Administrative System of the Marathas c20.s2.8

c20.s2.8

Their solicitude for the suppression of witchcraft shows that the Peshwas were by no means free from superstition. Further instances of their superstitious beliefs are met with in their religious and social regulations. In 1721-22, one Rupee was given as a present to an Agnihotri to counteract the evil effects of the fall of a lizard in the hall of audience.⁶ When on the Dasraday 1740, the flagstaff of the fort at Mahuli was struck by lightning, one hundred Brahmans were feasted and *Shantijap* was repeated a hundred-thousand times.⁷ In the year 1751-52, there was an earthquake in the province of Kalyan Bhivandi and good Brahmans were ordered to assemble for a *Shanti* ceremony (to appease the supposed wrath of the gods).⁸ In 1753-54 performance of a similar ceremony was ordered at fort Visapur,⁹ because of unusual prevalence of sickness in the fort. We come across a set of similar orders during the administration of the second Madhava Rao. In 1773-74 the idol in the famous Pandharpur temple was touched by a lizard, and *Shanti* and *Maharudra* ceremonies were performed; over and above this one thousand Brahmans were fed.¹⁰ In 1775-76 the Brahmans of Kasba Trimbak represented that they were seriously troubled since the discontinuation of the customary sacrifice of a buffalo to the local goddess on the Dasra-day, and the practice was ordered to be reintroduced.¹¹