Hatshepsut is famous as the Egyptian queen who patronised arts. The Assyrian queen Sammuramat is known for fighting many wars, building a new capital and influencing lands far and wide. Isabella, the queen of Spain, is famous for bringing together an empire full of noblemen and streamlining the government machinery. These names, from times distant and lands far, get repeated in listicles and history throwbacks.



Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, who had most of these achievements to her repertoire and then some more, is a name largely unknown to most Indians, let alone to global history compilations. 13 August 2016 marks the 221st death anniversary of Ahilyabai. She ruled the province of Malwa for 28 years before she died, and created a strong local administration, overcoming the 18th-century disadvantage of gender. Taking over as the Queen of Malwa after all the male claimants to the throne had died, she stands out as a strong ruler spreading the message of dharma, rejuvenating Hinduism, and promoting the relatively modern virtues of small-scale industrialisation.

Ahilyabai was born in 1725 in a shepherd family in the district of Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. Belonging to the Dhangar community, she was among the few girls who learnt to read and write in that era. Malhar Rao Holkar, then the Holkar ruler of Indore, got her married at the age of eight to his son Khanderao, after a chance meeting. Khanderao lost his life in the 1754 battle in Rajasthan. The following events lead up to the legendary 1761 Battle of Panipat . Malhar Rao himself passed away in 1765 followed by the death of Khanderao’s son in 1767 who assumed the throne for a couple of years, with Ahilyabai as the regent. Ahilyabai then became the queen of Indore in 1767.

During this period, the Peshwa’s rule in Pune had significantly weakened in the aftermath of the loss at Panipat. Their regional satraps Holkars (Indore), Gaikwads (Baroda), Bhonsles (Nagpur) and Scindias (Gwalior) were all gaining prominence in their own right in their respective territories.

The biggest challenge Ahilyabai faced at the start of her reign was the constant plundering from the tribal population living in pockets to the west of her kingdom. She led the Holkar army in some of these battles against the intruders, establishing order in the kingdom. Ahilyabai set up her capital at the ancient city of Maheshwar on the banks of the Narmada River. The mighty fort that she built stands firm even today, overlooking a broad stretch of the Narmada. Although Holkars were based in Indore, she distinguished between her capital Maheshwar as the seat of power and Indore as the center for all economic activity. Under her rule, Indore prospered into a major trading hub from being a small town.

She brought about two important changes in the administration, both divergences from the traditions of her era.

Firstly, she vested the military power in Tukoji Holkar, a confidante of her father-in-law though not related. She took care of the administrative functions herself after assuming the throne.

Secondly, she separated the state’s revenue from the personal use of the ruling family. Her personal expenses were met from inherited wealth and the land holdings she had. The British regent John Malcolm has documented these administrative improvements in his memoirs Central India which were published, in 1880, long after his death.

Ahilyabai was politically astute as well. In 1772, she was said to have warned the Peshwa against allying with the British. At that time, the British were trying to take advantage of the vacuum in Pune, pitting claimants to the Peshwai one against the other. She also supported Mahadji Scindia in the power struggle in the northern part of Malwa which, for a whil, helped stabilise the region despite the problems in Pune. In the Uttar Vibhag of his eight-volume epic Marathi Riyasat, G.S. Sardesai has described how Nana Phadnis tried to pension off Ahilyabai on more than one occasion so that Tukoji could be the sole administrator in the Holkar region. But Ahilyabai refused to leave the public sphere despite all the prodding.

In his book Marathanche Itihasanchi Sadhanen, historian A.V Rajwade has traced the failures of the Marathas (with Peshwas in the lead) in northern India, then referred to as Hindustan, to “their failure to work out Maharasthra Dharma in a wider perspective”. Rajwade postulates that if Marathas had emulated Ahilyabai and succeeded in evolving a sound and just administration in their northern conquests, the people of Hindustan may have gladly accepted their rule.