and
Southern Gujarat and when he succeeded to the
post of Senapati he was regarded after the king
as the most considerable personage in the Deccan.
As a Maratha also, he had with him the good wishes
of the descendants of Sivaji's comrades and of
the Deshasth Brahmins, both of whom had regarded
with dislike the preponderant power of Balaji
Vishwanath and the increasing number of GMt-
pawans in the public offices. In spite of considerable
opposition, however, Shahu, mindful of Balajf s
services, gave some months after his death the
vacant post of Peshwa to Bajirao, his son. It
was now generally f elt that the contest between
the Dhabfcdes and Bajirao would not long fce

44 BAKHAR OF THE DAfeHADES

delayed. Nor was public expectation in error. At
the first durbar held after Bajirao's elevation he
proposed to king Shahu the conquest of Malwa.
Shripatrao Pureshram, whose father had died
about the same time as Khanderao Dabhade and
Balaji Vishwanath, and who had thereby succeed-
ed to the title of Pratinidhi (or the king's image),
was a Yajurvedi DeshaSth and as such a support-
er of Trimbakrao. He as the Dhabade's mouth-
piece resisted the proposal. He drew a just pic-
ture of the disorganisation of the finances, of the
disordered state of the Konkan and Gujarat, and
urged with force and truth that the time had come
to consolidate the Maratha conquests. Their in-
dependence had been recognised. It was far better
that while avoiding all rupture with either Delhi
or Hyderabad, they should convert their present
possessions into a wealthy and powerful kingdom.
Bajirao, however, skilfully begged the question.
Without touching on matters of administration
or finance he dwelt on the great deeds of Sivaji,
who with far less resources had opposed the Mogal
Empire in its heyday. He excited the king's cupid-
ity by dwelling on the indolence, the imbecility
and above all the wealth of the Mogals, and sti-
mulated his religious zeal by urging him to drive
from the sacred soil of India the outcaste and the
barbarian. But such a line of reasoning would
probably have failed but for the transcendent
personal qualities of the speaker* The comman-
ding stature that reached the low Maratha ceiling,
the rich clear voice, the bold, virile features, the
dark imperious eyes that forced attention and

BAKHAfe OF $HE DABHADSS 45

above all the rare felicity of diction* that for cen-
turies has been the peculiar gift of the Konkanastha
Chitpawan produced an irresistible effect. And
when at the close of a lofty peroration, the minister
fixed on Shahu his glowing gaze and said, " Maharaja
Sahib, if you but listen to my counsel, I shall plant
your banner in the walls of Attock," the scene that
ensued was the most dramatic in history. Regard-
less of the rigid etiquette of an Eastern Durbar,
king Shahu, with blazing eyes, sprang from the
" gadi " to his feet : " Plant my banner on Attock
fort," he cried, half drawing his sword. "By
God, you shall plant it on the throne of the
Almighty !" t

The Dhabade, though beaten in debate by no
means abandoned the struggle. He refused with
curtness Bajirao's offer to share in half the Malwa
conquests in return for half Gujarat, and in 1731
took the open field with 65,000 1 men. Bajirao
thereupon advanced on DabhaL He was fortunate
enough to find the Dhabades 9 troops divided*
Trimbakrao with part of the army was at Dabhai.
His two younger brothers were at a distance of
forty miles. The Peshwa's intrigues were also
fully successful. On a plea of watering their

* This strange admission of Desh sth Brahmins that their language
to be perfect must be spoken by a Konkanastha finds a curious parallel
in the old Florentine saying that perfect Italian was the language
of Florence as spoken by a Roman La lingua Toscana nella booea
romana*

f The phrase used by the king was the Kinnar Khnd. Grant Duff
has translated this as the Himalayas. The term is the equivalent of
the celestial regions. And the excited Shahu s meaning, as I take it,
was that his armies would conquer Earth first and Heaven afterwards.

J Grant Duff estimates the number at 35,000.

46 BAKHAft OF m DABHADES

horges all the Dhabade cavalry deserted to the
enemy. Trimbakrao, however, chained the legs
of his elephant to a gun and disputed the battle
with the greatest obstinacy. Indeed it is possible
that Trimbakrao might have won, had not his own
cousin Shingrao Toke treacherously shot him in
the temple as he removed his helmet at the close
of the day. This decided the struggle. And al-
though the writer of the Bakhar would have us be-
lieve that Trimbakrao's two brothers came up,
turned the tide of battle and drove Bajirao to
Satara, where he was only saved by King Shahu's
intervention, I am afraid that Grant Dufi's version
that Bajirao was victorious must be accepted On
the other hand the victory was probably not so
complete as has been alleged, and there may be
truth in the account that the two brothers laid
their swords before the King as if to quit his
service and were only placated with the utmost
difficulty.

The elder Yeshwantrao was in Trimbakrao's
place made Senapati and the younger Baburao
Senakhaskhel, and neither suffered at the king's
hands any loss because of their rebellion. The
new Senakhaskhel soon showed himself worthy of
the honour. The Nawab of Surat had levied
octroi from an envoy of Shahu, and the Senakhas-
khel asked for and obtained leave to avenge the
insult. With 368 sowars he proceeded to a camp
four miles from the town and there displayed the
Nawab's banner, whose followers he and his me;u
declared themselves to be. At midnight they pro^
deeded to the town gates, which were open because

BAKHAB OF THE BABHADES 47

of the Kartiksnan festival, and without hindrance
passed through them, alleging an urgent call from
the Nawab himself. Similarly they penetrated the
inner fort, and capturing the unfortunate ruler,
carried him outside the City, where he was compelled
to surrender fourteen of his twenty-eight Mahals
and the Chauth of Surat. For this feat Baburao
received a gold anklet and the Dhabades a Jaghir
worth annually five lakhs as well as the Mokasa
rights over Umbare,f Khandesh, Baglan and the
Karnatik. In the following years the Dhabades
and their high-spirited mother Umabai conquered
Ahmedabad, and an agreement sanctioned by Shahu
and entered into with Bajirao giving to the
Dhabades complete independence from the Peshwa's
control restored them in a great measure to their
old position. But in the course of the next ten
years there occurred three events disastrous to
the fortunes of the family. The gallant Baburao
was poisoned in Khandesh. Pilaji Gaikwad was
assassinated at Baroda, and the great Bajirao
died on the 28th April, 1740, on the banks of the
Narbadda.

Pilaji Gaikwad, who had risen from the post of
Khanderao's trainer to that of his second-in command
had been left by the Dabhades as their Viceroy in
Guj sxat. He administered the country with success,
and faithfully and regularly paid to his masters at
Talegaon the provincial revenues* But his son
Damaji knowing the hostility of the Dabhades and the
Peshwas, saw that he might turn it to his own profit.

t A small village 6 miles North-East of Talegaon, known as "Nawalakh
Umbore/'

48 BAKHAB OF THE DABHADES

Bajirao would not listen, to his proposals, but his
son Balaji had none of his father's scruples. Dur-
ing Shahu's lifetime, it is true, Damajfs schemes
came to nothing. For the king saw through them and
supported with admirable loyalty the descendants
of his old playmate. But at his death Balaji, by
the imprisonment of Shahu's heir 'Ramraja and the
forced sati of Shahu's widow, became the master
of the kingdom and readily fell in with a proposal
to humble his only serious rival the Senapati. He
demanded from him the cession of half Gujarat.
The Senapati consulted Damaji, who, posing as a
friend, scouted the idea and advised him strongly
to fight.* They joined forces, claiming to be the
champions of Raja Ram's widow Tarabai, but on
the battlefield of Aland! the Gaikwad deserted his
master, who was seized and confined in Poona
prison. For the sake of appearances Damaji was
also imprisoned, but shortly afterwards released,
and he and the Peshwa divided between them
Gujarat, while the unfortunate Senapati had to be
satisfied with a promised monthly allowance of
half a lakh, which was never paid. Yeshwantrao
Dhabade, however, had had enough of rebellion,
and in 1754 took part in the Peshwa's conquest of
Bednore, and in the course of it died on the banks
of the Krishna. His son Trimbakrao succeeded as
Senapati, and was present at Panipat from which,
however, he and Damaji Gaikwad both escaped.

On the death of Balaji, which occurred almost
immediately after the news of that disastrous
defeat, Trimbakrao allied himself with Balaji's

*,Thia account should be compared with page 62,

BAKHAJt O3T THE DABHADES 49

brother Raghunathrao in his attempts to dispossess
Madhavrao, his nephew. But Raghunathrao was
also joined by Damaji Gaikwad, who thereupon
plotted and all but effected the seizure and im-
prisonment of his old master's heir. The latter
in disgust fled to the Nizam. But good fortune
had deserted the lords of Talegaon. Madhavrao
and 'Raghunathrao were reconciled and together
defeated the Nizam at Rakshasbhawan, and Damaji
Gaikwad obtained from the Peshwa the possession
of the entire Dabhade estates on an undertaking
to pay off Trimbakrao's creditors. This, followed
by the investiture of Damaji with the title of Sena*-
khaskhel, proved too much for poor Trimbakrao,
who died of grief at VeruL His old enemy Damaji
died not long afterwards, and in the disputed succes-
sion the hopes of Laxmibai, Trimbakrao Dhabade'fc
widow, rose high. But once again the Gaikwads
were successful. The widow obtained, through
the Peshwas* help, a large Jaghir from Govindrao
Gaikwad, but only to find that it had already
been mortgaged by his brother Fatehsing Gaikwad
to his creditors. The Dabhades had now ceased
to have any real political importance, and the rest
of the family history is more or less a continuous
struggle with poverty and rapacious money lenders;
The widow was helped to some extent by
Phadnavis, who placed her in possession of a
of Ra. 50,000* Her adopted son Yeshw&htrab,
however, was faced with fresh difficulties. Oeated
Senapati by the last Bajtrao, and granted a com
eiderableestate in Ithandesh, he fell into th^ clutches

50 BAKHAB OF THE DABHADES

for himself the remains of the Dabhade estate by the
following ingenious expedient. The favourite direc-
ted the Senapati to raise an army, promising that
the Peshwa would defray the expenses. The army
was raised but the Peshwa disclaimed all respon-
sibility, and the poor Dabhade was forced to agree
to hand over his entire property to Kunjar that the
latter might pay off the arrears of the clamorous
troops. The Dabhade was now an utter beggar, but
with considerable foresight cultivated the friend-
ship of the English. And eventually the marriage
of his son to Daulatrao Shinde's daughter gave
YeShwantrao an honoured retreat in Gwalior,

The writer of the Bakhar ends with an expression
of grim satisfaction that Yeshwantrao lived to seethe
English Government overturn the Peshwa 9 s rule and
restore to the throne the heir of the immortal Bhosle
who had first befriended the Mukadam of Talegaon.
Nor were joyful feelings the only gain of Yeshwant-
rao. The English whose society he had courted
testored him to Talegaon and to the property from
which Kunjar had cheated him. And to-day within
the old fort wall, which overlooks the trains and
the motors that join Poona to Bombay, there lives
a gallant sportsman and loyal gentleman, the first
class Sirdar Khanderao Dabhade of Talegaon, By
his courtesy I have been permitted to make this
story public and his many friends will, I know, unite
with me in the wish that one day or other his line
may restore the ancient glories of a house which
once ruled as all but sovereign Princes m
ed^bad, Khandesh and the MawaJ,

THE BAKHAR OF PILAJI GAIKWAD.

I think that it may be said with fairness that there
are at least three articles of belief commonly accep-
ted, if not by all, by at any rate, the great majority
of Anglo-Indians. These articles are that (1) the
Indian lion is a small and maneless coward ; that
(2) the Gaikwad of Baroda means the cowherd of
Baroda; that (3) there is such a person as a Maratha
Brahmin. Nor are eminent sponsors lacking. For
Macaulay in his essay on Warren Hastings has sup-
ported article No. 2. While article No. 3 derives
authority from no less a writer than the great
Grant Duff. Nevertheless in spite of such illustrious
god-parents, the said three articles of belief must, I
am afraid, be condemned as heretical. The Indian
lion is a fierce hirsute beast similar in size and ap-
pearance to his Somaliland cousin. There is no such,
word in Marathi language as Gaikwad meaning
<c cowherd." And there never was and there never
will be such a person as a Maratha Brahmin**

* The Principal castes of Brahmins to be found in the Deccan are
Bigvedi Deshasths, Yajurvedi Deshasths, and Kardaa. Besides these
there is a large number of Chitpawans or Konkanasths who have
immigrated from the Konkan. A Maratha means generally a Kunbi,
but it is often restricted to those Kunbi families who claim to have
Rajput descent. The term, a Maratha Brahmin is therefore a contradic-
tion in terms. Of course, Grant Dufl knew this and his mistake was
merely & concession to popular Anglo-Indian usage.

[Since writing this I have learnt from Mr. Karandikar of Satara, that
the phrase is borrowed from Madras* where Marathi speaking Brahmins are
stylad Magatha Brahmins. Thephraaeis, however , tmkno^n, la PooaaJ

52 BAXHAR OF PILAJI GAIKWAD

Now if the word Gaikwad does not mean "cowherd"
what then does it mean ? It is made up of two
words : Gai " a cow " and Kavad " a Small door ."
Gaikwad therefore means cow door. And of the
Story of the name as told me by a Baroda oificial
is this. One Nandaji, the great grandfather of
Pilaji Gaikwad, was in charge of Bher for tin the
Pawan Mawal. A Musalman butcher one day
drove past the fort gates a quantity of cows, inten-
ding at the end of his journey to convert them into
beef. Nandaji, like a virtuous Hindu, rushed out
and rescued the cows which ran for shelter through
a side door or Kavad in the fort wall. Now this
Nandaji had a son Keroji Rao and Keroji Rao had
four sons Damaji, Lingoji, Gujoji and Harji Rao.
Pilaji was, however adopted by his uncle Damaji
and in the end became the founder of the famous
line of the Maharaja Gaikwads of Baroda.

Now, how did Pilaji Gaikwad begin his career ?
I have found two different stories. The Dabhade
Bakhar records that when the great Khanderao
Dabhade was sent by Tarabai to ascertain and re-
port whether Shahu was an imposter or really
Shambhu's son he took with him as Naik of his
jasuds or messengers, one Pilaji Gaikwad, and him
he sent to tell Tarabai that Shahu was no imposter
but the true heir to Sivaji's empixe* So speedily
did Pilaji go to the queen mother and return to
Khanderao that the latter gave Pilaji as a reward
the command of 50 horse. In the Pilaji Bakhar,
of which a copy was recently furnished me by the
itfofl^tesy of the Baroda Government, I find a q
(Jiflfefcent story. Pilaji was at first a grodm

BAKHAfc 6ff HLAJl

Dabhade' s household and was put in charge of some
forty or fifty mares, which had become too thin
to carry Khanderao's sowars. Pilaji, it seems, was
an efficient horse trainer and he took the mares
with him to the village of Narayanpur in Jawapur
pargana where they shortly recovered their condi-
tion. Khanderao then gave him 200 or 300 other
foundered nags which also recovered health and,
strength and Pilaji not only returned the horses
but most of the money given to him for their keep.
As a reward the Dabhade promoted him to the
command of a squadron with which he was to
garrison Jawapur. This pargana and the neigh-
bouring districts were then in the hands of the
Bandes and the Pawars other officers of the
SenapatL They affected to believe that the latter
had made a mistake and refused to hand over to
Pilaji his new possession. To compensate him,
however, the Dabhade gave him two other squad-
rons and allowed him to establish himself at
Songadh, Soon afterwards Pilaji had his revenge.
In the year A*D. 1720 Nizam-ul-Mulk formed
the plan of making himself independent in Malwa
as he afterwards did at Hyderabad. To effect
his scheme, he allied himself with the Marath&s IB
Gujerat and decisively defeated the Imperial Atmjf
at Balapur. Conspicuous among the victors were
the troops of Khanderao Dabhade, and di&tmr
guished even among those gallant men was !Pilaji
Gaikwad. As a reward he wag emphatically de-
clared to be the superior officer of both Bande and
Pawar, ai*d promoted to be the Dabhade's Vioeroy
ia Gujerat. PU&ji's life for the next few years

54 BAKHAfc 6tf frlLAJl GAtKWAD

* )

a continual struggle. From the north, of Gujarat
the Imperial troops came pouring in anxious to
restore the old Mogal sovereignty. From the
East pressed the Mzam-ul-Mulk and Pilaji's only
safety lay in dexterous diplomacy. Fortunately
he was equal to the occasion. The first battle of
Arass will, I think, serve as a typical instance.
The Imperial side was led by Ruslam Ali Khan and
to him Pilaji joined himself. On the day of the
battle lending a ready ear to the Nizam's emissaries
Pilaji got rid of his ally in this ingenious manner.
Taking advantage of a momentary success of Rus-
tam Khans' artillery, Pilaji persuaded him to finish
the battle by a grand cavalry charge. The guile-
less Mogal consented and away went the glittering
masses of the Imperial horse. Pilaji, however,
detached himself, destroyed his allies 5 guns and
then charged with his Maratha lancers into the rear
of Rustam All's squadrons. They were utterly
defeated and' Rustam Ali stabbed himself to avoid
capture. Events, however, which were seriously
to affect Gujarat, had been rapidly ripening m
another quarter. Balaji Vishwanath Peshwa an4
Khanderao Dabhade died in 1720 and 1721, shortly
after the victory of Balapur. Between their s6ii#
Bajirao and Trimbakrao there smouldered a rivalry
which in 1731 flared into civil war., The rival
armies met near Dabhai and Trimbakrao was
killed and his army routed. In its ranks was
Pilaji Gaikwad. He fought like a gallant soldier,
lost his eldest sonSayajiraoandwas himself severely
wounded* He did not, however, long survive.
The emperor taking advantage of the quarrels df

BAKTTAB OF HLAJI GAIKWAB 55

the Marathas sent Abhai Sing* of Marwad to re-
cover Gujarat, He recovered Baroda and then
pretended to negotiate for a partition of the pro-
vince. While Pilaji listened, the pretended emis-
sary stabbed him to the heart. He was carried
to Saoli in a palki and his body was burnt at Karanjal
on the banks of the Nerbadda, In estimating
his character no great task confronts us. He
was a gallant soldier and faithful servant, who,
if he was treacherous in his master's interest's
disdained to be so in his own. His eldest survi-
ving son and successor Damaji presents a harder
task. If the writer of the Dhabade Bakhar be be-
lieved there is scarcely a human vice of which he
was not the possessor nor any baseness of which
he was not capable. He was the fiend incarnate,
the Mephistopheles to use thei essayist's phrase
of the cruel sneer and iron eye. But when we
turn to the Gaikwad Bakhar, we can scarcely
believe our senses so great has been the transfor-
mation. The double-dyed villain has been coipL*
pletely whitewashed. Satan has resumed his old
place in the forefront of the Archangels. So fat
from Damaji being stained by any blot of tre^ctdty
his was the noble character which suffered l,cmg
years of imprisonment sooner then desert his master.
Yet, I think, that we shall not be far wrong if we
adopt the maxim of the publican in Silas
a&d judge that the truth lies somewhere
the two. Damaji seems, to have been a bold,
aspiring, unscrupulous man, whose keen j

* The Bakhar mentions Dokaleing as the author of the
I think this must be a mistake and I have followed Grant Dufi.

56 BAKEAE OF PILAJI GAIKWAI)

admirably suited to the times, enabled Mm to thrive
exceedingly. Had he been a Frenchman of the
early years of the 19th century, he would in all
probability have risen to be a marshal of the empire
or even to be Duke of Warsaw or King of Portugal
He would with Murat have deserted the struggling
Titan when his throne began to totter, and would
with Bernadotte have avoided the grievous error
of returning to his old allegiance with the violets
in the spring. Had Damaji been an Italian of the
cinque cento, he would have shot, stabbed and poi-
soned himself into the overlordship of Seina or
Verona and would have proved a serious rival to
Pandolfo Petrucci and the Visconti of Milan. He
would have obtained a place in the portrait gallery of
II Principe; and the great secretary would have
drawn his picture with the same rare skill and
admiring awe with which he limned the features
of Cesare Borgia and Castruccio Castracani.

The first enemies whom Damaji had to meet
were the Bandes and the Pawars who had long re-
sented their subordination to the Gaikwad. Da-
maji, however, completely defeated them. Pawar
was taken and beheaded and Bande was forced
to flee from Gujarat. The next ten years seem to
frave been spent in incessant conflict. In Samvat
1800 (A. D. 1744) Babuji Nait of Baramati surprised
Soogad and burnt it with all the Gaikwad's stores
and treasure. And in the following year* Wala

* I have not been able to find why Babuji Naik attacked Dan*aji
Bfc&uji waa the patron of the poet Moro Pant and descended from a
B&toin contractor to Aurangzib. He was connected by marriage with
the <*&wa and may have acted at his secret instigation*

BAKHAB OF HLAJI GAIKWAD 57

Shah a renegade prince of Devgadh rose against the
Maratha Government, Everything, however, ended
in Damaji' s favour. Babuji Naik was driven from
the province, Wala Shah became a dependant on
the bounty of the Nizam while jDamaji was invested
with the title of Shamsher Bahadur* by Yeshwant-
rao Dabhade, who had succeeded to his father
Trimbakrao's honours. In 1750, however, there
occurred events which altered the whole destiny
of the Maratha empire. Shahu died and on his
death Balaji Bajirao's son seized control of the
entire administration. Tarabai, Shahu's aunt, re-
belled and was joined by Damaji Gaikwad and
Yeshwantrao Dabhade who defeated the Peshwa's
troops on the banks of the Krishna. The Peshwa,
however, treated with Damaji, entrapped him into
his camp and then imprisoned both him and Dabhade,
the former at Sinhgad and the latter at LohgadL
But here the authors of the two Bakhars diverge
widely. The Dabhade Bakhar has alleged that
Damaji voluntarily allowed himself to be impri-
soned in order to escape the odium of his treachery.
The Gaikwad historian would have us believe that
Damaji, treacherously seized, endured his prison
for many years rather than betray his master. The
truth seems to be that Damaji had intended to
desert to the Peshwa's side, but was treacherously
seized by him that he might be made to disgorge
Gujarat. The gallant resistance however of Ke&b~
arji Gaikwad, Damaji's relative and regent in Gujarat
made the Pefchwa decide to release his prisoner.
Damaji received at Dabhade's expense the title of

investiture ol thia title is very

53 BAKHAB OF PILAJI GAIKWAB

Senakhaskhel* and half Gujarat The other half
was appropriated by Balaji Bajirao. Damaji then
returned to his province where he found that
Ahmedabad had during his captivity passed into
Musulman hands. In 1755, however, Damaji finally
annexed it to the Baroda Government,

Some years previous to this date an Afghan sol-
dier in the service of Nadir Shah had on the latter' s
assassination established himself as king of Herat
and in 1747-48 began a series of invasions of India.
To meet them the Peshwa's Government sent several
expeditions into Northern India and Damaji Gaik-
wad seems to have been present with most of them
until the complete overthrow in 1761 of theMarathas
on the field of Panipat. When Vishwasrao, the
Peshwa's eldest son, fell mortally wounded, Mai-
harrao Holkar left the field. Damaji Gaikwad was
the next to follow and some weeks later the Maratha
sentry on the Baroda watch tower saw a single horse-
man struggling to reach the city. It was Damaji
himself, the sole survivor of the Gujarat contingent.
The rest had either fallen in battle or been during
the retreat massacred by the peasants. When the
magnitude of the Maratha disaster was fully grasped
by the neighbouring powers there was heard, to
use the expressive simile in Pickwick, an uproar
such as that which goes up from the whole menagerie
when the elephant rings the bell for the cold meat.
Every ruler, who had a grievance or could imagine
one, made a demand on the Peshwa's Government.
To make matters worse, Balaji had shortly after

* The Dabhade Bakh*r places the investiture of Daman with the
title of Senakhaskhel much later*

