Historian Amar Farooqui terms Baiza Bai as a forgotten historical icon. She was born in a rich noble family of Kolhapur, Maharashtra in 1784. Her father’s name was Sakharam Ghatge and her mother’s name was Sunderabai. Sakharam was serving as a noble in the court of Bhosle's in Kolhapur. He was staunchly anti-British. In February 1798 in Poona, at the age of 14, she became the third wife of Daulat Rao Scindia, the ruler of Gwalior. She was known as a horsewoman excellent and had been trained to fight with a sword and spear. According to traveler Fanny Parke, she was an expert in equestrian matters and challenged the patriarchal concept of the zenana, or the women’s quarter, being the ideal place for women. Parke further states that Baiza was literate and once ordered a steam vessel to be brought up the river so that she can inspect its machinery.
She escorted her husband during the Maratha wars with the British, and she fought against Arthur Wellesley, at the Battle of Assaye. She had urged her husband to support the Peshwa Baji Rao II during the British campaign against the Pindaris. When Daulat Rao submitted to British demands, she even left him for a short time, accusing him of spinelessness. She was also fiercely opposed to the Scindia surrender of Ajmer to the British.
Baiza Bai died in Gwalior in 1863 without any power.
Source: IGNCA, Ministry of Culture