Rajaram Bhosle I (Pronunciation:
">aːd͡ʒaɾaːm – 3 March 1700) was the third ''
Chhatrapati
Chhatrapati is a royal title from Sanskrit language.The word ‘Chhatrapati’ is a Sanskrit language compound word (tatpurusha in Sanskrit) of ''Chatra (umbrella), chhatra'' (''parasol'' or ''umbrella'') and ''pati'' (''master/lord/ruler''). Th ...
'' of
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...
, who ruled from 1689 to his death in 1700. He was the second son of the
Shivaji
Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...
, the founder of the empire and younger half-brother of
Sambhaji
Sambhaji Bhosale (14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689) was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing ...
, who he succeeded. His eleven-year reign was marked with a constant struggle against the Mughals. He was succeeded by his infant son
Shivaji II
Shivaji II of Maratha Empire, later Shivaji I of Kolhapur (9 June 1696 – 14 March 1726) was the son of the Maratha Chhatrapati, Rajaram I, and his wife Tarabai.
Biography
He was born in Bhonsle family. Upon the death of his father, t ...
under the regentship of his widow
Tarabai
Tarabai Bhosale (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːɾabaːi ''née'' Mohite) was the regent of the Maratha Empire of India from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Rajaram Chhatrapati, Rajaram Bhonsale, and daughter-in-law of the emp ...
.
Early life and family
Rajaram was born in a family of
Bhonsle
The Bhonsle (or Bhonsale, Bhosale, Bhosle) are a prominent group within the Maratha clan system of kunbi origin. They claimed descent from the Sisodia Rajputs but were likely Kunbi tiller-plainsmen.
History Earliest members
The earliest a ...
clan, to
Shivaji
Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...
and his younger wife,
Soyarabai
Soyarabai Bhosale (née Mohite) (died 1681) was one of the eight wives of Shivaji, the founder of Maratha empire in western India. She was mother of Shivaji's second son, Rajaram. She was the younger sister of Maratha army chief Hambirrao Mohi ...
on 24 February 1670. He was thirteen years younger than his brother,
Sambhaji
Sambhaji Bhosale (14 May 1657 – 11 March 1689) was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing ...
. Given the ambitious nature of Soyarabai, Rajaram was installed on the Maratha throne upon the death of his father in 1680. However, the Maratha generals wanted Sambhaji as the king and thus, he claimed the throne. Upon Sambhaji's death, Rajaram was crowned as Chhatrapati of the Maratha state.
Rajaram married three times. His first marriage was at the age of ten to
Jankibai
Janki Bhosale ( née Gujar) (1675 - 2 March 1700 CE) was Empress consort of the Maratha Empire as the first wife of Rajaram I.
Jankibai was the daughter of Prataprao Gujar, an aristocratic general, who was the commander-in-chief of the Maratha ...
, the five
-year-old daughter of Shivaji's army chief,
Prataprao Gujar
Prataprao Gurjar (–24 February 1674) was the Senapati of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's army. He was an aristocratic general who enjoyed the trust of the king and the loyalty of his troops. He defeated a large Mughal Army at the Battle of Sal ...
. His other wives were
Tarabai
Tarabai Bhosale (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːɾabaːi ''née'' Mohite) was the regent of the Maratha Empire of India from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Rajaram Chhatrapati, Rajaram Bhonsale, and daughter-in-law of the emp ...
, the daughter of
Hambirrao Mohite
Hambirrao Mohite was the chief military commander of Chattrapati Shivaji's army. An able military general, he executed several campaigns for Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and later served under Chattrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
Early life
Hambirra ...
, the army chief who succeeded Prataprao, and Rajasbai from the influential Ghatge family of
Kagal
Kagal is a town in Kolhapur district of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
History
During the rule of the Marathas and British raj, the town was the seat of a noble Ghatge Maratha family who were among the most important in princely state ...
