A History of the Mahrattas v1.c24.99

v1.c24.99

Suckwar Bye had not recovered from the first emotions of consternation and rage at finding her whole plans unmasked and defeated, when the Peishwa sent her an insidious message, ‘begging that she would not think of burning with the corpse of her husband, for that he and all her servants were ready to obey her commands’; and not content with working on the mind of an angry woman, to incite her to self-destruction, he sent for her brother Koarjee Sirkay; represented the dishonour that threatened to attach to his house, and promised him a Jagheer in the Concan on condition of persuading his sister to immolate herself, ‘not only for the honour of the family of Sirkay, but for that of all India under the sway of the late Raja.’ By such arts Ballajee Bajee Rao secured his victim. But let not the reader suppose that those of his own countrymen who know the secret history of this base transaction, and whose minds have not been perverted by the calm villainy of a Bramin court, attempt to palliate it as a sacrifice in conformity with their faith; on the contrary, they mention it with much detestation, and say that even the ordinary mode of execution would have been far more manly and far less objectionable.¹