Read Part 1 here.
Some people are always misrepresented by history. Two such personalities are Gopika-bai and Anandi-bai. Both a rightful place and credit are due for their contribution.
Gopika-bai came into the Peshwa house at a very young age of 8 after being married to Nanasaheb Balaji Bajirao, the eldest son of the glorious Peshwa Bajirao. Nanasaheb was trained in the courts of Shahu in Satara and also by his father, uncle and numerous other ministers. He started looking in to the matters of court at an early age of 15 years. Gopika-bai was an extremely intelligent person and the environment of the Peshwa family gave her encouragement to opine; and at a later stage to perhaps dabble in the administration herself. She was well learned, but could not read or write in Modi script, she resorted to the use of Devnagari scripts for the letters she wrote either to her husband or sons and grandson.
Gopika-bai is perhaps the only individual who saw both the zenith and the nadir of the Maratha Empire so closely. Bajirao was just setting himself up when Gopika-bai got married into the family. She saw inauguration of the grand palace Shaniwarwada, many victories by Bajirao and Chimaji Appa and those of her husband Nanasaheb and her brothers-in-law. Her brother was a respected minister in the court of Nanasaheb as well as Madhav-rao. Being the eldest of her generation, she had a lot of respect and authority. As the consort of the most powerful individual of that time, she had access to almost unbridled power. She was very religious by nature.
Gopika-bai was also struck with many tragedies in her life. Mostly people know of her three sons, but apparently, she had five! And she outlived all of them. Two sons were lost in infancy to disease and one on the Panipat battlefield. About half the Peshwa family was decimated at Panipat and Nanasaheb could not bear the brunt of the defeat and died of the shock. Her fourth son, Madhav-rao ascended the throne. Madhav-rao was forced to fight with his own uncle Raghoba to resolve the matters of regency and sedition. But Madhav-rao contracted tuberculosis in a few years and died. Her fifth son, Narayan-rao was killed in a conspiracy by his uncle Raghoba. At this stage, the other ministers intervened and prevented Raghoba, the main accused in Narayan-rao’s death, from ascending the throne. Narayan-rao’s wife was pregnant and gave birth to a male child, after Narayan-rao’s death – Sawai Madhav-rao. This infant was appointed the Peshwa and two powerful men of the times, Nana Phadnavis and Mahadji Shinde were made the regents. Gopika-bai outlived even Sawai Madhav-rao!
During the good days, Gopika-bai actively took part in the matters of administration. So much so, that at times even Nanasaheb considered her contribution as interference. He was so peeved by Gopika-bai’s bravado that to keep her under the tab, he actually married a girl almost one-third her age!
She was a good advisor to her son Madhav-rao after he ascended the throne. A few years into the reign of Madhav-rao Peshwa, Gopika-bai decided to retire and went on to live in almost seclusion. Some books claim she left Poona and went into seclusion to avenge Madhav-rao punishing her brother for the sack of Poona. However, it has now been proved that the events happened in exact reverse order – she retired earlier and sack of Poona came later.
In seclusion, she spent most of her time in religious activities. From her seclusion, Gopika-bai saw the unfolding of events only as a spectator. She saw her most able son Madhav-rao succumb to tuberculosis, Narayan-rao being murdered for petty politics and her grandson Sawai Madhav-rao not being given proper education, lest he replace his regents one day. Only in the last instance, Gopika-bai is seen to reprimand Nana Phadnavis for his negligence and write directly to Sawai Madhav-rao on how he should pull up his socks and get into the role of being a Peshwa. But for all her abilities, she never took active interest to make matters better. May be, history had a chance of being different if this very able and intelligent lady had remained active in politics!
