Secret Corresponde7ice nf the Court of the Peshwa. 163 



" 5. The Kr'iJjct, or funeral ceremonies of Bhao Sahib (whose body was 

 " never found at Paniput) not having been performed, they should be 

 " fultilled in the ensuing Magh (February). The widow, Parwati Bhye, 

 " should be permitted to burn, if she chooses to do so. 



" 6. Let the annual charities at Benares be increased one-half, from 

 " this date. 



" 7. Let two hundred thousand Brahmins be fed at Benares on my 

 " account, and let each receive two pice (half-pence). 



" 8. Let a jagir of five lacs of rupees (£50,000) annual revenue be 

 " assigned to my uncle Ragoba Dada, which may even be extended to 

 " seven lacs, if insisted on, but not more. 



" 9- Let the charities of Srdwan-mas (month of August), at the Pdrbati 

 " (a temple near Poona\ be always continued, even if the receipts of the 

 " government do not exceed five lacs of rupees (£50,000). 



" I swear by the holy Gan'apati, that these are my wishes." (This line 



is in his own hand.) 



In Nana's hand : 



" I promise faithfully to fulfil, as far as is in my power, the wishes 

 " expressed in this document ; though it is possible we may require money 

 " for political purposes in the mean time. I swear, however, I will fulfil 

 " what has been written, as far as is practicable. The public debt must be 

 " paid out of the public coffers as far they go ; when, if a balance remains 

 " due, application will be made to Guuuji for the deposit in his hands." 



Another scrap of paper, in the hand- writing of Hari Pant Farkia, 

 drawn up probably by his master's bed-side, is in existence, containing 

 notes for the above, and stating that on no account is Ragoba's jagir to 

 exceed seven lacs of rupees. 



Two months and a-half after the date of Madhu Rao's will, that amiable, 

 and I may add, illustrious prince, died, on the 18th of November 1772, in the 

 twenty-eighth year of his age and the twelfth of his reign. 



According to the ordinances of the Hindu religion, his body was burned, 

 and his fond wife, Rama Bhye, to whom he was devotedly attached, 

 ascended the fiuicral pile, evincing by her fortitude, in immolating herself 

 with his body, a proof of the affection which she bore him. Her faith tauglit 

 her to believe that this pious act would purge from sin the beloved object of 

 lier grief, and would ensure to them both an immediate and inseparable 

 union in a future state. 



Y 2 



