Tulsi Bai Holkar

Maharani Tulsi Bai Holkar (b. ca. 1788 - 20 December 1817) was a queen of Maharaja Yashwant Rao Holkar. She was a daughter of Ajiba, a priest of the Manbhoo sect.

Biography

Tulsi Bai didn't have any child. After the death of Yashwantrao Holkar, Tulsi bai became regent for 4 year old Malhar Rao Holkar II, son of Yashwantrao from another of his wife. Tulsi Bai was young, beautiful and intelligent, but her cruel, profligate, adulturous nature had made her infamous among the people who were loyal to the Holkar family. Karl Marx notes that after the death of her husband, she had many "favorites" and lived with her "lover" Gafur Khan for 4 years. She has made Gafur Khan chief of Pathan army which was unacceptable to the British government. When she was on the way to join Baji Rao Peshwa to fight against the British, General John Malcolm arrived near Mahidpur and started negotiations. Tulsi Bai was in favor of British terms, but some Generals of her army refused. Tulsi Bai was not much in command of the army. Tension escalated and in the morning of 20 December 1817, her own soldiers beheaded her on the banks of the Shipra River near Mahidpur and her body was thrown in the river.^[1][2]

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