01The last camp
In the spring of 1740 Bajirao was camped with his army on the Narmada, in the country between Malwa and Khandesh that his campaigns had opened to the Marathas. He had fought Nizam-ul-Mulk at Palkhed in 1728, relieved Chhatrasal in Bundelkhand in 1729, ridden to the gates of Delhi in 1737 and beaten the Nizam again at Bhopal. At Raverkhedi he fell ill with a fever and died on 28 April 1740, not yet forty. He was cremated on the bank of the river. Mastani, who had stayed behind at Pune, died within months.
02The samadhi
A stone vrindavan, the platform-and-shrine form used for Maratha samadhis, was raised over the place of cremation, and a walled enclosure with a small Shiva shrine and a dharmashala stands around it, looking down the steps to the Narmada. It is a protected monument. Few people come except from Maharashtra, and on Bajirao’s death anniversary groups make the journey to offer flowers.
The life of this place
- 28 April 1740Peshwa Bajirao I dies at Raverkhedi and is cremated on the Narmada.
Near Sanawad in Khargone district, reached by a village road from the Indore–Khandwa highway; Omkareshwar is the nearest base.
