Tarabai — The Regent Who Kept the Marathas Fighting Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb spent the last years of his reign personally leading Mughal armies into the Deccan, trying to crush Maratha resistance for good. He never managed it. A big part of the reason was a young widow who took charge of a shattered kingdom. She refused to fight the fights the Mughals wanted. Tarabai directed guerrilla war for seven years. She was later imprisoned by her own family, and still resurfaced in politics decades afterward. Here’s the story of a nearly six-decade political career most people have never heard of.

Tarabai, painted as a warrior queen. Collection of the Chhatrapati Shahu Museum, New Palace, Kolhapur, the palace museum of the dynastic line she founded. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Modern Indian History · ModHist0321

Tarabai

The regent who kept the Marathas fighting Aurangzeb

c. 1682

Marries into the Bhosale family

Weds Rajaram, Shivaji’s son. Her father, Hambirrao Mohite, was Shivaji’s Senapati.

1700

Becomes regent

Rajaram dies at Sinhagad fort. She rules for their infant son, Shivaji II.

1700-1707

Directs resistance against Aurangzeb

Directs guerrilla warfare across the Deccan until Aurangzeb’s death.

1707-1714

Defeated, then deposed

Shahu defeats her at Khed in 1707. Rajasabai later deposes her, installing her own son, Sambhaji II.

1761

Dies at Satara

Ends a public career spanning roughly six decades.

She outlasted nearly everyone

Tarabai organised resistance against Aurangzeb in her 20s. Her own family imprisoned her in her 30s. She reemerged in her 70s to install a new Chhatrapati and clash with the Peshwa.

Contents

Directing a War She Never Fought In Person
Defeat, a Coup, and a Second Act
Test Yourself
A Career Spanning Six Decades

Directing a War She Never Fought In Person Need to Know

Tarabai (c. 1675–1761) became regent of the Maratha kingdom in 1700, after her husband Rajaram died at Sinhagad fort.
She ruled in the name of her infant son, Shivaji II, rather than in her own name.
Her father, Hambirrao Mohite, had served as Shivaji’s Senapati, or commander-in-chief.
From 1700 to 1707, she directed Maratha resistance against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaign, using guerrilla tactics rather than pitched battles.
Aurangzeb died in 1707 without fully subduing the Marathas, a failure historians partly credit to her leadership.

Defeat, a Coup, and a Second Act Good to Know

Contemporary Mughal chronicler Khafi Khan praised her powers of command, noting that the war spread further under her direction.
Her forces recaptured Panhala fort in 1706, and raided as far as Mughal territory in Gujarat.
After Aurangzeb’s death, Shahu, Sambhaji’s son, defeated her forces at the Battle of Khed in 1707. He was crowned Chhatrapati at Satara in January 1708.
In 1714, a rival within her own family, Rajasabai, deposed and imprisoned her. Rajasabai installed her own son, Sambhaji II, as ruler at Kolhapur instead.
Tarabai’s own branch of the family kept ruling from Kolhapur, formally recognised as a separate state under the 1731 Treaty of Warna. By then, she had already reconciled with Shahu and had no part in it.

Test Yourself

A Career Spanning Six Decades Great to Know

Tarabai reconciled with Shahu around 1730, after roughly 16 years in captivity, and moved back to Satara.
After Shahu died in 1749, she installed a young man she presented as her grandson, Rajaram II, as the new Chhatrapati.
In 1750, in her mid-70s, she clashed with Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao. She briefly imprisoned Rajaram II herself, in a power struggle that shaped Maratha politics for years.
She died at Satara on 9 December 1761. That was nearly a year after the Third Battle of Panipat, not during it, a detail some accounts get wrong.
Historian Richard Eaton devotes a full chapter of his academic study of the Deccan to her. He calls her “one of the most remarkable women in Indian history.”

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