A History of the Mahrattas v1.c16.96

v1.c16.96

¹ Sivajee’s sword is an excellent Genoa blade of the first water. Its whole history is recorded by the hereditary historian of the family. [Inquiry has failed to establish the present whereabouts of the sword Bhavānī. Rao Bahādur D. B. Parasnis writes that the sword now (1920) preserved and exhibited at Sātāra is 3 feet 9 inches in length in the blade, and 8 inches long in the handle, and bears a Marāthī inscription, ‘Shrīmant Sarkār Rājmandal Rājā Shāhu Kadim Avval,’ which shows that it is the weapon of Shāhu, not that of Sivājī. He further adds that ‘it is generally believed in Sātāra that the original Bhavānī was taken to Kolhāpur by Tārābāī, wife of Rājārām, Sivājī’s younger son, and was there preserved for many years In 1875 this sword was presented by Rāo Bahādur Mādhav Rāo Barve, Diwān of Kolhapur, to H.M. the late King Edward during his visit to India as Prince of Wales. It was conveyed to England and was exhibited in 1878 in the British Indian section of the Universal Exhibition at Paris, a description of it being given by Sir George Birdwood at p. 68 of the handbook to that section.’ A search has been made in the British and South Kensington Museums, and in the collections of arms preserved at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Sandringham; but the sword cannot be traced. Moreover, General Sir Dighton Probyn writes: ‘I was in attendance on King Edward during His Majesty’s Indian tour in 1875-6, and would certainly have remembered had the celebrated sword in question been given to His Majesty. I think you may take it that the sword is still in India.’ It is difficult to reconcile this evidence with that supplied from India, and the fact the goddess Bhowanee, is still preserved by the Raja of Satara with the utmost veneration, and has all the honours of an idol paid to it.