Ahilyabai Holkar's Birth Anniversary

 

Ahilyabai Holkar, born on 31 May 1725, Chaundi village, Hyderabad [now in Ahilyanagar district, Maharashtra], India, was a ruler of the Malwa territory, a part of the Maratha Confederacy, from 1767 to 1795. She is one of the few women to have led an Indian polity during the era. She served first as regent and then as ruler of the Holkar Dynasty with its seats at Maheshwar and Indore in central India,  in a period considered the zenith of the Holkar dynasty. She was also known for her philanthropy, especially the building of multiple Hindu temples. She is known as Punyashlok (“One as Pure as the Sacred Chants”).