MERAT. 
243 
tous were all those who had secured a relic ! The 
whole affair continued, for many days, to be the 
only topic of the court, the city, and the country ; 
but it gradually grew stale, and at last was only 
occasionally remembered, like any other antiquated 
miracle. However, in the interim, the buhkshis 
goatherd had found great treasure, and he, and all 
his family, dwelt in comparative wealth. 
Some months after these events, Krishnaraia was 
reminded of the old proverb, — “ Jana Marula s, jatra 
Marula ; ” and turning immediately to the buhkshi , 
he inquired if he had yet made up his mind touching 
that familiar saying. Apa-ji, who, in truth, had 
only waited for such an opportunity, first obtained 
the Raja’s permission to speak without reserve, 
deprecating anger, and then, to the astonished court, 
thus declared himself : — Incomparable sovereign ! 
your own actions a few months since furnished a 
full and striking demonstration of this problem, 
when you condescended to visit the cavern in yonder 
hill, and paid your reverence, you and all your 
people, to the impostor who sojourned there. You 
have graciously given me permission to speak my 
whole mind with impunity ; and now, know all 
men, that the sanctified Jogi w T as no other than 
the humble goatherd of your majesty’s more humble 
slave, Apa-ji ; a being so useless and uncultivated, as 
to approach to utter stupidity. Such is the person- 
age whom you and your court, upon the strength 
of my naked assertion, have loaded with honours 
