New History of the Marathas v2.c35.37

v2.c35.37

the while he was engaged in war and politics. He had to hold his own against the Nizam of the Deccan; to drive back Hydar Ali of Mysore, to retrieve that disaster at Panipat which had grieved his father to death. While greatly superior to his predecessors as a civil ruler, he was not inferior to them as a warlike commander. His lieutenants were just retrieving the Panipat disaster, when his own health, always delicate, gave way. Anticipating death, he adjured his uncle to protect the next Peshwa, who would be a boy to avert disunion from the reigning family and save the empire from distraction. What reply he received we know not: at all events he was allowed to die in hope; we shall soon see how cruelly the hope was belied. True to the habits of his race, he retired to a rural village not far from Poona, and died quietly in the 28th year of his age; and that village is to this day regarded by the Marathas as one of the most classic spots in their historic land. His childless widow, to whom he was devotedly attached, burnt herself with his corpse, to satisfy her grief as well as to obey the behests of her religion. This is an instance of those who are virtuous in their joint life and to whom death brings no separation.