The biggest villain produced by Maratha History must be Anandi-bai! Anandi-bai was married to Raghoba, the second son of Peshwa Bajirao. Raghoba was a good general and aspired to be a Peshwa himself and Anandi-bai encouraged her husband in his aspirations. However, by the rules of succession this was not possible and this lead to political conspiracy eventually resulting into Narayan-rao’s murder. It is here Anandi-bai’s role becomes prominent. She is accused of changing an important word in a letter going to mercenaries. Because of this change, the mercenaries read it as “Murder Narayan-rao” contrary to the original text that said “Capture Narayan-rao”. She was a co-accused in the case of regicide against Raghoba. However, Anandi-bai’s role in changing the text is controversial (either that or the Justice Ramshastri Prabhune took the easier route of keeping a woman out of controversy, we won’t know!). For this, she’s been the most hated woman in the Maratha History.
But what is the truth? Records and letters show a very different woman! Her aspirations of throne for her husband are well known and she never denied those. She was a very intelligent and a learned woman (for her times that was not very common) and made good use of free time by reading different books (mostly religious). She engaged in religious activities and charity for poor and needy. She was extremely loyal to her husband. Although Raghoba was an able general, he was very weak by character. Raghoba’s misbehavior caused many problems for Anandi-bai who was otherwise a god-fearing woman. Due to Raghoba’s nature and seditious activities, he had to be put under house arrest by Madhav-rao and naturally, Anandi-bai’s movements were also restricted and watched. Despite of this, Anandi-bai had a caring attitude towards Madhav-rao and advised him in the matters of politics. The case of regicide against Raghoba must have been very trying on her. Despite of this, she later took the role of a mentor for Sawai Madhav-rao; although she never returned to Poona after Raghoba’s death. She is also seen to have taken good care of Raghoba’s other wives, who were of the ages closer to be her daughters. She tried very hard to imbibe good value systems in her sons – one adopted, one natural – but as it turns out, both of them did not live up to her expectations. But for the circumstances created by her husband, history once again may have lost a very astute politician.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Iron Ladies of Maratha Empire – Part 1
The Reconstruction Era of Germany attributes a lot to the women power. After all, since many men were gone, it was up to the women to take the country forward. Does the Maratha Empire also owe it to the women? Do they deserve a lot more respect and gratitude than they are given? To find out, I picked up a book called मराठे शाहितील मनस्विनी (Marathe-shaahi teel manasvini) by Dr. SR Deshpande.
The list of the ladies in this book is interesting. While it contains some well known names like Jijabai, Tarabai, Ahilyabai Holkar and Rani Laxmibai, it also touches upon various interesting but slightly lesser known names such as Yesubai (Sambhaji’s wife), Karveer Jijabai (the first queen of Kolhapur throne), Gopikabai (wife of Nanasaheb Peshwa), Anandibai (wife of Raghoba Peshwa) and Mastani.
The author Dr. Suresh Deshpande was very closely related to the effort of Marathi Vishwakosh – an attempt to create an exhaustive encyclopedia in Marathi and has worked very closely in evaluating various historical documents. While involved in this work, the author realized that there are many iron ladies in the history that kept the dream of Swaraj alive. For many though, documented information is not available. And though the author would have liked to include them, for the lack of information, the list is only limited to the above.
Did Jijabai, Shivaji’s mother need an introduction? Perhaps not! She was a direct descendant of a General in the Devgiri Court but was married into a family of lesser stature than hers. However, she ensured that Shahaji’s spark is kept alive and imbibed the principles of independence and self-government in her son Shivaji. She was known for her sense of justice and well management of the Pune Jahagir. Her upbringing of Shivaji was perfect and her encouragement to him always set higher standards. Even after Shivaji gained fame, her control on administration was tight and rarely anyone would not honor her wish. She is also seen taking important decisions in Shivaji’s absence and the generals and ministers were more than willing to accept her leadership. There is only one documented case of her decision being reversed and that too the reversal came after her death. This lady is placed very high on the respect scale!
