A History of the Mahrattas v2.c54.24

v2.c54.24

¹ [Sarjī Rāo Ghātgē was a notorious drunkard and libertine, and so greatly injured his constitution by excess that ‘he had constant recourse to provocatives to excite his appetite and stimulate his failing powers.’ One of his whims was to dress himself wholly in European clothes, including even the hat, and thus attired to appear at the head of his troops. The following account of his death is given by Broughton. ‘As he was about to depart, Sarjee Rāo repeated his remonstrances, and at length had the temerity to seize the skirt of his (Sindia’s) gown and endeavoured to detain him forcibly in his seat. Some of the Hoozooriyas (Sardārs) present, incensed at such an insult, thrust him back, and Seendhiya escaped from the tent, giving an order, however, to secure his person. The Minister (Sarjī Rāo) snatched his sword from the hand of an attendant, and resisted those who attempted to execute the order of Muha Rāj (Sindia). A violent scuffle ensued, in which some individuals of both parties were killed and several wounded, and Surjee Rāo at length effected his retreat to his tents, after having killed two men with his own hands. He was followed thither by the enraged party from the Deooree (Sindia’s tents), headed by Ānund Rāo and a son of Mannajee Fankra, two distant relations of the Muha Rāj’s family. In one minute the ropes of the tent, in which the unfortunate Minister had taken refuge, were cut, and he himself dragged from beneath it, and in the next he fell dead in the public street, pierced with a dozen wounds inflicted by his pitiless enemies—Ānund Rāo himself having set the example.’ (Broughton, *Letters from a Mahratta Camp*, Constable, 1892, pp. 167-8.) Ānund Rāo was the son of Tukājī Sindia, and not the son of Mānajī Phākde, as stated by the author.]