BAKSAB Off 2ILAJ1 GA1KWAD 59

Panipat died broken-hearted and his brother Baghu-
nathrao tried to usurp the throne from his nephew
Madhavrao, a boy of 16. Uncle and nephew took
the field. With the latter was Damaji, but his Skil-
ful desertion to Raghunathrao gave the latter the
victory. In the meantime, the Nizam, who had
no claim to make, had wisely wasted no time in
doing so. He collected an army and advanced on
Poona, proposing coolly to resume it as a former
part of the Mogal empire. He, however, little
knew the hero Spirit that glowed within the boyish
breast of the young Peghwa. He mounted an
elephant and rode unattended into his uncle's camp.
They were reconciled and joined hands to expel the
Mogals. A forced march enabled Baghunathrao
to come up with the Nizam at Bakshasabhavan*
as his army was crossing the Godavari. The Mara-
thas attacked the enemy as they were astride the
river, but the Maratha cavalry had already marched
16 miles and the Mogal troops the old comrades of
the Nizam-ul-mulk, fought desperately in defence of
his son. The attack was repulsed, Baghunathrao's
cavalry scattered everywhere, and the Nizam en-
couraged his troops to press on and the Peshwa'a
empire would be theirs. It was then that the true
greatness of Madhavrao's nature came to light.
Distrusted by his uncle he had been placed in charge
of a small body of cavalry in the rear of the army.
With this band as a nucleus, he reformed as best
he could Such fugitives as passed near him. Just
i' --.... ' '

* For an excellent account of this battle I would refer my readers to
Mr. Thakore's monograph on Madfcavrao Peahwa which obtained tka
writer the Manockji Limji gold medal in 1893*

60 BAKHAB OF PILAJI OAIKWAD

as he prepared to charge Malharrao Holkar came
up fleeing from the battle. He tried to dissuade
Madhavrao and urged him to seek in Poona safety
and a throne. The young prince turned on him like
a wounded tiger. "Then it fs true" he said, "that
you left Sadashivrao to die at Panipat ?" Malhar-
rao stung to the quick could but join his prince, and
as the Mogal army advanced in the disorder of suc-
cess, Madhavrao's cavalry burst on them stabbing,
sabring, trampling down all resistance. Few troops
then in India could have stood that furious onset
and the Mogal army, that but a moment before had
had victory in their grasp, were hurled headlong into
the Godavari. Twenty-one guns and 15 elephants
were captured on the field of battle, and Nal-
durg fort and territory yielding 82 lakhs of rupees
were paid by the Nizam as the price of peace.
Damaji had fought at Eakshasabhavan and shared
in the victory, but Madhavrao had not forgotten
his desertion to Raghunathrao, and when in 1768 the
latter rebelled, Damaji, who had again joined him,
was fined 23 lakhs, compelled to support 3,000 troops
in the Peshwa'g private service and pay a future
tribute of nearly 7 lakhs a year. Madhavrao was
now supreme lord of Western India, and it is not
likely that Damaji, who died* the same year, fore-
saw that in 50 years the Peshwa's line would be
extinct, and his own still seated firmly on the throne
of Baroda*

As the bafchar ends with the death of Damaji, I do
not propose to drag my readers through the endless

He died from the resxilt of an accident while makiiig a chemical
Vide Elliot** Balers of Baroda, p. 56,

Off PILATE &AIKWAD

struggles and intrigues of his graceless sons. It
will suffice to say that after passing in turn through
the hands of Sayajirao, Fatehsing and Manaji, the
succession reverted to Damaji's eldest son Govind-
rao. Through Govint&ao's son, Sayajirao, the line
was continued to Malharrao, Damajfs great grandson
who was deposed in 1875. The English Govern-
ment looking for an heir, whom Khanderao Gaik-
wad's widow might adopt, fixed on Gopalrao, then
a little boy, and the direct descendant of Prataprao,
the youngest son of Pilaji Gaikwad. As is usual
at a Hindu adoption, the boy's name was changed,
and under the title of Sayajirao, he now controls the
destinies of the Baroda State. If my readers have
borne with me so far, I trust, they will permit to
make them one more suggestion. Should they have
a few day's spare time, and are anxious to see how
an Indian State can be guided by Indian rulers, let
them go to Baroda. They will see what are some-
times deemed counsels of perfection brought to
realisation. They will see Indian judges perfectly ac*
quainted with English law and with three languages
dispensing justice. They will seo, the State cover-
ing itself with a net work of light railways, housies
provided by the State for its officials, vast public
gardens and public bands kept up by the State for
the amusement of its subjects. I do not say that
faults will wholly escape the visitor's notice, but I
greatly err if they do not go away deeply impressed
with the talents and efficiency of the group of able
men, who surround the ruler in whose veins there
flows still the blood of Pilaji Damaji Gaikwad,

TO MAHULI BY MOTOR.

Duty had brought me to Satara, and three miles
from the City and barely two from the Cantonment,
lay the little double village of Mahuli Vasti and
MahuK Kshetra, As I was anxious thoroughly to
explore the spot, I invoked the assistance of a lear-
ned Indian friend. By a happy chance he had at
the time staying with him a party one of whom
possessed a motor car. This was promptly com-
mandeered and the same afternoon was fixed for
our voyage of discovery. It happened that of our
party 3 were acquainted with Gujarati, 4 with
English, all 5 with Marathi. This, therefore, we
adopted as the language of conversation and amid
a flood of Deccani plentifully interspersed with
English " Motorisms," the big car started gaily.
Behind us frowned the fort of Azimtara. To the
right was the English cemetery, on our left flashed
by a Hindu temple surrounded by Dipmalas o
lamp stands resembling nothing so much in Bhajte
as the monkey puzzles that grow to delight children
in the 'Regent's Park and in the Jardin des Planter
In front of us towered sugar loaf-shaped Jaranda
on whose summit nestles in a little wood a sm&tt,
but picturesque temple to Maruti*. It is said
that some 20 years ago there lived in it a sadhu <*

. * Maruti is another name for Hannuman the monkey god,
what suoailaiT story is told of J3hivaji'a preceptor Shri Ramdas.

MAHTTLI BY MOTOR 63

such srapassing sanctity that eventually growing
a tail he became an avatar of the godhead tantum
religio potuit. Let us only hope that on translation
to a higher sphere his tail did not drop off with the
cold like Brer Rabbit's did in the iced water.

It does not take long for a motor car to devour
two miles and soon we reached the empty bed of
the Krishna river wherein a stranded ferry boat
made it possible, though still hard, to realize that
in a month or two the pebbly channel would be
one mass of roaring yellow water striving to find
its way to the far off Bay of Bengal. In front of us
a notice forbidding strictly the exciting sport of
monkey shooting made it clear to us that we were
in the territory of the Pant Pratinidhi of Aundh.
The Pratinidhi* whose title was created in the time
of Ra jar am and whose ancestor acted as the Dabha-
de's mouth piece in his struggle with Bajirao
acquired this tiny domain in the following way.
Once on the occasion of an eclipse King Shahu had
gone from Satara to bathe in the Krishna river.
With him was his favourite minister Shrinivagraof,
the then Pratinidhi, who wag widely famed for his
holiness and charities. Carried away by the fer-
vour inspired by his religious act King Shahu sought
in vain on the deserted bank of the Krishna for
a pious Brahmin on whom to bestow a gift* Learn-
ing his wish Shrinivasrao dexterously profited by it.
" I am," he said, " both pious and a Brahmin, make
me the gift." King Shahu took the hint and

* Prilhad, the first Pratinidhi (the king's mirror) was the son of
Niraji Bivaji's Nyayadhiah Pradhan or Lord Chief Justice.
f Shraivftsrao was afeo catted Shtipatrao.

64 MAHTTII BY MOTOR

bestowed on him the 120 bigas on which now stand
the temples of VastiMahuli*. In fairness, however,
to Shrinivasrao it must be said that he derived no
personal gain from the grant. For, in- the same
year, A. D., 1720 he gave it for perpetual enjoyment
to one Anant Bhat bin Aman Bhat Galande, a man
who, as the sanad tells us, was profoundly versed
in the Vedas. A hardly less quaint tale gives the
origin of Kshetra Mahuli, the little village on the
Krishna's eastern bank. It dates from the old Adil-
shahi dynasty and Shivaji gave to its Brahmins a
small, and in their opinion, a too small allowance.
They in the end, however, found a solution. When
Shivaji died and Shambhu was murdered, the Brah-
mins of Kshetra MahuH went to find the fugitive
Bajaram at Chindi. There they blest him and told
him to be of good heart, for in the end Shivajfs
empire would return to the Marathas. Touched
with their devotion he gave them instead of their
meagre grant the whole inam rights which they
still enjoy over Kshetra Mahuli

As we stood and looked across the river I learnt
that the temple to our right had been in 1874 built
by Sagunabai, the widow of the last ruling king of
Satara, Shahji, otherwise known as Apasaheb. She
was the adoptive mother of the Sardar who, had
other councils prevailed with Lord Dalhousie, would
have been Maharaja Chatrapati, and who died not
long ago at Satara and was like his forerunners burnt
at Mahuli. Just in front of us, however, stood a
far more interesting monument. It was that erected

* The terms of this sanad, as indeed many of the other facto about
Malwli we*e given me by my learned friend Mr, Paraanis of Satara.

MAHtTtt fetf MOl-Oft 68

by King Shahu to his favourite hound* The dog's
name was Khandya, and the tale runs that by bark-
ing he attracted the king's attention to a tiger about
to spring on him. Another version is that the dog
itself flew at a charging panther, and so allowed
his master time to escape. The king's gratitude
passed into madness. He gave the dog a Seat in
durbar, a sanad as a jaghirdar, and kept up on its
behalf a complete palki establishment. On its
death, its body was solemnly cremated, and its asti
or charred bones committed to the earth on the
banks of the sacred river. Over them was erected
a monument Surmounted by a red stone image, which
has lasted for over 150 years. The dog's image
is unfortunately much defaced, but a small sculpture
at the side still preserves for our eyes the artist's
conception. For there a marvellous hound prances
through the ages wonderful, awe-inspiring, tiger-
tearing. Surely no dog save that of Odysseus ever
had a more enduring memorial. A few steps brought
us into the very centre of the little village. On our
left, rose the great temple of Vishveshwar erected
at a cost of ten lakhs by Shrinivasrao, the village
founder. At its entrance a mighty basalt bull Seems
to struggle through the river sands, and within ii&
vestibule there hangs a bronze bell which, t&kei*
from a Portuguese church near Bassein, once swung
to call the godly to worship and sinners to repeii*
tance, and now is tolled instead to rouse the drowsy
god and scare the all too wakeful demons*, Just

* 1^ idea is expressed in the following Sanskrit sloka :--

** Agmanarthajj ta devanam gemanartham tu rakahzam koru gante

rftvam nad." O Boil, make a awset aound to call the gods and disperse

t&e demons.

66 MAHIILI BY MOTOR

opposite is a temple built on a different model* It
was built by ShrinivaSrao's widow in honour of
her gallant husband, and designed, as it is, in the
northern style, bears witness unwittingly to the
onward march of the Maratha armies. In front of
us and across the Krishna rose the splendid flight
of 35 Steps leading to the temple of Eameshwar
built by Parashuram Angal of Dehgaon. At its
side and as if clinging to the main Staircase may be
seen another flight of steps which start firmly from
the river bed, and then unfinished lose themselves
in the sands of the bank above. The flight was
begun and left unfinished by Bajirao Raghunathrao,
the last of the Poona Peshwas, and to the curious
affords a striking simile to his own career. This prince,
destined to such strange vicissitudes, was born at
Dhar in December A,D. 1775. When he was but 9
years old, his father, weary of war and failures, and
disgusted with the treaty of Salbai,f died at Kopar-
gaon on the banks of the Godavery. For the next
eleven years Bajirao lived with his mother, but
on her death in 1793 the all powerful regent Nana
Phadnavis seized her sons and incarcerated them as
State prisoners. In the meantime, the young Peshwa
Madhavrao, Bajirao's first cousin, once removed,
had reached the age of 21, but him, too, the regent
detained in jealous seclusion. The two relatives
began to correspond until Nana Phadnavis discovered
their secret, and so bitter were his reproaches that the
young Peshwa goaded to madness, threw himself
Irom his palace terrace into the court-yard below.
Thfe ttpf oreseen event gave the throne to Bajirao.

t A village near Gw^lior. "~ ' * *"*"

MAHULI BY MOTOE 67

Everything Seemed to point to a prosperous reign.
His early childhood had been passed among the
English with whom his father had so often been
allied. Nature, too, had lavished on him her gifts*
Even the tall envoys of Britain were struck by his
bearing and commanding stature, and in Maratha
eyes, no surer archer not bolder horseman shot or
rode in the plains of Gangathadi. Nor was his
mind legs finely formed than his body. And the
Pandits were alike amazed and confounded by the
erudition of their princely student. Yet just as
at the christening of the Regent d'Orleans some
wicked uninvited fairy came and spoilt all his gifts,
so, too, the strength and learning of Bajirao availed
him nothing. Vacillating and treacherous he broke
every treaty that he made either with the English or
with his Maratha confederates. Afraid to seize
Shinde in open Durbar, he yet gloated over the
screams of Vithoji Holkar as he was dragged by the
Peshwa's orders through the Poona streets at the
foot of an elephant. This last act brought on him
the wrath of Yeshwantrao Holkar who drove him
away from his kingdom, and forced him to sign
by the treaty of Bassein his independence in return
for English support. Detected in intrigues against
his protectors he was driven on the 8th May, 1817^
to make further concessions by the treaty of Poona,
It was about this time that Bajirao began the
building of the steps, and it was when he w^s most
deeply involved in the schemes which eventually
led to the battle of Kirkee that he had while s*$i>-
ding on them in July of the same year, an interview
with the British, Agent Sir John Malcolm, Tito

MABUIJ BY MOTOB

latter lavished good advice which Bajirao professed
hypocritically to accept. Had the steps been ani-
mate they would have seconded Malcolm for their
completion depended on the following of his counsel.
But warnings and experience were alike wasted on
the Peshwa. Only a few months later, the Resident
was attacked and insulted. Kirkee, Koregaon and
Ashta followed. The steps were never completed.
And the empire of thePeshwas passed away from
among the kingdoms of the earth.

We then passed on to the bed of the river where-
in two Shivlingas lying side by side mark the spot
where King Shahu's remains were committed to the
earth. The reason why there are two instead of
one is somewhat quaint. It happened that shortly
after Shahu's cremation his Shivlinga was washed
away. Another was built there in its stead. But
when some years later the first Shivlinga was found
lying buried in the sands, it was unearthed and
placed by the side of its substitute. Just below
the Shivlingas is a small statue of an Indian lady
that marks the sati of Shahu's widow, Sakvarbai,
She was a daughter of the turbulent house of Shirke,
and during her husband's declining years she had
hoped after his death to continue her influence by
the adoption of an infant son. But she had to reckon
with the malice of Tarabai, the widow of Rajaram,
Shahu's uncle. She gave out that Ram Raja, son
of Shivaji II, and nephew of Shahu, still survived
fei concealment Furious at what she deemed to
imposture Sakvarbai intrigued with DamAji
l to Secttte her position. But there waa yet
$*yeriB the game, Balaji Bajirao Peshwa,

MAEULI BY MOTOR 69

He knew of both the ladies' designs and turned them
to his own profit. Although during Shahu*s last ill-
ness, Balaji lingered in an agony of indecision yet
when the king ceased to breathe he acted with the
promptitude of Frederick. Early on the morning of
Shahu's death the clatter of a thousand horse woke
the sleeping Satara streets. Tarabai, Ram Raja
and Sakvarbai were alike seized. By a clever stra-
tagem Tarabai was herself made the guardian of Ram
Raja and was induced to declare that Sakvarbai
must become a sati. Tor the latter there was no
escape* Previous to Shahu's death she had, in
order to mask her plot, declared that she would burn
with her husband. And the Peshwa called to his
aid not only Tarabai but Sakvarbai's brother, Ku-
varji Shirke, who, bribed by Balaji, threatened to
drag her by force to the pyre. Sakvarbai, maddened
by disappointment and deserted by her relatives,
agreed to join her husband. She met her fate lik#
a high born Maratha lady, and just before the end
had the fortitude to give Balaji her jewelled eamjigp
and her blessing.*

As the sun was setting we expressed a wish! ( to
see the evening ceremoniesf held over Shahu's SM-
lingas. The pujaris looked doubtfully at me, font*
assured that I wag no scoffer, consented. Two ot

* The ornament given by her was Kudkvachi Jodi, a pair of ear
ornaments containing 4 pearls and 2 rubies. Her words were " aukfaane
Tftivft Qp.tnTVH ft! Q-- * *

f There are 16 kinds of pujas in the Hindu religion (Shodsfcopa-
chari- They are : av&han, invoking; asan, giving to drink; enan,
bathing; vastra, dressing; yadnopavit, thread investiture; gandh, anoin-
ting with saa4al flour; pusph, crowning with flowers; dimp, incense; dip,
lamp lighting; naivttdhya, food offering ; dakshina, money gilt j pt adafc-
ehina, going round the idol ; mantrapoebp, soattering of flowers.

70 MAHtfLI BY MOTOR

three men carrying morchels or peacock feather
fans with, silver handles approached the grave and
waved the insignia of royalty over the dead King's
ashes. Then a horn-blower blew a wild blast to
rouse his and Sakvarbai's deeping spirits* They
were now deemed to be awake and a Brahmin knelt
and carefully bathed the Shivlingas and the dead
queen's image. Again the morchels waved and
again the echoes work to the wild horn's music.
Then both Shivlingas and statuette were carefully
dried. Halud or yellow turmeric lines were made
on the Shivlingas arid across Sakvarbai's breast.
And on her forehead was placed a kanku tila or the
red mark worn by the wife. For by her death she
had avoided the Shame of widowhood. The spirits
were now fully dressed for their meal and tandftl
or uncooked rice was scattered for their benefit.
And once again the morchels waved and the horn
blared in their honour. Then an udbati or incense
stick was kindled and in a niranjan or metal dish
filled with ghee a wick was lit. The incense smoke
filled the whole air in spite of the ceaseless waving
of the morchels and then by a strange illusion caused,
no doubt, by the violet shades of the twilight, the
acrid Scent of the incense and the whole strange
barbaric scene, the smoke assumed to my eyes a
rough likeness to a Maratha warrior. A scowl, too,
seemed to darken Sakvarbai's face, and I felt like
the sleeper in the Gulistan who dreamt one night
that he saw, blazing with anger, the eyes of Mahmtid
tihe Ghaznivido searching in vain for the fragments
of Ms empire. 0&e last terrific horn blast changed
incense gmoke blew away, The

Btf M0*0ft $1

pujaris rang a bell, scattered flowers and then knelt
in reverence by the shrine. My friends salaamed
and I, half inv oluntarily, lifted my hat to the memory
of so much greatness and of so much glory. So
intense had been the interest of the scene that it
was almost with a sigh of relief that I turned back
where the motor stood. Once again it whirled us
past the Hindu temple and the Christian graveyard,
and at my request it left me at the door of the club
house. As I entered it to the sound of English
voices I looked at my watch. The car had taken
five minutes to come from Mahuli. In 300 seconds
it had traversed 150 years.

THE FORT AT SHOLAPUR.

Every cold weather the outward-bound steamers
bring thei^ loads of eager sight-seers, who on landing
in Bombay, bifurcate as a rule into two divisions.
The larger band rushes north to see the Taj and
Agra Fort, the monument at Gawnpore and the
Delhi ridge, the smaller of the two turns southward
towards Bijapur and thence towards the Gauvery
fall and the great temples of Madras. Off both
beaten tracks, however, may be found spots which
if lacking the gorgeous architectural wealth of the
cities dear to tourists hardly, if at all, yield to them
an historical interest. Among these spots is Shola-
pur. Its old fort dates back beyond human re-
cords. The town and its surrounding districts were
the bone of contention over which Nizam Shahi
and Adil Shahi dynasties, Peshwas and Hyderabad
Nizams fought. And in May, 1818, the fort saw
the last fragment of Bajirao's empire disappear,
when General Munro drove from its walls the Mara*
tha garrison.

To study the early history of Sholapur is no easy
task. It must be sought for within the pages of
the JFerishta and not only is the book extremely
rate but the author's tale, to use his own quaint
of the Deccan valleys, is, u as dark as
of love and as winding as the curly looks
oaa" The Deccan escaped the eajlier

FOBT AT SEOLAPUR 73

Musulman raids that overthrew Delhi and Hindustafc,
and until IRamdev, king of Devgad, espoused the
cause of Karan Ghelo, the last Rajput ruler of
Gujarat, Sholapur, like the surrounding country,
formed part of the domain of the Yadav princes!
Annexed by the Afghan emperor Alauddin Khilji
the Deccan supported Hasan Gango Bahmani in
his revolt against Delhi. With the unity of con-
ception which the Musulmans first introduced into
Indian politics, this able tyrant formed into one
vast kingdom all the imperial provinces and the
petty States south of the Narbadda. But the
administration of his descendants, resting wholly,
as it did, upon local support, became eventually
imbued with Hindu centrifugal ideas. One minis-
ter, Nizam-ul-mulk, made Ahmednagar an inde-
pendent kingdom. A Turkish adventurer* whose
career exceeds in romance any of the tales told by
Shaharazade founded the Adil Shahi dynasty of
Bijapur. A converted Canarese became monarch of
Berar. Another Turk seized the throne of Bidar.
And Ibrahim Kutub Shah, a Persian guardsman:
of the last Bahmani king, created, amid the roaring
drumsf and the regal state of his native country,
the still remembered Saltanat of Golconda,

Sholapur and its eleven districts formed a debat-
able tract between the frontiers of Bijapur and

* Adil Shah was the son of Amurath EC, Sultan of Turkey. He escaped
almost by a miracle the massacre which destroyed all the male members
of his family. He was sold in captivity and after being successively a
slave, a sepoy, a general and a minister became king of Bijapur and lost,
retook and finally lost again Goa to the Portuguese.

f This is said to be the first state occasion on which kettle drums were ,
used in India, They are now indispensable.

10

74 tfOBT AT SHOLAFCTR

Ahmednagar. Five and a half districts were in
1511 annexed to Bijapur by the regent Kamal
Khan. And eventually a partition might have
been acquiesced in by both kingdoms. Unfortuna-
tely, in 1524, when the princess Mariam of Bijapur
was, in order to cement the alliance of the two
kingdoms against Vijayanagar, married to the
Ahmednagar king her ; dowry was declared to be
Sholapur and the Bijapuri half of the eleven
districts.

Now the dowries of princesses have been a
fruitful source of political trouble. Readers of
Dumas will remember the difficulties that beset
Henry IV when attempting to recover the dowry
of Margaret of Valois and just as le roi vert et galant
was obliged to storm Cahors, so the king of Ahmed-
nagar was faced with the alternative of a penniless
queen or a war with Bijapur. He chose the latter ;
but so far from gaining Sholapur, he lost two
battles and was obliged, in the peace of 1542, to
renounce all claims to it. But he was persevering
by nature and in 1551 through an alliance with the
Hindus of Vijayanagar an alliance which shocked
the faithful as much as Francis I's treaty with the
Ottoman Turks shocked Christendom he retook
Sholapur and shortly afterwards died happy. The
quarrel was, however, by no means over. Bijapur
had now its grievance ; for that administration repu-
diated the terms of the Princess Mariam's dowry and
its young Prince Ali Adil Shah sought in turn Vija*
aid to recover the lost province. The
du rukr Bainraj received the overtures
ave to the young

then his guest, great offence.* And so it fell out
that instead of making an alliance with the Hindu
State, Ali Adil Shah organised against it a great
Mussalman league and destroyed it. But what
caused the fall of Vijayanagar decided finally the
ownership of Sholapur. For to cement the holy
alliance against the infidel Ali Adil Shah married
a Nizam Shahi Princess and with her came back
to Bijapur, Sholapur and its five and a half districts.
But she has a greater claim on history than the
settlement of the Sholapur quarrel. For she was
the renowned Chand Bibi of Ahmednagar. In after
years she made herself regent of her ancestral State,
and uniting the rival Deccan houses, strove, and
for a time successfully, to stem the torrent of Mogal
invasion. To the end unconquered, she died mur-
dered by her own troops. During her lifetime she
won from the chivalrous enemy the title of Chand
Sultana. And 350 years after her death Meadows
Taylor, himself stationed at Sholapur, wrote the
tale of her life and called it the Story of a Noble

Queen.

