A History of the Mahrattas v2.c49.2

v2.c49.2

¹ [The Marquess Wellesley wrote to the Pēshwā on May 28, 1800 : ‘The loss of persons distinguished for their talents, great qualities and abilities, is at all times a subject of regret. The melancholy news, therefore, of the death of Bālāji Pandit, the able minister of your State, whose upright principles and honourable views, and whose zeal for the welfare and prosperity both of the dominions of his own immediate superiors and of other powers, were so justly celebrated, occasions extreme grief and concern.’ (Forrest, Selections (Marāthā Series), p. 641.) Moor (Hindu Pantheon, 1st ed., p. 431) records that unlike other Hindus of his time Nānā Furnavīs was something of a virtuoso, and had made a collection of valuable pictures which he carefully preserved in books and portfolios, wrapped in cloth. During the disturbances at Poona, they were sent for safety to Lohogarh Fort, and at the date Moor wrote (1810) were in the possession of Dhondo Pandit, its late commandant, who resided at Thāna under English protection.]