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– an attempt to create an exhaustive encyclopedia in Marathi and has worked very closely in evaluating various historical documents.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)