Battle of Dabhoi

01Peshwa and Senapati

The Dabhades held the office of Senapati, commander-in-chief, and had won the right to collect chauth in Gujarat. When Bajirao began sending his own armies into Gujarat and Malwa, Trimbakrao Dabhade saw it as an attack on his rights. He gathered Pilaji Gaekwad, the Kadam Bandes and other Gujarat chiefs, and there was talk of help from the Nizam, who was glad to see the Marathas divided. Chhatrapati Shahu tried to make peace. When talks failed, Bajirao marched north in the spring of 1731.

02A day at Bhilapur

The armies met at Bhilapur near Dabhoi on 1 April 1731. Bajirao’s men broke the Senapati’s line, and Trimbakrao, fighting on his elephant, was shot and killed. Pilaji Gaekwad was wounded and escaped. Shahu was grieved at the death of a great Maratha house’s heir. Bajirao made his peace with Trimbakrao’s mother Umabai and gave the office of Senapati to her younger son Yashwantrao, with Pilaji Gaekwad managing Gujarat for him. The Nizam, who had hoped to profit, gained nothing.

Person · 18 Aug 1700 – 28 Apr 1740; Peshwa from 1720Peshwa Bajirao IMade Peshwa by Chhatrapati Shahu at nineteen, Bajirao spent twenty years in the saddle. He beat the Nizam at Palkhed and Bhopal, saved Chhatrasal in Bundelkhand, rode to the gates of Delhi in 1737, and left Malwa and much of the north paying the chauth to Pune.Read →