Tarabai Bhosale (née Mohite) was the regent of the Maratha Empire from 1700 until 1708. She was the queen of Rajaram I, and daughter-in-law of the empire's founder Shivaji I. She is acclaimed for her role in keeping alive the resistance against Mughal occupation of Maratha territories after the death of her husband, and acting as the regent during the minority of her son, Shivaji II.
Illustration of Tarabai, c. 1928
A 1927 depiction of Tarabai in battle by noted Marathi painter M. V. Dhurandhar
Equestrian statue of Tarabai in Kolhapur
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian empire and later a confederation that controlled large portions of the Indian Subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shivaji of the Bhonsle dynasty as the Chhatrapati. Although Shivaji came from the Maratha caste, the Maratha empire also included warriors, administrators, and other nobles from the Maratha and several other castes from what is known today as Maharashtra. The Maratha Kingdom was expanded into a full-fledged Empire in the 18th Century under the leadership of Peshwa Bajirao I.
The Maratha Confederacy in 1760, near its peak (Yellow)
Image: Shivaji seal, reproduction
Early Maratha conquests, in Shivaji's and Shahji's time
A portrait of Shivaji I