Kashibai

Kashibai (b. March 17, 1747 at Satara, Maharashtra, India) was the daughter of Parvatibai and Sadashivrao Bhau, Commander-in-Chief of the ill-fated Maratha campaign against Durrani forces led by Ahmed Shah Abdali. Her name ceremony took place on Chatrapati Shahu’s lap. She was married to the Sikh chieftain Sardar Hardas Singh, who was killed when Ahmed Shah Abdali attacked Amritsar in 1762.

Childhood

Kashibai spent most of her childhood at Satara. Like her mother, she was taught the use of armour, archery, horse riding and using muskets. At an early age she was exposed to court administrative matters at Satara and later during the Panipat campaign.

Panipat campaign

When Kashibai was 11, her mother Parvatibai and Kashibai's maternal cousin Radhikabai, age 13, left Deccan in May 1758 along with their entourage for Kurukshetra to perform a religious pilgrimage. As per the records available at various pilgrimage sites, Paravatibai, Kashibai and Radhikabai visited egUjjain, Vrindavan, Haridwar, the Shiv temple of Rawalpindi, and the Narasinha temple of Multan. Donations given by Parvatibai to the Golden Temple at Amritsar for burning oil lamps is clearly recorded, with the confirmed date of her visit as Diwali Amavasya of 1759, almost 14 months prior to the battle day.

Life after the Panipat campaign

Kashibai and Radhikabai were staying in the house of Sardar Ramdas of Majitha when news of the total rout of Maratha forces, the death of Kashibai’s father Sadashivrao Bhau and of Radhikabai's fiance Vishwasrao reached them. Following Sikh tradition, Sardar Ramdas gave refuge to these ladies from Deccan. As per the prevailing Hindu custom of marrying a daughter within the first calendar year of her father’s death, Kashibai was married off to Sardar Ramdas’ son Sardar Hardas Singh on Baisakhi day, 1761 at Amritsar. Radhikabai became a yogini and led a pious life at Hardwar until her death in 1801. Kashibai gave birth to a daughter, Dharmabai alias Dharma Kaur, in April 1762. Dharmabai was a posthumous child, as Sardar Hardas Singh had been killed earlier in a skirmish when Ahmed Shah Abdali invaded Amritsar in February 1762. Dharmabai married Gurdial Singh (d. 1797) of Gujranwala, situated in the west Punjab province of Pakistan. Dharmabai died in 1792 in labour pains after giving birth to Sardar Hari Singh.

Upbringing of Hari Singh

Hari Singh was brought up and tutored by his maternal grandmother, who made special arrangements for teaching her grandchild to be a fearless administrator and an expert in archery, armoury and musketry. Naik Fateh Khan Gardi, captain of Sadashivrao Bhau’s personal guards, played a big part in teaching Hari Singh the use of mechanics-mathematics in firing artillery-muskets.

Kashibai died at Majitha near Amritsar in 1803, a few months before Sikh Maharaja Ranjeet Singh commissioned Hari Singh in his army and granted him a command of 700 infantrymen and cavalrymen along with the honour of title Sardar. Sardar Hari Singh was a pioneer in using light artillery effectively against strongly defended fortifications and became a legendary Sikh general in the Maharaja’s government, defeating the Afghans several times in strategically important battles.