Queen Ahalyabai Holker

MAHARANI AHALYABAI HOLKAR

the rebuilder of India.

Today it is easy. You have mobile phone, internet, contacts, help. You sit in one corner of the world, and observe minutely, what is happening in another. Imagine 300 years ago. Let alone internet. There was no postal service also. Further, no trucks, no trains, no banks, no cheques, no machines, nothing.

Yet, a simple queen, out of her devotion to sanatana dharma, changed the face of India. That was Rani Ahalya Bai Holkar. Rani Ahalya Bai Holkar is the first builder of Modern India. India should honour this great personality forever.

Ahalya Bai was born in a shepherd family. However, thanks to her father, she was one of the few girls who learnt to read and write. The king came to know about her and she was married to the prince. She became a queen. Her husband was killed when she was 29 years old. Since then, Ahalya Bai became the queen and ruled Malwa and the surroundings exceptionally well. That was when Maratha rule was slowly becoming weak. Yet, even under the British, Ahalya Bai struggled and constructed modern India from the ruins left by the invading barbarians and Mughals.

The city of Indore is her contribution.

That is not all. From the Kanyakumari to Himalayas, Ahalyabai restored countless temples broken by muslim invaders. She built ghats, she built forts, she built roads, all singlehandedly. Go to Varanasi, see the glorious Shiva Temple. The Mughals had destroyed it and Ahalya Bai restored it. She restored Dasha Ashvamedha ghat and other temples. Go to Brindavan, the entire embankment and fort were built by her. Even today they are strong, firm, sturdy. Go to Dwaraka, you will see Ahalya Bai’s contributions. Go to Rameshwaram in the South, and there is Ahalya Bai’s services. The other temples which Ahalya Bai restored were Kedarnath Mandir, Tryambakeshwar, 12 Jyotirlingas, Gaya Vishnupada temple, and so on. Ahalya Bai built bridges too in several places.

India had such a queen. Apart from her countless charitable works, this visionary, a modern queen amongst the traditionalists also did something extraordinary. Perhaps she was the pioneer in bringing Industrialisation in India. When all the others rulers depended heavily on primitive agriculture, Rani Ahalya Bai was the first queen in India to promote industry [though without modern machinery]. Silk industry, textile industry, etc flourished under her.

Another side of her personality was, she herself led the army of Holkars personally. She rode the elephant and fought from the front.

Amongst the rebuilders of India, the first name should be of this Queen, Ahalya Bai Holkar. Ahalya Bai died on 31 May 1795, at the age of 70 years.

Till today, none can understand how Rani Ahalya Bai managed to accomplish so many things, so many constructions, all over India—the greater India which included present Pakistan and Bangladesh. No machines, no trucks, no trains, no post, no banks—yet, one lady did so much.

Salutations to the great maharani!

By Sri Sunirmaland Swami