Gopikabai (Balaji Bajirao’s Wife) Age, Husband, Family, Caste, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gopikabai

• Gopikabai was very religious and orthodox in nature. When Radhabai, wife of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, saw her for the first time, she got impressed by her religious activities and found that she would make an ideal match for the eldest son of Bajirao I, Balaji Bajirao (also known as Nanasaheb Peshwa).

• After a few years of married life, when her husband Balaji Bajirao became Peshwa, her relationship with other women in the court deteriorated. She developed a great rivalry with Anandibai, who was married to her husband’s brother, Raghunathrao.

• Gopikabai blamed Parvatibai‘s niece, Radhikabai of being an ill-omen and causing the death of her son, Vishwasrao during the Third battle of Panipat.

• When her husband died, her son Madhavrao I became the Peshwa of Maratha Empire.

• Her son Madhavrao I died in 1773 of tuberculosis.

• When her third son Narayan Rao was murdered, she spent her life as a poor. She used to beg alms in the society of Sardars in Nasik.

• When Radhikabai, fiancee of her eldest son, Vishwasrao came to Nasik on the occasion of the Kumbh Mela, she recognised Gopikabai, who was asking for alms to her. Gopikabai again accused Radhikabai of ill-omen.

• Having met Radhikabai accidentally, she performed fast unto death and died of dehydration on 11 August 1778. Her last rites were performed by Radhikabai and erected some deepmalas (tower of lights) on the banks of Godavari River in Nasik. However, those deepmalas devastated during the floods of 1961.

• In 2018, Hindi film director, Ashutosh Gowariker, started a project to make a film named ‘Panipat‘ on the Third Battle of Panipat, in which Padmini Kolhapure would play a role of Gopikabai.