Next the author moves to the lesser known figure in the history, Queen Yesubai, wife of the second Chhatrapati, Sambhaji. Married to Sambhaji at a very tender age of 5 or 6, she grew up under the tutelage of Jijabai and Shivaji. It is estimated that Yesubai may have been home-schooled along with her husband Sambhaji. The positive effect of this schooling is seen to dominate the history at a later stage. By the time Sambhaji died, Yesubai must have been only 26-27 years old and mother to Shivaji II or as history knows him Shahu. During Sambhaji’s time as Chhatrapati, he was mostly away on wars with Aurangzeb and Yesubai played a key role in the administration. She also took care of Sambhaji’s half-brother Rajaram and ensured that he was educated well. However, tragedy struck constantly and Sambhaji was killed by Aurangzeb. This is the time Yesubai took over the regent and leadership role very effectively. Marooned on the fort Raigad, she encouraged Rajaram to flee to south and take shelter at the fort Panhala. This ensured that two fronts were opened against Aurangzeb and in case of the (inevitable) fall of Raigad, someone is outside to take charge and keep the fighting going. Yesubai and her son Shahu were arrested by Aurangzeb and this virtual house arrest was to continue for next 30 years! In fact, Yesubai was not released even after Aurangzeb’s death and Shahu after his release had to use effective diplomacy with Shah Alam to get Yesubai released. During her tenure under Aurangzeb’s arrest, she was able to stave off the pressure on her and Shahu to get converted to Islam. She also ensured that Shahu was given education and knowledge of warfare and administration, hoping that someday, they will be released and Shahu will be rightfully able to claim his title and throne. It was her foresight in opening two fronts on the war against Aurangzeb that kept the nascent Maratha Empire alive and caused much consternation to Aurangzeb.
Once Rajaram had succeeded in taking shelter at Panhala, he, supported by his wife Tarabai and key ministers started attacking Aurangzeb. Later Rajaram went on to Gingee and continued the fight while Tarabai remained at Panhala and kept the war going. She was a true leader and a great motivator. She did not hesitate in taking a sword in hand and fight alongside of her army. Days together she camped with her soldiers and kept up the motivation levels. She also encouraged and promoted brave and astute generals to take care of the warfare and strategy. She literally brought Aurangzeb to his knees and sapped the morale of his army. For this, Tarabai is very keenly respected by the Marathas and in a true sense; it was her who kept the empire alive under very difficult conditions. Throughout her life, Tarabai saw many tragedies – death of Rajaram and her son (Ram Raje). For all the good things there was Tarabai, there is a big “but” waiting.
She was extremely distrustful by nature and liked to keep her generals under her tab lest they got stronger and unmanageable. Right from the beginning, Tarabai wanted Rajaram’s coronation. However, the ministers and generals opposed this idea citing that Shahu was alive in Aurangzeb’s prison. As her bad luck may be, she lost both her husband and her son. To that end, she encouraged education and upbringing of her step son Shivaji Raje (born to Rajaram’s second wife). Now, she started demanding that this child may be appointed Chhatrapati and she a regent. But the council of ministers again refused citing same reason that Shahu was still alive in Aurangzeb’s prison. That did not deter her from creating a wedge between the generals and making them take sides. This cost her dearly and she lost support of some of her generals. Around the same time, Shahu was released from the jail and came back staking claim to the throne. His disciplined upbringing by Yesubai made him an able, even if uninterested, administrator. But Tarabai remained steadfast in her claim to the throne. Many ministers and generals defected and joined Shahu. By now, even Shivaji Raje’s (Tarabai’s stepson) ambitions to ascend to the throne were cemented. Shahu and Tarabai engaged in a war, in which she was defeated. At the Pact of Warana, it was decided that the throne will be split in two, Shahu will rule from Satara and expand the kingdom in North and Shivaji Raje will rule from Kolhapur and expand the kingdom in South. When offered, Tarabai chose to stay with Shahu. However her basic distrustful nature and ambitions did not die despite of defeat. She saw the Kolhapur throne as the legitimate one and tried many seditious activities against Shahu. For this, she was put under virtual house arrest by Shahu. She saw the rise of Peshwas on the political horizon and also saw the empire reach a zenith. Her basic nature wouldn’t let her retire and she continued causing minor problems to both Nanasaheb and Madhavrao Peshwas. She died a few months after the Maratha defeat at Panipat.
