Person · Maratha Peshwa
Bajirao I
/ˈbaːdʑiɾaːʋ bəˈlːaːɭ̆/
Also known as Bājīrāo I, Bajirao Ballal, Baji Rao I, Peshwa Bajirao, Visaji
The seventh Peshwa of the Maratha state, appointed by Shahu in 1720 at the age of twenty, who over the next twenty years drove Maratha power north at Mughal expense. He trapped the Nizam at Palkhed in 1728, rescued Chhatrasal of Bundelkhand, struck at the outskirts of Delhi in 1737 and won Malwa at Bhopal. He moved his base to Pune, began the Shaniwar Wada there in 1730, and died on campaign by the Narmada in 1740.
- Date
- 1700–1740
- Function
- Military & resistance
- Patron dynasty
- Peshwa
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery studied the Palkhed campaign for its speed and for an army that lived off the land, and Jadunath Sarkar called Bajirao 'a heavenly-born cavalry leader'.
Very little is known with certainty about his relationship with his second wife Mastani, and accounts differ on the outcome of his last campaign against the Nizam's son Nasir Jung in 1739 and 1740.
Connections (5)
- Won battle atPalkhed
When the Nizam Asaf Jah I occupied Pune in 1727 and crowned the rival claimant Sambhaji II there, Bajirao answered with a sweep through Jalna, Berar and Khandesh into Gujarat, then feinted at Burhanpur. The Nizam left Pune to bring him to battle on open ground where his artillery would tell, went ahead of his own guns, and on 25 February 1728 was surrounded at Palkhed, west of Aurangabad, with his supply lines cut. On 6 March he signed the Treaty of Mungi Shevgaon, recognising Shahu and the Maratha right to tax the Deccan.
- Ruled fromPune
Bajirao moved his base of operations from Saswad to Pune in 1728, the year of Palkhed, and the move laid the foundation for turning the small kasba into a large city. Pune had just shown how exposed it was: in 1727 the Nizam had occupied it, crowned the rival claimant Sambhaji II there, and plundered nearby Loni, Patas, Supa and Baramati with his artillery. Two years after the move Bajirao began his residence, the Shaniwar Wada, in the city, and his son Balaji Bajirao succeeded him as Peshwa in 1740.
- BuiltShaniwarwada, Pune
Bajirao laid the foundation of his own residence at Pune on Saturday, 10 January 1730, and it was named for the day: Shaniwar Wada, the Saturday residence. Teak came from the forests of Junnar, stone from the Chinchwad quarries and lime from Jejuri, and it was opened on another Saturday, 22 January 1732, at a cost of Rs 16,110. It was meant to be built entirely of stone, but after the first storey the people of Satara complained to Shahu that only the Chhatrapati could build in stone, so the rest went up in brick.
- CampaignDelhi
When the emperor Muhammad Shah refused Bajirao's demands, which included Malwa and the cession of Prayag, Kashi, Gaya and Mathura, Bajirao slipped past the Mughal commanders feasting at Mathura by the Jat and Mewati hill route and appeared before Delhi. On 28 March 1737 he defeated Mir Hasan Khan Koka at Rikabganj on the city's outskirts, then withdrew rather than take the capital, fearing for his lines of communication. The raid exposed the empire's weakness and led to the Battle of Bhopal and the cession of Malwa.
- Samadhi atNarmada
Exhausted by continual campaigning, Bajirao fell ill with fever on 23 April 1740 at Rawerkhedi, after his last campaign against the Nizam's son Nasir Jung, and died there on the night of 28 April. He was cremated the same day on the bank of the Narmada. His son Balaji Bajirao had Ranoji Shinde build a chhatri over the site as a memorial; it is enclosed by a dharmashala, and the compound holds a temple to Shiva known as the Rameshwar Temple.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Bajirao I"; "Shaniwar Wada". R. D. Palsokar and T. Rabi Reddy, Bajirao I: An Outstanding Cavalry General (1995); Jadunath Sarkar, Military History of India, as quoted there.
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