After the fall of Bijapur, Sholapur went to the
Mogal conquerors. Prince Azam gave it to Shahti*
who divided its revenues with the first and great
Nizam. By the battle of Kharda, Nana Phadnavl^

* The offence given was that Ramraj when taking leave of hjs noble
guest did not ride so far with him as Musulman etiquette more exacting
thn Hxadu etiquette more exacting than Hindu etiquette demanded,
From thfe incident and its ensuing consequence Briggs, the translator #;
tferishta, sagely moralises on the importance of studying the custom*
o* the people who live round us. Ramraj' s head was out off by fcfe
conquerors, waa embalmed and was tOL recently to be seen *6 BSJ
ft used to be carried; row! *** pole on high days and holidays and
is.

76 FOBT AT SEOLAPTTR

won it all and wide lands besides for his young
master, the 2ndMadhavrao. And in 1818, it was to
Sholapur that Bajirao IPs army, defeated at Ashta,
retreated. On the 10th May 1818, his spiritless force
was dispersed never to re-assemble, and on the
14th, the fort with its garrison, surrendered to
General Munro. And so with this final flicker,
Sholapur passed out of history.

The fort* has nothing in common with the usual
Maratha fastness perched upon a cliff and owing
less to human than to Nature's hands. The Sholapur
fort stands on the open plain, and consists of a square
enclosed by heavy walls and a wide encircling moat.
Inside the walls are banquettes for the sharpshooters,
and here and there embrasures mark where in old
days the gunners laid their cannon. Jutting out
from the walls are several great towers. And of
two, ghastly stories are told. Under one called the
Jaccha tower, a pregnant woman was buried alive.
When first erected its foundations repeatedly gave
way. The Brahmins were consulted, and they
said that Mahakali or the spirit of time and place
was angry. Now Mahakali is honoured both East
and West. She is the spirit who Snatches away
from bridegrooms their brides. It is to frighten
her that rice id thrown at Christian weddings, and
it is to hit her in case she should be peeping in at

* Forts are said in the Mahabharata to be of six kinds. 1. Desert
forts. 2. Hill forts, 3, Ground forts. 4. Mud forts. 5. Men forts, 6,
Jungle forts. Sholapur, I take it, would be a ground fort. A man fort
is an unfortified town like Sparta, whose safety rested on the courage of
Jw hoplites. The same idea occurs in Campbell's lines ;
" Britannia needs no bulwarks,
No towers along the steep."

FOBT Atf

the carriage window that a slipper is hurled after
the vehicle that bears away the married pair. It
is in her honour that in England house-warming
parties are given, that in France they hang th$
cremaill&re, and that in India they perform the
ceremony called Vastushanti. Maha&ali was angry,
said the Brahmans. How was she to be appeased ?
By the sacrifice of a living pregnant woman, was the
reply. The poor widow of a Lingayat Bania was
offered by her brother-in-law as the victim. She
was buried alive and the tower stands firm to this
day. But though the tower moves not the widow's
ghost gets at times restless. And to quiet her, the
descendants of her brother-in-law, now and ever since
Patils of Sholapur, offer on the Varshapratipada,
or first day of the new year, oil and cocoanuts, a
lugada, (dress) and a choli (bodice) for the woman,
and a little dhotar and turban for the tiny child
that never saw the day. Of the northern tower* a
similar story is told. There, too, the foundations
had to be sealed with human blood, and a
unmarried, though threadgirt, boy of the
family was buried alive beneath them. The
money for the boy was a yearly grant of Es. 1$
which more than five centuries afterward^ is still
paid by the English Government. At the door of
the Mahakali gate ig a rough stone said to be
image of the goddess Mahakali herself. In
gone by she stood upright and sought all in vain
to keep the English from the fort. But when e&
the 14th May 1818, Munro's troops marched in to,
martial music and with flying banners, she bowfe#
her head m shame, and, as all may see, it dpoopfl

7$ K)RT At SHOLA^Ufc

to this day. To the south of the old fort is a great
lake from which at any moment the moat can be
filled with water. In the centre of the lake is a little
island joined to the main land by a stone causeway
and bearing in its centre a famous temple of Sid-
dheshwar or Shiva self-created. After rambling
through the fort and hearing its gruesome stories
it is a welcome relief to walk along the causeway
to the dark cool colonnades beyond. When I last
visited it, the lake's surface was gay with lilies,
and the wild duck swirled and stooped above its
waters. On coming to the temple courtyard, I,
as is my wont, gave a slight money offering to the
priest for worship. I turned to go, but he begged
me and my friends to wait a moment. We did so,
and as we lingered I saw to the west sharply outlined
against the sky where the sun had set, the great
Warad mill* With the rear of its thousand wheels
and the glare of its furnaces, it seemed to stand
for some vision of a new India built up by native
energy and capital and guided by western thought;
while the old fort to the north rapidly fading away
with the short-lived twilight geemed to stand for
ancient and picturesque India, which before our
eyes is vanishing for ever. Just then, however,
the priest returned and presented each of us with
divided cocoanuts containing in each half a few
jasmine flowers* This was the pra$dd or return
present of the God, and from it we knew that my
hraable offering had found favour. And so, we
walfeetf back along the colonnades and the causeway
wiw heads erect, fausti atgue felices, for o& us was
th<? blessing of Siddheshwar,

PARVATI OF THE PESEWA&

Near Poona, and itself a spur of the Sinhgad
range, stands a hill called Parvati It is crowned
with temples and receives its due share of worship.
But for historical interest it has probably no rival
Among its buildings one prince died of a broken
heart, another watched his empire tumble to pieces
like a house of cards* An English poet* has sung
of its beauties and on its steps an heir to the throne
of England nearly met his death. As Parvati is
within easy reach of Poona residents and visitors,
I have ventured to string together for their benefit
a slight account of the famous hill. For to visit it
without some knowledge is both unprofitable and
uninteresting.

Like most other celebrated Indian celestial dwel-
lings the present gods were not the earliest to live
in Parvati. Before they came the old hill godd&&
was already there. The common tale goes thai;
one day Gopikabai, the wife of the 3rd Peshw&;
Balaji Bajirao, suffered from a sore heel and waft
told that the Devi on Parvati hill was swift to
answer prayers. Gopikabai promised, if she got
well, to build a temple to Shiva on Parvati's SUKH
mit. She did so, and Balaji Bajirao fulfilled hep

* Sir Edwin Arnold, by a strange inaccuracy, describes a conversa^
fcion at PfT7ati between hitnsdlf, a priest and a dancing girL There are,
no danc&sg girl* at Parvati wd never were any.

80 PRVATI OF THE PESHWAS

promise* The tale told in the Peshwas' Bakhar is
^different. For there the founding of Parvati is
ascribed to Balaji Bajirao's wish to honour king
Shahu to whose memory the Shivaite temple was
erected. It is probable, however, that this latter
story really describes the origin of Vishnu's temple
and the former that of Shiva's. In either event
the pious founder of Parvati was the 3rd Peshwa
and it is related in the Peshwa Bakhar that he sent
the Holkar and Shinde Jaghirdars to extort for
her temples the sacred stones of the Gandaki river
from the Maharaja of Nepal*.

The hill is usually approached by the Shankar-
shet 'Road, which winds past the tombs of unknown
French officers once in the Maratha service, past
the Deccan Club and a shrine to Bhairoba, himself
like Parvati's Devi, one of the earlier deities- Then,
it curves round Parvati lake now an open ugly
hollow but once a beautiful sheet of water which
the sanitary engineers, alas ! condemned* The lake,
like the Parvati temples, was built by Balaji Bajirao,
and the tale runs that enraged with the slow build-
ing of the dam he himself descended from his ele-
phant and began carrying stones to the masons.
At once courtiers and soldiers sprang from their

* The following idola were placed in the Parvati Temple in the

1 Shri Deweshwar.

1 Mahadev (Silver) with two Golden images : one of Gan-
pati on its right lap and the other of Parvati on its
left lap.

1 Ganpati (Stone).
1 Parvati Bhawani,

The religious ceremonies commenced on the 7th and concluded on the
iy$& AjHfQ 1749 the expenditure on this account was Bs. 9,0 SO,

FABVATI Off THE PEHHWAS SI

horses and did likewise and the dam soon neared
completion. At a later date Mahadji Shinde wish-
ing to oust Nana Phadnavis from the control of
the second Madhavrao took the latter to the little
Ganpati temple on the Sarasbag island in the centre
of the lake. While rowing across, Shinde so poisoned
the young prince's mind against the old statesman
that they in the end quarrelled, with terrible results
to both. Madhavrao II perished in the Shanwar
Wada. Nana Phadnavis died broken hearted and
disgraced. But the house of Shinde grew till it
overshadowed the whole Maratha Empire.

On reaching the pathway that branches off to
Parvati, do not continue until the steps are reached
but turn to the right and passing under a limb tree
walk with me towards the North. The leaves of this
limb tree are in great request on the 1st of Chaitra
the Deccan New Years 3 day. The ordinary
Brahmin eats but one or two because of their bitter
taste. But the Brahmacharig or youthful religious
celibates, so an Indian Informant to]d me, eat them
in handfuls and their bodies so far from suffering
ill-effects wax stout and strong and their faces
" become lustrous." A hundred yards or so beyond
the limb tree is a little shed. Underneath it are
kunku and shendur covered stones arranged so as to
mark a grave. Its occupant was once a Mang who
attended the Peshwa's rhinoceros and one day ended
his career with its horn through his body. He was
buried here and his disembodied spirit haunts the
place. The Mhar attendant when I visited it said
to me c phar navasala pavato ' (he readily hearkens
to prayers) and recently plucked feathers lying close

&2 ^AJfcVATI OP THE FBSHWAS

by, showed that but a few minutes before a wor-
shipper had offered a fowl to the Hang's ghost. A
sad tale was also told me of this Mang's doings*
On dark nights he spirits away fair women of high
caste while sleeping by their husband's sides and in
the early morning leaves them soiled and helpless
on the roadway. Possibly erring ladies of high
degree, surprised by daylight, may have found in
the Mang's ill-repute a welcome shelter. But let us
leave the Mang and still go northward. Twenty or
thirty paces on we shall come to the realm of Vetal*
and Mhasoba. Here indeed we enter on primitive
theology. In the centre are two whitewashed stones.
They are Vetal and his younger brother Mhasoba
who reign over the multitude of ghosts and demons
that harass mankind. Bound them are a circle of
smaller white-tipped stones. They are king Vetal's
sowars, and a larger stone to the south of the royal
pair but inside the circle of the horsemen, is their
Jemadar known as Bhangya Bava or as we might
say Brandy Billy. Twice a month, on the full moon
and on the no-moon, does king Vetal at midnight
ride abroad in state surrounded by ghostly riders
and ghostly elephants. Should the wayfarer meet
him let him boldly stride up to the demon-king and
ask a favour for at such a time he will not refuse a
boon. His greatest day, however, is Mahashivratra,

* The attendant told me that this Vetal formerly lived at Gopgatun in
Saswad Taluka, but that his grandfather had by bhakti or worship in-
duced the god to oome to his present abode. One night the god told him
walk to Parvati without looking backward and next morning to make a
mound of stones where he saw flowers lying. He walked to Parvati and
bettittd him he heard all the way the footsteps of Vetal and next mom-
ing {lowers lay where is now the demon ring,

On other occasions he but rides round Poona City.
But on that night as the Mhar attendant told me
** ratrabhar dhingana karito " (or as we might say,
he plays Old Harry all night long). Sorcerers and
especially wrestlers are his votaries and often before
a wrestling competition one may, if one cares to
visit the spot at midnight, see some stout youth
bathe in the adjoining canal and then pray at the
shrine for victory in the morrow's tournament.
But whoever makes offering to the god must at
the same time present a pipe of hemp to Bhangia
Bawa, for he has the ear of and will "samjao the
Sahib."

Now let us return to the east face of the hill
glancing as we pass at the masonry post to which
during the Peshwas* days tigers used to be tied
while they fought with elephants. Their spirits have,
it is believed, entered the stake, which is now wor-
shipped under the title of Vaghoba or My Lord the
Tiger. On the east face we shall find a stone stair*
case. At its foot are two little monuments, one
to Nagoba the serpent who was the wisest
among the beasts of the field and the other to a
saint who lived and died on Parvati's summit*
Next let us mount the steps passing on the left a
Musulman Pir's tomb whose restless spirit pro-
duced litigation that greatly vexed the District
Judge until finally laid by an adverse decision of
the High Court. Half way up we pass two little
Stones each adorned with a pair of feet. The larger
pair belonged to one Madhavrao, a Sadhu of the
hill, and the smaller to his wife Parvati, who it*
1829 committed sati on this spot.

84 3?ARYAM OF THE PESHWAS

On nearly reaching the top the Brahmins will
point out to us where the Bhor Chief's elephant
Slipped and nearly fell with Prince Edward of Wales.
At last the summit reached, we turn into the court-
yard of the principal temple, that of Shiva. Oppo-
site it is the nagarkhana or drumhouse whence wild
music thrice a day issues either to rouse the god
or warn him that it is time to rest, A stone bull
lies as usually facing the temple hall and in front
of him may .usually be seen some grains of rice and
a bel-tree's leaf given him in honour of Shiva. The
animal has two panoplies, one of silver for the
Mahashivratra and such great days and one its
second best of copper for less important ftes.
Inside the temple the royal cobra rears its hood
over Shiva's " pindi " and behind it arfe images
of his queen Parvati and their son Ganesh. At
each corner of the court-yard is a little shrine
sacred to Vishnu, to the hill Devi, to Ganesh and
to Surya or the Sun. And the latter's chariot
drawn by a strange seven-headed animal reminds
one forcibly of the splendid horses which prance
and bear Helios so gaily in Flaxman's drawing. To
the north is a railed window whence the last Peshwa
watched the battle of Kirkee. And it is certain
that nowhere else can so good a view be obtained
of the straight road along which Bapu Gokhale and
the Bhagwa Jhenda passed to do battle with the
troops of the English cantonment. In the same
court-yard is a trap-door which covers the entrance
to a secret passage by which, it is said the sa,me
Peshwa, a few hours later, fled to the old palace in
ttae Shanwar Path.

OF THE

Let us now leave Shiva's court-yard and skirt-
ing the southern wall look down the hilFs edge. We
shall see a vast compound girt by a ruined stone
wall. This is the old * Bamana ' or enclosure where
Balaji Bajirao paid dakshina to Brahmins by thou-
sands. The cost one year rose to sixteen lakhs
and the Peshwa was forced at last to examine
Brahmin applicants as to their holiness and learn-
ing. And the chronicle of the Peshwas relates in
all seriousness that the Konkanastha Brahmins
passed most frequently the examiner's tests.*
Due west of Shiva's temple we shall enter a small
enclosure over which several bel-trees hang their
rounded fruit. Therein a small temple to Kartik*
swami covers two idols. One in marble was in-
jured by the lightning that destroyed Bajirao IPs
palace and according to Hindu practice has been
put on one side for a legs costly but intact one. Who
was Kartikswami ? He was GanpatiY elder brother
but not born of Parvati. The tale runs that once
Agni Stole Shiva's vital essence hoping thereby to
rival in might the dark-throated lord of Kailas.
But the latter's fiery blood burnt the weaker veins
of Agni and he was glad to cast it from him into
the bodies of his own six unmarried daughters*
They became pregnant and to hide their shame
brought on each of them a premature birth. The
unformed children thrown together in a corner
coalesced and became the lord Kartikswami;* ap*l

* Vide Peak was* Bakhar, pages 54-55. The Peshwas were, of
course, themselves Konkanasthas.

* For this reason Kartikswami is also called Shadanan. H&
v&han is the peacock.

86 2ABVATI OF

Ms idols to-day have six mouths to show his sex-
tuple origin. Somewhere closed by the third
Peshwa, Balaji Bajirao, the founder of the temples,
killed by the news of Panipat, breathed his last.
But either through ignorance or wilfulness the
priests refuse to point out the spot.

One temple remains, that of Vishnu. Opposite
the hall entrance is a figure of his vahan or steed,
the eagle. For Vishnu's incarnations have been
martial princes and all the earth over the eagle has
been the emblem of the world-conqueror from
Vishnu's Garuda to the aigles napoUoniennes. On
the door is an image of Ganpati and below it is the
hideous face of Kirtimukh. Neither I speak of
course as a layman and subject to correction
seems really in place. As for Ganpati passe encorel
for in the Deccan he is to be found everywhere
from the temples of the other gods to the Shri
Ganeshayanamah with which the Puranas begin*
But Kirtimukh sprang from the frown of Shiva's
eyebrow when he received Jalandhar's challenge
and was called on either to give up Parvati and his
treasure or meet the Demons in battle* And the
boon that Kirtimukh received was to find a place
always in Shiva's temples. However one must not
be hypercritical and the Hindu architect, like the
enraged naval officer in the story likes to feel that
he has omitted nothing. Let us next look inside
and there we shall see Vishnu himself and at his
feet sits his last great incarnation Balkrishna.
The latter, as the name shows, is not here in the
flame guise as when he fought on the side of the
Pandava brothers and made Dwarka his capital,

PABVATI OF THE PESHWAS 87

but as he appeared in Ms wondrous childhood
and won the hearts and the loves of the 16,000
Gopikas.

To the south stands, hidding the view of the Sin-
hgad mountains, the outer shell of Bajirao II's
palace. It has, however, no history, for it was
never finished and lightning struck it two years
before the English cannon blew away the Peshwa's
Empire.

And now before we descend let us mount for a
moment the northern wall. Poona City and Poona
Camp unroll for us their vast panorama. At either
end sleep scions of the great rival houses of Shinde
and Holkar.* In the centre rise the square towers
of the Shanwar Wada where so many Peshwas
fought and intrigued, loved and ruled. To the
north flash the waters of the Mula Mutha, now deep-
ened by the great Band but once low enough to let
Elphinstone and his escort escape fromVinchurkar's
horse* To the east are the bold outlines of four
spurred Chaturshringi in whose side is a cave where
the Pandavs rested on their way to Viratnagar.
And at its feet is the spot where by a strange fatality
the Peshwa's vakil met Sir Charles Malet, the first
British envoy, and on which now swing the gates
of the Ganeshkhind palace. Far to the south rise
Torna, dear to Shivaji, and Singhad, where Tanaji
Malusre met an heroic death. And between them
the waters of Khadakwasla catch the last rays of
the sinking sun and throw up a blaze of light amid
the gathering darkness.

* Mahadji Shinde's tomb is at Wanavdi and Vithaji Hellcats south of
Holkar's bridge.

88 PABVATI OF THE PESKWAS

Let us now descend, and as behind us the evening
drums begin to roll scaring away the demons and
warning the gods that it is time to rest, let us con-
sider how we may escape unmulcted to our car-
riages. But of this there is but little hope* For,
as in the poem of Propertius, beauty could not
save Nereus nor his strength Achilles*, so all our
wit and cunning will avail us but little against the
multitudinous demands of the mendicant devotees*

* Nerea non faoies nun via oxemit Achillem.

A PORTUGUESE LADY AT THE
MOGAL COURT.

Absorbed in the contemplation of our own splen-
did empire, we are sometimes apt to forget that
other European nations have also played glorious,
parts in India. On a recent homeward voyage, I
was reminded of this by the presence on boardship
of a Portuguese official of high rank, tall, courteous
and wholly charming. Finding that I was interes-
ted in things historical, he promised to obtain for me
a recent book* published in Goa, giving an account
of the relations>etween the Goanese Government
and the Great Mogals. The promise was k*pfc
and the book duly arrived. But it was in Portuguese,
of which I knew not a single word. Howp^
I had in my youth learnt Latin, French and .ItM8*a:i,
and so like the Austrian ambassadors, sent 'to,^,'
over Louis XV against Frederic the Great; 1 414, JJJ,
despair. Nor were my expectations ^'
for, with a grammar and dictionary and ,%*
hours of the outward sea-voyage, I was;i*
gather most of the book's excellent consents*-
I now venture therefrom to sketch for

fl tohm '

90 rOETUOUESE LADY AT MOGAL COURT

career of a lady who played a great part in the
history of the Portuguese Indies.

The early years of 'the 16th century brought un-
exampled prosperity to Portugal. Five centuries
of uninterrupted conflicts with the Moors had made
all its small population soldiers. Ihe royal house,
founded by a bastard prince of Burgundy, had been
unusually rich in able men. And ruled and rulers
alike had with wonderful quickness grasped the
possibilities of their long coast line, and had laid
aside ambitions of Mediterranean for those of world
empire. In 1494, a Papal Bull had divided the
undiscovered earth between the Portuguese and the
Spaniards, and in all directions the Lisbon Govern-
ment furnished expeditions to make good the title
conferred by the Vatican, Everywhere the Portu-
guese soldiers proved invincible, and everywhere
administrators trained in the Lisbon offices intro-
duced settled government in the train of conquest.
One daring band under Joao de Nova seized Ascen-
sion. Another under Pedro Cabral annexed the
vast empire of Brazil. A third under Amerigo
Vespucci, first of the Caucasian stock, heard the
roar of thePurana as it rushes towards the Plate
river and the South Atlantic. A fourth under
Vasco de Gama realised the visions of Henry the
Navigator, and, doubling the Cape of Good Hope,
Eeacjed straight for the Indian Oc^an.

Probably never in its history had India, as at this
been so helpless to resist foreign aggression.

was st ^l bleeding from the
of Tamerlane's invasion. Jut the

-which*

LADY AT MOGAL C6TTET 91

Taglak's reign, had fallen away from Delhi, was
split up into five fragments. Of these, the two in
possession of the South Western seaboard, Bijapur
and Ahmednagar, were not only at deadly enmity
with each other but engaged in constant strife with
the Hindu power of Vijayanagar. It was an easy
task for the talented Portuguese captains to take
advantage of their distracted state, and to obtain
by cession or conquest large territories on the Wes-
tern Coast. While the real superiority of the
Portuguese sailors enabled them to secure at the
expense of the Mopla merchants a monopoly of
the western trade.

If we pass over 50 or 60 years, however, we find

the positions of the two countrils reversed. The

immense efforts of the opening century had been

too much for the slight resources of Portugal. A

minority at home, unsuccessful campaigns in

Morocco, priestly influence, and the introduction of

negro labour had added to her distress. In India, on

the other hand, the descendants of Tamerlane welre

doing their best to remedy the effects of his

In 1526, Babar had won Panipat and, for

and his successors, the throne of Delhi. Thetteoji

was now seated a ruler of extraordinary

and civil talents, who after gathering into his

hands the threads of a vast empire, was ia

direction extending its frontiers with the &kiH and

the restless energy of Bonaparte. In ten

he had subdued all Rajputana except th

fastnesses in the Arawalis. A bloodless camp&Igfe

had in 1572 ended the Gujarat kingdom.

in 1581, a detachment of the MQgal army

92 PORTUGUESE LAlDY A*F MOGAL COUBT

the Portuguese territories of Bassein and Damaun.
They were repelled by the Governor Martini Alffonso
de Mello, but the repulse would, as in other cases,
have been followed by an attack in force which
surely would have succeeded had the Emperor not
been stopped by something in his eyes more terrible
than the Portuguese cannon, and more 'persuasive
than the lips of their ambassadors the frowns
and thp tears of a Lusitanian lady. Instead of
war he made a treaty and sent envoys of congratu-
lation to the new Portuguese King Philip II of Castle.
Who was the lady who did such signal service
to her country ? She has hitherto been styled Maria
Makany, Akbar's Christian wife, whose tomb is
still visible at Agra. But Mr. Gracias has with
great acuteness and research been able to trace her
origin. In the reiga of King John III there was
founded at Lisbon a home for orphan girls of good
family. When these girls reached women's state
they were shipped off to the various Portuguese
colonies to make wives for the official and settlers.
The ladies did not, however, always reach their
destination but, like the Moorish king's bride in
Boccaccio, sometimes fell into wrong hands. One
of them was rescued from a wreck to become queen
of the Maldives. Another, Maria Mascarenhas,
captured with her sister by the Dutch, was brought
to Surat and thence sold at the Mogal Court, where
she became one of Akbar's queens and is known to
feistory under the MusaJman corruption of her name
&Ej&ria Makaixy*

sfeter'a fate was if possible more romantic
In 1560* Prince Jean Philippe Bourbon, a

LADtf A* MOGAt COlrttT &

cadet of the house of Navarre, fled from France as
a result of a fatal duel, and making his way from
Madras to Delhi, applied to enter Akbar's service.
He was received with great distinction, given
the title of Nawab, appointed governor of the
royal harem, and wedded to Juliana Mascarenhas,
Maria's sister. The two Portuguese ladies thus
formed a strange link between the great house of
Chagatai, and the no less splendid line that for two
centuries overawed Europe from the throne of
Clovis.*

Having saved her countrys' possessions, Maria
Mascarenhas next tried to save her husband's soul,
Her own palace had long been adorned with fres-
coes of the Annunciation, and, as a result of the
new treaty with Goa, Akbar was induced to invite
to his court a band of missionaries qualified to ex-
pound the Christian doctrine. Among them went
the Jesuit Rodolfo Acquaviva, whose dialectic
talents, according to the Oriente Conquislb^do, pro-^
ved too much for Akbar's Mullahs. It must, how-
ever, be confessed that, if the latter were correctly
reported, so to triumph was not a difficult task*
They 'attacked the Christian religion by alleging
that the Bible had originally been verbally the
as the Koran, but had been altered to its
form in order to introduce the idolatrous worsMj)
of the Trinity. And they asserted that Mahomed"^

* The descendant* of Prince Jean Philippe Bourbon ax*!iriffi,t6 fc^
found in India. One branch until recently held ajagkir in ^ejBhi^
State, and a, xfce&ber of their family *ome 20 or 30 yeajs IjeW Jfcfte post
oT PHtfn* Minfefcef tx> #* Nawab^ For an account of this fajnily, vide
,ffi**aid*s * Sfctory of the Bourbons in Indi* " anil
* of them fr fcfc " Bj Abft "

04 PORTUGUESE LADY AT MOGAL COUBT

mission had been to restore the *pure faith which
Christ had taught. Such an allegation, unsustained
by any evidence, was easily ridiculed out of Court.
But the learned Jesuit's reply does not, to my mind,
give proof of much ability. His criticism was
purely destructive, and he made no attempt to show
how the teaching of Christ was superior to that of
Mahomed. Nevertheless, what the contending saints
lacked in brain-power they made up for in lung-
power. And as they warmed to their work, the
Emperor, at whose invitation they had assembled in
the Ibadat Khana, found that to conquer Hindustan
was an easier task than to calm this controversial
cyclone- He was finally obliged himself to flee
deafened from the room, leaving the disorderly
conference to continue all night until exhaustion
silenced it towards morning.