Having grown under the tutelage of Tarabai, Shivaji Raje’s wife, Karveer-Jijabai may have picked up a characteristic or two of her mother in law. Jijabai fought valiantly alongside her husband against Shahu and after the establishment of the Kolhapur Throne, took keen interest in its administration and well being of the subjects. After Shivaji Raje’s death, she took over as a regent.
The Kolhapur throne was not considered legitimate by many of Shahu’s ministers and especially the powerful Peshwas. The Peshwas tried many tactics to dissolve the throne and assimilate the fertile region into Shahu’s empire. But Jijabai’s instinct for survival was strong. She astutely understood the political scenario. The initial pact of Peshwas not venturing into south was long forgotten and Nanasaheb made many trips into Karnataka to fight against Nizam. This caused a very palpable threat to Kolhapur’s existence as a separate state. Knowing that she was militarily no match to the Peshwas, first she tried to cajole Sadashivbhau Peshwa into defecting to her side. Sadashivbhau was Nanasaheb’s first cousin and a very able administrator and an astute general. Losing Sadashivbhau would have been extremely detrimental to Nanasaheb. However, Nanasaheb was an even astute and cunning administrator. Realizing the credible threat from Jijabai, he not only distracted Sadashivbhau, but also extracted promise of loyalty from him. Knowing Jijabai, he also passed on the message that the Peshwas will not cause a threat to Kolhapur’s existence. But Nanasaheb did not live up to that promise and encouraged two of his generals – Ghorpade and Raste – to attack Kolhapur. To his surprise, Jijabai defeated these generals and came out victorious in this war. However, she was weak and if Peshwas so desired they could easily have bulldozed the state of Kolhapur. To that end, Jijabai took the path of diplomacy, sending Nanasaheb a “rakhee”, proclaiming him as her brother and asking for bangles in return. After that the Peshwas are not known to have caused any problems to the Kolhapur Throne.
Among other women of history, the writer takes up the case of Mastani as well. Normally she is known as a concubine of Bajirao. However, historically, it is proved that she was daughter of the King Chhatrasal of Bundelkhand, born of one of his Muslim queens. The King of Bundelkhand was a follower of Ek-ishwari Pranami Panth (One God sect?!) and hence did not discriminate people on the basis of caste or religion. Hence when Mastani chose to follow the Islam, he did not object to it. According to his belief, the kind of worship did not matter so long as you wanted to be one with the god. As a princess, Mastani was well educated and also trained in warfare. Her married life though was not a very happy one. The conventional Hindu family of Bajirao did not condone his wayward behavior for having married a Muslim girl! Constant conspiracies by Bajirao’s mother Radhabai and his brother Chimaji Appa caused much heartburn to both Mastani and Bajirao. This chapter is dedicated to more or less listing these conspiracies and how Mastani remained steadfast despite the constant threat from the Peshwa family.
Hereafter, the Peshwas firmly established themselves and Poona became a power center, with the role of Satara and Kolhapur thrones diminishing slowly.
(To be continued)
The list of the ladies in this book is interesting. While it contains some well known names like Jijabai, Tarabai, Ahilyabai Holkar and Rani Laxmibai, it also touches upon various interesting but slightly lesser known names such as Yesubai (Sambhaji’s wife), Karveer Jijabai (the first queen of Kolhapur throne), Gopikabai (wife of Nanasaheb Peshwa), Anandibai (wife of Raghoba Peshwa) and Mastani.
The author Dr. Suresh Deshpande was very closely related to the effort of Marathi Vishwakosh – an attempt to create an exhaustive encyclopedia in Marathi and has worked very closely in evaluating various historical documents. While involved in this work, the author realized that there are many iron ladies in the history that kept the dream of Swaraj alive. For many though, documented information is not available. And though the author would have liked to include them, for the lack of information, the list is only limited to the above.
