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Rajaram I
Maharaj
Rajaram I in 1689
Chhatrapati of the Marathas
Reign	11 March 1689 – 3 March 1700
Coronation	12 February 1689
Predecessor	Sambhaji
Successor	Shivaji II
Peshwa	Ramchandra Pant Amatya
Born	(1670-02-24)24 February 1670[1] Rajgad Fort,Ahmadnagar Subah,Mughal Empire(present-dayPune district,Maharashtra,India)
Died	3 March 1700(1700-03-03) (aged 30) Sinhagad Fort,Maratha Kingdom(present-day Pune district, Maharashtra, India)
Spouse	Jankibai Tarabai Rajasbai Ambikabai
Issue	Shivaji II Sambhaji II
House	Bhonsale
Father	Shivaji I
Mother	Soyarabai
Religion	Hinduism
Seal

Rajaram I (Rajaram Bhonsale,Marathi pronunciation:[[ɾaːd͡ʒaɾaːmˈbʱos(ə)le]; 24 February 1670 – 3 March 1700), also known asRam Raaje,^[2] was the third king (Chhatrapati) of theMaratha Kingdom, who ruled from 1689 to his death in 1700. He was the second son ofShivaji, the founder of the kingdom, and younger paternal half-brother ofSambhaji whom he succeeded. His eleven-year reign was marked with aconstant struggle against the Mughals. He was succeeded by his infant sonShivaji II under the regentship of hisRajmataMaharani Tarabai.

Rajaram was born in theBhonsle dynasty toShivaji and his second wife,Soyarabai, on 24 February 1670. He was thirteen years younger than his brother,Sambhaji. Given the ambitious nature of Soyarabai, Rajaram was installed on the Maratha throne upon the death of his father in 1680 at the age of 10. However, the Maratha generals wanted Sambhaji as the king and thus Sambhaji claimed the throne. Upon Sambhaji's death at the hands of the Mughals in 1689, Rajaram was informally crowned as Chhatrapati of as a regent for his nephewShahu I.^[3] He vowed to avenge his brother'sexecution.

Rajaram married three times. His first marriage was at the age of ten toJankibai, the five-year-old daughter of Shivaji's army chief,Prataprao Gujar.^[4] His other wives wereTarabai, the daughter of SarsenapatiHambirrao Mohite, the Maratha army general who succeeded Prataprao, and Rajasbai from the influential Ghatge family ofKagal. Rajaram had three sons,

• Raja Karna (died in 1700) with mistress Sagunabai^[5][6]
• Shivaji II with Tarabai,
• Sambhaji II with Rajasbai.^[7]

After theexecution of Sambhaji by the Mughals, Rajaram was informally crowned atRaigad on 12 March 1689. Rajaram then moved towards to the Bhavani temple atPratapgad.^[8] As he went inspecting the fortresses that lay along the route, he had them provisioned and armed.^[8][9]

As the Mughals under Itikad Khan (laterZulfikar Khan) started laying siege to the region aroundRaigad on 25 March 1689, Rajaram's generalSantaji Ghorpade organized a counter offensive.^[11] Santaji's plan was for the Maratha army to entrench itself atPhaltan and from that base draw the attention of Mughal generals while Santaji and a small cavalry contingent would raid the main Mughal camp atTulapur, and if possible kill Aurangzeb in the middle of his army. Santaji and Vithoji Chavan, his second in command, led a two thousand strong contingent for this purpose towards Tulapur. On stealthily reaching the Mughal camp they rushed at Aurangzeb's pavilion, cut down the supporting ropes and the huge cloth edifice came down in a crash, killing everyone inside.^[12] Afterwards it was discovered that Aurangzeb by chance was passing that night in his daughter's tent, thus escaping death.^[11]

After some rest at Sinhagad, Santaji led the Maratha contingent down the Bhor Ghat and attacked the rear of Itikad Khan's army besieging Raigad, carrying off five imperial Mughal war elephants. Following this Maratha contingents under Dhanaji Jadhav and Santaji attacked and completely routedMuqarrab Khan, the Mughal general responsible for capture of Sambhaji, at Bhudhargad 45 miles south of Kolhapur. Muqarrab Khan and his son were mortally wounded and chased up to the Mughal camp at Kolhapur and all their loot was captured.^[13][14]

Determined at all costs to take Raigad, Aurangzeb continued to send reinforcements to Itikad Zulfikar Khan, who was soon able to invade Panhala as well. Rajaram who was in Panhala slipped through the besieging lines.

