After The success of the  Movie Bajirao Mastani  on BigScreen, new TV Serial Peshwa Bajirao that is also based on the  life of Bajirao I and Marathas is  going to  be aired on  Sony TV.

So After watching the promo of Peshwa Bajirao so many times on  Sony TV,  my curiousity to know the  History of Great Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao has made me to browse the same topic so many times and what i got to know is quite impressive and interesting.

So here i am going to share some Historical & Interesting Facts about Peshwa Bajirao:-

At the  age of 12 only, Bajirao started accompanying his father –  Balaji Vishwanath, The first (Bhat) Deshmukh family Peshwa of Marathi Empire, on military campaigns.

Via:wiki

In his brief military career spanning 20 years, Bajirao never lost a battle.

Bajirao was  appointed as Peshwa at the age of 20 by  fourth  Maratha Chhatrapati (king) Shahu. His  brief military career spanned over  20 years from 1720- until his death in 1740. What is impressive , Bajirao never lost a battle, In his brief military career spanning 20 years.

According to the British Army officer Bernard Montgomery, Bajirao was “possibly the finest cavalry general ever produced by India”.

Bajirao had to battle his enemies 35 times in his military career  of 20 years. And he won each of these battle. Apart from being a great warrior,  Bajirao was well known for his extraordinary warfare strategies.

Malwa (1723), Dhar (1724), Aurangabad (1724), Battle of Palkhed (1728), Firozabad (1737), Delhi (1737), Bhopal (1738) and Battle of Vasai (1739) were some of the major battles won by Bajirao. Among these the Battle of Palkhed was one of the greatest. It was fought agianst Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah. The Nizam was defeated, and forced to make peace.

Bajirao warfare strategies brought him much deserved fame and also established fear in his enemies.

Famous quote by Bajirao’s mother, Radhabai Peshwa:- “My Rau is so deeply revered in this Hindustan that no one would ever dare to harm me”

Bajirao was also known as Rau.

Bajirao’s mother Radhabai Peshwa Radhabai was proud of her son Bajirao. As a mother of a brave peshwa, She proudly used to  say, ‘My Rau is so deeply revered in this Hindustan that no one would ever dare to harm me.’

His fear was up to the extent that Mughal emperor denied fixing a meeting with Bajirao.

During Baji Rao I Rule Peshwa became the main power of Maratha’s

During Baji Rao I Rule after the death of Maharaja Chhatrasal, Baji Rao was granted one-third of Chhatrasal’s kingdom in Bundelkhand.

Under  Baji Rao I, the Peshwas became the de factohereditary administrators of the Confederacy. The Peshwa’s office was most powerful under Baji Rao I (r. 1720-1740). Under Peshwa administration and with the support of several key generals and diplomats, the Maratha Empire reached its zenith, ruling most of the Indian subcontinent.

Personal life

Peshwa Bajirao’s first wife was Kashibai; they had three sons: Balaji Baji Rao (aka Nana Saheb), Raghunath Rao and Janardan Rao (who died young). Nana Saheb succeeded him as the Peshwa in 1740, under the name Balaji Baji Rao.

His second wife was Chhatrasal’s daughter Mastani. He was deeply in love with Mastani, and built a palace for her in Pune, which was called the Mastani Mahal.

In 1734, Bajirao and Mastani had a son, who was named Krishna Rao at birth. Bajirao wanted him to be accepted as a Brahmin, but because of his mother’s Muslim faith, the priests refused to conduct the Hindu upanayana ceremony for him.The boy was brought up as a Muslim, and came to be known as Shamsher Bahadur.

After The death of both Peshwa Bajirao and Mastani, Kashibai took the six-year-old boy, under her care and raised him as one of her own. To him was bestowed a portion of his father’s dominion of Banda and Kalpi.

Death

In April 1740, when Bajirao was in the village of RawarKhedi in his Jagir in Khargaon preparing to march out with his army, he fell ill with sudden fever, possibly heat stroke and passed away on April 28, 1740 on the banks of the Narmada.

According to  famous historian Sir Richard Carnac Temple “He died as he lived, in camp under canvas among his men, and he is remembered to this day among the Marathas as the fighting Peshwa and the incarnation of Hindu energy.”

Nana Saheb succeeded him as the Peshwa in 1740, under the name Balaji Baji Rao.

War  tactics

Bajirao I  is famous even today  for  his rapid tactical movements in battle, using his cavalry inherited from Maratha generals. Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery, in his “History of Warfare”  likened Bajirao’s approach to  U.S. Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman during his 1864 “March to the Sea”:the use of rapid movements where his troops lived off the land, with minimal concern for their own supply and communication lines, and employing “total warfare” on the enemy civilian population.

He is often called the finest cavalry general.