466 
t> us - 
Saojee, who was from this period called the Sasu-rajah, pro- 
ceeded with energy to reestablish the deranged system of the Mali- 
ralta government. The first and most important measure he adopted 
was the constituting the great council of the empire. In the course 
of these official arrangements, Ballajee Wissarath became a pro- 
minent character: he was a brahmin of the Concan, and had 
previously served Dunnajee Jaddoo, the Seyna-Puttee, or general- 
issimo; but attracting the rajah’s notice, he was first employed as 
seyna-kurtee, or deputy of his old master; from which he was ad- 
vanced to the dignity of peshwa , or acting general of the forces, 
and subsequently exalted to a place among the eight grand coun- 
sellors, with the title of pundit purdhan , or purdhan pud. This is 
the foundation of that vicarial power which, under the well known 
title of peslma , or leader, has superseded the actual power and 
splendour of the Mahratta rajahs; who indeed continue to exist, 
with a certain degree of regal state, in the fortress of Sattara, but 
under such restraint as the reigning peshwa may think proper to 
impose, the title and forms of supremacy being still ascribed to 
the existing rajah, from whom the peshwa professes to derive his 
insignia of authority; which consists of a khellat, or investiture, a 
dagger and a seal, with an inscription describing the peshwa as 
paramount to the sovereign. 
Under this dispensation (ably administered by Ballajee Wissa- 
nath and his two immediate successors, amidst the confusion that 
followed the death of Aurungzebe, and from which the Mogul 
empire was never more entirely extricated) the Mahrattas utterly 
subverted and levelled with the dust the vast and mighty fabric 
of Mogul power, and are themselves beginning to experience the 
