return, Baji Rao II would have to live in a place assigned by the British along with his retainers and agree to the condition that he would never return to his homeland, Poona. He would also have to forsake all his claims to his heritage and could not style himself as Peshwa, but there was no objection to calling himself 'Maharaja'. The only reason why Francis Rawdon-Hastings ratified the treaty made by Malcolm was his conviction that Baji Rao II would not live long as he was already above 40 and many of his ancestors did not live much beyond that age. To keep Baji Rao II under watchful eyes, the British selected a small village on the right bank of the Ganges at a place called Bithur near Kanpur, where they had a large military establishment then. The place selected was exactly six square miles in area and in it, together with his relatives and others who moved from Poona along with him in 1818, there were about 15,000 inhabitants. He had once ruled 50 million. Contrary to the company's wishes, Baji Rao lived for another 33 years and died in 1851 at Bithur. There were many stories making the rounds in the Court of Gwalior about Baji Rao II, where Manohar Malgonkar's grandfather P. Baburao was a minister. One such story was about the ghost of a slain Peshwa, Narayan Rao, haunting Baji Rao throughout his life, that was widely known to many people due to Baji Rao II's unceasing efforts to exorcise the ghost. Narayan Rao was the ninth Peshwa who was allegedly murdered with the connivance of Baji Rao's parents, as was mentioned earlier. In order to get rid of the ghost, Baji Rao employed the priests of Pandharpur, a temple town of Maharashtra on the banks of the Chandrabhaga. Initially, the priests succeeded in driving away the ghost and in gratitude, Baji Rao II ordered the building of a riverside embankment in Pandharpur, which still bears his name. However, when Baji Rao II was exiled to Bithur, the ghost re-appeared and started haunting again. Since he was forbidden to visit his homeland, he performed religious penances prescribed by the priests of Benares (Varanasi) and was extravagant in distributing alms to Brahmins. He built temples, bathing ghats, performed endless poojas (religious prayers), underwent countless stringent fasts, fell at the feet of sadhus and soothsayers, etc., but