Ahilyabai Holkar an ideal for all administrators: Bhagwat on her 299th birth anniversary

“Despite being a single woman (widowed), she not only managed her kingdom, but also expanded it and provided good governance. She is an ideal for any administrator. She established industries so that people get jobs, cared for weaker sections of the society, streamlined the taxation system in the kingdom, thought about farmers and cared for her people like a mother,” Bhagwat said.

Bhagwat also suggested that Holkar administered on principles drawn from Indian culture, which she worked to strengthen.

“To strengthen the foundations of our country’s culture, she built temples at various places. She never considered herself as the queen and ruled in the name of Lord Shiva. She got ghats built on riverfronts and many dharamshalas (public rest houses) on pilgrimage routes and those taken by traders so that people remained connected with our culture,” he said.

Born on May 31, 1725, Holkar became the queen of the Malwa region under the Maratha rule in 1767 following the deaths of her husband and father-in-law. She pioneered education for women at a time when it was forbidden and worked on women’s empowerment during her three-decade reign, regarded among the most prosperous periods of the central Indian region.

Hokar’s importance for the Sangh is also associated with its temple politics as the Malwa ruler is known to have renovated several temples across the country, most importantly the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, where a legal battle is currently underway over the adjoining Gyanvapi mosque.

During an RSS meeting in March, General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had announced that it would organise and participate in programmes centred around Holkar for a year to celebrate 300 years of her birth.