A History of the Mahrattas v1.c17.58

v1.c17.58

From the time of Moro Punt’s confinement, Kuloosha was entrusted with the entire management of public affairs; nor did the partial enlargement of the Peishwa, for the short time he afterwards lived, produce in this respect any change. Sumbhajee, when not actually employed in the field, gave himself up to idleness or to vice; none could have access but Kuloosha, and if anyone ventured to approach without the favourite’s permission, Sumbhajee flew into a passion and punished the intruder. Kuloosha, as possessing a religious character, could not consistently be admitted to any other rank among the Purdhans than that of Pundit Rao; in addition to that honour, he was dignified with the title of Chundagau-Matya Kuvee-Kulus.¹ Although in the Mahratta manuscripts Kuloosha is loaded with many epithets of abuse, he is seldom accused of having been the pander of Sumbhajee’s vices; it is even admitted that he was a learned and courtly man and that he excelled in poetry, but his total incapacity for his high station, and the ruinous consequences, both of his neglect and his measures, may be very clearly gleaned from the Mahratta writings: in these the ascendancy gained over the mind of Sumbhajee is ascribed to magic, in which Kuloosha is believed to have been a perfect adept.