| Great Personalities |
 |
| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
JIJABAI |
|
| Her
Parent's House Reduced To AshesIn the midst
of all this, most crushing news reached Shivaneri and struck her like lightning. The
family of Jijabai's parents was blighted. Lakhuji Jadhav Rao who had made friends with the
Moguls decided to return to the service of the Nizamshahi. Along with his three sons, he
waited on the Nizam and offered obeisance to him. The Nizam's Sardars cut off their heads
as they bent down to salute the Nizam. Within a few seconds the entire family of Jijabai
was destroyed.
Jijabai’s mother Malasabai and the wives of her elder brothers performed ‘sati' and burnt themselves with the bodies of their husbands. These terrible happenings burnt her very heal. The Mogul Badshah of Delhi had sent Raja Jai Singh to the South at the head of a huge army. The Nizam had no faith in Shahaji Raje Bhosle, too. No one could know when he would be in danger. But Shahaji was quite shrewd. He became wary before it was too late. He, too, joined hands with the Moguls. But the Moguls wanted to keep Shahaji away from Sahyadri. So they appointed him as the Sardar of Karnataka Jahagir and sent him to Bangalore. This became his Jahagir. Stories of the cruel deeds of the Nizam and his officers reached Shivaneri one after another. Whole villages and the families of poor Marathas were being wiped out. Kheloji Rao was a young relative of Shahaji Raje Bhosle. Sardar Mohabat Khan forcibly carried away his young and beautiful wife when she was bathing. When such was the fate of the daughter-in-law of the famous Bhosle family, what could not happen to poor and helpless Marathas? When Jijabai heard all this, she became furious. |
|
