Serfoji III ( ta, மூன்றாம் சரபோஜி ராஜா போன்ஸ்லே, mr, शरभोजी राजे भोसले (तृतीय)) also spelt as Sarabhoji III Bhonsle, was an adopted son of the last Maratha ruler of Thanjavur,

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 pretender to the throne of Thanjavur. When Shivaji II died in 1855, in the absence of a natural male heir, the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom was annexed by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

as per the

Doctrine of Lapse The doctrine of lapse was a policy of annexation initiated by the East India Company in the Indian subcontinent about the princely states, and applied until the year 1858, the year after Company rule was succeeded by the British Raj under the ...

. While

Vijaya Mohana Muktamba Bai Vijaya Mohana Muktamba Bai Ammani Raje Sahib Chhatrapati CI (1846 – 31 January 1885) or Vijaya Mohana Mutumbar Bai as per British records, was a member of the Marathi Bhonsle royal family who succeeded Shivaji as the ruler of the princely ...

, Shivaji II's eldest surviving naturally-born daughter was given titular and customary privileges, the government refused to accord the same privileges to Serfoji III. {{s-end

References

People from the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom