Centuries old feud comes to an end---Peshwa's family accepts Mastani !!

ashdoc

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
2,980
Likes
3,679
Country flag
Families that have been warring ever since Baji Rao Peshwa I married Muslim girl Mastani come together, make peace over kaju katlis and rasagullas.

In Pune When he knocked on the heavy wooden front door of the sprawling bungalow on Prabhat Road, Umar Ali Bahadur could barely contain his excitement. When the door was opened by the elegant septuagenarian Vinayak Vishwanath Peshwa, Bahadur felt an immediate connect. Before the door opened he tried to imagine how his host would look.

"The man before me looked just like Bade Abba - my father's elder brother," Bahadur beams. "He embraced me with affection and I could feel it was my blood," recalls Bahadur. All of 25, Bahadur has come to Pune in search of his roots and this meeting on Monday night was momentous. He was meeting family.

The 73-year-old Vinayak Vishwanath Peshwa, a practising Hindu Brahmin in Pune and Bahadur, a devout Muslim from Bhopal are both eighth generation descendants of Baji Rao Peshwa I, a noted general who served as the Prime Minister (or Peshwa) of the fourth Maratha emperor (Chhatrapati) Shahu, between 1720 and 1740 (when he died). The two trace their lineage to the two wives of Baji Rao: Kashibai and Mastani.

The two families have had little to do with each other over the past generations, as Baji Rao's Hindu family disapproved of his marriage to a Muslim woman. Legend has it that Baji Rao's mother Radhabai connived with his brother Chimanji Appa and tried to send her into exile.

Baji Rao's son Balaji too put Mastani under house arrest when he was away on a military campaign. Baji Rao lived with Mastani in his palace - Shaniwar Wada - for a while but later moved her out to a house he built in Kothrud. Earmarking this site, today, is a Mrutyunjay temple on one of the city's thoroughfare - Karve Road.

There are various versions both about Mastani's origin and death. The most accepted (now even by both sides of the family) is that she was the daughter of Maharaja Chattrasal of Bundelkhand and his Persian wife. She was offered in marriage to Baji Rao, along with a third of her father's kingdom (including Jhansi, Sagar and Kalpi) after the Peshwa saved her father from a Mughal invader - Mohammad Khan Bangash.

Similarly, while it's known that Mastani died soon after Baji Rao's death, there are stories that she either committed suicide by consuming poison or jumping into his funeral pyre.

Cut to present day. History and generations have erased any bitterness that may remain between the two families. Bahadur is a sales officer at DSK Motors Ltd, at Hadapsar. His distant cousin Peshwa is a Remote Sensing Consultant to the Government of Maharashtra, Irrigation and Seismicity Projects. Bahadur had called Peshwa on Sunday to set up the meeting.

Peshwa did offer him dinner, but having already had his dinner on his way back from work, Bahadur preferred to concentrate on catching up on lost time. He called his elders back in his village - Pihor - 35 kms from Bhopal and got them talking to Peshwa. This was done over a box of kaju katli that Bahadur had brought with him and the rasagullas his host offered.

"It was a meeting that took place as Umar was keen to meet me. He and his family members are part of the Peshwa family," says Peshwa. He enthusiastically introduced his son to Bahadur. "We knew that Mastani family has been living in and around their ancestral home in Bundelkhand, but we had no communication." What changed this was a book on Mastani by Kusum Chopra. Bahadur met Chopra at the Peshwa family's Ganpati temple at Sarabaug. It was she who gave him Peshwa's contact.

"The Peshwa has promised me full support in restoration of Mastani shrine at Pabal. Besides he has pledged support to me in all my endeavours to preserve the shrine of Mastani and Peshwas, which are in dilapidated conditions," Bahadur adds. "I want that the interactions of our family must increase further and our age old ties to strengthen every day. The marriage of Bajirao with Mastani itself the set the trend of liberalism in India and we are proud to cherish the legacy each day," he adds.

Peshwa has now invited Bahadur to attend Baji Rao's birthday celebrations at Sarasbaug next Sunday. "We have invited him for our family meeting in the temple as Umar is our family member," he said.

Bahadur, who calls himself a Konkanastha Brahmin Muslim, is all ready for the big day.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article...d-feud-between-Peshwas-and-Mastanis-ends.html
 

pmaitra

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
33,262
Likes
19,593
Is this another "AshDoc's Movie Review?" :troll:

Just kidding. Touching story indeed, and too good to he true, if the recent mood in DFI is to be taken into consideration. :)

Thanks for posting!
 

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top