21st July ~ Balaji Ka Khulaasa..!!

Hello everyone ... So today episode revealed all suspense that was there between Balaji and Radhabai from so long.

finally its out & looking at chimna's burst its clear what awaits in future .

thanks for the update..

the truth shown today, abt Balaji's so called 2 sons with his mistress...sons names Bhikaji and Ranoji...frankly I never heard or read abt it anywhere..

but the truth is , in that era almost all men have many women in their lives, married or unmarried...all wives stayed in one house , while their mistresses at some distant place...

and the way they had shown Chimna today...the history I have read, says, even Chimnaji Appa had few women in his life ...but he was married to only one that is Rakhma, and had son only from her named Sadashiv rao , famously known as "Bhau" in history of Peshwa...none of his mistresses bore any child or atleast they r unknown in history...

even Baji's son Nanasaheb married only one girl, Gopikabai Raste, but he too had few mistresses...but yes, all these mistress were kept away from family, and the wives got first priority...

but Baji's case was different...he married Mastani, coz he didn't like ppl calling her mistress...and after marriage he brought her to Pune at his home...may be if he had kept her away , then his family might not have any problem with Mastani...but after Mastani came to his life, he adopted her lifestyle of eating non-veg, and consuming alcohol...and that was certainly not acceptable in that society...and that became the main reason of the rift btw Baji and rest of the family...

Originally posted by: kahiliginger

It is true that many of the men in the Peshwa family had mistresses. Mastani was Bajirao's favourite but she could not be given the status of a lawfully wedded wife as she belonged to another community. Bajirao's family was endogamous, they were only allowed to take Brahmin wives and Mastani was not a Brahmin.

Bajirao maintained relations with wife Kashi and later Mastani and had children by both women. After 1737 he began spending more time with Mastani and also began eating meat and drinking alcohol. His licentious lifestyle and subsequent neglect of Kashi caused a scandal.

The first among the Peshwa family to remarry when the previous wife was living was Bajirao's son Balaji aka Nana when he took a second wife called Radha, 9 year old daughter of a rich moneylender. The idea was to access loans from her father for battle campaigns. However this marriage remained unconsummated as Nana died within months of the wedding.

Balaji Vishwanath had a mistress who bore him a son called Bhikaji. That woman also had another son but Balaji was not his father. Bhikaji used the surname Shinde because illegitimate children were not given the father's surname. They were referred to as Lekarwala in Marathi.This was also true for Mastani's son Shamsher who was brought up in his mother's Muslim faith. Shamsher died of battle wounds in Panipat.

Chimaji Appa did not have any mistress. His first wife Rakhma died in 1730 after giving birth to their son Sadashiv. Within a few months Radhabai got Chimaji married to another girl called Annapurnabai. She bore Chimaji a daughter called Bayabai in September 1740. Chimaji died in December 1740 and Annapurna went Sati by immolating herself in his pyre. Sadashiv was killed in 1761 during the battle of Panipat.

Nana, the firstborn of Kashi was married to Gopikabai who bore him three sons-Vishwas, Madhav and Narayan. Tragically Gopikabai was destined to witness the deaths of her husband and her three young sons during her lifetime. Elder son Vishwas died at Panipat. Madhav, who succeeded his father as Peshwa died of consumption at the age of 27 and his wife Rama went Sati with him.

Narayan was assassinated at the age of 19 soon after he succeeded his brother Madhav as Peshwa. His infant son Sawai Madhavrao was declared the Peshwa and Nana Fadnavis was appointed regent until the Peshwa reached maturity. Sawai Madhavrao died issueless at the age of 21.

Both sons of Bajirao- Nana and Raghunath had several mistresses who bore them many illegitimate children.

(Information extracted from the Marathi book Peshwe Gharanyacha Itihaas by Pramod Oak)