Page:Shivaji and His Times.djvu/402

382 wife, Soyra Bai, the mother of Raja Ram, felt herself neglected by her husband and tried all kinds of charms and love-philtres to win back his affection from her more youthful rivals. Shivaji's harem was, therefore, a scene of veiled warfare, — the queens plotting against one another through their maids, doctors and magicians, and the poor husband trying to find some quiet by sleeping outside. (Dig. 455-458.) The question of succession, which was constantly discussed during the earlier months of 1680, intensified this conflict of wives. After December, 1679, Shivaji's health seems to have declined (Chit. 180), and he seems to have had a premonition of the approach of death. (Sabh. 101.) This fact made the choice of an heir a live issue, and the plots and counter-plots in the harem and cabinet thickened in consequence. (Dig. 459-462.)

On 24th March, 1680, the Rajah was seized with fever and dysentery. The illness continued for twelve days. Gradually all hopes of recovery faded away, and then, after giving solemn charges and wise counsels to his nobles and officers, and consoling the weeping assemblage with assurances of the spirit's immortality in spite of the perishableness of the body, the maker of the Maratha nation performed the last rites of his religion and then fell into a trance, which imperceptibly passed into death.