Ahilyabai Holkar, the Queen of Malwa, was considered as the most powerful as well as the most benevolent ruler in the 18th century.
Born on May 31, 1725 in Chaundi village of present day Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra, her rule was a golden age as trade, literature and culture prospered a lot.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book The Discovery of India wrote that Ahilyabai’s reign of 30 years has become almost legendary as a period during which perfect order and good government prevailed and the people prospered.
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“She was a very able ruler and organizer, highly respected during her lifetime, and considered as a saint by grateful people after her death,” wrote Nehru.
Ahilyabai was not born into a royal family and her ascension to the throne was by sheer luck due to the meeting with Maratha ruler Subedar Malhar Rao Holkar when she was just 8 years old
While on his way to Pune to meet the Peshwa, Malhar Rao stopped for a brief time in Chaundi and came across Ahilyabai kindly feeding and taking care of the poor and the hungry at a temple.
As he was touched by her deep generosity, he thought that Ahilyabai would be able to mould his mischievous son Prince Khanderao into a suitable King for the future and she also has the potential to be a good Queen.
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Ahilyabai was married to Khanderao at the age of 8 years and became a mother at the age of 20 years to a son named Malerao Holkar and later to a daughter named Muktabai.
Unfortunately, Khanderao died at the Battle of Kumher when Ahilyabai was 28 years old and she decided to commit Sati in her husband’s pyre as was the custom at that time but was stopped at the nick of time by her father-in-law.
However, destiny took away her dear ones from her soon as her in-laws and son died following which she decided to take over the throne by herself despite stiff opposition from many.
While her son Malerao Holkar died due to a mental illness, her daughter Muktabai committed Sati after the death of her husband Yashwant Rao Phanse.
A builder of a large number of temples, Ahilyabai Holkar introduced many reforms like teaching warfare practices to women for their safety and allowing widows to adopt children as single mothers and even repealed a traditional law that had previously empowered the state to confiscate the property of childless widows.
Ahilyabai ruled from the scenic town of Madhya Pradesh’s Maheswar from 1765 to 1795 and built Ahilya Wada , her personal residences, offices, and darbaar audience hall, within the fort.
The present-day structure of the Kashi Viswanath Temple was renovated by Ahilyabai in 1780. Apart from temples, she built several ghats, wells, tanks and rest houses throughout the Indian subcontinent.
Once she was installed as Queen by the Peshwa, she did not let her personal sorrows affect her duties and continued to rule wisely and carried out many development activities till her death at the age of 70 years in 1795.