Shivaji and His Times c13.s8.12

c13.s8.12

Shivaji ascended this difficult plateau, bathed in the Krishna and spent some ten days at Shri Shaila doing religious rites. The quiet and secluded beauty of the scenery and the spiritual atmosphere of the place penetrated his soul, and he believed that he would find no purer spot to die in. So, he attempted to cut off his own head before the goddess; but his ministers restrained his religious frenzy and recalled him to a sense of his duty to his subjects and the Hindu world at large. Here he built a *ghat*, named Shri-Gangesha, a monastery, and a *dharmashala*, fed a lakh of Brahmans, and gave away large sums to them.