Shivaji and His Times c14.s9.5

c14.s9.5

It is true that throughout life Shivaji (like all other Eastern sovereigns) was on his guard against being poisoned. We find him, during the Karnatak expedition, repeatedly writing to the English to send him Maldive cocoanuts, bezoar stone and other “good counter-poisons” (*i.e.*, antidotes), offering even to pay for them. But it merely indicated common precaution. (For the use of the bezoar stone as an antidote to poisons, see Irvine’s *Storia do Mogor*.)