Did Jijabai, Shivaji’s mother need an introduction? Perhaps not! She was a direct descendant of a General in the Devgiri Court but was married into a family of lesser stature than hers. However, she ensured that Shahaji’s spark is kept alive and imbibed the principles of independence and self-government in her son Shivaji. She was known for her sense of justice and well management of the Pune Jahagir. Her upbringing of Shivaji was perfect and her encouragement to him always set higher standards. Even after Shivaji gained fame, her control on administration was tight and rarely anyone would not honor her wish. She is also seen taking important decisions in Shivaji’s absence and the generals and ministers were more than willing to accept her leadership. There is only one documented case of her decision being reversed and that too the reversal came after her death. This lady is placed very high on the respect scale!
Next the author moves to the lesser known figure in the history, Queen Yesubai, wife of the second Chhatrapati, Sambhaji. Married to Sambhaji at a very tender age of 5 or 6, she grew up under the tutelage of Jijabai and Shivaji. It is estimated that Yesubai may have been home-schooled along with her husband Sambhaji. The positive effect of this schooling is seen to dominate the history at a later stage. By the time Sambhaji died, Yesubai must have been only 26-27 years old and mother to Shivaji II or as history knows him Shahu. During Sambhaji’s time as Chhatrapati, he was mostly away on wars with Aurangzeb and Yesubai played a key role in the administration. She also took care of Sambhaji’s half-brother Rajaram and ensured that he was educated well. However, tragedy struck constantly and Sambhaji was killed by Aurangzeb. This is the time Yesubai took over the regent and leadership role very effectively. Marooned on the fort Raigad, she encouraged Rajaram to flee to south and take shelter at the fort Panhala. This ensured that two fronts were opened against Aurangzeb and in case of the (inevitable) fall of Raigad, someone is outside to take charge and keep the fighting going. Yesubai and her son Shahu were arrested by Aurangzeb and this virtual house arrest was to continue for next 30 years! In fact, Yesubai was not released even after Aurangzeb’s death and Shahu after his release had to use effective diplomacy with Shah Alam to get Yesubai released. During her tenure under Aurangzeb’s arrest, she was able to stave off the pressure on her and Shahu to get converted to Islam. She also ensured that Shahu was given education and knowledge of warfare and administration, hoping that someday, they will be released and Shahu will be rightfully able to claim his title and throne. It was her foresight in opening two fronts on the war against Aurangzeb that kept the nascent Maratha Empire alive and caused much consternation to Aurangzeb.
Once Rajaram had succeeded in taking shelter at Panhala, he, supported by his wife Tarabai and key ministers started attacking Aurangzeb. Later Rajaram went on to Gingee and continued the fight while Tarabai remained at Panhala and kept the war going. She was a true leader and a great motivator. She did not hesitate in taking a sword in hand and fight alongside of her army. Days together she camped with her soldiers and kept up the motivation levels. She also encouraged and promoted brave and astute generals to take care of the warfare and strategy. She literally brought Aurangzeb to his knees and sapped the morale of his army. For this, Tarabai is very keenly respected by the Marathas and in a true sense; it was her who kept the empire alive under very difficult conditions. Throughout her life, Tarabai saw many tragedies – death of Rajaram and her son (Ram Raje). For all the good things there was Tarabai, there is a big “but” waiting.
