A History of the Mahrattas v1.c16.86

v1.c16.86

(Sivājī’s) countrymen,’ writes Smith, ‘believed that his passing was marked by the simultaneous appearance of a comet and a lunar rainbow, as well as by an earthquake; but, as a matter of fact, Newton’s comet, the one referred to, was not visible in India until November.’ Professor J. Sarkar writes that he died of fever and dysentery, and that there were rumours current in Mahārāshtra of his wife, Soyara Bāi, having poisoned him. These stories are untrue. (Shivaji and His Times, Calcutta (1919), pp. 429, 430.)