Mastani
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Mastani was one of the most beautiful women in the history of India and mistress to one of the most powerful warriors of eighteenth century India.
They say, "Behind the success of every successful man is a woman". Mastani probably inspired the Peshwa Bajirao to succeed brilliantly, putting up one of the greatest contributions in building the Maratha Empire in India and gaining total control over Mughals, during his brief lifetime.
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[edit] Early life
Legend describes Mastani as a daughter of Maharana Chhatrasal(1649-1731) of Bundelkhand through his Persian mistress.
Through 1727 and 1728, Mohammad Khan Bangash the Mughal, with an army of Afghans invaded Chattrasal’s kingdom, took Jaitpur and imprisoned him and his family within the Mughal camp.
The eighty-year-old Chattrasal sent a distress message to Bajirao, who was on a military campaign in the vicinity, asking for his aid.
Bajirao and his mighty Maratha army helped Chhatrasal and his Bundela Rajput forces to retake Jaitpur. The old Bundela king re-entered his capital in full state, amidst the welcoming cheers of his citizens and the boom of the victorious Maratha cannons.
In gratitude and as a token of his deep affection for Bajirao, whom he treated like a son-in-law, Chattrasal gave his young and beautiful daughter Mastani along with a third of his kingdom, including Jhansi, Sagar and Kalpi to Bajirao in May 1729. Chhatrasal's sons treated Bajirao as a blood-brother and later fought alongside him in many of his future campaigns.
How many persons can actually recall the name of the mistresses of the innumerable kings and princes who strode through the pages of history since time immemorial? This question always nagged me when every Maratha history book I read, remembered to make mention of Mastani whenever Baji Rao was written about. What was so special about Mastani that historians always remembered to take note of her and then dismiss her in a single paragraph. Why did they not just forget about her when the Marathas had so carefully editted her out of all their court Bakhars. This itself is a strange phenomenon since the Peshwas were such particular record keepers that their Bakhars (or court records) mention every paise spent on everything and everybody, including every member of the family. Surely in her ten years in the Peshwa household, some expenses mmust have been made on Mastani. After all, she and her co-wive, Kashibai delivered sons within months of each other and stayed under the same roof during their confinements. Where have all those records mentioned amidst the expenses on the shawls and saris and jewelry of Baji Rao\'s mother, first wife and sisters, sister-in-laws etc etc?
Has Mastani been the most beautiful woman in the world, there would have been some genuine picture or painting of her. The two in the Kelkar and Wai museums have been denounced by historians as not depictions of Mastani herself. There are too many identification and cultural errors for them to be depictions of Mastani.
There are innumerable anomalies in the story of Mastani as it is popularly told. Here was a Kshtriya maiden, daughter of the most powerful ruler of Central India of his times and a known upholder of his religion, supposedly "giving" his daughter from a minor "wife/mistress" to the Peshwa. If she was from a mistress, would not that be a calculated insult to the man who saved Chhatrasaal life and kingdom for him? While the Peshwa was 'promised' one third of the state and given only the equivalent of 2.25 lakhs, Mastani's dowry alone was five lakhs!!
Her father, Chhatrasaal was a great proponent of the Pranami Panth which sought to unite the hindu and muslim peoples and religions, in an era when such attempts were being made in different parts of the country. Even Akbar himself married a Rajput lady and made her son his hier. but that hier was brought up in his father's religion as the country as a whole was predominantly patriarchal
[edit] Life with Bajirao
Mastani lived with Bajirao at his Shaniwar Wada Palace at Pune.
A worthy daughter of an illustrious Rajput father, Mastani was a skilled horse-rider. She rode a tall horse and accompanied Bajirao on all his campaigns. This often meant riding hundreds of miles over rugged country, living in camps under canvas and sharing his rough fare. She was said to be as good as any soldier in horsemanship, spear throwing and sword play.
She also had a talent for dancing and singing and Bajirao was head over heels in love with her. On one occasion the Peshwa went so far as to forget protocol and took her with him to Satara, when he went to pay his respects to his King Shahu. This apparently drew an indignant reprimand from the Maratha monarch.
When Bajirao attacked the Mughal imperial capital of Delhi, a Mughal scout stumbled upon Bajirao and Mastani, seated on one saddle cover, drinking and singing while they rested. After a perilous and hard-fought battle, having ridden over 40 miles in the day, Bajirao and Mastani sat and enjoyed themselves like young lovers on a picnic!
Bajirao's love for Mastani and his neglect of his first wife, Kashibai inspired resentment in his mother, Radhabai. Bajirao's brother Chimnaji Appa, tried to get rid of Mastani twice.
Attempts on her life stopped following a strong rebuke from Maharaja Shahu who worried that her untimely death might disturb Bajirao emotionally, enough to impact his leadership.
Bajirao's son, Balaji, tried to coerce Mastani into leaving the Peshwa, but she refused to do so. Ultimately, enraged by her growing influence on Bajirao and his father's neglect of Kashibai, Balaji had her placed under house arrest as soon as Bajirao left on a military campaign.