She was extremely distrustful by nature and liked to keep her generals under her tab lest they got stronger and unmanageable. Right from the beginning, Tarabai wanted Rajaram’s coronation. However, the ministers and generals opposed this idea citing that Shahu was alive in Aurangzeb’s prison. As her bad luck may be, she lost both her husband and her son. To that end, she encouraged education and upbringing of her step son Shivaji Raje (born to Rajaram’s second wife). Now, she started demanding that this child may be appointed Chhatrapati and she a regent. But the council of ministers again refused citing same reason that Shahu was still alive in Aurangzeb’s prison. That did not deter her from creating a wedge between the generals and making them take sides. This cost her dearly and she lost support of some of her generals. Around the same time, Shahu was released from the jail and came back staking claim to the throne. His disciplined upbringing by Yesubai made him an able, even if uninterested, administrator. But Tarabai remained steadfast in her claim to the throne. Many ministers and generals defected and joined Shahu. By now, even Shivaji Raje’s (Tarabai’s stepson) ambitions to ascend to the throne were cemented. Shahu and Tarabai engaged in a war, in which she was defeated. At the Pact of Warana, it was decided that the throne will be split in two, Shahu will rule from Satara and expand the kingdom in North and Shivaji Raje will rule from Kolhapur and expand the kingdom in South. When offered, Tarabai chose to stay with Shahu. However her basic distrustful nature and ambitions did not die despite of defeat. She saw the Kolhapur throne as the legitimate one and tried many seditious activities against Shahu. For this, she was put under virtual house arrest by Shahu. She saw the rise of Peshwas on the political horizon and also saw the empire reach a zenith. Her basic nature wouldn’t let her retire and she continued causing minor problems to both Nanasaheb and Madhavrao Peshwas. She died a few months after the Maratha defeat at Panipat.
Having grown under the tutelage of Tarabai, Shivaji Raje’s wife, Karveer-Jijabai may have picked up a characteristic or two of her mother in law. Jijabai fought valiantly alongside her husband against Shahu and after the establishment of the Kolhapur Throne, took keen interest in its administration and well being of the subjects. After Shivaji Raje’s death, she took over as a regent.
The Kolhapur throne was not considered legitimate by many of Shahu’s ministers and especially the powerful Peshwas. The Peshwas tried many tactics to dissolve the throne and assimilate the fertile region into Shahu’s empire. But Jijabai’s instinct for survival was strong. She astutely understood the political scenario. The initial pact of Peshwas not venturing into south was long forgotten and Nanasaheb made many trips into Karnataka to fight against Nizam. This caused a very palpable threat to Kolhapur’s existence as a separate state. Knowing that she was militarily no match to the Peshwas, first she tried to cajole Sadashivbhau Peshwa into defecting to her side. Sadashivbhau was Nanasaheb’s first cousin and a very able administrator and an astute general. Losing Sadashivbhau would have been extremely detrimental to Nanasaheb. However, Nanasaheb was an even astute and cunning administrator. Realizing the credible threat from Jijabai, he not only distracted Sadashivbhau, but also extracted promise of loyalty from him. Knowing Jijabai, he also passed on the message that the Peshwas will not cause a threat to Kolhapur’s existence. But Nanasaheb did not live up to that promise and encouraged two of his generals – Ghorpade and Raste – to attack Kolhapur. To his surprise, Jijabai defeated these generals and came out victorious in this war. However, she was weak and if Peshwas so desired they could easily have bulldozed the state of Kolhapur. To that end, Jijabai took the path of diplomacy, sending Nanasaheb a “rakhee”, proclaiming him as her brother and asking for bangles in return. After that the Peshwas are not known to have caused any problems to the Kolhapur Throne.
Among other women of history, the writer takes up the case of Mastani as well. Normally she is known as a concubine of Bajirao. However, historically, it is proved that she was daughter of the King Chhatrasal of Bundelkhand, born of one of his Muslim queens. The King of Bundelkhand was a follower of Ek-ishwari Pranami Panth (One God sect?!) and hence did not discriminate people on the basis of caste or religion. Hence when Mastani chose to follow the Islam, he did not object to it. According to his belief, the kind of worship did not matter so long as you wanted to be one with the god. As a princess, Mastani was well educated and also trained in warfare. Her married life though was not a very happy one. The conventional Hindu family of Bajirao did not condone his wayward behavior for having married a Muslim girl! Constant conspiracies by Bajirao’s mother Radhabai and his brother Chimaji Appa caused much heartburn to both Mastani and Bajirao. This chapter is dedicated to more or less listing these conspiracies and how Mastani remained steadfast despite the constant threat from the Peshwa family.
Hereafter, the Peshwas firmly established themselves and Poona became a power center, with the role of Satara and Kolhapur thrones diminishing slowly.
(To be continued)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