Subsequent to this the Mullahs, wearied with
argument, made to the missionaries what, as it
must fairly be admitted, was a sporting offer. They
expressed themselves willing to enter a fiery furnace
if the missionaries did likewise. The former were
to be armed with a Koran, the latter with a Bible,
and the fire was to judge between thefei. The
missionaries replied that they had already won a
judgment in the tribunal of reason that miracles
were only intended to supplement evidence, and
that where reasons were as in the case of Christian
truth, so clear and manifest, it was merely tempting
God to ask for miracles without necessity. Such
Arguments could scarcely have convinced Akbar,
and the distinct favour with which he regarded
must only have been due to his wife's

LADY AT MOGAL COURT 95

pressure. On one occasion he did homage to the
crucifix in the Portuguese Chapel, first in the Musal-
man style by a profound reverence, then in the
Christian way by kneeling in front of it, and lastly
by prostrating himself, like a Hindu before an idol.
Indeed, in the religion which he afterwards invented,
it is possible, as I think, to trace an attempt to
reconcile the conflicting claims of his queen and his
conscience. But, although Christianity never won
over Akbar as a convert, Queen Maria's religion yet
made considerable way. Eanke mentions three
princes of the Royal House who were duly baptised,
and Gustave Le Bon affirms that in Jehangir's
reign the number of distinguished Christians at
Court was sixty. That graceless prince himself
hung in his palace images of Christ and the Virgin,
and in a fit of drunken expansiveness declared that
Christianity was of all religions the best. For its
followers were doubly blest. They were free to
eat both beef and pork.

Akbar died in 1605, and from the evidence col-
lected by Mr. Gracias, it seems probable that Maria
survived him. If so we may perhaps trace to her
influence two great diplomatic victories which the
Portuguese gained in the early years of Jehangir's
reign. The first was the reply given by the Em-
peror to Hawkins, the first English envoy. He
came with a letter from James I, but was told in
open Durbar that the great Mogal could not demean
himself by corresponding with so insignificant a
kinglet* The second was an offensive and defensive
treaty drawn up between the delegates of the
JJmperor and of the Gpane^e Viceroy Dom Jeronyuad

5J6 FORTTJGtTBSE LADY AT MOGAL COURT

de Azevedo. The f oflowing is a translation of the
first article in the Portuguese text :

" Seeing that the English and the Dutch come in
the guise of merchants to these countries in order
to settle in them and to conquer lands, because
they themselves live in Europe in wretchedness
and destitution; and (as) their presence in India
will cause harm to all as was shown in the war which
they brought about between Mogals and Portuguese
(sic), the said delegates will agree that the King
Jehangir and the Viceroy of India will not trade
with the aforesaid nations nor will they be received
into their harbours or sold ammunitions or anything
else; first the Viceroy and his successors will be
obliged to drive them from the Gujarat sea within
three months of their arrival*, and if they put into
the Surat harbour, the king permits the Portuguese
to land the necessary cannon to defeat them and
drive them away and will give the Portuguese all
the help necessary to do so. And the English, who
are at present in the lands and territories of the said
king, will quit them, together with th,eir factories,
via Masulipatam."

Here we must leave Maria Mascarenhas, but even
though she may have tried to further her country's
interests at our expense we still owe her a deep dfebfc
of gratitude. In 1640 Alvarez, driven to despair by
the Military activity of Richelieu, called out the
arriereban of Portugal and Spain* The Catalans*
ever ready to rise against Castile, sprang to arms
$ad proclaimed themselves a republic under French
protection. Fired by their example, Portugal thr^w

.. . .......

'< *" T&te flaefes oae efcch year wifrA the iavourmg wind

POBTWU33SE LADY AT MO&AL COTTRT 07

off the Spanish yoke and offered her crown to John,
Duke of Braganza, in whose veins flowed the blood
of the oldBurgundian line, Catalonia, deserted by
France, had to submit. * But Portugal won the
English alliance and her own independence by offer-
ing with a great dowry the Princess Catherine to
Charles II. Now in that dowry were included the
harjbour and island of Bombay, which the charms
of Queen Maria had saved from the Mogal con-
queror. Thus, but for her, Catherine of Braganza's
dowry, must have been sought elsewhere. And
the Presidency of Bombay might now be cramped
within Ascension or Madeira island ; or, worse still,
urbs prima in Indis might be located in some
fever-haunted swamp among the mouths of the
Amazon.

THE PESHWAS OF POONA.

A LECTURE DELIVEBED AT THE SMALL
MEMOBIAL HALL

In chosing as my subject, the Poona Peshwas,
I was chiefly guided quite apart from the local
interest of the subject by the circumstance that so
far in my humble opinion, sufficient justice has not
been done to the achievements of this extraordinary
family. There has been too great a tendency,
certainly among English writers, to overlook the
real change of dynasty that took place when Balaji
Bajirao made his coup d'etat. The first dynasty
in historical Maharashtra consisted of Shiva ji, his
sons Shambhu and Eajaram, and Shambhu's son
Shahu. The second dynasty consisted of Balaji
Bajirao, Madhavrao I, Narayenrao, Madhavrao II
and Bajirao Raghunathrao, These two dynasties
occupied three periods. During the first of these
periods the Maratha kings both reigned and ruled.
During the second period, that is, during the last
half of Shahu's life the Maratha kings reigned and
the Peshwas ruled. During the third period, i.e.,
from Shahu's death to the English conquest, the
Peshwas both reigned and ruled. The Maratha
dynasty no doubt still survived but as State pri-
soners only, and exercised no more influence on
policy of Maharashtra than did the Eastern

PES&WAS OF poosrA. 99

Emperors on Italian affairs at the time of Odoacer*
In the course of the lecture I have endeavour-
ed to present before you the second dynasty as a
whole. And, to do so, I have found it necessary
to sketch not only the third period, but the second
period also of Maratha history. From this sketch
I have omitted everything that was not essential
to the narrative. I have even done so at the risk
of producing a mere arid and jejune string of facts.
But the time at my disposals, both for preparation
and for addressing you, has been so short that this
was inevitable.

Let us first approach the subject with the query,
what is a Peshwa ? Lord Macaulay in his essay
on Warren Hastings defined him in the following
words : " Peshwa or Mayor of the palace, a great
hereditary magistrate, who kept a court with
kingly state at Poona and whose authority was
obeyed in the spacious provinces of Aurangabad
and Bijapur." Now in another essay, Macaulay
charged Robert Montgomery with having in one of
his lines achieved the worst of all similitudes. Mr*
Montgomery might possibly have retorted that
his critic had achieved the worst of all definitions.
The Peshwa was not a Mayor either in the literal
or in the derived sense. Being a Brahmin, he was not
likely to have held any high office except a priestly
one in a Maratha' s palace. He was not a Magistrate
either hereditary or elective. Aurangabad was pri-
marily a part of the Moglai. And the Peshwa's
authority extended not merely over Bijapur but
was co-extensive with the Maratha Empire. What
then was a Peshwa ? The title, as the name denotes^

100 THE FESSWAS OF

was a Persian one and seems to have been introduced
by the Bahamani kings. For Grant Duff mentions,
that in 1529 A. D, Boora Khan Nizam Shah of Bija-
pur made a Brahmin Kavarsing a Peshwa. The
title is thus very akin to the English one of Premier,
which taken from the French title of premier minis-
ter, has now become an integral part of the English
system of government.

The first Peshwa in Maratha times was Shamraj
Pant who held that office under Shivaji in A. D.
1656. He was succeeded by Moropant Pingale
who was the first among the Asht Pradhans or the
King's Cabinet, and from his time onwards the
Peshwa was the leading Minister of the Crown.
The next question to arise is, how did the office be-
come hereditary in one family and what was its
origin ? The surname of this family was Bhat,
a word, which although signifying priest, had be-
come just an ordinary family name, as we say
Mr. Priest or Mr. Vicars. The father of the founder
of the dynasty was one Vishvanath* Bhat who was
the Deshmukh of Shriwardhan, a Konkani town near
the mouth of the Savitri. He had two sons, Balaji
and Janoji. On their father's death they acted
as Joint Deshmukhs until the Sidi <$ Janjira seised
Janoji, took him to Janjira, and there putting him
in a sack flung Mm into the sea. Balaji escaped to
the town of Velas where he took shelter with one
Mahadev Bhanu. It was, however, impos*
to remain so near to Janjira, and Bhanu> in
true spirit of friendship, left with his %o
ffs, ffari and Bamaji to their hom3 ajq4

* 'tlfy EeshWs Bakhw by Mr. Saae,

PBSHWAS OF POONA 101

panied his friend to Satara. The starting of these
two adventures had a great effect on the subsequent
history of Maharashtra* For, one became the an-
cestor of the Poona Peshwas, and -the other the an-
cestor of their greatest Minister, Nana Phadnavis.

The time they reached Satara was propitious to
adventure. For Shahu, released on Aurangzeb's
death, was trying to recover his kingdom from the
hands of his aunt Tarabai. On Shahu 9 s side were
Khanderao Dabhade and Dhanaji Jadhav and in
March, 1708, Shahu was by their aid formally in-
stalled as Maharaja Chhatrapati. Among Dhanaji' s
Karkuns was one Abaji Purandare * the ancestor
of the noble house of that name and then Rulkarni
of Saswad. To him Balaji Vishvanath attached
himself and by his influence secured a post under
Dhanaji Jadhav recently appointed by Shahu as
Senapati or Commander-in-Chief. Balaji Vishva-
nath' s talents soon made themselves known and
Dhanaji Jadhav before his death in 1709 gave hjjfr
complete control of his finances. This favour*
ever, almost led to Balaji's extinction.
Jadhav, Dhanaji's son, regarded the new
with intense jealousy which was exasperated by
Balaji's appointment by Shahu, after Dhanaji's
to check the Raja's share out of the Senapati's
tions. A trifling hunting dispute served as
and Balaji was, together with his two sons, f dreed to
ride for his life to Pandugad where
beseiged him. Fortunately for Balaji he had
at the time employed by the king. Notitiag
would have saved him. As it was Shahu sent

Grant Duff, 1, 302. *

102 THE ESHWAS OF

royal troops under Jadhav's rival Nimbalkar who
defeated the Senapati and rescued the beseiged.
Balaji now became a regular servant of the king and
rapidly rose. Ihe long regency and the endless
wars had made the king's authority over his generals
little more than nominal. Jadhav abandoned his
service. Thorat set up as a freebooter. Angria
was openly independent. The rise of Balaji, how-
ever, added the necessary vigour to restore the
kingly authority. Thorat was after some difficulty
captured and although Angria was at first success-
ful, his very success ultimately caused the supre-
macy of Balaji. The then Peshwa was Bhairopant
Pingale. To him was given the command of the
expedition against Angria. He conducted it with
such imbecility that his troops were completely
defeated, The fort of Lohgad which commands
the Bhorghat fell with the Peshwa into Angria's
hands, and that daring pirate prepared, as it was
believed, to march on Satara. In this supreme
moment Shahu turned to Balaji Vishvanath. Ihe
latter by skilful diplomacy won over Angria, and
by combining their armies in a common attack on
the Sidi of Janjira stripped the latter of enough
land to pay for a bribe to Angria, and thus is one
campaign secured for his master a powerful ally
and avenged the death of his own brother. King
Shahu was overjoyed and removing Bhairu Pingale
from the rank of Peshwa appointed in 1714 Balaji
Vishvanath in his place. This I take it was one
of the most dazzling rises in history. In 1708 he
bad come a homeless fugitive to a foreign land. Six
foter he had become supreme in its councils.

THE PESHWAS OF POOtfA 103

Nor was he unworthy of his fortune. Under his
guidance the uncertain policy of Shahu's early
reign disappeared. His goyernment once again
reverted to the daring policy of Shivaji. The
unfruitful depredations of isolated leaders gave
place to a definite scheme of conquest. In fact,
there came over the foreign relations of Maharashtra
such a change as that which was seen in the Re-
volutionary Government at the advent of Bonaparte,
or in Rome when the timid caution of the Senate
gave place to the bold imperialism of Lucullus.

It was not long before Balaji's energy and talents
obtained for his master a great reward. In A. D.
1712 Aurangzeb's son and successor Sultan Muazam
died, and his grandson Farrokshiar obtained the
throne. His success in doing so was chiefly due to the
courage and ability of two high-born Mahomedan bro-
thers, Abdullakhan and Hussein Ali Khan, usually
known in history as the Sayads. But onse on the
throne the Emperor wished to destroy his allies.
They in turn appealed to the Marathas and in 1718
a combined army under Balaji Vishvanath marphed
on Delhi. The emperor was seized and not long
afterwards murdered and the Marathas obtained in
1719 a full recognition of their Swaraj over such
territories as Shivaji occupied at his death and the
Chauth plus 10 per cent, called the Sardeshmukhi
on practically the whole Deccan. They seem, ^Iso
to have obtained the Sayads' tacit consent to levy
tribute in Halwa and Gujarat.

This was the crowning achievement of this 'able
and loyal man. He found Shahu's dominion a
distracted principality. He left it a growing

104 THE PBSHWAS OP

vigorous empire. In the very height of his fame
and in the full tide of success his frame gave way
beneath the labours imposed on it. In October,
1720, he retired to Saswad where he lingered for only
a few days.

About the same time there died another Maratha
officer of great distinction, Khanderao Dabhade.
Descended from the Mukadam of lalegaon he had
earned Rajaram's gratitude by carrying him an im-
mense distance from the besieged fort of Panala.
Raised eventually to the rank of Senapati or Com-
ma#der-in-Chief, he had also established himself
firmly in Gujerat. His relations with Balaji Vishwa-
nath seem to have remained friendly, but on their
death there sprang up a great and fatal rivalry bet-
ween their sons Trimbakrao and Bajirao. Bajirao
Balaji was then in the flower of his age and had hoped,
as a matter of course, to succeed his father as Pesh-
wa. But this bold, aspiring, extremely able man met
with unexpected obstacles. The speedy rise and
the great talents of his father had awakened the
jealousy of the local magnates. At their head was
*Shriniwasrao, Pratinidhi of Aundh, a wise man
and brave soldier and perhaps best known to fame
as the founder of MahuLL He strongly objected to
the promotion of the young Chitpawan over the
heads of the Asht Pradhans* Eventually, however,
Shahu made as a kind of compromise Trimbakrao
Dabhade Senapati and Bajirao Peshwa. The former
at once allied himself to the oldDeccan party and the
rivalry of the two factions became clearly defined
when Bajirao proposed to extend the Maratha con-

* Also oailed Shripatrao,

THE PBSHWAS OF POOKA I > 105

quest beyond Malwa into Hindustan. The '.
opposed him on the ground that it was time 1
consolidate the king's possessions, to restore
the finances and to introduce a more careful dis-
cipline in the army. Bajirao, however, knew that
such a policy would play his enemies' game. Peace
was to the advantage of the hereditary nobles with
powerful local interest. War was necessary to the
schemes of the brilliant adventurer, who could only
maintain himself by the creation of a mercenary
army and a succession of victories. He, therefore,
scoffed at the Pratinidhi's timid counsels, and asked
how Shivaji would have fared had he been guided
by them* He then disclosed that his policy aimed
at no less than the conquest of the whole empire of
the Mogals. "Strike, 55 he cried, "strike at the
trunk of the withering tree and the branches must
fall of themselves." His eloquence won the day
and embarked the Marathas on a vigorous policy of
universal aggression.

The period was favourable to thePeshwa's schemes.
The Mogal empire was reduced to a condition border-
ing on paralysis by the dissensions of the Emperor's
ministers. The Syuds had in their turn been dis-
placed by the Nizam-ul-mulk, a Turani Mogal of
great talents and experience. He agaiu, disgusted
at the folly and the levity of the new Emperor,
threw up the post of vazier to be first governor and
then independent ruler of the Deccan. Bajirao
sought the line of least resistance, and in 1726, iu-
vaded first Malwa and then the Carnatic as far as
Seriagapatam. The next year's victim was the
Nizam, who, jt must be admitted? deserved to the

106 THE PESHWAS OF POOKA

full his punishment. He tried to take advantage
of the division of the Maratha empire made at
Shahu's accession and set up Shambaji, the Chief of
Koliapur, as heir to the whole. Bajirao would not
stoop to negotiation, and after a brilliant campaign
in which the old soldier was completely out-gene-
ralled, forced him to accept most humilating terms.
But here the Peshwa was obliged to halt. A new
and far more formidable danger threatened him.
The Deccan party led by Trimbakrao Dabhade
broke into ,open revolt and allied themselves with
the Nizam. Here again, however, Bajirao' s talents
triumphed. He fell on the Dhabhade's army near
Dabhoi in Gujarat, and after a desperate struggle in
which the Senapati perished, destroyed it. The
Nizam in haste secured his safety by an agreement
not to molest the future action of the Marathas,
and thus opened to the Peshwa, now supreme master
of Maharastra, a safe road to Delhi. Nor was Baji-
rao slow to take it. After a short and successful
campaign against the Sidi of Janjira, the grand army
under Bajirao advanced on Delhi. Close by he
pitched his camp, defeated two M.ogal forces and
was not boght off eventually, except by a large
indemnity and by the complete cession of the whole
of Malwa now known as Central India. While tips
brilliant campaign was in progress, Bajirao's brb*
ther Chimnaji was carrying out the new policy witk
no less vigour to the west. The Portuguese, who for
many years had had a footing on the Malabar coast,
joined on account of some real or fancied grievance,
the pirate Angria in an attack on Kolaba. A great
army under Chimnaji hastened to the spot.

POONA

First Bandra and Salsette fell, and then, after a
furious seige, the Portuguese were compelled to
surrender Bassein, and the whole seaboard of the
Northern Konkan was added to the rapidly-grow-
ing Maratha possessions. To the cession of Malwa,
however, the Nizam objected and once again he
and Bajirao appeared on opposite sides. The latter
after two successful campaigns found at last that
his resources were unequal to the subjugation of the
Deccan. The third campaign ended undecisively,
and Bajirao overwhelmed with debt, harassed by
disease and in despair at this check to the progress
of his schemes hoped to recoup himself by another
successful war in Hindustan, Death, however, over-
took him on the banks of the Narbudda where he
died on the 28th Apirl, 1740. He had been for 20
years Peshwa, and if his policy had been of the too
forward kind he yet had achieved brilliant things.
He had made himself, with hardly the exception of
the king, the supreme master of the State. He had.
fought With success the greatest soldiers ifc Iiptdi&,
and if he met with a check in the end it was perhapa
because, as Shriniwasrao had indicated, consolida-
tion should have preceded conquest. His charadt^p
is perhaps best indicated by a story told in the Pesh*
wa's Bakhar. The Emperor wished to know wk&fr
manner of man it was who led from Satara armies*
to threaten the august throne of Delhi, so he se&t a
painter to depict him as he happened first to si$e him
The painter found Bajirao on horseback with his
spe&r slung carelessly over his shoulder. A& he
went he picked the ears of corn and unhusked thei&

108 THE PESHWAS Off POOSA

painter drew him and shewed his picture to the
Emperor. The latter looked at it and said " wuh
shaitan hai" and gave the order " Baji Rao, yanshi
samjoot padoon wates lavle pahije."*

The firm hold that the Bhat family had taken in
the Satara State is well exemplified by the circum-
stance that Bajirao's son Balaji succeeded him as
Peshwa without serious opposition. But it was not
long before the Dabhade faction raised up a new
enemy in Raghuji Bhosle. This person, the founder
of the afterwards famous house of Nagpur, had ob-
tained Shahu's favour by his skill as a hunter and
sealed it by his marriage with the sister of Shahu's
wife Sakvarbai. The subject of the dispute was
Raghojfs claim to levy independent tribute in
Bengal* Balaji took the field and proved himself,
like his father and grandfather, a skilful general
Raghuji was defeated, and the new Peshwa attempted
to make surer foundations for the Kingdom. Prom
1746 to 1749 he devoted himself to improving the
revenue system and encouraging agriculture. But
towards the end of 1749 it was clear that King
Shahu's long reign was coming to a close. He had
no son and had refused to adopt one, due, it is
believed, to his knowledge that his nephew Ram
Raja was alive,

Sakvarbai, Shahu's wife, was bitterly hostile to
the Peshwa's domination. The crisis was therefore
imminent. Balaji met it with resolution and skill.
He surrounded Satara with 30,000 men, and on the
morning that Shahu died surprised and imprisoned
afl the members of his family, Sakvarbai, his enemy,

11 ' ' ,' Jfta fo *tfeviL Make terms with JwmLSwad get rid of him.

OF P06NA

was forced to commit sati. Earn Raja was impri*
soned and the capital was transferred from Satara
to Poona. In that town Bajirao had already esta-
blished himself in the fortified palace still named
Shanwar Wada. Two stories aye told to account
for his choice. One is that he saw a dog being put-
sued by a hare and so assumed that the dwellers on
that spot were invincible. The other is that his horse
stumbled and from it he argued that it was intended
by Providence that he should remain there. A more
probable reason was the favourable situation of
Poona, sheltered alike by Singhad and Purandhar,
the latter of which had been in the private possession
of the Bhats since the time of Balaji Vishvanath.
From this date 1750 A. D, the Peshwas became
ruling princes and it remains for us to see how they
acquitted themselves of their new duties. Had but
ordinary good fortune waited on them the new mas-
ters of Maharashtra would have been equal to the
situation. But a fresh and formidable peril was
threatening India, In the winter of 1747-48 Ahmed-
shah Abdalli, a prince of Herat and an old soldier of
Nadir Shah, had begun a series of incursions across!
the North-West frontier. The Delhi empire w^hicfe
had received a fatal blow during the invasion ol
Nadir Shah in 1739 was helpless. The matter even-
tually became so pressing that in 1757 the Peshwa*s
brother Ragunathrao led a large Maratha army to
oppose the Afghans. Eaghunathrao had more tha&
a full share of his illustrious father's generalship an4
without difficulty drove the Afghans across
mountains. Unfortunately the profits of tlie
dition were far less than its cost and Chimixajf

116 T&E tESHWAS Otf POONA

Sadashivrao, the Peshwa' s first cousin and favourite,
a man of great financial and administrative talents,
gratified his jealousy of Baghunathrao and made
so much of the latter's alleged mismanagement that
he at last succeeded in himself superseding him.
The change was disastrous. Ahmed Shah, who would
have found Raghunathrao probably more than a
match, outmanoeuvred Sadashivrao, hemmed him
in and eventually utterly destroyed him, the heir ap-
parent Vishvas Rao and the Grand Army of the
Marathas. The disaster was too much for the
Peshwa, who lingered but a short time after he
learnt the news and died among the temples on
Parvati Hill.