. Rajaram had three sons,
*Raja Karna(died in 1700) with mistress Sagunabai
*
Shivaji II
Shivaji II of Maratha Empire, later Shivaji I of Kolhapur (9 June 1696 – 14 March 1726) was the son of the Maratha Chhatrapati, Rajaram I, and his wife Tarabai.
Biography
He was born in Bhonsle family. Upon the death of his father, t ...
with Tarabai,
*
Sambhaji II
Sambhaji II or Sambhaji I of Kolhapur (1698 - 18 December 1760) was a Raja of Kolhapur from Bhonsle dynasty. He was a grandson of Shivaji and the second son of Chhatrapati Rajaram with his second wife, Rajasbai.
After defeat by Shahu, Sambh ...
with Rajasbai.
Coronation and attack by the Mughals
After the death of Sambhaji, Rajaram was crowned at Raigad on 12 March 1689. As the Mughals started laying siege to the region around
Raigad on 25 March 1689, the widow of Sambhaji (Maharani Yesubai) and her minister
Ramchandra Pant Amatya
Ramchandra Neelkanth Bawadekar (1650–1716), also known as Ramchandra Pant Amatya, served on the Council of 8 (''Ashta Pradhan'') as the Finance Minister (''Amatya'') to Emperor (''Chhatrapati'') Shivaji, dating from 1674 to 1680. sent young Rajaram to the stronghold of
Pratapgad
Pratapgad is a mountain fort located in Satara district, in the Western Indian state of Maharashtra.The fort is situated 24 kilometres from the Mahabaleshwar hill station. The fort is now a popular tourist destination.
The fort's historical s ...
through Kavlya ghat. The Maratha army fought with the Mughals and led the new Maratha king, Rajaram to escape through Kavlya ghat to the fort of
Jinji in present-day state of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
via Pratapgad and Vishalgad forts, Rajaram reached Keladi (Near present-day Sagar in Karnataka) in disguise and pursued assistance from
Keladi Chennamma
Keladi Chennamma was the queen of Keladi Kingdom in Karnataka. She took birth in the household of a man called Siddappa Shetty, who was a native merchant in the region of Kundapur, Karnataka. She was from the Lingayatha community. Chennamma marr ...
- who kept the Mughal attack in check to ensure safe passage and escape of Rajaram to Jinji where he reached after a month and a half on 1 November 1689. Details of his escape are known from the incomplete poetical biography of Rajaram, the ''Rajaramacharita'' written by his
Rajpurohit
Rajpurohit (Sanskrit:राजपुरोहित) is a Brahmin sub caste residing in South Asia natively in western Rajasthan of India. They maintain traditions that are similar to both Brahmins and Rajputs. They are historically engaged into ...
,
Keshav Pandit Keshav Swami Purohit (died 1690), also known as Keshav Pandit or Keshav Bhat Pandit, was Chhatrapati Shivaji's Rajpurohit (Religious chief) and a Sanskrit scholar and poet of his times. He was also the ‘Rajpurohit’ and ''Danadhyaksha'' of Sambha ...
, in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
.
Siege of Jinji
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
deputed
Ghazi-ud-din Firoze Jung against the Marathas in the
Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...
, and specially sent
Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung
Zulfiqar Khan or ''Nusrat Jung'' ( ur, ) born as Muhammad Ismail in 1657 ( ur, ) was the first Nawab of the Tamil Carnatic State. He was the son of Asad Khan, a Wazir of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and his wife Mehrunnisa (daughter of Asa ...
to capture the
Jingi Fort. He
laid siege to it in September, 1690. After three failed attempts, it was finally captured after seven years on 8 January 1698. Rajaram, however, escaped and fled first to
Vellore
Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separa ...
and later to Vishalgad.