A 300-strong Maratha army then fought with the Mughals and led the new Maratha king, Rajaram to escape through Kavlya ghat to the fort ofJinji in present-day state ofTamil Nadu via Pratapgad and Vishalgad forts. After crossing the crocodile-infested Tungabhadra river swimming on Bahirji Ghorpade's back,^[15] Rajaram and Bahirji reached Keladi (Near present-day Sagar in Karnataka) in disguise entering the territory of Kasim Khan. As per Keladinṛipavijaya of Linganna, Rajaram and Bahirji sought assistance fromQueen Chennamma ofKeladi - who kept the Mughal attack in check to ensure safe passage and escape of Rajaram. To punish Chennamma, Aurangzeb dispatched Jannisar Khan, Matabar Khan, and Sharza Khan, who captured the forts of Madhavpura, Anantpur and besieged Bednur while Chennama escaped to Bhuvangiri to save her life. The Maratha general Santaji Ghorpade then defeated the three Khans, protecting Chenamma and throttling the Khans' attempts to pursue Rajaram.^[16] Rajaram reached Jinji after a month and a half on 1 November 1689. Details of his escape are known from the incomplete poetical biography of Rajaram, theRajaramacharita written by hisRajpurohita,Keshav Pandit, inSanskrit.^[17] After defeating the Mughals, Rajaram cremated his late brother.

Aurangzeb deputedGhazi-ud-din Firoze Jung against the Marathas in theDeccan, and specially sentZulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung to capture theJingi Fort. Helaid siege to it in September, 1690. When Rajaram had retired from Maharastra to Jinji, there was virtually no money in his treasury. Raigad, the capital of the Maratha Kingdom, fell into the hands of Aurangzeb. There were no practical centralised Maratha army or government. In these adverse circumstances Rajaram and his advisers were compelled to offer inducements of feudal estates to their helpers, in order to retain their services and allegiance.^[18]

Rajaram's Government deliberately weaned away many Maratha Chiefs who had accepted Mughal service. In turn, Aurangzeb profusely offered lands, titles and rewards as inducements to Maratha lords to renounce Rajaram and accept Mughal service. Maratha Government adopted the same methods for counteraction.^[10]

The Jinji siege dragged on through 1694 and 1695.^[19] After three failed Mughal attempts to conquer Jinji, it was captured on 8 January 1698. Rajaram, however, successfully escaped due to intervention of the Shirke family who hid him in the Mughal camp itself and then furnished him with horses to travel first toVellore and later toVishalgad.^[20]

Rajaram had occupied the fort at Jinji from 11 November 1689, but left before it fell in 1698. Rajaram then set up his court atSatara Fort.

Rajaram then set his objectives on rallying the Maratha army to drive out the Mughal invaders.^[21]

In 1691, as a direct taunt to Mughal encroachment in the Deccan and to show off the undaunted morale of the Marathas, Rajaram issued contemptible bounties which were deliberately small to his generals for capturing Mughal cities. One such challenge was as follows: "Having clearly grasped your readiness to quit the Mughal service and return to the Chhatrapati's for defending the Maharashtra Dharma, we are assigning to you for your own personal expenses and those of your troops, an annuity...". Hanmantrao Ghorpade was entitled to receive, 62,500 hons after the capture ofRaigad, 62,500 hons after the capture ofBijapur, 62,500 hons after the capture ofBhaganagar, 62,500 hons after the capture ofAurangabad, and 2,50,000 hons after the capture ofDelhi itself. Similarly, Krishnaji Ghorpade was entitled to receive 12,500 hons after the conquest ofRaigad territory, 12,500 hons after the conquest ofBijapur, 12,500 hons after the conquest ofBhaganagar, 12,500 hons after the conquest ofAurangabad and 50,000 hons after the conquest ofDelhi.^{[10][22][23][24]}

