History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c64.s8.2

v4.c64.s8.2

∗ Kavi kalash could not have been the minister of Shambhuji's pleasure as Orme (following Manucci) calls him because Shambhu had already learnt to outrage women in his father's lifetime, and wine-drinking and meat-eating are customary among the Maratha caste to which the Rajah belonged Nor can the failure of Shambhuji's reign, compared with the glorious success of Shivaji's be attributed to this minister, because Moro Pant himself had been unable to induce his young master to achieve anything great It is not contended that Kavi kalash filled the administration with his own men as the other seven pradhans and all the lower officers were men of Maharashtra It is therefore, historically untrue to make Kavi kalash the scapegoat for Shambhu's sins (His unpopularity with the Maratha ministers of the time (and, therefore, with the Maratha historians ever after) was due solely to the fact that he gained the royal favour and they could not) Could he have possibly reformed a character on which Ramdas's teaching produced no effect? Odium theologicum intensified the political hatred felt by the Maratha Brahmans for Kavi kalash, they were vegetarians and Vaishnavas or Shaivas by creed, but he was a Shakta and Tantric worshipper, whose beliefs and rites were abominated by them The mutual jealousy between the priests of these two creeds and their sordid rivalry for the royal patronage are luridly illustrated in the Shiva-abisheka-Kalpataru