As Vishvas Rao had fallen, the next heir was
Balajfs second son Madhavrao. His task was a
colossalone. Ahmed Shah was master of Hindu-
stan, The Nizam was combining with Jankoji Jadhav
to overthrow the Peshwa Government in favour of
the old Maratha line. The treasury was empty*
There was no army and Raghunathrao was openly
anxious to secure for himself the Peshwai. All these
difficulties had to be faced by a boy of sixteen. Yet
the great house that had already produced Balaji
Vishvanath, Bajirao I, Balaji II, and Chimnaji was
not yet exhausted and the abilities and spirit of
Madhavrao proved as great as any of his predeces-
sors. Raghunathrao was conciliated. The Nizam
w$s aignally defeated at Rakshabhuvan. Ahmed
Shah recrossed the Afghan frontier. One great
force under the Peshwa in person advance as far
&s Seringapatam. Another Maratha army crossed
e Chambal, looted Rohilkhand, and encamped at

THE PESHWAS Off POOJU 111

Delhi. By a most unlucky chance, however, this
gallant prince had contracted consumption and just
when his government was threatening to over ,rua
all India he died aged only 28 at Theur, As
Grant Duff very justly observed, " The plains of
Panipat were not more fatal to the Maratha empire,*
than the early end of this excellent prince. "We have
now, gentlemen, passed the apogee of the greatness
of the Peshwas. I shall shortly as possible accom-
pany you to their melancholy fall. Madhavrao's
younger brother Narain Rao was duly installed, but
Raghunathrao first reconciled to and then interned
by Madhavrao, again aspired to the Peshwaship.
Narain Rao was brutally murdered in his palace by
the guards, and another young Prince for whom
' shrewd observers had prophesied a great future w&s
lost to the Maratha empire. Raghunathrao, however,
again failed to secure his object. An enquiry held
by Ram Shastri revealed that he had connived if
not at the murder at the attack and it bei^g shortly
afterwards discovered that Narain Rao's t^id<jw
Gangabai was pregnant a regency government V$8
carried on in her name by the ministers ajqaong whptoti
were Sakharam Bapu and the dependent of
Vishvanath's friend Bhanu, now famous as
Phadnavis. On the 18th April, 1774, {^
gave birth to a son Madhavrao II. This put an
to Raghunathrao's hopes. He, however;
unceasingly against his grand nephew's
He first collected 30,000 men from Shiad ari
kar and then induced the Bombay Groveri^iii
lend him their active support.In this vay frog#n jij^fc
English bfetpry as

112 THE PESHWAS OF POOKA

War. A joint English and rebel force advanced
from Gujarat and defeated the Poona army at Arras.
The war was, however, stopped by Warren Hastings
from Calcutta before it reached any decisive stage.
Raghunathrao, however, in the cold weather of 1779,
induced the Bombay Government again to assist
him. But this time the regency were able to repel
the danger. The English were defeated at Wadgaon,
but assistance arriving from Calcutta, they overran
Bassein and a large part of the Konkan* Goddard
was, however, repulsed near Panwelandthe regency
and the English eventually made a treaty on the
status quo ante basis. Raghunathrao, the cause of
the trouble, received a handsome pension and died
in 1784, leaving two sons, Bajirao and Chimnaji
Appa. For the next eleven years Nana Phadnavis
conducted the government. I do not propose here
to detail to you with what skill he did so. Enemies
were rising up on many sides. A soldier of fortune,
Haidar Ali, had established and bequeathed a power-
ful kingdom to his son. Shinde had half thrown off his
allegiance and disputed Nana Phadnavis' preemi-
nence* The English power was rapidly growing both in
the south and the west. Nevertheless,Nana Phadnavis
struggled desperately and on the whole successfully
to check the decline of Maharashtra. Unfortunately,
the effects of the Civil War were not easily to be ef-
faped. Many of Raghunathrao's adherents still lived
!and they, as well as many others, sympathised not
f$oty with the lot of his son Bajirao but also with
^^o^ing Madhavrao, whom Nana Phadnavis as
l^^^^t under jealous supervision. It is probable
u$w$fa old man had no other object but the

THE PBSHWAS OF POONA 113

man's good, and had but forgotten that the years,
which passed quickly over his own head were, creat-
ing an immense change in the young prince. A secret
correspondence sprang up between the two cousins,
Madhavrao and Bajirao, whose situations were in
many respects so similar.* It was discovered by the
great Minister, and his anger was so terrible that
Madhavrao, broken hearted by his reproaches, threw
himself from an upper storey in the palace into the
court-yard round which now cluster the Courts of the
Poona Sub- Judges. On his death bed he expressed a
wish that Bajirao should succeed him, and after a
series of deep intrigues Bajirao did obtain the Masnad
which his father had failed so often to secure. The
new prince's first efforts were directed towards des-
troying such of his friends as had helped him to rise.
Nana Phadnavis, now full of years, was treacherously
seized, and an attempt was made to seize Shinde in
open Darbar which would certainly have succeeded
had not Bajirao's heart failed him. The intentions
of Bajirao became, however, known to their would-
be- victim, aid their discovery naturally estranged all
the great Jahagirdars. The estrangement led to an
absolute disregard for the Peshwa's supremacy. On
Tukoji Holkar's death Shinde seized on the Hol-
kar's estates. Yeshwantrao Holkar, an illegitimate
son took the field in the old Maratha fashion. Even-
tually, the two feudatories fought near Hadapsar and
Yeshwantrao Holkar was completely victorious. The
Peshwa, who had latterly been friendly to Shinde, fled

* They were both closely watched. I should* however, say here that
recent researches brought to my notice by Mr. Dravid, editor of tfc&
Dnyan Pra&asb," make it doubtful whether Madharrao's death was not
accidental.

114 THE PESHWAS OF POONA

to Bombay, and the victorious Holkar thoroughly
plundered the inhabitants of the beautiful capital.
ThePeshwa to obtain revenge agreed to the treaty of
Bassein.

In return for English assistance he promised to
maintain a large body of hired troops, and signed
his own complete political subordination. Amritrao,
his elder adopted brother, had, however, in the
meantime usurped the Peshwai, and the interference
of the British brought on them the whole confederacy
of the Maratha Empire. The great resources,
however, which that Government had then acquired,
and the ability of the two brothers, the Marquis
and General Wellesley, then at the head of the Civil
and Military Government, enabled the British to re-
store Bajirao. Shinde was defeated at Assaye and
Laswari, Raghoji Bhosle at Argano, and Holkar, after
some brilliant initial successes ,was driven out of the
Deccan. Bajirao had obtained a signal revenge, but
at a high, and as he soon came to think, at a too
high price. Quarrels arose between the allies and
they came to a head over the question of the arrest
of Trimbakji Dengale, the murderer of the Gaikwad's
minister Gangadhar Shastri. Eventually, Bajirao
was forced to sign the treaty of Poona which placed
him still more under English protection. Bajirao,
however, had no intention of adhering to it. He
secretly enrolled a quantity of troops, and hoped by
taking the initiative to gain such successes against
the English as would bring to his aid the great Maratha
Jahagirdars. The successes, however, never came.
His troops were defeated in every battle and he him-*
fidf eventually surrendered on the 3rd June, 1818, to

MtB PESHWAS OF POOKA 115

Sir John Malcolm. He was allowed the handsome
pension of 8 lacs a year. He retired to Bithur near
Cawnpore where he lived for nearly 30 years, dying
eventually on the 28th January, 1851.

With the English conquest, the line of Peshwas
came, of course, to an end, and I may, perhaps, be
permitted to enquire, what was the reason of their
complete collapse ? Many different causes have been
assigned to it, Western aggression, the indepen-
dent attitude of the feudatories, the battle of Panipat.
These all, no doubt, contributed to the downfall, but
in my humble judgment were symptoms of the
disease rather than the disease itself. The evil lay
deeper. In his "Decline and Fall", Gibbon has
observed that Asiatic monarchy is an unceasing
round of valour, greatness, degeneracy and decay.
This remark is singularly untrue, of some, at any
rate, of the native Indian kingdoms. The august
dynasty of Udaipur, which still ranks so high among
the principalities of India, was hoary with age when
the Catholic Church was founded and of respecta-
ble antiquity when Sophocles was writing tragedies
and Pericles dallying with Aspasia. But the
remark is true both of Eastern and Western usur-
pers. And in spite of their great services, usurpers
the Peshwas were always regarded by the great
body of Maharashtra* Had the Peshwas been able
to extinguish and not merely intern the successors of
Shahu, they would, no doubt, have in the end been
regarded as legitimate monarchs. But public opi-
nion was too strong for them. They never dared by
sacrilegious htods on the descendants of Shivaji
A&CI, indeed* there is no more marvellous

116 HE PESHWAS Off POOSA

achievement of that Titanic figure than that during
If centuries his memory, the mere terror of his name
was sufficient to protect his helpless posterity. Now
as they were usurpers, the Peshwas 3 kingdom was
subject to the common rule. Decay was the inevit-
able accompaniment of their deterioration. During
the Peshwas 5 greatness, Western aggression was
promptly dealt with. The Portuguese were, as we
have seen, driven out of Bassein, and it is idle to
argue that the English could not have been similarly
overpowered. The independence of the Jahagirdars
was a still later symptom. The great Mahadji Shinde
himself had tried to measure himself against the first
Madhavrao, but the young prince drove him from
his presence completely cowed. And what was the
battle of Panipat, but the result of Balaji Bajirao's
weak yielding to the jealous clamour of his favourite
cousin ? Had his strength been still unimpaired,
Eaghunathrao would have been retained at the head
of the army, and there would have been no disaster.
But the weakness of the Central Government began
in the closing years of Balaji's reign and succeeding
Peshwas were never able completely to cure the
disease* In Madhvarao's reign it might have been
got under had he only lived longer or executed Raghu-
nathrao. His early death ruined the central Govern-
ment, for the regency were unable to restore health
to it. Finally when Bajirao succeeded the disease
had got completely the upper hand. The Maratha
empire was already doomed. He but hastened the end*
I have now come to the end of my lecture- I must
thank you for the attention and kindness with which
you have listened to me. But before I conclude

PBSHWAS OF tOO&i 117

I would make of you an earnest request. The
subject which I have discussed is an extremely
delicate one, I have endeavoured to eliminate from
it all matters in the least likely to give offence. It is,
however, possible that being a foreigner, I may have
quite unintentionally wounded some sensibilities.
Should I have done so I would only ask that no ill
motive may be imputedto me and that as the intention
was absent it may be judged that I have committed
no offence. On the other hand, I shall be deeply
gratified if I have succeeded in giving you even a
momentary glimpse of any single member of the
great house that turned the little township of Poona
into a mighty and beautiful metropolis of Balaji
Vishvanath, the wise progenitor, Bajirao I, the
orator and soldier whose fiery imagination like the
gate of the Shanwar Wada looked ever towards the
golden throne of Delhi ; Balaji Vishvanath, the bold
but unfortunate usurper ; Madhavrao I, the most
brilliant perhaps of all, whom death snatched away
in his glorious prime ; Narayanrao and Madhavrao
II, killed on the very threshold of manhood, and last
of all Bajirao II, gayest, handsomest but, alas,
most incapable of princes.

IN THE COURT OF THE YOUNGER
MADHAVRAO.*

It used to be some years ago and I daresay
that it still is a not uncommon saying that Hindu
writers have no historical sense, and it must be
admitted that the earlier literature of India afforded
some ground for this reproach. It was left to three
Englishmen, Colonel Tod, Mr. Forbes and Captain
Grant Duff, to write the histories of Rajasthan,
Kathiavad and the Maharashtra. The splendid
period of Mussulman greatness found no Hindu
historian and even the spirited bakhars of the great
Deccan houses can hardly be termed, in the usual
sense of the word, histories. But whatever may
formerly have been the case, to-day the censure is no
longer deserved. In " Karan Ghelo " a Gujarati
author has written the finest historical novel produced
in either hemisphere since Dumas wrote the wondrous
tale of "The Three Musketeers." And of recent
years the Deccan has furnished historical novelists
like Mr.Hari Apte and historians like Mr. Dattatraya
Parasnis. It is with the most recent work of the
latter author that the present article deals. And
the book has a double interest, for throughout its
pages may be seen side by side old-fashioned and
modern Marathi. The former in the letters of

* Savai Madhavrao Peshvayancha Darbar. By Mr, D. B. Parasnis
tftrted at the Nimayaaagara Frees, Poona,

COURT OF THE YOUNGER MADHAVRAO 119

Nana Phadnavis and his agents is crabbed, ambi-
guous, often unintelligible. The latter wielded by
Mr. Parasnis* admirable pen is clear, vigorous, and
so permeated with Western thought that sentence
after sentence might almost be literally translated
into English.

To return, however, to my subject. In his latest
book, "The Court of the Younger Madhavrao,"
Mr. Parasnis has written of the establishment of the
first permanent English embassy at the Court of
Poona. There had been no doubt several earlier
English envoys. As long ago as 1674 A.D. Sir Henry
Oxenden and Dr* Fryer had visited Shivaji at
Raigad. Then in 1739 Captain Gordon had been to
see King Shahu at Satara. In 1759 William Price
had treated with the Third Peshwa, Balaji Bajirao.
In 1767 Mostyn had visited Madhavrao I, and in
1776 Colonel Upton had brought to asuccesful close
the negotiations leading to the treaty of Purandhar.
But these were all transitory visits, and the East India
Company had long felt the need of some permanent
responsible medium through whom they might both
acquire and impart information. After the disas-
trous campaign of Wadgaon, the Company had,
through a sense of gratitude to Mahadji Shinde for
his treatment of their troops,employed him as their
intermediary. But it was not long before this
method proved unsatisfactory. Shinde's thoughts
were directed towards Delhi rather than Poona, and
it was impossible that one so deeply engaged in
Hindustani affairs could spare the time or trouble to
be a successful agent of the Company* After consi-
derable hesitation and afttep long discussion with the

120 COURT OF THE YOUNGEB MABHAVEAO

Calcutta Government, it was decided that a Bombay
officer should be selected, but that he should re-
present not Bombay but the Governor-General.
The next step was to obtain the consent of the Poona
Court. This was no easy matter. The continual
presence of an English envoy might be construed
as a sign of inferiority which the Maratha Government
were naturally loth to admit. The meridian of their
glory had no doubt passed, but although the evening
shadows were soon to fall the setting sun for the time
shone brightly enough. The terrible calamity of
Panipat had been in a measure repaired by the elder
Madhavrao, and the spoils of Hyderabad and the
Carnatic had replenished the empty treasury. The
civil campaigns against Eaghunathrao had indeed
shaken the structure of the empire, but the ability
of the regent Nana Phadnavis coped with each new
difficulty as it came. The English were by the
treaty of Salbai induced to abandon Raghunathrao,
and if victory had not as of old followed the Yellow
Banner yet in two campaigns the English had wres-
ted nothing from the Poona Court. On the whole, it
was a fair time for Maharashtra. The reforms
initiated by Balaji Bajirao revised by Madhavrao
the First and still further developed by the regent
had rendered the lot of the Deccatt peasant by no
means unenviable. Trade, no doubt, stagnated, but
there was vast wealth stored in the houses of the
Maratha nobles. Civil talents found an opening in
Nana Phadnavis 5 administration andinMalwa where
the wide lands of the Holkar Shahi were guarded tho
tijctues and wisdom of Ahilyabai, Nor were adven-
tures lacking to the adventurous* Raids were in

COTJBT OF THE YOTOrOER MADKAVJ&LO 121

constant progress into the Carnatie or the Moglai j
and far away at Ujjain were forming beneath the
eagle eyes of De Boigne those renowned brigades,
who, many years later, though deserted by their
leaders, yet faced Lake's attack with unfalter-
ing courage; who burst like a flood over Upper India;
who broke in pieces the old thrones of Ra jasthan, and
who accomplished what five centuries of Mussulman
invaders had failed to achieve, for they humbled to
the very dust the lordly pride of Mewar.

What than in the end induced Nana Phadnavis
to consent to the English proposal ? There can be
little doubt that it was the growing menace of Tipu
Sultan's kingdom. His father Haidar Ali had no
doubt been on the whole hostile to the English, but
he had been no less so to the Marathas, and it would
not have been difficult for the Company to induce
Tipu Sultan to join in a league against the Poona
Government which, pressed on both sides, would
have found it a hard task to resist. So to prevent
what he most feared, an alliance of the English with
Tipu, Nana Phadnavis agreed reluctantly to a per-
manent English envoy at the Peshwa's Court* There
was yet another step to be taken, and that was to
induce, without offending him, Mahadji Shinde to
relinquish his post as intermediary between the Eng-
lish and the Peshwa. This delicate task was entrust-
ed to the hero of Mr, Parasnis 5 work, Charles Warre
Malet. This remarkable man came of an obscure
English family. His father was a poor country
parson who found it difficult no his small income to
bring up his children. Thus when his son Charles,
born ia A* D. 1752, reached the age of eighteen*

122 COURT Off THE YOOTOEB

his father gladly accepted on his behalf a writership
in the East India Company. In the winter of 1770
the young man landed in Bombay, and his earlier
service was spent in Muscat, Bushire and in other
coast towns along the Persian Gulf. In 1774, he
was selected to officiate as English Agent at the
Court of Cambay. Here he earned the approval of
his chiefs by an act of resolution certainly remarkably
in a boy of twenty-three. When the intense feeling
roused by the murder of Narain Rao had alienated
from Raghunathrao the great jaghirdars, he turned
in despair to the English with whom, on March 6th,
1775, he drew up a treaty making to them large
cessions in the Konkan in return for the support of
their troops. Before, however, these could reach
him he was surprised and signally defeated near the
Mahi river by the regent's army. He fled with only
1,000 horses to Cambay where theNawab was unwill-
ing to receive him. But the young English envoy,
although he knew nothing of the treaty, insisted on
sheltering him and enabled him to embark via Bhav-
nagar in safety for Bombay. The grateful pretender,
in a letter quoted by Mr. Parasnis, exclaimed : " You
did more for me than my father Bajirao. He gave
me my life but you not only saved it, but my honour
as well !" The Bombay Government showed their
appreciation by confirming Malet at Cambay where
he seems to have remained until 1785, when they
were asked by Calcutta to choose a representative for
the Poona Court. Before this could be done Shinde's
consent had, as I have said, to be obtained and Malet
was selected for this delicate mission. Going by sea
from Bombay to Surat, Malet marched from there

COTTBT OF THE YOmffGHER MADHAVBAO 123

to Ujjain. There he met Mahadji Shinde. The
difficulties were great for, as intermediary between
the English and the Peshwa, Shinde retained an
effective control over affairs at Poona. Neverthe-
less Malet induced the reluctant prince to write that
if the Peshwa had no objection to the new embassy,
he had none. A yet greater triumph was in store for
the young civil servant. For, on his return to
Bombay, he learnt that Shinde had privately written
to Governor Boddom that, should the Peshwa con-
sent, Shinde hoped that Mr. Malet might be chosen
as envoy.

His wish was granted, for the Peshwa had already
consented and Malet started for Poona. The follow-
ing letter, written on the llth February, 1786, by
Bahirav Raghunath to Nana Phadnavis reports
Malet's slow advance, and its closing sentence shows
that our countryman, distinguished though he was,
was not above certain deplorable frailties.

"You ordered me to report, when Mr. Malet
" left Bombay, how far he had gone and when he
" would reach Poona. Accordingly (I inform you
"that) he reached Panwell on the 12th instant.
" (Hindu month). He remained for eight days
" there. On the 21st he left, and I was informed by
" letter that on the 22nd he had come to Khalapur
"near Khopvali just below the Ghats. The
"following day he was to climb them. He will
" remain two days at Khandala. The reason why
"his marches ajre so slow is because he requires
" labourers for no less than 500 to 700 head-loads*
"This leads to confusion and waste of time.
". . . With, him are the following ; Six topi*

124: COURT OF THE YOTTNGEE MADHAVBAO

" walas* including Malet himself. Of these, three
" of them are entitled to palanquins. There are
" 35 horses, 200 guards, 100 servants, 50 kamathi
" porters, 75 palanquin men, 425 Mhars, 2 elephants,
" 4 palanquins. His camp kit consists of 1 big and
" 2 small tents, 3 big raotis and pals for servants.
** Malet's Musalman dancing girl is for also with
** them in a palkhL"

On Malet's arrival at Poona there occurred a
difference between him and the regent. The latter
was engaged in an expedition in the Carnatic and
wished Malet without delay to join his army. Malet
pleaded that he wished first to pay his respects to the
young Peshwa and this the regent was at last forced
to allow. Malet's stay gave rise to the question
where he was to stay, and his place of residence gave
Bahirav Raghunath who had been entrusted with
his entertainment considerable trouble. On the
4th March, 1786, he wrote as follows to Nana :

"I have prepared a place in the Gaikwad's
"houses. But he (Malet) want a roomy spot
" surrounded by trees. He has, therefore, pitched
"his tents opposite Parvati in the mango grove
"near Anandrao Jivajfs garden. He has placed
"hiszanankhana" presumably his Musalman Hero-
dias " inside the Gaikwad's house, but he " himself
remains outside.'*

Although Mr. Malet was not very satisfied with
this arrangement and seems to have grumbled a good

* The names applied to Englishmen by Indians are many and vari-
ous. The following I have myself either heard or read : Roumi, STerin-
ghi, or Feranghi, Ingrej, Anrej, Angal, Mleccha, Yavan, topiwela and
Janglo. Tlie term sahiblog is within my experience only used when an
SngJ&bnaan is within, heating or by the servant class*

COTTET OF THE YOUNGEB MADHAVBAO

deal, his attention was soon diverted to a further
question. Having gained his point and obtained
leave to see the Peshwa, he had next to see that he
should be properly received. He had brought with
him a quantity of presents, of which one seems to
have been a young ostrich* Of this Bahiravpant
wrote;

" Malet has brought a shahamrag (griffin) from
" Abyssinia to give to the Peshwa. It, however,
" died in its cage below the Ghats. But he had its
" body carried after him. The bird was very large,
" being four feet high. He brought it because it
" was very rare, but it is dead." The other offerings,
however, remained and a heated controversy arose
as to how the Peshwa should receive the envoy.
Nana Phadnavis ordered that he should be given
the same honours as Mr. Mostyn and Colonel Upton.
Mr. Malet contended that they had merely represen-
ted the Bombay Government and that as he was the
ambassador of Calcutta, he should receive the satoe
honours as the Calcutta envoy when visiting Shinde
or the Mogal. A most amusing correspondence
ensued between Bahiravpant and the regent in
which the former recited all the devices vainly em-
ployed to induce Malet to accept Nana Phadnavis*
ruling. Eventually, it was arranged that the official
reception should stand over until Malet's retttm
from the regents camp. Malet, whom
pant described as extremely " grieved, vexed,
annoyed, 59 was to see the Peshwa privately.
account of this interview is to be found in a tetter
of Janardhan Apaji to Nana Phadnavis, dated 5th
Hatch, 1786. !

