Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s12.2

v2.c27.s12.2

On 6th August the Bhāu took out what remained of the ceiling of the Dīwān-i-khās and coined the silver into nine lakhs of Rupees. This sum maintained his army for a month and enabled him to meet the cost of feeding the imperial family and palace servants, which was an additional burden of one lakh a month. On the 10th, which was the Maratha festival of the lunar conjunction of the month of Shrāvan, the Bhāu ceremoniously bathed at the Nigambodh *ghat*, (near the old Calcutta Gate),—at which holy spot the sages of ancient India had sat in religious contemplation and attained to a true knowledge of the Vedas (*Nigama.*) He then distributed alms to the Brāhmans and also to the Muslim mendicants haunting the Jāmi Masjid. Jankoji Sindhia visited the fort, and sitting down in the Octagonal Tower called for the sons of the ex-Emperor Ahmad Shah and held a whispered conversation * with them, giving them robes of honour and jewelled crests. [*SPD.* xxvii. 257. *DC.*]