shadow over all.

At a little distance from the flying-arch mosque are two rooms built of
stone, in one of which according to our Muhammadan guide Shivaji was born.
Whether it was actually upon the rough walls of this small chamber that
Shivaji's eyes first rested is open to considerable doubt, and probably
they are but a small portion of a once spacious mansion which covered the
surrounding area, now relic-strewn and desolate, and in which the family of
the chieftain resided. These crumbling halls, the shrine of Shivabai, and
the outwork at the extreme north point of the hill are the only remains
directly connected with Maratha supremacy. The out-work which overhangs the
sheer northern scarp performed the same function as the famous Tarpeian
Rock of old Rome. Thence the malefactor of Maratha days was hurled down to
swift death; and history records one instance of seven outlaws being cast
"unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved" into space from this inaccessible eyrie
by an officer of the Peshwa. Viewed from this point the whole plain seems a
vast brown sea streaked here and there with green: and the smaller hills
rise like islands from it, their feet folded in the mist which creeps
across the levels. To the north beyond the larger ranges which encircle the
valley the peak of Harischandragad is dimly visible, towering above the
Sahyadris; and across the plain to eastward the Suleman range ends in the
huge rounded shoulders of the Ganesh Lena spur.

Shivner has known many changes. It gave shelter to the Buddhist in the
first and second centuries of the Christian era; It was excavated and
fortified by early Hindu Kings who in turn yielded place to the "imperial
banditti," and they held it until the English came and cried a truce to the
old fierce wars. And all these have left traces of their sovereignty amid
the rocks, the grass and the rank weeds of the hill. It is a living
illustration of the words of the poet:--