126 OOTTBT OF THE YOUNGER BA.DEA\nfcAO

" To-day he (Malet) went to pay his respects to the
" Peshwa. It was arranged that he should arrive
" first and the Peshwa later. At the time of depar-
" ture the Peshwa was to rise first so that there
" should be no difficulty on the score of etiquette.
" As Bahiravpant suggested and Malet insisted that
" on arrival he should merely place his hand within
" the Peshwa 5 s ? the latter received him unattended."*

After thus paying his respects to Madhavrao II,
Mr. Malet had to join Phadnavis' army and on the
20th May, 1786, was presented at the storming of
Badami, Upon this success, the Maratha forces
returned to Poona where Malet began to unfold the
design of the Company. This was no less than
the formation of a triple alliance between the Nizam,
the Marathas and the English against Mysore. As
Mr. Parasnis has very justly observed, it is extra-
ordinary that the regent should ever have joined
such a scheme. Fear a league between the English
and Tipu Sultan though he might, it was yet scarcely
conceivable that he should play into the former's
hands by joining with them against their most serious
enemy. That Malet should have overcome Nana's
reluctance is the highest proof of the Englishman's
talents* The Nizam was similarly won over by Sir
John Kennaway and eventually the representatives
of all three powers formally agreed jointly to invade
Mysore. The opening passage of the treaty frankly
confesses its object :

"All the three powers have treaties with Tipu.
w But he has harassed all three of us. Therefore,

* The ordinary Indian salutation would have been a * namaskar ' or
profound bow accompanied by on upward motion of the hands clasped
mfeoni

COUBT OF THE YOTOGEB MADHAVBAO 127

* the three Governments will jointly make an
" expedition and give him such punishment that
"he will not have the means of harassing any of
" them again." Each power was to put 25,000 men
into the field and the Nizam was to employ the
two Company's regiments in his service. Similar-
ly two Company's regiments were to be hired to
the Peshwa, if required, at the game rate of pay.
The English took the field at the appointed time,
but soon found that their allies were not so ready
to act up to their agreement. Malet, at last, exas-
perated by what he thought was the regent's dupli-
city but what Mr. Parasnis believes to have been his
lack of means, spoke to him, go sharply that he
directed the Maratha agent with the English army,
Haripant Phadke, to ask for Malet's recall. Hari-
pant, however, knew no English. The English Gene-
ral knew no Marathi Mr. Cherry, the English inter-
preter, was Malet's personal friend, so Haripant had
to write to Nana that under the circumstances he
could not well raise the question. Eventually,
tytalet and Kennaway did infuse some energy into
the Hyderabad and Poona administrations and the
first Mysore* war terminated with the humiliation of
Tipu and a partition between the allies of half hi$
kingdom, including Coorg. The East India Com-
pany, delighted with Malet's success, got the English
Ministry to create him a baronet. But the regeftt*8
feelings were very different. Malet on behalf of
the Company presented his bill for their regiments
at the rate of Bs. 64,000 a month, plus Es. 68,000 tot
equipment, Ks. 14,000 for transport and Bs. 40,000
as a gratuity for their gallantry. In all the bill

128 COTTBT Otf THE YOUNGEB MADHAVBAO

to Rs. 751,666. It was paid, but Nana Phadnavis
in the bitterness of his heart wrote to Govindrao
Kale, the Maratha envoy at Hyderabad, as follows:

" Malet at Poona, Kinvi (Kennaway) at Hydera-
" bad have sat down and done nothing, but have
"spent lakhs of rupees. While they were sitting
"down people said they cannot really be doing
"nothing, they must be devising some cunning
"plot. And that is what has actually happened.
" Now whether we like it or not we have to agree
" to what they say and act up to the treaty. It is
" true that its terms were that when Dassara came
"we were to send a considerable force. Dassara
"passed by and Diwali came and what was done
" was done after Diwali. (They consider) each day
" as if it was a yuga (age). You will say that Diwali
"is the same as Dassara. Pagriwalas will agree
" with you, but topiwalas will not be put ofi like that.
" They will take a pair of scales and they will sit
" down and weigh the meaning of each phrase in
" the treaty and they will not let you speak a single
"word. (They will exclaim) 'You made a fine
"display! Without any trouble you have got
"forts and strongholds while we worked ourselves
" to death ! 3 And they will certainly say that the
" Company has been ruined and ask how we can
" have the face to claim our share. I have no doubt
" about it. And while Speaking they will loll their
" eyes in anger and forget all that we have done
"for them.'

Nor was Govindrao Kale's answer less pathetic :
" The present days are very hard. At Poona you
Malet. Here we have Kinvi (Kennaway).

OOTJBT OF THE YOOTCffiB MADHA.VBAO 129

" They are both skilled in their work and servants
" of the same master Malet writes to Kinvi what
" goes on at Poona ; Kinvi writes to Malet wftat
"goes on here. Then Malet questions you and
" Kinvi me and they make us answer. And this
" exposes us to great bother and difficulty* They
" search out whether our answers are true or false.
"And the man who gets caught between them
" suffers sore trouble."

In spite of Phadnavis* fears the English gave
the Marathas their fair share and Malet in the end
gained to some extent the regent's respect. He
was even more successful with the young Peshwa
whose affections as well as those of the Poona people
he seems to have completely captured. In this he
derived great help from Dr& Crusoe and Hndley,
members of his staff. They were skilful surgeons
and attended on all, high or low, who needed their
services. Still greater aid was given to Malet by a
Mr, Wales, B. A,, who visited Poona about this
time, and whose skill as a portrait painter both helped
his country and brought considerable profit to him-
self. During the five or six years he remained at Poona,
he sketched all the leading men of that day, and his
portrait of the regents, and of the younger Madhav-
rao may still be seen at Ganeshkhind, At Malet's
suggestion Wales founded an art school and one of
his pupils, Gangaram Tambat, made a painting of
Verul caves which in 1794 was sent by Malet as a
present to Sir John Shore, then Governor-General
Wales died on the 13th November, 1795, and five
years later his eldest daughter Susan became Lady
Malet. Surgery and painting were, however, not

w

130 COURT OF THE YOUN&EK MADHAVBA6

the only arts which the English envoy introduced.
He sent for a watchmaker from Europe and micros-
copes, globes, and telescopes to the Peghwa and his
Sardars. Nor were his gifts confined to these. For
when one Mahadji Ghintaman was suffering from a
pain in the abdomen, Malets, gave him Bs. 125, with
which to pay some Brahmins to do pradakshina*
round the idol of Shri Narayan.

One of the most interesting chapters in Mr. Pa-
rasnis' book contains the account of Malet's visit
to Mahableshwar in 1791 more than thirty years
before those of its reputed discoverers Lodwiek and
Malcolm. The Peshwa, who loved Malet's society,,
had taken him there with him. Nana Phadnavis,
however, was afraid that on the return journey the
Englishman might at Satara weave an intrigue
with the imprisoned Maharaja, and, as may be seen
from the following letter, took steps to prevent
their meeting :

" The Peshwa and his retinue came to Wai and
"after the eclipse on the 3rd Ashwin Wad went
" to Mahableshwar and returned on the 4th, Malet
"with him. He always goes 4 or 5 kos daily in
" Search of $port. There are many forts here and
"he examines them daily through a telescope.
" He then makes maps of them. The Maharajah,
" the Queen Mother and the Satara notables sent a
"message inviting the Peshwa, as he had climed
" the Salpe ghat, to pay his respects to the Maha-
" raja. If the Peshwa were to go Malet would accom-
"pany him. Now Satara is the most important

; * The ffpfrfofcafr** is *he circling of the suppliant round the shrine
wfth his left arm outwards. The right side of the body must be kept
turned towards the idol.

OOtTET OF THE YOUNGER MABHAVRAO 131

" place (in the kingdom)* It would be quite different
"if he saw it close. So it was decided that the
u Peshwa should pay his respects alone and by put-
46 ting off Malet's visits from day to day the Maha-
" raja was induced to believe that he was not coming.
" So he and the Peshwa exchanged presents of
" clothes, an elephant and a horse. The following
" day the Peshwa and his suite returned to Wai.'*
Nana Phadnavis thus thought that he had out*
witted the envoy, but he was afterwards disgusted
to learn that on the day of the Peshwa's visit to
Satara fort Malet had climbed the fort of Sonjai
and had observed the whole scene through a tele-
scope.

If, however, the old regent never wholly over-
came his suspicion, elsewhere Malet attained a degree
of intimacy with the Poona aristocracy which, as
Mr* Parasnis has observed, is extraordinary in the
light of modern manners. No marriage or thread*
ceremony seems to have been complete without him.
He attended regularly the Ganpati festival both in
the palace of the Peshwas and of the Phadkes, and
Brahmins of every degree were willing to drink medi-
cines prepared either by him or his doctors. He was,
in fact, the great social success of Poona society. I&
1795 the young Peshwa either threw himself or fell*
from the upper storey of the Shanwar Wada aztd after
innumerable plots and counterplots his cousin Baji*
rao succeeded him on the royal cushion. He too
came nndar the wand of the magician. For whea
Malet retired in March, 1797, the new Peshwa patted
with him with the utmost reluctance and sent byliim
to the English King a flattering letter, in

132 COUET OP THE YOtTNGEE MADHA.VBAO

Malet's services were highly appreciated, and pre-
sents worth Rs. 20,000.

On his return to England Malet resided until his
death in 1815 at Wilbury House. By Susan Lady
Malet, he had 8 sons of whom the eldest Sir Alex-
ander Malet succeeded to his father's title and from
1856 to 1866 was English ambassador at Berlin*
Another son, Sir Arthur Malet, became a member
of the Bombay Government* And a third son,
Mr. Hugh Malet, while Collector of Thana, dis-
covered by an unconscious atavism the hill station
of Matheran.

Here I must take leave of Mr. Parasnis and his
most interesting book. In it he has given us, sketch-
ed both in penand pencil, the portraitsof the versatile
and able men who adorned the Court of the last
Peshwa but one who ruled in Poona. There may be
seen the dark and brooding brow of the great Nana
Phadnavis who strove all in vain to pilot the ship of
state through the raging waters. There too laughs
at us, in the joy of his twenty years, the younger
Madhavrao, all unconscious of a future terrible and
untimely death. And right through the book there
strides the burly figure of the English envoy, adroit,
fearless, resourceful and insinuating the stormy
petrel whose presence more clearly than aught else
fore the told to discerning^observer the cyclone that
was soon to sweep away for ever the whole struc-
ture of the Peshwa's dominion.

A MARATHI COMEDY.
A WOMAN'S REVOLT.

There are in the heart of Poona city several
theatres where night after night Marathi plays are
performed to Indian audiences ; but into which an
Englishman rarely finds his way. Should he do so, it
may be that he will be well rewarded. A few weeks
ago this way my own good fortune. I witnessed
a play or rather part of play a evidently based on
Tennyson's Cft Princess/' The old Latin tag that
"art is long and life is short " applies however, with
peculiar force to Marathi dramas. The Indian, who
has paid 4 annas for a seat, expects entertainment
for at least an equal number of hours, so after wit-
nessing an act or two of the play in the theatre I
was forced to read the rest of it in my study.

The dramatist, Mr. Khandilkar, following the
usual Marathi tradition, has taken as the time of
his play the epic period of Indian history. There
are advantages about this method as girls where
then married at an age when they could fall in love.
It is, therefore, possible to put love scenes on the
stage* The chief demerit is that characters, 4,000
years old, are made to talk like Poona gentlemen of
to-day, and we therefore are faced with an anach-
ronism similar to that with which Macaulay charged
Racine " the sentiments and phrases of Versailles
in the camp of Atilia.'* Tbedate when "

134 MAEATHI COMEDY

Revolt," as Mr. Kkadilkar's play is called, opens, is
shortly after the great battle of Kurakshetra. The
Pandav brothers, after the twelve years of exile
and one of disguise forced on them by Yudhish-
thira's dicing match, had at last come into their
own. Their cousin Duryodhan was dead, his father
King Dhritrashtra was their prisoner. Yudhish-
thira had ascended the throne of Hastinapura and
had sent Arjuna with the Ashwamedha horse that
he might exact tribute and submission wherever
it roamed. Arjuna had been a year absent, and
everywhere the horse had wandered, Yudhish-
thira had been acknowledged emperor ; when in a
small Himalayan kingdom it was seized and tribute
was refused. The ruler Shvetketu, Tennyson's King
Gama, himself acknowledged Yudhishthira's over-
lordship, but his daughter Pramila, going further
than the Princess Ida, had established not merely
a girl's college but a woman's kingdom. No man,
except with letters from Shvetketu, could enter it
save on pain of death and she and her female bands
were prepared to resist all men's claims for supe-
riority, including Yudhishthira's. Like King Gama,
Shvetketu had not much sympathy with his
daughter's views and promised Arjuna her hand
if he could cure her of her folly. That invincible
warrior, however, could not stain his arms with
the blood of the fair sex. So it was agreed that
like the Prince Elorian and Cyril, he and some com-
panions should enter Pramila's domain, and if pos-
sible, win the heart of the Princess. Arjuna took
tliteo companions, Pushpadhanwa, his comroan-
der-iu-chief, a young hero who in youth had been

MARATHI COMEDY

betrothed to Pramila's Commander-in-chief Rup-
maya, and two old men Maitraya and Jagruka, who
furnish most of the comic element in the play. They
do not, like Tennyson's gallants, adopt women's dis-
guises, but Arjuna affects to be a vakil come with an
offer of marriage from Arjuna. Pushpadhanwa puts
on an old man's wig and beard and pretends to be
like Maitraya and Jagruka, an ancient counsellor
in attendance on Arjuna's vakil. The first scene
closes as the four start on their quest armed with
letters from King Shvetketu. The second scene
opens on the frontier of Queen Pramila's Kingdom.
Some lady soldiers are on duty and are passing
their time abusing the male sex when they espy
Arjuna and his three attendants. They are arrested,
but as they produce King Shvetketu's letters, they
are brought into the Darbar of Queen Pramila and
her aunt Satyamaya. The latter has the title of
Guru Maharaj and she is our old friend the Lady
Blanche who

" Of faded form and haughtiest lineaments
" With, all her autumn tresses falsely brown
" Shot side long daggers at us, a tiger oat
" lit act to spring."

It is Satyamaya who has filled Pramila's head
with nonsense. The Lady Psyche, Mr. Khadil-
kar has omitted and, as I think, wisely. For
Tennyson has not made it clear why that young
and charming girl should have been so bitter against ,
male humanity. Lady Blanche "was wedded to
a fool ", and on that account influenced Princess
Ida. Satyamaya was moved by a wish to surpass
Parvati who, as one story has it, ran a woman's king-
dom in the Himalayas until seduced by Sbiv,

136 MABATHI COMEDY

made his way into her capital, disguised as a holy
and passionless ascetic. In the Darbar the four
adventurers have to bear much grotesque abuse
of the male sex, of which the following may serve
as specimen,

"Men are accursed (mele*) mummers ! In their
childhood they have faces like women; in their youth
theblackgua rds blacken their f aces (Le,, by growing
beards) and in their old age, they put a coat of white-
wash over the black sins of their youth. In a single
life, their faces have three different colours !"

Eventually Pramila, after reading her father's
letters, tells the so-called vakil that he may for
ten days stay in her kingdom and persuade her if
he can to marry Arjuna. It may perhaps here be
mentioned that according to Mr. Vaidya, f Arjuna
must at this time have been well over 50 and he
had already as wives Subhadra, Krishna's sister,
and a one-fifth share in Draupadi. But to these
ladies, Mr. Khadilkar, exercising a poet's license,
makes no reference, and Arjuna appears in his play
as an unmarried warrior of about 30. One con-
dition Pramila attaches to the vakil's presence.
He and his attendants must in Darbar at any rate
speak as if they were women, i.e., must use femi-
nine* terminations. To this they have to agree

* Tha practice of affixing forcible epithets to norms, which is in Eng*
lish Society usually confined to men, is in Deooan Society usually confin-
ed to women. The epithet f mala/ or < dead * is a very common abusive
word*

t The Mahabhfcrata. A Criticism, p* H6, by Mr. C. V. Vaidya, a* A,,

LL.B.

t This will be best understood by a quotation, " Bayaki Bhasha bolay-
w#i& xnikabul karite " (instead of Kariton). It is much the same aa if a
man said in French, M Je suis prfcte a parler oomme uaa

MARATHI COMEDY 137

and the four men's use of them leads to a good
deal of merriment. But as the Marathi proverb *
has it, " once a beak gets in, a pestle will shortly
follow. 5 ' And now that four men have entered the
women's empire, its speedy downfall may con-
fidently be expected. The first women to break
their oaths are two lady sepoys, Wagmati and
Budhimati. It seems that Arjuna's two old atten-
dants, Maitraya and Jagruka, had been amusing
themselves, the former by leering at all the women
whom he passed, and Jagruka by fooling old
Lady Satyarnaya to the top of her bent. At last,
bored by her continued lectures, he had set her to
search through the Rigveda for types of " Revol-
ting women " which has he said, were to be found
there, and he had himself " levanted." Eventually
tracked, his evasions to escape punishment reminded
Wagmati of her brother's attempts to evade school*
Wagrnati mentions this to Budhimati who then
remembers that her son too must be at school
Following the train of thought thereby started
the two women agree to escape from Pramila's
clutches by the aid of a Bhil and his wife who have
just arrived bringing a message to Rupmaya fooni
her mother, and the two women do eventually get
to their homes after a very amusing scene between
them and the Bhil's wife who cannot be persuaded
that they have not designs on her husband's virtue*
The great scene in the play, however, is the wooing
of Rupmaya by Pushpadhanw^. With her Uffio*
ther's letter comes to Rupmaya a picture of hsi*
betrothed. The sight of it moves her deeply,

~-**-*~--~~+ 1 *~

IS

138 MAEATHI COMEDY

as she is looking at it, Pushpadhanwa, still wearing
the disguise of an old man, makes his way to the
presence on the pretence of winning her over, if
possible to the idea of wedlock with the lover
affianced to her in childhood. To her disgust, he
at once begins making love to her on his own account
and calls her his dear one and himself her slave.
Eventually, besides herself with exasperation at
the old man's importunity, she confesses her love
for Pushpadhanwa. I translate a part of the
scene verbatim.

Eupmaya : " Pushpadhanwa, how would you
like to here this old monkey calling the girl whom
you love and who loves you, his dear one* Now,
you old fool, how do you like that ? I refuse to
marry Pushpadhanwa only because of the attrac-
tions of women's rule. And although you know
this yoii yet pester me. (Pointing to the picture.)
Now do you think your old face is more winning
than Pushpadhanwa's ? Look, accursed one, look
at this picture well. To conquer a woman's fancy
eyes like these are needed eyes flashing with
light and rounded like a lotus flower in bloom.
Open your eyes wide, and looked at this laughing
mouth, the haughty beauty of this face, that dear
broad breast which bids me embrace it. And then,
old cripple, hide your white beard in shame.

Pushpadhanwa : (Disguised) Pretty one, how
am I worse than Pushpadhanwa ?

Rupmaya : How are you worse ? How are
you worse ?

!&ushpadhanwa : (Disguised) My eyes are no
less comely than Pushpadhanwa's. I have strength

MARA.THC COMEDY 139

in this my beard to do merely in sport such, deeds
of valour as Pushpadhanwa had never either in
youth or as commander-in-ehief accomplished. O
dear one, I feel sure that you will throw that pic-
ture aside and end by fondling this beard.

Rupmaya : Seeing that I listen to him the old
fool begins doting. Accursed one ! Be off with
you at once. Get out this instant. If you do not,
Fll catch your beard and drag you by it into the
courtyard. I'll make such a show of you that
you'll remember it all your life. Now out you get,

Pushpadhanwa : (Disguised, kneeling) No,
Rupmaya. No. Do what you will but this your
slave will linger on at your feet

Rupmaya : I'll never bring this accursed one
to reason until I drag nim out by his beard. [She
seizes his beard and pulls. It comes away in her
hand. She looks first at the picture and then at
Pushpadhanwa and then timidly moving back
looks fondly at him. He throws away the rest of
his disguise.]

Pushpadhanwa : Rupmaya, I envy the picture
in your hand. Pushpadhanwa of the picture has
neVer fallen at your feet. He has never knelt be-
fore you or fawned before you. But he can look
through my eyes fierce and reddened with the lusfe
of battle* on your lotus cheek to his love's content,
And yet on these my (real) eyes, which if denied
your love wiU look at nothing in the world you
reftise to smile in fondness. Does this partiality
befit yoti ? I envy the picture. I envy it. And
unless I tike it from you (he takes it.) Have you

*""* The picture no dcxabt represented Pushpadhanwa in armour.

140 MABATHI COMEDY

looked at me ? Now answer truly. Am I in any
way worse to look at than Pushpadhanwa in the
picture ?

Rupmaya : My lord, what can I say ? You dis-
guised yourself as an old man and made me con-
fess my love for you* So what else can this your
slave now say to you ? But dear one, if any wait-
ing maid were by chance to come here suddenly

and were to see you ?

Pushpadhanwa : Then what will happen ? She
will tell Pramila that Pushpadhanwa has entered
her kingdom. What then ?

Rupmaya : Oh, no ! I do not want it to be
known now. So, do, dear, become an old man as
before.

Pushpadhanwa : To gain a woman, men will
pretend to be young, old or even women. But I
thought that you did not want even to look at that
accursed, base, forward, impertinent donkey, at
that old fool and cripple.

Rupmaya : do stop that wretched joke ! 'And
do, dear, become again an old man at once . . . "
Eventually by working on her fears Pushpa-
hanwa compels her to promise that she will marry
him before re-assuming his disguise. They then
flee away together across the border.

Arjuna's suit with Pramila does not proceed so
easily. To show the so-called vakil that women
are as bold as men, she takes him hunting in the
jungle which clothes the banks of the river Saras-
wati. She wounds a tiger with her arrow* A
its mate, attacks Pramila and her com-
Arjuna watches from her hands the bow

MABATHI COMEDY 141

and arrow with which she wishes to defend her-
self, and with one hand seizing the tigress by the
throat and with the other its two paws, holds it at
arm's length and then drives it away half-strangled
and wholly cowed. This is certainly a tall order*
But tout eat permis to an Aryan hero ! Pramila
is deeply impressed by this feat, but in order to
make her finally yield, Mr. Khadilkar resorts to
a device similar to that of Tennyson. It will be
remembered that after the Prince's disguise had
been betrayed by Cyril's drunken song, Ida in a
fury mounted her horse and rode off

"Hoof by hoof,

And every hoof a knell to my desires,
Clanged on the bridge, and then another shriek,
* The Head, the Head, the Princess, O the Head!*
For blind with rage she missed the plank and rolled
In the river. Ont I sprang from glow to gloom.
There whirled her white robe like a blossomed branch
Eapt to the horrible fall : a glance I gave,
No more ; but woman vested as I was
Plunged ; and the flood drew ; yet I caught her up
Oaring one arm and bearing in my left
The weight of all the hopes of half the world
Strove to buffet to land in vain. A tree
Was half disrooted from his place and stooped
To drench h^s dark locks in the gurgling wave
Mid-channel. Bight on this we drove and caught,
And grasping down the boughs I gained the shore."

In Mr* Khadilkar's, play, however, Satyamaya or
the Lady Blanche gets a ducking also. She has
had her fears that in ten days' time the young vakil
may make a great deal of love. Partly to watch
Pramila and partly to practise austerities, as a gooii
Hindu widow should, she has followed her niece
to the banks of the Saraswati She surprises
Pramila and Arjuna in an animated scene, where

142 MAEATH3 COMEDY

the latter discloses himself and offers his famous
bow " Gandiva " for Pramila to trample on in
revenge for his treatment of her bow when the
tigress charged. If she does trample on it Arjuna
will know that she does not love him. Pramila
hesitates and has she does so Satyamaya rushes
across a bridge whence she has overheard the dis-
cussion in order to trample on it herself. The
bridge no doubt of Hemadpanthi architecture
breaks and Satyamaya is hurled into the river.
Arjuna at once springs after her. Primala wishing
to share Arjuna's danger refuses to stay behind
and the scene closes with the heroic Pandav swim-
ming to shore with a lady on each arm. In Ten-
nyson's play the Princess still remains obdurate
and her hero has to fight in the lists, be half -killed
by her brother and nursed back to life by herself
before she will give way. But Mr. Khadilkar
clearly could not so deal with the invincible Arjuna.
He therefore makes Satyamaya prove ungrateful.
Pramila, shocked by her aunt's ingratitude, con-
tesses her affection for her gallant lover and Satya-
maya leaves the story with these words :

"0 Adimaya (Parvati) why were not my eyes
closed before they saw this sight ? I can never
teach another woman all my wisdom* Now I go
into the forest to perform austerities. Nbr shall
I ever move from the seat where I shall perform
them until the pride of men is conquered and until
women's wrists have strength enough to turn men
into wet nurses."