Santaji and Dhanaji
Rajaram occupied the fort at Jinji from 11 November 1689, but left before it fell in 1698, setting up his court at fort
Satara. During that period when Jinji remained unconquered, "the intrepid Maratha commanders,
Santaji Ghorpade
Santaji Mahaloji Ghorpade,(1645–1696) popularly known as ‘Santajirao’ or ‘Santaji Ghorpade’, was the most celebrated Maratha warrior and the sixth Sarsenapati of the Maratha Empire during Rajaram's regime. His name became inseparable f ...
and
Dhanaji Jadhav
Dhanaji Jadhav (1650–1708) was a warrior of the Maratha Empire. Along with Santaji Ghorpade he made terrifying campaigns against Mughal Army from 1689 to 1696. After Santaji, Dhanaji became the chief of the Maratha army in 1696 and remained on t ...
, wrought havoc in the Karnataka and Maharashtra by defeating the Mughal generals and cutting off their lines of communication."
Death
![Chhatrapati Rajaram Memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Chhatrapati_Rajaram_Memorial.JPG)
Rajaram died of lung disease in 1700 because of excessive use of bidi at
Sinhagad
Sinhagad is an ancient hill fortress located at around 49 km southwest of the city of Pune, India.
Previously known as ''Kondhana'', the fort had been the site of many battles, most notably the Battle of Sinhagad in 1670.
The Sinhagad ...
near
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
leaving behind widows and infants. Janakibai, one of his widows, committed
sati
Sati or SATI may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi
* ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike
*Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer
*Sati, a character in ''Th ...
upon Rajaram's death. Another of Rajaram's widows,
Tarabai
Tarabai Bhosale (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːɾabaːi ''née'' Mohite) was the regent of the Maratha Empire of India from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Rajaram Chhatrapati, Rajaram Bhonsale, and daughter-in-law of the emp ...
proclaimed her young son, Shivaji II as the Chhatrapati and ruled as his regent. However, the release of
Shahu, by the successors of Aurangzeb led to an internecine conflict between Tarabai and Shahu with the latter emerging as the successful claimant to the Maratha throne of Satara.
Tarabai established a separate seat at Kolhapur and installed her son as the rival Chhatrapati. She was shortly deposed by Rajasbai, the other surviving widow of Rajaram. She installed her own son by Rajaram called
Sambhaji II
Sambhaji II or Sambhaji I of Kolhapur (1698 - 18 December 1760) was a Raja of Kolhapur from Bhonsle dynasty. He was a grandson of Shivaji and the second son of Chhatrapati Rajaram with his second wife, Rajasbai.
After defeat by Shahu, Sambh ...
on the Kolhapur throne. The
Kolhapur line has continued to this day through natural succession and adoptions per Hindu customs.
Books
* Chatrpati Rajaram Tararani (Dr. Sadashiv Shivade)
* Chatrpati Rajaram Maharaj (Ashokrao Shinde Sarkar)
* Marathi Riyasat - Chatrpati Rajaram
Govind Sakharam Sardesai
Govind Sakharam Sardesai (17 May 1865 – 29 November 1959), popularly known as ''Riyasatkar Sardesai'', was a historian from Maharashtra, India.
Through his ''Riyasats'' written in Marathi, Sardesai presented an account of over 1,000 years of ...
)
* Shiv Putra Rajaram (Dr. Pramila Jarag)
* Bhangale Swapna Maharashtra (Drama, written by
Bashir Momin Kavathekar
Bashir Kamruddin Momin (1 March 1947 – 12 November 2021), popularly known by his pen name, Momin Kavathekar, also known as 'Lokshahir B. K. Momin Kavathekar', was a popular Marathi language poet, writer who promoted sanitation, literacy, and so ...
)
See also
*
Khando Ballal
Khanderao Ballal , popularly known as ‘Khando Ballal’, was a diplomat in Maharashtra during the late 17th century and the early 18th century. He was also the personal Assistant of Rajaram and Shahu. He is remembered for his support of Rajara ...
*
List of people involved in the Maratha Empire
This is a listing of people who were involved in the formation and growth of Maratha Empire.
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian power that existed from 1647 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered a territory of over 2. ...
Notes
References
Imperial Gazetteer of India v. 2, p. 440.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chhatrapati, Rajaram
1670 births
1700 deaths
17th-century Indian monarchs
People of the Maratha Empire
Hindu monarchs
People from Maharashtra