The local brahmin priests, who had a strong influence on the Hindu rulers, also never accepted Mastani. They even blamed her for the great Peshwa's taste for alcohol and meat. But Bajirao was too powerful a Peshwa to be swayed by their lobbying and politicking.
Bajirao had ardently desired that his son by Mastani be invested with the sacred thread as is the right of the son of a brahmin. This ceremony is called Munj(Marathi) or Upanayanam (Sanskrit). But even the powerful Bajirao could not get the orthodox Pune brahmin priests to agree. With a heavy heart he had to bring up the lad as a Muslim.
Later, following the murder attempts, and his family's intolerance of her, Bajirao built a separate residence for Mastani at Kothrud, some distance away from the Kasba of Pune.
When Masstani first comes to Pune with Baji Rao she is accepted in the Brahmin household. Having been brought up in the pranami panth, with its unique combiantion of rituals and customs, she was able to adjust in the Brahmin household surprisngly well. When Baji Rao built his Shaniwar Wada, there is a corner devoted specially for Mastani as Mastani Mahal.
During her pregnancy, she is said to have lived under the same roof as Baji Rao's mother, Radhabai and his first wife, Kashibai. So much so that when Mastani entered her final trimester and was big with child, Baji Rao slept with Kashibai and mades her pregnant. Both his pregnant wives delivered sons one after another in 1734.
Yes, I did say "wife". For the present day descendants of the Peshwas are on record acknowledging Mastani as the legally wedded ( or whatever term may have been prevalent in that society in the 1730s) second wife of Peshwa Baji Rao I. It is significant that neither the king, Shahu Maharaj, nor Baji Rao's spiritual guru, Brahmendra Swami made any public denouncement of Mastani, which would have well been the case had she been the manipulative mistress that she is made out to be.
The social history of those times reveals that it was the return of shahu from Moghul imprisonment that saw the introduction of many north indian influences into maratha social life. this included various festivals and Rajput practices, including dancing girls, wine and meat consumption; for all of which Mastani was blamed. Was it a parochial bias against a highly cultured princess from Central India versus the rather simpler women of the Bhat household?
Whatever be the case, records indicate that after Baji Rao escorted Kashibai on her Narmada yatra, it was the turn of his mother Radhabai to embark on her Varanasi yatra. On her way there, she was feted by Rajput [princes and rajas. On her way back she made a stopover at Bundelkhand. The question is
Did she stay at Mastani's maika or with govind Pant Bundela who was Baji rao's agent there to collect his dues from the estate he inherited from Chhatrasaal?
What happened during that stopover that as soon as Radhabai returned to Pune, she embarked on a progrom of vilification against Mastni and drew support from the Chitpavan Brahmins, citing the Mussalman, wine and meat issue etc etc?
This vilification campaign was eventually to sap BajiRao; somuch so that for the first time in his life, he ran a fever so high that it took his life!! And in the bargain, Mastani's also, although no historical records have been left of how, when and where she actually died .
Should this myth be accepted or probed since it came on the heels of Baji Rao's announcement to his ambitious brother Chimaji that he was considering shifting out of Pune and settling down with Mastani, closer to Delhi and his Bundelkhand estates.
If anyone can tell me anything which will throw light on these questions, I will be very obliged.
[edit] Death
Bajirao was inspecting his lands at Khargon when he took suddenly ill. His fever climbed and by nightfall, he died in his army camp at Raver khed on the banks of the Narmada, pining for Mastani.
Bajirao's wife Kashibai, his brother Chimnaji and his son Balaji(Nanasaheb), came to Khargon and with them came Mastani.
Bajirao's mortal remains were consigned to flames on 28 April 1740, at Raver khed on the Narmada. At the cremation ceremony, Mastani suddenly broke through the crowd and walked into the flames, committing Sati as expected of a Rajput princess. Before the stunned family could react or restrain her, the fair and beauteous Mastani was gone, united with her lover in death while his relatives gaped in awe.
The story of Bajirao and Mastani now has its place among the inspiring romantic legends of the world, replete with bravery and beauty and jealous relatives.
Kashibai, Bajirao's large-hearted wife, took the six-year-old Shamsher Bahadur into her home and raised him as one of her own. Shamsher grew up into a formidable warrior and fought in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761 against Ahmed Shah Abdali, alongside his half-brother Sadashivrao Bhau and his half-nephew Vishwasrao: Nanasaheb's son. The Marathas lost that battle and Shamsher Bahadur, barely 27-yrs-old at the time, lost his life along with Sadashivrao Bhau and Vishwasrao.
Shamsher Bahadur's son, Ali Bahadur ruled over Bajirao's lands in Bundelkhand, and founded the state of Banda, UP.
[edit] Movies
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The story of Bajirao and Mastani has been made into a motion picture. Mastani, directed by Dhirubhai Desai, was released in 1955.
Of late, Bollywood has taken a keen interest in making a movie on Mastani. Sanjay Leela Bhansali had announced in 2003, that he would make a film titled "Bajirao Mastani" with Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles. After the famous Salman-Aishwarya spat, Ms Rai refused to work with Salman again. Then there were rumours that Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor were approached for the female lead. But last heard, model Kareena Kapoor has agreed to step in the role of Mastani.
Bhansali has however shelved the film for now.
