Mastani

Mastani was Bajirao I's second wife, was never accepted by his family, and is the subject of more Indian legend and film than any Maratha campaign. She was a daughter of Chhatrasal, the Bundela ruler of Panna, by a Muslim consort, and came to Bajirao around 1728 after he relieved Panna from a Mughal attack - given, in the usual account, as part of the settlement along with a third of the state. That parentage is the whole difficulty: she was Muslim by her mother and the Peshwa household was Chitpavan Brahmin, and Bajirao's mother Radhabai and brother Chimaji Appa refused to receive her, refused to let her son Shamsher Bahadur be given the sacred thread, and confined her at Pune during his absences. Bajirao did not repudiate her, built her quarters within Shaniwar Wada, and the marriage cost him standing in his own caste that he never recovered. She was an accomplished dancer and rider by the accounts that survive, all of them written by other people. She died in 1740, within weeks or days of Bajirao's death of fever on the Narmada, and the manner is disputed - illness, or suicide on hearing. Her son Shamsher Bahadur was raised by Bajirao's first wife Kashibai and died fighting for the Marathas at Panipat. A memorial to her stands at Pabal near Pune, where she is buried by Muslim rite. Shaniwar Wada has a gate named Mastani Darwaza by tradition. The 2015 film Bajirao Mastani made the story nationally famous and is not a reliable account.

• Lived: 1699 CE – 1740 CE
• Nationality: Indian
• Roles: royalty