In the meantime rumours have reached the capital
that the troops with Pramila have become dis-

MARATHI COMEDY 143

affected. The bulk of the women army comes from
the capital on the scene in time to face Arju-
na's army, who have invaded Pramila's land to
see that no harm comes to their general, Prami-
la, however, intervenes, tells the opposing sides
that her reign is over and that she is to be Arju-
na's bride and the play closes with the couple's
arrival at the Kong Shvetketu's camp. He blesses
the pair, promises to hand them over his lands
and wealth before retiring like a true Aryan king
to meet death in the practice of austerities, and
then turning to his servants, he tells them : " Now
all of you go to the capital and arrange for the
marriage ceremonies of Arjuna and Pramila."

" Ask me no more : thy fate and mine are sealed.
" I strove against the stream and all in vain.
" Let the great river take me to the main.
** No more, dear love, for at a touch I yield,
Ask me no more."

It would, I take it, also be improper to ask what
reception Pramila received from Arjuna's family*
Was she snubbed by Subhadra ? Did Arjuna's
one-fifth share of Draupadi ever box her ears ? Lfet
us trust not. Hindu women are capable of extraor-
dinary self-sacrifice and submission. Let us rather
hope that from the lattice windows of some palace
in Hastinapura Pramila smelt the odours and saw the
smoke go up from the great Ashwamedha sacrifice
which Yudhishthira held when he was finally
crowned Emperor of the Universe ; that she lived
happily until such time at the Panda vas and Drau-
padi went forth on the Mahaprasthan and that she
was still alive when thirty-eight years after the
Kurukshetra yudhishthira took leave of Subhadra

144 MABATHI COMEDY

with the words "keep in the path of Dharma or
Righteousness." So much for Mr. Khadilkar's
drama which I have tried to sketch for Anglo-
Indian readers* May I venture to hope that in
some future play he will throw aside old traditions
and use his undoubted talents to picture, without
the aid of epic heroes, Indian life as it is ? I cannot
leave the subject without a word of praise for Mr.
Mali, the artist, who has furnished the printed
copies* of "A Woman's Revolt, 55 with illustrations.
Although the dresses of Arjuna and Pushpadhan-
wa are Rajput court dresses of to-day and not
such as Aryan heroes wore, and although the bridge
which broke down at Satyamaya rushed across it
has all the appearance of a P. Vf. D. culvert, these
are little matters. The drawing of the figures,
especially of the women, is excellent.

* Bayakaache Band, by Mr. K. P. Khadilkar, " Cbitrasliala Press,*'
Poona.

MAHASHIVRATRA DAY.

To-day the Government officers are closed through-
out the Presidency and the weary administrator
will have time to seek solace in the latest master-
piece of Victoria Cross or Marie Corelli. Before,
however, plunging into its delectable depths, it
may not perhaps be without profit or uninteres-
ting to consider why to-day is a holiday. It is the
Mahashivratra, the greatest festival of Shiva, the
present head of the Hindu triad. The Mahashiv-
ratra falls on the 14th day of the dark half of Magh
and I have come across two stories told to explain
why it does go. They are, of course, mere tales,
but religious tales are always of interest and these
perhaps especially so far they illustrate the peculiar
Hindu doctrine that accidental acts whether of
good or evil are as efficacious or as punishable as
intentional ones.

The first story is the common one. Once upon
a time there lived in Modeshakhya town in Vaidaar-
bha or Berar a wicked king and a worse minister.
Both gave full scope to their evil passions, so that
in their next life they became respectively a tiommon
hunter and a beast of prey. On the 14th M#gh
Wadya the ' former was on a hunting expedition
when he was suddenly attacked by the latter. To
save himself the sportsman climbed a Bel of* all,
trees the most sacred to Shiva and as the wild

146 MAHA.SHIVRATEA DAY

beast strove to clamber after him, he defended
himself with one of its branches. In the struggle
Bel leaves dropped both from the hunter's hand
and the beast's mouth on to where in the sand be-
neath lay a hidden Shivaite pindi. Now the laying
of a Bel leaf on a Shivaite pindi constitutes the
offering dearest to Shiva. In an instant the sins
of the two were forgiven and Shiva himself appeared
in his fiery chariot and bore them away with him
to his heaven in Kailasa. In honour of this miracle
the 14th, Magh Wadya has been deemed to be the
holiest of all Shiva's holy days.

The second story is to be found in the Skanda
Purana and was told by the sage Shuk to Shounak
and the other Rishis. Once upon a time there
lived a king called Mitrasaha of the royal line of
Ikshwaku who was learned above all men in the
Shastras and the Vedas. His rule extended over
the whole earth and its kings everywhere paid
him tribute. One day King Mitrasaha while hun-
ting fought with and slew a demon. The demon's
brother witnessed the fight and thought how to get
vengeance. He feared open battle lest he might
meet his brother's fate. So he disguised himself
as a cook and obtained employment in Bang Mtra-
saha's household. All went well until the shr&&
adversary of King Mitrasaha's father. A great
feast was prepared and as the demon surpassed m
Skill all the other cooks, he was entrusted with the
preparation of the dinner. Among the guests was
the sage Vasishta and in the food prepared for him
the demon cook dexterously slipped some human
fjeah. Now Vasishta possessed besides his two

3&lHASmVBATBA DAY 147

eyes an inner eye of knowledge and with it he per-
ceived that he had eaten human flesh* Furious,
he cursed King Mtrasaha and condemned him to
take the form of a man-eating demon. King Mit-
rasaha protested that he knew nothing of the matter.
Vasishta too learnt through his inner eye of know*,,
ledge that King Mitrasaha wag not to blame. But
the curse of a sage once spoken cannot be recalled.
And all that King Mtrasaha could obtain was that
the period of his demonhood should be reduced
to 12 years. Then compelled by the curse he assum-
ed the guise of a man-eating rakshasa and went
into the deep jungle. One day when roaming
through the forest he met a Brahman and his wife
gathering samidha.* Hungry, he at once seized
the Brahman and though the wife vainly begged for
his life King Mitrasaha ate him up, picked his
bones clean and then went his way. The wife
gathered together the bones, made them into a
pyre and burnt herself with them. As she burnt
she cursed King Mitrasaha and her curse was that
on his return to human shape he should die imr
mediately after he had had any intercourse with
women. Now King Mitrasaha had heard the wif e*s
speech and on his return to human shape lived a life
of perfect chastity and so evaded death. But the
guilt of Brahman-hatya or Braiman-killing pur-
sued him and became incarnate as a Chandala
woman who always danced before his eyes and

* A, aamidh (plural, Samidha) is a twig of one of the nine saored trees
with which it is alone permitted to make horn or saored fire. The nine
trees are Palag, Bui, Pimpal, Shaani,JKhair, Durva, Darbha, Umba and
Aghada,

148 , MAHASHIVEATEA DAY

before Ms eyes alone. Maddened by the sight
of this mystic shape he threw aside his kingdom
and going into the jungle sought the sage Gautama*
Gautama said that there was but one way to obtain
release, and that was to go to Gokarna on the 14th
Magh Nadya and there worship Shiva. King
Mitrasaha asked wherein lay the greatness of Go-
karna, and the merit of Magh Wadya Ohaturdashi.
The sage Gautama replied that on that day in the
preceding year he had seen a hideous old Chan-
dala woman lying on the ground and on the point
of death when suddenly from heaven came the
lord Shiva's fiery chariot. From it his messen-
gers descended and placed in it the Chandalin.
"I asked them," said the sage Gautama, "the
reason. They replied that the Chandalin was in a
former life a Brahman girl called Malini, and pos-
sessed beauty that put to shame even Eambha
the fairest of the dancing girls of Indra. Her
husband died while she was still young and for
some days the precepts of her parents and the
effects of their early teaching enabled her to triumph
over temptations and desires. But her beauty was
such that all men longed for her, and at last she
yield and so entered upon evil courses. Her parents
found out her wickedness and dismissed her from
their house. She then became the mistress of a
Sudra and gave herself up unrestrainedly to the
eating of meat and the drinking of wine. One day
when she could obtain no meat she killed a young
&eif er and eating half of it escaped the neighbour's
fefowe by crying out that a panther had killed it.
Site 4ied not long afterwards and when her soul

MAHASHEVKATRA DAY 149

came to Yama's Court, Chitragupta's* record showed
that she had committed gohatya, and she was at
once consigned to the blackest Hell, In her next
life, she became a blind, leprous and filthy Chan-
dala woman whom not even a Chandala would
marry. To-day she was begging from the pil-
grims to Gokarna, but all refused her alms. At
last, one pilgrim in derision placed a Bel leaf in
her hand. In anger she threw it away and it fell
on a hidden Shivaite pindi Then the lord of Kailas*
heart melted in pity for her, and he sent his chariot
and his messengers to bear her away to his heaven.
With these words the messengers and the chariot
bore away the Chandala woman to the snowy
mountain tops of Kattas." Hearing the words of
the sage Gautama, hope once more came to the
heart of King Mitrasaha, and he made his way to
Gokarna, and on the 14th day of the Krishna or
dark-half of Magh he fasted and each watch of the
night he worshipped Shiva by placing on his holy
pindi the leaves of the Bel tree. And the following
day he fed Brahmans and gave gifts to the poor
and the blind, and in this wise he too obtained
the mercy of the lord Shiva. The image of the
Chandala woman faded from King Mitrasaha's
eyes and he knew that he was freed from the most
terrible of all sins that a man may commit the
sin of Brahman-hatya or Brahman murder.

* Ohitragupta is the recording angel*

PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY IN
WESTERN INDIA.

I THE SAYINGS OF KATHIAWAR.

The day has in England long gone by when the
wise saws and well-worn sayings of some time
honoured member of she family carried weight in
a discussion* If one practised in ordinary con-
versation the art of introducing happily rhyming
proverbs, one would soon have no one left with
whom to converse and beyond that of an intoler-
able bore one would have achieved no other repu-
tation* Yet two hundred years ago, things were
different. The Squire Westerns whom Macaulay
in the famous third chapter of his history describes
as ruling with an iron rod their feudal domains,
yet standing awestruck in the London Streets at
the sight of the Lord Mayor's show, used the old
English proverbs as the staple buttress of their
arguments. One can imagine what a formidable
engine of oppression proverbs, such as

A woman, a spaniel and a walnut tree

The more you beat them the better they be ;

and " Spare the rod, spoil the child " must have
been when it was considered almost impious to
question the superior wisdom of one's forefathers*
Indeed, I seem to have an unpleasant recollection in
my own childhood of what then at any rate appeared
to me to be a misuse of the latter aphorism. But

IN WESTERN INDIA 151

the saws of Squire Western and the simples of his
helpmeet have gone their way, and an English pro-
verb now is hardly ever used, save to distort it into
a paradox.

Western India, however, has not yet reached the
paradox stage of human development. And I have
myself seen a happily applied proverb close more
than once an intricate discussion, and an Indian
proverb on a European's lips invariably fills a native
audience with an immense and often excessive res-
pect for his acquaintance with their language.
Hereafter I may deal with the proverbs common
amongst the Marathas. But in this chapter I shall
confine myself to the Gujarati sayings of Kathiawar,
which yields to no country in its appreciation of
proverbial wisdom. I do not intend far from it
to give an exhaustive list, but it may be of some
interest to my readers to know which of the several
hundred proverbs, which may be found in published
collections are in ordinary conversation most com-
monly used.

Sometimes, although rarely, Gujarati proverbs
seem almost traaslations of the English equivalent
such as "parej ej uttam osad" (dieting is the best
medicine), which is nearly a reproduction of " Diet
cures more than the doctors." So also "dukhnu
osad dahada " (the cure for grief is days) " Time
is the best healer." But more often the different
conditions 6f like necessitate a different clothing
for the same idea. We say " all that glitters is not
gold." The Kathiwadi peasant says "all that is
white is not milk " (dholu etalu dudh nahi). We
say "a full purae never lacks friends*" He say&

152 PBOVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY

"on a green tree there are many parrots" (lila
wanna suda ghana). We say "penny wise and
pound foolish " ; he says " it is useless to plug up
the sink pipe and leave the door open " (" khale
ducha ne darwajo moklo "). Is there not an Irish
story which points out the uselessness of padlocking
the gate when there are gaps in the hedge ? How-
ever to match " a bribe in the lap blinds the eyes/ 3
he also makes a reference to money. "The sight
of gold makes a saint wobble " (sonu dekhi muni
chale).

We who are an animal-loving nation make a
considerable use of the domestic ones in our sayings.
We say "Don't count your chickens before they are
hatched." The Kathiawadis say elliptically "Wheat
in the field and the child in the womb " (ghau khet-
man ne beta petman). We say "Let sleeping
dogs lie." They say "Do not rouse the sleeping
snake" (sutelo sap jagadvo nahi). We say "We
all think our own geese swans*" They say " Chagan
Magaa'ft children are of gold, while every one else's
are of dung." (Chagan magan to sona na ne parka
chokra garana). We say 6t A crying crow bears bad
news," They say "A weeping man means a death"
(rose jay te muvano samachar lave). On the other
hand, animals are not wholly absent from the
Kathiawadi's proverbs. They say "To make an
elephant out of an atom " (rajnu gaj karavun) in*
stead of "A mountain out of a mole hill," and they
have elaborated "Barking dogs do not bite," into
" Barking dogs do not bite nor do thundering clouds
rain " (bhasya kutta kate nahin ne gajya megh varse
nahia).

IN WESTEBN INDIA

Some of the best Kathiawadi proverbs employ
similes from the village trades. The proverb "A
carpenter thinks of nothing but babulwood " (sutar-
nu man bovaliaman) may be translated " There is
nothing like leather." On the other hand, we haye
no proverbial equivalent for " An idle barber shaves
the footstools " (navro) hajam patala munde), and
must fall back on that terror of boyhood, Dr. Watts,
for " Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to
do. 55 'Nevertheless excessive energy meets -with ap-
proval in " puchhtan puchhtan lanka javey " (by
asking and asking one can get to Ceylon). That
the village savkar is sometimes outwitted is proved
by " Sehth kern tanano to ke labhe lobhe " (" How
did the sheth come to grief ? He was too clever by
hall")' The brief reign of the village cartman
while he drives his cart finds expression in "we
must sing the songs of the man in whose cart we
sit (jene vele bessie tena git gaie). It may be trans-
lated " who pays for the fiddler may call the tune."
But the village tailor, who is mentioned by implica-
tion in " Cut your coat according to your cloth "
receives no recognition in " make your grass bed
according to the size of your body " (sod pramane
satharo).

As might have been expected, the common roimd,
of household duties provides proverbs in Gujarata
as well as in English, although they are not neces-
sarily dmilar in the two languages. " A stitch in
time saves nine" finds an equivalent in"Eariy
plantains are really plantains " (velae male te kela).
" It never rains but it pours *' may be translated
in two ways : "When it rains it rains in the hedges" ;

154 PEOVEBBIAI; PHUiOSOPHY

(varse to vadma varse) or and the second proverb
gives the sense more accurately " She went to look
for her son and she lost her husband " (lene geie put
or khoe aie khasam). The poor lady certainly de-
served sympathy. So, too, did " the good wife who
went to her father-in-law and got scolded by the
unfaithful wife " (dahi sasare jay ane gandi shikha-
man de) ! A proverb very typical of Indian home
life is the following " chas mjan makan jay ane rand
fuvad kehevay " (when butter goes with the butter-
milk the wife gets called a slut). The explanation is
to be found in theGujarati custom of distributing
the butter-milk from which a large quantity of butter
has been churned. The careful housewife is expec-
ted to see that her friends get none of the butter !
Another proverb which also inculcates, although
sarcastically, the lesson that charity should begin
at home is " gharma chokra ghanti chate ne apu-
dhyane ato " (the children of the house lick the
grinding mill while the spiritual teacher gets the
flour). Had this saying been brought to the notice
of the " Shepherd " in Pickwick he might have
avoided serious trouble at the hands of Mr. Weller.
u The child is father of the man " finds a mate in
ce the qualities of a son may be seen from his cradle "
(putrana lakshan palnamathi janay). The ITrench
fable of * Le pot de f er et le pot de terre ' may be
pitted against " If the short man goes with the tall
one, he may not die, but he will get very sick " (lamba
jode toko jay mare nahi pan mando thay). "A.
short life and a merry one " is rather neatly trans-
lated by " four days of moonlight " (char divasnu
otawadarnu), which in turn recalls Moore's refrain.

nr WESTERN INDIA 155

" The best of all ways to lengthen your days, is to
take a few hours from the nigbt, my dear." "A
little pot is soon hot " is on the other hand more
felicitous than " the weak man has a bad temper "
(kamzor ne gusso bot) ; and "What the eye does not
see the heart does not grieve " than " not to see is
not to mourn " (dekhvun nahi ne dajeun nahin).
Yet we have nothing so good as " to a wooden god
give a slipper" as an offering (lakdana devne khasdani
puja).

Some of the Kathiawadi proverbs have, like
some English ones, a deeper meaning than appears
on the surface. "Iftom afar the mountains are
beautiful " (Dungaro durthi raliamuna) corresponds
with "Distance lends enchantment to the view."
So also " As the father, so are the sons, and as the
banian tree, so are the branches " (Bap teva beta
and wad teva teta) is a close match for " As the twig
is bent so the tree is inclined." "Hope deferred
maketh the heart sick " finds an equivalent in " the
hope that rests on others is continual despair"
(parki ash saday nirash). My official readers will
probably after this wonder why that pest, the youth-
ful candidate for office, bothers them so frequently.
An, answer will, I think, be found in "Ap mua pacehi
dub gaie udnia" (when I have died the world is
drowned) a proverb which like Louis XVs " Apr&a
moi le deluge " must have emanated from an ex-
tremely self-centred person*

I would, however, suggest an unfailing method
to all those who are at a loss how to get rid of a
wholly unqualified, but pertinacious clahtiant. Aak
him qirietiy if he has ever heard the story ol the

156 PBOVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY

u Bavo and the soni." The tale runs that a certain
Bavo or religious mendicant went to a goldsmith's
shop and asked to be given a lump of gold. The
soni began at length and with many interpolations
of " My dear young friend " to explain that gold
was a valuable thing and not to be given away in
lumps. At last the Bavo got sick to death of the
lecture and said " I knew all that, and I did not
fancy you would give it to me, but I thought that
there was no harm in asking." As a reply to the
question the candidate invariably grins feebly and
makes for the door. Should a last spark of hope
induce him to linger on the threshold and to enumer-
ate his imaginary merits, then fire him out with the
proverb "Praised Khijdi sticks to the teeth'* (vakha-
nani Khijdi dante valge) and the disappointed
one will, like Slipper in the adventures of an Irish
R. 11, " vanish like^a dream."

II. SAYINGS OF THE DECCAN.

In the first chapter of this series I ventured to
discuss some of the more common Kathiawadi
proverbs. I would now place before my readers
some of the wise sayings of the Deecan and they
will probably be struck at the absence of that
resemblance which they might have expected from
the common origin of the two languages Marathi
and Guzarathi.

A country so long under orthodox priestly rale as
th uplands of the Sahyadris not unnaturally pos-
sesses several proverba dealing with religion or

IN WESTERN INDIA 157

with its ministers. The most delightful one to
my mind is "Laksh pradakshina ani ek paisa
dakshina." It means literally "the going round
the idol 100,000 times and at the end a gift of
one pice as an offering to the Brahmans/' We are
ourselves not unacquainted with the type of reli-
gious enthusiast who may be summed up in Mr.
Lewis Carroll's description of the Snark :

" At charity meetings be stands at the door
And collects though he does not subscribe."

" Melya vanchun swarga disat nahin " (one cannot
reach heaven without dying) expresses an idea
similar to that in " II faut souffrir pour etre beau "
and we will probably all agree with the excellent
maxim" jar man asel changlatar kathavatint Ganga"
(if your mind is pure, it is as a good as having Ganges
water in your platter). A very common proverb
too of this class is "bazarant turi bhat bhatnfla
mari " (the Brahman beat his wife because of the turi
(pulse) in the bazaar). The tale runs that a Brah-
man priest who had by means foul or fair secured
a little money wished to give himself a good dinner
and directed his wife to buy him some pulse in th6
< bazaar. The question arose as to how the pulse
should, when bought, be cooked, and an acrimonious
discussion terminated with the whacking of the
unruly housewife. The proverb is ordinarily used
in the same sense as c Don't count your chickens
before they are hatched.'

The animal kingdom, especially the donkey, finds
a considerable place in Marathi aphorisms. "Apate
garje gadhava raje " (in our need we call an ass &
king) may be rendered by * necessity makes stowage

158 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY

bedfellows' "Ghadhavaya pudhen waohali gita
kalcha gondhal bara hota " (if you read the Gita
before an ass, he will think that yesterday's kick
up was better fun). Well perhaps the stes was not
quite so wrong, for have we not De La Bochefou-
cauld's authority for * Qui vit sans folie n'eist pas si
sage qu'il croit " ? Another proverb meaning also
* Don't cast pearls before swine 5 is "Gadhawas
golachi chav kay " (an ass will have no relish for
joggery). And the poor beast's proper occupation
is laid down in "Jyacha tyala ani gadhva ojhayala "
(the only utee of an ass is to carry burdens). I have
only discovered one saying which mentions the
horse and that is the phrase " ghodya evadi chuk "
(a mistake as big as a horse). The mistake must
have been a real " howler " and probably occurred
in some youthful subaltern's exercise for the Lower
Standard Hindustani ! But there used to be a
saying commonly used by grooms to their horses
when they refused to drink "Dhanaji wa Santaji
panya madhayen tula distat kay " (do you see Dha-
naji and Santaji in the water). This saying had a
great historical interest for it dated from the time
when Dhanaji Jadav and Santaji Ghorpade were
the terror of the Grand Army of Aurangzeb, The
cow finds a place two or three times. " Gaine gay
phalat nahin * implies that one poor wretch cannot
iielp another. Our vulgar saying * It's the poor as
helps the poor * expresses a different point of view.
* f Salyachi gay ani malyache vasru " (the weaver's
cow and the mail's calf ) implies that a clean sweep
foas been made of everything. Lastly, "Odhal
gurun ani oshal bayako " means * a straying cow is

IN WESTERN INDIA 109

like a shameless wife/ No doubt both suffer from
the Tcakoefhes vagandi. The buffalo is honoured by
the delightful maxim " Melia mhashila panch sher
dudh " (the dead buffalo always gave five seers 'of
milk,) It reminds one of the story of the lady who
when asked whether she had ever heard of any one
who was absolute perfection, replied * O cons-
tantly ! she was my husband's first wife/ The
jackal, the dog, the camel, the kid, the cat, the
crocodile and the ant are honoured by a proverb a
piece " Kolha kakadila raji ' (a jackal is satisfied
with a cucumber) may be rendered Hunger is the
best sauce.' "Andhala dalato aani kutra pit khato "
(the blind man grinds and the dog eats the flour).
This saying is generally used of a man whose
brains have been sucked. " Untawaril shahana "
(he who is on a camel is a wise man) has a story con-
nected with it. A buffalo got its head into an ear-
then vessel and could not extricate it without break-
ing the jar which he did not wish to do. All his
Mends gave him advice, but a man riding on a
camel suggesting cutting off the buffalo's head and
thereby saving the vessel. The phrase is used of a
foolish busy body : " Jogyache karde ladke '* (a
yogi's kid is like a daughter to him). So also we
use the Biblical phrase * one ewe lamb.' "Matijaras
undir saksh " a mouse as witness for a cat im-
plies that a servant must give evidence as his master
pleases and that therefore his testimony is worthless.
The crocodile is to be found in "Susatbai tujhi
pat phar mau" (0 lady crocodile, your baofc
is very soft*) The idea is that by thus flattering
the crocodile she may be induced safely to

160 PBOVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY

you across the river in which she lies. Safely on
the other side you send her about her business
with a good kick in the stomach. Lastly, the
elephant and the ant find a place in " mungi houn
sakhar khavi ; pan hatti houn lakde khaun nayet "
(It is all very well for an ant to eat sugar, but an
elephant should not live on sticks) ; in other words,
one must live according to one's station. This
idea finds more comic expressions in "nesen tar
shalu nesen, nahitar nagvi basen" (If I wear
clothes I shall put cloth of gold, if not I shall
sit with 'nodings on 5 ). The gender shews that
the speaker was a lady.