Rajaram also aimed to capture Delhi, though he was unsuccessful.^[25]

Animated by a desire to avenge their wrongs, the Maratha bands spread over the vast territories fromKhandesh to the south coast, overGujarat,Baglan,Gondwana, and theKarnataka, devastating Mughal stations, destroying their armies, exacting tribute, plundering Mughal treasures, animals and stocks of camp equipage.^[10]

Through imminent peril Rajaram had won his goal and at Jinji had sustained that which scholars likeC.A. Kincaid call, "a siege hardly shorter than that ofTroy with the skill and valour and more than the fortunes ofHector".^[26]

Rajaram led a large Maratha force to attack the Mughal city ofJalna which he successfully plundered and set on fire. Entering the Godavari valley, he plunderedPaithan,Beed and other Mughal-occupied towns along the river banks. Instead of progressing further he turned back towards Sinhagad to deposit the accumulated loot when his burdened army was ambushed byZulfikar Khan. Rajaram fought a continuous series of rearguard actions for fifty miles, before reaching Sinhgad. The hardships and exposure of the chase had aggravated a weakness of Rajaram's lungs contracted atJinji.^[27]

After some days high fever set in with frequent hemorrhages. Knowing his end was near, Rajaram called upon his council and commanded them not to relax their efforts in the war of liberation untilPrince Shahu had been freed and the Mughals driven from the land of the Marathas. Rajaram died of lung disease in 1700 atSinhagad nearPune inMaharashtra leaving behind widows and infants. Rajaram's funeral ceremonies were performed by Jivajiraje Bhonsle, the descendant of Vithoji Bhonsle, younger brother ofMaloji Bhosale andChhatrapati Shivaji's great uncle. To keep alive Rajaram's memory,Ramchandra Bavdekar built a temple to Shiva on the edge of Sinhgad fort. The temple was endowed with lands and money, and remains standing. Ambikabai,^[28] one of his widows, committedsati upon Rajaram's death.^[29] Many folk tales are centered on her powers of piety.^[27]

Rajaram's widowTarabai then proclaimed her own young son,Shivaji II as the Chhatrapati Shivaji prophesied byShivaji I destined to conquer all India fromAttock toRameshwaram, going against the popularly held notion that it wasShahu I (whose original name was Shivaji) who was to be the Shivaji prophesied about, and ruled as her son's regent. However, the release ofShahu, by the successors of Aurangzeb led to an internecine conflict between Tarabai and Shahu with the latter emerging as the successful claimant to the Maratha throne of Satara.^[30][31][32] Tarabai established a separate seat at Kolhapur and installed her son as the rival Chhatrapati. She was shortly deposed by Rajasbai, the other surviving widow of Rajaram. She installed her own son by Rajaram calledSambhaji II on the Kolhapur throne. TheKolhapur line has continued to this day through natural succession and adoptions per Hindu customs. The Satara seat passed to a grandson of Rajaram calledRamaraja after he was adopted at the insistence of Tarabai, by Shahu who did not have a natural male heir. Later Tarabai disowned him saying she had presented Shahu with an imposter.^[33]

• Chhatrapati Rajaram Tararani (Dr. Sadashiv Shivade)^{[citation needed]}
• Shivaputra Chhatrapati Rajaram (Dr. Jaysingrao Pawar)
• Swarajya Rakshanacha Ladha (Mohan Shete, Pandurang Balakawade, Sudhir Thorat)
• Hukumatpanah Ramchandrapant Amatya Charitra (Saurabh Deshpande)^{[citation needed]}
• Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj (Ashokrao Shinde Sarkar)^{[citation needed]}
• Marathi Riyasat - Chhatrapati RajaramGovind Sakharam Sardesai)
• Bhangale Swapna Maharashtra (Drama, written byBashir Momin Kavathekar)

• He was portrayed by Varun Buddhadev in the 2025 Hindi filmChhaava.

• Khando Ballal Chitnis

• Kincaid, Charles Augustus; Parasnis, Rao Bahadur Dattatraya Balavant (1922).A history of the Maratha people. London, Milford. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
• Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 2, p. 440.

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