Shivaji and His Times c14.s9.4

c14.s9.4

The oldest Marathi *bakhar*, that of Sabhasad, is silent on the point, and with good reason. A servant of Rajaram, in a book written by order of that king and for his eyes, could not possibly have mentioned his mother’s murder of her husband even if it had been true. Shambhuji on his accession put Soyra Bai to death on the charge of her having poisoned her husband, but it was in all probability a false pretext for wreaking vengeance on his step-mother for her late attempt to crown her own son. Readers of Macaulay’s account of the death of Charles II. will remember how at that very time in Europe hardly a sovereign died without the event being ascribed to poison.