If you name Peshwa Bajirao, what strikes in the minds of the present generation is the Bollywood Movie “Bajirao Mastani”. The movie that portrayed the greatest leader of the Maratha Empire and his love life with Mastani. Ever since the movie ‘Bajirao Mastani’ hit the theatres, a lot has been said and written about Peshwa Bajirao’s love life and his life story. Apart from this, there is so much more to be discovered about him and his life of a warrior.
The more you read about Peshwa Bajirao, you will simply realize that his persona somewhat becomes almost larger than life. Here some lesser-known facts about the Maratha warrior, which most people don’t know about:
Till date Peshwa Bajirao is remembered as a hero of Hinduism and the ultimate protector of the Hindu religion from the incursion of the Islamic emperors.Such was the fierce attitude of Bajirao that the Mughal emperors feared & denied to fix a meeting with Bajirao.
Did you know that Peshwa Bajirao was merely 12 years old when he went to a battlefield for the first time in his life? This was because of Bajirao’s father, Balaji Vishwanath, who wanted his son to understand what it means to be a leader at an early age.
In his brief military career spanning 20 years, Bajirao never lost a battle in his life. And apart from being a great warrior, Bajirao was known to an extraordinary warfare strategist as well:
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.
Bajirao- The Youngest Peshwa!!
Bajirao was appointed as Peshwa when he was just 20 years old by the fourth Maratha Chhatrapati Shahu. And without a doubt, he was one of the greatest Peshwa’s in Maratha history.British Army officer Bernard Montgomery was even quoted saying that Peshwa Bajirao was “possibly the finest cavalry general ever produced by India”.
Bajirao was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva. Yet what will surprise the most is the simple fact that even though Peshwa Bajirao fought against the incursion of the Islamic emperors, never in his tenure as the Peshwa did Bajirao even put a ban on the practice of Islam.
Peshwa Bajirao warfare strategies and winning streak on the battlefield brought him the much-deserved fame. And that’s not all, reportedly his reputation preceded him and it also helped establish his fear in his enemies.
Many historians deny the claims in the Movie!!
While the movie ‘Bajirao Mastani’ showed that Bajirao passed away due to an illness. However many historians believe that the story isn’t true. There are stories where it is said that Bajirao died of a heat stroke and others say that this happened because he was heartbroken.
Contrarily to claims of certain historians that Bajirao’s death happened due to a heartbreak, many even believed that Peshwa Bajirao was caught by a serve fever and he passed away at his camp when was en route to Delhi with 100,000 troops under his command. He was cremated on April 28, 1740 at Raverkhedi, on the banks of the river Narmada in a village near Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
Another fact what most people don’t know is that Peshwa Bajirao and Mastani’s son was born on the holy day of Ramzan. And they named him Samsher Bahadur Krisha Singh. In fact, historians even state that Samsher was a carbon copy of his father in looks department at leats.
Source: Indiatoday
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