Parvatibai

Parvatibai (Marathi: पार्वतीबाई)(6 April 1734 – 23 September 1763) was second wife of Sadashivrao Bhau. She was from Kolhatkar family of Pen.

Family Life

Parvatibai and Sadashiv Rao Bhau Peshwa had an issue which no one knows was a boy or a girl, however, the ward died when it was an infant. The stories of a girl who was "left behind" after the third battle of Panipat are highly unlikely for the following reasons. There is no record of any such girl accompanying Sadashiv Rao Bhau and Parvatibai in any of the numerous chronicles of the battle, either from the maratha side or the afghan side. The third battle of Panipat is one of the most chronicled battles of Indian history according to INTACH, so the absence of such significant information suggests that it is a later interpolation for Heritage Conservation purposes. Neither does any such story occur in the secondary sources that are scholarly and deemed reliable (such as Grant Duff's 3 vol history of the Marathas, or the 3 volume work by Parasnis and Kincaid). Finally, the entire story seems like a fabrication considering that the girl would surely have been in close custody of her mother during the battle (it was well known that in the event of a defeat, the Hindu women would be captured by the Afghans). It is recorded that there were no less than 500 maratha soldiers who were assigned the task of taking Parvatibai to safety, which they did. Surely there is no possibility of any mother (let alone the commander's wife) having left a little girl behind when such elaborate, and successful arrangements had been made for her safety. The story of Parvatibai,s daughter being married in Punjabi family and later becoming Sardar Hari s Singh Nalwa's grandmother is baseless and untrue beyond doubt though interesting and touching.

Death of husband and Aftermath

Her husband, Sadashivrao Bhau died in third battle of Panipat. But there was a controversy about his death. For rest of her life she denied that her husband had died and refused to be a widow. In her lifetime at least thrice there were rumors of her husband being alive. Twice, clones of Sadashivrao Bhau came to Pune which created a state of confusion in the then political situation of the state.

Death

She saw many ups and downs in the Maratha empire and died when Sawai Madhavrao was in power. She died in Pune due to pneumonia and was treated as Sati of Sadashivrao Bhau after her death. She was creamted in Pune, however, the Marathas were not in a state to erect any monument of her. Her after-death rituals were done at her hometown, Pen.

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