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Team Principalities of India

Maharani Ahilyabai Holkar

Updated: Jan 11, 2022

Ahilyabai Holkar: (31 May 1725 – 13 August 1795) was the hereditary noble Queen of the Maratha Empire, India. Ahilya was born in the village of Chondi in Jamkhed, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. She moved the seat of her kingdom to Maheshwar, south of Indore on the Narmada River. Ahilyabai's husband, was killed at the battle of Kumher in 1754. Her father-in-law, Malhar Rao Holkar, died twelve years later, after which she took over the affairs of the Holkar fief a year later. She attempted to defend her homeland against looting invaders and personally led armies into battle. She named Tukoji Rao Holkar as her militia's commander.

Ahilyabai was a great pioneer and builder of Hindu temples and built hundreds of temples and Dharmashalas throughout India. Her greatest achievement was to rebuild the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in 1776, which was dedicated to Shiva; the presiding deity of the city of Varanasi, one of the holiest Hindu sites of pilgrimage, that had been plundered, desecrated, demolished & converted into Gyanvapi Mosque on the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1669.



Shrimant Akhand Soubhagyavati Ahilya Bai Sahiba

Early Life

Ahilyabai was born on 31 May 1725 in the village of Chaundi, in the present-day Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra. Her father, Mankoji Sindhia (Shinde), a scion of a respectable Dhangar family residing at Chonde of the Beed district, was the Patil of that Village. Women then did not go to school, but Ahilyabai's father taught her to read and write.

Her entrance onto the stage of history was something of an accident: Malhar Rao Holkar, a commander in the service of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I and lord of the Malwaterritory, stopped in Chaundi on his way to Pune and, according to legend, saw the eight-year-old Ahilyabai at the temple service in the village. Recognising her piety and her character, he brought the girl to the Holkar territory as a bride for his son, Khanderao (1723–1754). She married Khanderao Holkarin 1733 and gave birth to their son Malerao and daughter Muktabai in 1745 and 1748, respectively. Malerao was mentally ill and died in 1767 as a result of his disease. Breaking another tradition, Ahilyabai married her daughter to Yashwantrao, a brave but poor man, after he had succeeded in defeating dacoits.


Statue of Ahilya Bai Holkar

Reign


Her husband was killed during the siege of Kumher in 1754.[7] In 1754, on request of support from Imad-ul-Mulk, the Mughal EmperorAhmad Shah Bahadur's Mir Bakhshi, Ahilya Bai's husband Khanderao Holkar, in the army of his father Malhar Rao Holkar, laid the siege of Kumher fort of Jat Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur State who had sided with the Mughal Emperor's rebellious wazir Safdar Jang. Khanderao was inspecting his troops on an open palanquin in the battle of Kumher when he was hit and killed by a cannonball from the Jat army.


Malhar Rao prevented her from committing Sati

After husband Khanderao's death in 1754, Ahilyabai had given up all desires of life and decided to perform sati to accompany her husband at his funeral pyre. People requested her not to commit Sati, but she said her husband had pledged to accompany her lifelong, and now he has left midway. When she had made up her mind to perform Sati and was not relenting, it was finally her father-in-law Malhar Rao Holkar who made fervent emotional appeals to stop her. Malhar Rao Holkar died in 1766, 12 years after the death of his son Khanderao. Malhar Rao's grandson and Khanderao's only son Male Rao Holkar became the ruler of Indore in 1766, under the regentship of Ahilyabai, but he too died within few months on 5 April 1767. Ahilyabai became the ruler of Indore after the death of her son with Khanderao. A letter to her from her father-in-law Malhar Rao in 1765 illustrates the trust he had in her ability when sending her on a military expedition to Gwalior with big artillery:

"...proceed to Gwalior after crossing the Chambal. You may halt there for four or five days. You should keep your big artillery and arrange for its ammunition as much as possible... The big artillery should be kept at Gwalior and you should proceed further after making proper arrangements for it's expenses for a month. On the march you should arrange for military posts being located for protection of the road."

This letter clearly shows that not only was Ahilyabai military trained, she was also considered capable enough to run civil and military affairs. It is a fitting testament that a woman from a humble origins could run important departments of the state in premodern Hindu India.

When Abdali invaded India again in 1765, Malhar Rao was fighting the Abdali-Rohilla army in Delhi. During the same time, Ahilyabai Holkar captured Gohad fort (near Gwalior). Malhar Rao in his letter instructed her to "manufacture gun balls and balls of smaller size"

Already trained to be a ruler, Ahilyabai petitioned the Peshwa after Malhar's death, and the death of her son, to take over the administration herself. Some in Malwa objected to her assumption of rule, but the army of Holkar supported her leadership. She led them in person, with four bows and quivers of arrows fitted to the corners of the howdah of her favourite elephant. The Peshwa granted her permission on 11 December 1767, and, with Subhedar Tukojirao Holkar (Malharrao's adopted son) as the head of military matters, she proceeded to rule Malwa in a most enlightened manner, even reinstating a Brahmin who had opposed her. Ahilyabai daily met public and was always accessible to anyone who needed her ear.

Among Ahilyabai's accomplishments was the development of Indore from a small village to a prosperous and beautiful city; her own capital, however, was in nearby Maheshwar, a town on the banks of the Narmada river. She also built forts and roads in Malwa, sponsored festivals and gave donations for regular worship in many Hindu temples. Outside Malwa, she built dozens of temples, ghats, wells, tanks and rest-houses across an area stretching from the Himalayas to pilgrimage centres in South India. The Bharatiya Sanskriti Kosh lists as sites she embellished, Kashi, Gaya, Somnath, Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kanchi, Avanti, Dwarka, Badrinarayan, Rameshwar and Jagannath Puri. Ahilyadevi also supported the rise of merchants, farmers and cultivators to levels of affluence and did not consider that she had any legitimate claim to their wealth, be it through taxes or feudal right.

There are many stories of her care for her people. In one instance, when her minister refused to allow the adoption unless he was suitably bribed, she is said to have sponsored the child herself and given him clothes and jewels as part of the ritual. To honour the memory of Ahilyadevi Holkar, in 1996 leading citizens of Indore instituted an award in her name to be bestowed annually on an outstanding public figure. The Prime Minister of India gave away the first award to Nanaji Deshmukh.

Ahilyadevi was not able to settle the conflict peacefully in the case of the Bhils and Gonds, who plundered her borders; but she granted them waste hilly lands and the right to a small duty on goods passing through their territories. Even in this case, according to Malcolm, she did give "considerate attention to their habits".

Ahilyabai's capital at Maheshwar was the scene of literary, musical, artistic and industrial enterprise. She entertained the famous Marathi poet, Moropant and the shahir, Anantaphandi from Maharashtra, and also patronised the Sanskrit scholar, Khushali Ram. Craftsmen, sculptors and artists received salaries and honours at her capital and she even established a textile industry in the city of Maheshwar.

After her death, she was succeeded by Tukoji Rao Holkar I, her commander-in-chief, who soon abdicated the throne in favour of his son Kashi Rao Holkar in 1797.


Statue of Ahilyabai Holkar

Death


Ahilyabai died on 13 August 1795 at the age of 70. A woman of modern times, Ahilyabai's rule is remembered as a golden age in Indore's history. Ahilyabai was succeeded by her commander-in-chief and nephew, Tukoji Rao Holkar.

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