Tarabai Bhosale or TaraRani.

After the deaths of Shivaji Maharaj’s sons Sambhaji Maharaj and RajaRam Bhosale, Aurangzeb must have partied thinking that “Gazwa-e-Hind” is finally going to happen.

Seeing that Maratha empire had no king to lead them, rather being led led by a woman (who as per them are suitable only for Harems) he got convinced that Marathas are going to fall. But little did he know that he is going to face a formidable foe in form a warrior lady who would crush him under her heels.

Tarabai came from the Mohite clan. She was the daughter of the brave commander-in-chief of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Hamibrrao Mohite. Hamibrrao Mohite served under Shivaji Maharaj as well as Shambhaji Maharaj. His sister was the wife of Shivaji Maharaj.  His daughter (Tarabai) married Shivaji Maharaj’s son Rajaram Bhosale.

She is acclaimed for her role in keeping alive the resistance against Mughal occupation of Maratha territories after the death of her husband, and acting as the regent during the minority of her son, Shivaji II. On Rajaram’s death in March 1700, Tarabai proclaimed her infant son, Shivaji II as Rajaram’s successor and herself as the regent.

Tarabai was skilled in cavalry movement and made strategic movements herself during wars. Starting at the very young age of 25, she personally led the war and continued the fight against the Mughals. A truce was offered to the Mughals in such a way that the Mughal emperor promptly rejected it and Tarabai continued the Maratha resistance. By 1705, Marathas had crossed the Narmada River and made small incursions in Malwa, retreating immediately. In 1706, Tarabai was captured by Mughal forces for a brief period of 4 days but she escaped. When held in captivity, she escaped bribing her guards the ornaments she wore.

Aurangzeb finally breathed his last in 1707. The Mughal empire started to crumble after his death. And the Maratha empire grew and finally crushed the Mughals in Delhi itself.

Of the years 1700–1707, Jadunath Sarkar, a prominent Indian historian especially of the Mughal dynasty, has opined: “During this period, the supreme guiding force in Maharashtra was not any minister or King but the dowager queen Tarabai. Her administrative genius and strength of character saved the nation in that awful crisis.”

The contribution of the warrior queen Tara Rani towards saving Hinduism can never be understated. It is unfortunate that her name doesn’t appear in our text books.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.