A History of the Mahrattas v1.c28.86

v1.c28.86

This event so closely following the fatal field of Panniput contributed to increase the general gloom which overhung the country. Ballajee Bajee Rao was one of those princes whose good fortune, originating in causes anterior to their time, obtain, in consequence of national prosperity, a higher degree of celebrity, especially among their own countrymen, than they may fully merit. Ballajee Rao, however, was a man of considerable political sagacity, of polished manners, and of great address. His measures are marked by an excessive cunning, which Bramins, in general, mistake for wisdom; he practised all the arts of dissimulation, and was a perfect adept in every species of intrigue. A strong example of the worst species of Bramin character is shown in the manner by which he compassed the destruction of Suckwar Bye Sirkay. The private life of Ballajee Rao was stained with gross sensuality; but, though indolent and voluptuous, he was generous and charitable, kind to his relatives and dependants, an enemy to external violence, and to that sort of oppression which such violence implies;—on the whole, he may be regarded as rather a favourable specimen of a Bramin in power.