Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 25

JANUARY, 1924]
NOTES AND QUERIES
(b) On page 244, Vol. I (ibid.), he mentions that Sambhaji carried the sword during the Maratha attack upon Goa in 1683, and that he did great execution with it. (c) On page 313, Vol. I (ibid.), he records the fact that when Aurangzebe celebrated Shahu's nuptials with the daughters of Jadhav of Sindkheda and Sindia of Kannerkhera, he restored to Shahu, as presents, two swords which Shahu's attendants had always urged him, if possible, to recover, namely, the famous Bhavani, the sword of Sivaji, and the sword of Afzal Khan of Bijapur, both of which had been taken by the Mughals at Raigarh. Grant Duff adds in a footnote that both these swords, as well as a third sword personally presented to Shahu by Aurangzeb, were in the possession of the Raja of Satara at the time (1826) he published his history.
Grant Duff remarked in a footnote to his first mention of the sword in (a) that it was an excellent Genoa blade of the first water and that its history had been recorded by the hereditary his.. torian of the family.
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For some years past there has been an impression abroad in Western India that the sword which is now shown to visitors at Satara and is still worshipped as Sivaji's Bhavani is not really that weapon but another. Desiring, if possible, to clear the matter, when I was preparing the new edition of Grant Duff's history, I wrote to Rao Bahadur D. B. Parasnis of Satara and enquired about the identity of the sword now exhibited to the public. Mr. Parasnis very kindly replied that the sword now preserved and exhibited at Satara is 3' 9" in length in the blade, and 8 inches long in the handle, and bears a Marathi inscription 'Shrimant Sarkar Rajmandal Raja Shahu Kadim Avval,' which shows that it is the weapon of Shahu, not that of Sivaji. He added that "it is generally believed in Satara that the original Bhavani was taken to Kolhapur by Tarabai, wife of Rajaram, Sivaji's younger son, and was there preserved for many years. In 1875 this sword was presented by Rao Bahadur Madhav Rao Barve, Diwan of Kolhapur, to H. M. the late King Edward during his visit to India as Prince of Wales. It was conveyed to England and was exhibited in 1878 in the British Indian section of the Universal Exhibition at Paris, a description of it being given by Sir George Birdwood at page 68 of the handbook to that section."
On the strength of this suggestion of Rao Bahadur D. B. Parasnis, I placed myself in communi. cation with the authorities of the British and South Kensington Museums and with the officials in charge of the fine collections of arms preserved at
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Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Sandringham. They very courteously made a thorough search for the sword. and informed me it was nowhere to be found in any of the collections above mentioned. Moreover, General Sir Dighton Probyn wrote to me personally as follows:"I was in attendance on King Edward during His Majesty's Indian tour in 1875-6, and would certainly have remembered, had the celebrated sword in question been given to His Majesty. I think you may take it that the sword is still in India."
On referring to the Handbook to the British Indian Section of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, compiled by the late Sir George Birdwood, I find that on page 67 is mentioned as Exhibit No. 74 "the sword of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta dominion in India." This is followed by a further statement on page 68 to the following effect :
"Mr. Grant Duff in his Notes of an Indian Journey, has described the worship of his (Sivaji's) famous sword Bhowani at Sattara. The sword in the Prince's collection (i.e., Ex. No. 74) is not this deified weapon, but the one that has always been kept, since Sivaji's death in 1680, at Kolhapur."
This statement, coupled with the result of the search carried out in 1920 among the great collec. tions of arms, renders it practically certain that the famous Bhavâni was never brought to England, and that the sword presented to the Prince of Wales and exhibited at Paris in 1878 was another weapon, which probably had also once belong. ed to Sivaji and had, as Mr. Parasnis says, been. carried off to Kolhapur soon after Sivaji's death. The problem of the history of the real Bhavani, subsequent to 1826, when Grant Duff published his history, is therefore still unsolved.
I wrote again to Rao Bahadur Parasnis in 1920, informing him of the result of the search in England and enquiring if he could make any further sug gestion as to the fate of the sword Bhavâni. In reply he sent me a copy of a letter dated June, 1820, (Camp Seroor), from Brigadier-General Lionel Smith to Captain James Grant (ie. Grant Duff), Political Agent, Satara, which he had found among the miscellaneous documents and papers purchased some few years ago with other effects from the descendants of the former Rajas of Satara. It will be remembered that General Lionel Smith won the battle of Ashti in 1818, and that as a result of his victory the Raja of Satara was released from the custody of the Peshwa Baji Rao and was shortly afterwards res tored to the throne of Satara by Mounstuart Elphinstone. From General Smith's letter it is clear that Pratap Singh, the Raja of Satara. in