Lakhujiraje Jadhav Rao was a grandee of

Sindkhed Raja Sindkhed Raja is a town and a municipal council in Buldhana district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. It is the birthplace of Jijabai, Rajmata Jijabai, mother of Shivaji. Sindkhed was ruled by Koli people, Koli ...

in the present-day

Buldhana district Buldhana district (Marathi pronunciation: ulɖʰaːɳa is located in the Amravati division of Maharashtra, India. It is situated at the western border of Vidarbha region and is 500 km away from the state capital, Mumbai. The district ha ...

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 ...

state during the 16th century. He was maternal Grandfather of Maratha Emperor

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 ...

Background

Lakhuji Jadhav was a Maratha chief. He was one of the early exponents of guerilla warfare and he became one of the most important sardars in the

Nizam Shahi The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general Ja ...

sultanate. He is known to be the victor of the famous fort of

Devagiri Daulatabad Fort, also known as Devagiri Fort or Deogiri Fort, is a historic fortified citadel located in Daulatabad village near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was the capital of the Yadava dynasty (9th century–14th century CE), for a b ...

. After he won the war of Khandesh and the controlled Khandesh and became the Maharao of

Khandesh Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh. The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in ...

with the help of Shinde's Rao of

West Khandesh Dhule district (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ʰuɭeː is a district of Maharashtra, India. The city of Dhule is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of North Maharashtra. The Dhule district previously comprised tracts o ...

from Dhanur and Songir. His daughter was

Jijabai Jijabai Bhonsle (or Bhonsale, Bhosale, Bhosle) or Jadhav (12 January 1598 – 17 June 1674), referred to as Rajmata, Rastramata, Jijabai or Jijau, was the mother of Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire. She was a daughter of Lakhujirao Ja ...

, the mother of

, founder of the

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 ...

. She was born on 12 January 1598 and married at an early age to

Shahaji Bhosale Shahaji Bhonsale (Pronunciation: �əɦad͡ʒiː c. 1594 – 1664) was a military leader of India in the 17th century, who served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Bijapur Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire at various points in his career. As a membe ...

, a nobleman and military commander under the

Adil Shahi The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia,Salma Ahmed Farooqui, ''A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century'', (Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd., 2011), 174. and later Sunni Muslim,Muhammad Qasim Firishta's T ...

sultans of

Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...

in present-day

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

.Maratha Sardars
''General Studies History 4 Upsc'', by Reddy. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2005. . ''p. 50''

Death

Lakhuji Jadhav was murdered by treachery at Daulatabad, along with his sons and a grandson, at the orders of the Nizam Shah in 1629. At the time, his daughter Jijabai was pregnant with Shivaji.

Descendants

One of the surviving descendants of Lakhuji Jadhav was Shambusing Jadhav who famously fought in the Battle of Pavankhind. His great-grandson was the famous Maratha commander

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jadhav, Lakhuji People of the Maratha Empire People from Maharashtra People from Buldhana district 16th-century Indian people