The time-honoured maxim * Spare the rod and
spoil the child* finds an equivalent in "Chhadi
lage chhum chhum vidya yei ghum ghum "
which we may translate in the following couplet ;

" The more the urchins feel the whacks
The more their little brains they'll tax,"

The following three proverbs have their humo-
rous side : " Doi dharala tar bodaka, hati dharala
tar rodaka " (If you try to catch him by the head
you will find that he has shaved it ; if you catch
his hand it will be so thin as to slip through your
fingers). The person alluded to must have been
as elusive as Mr. Balfour, when many years ago the
late Sir William Harcourt described him as 'slipppery
as an eel. 5 " Jyachi lage chad to ude tad mad
(he who is sought after holds himself as high as a
toddy palm or a cocoanut tree) describes the con-
dition known in America as a badly swollen head.
Lastly, "gajrachi pungi wajli tar wajli nahitar
fehaun takli (if you " can play a tune on a carrot

IN WESTERN INDIA 161

well and good, if you fail you can always eat it)
expresses the same idea as the well known Irish
saying " Be aisy, and if you can't be aisy, be as
aisy as you can." I must however confess that an
attempt to play a tune on this vegetable would
almost be as good an illustration of nonsense as
that of the youthful essayist c it would be nonsense,
Sir, to bolt a door with a boiled carrot/

Two somewhat sad proverbs are " Daiv detopan,
karm nete (the gods give, but karma takes away)
and " Dushkalacha terava mahina " (a famine year)
has always thirteen months). The first because
it expresses the terrible idea that no matter how
we strive we cannot escape the punishment of sins
committed in a former existence. And the second
because it alludes to the endless waiting until the
next year's monsoon comes to relieve the kunbi's
suffering.

Here are two sayings which must respectively
have been invented by a pessimist and an opti-
mist. The first is " Udima karitan sola bara sheta
karitan doivar bhara " (If you trade you will get
12 annas for every 16 (spent) and if you till you
will have to carry loads on your head). The second
runs " God karun khaven mau karun nijaven (If
it is not sweet make it so and if your bed is not soft
make it so). Then come two which must have
emanated from a cynic " Labha pekshan bholyachi
asha." The fool's hopes exceed (possible) gain "
and bara koshavar paus, shivecha raut, panivathya-
chi ghagar. (There are 3 things very difficult to
get, the rain felling 24 miles away, the village head-
man and the jar you left at the watering place.)

21

162 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY

Here is a proverb which shows how well beggars
fare in kindly India " Bhikeshwar kinva Lankesh-
war/' " It is best to be the king of the beggars
and next best to be king of Lanka," i.e., Eldor-
ado, for when Eavan ruled there the bricks were all
of gold. Then there are two which inculcate homely
prudence " Bail gela ni zhopa kela" (He built a
shed after his ox had gone i.e., do not lock the
stable after the horse has bolted.) " Pudhchyas
thech magcha shahana (The one behind may profit
by the tripping of the man in front),
Here is one very amusing one

Panya madhyen masa
Zbop gheto kasa
Javen tyachya vansha
Tewhan kale

I have translated it as follows :

Let him who'd learn how * tis that sleep

Cometh to little fishes
Become a fish and swim the deep

He'll learn then when he wishes.

I have in vain sought for proverbs in which the
English are the subject of adverse comment,
and this might be taken to heart by those who
believe that Poona is full of sedition and seditious
people. But, I believe, that sometimes in the
streets one may hear little girls sing the following
nursery rhyme that dates from the days of the
conquest :

Hattichya sonde van
Theveli menbutti
Sarya Punyachi keli matti
Jngrejani, Ingrejani !

It has little or no meaning, for what connection
is between the elephant and the English,

IN WffiSTBEN INDIA 163

takes some thinking out. However, such as it tt t <
I translate it as follows :

Upon the elephant's trunk now sways

the lamp and O I the pity,
The English and the English ways

Have ruined Poona City !

IILTHE SAYINGS OF THE PARSEES.

It is usually supposed that the language of the
Parsees is ordinary Gujarati, and, no doubt, in
recent years, there have been great and successful
efforts on behalf of Parsees with literary tastes to
equal the purity of style attained by the Gujarati-
speaking Hindus. But the great bulk of the Parsee
community speak a dialect which has marked
peculiarities and varies as much from the Gujarati
of Kathiavad as Milanese does from Tuscan. And
to this dialect the older members adhere with a
certain pride and resent the use of what they call
"bania's lingo*" As an instance of this, I may
mention, that a leading Parsee barrister whose
children had been educated at Rajkot, told me that
when his son visited his aunt she said with some
asperity "are tune sun thayun; tu wania jevo bolech.'*
(What on earth has happened to you, you are talking
like a bania 1) In this Parsee dialect have grown
up a number of proverbs, many of which would be
quite unintelligible to a Hindu. In the course
of this paper I propose to deal with the sayings of
this strange community who for many centuries
havelived together with, yet apart from, their Hindu
neighbours. I will not guarantee that all

PBOVEBBIAL PHILOSOPHY

Basiling aphorisms are peculiar to the Parsees,
although many of them are- But all of them are
commonly used by Parsees even if some are not
unknown to the Hindus also.

The most remarkable trait in these Parsee pro-
verbs is the bitterness with which the rival towns
Bombay, Bulsar, Cambay, Surat, Navsari and
Broach speak of each other. This enmity be-
tween commercial cities is not, however, ttnknown
in Europe, Here is a proverb that must be ex-
tremely galling to Surati pride, 4 kiun Surati ? to bi
murvat ki murti ' (What ! a Surati ! then (you see)
the image of a shameless man). It is the ladies,
however, who come in for the severest abuse. The
next two proverbs are really delightful. The first
is said by a Bombay lady of a Broach woman*

* BharucM Bhaji chapre chapre nachi,

So chhana baera pan khicbri to kachi ne kachi."

(the Broach woman jumped from roof, and to roof,
although a hundred cow-dung cakes were burnt
yet the khichri remained uncooked). In other
words, she was a wanton slut. The sting of the
gibe is in the words " baera " and " kachi ne kachi. 59
which are Broach colloquialisms. The Broach
woman, however, rose to the occasion and retorted
" Mumbaini modan gharni Dhoban " (The great
lady from Bombay is the washer-woman of every
house). Thite is a hit at the Efuropeanfeed Parsee
ladies who go out to tea-parties and then, so it
Is implied in the proverb, talk scandal. The word
" dhoban "has much the same sense as our expres-
sion, "to wash one's dirty linen in public/ 5 *$%&
Stttat lady is again the victim in the following:

m WESTERN IKDIA 166

(" Suratni nari evi sari ke khua kariue kutwa chali)"
(The Surat woman is so good that she will commit
murder and then at the ensuing funeral be the loudest
mourner present !)* The weak points of the Cam-
bay, Broach, Surat andNavsari ladies find expression
in the following :

Khambatan khodiyan ne Bharuchi chadlyan
Suratan f ankri ne Nosakri Aakri.

(The Cambay woman is ill-made, the Broach wo-
man is a teU-tale, the Surat woman is a flirt and
the Navsari woman is hot tempered). I am told
that the only reason why Navsari was left off so
lightly was because it is the home of the priests of
whom the couplet-maker, perhapk, stood in awe.
However, if the rival townsmen said hard things of
each others 5 ladies they were quite ready to lavish
praise on themselves* The following proverb was
written by a Bulsar man of Bulsar :

Wadun gam te Valsad saghla gamnu taran

" Panaioman Kahanji ne Vanioman 3STaran,"

(Bulfear is the mighty city, the salvation of all
other cities. Among the Parsees we have our Ka
ha^i, and among the Banias we have our Naran.)
This reminds one of the old Athenian saying that
a Corinthian could never travel without for ever
talking of "Dios Korinthos " (glorious Corinth).
And did not Bernier, who saw Delhi in its heyday*
contrast it unfavourably with the splendours of
Paris as seen from the Pont Neuf !

A number of Parsee proverbs deal with the never-
dying feud between the mothe>r-in4aw and the
daughter-ia-law. For the 'belle-mre j of Paretee
tradition is, $fi she is among Hindu families, not

166 PBOVEK&IAL PHILOSOPHY

the wife's but the husband's mother. Here is a
delightful one.

Dime baadhyun dahi

Jiluetane chhas
Gulie tavyun ghi

Ne Sasuji jame khas.

Did prepared the curds, Jilu the butter-milk,
Guli cooked the ghee, and then the mother-in-law
had a rare good meal).

A similar hit at the mother-in-law's gluttony is
to be found in the following :

" Juar dali sher ne git gaya ter
Sasue muki rotli to ankhe aya pher/'

(She (the daughter-in-law) ground a seer of jowari
and while doing so sang thirteen songs. (But)
the mother-in-law gave her only one chapatti and
she (the daughter-in-law) felt quite giddy with
hunger). The poor thing !

The point of the thirteen songs may puzzle some
of my readers. It lies in the fact that all Indian
women sing while grinding grain, and this finds
expression in the Marathi proverb " jatyavar baslyas
git athavte" (one remembers songs while sitting
at the grinding mill). The point of the passage
is that the poor daughter-in-law sat so long grinding
that she was able to sing thirteen songs from begin-
ning to end !

Yet another saying against the mother-in-law
is to be found in*

*Mari Sasuevibholi

Ee nahi dekhade diwali ke holi,

(My mother-in-law is so good that she will not
show me either diwali or holi). It is scarcely
necessary to remark that the work good is meant

IN WESTEBN INDIA 167

cc sarcastic/ 9 But in fairness to the mother-in-law,
it should be added, that an old-fashioned Hindu
Holi festival is not the best place for a young
married woman !

Another rather amusing saying is " Sasus bhange
te kahaleda ne wahu bhange tethikra " (Whenever
the mother-in-law breaks anything it is only "Kahe-
lada," but whenever the wife breaks anything it
is a "thikra") "Kahaleda" and "thikra" are
earthen pots of which the " thikra " is the more
expensive. The meaning is that the mother-in-
law minimises her own faults and exaggerates her
daughter-in-law's and to use Butler's words :

* Compounds for sins she is inclined to
By damning those she has no xniad to."

After all these nasty remarks at the mother-in-
law's expense, it is not surprising to be told that
when a mother-in-law dies then the daughter-in-law
attains happiness, (sasu giyi savarat ne vahune
avinavarat.)

There are some proverbs, however, which take
the side of the step-mother and the mother-in-law.
Here are one or two. " Sat sok jaje pan be savka por
na jati" (Be if you like) the seventh wife of your
husband, but do not enter a house where there
are even two step-children !) " Sasu khadhi sasaro
khadho, khadho gherjamai ne bar gamna gadheda
khadha, to be nahin dharai" (She (the wife) ate
up (talked to death), her mother-in-law, her father-
in-law, her son-in-law and all the donkeys of twelve
villages and she is not yet satisfied L e. goes dn
talking ). We might compare the English say-
ing sometimes used of an old woman, " She

168 PBOVEBBIAL PHILOSOPHY

talk the hindleg oS a donkey." Then again " satwa
seta ne barni patli, vahune chatar palang ne sasune
khatli" The first line is meaningless and like the
"DingdongDell " " Hickery Dickery-Dock " of our
nursery rhyme is simply introduced for jingle* The
last line is expressive, "The wife has a European
bedstead with mosquito curtains, while the mother-
in-law has a little native cot." Ihe mother-in-law
like the lady of the Khine, felt no doubt the spretae
injuria formae. 3

The mother-in-law is not the only victim. Here
is one that must excite avuncular disgust. " Kaka
mama kekevana ne ganthe hoi te levana " (you
must call them kaka (paternal uncle) and mama
(maternal uncle) but they will rob you of everything
you have). The word " gantha " is the knot at
the end of the scarf in which natives usually carry
their money. The paternal grandmother is chas-
tised in the following: "Mamai ankhman samai,
bapai chulie kapai." (The mother's mother is the
apple of my eye, but I could cut up father's mother
with a mutton chopper).

If we leave the subject of relatives we find a
number of other amusing proverbs. " Latko matko
ne soparino larko" (full of flirting and coquetry and
worth a bit of betelnut). The lady to whom this
was applied must have resembled the heroine of
Burns' original version of "coming through the
rye"

Some sayings illustrate certain national peculia-
rities. It is said that some Parsees are in the habit
of saying <c Shu 3 shu " " what, what " just as in
E&glish one hears ** what ?" frequently added wifch*

IN WESTERN INDIA 160

out cause to the end of a sentence. The retort to
such a misuse of language is crushing.

" Shu, shuna baoha ne lasanni kali,
Tari Sasu gadhere chadi. "

(What, whats' children and a piece of garlic,
your mother-in-law rode on an ass.) The point of
this polite observation is that in Musalman times
unchaste women were made to ride with inked
features on a donkey and face tailwards. One
might compare with this, the French saying used
to little boys when they say " Quoi ? " instead of
the politer " comment ?" " Quoi, quoi, les cor-
beaux sont dans les bois."

The custom indicated in the following proverb
is that of old-fashioned Parsees who, invariably
when asked after their health, reply that they are
feeling rather poorly, just as an English peasant
will always say that he has the " rhelumatiz."

** Sasu kanse, vahu karanje ne pel palina petmaa dukhe,
ne varo to jetlo ne tetlo uthe/'

(The mother-in-law groans, the wife moans, the
maid servant has a pain in her stomach fctat th0
amount of food consumed never varies).

Personal peculiarities are the subject of some
proverbial comment. "Baro bohetar lakhanvalo^
(tjie squint-eyed man has 72 tricks) and * tlmtha*
ni rand ne thamko bhari" (a cripples 5
walks with great airs and graces). The
man and the one-eyed share the following
verb. " Andhlp hikmati ane kaao kepheyati J> (A
blind man is full of tricks and a one-eyed man full
of &wi&es). This idea of the wilmess of the

eye$ man seems tmiversal in India* Colonel
?

170 PROVEBBIAL PHILOSOPHY

mentions the belief as strongly rooted in Rajasthan,
and it finds expression in the following Kathiawadi-
proverb :

Kanio nar kok sadhu

Talio nar kok nirdhan
Khokhad danta kuk murkha

Danta kok mijhra

(A one-eyed is rarely a saint, a bald man is rarely
poor, a man with projecting teeth is rarely a fool
and a man with grey eyes is rarely generous).

I tried hard, but in vain, to discover the grounds
why these particular qualities were associated with
these peculiarities. As a matter of fact, this arbi-
trary association is not entirely confined to the
East I have seen used by M. Armand Silvestre
the phrase " H riait comme un bossu " i. e. 9 he was
laughing outrageously. And yet it is difficult to
understand why the mirth of a hump-backed man
should be so wholly unrestrained.

SAYINGS OF THE MUSULMANS,

I have now come to the last of this series the
proverbial sayings of the Musulmans* It is no
doubt true that in no part of the Western Presi-
dency is Musulmani the spoken language of the
bulk of the people. Nevertheless there live, scat-
tered from Cutch to Kanara, countless Mahome-
dan families who talk amongst themselves some or
other dialect of Hindustani, and here and there
may be found aristocratic groups whose Urdu may
well eompete with that of Delhi or Lucknow.
Hindustani, moreover, ftbm its former place in the

IN WESTERN INDIA* 171

mouths of Northern rulers has acquired a pecijliar
position as the medium between the master and
the servant. A well-known Parsi pleader men*
tioned to me that his father preferred to talk Hin-
dustani to his Ahmedabadi servants, although,
the mother tongue of master and man was Guja-
rati. He found that they better obeyed his orders
when delivered in the former tongue. Hindustani
has similarly descended as an appendage of Saber's
empire to the English rulers. English ladies use
no other tongue in Indian households. Every day
in Bombay carriages are ordered in a strange jargon,
which, if not Hindustani, is certainly nothing else.
Thus, if for no other reason, Hindustani may claim
a place among Western Indian tongues, as the
language of the Mogal and the memsahib of the
" fortiter in modo " and the " fortissime in re."

I must, however, forestall criticism by admitting
that in many of the proverbs which follow the
grammar and the wording are not that of Delhi
I have collected Musuhnani sayings as I have
heard them, and if I were to alter their phrasing
they would no longer belong properly to Western
India. On the other hand, some of the provefos
are almost pure Persian and should satisfy t&e
highest of high proficiency scholars.

I shall begin with a very pretty aphorism which
expresses in poetical form the common French
saying "16s grands hommes les grands soucis les
petits hommes les petits soucis."

Borre burre ko dukh hai
Chote 96 dnkh dur
Tare sab nyare rahe
Grabs Chandra au? sur

172 PKOVJ3RBIAL PHILOSOPHY

I have translated it as follows :

He knows not happy, humble one

What great men's sorrows are.

Eclipses darken moon and sun

And spare the lowly star.

But most of the Musulmani proverbs which I have
met contain merely plain household truths. " Nach
na jane angan terha " [(the dancing girl) who cannot
dance (complains that) the courtyard is crooked] may
be translated * 'a bad workman quarrels with his tools/'
" Our proverb " speech is silvern, silence is gold "
finds expression in two Hindustani sayings c sabse barri
ehup 5 (Silence is the greatestof all things.) "Ek chup
aur hazarsukh" (one silence and a thousand comforts).
And it may possibly be in unconscious recognition
of the advantages of silence that the indignant
Englishman is for ever saying to his Aryan brother
" Ghup raho !" "Where there's a will there's a way 33
finds a neat equivalent in " marzi ho to sab kuchh
hai" " If there is a will then there is everything,"
and " ittifak kuwvat hai " is a literal rendering
of * union is strength.' "Awwal sonch pechi bol"
"listen first and speak afterwards" contains no
doubt sound advice. But in opposition to it may

be quoted the 'Gujarati saying ** lat pacchi wat"

" kick him first and take his explanation afterwards,"
and the latter will probably commend itself to the
"strong officer!" ''Kathki handia ekhi dafa charhti
had " " a wooden pot can only be placed on the
fire once," is a rather subtle way of saying that an
impostor is soon found out, and that honesty is the
best policy.

An amusing equivalent for " do not count your
chickens before they are hatched " is to be found

IN WESTBBN INDIA 173

in " sut na kapas kolhuse lath tham latha " (hte
quarrelled with his spinning wheel before he had
bought either cotton or yarn), naturally the result
was disaster. A delightfully elliptical phrase is
the following: "In tilon men tel nahin " (In
those sesamum seeds there is no oil)." It is used
when a beggar tries in vain to get money from a
miser and learns too late that it is useless to try to
tap that Pactolus ! Another reference to a miser is
found in the following, " damri ki barhai taka sir
mundai" "he defended himself from the charge
of not providing a barber for his mother by saying
why should I pay a taka " (1 pice) for shaving the
head of an old woman who is only worth a c damri '
(half a pie)! 53 The mother-in-law does not receive
in Hindustani proverbs the wholesale abuse show-
ered on her by the Parsees and Gujaratls. But the
following saying, frequently used to the young
wife, when she quarrels with her husband's mother
hardly gives a flattering idea of her nature. " Darya
men rahna aur magar machch so byr" (To live
in the sea and to have enmity with the magar
machch). It is impossible accurately to translate
" magar machch " for it is applied indiscriminately
to any dangerous aquatic or amphibious animal.
And if one complains to an Indian of the bewilder-
ing looseness of such an expression he will sooner
or later give one politely to understand that for
his part it is a matter of indifference whether any
particular beast is a shark, a whale, an alligator
or a hippopotamus.

" Dudh ka jala chach phunjk phunk kar pita hai w
(He vfho has been scalded by milk blows repeatedly

174 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY

on buttermilk before he will drink it) is the Hin-
dustani rendering of the Kathiavadi proverb " sap-
no karadyo dhori thi bhie." (He who has been
bitten by a snake is afraid of a piece of rope).
Both may be translated as " A burnt child dreads
the fire." It is, however, difficult to give a concise
rendering of w Mitha hap hap karwa thu thu." It
means that things when sweet were gobbled up
but when bitter spat out. The saying is as a rule
used to a servant who did not grumble until things
went badly, or of a friend who deserted one when
trouble came. Perhaps the nearest English equi-
valent would be " rats leave a sinking ship."

Prom among so many household proverbs the
household animals are not omitted. " Billi ki khwab
men chfchre." (In the cat's dreams figure mutton
scraps). By day, however, the cat seems to be
over-sensitive to ridicule "Khisayni billi khamba
noche" (a cat that has been laughed at scratches the
door-post). The dog finds a place in the two fol-
lowing proverbs " choti kutti jalebiyan ki rakhwali"
(it is no use appointing the little dog as a guard
over the sweetmeats); and "damri ki handia
gaikutte ki zat pahchhan" (only a worthless pot
was lost and the dog's nature was recognised). The
latter saying is employed when some servant's
fraud has been detected at little cost and the mas-
ter is " well rid of a rogue."

Nor is the snake, the household enemy, over-
looked : c< sarp nikal gaya lakir pita karo." (The
snake has gone, so why puzzle your head about
its trail). This proverb has somewhat the same
meaning as " it is no use shutting the stable door

IN WESTERN INDIA 175

after the horse has been stolen"; and the derivative
expression " lakir ka fakir " a man who followingthe
trail rather than the snake is applied to a blind de-
votee of ancient rather than modern learning. The
carrion kite, may, in India, almost be called a house-
hold animal and there is no questioning the truth
of the following " chil ke ghonsle men mas kahan "
(you will not find meat in a carrion kite's nest)*
Lastly, the elephant is the hero of a somewhat
striking aphorism " Hathi ke dant dikhane ke aur
hain, khane ke aur hain " (an elephant has one set
of teeth for show and another for use). This say-
ing is curiously enough used of a hypocrite and
recalls the biting jest that was made of the shifty
and treacherous Duke of Anjou. He was the
French Henry IIFs brother and small-pox had left
him with two tips to his nose. But as an enemy
observed " Un prince qui avait deux faces devrait
bien avoir deux nez."

Some other Hindustani proverbs are merely
amusing while some indicate the national charac-
teristics of the Indian Musulman. Among the for-
mer are "khud andha aur aftab siyah" (blind
himself he calls the sun black) ; "nange se khuda
khof rakhta hai " (God even is afraid of the shame-
less man) ; ** Turn ham razi, to kya kare kotwal aur
kazi " (If you and I agree, what harm can the
kotwal and the katei do us?). In other words, it
is better to keep out of chancery. " Bare bhai so
bare bhaii chote bhai so subhan Allah " is a phtase
not infrequently applied to brothers bprn in t&e,
purple. It may be translated The elder brother-**
well, what can you expect of an elder brother?

$76 PBOYEBBIAI* PHILOSOPHY

and the younger brother, well, God be praised !
Arcades ambo, id est, blackguards both ! Among
thfe second class are "jaldi ka kam shaitan ka."
(To do work quickly is of the devil). Undue haste
is hateful to the slow and rather pompous Islamite,
whose love of vain show is indicated in the two fol-
lowing sayings. " Makan men ata nahin aur amma
puriya pakati hai " (There is no flour in the house
but mamma pretends she is making cakes) ; " Das
ghar mangna lekin masalchi rafrhna " (To beg
at ten houses and yet keep a servant).

One more saying and I have done* I write it
with some reluctance, nevertheless I trust that my
Poona readers will accept my assurance that it is
not with any intention of hurting their feelings
that I quote a couplet which after all hits my own
countrymen as hard as it hits them I only men*
tion it because of its historical interest, for it must
clearly have been invented sometime when the
English ard the Marathas were still contending for
the sovereignty of India

" Aagrez ki siyabi se Hindki gadai bihtar
Dakh&ni ghahi so saw foajp &80iu bibtar."

" Better to be a beggar wandering all over India
than be pestered with English ink. Better a hun-
dred times be a butcher than feel the rule of the
Deccani" .

As one reads one wonders from whom the saying
first came. Was it some Bohilla Afghan who
thought d^i tluef, great and merciless Alla-ud-din,
th& Indian, *Sikandar, who conquered Gujarat and
utterly sacked Chitor ? Or was it some Ikfogal
noble who recalled the lion stock of Zingis and

IN WUSTEBK INDIA 177

Timur the knightly Humayun to whom the Udaipur
Queen sent her bracelet, Jehangir, the tojjer feeing,
who loved the beautiful Nur Mahal* siiah Jehan
the conqueror and the friend of the Sesodia princes
and himself the most splendid figure in his owm
brilliant court ? In either case what wonder, when
the speaker looked to th,e East and South at the two
dark thunder clouds of which one or other would
assuredly hide for ever the sun of Islam, if his heart
was filled with bitterness to the brim and if, in the
words of the Hebrew prophet, he was mad for
sight of his eyes which he saw !