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Peshwa Bajirao I Born on 18th Aug 1699 Died on 28th April 1740 also known as Thorale Bajirao or Rau.  He is considered the most valiant and famous amongst the Peshwas.

His swift cavalry movements and brilliant military strategies make him second only to the great Shivaji Maharaj. Bajirao was the son and successor of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Bhat.

A young Bajirao was appointed the Peshwa by Chatrapati Shahu immediately after the death of Balaji Vishwanath. Bajirao was a very ambitious person and dreamt of expanding the borders of the Maratha kingdom towards the north. He was witnessing a gradual deterioration in the Mughal power and wanted to take full advantage of this situation.

Bajirao had many stumbling blocks in his quest for creating Maratha supremacy. There were the Siddis at Janjira and the Portuguese challenging Maratha dominance on the western coast. But the foremost amongst Bajiraos foes was Nizam ul Mulk the mughal viceroy of Deccan at Hyderabad, who sensing the weak control of the mughal emperors, also wanted to establish his own independent kingdom in the Deccan.

In October 1728, Bajirao and his troops then launched an attack on Malwa. His contingent consisted of his brother Chimaji Appa, Tanoji Shinde,Malharrao Holkar and Udaji Pawar, all of whom were destined to great heights in the near future. The Marathas subdued the Mughal forces and captured Malwa.

Extremely gratified towards Bajirao,  Raja Chatrasal declared the Peshwa to be his adopted son, and even accorded him a personal jagir which included Sagar,Banda and Jhansi. Chatrasal also gifted Bajirao his beautiful daughter Mastani from his Persian Muslim concubine. Mastani later bore Bajirao a son who was named Shamsher Bahadur. The love story between Bajirao and Mastani is regarded as a tragedy, as this alliance didn’t go well with Bajiraos orthodox family and orthodox Pune Bramhins. They refused to conduct the thread ceremony of Shamsher Bahadur (Krishnarao) as he was born from a Muslim woman. What irked the orthodox Brahmins even more was the fact that Bajirao inspite of being a Chitpavan Brahmin, disregarded the principles of Brahmanism. On his expeditions, he openly consumed meat and alcohol. Shamsher Bahadur died fighting for the Marathas in the third battle of Panipat. His son Ali Bahadur later got charge of Bajiraos jagir in Bundelkhand. He also formed the state of Banda in present day Uttar Pradesh.

By 1735, the marathas had virtually gained control over entire Gujrat and Malwa. The Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah was delaying over passing an official order chartering chauth and sardeshmukhi rights to the Marathas. The Peshwa then decided to teach a lesson to the Mughal emperor.  He declared war on the Mughals on Dec 1736. He personally marched towards Delhi with a large Maratha army. He divided the army into two. One contingent was led by Peshwa Bajirao and other by Pilaji Jadhav and Malharrao Holkar. The contingent of Holkar was however defeated by Sadat Khan. Malharrao Holkar himself managed to escape and reach the other contingent led by Bajirao. Meanwhile,  thinking that the Maratha threat was over, Sadat Khan sent the good news to Delhi. To join in the celebrations of his perceived success, the other Mughal commanders also joined in, leaving Delhi virtually unguarded. That was when the contingent of Bajirao in a swift movement completely bypassed the Mughal army and reached the outskirts of Delhi, covering a ten day journey in just Forty eight hours.

On 31st March 1737, the victorious Maratha army left Delhi. On the way back to Pune, Bajirao planted his trusted lieutenants at various places in north and central India, which were to remain their permanent places of influence.

Bajirao was struck by a virulent fever at Raver near Indore and hardly in weeks time, he breathed his last on 18th April 1740. He was just forty. At the time of his death his wife Kashibai and son Janardhan were by his side. His son performed his last rites.

Bajirao left behind a wife, Kashibai and four sons namely Balaji Bajirao his successor known as Nanasaheb Peshve. Second Son Raghunathrao who later became Peshwa for a small period following the murder of his nephew Narayanrao. Third son Janardhanraoand his other son Ramchandra probably died early.

Bajirao was the one who made Pune his capital. His aide Bapuji Shripat was instrumental in persuading many rich families of adjoining towns to settle down at Pune. Bajirao had the famous temple of Omkareshwar constructed in his lifetime. Bajirao also had their mansion Shanivarwada constructed at Shanivar Peth in Pune. This was the official residence of the Peshwas.

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