Gopikabai

Gopikabai (December 20, 1724 in Supa, near Pune, India – August 11, 1778 in Nashik) was the daughter of Bhikaji Naik Raste of Wai, near Pune.

Gopikabai was noticed by Radhabai, the Wife of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath during her visit to the Raste family. Radhabai was impressed by Gopikabai's orthodox observance of religious fasting and rituals and selected her to marry Balaji Bajirao (later called Nanasaheb Peshwa), the eldest son of Baji Rao I. Gopikabai was well versed in priestly religious matters and the prevailing customs followed in priestly Brahmin families.

Gopikabai faced severe drawbacks in her later life as she was underexposed or never given proper training in handling court administrative or military matters. Her orthodox religious upbringing was thought to be a major cause of her haughty behaviour and narrow-minded outlook. Some of the crueler decisions which Gopikabai took in later life, including severing relations with her second son Madhavrao are traced to her orthodox upbringing. Gopikabai’s religious upbringing left her unable to understand court politics which Shahu and Nanasaheb Peshwa were pursuing.

After her husband became Peshwa, Gopikabai was unable to get along with the other women in the Peshwa household and developed a rivalry with her cousin Anandibai who was married to the Peshwa's brother Raghunathrao. There was also a rift between Gopikabai and Parvatibai, the wife of the Peshwa's cousin Sadashivrao Bhau which occurred when Shahu and Nanasaheb Peshwa selected Parvatibai’s niece Radhikabai to marry her eldest son Vishwasrao. Gopikabai insisted on sending Vishwasrao along with Sadashivrao Bhau (Bhausaheb) to battle against Abdali as she did not want Bhausaheb to take all the accolades after defeating Abdali and wanted Vishwasrao to play a bigger role. She did this to ensure that Vishwasrao becomes the next Peshwa after Nanasaheb. She suspected Nanasaheb of planning to make Bhausaheb the next Peshwa.

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