New History of the Marathas v2.c35.24

v2.c35.24

4. The wife and the mother.—The Peshwa’s wife Ramabai showed equal fortitude by immolating herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. She walked in procession in the midst of funeral music and the beating of drums for the distance of about half a mile from the temple to the river, where the cremation was to take place. Reaching the burning ghat at the edge of the water, she stood boldly and cheerfully on the holy stone (*Dharma-shila*) in front of her husband’s lifeless form, gave away in charity all the ornaments she was wearing, entrusted Narayanrao to the care of Dada Saheb, and with a serene countenance gave her blessings to all the assemblage. A small stone memorial erected in her pious memory stands today to remind the curious visitor of the blessed life of this loving pair, who departed in close company never to be parted in after life, Rama and Madhav, as the people believed, the very incarnation of Lord Krishna and his consort Lakshmi.