Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/304

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254 APPENDIX II applied a poisonous plaster to his wounds; so that, by the expiration of a week, his career was brought to a close. The termination of Bhaoji's career has been differ- ently related. Nawab Shuja-ad-daulah, having mounted after the victory, took Shisha Dhar Pandit, Ganesh Pandit, and other associates of Bhaoji along with him and began wandering over the field of battle, searching for the corpses of the Maratha chiefs, and more espe- cially for Bhaoji 's dead body. They accordingly recog- nized the persons of Jaswant Rao Balwar, Pilaji, and Sabaji Nath, who had received forty sword-cuts, lying on the scene of action; and, in like manner, those of other famous characters also came in view. Bhao's corpse had not been found, when from beneath a dead body three valuable gems unexpectedly shone forth. The Xawab presented those pearls to the Pandits men- tioned above, and directed them to try to recognize that lifeless form. They succeeded in doing so through the scar of a gunshot wound in the foot, and another on the side behind the back, which Bhao had received in former days. With their eyes bathed in tears they exclaimed: " This is Bhao, the ruler of the Deccan." Some entertain an opinion that Bhao, after Biswas Rao's death, performed prodigies of valour, and then disappeared from sight, and no one ever saw him after- wards. Two individuals consequently, both natives of the Deccan, publicly assumed the name of Bhao, and dragged a number of people into their deceitful snare. As a falsehood cannot bear the light, one was