A History of the Mahrattas v1.c9.104

v1.c9.104

discovered a large treasure; at all events he and his brother Wittoojee became possessed of money in some secret manner, which, in that troubled period of the Nizam Shahee government during the first years of the seventeenth century, was probably by robbery. Their confidant as to the fact of possessing the money was a soucar or banker of Chumargoondee,¹ named Seshao Naik Poonday, in whose hands the cash was deposited. But, according to Mahratta legend, the discovery of this treasure was merely a means which the goddess afforded to effect what she had, on first appearing, declared to Mallojee; namely, that ‘there shall be one of thy family who shall become a king: he shall be endowed with the qualities and attributes of Sambh²: he shall re-establish and preserve justice in Maharashtra, and remove all that molest Bramins, and violate the temples of the gods; his reign shall form an epoch, and his posterity shall mount the throne for twenty-seven generations.’