Mastani was born to Maharaja Chhatrasal a Rajput king and his Persian wife Ruhaani Bai. She was born in Mau Sahaniya, now a village in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Her father is the founder of the state of Panna.

She and her father were followers of the Pranami sampradaya, a sect based on the worship of Krishna.

Very little is known of Mastani's early life.

Marriage with Bajirao I

In 1728, Muhammad Khan Bangash invaded Chhatrasal's kingdom, defeated him and imprisoned his family. Chhatrasal secretly wrote to Bajirao requesting his help. But being occupied in a military campaign in Malwa Bajirao did not respond until 1729 when he marched on towards Bundelkhand. Ultimately Bajirao defeated Bangash after reaching Jaitpur near Kulpahar in present Uttar Pradesh.

In gratitude, Chattrasal gave Bajirao the hand of his daughter Mastani, dominion over Jhansi, Sagar and Kalpi - amounting to a third of his kingdom. After his marriage to Mastani, he also gifted Bajirao with 33 lakh gold coins and a gold mine. At the time, Bajirao was already married and monogamous by both nature and family tradition. He, however, accepted out of regard for Chattrasal.

Back in Pune, the marriage was not generally accepted because Mastani's Muslim heritage. Mastani lived for some time with Bajirao at his palace of Shaniwar Wada in the city of Pune. The palace's north-east corner held Mastani Mahal and had its own external doorway called Mastani Darwaza. Because of his family's intolerance of Mastani, Bajirao later built a separate residence for Mastani at Kothrud in 1734, some distance away from Shaniwar Wada. The site still exists at the Mrutyunjay temple on Karve road. The palace at Kothrud was dismantled and parts of this are displayed at a special section of Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum.

Bajirao's love for his half-Muslim wife Mastani and neglect of Kashibai angered his mother, Radhabai. In deference to Radhabai, Bajirao's brother, Chimajiappa, tried to send Mastani into exile. Bajirao's son, Balaji, also tried to coerce Mastani into leaving his father, but she refused. Enraged by her growing influence on Bajirao and Bajirao's neglect of Kashibai, Balaji had Mastani placed under house arrest for a time, while Bajirao was on military campaign.

Mastani was skilled in horse-riding, spear-throwing and swordsmanship and a talented dancer and singer.^{[citation needed]} She accompanied Bajirao on his military campaigns.^{[citation needed]}

Shamsher Bahadur (Krishna Rao)

Mastani bore a son who was named Krishna Rao at birth, within a few months of Bajirao's first wife Kashibai delivering a son. But being born of a half-Muslim mother, the priests refused to conduct the Hindu upanayana ceremony for Krishna Rao. The boy was eventually named Shamsher Bahadur and brought up as a Muslim.^[6]

After the closely following deaths of Bajirao and Mastani in 1740, Kashibai took the 6 year-old Shamsher Bahadur under her care and raised him as one of her own. Shamsher was bestowed upon a portion of his father’s dominion of Banda and Kalpi. In 1761, he and his army contingent fought alongside the Peshwa in the Third Battle of Panipat between the Marathas and Afghans. He was wounded in that battle and died a few days later at Deeg.^[9]

Mastani died in 1740, shortly after Bajirao's death. She was buried in Pabal. Given her association with both Hinduism and Islam, her grave is called both Mastani's samadhi and Mastani's mazar.^[5][10]

Shamsher Singh's son Nawab Ali Bahadur I was given the Rajputana provinces that came in Mastani's dowry - Jhansi, Sagar and Kalpi. In 1858, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 his son Nawab Ali Bahadur II responded to a rakhi from Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and fought against the British.^[11][12]

Literature

• 1972 - Rau, the Marathi novel by Nagnath S. Inamdar featuring a fictionalized love story between Baji Rao I and Mastani.^[13]

Films

• 1955 - Mastani directed by Dhirubhai Desai. It starred Nigar Sultana, Manher Desai, Shahu Modak and Agha.^[14]
• 2015 - Bajirao Mastani directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali based on the Marathi novel Raau. It starred Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra in lead roles.^[15]

Television

• 1990 - Rau a Marathi TV series based on the novel by the same name.^{[citation needed]}
• 2015 - Shrimant Peshwa Bajirao Mastani, a Marathi TV serial broadcast on ETV Marathi.^[16]
• 2017 - Peshwa Bajirao, a Hindi TV series premiered and broadcast on Sony TV India.