THE STORY OF ICHALKARANJI
ular. But his favourite subject was military training, and the sterner and more spartanlike it was, the better it suited the son of the brave Gangabai.
When this schooling was finished, Santaji made Narayan a trooper in his own squadron. Thrown among the hardiest of men and called upon to fend for himself, young Naro Pant, fast approaching manhood, quickly displayed smartness, intelligence, loyalty, honesty and perseverance. Santaji speedily recognised the worth of his new recruit and appreciated the solid work of the young soldier, and so he raised him step by step in the ranks until he became the Mujumdar (or accountant) of the squadron leader. In the meantime, Santaji had himself been rising in the estimation of Shivaji Maharaja, his intrepid boldness, his resourceful mind, his strictness of discipline and his unwavering loyalty being quickly noted by the Napoleon-like Shivaji; and the Subhasad Bakhar states that Shivaji on his death-bed in 1680 particularly mentioned that Santaji was one of the saviours of Maharashtra. It was under such a man as this that Naro Pant obtained his military schooling and his wordly experience, and so we find him before long accepted as the fully-trusted lieutenant—or one might even say the proud colleague—of Santaji Rao.
Shivaji died; but there did not pass away with him the spirit of independence which he had conceived and inspired,
12
